Theme: ANTI; anti establishment, anti blahblah, antistylers, #contemporaryshit, vandalism, #freedom, ignorantstyle, lowbudgetstyle, want to pop nice #noname #nonstop #goodvibes #dailystruggle #othersidegraff #virus #trashgraff

The title is part of a line of text by SAMO in the late 70’s. SAMO (a graffiti duo) consisted of Basquiat and Al Diaz and became known for their critical text lines.

Original text line: AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO BLAH... BLAHBLAHBLAH BLAHZOOEY... BLAHBLAH QUASI-BLAH-ETC...

The exhibition ‘...as an alternative to blah blahblah...’ refers to a painting style in public space where location plays an important role. The location is part of the work but is separate from visibility (visitor numbers). The artists / performers / freebooters who use this style of painting keep their own aesthetic standards, proclaim a message but is often somewhat cryptic and in service of the image. These painters fight for their own autonomy, free from prevailing notions of good and bad. The locations are abandoned places; dilapidated factories, quarries, tunnels in the middle of nowhere but also in the cities themselves, there are plenty of places that invite reflection on contemporary shit.

The exhibition at Murals Inc. will unfold in an experimental way. A number of artists will take to the streets where they will relate to the public order. There will also be artists from the regular circuit, all contributing in their own way to this idiosyncratic mural exhibition.

Rotterdam Art Week

“Murals Inc. — Tijdens Rotterdam Art Week (18-22 mei 2022) kun je kunst ook buiten de context van galeries, musea en kunstenaarsstudio’s ontdekken. Murals Inc. nodigde een aantal kunstenaars uit om zich te verhouden tot de openbare ruimte. Deze kunstenaars werken vooral in non-spaces en abandoned places; vervallen fabriekshallen, steengroeven, tunnels in the middle of nowhere maar ook in de binnenstad. Hun tentoonstelling ‘...as an alternative to blah blahblahblah…’ is een hommage aan het beroemde kunstenaarsduo SAMO (Jean-Michel Basquiat & Al Diaz), dat het imago van graffiti eind jaren 70 voor eeuwig zou veranderen. Deze activistische en maatschappijkritische kunstenaars verzetten zich destijds tegen het establishment en vastgeroeste ideeën over kunst en vandalisme. De kunstenaars van Murals Inc. doen hetzelfde, maar dan op hun eigen, autonome en hedendaagse manier. Locatie speelt hierin een belangrijke rol, maar de zichtbaarheid ervan (en in het verlengde: bezoekersaantallen) staat los van het werk. Kenneth Letsoin (Naamlooozz) en Frederik Lizen (Enpleinpublic) gingen de straat op en zochten naar een manier om zich te verhouden tot de openbare orde in de Tweebosbuurt, die op dit moment gesloopt wordt. Hun werken op schuttingen, bouwplaten en andere materiaal worden — zo goed als dat mogelijk is — verplaatst naar Murals Inc., waar ze onderdeel worden van de tentoonstelling. Hun acties werden gefilmd door filmmaker Jonathan Pieterse (potatoandonion), die het binnen- en buitenwerk tot een sluitend verhaal maakte. Deze film is te zien in de tentoonstelling, in combinatie met het werk en de muurschilderingen van Kim van Norren en Tabe Hemmes (ikbenjoudiemijnadoet).”

— Flor Linckens (GalleryViewer)

Frederik Lizen / Enpleinpublic

By day, Frederik Lizen (1986, BE) works in an auction house, where art objects are given a chance at a second life. At night, as Enpleinpublic himself, he breathes new life into wooden fences and construction panels scattered throughout the city by painting them. The artist provides the works with associative and humorous texts, which bear witness to his critical reflections on the socio-economic condition of our current society.

Kim van Norren

The lyrics Kim van Norren chooses come mainly from pop music, preferably music you can completely lose yourself in. This ‘being able to go into it’ is also a quality of the chosen texts which she wants to give to her paintings while painting. What van Norren is looking for is how she can find forms and colors that make experiences and memories tangible again. In this way she creates an experience with a combination of monumental forms, penetrating texts and carefully chosen color schemes. She chooses no noncommittal quotes, but texts that evoke memories, appeal to our empathy and conjure up our powerlessness. 
 
For the mural at Murals inc, she listened to the song “Progression” by the late rapper Helderheid (Breyten Muskiet) and searched for the timeless value heard in the lyrics. What is Breyten's bright message that resonates even far after his death? For van Norren the refrain was the most meaningful: ‘there is no time to stand still, we must row with the oars we have and keep going’. A text that, especially in these times, only increases in meaning. Although it is very sad that Breyten himself is no longer around to see the beautiful initiatives that arose after his death, the effect of his work is still visible in the community that was formed around his idea of positive influences in rap music. Year after year, there is the new crop in the framework of the ‘Helderheid bokaal’, which Breyten Muskiet’s mother is the driving force behind.
 
“Breyten Muskiet was not given the time to work on what he believed in, but in his music there is something embedded within himself that will ensure that his positivity will continue. It touched me to create a painting around his words, a mural where you can become completely immersed for a moment to reflect on what Breyten's words mean. I hope that my work, based on his wisdom, will thus also contribute to the survival of the positive flow that started with this young gifted rapper.” — Kim van Norren 
 
Kim van Norren studied Fine Art at the CABK in Kampen and was then a resident at the Ateliers in Amsterdam. In 2010 she won the Royal Prize for Free Painting, in 2011 the Scheffer Prize of the Association Dordrechts Museum, and in 2014 her work was awarded the Sieger White Award. Her work is included in leading public and private collections, and her paintings have been exhibited at home and abroad. The work of Kim van Norren is represented by Cokkie Snoei, Rotterdam.

Kenneth Letsoin / Naamlooozz

Kenneth Letsoin (1972, lives and works in Rotterdam) was born in Almelo where he grew up in a Moluccan community. He took an art course at the AKI in Enschede, but this course offered him few starting points. He decided to go his own way, the street became his medium of instruction. Kenneth makes mostly street art but he also creates work in his studio. Although Kenneth is a free spirit, averse to traditions and he frequently uses the hashtag #contemporaryshit and #antistylers, his work is firmly grounded in a painterly tradition. His abstract expressionist way of working, which manifests itself as minimalist, calligraphic as well as highly layered, is evidence of expertise. His imposing wall works look powerful, focused and dynamical. The hashtags #freedom, #nonstop and last but not least #nosleep are very applicable to him.

Tabe Hemmes / ikbenjoudiemijnadoet

Two weeks of working on the river barge, two weeks painting on a wall. The drawing always goes on. Although ikbenjoudiemijnadoet (lives and works in Rotterdam) studied at the academy of fine arts, his path is not one of the beaten track. The ambivalence in his work is disarmingly complex.