The museum ‘L’espace Croix Baragnon’ in Toulouse is celebrating the underground cultural scene with a new exhibition called ‘Subcultures’.  The city of Toulouse is the cradle of many renowned artists from Miss Van, Fafi, Reso, Tilt to dran, but the artistic scene is even more prolific, mixing popular cultures (rock music, punk, goth, hip hop, experimental … sci-fi, comics, movies, skateboarding, tattoo…) revisiting modern art movements (surrealism, Dadaism, pop art, poster-art…) as well as post-modern art forms (lowbrow, graffiti, street art,…)

Curator David Pujol has been observing the local underground culture for several years and presents ‘Subcultures’ featuring 10 established and emerging artists, with their influences and distinctive style on the local and international scene: Amandine Urruty,  100TAUR (covered), A4 Putevie (covered), Mathieu Bourrillon, Nicolas Delpech, Fräneck, Herbot, Kinder K, Arnaud Loumeau and Benjamin Stoop.

Although not listed in the official artists roster, enfant terrible dran (covered) makes several appearances with a brand new canvas and stickers and flyers throughout the exhibition space.

    
    
     

Huge crowds and artists turned out for the eagerly awaited opening including anonymous artist <++ (covered) who also made a live performance.

Through his drawings and sculptural installations, artivist artist A4Putevie (b.1980) illustrates the thirst for freedom within the urban environment, his thoughts and distress about the current politic affairs, war and surveillance society.

          
    

Inspired by nature, religious art, Japanese culture and mythology, 100TAUR (b.1982) explores the concept of imperfection, creating a universe populated by fantastic creatures, distorted hybrids humans and animals with a sacred touch. Anthropomorphic fishes are adorned with a golden aura, while his signature character ‘Slug’, symbol of resilience is omnipresent within his compositions.

     
     

Kinder K. (b.1984) oil paintings play with medieval imagery and religious iconography to question our faith in life. Her colourful compositions illustrate empowered female characters with an erotic touch, whether Lolitas dancing and being seduced by the devil, or a man-eater she-devil.

              

Fascinated by video games, Arnaud Loumeau (b.1978) draws kaleidoscopic shapes on paper. Using mathematical precision, patterns are repeated in a loop like in a computer and coloured with marker. Underground illustrator Franeck painted a mural inside the gallery space with a series of small black and white drawings featuring his signature humorous round shaped characters within architectural landscapes.

     

View the full set of pics here

Stay tuned for the rest of the coverage soon with our Part II

‘Subcultures’
Until 18 June 2016
Espace Croix-Baragnon
24 rue Croix-Baragnon
31000 Toulouse (FR)