Four Mexican artists embellish the walls of LinkedIn's first office in Mexico City, curated and managed by Artsynonym x POW! WOW! San Jose x Empire Seven Studios.
It is a pleasure for Empire Seven Studios x POW! WOW! San Jose x Artsynonym to present their first collaboration together in Mexico City, for LinkedIn Design & Build, where the work of four Mexican artists was curated and produced on site: Holalou, It's a living, Smithe and Ricardo Luevanos. Inspired by the LinkedIn mission to connect people, the global collaborators and artists carried out six artistic interventions in the first LinkedIn offices in the country.
Large-format pieces now decorate the conference rooms, as well as the lobby, in the offices located on a 16th floor on Paseo de la Reforma, next to the emblematic Chapultepec Castle, on one of the main avenues of this great city.
The themes on which the pieces are focused seek to highlight celebrated places in Mexico such as Taxco, Palenque, Dolores Hidalgo and Casa Azul.
Holalou’s artwork located in the first conference room corresponding to Palenque, have a palette of calming colors and minimalist shapes that resemble the iconic Aqueological sites of Palenque, its colossal sunrise and sunsets that culminate in a dense and humid jungle. Lines that represent the falling rain and a relaxing version of its lively green water-colored natural pools that play with visual balance for a soft but strong composition.
Likewise, her piece corresponding to the Taxco room, takes into account the colorful architecture of Taxco, the eclectic craftsmanship, culture centered on minerals, and that the rich tones of terracotta-looking oranges appear next to the traditional blue tones of Taxco. Details such as a bright sun shining on the mountains of the city, as well as dried flora are included in this piece.
On the other hand, the piece by Ricardo Luévanos, corresponding to Dolores Hidalgo conference room, seeks to represent how Mexico's war of independence was a political problem and social process that took place for eleven years and began precisely in Dolores Hidalgo on September 16th of 1810 and ended on September 27th, 1821 by liberating Mexico from Spanish rule.
His artwork represents the fight for freedom, where a Mexican bird defends its roots represented by an endemic cactus from Dolores, Hidalgo. This is a way to bring a historical event with a contemporary aesthetic onto two canvases, through paint, wood blocks, and a hanging acrylic installation that complements the piece.
Next, the large-format piece by Smithe located in Casa Azul conference room incorporates elements from the house of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, where the kitchen tiles and talavera vases are very characteristic within the space. The green area in the background also represents the importance of plants and vegetation and the constant of skulls inside the house also add to Smithe's artwork. Finally, the architecture and color also represents the importance of these elements in Casa Azul and Coyoacán area, which is the area where this emblematic artistic space is located.
Likewise, for his pieces of tiles, which are found in the rest area of the office, Smithe reflects the same line of showing the importance of art in tiles and talavera that are not only found in areas such as Coyoacán, but throughout Mexico as they represent an important part of the artistic development of Puebla, Oaxaca and Veracruz, to name a few.
Last but not least when entering the LinkedIn offices, the artwork in the hall is by the artist It's a Living, also known as Ricardo González. His piece carries a significant message with the phrase: Nuestra Herencia / "Our Heritage", highly linked to the importance of Mexico as a collective culture. The colors that predominate are colors not only of Mexico City, but also colors of the graphic identity of LinkedIn. A reminder of the positive impact that companies and communities can have when they work together to improve our spaces.
A special thank you to the media team:
Videography - Julio Bohorquez and Gladys Gonzalez / Editing - Victor Espinosa / Photography - Julio Bohorquez
About the artists:
It's a living (Durango, Mexico)
It's a living is not just a statement, but also a philosophy of life for Ricardo González, a designer and artist from Durango, Mexico who currently lives in Brooklyn. His signature writing style can be easily recognized from large-scale murals, to commercial work for some of the biggest brands, or a simple street print.
The ambiguity in the typographic messages continually creates a dialogue between the viewer and the artwork. "A word is an image" and an image can be interpreted in many ways. The direct approach of typography has been a path of exploration where the main objective is to question our daily life and produce a positive impact. After all, it is a way of making a living.
Luisa Salas, better known as Hola Lou is a Mexican illustrator and artist. Her work explores the local flora and fauna in visual illusions, simple figures, and bright colors. She is a Mexican artist and illustrator based in the Mexican Caribbean. Lou focuses on the development of scenes, objects, and abstract situations, drawing on some of the main foundations of visual design: color theory, balance, and graphic composition.
Her paintings and illustrations have been the result of years of observation and understanding of the balance in the local flora and fauna. Currently, Lou's style is based on minimalism and modernism, always having a touch of ‘Geometric Abstraction’ - an artistic style that unfolds in visual illusions, simple figures and high contrast colors.
Ricardo Luévanos (Guadalajara, Mexico)
He lives and works in Guadalajara, Mexico. In his work he explores concerns and longings that coincide with the viewer, taking emotional aspects as a starting point. Maximalist saturation and references to flora and fauna are key in his artwork and appear in it through various techniques such as collage, illustration and digitization of drawing and photography.
In recent years he has worked metaphors of different species of birds with the human being, as well as fusions of analog and digital in pieces that capture different periods and processes, in addition to specializing in the production of textile prints.
Her work can be found in galleries, magazines, album covers, and national and international clothing lines.
Smithe is an illustrator, designer, sculptor, and musician. An artist who prefers to recognize himself as an illustrator, but who passes seamlessly from canvas to a wall, from sculpture to music, to streetwear design and back to drawing. A 'superstar' creator according to Pharrell Williams himself and at the same time a simple and self-taught young man. He is proof that if there is talent and dedication, recognition falls without seeking it.
His style is recognized by the surreal defragmentation of the characters within his work. He is influenced by local comics, 1950s graphic style, and science fiction movies. He started painting graffiti at age of 13 for fun. Always drawn to the fine arts, Smithe has experimented with existentialism and human individuality to reinvent his own style every day.
About Artsynonym:
Artysonym is a leading house in creative management and a dynamic liaison led by Enriqueta Arias, which is dedicated to building bridges between artists and partners who want to communicate in an artistic way, whether through murals, exhibitions, residencies and artistic strategies.
Based in Mexico City, but with a global focus, we have an international network of more than 200 artists, curators, designers, art consultants, festivals, brands, museums and galleries.
Some of our clients are: Nike, Gucci, Gaia, Netflix, MLB, Shake Shack, WeWork, LinkedIn, Adobe, Apple, United Colors of Benetton, Nestlé, Stella Artois, L'Oréal, Sony, Universal Music, Rappi, among others .
About POW! WOW! San Jose and Empire Seven Studios:
POW! WOW! San Jose, established in 2017, is an internationally-branded and locally-led arts and culture festival rooted from a collective of San Jose artists and creatives from Empire Seven Studios—a contemporary urban art gallery and cultural institution in Japantown, San Jose, California. The organization leads are Co-Directors Juan Carlos Araujo, Stacey Kellogg, and Jennifer Ahn. Collectively, the PWSJ team has produced over 60 murals throughout the City in various neighborhoods with a focus on under-served communities. Established in 2008, Empire Seven Studios (E7S), advocates for local and global artists by creating opportunities to elevate and highlight emerging talents on a grand scale. E7S has enhanced the San Jose art scene by bringing life to the city through murals, innovative pop-up shows, and gallery exhibits. E7S has evolved as a meeting place for artists of different disciplines to engage and connect with the public.