PRESS RELEASE October 15, 2014 19 PEMBRIDGE ROAD LONDON W11 3HG T. 07804601929 15 OCTOBER - 15 JANUARY 2015 Art has to have a social impact. - IMPREINT The balloon is concept. The balloon is potential. The balloon is equality. The balloon is beautiful. The balloon is popular. The balloon circulates. The balloon becomes. The balloon is just a balloon.
The balloon is concept IMPREINT’s balloon project is a simple, clever and scalable creative endeavour combining painting, photography, collaborative processes and digital engagement. The power of the project resides in accumulation, but also in its many well-conceived facets. IMPREINT started this artistic campaign years ago, strategically planning its different stages. The balloon is potential One of the fundamental questions the project tackled was the possibility of putting an artistic brand on an every-day object like a balloon, much in the same way that Warhol did with the soup cans and Duchamp with the urinal. That was certainly the ambition in IMPREINT’s case, but only time will tell if this vision can become a success. What is certain as the balloon project comes to an end is that it produced a comprehensive portfolio of visual and collaborative work, all using the bare balloon as symbol, focus and pretext. The main output is a series of 1,000 uniquely executed acrylic on paper balloon paintings. “I started thinking about painting a thousand balloons after an initial experiment with six of them. I tried out different materials and analysed results until I was happy with the formula. I created a particular mix of colours that got discarded after each balloon was finished, so that each of thousand is a oneoff object reflecting on the mood of the moment through colour and form”. The elegant, serene shape of the balloon paintings is striking in its simplicity, as it reflects IMPREINT’s intimate technique: he paints directly with his fingers, in a horizontal position, which gives him a clearer ownership of his creation and makes for a distinctive end result. What gives balloon series coherence is IMPREINT’s artistic signature (his fingerprint), together with the edition number and ribbon which he paints with a specific pen. The minimalist and precise results are a pleasure to contemplate. The balloon is beautiful IMPREINT is also a very particular about the paper he paints on, as he pursues a natural folding effect that occurs as the paint dries out, creating a fluid appearance, as if the balloon was seamlessly moving through the air. There is comfort and calmness in every single image, and these quickly turn into amazement and wonder when faced with the whole thousand lot. IMPREINT’s balloons play