Dale Grimshaw ‘Semi-detached’ Exhibition

Dale Grimshaw discovered his artistic voice the day he realized that he was able to express strong emotions through his art. Maybe not much of a revelation on the surface, but for this artist it was a liberating experience, opening up a whole new realm of visual possibilities. Very few artists in the contemporary art scene, dominated as it is by conceptualism and irony, have the courage and ability to paint with such passion and directness.

For his next solo show at Signal Gallery, which is called ‘Semi-Detached’, the artist is again delving into psychologically intense areas of his own experience. Dominating his childhood was the figure of a violent father, who created a frequently unpredictable and very disturbed atmosphere for the family. Despite this, it was vital that at all costs the appearance of ‘normality’ had to be maintained. The new work explores these memories, uncovering the true sadness and even tragedy that can exist behind closed doors.

This will be the Dale’s fourth London solo show. He has also shown in a number of high profile group shows in London and across the UK alongside Shepard Fairey and Banksy: as well as in Paris, New York, Berlin, Denver, Philadelphia, Lille and Amsterdam. He has been featured in numerous art journals and the press, including Juxtaopoz, Modart, Mynameis and The Independent. Dale has also been building a very strong reputation with a series woodcut prints, which he pastes up on the streets. He has developed a huge following for this area of his work and each new piece is keenly anticipated. His intricate and beautiful works have been seen across London and as far a field as Brazil, Paris and Copenhagen.

The show opens with a private view 6th October 6th - 9pm
Signal Gallery - 32 Paul Street - London - EC2A 4LB

Aryz x Public Provocations 3

Great little clip featuring artist Aryz creating a wall for Public Provocations 3 at the Carhartt Gallery. Interesting to see the artist's working process. The Public Provocations 3 runs until October at the Carhartt Gallery in Weil am Rhein.

The exhibition features 12 individual artspaces within the Gallery and includes work spaces from El Mac (USA), Loomit (DE), Won ABC (DE), Aryz (ES) and Scheme (RU) to name a few. More info on the project on the Carhartt Gallery website.

K-Guy's Iconic Irrigation Exhibition

K-Guy, who world-famously installed the pseudo shrine 'In Loving Memory of the Boom Economy' outside The Bank of England in London’s financial district and an artist widely respected in the urban art scene, will be showing an exciting new collection of works fueled by his unique brand of wry humor.

Irrigation, K-Guy will give the double-sided disposition of numerous icons – from politicians, religious leaders, celebrities and corporate brands and even political and social systems – a bold public airing in his trademark intelligent, scandalous and thought-provoking manner.

In his first highly anticipated solo show, Iconic K-Guy’s work for this show will also enter new territory, by branching out into Pop Surrealism, a genre whose themes, colours and concepts he's been heavily influenced by. Block colour and bold lines are indicative of such, as are his use of familiar household brands. These works will include new large scale originals and unseen prints of his highly regarded 'Coke Moss' featuring Kate Moss and the iconic Coke Zero logo, as well as 'Primate Pontificate,' which features three wise monkeys and was created for the Pope’s most recent UK visit.

Iconic Irrigation will see K-Guy expand on his love of abandoned and discarded street detritus with new 2D workings. Visitors can also expect a new installation which will "cock a snook" at the beguiling nature of food labelling. Summing it up perfectly he says:

“My first solo show will celebrate the facile nature of brands and celebrity culture in a tabloid world of unquenchable thirst for consumerism to its perfunctory rejection and abandonment. Such is the nature of our illusory culture.”

Open to the public from Friday 11th November until Sunday 27 November 12am-8pm daily
Please Note: Private View is on Thursday 10/11/11 6:30pm-10pm and is strictly by invitation only. Please send names to guestlist@londonwestbank.com.

West Bank - 141 Westbourne Grove - London W11 2RS

Word To Mother - Essence of Adolescence

StolenSpace presents Word To Mother's fifth solo show, entitled 'Essence Of Adolescence' featuring a new body of mixed media paintings on wooden panels.

Set to open on the 14th October 2011, 'Essence of Adolescence' is an enlightening glimpse into the artist's visually obsessed mind. Word To Mother invites the viewer to take a glimpse of his inner mind-scape. An outward manifestation that combines references drawn from his childhood and the visual stimulation that he absorbed; cartoons juxtaposed with more serious emotive thoughts and fears that face him as an adult living and painting in East London.

Incorporating hand drawn personal sentiments,emotions and feelings that he executes in the form of loose script, inspired from his experience as a tattoo artist and tight sign written letters, drawn from years of painting graffiti. A beautiful juxtaposition, of fragile and emotive elements shown through subtle textures and washes of colour, but with a strength and confidence fused with his signature patterns, architecture & figures, this body of work is melancholic yet fun and playful. With an earthy 'London' palette of grey tones excentuating splashes of brighter 'seaside' colours of fluro red, pink, yellows and turquoise which give the paintings an optimistic feel. Word To Mother draws inspiration from an adolescence which holds precious memories, juxtaposed with an adulthood which has made him the talented artist he is today.

The exhibition will runs from October 14th through to the 30th, with an opening on the October 13th.

Image via Stolen Space

Lucy Mclauchlan At Fame festival

Tonight sees the opening of this years Fame Festival in the South Of Italy. For the fourth year running curator Angelo Milano has invited an all star cast of street artists to the southern town of Grottaglie. The exhibition opens later this evening 24th September in the old ceramic district. We look forward to seeing some pictures from this show. In the mean time check the above video of Lucy Mclauchlan who was in Grottaglie earlier in the week, decoration the streets with her work.

Jim McElvaney at No Walls

Bringing together an eclectic mix of figurative drawings, paintings and prints Stop Looking at the Walls, look out the Window encourages the audience to look beyond the familiarity of ideological portraiture and see things from a different perspective, highlighting the complexity of human emotion and it’s various interpretations.

Following the success of his solo show earlier this year at The Outsiders, Newcastle, Stop Looking at the Walls, Look out the Window precedes shows in Seoul, Moscow and London in what has already been a big year for the young artist.

Private view 29th September, 6-9pm
30th September – 23rd October
No Walls Gallery - 13a Prince Albert Street - Brighton - BN1 1HE

Mark Gonzales for Supreme London

‎Clothing brand Supreme is set to open a UK store in London this Thursday, the 22nd of September 2011. This will be the first Supreme store in Europe, and like its counterparts in the US and Japan, it will feature the brands entire collection including skateboards & footwear as well as all special releases.

The store opening will coincide with an exhibition featuring the work of Skateboarder/artist Mark Gonzales. The shop is located in Soho at 2/3 Peter Street, London W1F 0AA.

Anthony Lister in San Francisco

Filmed, Edited, and Scored by Spencer Keeton Cunningham, this short film features Anthony Lister, an Australian artist living and working in NYC. He is currently visiting San Francisco where the clip was shot for the Young and Free exhibition which opened at the 941 Geary gallery on the 10th September.

Graffiti Burners Book

A "burner" is a piece so distinctive that it burns all the other paintings surrounding it. Graffiti and street art is constantly developing, and there is a clear will among practitioners to constantly take the art form to new levels and refine their technique. The quest to surpass oneself and all takers has led to unexpected and astonishing results.

The book Graffiti Burners collects 145 of the world’s foremost writers. In addition to showing their best work from the past two years, around 70 of them talk about what a burner means to them, and share their tips on how to create one yourself. The book provides the reader with a unique opportunity to understand more about the dramatic development of the art form of graffiti in the last few years. Featuring burners by Azma (KCN), Cide (BTN), Jeks (CAS, THY), Mint (KCN), News (VIM), Nomad (OBS, BASF), Puppet (NOW) & ZZ Top (COS)

Graffiti Burners is available on Amazon and in book stores world wide.
Title: Graffiti Burners
Author: Björn Almqvist
ISBN: 9789185639427

108 At Fame Festival

With less than a week until the opening of this years Fame Festival in the South Of Italy, street artist 108 hit the town of Grottaglie to create some large scale murals. Check the clip below.

Photo: ©Fame Festival

Mobster's First Screen Print

Street artist Mobstr drops his first screenprint ' Welcome To London, goodbye biodiversity'. The new print is an edition of 65, a four colour print 70x50 cm in size. Each one of these prints was un-lovingly hand pulled by mobstr. He did this over a weekend in a small dark room whilst the rest of the nation sat out in the sunshine drinking beer.

If you want some educational art you can pick one up here for £85.

Kid Acne — Colour Me Bad Book

To tie in with his solo exhibition at the Millennium Gallery in Sheffield, Kid Acne released the first edition of his ‘unofficial’ exhibition catalogue, Colour Me Bad. All the gallery copies have now sold out but lucky for us, Kid Acne held back 100 copies which he has hand customized with a 2 colour illustration on the inside cover + numbered and embossed them on the back.

The book is 36 printed pages + 4 colour cover on heavy duty uncoated stock. Loving printed in traditional Risograph at Ditto Press.  These super limited editions are available exclusively on the artists website for just £10.

Images ©Kid Acne

Shepard Fairey - Rise Above Rebels Print

Shepard Fairey continues his weekly print drop with this his newest print "Rise Above Rebel". This is the first print of his in a long time that we actually like. The edition will go on sale this Thursday via the Obey website. It's a 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed and Numbered Edition of 450. $45 each, with a limit of one per person/household.

Release date: Thursday 9/15/11, at a random time between 9am and 11noon Pacific Standard Time in the Prints section of the Obey website.

Inkfetish — Japan 2011 Video

UK based illustrator and graffiti artist Inkfetish has recently return from a two week trip to Japan. Here is a short clip of a wall the artist managed to paint on his final day in Chiba, 2 hours outside of Tokyo with local artists GKQ and Emar.



Image ©Inkfetish

Richt Russian Doll Print

Colourful new edition from Bristol based artist Richt. This new print sees the artist remixing his work, taking something old and mixing with something new. In The Woods is available in a very limited edition of 20. Inspired by Richt's new flower paintings and illustrations coupled with the classic russian doll design.

Here's the technical bit: High White Smooth 315gsm 100% Cotton Rag, pH neutral, Acid Free art paper. High quality Giclee print which is colour fast for 100+ years. If you live longer than 100 years Richt will replace it for no extra charge should it fade!!. Size: 594 x 420 mm

Print is available for £35 from the artist website.

Sickboy - Heaven Sent Screenprint

Today, Sickboy is releasing the second screen print from the ‘Plus from Minus’ series. Following his sell-out ‘Big Different’ print, ‘Heaven Sent’ is a one-colour (black) screen print with a ‘gold leaf’ temple which he has coloured and brought to life with a loving hand.

With intense hand-finishing, each print is totally unique. The edition is in a desirable run of only 10 and is definitely a print to boost you up in the autumn. Two of the 10 prints are pictures above.

A one-colour screen print with hand-finishing in ink, spray paint and gold leaf on white Arches 300gsm paper, size is  50 x 80 cm in an Edition of 10.Signed, numbered and embossed with the temple logo by the artist. The print is available for £195 + P&P from the artists website here.

Ludo - Metamorphosis Exhibition

Drawn with the precision of botanical illustrations, Ludo's sociological imagery and malevolent creatures are as elegant as they are fierce. Hailing from France, Ludo has been creating attention around industry-fueled consumer culture for over a decade. Seamlessly fusing nature's wondrous species with its man-made destructive counterparts, these works intend to jolt us out of a longstanding collective denial: despite repeated natural disasters, we refuse to acknowledge our own fragile state. Ludo's resulting quasi-mutant images so effortlessly evoke contemporary creative canons that they might almost go unnoticed, underscoring the impact of ‘commercial propaganda’ on both taste and decency.

For his first London solo exhibition, Ludo's transmutations are an accumulation of new works spanning scultpure, drawing, and print.  This exhibition also heralds the international launch of a 72-page full colour book, OPUS #23, with an Introduction by Marc & Sara Schiller of Wooster Collective.  A limited 25 signed copies will be available for sale during the exhibition. 

The show opens with a private view on the 9th September 2011 from 7pm. The exhibition will then run at the gallery until the 7th October 2011.

High Roller Society - 10 PALMERS ROAD - London - E2 0SY

adidas Originals x 55DSL

Our friends at 55DSL are having a bit of a party on Saturday 10th September to launch their latest 55DSL x adidas Originals collaboration - a jacket created in honour of 1980s film legend Rocky Balboa. The J-ADIDAS55 jacket pictured in the flyer above will be launched at the 55DSL flagship store on Saturday, there will be music from Wholemeal and refreshments from Oranjeboom.

55DSL - 10A Newburgh Street - London - W1F 7RN

BRP Paper Exhibition

‘BRP Paper’ is the title of a new group show opening Thursday 8th of September through to October 16th at Black Rat Projects gallery space in London.

Skilled and labour intensive, paper works respond to the rise of the digital age in small carefully crafted rebellions. Through the manipulation of paper today’s artists turn to this generation’s redundant material as a site of endless creative possibility. ‘BRP Paper’ will present Brian Douglas, Swoon, Leipzig based Annette Schröter, Polish artist Jarek Piotrowski, Armenian born Karen Sargsyan, Alex James Daw and Atlanta based Brian Dettmer, bringing these international artists together for the first time to explore common themes in their work.

The show opens with a private view Thursday 8th September, 6pm — 9pm
Black Rat Projects - Thru Cargo Garden - Arch 461- Rivington Street - London - EC2A

Tee Wat Stencil Show — Graffik Gallery

Graffik Gallery is proud to announce the first solo show featuring “stenciler supremo” Tee Wat.

In his unique brand of Pop, Pap and Pulp Tee Wat has captured the hearts of many and those are all eagerly awaiting to see what’s next. Within his repertoire are portrayals of gangsters, multi-nationals, evolution, politics, religion, the class system and general Mickey taking in a stenciled bow of wry subversion. Despite his modesty, Tee Wat’s work has shone through with a piercing edge which means his stenciling onslaught can be considered some of the most interesting and sociologically lively work on the streets of London today. He can guarantee to brighten up the ever grim days with a smile, striking at the very heart of our society.

Utilising the streets and gallery walls as his canvas, this master of the stencil with his first solo exhibition, will find appeal from the most seasoned street arts connoisseur to the street art novice whose only experience with aerosols is a deodorant.

When: 15th Sep 2011 from 18:30 to 23:00  
Graffik Gallery - 284 Portobello Road - Notting Hill - London

VNA Issue 16 Launch Party

This Thursday the 8th September sees the launch of the eagerly awaited issue 16 of Very Nearly Almost magazine. The new issue features Chu, Dead Sea Mob, Kid Zoom, Will Barras, Trusto Corp, Matt Sewell and more.

Plus with Invader on the cover, there will be a edition of 100 screenprinted Special edition VNA 16′s by INVADER. 80 of which will be available on the launch night to purchase at Pictures On Walls. We expect there will be huge demand for this special edition so we suggest you get there early and please read the message for the VNA team below.

"PLEASE NOTE… THE “SPECIAL EDITION VNA 16” WILL BE AVAILABLE ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS. ONLY ONE PER PERSON. (NO EXCEPTIONS IM AFRAID)
PLEASE RESPECT OUR STAFF AND THE STAFF AT POW AND FORM AN ORDERLY QUEUE. DOORS WILL OPEN AT 6PM."

 
For those who can’t make it to the launch party in London, VNA will have 20 copies which will be available through a lottery system Please email ltd@verynearlyalmost.com to enter. 20 names will be picked out using a random number generator. Good luck people!! See ye in the queue.  

Pictures On Walls - 46/48 Commercial Street - London E1 6LT

Image via VNA

Configured' Group Show — Signal Gallery

Signal Gallery in East London opens again after their summer break with another very interesting group show featuring a mixed group of artists, some of whom are known to the gallery and some new faces.

New artists include John Clark (his work 'Race' above) who was one of the final exhibitors in BBC2's 'Show Me The Monet' series from earlier this year and Sandro Kopp, whose portraits of his partner Tilda Swinton have attracted a lot of international attention. Iain Andrews, whose work the gallery have shown several times, was the winner of the prestigious Marmite Art Prize in 2010 and has attracted much international attention and several important buyers. With the addition of new works by familiar gallery artists, this looks set to be an exciting and varied show of figurative work.

Private View 8th September 6 - 9pm. Open from 9th September - 1st October Tuesday - Saturday 12 - 6pm
Signal Gallery - 32 Paul Street - London EC2A 4LB

KID ZOOM at work

Check out this video taking a look at the process Kid Zoom, the Australian born, New York based artist, and his slightly insane cat go through with a painting, start to finish. The video has been put together for the guys at King Brown magazine. video by - www.cluglife.com www.youragain.com

Da Mental Vaporz at Galore DK

London based photographer Butterfly has put together this clip featuring French graffiti crew Da Mental Vaporz. This huge wall was painted recently at the Galore Festival in Copenhagen.The festival saw works from Da Mental Vaporz (France) - Blo, Bom.k, Brusk, Dran, Gris, Jaw, Kan, Sowat as well as Dreyk The Pirate (Greece), Erosie (Netherlands), Graphic Surgery (Netherlands), Grito (Spain), Lints (Denmark), Ripo (USA), Roa (Belgium) and Scie (Ireland).

Check out the clip below of Da Mental Vaporz at work.