C215 at Montana Gallery Barcelona
If you weren’t lucky enough to catch this C215 show at the Montana Gallery in Barcelona before February 2, 2013, well… it’s too late now. But lucky for you, I WAS able to go and I photographed much of the brilliant work on display there. I waited until the show was over on this one because I didn’t want to give away the goodies for those who were planning to attend.
C215 exhibit at Montana Gallery Barcelona 12/2012.
I first happened across C215’s work while roaming the back fondamentas of Venice in 2009. At the time, I’d never seen such a distinctive stencil painting out on the street and it led me to research this brilliant Parisian artist and his work.
C215 stencil in Venice 12/2009.
C215 stencil in Venice 12/2009.
While C215 (Christian Guémy) has been a street artist for more than 20 years, his signature stencil technique really evolved into its own style after 2006 and has been progressing ever since. Most people know him for his intricate portraits of street people: the homeless, orphans, laborers, the poverty-stricken denizens of desperation. While on the surface, it may appear to be an image of someone who looks down and out, upon closer examination they often also seem to be brimming with unbridled joy.
C215 stencil on the streets of Barcelona 12/2012.
But there’s much more than that in his big bag of tricks. Lately you can see more lovers, animals, and even mythological figures in his work.
C215 painting on rusted metal on display at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
Large C215 painting on display at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
Detail of C215 painting on display in Montana Gallery 12/2012.
This show included a variety of works by the artist. Many on wooden boards which gave a nice added texture to the paintings. Some even had tiny hand-crank music boxes attached to them giving each one its own analog soundtrack to be performed by the viewers themselves.
C215 paintings at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
Detail of C215 painting with music box at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
There was also a strong series of works done on street/construction signs. These paintings made great usage of the saturated yellow and stark black of the signs allowing the artist’s sharp details to stand out.
C215 painting at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
Detail of C215 painting at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
In addition to beautiful portraits, these sign paintings included some political and more serious works.
C215 painting at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
(notice the “Cash for Your Warhol stencil just below this painting?)
C215 also selected some works tackling the battles of drug addiction and incorporating some very strong phrases.
C215 painting at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
C215 installation “Buy Art Not Cocaine” at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
One break-away piece was this installation appearing to be “stencilled” by cocaine on a mirror.
C215 often works on what he calls “urban furniture” like mailboxes and such. There were several of these pieces in the show, embellished by extending the paint onto the walls themselves as he did with most of the items at this exhibition.
C215 painting at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
C215 painting at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
One of the larger works in the show was this “Summer of Love Music Festival” painting on wooden planks.
C215 painting at Montana Gallery 12/2012.
So, all together, a fairly small but very strong exhibition highlighting some of the many different styles of this versatile artist. C215 is one of the most prolific artists out there today and would likely make most people’s top 25 list. So keep a lookout for his work. It often blends right into it’s environment, and that fits right in with the artist’s intentions.
“I try to interact with context, so I place in the streets elements and characters that belong especially to the streets.” – quoted from C215’s Facebook page.
On my way to the exhibition at The Montana Gallery in Barcelona, I walked right past this piece without even noticing it until my wife pointed it out.
C215 painting on the streets of Barcelona 12/2012.
And when possible, be sure to get up close and personal with his work. The details don’t disappoint.
Detail of C215 painting on the streets of Barcelona 12/2012.
all photos and text © Lance Aram Rothstein for Labeauratoire.
LINKS:
C215 official flickr stream / website
Christian Guemy’s Instagram feed
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lance aram rothstein
Labeauratoire Blog 
February 5th, 2013 at 2:55 am
Nice article and the artists’ work is most interesting – The stencil work is unusual, hope I run across some..