STENCILS ONLY 2020

FAKE, born on May 15, 1980, in the Netherlands, lives and works in Amsterdam. Growing up in a gray and at times dreary environment, he felt an early urge to bring a smile to other people’s faces through irony, humor, and, above all, color. As a teenager, he discovered spray paint through graffiti and street art; he quickly discovered the art of stenciling and, starting around 2005, began specializing professionally in hand-cut, multi-layered stencils. Self-taught, he first designs his motifs on the computer before painstakingly transforming them into stencils by hand—hence FAKE’s very clean and precise visual style. His colorful works, which often feature icons of everyday pop culture, are provocative, infused with a healthy dose of humor and a sharp, ironic twist. FAKE tells stories and puts his finger on controversial topics.FAKE is considered a pioneer of stencil art: Since his youth, stencils and spray paint have been his artistic tools of choice. Through his work, he continually responds to current events, leaving his artistic commentary in public spaces. He made his way from the streets into galleries and museums—his murals and street art can now be found in international cities such as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Los Angeles, and Bangkok.FAKE gained worldwide attention during the COVID-19 pandemic with his mural “Super Nurse,” a tribute to healthcare workers—now part of the permanent collection at the STRAAT Museum in Amsterdam. His canvas works and editions have been exhibited internationally, including in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, and Iran, and are included in collections such as that of Rabobank.

Jana & Js are a well-established duo: Jana, from Austria, and JS, from France, have been collaborating since 2006 to develop a visual language that is equally at home in public spaces and exhibition halls. Inspired by the city and its architecture as it changes over time, as well as by its residents and observers, they spray-paint urban landscapes, architectural details, and portraits in a play of reflections and transparencies.In their images, they explore the human condition within the urban environment: Against backdrops of densely packed architectural landscapes, they depict individuals who appear at once lost and isolated, yet also searching, yearning, and hopeful. At its core, Jana & Js’ work focuses on transience, the physical dimension of time, and the emotional relationship city dwellers have with their ever-changing urban surroundings.They work using a multi-layered stencil technique in the Artiste-Ouvrier style—developed collaboratively within the WCA (Working Class Artists) collective—using exclusively their own photographs as templates. In addition to painting, the artist couple also creates sculptures from wood and metal: complex, interlocking facade elements onto which they paint house fronts reminiscent of honeycombs.Jana was born in Salzburg in 1985, and JS in Paris in 1981. After spending many years in Madrid and Paris, Jana & JS now live and work in Salzburg. Their works have been exhibited in public spaces and at the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin, among other places.

L.E.T. calls himself “Les Enfants Terribles”—yet this French artist has long been considered one of the pioneers of the German street art scene. He has been active on the streets since 1992 and has helped shape the visual landscape of several cities with his work, most notably his adopted home of Düsseldorf. He first sprays his designs onto paper and then displays them as “cutouts” in urban spaces—high-contrast black-and-white figures that he deliberately breaks up with splashes of color.L.E.T.’s artistic approach can be described as a constant process of referencing, deconstructing, and reassembling the familiar. With a touch of irony, he takes aim at contemporary issues and engages in a dialogue with our consumerist and pleasure-seeking society. His installation “How Is This Happening!?” demonstrated that he is also capable of striking a more serious note: He had body bags sewn from life jackets belonging to refugees that he had collected on Lesbos—a poignant image of the transformation of hope into grief at the gates of “Fortress Europe.”His consistent artistic career—shaped by urban art conventions around the world—also led L.E.T. into the gallery: For these works, he switches to gallery-appropriate media such as canvas, cardboard, and wood, without diluting his unmistakable style. The Urban Art Museum Munich (MUCA) dedicated an entire room to him; he was part of Urban Nation in Berlin; and with “No Walls for Old Men,” he presented his first solo show at Pretty Portal in Düsseldorf—a title that should be understood less literally and more as a statement of intent: As one of Germany’s longest-serving stencil artists, L.E.T. truly has nothing to fear from walls.