french street artist making splash
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Last Updated : GMT 09:40:38
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

With 'oil exploration'

French street artist making splash

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicleFrench street artist making splash

French artist Zevs
London - Arab Today

French street artist Zevs is bringing his signature style indoors with an exhibition playing on the dominance of oil, which opens Friday in London.

The 38-year-old former graffiti artist has taken his trademark "liquidation" technique -- where colours drip from the logos of big corporations -- from walls to canvas.

But "The Big Oil Splash", done in bold acrylic colours, is not an artist's moan at the power of giant oil corporations and the environmental damage caused by oil spills, but a playful look at its power.

"It's an oil exploration. It would be too easy to perceive this as an attack on oil. Things are never black and white, and these paintings are not black and white," Zevs told AFP.

The series of paintings are variations on British artist David Hockney's 1967 pop art painting "A Bigger Splash", which depicts the splash in a swimming pool beside a modern house, on a sunny California day.
They feature the logos of oil companies such as Exxon and Esso dripping down the house wall, flowing into the swimming pool and diluting in the water.

"This is a paradox: this vision of paradise, but one created by man. The only natural thing is how the oil spills into the pool. We can find beauty in its dilution," said Zevs.

"Like the original splash, it disturbs the tranquillity of the pool and the straight lines of the painting."

- Crude oil hot tub -

The series is a natural extension of his liquidated logo street art. Since 2005, Zevs has sprung upon corporation logos in public spaces and dripped their colours down the wall below them.

He was arrested in Hong Kong in 2009 for daubing a Chanel logo on an Armani store.

He defended himself saying it was intended to reflect the "battle of the brands". 

The idea of stepping into Hockney's iconic painting references the trespassing on private property involved in street art.
The exhibition also features a hot tub filled with Naftalan crude oil from Azerbaijan, where people bathe in it for its claimed healing properties.

Next to it is the logo of Total, seemingly dripping down the wall into the bath.

"The drips show the loss of power from the logo, but the painting is frozen so we could also see them as legs holding it up," said Zevs, reflecting on how giant corporations, like mountains, change their state over time.

"I like the idea that art can have a certain force and take it from power itself."

"The Big Oil Splash", which is free to visit, runs until September 1 at the Lazarides Gallery, owned by Steve Lazarides, the former agent for British graffiti artist Banksy.

Zevs' exhibition explores how the oil industry has spilled over into banking, finance, shipping, foreign policy, tourism, arts and leisure since the time of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller.

- Images revealed by UV -

The second half of the exhibition features blank canvases in bold colours -- or so it seems until they are exposed to ultraviolet light.
The light from a solarium sunbed -- itself covered with luminous plastic water pistols and packets of white powder in another take on the paradise lifestyle -- reveals the screen prints beneath.

The images show Rockefeller, a yacht, Jackson Pollock-style works and cops from the 1980s US television crime drama "Miami Vice" -- a huge hit around the time of the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill.

"Maybe they're looking for each other. It's like an investigation," the Berlin-based artist said.

"It's a way to play with the history of petrol and of art."

But the UV light will eventually make the images disappear altogether.

"The more we look at it, the more it disappears, reflecting the idea of preservation and conservation," said Zevs.

"I don't know how long this work will evolve."

Zevs' next project is an entirely different five-month exhibition entitled "Noir Eclair", at the Chateau de Vincennes outside Paris, which opens in September.

Source: AFP

themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle

GMT 09:03 2018 Monday ,22 January

Letter shows Simone de Beauvoir's passion

GMT 13:25 2018 Saturday ,20 January

Vienna marks 100 years since artistic heyday

GMT 08:47 2018 Monday ,15 January

Japan sewers clean up their act

GMT 11:05 2017 Sunday ,12 November

Nature's nastiest beasts on show

GMT 12:28 2017 Wednesday ,01 November

Exiled Parisian Impressionists reunite
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

french street artist making splash french street artist making splash

 



Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle

GMT 08:32 2011 Monday ,25 July

Sabri accuses Yusri in Souad Hosni’s murder

GMT 12:07 2014 Monday ,03 February

Home design ideas

GMT 11:20 2017 Thursday ,02 March

Mexico central bank cuts growth outlook over Trump

GMT 08:31 2017 Tuesday ,28 November

Bangladesh upholds death sentence for 139 soldiers

GMT 14:33 2017 Thursday ,20 April

US defense secretary vows support for Egypt's Sisi

GMT 16:12 2017 Wednesday ,20 December

Myanmar bars UN rights investigator just before visit

GMT 08:21 2017 Wednesday ,30 August

United Technologies near deal to buy Rockwell Collins

GMT 18:27 2017 Friday ,21 April

ARCO condemns targeting of ERC convoy in Somalia
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
Themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle
 
 Themuslimchronicle Facebook,themuslimchronicle facebook  Themuslimchronicle Twitter,themuslimchronicle twitter Themuslimchronicle Rss,themuslimchronicle rss  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube  Themuslimchronicle Youtube,themuslimchronicle youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2023 ©

muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle muslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle themuslimchronicle
themuslimchronicle
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle, themuslimchronicle