Hendrik Beikirch / ECB
‘Transsib – Greyhound. Paintings from train and bus rides’
by Ruttkowski68 on March 18, 2013
In both his large-scale murals and canvases, Hendrik Beikirch – also known as ECB – depicts the personal and the private, portraits that tell a story. Instead of illustrating famous people, he draws attention to those who have a magnetic personality or some other recognition value, characters who become all the more interesting because they remain anonymous.
Beikirch takes inspiration from accidental and brief encounters. In some cases, he gains insight into his sitter’s life. At other times, the particulars remain unknown. As such, his paintings are open to interpretation whilst exuding authenticity.
The 39-year-old German artist enlarges his portraits as tall as 70 meters (230 ft.). He applies India ink, acrylic paint, and spray paint – a rough tool that does not allow for pinpoint accuracy, but it does effectively reveal Beikirch’s background in graffiti, and the glance, expression and mood of his subjects.
Beikirch’s upcoming solo exhibition, Transsib – Greyhound. Paintings from train and bus rides, is a showcase of his latest works. As the title suggests, they are inspired by his travels and encounters on Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway and America’s Greyhound buses. Both transport the working classes, connecting people and products and bringing them in line. In Beikirch’s canvases, it is difficult to determine whether subjects hail from the East or the West, with only tiny details giving any clue. Like his previous works in graffiti, Beikirch blurs the boundaries.
MOSES & TAPS™, ‘TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™’
by Ruttkowski68 on January 29, 2013
Whether graffiti is described as scribbling, art, vandalism, or urban propaganda, it has long hovered between unlawful and lawful expression. Today, the gap between the two has narrowed. While street graffiti remains a form of vandalism, it is increasingly considered an art form, too. Some of those notorious paint sprayers are now defined as graffiti artists, whose works are exhibited, traded, collected, and analyzed. Graffiti has become a key influence in the world of contemporary art.
One group, known variously as MOSES & TAPS™, ERNI & BERT™, and TOPSPRAYER™, has grabbed the attention of both law enforcement officials and art critics. The ever-changing name of this collective is not borne out of indecision or marketing. Rather, it helps conceal the identities of its members while still defying the unwritten laws of graffiti: anonymity. The pseudonym is the signature that gives the work recognition value – for fans and for the police as well.
In 2011, the collective, who rigorously decided against an online presence, published a volume of their works for the first time. Across 288 pages, INTERNATIONAL TOPSPRAYER: MOSES & TAPS™ is a showcase of the group’s ambition to take graffiti to another level. Over the course of 1000 days, they spray-painted 1000 railway carriages. Some looked like typical graffiti, others were more conceptual. One work involved painting false doors and windows on a wagon, a trompe l’oeil effect that led to great confusion on the platform the next morning. On another carriage, the artists took a more ironically playful approach. They spray-painted a sign like those issued by German railway authorities, which warn that the train’s surface is protected by anti-graffiti coating.
TOPSPRAYER EXPRESS™ opens on February 1st. It is the first solo exhibition by the artists. As the title implicates, the artists give graffiti a ride that is bound to a new direction. The works on show, re-interpret and transfer graffiti from its convential medium to another surrounding.
The artist collective will remain incognito and won’t be present at any time.
> Interview with MOSES & TAPS™ (German | English)
Filippo Minelli, ‘Silence Shapes’
by Ruttkowski68 on December 3, 2012
Italian artist Filippo Minelli studied art and even graduated cum laude. But it was his childhood that shaped his sense for the visual: his aunt, who helped raised him, was deaf. Looking back at that experience, Minelli explains how it “trained him to look for the most simple way to express concepts in the presence and absence of speech.”
Minelli has been creating art for public spaces since the late 1990s. Traces of his work can be found all over the world, from European capitals and Southeast Asian cities, to more rural environments like the Italian countryside, the Mongolian steppe, or African deserts.
While Minelli is interested in geopolitics, he says he does not follow the daily news. He says it prevents him deciphering and portraying reality, or considering different directions.
Minelli’s exhibition, Silence Shapes, at Ruttkowski;68, is his first solo show in Germany. It features a series of images showing artificial, colored smoke violently erupting in pristine, natural landscapes. The contrast shows that beauty can be found in clashing visions.
STEPHAN ZIRWES, “Facing Pages”
by Ruttkowski68 on November 19, 2012
The German photographer, Stephan Zirwes, trains his lens from the height of an airborne helicopter, capturing everyday images from a rare perspective. Zirwes invites viewers to look at the world vertically.
From that viewpoint, the familiar suddenly becomes foreign, challenging us to reinterpret our surroundings.
Ranging from corn fields and scrap yards to festival parking lots and glaciers, his subjects have been described as “conceived without consideration for proportions or ornamental structures. Their aesthetic consists in the fact that they were created without aesthetic intention.”
Zirwes’ upcoming exhibition, Facing Pages, showcases his early and new works in pairs: one image juxtaposed against the other like the pages of an open book. It shows that even the most diverse objects can share a sameness, whether in their design or content.
FRANCESCO IGORY DEIANA, “On Thin Ice”
by Ruttkowski68 on October 13, 2012
Photos and video of the exhibition On Thin Ice by Italian artist, Franceso Igory Deiana.
Upcoming: FRANCESCO IGORY DEIANA
by Ruttkowski68 on October 1, 2012
Francesco Igory Deiana is an Italian artist who embraces the unexpected and the contrary. Neither his personal life nor his professional art conform to the norm.
Deiana left home when he was 21 years old. He moved to San Francisco where he began to piece together the foundations of his career.
He started out in classical graffiti. These days, he works within the long-established art world using ballpoint pens, photographs, bleach and photo paper, found objects and sculpted wood forms.
Deiana’s upcoming show, On Thin Ice, is based on the artist’s signature juxtapositions and abstracted understanding of humanity, society and identity. It features geometric, ice-like drawings placed next to figurative images, presenting an unsettled reality where human culture can break away and melt like ice cream. Deiana’s use of simple lines against floating, nebulous forms and all-over pattern provokes a visual dialogue between space and time – two elements that we cannot control. He stands back from conformity to show that nothing is conceptually or emotionally stable.
On Thin Ice is Francesco Igory Deiana’s first solo exhibition in Europe.
> Opening: 12th of October, 19-22hrs
