Then He Decided To Cross The Tracks - Solo Show

In 2010 I visited Vienna. As part of my scholarship "Trainworkers - in the footsteps of nocturnal shadows" of the Cultural Foundation of Saxony, I made contact with trainwriters from Vienna. I accompanied them during their nightly activities and photographically documented these experiences. From the documents emerged a series of drawings and screen prints, which have been shown in Amsterdam, Berlin and Dresden.

In 2018 I return to Vienna. Before arriving in Vienna, I will draw numerous drawings about expectation, which serve as the basis for his stay in Vienna. Once I arrive in Vienna I will discover the public space of the Danube metropolis day and night. I will search for places - for visible and hidden works. Of each work I take a part with me.

Out of expectation drawings and fragments of works I will create a new egozin. The Egozin will be printed live during the opening at Oxymoron Gallery and will be available there and after.

On the 22nd of November, the solo exhibition "Then He Decided To Cross The Tracks " opens at Oxymoron Gallery.

Title: Then He Decided To Cross The Tracks

Location: Oxymoron Gallery, Burggasse 98, A-1070 Vienna, Austria - oxymoron-shop.at

Vernissage / Opening: 22.November 2018, 6pm - 10pm / 6pm - 10pm from 7.30pm live - screen printing of new egozine

Exhibition period: 22.11.2018 - 11.12. 2018

От пътуващо студио за ситопечат до авторски издания

In 2013  me and the Bulgarian Urban Artist Valeri Gyurov (GIFTED:) realized with partners from all over Bulgaria a tour with a moveable screen printing studio. We introduced a large group of people to the technique of Do It Yourself screen printing. Thanks to the support of Goethe Institut Sofia workshops have been hold for free in Burgas, Pleven, Plovdiv, Ruse, Shumen and Sofia.

During this period I introduced Nadezhda Georgieva and she got so inspired, that one year after, she founded Sito Studio. Today Sito Studio is well known in the Bulgarian illustration and urban art world for their well done prints and contemporary illustrations. Sito Studio was the first place of it’s kind and for four years teached over 250 people in the technique. Nadezhda Georgieva would like to share with you the future plans for the studio and the story behind. She will also show some of her recent drawstring bags, t-shirts, prints and give you a sparkle about independent working and creating your own art products.

I will talk about the „2013 - Screen Printing Bulgaria tour“, my printed works after my stay in Bulgaria and of course about recently printed works -  hand printed Egozines. For my Egozines i used spray painted papers from visited places around the world and folded those papers to DIY Egozines.

In 2018 I already realized two Egozines - „Tel Aviv - Israel…“ and „April 2018“

After the presentation we will print live new works on papers painted in Bulgaria. The fresh prints will be directly for sale.

Who? Jens Besser (DE) & Nadеzhda Georgieva (BG) & special guests
The talk will be hold in English !  

Where? Gifted Sofia, ul. "Ivan Denkoglu" 24, 1000 Sofia

When? Saturday, 3rd November - 7 p.m.

Metronome Festival Prague - Urban Wraps & Temporary Murals

For Metronome Festival Prague 2018 i did a series of works in different locations.
Two Spaces had been prepared with large banner to paint - both dealed with „Train Of Infinity“ Theme. For the so called „Street Art District“ i did different types of wraps - Panorama360degrees, HighStretchWrapping and different color combinations. Some of the works have been done live during festival day programme.

Thanx a lot to the festival team especially Barbora , Ondrej and Inka for helping ! It was a pleasure being invited. Everything was well prepared and I enjoyed working there. The line up of metronome prague festival 2018 was great ! Some of my favorite music groups played there and I got nice impressions from Czech music goups.
After 4 days of intense painting, wrapping and seeing different live acts my battery went really low …

Metronome Festival Prague - 22. - 23. June

From 22.-23. June I m invited to Metronome Festival Prague to realize temporary interventions at the festival area and to be part of a discussion about art in public space.
See you in Prague!

Inside vs. Outside

During my stay in Kassel I realized an inside mural for Sanderhaus - travelling and moka again. Thanx again to Gerrit of Kolorcubes project in Kassel. Ghettoresidency continues in 2018. And because it's important to announce where it is I did a fresh new decoration of Ghettoresidencys public displays. Check it out in Dresden - Braunsdorfer Str. 23/25 (backyard/garden side).

Murals of the future in Kassel @ Kolorcubes

Thanx to the Kolorcubes Mural Project i did a performance during arctic temperatures with hot tea, coffee and a loooot of colors ! This performance session took place at a wall near Kassel University. Thanx a lot to Gerrit R.

Tel Aviv / Isreal - works in abandoned spots and the streets

out of the series "Murals of the future" simple black drawings on clear white walls take aways from Tel Aviv somewhere near Batsheva Dance Company

Tains, Travels & Papers - solo show at TEGN: Art space

In April I'm invited for a solo show at TEGN: Art-space in Jyderup/DK. The space is located in a town with only 4000 inhabitants. It will be really interesting to present my works in the countryside area of Denmark, because my works are usually much connected to urbanism and metropolitain chaos. At least Jyderup has a train line including a station.

The show starts on 28th April. On the same day i present my catalogue "Trains , Travels & Murals". Thanx a lot for the invitation to Anders Reventlov.

Trains, Travels & Murals - Presentation Of New Catalogue

Hot off the press I present my catalogue "Trains, Travels & Murals" on Friday 17th February at Magic City. My second catalogue gives an overview of murals, works done during travels and well in media recognizable pieces. Works from nearly one decade are combined with texts of international art critics, curators and researchers. On 120 pages this catalogue shows my development and most important steps on my artistic path. The catalogue is published multilingual - English & German. I'm really happy and proud to present the catalogue - Thanx a lot to all supporters.

Friday - 17th February 2017

Start 7 p.m.

Magic City - Zeitenströmungen Areal
Königsbrücker Straße 96
Dresden / Germany

2016 - a mix of collaborations

November 2016 - Collaboration in Prague during the show "Kresba prostorem II - Zeichnung raumüber" at meetfactory. Done together with Michal Skapa (Tron1) and Artourette. September 2016 - Collaboration in Dresden during the show "Kresba prostorem I - Zeichnung raumüber" at Galerie Adlergasse. Done together with Michal Skapa (Tron1). July 2016 - Collaboration in Chemnitz. Done together with Blazej Rusin from Uzhorod/Ukraine.

Black Circle Festival - Summer 2016 in Ukraine

Last year i went to Ukraine to participate in the autonomous organized festival "Black Circle". After six hours staying in a bus at the polish-ukrainian border I finally arrived in Lviv. There Blazej Rusin picked my up and the whole Black Circle Crew met up at the regional train station of Lviv. It was sunny weather and perfect time for camping in the carpatian mountains. The 2016 edtion of Black Circle was held near the river Stryi somewhere near the town Stryi. For about 6 days we stayed together in a rural area near an unfinished nuclear powerplant. The construction of the powerplant stopped at an early stage but in the whole area we found nice huge walls and hidden spots of all kind. Caves, Large walls, small walls, rooms of empty houses...
During my stay at Black Circle I met a lot of ukrainian artists. Some of them took time to do collaborations. Here s a collabo with eas from Krementschuk. One night we had terrible strong rain. To survive the rain and not just sitting in the tents we started to sing and move like Indians around our fire place. Out of this movement we performed the "Karimata Brigada Dance" - the "Thermal Mat Brigade Dance". As a tribute to that crazy night i painted a mural. For the whole week we stayed offline and we had a lot of talks and a nice time in the outback. In between also some deep thoughts about urban art theory. Thanks a lot to the whole Black Circle Crew !

Modena Mural

This untitled work i did this summer in Modena. Again a two layer work - camouflage background and white drawing done above with brush. Orange connections in between. Pietro Rivasi of D406Gallery organized the wall - thanx a lot.

Collaboration with Aris in Magdeburg

Once again Aris and me were invited by Kulturanker e.V. to realize a large sized work inside the former prison of Magdeburg. Last year we made huge pasted works for the show „Sinnlichkeit“ . This time we painted directly on the wall. A relaxed huge collaboration during nice sunny days. Thanx a lot to Kulturanker e.V. and the whole prison-team - especially Patrick.

From Riadh To Jeddah

Around my accomodation in Riadh I found some abandoned old doors and I did some quick oilstick drawings there. The doors were really dusty and the heat of the sun let the oilpaint melt and a nice side effect happend.

During my visit of Janadriyah Festival I saw the new metro for Riadh, unfortunatly it was behind plexiglass, so I couldn't paint it :( But it has a perfect panel surface - like a white canvas.

My last work in Riadh I did in the DQ - short for Diplomatique Quarter. A Diplomat of the german embassy asked me if I like to do a work in his flat. There I did a spray drawing in the corner of the living room. After I finished we had a coffee and he brought me to the airport to continue my trip in direction Jeddah.

I arrived early in the morning in Jeddah and after a nap Deyaa and me went to downtown Jeddah - the best area to visit. I found some of my old works there. This piece I did few hours before I left Jeddah last year. I only had night shots of the work and I did not imagine to see it again in my life. I was really happy to go there again and see as well the result of a workshop we did there last year with street kids. Inside the building are still works of the show "Inner Voices".