RICARDO RICHEY, ROBYN TWOMEY OPENS 9/11

\RICARDO RICHEY, sculpture, painting

ROBYN TWOMEY, large scale photographs

icardo Richey™s work is informed by letter forms, grafitti, murals and other genres of street art. In his exhibition at the luggage store, Richey™s innovative use of materials explores three dimensional letterforms and shapes , contrasting them with painting.

Robyn Twomey™s expressions of identity and gender specific roles are addressed in this survey of editorial and personal work. The editorial outtakes focus on male subjects shot on assignment for various magazines including rapper E-40 in his favorite restaurant in Vallejo (XXL Magazine), artist William Kentridge (New York Magazine) and Leslie Ross for a story on DNA technology proving his Cherokee ancestry (Wired Magazine).

A series of personal work focusing on the female subject include selections from a series on Female Rappers, Music Video Models and Former Playboy Bunnies. As a female image maker for mainstream publications, Twomey attempts to explore the feminine role in our daily image consumption. Playboy, the symbolic image of feminine beauty and American sex, is examined by focusing on the women who were a part of the empire more than 20 years ago. As we see an aging Hugh Heffner cuddle up with younger and younger mates, the aging female models are all but invisible.

The Female Rappers are similarly marginalized from our daily image consumption. The Mamaz and Jayda are both Bay Area based rappers. Photographed at home, the Music Video Models are shown outside of the hypersexualized music video. In the same vein as the Former Playboy Bunnies, these images also speak to the friction and overlap of sexual exploitation and female empowerment.