NEW LONDON, CONN.- The Lyman Allyn Art Museum announced the opening of Deer in the Headlights: Man vs. Nature, on view from September 2 through October 29, 2017.
Deer in the Headlights: Man vs. Nature, the latest exhibit in Lyman Allyn’s Near :: New contemporary series, focuses on the pressing matter of man’s role in the natural world and the ongoing depletion of Earth’s natural resources. Through his witty and streetwise commentary, artist Billi Kid addresses issues related to environmental and sociological concerns regarding one of our most precious resources, our wildlife. On view in Glassenberg Gallery are 20 iconic deer crossing road signs, reinterpreted in collaboration with some of today’s most prolific sticker and street artists.
The deer crossing signs are reverse-contextualized by stickers representing human activity. Despite the familiar iconography of the warning sign, nature itself is not an abstraction and intersects with our daily human lives in impactful ways. Just as a driver doesn’t consider the natural world until he hits a deer, we often ignore what doesn’t affect us. Global warming, the natural habitat, and the depletion of species are not a distraction. It’s a brutal reality—one too easily brushed aside because its harm isn’t immediately felt.
Billi Kid is a Sticker Junkie. His massive sticker “combo slaps,” where he compiles thousands of stickers by trading with other artists from around the world and then collaging them into works of art, are a sight to behold. Early in his career Billi Kid saw the artistry in stickers that began appearing on New York City streets and quickly recognized the vital community they represented. Kid started photographing his own stickers along with those of other artists, arranging the images to include iconic New York City landmarks. Kid posted his photographs to the photo sharing site Flickr, broadcasting street art in a new, global way. Artists and sticker enthusiasts from around the world began sending Kid stickers to be photographed in the “combo slaps” that Kid designed on the streets and shared online.
Over the years, those sticker trades have paved the way for Kid’s own artwork, gracing pages in books and magazines (including Time and New York Magazine), curating art shows and creative collaborations, licensing partnerships with the NBA and corporate commissions from Sprite and Gatorade. Stickers are a hallmark of his work, which pays homage to sticker culture and the history of street art. Says Kid, “Each and every sticker, to me, is a little treasure. It’s a little piece of each individual artist, which collectively becomes a community on a single canvas.”
Billi Kid is a contemporary artist, designer and curator whose artistic vision derives from a passionate urban temperament. His subversive aesthetic and strong brand identity mixes graffiti and street art sensibilities with sophisticated nods to high art, fashion and design. His multidisciplinary approach to storytelling generates beautifully crafted artworks and exhibitions that mirror the city landscape with unrivaled authenticity.
