Vertical Gallery, Chicago’s premier urban-contemporary art gallery, is very proud to present ‘Prickly portraits of a fragmented world,’ the long-awaited return of Colombia-based street artist Stinkfish.

‘Prickly portraits of a fragmented world,’ on display June 6–28, captures glimmers of hope in the faces of a human population on the brink, enriching the immediacy and visceral impact of Stinkfish’s signature spray-painted stencils via bolder color fields and intricate freehand detailing. This urgent new exhibition arrives 11 years after Stinkfish’s first Vertical solo showcase ‘Savage Gaze,’ followed in 2019 by ‘The short distance between lands. The long distance between ports;’ the artist will be in attendance for Friday, June 6’s opening-night reception, taking place from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

‘Prickly portraits of a fragmented world’ brings Stinkfish back to an America ruled by chaos. The portraits in question commemorate the resolve and resilience essential to our species’ continued survival, nesting each anonymous subject within a fantastical outer shell: armor-like spikes reminiscent of porcupine quills and hedgehog spines.

“We’re living in a complex time, marked by the resurgence of xenophobia, hardened borders, war, death, destruction. Many governments are shifting to the extreme right, and in the midst of it all, we’re trying to figure out how humanity can go on,” Stinkfish says. “The spines in my portraits evoke self-defense, like in plants — beautiful yet fragile. The people I portray also reflect this fragility, but through the power of their gaze, a different future can be glimpsed — perhaps one without barbed-wire borders, a world to walk through freely, just like these spiny portraits do.”

Stinkfish snapped the photographs sourced for each ‘Prickly portraits’ stencil in the course of his travels across Colombia, Honduras, Austria and the Caribbean island of Nevis. “In my work, inspiration always begins by moving — walking — as a way to understand this world, both beautiful and horrible at once,” Stinkfish says. “Walking allows me to encounter people through whom I can understand, firsthand, what life is really about, far from the illusion of social media and hegemonic mass media. Uplifting these everyday people I meet along the way, in all kinds of places, is the aim of my work. For this exhibition in particular, I wanted to portray some of the most meaningful encounters from the past few years.”

Stinkfish urges viewers of ‘Prickly portraits of a fragmented world’ to focus on the moment, not the message.

“I don’t expect viewers to take away a specific message,” he explains. “I’m more interested in the connections they might make, the questions they might ask, the thoughts that arise. When a message is too fixed, the exchange is lost. Just like in the street, I hope these exhibition pieces create surprise and curiosity.”

Stinkfish (birth name classified) was born in Mexico City but raised in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital and largest city. The self-taught artist adopted the alias “Stink” at age 15 to tag the walls and tables of his high school, adding the “-fish” suffix prior to launching his stencil graffiti career in 2003. Stinkfish gained international recognition for his colorful, often colossal murals before showing his work in galleries: outside of Vertical, he has exhibited in London, Paris and Berlin.

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