It was just a matter of time before someone would have a go at this – using LEGO to reproduce the characters of the very popular video game Angry Birds. CK Tsang just did that.
Angry birds made out of LEGO
Black Friday & street art
It is almost upon us… yes Black Friday is a thing and this means money being spent, overspent, wasted – pick yours.
You may recall the piece called ‘Shop til your drop’ by the artist Banksy which appeared on Bruton lane, Mayfair, London a few years back. This piece depicts a woman being pulled down or falling and reaching for a shopping cart.
We included other street art from the web & related to Black Friday – Black Friday & street art.
About Black Friday
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November).
Since 1932, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S., and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales.
Black Friday is not an official holiday, but California and some other states observe “The Day After Thanksgiving” as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday such as Columbus Day.
Boiler Room & Red Stripe Make Sessions 08
Another Make Sessions, another banging set of tunes. The crime scene, somewhere in East London of course, the usual suspects this time round were Portico Quartet, Stubborn Heart, Factory Floor, Anushka, Eaux and CKTRL. We have included a video of the Anushka below – what a set!
While the tunes were stacking on top of each other, T-Shirt Party presented their simple and creative tees in a t-shirt exhibition.
Art-Pie and Red Stripe Lager have teamed up to offer you the chance to win some of the 5 tee-shirts that were on display at the Make Sessions 08. What you have to do is just to subscribe to our newsletter and you will automatically enter the draw which will happen on the 21st May so hurry and get entering now
The illustrations/images for the 4 other tee-shirts are below, click to enlarge.
Head to Soundcloud to hear/download the other sets >
https://soundcloud.com/platform
Portico Quartet: http://www.porticoquartet.com/
Factory Floor: http://soundcloud.com/factory-floor
Stubborn Heart http://soundcloud.com/stubbornheartuk
CKTRL: http://soundcloud.com/cktrl
EAUX: http://soundcloud.com/eauxeaux
Anushka: http://soundcloud.com/anushka
Remember, when the Make Sessions are happening, they are live stream here: www.boilerroom.tv/live
Other related links
@RedStripeLager-> hashtag is #redstripeboilerroom
www.facebook.com/redstripelagerbeer
London Art Fair – artists we enjoyed, Matteo Massagrande
We strolled through the London Art Fair for the fourth consecutive year and as always stumbled upon remarkable artworks from ever so talented artists.
In this series, we will tell you why we liked a particular piece from these artists as well as posting more works. We hope you will also enjoy it as we did.
Feel free to comment too at the end of this article. Let’s get started….
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Matteo Massagrande
We stumbled upon the piece called “Salice” – mixed media on board, 80 x 120cm and instantly liked the smoky and hazy atmosphere of this piece achieved in using panels. It made us want to go and explore the scene that was presented in front of our eyes.
About the artist
Matteo Massagrande was born in Padua, Italy in 1959. Massagrande is an accomplished painter and a talented engraver. He has exhibited in over one hundred exhibitions internationally in the past 30 years.
Other works from this artist
Click to enlarge
animated gifs better than 3D
There seems to be a trend amongst many other on the web right now – animated GIFs. I must admit, I love some of them.
Some are hilarious and other rather cleverest than funny. How about this one below (You’ll all have recognised a famous street art work from Banksy)?
Now, to all things, they are better things? To creativity, there is always more creativity. To animated GIFs, there are Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg’s animated GIFs or rather photos. Next level? Yes, defintely.
Take Jamie Beck and motion graphics artist Kevin Burg and “cinemagraphs” as they are called, are here for us to enjoy, are here to mesmerised us. Subtle and soft are the feelings that come to mind when I look at these.
How did these come about? The pair was inspired to create these cinemagraphs while preparing to cover Fashion Week this past February: “We wanted to tell more of a story than a single still frame photograph but didn’t want the high maintenance aspect of a video,”
Enough said. Look at these examples below.
Helen Gorrill’s solo show DEICIDE at Degree Art
Saturday 26 November I made way to Degree Art’s gallery on Vyner Street to view the works of Helen Gorrill on show in the solo exhibition titled DEICIDE. The gallery is not so far away from Bethnal Green as people might think and a fair pace will get you to the gallery in 10 minutes.
Upon arrival to the gallery I chatted with gallery manager (and all round arts, culture & fashion voice) Ryan Lanji who gave me a few pointers about the show, which I had not picked up on from my brief musings online. The first of which being the portrait of a Pope which was attached to the floor at the entrance of the gallery; meaning that everyone that enters walks over the Pope – a sign of the conflict with sexuality and religion which appears a central aspect in Helen’s work.
After which Ryan explained about the Confession Chamber which was the interactive element of Helen’s work; a look at the notion of confession, who to and why. Within the chamber, which has been meticulously created to represent a real confession box, are confessions from every body that has entered, along with some well know confessors from the art world. Some of which have been stitched into the fabric of the inside, some written in chalk on the walls and some placed in envelopes on the wall. Everybody was encouraged to enter there own confessions…
The last point we covered, which really was not apparent with the online material was the sheer size of Helen’s work. I had imagined them to be water colour pieces which would look great in a plain white frame and would be of reasonable size to go above the fire place, hang in the dining room or be a centre piece for the spare room. I did not for one minute imagine them to be the slightly oversized real life height that they are!
The reason for this as I found out when talking with Helen is intertwined within the whole body of work. The role reversal; the woman in charge, the woman in power, the woman imposing in height standing above the crouched, submissive man.
Helen’s work was hung from chains on the ceiling to allow for the full effect of the size to be felt. They covered the main walls of the gallery and in my opinion are hard to find fault with in terms of the concept. Secured to the floor were 3 images of men in submissive postions, all positioned under the images of the women. In addition to this there was Helen’s provocative installation pieces which are steeped in religious references as well as a swipe at the controlling nature of the Church.
Helen’s background is that of an interesting mix of religion and control. A Christian background, a marriage to a Policeman who was also a Jehovah’s Witness and a seeming questioning of the effect of male influence in her life and choices. One of Helen’s shows was censored; the male nudity was covered but the female nudity was not – a very interesting point, especially as it was censored by men. This also questions the influence that men have had over society and the extent of control over what social acceptances should be. Helen’s work was actually featured on a Vatican sponsored website for some time because they thought it was promoting the Confession – when they realised it was actually asking a few more questions it was promptly removed!
Listening to Helen reference sexuality, feminism and religion in her work was very compelling in considering whether this is just a result of Helen’s personal experience or is a genuine perception of the world which many of us overlook or choose to ignore. Helen was supported by Degree Art’s very own Chloe Lawrence who covered some points in
literature relating to the feminist cause and the response this drew from female artists. References to Yoko Ono’s “Cut Piece”, Carole Schneemann’s “Interior Scroll” and Judy Chicago’s “Dinner Party” were all made. In addition we also heard from Kim Foxton who spoke about religion and the role of women through history and how this has changed.
Questions from the audience as well as Degree Art Founders Elinor Olisa & Isobel Beauchamp followed and this evolved to more personal discussions with the speakers accompanied with refreshments.
Overall a very well put together show which had important questions to state, as well as what I felt were aesthetically pleasing works. A great
environment to discuss the work and a well chosen line up of supporting speakers made a very enjoyable ‘art evening’.
Information
The provocative solo show ran from 3 November to 28 November 2011 with an evening in conversation with the artist on Saturday 26 November 2011.
All works are available for purchase from Degree Art.
To read more about the artist and to view all works visit: http://www.degreeart.com/events/deicide-solo-exhibition-and-new-works-helen-gorrill
Visit Helen Gorrill’s site here: http://www.helengorrill.com/about.aspx
© Degree Art and the Artist
Time lapse: Nick Walker’s Mona Lisa stencil (video)
Time lapse of Nick Walker’s Mona Lisa stencil
The Lock Up exhibition: just what I like
I knew I would not be disappointed when I heard about the Lock Up exhibition and disappointed I wasn’t, oh no, I was overwhelmed.
By the way, that event happened last year (20th Nov till 10th Dec 2009), yes I know it is a bit late to report on it but I never got round to do it before today… But keep reading, those artists are just phenomenal. Continue reading The Lock Up exhibition: just what I like
‘Life Work’ by Martha Cooper at Stolen Space
About Exhibition
Martha Cooper is a legendary photographer who has shot around the globe, beginning with USA to Asia. She worked both for papers and magazines like New York Post and National Geographic and independently, making contributions into her personal archive.
Stories and captures that appeared in her lens were different and timely: travels, people and of course art. She has been documenting graffiti and street art for 40 years and her iconic book “Subway Art” influenced on graffiti culture and opened a new world to those whose countries came to urban art much later than in USA.
Martha Cooper is still working with graffiti and street artists, documenting artworks of US and international artists around the world, and continues to make an important contribution to the urban art movement.
Graffiti and street art are ephemeral but pieces and murals can be preserved through photography. Since the late ’70’s, Martha Cooper has documented urban art with a view towards historic preservation. Her work will help make this art form immortal, providing future generations of artists and historians with images of what has been called the biggest art movement in the history of the world. The gallery will exhibit Martha’s photos in a timeline from the ’70s until today, following her interest in graffiti as it spread from a localised New York City phenomenon into a massive worldwide urban art movement. Included in the exhibition will be also photos of StolenSpace Gallery artists shot by Martha in various locations.
Under her skin at Atomica gallery
I looked out of the window and the only thought that came through my mind was “bloody weather”. It was pretty nasty out there, aggressive showers and blistering winds. I was that close to get the sleepers back on but I reminded myself that ‘Under her skin ‘ is the first ever show by this newly born gallery – Atomica gallery, and this was enough to galvanise the small amount of motivation I had and turned into some sort of excitement.
A quick (and unexpected) bus journey took me down to Armhurst Terrace where Atomica gallery is located. The gallery actually sits nicely in the middle of Hackney Downs Studios, which have been in service since 2011 and which consists of events spaces and over 70 serviced studios and workspaces for creative businesses.
As I stepped in, I could not help noticing the relatively small size of the gallery but also the large patio that the gallery benefits from and which was, according to Corey, the graphic designer for the gallery and the person I met that day, pretty convenient to accommodate the large amount that turned up at the opening night.
For their first show, the gallery has paired with Things&Ink magazine, a publication which reflects on tattoo culture from a feminine perspective. ‘Under Her Skin’ has been curated by Things&Ink editor Alice Snape and marks the first anniversary of the magazine and the launch of ‘The Art Issue’. The show features work from 12 female tattoo artists who have appeared in the magazine’s pages over the past year.
I will definitely go back there.
Here is our picks
“The Bare Bones” by Charissa Gregson (Jolie Rouge, London UK)
Cobra Girl by Vicky Morgan (Ghost House, Derby UK) (left) | “Elisabeth” by Lucy Pryor (Into You, London UK)
“Medusa” by by Lucy Pryor (Into You, London UK) (left) | “Ruby” by Amy Victoria Savage (Jayne Doe, Hornchurch UK)
Where – Atomica gallery – Hackney Downs Studios Amhurst Terrace E8 2BT London UK
What – ‘Under Her Skin’
When – September 12th – 30th 2013