the street is our gallery

September 17, 2015 to October 20, 2015

French street artist SP38 making his New York City debut.  SP38 will feature his iconic text-based works, artfully deconstructing the 20-foot walls of the hotel, as well as providing a special presentation of his work in the field on the video art wall.  
SP38 is a French street artist, painter, and performer who has been based in Berlin for the past 20 years. He papers the walls of his city, and many others across the globe, with what he calls “urban poetry.” Painting quickly and repetitively, he reproduces the same motifs and texts on posters in order to paste them in various locations.  The work is not identical, however, and includes tiny imperfections by design, reinforcing the handmade nature of the work.
SP38 mixes silk-printing and painting techniques applied on posters. His words are juxtaposed with symbols such as golden rabbits or blue planes that multiply on his posters as patterns. He has said he imagines that these could even be in the style of wallpaper in children’s bedrooms. Coming from a tradition of the Lettrist movement or of the “Affichistes” artists such as Jacques Villéglé or Raymond Hains who created their own alphabets, SP38 created his own typography. Adding a limited range of four colors and simplified images to his letters as a graphic trademark, SP38 makes statements about serious matters very casually. “ESCAPE,” “OCCUPY,” “MADE IN DREAM,” “SLAVES,” “VIVE LA CRISE,” “VIVE LA BOURGEOISIE,” “NO PROPAGANDA,” “I DON’T WANT TO BE U’RE FRIEND ON FACE-BOOK,” amongst others, are woven into the urban landscape. The freshly printed aspect of his posters echoes the subjects of slogans that are right of-the-moment.

LOCATION:

Exhibition will be on view to the public in the Quin’s lobby through mid-October.

The Quin, located at 57^th Street and Sixth Avenue. New York