BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:NingEventWidget-v1 VERSION:2.0 METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT UID:1182099:Event:21792 DTSTAMP:20120517T074518Z SUMMARY:Mike Giant Solo Show in Milan DESCRIPTION:Mike Giant\nWelcome To Frisco\n\nColombo Arte Contemporane a\nGuest Curator Silvia Girardi\nText by Luca Beatrice\nFebruary 25 - April 10, 2010\n\nOn February 25, 2010 Antonio Colombo Arte Contempora nea of Milan opens the first solo show in Italy by American artist Mik e Giant.\n\n“I got the name Giant from skating with some friends, ac tually, I fell down really hard, and this guy I went with said ‘it f elt like you went down like a giant’ and at that time there was a gr affiti just across the same ditch we were skating, and I just kinda th ought ‘oh that could be my name!’ and it is generic as that, you k now, and then I started writing it maybe a month or two after that.” Mike Giant\n\nMaster of black and white, and representational leading figure of the mid-1990s underground movement in San Francisco, Giant is internationally known for his graffiti, his skateboards, his tattoo s and the immaculate precision of his graphics.\nBorn in upstate New Y ork, Giant moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico as a child, where he later studied architecture. In 1993 he was offered a position drawing graph ics at Think Skateboards in San Francisco. There he stayed for the nex t ten years developing his unique artistic style and becoming a leadin g figure of the street art scene. At first most known for his graffiti art, recognizable by solid letterforms, his tattoo work has also beco me internationally renowned over the last decade. Since 1998 Giant has been working at remarkable tattoo shops in San Jose, San Francisco an d New York City, next to Paco Excel, Mike Davis and Patrick Conlon. Hi s recent work can be seen in the 2004 tattoo issue of Juxtapoz magazin e.\n\nIn 2003 Giant returned to Albuquerque and opened the tattoo shop , Stay Gold. Back in San Francisco in 2007 he retired officially from tattooing and devoted his time to a more intentional way of drawing, v ery much guided by Buddhist meditation. In February 2002, Giant had hi s first solo exhibition at WDWA Gallery in New York. His work has been seen in Tokyo with Sam Flores and Bigfoot, at Misanthropy Gallery in Vancouver, at Magda Danysz Gallery in Paris, as well as at numerous ve nues in San Francisco and Los Angeles. His drawings can be found on th e latest Cinelli book, on apparel from Tribal Gear, Upper Playground, and REBEL8 clothing, his signature brand.\n\nAbout the street scene in San Francisco he says: “First of all, I’m a ‘grandpa hipster’ , and it suits me just fine. And after dedicating almost 20 years to w riting graffiti, I hope it never dies. And as for track bikes, there h ave been hip, cocky young men and women riding them around the streets of San Francisco for over 100 years! Look it up. None of this stuff i s played out, dead, or otherwise. It’s ongoing.”\n\nFor this uniqu e Milan exhibition Giant created a new body of graphics, narrating sto ries of voluptuous urban femmes fatales on bikes, religious iconograph y, street views of San Francisco, a few indispensable skulls, inevitab le memento mori of the street movement. A video loop created by Giant s friends and collaborators Colin Arlen and Sean Patrick will tell a bout his lifestyle; we will see him in action, biking his way around F risco, writing on walls or on pristine paper, and saying it in his own words… a black and white peaceful underground explosion. A bilingua l (Italian/English) catalogue will be published for the occasion, with words by Mike Giant, a text by Luca Beatrice and an interview by Silv ia Girardi.\n\nFor more information visit http://link.baia-network.org /events/mike-giant-solo-show-in-milan DTSTART:20100226T023000Z DTEND:20100411T020000Z CATEGORIES:vernissage LOCATION:Colombo Arte Contemporanea WEBSITE:http://www.colomboarte.com URL:http://www.colomboarte.com CONTACT:+39 0229060171 ORGANIZER:www.silviagirardiart.com ATTACH;FMTTYPE="image/jpeg":http://api.ning.com/files/Nw3JQaiC6i4aHrer ayQ-qsYmUUaXWu4Dzy25p*5MBKGZjGkebRG3k6jGTD7v0u3H3RwHu*eV7357dXSp5iUsYE 8RWzXbakSk/MGIANTFRISCO.jpg ATTENDEE;ROLE=REQ-PARTICIPANT;PARTSTAT=ACCEPTED;RSVP=TRUE;CN="Silvia G irardi":http://link.baia-network.org/profile/SilviaGirardi END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR