Thomas Allen at Foley gallery

December 10, 2015 Pierrick Senelaer

Foley Gallery is very pleased to present Thomas Allen’s solo exhibition Paint by Numbers.

Inspired by a View-Master and “pop-up” books as a child, Allen became interested in recreating these three-dimensional experiences by using old books and pulp fiction paperbacks as still life subjects.

In producing his new series of photographs, Paint by Numbers, Allen has gone to the hardware store and has selected standard paint swatches to use as his primary generative medium. As announced at Allen’s 2009 solo show Epilogue at Foley, Allen has parted ways with his signature use of cutting from book illustrations.

Utilizing wit to illustrate titles such as Birthday Cake, Carnival Candy, and Sweet Tea, Allen playfully employs the idea of color with historical and cultural associations. Titles offered in the paint swatches are implicative: his deftly cut figures reference popular subjects, each of which are enlisted by the name of the paint sample they are carved into.

Allen selects figures such as Donald Trump or Gene Wilder, subjects able to perform the lexicon of narrative titles like Blowfish and Golden Ticket. In the process of assemblage, Allen is able to create narratives that reveal the constructed nature of images and incorporative aspects of collage, photography, and montage.

What – “Paint numbers” by Thomas Allen
Where – Foley gallery 59 Orchard Street, New York, NY 10002
When – Until 24/01/15

PREVIEW

BRP PAPER at Black Rat Press

August 31, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

Preview evening at Black Rat Projects, Thursday 8/09/2011, 6-9pm. The show then will run until the 16th October 2011.

Light as a feather yet inscribed with the heavy history of stories told, the blank page has long since lost its primary function: once instrumental for the post-enlightenment dissemination of information in the name of democratised knowledge, paper is now that detritus of the digital age. Just as painters, in the advent of the camera, sought experimental ways of reclaiming a trade absolved of all social utility, so today’s artists turn to this generation’s redundant material as a site of creative possibility.
In September 2011, Black Rat Projects offers a means of ingress into a field of art-making which presents a unique response to our contemporary situation. BRP PAPER ties Brian Douglas, Swoon, Leipzig based Annette Schröter, Polish artist Jarek Piotrowski, Armenian born Karen Sargsyan, Alex James Daw and Atlanta based Brian Dettmer through their common practice: the manipulation of paper. These are the artists who stand at the threshold of post-production practices and yet their aesthetic constructs Romantic landscapes and strives for a beauty long discarded by the history of art.
As they tear, rip, dye, cut, fold, recycle, trash, sew, stain, stick, mould, slice, slash, copy and paste their work into being, a narrative of materiality emerges that finds a unity between the post-punk adage and the ancient skilled crafts of origami and shadow puppetry. Labour intensive, their paper works create an opening where the sublime intentions of modernist painting meet the social pragmatism mobilised by the modern DIY spirit.
As all that was paper melts into data Black Rat Projects brings these international artists together for the first time to explore common themes in their work.

Words from Black Rat Press

BLOG, FEATURE, STREET ART

Shoreditch walk at night

February 24, 2016 Pierrick Senelaer

One of the best thing of a work do is to find myself stumbling around the streets of Shoreditch quite to very late at night and snap away the many graffitis or street art pieces I may encounter.

If you are even luckier, you may find yourself alone and this is the best bit as you get some kick-ass photographs as those I included below.

CONTEMPORARY ART, REVIEWS

The Great British sculpture show at Hatfield house

May 21, 2014 Pierrick Senelaer

I was up for a treat, a helicopter fly and guess what, I got another treat: the Great British Sculpture Show currently in full swing at Hatfield house.

After having been thrilled by the helicopter excursion, I was eager to come back down to earth and wander amongst the bronze, wood and stone sculptures set against the formal topiary of the famous gardens and enchanting woodland at Hatfield House

There was over 70 sculptures from 22 artists such as David Goode, Geoffrey Dashwood, Hamish Mackie, Ian Rank-Broadly and Etienne Millner but we’ll focus on Wilfred Pritchard for now

About the artist – Wilfred Pritchard is the “nom de guerre” for the sculptures of Eddie Powell. He is owner and curator of The Sculpture Park, works as a Photographer as Eddie Powell and Sculptor as Wilfred Pritchard and has sold many sculptures worldwide privately from The Sculpture Park and through various auction houses, including Sothebys and Christies.

Now, skeletons are the fundamental basis for teaching sculpture. Luvvie has one included in his Sculpture School for reference and many have pinned them together in various forms. Wilfried Pritchard is just doing this and you can encounter a series of rather comic sculptures like a group of dancing skeletons.

WHAT – The Great British Sculpture Show
WHEN – 5 April to 30 September
WHERE – Gardens of Hatfield House in Hertfordshire

CONTEMPORARY ART

This ‘ME’ Of Mine opens tonight!

March 14, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer

After many months of preparation and efforts, Jane Boyer, the curator for the “This Me Of Mine” show, is about to welcome visitor to the first leg of the 4 that makes up this project. Tonight, it will happen at APT Gallery in Deptford – full details at the bottom of this post as well as for the other 3 other legs of the show.

Jane Boyer says – “The financial support and professional recognition by ACE signals their belief in the project message, the mission and goals of Associated Artists Curators & Writers (AACW) – an organisation created to help independent arts practitioners succeed, and in me as curator and project manager. The significance of this grant by ACE in this financial climate gives hope to a future for independent practice in the UK.”

This ‘Me’ of Mine presents a model project for art as social enterprise in the mainstream arts through AACW and seeks to inspire others in the arts community to new approaches in arts presentation, engagement and development.

This ‘Me’ of Mine showcases work by: Aly Helyer, Edd Pearman, Jane Boyer, Darren Nixon, Hayley THarrison, Melanie Titmuss, Annabel Dover, Kate Murdoch, David Minton, Anthony Boswell, David Riley, Sandra Crisp, Sarah Hervey, Shireen Qureshi, and Cathy Lomax.

Where -APT Gallery | Harold Wharf, 6 Creekside, Deptford, London SE8 4SA
When – 14 – 31 March 2013 | PV 14 March, 6-9pm | Wed to Sun, 12 to 5pm

www.aptstudios.org

Contact: Jane Boyer
Email: Jane@janeboyer.com
Website: www.thismeofmine.wordpress.com
UK Mobile: 07561333028

GRAFFITI GALLERIES, STREET ART

An afternoon on Brick Lane spotting street art

May 8, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer 1 Comment

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

STREET ART

Press the button project

March 3, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

Press the button is an urban project to awaken the minds of cold pedestrian, is a rise of freedom for all citizens who want to smile in the morning, in the afternoon in the night but always in the street…

“We are Pauer and Octavi two students from Barcelona. Right now we are doing an erasmus in Slovenia, in case you are mediterranean and you go on erasmus to the Balkans you do a lot of things but not study, so all the time we used to spend studying in the past now we spend it doing more creative stuff.

We have done some projects but the last one we did, has made us think that maybe we are not a dumb and we can do something in life…”

Press the button project from Pauer on Vimeo.

Related link
The Press The Button project website – wwww.pressthebuttonproject.tk

BLOG, FEATURE, STREET ART

An Old Spanish Church Transformed by Street Artist Okuda

January 21, 2016 Pierrick Senelaer

A truly amazing project: a historic church in the Spanish city of llanera was transformed into a skate-park earlier this year by La Iglesia Skate.

The venue called Kaos Temple underwent a radical and colourful transformation at the hands of street-artist Okuda San Miguel.

We previously reported on this artist and pointed out his recognizable style of bright and isometric paintings. The result is astonishing and gives another dimension to the church. We included a few shots of the finished work below.

Image credit: Red Bull Media

Image credits: La Iglesia Skate

Image credits: okudart

REVIEWS, STREET ART

New York Kings at Pure Evil

November 5, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer

Although street art is inviting itself in auction rooms and household lounges these days, it is still regarded by a large majority of us as vandalism. It is hard to understand anything when you do not try to understand where it comes from but only look at the surface and leave your ignorance driven your judgement which is bound to be false.

New York Kings at Pure Evil and curator Christophe Demoulin would definitely like to put this point across to any visitor and underline the importance of the US graffiti movement that started along with the hip hop one in the 70’s and 80’s. The purpose of this writing is not to tell about the social or politic importance aspect of the movement but about looking at the creativity that came out of it which is on display in this show.

All the graffiti and street art pieces have been drawn on actual New York subway maps which is the new medium the “old kings” have found to pursue the tradition of “subway art”. This was a necessity more than anything since the authorities have actually banned any artistic intervention in the subway. The most prolific and subversive won the right among peers to use a crown symbol next to their work, meaning graffiti king.

The show spreads onto the two floors at Pure Evil and has got pieces from all the big names that made the graffiti genres used widely by other artists all over the world from BLADE for the 3D lettering to COPE2 for the bubble lettering. Other names includes FUZZ ONE, BOM5, SEN2, INDIE 184, STAY HIGH 149, POEM, RD 357, DECK, EASY & JOZ.

The show runs until the 18th november 2012.