Paris: Jean Charles de Castelbajac – I Want

March 1, 2018 butterfly

Multidisciplinary artist and internationally successful fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac (also known as JC/DC) is currently presenting a solo exhibition titled ‘I Want’ at Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris.

Since the 70’s and 80’s Jean Charles de Castelbajac has been creating clothes integrating popular iconography from cartoon characters by Walt Disney to the iconic Snoopy, and collaborating with multiple brands, allowing him to mix tradition with modernity.
During his visionary exhibition in 2009 “The Triumph of the Signs” in London, he combined brand logos with iconic canvases of art history and has been pursuing this incursion by creating a new hybrid aesthetic, chaotic and iconoclastic.

By bridging the gap between art and fashion for over decades, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac has explored all sides of this universe of collaborations both as a fashion designer and as artist.

Through this new exhibition “I Want – The Empire of collaborations”, the artist closes the last chapter of this artistic path started in 2009 by exploring on the one hand the hegemony of this new collaborative empire and its contradictions, and on the other hand, arises as a curator of desynchronized collaborations provoked by the meeting of artists, different eras and styles: André Courrèges meets street artist Andre, while Picasso secretely meets with Keith Haring. Fashion designer Virgil Abloh (covered) of Brand OFF WHITE lost his ‘Virgility’ …

JC/DC presents a portrait of the ‘Apotres Modernes’ / ‘Modern Apostles and dresses the Genealogy of Fashion with all the links between Brands and Designers.

A Mickey Mouse shaped canvas titled Kazimir, Walt & Raymond contains references to Russian painter Kazimir Malevich, Walt Disney and Raymond Pettibon

On the first floor, a series of portraits illustrate brand collaborations and ironically plays on words: Le Coq40 / CAC40 , French Kiss/Kith, Lacaste (the cast) / Lacoste, L’or & Elle (Gold and her) / L’oreal), Hell/ Shell, L’EGO / UNIQLO…

Next to the portraits gallery, a Wall / Mall showcases branded shopping bags painted with portraits or poetic statements.

In parallel, the 68 years old artist never ceases to be a street art poet, and describes himself as a ‘Craieateur (playing on the words craie =chalks and createur = creator) leaving chalk drawings and quotes on the streets.

View the full set of pics here

Jean Charles de Castelbajac – I Want
Until 17 March 2018
Magda Danysz
Rue Amelot, Paris

London

London: Marakami & Abloh Future History at Gagosian

February 21, 2018 butterfly 1 Comment

Coinciding with London Fashion Week 2018, Superflat Master Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is partnering with American Creative Designer Virgil Abloh and presenting a series of collaborative works “Future History” at the Gagosian Gallery in London.

The exhibition features large-scale paintings, sculptures and an installation drawing references to signature Off-White™ motifs alongside Murakami’s iconic cast of anime characters, reflecting incisively on the signs of the current times.

Amongst the works, visitors can enjoy The sculpture Life itself (2018), a kind of architectural carapace designed by Abloh to house one of Murakami’s brightly sinister flower sculptures; a pair of paintings embellished with yellow Off-White™ branding and a spray-painted “O” as well as “HOLLOW” lettering on each one; black Flowers sculptures, and a glass house installation completely covered with black spray-paint and “LIFE ITSELF” on one side panel in white.

In another instance, for Glance past the future (2018), the duo transformed Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s 1623 self-portrait by superimposing Murakami’s character Mr. DOB to affect a graphic blur of pink and black.

View the full set of pics here

Takashi Murakami & Virgil Abloh
Future History
Until 7 April
Gagosian Gallery
17–19 Davies Street
London W1K 3DE

Toulouse

Toulouse: 100TAUR Massive Mural

February 20, 2018 butterfly

French artist 100TAUR just completed the largest mural in Toulouse, after a continuous five weeks under extreme weather conditions.

Located in the district of Minimes, the 400 sq meters mural has been commissioned by the Mairie de Toulouse, visible at the rue des Anges.

The mural features strange creatures and hybrid monsters, mythological references, and popular imagery, sometimes borrowed from pop-culture like Sponge Bob or Popeye but also from illustrious painters like Jheronimus Bosch and Picasso.

The artist ‘s signature animal, the slug, symbol of resilience, plays also a big part in the narration with multiple appearances. The painted wall is also adorned with 3D elements giving it more dimensions.

View the full set of pics here

London, Shows

London: JR ‘Giants’ at Lazinc Sacksville

February 15, 2018 butterfly

Ted Prize winner artist JR is currently displaying a solo exhibition titled “GIANTS” at Lazinc’s new flagship gallery in Mayfair, London.

The name of the presentation directly references the artist’s ongoing GIANTS project which made its debut during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he created enormous black and white prints of athletes jumping over Rio’s buildings, swimming in its ocean, and diving off its mountains like Greek titans. .

Even if pictures of the installations in situ might look good, it’s very difficult to recapture their impact. So to give some sense of the scale of the project in the gallery space settings, the viewer has to walk underneath the massive paper head and shoulders of Sudanese high jumper Mohamed Younes Idriss, fixed to scaffolding, just to get in.

At the same time, visitors can discover the artist’s process from start to finish with behind the scenes items like architectural plans that were created to support his large-scale installations, installation permits collaged into 3D-printed digital reliefs of the final images, and look at the artist’s digital photography techniques.

View the full set of pics here

JR – Giants
Until 28 February 2018
Lazinc Sackville
29 Sackville St.
Mayfair, London W1S 3DX
United Kingdom

Toulouse

Toulouse: ICAREX-1 at the Chapelle des Carmelites

February 8, 2018 butterfly

The Mairie de Toulouse and the Centre d’Art Nomade are currently presenting a monumental installation ICAREX-1 by an elusive anonymous artist at the Chapelle des Carmelites until 25 February 2018.

We were lucky to get immersed in the creative process of this secretive artist and followed through the six months building of the installation.

The challenge is to face mystery. In an era where everything is shown, detailed, revealed, the artist protects his anonymity and disappears behind his artistic creations. Always on the move and in search of absolute freedom, the artist remains voluntarily invisible and frees himself from society by changing his identity according to his artistic interventions, but leaves a sign < + + .

Prolific and multidisciplinary, the artist has invaded territories for more than 25 years through different forms and has been playing on several dimensions: the visible and the invisible, the exploration of the light and the darkness, the urban environment, the unauthorised and the institutional, the real and the virtual.

A real master of camouflage, the artist has been secretly pursuing his invasions following a precise satellite cartography: urban territories, institutions, road and motorway network, wind farms, Landart installations on land and water … These ‘Attacks’ are never the result of chance, but instead carefully chosen in a specific timed location, whether in Toulouse (known as the City of Space), Paris, Lichtenstein, Spain, Italy, Kabul , Jerusalem or virtual galaxies.

His totems of light, peaceful entities with stylized geometric forms, mythical beings of another dimension push the public to wonder, get curious, but also to start a treasure hunt to meet them. The public must look for clues, interact with others to find more information, decipher these riddles or simply open the door of the imagination and appreciate the present moment.

A politically engaged artist, his artistic creations also deal with war conflicts, as well as human migration and refugees, such as the collective exhibitions ‘Creve Hivernale’ he curated in Toulouse (covered here) on the emergency situation of refugees coming to Europe.

The historical monument of la Chapelle des Carmelites became an obvious location choice for the installation because of its intimist dimension.

With ICAREX-1 ,the artist intervenes in echo with the environment: a monumental gilded metal arch mirrors the shape of the golden curved frame of the Annunciation painting, while the vertical golden gates remind of the golden columns of the Chapel.

A mirrored totem floating at nine meters high drops his skin leaving ashes on the floor.

ICAREX-1 is a reference to pride, the strength and weakness of the human being, the insatiable need to go elsewhere, see otherwise, to go beyond ones current capabilities, to adapt to territories. Through the play of mirrors, the human being is confronted to himself.

The artist thereby continues his work on duality: life / death, the visible / the invisible, light / darkness, the heavenly side / the earthly side.

The chrysalis of latex evokes the process of inner metamorphosis necessary to surpass oneself. It is the death of the ego for a rebirth. The human being tends to go forward to the light, but often makes the mistake of clinging to what he already knows. Yet we must face our fears and go beyond the unknown to find the freedom to create our own life.

The presence of a special warning light that illuminates the installation evokes the urgency of life, the rhythm of life, such as the one from the firefighters on alert to save lives.

The mirrored totem seems to float in the air at nine meters high within open golden gates, like a passage to another universe.

The ICAREX-1 installation specially designed for the Chapelle des Carmelites subtly blends technical prowess and visual poetry. A pure moment of magic and wonder that the artist keeps secret.

Special Thanks to Francoise, Elodie, Sandra, Gat’s, Vince, Hugo, Michel, Manuel, Anne and the Chapell team, the climbing men and all the support team that made this happen.