July 15, 2008
XOOOOX - HIV AD BUSTING
Street artist XOOOOX overtook Berlin streets again! Last night the artist changed two advertising billboards into rioting street art pieces. Right in the heart of Germany’s capital: Berlin Mitte.
After overpainting existing billboard ads with white colour, XOOOOX created fake “H&M” advertisings. With help of stencil and spray can technique the brand Logo of the multi-national fashion brand has been modified to “HIV”. Like his British colleague BANKSY XOOOOX is an acclaimed artist which is shown in international art auctions together with artists like Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol,Terence Koh and Anselm Reyle. If you want to learn more about XOOOOX: The artist runs an exhibition at Berlin’s Circleculture Gallery until Sep 1o th, tue-sat rom 2-6 pm.
“MOLOTOV HIGH HEELS” BY XOOOOX
CIRCLECULTURE GALLERY IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE FIRST SOLO EXHIBITION OF BERLIN-BASED STREET ARTIST XOOOOX: “MOLOTOV HIGH HEELS”.
OPENING: JULY 17TH 2008, 7PM
EXHIBITION: JULY 18TH UNTIL SEPTEMBER 10TH 2008
TUESDAY UNTIL SATURDAY, 2PM – 6PM
XOOOOX has been a prolific graffiti artist since the mid 1990’s. Early experiments with collage gradually evolved into the artist’s signature stencil work, typically life-size figures or appropriated designer logos found predominately on the streets of Berlin and in Paris, Milan, Vienna, New York…
The exhibition will include emblematic stencil work by xoooox, as well as new collage and sculpture made from common materials such as cardboard, flea market furniture, found objects and discarded fashion magazines. A large-scale, public work, will accompany the exhibition. (details will be communicated)
XOOOOX manipulates immediately recognizable logos of upscale brands like Coco Chanel, re-contextualizing these elitist class signifiers within the inherently egalitarian space of the urban public sphere, while commenting on the visual power of branding in general. Life-sized stencils of females, conspicuously posed and styled as models often are, depict the icons of fashion’s cult of worship and recall the work of street art legends such as Blek le Rat, Misstick and Banksy, functioning as both traditional figurative studies and ironic representations of society’s obsession with the superficial.
Although XOOOOX’s stenciled images are inspired by the fashion spreads seen in magazines such as Vogue and avant-garde publications like Purple, this work is not a deconstruction of couture culture. On the contrary, each stencil, created painstakingly by hand, pays homage to the art form that is couture fashion, while criticizing the mass-merchandising and advertising campaigns of global retail chains.
Citing Pop Art, DADA and, of course, graffiti as major influences, the artist states, “You can use the power of fashion like a personal weapon. It can act like a shield, or it can destroy you.”
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
»Inoperable Poster Show«
Vienna, 2007
»Finders Keepers«
Milan, 2006
»Hollywood The Remix«
New York, 2005
www.xoooox.com
For further information please contact the gallery.
Circleculture Gallery
Gipsstrasse 11
10119 Berlin Mitte
Germany
berlin@circleculture-gallery.com
www.circleculture-gallery.com