Ash (artist)
Encyclopedia
Ash also called Victor Ash is originally a street artist
from Paris
, France
.
He started his artistic career as a graffiti
writer in the early 1980s and from 1983 to 1986 he also called himself Saho and Ash2.
Ash was part of the Parisian graffiti collective BBC or Badbc with JayOne and Skki; they were pioneers in the European graffiti movement with Bando, Mode2, and Jonone.
Inspired from the New York City
subway graffiti styles, they were the first wave of street artists in Europe before Banksy
or Zevs
.
In 1989 The French fashion designer Agnès b.
invited Ash, Jonone, Jayone, Skki and a few more graffiti writers to take part in the exhibition "Les peintres de la ville" at the Galerie du Jour situated in the neighborhood of Beaubourg in Paris; it was the first time Ash was showing his paintings inside a gallery.
(Ash older works are documented in several graffiti books like Spraycan Art from Henry Chalfant
and more recently in the documentary film BOMB IT
.)
Ash’s newest pieces are aesthetically very different from the graffiti he was painting in the 80ts.
His works are totally detached from the traditional graffiti styles of New York.
He has developed a personal identity by inspiring himself from his one culture and experiences, still keeping the energy and direct communication with the viewer that graffiti provides.
His latest works are often reflections on human nature; it sets the observer to interrogate himself about, for example, current social problems.
Ash often uses the themes of contrast between the urban environments and nature and young people's quest for identity in subcultures.
Look at me, look at you.. Wall painting on the 4 sides of a 25 meters high bunker dating from World War II, commissioned by Bremen kirchentag and Weserburg Museum, Bremen Germany.
2008
Series of wall paintings at the VM Bjerget in Copenhagen
, a building designed by Bjarke ingels
Group / BIG. Ørestad, Copenhagen new town, Denmark
.
Winer of the best housing price at the World Architecture Festival Barcelona 2008
Falling Graffiti writer, commissioned by Århus kunstbygning Museum, Denmark.
Car mountain Palais de Tokyo, Paris France.
Falling Graffiti Writers and trees. 700 m2 wall painting commissioned by the city of Berlin district of Friedrichshain.
Project Competition winner.
2007
Ash participated to the Backjumps exhibition in Berlin where he realized the work called astronaut / cosmonaut on a wall of a typical Kreuzberg
building in the centre of Berlin
.
Street artist
A street artist is someone who creates and/or sells their art or craft in public for the pleasure of passers-by.Some people use the term 'street artist' more broadly and also refer to people involved in busking, such as musicians who sing and/or play instruments, acrobats, jugglers, living statues,...
from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
He started his artistic career as a graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
writer in the early 1980s and from 1983 to 1986 he also called himself Saho and Ash2.
Ash was part of the Parisian graffiti collective BBC or Badbc with JayOne and Skki; they were pioneers in the European graffiti movement with Bando, Mode2, and Jonone.
Inspired from the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
subway graffiti styles, they were the first wave of street artists in Europe before Banksy
Banksy
Banksy is a pseudonymous England-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter.His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine irreverent dark humour with graffiti done in a distinctive stencilling technique...
or Zevs
Zevs (artist)
Zevs is an anonymous French street artist.He was an early and influential graffiti artist and active as a tagger in Paris in the 1990s. He is named after a regional train, Zeus, that almost ran him over one day he was down in the metro...
.
In 1989 The French fashion designer Agnès b.
Agnès b.
agnès b. is a French fashion designer. She is known for her self-named brand, which includes fashion and film interests.-Life and early career:...
invited Ash, Jonone, Jayone, Skki and a few more graffiti writers to take part in the exhibition "Les peintres de la ville" at the Galerie du Jour situated in the neighborhood of Beaubourg in Paris; it was the first time Ash was showing his paintings inside a gallery.
(Ash older works are documented in several graffiti books like Spraycan Art from Henry Chalfant
Henry Chalfant
Henry Chalfant is a well known and highly regarded urban culture photographer and videographer most notable for his graffiti and breakdance photography and film...
and more recently in the documentary film BOMB IT
Bomb It
Bomb It is an international graffiti and street art documentary directed by award-winning director Jon Reiss and premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival...
.)
Ash’s newest pieces are aesthetically very different from the graffiti he was painting in the 80ts.
His works are totally detached from the traditional graffiti styles of New York.
He has developed a personal identity by inspiring himself from his one culture and experiences, still keeping the energy and direct communication with the viewer that graffiti provides.
His latest works are often reflections on human nature; it sets the observer to interrogate himself about, for example, current social problems.
Ash often uses the themes of contrast between the urban environments and nature and young people's quest for identity in subcultures.
Selection of murals and projects
2009Look at me, look at you.. Wall painting on the 4 sides of a 25 meters high bunker dating from World War II, commissioned by Bremen kirchentag and Weserburg Museum, Bremen Germany.
2008
Series of wall paintings at the VM Bjerget in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, a building designed by Bjarke ingels
Bjarke Ingels
Bjarke Ingels is a Danish architect. He heads the architectural practice Bjarke Ingels Group which he founded in 2006. In 2009 he co-founded the design consultancy KiBiSi...
Group / BIG. Ørestad, Copenhagen new town, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
.
Winer of the best housing price at the World Architecture Festival Barcelona 2008
Falling Graffiti writer, commissioned by Århus kunstbygning Museum, Denmark.
Car mountain Palais de Tokyo, Paris France.
Falling Graffiti Writers and trees. 700 m2 wall painting commissioned by the city of Berlin district of Friedrichshain.
Project Competition winner.
Ash participated to the Backjumps exhibition in Berlin where he realized the work called astronaut / cosmonaut on a wall of a typical Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg
Kreuzberg, a part of the combined Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte since 2001, is one of the best-known areas of Berlin...
building in the centre of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
Further reading
- Paris art libre dans la ville, Yvan Tessier, Éditions Hersher, 1991, ISBN 978-2733501955
- Paris Tonkar, Tarek ben Yakhlef et Sylvain Doriath, Editions Florent Massot et Romain Pillement, 1991, ISBN 978-2908382099
- Spraycan Art, Henry Chalfant and James Prigoff, Thames and Hudson, 1987, ISBN 0-500-27469-X
- La rue aux artistes, MPG Art, editions Guillaume Garouste Ategalore, 2004, ISBN 2-9523191-0-3
- Mural Art, Kiriakos Losifidis, Publikat, 2008, ISBN 978-3-939566-22-9