IDENTIFIABLE BUT NOT EASILY LOCATED // STEFAN JANOSKI
IDENTIFIABLE BUT NOT EASILY LOCATED
STEFAN JANOSKI – Solo Exhibition
Opens December 6 at Schwartzkopffstrasse 2 in Berlin
LOS ANGELES / BERLIN – November 28, 2019 – Alien abductions, surreal portraiture, and riffs on orthodox religious iconography: Informed by his unique way of viewing the world, Los Angeles- based artist and professional skateboarder Stefan Janoski is showcasing a selection of current oil paintings and hand-crafted bronze sculptures at CIRCYLAR Gallery at Schwartzkopffstrasse 2 in Berlin-Mitte.
As the 40-year-old artist’s first solo exhibition in Germany, ‘Identifiable but Not Easily Located’tackles themes of identity, iconography, mysticism, and representation – served with a signature sense of humor – from December 6th through January 31st, 2020.
Open to the public at CIRCYLAR Gallery, an art space with close ties to skateboard and street culture, the exhibit features a hand-picked selection of Janoski’s recent sculptures and paintings specifically created for the occasion.
Featured oil paintings by the artist Janoski blend religious iconography – including depictions of the Virgin Mary and the crucifixion of Christ – with surreal and symbolic elements to invite new perspectives. Detailed bronze sculptures explore the theme ‘differentiation is NOT separation’ with a sense of modernity and current zeitgeist uncommon for such a classic medium. The abstract and the concrete, symbolic and literal, high-brow and mundane, sacred and profane, classic and futuristic all collide in a versatile showcase by one of skateboarding’s most revered virtuosos.
Speaking on the exhibition title ‘Identifiable but Not Easily Located’, Stefan Janoski offered: “It can be taken in a lot of different ways. You can take it literally, mystically, scientifically, fantastically. But when you get down to it on a quantum level, nothing is separate from anything else. Everything is the same.”
Stefan Janoski first visited Berlin on a skateboard-related trip in 2010 and immediately felt connected to the city’s rich art culture: “I was very impressed with all the galleries and public displays of art in Berlin. Especially large-sized murals on buildings, which have now become a thing in the United States, but back then were already a common sight in this great art city.”
‘Identifiable but Not Easily Located’ will open with a vernissage featuring Stefan Janoski at CIRCYLAR Gallery on December 6th, 8pm, at Schwartzkopffstrasse 2 in Berlin-Mitte – open bar and Live DJ set are welcoming.
For interview or photo requests contact Jürgen Blümlein at CIRCYLAR Gallery via email atcc@circylar.com.
About Stefan Janoski
Based in Los Angeles, California, Stefan Janoski is an American skateboarder, artist, musician, writer and designer. Born in 1979, Janoski travels the world as a professional skateboarder with sponsorship by leading brands including Nike. Janoski is widely known for designing and endorsing a signature skateboarding shoe, the Nike SB Janoski, that counts among the best- selling skateboard-specific shoes of all time.
An autodidact with a lifelong passion for art, Janoski expresses his unique vision across a wide range of mediums, predominantly oil painting and bronze sculpture. His style is characterized by a blend of time-honored artistic techniques and processes – including clay sculptures cast into heavy-weight bronze – with astute and witty observations of modern-day phenomena.
“The way I make things is mostly based on my imagination. Thinking of things that I have never seen and taking things the way I have never seen them done before,” said Stefan Janoski. Humor is a constant theme in Janoski’s evolving body of work. “I take humor very seriously. I like to present things that people have been conditioned to think about in a certain way from another perspective, turning the literal into the fantastical – and vice versa.”
Previous art exhibitions include shows at Three Squares Studios (New York, 2010), Hong Kong harbor (Hong Kong, 2012), at the World Festival of Sports (Shanghai, 2012), Studio 73 (London, 2013), and also the ‘Voyages’ exhibition with artist Andy Warde (Encinitas, 2013), ‘Dissolution’ art show (Paris, 2014), and ‘Nightmares of Normality’ at Beatnik Studios (Sacramento, 2018).
Other projects of note include the Crucifloat, an inflatable pool float in the shape of a crucifix. Originally created by Janoski as a sculpture entitled ‘Relax…Jesus’ in 2014, the Crucifloat is nowavailable as a commercial product with the tagline ‘Float Your Sins Away’. Janoski also created the twelve-time international award-winning stop motion film/music video ‘God I need a girlfriend’. He composes music and plays a variety of instruments, preferably the guitar, and has performed with recording artists such as Milwaukee folk punk band Violent Femmes.
Stefan Janoski leads an interesting life with an even more interesting artistic output that continues to surprise and defy conventions.
Find more information on Stefan Janoski’s official website.