1. Hop Louie & Hello Banana
Caged City
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Sarri 12 Gallery // Sarri 12, Psyrri, Athens 10553 GR
Opening Reception // Thursday 7 July 2016, 8 pm
Exhibition Duration // 8 July – 1 September 2016
Opening Hours // Wednesday to Sunday 12-7 pm
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Sarri 12 Gallery is pleased to announce the first exhibition of the street artists
Hop Louie & Hello Banana in Athens, “Caged City” curated by Dora
Vasilakou. The exhibition is jointly organized by Sarri 12 Gallery, Momagen
Gallery and Holobiont Project.
Urban architecture, industrial zones, modern housing development and
landscape gardening are an integral part of the structural reality of a
metropolis. A flickering reality with rapid changes and apocalypses. Living
creatures cohabit in this cityscape, in a paradoxical way. The metropolitan
environment and the everyday confrontational characteristics of a modern city
are at the core of the exhibition theme of the street art duo Hop Louie & Hello
Banana.
Fusions of wild animals and buildings, cages and birds, dealing with the
notion of personal and collective freedom, unfold as vibrant visual stories of
special creatures that flirt with the impossible. A new interpretation of life is
presented through constant coexistence and conflict, with contradictory
imagery of industrial technology merged with life-forms and emancipation
contrasted with restriction. Yet, the world of Hop Louie & Hello Banana is not
a dystopian one. It rather combines contradictions and as Camus developed
in his philosophical theories of change, “the Paradox of Absurd”. Human
beings are caught in a constant attempt to derive meaning from a
meaningless world. This is the floating point where the two artists critically
stand their voice.
Using mixed media techniques and working playfully on several surfaces
(wall, wood, cardboard) the two Swedish artists produce a roster of stencils,
collages and wall paintings, a blend of urban and industrial landscapes
with organic life-forms into continuous transformations that draw inspiration
from nature, human manufacturing and alternative ecological dynamics.

2. The exhibition title concentrates on the paradox itself, life trapped in the
capitalist urban milieu, the city as a cage full of life. Black and white
contrasted with solid colors and detailed textures are used to explore the
attraction of today’s consumerism, along with the madness of a more and
more non-viable world.
The exhibition will be followed by a presentation and discussion about street
art and different urban contexts (Saturday 9th July, 8 pm at Sarri12 Gallery)
and screenings of a documentary about Sweden street art scene and two
short films about graffiti artists and the emerging political street art in Athens
(Sunday 10th July, 7pm).
For press inquires : dora@sarri12.com
Hop Louie and Hello Banana are street artists who have
worked internationally but are based in Stockholm, Sweden, a milieu which
could be seen as the polar opposite of Athens.
Until recently Stockholm had a zero tolerance towards graffiti and street art,
promising to remove anything appearing on walls within 24 hours and
prohibiting advertisements that could be seen to promote graffiti, such as
posters for street art exhibitions. The artists have been actively resisting these
policies and have taken part in wider struggles concerning public space in the
urban environment.
The Holobiont Project works with international art and culture collaboration
and interaction in Athens. It is a shifting constellation of individuals brought
together by an interest in alternative methods of production, processes of
creativity and the wider impact of art.
Gallery Momangen is an artist run gallery in Stockholm, Sweden. The
members of the gallery share roles such as production and curation, whilst
creativity and the role of the artist are central.