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‘Soviet Pin up’ by Valery Barykin

'Soviet Pin up' by Valery Barykin

Erarta Galleries London is pleased to present Valery Barykin’s solo exhibition entitled ‘Soviet Pin-Up’.

The exhibition will feature a number of specially made, limited edition pieces. Barykin`s eyecatching prints are reminiscent of the celebrated 1940’s and 1950’s American pin-ups blended with Soviet Russian propaganda advertisements. Known for his unique style, Valery Barykin’s prints contrast the aesthetic of the beloved American Pin-Up culture and its heightened sexuality with the sharp-edged and saturated colours of Soviet Russia’s propaganda posters.

His upbringing was surrounded by socialist advertisements and mass-produced American pin-up photographs that slowly made their way
into Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union. The women in his works often resemble Soviet Russian film stars such as Lyudmila Gurcgenko and Natalya Fateeva who are sometimes scantily clad and the object of attention.

Barykin displays his outrageously gorgeous and provocative women in unexpected everyday familiar situations as they enthusiastically continue to perform their stereotyped roles and female duties.

WHAT – Valery Barykin’s solo exhibition entitled ‘Soviet Pin-Up’.
WHERE – 8 Berkeley street, Mayfairt, London, W1J 8DN
WHEN – until the 19/12/15

Keith Harring would have been 54 today

Keith Harring
Keith Harring

On February 16, 1990, at age 31, Keith Haring’s life was cut short due to an AIDS-related illness. He would have been 54 today and as a homage, here are a few words and a tribute to his most iconic pieces of art.

I wonder what Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) would make of the global phenomenon that street art is now, art form very much confined to the street of New York City at the time when he decided to move there in 1978, aged 19.

Having studied commercial art and then Fine Arts, he took a keen interest in graffiti art, Haring would go out there and paste collages of fake New York Post headlines on lamposts or news stands. He explored the likes of SAMO (Jean-Michel Basquiat) or Fab Five Fred (Fred Brathwaite) graffiti art to quickly put in practice his own interpretation of this form of art and would develop his future vocabulary of primitive cartoon-like forms. The Haring’s chalk-drawn “radiant babies” and “barking dogs” were born (see pictures) and woud become familiar sights on the matt black surfaces used to cover the old advertisements in the subways.

Keith Harring Radiant babyKeith Harring Barking Dog

These chalk drawings in the subways of New York got Haring in the public eye and he would go on from there to have his first exclusive exhibition in the Tony Shafrazi Gallery which put together a retrospective a few years ago about it – see picture. Willing to reach a larger public, he immersed himself in popular American culture and befriended individials such as Andy Warhol, Madonna or Grace Jones (whom he would body-paint).

Haring was also a keen social activist and as a result of his ever increasing political involvement; he designed a Free South Africa poster in 1985 (see picture) and painting a section of the Berlin Wall in 1986 (see picture). Other works include design for Swatch watches or the Absolut Vodka advertisement (see picture)

Keith Harring work on the Berlin WallKeith Harring Free South Africa poster

Keith Harring’s work are just simply one of the best examples of how consumerism, popular culture and fine art merged in the 1980s.

Recommended readings
Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography by John Gruen (1991) includes interviews with the artist and those closest to him and is an invaluable source for understanding the art and life of Haring.

The early work is illustrated in Art in Transit: The Subway Drawings (1984) and Keith Haring (Shafrazi Gallery, 1982). An enlightening interview by David Sheff appeared in Rolling Stone (August 10, 1989).

Elizabeth Aubert directed an insightful video entitled Drawing the Line: A Portrait of Keith Haring (Biografilm, 1989).

Later an attempt was made to place Haring within a broader art historical context in Keith Haring, edited by Germano Celant (1992). □

Ross M Brown’s solo exhibition CONCRETE MYTHS

Ross M Brown has a new solo exhibition at Lacey Contemporary Gallery called – Concrete Myths.

This new body of work was created following a research trip to the derelict Haludovo Palace Hotel on Kirk Island, a 1970s luxury resort designed by Modernist architect Boris Magas.

Brown depicts the dilapidated location in a series of large scale paintings that often reference formal tropes more commonly associated with Modernist abstraction.

 

CONCRETE MYTHS – Ross M Brown  | Art-PieRoss M Brown’s work channels the experience of architectural space through the medium and history of painting.  Exploring subject matter found within abandoned Modernist architecture, the artist layers disparate approaches from the history of painting producing a palimpsest of diverging and converging painterly approaches.

Relating to the urban ruin as a hybrid space where divisions between past and present, architecture and nature, order and disorder have become blurred and indistinct, Brown employs a painting process which pits rigidly constructed perspective against the fluid materiality of poured, smeared and dripped paint.

WHAT – Concrete Myths by Ross M Brown
WHERE – Lacey Contemporary gallery, 8 Clarendon Cross, London W11 4AP
WHEN – 17th June (preview) till 4th July 2015

Emma Stibbon at Room

Emma Stibbon’s work in this exhibition looks at history and collapsed empires. The shadow of classical antiquity cast on Western civilization ominously stretches into present times – the city is a symbol of both memory and amnesia.

Her focus looks at simultaneous periods of time, mainly sites of ancient Rome, and how Imperialist and republican architecture was later appropriated to lend credibility to new regimes. She is interested in the dialogue between two pasts; that of Ancient Rome and Mussolini’s Fascist plans for the city and in places that can be read as a palimpsest, a layering of historical traces.Rome as a site of overlaying ideologies – the ultimate collapsed empire leading one to reflect on human endeavour,
vanity, frailty, time and impermanency.

Where
31 Waterson Street | London E2 8HT | www.roomartspace.co.uk
When
10 November – 17 December (Wednesday – Saturday 12- 6pm)

Emma Stibbon at Room
Bench 44.5 x 63cm Ink on paper

Street art goes digital in Paris

I stumbled across these very creative pictures of what appear to be some street art in Paris. Now, it would seem that the twist is that no one went into the streets and made those up but instead, someone sat in front of a computer and produced them. I must hope I got it right here as there was not much information about these pictures.

I can already hear the street art purists stomping their feet and voice that, to call something street art, the artist has to go out there, amongst the passing-by walkers and produce something. Well, I might agree with this to some extent but I thought I’ll share these pics from a pure creativity point of view which I think is awesome here.

Literal-eyes at London Miles

London Miles is proud to present an all-new group exhibition that takes a closer look at the content found inside the dusty book covers of iconic written works by great literary masters from across all generations. Literal-eyes concentrates specifically at the ways in which great writers have inspired this hand selected group of young and emerging European artists to be the painters they are today.

London Miles will be looking into the depths of the artist’s psyche; their individual artwork will reveal their way of thinking which maybe totally disparate to how we visualize the same text. This comparison will be explored individually by the viewer and will allow great scope for various levels of interaction during the exhibition.To mark this special exhibition, London Miles will be taking over a white wall gallery space in East London, an exciting pop up space divided onto two floors and over 1000 sq ft; situated off Brick lane.

When
Opening reception: Thursday, May 12th 2011. 6pm to 11pm.
Exhibition on show: May 13th to May 16th 2011

Where
65 Hanbury Street | EI 5JP (LONDON MILES GOES EAST!)

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS