PIECE OF MIND

Guerrero Gallery is proud to present Piece of Mind, an exhibition of new works by Ben Venom. Piece of Mind is the artist’s second solo exhibition at the gallery. Working with repurposed materials to create textile-based pieces, Venom contrasts the often menacing and aggressive counterculture elements of biker gangs, metal music and the occult with the comforts of domesticity. His collision of traditional quilting techniques with textiles tied to the fringes of society re-envisions the story of the material through a softer lens.

Made within the past year, the roughly fifteen works exhibited in Piece of Mind feature both the introduction of new materials into Venom’s process as well as greater intricacy in his designs. Denim and Leather are brought together in large-scale quilts and motorcycle jackets. Referencing the acid wash trends of the 1980’s, Venom hand bleached nearly all of the denim used in the show. Used leather jackets and Harley Davidson apparel appear alongside his staple of heavy metal t-shirts. The viewer is assaulted with imagery of soaring eagles, charging tigers, whips and chains. All bets are off wherever you may roam.

Ben Venom graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2007 with a Master of Fine Arts degree. His work was included in the November 2011 issue of ARTFORUM Magazine, and he was selected for Bay Area Now 6 at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Venom was recently interviewed on NPR: All Things Considered and by Nessa Reifsnyder on Creative Mojo. His work has been shown both nationally and internationally at Charlotte Fogh Gallery in Denmark, Circle Culture Gallery in Germany, Wolverhampton Gallery in England, RVCA San Francisco, Get This! Gallery in Atlanta, the Honolulu Museum of Art, and at the International Quilting Festival of Ireland. He will be exhibiting in the Affordable Art Fair in Hamburg as well as the Aqua Art Miami fair. Venom has lectured at the California College of Arts, BURNAWAY, and the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. He is a member of the San Francisco Quilter’s Guild and currently teaches Printmaking at the Kala Art Institute and Workshop SF.