art

FACE OF THE CITY DAN BERGERON STREET ART

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Dan Bergeron, aka fauxreel, is an artist based in Toronto who has been creating for the better part of a decade photo based street interventions. Within his project “face of the city” he used the distressed surfaces of walls in modern cities to create stunning portraits.

The artist says, “as the walls and surfaces of the city define its physical character and spatial identity, the faces of its inhabitants provide the city with its personality, disposition and magnetism. The fusion of these two entities will simultaneously expose the frailty of urban architecture and to a certain extent human existence, while conversely exploring the idea that beauty truly lies in the scars, wrinkles and blemishes of places we live and people we meet.”

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L.E.T. LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES STREET ART

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L.E.T. is a franco german street art artist with homebase in Düsseldorf. Since 1992 he is specialised in stencils and paste ups and was one of the first street art artists in Germany. L.E.T. stands for Les Enfants Terribles, what was a synonym for misfits and eccentrics in the art scene.

You can find more about L.E.T. on Facebook, Flickr or the galleries´ websites 30works and Pretty Portal.

Until March 4th you can visit the exhibition “dirty works @ 30works – Volume III” in Cologne with works from L.E.T., EMESS, VAN RAY and others.

THE PAST IN COLOR REDISCOVERING HISTORY PHOTOGRAPHY

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Modern technology never ceases to amaze. Swedish artist Sanna Dullaway is another remarkable example that it only takes a powerful idea, some Photoshop skills and a little patience – between 40 minutes and 2 hours to be precise – to let us rediscover history, or at least question our very own perception of it.

Sanna picked out some of the worlds most iconic black-and-white photos and has carefully colorized them – putting some of the most defining moments of the twentieth century into a strangely current and sometimes disturbing context. It also gives a powerful insight into the pioneer days of reportage photography with the rare chance to relive the moments those men and women were drawn to back then – and which they wanted to capture and share. From nuclear testing on the idyllic Bikini Atoll, the unmasked brutalities of the Vietnam War or the true limitations of the “American Dream” in 1937. Her project has also included famous faces like Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Anne Frank or Charlie Chaplin.

Check out more of her amazing portfolio here. The Mail Online has some more historic background information about selected images.

DAMIEN HIRST GAGOSIAN GALLERY AROUND THE WORLD

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Artist Damien Hirst undeniably has a great love for painting colourful spots. From the teeny tiny variety up to ginormous super dots, his obsession has spun for over two decades and was reason enough for the Gagosian Gallery to dedicate not one but all of their eleven galleries to feature “The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011” by Damien Hirst.

To reward all the hardcore Hirst fans out there, the Gallery and the artist came up with a truly arty challenge: They will give a personally dedicated, signed and numbered Hirst print to everyone who manages to visit ALL eleven galleries during the exhibition period from January 12 until February 18 2012.  The Gagosian Gallery locations are New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong – over 32.000 distance kilometers in total. Remarkably enough, over 700 people have registered for the competition and even more remarkable, the first person to complete the challenge only took 8 days for it. Check out the Gagosian Gallery on Facebook  for more winner stories. Another successful contestant  shares the story of his trip around the world for the love of art here.

Very unlikely however that they really took his time to revel in the artwork:  Included in the exhibition are more than 300 paintings, from the first spot on board that Hirst created in 1986; to the smallest spot painting comprising half a spot and measuring 1 x 1/2 inch (1996); to a monumental work comprising only four spots, each 60 inches in diameter; and up to the most recent spot painting completed in 2011 containing 25,781 spots that are each 1 millimeter in diameter, with no single color ever repeated.

AFFORDABLE ART | OUTLINE EDITIONS | NORMA BAR

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Graphic designer Norma Bar is a true master of deceit. His unusual, colorful prints cleverly manipulate the eye and will certainly make you take a double look. Although undeniably decorative, his work carries a deeper message. Growing up in Israel during the first Gulf War, political caricature became one of his great influences. He has since been features in publications such as The New York Times, GQ, Esquire, Wallpaper and more. Check out Outline Editions for more of his work and a great selection of affordable and quirky prints to pimp up your pad!