Strong, clean lines and cubist inspired characters in vivid colors have long been the main signifiers of Berlin based artist James Reka’s, aka Reka’s, paintings. His previous works, featured here on our blog, depict geometrical figures but the choice of colors, the backgrounds, and the style have dramatically changed over the past few years. His graffiti background is becoming less evident as Reka is increasingly interested in abstraction, and his new work may be his most enigmatic.
The ten large scale paintings that he made for his solo show “Mirage” at the Galerie Mathgoth, in Paris, depict mostly feminine creatures, embraced by a geometrical and abstract scenario. In addition to his pieces on canvas, Reka has painted new pieces using aerosol cans and transformed his tools into pieces of art in their own right. In the land of Marcel Duchamp, who once said that pieces of art weren’t really pieces of art, James Reka is building a mirage: “Is this an old can? Is this art?” Like seeing a mirage, these pieces get you wondering “Is that a girl? Are those flowers? What is going on?” The answer to those questions may also come as a question: “What is it that you want to see?” James Reka’s Mirage” will be on view from April 30 until 21 may 2016.
Inside a run-down building off Berlin’s Nollendorfplatz, an area known historically for both its gay culture and punk community, 12 artists from eight countries (Fernando Chamarelli, João Ruas, Alexis Diaz (La Pandilla), NoseGo, Word to Mother, Curiot, Low Bros, Andrew Schoultz, Glenn Barr, C215, Dabs Myla, and JBAK) worked for two days to create original artworks for the facades and windows of the currently unused site (exciting news about the future of this space to come).
Portugal-born muralist 
England-born, Toronto-based painter 
Taiwan may not be the first place to come to mind when you think about street art, but Hawaiian arts organization Pow! Wow! recently made Taipei its second home. For the last week, about 40 international and Taiwanese artists scaled buildings and crossed below highways to bring their fresh paint styles to Taipei. Just a few months ago, the Pow! Wow! team was in Hawaii revamping the walls of Honolulu for the fourth edition of street art festival