ANBI
1197
Street Art
Mural Painting
Cat
Street Art Museum Amsterdam
Author:
Lunar
Artist Bio:
Lunar is a graffiti artist, graphic designer, interdisciplinary creative and a philosopher. He began what would become a creative career when he first began experimenting with spray paint in 1989, something he found to be a way of asserting his creativity, of making sense of the world and finding his place in it. Partly drawing inspiration for his signature Catso character from his childhood cat, Jynx, and partly from street cats who he believes embody the spirit of graffiti -- charting your own path, making your own rules, and pushing the boundaries of what is possible -- Lunar is one of a handful of artists in the Balkans who pushed graffiti from tagging in the 1990’s to the increasingly iconographic forms recognised as “street art” today. Lunar’s connection to SAMA began in 2019, when he met Stolyarova at CAMOC’s CreArt conference in Portugal, where both spoke about the impact of street art on city planning and misappropriation of “street art” for city marketing and gentrification projects.
Place:
Immanuel Kanthof 1
Date:
2019
Technique:
Spray Can
Material:
Electrical box
Acquisition:
Commission
Completed:
2019
Condition:
Good / Legible
Physical Description:
Lunar's cats are easily recognisable by their aesthetic oscillating between old school and new digital influences. Their diffusion in the Balkans and later throughout Europe, reaching as far as Holland, has allowed the artist to create a famous personal signature that is recognised by all. In Lunar's work, there is always a link between his traditional old school graffiti art and the new figurative and modern experiments he has recently made as a digital graphic artist. His work is unique within the SAMA collection and he is one of the most prolific and senior artists to have participated with us, as well as the only representative of the Balkan countries.
“The working discipline, creativity, and way to cope with obstacles in various countries where graffiti is not so regular as here, taught me some good lessons and increased both my creativity and... tempo. Meeting Rienke, Chaz and Zedz, in Amsterdam was an important moment in my life, both privately and in terms of [my] art career.”
Iconography:
The iconography of Lunar is easy to read with the repetition of a basic element, the cat, reproduced in different formats and styles but always with some elements traceable to the author. "Cat" is undoubtedly the most repetitive iconographic element in the Croatian author's production. In this case, the multicoloured style of the cat oscillates between the figurative tradition of traditional graffiti and the taste for cartoons and new digitial possibilities.
Gallery
