Moody
Direct Current
May – July 2021
at Woodward Gallery
artsy viewing room
In the shocking era of the 1980s, the streets were where art was made. There, on the blank, concrete canvases of New York City, street artist, Moody, developed his technique. Moody perfected his style alongside other street artists, back in a time when there were no legal spaces to show off their work, forcing many to operate in secrecy. After connecting with other street artists and, subsequently, earning their respect, Moody refined a successful studio practice, where he continues to create work today. This summer, Woodward Gallery presents Moody’s paintings in the all-new solo exhibition, Direct Current. This body of work, stems from his knowledge of electricity and circuitry, charging the outlet for human connectivity.
The COVID-19 pandemic struck Moody’s local community of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn particularly hard. Through this past year, painting brightened Moody’s artistic vision. In his detailed plans of electrical circuitry, the artist’s minimal line patterns felt soothing to paint; his geometric, abstract grids flow together on wooden surfaces. Moody completes each hand-painted work with a clear varnish coating as insulation for his wiring panel— a protection for the circuit’s current, connection, and energy.
Like the colors of traffic lights, Moody’s precisely-painted wires are signaled in cautionary red, chaotic black, walk-signal white, and then grounded in green. These grounding wires serve as an alternate path for current to run back to its source, preserving positive, renewable energy. In circuitry and in life, grounding reduces the risk of electrical overload. As in the human mind, numerous wires lead back to a conduit, which switches on and off throughout life.
This series of paintings considers interconnectivity to ease emotional shortages, illuminate positivity, and prevent isolation by bringing us together.
Please visit Moody’s Direct Current paintings in person at Woodward Gallery’s street level exhibition windows 24/7; online on WoodwardGallery.net, on Artsy.net, and step into the virtual Artsy Viewing Room.