THE FUTURE IS FANTASTIC by FALKO FANTASTIC
November 03, 2024 - December 03, 2024
16 Lerotholi Ave
“The Future is Fantastic” dives into a collision of worlds where the rebellious spirit of graffiti crashes into the poised space of fine art. Falko Fantastic, a pioneer of South African graffiti, leads this visual revolution with 52 bold, resonant pieces, each resonating with the repetitive, urgent face of a young person—a symbolic act in graffiti culture. Here, like the “tags” that saturate city walls, Falko’s repeated faces call to be seen, to stick, and to transform. Falko’s journey began with a single spray in apartheid South Africa, in an environment that barely considered graffiti a legitimate art form. He was a teenager in 1988, wielding a spray can as a weapon of imagination against the walls that divided people, cultures, and dreams. From the very start, Falko challenged the definition of art, carving a place for himself on society’s most unexpected canvases: crumbling rooftops, gritty highway underpasses, forgotten towns.
Over the years, Falko has sought out unique locations for his work, often blending it with the surroundings in a way that makes it feel as if it was always meant to be there. His murals are not interruptions in the landscape but interactions with it—a conversation between the art and the space it occupies. This subtlety reflects Falko’s desire for graffiti to be non-intrusive, to coexist with the lives of those who pass it daily. It’s in his project Once Upon A Town that we see this approach magnified, as Falko turns marginalised neighbourhoods into vibrant, open-air galleries, where each wall, each facade, becomes a canvas for transformation. In The Future is Fantastic, Falko’s distinctive elephant motif is absent, replaced by a haunting, almost hypnotic repetition of a young face, suggesting a kind of rebirth or continuity. In graffiti, tagging your name is a way to announce, “I exist.” Here, the repeated face does the same, echoing the voices of countless young people declaring their place in a world that often forgets them. The repetition recalls not just graffiti’s roots but its purpose—to imprint a name, a face, a soul onto a space that erases identity in its indifference. Through this, Falko suggests that the future belongs to those who persist in the act of creation and re-creation, despite the walls, borders, or boundaries. The collision of graffiti and fine art in Falko’s work is not just a stylistic choice but a commentary on art’s accessibility and ownership. In his sold-out AfterLife show, held in a decaying building, Falko blurred the lines between gallery and ruin, bringing an art-world exclusivity into spaces that echoed with history and decay. Here, he presents a provocative alternative to the white-cube gallery. By reclaiming derelict buildings or the walls of forgotten towns, Falko challenges traditional art spaces, pushing against the exclusion and elitism often associated with fine art. Falko’s art is an invitation—to see, to remember, to imagine.
The Future is Fantastic captures this essence, using repetition to build memory, both personal and collective. Falko’s vision for the future is one of shared spaces, shared symbols, and above all, a shared sense of resilience. Each face in this series reminds us of the importance of presence, of the mark left behind—simple yet profound. It’s a reminder that, in the end, art is not confined by walls, frames, or even time. It’s out there, on the streets, wherever it dares to exist.