the street is our gallery

April 13, 2018 to April 15, 2018

The exhibition Swiss Watches takes place at the same time as the Urban Art Fair and marks a contrast, as the show Swiss Watches is an independent urban art exhibition. The goal of the exposition is to present Swiss quality by selecting only the most emerging artist in Graffiti Art. In 2016 Kolly Gallery initiated a series of exhibitions, entitled Swiss Cheese and Swiss Chocolate, in order to bring attention to the exceptional urban art movement. For the third exhibition Swiss Watches is presenting a quite international line up as well as some new names and unexpected urban jewels. The represented artists are: FLYING FÖRTRESS (DE), PAVELRTUE (RU), 123 KLAN (CA), SWEETUNO (CH) and SUPAKITCH (FR).

Guest: Happy Gallery (FR)

Swiss Watches is welcoming Happy Gallery (FR) as guest exhibitor. Happy Gallery is an online gallery specialized on production of limited high quality objects made by graffiti and street artists. On behalf of Happy Gallery artworks by Speedy Graphito, Gilbert 1 and Nicolas Barrome Forgues will be presented.

FLYING FÖRTRESS (DE)

Förtress is always flying between graphic design and graffiti, tags and silkscreen. The German artist from Hamburg is mostly known for his troopers. His logo represents an illustration of an amusing bear showing both of his paws. The image is torn between the cuddly toy and an aggressive animal effigy. The trooper always wears a German military helmet representing the second world war. The purpose is to preserve the unique aesthetic of the country‘s graphic art in the 1939-45, obviously excluding its content. His humorous troopers are joyful without being grotesque. The artist amuses himself with variations of his logo, always reusing the basic elements but changing theme or figure.

PAVEL RTUE (RU)

Pavel Rtue is an emerging street artist from Sevastopol, Russia. Recently he has been catching the attention of many with his abstract pieces and murals through the internet and social media.

Starting in the 2000s with typical graffiti fonts, he gradually came to his recognizable abstract style and technique without losing the desire to experiment and discover new approaches in graffiti. Through the naïve and raw approach represented in his pieces he states a strong link between Art Brut and Abstract Expressionism. In his works he combines abstraction and figurative images, creating expressive figurative compositions or fonts.

His roots of the classic writing are undeniable in his street works, whereas his studio based works seem

very contemporary and abstract. He intends to show the unreadable and less aesthetic side of graffiti, which results as abstract gesture of urbanity.

123 KLAN (CA)

Based in Montreal, 123KLAN is a graffiti crew founded by the French duo Scien and Mrs. Klor in 1992.

Influenced by the 90’s graffiti style expressed in Europe and New York, 123KLAN crafted an hybrid style which gave them rapid recognition. By shifting the boundaries of their two favorite disciplines – graphics and graffiti – 123KLAN advanced the graffiti aesthetics and infused a healthy dose of new ideas intographic design. Their first works were enriched by huge, sharped-angled letters in acid colors. Characters with futuristic manga features pose alongside experimental type. 123KLAN are the precursors of this style that mixes graffiti and graphics.Among others, they exhibited in: Brussels, Berlin, Honolulu, Lisbon, Los Angeles, Marrakech, Mexico City, Moscow, New York, Paris, Rio, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo and Zurich.

SWEETUNO (CH)

Sweetuno was born and grew up in Basel, Switzerland. For the past 12 years he has been living and working in Heidelberg, Germany. Since his first steps within the graffiti universe in 1989, he remained true to his traditional graffiti roots: from a tag to a throw up, from simple letters to wild style. Growing up in the mid-90′s in Basel’s graffiti-scene, Sweetuno was influenced by the famous train line full of different and unique styles. His search for identity within style and his aim for continuous improvements are still

Sweetuno’s driving forces. His work is experimental but always true to his roots. Since 2008 Sweetuno has been displaying his graffiti work in different exhibitions throughout Europe.

SUPAKITCH (FR)

Guillaume Grando a.k.a. SupaKitch was born 1978 in Bagnolet. Deriving from his artistic career he is a globetrotter, therefore hie lives in Biarritz and works in Biarritz, Paris, Los Angeles and New York. With his Asian, indigenous-Indian and pop-romantic inspired universe of imagery he has already ornamented walls globally.

Raised with mangas and hip-hop culture, passionated by art and music since his childhood, SupaKitch found a large choice of mediums and sources of inspiration on the streets. His first graffiti dates back to 1990. In the early 2000s when he began to present his works to the public the name SupaKitch was born. A very interesting and successful collaboration with Carhartt and its “Tour D’Amour” in 2006 allowed SupaKitch and other artists to paint murals in some of the brand’s stores across Europe.

LOCATION

Kolly Gallery
c/o Espace Oppidum
30, Rue de la Picardie
75003 Paris, France