To walk into LeBasse Projects on April 13th was to enter a pop culture universe drenched in corporate satire, as the guerrilla art collective TrustoCorp unveiled ‘The Future is Blight’. Known for addressing the ills of humanity through their refined brand of street art, TrustoCorp took it indoors for their first show with the gallery and shined a spotlight on the dichotomy of poverty and wealth ever-present in the city of angels. This latest body of work features numerous mixed media works and hand-embellished printed pieces created in the artists’ vintage illustrative aesthetic. Embedded within each work are critical social messages as well as corporate logos--brutal reminders of our Nation’s dependency on commerce. Instead of Bank of America, Dunkin Donuts, and Burger King, you’ll find ‘Bank On America’, ‘Fuckin Donuts’, and ‘Murder Ing’, leaving precious little room for misinterpretation.
While the evening wasn't short on highlights, perhaps the most notable were a set of cereal boxes created in collaboration with three very distinct street artists; The London Police, David Flores, and Shepard Fairey. In addition to these pieces, TrustoCorp elevated awareness of LA’s homeless with a wall-size installation featuring Polaroid photos documenting drop-offs of the group’s ‘Poverty Kits’. Combined, the Polaroids conjointly spelled out the word "Help", drawing attention to the increasing plight of our fair city.
'The Future is Blight' runs until May 11th.
