UPAINT 2023 took place from June 4th to June 7th, 2023 at the Promenade du Larvotto, by the beach, in Monaco. This year, we had the honor to showcase the work of an eclectic list of Artists from around the world. We continued to raise funds for the FPA2 to fund one of their current environmental projects. RE.Generation is a program dedicated to empowering the leaders of tomorrow.
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Click here to register for the Auction on June 7th at 6pm, organized by Hôtel des Ventes Monte-Carlo, and to see the Catalog of the artworks' lots.
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Discover UPAINT 2023 Artists and their stories below...
HAMA WOODS
IENA CRUZ
LORD ANTHONY CAHN
LULA GOCE
MARTIN WHATSON
MON DEVANE
MR ONE TEAS
NILS INNE
ONE TRUTH BROS
RYLSEE
STOM500
WOSKERSKI
HAMA WOODS (Norway)
HaMa Woods (b.1981) is a stencil artist based in Oslo. Her work shows deep respect for nature and its immediate connection to humanity. In search for methods to communicate the importance and revival of nature,  HaMa Woods´ stencil intuitively reflects and introduces a sociological approach to greed and human consumption, and its direct impact on our natural environment.
Her work is characterized by the use of  hand cuts, multi-layered stencils and spray paint. HaMa hopes to empower and challenge viewers to reach their own conclusions and to rethink the choices they make that affect today and tomorrow. Over the past years, she has also developed sculptures of bronze and brass which are telling the same story as her paintings. 
HaMa Woods’ artworks on canvas, paper and brass have been sold in Norway as well as internationally, and her murals can be seen in Norway, Paris, London, Chicago, Hawaii, LA and Denver to name a few. She is considered a very talented emerging artist, and has been recognized as such in both Europe and the U.S.
Follow her here: @hamawoods
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IENA CRUZ (Italy/USA)
Federico Massa aka "Iena Cruz", is a Brooklyn-based artist from Milan, Italy. A globally recognized large scale mural Artist, Iena Cruz is often commissioned for his unique style of drawing and painting, using untraditional and unusual combinations of media and technology to express a message on preservation and social-environmental justice issues like climate change.
Mr. Federico Massa’s area of expertise is a long journey of enormous study, effort and commitment to truth and excellence of his art as an Italian artist and designer. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan, Mr. Massa studied set design and fine arts, learning and exploring innovative techniques.
Mr. Massa is a well-known mural artist whose art has social meaning and is offered to serve everyone who passes by and sees it. In the streets of Brooklyn’s rapidly changing Bushwick and Williamsburg neighborhoods, the public can see many of the large scale, colorful, technically layered murals that Massa is known for internationally. Animals and nature are often featured and represent his strong beliefs in conservation.
He has been invited and selected to create public murals as well as live paintings, and to present his art at some of the most respected Art Fairs, Festivals and Venues. Massa’s Art has profound social and philosophical meaning that serves all who are touched by his images of spiritual renaissance and oneness with nature. Each one of his art pieces offers a dialogue and experience of the higher self of the viewer.
His works appear on large-scale murals, mix canvases, sculpture, as well as on other unique custom objects, including but not limited to ceramic, marble mosaic, lamp design, carpets and textile, produced with prestigious, and ethical source factory, in Italy, US, India and Nepal.
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Follow him here: @ienacruz
LORD ANTHONY CAHN
(France)
Between the walls is the home of an artist, Lord Anthony Cahn, who has taken on the rather crazy challenge of building walls as one builds an era.
Freely inspired by an existing place or memories of travels, the artist, through his creations, invites us to find places, atmospheres, lights as well as the poetry that characterizes our time. Each wall is unique and gives us the impression of a photograph of our society, frozen under the artist's gaze.
Reproducing and introducing outdoor walls into an indoor space, or the other way around, is Lord Anthony Cahn's ambition. Declined in distinct formats, the life-size walls plunge the visitor into a configuration that he does not master. As for the reduced scale walls, a more playful format, they offer us a piece of life that invites itself closer to us. The artist delivers a title of ownership for each work as proof of our existence.
Lord Anthony Cahn has the art of paying tribute to what surrounds us, of crystallizing time as he expressed it so well through the exhibition "Gainsbourg Still Alive" by Roberto Battistini, co-produced by the gallery Keza, where the visitor appropriates the street Verneuil.
He realized "Victoria" in the exhibition "Heroic Women" at the Museum of Man.
He has been in residency at the Mobile Museum (MuMo).
Currently, he is exhibiting in "Extra Muros" at the Espace Muséal de la Gare de Liège Guillemin in Belgium.
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Follow him here: @lord_anthony_cahn
LULA GOCE (Spain)
Lula Goce was born in Galicia, Spain. She grew up influenced by the salty coastal air, Barnacles, Drizzle and the beautiful beaches this region of Spain is famous for.
At 20 years old, she moved to Salamanca and graduated in fine arts specializing in painting. She proceeded to take part in competitions and scholarships, with an emphasis on ephemeral sculptures as well as paintings, both in public spaces, museums and galleries.
During this period, she discovered the thrill of transplanting her work from the gallery environment onto walls, bringing a fresh perspective to a very structured graffiti scene, leaving iconic pieces in the streets and on abandoned buildings.
Lula then moved to Barcelona, where she obtained a Master’s degree and a PhD in artistic creation at The Fine Art University of Barcelona, in Graphic Design at The Pauta Formacio, and of Illustration at The Escola de la Dona.
Barcelona turned out to have a vibrant, thriving, huge underground graffiti scene. Lula became part of art collectives developed in old factories like Hangar, Caminal or La Escocesa in Poblenou. There, she met and became a member of the raw street art collective and proceeded to develop her technique on the streets and walls of Barcelona.
Lula found a revelation in the direct interaction with spectators when realizing a huge mural in the street, and in the muscularity that this technique requires. The fact that these pieces become integral to the areas drives Lula to new heights of artistic endeavor.
Over the years, Lula has participated in urban art festivals around the world, like 501 SeeStreet in NYC, North West Walls curated by Arne Quinze in Belgium, Waterford Walls in Ireland, Memorie Urbane in Italy, Zona Maco in México, among others.
She has also participated in projects in art centers, such as the Casa de las Conchas in Salamanca; the Santa Mónica Arts Centrer and the CCCB in Barcelona to name a few; and exhibitions in DDR projects Gallery in Long Beach, CA, and Inoperable Gallery, Vienna, as well as Next Street Gallery in Paris and Street Art Place in Italy.
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Follow her here: @lulagoce
MARTIN WHATSON (Norway)
Martin Whatson (b.1984) is a Norwegian street artist best known for his calligraphic scribbles in grayscale voids. Over the past decade, Martin has developed an unmistakable aesthetic combining abstract movement with figurative stenciled compositions. His works can be seen to mirror the rise and fall of the streets, as he symbolically recreates the urban environment, then vandalizes it to reveal his vibrant transformations.
 
Growing up in Oslo, Martin was an active part of the emerging graffiti scene of the early 90’s, which at the time saw zero tolerance. The physical architecture of the city was a constant inspiration, with the elaboration and destruction of each generation contributing to the urban infrastructure. The same deconstructive processes can be seen in his creative influences of Jose Parla and Cy Twombly. In the early 2000s, his interest in layers became more literal with the introduction of stencils into his work. The evolution moved him closer to a simple yet effective aesthetic he believed could bridge the gap between the passion and spontaneity Graffiti held for him, with the fragility and transience of nature. This balance would come to define his creative approach.
 
With as many works on walls as on canvas and paper, the relationship between vulnerability and strength remains constant in each work. Delicate and organic characters features, like butterflies, ballerinas and animals, all rendered in empty grayscale space. Almost stylized, these minimal figures are constructed of a few layers of hand-cut stencils. The ashen tones of the compositions and vacant backgrounds are reminiscent of his alternative canvases, concrete. True to form, no gray space stays gray for long in Martins presence. whether immersing entirely or embellishing a detail, the images disappear beneath expressive, spray-painted strokes of assorted colors and textures.
 
Martin’s work is featured in festivals, projects and walls globally. His original work can be found in private collections and institutions, with solo exhibitions in cities from Tokyo to LA, London and New York.
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Follow him here: @martinwhatson
MON DEVANE (Spain)
Mon Devane is an urban artist from Ourense (Spain) who has used spray paint as the main tool in all his artistic work since 2003. With deep graffiti roots, he began with the old school style, but was relentless in the search for his own style, which led him towards the stage when his work acquired a realistic character.
Currently, his work focuses on the realization of portraits through a photorealistic and monochrome style. He works on large formats, where he magnifies every detail, seeking to transmit looks that tell things, lives, traditions and stories. Since 2016, he has participated in many urban art events and festivals around the world, capturing his work in countries such as the United States, Mexico, Jamaica, Bolivia, Italy, France, England... even in the United Arab Emirates. In March 2021, he inaugurated the exhibition "Las Estrellas del Camino", a huge artistic gallery with more than 140 km of travel along the French Way of Santiago.
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Follow him here: @mondevane
MR ONE TEAS (Monaco)
Mr. OneTeas started graffiti in 2005. Self-taught, he develops his style through travels, meetings and exchanges, leaving his mark on the streets of major international cities. His work focuses on planned obsolescence by giving another life to materials and consumer objects of the past while illustrating the evils of our society. He draws his inspiration from the media, political and cultural environments. By diverting images and the news, he offers us his critical vision of society, marked by humour and originality.
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In 2019, he produced his first museum retrospective at the Galerie Lympia, a former prison in Nice, with the exhibition “Reality Show 2.0” dealing with various ills of current society, by putting the viewer face to face with many excesses of our reality.
Follow him here: @mroneteas
NILS INNE (France)
Nils is originally from Nice. Preferring his skateboard to the school benches, he first travels around Europe and the world thanks to his skate sponsors before settling on the Basque Coast. Art is a logical, instinctive and inevitable next stage. Self-taught, it is in Biarritz that his artistic fiber will finally take over, although the Artist with a capital A, whole and singular, speaks of skateboarding as an art, and of art as he would about skateboarding.
His work has for frame only his imagination. However, thanks to a subtle entanglement of architectures, characters, and colors, that remain open to personal interpretation, these works take a universal dimension, which seduces lovers of skating, street art, and art lovers alike. He explores techniques, formats, materials and supports to serve his passion and to sharpen his pencil stroke. A painter, frescoist and sculptor concurrently, his "skatable" architectures and other naive iconographies, his black line and his flat colors with the brush, seduced many, even the famous tennis player Bensimon who let herself be painted! An assumed transversality at the service of an obsessive utopia: the art of skateboarding.
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Follow him here: @nilsinne
ONE TRUTH (Switzerland)
The street art - graffiti collective "One Truth" started in 2003 and since 2010 represents brothers Pase (1981) and Dr. Drax (1983). They started with street art and urban art in 1998 and put their works on canvases early. Today they are represented in collections and auctions worldwide.
One Truth has gained international recognition for the highly recognizable nature of their artistic signature and imagery. They have implemented artworks and public art for city governments, multinational corporations, have won national and international competitions, and were invited by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Expo Milano Swiss Pavilion in 2015. The One Truth Bros have been traded at multiple auctions with legends such as Banksy, Keith Harring, Obey, Cope2, Kaws, Space Invader, Futura, Blek le Rat, Taki 183, Jonone, Harald Nägeli, and more. They have realized work for UBS, FIFA, City of Zurich, Swiss Gouvernement and many more, with also countless murals implemented around the world. 
In 2016, they collaborated with the legend “Cope2”. In 2020, they met Martha Coper at the famous “unframed” exhibition. They currently have 6 works in the Zurich city art collection, and participated in the 2021 exhibition at Museum Kunsthalle Bern. In 2022, they dropped their first NFT, the 500 genesis Dog collection, which sold out in just 2 hours. Finally, this year in 2023, they will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their career with a movie & book.
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The One Truth Dogs have become their trademark, their dogs can be found all over the world under the hashtag #onetruthdog. The two brothers love their two four-legged friends. By appointment, you are welcome to visit the One Truth Bros in their studio in Zurich.
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Follow them here: @onetruth_graffiti
RYLSEE (Switzerland)
Cyril Vouilloz, AKA RYLSEE, is a Berlin based, Swiss Artist who has developed his reputation and skills through diverse forms of art. Ranging from graffiti, graphic design, hand lettering, and an avant-garde approach to typography. Inspired by moments of everyday life, the city and the passion for skateboarding, laced to the desire to make people smile.
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Follow him here: @rylsee
STOM500 (Switzerland)
Cultivating a delirious and humorous universe fed by the euphoric energy of cartoons, this self-taught virtuoso from a village near the Swiss town of Basel multiplies his talents. Trained as a graphic designer, professional illustrator and graffiti artist for the past five years, Stom500 is, as he amusingly calls himself, a true "Swiss Army knife".
Spray, brushes, acrylics, large murals or small canvases: he uses a variety of mediums and styles with a predilection for animal themes that, under the veneer of fun, carry a relevant message, often humanistic or ecological. Like his swirling bees or his apparently incompatible bestiaries, like the crow and the fox, are inspired by the Fables de La Fontaine.
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Follow him here: @stom500
WOSKERSKI (UK)
WOSKERSKI is a London-based muralist who has been painting since 1997. His style is a blend of street art and fine art with graffiti influences. The artist often creates surreal representations of reality tinged with irony and humor. His works are both illustrative and photo-realistic.
Constantly pushing boundaries, he combines a variety of mediums and styles. Today, the artist is recognized for his vivid illustrations, vibrant colors and choice of often ironic and seemingly absurd characters that often carry a pertinent message. His wide range of work includes portraits, graffiti, food illustration, typography, abstract art, digital illustration and more.
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Follow him here: @WOSKerski
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