BR1 – BLUE BACK COLLISION
Working primarily on paper & realizing posters, BR1 now focuses his street work on billboards. Those are photos from his recent actions in the streets of Turin.
“The relation between the public space (in this case the billboard) and the material, the paper, is important to me and leads me very often to study this relation. I think paper represents best the bi-dimensionality, and I was forced to work with this bi-dimensionality. The poster on billboard is flat. Earlier I tried with Elfo to bring out the thickness of billboards in berlin, digging a big circle in advertisement, this time I worked on the tri-dimensionality, in a really simple and essential way. Since my purpose is to study the relation beetwen the billboard and the paper, I used only a blue back advertisement paper, working on it to come out from the flat billboard.” says the artist.
1UP Paris Bonus streaming on Canal Street
Enjoy this ride through the streets and tunnels from Paris with the kings crew.
Special thanks to Canal Street!
We still have some copies of the DVD available in our online shop.
UNLIKE U – CENSORSHIP – 1UP
The full version of UNLIKE U, which is certainly the best documentary about Berlin Trainwriting History is now available on Vimeo. The BVG (Berlin Train Company) is trying to censor the movie, therefore the Film-Makers decided to put the Movie on Vimeo so that everyone can see it before it’s too late.
Next week on saturday 10.12.2011, 17:00 in Kino Babylon Berlin is the premiere of the 1UP movie. No doubt that one will be a hit as well, let’s hope it doesn’t get censored.
Graffiti & Street Art are part of Berlin history and identity, would that please the politics & the local authorities or not, censorship is certainly not the best way to cope with it. It is time this city realizes this scene is a real asset that gives Berlin echo and resonance worldwide.
DISSIDENTS
In 1800s Europe, the rising food prices and high unemployment fueled widespread popular protests. Communist Europe in 1989, created frustration with corrupt and unresponsive political systems and provoked the fall of once powerful regimes. 2011 is spurring a similar chain of events, bringing people together and empowering us to grab our governments by the balls and demand what is rightfully ours, human rights.
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. Seeking truth and raising awareness, the artists that we have chosen for this show strive for non-conformity and create work representative of both political and social opposition, making them pioneers of dissident activity. Consciously or not, they seek honesty, challenge boundaries, then create art as a way of driving this message in to the minds of on-lookers.
By acknowledging the social and political unrest of this year, West Berlin Gallery cordially invites you as we debut Dissidents, a Group Show featuring:
Alias – Always keeping in mind the social and political activities and breaking through the boundaries of traditional art making, Alias delivers a great deal of gravity through his loaded imagery and mindful aesthetic. The self taught street artist never ceases to astound the public with his stencil work on recycled material.
SP38 – Urban poetry is this Berlin based french artists’ speciality. Mixing silkscreen and paint, SP38 plays with words to create provocative sentences which are strongly related to both political and social events of their time. The more sophisticated look of his artwork, using his unique deep gold color, helps him reach a wide range of public, even those who his messages are directed to.
Prost – From his “Prostie” smileys making witty social commentaries that always put a smile upon our faces, to denouncing misleading, abusive, sexist advertising by his adbusting actions, Prost has never ceased on challenging society.
Emess – His work is mostly motivated by political issues that he approaches using a wide range of medias, such as murals, prints and sculptures. Emess confronts the viewer with issues that would rather be swept under the rug.
Rallito X – The attitude of an alienated society manipulated by the media, has been this spaniards work theme since he started putting his work up on the streets. Rallito X refuses to follow society’s rules and shows his unconformity with unacceptable formed characters carrying politically incorrect messages.
BR1 – For the last years, this italian artist has been studying the figure of the Muslim woman: history, tradition, legal sources and development in contemporary society. Charmed by the image of veiled women, BR1 decided to take the risk of introducing religious elements on his posters and make us wonder why is this piece of cloth so controversial.
Linda’s Ex – A while ago Roland Brückner aka Lindas Ex asked his lover to come back to him in plastered posters and stickers throughout the city. Nowadays, his pleas have turned into social commentaries sprayed into canvases.
Niark1 – His characters rise like monsters or aliens on a dark world filled by details. Their infinite nature scares and hypnotizes as there is always space for new discoveries. Cutting and pasting strips of newspaper where he later paints, Niark1′s artwork brings his dreams and fears to surface.
Jakob Tolstrup – Mixed media and color crayons are Jakob’s favorite techniques to work with. His characters have a childish style giving a sweet and humorous feeling to his paintings, which take a bitter look into nowadays society.
Giacomo Spazio – The established Italian artist, lead of the Italian Street Art movement, creates pop images, with shocking fluorescent colors that shout out their presence, as loud as possible. Using old fanzines and punk imagery to create lo-fi styled artwork with a cynical and subversive intention.
DISSIDENTS
In 1800s Europe, the rising food prices and high unemployment fueled widespread popular protests. Communist Europe in 1989, created frustration with corrupt and unresponsive political systems and provoked the fall of once powerful regimes. 2011 is spurring a similar chain of events, bringing people together and empowering us to grab our governments by the balls and demand what is rightfully ours, human rights.
A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. Seeking truth and raising awareness, the artists that we have chosen for this show strive for non-conformity and create work representative of both political and social opposition, making them pioneers of dissident activity. Consciously or not, they seek honesty, challenge boundaries, then create art as a way of driving this message in to the minds of on-lookers.
By acknowledging the social and political unrest of this year, West Berlin Gallery cordially invites you as we debut Dissidents, a Group Show featuring:
Alias – Always keeping in mind the social and political activities and breaking through the boundaries of traditional art making, Alias delivers a great deal of gravity through his loaded imagery and mindful aesthetic. The self taught street artist never ceases to astound the public with his stencil work on recycled material.
SP38 – Urban poetry is this Berlin based french artists’ speciality. Mixing silkscreen and paint, SP38 plays with words to create provocative sentences which are strongly related to both political and social events of their time. The more sophisticated look of his artwork, using his unique deep gold color, helps him reach a wide range of public, even those who his messages are directed to.
Prost – From his “Prostie” smileys making witty social commentaries that always put a smile upon our faces, to denouncing misleading, abusive, sexist advertising by his adbusting actions, Prost has never ceased on challenging society.
Rallito X – The attitude of an alienated society manipulated by the media, has been this spaniards work theme since he started putting his work up on the streets. Rallito X refuses to follow society’s rules and shows his unconformity with unacceptable formed characters carrying politically incorrect messages.
BR1 - For the last years, this italian artist has been studying the figure of the Muslim woman: history, tradition, legal sources and development in contemporary society. Charmed by the image of veiled women, BR1 decided to take the risk of introducing religious elements on his posters and make us wonder why is this piece of cloth so controversial.
Emess – His work is mostly motivated by political issues that he approaches using a wide range of medias, such as murals, prints and sculptures. Emess confronts the viewer with issues that would rather be swept under the rug.
Linda’s Ex – A while ago Roland Brückner aka Lindas Ex asked his lover to come back to him in plastered posters and stickers throughout the city. Nowadays, his pleas have turned into social commentaries sprayed into canvases.
Niark1 – His characters rise like monsters or aliens on a dark world filled by details. Their infinite nature scares and hypnotizes as there is always space for new discoveries. Cutting and pasting strips of newspaper where he later paints, Niark1′s artwork brings his dreams and fears to surface.
Jakob Tolstrup – Mixed media and color crayons are Jakob’s favorite techniques to work with. His characters have a childish style giving a sweet and humorous feeling to his paintings, which take a bitter look into nowadays society.
Giacomo Spazio – The established Italian artist, lead of the Italian Street Art movement, creates pop images, with shocking fluorescent colors that shout out their presence, as loud as possible. Using old fanzines and punk imagery to create lo-fi styled artwork with a cynical and subversive intention.
Anti Consumerism
Meant as a way to question and rethink our behaviour towards consumption and the effects of advertising, anti-consumerism is a socio-political movement that has become more and more popular over the years. In order to spread this ideology, many artists have been using their works to express their take on this topic. One of their media of choice is adbusting, which consists in making caricatures and parodies of corporate and political advertisements and billboards. As a highly satirical process, adbusting aims at making passers by understand the effect that advertising has on our society, thereby tackling other issues such as the impacts of capitalism and our on dependence the economy.
Street activist PROST mostly uses adbusting as a way to utter the freedom to refuse advertising and consumerism. Not necessarily expecting any reaction since, as he sometimes states, «TVs are too loud», PROST enjoys changing advertisings’ meanings and perspectives by altering them. Nevertheless, he does not believe that art should be political, and rather regards it as a way to show his own personality and his beliefs.
As a reaction to the ever-increasing amount of advertisings and posters covering Berlin’s walls, ALIAS decided to recycle what other would simply regard as trash by using those posters as backgrounds for his new works. Making collages out of those overlapping advertisings, ALIAS trusts to luck to select his artworks’ backgrounds. Those exclusive artworks were made specially for Art Collectors Club.
Alias, Prost & Art Collectors Club
Meant as a way to question and rethink our behaviour towards consumption and the effects of advertising, anti-consumerism is a socio-political movement that has become more and more popular over the years. In order to spread this ideology, many artists have been using their works to express their take on this topic. One of their media of choice is adbusting, which consists in making caricatures and parodies of corporate and political advertisements and billboards.
As a highly satirical process, adbusting aims at making passers by understand the effect that advertising has on our society, thereby tackling other issues such as the impacts of capitalism and our on dependence the economy.
Street activist PROST mostly uses adbusting as a way to utter the freedom to refuse advertising and consumerism. Not necessarily expecting any reaction since, as he sometimes states, «TVs are too loud», PROST enjoys changing advertisings’ meanings and perspectives by altering them. Nevertheless, he does not believe that art should be political, and rather regards it as a way to show his own personality and his beliefs.
As a reaction to the ever-increasing amount of advertisings and posters covering Berlin’s walls, ALIAS decided to recycle what other would simply regard as trash by using those posters as backgrounds for his new works. Making collages out of those overlapping advertisings, ALIAS trusts to luck to select his artworks’ backgrounds. Those exclusive artworks were made specially for Art Collectors Club.
Blooom
West Berlin Gallery is proud to be taking part in BLOOOM – the creative industries art show which takes place within the same timeframe and space as ART.FAIR, the Cologne fair for modern and contemporary art. We are very much looking forward to this great opportunity for exchange and inspiration!
BLOOOM’s second edition will take place from October 29th until November 1st at Staatenhaus am Rheinpark in Cologne, and will gather international participants from a wide range of fields as well as thousands of art lovers.
We will be taking works by Alias with us, including some new, exclusive pieces! We will present new artworks on canvas by Linda’s Ex on our booth as well, and our favorite Italian mastermind Giacomo Spazio will also be represented with both new and classic works.
Our booth will feature a part of Utopia, Hara Katsiki‘s solo show which we are currently hosting at the gallery. Last but not least, expect to see artworks by Chow Martin, a Canadian illustrator which we are newly representing!
We are very excited about this art fair, and can’t wait to welcome you at our booth during BLOOOM, so save the date!
BlOOOM – the creative industries art show: staatenhaus am Rheinpark, Auenweg 17, 50679 Cologne
Openning hours: Oct 29th,12am -8pm, Oct 30th, 11 am – 7 pm, Otc 31st, 12 pm – 8 pm, Nov 1st, 12 pm – 7 pm
West Berlin Gallery at BLOOOM Art Show
West Berlin Gallery is proud to be taking part in BLOOOM – the creative industries art show which takes place within the same timeframe and space as ART.FAIR, the Cologne fair for modern and contemporary art. We are very much looking forward to this great opportunity for exchange and inspiration!
BLOOOM’s second edition will take place from October 29th until November 1st at Staatenhaus am Rheinpark in Cologne, and will gather international participants from a wide range of fields as well as thousands of art lovers.
We will be taking works by Alias with us, including some new, exclusive pieces! We will present new artworks on canvas by Linda’s Ex on our booth as well, and our favorite Italian mastermind Giacomo Spazio will also be represented with both new and classic works.
Our booth will feature a part of Utopia, Hara Katsiki‘s solo show which we are currently hosting at the gallery. Last but not least, expect to see artworks by Chow Martin, a Canadian illustrator which we are newly representing!
We are very excited about this art fair, and can’t wait to welcome you at our booth during BLOOOM, so save the date!
BLOOOM – the creative industries art show:
Staatenhaus am Rheinpark, Auenweg 17, 50679 Cologne
Opening hours:
Oct 29th, 12 pm – 8 pm, Oct 30th, 11 am – 7 pm, Otc 31st, 12 pm – 8 pm, Nov 1st, 12 pm – 7 pm
2011 West Berlin Gallery
