Introduction
Felipe Pantone (born 1986) is an Argentine-Spanish contemporary artist. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and raised in southeast Spain. Pantone’s body of work is based in kinetic art, installations, graffiti and design, characterized by “use of bold colors, geometrical patterns and Op Art elements.” His combinations recall “bright colored typography, 80s Synth pop music, and SMPTE color bars on the TV.”
History
Pantone began doing graffiti as Pant1 in Torrevieja, Spain, then moved to Valencia at the age of 18, where he started painting with the D.O.C.S crew and later became part of UltraBoyz (UB). He became known for his avante-garde cursive handstyle.
Pantone began showing his work in galleries in 2006. It has since appeared on buildings, walls and in galleries worldwide, from the Mesa Contemporary Arts Center to the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, as well as in Mexico City, Osaka, Lisbon, Palestine, Italy, and Australia. Pantone has been featured in various forms of media, including Reebok's "Always a Classic" campaign. He used a 1994 Corvette as a canvas for his pixelated graphics, a piece presented in the exhibit Beyond the Streets. The piece is now known as "Ultradynamic".
Style
Pantone often works in gradients, blending geometric shapes with neon colors and white and blacks, with critics noting "The divisions between geometric patterns and gradients are so effortlessly blended that the larger patterns seem created with digitization rather than with two hands." He cites the Parisian Grim Team and UltraBoyz crews as early influences.
Forbes magazine called his aesthetic "the intersection of Blade Runner and PhotoShop" for its concepts of dynamism, transformation and movement. Others have said he has created a new visual dialogue derived from his infatuation with the digital age, comparing his work to Venezelian Op artist Carlos Cruz-Diez' chromatic linework and the geometric graphics of Jonathan Zawada.
Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
2016
- Scroll Panorama - Celaya Brothers Gallery, Mexico D.F, Mexico
- Cyberspazio Tubolare - Outdoor Festival, Rome, Italy
- Data Somersault - StolenSpace Gallery, London
- Data Smog - Lebenson Gallery, Paris
- W3-Dimensional - Mirus Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017
- Dynamic Phenomena - Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris
- Afterimage - Kolly Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland
- Planned Iridescence - GR Gallery, New York, NY
- Planar Direction - Station16 Gallery, Montreal, Canada
- Artifact to Human Communication - Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
2018
- Excés de Vitesse - Alice Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
- Dynamic Phenomena - Magda Danysz Gallery, Paris
Group exhibitions
2016
- Truck Art Project - Madrid, Spain
2017
- Scope Art Fair - With Mirus Gallery, Miami, FL
- Interferences, Contemporary Op & Kinetic Art - GR Gallery, New York, NY
- Ultra-Plasticism - PBX Creativa, Madrid, Spain
2018
- Summer Mixer - Joshua Liner Gallery, New York, NY
- Beyond the Streets - Los Angeles, CA