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Kel1st and Yu 余

Artist Bio

Cecilia.W.Yu 余詠詩 inherited “the eye” from the Shaolin and Tai chi masters in Hong Kong who created world changing cinemas. She exhibited worldwide, starting as an award-winning teenage visual artist, growing up in Melbourne, Australia. In December 2012, she joined a prestigious list, beginning with Guiseppe Verdi’s costume designer for Aida, by exhibiting at the Christmas Show of El Hanager (National Opera House) in Cairo, Egypt. Her art has been touring Japan nationally since 2010 and is permanently installed at the rebuilt MFA in Fukishima . She curated for the 2008 Global Pre-Olympics Cultural Program titled “China Now! The best of Modern China”. Cecilia made her solo artistic debut at the official Edinburgh International Art Festival. Her first graffiti-fine art experiment was featured as protest art in Klimaforum’09 (People’s Climate Sumit ) during UNFCC COP 15 in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 2014, she was sponsored for a month long Masterclass with the conservation experts from the Accademia di belle arti (Michael Angelo's old academy and experts in restoration of the Sistine Ceiling, Duomo and Santa Maria Novella in Firenze). In 2015 Cecilia was invited to join the infamous United Arts Club in Dublin, Ireland (founded by the Irish Poet Laureate Yeats, his immediate family and friends) and attended an arts residency at Cill Riliag, Co. Kerry. She was offered a subsidized art studio in Scotland, an upcoming artist led area dubbed by the media as "the new Hippest Place in Britain".

Kel1st’s (aka Randy Rodriguez) trains were the centre-pieces of Subway Art (book) and were featured in the “viral” Style Wars film (documentary). His legendary skill, style and influence uplifted many rising stars of New York City’s aerosol culture. He became a Graffiti Wild Style Master and a New York Creative Legend. His work was acquired for permanent collection by the Brooklyn Museum of Art. As an award winning Art Director with clients (which included Microsoft, Mariah Carey, Ralph Lauren & The Wall Street Journal), Kel1st successfully led teams of fresh talents in publishing and commercial designs. He is a pioneer who brought technology and culture to the inner city’s under-served population like the Hip Hop Student Union in Seattle. After a brief creative sabbatical in Texas, he returned to his New York City Graffiti roots in the Bronx, looked up his peers at NYU and The Met, determined to continue his creative journey.

Artist Statement

Kel1st and Yu's "Agent Orange and the Fir$t Ho(p)e" Triptych series, is showing the signs of the times in 2017 with humour and a British neo-Punk influence. We wanted to address the rise of American neo-nazism and their racist organisations arrival to the laid-back liberal and diversity embracing Berkeley, San Francisco with humour and deliver a glowing "love bomb" via our Fusion Arts.

Cecilia: "Since my greatest Golden age of Hollywood cinematic influence was from a mentor who was a holocaust survivor who went on to make World changing cinemas such as Lawrence of Arabia, the African Queen and Highlanders, I feel it is a creative necessity to address the rise of neo-nazism in the USA, via the Arts. Altered Barbie's creative defiance has garnered National and International fame. After discussions with Kel1st who said," It has been a sh*tshow with Agent Orange in charge.."
I responded," Nothing like the super regressive feminist backlash power of the Fir$t Hoe who helped her husband brag about pussy-groping other women!"

Thus our working title and this 3 part mixed Medium collage was born: "Agent Orange and the Fir$t Hoe".
In the months where Kel1st in NYC and Cecilia on the Greek islands developed the art, rumours of our creative directions spread and we are proud to say that, " As Influencers, many in the global graffiti art scenes like the artists in Berlin are doing "altered swastika" ...See this bbc footage: https://youtu.be/exPElLnXHac "

Art should never collaborate with Intolerance. Laughter is a great anti-dote to bigotry.

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13 years 2 months