The Art from the Streets is coming to Beijing

Art work by JR – courtesy Galerie Magda Danysz

Beijing is getting all buzzed with a Street Art show coming up at CAFA Museum on July 1st. Being the first museum show dedicated to this art form it is for sure a big event. Most of the people would think this movement is just about teenagers, youngsters, who are doing “stuff” in the street. That was maybe true at the beginning in the 1970s but now one has to acknowledge it is a true form of art.

Over the past 40 years, the involved artists in the movement inevitably have built a pan of our visual culture and contemporary art. Since the beginning of the movement in Philadelphia and New York in the 70s, this artistic movement was tremendously enriched. Each generation of artists brought new techniques, new ambitions. For these artists there are no limits to inspiration.

And some of these “teenagers” are now legends turning 60 ! FUTURA is one of these legendary artists whose work will be featured in the CAFA Museum show “Art From the Streets”. Other legendary artist will also be on show like the “Godfather of Graffiti” graffiti artist SEEN or QUIK who will be even making a whole mural for the show in a live painting session.

Yes we are talking about Art !

Why consider this movement is crucially important in the realm of Art History? At a time of unbridled globalization, of an all-Internet age, instant communication, what other cultural movement has been able to unite together so many people all over the planet? What artistic practice reflects this well our world (urbanized and made of glaring inequalities)? What works appeal to such a wide audience? Never in the history of art there had been such a phenomenon, not on this scale (global) or of this magnitude in terms of audience. And that's what bothers perhaps ... From a purely artistic point of view, it is indisputable that both the techniques employed (spray cans, stencils, collages ...) and the way of working (murals, ephemeral monumental works...) regenerate some sense of art. Renewal is at all levels.

In recent years, numerous institutional exhibitions were organized. Many published works focused on the academic study of this artistic movement and why it is so important on the scale of contemporary art both in the Western and non-Western parts of the world. In 2008, the London Tate Modern invited street artists to participate to the "Street Art" exhibition. Then in 2009, the Cartier Fondation in Paris, offered a very rich insight of this art with their “Born in the Streets” show. In 2011, the MoCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Los Angeles did put up a monumental show to retrace the movement’s diversity. In 2012 also the Paris Postal Museum inaugurated the "Beyond Street Art" historical show. Many other institutions like PS1 in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the Baden Baden Frieder Burda Museum in Germany, the CAC Malaga in Spain have showcased the main artists of this movement, like recently the famous artist JR.

About 50 Street artists from Brazil, China, France, Italy, Portugal, Senegal, the US, and the UK  will be on hand to show us their works. Each step of the show aims at telling the beautiful story of an art movement often snubbed by the art intellectuals, and yet so popular these days. Many people tend to oversee that there is a rich history to this movement, real art is being delivered by the artists, each of them having their own specific style and voice. This exhibition is an important archive exhibition of street art, where the audience can gain a better understanding of the history and development of street art.

Street art is unquestionably, for who wants to see, the most important artistic movement of the early twenty-first century. For some this is not yet obvious. Time will teach them.

Academic Advisor: Fan Di'an

Academic Director: Su Xinping

Curators: Tang Hui, Magda Danysz

Time of opening ceremony:  3:00pm,July 1st , 2016

Duration: July 1st, 2016~ August 24th, 2016

Place: 3B exhibition Hall, CAFA Art Museum Opening time of museum: 9:30~17:30, Tuesday~Saturday (ticket sales till 17:00)Address: No.8, South Street of Huajiadi, Chaoyang District, Beijing

Art work by JR – courtesy Galerie Magda Danysz

街头艺术展即将于7月1日在北京中央美术学院博物馆展举办。第一个博物馆致力于展现这种艺术形式，这确实是一个大事情。大多数的人会认为这一运动只与在街头混混的青少年有关，街头艺术起源于20世纪70年代，现在必须承认它是一个真正的艺术形式。

在过去的40年中，这场运动的艺术家必然建立了起视觉文化和当代艺术。自20世纪70年代在费城和纽约的运动开始以来，这一艺术运动极大地丰富了。每一代艺术家都带来了新的技术，新的野心。对于这些艺术家，灵感没有极限。

而其中的一些“青少年”，现在是已经六十多岁的传奇人物。FUTURA是其中一个具有传奇色彩的艺术家，其作品将刊登在中央美术学院博物馆展”街道艺术”。其他著名的艺术家也将出席诸如“涂鸦教父”等艺术展,涂鸦艺术家SEEN或QUIK将在现场绘画整个壁画。

是的我们在讨论艺术！

为什么认为这次运动在艺术史的进程中是至关重要的？在疯狂国际化、网络化、快速化沟通之际，其他哪个艺术运动会懂得在同一时间汇聚如此多来自地球不同区域的人们？哪种艺术行为可以如此地反映我们的社会（城市化和严重的不平等现象）？哪些作品可以涉及到如此大规模的公众？在艺术史上我们从没有目睹过如此的现象，在这个全球化阶段没有，在观众的规模上也没有。但是这次艺术运动可能扰乱......从纯艺术的角度来看，不可辩驳的是，这些方法（喷雾罐，模板，拼贴画…）和工作方式（壁画，短暂的纪念作品…）为街头艺术家后续的步骤新生了一部分对艺术的认可。新生就是所有水准。

近年来，举办了许多制度化的展览。不少出版的作品集对这一艺术运动进行了学术研究，无论是在西方或非西方，为什么这次运动在当代艺术范畴内如此的重要。2008年，伦敦泰特现代艺术馆邀请街头艺术家参与“街头艺术”展览。2009年，巴黎卡地亚基金会赞助了极富洞察力“出生在街头“秀。2011年，洛杉矶MoCA（现代美术馆）也大型展览以展示该运动的多样性。2012年，巴黎邮政博物馆开创了“超越街头艺术”的历史展示。许多其他机构，诸如纽约PS1、波士顿当代艺术协会、德国巴登巴登布尔达博物馆，西班牙马拉加的CAC展示了这场运动的主要艺术家。

展览每个步骤的目的是讲述一项艺术运动被艺术理论家不看好继而受人追捧的美好故事。许多人会忽视这场运动的丰富历史，真正的艺术是由艺术家传播，他们每个人都有自己的特定的风格和想法。本次展览是重要的街头艺术档案展，观众可以更好地了解街头艺术的历史和发展。

来自巴西、中国、法国、意大利、葡萄牙、塞内加尔、美国和英国的50个街头艺术家将向我们展示他们的作品。

然而街头艺术的丰富历史是不可辩驳的，对于乐于欣赏它的人，这次艺术运动是21世纪初最重要的。但是在一些人的眼中，它仍在努力获取其高尚的证书。时间会证明给他们看。

学术顾问:范迪安

学术主持:苏新平

策展人:唐晖、唐妮诗 (Magda Danysz)  

开幕时间：2016/7/1  下午3:00

展览时间：2016/7/1-2016/8/24

展览地点：中央美术学院美术馆 3B展厅

美术馆开放时间：周二至周日（每周一闭馆）9:30至17:30（17点以后停止售票）

展览地址：北京市朝阳区花家地南街8号中央美术学院美术馆