All posts by butterfly

Auxerre: Florent Maussion new mural for the RADD Festival

April 24, 2018 butterfly

For the past three weeks French artist Florent Maussion has been painting a monumental mural on the silos of Auxerre (France) for the 10th edition of the RADD Festival opening on 25 April 2018.

Winner of the contest for the RADD 2018 theme “Which School for tomorrow?”, Florent Maussion’s sketch won the public and jury votes. The 600 square meters mural on the concrete silos features a child painting while surrounded by koy carp in a large blue-green background.

Some preparatory sketches and colour tests lay on the ground next to a model version of the concrete sentinels. The child portrait is inspired by a picture of the artist’s son.

He found his inspiration during his many trips to Japan. “I imagined a child, a schoolboy painting his own world. On his clothes, he wears a leaf of gingko biloba. This sacred tree of the East is a symbol of unity, hope and associated with longevity, it is also called the ‘tree of the grandfather and grandson’ because it carries the hope of continuation of the lineage including a prediction of immortality. ”

The artwork has many symbolics. Florent Maussion indicates “I chose to represent these freshwater fish to make the link with the Yonne river flowing at the foot of the silos. Koi carp are peaceful and familiar fish, peaceful in nature and easily accepting the cohabitation with other species, a symbol of love, virility, perseverance and strength. ”

Up 30 meters high, the cherry picker offers a breathtaking panoramic view of the city of Auxerre and beyond, but beware of the height and winds which can be tricky as the surface is round.

After several days, the work is gradually taking shape with large blue and green trails and koy fish appears here and there.

View the full set of pics here

Drone video by Martin Millot

Curated by Denis Roicourt, this monumental mural is part of the RADD festival taking place from 25-28 April in Auxerre. Additional artists are also painting smaller walls through the city.
Full programme here

Festival, Ostend

Interview: Colectivo Licuado

April 18, 2018 butterfly

We followed Florencia Durán and Camilo Nunez from Colectivo Licuado, Uruguay as they painted a monumental mural for the Crystal Ship in Belgium.

Mastering spray paint with a hyperrealistic style, their creations juxtaposes culture and local traditions based on the context and environment in which they are working, adding their own style and a touch of art nouveau: skin tones, drapes, lighting and shadows are surreal.

With their mural, Colectivo Licuado paid tribute to Ostend, the city by the Sea. With two two women, they wanted to illustrate a balance between the calm and the storm at Sea. The standing tall blond girl represents storms, with a lot of energy, drawing strings of winds, while the seated brunette is peaceful and having a protecting hand on the boat.

We asked both of them a few questions to find out more:

B: Can you tell us more about your background?

CL: We knew each other studying industrial design 10 years ago. We always made student projects together , so we learned how to work as a team. Both of us always had interests in the arts. So years later we started painting in the streets as a hobby, but it quickly became our passion and our work, and we started to work really hard on this.

B: What is the situation in Uruguay towards street art/graffiti ?

CL: Street art is really new, less than 10 years. We are few of us, but little by little growing in numbers (be aware that we are 3 million people in all the country). So we are painting and growing together just to represent our country, because we are all really close.
There are more graffiti writers, they are really active and are also really close together.
In our opinion we need more big walls and more festivals that help us all to grow.

B: Colectivo Licuado is an artistic duo, so how did it started and what is your creative process?

CL: We started 7 years ago, like a hobby, but after our trip of South America, we realized that we could live from this and travel. So we started to work harder.
Nowadays, we think of an idea or message that we want to make in the wall. Lots of times it is something in relation to the environment of where we are going to paint the wall, some story, character, mythology. Then we always take some photos with a friend photographer, we ask for some of our friends to be our models, with a specific clothes and objects. Later with the photo we think about colours variations.

B: What influenced you to start painting murals?

CL: We always drew or made something in relation to art, like photos and music. Once we started to paint in the public space it was really amazing to see people’s reaction. It is always a good excuse to share messages or our opinions and different people can see that, it is outside museums and galleries, it is for all and for the city, and it plays with the architecture. Also you always have a free canvas to practice and to show your work.

B: What do you like/enjoy about painting in public spaces?
CL: We enjoy the opportunity to talk with many people in the streets, we enjoy the city in another way. It is also a chance to know other artists and cities. Each wall is a challenge for yourself and test your patience because are always some kind of difficulty.

Colectivo Licuado
www.colectivolicuado.com

Festival, Ostend, Street, streets

Crystal Ship : New murals by Telmo & Miel (NL) in Belgium

April 15, 2018 butterfly

For this year’s edition of the Crystal Ship Festival Dutch duo Telmo Miel created two murals in Ostend, Belgium. Telmo Pieper and Miel Krutzmann are the names behind Telmo Miel artistic duo, based in Rotterdam.

We last saw them in London in October 2017 during their Thinkspace exhibition at Moniker Art Fair ( covered), so we were pleased to see them in the streets of Ostend.

Combining multiple elements in a single composition, they layer references to the human and animal worlds to create complex creatures and fantastic scenario.
For the festival Telmo Miel painted a matching series called ‘Welcome’. Playing with the curved architecture, they painted a girl with an umbrella with a little monkey on her shoulder. The first version is under the rain while the mirrored version is under the sun.

View the full set of pics here

Check our full coverage on the Crystal Ship here

Art Fair

Urban Art Fair (Paris)

April 14, 2018 butterfly

For its 3rd Paris edition, the Urban Art Fair brings together thirty galleries from eight different countries at the Carreau du Temple from April 12 to 15, 2018.

With a selection of French and international galleries, the Fair is presenting a panorama of different techniques and mediums in the urban contemporary movement with works of more than 200 artists.

In parallel the Urban Art Fair is collaborating with Urban Films Festival, and will be featuring films related to the urban universe, with a focus on street art and graffiti artists’ films.

Amongst the participating galleries and artists, here are some highlights.

View the full set of pics here

Urban Art Fair Paris
12-15 April 2018
Carreau du Temple
Paris

Art Fair, Paris

Art Paris Art Fair: TILT Solo Exhibition

April 12, 2018 butterfly

With Switzerland being the guest of honour at Art Paris Art Fair (covered here), the Swiss Kolly Gallery focuses on the universe of French graffiti artist Tilt by dedicating a Solo Show. Tilt has won the First Prize of the Art Paris Art Fair, with “L’art est vivant – Promises prize”

With Tilt, work and life coexist closely, and its artistic, radical and singular vocabulary is marked by an anti-aesthetic approach based on destruction, disintegration and erasure.
Tilt likes to break codes, playing on the dislocation of plans, textures and density. The painting is abused. Tilt reveals a frontal vision of his artistic universe, where signs and references to the graffiti world are concealed, juxtaposed, in order to present a perfect synthesis of these street scriptures that he particularly enjoys.