{CTS} creative thriftshop is proud to present 3 The Hard Way, an expansive selection of works by three of today’s leading subterranean artists. The selection of works from each is meant to look into the social fabric and discourse of our society and bring both a human consciousness and a sense of humour to all its madness.

A Jersey native, Ron Upperman also know as The Nature Boy has a long history of successfully combining a strong sense of his mass media disciplines into well balanced, provocative fine art. His seamless integration of elements from the commercial and street art aesthetics entice and invite art connoisseurs to find both their assertive self and their feminine wilds through his compositions of the human form. His exploration into sexuality and human attachments are apparent in both the composition and the actual medium they live on, denim “the fabric of life.”

With over a decade worth of work, Anibal Padrino continues to explore through a mastery of paint uncharted regions of language, type, icons, and mannerism as an art form. He is known as a pioneer of visual language that passionately speaks to the masses and gatekeepers alike. His canvases act as a mirror reflecting today’s urban decay and yet they maintain hopeful reminders that perhaps through the adoption of a new vernacular of visual art, one may achieve clarity amiss the chaos of a over branded society.

Juan Doe’s works strain the boundary between painting and propaganda. He encapsulated a new age of aesthetic through his command of the graphic process which encorporated the execution of a painter. His works stands as a testament to the artist’s brash and unwavering attempts to demand attention through an acrylic vehicle of contradiction. His images are non-negotiable. They cannot be interpreted or postponed; they simply embody today’s state of visual immediacy.

Taken as a whole, 3 The Hard Way will do more than simply entertain the senses, it will insist that the viewer be present, partake, and perhaps change preconceived notions of fine art. A rearrangement of one’s value placed on it’s surrounding and a grounding of where we are all from: an ever increasing borderless timeless epicenter, “the city”.

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