Brooklynite Gallery presents a solo exhibition by Rae McGrath, Unconventional Convictions.

Over the years Rae McGrath has spent countless hours on the streets of New York City and other parts of the world, engaging then photographing the everyday person. Usually drawn to the elderly or youth-- because of their experiences or lack thereof, McGrath often finds similarities to his own life, connecting the dots through his grainy black and white photos which are then hand-painted or silk-screened into pieces that include block text and hand-drawn areas. The second part to McGrath’s work involves the gathering and transformation of found objects—namely hundreds of brightly colored plastic laundry detergent bottles. Spending ample time in and around laundromat dumpsters throughout Brooklyn, McGrath has amassed quite a collection of these bottles which he then dissects, using cutting techniques once learned while working as a deli worker and butcher. In the end his tales are told on top of mosaic patterns full of vibrant colors and textual information.

For McGrath, the vivid and hopeful Pop Art color schemes and graphic detail of the laundry bottles prove to be the perfect juxtaposition to his own urban Brooklyn upbringing and the countless cast of characters of his youthful blue collar existence. In the end, McGrath uses these dynamic combinations to his advantage creating rich and strange alternate realities.