JJ Brine

JJ Brine (born Jonathan Friel) was an American visual artist and gallerist.

The artist went by the title "The Crown Prince of Hell."

He operated and curated the Vector Gallery in New York City, which drew attention and critical response for its avant-garde postmodern multimedia narratives on Abrahamic religions.

The gallery attracted controversy as “The official art gallery of Satan” and purported to operate as a sovereign nation with its own time zone, theology, and community of adherents, Vectorians.

Some refer to the gallery as a cult, and to Brine in turn as a cult leader.

In an interview with V Magazine, Brine clarified that Vector is not a cult.

"We're really a group of close friends. We have the same religion, but we practice it differently. The practice of our religion is making art."

Brine & the Vector Gallery were often likened to a Millennial Andy Warhol meets GG Allin.

The NYC location closed when Brine traveled to Tanna, Vanuatu and opened for a period on Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.

The press reported Brine's intentions to move Vector from LA to Washington, DC during the American presidential election season.

In 2010 Brine moved to New York City.

Inspired by his love for The Velvet Underground & Nico he chose to take residence on St Marks Place in the East Village.

Brine pursued music releasing a 2012 album "President of Mozambique".

He later formed the band The LaBiancas with fellow performance artist & frequent collaborator Lena Marquise.

On July 15, 2013, Brine opened Vector Gallery on 40 Clinton Street in the Lower East Side of New York.

On October 16, 2013, Vector celebrated the 75th birthday of The Velvet Underground chanteuse Nico with "Time Doesn't Move."

"Vector Gallery is a gift of creativity to New York, instead of another place to buy stuff," wrote Art Nerd New York's Lori Zimmer.

The gallery has also been described as being "among contemporary art’s foremost installation spaces. "

However, the venue lost its lease at the end of May 2014 and the gallery relocated to 154 East Broadway, straddling the border between the Lower East Side and Chinatown, 11 days later.

The second space contained a backroom signposted, "Cost Of Entry Your Soul."

Critics praised Brine's work for its originality and vision and it was compared to Andy Warhol's Factory by The Huffington Post ("Look: Is this the Next Warhol Factory?") but the gallery has been a subject of controversy for many neighborhood residents due to its occult theme and Brine's intense imagery of Satanism and Charles Manson and fringe elements have connected Brine's work to the Illuminati.

Guestofaguest.com described the installation: "Is it the lair of a mad scientist? An occult apothecary? A wonderland of neon worship? Well, it's sort of all that (and more) rolled up into one unique gallery space, run by resident artist JJ Brine."

OracleTalk.com also wrote, "Implementing cool DIY principle and conjuring references to Duchamp’s ready-mades and rollicking religious iconography, the Vector Gallery is a gushing cornucopia of hypnotizing elements, provocative subject matter and lots of mirrors."

Vice's Mitchell Sunderland called it "one of the last original places on the Lower East Side."

Urban Resource has also called Vector the "most controversial art gallery" in New York City.

Brine and the ministers of Vector began holding a series religious services as performance art at the gallery on February 1, 2014.

Brine was sponsored by Select Fair in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach 2014 and opened Vector Gallery on site.

Part of the gallery's participation included "Body As Commodity", an installation in which Lena Marquise (Vectorian minister of state), charged cellular devices with her vagina.

Famed.

Musical artist Usher visited the Vector booth on December 3, 2014, and participated by charging his cell phone inside the installation.

It was the top news story generated during the 2014 Art Basel.

The Vector Gallery Art Basel installation was also featured on The Real Housewives of New York City and TMZ on TV.

Brine was also one of the last guests featured on East Village Radio's final hours of broadcasting on the Andrew Andrew show, where Brine performed The Ritual of Infinite Names, or "AlanN".

The final incarnation of the Vector Gallery opened in the fall of 2017 at 951 Grand Street in Brooklyn and closed in September 2018.

Brine was born in Portland, Oregon, he was adopted hours after being born.

His biological mother is part Puerto Rican.

When he was three his family moved to Gainesville, Florida where he spent his formative years.

Brine graduated Cum laude in Political science from University of Florida.

He later attended graduate school at American University of Beirut focusing on Middle Eastern politics & foreign affairs.

He was also an assistant to former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft in Washington, D.C. Earlier, he interned for the American-Turkish Council.