Eliana Willis

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    in Street Art

    Abstract Mural by Elian Chali in Yekaterinburg, Russia

    At the international street art festival STENOGRAFFIA in Yekaterinburg, Argentinian artist Elian Chali painted the wall of the university building using the signature features of his style– basic geometry, abstraction and contrasting color schemes.Elian Chali, an Argentinian author with over 10 years of street art experience, created an art object in Yekaterinburg, the capital of street art in Russia. Mural on 62 Vosmogo Marta Street stands out in the context of the city with bold colors and simple shapes. With his art objects, Elian starts a discussion between people and urban space. The main idea of ​​all his works is to show that life in the city is beyond everyday routine. And it is thanks to his abstractions that the dialogue between the townspeople and the artist can develop as successfully as possible. Such images are not defined by specific images – a passer-by himself can think out what he sees in this work.Elian explains: “Abstraction does not give you prepared answers, you have to think about it. It also works like a bridge. I am building one part of the bridge, and passers-by are completing it. Also, I enjoy working in a variety of environments. There are many countries, a lot of contexts and conditions. Abstraction and geometry make me a big part of this environment without too many problems”.The architectural shape of the wall was also important to Elian because he wanted to work on the festival with a non-standard surface. The most suitable canvas for the author was the wall of the Ural State University of Economics. The seven-story building was built in 1981 and the area of ​​the painted wall is 400 square meters. In addition to its scale, the surface is distinguished by its own rhythm of panels, on which Elian applied his abstract forms, thereby giving the space a new dynamic.Elian Chali’s large-scale works can be found in more than 30 cities in countries such as Australia, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Spain, Canada, Chile, United Arab Emirates, USA, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, Peru and others. He is the founder and co-director of the Kosovo Gallery (2012-2015, Cordoba) and was the chief curator of the MAC Feria de Arte Contemporáneo. In 2016 he published his first book, Hábitat. His work is documented in many publishing projects related to art, design and architecture. Check out below for more photos of the mural. More

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    in Street Art

    “The Slash” by Motorefisico in Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy

    Street art duo Motorefisico just recently worked on their latest urban art intervention in the framework of the 8th edition of Antonio Giordano Urban Art Award (Premio Antonio Giordano) in Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy.The artwork, entitled “The Slash”, has been made on two facades of a private building, in the heart of downtown Santa Croce di Magliano. The inclination of the two facades made it possible to create two different optical effects that merge at the intersection with one of the windows, thus giving the composition a remarkable kinetic 3D effect. More

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    in Street Art

    “Pulling Faces” by Fanakapan in Aberdeen, Scotland

    The Dorset-born, London-based street artist Fanakapan brought a smile to Aberdeen this week – two in fact – with his perspective-defying street art, the fifth artist to appear for Nuart Aberdeen Summer 2021.Fanakapan is the latest ‘artist in residence’ in the Granite City curated by Nuart to bring new life to its walls.With a background in prop making, Fanakapan began creating hyper realistic visuals of real life objects in the early 2000’s. Free-hand yet technical, eye-catching but with literal and metaphorical depth, Fanakapan is best known for gleaming metallic balloons floating their way across canvases and city walls around the world. His works have earned him a stellar reputation within the urban contemporary art scene.For Nuart, he added his unique style to NHS Building, the Frederick Street Clinic, with the piece ‘Pulling Faces’ a fitting goodwill message for the city and its health service.The huge smiley faces, one rendered in a ‘3D’ style while the other wears its own pair of red and blue 3D glasses, are visible on West North Street all summer long and beyond.Hit the jump for more photos of Fanakapan’s work. Photo credits: Clarke Joss More

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    in Exhibitions

    LACMA’s Game-Changing Partnership With Mega-Collector Budi Tek Will Kick Off With a Show of Contemporary Chinese Art

    In 2018, Chinese-Indonesian art collector Budi Tek announced an unprecedented partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) that effectively granted the museum—vis-a-vis a dedicated foundation—co-ownership of his vaunted collection of contemporary Chinese art.
    Now, for the first time, a selection of art from that trove is on view at LACMA. Twenty pieces from Tek’s collection make up the new exhibition “Legacies of Exchange,” including works by Ai Weiwei, Xu Bing, and Qiu Anxiong, among others.
    The show “highlights works that relate to cross-cultural exchange, both recent and historical, between China and the West,” said Susanna Ferrell, LACMA’s assistant curator of Chinese Art who organized the show, in a statement.
    The first of the show’s two sections brings together examples of Chinese artists in conversation with historical European paintings. In a 2006 canvas, for instance, Zhou Tiehai reimagines Jacopo Palma’s Venus and Cupid with the mascot for Camel cigarettes standing in for the Roman Goddess. In a 1997 painting, Yue Minjun recreates the central young girl in Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas as a hysterical pink man.
    The second half of the exhibition, meanwhile, looks at the ways in which artists have appropriated the language of commercial advertising in their work, such as in Huang Yong Ping’s 1997 installation Da Xian: The Doomsday. The piece comprises a trio of larger-than-life porcelain bowls filled with boxes of cereal that all give the same expiration date: July 1, 1997, the day of Hong Kong’s handover to China.
    Yue Minjun, Infanta (1997). © Yue Minjun. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.
    A prominent entrepreneur, Tek began collecting art in 2004. By 2014, he had amassed a personal collection of more than 1,000 pieces and founded a 9,000-square-foot private institution—the Yuz Museum in Shanghai—to house it all. Then came an unfortunate turn: The following year, Tek was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
    Just as quickly as his museum opened its doors, Tek was forced to decide its long-term future. After China denied attempts to make the Yuz Museum public, Tek turned to Michael Govan, LACMA’s CEO and director, with an alternative idea. Their eventual collaboration yielded a new foundation to oversee the collection, which would live in China but otherwise travel between LACMA and the Yuz museum for temporary exhibitions.
    Likewise, the foundation is governed by a board of trustees made up equally of representatives from LACMA and the Yuz Museum.
    “I said to Michael Govan, ‘Now we are like a husband and wife. You don’t vote by saying I’m one percent bigger than you—you can’t outvote someone,’” Tek told Artnet News in 2018.
    The first fruits of the partnership came in the form of “In Production: Art and the Studio System,” an exhibition of works from LACMA’s collection that brought in over 20,000 visitors to the Yuz Museum in 2019. 
    See more images from “Legacies of Exchange” below.
    Installation view of “Legacies of Exchange: Chinese Contemporary Art from the Yuz Foundation” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2021. Courtesy of LACMA.
    Wang Guangyi, Joseph Beuys’ Dead Hare (1994). © Wang Guangyi. Photo: Arnold Lee, Dijon Yellow Imaging.
    Installation view of “Legacies of Exchange: Chinese Contemporary Art from the Yuz Foundation” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2021. Courtesy of LACMA.
    Qiu Anxiong, The Doubter 2010). © Qiu Anxiong. Courtesy of the artist. Photo: Julian Wang.
    Installation view of “Legacies of Exchange: Chinese Contemporary Art from the Yuz Foundation” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2021. Courtesy of LACMA.
    “Legacies of Exchange: Chinese Contemporary Art from the Yuz Foundation” is on view now through March 13, 2022 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
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    in Exhibitions

    Damien Hirst’s Cherry Blossom Paintings, a Sentimental Ode to the Joys of Spring, Are Now on View in Paris

    The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris has opened a new solo show featuring works by Damien Hirst, making it his first museum show in France.
    The artist, best known for making artworks out of dissected sharks, pill cabinets, and suspended animals, recently made a return to painting to realize a 107-piece series of canvases featuring flowering cherry blossoms inspired by Pointillism and Impressionism.
    Thirty of the works are now on view at Cartier’s Paris-based foundation through next January.
    The works present branches laden with blossoms in white, maroon, pink, and green, all depicted in short, thick brushstrokes with elements of gestural painting that nod to Action Painting. More

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    in Street Art

    “22 Years Smiling with Friends” Group Show by Pez in StolenSpace Gallery, London

    After 2 years since the success of Pez’s group show, “20 Years Smiling with Friends”, Stolen Space Gallery is excited to welcome back Pez and his “fish friends” for “22 Years Smiling with Friends” – a celebration of artistic and personal kinship. 25 artists will take part in collaborating with Pez across mediums, including on print, paper, and canvas. Each artist will bring their own unique style and characters into the world of Pez!The show will be open to the public from August 6 to August 29, 2021. Opening night is scheduled on the 5th August, 6-9pm. The event is free for all to attend, no need to RSVP.Spanish street artist Pez began painting the streets in 1999, creating his signature character of the Fish. This character comes from the experimentation and the desire to do something constructive on the walls of his city. The always smiling fish is his alter-ego of sorts. It is present in all his works, and composed with a colourful palette of positivism. His artwork is a journey full of joy, that ranges across classic graffiti to experimental pop art.Check out the images and posters to see “22 Years Smiling with Friends” artist lineup. More

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    in Exhibitions

    Works From the Fabled Collection of Late Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee Are Finally on Public View in South Korea

    This week, the Korean public got its first chance to see a smattering of artworks from the multi-billion-dollar collection amassed by the late Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee. 
    Two shows dedicated to Lee’s former possessions went on view at major venues in Seoul Wednesday, July 21. The events marked the first time that any pieces from his collection have gone on public display since being conferred to two institutions in April. 
    The National Museum of Korea unveiled a presentation of historical artifacts from the Lee collection, including 28 pieces designated by the state as National Treasures. The 77 objects on view represent just a fraction of the more than 21,600 items donated to the institution by Lee’s heirs. 
    Meanwhile, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) opened an exhibition of 58 Modern and contemporary paintings and sculptures by 34 Korean artists selected from the almost 1,500 artworks gifted from the Lee collection. 
    Jeong Seon, Clearing after Rain on Mount Inwang (1751). Courtesy of the National Museum of Korea.
    “We selected items that have artistic and historic value for this exhibition,” National Museum curator Lee Soo-kyung said during a press preview, according to the Korea Herald. “Our main purpose is to show the characteristics of Lee Kun-hee’s collection.”
    On view in the two-month-long National Museum exhibition are rare examples of paintings, porcelain, metal statues, and wooden furniture dating from the prehistoric era to the early 20th century. The highlight of the group is Clearing after Rain on Mount Inwang, a 1751 landscape painting by Joseon-period artist Jeong Seo. It’s thought to be the Samsung chairman’s first major art purchase.
    “A large part of the 1,488 artworks donated to our museum from Lee’s collection is Modern art, which our museum has a shortage of,” Park Mi-hwa, curator of the MMCA exhibition, explained in a preview of that institution’s show.
    “Accordingly, for the first of our special exhibitions featuring the donated Lee collection, we selected Modern art pieces by Korea’s most popular artists.” Among those represented in the exhibition are landscape painter Byeon Gwansik, abstractionist Kim Whanki, and sculptor Kwon Jinkyu.
    The historic gifts to the two museums this spring ended a months’-long debate about the fate of the more than 23,000 works of art following Lee’s death in October of 2020.

    MMCA 이건희컬렉션 특별전: 한국미술명작국립현대미술관 서울2021. 7. 21. ~ 2022. 3. 13.
    MMCA Lee Kun-hee Collection: Masterpieces of Korean Art MMCA Seoul21. Jul. 2021 ~ 13. Mar. 2022 pic.twitter.com/gVnh6rQK2c
    — 국립현대미술관 (@MMCAKOREA) July 20, 2021

    Media outlets had previously speculated that Lee’s heirs, including his son Lee Jae-yong and widow Hong Ra-hee, might sell some of the prized artworks to international buyers in order to cover the $11 billion (₩12.5 trillion) inheritance tax bill on the $20 billion (₩ 22 trillion) fortune the chairman left behind.
    Ultimately, the heirs chose to keep the collection in the country, distributing its pieces among state institutions, including the National Museum, MMCA, and the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art.
    But the artworks, owned by the state, won’t stay in these institutions for long. Earlier this month, the South Korean minister of culture, sports, and tourism, announced plans to build a new museum solely dedicated to the Lee collection. 
    Reservations to see the National Museum show are booked for the next month, a spokesperson for the museum told the Herald.
    Tickets to see the MMCA show aren’t quite as hard to get. There, reservations are unavailable through early August, per Korea JoongAng Daily. 
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    in Exhibitions

    Frida Kahlo Is the Latest Artist to Get the Immersive Installation Treatment With a New Projected Light Show in Mexico City

    There’s a new way to experience the work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Art lovers making a pilgrimage to her hometown of Mexico City, where she lived at La Casa Azul with her husband, fellow artist Diego Rivera, can now add a second stop to their itinerary: “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.”
    That’s right, Kahlo, perhaps the world’s most famous woman artist, has gotten the “Immersive Van Gogh” treatment, with a 35-minute projected light show that animates 26 of the artist’s works in larger-than-life fashion. Because Kahlo specialized in self-portraits, the experience is something of an immersive autobiography, telling the story of her struggles with illness and disability, as well as her unconventional and often fraught romance with Rivera.
    The exhibition is a way “to get to know Frida’s paintings, which have been around the world, but with a little bit of familiarity and intimacy,” the artist’s great-grandniece Mara de Anda told Agence France Presse. “I believe that Frida was very avant-garde and modern so this fits perfectly. She was a woman ahead of her time.”
    But while the show does have the Kahlo family’s stamp of approval, it is also is a corporate affair, presented by the National Bank of Mexico Citibanamex and OCESA, a Mexican concert promotion company. The show was produced by Iñaki Barcos Melga and features visuals by Mexican multimedia experience company Cocolab, which bills itself as working at the intersection of art, technology, and entertainment.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    “FRIDA is an immersive, multi-sensory experience that takes the work of artist Frida Kahlo and presents it on a monumental scale accompanied by music, scenography, sculpture, interaction, and digital animation,” Cocolab said on its website.
    The experience opened on July 6, to coincide what would have been the artist’s 114th birthday. It’s on view at Fronton Mexico, an entertainment venue housed in an Art Deco building.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Two-and-a-half years in the making, the experience features famous Kahlo paintings such as The Two Fridas, Girl with a Death Mask, Me and My Parrots, and The Broken Column, Mexican music, and narration drawn from the artist’s letters and diaries. It uses 90 projectors and 50 speakers to present a 360-degree vision of Kahlo’s life and career.
    There is also an interactive “Free Stroke” installation where visitors can draw digitally, and a “Fantastic Creatures” room where they can chose the figures in Kahlo’s artwork that best represents them.
    “You can also listen to the music she listened to, you can see details of her work, [and] you can also find out family secrets,” Frida Hentschel Romero, another great-grandniece, told Reuters, calling the experience “very different from what we have seen [before].”
    Tickets range from MX$280 ($14) to MX$369 ($18).
    See more images of the installation below.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo by Claudio Cruz/AFP via Getty Images.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    Installation view of “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva.” Photo courtesy of Cocolab.
    “Frida: La Experiencia Immersiva” is on view at Frontón México, De La República 17, Tabacalera, 06030 Mexico City, CDMX, Mexico, July 6–September 30, 2021. 
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