SUBTERRANEAN MODERN – From Punk To Urban Art

“At this very moment of our history I don’t think there is actually nobody able to claim with certainty what art is or what it could be, and yet which direction is taking.  The only thing we know for sure is that in this new millennium, art is assuming any kind of shape but from now on it will never be an exclusive privilege of few elite people.”

Giacomo Spazio, Curator

Subterranean  Modern – from Punk to Urban Art – is the first attempt to show a cultural and aesthetic path of the Italian art through a thirty year lapse of time.

The protagonists of this multicoloured world have steadily and strongly claimed their peculiar artistic vision which is light years far from the stylistic canons taught at the academies of our peninsula and commonly accepted among the official Italian art circuits. A type of art that very often has found little room even in galleries and despite this, has succeeded to survive, get developed and get evolved.

Subterranean Modern includes fifty Italian artists among painters, sculptors, photographers and illustrators, each of them diverse for style, media used and sign, but connected to each other by a mutual expressive orientation  and in some cases, an independent flippant concept of art. The artists called for the show, are strongly related to pop culture, and, at the same time, they got a lively interest in both national and international subcultures, a flamboyant D.I.Y. approach (Do It Yourself), and a stylistic genius, sometimes classic, sometimes deviant or provocative. Many of them have done, do and will keep on doing some illegal acts, gestures of endless beauty. Despite the academic background for the most, their work is clearly influenced by comics, spray paint, science fiction, architecture, anime art, cartoons and of course by music, could it be punk, reggae, new wave, jazz or hip hop…

These cool guys share the rejection for any kind of compromise or shortcut  in the name of success. All of them have developed their own independent ideas apart from fashion trends and marketing rules so causing a gap with the officially recognized art circuit which too many times does not even consider their potential as artists ignoring the fact that they attract more and more people between admirers and collectors to the exhibitions.  

“Subterranean Modern” proposes to cast a glance, free from prejudice, at the national artistic panorama, putting in evidence both the work of every single artist and the connection to each others’ work through the cultural context in which they have been moving along the years, always being aware that it is impossible to put them all together under a single name or a unique artistic stream.

Subterranean  Modern – from Punk to Urban Art –  a not exhaustive path inside the  meanders of the Italian contemporary art through the work of fifty artists, an idea by Giacomo Spazio, where music, pop culture and an aesthetic diffused illegality of the “do it yourself” offer the vision of a unique but multi stratified reality.

Opening Ceremony: 22.11.12 from 18:30 onward
THE DON Gallery, via Tortona 32, Milano

SILENCE IS A LIE - International Urban Art Exhibition

“ When thrush is replaced by silence, silence is a lie“ Yevgeny Yetuschenko

From 28th June 2012, there is an Urban Art Exhibition with international artists in the SEZ (Sports and recreation center, Landsberger Allee 77).

For three months more than 100 creatives from different countries - including Peru, USA, Brazil, France, Serbia, Germany, Colombia and Turkey - will exhibit their critical perspectives on current word affairs. 1000 square meters of exhibition space offer a unique opportunity to dose, not only for Urban art experts but also for people interested in a steadily growing art movement that is in the process of establishing itself.

A major focus of “Silence Is a Lie” is to offer a dynamic platform for, until today, partly underrepresented urban artists from around the world. Until 30th September, there will be different events each weekend such as live painting with music, theme-related worships, movie screenings and performances.

Selected artworks from VERMIBUS, SP38, GIACOMO SPAZIO, ALIAS & NIARK1 will be on display.

The exhibition will be open from Friday to Sunday. Entrance is free.
Further information can be found at
www.silenceisalie.com

Interview: Raiko Schwalbe | STROKE URBAN ART FAIR

Stroke Munich is the first art fair we will attend this year from May 3rd to May 6th in Praterinsel in Munich. We will present new & exclusive masterpieces from BR1, SP38 & ALIAS, as well as smaller scale works from VERMIBUS and PROST. At this occasion we talked to Raiko Schwalbe: founder and CEO of STROKE URBAN ART FAIR to get his perspective on the fair, the scene and the market.

But first, let’s start with some background information about STROKE and it’s genesis.

For the first time in human history, the majority of the earth’s population is living in urban residential areas. The urban environment and the corresponding lifestyle can be counted amongst the fundamental sources of inspiration for contemporary culture. The historical revolution of visual forms of expression, in which the designs of the everyday streetscape, with its graffiti, tags, tattoos, advertising or graphic design found their sustenance, define the progression of contemporary art. The urban environment as the literal and metaphorical platform for this development inspires and presents the artists and their work.

The URBAN ART FAIR works as a parallel universe to the inflated classical art market of the“rich and beautiful”, driven by aggressive investment strategies, auction houses and the greed for spectacular prices. The goal is to establish an art-entry-market for both: the artists and the interested buyers.

Passion and dedication are still more important than business plans and projections. Unbeatable participation costs combined with professional presentation and an uninterrupted passion for the art – this is where STROKE sees the starting point for the world’s first and only URBAN ART FAIR.

Within the last two years, more than 47,000 visitors came to see artists and galleries from all over the world (Poland, Brazil, Austria, USA, Italy, France, Chile, Spain, Switzerland or the UK – just to name a few). During the last decade, no other German art fair can pride itself to have reach such a growth and media interest.

Thumbs up!

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Interview Giacomo Spazio

Giacomo Spazio (by his own’s words)
To the unaccustomed eye, my works may seem incoherent, blurred or, better yet, without solution of continuity. But nowadays the idea of creation has changed. It’s no more a matter of creating something out of nothing, but to bring up-to-date, to give new life to what has already been produced. This does not imply a lack of creative force but, rather, a radical change of the “materials” available. There is an infinite array of neglected materials (in the physical world and in our memory) which we may re-use in new combinations. So contemporary artists like me can only draw ideas from very dissimilar sources and combine them together, blend them with our own ideas and throw them before your eyes.

My works, show that coherence is dead, whereas art as a form of expression is alive and springs from the whirlwinds of tensions and contradictions that surround me/us. Art is imagination and nothing else. As an artist, I do not pursue an aim and I do not follow a trend. I have no agendas, no style to defend nor a path to show. I don’t care about specializations, technical problems and diversification, because I’m not looking for perfection. I don’t know what I want, but I know what I’m looking for – and by all means I refuse “isms”.
Every time I have to prepare an exhibition, I feel my efforts are pointless, I feel I’m perplexed, but I never, ever, feel inert, because I like indetermination, an endless uncertainty. I have a strong interest in fragments, landscapes, chromatic sequences, overlapping, juxtapositions. In an age rooted in inconsistency and confusion, I think it’s meaningless to have a clear idea of my own path. Even if I can work using all my experience, I’m still convinced that in order to anticipate the future it is necessary to get lost in it. Using my wide open eyes I can only hear the noise of the colors surrounding me and towering over me. But the noise of colors, just like the noise of music, will never be a nuisance. Art is a sign. A mere sign. Just a hint of a sign! Voice/Noise!

Giacomo Spazio, ACAB, 2011
Mixed media on Canvas

Hi Giacomo.  When you were young, have you ever thought that when you’d be 53 years old, you would still do art and open a gallery?

Hi! I think that when you are young, it is very hard to think that one day you will be an artist. Especially if you come from a working class family like me. Personally, I never asked myself this question. To create “my things” was the only way to avoid working in a factory all my life.

You were already evolving in art in the 70’s and the 80’s.  What is the main difference between those times and now?
To tell the truth, the only real difference is the following: rich people in the 70’s gave money to create and this was surely a gift from the Freaks/Hippies culture. In the 80’s, the Punk movement gathered very different kind of people, united by the “No Future!” claim. In the opposite, today everything goes faster!
But to create your own culture, you need a lot of time and this is always the same, at every period of time.

Do you miss that, these years?
No! For me the past is the past! When I think about it I smile, because I have been lucky and I’ve become the person I am now. A man. A man who loves everything that surrounds him. A man who likes present!

Today, do you have a model or an idol in art?
Personally I have no model from whom I take my inspiration. But I am very ecstatic of the quantity of really good artists who live in my time… And it is at this exact moment that I become very little and like an ant I try to work hard to get results which talk for me, without copying anyone.

When you work on a piece, how do you feel?
I am always happy, even when I deal with sad themes. If I am sad, I just want to be left alone.

What kind of music do you listen to when you are “working”?
First of all the music must be very loud, almost deafening. I listen to all kind of music from Daft Punk to Polygon Window via Pole and from Tubelord to Heptones via Tikiman. I go crazy for music and almost all of my works have a link with it!

You use a lot of techniques in your creations. Do you have a favorite one? Why?
I prefer serigraphy (silkscreen), because I like the idea of repetition. But every piece is unique. The main subject is the same, but I change the language, the color, and everything that isn’t part of the image in the foreground.  But sometimes, even the main subject is different.

You also use a lot of different colors. What do they represent for you?
The only way to be really unique! Colors I use are most of the time my own colors I create! For example the base color is made of silicon, white steel, silver and white pearl.

Giacomo Spazio, You Need Me (Get Out There), 2011
Work on Canvas

If you were a dictionary, what would be the definition of Art?
No mater how, but express yourself with all the means necessary. (DIY)

Your are an artist but you also opened a gallery in Milan which is called  “Limited No Art Gallery” , how do you feel being on the “other side”?
I didn’t open an art gallery but my studio became a place for exhibitions where I try to put in contact creative persons, curious ones and collectors, showing them what I personally think to be unique, interesting and beautiful. Sometimes, I had to be a curator because some people asked me to be a curator. It is a work that I respect a lot and by making it I have learnt that like dishonest curator, it also exists dishonest artists!

How do you select the artists who make exhibitions in the Limited No Art Gallery?
Usually, I organize exhibitions of artists I personally know and whose work I admire. Sometimes, I give the exhibition space for free.

Do you have children? Are they artists too?
I have two sons and they are creative like all the young people in the world. By now, they are both interested in music. The first one is 20 years old, he plays bass and sings. The second one is 17 years old and he plays drums.

What kind of job would you have done if you were not an artist?
When I was 13 years old I wanted to be a poet and maybe it is the reason why there are always letters, lyrics and/or small sentences in my works.

Tell me the very last word of this interview!
ANARTCHIST!  (I invented this word and it means I’m an anarchy artist to explain exactly what I am)

Thank you very much for this interview Giacomo!
Super!

Interview SP38

We recently caught up with one of our favorite artist, SP38, to discuss his past, present and future endeavors. SP38, an artist widely known for his in-your-face messages (“Fuck America”), and primitive imagery (gold rabbits), is still making art right here in Berlin, but is also generating a lot of buzz outside of Germany. First and foremost French, SP38 is now focusing on traveling, expanding his art as well as his fan base. In this interview, he discusses Berlin before street art and his current art-making process. He also gives us his opinion on politics, Banksy, and plenty more, as well as a sneak peak in to his art and travel plans for the near future.

Hello SP38!

Hello!

So, rumor has it you’ve been creating new artworks with a rather controversial message… Can you tell us more about that?
I’ve done a tryptic which is a rant about something I found rather stupid, something regarding one of my works. I wrote “Fuck America”, “Bomb America” and “Suck America” on three posters that I pasted on a wall next to a place that should have been inaugurated by the American ambassador. But it’s meant to be more of a joke than anything serious.

In which way do your new works conform to what you have been doing so far?
Yes, I think they do conform to what I’ve been doing. Another of my new works is called “Tower Power”, which is related to the 9/11 anniversary. It represents the Berlin tower with a plane flying in its direction. As usual, this should not be taken literally.

Do you feel your work has become more political? Has it evolved in any particular direction?
I think it is pretty much as political as it ever has been. But I do think that I have been, subconsciously, following a certain path that I’m trying to stay on.

Do you brainstorm a lot before painting, or is it more of a spontaneous action?
It’s quite a spontaneous process but it does require some time. I usually think of something, then write it down, which usually happens in the morning while making breakfast or doing other random activities. In the end I usually only keep one of those ideas, one that I really like. It goes quite fast but then it takes time.

You use your own character font, have you been using it from the beginning? And how did you invent it?
The font has evolved quite a lot. I think that ever since I started using it, I kept the same base but I’ve been polishing it little by little. I think it became my signature font after I moved to Berlin.

Can you tell us more about your “Escape” posters?
This is the poster I’ve been pasting the most during the past year. I started pasting it in Korea in a small village during an artist residency. I was working together with other artists focusing on this village where, 350 years ago, a sailor from the Netherlands was held prisoner. I was focusing on the idea of escaping, because the sailor never managed to escape, and that is how I started writing “escape” on posters. After getting back to Berlin I kept using this word, and I still use it a lot because it is a word everyone can understand everywhere. I’ve also been pasting those posters next to where the Berlin wall used to stand, between Bernauerstrasse and Brunnenstrasse. I like the idea of escaping, I don’t know where from, but I think it sounds good.

One of your works features the phrase “Banksy is French”. What do you think of Bansky?
Well, first of all, who is he? I do like what he does, and I really like his humor, which is why I did this piece. I met one of his classmates in Bristol when I went there some years ago. That’s when I started pasting those “Banksy is French” posters. It was also meant as a joke, and then I kept using this phrase on posters with rabbits as background - he was drawing rats in the beginning, so my poster was meant as a throwback to his work.

Are there any other street artists whose works you like?
I like N°6 from Berlin. I also enjoy what Mimi The Clown, who’s from Lille in France, because I really like the clown character he’s using.

How do you select the spots where you paste your posters?
I spot most walls while I’m moving along in Berlin - mostly with my bike. I usually paste my posters around the same areas though because I do my own tour which, like my character font, evolves slowly. Now that I live in Wedding I also paste quite a lot of posters in this area, but I also do a lot of pasting in Mitte.

When I’m traveling, I usually just pick random places to paste my posters.

You travel quite a lot and you’ve been to Seoul recently. How do you pick the cities you visit?
I was invited to participate in a performance festival in Seoul, which is why I went there but I had been to Seoul a few times before. This time, I was allowed to make a big collage on a wall even though it isn’t very legal to do street art there. My collage was 5 x 3m big and I also pasted a lot of posters around the area, which was part of my performance.

I usually try and be invited to festivals in other cities so I can paste posters there. I try to get official authorizations so I can do bigger, legal artworks without having to worry about the police or anything.

You’ve been to Africa too…
Yes, I’ve been to Cameroon, I went there for a performance festival, and I did get official authorizations to paste my posters. It was funny because I was pasting posters with my rabbit pattern on them, and everyone thought I was about to sell rabbits on the street. People would also ask me if I got paid to do this, and if I had money. It was quite an adventure!

Which cities are you going to visit next?
I’m going to Montreal and then New York if I manage to get a visa. In november I’ll be going to the Philippines. There is a performance festival in Montreal, and I will be having an exhibition there. I really just want to visit New York, I’m not sure it will be possible for me to paste posters there, but I do have to do a performance there too.

Do you feel like you’re part of a Berlin street art scene? Or are you more of a free spirit?
Well I don’t know, I don’t really feel that way. I also moved to Berlin before there was any street art scene. I don’t know if my work really relates to street art. I’m not really sure. You should not be asking me!

Is there any city you’ve visited where you really enjoyed the local street art scene? Or do you think Berlin street art is more interesting?

Berlin is a very active city, street art-wise. The art in Seoul and Bristol was also interesting. In some cities, decorating the streets seems to be a very natural process. What I like about Berlin is that there is no value judgement about street art, which is not the case in cities like Paris for example. I don’t really like how judgmental things are there, whereas in Berlin street art is evolving along with the city and that’s something I really like.

Apart from your upcoming performances, what are your plans within the next months?
I’ll mostly be focusing on my performances. I also want to keep traveling, and I’d like to spend some time in my studio painting, because originally I’m a painter. I’ve recently been working on a series of paintings, and I really want to focus on this.

Thank you for your time, SP38!

Selected artworks from SP38 are available in our online shop.

Bill Gates co-signs a piece with Alias for ONE

Alias has been commissioned by ONE Deutschland, a NGO fighting against poverty and diseases, to realize an art piece illustrating the motto «Healthy Mums = Healthy Children» in the frame of the «Living Proof» campaign, which aims at proving that Official Development Assistance (ODA) has been efficient over the last years. (Thank to vaccines, 99 % of polio cases have been eradicated!).

Therefore Bill Gates, which foundation works in partnership with ONE, met the gallery and Alias at the Brandenburger Tor yesterday morning so that he could sign the piece and meet the ONE young messengers Team.

The art piece which is over 2 meters high and 4 meters long now hand in Seattle (USA) in the Gates Fundation collection. It represents two famous characters of Alias, namely the african woman carrying a basket on her head and the boy holding a punctured wheel. «Healthy Mums = Healthy children» states also on the piece, above Gate’s signature.

(Source: openwallsgallery.com)

Interview Alias

The Berlin-based artist got first introduced to street-art at the turn of the millennium while living in Hamburg. Since 2003 he’s been living in Berlin and has developed a unique street-art approach, becoming an important protagonist of this vivid urban art scene. Alias has constantly improved his stencil technique over the years and has now reached technical and aesthetic maturity thus always keeping a pinch of humor and grim realism in his works. Many of his posters and stickers produced with stencils and spray cans can be found in cities like Berlin, Hamburg, Amsterdam, Rome, Milan, Bristol and also in Istanbul.
Alias has had 4 solo exhibitions so far in his hometown Hamburg, in Essen and in Berlin and his works were also featured in numerous group-exhibitions in Germany and Italy.
We had a chance to interview Alias and provide you with more background information.

Alias, Photo by Just http://just.ekosystem.org

Hi Alias, tell us a little about yourself, where are you from?

I was born in a small town between Hamburg and Berlin in 1980.

Could you describe your background a bit?
I dropped out of school and for some years I organized parties with a couple of friends. Otherwise, I come from a street background: skateboarding and Graffiti.

What led you to become an artist and how did this develop into putting your work onto the streets?
I had my first contact with street art in Hamburg in 2001. The sticker scene was very active at that time and for me this was something completely new and exciting. But it’s only after moving to Berlin that I became active doing art myself, it’s hard to tell why though…

Is there someone or something that has influenced you in this choice?
Mainly all street artists I have met so far.

How would you briefly describe your work to someone who’s never seen it before?
I work with photos and collages from which I make stencils. With those I spray posters and stickers which I then put up in a public space.

Is there a specific objective or concept behind your work? Are you trying to elicit a particular response from the public?
My motives are often introverted and emotional but at the same time they have a direct and striking impact that brand themselves on the memory of people passing by and they are supposed to inspire people to interpret the motives on their own.

Where do you draw inspiration from?
From my life, from my childhood, relationships, future and past.

Do you consider your work to be socially engaged or political?
Not really, political is more the way how and where I put up my work or my attitude towards the public space. A certain degree of social criticism is definitely incorporated though.

How do you go about choosing your locations and installing your outdoor artworks?
I prefer old walls and dark backgrounds and try to install my posters matching the context with the urban situation.

What happens to your work after you’ve installed it?
Sometimes my works get cleaned up, sometimes a person takes them home and sometimes they stay at their place for many years.

Is there a particular intervention that stands out for you in terms of personal satisfaction with the final result or obstacles which needed to be overcome?
Sure, I want as many people as possible to see my work. But for me it is more important that the work fits in its surroundings and stays there as long as possible. But since many posters come off easily, I am planning to work directly on walls again. This limits my selection of spots though.

Have you already been arrested?
When I was younger I often had trouble with the police. This is also what led me to work with posters now and I only spray occasionally. I choose my walls so that a file of charge is unlikely…but honestly, I don’t care so much anymore.

When people ask what you do, do you just give them an evasive response and change the subject?
That depends very much on the person. I guess none really likes the „What are you doing for a living?“ question. But in the end, we all define ourselves over what we do. Then I always say: “I do something with media.“

What do you think about Berlin, do you like living here?
Definitely I like living here, it is a very creative and lively town. Unfortunately, it is changing its face faster than I thought it would.

Like many artists with a street background, you have a dual output, also displaying your art in gallery exhibitions. Do you prefer seeing your work in a gallery environment or in the streets?
That depends very much on the exhibition, but generally I would say that no exhibition is able to beat that feeling that a night in the streets with some colleagues can give you.

Has working with galleries also required you to make particular compromises?
Not until now, but I wouldn’t be willing to make any compromises anyway.

How do you think your art will be viewed in the future?
That is something I really don’t think about.

Selected artworks from Alias are available here