The artistic concept carried by Pandakroo declines plastic and aesthetic variations around this central figure which is the panda. But not only that… His new exhibition “Asobiba”, inaugurated on May 3, is visible until the end of the month, at the Saint-Pierre gallery Very Yes (photos DR).
For who knows who is behind Aant, aka Pandakroo, consider yourself lucky because it is a real privilege! Indeed, like his counterpart Jace, the street artist brilliantly cultivates the art of discretion, literally applying the famous adage “To live happily, live hidden”.
The illustrations and paintings featuring pandas in various graphic forms that you have undoubtedly come across on a street corner, on a wall, it’s him!
In drawing, painting, ink, collages or volume, the plastic arts teacher whose talent is no longer in doubt, prolifically presents his character with quiet strength in different shapes, postures and staged, whatever the media: canvas, paper, cardboard, stickers, surfboards, skate boards or quite simply in the street. The line is fine, the style refined with millimeter precision… Great art to discover until the end of the month at “Asobiba”, his second solo exhibition at the Very Yes gallery, the opening of which took place on May 3.
In Japanese, Asobiba means “Playground” and we cannot count their number, there are so many of them in the land of the rising sun where Pandakroo stayed in 2020. Four years later, well inspired, he invites us to dive into a universe composed of games of shapes, formats, colors and techniques, throughout new series of around sixty drawings, paintings and wood compositions which refer to the famous game Tétris. A fierce desire not to confine yourself to just one style without however “getting rid of” your favorite character.
“I am known more for what I do in the street like the huts with the big panda behind his counter, even if I try to detach myself from it a little. The abstract part in my paintings gradually takes precedence at the risk of displease some but at least it allows me to introduce something more unstructured”, explains Pandakroo who is also in residence at La Friche au Port to work on large formats which will be returned at the end of November.
“My main activity is still the exhibition with a more advanced exploratory approach than that of the street which remains very comics and illustrations whereas in the gallery it goes further. I have this luxury of being able to do what I pleases, without any pressure and in complete discretion”, concludes Aant who will also exhibit in duo with the graffiti artist Air1duc, at the beginning of June at Nout Kaz, in Paris.
For those who missed the opening with the artist, catch-up session on May 25 with signing of reproductions and dedications. A one-shot exhibition not to be missed, and what’s more, it’s free!
– The beautiful Pand’aventure…-
The Pandakroo adventure began in 1999 in Saint-Etienne with the meeting between Annt and Etc, and with the creation of a fanzine of drawings entitled “Panda”. The artistic concept carried today by Aant, declines plastic and aesthetic variations around the central figure of the panda, in drawing, painting, ink, collages or volume in various shapes, postures and staging and on different media.
You will notice that pandas do not chatter, and for good reason, they prefer to avoid all kinds of semantic palaver to concentrate on the action, or to watch the horizon filled with promises slow to come, calling for somewhere else… They appear like so many alter-egos of the artist, this genius-big child inventing his own rules to propose new, playful and resistant ways of being in the world: in balance, poetry and resourcefulness.
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Reunion Island News, Culture, Exhibition
