Category Archives: BLOG

This is how you look on drugs

Drug taken: MDMA (click to enlarge)
Drug taken: MDMA (click to enlarge)

Les Baker V’s INEBRI-NATION project is one of a kind. One may look at it as another purely photographic work while others a bold take on drug use and in some cases, abuse.

Meet Les Baker, a New Mexico-based photographer who has embarked on the most ludicrous, yet interesting in many aspects, projects taking portraits of people at the moment when the subjects reach the ‘high’ state on different drugs.

The idea behind it is to showcase just how diverse the effects can be, with many various transformations of individuals’ faces. And this is why we like the concept, because we believe the last thing a drug user wants is to face their face in such a state.

Another point worth highlighting is the array of people who took part in this project. You may have thought participants are all drug addicts or heavy users and perhaps from a disadvantaged background, but you could not be more wrong.

“The individuals featured in this series showcase the diversity of those who use mind altering substances. They include students, servers, doctors, soldiers, lawyers, politicians, mothers, fathers, artists, teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and judges,” .

The Creators Project spoke to him about his influences, his visions, and why he started the project in the first place, so head over to find out more about it.

In the meantime, we included some of these portraits below, notice the caption for them which tells you what drug these (brave) souls are on.

Would you be up for having your face which you may not feel but you probably like it <– some may have worked out the reference to this tune “Can’t feel my face” by The Weekend… fitting nicely uh? 🙂

Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
LSD
LSD
Cocaine
Cocaine
Crack Cocaine
Crack Cocaine
Oxycontin
Oxycontin
Psilocybin
Psilocybin
Ketamine
Ketamine
LSD
LSD

Pancakes & Booze London second edition almost on!

Pancakes & Booze, April 16 | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

We are over the moon to be involved once again in the Pancakes & Booze pop up art show. We actually will be running from now on the London event so watch this space.

The second edition is taking place again at Studio Spaces E1 in East London on Thursday, 7th of April 2016.

This second edition promises to be even better than the first one with more and more talented artists eager to show their beautiful creations.

In short…

ART . PANCAKES . BOOZE . DJ . LIVE ART . EAST LONDON .

Live art & free pancakes

Pancakes & Booze | Art-PieWhile talented DJs will be throwing tunes, we also have a few live art happenings on the night. We particularly look forward to see Mark Petty in action. Mark will produce screenprints on the night which will be up for sale.

And as always, there will be pancakes getting flipped over all night. Just queue and get your free pancakes.

Submit your application

There is still time to apply, we take artists submissions until the last day before the show so do not wait and fill out this form. We hope to have you with us for this edition

About

Pancake batter is sizzling, beer froth is flowing, and bare flesh is slathered in paint.  Indie musicians and DJs break sound waves off the canvas-lined, graffiti-strewn walls, while revelers stuff their faces with endless amounts of free pancakes.

The Pancakes & Booze Art Show is an LA based artist movement that started in 2009 and has quickly spread to over 20+ cities throughout North America.

They currently organise some of the largest pop-up underground art showcases in the country, with the best local emerging artists, musicians, and performers each city has to offer.

You can read more about the Pancakes & Booze show

Pancakes & booze New York | Art-Pie

WHAT – The Pancakes & Booze Pop Up Art Show
WHERE – Studio Spaces E1
WHEN – 7th April 2016

Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials & Processes

Printmaking: A Complete Guide to Materials & Processes | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

We recently received “Printmaking – a Complete Guide to Materials & Processes ” from our favourite publisher Laurence King and were astonished by the amount of information in this new edition. If you are after any level of guidance on how to print anything, get that book today!

__________

Printmaking is a practical and comprehensive guide to printmaking techniques. This fully updated edition includes expanded chapters on digital and mixed media processes, and a brand new ‘Print & Make’ chapter, which explores the opportunities for creative expression within the many processes available to print makers.

The more traditional techniques of relief, intaglio, collograph, lithography, screen printing and monoprint have also been refreshed with the addition of new images showing a broader range of subject matter, including more contemporary prints and international artists. A new section on the traditions and techniques of Japanese woodblock printing completes the update.

Each technique is explored from the development of the printing or digital matrix, through the different stages of creation to image output. Clear step-by-step illustrations, interviews with contemporary printmakers and a wide range of images showing the best of cutting-edge printmaking today offer an inspirational resource.

Guidance on how to set up a print studio, sections on troubleshooting techniques and the inclusion of up-to-date lists of suppliers, workshops and galleries make this an essential volume for beginner and experienced printmakers alike.

Happy Easter, related street art and graffiti around the globe

Aww Easter… Always a good time, not so much for the religious aspect but rather more for the bank holiday weekend and looming indulgence of chocolate bunnies and eggs.

Another thing to look out for are many Easter-themed street art and graffiti works. We browsed the web and compiled a small collection for your eyes only.

And for those who don’t know what Easter is, this below is for you – thanks Wikipedia

Easter,[nb 1] also called Pasch[nb 2] or Resurrection Sunday,[nb 3] is a festival and holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, described in theNew Testament as having occurred on the third day of his burial after his crucifixion by Romans at Calvary c. 30 AD.[5][6] It is the culmination of the Passion of Christ, preceded by Lent (or Great Lent), a forty-day period of fasting, prayer, and penance.

N.B: the image above is by Interesni Kazki

Click any pictures below to enlarge or launch the slideshow

Easter | Art-Pie ghetto-easter-graffitieaster__by_scorpionblaze-d3eudn2

happy_easter Easter | Art-Pie Easter | Art-Pie

 

Easter street art | Art-Pie Easter | Art-Pie Easter | Art-Pie Easter | Art-Pie

“Silence = Death”: The Political Art of Keith Haring

Keith Haring was a street artist at the heart of the urban art movement in 1980s New York. He was also a gay man diagnosed with AIDS. Partly as a result of living with these stigmas, his work often bears a strong element of political and social critique.

He was one third of a trio of New York street artists at the helm of the growing movement. He, Richard Hambleton and Jean-Michel Basquiat regularly met to discuss each other’s work, and sometimes collaborated.

He first began using public spaces as his canvas whilst studying at New York’s School of Visual Arts, when he started drawing on blank advertising panels in subway stations.

Whimsical human figures drawn in bold and clear outlines became his trademark. They contrast with the heavy subject matter of much of his work. In his art he called attention to the AIDS epidemic afflicting gay men in the 1980s.

Silence = Death by Keith Harring | Art-Pie

He made his targets state and society. The Reagan and Bush administrations neglected to fund research into treatments and a cure for the disease. This negligence left AIDS sufferers in the dark, without support, whilst religious leaders and the media continued to blame gay men for the problem.

One of his most famous works is a commentary on the epidemic called Silence=Death, which depicts a crowd of figures covering their ears as if to avoid the horrible truth of AIDS. Overlaying the crowd is a pink triangle. The Nazis gave this symbol in the form of a badge to concentration camp inmates imprisoned for their sexuality. The symbol was reclaimed by the gay community in the 1980s.

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge

In the mid-80s Haring set up ‘pop shops’ which sold his imagery on t-shirts, buttons, bags and stickers. The shops made his work accessible at low cost to everyday people and were an innovative way of disseminating pop art.

After he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, Haring felt a renewed determination, sensing the urgency of his work.

Some critics described his art as freer after his diagnosis. Robert Farris Thompson wrote that “in his art he found the key to transform desire, the force that killed him, into a flowering elegance that will live beyond his time.”

He died in 1990 as a result of AIDS-related complications. But his work lives on, his figures still a recognised visual language in the 21st century.