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BRIC Announces Na’ye Perez: What You Know Bout Love…, A New Mural at BRIC House
Titled after the song by Pop Smoke, this mural speaks to the overlooked, the everyday, and the celebrations of life
On View: February 2 – August 28, 2022
Na’ye Perez: What You Know Bout Love… on view at BRIC House February 2 – August 28, 2022. Courtesy of BRIC. Photo Credit: Sebastian Bach
BROOKLYN, NY — February 2, 2022 — BRIC is pleased to present Na’ye Perez: What You Know Bout Love… a vibrant mural celebrating the everyday and overlooked aspects of city life, which will be on view in BRIC House (647 Fulton) from February 2 to August 28, 2022. Reservations by staggered entry are encouraged.
Haitian-Cuban artist Na’ye Perez is a constant observer of people and the streets around him as he walks. With What You Know Bout Love…, Perez presents a Brooklyn street scene based on a real block where Flatbush Avenue intersects Duryea Place in the traditionally Black and Caribbean neighborhood of Flatbush. Within the mural, Perez embeds coded symbols of the multi-cultural communities represented, such as the raised Black fist, the hibiscus flower, back issues of Vibe and XXL from the 1990s, and archival images of Perez’s past work. The vibrantly colored streetscape scenes, of a mother trying to braid her daughter’s hair, a father feeding his kids seen through a window, or two friends embracing after not seeing each other in a while, depict resilience and Black presence emphasizes how deeply rooted acts of care are embedded in the everyday.
Using music as a vehicle to think about his own identity and the influences in his life, Perez titles all of his paintings after hip-hop songs that reference overarching messages of community. Perez reinterprets the sampling or remixing found in this genre of music in his art, through taking collected materials such as Cheetos bags, MTA cards, and even sand from Coney Island, which he samples and uses in different ways. For instance, the Newport logo cut up and turned around becomes the Nike logo, the inside of a chip bag becomes jewelry. In addition, he transfers archival images through a gel process similar to wheatpasting found on many streets. In the same way that music connects people through highlighting particular moments in life on city streets, Perez hopes to do the same. This painting is dedicated to Flatbush and to the many communities of Brooklyn that influence Perez.
What You Know Bout Love… will be on view during the same exhibition cycle as Suné Woods: Aragonite Stars in BRIC’s Gallery and Jonathan González: The Smallest Unit Is Each Other in BRIC’s Project Room. All three exhibitions are curated by BRIC Contemporary Art Curator Jenny Gerow.
Jenny Gerow, BRIC Curator, Contemporary Art, said:
Na’ye Perez creates street scenes that depict Brooklyn residents in the middle of acts of intimacy and care. Appearing at first glance to be an everyday experience on Flatbush and Duryea, teens bike riding and parents caring for young ones, our lives over the past few years during a pandemic have been anything but normal or routine, and many of these scenes and lives have been interrupted. This mural lives in a hopeful future tense of the pandemic, one that is grounded in a time, both past and future, where Brooklyn can be seen and felt in all its detail, beauty, and resilience.
Na’ye Perez said:
My art is born out of labor of love and is committed to the communities that raised and developed me. To be able to share my story and use those experiences to touch and connect with others is important. Through my life’s work, I’m not just representing the community, but creating accessibility within these art spaces.
Na’ye Perez (he/him) is a painting and mixed-media artist living in Brooklyn by way of Columbus, Ohio. He has shown work in solo and group exhibitions at Regular Normal Gallery, NY; Community Folk Art Center, Inc., Syracuse, NY; and at 129 Gallery, Columbus, OH. His residencies include those at New Wave, Miami, FL; The Shed’s DISOBEY, and Pratt Institute’s Project 3rd, both in NY.
BRIC’s contemporary art program benefits from generous private funding from B&H Photo Video, Coby Foundation, Harold and Colene Brown Family Foundation, Harpo Foundation, Humanities New York, Jacques and Natasha Gelman Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and numerous individual supporters.
General support for BRIC is provided by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Booth Ferris Foundation, Brooklyn Community Foundation, Con Edison, Harpo Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Industry City, JP Morgan Chase, Lambent Foundation, M&T Charitable Foundation, New York Community Trust, Scherman Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Surdna Foundation, Tiger Baron Foundation, and numerous individuals.
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ABOUT BRIC
BRIC is a leading arts and media institution anchored in Downtown Brooklyn whose work spans contemporary visual and performing arts, media, and civic action. For over forty years, BRIC has shaped Brooklyn’s cultural and media landscape by presenting and incubating artists, creators, students, and media makers. As a creative catalyst for our community, we ignite learning in people of all ages and centralize diverse voices that take risks and drive culture forward. BRIC is building Brooklyn’s creative future. Learn more at bricartsmedia.org
