traficante

ruslan karablin

January 18 — January 26, 2014
Triumph gallery

Ruslan Karablin, an American artist, is primarily known as the creator of SSUR, one of the most popular modern streetwear brands, in the design of which he mixes elements of Russian folk culture and hip-hop.

In the mid-90s, he released a print of Cornelius the monkey in the image of Che Guevara, which became iconic and sold millions of copies on T-shirts and sweatshirts, and later also successfully collaborated with brands such as Supreme and DC. At the Triumph Gallery, Karablin will present a series of works and prints by Traficante.

Knives
2012
Canvas, acrylic
122 × 183 cm

In the mid-90s, he released a print of Cornelius the monkey in the image of Che Guevara, which became iconic and sold millions of copies on T-shirts and sweatshirts, and later also successfully collaborated with brands such as Supreme and DC. At the Triumph Gallery, Karablin will present a series of works and prints by Traficante.

Traficante is a story about politics, cultural clashes and the daily struggle for existence among the very bottom of society. Karablin takes the plots of violent showdowns among the Mexican mafia (LaEme), one of the most influential in the United States and Europe, from real police chronicles.

A tattoo with a black hand or an eagle and a snake on top of a burning circle, the code number is thirteen, massive gold jewelry and black clothing are the hallmarks of this group. LaEme also has its own "patron saint", Jesus Malverde, multiplied in the form of figurines and posters, which is designed to protect bandits. In Ruslan’s works, creepy scenes of revenge and reprisals show the existence of the mafia as a separate subculture with its own code and lifestyle, devoid of mysticism and romance, which are often attributed to it in cinema and literature.