RAMMELLZEE: the Private Collection of The

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Ayn Foundation presents: Inside each of The Private Collection’s ten cases is one letter of the word magistrate, written in Rammellzee’s own script. The artist describes these letters as having RAMMELLZEE: The been “dropped from hell—the one place God cannot go.” Located in the hallway outside the gallery is Private Collection Rammellzee’s Mettropposttsizzer Gothicure 107 Hits Light Speed to Break it Down (1982), which was first exhibited in Future Futurism at New York’s Barbara of the Magistrate Braathen Gallery in 1986. ABOUT MANA CONTEMPORARY Founded in 2011, Mana Contemporary is dedicated to providing a platform for contemporary art and artists through exhibitions, studio programs, and public programs. Mana’s community network began in New Jersey and has since expanded to include Mana Chicago and Mana Miami. Mana Contemporary con- tinues to create new partnership opportunities that explore the intersection of contemporary art, design, new technologies, and music. For more information, visit manacontemporary.com.

Rammellzee, The Private Collection of the Magistrate (detail), 1982. Acrylic, CONTACT spray paint, epoxy resin, and ink on wood. Ten parts: five parts 32 x 82 x 4 Alison L. Roberts in. each; five parts 32 x 42 x 4 in. each. Photo: Courtesy of Ayn Foundation [email protected]

“I am not an artist. Rammellzee is an equation, and I Mana Contemporary come to the art scene as a gangster.” —Rammellzee 888 Newark Avenue Jersey City, NJ 07306 JERSEY CITY, April 28—Mana Contemporary and the Ayn Foundation are pleased to present Rammellzee’s ten-part “resin fresco” installation The Private Collection of the Magistrate (1982). The work was originally made by the late Afrofuturist visionary for his exhibition at New York’s Gallozzi-La Placa Gallery, and this will be its first public showing since its 1982 debut.

Rammellzee (1960–2010) began his artistic practice in the mid-1970s as a teenage graffiti writer on the New York City subway, becoming part of the emergent street culture of hip-hop, which also incorporated rap and breakdancing. It was primarily through graffiti tagging that Rammellzee aimed to empower those who had traditionally been ignored.

In 1979, the artist published IONIC TREATISE: GOTHIC FUTURISM, which outlines a new “wild style” alphabet- ic system derived from gothic lettering. Inspired by an order of medieval monks whose mission was to subvert the hierarchy of those seeking to control language, Rammellzee’s text similarly attempts to democratize the process of communication.