Oliver Räke – STROM2

STROM2
Oliver Räke (MAGIC)

Oliver Räke left his first traces in Düsseldorf’s urban space at the beginning of the 80s with his pseudonym MAGIC. He quickly made contact with other pioneers of the scene such as Loomit and HownNosm. In the 80s and 90s, he shaped the graffiti landscape in Germany and neighbouring countries with them. Since then, he has been playing with the intersection of the urban environment and white cube. Oliver Räke, who enjoys legendary status in the international graffiti scene, today combines tagging with ideas from modern graphics and concepts of contemporary art and is one of the early representatives of ‘post-graffiti’.

Art show in Düsseldorf

Graffiti überzieht die Stadt mit vielschichtigen Botschaften. Es lagert sich auf Wänden ab, überklebt, verwischt, wird ergänzt oder übermalt. Wie Sedimente der Zeit erzählen diese Schichten von Stimmen, die gehört werden wollen – manchmal laut und direkt, manchmal verborgen unter neuen Ebenen.

Structures and layers
The city becomes a canvas of countless structures: concrete, metal, weathered paint. Electricity boxes and junction boxes become carriers of spontaneous messages, they serve to exchange information that is revealed in passing. Where official infrastructure and informal forms of expression overlap, a new, polyphonic texture emerges.

In passing
If you walk through the streets attentively, you will discover these layers – peeling stickers, shimmering lettering, traces of past interventions. The STROM2 exhibition makes these fleeting moments visible, showing how urban textures are constantly renegotiated through graffiti.

Oliver Räke sees the exhibition in the Pretty Portal gallery as a play space, a resonance space, a living structure in flux. On display are collages, paintings and unique screen prints.

14th of March 2025 – 11th of April 2025
Opening reception: Friday 14.March, 7pm

Pretty Portal
Brunnenstrasse 12
40223 Düsseldorf