All posts tagged: Urvanity Art Fair 2020

Urvanity 2020 – Madrid Murals from Zest, D*Face, Never Crew, and Eversiempre

Urvanity 2020 – Madrid Murals from Zest, D*Face, Never Crew, and Eversiempre

March 18, 2020

New walls from Madrid from only a few weeks ago at the Urvanity Festival, before the city became known as a hub for Coronavirus, went on full lockdown – today closing all of its hotels…

Zest (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)

We start off the collection with graffiti writer from Montpellier, France named  Franck Noto aka Zest. His gestural abstracts are just the kind of bright swipes of energy that capture a commercial market these days, and here he brings those energies to the street as well.

Enjoy the new massive pieces from London’s D*Face, Switzerland’s Never Crew, GVIIIIE and Argentinian Eversiempre as they each knock out new murals that Madrid is thankful for – or will be when people are allowed outside again.

Franck Noto combines the different energies found in Graffiti and brings them out through the basic shapes and the primary colors he uses. The bright colors symbolize the aspect of urban art that immediately catches the eye of passers-by, even before they give a positive or negative opinion on what they see. As for the transparency of the forms, it reflects an accumulation of energies and movements.

Zest. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)
GVIIIIE (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)
GVIIIIE. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)
NEVERCREW (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)
NEVERCREW. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)
D*FACE (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)
D*FACE. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)
Nicolas Romero (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)
Nicolas Romero. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Nicolas Romero AKA Eversiempre)
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Laurence Vallières and Red-Handed Mickey at Urvanity 2020

Laurence Vallières and Red-Handed Mickey at Urvanity 2020

March 10, 2020

Presented by Swinton Gallery at this year’s edition of Urvanity Art Fair in Madrid, Canadian artists Laurence Vallières’ installation turned heads and made people think. Ms. Vallières is well known for her sculptures, mostly of animals in peril made out of hard cardboard. Her outdoor installation at Urvanity had a lot to say with two images that stop people in their tracks.

Laurence Vallières. Urvanity Art Fair. Madrid, March 2020. (photo © Martha Cooper)

The center stage in the outdoor area features a murdered triceratops and a triumphant Mickey Mouse astride the hapless animal with blood on his hands, possibly dining on its entrails. Art, of course, can be interpreted in so many ways, and that’s one of its inherent powers. To us, this sculpture represents the centuries of American colonialism around the world and the trail of blood and misery left behind by the conquerors. At the least its a stab at corporate power.

Or does this represent a more generalized corruption in the highest offices – with unashamed displays of nepotism and greed run amok. More literally you may think of those clueless bounty hunters who boast about their kill of the last members of species.

No matter your analysis of the art piece and what it represents to you in particular, this is a powerful socio-political critique given the mainstage at Urvanity Madrid 2020, and many will have an opportunity to see it firsthand.

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BSA Film Friday: 03.06.20

BSA Film Friday: 03.06.20

March 6, 2020 ,

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. “Offset” by Nevercrew at Urvanity in Madrid
2. Icy & Sot: “Our house is on fire” By COlabs / Marco Figueroa
3. Said Dokins on Cultura Colectiva

BSA Special Feature: “Offset” by Nevercrew at Urvanity in Madrid

Welcome to BSA Film Friday with a new mural from the Urvanity commercial art fair in Madrid that culls together 30 or so galleries and mounts a public art campaign during the same week. “Offset” by the Swiss muralists called Nevercrew presents a massive pile of bears, one stacked upon the other.

The manner of arrangement of the bears presents creatures of the wild as no more than commodities, in the same way that corporations and countries think they can “purchase” offsets through a surreal trading market where one purchases the right to pollute and kill our atmosphere. In a positive light, the title “Offset” may refer to the practice of biodiversity offsetting, where previous wrongs are righted following a mitigation hierarchy to produce “no net loss” of biodiversity.

Also, bears are really cute.

“Offset” NEVERCREW in Madrid for Urvanity Art Fair 2020

Icy & Sot: “Our house is on fire” By COlabs / Marco Figueroa

The pacing is quick, the reversal of the timeline adds a sense of mystery and mastery to the brothers’ fox-witted ability to communicate horror in a rather elegant way.

See more in yesterdays’ posting Icy & Sot say “Our House Is On Fire!”

Said Dokins on Cultura Colectiva

Mexican muralist Said Dokins talks about his practice and his underlying social practice through coded calligraphy

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Urvanity Madrid 2020: Outdoor Installations Soft and Hard

Urvanity Madrid 2020: Outdoor Installations Soft and Hard

February 26, 2020

The body as an object. The body as a sexual object. The body objectified.

Combine these notions with soft sculpture in a public space and you will begin to experience Junja Jankovic’s new work in Madrid as we lead up to Urvanity 2020, the newest campaign of contemporary urban art that focuses on galleries and artists working in the public sphere.

Dunja Jankovic. Wearable Sculptures: Dominant, Submissive, Frisky. Urvanity 2020. Plaza de San Ildefonso, Madrid. (photo © Leticia de la Morena)

The Croatian fine artist studied in Zagreb and New York and lives “on her home island of Lošinj where she runs a screenprint studio and a gallery in an abandoned sardine factory,” she says in her bio. These soft sculptures mimic the digital reality now interacting with city reality – inviting you to be a part of them.

Samuel Salcedo. “The heads”. Urvanity 2020. Plaza Juan Goytisolo, Madrid. (photo © Leticia de la Morena)

Joining her are Samuel Salcedo’s hyperrealistic and emotional heads, seemingly rolling around Plaza Juan Goytisolo in a possibly disturbing way. The Barcelona born sculpture commands the space, then holds your attention with subtle ironies and humor. You’ve seen these faces before, but not like this.

Abel Iglesias “The Cube”. Urvanity 2020. Plaza de Callao, Madrid. (photo © Leticia de la Morena)

A third participant in Urvanity’s public show this year is graffiti writer Abel Iglesias and his scattered abstractions applied to the intense weight of a steel cube. Running between Valencia and Barcelona the young experimenter is unhindered by formalism, offering a trip to 90’s Memphis and inflatable pastel motifs of whimsy and geometry. This perplexing form in dark solitude brings a new gravity to an often floating oeuvre of Iglesias.

Abel Iglesias (photo © Papagnimeca)
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URVANITY 2020

URVANITY 2020

February 17, 2020

Contemporary Urban Art fans, collectors, gallerists are coming together again this year in Madrid for Urvanity, a unique survey of current movements and trends along the Street Art/ graffiti/ urban art continuum, with a focus on canvasses and sculpture.

Again this year comes a strong program of talks with some scintillating professionals who have high profiles in many sectors of this ever-expanding field of art in the public sphere. We hosted last year and the conversations we had were enriching, the people whom we met well versed and passionate.

Please check out Urvanity 2020 to find out more.

Spanish artist Abel Iglesias (image © the artist)
Sixe Paredes (image © the artist)
Jorge Rodriguez Gerada (image © the artist)
Cinematographer Zane Meyer’s film on Conor Harrington
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