April 28 – May 12, 2012
Opening and Book Launch: Saturday, April 28, 2-5 p.m.
Artist Talk: Saturday, April 28, 4 p.m. (in the Gallery Two)
STEPHEN BULGER GALLERY
1026 Queen Street West
Toronto, ON, M6J 1H6
T: 416.504.0575
E: info@bulgergallery.com
www.bulgergallery.com
Hours: Tues–Sat 11–6 p.m.
Please find attached the press release for the launch of Hank O’Neal’s new book of photographs, XCIA’s STREET ART PROJECT: The First Four Decades¸ published by Siman Media Works. An exhibition featuring photographs from the book will be held in Gallery Two.
Before becoming a photographer, Hank O’Neal was an agent with the Domestic Operations Division of the Central Intelligence Agency. In the mid 1970s, encouraged by his friend and mentor the legendary American photographer Berenice Abbott, and inspired by Walker Evans Depression-era photos of peeling posters and hand-painted signs, O’Neal left the CIA and devoted himself to documenting the burgeoning street art scene.
“The street art I photograph,” says Hank O’Neal, “must be in a public place, must be visually captivating and perhaps beautiful, must be the product of an informed intellect (not of a vandal), and must be purposeful. It can be a jolt by a single artist or a chaotic improvisation by dozens of different hands in unexpected places, in unexpected ways.” Part of O’Neal’s talent lies in his ability to find and recognize art in often surprising places, whether it’s in a cemetery in Paris or a doorway on Madeira Island, a lifeguard station in Venice, California, or on a piece of the Berlin Wall”.
Perhaps most important, in many cases, O’Neal’s photograph is the only visual record of a masterful work of street art, an art form that is ephemeral by its very nature. The photographs in XCIA’s STREET ART PROJECT capture hundreds of never-beforepublished photos showcasing the work of the most established street artists of several generations, including: Richard Hambleton, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Shepard Fairey, Banksy, Mr. Brainwash, Toofly, JR, Armyof1/jc2, and of course, “Artist Unknown.”
The gallery will sell the book in hardcover ($40) and in limited edition ($1000).