Image via Complex Original
Lucas Price may be better known by his street art moniker Cyclops, a former member of London's Burning Candy graffiti crew, but his recent works are more suited for the gallery than the streets. In his hyper-real paintings and photographs, however, there are traces of his urban roots—a Supreme hat, a deflated basketball.
Price's artwork incorporates religious imagery, Baroque motifs, and themes from Renaissance still life, yet his pieces remain distinctly modern, which makes them all the more captivating. His photographs of roses give the flowers a tough edge, and his work is not without a sense of humor. Price's campaign badges advocate for Harvey Oswald and Snoopy. Mixing high and low references, from Walter Benjamin quotes to paintings of children's toys, Price shows the breadth of his vision as an artist.
Price just wrapped up a show at The Outsiders gallery in London where he exhibited an impressive roster of contemporary work. Get to know the fine art side of Cyclops with our Portfolio Review: Lucas Price Shares Images of Skulls, Supreme Hats, and the Street.
RELATED: Portfolio Review: Samuel Rodriguez's Innovative Canvases Push the Boundaries of Portraiture
RELATED: Portfolio Review: Nolan Conway Shares Touching Photographs of Americans in Walmart, McDonald's, and the Rockaways
Ancient and Modern
"I made some T-shirts for my label A.Four Labs that had the line 'Ancient and Modern' on them—it's Walter Benjamin thing. The ideal work of art is both Ancient and Modern."
Uniform
"This is perhaps one of the best things. My good friend Kazuki Kuraishi designed a uniform for me to wear in the studio. I wear it the whole time, and it's ended up becoming a work in and of itself. Every jacket is like a document of all the things I made and did while wearing it."
Basketball
"This is the first basketball I painted. It has obvious references, but for me, it's just a fun thing and the starting point for a bunch more work to come."
Basketball-1
"Again, a BBall painting, this time deflated. I think this is my favorite of the two for obvious reasons."
R and D
"This image is a photo of static from my hotel room in Tokyo a year or so ago. All the photos I take get stuck in a folder called R&D. I never know what to do with them, and so now I just call them all R&D. This made it's way into a show I did last year."
Harvey Badge
"I made this just as Obama had come into to power. I think it was a statement about the way I saw things going down in the States."
Snoopy Badge
"This is another badge painting from a show from a while back. Again, it's another comment on what was going down, and in fact, it's just a good image. I love Snoopy and Peanuts, and Schultz has always made its way into my work in one way or another."
Supreme
"This image I think is a kind of bridge between what I used to do and what I find myself doing now."
Roses
"This is an outtake from some studio tests I made recently. I'm hoping to make some large-scale paintings of roses, and these images will be the staring point for those paintings."
Rose Polaroid
"This is one of possibly hundreds of Polaroids of roses, all shot at my home in London. I have a strong link to Roses. They're unstoppable."
Skull
"This is a haloed toy skull, my son's anatomical skull toy."
Outdoor Shoot
"For reasons of balance, here is an outdoor shot. I don't paint outdoors any more unless it's to do extinguisher reaches... I can't see the point. This was done on a tour of spots, wearing my uniform and getting messy. (Zero Summer, London 2013)"
