May 09, 2008
No New Enemies - group show in Brussels
One of my works is part of a great show at "le Botanique" - curated by No New Enemies/modart's Harlan Levey, the show combines a lot of artists from the vast NNE-Network, including Neasden Control Centre, Boris Hoppek, Alex Diamond, Bo130, Microbo, Morcky, the Boghe, Wayne Horse, Ado Jahic, Galo, The London Police, Will Barras, Jon Burgerman, Guillaume Desmarets, Never Effect, Ephameron, Maoma, Btoy, L’Atlas, Jerome ‘G’ Demuth, RuediOne, and Smash137.
Won't be able to make it myself there, but the heliumcowboys were taking the "Myth of the White Buffalo" to Brussels, painted the walls and set up a semi-installation/environment for the painting according to my plans. Seriously.
They came back with a lot of pictures, so please follow the "continue reading..." link below to view more.
(exhibition view next with Boris Hoppek's interactive sheep ...)
Brussel site specific installation details ("Buffalo Hunt"):
Details from the collage:
About the painting:
Alex Diamond: Monopoly Remix: The Myth of the White Buffalo
180 x 190 cm, acryllic, ink, magazine pages/collage on 16 wood panels (2008)
The White Buffalo is based upon one of the most important legends of the Sioux. The medicine man Crow Dog explains, "This holy woman brought the sacred buffalo calf pipe to the Sioux. There could be no Indians without it. Before she came, people didn’t know how to live. They knew nothing. The Buffalo Woman put her sacred mind into their minds.” Albino buffalo were sacred to all Plains tribes; a white buffalo hide was a sacred talisman, a possession beyond price. A white buffalo is the most sacred living thing you could ever encounter.
In short: The White Buffalo Woman appeared to the tribes when food was scarce. Two young tribesmen went out to hunt for game, but instead found a beautiful woman wandering in the plains. While one of them couldn’t resist the temptation, touched her and was immediately killed by lightning, the other one was respectful and took the news about the comingof a holy woman back to the tribes. Later, the woman arrived at the big gathering of the tribes and in a long ceremony introduced the sacred pipe to the chief of the indians. After the ceremony, the woman left, and walking towards the horizon, she transformed into a white buffalo calf.
After she was gone, herds of Buffalos arrived in the plains, allowing the Sioux to kill them for their meat, hides and bones. Since then, the holy pipe stands for fertility, future, survival. It binds men and women together in a circle of love and also stands for the equality of the genders.
In the painting, the White Buffalos hide is created from art magazine pages featuring numerous artist portraits. The pages are whitened and then drawn over with many characters (or souls), fighting today’s battle with an art world that is trying to create icons and pop stars like saviours for an unpredictable future. Would you be quickly tempted by beauty (remember, lightning may struck you), or could you wait until it really is time to feast?
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Much much more images, from the whole show and all artists: check out the digilog by heliumcowboy artspace.
More information - go to modarteurope.com or the No New Enemies site or continue reading this entry to check what Harlan wrote in his intro for the catalogue:
NNE is honored to showcase several of our members during Les Nuits Du Botanique at the Botanique
Museum in Brussels.
May 7 – May 18.
www.botanique.be
"Welcome to our playground. We had two days to fill the space. It hasn’t happened yet, but whatever happened I’m sure there wasn’t a lot of sleep involved.
No New Enemies is an international network of artists, activists and passionate people, which began as an open minded collective who enjoyed collaborating on the streets for various reasons. One of these reasons was to communicate with a broad and democratic public … to work outside of institution and reject elitist pseudo intellectual garbage. The network aims to place art in public spaces, support young artists with tools and opportunities and question the citizen/consumer dialectic and the military
style uniform of mass media aesthetics. Our voice is recycled. Our approach is DIY and Do it Together.
Everything is propaganda. Critical questions and brave imagination are the tools we have to slice through it.
Recognized for their work as ‘street artists,’ our members have created a language that has influenced every aspect of the cultural sphere. Want support of such a statement? Visit their sites or Google their names. If you look you’ll find their work, because like the artists themselves, it is constantly in motion. Affiliated NNE visual artists include: The London Police, Galo, Logan Hicks, Will Barras, Mr. Jago, Bo130, Microbo, Nomad, Dave the Chimp, Christophe Remy aka Never Effect, Jon Burgerman, Smash137, RuediOne, Morcky + The Boghe = Twothings, Maoma, Wayne Horse, Influenza, Abner Preis, L’Atlas, Ephameron, Richard Dana, Farm Prod, Victor Castillo, Neasden Control Centre, Alex Diamond,
Beat 13, The Love Movement, Joey Monsoon, Koor, Bayram, Jeremy Fish, The Don, Pixel Pancho, Rabodiga, Dadara, Pez, Above, Veggie, Faith47, D*Face, RIPO, Tina Vila, Thundercut and Vinnie Ray."
(Harlan Levey)
For More information on NNE Original Art, Prints, Products and Exhibition/Art services as well as public proposals, please contact: nonewenemies@gmail.com
www.nonewenemies.net