We swung by Stolen Space gallery today to check out their new show – Gary Stranger X Perf,
Gary Stranger and Pref are two graffiti artists from the UK. The former excels, we think, in typography work and his clean lines style was a delight to see.
– Click on pictures below to enlarge them –
Our positive opinion of the artist was even more consolidated when we learned that all his works is done free-hand – these are serious skills.
More pics from Gary Stranger
However, Pref’s work, multi-layered lettering style which he uses to portray popular phrases and expressions, did not excite us as much. We actually found his style somewhat confused and quickly went back for a second viewing of Gary Stranger’s works.
“Gary Stranger X Perf” runs until the 30th October 2016.
When we first noticed Chen Wenling’s “What You see Might Not Be Real” sculpture, we immediately wanted to find out more about the artist and his work. This is not the name which jumped at us but the rather amusing look of the sculpture – yes it a farting bull!
Here is what Zhu Qi says about Chen Wenglin’s sculptures
Chen Wenling’s sculptures represent the spirit of collective imagery that defines China after her entrance into consumerist society. His work uses a mythological form that encompasses the spiritual insemination that overtook a generation with materialism in the 1990s, as well as the self-awareness and post awareness era everyday spirit of Chinese after the 1990s.
“What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull)
Zhu Qi adds –
Two main themes are prevalent in Chen Wenling’s sculptures, the first being an expression of the extreme human condition, the latter being an expression of the spiritual imagery of a consumer society.
The “farting bull”, we will refer to the work above using this – so much more fun, is a reflexion ab about the infamous global financial crisis.
The man getting crushed by the bull is Bernard (Bernie) Madoff who is an American fraudster and a former stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.
Chen Wenglin’s “farting bull” has also been used in several other sculpture works. We included below a few examples of these as well as more about the “What You see Might Not Be Real” sculpture – the piece first described above
“Love Is The Drug”print from RYCA to win, yes it can be yours. We are offering to you lucky readers, the chance to win this awesome print which coincide with the artist, RYCA aka Ryan Callanan, upcoming show at Lawrence Alkin gallery
“I love creating work that people want to touch.”
Ryan Callanan
Following his sell out London show in 2014, two solo US shows and being named Artist of the Year 2015 during Brit Week in LA, Ryan Callanan returns to Lawrence Alkin Gallery with Ten Years Later.
Offering a retrospective interpretation of familiar pieces, Ten Years Later presents a brand new body of work representing a transition into a new era for the artist.
One of RYCA’s iconic piece – “Reservoir Dogs Storm Troopers”
Callanan commented:
“While the show will reference the work I’ve been producing over the last few years, it will be dominated by the new pieces. Rather than looking back, the show is about looking forward and offers a glimpse into the future direction of my work, where I want to go bigger and madder.”
For the past decade, Ryan Callanan, aka RYCA, has worked tirelessly as an artist and printmaker, developing techniques learned during his career as a sign maker. His use of pop iconography and lyric-based works has garnered wide appeal, with many noted celebrities including Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim, Russell Brand, Gordan Ramsey and Jose Mourinho collecting his work.
Marking a move away from the print and canvas works Callanan made his name producing, the show consists mainly of 3D pieces.
Ten Years Later takes the 3D pieces Callanan has previously produced and inverts them to create abstract convex works. He comments:
“Everything I’ve produced before has been completely reversed. Instead of reliefs that dome away from the viewer, the new pieces come out at you. Ironically they draw people in more, as they are curious to know what the works feel like and what they’re made of. The pieces are housed in acrylic casing, so while the viewer wants to touch, they can’t and are left wondering.”
Okuda (Spain) and Remed (France) have renewed the symbolic sculpture located in the vineyards of the winery Campo Viejo in La Rioja, Spain this past week. The work entitled “A Bridge Between Sky and Earth” pictured by the artists was built in 2013 and became an icon for the wineries. Three years later, the sculpture is reborn with a new look, colourful and vibrant with the unmistakable graphic line of the two artists.
A 6 meters hight sculpture
The renewed appearance of this large public artwork, more than six meters high, is a celebration of the Campo Viejo Wineries with the art and this intense collaboration of the two artists.
The fourth limited edition label of Campo Viejo Art Series range signed by Okuda and Remed, will be presented with the image of the sculpture as well.
A long running collaboration between the two artists
Over the past four years we have had the opportunity to witness how this duo of artists, Remed and Okuda, has gradually created a lot of artwork and participated in several places around the world teaming up with Campo Viejo.
Okuda
Places as diverse as Mexico, Miami, Toronto, Warsaw, Madrid, London, Oslo, Zurich, Brussels, Dublin… have hosted the multiple stops of the Streets of Color, Rioja winery project in which the two urban artists have created a recognizable style in which the bright colors and geometric shapes intertwine in a unique way. “It is like a third artist were born from the collaboration of our two styles.” Remed says.
This ongoing collaborative journey between Okuda & Remed with the Campo Viejo winemakers celebrates the expressive nature of the wines and the sculpture in the vineyards was the first work and starting point for all other collaborations that have emerged on the edge of the years between the renowned Pernod Ricard brand and the two artists.
The artistic collaboration is managed by the cultural enterprise Nobulo since 2012.
More about the artists
REMED
Remed
Remed (Paris, 1978) is an expressive French Artist based in Madrid who is well known for his bold use of shapes and colour and large-scale murals. He started painting in 1995 in the privacy of his studio in his home town of Lille, but felt limited by a canvas framework so quickly moved his art to the streets.
Born in Santander, Spain, in 1980 and based in Madrid, Okuda is a passionate and internationally renowned Urban Artist.
Okuda has developed over the years a unique style of artistic expression characterized as “pop-surrealism meets Urban Art”. He uses geometric, bright-coloured abstract shapes with interplay of grey bodies and organic forms to depict contradictions about existentialism, the fake freedom of capitalism, the war between humans and themselves, and the meaning of life.
Since 2002, Okuda has received international recognition and now gets invited to participate in group shows and art events across the world. He has showcased his work at over 56 exhibitions and his portfolio expands a range of mediums from conceptual mixed media installations and mixed media canvas to mural paintings and Street Art.
Ever since two local winemakers – Beristain and Ortigüela – created the first vintage in 1959, Campo Viejo has represented the expressiveness, colour and vibrancy of Rioja.
The Rioja winemaking region is situated in the north of Spain, in the heart of the Ebro valley. It’s the most important Spanish wine region and in its heart lies Campo Viejo.Campo Viejo’s winemakers work hard to ensure that Campo Viejo wines are the very best expressions of contemporary Rioja, conveying the vibrancy of the region in a way that is in keeping with the expressive, fruit-driven style which today’s wine drinkers are actively seeking.
We have been following the rise of Carne Griffiths, an artist painting with unusual mediums such as tea, who has become an established and respected figure in the art world.
‘Momentary’, his biggest solo show to date, he told us, is opening today to the grand public so we met the artist and asked a few questions –
Art-Pie – 1. Can you tell your readers about yourself in a few words?
Carne Griffiths – I’m a painter with a passion for drawing and nature, my background is as an embroidery designer, and I have a fascination with outsider art and with the unconscious process of Automatic Drawing.
Click to enlarge
A-P – 2. Can you tell us about your creative process and where does your inspiration come from?
C G – My creative process is fuelled by energy – I like the spontaneity of painting also, watching what the materials do themselves on the page, how inks mix when left undisturbed… then from this chaos I like to manipulate the image – normally using fountain pens and calligraphy ink, I add fine detail, cross hatching and flowing lines to balance the composition. I like the combination of control and freedom, and the way the two elements combine in a drawing.
A-P – You are using interesting and unusual material, such as tea, to paint. What else do you use and how did you come about including these in your creative process?
C G – I generally use materials that give an unexpected or unknown effect – painting is intuitive, the tiny movements made when creating a piece of work are often impulsive for me rather than calculated – and this for me is the magic within the work.
A-P – “Momentary” at Lilford gallery is your next upcoming solo show. Without giving too much away, what can we expect from you in this show?
C G – Yes the momentary exhibition opens tomorrow – It is the largest collection of works to date, Lilford is a large gallery and I wanted to do justice to the space, the show is a response to the speed we are living our lives, the concept behind it being simply slowing down and taking time to look.. I have introduced new aspects to the work to reinforce this concept, a virtual reality drawing that you can walk through, and a mix in collaboration with Fluidnation’s Ben Mynott whose music influenced the work created and who in turn created a 3 hour mix as a backdrop to the exhibition.
A-P – 5. Any other business you want to tell us about?
C G – I will be about during the exhibition adding to the Virtual Reality drawing and also creating work on the black wall that has been prepared for the installation, the show runs until the 21st of August and being the first solo collection of work for 2 years I’m a little apprehensive and excited to show it.
His biggest show to date
Inspired by nature’s expansive colour palette these new works present a vivid alternate reality.
We only included a picture of one of his numerous and fantastic new pieces (see above) and we encourage you to get yourself down to the gallery, you will not get disappointed.
Although we did not include pictures for other works, Carne tells about below and we believe that after reading about it, you will feel the urge to go and check out the show – we certainly are…
‘Let’s stop time‘
invites the viewer to slow down and take time to reflect on the beauty within their surroundings, a chaotic solitary moment becomes a place for meditation.
‘Eternity‘
captures the beauty and chaos of a single brush stroke within which an alternate reality is revealed like a dream or a momentary glimpse into the life of a stranger all in a single moment.
In’Perfectly Still‘, the ‘Hourglass‘ and ‘Elevation‘
time is brought to a standstill and the beauty of nature among chaos is evident, all three works begin as an abstract composition, embracing chaos and the freedom of single strokes of paint, accidents and chaos in which we seek to find order. Rising from this chaos we find beautiful accidents of nature or creation depending on our beliefs and ideologies, it seems almost irrelevant how they occur.. what is common is the beauty in infinite detail.
The show opens today to the public. The gallery is open 7 days a week so you can pop in and see the works whenever is convenient for you!
Lilford gallery, 8 The Old High Street, Folkestone, Kent CT201RL
