In Bologna, the first Italian exhibition of street artist Aryz, in the former church of San Mattia

MAGMA gallery welcomes El Festejo, the first solo exhibition in Italy by Spanish artist Octavi Arrizabalaga (Palo Alto, 1988), better known as Aryz, one of the world’s most famous and appreciated street-artists. From January 22 to February 20, 2022, this site-specific exhibition project will be on view at the historic and important spaces of theEx Chiesa di San Mattia in Bologna, in the heart of the city. In addition to three huge installations, five limited-edition lithographs created for the event will be presented to the public and will be displayed in the majestic niches of the Former Church.

El Festejo is meant to be a strange and fun collective event, the rhythm of which is marked by the female characters portrayed. Each of them represents a different nuance of what the title may mean; the figure painted on the giant nine-meter-high by eight-meter-long installation placed in the apse, for example, welcomes us by hiding her gaze, in an amusing and seductive game. The other two large installations, each five meters high, enhance the dynamism, the movement, whether through a very balanced dance step in which the figure gently lifts a skirt flap, or instead a kind of ritual struggle between the two figures who challenge each other by pulling on each other’s arm. In the lithographs then, the dancers portrayed seem to be waiting to step onto an imaginary stage and begin the dance, awaiting that moment with a dreamy gaze or hinting at a step. Finally, in another lithograph, the female figure embodies another shade of El Festejo, namely the celebratory one, performing what looks like a prayer, a very heartfelt, profound supplication.

The style of this great street artist is unmistakable: the figures are portrayed in what seem to be apparently sketches, preparatory studies of the characters, perhaps an homage to traditional painting on Aryz’s part. However, these works seem to vibrate, such is the force expressed by those figures overlapping, splitting or showing fragments of their bodies, almost anticipating possible movements in a kind of pictorial short-circuit.

Muted colors, broad backgrounds without detail, are equally important in Aryz’s style. The effect is that of a timeless though contemporary painting, capable of projecting the portrayed subjects into a suspended, alienating dimension.

Octavi Arrizabalaga was born in 1988 in Palo Alto,California; at an early age his family moved to Cardedeu,Spain, where he currently lives and works. Like many artists of his generation, Octavi began painting graffiti in the early 2000s, where he became known as Aryz. Around 2007 he began painting large surfaces in abandoned factories in the outskirts of Barcelona. In 2010 he began to receive wide recognition for his work, gradually participating in cultural projects and events. Since then Japan, France, the United Kingdom, Finland, Denmark, Poland, China, Madagascar, Japan, and the United States are some of the countries where he has left his mark. In 2012 he held his first exhibition in Barcelona, followed by two exhibitions in San Francisco and Los Angeles in 2013 and 2015. Most recently, he presented Pugna, an exhibition in three venues in the French territory during 2019, concluded with an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Nancy. For all information, you can visit MAGMA gallery’s official website.

Pictured: Aryz, El Festejo, lithograph.

In Bologna, the first Italian exhibition of street artist Aryz, in the former church of San Mattia

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