BPI PRESENTS

ARTFAIRPH/PROJECTS



SpY Studio
BARRIER TAPE 2

Curatorial Notes

Often, it takes a simple, strange thing to make people notice the world around them. For Art Fair Philippines this year, SpY, an anonymous urban artist, hangs thousands of barrier tapes on the branches of an old Acacia tree in Ayala Triangle Gardens.

“I take an element from daily life or from today’s imagery, something everybody has seen, knows and takes for granted, then I multiply and arrange it in an unprecedented pattern. This alone creates a novel situation for the viewer and sparks an intriguing first impression,” he said.

Being always observant allowed him to understand how cities behave as living entities that undergo conflicts and transformations, and how these factors affect the lives of its residents. “Cities are not aseptic spaces like the ones you find in galleries, museums or art fairs. They are in constant evolution, and this makes part of the process of art making and influences the way the public relates to the artwork.”


About the Artist

The contextual art projects of Spanish artist SpY are among the most original and talked-about contributions in the evolution from urban art to public art. Throughout his career, SpY’s practice has developed into an increasingly spectacular body of large-scale installations and interventions, ever more ambitious and impactful, produced in cities across the world.

SpY interpellates viewers while engaging them as active subjects in the artistic process. He works with incisive concepts and strong formal approaches, raising substantial questions about the reality of human relations. His projects dialogue with the urban environment, disrupt its daily routines, and explore it as a playing field full of untapped possibilities.

Among the main threads in SpY’s discourse is the creation of stark conceptual contrasts between the aesthetics of his artworks and the difficult connotations of the objects they are built with – often elements used to condition people’s behaviour.

SpY designs and produces his artistic projects from his platform SpY Studio. The studio is both a laboratory space and an eclectic team of technical specialists and craftsmen, and is known for an unparalleled ability for bringing to life unique, alluring and formally solid artistic experiences.





ArtFairPH/Projects Artists



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