Bäst
Questioning the codes of capitalism
“I don’t want to influence how someone sees the work. The viewer should make up their own mind.”
With his mixed media art, Bäst rebelled against Western capitalism. Prolific on the Brooklyn graffiti scene, he used the fabric of the city to collate his works. Found objects, food waste and advertisements – nothing was off limits. “For my sculptures, most of the material I find washes up on a certain beach by Coney Island. Broken plastic bottles, wood, random junk that gets bleached by the sun and torn apart by waves." He layered these objects with spray-paint, collage and stencils. He also innovated on wheat-paste techniques with street art duo, FAILE, and made bizarre ‘fly tip’ puppets wit...
With his mixed media art, Bäst rebelled against Western capitalism. Prolific on the Brooklyn graffiti scene, he used the fabric of the city to collate his works. Found objects, food waste and advertisements – nothing was off limits. “For my sculptures, most of the material I find washes up on a certain beach by Coney Island. Broken plastic bottles, wood, random junk that gets bleached by the sun and torn apart by waves." He layered these objects with spray-paint, collage and stencils. He also innovated on wheat-paste techniques with street art duo, FAILE, and made bizarre ‘fly tip’ puppets with Paul Insect.
The name Bäst nods to the ways he re-imagined and 'bästardised' US culture. For example, in San Pellegrino (2018) a man's face and eyes make clear reference to Pop Art portraits. San Pellegrino packaging is used to highlight his eyes and mouth, exposing an animalistic desire to guzzle the fizzy drink. Like much of Bäst's work, it acts as a mirror to American culture – humorously spotlighting the detrimental effects of obsessive consumerism.
Michael “Bäst” Polimeni (he/him) was born in Coney Island, New York in 1970. He lived in Brooklyn until his death in 2021, and spent many years working at nearby JFK Airport.
Bäst remained semi-anonymous throughout his career. In a rare interview with Vagazine in 2012, he told them “I have never been to one of my openings. I just want people to see the work.”
As well as making art for gallery walls and city streets, Bäst was big in fashion. He designed his own collections and counted iconic NYC designers like Agnès B. and Marc Jacobs as longtime creative collaborators.
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