STREETLIGHT

Artstübli presents at Art Basel 2017 a group exhibition of the most talented and upcoming Spanish artists and muralists. Axel Void, Sebas Velasco, Mr Kern, Mohamed Lghacham and Fafa show current canvas and wood works made of oil and acrylic.

Axel Void (Alejandro Hugo Dorda Mevs) was born in Miami in 1986 to a Haitian mother and a Spanish father. He was raised in Spain from the age of three, where he was strongly influenced by classical painting and drawing. Axel Void has been in contact with graffiti writing since 1999. He studied Fine Arts in Cádiz, Granada, and Sevilla, and based himself in Berlin until moving to Miami in 2013, where he currently resides. Axel is strongly influenced by classical painting and drawing. He is merging mural art, graffiti, oil and acrylic paint, creating shocking, uncomfortable and often dark pieces. These unpleasant, psychological and social issues dominating his work are repeatedly broken by ironic statements and the beauty he finds in even the most mundane of daily life.

Sebas Velasco was born 1988 in Burgos and began painting graffiti on the walls of his home town in 2004. Afterwards, he moved to Bilbao where he graduated in Fine Arts and specialized in painting. He deals with an enviable technique naturalism. His “canvases” are mainly the walls and tables. Materials used  are oil, acrylic, spray and pencils. His work has been exhibited individually and collectively in various cities of northern Spain so, and has received several awards. It is in the streets where he finds inspiration for his studio work.

Mohamed Lghacham (born 1993) is a painter and muralist of Mataró (Barcelona), born in Tangier (Morocco). Always interested in the plastic arts, in the institute he discovers the world of graffiti and years later he is attracted by the most classic painters and the language they use. His work is mainly figurative with a realistic character with Impressionist touches. He creates scenes from everyday life around him. All that, combined with the visual imagery of late 20th century photography.

Argentinean-born Ornaldo Kern aka Mr. Kern, made his first graffitis in Bordeaux in 1998. He then studied fine art at La Llotja, Barcelona. Currently Based in France, the self-described ‘grotesque semi-realist’, specialises in acutely critical,thought-provoking, and invariably humorous works exploring themes of globalisation and mass consumption. He made numerous exhibitions between New York and Sevilla passing through Buenos Aires...

Fafa is the pseudonym of a street artist and painter Rafael Marquez from Spain. Marquez was born in 1977 in Irun, Basque Country, but he grew up in Seville and lives now in Basel, Switzerland. He started painting graffiti in 1998, but he had painted much before that, since his childhood. Fafa went to art school in Seville, and learning about old old masters helped him shape his artistic practice. Fafa’s works aim to capture moments and the essence of his subjects.