REVIEWS

“The Ugly American” by Saber at The Outsiders

“The Ugly America” show opening today at The Outsiders is the work of legendary graffiti artist Saber’. The artist spent 8 weeks immersed in the Outsiders Newcastle branch last autumn and created all the works on display in the gallery this time in London.

We stepped in and were hardly wowed by what we were seeing: a series of pale wooden pallets works. We quickly realised that they were all depicting “The Star-Spangled Banner”, understand the American flag.

But then we remembered that “The Ugly American” refers to a multi-million-copy best selling book and 1963 movie, in which Marlon Brando starred, and is all about telling about the dark side of the American foreign policy. I looked again at the pale stuff and could relate now. Off downstairs…

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The mood was slightly happier down here and colours from Saber’s pieces smiling at me. The artist’s technique that consists of mixing aerosol art with oil and even charcoal pleased my little eyes.

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

What – “The Ugly American” by Saber
Where – The Outsiders London | 8 Greek Street, Soho, London W1D 4DG | Monday – Saturday, 11:00AM – 7:00PM
When – Friday 10th of January 2014 to Saturday 15th of February 2014

BLOG, LATEST

Hollyweed not Hollywood, the prankster who hijacked the hills of California

Hollyweed not Hollywood, the prankster (and his wife) who hijacked the hills of California.

You most probably heard about this very recent prank – on the 1st January, the famous HOLLYWOOD sign got hijacked to read HOLLYWEED.

Hollyweed by Jesus Hands | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

 “I wanted to make people laugh”

Zach Fernandes, the artist behind this prank, also goes by “JesusHands,” – at the time of writing this post, his Twitter account seems to have been suspended – https://twitter.com/account/suspended

We hear that Zach Fernandes’s motive behind this prank was just to make people laugh but pressure got too high and the artist cracked under it.

“If I did break the law in trespassing, I’m not going to run from the law,

Fernandez said.

The artist turned himself in on Monday.

Over the fence and a bit of sewing

Hollyweed | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

Looking more closely at how the sign was transformed, you’ll notice that he wrapped letters with tarps to transform its message.

We literally were sewing stuff the day of. It was so fun and exhilarating.

> Read more about this on Buzzfeed

PREVIEW

Group show at Signal gallery – Mixed doubles

In our first group show in the new Paul Street space, we are presenting four very interesting artists whose work links and entwines in very winning ways. It’s a fine match between the abstract and figurative ends of the painting spectrum.

However, this is not a one sided game, but an exploration of overlapping skills and techniques, that will make excellent viewing, if not producing any obvious winners.

Dan Baldwin
Of the two strongly figurative artists in the show, Dan Baldwin is best known to the UK. His dynamic and intricately subtle paintings are a familiar and respected part of the contemporary/urban art scene.

Joram Roukes
Joram Roukes is a new name to the UK. Roukes large-scale oil paintings have a sense of fantasy and humour that is superficially akin to Baldwin’s work. However, there is a more robust and serious purpose to these works, which gives them a powerful and dark effect.

Joram Rouke

Andrew McAttee
The absence of any familiar figurative imagery seems to create an unnerving sense of emptiness. This is indeed joyous and decorative work (Power Pop Art as the artist calls it), with a childlike directness, but somehow there is still a sense of a void, giving the work an edge.

John Squire
His artwork first came to public notice with the very popular Pollockesque album cover designs for his band. Since then, his work has been paired down and has become generally abstract in form.

When
10th February Private View.
11th February – 5th March open to public.

Where
Signal gallery – 32 Paul Street London, EC2A 4LB

Words by Signal gallery

PREVIEW

The Moniker Art Fair starts today…

This is not your traditional contemporary art fair, Moniker Art fair, now in (only) its second year has already become a respected platform featuring work of a generation of artists, often coming from  often overlooked in British mainstream fairs but proven successful and recognized throughout the art world – , museums and established art institutions.

Some of the featured artists: Steve Powers | Polly Morgan | Swoon | Ben Eine | Herakut | Banksy

Some of the represented galleries: Black Rat Press (London) | Circleculture, (Berlin) | Carmichael Gallery (Los Angeles) | Anonymous Gallery (New York City)

http://www.monikerartfair.com/

When : 13(preview)-16th October 2011.
Venue : Village underground | Shoreditch | London.

CONTEMPORARY ART, REVIEWS

Specter at Pure Evil gallery

Brooklyn-based street artist Specter is one of these very active artists who always come up with new projects. You may or may not like what he does but you have to give him credits for always keeping his creativity flame burning like Hell.

Pure Evil gallery is currently hosting his first UK solo show where Specter using garments such as scarfs or bandanas in his new portraits.

Here is what Specter says about it – “the story behind the pieces is that these are portraits of people who have influenced me artistically but instead of painting their faces I am painting fabrics that I feel represent them. I basically close my eyes and these images are what appears.”

The show only occupied the front room in the gallery, in other words the number of artworks is rather limited. I was quick to go round then and to be honest did not feel loads of excitment about what I had just seen. While I agree that the use of garments is an unique portrayal approach, it is most definitely not the most emotion-trigger one which I believe portaits should be all about: hard to feel sadness or joy looking at a piece of checkered shirt.

Solid drawing and painting skills though and a great attention to detail.

The show runs until the 24th August.

I cannot resist to include a few photos of Specter’s installations and street artwork which is known for in the US. I could not described better what his work is all about than what I read on the Pure Evil website:

He evolves the subject matter by interlacing influences from the environment he chooses to adorn, incorporating characteristics from the surrounding neighbourhoods, architecture, local business and social economic classes; transforming the unwitting publics’ understanding of the space.

Through graffiti influence, he became obsessed with art in public spaces, where he sees potential inspiration and appropriate location to express his creativity. His aim is to deconstruct preconceived perceptions and draw attention to the neglected and less desirable issues, the non-sensational stories of the undervalued detritus of our culture we seldom hear about.

ART-PIE

Related links
> Specter’s art: www.specterart.com
> Make It Fit” Various & Gould exhibition at Brooklynite gallery (New York)

Photos from the show at Pure Evil below as well as Various street installations and artwork from Specter below

 

DIGITAL ART, FEATURE, LISTS

10 inspiring photo manipulation by Erik Johansson

This is no the first time we write about Erik Johansson and his extraordinary ability to photo manipulate daily life scenes. Erik  is a full time photographer and retoucher from Sweden.

Erik doesn’t capture moments, he capture ideas in the form of little pieces which he later turn into an imaginative photo manipulation.

We included 10 inspiring works from this digital artist as well as video from Erik who explains how he goes about to create such images. It is definitely worth a watch!

Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie Erik Johansson | Art-Pie

Find out how Erik does it!

BLOG

Extinction/Extension, a new show by Otto Schade

Otto Schade, Extinction, London West Bank Gallery | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

Extinction/Extension by the half-Chilean half-German street artist Otto Schade known as OSCH is opening tomorrow  at London West Bank gallery.

In the meantime, the private view of the show is tonight between 6-10pm.

As the Anonymous sunset image shows, Osch will work on his signature tape style combined with his sunsets which have covered London and other cities in the past year.

The artist will be releasing 2 very low edition hand-finished Anonymosch prints during the show and there will be a giveaway of 10 posters (image below) to the first 10 fans through the door.

Here is what OSCH says about the show –

‘AnonymOsch’ came about for a couple of reasons. When we were putting together my latest solo show I had to come up with a name that meant something to me! I decided on the show being named ‘Extinction Extension’. Followers of my work will know that I try to highlight the futility of war and also the fragile plight of many of our endangered species. These guys at anonymous try very much to do the same thing in their own kind of way.They have started a global movement that is growing by the day.

Anonymosch, Otto Schade | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

He adds –

Although I don’t agree with everything that they highlight, a lot of what they convey makes perfect sense. My ‘Orb’ body of works do not pertain to anywhere in the world in particular, but rather everywhere where there is conflict. ‘AnonymOSCH’ is a hybrid artwork that utilises the impact of the simplistic Orb and also encompasses my trademark ribbon style. The face of Anonymous was taken from the ‘V is for Vendetta’ movie, although originally (as I am led to believe) was manufactured as a Guy Fawkes mask.

When Anonymous Chapter One, London commissioned the drawing from me I jumped at the chance as it was an image that I had been toying with for quite some time.

Please note: you need to be on the guestlist to be entitled to the free poster so please RSVP to guestlist@londonwestbank.com

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS