All posts tagged: Paris

“See No Evil” in Bristol Brings Thousands to the Streets

August 29, 2012 , , , , , ,

Basking in the warm glow of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the “See No Evil” festival unabashedly celebrated Street Art in Bristol with thousands of fans thronging through the street while London was scurrying to deal with the threat of the unofficial Street Art of the Olympic kind.

In its second year, the one-week festival invited about 40 Street Artists from around the globe to hit up the walls of one long street while visitors traveled great distances to watch. In yet another sign of the full emergence of this first global art form, people witnessed live painting day and night, took photos, visited pop up galleries, attended graffiti workshops, danced to live music on six stages, and ate huge mountains of food at what organizers called a “New York Style” block party.

M City, Nick Walker, She One and El Mac. (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

On the map for the Street Art scene since the early 1980s, Bristol was known for its own style then, eventually giving rise to some of todays’ better known names. With this expansive celebration initiated by locally raised graffiti star Inkie, many styles from the worldwide scenes of graffiti and Street Art exist alongside one another in this grand thoroughfare. Notably only 3 of last years 72 or so works survived into this year (by Nick Walker, Aryz and El Mac), suggesting a very slim chance that many of these new pieces will last for long, but few seemed to mind this month.

El Mac. (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

The 2012 crop includes painters from Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Poland, Austria, and across the UK who used an estimated 3,500 cans of aerosol to collectively create a massive gallery of public art. With roots in what was once strictly illegal, it’s mind-bending to imagine how occasionally even a police officer or mayor has been photographed proudly adding to the artworks at festivals like these. Within the space of one small decade or so, the appreciation for this form of expression has skyrocketed and in fact this month thousands in Bristol are seeing no evil in it.

Our special thanks to the talent of photographer Ian Cox, who shares these images with BSA readers. Also thanks to Ben Merrington for his photo of the ROA piece.

M City, Nick Walker, She One. (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

M City (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

She One (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Conor Harrington (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Conor Harrington. Detail. (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

TCF Crew (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Sick Boy (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Sick Boy (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Pixel Pancho (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Mark Lyken (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Mark Lyken (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Paris (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Nychos, Flying Fortress (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Nychos (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Flying Fortress (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Cheo, Soker, CanTwo and Mark Bode. (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Mark Bode (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Duncan Jago (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Kashink (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Kashink (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

KTF Crew (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

She One (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

Lucy McLauchlan (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

ROA (photo © Ben Merrington 2012)

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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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Sten & Lex in Paris For Le M.U.R.

Sten & Lex in Paris For Le M.U.R.

July 23, 2012 , , ,

Le M.U.R. is a Parisian program of liberating billboards that since 2003 has been formally inviting artists to takeover spaces that would normally be filled with advertisements. So far this year they’ve had artists including Kid Acne and Vhils, with Ever and Astro coming up shortly. This month the Italian Street Art duo Sten & Lex were invited to install one of their distinctive sideways anonymous “stencil posters” in Paris for the Le M.U.R. program. As is true with much of their work, you may not recognize that this is a portrait of a woman unless you stand a back at a distance and change the perspective you are viewing it with.

Today we are pleased to introduce Victor Hugo Celaya, the man behind ARTO (Art Beyond Museums) and a resident of Mexico City, who was on hand to interview Sten & Lex about their piece. With Victor acting as our correspondent, our posting today is an exclusive collaborative feature just for you from ARTO and BSA.

Interview with Sten & Lex

Victor Hugo Celaya: What does creating work for such iconic program as Le M.U.R. mean to you?
Sten & Lex: Le M.U.R. was a very interesting project for us from the beginning because we had heard of it since 2003. In Paris it is almost an institution and also it’s the first time Italians intervene Le M.U.R.

Sten & Lex (photo © Victor Hugo Celaya)

Victor Hugo Celaya: The piece that you selected for Le M.U.R. — the image of a woman — does it have any special meaning?
Sten & Lex: No it doesn’t, it’s just an anonymous portrait of a woman. The portraits we usually do are of strangers. We usually chose the portrait of someone who looks like the people from the country where we do the work. On this occasion, this woman looks French but she isn’t. It’s an anonymous portrait of a serious person, which is in line with all the work we’ve been doing in the last few years.

Victor Hugo Celaya: Do you have a specific message you want to communicate through these anonymous portraits?
Sten & Lex: No, it’s a counter proposal to urban art that has taken on a more social and political nature lately. Hence, we prefer to do something on the side. We’ve never enjoyed doing pieces with specific messages; our work is the portraits. They don’t have any message, people see the portraits and they can have their own ideas about them and people have very different ideas.

Sten & Lex (photo © Victor Hugo Celaya)

 

Victor Hugo Celaya: You mentioned something important about the way artists use street art to convey social messages. Why do you not use it for that purpose? In general, how do you see urban art today and where is it going?
Sten & Lex: What interests me about urban art now is this contamination with contemporary art; our work has always been involved with art in general. There are no common messages in street art and there are no common techniques… Stencil is very common in street art but the way that we work is very different, it’s a technical study. In street art, we like not only the artists who work thinking about urban art as a stencil with a political message, but also as an installation or something figurative, abstract art. I find a lot of sense in street art at the moment.

Victor Hugo Celaya: Is there someone in the movement you admire?
Sten & Lex: Yes, for example, our work is greatly influenced by the way JR uses posters, the way he covers entire architectural pieces. This aspect of JR’s work has influenced us a lot. There are many things that have influenced us but not necessarily in the realm of street art. Our work is very subjective, the fact that we destroy the stencils and paste the posters is unique — that’s why we call it stencil poster. We paste a paper poster on the wall and then cut it. This was a subjective study we did together.

Sten & Lex (photo © Victor Hugo Celaya)

 

Victor Hugo Celaya: Okay, lastly, urban art by nature is on the streets. We specifically think of it as giving art back to the people. Is there anything of that sentiment in your work? What do you think of the statement “art to the people”? Do you think it’s something that goes along with your job?
Sten & Lex: It is a reality that street art belongs to the people, but I don’t think it’s easy to understand what people really like. That’s why we don’t really care what people think of our work.

In urban art there are two important aspects: the first one is that anyone can see your work and the second one is that it is closely related to institutional art, that’s the point of view of art critics, since in street art they don’t really exist. However, what does exist is an audience that decides who the best artists of the moment are. Nowadays, this critique is generated over the Internet, in the most important blogs that manage to create great media attention.

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To learn more about the ARTO mission and philosophy click here.

To learn more about L’association Le M.U.R. click here

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LUDO, Playmates, and Beesties in Paris

July 17, 2012 , ,

Street Artist LUDO shows his active imagination is in full force with these new billboard takeovers in Paris that blend unusual themes with his ongoing fascination for insects and technology.

First are the insect playboys, appearing to merge a porno sensibility and animation 3-D rendering with the natural world.  Since Summer is the season for insect love in the park perhaps the gentlemen bugs mind turns to centerfolds and multi-legged playmating?

LUDO (photo © LUDO)

LUDO (photo © LUDO)

The second installation, by way of tribute to the passing of rapper Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch is his nod to the 1986 Beastie Boys Album cover for “Licensed to Ill”. In LUDO’s version, the crashed plane is morphed into an insect chassis and rechristened “Beestie”.

LUDO (photo © LUDO)

LUDO (photo © LUDO)

LUDO (photo © LUDO)

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Shepard Fairey in Paris (VIDEO)

July 9, 2012 ,

“The way this mural came about is that I met C215 and he asked me if I would be coming to Paris and if so would I like to do a big wall,” says Shepard Fairey as he stands on a ledge overlooking Paris in this new video interview with Butterfly. As the Street Art world continues to evolve and transform into a number of directions, it’s good to check in with one of the first major names to rise from the modern movement.

Still from video interview with Shepard Fairey

Here in Paris he is more concentrated on the grand scale mural that garners thousands of eyes rather than the hand slapped sticker or quickly wheat-pasted poster. But as ever, he is enthusiastic about the basic tenets of Street art that first led him to get outside. “What I think is exciting is that there is a new wave of art affecting people. It’s not just the traditional (art) in the galleries.”

Still from video interview with Shepard Fairey

Still from video interview with Shepard Fairey

Still from video interview with Shepard Fairey

Still from video interview with Shepard Fairey

Still from video interview with Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey Obey – Rise Above Rebel – Paris, juin 2012 – 93 av Jeanne d’Arc 13e
Réal : Mahmoud Belakhel
Image : Mahmoud Belakhel – Matthieu Soudet – Romain Paget – Julien Hogert – Jonathan Ricquebourg – Rebecca Topakian
Photographie : Matthieu Soudet – Romain Paget
Son : Pierre Bézard
Montage – Etalonnage : Ingrid Zeller
Interview : Butterfly
Traduction : Laura Fernandes – Butterfly
Musique : Moby : “Aerial”, “All is perfect”, “Gimme some”, “Flying foxes”
Remerciement : Maïa et Marouène – Valentine Poutignat – Julien Soudet – Felipe Quintelas – Fabio Caldironi
Galerie Itinérrance
Mairie du 13eme arrondissement
Butterfly

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Fun Friday 06.22.12

June 22, 2012

1. Happy GLBT Pride Weekend New York
2. Remi Rough at Unit 44 Gallery (UK)
3. Moody at Pandemic (BKLYN)
4. VHILS at Galerie Magda Danysz (Paris)
5. BLADE Cuts Through Zurich
6. Shepard Fairey OBEY in Paris by Zeller (VIDEO)
7. Wall Writers by R. Rock Enterprises (VIDEO)
8. Taggin One Liner by GoodandShiddy (VIDEO)

Happy GLBT Pride Weekend New York

Celebrating the first anniversary of legalized marriage equality in the State of New York AND the 6 months since the repeal of the US military’s ban on GLBT officers serving openly, this weekends’ parties, celebrations will be punctuated by a march attended by 1.7 million people in the street. Keith Haring would have been proud.

A work by Street Artist Keith Haring this spring at the Brooklyn Museum courtesy the Keith Haring Foundation (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Remi Rough at Unit 44 Gallery (UK)

Remi Rough has had a big year exploring on the street and with commercial projects they say, but they may just be trying to manipulate you. Check him out for yourself tonight at Unit 44Gallery in Newcastle.

Remi Rough at the Moniker Art Fair in London 2011. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Moody at Pandemic (BKLYN)

Winner of Best Title for a Show Award, which we have right here on an engraved brass panel glued to a handsome wood block! Moody has been a New York graffiti artist under another name for many years, and as a street artist as Moody for more than a decade. Saturday Pandemic mounts “America Runs on Graff”, and you’ll get to see what his newest gig is.

Moody (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

VHILS at Galerie Magda Danysz (Paris)

Portuguese Street Artist VHILS has a a new solo show opening on Saturday at the Galerie Magda Danysz in Paris, France. Go see for yourself why this artist has quickly become one of the most followed and admired Street Artists. His portraits hold their own, revealing themselves as he selectively destroys parts of the wall he’s on.

Vhils for Open Walls Baltimore 2012 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

BLADE Cuts Through Zurich

The ArTicks Gallery in Zürich, Switzerland brings New York City Graffiti royalty BLADE for his solo exhibition aptly tiled “Blade: The KIng of Graffiti” opening on Saturday. The artist will be present so bring your black book you might get lucky to score a tag.

BLADE at MoCA, Los Angeles in 2011 for the exhibition “Arts in the Streets” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Shepard Fairey OBEY in Paris by Zeller (VIDEO)

Wall Writers by R. Rock Enterprises (VIDEO)

Taggin One Liner by GoodandShiddy (VIDEO)

 

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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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Galerie Magda Danysz Presents: Vhils Solo Show (Paris, France)

May 22, 2012 , , , , ,

Vhils

Vhils. Miami 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vhils Solo Show Paris

From 23 June, 2012 to 28 July, 2012
Opening 23 June, 2012 from 6pm to 9pm

Galerie Magda Danysz – 78, rue Amelot Paris 11

Born in Portugal in 1987, VHILS travels all over the globe to create his monumental works. He was singled out in 2008 by Banksy who invited him to the Cans Festival in London. The art critic Tristan Manco shared at the time « here he is one of the finest examples of world street art from these past few years.” In 2010, he took part to the Sao Paulo Biennial as well as the Fame Festival in Italy and made a huge portrait in collaboration with JR in the center of Los Angeles.

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Open Walls: Itenerant Street Gallery. (Paris, France)

May 21, 2012 , , , , ,

Open Walls
Open Walls

 

OPEN WALLS EN RESIDENCE A PARIS

OPEN WALLS s’installe à Belleville du jeudi 24 mai au mercredi 6 juin 2012 et décrète PARIS ZONE LIBRE pour une exposition et une série d’interventions urbaines qui réunira 5 artistes majeurs de la scène berlinoise, présentés pour la première fois à Paris.

BR1, SP38, ALIAS, VERMIBUS & TONA, 5 artistes authentiques et radicaux, légitimés par la rue, armés pour réveiller la capitale française.

BR1 (Décollage & Peinture)

Dans la lignée des affichistes du siècle dernier, cet artiste italien créée des affiches uniques, peintes à l’aide de couleurs vives et découpées à la main, représentant des femmes voilées dans leur quotidien de femmes. Il colle ensuite ses peintures dans les rues des grandes métropoles occidentales. Son emplacement de prédilection: les panneaux d’affichages publicitaires de grande taille.

En représentant des femmes voilées en mère de famille, en copines qui s’amusent, en activistes du printemps arabe ou bien simplement dans des scènes banales de la vie quotidienne, son oeuvre est un outil de transmission de messages sociaux et de prise de conscience entre les différents groupes humains. La démarche de l’artiste se veut donc sociale.

SP38 (Sérigraphie & Peinture)

Après la chute du mur de Berlin en 1989, la capitale allemande est devenue le refuge privilégié des artistes alternatifs et radicaux. SP38 s’y est exilé au début des années 90 et n’a depuis cessé de contribuer quotidiennement au développement du Street Art à Berlin.

Au fil des années, la ville s’est embourgeoisée mais le peintre s’y sent toujours à l’aise. Ses affiches clament des slogans ironiques tels que “Esacpe”, “Vive la bourgeoisie” , “I Don’t Wanna Be U’re Friend on Face-Book” ou plus récemment “Vive La crise”. Sa typographie unique, rouge sang, a fait le tour du monde. Il sera en Mai pour quelques semaines à Belleville.

ALIAS (Pochoir)

Figure emblématique du street art en Allemagne, anonyme et discret, son oeuvre est omniprésente dans les rues berlinoises depuis 10 ans et l’on reconnaît immédiatement son style. Alias travaille minutieusement chacun de ses pochoirs et soigne particulièrement la découpe. Sobre, il aime jouer sur les ombres et les reliefs, il utilise un éventail de couleurs réduit. Ses pochoirs représentent principalement des enfants et questionnent l’avenir de notre société.

Très attaché à son travail dans la rue, il a longuement hésité à travailler en galerie, un pochoir sur toile ce n’est pas très intéressant. L’artiste a donc décidé d’amener la rue dans la galerie et il attache un soin particulier au choix de ses supports. Chaque pièce, unique, est réalisée exclusivement à partir de matériaux trouvés dans la rue la nuit lorsqu’il travaille. Il affectionne particulièrement le bois et le métal.

VERMIBUS (Détournement Publicitaire, Peinture à l’Acide)

L’oeuvre de VERMIBUS commence et se termine dans la rue, qui joue un rôle essentiel dans la démarche de l’artiste. Né aux Baléares, cet artiste espagnol fait partie de la dernière génération d’exilés à Berlin. Il y collecte les affiches publicitaires dans le métro et les utilise ensuite comme matériau de base. Le processus de transformation commence dans son atelier: utilisant des dissolvants à base d’acide il efface les visages et la chair des modèles apparaissant sur les affiches ainsi que les logos des marques. Une fois la transformation achevée, il réintroduit ces affiches dans leur contexte d’origine et transgresse l’espace publicitaire.

Le catalogue de l’exposition est constitué d’une vingtaine d’oeuvres originales.

PARIS ZONE LIBRE
Vernissage Jeudi 24 mai à partir de 19h en présence des artistes.
Grolsch, fidèle à son engagement dans l’art, soutiendra cet évènement.

Espace “Frichez-nous la Paix” 22 bis rue Dénoyez, 75020 Paris. Métro: Belleville
Ouverture continue tous les après-midi du du Jeudi 24 mai au mercredi 6 juin 2012.
Accès libre.

Pour plus d’informations sur la galerie et nos artistes: http://www.openwallsgallery.com

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New Piece on Palestine Wall by Shai Dahan

May 21, 2012

Getting up on a wall usually requires preparation of some sort. Getting up on the wall in Palestine requires nerves of steel.

 

Shai Dahan working on his 6 meter high piece in Palestine (photo © David Freid)

Street Artist and fine artist Shai Dahan just returned from a trip to what some call the Holy Land to place a large portrait of a Jordanian Bedouin on the wall on the Palestinian side. Despite the checkpoints and soldiers in towers and the general atmosphere of hostility and suspicion that seems ever present, a non-political piece was welcomed by people in this war torn region, and locals greeted Dahan and his friend with coffees and teas all day. Kids who were watching the progress with great interest also gave them the “thumbs up” sign of approval, so they knew they were cool.

Shai Dahan created his piece based on this photography by David Freid (photo © David Freid)

Over the last decade this wall has drawn the attention of many international Street Artists like Brooklyn’s Faile, London’s Banksy, Ireland’s Conor Harrington, Italy’s Blu, and Paris’ JR, among others.  Each has reported a sense of accomplishment after pulling this feat, and Dahan reports that many of those pieces still remain there. With his friend David Freid there to shoot a documentary and provide these photos, Dahan felt like it was a rare privilege and opportunity.

Shai Dahan “Miles to Go Before I Sleep” (photo © David Freid)

“The locals loved it and although the stress of entering an area full of conflict with zero security was great, it was a very special project and one of the highlights of my career. I got to enter a place filled with anger and frustration and paint there.”

Now back in Sweden, Shai is preparing for his show opening this Friday the 25th at the Modern Art Museum of Boras.

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Springtime in Paris : Une Petite Revue of New Street Art

May 2, 2012 , , ,

Cities in all the hemispheres take turns being the pre-eminent location for Street Art and street culture as the influences that lead to a lively scene cropping up in a city and becoming popular are in continual flux. Whether its economics, demographics, politics, or the various timelines of cultural evolution intersecting, the conditions must be just right for a Street Art scene to blossom and endure in all it’s idiosyncratic splendor.  At the moment it is Springtime in Paris and photographer Sandra Hoj says during her visit to the city, “I was overwhelmed by the amount of street art. It was not just limited to a single area, but all over the place, in every crack and corner.”

Speedy Graphito (photo © Sandra Hoj)

While the current Street Art movement in French cities can be traced to the late 1970s  and early 80s stencillists with names like Jef Aerosol, Mis Tic, Speedy Graphito, and the guy who Banksy credits for influencing his rodential proclivities, Blek Le Rat – the last decade has brought a new generation of wheat-pasters, pop appropriaters, culture jammers, and fine artists of every discipline who have put their own mark on the modern age. Some, like C215, are even called new masters of the stencil genre. This quick survey gives just a taste of what’s happening at the moment and there are many names regularly up in addition to these.

Sandra reports “There are pieces from the ever-present Space Invader, of course, and Jef Aerosol, Nick Walker, Jand & JS (Janaundjs), Fred le Chavalier, and Dast, as well as some I don’t know the names of. There is a lot of stencil work and many paste up’s, a rare freehand piece by Dast, and even some collage work from Frank Duval of FKDL.” Enjoy.

Jef Aerosol (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Jef Aerosol (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Fred le Chevalier (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Fred le Chevalier (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Nick Walker (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Nick Walker (photo © Sandra Hoj)

FKDL (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Dast (photo © Sandra Hoj)

David Shillinglaw and Ben Slow (photo © Sandra Hoj)

David Shillinglaw and Ben Slow (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Pole Ka (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Pole Ka (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Jana & JS (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Jana & JS (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Jana & JS (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Jana & JS (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Jana & JS (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Jana & JS (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Click here to visit Sandra Hoj’s site Classic Copenhagen for more Street Art eye candy.

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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 04.13.12

April 13, 2012

 

Uh-Oh, should I be wearing a necklace of garlic today? It might not be too cool to wear it indoors. Oh snap it’s only a movie. Happy Friday the 13th everybody!

1. “Vice & Virtue” Shai Dahan (Stockholm)
2. “It Felt Like a Kiss”, Alexandros Vasmoulakis at Gallery Nosco (London)
3. “The Birds & The Bees” with H. Veng Smith and Gigi Chen (BKLN)
4. Isaac Cordal Solo tonight in Barcelona
5. Hellbent at C.A.V.E. Saturday (LA)
6. Buff Monster at Corey Helford Saturday (LA)
7. Sowat and Lek present: “Mausolee”
8. Arabic Graffiti and Egyptian Street Art in Frankfurt
9. John Crash Matos’ “Study In Watercolors” at the Addict Galerie in Paris
10. ARMO and his world of color, shapes and textures. (VIDEO)
11. Ana Peru Peru Ana “meanwhile, in new york city (VII)” (VIDEO)

“Vice & Virtue” Shai Dahan (Stockholm)

Shai Dahan’s solo show  “Vice & Virtue” opened last night at the Scarlett Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden and is open today to the public.  Are your virtues bigger than your vices?

For further information regarding this show click here.

“It Felt Like a Kiss”, Alexandros Vasmoulakis at Gallery Nosco (London)

An exploration of the seductive kiss and the female power of attraction – sounds like a valiant pursuit, doesn’t it? Alexandros Vasmoulakis’s solo show is open to the general public at Gallery Nosco in London today.

For further information regarding this show click here.

“The Birds & The Bees” with H. Veng Smith and Gigi Chen (BKLN)

A perfect theme for a show right now as the temperatures rise and skirts rise and shirts come off on the grassy knolls in Prospect Park.  “The Birds & The Bees” H. Veng Smith show with Gigi Chen at the Mighty Tanaka Gallery opens today in Brooklyn as Spring time’s gallant breeze calls you hither to Dumbo.

Veng (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Isaac Cordal Solo tonight in Barcelona

Curated by Street Art author Maximiliano Ruiz, this solo show gives platform to Isaac Cordal, a small-scale sculptor who has thus far used the street as the only necessary stage. Mr. Cordal’s little cement characters at RAS Gallery will stop you in your tracks and reconsider your giant self.

Isaac Cordal (photo © Isaac Cordal)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Hellbent at C.A.V.E. Saturday (LA)

New York Street Artist and fine artist Hellbent shares the space at C.A.V.E Gallery in Venice Beach, California this weekend with his offering “A Quilted Life”.

Hellbent (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Buff Monster at Corey Helford Saturday (LA)

Buff Monster is back at his most mischievous at the Corey Helford Gallery this time all covered in delicious pink. His solo show “Legend of the Pink” opens tomorrow in Culver City as the monster celebrates 10 years of work on the street.

Buff Monster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

Maya Hayuk solo show “2012 Apocabliss” in Mexico City at Anonymous Gallery. Click here for more details on this show.

Sowat and Lek present: “Mausolee”. An art show and book release in Paris, France. Click here for more details on this show.

From Here to Fame Publishing Presents: Arabic Graffiti and Egyptian Street Art in Frankfurt, Germany. Click here for more details on this show.

John Crash Matos’ “Study In Watercolors” at the Addict Galerie in Paris, France. Click here for more details on this show.

ARMO and his world of color, shapes and textures. (VIDEO)

Armo (photo © Armo)

“meanwhile, in new york city (VII)” (VIDEO)

Peru Ana Ana Peru are Street Artists, jokesters, and film makers in New York. Here is their new mini-movie of unscripted New York scenes, sounds and soliloquies collected together for your amusement and befuddlement.

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Sowat and Lek Presents: “Mausolee” Art show and Book Release (Paris, France)

April 9, 2012 , , , ,

Mausolee

On August 12, 2010, Lek and Sowat found an abandoned supermarket in the north of Paris. For a year, in the greatest of secrets, both artists continuously wandered in this 430,000 sq ft monument to paint murals and organize an illegal artistic residency, inviting forty French graffiti artists to collaborate, from the first to the last generation of the graffiti movement.  Together they built a Mausoleum, a temple dedicated to their disappearing underground culture, slowly being replaced by street art and its global pop aesthetics.

R. Skyronka (photo © R.Skyronka)

Butterfly

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Addict Galerie Presents: John CRASH Matos “Study in Watercolors” (Paris, France)

March 27, 2012 , , , , ,

Crash

Laetitia Hecht & ADDICT Galerie présentent :
John CRASH Matos – “Study in Watercolors”

14.04.2012 – 02.06.2012

Vernissage le Samedi 14 Avril 2012, 18:00 – 21:00

Opening on Saturday, 14th of April 2012, 6 – 9 pm

Doit-on encore présenter John CRASH Matos, ce pionnier du Street Art, né dans le Bronx en 1961, qui entreprend, à l’âge de 13 ans, de populariser son blaze de graffeur sur les trains de New York ?

ADDICT Galerie le propose pour la quatrième fois, tant passionne le travail de cet artiste qui, pour ne pas se laisser enfermer dans le graffiti, s’exprimera sur la toile dès 1978. Cette audace lui a permis de rendre ses lettres de noblesse artistiques au Street Art dès sa première grande exposition, “Graffiti Art Success”. Pour la première fois, l’Art urbain y était pris au sérieux aussi bien par le public que par la critique.

En passant des trains aux cimaises, CRASH a pu alors commencer à côtoyer les plus grands (Jean-Michel Basquiat et Keith Haring à la galerie Real Art Ways) et donner naissance au post-graffiti.

Depuis, du Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris au MoMA de New York ou au Groningen Museum aux Pays-Bas, CRASH ne cesse d’afficher avec brio ses innovations. Il a appris à se renouveler tout en restant fidèle à ses options par une recherche incessante de la concision et de la synthèse. Son style ne cesse d’évoluer vers la simplification essentielle, le dépouillement éclatant. Pour lui, se renouveler, c’est approfondir en évacuant de ses toiles le superflu, les fioritures qui obscurcissent le sens, telle la démarche faussement simplificatrice d’un Matisse.

Preuve de leur singularité et de leur puissance, les œuvres de CRASH sont ainsi identifiables au premier coup d’œil.

Avec “Study in Watercolors”, ADDICT Galerie propose une sélection d’études préparatoires fraîchement réalisées par John CRASH Matos. Jusqu’ici peu montrées en France, ces aquarelles éclairent les dernières avancées du travail de l’artiste.

Bien au-delà de l’esquisse préparatoire, de l’essai inaccompli, ces œuvres révèlent l’aisance avec laquelle CRASH synthétise avec une rare acuité la culture urbaine et la culture pop. Comics, mangas, hip-hop, science-fiction, produits télévisés, graphisme, ce déferlement désordonné d’images charriées par notre société, CRASH le condense en une expression picturale organisée selon le principe du sampling.

Les potentialités plastiques propres à l’aquarelle permettent à CRASH de composer de subtiles nuances chromatiques éblouissantes de lumière. De manière audacieuse, l’artiste inscrit dans des cadrages resserrés bribes de lettres et fragments de visages sans que l’œil, chaque fois, n’abandonne sa présence obsédante, signe complice à Roy Lichtenstein. Mais, dans son cas, le petit format n’est pas enfermement, il invite au contraire à saisir la dynamique des lignes entravées qui se projettent avec force hors du cadre.

Le nombre d’œuvres exposées montrent, s’il en était besoin, que CRASH n’a en rien perdu de sa fureur de peindre depuis près de 40 ans. La technique de l’aquarelle lui permet d’exprimer, dans une sorte d’urgence, toute son énergie créatrice.

Avec cette exposition consacrée à CRASH du 14 avril au 2 juin 2012, ADDICT Galerie, met en lumière l’ébauche, le travail préparatoire du graffiti, aspect trop souvent relégué au second plan d’un mode d’expression parfois assimilé à un jaillissement spontané de l’imagination de l’artiste. La reconnaissance du Street Art passe aussi par ce retour aux sources.

Visuels et informations disponibles sur demande
Images and informations available upon request
Contact : +33 (0)1 48 87 05 04 / info@addictgalerie.com

ADDICT Galerie – Laetitia Hecht
14/16 rue de Thorigny 75003 Paris
T:+33(0)1 48 87 05 04
Horaires d’ouverture / Opening hours
Mardi – Samedi 11:00 – 19:00 et sur rendez-vous
Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 7pm and by appointment
info@addictgalerie.com
www.addictgalerie.com

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