BD White “Love, Loss and Longing”

Castle Fitzjohns Gallery

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Artist overcomes paralyzing spinal injury to become one of NY’s hottest emerging street artists, Solo show “Love, Loss and Longing”.

BD White was always going to be an artist, he not only has the talent, but he has the relentless drive, ambition, obsessive work ethic and an immense sense of self belief that is crucial to succeed in a world that is as frustratingly complicated as it is fickle. Like most artists, he found it difficult to get art galleries to pay attention, but being told no time and time again is a rite of passage for even the most famous artists coming up through the ranks. So what did BD White do? He took the work to the people, he took the work to the streets, with what he likes to call “Mindful Vandalism”. Beautiful works of art started to appear all over the streets of downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn quickly garnering him a huge social media following. The works aesthetic beauty and message stood out (such as “The Hashtagger”, now a bronze sculpture) among the usual hastily sprayed tags and simple wheat paste works, but there was something else that was different. The work was placed very low on the walls, and also BD would use areas that others may not have thought of, such as street lamp bases. The reason for this placement? BD white creates and takes his work to the streets from a wheelchair. A tragic sporting accident as a teen left him with a broken back, after overcoming many many years of painful rehabilitative treatment he has accepted and embraced the fact that he is wheelchair bound, and rather than interfere with his artistic career development, his experience has given him the ability and the drive to smash through any petty obstacle a fickle art world can put in his way. As many artists that have come before him, such as Renoir, strapping brushes to his wrists to paint as his arthritic hands gave up on him, and Chuck Close overcoming near total paralysis to continue to create as one of the most significant living American artists, they and BD expertly demonstrate that nothing can dampen or contain an artist’s almost instinctual, obsessive need to create and share with the world.

BD’s first NYC solo show, “Love, Loss and Longing” at Castle Fitzjohns Gallery, will showcase a body of work that was a year in the making. Using a stencil style of creating, demonstrated most famously by Shepard Fairey, the biggest influence on BD’s work. BD has taken the stencil technique to unprecedented levels of complexity, a typical example of the student surpassing the teacher. The works are visually stunning, however the concept and message are most interesting. “Love, Loss and Longing” depicts an astronaut in multiple states of movement, sometimes alone, sometimes entwined in a tragic embrace with a female form. The astronaut represents man as his most lonely and distant self, though present in many of the paintings with the female love interest, the seemingly insurmountable obstacle of love lost, and longing is obvious. BD has shown in group shows in NY and across the country. An installation at the world trade center and exposure at major art fairs like Art Basel Miami, as well as his continued work on the streets have garnered him a strong and growing collector base. As works have been created for the show they are pre-selling, so please contact the gallery for availability. The show opens September 7th with a reception 7pm – 10pm and will run for 4 weeks.