Honet & Smole – InterRail
Honet & Smole – InterRail
3rd of November 2018 – 22n of December 2018
art is just a four letter word gallery
Markt 6, 59494 Soest
In its last show in Soest, the art is just a four letter word gallery exhibits works by the French artist Honet and Smole. In France, the two artists are well- known for their numerous murals and graffiti on trains. It is the first time that the two artists will be shown together in Germany. The artists Honet and Smole share their geographic origin as well as their writing history of more than 20 years now. However, the artistic works of the artists differ. While Honet’s works are primarily symbolic and figurative, Smole focuses on the writing.
When Honet discovered graffiti for himself in Paris in 1988, he saw this form of artistic expression as a totally new approach of art, which for him perfectly represented the presence. Through his active work in urban space, his works since than became a reference in the Parisian graffiti scene. The artist draws inspiration from cult films, fairy tales, science fiction or even death. Thus, the French artist creates his own universes in which, for example, Skeletons cross like a carnival parade through ravaged landscapes. In his late works, Honet plays with lines, symbols and hieroglyphic-like signs and creates human figures out of them. Honet expanded his work in urban space around the gallery space in the 90s and transferred his artistic ideas to canvas and paper. Since then, his works have been exhibited worldwide and collaborations with other artist or companies, such as Lacoste and Louis Vuitton, consolidated his success.
Jérôme Almes, a.k.a. Smole (C4-TF1-FTW), is an iconic graffiti writer, who is rooted in the graffiti scene of Montpellier. His many trips all over France and Europe allowed him to develop a free style, which is characterized by the warm colours of his native south and a constantly renewed lettering usually accompanied by cartoon characters. Since the beginning of his artistic career, the train has been his favourite medium, on which he still immortalises himself and refers to in his studio works. For example, Smole sometimes chooses disused rail schedules as an image carrier referring explicitly to the train, when he embeds it in his artistic work. In addition, the artist makes a clear reference to his graffiti use of writing. His works have been featured in several exhibitions in galleries such as Galerie At Down, Dock Ouest and Montana Gallery.