U.K.

Rook & Raven Gallery Presents: “Nostalgia” A Group Show (London, UK)

January 25, 2012 , , , , ,

Nostalgia

Various & Gould “Serendipity 2” Detail (Image courtesy of the gallery)

NostalgiaRook & Raven Gallery is proud to present ‘Nostalgia’, their first show of 2012, featuring an eclectic mix of artwork, games and ephemerae from a diverse collection of artists.

Artists exhibiting include:

Terry O’Neill
Dave White
DAIN
Rosie Emerson
David Shillinglaw
Various and Gould
Alex Daw
James Mylne
Stinkfish
Charlie Masson

Private view Thursday 26th January

Runs until 23rd February

For guest list please email RSVP@rookandraven.co.uk

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Banksy, Robbo, A Mallard, and The Rolling Stones

January 25, 2012 , , ,

Team Robbo, the fun-loving anti-Banksy graffti Collective from South London who is not pleased with the appearance of work by the world-known Street Artist. Even in his hometown of Bristol, Banksy gets no respect from Robbo, and apparently The Rolling Stones are now buffing as well? Team Robbo employs a classic Stones lyric “Paint it Black” by way of engaging the public with a very open demonstration of tough street love and ironically, the only thing you may remember from the effort is the refrain.

Interviewed regarding this Street Art/Graffiti rivalry that sends bloggers and print journalists into paradoxisms of high alert, this local London duck was non-plussed.  While congenially posing for a photo opp on Regents Canal, Mallard seemed to know little about the whole home turf affair and wondered aloud if we had any bread crumbs.

Thanks to Garry Hunter for his in-the-field photography.

Banksy. Robbo (photo © Garry Hunter)

 

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Evol and his Miniature Housing Project in London

January 23, 2012 , , , , ,
Berlin based artist Evol took a trip outside his home town across the English Channel to London to create his most recent installation. Known for his ingenious and humorous re-imagining of existing street structures as architecture – sometimes with “giant” tags across them, Evols’ painstaking attention to detail puts you inside his miniature world instantly.
 
We’re very pleased that writer Garry Hunter joins us today to give BSA readers a better understanding of the work of Evol;

Evol has a fascination for sites that focus on meat production, having previously chosen a former Dresden slaughterhouse for his installation Caspar-David-Friedrich-Stadt. Perhaps influenced by Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse 5, a fantasy novel set during the firebombing of the city in World War Two, the title references the most important German artist of the early 19th Century. While Freidrich is best known for his allegorical landscape paintings, Evol creates pieces that comment on the very opposite of the Romantic school – urban decay.

Evol (photo © Garry Hunter)

A housing block with a graffiti tag is nothing new, but upon closer inspection these images reveal how cleverly Berlin based Evol plays with scale and social comment. Taking stencilling to new levels of detail, including St. Georges Cross English flags beloved by soccer fans and the satellite dishes, he recently completed this major piece in London’s Smithfield meat market.

Evol (photo © Garry Hunter)

By transforming a dozen concrete blocks into miniature apartment blocks Evol reproduces the monstrosity of the estate that included his former Berlin home into a miniature modernist housing estate. The installation has become a tea break destination for contractors working on the nearby Cross-rail high speed transport link.

~ Garry Hunter

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Swoon’s “Murmuration” Opens Tonight. A Look Inside.

Swoon’s “Murmuration” Opens Tonight. A Look Inside.

December 1, 2011 , , ,

The scale! The hand coloring! The reclaimed cabinetry! Brooklyn Native Swoon has been, for weeks, laboring in London in preparation for her solo show “Murmuration”, which opens today at Black Rat Projects Gallery. Telling the stories of people and characters she has often introduced to the streets of New York, Swoon has brought Thalassa  (“sea”), a primordial Greek sea goddess to command the tunnel, and to adorn a small passage in London as a wheatpaste.

Check out the video of Swoon on the street with Time Out London at the end of this post. (video stills copyright Time Out London)

Thanks to Mike Snelle for sending to us a handful of process shots of the installation. He promises to clean up some of this walking area before the doors open tonight!

“I’m not crazy ’bout the art, Clarence, but I could really use this chest of drawers in the pantry. Ask the chap how much he’s getting for it”. Swoon “Murmuration” (photo © Mike Snelle)

Swoon “Murmuration” (photo © Mike Snelle)

Swoon “Murmuration” (photo © Mike Snelle)

Swoon, Thalassa reigns in “Murmuration” (photo © Mike Snelle)

Swoon’s tubes of paint lined up across a drop cloth in preparation for “Murmuration” (photo © Mike Snelle)

Thalassa inspects the ceiling fixture while Swoon runs to the store to get extra light bulbs to complete the illumination of “Murmuration”. (photo © Mike Snelle)

For further information about this show click here

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Stolen Space Gallery Presents: “Wild Life” A Group Show (London, UK)

November 28, 2011 , , , , ,

Wild Life

 

‘Wild Life’ A Group Show
02.12.11 – 18.12.11
Artists interpretation of the living world in Sculpture, Painting & Installation.The wild life of wildlife.
A flower growing through the crack in the pavement, the ivy scaling the fascia of a building, camouflaging, cloaking, pulling it to the ground, the tree growing around a concrete pillar, engulfing it slowly, morphing year on year. The birds nest in the rafters of a roof, made up of twigs and plastic ties, the nested young being fed the preservative pumped, calorie powered garbage bin rewards. These are glimpses of wildlife interacting, adjusting, adapting to the environment  that we’ve created, over, around, on top of it, the once green meadow now a sea of steel work, glass and poured concrete, trees confined to their architect planned and perfectly aligned boxes.
But our wild life, this wildlife is playing a slow game, a slow deathly dance between the static, lifeless concrete structures we’ve built and the unstoppable force of nature. Adapt or be adapted, adjust or be adjusted, remember me? I was here before you, I’ve always been here, you need me, I am life.
Is mother nature reclaiming our temporary oasis or is it adapting to the obstacles that we’ve put in its way or are we now having to listen to the reminder that this place is not ours, we are simply borrowing it?

Confirmed Artists:

Josie Morway (Painter)
Rose Sanderson (Collage)

Jennifer Murphy (Painter)
Kelly Allen – (Painter)
D*Face (Mixed media)
Dan Witz (Mixed media)
Jake Wood Evans (Painter)
Roxanne Jackson (Sculptor)
Kelly McCallum (Sculptor)
Jessica Joslin (Sculptor)
Kai & Sunny (Mixed media)
Katja Holtz (Painter)
Renhui Zhao (Mixed Media)In wilderness I sense the miracle of life, and behind it our scientific accomplishments fade to trivia.

How long can men thrive between walls of brick, walking on asphalt pavements, breathing the fumes of coal and of oil, growing, working, dying, with hardly a thought of wind, and sky, and fields of grain, seeing only machine-made beauty, the mineral-like quality of life.

If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes.

– Charles Lindbergh

StolenSpace Gallery | Stolenspace Gallery, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane | London, UK E1 6QL, United Kingdom

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Xenz Presents: “Cloud Cuckoo Land” @ Blackall Studios (London,UK)

November 28, 2011 , , , , ,

Xenz

Xenz presents: Cloud Cuckoo Land @ Blackall Studios, December 1-4, 2011

PRIVATE VIEW: Thursday December 1, 18:00-22:00
PUBLIC VIEW: Friday, December 2 to Sunday, December 4, 12:00-18:00
British artist, Xenz presents a new major solo show, Cloud Cuckoo Land in London this December.
Famed for his graffiti murals, the artist exhibits a beautiful collection of new landscape paintings which immerse the viewer in an undiscovered world filled with exotic species drawn from the vivid depths of his imagination.
Xenz offers a panoramic view of his fantasy world, presenting a strange utopia where peculiar plants, insects and birds are sighted among the tropical lagoons of moonlit forests. But with the satirical slant of an artist who paints from a dark, gritty warehouse in Hackney Wick, viewers can expect interesting twists such as a bird of paradise sporting Burberry feathers.
Cloud Cuckoo Land shows a body of work created over the last two years. In addition to a new collection of paintings and prints, Xenz’s newest work has seen him experiment with scale by painting on large-scale murals that divide into smaller, compact and highly-desirable pieces.
Xenz successfully marries fine art with urban art forms, using the spray can to capture fragments of memory and subject matter often drawn from the natural world. A love of ornithology and a search for ever-exotic wildlife has led to this greater evolution of the artist’s work.
Xenz explains: “Cloud Cuckoo Land is a kind of childhood fantasy of setting sail to discover a lost world, but ending up in an opium den in Singapore. It’s a celebration of creativity; something happy and joyful, but with a slight twist. I suppose living as an artist is seen as living in cloud cuckoo land by many people and I want to celebrate this by showing people what my dreams look like. Scientists estimate that there are more than 7 million undiscovered species on the planet — that’s inspiration right there!”
An extraordinary cohesion between mind, memory and spray can, allows this influential artist to walk up to a wall or canvas and paint epic landscapes and fantasy dreamscapes from his imagination. Offering a sense of escapism, a Xenz painting has universal appeal, and in the last two years alone, his work has been commissioned for a show by the British Council in India, exhibited globally from Australia to Ibiza, and his work hangs in mud huts in Gambia to celebrity homes in Chelsea.
Xenz paints landscapes imbued with escapism and symbolism and his background in graffiti is still evident. Look closely at a Xenz composition and you might find the letters of his tag worked into the twisted vines or the rocks in a waterfall. “It’s like a game, trying to decipher the code,” he says. “All my work is about escapism: the exotic and that vein. It’s about freedom and I suppose I’m trying to preserve a sense of value in art. I like to create work that takes you somewhere; a picture that takes a few moments more to soak up than an instant slogan or striking image.”
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Swoon Prepping “Murmuration” for Black Rat

November 19, 2011 , , ,

Street Artist and fine artist Swoon has been laboring in London for the past weeks to prepare art for her upcoming show “Murmuration” at Black Rat Projects. The actual installation has just begun and Mike Snell says it’s “still early days” but they’ve sent us a few behind-the-scenes shots to give BSA readers a glimpse of the developing world of Swoon.

Swoon in action while rocking out to some jams. (photo © Mike Snelle)


Swoon. “Sambhavna” awaits installation at Black Rat  (photo © Mike Snelle)

Swoon. “Move it a bit more to the left…”  (photo © Mike Snelle)

Things are still a little unsettled in the orchestra pit, with violins and tubas and sheet music all akimbo. Swoon.  (photo © Mike Snelle)

Swoon soaring upward while an assistant helps with the installation  (photo © Mike Snelle)

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London Street Art Part II: Shoreditch Dispatch

November 16, 2011 , , , ,

When you hit the street in search of street art, it helps if you keep you eyes AND mind open. On his trip to London for the Moniker Art Fair last month, photographer Geoff Hargadon had time to trek the East London neighborhood of Shoreditch and was usually surprised by what he caught. Old stuff like Fauxreel’s father on a ladder, and fresh new work going up before his eyes by Dabs and Myla next to Word to Mother.

A wide faced Anthony Lister stands at the gate (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Here he captures what he liked and what moved him regardless of how old or new it was. This is what Street Art is all about anyway – an ongoing conversation on the street that tells you as much about the artist as contemporary society. In a city that values it’s oldest architecture and its revered historical legacy, there is still plenty of room for the newest voices in the public sphere; even if officially unsanctioned, it is still permitted to ride a while.  Sometimes, it is even invited.

The tagging conversation here is colorfully chaotic, a continuous piling up and covering of messaging with new messages and signatory statements. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

C215 placed behind bars. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Canary Flavour with txemy. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Swoon, Bast. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Word To Mother and Dabs & Myla sharing a wall for Moniker. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

The D*Face wall for Moniker. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

A splash of colour on Turville Street incorporates the natural elements of the urban environment into the scene . (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

And the first prize goes to Prize. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

By Don. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Elvis serenades, “I can’t help falling in love with you.” Juany. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

FauxReel, ACE, Bortusk Leer, and a beautiful pile of tires. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Faile, Specter. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Night Market. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

See Geoffs pics from last week in London’s Bricklane : A Few Shots of Street Art at the Moment

 

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Rook & Raven Gallery Presents: David Walker “Brides on Fire” (London, UK)

November 15, 2011 , , , , ,

David Walker

 

David Walker

Rook & Raven presents

David Walker’s first London Solo Exhibition – ‘Brides on Fire’

Private View 24th November 2011

For guest list please email RSVP@rookandraven.co.uk

Show runs until January 2012

Working in portraiture, painting freehand, using only spray paint and without the aid of brushes David has developed a signature multi-layered style. Incorporating both sophisticated and dumb mark making he creates countless scrawled lines and abstract areas that weave through clashing colours, translucent drips and decaying letterforms, the results are visually rich portraits that fuse photo realism, abstraction and graffiti art sensibilities with a raw energy that comes from the medium. His work is Exhibited in the UK and Internationally and aims to challenge preconceptions about fine art and urban art painting within the gallery confines and the public domain.

Over recent years David has shown work in Berlin, Hong Kong, LA, Lisbon, London, New York and Paris amongst others and his paintings have been shown alongside the leading figures in the urban contemporary and street art movement.

Gallery 7/8 Rathbone Place
London
W1T 1HN
Tel: 0207 323 0805

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London’s Bricklane : A Few Shots of Street Art at the Moment

November 9, 2011 , , ,

London continues to apply mud masks and disappearing creams in anticipation of presenting a sparkling face for the 2012 Olympics, and usually that would mean Street Art gets buffed right? Kind of. It’s a tricky position when Banksy has made your city a worldwide tourist destination for many and the Cans Festival is still talked about three years after it brought hundreds to a tunnel next to Waterloo Station.  So Street Art persists for selected engagements in selected venues – with and without permission, as ever, despite the whole of UK being covered by millions of cameras.

Photographer Geoff Hargadon shares some images with BSA readers of his foot tour last month in Shoreditch. Part II will follow soon.

Ben Slow portrait of Billy Brown Jr. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Juany. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Ben Eine. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

ROA. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Grimbsy Street. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Untitled. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Milo Tchais and Macay. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Featured Video | Ernest Pignon-Ernest “Urban Pioneer”

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