‘Murder’ a show by Robin Lee at Tapestry gallery

How would you feel if you were the suspect of a murder? And what if the investigation would last 17 years? You might go mad one might say. Or you might transpose this situation into some form of art.

Meet Robin Lee and his paintings depicting real murders scenarios, including the one in which he was a suspect. All 10 paintings were brought to the artist’s attention from the news, his sister and from various friends within the legal profession or from common history.

As I stepped into Tapestry gallery, I was not aware of the context of the artworks on display, blame this on a mad day in the office leaving no time for anything else but working, and was immediately drawn to the large pieces flanked on the wall I was facing.

The other thing I quickly noticed was the rather dramatic look of all the characters depicted in Robin Lee’s pieces and the colour red standing out in most of them. Blood that will turn out to be.

Robin Lee at Tapestry gallery | Art-Pie

A quick look a the board located at the entrance and all became very clear and slightly darker: I was looking at some artist’s visions of murder scenes but not imaginative ones, actual ones.

From that point onwards, it was quite difficult to focus on the visual aspect of the pieces since the only thing I wanted to know is HOW these people got murdered.

However, 20 minutes into looking at the exhibit and my morbid curiosity had worn off and I was able to appreciate the skilful brush stroke and the ability to really give a dramatic aspect into those eyes.

Robin Lee at Tapestry gallery | Art-Pie
Robin Lee at Tapestry gallery | Art-PieRobin Lee at Tapestry gallery | Art-Pie

‘Murder’ a show by Robin Lee runs until today

 

Slinkachu X Andipa Gallery "Concrete Ocean".

Slinkachu takes figures from miniature train sets and painstakingly modifies them so that they can be used as part of his almost invisible world.

He creates comical, satirical and sometimes slightly dark scenes with these figures, places them all over the world, shoots them with spectacular quality and then leaves them to become part of the scenery.

The first of this series was “the little people project” the photos were formed into a lovely little hard cover book produced in 2008. I purchased a copy of it and was suitably impressed with the content and quality of print.

This left us very excited for the new show “Concrete ocean”, hosted by the Andipa Gallery in South Kensington. It had been two years since Slinkachu hosted a show in London and when it comes to most artists after such a period of time you would expect to see significant progression in their body of work. This however was not the case with the Slinkachu show, but it really didn’t matter. The gallery was laid out with huge high quality prints showing the detail of the characters and the photographs almost bring them to life. The large prints were accompanied by very small location shots to show you just how much they disappear into their surroundings.

Andipa Gallery is a large space located in a very upper class area, totally different to the Hackney / Shoreditch spaces we are used to attending, yet it seem more than suitable for this body of work, it was extremely well organised and the 3d installations were well spaced so you could appreciate the minute detail.

It would come as a surprise to us if this show did not make you smile, laugh and sometimes feel just that little bit sad.

Check out our huge collection of shots from the evening here:

Slinkachu

SPQR at Pure Evil: Monochromatic shades

Another exhibition by Signal gallery which I had penciled in as soon as I’d heard about it. The artist, SPQR, has been on the circuit for quite a while now and is a prolific stenciller, so I was not surprised to find, hung up on the walls of Signal gallery, technically very good, quality stencils.

For his first solo show in the UK, SPQR looks at how art can be used to express your disagreement about things surrounding you: society, media, economy, etc. At first sight, and maybe for the non-expert in street art, you may think that what you are looking at is ’some Banksy’, eg. (see pictures below) the reference to a chain of supermarkets and making fun of the police etc, are a parallel with Banksy’s sense of humour.

But SPQR’s stuff is as good as Bansky no doubt, even better perhaps and not just because of his unwillingness to cash in on the hype and fame like other street art artists. But based on what I saw in this show, and in particular the piece in the shop window of the gallery, thumbs up for SPQR

Go on SPQR, a bit of fame and hype you probably deserve won’t hurt, you would just be selling some art, some good street art, which everyone needs in their life!

What would you say: SPQR better than Banksky?

The show ran until the 28th September.

Related links
> Signal gallery
> SPQR website

ART-PIE

 

MIX: Winter Group Show 2015 at Lawrence Alkin gallery

MIX: Winter Group Show 2015 at Lawrence Alkin gallery forms the second of the gallery’s biannual group show programme, which showcases the breadth of artists that are associated with the gallery and introduces those who we’re big fans of and will be working closer with in the future.

The exhibition runs throughout December and January offering you the chance to enjoy a wide variety of art and artists over the coming couple of months. On display you’ll find new original works from our roster of contemporary and street artists alongside iconic pieces from world renowned names. Expect to see everything from oil on canvas through to neon/light sculpture.

'Synthesis' by Tom French | Art-Pie
‘Synthesis’ by Tom French | Art-Pie

Works on show from the following names:

Jake Wood-Evans | Jessica Albarn | Miss Bugs | Jeff Koons | Dan Baldwin | Zoe Grace | Banksy | Dave White | Ryan Callanan | Dean Fox | Tom French | Nick Smith | STIK | Laura Keeble | Damien Hirst | Nick Walker | Static | Jube Jube | David Walker | Jackie Berridge | Shuby | Ai Wei Wei | Michelle | Mildenhall | Kim Smith | Will Blanchard (Wildcat Will) | Lucy Sparrow | Matthew David Smith

WHAT – ‘MIX’ winter show
WHERE – 42 New Compton Street, London WC2H 8DA
WHen – Until 16/01/2015

“The Ugly American” by Saber at The Outsiders

“The Ugly America” show opening today at The Outsiders is the work of legendary graffiti artist Saber’. The artist spent 8 weeks immersed in the Outsiders Newcastle branch last autumn and created all the works on display in the gallery this time in London.

We stepped in and were hardly wowed by what we were seeing: a series of pale wooden pallets works. We quickly realised that they were all depicting “The Star-Spangled Banner”, understand the American flag.

But then we remembered that “The Ugly American” refers to a multi-million-copy best selling book and 1963 movie, in which Marlon Brando starred, and is all about telling about the dark side of the American foreign policy. I looked again at the pale stuff and could relate now. Off downstairs…

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The mood was slightly happier down here and colours from Saber’s pieces smiling at me. The artist’s technique that consists of mixing aerosol art with oil and even charcoal pleased my little eyes.

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

The Ugly American by Saber | Art-Pie

What – “The Ugly American” by Saber
Where – The Outsiders London | 8 Greek Street, Soho, London W1D 4DG | Monday – Saturday, 11:00AM – 7:00PM
When – Friday 10th of January 2014 to Saturday 15th of February 2014

STREET ART