Tag Archives: Museum

Hisham Echafaki – Mirabilia Naturae at Musee Jean Larcena

Hisham Echafaki

The Museum Jean Larcena, in Val d’Ocre, Burgundy, France, is pleased to open an exhibition of works by London based artist Hisham Echafaki entitled Mirabilia Naturae ( Wonders of Nature), curated by Butterfly Art News. The exhibition runs until 19 June 2022.

Hisham Echafaki
Hisham Echafaki

Hisham Echafaki is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist who has been exhibiting internationally for over fifteen years. The artist’s style is a mix between realism and surrealism and sometimes uses the trompe-l’oeil technique.

In 2013, for the David Bowie exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Hisham Echafaki produced an anthropomorphic portrait of the singer composed entirely of 66 animals with a surprising trompe-l’oeil effect to celebrate the 66th Birthday of the singer.

Hisham Echafaki

In 2019 Hisham Echafaki was invited by the Musée de la Poste in Paris to illustrate the facade with a 13-meter fresco retracing the history of mailboxes and artistic movements.

The artist will well appreciated with the local residents of Val d’Ocre as in 2018 he painted a giant fresco featuring an Iberian tortoise to warn about this endangered species. The mural has been the mascot of Val d’Ocre since.

MIRABILIA NATURAE – Wonders of Nature

From the end of the XVII th Century, explorers illustrated their discoveries of new animal and plant species and named them in Latin.

With the exhibition ‘Mirabilia Naturae’, Hisham Echafaki pays tribute to these ancient explorers who show us the wonders of nature, and transports us to a universe where the beauty and diversity of fauna and flora are celebrated in all their patterns and colours.

The series on display includes works on canvas, works on paper and multi-dimensional paintings on resin or plexiglass.

Hisham Echafaki

Beyond aesthetic imagery and the celebration of the beauty of nature, the themes of the exhibition  highlight issues of biodiversity, the conservation of threatened species and habitats, and the impact of Man on the evolutionary changes of animal species.

Hisham Echafaki

In parallel with his paintings, Hisham Echafaki has also created a particular and very meticulous technique of painting on resin and plexiglass whose rendering is three-dimensional. His almost realistic animal works are based on multiple superimposed and meticulous layers of paint, resin, creating an effect of perspective.

Hisham Echafaki

This series of multi-dimensional works attempts to capture the beautiful complexity and diversity of the animal world. Detailed pieces can take up to 15-30 layers and several months to complete.

Whether based on real or imaginary specimens, butterflies, fishes or bees are immortalized giving the optical illusion that they could have been living creatures. Presented as “faux taxidermy”, animals often have anthropomorphic features on their wings or bodies with recognizable patterns from art, design, science while others, such as aquatic creatures, are just more realistic.

Hisham Echafaki would like to thank all the people that helped him on this exhibition: local residents of Val d’Ocre, the core team of the Museum with Francoise Richez, Patrice Lagrange, Sylvie Marchand, Bernard Curnier, and also Bassim, David Chaumet and Butterfly who worked on the preparation of the exhibition.

Here are some pictures from the set up and the opening:

Hisham Echafaki
Hisham Echafaki
Hisham Echafaki

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Hisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham Echafaki

Hisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham EchafakiHisham Echafaki

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London: Hope to Nope – Graphics and Politics 2008-2018

Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18

We are pleased to be part of the latest exhibition at the London Design MuseumHope to Nope – Graphics and Politics 2008-18′.

Design can influence public perception, but great design can change it. From campaign designs to protest symbols, ‘Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008-2018’ explores the impact of graphic design in political and social movements over the last ten years.

Alongside traditional posters and banners, the exhibition charts the rise of digital media and social networking, which have given graphic iconography an extraordinary new reach.  The political events featured include: the 2008 financial crash; the Barack Obama presidency; the Arab Spring; the Occupy movement; the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; the Charlie Hebdo attacks; Brexit and Donald Trump’s presidency.

The exhibition is structured in three distinct sections: power, protest and personality – which explore how design is used in politics to change public perceptions.

‘Power‘ starts off with the Obama campaign’s unofficial, but hugely popular, ‘Hope’ poster by Shepard Fairey, which is later compared to the failings in the design of the Remain campaign’s materials. It also features examples of Brandalism subverts advertising posters from 2015 Brandalism ad takeover in Paris (covered) with VW spoof ad by Barnbrook and Curfew Zone by Dr.D.

Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18

Regarding UK politics, the Power section highlights the Union Jack flag made with fragile tape by Sarah Boris, which was featured during several marches against Brexit in 2016 as well as designs from the RemaIN campaign.

Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18
Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18

Examples show how graphic design is used by the establishment to assert national and political authority like the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, or used by its opponents like Soviet posters which were turned into a gay rights campaign and Dread Scott’s flag in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18

A large graphic timeline dissects the gallery, charting the role of new communication technologies such as Facebook and Twitter in global events of the last decade.

Protest displays graphic design by activists and demonstrators. The largest section in the exhibition, it includes newspapers from the 2011-12 Occupy London camp, an umbrella used during the 2014 Hong Kong ‘Umbrella Revolution’ and a 2m-high replica of the inflatable duck from the 2016 protests against Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff. This section also looks at the 2015 Je Suis Charlie and Peace for Paris marches, as well as responses to the 2017 Grenfell Tower disaster with the 24 hearts initiative by Sophie Lodge, demonstrating the important role played by graphic design in channelling anger and creating solidarity.

Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18
Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18

An installation film by Paul Plowman evokes the experience of public protest, combining hastags, forage and images from five protests : #womensmarch,  #grenfell, #turkey, #catalonia, and #southafrica. These demonstrations cover diverse political viewpoints, from fighting for democracy to calling for justice, and emotions ranging from solidarity to fierce anger.

The final section, Personality, examines the graphic representation of leading political figures. Donald Trump’s trademark features are caricatured across the covers of more than 50 international magazines, including The Economist, TIME and Der Spiegel.

Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18

As we approach the ‘Nope’ of the exhibition we are faced with a scary and entertaining animation: an animatronic (mis)fortune telling machine tells and distributes messages by the new US President. This is the work by Nathaniel Lawlor, Andy Dao, Jon Barco and Bryan Denman.
‘With the over-saturation and bombardment of Trump in the news cycle, we saw how easy it was becoming for people to tune out the banter of these soundbites and Facebook headlines, so we thought—what better way to remind people of their gravitas than by showing them this could be their actual future?”

Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18
Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18
Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18Hope to Nope : Design & Politics 2008-18

View the full set of pics here

Hope to Nope: Graphics and Politics 2008–18
Until 12 August 2018
Design Museum London

MIMA City Lights with Faile

MIMA - Faile

For the exhibition ‘City Lights’ at the MIMA Museum in Brussels, the artistic duo Faile have covered the internal walls of the museum with their  stencils similarly like they have been doing on the New York streets for the past 15 years.

MIMA - Faile

The lavatories adorn their signature narrative imagery  and characters.

MIMA - FaileMIMA - Faile   MIMA - Faile  MIMA - FaileMIMA - Faile     MIMA - Faile

Initially shown in the center of Times Square last autumn, a huge wooden sculptural installation with a spinning prayer wheel looks like a temple with consumerism slogans. The public eagerly interact with the installation and play with the wheel.

MIMA - FaileMIMA - Faile    MIMA - Faile

The adjacent walls feature two panels with juxtaposed imagery engraved in wood.

MIMA - FaileMIMA - Faile

Wandering on the nearby streets of the museum, we were pleased to stumble upon a few stencils by the infamous artistic duo.

Faile - Brussels

View the full set of pics here

Stay tuned for the rest of our coverage of ‘City Lights’ with Maya Hayuk.

MIMA Museum – City Lights
Until 31 December 2016
Brussels

MIMA ‘City Lights’ with Swoon

MIMA - Swoon

Inaugurating the new Millennium Iconoclast Museum of Art (MIMA) in Brussels, created by Florence and Michel Delaunoit, Alice van den Abeele, and Raphaël Cruyt, four pillars of the New York Street Art scene, MOMO, Swoon, Faile, and Maya Hayuk are showing their unique street practice.

We start off with a look at Swoon’s intricate hand-cut paper patterns and wheat-pasted figures. A large portrait of ‘Ice Queen‘ featuring Olivia Katz (which was first seen at the MOCA in 2011) adorn the outside wall of the museum.

MIMA - SwoonMIMA - Swoon     MIMA - Swoon

In the basement Swoon created an immersive installation looking like a maze with her signature characters featuring family and friends she met through her various encounters: from a portrait of her mum surrounded by buddhist protectors ‘Dharmapalas’, Walki, a young boy from Haiti who benefited from the Konbit Shelter Project, George, an inmate from Philadelphia who worked with Swoon, to her latest portrait of Sonya.

MIMA - SwoonMIMA - Swoon MIMA - Swoon    MIMA - SwoonMIMA - Swoon    MIMA - Swoon  MIMA - Swoon     MIMA - Swoon     MIMA - Swoon
MIMA - Swoon    MIMA - Swoon            MIMA - SwoonMIMA - Swoon  MIMA - Swoon   MIMA - SwoonMIMA - Swoon MIMA - Swoon

View the full set of pics here

Stay tuned for the rest of our coverage of City Lights with Faile, Momo and Maya Hayuk.

MIMA Museum – City Lights
Until 31 December 2016
Brussels

Berlin: Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art

MARKUS TERBOVEN (GEWOBAG), THOMAS WILLEMEIT (GRAFT), YASHA YOUNG (URBAN NATION), TIM RENNER (UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR CULTURAL AFFAIRS) HENDRIK JELLEMA (BERLINER LEBEN) (Small)

Director Yasha Young has officially revealed the start of building work on the future URBAN NATION MUSEUM FOR URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART, a project that will enrich both Berlin’s diverse cultural landscape and the international art scene. In the coming months, a globally unique new centre for exhibitions, research and exchange focussed on one of the most important art forms of the 21st century will emerge.

Berlin’s secretary for cultural affairs, Tim Renner, was on hand to congratulate the initiators of this ambitious plan on behalf of the city government.

Since 2013 URBAN NATION has been working on building the first independent and non-commercial home for urban contemporary art. With more than 200 artists, URBAN NATION is already turning Berlin into a huge outdoor Museum ( Check our previous coverage  of projects M).

In mid 2017 the vision is finally getting reality. The URBAN NATION MUSEUM FOR URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART will offer an independent room for debates, research, interdisciplinary projects and creative exchanges.

Based on the motto “Connect. Create. Care.”, the museum, directed by Yasha Young and co-funded by the LOTTO-Stiftung Berlin (LOTTO Foundation) in Bülowstrasse 7 Berlin-Schöneberg, will host the growing and already unique URBAN NATION collection at the venue. Furthermore, the museum will be home to the unique book collection of legendary photo-journalist Martha Cooper: her pictures document the creation and development of urban art over the last decades, right up to today.

TIM RENNER (UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR CULTURAL AFFAIRS), MARKUS TERBOVEN(GEWOBAG),YASHA YOUNG(URBAN NATION) THOMAS WILLEMEIT(GRAFT), HENDRIK JELLEMA (BERLINER LEBEN) (Small)

Tim Renner, secretary for culture of the city of Berlin, Markus Terboven, board member of Gewobag, Yasha Young, Director URBAN NATION, Thomas Willemeit, Founding Partner GRAFT,  Hendrik Jellema, chairman of the board of “Berliner Leben”. (left to right) © URBAN NATION

Check out a virtual visit of the upcoming URBAN NATION MUSEUM FOR URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART