Illuminati Painting

Pasta Oner (*1979) PASTA IS THE MICHELANGELO OF THE 21st CENTURY The story is as colorful as the comic book characters devoured by a whole generation of progressive and promising artists determined to leave a mark, a personal emblem on the vibrant canvas of a metropolis. The taste of danger and the pressure of the moment that accompany graffiti make for a sort of adventure. Today, street art legends like Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring are hailed as pioneers. Graffiti has become an artistic style in its own right, a philosophical poem or at least a lifestyle. An emblem gave rise to a universal script of an unmistakable cultural paradigm. They create anonymously, they never reveal their identity, they take pleasure in transgressing boundaries, and because they have roots in the subculture, they provoke the society and the art market. They can project their artistic vision into surprisingly political gestures by which they affirm their alignment with the avant-garde. Being on the outside (here we don’t mean spray-painting the outside of a railway car) and being established are not opposites. Thanks to the lessons of Andy Warhol, we know that everything can be replicated, reproduced, but also made unique, and that a strong desire for immortality underlies the process of recycling icons and values, turning everything into art in the process. Through triviality we can address the most emotional experiences. Not being noticed by media today means that you don’t exist. You can forget your romantic notions. Pasta is not alone. He is part of an emerging generation that we’ll continue hearing about and which offers a diversity of outlooks (Jan Kaláb, Masker, Tron, Epos 257, and others). Each of these artists has a different style but they're all traveling in the same shared space. The universe is infinite. Pasta has spray-painted hundreds of walls and poured tons of spray and paint to become a Czech legend; a hero that comes with a self-assured humility from the streets to the hallowed ground of a gallery, running the risk of being misunderstood, possibly even by his companions. Inherent in MAN ON FIRE is a desire similar to that of Prometheus who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity. It is not advisable to defy gods, but in life, just as in art – since you can hardly separate one from the other – if you’re proud and courageous, taking the well-trodden path is not a possibility.