Vertical Gallery, Chicago’s premier urban-contemporary art gallery, is very proud to present ‘#wishyouwerehere..,’ the much-anticipated return of British graffiti legend Mau Mau.
‘#wishyouwerehere..,’ on display July 11 through Aug. 9, wryly surveys the wreckage of a planet in epistemic freefall — a misinformation wasteland where seeing is no longer believing. Mau Mau will be in attendance for Friday, July 11’s opening-night reception, taking place from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
‘#wishyouwerehere..’ brings Mau Mau back to Chicago for the first time since 2019’s Vertical showcase ‘Bombing walls and painting bridges,’ his U.S. solo debut. During the intervening years, the artist’s career-long preoccupations — social injustice, corporate greed and environmental catastrophe foremost among them — have grown even more pervasive, intensified by political and technological forces conspiring to tear apart the fabric of reality.
“‘#wishyouwerehere..’ is about deceptions,” Mau Mau says. “We're bombarded with social media images, and there's a lot of confusion out there about what’s true and what isn't. At this moment, the truth seems to be for sale.”
Enter the star of ‘#wishyouwerehere..’: Mau Mau’s signature fox character, a truth-to-power mouthpiece adorning walls, surfboards and billboards across the globe. The burnt-orange trickster — wily and quick-witted, both trespasser and target — first emerged via Mau Mau’s work alongside Bristol, England’s famed TCF and Burning Candy graffiti crews.
“I've always loved cartoons, so when I came to painting the fox, it felt like it was meant to be,” Mau Mau says. “A cartoon fox is so neutral. You can make so many statements with it, without showing a bias. I love that.”
The nameless fox’s ‘#wishyouwerehere..’ misadventures unfold across an eclectic array of paintings, upcycled maps and found objects, amplifying Mau Mau’s hilariously barbed and savagely concise commentary on the state of our dysfunction.
“If you're dealing with issues that are quite heavy or dark, it's important to deliver your message with humor. You can't bash people with what you believe — you have to invite people to think about it,” Mau Mau explains. “Humor reaches so many more people. When you paint something dark but do it in a funny way, it's like ‘Oh, yeah, that's a good point.’”
Mau Mau hopes viewers of ‘#wishyouwerehere..’ find catharsis in its comic perspective.
“I want everyone to have a bit of a laugh. That's the main thing,” Mau Mau says. “People that are gonna come to my show are probably in agreement with my sentiments — I’m guessing that I'm not going to change anyone's mind. But we're all in this together, and we all need to speak up. Sharing our experiences is empowering to all of us, because it’s important to know that other people feel the same way.”
Mau Mau, a native of coastal Devon, adopted his tagging alias while surfing in Ghana, where locals struggled to pronounce his given name, Mark. He first gained attention designing graphics for surf and skate apparel brand Sewerside, which he co-owned and operated from 1995 to 2001. Mau Mau turned to street art after the company shuttered, painting message-themed pieces tackling topics from affordable housing to the Bush administration’s war on terror; his work now graces cityscapes, galleries and private collections the world over.
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