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Street painter NTEL uses stencils to evoke updated, Shepard Fairey-style works.
By David Miles
When you step out of the elevator into the Works on Paper gallery, the first thing you notice is the space. NTEL, a young street painter who has recently been producing more formal paintings, is transforming the gallery into an odd hybrid environment using urban elements in an organic fashion. Chain-link fence adorned with metal leaves collapses into (or grows from) the floor; street signs emerge from the walls; some paintings bleed into their surroundings.
The show includes more than 20 paintings, most produced in the last year or so. They range in size from 8 by 10 inches to 4 by 5 feet. NTEL started painting seriously when he was 18, both on canvas and in the streets, and quickly became adept at four different styles: stencil, figure, abstract and font painting. His new work synthesizes these styles with collage, and the effect is in some ways familiar: It immediately evokes Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. But it’s not regurgitation. His voice seems to come out of that tradition—with a generous nod to Shepard Fairey.
These works seem faster and more personal. In most of the pieces there’s a central image painted to look stenciled from a photograph, nearly flat, in harsh darker colors accented by lively blues and greens, sometimes paler oranges and yellows. (Think the famous red and blue Obama posters.) Each image is surrounded by a litany of clippings from newspapers, books, containers and boxes; there may be stencils, an empty cigarette package, an old tag from a photo processing company. Everything is held together with splashes of ochre and red, which comes to resemble rust.
Layered over and under this detritus are painted words, some in graffiti style. The words are not necessarily used as words with a definite meaning, telling you what is happening—rather, they function as things in themselves. The indecipherable yet lovely painted script fills up the canvases, building volume and depth.
In one of the show’s finer pieces, Dome of Discovery 1966 , a young boy holds an out-sized can of soda and appears to be handing you a flier, while around him, amid the layers of red and brown paint and calligraphy, you can find a symphony ticket from 1966, handwritten music from 1929, and part of a crate used to pack citrus.
The work is arresting, calming and exciting. He intends to appeal to both the young punk and the wizened critic. He explains, “I want kids to look at [my paintings] and say, ‘that’s cool,’ and I also want the art critics to see that they’re beautiful.”
NTEL ”: Through Dec. 12. Reception: Sat., Sept. 12, noon-6pm. Gala: Sat. Sept. 12, 8pm-2am. Works on Paper, 1611 Walnut St. 215.988.9999. worksonpaper.biz