The Banksy exhibition contains around 50 original works by Street Art legend Banksy.

Moco museum has all his iconic works on display, like Laugh Now, Barcode, Girl with Balloon, Kids on Guns, Pulp Fiction, Flower Thrower, Monkey Queen, Kate Moss, Bomb Hugger, Soup Can and many more. The centerpiece of the exhibition is the Beanfield painting, which measures 2.5 x 3.5 meters. Though it has not been on display since 2009, Beanfield is an important piece as it emphasizes Banksy’s activist nature.
Banksy is well known for his outdoor art which can be found in streets all around the world. London even has maps marking the locations where you can find his pieces, many of which are monitored against vandalism. Banksy’s indoor pieces – original and unique works on canvas, wood and paper – have so far been less exposed.

You will now find these indoor pieces, on loan from collectors, at Moco. As an addition, we even have a few pieces that were rescued from the rubble of torn down buildings.

The fact that the young Iranian brothers Icy (34) and Sot (29) are called the ‘Banksy of Iran’ is not without reason. In their own country, their work is not only considered controversial, it is even banned. Notwithstanding, the work of these street artists literally holds a mirror to the current Iranian society. With their work they offer an idiosyncratic view on themes like oppression, fame, freedom, war and dreams. The talent of the brothers did not go unnoticed and soon Icy and Sot got the chance to leave the streets of Tabriz tempted by New York.

Admiration among art lovers increased even more in The Big Apple. Success seemed assured, but not without sacrifice: By embracing their success in America, returning to their native country became impossible.

We now know that Icy and Sot did not give up their future in their native country in vain. The duo currently holds several exhibitions in New York and are working hard to gain international success. Just recently (February 6, 2018) the two were the subject of discussion thanks to a playful action on Wall Street. By placing a gigantic crumpled dollar bill in the middle of New York’s financial district, the two opposed greed and the volatility of capitalism.

Anna Nooshin 

The works that will feature in the ICY and SOT exhibition are being chosen by Kim Logchies and Anna Nooshin. Moco founder Kim Logchies knew from their very first meeting that Anna Nooshin was the perfect match for the Moco Museum and its works and she was determined that the two should collaborate. The choice of ICY and SOT was a joint decision. Anna’s story is similar to that of ICY and SOT but it was her personal taste, natural affinity with and curiosity for art that persuaded Kim to enlist Anna as co-curator for this extraordinary exhibition.

Anna identified with the two brothers who also fled from their native country of Iran. Like them, she has also succeeded in moving on from a difficult start in life and achieving a positive and inspirational turnaround. In early March, Anna and Kim travelled to New York to meet the artists and select works for the exhibition. Anna is involved in the whole creative process.

“One day Alice came to a fork in the road and saw a Cheshire cat in a tree. ‘Which road do I take?’ she asked. ‘Where do you want to go?’ was his response. ‘I don’t know,’ Alice answered. ‘Then,’ said the cat, ‘it doesn’t matter.”

We at Moco Museum believe, that the best adventures happen unexpectedly. One day you don’t mind your steps and whops… You have just stumbled into an adventure. The same might just happen here in the magical museum, or did you ever find a huge, red gummy bear sitting inside your garden? Well, there is a chance that you might believe that you are hallucinating but actually you have just stepped out into the green garden. We invite you to take a stroll and get lost on your way. There is one or another hidden surprise waiting for you…

Constantly changing and international. From Banksy’s ‘Heart Boy’, to Whisbe’s ‘Gummy Bear’ and Fidia’s ‘Freaky Mouse’. There is something enchanting about our collection. Not only can you enjoy the discovery, you can also touch and use some of them.

Swing yourself on the Horseback of Marcel Wander’s ‘Tempter’ and let yourself get beamed into the uttermost magic of your childhood dreams, or pin a wishpin into the statue ‘portrait’ by Wanders. The artwork forms a unique landscape of hopes and dreams, made by each of us.

Keep you eyes open and enjoy the adventures.

An exhibition of one of the greatest contemporary art interpreters and a master of Pop Art. The influence of Roy Lichtenstein’s art is still evident in many forms of artistic expression: from paintings to advertising, from photography  design and fashion. You recognize his influence at first glance. Lichtenstein has become part of the subconscious cultural heritage to all of us.

What’s behind Roy Lichtenstein’s work?

Lichtenstein’s art seems “easy” to understand. But beneath the surface it is an intellectual, rationalistic art, premeditated and realized through a complex process of a deconstruction and reconstruction of the image: bold lines associated with flat colors, thousands of regular dots, a magnified halftone screen that suggests the idea of chiaroscuro and even the impression of reflections of light.

Right from the start, Roy Lichtenstein’s sophisticated art has had been an uninterrupted force of seduction impacting visual culture and communication, and will continue to do so for a long time to come.

The Spanish artist Salvador Dalí was undoubtedly one of the most important figures of the Surrealist movement. Dalí lived from 11th of May 1904 until 23rd of January 1989. His strikingly beautiful and bizarre surrealist artworks are still widely celebrated and relevant today. His creations within the disciplines of painting, sculpture, photography and fashion are just as legendary as the eccentric artist himself.

A short time before the birth of Salvador Dalí, his brother – who was also called Salvador – died. Dalí was convinced to be the reincarnation of his brother. He grew up in the small town of Figueres in the Spanish region of Catalonia. He came from a good family; his parents encouraged his artistic ambitions and he studied at the Madrid Academy of Art. His studies marked the beginning of his eccentric lifestyle. In the 1920s, he went to Paris and got into contact with artists such as Picasso, Magritte and Miró. This led to his early phase in surrealism. Dalí’s work began to explore three themes: The universe and human sensation, sexual symbolism, and pictography.

Even before this period, Dalí was an enthusiastic reader and fan of the theories of neurologist Sigmund Freud. The psychic, surreal and hallucinatory creatures and spaces which originated from within were in a strong contrast with his classical painting technique which was in influenced by the Renaissance artists.

After meeting the love of his life, his muse Gala in 1929, the couple achieved a star status that we are familiar with today. His unbridled ambition and his decision to become a genius took him to unprecedented heights. As he said himself: “When I was six years old, I wanted to be a cook. When I was seven, I wanted to be Napoleon. Since then, my ambition has continued to grow at the same pace.” After World War II, he moved with his wife to the United States where his classic period of artworks began. He became fascinated by religion and the scientific discoveries of his time. In addition, Dalí learned how to work commercially: in 1969, he designed the logo for the well-known lollipop brand ‘Chupa-Chups’.

In 1988, Dalí was taken to the hospital in Figueres with a failing heart. He died in 1989 and was buried beneath the Theatre-Museum.

At Moco, we believe that art is there to change the world. Our inner world and human possibilities are increased through the imagination of artists. Humanity’s open-mindedness and mental capacity can still be taken to ever greater heights and, in this, Salvador Dalí was a role model. As he once said himself: “I don’t do drugs, I am drugs.”

In the 60’s, after the heydays of the heavily theoretical and therefore untouchable Abstract Expressionism of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Robert Motherwell, New York saw the dawn of a new era of new art movements which opened up to lighter art forms. It was time for an art form which allowed references to everyday objects and which did not disregard the culture of the masses, but embraced it. This art form was called Pop-Art.

With Pop-Art came Andy Warhol, who became famous by manipulating images from popular icons from the lm industry as well as household objects. In his studio, the Factory, he made his version of iconic, but everyday objects, by enhancing them (Campbell’s Soup Cans), used repetitions (Brillo Boxes) and/or depicted them in an unrealistic but simple range of colours (Marilyn). By putting these everyday objects in a different light in his works, he challenged the Western culture in the 60’s on subjects like the pop-industry and the mass culture.

These days, more than 50 years after Warhol’s breakthrough, his works are still as relevant as they were back then. We still question the mass culture within the Western culture, consumerism and the pop industry. The questions that are evoked by his art together with the accessibility of his work, make Andy Warhol an artist for all generations.