by osmosis

"I'm interested in a visual language that's over-determined, exhausted, or just over-burdened by meaning.  All those images are like zombies - they're stripped of vitality, yet sometimes they get life back in them…and like zombies, usually something goes wrong when they wake up again."     -Banks Violette

I've always been fascinated with the culture surrounding genres of New-Gothic Art such as Norwegian Black Metal.  Their commitment to darkness and death is so heavy-handed that it often comes off as satire (until someone actually gets killed).  Skulls and burning churches aren't the subtlest images to help convey your message.  I'm not sure if bands like Mayhem understand that fact, but I'm certain that Banks Violette does.

Banks Violette works in both sculpture and graphite on paper - employing a stark black and white palette in both mediums.  His subject matter is often as stark as his color choices.  In reference to his quote above, Banks takes these over-burdened images and breathes new life into them; however, since they're dead, they now return in the form of zombies.  It's a strange analogy, but even stranger how well it works.  Violette uses iconography that is both physically and metaphorically dead, yet he somehow transcends those limitations and creates a hybrid image (what he's calling a zombie).  Plus, the presentation is just so visually appealing.  I love the shiny jet-black floors and obsessive sea of graphite strokes.

Banks has a show currently up at Team Gallery called Not Yet Titled.  If you're in New York be sure to check it out before it closes on June 20th.