On the second floor of one of Berlin’s most lively and rambunctious event spaces lies something quite beautiful and special. Through the beer soaked exhibition hall which has housed some of Berlin’s greatest urban art and graffiti shows of the past few years, past the bathrooms so plastered with stickers that it is anyones best guess what the actual color of the walls and tiles is, up the graffiti covered stairs which read like a “who’s who” of the Berlin street art scene, and down a dangerously lightless hallway there is a door which opens up to an entirely different world… that of Andrea Wan.
Born in Hong Kong and raised in Canada, Wan moved to Berlin four years ago and wasted no time letting people know who she was and that she means business. Between her impressively full schedule of solo shows and illustration work for magazines and other clients it’s a wonder how she manages to get it all done. There is no wonder however, why she is in such high demand once you’ve seen her work. Described by the artist as self portraiture, Wan tells the story of her life through surreal scenes of an alternate world where animal and plant life make up their own rules. Young expressionless girls break apart and dissolve into their surroundings or rather become consumed by them. Her signature acrylic ink paintings, although wild and chaotic at times, are painted with a delicacy and femininity which seems to bring a calm relaxing balance to the work. With so much momentum built up around her and no signs of slowing anytime soon, the future looks bright for Andrea Wan and we were thrilled to get the chance to sit down with her in her studio in Berlin’s iconic ‘Urban Spree’ for a chat on VantagePoint.

As one of the OG’s of stencil art and street art in general, Jef Aerosol knows a thing or two about urban art and how to stay relevant over long periods of time. Inspired by punk rock music and the French contemporary art scene at the time, Jef began cutting and painting stencils throughout his small town in central france as early as 1982. Still active today over three decades later, it is no wonder that he is considered to be one of the pioneers of stencil art. What is quite interesting however, is to hear his views on the subject of stencils. In his own words, “I don’t really care about stencils. A stencil for the sake of itself has no interest to me. It is only a tool.”

In a contemporary art scene filled to the brim with street artists of every kind pushing the boundaries in countless ways, it is refreshing and somewhat humbling to go back over 30 years with Jef and hear what it was like then and what motivated him to begin making art in this way and stick with it for such a long time. As he continues to work in both the streets and in the studio and show across the globe it is clear that we’ve all got a thing or two to learn from those who paved the way for street art as we know it now.

Floating somewhere between the straight up graffiti scene and the high end gallery art market Stohead has managed to blow up in the last few years while remaining somewhat anonymous at the same time. Known primarily for his drip heavy hand-styles and square format text driven paintings, the Berlin based Stohead has quietly taken his place among the Urban Art elite, specifically those commonly labeled as Graffuturists. His studio practice consists of a heavy mix of invention (he custom builds many of his own art making tools), experimentation, and strict quality control. With a recipe such as this, it is easy to see how and why his work is constantly progressing and evolving month after month. Rather than comfortably ride the wave of success as many artist tend to do, repeating the work that got him recognized in the first place, Stohead continues to push himself and branch out into new areas of abstraction sometimes completely abandoning the letters and text that he is so well know for.

With a previous career in New York’s punk rock music scene Jonathan LeVine gained an early feel for outsider art and the underground. It would be this same sensibility that would a few years later fuel his fire to open his own art gallery featuring visual art with a punk rock vibe. A few years and a handful of smart moves later Jonathan Levine Gallery is one of the highest regarded galleries in the urban-contemporary art world. With two gallery locations in the prestigious Chelsea district of New York City, he represents some of the scenes leading stars bridging the gap between street and urban art and high end gallery work.

In contrast to the normal guest on VantagePoint, Jonathan’s perspective into the art world is from the other side, that of the gallerist and curator. In an effort to cover all angles of the scene and bring insight to how things work and different peoples opinions, we were honored to be invited to his hotel room for a couple of beers and a chance to pick his brain. If you’re a budding artists trying to crack the code of the gallery scene, you’ll not want to miss this one.