All posts by butterfly

Los Angeles: Hisham Echafaki at The Other Art Fair

March 30, 2019 butterfly

London based artist Hisham Echafaki is currently exhibiting a new series of large scale multidimensional paintings at The Other Art Fair in Los Angeles.

Continuing to push the limits, the trompe l’oeil effects are so intricately done, that the eyes can be deceiving in believing these are real insects, butterflies and dragonfly. But, no , the visual effect are the results of a long and detailed process of acrylic paint and layers of resin. Even a closer look can leave the visitors puzzled as to whether these specimen really exist.

Playing with depth, iridescence and transparence, Hisham Echafaki imaginary creatures seem to be floating in space. A magical moment not to be missed.

Hisham Echafaki
The Other Art Fair – Los Angeles
Booth 95
The Magic Box – The Reef
Los Angeles 90015 CA

Paris, Shows

Paris: Jean-Michel Othoniel ‘Oracles’

March 17, 2019 butterfly

Galerie Perrotin presents a new solo show of French contemporary artist Jean-Michel Othoniel in Paris, following several important personal exhibitions in Canada, USA and France in 2018.

Jean-Michel Othoniel’s enchanting aesthetics revolves around the notion of emotional geometry. Using the repetition of modular elements such as bricks or his signature beads, which are his most recurring motif, he creates exquisite jewelry-like sculptures whose relationship to human scale ranges from intimacy to monumentality

The exhibition entitled ‘Oracles’ brings together fifteen minimalistic, enigmatic sculptures made of glass or metal bricks, the artist has systematized the use of a module that entered his work in 2009, after a journey to India. On the road from Delhi to Firozabad, a city with an age-old glassmaking tradition, he was struck by the stacks of bricks accumulated in the hope of building a house and by the countless altars covered in offerings and multicoloured necklaces. Since then, he has called on the knowledge of Indian glassblowers to blow blue, amber, yellow and grey glass bricks.

Monumental yet delicate, the sculptural installations allow the viewers to inhabit his world through reflection and motion.

Jean Michel Othoniel - Oracles

View the full set of pics here

Jean Michel Othoniel – Oracles
Until 8 June 2019
Galerie Perrotin, Paris

Shows, Street, streets

Celebration of Female Artists

March 7, 2019 butterfly

We would like to celebrate our favorite female artists worldwide, who are pushing boundaries in graffiti /street art as well as contemporary art. The list is unlimited so we are sending much love and support to ALL the female artists.

Keep doing what you are doing!

AIDA WILDE (UK)

BARBARA KRUGER (US)

AYA TAKANO (JP)

CARRIE REICHARDT

CHIHARU SHIOTA (JP)

FAITH47 (SA)

HERA (DE)

LADY AIKO (US)

MAD C (DE)

MAYA HAYUK (US)

MISS VAN (FR)

NATALIA FABIA (US)

OLEK (US)

SWOON (US)

TARA MCPHERSON (US)

YAYOI KUSAMA (JP)

London

London : el Seed – Tabula Rasa

February 18, 2019 butterfly

Tunisian-French contemporary artist, eL Seed has just opened his first UK exhibition entitled Tabula Rasa at Lazinc in London. We documented his previous visit to the UK capital in 2015 ( see here), where he painted a mural with this signature style: an adaptation of traditional Arabic calligraphy.

Within his intricate compositions, el Seed emphasises the curves and loops of the script removing a layer of legilibility and adding mystery to the meaning behind the words he chooses.

eL Seed commented: “I truly believe that art is a way to open dialogue. I like to think that my artwork can cut through the boundaries that we place between ourselves; whether physical, cultural or linguistic. My exhibition at Lazinc represents a new style of painting, where I am attempting to break down my thought process into layers. It also asks the audience to question the way they think and how much they have been affected by assumption or misconception.”

For this exhibition, the artist has developed on his process, stripping down the works, in an effort to access his own ‘tabula rasa’.
The concept of ‘tabula rasa’, pioneered by 17th Century philosopher, John Locke, argues that at birth the human mind is a complete, but receptive blank slate, upon which experience imprints knowledge. In relation to his canvases, eL Seed has taken the idea of the tabula rasa as a starting point, with the aim to alter deep-seated preconceptions that are commonly held about the Arabic script and culture.

In contrast to eL Seed’s usually polished and perfected canvases, the works at Lazinc appear with an unfinished aesthetic. The surface calligraphy is ripped and torn to reveal phrases and imagery below, which materialise slowly and differently with each viewing.
The layering of words and ideas offer an insight into the thought process of the artist.

Guests are invited to reconsider all that they previously thought about Arabic and immerse themselves in the calligraphic experience.

View the full set of pics here

elSeed – Tabula Rasa
Until 9 march 2019
Lazinc Sacksville
29 Sackville Street
London W1S 3DX

London, Paris

Banksy News

February 2, 2019 butterfly

Three major headlines related to Banksy

London: Banksy enters the permanent collection of the British Museum

The British Museum in London has acquired its first work by the anonymous artist, a fake £10 banknote depicting Lady Diana, Princess of Wales, which will join its collection of coins, medals and other currency.
The work, entitled Di-faced Tenner, was one of thousands of copies produced by the artist in 2004 as part of a planned art performance. Unlike ‘Peckham Rock’, a fake cave painting on concrete , which was part of a 2005 stunt and loaned again to the museum for a recent exhibition on dissent and protest in 2018 (see our coverage here), the note has been donated to the museum by the artist’s representative Pest Control.

It is the only official banknote ever released by Banksy. Any other kind of currency note are simply NOT by the artist, so fans and buyers beware. And the Banksy Di-Face Tenner indicates on its back ‘Trust No One’.

Palestine: Banksy creates a new artwork at the Walled Off Hotel

Two years after the official opening his artivist hotel in Bethlehem, Banksy just revealed a new artwork inside the Walled Off Hotel.

Conveying a message of Love and Peace, the artwork depicts a little veiled girl playing with coloured 3d block shapes looking at a giant heart shaped hole in a concrete wall which shows a neon light blue sky. Looking closer the 3D block shapes on the floor are iconographic symbols of all monotheist religions, from the cross to the start and crescent. Messages of peace are graffitied on the wall while Banksy’s signature is engraved in the concrete.

Paris: Banksy’s tribute to Bataclan’s victims is stolen

Sadly less than seven months after Banksy painted his tribute on the fire-exit door of the Bataclan theatre, where Islamist militants killed 90 people three years ago, the artwork has been stolen, the venue has said.
The work, one of a series of murals during Banksy’s invasion of the French capital last June, showed a veiled female figure in a mournful pose. ( Check our initial coverage about the artwork here)
“We are today filled with a deep sense of indignation. The work of Banksy, a symbol of contemplation belonging to all – residents, Parisians and citizens of the world – has been taken from us,” the Bataclan said in a Twitter post. A police investigation continues.

Stay tuned for further updates