Sowat 🇨🇵 Calligraphy • Graffiti • Print Release

[butterfly]

On August 12, 2010, Lek and Sowat (Da Mental Vaporz crew) found an abandoned supermarket in the north of Paris. For a year, in the greatest of secrets, both artists continuously wandered in this 430,000 sq ft monument to paint murals and organize an illegal artistic residency, inviting forty French graffiti artists to collaborate, from the first to the last generation of the graffiti movement.

Together they built a Mausoleum, a temple dedicated to their disappearing underground culture, slowly being replaced by street art and its global pop aesthetics.


mausolee.net/

[butterfly]

[graffuturism]

Anyone in Paris your not going to want to miss this. Version 2 of the Project Sowat and Lek were featured in last year. The new lineup for Part 2 looks great. palaisdetokyo.com/en/exhibition/lek-et-sowat

 




Lek and Sowat Land waves
Date:
21/11/2013 - Indefinite-term
Place:
Level 1 - Descent Epstein
Tag:
Exhibition
Since September 2012, Lek and Sowat seized the bowels of the Palais de Tokyo: secondary spaces, inside outside, safe places untapped between the street and the institution. Their minimalist architecture marked by the time recalls the precarious places and used by graffiti artists devices: brownfields, deposits trains.

Opened in December 2012 and updated in November 2013, this experimental wasteland presents group in the work in progress involving fifty artists from the graffiti. Generations and different approaches - those who develop their work in the virgin land to more radicals involved only on trains and subways - all operate in their paintings the constraints of the environment.
Creating a course in ambush plunged between light and darkness, Lek, Sowat, Dem189 and their guests deconstructed space and lacerated architecture, imposing a black-white-red color code, paintings recovered in stocks center art. This monumental public housing immersion in an area lit sharply neon. The confrontation with the painted walls authoritatively reveal valuable information, sometimes destroyed (but archived), each artist who has made his path, his gestures, his history, his posture, in a vaporous and fleeting composition where the ego and styles overlap and collide. Saturated zone paintings in which Larry Clark came around in July 2013 several scenes of his film "The Smell of Us."

Lek (born in 1971) and Sowat (born 1978) lead a common practice Urbex, investment of idle places, full of history. In their large-scale murals, typographic vocabulary traditionally used in graffiti is led to a form of abstraction architected. In 2010 they transformed an abandoned north of Paris mall - 40,000 m2 of ruins that hosted Roma, prostitutes and drug addicts, in an illegal and ephemeral art center. A collective tribute to graffiti now condemned, stored in a short film and in the book Mausoleum - Wild artistic residency (Editions Alternatives, 2012).

Related Artists:

- first session : ALËXONE, AZYLE, BABS, BOM.K, cockney, DEM189, DRAN, HONDA, HORFÉ, KATRE, LEK, OUTSIDER, RIZOTE, Sambre, SETH, SOWAT, SWIZ, VELVET, WXYZ, zoer
- 2nd session: ALËXONE, PHILIPPE BAUDELOCQUE, DRAN, HOCTEZ, JAY ONE KAN LEGZ, SILVIO MAGAGLIO, NASSYO, O'CLOCK, SEBASTIEN Preschoux, ROTI, SKKI and surprise guests ...

And also: ALZO, BADHYPNOZ, BRUSK, BORE, BORIS, LARRY CLARK, Cyriak, DEMON, CBI Emoy, GOMER, GRIS1, hobz, INE, JACE, JAW KÉBOY, KENO, kence, MEKO, MR. THAT, NEXT, NIBOR REILUOS, MARTHA COOPER, OGRE, WAVE, PEAMS, RUSTY, SAEYO, Sinde, SIRIUS, SMOE, SODA, TCHEKO, Teurk, WO, XABY ...

Curator: Hugo Vitrani

[graffuturism]

graffuturism.com/2013/11/18/preview-palais-de-tokyo-lasco-project-entrails-of-the-secret-palais-v2-paris/

[rosh]

Part 1 was so good ! This one seems to be nice too

[graffuturism]

[rosh]

André the Baron for this poster!

[Feral Things]

Sowat and Lek from Da Mental Vaporz have released a new screenprint.  Edition of 15, 50 x 70 cm, 1 colour hand painted by Lek and 1 layer screen printed by Sowat, on Fabriano Rosaspina 285gsm paper, signed and numbered by the artists and €120.00.  You can see each unique version here and they are available to buy now from www.same-oh.it

[Feral Things]

Sowat and Lek have just finished this wall in Rome:


There's a really good interview with Sowat over on Val-Dan's website and he's also got an exhibition at Richard & Le Feuvre Gallery in Geneva later this year.

[Print Them All]

Sowat from DMV crew will be releasing his first lithograph with PrintThemAll.com on Friday 13th of March @ 2pm GMT, announcing his upcoming solo show with Richard & Lefeuvre Gallery in Geneva on 23rd April:




"Ars Longa Vita Brevis"
Edition of /50
4 colors lithograph
72 x 72,6 cm on 270 gr BFK Rives paper
Signed, stamped and numbered
Printed at IDEM studio, Paris for Print Them All

[Mirus Gallery Poesia]

Good Luck with Print, Sowat is one of my favorites and an amazing guy as well.

[M]

Mar 12, 2015 21:30:06 GMT 1 Mirus Gallery Poesia said:

Good Luck with Print, Sowat is one of my favorites and an amazing guy as well.

I am afraid price will be insane

[supercockle]

About €300?

[Print Them All]

Mar 12, 2015 21:30:06 GMT 1 Mirus Gallery Poesia said:

Good Luck with Print, Sowat is one of my favorites and an amazing guy as well.

Thank you, and yes, he is!

[Print Them All]

Better photo of the actual print:


Now available @ PrintThemAll.com.

[rosh]

Saw it in person, wonderfull ! Indeed Sowat is a great guy

[nighthawk]

This piece is gorgeous! I also love the fact that we have time to actually think it over. A nice change to many print purchases these days

[alittle]

This is nice. Tempted, for sure.

[My Name is Frank]

I mean this in a honest way, the colour choices look off, reminds me of wiping my arse when I have a sore ringer, which is a shame, as because I can't get past that, I can't appreciate it and the craft looks good, just wish it were different colours.

[alittle]

Can't unsee...

[specialone]

Mar 14, 2015 18:57:58 GMT 1 My Name is Frank said:

I mean this in a honest way, the colour choices look off, reminds me of wiping my arse when I have a sore ringer, which is a shame, as because I can't get past that, I can't appreciate it and the craft looks good, just wish it were different colours.

That provoked a lot of immensely unwanted images. Thanks.

[dreadnatty]

Sowat
‘Ars Longa Vita Brevis’



Personal exhibition
23 April > 6 June 2015
Richard & The Feuvre Gallery In Richemond Geneva
Rue adhémar-fabri 8, 1201

French-American artist, Sowat grew up between the South of France and L.A. He now lives and works in Paris.
His artistic journey began at the end of the 90s along the railways of Marseille. He was then a graffiti writer. Adolescent, he spent his summers in California. There, he discovered the “cholo writing” – a calligraphy used by American gangs – through the work of an expert in this subject, Chaz Bojorquez.

From then on, Sowat did his outmost to take over this style and make it his until he developed his proper lan- guage.
For 20 years, from Marseille to Paris, Sowat multiplied the in situ interventions – legal or illegal. He crossed the country, Europe and then the world to do monumental exhibitions and walls with the members of his crew, the Da Mental Vaporz. Recently, he developed a duo work with Lek, a major figure of the Parisian graffiti scene. Their work is mixing archaeology, painting, ephemeral installations and experimental movies.

Following numerous projects born from a common passion, the urban exploration, it is, in fact, his work with Lek that made himself know by the large public of graffiti amateurs. In 2011, they built the “Mausolée” pro- ject. Reuniting almost 30 artists from the French graffiti scene, the project was maintained secret during the time of his fulfilment – so more than a year – and was finally revealed through the edition of an eponym book, the creation of an ephemeral exhibition and the diffusion online of a stop motion video on the music of Philip Glass. That way, the public discovered the multiple sides of a graffiti known as “Urbex” which clandestinely invaded the thousands square meters of an old and abandoned supermarket from the Paris suburbia.

The following year, they answered positively to the invitation of Jean de Loisy. Lek and SOwat entered the Pa- lais de Tokyo to reproduce this creative process by taking care of the building’s depths meaning the emergency issues, the backstairs, and all the other hidden places traditionally private. With the help of Dem189 and the curator Hugo Vitrani, they initiated the Lasco Project – first official program of urban art in the contemporary art center. They invited more than 50 artists of this avant-gardist scene to come and work with them in the quirkiest places of the institution.

It is during those interventions that Sowat & Lek realized the project “Tracés Direct” with Jacques Villeglé and about 20 other major artist of the French graffiti scene. Collaborative, this work was based on a black board of the institution on which the artists drew one by one with a piece of chalk, each of them erasing what the previous one made in front of Sowat & Lek camera. Nowadays, ornamented with the socio-political writings of Jacques Villeglé, this board and the video of the performance, which goes with it, are from now on part of the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The first time for a graffiti work!

Since the summer 2014 and the end of the artistic residence at the Palais de Tokyo, the Galerie LE FEUVRE in Paris and the RICHARD & LE FEUVRE Gallery in Switzerland are representing Sowat. On canvas or paper, he is always looking for new calligraphy styles, with a bamboo stick or a spray can… Sometimes understan- dable, sometimes abstract, painted with energy or carefully applied, the lines Sowat is tracing on the canvas are as many link-up between the pure tag style – the writing – and the traditional calligraphy, between the raw universe of the abandoned buildings and the classical painting, between the graffiti energy and rapidity – often necessary to in the in situ interventions – and the calm and patience required by a studio work.

[dreadnatty]

[Feral Things]

This short film by Os Gemeos and JR was first uploaded a few months ago but I can't see that it's been posted here so I thought I'd do so having just watched it at Palais de Tokyo:

(Sorry, can't work out how to embed the video from their Facebook pages so I've uploaded it to Vimeo.  Obviously happy to remove this is anyone isn't happy with this.)

The OGxJR pieces are part of LASCO Project #6 and here are some shots of Philippe Baudelocque's evolutionary and developmental chalk drawings which are also part of the project:







And here's some of Evol and KR's contributions from previous LASCO projects:

[marigot]

Aug 22, 2016 23:18:52 GMT 1 Feral Things said:

This short film by Os Gemeos and JR was first uploaded a few months ago but I can't see that it's been posted here so I thought I'd do so having just watched it at Palais de Tokyo:

(Sorry, can't work out how to embed the video from their Facebook pages so I've uploaded it to Vimeo.  Obviously happy to remove this is anyone isn't happy with this.)

The OGxJR pieces are part of LASCO Project #6 and here are some shots of Philippe Baudelocque's evolutionary and developmental chalk drawings which are also part of the project:







And here's some of Evol and KR's contributions from previous LASCO projects:

Hi, i'm going to the Palais de Tokyo next week-end , any advices ? ...Thanks

[Feral Things]

Aug 22, 2016 23:35:00 GMT 1 marigot said:

Hi, i'm going to the Palais de Tokyo next week-end , any advices ? ...Thanks

Try to get there for a guided tour of the LASCO Project; tour times are available here. They last about 45 minutes and you'll get a lot more background information about the pieces.  Some of the pieces are only accessible on the tour anyway but the OGxJR pieces are in the tunnels under the museum and aren't accessible at all to the public for safety reasons.

Oh, and look out for the Invaders; there's one inside and another on the outside of the Palais de Tokyo.

[marigot]

Aug 23, 2016 8:39:43 GMT 1 Feral Things said:

Aug 22, 2016 23:35:00 GMT 1 marigot said:

Hi, i'm going to the Palais de Tokyo next week-end , any advices ? ...Thanks

Try to get there for a guided tour of the LASCO Project; tour times are available here. They last about 45 minutes and you'll get a lot more background information about the pieces.  Some of the pieces are only accessible on the tour anyway but the OGxJR pieces are in the tunnels under the museum and aren't accessible at all to the public for safety reasons.

Oh, and look out for the Invaders; there's one inside and another on the outside of the Palais de Tokyo.

Thanks Feral Things , i will go for a guided tour saturday or sunday .

[Feral Things]

Lek and Sowat have spent the last year doing a residency at the prestigious Villa Médicis, which is the base of the French Academy in Rome and there are photos of some of the projects they've been working on below (photos courtesy of Svend Andersen, capodarte.it, Nicolas Gzeley and Lek & Sowat).  Both artists will shortly be opening separate solo shows in Paris exhibiting the work they've been producing over the course of the year long residency.


Lek's show, entitled 'XIX', is at Galerie 42b's new permanent space near République and runs from 3 November to 3 December:


Sowat's show, entitled 'Tempus Fugit' is across town at Galerie le Feuvre and runs from 17 November to 17 December:

[Le Feuvre & Roze]

From November 17 to December 17, Galerie LE FEUVRE is pleased to present
Tempus Fugit, Sowat's first solo exhibition in France. 


This exhibition unveils one year of work. One year of an artistic residency that Sowat spent at the prestigious
Villa Médicis in Rome. 


For more information, please contact Jonathan ROZE
[e-mail]


Press release here


Opening on September 17, from 6pm
in the presence of the artist
A catalog is published

From September 2015 to August 2016, Lek & Sowat were the first Graffiti writers to become artists-in-residence at the prestigious Academy of France in Rome, the Villa Médicis. A mark of recognition for this atypical duo whose path has led them from the urban wastelands of the Mausolée project to the underground ventilation shafts of the Palais de Tokyo and the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou. More over, it ment a fresh start for the artists: the discovery of working every day inside a studio, both on two or four hands pieces.

During these 12 months spent on top of the Pincian Hill, sharing the strange comfort of Ingres’ former studio with Lek, Sowat took advantage of this Roman retreat and fleeting time to create a series of pieces currently exhibited at the Galerie Le Feuvre. Thirty-nine large-sized works, scrupulously composed and staged in the gardens of the Villa. Thirty-nine paintings that pursue his research into calligraphy, lines and movement, drawing as much inspiration from the engraved marble slabs of the Roman Codex as from Cholo Writing, the Latino gangs’ art from the Los Angeles of his youth, thus creating a tension between the primitive aspect of his work and the stone and plaster of antique statues.

What can one see in these paintings? Above all, a saturation of signs that leave no breathing space or breaks to the compositions. The eye is lost in a maze of scriptures, some of which are clear, while others are barely sketched or covered. Although some patterns fade, leaning towards abstraction, the lines remain, with the variety of reactions allowed by mixing china ink with chemical substances. A fine balance between geometry and alchemy.

[sakyamuni]

one more great show from december, sorry for the late review but i was away during christmas...
This was Sowat's second solo exhibition at galerie lefeuvre, showing works done during his residency at Villa Medicis in Roma. Show was amazing, and as usual, a catalogue was published. Next step for him will be in march with Lek in paris, not to be missed imo.....
 
enjoy the show