Moses & Taps / Ruttkowski68 (Catalogue)

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MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ (February 1 - March 17, 2013) Whether graffiti is described as scribbling, art, vandalism, or urban propaganda, it has long hovered between unlawful and lawful expression. Today, the gap between the two has narrowed. While street graffiti remains a form of vandalism, it is increasingly considered an art form, too. Some of those notorious paint sprayers are now defined as graffiti artists, whose works are exhibited, traded, collected, and analyzed. Graffiti has become a key influence in the world of contemporary art. One group, known variously as MOSES & TAPS™, ERNI & BERT™, and TOPSPRAYER™, has grabbed the attention of both law enforcement officials and art critics. The ever-changing name of this collective is not borne out of indecision or marketing. Rather, it helps conceal the identities of its members while still defying the unwritten laws of graffiti: anonymity. The pseudonym is the signature that gives the work recognition value – for fans and for the police as well. In 2011, the collective, who rigorously decided against an online presence, published a volume of their works for the first time. Across 288 pages, INTERNATIONAL TOPSPRAYER: MOSES & TAPS™ is a showcase of the group’s ambition to take graffiti to another level. Over the course of 1000 days, they spray-painted 1000 railway carriages. Some looked like typical graffiti, others were more conceptual. One work involved painting false doors and windows on a wagon, a trompe l’oeil effect that led to great confusion on the platform the next morning. On another carriage, the artists took a more ironically playful approach. They spray-painted a sign like those issued by German railway authorities, which warn that the train’s surface is protected by anti-graffiti coating. TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ is the first solo exhibition by the artists. As the title implicates, the artists give graffiti a ride that is bound to a new direction. The works on show, re-interpret and transfer graffiti from its convential medium to another surrounding. Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

Untitled 2012 40 x 60 cm Photography Edition of 3 + 1 AP

Das kann ich auch 2013 Each 100 x 100 cm Spray paint on canvas Unique


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

Complete series is entitled: Zeitgeist - Aktion / Reaktion The single pieces are named and constituted in the following way (from left to right): Size (each): 107cm x 100cm 2012 1. 1992 107cm x 100cm Artificial resin, spray paint (true to the era‘s original colours: Eisodur, Auto-K, Belton, Marabu) on stainless steel, RAL colors, PVC stickers of Deutsche Bundesbahn. Among others, further techniques include: Marbleizing polishing, lathing, riveting, welding, sandblasting, buffing.

2. 1997 107cm x 100cm Artificial resin, PVC stickers of German railway company Deutsche Bahn AG, spray paint (true to the era‘s original colours: Belton, Multona) on stainless steel, RAL colours. Further techniques: riveting, sandblasting, buffing, coating. 3. 2012 107cm x 100cm Artificial resin, PVC, TutoProm-Anti-Graffiti surface protection, pray paint on stainless steel, spray paint (true to the era‘s original colours): Montana Black

Context (quote from the artists): “In the beginning of the 1990s, the German railway company Deutsche Bundesbahn reacted on the first graffitis on trains quite carelessly – they simply buffed them to ensure that signs and windows aren‘t covered with paint. But this attitude changed with time and increasing graffiti attacks. At the end of the 1990s, when German trains were colored mint green, they got deconstructed frustratingly often. The so-called Deutsche Bahn was helpless – that culminated when they unambiguously overcoated spray-painted trains with a white stripe. Especially as looking at such mutilated images, rather provoked motivation than resignation. As such, trains got painted over and over again.

Since Deutsche Bahn revarnished all commuter trains traffic red and added a anti-painting coating to ensure that only special lacquer sticks to their surfaces, graffiti gets erased quickly. The visual reaction merely remains in form of a chemical reaction (crack formation, dripping off).”


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

Fingerprint 2011 40 x 60 cm Photography Edition of 3 + 1 AP

Bild 2011 40 x 60 cm Photography Edition of 3

Sellout 2010 40 x 60 cm Photography Edition of 3

Sellout 2011 50 x 35 cm Print Edition of 76


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

Wear & Tear Each 45 x 75 cm Spray paint on steel Unique

Wedel (Holst) I 2011 40 x 60 cm Photography Edition of 3 + 1 AP

Wedel (Holst) II 2011 45 x 75 cm Spray paint on steel Unique


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

Post It 2011 72,5 x 110 cm C-print on alu dibond Unique

Zuglaufschild 2012 30 x 62 cm Print framed in a original hanging of Deutsche Bahn Edition of 30


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

Just Paint (inclusive video) 180 x 180 cm Spray paint on canvas Unique


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

Graffiti™ 120 x 120 cm Acrylic paint on wood Unique


MOSES & TAPS™ TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ Contact: info@ruttkowski68.com

(From left to right) Transformation I 100 x 120 cm Spray paint on steel Unique Transformation II 100 x 120 cm Spray paint on steel covered with a painted silk sheet Unique Transformation II 100 x 120 cm Spray paint on canvas Unique


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