Opinion
DERRIDA WAS WRONG!
1 Destination 5 Spots
STREET ART MARSEILLE
Place2Art
NYC SUBWAY & GraffitiART
Dossier
SKULL ART
Artists
ELLA & PITR / KOUKA / MARTIN WHATSON / FEFE TALAVERA / MATTHIAS MROSS / BEN FROST
Street Art will never die
EDITO #54 | February – March 2021
Here we are, still waiting for the world after… The Street Art scene does not totally sit still, but it has not fully woken up either, constantly threatened as it is by COVID-19. We can only hope that our collective and individual desires will fill the upcoming months with joy, serenity, and predictability. May 2021 be a succession of festivals, murals, art fairs, and openings!
While we wait for better days, it is time to go back to the roots of Street Art and graffiti in the New York subway of the 1970s, with Keith Haring, Dondi, Futura 2000, Phase 2, and co. The fashion of the 1970s is gone but the creativity it spurted very much endures in all its forms: concept, figuration, activism, territorial appropriation, etc.
After New York and its subway, we will take you through the many districts of Marseille as well as its culturally diverse Street Art scene where creativity never sleeps. You will get to discover the Panier district, the Friche and so many other spots that taste of the Mediterranean Sea.
Street Art has not had its last word! Madrid will be wearing new murals for the 2021 edition of Urvanity Art. The Musée en Herbe is fighting to maintain its beautiful programming of exhibitions to an audience of young and old. A tenaciousness that has its downside, too. Faced with #Mariannepleure (#Marianneweeps), many of us wonder why someone covered Shepard Fairey’s emblematic piece: artistic detournement, political statement or mere self-promotion? The truth probably lies somewhere in between.
Our journey will finally take us to the narrative artwork of Ella & Pitr, where giants often feel cramped on our walls, to the colourful world of Martin Whatson who mixes stencils and graffiti, and to the universe of Fefe Talavera, an advocate of universal compassion who draws her inspiration from Mayan culture. As for Kouka’s Bantu warriors, they stand for the universality of the human condition, while Matthias Mross questions our modern societies through his daily experiences and travels. To conclude, Ben Frost’s odd and daring work will reunite us with the joyful characters that populated our childhood comic books and make us reconsider our relationship with pills.
What if Street Art was the cure?
