Modart » Mousse Art

Mousse Art at Showroom MAMA

Elise — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:03:28 +0000

Mousse_Opening.jpg

Highlighting the best of Mousse Art, the “Highbrow, Lowbrow, Nobrow – MOUSSE!” show opened in last Friday at Showroom MAMA in Rotterdam.

The exhibition of contemporary Mousse Art was produced in collaboration with Harlan Levey, Editor in Chief of Modart Europe and included artists like Zoe Strauss, Nomad, Stefan Gross, East Eric, Isaac Cordal, Mark Jenkins, and Tobias Allanson.

Moussism refers to process as much as movement. It discusses taste, legacy and the line between art and activism to explore creativity and social well being.

Modart was launched in 1999 to document the attitudes and showcase the actions of emerging artists, and their relationship to a language of rebellion. As the last century came to a close, civil disobedience was on the rise. Modart was not interested in ‘art’ in any professional sense, but rather in art as something that was lived. As a magazine, Modart communicated a plea for increased artistic amateurism and participation. In returning to it’s original topic, Modart illustrates Moussism as a universal and hidden movement that confirmed artists like Carravaggio, Duchamp and Basquiat belonged to while living.

Exhibition runs until the 23rd of June

Mu and More

Maxi — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:38:33 +0000

Our very own Harlan Levey, curator, founder of the NNE network and creative director of Modart, has been talking about Mousse for over a year now. While the novel concept of Mousse Art has been developed into a full blown theory Levey has been working on the second book-edition of Modart, which is dedicated to Moussism and its representative artists. Herein he links former unaccepted movements in modern art, that are fully acknowledged now, and contemporary art movements that are not always recognized as such. All under the rebellious motto: ‘Mousse art looks like shit but tastes sweet.’

On Thursday, March 24, Harlan Levey got invited by MU & Meer to tell us everything we always wanted to know about Moussism at the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.

MOUSSISM = a non-traditional community based movement, which is not limited to a period, place or classical notion of aesthetics, discipline, medium, ideology or style. In terms of art, it is a movement that presents work, which migrates in the viewer’s mind from shit to THE shit.

Levey explains: “Carvaggio could be the first MOUSSE artist and played a significant role in the Counter Reformation, an artistic movement that struggled to create a balance to the reformation (and not be crucified). As the church manipulated art and social aesthetic values in propaganda maneuvers (more information of the political changes,) Carvaggio managed to make MOUSSE of the most recognized icons. He was a complete faux pas, but he was also such a good painter that it didn’t matter.

“We can take as examples, the seductive lips of the Lute Player, his drunken green Baccus or the first things that strike the eye when we come across his work ‘Madonna di Loretto.’ The first thing you see are dirty feet and the ass of a man, Madonna as a whore and peasants as believers, a baby so big he has no business being in his mother’s arms. Carvaggio made MOUSSE by abusing form through mastery of craft and managing to make subversive work without compromising the sincerity of his expression.

“He found a way to personalize commissions in a style that was ugly and sweet and undeniable. He sold his creativity and guarded his authenticity with his life. This is essential to making MOUSSE. This is where the honest and emotional are safe from mediated onslaught and illusion. It is an ethical stance towards creating in general and specifically to creating art. The work is not concerned with politics as a subject, the political act is the communication of the work.”

It’s not a trend, it’s a movement.

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

Mousse FAQ

Harlan — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:25:38 +0000

MOUSSISM = a non-traditional community based movement, which is not limited to a period, place or classical notion of aesthetics, discipline, medium, ideology or style. In terms of art, it is a movement that presents work, which migrates in the viewer’s mind from shit to THE shit.

MOUSSE Art = a byproduct of MOUSSISM

9 elements of MOUSSE ART

IT …

1. Is informed and innocent
2. Involves the community at large
3. Assumes squatting as a healthy position
4. Expresses freedom and radiates joy
5. Speaks of social illness and wellbeing as movements
6. Works with what it can salvage
7. Deals with real issues, real risk, real sorrow and real beauty
8. Activates emotional and intuitive intelligence
9. Has no predestined form, besides that of mousse

How can you recognize MOUSSE Art

?

A good clue is that when people first look at MOUSSE Art they are likely to say, ‘that’s shit.’
Later however, they are just as likely to get excited and say, ‘That’s THE Shit.’

To say that MOUSSE art often looks like shit is not to dismiss its ability to be beautiful. MOUSSE Art is beautiful, but this is not always obvious and is generally most evident outside of any singular object analysis. MOUSSISM detaches beauty from form, but does not necessarily neglect beauty in it. It is not trying to be beautiful, but speaks of the beauty it finds in various forms of personal or social excrement.

Where can you find it?

MOUSSE Art may be found in your kitchen, next to a highway, under a bridge or in a museum. Wherever there is mousse, you may find MOUSSE Art.

by HARLAN LEVEY