Fabien Castanier Gallery is excited to present their latest group exhibition, New Rules, featuring work from artists: Add Fuel, Alex Kizu (DEFER), Jan Kaláb, Pixel Pancho, RERO, and Tilt. The show will be on view both in the virtual space, as well as with a selection of work exhibited at their gallery location in Little Haiti.
New Rules, highlights six influential urban contemporary artists, who represent a generation of creators that have grown from their graffiti and street art roots to build the foundation of one of the most important genres of our time. Each with a rich history of gallery exhibitions, museum shows, outdoor public installations, and special projects, these artists have become integral to the evolution of urban art around the world.
The virtual exhibition went on view Saturday, June 20th, via the links on the gallery's website. If you'd like to make an appointment to view the works and the exhibition in person in Miami, please contact the gallery.
A full catalog of work is available, please contact the gallery for more information.
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Alex Kizu | "Untitled" mixed media on canvas, 42 x 30 in. (107x76cm)
TOP: Pixel Pancho | "Golden Rhino" mixed media on wood, 53 x 64 in. (135x163cm) |
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Add Fuel (b. 1980, Cascais) is Portuguese visual artist Diogo Machado. Fascinated with the aesthetic possibilities of symmetrical patterning and tessellations, he works with and reinterprets the language of traditional tile design - particularly that of the Portuguese tin-glazed ceramic azulejo. His current practice seeks to combine traditional decorative elements with contemporary visual referents into new forms that reveal an impressive complexity and a masterful attention to detail. At first glance, his tiled panels and murals seem simply a pastiche of classic formalism, but upon closer inspection of their detail, chaotic worlds of unequivocally original motifs and characters brimming with deep emotions emerge. Besides the numerous public art interventions he creates in various countries, Add Fuel also showcases his work in solo and group exhibitions in reputed international galleries and museums.
Alex Kizu's (b. 1975, Los Angeles) work stems from his culture and connection to graffiti and the West Coast urban landscape, representing a profound artistic language which distorts the lines between street art and fine art. Kizu, aka Defer, was one of the pioneer members of the first generation of Los Angeles graffiti writers, and he has distilled the hand-style developed since his youth into abstract pieces that incorporate not only typographic but also cultural references, and complex patterning. Kizu's paintings are highly detailed examinations of line and color – frenetic structures that flow organically with multi-layered abstractions creating a borderless visual depth and complexity. Interviews and work by Kizu have been included in a number of esteemed compendiums of graffiti art, including the LA-centric graffiti book, "Graffiti LA" by Steve Grody, and within the national scope covered in "The History of American Graffiti" by Roger Gastman and Caleb Neelon.
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| RERO | "Untitled (THIS TOO SHALL PASS...)", mixed media on burnt wood, 49.75 x 42.75 in. (126x109cm) |
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Jan Kaláb (b. 1978, Prague) presents vibrant and dynamic compositions that meld the versatility of his canvas medium with the layered depth of sculpture. When Jan Kaláb was born in 1978 in Czechoslovakia, graffiti was not seen in the Eastern World. In the 1990s, as the country was opening itself to western influences, he became one of the pioneers of the local scene, and founded an iconic crew, the DSK. The evolution of his style from graffiti has led to a distillation of ephemeral color. His pieces are harmonious and minimalist studies – immersive works that reflect his complex understanding of the fluidity in the signs and symbols of abstraction. Since 2007, he has focused on the dialogue between form and color in his studio work, and studied formally at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. For more than a decade the artist has explored this depth and motion with a vibrant chromatic energy, exhibiting in institutions throughout Europe, and North and South America.
Pixel Pancho (b. 1984, Turin) studied formally at the Academy of Fine Arts in Albertina and finished his study in Valencia, Spain. During his education, and especially during his time in Spain, he became well known in the world of graffiti and street art. Influenced by artists such as Salvador Dali, Joaquin Sorolla, and the political artist group, El Equipo Cronica, Pixel Pancho had developed his own unique and recognizable style. Incorporating motifs of nature, industry, classical portraiture, and most commonly, robots, his paintings and murals display a finely detailed exploration of imaginative and whimsical worlds. His pieces are often narrative, weaving stories from the bodies of his human-hybrid subjects. His work can be found all over the world, from major cities in Europe, to locations in Mexico and the United States.
RERO (b. 1983, France) presents multi-media work that is instantly recognizable from his distinctive text-based visual style. His pieces contain an inherent fluidity as he explores myriad social concepts, from technology and consumerism to language and obsolescence. RERO's text, always in the same Verdana with a bold strike-through line, becomes embedded within his chosen medium, acting as a literal and material addition while simultaneously a marker for deconstruction. His pieces began as site specific urban interventions, text placed on dilapidated and abandoned buildings. Translated from the exterior to the interior, RERO's most ambitious pieces are large-scale installations that make use of the art gallery or museum venue to explore notions of context and perceptions of space. His works have been shown in numerous public and private spaces, including Pompidou Center, Musée en Herbe and Musée de la Poste, Confluences in Paris and Antje Øklesund in Berlin. More recently, his work has been exhibited throughout France, the United States, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Tilt (b. 1973, Toulouse) is recognized internationally as a traditional graffiti artist, a practice that began during his youth in the 1980s. Taking the aesthetics of graffiti, Tilt has evolved and expanded his oeuvre to not only build upon the foundation of graffiti art, but as a meta exploration of the urban contemporary art genre. With pieces that de-construct traditional modes of graffiti, Tilt plays with the "throw-ups" and tags ubiquitous in the urban landscape. His current work focuses on the layered and abstracted forms derived from classic lettering and execution. His pieces, on walls and in exhibits, can be seen in the U.S., Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Laos, Taiwan, China, Canada, Philippines, Indonesia, Maldivians and throughout Europe.
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