In Belgium, Karen François is known for her hugely popular tote bags, coffee mugs, T-shirts, baseball caps, sleeping masks and bibs featuring hilarious quotes such as ‘I want to go home’ and ‘Aladdin without d is just Alain’. Her humour is as dry as the Atacama desert, her letters as thick as the Encyclopædia Britannica. Oh, and she also has a thing with doormats, which became clear during your visit to The Crystal Ship.
This temporary installation can no longer be viewed in Ostend.
Antwerp street artist DZIA has always steered a wayward course. His slightly legendary punk zine Krank was full of delightful monsters, and when a Belgian school of graffiti artists arose, enthusiastically working with colourful, mischievous creatures, DZIA developed a unique and electrifying line pattern to tackle real animals. Animals that have since adorned walls in Shanghai, London, Tunis and now Ostend.
Over the past fifteen years, Ghent-based design studio TOYKYO has built up an impressive list of clients, including both Nike and YouTube. The outspoken, cheerful style of the designers is no stranger to that. And like the best street artists, TOYKYO succeeds in drawing attention in a wink (and often also with a nod). Not surprisingly, the majority of the designers has a background in graffiti.
Hip-hop fans may know SozyOne as a member of the legendary rap outfit De Puta Madre. Or of the epic record sleeves he made for Starflam, among others. But you should also know that the Brussels artist is the definition of a Jack of all trades … and a master in pretty much everything he has ever done. So too in his impressive street art exploits, time and again in his inimitable style, an extravagant and often menacing play of bold lines and expressive, militant colours. For The Crystal Ship, Sozyone will explore the work of James Ensor.
“A wall in Ostend is absolutely on top of my bucket list,” said Ghent street artist Kitsune recently in an interview. “Then I would have come full circle.” Well, the time is now! By the way, what she meant by coming full circle: the artist entered the street art scene as an intern of The Crystal Ship. There, she learned a lot from the artists she assisted, but she soon also developed her own spirited, intimate style (including a uniquely saturated colour palette).
Mieke Drossaert strongly (and not unfairly) believes that there is a need for imagery that does not fit into the constant stream of images. And so, in her paintings, glass works, carpets and murals, she depicts people whose faces seem to be absent. Striking, fascinating and, above all, quite extraordinary. The Ostend artist doesn’t consider herself a street artist at all, but that is exactly what makes her contribution to The Crystal Ship so special. She doesn’t fit in. Just the way she likes it.
It doesn’t get more contemporary than SOAZ. Nor does it get any more idiosyncratic. The young Brussels artist’s remarkable work is inspired by the women around her. In no time, SOAZ has found her own voice – the voice of a great painter who often tackles even greater walls in order to give free rein to her unbridled imagination and femininity.
Aryz is what you call an artists’ artist: someone who gets an insane amount of respect from his peers. Why? Because he regularly reinvents himself completely and in doing so, time and again, he makes such a mark that he sends street art in a different direction. The pioneering Spanish artist experiments with shapes, techniques, and especially with colours. His distinctive colour palette gives away that you are dealing with a work by Aryz. Or with the work of someone who has been inspired by it.
The Chilean street artist Inti does not only derive his name from Inca culture – Inti is the name of its sun god – he also dabbles in it. Moreover, the artist is fascinated by all kinds of cultures and religions, and he demonstrates infinite respect for them. In an inspiring fashion, his work shows how important, but also how rich our roots are. Inti reintroduces spirituality into our lives, in a highly surprising and imaginative way.
What’s so special about HuskMitNavn’s body of work is that he integrates the material into it. For example, when he works on paper, he will fold or tear it in such a way that the paper itself plays a meaningful role. And when HuskMitNavn (which means ‘remember my name’; the Danish illustrator has a special sense of humour) takes his characteristic figurines out into the street, he makes them interact explicitly with their surroundings.
