When Da Mental Vaporz crew hit Melbourne

I must admit when I heard that this crew, originally from France, were heading down under I completely geeked out.

We have been big fans of DMV, seeing pieces from them go up in Paris, Barcelona and their epic wall at London’s Meeting Of Styles.

Even though the show at Rtist gallery is a great way to see each artists individual style, the true abilities of this crew shine when they collaborate on big walls.

It seems that everything came together for them here in Melbourne, the weather was great and the wall they were given was in China Town a unique and oddly appropriate setting.

Find below a few pics of the wall they painted.
> I want to see more photographs
> I want to see Da Mental Vaporz at the Meeting Of Styles London photos

Photographs by chasinghosts

Da Mental Vaporz

Da Mental VaporzDa Mental Vaporz

Da Mental Vaporz

Da Mental VaporzDa Mental Vaporz

Our Aim is to Survive, photographs by Brian J Morrison

Our aim is to survive by Brian J MorrisonThis work is the result of an exploration into the area of masculinity and social stereotypes. As a documentary photographic essay the work opens the doors to a lesser-seen area of society in an attempt to challenge pre-existing British stereotypes surrounding male identity and firearms.

Our aim is to aim is to survive focuses on Blackpool Pistol and Rifle Club: it’s physicality as a space, the people who use it and the inter-relationship between the two. These images are bound together through their formal presentation yet each image contains a strong individual presence in many cases confirming expectations but in others, interestingly confounding and challenging both the preconceived ideas attached to firearms and Shooting Clubs.

The Blackpool Pistol and Rifle club as been running since 1948 and is a typical example of what you would find in many shooting clubs throughout the United Kingdom. After a 1997 firearms amendment outlawed all but muzzle loading and single shot pistols, the membership to these clubs dwindled. As with many things within contemporary society the unfashionable quickly becomes lost and the
traditions of old soon turn to nostalgia. The walls of this club speak of a time gone; the faux wooden panels and the photographs proudly displayed offer an insight into “the good old days”. However they spoke as much about an acceptance of their fate as it offered a reminder into the past. The unfashionable has already become nostalgic whilst still in existence. To emphasize the idea of ever shifting social opinions I have offered a critique on the normative opinions associated masculinity and firearms by mixing the past and present contained within each frame.

Throughout the work the viewer is encouraged to draw off there own pre-existing opinions before eventually having these opinions subverted. By using masculinity as a focal point, symbolic links are drawn between the continually changing view of masculinity and the decline in popularity of those things that
do not fit within today’s society.”

““an acceptance that photography at the least can capture the present and the visible, he (Coekin) adds an understanding that what we know of the present what we know, and don’t know, of the past and the future”
David Campany on Chris Coekin’s piece Knock Three Times.

Words from Brian J Morrison

See more on Brian J Morrison website

Our Aim Is To Survive by Brian J MorrisonOur Aim Is To Survive by Brian J Morrison

The ap-art summer show

I am so glad that the show got extended since although it has been on all summer, I did not manage to go down before last week end. I meant to go for ages but busy was my schedule or was it really? I don’t know but now I went and came across artists I need to tell you about.

I have to point out before I get going that the dude behind the mac was well a dude, but not engaging for a bit when I tried to talk to him. Shame but lucky enough that the line up of art is so worth it that I got distracted quickly enough to actually liked the dude, let me mention though that photographs aren’t allowed – meh, but this show has got some substance.

My first distraction took me to look at Joe Black’s work from the UK and in particular his “made in China” large piece made of little soldiers toys put together and painted so when you look from far enough, you do not even realise what is made of. Great “trompe l’oeil” technique that is. Choose the right coloured soldier and when needed, apply a very generous stroke of black or white and the whole thing is visually pleasant to the eye.

Joe Black - Made In China
Joe Black – Made In China

I will then mention here “Miss Bugs” series of paintings which are most definitely what I enjoyed the most but which only made to the wall of the gallery that most people would miss. Great mixed medias (mainly acrylics) pieces such as “Silence” – See below

Silence by Miss Bugs
Silence by Miss Bugs

Two more artists I need to mention are Finn Stone and Ryan Hadley. Respectively, a great sculptor artist with a few great pieces scattered around the venue. Who wouldn’t fall in love with his “Voodo child”? Then you get Ryan Hadley and his amazing stencil like piece made from a rusty plate – I wish I could show you a picture of it but unlike the dude said “All works are on the website”, I could not find that piece, not even on Ryan Hadley’s website. As a result, I’ll mention the work from Bomk entitled “La limite”, a complete surreal encounter.

Voodoo child by Finn Stone
Voodoo child by Finn Stone
Bomk - La limite
Bomk – La limite

Whatever the dude is all about, he’s got a fine collection of must-see artists works so go and get a peak at this show which runs until the 30th September 2011.

The APART 2011 London Summer Show
55-57 Great Marlborough Street, W1F 7JX

MIX a show curated by Incandescent artists

Our friends over at Incandescent Artists are back with what looks like a promising show. ‘MIX’ is opening this Friday 28th August at Underdog gallery. The preview is on the 27th August – see below for details.

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'MIX' at Underdog gallery | Art-Pie

ABOUT MIX show at UNDERDOG GALLERY

This event is a creative ‘MIX’ of heavyweight established talent and exciting emerging artists. Our events always engage with an enthusiastic, creative crowd of people, a good ‘MIX’, friends are made, ideas are born. This time we’re at the trendy The Underdog Gallery in London Bridge, just a short 5min walk from The Shard.

Artists on display:
Damien Hirst – Banksy – Sir Peter Blake – DRAN – Invader – Rich Simmons – Ben Eine – Jimmy Galvin – Juliette Clovis – Elmo Hood – Josie Jammet – Hannah Adamaszek – Grafeeney – Mark Petty – Simon Freeborough – Julie Bloom – DS – Jive

To launch this event we have teamed up with The Creative Bubble to supply some of London’s best Spoken Word artists and singers to give you that verbal creative slap in your face, something to wake you up.

Live Performers on Private View Night:
Rhythm of Men – Dan Hunt – Holly Flo Lightly – Rommell Wallace – Beadyman – The Game Cat – Asabi Hawah – Marika and hosted by the fabulous E.S.T.

PLUS: DJ Deeper C playing “laid back, deep, funky house” from 9pm

Drinks reception from 6pm
Licensed Bar til 11pm
Private View starts at 6pm
Live Performers from 7:30pm (PV only)
DJ Deeper C playing from 9pm (PV only)

Private View is STRICTLY GUEST LIST ONLY

Join the Facebook event or email – info@incandescentartists.com

Forgetting Mechanisms

I recently posted the opening clip for the cult movie Paris, Texas, directed by Wim Wenders and written by Sam Shepard, on the RECURSIVE blog in response to something I read from Difference and Repetition by Gilles Deleuse,

Bledne kolo (Vicious Circle) by Jacek Malczewski

“For it is perhaps habit which manages to “draw” something new from a repetition contemplated from without. With habit, we act only on the condition that there is a little Self within us which contemplates: it is this which extracts the new – in other words, the general – from the pseudo-repetition of particular cases. Memory, then, perhaps recovers the particulars dissolved in generality…It is in repetition and by repetition that Forgetting becomes a positive power while the unconscious becomes a positive and superior unconscious (for example, forgetting as a force is an integral part of the lived experience of eternal return).”
(p.8-9).

I find this compelling and very true in the sense that normal forgetting moves information into the subconscious where it ruminates and comes back out in a creative interpretation. At least, that has often been my experience with a forgetful mind. As an artist I don’t want to copy the work of others, but I can’t help absorbing the visual stimulation of other’s influence. I rely on my ‘forgetting mechanism’ to make something new – at least I always hope it does.

But in a film like Paris, Texas, the forgetting is a looping trap that neither removes pain nor finds relief. It is not a positive force, but a negative destruction. That’s why repetition is a double-edged knife, both positive and negative, and why Nietzsche’s ‘Eternal Return’ contains the unending and unbroken circle of experience, passing through pain to find salvation.

I’m disturbed by reading of huge increases in prescription pain killer use and a rise in heroine deaths in the US. What would Nietzsche and Deleuse say about that I wonder?

[Image: Bledne kolo (Vicious Circle) by Jacek Malczewski]

Visual Impact – Creative Dissent in the 21th Century

Liz McQuiston‘s new book ‘Visual Impact – Creative Dissent in the 21th Century’, is out now.   It is a richly illustrated exploration on art and design driving major social and political change in the 21st century.

Loads of events, such as Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, etc., plus social issues like poverty, equality, gun-control and more, have given rise to what is known as ‘activist’ or ‘protest’ art.

Visual Impact highlights the extraordinary power of art and graphic design to affect social and political change. Generously illustrated with over 400 images, this is a visual guide to the most influential and highly politicized imagery of the digital age.  Read more about the book

To celebrate the book and all dissident artists, we’ve included some famous and striking images below from artists conveying a strong (and often) political message.

Artist: JR

JR | Art-Pie
28 Millimetres: Women Are Heroes by JR, Kenya, 2009. From Visual Impact

Artist: ROA

The Lenticular Rabbit by ROA, London, UK, 2009. Photo by RomanyWG.
The Lenticular Rabbit by ROA, London, UK, 2009. Photo by RomanyWG.

Artist: unknown

From Visual Impact: Creative Dissent in the 21st Century
From Visual Impact: Creative Dissent in the 21st Century

Artist: Princess Hijab

‘Hijabizing’ intervention in the Paris Metro by Princess Hijab, France, 2006-11. From Visual Impact (Phaidon, 2015)
‘Hijabizing’ intervention in the Paris Metro by Princess Hijab, France, 2006-11. From Visual Impact (Phaidon, 2015)

Artist: Blek Le Rat

Stencilled poster of US soldier by French artist Blek le Rat, pasted along the route of anti-war march in Paris, France, 2003. Photo by Sybille Prou. From Visual Impact (Phaidon, 2015)
Stencilled poster of US soldier by French artist Blek le Rat, pasted along the route of anti-war march in Paris, France, 2003. Photo by Sybille Prou. From Visual Impact (Phaidon, 2015)

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