PROJECT M/9 “COLORS”

BERLIN, GERMANY

June 2016

JUSTKIDS and StreetArtNews curated the Urban Nation Berlin notorious signature event Project M/9. Invited by URBAN NATION MUSEUM FOR URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART Director Yasha Young to brought summer flavors to Berlin, Project M/9 “Colors” co-curators Charlotte Dutoit and Rom Levy selected 6 international acclaimed artists to create murals at our future museum building in the Bülowstrasse 7 in Berlin-Schöneberg. “Colors” showcased the works of 12 amazing artists from all over the world last June 11th at URBAN NATION headquarter.

International artists 1010, Askew, Bicicleta Sem Freio, Borondo, Eron, and Fafi participated in creating stunning murals. While artists Crytstal Wagner, Felipe Pantone, Jan, Kaláb, Maser, Okuda San Miguel and Tristan Eaton exhibited their pieces.

“The purest and most thoughtful minds are those which love colour the most,” John Ruskin famously proclaimed in the 19th century. Our attraction to colour is innate and influences us every day, in a myriad of contexts. In our technology-centric world today, the possibilities of colour are great than ever.

The arcane effects of colours in the contemporary urban environment were explored through the work of 10 internationally renowned artists. Whether in large-scale murals in urban environments around the world, or on smaller scale pieces on paper and canvas, the ten featured artists—hailing from around the globe—converged to investigate the specific way a high-octane colour palette can produce an intense visual experience. In some of the works—shown for the first time in Berlin—this emerges from the interactions between colours and their tensions and contrasts; while other works inquire into the expressive qualities of colours in the context of visual culture today.

From figurative forms to more abstract treatments, each artist offered their own interpretation of bright colours. For artists including Askew, Tristan Eaton, Bicicleta Sem Freio, as well as Okuda San Miguel and Fafi, the figurative portrait is reimagined as a psychotropic mix of patterns and 80s comic-book hues, where lines are deconstructed and progressively dissolved by a spectrum of the most vivid colour and abstract forms.