Neo Indigenous / $mall Change ~ July 7th

Neo Indigenous celebrates Marka27’s highly-anticipated return to Los Angeles. Representing a shift in the artist’s cultural consciousness, Neo Indigenous embodies Marka27’s quest to bridge past with present, illustrating his yearning to bring deeper meaning to both old and new art forms. By juxtaposing ancient elements with contemporary design aesthetics, Marka27 reveals both a connection and a disjuncture in the process. Challenging viewers to confront the existing practice of commodifying art, the exhibit leaves a lasting impression-- a mark Marka27 has predicated his reputation on.

Rob “Problak” Gibbs grew up in Roxbury, MA venturing between Lenox St. apartments and Orchard Park projects. From a young age, he had a vision of beautifying the ghettos of Boston with graffiti art—an art form that is frequently over looked, under valued and misunderstood. The concept that a picture is worth an infinite amount of words inspired Rob and provided him with the opportunity to take ownership of one of our culture’s modern hieroglyphics: graffiti. He developed a vision of beautifying Boston purely by instinct, experiencing his “calling” as a young man, a child of the HipHop golden age.

"The phrase, 'a little goes a long way', inspired this body of work. I think the average person can easily overlook how change can quickly accumulate. When change comes together, it's value and power matches it's weight in a variety of ways--especially in our consumer culture. This collection showcases some change I've earned over time. I wanted to remix the value of what we accumulate and probably overlook everyday. - Problak