BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAYSummer Show
London
Lazarides Gallery Presents: Ron English “Skin Deep” (London, UK)
Ron English
24th June 2011 – 21st July 2011
Painter, Pundit and Prankster Ron English presents Skin Deep, an exploration of the intersections, discrepancies and synchronicities of personal mythologies on display in our public personas. The exhibition presents multi-layered portraits of some of his most iconic characters, tracing the arc of their inner lives.
Often using his children as models, English chronicles the soul’s sojourn through Pop dioramas of fear and appetite, aspiration and rage. While paying homage to the great art before him, English maintains his very personal point of view, transforming the public to intimate and the universal to specific.
Using a mixture of imagery, medium and process referenced from great masters such as Warhol, Pollack and Picasso, combined with irreverent cherry-picking of populist totems from fast food to cartoons, English creates complex running narratives of his many alter-egos butting headfirst into the Grand Illusion, where unstated cultural norms are exposed and analyzed.
Address :
11 Rathbone Place, London W1T 1HR
Phone :
+ 44 (0) 207 636 5443
Open :
Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 7pm.
Admittance :
Free
Tony’s Gallery Presents: Burning Candy “Fight Fire With Fire” (London, UK)
Burning Candy
BURNING CANDY
Fight Fire with Fire
8th July – 25th August
Preview: 7th July
Fighting & Happiness, can they really go together? Well Chris Eubank used to talk about ‘the art of fighting’ and the cat & mouse scenerio endured by Police Departments and Graffiti Crews worldwide might just prove they can. Whilst London’s 2012 Olympics may appear to offer healthy competition, harking back to pitting one individual City or Country against each other, Burning Candy sense this one could be rigged and the only answer is to “Fight Fire With Fire.” The need to strike out or rise above conflict in a recreational sense is something that Burning Candy feel compelled to do. Their Art like most sporting events is defined by it’s location. Take the River Lea host to many a BC production, this may become more of an arena than the Olympic Stadium that it runs alongside. Burning Candy are coming indoors for a moment to take stock before the fight really begins…
Tony’s
68 Sclater st | London |E1 6HR
0203 5565201
Bortusk Leer and Sticking Bubblegum Up Your Nose
Street Artist Bortusk Leer’s smiling and devious characters drawn and colored with a childlike mind continue to make people on New Yorks’ streets smile. As previous artist neighborhoods like Williamsburg are overrun with helicopter moms jogging behind strollers, the professional parents taking their progeny to playdates probably think the wheatpastes are the Universe’s welcome to their bundles of joy.
Bortusk Leer (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Actually, Bortusk’s demented and happy monsters predate many of the new arrivals and his googly eyed crew is now in many cities around the world, and more often these days galleries too. Mr. Leer sure gets around with these unruly companions who have a disarming way of bringing the hype all down a notch to the simple joys of swinging mindlessly on the monkey bars and giving Billy Blickstein a wedgy and pulling Danisha’s hair and sticking bubblegum up your nose.
Bortusk Leer (photo © Jaime Rojo)
On the occasion of his solo show now on view (extended to June 26) at Tony’s Gallery in Shoreditch, East London’s Don’t Panic conducted an interview with the artist and along with his answers they give us a good view of the multicolor mad man installations:
Bortusk Leer “Bortusk Took a Trip” (image © courtesy Don’t Panic)
“I get to Bortusk’s playground just as the rain starts to fall. An Oompa Loompa lets me in through the main gate and guides me across the psychedelic courtyard. I take shelter under the peppermint trees and wait for my maniacal host to arrive. The walls are lined with weird, nu-rave creatures; a colourful assortment of monsters and mismatched porcelain dolls, watching through beady, fluorescent eyes as I wait for their master…“
Click here to continue reading the interview and to see more images
Andipa Gallery Presents: Banksy/War Boutique (London, UK)
Banksy
War Boutique “Metropolitan Peace” (image courtesy of the gallery)
| BANKSY | GROUND FLOOR GALLERY It has been an eventful 6 months for renowned street artist Banksy. His highly contentious opening sequence for popular TV series The Simpsons an Oscar nomination for his documentary film Exit Through The Gift Shop – an event accompanied by the artist’s own unofficial awards campaign where his works mysteriously appeared on billboards and walls across Los Angeles. As well as the ever-present threats to expose his carefully guarded identity. Banksy’s continuing high profile has brought with it an explosion in international demand for his work. In response Andipa Gallery is pleased to announce BANKSY | WAR BOUTIQUE, an exhibition showcasing an un-paralleled collection of iconic and sought after paintings by Banksy, from the collection of Andipa Gallery, one of the largest in the UK. Original works on display will include Banksy’s Laugh Now, a unique painting depicting one of the artist’s emblematic monkeys, scaled-up to human size, set upon the panels of a wooden door. A rare work that succeeds in projecting all of the character and raw charisma of a street piece despite being a fully authenticated studio work. Girl with Balloon, one of Banksy’s most iconic images, which infamously appeared on the Palestinian side of the West Bank Barrier, and Custardised Oil, a work of satirical humour distorting traditional aristocratic imagery. Acoris Andipa, Director of Andipa Gallery, comments: “As the first gallery to put on a major exhibition of Banksy’s work on the secondary market, which attracted 25,000 visitors, we have witnessed the market for urban art continuing to expand and integrate into the mainstream. Works by urban artists are now beginning to be included in the collections of the most respected museums and public galleries worldwide, including MOCA, LA, who plan to put on the first major survey of street art to be shown in the US later this year. BANKSY | WAR BOUTIQUE will present an exciting opportunity for collectors to acquire original works by two mavericks of urban art – one just emerging onto the international stage, choosing to put on his first commercial exhibition at Andipa, and one already recognised as amongst the biggest names in contemporary art today.” Showing at Andipa Gallery from 9 June to Saturday 9 July 2011, in parallel with an exhibition of works by urban artist War Boutique, the exhibition BANKSY | WAR BOUTIQUE follows Andipa Gallery’s, recent exhibition of original works by Banksy in Gstaad, Switzerland. An annual show which attracted the highest number of attendees to date, from Geneva, Zurich and beyond, further illustrating Banksy’s internationally acclaimed position. WAR BOUTIQUE | LOWER GROUND FLOOR GALLERY From a rebellious youth growing up in Glasgow to the fractious student captured in the BBC 4 documentary: Goldsmiths: But Is It Art? to a ballistics expert with government security clearance but most importantly an artist, War Boutique’s work is as much about transformation as his life. Re-modeling the fabrics of war into installations for peace, the artist’s passion for textiles took him beyond his everyday work and into the realms of wearable art… with a cause. War Boutique’s textiles of choice are Kevlar and Dyneema designed to resist bullets; his form is the flak jacket emblazoned with Metropolitan Peace or the fully armoured chalk-stripe suit for the City Gent Soldier. The artist known as War Boutique has provided his work for photo-shoots with the late Alexander McQueen CBE as well as collaborating with the royal and military tailor, Gieves & Hawkes, to create City Gent Soldier. He has also provided artwork for some of the most renowned contemporary artists including the infamous street artist Banksy for his controversial Banksy Versus Bristol Museum show and YBA Sarah Lucas. Working for a body armour company on obtaining his degree in Textiles and Fashion Design, he has designed armour and uniforms from fabrics specially formulated for military use or the British, Egyptian, Indian, Pakistani and Algerian armies, as well as the Metropolitan Police, Italian Carabinieri and Mexico City Police. The arresting symbolic potential of these textiles led War Boutique to requisition and recycle uniforms, military and ballistic materials and use them in his art, to alert us to the creeping militarisation of our society, encourage us to work towards peace and remind us of our duty to realise this. The Peace Pods, which have hung from trees and rafters from Tate Modern, Tate Britain, British Museum and Regent’s Park are places of respite for people to enter and feel and make peace. Designed so that its essential for the individuals inside to cooperate peacefully to avoid the destabilisation of the pod and inspired by the form of crinoline (a skirt stiffened with hoops used by courtly ladies) these works provoke us to question the necessity of war and to explore ways of experiencing peace. Commissioned by Gieves & Hawkes, City Gent Soldier (2005) wears a perfectly tailored suit using the finest Gieves & Hawkes cloth cut and sewn by their finest military tailors which functions as a fully protective bullet proof garment. It is the contemporary embodiment of the metaphorical ‘armour of God’ needed to stand firm against the villainous violence of today’s world. The City Gent’s accouterments are the breastplate of righteousness: a ballistic chest plate; the shield of faith: a ballistic briefcase; the sword of the spirit: an umbrella sword and the shoes for the gospel of peace: Special Forces boots. He has also produced child sized stab vests, for the Bak 2 Skool project – a reaction to child stabbings in Peckam – that when displayed in his carefully created mock-up of a Peckham shop front attracted swarms of parents from the local area requesting anti-stab vests to protect their children for the new school term. A sign of the times. Using textiles bullet proof ceramics, shells and bomb blankets as the conduit to express his ideas, “War Boutique symbolically transforms instruments of war and destruction into constructive items embodying creativity, peace and critical social commentary.” Society for Contemporary Craft. Exhibition information
Exhibition Dates: 9 June to 9 July 2011 Private View 6.00pm to 9.00pm 8 June 2011
Opening Times: Monday to Friday 9:30am – 6.00pm, Saturday 11.00am – 6.00pm Andipa Gallery, 162 Walton Street, London, SW3 2JL Tel: 020 7589 2371 / www.andipa.com Closest tube stations: Knightsbridge and South Kensington
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Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Andy Valmorbida Present: RETNA: The Hallelujah World Tour at the Old Dairy (London, UK)
RETNA
RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)
RETNA: The Hallelujah World Tour
The Old Dairy, 7 Wakefield St, London, WC1N 1PB
9 June – 27 June 2011
Preview: Wednesday 8 June 2011, 6-9pm
An exhibition of new works by Los Angeles based artist RETNA will be presented by Vladimir Restoin Roitfeld and Andy Valmorbida at the Old Dairy, London, from 9 June until 27 June 2011. The Hallelujah World Tour represents RETNA’s first solo UK exhibition.
RETNA’s work draws on an array of influences including Asian calligraphy, Incan and Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hebrew and Arabic script, traditional UK gang style graffiti writings and the tagging and graffiti seen in Los Angeles since the 1970’s . Within these traditions he has created a distinct and innovative style. RETNA presents 30 new works fusing a variety of different mediums including drawing, painting and poetry.
Yielding an unmistakable aesthetic, he has emerged as one of the most prolific graffiti artists in the contemporary art world. Since the mid-1990s RETNA has participated in over 30 international exhibitions, and his work was recently selected to feature in ‘Art in the Streets’, a major retrospective of street art at the Museum of Contemporary Art in LA. Gallery Director Jeffrey Deitch commented, ‘The approach to his work is so internalized that Retna doesn’t have to agonize, and think, what do I do next? He just starts in the upper left corner and moves across a surface. The only other artist that I know who was able to do that was Keith Haring.’
Retna was introduced to L.A.’s mural culture from an early age, and whilst still at school led one of the largest and most innovative graffiti art collectives in the city. He is best known for appropriating fashion advertisements and amplifying them with his unique layering, intricate line work, text-based style and incandescent color palette reflecting an eclectic artistic tradition.
Recent projects have included a solo exhibition, ‘Silver Lining’, during Art Basel Miami Beach at Primary Projects (2010); the world’s largest street level mural Installation, ‘Primary Flight’ (2010); a solo exhibition, ‘Desaturated’, at New Image Art Gallery, Los Angeles (2010); a mural for the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse in Miami, Florida (2009); and ‘Vagos y Reinas’ at Robert Berman Gallery (2009).
This exhibition represents the second part of a three stop world tour of RETNA’s work, in collaboration with Bombardier Business Aircraft and VistaJet. As part of the project, RETNA will create a unique work on the tail of one of VistaJet’s Global Express XRS aircraft. The tour began in New York in February 2011 and will conclude with an exhibition in Hong Kong later this year.
Andy Valmorbida comments, ‘At the age of 31, Retna is able to identify himself as a rising star within the international contemporary art world, and is one of the very few artists I have seen who is able to stand next to such artists as Keith Haring and Jean Michel-Basquiat in terms of identity, stroke and gesture and will hold a key place as one of the major forces in the new movement of fine Street Artists.’
The Old Dairy is open Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm. Admission is free.
Opera Gallery Presents: “The Street Art Show” (London, UK)
Opera Gallery
Blek Le Rat “Banksy” (image courtesy © of the gallery)
Opera Gallery London will be hosting “The Street Art Show” from June 17 to June 30 and will bring street art on posh New Bond Street.
The group show will bring together some of the most established street artists and young promising up-and-coming graffiti artists.
The group show will bring together some of the most established street artists and young promising up-and-coming graffiti artists.
Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Banksy, Blek Le Rat, b., Alexone, Keith Haring, Jean Michel Basquiat, Seen, Ron English, Logan Hicks, Crash, The London Police, Nick Walker, How & Nosm, Saber, Roa, Swoon, Kid Zoom, Anthony Lister, Rich Simmons.
The preview night will be dedicated to raise funds for the UK Charity Action for Children.
The event is Free entrance and you can turn up at anytime during opening hours
Mon-Sat 10.00am – 7.00pm and Sun 12.00-7-pm.
Opera Gallery London Ltd
134 New Bond Street
London W1S 2TF
Fun Friday 04.29.11
Street Artist Bambi did this portrait in North London for today’s wedding – more art inspired by Will and Kate here at Artlyst.com
Royal His and Hers Prints from K-Guy
London based Street Artist K-GUY plays with Wills and Kate with these newly released prints to celebrate their union and to poke a little fun at the same time.
Sweet Toof solo show “Dark Horse” will merrily gallop at Factory Fresh tonight.
Sweet Toof (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof “Dark Horse”
“Sweet Toof has developed a recurring motif that perambulates through periods and platforms – aerosol mural, oil painting, or theatrical prop – with a certain frank guile and handmade disarming charm.” from Ready for His Closeup: Sweet Toof Sparkles at Factory Fresh (PHOTOS)
http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=20505
Opening April 29th, 7-10pm at Factory Fresh
On view till May 22nd, Gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday from 1-7pm
Factory Fresh is located at 1053 Flushing Avenue
between Morgan and Knickerbocker, off the L train Morgan Stop
Sweet Toof. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tristan Eaton’s “3D ArtBook” Exhibition and Book Signing at Opera Gallery
A lot of fun tonight at Opera with 15 artists signing the new book and prints to celebrate the release of the new book by Tristan Eaton – including some of your favorites …
Andrew Bell, Stephen Bliss, Kevin Bourgeois, Ron English, Mat Eaton, Tristan Eaton, Filth, Haze, Travis Louie, Tara McPherson, Kenzo Minami, Mint, Serf, Dr. Revolt & Tom Thewes
3D Art Exhibition + Book Signing for:
The 3D Art Book
by Tristan Eaton
Friday, April 29th, 6-9pm
Opera Gallery New York
115 Spring Street New York, NY 10012 (212) 966-6675
The 3D Art Book & Exhibition features 100 artists including:
Glenn Barr, Craola, D*Face, Dalek, Eboy, Shepard Fairey, James Jean, Chris Mars, Mark Ryden, Jeff Soto, Rostarr, Todd Schorr, Stash, Gary Taxali, Toki Doki, Trustocorp, Junko Mizuno, Eric White and many more.
Sponsored by: Prestel Publishing & Thunderdog Studios
Exciting Interview with Ben Eine in Los Angeles!
What’s this “Birther” Thing All About?
The rabid pursuit of President Obama’s birth certificate has puzzled many thinking people while the topic is repeatedly brought up during street marches and demonstrations – finally pushing the President himself to hold a press conference about it this week. The astro-turf fingered crowds in the streets during last years Health Care debates in the US pretty much revealed their base disagreement with all things Obama with their hand held signs that couldn’t be described as anything but racist – “off message” for the insurance companies but “on message” for the yahoos who took their buses. We know this “birther” movement won’t disappear because of the poisonous legacy of racism in our history, but we are thankful for the strong clear thinking of people like Goldie Taylor (video below) who helps us place current events in context.
Ready for His Closeup: Sweet Toof Sparkles at Factory Fresh
Sweet Toof Brings the Bling to Brooklyn
A detail from Sweet Toof’s new show at Factory Fresh, opening tomorrow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The London Street Artist Sweet Toof’s new show, “Dark Horse” at Factory Fresh opens wide to a mouthful of gleaming new pieces as the artist debuts his first New York show solo, having previously been a part of the Burning Candy Crew with Cyclops and Tek33. A little frisky in the Brooklyn streets, we find that Sweet Toof is exploring more than the usual territory and challenging himself artistically, always with a healthy glob of humor. Yes, the pink gums and pearly whites continue to have prominence in each piece, but their permutations progress at a dizzying pace.
All along the gumline. Sweet Toof pimps the alley wall with some help from some friends from the hood. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof has developed a recurring motif that perambulates through periods and platforms – aerosol mural, oil painting, or theatrical prop – with a certain frank guile and handmade disarming charm. Some of the new tableaus of madly grinning top-hatted drivers atop skeletal stallions are pure Dickensian wonder with animated allusions to extreme social conditions and the play of comically repulsive characters. Others touch on graffiti vocabulary and pop/advertising culture with cheerfully mocking glee, the winking enthusiasm and poppy color trumping your worries that it isn’t making any sense. All tolled, it’s a bit of a romp and a promise of tasty treats to come – and if you arrive early you’ll receive your own set of gold sweet teef atop a popsickle stick.
On the day we visited the gallery the place was a divine chaos of paint and construction materials, with works-in-progress laying on the floor waiting to be completed or hung. The partially lit space proved a helpful foil for the spooky pimped-out characters on the canvasses – the sort you wouldn’t trust with a bottle of milk.
Sweet Toof . Come in. We are open. It is sweet inside. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Factory Fresh shopkeeper Mr. DeVille, looking very trim and sunny, murmured something about the current artist-in-residence being on a roof somewhere and after further inquiry, Mr. Toof appeared promptly with a warm and genial demeanor. After a brief tour we took to the street to watch him work. He told us a bit about his work and the upcoming show, after starting with the topic of weather of course.
Brooklyn Street Art: How has your experience been so far in Brooklyn?
Sweet Toof: I have really enjoyed it. The rain some days and then sun. But I can’t complain. I have just been eyeing out all these spots but yeah it has been really good. The weather has been very unpredictable but today is a beautiful day and I love Brooklyn.
Sweet Toof . Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Is there a difference between working in Brooklyn and working in London?
Sweet Toof: There is a little difference. I mean it’s quiet interesting. This is Bushwick and in London, in East London there is an area called Hackney Wick. That’s an area where a lot of people have been painting but they are cleaning it up now because of the Olympic buff – It is almost like a sister of Bushwick because of all the lofts spaces in warehouses and factories where people now live. So it is a similar type of vibe but I like the character here and the architecture.
Sweet Toof . Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: And the people?
Sweet Toof: Yeah I forgot the people…my experience with the people so far is that everyone is really friendly and it is almost like everyone seems to be willing to help and in London none really says hello but here people would say hello…you’re engaged. Brooklyn is more engaging even when you go to the shop and you have been there for a couple of times people recognize you and they start talking and so it feels quite like a community.
Sweet Toof . Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Tell us about the use of gold dust in your work. Have you always used it?
Sweet Toof: Yeah I have used it before on paintings. I’ve used gold pigment, I’ve been using quite a bit of glitter and gold dust just to give it a little bit of extra “bling”. I like that whole sparkly thing, the way the light hits it and it gives it just like another layer in a way. But I just like to mix things up. Even pearlescent paint and I like all sort of paint; oil paint, bucket paint, spray paint – I love it all. But the pearlescent glitter is just like another element within that. You know I think teeth are like jewelry anyway but just with that extra bling, you know when you see people’s teeth and are like pearls.
Sweet Toof . Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Have you been to the south of Mexico and seen the Day of the Dead festival?
Sweet Toof: No but I’m intending to go to Mexico quite soon. I’m fascinated with the Day of the Dead and all of that stuff. It is almost like it has been with me since art school. Since I came across the old woodcuts and the imagery of Guadalupe Posada. The thing I like in Mexico, unlike in England, is that they celebrate death and in early age you are given these candy sweets and they eat it. It’s almost like you enjoy your days and you sleep when you are dead in a way. But death is not just doom and gloom.
Sweet Toof (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof. Work in progress (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Tell us about your sense of color. Where do you get your inspiration for bright colors?
Sweet Toof: England is very gray. I mean you do see color but I just sort of respond to the environment that I’m in but I love color anyway. When painting out on the streets I used to like the spontaneous part of it about not seeing your colors when you are painting in the dark. You’ve got a rough idea about what the colors are or you have written the colors on the can or you can see the tones in the dark, but then when you are in the studio and you are mixing your colors it’s almost like you have that whole understanding of color – and it’s the same in print making. You might look at the sky and you think “how I’m going to get that intensity?” It is about looking at the contrast with all the different hues and understanding color, which I think, comes from oil painting a lot but also from mixing colors for the stuff on the streets as well so you understand how the colors work.
Sweet Toof. Work in progress (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Would you like to talk a bit about you not being part of Burning Candy or is that a sore subject?
Sweet Toof: No, not really. I left last September on my own decision but I really wouldn’t want to go into the politics of it. I just got to the time where I had to get on with my own stuff. I wish them all the best and I wouldn’t want to bitch. I want to keep it simple and getting my head down.
Brooklyn Street Art: What would you like to happen on Friday at the gallery for your show?
Sweet Toof: I’d like for everyone to have a good time and enjoy. Bring people together and just let people mind their own minds about it. It’s one of those things where you never know how people would react to stuff but I want people to enjoy.
Sweet Toof in Brooklyn with a roof top reflecting pool (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof transforms FF backyard with minty fresh breath (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dude is so tall you need a ladder to floss. Sweet Toof at Factory Fresh. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof. Action shot! (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof’s party favor for the early birds at Factory Fresh (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sweet Toof
“Dark Horse”
Opening April 29th, 7-10pm at Factory Fresh
On view till May 22nd, Gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday from 1-7pm
Tony’s Gallery Presents: Bortusk Leer “Bortusk Took a Trip” (London, UK)
BORTUSK LEER
“Bortusk took a trip”
6th May – 5th June
opening May 5th 6-9pm
Tony’s gallery is delighted to present ‘Bortusk took a trip’, the first solo show by UK artist Bortusk Leer. Since bursting onto the art scene in 2007, Bortusk’s naively spray-painted and marker penned monsters have become a common sight on the streets of London and New York . For the inaugural exhibition at Tony’s, Bortusk Leer will present a site-specific installation alongside a selection of recent paintings and sculptures.
‘Bortusk took a trip’ invites the viewer into the inner reaches of Mr. Leer’s psychedelic mind and takes you back to the fun and carefree days of our childhood. Transforming the gallery space into his private playground, we are invited to experience it as an opportunity to step out of the doom and gloom of our daily routines. An exhilarating mixture between a funfair, cartoon and rave party feel, the show’s only intention is to put a smile on your face and brighten up your day!
Bortusk has named his style ‘art comedy’ and dedicates himself along with a growing team of admirers and pasters to spreading the smiley faced, lolling tongued, and googly eyed LOVE around the world….Bortusk’s heavily satirical work and recognisable paste ups using newspaper as the support and method of spreading his own message, highlights an ongoing concern to challenge the idea of traditional mass media and mass produced objects. These acts of mischievous sabotage using obsolete objects and materials represent in fact another unconventional choice of his to use low-tech procedures to emphasis the often ephemeral nature and lifespan of these randomly applied paste-ups within our urban landscape.
These garishly coloured characters have travelled by sea and air to reach walls as far away as Auckland , Alaska , Jodphur and Barcelona and catching a glimpse of one of these little creatures in a dark corner or grim alleyway always brings a familiar friendly face to these far-away lands. These characters always seem to make themselves at home in their surroundings, be it taking a yellow cab in the Big Apple or tucking into a bratwurst in Berlin .
Over the past 3 years Bortusk Leer has exhibited in several London based group shows such as The Alternative Philosophy at Leonard Street Gallery and Mutate Britain at Cordy House with an array of big names in the street art scene. During the course of these shows his work has strayed into the realms of video, collage and sculpture, re-awakening an interest in 3D and installation art. Also in 2009 Bortusk’s monsters were made into ‘Street Monsters’, a series of 2 minute animations which were commissioned by the BBC.
Bortusk Leer shows no signs of slowing down, currently working on his first solo show in New York and cooking up some plans for further television take over. This top hatted avenger is only just warming up.
Tony’s
68 Sclater st | London |E1 6HR
0203 5565201
www.tonysgallery.com
info@tonysgallery.com
Bortusk Leer
London West Bank Gallery Presents: “Urban Invasion” A Group Show (London, UK)
LWB
London West Bank (LWB) is a brand new gallery opening in London on
Thursday 28th.
www.londonwestbank.com. It’s a great space so please come down and
support the team involved in converting the old bank on the corner of
Westbourne Grove, Chepstow Road and Pembridge Villas, W11. To get an
invite RSVP to guestlist@londonwestbank.com
As an opening night teaser London based Street Artist K-GUY will be releasing a his ‘n’ hers special royal wedding commemorative mini print to celebrate the big occasion.
Limited to 40 prints at only 40 quid a pop available on the night….
and as a little incentive the first 10 people through the door get a
free one.
K-Guy “Hers”
K-GUY “His”
Isaac Cordal’s Miniature Magic Moments in the Real World
Fairy tales mash fantastic with ordinary, playing with perceptions of both. Street Artist and public artist Isaac Cordal lives in these two worlds and finds one that is a waking dreamscape. The fastidious and attentive scene maker somehow brings his little cement people alive by placing them in the real world; creating a new context where his figures take on stirring, humorous, nearly profound qualities.
“This is a project I’ve been working on since 2006. I make small sculptures with cement and many times when I go out these small sculptures come with me. Public space has become their habitat,” explains Cordal.
Isaac Cordal. Survivors. Anvers. Belgium. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Recalling our childlike ability to transform everyday locations into kingdoms, realms, domains, and enchanted lands, Cordal impeccably places vignettes into ordinary settings. His miniature gray mortar people are often being wronged by totally evil monsters, human and animal but are frozen for you to study the dynamics at play. The portraits that emerge of his somewhat battered and banal humans plodding through life occur in a multitude of scenes: Here we have a picnic. Over there we see a wedding, a funeral. Sometimes his sculptures are in a kitchen or in a living room. Other times they are outdoors waiting in line to go to work, to buy consumer goods, or to be ground like hamburger in the wheels of The Machine.
Isaac Cordal. Survivors. Anvers. Belgium. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Most recently Mr. Cordal has created ‘survivors’ who inhabit an environmentally taxed and burdened world, continually expecting toxic fumes or airborne viruses to invade their lungs. His cement fairies in these urban settings are stoic protagonists of our eternal misadventures, progeny of our excess. The lucky passerby who stumbles upon his vignette may be moved by its stoicism, may pause at the effort of an artist who creates such a scenario in the middle of their everyday, and may smile at the wit.
Brooklyn Street Art: There is a distinct uniformity the appearance of your little people – is the uniformity a metaphor for conformist thinking and behavior?
Isaac Cordal: I make copies of many of my pieces using molds. By repeating the same model in series I manufacture a prototype that represents a collective identity. I am interested in representing prototypes that represent human beings in modernity. I try to do scenes that summarize recognizable behavior patterns.
Isaac Cordal. Survivors. Anvers. Belgium. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Brooklyn Street Art: Sometimes the staged scenes have elements of comedy and light heartedness. Does the process feel like play for you?
Isaac Cordal: I think my friends have begun to be worried about me. I really take it seriously and I always am perusing the streets with an unusual amount of interest. A couple of days ago, I was climbing a wall and suddenly the wall collapsed; I was very lucky because nothing serious happened. It was a curious situation because my mother was visiting me and she was the person who was helping me with my installation. I felt as if I was a child in the wrong place.
Isaac Cordal. Survivors. Anvers. Belgium. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Brooklyn Street Art: With clever placement, the figures interact in the man made and natural environment in a surrealist way. Do you have any favorite surrealist painters?
Isaac Cordal: The world we have created is very surreal in itself. There are strong doses of surrealism in our society. Regarding Surrealism as a painting movement, I always liked Dali. Recently I quite liked the photo project The Architect’s Brother.
Isaac Cordal. Survivors. Anvers. Belgium. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal. “Naure of the Zone” Brussels. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal. “Naure of the Zone” Brussels. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal. “Naure of the Zone” Brussels. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal. “Another Cement Island” Brussels. 2011. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
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Mr. Cordal’s new monograph Cement Eclipses: Small Interventions in the Big City will come out this spring, published by Carpet Bombing Culture.
To learn more about this book click on the link below:
http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=19784
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Read our article on Isaac Cordal last September in The Huffington Post :
Little Cement Urbanites: Isaac Cordal’s Street Art Installations
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