[New post] Colors Festival – a street art experience
Eunice posted: "Three weeks ago I took myself off to Manchester's Colors Festival, an indoor exhibition of photos, paintings, XXL works of street art and several interactive displays and installations all created by 30 global artists including Manchester's own Qubek, Kel" Life In The Mouse House
Three weeks ago I took myself off to Manchester's Colors Festival, an indoor exhibition of photos, paintings, XXL works of street art and several interactive displays and installations all created by 30 global artists including Manchester's own Qubek, Kelzo, and Ethan Lemon. The exhibition is situated in a former retail outlet with the displays being set out as different rooms each with a different vivid colour scheme and purposely laid out so that visitors automatically go from one section to the next without missing anything.
The entrance from the foyer into the exhibition was a short darkened tunnel decorated with fairy lights, taking me to the first display depicting a picnic corner with a nod to the recent Coronation, and on a nearby wall was a simple arrangement of framed paintings; I liked a few of them but my favourites were a tribal woman and a cute panda. Round the corner a graffiti wall led to the pink section and a room which was very comic book in style, created by Combo, a French street artist whose work is strongly influenced by cartoon and video game characters.
Artist/creator - Combo
An interactive room by French artist Camille Poli, who likes to highlight endangered species in her work, had walls covered in flowers and bees with three gold bees and a Queen bee to be found among all the others, and following that was a wall-sized artwork of Barbie dolls done by Manchester-based artist Katie Scott, whose murals I've featured a couple of times on this blog.
Artist/creator - Camille Poli
Artist - Katie Scott
The next room utilised the corners with artworks by Mexican street artist Farid Rueda, known for his kaleidoscopic designs. The colours and patterns were just the sort of thing I love though I had to stand well back to get the whole of each artwork in a photo as they were both so big.
Artist - Farid Rueda
The blue room was a mixture of wall-size artworks and smaller paintings with frames set round them and the theme seemed to be anything odd, quirky or out of this world. An interactive work by two brothers, Ensemble Reel, consisted of several hinged sections which could be rearranged in numerous combinations to make a face with different features, and the pieces being torn gave the work a fractured impression.
Artist - Sabrina Berrata
Artist - Dave Baranes
Artist - Polar Bear
Artists - Remi Cierco and Kekli
Artist - Luigi
Artists - Kafe Korse and Djalouz
Artists - Ensemble Reel
Artist - Raf Urban
The large artwork by Manchester artist Kelzo would have been instantly recognisable even without his name included in it. I've featured some of his works on previous blog posts, including one at Salford Central station and one which he painted three years ago on the side of an old mill building on the fringe of Bolton town centre which portrayed various things relevant to the town.
Artist - Kelzo
Artist - Woskerski
Artist - Let's Have a Skeg
The next section featured artwork and installations done in fluorescent paint and inks, with the vibrant neon colours really standing out under the ultraviolet lights. Another one from Kelzo plus three other artists whose work I've seen and photographed in the Northern Quarter, while a couple of the installations were set up with basketball nets and soft balls for visitors to have a bit of fun.
Artist - Tenz
Artist - Qubek
Artist - Ben C Downs
Artist - Kelzo
Artist - Ethan Lemon
Artist - Liam Bononi
Artist - Liam Bononi
The penultimate section had a couple of small paintings and two large artworks, one of which was spread across a corner and again I had to stand well back to get it all in the shot. The final section was entirely devoted to Freddie Mercury and Queen, with much more in the display than I've included here. Presumably the artist is a big Queen fan but less is more as the saying goes, and though the display was well put together and very bright I personally thought there was just too much of it.
Artist unknown
Artist - Faunagraphic
Artist - Reasm
Artist - Jo Di Bona
And finally my favourite of them all, done by American artist Dave Baranes who specialises in painting wild animals, especially big cats. It's hard to tell from the photo but it looks very much like the leopard is coming straight through the broken wall.
Artist - Dave Baranes
I visited the exhibition on a priority ticket just a couple of days after it opened and for most of the time I had the place almost to myself so I was able to take all my photos without anyone else being in the way. There's a lot more to see than I've put on here - I've featured all the major artworks and several of the smaller ones but it's impossible to include everything. With a diverse range of styles and subjects and a multitude of bright colours the exhibition showcases some brilliant artworks by some extremely talented artists and I enjoyed every minute of the time I spent in there.
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