Titifreak in Newcastle


Titifreak is a long-standing friend and collaborator, we’ve shared times in Birmingham, London, Brighton, Berlin, Sao Paulo and Rio and it was a pleasure to finally feature his work in depth in the last book Street Sketchbook Journeys…

So its great to see him returning to the UK even if it has been only briefly. Titifreak was invited by onethirty3– a new project space in Newcastle to make an immersive installation. The idea behind the project as I understand it, is to invite six artists per year to create indoor murals and installations where nothing is for sale except a limited print edition to help fund the costs.

The installation is open for one night only. Although creating an indoor installation is not a new one,  Titifreak has created some beautiful installs for museums and institutions such as MASP and Tomie Ohtakemuseums, but what makes this different a museum show is the complete freedom to paint is like being in the artist’s own studio. While what makes it a change from a normal commercial show is the lack of pressure to create works for sale such as canvases. From my own experience working with Titifreak and other Brazilian artists, the problems of importing and exporting art to and from Brazil with its insane tax laws, can also be prohibitive.