Tuesday 19th March 2024,
WK

About

WK

WK (aka WK Interact) was born in 1969 in Caen, France. He has lived and worked in New York since the early 1990s. WK is interested with the human body in motion, his paintings of figures frozen in a flight of movement reflects this infatuation. The artist’s unique process involves a technique of twisting an original drawing or photograph while it’s being photocopied, resulting in the monochromatic palette and streamlined moment-in-time appearance of his finished work. WK site-determines his placements by finding an appropriate location first, then his imagery is chosen specifically with a concern for encounters in an urban environment or “interactions” (as the artist indicates in his pseudonym). In the late 1990s his images began appearing on building facades in downtown Manhattan, complimenting the constant stir of bodies and the perpetual motion of contemporary urban life in the fast-paced city.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2022

2019

2018

2018

WK/IMPACT, +81 Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

WK/TRESPASS, Montana Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

WK/TRESPASS, Adda & Taxie Gallery, Paris, France

WK/Act and Process, Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal

2017 BLACK BOOK GALLERY exhibition, Denver, CO
2017 WK/EXIT at DE-RE GALLERY Los Angeles
2015 WK/KALLENBACH gallery Kallenbach Gallery Raamstraat 7-9 1016XL Amsterdam Amsterdam
2013 WK-360 mid-career survey documenting 25 years at Jonathan Levine Gallery NYC
2009 How to Blow Yourself Up. Subliminal Projects. Los Angeles, CA
2009 Motion Portrait. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. New York, NY
2008 Aqua Art Fair. Jonathan LeVine Gallery exhibitor booth. Miami-Wynwood, FL
2007 WK/MXLT. Maxalot Gallery. Barcelona, Spain
2007 The Trail. Espies Archetype Gallery. Brooklyn, NY
2006 Impact, in collaboration with Kobe Bryant. Nike Showroom. Los Angeles, CA
2005 Medicom Toy Life. Logos Gallery. Tokyo, Japan
2002 Installation. BLK/MRKT Gallery. Los Angeles, CA
2002 Sony Installation and Outdoor Gallery. Sydney, Australia
2002 Techniques. Studio 101. New York, NY
2001 Installation. Dazed and Confused Gallery. London, UK
2001 Installation. Patricia Dorfman Gallery. Paris, France
2001 Art Works of WK Interact. Parco Museum. Tokyo, Japan
2001 Opening. Studio 101. New York, NY
2001 Tool Man. Studio 101. New York, NY
1998 17-Painting Installation. Colette Gallery. Paris, France
1998 3-Painting Installation. Yohji Yamamoto Gallery. New York, NY
1997 11-Painting Installation. Cooper Hewitt Museum. New York, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020

2020

2019

2019

2019

2018

2018

2018

2018

2017

2017

THE TERRORDOME, Black Book Gallery, Englewood, CO

RIGHT NOW, online group exhibition, Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal

CAPTURE THE STREET, Oberhessisches Museum, Giessen, Germany

MONIKER ART FAIR, Interior installation, New York

FROM THE WORLD, MADE IN LISBOA, Underdogs Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal

ALL THE RAGE, Urban Art Exhibition, Taipei, Taiwan

ARTRIUM MOSCOW, 55 m high mural, Moscow, Russia

WOMANKIND, Nonprofit Organization, One Art Space, New York

The 20×21 EUG Mural Project, Exterior Mural, Eugene, OR

CROSS THE STREET, group show, MACRO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Roma, Rome, Italy

URBAN-NATION Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, group show, Berlin

2014 ART Alliance Chicago
2014 SCOOPE Kallenbach Gallery
2014 West 12th NYC WK/KLINIK collaboration installation
2011 The Emergence of the Pop Imagist. Campo de la Madonna de L’Orto. Venice, Italy
2010 Urban Alchemists. Curated by Jonathan LeVine and Tony Goldman. Wynwood Walls. Miami, FL
2010 Five Year Anniversary. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. New York, NY
2010 Re:Form School. Lets Redu project promoting education reform. St. Patrick’s School. New York, NY
2008 WK – LISTER, 2 person show with Anthony Lister. Elms Lesters Painting Rooms. London, UK
2006 Beautiful Losers. Agnès B. Galleries. Paris, France
2004 Streetwise 3. The LAB 101 Gallery. Los Angeles, CA
2003 Backjumps. Kunstraum Kreuzberg. Berlin, Germany

SELECTED PROJECTS

2022

2019

2019

2019

2019

2018

2018

2017

2016

WK/BLADE RUNNER, MANA Contemporary, installation

WK/JOHN WICK 3, Poster and billboard

WK/MISSION (RED), Nonprofit Organization, Exterior Mural Paris, and 30 paste-up – New York, Paris, and Lyon

RIVERTALES, Exterior Mural, Marburg, Germany

DROPP, collaboration: Griffin studio, Ecco, Mystery Ranch, and Master & Dynamic, Interior Installation, The Borderlands, Munich, Germany

NOISEMAKER, Exterior Mural and Album Cover, Tokyo, Japan

WK/REEBOK Boston HQ, installation interior stairway

WK/REEBOK Boston HQ, installation interior

LIVING COMPUTER MUSEUM Seattle full installation interior

2016 WK/lumine japan interior installation store elevator
2015 Exterior mural JERSEY CITY Race
2015 WK/REEBOK Boston CROSSFIT
2015 WK/NIKE Widen kennedy agency SHANGHAI Marathon
2015 WK/AMSTERDAM mural installation RACE 45 meter long
2014 Belgium 25 meter high BIRDY exterior
2014 D-DAY 70 anniversary Paris Geode 130 meter
2014 METS/Citibank – Time square and subway
2014 Hunger Games POSTER and exterior facade in WEST COAST
2014 DANCE the monopoly game STOP PLAY REWIND poster
2012 project installation (40 years anniversary) for TBWA
2012 Oscar Pistorius installation for OAKLEY at the Olympic UK
2011 Project Brave. Collaboration with NYC Firefighters, commemorating 10th Anniversary of 9/11 (100 meters wide). Brooklyn, NY
2011 Black Palace. Mural commemorating 100th Anniversary of Mexican Revolution (200 meters wide). General National Archives. Mexico City, Mexico
2010 Mural representing immigration, coming by boat (300 feet wide, 40 feet high). Ancona, Italy
2007 East vs. West Propaganda Project, Obey Giant vs. WK Interact. Agnès B. Galleries. Paris, France
2007 East vs. West Propaganda Project, Obey Giant vs. WK Interact. Tokyo Wonder Site. Tokyo, Japan
2005 Project Fox. Fox Hotel. Copenhagen, Denmark.
2004 Window Display, interior and subway station. Galeries Lafayette. Paris, France
2004 Kitty Kit Spy, collaboration for Hello Kitty. Tokyo, Japan
2004 Installation. JFK Airport. New York, NY
2002 Rescue 2002. Lafayette and Prince St. New York, NY
2000 24’ x 12’ Canvas Window Installation. Henry Bendel Store. New York, NY
1999 Adidas 154-meter outdoor billboard featuring Prince Naseem. London, UK
1999 Visionaire Magazine Opening, 65-meter murl featuring Kiara. Visionaire Gallery. New York, NY

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

WK/ACT AND PROCESS, +81 Gallery, 2022

WK/Compilation, Edition by Underdogs Gallery, 2018
Urban Nation – Unique United Unstoppable, Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, 2018
CROSS THE STREETS, by DRAGO, 2017
Graffiti art Magazine 14 pages french magazine, N.34 September 2017

WK-Gear 148 pages Publisher Drago 2016
Plus 81 Street Creative Culture Issue, Japan Magazine 16 pages and cover, Vol.69 Autumn 2015
WK/ACT 4 – 1989-2014, 320 pages Publisher DRAGO, 2014
WK/360 mid-career survey, 2013
PARIS – De la rue à la galerie, Pyramyd NTCV, 2011
TRESPASS, A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art, Taschen, 2010
WK Interact-2.5 New York Street Life. Published by Drago, 2009
WK – LISTER, Elms Lesters, 2008
STREET WORLD – Urban Art and Culture from five continents, 2007
WK Interact: Exterior – Interior Act 2. Hardcover. Published by Gestalten Verlag, 2005.
WK Interact: Act 1. Published by Little More. Japan, 2001.