On View

Electric Coffin “Suburbs Of Eden”

June 4th- July 4th 2020

Online show / Limited Gallery Appointments Available

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Roq la Rue is very pleased to present a show of new works by NW based art duo Electric Coffin (Duffy De Armas and Stefan Hofmann).

Electric Coffin’s work is a combination of irreverent mashups of advertising ephemera, kitschy slogans, logos and copy, animal mascots, and punk color sensibilities that, rather than just being the usual sledgehammer statement about the modern world’s slavish devotion to consumer driven lifestyles and weird nostalgia for items aggressively marketed to us in our youth, surreptitiously turns it all around on it’s head to use empty ad drivel to speak to genuine explorations of the questing spirituality of humanity. (For example, the logo for the 70’s candy “Space Dust” becomes a paean to Carl’s Sagan’s famous quote “We are made of star stuff”). Little twists like this are prevalent throughout the work, allowing the viewer to go down rabbit holes gleaning various implied meanings in each phrase- a way to steal back a little bit of soul mass marketing drains by using their own weapons against them.

Electric Coffin’s works contain deeper meaning and intention without ever becoming too precious about it, in fact the work obviously belies a great levity that foments an easy accessibility to the viewer. A piece can be appreciated for its underlying motivation OR just the fact it’s a bad ass looking neon ringed wolf howling into the void with a Trans Am lashed to its back. However even such a cartoonish image has its own subtext, and animals, specifically the Wolf and the Bear feature prominently in this show as reoccurring “characters”. Electric Coffin’s iconic imagery of wild animals tied to technology (cars, trucks, space shuttles usually on the backs of panthers, wolves, raccoons) has been a staple in their oeuvre, a surreal and funny image that upon reflection shows some various obvious and disconcerting truths about man’s endless quest for technological dominance to the detriment of the natural world.

The Wolf and Bear in the “Suburbs of Eden” show are anthropomorphic archetypes that EC return to multiple times. The Bear represents the idea of exploration, and can refer to everything from external exploration (such as space travel) to internal mystical contemplation. The Wolf is a symbol of freedom, as in the trope of The Lone Wolf and is often juxtaposed with eastern images (such as a temple to reflect the concept of Nirvana) to western (equivocating fast cars with a sense of rugged individual freedom).

Electric Coffin use a variety of materials in their work- so many that their devotion to craftsmanship would never allow them to master each material to their satisfaction in any kind of timely matter- and so have created a network of artisans that they commission partial components of work out according to thier specifications. Rather than hiding the fact they use outside help like many artists with signifigant output do, to they are proud that their network of creatives not only helps them realize their vision but also helps to support communities (mostly artisans in Bali where EC’s Stefan Hofmann lived for 17 years and where whole villages exist devoted solely to creating things like woodcarving, or metalwork for assorted global clients) and the duo know and visit the families they work with. That said all works are completely conceptualized, assembled and meticulously finished by Duffy De Armas and Stefan Hofmann in their studio.

This show features a series of mixed media works including wall mounted pieces as well as free standing sculptures. Most wall mounted works have frames that contain mixed media components with various messaging and have additional art hidden on the backs of the works.
In addition to exhibiting works in Seattle, New York, Miami, and Hong Kong, Electric Coffin have also exhibited an installation at the Bellevue Arts Museumand been commissioned to do installs for Facebook, Amazon, Expedia, T-Mobile among many others. EC is also participating in a outdoor digital exhibition with Dong Gallery in Taipei concurrent with this show.

To view the show: Please click on a thumbnail to see each work. Information about each piece will appear when you hover over the image. On a smart phone, click on the thumbnail and then you will see a white dot in the lower right hand corner of the images- click on that to see the information pull up. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions! Detailed images are on the bottom of this page so please scroll down- we can also send you a folder of mutiple images/video of each piece, EC’s work is SO detailed we really recommend you take a look at the detail shots!