There are artists who make a name for themselves loudly, and others who operate in the shadows, consciously choosing anonymity as a form of creative freedom. John Fekner is undoubtedly one of the latter. A pioneer of stencil art and a silent yet key figure in New York’s urban scene during the ’70s and ’80s, Fekner arrives in Reggio Emilia for the first time with the exhibition Broken Promises, scheduled from July 3 to September 10, 2025 at SPAZIOC21.
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Curated by Jani Pirnat and Brad Downey, the exhibition – organized in collaboration with the Vžigalica Museum in Ljubljana – showcases over sixty years of artistic activity from an author who has always used words as a literal tool of resistance. From the “Warning Signs” sprayed across the five boroughs of New York in the 1970s to the stenciled “word-signs” that transformed abandoned walls into political messages, Fekner has always given voice to the urban silence.
His art is not confined to a single form of expression: painting, video art, poetry, electronic music, performance, and digital interventions intertwine into a heterogeneous body of work, united by a common thread of social urgency. Between urban decay, environmental pollution, corrupt media, and gentrification, Broken Promises is a sharp reflection – as relevant today as ever – on the broken promises of cities and institutions.
Within the spaces of SPAZIOC21, a visual anthology of rebellious New York takes shape, where the names of Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Lady Pink, and David Wojnarowicz are not just references, but witnesses of a shared era. All with Fekner’s discreet touch, who chose the street – both literally and metaphorically – as a field of action and confrontation.
Tomorrow, July 3rd, on the day of the opening, John Fekner will be present to meet the public and reaffirm, once again, that art can be a weapon – even when it’s just a single word sprayed on a crumbling wall.
ph. courtesy cover: Broken Promises, Ph JF Paul Harrison, NY, 1980 Courtesy John Fekner Archive
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