The World of Mr. A

The iconic Mr A

The man behind Mr. A, Andre Saraiva (born 1971) have been in the graffiti business for about 30 years and have had success as an artist, film director, designer, editor and club owner and probably more. His signature piece in the streets is the cartoonish character Mr. A. Mr. A is a kind of a "tag", fast and easy to spray paint illegaly at night. According to Saraiva, he has painted Mr. A about 200 000 times all around the world.

This autumn Andre Saraiva occupies the front wall and top floor at Mude Museum of fashion and design in Lisbon. His largest show up to date and exhibits different modalities of Andre Saraiva's art and design work. His surf boards, Mr. A in different shapes and forms, his fake event and concert posters, his Mickey with a boner, his Love project and Andrepolis (an urban landscape installation).

Varieties of Mr. A:

Micky welcomes you to Andrepolis:

Andrepolis

Fake posters and the Love project:

Andre Saraiva's art is characterised as pop art and I was mostly impressed by the amount of space he manages to fill. There is coolness to the show, but no message, vision or provocative taste. The Andrepolis doesn't look interesting and exciting (or sexy), and the love project seems to have stranded (at least on internet) and, at last, Micky isn't that provocative anymore. Andre Saraiva is a smart guy, street smart and successfull (baronandre) and that's cool, and he knows how to 'cook soup on a stone'.  At the end, I post a photo of Mr. A from the streets of Lisbon which, after all, still connects him to the street art world.

Alexandre Farto Aka Vhils "Dissection" Exhibition @ Lisbon's EDP Foundation

I first stumbled upon a Vhils solo exhibition in Paris 2012 (Magda Danysz Gallery) and was strucked by the variety of materials and technics this artist possess in his repertoire. I had previously been impressed by his works in the streets, making beautiful portraits on walls by chipping pieces off the wall, not spraying paint on the wall as usual for vandals. His exhibitions display works in paper, polystyrene, wood (old doors) and metal. Mostly portraits, but lately more and more with words or text. The "Dissection" exhibition at the EDP foundation museum in Belem Lisbon also showed light works and huge installations. The "Dissection" exhibition is just awesome and is open untill 5 of october this year.

Museu da Elecricidade is the EDP foundation's venue for the Vhils exhibition. The venue is located in the Belem area by the Tagus river (Tejo RIver).

The Electricity Museum (in Portuguese Museu da Electricidade) was set up by EDP (Energias de Portugal) in 2004. The EDP museum is a museum of science that presents the evolution of energy and it is a cultural centre where themed and experimental exhibits live side by side with a great variety of cultural events. The Vhils exhibition required huge adaptations of the space in the musuem and is the most extensive display of a Alexandre Farto Aka Vhils works up till now. I see it as a celebration of the portuguese artist and, so to speak, a really powerful liaison. The photos below show some of the works from the exhibition.

 

 

 

 

The biggest polystyrene structure I've ever seen. On have to climb a scaffolding about 5 m and see it from above

 

The exhibition is a visual feast and a mind-blowing experience.