press kit - Grafikama

Within the Voyage à Nantes
Pick Up Production in collaboration with Kazy Usclef presents
GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store)
A COLLECTIVE EXHIBITION
FROM JULY 1ST TO AUGUST 28TH 2016 • NANTES
PRESS KIT
GRAFIKAMA
(Paint Store)
GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store) is the third and last part of a cycle of exhibitions dedicated
to graphic creation around the world, initiated by Pick Up Production and the artist
Kazy Usclef for the Voyage à Nantes. After Latin America (Villa Ocupada, 2014), then
Asia (Asie Riderz, 2015), Africa is this year being spotlighted.
About fifteen artists from african metropolitan cities have performed during the
month of june in an old industrial building, in Nantes. For two weeks, and hidden
from public view, they have been turning it into a lively place of experimentation and
artistic conception.
The exhibition, which was entirely made there, will offer to discover the world of the
artists who get involved in the african modern graphic art.
GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store) will also tell the project genesis, from the first encounters
with the artists in Africa until the residency in Nantes.
SOMMAIRE
ORGANIZERS
THE TRILOGY OF EXHIBITIONS
GRAFIKAMA (PAINT STORE)
APHA "ICI" / VIDEO DEVICE
PROGRAMME
AROUND THE EXHIBITION
EVENTS
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
PARTNERS
MEDIA CONTACT
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ORGANIZERS
PICK UP PRODUCTION ORGANIZATION
ROJECT INITIATOR
Pick Up Production is a cultural organization based in Nantes, in the northwest of France, which was founded in 1999.
Since 2005 it leads actions meant to promote hip hop culture and its different forms of expression (music, dance, visual
arts) through several projects that are dedicated to them. Wishing to share all the breadth of this cultural and artistic
movement that is constantly evolving, Pick Up Production works in favor of artistic development, for both existing and
innovative projects.
The organization is convinced that cultural projects have an impact on society, for they take part in artistic and citizen
expression, individual development and encounters between populations. Putting into action projects that are accessible
to all publics is therefore one of the organization’s concerns.
Pick Up Production remains attached to the territory it is based on and works for its development. Following a solidary
process, Pick Up Production builds along with its operators and resources and for the benefit of its publics, while promoting
its territory and hip hop culture in the world. Among its main projects : HIP OPSESSION (a hip hop international festival,
since 2005), VILLA OCUPADA (exhibition, 2014), ASIE RIDERZ (exhibition, 2015), TURN OFF THE LIGHT (dance show,
light painting and multimedia), HIP HOP, THE SECRET PLAN OF A CULTURAL REVOLUTION (exhibition moving through
France), CATCH ME IF YOU WANT (collective graffiti creation made with inhabitants, 2014), A WALL STORY (graffiti event
and video project, 2013), OVER THE WALL (an itinerary made of murals through Nantes, 2012).
www.pickup-prod.com
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KAZY USCLEF
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Kazy Usclef is a graphic designer, an independant illustrator, who also works within 100 Pression, a collective of artists
who gathered around graffiti and urban projects. Influenced by undergound images from the 80’s till nowadays and by
all forms of graffiti, Kazy Usclef uses many techniques : painting, drawing, printmaking, collage...
Kazy Usclef has developped a personal world inside a quirky universe, half realistic half ficticious, where strange
characters come to life.
For a few years he has began to travel, always more and further to other continents. His experiences abroad enrich his
mind and make him discover new forms of artstic expression and techniques. It was only natural for him to get involved
in this project, as the artistic director.
kazyusclef.blogspot.fr
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LE VOYAGE A NANTES
AN ITINERARY THROUGH THE CITY
The project “Le Voyage à Nantes”‘ is directed by Jean Blaise (Festival Les Allumées, national arts scene Lieu Unique, Les
Nuits Blanches in Paris…). It is a 15 km urban tour that takes place during the summer, in the city of Nantes and that
promotes architecture, nature and art, the ‘’must sees’’ as well as the unknown treasures.
www.levoyageanantes.fr
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GRAFIKAMA, residency, june 2016 © Adeline Moreau
THE TRILOGY OF EXHIBITIONS
INTRODUCTION
The exhibitions trilogy Villa Ocupada, Asie Riderz and GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store) was born from a constatation, shared
by both Pick Up Production and the artist Kazy Usclef, that Nantes had very few representation of international modern
artists, within the urban as well as graphic or plastic arts.
Rather than presenting works which would have already been made in « traditional » places of exhibition, we chose to
invite artists to create right here, inside unusual buildings, during collective residencies. Invited to perform in harmony
with the building’s caracteristics, this is an innovative approach for the artists but also consistent with the curiosity and
the quirky spirit of the Voyage à Nantes.
These exhibitions wish both the represented mediums (painting, graffiti, sculpture, video...) and the chosen styles to
be eclectic. The artists who were invited have in common the local cultural legacy (thematics, techniques) among their
influences.
In 2014 : VILLA OCUPADA
• The place : a 2000m2 disused building in Nantes city center
• One continent : Latin America
• 19 artists, 8 countries : Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Spain,
France
In 2015 : ASIE RIDERZ
• The place : a restored barge, in Saint-Félix Canal, Nantes
• One continent : Asia
• 10 artists, 4 countries : Japan, India, China, France
In 2016 : GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store)
• The place : an old industrial building in Nantes city center
• One continent : Africa
• 13 artists, 5 countries : South Africa, Senegal, Ethiopia, Morocco, France
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GRAFIKAMA (PAINT STORE)
A COLLECTIVE CREATION IN AN ORGINAL PLACE
GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store) is the third and last part of a cycle of exhibitions dedicated to graphic creation around the
world, initiated by Pick Up Production and the artist Kazy Usclef for the Voyage à Nantes. After Latin America (Villa
Ocupada, 2014), then Asia (Asie Riderz, 2015), Africa is this year being spotlighted. Invited and brought together by the
artistic director Kazy Usclef, young talents from Africa came to get involved in the project and collaborate with european
artists. During a two-week residency from june 6th to june 19th, the 13 artists from 5 different countries will meet and
create in situ. They will invest a 800m2 space inside an old industrial building in Nantes city center.
THE BUILDING ON PÉNITENTES STREET, NANTES
Until the 18th century, the place, still a greenfield site, is used as a garden for a religious order named the Cordeliers.
Around 1920, an iron-working business is set up there and locates two industrial sheds. How the story continues
remains unknown, till the Department becomes the owner in the 80’s. All the buildings are therefore occupied by several
department unities (printing, computing, woodworking). Since the early 2000’s, two buildings are used to stock furniture,
but the last one remains for free use.
STAGING THE EXHIBITION : SCENOGRAPHY AND ITINERARY
Since the Villa Ocupada in 2014, the project embodies the wish to transform the existing buildings by intitiating an
itinerary inside the exhibition. The itineraries created for the Villa Ocupada and Asie Riderz were focused on art works
and eased the public’s immersion. Now it’s time for the third and last part in the old industrial building.
This year the idea was to go as a team in order to capture and feel the architectural, plastic, graphic influences and this
way to create spaces with african caracteristics. This scenography was imagined by Carmen Beillevaire.
GRAFIKAMA, residency, june 2016 © Adeline Moreau
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APHA "ICI" / VIDEO DEVICE
ADELINE MOREAU
As a jounrey had been done in 2014 (Villa Ocupada) and in 2015 (Asie Riderz), Kazy Usclef spent two months in Africa to
look for artists. Most of the artists he invited this year came from the encounters he made there. With Carmen Beillevaire
(set designer) and Adeline Moreau (video maker), he travelled to five countries : South Africa, Congo-Brazzaville,
Ethiopia, Senegal and Morocco. Kazy was able then to meet the artists in their own town, had time to become immersed
in their environment and sometimes also participate to collective murals.
Photographer and video maker, Adeline Moreau followed Kazy Usclef to four countries in Africa, while looking for artists. APHA "ici" (Apha "here") offers to the spectator a journey by telling the project : from here in Nantes through the
exhibited artworks, up to over there in Africa.
You can also find out about :
As an echo to APHA "ici" (APHA "here"), Adeline Moreau presents APHO "là-bas" (APHO "over there"), a retrospective
with photos of the jounrey in Africa. From july 1st to august 28th in the Gaïa Gallery, Nantes (ref. p.21).
www.adelinemoreau.com
Johannesburg, 2016 © Adeline Moreau
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PROGRAMME
ALPHABET ZOO
KAZY USCLEF
(South Africa)
NARDSTAR
ISAAC ZAVALE & MINENKULU NGOYI
(France)
BARKINADO BOCOUM
(South Africa)
(Senegal)
NASCIO
BASS DESIGN
(Morocco / France)
(Senegal)
THE CHEVALME SISTERS
BLESSING NGOBENI
ELODIE & DELPHINE CHEVALME
(South Africa)
(France)
EMMANUEL PROST
R1.
(France)
(South Africa)
GETACHEW BERHANU
(Ethiopia / Mayotte)
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ALPHABET ZOO
ISAAC ZAVALE & MINENKULU NGOYI
South Africa
Alphabet Zoo is a duo made of two Johannesburg-based artists,
Minenkulu Ngoyi and Isaac Zavale. Together, they explore several
practices : printmaking, collage, illustration, they publish street-culture
zines in collaboration with other, illustrators, publishers and designers.
Alphabet Zoo are inspired by the city where they live in, Johannesburg,
its cosmopolitan and urban environment. Their work is present on the
street as well as galleries. They have organised several exhibitions in
Johannesburg.
www.alphabetzoosa.tumblr.com
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BARKINADO BOCOUM
Senegal
Born in Kaolack, Barkinado Bocoum lives and works in Dakar. Fashion
design professor, this young illustrator and painter creates from small
geometric shapes which he assembles like a mosaic to form big
compositions, mixing abstract and figurative art.
This “step by step” technique also embodies his conception of the world,
evolving little by little. Barkinado Bocoum is often invited to international
collective exhibitions which make him confront his work to other artists’.
Today Barkinado incorporates a new, more linear style by creating fluid
motions thanks to nebulous shapes and balanced colors.
www.barkinadobocoum.jimdo.com
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BASS DESIGN
Senegal
Bassirou Wade was born in Kaolack but discovers Dakar at the age of
two when he is placed under his grandmother custody. Very curious,
he soon learns tapestry making by looking at his uncle at work, then
woodmaking, mecanics and sheet metal manufacture as soon as he
leaves school. In 2006, Wade creates his own studio. His skills allow him
to explore many disciplines, from furniture design to sculpture and car
tuning. He becomes well-known by hemiplegics from Dakar when he
makes adapted and personalized vehicles from old motor scooters. In
2014, Wade gets involved in his first exhibition during an event initiated
by the fashion designer Selly Raby Kane. There he presents his series
Recycled Bugs.
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BLESSING NGOBENI
South Africa
Blessing Ngobeni is a South African artist who paints on a range of
found objects, waste materials, magazine cuttings... From Tzaneen,
Ngobeni moved from his hometown at the age of ten to the city of
Johannesburg. When he is a bit older, he spends several years in prison
during which time he begins painting and develops his own style. In
2012 he is the recipient of the Reinholder Cassirer Award which leads
him to a residency at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg where he is given
a workspace and material. Ngobeni’s paintings sport the influences
of Norman Catherine and Miro, while never forgetting his township
roots. Through his work, several times exhibited at Gallery MOMO in
Capetown and Johannesburg, the artist fiercly criticizes South African
political elite.
www.blessingngobeni.co.za
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EMMANUEL PROST
France
Illustrator from Lyon in the Southeast of France, Emmanuel Prost often
works in collaboration with Komplex Kapharnaum, a spectacle company
for which he makes mural collages. He also concieved animation sets
with Bastien Dubois, the director of Madagascar, and travel diaries
in Reunion Island, Palestine and Nigeria. In Bamako, Prost was with
the musician Dominique Peter (High Tone) around Midnight Ravers, a
project that gathers both music and drawings.
Emmanuel Prost produces a lot of portraits and urban spaces, with a
style close to comics. His work fluctuates between realism and fantasy :
depicting daily life scenes, they bear however something dreamlike.
www.emmanuelprost.blogspot.fr
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GETACHEW BERHANU
Ethiopia / Mayotte
Getachew Berhanu was born in 1971 in Addis Abeba, the capital of
Ethiopia. Influenced by his father, a famous traditional painter, he
has been developing religious icons aethestics, although his work is
more ethnographic and ironic. The details in his paintings show his fine
observation of populations habits but also his respect for people. While
he paints mostly on canvas, he also choses natural surfaces, such as
goat-skin or wooden boxes, to express himself. Berhanu’s artworks are
on display in the Addis Abeba Ethnological Museum. They have also
been exhibited in the United States and in Spain for modern art fairs.
www.getachewberhanu.wix.com
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KAZY USCLEF
France
Kazy Usclef is a Nantes-based illustrator, painter and graffiti artist
who works among the 100 Pression collective. His work is influenced
by street culture (both his place of experimentation and source of
inspiration), but also by traditional, popular or even mystic kinds of
cultures he has discovered during his numerous travels. Sometimes
minimalist, sometimes full of details and references, his productions are
like stories, happening in a quirky universe, half realistic half ficticious,
where strange characters come to life.
Kazy Usclef is also GRAFIKAMA’s artistic director.
www.kazyusclef.blogspot.fr
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NARDSTAR
South Africa
Nardstar is a street artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. Her
medium of choice is spray paint and she mostly performs on the street
to add relevant beauty to the urban space and create artwork that
the viewer can relate to. Through her colourful, geometric creations,
she translates with a fine harmony of balanced colours what surrounds
her : Cape Town’s many cultural quirks, its people... Narsdstar also
draws inspiration from her natural environment, letting in her own way
indigenous plants and animals investing the South African metropolis.
The artist was recently listed by the Huffington’s Post’s as one of ‘25
Women Pushing the Limit of Street Art Around the World’.
www.thisisnardstar.com
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NASCIO
Morocco / France
Sliman Ismaili Alaoui is a franco-moroccan painter. Autodidact, he had
his first artistic experience on the street where he discovers graffiti. He
then explores other forms of graphic expression : acrylic paint, charcoal,
pastel, ink... His influences are eclectic : comics, science fiction movies,
classical paintings, engineering drawings. Nascio’s graffiti is like chaos :
fertile and fickle, it invades space. Nascio exhibited his work in several
art galleries, such as the David Bloch Gallery in Marrakech (2015). He
also got the first SAIMA Price for Arabic Modern Creation at the Arab
World Institute.
Facebook
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THE CHEVALME SISTERS
France
The Chevalme Sisters are two Parisian artists : Elodie and Delphine
Chevalme. After seperate studies, illustration (for Elodie) and
architecture (for Delphine), they decide to create a graphic design
studio and start developping artsitic projects together. Very eclectic,
they paint with different tools (marker, acrylic paint...) but also practise
photography and plastic arts.
For five years they have been leading a series of works exploring
identity, which they tell as multiple and complex : consequence of
History that moves, absorb continuously. This is a problematic of their
own : twin sisters, they are often percieved as one unique person. They
are one and two, two in one…
www.lequartiergeneral.com
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R1.
South Africa
R1 is a plastic artist who lives and works in Johannesburg. Trained in
Fine Arts, he made the street and the urban space his main artistic
territory. R1 imagines alternatives to the reality that surrounds him :
his works, sculptures, collages, paintings, come from every day found
materials (traffic signs, bus shelters...) that he takes and transforms. His
artwork shakes up people’s habits and creates new forms of dialogue
between the individual and his environment. After spending several
years in London, R1 decides to get involved in several organizations and
collectives from Johannesburg, and thus contributes to the emergence
of an urban artists generation.
www.r1r1r1.net
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AROUND THE EXHIBITION
APHO "LÀ-BAS" (APHO "over there")
EXHIBITION • PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADELINE MOREAU
Photographer and video maker, Adeline Moreau followed
Kazy Usclef to four countries in Africa, while looking for the
artists who today are part of the Grafikama (Paint Store)
project.
In parallel to APHA "ici" (Apha "here"), the video reports on
the whole project, she exhibits a series of photos which
were taken during the firt steps of work in the different
african cities.
EVENTS
LA NUIT DU VAN (THE NIGHT OF THE VAN)
ON FRIDAY 1ST OF JULY FROM 7PM TO MIDNIGHT
La Nuit du VAN is a way to celebrate the official opening of
the Voyage à Nantes 2016 edition. Everywhere in the city,
you can find randomly : night visits in museums, barbecues,
special events, concerts... the trail is celebrating.
La Nuit du VAN will be the occasion to discover for the first
time the GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store) exhibition, and with
music : Nomad Wizard / Mirador /DJ Ataya.
Free entry.
July 1st to august 28th, from Thursday to Saturday and
from 11 am to 7 pm.
Address : Galerie Gaïa, 4 rue Fénelon, Nantes.
Free entry.
CONCERTS WITH LA GRIFFE
A NEW MURAL
ON RICHEBOURG STREET, NANTES
La Griffe is a collectve of people from Nantes who organize
events and visual arts exhibitions. During Grafikama (Paint
Store), they will offer four concerts related to african
culture, inside the exhibition.
In parallel to the preparation of GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store),
the Regional Office of Cultural Affairs of the Pays de la
Loire requested Pick Up Production to paint a mural on
its administrative building, on Richebourg Steet, Nantes.
It was obvious for Pick Up Production to entrust this work
to Kazy Usclef, artist from Nantes and artistic director for
GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store).
Address :
Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles
Rue de Richebourg, Nantes
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JULY 9TH, 30TH, AUGUST 6TH & 27TH
Free entry
More information on : www.grafikama.fr
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
GRAFIKAMA (Paint Store)
Accessibility
2 rue des Pénitentes, Nantes
The exhibition is entirely accessible to
disabled visitors
• La Nuit du VAN opening on july 1st at 7 pm
• Then from july 2nd to august 28th, from 10
am to 7 pm
• Free entry
The exhibition is partly accessible to
wheelchairs
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The exhibition is accessible to deaf visitors
or with hearing loss
INFORMATION :
Pick Up Production
02 40 35 28 44
contact@pickup-prod.com
--"LA DÉTENTE"
THE BAR IN THE EXHIBITION
--GUIDED TOURS
Guided tours on Thursdays : july 21 , 28 , august
18th and 25th at 7pm
5€ per person, you can register there or by
contacting Pick Up Production.
Possibility to organize aditional tours for groups
on request.
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Some visits are interpreted in French Sign
Language. You can contact us if you wish
to get more information.
In the patio of th exhibition, the bar "LA DÉTENTE"
is managed by the La Griffe collective and will
welcome the public for a relaxing moment that
will offer a taste of different beverages.
--ON THE INTERNET
You can find news about the project on the
website : www.grafikama.fr
And learn more about us on Pick Up Production
social networks :
facebook.com/pickupprod
twitter.com/hipopsession
instagram.com/hipopsession
Asie Riderz 2015 © David Gallard
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PARTNERS
MEDIA CONTACT
PICK UP PRODUCTION
4 rue du Marais, 44000 Nantes
02 40 35 28 44
www.pickup-prod.com
Guillaume David
guillaumed.pickupprod@gmail.com
Clémence Autechaud
clemence.pickupprod@gmail.com
Visual on front page : © Mr Gwen from R1 work Hidden
Trophy
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Pick Up Production
4 rue du Marais • 44000 Nantes
02 40 35 28 44
contact@pickup-prod.com
www.pickup-prod.com