May 22, 2009

Galerie Helenbeck Presents Street Art Exhibition

Galerie Helenbeck presents the largest street art exhibition of American & European Street Art: Whole in the Wall 1970 – Now in New York. The exhibition will take place at Splashlight, former photo studios at 529-535 West 35th Street located in Chelsea in New York from 28 May to 27 June 2009. Galerie Helenbeck has brought this exhibition back to where this art form began, New York.

Porsche Cars North America is proud to be patron of this exhibition. The show is also supported by Red Bull, Voss Water and IFL Transport.

Gallerist, Chantal Helenbeck says, “The street art movement was home grown in New York. It is real, it has meaning and it has credibility. It is America’s art history and personal story, which is why I decided to hold this exhibition in its home roots of New York. Since New York in the 1970’s, this movement has become a global phenomenon. These individuals may have started on the street but they have developed into great studio artists and it is important that their talent and recognition is seen and documented within the art world. ”

The Hudson Yards Development Corporation is pleased to lend this space to the Galerie Helenbeck for this exhibit. HYDC is dedicated to transforming this neighborhood from an underperforming industrial area into a thriving, 18 hour mixed use community that will welcome artists, residents, workers and tourists. Later this year, the exhibition site will be incorporated the new 4 acre Hudson Park.

Porsche Cars North America has donated six hoods of its iconic 911 sports cars, which will be painted by six artists and sold during a silent auction at the opening night on Thursday May 28. Proceeds will go to the CITYarts organization led by Tsipi Ben-Haim, who has empowered for 40 years, children and youth by bringing them together with professional artists to create public art that addresses civic and social issues,impact their lives, and transforms their communities.

In the show, there are 15 outstanding painters, 2 sculptors and 4 photographers. American ‘pioneers’ of Street art during the 70’s include: Blade, Lee, Rammellzee; The American 80’s generation is : Daze, Crash, Quik, Sharp and Jonone who was born in New York and settled in Paris in 1987. Street artists from Europe include: Sozy One from Spain; Victor Ash from Scandinavia; Ikon from France and French ’pioneer’ during the 1980’s, Blek le Rat. Presenting works from the UK is the satirical artist from the late 80’s, Banksy and young Brazilian artist, Nunca who recently exhibited a full length work on the building of the Tate Modern as part of the Street Art Exhibition in London. Also in this show are 4 remarkable photographers : Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant who documented rare urban art scenes of the artists, NYC, the city people and the atmosphere of the underground scenes during the early years. Photographer during the Eighties, Djamel Shabazz shot the fashion, the attitude and the culture of Black American New Yorkers of the street art scene revealing an insight into this movement and the changing times of New York. French photographer, Silvio Magaglio documented the European scene, witnessing scenes such as the young European taggers, in his fascinating photographs.