Art of Bustart: Paris – Amsterdam

During the year of 2012 I travelled several times between Paris and Amsterdam.  Because of my huge passion for street art and biking, those two cities attract me as a perfect alchemy.

On my first trip to the Dutch capital,  a city well  known for its liberal way of thinking, I discovered a painting on a empty lot that caught my attention. A huge stencil of a monkey, quite screaming, in black and white.

Street art in Amsterdam

When I shared my pictures on facebook, Thom Thom, a French street-artist and co-founder of Le M.U.R. (an important organization that promotes street-art in Paris) gave me the name of the artist: Bustart.

After a while I met Thom Thom in Paris during a performance at Le M.U.R. He was wearing a black t-shirt with the monkey from Bustart.  In that moment I realized how I really like this character.  It’s not just about a beautiful monkey drawing, more than this. Unconsciously I knew that I should discover more about this artist.

Monkey by Bustart in Amsterdam –  Owl on the left by Zara

Bustart is a street artist from Basel, Switzerland, based in Amsterdam. He left his city a while ago after being arrested several times for graffiting in the walls of one of the most important city in the art-world. Nowadays he is a versatile street-artist that works with different techniques and wants to provoke through his message. Non-stop is the best way to define Bustart, his art is everywhere in Amsterdam.

After discovering  the outstanding monkey from Bustart, during my others trip to Amsterdam, his art was revealed to me by some paintings on the streets containing  imperative words, such as: Belief, Consume, Revolution, Solution…. From this new discoveries I could understand the reason why I get so connected with the monkey of Bustart.

Consume by Bustart in Amsterdam

Belief by Bustart in Amsterdam

Consume by Bustart in Amsterdam

Revolution by Bustart. Work on the left by Zaira in Amsterdam.

Consume Devil by Bustart. Work on the left by Zaira in Amsterdam.

I’m fascinated with the fact that street-art can be a powerful way to fight against big corporations that handles upon 99% of the world for the profit of 1%.  Naturally this is not the only message that can be intrinsic in street-art. In fact there is no limit, street-art and graffiti  are suppose to be a transgressed way of self-expression for everyone that wants to manifest one’s ideas, thoughts or share their creations  freely on the public spaces.

I strongly believe that street-art can bring  positive things into people’s life: Hope, love,  inspiration, joy, freedom, dreams, accessibility, interaction, and many others. But I confess that I have a special taste for artists that have skills to provoke a critical way of thinking.  Bustart has been doing it.  His art-work contains a critic sense of propaganda and consumption, that makes me remember the work of Ron English, Shepard Fairey and the culture jamming.

During  my time in Amsterdam this year I counted more than 30 works of Bustart on the streets. Also a big show that he was involved named Urban Art House last August, moment that I could appreciate his work on canvas and installations.

Auto-portrait by Bustart in Amsterdam

Street-art made me poor by Bustart

Wall by Bustart and Zaira in Amsterdam

Canvas and installation by Bustart at Urban House Show in Amsterdam

Finally,  last November at the show Le M.U.R. de L’Art in Paris, through Thom Thom  again, I met Bustart personally. During the show I had the pleasure to interview him for the  street-art documentary that I’m working with Alternative Paris. Moment that he was accompanied by his girlfriend and artist Zaira. This footage is reserved for the edition of the documentary, but you can see below a video teaser with Bustart and other street-artist that Alternative Paris crew also produced at this time.

As a non-stop street-artist, during his time in Paris, Bustart naturally did some illegal works on the streets. I was surprised that a poster of his campaign Consume devil, was kept for almost a week on the streets of Le Marais, a temple for consumption in Paris.

Bustart for Le M.U.R in Paris

Bustart mural for Le M.U.R de L’Art in Paris
Photo: Richard Beban & Paris Play copyright 2012

Bustart and Zaira during my interview for Alternative Paris – documentary.
Photo by Charles Devoyer

Consume Devil poster in Paris by Bustart

Zaira and Bustart work in progress in Amsterdam

Stencil by Bustart in Amsterdam

On my last trip to Amsterdam, a week later after interviewing Bustart and Zaira in Paris, I hang out with the couple of artists. We biked around Amsterdam to discover new works on the walls and I also watched them performing on the streets.  Street art + bike = perfect alchemy.

My year of 2012 have all been running by incredible connexions and discovered as I had with Bustart travelling between Paris – Amsterdam.  Right now, by the end of 2012 it is time to dream with new goals for 2013. I really expect to continue seeing the work of Bustart and Zaira but this time more often in the streets of Paris. Let’s cross fingers.

Inside Outside – Street-Art exibhition in Amsterdam

I spent 10 lovely days of summer in Amsterdam biking and looking for street-art.

Even with some artistic references from others short trips that I did over there this year,  I allowed myself to make this search in a very raw way, just biking and being surprised with each art works that I found on the streets. I also visited some galleries and exhibitions focused on Street-art.

I will make a new series of posts about street art in Amsterdam,  starting with one exhibition that I joined at Go Gallery. The exhibition ends on August 26, but even with a short time to suggest you to visit it, I want to document and register this show that has a sharp curatorial work and high quality in each piece.

I also was really well received by one of the owners of the gallery, Mr. Farud Camabatta, who charmly and with passion presented me the concept of the show and the artists that the gallery represents.

Inside Outside exhibition shows what a few foreign and local artists think about Holland and Amsterdam in particularly. The Dutch Chesse maiden, Red light district, Maxima, Dutch haring,  soft drugs,  wooden shoes, canals, tulips,  Beatrix,  Gaypride, Dutch windmills, The Big 5: Rembrandt, Van Rijn ,  Vincent Van Gogh,  Johannes Vermeer, Jan Steen,  Frans Hals and other Dutch and Amsterdam stereotypes are pictured in the art work.

The collective exhibition presets 6 artists: Mr. Trash, Second and Emess from Germany, The London Police, Ives.One and Oliver Philippe  from Amsterdam. The Netherlands, specially Amsterdam is world famous for its liberal way of thinking. Naturally this freedom is presented in this great show! If you are in Amsterdam this week I highly recommend you to visit Go Gallery.

“Funky Nightwatch” – Mr. Trash

“What a can looks like” – Mr. Trash

Alter Ego – Second

Lost Hero – Second

“Not bad Habiba, not bad” – The London Police

Barry I – The London Police

Oliver Philippe

Oliver Philippe

Ives.One

Ives.One

Vincent van Gogh – Emess

M.C. Escher – Emess

Inside Out: The True Colors by Lex Pott

Still in Amsterdam, still in NSDM North I will continue to tell you about all the good things that I captured on that energized,  creative yet organic environment. Actually, those are words that I heard from the designer Lex Pott. These abstract concepts are all inside all his work.

The  young designer Lex Pott is graduated cum laude in 2009 at the Design Academy Eindhoven, one of the most prestigious institutions of design in the world. He works in a raw and intuitive method, combining art and industrial design. His subjects come from the origins of the materials, working mostly with wood, stone and metals. He is looking for the essence of  things and he has been finding with great spontaneity.

In his studio at NDSM Werf, north of Amsterdam, I had the opportunity to appreciate his most recent work called “The True Colors Miniatures”, that will be presented during the Salone del Mobile 2012 in Milan, next week.

A series of  6 panels, each with their own formula and colors, on which the oxidization transforms and reacts where the true colors of this art pieces come from. Inside out, as Lex describes.  Forty limited editions of the “The True Colors” captured from the beauty and irregularity of metals have been sold exclusively via Found By James.

Appreciating Lex Pott ideas and his art/design organic work combined with this creative atmosphere from the NSDM,  confirms that The Netherlands are able to look forward and act globally with new perspectives but at the same time in a raw and natural way. That represents a deep respect for the whole Universe!

Watch the special preview of the inspirational process for “The True Colors Miniatures”.

 

 

Graffitis in Amsterdam Noord.

Continuing my series of articles about Amsterdam, I will show some graffiti’s that I saw in Amsterdam Noord. Invited by the product designer Lex Poot, who has a studio there ( I will talk about him in my next post) we left downtown Amsterdam and took for free, btw a boat to NDSM Werf.

The NDSM is an old shipyard on the shore of IJ North of Amsterdam, that was closed down in 1984 when the ship industry started to move out of Holland. Now the place is the center of subculture in Amsterdam.

The patio measures 84.000m2, the equivalent of 10 football fields.  It hosts the NDSM barn, with the area of 20.000m2 and 20 meters high, where 250 artists work with visual arts, design, theatre, cinema, media and architecture

The pear NDSM is the home of several artistic disciplines and crafts, it’s a refuge for artists and individual crafts, for known and less know artists, independent organizations that work together and inspire each other expecting that new initiatives arise.

With a lot of space for creative minds, of course that there’s a lot of graffitti, bringing colors, contrast and inspiring messages for this incredible place.

I Amsterdam!

All pictures by Maria Fernanda