All posts tagged: France

Maquis-Art Gallery Presents: See. (Paris, France)

Exposition:

http://www.maquis-art.com/News-3031-1.html

Maquis-Art Gallery expose du 8 Mars au 24 Mars 2013, le célèbre SEE.
Une exposition consacré au métro parisien.

Axé sur les métros de la capitale. il a su imposer son nom sur les wagons de toutes les lignes du métro parisien de la 1 à la 14 en passant par la 3 et 7bis ainsi que sur les trains de banlieues avant de continuer son travail sur toile…

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Street Artist RUBBISH for Le M.U.R. in Paris

Rubbish, the French Street Artist who can work for endless hours to finely cut paper as intricately as lace, is taking his turn at the Le M.U.R wall in Paris right now.  Still pretty new to the scene, the Besançon based artist has a meticulous cutting method influenced by painting, mythology, even Art Nouveau. Recent portraiture subjects have been poets from the Beat Generation like Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, but he is more of an emotional romantic than they were.

Rubbish (photo © Laurence Pierrain-Mateudi)

With his first solo show in November at Le Cabinet d’Amateur, this guys’ work may remind you of Swoon’s paper cutting in the late 2000s and his portraits have a forlorn quality found in the subjects of French stencilist C215.  Whatever his influences, he is clearly still exploring and he happily covered selected regions of this 8 meter x 3 meter wall with with a certain organic symmetry in placing these large works of cut paper on a cold late January day. According to Jean Emmanuel Voltz, who curated this choice, this kind of Rubbish is a “Good discovery”.

Rubbish. Detail. (photo © Laurence Pierrain-Mateudi)

Rubbish. Detail. (photo © Laurence Pierrain-Mateudi)

Rubbish (photo © Laurence Pierrain-Mateudi)

Rubbish. Detail. (photo © Laurence Pierrain-Mateudi)

Rubbish (photo © Laurence Pierrain-Mateudi)

To learn more about RUBBISH’s work click here.

To learn more about Le M.U.R. click here.

 

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I Love Paris In The Winter… New Street Art Dans la Rue

La neige! C’est romantique!

It is snowing in many city Street Art spots this time of year – transforming the evolving visual conversation on the street to something more. It may make you walk faster past it on your way to school or office or apartment, but for Demian Smith, editor at Alternative Paris, it is a source of inspiration, even romance. Today he shares these latest snowy Parisian Street Art scenes exclusively with BSA readers along with his ruminations.
 

The cradle of the French revolutions, a steep and hilly area in north-east Paris known as Belleville, was covered in snow just a day or so ago, and my first thought was to withdraw from this beautiful, dangerous spectacle.

2501 (photo © Demian Smith)

Why expose myself voluntarily to the heart-rending and often precarious trials of seeking out artwork displayed in the streets without censure? Was I going to see an old masterwork? —No.*

However, after reflection, I overcame my repugnance. I had, in my excursions, noticed, among the multifarious artistic creations, so many heterogeneous elements; that is to say, dozens of artists and respondents of all social positions and of so many nationalities, that I began to think it would perhaps be useful to my compatriots at Brooklyn Street Art to view photographs by and by a sincere recital, photographed with a Canon 350D, of the events that are ever more frequently taking place in this part of Western Europe.

Le Module de Zeer (photo © Demian Smith)

All photos were all taken in Belleville in north-east Paris, currently the most active zone for street art and graffiti anywhere in France.

Bvault (photo © Demian Smith)

Jean le Gac (photo © Demian Smith)

Roti (photo © Demian Smith)

Artist Unknown (photo © Demian Smith)

Fred le Chevalier (photo © Demian Smith)

Fred le Chevalier, Gzup and Diamant (photo © Demian Smith)

Fred le Chevalier (photo © Demian Smith)

Ben Vautier (photo © Demian Smith)

Stinkfish (photo © Demian Smith)

MW (photo © Demian Smith)

Artist Unknown (photo © Demian Smith)

Denk Becky (photo © Demian Smith)

Da Cruz for L.E.M.U.R. (photo © Demian Smith)

Cony, Tomek Pal Crew (photo © Demian Smith)

Artist Unknown (photo © Demian Smith)

Mural at rue Denoyez (photo © Demian Smith)

Rue Denoyez (photo © Demian Smith)

 

* Text is adapted from a passage in the 1871 publication, ‘The Insurrection in Paris, by an Englishman: An eye witness account of that frightful war and of the terrible evils which accompanied it’ (1871), on the author’s impressions of Belleville. -Demian Smith

 

Demian Smith is editor at Alternative Paris, which reports on Paris’ street art, graffiti and fringe culture. Our special thanks to him for sharing this with BSA readers.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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New Heart City Gallery Presents: FKDL “Midi – Minuit” (Paris, France)

When the speed of an object approaches the speed of light, time slows down, and the space distances contract. With the exhibition “Midi-Minuit” – “Midday-Midnight” – shown from January 25th to March 10th, 2013 at the New Heart City Gallery, Franck Duval gives us an artistic reflection on time and light and involves us into an imaginary experience of these two components of our universe.

For this new exhibition, the artist abandons the Scotch tape in favor of collage and painting. He remains true to his feminine silhouettes, but creates new characters and highlights them by making them ambassadors of different times of the day or night. He especially addresses in some of his works the question of the volume with installations made by accumulations of objects in connection with time and light like old clocks or flashlights.

http://newheartcitygallery.blogspot.com/2013/01/actuellement-et-prochainement.html

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Fun Friday 12.07.12

Happy Friday! Wipe that stain off your shirt from last nights office holiday party and brush your teeth and get to work so you can be a zombie all day. For our part –  it’s time for a little Street Art roundup of some things that you might like.

1. Miami in The House All Weekend
2. “Deck the Walls” at Stolen Space (London)
3. “Rinse & Repeat” Group Show at Ambush (Sydney, Australia)
4. Skewville in France, Quel Surprise! (Lille, France)
5. Jaye Moon at Paik Hae Young (Seoul)
6. “Sowing The Seeds of Love” – Just Seeds Group Show Friday (Manhattan)
7. Icy & Sot at Nu Hotel (Brooklyn)
8. Zombie Nation – Ezra Eismont
9. Herakut The Giant Story Book Project (VIDEO)
10. SWOON’s Konbit Shelter – Art in the Streets – MOCAtv (VIDEO)

Miami in The House All Weekend

This weekend the fun is for Street Art in Miami and check out some of our recommendations (Best Miami Street Art: BSA Picks Awesomest for Basel ’12) for hoofing it around that we posted Wednesday. Tonight of course there are a number of grand opening parties/after parties (including Fountain), but really just being on the street is equally fun if not funner! Thanks for that adverb from 7 year old Darnell Wilsen of Brooklyn.

Dcypher, CBS and Supher wall. Wynwood Arts Disctrict 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Entes, Pesimo and Jade wall. Detail. Wynwood Arts District 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of Art Fairs, Events and Street Murals click here and here.

But not all the fun is in Miami here are a few picks of what’s happening elsewhere in the world:

“Deck the Walls” at Stolen Space (London)

Greeting cards are a nice way to say Merry Christmas to Grandma, and for suburban white middle class families to distribute photos proving that their kids are not on drugs. This is Stolen Space Christmas Show celebrates greetings cards and holiday cheer with D*Face, Word to Mother, Will Barras and David Bray among others putting their own imprimatur on Christmas. Come on, Uncle Bert and Aunt Dolittle will be there, so comb your hair, put some shoes on and get out of the house!

D*Face on the Streets of Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“Rinse & Repeat” Group Show at Ambush (Sydney, Australia)

With a collection of Australian Graffiti and Street Art Artists, “Rinse & Repeat” finds its inspiration by taking a look at the Old Masters and re-interpreting them with their own styles and techniques. An interesting proposition albeit fraught with risks – there are a few good ones here though that will delight your academic/street sensibilities. Included in the line up are: Adnate (AWOL Crew), Bridge Stehli, Cam Wall, Carl Steffan, Deams (AWOL Crew), Fintan Magee, Guido van Helten, Phibs, Shannon Crees,  Slicer (AWOL Crew) , Team and Teazer.

For further information regarding this exhibition click here.

Skewville in France, Quel Surprise! (Lille, France)

Hope they realize what they have gotten themselves into, but Vertikal Gallery is hosting Brooklyn Street Art collective Skewville for a solo show entitled “Be Inside”. Considering we have had one or two Lillians in Brooklyn putting work up on the streets over the last few years, this sounds like a cultural exchange program of some kind, right?

Skewville being territorial in Bushwick. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this exhibition click here.

Jaye Moon at Paik Hae Young (Seoul)

New York Street Artist Jaye Moon is in Seoul, Korea on an Art Residency Invitation and tonight his her solo exhibition with her “Lego Tree House” opening tonight at the Paik Hae Young Gallery.

Jaye Moon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this exhibition click here.

“Sowing The Seeds of Love” – Just Seeds Group Show Friday (Manhattan)

The Art Collective Just Seeds new group exhibition titled “Sowing The Seeds of Love” opens tonight at the Munch Gallery in Manhattan. The artists in Just Seeds aim to put forth their world views on a variety of issues – looking to inform and bolster you through the power of art. Participating in this show are: Jesus Barraza, Kevin Caplicki, Melanie Cervantes, Santiago Doesntsitstill, Alec Dunn, Molly J Fair, Thea Gahr, Nicolas Lampert, Josh MacPhee, Fernando Marti, Colin Matthes, Dylan Miner, Roger Peet, Jesse Purcell, Pete Railand, Favianna Rodriguez, Shaun Slifer, Chris Stain, Meredith Stern, Mary Tremonte and Bec Young.

Chris Stain and Billy Mode in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this exhibition click here.

Icy & Sot at Nu Hotel (Brooklyn)

Iranian expats and brothers Icy & Sot invite you to celebrate with them their first foray in the hospitality business. The brothers designed a room at the Nu Hotel in Brooklyn and you are invited to come over tonight for some refreshments.

Icy & Sot in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this event click here.

Zombie Nation – Ezra Eismont

Artist Ezra Eismont has a Kickstarter fundraiser to help publish his Zombie Nation book, which features his zombified portraits of icons and celebrities. Seems like a heartwarming holiday thing to do, doesn’t it? Please support your local artists and small family businesses.

 

Herakut The Giant Story Book Project (VIDEO)

 

SWOON’s Konbit Shelter – Art in the Streets – MOCAtv (VIDEO)

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Images of the Week 11.18.12

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, featuring Avoid, Bast, Cekis, Enzo & Nio, JM, Ludo, Numb Nuts, Paul Insect, Rone, Spanky, and Swampy.

Spanky The Goblin King still mad about the election. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BAST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BAST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LUDO is just over the hill in the French Countryside (photo © LUDO)

Parisian Street and Fine Artist LUDO shared these exclusive images of his new installations outside Paris. Says the artist, he decided to see how his stuff would look outside the typical urban settings. Also, he just wanted to get out of the city, “just the need for fresh air,” he says.

LUDO in the French Countryside (photo © LUDO)

LUDO in the French Countryside (photo © LUDO)

LUDO in the French Countryside (photo © LUDO)

Paul Insect (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Numb Nuts (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Enzo & Nio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Enzo & Nio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Enzo & Nio. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Enzo & Nio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swampy & Avoid (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cekis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rone (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JM (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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New David Gouny in Paris

New images here of a curious collection of curvaceous ladies from Paris by David Gouny. Meant to be amusing and empowering, the messages and symbols they appear with are aimed at the French but have a wider appeal in their simplicity and cheekiness.

David Gouny (photo © David Gouny)

David Gouny (photo © David Gouny)

David Gouny (photo © David Gouny)

David Gouny (photo © David Gouny)

David Gouny (photo © David Gouny)

David Gouny (photo © David Gouny)

David Gouny (photo © David Gouny)

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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FUN FRIDAY 09.14.12

It’s a BSA Fun Friday and we’re gonna tell you all about some stoopendous Street Art shows this weekend from Brooklyn to Chicago to Paris to Vienna but first….Everybody get up and do some FF dancing like my homeboy PSY in Korea.

This sh*t is Gangnsta, bro.

SEOUL, YOU THINK YOU GOT TALENT…

1. VIDEO “Gangnam Style” Dance Frenzy from Korea
2. Bäst Sells Olive Oil and Opens New Show at Opera Gallery (NYC)
3. “Just Your Type” at Low Brow Artique (BKLN)
4. LUDO “Metal Miltia” at Galerie Itinerrance (PARIS)
5. “All Write You Scumbags” with Reyes and Steel at Klughaus (Chinatown, NYC)
6. “Dominant Species” by ROA at 941 Geary (San Francisco)
7. GAIA, MOMO AND MICHAEL OWEN in “Zim Zum” (Baltimore)
8. Don’t Fret in “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Chardonnay”(Chicago)
9. Tel Aviv: Israeli Street Artist and poet Know Hope “Others’ Truths”
10. The Black River Festival in Vienna, Austria
11. Stephen Powers AKA ESPO “A Love Letter for You”
12. “Permanence at Space 27 Gallery in Montreal, Canada
13. eL Seed in Tunisia (VIDEO)
14. When Lucent Met Herakut (VIDEO)
15. Voice Of Art “Graffiti Against The System” Presents GATS (VIDEO)

Bäst Sells Olive Oil and Opens New Show at Opera Gallery (NYC)

Street Artist Bäst has always mixed a savory chopped image salad.  With his dicing, cutting, collaging and stencilling work on the street over the last decade, a lot of his recent stencils are twisted Bodega style signs advertising basic staples for the pantry. But of all the collaborative advertising that Street Artists have been getting into, we never could have predicted this; Olive oil. You can actually go to snooty classist foodery Dean and Deluca and buy a bottle of Bast style olive oil right now. Only 500 were made in this limited edition and the oil smells better than the petroleum-spilled brownfields in industrial Bushwick where you usually see his work, so why not?

This Brooklyn native artist has been amusing, hijacking, and inspiring with his work on the streets of New York for well over a decade and it’s also cool to see his gallery work at his solo show “Germs Tropicana” opened last night at Opera in Manhattan. If the pieces are too pricey, Dean and Deluca is just a couple of blocks away!

Bäst (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“Just Your Type” at Low Brow Artique (BKLN)

Outside is the brand new wall piece by ND’A and Dirty Bandits. Inside this art store/gallery they are joined QRST and Gilf! in this new small show called “Just Your Type”, opening tonight.

ND’A (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

LUDO “Metal Miltia” at Galerie Itinerrance (PARIS)

Parisian Street Artist LUDO was in multiple shows around the world and blanketed the Paris Metro and bus shelters with his subvertisements for two years before a gallery in his native city invited him inside. Tonight Galerie Itinerrance will have LUDO’s first solo show entitled “Metal Militia”.

With a truly unique approach to social critique that serves as a cunning indictment of the advertising industry and the military industrial complex, you won’t find anything like the pretty disgust than the work of LUDO.

LUDO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“All Write You Scumbags” with Reyes and Steel at Klughaus (Chinatown, NYC)

Ever the ballsy wiseguy, the Klaughaus Gallery in Manhattan continues to produce and present quality shows that challenge your possibly prejudicial pre-formed perceptions of propriety and pugnacity. This time they invited West Coast natives Reyes and Steel to exhibit at their space with a show titled “All Write You Scumbags”.

From the press release, “The New York debut for both artists and showcases a distinct chemistry cultivated over years working together as friends, creative partners and members of MSK, one of the highest regarded graffiti artist collectives in the world.” To find out what this means go to their show opening tonight.

Reyes (image © courtesy of the gallery)

Steel (image © courtesy of the gallery)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“Dominant Species” by ROA at 941 Geary (San Francisco)

Street Artist ROA concludes his US Summer Tour 2012 in San Francisco at his own victorious opening Saturday at  941 Geary Gallery. The show is aptly called “Dominant Species” and will feature many of the cast of creatures you have grown to expect.

“Here is a Street Artist who has very effectively escaped the street, an introvert traveling quietly in the extroverted world, with open eyes and an acute talent for observation; decoding the universe through study of the natural, and unnatural.” BSA

ROA at work on his recent stop over in NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

To read BSA’s feature on ROA this week and to see beautiful images of his work in Mexico, Africa and Cambodia earlier this year click here.

GAIA, MOMO AND MICHAEL OWEN in “Zim Zum” (Baltimore)

GAIA, MOMO AND MICHAEL OWEN are transforming the space at the Creative Alliance Gallery in Baltimore with a collaboration that promises to spill over the street and beyond. If you want to see what the trio is up to put the gameboy down and head out to the gallery for their opening tomorrow night with an exhibition titled Zim Zum.

MOMO at work on his recent participation on Baltimore Open Walls this Summer. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

See MOMO in GEOMETRICKS, presented by BSA and curated by Hellbent next weekend in BROOKLYN, baby.

Don’t Fret in “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Chardonnay”(Chicago)

Chicago based Street Artist Don’t Fret has a new solo show, “No Shoes, No Shirt, No Chardonnay” opening Saturday night at the Bizzare Gallery in Chicago.  So if you are planning to arrive naked, BYOB and put your wallet under your armpit. Lo-fi comic book doodling that make most people look like family day at the tractor pull, Don’t Fret drawings are people you know and often dang hilarious.

Don’t Fret in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this Weekend:

  • If you are in Tel Aviv: Israeli Street Artist and poet Know Hope is releasing a new zine titled “Others’ Truths” and he’s mounted a small exhibition of the drawings that illustrate it. This exhibition will remain open all day today until 4:00 pm. Click here for more details on this show.
  • The 2012 Edition of The Black River Festival in Vienna, Austria is now open. The festival has an important selection of Street Artists putting up works throughout an entire week of programs. Roster includes Blu, Evan Roth, Florian Riviere, Isaac Cordal, Mark Jenkins, and ZukClub. Click here for more details on this festival.
  • The film screening by Stephen Powers AKA ESPO “A Love Letter for You” is being hosted by the Joshua Liner Gallery in conjunction with their current show by the artist “A Word is Worth A Thousand Pictures”. The screening will take place tomorrow at The Tribeca Grand Hotel. The artist will be in attendance along with the director and a Q & A  will follow the film. Click here for more details on this event.
  • “Permanence” is the title of the new group show at Space 27 Gallery in Montreal, Canada. With an ambitious line up international and Canadian artists this show aims to juxtapose the “ephemeral nature of street art with the permanence of collectible art.” From their press release. Click here for more details regarding this show.

In the spirit of Unity, we present Street Artist eL Seed in Tunisia (VIDEO)

This week there has been much news of sadness, discord, and suffering in Libya, Egypt, and Yemen. Street Artist and painter eL Seed gives us a moment to pull back and reflect on the beauty and poignancy that a religious belief system can contribute to the lives of some.

Here he creates ‘Madinati’ Calligraffiti on Jara Mosque in Gabes.

When Lucent Met Herakut by The One Point Eight (VIDEO)

“A short documentary which presents the show involving graffiti duo Herakut and the Lucent Dossier group, detailing both the rehearsal process and the final performance in a unique and different way.”

Voice Of Art “Graffiti Against The System” Presents GATS (VIDEO)

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Galerie Itinerrance Presents: LUDO “Metal Militia” (Paris, France)

LUDO

“I’ve been working hard this summer and I’m pleased to let you know that I have a solo show opening next week, first time ever showing in my home town Paris.
The show is called “Metal Militia”, opening september 14th at Galerie Itinerrance.
It’s a mix of canvases, this is the first time I’ll be showing big works on canvases plus pieces on paper and sculptures. All the pieces are graphite and oil painting”. LUDO

LUDO (image © Courtesy of the artist)

Au travers de son oeuvre Ludo relie le monde des plantes et des animaux avec notre univers technologique et  notre « quête de modernité », il observe l’humanité, déchiffre notre société afin de mieux s’exprimer dans les limites qu’elle impose.
Ses premières incursions dans l’art de rue ont eu lieu il y a plus de 10 ans. Il se tourne vers le collage en 2007 afin de maintenir une approche transgressive tout en se protégeant des peines juridiques les plus sévères.
« Revanche de la Nature ». Le titre inquiétant de sa série convient à son contenu : un nouvel ordre, dans lequel la faune et la flore se sont métamorphosés en des organismes hybrides, des créatures chimériques qui s’approprient les attributs de notre société, afin de reprendre leur place sur notre planète.
Des caméras de sécurité s’échappent des pistils d’un lis ; les abeilles voltigent, cachées derrière masques à gaz, des crânes humains se regroupent pour former une grappe de  raisin.

Tirées avec précision d’illustrations botaniques,

LUDO (image © Courtesy of the artist)

7bis, rue R. Goscinny 75013 Paris
Visite sur Rendez vous au (+33)06 19 98 06 33
Métro Ligne 14/ RER C  Bibliothèque François Mitterrand

 

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On The Road With Nanook, Ever, Sten & Lex Through Italy and France

What did you do this summer? We’re starting off the week with a colorful and detailed travelog  from Rosanna Bach, who really gives BSA readers a sense of the experience for Street Artists who go to distant places to create their art on walls for fun and festivals. Thanks to Rosanna as photographer and contributor, here you have an opportunity to spend some time in Italy traveling with Ever, Nanook, Sten & Lex as they go from Rome to Foligno, Italy. She documents their participation for the second edition of Attack Festival and captures the artists working under the scorching sun and in intimate, quiet settings. In this BSA exclusive Rosanna also put in words her summer experiences as she leaves Foligno for Paris where she documented EVER as he participated in Le Mur.

Roma to Foligno. We de-board the train and are about to exit the station when Ever waves me back. Sten is scuttling back and forth in the train like a trapped hamster. We thought he was stuck in there looking for an open door so we wave him over to the open door but he does not get out. He is struck with confusion as different orders fly from different directions. Meanwhile, the passengers are hanging over the windows to see what all the fuss is about.

Mission accomplished; Laptop is retrieved.

Barely begun, this trip already seems promising.

Ever. Roma to Foligno. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Foligno, Italy. This was once called the “Centre of the World” because the Pope had supposedly kept his treasury here in the 15th century. It is certainly a beautiful place, although considerably more modest than its name implies. This is where we would spend the next five days and would be introduced to the “Hurdi Gurdi”. It is also a place where it seems that the solution to every problem was, “Lets go have a coffee”.

Sten & Lex, Nanook, and Ever had been painting together at the Open Walls Festival in Baltimore just a few months back. Three very different artists, from three corners of the world, were here meeting again in the “Centre of the World” for the second ever “Attack Festival”.  Upon arrival we learn that we have arrived early. Two months early!

In September Foligno’s Attack Festival will be graced by the likes of; 108, Andrea Abbatangelo, Achille, Airone,  Bol 23,  Danilo Bucchi, Stefano Canto,  Mario Consiglio, Diamond TTS, Alberto Di Fabio, Ericailcane, Hitnes, Hogre,  JB Rock, Kindergarten,Lucamaleonte, Martina Merlini&Tellas, Roman Minin, Moneyless, Ozmo, Alice Pasquini, Cristiano Petrucci, David Pompili, David Eron Salvadei, Ale Senso, Sten&Lex.

Main Square, Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook, Ever and Sten & Lex check out their new walls. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Sten & Lex. The two Italians have been working together for more then 10 years and are considered kind of the “Mama and Papa of stencil” in Italy where their current style consists of “stencil posters”; large scale wheat pasted portraits that they hand-cut intricate patterns onto. They usually use portraits of strangers, however this piece was of a friend’s brother who had taken his own life.  They will return in September for round two.

Sten & Lex, Foligno, Italy. (photo © Federica Tega)

Sten & Lex, Foligno, Italy. (photo © Federica Tega)

Nanook.  Fairly new to the street art scene (painting large scale for a year or so), he has left his studio that he used to share with “Gaia” back in Baltimore for new adventures in the old-world. He has been recording on paper his plan as he goes (from Berlin to Budapest and now Italy) “I feel so privileged to even be able to paint in this town, with all this history and the beautiful buildings”, he writes.

A calm and humble figure, he is constantly knocking out new sketches, whether using black ink or espresso in his black notebook, leaving no time for siestas. His hunger to learn is energizing; “I would just love to work and learn from an old master like they have here in Italy”.

As his style evolves playing by with realism, abstract lines and shapes, it will be very interesting to see how this young artist grows. In this piece he incorporated the shape of Umbria, the region in which Foligno lies. Now he is a one-way ticket to Buenos Aires. Lets see what happens…

Nanook “Siesta Time”. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Argentine artist Ever creates the most political work out of the three.

It must be a challenge to try and explain yourself in a foreign language that; you are not actually a devoted worshipper of Mao Tse Tung but that you are in fact talking about human contradiction, how in times of crisis people always seem to be convinced that the opposite is the solution. For example, as a result of the current decline of the capitalist system, many are swaying towards the left side of the political spectrum. “We are looking outward into one room. But why don’t we go to another room to find new solutions?” asks Ever.

Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Paint bucket. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook, Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

As passers stopped to comment, Nanook looks frazzled and Ever lets them ramble on for minutes without a clue what they are talking about. “Si si bene bene grazie, bon journi!” he’d reply to them and they’d be on their way.

The language barrier doesn’t seem to faze this one character though. He is here to stay with his beloved Hurdi Gurdi. “We make artistic exchange!” he cries.

The Hurdi Gurdi. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook, Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Once the 3 x 5 meter mural was finished I was expecting some sort of a scream of joy or something like that, but Ever just said: “I am always dissatisfied with a wall when I finish it. I never like it at first.”

We go from a scorching roadside in Foligno to “Le Mur” beside a trendy café in Montmartre, Paris. One of the few legal walls in Paris – it is a billboard-style space that a new artist is invited to paint every two weeks. “It is really hard to paint here in Paris, especially big walls,” Ever explains.

Paris. The place where Ever has spent the last 2 months, and where he lived for a while back in 2010. Paris was the turning point for him; he began to inject politics into his art. “Paris is a political place for me”.

Ever. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Ever. “Free Tibet” Detail. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

After just one night the wall was tagged and “Free Tibet” stickers had been stuck on the soldiers’ suits. “No, no this is good, this is France, it’s a good thing when the people react. We leave them on. This is like a conversation with the people.”

Ever. “Free Tibet”. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

A lady who must have been about 80 years old appeared on day one, and whipped out a huge DSLR camera from her purse. She returned there everyday since. She even brought photographs she had taken of the process and took the time to hand write the date and place on each photograph.

Ever. “Free Tibet” Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Ever. “Free Tibet” Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Why are you guys doing this?!” An agitated pedestrian asked me hastily. Once I explained that concept to him he replied, reassured; “Oh I see, it’s meant to be provocative.”

Ever. “Free Tibet”. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

From what I understand, after listening to countless conversations about street art, these artists are really looking for long term investors for their work, not just fast money. They’re resisting becoming a passing phase only to be dropped like a hot potato after this street art wave dies down. Fame seems to be irrelevant – but if it is a by-product then so be it. “I don’t like business, I just want to paint”, Ever says.

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Many thanks to Rosanna Bach for her diligence, passion and her talents.

http://rosannabach.tumblr.com/

http://openwallsbaltimore.com/

http://associazioneattack.wordpress.com/

http://eversiempre.com/

http://stenlex.net/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanookart

http://lemur.asso.fr/

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