BLOG, CONTEMPORARY ART, FEATURE, REVIEWS

London Art Fair – artists we enjoyed, Matteo Massagrande

We strolled through the London Art Fair for the fourth consecutive year and as always stumbled upon remarkable artworks from ever so talented artists.

In this series, we will tell you why we liked a particular piece from these artists as well as posting more works. We hope you will also enjoy it as we did.

Feel free to comment too at the end of this article. Let’s get started….

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Matteo Massagrande

'Salice' by Matteo Massagrande | Art-PieWe stumbled upon the piece called “Salice” – mixed media on board, 80 x 120cm and instantly liked the smoky and hazy atmosphere of this piece achieved in using panels. It made us want to go and explore the scene that was presented in front of our eyes.

About the artist

Matteo Massagrande was born in Padua, Italy in 1959. Massagrande is an accomplished painter and a talented engraver. He has exhibited in over one hundred exhibitions internationally in the past 30 years.

Other works from this artist

Click to enlarge

By Matteo Massagrande | Art-Pie By Matteo Massagrande | Art-Pie 8

BLOG, OPENINGS, PREVIEW

Opening night of Cape and Cowl exhibition at Kachette

A quick stop at home to drop our bags and off we went to Kachette in Shoreditch for the Press launch night of the latest show curated by Moniker Projects front man, Frankie Shea. We were thrilled for the invite and looked forward to seeing the artworks in person after reading about it.

In a nutshell – the exhibition reimagines the Caped Crusader’s iconic Cape and Cowl headpiece. WB Games UK has teamed up with twenty contemporary artists and celebrities to celebrate the launch of Batman: Arkham Knight.

More pictures can be found below the article 

Batman : Arkham night | Art-Pie
By INKIE

Immediately upon entering this disused tube station you are struck by the iconic silhouttes of Batman. Or rather the Batmen! Lined up across the whole length of Kachette and its brick archways are tall and imposing figures. We started the tour…

Each were unique but some replicas stood out from others, such as the ones by INSA, INKIE or CYCLOPS… but we’ll let you decide and report back onto here. Below you will find full details of the artist line up, as well as information about the show.

Batman : Arkham night | Art-Pie
A view of some of the replicas

Featuring artists Nancy Fouts, Lauren Baker, Hayden Kays, Inkie, Pam Glew, INSA, The Connor Brothers, Zeus, Matt Small, Jon Burgerman, CASE, CRASH, Cyclops, Kid Acne, Logan Hicks and Pure Evil and celebrities from the worlds of TV, film, music and fashion, such as Jonathan Ross, Noel Clarke, Eliza Doolittle and Jodie Kidd.

WHAT – The Batman: Arkham Knight Cape & Cowl Exhibition
WHERE – Kachette, 347 Old St., Shoreditch, London, EC1V 9LP (nearest stations Liverpool Street, Old Street & Shoreditch High Street)
WHEN – Tuesday 23 to Saturday 27 June – 11am to 9pm and Sunday 28 June – 11am to 5pm

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IN THE NEWS, STREET ART

Exit through the gift shop: a Banksy movie

This is the movie everybody is talking about right now and whoever is behind the promotion of it is just very clever.

We are at the Sundance Film Festival last month in the United States. No mention at all about the movie in the official programme but rather a very late announcement a few days before the start of the festival and there you had it: speculation and expectation leading to the sort of buzz that makes people queuing up hours before the screening.

I expect the same level of interest when Exit through the gift shop comes out here in Europe on the 5th March. Let’s not forget that Banksy’s show last year at the Bristol Museum attracted more than 300,000 visitors.

Should anyone have thought that at last Banksy’s identity would be revealed, ditch that idea, this is not what that movie is about at all. Banksy can only been seen from behind and in shadow and his voice is digitally altered. Who would give up his identity when it precisely what is making some of his artworks fetch the £200,000 + mark, come on.

“I guess my ambition was to make a film that would do for graffiti art what ‘The Karate Kid’ did for martial arts — a film that would get every schoolkid in the world picking up a spray can and having a go,” Banksy said of his first film earlier this month at Berlin Film Festival.

Beyond being some sort of graffiti ambassador, I believe Exit through The Gift Shop deals with a much more interesting issue: How do we assess or evaluate Art and eventually like it? Why Street Artwork is now selling as much in terms of value than more classical type of Art?

With actor Rhys Ifans as narrator, he allowed  Thierry Guetta to film him while ‘at work’. To make it short (a post about Thierry Guetta is coming up soon) he is the cousin of the artist Invader, a French guerrilla artist who sticks mosaics upon walls and buildings inspired by the video game Space Invaders. Guetta filmed his cousin’s artwork as well as other artists and was thus sucked into the street art world which led him to meet Banksy.

The London premiere of ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’ is happening right now as I am writing this post around Leak Street tunnel so if like me you did not get an invite, you might as well watch the trailer below

ART-PIE

REVIEWS

Brett Amory at The Outsiders: waiting on the line

Brett Amory The Outsiders | Art-PieIntentional Abstractions is Brett Amory first UK solo show and first show of the year at The Outsiders

The works on display are part of the ‘Waiting’ series Brett Amory started back in 2001 in which he depicts morning commuters transiting via BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) stations around San Francisco.

Here is what he says about it –

“I started the ‘Waiting’ series in 2000. I was working in Emeryville and living in San Fran, so I was commuting via bart. I became really interested in how people looked in the morning especially on Monday after the weekend. I noticed how everyone seemed to be somewhere else, not at all in the present. I also started noticing a disconnect. The bart would be packed shoulder to shoulder but there would be no communication and minimal eye contact.”

In his latest series and in this one on particular, the composition is minimal, the environment seems to fade away. The artist is trying here to give some emphasize on the guy waiting, to hopefully make him come across as something more than a waiting guy

The minimum composition in Amory’s works certainly makes you focus on the character, on the commuter. Look at it 3 feet away from the wall and it is difficult to fully realise what is going on, get closer and find out loads of details you just missed earlier, see the commuter differently. Amory’s works appear like some sort of mirages or hazed slices of personal stories, stories of these people in the morning waiting for their mean of transport, our story for most of us.

The show runs until Saturday 12th February 2010

Related links
> Brett Amory’s website
> The Outsiders

Brett Amory at The Outsiders
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Brett Amory at The Outsiders
Brett Amory at The Outsiders

CONTEMPORARY ART

Art Republic (soho): you’ll find something there

I happened to be in Central London the other day when I bumped into art republic (soho) (London) and decided to go in as what I could see from outside was rather attractive.

There is a good street art, stencils and more selection at Art Republic and it would be difficult not to find something you like.

Below are some of the works I spotted that day which, if I was richer, would be all mine.

Related link
> The Art Republic website

ART-PIE

IN THE NEWS

The White Canvas project

This project is focused on using anything but a traditional canvas to create art. It looks at connecting with the surroundings and use anything and everything to help you make your art.

Events and paint jams will take place and took place this summer which the video below will show you. To coincide with the events, limited edition prints will be released as t-shirts.

In last summer’s event, David Walker, Mr Jago, She One, Will Barras and Bue the Warrior produced great works on retro furniture, car parts and more.

www.whitecanvasproject.com

Do not miss the WCP Gallery event where you’ll be able  to see some of the works produced for the project. Preview on Thursday 13/10 – 81 Leonard street | EC2A 4QS. The show runs until the 17/10/11.

http://whitecanvasproject.com/wcp-gallery-event.html

DIGITAL ART, IN THE NEWS

‘Brushes’ iPhone app: painting at the touch of your finger

If you read my post about digital painting, you may have got that ART-PIE believes in the ‘get your hands dirty’ approach when it comes to make art. Get your brushes, pencils, spray paint cans, anything and everything and get physical with the whole lot to get that unique feeling of satisfaction when finally the idea that was stuck in your head for a while is now right there in front of you and ready to be seen by others. Continue reading ‘Brushes’ iPhone app: painting at the touch of your finger →

PREVIEW

RETNA at The Old Dairy

The Hallelujah World Tour is RETNA’s first solo exhibition in the UK. This show will present new works by Los Angeles based artist RETNA and will be hosted at the Old Dairy, London.

RETNA mixed inspirations from Asian calligraphy, Incan and Egyptian hieroglyphics, Hebrew and Arabic script to traditional UK gang style graffiti writings seen since the 1970’s in Los Angeles .

Where – The Old Dairy | 7 Wakefield St | London |WC1N 1PB

When – 9/6 till 27/6/2011 | Tuesday to Saturday | 11am to 6pm

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS