On Thursday November 23, Wunderkammern gallery in Milan will be presenting CRYPTOGRAMS, a new solo show with internationally acclaimed street artist L’Atlas.
L’Atlas (born in France in 1978) lives and works in Paris and is one of the most internationally recognised artists within the Urban Art movement today. He has exhibited in important institutions in Paris such as Fondation Cartier (2009), Grand Palais (2009), Palais de Tokyo (2007) and Centre Pompidou (2004). In 2017 the artist has collaborated with Guerlain exhibiting at La Maison Guerlain, also in Paris.
He started his artistic career in the early ’90s painting in the streets of Paris. His strong interest in calligraphic techniques, led him to study Chinese, Arabic and Hebrew calligraphy in different countries around the world. His passion led him to create his own typography basing his work on letters and forms, always favouring black and white for their capacity to create an optical vibration while observing the artwork. In his artistic production it is possible to find a combination and a synthesis of elements deriving from Graffiti, Geometric Abstraction, Optical Art and Kinetic Art.
“[…] life is energy and also calligraphy is energy, painting is the translation of pure energy” – L’Atlas
Entitled CRYPTOGRAMS, the exhibition refers to the nature of L’Atlas work. Cryptogram is a ciphered or coded text, whose comprehension is not immediately accessible but needs instead a proper interpretation and translation. The artist’s cryptograms appear as abstract labyrinths, concealing letters within their geometry and lines. While calligraphy mixes with Op art, the artworks play with the viewer’s perception and they explore the line between what is visible and what is apparently invisible.
For the occasion, L’Atlas produced a new series of canvases of medium size specifically for the exhibition at Wunderkammern; the majority of them has been created using white, black or different tonalities of grey spray paint. However, the artist has also introduced in two artworks a colour which becomes fluorescent under black light.
The exhibition opens on Thursday 23 of November and runs through December 21 at the gallery located on Via Ausonio 1A, Milan.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
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