We have teamed up with London Westbank gallery to give you the opportunity to win a copy of Lady of the Lake print, an edition of 50 which coincided with the artist’s new solo show “thirteen” which opens tomorrow.
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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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We stumbled upon the piece called “Wild Fire” – oil on linen, 43” x 39′, and once again admired the technique and palette of colours used. We always look forward to pass the Thompson’s booth art the London Art fair to find out about Paul Wright’s works.
We know how hard it portraiture is in general which makes us appreciate even more this artist’s work. His portraits are always impeccably proportioned and transpire always strong emotions boosted by the often vibrant choice of colours.
After his beginnings as an artist working in Illustration, Paul Wright has spent the last decade developing a language of painting through which he seeks to capture a vitality beyond the establishment of a mere ‘likeness’ to the subject. As an artist, Paul Wright appreciates the importance of the individual being recognisable, the subjects are glimpsed in the painting rather than exposed, their inner selves hinted at but ultimately inscrutable.
Though Paul Wright often works on a large, potentially imposing scale, his paintings remain approachable through fluency of brush mark and a rich palette. In Paul Wright`s paintings, the spaces the subjects inhabit are often indeterminate, providing an atmosphere that allows for ambiguity of psychological state. Paul Wright`s subjects retain their integrity and yet through the artist`s painting method a sense of intimacy is evoked.
Click to enlarge
920 pencils and 5125 images is what what Jonathan Chong (also called Dropbear) needed to put together this very neat stop-motion for the Melbourne-based indie-folk band called Hudson. Enjoy it below.
Also included is a “behind the scenes” footage just to tell you how much work this sort of work involves, loads, no really a tremendous amount of time and patience!
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It is almost upon us… yes Black Friday is a thing and this means money being spent, overspent, wasted – pick yours.
You may recall the piece called ‘Shop til your drop’ by the artist Banksy which appeared on Bruton lane, Mayfair, London a few years back. This piece depicts a woman being pulled down or falling and reaching for a shopping cart.
We included other street art from the web & related to Black Friday – Black Friday & street art.
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States (the fourth Thursday of November).
Since 1932, it has been regarded as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S., and most major retailers open very early (and more recently during overnight hours) and offer promotional sales.
Black Friday is not an official holiday, but California and some other states observe “The Day After Thanksgiving” as a holiday for state government employees, sometimes in lieu of another federal holiday such as Columbus Day.
We have had to wait for three years but it is now upon us – “Fragile”, the new solo show by Dan Baldwin is opening tomorrow to the publich at Gallery 8. We hear that the artist will explore the concepts of mortality and beauty. As always, the new works by Dan Baldwin promise to be distinctively colourful defying categorisation as figurative or abstract, real or imaginary.
For those not so familiar with Dan Baldwin’s works, expect encompassing ceramics, silkscreen prints, resin, acrylics, spray paint and found objects carefully mixed together and resulting in complex and intricate pieces. It is also worth to point out that most of the objects in his uses have been collected since he was a child.
The show will present another set of large-scale acrylic works where the artist continue the exploration of symbolism and narrative. By contrast, the artist has also developed a series of abstract canvasses which are devoid of any motifs but instead explore further his fascination with colour harmony. In comparison to others in the exhibition, these works evoke a positive response in the viewer but still ask us to consider the uncertain and short-lived nature of human happiness.
A large proportion of the show will be dedicated to a series of delicate ceramics, a medium with which the artist has started to experiment further in recent years. Now working with a Sicilian pottery workshop, the artist is creating increasingly elaborate urn-like vessels which are representative of death and the fleeting nature of our existence. The most ambitious to date is perhaps “Sacrilegium” (2013) which is adorned with a real human skull cast in clay as well as 20% pure gold paint, crucifix, cherubs and an antique Russian bear figurine. These motifs increase the funerary connotations of the object, making it appear fragile in more ways than one.
But Dan Baldwin’s exploration of new mediums in his art does not stop here. He has also developed a series of large-scale tile paintings for the exhibition. “The Picnic” (2012), for example, is made up of 96 tiles overlaid with several glazes and precious metals. The dreamlike scene is filled with juxtapositions of life and death, innocence and corruption; children play with a severed head whilst Mickey Mouse dances with a skeleton. In a final act of ‘iconoclasm’ the artist smashed the tiles before assembling them, to demonstrate their fragility
What – “Fragile” the new solo show by Dan Baldwin
Where – Gallery 8
When – 20/9 till 5/10/2013 (private view on the 19/9)
There is something beautiful in urban decay when you can imagine how it used to be, how it has been and there was but it might be even more beautiful when something on the verge to vanish forever, is given a last moment of glory.
This is what exactly happened to a massive ten-story building in a low-income housing district of eastern Paris. The site has become one of the largest venues displaying street art ever.
“Tour 13”, as it is called took seven months to complete and iover 100 artists from around the globe had a go at it. Unfortunately the site is now closed and the tower is set to be demolished in the next few days so we wanted to give a a last homage to this ephemeral yet awesome project.
If like us you did not manage to go to Paris to check this out, there is still the Tour13 website to visit as well as the teaser video below as well as the few pics we have included after the fold.
All images from Le Mag De Poche
We announced a little while ago that we were part of the Noise Intercepted project, a global art project curated by Labspace Studio (a creative agency & art house in Toronto, Canada). Noise Intercepted is a series of ten experience-activated noise challenges that prompt participants to listen, observe and interact with their urban soundscape in new and unlikely ways.
Challenge #1 is in and so is our entry – see below
Noise challenge #1: The Pulse
If your city had a defining sound, a defining pulse, a defining heartbeat, what would it sound like? look like? or feel like? …where would you go to find it? You have 1 week to venture outside and find the pulse of your city.
We thought for the obvious right away, we need to capture a sound, the pulse. And at night where sight is diminished by the darkness. But we were wrong, the pulse was visual. We started walking down the street trying to hear out for the pulse of the city but we found visual signs everywhere that we immediately associated to the pulse. We had found the pulse: the light.
Then focusing on the light, we sat back and listened and all sort of sound patters came to life. we had found the origin of the pulse: us, humans.
We make the pulse, we are the pulse of the city.
Jester Jacques – First of all, how did your interest in art making come about? Were there any specific events or influences in your childhood which swayed you to be more creative?
Novemto Komo – I have always been doodling since I was kid, on the wall of my parent’s room and my room; also sticking stickers I got on the doors all around the house.
I remember when I was in kindergarten and elementary schools, almost every weekend my parents took me to “Ancol art market” to see paintings, sculptures and crafts by local artists. We got our family portrait from one of the artist there using paper cut, and when my sister and brother were born, we also get their portrait done by the same artist. I also participated a lot in kids drawing competition and some of them came out top 3.
I also remember saw a painting by Ford Madox Brown, titled “Take Your Son, Sir!” in a book and I was finally able to see it in real a year ago in Tate Britain.
JJ – You were born in Indonesia. Does any of the culture seep into your work, even though you live in the UK?
NK – It does influence me a lot. There is so many social issues going on in Indonesia that kind of influence my way of thinking when developing the idea.
Also, the diversity of animals in Indonesia can be seen on most of my artwork lately. A lot of animals in Indonesia are very rare now and a lot are in risk of extinct.
JJ – Where did you study Fine Art and do you think it helped in your career as a visual artist? In what ways?
NK – I never studied Fine Art, I was trained as multimedia designer which lead to my first job as a junior flash developer. Then as time went on, I got more jobs doing illustration which carried me into doing more hand drawing/illustration. I got more into painting when I took my master in graphic design in 2010 at Newcastle where I had a lot of spare time to practice and develop my skills.
JJ – What is your fascination with animals? And anthropomorphising them?
NK- I started using animal a lot in my artworks as they are part of our life. They are also very attractive subjects because they are beautiful. I believe every human has their wild side which I interpret through animals.
I also want to bring awareness to people about animal extinction, especially caused by poachers and hunter. I’ve followed and joined a hunter online forum and feel sad every time I see them posted photos of animal they killed proudly.
JJ – How do you get inspired?
NK – I get inspired from many things; news, people around me and their relationship towards each other. A lot of time I got inspiration by talking with strangers or random people. I visit Stolen Space Gallery a lot and Signal Gallery. I guess I get a lot of inspiration from street art around the world and there are so much of it in London created by international artists. To name a few, Faith47, Remi Rough, and Anthony Lister.
JJ – In your painting ‘Worst thing of Screaming,’ there is a feeling of pop art in there; the Lichtenstein type of shapes. Tell us more about that particular painting, as it stands out to me in your most recent body of paintings.
NK – The starting point of that painting was based on an idea of relationships. There are many situations where no one listens to you even when you scream out loud and sometimes it make you scream even louder, which end up make you feel like a freak show.
JJ – You do commercial work as an illustrator. What do you enjoy doing more – that, or your personal work? Is there an overlap in ideas and style, or do you try and keep them separated?
NK – I always try to separate the idea and style between them, but I have to admit sometimes there’s a mix in some of them.
JJ – Your work has a collage feel to it. How do you begin a new piece? Do you actually cut and paste, or just play with objects and figures as you go along?
NK – I never thought my work has a collage feel but I heard some people said that they thought my work was a collage, especially “escape the game.” I guess I just play with objects, figures and imaginations to visualise my idea into a painting. Many times when I’m in the middle of painting, I come out with some graphic elements that I can incorporate with and I just play around with it.
JJ – Do you have any exhibitions or projects/events coming up which we should look out for?
NK – The exhibition that I confirm at the moment is in December but I am doing another live art on the Tuesday the 24th this month during Jam Sandwich at The Russet Cafe. It is a monthly music event which I paint live depending on that night performers.
JJ – Finally, what piece of advice would you give young artists who want to pursue visual/fine arts?
NK – If you’re happy doing it, keep doing it as you never know what might happen.
Related links
Artist Website: http://novemtokomo.com
Jester Jacques Website: http://www.jesterjacquesgallery.co.uk
Brazilian artist Alexandre “Sesper” Cruz spent his adolescence absorbed in music and skateboarding – building ramps, making fanzines that documented the Sao Paulo art scene, and recording k-7 compilations. These interests influenced the sticker and paste up poster campaigns he launched around the city in 1999.
Sesper is best known for his unique mixed media artwork. He uses recycled material such as paper, cardboard and wood as his surface and paints over these with oil pastel and latex, incorporating layer upon layer of texture and color. A member of the renowned Brazilian art collective, the Famiglia Baglione, Sesper has participated in and filmed many of their live painting and gallery installations around Brazil.
He produces music and is a full time vocalist for Garage Fuzz band since 1991, as well having sung and recorded in the following bands: OVEC, PSYCHIC POSSESSOR, SAFARI HAMBURGUERS, PAURA, and the projects: NOTWORK, INTROSPECTIVE, LOFI EXPERIMENTS, VALLEJO X SUNSET, 5 GAS QUESTION, FLIPTOP, and others.
Words from the Pure Evil website
We could not help but snapping away the multitude Faile tags we came across during our last trip to Dublin.
