www.castleshop.de www.castlemagazine.de me@castlemagazine.de Welcome to issue 16! This is the last issue for this year and we really want to thank you all for your great support. Even this time we´re showcasing cool artist, fresh streetart and we´re introducing two publishing companies to you, which are publishing some very intersting books from the fields of urban art and design. Last but not least we like to recommend our brand new online-shop warmly to you. There you´ll find fine-artprints in limited and unlimited editions, original art in various techniques as well as shirts and buttons and of course our book "Beyond Illustration". All Illustrations and artworks are from selected artists, who were featured in our magazine or in our book - so take a look at www.castleshop.de and grab a piece of "Castle" for your home! By Bye, see you 2010, Castle-Team
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Stephane Halleux / Belgium Felix Gephart / Germany Andreas Pistner / Germany Valentina Brostean /Serbia Roberta Zeta / Italy Erla Maria Arnadottir / Iceland
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giant robot stephane halleux
STEPHANE HALLEUX BRUSSELS / BELGIUM Pictures by Muriel Thies
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voiture hublot & giant robot stephane halleux
Stephane Halleux: I'm Belgian and I live in the French-speaking part of Belgium with my partner and our 2 children (two boys, 6 & 7 months). We actually live in a very small village in the countryside, in the province of Namur. I think the nearest well-known town is Brussels, but OK - Belgium is such a small country that you never live far from the capital! I was born on the 6th July 1972 and if I’m counting right... I can’t believe I'm already such an old chap!!! My secondary studies were rather difficult, full of ups and downs (I know, not very original but it's true!). After that I studied at an academy for illustration (comics, drawing). It’s as if I have always been making such things. But let's say the first sculptures that began looking like the ones I'm making now go back to my first year of study, nearly 12 years ago. In fact I was drawing more and more plans, details of mechanisms, strange vehicles, robots and after that I began constructing what I was drawing. At last (!!!) I could turn things around, touch, smell leather... well, sculpt! I was encouraged by some of my professors and that's why I presented some of my pieces as part of an exam at the end of my 3 years of higher education. The jury was a little bit surprised but it ended without problems. Then I quickly found a job in a comics studio in Luxemburg (the other even smaller country near Belgium ;-)), where I spent 7 years drawing uninteresting things for other people, just to earn a living...without any time for construction. In the long run I became really disgusted by the lack of creativity and the industrialisation of animation and so I quit to go and work in a secondhand shop, where you can sell or buy furniture, curios, antiques... and right in the middle of all that old stuff my first passion came back to the surface. Today I'm working with an art gallery in Luxemburg and for the last 2 years have been devoting all my time to sculpting.
I read about my work that it’s like "Jules Verne meets Tim Burton" - that's a beautiful compliment! Thanks to the steampunk surfers and bloggers that have created all kinds of links to my site, I get mails from all over the world and I'm discovering super artists. Thanks to them for this! Anyway, most of the people who see my stuff very often find references. Some talk about films by Tim Burton, like "Nightmare before Christmas" or "Edward Scissorhands", others find something from Caro and Genet with the "City of Lost Children" while still others think of "Star Wars" or "Fifth Element". And in the world of contemporary art, they speak of Panamarenko or Tingeli. I love all that, so even if I don’t always see the similarities, I imagine that what I'm constructing is a mixture of these influences. As Marcel Duchamps would say: it's the one who looks who makes the painting! I'm very often asked whether I first draw and then look for the required pieces or whether inspiration comes from the pieces I have found. Actually, both processes come up alternately during the whole realisation. A part of my work consists in prospecting, finding, buying machines, antiques or any quite original object. I store that mountain of things in a shed. Either I have an idea, something I want to construct and then I draw a first outline and I search for the necessary elements, or I search for inspiration with the loose pieces all around me and then it depends on what I find and I begin drawing. I modify the first drawing according to the added pieces, then I look for the missing pieces again- I mean the ones that are missing from the modified drawing -... (tricky huh?). And now: the actual construction: hood or metal structure, hood clay... sanding, covering with leather, stitching... Between reflecting, prospecting, drawing, constructing and sewing, it takes rather a long time to complete a sculpture! Sometimes 2 or 3 weeks for the biggest ones... and there’s no time for anything else!
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giant robot stephane halleux
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marriachi brothers stephane halleux
As realisation is partly inspired by the pieces I find and I can’t manage to construct more than one piece at the same time, I do everything by myself. Anyway, apart from sewing, I really wonder what I could leave to someone else and besides, I'm rather fanatical about impeccable finishing. As my work is very varied, my workroom consists of several places: a glass room at home for drawing, stitching or any odd jobs; just off there, a little workshop for the more physical work (especially dirty work!) where I keep the bigger tools like sander, drill, cutting tools, blowlamps etc; next to this workshop I have a larger warehouse where I store all my finds and where I sort what I’ve taken to pieces. I've always been fascinated by robotics, its advantages and contradictions, the importance of robotisation and its increasing influence on mankind. Who hasn’t dreamt of owning a robot able to do the dirty work (see later text)? But where are the boundaries? How far is a robot useful to man and when does it begin to endanger life? That's what I want to make: caricatures of robots that have gone beyond the limits, all that with a fanciful vision of the future - the future we imagined some years ago: big computers full of cables with warning lights everywhere. That's what I like: an old-fashioned future universe (and I didn’t know it's been called "steampunk" for a long time!).
I like crazy mixtures, unlikely associations, advanced technology mixed with mechanisms of long ago like the racing cyclists doping with a dynamo (see picture cyclist). He's wearing a leather suit, covered inside with electrode patches (think of the ads showing how to get a rock-hard belly in just 30 minutes a day while sitting watching TV and eating chips). The suit is connected with electric cables to a battery that is connected to the dynamo. So when he pedals, the dynamo produces electricity that contracts his muscles through the patches and as a result he can go faster. The faster he goes, the more electricity he produces, the more his muscles contract ... and so on... The most difficult thing is the first pedal kick.
“It's as if these old saved elements, full of history, were giving a soul to the final work.”
The saved pieces are used as prostheses to prolong, accessorize, roboticise the constructions and make them as credible as possible. It's as if these old saved elements, full of history, were giving a soul to the final work. After assembly into a futuristic machine, robot or figure, they are given a past and become more realistic (it's at least what I feel).
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doctor devil in a chair stephane halleux
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leather robot stephane halleux
Robots: Once upon a late evening while cleaning my workroom, I realised how useful an assistant would be. Someone I could entrust with all the little tasks that were slowing down my work. From an old spin-dryer and an old German typewriter (cleanliness, discipline) I created this robot. Pliers as a left hand, blowlamp, cutting disk, drill.... grafted onto the right hand. This new companion quickly showed himself to be extremely gifted. He executed any requested work so rapidly that I had great difficulty keeping him busy for more than a few minutes. He soon started to complain about my slowness in creation and low wingspan projects. I retorted that things were just not so obvious, that I suffered from a lack of room and that it was easy to say when you had no family-life and that... shit, I’d like to see him try it! I got my wish fulfilled right away: he drew up new plans while I ran around looking for the materials he needed. A couple of days later, while carrying out one of his numerous projects, he made me understand he would be able to work even faster if I relieved him of all these little superficial tasks that stopped a real blossoming of his art...! I had become my assistant’s assistant! I smothered him while filling his old spin-dryer-thorax with dirty linen. Since then I’ve been exhibiting his carcass and sweeping out my workroom...late in the evening… and whistling!
“Who hasn’t dreamt of owning a robot able to do the dirty work?”
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tephane halleux
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batman begins 2 stephane halleux
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left: flying civil servant middle: chaise vĂŠtĂŠran right: beauty machine stephane halleux
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marathon man stephane halleux
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left: liebig car middle: donatella right: scaphandre stephane halleux
Stephane Halleux: Apart from some vague impressions and more personal neuroses (too confused to put down in writing) I'm becoming aware that I actually haven't got much to reveal about my work. No great theories, no subliminal message, no great trade secrets... well, in short, all this is trivial, useless, just wind! But if we try to make ourselves light enough, we sometimes let ourselves get carried away by the wind, go part of the way with it and, for a while, recapture the time of childhood innocence when our dreams were not so narrow. A time when our weirdest inventions became reality on the paper while colouring them in with fat pastels (yes indeed, when I was a child I was forced to colour with fat pastels!).
ome weeks ago, my partner pointed out that she sometimes hears me talking when I’m alone in my workshop, or making strange sounds with my mouth, like engine noises, the creakings of robot joints : "brrrrrrrrrm, brrrrrrroum, gniiiiiick, watch it Jim! Chief robot behind you... baoum..!" I responded that that would be very surprising and if she had already started hearing voices now, I wondered what would come out of it later. She is right actually: I don't work, I play! Hang on, I’m not saying I NEVER work. These privileged little moments close to childhood, are precisely the ones requiring a considerable amount of preliminary work (I wouldn't want people to think I just dick about all day with Playmobil!). I am saying, that there is a relentless amount of prospecting and dismantling work, sorting, and tidying up of thingummies I regularly retrieve from the scrap yard, junk dealer or antique shop. I just hope that the visitor will enjoy traveling amongst my works as much as I have enjoyed constructing them and will make them possible and animated for a while but that doesn't depend on me any longer because, as Marcel Duchamp said: "it is the one who looks at a painting that makes it".
“I don't work, I play!”
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donatella detail stephane halleux
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www.stephanehalleux.com
FELIX GEPHART BERLIN / GERMANY
The artwork of Berlin-based artist Felix Gephart has been exhibited in, amongst others, the A. Paul Weber Museum, Ratzeburg, the Design Forum of the Museum Ludwig, Cologne, the West Side Gallery and the Visual Arts Gallery in New York. In 2009, 80 large-scale drawings were shown during his solo show in the A. Paul Weber Museum. His work has been internationally featured by NOVUM, Art Online, Graphische Kunst, Illusive 2 and 3, Freistil, Die Zeit, Playboy Magazine and Esquire Magazine. Felix Gephart received his diploma from the School of Applied Sciences in Dortmund, Germany. Afterwards, he was awarded a Fulbright Grant, a Coyne Foundation Grant, and a Special Presidential Grant (amongst others) and graduated from the MFA program of the School of Visual Arts, New York City, in 2008.
prey felix gephart
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left: visit right: killing dog felix gephart
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left: methamorphosis right: vulture felix gephart
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left: treasure island right: pigs & chicks felix gephart
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left: promenade right: amtsgaul felix gephart
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left: the event right: home sweet home felix gephart
left: sketch for sea adventure felix gephart right: retreat felix gephart
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making of at sea felix gephart & dominik hebestreit
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at sea felix gephart & dominik hebestreit
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reise zum mond felix gephart & dominik hebestreit
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castle details of reise zum mond felix gephart & dominik hebestreit
www.felixgephart.de
ANDREAS
PISTNER
WIESBADEN / GERMANY
chinesisches theater andreas pistner
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Andreas Pistner was born in Würzburg / Germany. He studied communication design in Wiesbaden. He started with etchings 2005. Well, if that´s the kind of story people want to hear nowadays. Or maybe it was like this: In former days, hidden in tumbling clouds laid a peacefull land. A land of wierd creatures which all lived at the foot of a great mountain. Nearby the highest point of that mountain was a big rock. But this rock was not a normal one. Because it was this glimmering stone that gave birth to the monkey. As you can tell, that was a special monkey. It was an iron monkey. But don´t think he was heavy and slow, no, not at all. He was quite the opposite. Running around full of life and quite excited about the world. After he climbed down the mountain he explored everything and had a great interest for his new world. He grown quite fast and he tried to learn how to get along with each creature, even when they seemed strange to him. After a few years he saw a cloud, or should I say he smelled it. It was right before his eyes, like a long string, and he knew that if he follows that long cloud he will find his luck at the end. He made himself a raft and traveled along the direction of his cloud over the big sea. After another few years of travel he finally found his luck in becoming an artist. He found himself a workshop where he can produce his etchings he did about the creatures of his home world. But that is not the end of the story - it is only the story so far.
left: horst right: stillhalten andreas pistner
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left: atariwalkuere right: s phaerenfischen andreas pistner
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drugs andreas pistner
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rock n roll andreas pistner
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sex andreas pistner
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d rehorgelprozession andreas pistner
left: chichlasoma right: Die Band andreas pistner
www.ironmonkey.de
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VALENTINA
BROSTEAN NOVI SAD /SERBIA
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Valentina Brostean: Born on October 24th, 1983, in the town of Novi Sad in Serbia. My interest in art began at an early age. My entire childhood was spent drawing, illustrating and painting. After finishing elementary school and design school I continued my graphic design education in the faculty for applied arts at the “Academy of Art Novi Sad”. From year 2008 I was a Masters student on the same faculty, majoring in “Book Graphics and Illustration”. I have always had an eye for the strange beauty in the grotesqueries of life. This appreciation is now very evident in work that I do. Inspired by the relationship between dreams, the natural world and the emptiness of consumer culture, between safe childhood play and everyday marks of reality, I bring and create new types of creatures in my imaginary world. A whole range of characters from the ones in dark corners of the streets of soulless cities to the safe and pure creatures from imagination. In my wonderland I’m trying through the characters to prove that I have never grown up, or at least have never lost touch with my innocent childhood self. My body of work is built of this melancholy interaction between manmade status symbols and frozen moments of utopian childhood memories. In my work I often flirt with different typefaces, superimposing pieces of print on top of my illustrations, or using them as part of the drawings. I often draw in black ink on top of these collages, using all kinds of hand written scribbles, which pull the focus of the work from the adult world back to the realms of childhood. This experimentation with more text and new techniques led to the emergence of my very personal style. The characters I paint may seem like creatures from another dimension, real yet unreal, sometimes very closely connected with childhood, playful and inventive, sometimes abandoned and tragically sad and full of misery. But I think they are simply us, modern society without its mask, without the fake presentations that make us acceptable to whatever group we are a part of. Yet the only place where we are truly revealed the way we really are is the one on the inside. We all share feelings of fear and loneliness. We all sometimes feel ugly and insecure. If you examine my work closely, you might come to the realisation that my creatures are really kind of self-portraits, set in fantastical landscapes of an imaginary world which echoes my own… a bitter, yet sweetly-coated prescription for modern life.
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These illustrations are part of a master’s degree project for my major ”Book Graphics and Illustration”. It is an illustrated book for adults called “Why ladybirds eat people?” I illustrated 200 pages with 100 illustrations on poems and stories written by my friend and colleague Zeljko Katanic.The theme I have focused on in my artwork (which is also a subject of the text but of course not literally) is our modern society, with its man-made status symbols and strange but mostly grotesque beauty. I was interested in social relations, values, the disturbed system of functioning in today’s society. I asked questions in iconic projections I made: about life, death, love and hate, sex, friendship, childhood, consumerism etc. In that way building metaphors and allegorical pictures looking for answers on eternal subjects like the meaning of life, who we are, what we are doing, or where we are going. It’s a story about losing an innocence of the soul in a world that is proving every day that it is on the verge of collapse. The technique I have used is mixed media: photo collage combined with handmade drawings and painted details, all done in Photoshop. I am doing translations of the textual part right now and looking for sponsors or interested publishers.
“I was interested in social relations, values, the disturbed system of functioning in today’s society.”
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www.behance.net/valentinabrostean
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ROBERTAPADUA ZETA / ITALY
iggy roberta zeta
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Roberta Zeta: I have been drawing since I was born, but never had a classical education in art. I'm a law graduate, and this is pretty funny. I tried hard to get away from my attitudes, but they always caught up with me. At the moment I’m living in Padua, Italy - dreaming about moving soon. My drawings always start from a picture and a certain mood. I am not quite sure what I'm doing when I start to draw until the artwork is finally completed - for me this is the only way to be direct and authentic, and that’s what I really want to be.
left: barrett violet right: a kiss roberta zeta
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embrace roberta zeta
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left: i just want clara right: estate roberta zeta
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left: mosquito right: smokers roberta zeta
www.robertazeta.blogspot.com
ERLA MARIA ARNADOTTIR
REYKJAVIK / ICELAND
undercover erla maria arnadottir
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Erla Maria Arnadottir: I'm an illustrator, animator and visual artist currently based in Brighton, UK. My history with art is probably as old as I am - both my parents are art lovers and my father is an architect so drawing was something that I was always encouraged to do. I‘m fascinated by contrasts and I love things that make me feel warm and cold at the same time. It‘s this roller coaster of emotions that usually comes out in my work - the irony and humor that makes you both laugh and be scared. This also explains the love/hate relationship I have with arts. There‘s nothing as fulfilling for me in this world as art, yet there is also nothing that annoys me more. My biggest inspirations are probably daily situations all around me, small things that I don‘t even take notice of. As for other illustrators and artists, I would have to say that my influences come from my childhood favorites, such as Mauri Kunnas and Richard Scarry. Although there are a few great new artists that I have endless respect for, the top two would be Alex Pardee and Gris Grimly.
“There‘s nothing as fulfilling for me in this world as art, yet there is also nothing that annoys me more.”
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undercover2 erla maria arnadottir
left: wewerescientists middle: nosuicidegirl right: best friends erla maria arnadottir
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left: chicken and fries skateboards: left: untitled right: war kid erla maria arnadottir
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www.artsprojekt.com www.erlamaria.com
characters for gangverkid boardgame erla maria arnadottir
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Leuphana Urban Art Project Graffiti Argentina in Berlin Draw Drago Books / Italy Otaku Magazine / Rumania Verlag Gudberg / Germany Girls of Death / Berlin Castle at Stroke.01 / Munich Castle Online Store
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ARTotale 2009 Lüneburg Artist: Brad Downey Photos: Just / Just.Ekosystem.org
ARTotale LEUPHANA URBAN ART PROJECT
LÜNEBURG / GERMANY
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ARTotale – A university makes its mark From October 5–9, 2009 Lueneburg will emerge as a focal point of the international art scene. In the scope of Leuphana University’s orientation program for new students – the so-called Welcome Week – this large-scale urban art project will bring together university, city, and art world. Under the artistic auspices of Rik Reinking, curator and collector from Hamburg, some 35 renowned urban artists from Europe, North America, South America, and Africa have been invited to “conquer” Lueneburg’s urban space with their works. They will be working with various artistic mediums – including classic murals, graffiti writing, cutouts, installations, sculptures, and performances – to alter downtown Lueneburg as well as the university campus. The 1,200 first-year students at Leuphana University, will be actively involved in this process of urban art creation, producing short video clips that support the artists’ message.
The finished clips will subsequently be evaluated by a panel of experts under the patronage of the International Film Festival Berlin/Berlinale and published on Leuphana´s online media platform at www.artotale.com. With its broad spectrum of stylistic, technical, and contextual forms, the Urban Art Project promises to be an eclectic landmark event – and also pivotal to the further development of contemporary urban art. The invited artists count among the most promising leading or aspiring figures in their genre and of their generation – their work being an indication of the future direction of artistic esthetics. Without compromising their deep rootedness in urban culture and the public sphere, these artists are already being represented by prestigious museums and galleries worldwide.
ARTotale 2009 Lüneburg Artist: Daim Photos: Just / Just.Ekosystem.org
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ARTotale 2009 Lüneburg Artist: Tilt Photos: Just / Just.Ekosystem.org
castle Over the past three years, Leuphana University Lueneburg has been involved in a widely noted process of conceptual realignment. One innovative academic model is offered by Leuphana College in the form of a Bachelor’s degree program for first-degree-level university education. The Leuphana Bachelor’s program represents more than just a sound core study program: it is predicated upon the conviction that the making of the future will be in the hands of those who invest their knowledge in relevant contexts, reflect on their actions, and prove capable of making responsible decisions. For this reason, all students in the Bachelor’s tract acquire skills and competencies in scientific methods beyond the scope of the compulsory subjects involved in their major and minor programs – and they jointly embark on the first university semester together, the so-called “Leuphana Semester,” kicked off by the Welcome Week. This week is also an integral part of the new academic model for which the university was distinguished in 2007 by the Stifterverband
für die Deutsche Wissenschaft in their “Strategies of excellence for small- and medium-sized institutions of higher education” competition. Parallel to this content-related realignment at Leuphana University Luenebuerg, a new design of the university campus has been called to life. These plans have particularly focused on a central building designed by Daniel Libeskind forming a hub for students, research, conferences, including the large-scale auditorium maximum. In 2009, this architectural structure won an award for “energy-efficient building” by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. Daniel Libeskind has been teaching as a guest lecturer at Leuphana University since 2007. Another extensive project that Leuphana University Lueneburg has been pursuing over the past year has been the so-called “Innovation Incubator.” Armed with investment capital of nearly 100 million euros, this undertaking sets out to support the advancement of regional economic development through scientific research.
ARTotale 2009 L端neburg Artist: Ben Eine Photos: Just / Just.Ekosystem.org
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ARTotale 2009 L端neburg Artist: Evol Photos: Just / Just.Ekosystem.org
www.artotale.com ARTotale 2009 L端neburg Artist: Victor Ash Photos: Just / Just.Ekosystem.org
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ARGENTINE GRAFFITI | HISTORY In the 80’s when graffiti first became part of mainstream art in the United States and Europe, Argentina was living under a dictatorial regime. Long after its demise, the dangers of self-expression still inhibited graffiti’s development there. And when first signs of a local graffiti movement started to appear, an economical crisis stroke the country, closing all incomings of material and information for the few local writers. In the next few years, the influence of Europe an North America style, the many original and renamed writers travelling to Buenos Aires as Os Gemeos (Brazil), Daim (Germany), Esher (Germany), plus the very Argentinean society origins (60 % of the population in Argentina comes from European immigration), resulted in the creation of a unique style and innovative techniques, giving Argentine Graffiti a special recognition in the international scene.
ARGENTINE GRAFFITI | TODAY
TOUR-2 | BERLIN
ARGENTINE GRAFFITI | THE BOOK
The Argentine street is going through a stage of expansion and recognition like the USA lived in the 80’s with graffiti. In just a few years Argentina have reached pioneer countries like France, Germany or USA in style and originality.
After the successful launch parties promoted in Barcelona and London, GA Tour-2 will lands in the cities of Paris and Berlin, referendum points on the map of urban culture. In Berlin the event will be hosted at Neurotitan Gallery. For the occasion five of the finest Argentine street artists, JAZZ, GUALICHO, POETA, AIRE and CARU will present artworks and full-scale graffiti interventions along with local talents LOOMIT and EL BOCHO. The audience will enjoy Argentine beer, GRAFFITI ARGENTINA book presentation and live music performed by TRUE INGREDIENTS (UK).
Directed and produced by the author Maximiliano Ruiz, edited and world wide distributed by the prestigious British publisher Thames & Hudson (Subway Art, Graffiti Brazil, Graffiti World, Graffiti Woman).
The Thames & Hudson recognition, the consecutive special participation of argentine artists in distinguished international street art festivals, the increasing world renamed artists travelling to Argentina and the success of the GRAFFITI ARGENTINA book in the international press, are proves of the world interest on it and the Argentine Street Art developing potential around the globe.
www.graffitargentina.com www.neurotitan.de www.myspace.com/trueingredients www.myspace.com/rockandjunior
“Graffiti Argentina is the first book about the local graffiti scene, which in the last few years has become one of the most original and recognized in the world. This book traces the story of Argentina's vibrant but little-known graffiti scene in four parts – from the efflorescence of graffiti in the 1990s and artists' city escapades, to the underground use of tags, train graffiti and political paintings, and the sketches and designs that have come off the street to influence the whole visual culture of this exciting country."
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www.graffitiargentina.com
36 CHAMBERS - BOOK SERIES The title of the book series is inspired by a 1978 movie, Enter the 36 Chambersof Shaolin, a classic of the genre on martial arts, featuring Gordon Liu. Liu stars as chief Abbot of Shaolin and its 36 chambers. He must keep the new rambunctious monks in line through strict martial-arts discipline. This is a story about strength that inspired the homonym debut LP by the Wu-Tang Clan, a milestone of hardcore rap in the 90s. The same philosophy, thirty six books in three years, is the key to the project that Drago has undertaken, working with the main characters of the international independent scene. Each volume represents a room where artists will express the core of their work. The artists have imposed limitations, which will free their creativity, such as black, white and a colour. .The book is created with raw materials. Drago has specifically chosen to print each volume on recycled and chlorine-free papersWe have decided to do this for very specific reasons. In addition to being eco friendly, the materials reflect the native habitat of the artists. This formula, black, white and one colour on recycled paper is at the very core of the philosophy behind the 36 Chambers series. Drago’s recipe is a combination of simplicity and spontaneity. The result is a mix of pure impressions, going back to the roots and contemporary taste for a work that combines tradition and experimentation. The first books are signed by thoroughbreds from the underground stable: Papik Rossi, Whystyle, King Kong, Marte, Ivory Serra, CTink, Pax Paloscia, Native & ZenTwo, Fupete & JackLaMotta, Tvboy and Sophie Toulouse. 36 Chambers is part of S.I.C. – Systema of Independent Culture. Much more than a project, the work aims at documenting the “state of the art” of the second Pop Revolution in the first age of globalization. The unifying thread is the letter S, a logo that sums different concepts of the Drago brand: system, street, samurai, speed, style, skate, sex, $. But, the S is also a symbol representing the dynamic energy of the spiral, the eternal comeback, the Egyptian ouroboros, the fusion of yin and yang. Participating in S.I.C.project are the most interesting cultural jockeys – CJs, united in a manifesto of autonomy and inner transparency. The vade-mecum of the global mind-set, to weave a net of relationships based on empathy and a common attitude: of overstatement through understatement, where under is over and over is under.
SIC: SYSTEMA OF INDEPENDENT CULTURE The system is the most important movement in contemporary culture and it is the amniotic sac of global collective imagery. In the society of spectacle, independent culture risks being suppressed by the mainstream and sold out to the cannibals of images. An alarming situation that led Drago, which has always been a catalyst of creative vanguards, to become the Jedi of a movement, one of the most enlightened today. The last frontier of the hardcore overground and a symbol of a social globalization grounded on solidarity, pureness, eclecticism and innovation. After long research in the field, Drago faces the challenge of the new millennium with the 36 Chambers project.
www.dragolab.com
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WK INTERACT “2.5 – NEW YORK STREET LIFE” "If I would come from anywhere, it would be Lost Vegas, which is a tiny place behind the right cerebral hemisphere. Just dust, sand and sun; nothingness really. No past, just a present and future, that's why I was never born and will never die." (Alex Diamond) WK Interact is at the cutting edge of today’s pop revolution that appeals to contemporary art, youth culture and graphic design. WK Interact describes his work: “From 1985 I did not want to be a 'muralist'. I was interested in flashes of motion, to be viewed in motion. That black and white blur is my signature, not my name. I camouflaged myself within my work, even wearing all black at one point. It was a militant and disciplined decision”. WK Interact has a very unique signature art on the walls of streets and institutions “now I bring the street indoors via the media I choose in order to charge the subject with enough energy to generate the same effect it would have had outdoors”. 96 DUOTONE PAGES PAPERBACK 36 CHAMBERS SERIES ISBN 978-88-88493-44-2 PHOTOGRAPHS, GRAPHICS, ILLUSTRATION $ 29.00 | € 20.00 | £19.99
available at www.dragolab.com
SOPHIE TOULOUSE “NATION OF ANGELA” Nation of Angela, by Sophie Toulouse, will demand that Drago’s freshmen confront a new challenge: defeat the Anorexic Nymph fashion army who are ready to conquer the world. Post-modern magicians, with flat stomachs and botox faces, the fashion army attack the brain with full lips and silicon breasts. Plastic bodies, transformed into parcels, the main objective to seduce the consumer. Irresistable packages which conceal lethal weapons: an alchemy of fake pleasures, which are always affordable. Potions of sensuality for synthetic and illusory journeys. Broken promises, not unlike advertising slogans, or the miracles of research: beauty clinics under glass, more ephemeral than a breath. It is useless to follow the instructions and “use with caution”: Sophie Toulouse’s chemical makeup has already invaded the world, spreading her (un)values, playing the magic flute of perfection at any cost. In Nation of Angela, the French artist tells the story of the Anorexic Nymph fashion army with irony, their first rule is to win. A hyperbole of the competition which dominates contemporary reality, a society which is obsessed with appearance till the point that it drives you mad. An obscure,invisible sin, hidden under polished skin, stretched to the limit and devoted to eternal youth. Forms so dried out they almost disappear, like fairies liberated from the latest burden: a body which is rooted to the earth and to the duty of loving it. Heroins who have sacrificed their life for images, until they reach their immaterial essence. Icons in meat and bones, or holograms, it doesn’t make a difference: it is the liquid being of the spectical. However, the mirage found in Nation of Angela soon reveals its danger: an inhospitable island, inhuman and alienated. It is not by coincidence that Sophie Toulouse uses a basic language, almost conceptual, in contrast with the mass-media carnival. A little bit like the symbolic arabesque, in which the sacred nature of God, but also of man, can not be portrayed. ISBN: 978-88-88493-38-1 – FORMAT: 17 X 24 CM PHOTOGRAPHS, GRAPHICS, ILLUSTRATION – SOFTCOVER PRICE: 20.00 e, $29,00 USD, £14,99 GBP TARGET GROUPS: CREATIVE CLASS, CUTTING EDGE, AVANTGUARD, STUDENTS, ARTISTS, REBELS.
available at www.dragolab.com
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CT’INK “A/REACT” CT’ink is the group name of EVOL and Pisa73. Both based in Berlin, they share a studio and have shown widely Throughout Europe. CT’ink have been working in various fields of design, illustration and street art. The book shows examples of their reactions to issues taken from the media or their direct surroundings. It explains the transition from random thougths and influences to their various ways of expressions in paintings, posters, stickers, installations, etc; and gives insight into their motivations. CT’ink are best known for their complex, highly detailed, multilayerd stencils. Their work is commentary on everyday life in a superficial and style-oriented environment. The tone varies between sarcastic/ironic and serious. The subjects of their paintings, as well as the range of materials employed, show CT’ink´s love for absurdities and overlooked items. Old wood, bulky waste, and cardboard are among their favorites. Most pieces are painted with a mixture of spray cans, markers, wall paint and pencils. ISBN: 978-88-88493-18-3 – FORMAT: 17 X 24 CM PHOTOGRAPHS, GRAPHICS, ILLUSTRATION– SOFTCOVER Release date: Torino book fair 10-14 May 2007 PRICE: 20.00 €, $29,00 USD, £14,99 GBP TARGET GROUPS:CREATIVE CLASS, CUTTING EDGE, AVANTGUARD, STUDENTS, ARTISTS, REBELS.
available at www.dragolab.com
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JEREMY FISH “ROME-ANTIC DELUSIONS” Born in New York, in 1994 the passion for graffiti bombing leads Fish to San Francisco, where his talent is soon appreciated. Up and down the hills, between spray painting and skate-boarding, his original style conquers the scene. Inspired by masters of punk-skate illustration such as Pushead and Jim Phillies, Fish revisits classical symbols of the genre in a narrative form. Visionary hybrids created by his fantasy, where animals have human appearance. But, often, of the face remains just the layer underneath, the skull, ironically revisited. No more a funerary icon, but a funny toy. Upside down, it is a flying house, from which a nice lady overlooks: an innocent scene that evokes a childish imagery. But it is not the sweethearted version, so popular today, of an ex rebel. No chocolate-box sweetness or fake kindness. On the opposite, it is a very sophisticated operation of aesthetic remix. Because, in the “society of spectacle”, it is only possible to short-circuit the real. So, even the hardest stereotypes reveal unexpected features. The more it is ventured in contaminating, to the point of touching the paradox, the more the surprise effect is guaranteed. A little bit like repairing the ruined stuff of an old fabric using the patches of other stories: a new novel fascinating for its absurdity. Fish knows it well, due to his confidence with observing the world from another point of view. Bottom down – asphalt, walls, subway, sidewalks – it looks totally different. So, there is no surprise that resulting from this experience is a vivid imagination, stimulated by the aim to alter the official vision of reality. Aworld-beater of the independent creativity, founder of the brand-crew “Silly Pink Bunnies”, internationally famous for its poster, sticker and t- shirt reproductions. But, for the skate-board community, Fish is basically a synonym of “Unbelievers skate-board”, brand started three years ago for insiders and collectors. In the overground, instead, Fish designed the advertising for “Carhartt”, leader in street-wear, and collaborated with “Upper Playground”, “Hybrid Design”, “Think Skateboards” e “Slap Magazine”. In 2006, the best of his artistic work was collected in the book “I’m with stupid”. ISBN: 978-88-88493-31-2 – FORMAT: 21 X 30 CM PHOTOGRAPHS, GRAPHICS, ILLUSTRATION– SOFTCOVER PRICE: 20.00 e, $25,00 USD, £14,99 GBP TARGET GROUPS:CREATIVE CLASS, CUTTING EDGE, AVANTGUARD, STUDENTS, ARTISTS, REBELS.
available at www.dragolab.com
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About GUDBERG “Creative versatility keeps Hamburg‘s GUDBERG agency in the spotlight.” (JAM PUBLICATIONS 05.09) Hamburg-based GUDBERG publishing (Verlag GUDBERG) stands for extraordinary publications on urban art and culture. Behind the publishing company is a creative design agency called GUDBERG which, while specializing in editorial design, illustration and publishing, has also gained international recognition on the strength of its passion for contemporary urban art. In 2007, the independent GUDBERG Magazine for Art, Graphic Design & Photography was created – each quarterly issue monothematically addressing what is currently moving our visual culture. In collaboration with international artists (including Arne Quinze, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Banksy, The London Police, Heiko Zahlmann and James Gallagher, among others) and reknown galleries, GUDBERG curates an exhibition and puts it onto paper, not only taking us on a stroll through the globe’s most exciting art scenes, but also serving as a forum for international artists as well as emerging and promising creatives. Issued in strictly limited numbers, GUDBERG Magazine has already gained cult status and is being collected as an artwork in and of itself. Hand in hand with the magazine is Galeria GUDBERG, a pop-up-store-like gallery which opens once per year in varying Hamburg locations, serving as the perfect venue for high quality art and design. Establishing Verlag GUDBERG (GUDBERG Publishing) is, in part, our response to the positive feedback to GUDBERG Magazine we have received from around the world since its humble beginnings. More essentially, it is the logical continuation and extention of our passion for art and creativity.
www.gudberg.de
NILS KASISKE – „THE SONGBIRD’S SUICIDE“ Life itself always writes the best stories: On the 22nd of December, 1997 a young man from Lübeck – Alexander M. – wrapped a steel rope around his neck, fastened the other end to a lamppost, climbed onto his motorcycle, and opened the throttle. In his backpack, the police found a press clipping with the heading "Life insurance also pays with suicide." What the reason the young man killed himself might be, why he staged his suicide like this, we do not know. Was he deeply cynical? Or did he merely never want to be forgotten? These questions constantly confront the viewer when engaging with Nils Kasiske’s artwork, and especially his first book, "The Songbird Suicides,“ published by Verlag GUDBERG. His songbird series began with the solo exhibition "A Songbird’s Suicide" in Vicious Gallery, Hamburg, and continued with the installation of his white, varnished, colossal songbirds in various locations throughout Hamburg, portraying and displaying the birds directly after the moment of their suicides. Additionally, the collection of his filigree illustrations and objects in public spaces appears like a book full of stories which need no words, since Nils Kasiske’s work – on a visual level – leads the viewer directly to the place of events: The city as a crime scene. He shows us a world where CCTV is more present than birdhouses and where polyphonic ringtones drown out every bird’s twitter. Thus, in Kasiske’s artwork, the songbird has preferred to put and end to his life. Book information: ISBN: 978-3-940558-45-9 Formate: 22,5 x 22,5 cm Pages: 88 Binding: Hardcover Price: EUR 24,00 Release date: October 2nd 2009
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ALEX DIAMOND – „DON’T WORRY ‘BOUT A THING (BEING ALEX DIAMOND)“ "If I would come from anywhere, it would be Lost Vegas, which is a tiny place behind the right cerebral hemisphere. Just dust, sand and sun; nothingness really. No past, just a present and future, that's why I was never born and will never die." (Alex Diamond) His first book, "Don’t Worry 'Bout a Thing (Being Alex Diamond), published by Verlag GUDBERG and released in October, 2009, present his latest works. These are the results of his project study entitled "Being Alex Diamond," an intensive discussion with himself about the questions that circle around issues of one’s own identity, the power of the ego, the generation of personality, social role models, and a sort of natural schizophrenia as well. Mixing both photography and painting (Diamond calls this “photopainting”), the “Being Alex Diamond” series includes almost forty works showing Diamond appearing in varying shapes, bodies, and personalities, inventing himself over and over again – his face hidden behind the very mask that has turned out to be his trademark. Book Information: ISBN: 978-3-940558-43-5 Format: 17 x 22 cm Pages: 136 Binding: Softcover Price: EUR 21,90 Release: October 2009
HEIKO ZAHLMANN– „VON DER WAND IN DEN RAUM IN DEN HIMMEL“ "Von der Wand in den Raum in den Himmel"(From the Wall in the Room in the Sky) – a title which also describes the artistic development of the Hamburg artist Heiko Zahlmann, whose formative roots lie unmistakeably in the graffiti scene. Zahlmann once lent colour to unfriendly concrete and breathed the dreariness of urbanity. From exactly that place, in the city’s desert, he has learnt to observe everyday urban life, but also to work quickly in public spaces. This approach is one he continues today, although his current works clearly seem conceptual and contextual in a new way. Despite this progress, Zahlmann never denies his past – not even after numerous exhibitions in renown galleries and museums. This is mainly because his current cross-border works of art would not be possible without his sprayer background. For instance, when he applies old and reduced graffiti gestures to the deserts of the United Arab Emirates, thus creating a completely form of public space. Or by covering concrete cubes with paint and giving the monochrome square objects an additional surface by wrist movements and free gestural lines that seem to be more written than painted. Heiko Zahlmann and his work stand for the constant reinvention and development of the original graffiti medium. They stand for an unsubdued drive for innovation. By breaking down and extending aesthetic and formative boundaries, Heiko Zahlmann already demonstrates today what future tags might look like and how graffiti is still able to be one step ahead of the zeitgeist. Book Information: ISBN: 978-3-940558-44-2 Format: 26 x 21 cm Pages: 50 Binding: Hardcover Price: EUR 18,90 Release date: October 14th 2009
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FEATURING:
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PATRICK HARTL KONSTANZE SCHÖFFL YVONNE WINKLER DANIEL SCHÜßLER ZROK FLIN
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Lost Archival Ultrachrome Fine Art Print on Hahnem端hle Photo Rag A3 (420x297mm) 75$
Excesy Archival Ultrachrome Fine Art Print on Hahnem端hle Photo Rag A3 (420x297mm) 75$
Dress Archival Ultrachrome Fine Art Print on Hahnem端hle Photo Rag A3 (420x297mm) 75$
Summer Archival Ultrachrome Fine Art Print on Hahnem端hle Photo Rag A3 (420x297mm) 75$
Sweet Buddha Limited Edition Archival Fine Art Print on Epson Ultrasmooth Paper. Print Size 17" x 22" 225$
I/O Jima Limited Edition Archival Fine Art Print on Epson Ultrasmooth Paper. Print Size 17" x 22" 225$
Titanicus Limited Edition Archival Fine Art Print on Epson Ultrasmooth Paper. Print Size 17" x 22" 225$
Robokong Limited Edition Archival Fine Art Print on Epson Ultrasmooth Paper. Print Size 17" x 22" 225$
Siamese Chicken-Hounds Digital archival print on semi-gloss paper. 11" x 15" 30$
Greater Turkey-Hydra Digital archival print on semi-gloss paper. 11" x 15" 30$
Bi-Necked Amphibious Climber Digital archival print on semi-gloss paper. 11" x 15" 30$
Tortois-Backed Walrus Hunch Womens Shirt 30$
Valhalla Limited Edition Silkscreen Prints on Hahnemuhle Natural Paper 420x420mm 200$
Pile it up Limited Edition Silkscreen Prints on GA board (300gr) A2 (420x594mm) 250$
Ikazuchi Limited Edition Silkscreen Prints on Hahnemuhle White Paper A2 (420x594mm) 250$
Simsons Sieg über die Philister Limited Edition Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 45,95x 65cm 150$
Turmbau zu Babel Limited Edition Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 45,95x 65cm 150$
Die Vertreibung aus dem Paradies Limited Edition Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 45,95x 65cm 150$
Joshua gebietet der Sonne stillzustehen Limited Edition Fine Art Print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag 45,95x 65cm 150$
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Flause 9" x 10" Gouache on wood 800$
Spring Dance 7" x 11" Gouache on wood 700$
Willy Wonka Acrylic on wood 6 foot by 6 foot 4000$
Attack of the Ads 10" x 14" Mixed on board 1200$
Koneko 24" x 36" Mixed on board 2000$
The Manhattan Bridge 16" x 20" Mixed on board 1800$
Waterfront 9" x 13" Acrylic on board 1200$
Laser Engrave No.01&02 on 19 mm blockboard 300 x 300 mm each 750$
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CASTLE MAGAZINE ISSUE 16 // DECEMBER 09
Editors: Patrick Hartl / www.stylefighting.de Dachauerstrasse 33 80335 Munich / Germany & Yvonne Winkler / www.vierfarbraum.de
Website/-coding: Ray Tischler / www.Kray-C.net Oliver Sommer / oliver@dungeon.de
Translation: John Bache (THANX!!!)
Contributing Artists & Projects:
www.castleshop.de www.castlemagazine.de me@castlemagazine.de
Stephane Halleux www.stephanehalleux.com Felix Gephart www.felixgephart.com Andreas Pistner www.ironmonkey.de Valentina Brostean www.behance.net/valentinabrostean Roberta Zeta www.robertazeta.blogspot.com Erla Maria Arnadottir www.erlamaria.com Leuphana Urban Art Project www.artotale.com Graffiti Argentina www.graffitiargentina.com Drago Books www.dragolab.com Otaku Magazine www.otakumag.com Gudberg Verlag www.verlaggudberg.de Girls of Death www.superplan.net
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...SEE YOU IN 2010!!!
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SPECIAL THANKS TO ERIC JOYNER FOR SENDING US THIS PICTURE FROM A LAS VEGAS NEON SIGN GRAVEYARD