Banks Violette

In the ’00s, Banks Violette emerged as a star of bad-boy art with bull-in-a-china-shop installations that included burnt, twisted and scattered remnants of band equipment, lighting trusses and other stage paraphernalia. Usually dipped in high-gloss black, these items were often joined by fluorescent fixtures that were piled on the floor, strung-up haphazardly, or fastened into semblances of chandeliers and upside-down American Flags. The results, a sort of admittedly redundant synthesis of Gene Simmons and Richard Serra, celebrated hyper-masculinity by posing as its critique. Around 2010, Violette more or less dropped off of the radar. He re-emerges here in his first NYC solo show in a decade, with smallish works on paper that reprise (sotto voce) previous themes while adding references to Roseanne Barr and Stormy Daniels.