Nearly 30 artists will take to BLINK stages, October 12-15, providing live entertainment for the 20-block lights and art event.
BLINK, set to run from Cincinnati’s Banks to Findlay Market, will feature nearly 70 interactive art sculptures, projection mappings, murals and other light-based displays. Through an immersive and magical experience, the goal of BLINK is to define Cincinnati an innovative, inclusive and creative future city.
BLINK runs Thursday through Sunday, 7:15 p.m.-midnight, each night. Free and open to the public, BLINK is produced by Agar, ArtWorks, Brave Berlin, The Carol Ann and Ralph V Haile, Jr./U.S. Bank Foundation and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber.
“BLINK visitors can expect everything from African dance companies to electric dance parties,” said Andrew Salzbrun, managing partner of The Agar and key organizer of BLINK. “Cincinnati’s musical roots are deep and BLINK will honor them well with this downright awesome entertainment line-up.”
Eight world-renowned mural artists will turn Cincinnati’s Pleasant Street into an outdoor art gallery for BLINK. The Pleasant Street mural project is the brainchild of Cincinnati event and experience agency, The Agar, in conjunction with JustKids, a creative house that conceives, produces and promotes comprehensive art projects on an international scale.
“Cincinnati is well-known for its murals. BLINK will take that to a new and unique level by transforming Pleasant Street into an open-air art gallery,” said Andrew Salzbrun, managing partner of The Agar. “These murals are also BLINK’s leave-behind. They will be here long after this ambitious event.”
The muralists are:
- Ana Maria – Hailing from Puerto Rico and living in Arkansas, Ana Maria Ortiz (Ana Marietta) started painting on old wood pieces with tempera paint as a little girl in her dad’s wood shop in Barranquitas. Getting into the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, she studied art and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Animal Science. Known by the local art scene for her humanoid creatures, Ana paints and draws animals with exaggerated anthropomorphic features creating sympathy for her iconoclastic subjects in a society of stereotypes, with cynicism and dark humor.
- Bicecleta Sem Freio (“Bicycle Without Brake”) – This is the internationally acclaimed Brazilian duo of illustrators and muralists, Douglas de Castro and Renato Pereira. They became internationally famous for their hand-drawn illustrations and large-scale public artworks around the world. Their work can be seen in major cities like London, Berlin, Hong Kong, Miami, Las Vegas, Montreal and Los Angeles. They have also collaborated with brands such as Nike, NBA, UFC, Converse, and Vans as well as musicians such as Beck, Kings of Leon and Vampire Weekend.
- D*Face – London’s D*Face is one of the most prolific contemporary urban artists of his generation. He uses a family of dysfunctional characters to satirize and hold to ransom all that falls into their grasp. His work can be seen across a variety of different media applying his playful, tongue-in-cheek imagery with anti-establishment values. D*Face is the only urban artist to date to be featured on the front cover of the fine art publication Art Review.
- Demsky – Born in 1979 and hailing from Spain, Demsky has not ceased in deconstructing the alphabet from every angle. Crossing the entire world, jumping between hemispheres and continents, seeking for a new dimension. Visually recognizable at first sight, his work captures the whole essence of arcades and sci-fi saturated films, inspired by blue laser and red neon. His elegant compositions devour space and make you travel to a totally unknown, but such familiar world that we could enter it.
- Ernest Zacharevic – Mr. Zacharevic is a Lithuanian-born multidisciplinary contemporary artist with a passion for creating art outdoors. Experimentation lies at the heart of Ernest’s style, with the only constant being the dedication to his ever-changing concepts. Zacharevic’s artistic interventions engage with their urban surroundings. The artist’s primary interest is in the relationship between art and the landscape, with concepts often evolving as part of a spontaneous response to the immediate environment, the community and culture.
- ROA – ROA is the pseudonym of a Belgian street artist that has been leaving both accidental and intentional viewers in awe for years. His hand painted, large scale and unique portrayals of rabbits, birds, fish and other animals disquietly cohabit city streets. Although this artist’s work is a contender when discussing the most famous urban pieces in recent history, not much is known about this painter who uses anonymity to ensure his artwork and spirit remain uncompromised.
- Saner – Mexican street artist, illustrator and graphic designer Saner creates a distinctive vision of the world using traditional imagery from his own cultural heritage and sometimes mixing it up with the ones from the countries he visits. Born as Edgar Flores, he was raised in Mexico City, where he had a chance to discover the street art which inspired him to earn a degree in graphic design from the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico. His work has been exhibited in galleries from Mexico City and New York to Berlin, London and Barcelona.
- Xylene Projects – Cincinnati’s Xylene Projects is a creative force; a crew of artists that specialize in murals, illustration and design. They create exciting and engaging work with an emphasis on high standards of craft and execution.
BLINK will span 20 city blocks, from The Banks to Findlay Market. For more information about BLINK, click here.
Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber