The systems
The pandemic pivot: the work as a system of possible states.
one of the densest layers of the studio registry · about the archive →
In 2020 the planes stop; the studio doesn't. The spring of lockdown is signed with a spray-painted QR code — presented on his own website as "the LARGEST spray painted QR CODE on Earth" — which reconfigures itself to lead to a message of calm: stay home, it's almost over. In July, the New York exhibition is titled CONTACTLES⟷S and every kinetic work has a WebGL twin that can be operated from the browser, from anywhere. In Le Locle, Switzerland, the facade of the Zenith manufacture is executed remotely, mid-pandemic, in a World Heritage city. The studio had spent years being built as a system; 2020 was the load test. Graffiti, meanwhile, doesn't lock down: freight trains, commuter trains, and a few things in Italy.
2021 pushes the same logic further. In March he collaborates with Nifty Gateway on his first pieces and makes THE GRAFFITI COLLECTION, signed PANT1: graffiti pieces already buffed from the wall, fixed on the blockchain — a technical answer to graffiti's oldest problem, which is disappearing. The same year, a house floor plan is sold as an edition of 300 (Casa Variable, with Pablo Limón), an RGB painting is controlled from a phone (Additive Variability), and the studio prints its own monograph in Valencia, in CMYK plus one fluorescent ink. Configurable Art, launched in 2018, absorbs the new mechanics: manipulables, spinning discs, works the buyer finishes with an app.
2022 is the most productive year on record in the studio archive — the bulk of it editions and kinetic pieces. The abundance is no accident; it is the system working. In Tokyo, the first major solo show in Japan since 2014 is titled Manipulable and every work gets touched: the viewer moves it, or the work doesn't change state. Praesentia comes out in print — 308 pages, ten years of work, closed in the thick of 2020 — the second Zenith watch arrives with micro-engraved moiré in sapphire, and in October the hand-painted wall returns: 35 × 9 metres on Faria Lima avenue in São Paulo, ten days, and a title that is the speed of light: 300,000 Km/s.
«Hoy todo es manipulable: ya no escuchamos la radio, nos montamos nuestras propias listas; no vemos la tele, elegimos qué series poner. Internet ha hecho configurable la propia información.»
Felipe Pantone, designboom 2022
- 2020Spring: "STAY HOME" QR code, spray-painted, presented as "the LARGEST spray painted QR CODE on Earth". The code works: it links to a message of hope and patience at felipepantone.com/stayhome.felipepantone.com/stayhome
- 202016 Jul – 28 Aug: CONTACTLES⟷S at Albertz Benda, New York. Kinetic works with a WebGL digital twin at contactless.felipepantone.com, operable from the browser. The beginning of the relationship with the gallery.Albertz Benda
- 2020Facade of the Zenith manufacture in Le Locle (Switzerland), executed remotely during the pandemic in a World Heritage city; presented in January 2021. The first collaboration of its kind between a watch manufacture and a contemporary artist, according to the Swiss watchmaking federation.FHS · Zenith
- 2020Integration System P#01: the public finishes the work from an app — 5,642 possible configurations, each combination tied to a unique code. On sale at configurableart.com.configurableart.com
- 2021March: collaborates with Nifty Gateway — THE GRAFFITI COLLECTION, signed PANT1: T1: Rome, M1: Monterrey, G3: Valencia. Graffiti pieces already buffed, preserved on the blockchain.Hypebeast 2021
- 2021Zenith DEFY 21 Felipe Pantone, first watch of the collaboration; distorted hands with rainbow PVD. The unique piece for Only Watch sells for 480,000 CHF (pending verification).Zenith · Only Watch
- 2021April–November: Alpine F1 programme in three acts — show car and helmet on the Champs-Élysées, A110S art cars at the Monaco GP, live graffiti in the garage with Alonso and Ocon at the Mexico City GP.Alpine media
- 2021October–November: Casa Variable, with designer Pablo Limón, at Danysz, Paris. A house floor plan sold as an edition of 300: architecture enters the editions system — the conceptual hinge towards Casa Axis.Danysz
- 2021July: FPSTUDIO publishes the monograph by Belén Chico Moreno (UCM thesis, 2018–19), printed at La Imprenta CG, Valencia: CMYK plus fluorescent Pantone 803C ink. The studio operates as its own publishing house.
- 2022Production peak for the entire studio archive: no year deposited more work than 2022. The bulk of it editions and manipulables; among them, the Archibald armchair for Poltrona Frau's 110th anniversary (ed. 110).
- 20223 Jun – 17 Jul: Manipulable at GALLERY COMMON, Tokyo — the first major solo show in Japan since 2014. Nine kinetic works, all configurable by the visitor: the viewer moves the work or the work doesn't change.designboom · GALLERY COMMON
- 2022June: Praesentia is published (Beyond the Streets × Gingko Press): 308 pages, ten years of work, a moiré dust jacket; inside, the 2013 manifesto, the facsimile of the Cruz-Diez email, and Peiró's essay. The edition had closed in July 2020.Hypebeast
- 2022October: Zenith DEFY Extreme Felipe Pantone (ed. 100), with moiré micro-engraved in sapphire from the Planned Iridescence series.Zenith
- 2022October: 300,000 Km/s in São Paulo — 35 × 9 m on Faria Lima avenue, hand-painted in ten days for the NaLata festival; the title is the speed of light.NaLata · Street Art News
