Fourth Edition 2019

In 2008, fascinated with the aesthetic possibilities of symmetrical patterning and tessellations, he shortened his moniker and began redirecting his focus towards working with and reinterpreting the language of traditional tile design, and that of the Portuguese tin-glazed ceramic azulejo in particular. Effortlessly blending these two seemingly-irreconcilable visual idioms, his current practice seeks to combine traditional decorative elements with contemporary visual referents into new forms that reveal an impressive complexity and a masterful attention to detail.

Creating balance and harmony from symmetrical repetitions, a build-up of layers and techniques of visual illusion such as trompe-l’œil, his multi-layered patterned compositions produce a poetic rhythm that plays with the viewer’s perception and the (multiple) possibilities of interpretation. Exploring a wide range of both manual and digital techniques in the fields of drawing, painting, ceramics, and printing, his practice expresses a sophisticated dialogue between the old and the new, between heritage and modernity.

From the early beginning, Milu decided not to use pseudonym, but to sign the work with her full name and sometimes she even put her address! Milu is inspired by literature, movies, comics, sometimes even life itself… She is using roller, brush and water paint, the most common “tools” in Argentina; half of the street painters are working with it.With time, her walls got bigger and better.

Milu even started working out of it and travelling with it. Today, while she is painting big walls, Milu is trying to get better with each painting.“I love painting bigger and bigger… My house walls are small and a few. It’s also a way of giving a present to the city and citizens to make waiting for the bus shorter.”Even though she is considered as a representative of female street art, Milu does not see “the place of women” or “the place of man” in street art. She says that she only sees paintings done by people:“I don’t take into account the gender of the author when I’m watching a painted wall in the street.

In Argentina half of the painters are woman and they have the same or more promotion than men.”Also, Milu shared her expectations for all street artist, men or women, in hope that the next generation doesn’t believe in that dicotomical sigh of the world: “I hope new images will appear with new concepts and technique.”

Jan Vormann studied Visual Arts at Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee, Germany, as well as Monumental Arts at the Stieglitz Academy of Fine Arts in St.Petersburg, Russia.

Vormann has lectured New Media / Interaction Design (IXD) at BTK University’s New Media / IXD Department in Berlin and has given numerous workshops and talks at institutions including the Parsons School of Design in Paris, the ARCAM Amsterdam Institute for Architecture and the Kunsthochschule Burg Giebichenstein, Halle.

In addition to interventions in public spaces around the world, Vormann has presented his work at international exhibitions including the Venice Biennale of Art (2011) and Architecture (2018), the Ars Electronica in Linz (2010), the Nuits Blanches in Paris (2014), and the Humboldt Forum / Altes Museum, Berlin (2009; full list below). Vormann’s projects have been featured in global media outlets such as Le Monde, The New York Times Mag, Deutsche Welle and Financial Times Deutschland.

Growing up in Oslo Norway, Martin was an active part of the emerging graffiti scene of the early 90’s which at the time maintained zero tolerance. The physical architecture of the city was a constant inspiration, the elaboration and destruction of each generation contributing to the urban infrastructure. The same deconstructive processes can be seen in his creative influences of Jose Parla and Cy Twombly.

In the early 2000s, this interest in layers became more literal with the introduction of stencils into his work. The evolution moved him closer to a simple yet effective aesthetic he believed could bridge the gap between the passion and spontaneity Graffiti held for him, with the fragility and transience of nature. This balance would come to define his creative approach. With as many works on walls as on canvas and paper, the relationship between vulnerability and strength remains constant in each work.

Delicate and organic characters feature; butterflies, ballerinas and animals all rendered in empty grayscale space. Almost stylised, these minimal figures are constructed of a few layers of hand-cut stencils. The ashen tones of the compositions and vacant backgrounds are reminiscent of his alternative canvases, the concrete. True to form, no gray space stays gray for long in Martins presence. whether immersing entirely or embellishing a detail, the images disappear beneath expressive, spray- painted strokes of assorted colours and textures. Martins work features with festivals, projects and walls globally.

His original work can be found in private collections and institutions with solo exhibitions featured in cities from Tokyo to LA, London to New York.