Adrian FALKNER’s Boulder series

The paintings of Adrian FALKNER possess an unusual pictorial form. Some are reminiscent of boulders, while others resemble hand axes. Their fractured lines, colors and forms are striking, revealing a fascinating creative process. There is something about these works that subtly echoes the aesthetic of graffiti. What we see here are not fully composed wall pieces, but fragments. These seemingly incidental moments within a working process are the result of the destruction of the artist’s earlier paintings, which have been cut apart, partially reworked, recomposed and sewn back together. Former primary motifs or striking symbols lose their prominence, as previously secondary elements come into focus. Even the distinction between the worked front and the unworked back becomes fluid, as both are integrated into an ongoing process of revaluation.

Adrian FALKNER, whose writing style as Smash137 is regarded as pioneering and iconic in the graffiti world, continually explores the interplay of symbols, forms, materials and techniques across his various bodies of work. His extensive experience in outdoor spaces has greatly informed this exploration.

Beginning in 2005, he started transferring his writings and wall pieces-originally created for outdoor sites-onto the canvas, thereby adapting them for indoor venues. However, he soon realized that the visual language of outdoor art could not be directly translated to the canvas. Outdoor works are inherently tied to their surroundings and characterized by their rapid, sometimes illegal production. Transported indoors these signs lose the broader context that originally gave them meaning. In outdoor settings, this context is shaped by the surrounding architecture (such as the walls of public buildings or tunnels), the material nature of the image’s support (like plastered exterior walls, wooden fences or the metal of a railway carriage), their proximity to works by other artists and the visual language of the public space. In the neutral interior of a white cube gallery, all these references are missing, and the signs frozen on canvas often appear misplaced. The aim is to establish a foundation for the creation of works in interior spaces that retain the spirit of the outdoor environment, while introducing new impulses to contemporary painting.

FALKNER has always been aware of this discrepancy. For several years, his style was anchored in the visual language of graffiti and the gestural abstraction of artists like Franz Kline, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Willem de Kooning, and Arshile Gorky. The shift in his approach occurred gradually.

However, unlike the oil and acrylic paintings of the old masters of abstraction, FALKNER’s use of the airbrush introduces a swift, dynamic medium that conveys a raw sense of immediacy and authenticity. (Kraemer, 2013). In 2013/2014, he definitively stepped out of the shadow of his graffiti persona, Smash 137. The catalogs Public Enemy and Graffiti Painter are representative of the depth of his painting practice. (Smash137, 2013; Falkner, 2014).

Time and again, FALKNER’s work has contained artistic statements that, while initially perceived as unsettling or provocative, can in retrospect be seen as transgressive. This applies both to the conceptual approaches in his wall pieces-such as My Style Tree (2008) or the 210-meter-long Big Wave Line at the Sulmertor in Heilbronn, created in 2016-and to his innovative techniques, such as harnessing the explosive force of paint shooting from a spray can in a method he calls „cracking“ (Smash137, 2009, 94-99).

His exhibition Hands, presented in spring 2019 at lotsremark Projekte in Basel, marked a turning point in his artistic practice. With the painting Mind the Gap—a brick wall constructed from cut-up canvas—three concrete sculptures, and the 40 gestural-abstract drawings of the series Hand (Gherkin), FALKNER moved beyond his earlier approach, which, despite its painterly qualities, remained deeply rooted in the visual language of exterior space.

Since then, the artist has become more experimental, as evidenced by his unconventional, two-sided installation Ghost-Naughty by Nature, created in 2020 for the PAMX exhibition at Le Commun cultural center in Geneva. Considering these works alongside the Boulder series, it appears that the sewing machine has replaced the airbrush, and deceleration has replaced speed as the defining characteristic. Despite an overall impression of randomness, these paintings are meticulously planned and cleverly composed through their sewn fragments.

Through the destruction and recomposition of his works-as seen in the Boulder series, Adrian FALKNER has created a self-referential system that radically questions and re-evaluates his earlier practice. At the same time, by making these works appear as if they were found on public walls, he maintains a connection to the exterior space.

Harald Kraemer, March 2025

8 Times 8. Stories Series Systems in Mythology & Art,

21 March – 8 June 2025, Exhibition Catalogue,

University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 2025, p. 100.

The exhibition Smash137 aims to establish the connection between the visual artist Adrian Falkner and his secondary identity, Smash137, which is known in the urban realm through its distinctive style writing. Falkner explores the concept of painting and the integrity of image-making in both environments. Conscious of his artistic origins, he also reflects his activity in urban space in his studio works. He fragments his canvas and uses the technique of sewing to bring together, what for him, belongs together: the two artistic languages of the interior and exterior space. In doing so, he questions the common dividing line between high and everyday culture in Europe and, by shifting spatial dispositives, creates a reflection of the codes of both spaces and their protagonists. 

Abstraction is an integral part of style writing. Although writing is invoked in the work of Smash137, this barely legible lettering becomes a postulate of the sprayer‘s presence in urban space. It is the only writing that does not want to be read but seeks to be seen. Falkner reinforces this dysfunctionality by fragmenting and rearranging his canvases, directing the viewer’s gaze from the content of the image to its production. Inspired by the impermanence of his works in urban space, Falkner adopts the freedom of the ephemeral and does not shy away from taking a knife to his own canvas. He dismantles works that have already circulated in exhibitions and combines their fragments with works that have never left the studio. 

For the artist, painting means applying and removing colour, be it with a spray can, a brush, a sander, or a water jet. He charges the canvas with temporality when he conjures up the weathered patina of the city – working on the raw canvas, spraying it, or extracting colour from it. The work hardly ‘ages’ in the urban environment because it remains ephemeral, erased or painted over by the city cleaning department. The evidence of these works usually only exists in the medium of photography. This documentary of the last four years, Smash137, is juxtaposed with the works of Adrian Falkner titled Knusti, Schlendrian and the drawing series Fötzel.

In the urban environment, the architecture is his ‚canvas’. In the studio, Adrian Falkner himself becomes the architect, the creator of his object-like canvases. The artist creates organic forms, which he counteracts with the arrangement of fragments in a grid. He contrasts the powerful, physical gestures with the rigidity of the sewing machine – the expressive with the rational. This grid is based on standardised lime bricks and is reminiscent of a brick wall. Although painting preserves the metaphor of the window since the ‚discovery’ of the central perspective, Falkner decided to create a wall. However, for the artist, this gesture is far from a rejection; it rather carries an invitation: For Smash137, the wall is the basis of communication in urban space – it is the vehicle of his self-portraits in style writing.

In Falkner‘s oeuvre, the outside space is represented by fragments of writing and the technique of spraying, while the surroundings of the studio are reflected in the stains of working processes. Inside and outside, art space and urban space, Falkner and Smash137 – the Smash137 exhibition stitches together fragments of a biography to create an immersive spatial experience. A diptych consisting of site-specific temporary work in the outdoor area of Smash137 finds its counterpart in the exhibition space as a fragmented canvas entitled Schlendrian by Adrian Falkner.

Nathalie Gallus, October 2024

GRAFFITI PAINTER REVISITED

Zu Besuch bei «Adrian Falkner – Cazimi»

Adrian Falkner versteht sich seit jeher als Maler: Jemand, der Bilder schafft, indem er

Farbe auf einen Malgrund aufbringt. So ist er als Smash137 in der Graffiti-Szene

weltweit berühmt geworden; als zeitgenössischer Künstler erfindet er sich gerade neu.

Vor zehn Jahren habe ich die Texte für die Ausstellung «Adrian Falkner – Graffiti

Painter» in einer Galerie in der Pariser Innenstadt verfasst. Die Fragen nach den

Schnittstellen zwischen Malerei, Graffiti und zeitgenössischer Kunst sind schon

damals präsent; doch diesmal findet Falkner andere – und für mich überzeugendere – Antworten.

Und nun «Cazimi» in der «zone contemporaine» in einem wenig charmanten Vorort

von Bern. So unwirtlich die Umgebung ist, so überraschend ist die «zone» selbst.

Mein Weg dorthin führt vom Showroom eines Reifenhändlers voller glänzender

Felgen die Treppe hoch. Es ist ein erstaunlicher Raum: eine monumentale Halle,

prädestiniert, um Kunst in Szene zu setzen.

Doch noch vor der eigentlichen Ausstellung steht SMASH137 in Silber und Schwarz

an der Wand. Buchstaben, die für sich lesbar sind und doch ineinanderfliessen. Mir

wird wieder mal vor Augen geführt, weswegen Falkner als style writer weltweit

berühmt ist: Ein Auge für Details, Virtuosität im Umgang mit der can, dynamische

letters, ein eigener style. Neben den ästhetischen Ansprüchen ist auch der Wille

sichtbar, Zufälle zuzulassen und das rigide Korsett der Buchstaben zu unterlaufen.

Die Referenz an Falkners Ursprünge als writer ist klar – und doch wirkt sie auf mich

eher als Fremdkörper im hell ausgeleuchteten Treppenhaus. Denn die weisse Wand

als Malgrund spricht eine andere Sprache als der öffentliche Raum – der Kontext

sperrt sich gegen die Erzählung von illegaler Aneignung, von Adrenalin und

Zeitdruck. Aber wenn diese Faktoren wegfallen, fehlt ein wesentliches Element, das

über die Faszination für gekonnt gemalte Buchstaben hinausgeht.

Mit ein Grund, weshalb Graffiti im Kunstkontext noch nie besonders gut funktioniert

hat, denke ich. Denn zeitgenössische Kunst bedeutet nicht nur handwerkliches

Können, sondern auch den reflektierten Umgang mit Geschichte, Form und Material

des gewählten Mediums.

Im Atelier bunte Buchstaben auf eine rechteckige Leinwand zu sprühen und diese

dann auf eine weisse Wand zu hängen, war kein erfolgreicher Ansatz, um die

spezifischen Qualitäten von Graffiti in den Kunstkontext zu transportieren (auch wenn

sich solche Bilder durchaus sehr gut verkaufen lassen).

Über die Jahre hat Falkner bereits vieles ausprobiert: Andere Bildträger (u. a.

Schwämme und Schubladen); die graduelle Umwandlung von erkennbaren

Buchstaben in malerische Gesten; das Abbilden des urbanen Kontextes, in dem

Graffiti sein könnte.

Nun hat er – zumindest partiell – zu den Buchstaben zurückgefunden. Doch durch

das Zerschneiden der besprayten Leinwände löst sich Falkner davon, seinen Style

auszustellen. Graffiti-Fragmente werden zum Material, das er neu arrangieren kann.

Falkners Vorliebe, Formen fortzusetzen oder aufzubrechen, sie gegeneinander

auszubalancieren, bekommt ein neues Spielfeld. Dabei kontrastieren gerade

Nahtlinien die geschwungenen Formen der Malerei.

Möglich gemacht hat dies ein neues Werkzeug: die Nähmaschine. Zugleich bildet sie

einen Kontrapunkt zur Graffiti-Welt, die für mich immer auch mit Aggression und

Zerstörung assoziiert ist. Das Nähen dagegen ist ein Symbol des Häuslichen, des

Sorge-Tragens par excellence. Die Nähmaschine wird aber auch zum Katalysator für

den Rückgriff auf ein klassisches Hip-Hop-Element: den Remix. Falkner cuttet seine

eigenen pieces und setzt sie zu einem «Brocken» zusammen. Mit Linien, die mal

zusammenfinden, mal abbrechen, kreiert er einen neuen Rhythmus.

In der Ausstellung sind Falkners Bilder ins Zentrum gesetzt und bestimmen den

Raum. Ich sehe zunächst eine Reihe schwebender Objekte, die nach hinten immer

grösser werden. Unregelmässige Vielecke schweben in der Leere, doch sie wenden

mir den Rücken zu. Die Kanthölzer, auf die die Leinwände gespannt sind, wirken

noch neu und stehen damit in deutlichem Kontrast zur schmutzigen Patina des Stoffs

auf der Vorderseite. Die Folge eines Reifungsprozesses, der darin besteht, sie

achtlos in die Ecke zu werfen?

Der Malgrund hat sich nicht nur von der Wand gelöst, er präsentiert auch seine

Gemachtheit und will umschritten werden. Ich bewege mich nicht den Bildern

entlang, sondern zwischen ihnen. So wird mein Blick immer wieder auf die

abgelebten Leinwände gelenkt, durch deren winzigen Löcher Licht dringt. Auf der

Vorderseite kreiert der Effekt ein subtiles Glitzern. Es ist nicht das einzige Element,

das mich an eine Himmelskonstellation denken lässt.

Schliesslich bezeichnet der Titel «Cazimi» eine astrologische Stellung, bei der die

Sonne einen Planeten mit ihrer Energie durchtränkt. Dabei verschwindet der Planet

zwar kurzzeitig, kommt aber gestärkt wieder hervor. Graffiti Painter passt besser

denn je, denke ich – aus den Schnittstellen sind Nähte geworden.

Rémi Jaccard, Mai 2024

Dank: Grégoire Vuilleumier.

„Hands“ – this is what Adrian Falkner calls a series of ink drawings on paper, which he leads since 2017 in his artistic repertoire. With sponge soaked in ink, he draws a virtuoso line usually with 5 rotations whose beginning and end meet in one point. But to interpret a hand with five fingers in the five lines, however, would be too simple.

Falkner’s interest in writing has changed in recent years in his work: from the first tags, through his distinctive writings as a street artist, to the use of writing and signs on an increasingly conceptual level in public space as well as his paintings. In the process, the composed writing lost its meaning for him. It is no longer the once sprayed artist name as a constructed sign in a surface that is his theme, but with the series „Hands“ Adrian Falkner addresses writing as a process of abstraction and as a manual gesture of drawing spontaneous and conceived lines.

In the context of authorship, the hand is the medium of writing. The Latin word „stylus“ means both individual writing style as well as writing instrument. Scripture has broadened its spectrum and has conquered space. The line has developed genealogically from mere aid to an autonomous art form. Adrian Falkner has inscribed himself in this tradition and writes in public space as well as in his pictorial spaces equally.

Janine Stoll, April 2019