bs.as.stncl

bs.as.stncl is a two person stencil collective comprised of artists NN and GG, a printmaker and graphic designer respectively. bs.as.stncl have a long history of involvement in the Argentine street art scene, and led the first wave of stencil art in the capital’s troubled streets following the 2001 crisis. Formed in 2002, the duo was motivated by the potential for expression and communication using the medium of stencil as an urban intervention.

Despite deliberately leaving their work unsigned, their easily recognizable style has gained a loyal following. Their early work had strong political undertones, created to communicate clear messages to its urban audience. Over time their pieces became less overtly political, and shifted towards a focus on satirizing popular culture, icons and current affairs. The trademarks of their creative backgrounds are evident in their work – the bold use of primary colors and stylized figures combine to create a heavily graphic style.

bs.as.stncl emphasizes the importance of collaboration, insisting that this is what gives street art its incredible power and impact. They celebrate “do-it-yourself” culture, as both a system of organization and in the production and distribution of their work. In 2006 they were two of a group of six artists who launched Hollywood in Cambodia, an artist-run urban art gallery in Buenos Aires.

For more work by bs.as.stncl:
Flickr
Available artworks in UNION Gallery

Cabaio

Cabaio began painting in the streets following the Argentine economic crisis of 2001 as part of the stencil collective Vomito Attack, a politically motivated group who used stencil art to unleash caustic political commentary and anti-consumerist messages throughout Buenos Aires. Departing from Vomito Attack in 2005, he adopted the name Cabaio Stencil and began creating independently.

Following his initiation in heavily anti-political and anti-establishment street art, Cabaio has developed an elaborate style of collage-like layering with carefully curated imagery, which reflects a more personal and intuitive expression. His stencil compositions are dense and colorful and are characterized by the repetition of geometric shapes combined with figurative and textual elements.

Cabaio has exhibited in galleries around the world. He creates spontaneous stencil interventions in the public sphere as well as custom works on canvas and other mediums.

For more work by Cabaio:
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Available artworks in UNION Gallery

Chu

Chu is part of the DOMA collective, a multidisciplinary and experimental art group that was created in 1998 in Buenos Aires. As a pioneer in the local urban art scene he worked to transform the city following the Argentine economic crisis of 2001, bringing colour, energy and positivity back to the streets.

Chu’s talents in art and design give him the versatility to create a diverse range of works including towering graphic murals, striking paintings and sculptures. He works with unconventional materials like automotive paint, lacquer and aerosol to create multilayered artworks in vibrant colours. His paintings, which explore geometry, abstract and organic forms, frequently incorporate a cast of his signature characters and forms.

For more work by Chu:
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Available artworks in UNION Gallery

Corona

Born in France, Corona grew up in Madrid before moving to Argentina where his artistic career took shape. Having begun painting in the streets of Madrid under the pseudonym “Rena”, Corona’s creative trajectory took a new direction when he became exposed to the elaborate muralism and unique freedom of the street art movement in Buenos Aires.

The adoption of the name Corona signified a change in energy, style and creative direction. Considering himself both a graffitero and muralist, Corona pushes the boundaries of graffiti by incorporating figurative elements into his paintings. His recent pieces depict portraits of ethnic figures, often combined with landscapes or wildlife. Though his work often borrows from urbanism and abstraction, Corona has never fully departed from his roots in the language of letter-based graffiti.

Corona has participated in urban art festivals across Latin America and his murals can be found in Bolivia, Peru, Spain and France as well as Argentina.

For more work by Corona:
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Dano

Dano was one of the early pioneers of graffiti writing in Buenos Aires. He began painting walls and private buildings in the late 90’s when graffiti was first hitting the city, establishing himself as a mainstay of the local scene.

Both the New York graffiti scene in the 70’s and hip-hop culture have provided important inspiration to Dano and he maintains a significant connection with traditional graffiti throughout his body of work. Having trained in graphic design and comic illustration, his pieces, whether letter or character-based, display strong influences from these backgrounds as well.

For more work by Dano:
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Defi

Defi Gagliardo was born in Buenos Aires in 1975.
He went on to study Graphic Design at Universidad de Buenos Aires, where he expanded on his knowledge in art to later break through it creating FASE, a multidisciplinary art, design and music collective, formed together with Tec and Pedro Perelman in 2000. Together with the DOMA art collective, Defi and FASE were the driving creative force behind a graphic design influenced form of street art, which stood out for its use of latex paint, bright colours, friendly characters and overwhelming positivity. The movement was hugely influential in defining the aesthetics and philosophy of early urban art in Buenos Aires in the years following the 2001 Argentine economic crash.

Defi’s work is characterized by the use of bold explosions of color in compositions varying from the abstract to the figurative. His artwork celebrates spontaneous experimentation and the innocent anarchy of adolescence in works that often feature his childhood pets as protagonists.

Expanding far beyond the streets, Defi works in digital media, sculpture and music.  With an established international profile, Defi has exhibited around the world: in the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art, Galería Pasto (Barcelona), Choque Cultural (San Pablo), Artscape (Los Angeles), and Neurotitan Gallery (Berlin) among others. In Buenos Aires his works can be found at Galería UNION.
He lives and works in Buenos Aires.

For more work by Defi:
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Available artworks in UNION Gallery

DOMA

Doma, formed by Mariano Barbieri, Julian Pablo Manzelli (Chu), Matias Vigliano (Parquerama), and Orilo Blandini, came of age in 1998 amidst the Argentinean political and economic collapse, immediately taking a critical, yet optimistic and fun, stance against the chaotic environment they experienced. The collective creates fantastic, absurd and often playful conceptual universes and characters that make a direct reference to the society in which they live.

Doma’s early urban interventions made the group one of the most important collectives Buenos Aires in the 1990s. Known for wacky, attention-grabbing urban installations as well as stencils, street projections and strange campaigns verging on performance art, Doma turned strong social and political content on its head in order to provoke its audience.

Currently, Doma works with various media, mainly audiovisual, creating animations, films, drawings, silkscreens, and sculptures, which are usually part of large installations.

For more work by DOMA:
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Available artworks in UNION Gallery

Ever

Ever began his career as a graffiti writer in the streets of Buenos Aires in the 90’s. His style developed almost accidentally as he began painting portraits of ex-lovers and his brother. Through giving importance to the inconsequential, the anonymous faces he adorned the city walls with were imbued with an unintentional gravitas by the viewer. His philosophy was, and still is, that graffiti is a point of connection for people.

Ever explores the themes of religion, contradiction and politics in his murals. He is fascinated by the human body and uses this as an artistic vehicle, combining portraits or figurative studies with social critique. His style is more closely related to traditional fine art and he is highly skilled with both aerosol and latex. His compositions are often vibrant in colour and he has recently begun to experiment with art installations, providing commentaries on current events using stuffed animals, ping-pong tables and toilets.

For more work by Ever:
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Available works in UNION Gallery

Georgina Ciotti

Georgina Ciotti is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work includes muralism, sculpture, fashion design, illustration and special effects. She first began painting in the streets in the early 2000’s while living in Barcelona. She found that the streets provided the perfect outlet for experimentation and has continued to use the public realm as her canvas ever since. In her special effects work, she was part of the team that worked on the Oscar winning Pan’s Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Georgina’s work is highly visual. She creates intricate figurative pieces that depict animals or female characters combined with elaborate decorative elements, resulting in surreal and fantastical compositions. The mythical creatures depicted in her ethereal paintings offer a glimpse into a parallel universe, both beautiful and bizarre.

Ciotti has extensive experience working in different mediums, however her focus is in painting. Specializing in murals and site specific interventions her works can be seen on the facades and internal spaces of businesses and residences from Barcelona to Buenos Aires.

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Pablo Harymbat

Pablo Harymbat was born in 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina and began painting graffiti in the 1990’s. While his work has focused primarily on muralism, he has also explored diverse mediums such as ceramic, sculpture, drawing and video animation. His first large-scale murals were created in 2004, and between the years of 2006-2014 the artist was known by his alias “Gualicho”.

Harymbat’s work has evolved through several formal stages, but always centers around a fundamental exploration of organic and the mechanical aspects of life and human nature. He has created murals and exhibited artworks throughout the Americas and Europe and has also participated in many urban art festivals, including the LGZ Festival (Moscow), Biennial of Cuba, Monumental Art (Poland), and the Concreto Festival (Brazil) among many others.

For more work by Pablo Harymbat:
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Website
Available works in UNION Gallery