NEW YORK – De Buck Gallery has announced its grand-opening show, which will run from Feb. 24 through April 7, will feature the French graffiti artist Zevs (pronounced “Zeus). Titled “Liquidated Version,” the show’s theme interweaves unconventional street art methods, with a pointed critique on high finance. Zevs artworks are created both on canvas and sculpture.

Zevs, who now divides his time between New York and Zurich, began as a graffiti artist in Paris in the 1990s. He acquired his pseudonym from a Parisian metro train named “Zevs” that almost hit him. Drawing on his namesake’s mythological attributes, Zevs began to view the street and the city as his canvas and his kingdom.

Zevs’ body of work involves performances at its core, beginning with a series of performances titled “Visual Attack,” wherein the artist attacked several public advertisements, leaving them with artistic bulletholes and trails of blood.

His next series of performances, “Visual Kidnapping,” built further on Zevs’ exploration of brands, advertising and consumer culture by literally kidnapping images from advertisements, emblazing the message “PAY NOW” on the victimized ad.

The last series, “Liquidated Logos,” demonstrated Zevs’ growth in his body of work, as he “liquidated” the familiar logos of worldwide companies and made them his own. Zevs’ experimentation with the pervasive symbols of pop culture and consumerism has proven to be a rich discussion in the art world and beyond.

In his first New York solo exhibition, Liquidated Version, Zevs presents a new body of work using the “liquidation” process for which he is known, as well as new conceptual techniques, to confront the financial crisis head on. By targeting the emblematic logos of financial leaders, Zevs questions not only the stability of the institutions, but also their branding strength as visual commodities.

Drawing on Alfred Hitchcock’s famous thrillers, The Birds and Psycho, and Breton Ellis Easton’s American Psycho, Zevs uses looming birds, bloody shower curtains and pristine hatchets to add an eerie element of foreboding and impending doom. Moody and psychological, Liquidated Version fills the space with a fresh look at the “greed is good” theme and the confusion between surface and substance of American high finance.

Gallery De Buck is located at 511 25th St., Suite 502, New York, NY 10001. For additional information on the Zevs exhibition, call 212-255-5735 or visit Gallery De Buck online at www.gallerydebuck.com

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