URBAN NATION PRESENTS PROJECT M/9 “COLORS”

@URBAN NATION – Bülowstr. 97, 10783 Berlin

JUSTKIDS and StreetArtNews will be curating the Urban Nation Berlin notorious signature event Project M/9.

Invited by URBAN NATION MUSEUM FOR URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART Director Yasha Young to bring summer flavors to Berlin, Project M/9 “Colors” co-curators Charlotte Dutoit and Rom Levy have selected 6 international acclaimed artists to create murals at our future museum building in the Bülowstrasse 7 in Berlin-Schöneberg. The painting week will be finalized with the group exhibition “Colors” showcasing the works of in 12 amazing artists from all over the world on Saturday, June 11th at our URBAN NATION headquarter.

Artists:

1010 (mural)
Askew (mural)
Bicicleta Sem Freio (mural)
Borondo (mural)
Eron (mural)
Fafi (mural)

Crystal Wagner
Felipe Pantone
Jan Kaláb
Maser
Okuda San Miguel
Tristan Eaton

“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most,” John Ruskin famously proclaimed in the 19th century. Our attraction to colour is innate and influences us every day, in a myriad of contexts. In our technology-centric world today, the possibilities of colour are great than ever. At our special exhibition at Urban Nation, Berlin, curated by JUSTKIDS and StreetArtNews, the arcane effects of colours in the contemporary urban environment are explored through the work of 10 internationally renowned artists.

Whether in large-scale murals in urban environments around the world, or on smaller scale pieces on paper and canvas, the ten featured artists—hailing from around the globe—converge to investigate the specific way a high-octane colour palette can produce an intense visual experience. In some of the works—shown for the first time in Berlin—this emerges from the interactions between colours and their tensions and contrasts; while other works inquire into the expressive qualities of colours in the context of visual culture today.

From figurative forms to more abstract treatments, each artist offers their own interpretation of bright colours. For artists including Askew, Tristan Eaton, Bicicleta Sem Freio, as well as Okuda San Miguel and Fafi, the figurative portrait is reimagined as a psychotropic mix of patterns and 80s comic-book hues, where lines are deconstructed and progressively dissolved by a spectrum of the most vivid colour and abstract forms.

For other artists the figurative disappears completely in favour of colour-based works that evolve the ideas of the later era of Op Art, to consider the dynamics of colour within the artwork itself, as well as beyond. Strongly connected with these ideas are Maser–whose lattices of lines often cover entire structures from motels to parking lots —or Czech-born Jan Kaláb, whose practice has developed from pioneering 3-D graffiti to geometric abstraction in his more recent ‘broken rainbows’. Crystal Wagner, similarly presents abstract vibrant 3D compositions that galvanize the inherent energy in colours with multi-layered organic shapes, details, and textures. Meanwhile 1010 and Felipe Pantone’s trompe l’oeil pieces use colour to play with perception and pose questions on contemporary society and its corruptible systems.

Creating a new language with colour in progressive and visually exciting ways means these artists have moved their practice far beyond the confines of a single medium or audience: Their works are just as likely to grace the side of a building, a boat or a highway interchange as a blue chip gallery or museum. Coming from their position as global artists who paint in and on public spaces, for indoor and outdoor environments, these artists have an intuitive understanding of the relationship between colour and space: This evolutionary sensibility is evident in the works included in this exhibition, bringing together 10 diverse artists for the first time whose work is at its core a lively and upbeat celebration of colour.

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