Art Drive – BMW cars turned into artwork

July 31, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Whatever some may think about the London 2012 Olympics, it is bringing a lot art and life to the city making it not only the sport capital of the world but very much a cultural hub right now. We have started to enjoy the many exhibitions and pop up art shows part of the London 2012 festival that is running along the Olympics and actually right into September.

We made our first stop at Art Drive and we so glad we did. The NCP Car Park, 35 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3ER which I ignored so many times as I walked past, is now cocooning the BMW Art Car Collection. 17 cars turned into pieces of art. I will never see again that car park with the same eyes.

You have to go back in 1975 to see the first ever BMW Art Car burning some rubber at the famous Le Mans 24-hour race. From there 16 other Art cars followed which all competed in this very race until the current and last one ever painted – The Jeff Koons one, see below for pictures. Some of the artists who got involved in this 35-year long project are Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, Cesar Manrique or Frank Stella.

But enough about the history, let’s go and see the cars! The settings for this show are completely surreal: the car wash team, based outside of the car park was at it while I was greeted with a big smile by the the Art Drive team and quickly ushered inside the car park and rapidly wafted in a huge lift that can most definitely contain a couple of cars but above all that made me feel right into some sort of action or sci-fi movies like Alien. I was excited now.

The girofar then went off, a strident sound soon followed that smashed the relative silence that had settled during my journey up to the unknown. The door slid open: I had reached the 8th floor and was about to see my first Art Car.

Enjoy the pictures below and leave a comment if you like any of them! Consult this website to read more about the cars, designs and artists that took part in this project

A bit of trivia for you – the BMW Art Car M1 by Andy Warhol was the most successful car on the circuit de la Sarthe, it took sixth place overall in 1979.

The latest and last BMW Art Car by Jeff Koons

ALEXANDER CALDER

SANDRO CHIA (left) | ESTHER MALANGU

ROY LICHTENSTEIN

FRANK STELLA

ANDY WARHOL

DIGITAL ART

Tatsuo Horiuchi | the 73-year old Excel spreadsheet artist

June 15, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Meet Tatsuo Horiuchi, a 73-year old Excel spreadsheet artist. Yes I know, you must be thinking “Excel spreadhseet, wth?!“. While millions of us would dive into the software and try to make sense of crazy formulas, Tatsuo Horiuchi has turned it into an amazing art generator.

And guess what, it is only just before retiring that he thought he had to do something new in his life and went on buying a computer, discovered Excel and has now mastered like no one the tool to produce pretty eye catching pieces.

“I never used Excel at work but I saw other people making pretty graphs and thought, ‘I could probably draw with that,’” says Tatsuo Horiuchi

“Graphics software is expensive but Excel comes pre-installed in most computers,” explained Horiuchi. “And it has more functions and is easier to use than [Microsoft] Paint.” adds Tatsuo Horiuchi

This artist is annoyingly good at what he does. Back to my formulas for my part.

Have a peek at some of the Excel spreadsheets, it is pretty incredible
Cherry Blossoms at Jogo Castle (2006)
Kegon Falls (2007)

First view on Spoon & Tamago

BLOG, DIGITAL ART, FEATURE

5 animated GIFs you cannot miss

November 6, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Animated GIFs have been around for ages, they really have. Who has not seen those crazy ones of animals or people where a short action is captured and play in loop… forever. This was before.

Today there are many artists that are taking animated GIFs to the next level. There are even contests and awards for it. One of those is the 2014 Saatchi Art’s Motion Photography Prize.

We included below those who caught our attention.

Gerardo Juarez

Jon Jacobsen

Marius Krivicius

Nikola Silic

GRAFFITI, IN THE NEWS, STREET ART

Banksy v. Robbo: the fight’s still on

January 19, 2010 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Team Robbo and his crew still seem bitter and have painted over another one of Banksy’s pieces in Camden. This guerilla started when Banksy painted over one of Robbo’s historical throwups – see earlier post here. Team Robbo went back to Regent Street Canal and modified the piece which now seems to imply that Banksy is fishing for ‘street cred’.

One thing to notice in all this is the two different approaches – Banksy paints over while Team Robbo ‘alter’ to suit their means. This is probably the only interesting and entertaining aspect of that whole story because to be honest, there is no need for such non-respect.

See below the Banksy piece – Before and After â€¦

ART-PIE

BLOG, LISTS

5 Batman related street art pieces you ought to see

June 17, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

With the release of the new Batman : Arkham night video game just around the corner, we looked at 5 remarkable street art pieces related to the broader ‘Batman’ theme.

JPS
JPS , UK street is our first artist. JPS’s does pop culture works with a witty slogan. JPS’ often depicts iconic comic book and movie characters including Ted, Batman, Spiderman, and even Freddie Kruger and normally stencils them. Read an interview with Street Artist United States

Mario Calvo and Pato Kozow
The work below, ‘The Creation of Batman‘ was painted in a square in Buenos Aires and you may have recognised its reinterpretation of Michael Angelo’s ‘The creation of Adam’ he painted in the Sistine Chapel. God is played by The Joker and the part of Adam is played by Batman.

memeIRL
This artist is France based and the piece is called ‘Batman and Robin kissing’

Artist unknown
This is actually an illustration but we thought we’ll throw it in there as we find it quite funny

Artist unknown

REVIEWS

Remed at Pure Evil gallery: Picasso-esque

June 25, 2010 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

On my way again to Pure Evil gallery. This time I was there to see Remed and I felt particularly excited about this one as the artist was born right from where I am myself from – Lille (France).

The work I was looking at was quite different with the last show at Pure Evil – Busk Bleach Zadok (Read post here). Continue reading Remed at Pure Evil gallery: Picasso-esque →

CONTEMPORARY ART, REVIEWS

Amar Stewart X Lava Gallery

March 18, 2011 chasinghosts Leave a comment

Amar Stewart steps up to the Lava gallery for his first solo show of 2011.

We first viewed Amar’s work in the East Gallery in early 2010, the show had dark undertones, accented with sections of colour, A mixture of spray paint and acrylic. A different approach has been taken this time, the entire gallery almost devoid of colour, a series of large canvases featuring Black and white photorealistic portraits.

This was a understated approach for show early in the year and to be honest, a welcome one. It is easy to feel bombarded when you attend opening nights, peering through crowds to look at large canvases. Lava gallery is only a small space located on the first floor of Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street.

Amar and the Lava crew did a great job laying out the space, taking a simplistic approach with the arrangement going with white walls and monochrome artworks. It had a overall relaxed vibe, even with droves of friends and fans, it was easy to move around and check out all the work.

Amar’s progression in portraiture is developing a rapid rate and we look forward to seeing what he has to offer in the future.

Check out a the rest of the pics here: Amar Stewart at Lava gallery by Chasinghosts on Flickr

STREET ART

Nikita Nomerz, street at from Russia

February 17, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

What Nikita Nomerz needs to make his art are walls but not just any wall. His preference goes towards dilapidates ones with broken windows or any sort of holes which he will use in his compositions often depicting a laughing face.

Along a few pictures of his work, I have included below a time lapse video which shows Nikita Nomerz painting one of his now recognizable face somewhere in Russia

He says: “I started in school with classic hip hop graffiti but became more interested in street art and began all sorts of experiments. Now basically I like to play with space and objects. I am inspired by the place itself. I love watching the city and finding an interesting point. Usually I do not spend so much time to create one work, sometimes less than an hour. But it all depends on the size of the object and my ideas. (source: The Telegraph)

STREET ART

Herakut in Russia

May 3, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Herakut has been busy recently and produced a very expressive piece on the walls of children’s home № 32 in Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Not only the work is remarkable, they also put together a very well shot and edited video to support “the struggle with the monster of irresponsibility”, name of this another awesome association between these two artists.

If you have not got Herarkut book, get it from Amazon now. It is full of wonders.

HERAKUT – the perfect merge
flexcover. 21×26 cm. 200 pages

CONTEMPORARY ART, INTERVIEWS

Value which is of Value

December 15, 2012 Jane Boyer Leave a comment

10 x 10 by Kate Murdoch — 10 x 10, ©2008 – 2012 Kate Murdoch

“If there is value which is of value, it must lie outside of all happening and being so. For all happening and being-so is accidental.”

Ludwig Wittgenstein
6.41, Tractatus Logico Philosophicus

This quote from Wittgenstein is a profound statement on the nature of occurrence and existence – ‘happening and being-so’. Whichever way we look at it, occurrence and existence is accidental. The beauty and simplicity of Wittgenstein’s statement sweeps away the clutter of chance and places value squarely in purpose. It suggests circumstance (context) is a force of chance. This ‘Me’ of Mine asks if purpose can challenge the force of chance.

Wittgenstein’s rational view makes folly of the attempt to find meaning in happening and being-so, but he leaves the door wide open to search for meaning in value and purpose. Kate Murdoch does just this through her work. She encourages her audiences to explore their purpose. Through her interactive exchanges, Kate presents situations which involve an active interchange between the public and her work, often with the public’s participation the greater force in the creation of art. Her audiences not only participate, they actually become part of the art through their active purpose. The generosity of this, both on Kate’s part and on the part of the audience, breaks down the barrier of the ‘art experience’ and presents an experience of art.

Read our interview, What Are You Prepared to Give in Exchange, for This ‘Me’ of Mine. Kate and I discuss value, emotion, memory and communication.

JB: …It could be said the value we associate with an object is in relation to the depth of emotion we experience in any given situation. Do you feel this to be true and what have you observed about this relationship through the interactive aspect of your work?

KM: …The emotional attachment we make to any given object can determine its worth in emotional terms as opposed to its monetary value. The very act of bartering adds an emotional reality to the process of exchange that currency somehow lacks…

This ‘Me’ of Mine is very proud to call Art Pie our Media Partner.

We are equally proud to call the four galleries below our Venue Partners. Click on a logo to find out more about the good work these organisations do.