Zevs is not only one of the most political artists within Lazarides’ already partisan roster, he is becoming seen as one of the more inspired practitioners of mischievous street work. His Liquidated Logos series, first displayed at the Soho gallery in November 2007, are arguably the most direct and recognisable examples of the oeuvre.
His activity on the street has drawn much controversy and attention from the ‘high art’ world, blurring as it does the line between ‘street pieces’, conceptual art, and plain old-fashioned angry vandalism. Most notorious were his examples of ‘visual kidnapping’ where Zevs removed entire figures from over-sized adverts. At Berlin Alexanderplatz a vast, garish, hanging billboard for Lavazza coffee found itself without its female lead. Zevs ‘demanded’ a 500,000 Euro donation to the Palais de Tokyo art gallery in Paris for her return. Other techniques have included simply ‘cleaning’ a picture onto a dirty wall using high pressure steam cleaners, obviously toying with the notion of whether graffiti is a blight upon the landscape or a complement to it.
A selection of originals and prints by Antony Micallef, Conor Harrington, Ian Francis, Jonathan Yeo, JR, Mode 2, Paul Insect, Stanley Donwood, Vhils and Zevs donned the walls of Lazarides' sister venture Post No Bills in Venice Beach, California. Those of us back in London at the launch of Boxi's new exhibition were certainly jealous of this candid affair. Luckily, there is never any shortage on the art/ fun metre at any event stamped with Laz approval.
