Free Activation Series, Vol.3: Visual Virus

Participating Artists: PERKS - Melbourne ROSTARR - New York SPACE INVADER - Paris DELTA - Amsterdam BILL McMULLEN - New York ZEVS - Paris SHAWN WOLFE - Seattle ESPO - New York REAS - New York Introduction By: SHEPARD FAIREY The ART AND REVOLUTION ORGANIZATION, a design collective based in Seattle, has invited 9 contemporary artists to participate in an exhibition and publication entitled VISUAL VIRUS, which is part of the ongoing Free Activation Series. VISUAL VIRUS is an exploration of modern iconography and traditional tribal mediums. Artists were asked to create pictoral stories in traditional Native American.

The book is a compilation of artists. The visual compilation is a series of emerging graphic artists from all over the world. The range artists are chosen not only for their artistic sense, but also for their approach to their work. We want to explore the iconography that has been evolving out of the collective unconscious. In our highly connected global culture, a subconscious "tribe" of artists are evolving street art and "culture jamming" around the world. The artists are connected by the accessibility of their art and the graphic and street influences in their work, sometimes taking the visceral recognition of this energy when you come across one of these pieces on the streets, up on a billboard, a sign, a bus in some pristine bank in another country, "sub-culture was here!" Other "members" of this tribe recognize it for what it really is, not just a strange accident but an intentional message, a subtle way of pushing the envelope and "jamming" the "status flow". The ima! ges transcend language boundaries; all you have to do is look around. The Virus reference is a nod to the idea of an image or icon having the ability to affect our cultural ‘body’ when replicated. There’s a revolution happening everyday this is just a part of it.