Curfew

Opening Reception: First Friday, October 3
Artist Talk: TBA

“Curfew” brings together new and recent work by Rochester-based artists SALUT (Bradd Young) and Flour Pall Kids (Scar Markham), two keen cultural observers who draw inspiration from the city of Rochester after dark. Moving through neighborhoods, corners, parking lots, bodegas, and empty streets, they document the small, strange, beautiful, and sometimes brutal details that often go unseen. Working from lived experience, memory, and imagination, both artists balance observation and exaggeration to share night-time narratives that speak volumes about community, identity, and visibility. The exhibition’s title speaks to both the literal restrictions historically placed on movement in Rochester, and the broader social forces that continue to determine who is allowed to be outside (how and at what time) and who is not.

Scar Markham (Flour Pall Kids) offers an introspective, sometimes melancholy view of the city at night—highlighting the subtle, poignant, and absurd moments that unfold when many are asleep or safely back in the suburbs. Their recurring character “Blue Dude” stands in as both witness and participant. Sometimes he is an everyman noticing a flower sprouting from a crack in the sidewalk, sometimes a defiant and masked presence on a dirt bike adorned with a trans flag. With sensitivity and empathy, Scar's paintings celebrate those who exist outside of mainstream norms—outsiders, night-walkers, and the beautifully non-conforming. Their work gently confronts bigotry by turning fear on its head, showing that what some people see as “wrong” can instead be resilient, joyful, and deeply human. “Walking the city streets at night,” he writes, “can unveil small cracks of beauty in the dark, while also feeling isolating… There is a lot of oddness to witness, that most people don’t get to see, or choose to ignore.”

Bradd Young (SALUT) filters a wide range of city encounters through a vibrant, cartoonish lens, producing works that oscillate between absurdity and tenderness. With a collage-like approach, his paintings often combine soft focus landscapes and stylized foreground characters, while also drawing upon pop culture, personal memory, and local lore. Scenes may depict stray dogs, a familiar corner store, or the surreal transformation of a gentrifying landlord into a Godzilla-like menace. Beneath the humor and energy lies a sharp awareness of class, race, and place. Young’s nightscapes are layered with social critique and a growing desire to ground his subjects in Black identity and lived experience. As he puts it, “My mission was to take the less glamorous aspects of Rochester night-life and filter that imagery through a cartoonish lens… to exaggerate the feelings they give me while providing some sense of lightheartedness.”

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Scar Markham (b. 1988, Rochester, NY) is a trans, self-taught multidisciplinary artist who works under the name Flour Pail Kids. His practice spans acrylic painting, sculpture, and functional design, often using recycled materials such as repurposed skateboard decks. Markham’s work blends playful imagery with a raw, DIY sensibility, drawing inspiration from skate culture, music, and everyday life in Rochester. Since 2016, his work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Rochester and beyond, including Traveling (2024) and Guys Are Dolls (2022) at Akimbo Book Store, Blue Guy (2023) at Aldaskellar Wine Co., and Scar’s Used Cars (2022) at Ugly Duck Coffee. Group shows include Sketchy (2024) at RIT City Art Space, LUNAR (2023) at Pine Apple Company in Buffalo, and multiple appearances in the Annual Members Exhibition at Rochester Contemporary Art Center, among others. Markham has also created large-scale murals for Sound Source Music Store, Ugly Duck Coffee, and Roc City Skatepark (with Wall Therapy), and participated in the 2023 Hertel Alley Mural Festival. Other projects include murals for Kitty Box Press, Breaking Free Skatepark, and the Iron Workers Union Labor Day Float. In addition to his visual art, Markham is an active member of Rochester’s music community, performing as the drummer in the bands Chores and Sibling. His multidisciplinary approach reflects a deep engagement with local culture, merging visual and sonic creativity to create work that is rooted in community and informed by lived experience.

Bradd Young (b. 1994, Rochester, NY) is a visual artist based in Western NY. Young studied graphic design and studio art in Virginia where he began organizing pop-up exhibitions that would eventually lead him to establish a studio practice back in Rochester after graduation. Young’s colorful, absurdist artwork features the collision of different painting and rendering styles, resulting in a frenetic yet whimsical body of work referencing the media that shaped his childhood. He enjoys the process of allowing various ideas and styles to present themselves organically based on daily experiences and daydreaming, like putting together a puzzle. The expressions on his character's faces, off-kilter humor, and vibrant color palette are a reflection of his view on the world becoming more and more cartoonish as the days go on. Young uses his work as a means to process his scattered thoughts through an imaginative flow state, in a constant attempt to find levity in the world. His work has been exhibited in venues including the Albright-Knox Art Museum, the Atlanta Contemporary Art Museum, the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery, C Stuart & Jane H Hunt Gallery, Pamplemousse Gallery, and TW West Palm Beach Gallery through group exhibitions and solo installations and has displayed solo installations at art fairs such as Spring Break Manhattan. He has completed mural projects through Albright-Knox at Cobblestone Commons, the Industry City COLLISION Project in Brooklyn, NY, and The Rochester MAG Hurlbutt Gallery.