Bates “Appreciation for letters”
Maquis-art Shop & Gallery and Maurice Grinbaum presents:
“Appreciation for Letters”
By: Bates & Bjorndahl.
Bates and Niels Bjorndahl first met in 1984 when the graffiti scene was still in its infancy in Denmark.
They became fast friends and ran together thru 1986 when Bjorndahl was forced to put an end to his
graffiti career due to numerous run-ins with the local authorities.
Bjorndahl then changed his focus to abstract art while Bates continued on with graffiti.
In 2009 the two met again and started exchanging ideas and creative inputs and in the fall of 2011 they
decided to try to work on some canvases together merging abstract art and graffiti in a new style. The
result became a number of pieces where the artists experiment with different color dogmas and unusual
types of canvases. The first selection will be showcased at the exhibition ‘Appreciation for Letters’ in Paris
in the spring of 2012 in collaboration with Maquis-Art. Among the experiments, one series very much defines
the show ‘Appreciation for Letters’, namely the ‘Typograffiti’ pieces where each canvas represents a specially
selected font, which has then been spray painted onto the canvases by hand without the use of stencils. This
intricate technique and focus on the very basics of letters defines some of the purest form of graffiti that exists:
Strong letter structures that move and bend with a good flow…
Official opening:
15 of May opens at: 11:00 o’clock.
MAQUIS-ART Shop and Gallery
42, rue Quincampoix
75004 Paris
Métro chatelet
(entre Agnès B et le citadium beaubourg)
and also next door Gallery:
L’Issue
38 rue quincampoix
75004 Paris
France.
