February 2018
In the second edition of Urvanity fair held at the LASEDE COAM in Madrid during the days 21 to 25 of February 2018, four murals interventions will be done in different parts of the Spanish capital, thanks to the sponsorship of Tuenti Urban Art Project.
Alexey Luka // Cranio // Jan Kaláb // Jana & JS
Location: Discoteca Changó | Calle Covarrubias, 42, 28010 Madrid – mapa | streetview
Measures: 9,6 m altura x 27,80 m largo (total altura del suelo a lo más alto: 14m).
Dates: Tuesday 20/02 – 25/02
Alexey Luka was born in 1983. In 2006 he graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute. Now living and working in Moscow, Alexey Luka is one of the most talented and influential young artists in the Russian contemporary art scene. Luka has participated in important international projects, like LGZ Festival in Moscow (2013), the Le M.U.R. XIII project in Paris (2014), the Artmosspere Street Art Biennale in Moscow (2016) and the Marrakech Biennale (2016). In 2014 he created an installation commissioned by Pirelli which was shown at the Hangar Bicocca contemporary art space in Milan and presented by the Italian art critic Achille Bonito Oliva. With a background in architecture studies, Alexey Luka developed a unique and recognizable style, based on the use of abstract geometric shapes and chromatic variations. Perfectly comfortable with different techniques, spray paints, acrylic paints, sculpture, and collage, Alexey Luka has been creating complex compositions in which the colors and geometric lines interact, resulting in a sort of puzzle to decipher. The observer is left, therefore, to reconstruct and consequently interpret the image, starting precisely with the colors that suggest shapes: faces, characters and landscapes alternate in a game of perception that activates our imagination. Through the compositionand decomposition of the shapes and the chromatic combinations, with references to constructivism and neo-plasticism, the artist aims to tell a story, to evoke a situation or a vision, in an entirely unusual and original way.
Location: Colegio Asunción Rincón | Calle Jesús Maestro, 1 28003 Madrid – map | streetview
Measures: 11 m altura x 6 m largo
Dates: Saturday 17/02 – 24/02
Fabio de Oliveira Parnaiba (1982), also known as Cranio, is a Brazilian artist who began his artistic journey on the streets of Sao Paolo. It was in 1998 Cranio decided that the grey walls in ‘his’ Sao Paolo needed a boost. Since then he has been doing the same for other cities all over the world i.e. Barcelona, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Miami and Paris. Cranio gets his inspiration from life, the streets, cartoons and the famous surrealist Salvador Dali. His blue Indian characters have become his trademark. It all started as his desire to show the indigenous people from Brazil and all the troubles they’re facing in the unforgiving contemporary world, complete with sneakers and smartphones. The contrast between the spiritual blue Indians and their new world environment raises questions we don’t always ask ourselves and allows us to think about ourselves and the society we live in. And although over the years he has developed his style and learned new techniques, his work never lost his humor and sharpness we love about it so much! As his career develops Cranio is making more and more works on Canvas. Using intricate techniques he is able to manipulate spray paint like no other. Creating layers and delicate lines playing with textures and color contrast. His works are always detailed and have lot of depth. Cranio takes time to think of what concept he wants to convey with his work and this attention to detail shows in everything he makes, whether it is a mural, a big canvas painting, toy sized Indians or his big sculptures.
Location: Mercado Barceló | Calle de Mejía Lequerica, 10, 28004 Madrid – map | streetview
Measures: 6 m alto x 14 m largo
Dates Wednesday 20/02 – 23/02
Czech artist Jan Kaláb, who was born in 1978 and therefore grew up under a regime in which the performance of graffiti was totally unimaginable, was one of the pioneers who started bringing urban art into Eastern European countries after the borders opened upin the early 90‘s. Starting off as a founder of the DSK crew he made a name for himself throughout Europe as ‚Cakes‘. Later on, he decided to broaden his horizon and move to New York where he changed his name to ‚Point‘ and started creating huge sculpted abstract letters which he chose to put up in the streets and on walls. He thereby created another form of graffiti without a spray can, but truthful to the spirit of competition and innovation of the urban scene. These letter sculptures led him to the path of total abstraction which he also adapted in his paintings and keeps on elaborating since 2007. After graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts of Prague he continuously developed his style and has since then become more and more geometric. He uses colorful squares and circles as his vocabulary for infinite variations around depth, time, and motion. Having gained recognition over the past years, Kaláb is on his way to a promising career as an abstract artist.
Location: Travesía Almendro, 9, 28005 Madrid – map | streetview
Measures: 3 m – 4,5 m altura x 17,30 m largo
Dates: Sunday 18/02 – 19/02
Jana & Js are an Austro-German artist couple, whose work can be found both in urban surroundings as well as in closed rooms. Inspired by the city and its architecture in the course of time, as well as by the residents and the viewers, they spray urban landscapes, portraits and details of architectures with a play of reflections and transparencies. In their paintings they work with situations of people in the habitat city. Before close tightly packed architectural landscapes they show individuals that act on the one hand lost and isolated, but also searching, longing and hopeful. Using a special stencil-technique (after Artiste Ouvrier -together in collective WCA), they work exclusively with their own photography’s. In addition to painting, the artist couple also made sculptures out of wood and metal. Complex nested facade elements to which they paint reminiscent of residential honeycomb house fronts. After many years of stays in Madrid and Paris, Jana & Js now live and work in Austria, Salzburg.
