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
Codaï Nakamura Solo Show
Codai Nakamura grew up, studied and leaves in Japan.
West Berlin Gallery presents his first solo show in Europe from June 3rd to July 3rd.
Codai Nakamura‘s first key inspiration comes from Taro Okamoto. The Japanese mentor, noted for his abstract and avant-garde paintings and sculpture, changed is vision for Art. Okamato’s vision being very different from the approach of the traditional Japanese Fine Art Schools. Okamato showed him that Art doesn’t necessarily needs to be beautiful in the conventional way, opening new doors to his creativity.
Nakamura‘s paintings & illustration are very iconic, with central characters who represents Japanese people in their daily life. His work draws heavily from a pessimistic view of the urban experience which he describes in his work as tired characters and sad persons. Later on he was also influenced by Barry McGee and got to paint a lot of street characters.
Despite his young age, Codai has already had numerous shows in galleries in Japan such as galerie 6C or the Sunsui Museum. He uses pens and oil acryl and favors aqueous inks. West Berlin Gallery will present a collection of his latest works, exhibited for the very first time in Europe. During the vernissage on Thursday June 3rd he will do live paintings for the pleasure on the audience.
The Opening Ceremony will be held on Thursday the 3rd of June at 19:00 in West Berlin Gallery, Brunnenstr. 56 Berlin. The evening will be completed with a live painting session by the artist, music by Massimiliano Pagliara (Balihu / Rushhour / Robert Jonhson) and nice drinks to make it a date!
Despite his young age, Codai was born in 1983, he already has a quite a lot of experience and his curriculum is very impressive.
Solo exhibitions
2003
“GENKAN TANBARIN” <Gallery Spoon>
2004
“Cora-Hori Decoration” <Gallery Spoon>
“Cora-Hori Decoration 2nd” <Cafe NEUTRAL>
2005
“NEE-TOO” <Gallery iTohen>
2006
“MEAT” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
“FATMART” <Cafe NEUTRAL>
2007
“NIKKO” <Gallery iTohen>
2008
“MOTOGOE” <Cafe NEUTRAL>
“a museum.” <sunsui>
2009
“KOEN” <galerie 6C>
“Codai Nakamura Solo exhibition” <Hair salon Tity>
“torstrasse60″ <galerie 6C>
Live Painting
2005
“ART stream riverplace 2005″ <MINATO town riverplace>
“Orchestra band with Codai Nakamura”<Gallery &’s>
2006
“ART stream riverplace 2006″ <MINATO town riverplace>
2007
“Joint Art Battle” <TOYAMA shopping center>
2008
“SUMMER SONIC 08″ <MAISHIMA OSAKA>
2009
“Illustration Factry Opening event” <SEIKEI UNIVERSITY>
“”SUMMER SONIC 09″ <MAISHIMA OSAKA>”
Art events
2002
“Free soul” <Club Dawn>
“Artbeat riverplace” <MINATO town riverplace>
2003
“GEISAI#4″ <TOKYO Big Sight>
“The 1st ARTSTREAM” <MINATO town riverplace>
“DESIGNER’S WEEK 2003 Design bridge Project” <Gallery SUMISO>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 01″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
2004
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 02″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 03″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 04″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 05″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 06″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 07″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 08″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 09″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 10″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 11″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“PARK ART MARKET in CRYSTA 12″ <CRYSTA NAGAHORI Plaza>
“The 2st ARTSTREAM” <MINATO town riverplace>
2005
“ARTSTREAM 2005″ <SUNTORY MUSEUM Coast street>
2007
“ARTSTREAM 2007″ <MINATO town riverplace>
“DESIGN FESTA vol.25″ <TOKYO Big Sight>
“1000000 people Candle night” <UMEDA chayamachi>
“DESIGN FESTA vol.26″ <TOKYO Big Sight>
2008
“Scientific technique a project~plastic100~” <Osaka municipal science pavilion>
“GEISAI MUSIUM #2″ <TOKYO Big Sight>
“1000000 people Candle night” <UMEDA chayamachi>
“GEISAI #11″ <TOKYO Big Sight>
“ARTSTREAM 2008″ <SUNTORY MUSEUM Coast street>
“1000000 people Candle night” <UMEDA chayamachi>
“1000000 people Candle night” <NISHI-UMEDA>
“Parent and child classroom” <galerie 6C>
2009
“1000000 people Candle night” <UMEDA chayamachi>”
“1000000 people Candle night” <NISHI-UMEDA>
“SEIKEI SUMMER FES.2009″ <SEIKEI UNIVERSITY>
Group exhibitions
2002
“40mm Badge exhibition” <Gallery ROKUSHIKI>
“T-Shirt exhibition” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
“KENKADO ART FEST” <Gallery SUMISO>
“Peace Touch exhibition” <FUJII Temple City office>
“Two exhibition~ MINORITY ~” <Gallery ROKUSHIKI>
“I exhibition” <Gallery Spoon>
“3B exhibition” <Hair salon Brush up>
“Psychology decalcomanie exhibition” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
“THE Eyepatch exhibition” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
2003
“Twenty exhibition” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
“The 10th Small small large exhibition” <OSAKA Heiwa Paper Voice>
“Portable camera Applique exhibition” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
2004
“First dream of the new year diary exhibition” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
“The 11th Small small large exhibition” <TOKYO Shinjuku park tower>
“The south art festival RIKI EXPO 2004″ <Gallery mainascapes>
“Christmas exhibition” <Gallery Spoon>
2005
“LP Record Jacket exhibition” <Cafe NEUTRAL>
“Trio exhibition~Monkey and Jam and Forest of neon~” <Gallery Spoon>
“Everyone’s ITOE” <Gallery iTohen>
2006
“sorameet” <Gallery iTohen>
2007
“LP Record Jacket exhibition02″ <Cafe NEUTRAL>
“Last handkerchief & Business card exhibition” <Gallery Moguri rooM>
“ARTHOUSE 7anniversary~7exhibition~”<Gallery ARTHOUSE>
2008
“Photo frame exhibition” <Cafe NEUTRAL>
“Letter paper exhibition” <Gallery osoblanco>
“ONSA” <Gallery iTohen>
“EROSHI O REKI REKI” <Cafe NEUTRAL>
2009
“Cherry blossoms weather” <galerie 6C>
“Creators paper exhibition” <Gallery osoblanco>
“ONSA” <Gallery iTohen>
“LP Record Jacket exhibition04″ <Cafe NEUTRAL>
First Pics of the BSV Vernissage
Here are the first pics of the ‘WEST BERLIN GALLERY presents BLOOD SWEAT VECTOR’ opening last Thursday. Thanks to all who came around, especially to Brad, Jared, Marius and Eleanor, to 42Below and the excellent bartenders, to Tatjana and Guillaume for spinning some nice music and last but not least to all participating designers – really good job
For all who didn’t make it for the opening – the show is running till December 12th!
For even more pics try our flickr…
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 :)
‘Martin Krusche vs laFraise: Ugly & Drippy’ Vernissage
Here are some pics of last night. Thanks to everybody who came around and enjoyed the evening
See more pics on our flickr.
Tonight!! Opening of ‘Martin Krusche vs laFraise: Ugly & Drippy’
Come around and enjoy Martin’s original artworks (he even painted our walls and windows) and see what the contestants have done with ‘Ugly & Drippy’. Music, drinks and a nice atmosphere guaranteed!
West Berlin Gallery Opening
Thank you so much to everybody who came around last night to celebrate the opening with us!
We had a really good time last night with about 300 guests. Just a great evening – enjoying the designs of the laFraise 15K Contest Exhibition, having a nice chat and some tasty drinks as well. Special thanks to the whole laFraise-Team, 42below and the great barkeepers, who did a really good job serving the crowd with fresh and boozy cocktails.
See more pictures of the opening on our flickr.
laFraise 15K Exhibition
We are busy working to prepare everything for the opening of the laFraise 15K Exhibition.
Contestants were asked to do a creative shirtdesign, and it turned out to be one of the biggest online-design contests in Europe ever. laFraise received almost 4000 designs from which they chose 12 finalists and then 1 winner. You can check all the finalists here. These designs (along 40 other chosen works) got printed on canvas and we are really proud to exhibit them.
The winning design ‘Elefant Gum’ by Piu Piu will be printed on 120×120 cm. Sweet and bubbely as a candycoated Bollywood movie, what do you think?
So, we really would like to invite you to the opening on September 10th, starting at 7pm. Come around and enjoy the designs, we will have some free drinks (provided by 42below) and good music ready waiting for you :)! Please rsvp!
The exhibition runs from September 11th to October 10th, open daily from 12-7pm.
Created in 2004, laFraise is now Europe’s largest t-shirt design competition and receives over 100 daily submissions from graphic designers and illustrators all over the world.
After a design is approved, it appears on the laFraise site for a week for the community to vote and comment on it. Each week, laFraise selects new designs and prints them in limited editions of 500 t-shirts.
2011 West Berlin Gallery