The Urban Artist

Maxi — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:00:12 +0000

Circleculture Gallery in Berlin shows progressive urban art from all over Europe at Soho House Berlin with large sized installations and paintings by Jaybo Monk, Jonathan Yeo, Katrin Fridriks, Christian Awe, Anton Unai, Helle Mardahl, XOOOOX, Marco „PHO“ Grassi, Stefan Strumbel and Gould. Alongside the exhibition curator Johann Haehling von Lanzenauer invites you to a panel discussion about urban art.

They say: “Since the turn of the millennium a new type of artist, the Urban Artist, has emerged. He has influenced the cultural scene as a creative thinker and leader of subcultural expressions taking on the role of album cover designer for progressive punk, electro or hip-hop bands, graffiti writing innovator, avant-garde fashion designer, or street art activist. Today these same urban artists have become indispensable to the world of contemporary art, as many more make the transition from applied arts to the field of fine art. In addition to the alternative forms of presentations such as that of city streets, they produce art works for galleries and museums who are increasingly putting together shows of urban inspired pieces.

“Some urban artists have engaged with ideas in an academic context, while others celebrate international success as self-taught practitioners. What these artists have in common, however, is the prevalence of an attitude absent in the academies. They are brimming with innovative spirit and radicalism – employing differentiating concepts, aesthetics and techniques that can only be incurred by the exposure to a subcultural tradition. The most immediately obvious departure from a more classical practice is the illegal use of the streets as medium, mediator, and translator; providing the friction necessary to transform life experience into art.

“The Urban Artist exhibition documents urban arts place today, bringing into focus its new directions and creating a dialogue between the practice, the artists and the audience. A panel discussion hosted in tandem with the exhibition will seek to define urban art and illuminate its potential for future development. The panel will host Dr. Ilaria Hoppe from the Institute for Art and Visual History at the Humboldt University of Berlin, the graffiti writer and artist Christian Awe and the exhibition curator Johann Haehling von Lanzenauer. The panel will be moderated by Jan Kage – presenter of ’Kunst Magazin art collector talks’ and head of the ’Radio Arty’ broadcast on MotorFM.”

Formerly Know As: New Art

Maxi — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 09:00:57 +0000

Founded in 2001 Circleculture is a Berlin-based Gallery dedicated to show and deal fine art that finds it’ s background, heritage and influences in urban cultural phenoma like street art, avant-garde fashion, design, music, architecture and graffiti. This commercially independent platform was created by Johann Haehling von Lanzenauer and Dirk Staudinger. In cooperation with international curators, the gallery has developed a large number of exhibition concepts based on sub-cultural movements and became an important cultural phenomenon in the European art scene itself.

In the exhibition New Art-Formerly Know As: New Art, curated by Haehling von Lanzenauer, a selected group of international artists take reference to some of the most ground breaking artists of the past. In doing so they pay homage to the spirit of innovation, non-conformity and alternative thinking of the older days.

Art looks back on a multi-faceted and fascinating history. Among the illustrators, designers, sculptors, painter, calligraphers, fashion designers and architects of the past, new avant-gardes emerge constantly; establishing themselves to be replaced by the next generation craving innovation. A process of creation that builds upon preceding aesthetics, concepts and techniques, which deconstruct the past achievements in order to create a contemporary art-remix. Many artists eschew this conscious connection to history, creating new approaches; new art.

Circleculture explains the concept: “When, in the early 20th Century the French-American artist Marcel Duchamp declared a common urinal to be a work of art, a scandal was unleashed in the art world. Duchamp’s radical new interpretation of the concept of art provocatively put into question the more aesthetic process of creation in the visual arts up till then. He ultimately prevailed with his intellectual approach and in so doing, influenced important art historical currents such as conceptual art, Dadaism and Surrealism.

“There is now a movement underway worldwide that could again be seen as the precursor of new currents in the art of tomorrow. Call it street art, new art, urban art if you want – anyways those artists don’t want to be put in an art historical box for now. They believe in less academical art structures. They made their own way to develop and find their art. Inspired by urban subcultures like graffiti, street art, graphic design, punk music or avant-garde fashion. They developed a real passion, strong enough to work everyday by own motivation on the development of their techniques, artistic style and message. With this self taught attitude they found a unique position in the contemporary art world.”

See more pictures on No New Enemies

Who: Judith Supine / Christian Awe / Jonathan Yeo / Helle Mardahl / XOOOOX / Kevin Earl Taylor / Anton Unai / Jaybo Monk / Adriana Ciudad / Stefan Strumbel / Marco “Pho” Grassi
vs.
Gustav Klimt, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Pablo Picasso, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Pierre Soulages, Henri Matisse, Théodore Géricault, James Ensor
Where: Circle Culture Gallery / Gipsstrasse 11 / 10119 Berlin-Mitte / Germany
When: January 21 – March 05, 2011 / PREVIEW on January 20 / 7-9 PM

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The Urban Artist

Formerly Know As: New Art