Exhibitions

Unfenced brings together two Argentine artists whose work seems, at first glance, to move in opposite directions. Milu Correch paints the street corners of her own Buenos Aires neighborhood — a rusted combi, parked motorcycles, a boy floating on an air mattress in a backyard pool full of poodles. Irene Lasivita paints figures that have no fixed address at all: a sphinx-like being with pink hair, half human, half animal, set within dense, dreamlike foliage. One artist works from observation, the other from invention. Seen in dialogue, they turn out to be doing the same thing — from opposite ends. Milu Correch: The Magic of the Everyday Correch's Buenos Aires is never simply documentary. Her scenes carry a charge that goes beyond what is literally pictured — a vibration under the everyday, an energy that resists full explanation. She has no formal art education, and it shows in the directness of her eye: color and gesture do the narrating, while the image itself withholds as much as it reveals. Correch speaks of a visual poetry that refuses transparency — the viewer has to complete the story. Not everything is said. In her recent work, this instinct tips further into magical realism, letting the marvelous surface from within a corner everyone would otherwise walk straight past. Irene Lasivita: Hybrid Beings and Dream Logic Lasivita starts from the opposite pole and arrives at the same threshold. Trained at the Fernando Fader School of Arts in Buenos Aires and shaped since by independent research into posthumanist thought, relational ontologies and Amerindian perspectivism, she builds pictorial worlds where the line between human and non-human, nature and culture, simply does not hold. Her most recent paintings turn further toward the oneiric — staged as passages into dream logic, where a figure can change shape mid-canvas and the marvelous is treated as a plain fact of the world. A Shared Way of Seeing What the two practices share is a way of seeing. Neither artist inherited it from the Western pictorial tradition, which has long kept the wild separate from the domestic, the mythic separate from the real. Lasivita invents a cosmology from research and imagination; Correch extracts hers from direct observation of one specific street. Different materials, same gesture: a refusal to fence the magical off into "elsewhere." Unfenced proposes that the enchanted and the everyday were never on opposite sides of a boundary — in the city as much as beyond it, the territory has always been porous. About the Artists Irene Lasivita (b. 1983, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine visual artist whose practice expands painting through muralism, virtual reality, immersive media and installation. Trained at the Fernando Fader School of Arts, she has since built a practice fusing painting, philosophy, public art and emerging technologies, with painting remaining its conceptual core. Since 2010 she has also run independent teaching programs in drawing, composition and oil painting. Milu Correch (b. 1991, Buenos Aires) is an Argentine muralist whose vivid, narrative-driven work has been seen on walls across the globe, from major urban centers to remote rural communities. Working outside formal art education, she fuses traditional technique with a contemporary eye, producing scenes that strike the viewer on an instinctive, almost pre-verbal level.

With Altered Nature, we bring together two distinctive positions of urban art, ARDIF and Pixelpancho, in a single exhibition. Nature is approached not as a representation, but as a mutable, dynamic state. Both artists emerged from the street and urban art scene, where organic forms, technical aesthetics and urban influences merge in a singular way.The Idea of Nature At the heart of the exhibition lies the idea of a nature that can no longer be conceived as untouched or idealised, but is shaped by human intervention, technological processes and cultural transformation.A Hybrid System In the works of ARDIF and Pixelpancho, nature appears as a hybrid system, at once organic and constructed. While ARDIF's imagery often reveals biomechanical structures in which plants and machines merge into one another, Pixelpancho develops complex scenarios between nature, architecture and mechanical elements. Structures seem both grown and built; surfaces bear traces of time, memory, damage and repair.Growth and Decay The result is a body of imagery that shows less landscape in the classical sense than processes made visible: growth and decay, layering and fragmentation, mechanics and abstraction.The title Altered Nature is deliberately left open. "Altered" refers both to physical change and to a shift in perception: a nature filtered through technology, urban space and imagination.The exhibition is not intended as a clear statement, but as an atmospheric space in which different states of an altered nature meet and form new connections. ALTERED NATURE ARDIF x PIXELPANCHO 30.5. – 17.7. Vernissage : 30.5. 19-22h

For this year's edition of ARTMUC, we present a selection of figurative positions featuring works by Fin DAC, SKIO, Alexis Stephens and Guy Denning.At the centre of the presentation is the human figure: not as a classical likeness, but as a projection surface for perception, transformation and inner states. Moving between urban art, contemporary figuration and painterly gesture, the works explore how identity is constructed in the interplay of body, space and image.The four artistic positions open up different approaches. Fin DAC develops a highly aesthetic, precise visual language in which cultural references and traditions condense into a distinct form of identity. At its core are strong, self-assured female figures who radiate presence and poise.SKIO's works emerge from purely analogue painting, yet their visual effect recalls the logic of digital and AI-generated imagery. Shaped by a reduced, Bauhaus-inspired formal vocabulary, the compositions take on an almost otherworldly quality, reflecting a perception increasingly defined by hybrid realities.In the works of Alexis Stephens, the body itself becomes a vehicle for movement, energy and decision. Gestures appear as frozen moments of a dynamic process in which control and impulse are present at once. Guy Denning, by contrast, reduces the figure to a raw, immediate presence. His works address the human condition with a directness that oscillates between vulnerability and resistance.Opening Hours ARTMUC May 2026 Friday, 1 May 2026 / 11 am – 7 pm Saturday, 2 May 2026 / 11 am – 7 pm Sunday, 3 May 2026 / 11 am – 6 pmGETTING THERE MTC Locations / Ingolstädter Straße 45-47 / 80807 MunichParking: The venue offers more than 1,000 parking spaces on site.Public transport: U-Bahn line U2 – Frankfurter Ring station (approx. 7-minute walk to the venue)

We have been working with Guy Denning for more than ten years, showing his work in numerous group and thematic exhibitions and following the development of his artistic practice. The Idea of Her is his first solo exhibition at Pretty Portal since Shooting Angels ten years ago.The ArtistGuy Denning's work has long operated at the intersection of traditional painting and contemporary urban art, drawing equally on the European pictorial tradition and on political urgency. His paintings and drawings are marked by an expressive, often fragmented figuration, combined with stencilled and collaged text, abrasion, overpainting and deliberate disruption. In Denning's work, identity never appears fixed or complete, but fragile, provisional and in constant flux.The ExhibitionThe works shown in this exhibition mark a particularly concentrated and intimate phase of his practice. The drawings and paintings revolve around memory, imagination and projection. They deliberately reject the conventions of classical portraiture, approaching their figures instead through suggestion, movement and emotional condensation. Here, closeness arises not through likeness, but through an inner stance.The Image in the MindThe Idea of Her is an exhibition about the image we carry in our minds, about what remains when likeness and certainty are no longer enough. It marks the beginning of a body of work that deliberately positions itself between personal experience and artistic openness.The following text by Guy Denning offers insight into the origins of these works. Intended as a personal dedication, it is reproduced here unchanged."This exhibition is dedicated to my partner, companion, defender and lover of thirty-two years, who passed away shortly before Christmas. Colleen was the most beautiful, strongest and funniest woman I have ever had the privilege to know.Ever since we met, I tried to persuade her to let me paint a formal portrait of her. But as she didn't even like the idea of being photographed, she always laughed and declined.Last year I asked her again, and she finally agreed, on one condition: the portrait had to be about the 'idea' of her and inspired by the artists she most admired. It was very specifically not to be a traditional likeness.She also liked my earlier body of work based on the idea of 'imaginary' portraits and self-portraits, in which we, like autobiographers, construct the comforting fictions we would like others to believe of us.So over the last year before her death, she gave me her thoughts and ideas for this portrait: the life stories of strengths and weaknesses, of heroes and villains, of longings and dreams.Much of the beginning of this work can be seen here, at Pretty Portal.Colleen found me and saved me; she protected me from the world, and often from myself.She will always be my captain, my compass and my ship. I will miss her by my side on this crazy journey forever."— Guy DenningWe are deeply honoured to host this exhibition and to present these works, acrylic and oil paintings on canvas as well as drawings in charcoal and chalk, in this particularly personal and meaningful context.

Stencil art has always been deeply rooted in protest. The technique was not born in studios, but on the street: a weapon made of words and images in times when speaking the truth was dangerous. In the 1960s and 70s, activists and artists used stencils to spread political messages quickly and effectively: against war, for freedom, for equality. Walls became the people's newspapers, and the spray can became the printing press of resistance.In the 1980s, stencil art took on new significance through artists such as Blek le Rat in Paris and, later, Banksy in London. Their works showed that protest doesn't always have to be loud. It can also whisper, with humour, irony and aesthetic precision.The Art of Protest continues this tradition in the works of FAKE and L.E.T. Both artists use stencils to question power, break open conformity and provoke thought. Their visual language is powerful, multi-layered and inevitably political, a reminder that true art still dares to disrupt.The stencil remains what it has always been: the voice of those who want to be heard.

Under the title Mensch & Form (Human & Form), the exhibition explores the tension between the human figure and built urbanity. SKIO creates a subtle dialogue between emotionally charged figuration and clear geometric abstraction.Inspired by the spirit of the Bauhaus yet firmly anchored in the present, his works combine softness with structure, intimacy with architectural rigour. Fragments of faces and bodies merge into stylised compositions. Often the gaze is missing, and this is deliberate. The void invites projection and raises questions: How visible are we in the anonymity of the city? What becomes of the individual in urban space?With his surreal, graphic visual language, SKIO reflects on our relationship with the city: on physical presence, emotional refuges and inner perception. The exhibition is a quiet, poetic exploration of modern human existence between withdrawal and visibility, structure and fragility.About the artistSKIO began his artistic career in 1993 on the French Riviera. Having started out with the lettering typical of graffiti, he turned to more figurative and romantic territory. Following his studies in graphic design in Manchester and object design at the European Institute of Design in Toulon, he developed a distinctive visual language that combines geometry, realism and symbolic explorations of the gaze.Influenced by the Bauhaus and Surrealism, SKIO has developed a refined and sensitive aesthetic in which each work questions our presence in urban space. His paintings bring together anatomical fragments, stylised architecture and contemporary textures, suspended between abstraction and figuration. SKIO masters a range of techniques, including spray paint, brush and marquetry, and uses digital tools in the design phase. He works across murals, canvases and installations. For twenty years, his work has been exhibited internationally, in cities such as Paris, New York, Mexico City, Sarajevo, Düsseldorf and Mumbai.

The works of Alexis "Bust" Stephens captivate. The energy they hold can be felt by every viewer. With his dynamic, performative painting technique, he seizes the instant, the sheer power of the moment.Dance and PaintingHis subject is dance. Early on, Alexis "Bust" Stephens performed as a dancer with hip-hop and breakdance crews on international stages. At the same time, he found his way as a painter into the Parisian urban art scene. Today, these two forms of expression, dance and painting, merge in his work in a unique way.Couples in MotionSometimes we dance alone, but often as a pair: a dialogue through shared movement. Leading and being led. Dominating and surrendering. An exchange of emotion and tension. In his new exhibition at Galerie Pretty Portal, Alexis focuses above all on dancing couples. His paintings show dynamic, floating or spinning bodies, captured in a style inspired by the energy of Abstract Expressionism. In his work, movement, rhythm and physical expression become a gestural, pulsating visual language, full of intensity and life.In MuseumsAlexis' works are currently on view in a major solo exhibition at the Städtische Galerie Bietigheim-Bissingen. They were recently shown at the Espace Saint-Pierre des Minimes, a former church converted into a museum in Compiègne, France. His works can also be seen at The Olympic Museum in Lausanne.Exhibition in Düsseldorf 25 April – 6 June 2025Opening Friday, 25 April 2025, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Graffiti covers the city with layered messages. It settles on walls and is pasted over, smudged, added to or painted over. Like sediments of time, these layers speak of voices that want to be heard: sometimes loud and direct, sometimes hidden beneath new layers.Structure and LayersThe city becomes a canvas of countless textures: concrete, metal, weathered paint. Electrical and utility boxes become carriers of spontaneous messages, a means of exchanging information that reveals itself in passing. Where official infrastructure and informal expression overlap, a new, polyphonic texture emerges.In PassingAnyone walking attentively through the streets will discover these layers: peeling stickers, lettering shimmering through, traces of past interventions. The exhibition STROM 2 makes these fleeting moments visible and shows how urban textures are constantly renegotiated through graffiti. Oliver Räke conceives of the exhibition as a field of play, a resonating space, a living structure in flux. On show are collages, paintings and unique screen prints.The ArtistUnder the pseudonym MAGIC, Oliver Räke left his first marks on Düsseldorf's urban space in the early 1980s. He soon connected with other pioneers of the scene such as Loomit and How & Nosm. Together with them, he shaped the graffiti landscape in Germany and its neighbouring countries throughout the 1980s and 90s. Since then, he has been exploring the intersection between the urban environment and the white cube. Regarded as a legend of the international graffiti scene, Oliver Räke today combines tagging with ideas from modern graphic design and concepts of contemporary art. He is considered one of the early exponents of post-graffiti.Oliver "MAGIC" Räke – STROM 2Exhibition 14 March – 11 April 2025Opening Friday, 14 March 2025, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

The term tipping point is something we encounter more and more often in everyday life. It is mostly used in connection with the impact of human activity on nature and the climate. The word also comes up again and again in discussions about changes in how we live together as a society, or about shifts in the political climate towards the extremes. Tipping points are described as thresholds beyond which change becomes irreversible and drastic. We find them in art as well: states from which a work fundamentally changes its meaning or its visual appearance.VERMIBUSVermibus treats photographs with solvents, altering their aesthetics and, inevitably, the way they are perceived. Once set in motion, the chemical process must be carefully dosed and then stopped at precisely the right moment to achieve the result the artist is after. The Spanish artist has been active for many years as a so-called adbuster. In protest against the beauty ideal propagated by advertising, perverted to the point of perfection and allowing happiness only as a consequence of supposed appearance, he removes advertising posters, alters their motifs in his studio and then hangs them back in the very same place. Today, VERMIBUS creates his own photographs, processes them using the same technique and explores the thresholds at which images fundamentally change their aesthetics and message.GUY DENNINGWe also know tipping points in our emotional lives: moments in which a mood suddenly transforms a situation completely. Even before we are fully aware of a growing feeling, it is often already legible in our facial expression and posture. The English artist Guy Denning seeks out these expressions and makes them the subject of his work. With his distinctive, highly expressive painting technique, he captures the emotions of his protagonists, at times drawing them out with just a few incisive strokes. Guy Denning's works combine traditional and contemporary approaches to painting. He uses charcoal and chalk, oil paint, but also spray paint. Punk-inspired text, inserted as collage or stencilled, adds a further narrative layer. His visual language and aesthetic, interwoven with the political narrative that runs through his oeuvre, lend his works an unusual power.Exhibition: 15 November 2024 – 17 January 2025Opening: Thursday, 15 November, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

As a short intermezzo, we present a photography exhibition by American photographer Sheila Rock, who is visiting Düsseldorf for the Electri_City Conference. She is best known for her portraits of musicians such as Debbie Harry (Blondie), The Clash, Visage and Billy Idol. The exhibition is on view from 24 October to 2 November.About the PhotographerSheila Rock was born in the United States and moved to London in 1970. Her career as a photographer began in 1980 with THE FACE magazine. She exhibits regularly in London and internationally. Her portrait work spans a wide range of stars from music and entertainment, and her photographs have appeared in publications from Vogue to The Sunday Times. Her work is also held in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London.Sheila Rock was married to the late photographer Mick Rock (who died in 2021), renowned for his images of David Bowie, Lou Reed, Queen and Syd Barrett.Sheila Rock – PhotographyExhibition 24 October – 2 November 2024Opening Thursday, 24 October 2024, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Even the ancient Greeks consulted oracles when they faced important decisions or when changes in life lay ahead. Back then, priestesses had to be put into a trance, and the oracle was open only to members of high society. Its pronouncements could be interpreted in many ways and invited reflection. The consultation of oracles can be found in every culture and continues to this day.The TarotThe tarot first appeared as a card game in 15th-century Italy. From the 18th century onwards, particularly in France, it came to be used for fortune-telling as well as for psychological and esoteric purposes. To this day, it remains hugely popular and is used to reflect on one's personal situation or on decisions that lie ahead. In times that could hardly be more complex, and that confront us with changes in the reality of our lives, many wish for a mystical sign that might help them readjust their view of the future.ARDIF's Interpretation of the ArcanaThe French urban artist ARDIF has explored the theme of the oracle and developed a tarot entirely his own. He has translated the 22 Major Arcana into his unmistakable illustrative language, creating the "Oracle of Mechanimals". ARDIF's work is distinguished by its conceptual strength and his talent as a draughtsman, which comes impressively to the fore in his richly detailed illustrations. His works delight art lovers and collectors around the world. The 22 drawings of the "Oracle of Mechanimals" are on view at Galerie Pretty Portal from 26 April.ARDIF – "Oracle of Mechanimals"Exhibition: 26 April – 31 May 2024Opening: Friday, 26 April 2024, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A riddle is more than an open question. It is an invitation to look more closely, to recognise connections and to decipher meaning. This is precisely the invitation extended by the works of REMED and SAM3. In the duo show ENIGMA, we bring together these two artists, both long-standing members of our gallery programme, and present their new works.Two PioneersREMED and SAM3 are among the early protagonists of urban art, a movement that is still young today. Their work has been featured in MODART, and a mural by SAM3 appears in Banksy's film "Exit Through the Gift Shop". The two artists have known and admired each other for many years.1 + 1 = 3For ENIGMA, they painted several works together, exploring the overlap between their artistic territories. The result is three canvases in which both visual languages merge in remarkable ways and give rise to something entirely new. The ensemble is accompanied by a series of sketches that offer insight into their shared working process. In addition, both artists present individual works.Form and ColourREMED and SAM3 share a clear, reduced formal language, yet use colour in very different ways. SAM3 works in a highly reduced, high-contrast manner, primarily in black and white. REMED's works, by contrast, are vividly colourful. He generally avoids mixing colours, placing fields of colour directly side by side instead. These contrasts within the colour spectrum give his works a distinctive luminosity.Familiar and MysteriousVisitors can expect timeless works that engage with philosophical concepts and draw on motifs and symbols from classical antiquity. As a result, they feel both familiar and mystical, inviting viewers to reflect.REMED & SAM3 – "ENIGMA"Exhibition 17 November 2023 – 25 January 2024Opening Friday, 17 November 2023, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

First impressions deceive. We all know this, and yet we keep letting ourselves be seduced by beautiful appearances. The exhibition Looks are deceiving brings together four artists whose portraits explore beauty, aesthetics and the way they are perceived in our society.The Beautiful IllusionIn an age when millions of new images circulate every hour across the internet and social media, this is hardly surprising. We know how images are manipulated, and that even videos can now be altered with filters in real time. Yet they still shape the way we see reality. Recently, artificial intelligence has begun to generate images that look deceptively real, taking this game of confusion to a whole new level.Playing with PerceptionThe works in this exhibition are real. They were not generated by a computer from a few lines of text, but painted by hand. And yet they play with our perception. The portraits, some of them seemingly photorealistic, are blurred, distorted and overlaid with geometric elements in places. Artificial, often monochrome palettes create a visual quality familiar from hyperrealistic computer graphics. Therein lies the particular appeal of these works: they invite us to linger and immerse ourselves in the beautiful illusion.Ben SlowBen Slow uses a variety of materials for his mostly monochrome portraits. His dramatic works move between abstraction and figuration. He draws inspiration from the vibrant life of London's neighbourhoods, with their electrifying mix of cultures, and from the colourful characters he meets on his travels..EPODThe work of .EPOD is strongly influenced by graffiti, conceptual art and fine art. The fusion of these three influences results in a distinctive, instantly recognisable signature. In his works, .EPOD combines our idea of the future with vintage, fashion with technology, and reality with estrangement.Fin DACOver the years, Fin DAC has developed an unmistakable visual language he calls "Urban Aesthetics". He is known for his depictions of Eurasian women. His works address themes such as female emancipation and empowerment, sexual stereotypes and colonially shaped perceptions.SKIOSKIO observes an everyday life that is becoming increasingly virtual through the growing dominance of social media. In his paintings, he examines the uniformity that society imposes on the individual and the demands placed on beauty. Inspired by the Bauhaus and Surrealism, he seeks a balance between complexity and minimalism, experimenting with geometry, anatomy and colour."Looks are deceiving"Exhibition 23 June – 5 AugustOpening Friday, 23 June, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

From 5 May, we present the exhibition Cutting Edge with works by Marc C. Woehr and Théo Lopez. With it, we introduce two more artists who took part in the Pretty Wall Project in Düsseldorf last year. Both work in the field of graphic abstraction. The title Cutting Edge refers on the one hand to the artistic process, and on the other to the continuous development with which both Marc C. Woehr and Théo Lopez reinterpret graffiti and interweave it with ideas from Art Informel, the Bauhaus, Dada and Abstract Expressionism.The Street as the Smallest Unit, Architecture and the City as the Larger StructureMarc C. Woehr began his aesthetic practice on the street more than twenty years ago. The street as the smallest unit, architecture and the city as a larger structure, as a matrix, have never let go of him since. He has permeated them and examined them from every angle. The result speaks for itself: his wooden reliefs and paper cuts have become his unmistakable signature. His engagement with the art of the early 20th century has produced fresh, highly contemporary works that give no hint whatsoever that the artist began his career not with a brush or pencil, but with a spray can in hand.Wild Style, Dada & Abstract ExpressionismIn Théo Lopez's paintings, lines glide across the canvas. They follow imaginary free forms, sway in harmonious rhythm and take straight paths, only to change direction suddenly. In doing so, they define shapes reminiscent of wild style graffiti and inspired by Dadaism and Surrealism. Asked about further influences, Lopez names the Russian Constructivists and American Abstract Expressionism. He unites all these movements in works that belong to the contemporary movement of Graffuturism. Alongside his expressive formal language, his skilful handling of light and shadow and his use of bold colours stand out, lending his works a remarkable vitality.Théo Lopez is one of the exceptional talents of the French urban contemporary scene. He was born in 1989 in the Parisian suburbs, where he still lives and works. As early as 2008, he was invited by the collective 9ème Concept, with which he realised several large-scale international projects. Since then, he has continued to refine his expression and visual language, evolving steadily from the figurative to the abstract, from effect to essence. His works have been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications. Some of them belong to the collection of Nicolas Laugero Lasserre and are on view at the Art 42 urban art museum in Paris.Marc C. Woehr & Théo Lopez "Cutting Edge"Exhibition: 5 May – 16 June 2023Opening: Friday, 5 May 2023, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

In street dance, to "bust a move" means to throw down a dance move: a moment full of energy and tension that combines precision of expression with absolute focus on the arc of movement and body dynamics. This is precisely the moment Alexis "Bust" Stephens captures in his paintings and drawings. Bust a move is his first solo exhibition at Pretty Portal.A Rapid RiseWe first presented him in 2021 in a duo show with Guy Denning. Since then, his artistic career has taken off at remarkable speed. Alexis was selected by the International Olympic Committee to paint the new Olympic sports for The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, where his works are now on display. Watch the making-of video of the project. Shortly before that, he had been invited by Hera (Herakut) to take part in an art project she curated in Bayreuth. Over the past two years, Alexis has painted murals at numerous art events, including the Pretty Wall Bilk project in Düsseldorf. We are excited to see what the near future holds for him.The Body as a WaveAt the heart of Alexis "Bust" Stephens' artistic vision lies his love of physical expression, movement and gesture. He likes to imagine the body as the result of organised waves: "We are not made of much, and yet everything pulses within us." Inspired by Abstract Expressionism and graffiti, he translates the movement and energy he senses into his works. Alexis lives and breathes the idea of the grand geste and of Abstract Expressionism. In his artistic process, he combines painterly technique with instinct. His lively line work reflects waves and frequencies, creating a cycle of rhythm and colour. His brushstrokes, born of gesture and expression, initially appear abstract, almost chaotic. The further a work develops, the more clearly they take the form of his dancing protagonists.Complete Freedom of Expression in Public SpaceAlexis "Bust" Stephens was born in Paris in 1983 to a French mother and a Jamaican father. He discovered his talent for dance and painting early on and began his artistic journey within urban culture. His hip-hop and breakdance performances quickly drew attention, and he was invited with various crews to competitions and jams across Europe. Above all, however, he preferred to leave his mark in public space, which offered him complete freedom of expression.While experimenting with different painting techniques, he soon connected with the vast Parisian street art and graffiti scene. From the outset, he was determined to combine dance and painting in his style, his motifs and his performances. This period gave rise to his alias "Bust the Drip", a combination of the dance slang "to bust a move" and the "drips" of running paint that often result from his technique. Invitations to art festivals and projects soon followed, as well as exhibitions in various French galleries. With features in magazines and on television, and with his works in The Olympic Museum in Lausanne, he is today one of the most exciting emerging artists in French urban art.Alexis "Bust" Stephens – "Bust a move"Exhibition 17 March – 28 AprilOpening Friday, 17 March, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Nomen est omen: STENCILS ONLY presents artists for whom working with stencils plays a central role.A Technique with HistoryThe stencil is one of the oldest image-making techniques of all, and at the same time one of the most defining in urban art. In the early 1980s, Blek le Rat took it to the streets of Paris and established it as an art form in its own right. Later, the legendary Banksy helped it achieve worldwide popularity. Today, countless exciting artists work with stencils, taking their interventions to the streets and creating artworks in public space.Precision and ImmediacyThe appeal of the technique lies in a contradiction. Cutting a stencil is a slow, precise process, often taking many hours and several layers. Spraying, by contrast, takes seconds. The stencil thus combines meticulous craftsmanship with the speed of the street. Every work is reproducible, yet remains unique, as the surface, the application of paint and the surroundings change the image each time.Eight PositionsIn this edition of the STENCILS ONLY show, we present new works by eight artistic positions that demonstrate how diverse this technique can be: from pointed social critique and poetic snapshots to richly symbolic visual worlds.FAKE Dutch artist FAKE is considered Amsterdam's best-known stencil artist, both on the street and on canvas. His vividly coloured works draw on icons of everyday life and pop culture, slightly provocative and always with a healthy dose of humour and irony. Among his best-known pieces is the award-winning "Super Nurse", a tribute to healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.Guy Denning British artist Guy Denning combines a traditional painterly style with a contemporary, punk-inspired element: collaged and stencilled text that adds a further, often political layer of narrative to his figures. His works are held in several public collections, including the MAGI'900 Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna.Jana & JS The Austrian-French duo has been painting together since 2006 and is known for multicoloured stencil works based on their own photographs. Jana & JS combine portraits with urban landscapes and architecture, deliberately choosing old materials that speak of the passage of time. After years in Madrid and Paris, they now live in Salzburg.kurznachzehn German artist kurznachzehn discovered her technique in 2011 through nostalgic family photos from the 1950s. She first sprays her multi-layered stencils onto paper and then pastes them up in the urban landscape. For her gallery works, she also uses wooden panels and found metal.L.E.T. The initials stand for "Les Enfants Terribles". The French-born artist has been active on the street since 1992 and has shaped the cityscape of his adopted hometown, Düsseldorf, making him one of the street artists of the very first hour. He pairs his mostly black-and-white figures with charmingly provocative messages that expose the shortcomings of our consumer and fun-driven society with a wink.Monkeybird The Bordeaux duo, made up of Temor ("Monkey") and Blow ("Bird"), has been working together since 2012. Their entirely hand-cut stencils depict metaphysical architectures inspired by geometry, mechanics, cosmology and astronomy. The monkey and the bird represent the two sides of human nature: the realist and the dreamer.Otto Schade Born in Chile, the artist also known as "Osch" began his career as an architect and urban sculptor. He has lived in London since 2006, where his architectural understanding of space led him to develop his distinctive "ribbon" style. The intertwining bands shape his subjects and give them an almost sculptural presence.seiLeise Behind seiLeise is Cologne-based artist Tim Ossege, who uses stencils and other urban art techniques to comment on social developments and world events. His pointed motifs provoke thought without wagging a finger. He is also regarded as a pioneer of reverse graffiti, using stencils and a sandblaster to clean motifs out of dirty walls."STENCILS ONLY"Exhibition 2 December 2022 – 10 February 2023Opening Friday, 2 December 2022, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Where people once quickened their pace, they now stop and look. Since August 2022, Düsseldorf has had a new cultural highlight: Pretty Wall Bilk. In the underpass of Bilk S-Bahn station, ten urban artists present their work. An inhospitable place that everyone tried to pass through as quickly as possible has become a gallery in public space.A Gallery in PassingThe new open-air museum showcases a broad spectrum of contemporary urban positions: figurative alongside abstract works, ranging from graffiti and street art to urban art and Graffuturism. Today, passers-by stop on their way to work or to the shops and take a moment to enjoy the art.Five Years to the First BrushstrokeWe first had the idea for a gallery in the underpass back in 2017. But good things take time, and it took another five years before it could be realised. Bureaucratic hurdles, permits to paint the walls and pillars, the search for funding and many other less exciting tasks all had to be tackled before the project could finally get underway in 2022. Even before the first brushstroke touched the wall, the project idea was honoured with the Urbanana Award from Tourismus NRW.Finding the artists was quick. Alexis "Bust" Stephens, ARDIF, Demon, L.E.T., Marc C. Woehr, Roman Klonek, Oliver "MAGIC" Räke, SKIO, Théo Lopez and Top Notch contributed their artistic ideas, brought them to the walls and turned Pretty Wall Bilk into reality.From the Wall to the GalleryFor THE PRETTY WALL SHOW, we invited all the artists involved in the project to show their latest studio works. Like the works in the underpass, the selection in the gallery offers an excellent overview of the breadth of contemporary urban art. On show are paintings, mixed-media installations and drawings."THE PRETTY WALL SHOW"Exhibition 14 October – 25 November 2022Opening Friday, 14 October 2022, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Copy and paste: two commands we use every day, almost without thinking. They stand for adoption, repetition and borrowed fragments. In CopyPaste, they take on a new meaning. Here, two artists do not simply borrow elements from each other. Instead, they bring their visual languages into genuine dialogue and create something entirely new in the process.Two Visual LanguagesInspired by Brutalism and Constructivism, the urban labyrinths characteristic of CHAZME's visual language serve as a metaphor for the urban environment of modern humans. Paweł Ryżko stands in the tradition of Eastern European poster art.The ExperimentFor CopyPaste, CHAZME and Paweł Ryżko jointly created a series of works combining collage, screen printing, stencil and painting. To do so, both had to step outside their familiar conceptual space and engage in many ways with the other's understanding of colour, space and composition, without giving up their own style. To give the experiment a framework, they agreed on a specific formal constraint. The result is a series of works in a 20 × 20 cm format.A New TensionIn these works, the characteristic elements of both artists are clearly recognisable. Beyond that, the encounter between their visual languages creates a new and unique tension, revealing the familiar motifs of CHAZME and Ryżko from an unusual perspective. On show are collages and paintings.CHAZMEDaniel Kaliński, aka CHAZME, is known for his depictions of surreal, intricate and complex architectures. He began his artistic career with figurative painting in the Warsaw graffiti scene. Since then, his visual language has evolved towards formal, graphic abstraction. In his works, he combines classical mythology with contemporary urban experience: Brutalism meets poetry. Born in Switzerland, the Polish artist studied architecture and urban planning in Warsaw. An internationally sought-after muralist, he has also shown his work in numerous exhibitions across Europe.Paweł RyżkoPaweł Ryżko (b. 1984) is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź. His work draws on Constructivism, using clearly structured motifs, geometric shapes and bold colours, punctuated from time to time by typographic elements. His awards include the prize of the Polish Poster Biennale and the Polish Graphic Design Award. He is co-founder of the international collective Void Projects (together with Alex Void) and of the studio Kukugrafika, founded with Sainer of Etam Cru. Driven by his passion for typography, printmaking and murals, his work is as much at home in urban space as in galleries. He has also designed a number of album covers, including Frank Zappa's Hammersmith Odeon, released in 2010 by the Zappa Family Trust.CHAZME & Paweł Ryżko – "CopyPaste"Exhibition 3 June – 15 JulyOpening 3 June, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Mixed reality refers to environments or systems that blend a person's natural perception with an artificial one. At first, this sounds like science fiction. But if we look at the term less technically, it quickly becomes clear how much we already live with blended realities today. The media, the immense flood of information from the internet and, not least, social networks put our sense of what is real to the test almost every day.Nothing Is What It SeemsThe exhibition Mixed Reality brings together three artists who engage with these blended realities, questioning beauty, aesthetics and the way they are perceived in our society. Fin DAC, who has been part of our programme since 2012, presents new works. We are also delighted to introduce SKIO and Vermibus, two more exciting positions, at our gallery for the first time.Fin DAC's collages show literally "torn" female protagonists, recombining different versions of what appears to be the same image. In doing so, he challenges sexual stereotypes and colonially shaped perceptions. SKIO observes an everyday life that is becoming increasingly virtual through the growing dominance of social media. In his paintings, he examines the uniformity that society imposes on the individual and the standards of beauty imposed on women in particular. Vermibus, too, addresses beauty ideals shaped by society and the media. He rehumanises his previously depersonalised models by literally dissolving them, delivering a sharp critique of the advertising and fashion industries.On show are collages, paintings and analogue-manipulated photographs.Fin DACIn his rapidly evolving career as an urban artist, Irish artist Fin DAC has perfected a highly distinctive visual language that unites elements of contemporary art and urban art. He calls it "Urban Aesthetics". Self-taught and a nonconformist, he draws on influences ranging from dark graphic novels to the works of Francis Bacon and Aubrey Beardsley. In little more than a decade, this style has brought him a remarkably successful career: his originals and editions are highly sought after today, and he has a loyal following of collectors worldwide.In his works, Fin DAC explores female emancipation and empowerment, as well as the reorientation of the male, colonially shaped gaze on women of other cultures. He mostly paints Eurasian women, whom he stages in traditional and ceremonial dress. His interest, however, is neither superficial nor thoughtless. Fin DAC reframes the gender-specific and cultural stereotypes that surround these women, creating a narrative that celebrates their sensuality with sensitivity rather than appropriation.In his murals, the women are often large and imposing. They claim control over their urban surroundings, yet remain feminine, with classically delicate features: powerful and vulnerable, aesthetic and intellectual, physical and emotional. Although his murals can be found all over the world, Fin DAC remains an outsider in the street art scene, preferring to follow his own path with personal projects.SKIOIn his new series Human in the City, SKIO questions the situation of the individual in a modern world and its oppressive anonymity. It is said that the eyes are the mirror of the soul. SKIO deliberately omits them in his paintings, thereby heightening the sense of anonymity. The very absence of eye contact opens up a space in which viewers cannot escape the tension inherent in the images.SKIO places his figures in Surrealist-inspired architectures, questioning our place in the urban environment. He plays with the aesthetics and concepts of virtual worlds. Some of his protagonists appear to wear VR headsets, pointing to the growing virtual dimension of our lives.SKIO painted his first murals in 1993 in the region around Nice. After a period of experimenting with typography and graffiti, he soon turned to more figurative imagery, initially inspired by pop and television culture. Today, he combines geometric and architectural forms with portraits that resemble sculptures. Inspired by the Bauhaus and Surrealism, he seeks a balance between complexity and minimalism, experimenting with geometry, anatomy and colour. His work has been shown at numerous exhibitions and festivals around the world, including in Paris, London, Mexico and Shanghai. In recent years, SKIO's work has undergone a remarkable development that has brought it to the attention of many urban art collectors.VermibusSmoother skin, smaller bags under the eyes, larger eyes and fuller lips: "photoshopping" the human body towards supposed perfection has long become the norm in advertising. Beauty presents itself as a synonym for success and happiness. And although most people recognise that this premise is false, it continues to be socially accepted and followed by the vast majority. On social media, influencers adopt these advertising concepts and carry them to a broad audience that has begun to present itself as a brand or a product.Berlin-based artist and activist Vermibus has developed a unique artistic process through which he questions contemporary ideals of beauty. His focus is the shift away from individual identity towards conformism. He attracted considerable attention when he began removing advertising posters from public space, altering them in his studio and then reinstalling them in the city. Public space is central to the message of his work.Vermibus was born in 1987 in Palma de Mallorca, where he became involved in the local graffiti scene at an early age. In 2003, he moved to Madrid, discovered new painting techniques and began deconstructing advertising with stencils. Shortly afterwards, he worked as an illustrator and later as a photographer for various advertising agencies. At the end of 2010, he moved to Berlin and was immediately captivated by its vibrant street art scene. Soon after, he launched the project Unveiling Beauty, documented in 2015 by photographer Mark Rigney and filmmaker Xar Lee, which took his style to a new conceptual level. The project led to a series of public interventions during the Fashion Weeks in New York, London, Milan and Paris. With these interventions in the "Big Four", Vermibus set out to confront beauty cults at the very heart of their creation. Since then, his work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications. His distinctive visual language and radical conceptual approach have earned him international acclaim and an ever-growing base of collectors.Fin DAC, SKIO, Vermibus – "Mixed Reality"Exhibition 8 April – 13 MayOpening 8 April, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Anyone who opens a magic box never quite knows what will emerge. Almost three years after his last solo exhibition at Pretty Portal, Roman Klonek opens his and conjures up a wonderful collection of new works.Dreamlike WorldsRoman Klonek's images draw us into intoxicating, dreamlike worlds in which he tells stories of fabulous creatures and anthropomorphic figures. His narratives lead us into fluffy, absurd landscapes and fill us with joyful astonishment time and again. Text elements in scripts that are unfamiliar to most of us, which Roman tongue-in-cheek calls "weirdness amplifiers", round off his compositions.The Art of the WoodcutBut it is not only Roman's visual worlds that are something special. The woodcut process he uses to create his works also stands out and invites us to look at them more than once.The ArtistBorn in Katowice, Poland, in 1969, the artist studied visual communication at the University of Applied Sciences in Düsseldorf in the early 1990s. He graduated under Harald Fuchs with a series of woodcuts that laid the foundation for his further development. In spirit, he feels connected to artists such as Fyodor Khitruk, Zdeněk Miler, Yoshitomo Nara and Takashi Murakami. He has gained experience not only in unconventional character design, but also as founder of the non-profit gallery Revolver in Düsseldorf, as a visiting professor in Mainz and as a lecturer in printmaking at the University of Applied Sciences in Würzburg. Numerous solo and group exhibitions in Germany and abroad keep his fingers warm for drawing and carving in his Düsseldorf studio.Lost in Print Text by Raiko OldenettelWhat is written remains. Roman Klonek knows this and likes to take notes. That these notes do not consist of words may be a result of his working process. His pool of ideas consists of sketches, small variations of figures and forms, abstractions drawn from cartoons and otherworldly realms. These notes do not look backwards or reminisce; instead, in constant transformation, they are oriented towards the future. So one could say: "Those who sketch, become." But what exactly does the Düsseldorf artist do when he draws every day, reinvents the old and finally elevates a small, select part of it onto the pedestal of paper?A Narrative in FormsKlonek was born in Poland in the 1960s and spent his early childhood there. He brought memories of rattling Super 8 cartoons with him to Germany, where classic American cartoons, Czech animated films and Japanese anime and manga shaped his unmistakable style. He chose to study visual communication and, early on, slowed the moving image in his mind down to its printmaking quality. He peels the film still, a recurring term in the vocabulary of his connoisseurs and critics, out of the formal worlds of his notebook. Perhaps this is precisely why he turned to the slowest of media, printmaking, to radicalise this deceleration even further.Klonek works in woodcut, more precisely in the reduction technique, known in German as the "lost cut". The effort required before his ensembles appear before the viewer, colourful, reduced and alive, is colossal. In contrast to his restlessly changing sketches, he must now think the realisation backwards, because in a reduction woodcut the material is irretrievably lost. First, he transfers the preliminary drawing onto the block. Then, layer by layer, he cuts away the areas that are to remain in the colour already printed. Only the remaining raised surfaces take up the next layer of oil-based ink and transfer contours and fields onto the sheet. As this process is repeated for every colour, he must not only think in mirror image but also never lose sight of a single form. What has been cut away cannot be restored; corrections are hardly possible. Small editions are the result, and thanks to minimal variations, each sheet is essentially unique: a statement at a time when offset printing and digital media dominate visual communication and rely on replicability.Please Step Closer!Not only the technique but also the visual worlds themselves appeal to a sense of being lost. As if in a pleasant intoxication, we encounter wild animals, anthropomorphic hybrid creatures and impossible landscapes. With headlines, subtitles and comic-style speech bubbles, he blends bewilderment with the unreality of what we see, as the languages depicted are illegible to most Europeans. Japanese and Russian have particularly captivated him through his travels. He calls the lettering in kanji and Cyrillic script "weirdness amplifiers": weird because they demand constant attention, amplifying because they catalyse irritation. Their sign-like quality underlines the inherent energy of the fabulous creatures and supervillains that lure the audience in with vivid colour and apparent harmlessness.But once you stand in front of a sheet like "Naruto", which from afar resembles a film poster, and grasp what the creature is actually doing, half bat, quarter human, quarter rubber boot, there can be no more talk of safety. Klonek's narrative form-mutants have teeth. They can be gigantic or tiny, recall forces of nature born in a Petri dish or, as in "Naruto", have brought their own weapons. That many of them seem preoccupied with themselves or their own misfortune is no reason to sound the all-clear. It is simply the result of a sketchbook whose discarded figures make us all the more curious. Roman Klonek – "Magic Box"Exhibition 25 February – 1 AprilOpening 25 February, 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

During a conversation with a literary friend about Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the famous dialogue between Zarathustra and the dwarf naturally came up, in which time, space and the moment are discussed: "'Everything straight lies,' the dwarf murmured contemptuously. 'All truth is crooked; time itself is a circle.'"The Mother of All FormsThe circle is often called the mother of all forms: a perfect form and a basic framework that springs directly from nature. Nevertheless, most images in contemporary art are created on rectangular formats. The rectangle gives the image a clearer boundary and forms a more self-contained surface. The circle, by contrast, has no corners and no interior angles; one could also say it has infinitely many sides. For many artists, a circular painting surface therefore poses a new challenge.The ChallengeIn Enter the Circle, ten artistic positions from graphic abstraction and Graffuturism take on precisely this challenge. Some regularly use the circle to frame their works, some occasionally, and some have chosen a round format for the very first time for this exhibition.Ten Visual LanguagesIn their works, they reflect on a wide range of ideas and concepts. They find inspiration in the exploration of colour and form, in nature, in architecture and urban landscapes, in typography and graffiti. The result is visual languages that could hardly be more different: some works bubble over with vitality and spontaneity, while others are clearly constructed and remarkably precise. The artists work with lacquer, acrylic, paper, wood and other materials."Enter the Circle"Exhibition 3 December 2021 – 4 February 2022 Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 7 pmOpening Friday, 3 December 2021, 5 – 10 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Angels stepping from the beyond into the here and now, dancers staging themselves as they are carried by waves and frequencies, individuals testing their limits: in Passing Through, we encounter figures in transit. They move through space and time in a very particular way, are on a path of self-discovery and, in constant transformation, grapple with transience.Two Positions in DialogueGuy Denning and Alexis "Bust" Stephens both place the human figure at the centre of their work. In this artistic dialogue, Guy Denning, one of the early exponents of urban art, meets Alexis "Bust" Stephens, who has caught the attention of connoisseurs and collectors, particularly in Paris, under the pseudonym "Bust the Drip". Both artists are distinguished by a highly vivid line. With their very different painting techniques, they manage to unite diffusion and dissolution with meticulous detail within a single image in an unmistakable way.Charcoal and Chalk, Brush and Spray PaintGuy Denning works primarily in charcoal and chalk. He is a master at depicting the expression and emotions of his protagonists precisely and palpably with just a few strokes. Alexis "Bust" Stephens paints with brush and spray paint, capturing the movement of his models. His lines trace entire sequences of motion and seem to dance with the figures across the canvas. On show are works on paper and canvas."Passing Through" Guy Denning | Alexis "Bust" StephensExhibition 22 October – 26 November 2021 Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfAlexis "Bust" StephensAlexis "Bust" Stephens was born in Paris in 1983 to a French mother and a Jamaican father. He discovered his talent for dance and painting early on and began his artistic journey within urban culture. His hip-hop and breakdance performances quickly drew attention, and he was invited with various crews to competitions and jams across Europe. Above all, however, he preferred to leave his mark in public space, which offered him complete freedom of expression.While experimenting with different painting techniques, he soon connected with the vast Parisian street art and graffiti scene. From the outset, he was determined to combine dance and painting in his style, his motifs and his performances. This period gave rise to his alias "Bust the Drip", a combination of the dance slang "to bust a move" and the "drips" of running paint that often result from his technique.He later joined the artist collective Bang Crew, whose members come from dance, painting, video, photography and music. The synergies within the collective enabled him to develop large-scale projects both in France and abroad. During this time, he realised that he wanted to focus more on painting, while keeping dance as a motif and as part of his performances.At the heart of his artistic vision lies his love of physical expression, movement and gesture. He likes to imagine the body as the result of organised waves: "We are not made of much, and yet everything pulses within us." Inspired by Abstract Expressionism and graffiti, he translates the movement and energy he senses into his works. Alexis lives and breathes the idea of the grand geste and of Abstract Expressionism. In his artistic process, he combines painterly technique with instinct. His lively line work reflects waves and frequencies, creating a cycle of rhythm and colour. His brushstrokes, born of gesture and expression, initially appear abstract and disconcerting. The further a work develops, the more clearly they take the form of his dancing protagonists.Guy DenningGuy Denning was born in North Somerset in 1965. He has been obsessed with visual art since childhood and started painting in oils at the age of eleven, after receiving a set of old paints from a relative who had grown bored with them. Throughout the 1980s, his applications to study painting at degree level were repeatedly unsuccessful, but he continued painting while studying art history with the Open University and learning painting technique from older painters he knew in the West of England. From 1992, he exhibited across Britain, and since 2007 he has also exhibited in the United States, Germany, Italy and France. His paintings have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His work is held in several public collections, including the Politics Department of the University of Bristol, the Political Science Department of the University of Galway and the MAGI'900 Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna.Guy Denning's work combines a traditional painterly style with a contemporary, punk-inspired twist of embedded collaged and stencilled text. This aesthetic, blended with a political narrative, has earned Denning a loyal following among collectors of urban art."Urban art is not a new phenomenon. People have been declaring their presence, their humour, their fears and their anger in the streets for as long as there have been streets for it to be seen in. It's the most democratic form of art; it's a medium that is available to any that feel the need to use it. With the acceptance and celebration of graffiti culture in the twentieth century it has come to a point where it is now sited behind the streets, in fashionable galleries. Yes, fashions change, but don't ever think that the graffiti will fade away. That particular writing has always been on the wall." – Guy Denning

Since time immemorial, fabulous creatures have been beings whose appearance springs from the human imagination. And yet many of them have their origins in the real world and are shaped by the history of their time. In a mystical way, they carry humanity's ancient stories within them and pass them on.Modern Fabulous CreaturesARDIF's new series of works features modern fabulous creatures: cyborgs, hybrids of biological organism and a machina obscura, a surreal symbiosis of medieval architecture and ancient mechanics. The mechanical part, whose wealth of detail captivates the viewer's eye, romanticises the composition's initially rather dystopian impression.ARDIF's creatures, too, are children of their time. The French urban artist powerfully reflects on the increasingly unbalanced relationship between humans and nature, which in the short term poses a threat to our planet, but in the long term above all to our own species. His works also mirror the ever-advancing mechanisation of our everyday lives, digitalisation and the age of machines that looms like a spectre.The Realm of Ancient MechanimalsIn Realm of Ancient Mechanimals, ARDIF takes up humanity's ancient stories and adds a further narrative layer to his fabulous creatures. His creations originate in the myths and folklore of a wide range of cultures. His realm of ancient mechanimals includes the Japanese kitsune, a masked fox with many tails regarded as a bringer of good fortune; the Greek Pegasus, the winged horse that stands for wisdom and poetry; and the jackalope, a hybrid of hare and pronghorn that is hugely popular in North America.ARDIF & FriendsTo explore the theme even further, ARDIF invited four artist friends into dialogue: Dzia, Horor, Parvati and Sandrot. The result is a series of collaborations in which ARDIF's fusion of nature and technology is expanded by his guests' own artistic perspectives.DziaBelgian painter Dzia breaks down the animals he paints into a kind of mosaic of geometric free forms that follows the contours of the animal's shape. His unmistakable line can be found in countless murals around the world, with recent projects taking him to China, Norway and Spain. Dzia holds a master's degree in fine arts from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. For his contribution to the exhibition, he chose a winged cat from North African mythology.HororHoror found his way to art in the early 2000s as a graffiti writer. After completing his fine arts studies at the Sorbonne, he did not forget his roots but developed a mix of typography and painting. His visual language skilfully combines influences from the streets of the Paris suburbs with a classical repertoire he discovered during his studies. His works show influences of sensual Surrealism, contemporary illustration and naturalistic drawing. They are characterised by calligraphically inspired line work that flows through his creations in rhythmic waves.ParvatiThe hybrid figures of French-Indian artist Parvati are half human, half bird. They open the door to a poetic dream that questions the relationship between the bizarre and the beautiful, as well as the boundary between human and animal. Alongside fauna, flora is omnipresent in her works, an echo of the Amazonian forests of French Guiana, where she was born and raised. Inspired by the great masters of the Renaissance, she paints her figures exclusively in oil, while her backgrounds also feature acrylic and spray paint. For her interventions in public space, she, like ARDIF, often uses paste-ups: life-size anthropomorphic birds prepared in the studio, which she then pastes up in the streets.SandrotFrench artist Sandrot combines Pop Art with urban art in her painting. She has a penchant for large formats and is known for her expressive murals. With her paintings, she aims to raise awareness of the importance of wildlife and environmental protection. She explores the nature of animals, focusing on their character and portraying them as beings with a soul. For the exhibition, she and ARDIF jointly created an African elephant, a symbol of wisdom, power and dignity on its continent."Realm of Ancient Mechanimals" ARDIF & Friends (Dzia, Horor, Parvati, Sandrot)Exhibition 30 April – 25 June 2021 Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Bestranged combines two words that aptly describe the past year: "strange" and "estranged". For months, we lived through a situation that was new and unsettling for all of us. We kept our distance, wore masks, avoided encounters and, to some extent, drifted apart from one another. What remained were feelings for which there were often no words.Art from LockdownThe exhibition presents a selection of works that reflect this time. They tell of people in an exceptional situation, of isolation and estrangement, of covered faces and the longing for closeness. Eight urban art positions have engaged with the experiences of recent months in very different ways: sometimes ironic, sometimes poetic, sometimes with oppressive directness.Get an impression of the exhibition in our video.FAKE Dutch artist FAKE is considered Amsterdam's best-known stencil artist, both on the street and on canvas. His vividly coloured works draw on icons of everyday life and pop culture, slightly provocative and always with a healthy dose of humour and irony. Among his best-known pieces is the award-winning "Super Nurse", a tribute to healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Guy Denning British artist Guy Denning combines a traditional painterly style with a contemporary, punk-inspired element: collaged and stencilled text that adds a further, often political layer of narrative to his figures. His works are held in several public collections, including the MAGI'900 Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna.Jana & JS The Austrian-French duo has been painting together since 2006 and is known for multicoloured stencil works based on their own photographs. Jana & JS combine portraits with urban landscapes and architecture, deliberately choosing old materials that speak of the passage of time. After years in Madrid and Paris, they now live in Salzburg.Natalia Rak The Polish artist graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź in 2012 and has been creating large-scale murals around the world since 2011. Her luminous, mostly female figures draw on folklore and fairy tales and have a surreal quality. Her mural Legend of the Giants in Białystok, showing a girl caring for a real tree, was included in the street art series issued by the Polish Post.Otto Schade Born in Chile, the artist also known as "Osch" began his career as an architect and urban sculptor. He has lived in London since 2006, where his architectural understanding of space led him to develop his distinctive "ribbon" style. The intertwining bands shape his subjects and give them an almost sculptural presence.Shai Dahan Born in Haifa in 1979, Shai Dahan grew up in Los Angeles, where he started out as a graffiti writer at the age of 14. He has lived in Sweden since 2010 and gained recognition there with his reinterpretation of the Dala horse, the traditional Swedish wooden horse. In 2019, he painted what was then Sweden's largest mural in Borås.Sokar Uno Born in Gotha in 1987, the Berlin-based artist found his way to art through the graffiti scene in the late 1990s. His partly realistic, often dark figures look as if they had been broken apart and reassembled, like fragments of a bronze sculpture. Self-taught, he processes current events as well as personal experiences and states of mind in his work.STF Moscato Born in 1976, Marseille artist Stéphane Moscato, aka STF, is a child of punk. For many years, he has been peeling entire layers of posters off the walls of his city and mounting them onto canvas in his studio. Using stencils and spray paint, he creates unique works guided by these street fragments, through which a social and political stance subtly shines.

A life jacket is a promise. Whoever puts one on hopes to reach the other shore alive. For countless people fleeing across the Mediterranean to Europe, it is the last symbol of hope. For many, that hope ends in death.Hope Turned to GriefIn his installation How is this happening!?, Düsseldorf urban artist L.E.T. reflects on the situation of refugees at the gates of Europe. Using life jackets as his material, he shows how this symbol of hope is transformed on the journey that most refugees undertake.The Life Jacket GraveyardA few months ago, L.E.T. travelled to Lesbos, where he visited the so-called life jacket graveyard: a vast landfill where life jackets left behind by refugees are collected. He had first seen this surreal image in a news report three years ago, and it had never let him go. On the island, he spoke with refugees and with volunteers from the organisation The Hope Project, forming his own picture of the situation.Three Body BagsAfter his return, he had three body bags sewn from the life jackets collected on Lesbos. They form the central element of the installation and show the transformation of hope into grief. They stand for the journey of countless people who, fleeing inhumane conditions, meet a cruel end at the gates of Fortress Europe. The installation is complemented by canvases that reflect L.E.T.'s experiences on Lesbos.No Room at the InnEspecially in the weeks before Christmas, the work inevitably calls to mind the image of the nativity scene. The expectant parents found no room at the inn and had to seek shelter in a stable, where their child was born. Predominantly Christian Europe, which once again this year celebrates Christmas with an abundance of material gifts, has still not internalised the commandment to love one's neighbour after some 2,000 years.The FilmOn his journey, L.E.T. was accompanied by Düsseldorf artist Laura Knapp and cameraman Chris Schwarz, who documented the artist's stay and the situation on the ground. The film is also part of the installation and can be viewed here. A making-of video of the exhibition set-up can be found here."How is this happening!?" L.E.T.Exhibition 11 December 2020 – 29 January 2021 Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Curves and corners, circles and diagonals: even a few clear forms can build entire visual worlds. In Curves and Corners, two artists meet who both work in graphic abstraction and rely on clear forms. Their visual worlds harmonise and contrast at the same time.Hand and MachineOn one side, circles and curved shapes; on the other, straight lines, diagonals and corners. The visual contrast between their pictorial concepts continues on the levels beneath: while Marc C. Woehr also uses the computer and other machines to create his compositions, Sébastien Preschoux relies exclusively on handwork.We showed works by Marc C. Woehr in 2016 and 2018; Sébastien Preschoux is exhibiting at Pretty Portal for the first time. On show are works on canvas and paper, as well as reliefs made of wood and cardboard."Curves and Corners" Sébastien Preschoux & Marc C. WoehrExhibition 9 October – 20 November Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfSébastien PreschouxSébastien Preschoux is a French artist known for his geometric drawings. The oscillating lines and forms in his works look as if they were computer-generated. What sets his art apart from many contemporary aesthetic concepts, however, is his insistence on manual work. In this, he is inspired by the values of the Bauhaus, which emphasised the fundamental importance of craftsmanship.Watching Sébastien Preschoux at work, one senses the tension between the serenity with which he unhurriedly brings his lines onto the canvas and the beauty of an infinitely precise gesture. The association with karesansui, the Japanese Zen garden, is inevitable. Without impatience, he traces the movement of drawing through time and lets the material unfold in space.In a natural and spontaneous relationship with materials, surroundings, time and the labour invested in them, Preschoux shows in real time what it takes to create something we usually leave to machines today. In doing so, he highlights the value and potential of the human body as a perfect tool. His works embody the concentration of all the senses, complete focus on a single point and the mantra "human versus machine". With his approach, he engages with our contemporary culture, in which technology dominates and, in many areas, displaces and replaces humans.Marc C. WoehrSince starting out as a graffiti artist in the 1990s, Marc C. Woehr has come a long way, working his way towards an impressive artistic freedom. Like almost every graffiti writer, he began with simple lettering, followed by large pieces stretching across several metres. At some point, however, he realised that the hectic, because illegal, work outdoors at night was no longer enough for him. Wanting to work more compositionally, he promptly moved into a studio and swapped rough exterior walls for classic canvases.The street as the smallest unit, architecture and the city as the larger structure, as a matrix, have never let go of him since. His intensive engagement with urban space first gave rise to collages in the studio: compositions of photographs and newspaper clippings combined with painted passages. Even these collages echo the 1920s, the Bauhaus and Dada, and anticipate the aesthetics of his later wooden reliefs.His wooden reliefs have since become his unmistakable signature. His engagement with the art of the early 20th century has produced fresh, highly contemporary works that give no hint whatsoever that the artist began his career not with a brush or pencil, but with a spray can in hand.

Düsseldorf has its rough edges, and that is exactly what gives the city its character. Away from the Königsallee and the Rhine promenade, it reveals faces that many people pass by without a second glance.50 Districts, Countless TracesFor the photo exhibition Düsseldorf: Mit Ecken und Kanten ("With Corners and Edges"), photographer Rouven Maccario set out on a journey through all 50 of the city's districts. His images document interesting and sometimes unseen faces of the city. Again and again, signs of graffiti appear along the way: stickers, tags and throw-ups, and a little urban art too.Traces That Shape the CityThese traces are sometimes the subject of controversial public debate. Yet they have become an almost inseparable part of public space, and they shape the city as a place to live.A Shirt for DüsseldorfThe exhibition is presented by Fortuna Düsseldorf and accompanies the launch of the club's new third kit for the 2020/21 season. The shirt, too, pays tribute to the city: the pattern on the sleeves and shoulders takes up the outlines of the 50 districts, and the words "Mit Ecken und Kanten" are worked into the collar. Following the exhibition Aufstiegshelden, this is already our second collaboration with Fortuna. During the summer break, we are showing the photographs in the gallery as a short intermezzo."Düsseldorf: Mit Ecken und Kanten" Photographs by Rouven Maccario, presented by Fortuna DüsseldorfExhibition Summer break 2020 Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A piece of cardboard, a cutter, a spray can: that is all it takes to put an image on a wall in seconds, again and again. This simplicity has made the stencil one of the most important tools of art in public space.Paving the Way for Street ArtArtworks created with stencils have decisively shaped the visual language of street art and urban contemporary art. Starting with Blek le Rat, who began working with stencils in Paris in the early 1980s, the stencil paved the way for art in public space as we know it today.One Technique, Many SignaturesThe stencil makes it possible to repeat a motif quickly, precisely and as often as desired, on the street as well as in the studio. The five positions in this exhibition show how differently this technique can be used: from ironic pop culture references and photographically inspired urban portraits to socially critical paste-ups, sculpturally intertwined ribbons and nostalgic family scenes. The artists live and work in the Netherlands, France and Austria, Germany, the UK and the USA.FAKE Amsterdam-based artist FAKE has been active on the streets since 2005 and is considered one of the best-known stencil artists in the Netherlands. His cleanly cut, vividly coloured works draw on icons of everyday life and pop culture, adding a twist of humour and irony. One of his best-known works, "FAKE Love", tells of how much love can hurt.Jana & JS The Austrian-French duo has been painting together since 2006 and is known for multicoloured stencil works based on their own photographs. Jana & JS combine portraits with urban landscapes and architecture, deliberately choosing old materials that speak of the passage of time. After years in Madrid and Paris, they now live in Salzburg.kurznachzehn German-born artist kurznachzehn discovered her technique in 2011 through nostalgic family photos from the 1950s. She first sprays her multi-layered stencils onto paper and then pastes them up in the urban landscape. Since 2016, she has lived in San Diego, California, where her work adorns numerous façades.L.E.T. The initials stand for "Les Enfants Terribles". The French-born artist has been active on the street since 1992 and has shaped the cityscape of his adopted hometown, Düsseldorf, making him one of the street artists of the very first hour. He pairs his mostly black-and-white figures with charmingly provocative messages that expose the shortcomings of our consumer and fun-driven society with a wink.Otto Schade Born in Chile, the artist also known as "Osch" began his career as an architect and urban sculptor. He has lived in London since 2006, where his architectural understanding of space led him to develop his distinctive "ribbon" style. The intertwining bands shape his subjects and give them an almost sculptural presence."STENCILS ONLY"Exhibition 15 May – 26 June 2020 Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 7 pmDue to current circumstances, there will be no opening reception for this exhibition. However, the gallery is open during regular hours, and we look forward to your visit. If you would like to receive the exhibition catalogue (PDF), please send us an email.Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

An interface connects two independent systems and allows them to communicate. This is exactly what InterFace, the latest screen print by Various & Gould, is about, and it also gives the exhibition its title. The work symbolises the close and profound connection between two individuals that goes beyond what is visible on the surface: two people, independent and autonomous, and yet connected in a special way through their ideas, sensors, thoughts and emotions.Crossing BoundariesThe Berlin-based artist duo has been working together since 2005. In 2010, both graduated from the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin (KHB) under Prof. Alex Jordan, a member of the French graphic design collective Grapus. Various & Gould cross boundaries in many fields and stand for a simple yet powerful formula: 1 + 1 = 3. Shared interests such as a love of paper, a fascination with the accidental beauty of everyday life and, above all, working in public space form the basis of their collaboration.Screen Printing and CollageScreen printing and collage are their passion. In a mostly playful way, they tackle socially relevant issues such as work, migration, gender, death, globalisation, religion and the financial crisis. Their works are influenced by (political) poster design, Dada and Pop Art and are characterised by strong colours and an ambiguous interweaving of symbols, associations and styles.Opening and Book LaunchInterFace also graces the cover of their book Permanently Improvised, published last October. At the opening, Various & Gould will present the book, talk about past projects and share their thoughts on various murals. After the talk, the two artists will be available for questions and an open discussion."InterFace" Various & GouldOpening and Book Launch Friday, 6 March 2020 Doors: 7 pm, presentation: 8 pmExhibition 6 – 21 March 2020Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A monkey and a bird: one stands firmly on solid ground, the other strives skywards. These two figures meet in most of Monkeybird's works. They embody the two faces of humankind: the monkey is the realist, the bird the dreamer.Between Dream and RealityThe works of the French artist duo reflect a search for balance between dreams and reality. They feature surreal, anthropomorphic figures that represent body and soul and are meant to embody complete beings. Laden with symbols and allegories, their images engage with human progress, sometimes emotionally, sometimes rationally.Mysticism and Ancient KnowledgeThe two artists name Leonardo da Vinci as one of their sources of inspiration. In their symbolic images, they combine mysticism and ancient knowledge with the awareness of a modern society. Their works are influenced by the fundamental idea of transience, by religious and mythological painting and by Art Nouveau.MonkeybirdThe two artists met in 2009 on the streets of Bordeaux. One was looking to develop his graffiti style, the other for new concepts and ideas. Drawing on their backgrounds in graphic design as well as object and industrial design, they developed an aesthetic that combines stencils, collage, painting, illustration, carving, screen printing and engraving in an unmistakable way. Today, they live and work in Paris. Over the past ten years, they have undergone a remarkable development and created numerous breathtaking murals, installations and exhibitions around the globe."Between Here and Now" An exhibition of works by Monkeybird (FR)Opening Friday, 29 November 2019, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 2 December 2019 – 31 January 2020 Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Dancing with yourself can be deeply lonely, or a sign of being completely at one with yourself. People today know both.People of Our TimeGuy Denning and John Wentz depict people of the present day. On the one hand, there are self-promoters who, in self-imposed isolation, strive to live up to the illusion of a social media community: people willing to reshape their personality to the point of losing their sense of self. On the other hand, there are characters full of self-confidence who, in a sensed, almost ecstatic connection with the whole, embody strength and independence. A dance on the edge of a volcano, a dance with oneself.Two SignaturesBoth artists focus on the depiction of people. With their very different painting techniques, they manage to unite meticulous detail with diffusion and dissolution in an unmistakable way. John Wentz, who paints primarily in oil, renders parts of his portraits with a photorealistic quality, while leaving other areas roughly sketched with broad brushstrokes. Guy Denning works primarily in charcoal and chalk and is a master at depicting the expression and emotions of his protagonists precisely and palpably with just a few strokes."Dancing with Myself" An exhibition of works by Guy Denning and John WentzOpening Friday, 27 September 2019, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 27 September – 31 October 2019 Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfJohn WentzJohn Wentz is a contemporary painter whose work explores the human figure and its nature. He experiments with a combination of classical and modern painting techniques, aiming to reduce what he depicts to its most essential elements: composition, colour and texture, as only painting can.John Wentz was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. His interest in art began at the age of six, when he first discovered Batman and Spider-Man comics. For years, he copied them panel by panel, laying the foundations early on for his later work as a muralist, poster artist and freelance illustrator. Having perfected his skills with the spray can, he decided to turn to fine art and to work with classical techniques such as oil painting. Since then, he has shown his work in three solo exhibitions in San Francisco and in numerous group exhibitions in the US and abroad. His work has been widely published and has received several awards.Guy DenningGuy Denning was born in North Somerset in 1965. He has been obsessed with visual art since childhood and started painting in oils at the age of eleven, after receiving a set of old paints from a relative who had grown bored with them. Throughout the 1980s, his applications to study painting at degree level were repeatedly unsuccessful, but he continued painting while studying art history with the Open University and learning painting technique from older painters he knew in the West of England. From 1992, he exhibited across Britain, and since 2007 he has also exhibited in the United States, Germany, Italy and France. His paintings have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His work is held in several public collections, including the Politics Department of the University of Bristol, the Political Science Department of the University of Galway and the MAGI'900 Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna.Guy Denning's work combines a traditional painterly style with a contemporary, punk-inspired twist of embedded collaged and stencilled text. This aesthetic, blended with a political narrative, has earned Denning a loyal following among collectors of urban art."Urban art is not a new phenomenon. People have been declaring their presence, their humour, their fears and their anger in the streets for as long as there have been streets for it to be seen in. It's the most democratic form of art; it's a medium that is available to any that feel the need to use it. With the acceptance and celebration of graffiti culture in the twentieth century it has come to a point where it is now sited behind the streets, in fashionable galleries. Yes, fashions change, but don't ever think that the graffiti will fade away. That particular writing has always been on the wall." – Guy Denning

Urban and abstract: the title Urbstractions brings together two worlds that seem to have little in common at first glance. And yet every city contains an abstract composition. Facades become planes, streets become lines, traffic and movement become rhythm. Look closely, and urban space reveals a formal language reminiscent of the Constructivists' paintings.Forms, Planes and LinesThe three artists in this exhibition translate this perception into their own graphic, abstract visual language. On show are compositions of forms, planes and lines, full of rhythm and movement, inspired by urban landscapes, Constructivism and the Russian avant-garde, architecture and typography. All three have their roots in graffiti, and all three have developed from there towards abstraction.The Third ChapterIt has now been two years since CHAZME, Marc C. Woehr and Théo Lopez were last shown at Pretty Portal, and a great deal has happened for all three of them in that time. With the third edition of URBSTRACTIONS, we are presenting their new works this summer. The artists come from Poland, France and Germany.CHAZME Polish artist Daniel Kaliński, aka CHAZME, began with figurative painting in the Warsaw graffiti scene. Since then, his visual language has evolved towards formal, graphic abstraction. He studied architecture and urban planning in Warsaw. His surreal, intricate architectures and urban labyrinths serve as a metaphor for the urban environment of modern humans.Marc C. Woehr Marc C. Woehr came to art as a graffiti artist in the 1990s. The street as the smallest unit, architecture and the city as the larger structure have never let go of him since. In his collages and wooden reliefs, he combines this engagement with ideas from the Bauhaus and Dada.Théo Lopez Born in 1989 in the suburbs of Paris, Théo Lopez is one of the exceptional talents of the French urban contemporary scene. In his paintings, lines glide across the canvas, defining forms reminiscent of wild style graffiti and inspired by Dada, Surrealism and Constructivism. His work belongs to the movement of Graffuturism.URBSTRACTIONS III An exhibition of works by CHAZME, Marc C. Woehr and Théo LopezOpening 19 June 2019, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 19 June – 2 August 2019 Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Sometimes looking ahead means looking back: at ancient myths, at inherited knowledge, at our relationship with nature. In Backwards Future, two artists from different continents enter into dialogue to reflect on the future of humankind.Space Shamans and AstronautsMexican artist Ruben Carrasco and Russian artist Rustam Qbic tell stories of space shamans, of spiritual travellers exploring a paradisiacal world, and of astronauts who abandon their sinking spaceship to connect and reorient themselves in weightlessness. Their imagery draws on human conditions and myths, on our relationship with nature and the way we change it, and on the cultural development of the hybrid societies typical of the modern world.A Fragile WorldBoth artists share the idea of a fragile world and of human beings who depend on it. Their approaches are sensitive, conveying hope and perspective, but also the need to change from within.About the artistsRustam Qbic Rustam Qbic was born in 1985 in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. He studied at the Kazan Art School, experimented with illustration, design and graffiti, and taught at a children's design school. He soon combined his passion for graffiti and working in public space with his love of classical painting, and before long he had replaced style writing with surreal imagery. He first presented this new style, which unites illustrative elements, surreal images and a striking colour palette, in a solo exhibition at the Street Kit Gallery in Moscow in 2013.Rustam's work is strongly shaped by his life, his family, nature and his books. It conveys universal messages of love and connects science and spirituality. In addition to exhibiting in international galleries, he has taken part in urban art festivals in Russia, Norway, Switzerland, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Ruben Carrasco Ruben Carrasco was born in Mexico, where he spent his childhood and youth. After studying fine arts at Universidad Anáhuac in Cancún, he continued his studies at McGill University and Dawson College in Montreal. Alongside developing his artistic practice, he has worked as a tattoo artist, set designer, muralist, photographer, and graphic and digital designer.His painting style is figurative and narrative, inspired by classical Roman and Greek statues, Indian folklore and pop surrealism. This unusual blend gives him room to create surreal worlds in which he reflects his perception of the present day. A world traveller, Ruben has worked and exhibited in various countries across Europe and the Americas. He currently lives in Montreal, where he collaborates with the Consulate General of Mexico as a jury member of the Art Exhibitions Evaluation Committee for "Espacio México". He also founded the international artist collective "5 wolfs no pigs" and co-founded the art festivals FIAP and IPAF. "Backwards Future" Ruben Carrasco (MEX) & Rustam Qbic (RUS)Opening 10 MayExhibition 13 May – 14 June 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Nature provides the ideas; humans merely plagiarise. From aircraft wings to Velcro to robotic arms, engineers and designers have always drawn their ideas from nature and replicated them. This principle is known as biomimicry. Yet these replicas remain limited copies that cannot match the precision, complexity and performance of the originals.Nature and MachineIn his solo exhibition MACHINaturE vs MachiNATURE, French artist ARDIF juxtaposes nature and machine. His works show how humans copy nature with their creations, while making clear how far these copies fall short of the original.Progress and ResponsibilityARDIF also addresses the threat that humans pose to nature and the question of how technological progress and respect for the environment can be brought into balance.From Fauna to FloraAfter focusing exclusively on compositions from the animal kingdom in recent years, ARDIF now brings the plant world into his work as well. Visitors can look forward to new drawings, illustrations and installations.About the ArtistARDIF explores the mechanics behind living matter. In his drawings, he mostly transforms animals into mechanical creatures that are split in two: one half is rendered naturalistically, while the other turns into a curious machine of intricate architecture. This juxtaposition creates a particular tension and invites close inspection.ARDIF enlarges his drawings and brings them to the streets as paste-ups. In Paris, his half-mechanical animals have become an integral part of the cityscape. In Düsseldorf, too, ARDIF left his mark last September with a series of interventions in public space. "MACHINaturE vs MachiNATURE" ARDIFOpening Friday, 22 March 2019, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 25 March – 26 April 2019 Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Silence is not a neutral position. When no one speaks up against loud slogans, it quickly seems as if there were no dissenting voices. This is exactly where Silence Kills comes in.Taking a StandSilence Kills is a project by the artist collective ROOOOOM. It takes a critical and questioning look at the "wavering centre", the general shift to the right and everyday discrimination in our society. It is about taking a stand: for greater solidarity with our fellow human beings, with refugees and with people from migrant backgrounds, including the second and third generations. And it is about clearly expressing one's own values and hopes for the society we want to live in.One Voice, One PosterA key part of the project is a poster campaign that can also be seen on the streets of Düsseldorf. Photographer Kilian van den Water portrays people who want to make their opinion public. Every portrait and every statement is an opinion made visible, a voice that the collective then pastes up in public space. Each poster is put up only once, so that every new poster shows that another voice has joined in solidarity.In a short intermezzo, Pretty Portal presents a selection of these posters: the voices of people who do not just share their opinions among friends, but are prepared to take them public.Become Part of the CampaignOn the opening night and on two further dates during the two-week exhibition, visitors have the opportunity to become part of the campaign themselves. The participation fee for the photo project is €3.From the Silence Kills Manifesto (translated)"At the moment, there is a fascist and populist development in politics that cancels out the conventional neutral position of silence, because without a counter-voice, the false impression arises that there are too few people who think differently. A number of interviews were conducted with right-wing demonstrators to question who these people are and what moves them to take to the streets for fascist politics. Through the media, these interviews have gained a wide reach. Parallel to these events, however, there are also very many people in our society who think quite differently about the current political climate. And that is exactly why, with the Silence Kills campaign, we want to give your voice a place, in the form of a poster campaign. If you are interested in taking part, we will take a portrait photo of you and record a statement, which will be printed together with your portrait on a poster. The poster will then be printed once and put up by us in a public place.""Silence Kills" An exhibition by the artist collective ROOOOOMOpening 15 February, 7 – 10 pmPhoto sessions 20 February, 6 – 8 pm 27 February, 6 – 8 pmExhibition from 15 February, for two weeksPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

If No walls for old men reminds you of No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy's novel and the Coen brothers' film, you're on the right track. But the title of L.E.T.'s solo exhibition should not be taken literally.An Old HandL.E.T. may be one of Germany's longest-active stencil artists, and therefore one of the old hands of the still fairly young movement of urban contemporary art. But he is far from old, and he certainly need not worry about running out of walls. The Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA) in Munich recently dedicated a room to him, and this summer he travelled from one festival to the next to install his interventions in urban space on site.Quote, Deconstruct, ModifyRather, the title is an example of L.E.T.'s way of working: quoting, deconstructing and modifying the familiar. Having taken part in the STENCILS ONLY exhibitions several times, he now presents No walls for old men, his first solo show at Pretty Portal. Visitors can expect new and familiar works, a mix of installation and presentation.About the ArtistThe initials of the French-born artist L.E.T. stand for "Les Enfants Terribles". It is a name he has rightly adopted, as it was traditionally used to describe the outsiders and eccentrics of the art scene. L.E.T. is one of the urban artists of the very first hour. He has been active on the streets since 1992 and has shaped the look of several cities, including his adopted hometown of Düsseldorf. He sprays his motifs onto paper and then usually pastes them up around the city without asking permission.In his works, he takes up a wide variety of visual elements, often including well-known subjects, which he pairs with his distinctive, charmingly provocative statements, giving them a new meaning. Black-and-white figures with just a few accents of colour make the message stand out all the more. L.E.T. takes critical aim at the issues of our time, exposing the shortcomings of our consumer and fun-driven society with a wink. "No walls for old men" L.E.T.Opening Friday, 7 December 2018, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 10 December 2018 – 8 February 2019Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

From the forest to the city, from timber to city block: the title From the Woods to the Blocks plays on words in two ways. On the one hand, it refers to the technique Roman Klonek uses to create his works: the woodcut, or woodblock print. On the other, it points to his engagement with urbanity, as "blocks" are also the blocks of the city.His First Solo ShowHaving shown Roman Klonek's work in several group exhibitions, we are delighted to finally present his first solo show at Pretty Portal. On show is a selection of woodcuts from his current body of work, as well as a screen print edition of the motif "Souta Mouse".Roman Klonek on the Exhibition (translated)"In the exhibition From the Woods to the Blocks at Pretty Portal, you can watch the traditional craft of woodcarving meet experimental forms of storytelling. The stories are free of categorical rules and are clearly fixed neither in time nor in space. They are quite comparable to a full sketchbook, except that you should imagine the paper being transparent, so that everything 'drawn' becomes a hopeless jumble and muddle. Perhaps I should mention at this point that I love creating chaos and then tidying it up again. If this leads to an unexpected encounter between two or more ideas (which often happens almost naturally), these encounters may well trigger a moment of happiness in me because of their originality. When it comes to combining these ideas or visual elements, I also like to follow in the tradition of so-called B-movies. As a counter-design to predictable mainstream cinema, with far greater willingness to take risks and without regard for conceptual rigour, they often display the most important features of storytelling: moments of surprise.""From the Woods to the Blocks" Roman KlonekOpening Friday, 12 October, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 15 October – 16 NovemberPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Oliver Räke paints fences. And fences symbolise borders: borders to other countries and cultures, to economically less or more privileged, seemingly safer or fairer places, and vice versa. Borders as protection and as obstacle. Depending on which side you stand, you perceive a border as good or bad, and want to overcome it or reinforce it.Borders WithinBut there are also borders within us, in our minds: wherever we limit ourselves. Voluntarily, or because other ideas escape our imagination. Politically, socially, and in the relationship between two people. A border is also always a stance against something.AntiOliver Räke puts it this way:"anti – what matters is being for something. against! anti, not out of defiance, anti as the origin of thinking about good and evil at the same time. anti as demarcation. in my works, i reflect in an abstract way on what i stand for. thinking in greek terms: to counter the anti of elemental fronts with an anti of intelligent dispute. everything is political." (translated)About the ArtistOliver Räke is a graffiti artist of the very first hour. Already active in Düsseldorf in 1984, he soon became known in the scene beyond the city's borders and across Germany. With his style, he keeps pushing the boundaries of what graffiti is understood to be, and he also creates works for the white cube, for exhibitions and galleries. Outside Society is his fourth exhibition at Pretty Portal.Stefan Schwander X Oliver RäkeThe exhibition is part of the joint project Stefan Schwander X Oliver Räke. At the same time, Stefan Schwander is showing his exhibition Möbel: Grau mit Funktionslosigkeit ("Furniture: Grey with Functionlessness") in the rooms of Present Progressive, right next to the gallery."Outside Society" Oliver RäkeOpening Friday, 28 September, 7 – 10 pmExhibition Saturday, 29 September, 12 – 4 pm Sunday, 30 September, 2 – 6 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Fortuna Düsseldorf is back in the Bundesliga. After five years in the second division, the traditional club has won promotion this season, and the whole city is celebrating. Shortly before the start of the new Bundesliga season, Pretty Portal is dedicating a very special exhibition to these "promotion heroes".Players, Coaches and LegendsAt the heart of the show are portraits of the current players and coaches who made promotion possible. Among others, there are works featuring Oliver Fink, Andreas "Lumpi" Lambertz, Rouwen Hennings, Axel Bellinghausen, Benito Raman, Adam Bodzek and Marcel Sobottka. Further portraits pay tribute to club legends such as Toni Turek and Gerd Zewe. The exhibition is rounded off by calligraphic works and a special "Fortuna ghost" by street artist PDOT, whose ghosts have become an integral part of Düsseldorf's cityscape.Urban Art with a Düsseldorf ConnectionFittingly, curator Klaus Rosskothen invited only urban and street artists with a connection to Düsseldorf, who engaged with Fortuna Düsseldorf for this exhibition. On show are works by Brian Storm, DECYCLE, DXTR, KJ263, L.E.T., Mexer, Mindix, ONI, PDOT, Roman Klonek, Strassenmaid and Tom71. All works were created especially for the exhibition and are available for purchase.Limited Screen Print EditionsLimited screen print editions are being produced for the exhibition from the portraits of Oliver Fink and Benito Raman, painted by Brian Storm and DXTR the Weird respectively. They will be available from the opening night onwards in the gallery and in our online shop at €95. Part of the proceeds will go to Fortuna Düsseldorf's youth work and youth academy.Opening with FortunaRealised in cooperation with Fortuna Düsseldorf, the exhibition opens on 9 August at the gallery in Düsseldorf-Bilk. The artists and several Fortuna players will be present at the opening."Aufstiegshelden" Fortuna meets Urban ArtA group exhibition with works by Brian Storm, DECYCLE, DXTR, KJ263, L.E.T., Mexer, Mindix, ONI, PDOT, Roman Klonek, Strassenmaid and Tom71Opening Thursday, 9 August 2018, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 10 August – 21 September 2018Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

The beauty of the script versus the provocation of its placement, the precision of the work versus the impulsiveness of its execution, the tradition of the lettering versus the modernity of its interpretation: calligraffiti thrives on such contrasts.Calligraphy, Typography, GraffitiCalligraffiti combines calligraphy, typography and graffiti and is associated as much with Abstract Expressionism as with Abstract Vandalism. The term was coined in 2007 by Dutch artist Niels "Shoe" Meulman. In ODD MARKS, we present a selection of the most interesting and progressive artists in this field: BLAQK, EGS, Jun Inoue, Patrick Hartl and Zepha. They are joined by TOM71, a calligraffiti artist from Düsseldorf.One Heritage, Many InterpretationsThe artists come from Greece, Japan, France, Finland and Germany. Thanks to their different geographical and cultural backgrounds and their respective calligraphic heritage, the exhibition presents an exciting mix of new interpretations of a classical engagement with script.BLAQK BLAQK is an alliance of the two Greek artists Greg Papagrigoriou and Chris Tzaferos, aka Simek. The duo works with a combination of graphic elements, including calligraphy, letters, lines, geometric shapes, patterns, negative space and textures. Calligraphy and geometric shapes are found mainly in Greg's work, while Simek combines geometric shapes with lines. Their works are created both in the studio and in public space. BLAQK has exhibited widely and taken part in festivals and projects around the world.EGS EGS (b. 1974, Helsinki) describes himself as a graffiti anthropologist and plays an important role in documenting and disseminating graffiti. As both artist and archivist, he traces the formal and folkloric roots of graffiti in order to understand the social and material foundations of the art form. While his studio works are becoming increasingly abstract, his ongoing illegal works are the result of long and intensive study of graffiti form, juxtaposing the various stages of the art form's development like a collage. EGS started out in the mid-1980s as part of Finland's first graffiti wave. Since then, he has travelled the world to paint, research, connect with other artists and share his knowledge.One of EGS's main motifs is the world map, usually painted in ink in his classic "inkbolt" style and strongly influenced by the calligraphic essence of graffiti. He twists and distorts the topography until it spells out his name. These maps exemplify his inimitable chirographic graffiti style. The black ink in particular, which EGS also uses in his studio work, lets the viewer recognise both the purity and the complexity of his images. At the same time, his application of paint refers to graffiti's outsider status as an art form and to the behind-the-scenes milieus in which graffiti is usually created. Yet his maps are not merely abstract versions of the world: they also address the colonisation of "new" continents by Europeans, who divided up the world with pen and ruler. EGS's works are held in numerous private collections and are shown at the Finnish National Gallery.Jun Inoue Jun Inoue combines traditional Japanese calligraphy with the gestural painting of Art Informel, creating works reminiscent of those by German artist K.O. Götz. He reinterprets the "sen"-inspired aspects of authentic Japanese craftsmanship and combines them with wild style graffiti, thus uniting tradition and modern influences. Jun Inoue paints in the studio and on walls, and his work can be seen in galleries around the globe.Patrick Hartl German artist Patrick Hartl picked up a spray can at the age of 15 and began painting graffiti. His graphic studies reveal a special love of calligraphy and stylised lettering, especially Gothic script. Hartl unites an old craft with modern street style, with fascinating results. On closer inspection, his seemingly monochrome works turn out to be the result of many superimposed coloured layers. His personal favourite work is a ten-year-old wall that has been painted, cleaned, repainted, destroyed, washed and damaged, and thus tells a new, unique story again and again.A master of handmade design and analogue work, but above all one of the leading urban calligraphers, Patrick Hartl has been creating art for two decades. He is a member of the artist group Calligraffiti Ambassadors. Alongside exhibitions in galleries from New York and Buenos Aires to Tokyo, he paints murals in Europe and around the world.TOM71 TOM71 is a German urban artist and one of the first generation of graffiti writers in Düsseldorf. His works are a symbiosis of typography, calligraphy and graffiti and belong to the still young art form of calligraffiti. In recent years, he has focused on continually developing the connection between script, form and colour in new ways.Zepha With a choreography of virtuoso lightness, Vincent Abadie Hafez, aka Zepha, composes a score in which letters are freed from their semiotic shackles. This brings out their inherent aesthetics, their cultural meaning as symbols. Characters of different origins intertwine to form a structure rich in contrast: formal logic and confusion in the lines, instinctive pragmatism and gesture. The starting point is movement and the abstraction that arises from it. His compositions have a dense rhythm, electrified by everyday places, and with quiet, sometimes unexpected breaths, they reveal a demanding and all-encompassing body of work. The gesture is technical, a carrier of ancient calligraphic practices, enriched by the urban context: full of contrast and surprise.The formal language of Arabic and Latin letters points to a shared history, a shared timeless language, an abstraction to be internalised. Despite all their differences, our alphabets carry a unifying significance that transcends all our origins. Zepha's works reflect his values: a contemporary humanism, carried by the power of the symbol and revealed through an art that transcends all borders.ODD MARKS An exhibition of works by BLAQK, EGS, Jun Inoue, Patrick Hartl, TOM71 and Zepha (Vincent Abadie Hafez)Opening Friday, 27 April 2018, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 30 April – 6 July 2018 (extended) Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

It all begins with a drawing. A pencil, a little ink, a piece of charcoal or a marker are all it takes to bring entire worlds to life: worlds full of mechanical animals, battered robots and people whose emotions are revealed in just a few strokes.Three Draughtsmen, Three WorldsFor our last exhibition of the year, we are devoting ourselves entirely to drawing. On show are works in pencil, ink, charcoal and marker by Guy Denning and Pixelpancho, two internationally renowned artists, and by ARDIF, a young French artist who is attracting more and more attention, especially in Paris.ARDIFARDIF is a young French artist who explores the mechanics behind living matter. In his drawings, he mostly transforms animals into mechanical creatures that are split in two: one half is rendered naturalistically, while the other turns into a curious machine of intricate architecture. This juxtaposition creates a particular tension and invites close inspection. ARDIF enlarges his drawings and brings them to the streets as paste-ups. In Paris, his half-mechanical animals have become an integral part of the cityscape.Guy DenningGuy Denning was born in North Somerset in 1965. He has been obsessed with visual art since childhood and started painting in oils at the age of eleven, after receiving a set of old paints from a relative who had grown bored with them. Throughout the 1980s, his applications to study painting at degree level were repeatedly unsuccessful, but he continued painting while studying art history with the Open University and learning painting technique from older painters he knew in the West of England. From 1992, he exhibited across Britain, and since 2007 he has also exhibited in the United States, Germany, Italy and France. His paintings have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His work is held in several public collections, including the Politics Department of the University of Bristol, the Political Science Department of the University of Galway and the MAGI'900 Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna.Guy Denning's work combines a traditional painterly style with a contemporary, punk-inspired twist of embedded collaged and stencilled text. This aesthetic, blended with a political narrative, has earned Denning a loyal following among collectors of urban art.PixelpanchoPixelpancho has a special bond with robots: they are the ever-recurring theme of his work."I am driven by a forgotten world, hidden beneath a thick layer of dust and dirt. There are robots there, creations of humankind, battered and worn, a symbiosis of the organic and the inorganic, their bodies of rusty iron falling apart. Full of dreams, desires and hopes." (translated)In his surreal visual world, humans, puppets and robots merge into images alluding to major commercial brands, superheroes and famous pop icons, all of them subject to constant change and threatened by decay. Pixelpancho convinces not only through his striking motifs, but also through his unique style, which draws on many and varied sources.Born in Italy, he studied at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia. On his many travels, he never missed an opportunity to take part in festivals and show his work in exhibitions. Pixelpancho is regarded as one of the new big names of the Italian urban art scene, which gradually developed around artists such as Blu and Ericailcane, the Fame Festival and Studio Chromie."Punks, Robots & Angels" ARDIF · Guy Denning · PixelpanchoOpening Thursday, 7 December 2017 Please note: this time, the opening takes place on a Thursday.Exhibition 8 December 2017 – 26 January 2018 Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

What happens when graffiti leaves the letter behind? Lettering turns into form, characters into architecture, the dynamism of the street into rhythm and movement on canvas. Under labels such as urban abstract and Graffuturism, this has given rise to one of the most exciting movements in contemporary urban art.Forms, Planes and LinesIn URBSTRACTIONS, we present CHAZME, Marc C. Woehr and Théo Lopez, a selection of the most interesting and progressive artists in this field. On show are compositions of forms, planes and lines, full of rhythm and movement, inspired by urban landscapes, Constructivism and the Russian avant-garde, architecture and typography. The artists come from Poland, France and Germany.CHAZMEDaniel Kaliński, aka CHAZME, is known for his depictions of surreal, intricate and complex architectures. He began his artistic career in the Warsaw graffiti scene as a specialist in characters and figurative painting, before developing his style towards formal abstraction. Born in Switzerland, the Polish artist studied architecture and urban planning in Warsaw, among other subjects. The futuristic cityscapes in his works are inspired by Brutalism and Constructivism. His Escher-like constructions combine rigid geometry with poetic scenery, and classical mythology with contemporary urban experience. The urban labyrinth, typical of his visual language, is a powerful metaphor for the urban environment of modern humans. In addition to numerous murals, often painted together with his artist friends Sepe and Robert Proch, he has presented his work in exhibitions across Europe. In 2011, CHAZME received the ARTAQ Urban Art Award.Marc C. WoehrSince starting out as a graffiti artist in the 1990s, Marc C. Woehr has come a long way, working his way towards an impressive artistic freedom. Like almost every graffiti writer, he began with simple lettering, followed by large pieces stretching across several metres. At some point, however, he realised that the hectic, because illegal, work outdoors at night was no longer enough for him. Wanting to work more compositionally, he promptly moved into a studio and swapped rough exterior walls for classic canvases.The street as the smallest unit, architecture and the city as the larger structure, as a matrix, have never let go of him since. His intensive engagement with urban space first gave rise to collages in the studio: compositions of photographs and newspaper clippings combined with painted passages. Even these collages echo the 1920s, the Bauhaus and Dada, and anticipate the aesthetics of his later wooden reliefs.His wooden reliefs have since become his unmistakable signature. His engagement with the art of the early 20th century has produced fresh, highly contemporary works that give no hint whatsoever that the artist began his career not with a brush or pencil, but with a spray can in hand.Théo LopezIn Théo Lopez's paintings, lines glide across the canvas. They follow imaginary free forms, sway in harmonious rhythm and take straight paths, only to change direction suddenly. In doing so, they define shapes reminiscent of wild style graffiti and inspired by Dadaism and Surrealism. Asked about further influences, Lopez names the Russian Constructivists and American Abstract Expressionism. He unites all these movements in works that belong to Graffuturism. Alongside his expressive formal language, his skilful handling of light and shadow and his use of bold colours stand out, lending his works a remarkable vitality.Théo Lopez is one of the exceptional talents of the French urban contemporary scene. He was born in 1989 in the Parisian suburbs, where he still lives and works. As early as 2008, he was invited by the collective 9ème Concept, with which he realised several large-scale international projects. Since then, he has continued to refine his expression and visual language, evolving steadily from the figurative to the abstract, from effect to essence. The young artist's works have been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications. Some of them belong to the collection of Nicolas Laugero Lasserre and are on view at the Art 42 urban art museum in Paris.URBSTRACTIONS An exhibition of works by CHAZME, Marc C. Woehr and Théo LopezOpening 3 November, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 6 November – 1 December Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Deadmocracy: in this coined word, "dead" and "democracy" merge. Claudio Ethos uses it to describe a feeling that is growing behind the economic processes in South American countries, but also worldwide. This development pushes people into extreme situations of social coexistence.PandemoniumIn the resulting pandemonium, the fragility of the democratic framework is revealed. Struggle, violence, extremism, isolation and other dynamic processes lead to a mutation of the rhythm of life. Claudio Ethos traces these changes in his works on canvas and paper, which come to us directly from São Paulo, Brazil's cultural capital.An Encounter in MunichI first met Claudio Ethos in 2010 at the second STROKE Art Fair in Munich. He was painting a large mural there, and his visual world immediately held a magical fascination for me. I had never seen such an interplay of stylistic devices, and that evening I struck up a conversation with him. A short chat grew into a friendship and the idea of one day showing his work at Pretty Portal. Seven years later, this idea is now becoming reality: Claudio Ethos is coming to Germany at the end of August and will open his first solo exhibition in Germany at Pretty Portal on 15 September.About the ArtistClaudio Ethos was born Claudio Rafael Ethos in São Paulo in 1982. Growing up in the city's favelas, he was surrounded by pichação, São Paulo's distinctive style of tagging. Influenced by it, he began painting graffiti at the age of 15. He later studied visual arts for two years, but dropped out because he was drawn out into the world. On his travels, he took part in numerous urban art festivals, painted a considerable number of murals around the world and steadily developed his visual language.In his works, the Brazilian artist explores the complex interplay between the individual and society. His observations of the individual within different social processes have continually fed into his artistic ideas and today form the foundation of his unmistakable expression. At the same time, he seeks to explore the spiritual side of the world around him. His surreal-looking images, in which the figurative mingles with the abstract, captivate with their great intensity and monochrome palette. Through his figures, he captures different emotional and spiritual states.Ethos usually first records his ideas in a sketchbook with a ballpoint pen: everyday scenes and observations of public life and his surroundings. From these sketches, he develops the compositions for his canvases and murals. His expressive figures fight their individual battles in city-like, abstract landscapes, telling stories rooted in the artist's experiences, dreams and memories.Ethos was influenced by renowned Brazilian artists such as Os Gêmeos, Vitché, Onesto and Herbert Baglione. Yet his style has developed into something entirely his own, highly individual and unmistakable. His murals helped prompt many established contemporary South American artists to take a fresh look at Brazil's still young urban art scene. Ethos has exhibited in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Austria, the USA and Paraguay, among other countries, and currently lives between São Paulo and Los Angeles.DEADMOCRACY An exhibition by Claudio EthosOpening Friday, 15 September 2017, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 15 September – 20 October 2017 Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Working in urban space means thinking in space. For urban artists, facades, ledges, electrical boxes and lampposts are not just surfaces, but part of the work itself. What could be more natural than to detach one's visual language from the flat surface altogether and take it into the third dimension?From the Wall into SpaceIn Urban Sculptures, many of the artists represented by Pretty Portal show works in which they translate their visual language into space. In doing so, they experiment with a wide variety of materials: wood, metal, plastic and even Lego bricks. For as natural as urban space is to urban art, sculptures and objects have rarely taken centre stage so far, usually leaving the leading role to painting.Free-Standing and Wall-MountedPixelpancho shapes the protagonists of his paintings, his robots, as sculptures. Some works stand freely in the room, others are mounted on the wall, such as Jana & JS's abstract architectural views reminiscent of favelas. Also on show are abstract objects by Italian artist ETNIK, figures by Biserama, KJ263, Mono Cieza, SAM3 and WESR, and style writing in Lego bricks by Cole Blaq.URBAN SCULPTURES feat. Biserama, Cole Blaq, Cranio, ETNIK, Jana & JS, KJ263, Mono Cieza, Pixelpancho, SAM3, WESROpening 23 June, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 23 June – 11 August Monday – Friday, 11 am – 7 pm and by appointmentPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A stencil is made of what is missing. Every area cut out of the stencil lets the paint through; everything that remains stays blank. The image thus emerges from the interplay of positive and negative, of surface and void.A Technique with Many FacesEver since Blek le Rat sprayed his first stencils onto the walls of Paris in the early 1980s, the stencil has become one of the defining techniques of urban art. With STENCILS ONLY, we once again dedicate an entire exhibition to this technique. Five artists show how differently stencils can be used: from photographically precise portraits to sculpturally intertwined ribbons and works on layers of posters taken directly from the street. The artists come from the UK, Ireland, Chile, France and Poland.Copyright British artist Copyright studied photography and video editing, discovering along the way that he could turn his own photographs into stencils. His works combine stencils and spray paint with oil and acrylic painting, playing with the ideals of consumer society, such as beauty, fashion and pop culture, which he contrasts with references to mythology and spirituality. He names Alfred Hitchcock, Andy Warhol and Banksy among his sources of inspiration.Fin DAC Irish artist Fin DAC has developed an unmistakable visual language he calls "Urban Aesthetics". He is known for his depictions of Eurasian women, often masked and in traditional dress, through which he explores female empowerment, sexual stereotypes and colonially shaped perceptions. Self-taught, he cites dark graphic novels as well as Francis Bacon and Aubrey Beardsley as influences.Otto Schade Born in Chile, the artist also known as "Osch" began his career as an architect and urban sculptor. He has lived in London since 2006, where his architectural understanding of space led him to develop his distinctive "ribbon" style. The intertwining bands shape his subjects and give them an almost sculptural presence.STF Moscato Born in 1976, Marseille artist Stéphane Moscato, aka STF, is a child of punk. For many years, he has been peeling entire layers of posters off the walls of his city and mounting them onto canvas in his studio. Using stencils and spray paint, he creates unique works guided by these street fragments, through which a social and political stance subtly shines.Tankpetrol Polish-born artist Tankpetrol lives and works in Manchester, where he first discovered stencil art. His highly detailed works usually centre on female figures in powerful poses, often in military-inspired clothing and surrounded by animals, geometric shapes and typography. He deliberately avoids multi-layered stencils in order to preserve the original character of stencil art.STENCILS ONLY A group exhibition with works by Copyright, Fin DAC, Otto Schade, STF Moscato and TankpetrolOpening Friday, 17 March 2017, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 17 March – 28 April 2017Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A year full of exhibitions, encounters and new works is drawing to a close. To round off the year, we are bringing together 16 artists who shape the Pretty Portal programme in a large group exhibition. There is no overarching theme, but instead a broad cross-section of the diversity of urban contemporary art.Prints and EditionsOne focus of the exhibition is on prints and editions. Screen prints, woodcuts and other printmaking techniques have a long tradition in urban art. Closely linked to the history of the poster and the stencil, they make it possible to bring a pictorial idea to a wider audience in a limited edition. As a rule, the sheets are signed and numbered, and with hand-pulled editions in particular, small variations make each impression something special.For collectors, editions are an ideal way to get started, and for many a chance to own works by their favourite artists. And anyone still looking for a special gift will find a real treasure trove here, especially in the run-up to Christmas.16 PositionsOn show are works by BTOY, DECYCLE, FAKE, Fin DAC, ICY & SOT, L.E.T., Limow, Natalia Rak, Otto Schade, PDOT, Pixelpancho, Roman Klonek, Rowan Newton, Shai Dahan, Sokar Uno and Wolfgang Krell. The range extends from stencils and paste-ups to figurative painting, drawing and woodcuts. Artists from Düsseldorf are shown alongside international positions from across Europe and the USA.YEAR END SHOW 2016Opening Friday, 2 December 2016, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 2 December 2016 – 10 February 2017Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A face, painted with photorealistic precision, that dissolves into colour and movement the very next moment. Figures emerging from the twilight. Landscapes in which the concrete and the fantastical flow into one another. Like apparitions, the images in this exhibition move between realism and abstraction, between presence and dissolution.Curated by David MonllorSwiss artist David Monllor first showed his work at Pretty Portal in February 2014 in his solo exhibition Fade into Nothing. Since then, he has continued to develop his visual language and painting technique, not only in the studio but also on his many travels. Along the way, he has worked on public projects with many renowned artists, with whom he now shares a friendship. For Ghosts of Things to Come, he has brought together a selection of these artists and also contributes a work of his own.Painting Between Realism and AbstractionAll the participating artists are exceptional painting talents who know how to combine and transcend different stylistic devices. Andrew Hem tells mystical stories in atmospheric paintings, in luminous colours reminiscent of the transition from day to night. Daniel Ochoa explores the perception of identity, which reveals itself in the shift between realistic construction and abstraction. With dramatic distortions amid geometric patterns, Robert Proch questions modern life, like a glitch in the matrix. Benjamin Björklund deliberately keeps his compositions simple so that his subjects, often portraits in transformation, remain immediately accessible. With naturalistic night scenes, Sebas Velasco offers a glimpse into the closed world of graffiti writers. David Stegmann combines abstract painting and neo-surrealism into sometimes apocalyptic, visionary images about the coexistence of humans and the environment. Finally, David Monllor is known for his photorealism and its deliberate dissolution: between construction and deconstruction, he creates graceful, perfect illusions.A Spearhead of Urban Contemporary ArtAll the artists exhibit internationally; their works have been reviewed in renowned art magazines and have graced numerous covers. They belong to the spearhead of artists who have made an impressive transition from urban space to urban contemporary art and who decisively shape this movement. We are delighted to present this exceptional selection at Pretty Portal. On show are works on paper and canvas.Andrew Hem Andrew Hem was born while his parents were fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime of terror, and grew up between two cultures: the rural, animist world of his Khmer ancestors and the dynamic world of Los Angeles, shaped by urban art. Drawn to graffiti from an early age, he honed his graphic and compositional skills on the streets of L.A. before discovering his passion for figurative painting and graduating from Art Center College of Design. Using gouache, oil and acrylic, he creates atmospheric stories on canvas. Their mystical effect comes from a palette that conjures up a world in perpetual twilight.Andrew Hem has exhibited worldwide, from the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York and the Portsmouth Museum of Art in New Hampshire to solo and group shows in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Nashville, Miami, Toronto, Zurich and Lecce. His work has been published in Beyond Illustration, the Society of Illustrators Annual, Communication Arts, Spectrum, American Illustration, 3x3, Swallow and Hi-Fructose, among others. He lives and works in Los Angeles.Benjamin Björklund Inspired by everyday life, Benjamin Björklund seeks to interpret emotions and characters in his paintings. He deliberately keeps his compositions and focal points simple to ensure that his subjects remain accessible to the viewer. His works often depict his family and close friends. Today, his paintings are held in private collections in London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Melbourne and throughout Sweden and Europe. He lives and works in Uppsala, Sweden.Daniel Ochoa Daniel Ochoa on his work: "The experiences I gathered growing up in a multicultural family shape the imagery and emotional quality of my work. Over time, I began to recognise cultural divides and to deal with conflicting viewpoints depending on the context. As a result, my perception of identity is constantly changing, and I am confronted with it again and again in my work, which is shaped by photographs, emotions and memories. I use different techniques to dissolve the boundaries between formal qualities such as abstraction and realistic representation. For example, I have used images from Google Street View and social media to show the effect technology has on visual language. Combining divergent elements suggests a pluralistic reality that spans from the historical origins of painting, through the self, to the influence of technology." (translated)David Monllor David Monllor was born in 1987 in the Swiss canton of Aargau to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, and still lives and works there today. As a child, he discovered his passion for figurative depiction and painting. At the age of twelve, he came into contact with graffiti, a subculture that has had a lasting influence on his work. His contacts in the urban art scene led to countless travels: he painted with many urban artists, was invited to international art festivals and created facade-sized murals.Self-taught, he perfected his spray can technique. Hyperrealistic portraits and surreal still lifes became his trademark. In search of new forms of expression, he has discovered oil painting in recent years. His current works range from meticulously executed photorealistic paintings to abstracted portraits that dissolve explosively, creating an entirely new aesthetic in the viewer's eye through the movement within the image.David Stegmann In his work, David Stegmann explores the coexistence of humans and the environment. Combining abstract painting and neo-surrealism, his works sometimes seem apocalyptic and visionary, offering a glimpse into a fragile, organic microcosm. The concrete and the fantastical merge before the viewer's eyes, only to dissolve again the next moment. His inspiration is nature, with its absolute drive for perfection in colour, form and existence. The Swiss-born artist lives and works in the Breisgau region, where he experiments with different materials. Alongside painting on canvas and wood, he has been working increasingly with a mixed-media technique behind glass since last year.Robert Proch Dramatic distortions amid geometric patterns and shapes: Robert Proch's large murals stop traffic wherever they appear. As a teenager, he was already creating large-scale, provocative murals in his hometown of Bydgoszcz, Poland. Since then, he has painted murals around the world and exhibited his canvases in Poland, Denmark, France, Italy, Hungary, England and Germany. His abstract-figurative style draws equally on state-of-the-art animation and classic caricature, on Impressionism and modern graffiti.A sense of movement and the adoption of time-shifted perspectives within a single image are central to his work. His painted narratives question the life of modern humans. Using vivid colours, he evokes concrete emotions, and rather than appearing crude or pessimistic, his art feels dynamic, captivating and often exhilarating. Sentimentality, ambition, fear, loss, presumption, greed and friendship are just some of the emotions ever-present in his paintings. In this way, Proch highlights the intensity of everyday experiences. In every work, a delicate barrier separates the earthly from the dreamlike.Sebas Velasco Sebas Velasco started painting graffiti in his hometown in 2004. He later moved to Bilbao, where he studied fine arts, specialising in painting. Today, he is distinguished above all by his outstanding technique and his devotion to naturalism. He works with oil, acrylic, spray paint and pencil. With a grant from the Antonio Gala Foundation, he completed his project Around the Wall, which was shown in several solo and group exhibitions in Spain and received numerous awards. At the same time, he has remained active in public space, painting walls in various cities in Spain and Europe, where he often finds inspiration for his studio work. Sebas Velasco lives and works in Spain."Ghosts of Things to Come" Andrew Hem · Benjamin Björklund · Daniel Ochoa · David Monllor · David Stegmann · Robert Proch · Sebas Velasco Curated by David MonllorOpening Friday, 30 September 2016, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 30 September – 4 November 2016Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Spain is one of the most vibrant countries for urban art. From Madrid to Valencia to Galicia, a scene has emerged whose distinctive, often poetic and at the same time socially critical visual language resonates far beyond the country's borders.Curated by SAM3For SWEET ASH, Spanish artist SAM3, whose work we showed at Pretty Portal in 2010 and 2013, has brought together some of the best urban artists from his country and brought them to Düsseldorf. Alongside SAM3 himself, works by Aris, Daniel Muñoz, Hyuro, Jeice2, Limow and Liqen are on show. All of them are part of the lively Spanish urban art scene; they have taken part in numerous festivals, shown their work in solo and group exhibitions and been featured in many publications.Works on PaperThe exhibition presents works on paper: drawings as well as screen prints and linocuts. We cordially invite you to the opening on Friday, 17 June, from 7 pm. Liqen Liqen's works are poetic and full of mystery. He repeatedly explores the interwoven relationships between ancient cultures and nature, contrasting them with present-day conditions in our society. In doing so, he seeks to fathom the depths of the human mind and denounces the growing displacement of thought by machines and false values.Limow Limow combines abstract and figurative elements in an extraordinary way. While some of his works made of staples, sieves and pins play with materiality, scale and optical effects, his drawings and paintings captivate the viewer above all through their content: he creates mysterious worlds that blend past and future, seduction and darkness, and tell stories between humans and animals.Hyuro Hyuro explores the freedoms, fears and worries we are repeatedly confronted with in our surroundings. In many of her works, she focuses above all on the role of women in our society. She invites us to become aware of the boundaries and conditions that shape us and our existence, and questions the definition of freedom as a fundamental and inalienable right of every human being.Daniel Muñoz Daniel Muñoz has geared his art entirely towards working on and with public spaces. In this way, he aims to convey the message of his works directly to as many people as possible at once. His visual language is made up of symbols and codes, inviting viewers to read the work between the narrative perspective of classical painting and the moral discourses of contemporary art. All his works lend themselves to different interpretations.Jeice2 Jeice2, too, reflects on today's society and human behaviour in his works, often focusing on political problems and social injustice. His imagery is frequently very provocative and satirical in character. Sharp lines, strong contrasts and a clear connection to his themes are typical of his work.Aris Over more than twenty years, Aris has made a name for himself in the European urban and contemporary art world with his very own visual language. His works are distinguished above all by the way he lets forms merge into one another without sacrificing clear lines. Letters become silhouettes of human bodies, and individual silhouettes flow seamlessly into those of another body.SAM3 SAM3 is known for his silhouette-like murals, some of them as tall as houses, which often refer to their immediate urban surroundings. His images are ironic, poetic and, above all, provocative. They address classical philosophical themes, question habits and engage with current social debates. Reduced to just a few colours and with a partly graphic style, his images have an unusual presence. Despite, or precisely because of, their simplicity, they invite engagement and reveal their message little by little.His works are dominated by figurative elements in a state of metamorphosis with their surroundings. SAM3 works with symbols such as roots and ladders, and figures with oversized heads are typical of his style. Born in Spain, he currently lives in Madrid but paints all over the world, often creating not just images but entire stories, which he tells in his experimental stop-motion short films.SWEET ASH A group exhibition with works by Aris, Daniel Muñoz, Hyuro, Jeice2, Limow, Liqen and SAM3 Curated by SAM3Opening Friday, 17 June 2016, from 7 pmExhibition 17 June – 15 July 2016Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Cities are built from modules. Window follows window, storey follows storey, facade follows facade. And yet we never experience them as a mere grid: we move through them, see them from changing angles, remember earlier views and layer them with new ones.Two Views of the CityJacqueline Hess and Pascal Sender both address urbanity and architecture in their work. Yet their focuses are almost opposite, and that is precisely what makes bringing their works together so exciting. Modul und Raum (Module and Space) shows both perspectives side by side.Jacqueline Hess: ModuleJacqueline Hess graduated this year from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, where she studied under Prof. Eberhard Havekost. Windows and facades appear again and again in her works. Dark, opaque windows as a motif of longing contrast with bleak-looking facades, creating a peculiar tension. The monotony of our living space and its inherent calm lead to an almost meditative silence that invites us to reflect on our everyday perception. The artist points to the modular architecture of our urban surroundings, creating a metaphor for the modularity of today's ways of life: uniformity and repetition which, used positively, can become a source of freedom and creativity.Pascal Sender: SpacePascal Sender's works show urban landscapes that take on a multitude of perspectives within a single image. Different, time-shifted perceptions overlap to form a vision that he builds up layer by layer on his richly detailed canvases. The artist, who graduated three years ago from the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Peter Doig, plays with time and space in his work. By shifting spatial perspective and moving artistically along the timeline, he condenses impressions into futuristic-looking urban scenes. Alongside painting, Pascal Sender also uses video projection and computer animation, which he combines into magical installations."Modul und Raum" Jacqueline Hess | Pascal SenderOpening Friday, 13 May 2016, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 13 May – 10 June 2016Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Doll-like people revealing their inner mechanics. Figures on an emotional rollercoaster between abyss and ecstasy. Protagonists whose contours blur, lost in confusion and alienation. At first glance, they are "lovely people", but there is more behind them.Behind the FacadeIn Lovely People, we present paintings and drawings by Natalia Rak, Pixelpancho and Sokar Uno. All three explore what it means to be human and look behind the facade of human existence. Pixelpancho addresses machines becoming human or, conversely, humans turning into robot-like beings. In luminous colours, Natalia Rak tells stories of abysses, ecstasy, fear and romance. And Sokar Uno shows his protagonists in states of confusion and alienation.Natalia RakWith luminous colours, wonderful compositions and a deliberately female perspective, Natalia Rak brings a breath of fresh air to the increasingly global urban art movement. Her paintings tell stories and captivate the viewer with an almost magical intensity. Since graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, she has shown her work in the USA, France, Austria and Poland and has been invited to numerous renowned urban art festivals, where she has painted epic, facade-high murals. In 2013, she won Art Battles in New York. That same year, art magazines voted her mural Legend of the Giants one of the five best urban artworks of the year, alongside works by Banksy and JR.PixelpanchoPixelpancho has a special bond with robots: they are the ever-recurring theme of his work."I am driven by a forgotten world, hidden beneath a thick layer of dust and dirt. There are robots there, creations of humankind, battered and worn, a symbiosis of the organic and the inorganic, their bodies of rusty iron falling apart. Full of dreams, desires and hopes." (translated)In his surreal visual world, humans, puppets and robots merge into images alluding to major commercial brands, superheroes and famous pop icons, all of them subject to constant change and threatened by decay. Pixelpancho convinces not only through his striking motifs, but also through his unique style, which draws on many and varied sources.Born in Italy, he studied at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia. On his many travels, he never missed an opportunity to take part in festivals and show his work in exhibitions. Pixelpancho is regarded as one of the new big names of the Italian urban art scene, which gradually developed around artists such as Blu and Ericailcane, the Fame Festival and Studio Chromie.Sokar UnoBerlin-based Sokar Uno is one of the exceptional talents of the East German graffiti scene. An illustrator and restorer who grew up with the spray can, he caught our attention some time ago with his sensitive works. With his solo exhibition Depth of Loneliness in New York, he has made an impressive entry onto the international stage. In his works, Sokar Uno explores the spreading loneliness of our urban existence: alone together. Socially compatible individualists, scourged by the city we live in and left, no doubt hungover, in the role of our lives. With his familiar surreal depiction of protagonists in everyday situations, Sokar Uno provokes a slowing down."Lovely People" Natalia Rak · Pixelpancho · Sokar UnoExhibition from Friday, 8 April 2016Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A rat on a Paris wall: Blek le Rat began with stencilled images like this in the early 1980s, paving the way for art in public space as we know it today. Since then, graphic design, fashion and advertising have adopted the visual language of the stencil. Trends change from year to year, but in urban art the stencil is as relevant as ever.Stencils that take a standAs in previous years, in STENCILS ONLY 2016 we present artists who have gained international recognition for their stencil work. This year they are ICY & SOT, FAKE, EMESS and L.E.T. What unites them is a critical eye: whether human rights, political conflict or consumer society, all four use the stencil to take a stand, often with humour and an ironic twist.ICY & SOTThe brothers ICY & SOT come from Tabriz, Iran, and currently live in Brooklyn, New York. Since 2006 they have played a decisive role in shaping Iran’s urban art scene, using their distinctive stencils to break down preconceived ideas of Iranian tradition. They address social and political issues such as human rights and justice. Their murals can be seen in Iran, the United States and Europe.FAKEThe Dutch artist FAKE lives and works in Amsterdam. Having grown up in grey, sometimes dreary surroundings, he wanted to put a smile on people’s faces with irony and humour, and quickly discovered the stencil as his tool. His colourful, highly precise pictures draw on pop culture icons, tell stories and put a finger on controversial issues without pointing blame directly. He has exhibited in the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, the UK, the United States and Iran, among other places.EMESSEMESS, a former master student at the Universität der Künste Berlin (Berlin University of the Arts), has spent more than a decade exploring how public space works and what effect it has. With irritating or provocative motifs and urban interventions, he challenges established beliefs and takes up local problems of global relevance that would otherwise be swept under the carpet. Humour and a sense of aesthetics draw attention to the content. For him there is no difference between the street and the gallery, and his work ranges from sculptures and installations to large-scale murals and posters, delicate woodcuts and vividly coloured prints.L.E.T.Originally from France, L.E.T. has been active on the street since 1992 and is one of the first-generation street artists. His initials stand for “Les Enfants Terribles”, a traditional term for the outsiders and eccentrics of the art world. He sprays his motifs on paper and pastes them up around the city as cut-outs, including in his current home town of Düsseldorf. Black-and-white figures with few accents of colour carry his charmingly provocative messages, with which he exposes the shortcomings of our consumer and fun-driven society with a wink. In the gallery he works on canvas, cardboard and wood, without any change to his unmistakable style.“STENCILS ONLY 2016” ICY & SOT, FAKE, EMESS, L.E.T. Exhibition: 26 February – 25 March 2016 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf

Numbers count, measure, order and evaluate our world. We encounter them on every receipt, every clock, every screen. And yet they are far more than sober tools of mathematics.More Than a QuantityIn the exhibition NUMBERS, the artist duo DOPPELDENK presents works that explore the concept of numbers and figures. Numbers are more than just symbols for a quantity: they stand for ideas and concepts, and serve as codes and synonyms for events. At first glance, they seem to have a clear value, yet they are often misused for manipulation. Numbers are used to tell stories, and in design and graffiti they are graphic concepts. There is something magical about them, and almost all of us have a lucky number.A Universal LanguageNumbers need no translation. In a way, they are a universal language that everyone understands. DOPPELDENK also links numbers to the exhibition's location, Düsseldorf: this is where Kraftwerk recorded the album Computerwelt(Computer World) with the track "Nummern" (Numbers) in 1981.Painting, Light and PrintAt Pretty Portal, DOPPELDENK presents paintings, illustrations, light installations and a series of new prints.About DOPPELDENKDOPPELDENK are Marcel Baer and Andreas Glauch, who live and work in Leipzig. Their name derives from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four: "doublethink" (in German, Doppeldenk) describes the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs in one's mind at the same time and to accept both. For the two artists, the term is a motto. At first glance, their works seem familiar, with neon colours and references to pop and subculture, manga and the 8-bit aesthetic of the 1980s. On second glance, however, they turn out to be subversive: the duo uses the suggestive power of mass-cultural symbols, pictograms and idealised characters to create humorous and critical commentaries on our present. Alongside painting and prints, their work includes sculptures and light objects.NUMBERS DOPPELDENKOpening Friday, 4 December 2015, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 4 December 2015 – 22 January 2016Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

What we think of ourselves, what others think of us, and what others believe we think of ourselves: for Laguna, there is a wide gap between these three images. Out of it, shifts in reality arise whenever people meet. These shifts are the material of his pictures.Between inner and outer worlds“There is a great discrepancy between what we think of ourselves, what others think of us and what others believe we think of ourselves,” says Laguna (translated). Then there are dreams and surreal moments that break up an often monotonous everyday life. “These moments are the most beautiful. They put a smile on our faces.” (translated)Laguna’s works combine the concrete with the abstract. They are idiosyncratic and dreamlike and break with habitual ways of seeing. Inner and outer worlds collide and merge, in a playful variety of forms and colours, into a surreal visual world. Or, as Laguna puts it: “it’s not what we see but what we perceive, or vice versa ... or not.”New works and a look backIn Harvest of times that go away leaving signs without memory we present new works alongside pictures from recent years, offering an insight into Laguna’s artistic development. On view are watercolours, drawings, collages and works in acrylic and oil.About the artistLaguna comes from Spain and is one of the distinctive voices of the Spanish urban art scene. His murals on large building facades can be found in many cities in Spain, Brazil and the United States. Last year he painted in Germany for the first time, at the CityLeaks Festival in Cologne. In recent years his work has been featured by magazines and blogs such as Juxtapoz, Unurth and Wooster Collective.“Harvest of times that go away leaving signs without memory” Laguna Vernissage: 5 October, 7 – 10 pm Exhibition: 5 October – 10 November 2015 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf

Few subjects are as old, and at the same time as inexhaustible, as the human face. For centuries, artists have tried to capture character, emotion and stories in it, and yet every generation finds a new approach.Four Positions, One ThemeIn FACE OFF, four positions devoted to the portrait go head to head: Julian Kimmings, Rowan Newton, Shai Dahan and Various & Gould. All four are showing at Pretty Portal for the first time. Their approaches could hardly be more different, ranging from gestural oil painting and raw mixed media with spray paint and watercolour to stencil, collage and screen printing.Julian KimmingsBritish artist Julian Kimmings paints mostly portraits, using a mix of oil, spray paint, ink and acrylic. Fascinated by ancient cultures, folklore and mythology, he draws on their stories to give his works a narrative, which he sets against an increasingly materialistic modern world. In his portraits, he combines gestural painting and fast, intuitive brushwork with detailed, almost realistic elements. In these often highly emotional moments, a clear expression contrasts with raw, energetic fields of colour that leave room for the viewer's imagination. Julian Kimmings completed his studies in London. With his unique visual language, he has attracted the attention of collectors around the world and earned high regard among connoisseurs of contemporary and urban art.Rowan NewtonRowan Newton lives in London and paints people. His paintings reflect the dichotomies of urban life. Using spray paint, acrylic and watercolour, he creates works full of character, unvarnished and provocative. Since completing his art studies in 2004, he has shown his work in exhibitions in London, Amsterdam and New York.Shai DahanShai Dahan (b. 1979) is an American painter and urban artist. Born in Haifa, he grew up in Los Angeles, where he picked up his first spray can at the age of 14. In 2007, he moved to New York, where he painted as part of street and urban art projects such as NYSAT, the Underbelly Project and MOM&POPism. Soon afterwards, he began showing his work in galleries in Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Philadelphia. At the end of 2010, he moved to Sweden. In July 2012, his solo exhibition at the Borås Art Museum earned him wide recognition, and shortly afterwards he gave the opening keynote at TEDx Göteborg. In his work for public space, on canvas and in installations, he uses a variety of techniques, including stencil, collage and painting in acrylic, oil and spray paint.Various & GouldThe Berlin-based artist duo Various & Gould have been working closely together since 2005. Both studied at the Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin (KHB), graduating in 2010. Various & Gould stand for a simple yet powerful formula: 1 + 1 = 3. They reinvent themselves with every project and often cross boundaries between different fields. Shared interests such as a love of paper, a fascination with the accidental beauty of everyday life and, above all, working in public space form the basis of their collaboration. Screen printing and collage are their speciality. In a mostly playful way, they tackle relevant issues such as work, migration, (sexual) identity, death, religion and the financial crisis. Their works are influenced by (political) poster design, Dada and Pop Art and are often characterised by strong colours and an ambiguous interweaving of symbols, associations and clichés.FACE OFF feat. Julian Kimmings, Rowan Newton, Shai Dahan and Various & GouldOpening Friday, 11 September 2015, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 11 September – 10 October 2015Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A photograph cuts a moment out of the flow of time. Jana & JS do the same with a knife. Just as the blade cuts the stencil, their images cut a piece out of the flow of time and hold it still for close contemplation.SnapshotsThe images of Jana & JS appear like snapshots. The clear lines and the sharp outlines of the people they portray, created through the use of stencils, feel like time standing still. The moments captured in this way are closely tied to emotions, which play a strong role in the couple's work.Traces of the CityMany of their works are created on found old objects. These enhance the effect of the images, in which transience and the after-effects of lived experience resonate. Using objects that originate in urban space, the artist couple connects their work with the city as a human habitat. Just as Jana & JS place their art as an intervention in urban space, these works bring urban space into the gallery.A Solo Show at Pretty PortalIn recent years, Jana & JS have already taken part several times in the group exhibition STENCILS ONLY at Pretty Portal. Their murals can be found on the streets of Vienna, Paris, Düsseldorf, London and New York, and their visual worlds are an integral part of the ever-growing urban art movement. We are now delighted to welcome them to Düsseldorf for a solo show. In A Matter of Time, they present a new series of works created this year. During the exhibition, we will also release a limited stencil edition together with Jana & JS.About the ArtistsThe Austrian-French artist couple Jana & JS have been working together since 2006. Their multicoloured stencils are based on their own photographs, often portraits, which they combine with urban landscapes and architecture. They prefer to work on old, used materials that speak of the passage of time."A Matter of Time" Jana & JSOpening Friday, 12 June 2015, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 12 June – 10 July 2015Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

"Urban art is not a new phenomenon. People have been declaring their presence, their humour, their fears and their anger in the streets for as long as there have been streets for it to be seen in. It's the most democratic form of art; it's a medium that is available to any that feel the need to use it. With the acceptance and celebration of graffiti culture in the twentieth century it has come to a point where it is now sited behind the streets, in fashionable galleries. Yes, fashions change, but don't ever think that the graffiti will fade away. That particular writing has always been on the wall." – Guy DenningBetween Tradition and PunkIn his solo exhibition Shooting Angels, Guy Denning presents works that combine a traditional painterly style with a contemporary, punk-inspired twist of embedded collaged and stencilled text. This aesthetic, blended with the political narrative that runs through his work, has earned him a loyal following among collectors and lovers of urban art.About the ArtistGuy Denning was born in North Somerset in 1965. He has been obsessed with visual art since childhood and started painting in oils at the age of eleven, after receiving a set of old paints from a relative who had grown bored with them. Throughout the 1980s, his applications to study painting at degree level were repeatedly unsuccessful, but he continued painting while studying art history with the Open University and learning painting technique from older painters he knew in the West of England. From 1992, he exhibited across Britain, and since 2007 he has also exhibited in the United States, Germany, Italy and France. His paintings have been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His work is held in several public collections, including the Politics Department of the University of Bristol, the Political Science Department of the University of Galway and the MAGI'900 Museum of Contemporary Art in Bologna."Shooting Angels" Guy DenningOpening Friday, 17 April 2015, 7 pmExhibition 20 April – 22 May 2015Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A gun is, first of all, just an object: metal, wood, a particular shape. It is we who load it, with meaning. As a threat, as a symbol of power, or simply as an object of aesthetic exploration. It is precisely this act of loading that interests Wolfgang Krell.Women and "Wummen"Krell's subjects are portraits of women and pop-style side views of pistols and rifles. Although these two motifs could hardly be more different, he unites them through his very own artistic signature. The playful exhibition title Wummenizer brings both together: it combines Wumme, German slang for a gun, with the English word "womanizer".DisarmingKrell works with a mix of spray paint, acrylic and pencil, also using stencils. The combination of dynamic tag styles and stencils with elements of contemporary painting dissolves the threatening character of the weapons. The portraits of women, in turn, parody the stern expressions of beauty photography with punky, colourful hairstyles. Krell's intense, contrasting colours set against white backgrounds catch the eye immediately and draw the viewer in like a magnet. His colourful, positive works strip the weapons of their negative connotations and the beauty motifs of their often inherent seriousness. Wolfgang Krell's visual language is disarming and makes his subjects pleasantly approachable. In Wummenizer, he presents works on canvas."Wummenizer" Wolfgang KrellOpening Friday, 6 March 2015, 7 – 10 pm The artist will be present.Exhibition 6 March – 10 April 2015Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Groupshow feat. A1ONE, BTOY, DECYCLE, ELIOT, FinDAC, JANA&JS, kurznachzehn, L.E.T., Orticanoodles, Tankpretrol, Wolfgang Krell

Vom 31. Oktober bis 28. November 2014 zeigt Pretty Portal Werke des Schweizer-Deutschen Künstlers David Stegmann alias dust (*1982, Freiburg). In der Ausstellung „STATION TO STATION” präsentiert David Stegmann neue Arbeiten auf Glas sowie Werke auf Leinen und Papier. Die Vernissage findet am 31. Oktober 2014 um 19 Uhr statt. Der Künstler wird anwesend sein. David Stegmann befasst sich in seinem Schaffen mit Fragen der Koexistenz von Mensch und Umwelt. Seine Arbeiten, die abstrakte Malerei und Neo-Surrealimus spannend kombinieren, wirken zum Teil apokalyptisch und visionär. Sie gewähren einen Einblick in einen fragilen, organischen Mikrokosmos. Hier fließt Konkretes und Phantastisches vor den Augen des Betrachters zusammen, um sich im nächsten Moment wieder aufzulösen. Die Natur, mit ihrem absoluten Drang zur Perfektion in Farbe, Form und Bestand, ist dabei Quelle für seine Inspiration. David Stegmann hat sein Werk konsequent weiterentwickelt. Nach Shows in 2008 und 2009 freuen wir uns seine aktuellen Arbeiten in der Galerie Pretty Portal zu zeigen. DAVID STEGMANN STATION TO STATION 31.10.-28.11.2014

URBSTRACTIONS feat. CHAZME, ETNIK, NEIAS, PENER & SEIKON Im September zeigt Pretty Portal mit URBSTRACTIONS eine Ausstellung unterschiedlicher formaler und abstrakter Positionen. Wir freuen uns mit CHAZME, ETNIK, NEIAS, PENER und SEIKON eine Auswahl der interessantesten und progressivsten Künstler der Urban Abstract und Graffuturism Richtung zeigen zu können. In ihren Werken dominieren Kompositionen aus Formen, Flächen und Linien. Die Künstler erspüren die Transformation der urbanen Landschaft zur Megalopolis, die sie in abstrakten Darstellungen manifestieren. Die Ergebnisse sind kraftvolle Werke, voller Rhythmus und Bewegung. Die teilnehmenden Künstler kommen aus Polen, Italien und der Schweiz. CHAZME ETNIK NEIAS PENER SEIKON Ausstellung: 12.09. - 10.10.2014

A shaggy monster with an axe in its back races through the clouds. Below it, a skeleton with a smiley face rides a bear, a knight swings his sword, a monkey beats a drum, and a red-haired cyclist tumbles head first off his bike. Eyeballs carrying a pencil and a paint bucket fly past at the edge. This wild procession fills a gable wall on Suitbertusstraße in Düsseldorf-Bilk. It was painted by five artists who joined forces as a band for the project.A monument remixedThe mural is based on Bert Gerresheim’s Stadterhebungsmonument (City Foundation Monument) in Düsseldorf’s old town. The 1988 bronze sculpture tells of the Battle of Worringen and Düsseldorf’s elevation to city status in 1288. For last year’s 40° Urban Art Festival, Oliver “MAGIC” Räke brought together a group of Düsseldorf artists: DXTR, Max “MEXER” Fiedler, Roman Klonek and KJ263. Together they translated the monument into their own visual language. Knights, mythical creatures and the turmoil of battle became a colourful, ironic remix of the city’s history.THE BAND in the galleryIn May we present works by the five artists, who have since appeared as THE BAND. Each brings his own handwriting, drawn from graffiti, illustration, printmaking, comics and character design. What unites them is a love of figures, of stories and of a humour that often has a double meaning.About the artistsOliver “MAGIC” Räke is an artist and freelance graphic designer. He has been active as an urban artist since the early 1980s. He was one of the first graffiti writers to use expanded post-graffiti methods, making him one of the forerunners of what is popular today as street art. He did so in a surprising, intelligent and above all unpretentious way. Stylistically, four hearts beat in him: as an artist and graphic designer he wants to leave out everything superfluous; as an illustrator and urban artist he loves the extravagant gesture and the ornament.Roman Klonek is a freelance illustrator and printmaker and one of the internationally known representatives of contemporary printmaking in Germany. From 2001 to 2008 he co-organised the Düsseldorf gallery Revolver. He regularly gives woodcut workshops at art and design schools, has taken part several times in the character design festival Pictoplasma and holds a visiting professorship at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen. Roman Klonek lives and works in Düsseldorf.Max “MEXER” Fiedler is a freelance illustrator, comic artist and game designer. He draws a great deal and loves it, and by his own account spends far too much time at the computer. From 2005 to 2013 he taught interactive systems and game design at the Fachhochschule Düsseldorf (University of Applied Sciences).DXTR (Denis Schuster) lives and works as a freelance illustrator and artist in Düsseldorf. His current focus is on large-scale murals and spontaneous collaborations with fellow artists. At the end of 2011 he founded the artist collective The Weird, which combines painting, installation, muralism, urban art, character design and illustration and is known for its murals in Germany and abroad. His style has its roots in graffiti. His pictures are figurative, playful and dreamy at first glance, but with a touch of mysticism, irony and provocation.KJ263 grew up in the Düsseldorf scene and, as a graffiti artist and freelance graphic designer, is now making a name for himself internationally. Born in Russia, he combines everyday observations with fictional play in motifs that seem surreal, sometimes fascinating, sometimes ironic and witty, always full of character and charm.“THE BAND” DXTR, Max “MEXER” Fiedler, Oliver “MAGIC” Räke, Roman Klonek, KJ263 Vernissage: Friday, 16 May 2014, 7 – 10 pm Exhibition: 16 May – 20 June 2014 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf

A girl in a checked dress climbs through an ornate gilded frame into a glowing jungle with houses perched in its trees. Like Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, she steps into another world. It is precisely this threshold between reality and dream that is Natalia Rak’s realm.Paintings That Tell StoriesNatalia Rak’s paintings show dreamlike, surreal scenes and often seem to have sprung from a fairy tale. Above all, however, they are narrative: every painting is a story, and every story captures a very specific moment. In Not This Time, a boy sits at the end of a jetty. His feet touch the water, but he does not dare go any further: something might be lurking down there. And indeed, beneath the surface, eels writhe, their gaping jaws making them look almost like moray eels. What we see down there is his imagination. Everyone knows this feeling from their own childhood: the fear of wading into a lake because something might be waiting beneath the surface.When Imagination Becomes RealIt is precisely these moments that Natalia Rak captures. They are concrete scenes, and at the same time they speak of something universal: the power of our imagination, which can become so real that we are afraid of it. In Blind Man’s Bluff, a blindfolded young woman in a red dress steps over the edge of a rooftop into the unknown, high above the city, watched only by two pigeons. And in Forgotten Feelings, a woman with a tear-blue face holds her own heart in a glass jar, as if she had locked it away for safekeeping. Rak’s paintings remain open. It is the viewer who finishes telling the stories, and who often recognises themselves in them.The Courage of ColourRak paints with great courage of colour. Luminous red meets turquoise, glowing orange meets deep green and violet. Her palette owes its particular intensity to oil paint, which she often combines with acrylic. Her classical training shows in the assurance with which she renders bodies, fabrics and light: her figures are stylised, yet deeply realistic.From Canvas to FacadeWhether on canvas or on multi-storey facades, Natalia Rak’s visual language holds true at every scale. In 2013, the art magazine Hi-Fructose highlighted how her style and technical skill are equally convincing from canvas to mural. Her murals can now be seen around the world, with a focus on female figures and wonderful compositions. Among others, she has taken part in the Walk & Talk Festival in the Azores, the No Name Festival in France, the STROKE Art Fair and Art Whino.About the ArtistNatalia Rak was born in Poland in 1986 and has been interested in art since the age of ten. She studied fine arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, graduating in 2012. The young artist is quickly gaining recognition in Polish contemporary art circles and is also attracting international attention: in 2013, she won Art Battles in New York, and that same year her mural Legend of the Giants in Białystok was voted one of the five best urban artworks of the year, alongside works by Banksy and JR.“Through the Looking Glass” Natalia RakOpening Friday, 11 April 2014, 7 – 10 pmExhibition 11 April – 9 May 2014Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

A face that shatters into facets. A skull. Bees that are vanishing. David Monllor’s paintings tell of a world that is slowly dissolving, and of humans caught in its midst.Dystopian VisionsIn Fade into Nothing, David Monllor presents dystopian scenes in which decay is ever-present. The extinction of animals, in this case bees, stands for a natural world slipping away from us. Skulls recall our own mortality, and birds appear again and again as a motif. His people seem to dissolve into facets: portraits that were photorealistically precise just a moment ago explode into splinters of colour and light. This movement within the image creates an entirely new aesthetic in the viewer’s eye.Between Dissolution and RembrandtFor several years now, David Monllor has been painting in oil. His works range from meticulously executed, photorealistic paintings to abstracted portraits that break down into their component parts. Throughout, he shows a keen sense for the mood of light. Alongside the modern-looking, dissolving portraits, he also presents entirely classical portraits whose chiaroscuro recalls the atmosphere of a Rembrandt.About the ArtistDavid Monllor was born in 1987 in the Swiss canton of Aargau to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, and still lives and works there today. As a child, he discovered his passion for figurative depiction and painting. At the age of twelve, he came into contact with graffiti, a subculture that has had a lasting influence on his work. His contacts in the urban art scene led to countless travels: he painted with many urban artists, was invited to international art festivals and created facade-sized murals. Self-taught, he perfected his spray can technique, and hyperrealistic portraits became his trademark.In recent years, David Monllor has shown his work in exhibitions in Switzerland, Austria and Germany, including at the Colab Gallery, formerly the Carhartt Gallery. Fade into Nothing at Pretty Portal is his first solo exhibition in Germany.“Fade into Nothing” David MonllorOpening Friday, 28 February 2014Exhibition 28 February – 28 March 2014Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

On the street, repetition is what counts: a stencil allows a motif to be applied quickly, again and again. In the gallery, something else comes to the fore. Here it is about the technique each artist has found for themselves, a visual language that can be recognised at first glance, and the concept, the idea behind the image. In short: the artistic signature.Originals and editionsIn STENCILS ONLY 2013 we present original works by Jana & JS, L.E.T., Tankpetrol and Stefan Winterle. We are also showing the latest editions by BTOY, DECYCLE, Fin DAC and Orticanoodles, released by Pretty Portal in November and December 2013.Jana & JSJana & JS are an artist couple, she from Austria, he from France. They spray portraits based on their own photographs, often of themselves, on walls, wood and found objects.L.E.T.L.E.T. stands for “Les Enfants Terribles”. Since 1992 the Düsseldorf artist has shaped the streets of his home town with stencils and paste-ups. He already took part in STENCILS ONLY in 2011.TankpetrolBorn in Poland, Tankpetrol lives in Manchester, where he discovered stencil art. His works mostly centre on women in military-style clothing, surrounded by animals, geometric shapes and self-designed lettering.Stefan WinterleStefan Winterle was born in Lörrach in 1976 and started doing graffiti in 1993. Since 2000 he has focused entirely on cutting and spraying stencils, a process he describes as meditative: while preparing a set of stencils, he analyses the motif and plans the colours. Since 2010 he has also been curator of the Carhartt Gallery in Weil am Rhein.BTOYBTOY is the Barcelona artist Andrea Michaelsson. Her stencils are based on photographs and focus on strong female figures. In February she showed her solo exhibition The dispossessed with us.DECYCLE“Multi-layered is probably the best word for it,” says DECYCLE of his style (translated). Each picture is made from several stencils, one per colour, which are layered on top of each other to create the final motif. The content is multi-layered too: DECYCLE does not want to make a definitive statement but to make people think, and it is precisely the different interpretations that matter to him. His name stands for breaking out of habitual patterns of thought and out of his own daily routine, and for art that makes its way to places where no one expects it: the street.Fin DACThe Irish artist Fin DAC lives in London. He is known for portraits of women with a coloured band across the eyes, combining stencil and freehand painting.OrticanoodlesOrticanoodles are the Italian artist couple Alita and Wally from Milan. They are known for unusually complex, multi-layered stencil works.“STENCILS ONLY 2013” BTOY, DECYCLE, Fin DAC, Jana & JS, L.E.T., Orticanoodles, Tankpetrol, Stefan Winterle Vernissage: Friday, 22 November 2013 Exhibition: 22 November – 23 December 2013 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Stefan Winterle ran the gallery in Weil am Rhein, now Colab Gallery, as its curator for a total of 14 years.

Pau doesn’t paint pictures, Pau designs worlds. She invites us on a journey out into the beauty of Latin American influences and into the realm of an artist who playfully turns her inner world outwards with paper, wood and ink.Between Two WorldsIn the works of Chilean artist Pau Quintanajornet, the boundaries between cultures blur. From the tension between her Chilean roots and her German home, a symbolism of her own emerges: strong women who grow like plants from the ground into the sky, deeply rooted in values and traditions, yet ready to rise to unknown heights. Birds are also an important part of Pau’s world. They stand for wisdom and calm, yet at the same time they spread their wings, free souls who master the highs and lows.A Gift to the PublicPau has painted at numerous festivals, including the 40° Urban Art Festival in Düsseldorf, the CityLeaks Festival in Cologne in 2011, and Latido Americano in Lima and Beantatuz in Tolosa in 2013. Her paintings adorn walls up to 15 metres long and 10 metres high, as in Lima. She works exclusively on legal surfaces in public space. The focus is not on her name, but on the art: “Painting walls is something that shapes our surroundings and helps create them: a gift to the public.” (translated)Coming Full CircleUntil April of this year, Pau was travelling in South America again, absorbing the wild landscapes of Patagonia and the rugged charm of Bolivia and Peru, and finding her own artistic voice. In Coming Full Circle, she documents this chapter of her journey: a young artist takes stock, one story ends and something new begins.“I also needed this new space to make room for new things within me and to find a fresh approach to my art. Every ending gives rise to a new beginning, many loose threads intertwine, and a circle closes.” (translated)“Coming Full Circle” Pau QuintanajornetOpening Friday, 27 September 2013, from 7 pm The artist will be present.Exhibition 27 September – 19 October 2013Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

From Painting to Stencil: the show FACE OFF at Pretty Portal, presents different perspectives from international Urban Artists, on the topic portrait. Ben Slow C215 David Monllor Fin DAC Guy Denning Natalia Rak Onur Dinc OrticanoodlesWolfgang Krell Ausstellung 14.6. - 20.07. Vernissage 14.6. 19 – 22h

Black, with curved horns, it stands along Spain’s roads and motorways: the Osborne bull. Few images there are as familiar, few as charged with meaning. SAM3 takes on this sign and transforms it, with paint, with bones, with fire.From billboard to landmarkThe bull was created in 1956 as an advertisement for a brandy made by the Osborne bodega. Hundreds of the huge silhouettes were put up across Spain. When roadside advertising was banned, the bulls remained, without lettering, as pure form. Today they are considered part of Spain’s cultural heritage and an unofficial emblem of the country.SAM3 has painted two of the real Osborne bulls in the landscape: one with the animal’s skeleton, another as a baby bull. In Canonicity we show how he brings this motif into the gallery. For the exhibition he rebuilt the bulls in wood and treated each one in its own way.Skeleton, calf and ashesAs with his bull in the landscape, SAM3 has painted the animal’s skeleton in white on one of the replicas: skull, ribs and leg bones lie on the black silhouette as if the animal were being X-rayed. He surrounded a second with sky blue and shrank the black bull inside it to a calf. The third he burned. The charred wooden silhouette with its pale scorch marks hangs next to a photo series documenting the burning.The result is three readings of one sign: the death behind the symbol, the small within the large, the destruction of a myth. These are interpretations. SAM3 lets the pictures speak for themselves, without explaining them.The heavy headAlongside the bulls we show drawings in ink on paper and a ceramic piece. The sculpture shows an oversized head on a body that is too small. It can be related to René Descartes’ “I think, therefore I am”: human beings live through their thoughts. At the same time it shows how top-heavy we are and how often we think too much. Figures with oversized heads are a recurring motif in SAM3’s work.About the artistSAM3 was born in Elche in 1980 and currently lives in Murcia. He started out with graffiti in the 1990s. He is known for his silhouettes, which he calls “shadows”: black, anonymous figures, often as tall as a house, that merge with their surroundings. His murals are ironic, poetic and provocative. Reduced to a few colours and a graphic style, they have an unusual presence and reveal their message only gradually.In 2007 SAM3 took part in Banksy’s Santa’s Ghetto project in Bethlehem. His murals can be seen in more than ten countries, including at the Fame Festival in Grottaglie and the Outdoor Festival in Rome. Besides painting, he works with sculpture, ceramics and drawing, and tells whole stories in experimental stop-motion short films. At Pretty Portal he showed the solo exhibition Nice to meet you in 2010.“Canonicity” SAM3 Vernissage: Friday, 26 April 2015, 7 – 10 pm Exhibition: 26 April – 14 June 2013 The artist will be present. Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): In 2017 SAM3 painted another real Osborne bull, in the salt flats of Santa Pola, with motifs from Picasso’sGuernica*. He saw the work as a protest against bullfighting.*

Battered robots, rusty iron, puppets on invisible strings and creatures that seem older than time: Pixelpancho’s visual worlds feel like relics from a forgotten future.A Forgotten WorldRobots are the ever-recurring theme of Pixelpancho’s work. He describes his inspiration himself:“I am driven by a forgotten world, hidden beneath a thick layer of dust and dirt. There are robots there, creations of humankind, battered and worn, a symbiosis of the organic and the inorganic, their bodies of rusty iron falling apart. Full of dreams, desires and hopes.” (translated)Between Pop Culture and DecayIn his surreal visual world, humans, puppets, robots, toys and ancient creatures merge into images alluding to major commercial brands, superheroes and famous pop icons, all of them subject to constant change and threatened by decay. Pixelpancho convinces not only through his striking motifs, but also through his unique style, which draws on many and varied sources.From Drawing to SculptureIn Rusted Ideas, Pixelpancho presents the full range of his work: drawings and illustrations in watercolour technique, three large-format works in acrylic on wood, and three sculptures around 25 centimetres high in which his robots leave the picture plane and take on physical form.A Robot for the GalleryA special part of the exhibition is created on site: during his week-long stay in Düsseldorf, Pixelpancho is building a room-filling robot out of old wood in the gallery. Like his painted figures, it bears the traces of time and seems to have stepped straight out of the forgotten world the artist describes.About the ArtistBorn in Italy, he studied at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Valencia. On his many travels, he never missed an opportunity to take part in festivals and show his work in exhibitions. Pixelpancho is regarded as one of the new big names of the Italian urban art scene, which gradually developed around artists such as Blu and Ericailcane, the Fame Festival and Studio Chromie.“Rusted Ideas” PixelpanchoOpening Friday, 22 March 2013, 7 – 10 pm The artist will be present.Exhibition 25 March – 20 April 2013Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Behind round glasses, a calm and serious gaze. The face is set in red, orange and yellow over torn posters, with the remains of event notices still visible at the edges. The portrait shows the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. It is one of the pictures in which BTOY places women who have moved history at the centre.Women who move historyIn The dispossessed we present portraits of women whose lives took exceptional paths: thinkers, activists, feminists. Alongside Anna Politkovskaya, who reported on the war in Chechnya and was murdered in Moscow in 2006, BTOY paints the French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, whose book The Second Sex (1949) is one of the founding texts of feminism. Her portrait is titled Art is an attempt to integrate evil, after a line by the philosopher.They are joined by Angela Davis, philosopher and one of the best-known voices of the black civil rights movement in the United States, Helena Blavatsky, co-founder of the Theosophical Society, and Petra Kelly, peace activist and co-founder of the German Green Party.The title can be read as “those who have been deprived of what was theirs”.People who take risksOne of the pictures shows a demonstration. Masked people dressed in black march down a street carrying red-and-black flags, the emblem of the anarchists. On the left-hand edge, a sign points to “Angel” and “Bank”, two stations in London. The picture refers to the Occupy movement and the Spanish Indignados, who protested in 2011 against the consequences of the financial crisis. It shows people who risk their safety, and sometimes their lives, for a cause.Stencil, screen print and billboardBTOY works in a mixed technique of stencil, screen print, spray paint and painting. Her grounds are often scraps of billboards: torn advertisements, event posters, stars and lettering that show through the portraits. Over these she sets the faces in strong areas of colour, red, orange, yellow and deep blue. In this way the pictures carry the traces of the street into the gallery.About the artistBTOY is the artist Andrea Michaelsson, born in Barcelona in 1977. She studied photography at the Institut d’Estudis Fotogràfics de Catalunya. Photography remains the basis of her work, as her stencils are made from photographic sources. In 2002 she began working on the streets of Barcelona, initially as a duo with Ilià Mayer under the name BTOY. Female figures from past decades shape her work, inspired by old posters and by Andy Warhol. In 2008 she took part in the Cans Festival in London, organised by Banksy. BTOY is regarded as one of the best-known women artists in urban art.2013 begins with a full calendar for BTOY. In January her pictures were shown in exhibitions in Paris and Barcelona. In February her path leads via Venice and the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn to Düsseldorf. In Bonn the subject is Cleopatra, whom BTOY also sees as a strong woman. At the vernissage she will also present a book on her work, published this year.“The dispossessed” BTOY Vernissage: Friday, 22 February 2013, from 7 pm Exhibition: 22 February – 15 March 2013 The artist will be present. Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf

Der urbane Lebensraum begegnet uns als dynamischer Berührungspunkt zwischen einer hergestellten Ordnung und neu geschaffenem Chaos. Der sich permanent verändernde Raum Stadt schafft die Möglichkeit zu scheinbar zufälligen Begegnungen und Zusammenballungen von Mensch und Materie. Wie elektrische Ströme auf einer Leiterplatte bewegen sich Individuen durch das Netz der urbanen Zentren und erzeugen dabei unentwegt neue Muster. Zur Auseinandersetzung mit diesen Themen zeigt die Galerie Pretty Portal im Juni Arbeiten von Franz Schuier. Inspiriert u.a. vom Medienphilosphen Vilem Flusser, der New Aesthetics Bewegung und der Dynamik von Chaos und Unordnung, beschäftigt sich Schuier auf seiner ersten Einzelausstellung mit der Schönheit bzw. Ästhetik, die in Zufallsdaten steckt. Dabei nutzt er u.a. frei verfügbare Datensätze (z.b. “atmospheric noise” aus der Kryptographie), die durch von ihm erstellte Programme in Farben, Kompositionen und Formen verwandelt werden. Außerdem nutzt er Techniken der Zufallskomposition, die in der neuen Musik u.a. von Stockhausen, Subotnik und Feldman entwickelt wurden, und wendet sie bei Videokompositionen an. Aus diesen bewegten Bildern wählt er Stichproben, die er im Lambda Fotobelichtungsverfahren entwickelt und auf Alu Dibond kaschiert. “Wir müssen hinnehmen, daß wir in der Unordnung, im Chaos leben, denn wer Zufall sagt, verzichtet auch auf Orientierung. Statt der Orientierung hat man allerdings etwas viel Gewaltigeres, nämlich das Entwerfen. Ich kann mich ja aus dem Chaos entwerfen in eine mich herstellende und von mir hergestellte Ordnung.” Vilem Flusser (am 01.11.96) Vernissage 01.06.2012 // 19h Ausstellung 01.06. - 29.06.2012

What lies behind the eyes? In the paintings of WESR and JADE, worlds open up in which the visible and the invisible flow into one another: masked figures, spirits and mythical creatures, people who dream, and dreams that take shape.Between Everyday Life and the Spirit WorldIn South America, the home of magical realism, myths, spirits and everyday life often belong together as a matter of course. This closeness to the supernatural also shapes the work of the two Peruvian artists. Their images are surreal without feeling alien: they draw on Peru’s culture and folklore, on the rituals and legends of the Andes, and translate them into a contemporary visual language in which the boundary between this world and the next becomes permeable.The Streets of LimaDanny Figueroa aka WESR and Jonatan Rivera Enriques aka JADE are among the founders of Peru’s urban and street art scene. Their figurative paintings glow in bold colours from countless walls in the Peruvian capital. In WESR’s works, the traditional masks of the Ukuku appear again and again: a figure from Andean folklore, half human, half bear, who mediates between the world of humans and the world of spirits.Behind the EyesIn Behind the Eyes, the two artists present drawings and illustrations on paper as well as acrylic paintings on canvas. For JADE, the exhibition at Pretty Portal is also his first visit to Germany.WESRDanny Figueroa aka WESR was born in Chiclayo, Peru, in 1980 and grew up in Lima, where he started out as a graffiti writer in 1996. In September 2008, he moved to Berlin and has since regularly commuted between Peru and his new adopted home. In his paintings, he combines influences from Peru’s indigenous art with the aesthetics of Japanese manga, with masks and faces giving rise to mysterious, almost ghostly figures. In recent years, he has painted large murals at the STROKE Art Fair and the CityLeaks Festival and shown his work in exhibitions in Berlin and Munich.JADEJonatan Rivera Enriques aka JADE was born in 1983 in the Andean highlands, in the Junín region, and grew up in the Chorrillos district of Lima. Self-taught, he came to art through graffiti. He was shaped by the aesthetics of the Andean highlands, which he knew from his family, and by the work of the Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. His paintings tell poetic, often dreamlike stories in which social reality and surreal mysticism intertwine.“Behind the Eyes” (In the Streets of Lima) WESR & JADEOpening Friday, 4 May 2012, 7 – 11 pmExhibition 4 – 25 May 2012Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Urban Art Künstler setzen sich intensiv mit verschiedenen Drucktechniken bei der Erstellung ihrer Werke auseinander. Als Paste-Ups sehen wir sie in den Straßen, wo sie Teil unserer alltäglichen Wahrnehmung werden. Die Ausstellung „Prints & Editions“ konzentriert sich daher auf diesen Aspekt. Zu sehen sind Holzschnitte, Radierungen und insbesondere Siebdrucke von 2SickBastards, Arno Beck, Base23, BTOY, C215, Decycle, L.E.T., Mexer, Mr. Penfold, Orticanoodles, Remed, Roman Klonek, Sam3, SMASH137, Sweet Toof, Tom Brane und weiteren Künstlern, die von Pretty Portal vertreten werden. Zudem zeigt die Galerie Drucke aus eigener Sammlung, darunter Arbeiten von Blek le Rat, Nick Walker, Paul Insect, Dolk, Faile und Hush. 2SickBastards, Arno Beck, Base23, BTOY, C215, Decycle, DOLK, Faile, Hush, L.E.T., Mexer, Mr. Penfold, Nick Walker, Oliver Räke (MAGIC), Orticanoodles, Paul Insect, Remed, Roman Klonek, Sam3, Shepard Fairey, SMASH137, Sweet Toof, Tom Brane, Valentina Brostean, u.a. Ausstellung : 30.03.-28.4.2012 Vernissage: 30.03.2012, 19-22h

Endless street canyons, nested skyscrapers, lights that fade into the depths: the cities in Pascal Schwendener's paintings feel like fragments of a dream. And yet they seem astonishingly believable.Cities of the FutureIn Grand City Canyon, Pascal Schwendener presents large-format paintings in which he explores the city and its future. Enchanted, luminous cityscapes, nested, multidimensional high-rises and endless street canyons combine into scenes that could not possibly exist. Therein lies their appeal: Schwendener builds his cities as believable constructs with perfect internal proportions, using them to depict unbelievable scenes. The eye follows the vanishing lines, finds footholds in the details, and yet loses itself again and again in the depths of the image.The InstallationThe exhibition is rounded off by an extensive installation in which Pascal Schwendener translates the theme of the urban landscape into space.An Exceptional TalentBorn in Locarno in 1988, the Swiss artist came to Düsseldorf at the age of 17, making him one of the youngest students ever admitted to the Kunstakademie. He is currently studying in Peter Doig's class. Following Ich in 2010, Grand City Canyon is already his second solo exhibition at Pretty Portal. Back then, a single work depicted a cityscape; now the city takes centre stage. Anyone who sees Pascal Schwendener at work senses an almost obsessive devotion to art. He develops his visual worlds with great meticulousness, line by line, window by window, until countless details add up to an entire city. For us, he is one of the most exceptional young talents we have ever met, and we are very curious to see where his path will take him."Grand City Canyon" Pascal SchwendenerOpening Friday, 17 February 2012, 7 – 11 pmExhibition 17 February – 2 March 2012Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf Note (2026): Pascal Schwendener now works under the name Pascal Sender. After graduating in 2013 as a master student (Meisterschüler) of Peter Doig, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London from 2018 to 2022. His work has since been shown by galleries including König Galerie in Berlin and Saatchi Yates in London.

By the time a stencil appears on a wall, most of the work has already been done. The image in the artist’s mind has to be broken down into areas and layers, each colour needs its own stencil, and every cut determines how the finished work will look. With multi-coloured stencils in particular, this preparation is complex. It shapes the style just as much as what happens after spraying, since many works are then painted further and reworked by hand. On the street, the stencil shows its real strength: a motif can be applied quickly, again and again and in many places, each time very much alike.Hardly any technique has shaped the image of street art and contemporary urban art as much. Stencilled images have become an integral part of public space and influence design, fashion and advertising.Between photography and graphicsAs last year, in STENCILS ONLY 2011 we present artists from the European urban art scene who work with stencils. The works of these seven artists show how much room for experimentation the technique offers. Some look photographic, others graphic. They draw on icons of everyday life and pop culture, or quote and reinterpret the messages of other urban artists.BTOY (Barcelona)BTOY is the artist Andrea Michaelsson, who comes from photography. Her stencils are made from photographic sources and focus on female figures from past decades, inspired by old posters and by Andy Warhol. In 2008 she took part in the Cans Festival in London.C215 (Paris)C215 is the French artist Christian Guémy, one of the best-known stencil artists in Europe. He mainly portrays people on the margins of society, children and, again and again, his daughter Nina. He often places his stencils on letterboxes, electricity boxes and doors, the furniture of the city.Czarnobyl (Berlin)Born in Poland, Damian Terlecki has lived in Berlin since 1993, where the punk and squatter scene of the 1990s shaped his work. His multi-layered stencil pictures combine precise portraits with machine drawings and found stencils. They look like visions of a dystopian future, influenced by films such as Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker and the cyberpunk of William Gibson.ESOB (Düsseldorf)ESOB comes from the Düsseldorf graffiti scene and works as a graphic designer.FAKE (Amsterdam)The Amsterdam artist FAKE works with icons of pop culture and everyday life. He reassembles them with humour and a critical eye on society.L.E.T. (Düsseldorf)L.E.T. stands for “Les Enfants Terribles”. Since 1992 the artist has shaped the streets of his home town of Düsseldorf with stencils and paste-ups. With a wink, he takes aim at the issues of our time and the shortcomings of our consumer and fun-driven society.PISA73 (Berlin)PISA73 is an artist and designer and has been active as a graffiti artist since the 1990s. He studied visual communication at the Hochschule Pforzheim. He is known for multi-layered stencils based on his own photographs.“STENCILS ONLY 2011” BTOY, C215, Czarnobyl, ESOB, FAKE, L.E.T., PISA73 Vernissage: Friday, 14 October 2011, 7 – 11 pm Exhibition: 14 October – 11 November 2011 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf

Usually, a gallery only shows the result: finished paintings, framed, hung and lit. How they come into being remains hidden. Work in Progress turns this around and makes the artistic process itself the exhibition.The Studio in the GalleryFrom 17 to 24 June, Arno Beck and Pascal Schwendener are moving their studio into the Pretty Portal gallery space. Some of the works for the subsequent exhibition are being created right here on site. During this time, visitors are warmly invited to look over the artists’ shoulders, gain insight into how the works develop and follow the artistic process. On four evenings, from 20 to 23 June, there will also be a nocturnal shadow theatre. The exhibition then opens on 24 June.Two Students of the AcademyBoth artists study at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Pascal Schwendener under Peter Doig and Arno Beck under Eberhard Havekost. And both have already had solo exhibitions with us: Pascal Schwendener in March 2010 with Ich, Arno Beck in August 2010 with Vertical Ghetto.Pascal SchwendenerSwiss-born Pascal Schwendener was accepted at the age of 17 as one of the youngest students at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and today studies under Prof. Peter Doig. His large-format paintings soon attracted attention, with his background as a graffiti artist clearly recognisable in them. Intricate, futuristic-looking worlds of forms, biocomputers and fantastic visions of the future define his motifs.His paintings exert an enormous fascination and immediately draw the viewer in. Enchanted, unsettlingly deserted cityscapes of fragile high-rises and endless tubes feel like fragments of a dream: believable constructs with perfect internal proportions that depict unbelievable scenes. The closer one gets to his paintings, the more abstract and multi-layered they become, with details emerging from the surface. Like layers of earth, rock and stone, Schwendener stacks layers of vision in which the world is condensed. Sparingly used, luminous blues and oranges breathe life into the paintings and guide the eye through his surreal universe.Through his studies, the young artist is as familiar with classical painting as with graffiti and comic art, and he tries to incorporate every means and technique of painting into his works. Pascal Schwendener is rightly regarded as a shooting star among the academy’s students.Arno BeckArno Beck has been studying at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf since 2006, under Markus Lüpertz, Reinhold Braun and Eberhard Havekost, among others. In his artistic practice, he constantly reinvents himself and experiments with new techniques and styles. Graphic elements, photography and print meet drawing and gestural structures. Spray paint, acrylic, oil, ink, collage and print combine on canvas, paper and wood. In doing so, he draws, among other things, on a visual vocabulary he has acquired through his artistic work in public space, in empty factory halls and on industrial wasteland. Arno Beck has been awarded the 10th Hogan Lovells Kunstförderpreis for his innovative works on urbanity and architecture.“Work in Progress” Arno Beck & Pascal SchwendenerOpen studio in the gallery 17 – 24 June 2011Nocturnal shadow theatre 20 – 23 June 2011, 7 pm – midnightOpening Friday, 24 June 2011, 7 – 11 pmExhibition 24 June – 16 July 2011Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Pascal Schwendener now works under the name Pascal Sender. After graduating as a master student (Meisterschüler) of Peter Doig, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London. Arno Beck graduated as a master student of Eberhard Havekost and became internationally known above all for his typewritten drawings. Both artists are now established on the international art market.

Hell hounds from the north: under this title, two painters meet who both come from the spray can and have taken it in opposite directions. In Morten Andersen’s work, form dissolves into lines, layers and rhythm. In BASE23’s work, it condenses into creatures, gods and mechanical beings.Morten Andersen: lines in motionIn Hell Hounds from the North we present works by Morten Andersen that belong to neo-abstraction, also known as abstract urban contemporary art. Artists such as Futura 2000, Boris Tellegen and José Parla are associated with this movement. Andersen paints curved lines, abstract forms, overlays and graphic patterns and distorts them into a rhythmic structure of colour tones, strong contrasts and powerful visual elements.His pictures are full of energy and dense with detail. The elements fan out and flow back together into a whole like breaking waves. The many layers of colour and form offer an insight into a world between emotion and calculation. His origins in graffiti remain visible in his handwriting.BASE23: gods armed with popBASE23 creates gigantic creatures: fusions of animal and machine, South American deities that seem hurled from the future, Chinese dragons, indigenous totems and tiki figures. Especially in a grey urban environment, he relies on bright, glowing colours.His mythical animal gods come to life on canvas, step into a sober world and claim their place in our consciousness with the means of pop. Perfectly formed and full of martial force, these futuristic gods find their way into urban space. BASE23 combines pop surrealism with graffiti, ethnic imagery with science fiction.About the artistsMorten Andersen was born in Aalborg in 1976. In the 1990s he was active as a graffiti artist. Years of working with spray paint led him from typographic elements to an increasingly free and abstract world of colour and form. His work has long been shown in galleries and exhibitions in Denmark. In recent years it has also been exhibited in Berlin at the Stroke Art Fair, as well as in Barcelona, London, New York and Miami, there during Art Basel Miami Beach.BASE23 discovered the spray can as a creative tool in 1989 and has continually developed his use of it ever since. He studied graphic design and typography and lives and works as an independent artist in Berlin. In recent years, galleries in Barcelona, London, Melbourne, Paris and Berlin have shown his pictures.“Hell Hounds from the North” BASE23, Morten Andersen Vernissage: Friday, 25 March 2011, from 7 pm Exhibition: 25 March – 29 April 2011 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf

Two faces in profile, back to back, and above them a single watchful eye: in REMED's paintings, opposites meet and together form a whole. Light and dark, warm and cool, inside and outside, reason and emotion.Two Sides of a WholeDuality is the guiding theme of this exhibition. REMED sets forms and colours, figures and symbols against one another in such a way that they mirror, complement and support each other. Clear geometric planes in strong, saturated colours meet stylised human profiles, circles meet triangles, black meets luminous yellow and orange. His paintings get straight to the point, full of the spirit of the times and yet timeless.A Leap Through Four DecadesREMED draws on the graphic styles of the 1970s, the "New Image" of the 1980s, typography and graffiti, shaping them into a visual language entirely his own. Like a leap through time, his paintings span the imagery of the past forty years, without ever feeling nostalgic.From Lille to MadridFrance has long been fertile ground for exceptional street art and graffiti styles. So it is no surprise that the work of French urban artist REMED is surprisingly different and refreshing. Born in Lille in northern France in 1978, he first discovered painting in a studio in his hometown. But he was soon drawn to the streets: he wanted to overcome the limits of the studio and show his work. With stickers and spray paint, he carried his ideas and messages into urban space. Since the mid-2000s, REMED has lived and worked in Madrid. His artist name says it all: it derives from the French phrase l'art comme remède, art as a remedy.In Demand Across EuropeHis works and murals have been featured in numerous publications on street art. REMED is currently one of the most sought-after urban artists: this year alone, his work has already been shown at the Carhartt Gallery in Madrid, at Avia Pervia in Bologna and at the Pure Evil Gallery in London. With Duality, he now comes to Pretty Portal in Düsseldorf."Duality" REMEDOpening Friday, 22 October 2010Exhibition 22 October – 19 November 2010Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Houses stacked on top of one another, wedged together, sprawling up the hillside with no plan and no architect: Brazil’s favelas follow no order, and yet they give rise to a structure that is entirely their own, and very much alive.Architecture as an Organic ProcessInspired by his travels through Latin America, and in particular by his visits to Brazil’s favelas, Arno Beck explores architecture as an organic process. In his paintings, he creates a new spatiality: architectural landscapes that are not planned but grow, even proliferate, absurd and without function. In doing so, he draws, among other things, on a visual vocabulary he has acquired through his artistic work in public space, in empty factory halls and on industrial wasteland.Three PhasesArno Beck uses a wide range of techniques and materials in his working process. Graphic elements, photography and print meet drawing and gestural structures. Spray paint, acrylic, oil, ink, collage and print combine on canvas, paper and wood. The exhibition presents three phases of his engagement with the theme: first, linocuts based on photographic compositions; then the combination of these linoprints with painting, collage and drawing; and finally, the dissolution of concrete structures. For Arno Beck, this last step is the essence and logical consequence of his working process.About the ArtistArno Beck was born in Bonn in 1985. Since 2006, he has been studying at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, under Markus Lüpertz, Reinhold Braun and Eberhard Havekost, among others. Vertical Ghetto is his first solo exhibition.“Vertical Ghetto” Arno BeckOpening Friday, 27 August 2010Exhibition 27 August – 17 September 2010Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Arno Beck graduated in 2015 as a master student (Meisterschüler) of Eberhard Havekost. He has since gained international recognition for works that translate digital imagery into analogue techniques, above all his typewritten drawings. His work has been shown at Nino Mier Gallery in Los Angeles and Joshua Liner Gallery in New York, among others, and his first monograph was published by Hatje Cantz in 2021.

A pizza maker from Brooklyn, a factory worker from Ukraine: on his travels, Hendrik Beikirch meets people whose faces tell stories, stories of hard work and of hope for a better life.Between Struggle and HopeAt the heart of Faces of Hope and Struggle are large-format portraits. On his travels, Hendrik Beikirch sketched people who caught his eye through their special presence and their very personal expression somewhere between struggle and hope. The portraits are striking in their reduction to the person and deliberately show their subjects face-on. Formally, they recall the biometrically optimised format of modern passport photos. But where a passport photo merely identifies, Beikirch’s faces tell of a life.Spray Paint, Acrylic and WaterIn recent years, Hendrik Beikirch has developed his own technique combining spray paint, acrylic and water, creating a sketch-like aesthetic on canvas reminiscent of watercolour. Layers of text are worked into the varnish, revealing themselves only when viewers change their position in front of the painting and the light reflects differently. Alongside the canvases, the original sketches are also on show.From Place to FaceFaces of Hope and Struggle is Hendrik Beikirch’s second exhibition at Pretty Portal. In Einen Sommer, he showed places and night scenes he had discovered on his way to his nocturnal interventions in public space. Now, for the first time, he puts people themselves at the centre.About the ArtistHendrik Beikirch was born in Kassel in 1974. In the late 1980s, he picked up a spray can for the first time and left his mark on trains. He later studied art education in Koblenz, where he now lives and works. Since the 1990s, he has been a fixture of the graffiti and street art scene under his tag ecb.“Faces of Hope and Struggle” ecb · Hendrik BeikirchOpening Friday, 18 June 2010, 7 pmExhibition 18 June – 16 July 2010Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Since then, Hendrik Beikirch has become internationally renowned for his portraits. In 2012, he painted a mural around 70 metres high in Busan, South Korea, at the time the tallest in Asia. Today, his monumental black-and-white portraits of workers, fishermen and elderly people can be seen on facades around the world.

Against a fan of light, a black silhouette holds its own face in its hand, removed like a mask. Where the face just sat, a turquoise skull gleams. Nice to meet you: whoever looks behind their own facade encounters themselves, and their own mortality.EncountersEncounters lie at the heart of the exhibition: with other people, with our surroundings, with ourselves. In his works, SAM3 poses classic philosophical questions about identity, transience and our place in the world. He observes human coexistence with a gaze that is ironic, poetic and, above all, provocative.Silhouettes in the CitySAM3 made a name for himself with his silhouette-like murals, some of them as tall as houses, which often refer to their immediate urban surroundings. Giant black figures and animals seem to wander along facades, reach for things in the street or watch over passers-by. In this way, the image enters into a dialogue with its environment, and the city itself becomes part of the story.Less Is MoreSAM3 rarely needs more than black and white. The bright turquoise in the exhibition motif is therefore a real exception in his work. It is precisely this restraint, together with his partly graphic style, that gives his images their unusual presence. Despite, or precisely because of, their simplicity, they invite engagement and reveal their message little by little. His works are dominated by figurative elements in a state of metamorphosis with their surroundings. Roots are an important stylistic element: they grow out of his figures as fantastically ornate structures, as if humans and nature were merging into one another.About the ArtistBorn in Spain, SAM3 currently lives in Madrid but paints all over the world, often creating not just images but entire stories. He tells them in his experimental stop-motion short films, in which his figures wander across walls, grow and transform."Nice to meet you" SAM3Opening Friday, 7 May 2010, 7 – 11 pmExhibition 7 May – 4 June 2010Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

„Schwarz auf weiss“ basiert auf der Idee, durch den Verzicht von Farben das Wesentliche in den Mittelpunkt zu stellen. Unter diesem Motto zeigen im April über vierzig internationale Graffiti und Urban Art Künster ausgewählte Arbeiten in der Galerie Pretty Portal. Die Künstler präsentieren Character, Styles und Grafiken die sich mit der „style needs no color“ Philosophie auseinandersetzen.„Schwarz auf weiss/ Style needs no color“Vernissage: 09.04.2010 ab 19h Ausstellung: 09.04. – 30.04.2010 3steps, Abe, Acse, Aro, Arsek (BG), Bark in the Yard (UK), Biser, Blaze, Bobsmade, Boris, Caktus&Maria, Cybe, Dennis Seide (DK), Deko, Desan21 (CH), Dome, Dosek (CH), Dust, Duster132 (FR), Eitel, Erase (BG), Erik Hancock (US), Ezra (CH), Formfieber, Hombre, Honsar, Karltoon, Hari D, Karöe, Keos 1, Kornel (CH), Lasse, Magic, Mike Hyp (US), Miedo12 (ES), Monsta (FR), Morten Anderson (US), Mr.Moes (CH), Note (CH), Nychos (AT), Pheks (CH), Pixeljuice23, Pixelpancho, Pndk (FR), Push (CH), Rips (CH), Rusl, Semor, Sir21, Shame, Schwarzmaler (CH), Story, Tomsta (AT),View (CH), WALEE (FR), Zone56, Zonenkinder

Ich, German for "I": an exhibition title could hardly be shorter, nor more personal. With his first solo exhibition in Düsseldorf, a young artist introduces himself who is already causing a stir at the Kunstakademie.Layer upon LayerIntricate, futuristic-looking worlds of forms, biocomputers and fantastic visions of the future define the motifs of Pascal Schwendener's works. Many of his paintings move into abstraction, some have a graphic rigour, and one depicts a cityscape. The closer one gets to his large-format paintings, the more abstract and multi-layered they become, with detail upon detail emerging from the surface. Like superimposed layers of earth, rock and stone, Schwendener stacks levels of imagery in which the world is condensed.Graffiti, Comics and Classical PaintingSchwendener's background as a graffiti artist is clearly recognisable in his work. At the same time, his paintings show influences from classical painting and comic art. In creating his works, he tries to incorporate every means and technique of painting.A Shooting Star at the AcademyFour years ago, the 22-year-old Swiss artist was accepted as one of the youngest students at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf; today, he studies under Prof. Peter Doig. His large-format paintings soon attracted attention, and he is considered a shooting star among the academy's students. Pretty Portal now presents his first solo exhibition in Düsseldorf."Ich" Pascal SchwendenerOpening Friday, 5 March 2010, from 7 pmExhibition 5 – 26 March 2010Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Pascal Schwendener now works under the name Pascal Sender. After graduating in 2013 as a master student (Meisterschüler) of Peter Doig, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London from 2018 to 2022. His work has since been shown by galleries including König Galerie in Berlin and Saatchi Yates in London.

Letters that seem to bulge out of the wall, twisting, folding and intertwining: Peeta's graffiti look like three-dimensional bodies, and yet they are painted.From Letter to SculptureThe style of Italian graffiti artist Peeta is spectacular. Starting from early works with organic forms, he soon developed his characteristic typographic style, which captivates with a unique 3D technique and impressive visual depth. Initially active mainly as a sprayer, he now complements his graffiti with canvases and sculptures. For Peeta, these media do not exclude each other but inspire one another: while working on a sculpture, he keeps getting new ideas for his walls, and conversely, his 3D-style graffiti inspire him to translate these furious forms into sculpture. What appears prominent and dynamic on walls becomes more intimate on canvas, but no less energetic. At Pretty Portal, Peeta now shows his canvases and sculptures in a German gallery for the first time.Between Italy and New YorkPeeta, whose real name is Manuel Di Rita, first picked up a spray can in 1993 in a small town between Venice and Padua. Sixteen years later, his work has become an integral part of the international graffiti scene. Besides Italy, the mecca of graffiti has also shaped his work: at the beginning of 2000, he became a member of New York's FX Crew and later of the RWK Crew. In Italy, he is part of the EAD Crew. Together with other renowned artists, including ECB and Loomit, both of whom have already exhibited at Pretty Portal, Peeta works on new projects all over the world.Graffiti and DesignManuel Di Rita is not only a street artist but also works in industrial and product design. This experience provides further impetus for his art and is expressed above all in his sculptures. They are produced using industrial methods, and the choice of materials follows the same logic: polyurethane, acetate and wood meet cardboard, paper and leather. It is precisely this combination of graffiti and design that distinguishes Peeta's work and continually drives his artistic development."Sparkle and Fade" PeetaOpening Friday, 30 October 2009, 7 – 11 pmExhibition 30 October – 27 November 2009Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 Düsseldorf

Floral ornaments in the spirit of Art Nouveau, digital explosions of colour, the codes of the city and figures made of nothing but lips and teeth: four handwritings come together here. All of them are rooted in graffiti, yet they point in very different directions.A group for the first timeBefore the summer break we present the group exhibition VIER (Four). Suki Bamboo, ARO, Oliver “MAGIC” Räke and Biserama are showing together as a group for the first time. On view is a mix of the familiar and the new: illustration and graphic design, computer-generated pictures, typographic works and handmade sculptures.The Teeth ProjectBiserama’s sculptures are a highlight. Under the name The Teeth Project he creates handmade toys whose basic form is reduced to lips and teeth alone, to the mouth with all its qualities and possibilities. The bizarre figures are made mainly of hardened alabaster plaster and spray paint, together with liquid latex, silicone, wood and Plexiglas.About the artistsSuki Bamboo (Bianca Angela Litscher) has been active as a sprayer since 1992. Since then she has consistently developed her style, combining hand drawing with digital techniques. A trained graphic designer, she follows her own bold, romantic style of illustration. Her work is shaped by street art, modern graphic design, the floral forms of the Belle Époque and decorative Art Nouveau. At the centre of her compositions is the figure, with great emphasis on the aesthetics of form and the harmony of colour.ARO (Christian Schupp) is a graphic designer from Koblenz who cares little for conventions and rules. He finds inspiration in everything he sees and experiences. He brings these everyday impressions, as well as dreams and fantasies, to life on the computer. The result is energetic, colourful and consistently surprising pictures that inspire dreams and fantasies of their own.Oliver “MAGIC” Räke was active as a graffiti writer for many years. Through this and his work as a graphic designer, he has a strong connection to urban culture. Architecture, the codes of cities and typography are his preferred sources of inspiration. He started doing graffiti as early as the 1980s, making him one of the first street artists in western Germany. Besides his artistic work, he is part of the design studio Dadaluxe in Düsseldorf.Biserama (Alexander Becherer) is a young artist from southern Germany who goes through the world with an open eye for details and small things. By his own account, his works are mostly made between 8 pm and noon. They are expressive and provocative, driven by fighting spirit, will, honesty and freedom. Alongside graffiti, he has always had a passion for toys, which gave rise to The Teeth Project.“VIER” Suki Bamboo, ARO, Oliver “MAGIC” Räke, Biserama Vernissage: Friday, 12 June 2009, 7 – 11 pm Exhibition: 12 June – 17 July 2009 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf

Stairways, bridges, fences and passages, with a wide sky above, and again and again a view into a dark forest: the paintings of Hendrik “ecb” Beikirch show the places where graffiti is created, and the paths that lead there. In them, one finds oneself in a melancholic vision of the urban underground, which is becoming ever rarer.The Street as SubjectThe Kassel-born artist has been a well-known name in the graffiti and street art scene since the mid-1990s. Unlike the familiar transfers of street signs and symbols into the gallery, ecb does not try to declare the white cube a street. Instead, he shows works on canvas that portray the street itself: the home of the graffiti painter. With photographic precision, he sprays dark stairways, bridges and fences. Alongside them are views into the forest: dark silhouettes of trees against a pale sky, trunks fading into mist and twilight. They show the edges of the city, those quiet places one passes through on nocturnal journeys.Graffiti as an Art of SpaceGraffiti as an aesthetic somewhere between art and property damage, as the sign language of speed used by mobile urban nomads: such characterisations of spray-painted murals have long been commonplace. With his canvases, however, ecb is not so much taking the path from the underground into the respectability of galleries. Rather, he shows that graffiti is essentially an art of space and its staging. He therefore does not transfer the sign language of walls onto canvas, but the topographical settings in which it takes place. Above his stairways, bridges and passages, a wide sky often stretches out, an anarchic sign of the open space for which graffiti is actually intended.Fleeting BeautyIn these visions, the anonymity and secrecy of the practice turn into near-photographic perfection. The deliberately reduced palette, the blurs and the liquefactions radiate the melancholy of a bygone era, like images from the early days of photography. Here, graffiti has congealed into an art of fleeting beauty.About the ArtistHendrik Beikirch was born in Kassel in 1974. In the late 1980s, he picked up a spray can for the first time and left his mark on trains. He later studied art education in Koblenz, where he now lives and works. Einen Sommer (One Summer) is his first solo exhibition at Pretty Portal.“Einen Sommer” ecb · Hendrik BeikirchOpening Friday, 8 May 2009, from 7 pmExhibition 8 May – 5 June 2009Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): A year later, ecb showed his portraits at Pretty Portal for the first time in Faces of Hope and Struggle. It is for these portraits that he has since become internationally renowned. In 2012, he painted a mural around 70 metres high in Busan, South Korea, at the time the tallest in Asia.

A pig gazes out of the picture. Only at second glance do human eyes appear behind the eyeholes of the glossy mask. Its mouth holds an apple, familiar from the suckling pig on a festive table. The person shown here is familiar and strange at once: a familiar stranger.Masks, power and submissionIn Bekannter Fremder (Familiar Stranger) we present works in which case takes up motifs associated with fetishism: masks, latex, the play of dominance and submission. This is not meant in a sexual sense, as one might first assume. case is interested in these patterns in everyday life: how people disguise and adapt themselves, how they dominate and submit.The figure with the pig mask and the apple in its mouth can be read as a comment on the biblical command to subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28). Whoever seeks to rule over nature finds himself here in the role of the animal, served up like a festive roast.Smooth surface, rough groundThe figures are worked out in the finest detail with the spray can. They look heavily made-up, sleek, almost slippery, with a flawless yet grotesque beauty. The motifs are developed together with his wife, who stages and photographs the models.The ground provides the contrast. Small fragments of cardboard, mostly from spray-can packaging, are attached to wood with glue, tape and staples, sometimes at random, sometimes in a mosaic-like pattern. The resulting surface stands for the unevenness found only on walls. On the invitation motif it is visible along the right-hand edge: corrugated cardboard marked with black strokes.The meticulous painting and the morbid texture of the ground give these works their particular charm. Like a fingerprint, every ground, and therefore every work, is unique.About the artistcase was born in 1979 and grew up in Schmalkalden in Thuringia, where he sprayed his first wall in the early 1990s, at around 15. The 30-year-old has been working with spray paint for more than 16 years: first on the street, on disused buildings and all kinds of walls, now also for galleries. case trained as a painter and decorator and studied restoration at the Fachhochschule Erfurt (University of Applied Sciences Erfurt), graduating with a diploma. He now lives and works in Frankfurt am Main.In 1999 he began painting with AKUT, the male half of the artist duo HERAKUT, and RUSK. TASSO joined in 2001, and since then the group has worked as Ma’Claim. The crew is known for its photorealistic spray technique and has quickly played a major part in shaping photorealism in the international graffiti scene.“Bekannter Fremder” case Vernissage: Friday, 27 March 2009, 7 pm Exhibition: 27 March – 20 April 2009 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 Düsseldorf Note (2026): The members of Ma’Claim later went their separate ways. case, now also known as Case Maclaim, became known above all for large-scale murals of overlapping hands that stand for unity and strength. His work can now be found in more than 20 countries, including The Beekeeper for the Urban Art Biennale 2019 at the Völklingen Ironworks World Heritage Site.

A stage curtain opens. Behind it, a buck-toothed rabbit bathes in a huge vessel resembling a coffee cup, tentacles curl out of the foam, a little man in a hat balances on the rim, and at the bottom a small figure with a box-shaped head looks out at the audience. Art Nouveau ornaments frame the scene, and beneath it are the words “From Stupid to Cute!” This is how the invitation welcomes guests to the Grotesque Theatre Café.A Viennese café full of creaturesIn February we present three street artists from Vienna: Nychos, Miss Isa and El Lasso. They transform the gallery into a colourful, bizarre coffee house. Their illustrative compositions are full of fantastical beings and creatures and tell of a quirky, at times abysmal world. It brings to mind John Irving’s story The Pension Grillparzer, in which a Viennese guesthouse is populated by strange guests.On view are works in acrylic, spray paint and ink on paper, wood and canvas.About the artistsNychos was born in Bruck an der Mur in Styria in 1982 and has lived in Vienna since 2004. As a teenager he already wanted to become a comic artist, and at 17 he discovered graffiti. A self-confessed fan of cartoons and comics, he draws exceptionally fast, has a graphic style and, with his tireless creative drive, is one of the best-known graffiti artists in Austria.Miss Isa loves kitschy, grotesque and funny things. Her characters look just like that: sometimes they seem quite cute, at other times they look as if they want to scratch each other’s eyes out, depending on the situation and the colour chosen.El Lasso lets his positive outlook shine through in his art. Sweet figures, monsters and character heads, which he calls “G’sichterl und Maxerl” (Viennese dialect for “little faces and little fellows”), populate his worlds.“Grotesque Theatre Café” Nychos, Miss Isa, El Lasso Vernissage: Thursday, 5 February 2009, 7 – 11 pm Exhibition: from 5 to 29 February 2009 Pretty Portal, Brunnenstraße 12, 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): From around 2011 Nychos developed the style for which he is now known internationally: dissections, cross-sections and X-ray views of animals and pop culture icons. His large-scale murals revealing the anatomy of living creatures can be seen around the world. In Vienna he runs the studio and art space Rabbit Eye Movement.

Cuckoo clocks, Bollenhut hats and Bambi: few things stand so strongly for the Black Forest, and for what many understand by Heimat, the German word for home and homeland. Stefan Strumbel takes these symbols at their word, cranks them up and asks a simple but uncomfortable question: What the fuck is Heimat?Heimat, RenegotiatedStefan Strumbel is one of the young rising stars of the international art market. The artist from Offenburg in the Black Forest plays with clichés and stereotypes, exaggerating them to the point of absurdity. Who killed Bambi? and What the fuck is Heimat? are telling titles of his works. He breaks with traditional symbols, confronts them with provocation and thus frees them from the dust of folksy sentimentality. The result is neither glorification nor mere mockery, but an invitation to rethink what Heimat actually means today.Bollenhut and ShotgunStrumbel comes from graffiti and works with stencils, but applies the technique to the motifs of his homeland. His women and girls wearing the Bollenhut, the traditional Black Forest hat adorned with large pompoms, hold shotguns or are shown taking cocaine and heroin. The contrast could hardly be greater: the emblem of rural innocence collides with violence and intoxication.Cuckoo Clocks with Hand GrenadesStrumbel also takes on the cuckoo clock, the ultimate symbol of the Black Forest around the world. He paints it in garish pop art colours and adorns its carvings with bones, skulls and weapons, while hand grenades hang from the chains in place of the classic pine-cone weights. The souvenir thus becomes a work of art that oscillates between kitsch and provocation, between love for one’s homeland and criticism of it. Karl Lagerfeld is also a fan: he has just portrayed himself in stern magazine with his pop art cuckoo clock by Stefan Strumbel.From Munich and Berlin to DüsseldorfOn 18 and 20 October, Stefan Strumbel can be seen alongside Dare, Toast and Blek le Rat in Munich and Berlin. The 56-year-old Frenchman Blek le Rat is known internationally as the “Godfather of Stencil” and, alongside Banksy, is one of the most important figures in stencil art. On 24 October, Stefan Strumbel then opens his solo exhibition at Pretty Portal.About the ArtistStefan Strumbel was born in Offenburg in 1979, where he still lives and works. In the 1990s, he was active as a graffiti writer, and even then, traditional motifs found their way into his work.“What the fuck is Heimat” Stefan StrumbelOpening Friday, 24 October 2008, 7 – 11 pm DJ Orson (Version)Exhibition 24 October – 21 November 2008 Monday – Friday, 3 – 7 pmPretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Stefan Strumbel is now one of Germany’s best-known pop artists. Among other projects, he transformed the facade of Karlsruhe Palace into a giant cuckoo clock and designed the interior of a church in Kehl-Goldscheuer. The cuckoo clock “What the fuck is Heimat?” from 2008, with which Karl Lagerfeld had himself photographed, was offered at Sotheby’s in 2025 as part of the auction of his estate.

Mr. Penfold lebt und arbeitet in Cambridge, England. Er erstellt Gemälde, Installationen, Drucke und Zeichnungen. Seine Arbeiten haben starke lineare Elemente, die seine Schöpfungen mit anmutige Konturen sowohl vor dem Hintergrund abheben, als auch mit diesem vereinen. Viele seiner Arbeiten zeigen Menschen, die er im Nachtleben, in Clubs und Bars beobachtet hat. Als Bruder der Drum n Bass DJ´s Nu:Tone und Logistic, die beim Label Hospital gesigned sind, ist er stark mit der Londoner Musikszene verbunden. Zur Erstellung seiner Drucke benutzt er Siebdruck, Holzschnitt und Kupferstich. Neben seiner Arbeit als freier Künstler arbeitet Mr. Penfold als Illustrator für Plattenlabels, Veranstalter und macht Designs für Bekleidung; unter anderem für das Düsseldorfer Bekleidungslabel "667". Der Titel der Ausstellung "Zup Kapow" spiegelt seine Begeisterung für Pop Kultur und Comics wieder. In der Ausstellung zeigt Penfold Malerei, sowie Siebdrucke und Holzschnitte. Ausstellung: 08.08.08.- 12.09.08 Vernissage: 08.08. 19h

One man, one name, repeated a thousand times: for a graffiti writer, his own lettering is identity, signature and work all at once.Obsessed with LettersFor years, Basel-based graffiti writer and street artist Smash137 has had a lasting influence on the international writing scene with his style. Smash137 is obsessed with letters. Driven by his passion for Western calligraphy, he is one of the most active writers in the world, and his lettering adorns many an object in public space, from New York to Moscow. With One Man Show, we present his first solo exhibition in Germany.Name and SpongeIn January 2008, for the exhibition Urban Feedbacks in Basel, Smash137 created an installation that ironically stages the reality of a writer's life: he sprayed his name in black onto more than 2,500 cleaning sponges mounted on a wall. Now he is realising a similar work at Pretty Portal. The sponges allude to the reaction of angry property owners who want to remove the annoying "scribbles" as quickly and thoroughly as possible. At the same time, the sponge can be read as a symbol of the transience of the work and the finitude that comes with it."One Man Show" Smash137Opening Friday, 16 May 2008, 7 pmExhibition 16 May – 20 June 2008Pretty Portal Brunnenstraße 12 40223 DüsseldorfNote (2026): Since the early 2010s, Smash137's work has evolved from a graffiti-based calligraphic style into colourful, gestural abstract painting in which single letters become powerful signs. Today, he is also internationally successful under his real name, Adrian Falkner.