SHT! vs. BadJon Exhibition

Local artist, Sht!, and photographer, BadJon, joined forces for an art exhibition at 16 Penny Gallery inside 52.5 Records last Saturday evening. The two childhood friends have found inspiration in each other and their seemingly dissimilar collections, in fact, both maintained the same theme of creating art in traditionally non-art contexts.

Sht!, a street artist, creates art in public spaces in the form of graffiti, stencil graffiti, sticker art, posters, and wheatpasting with the objective of creating art in the existing environment in order to reach everyday people. He explained how his Shthead icon is a parody of the Frisch’s mascot, Big Boy. Like other street artists, he uses this spoof on a corporate mascot as a form of subvertising, where the viewer is confronted with an image that holds a stronger underlying meaning of defiance to conformity or, in Shthead’s case, corporate authority.

Jonathon Stout, BadJon, takes a different perspective on defying traditional ideas of aesthetics by turning what is deemed ugly and makes them beautiful. He enjoys photographing abandoned rundown buildings and other places most people would consider unsightly. His use of infrared photography transforms these images into stunning works of art. In his own defiance to conformity, he has stepped away from framing his work with mat and glass and prefers the look and feel of wood paneling.

The exhibition as a whole provides a nice juxtaposition of street art and photography with the uniform idea of turning traditional ideas of art on its head. The Sht! vs. BadJon exhibition will run through March 31.