There is No Such Thing As a Good Painting About Nothing Group Show

12.03.2010 - 24.04.2010
The exhibition “There is No Such Thing As a Good Painting About Nothing“ focuses a comparable artistic habitus finding its provenance in graffiti and street culture. It is interesting to observe, that approximately 70 years later, in the early 21st century, three artists located in different countries developed their work independently from each other as a new form of abstract expressionism. They build upon the paradigms of graffiti writing and street art but distance themselves radically from established clichés. Ultimately, by doing so, they generate an avant-garde direction within the genre of urban art.

artists: Marco „Pho“ Grassi, Katrin Fridrik’s, Holly Thoburn.

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Helle Mardahl Stage Power

20.01.2010 - 06.03.2010
Danish artist Helle Mardahl makes us experience an opulence of material and structure as the technical essence of her art. Her remarkable visual acuity references her background as avant-garde fashion designer and the extraordinary level of details (assisted by seven couturiers) encompasses a complex network of political and socio-critical themes.

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Nomad Rainbowcoloured Tears of a Clown

30.10.2009 - 09.01.2010
As an original street artist, Nomad developed his expressional variants conceptually and technically through interactive projects in interior and exterior spaces: combining writing and street art with poetry and classical painting. In this context, we become acquainted with Nomad’s "street art” in the gallery as part of a holistic work of art. The works shown move between humour, satire and human drama.

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Anton Unai Fighting Gravity

18.09.2009 - 24.10.2009
"Let's face it . - There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in the hamburger; there is neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France. We take 'modernity' for granted and Unai’s new works respond neither to a Guru nor to the weather. He has an unlimited arsenal at his disposal thanks to god-given powers and a new sadistic streak. His vague nature and constant desire for something that does not and cannot exist leave it open to definition. These NEW images are the judge and Unai is his own executioner. What we find is that quicksand guzzles you slowly... 'Fighting Gravity' is a broken promise and a threat. It is pure justice without mercy; fast, cruel and calculating. My art work could hang in the British Museum or in a toilet, I just don’ t care. - Anton Unai

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XOOOOX Opening Soon

10.07.2009 - 04.09.2009
The second solo exhibition at Circleculture Gallery in Berlin will once again highlight XOOOOX’s unique understanding of the contemporary fashion world. On display are delicate stenciled works and installations in an arte povera style that consist of weathered and decaying materials. In these works XOOOOX distinctly contrasts the glamour of fashion culture with existentialist themes such as vulnerability and transience. The life-size stencils of professionally styled photo models form the leitmotif of the figurative “studies” and scrutinize the worship cult and the seduction techniques of haute couture. Beguilingly beautiful, XOOOOX’s women convey a sense of melancholy and introversion and allude to the growing displeasure with the uniform, consumption-driven hype of the fashion industry.

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Self Portraits by Contemporary Urban Artists

05.06.2009 - 04.07.2009
The idea of this exhibition is to approach the historical theme of self-portraits and to bring it into a contemporary art context. A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist. Although self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 1400s that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work. With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, many painters, sculptors and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture... In this respect it will be an interesting and new experience to show the vision of the "self-portrait" by contemporary urban artists from all over the world.

Artists: D-Face, Anton Unai, JR, Jaybo aka Monk, Jeff Soto, Judith Supine, XOOOOX, Kill Pixie, Dtagno, Charlie Isoe, Phunk, Stefan Hirsig, Aaron Rose, Marok, Dale Grimshaw Oskar, Best Ever, Nomad, Word to Mother, Mymo, Stefan Strumbel, Sophie Reinhold, Rutger Termohlen.

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Barry McGee, Ed Templeton and Raymond Pettibon

09.04.2009 - 30.05.2009
Barry McGee, Ed Templeton and Raymond Pettibon are pioneers and icons of the contemporary urban art movement. Their work can be found in the collections of major museums and has been shown at large exhibitions and biennales worldwide, but all three have repeatedly emphasised their roots in youth subculture in the worlds of skateboarding, graffiti, punk and hip-hop. These three sought-after artists are brought together by curator Aaron Rose, whose urban art documentary Beautiful Losers is currently touring the world, in the intimate atmosphere of Berlin's Circleculture Gallery.

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Charlie Isoe Will be home late - Leave the light on

12.02.2009 - 04.04.2009
"So it’s all been done before. I dunno if it has. Saying that it’s all been done before has become as much a cliché as reckoning that it has. It lends the temptation to smash it all, tear it off the walls and start again. But isn’t that, too, a cliché? Any way you look at it we’re fucked… at the end of the day its; aren’t paintings just something you hang on your wall to match your couch?"

Isoe’s pictorial compositions are based largely on his personal experiences and observations he makes of his immediate social surroundings. Isoe left school at the age of sixteen and immersed himself in a world of graffiti, skateboarding, travel, and life on the streets. As he entered his twenties, already well traveled, rich in experiences with highs and broken bones, he went back to attain a high school diploma, and subsequently a Degree in Fine Art. This is his first solo show in Europe.

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Jaybo As Far As You Can See

20.11.2008 - 01.02.2009
While viewing some of Jaybo’s paintings, brushstrokes and figure characterizations are vaguely suggestive of Francis Bacon, the influence of Asian art can be seen, or slivers of the world of Walt Disney make an appearance – like his projection on the Berlin Cathedral, transformed into a veritable tidal wave of Mickey-Mouse hands. Jaybo himself characterizes these sorts of stylistic quotes as “visual reflexes,” designed to involve the observer by using their high level of familiarity with the elements interacting within the picture. It rests with the public to create meaning behind the artwork by allowing these imaginations to play out and by superimposing the pictures with their own experiences.

Jaybo is a runaway, setting out and wandering along in a physical as well as in a creative sense. In his youth, he ran away from his house in southern France, settling in Berlin-Kreuzberg at the beginning of the 1980’s, where he busied himself as a graffiti writer, street actor and hip-hop musician. When he founded the streetwear label “Irie Daily” and the cultural magazine “Style” at the beginning of the 1990’s, his influence on Berlin’s youth culture and fashion scene could be clearly seen. Even today, urban subculture is the driving force behind his artistic activities.

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