Modart » Abner Preis

The Magic of The Great Abnerio

Maxi — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 09:05:16 +0000

The Great Abnerio and Rocco’s magical theater from abnerpreis on Vimeo.

Rocco Pezzella and Abner Preis did a collaboration for “The Great Abnerio and Friends Tour” show room Mama Rotterdam Netherlands 2011.

Read more about the shenanigans of The Great Abnerio here on NNE.

Superheroes Half Way to USA

Maxi — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:00:44 +0000

We’ve supported Abner on The Superhero Project for over a year now and it’s been amazing to witness hundreds of interactions with strangers as well as to see a socially based art project being embraced both critically and publicly.

Last year it featured at the Scope Art Fair (Art Basel, Miami Beach), Brussels Fashion Week (ModoBrussels), Human Cities (Design Week Istanbul) and the Marta Herford Museum in Germany. Aside from that, Abner’s other work is making waves and he remains one of the most industrious and exciting artists we have worked with in the last ten years. If the fund raising is successful, there will also be a book and a film about this experience and all supporters will be credited.

As a next step Abner Preis is planning to take his costumes and his ability to bestow the power of imagination to create more heroes on a grand tour through the U.S.A.

To fund his mission he created a fund raiser campaign on Kickstarter and is on more than 60% to achieve his goals, to produce the US version of the Superhero Project.

All he needs is 35 more people to donate 100$ (= 70 euro = a good night out). In exchange, everybody will get: A limited edition project T-shirt in their size of choice, a copy of the artist edition of the project book, and their name mentioned in all project publications with a giant thank you for helping make this happen.

What is a 100 bucks to help create new heroes and produce a beautiful project that reinvestigates the American Landscape?

Please take a minute to check the link below. If you’re able to contribute, spread the word, or help in any other way – it is greatly appreciated.

All the details of what the money will be used for, and the rewards we’re offering for support are on Kickstarter.

Help Kick Starting Superheroes

Maxi — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:19:49 +0000

Dear friends, members and art enthusiasts,

As you know we like giving; and we like it a lot. But today we are looking for your support for a very special project that we have often talked about.

Many of you have been watching Abner Preis’ wild ride over the last few months and saw the Superhero Project included in high profile art, fashion and design events while continuing to empower average (and not so average citizens) by transforming them into Superheroes.

The trip of Abner and Harlan Levey Projects to Miami last December was telling. It is not often that you find an activist piece of art (especially one based in performance), which is taken seriously by the contemporary market. Abner’s work has not only crossed the boundary between different creative industries, but has also demonstrated that acclaimed fine art can still be socially engaged.

At a time when public subsidies to the arts are diminishing and the world reads about crisis after crisis, it is not surprising that a project, which speaks of joy, empowerment and unlocking potential is successful as it hits the streets. It is a great testimony to Abner however, that the project has been so well received by the public at large as well as decision makers in a highly critical market.

Now HLP and Abner are going to put that to the test as they embark on an ambitious journey across the United States.

The relationships created in the last 6 months make us more than confident that they will reach agreements with a suitable publisher for the book, with film festivals and a production house for the short series of films and with reputable fairs and museums to deepen the reach and legacy of this bold initiative as the artwork created in the USA is displayed.

But before they get there, they need to get to the US, get on the road and start creating new heroes. For this they can use your support.

There are several ways you could help them out. They’ve launched a campaign on Kickstarter, which gives you all the details. While they’re looking for financial support to produce the project, they’d also appreciate any hand you want to lend in helping them establish new contacts in the cities they visit, arranging accommodation with friends or family and spreading the word about this project.

For more information regarding past Superhero performances of Abner Preis, media coverage and how you can help visit the website of HLP. Feel free to contact them with any inquiries.

The Great Abnerio

Maxi — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 09:00:51 +0000

Last Friday Abner opened his big solo show The Great Abnerio at showroom Mama in Rotterdam. Weeks of hard work on Abner’s side payed off for the interested and numerous visitors.

Besides several big-sized paintings depicting the adventures of the Great Abnerio, Abner constructed an arch to save the ‘Squiglies’ and other endangered animals (certified by God himself), an airplane, a wishing well and a big, colorful ‘Mary Go Round’. At the entrance you had to take your shoes off, because the whole floor was decorated with pieces of colorful carpet cut out in the shapes of waves, logs, clouds and islands. You also got a mustache, so that everybody could become a Great Abnerio and enter a world of friendly laughter. And, as always, you could listen to a story (The Well) on little stereos provided. In the little backroom Abner installed a cinema, where you could see the Great Abnerio perform magic tricks (in collaboration with Rocco Pezella).

Abner wouldn’t be Abner if he didn’t gratify us with a performance. Together with his Dogs of Shame buddy Wayne Horse and Chaz from The London Police he sang I Believe I Can Fly and something I believed to be a song about a mermaid, the reasons of which escaped, but amused me. My friend Julian put it right when he explained, that the Dogs of Shame only do it right, when people are actually ashamed. Otherwise it would be the Dogs of Interest or the Dogs of Ambivalence….And people were ashamed and bewildered, so they did do a good job.

To see more pictures of the opening (by Happy Famous Artists) go to No New Enemies. The show of the Great Abnerio will be on until March 13.

The Great Abnerio

Maxi — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 09:00:19 +0000

The first show at the Showroom MAMA in Rotterdam in 2011 will be a solo exhibition by our friend and hero Abner Preis. Abner Preis tells simple stories with a positive, childlike narrative. The focus of his art and its’ point of departure are rooted in Abner’s aspirations to give one hope in a situation which seems hopeless, the ability to laugh at sadness, and the heart to see beauty in a bleak object.

“Abner tells stories in one on one interaction and for large audiences. He builds settings and involves his audiences in creating a special feeling and delivery of the narratives. For The Adventures of The Great Abnerio, Abner will create an interactive storytelling experience based on friendship, fantasy, magic and – most importantly – storytelling.

“Abner Preis’ solo exhibition in MAMA is concentrated around the character The Great Abnerio and his travels. The great Abnerio is a ‘strong man’ in his own traveling show, in which he tells stories about his adventures as a super hero, about his friends and the magic he learned along the way. The exhibition will be filled with a magic theater, drawings, sculptures, and an Arc with ‘squiglies’ on board. The central piece of the exhibition is a large Mary Go Round in which visitors can take place and can listen to stories of the adventures of The Great Abnerio. The audience will be encouraged to transform themselves into The Great Abnerio. Everybody who enters the exhibition receives a mustache just like the Great Abnerio.

I Can’t Believe This is Real from Harlan Levey Projects on Vimeo.

“Abner Preis’ stories deal about daily issues and universal human emotions. His stories have characters as ‘Donkey Dan’, about a boy who never feels accepted by his peers because of his massive penis he calls his Donkey. Dan is an outsider of his community until he and his family discover the Donkey Tribe during a vacation in Africa. The Donkey Tribe accepts Donkey Dan as a member of their clan. Another story is called ‘Spots and Stripes’ and deals about a dog and a cat who learn to respect and love each other through the lessons of their owner. ‘Pete the Pig and Charley the Clown’ is a story about baby pig that lost his parents at an art fair… but ultimately finds a friend with whom he can travel around the world with.” (MAMA)

Abner Preis is saving the world in this humble way and he goes to great pains to do it. But of course, like all great MOUSSE Art, things are not as simple as they look.

The great Abnerio will also travel throughout the Netherlands from March 1st till March 6th, sharing his adventures with others, presenting movies, magic and laughter. The Great Abnerio will visit Shunck in Heerlen, W139 in Amsterdam and MU in Eindhoven. The International Film Festival Rotterdam invited Abner Preis to make a movie about the circus of The Great Abnerio. This film will have its premiere on the festival on the fifth of February.

Who: Abner Preis
Where: MAMA Showroom / Witte de Withstr. 29-31 / Rotterdam / The Netherlands
When: 21 January – 13 March 2011

Superheroes at SCOPE Art Miami

Maxi — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 11:28:18 +0000

While winter started torturing the northern hemispheres and people shuffled through a mix of mud, ice and snow, Lori Zimmer and Harlan Levey attended the SCOPE Art fair in sunny Miami, where Harlan Levey Projects (HLP) made its fair debut featuring The Superhero Project by Abner Preis.

Harlan gave his impressions: “Preis was on hand all 5 days and while no tight count was kept, it is safe to say he brought out the hero in no less than 300 fair guests. All in all I found the fair outstanding. It was the first fair I have ever been at where all the galleries seemed satisfied with visitor traffic, overall quality and even sales.

“Scope director Mollie White did a fantastic job and we met some very interesting artists like Marc Horowitz, who aside from Abner was the only artist we might have recognized as pure Mousse. Outside of the fair there was always too much to do (more then a dozen other fairs + parties), but the most fun I had was joining our friends from Berlin as they threw the sort of party that has made the Broken Hearts Club famous. Big thanks to Ingrid Junker, William J. Barras, Alex Barron and all the new HLP accomplices.” (Harlan Levey)

Here is a first glimpse of HLP at the SCOPE Art fair, where Abner Preis kept bringing the heroes out in smiles.

Superhero Abner Preis

Maxi — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 18:28:08 +0000

Last weekend, in the context of Parcours Modo, Harlan Levey Projects opened their brand new showroom with a banging show by Abner Preis. The Superhero Project by Abner is a true love child. Dressed up as a superhero Abner goes to different cities around the world and starts interacting with people on the street, triggering their imagination by asking about their superpowers.

The Superhero Project by Abner Preis from Harlan Levey Projects on Vimeo.

Together with Harlan Levey Projects Abner got invited to present The Superhero Project during Brussels’ premier fashion event: Parcours Modo. Brussels’ Designers’ Trail is a celebration of fashion in all its most creative eccentricity. For three days, the city’s shop windows and secret spaces are handed over to creative talents young and old. Models strut along an improvised catwalk behind the glass windows of a furniture store after dark, art installations allow established fashion designers to show a different side to

their vision. One of those eccentricities was Abner’s show. The 700 visitors were as much impressed as they were bedazzled about this odd one out. At the end of the night, Abner did a second performance where he gathered the last 30 people in the gallery, put some superhero theme tunes on his mini boom box and passed out chalk, encouraging them to be peaceful vandals and draw a massive heart attack up and down the fashion quarter.

I Can’t Believe This is Real from Harlan Levey Projects on Vimeo.

The result of the Brussels edition were beautiful photographs, two video installations, an interview, and some well known -and loved- drawings by Abner, including matching sculptures and stories. With this exhibition and especially with the photographs Abner went way out of his comfort zone to present something close to his heart. The result is a beautiful journey. The exhibition is still for some more weeks.