Tagging - A short Film

A short film on Tagging for Art & Music featuring Cedar Lewisohn and Prime. Looks like a lot of it was shot around East London as we recognise lots of the spots.

DISTORTING VIEWS Exhibition

Last night saw us attend the Distorting Views show opening at The Brick Lane Gallery in East London. The evening was hosted by el Jimador tequila and showcased works from two street artists both of whom were present at the exhibition. 

Acclaimed Mexican street artist Ciler teamed up with London’s Cityzen Kane to collaborate on some new work which was completed live in gallery throughout the evening. Alongside the wall completed in front of a packed out gallery, the show also featured a selection of the artists other works, large scale poster works from Ciler and Cityzen Kane's elaborate sculptural works. And with some tasty el Jimador tequila cocktails and mexican canapes a fun evening was had by the Invisiblemadevisible team.

Distorting Views runs at The Brick Lane Gallery until the 30th September 2012.

Street Artist Malarky in Deadbeat Summer

Deadbeat Summer documents the work of street artist Malarky over the summer months of 2012. Following his exploits around London, the East London Lomography store shot Malarky creating his vibrant characters from concept to finished piece. Shot entirely on analogue film, the exhibition evokes the nostalgia of hazy and fun filled summers. Expect bright colours, sunshine, lazy day paints, plenty of hip-hop references, analogue treats, fried chicken and tasty fun.

Private View: Thursday October 4th, 6pm
Open October 5th - November 15th, 10am - 7pm.
Lomography Gallery Store East London - 117 Commercial Street - London - E1 6BG

Ricky Powel x Pony x Foot Patrol

NY photographer, Ricky Powell is in the UK to promote his collaboration with sneaker brand PONY. PONY and Powell put together - under the ’Dog Walker’ theme - a limited edition of the ‘Vintage Slam Dunk sneaker from 1982. The Vintage Slamdunks, designed by Powell, are animal-friendly heavily treated canvas shoes. As a vegetarian, Ricky wanted to explore how the sneaker could be robust and explored heavily waxed canvases to provide the durability of leather without the use of skins.

To celebrate the launch of the Ricky Powell x PONY collaborative sneaker, Ricky will be instore at Soho’s Foot Patrol on Thursday 27th September, 6- 8pm. Both the footwear and T’s will be on sale from 6pm on Thursday the 27th at Foot Patrol.

Foot Patrol - 80 Berwick Street - London- W1F 8TU

45RPM Disposable Fanzine Issue 2

Bristol street artist 45RPM of the What Collective has just dropped his latest zine, the Disposable fanzine issue 2‏. The awesome looking new zine is a 42 page full colour, matt finish, glue bound A6 fanzine featuring photos of graffiti and as 45RPM puts it 'general tom foolery'.The second edition of this zine comes with a colour photo print of one of the photos from the fanzine, and two Spray and Snap vinyl stickers.

Don't sleep on this as it is likely to sell out fast! The fanzine is available to purchase for £5 from the artists online shop here.

Guy Denning 'Paradiso' Exhibition

Signal Gallery are delighted to announce that they are showing the work of the much loved and respected Bristol artist, Guy Denning in his first London solo show for two years. It’s the final part of his trilogy of exhibitions interpreting Dante’s The Divine Comedy; PARADISO. Inferno and Purgatorio, which were shown in Bologna and New York, were a tremendous success and Signal think that the final part of the cycle will be equally so.

In PARADISO Denning has created a series of works that use highly individual visual imagery to depict the ecstatic route to a place of resolution and rest (for Dante the route to heaven). He is intrigued by how the moral ambiguities of the world we live in; with it’s emphasis on glorifying the here and now, finds resonances with the unshakeable medieval belief in the existence of life after death. Like Dante, Denning draws on contemporary political concerns to illustrate his vision.

The private view is on the 4th October and the show runs until the 27th October.

Signal Gallery - 32 Paul Street - London EC2A 4LB

Above - 24% DESEMPLEADOS

Street artist Above was recently invited to Zaragoza, Spain to paint at the 7th annual International art festival ASALTO where he painted this 40 meter wall piece 24% DESEMPLEADOS (24% UNEMPLOYED)

Spain is the Eurozone’s 4th largest economy, however one in four people in Spain are unemployed. In August 2012, Spain's unemployment rate reached 24.4%, twice the euro-zone average. Even more shocking is the unemployment rate for those under 25 years old, is a staggering 53%!

As of September 2012 there are 4,600,000 people without jobs in Spain. An unemployment rate of 24% or 25% puts a country about where the U.S. was during the 1930s during the Great Depression. In September 2012 Spain breaks the world record and has the highest unemployment anywhere in the world!

Foundation's Rug Addict's Collection 2012

For their very first collection Foundation have brought together cutting edge contemporary art and ancient Egyptian craftsmanship to create a collection of unique hand-knotted rugs.

They have challenged their favourite artists and designers to work within the textile medium, artists include, Anthony Burrill, Paul Insect, Pete Fowler, Present, Tomato, Alexone, Jack Teagle, Natasha Law, No Days Off, Si Scott and Yann Brien. Each design has then made its way onto the looms of a traditional mill housed in a beautiful 19th century palace in Cairo.

This mill has been owned by the same family for generations, who oversee the time-honoured hand-knotting craft whose products adorn some of the world’s most beautiful interiors.

The result will be a stunning collection of 1 off rugs that bring together some of the brightest talents in graphic design, illustration, graffiti, street art, pop culture and typography interwoven with ageless Egyptian carpet-weaving craftsmanship.

The collection will be displayed at the Dray Walk Gallery at the Old Truman Brewery from the 2nd to the 6th of November, with a private view on the 1st. Mark the dates into your diaries

Geoff McFetridge London Exhibition

Ivory & Black Soho proudly presents “Around Us & Between Us”, the first solo exhibition in London since 2005 by the Los Angeles based artist Geoff McFetridge – A multidisciplinary artist without creative boundaries who’s life work ranges from poetry to installation, painting to graphic design and many other practices in between.

For his “Around Us & Between Us” exhibition, Geoff has created a series of 10 new acrylic paintings on canvas on his distinctive and reductive style, giving each different subject the same treatment and refinery.

September 14 – October 26, 2012
Private reception with the artist: September 14, 6-9PM – RSVP at rsvp@ivoryandblack.com Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 2-8 PM

Ivory&Black Soho - 94 Berwick Street - London- W1F 0QF

Video shot and directed by Joao Retorta courtesy of BRICK & BONE studios

MONOKROME Volume 02 Book

The guys over at Monokrome have just released a brand new book, ‘MONOKROME: The World’s Best Graffiti in Full Kolour’. THe new book features 33 world class graffiti writers form all over the globe, including REMIROUGH, DOES, CODAK, MR WANY, ELSE, TILT, KOFIE, EAZ1, HUSH, PEETA, SHOK1, AZEK, JEROO, SUIKO, INKFETISH, ESTRIA, BATES, ASKE, AMATIC along with interviews and write ups on all of them.

Written and compiled by old school UK writer Robert CUTE Whitelock, the new book features over 500 photos of previously unpublished work from all of the featured artists. The book can be purchased online from the Monokrome website here.

Kaleidoscope Creative Festival, London

London prepares itself to welcome a whole host of the foremost authorities on creative thinking at the Kaleidoscope International Creative Festival. Debuting on the 27th and 28th of November, the festival is billed as a creative conference comprising of an impressive two days of creative workshops, master classes, art exhibitions, events, an art fair and the odd party.

The brainchild of London based artists/illustrator/designer Timba Smits and the talented Studio Bow & Arrows, the Kaleidoscope International Creative Festival - London 2012 is a project that the organisers hold very close to their hearts. The objective and aim of Kaleidoscope is to inspire and encourage designers, illustrators, artists, creative professionals and anyone harboring a creative streak to break the mould and dare to achieve great things in their careers as well as their own day-to-day lives. The debut London Kaleidoscope Creative Festival will run from Saturday the 24th of November until Wednesday the 28th in and around the Barbican Centre and various east London venues.

For a full line of of the speakers and all the details of the festival head over to the Kaleidoscope website here.

UPDATE: The nice folks at Beach London on Cheshire Street have been in touch to let us know you can get 10% off your ticket price if you buy your ticket from the Kaleidoscope website using the code BEACH! Go now while the offer lasts!

Acerone & Art-El Gallery present Where is Iron John Exhibition

Art-el Gallery have just announced details of the first solo exhibition in London from one of Bristol’s most exciting young visual artists to have emerged from the street art scene, Acerone (Luke Palmer).

Entitled 'Where is Iron John?', Acerone’s new body of work depicts images from his exploration of masculinity and transitions into manhood, inspired, informed and twisted from the iconic Grimm Brothers ‘Der Eisenhans’ fairy tale and it’s unique review through folklore and mythology by Robert Bly.

From innovative photo-shoots Acerone reveals some of London's most classical statues and sculptures that evoke personal representations of the fragility, serenity and the complexity of modern masculinity and its inks to the male of yesteryear. Blended with images depicting the pace and expectation of inner-city modernity, double exposure images are replayed in paint and print creating works that are anchored in history whilst emphasising the pressure on the modern male.

Opening night Thursday 11th October 6pm - 10pm
Then open Friday 12th October - Sunday 14th October 10am - 7pm

The Rag Factory - 16-18 Heneage Street - Brick Lane - London - E1 5JL

Build – Blood, Sweat & 11 Years Exhibition

Creative studio BUILD, led by Michael C. Place & Nicky Place, have produced striking and influential work in the UK and abroad since 2001. This month, it's their birthday, and they are celebrating at the London Design Festival with ‘Build – Blood, Sweat & 11 Years’, an exhibition featuring a selection of prints and posters produced over the last eleven years.

Many pieces have been highly sought-after, some are less well known, but all carry the Build stamp of distinction. They will be showing works from their archives whilst others will be reprinted especially for the show; most pieces will be for sale, along with a printed show catalogue.

There will be events happening throughout the week at the exhibition. The show will also feature a collaborative piece with Build, architects Studio Octopi and contemporary carpentry company Aldworth James & Bond.

Dray Walk Gallery - The Old Truman Brewery, Dray Walk - Brick Lane - London - E1 6QL 

11 September - 16 September
Opening times: Tues 10am-3pm, Weds-Fri 10am-9pm, Sat 10am-10pm, Sun 10am-6pm Invite-only launch from 7pm on Tuesday 11th September

Images via Build

Dotmasters' High Class Trash Exhibition at Graffik Gallery

A show of beautifully hand crafted stencil works that discover the beauty amongst our trash. Photo real renditions of humble bin bags & high class labels painted on a decade’s worth of bin and skip raiding. Up-cycled objects, grannies cushions, nothing avoids the Dotmasters' magpie eye. Mixed media assemblages pop off the wall in a faux 3D skid row tableaux. The frames are off, and work spills from the walls like the piles of trash they depict.

 The irony of stencilling piles of rubbish is not lost on us. Rubbish, we all do it... leave it out on the street, either once a week or at random times when consumption out strips our storage. For many it's their only contribution to the public space. We all contribute to this shifting sea of street sculpture with the rhythms of the weekly bin round. It’s an ordered chaos, of suddenly unowned & worthless things.

You can tell a lot about an area from its rubbish, the people that live there, what they eat, what they wear. High Class Trash takes its inspiration from the gallery’s location, that particular mix of trash and glamour that make Notting hill so famous.

The first 13 visitors to the show on the 13th of September will be rewarded with a limited hand finished six colour silk screen print, a release of only 13. Sometimes 13 can be a lucky number.

Thursday 13th September 2012, 6pm
Graffik Gallery - 284 Portobello Road - London - W10 5TE

Above - #Socialmedia Video

#socialmedia from ABOVE on Vimeo.

"People look at me like I’m from another planet when I tell them I don’t have social media like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. In the eyes of social media I’m severely outdated, lost and not ‘connected’.

Not partaking in the aforementioned social media makes me an outsider looking in on how hyper frequent society uses its sacred social media. I can’t help but observe the people around me who appear to be consumed and addicted to trying to keep up to speed on their social media pages.
You check your Facebook page while driving. Tweet a message that you ‘just took a shower’. Instagram a photo of your double soy macchiato with extra foam and so it continues ad infinitum.

I have more questions than I do answers with social media. We live in a ridiculously hyper fast pace life where information is exchanged so rapidly that it makes us feel inadequate and drains our attention span. This painting was executed at the GALORE festival (werket.dk/galore/) in Copenhagen, Denmark. The painting is a time-lapse composed of over 9,000 photos and painted over a 5-day period. As irony has it this video will be reblogged and seen on social media outlets the world over. Please join in and reblog on your facebook and twitter accounts. Enjoy and try to keep up. " — ABOVE

Soulful Creative's Judge Dredd Tribute Piece

2000AD & Judge Dredd have been with us since the late 19070's and what a massive inspiration they have been! The amazing stories years ahead of their time have been brought to life by stunning artwork created by the masters like Ian Gibson, Cam Kennedy, Carlos Ezquerra and Simon Bisley to name a few.

Soulful Creative artists Koze and Onion have created their own 'little' tribute to the great man himself and the artist Simon Bisley, buy painting a 60 sqm graffiti art piece designed around a graphic novel page spread.

Soulful Creative

Xenz – The Charm of Hummingbirds Exhibition

The Outsiders is pleased to welcome Xenz to Greek Street for his first solo show at the London gallery.

The Charm of Hummingbirds focuses on paintings of utopian landscapes and wildlife.These new works are inspired by a trip to Jamaica's Montego Bay Bird Sanctury, Xenz says "Feeding Hummingbirds by hand, I was mesmerised by their iridescent feathers and spectacular flying ability ..." the works centre around the birds' beautiful colours and passionate nature.

The Charm of Hummingbirds includes large watercolours on paper, three dimensional Perspex pieces, "geometric" tessellating hexagonal and triangular canvases, as well as a large three panel hand painted dressing screen. And if that isn't enough, there will also be several prints created by Xenz at The Outsiders Wapping print studio.

7th September – 6th October 2012 Open Tuesday-Saturday 12pm-6pm.
The Outsiders - 8 Greek Street - Soho - London - W1d 4DG

Image via the Outsiders.

The Goodhood Store 5th Year Anniversary

On the 13th September 2012 The Goodhood Store will be 5 years old! To celebrate theyare opening a new store at 20 Coronet Street. The store will be full of collaborations and special products with some of their close friends including the folk at Norse Projects, Antipodium, Soulland, R.Newbold, Bag ‘N’ Noun Japan, Dog State, Great River, Knight Mills and Gasius.

For the first time there will be a collection of limited edition Goodhood Products housed in a unique concept space – from T-Shirts, umbrellas, stickers, badges, cushions and other homewear. The launch kicks off at 6pm till 9pm with an after party from 9pm (2:30am close) at Common Bar (30 seconds walk away on Old Street). They have asked a bunch of mates to come down and play choice party selections so please join them to celebrate 5 years of independence and many more to come. Join the facebook page here. All welcome.

AtoZ with JAYBO aka MONK

A short film about choices an artist makes when creating. By looking at the process of one of their works. The clip feature the super talented Jaybo Monk, sit back and enjoy this great clip.