SHOK-1 and Kaspersky: a creative collaboration that expresses the shared value of transparency

The collaboration represents an artistic X-ray of Kaspersky’s mascot Midori Kuma and aims to express both the artist and Kaspersky’s shared value of transparency and its importance in today’s world.

The announcement marks Kaspersky’s continuous commitment to the field of contemporary art, following collaborations with Ben Eine and D*Face. SHOK-1 is the pioneer of aerosol X-ray art and his unique X-ray art works can be seen on murals around the world. The works present a kind of diagnosis of life in the 21st century, sometimes in glowing health and at other times pathological, where the questions of trust and transparency are as important as ever.

For Kaspersky, SHOK-1 created the artistic X-ray of Kaspersky’s mascot Midori Kuma, which represents a digital guardian that raises awareness about digital security today and helps people to keep their digital data safe. With this collaboration, Kaspersky invites people to join a dialogue about trust and transparency and aims to show how these principles work in the cybersecurity industry, addressing myths and misperceptions related to it.

“Transparency has been a recurring theme in my work since the 1980s. I’ve explored it off and on through various chapters and styles. The X-ray style is a culmination of that journey, the point where the art becomes entirely transparent.I try to make metaphorical works that ask people to look into the subject and make their own diagnosis. Kaspersky have proven to have a long-standing legacy of working with artists, which to me is a modern form of patronage. Something I value and I’m happy to be a part of,” said SHOK-1, discussing his creative collaboration with Kaspersky.

The artwork was first presented at the 10^th anniversary of the Moniker International Art Fair, which took place from October 2 – 6. It has earned a reputation as one of the most exciting contemporary art fairs, with its roots embedded in urban culture, and Kaspersky has been proudly supporting the event throughout the years. The artwork that will be featured on the Kaspersky Total Security box forms part of a larger creative collaboration between SHOK-1 and Kaspersky. The artist will also produce a unique art installation of Midori Kuma in X-ray that will be presented at the V-A-C Foundation in Venice later this year and is set to be available for public view early next year.

“We are particularly proud of this artistic collaboration with SHOK-1 as transparency is the central theme of this work and is the value that we both share. Trust is such an important issue today, especially for tech companies. One of the most important things people demand from companies today is transparency. They need to feel confident and know that companies and corporations they share their data with use reliable technologies. Kaspersky is one of the pioneers of corporate openness and we continuously demonstrate our commitment to transparency by educating people about how we work and how we protect their data at Kaspersky through our Global Transparency Initiative. This is what we also aim to do with the artwork created by SHOK-1, as art is one of the best means to start a dialog about the issues that are important to us,” said Aldo Fucelli Pessot del Bo, Head of Global Partnerships and Sponsorships at Kaspersky.

About SHOK-1

British artist SHOK-1 spray paints unique X-ray art on walls around the world. The works present a kind of diagnosis of life in the 21st century, sometimes in glowing health and other times pathological. A cool blend of street and science, the paintings are enormously popular. Darkly beautiful and packed with subtle layers of delicate detail, X-rays are one of the most difficult subject matters a painter could attempt. SHOK-1 has pioneered cutting-edge freehand techniques using no tape or stencils to render his X-ray style. SHOK-1 was one of the first Europeans to co-opt the street cultures that exploded from the USA in the early ‘80s, laying down the foundations for what has become one of the most important art movements worldwide. He has continued to reinvent his work and take risks throughout a career currently spanning over 30 years. SHOK-1 is based in London and holds a degree in Applied Chemistry.

About Kaspersky

Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity company founded in 1997. Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.