Ray Vickers

Born 1987, Oakland, California
Has practiced at Creative Growth since 2009

Ray Vickers’ visual world is filled with anthropomorphic rabbits, Marvel superheroes, and his own graphic motifs. These drawings are a way to live vicariously: “I like to live in my own world twenty-four-seven. You can’t get in trouble if you live in your own world,” says Vickers. He often synthesizes his own day-to-day interactions with fantasy plotlines that reinvent himself as a vigilante superhero and that explores his experiences with discrimination and heroism (Ray is well-known as a savior of stray animals). The comic book version of Vickers, masked and caped, has the ability to exercise his strict moral code, fight crime, and restore justice. Vickers also plays out his comic book narratives with a darker twist in the form of dead and vengeful rabbits. These “dead bunnies” are a staple in his visual language, as are eyeballs, eight balls, arrows, and hands. His images repeat in a dynamic street style that fill the paper.

El mundo visual de Ray Vickers está repleto de conejos antropomórficos, superhéroes de Marvel y sus propios temas gráficos. Estos dibujos son una forma de vivir vicariamente: “Me gusta vivir en mi propio mundo las veinticuatro horas del día, los siete días de la semana. No puedes meterte en problemas si vives en tu propio mundo”, dice Vickers. A menudo sintetiza sus propias interacciones cotidianas con tramas de fantasía que se reinventan a sí mismo como un superhéroe vigilante y que explora sus experiencias con la discriminación y el heroísmo (Ray es conocido como salvador de animales callejeros). La versión de historietas de Vickers, enmascarado y con capa, tiene la capacidad de ejercer su estricto código moral, luchar contra el crimen y restaurar la justicia. Vickers también interpreta sus narraciones de historietas con un giro más oscuro en forma de conejos muertos y vengativos. Estos "conejitos muertos" son un elemento básico en su lenguaje visual, al igual que los globos oculares, las bolas ocho, las flechas y las manos. Sus imágenes se repiten en un estilo callejero dinámico que llena el papel.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2020
Inter-Avant-Garde, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln

2019
Outsider Art Fair, New York
Gifted: The Self-Taught Genius of Creative Growth, Nina Johnson Gallery, Miami, curated by Kim Hastreiter

2015
NADA, Miami
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, curated by Katy Grannan
D’Dessin Paris Contemporary Drawing Fair, Paris

2013
Park Life Gallery, Creative Growth Group Show, San Francisco

2011
Screaming Mimi’s, Creative Growth Pop-up Shop, New York

2010
Public Bikes, San Francisco

2009
Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco