All posts tagged: Straat Gallery

Mando Marie – “Take Me Down” at Straat Gallery

Mando Marie – “Take Me Down” at Straat Gallery

May 9, 2024

Mando Marie, an American artist currently dividing her time between Amsterdam and Portugal, stands out with her unique blend of stencil art and painting. Her work subtly echos themes of childhood nostalgia wrapped in layers that are both comforting and slightly phantasmal. Her latest exhibition, “Take Me Down,” showcased at the STRAAT Gallery in Amsterdam from May 12th through June 23rd, 2024, highlights her as the first female artist to hold a solo exhibition at this venue.

Her artistic style draws heavily from mid-20th-century children’s books, echoing that era’s simplicity and illustrative clarity. Influenced by artists like Eloise Wilken and Henry Darger, Mando Marie integrates vintage sewing patterns and twin imagery to produce a repetitive, mirrored visual effect, creating a naive, intriguing ambiance at play with the childlike forms. This visual strategy not only amplifies the impact of her work but subtly introduces complex themes through seemingly innocent scenarios.

Mando Marie extends her artistic expression beyond the studio into urban spaces, engaging with street art practices that enrich her gallery works. This dual approach enables her to resonate with a diverse audience, appealing to street art fans and fine art collectors. The use of nostalgia serves as a narrative tool in her art, prompting viewers to delve into their memories and question the simplicity of the narratives they recall from childhood. Her exhibitions offer a space where viewers can explore a blend of clarity and depth, bridging the gap between public urban art and the intimate gallery setting.

The exhibition “Take Me Down” is likely to evoke a mix of nostalgia and subtle, enigmatic qualities, reflecting the dual nature of Mando’s work: an engaging visual experience and possibly a cerebral journey.

Mando Maire is at work in her studio. Amsterdam. (photo courtesy of Straat Gallery)
Mando Marie. “Boundless”. Mando Marie – Take Me Down. Straat – Museum for Street Art and Graffiti. Amsterdam. (photo courtesy of the gallery)
Mando Marie. “The Power of Wishper”. Mando Marie – Take Me Down. Straat – Museum for Street Art and Graffiti. Amsterdam. (photo courtesy of the gallery)
Mando Maire is at work on the streets. (photo courtesy of Straat Gallery)
Mando Maire (photo courtesy of Straat Gallery)

MANDO MARIE – TAKE ME DOWN

Exhibition Dates: Sunday May 12th – Sunday June 23rd, 2024

Opening Reception: Saturday May 11th 6 – 9 PM. For more details click HERE

STRAAT – Museum for Street Art and Graffiti 

NDSM Plein 1 / 1033 WC Amsterdam, the Netherlands

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Straat Museum Welcomes “Indigenous Americans: Post Colonial Expressions”

Straat Museum Welcomes “Indigenous Americans: Post Colonial Expressions”

March 21, 2023

Keep Calm and DeColonize

Four contemporary artists with native American heritage will be mounting a new exhibition in Amsterdam this spring called “Indigenous Americans: Post Colonial Expressions.” This is an excellent derivation of the typical grafftiti/street art story that we like to expose – especially when it is rooted in inviting more people into the room that continues to redefine itself.

Curator Hyland Mather and team at STRAAT Museum have been building a good foundation of diversity in the last few years as their collection has grown and their exhibitions schedule widens – with a professed mission to examine the street art and graffiti culture as it is expressed around the world.

“ ‘Indigenous Americans: Post Colonial Expressions’ speaks to the unity a diverse culture embodies, and to the deeply rooted history of Indigenous makers and their ongoing relationship with public space painting,” say organizers.

The four participating artists are Jaque Fragua, Danielle SeeWalker, Kaplan Bunce, and Anthony Garcia Sr. You may be familiar with one or all of them – we recall the text billboards of Jaque Fragua a few years ago in a distinctive hand that alerted public to some historical facts like “This Is Indian Land”, on a Los Angeles construction site wall – and some highjacked signs saying ”Sacred” and “Stop Coal”.

Danielle SeeWalker. Denver Central Market. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)

“I see graffiti as a primordial art form of mark-making that started on caves and rocks as petroglyphs or pictographs,” Fragua said on ArtNet a few years ago. “The language is a bit different in modern times, but the spirit of visual storytelling is still there.”

“The contemporary Urban Art landscape to me looks like a mix between a culture-rich sharing of art practices from around the globe,” says artist Kaplan Bunce in a press release from the museum. “I see unity in the community and have found that by continuously practicing my indigenousness throughout these spaces I am continuing a pathway made by those who have been making marks on walls for all of time.”

Danielle SeeWalker. “Not Today Cowboy”. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)
Danielle SeeWalker. “Uncle Giving Directions”. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)
Jaque Fragua. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)
Kaplan Bunce. “Four Directions Prayer”. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)
Kaplan Bunce. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)

Exhibition opens Saturday April 8th, 2023, from 7-10 pm in the STRAAT Gallery at STRAAT Museum, with the artists in attendance.
In addition to the gallery exhibition which runs through Sunday June 4th,
2023, each artist will also create a mural scale work for STRAAT’s permanent collection in our massive main hall.

Learn more about the artists here:

Anthony Garcia Sr. aka Birdseed Anthony

Kaplan Bunce aka Kapache1

Danielle SeeWalker aka SeeWalker

Jaque Fragua aka Mobilsavage

Anthony Garcia (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)

STRAAT Museum Operating Hours:
Tuesday – Sunday 10 am – 6 pm
Monday – noon – 6 pm
Location:
NDSM Plein 1, 1033WC,
Amsterdam, Netherlands
www.straatmuseum.com

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