Optics Issue A1 - Felipe Pantone

OPTICS

The Unique Style of

Felipe Pantone Projects and Exhibitions

Issue A1 - Felipe Pantone Cover Image - Felipe Pantone

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CONTENTS A Letter From Bliss - 3

Featured Articles The Unique Style of Felipe Pantone - 7 Projects and Exhibitions - 15

Miscellaneous Configurableâ„¢ Art - 5 Contactless - 13 Multistabilitas - 17 ULTRADYNAMIC - 19

15

7

A Letter From Bliss Oh man, it’s been a while. I’d like to start with an apology to those that aren’t in my Discord and haven't already heard it. I haven't been able to find the time to put together a decent issue in the past 2 months.

Usually, I’d begin working on the issue by researching a topic and then by the 14th or 15th of that month, begin work on the magazine. I was already halfway through the month when starting this issue, so I’ve devised a new way to ensure that even if I cant put out a full-sized issue on a whole new topic, I can still release an issue.

(Drumroll please...) Introducing Artists Special Editions! I'll release these on artists that I'm already familiar with when I don't have the time to research a new subject. I only want these issues to be considered as filler, and because of that ill label them A(#) per issue as a way to deviate them from my main line of magazines. Also, its a goal of mine to prevent the number of artists editions from being half of the number of normal editions I make (and if possible, a quarter.) Anyway, on to the actual subject of this month’s issue: Felipe Pantone.

The majority of artists I follow have a great philosophy behind a certain subject or have an appealing art style (to me). Pantone has both of those. Not only does his art catch the eye, he seemingly wants to ensure that his art will surpass him in regards to popularity. Because of this choice, he hides his face with distortions or chooses to be photographed with his face partially covered/facing away from the camera. Alongside that, Pantone’s attitude towards graffiti in a public area doesn't change even though he could technically be breaking the law by painting the sides of subways and walls without permission (and honestly it ought to be against the law to consider his public works as “vandalism”.) It kinda tells me that even though an artist has a job and commissions and an art studio to upkeep, they can still have fun with their art. I could be interpreting what he does incorrectly, but if this is what he does, then honestly the points should speak for themselves as to why this issue is about him entirely.

FELIPE PANTONE It’s a rare occurrence when a creator of any form of media forms their own almost unique style; a style that is so unique compared to the mainstream genres and even rarer ones it could be placed under that when you look at a similar piece, you would relate it to that artist. A good example of this occurrence would be when the theme of eldritch horror slowly became Lovecraftian horror. For visual arts, a strong example would be the works of Takesada Matsutani, whos contemporary and abstract works in ink could best be described quickly by using the term “A Takesada Matsutani Piece”. Felipe Pantone is by far the most modern of this type of artist and because of that, he is gaining a lot of traction in the world of business and mural commissions, as well as on social media and the large community of graffiti artists.

Felipe Pantone, not to be confused with the Pantone paint company (Thanks Google), began working with graffiti and spraypaint at the young age of 12 and has been refining his style and practice since then. Alongside that, he's branched out to experimenting with works of stained glass and a type of customizable art he has dubbed Configuable™ Art. He's painted massive murals onto buildings and worked on small scales in sculptures, art shows, and commissions with companies like Henessy and Hoonigan. His art is desirable because it looks so unique and catches the eye almost instantly. It almost always satisfies the basics of design that manage to catch the eye of a passer-by.

“I try to create things that are not supposed to be where they are, to bring awareness of certain things, to move people’s thoughts elsewhere."

Pantone’s works usually fall under one of his six collections: Chromadynamica, Integration System, Optichrome, Planned Iridescence, Subtractive Variability, and W3-Dimensional.

Each of which has its own common theme.

Pantone has a long history of using pixelated gradients, usually shifting from red to white, then blue to black; randomly generated black and white bitmaps of a low resolution and simple patterns. Some of his works are made using spraypaints and almost all of his large murals use mostly spraypaint. Although he has a past of using graffiti, Pantone also experiments with layers of stained glass in his Planned Iridescence collection and textures that create a Prismacolor effect when looked at. His Optichrome collection seems to be a mix of all 3 themes and W3-Dimensional, as the name might imply, is a 3D version of the combination of themes. It layers them as well as gives them depth in contrast to his normally flat pieces.

INSPIRATION

Each of Pantone’s pieces seems to be based around kinetic art, an art style that revolves around movement. While most kinetic art is made of sculptures, there's a minority of works that use a variety of visual distortions and designs to envoke a sense of movement.

Pantone’s top influencers, as listed in an interview with Master Dynamic are Victor Vasarely, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Julio Le Parc, and Luis Tomasello. Each of them has a unique style that pulls the eyes around the piece in a way that makes it feel like its moving. You don’t have to look far in Pantone's work to see the possible ways his art has been influenced by the artists he lists off. his Planned Iridescence works like very similar to the trippy works of Carlos Cruz-Diez, and the distorted visuals and patterns seen in pieces of his Integration System collection could be considered similar to the designs of Victor Vasarely. Several of his sculptures that are publicly configurable could be related to the works of Luis Tomasello, whos works were commonly seen made of geometrical sculptures on pivoting and turning connectors.

Color Aditivo Panam Círculos 1 - Carlos Cruz-Diez

Atmosphere Chromoplastique Blanche - Luis Tomasello

113 of a serigraph of 125 - Victor Vasarely

Galeria Nara Roesler - Julio Le Parc

MANIFESTO

Pantone has a very unique view of art. For years he has crafted his style and a type of philosophy around his art that he refers to as the Ultradynamic Manifesto. Like many artists that share a skillset like his own, he found higher academic education boring and repetitive. “The whole degree felt like a waste of time learning all the traditional techniques over an over.” Instead of taking the preferred route of the industry, he took a creative risk by joining the D.O.C.S. team and later UltraBoyz under the name Pant1. Over time he honed his graffiti skills and painted murals in public areas.

It was about this time that Pantone was considering going all-in on an artistic career, but like all artists, he wanted something to set him apart from all others.

This is where he began his manifesto, putting in ideas he wanted his art to embody. He wanted to draw people's attention, even in crowded areas like a busy city. Using strong contrasting colours and black and white designs seemed to work the best. When his art and murals began popping up around major cities, people loved and just like he had hoped, they were effective at catching other people's eyes. There is always risk when it comes to creativity and it seems pantone took the risk without even thinking about it, and oh man, did it work well.

“I grew up as a simple painter, trained as a painter, and now my biggest goal is to get clear of all the academic training and to be able to make art freely, with the tools that work best.”

FPSTUDIO

Becoming a mainstream artist with several commissions a month is impossible if not hard for one sole person to complete, ao Pantone has managed to put together a team to work in a studio with him. Working alongside him, he has a studio manager, a fellow painter, two engineers, a graphic designer and photographer, a handyman, a digital artist, and a production manager specifically for the Configurable Art collection.

This ensures that he can pull off making many pieces without having to worry about running short on time like he would if he were working completely solo. With his large team, he's been able to continue doing art shows and murals all over the world.

FPSTUDIO TEAM Felipe Pantone (artist) Omar Quiùones (studio manager) David Orus (painter) Fernando Torres (engineer) Daniel Henarejos (engineer) Alvaro Gongora (graphic designer / photo & video) Marta Senent (Configurable’s production manager) Francisco Lavil (handyman) Rosendo Merel (digital art)

Contactless

PANTONE’S

PROJECTS AND EXHIBITONS

Scroll Panorama November – December 2016

Data Somersault May 2016

Cyberspazio Tubolare June 2016

Data Smog May 2016

Dynamic Phenomena May 2016

W3-Dimensional July 2016

Afterimage November 2017

NOTE: These pages are meant for veiwing in Issuu’s formatting with clickible links.

Planned Iridescence Jan 2017

ExcĂŠs de Vitesse June 2018

Artifact to Human Communication November 2017

PROMOTIONS Hennessy Hennessy partnered with Felipe Pantone to create a bottle of Hennessy Very Special. The design was based around Panone’s W-3 Dimensional Three Stars piece and launched in July 2019.

Hennessy later partnered with Pantone again to release a second Hennessy Very Special limited edition with a custom white bottle and sculpture. Together, it is worth upwards of $1,500 (USD). Fun fact: the bottle doubles as its own certificate of authenticity, as it has a small portion with the artists signature and other information about the collectors piece.

Hoonigan When Ken Block and Hoonigan, a racing group, set out to set up the cars for the Gymkhana 10. When they reached out to Pantone, he gladly took the offer and ended up painting possibly the most popular design of the Gymkhana 10 cars. Alongside that, he ended up painting a custom Mustang for Hoonigan Mexico. The design which he painted for the Ford Fiesta RS (bottom photo) has been seen on several pieces of Hoonigan merchandise and was printed onto Ken Block’s driving suit for the shoot of the portion in the Gymkhana 10.

Multistabilitas

Issue A1 - Felipe Pantone Designed and Written By Bliss

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