All posts tagged: Etnik

Etnik Looks With Bemusement at Our Rotating Cultural “Carosel” in Bologna

October 1, 2022 Artists

One may be able to think and create abstractly, and there is something to admire in that fact. Translating your singular, refracted vision into a 400-square meter mural in a way that supercharges the architecture, the immediate built environment, and the minds of passersby – that requires serious muscle, self-discipline, and a deep commitment.

Etnik. *“Carosel”*. Prologis Parklife Urban Art 2022. Bologna, Italy. (photo © Courtesy of the artist)

The Turin-based illustrator and muralist came to Bologna for the local Park Life project – a multi-faceted arts and culture network of festivals geared toward the Millenial and Gen Z demographic – and decided that his theme would be “Carosel” (carousel). In it, he appears to be referencing his own bemused observation of arts, science, pop, and humanities culture from the perspective of an artist who has done a substantial quantity of traveling over these past years.

“Carosel presents a large floating urban agglomeration with intersected architectural volumes that want to give the idea of abstract landscapes but at the same time recall some existing cities,” he tells us. This interpretive lens allows us to read his visual diary if you will.

It also is meant to speak to the diverse audience who comprise the Bologna metropolitan area of about a million people that is home to the world’s oldest university. Of great significance to Etnik’s “Carosel”, it also is home to many immigrant groups and 150 nationalities.

“Bologna is inhabited by people of different ethnic backgrounds, and therefore the artist’s game includes proposing multi-ethnic architecture, textures, and details,” he says. During his creative process, Etnik tells us that he hopes to engage with the viewer emotionally through his intermixing of elements, references, and considered tonality.

“The wall is immersive thanks to the grandeur of the central block that invites the viewer into the façade, making him feel part of it.”

Etnik Deconstructs Futuristically in Novara, Italy

June 27, 2022 Artists

Pushing the boundaries as expected, Italian-Swedish street artist Alessandro Battisti AKA Etnik, puts this new deconstructed piece in Novara, Italy, this month for ParkLife. With all the plastic and performative arts still seemingly in the throes of hybridization, it is no surprise to see this floating futurism of unknown origin. What is a surprise is that Etnik continues to evolve and fine-tune his tools, helping define the urban environment.

Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)

Etnik is enthusiastic about sharing his painting with audiences who may never see it otherwise. “The message in this wall is to innovate and to have the courage to make art in industrial platforms that are normally disconnected from the art world,” he says.

BSA Film Friday: 11.12.21

November 12, 2021 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening:
1. Don’t Choose Extinction – UNDP | United Nations | Jack Black | Climate Action.
2. Os Gemeos: Secrets – Ep. 02
3. Hypercourt Dendermonde

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BSA Special Feature: Don’t Choose Extinction

“The world spends an astounding US$423 billion annually to subsidize fossil fuels for consumers – oil,…”

There is not really a lot to say after that.

Os Gemeos: Secrets – Ep. 02

Possibly more important anthropologically than their autobiographical artworks, OSGEMEOS has given us all a huge gift with this new series that documents the rise of hip hop culture at the precise juncture where it intersects with another city far away to the south. Through precise, on-point interviews, they point the spotlight on the crucial elements that formed and pushed “the culture” forward internationally, and personally.

Hypercourt Dendermonde

In the small city of Dendermonde in Belgium, the magic of the drone is helping to bring the new trend of painting basketball courts to video. Literally it seems like we are seeing one per week from all over the world – This one is with the Viewmasters2021 Project, which also created 5 murals around the city, along with this court designed and executed by Drukdoenerij (http://www.drukdoenerij.be) in collaboration with curator of the project Bart Warnier of Whamoffice.

Etnik Collaborates with Den xl on Reunion Island

November 11, 2021 Artists

The deconstructing abstractionist Italian Etnik bravely couples with the lush portraiture of Spanish artist Den xl here in Réunion Island. And what a name that is – Réunion. Somewhere between Madagascar and Mauricius, this gorgeous island hosts a mural festival that joins these two distinct styles into a hybrid of futurism and naturalism.

Etnik & Den xl for Reunion Graffiti Festival. Reunion Island. (photo courtesy of the artists)

“Botanica Resistente” : Etnik and “a constant struggle for survival” in Rome.

May 17, 2021 Artists

Italian street artist Etnik has created a new “Botanica Resistente” in Rome to commemorate “Liberation Day” in Italy, which marks April 25th as the end of the Nazi’s occupation and the liberation from Fascism.

Etnik. *“Botanica Resistente”*. Centocelle, Rome. Italy 2021. (photo © Mirko Pierri)

He calls the colorful and abstractly organic 4-story work “Botanica Resistente”, which he says may have multiple readings. Mostly, it is “A direct reference to the toponymy that characterizes the whole district of Centocelle – with its streets named after plants, trees, and flowers.”

As a story of overcoming great obstacles and thriving in adversity, he also posits that “in the mural concrete blocks, asphalt and artificial works succumb to natural elements, giving life to a slow but gradual reconquest of spaces taken from nature.”

“The work is representative of familiar urban corners, on the border, where between asphalt and concrete, spontaneous plants are in a constant struggle for survival.”
Etnik

Completed in conjunction with the help and guidance of Mirko Pierri, curator of urban art for the a.DNA association, Etnik took about 5 days to transform this facade of the Liceo Scientifico Statale Francesco D’Assisi, between via Castore Durante e Viale Palmiro Togliatti.

BSA Film Friday: 01.04.19

January 4, 2019 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. The Yok & Sheryo in Sri Lanka
2. “Perpetual Flow” by Jorge Gerada in Morocco
3. Etnik in Barcelona with Contorno Urbano Foundation
4. Haroshi at his studio in Tokyo

BSA Special Feature: The Yok & Sheryo in Sri Lanka

Always a feeling of non-linear tropical adventure awaiting when you pop open a new spraycation video from the Street Art duo Yok & Sheryo, who would be just as happy to learn a local craft in your town as to paint a wall. Here they are painting and riding tuk tuks and running with a pack of wild dogs, as you do.

“Perpetual Flow” by Jorge Gerada in Morocco

Land artist Jorge Gerada mounts a large project in Ouarzazate, Morocco that extends over 37,500 meters in this commissioned job for a coffee brand calendar. Using rakes, stones, dark gravel, and vegetable oil, a scene of two hands under running water is created.

Etnik in Barcelona with Contorno Urbano Foundation

“Born in Stockholm and living in Torino, Etnik feels right at home on the street of many cities and the dense, designed, deliberate defining of the man-made environment,” we write in yesterdays posting on BSA. “What is new here is the inclusion of a leaf motif, imperfectly biomorphic, a visual paean to the natural world that precedes us and will outlast every cityscape we devise.”

Haroshi at his studio in Tokyo

“Calling Haroshi a sculptor seems too simple, because he is a collector, architect, painter and industrial designer, as well,” says Evan Pricco in the intro and interview he does on Juxtapoz with the Tokyo based artist. “What he has done throughout his career is take recycled skateboard decks, transforming and crafting them into sculptures that range from classic graphics, pop iconography, installations, and the present, where he currently recreates Japanese toys, including those from childhood.” See the new video by Chop Em Down and read the full piece here.

Etnik Decontructs and Grows Acanto Leaves in Barcelona

January 3, 2019 Artists

Etnik continues his deconstructivist investigations, drawing upon his history as a graffiti writer and a student of architecture, on this new wall in Barcelona. An illustrator and toy designer in addition to graffiti writer and muralist, you can see his appreciation for letter writing and the dimensional forms of geometry in almost all his work. He says that he is always searching for new ways to push the limits of classical graffiti to a higher level.

Etnik. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. October 2018. (photo © Clara Antón)

Born in Stockholm and living in Torino, Etnik feels right at home on the street of many cities and the dense, designed, deliberate defining of the man-made environment. What is new here is the inclusion of a leaf motif, imperfectly biomorphic, a visual paean to the natural world that precedes us and will outlast every cityscape we devise.

‘The wall is a colored series of Acanto leaves combined with some geometric architectonic elements in white,” he says. “The composition is a dualism between natural energies. The acanto leaf represents nature and its also a symbol you’ll frequently see in painting and classical architecture throughout the history of art.”

Etnik. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. October 2018. (photo © Clara Antón)

To learn about the Contorno Urbano Foundation and it’s 12 + 1 Project, please click HERE.

Etnik Splashes a Watery Icosahedron in Jacksonville, Florida

November 27, 2018 Artists

“If you look on the map, Florida is like Italy, all surrounded by water,” says Etnik as he finishes this new spatial composition of geometrical forms. “Ocean, river, fishes and everything that is in the water represented in the elements. Nature in opposition with geometric shapes.”

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

In fact he accounts for all five Platonic elements combined with a geometric shape for a series of walls he’s planning; the cube and the Earth, Air with the Octahedron, Fire with the Tetrahedron, and the Dodecadedron with the Universe.

Here in Jacksonville he’s not far from the Atlantic, St. John’s River, Nepture Beach – and the building itself houses a seafood market. With this environment lapping at his ankles wherever he turns, one can easily imagine his influences when conjuring and painting this 38 foot x 150 foot “Eikosi”, his largest mural ever, here organized by Iryna Kanishcheva.

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

The twenty-sided icosahedron overlooking a stream of cars on the highway is full of rippling, swirling, splashing aqua – something the Turin, Italy based Etnik finds refreshing and in alignment with his urban art practice.

“The icosahedron of Plato is a metaphor to represent the ocean sections created in my style,” he says. “Urban agglomerations and natural elements (that float in an indefinite space and represent the contradictions of the urban spaces we live in) is the line that always mark my evolving style in recent years, on the revenge of the nature on urbanization.”

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.24.18

June 24, 2018 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

As upbeat as celebrations like today’s LGBTQ Pride events are here in NYC, they are rooted in defiance of the suffocating unjust norms that entrapped people in this city and across the country for generations – newly emancipating broad groups of people over the last 50 years or so. As New York City led the way with the Stonewall riots for sexual minorities, it sends this message today to people across the globe that you will be free too, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now in your country.

But LGBTQ folks needed straight allies to get their rights over five decades. Today we have to speak up loud and proud for immigrants. If you need to punch, figuratively, don’t punch downward. These people have done nothing to hurt you and are bringing a the identical aspirations your parents, grandparents, great grandparents did. Don’t believe the hype of the traumatizer who blames the traumatized.

Punch UP at the folks who shifted all the jobs away, just lowered their own taxes to their lowest rate in your entire lifetime, who are shredding the social safety net, who are creating jobs that pay so little you still have to get food stamps, who are trying to convince poor people that poor people are their enemy. It’s an old old trick and it appears to still work marvelously.

This week on BSA Images of the Week we see that just a few Street Artists are addressing these new disgusting revelations and systemic problems, even as 700 Migrant Kids Separated From Parents Are in NY.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Anthony Lister, Bordalo II, Charles Williams, City Kitty, Danny Minnick, Etnik, FKDL, Lapiz, LMNOPI, Individual Activist, Niko, Nick Walker, Olivia Laita, Revaf, Sofles, Soten, and Strayones.

Top image: This beautifully hand rendered drawing is signed but unfortunately we can’t read the language so we can’t identify the artist. Please help. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This beautifully hand rendered drawing is signed but unfortunately we can’t read the language so we can’t identify the artist. Please help. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Individual Activist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister being entertained by The Drif in Little Italy for The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An outstanding collaboration between Charles Williams and Bordalo II in Moorea, French Polynesia for ONO’U Tahiti Festival 2018. (photo © Olivia Laita)

Strayones (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NIKO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty in collaboration with LMNOPI. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lapiz. Farblut Festival 2018. Bremen, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)

“The soccer world cup has begun and I took the opportunity to paint a mural about Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. It was painted during the FARBFLUT festival which took place last weekend where 200 artist painted a 1000 m wall. The mural itself measures 6 x 3.50 m.

The motive shows the Russian president Vladimir Putin kissing Vladimir Putin. The colours are those of the rainbow flag and it has the words ‘One Love’ written above it. The picture addresses Putin’s narcissism and even more the homophobic tendencies supported by the Russian
government.”

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The 2018 Roster for Contorno Urbano 12 + 1 at L’ Hospitalet De Llobregat

January 10, 2018 Artists

The tenacious and hard working Esteban Marin and the whole team at Contorno Urbano in Barcelona have announced their line up for the third edition of their project 12 + 1.

With artists drawn from a variety of public practices like graffiti (Zurik), abstract (Joan Cabrer), design (Etnik), realism (Lily Brik), and representative (Sepe), the collection is a broad swath of current and time-honored techniques for expression.

BSA continues to support projects like these which engage community, foster artists growth, and recognize quality work – and we again will be bringing you these new murals as they are completed. Our congratulations to the winners!

Winners of this years 12+1 walls are Zurik, Joan Cabrer, Udane, Alva Moca, Sue 975, Etnik, Perrine Honoré, XAV, Dan Ferrer, Lily Brik, Sepe, and Medianeras Murales.

Contorno Urbano:

Contorno Urbano is the first Foundation in Spain to be fully dedicated to street art and graffiti with 10 years’ experience in murals and urban art dissemination.

http://www.contornourbano.com/

IG: @contorno_urbano
Twitter: @contorno_urbano
Facebook: @contornourbano
Vimeo: Contorno Urbano

Etnik and a Poplar Tree for “Without Frontiers” in Montova, Italy

July 3, 2017 Artists

Stockholm born, Florence based ETNA created this poplar tree to rather levitate on a wall in Mantova, Italy recently.

The 90s graffiti writer who now often participates in mural festivals says he chose this geometric abstraction to represent the poplar tree because of its historical connection to this host city and because of the undeniable intertwined associations he also has with the architecture that these trees often frame.

Part of the “Without Frontiers’ project that ran June 19-24 and was curated by Simona Gavioli and Giulia Giliberti of Caravan Setup Gallery in Bologna, the mural project includes work by artists Elbi Elem, Panem et Circenses, Zedz, and Corn79.

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.15.16

May 15, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Coney Art Walls is back for 2016 and the artists have already begun painting, Duke Riley is on week two of performance with pigeons in The Brooklyn Navy Yard , the #notacrimecampaign is happening in Harlem to support a free press in Iran, Newark has started a huge public mural program called “Gateways to Newark: Portraits”, Urban Nation in Berlin promises a huge announcement this week, and Vladimir Putin is in a lip-lock with Donald Trump on the street in Lithuania. There is also a lot of new free-range, unsanctioned art on the streets.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring bunny M, Cdre, Crash, Dain, Dee Dee, Etnik, finDAC, Futura, Icy & Sot, Mister Cartoon, Myth, Pegasus, and Rone.

Our top image: CRASH and the first wall completed for the 2016 edition of Coney Art Walls, courtesy of Jeffrey Deitch and his amazing crew, especially Ethel Seno. BSA will bring you all the details, works in progress and behind-the-scenes juiciness for the entire duration of the project until all the walls are completed. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We are hoping that one of you dear readers will help us ID this artist, whose signature we can’t figure out. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barcelona Tributes for The Amazing SKE
April 18, 2024
Today, we pay tribute to an iconic figure from the Puerto Rican graffiti scene, Eliezer “SKE” Pagán Torres. Born on …Read More »
Elfo Declares “I’m a Figurative Painter”… and I’m the Queen of England!
April 16, 2024
Elfo, the ever-witty Italian street artist, strikes again with his latest work scrawled across an abandoned building in Italy. Known …Read More »
BSA Images Of The Week: 04.14.24 / “Return2Burn” in Hunts Point, Bronx
April 14, 2024
Welcome to BSA’s Images of the Week. We decided to dedicate this weekly survey to the artists of “Return 2 …Read More »
Martha Cooper and Seth in Kibera. Kenya: Part 2 / “We Are One”
April 11, 2024
Nestled within the bustling city of Nairobi, Kenya, Kibera is a testament to its inhabitants’ challenges and its collective indomitable …Read More »
“Tiempos Muertos”. Idle Time With Isaac Cordal in Madrid
April 9, 2024
“Idle Time has become that free moment we have between one task and another in the production process. Productive inertia …Read More »
BSA Images Of The Week: 07.07.24
April 7, 2024
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! To BSA’s Muslim brothers and sisters, we hope your Ramadan has been fulfilling …Read More »
Murals, Art, Childhood, and Community in Lwala: Martha Cooper and Seth in Kenya: Part 1
April 4, 2024
In the heart of Lwala, Kenya, a place where the warmth of the sun is matched only by the warmth …Read More »

BSA Special Feature: Don’t Choose Extinction

BSA Special Feature: The Yok & Sheryo in Sri Lanka

“Perpetual Flow” by Jorge Gerada in Morocco

Etnik in Barcelona with Contorno Urbano Foundation

Haroshi at his studio in Tokyo

Etnik. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. October 2018. (photo © Clara Antón)

Etnik. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. October 2018. (photo © Clara Antón)

Etnik. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. October 2018. (photo © Clara Antón)

Etnik. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. October 2018. (photo © Clara Antón)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Etnik. Eikosi. In Collaboration with GNV Urban Art. Jacksonville, Fl. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Top image: This beautifully hand rendered drawing is signed but unfortunately we can’t read the language so we can’t identify the artist. Please help. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This beautifully hand rendered drawing is signed but unfortunately we can’t read the language so we can’t identify the artist. Please help. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Individual Activist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister being entertained by The Drif in Little Italy for The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An outstanding collaboration between Charles Williams and Bordalo II in Moorea, French Polynesia for ONO’U Tahiti Festival 2018. (photo © Olivia Laita)

Strayones (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NIKO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty in collaboration with LMNOPI. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lapiz. Farblut Festival 2018. Bremen, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Soten. Moorea, French Polynesia for ONO’U Tahiti Festival 2018. (photo © Olivia Laita)

Soten. Moorea, French Polynesia for ONO’U Tahiti Festival 2018. (photo © Olivia Laita)

Etnik. Prato, Italy. (photo © Etnik)

Sofles. Tahiti, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sofles. Tahiti, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Danny Minnick for The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Walker. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not Invaders in Tahiti, French Polynesia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gulf Revaf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. West Village, NYC. June 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Etnik for Without Frontiers Festival in Mantova, Italy. June 2017. (photo © Livio Ninni)

Etnik for Without Frontiers Festival in Mantova, Italy. June 2017. (photo © Livio Ninni)

Etnik for Without Frontiers Festival in Mantova, Italy. June 2017. (photo © Livio Ninni)

Etnik for Without Frontiers Festival in Mantova, Italy. June 2017. (photo © Livio Ninni)

DAIN (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Etnik for fallOutWalls fest in Torino, Italy. (photo © Etnik)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pegasus in London interprets The Beckhams from his series “Gods and Monsters” (photo © Urban Art International)

An unidentified artist creates “Urban Paleontology” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE in East Harlem for #notacrimecampaign (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE. Detail. East Harlem for #notacrimecampaing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CDRE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FUTURA does something new and organic for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FUTURA. Detail. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FinDac in Berlin for Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mister Cartoon’s is pugilistic for Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We are hoping that one of you dear readers will help us ID this artist, whose signature we can’t figure out. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth says “Sayonara Dana P” and reaches for the Bowie phone. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. The Last Picture. F Train. Brooklyn, NYC. April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Featured Video | “Bronxlandia” Emerges

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