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
Save the Date! Vector Lounge: Berlin vs. London
For the upcoming battle this thursday the Vector Lounge International Graphic Battle announced the debut of LONDON! The city will be represented by Jaguar Shoes, who already announced their pretty impressive line up starring:
Matt Layzell, McBess, Patrick Krafft and Simon Landrein.
This battles theme will be Superheroes! so put on your capes and masks and get ready to cheer on our team! Fighting for Berlin and ready to kick London’s ass WestBerlin Gallery proudly presents Berlin’s line up, a dream team formed by:
Roland Brückner! – Well known for his illustrations in press magazines and newspapers and his alter ego in Berlin street’s, Linda’s Ex, Roland has been long time represented by the gallery and part of the Berlin team from the very first Vector Lounge!
Bigadi! – Young new blood for our team! Bigadi is a 21 year old student at the Berlin university of Arts who loves digital art and vector illustrations. Ready to show what Berlin’s new generation is capable of!
Jakob Tolstrup! – Newcomer to our gallery’s walls, not to the Vector Lounge though. The danish artist and his army of characters will be once again battling for his foster city!
DeeDeeKid! – For the second time in our ranks, the master of vector illustration DeeDeeKid comes back full of energy, ready to fight for Berlin one more time!
Linda’s Ex
Biography
In 2003, Roland Brückner left south Germany and moved to Berlin where he became an art student at the Universität der Künste Berlin, but did not complete his degree. During the same year, his campaign “Linda’s Ex”, where plastered stickers and posters became widely known throughout the city, usually displaying a boy in despair, begging his girlfriend, Linda, to come back – a seemingly desperate yet chevalier attempt – began to progress.
Naturally, people ignored these posters, due to the city’s saturation of street art, but as the messages grew deeper and the images developed, Berliners were forced to take notice. People began to write on these posters, attempting to raise the artist’s spirits, who through his work, managed to gather opinions from people all over Berlin. Part of the success stemmed from the artist’s ability to communicate intently with his audience, who in turn gave him the attention he needed in order to establish a base for his now on-going artistic career.
A year later, Linda’s Ex, the alias of artist Roland Brückner, faced the public. There was no Linda, he confessed. The whole campaign had been a hoax, but this gave Roland the opportunity to not only debut his work at Berlin Museum für Kommunikation but he is now considered part of Berlin’s street art history, developing his work and career as a Berlin based artist. Quite an achievement!
Selected Exhibitions
2011 Contemporary Istanbul – Istanbul – Turkey
2011 Dissidents – West Berlin Gallery – Berlin – Germany
2011 Beyond Good & Evil – West Berlin Gallery – Berlin – Germany
2010 My Fire is Your Water – West Berlin Gallery – Berlin – Germany
Booth 17 at Stroke Art Fair Munich
The West Berlin Gallery is now in Munich for the urban art fair Stroke 04 which will be held until Sunday 29th.
We came with a selection of artworks from 7 artists : Alias, Hot Cheese Crew, Niark1, Prost, SP38, Linda’s Ex and Yumanizumu.
Here’s a quick preview of what we have at booth 17 : a range of new artworks by Alias such as “The swing”, a new stencil made on a former wood door over a meter high, or Reiner W., a little devil and metal on a wood panel. “On the beach”, “In the Wood” and “Dar E Salaam City Musicians” are also here to represent Hot Cheese Crew artworks and SP38 made a new series of silkscreen posters such as “Escape”, ” No propaganda” and “Banksy is French” to present. In smaller formats, we have the “week in your office” series of bricks by Linda’s Ex and the hand paintings on aluminium by Yumanizumu. As for Prost, we have a collection of 6 new “one-liner serie”. “The Giant”, the painting that Niark1 created during his stay in Berlin for the “Hidden Side” Exhibition is also at Stroke, along with different formats of Niark1′s artworks.
We are looking forward to seeing you at booth 17 in the Zenith Kulturhalle (Lilienthalallee 29, 80939 Munich, U6 Freimann)
Stroke last day until 7pm today!
See you there!
Featured Artist: Linda’s Ex (Roland Brückner)
Most Berliners already know “Linda’s Ex”, the boy who asked his lover to come back to him in plastered posters and stickers throughout the city. Today, we are interviewing Roland Brückner, the illustrator we owe it.
His artistic career started when forced by an accident, Roland broke his leg and had to park his skateboard for a while. As a result of being stuck indoors, he started drawing, and hasn’t stopped ever since. Born in Munich in 1983, he decided to leave southern Germany in 2003 and came to live in Berlin, where he started his Street-Art-Campaign Linda’s Ex. Although this ruined his day-night cycle, it also led him to make an exhibition in the Museum für Kommunikation in Berlin.
Nowadays Roland spends most of his time working as an illustrator, handing out the best of the stories with that personal way of twisting the lines.
"Take my hand" xerox on walls, 2009.
Hi Roland. First of all, could you describe a little bit of your background?
I come from the edge of the Alps in southern Germany. I do hardly have an artistic background, my father is a pharmacist, my mother a french teacher. I did graffiti when I was young.
You didn’t finish your studies, why? what’s your opinion about art school?
There just wasn’t enough time for both work and studies. I do not think you can learn art, all you can learn is to wait a few years. And you get to know nice people.
What inspires you to work?
My everyday life. I look at people and try to understand what they see and mirror it on paper later. That, plus trying to explain what I don’t understand.
I would say your illustrations have a sketchy style, but nonetheless, a very detailed and careful use of the line. What materials do you usually work with?
Wacom or ballpen. Sadly I don’t have enough room for more. I would love to work with acrylics on canvas, but I just can’t at the moment.
You are well known in Berlin for your Street art. Was moving here what led you to put your works into the streets?
Yes. I wanted to go writing, but with a concept. In 2003 the word “streetart” didn’t exist and a bunch of people came up with the idea of hanging posters. I tried to give it a story and play with the audience.
"The no said yes", acrylic and paint on concrete, 2009.
And it certainly worked. I’m sure a lot of people wondered if Linda’s Ex and Roland Brückner wee the same person. What I’m asking is, is there anything autobiographic in your street art character?
No way. I never had my heart broken and always thought it was funny to laugh about people whose biggest problems lay in the past. Seeing a girl cry for the story made me think that maybe it’s not only funny after all.
Now you are more focused onto illustration. Could you describe your current work as an illustrator, and how does this relate, if it does, to your street art experience?
I try to get the first draft to be the final one. And I am used to do rather a lot than one or two perfect pieces. Posters get torn down, magazines get thrown away. What counts for me is the idea behind the illustration and the feeling it leaves in the recipient.
Do you still put up your pieces in public space?
Sadly no. I change diapers at night (Roland has two baby kids).
Since 2007, you have been regularly publishing Mumpelmonster, a children’s book which is free. How did you come up with that idea ?
Same thing as with Linda. The more people see things, the bigger the impact. And I did not want to have a publisher, telling me to do more normal stories.
"Friday in Your Office" pencil on brick with plaster & laquer, 2011.
If you had to choose only one way of showing your art, what would that be? streets, galleries or publications?
Tattoos on people’s foreheads.
Anything that moves your thoughts right now?
I can’t find the right words: A close friend died.
We are sorry for your loss. Thank you for your time.
A few of the latest Linda’s ex’s artworks are available in our online shop.
Beyond good & evil
However, you decided to enter the New year, full of resolutions, with a healthier eating plan, a bigger conscience or simply hangover, you will be happy to know that West Berlin Gallery re-opens with a bang. The first group show of the year presents an array of talent ranging from local living legends, to nomads and respected international artists. If you’re not a loyal member of the space already, this is a good chance to meet and greet the favorite figures in the contemporary street scene, with plenty for your deprived eyes to feast on after the holiday art drought, as well as be the first to witness the new and very welcome expansion of the space.
Remember Linda’s Ex, the guy who pretty much covered the whole of Friedrichshain with pleas for his one true love to return. Well, even though that romance was never quite fulfilled (what is wrong with Linda you might wonder, can a girl ask for anything more romantic?) Roland Brückner, the once tortured soul behind these visual confessions of the heart has now bloomed into a fully fledged local hero, recognized for his emotional approach and painfully detailed sense of line. In pencil, on seven raw bricks from his parents house, from the exact spot where Linda used to lean on at Christmas, he picks up the theme of unrequited love from a more grown up perspective.
Fellow local street poet Alias, who, following a very successful solo-show at the gallery last year comes back with his latest work which includes two new stencils as well as other mix media mischief, combining metal and wood.
Berlin-based activist Mein Lieber Prost is responsible for such socially beneficial services as improving advertising signs, making fun of tourists and reminding the generally stressed-out public to laugh and smile with the happy „Prostie“ faces he generously distributes all over town. For this show, he presents unique framed pieces, combining his studio skills in mixed media together with cleverly simple characters to create amusing social commentaries in his contagiously witty way.
Although not biologically German, Sp38, is pretty much local by now, considering the wealth of goodness he’s plastered the town with since he’s been prisoner here since 1995. We are particularly grateful for his rabbits and the provocative use of text which he’s been educating us with.
Another master of the written word is Giacomo Spazio, a newcomer to the gallery but definitely no novice in the scene, a multi-tasking godfather more like. With his own gallery space in his native Milan, Spazio’s curriculum vitae also includes theory and music production, as well as punk rock records. In his artistic work on show, he uses text in rather controversial ways presented on mix media canvases.
☮ , Love & everything else will follow… are not the right words to describe the work of DTG / Mongomania, an open collective, based all over the world. Founded in 2001 on a little planet in the Mongonese galaxy they came to earth to digitize the offline analog world, with a healthy archive of a decade of exhibitions and on going projects. DTG could be short for “different things grow”, “digitize those grapefruits”, “don’t talk global”, “do the ghettowahnsinn” or “da true girls”. The latest DTG edition will show a selection of the “YO I GOT A PROJECT” photo series, new and exclusive works shown for the first time, featuring simple slogans on different surfaces just waiting to be interpreted. It will also contain original artwork, a limited edition poster, a sticker series as well as a little photobook.
Last but not least is Alexander Clouchard Barbone, the streetest of them all, quite frankly because the nomadic way of life sans roof has been his preferred life-style for the last thirty years. Probably the artist with the most secluded and what to some might seem quite insane method of working, ie locking himself in for days to cut and paste, Barbone is, himself and his work so unique precisely due to his disassociation from the outside world. Usually quite weary of any kind of system, particularly gallery systems, Barbone didn’t seem to mind our walls and roof this time to house his creations, featuring comics collages. Thank god. Enjoy!
Beyond Good & Evil
However, you decided to enter the New year, full of resolutions, with a healthier eating plan, a bigger conscience or simply hangover, you will be happy to know that West Berlin Gallery re-opens with a bang. The first group show of the year presents an array of talent ranging from local living legends, to nomads and respected international artists. If you’re not a loyal member of the space already, this is a good chance to meet and greet the favorite figures in the contemporary street scene, with plenty for your deprived eyes to feast on after the holiday art drought, as well as be the first to witness the new and very welcome expansion of the space.
Remember Linda’s Ex, the guy who pretty much covered the whole of Friedrichshain with pleas for his one true love to return. Well, even though that romance was never quite fulfilled (what is wrong with Linda you might wonder, can a girl ask for anything more romantic?) Roland Brückner, the once tortured soul behind these visual confessions of the heart has now bloomed into a fully fledged local hero, recognized for his emotional approach and painfully detailed sense of line. In pencil, on seven raw bricks from his parents house, from the exact spot where Linda used to lean on at Christmas, he picks up the theme of unrequited love from a more grown up perspective.
Fellow local street poet Alias, who, following a very successful solo-show at the gallery last year comes back with his latest work which includes two new stencils as well as other mix media mischief, combining metal and wood.
Berlin-based activist Prost is responsible for such socially beneficial services as improving advertising signs, making fun of tourists and reminding the generally stressed-out public to laugh and smile with the happy „Prostie“ faces he generously distributes all over town. For this show, he presents unique framed pieces, combining his studio skills in mixed media together with cleverly simple characters to create amusing social commentaries in his contagiously witty way.
Although not biologically German, Sp38, is pretty much local by now, considering the wealth of goodness he’s plastered the town with since he’s been prisoner here since 1995. We are particularly grateful for his rabbits and the provocative use of text which he’s been educating us with.
Another master of the written word is Giacomo Spazio, a newcomer to the gallery but definitely no novice in the scene, a multi-tasking godfather more like. With his own gallery space in his native Milan, Spazio’s curriculum vitae also includes theory and music production, as well as punk rock records. In his artistic work on show, he uses text in rather controversial ways presented on mix media canvases.
☮ , Love & everything else will follow… are not the right words to describe the work of DTG / Mongomania, an open collective, based all over the world. Founded in 2001 on a little planet in the Mongonese galaxy they came to earth to digitize the offline analog world, with a healthy archive of a decade of exhibitions and on going projects. DTG could be short for “different things grow”, “digitize those grapefruits”, “don’t talk global”, “do the ghettowahnsinn” or “da true girls”. The latest DTG edition will show a selection of the “YO I GOT A PROJECT” photo series, new and exclusive works shown for the first time, featuring simple slogans on different surfaces just waiting to be interpreted. It will also contain original artwork, a limited edition poster, a sticker series as well as a little photobook.
Last but not least is Alexander Clouchard Barbone, the streetest of them all, quite frankly because the nomadic way of life sans roof has been his preferred life-style for the last thirty years. Probably the artist with the most secluded and what to some might seem quite insane method of working, ie locking himself in for days to cut and paste, Barbone is, himself and his work so unique precisely due to his disassociation from the outside world. Usually quite weary of any kind of system, particularly gallery systems, Barbone didn’t seem to mind our walls and roof this time to house his creations, featuring comics collages. Thank god. Enjoy!
BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL February 4th – 26th 2011
See You at STROKE 03 Urban Art Fair, October 7-10, Berlin!
We’re excited to announce our participation to the STROKE 03 Urban Art Fair in Berlin. From the 7th to the 10th of October we will be showing exclusive & mostly unreleased works from Alias, Mymo, Roland Brückner (Lindas-Ex), Peachbeach (Attila Szamosi, Falk Hoger, Lars Wunderlich), Matthias Gephart (Disturbanity Graphics), Mike Friedrich, Tim Robot & Codai Nakamura to name a few.
Location: STATION-BERLIN, Luckenwalder Strasse 4-6, 10963 Berlin.
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 everyday streetscape, with its graffiti, tags, tattoos, advertising or graphic design found their sustenance, define the progression of contemporary art. The urban environment as literal and metaphorical platform for this development both inspires and presents the artist and their works.
Notwithstanding this, the majority of projects and galleries are still operating on a mostly semi-profitable basis. Passion and dedication are still more important than business plans and projections. This has naturally led to a young generation that finds it difficult to kowtow to the dynamics and rules of the classic art market. Unbeatable participation costs combined with professional presentation and an uninterrupted passion for art – this is where we see the starting point for STROKE, the world’s first and only Urban Art Exhibit. The STROKE.ARTFAIR is not a repackaging of old presentation and sales rituals in new clothing. STROKE represents an unconventional and enjoyment-oriented handling of art. Whether with an art history education, a serious collectors intention, passion for form and colour or pure curiosity – STROKE stands for uncompromising equality and openness.
The STROKE.ARTFAIR is the world’s first art fair dedicated to artistic developments of many diverse subcultural influences throughout the last 30 years, such as Streetart, Graffiti, Low-Brow, Illustration, Skateboard Art and many more – subsumed under the term of Urban Art.
Other participants includes Valsugo (D) / Xlab Corrosive Art Farm (D) / Box32 (D) / Limited no Art Gallery (I) / Quality Lovers (D) / Soon Art Gallery (CH) / Skalitzers (D) / Superplan (D) / Xhoch4 (D) / ATM (D) / Klub7 (D) / Galerie Rasch (D) / Kunstdruckgalerie (D) / Laker One (D) / Mongomania (D) / We Love Kicks (CH) / From here to Fame (D) / Intoxicated Demons Gallery (D) / Schau-Fenster (D) / Ghp (FRA) / Inoperable (AT) / SC gallery (ES) / We are visual (D), / Atemma Contemporary (D) .. to name a few
Opening reception Thursday from 6 pm – 11 pm.
Opening times Friday and Saturday from 1 pm – 11 pm, Sunday: 1 pm – 6 pm
Entry fee day ticket: 8 EUR. Public transport: Gleisdreieck (U1/U2), Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Park (U2), Schöneberger Strasse (Bus 129)
See You at the Bright Tradeshow
What a week! While the PeachBeach crew is preparing the exhibition opening here at West Berlin gallery on thursday night, we are building our booth at the Bright Tradeshow. You can find us in the Art Space on the 3rd floor. We exhibit and sell exclusive works from Alias, Doppeldenk, Cuypi, Lisa Wassmann, Codaï Nakamura, Roland Brückner aka Lindas-Ex & PeachBeach. See U at Bright!
2011 West Berlin Gallery