Art Stops the Traffic!

Remember San Francisco 1987, when Bono spray painted the words “Rock n Roll Stops Traffic”?  Art generally stops human traffic and boost our inner creative life. This was represented in Barcelona with a very cool FLASHMOB …with visitors standing still frozen in front of paintings and sculptures!

Yesterday night in Barcelona all museums were open for free, for one special night instead of your usual beer hangover you could enjoy a cultural overdose. La Nit dels museus

You can see below a video of this very cool initiative at the Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona MACBA !

“Can I please finish my sentence for…”

Wake Up! Deadman - Laser 3.14 at Radar, Amsterdam

The elusive Laser 3.14 has been seeding excerpts of his poems in the form of captivating graffiti haikus all over Amsterdam, for more than 4 years already. At first, bumping into his sprayed words felt like an isolate fortunate accident, up until the moment when you could not ignore him anymore. You roamed the streets gawking for a flash of a new one, hoping that maybe you could also catch him in full action, take a look of his face, possibly his mood.

For the nature of Laser’s poems is dark, almost numb. Unable to let go and yet incapable of holding back.

Amsterdam had a voice, finally. The voice of someone that could be anybody with the ability to feel pain so fully that only a tin can of spray could give some relief.

Samo comes to mind, the late seventies Alter Ego of a very young and angry Basquiat (is it a coincidence that one picture book from Jean Michel was left on a table at Radar Gallery?)

“Can I please finish my sentence for…” is not the first painting exhibition that Laser 3.14 has had in the city, but it has a distinctive quality; the one that brings the artist in touch with his own past and leads the path to a possible new wave.

The acrylics shown at Radar Gallery are representative of his earlier works and collect all the fears and sense of loss that make his graffiti so striking. They are immersed in a post punk, black industrial world where one can only ask questions in the form of shouting: Wake up!

“Maybe I’ll End Up Somewhere” and “Vorsprung durch Technik” stand next to each other almost as a warning, is this Technical life incarcerating our true selves or are we victims of our own confusion amongst all that we wish?

What about now?

The scenario has now acid colors, smaller frames and a representation of a world that no longer has any taste for humanity.

The mixed media images that have been made in 2009 show a collection of drawings that have a sci-fi graphic novel quality. It’s as Laser has seen the future and it has a Mao Tse-Tung that has survived us all so that the only men around are actually made of wires and steel spare parts. A world when the pain that Laser has expressed before and made him so powerful, has no voice anymore.

Could the era of bankruptcy bring an end to poetry?

“Can I please finish my sentence for…” closed on may 15.

For more on Laser 3.14: http://laser314.blogspot.com / http://www.laser314.com – http://twitter.com/laser314

For more on Radar Gallery: http://www.radar-amsterdam.com – http://twitter.com/radar_gallery

A A A A A- “Where Your Eyes Can See”

When you walk into an exhibition that is clearly marked as an homage to the past you can have two main reactions:

Anger to the obvious reproduction of a standard that many others have tried to achieve in the hope that no one would notice the references or sheer excitement for witnessing the work of an Artist that is conscious of his roots and is not afraid to pay his dues.

The latter is the case for the Antonio Bokel pieces shown in the Sid Lee Collective Gallery until June 30.

It is impossible not to see clear echoes of Jean Michel Basquiat in the paintings and sculptures as well as in the overall presentation of Antonio’s works and that is actually exciting for the Artist  himself replicates the crown signature of the fascinating Warhol’s protégé in the attempt to show his admiration.

Even more exciting is the realization that every piece has been done in more or less a week by re-utilizing discarded materials such as cardboard boxes, wood pieces, broken toys and other plastic parts found in the streets of Amsterdam.
One can only wonder about the coincidence or fate behind such a technique and the garbage haulers strike going on.

“No thing but the truth” claims one graffiti written with white chalk on a black wall, and Antonio does speak the truth.
He covers the gallery space with joy, a shiny fuchsia pink joy in a possible reference to the “Giro d’Italia” that has coloured the city in the same shade the past days.

Antonio does not forget to quote also Robert Rauschenberg by attaching a giant Piglet head to one painting.

“Where your eyes can see” they collect stimulation and energy in every simple but strong mark.

Now “Have a Rest” on the floor pillows and release a smile.

For info on Antonio Bokel: antoniobokel.blogspot.com

The Curator: Alexandra Onderwater – www.alex-on.com

The Gallery: Sid Lee Collective – www.sidleecollective.ca http://twitter.com/sidleenews