All posts tagged: Nawer

Layer Cake’s Versus: IV – A Revolutionary Collision of Art and Tradition at Subliminal in LA

Layer Cake’s Versus: IV – A Revolutionary Collision of Art and Tradition at Subliminal in LA

The vibrant margins of cities around the globe have long echoed with the silent yet visually boisterous language of graffiti. For artists and graffiti writers, these urban practices and canvases are sacred, bound by several unspoken codes that regulate the street, and may vary somewhat from country to country, city to city. One that is universal: you do not “go over” or paint atop another’s work unless you intend a deliberate provocation.

Layer Cake vs. Shepard Fairey & Chaz Bojórquez. Layer Cake: The Versus Project IV. Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yet, Munich-based graffiti veterans Patrick Hartl and Christian “C100” Hundertmark, known collectively as Layer Cake, dare to challenge this rule in a groundbreaking collaborative project titled “Versus”. Presenting the fourth iteration of this show at the Subliminal Projects Gallery in Los Angeles, the “Versus IV” exhibition features a brand new roster of collaborations. It is a testament to the boundless possibilities when artists embrace challenge, change, and true collaboration.

Layer Cake vs. Various & Gould. Layer Cake: The Versus Project IV. Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Layer Cake’s audacious process commenced in their Munich studio during the last decade or so. They initiated canvases, leaving them deliberately unfinished before shipping them to various artists worldwide. These artists, in an act of trust and faith and an urge to collaborate, completed the paintings without prior discussion of details with Layer Cake. In some instances, this exchange occurred multiple times, spanning up to two years. The artworks emerged as stunning mosaics or hand style and eclectic modernism, a synthesis of diverse visual languages, methodologies, and ideas – a reflection of the artists’ non-verbal dialogues with one another as well as their introspections on personal boundaries.

The Versus project gathers a mosaic of artists, from Hera to MadC to Rocco and His Brothers to “Chaz” Bojórquez and Shepard Fairey, united by a fervent passion for style writing, street art, and graffiti. Each artist brings their distinct style to the canvas and in doing so, contributes to a diverse spectrum that blurs the lines between individual contribution and collective creation. These works aren’t just paintings; they’re conversations, layered dialogues that traverse geographical and artistic divides, embodying a unique intersection of graffiti and contemporary art.

Layer Cake vs. Carolina Falkholt. Layer Cake: The Versus Project IV. Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hartl and Hundertmark, despite being rooted in the world of graffiti, have constantly evolved their artistic expressions. Their collaborative moniker, “Layer Cake,” perfectly encapsulates their artistic ethos. Like a lush multi-tiered confection, theirs is a collection of artworks that is infused with depth – from Patrick’s writing elements juxtaposed against Christian’s hard-edged abstract forms. This joint effort, as they remark, challenges artists to confront an existing work rather than the pristine white of a blank canvas, pushing them out of their comfort zones and into new horizons.

Layer Cake vs. Nawer, Flying Förtress, MadC . Layer Cake: The Versus Project IV. Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For the uninitiated and the aficionados alike, “Versus: IV” at Subliminal Projects is more than an exhibition; It’s an invitation into a realm where graffiti’s age-old traditions meet the revolutionary ethos of contemporary art. It re-defines visual and psychological spaces where boundaries, both inner and outer, are tested and where creativity resists limits. Layer Cake’s initiative doesn’t just question the norms of the graffiti world; it celebrates the transformative power of collaboration in art.

Layer Cake vs. Cryptik. Layer Cake: The Versus Project IV. Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA/Urban Nation’s Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo saw the new works going up at Subliminal Projects yesterday, with Layer Cake leading the way. Please join us all Saturday night with artist and host Shepard Fairey and graffiti godfather “Chaz” Bojórquez for a panel discussion and a grand opening for Layer Cake: Versus IV.

Patrick Hartl and Christian Hundertmark (C100) and Patrick Hartl AKA Layer Cake discuss their process and the subtleties of being “visible” and being “present” on the canvases as they collaborate with other artists for their Versus Project. Layer Cake: The Versus Project IV. Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Join us Saturday, September 16th, 6-7 PM for the Opening Reception. To kick off the reception, the gallery will host a special Artist Talk at 6:15 PM with Layer Cake, featuring contributing artists Shepard Fairey (@obeygiant) and Chaz Bojórquez (@chaz_bojorquez), moderated by Steven P. Harrington co-founder of Brooklyn Street Art (@bkstreetart). RSVP to rsvp@subliminalprojects.com to attend. This exhibition is made possible with support from OBEY GIANT ART & URBAN NATION MUSEUM 

CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

AKTE ONE, Bond Truluv, Carolina Falkholt, Chaz Bojórquez, Cren, CRYPTIK, Dave The Chimp, Flying Förtress, Formula76, HERA, HNRX, Layer Cake, MadC, MAMBO (Flavien Demarigny), Matthias Edlinger, Łukasz Habiera Nawer, Peter “Paid” Levine, Rocco & His Brothers, Shepard Fairey, Various and Gould, and Zepha (Vincent Abadie Hafez).

Click HERE for more information about this exhibition and Art Talk.

Subliminal Projects:

1331 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90026

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“RETRANSMISSION__” Presents a Contemporary Collective from Poland

“RETRANSMISSION__” Presents a Contemporary Collective from Poland

This fresh new survey of Polish artists primarily born in the 1980s is called RETRANSMISSION__ . It has as much to do with the influence of digital arts as it does with the plastic arts and art in the street.

Bartek Swiatecki Pener. “Mirror Lake”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)

This group collection at the Denver location of Mirus Gallery may possibly represent a physical lynchpin to the coming metaverse, minus the Oculus headset. A professionalized crew of artists formally trained in studies like architecture and urbanism, illustration, graphic design, painting, typography, and sculpture; These are not the kids on the street who popularized first and second-wave graffiti of the West, but rather the students of the scene infused by lore and not necessarily beholden to it.

“This collective of artists have lived and worked amongst each other,” says the gallery press release, “individually and sometimes through collaboration for many years, establishing a contemporary style unique to Poland.”

Oskar Podolski. “Full Time Crime”. “Expect 1.0” “Nothing 2.0” RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)

To mention that a certain number of these artists have a past in graffiti/street art culture sets the context of the artist’s common background, but those influences appear through mirrors, or software filters, if at all. You may look for deconstructed letter forms or raw off-kilter placements of elements, but this is such a self-aware, contemporary tableau, one may need x-ray vision to see the street from here.

Spray tags, skateboard graphics, street interventions, and covert acts of illegal artmaking may be influences in this corner of the street scene – one that has matured in the last decade and a half to embrace geometry and sophisticated illustration. It’s maturity now and development of a visual language that brings one to RETRANSMISSION__ where we are currently meditating on form, texture, refracted light, and balanced composition.

Featured Artists: Bartłomiej Chwilczyński, Bartosz Janczak, Chazme, Lukasz Berger Cekas, Lukasz Habiera Nawer, Oskar Podolski, Pawel Ryzko, Bartek Świątecki (Pener), Robert Proch, Sainer, Seikon

Bartosz Janczak. “Faun”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Sainer. “Bez Nazwi-1”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Bartolomiej Chwilcznski. “Journey XCII” “Journey LXXXVI”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Pawel Ryzko. (left) “Modulation 01″ Chazme. (right) “Rise and Shine”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Seikon. “Back to the Roots”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Lukasz Berger Cekas. “Inter + Ferre”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Lukasz Berger Cekas. “Inter + Ferre”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Nawer. (center) “Transmission Fault 2”. “Transmission Fault 1”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Robert Proch. (background left). Foreground. “Sketches 2003-2018”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Left, Oskar Podolski. “Complete Manual of L1fe” and “Exclamat-i-on”. Center and right, Chazme. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Left and center, Oskar Podolski. Right, background Bartosz Janczak. Right, foreground Nawer. “Inter + Ferre”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)

RETRANSMISSION_ At Mirus Gallery in Denver, Colorado is currently on view to the general public until July 8th. Click HERE for more details and schedules.

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Fun Friday 09.28.30

BROOKLYN! Jay-Z opens the new stadium in Brooklyn tonight with a lot of fanfare – and if you don’t have tickets just have a blast in the hundreds of studio spaces and gallery shows and “in the street” installations and performances starting tonight at the Dumbo Arts Festival that brings thousands coursing through the neighborhood over the next three days.

Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Quincy Jones. (VIDEO)

Here’s a clean way to see writing on Brooklyn walls and to practice your lyrical skillz.

1. Jay-Z, Lil Wayne, and Quincy Jones. (VIDEO)
2. Nuart 2012 Begins in Norway
3. NY ART BOOK FAIR at PS1 (LIC, Queens)
4. DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL 2012 (Brooklyn)
5. Futurism 2.0 at Blackall Studios (London)
6. JAZ “Metodologias del Discurso” (Argentina)
7. Narcelio Grud “Paraphernalia” (VIDEO)
8. Daytime Bombing with HNR (VIDEO)

Nuart 2012 Begins in Norway

Named the Cultural Capital of Europe a few years back, Stavanger has remarkably open minds and has embraced a select slice of the Street Art scene that is displayed this time of year via large mural installations, indoor shows, and speakers. NUART was born here and it set the standards for many Street Art Festivals that have followed since NUiART first opened its walls to visiting international Street Artists in the early 2000s. NUART 2012 opened Thursday with a full day of activities related to NUART PLUS and it will continue thorughout the weekend with the opening of Tout Scene on Saturday. The list of participating artists this year include: AAKASH NIHALANI (US), DOLK (NO), EINE (UK), RON ENGLISH (US), SABER (US), HOWNOSM (US), MOBSTR (UK) NIELS SHOW MEULMAN (NL), JORDAN SEILER (US), THE WA (FR), SICKBOY (UK).

How & Nosm. Detail. (photo © Ian Cox)

For more information on all activities and schedules regarding NUART PLUS click here.

For more information regarding Saturday’s Opening of Tout Scene click here.

NY ART BOOK FAIR at PS1 (LIC, Queens)

People who are designing and creating independent zines and books are a really important part of the Street Art and graffiti D.I.Y. culture and PS1 in Long Island City is a vast feast of cool printed matter this weekend.  Starting today and running through Sunday, the Fair is presented by the esteemed establishment Printed Matter and if you don’t find stuff that engages you and blows your mind, it will be a surprise. One of the groups we highly recommend that you go and visit is the Pantheon Projects table (#12) where you’d find delicious hand crafted zines by Avoid, Droid, R2 and Carnage.

Illegal Trouble II by Droid and R2. B & W photos, poems, recipes and interviews with Fade AA and Skuzz. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

These little art books capture stuff on the street in a way that helps you organize and appreciate it – with wit and a street poet approach. They also can give advice occasionally, like the recipe we found for juicing cucumbers/pineapple and something else to  produce “donut water”. Feast your eyes on the dope  images and take in the authors’ notes and observations as they rack up serious road miles for the love of art and discovery. Here is a selection of images from spreads of these zines to give you an idea of what we’re talking about.

Illegal Trouble II by Droid and R2. B & W photos, poems, recipes and interviews with Fade AA and Skuzz. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Live The Dream Learn to Die II by Droid 907 and Avoid. A Road Trip with B & W photos, maps, inserts, guides and journals.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Live The Dream Learn to Die II by Droid 907 and Avoid. A Road Trip with B & W photos, maps, inserts, guides and journals.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carnage. The stickers issue.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carnage. The stickers issue.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carnage. The doors issue.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carnage. The stickers issue.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information, schedules and transportation regarding this Art Fair click here.

DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL 2012 (Brooklyn)

This weekend Brooklyn is the the cultural STAR of New York City once again. The DUMBO Arts Festival opens today with more than 500 artists participating from all over the world. There will be open studios for you to visit, outdoor installations for you to explorer and huge video projections for you to be in awe of. Hop on the F train and get off at Jay Street and take in the breathtaking and majestic views of the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges with the city’s skyline as a background.

XAM installation from DUMBO Arts FEst 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Leo Kuelbs projection from Dumbo Arts Fest 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For full schedule of events click here.

Futurism 2.0 at Blackall Studios (London)

The Future is in London tonight with FUTURISM 2.0 a group exhibition at the Blackall Studios presented by Gamma Proforma is now opens today to the general public with a reception starting at 6:00 pm.

Augustine Kofie, fresh from his participation in our GEOMETRICKS show show, turns his attention to London to showcase his beautiful paintings alongside other artists who collectively are illustrating the same direction of abstract geometry on the streets right now, including Phil Ashcroft, Boris Tellegen (Delta), James Choules (sheOne), Matt W. Moore, Mark Lyken, Sat One, Christopher Derek Bruno, Moneyless, Mr Jago, Nawer, O. Two, Morten Andersen, Keith Hopewell(Part2ism), Jaybo Monk, Poesia, Derm, Jerry Inscoe (Joker), Remi/Rough, Divine Styler and Clemens Behr.

Augustine Kofie. Detail. GEOMETRICKS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

JAZ “Metodologias del Discurso” (Argentina)

JAZ’s new solo show is now open at the Kosovo Gallery in Cordoba, Argentina. Known for his representational exploration of beasts and men this artists likess to work big with over scaled representations of his subjects. Internationally known, you’ll see his stuff at Street Art Festivals around the world, and in some back alleys and empty lots too.

JAZ at Open Walls in Baltimore this Spring. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Narcelio Grud “Paraphernalia” (VIDEO)

Daytime Bombing with HNR (VIDEO)

From Tags and Throws.com

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Gamma Proforma Presents: Futurism 2.0 A Group Exhibition (London, UK)

Futurism 2.0

FUTURISM 2.0 / Group Exhibition 

 

Augustine Kofie, Phil Ashcroft, Boris Tellegen (Delta), James Choules (sheOne), Matt W. Moore, Mark Lyken, Sat One, Christopher Derek Bruno, Moneyless, Mr Jago, Nawer, O. Two, Morten Andersen, Keith Hopewell(Part2ism), Jaybo Monk, Poesia, Derm, Jerry Inscoe (Joker), Remi/Rough, Divine Styler and Clemens Behr.

 

Blackall Studios

73 Leonard Street

Shoreditch, London,

EC2A 4QS.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7739 9551

Launch Night

Thursday 27th September, a private preview for Sponsors, VIP’s and collectors with artists present. A selection of left-field DJ’s will be providing the soundtrack, a mix of classic and contemporary sounds.

RSVP: events@gammaproforma.com

 

Public Opening/

Friday 28th September 2012, the gallery will be open to the public all day. DJ’s and drinks from 6pm.

The exhibition will run from Thursday 27th September – Tuessday 2nd October.

Friday – Saturday 11am – 8pm
Sunday 12pm – 5pm
Monday – Tuesday 11am – 8pm

Live Paint/

Saturday 29th / Sunday 30th September. An ensemble of artists will paint live in London.

 

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“We stand on the last promontory of the centuries! Why should we look back, when what we want is to break down the mysterious doors of the Impossible? Time and Space died yesterday. We already live in the absolute, because we have created eternal, omnipresent speed.” – Marinetti, Futurist Manifesto, 1909.

 

SYMMETRY ACROSS CENTURIES

In 1912, just three years after the manifesto was published, the Futurists exhibited in London for the first time. A hundred years later on September 27th, 2012, just three years after the creation of Graffuturism.com, the Graffuturists will exhibit for the first time in London at Blackall Studios.

 

THE IDEALS OF DYNAMISM AND PROGRESSION

At the core of both movements are the parallel ideals of “dynamism” and “progression.” Both of these keywords conjure a sense of action, motion and movement, wavering disturbances of change pulsing forward, like an electrocardiogram, along a historical continuum into the future. Marinetti extolled the virtues of a dynamic art form that was alive and motivated; Poesia, the founder of Graffuturism.com, has stated that the word Graffuturism was inspired by the desire to articulate a progressive impetus for graffiti.

 

URBAN, ONLINE, GLOBAL

Uplifting arms together in spirit, both these movements revel in the urban environment as a petri dish for the advancements and inventions of their age. Just as Futurism embraced the Industrial Age and its recently mechanized urban centers, Graffuturism embraces the Digital Age and its recently wired urban-global community. For the Futurists, the ideals of dynamism were expressed in images of their century’s new inventions, such as the motor car, the steam engine, the airplane, the telephone; whereas for the Graffuturists, the icons of salvation are the subway car, electric/ diesel freight trains, markers, spray paint, rollers, fire extinguishers, and so on. A different set of symbols for this century, but still imbued with the same impetus.

 

GRAFFITI, PAINTING AND ABSTRACTION

Because of the global composition of the group, the Graffuturists consist of disparate backgrounds, professions, and locations. They create in different styles, but their unifying theme is abstraction, their medium is painting, and their influence is graffiti. In their work on the streets and on canvas, these painters aspire to a high level of proficiency at their craft, which creates a visual poetry of depth and complexity. The Graffuturists could be classified as a High Style New Millennium Painting movement, consisting of a long dialectic and cross-pollination between advanced graffiti and fine art painting techniques.

 

Wildstyle Graffiti is combined with Abstract Expressionism or Geometric Abstraction, then transposed through the artist’s unique vision into a personal vocabulary of hybrid techniques, an experimental mix of the high and low, the intellectual and visceral, the visionary and the primitive. Whereas the Street Art movement of the mid-2000s tended to focus on collaged and wheat-pasted illustrations and figurative stencils, this group of artists focuses on the act of Painting, whether on the street or off, whether with spray paint or oils, with a fat cap or a sable brush.

Just as Be-bop developed from jazz, Raw Magazine from Superman comics, and Wildstyle from Original Writing, Graffuturism progresses from graffiti, and then takes up the oily-rag torch to ignite the future.

 

Daniel Feral (Pantheon Projects / 12oz Prophet)

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Gamma Proforma Presents: Futurism 2.0. Group Exhibition and Book Launch. (London, UK)

Futurism 2.0

Futurism 2.0 is an exhibition, film and book examining parallels between 20th Century Futurism and 21st Century abstract urban art.  In the film and book we talk to historians, critics, cultural figures and the artists at work. Discussing creative revolutions, our world and today’s 24/7 creative society. Uncovering this truly international movement, which connects via silicon and copper across the globe, where each development is transmitted digitally and consumed organically.

The exhibition takes place in London from 27th September – 3rd October. The launch party/private viewing is on the 27th September 6pm – Late – RSVP events@gammaproforma.com

Artists include: Augustine Kofie, Phil Ashcroft, Boris Tellegen (Delta), James Choules (sheOne), Matt W. Moore, Mark Lyken, Sat One, Christopher Derek Bruno, Moneyless, Mr Jago, Nawer, O. Two, Morten Andersen, Keith Hopewell(Part2ism), Jaybo Monk, Poesia, Derm, Jerry Inscoe (Joker), Remi/Rough, Clemens Behr and more…

Find out more about the project and the artists at www.futurism2-0.com, you can pre-order the book here.

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