Brian Horton's Scars Contest - Presentation of the Winner

Strychnin Gallery, MySpace Germany and Brian Horton present the winner of the Scars Contest Germany on February 29th, beginning at 7 pm.

“You are female, you enjoy art and you’ve always wanted a painter to portray you in oil?” This is the question that Berlin’s Strychnin Gallery and the international friend platform MySpace posed on MySpace in September. Countless women and young girls applied to be painted in oil by Brian Horton.

Brian Horton’s drawings of the ten finalists will be presented to the public for the first time at the opening of the Scars exhibition. A jury consisting of actor Manuel Cortez (“Verliebt in Berlin”), the band Cobra Killer and a surprise guest has chosen the winner out of these ten finalists, who has been painted in oil by Brian Horton – this oil painting will now be revealed to the public in the artist’s first Berlin solo show.

Brian Horton is fascinated by the MySpace culture which allows its members to create alter-egos and present themselves as self-constructed artificial personalities. The ten finalists have names such as Miss Synthetic Candy, Toxica or Clea Cutthroat; Brian Horton is interested in the stories behind these names.
One of his works’ central themes is trauma and how to work through it, hence the name Scars. Says Brian Horton: “A scar by definition has negative connotations, but I see them as a reminder of life lived. We're born with a wound on our abdomen, evidence of our first trauma and our body continues to document experiences both physically and psychologically throughout life.” Horton is also interested in piercings and tattoos as documentation of certain events in our lives, which is why the female pop icons of his work are often vulnerable despite their strength and also show us their sensitive side.

Brian Horton has been well-known for his work on comics with such famous publishers as DC Comics or Dark Horse Comics, where he has among others worked on the Bat Man and Star Wars Series. Famous among comic collectors, his work on graphics for the gaming industry on video games such as Medal of Honor, Clive Barker’s Undying or the legendary classic Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb finally brought him to the art world, where he quickly gained recognition for his portraits.

Opening: February 29th, 7 pm – 11pm.
Show runs until March 10th
@Strychnin Gallery Berlin, Boxhagenerstr. 36, 10245 Berlin
Owner: Yasha Young yasha@strychnin.com
Contact: Iris Bitter// Public Relations
Phone: +49 160 915 15 965 // Mail: production@strychnin.com
Open: Thu - Sun from 1-6 pm and by appointment
www.strychnin.com
www.myspace.com/scarscontestgermany

With galleries in three bustling hotspots – New York City, Berlin, and London – Strychnin Gallery is a playground for artists from all around the globe. It is a place where collaboration is encouraged, new projects are constantly developed and creativity is the one and only thing that truly counts.

Owned by charismatic curator Yasha Young, Strychnin is dedicated to presenting emerging American artists to the European art world and vice versa. It features a variety of artists with particular individual styles rather than artists belonging to a collective “hip” movement. If you insist on putting a label on them, try lowbrow turned highbrow, pop surrealism or fantastic realism among others.

Founded in Brooklyn in 1998, the gallery opened a European showroom in Berlin in 2002. The US gallery has since moved to a location in Manhattan’s Chelsea district, opening with a group show featuring over 70 artists in October of 2006. Strychnin opened a third location in East London’s vibrant art scene right off of Brick Lane in October 2007.

This release was published on openPR.