I always expect to see new stuff painted on the walls of Great Eastern street, this street would be probably top of the chart of creativity in London.On my way to Signal gallery to see the new Baldwin show, I had the camera in one hand and the eyes looking around. Continue reading Art on the wall – Great eastern street (London)
An afternoon on Brick Lane spotting street art
I got myself down to the mighty Brick Lane at the week end, the i-phone (to post photos on Instagram of course) in one hand and the camera in the other one and as always I spent a solid two hours strolling around the area looking for little wonders that is called “street art”.
I spotted a loads of C215 pieces but also a nice sets of PEZ smiling fish. Conor Harrington also has been at it and has produced striking artwork. Enjoy the pictures below. There was so much to see that I had to break into two parts, you are looking at part I, here is part II
#3 Graffitilife
Struggle in the Moment of Difference
I recently interviewed London artist Shireen Qureshi for This ‘Me’ of Mine. Her ‘Untitled Nude’ is a compelling expression of the struggle in the violence of existence; of being flesh and bone. We discussed an interesting point of the Deleuzian ‘event’…
Jane Boyer: Deleuze suggests we are an event; meaning that out of a chaos in which conditions have come together to form a ‘one’ or have passed through ‘a screen’ which allows something rather than nothing to happen.[1] There is a sense of ‘event’ in your tableaus and the figures are that ‘event’, as if we are witnessing the coalescing of a self, how do you see this? Do you feel the passage of time is relevant to the self?
Shireen Qureshi: It is interesting that you suggest that we are witnessing the coalescing of a self in my work because in my mind I am more interested in breaking down the body, of rupturing boundaries. I often initiate a painting by making it look real and then trying to break it down, by overlapping bodies or breaking apart skin and bone, I suppose in that sense the aim for me is towards chaos rather than from it. But I think that this is a very interesting idea, especially the sense of an ‘event’ you describe in my work, forcing my viewers into the role of witness. I think that if the paintings have created any sense of inescapable drama pinning both my figures and viewers in place, then this is an achievement in itself. From my point of view, the passage of time is interesting because it is within a space of time that metamorphosis and transformation can occur. I would like to create a sense of movement, an undulation within each of my paintings as if they were bubbles of captured space and time. I think that time is inescapably relevant to the self because it is within time that a self is built or deconstructed, subjected to the violence of existence, and within which the self moves, inevitably, towards death.
Whether we think much about it or not, we live every moment of our existence with the thought of our extinction – every one of us could cease to exist at any moment. This latent threat is one aspect of the ‘violence of existence’ mentioned by Shireen. From her point of view the violence exists in the visceral reality of living in flesh and bone, a violence we understand first hand. Often through serious illness or accident, the loss of loved ones or violent personal threat we realize the fragility of our existence and the latent threat of our extinction become a conscious reality. Once aware of this imminence our sense of self undoubtedly alters; we become a self with limited time.
The visual breakdown of bodies, flesh and bone is an interesting interpretation of this psychological awareness of our mortality. The ambiguity of whether the bodies in Shireen’s paintings are coalescing or breaking down is indicative of the struggle in the moment of ‘difference’ described by Deleuze, and as such, is also the ‘violence of existence’ Shireen speaks of. Deleuze said, “Indifference has two aspects: the undifferentiated abyss, the black nothingness, the indeterminate…in which everything is dissolved – but also the white nothingness, the…calm surface upon which float unconnected determinations like scattered members: a head without a neck, an arm without a shoulder, eyes without brows. The indeterminate is completely indifferent, but such floating determinations are no less indifferent to each other. Is difference intermediate between these two extremes [the undifferentiated and the determinate]? Or is it not rather the only extreme, the only moment of presence and precision?”
He continued, “There is cruelty, even monstrosity, on both sides of the struggle against an elusive adversary, in which the distinguished opposes something which cannot distinguish itself from it but continues to espouse that which divorces it.”[2]
Living is difference; it is the precision of presence. Living with the imminence of our extinction is the violent struggle of divorcing that which continues to espouse us; a struggle “within which the self moves, inevitably, towards death,” as Shireen says.
Read more of our interview, ‘Straight from the Nerves’ on the This ‘Me’ of Mine blogsite.
JR photo booth in Paris
JR has been busy for the last recent months and even more since he won the TED prize earlier this year.
PARIS –
JR is always keen on putting interaction and social aspect right into his work. I present you “Photo Booth”, the new social art project currently help at the George Pompidou Centre. The concept is simple, enter the photo booth and get yourself on a full scale printing from JR. The end date for this project is the 5th September 2011.
Source: Arrested Motion
NEW-YORK
JR has also been busy and stuck on various streets of NYC. Take a look at the pictures below to fill the iconic Bowery and Houston Mural space, as we’ve seen(here).
Bowery and Houston Mural space
NYC streets
Source: Arrested Motion
Dust, Bault & Squid x Farm Prod street art
Part of our 3 street art works series you should see today: Dust, Bault & Squid x Farm Prod.
Dust – located in Staufen (Germany)
Bault – located in Nîmes (France)
Squid x Farm Prod – located in Ghent (Belgium)
London Art fair – in its 23rd year but still going strong, part3
So there we had it – the 23rd London art fair, the biggest yet with a remarkable 24 ooo+ visitors this year. It has proven to me that this event is the place or one of the best places to discover, see or enjoy the best of modern and contemporary British art.
Over 120 galleries exhibited this year, a decent number but still lagging behind its big sister, the Frieze art fair, with its 170+ galleries but the two events should maybe not be compared as the Frieze fair is an international fair while the London art fair focusing on British art.
Another noticeable thing was that this year again, London based galleries made the bulk of the exhibitors with 80%. Painting and sculpture were also again the two main types of arts that could be seen but this is what the London Art Fair (LAF) has been about for a while now. The regular visitor will know this, the newbies not necessarily.
Selected works from the fair below.
William Martyr
Acrylics on canvas | Tag Fine Arts
Paul wright
Oil on canvas | Thompson gallery
John Hoylan
Acrylics on cotton duck | Beaux Arts London
Andrea Mastrovito
Cut paper collage and aniline dye on paper | Foley gallery
Dominic Shepperd
Oil on canvas | Charlie Smith
Marilene Oliver
Laser prints on card, red ink, bonded nylon and seed beads | Beaux Arts London
MADE IN BRITAIN at London Miles gallery
‘Made in Britain’ – a Themed group exhibition featuring all new 24 x 24 inch artworks from a selection of talented artists living and working in the UK.
London Miles Gallery personally invites you to our upcoming themed group show ‘Made in Britain’ showcasing a refreshing selection of artists from throughout the UK which have come together to
celebrate all things wonderfully British. Continue reading MADE IN BRITAIN at London Miles gallery
The Welling Court Mural project
Now its in third edition, a bunch of international artists took on a few block in Astoria, Queens, New-York for Ad Hoc Art’s Welling Court Mural Project and have produced a series of varied and eye-catching graffiti/pieces of street art.
The project aims at mashing up art, music and community and celebrate talents wherever they come from. Read more about the project from the Ad Hoc Art website. We have included a few shots of the artworks that was produced for the occasion.
Pictures taken from artinfo.com
Some of the featured artists include : Olek | Score | High 149 | Chris Stain | Mode | Queen Andrea | Wane | M-City | 01 | Jaz | Sinned | Veng | Chris RWK | Gilf
Splatter series from Hua Tunan
Chinese Art has been pushing its way through Europe and America lately and many movements and talents are starting to emerge from it. One of this very skilled and inspiring artists is Chen Yingjie (aka: Hua Tunan) who lives in the coastal city of Foshan, China.
With a background of classical Chinese painting and illustration, Hua Tunan has diverged into a remarkable and unique street art style. His art is a perfect example where two radically different styles – Classic Chinese painting v. Western Graffiti are married to give eye watering results. Hua Tunan would use ink painting, drum rhythms and a variety of cultural symbols.
Pictures of the ‘splatter’ portraits series are shown below. Look closer and what might appear as a splash to you actually reveal a face or shapes. The color palette is another remarkable thing in Hua Tunan art. Thumbs up all round.