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During July of 2008 I made the second poster in the project for William Powhida’s September 2008 exhibition at Platform Gallery in Seattle, Washington. The premise of the exhibition was that Powhida had become disillusioned with art and had reinvented himself as a dionysian, but extremely self-aware, rock star. Naturally William and I agreed the poster should reference rock concert tour posters. Below is a photograph of the reproduced poster in installation somewhere in Seattle:

Powhida is a really facinating artist who i met through Jens-Peter Brask several years ago. In New York you can find his work at Schroeder Romero Gallery. Along with making a poster for his exhibition I convinced him to let Amanda Browder and I interview him for Bad at Sports. From William’s website:

William Powhida (b. 1976, New York) is a GENIUS artist and BRILLIANT critic living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  He studied painting at Syracuse University where he easily received his B.F.A with honors and received his M.F.A. from the famed (cheap) Hunter College program in New York City. Getting a honors there was even easier.

Powhida has become an international art sello…SENSATION exhibiting in New York, Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, London, Madrid, and Belgium. His new show, A Study For Sofia Coppola’s Film ‘Powhida’ will be on view at Haines Gallery in San Francisco November 14th through December 22nd. You should check it out. He has exclusive West Coast representation with Platform Gallery in Seattle, and is looking for an international dealer. His amazing work has been exhibited at Pulse, Aqua Art, Scope (sorry), and Year_06. After years of toiling away in Brooklyn the artist has finally stepped into the market ready to be commodified and assimilated. He wants it to happen as quickly as possible so he can be chewed up and spit out into retirement with a pile of money.

His work involves drawing projects based on memory and socially transformative narrative such as his large scale drawing of everyone the artist has ever met and “letters” to collectors, artists, and dealers requesting the impossible.  His art also edges into performance and video including his entry “Critical Confessional” for the International Art Market 5 at Parker’s Box. His artistic projects have transcended the material to absord the artist himself. Also, he has hexed Zach Feuer and it appears to be working.
Powhida was a regular contributor to The Brooklyn Rail for over three years and has contributed to Artnet.com, Circa, and Permission magazines.  Some of the artists he has reviewed include Tim Hawkinson, Bjorn Melhus, Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Guy Richards Smit, Jim Torok, Julianne Swartz, Kevin and Jennifer McCoy and his enemy, Jules DeBalincourt.

Currently, the artist is suffering a malaise brought on by bouts of crushing doubt about the ability of the market to cope with his rash of provocations and insinuations. When it goes south, so will he. Most likely, you’ll be able to find him somewhere in South America selling paintings of the ocean to tourists.

For Sell Out: The Bastard Tour Powhida recorded an album and played an ill fated concert at the gallery in Seattle. The exhibition also included the stage where Powhida and his backing band performed, a group of paintings that reflected cynically on his rock’n'roll fantasy, various versions of the album cover art, set list, song titles and other rock detritus.

Above are a few installation shots. The exhibition is reviewed here. Below is the painting that William gave to me in return – it is fantastic.