C215 AT MONTANA GALLERY BARCELONA

c215, Orgullecida

“I try to interact with context, so I place in the streets elements and characters that belong especially to the streets. I like to show things and people that society aims at keeping hidden: homeless people, smokers, street kids, bench lovers for example”.

Christian Guémy, also known as C215 is a Parisian street artist focused on stencil graffiti. Born in 1973, C215 started spray painting in 2005 and is today one of the finest, and most productive stencil artists on the street art scene.

His striking portraits of local people are expressive and distinctive in style. With his subjects always portrayed as proud and dignified, his images communicate on an universal level and draw attention to those that society has forgotten about. Although C215 has been writing and publishing poetry separately, the artist usually separates text and pictures his stencils, in order to give the viewer the full possibility of the interpretation. In his choice of backgrounds, layers of random, yet well selected found objects speak of passing time, with an outcome that is both, aesthetical and meaningful.

His elaborate stencils- if outside a gallery- appear in the streets of various cities all over the globe, such as New Delhi, London, Istanbul, Fes, Rome, Barcelona, and Paris. Lighting up the urban spaces they decorate, every stencil has a reason to exist in its specific, well thought of place and all his pieces are hand cut and sprayed originals with a mix of found objects.

Montana Gallery presents C215 first show in Barcelona, based on recycled painted objects and installations, is an attempt to explore the idea of love through femininity.

Opening Wednesday 12th December at 20h.
Exhibition from 13th December 2012 till 2nd Febrary 2013.