SP38 - Occupy 7, Berlin Biennale, 2012 - photo by Thomas Von Wittich
SP38 - Myanmar 2012
SP38- Myanmar 2012
SP38 - Escape - France 2011
SP38 - New York 2011
SP38 - Escape - New York 2011
SP38 - Escape - Estonia 2011
SP38 - Escape - Berlin 2011
SP38 - Performance - NYC 2011
SP38 - Escape - Paris
Biography
SP38 is a French street artist, painter, and performer who has been based in Berlin for the past 15 years. He papers the walls of his city, and many others across the globe with what he calls “urban poetry”.
The artist paints very quickly, and repetitively, and refers to himself, regarding his art practice, as a “human copy machine”; a copy machine reproducing the same motifs, and texts on posters to paste them in various places, and countries, and as a human one because what he does is not entirely identical, and includes tiny imperfections that can be found in handmade works.
The artist 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. They could be the wallpapers of children 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 colours, and those simplified images, to his letters as a very graphic trademark, SP38 makes statements about rather serious matters very casually. “ESCAPE”, “OCCUPY”, “BOMB AMERICA”, “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, adorn the urban landscape. The freshly printed aspect of his posters echoes the subjects of his slogans that are right of-the-moment.
As many artists, like Jenny Holzer, whose main focus is to spread words or ideas in the public or urban space, SP38 thinks that, “ART MUST BE OUTSIDE”. His provocative and lighthearted slogans, his humour, fraught with irony, and sarcasm, enable him to provoke without being aggressive. He wants to trigger a reaction, a reflexion, and potentially some involvement. He wriggles out of his provocation without annoying the viewer. Lightheartedness makes the catchy and lapidary slogans act as catalysts for a serene debate.(words: Florence Reidenbach for Open Walls Gallery)
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Selected Exhibitions
2012 - International Performance Festival "Escape" - Germany
2011 - Group Show "Dissidents" - West Berlin Gallery - Germany
2011 - Exhibition "Print making festival" - Pärnu (Estonia)
2011 - "Hunger"International Performance Festival - Berlin (Germany)
2011 - Performance & street art action"Obseded 3" - New York (USA)
2011 - Performance, cooking & street at action "Viva Montreal" - Canada
2011 - Exhibition "Fresh Paint" - Montreal (Canada)
2011 - Exhibition "Freischwimmer festival" - Berlin (Germany)
2011 - Performance "Berlin Del Mar" - Germany
2011 - Korea Experimental Art Festival (KEAF) - Seoul (Korea)
2011 - Artbase Festival - Germany
2011 - Performance & street art action "Tupada Action & Media Art" (TAMA) - Philippines
2011 - Group Show "Beyond Good & Evil" - West Berlin Gallery - Germany
2010 - Festival of Performance Art "Beyond Pressure " - Myanmar (Burma)
2010 - Festival "Artaq Berlin" - Germany
2010 - Group Show "The Last Show" - ATM Gallery Berlin (Germany)
2010 - Exhibition "Fou" - Frichez nous la paix - Paris (France)
2010 - Artfair Stroke#3 - Berlin (Germany)
2010 - Crane in Kunsthalle Faust - Hannover (Germany)
2010 - New Hamels, Gang Jin Residency - South Korea
2010 - Ravy 2010 - Yaounde (Cameroun)
2010 - "Printemps des Poètes" - Berlin (Germany)
2009 - Knot - Berli (Germany)
2009 - Z.A.Z Festival - Israel
2009 - Viva Art Action - Montreal (Canada)
2009 - "Du street art à la campagne" - France
2009 - Urban Affair Extended - Berlin (Germany)
2008 - In graafika Festival - Pärnu (Estonia)
2008 - Not a penny off the pay - Bristol (United Kingdom)
2008 - 7 Jahre Fleischerei - Neurotitan - Berlin (Germany)
2008 - La Joconde revisitée - Studio 55 - Paris (France)
2008 - Volks Luxus, Anyway Gallery - Berlin (Germany)
