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Press Release:

Van Der Plas presents Joyful Apocalypse, which will bring together works by artists Konstantin Bokov, Al Diaz, Johan Wahlstrom, Juan Carlos Pinto, Kevin Wendall (FA-Q), Monty Cantsin (Istvan Kantor), Christine Randolph, Peter Griffin, Shalom Neuman, Brian Gormley, Ed Higgins III, and Matthew Aaron. The exhibition will run from July 17 - August 17, 2025, with an opening reception on July 17th, from 6 – 9 p.m. 

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This exhibition asks us, what does it mean to be free in a world where freedom is conceived as a performance, a product, a privilege? And what if true rebellion is to make art anyway, and to live publicly, vulnerably, and with intent? Joyful Apocalypse does not shout. It stands still in the noise. It listens. It aches. It insists that in collapse, joy and art are not distractions, but rather declarations.

This exhibition is a call to recognize art’s fundamental role as a conduit of political expression and transformation. Here, freedom looks like Juan Carlos Pinto’s mosaic fragments of MetroCards reassembled into birds of migration. It’s in Al Diaz’s wordplay and street codes. It’s in the outsider poetics of Konstantin Bokov, the nihilistic satire of FA-Q, and the layered narratives of Johan Wahlstrom. 

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Monty Cantsin reclaims the self as performance depicted in one of his multimedia works, I Am The Revolution (2015), while Peter Griffin offers interior worlds textured with tenderness and resistance. Through her tenure as an art therapist, Christine Randolph bore witness to the collective traumatic effects of socio-political turmoil, employing the cathartic power of artistic expression through her multimedia work. Randolph contributes works such as NO KINGS (2025) and Walt Whitman’s Geography Lesson (2025). These pieces explore the serenity of ignorance, the danger of apathy, and the surreal humor found within political anxiety. Using acrylic, Caran d’Ache crayons, and collage, Randolph captures the psychological terrain of a society in turmoil, inviting viewers to reflect not only on global crises, but on their personal responses to them.

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The exhibition also highlights the legacy of the Rivington School, an avant-garde artists’ collective founded in 1983 on the Lower East Side. Prominent members Ed Higgins III, Kevin Wendall (FA-Q), and Istvan Kantor (Monty Cantsin) helped shape a radical, anti-authoritarian ethos that rejected commercial ambition in favor of raw, communal creativity. Kantor, the founder of the Neoist movement, encouraged others to adopt the Monty Cantsin persona as an act of collective authorship and anti-capitalist rebellion.  The exhibition captures the urgent, collective call for political and social change, exploring how growing feelings of restlessness within creative communities manifest themselves in accordance with the distinct voices of our artists and continue to speak to future generations. An explosive, multimedial blend of color and abstract figuration, Joyful Apocalypse embodies the chaotic beauty of a world in flux.

For Press and All Other Inquiries: email adriaan@vanderplasgallery.com