graffiti is art? - ORYX Foundation

GRAFFITI IS ART?
Detail of Practice Graffiti Wall
Hall of Fame, Luzern – Emmenbrücke
GRAFFITI IS ART?
08
16
24
AMMAR ABO
BAKR
MARC ERWIN
BABEJ
SHAMSIA
HASSANI
27 APRIL –
31 MAY 2014
AT AB GALLERY
LUCERNE
04
GRAFFITI IS ART?
For some it is a mess, vandalism in
the urban space, soiling of bridges, underpasses, walls or trains, for some it is the biggest art movement of world history. We are
talking about Graffiti, Street Art or Urban Art,
the contemporary generic term for these
art forms. The genre polarizes people. Yet it
reached worldwide recognition, not least
thanks to artists such as Keith Haring, Blek le
Rat or Banksy. Today it is established on the
international art market, Graffiti and Street Art
is hip. The recent revolts in Egypt and the
Ukraine demonstrated that Street Art in particular plays a big role as a tool for protest and
freedom of speech.
AB Gallery dedicates the upcoming
exhibition titled Graffiti is ART? to the phenomenon of urban art movements. We show
works by three international artists, including
murals by the established Street Artist Ammar
Abo Bakr from Egypt, photographies from the
“Chernogirls NYC”-series by German-American photo artist Marc Erwin Babej as well as
imaginary graffiti by the Afghan artist Shamsia Hassani. In this exhibition we want to draw
attention to the diversity of these art forms:
Graffiti does not equal Street Art.
Graffiti has its roots in writing or
spraying names, the term is etymologically
derived from Greek (graphein means to write),
whereas Street Art focuses mainly on the
motif and interaction with people.
Today the stylistic elements of both
movements often merge, making it impossible to clearly separate the two. In the exhibition the visitors have the opportunity to get an
idea of the different styles.
Ammar Abo Bakr's (*1980, Luxor)
work could be labelled art in the shape of
news. During the revolution the artist re­
located his studio to the street to be able to
directly communicate with the Egyptian people. Bakr became known mainly for his murals
in the well-known Mohammed Mahmoud
Street, that leads directly to the Tahier square
in Cairo. The murals show scenes of martyrdom, depicting the victims of the revolution as
winged heroes. Today his Street Art paintings
grace walls in many cities such as Cairo, Luxor, Alexandria, Beirut, Frankfurt and Berlin.
In his series “Chernogirls Episode II:
NYC” the photographic artist Marc Erwin
Babej (*1970, Frankfurt) shows models from
the former Soviet Union in front of scenes of
decay – on the streets or the underground of
New York. Babej, who is a big devotee of the
alienation effect as practiced by German
dramatist Bertolt Brecht, places glamorous
women in unexpected contexts. The NYC series is a continuation of the series “Chernogirls Episode I: Minsk – Chernobyl”, in which
Babej placed models from Belarus and Ukraine
into their historical context.
05
The photographs document beauty and elegance uneasily coexisting with the decay of
the locations in which they were shot. The
pictures shown in the exhibition reflect the
lives of Chernogirls in New York, while at the
same time reflecting on the Street Art and
graffiti of New York in the 70s and 80s.
Shamsia Hassani (*1988, Iran) is
Afghanistan's first female Graffiti artist. Her
works often show female figures in bright
blue burqas. With her mix of Graffiti and Street
Art the young artist aims to reach women in
Kabul in particular to inspire them to fight
against the suppression of women in Afghanistan. Until 2010 Hassani primarily painted on
canvas, but at a workshop with the British
Graffiti artist Chu at the University of Kabul
she discovered her passion for the spray can.
Ever since Hassani has tried to work in the
public space, a rather dangerous endeavour.
For this reason the artist came up with
“Dreaming Art”, a new form of Graffiti. She
takes photos of well-known locations and
later uses Photoshop to spray and paint on
them. Eight of her photographic works will be
shown in the exhibition “Graffiti is ART?”.
The works come from the collection
of the NPO “Terres des Femmes” in Bern. In
June 2013 the organisation made it possible
for the artist to stay in Switzerland as an Artist
in Residence and participate in the annual
campaign “Voix des Femmes”.
During this two-week event, the artist led four
workshops with young people. She has exhibited at the Rote Fabrik in Zurich and at the
Hôtel de Ville in Geneva.
06
Für die einen sind es Schmierereien,
Vandalismus im urbanen Raum, Beschmut­
zung von Brücken, Unterführungen, Haus­
wänden oder Zügen, für die anderen ist es die
grösste Kunstbewegung der Weltgeschichte.
Die Rede ist von Graffiti, Street Art oder Urban
Art, der heutige Oberbegriff dieser Kunst­
richtungen. Das Genre polarisiert. Dennoch
erlangte es, nicht zuletzt dank Künstlern wie
Keith Haring, Blek le Rat oder Bansky, weltweit
Anerkennung und etablierte sich auf dem in­
ternationalen Kunstmarkt. Graffiti und Street
Art ist aktuell. Das zeigen auch die jüngsten
Revolten in Ägypten und der Ukraine, in denen
insbesondere die Street Art eine wichtige Rol­
le als Werkzeug des Protests und der freien
Meinungsäusserung spielte.
AB Gallery widmet die kommende
Ausstellung mit dem Titel Graffiti is ART?
dem Phänomen der urbanen Kunstrichtung.
Wir zeigen aktuelle Werke von drei internatio­
nalen Künstlern, darunter Wandarbeiten des
etablierten Street Artist Ammar Abo Bakr aus
Ägypten, Fotografien der «Chernogirls NYC»
Serie des deutsch-amerikanischen Fotokünst­
lers Marc Erwin Babej sowie imaginäre Graffiti
der afghanischen Sprayerin Shamsia Hassani.
Des Weiteren möchten wir in der Ausstellung
auf die Diversität der Kunstrichtungen aufmerk­
sam machen – denn: Graffiti ist nicht gleich
Street Art. Während es beim Graffiti ursprüng­
lich um das Schreiben bzw. das Sprayen von
Namen geht, der Begriff leitet sich ethymolo­
gisch von dem griechischen Wort (graphein
bedeutet schreiben) ab, steht bei der Street
Art vermehrt das Bild und die Interaktion mit
den Menschen im Vordergrund. Die Stilele­
mente beider Richtungen vermischen sich
heute häufig, so dass oftmals keine klare
Trennlinie mehr gezogen werden kann. In der
Ausstellung hat der Besucher die Möglichkeit
sich ein Bild der verschiedenen Stilrichtungen
zu machen.
Ammar Abo Bakrs (*1980, Luxor)
Werke können mit Kunst als Nachrichtenform
überschrieben werden. Während der Revolu­
tion verlegte der Künstler sein Atelier auf die
Strasse, um in direkter Interaktion mit den
Menschen des Landes zu sprechen. Bekannt
wurde Bakr vor allem durch seine Mauerbilder
in der bekannter Mohammed Mahmoud Street
in Kairo, die direkt zum Tahier Platz führt. Auf
seinen Märtyergemälden auf der Wand stellte
er die in der Revolution gestorbenen Helden
mit Engelsflügeln dar. Heute schmücken seine
Street Art Bilder Mauern in vielen Städten wie
in Kairo, Luxor, Alexandria, Beirut, Frankfurt
und Berlin.
Der Fotokünstler Marc Erwin Babej
(*1970, Frankfurt) zeigt in seiner Serie «Cher­
nogirls Episode II: NYC» Models aus der ehe­
maligen Sowjetunion vor verfallenen Kulissen,
vor Mauern, auf Strassen oder im Under­
ground des Big Apple.
07
Babej, ein grosser Anhänger des
Verfremdungseffekts des deutschen Dramati­
kers Bertolt Brechts, stellt die schönen Frauen
in einen völlig anderen Kontext, als der Be­
trachter es erwartet. Die NYC Serie ist die Fort­
setzung der Serie «Chernogirls Episode I:
Minsk – Chernobyl», in der Babej Models aus
der ersten postsowjetischen Generation in den
Kontext ihrer Geschichte stellte. Es sind Foto­
grafien die Schönheit, Eleganz mit dem Verfall
und der Geschichte der Plätze dokumentieren,
an denen sie aufgenommen wurden. So do­
kumentieren die in der Ausstellung gezeigten
Arbeiten einerseits das Leben der Chernogirls
in New York, und gleichzeitig die Geschichte
der Street Art und des Graffiti in New York in
den 70er und 80er Jahren.
Shamsia Hassani (*1988, Iran) ist die
erste Sprayerin Afghanistans. Oftmals zieren
ihre Werke Frauengestalten in leuchtend blauen
Burkas. Mit ihrer Mischung aus Graffiti und
Street Art versucht die junge Künstlerin vor
allem die Frauen in Kabul anzu­s prechen und
sie zu motivieren, gegen die Unterdrückung
der Frau in Afghanistan anzukämpfen. Bis 2010
malte Hassani vorwiegend auf Leinwand. Wäh­
rend eines Workshops mit dem britischen Graf­
fiti Künstler Chu an der Universität Kabul ent­
deckte die Künstlerin ihre Leidenschaft für die
Spraydose. Seither versucht die Künstlerin im
öffentlichen Raum zu arbeiten, was mit eini­
gen Gefahren verbunden ist.
Aus diesem Grund hat Hassani die
«Dreaming Art», eine neue Form der GraffitiKunst erfunden, indem sie Fotos von bekann­
ten Plätzen macht und diese später auf ihrem
Computer per Photoshop imaginär besprayt
und bemalt. In der Ausstellung «Graffiti is Art?»
werden acht Fotoarbeiten dieser PhantasieGraffiti zu sehen sein. Die Werke stammen aus
der Sammlung der NPO «Terre des Femmes»
in Bern. Die Organisation ermöglichte der
Künstlerin im Juni 2013 einen Aufenthalt als
Artist in Residence in der Schweiz sowie die
Teilnahme an der alljährlichen Kampagne «Voix
des Femmes». Im Rahmen dieser zweiwöchi­
gen Veranstaltung führte die Künstlerin vier
Workshops mit Jugendlichen durch. Ihre Wer­
ke wurden in der Roten Fabrik in Zürich sowie
im Hôtel de Ville in Genf ausgestellt.
08
AMMAR ABO
BAKR/USA
“Street Art became a new information
medium in Egypt. It is the enemy of traditional
media, which fails to tell us the truth. I often
remind people: It's not art. It's information!”
Ammar Abo Bakr
Ammar Abo Bakr’s passion to educate and communicate through art has taken
his work from the atelier to the public space;
his graffiti and murals are as much about his
own artistic expression as they are generating
and contributing to a larger dialogue with the
public.
Abo Bakr’s revolutionary street art
has cased walls in Cairo, Luxor, Frankfurt,
Berlin, Amsterdam and Brussels, journaling
the Egyptian Revolution’s many turning points,
as well as themes about Coptic and Islamic
culture, folk art and Egyptology. He became
most famous for his mural on Mohammed
Mahmoud Street leading to Cairo’s Tahrir
Square that honors those who have lost their
lives in ongoing clashes with the security state,
giving them brightly colored angel wings in a
sign of respect as mourning mothers look on
amid Egyptian folk art motifs. Together with
his fellow artists, Abo Bakr launched the “No
Walls” graffiti campaign in March of this year
where he used a trompe l’oiel to artistically
transform concrete barriers erected by Egypt’s
Interior Ministry into visual expressions of hope
and life. The work’s symbiosis with its environment fools the passerby into believing there’s
actually no barricade at all!
Abo Bakr’s incessant drive to learn,
preserve and create drove the then young
lecturer at Luxor’s Faculty of Fine Arts on a
quest to study the cultural heritage of Upper
Egypt in 2003, even bringing him to live alongside the Sufi teachers themselves. A desire to
preserve this rich artistic tradition prompted
Abo Bakr, together with a group of fellow artists and a professor, to found the Mahrosa Association for Preserving Heritage and Modern
Art, named after the village of Mahrosa where
the artists acquired a house they reconstructed to serve as a center for educational workshops and exhibitions featuring local artists.
The group would later acquire a second
house for similar happenings in New Gurna
designed by Hassan Fathy, father of sustainable architecture in the Middle East.
In addition to his street art and efforts
to preserve cultural heritage Abo Bakr has also
worked as a draftsman with an Egyptian-German archaeological team since 2006. The experience has provided him with a wide background in Egyptology and an ability to use its
symbols in his murals to educate the wider
public about its historic past. He’s also directed three documentary movies about the excavations.
AMMAR ABO BAKR
Mural Painting, 2013
AMMAR ABO BAKR
Mural Painting, 2013
AMMAR ABO BAKR
Mural Painting, 2013
AMMAR ABO BAKR
Mural Painting, Back to (the) Square, Helsinki, 2014
AMMAR ABO BAKR
Mural Painting, Back to (the) Square, Helsinki, 2014
14
ABOUT THE ARTIST/
ÜBER DEN KÜNSTLER
Ammar Abo Bakr. The Egyptian
Street Art artist was born in Luxor, Egypt, in
1980. He studied Fine Arts and from 2004
Egyptology in Luxor. After his studies he went
on to teach art at the University of Luxor. He
is, among other things, the founder of the
Mahrosa Association for Preserving Heritage
and Modern Art. Abo Bakr has been working
as a consultant and supervisor at the Luxor
International Studio since 2008. His works are
shown at important public spaces in Beirut,
Egypt,Germany and the Netherlands.
Ammar Abo Bakr. Der ägyptische
Street Art Künstler wurde 1980 in Luxor, Ägyp­
ten geboren. Er studierte dort bildende Kunst
und ab 2004 Ägyptologie. Im Anschluss an
seine Studien lehrte er als Dozent Kunst an
der Universität in Luxor. Er ist unter anderem
Begründer der Mahrosa Association for Pre­
serving Heritage and Modern Art. Seit 2008
arbeitet Abo Bakr als Berater und Supervisor
im Luxor International Studio. Seine Arbeiten
fin­den sich an berühmten öffentlich Plätzen in
Ägypten, Beirut, Deutschland sowie in den
Niederlanden.
© Barbara Walzer
15
MARC ERWIN
BABEJ/GERMANY
“I want to encourage the observer to
think critically. But in order to reflect on something, you have to deliberately create a distance to the event. I purposely photographed
my models in places such as Brooklyn, Chinatown or in front of old graffitied walls, to achieve
that alienation effect.”
Marc Erwin Babej
Marc Erwin Babej – Chernogirls
Episode
Chernogirls Episode II finds our heroines a
world away from their motherland, in New York
City and Miami. Set in the winter of 2013 – 14,
the Chernogirls are now strangers in a strange
land, in search of adventure and opportunity.
Some look to settle in America; others are just
here for “the season” – already sche­duled to
travel on to Paris, Milan or Hong Kong. For all
of them, “home” has become a relative term:
they are from the former USSR and in culture
capitals, but no longer of any place in particular. In an earlier age, Soviet media would have
categorized them as rootless cosmopolitans.
They are educated, polyglots; refined and
world-wise beyond their years. But their ticket
out was paid in an altogether different currency: a Faustian bargain with their unearned,
perishable yet highly-prized appearance in
the balance. To a global fashion cult that
apotheosizes images of statuesque yet elfin
young women with wide-set eyes, our Cherno­
girls epitomize a sublime and unapproachable
beauty.
Becoming idols has not ben without
consequence: the Chernogirls have become
detached from – and, in the process, perhaps
transcended – their physical form. Like a Greek
chorus, they are onstage not as characters,
but as commentators on a plot that takes place
around them, but doesn’t involve them.
A Mercury Production
Cast (in order of appearance)
Olena “Lena” Mandryk – Herself
Natalia Zenina – Herself
Olga Alexandrovskaia – Herself
Agnieszka “Agnes” Artych – Herself
Anastasia “Nastya” K. – Herself
Olga Markoch – Herself
Olena Lysenko – Herself
Janina Scheuer – Herself
and introducing: Tor Boswick – Zeus
Direction, Script, Photography – Marc Erwin Babej
Assistant Photography, Editing –
Alex Vanderheyden
Printing – David Adamson
Assistant Production – Natalya Rudakova
MARC ERWIN BABEJ
Ladies Liberty, 2014
Archival pigment print, 91,5 x 70 cm, Ed. 3/5
MARC ERWIN BABEJ
Chico Pls Stop, 2014
Archival pigment print, 70 x 91,5 cm, Ed. 3/8
MARC ERWIN BABEJ
Crime Scene, 2014
Archival pigment print, 70 x 91,5 cm, Ed. 3/5
MARC ERWIN BABEJ
Power Plant, 2014
Archival pigment print, 70 x 91,5 cm, Ed. 3/5
MARC ERWIN BABEJ
Windblown, 2014
Archival pigment print, 70 x 91,5 cm, Ed. 3/5
MARC ERWIN BABEJ
Street Artist, 2014
Archival pigment print, 70 x 91,5 cm, Ed. 3/5
22
ABOUT THE ARTIST/
ÜBER DEN KÜNSTLER
The photographic artist Marc Erwin
Babej was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the
son of immigrants from communist Czechoslovakia in 1970. He works exclusively in blackand-white, turning his colour-blindness into
an advantage. Babej first studied history (A.B.)
at Brown University and then Journalism (M.Sc.)
at Columbia University. He began his career
as one of the youngest reporters in the history
of Forbes, and also wrote for the arts sections
of Corriere della Serra, Die Zeit, Die Weltwoche and The Guardian. Moving in the interplay between social sciences, mass psychology and the media, Babej's works are inspired
by movies of the 1930s and 40s, specifically by
Jean Renoir, Yasujiro Ozu and Orson Welles.
Der Fotokünstler Marc Erwin Babej
wurde 1970 in Frankfurt als Sohn von Emigran­
ten aus der kommunistischen Tschechoslowa­
kei geboren. Er arbeitet ausschliesslich mit der
schwarz-weiss Fotografie, in der sich seine
Farbenblindheit als Vorteil auswirkt. Babej
­s tudierte an der Brown University Geschichte
(A.B.) sowie in Folge an der Columbia Univer­
sität Journalismus (M.Sc). Er began seine Lauf­
bahn als jüngster Reporter in der Geschichte
von Forbes und schrieb gleichzeitig für die
Feuilletons des Corriere della Serra, Die Zeit,
Die Weltwoche und The Guardian. Des Wei­
teren arbeitet er als Kunst-Kolumnist für Der
Spiegel und American Photo.
Babejs Werke orientieren sich am
Film der 1930er und 40er Jahre – insbeson­
dere an Jean Renoir, Yasujiro Ozu und Orson
Welles – und bewegen sich im Spannungsfeld
der Sozialwissenschaften, Massen psychologie
und Medien.
23
SHAMSIA
HASSANI/AFGHANISTAN
“I used to paint with oil colours on
canvas, but this type of painting reaches very
few. Street Art speaks to the common man,
the people.”
Shamsia Hassani
In my graffiti works I like to paint women with
burqas in modern style. I want to talk about
their life, to find a way to remove them from
darkness, to open their mind, to bring some
positive change, trying to remove all bad
memories of war from everybodys mind, covering my sad city with happy colour, with the
colour of freedom. I like to say: “Freedom
does not mean to remove burqas, Freedom
means to have peace. Because of the problematic situation in my country, I sometimes
can not spray graffitis on public walls. It is to
dangerous. So I created a new style. I take
picture of roads and walls and I create my
graffitis on walls with Photoshop or I paint
graffitti pictures with acrylic and oil. I call
these works Dream of Graffiti. They are my
own creation in the world of graffiti and I always tell myself: “Yeah, Shamisa, you can do
Graffiti”
“This is my new work. It stands for the
very bad situation in Afghanistan. Because of the constant bombings… my
country is going to die…”
Shamsia Hassani
SHAMSIA HASSANI
In my mind, 2014
Acrylic on canvas, 80 x 62 cm
SHAMSIA HASSANI
Dream of Graffiti, 2013
Photograph on aluminium plate, 60 x 152,5 cm
SHAMSIA HASSANI
Dream of Graffiti, 2013
Photograph on aluminium plate, 50 x 66 cm
SHAMSIA HASSANI
Dream of Graffiti, 2013
Photograph on aluminium plate, 60 x 80 cm, Detail view
SHAMSIA HASSANI
Dream of Graffiti, 2013
Photograph on aluminium plate, 50 x 66 cm
28
ABOUT THE ARTIST/
ÜBER DIE KÜNSTLERIN
Ommolbanin (Shamsia) Hassani.
The graffiti artist was born to Afghan parents
in Iran in 1988. Her family moved to Kabul in
2005. Today Hassani teaches Fine Art at the
University of Kabul. She was among the Top
10 of the 2nd Afghan Contemporary Art Prize
in 2009. Her work has since been shown in
numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany, Switzerland, Australia, India, Vietnam
and other countries. Hassani is also a cofounder of the Berang Art Organisation in
Kabul. She came to Switzerland as an Artist
in Residence of the NPO “Terre des Femmes”
Bern in 2013. www.terre-des-femmes.ch
Ommolbanin (Shamsia) Hassani.
Die Graffiti Künstlerin wurde 1988 im Iran als
Tochter Afghanischer Eltern geboren. 2005
siedelte sie mit ihrer Familie nach Kabul um.
Heute lehrt Hassani als Dozentin für bildene
Kunst an der Universität Kabul. 2009 kam die
Künstlerin unter die Top 10 des 2nd Afghan
Contemporay Art Prize. Seither sind ihre Werke
international in zahlreichen Einzel – und Grup­
penausstellungen vertreten, u.a. in Deutsch­
land, Schweiz, Australien, Indien oder Vietnam.
Des Weiteren ist Hassani Mitbegründerin der
Berang Arts Organization in Kabul. Im Rah­
men eines Artist in Residence Programms
der Nichtregierungsorganisation «Terre des
Femmes», Bern kam die Künstlerin 2013 für
einen Aufenthalt in die Schweiz.
www.terre-des-femmes.ch
IMPRESSUM
Editorial: Simone Toellner
Design: FelderVogel, Kommunikation in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft AG, Luzern
Arealstrasse 6
CH-6020 Emmenbrücke-Luzern
Switzerland
Arealstrasse 6
CH-6020 Emmenbrücke-Luzern
Switzerland
Phone +41 41 982 08 80
Mobile +41 79698 05 69
Fax +41 41 982 06 89
[email protected]
www.ab-gallery.com
www.oryx-foundation.com