photos by Karolina Miernik & Florian Auer

Tes celebrates street art in his very own hybrid form of expression. His works are impulsive snapshots, just like the superimposed sensations of a cool, urban trailer. He virtuosically combines digital graphic elements with the traditionally rough language of spray- and graffiti art. With concentrated creativity, Tes unites abstract elements, organic illustrations, clear architectural lines and figurative portraits into expressive collages. Stencilling meets painting, spray cans meet brushes, digital meets tangible. The result is an explosion of colours and shapes, which merge in unexpected visual harmony.

The autodidact, living in Florida began to indulge in his art at a very young age and by 1992 had established himself as a serious street artist in the local graffiti scene. The fascination of the rapidly developing new digital technology encouraged him to experiment successfully as a graphic designer and at the same time opened up a new lucrative market for his creative form of expression. Meanwhile he is working for a number of renowned clients, such as Nokia, Kanye West and MTV, who have discovered his strongly emotional visuals made up of stencils, paintings and digital components as a perfect style for their concepts. Tes approaches his canvas instinctively: specifically arranged wooden boards act as medium and picture element at the same time. The inspiration for his artworks comes from his immediate environment: „I have always been fascinated by nature and technology and the contrasts they form. All their parallels are an endless source of inspiration to me.  I enjoy discovering their similarities and at the same time allow them to form a contrast. For me the objective of my works is the visual display of these conflictive elements.  I want every piece to have its very own energy, every work has to obtain its own personality“.
„Smooth Getaway“ shows exactly this energy and personality in a special selection of his creativity.

Opening Thu. 27.5.2010, 18h
SMOOTH GETAWAY opens at ADVANCED MINORITY CUBICLE Contemporary Artspace
Westbahnstrasse 22 . 1070 Vienna
From 27.Mai 2010 until 16. Juli 2010
Opening times: Monday to Saturday from 13-18 hrs

Web: www.advancedminority.com
Web: www.tesone.net
Contact: nina.divitschek@advancedminority.com

The project »Kunst zum Erschießen« (Art for Shooting) by the House Gras is aimed at reflecting the basic attitudes, the ideas and the principles of faith with regard to art, the association with and the relationship to it and shall demonstrate its responsibility in every aspect to reflect on. To create art, to publish it, to exhibit it, but also to buy and own it is a process of highest responsibility – for both the producers and the consumers. To jolt this reflection the House Gras calls to arms and propagates the active comparison between a sense of responsibility in the art sector and the deployment of fire arms.

The artworks for shooting always portray stereotypes of our society. This way the House Gras broaches the often forgotten issue: to have an opinion means to take on responsibility – just like in real life this responsibility is also found in the world of art. Prejudices regarding art are, for example: „It is expensive, it must be good, no matter whether I like it or understand it”. The buyer is free to decide why he wants to buy his stereotype, in order to shoot at it. Either because he accepts that prejudices should be questioned or because he approves this prejudice… just like in the arts: The artist’s motive to create a picture and the buyer’s motive to purchase a picture are rarely in accordance with each other.

As part of a social community every person has to live and act socially and self-dependently. In this sense it is unavoidable to be aware of what art can be, how it may be used, deployed and equally abused. There is no difference in owning a weapon. How does the saying go: „Weapons do not kill, people do.” Transferred to the arts one can say: „Art does not want anything. Artists and buyers do.”

Opening Thu. 25.2.2010, 18h
SHOOTING PREJUDICE opens at ADVANCED MINORITY CUBICLE – Contemporary Artspace
Westbahnstrasse 22 . Ecke Zieglergasse . 1070 Wien
from 25. February 2010 until 2. April 2010
Opening times: Monday – Saturday from 13-18 hrs

Web: www.advancedminority.com
Contact: teresa.klicpera@advancedminority.com

VIDEO – Schüsse bei der Pressekonferenz

photos by Karolina Miernik

Are you afraid of monsters? – Matt Cipov is not!

Bizarre masquerades, utopian human as well as animalistic individuals, macabre creatures, witchcraft and sorcery are the topics that Matt Cipov has subscribed to and which dominate his entire artistic creation. His source of inspiration is everyday lunacy: people sitting opposite you in the tube, randomly witnessed conversations, pictures and headlines in newspapers, music as well as nature or abstruse dreams. Everything seen and experienced is interpreted and abstracted and the result is a complex pictorial study about everything that is real even though it does not seem obvious.

Matt Cipov’s work delights through a random combination of different techniques and approaches. His illustrations present an artistically interesting hybrid – juggling between collage and drawing – starting with stamping, the incorporation of typographic elements up to a challenging construction of several picture planes. An interesting mix between surreal drawing constructions paired with naturalistic elements gives Matt Cipov’s little drawings the certain je-ne-sais-quoi.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the artist and graphic designer Matt Cipov gained his diploma at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design in 1999 and subsequently worked as graphic designer and freelance artist. After becoming self-employed in 2005 his prestige and reputation as an artist are on a continuous rise. He has already been part of group- as well as single exhibitions in the United States, Canada and Germany and now, for the very first time, presents a comprehensive show with more than 80 original drawings in Austria.

Opening Thu. 14.1.2010, 18h
MASQUERADE opens at ADVANCED MINORITY CUBICLE – Contemporary Artspace . Westbahnstrasse 22 . 1070 Wien

from 14th January 2010 till 12th February 2010
Opening Times: Monday till Saturday from 13-18 hrs

Web: www.advancedminority.com
Contact: teresa.klicpera@advancedminority.com

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