Johnny Romeo at Harvey Galleries Seaforth

Jumped in the car at 5.30pm and made it out thru the rush hour traffic to Seaforth an hour later, but it was worth it, these big, colourful works are acrylic and oil on canvas and they pack a punch.

Imaginative use of text adds intrigue to the paintings each of which had a long excursus to give context. Extremely Pop, almost fetishizing the likes of Liechtenstein and all the greats from that long-gone era of experimentaion. You almost consider the possibility that Romeo was born at the wrong time, what kinds of work would he make if he'd been working in the 60s?

The titles often are in the small handwritten-style script (see bottom right in photo above) and this is exciting as though there were a puzzle to solve. The line is confident and the palette is extreme, matching the hyperbolic tone of the writing that I imagine came from Romeo himself.

When I was there -- not for long, the person I was going to be with couldn't come on time -- Romeo was standing in one of the rooms talking with someone else, he has long hair and a sort of 'Pulp Fiction' John Travolta look about him, pale-faced like an usher as though a waxy 6.30pm is his best time. There was a good crowd but the gallery has several rooms which were needed as the works are quite large. Prices are high though, which was a bit intimidating.