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

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!

Be with us!

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

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!

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.