VISION ART FESTIVAL and How To Take URBAN ART To NEW HEIGHTS

USPA NEWS - It started like some kind of fairy tale with a simple question : why not asking Artists to express themselves on the grey concrete surfaces of cable car stations, parking lots and other empty walls ? Then, 'Vision Art Festival' became one-of-a-kind encounter between nature and art in the amazing...

It started like some kind of fairy tale with a simple question : why not asking Artists to express themselves on the grey concrete surfaces of cable car stations, parking lots and other empty walls ? Then, 'Vision Art Festival' became one-of-a-kind encounter between nature and art in the amazing setting of the Valais Alps.... So, the 'Vision Art Festival' reflects now an Open-air Museum in the Mountains, spread over an incredible surface located between 1.500 and 3.000m above Sea level.

CRANS-MONTANA (renowned Swiss Resort) with a spectacular circular view, coiled up on a mountainous plateau overlooking the Rhone Valley and the Valais Alps, offers an ideal platform to prize the Contemporary Trends of the Urban and Street Art Scene.

As a reminder : Crans-Montana is a destination full of History and Valais Folk Traditions. Culture can be admired, savoured and shared in all its facets (Museums, Festivals, Exhibitions and Galleries), representing just some of the cultural diversity of the region).

To describe the 'Street Art', we can say that it is a Visual Art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned Artwork executed outside of the context of traditional Art Venues.The term gained popularity during the Graffiti Art boom of the early 1980s and continues to be applied to subsequent incarnations.The terms 'Urban Art', 'Guerrilla Art', 'Post-Graffiti' and 'Neo-Graffiti' are also sometimes used when referring to Artwork created in these contexts. Traditional spray-painted Graffiti Artwork itself is often included in this category.

'Street Art' is often motivated by a preference on the part of the Artist to communicate directly with the public at large, free from perceived confines of the formal art world. Street Artists sometimes present socially relevant content infused with esthetic value, to attract attention to a cause or as a form of 'Art provocation'. Street Artists often travel between countries to spread their designs. Some Artists have gained cult-followings, media and Art World attention, and have gone on to work commercially in the styles which made their work known on the streets.

'Street Art' is a form of Artwork that is displayed in a community on its surrounding buildings, streets, and other publicly viewed surfaces. Many pieces of Street Art come in the form of Guerrilla Art, which is a work that is composed to make a public statement about the society that the Artist lives within. Street Art can come in many forms as in recent years, the term has become an Umbrella term for any work of Art that is created or placed in a public area. Slogans of protest and political or social commentary graffitied onto public walls are the precursor to modern Graffiti and Street Art, and continue as one aspect of the genre.

Much of what can now be defined as modern Street Art has well-documented origins dating from New York City's Graffiti boom, with its infancy in the 1960s, maturation in the 1970s, and peaking with the spraypainted full-car subway train murals of the 1980s centered in the Bronx.... Some Street Artists have earned international attention for their work and have made a full transition from Street Art into the Mainstream Art World, some while continuing to produce Art on the Streets.

As Street Art has become more accepted by the general public, most likely due to its artistic recognition and the high-profile status of Banksy and other Graffiti Artists. This has led Street Art to become one of the 'sights to see' in many European cities. Some street Artists now provide tours of local Street Art and are able to share their knowledge, explaining the ideas behind many works, the reasons for tagging and the messages portrayed in a lot of graffiti work.

The Founder, President & Curator of 'Vision Art Festival' in Crans-Montana is Grégory PAGES. Born in Geneva, of a French-German father and a Swiss-Iranian mother, Gregory grew up in Germany where he went to school. He studied Politics with a minor in Hispanic Studies at Saint-Louis University Madrid Campus before graduating in Saint-Louis, Missouri. After graduation he moved to Switzerland in the Alpine Resort of Crans-Montana and also graduated as Swiss Snow Pro.

Going down the slopes he was struck by all these naked concrete walls spread over the beautiful landscape and the dream of an Ope- air Urban Art Museum was born. Gregory grew up surrounded by Art and the Artists of the Gallery founded by his father in 1989 in Baden-Baden. Soon he was also involved in the daily business and became Director and Partner of the Geneva Frank Pages Gallery opened in 2013 before dedicating to the Vision Art Festival. (www.visionartfestival.com).

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www.suisse.com - www.crans-montana.ch - www.tgv-lyria.com (Paris-Switzerland, 20 daily return tickets, one way at 29 Euros with up to 3 months ahead booking) - Swiss Travel System tickets for foreign tourists (http://www.myswitzerland.com/fr-fr/transport-voyager/billets.html