expo "POW" The Very Best of Urbam Art by Vitaly Rusakov

The Very Best of Urban Art

Humor is an obvious part of street art. Ron English certainly has his intact, probably being the only artist to place the face of Mickey Mouse on to the breasts of Marilyn Monroe. And probably being the only artist to fuse Abraham Lincoln and Barack Obama into one portrait. Character-creatorgenius and one of the world’s most productive urban artists, Englishspins political and consumerist statements on to his canvases as well as city walls.

While some street artists are taken with celebrity, others crave to leave their mark across the globe. Artists partici pating in the movement The London Police have succeeded in doing so in 35 countries, and counting. Founders Bob Gibson and Chaz Barrison spread love and joy with their stickers, stencils and spray cans. Their iconic LADS characters teamed with tight architectural backdrops make for feel-good, clever creations, on both brick and paper.

Speedy Graphito is in fact a pioneer of French street art, and a masterof pop culture references. TILT, also French, is a sworn server of basic graffiti, proving his old school and bubbly style is just as relevant today. Krito, who started out sketching cartoons to amuse children in the nursing home where he worked, soon became recognized for his markertalent. Now his bright figures are loved by urban art enthusiasts of all ages.

Equally resourceful in his painted testimonials is Vitaly Rusakov. The imagery of this young Russian artist concerns The pop up gallery in Cannes is an ongoing collaboration communism, politics and freedom. His colour-use is betweenKatinka Traaseth of Art Walk and the internationally powerfuland his designs are brave. His work is spread spread and acclaimed Opera Gallery Group, founded in through out the walls of Russia, and after being recognized Parisand Singapore by Gilles Dyan in 1994. Together they as more than a street muralist, his raw reports can be offer collectors and art devotees a diversity of art from all witnessedin galleries as well. the corners of the globe. The pop up concept indicates the gallery stays on for a limited time only, making the art ex- Mr. Brainwash became a street art starlet when Banksy perience (and its location) fleeting and even more valuable. filmed a documentary about him that premiered in 2010. The movie Exit Through the Gift Shop earned the street artist The Godfather of graffiti is SEEN. His nickname points to great success, and he has opened numerous sell-out shows his main desire - which in fact is to be seen. And he has since. His art is provocative and raw, and acts as a tribute to succeeded. Among his infamous stunts are spray painting original, “Warholesque” pop art. Icons, prior pop art, and the Hollywood sign and outnumbering commercial bill- entertainment inspire his sneering yet wondrous concocboards with SEEN-artworks in New York City, in the 1980s. tions. Mr. Brainwash has in fact become such a sensation, Today a few of his clever icons have found their way to can- that Madonna herself asked him to create several album, DVD and vinyl covers. vases - lucky enough, for the art collector.

The collagist, street artist, and found-art creative duo behind FAILE is Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller. The duo has become famous for their innovative techniques of getting their passive and plain messages across to the impressed public. Their mediums are many, and their images both colourful and very strong.

Blek le Rat is considered the father of stencil graffiti. He is the artist that brought the street art scene of New York to France, but twisted it to his own Parisian tune. In the 80s he started out painting rats on walls, meaning they were a symbolof freedom just like urban art. Today he focuses on people, often life-size, paying extra attention to the actualfigure. There is no added distraction of complex backgrounds or thematic text. This is to further his goal of bringingart to the conscience of the people.

POW! The Very Best of Urban Art Opera Gallery and Art Walk bring a collection of the very best within urban art to Cannes. Art originally featured in city-landscapes and streets, rendering raw and fearless images, created by smart habitants of many subcultures. Urbanart is whimsical, colourful and meaningful all at once. A POW! of modern reflection and artistic appeal.

Pop Up Gallery in Cannes 11, square Mérimée, 06400 Cannes cannes@operagallery.com / +33 (0)4 97 06 53 86

Parisian artist C215 also projects deep meaning from his dreamy and mystical works. He is also a poet, but he relies on his piercing colours and strokes to express himself visually.He leaves his portraits (usually of locals, children or his daughter Nina) very open to the viewer, so it can tell its very own lyrical tale to each spectator. Speedy Graphito, TILT and Krito all draw great inspiration from advertising, brand-logos, cartoons, symbols and icons. They have their whimsical and naive colour-use in common. This trifecta of artists construct mood-elevators, that still challenge the intellect, in each their individual way.

Welcome to POW! Enjoy the exhilarating urban art explosion. Gilles Dyan Founder and Chairman of Opera Gallery Group Katinka Traaseth Founder and Director of Art Walk

Born in 1952 in Paris, Blek le Rat is the assumed name of Xavier Prou. Widely considered the father of stencil graffiti, Blek le Rat began his career by stencilling rats on the streets of Paris in the early 1980’s. Blek le Rat had initially been inspired by graffiti art in New York, but he soon served to establish a parallel French street art scene. His use of the stencil was a way of adapting American graffiti art to French culture by invoking its Latin roots.

Blek le Rat focuses on the figure more than many other graffiti artists, with very little text appearing in his works. He stencils detailed images of common people as well as classical figures - including depictionsof Greco-Roman statues or historical icons. These are set against a monochromatic or collage background executed in spray paint and acrylic. Hence his aesthetic is at once traditional and avant-garde, both contemporary and timeless.

Violoniste, 2012 Stencil, spray paint and acrylic on canvas . 210 x 140 cm - 82.7 x 55.1 in.

Les Danseurs et le rat, 2013 Stencil and mixed media on canvas . 116 x 89 cm - 45.7 x 35 in.

Born in 1959 in Texas, Ron English is an American contemporaryartist who explores popular brand imageryand advertising. His artistic signature style employs a mash-up of high and low cultural touchstones, including comic superhero, mythology and totemsof art history, in order to create a visual languageof evolution. He is also widely considered as a seminal figure in the advancement of contemporary art from traditional wild-style lettering into clever statement and masterful contemporary art. Work and inspiration: the artist was considered one of the fathers of modern contemporary art.

Culture jamming is one contemporary art aspect of his work, involving “liberating” commercial billboards with his own art messages. Frequent targetsof his work include Joe Camel, McDonald’s, and Mickey Mouse. Ron English can be considered the “celebrated prankster father of dollar-pop”, who wrangles carefullycreated corporates, and use them against the very corporationthey are meant to represent. Contemporaryartist Ron English is considered one of the fathers of modern street art and has initiated and participated in illegal public art campaigns since the early eighties.

Superman, 2007 Oil on canvas . 91,5 x 61 cm - 36 x 24 in.

Yin Yang propaganda, 2010 Mixed media on canvas . 152,5 x 213,5 cm - 60 x 84 in.

Dum English Astronaut Sculpture: Fiberglass and steel . Edition of 5 . Height: 122 cm - 48 in.

Gasmask Mickey Sculpture Fiberglass and steel . Edition of 10 . Height: 122 cm - 48 in. . Signed and numbered by Ron English

Born in 1973, C215 is the moniker of Christian Guémy, a French street artist hailing from Paris. His striking portraits of local people, children and especially his daughter Nina are expressive and distinctive in style. Although C215 has been writing and publishing poetryseparately, the artist never adds text to his stencils,in order to give the viewer the full possibility of the interpretation. In his choice of backgrounds, layersof random, yet well-selected found objects

speak of passing time, with an outcome that is both, aesthetical and meaningful. His elaborate stencils - if outside a gallery - appear in the streets of various cities all over the globe, such as New Delhi, London, Istanbul, Fez, Rome, Barcelona and Paris, lighting up the urban spaces they decorate. Every stencil has a reason to exist in its specific, wellthought-of place and all his pieces are hand-cut and sprayed originals with a mix of found objects.

Sufi, 2013 Stencil on cardboard . 80 x 60 cm - 31.5 x 23.6 in.

Life on Mars, 2013 Stencil on wood . 100 x 150 cm - 39.4 x 59.1 in.

Born in 1966, Thierry Guetta aka Mr. Brainwash, started his career as a French documentary filmmaker, transitioned into a rogue street artist, and has now emerged as one of the most prominent pop artists of the today scene. This could be viewed as a cooping of tradition by the street or an attack on pop art culture. The artist put together the largest scale of pop art happening Los Angeles has seen, rivalled only by Banksy’s 2006 show held in downtown Los Angeles. In 2008, Mr. Brainwash’s L.A. solo exhibit Life is beautiful, com-

bined images with installation; the show’s duration was extended from two weeks to three months due to popular demand, with thousands of visitors coming to appreciate his artwork. Two years later, in 2010, he opened his expansive solo exhibit Icons, in New York, closely followed by Icons Remix. The work of Mr. Brainwash is rooted in pop art. As Warhol looked to icons of consumer culture and celebrity, Mr. Brainwashlooks to art and entertainment as the subjects of his work. He includes artistic tradition and even prior pop art as the subject of his work.

Tomato sprays, 2011 Stencil and mixed media on canvas . 122 x 162,5 cm - 48 x 64 in.

Charlie Chaplin, 2011 Stencil and mixed media on canvas . 162,5 x 122 cm - 64 x 48 in.

Born in 1961, the street artist, Richard Mirando aka Seen hails from the Bronx, New York. Seen’s career beganat just twelve, when he started painting New York subway cars, soon gaining a reputation with fellowtaggers in the collective, United Artists, for coveringwhole cars. Rightfully called the “Godfather of Graffiti”, Seen has continued to exhibit his creativity ever since. He perseveredin tagging on the New York subway in the 1980’s, even after the Metropolitan Transit Authority had successfully pressured many other artists to stop. Early that decade, Seen had begun to produce

works on canvas that were purchased and displayed internationally. Entering both museum and private collections,Seen’s artwork was displayed alongside that of art icons such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and Andy Warhol (New York / New Wave in 1981). Seen helped transform street art into an art genre recognized by the mainstream. Active for over four decades, Seen has not only changed the way we see street art, but also helped shape our definitions of art at large - he has imprinted his signatureon the streets we walk as well as the world of contemporary art.

Superman 02, 2009 Stencil and spray paint on canvas . 220 x 320 cm - 86.6 x 126 in.

Wonder Woman 02, 2009 Stencil and spray paint on canvas . 220 x 320 cm - 86.6 x 126 in.

Born in 1985, Vitaly Rusakov is a young artist from the Russian underground scene. He is mostly known for his Street Art murals in Russia, especially in Yekaterinburg,a city in the Ural Mountains at the borderof Europe and Asia. In 1998-99, the artist first used his “magic” lead pencil on the walls of the city, starting with blocks of raw coal. Vitaly has participated in several street contests and shows throughout Russia and abroad, competitions in which he always stood out and received an award. He still belongs to the

Arterrorgroup, which he founded. Selected in 2007 by the Montresso Foundation, he likes to focus on issues which are at the heart of Russian history. Noticed by Opera Gallery, a selection of his paintings is now exhibited in various international shows alongside the most reputed artists of the UrbanArt movement. Vitaly Rusakov now works in Yekaterinburgand Marrakech where he is one of the permanent artists of the Montresso Foundation’s “Red Garden” studio.

Russian forest 04, 2013 Acrylic on canvas . 146 x 114 cm - 57.5 x 44.9 in.

Battle for freedom 09, 2013 Acrylic on canvas . 146 x 114 cm - 57.5 x 44.9 in.

Born in 1961, graffiti artist Speedy Graphito (real name Olivier Rizzo) is one of the pioneers of French street art. He started working on the streets of Paris in the early 80’s. His iconic stencil work has gone on to inspire future generations, and remains as strong now as when he first started. His work is inspired by the world around us and in particular the barrage of advertising logos that are part of today’s consumer culture. Other influences include America in the “50’s, cartoons, Manga, and

images from the Maya culture. His strong colours and juxtaposition of imagery is meant to make us question the iconic images he uses, and the popular culture it is taken from. Recently Speedy has been executing his street art in Los Angeles, and participated in the Dogtown Artists United Art Crawl in 2011. His works are found in private and public collections throughout the world including London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Dubai, and Asia.

Spray cash blue, 2010 Acrylic on canvas . 180 x 150 cm - 70.9 x 59.1 in.

Le Baiser, 2009 Acrylic on canvas . 100 x 100 cm - 39.4 x 39.4 in.

Born in Chelmsford, England in the 1970’s, The LondonPolice are Bob Gibson and Chaz Barrison. The London Police started in 1998 when big Englishgeezers headed to Amsterdam to rejuvenate the visually disappointing streets of the drug capital of the world. The motive was to combine travelling and making street art to create an amazing way of life not seen since the days of King Solomon. From 2002 onward TLP started sending missionaries into all corners of the globe. Known for their iconic LADS characters and precision marking, TLP have recently celebrated 10 strong years in the art world and their work has graced streets and galleries in 35 countries during this time.

London Policemen have come and gone but founding members are still known to walk the streets of every city in the world spreading love with pens and stickers. Last year saw the return of Bob Gibson to The London Police after five years of touring with the indie band ‘MOSS’. And so the original founding members are re-embarking on their quest to combine making artwork and travelling the globe to better themselves and spread artistic love through the world. The blueprint for this new phase was to produce solid back-to-basics black and white artworks collaborating the iconic LADS characters drawn by Chaz with the tight architectural and illustrative landscapes of Bob Gibson.

Docking bay 94, 2013 Indelible ink on canvas . 80 x 80 cm - 31.5 x 31.5 in.

The Kessler run, 2013 Indelible ink on canvas . 80 x 80 cm - 31.5 x 31.5 in.

Born in 1973 in Toulouse, Tilt is a French graffiti artist recognized by the world. He is considered a “graffiti fetishist” because he learned his trade in the streets and on trains as a kid. From the moment he made his first drawings on a skate ramp in 1988, his career has been fuelled by numerous trips. Tilt left his mark on the walls of the United States, Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan,

China, Canada, the Philippines, Indonesia, Maldives and more than 12 countries across Europe. Tilt likes to show that basic, primitive graffiti is as strong as 3D lettering. It focuses on shapes, strong coloursand also a reflection of its history. Similarly the use of sparkling shapes and curves refers to his obsession with beautiful women.

Bleu pĂŠtrole 1, 2012 Mixed media on canvas . 200 x 200 cm - 78.7 x 78.7 in.

Enjoy 2, 2012 Mixed media on canvas . 162 x 114 cm - 63.8 x 44.9 in.

FAILE is the Brooklyn-based artistic collaboration betweenPatrick McNeil (b. 1975, Edmonton, CA) and Patrick Miller (b. 1976, Minneapolis, MN). Since its inceptionin 1999, FAILE has attained global recognitionfor their pioneering use of wheatpasting and stenciling in the increasingly established arena of street art, and for their explorations of duality through a fragmented style of appropriation and collage. Duringthis time, FAILE adapted its signature mass culture-driven iconography to a wide array of media,

from wooden boxes and window pallets to more traditionalcanvas, prints, sculptures, stencils, multimedia installation, and prayer wheels. While FAILE’s work is constructed from found visual imagery, and blurs the line between “high” and “low” culture, recent exhibitions demonstrate an emphasis on audience participation, a critique of consumerism, and the incorporation of religious media and architecture into their work.

Our romance Acrylic and silkscreen ink on wood . Steel frame . 175,5 x 214,6 cm - 67.5 x 84.5 in.

Addicted & alone Acrylic and spray paint on wood . 79,4 x 93,3 cm - 31.2 x 36.7 in.

Krito was born Vladimir Krutov in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia,in 1981. Nothing predisposed the artist to become a painter, except maybe his passion for ContemporaryArt, which was quite inaccessible duringthe Soviet Union’s reign. As a curious young man, his obsession was researching endless subjects on art. Always very close to children, Krito worked as a hospital nurse where he decided to amuse young patientswith his cartoon sketches of traditional Russiancharacters. His figures were always depictedwith bright colours and encircled with heavy black markers.His sketches became more and more

a ccomplished and earned the artist his very first art commissionsas of 2008. His characters pleased both young and old from this period on, to the point where he now devotesall of his time to his art. Today, Krito divides his time between his native Krasnoyarskand the art studios of the Montresso Foundation, where he leads a group of artists who work actively on collaborative projects. Krito also participatesin several group exhibitions and Street Art demonstrations throughout Europe, Asia, the United States (Miami, Florida) and Morocco (Casablanca and Azemmour).

No. 32, 2013 Acrylic on canvas . 100 x 100 cm - 39.4 x 39.4 in.

Pop Up Gallery in Cannes 11, square MĂŠrimĂŠe, 06400 Cannes cannes@operagallery.com / +33 (0)4 97 06 53 86