The Journey Is Everything
From 12/04/2024 To 04/05/2024
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A luggage packed with experiences
On board a metaphorical high-speed train, Kraita317 embarks on a journey through various
stations in his artistic pathway. The first destination under scrutiny is Florence, where he settled
permanently in 2020 after arriving from Romania. In his baggage, like comfortable clothes, he
carries with him the expressive codes of Writing, a culture that is part of his experience. Here, the
artist begins to explore the streets of an unfamiliar city, amidst the cacophony of a new,
incomprehensible language, rendering dialogue with others impossible. Here, at this hypothetical
station, the only decipherable communication comes through the inputs gathered from the streets,
walls, and nuances of daily life. These inputs serve as the compass guiding Kraita317 towards a
conscious engagement with the walls of UNESCO heritage sites, as he observes the media
utilized by fellow artists in the area. This rich tapestry of daily signals is translated by the artist as a
series of inquiries: "The city asks me questions to which I feel compelled to respond,” he asserts,
illuminating a crucial aspect of his artistic ethos. Urban action, therefore, becomes an urgent
avenue for communication, evolving over time into a prolific and constant sowing within the visible
and invisible street that Kraita317 traverses.
From this juncture forward, from one stop to another, Kraita317 disembarks and boards this
allegorical train, journeying toward intimate and ever-new expressive destinations. He packs away
the sights, sounds, and internalized experiences, elements that facilitate a constant digestive
process that yields inexhaustible questions and thus, further answers. Artworks become silent yet
eloquent witnesses to this discourse, where emotions and sensations take center stage. In his
paintings, the artist visually translates moods and patterns that manifest in his daily life, at times
reinterpreting them in new forms years later.
Inspired by the memory of the graffiti puppets he once painted, Kraita317 "responds" to Florence
with initial works depicting doll-shaped figures embracing hearts, made on posters, walls, or
recycled materials. This marks a stage where figurative narratives persist, intersected with the
burgeoning principle of chromatic choices - a constant pursuit throughout his artistic journey. The
next phase delves into the study of perspective and geometry, resulting in an optical style that
melds color with geometric elements and perspective illusions. Following these two aesthetic
stopovers, a new era emerges, featuring subjects that are still recognizable in the common setting
of human figures. Bodies become forms filled with flat colors dominated by black, red, and blue,
sometimes accompanied by slogans like "the world don't give a fuck about your loneliness,"
inscribed within the works themselves.
The current juncture serves as both a culmination and a departure from previous expressive
destinations. This groundwork is evident in the penultimate stop before the current exhibition — the
intervention at the Museo Novecento in Florence titled "Different Might be Everything." Here,
Kraita317 embarked on a process akin to shedding excess baggage, removing elements until
arriving at aesthetic solutions that synthesize fluid and geometric forms, graphite marks, and
primary colors. These elements blend with traces of stories etched into recycled supports, resulting
in a juxtaposition of hidden and revealed components. The language chosen for this conversation
is abstractionism, whose expressive codes break free from the limits of conventional narration.
Reflecting intimate moods among the city streets stands as a compelling aspect of Kraita 317's
poetics, setting him apart in his artistic production. His personal exploration of abstract urban
trends offers passersby not only a symbolic reflection between the artwork and its surroundings but
also the opportunity to immerse themselves in the moment of discovery. This sowing of artistic
seeds educates both the city and its denizens, fostering a silent exchange of feelings as well as a
dialogue where external and internal landscapes merge within the same continuum.
With these foundations "The Journey is Everything" transcends mere collection of work, evolving
into a voyage where the visible and invisible realms intersect. At the Street Levels Gallery station,
invites the audience aboard his metaphorical train, navigating curves and deviations while
steadfastly charting a course toward the future. It's a space-time continuum mirroring the lessons
learned from the streets: paintings become questions, inviting viewers to respond embarking on
individual journeys of interpretation. Through the window frames of these artistic carriages,
following a fast-flowing stream free from the constraints of words, viewers become creators of
meaning, defining backgrounds, details, and subjects as they immerse themselves in Kraita 317's
artistic voyage.
"The Journey is Everything” is an invitation, a reminder that the first journey we undertake is the
present moment - the sole instance where the power of choice resides. As Elio D’Anna writes in
the book "The Technology of the Dreamer,” "Know that there is no 'power' out there that can
destroy you. Out there, nothing can happen without your consent, inner approval, or intent. [...] The
world of events and circumstances depends entirely on you. The conditions of the world exactly
correspond to your inner states.”
The journey is everything because it's that moment of self-awareness in our interaction with the
world. Each second presents an opportunity to decide our path and select what to carry in our
metaphorical suitcase of life.
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