Bethlehem: Banksy opens The Walled Off Hotel

March 3, 2017 butterfly 1 Comment

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10 years after his first initiative in Bethlehem, elusive British artist Banksy has returned to unveiled his latest project: The Walled Off Hotel , with 10 rooms nestled against the controversial barrier wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories.

Located in the historic city, the hotel with its nine rooms for £30 a night and one presidential suite, will be open for bookings on its website later this month. It’s a real business adventure, aiming to bring jobs and tourists to a town whose pilgrim and sightseeing-based economy has been ravaged by ever tighter Israeli controls on travel between Israeli and Palestinian territories.

There have been few reasons for Israelis to visit Bethlehem in recent years, because they are banned by law from visiting the town and all its main tourist sites.

It contains dozens of Banksy works, a themed bar and interactive exhibits. One depicts the signing of the Balfour Declaration which set the conditions for the establishment of Israel 100 years ago this year.

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The hotel has been “decorated to resemble an English gentlemen’s club from colonial times” in recognition of the historical role Britain played in the region.

Banksy says people from all sides of the Middle East conflict are welcome to stay, and he is not affiliated to any political party or pressure group.

From the 11th March the museum and art gallery will be open to non-residents every day. Guests can peruse a collection of Banksy artworks that include vandalised oil paintings and statues choking on tear gas fumes. The gallery space enjoys complete autonomy from the rest of the hotel and is curated by the venerated historian and critic Ismal Duddera. He has assembled a permanent collection of real heft and significance. Many of the most notable Palestinian artists from the past 20 years are here – including Sliman Mansour with his iconic “And the Convoy Keeps Going”. An adjoining space is dedicated to temporary shows by upcoming artists.

The museum is dedicated solely to the biography of the wall. It contains state-of-the-art audio visual presentations and a very old tree. Other highlights includes an animated history of the region, military pornography and original beach sculpture from Gaza. The cinema plays excerpts from the mighty Oscar nominated ‘Five Broken Cameras’ – and one of those very same bullet-damaged cameras is on display.
Curated in association with Dr Gavin Grindon from Essex University the museum contains almost fully fact-checked material and will be an ongoing repository for local stories, artefacts and testimonies.

The Hotel also features a graffiti supplies store called ‘Wall – Mart’ that will launch on 20th March, providing supplies for clients who want to paint the Wall nearby.

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Photo credit: The Guardian / The Walled Off Hotel

The Walled Off Hotel
182 Caritas Street, Bethlehem, Palestine

www.walledoffhotel.com

Malaga, Shows

Malaga: Mark Ryden’s “Cámara de las Maravillas”

February 27, 2017 butterfly

Since its opening last December “Cámara de las Maravillas”, the first solo show in Europe by American artist and father of Pop Surrealism Mark Ryden (1963, Medford, Oregon), has brought thousands of people to the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo (CAC) in Málaga, Spain. Curated by Fernando Frances, the exhibitions retraces over 20 years of creation by the artist, and features 55 works including iconic pieces such Incarnation (2009) –which inspired inspiration Lady Gaga’s 2010 meat dress-, most of which are kept in private collections.

Visitors are greeted by the 2012 painting The Parlor – Allegory of Magic, Quintessence, and Divine Mystery , which anticipates many of the elements to be encountered throughout the exhibition: a magical juxtaposition of hybrid creatures in a theatrical setting surrounded by a myriad of symbols, with a perfect rendering of oil painting techniques. The meticulous and detailed work reminds us of Renaissance and Surrealist masters with a contemporary pop culture twist.

The earliest work in the exhibition is the painting Saint Barbie (1994), while the most recent, the sculpture Wood Meat Dress (2016), was created especially for the Málaga show. From the young girl worshiping a goddess-like Barbie doll to the eerie, sad-eyed sculpted lady, we can appreciate the evolution of Mark Ryden’s distinctive portraiture of the female characters through the years.

The show presents all the different series that the artist has exhibited in the past –The Meat Show (1998), Bunnies & Bees (2001), Blood (2003), The Tree Show (2007), The Snow Yak Show (2009), The Gay 90’s (2010), The Gay 90’s West (2014), and Dodecahedron (2015)— as well as the original artwork for the cover of Michael Jacksons’ album Dangerous and three delicate porcelain figures made in the last five years.

Science and the destruction of Nature are a recurring theme within Mark Ryden’s body of work.

The big exhibition space of the CAC has been articulated in a way that allows the visitor to see many of the pieces at the same time, encouraging many dialogues and correspondences not also between the works, but also between their magnificent frames. These have never been a secondary element for the artist, who designs many of them himself so they perfectly match and complete each of the paintings.

Visitors are invited the view this cabinet of curiosities with the eyes of a child, letting the imagination run free. Fans of Mark Ryden will be delighted to see together such a careful selection of old as well as new pieces, while those unfamiliar with the artist have here a wonderful opportunity to dive into his enigmatic universe, which is very much alive and still evolving.

View the full set of pics here

Mark Ryden – “Cámara de las Maravillas”
Until March 5,2017
CAC Malaga

Dresden, Shows

Dresden: Magic City – Art of the streets

February 21, 2017 butterfly 2 Comments

Opened since last October in the German city of Dresden, ‘MAGIC CITY – THE ART OF THE STREET‘ is a touring and evolving exhibition showcasing over 40 international street artists as well as local graffiti writers with their different practices and tools within 2500 square meters. Visitors can learn more about the different art forms, explore the streets of this dream city and interact with the immersive installations.

Curators Carlo McCormic and Ethel Seno declared that their goal was to create a “playground for the imagination”, in a new hybrid form. Starting with an initial ‘ white walls ‘ gallery setting , the streets are getting more and more covered with artworks and installations as the exhibition evolves and continues to tour.

The show starts with a chronological introduction to graffiti with a pictures gallery from legendary photo-journalists Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant, as well as Graffiti writer Daze, who bombed the New York subways in the mid-1970s and writer FINO’91 who grew up in the 1970s in the American sector of divided Berlin.

Rats have a favorite place in the heart of street artists. This week end saw the reveal of additional artworks to the Magic City exhibition from Ericalcaine to Banksy.

To celebrate the European premiere of the documentary ‘Saving Banksy’ , the special week end was featuring an all-nighter of documentaries and talks with Blek Le Rat, Colin Day, Herakut, Jens Besser, Remi Jaccard, David Chaumet, René Kæstner, Andreas Schanzenbach, which we were honoured to participate. In parallel kids could improve their graffiti writing skills in the Spike Labs with Akim Walta and graffiti legends.

Foto: @[100890010083913:Frank Embacher Photographie]
Discussion photos by Frank Embacher Photographie

In the first room of the exhibition, the public can play and create their own artworks using laser pens on the multimedia interactive screens by Akrylonumerik or get immersed within 3D anamorphic installations by Leon Kerr, Truly, Replete, The Yok & Sheryo .

Looking up, twin brothers Skewville ‘dogs have invaded the alleys, while shopping trolleys have been transformed into a playful seating duo. Asbestos ‘Lost’ posters advertise items never to be found.

Activist artists like Icy & Sot, Biancoshock and Ori Carino & Benjamin Armas present works about the refugee crisis in Europe while SpY and Shepard Fairey highlight the surveillance society.

The city also contains a square with a colourful carrousel by crochet queen OLEK, a phone booth installation by Ernest Zacharevic as well as a red light district decorated by AIKO.

Walking along the streets, visitors can play with the wooden panels by ROA and enjoy the murals by HERAKUT, Tristan Eaton, MadC, Ron English, discover an urban installation by Brad Downey made of found material andet immersed within the miniature city of Isaac Cordal.

Magic City also features a cinema with a selection of movies curated by our friends Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington at Brooklyn Street Art.

Full list of participating artists includes Akrylonumerik, Andy K, Asbestos, Ben Heine, Benuz, Biancoshock, Bordalo II, Brad, Downey, Dan Witz, Daze, Ernest Zacharevic, Ganzeer, Henry Chalfant, HERAKUT, Icy & Sot, Isaac Cordal, Jaime Rojo, Jens Besser, Juandres Vera, Lady Aiko, Leon Keer, Loomit, MAD C, Mark Bode, Martha Cooper, Oakoak, Odeith, Olek, Ori Carin / Benjamin Armas, Qi Xinghua, Replete, ROA, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, SpY, Tristan Eaton, Truly, WENU Crew, Yok & Sheryo.

Photos by Butterfly Art News unless otherwise stated.

View the full set of pics here

Big Thanks to the SC Exhibition Team, Christoph Scholz, Oliver, Thobias, Britta, Colin Day, Hera, Blek Le Rat, Remi Jaccard, Akim Walta, Dizy, Astrid, René Kæstner, Andreas Schanzenbach, Frank Embacher and the participating artists.

Magic City – The art of the streets
Dresden – until 12 March 2017
Kultur-Quartier Zeitenströmung
Königsbrücker Straße 96
01099 Dresden

Paris, Shows

Paris: Lab14

February 17, 2017 butterfly

Between December and 26 Feb 2017 a former building belonging to the French Post Office in the 14th district of Paris has been transformed by 30 street artists before its refurbishment. Supported by ARTANA, Poste Immo and Altarea Cogedim, the project LAB 14 is an ephemeral experimental creative space with artist residencies, workshops and creative interventions across 1600 square meters.

Participating artists include: ANIS, BOJAN, CANNIBAL, LETTERS, DEM, DILLON, DOSE, DRIKA, CHAGAS, ELSA LEMESLE, EVAZÉSIR, NO RULES CORP, FKDL, GREM, HOBZ, JBC, JIBÉ.P LABOLIC, LEK, LÉONAR, LILIAN PERDEREAU, MADAME, MADEMOISELLE MAURICE, MARKO 93, MR. LOLO, MINUIT, MORNE, MOSKO, NICOLAS BARRAUD, NOSBÉ, OLIVIA DE BONA, ONSEPT, PHOTOGRAFFÉE, RÉAONE, RÉTRO GRAFFITISM, SEIZE HAPPYWALLMAKER, SLYTWO, SMERG, SPOILE, SNEZ, SWAR, TCHEKO, TEMPO.

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LAB 14
Until 26 Feb 2017
140 Boulevard du Montparnasse
75014 PARIS

Paris, Shows

Paris: Cleon Peterson ‘ Victory’ @ Galerie du Jour

February 13, 2017 butterfly

American artist Cleon Peterson presents his first solo show at Agnés B’s Galerie du Jour in Paris. Entitled VICTORY, the new body of work features sculptures and paintings with his instantly recognizable black and white characters entangled in vicious cycles of violence. With a fascination for violence, brutality and power, the artist shares a reality he experienced and still observes within the current socio-political situation in the world.

He further explains – “This show explores the hedonistic triumphs of those who recognize themselves as victorious in the unfolding mirror of history. Their right to pleasure hinges on their projection of pain onto the unvictorious other. This often expresses itself in pleasure derived from the misfortune of the defeated. As the winners display their hubris and take their trophies the losers are left insignicant and marginalized. VICTORY explores one mans victory over another, what that victory looks like and the result that victory has on the losers.”