Smash137 returns to Paris 3 years after his last last solo exhibition. Galerie Le Feuvre brings his latest solo exhibition titled “Graffiti Painter” that opened tonight in Paris, so if you missed it make sure to go have a look in person. You wont be disappointed. The title is interesting “Graffiti Painter” yet like his paintings is very direct and alludes to 2 sides of one coin. Most would argue the separation of graffiti art and painting but in Smash137’s work it is the fact that both are present aesthetically and conceptually. This is an important part of the work being authentic and taking its place in the artworld conversation. Before graffiti, and after graffiti Smash137 is a painter and is of the emerging generation of painters in our era who embody the landscape of today’s art. Graffiti has played an important role in the world over the last 40+ years and now as this generation of painters migrates towards the artworld you have a new vision of painting. A vision of painting built on a personal history with the streets and graffiti, choosing to embrace aesthetics instead of choosing to alienate oneself from a beautiful painting. The title of the show perfectly explains in plain words who Smash137 is as well as the genre. The work is impressive as one would expect from one of our generations most important graffiti artists. Color, texture and expressionistic marks create solidified moments of his hand and vision of what a painting should look like. Bravo!.

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Galerie LE FEUVRE is glad to present Graffiti Painter, a personal exhibition by Smash137. Adrian Falkner, a.k.a Smash137, dove into graffiti in 1990 in Basel. Until 2005, he inscribed his name as often as he could on every surface the city had to offer. Over the course of 15 years, Smash137
sharpened his style which was originally inspired by the New Yorker wild style, and which he rapidly made his own so as to re-invent it. According to Smash, the outline of a letter is like a border, a frontier which he chose to erase in order to immerse himself into painting, free of all constraints. Master of spray paint abstract art, he has become an inspiration for an entire generation of young graffiti artists as well as a growing reference in the world of contemporary urban art.

Since his very first personal exhibition in 2008 (in Düsseldorf), Smash’s work was shown in many cities around the world, from Stuttgart to Detroit via Los Angeles, Montpellier, Völklingen, Cologne, Geneva, and, of course, Paris. The French capital was home for a personal exhibition of the Swiss artist’s work in 2011 called Grow Up! which introduced Smash137’s percussive paintings to the french public. Smash came back several times to Paris as part of collective exhibitions, Graffiti Painter is his second personal exhibition in this city. It is the first of several future collaborations between Switzerland and the Galerie LE FEUVRE. This exhibition also marks a turn for the artist for it enables him to explain his work to the public, from graffiti to abstract art. Three years after his first solo show in Paris, Smash has grown up, his painting matured and has taken a new step. Rendez-vous is set for 15 May