The third edition of UPAW was held at the Port Hercule of Monaco from June 25th to June 27th 2019. This year, 10 artists coming from 7 different countries created incredible artworks following the theme "Endangered Species". Alberto Colman, Founder and President of the event, whose goal has been to combine art and the environment, stated: " we need to educate everyone around us. The Planet belongs to all of us, and it wouldn't take much to improve the current situation. Art is an excellent vehicle to help spread this message. Now, we have to stop talking and start taking action!"
The net proceeds of the auction, 25,000 euros, have been donated to the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation to support one of its projects. The Government, the City Council and the Monaco Tourist Office have supported this initiative.
SABEK
DARIO VELLA
LOW_BROS
MINA HAMADA
DAVE BARANES
SIMONI FONTANA
BELI
ATLAS
MR ONE TEAS
MINA HAMADA (Japan)
Mina Hamada, born in Louisiana, USA, grew up in Tokyo, Japan, where she studied design and illustration at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Sokei. In Japan, she had her first exhibitions, presenting her drawings/paintings and handmade storybooks, which combine her own drawing and short-story poems.
Her work is characterized by abstract and organic forms with soft, bright and warm colors on a monochromatic background. The flat shapes interact harmoniously, while rhythm and color give a striking leitmotif to her work.
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Mina Hamada's paintings and drawings are fresh and friendly, personal and sensitive and invite us to discover the artist's unconscious: a dream world, combining the West and the East, her youthful spirit and deep philosophy. The artist explores unknown areas of the painting of the unconscious and improvisation. The titles of her works, mainly in Japanese, reflect this poetic self-analysis and refer to her intercultural background and her own identity. She has participated to many festivals and mural exhibitions since 2012. Her works are exhibited in galleries and institutions throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia. In 2009, she moved to Barcelona, Spain, where she continues to paint murals on a large scale.
Follow her here: @mina_hamada
SIMONI FONTANA (Greece)
Simoni Fontana is an artist based in Greece. Her style is characterized by an almost childlike innocence and is equally effective on small canvases as it is on giant murals. Her references are inspired by Japanese iconography, manga, filtering a sensitive Western perspective and her personal aesthetic, dictated by
pop surrealism. Fragile and dreamy, the female characters resemble the artist's features, both morphologically and emotionally, thus suggesting in an abstract way to the self-portrait. By opting for the absence of additional adornment and simplified features, Simoni uses the bare minimum to tell a story.
Despite their remote naivety, the works have a positively adult undercurrent, addressing feelings and problems belonging to the adult world. There is a mystifying element about them, embodying the sum of human interactions, emotions and dreams, and finally the end of innocence.
Follow her here: @simonifontana
L'ATLAS (France)
L'atlas, aka Jules Dedet Granel, was born in France in 1978. He lives and works in Paris. He began graffiti in the 1990s. The starting point of his work is the history of writing. Following studies of history of art and archaeology, his passion pushes him to travel and to study calligraphy in several countries. The artist will then realize the surprising alchemy between this ancestral tradition inherited from calligraphy and the codes of Western graffiti. His original and personal typography is a game of infinite variations, flushed with optical art in sometimes abstract and always geometrical variations.
The artist develops his approach in a very methodical way by multiplying the forms of his writing through the semantic prism of his name in reference to the geographical map: it is a mixture of typography and topography. The creation of his cryptogram "The Atlas" is like a raw material which allows him to create in an infinite way by the means of this structural persistence. A major and internationally recognized figure of post-graffiti art, he is an artist whose image arouses a certain fascination with collectors and the public.
Follow him here: @latlas_art
SABEK (Spain)
Sabek is a street artist who was born in Spain in 1981. More trained by the street than by the studies, he began to paint at the age of 16. It is in the everyday life that Sabek draws his inspiration, in moments that are his own, in particular those that are unstable or tinged with difficulties. Through graffiti he will develop a poetic and sensitive universe. Typography and iconography also greatly inspire him, giving his paintings graphic lines. Animals, pyramids and skulls are the designs which mainly punctuate his work, such as bears or entirely black eagles whose eyes are not perceptible.
These wild beasts blend unhindered into their urban environment. The animals, sometimes next to humans, question the role of everyone in the environment and the importance of nature. It is not uncommon to see Sabek's work on walls of impressive dimensions, thus capturing passers-by's attention.
Follow him here: @sabeknonsense
THE LOW BROS (Germany)
The Low Bros is a duo of German post-graffiti artists composed of brothers Christoph (1984) and Florin Schmidt (1982). With a background in street culture and an interest in contemporary developments, they explore an fabricated "retro-futuristic" atmosphere. From their collective memory of the 80s and 90s, the Low Bros represent a privileged starting point to reinvent the present, a perception that refocuses the conflicts that they embody in the modern era. Their work includes several recurring characters constructed by bold geometric shapes among copper wire, a symbolic medium of our modern connection.
As the viewer begins to deconstruct these forms, the complexity of their aesthetic is revealed, each symbol introducing another layer to explore. A recurring character is the wolf, which we often see duplicated or fractured, its tough exterior juxtaposed with black dots in fleshy pink tones. The smooth shades create emotional and intellectual barriers to the oncoming gaze. We are the wolf, inside an unrecognizable, yet familiar reality. The Low Bros live and work in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany.
Follow them here: @low_bros
DAVE BARANES (France)
Dave Baranes is a self-taught painter and artist. He grew up in the Parisian suburbs where he gets passionated by graffiti and street art. His passion for the "wall" leads him to the creation of "trompe l'oeil" paintings. Those years of experience with decorative painting enabled him to acquire a perfect mastery of painting techniques as well as an openness to more traditional art. In 2015, Dave dares to embark on a collection of pieces to create felines, with striking looks, very colorful or sometimes black and white.
It is a very moving collection, where the expression of their eyes questions us about our own humanity. Success on social media is immediate.
Follow him @dave_baranes
DARIO VELLA (Italy)
Dario Vella was born in 1979 in Piombino, Tuscany. In the 90's he realized his first graffiti. For many years, he made large murals with his close friends, in Italy and Europe. He participated in many festivals. He collaborated with other writers. Over the years he developed an innate versatility and creativity that always seeks to exceed the concept of graffiti. Along with his passion for writing, he studied graphic arts, while mastering his own artistic maturity. Since 2005, he has been developing his art on canvas and other supports, and exhibits his work in art galleries.
Follow him here: @dariovella
BELI (Monaco)
Italian born in Monaco, Belinda Bussotti alias BELI is a multiform artist who practices with talent painting, photography and sculpture. Even if street graffiti is not her specialty, she does not hesitate to take on a challenge when it comes to working for a cause and raising awareness on themes that are dear to her such as women's rights, but also oceans and the planet, both of which humanity is munching on without measuring the disastrous consequences. Her commitment to the environment began in 2009 after the movie "The end of the line".
Her first wall, which she painted at the entrance of the bay of Villefranche sur Mer in 2014, was a cry of alarm on the cutting of shark fins, still relevant. She has made a name for herself as an activist for the protections of oceans & sharks, notably with a personal exhibition at the Oceanographic Museum in Monaco. Her large bronze sculptures of fins and seahorses were recently exhibited in Miami during Art Basel (2017). Her wish is to raise awareness of the dangers that await us.
Follow her here: @belindabussottibeli
MR. ONE TEAS (Monaco)
Mr. OneTeas started graffiti in 2005. Self-taught, he develops his style through travels, meetings and exchanges, leaving his mark on the streets of major international cities. His work focuses on planned obsolescence by giving another life to materials and consumer objects of the past while illustrating the evils of our society. He draws his inspiration from the media, political and cultural environments. By diverting images and the news, he offers us his critical vision of society, marked by humour and originality.
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In 2019, he produced his first museum retrospective at the Galerie Lympia, a former prison in Nice, with the exhibition “Reality Show 2.0” dealing with various ills of current society, by putting the viewer face to face with many excesses of our reality. Follow him here: @mroneteas
