Do Teens Make "Art"? T.A.G. Defies Convention

One of the not-so-well kept secrets of the art world is that it is run by old white men. More broadly, it is run entirely by ADULTS. Well…almost. Are you familiar with Aelita Andre? She had her first solo exhibition in NYC when she was four. Her second solo exhibition just opened on June 12th, 2012 at the Agora Gallery.

Have you heard of Audrey Banks? She is a curator and gallerist who organizes teen art shows and she just graduated high school. Young artists, it seems, have more control, drive, and talent than their elders expect. Get ready, adults—we're about to shake up your mature, aged-like-fine-wine world. 

At 18, Audrey Banks is the head of a group of teenage artists called T.A.G, or Teen Art Gallery. As an arts collective, T.A.G accept art submissions, curates, and stages gallery shows. Banks says, "I've heard that some of the best stuff we ever make is created when we are young, and I'm here to prove that."  

T.A.G currently has a submissions-based group show up at Salon 94 Freemans, in SoHo. The show is up from June 12th and June 27 and features all teenage artists, the majority of whom are eighteen and nineteen and are from all over the U.S. I am nineteen and I have two pictures in the show. Prior to the opening night, I was unsure what else was in the show or what the setting would be like.

I showed up and found that the contents of the show were honest, diverse, weird,  funny (for example- the "Butt Gun" which is a gun shaped like a butt which prints receipts with small little personal insults which border on the poetic.) There were also some impressive paintings (for example a piece with beautifully-rendered hands on the western wall), 3d wood works, and assemblage-type pieces. Overall I was a lot more captivated by the work that most of the incomprehensible stuff you see in Chelsea galleries. 

Today, taking over your local art galleries, tomorrow...who knows?! Take the eighteen and nineteen year olds around you seriously because it's possible that they might, just maybe, know what they're doing.   

GO SEE IT—T.A.G Show at Salon 94 Freemans @ 1 Freeman Alley, Lower East Side. Show closes June 27, 2012.

Check out this article about Banks + T.A.G, and check out the T.A.G. website.