Fake and Corny represents CB Hoyo's new explorations of texture and color, compositions of eye-catching proportions, and immense vitality. This collection emerges from the fusion between some of the most iconic art masterpieces treasured in NYC and humorous thoughts deeply inspired by the artist's interest in expressing the inexpressible.

CB's paintings, executed upon the surface of the canvas with electrifying mastery, confront the viewer with the full force of his visual imagery and unique artistic signature. His text-based works are complemented by virtuosity in execution and give us insight into an ingenious and original mind. CB counterfeits the works of artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Mark Rothko, Pablo Picasso, and Andy Warhol, and enhances his fakes with the inherent power of text, constructing a relationship between the painting itself and the messages of his playful and provocative phrases. Through the Fakes included in this collection, CB Hoyo marks the ultimate point of his well-known series. Furthermore, he satirizes the new bizarre normality we are living in as well as a society and an art world that often seems to celebrate monetary value above all else.

As a counterpart to the forged canvases, CB simultaneously creates a body of highly personal remarks that render thoughts almost palpable. CB Hoyo's whirring words, written in his recognizable scrawl, explore the power of text in an artwork. His words are as direct and crude as his deliberate use of raw canvas to accentuate the oft-ignored corporeal dimension of language. He sought a medium that would most directly transmit color and meaning without compromising the vibrating energy and flippant humor of his texts.

Texture, movement, scale, color, straightforwardness, wittiness, ingenuity, simplicity–these are the painter's real tools. The arbitrary spacing, punctuation, and a sloppy calligraphy emphasize the significance of the words rather than the visual aspect of the compositions. How exactly they were painted seems irrelevant; it is their real repercussion what counts. Without placing complete focus on the formal execution of the texts themselves, and by subverting our linguistic expectations, these canvases are an extension of life. They depict unprocessed, incendiary, humorous phrases that are viscerally charged for the spectator to hear, smell, and taste; they elicit an instantaneous thrilling sensory response. With a frolicsome aesthetic, CB Hoyo challenges our expectations of painting and thoroughly reinterprets his medium in a modern context. Fake and Corny corroborates the young artist's remarkable dominion of both image and text as loaded tools within his expressive arsenal.

CB Hoyo (1995, Havana, Cuba) is a Europe-based artist whose career has been on a steady rise since 2017. After his massive success on Instagram, the self-taught artist is continuously in the public eye with important worldwide exhibitions. CB Hoyo's skillfully composed paintings are often spiced with a splash of humor and celebrate life itself in a fresh, colorful, and fun way. In an era shaped by social media and fake news, and where artistic authenticity is highly questionable, CB Hoyo aims to create awareness of the falsity of contemporary society, pointing out that art should always be a way of self-expression and joy.

GR Gallery is pleased to announce “Fake and Corny”, the first solo exhibition of CB Hoyo with the gallery, after two years of collaborations. The show will reveal, for the first time in a public exhibition, the latest series of artworks that the artist has been working on for months: the “Corny Quotes”. Appositely conceived for this occasion, these new works will irreverently crowd the gallery walls, offsetting the artist signature “fakes” paintings. This exhibition will mark a crucial step in the artist career since it will be the last one, or at least the last one for very long time, showcasing his signature “Fakes” and the first one exhibiting the new “quotes” artworks. For this occasion all the Fakes included will be inspired to artworks in NYC museums or private collections. ‘Fake and Corny’ is arranged in a sort of liminal space in between two different artistic cycles, showcasing anthological examples of CB up to date vision, through his classical artworks, and overcoming it with the exclusive approach of his new inspiration, that will guide his future production. The show will put together several original pieces executed with different media and in various sizes.