Portuguese visual artist AkaCorleone opened recently ‘First World Problems’, a solo exhibition at Underdogs Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal.
“I can’t access the Wi-Fi. The battery on my mobile is about to die. I can’t find anything interesting to watch on television. I can’t decide what to wear. I’ve been relegated to the friend zone. I hate Mondays. I have zero likes…”
Exploring the great anxieties contained in the little dramas we face daily in the privileged comfort of our affluent societies, AkaCorleone brings once again to Underdogs Gallery a reflection where irony and humour take on frivolous issues (which nevertheless have their serious weight) while making up the details and shaping the subjects of an entirely new body of works.
Prominently applying a bas-relief technique to a set of varied media – some new and others that have been part of his visual repertoire –, the artist transforms these volatile tensions of the modern quotidian into new iconographic vignettes, openly blending, in a fluid and effortless way, elements from the languages of some of the artistic vanguards of the first half of the 20th century (art deco and constructivism in particular) with the depurated and dynamic chromatic dialogues, the geometric volumes and motifs (curvilinear and rectilinear), the stylised lines, and the symbolic graphic referents that have characterised his own authorial language.
By interlacing contemporary themes with a pantheon of timeless forms and figures in these pieces imbued with a discreet three-dimensionality, AkaCorleone explores and questions the limits of both the very imagery with which he works and the real condition (trivial or serious) that underlies some of the problems that consume us today in this brave (and self-absorbed) first world.
The exhibition on view until 27 October 2018 at UNderdogs Gallery located on Rua Fernando Palha, Armazém 56, 1950–132, Lisbon • Portugal
Gallery opening hours:
Tuesday to Saturday, from 2pm to 8pm
Free admission
ABOUT AKACORLEONE
AkaCorleone (b. 1985) is a visual artist of Portuguese and Swiss descent who started out as a graffiti writer in the underworld of his native Lisbon. A compulsive drawer, obsessed with all things graphic and visual from an early age, he studied arts, earned a degree in Design and Visual Communication and worked as a graphic designer for a few years, having left the profession to focus on his artistic practice. He is known today for his dexterity in using colours, typography, characters, and refined forms which he blends to achieve eye-catching compositions imbued with originality and an all-pervasive humour. He has been showcasing his work in solo and group exhibitions since 2010.
ABOUT UNDERDOGS GALLERY
Underdogs is a cultural platform based in Lisbon, Portugal that aims at creating space within the contemporary art scene for artists connected with the new languages of urban-inspired graphic and visual culture, fostering the establishment of partnerships and collaborative efforts between creators, cultural agents, exhibition venues and the city, contributing to establish a close relationship between these and the public. The Underdogs project rests on three complementary areas: a gallery; a public art programme; and the production of original and a affordable artist editions
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
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