Starting April 11, 2008, Ruediger Glatz, aka ruedione, will be a guest at Pretty Portal with his exhibition "Flashbacks".
With "Flashbacks," he presents atmospheric photographs that, among other things, focus on the creative process of graffiti artists.In addition to his artistic work, Rüdiger Glatz is also one of the fathers of the Montana Scholarship.
The Montana Scholarship supports graffiti artists who have managed to break down the boundaries between the street and white gallery spaces.
Pretty Portal and Rüdiger Glatz have decided to work closely together here, and so this year, the participants of the Montana Scholarship, Stephan Strumbel (Oct 24 - Nov 21) and Smash 137 (May 16 - June 20), will present their works at Pretty Portal.
Here is an excerpt from the concept of the Montana Scholarship: As a result of the constantly growing phenomenon of Graffiti Art, Montana Cans has decided to launch a scholarship to help artists break down the boundaries between the street and white gallery spaces.
Over the last decade, the art world has witnessed a resurgence of methods once viewed as exclusively reserved for a world of individualistic propaganda, social commentary, and deliberate visual anarchy.
That doesn't mean that anything has changed, but what's next?
The inclusion of the idea of "Contemporary Gallery Space" in the graffiti scene brings forth new players, a new audience, and new concerns. If the art world was always meant to represent the signs of our time and the social mood with all its possibilities, it is now on a new level of engagement with the increasingly expanding, contemporary graffiti scene.
It's no secret that art, both in public and private spaces, has always been and will always be a powder keg. This is one of the starting points for graffiti artists in the most recent art discourse, as they have more than questioned the restrictions on access to both. In doing so, they continue to challenge the limited definitions, at the risk of not being heard. Although rejected, censored, and criminalized for their compelling statements and subversive behavior, the artists continue to maintain a collective consciousness of their rebellion. What Montana wants to find out this year with the Scholarship Program is the extent to which an art practice that has grown out of the street can exist within the confines of an established aesthetic space and reach new levels of social challenge. Maintaining an anti-authoritarian position, as well as creating new space within the given context, will be the greatest challenge for the participants chosen by Montana.