Urban Superstar Show
Curated by David Vecchiato
at Madre Museum, April 24, 2009 - May 25, 2009

Finally there’s a new air in museums !
The most exhaustive exhibition on Urban Art presented in an Italian museum comes to MADRE some of the most important names of the young contemporary Art scene, born from the latest urban and youthful cultures.

After years of discussions on the limit between art and comics, the most “comics - corrupted” artists will invade the Napoli COMICON festival.
David Vecchiato (here in the double role of curator and artist) presents the most recent works of international stars of Urban Art, who are both colleagues and friends, like Gary Baseman, Boris Hoppek, Shag, Ian Stevenson, Gary Taxali, Jeremyville, Mijn Schatje, Jon Burgerman, Jim Avignon, Junko Mizuno, Glenn Barr, Bigfoot, Naoshi, Ciou, Sergio Mora, Nathan Jurevicius, Joe Ledbetter and others from all over the world.

And also the new phenomenon of Art Toys, strongly supported by MondoPOP Gallery and XL Magazine, will play its game among artworks from street art, skate art, pop surrealism, lowbrow and poster art.

To complete the scene, Urban Superstar will propose the huge installations of Junko Mizuno, Mijn Shatje and Tokidoki from Fornarina private collection, presented during the Urban Beauty Show in 2008 at Louvre in Paris.
Fornarina joined naturally to the Urban Superstar project as they are one of the first international brands that is investing in new artistic currents promoting their exponents.

Jeremyville from Australia and Mijn Shatje from Paris will be our guests at the inauguration and will offer astonishing performances and meetings with the public! People will be involved and encouraged to participate in the performance.
And Italy? Beyond the Roman Simone Legno, founder of the Californian Tokidoki brand, other Italian artists will take part in the show, sharing the last 15 years of underground art experiences and events. AlePOP, Allegra Corbo, David Vecchiato himself, Fupete, Licia Viero, Scarful, the young Sten e Lex, Cesko, El Gato Chimney, the Serpeinseno collective, the Parisian Zelda Bomba and many others.

As David Vecchiato remembers: “During these years we refused to be tamed by the logics of old art employees asking us to stop with this imaginary similar to comics, cartoons, tatoos and graffiti. We experienced on our skin the slowness of our country, facing to lose the opportunity to tell one of the creatives souls of our generation.
As Uncle Warhol taught us, we learnt how to manage personally the production, distribution and sale of our own art and we reached our international colleagues. Bringing this vital art from street into a museum, I hope to encourage new young artists from any country to develop new aesthetic senses within their community, with the main purpose to focus on the passions which join us, rather than on the differences that move away".

Urban Superstar will be an event rich in performances and interactions with people: many Urban collegues and I, believe that the real artistic moment is revealed just in the performance, the specific instant where creation passes through the artist. What remains of the artwork is only a snapshot, a residual. We must never lose the sense of art called as the most noble, by Nitzsche: that is the art to celebrate and have fun.

The Superstars of Urban Art arrive in Naples, though artists are not always easy to tame, just as some rockstars. They will come with a promise:

“We will not break Gioconda glass, neither cut Fontana’s canvas, nor use the bog of Duchamp. We’ll just open museum’s windows to let new air enter from the street”.


URBAN SUPERSTAR show is an event by
Comic(ON)OFF Organization
MondoPOP International Gallery, Roma
Napoli Comicon, Napoli

Info:
info@mondopop.it / www.mondopop.it
info@comicon.it / www.comicon.it

Thanks to:
La Repubblica XL
Fornarina

FULL ARTIST LIST:
Aiko Nagakawa aka Lady Aiko (Japan/USA)  
AlePOP (Italy)  
Allegra Corbo (Italy)
Bethany Marchman (USA)  
Boris Hoppek (Germany/Spain)  
Bigfoot (USA)  
Cesko ( Italy)
Ciou (France)  
David Vecchiato aka Diavù (Italy)
DEM (Italy)  
El Gato Chimney (Italy)  
Fupete (Italy)  
Gary Baseman (USA)  
Gary Taxali (India/Canada)  
Glenn Barr (USA)  
Ian Stevenson (UK)  
Inge Cornil (Belgium)  
Jeremyville (Australia)  
Jim Avignon (Germany)  
Joe Ledbetter (USA)  
Jon Burgerman (UK)  
Junko Mizuno (Japan)  
Licia Viero (Italia)  
Mijn Schatje (Francia)  
Naoshi (Giappone)  
Nathan Jurevicius (Australia)  
Scarful (Italia)  
Sergio Mora (Spagna)  
Serpeinseno (Italia) 
Shag (USA)  
Sten & Lex (Italia)  
Simone Legno aka Tokidoki (Italia/USA)  
Zelda Bomba (Francia/Italia)