cats ´n´ bears

kunstwolke presents
cats ‘n’ bears
vernissage

artists
Thiago Goms & Karina Oliveira de Toledo
Thiago ‘Goms’ was born in Sa?o Paulo in 1984. His earliest influences came from his childhood strolls through the city‘s downtown area, where he grew fascinated with the street art decorating the area‘s high-rises and began to wonder how it was all done and who it was done by. Although he wasn‘t quite sure what the urban works were all about, in time he started trying to memorize what he saw and recreating it in his notebooks at school. During his adolescence, some of his friends who were already painting in the neighborhoods of Grajau convinced him to move his canvas from the page to the walls, and over time his understanding of the street art universe and his desire to paint both continued to grow. Little by little, he started transporting his works to other mediums, where he drew on his comic book and cartoon influences to create his characters, and incorporated elements from his own imaginary universe. He soon realized the similarities between these characters and his friends and relatives and began utilizing the characteristics and behaviors of those around him as inspiration. The marriage of these influences is what brings his anthropomorphic characters to life in Sa?o Paulo with a blend of animalistic qualities and human personality – nothing more than a reflection and artistic extension of himself.
Karina Oliveira de Toledo (Sa?o paulo/SP - Brazil) born in 1989, is a plastic artist, illustrator and big contemporary art enthusiast. Known as KOT, her signature honors the nickname her mother gave her back when she was a kid. Karina studied Arts, Literature and Architecture, experiences that clearly inspire her artwork. The Art college, a creative base which impelled the artist to create and express herself, added to her background as a school teacher brought a colorful and inventive aura to her work, idealized with expressive and strong strokes from the architecture knowledge she got from college. Karina is one of the youngest artists of Sa?o Paulo‘s artistic vanguard who participates actively in social projects in her city. Her work is multifaceted and full of contagious strokes which lead us to a playful and imaginary universe of her background. She interlaces her life story and her art, overflowing the city‘s walls with a creative personal diary. Currently studying animals and their relation to mankind, KOT develops a series of bears with human characteristics, blending reality to imagination in a portrait of her own personality.

a new limited edition print from Thiago Goms handmade by kunstwolke in cooperation with dasviadukt will be available at the vernissage.