UTOPIA – a solo exhibition by Hara Katsiki
After making her way to Berlin three years ago, Hara Katsiki won the Illustrative Young Illustrators Award in 2010. From drawing to costume design, fashion, graphic design, and music, Hara Katsiki lets her creativity pick the medium. Currently exploring illustration, Hara Katsiki will debut her latest work at her very first solo show on September 22, 2011 at West Berlin Gallery. Doors open at 18:00 and it goes until 22:00.
Through this exhibition, Hara Katsiki plans on giving us a sneak peak into the fantastically romantic inner world of her thought-dreams. Always keen to experiment, this daring artist transcends the boundaries of imagination. Using her dreams as the main source of inspiration, Katsiki was inclined to define/refine her work for this show by using three primary colors: black, white and gold. Hara is also using ink on paper and wood, creating abstract pieces reminiscent of what she describes as “nature’s unspoken beauty”.
On Thursday, September 22th, West Berlin Gallery will feature 33 pieces ranging from black and white paper, to works on wood, as well as drawings on printed fashion photographs. The exhibition will also showcase an installation that is bound to be the highlight of the show!
The opening ceremony will feature a performance by harpist Claudio Cherubin, starting at 19:30. The versatile musician will most definitely make this evening one to remember!
An afterparty will be held at Bar Tausend (Schiffbauerdamm 11, S/U-Bahn Friedrichstrasse), starting at 22:00 with DJs Emil doesn’t drive and Spacelex. The entry is free for everyone attending the opening ceremony!
Opening Ceremony: Thursday, September 22, 2011
Time: 18:00 – 22:00
Location: West Berlin Gallery
Brunnenstraße 56 / 13355 Berlin
You can RSVP on Facebook and/or become a fan here for daily updates!
Contact: +49 (0)30 548 566 29 / info@westberlingallery.com
URBAN ARTISTS IN ACTION – ANOTHER VIEW ON STREET ART & GRAFFITI
BRENNA – Urban Artcore
Dates 23.06.2011 – 02.07.2011
Vernissage 23.06.2011, 6pm – 10pm
“For years now, I document street art in Berlin and other European metropolises like Paris, London, Barcelona and Madrid. What I learned is, when you are deep in that multicultural and highly creative public art scene, you want to get in touch with its protagonists, with the people behind those sometimes funny or political street artworks. You want to know faces, want to see how they work, want to feel the adrenalin…” ( Brenna 2010 )
West Berlin Gallery is pleased to present Urban Artists in Action - Another View on Street Art & Graffiti, the photography of Jan Brennenstuhl, the brain behind the blogs www.urbanartcore.eu and www.urbanart-photography.eu. For the first time, the gallery will show not the result but the fascinating process of urban art, the secret of which so many artists are at pains to conceal.
Jan Brennenstuhl, aka Brenna, is a computer science master-student at University Potsdam by profession. By passion he is a priceless contribution to the graffiti scene with his international street art and graffiti blog www.urbanartcore.eu, which spreads the urban Berlin voice loud and clear to metropolises far and wide. As founder and author of www.urbanartcore.eu, which launched in 2009 and has now become a well-known source for news about urban art forms and its artists, Brenna provides a platform of communication for both artists and enthusiasts alike, presenting international news about urban art activities, interventions, street art, urban-inspired design, exhibitions and a lot more goodies as well up to the last minute essential happenings.
His close knit, almost family bonds with prominent street artists from both Berlin and around the world including Buff Diss, Morten Andersen, FinDAC and Remi/Rough naturally developed into a large collection of intimate photographs following studio visits and street actions of some of his, and our own favourite heroes. A virtual home was desperately needed for all the precious documentation so the blog www.urbanart-photography.eu was born. West Berlin Gallery could not help but pick up on the photograhic talents of this multi-talented multi-tasker and decided that it would be an absolute crime not to realise his documentations in 3-D and offer a temporary roof to give him a chance to share his experiences with the world.
The show will feature a selection of 49 photographic works from Brenna’s large portfolio focusing on the brilliant people behind street art and graffiti works that we all know and love but have always wondered….who and how? Some of the artists documented include Buff Diss, Titi Freak, Czarnobyl, Dan Kitchener, Ben Eine, Emess, FinDAC, Herakut, Augustine Kofie, Mode2, Nychos, Run Don’t Walk (RDW), Remi/Rough and Morten Andersen.
About the Photographer
Brenna, born 1988 in the Eastern-part of Berlin, Germany, grew up in between mortal remains of the real socialism and multicultural, subcultural ideas of squatting and creative designing of public space. Influenced by those two contrary mindsets, he started photographing street art in 2006 to document this breaking new, but totally temporary form of urban art.
This new addiction lead to contact with urban artists and new friends from all over the world, and for this reason he got the rare chance to take a look behind the scenes of street art and graffiti. The resulting photo-series gives another view on street art and graffiti by focusing not on the artwork but on the artist.
In 2009, he started, with the aim to establish a daily source for street art and graffiti news, which developed the blog www.urbanartcore.eu, today famous for urban art forms and the latest developments net.
Brenna lives in Berlin-Friedrichshain, studies at the University Potsdam and extends his “Urban Artists in Action” series steadily and daily.
About www.Urbanart-Photography.eu
Urbanart-Photography.eu is a research, science, teaching and art project. The objective is to make available a special sphere for everybody. Adapted from article 5 break 3 of the German constitution, art, science, research and teaching are free. Therefore, this project enjoys a unique status of special dignity and righteousness. Urban artists in action. Private studio visits. The unique chance to see how street art work is produced.
Admission is free
Sunny Hot Cheese Crew days
So, sunny and warm days are finally settling in Berlin, why don’t you enlighten this by coming to the gallery and check out the Sailing the Great seas of Cheese Exhibition that the Hot Cheese Crew collective made at the gallery.
Mixing group works and solo creations by the four artists of the gang : Pinselone, Samz, Steve and Dubios, the exhibition offers a wide range of mixed media, paintings, collage and digital prints on different support such as canvases, paper, vinyls or even skateboards…
We’ve already put online a selection of prints we have at the gallery : Totem and Flying Circus, a great series of three prints featuring a giraffe, a zebra or elephants!
More works to come on the shop very soon!!! And of course, you can always come by and check out everything : we’re opened this week until Saturday 11:00 to 18:30.
Welcome to the PeachBeach, Opening Thursday July 8th 19:00
We would like to extend our invitation to the opening of its great summer vibe show Welcome to the Peachbeach presenting works from the Berlin-based design and Street Art collective.
Peachbeach is a fraternity composed of three reconverted bad boys who decided to settle in Berlin and enjoy its vibrancy and dazzling cosmopolitan colours. The three young artists aim at fusing their different backgrounds and creative approaches in one edgy mix of strong illustration, sensitive typography style and an ironic vision of social etiquette and games.
Peachbeach Attila Szamosi, Falk Hoger and Lars Wunderlich have, since their troubled teens, come a long way with their collective and diversified their art and activities from graffiti to design, painting, branding and even charity at the Operation Tirana in May 2010 in collaboration with Mazine. The collective strives at connecting the plurality of minds and skills, combining different synergies and outlooks to inspire everyday life.
The show’s name Welcome to the Peachbeach was inspired by Las Vegas giant neon signs from the 70s and will feature paintings on canvases, wooden panels, illustration on posters, graphics on skateboards and more: in brief, Street Art in all shapes and sizes!
Come and enjoy the summer atmosphere, music, tasty cocktails and fresh beers, an occasion to check out the fashion and lifestyle 5th edition of the festival Wedding Dress on the whole of Brunnenstrasse over the week-end, and of course great art on Thursday the 8th of July from 19:00 until midnight. rsvp over facebook as usual.
WELCOME TO THE PEACHBEACH is showing from July 8th till July 30th.
Roland Brückner, My fire is Your Water
Most people know Roland because of the berlin-story illustrations he does for press magazines and newspapers. Some surely also remember Lindas Ex plastered stickers and posters around Berlin.
From April 22nd to May 22nd, West Berlin Gallery will present Roland’s ball-pen-drawings in moleskines. Approximately 50 moleskine-sketchbooks with drawings, pinned to walls.
Please Note: West Berlin Gallery is closed this week & we will re-open to public on thursday april 22nd at 19:00 for Roland’s vernissage.
Roland Brückner was born in Munich in 1983. He enjoyed a healthy and active childhood near the mountains. At seven years old, he accidently killed a cat; a terrible headache and fever followed.
As a teenager, he got into skateboarding. After breaking a leg and as a result of being stuck indoors, he started drawing… and hasn’t stopped since.
In 2003, he moved to Berlin and became an art student at the Universität der Künste Berlin, but did not complete his degree. His street-art project “Lindas Ex” ruined his day-night cycle, but the campaign made it as an exhibition at the Berlin Museum für Kommunikation. Quite an achievement!
Roland is now pretty grown up and works as an illustrator. He likes his job and greatly enjoys his life and family.
“Some works have such great mass appeal that they inspire the public to spring into action and participate. This happended in 2003/4 when Lindas Ex plastered stickers and posters around Berlin, pleading with his lover to come back to him. [...] On countless posters Lindas Ex asked other artists for their help in looking for Linda. They reacted in turn by placing response posters next to his.”
“If in 2004 the city of Berlin had awarded a prize to its most lovelorn citizen, Lindas Ex would have won it.”
from STICKER CITY – paper graffiti art, Claudia Walde, 2007, London
Vernissage: Cuba – The Sunny Side Of Socialism?
Come by tomorrow evening, march 6th, to enjoy great pictures, beach-flavoured pop-music & sunny cocktails. The vernissage starts at 19:00, and the concert of Jules Valeron with his Band “Valeron & the Coconuts” at 20:30. They will present their Debut-Album “Horizons Nouveaux”.
Often regarded as a purely outdated communist regime, Cuba is certainly the world’s most famous time wrap, frozen in the 50s. It’s also important not to forget there have been some real achievements to the revolution: food supply for the poor, provision of housing and education, an effective health care system, and efforts to reduce race and gender prejudices.
The tourist is impressed by the strong solidarity of cuban people and their pride of being independent. Nevertheless, the omnipresence of police and military, the lack of diversity in information and freedom of expression cannot be neglected, leading to some kind of resignation.
Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is the most populous insular nation in the Caribbean. Its people, culture and customs draw from several sources including the aboriginal Taíno and Ciboney peoples, the period of Spanish colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, and its proximity to the United States. The name “Cuba” comes from the Taíno language the exact meaning of which is unclear, but may be translated either “where fertile land is abundant” or “great place”.
DOPPELDENK Alienation
DOPPELDENK are two artists from Germany. They live and work in Leipzig. The concept of doublethink comes from George Orwell’s dystopian novel “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and describes the power of having two contradictionary beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them. Unlock the Idea of George Orwell’s novel from total brain-wash and combine it with self-responsible human acting, and you can achieve a new complex form of thinking. In this case you are able to accept the connection of two contradictionary relations and, as a conclusion, to create your own new conviction.
A complete interview of DOPPELDENK is now available in Lodown #70 which launch will be celebrated tonight at Civilist, Brunnenstr. 13 Berlin Mitte. Start 19h.
WBG presents Jules Valeron: Cuba – The Sunny Side Of Socialism?
Not much is known from the time before 2005, the year Jules Valeron arrived in Berlin. They say that he has french origins, did something with traveling and used to shave every morning. Something changed.
Highly inspired by the german capital and its creative inhabitants, he started taking photos of the city, focusing on architectural details and the contrasts he discovered between the former east and west, old and new. Lately Jules has been exploring new horizons.
Cuba, the Sunny Side of Socialism?
West Berlin Gallery presents a selection of his finest photographs from the communist island.
Coconut trees, 50s Architecture, Socialistic Propaganda and the Proud Cuban People are shown in a Retro-Aesthetic, emphasizing the fact that time seems to be passing slower in the land of Cigars and Rum.
When he’s not hiding behind the Camera, Jules Valeron sings and plays beach-flavoured Pop-Musique with his Band “Valeron & the Coconuts”
For the Vernissage on Saturday March 6th (19:00) they will add some summer-vibes, performing a live-set and presenting their Debut-Album “Horizons Nouveaux”
Blood Sweat Vector – Opening this Thursday
Only 3 days to go until we celebrate the big opening of our eagerly awaited next exhibition: WEST BERLIN GALLERY presents BLOOD SWEAT VECTOR…
West Berlin Gallery presents a group exhibition of the artist collectiv ‚Blood Sweat Vector’, running from November 13th to December 12th 2009. For the first time works by members of online-community Blood Sweat Vector will be brought together in the rooms of a gallery.
123Klan: We got the skills to pay the bills
Based on geometric variables like points, lines and curves and their composites in form of polygones, today computer generated vector graphics are an essential part of visual communication and illustration. Blood Sweat Vector, founded in 2008 by the designers Jared Nickerson (aka J3Concepts) and Brad Mahaffey as a platform for news, portfolios, recommendations and artistic exchange, is today one of the biggest networks for vectordesign. Some of the most important international vector artists are among the members. Blood Sweat Vector sees itself as an open channel for communication which encourages instant feedback and allows for interaction between likeminded designers.
All Blood Sweat vector members are highly regarded internationally and can look back on several cooperations, doing design for vinyl toys, skateboards, video games or fashion. In their portfolios you will find clients like Louis Vuitton, Kid Robot, Eastpack, MTV, Adidas, Sony, Artoyz and publications in magazines like Modart, WAD, Juxtapoz and many more.
Tokyocandies: Sweet Nightmare
In assembling an international selection of multifaceted styles the exhibition provides an overview of contemporary artistic vectordesign. The exhibition features works of more than 20 renowned artists, among them such staple names as Niark1 (France), 123Klan (Canada), Cuypi (France), Sheena Aw (Singapore), Maria Vittoria Benatti (Italy), J3Concepts (USA), Loungekat (Melbourne), Sublevel (Munich), Keuj (France), Tokyocandies (Italy), Charuca (Barcelona) and many more…
Niark1: Dead End
Join us for the Vernissage on Thursday, November 12th, starting 19:00. Some of the artists will be around, as well as Blood Sweat Vector founders Jared Nickerson and Brad Mahaffey.
42Below will care for excellent cocktails again and for the first time we will have DJs spinning, West Berlin Gallery’s own Guillaume aka DJ One (also founder of Vinyl kills MP3) back to back on the decks with Tatjana.
We are looking forward to see you on thursday, in the meantime also link up to the Facebook event :)
2011 West Berlin Gallery