MOSES & TAPS™ “CORPORATE IDENTITY™” Exhibition at Golden Hands Gallery – Hambourg, Germany. 8 April – 10 June 2016 MOSES & TAPS™ are currently the most prominent players of an artistic genre which is so current that it has no fixed name as of today; Urban Art, Post-graffiti, conceptual and performance art – everything is right and nothing fits. The artistic careers of MOSES & TAPS™ began independently of each other in 1994. In 2007 Moses and Taps founded the artist collective TOPSPRAYER™. In 2011 their first book INTERNATIONAL TOPSPRAYER™ was published, and to date it is the best-selling German graffiti book available. In 2014 they published the limited photo book SAME SAME™, which sold-out in hours after release. Their productions and compilations are in strong contrast to the innocent and pleasing street-art-chic these days. Such productions like “The Painted Door” in which a train door is overpainted and reappears on an another part of the train and “THE WALL™” – the bricked up train door – are known to everyone. Following the exhibitions in Paris, San Francisco and the The Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany last year, the title CORPORATE IDENTITY™ for their first solo exhibition in 2016 could not have been more appropriate. CORPORATE IDENTITY™ describes‚ “the totality of a brand or feature that characterizes a company and distinguishes itself from other companies”. It amazes, by a superficial examination that artists themselves are assumed to have a special desire for freedom, but in fact have voluntarily defined restrictions and limitations. Actually, however, the development of a corporate identity can also be accompanied by a focus of the essentials, i.e. core and essence of the contents point of origin. The essence of graffiti is the repetition of the personal alias. Through repetition, perfection is created and thereby allows further development and abstraction to occur. Repetition is very easily traced and leaves a simple trail behind. It is true that there is amusement in Moses and Taps´ Oeuvre for the observer, because of the weighty context the interaction with their captors represents. The artists decided not to make the classification too easy for the individual hunter. However they continued to devise new compilations that would undo the reasoning behind the classification. There was an exchange made, their book project INTERNATIONAL TOPSPRAYER™ for 1000 trains painted in 1000 days without further ado, their names. Moses became TAPS, and out of Taps, MOSES™was born. The elevated ™ symbolizes the name exchange, which winks at the conventional importance of an “unregistered trademark”. In 2010 they both consequently set about producing the series CORPORATE IDENTITY”. The written portrayal of the pseudonym MOSES & TAPS™ was given way by the barely tangible representation of the colors, yellow and blue. At the same time this Corporate Design served as a conceptual link between the various series, creating a high degree of recognition. In their exhibition CORPORATE IDENTITY™ which will take place in the Golden Hands Gallery in Hamburg, MOSES & TAPS™ will show a cross section of its current series as part of their corporate design. For obvious reasons MOSES & TAPS™ can not be officially present at the vernissage. Facebook event here. #MosesTaps #TopSprayer #CorporateIdentityTM Subscribe to MOSES & TAPS™ mailing list here. VIDEO RECAP PHOTO RECAP LINKS of Articles Highsnobiety’s exclusive sneak-peak inside CORPORATE IDENTITY™ Widewalls review on CORPORATE IDENTITY™ Interview with MOSES & TAPS™ for Hamburg Abendblatt (German Only) Werben & Verkaufen – Thinking on Design: Wenn Sprayer zur Marke werden (German Only) The Fourth Walls – Review on CORPORATE IDENTITY INSTAGRAM VIDEOS Interview with MOSES & TAPS in Hamburg @abendblatt ?? Link in bio #mosestaps #thegrifters #goldenhandsgallery #CorporateIdentityTM #topsprayer A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Apr 9, 2016 at 8:36am PDT MICHEL™ is the title of this lovely screen-print by MOSES & TAPS. Named after Sankt Michaelis, the most emblematic building of Hamburg, this print contains the best trophy a graffiti writer could get. Join the big opening of CORPORATE IDENTITY exhibition at @goldenhandsgallery #mosestaps #topsprayer #CorporateIdentityTM A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Apr 8, 2016 at 2:01am PDT Aaaand its gone! The biggest piece of CORPORATE IDENTITY exhibition went in good hands already yesterday! ?? Congratulations to the artists and the gallery for the great job! Add “president_boris” on Snapchat for more sneakpeaks and live from the official opening on Friday 08 April. #topsprayer #mosestaps #CorporateIdentityTM #thegrifters #goldenhandsgallery A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Apr 7, 2016 at 1:05am PDT CORPORATE IDENTITY by MOSES & TAPS – Vernissage / Public reception this Friday 08 April – Link in bio @goldenhandsgallery #MosesTaps #TopSprayer #CorporateIdentityTM A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Apr 5, 2016 at 1:44am PDT 7 Days to the opening of CORPORATE IDENTITY – the exhibition of MOSES & TAPS at @goldenhandsgallery #corporateidentityTM #mosestaps #topsprayer A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Apr 2, 2016 at 6:06am PDT People do not pay attention to #graffiti. They either don’t pay care or just see it as advertising. Maybe thats why the artist this time decided to target a new audience. ? “Graffiti for blind” by MOSES & TAPS ??? The new exhibition of TOPSPRAYER will be held at @goldenhandsgallery Join the event by the link in our bio. #topsprayer #mosestaps #corporateidentityTM #thegrifters #goldenhandsgallery #braillealphabet #graffiti A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Mar 30, 2016 at 9:50pm PDT ?? Double tap if you recognize. #CorporateidentityTM #MosesTaps #TopSprayer A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Mar 30, 2016 at 2:16am PDT Rebranding ?? #CorporateidentityTM #TopSprayer #MosesTaps A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Mar 28, 2016 at 1:34am PDT MOSES & TAPS presents their new solo show named “CORPORATE IDENTITY” 8 April @goldenhandsgallery Watch the video teaser – link in bio #topsprayer #MosesTaps #CorporateidentityTM #thegrifters #goldenhandsgallery #hamburg A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Mar 22, 2016 at 6:48am PDT CORPORATE IDENTITY – new video with MOSES & TAPS – link in bio. #MosesTaps #topsprayer #CorporateidentityTM A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Mar 21, 2016 at 8:28am PDT New video with MOSES & TAPS™ on Monday! ?? #TopSprayer #CorporateidentityTM #MosesTaps #thegrifters #goldenhandsgallery A video posted by The Grifters (@thegrifters) on Mar 18, 2016 at 2:48am PDT