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    “Tierra” by SpY in Madrid, Spain

    In “Tierra”, SpY presents an artistic project made up of a luminous red sphere caged inside a cube-shaped structure, constructed with the type of scaffolding normally used on building sites. These 2 simple geometric elements (sphere and cube) form a large-scale construction which stands almost 25 metres high and has been installed in Plaza de Colón in Madrid.This powerful visual statement is accompanied by a bright red light emanating from inside the sphere, from which one can almost feel the heat transmitted by the concept of the work.In this work, SpY asks us to reflect on the way in which our home makes up a whole of which we form part, and in which everything is connected as if it were a living creature. There have always been changing climate conditions and the Earth has always been constantly evolving. However, as a consequence of human activity, these changes are happening over a very short period of time and have resulted in worrying alterations.Unfortunately, this rapid change has created an impact which could become irreversible. We need to propose dialogue and actions that will contribute to improved collective awareness through a value system which can turn this situation around. The challenge we all face is to take small individual steps to improve and contribute to our sense of shared responsibility.Through this artistic offering, SpY invites the audience to reflect and enjoy this urban installation, where visitors will be surprised by the scale and the contrasting light set against the city background.In “DATA” pictured above, SpY offers a reflection on the rapid and widespread inclusion of algorithms in numerous aspects of our lives.  In this audio-visual work, digital abstraction is used to explore and interpret how predictive tools operated through algorithms and artificial intelligence are highly beneficial in terms of aspects such as communication, research and medicine, but can also lead us to lose some of our freedoms if they are not used ethically.SpY is an urban artist whose first endeavors date back to the mid-eighties. Shortly after, already a national reference as a graffiti artist, he started to explore other forms of artistic communication in the street. His work involves the appropiation urban elements through transformation or replication, commentary on urban reality, and the interference in its communicative codes.Check out below for more photos os SpY’s work. More

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    Latest Installation by Gola Hundun in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Italian artist Gola Hundun shares his latest installation in Luxembourg wherein he did his residency at Kufa in Esch last month. He calls his piece: “Economic power must redefine its parasitic position about the world. We need to become a choral system of small self-sufficient centers that collaborate as the roots of a tree contribute to shape a trunk. Respect for other forms of life! Superior Love or extinction now!”It was the first time the artist faced a complex project. Gola Hundun worked with a lot of materials such as  iron, wood ,wicker, living plants soil. He produced a coral piece, a group of sculptures installed in the train station of Esch sur Alzette.“Roots as the beginning of a new world are the ones that my new work in Esch shows up.Roots for an interconnected existence just like railways are.Roots of a tree-scheme society where every living being collaborates with each other.Roots with an inner power capable of subverting the capitalistic system.Roots to begin a new lifestyle.Earth will always keep on existing – even after us. Without Earth in its current shape, we won’t exist.Roots connected to the Earth.”“…inside each root there is a plant pot in which Ivy plants will grow on the wicker structure and through time they will symbolize the flag of our ideal!This installation group is part of my research path Habitat , a project that start with the abandoned buildings recolonised by rest of nature, and now approach the living cities, with nature taking back some of their space.”Gola Hundun’s work shows the relationship between human beings and the biosphere. This consideration combined with the conscious decision to live as a vegetarian since the age of 16 positions the artist and his work closer to the animal sphere to the human sphere.He explores themes such as interspecies communication, shamanism, a return to the earth, vegetarianism, and spirituality.Gola Hundun’s work is often representative of the relationship between humans and nature. He has always felt very close to the natural world and describes his ideology as being closer to the animal sphere rather than the human one. His decision to become a vegetarian at the age of 16 speaks to conscientiousness of the animal world. He explores themes such as collaboration vs. domination, shamanism, vegetarianism, energies and mysticism.While best known for his paintings, Gola also incorporates sculpture, fibre, plant life, electronics and performance art into his public installations and paintings. His work has an intensely naturalistic feel to them, with many cues to the plant world including organic curves and bright colors.Take a look below for more photos of the installation. Photo credits: Gilles Kayser More

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    Tbilisi Mural Fest 2021 in Georgia

    For the third time now, TBILISI MURAL FEST has introduced the beautiful capital of Georgia as an important hub for internationally acclaimed mural artists. The festival has transformed unappealing facades into works of art, addressing social, enviromental and other relevant issues.  According to Festival founder Besik Maziashvili, 33 murals were created in the frameworks of the festival since 2019, creating an open exhibition at different locations. The goal of creating beautiful messages on these open space canvas was accomplished by celebrities of the scene like Case Maclaim, FAITH47, MONKEYBIRD, 1010, etc and will be continued annually. This sudden upswing of street art affects the younger generation of local artists, who traditionally take part in the international festival alongside their renowned colleauges. Tbilisi Mural Fest 2021 line up includes MONKEYBIRD (France), FAITH47 (South Africa), JDL (Holland), APHE (Germany), NOAH (Germany), MAZZA (Brazil), 1010 (Germany), KADE 90 (Georgia), and DAVID SAMKHARADZE (Georgia).Check out below for more photos from the festival. More

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    “Open Your Eyes” by Javier Calleja at Nanzuka Underground in Tokyo, Japan

    On November 14th 2021 will be opening an exhibition of  new works at NANZUKA UNDERGROUND (Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo).  “Open Your Eyes” marks the artist’s third solo presentation in Japan following his 2018 show “Do Not Touch” (at the former gallery space of NANZUKA UNDERGROUND), and “No Art Here” held concurrently at the two venues of NANZUKA 2G and 3110NZ last year. Calleja’s works are filled with a diverse array of twists and interventions that bring surprise and humor to various events within daily life. Expressing a fondness for the works of René Magritte, the Malaga-based artist references the techniques of the surrealist master in the context of contemporary portraiture, depicting the present-day sitters through his characteristic appropriation of the “BIG EYE.” The changes in color and shifts in scene, as well as the relationship between the facial expressions of his subjects and the texts that accompany them, are aspects that the artist particularly pays close attention to in his work. Furthermore, the overall softness of the setting as well as the play with composition are emphasised further in this body of work, alluring the viewer’s eye towards the narratives suggested by the aforementioned key elements of the work. Continuously confronting life’s difficulties through his sharp-witted creativity and determined to perceive every aspect of life in a positive manner, the new works are becoming that much more relevant in the context of the ongoing global pandemic. Open Your Eyes can indeed be interpreted as a warning against the current state of our world that is becoming more closed and exclusive, and at the same time it is a phrase that appears to present each one of us with the incentive to recognize our own dignity. Highly approachable and could be described as “friendly words of wisdom,” Calleja’s works are permeated with a strong and warm sense of energy that brings encouragement in these difficult times. As we engage with his work and the sheer magnitude of their all-embracing nature, the artist hopes that the viewer becomes aware of their true self.  The exhibition consists entirely of new works. Along with two large three-dimensional works presented inside and outside the gallery, a selection of paintings on canvas and drawings will also be showcased on this occasion. Open Your Eyes will run until 26th of December 2021. More

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    “Natura Morta” by REKA in Bari, Italy

    Australian artist James Reka aka “REKA” & “Reka One” has recently finished a mural entitled “Natura Morta” / Still Life in San Paolo quarter of Bari, Italy. ‘Natura Morta’ is an abstract representation of a bowl of sliced fruit and floral elements. The 5-storey mural was invited to take part part of a larger mural project – QM SanPaolo, an urban museoformation project curated by Stefano S. Antonelli and Gianluca Marziani.“This mural marks a new direction in style and content for me, steering away from the figurative to pure abstraction. Looking forward to what is in the near future, Reka stated”James Reka stands as one of Australia’s most respected contemporary artists, having earn’t his place in the National Gallery of Australia’s permanent collection. While currently based in Berlin, Germany. His origins lie in the alleyways and train lines of Melbourne’s inner-suburbs, where he spent over a decade refining his now-emblematic aesthetic and pioneering of a new style of street art in Australia as part of the Everfresh crew.Surrealist, abstracted characters emerge from the depths of Reka’s mind, communicating through strong lines, bold colours and post-cubist styling. Theses figures live in the homes and laneways of three continents, clambering up walls and enriching the urban environment with his iconic visual language.With influences in pop culture, cartooning and illustration, Reka’s studio style emerged from his early design practice, featuring striking lines and colour ways. Over time, the logos and symbols he created evolved into more structured, animated forms and evolved to new mediums: murals, photography, and most recently sculpture. More

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    New Mural by PARBO in Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Lucas Lasnier, aka PARBO recently worked on a new mural in Chacarita, Buenos Aires, Argentina. This mural work arises from talks in the middle of the pandemic with Alejandro the Owner of the coffee sshop “La Nueva Esmeralda”, a classic neighborhood store outside the commercial area of the city.La Nueva Esmeralda coffee shop was on the verge of closing the business during the strict quarantines throughout 2020 in Argentina. Fortunately, thanks to the help of neighbors and customers , who are mostly neighborhood taxi drivers who have this place as their fixed stop.Somehow the quarantine hit us all, in my case, being a visual artist who has been working in public spaces for 20 years, I went from having an active activity in the street to having to articulate my activity strictly indoors in my atelier. Already in 2021 with some airs of change and certain movements in the field of culture with activities that were recovering, I proposed to Alejandro the idea of painting a work on the side of his store, a self-managed work that helps us to resume our activities generating movement and attraction in order to somehow return and break the inertia of the pause imposed by the pandemic” PARBO stated.This mural takes up the old spirit of the early days when we painted not for the applause or for the money, simply for the pleasure of finding an excuse to tell something new on a wall and that is linked to a very particular moment in the world. in which we are living.Lucas Lasnierwas born in Mar del Plata and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a graphic designer and visual artist, professions that develops as founder Director of  KidGaucho.He is a member of a generation of artists who have taken their talents in art and design environments beyond traditional galleries and commercial contexts. He threw paint on the street in 2001, experimenting first with letters and stencil graffiti. Being part of the pioneers in the local street art movement. Its performance is expressed in Buenos Aires and in different cities of Latin America and Europe.Stay tuned for more updates on PARBO and the international street art scene! More

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    “Home Bodies” Solo Exhibition by Emma Stern at Carl Kostyál Gallery, Stockholm

    Carl Kostyál Gallery | Hospitalet, Stockholm proudly presents “Home Bodies”, New York-based artist Emma Stern’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and first show in Sweden. The exhibition will open on Thursday November 11th and will run until December 3rd. Preview: Thursday November 11th, 5-8 pm.Emma painted the series Home Bodies while living in London at the beginning of 2021. The country was under a strict and prolonged lockdown due to Covid-19 and Emma spent her days between the house and the studio. In this series of paintings, she explores the female body in typical housekeeping activities, questioning gender roles through the idiosyncratic, overly-sexualised poses of her cybers.Borrowing from the visual vocabulary of online niche subcultures such as fursonas, fandom and 3D erotica, Emma Stern plays with the quasi-pornographic representation of women in the virtual world, combining traditional painterly techniques such as monochromatic underpainting and chiaroscuro with virtual 3D programmes and modelling to create eerily anonymous, finely-worked ‘portraits’, reclaiming these man-made avatars for the female domain.“Stern comments on the consequences of biases and preferences, particularly within the male-dominated spheres of software and technology. She further inspects the effects of these biases through the female body as it would be seen in cyberspace. Her dreamlike aesthetic borrows from the visual lexicon of gaming culture, such as those seen in furries, fandom and various erotic 3D art message boards and creates arresting scenes that truly float in space.” Hypebeast, 2021“What my work is most critical of is the inherent inclination toward pornographic (or at least porn-adjacent) representations of women throughout cyberspace. As our virtual selves become ever-more inextricable from our physical selves, I’m interested in how the preferences of the programmers are imposed on virtual female bodies within the largely male-dominated arena of software and technology.” Emma Stern, Cool Hunting, 2019Emma Stern (b. 1992) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She holds a BFA from Pratt Institute’s School of Painting.Recent solo shows include ‘Boy, It Feels Good To Be A Cowgirl’, Almine Rech, Paris (2021), ‘Revenge Body’, Carl Kostyál Gallery, London, ‘‘Slow Fade’, The Newsstand Project, Los Angeles (2020); ‘Works’, Jorge Andrew Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2017); ‘Tabs’, Stream Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (2015). Stern has an upcoming solo show at Carl Kostyál, Stockholm in November 2021.Recent group shows include ‘Stockholm Sessions’, Carl Kostyál, Stockholm (2021); ‘Resting Point of Accommodation’, Almine Rech, Brussels (2021); ‘The Artist is Online’, Konig Gallery, Berlin (2021); ‘Friend Zone’, Half Gallery, New York (2021); ‘06’, PM/AM, London (2020); ‘Escapism’, Meredith Rosen Gallery, New York (2020) and ‘American Woman’, Allouche Benias Gallery, Athens, Greece (2020). More

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    “Tursunay Ziawudun” by Mahn Kloix in Marseille, France

    Street artist Mahn Kloix recently worked on his latest mural in Marseille, France. Located on 200 meter sqaured wall of the telecoms operator Orange and now dominating the scene is a portrait of Tursunay Ziawudun, a Uyghur who testified on her ordeal in the “camps” Chinese.Suspended from his ropes, the artist put the finishing touches to his portrait on October 7, on the immense facade of this building, rue Félix-Pyat, in the heart of one of the poorest districts of the second largest city in France. . And he signed his work on October 8 with a simple stencil, “Tursunay Ziawudun, by Mahn Kloix”.No message beyond this name and face, which the artist painted from an image from a BBC documentary where this 43-year-old woman recounts the rapes she suffered in one of the “camps” set up by the Chinese regime in the western region of Xinjiang, first in 2017, then in 2018.Several human rights organizations have accused Beijing of interning at least one million Uyghurs in Xinjiang in “re-education camps”, subjecting some to forced labor. Amnesty International has denounced “crimes against humanity”.Beijing denies this figure and talks about “vocational training centers” to support employment and fight Muslim extremism in this province which had been affected by attacks attributed to Uyghurs.Under an almost transparent lace veil, the look is soft. With his hand on the cheek, Tursunay Ziawudun seems “looking to the future”: “One of my challenges”, Mahn Kloix explains to AFP, “it is to talk about negative things without falling into the negative, to always give an image of hope”. This woman’s journey has been “violent”, explains the 40-year-old artist, who spent two years in Beijing, when he was still a graphic designer and above all a long-haul traveler. It was through this BBC documentary that he discovered Tursunay Ziawudun’s ordeal. “It took me to the guts.”“This is perhaps the hardest scar to forget”, explains this Uyghur survivor, in her testimony, reviewing her three gang rapes: “I don’t even want those words to come out of my mouth anymore, (…) in fact their goal is to destroy us all”, she asserts, about the Chinese regime’s policy towards the Muslim community in Xinjiang.“My theme today is oppressed minorities”, he explains. On a wall in Marseille, he paints Nüdem Durak, a Kurdish singer imprisoned in Turkey. On a garage door, still in Marseille, it is Yulia Tsetkova, a Russian activist prosecuted for defending the rights of women and LGBT people. In Eauze (Gers), Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish environmental activist. In Paris, on the WALL (Modular, Urban, Reactive) of Oberkampf, a kiss is scandalous, that of Shaza and Jimena, two women who had to flee Dubai where homosexuality is punishable by death.With Tursunay Ziawudun, it is another resistance that he highlights. “Paint this portrait on the walls of the historic telephone operator in France, in the country of the motto Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, the country which asserts itself as guarantor of human rights but which continues to trade with China, that makes perfect sense! “, he pleads with irony.Mahn Kloix originally began painting in urban spaces in New York City. Heavily influenced by the street art scene, Kloix’s contemporary fluid and free figuration is also expressed on canvas and paper. He pays tribute to young protesters in Istanbul, Tunisia, and Athens by conveying their similarities in his works. Their portraits are a leitmotif to highlight human and environmental struggles.Take a look below for more photos of “Tursunay Ziawudun”defaultdefaultdefaultdefaultdefaultdefaultdefaultPhoto credits: Fabrice Calmettes More