Under her skin: female tattoo culture at Atomica gallery

Under her skin at Atomica gallery | Art-PieAtomica Gallery is delighted to announce their first exhibition of original artwork: Under Her Skin, in association with Things&Ink, the magazine embracing female tattoo culture.

Celebrating the magazine’s first anniversary and launch of the new issue The Art Issue, the exhibition is curated by Things&Ink and will include work from twelve female tattoo artists who have featured in the magazine’s pages over the past year.

Founded by journalist and tattoo enthusiast Alice Snape in 2012, Things&Ink magazine reflects on tattoo culture from a feminine perspective. Differing from traditional, often male dominated tattoo media, the publication is both beautiful and thought-provoking and has fast become a collector’s item.

Under Her Skin marks one year of Things&Ink by bringing together a selection of today’s most talented artists for an exhibition celebrating modern female tattoo culture:

Amy Victoria Savage (Jayne Doe, Hornchurch UK) | Angelique Houtkamp (Salon Serpent, Amsterdam NL) | Charissa Gregson (Jolie Rouge, London UK) | Dominique Holmes (The Family Business, London UK) | Grace Neutral (Good Times, London UK) | Guen Douglas (Salon Serpent, Amsterdam NL) | Iris Lys (London UK & Paris FR) | Lucy Pryor (Into You, London UK) | Rachel Baldwin (Bold As Brass, Liverpool UK) | Rebecca Vincent (Nostalgia Traditional Tattooing, Leeds & The Circle, London UK) | Tracy D (King’s Cross Tattoo Parlour, London UK) | Vicky Morgan (Ghost House, Derby UK)

WHAT – UNDER HER SKIN – Celebrating one year of Things&Ink and launch of The Art Issue
WHEN – Thursday 12th September – Monday 30th September 2013
Opening Party: Thursday 12th September
WHERE – Atomica Gallery, Hackney Downs Studios, London

After-party at Doomed Gallery Dalston, 9pm til late www.doomedgallery.com

This is how elephants are treated in Mathura during winter

Elephants in Mathura gets wrapped up in jumpers | Art-PieWe all know that Winter can be a cold one.

Some of you may also know that there are nice people out there, so nice that after having been notified about a possible freeze overnight, a few good people in Mathura (India) made jumbo jackets and woollen jumpers for elephants in the region.

This is how elephants are treated in Mathura during winter.

The Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center helps

The Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center is actually supporting this and has committed itself to help the women in surrounding villages make these jackets and jumpers to counter attack the freezing winter and its possible damages to the elephants.

Elephants in Mathura gets wrapped up in jumpers | Art-Pie

Here is what Kartick Satyanarayan, CEO of theThe Wildlife SOS Elephant Conservation and Care Center says about the project –

It is important to keep our elephants protected from the bitter cold during this extreme winter, as they are weak and vulnerable having suffered so much abuse, making them susceptible to ailments such as pneumonia. The cold also aggravates their arthritis which is a common issue that our rescued elephants have to deal with.

We included below some of the colourful garments. We think they are awesome!

Elephants in Mathura gets wrapped up in jumpers | Art-Pie Elephants in Mathura gets wrapped up in jumpers | Art-Pie Elephants in Mathura gets wrapped up in jumpers | Art-Pie

First seen on The Independent

Sepe’s new show at Lawrence Alkin gallery: grotesquely good

When we got the email about this show –The Golden Age of Grotesque by SEPE (aka Michał Sepe Wręga), we immediately got very excited as we knew for sure that it would be a good one.

We have been following SEPE at Art-Pie for a while now and know he’s destined to great things and achievement in the art world.

> More pics at the bottom of this article

What is the show about?

“Lawrence Alkin Gallery are thrilled to present ‘The Golden Age of Grotesque’, the provocative and alluring UK debut solo show from Polish street artist Sepe. The brand new body of work explores current socio-political issues, demonstrating Sepe’s unique ability to cross the boundary between subjective and abstract depiction. ” Sam Rhodes, Director at Lawrence Alkin Gallery.

This is the artist’s first solo show in the UK presenting 19 brand new works prepared especially for the exhibition, most of them done in 2015.

There you have it. We unfortunately missed the opening night but to be honest, it is sometimes difficult to fully enjoy the art on display when galleries are overcrowded with people. Instead we visited the next day, only encountering one or two souls wandering the premises. This actually worked out very well as we could thoroughly enjoyed Sepe’s artworks.

As soon as you enter the Lawrence Alkin gallery, you cannot miss a rather imposing piece – “Follow the leader”

Follow the leader by SEPE | Art-Pie
Follow the leader by SEPE | Art-Pie

Details below of the “Follow the leader” piece

Follow the leader by SEPE | Art-PieFollow the leader by SEPE | Art-Pie

You can’t help but notice the illustrative feel that Sepe’s art transpires.

The artists himself agrees on it “My paintings are strongly rooted in illustration. This way of perception works the best when supported by some kind of story behind it.”

He adds “We managed to gather all humans’ knowledge into one place. Made it available to everyone, everywhere by creating a worldwide network and we use it mainly to share sweet photos of puppies. What is it then if not The Golden Age Of Grotesque…?”

What is the underlying story behind “The Age of grotesque”?

Like many artists featured on this site, Sepe’s background lies in graffiti. He has been an active member of the Warsaw (Poland) graffiti scene where he currently lives.

This exposure to the energy of the city and its streets has definitely opened the artist’s sensitivity and increased his social awareness. Indeed with this show, Sepe wanted to emphasise how the “world gets totally dominated by the vain celebrity culture, focused on creating fake images of itself just for the show and turning everything into pop mush for sale.”

"Hunters" by SEPE | Art-Pie
“Hunters” by SEPE | Art-Pie

SEPE’s work is centralised around you and me, around humans and perhaps it is about where we are heading to – Modern societies tend to alienate individuals;our only refuge is seemingly joining the crowd where acknowledgment matters most. We then share moments via social media, often with souls unknown to us, and yet somehow that makes us feel good, as though we somehow now belong.

Rhythm and energy

Another remarkable aspect of SEPE’s work is how well he captures life moments on the canvas: bold, energetic and rhytmic. Indeed, his way of applying fat brush strokes gives the viewer a sense of movement and that takes away the static notion of a still scene.

As we were wandering around the gallery, this in particular became more and more obvious as well as remarkable.

"Far from ok" by SEPE | Art-Pie
“Far from ok” by SEPE | Art-Pie

The artist’s vision of our current society is not that reassuring and the somewhat recurrent use of circus related elements – circus music, belly dancers, clowns on stilts, monkeys riding small bicycles and firework displays adds to it, making the whole thing very chaotic and scary.

How often are sad clowns used in movies to scare the sh*t ouf of you uh?

The show runs until the 4th July 2015. Find out more about The Golden Age of Grotesque show at Lawrence Alkin Gallery

The Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIEThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | ART-PIE
The Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-PieThe Age of Grotesque by SEPE | Art-Pie

Jef Aerosol at Signal: girls, girls, girls and stencils

Another artist who is at the top of the stencils game but who wouldn’t after being at the vanguard of the French stencil art scene since the eighties.

Jef’s artworks are well executed, composed and elegant. In his second show, Jef is showing us the woman in all her sexiness and sensuality. Jef loves the female gender definitely and his pieces transpires that. Most of the artworks is made on extra thick wood panels and gives a feel of strength to the whole thing. Continue reading Jef Aerosol at Signal: girls, girls, girls and stencils

The White Canvas project

This project is focused on using anything but a traditional canvas to create art. It looks at connecting with the surroundings and use anything and everything to help you make your art.

Events and paint jams will take place and took place this summer which the video below will show you. To coincide with the events, limited edition prints will be released as t-shirts.

In last summer’s event, David Walker, Mr Jago, She One, Will Barras and Bue the Warrior produced great works on retro furniture, car parts and more.

www.whitecanvasproject.com

Do not miss the WCP Gallery event where you’ll be able  to see some of the works produced for the project. Preview on Thursday 13/10 – 81 Leonard street | EC2A 4QS. The show runs until the 17/10/11.

http://whitecanvasproject.com/wcp-gallery-event.html

The ap-art summer show

I am so glad that the show got extended since although it has been on all summer, I did not manage to go down before last week end. I meant to go for ages but busy was my schedule or was it really? I don’t know but now I went and came across artists I need to tell you about.

I have to point out before I get going that the dude behind the mac was well a dude, but not engaging for a bit when I tried to talk to him. Shame but lucky enough that the line up of art is so worth it that I got distracted quickly enough to actually liked the dude, let me mention though that photographs aren’t allowed – meh, but this show has got some substance.

My first distraction took me to look at Joe Black’s work from the UK and in particular his “made in China” large piece made of little soldiers toys put together and painted so when you look from far enough, you do not even realise what is made of. Great “trompe l’oeil” technique that is. Choose the right coloured soldier and when needed, apply a very generous stroke of black or white and the whole thing is visually pleasant to the eye.

Joe Black - Made In China
Joe Black – Made In China

I will then mention here “Miss Bugs” series of paintings which are most definitely what I enjoyed the most but which only made to the wall of the gallery that most people would miss. Great mixed medias (mainly acrylics) pieces such as “Silence” – See below

Silence by Miss Bugs
Silence by Miss Bugs

Two more artists I need to mention are Finn Stone and Ryan Hadley. Respectively, a great sculptor artist with a few great pieces scattered around the venue. Who wouldn’t fall in love with his “Voodo child”? Then you get Ryan Hadley and his amazing stencil like piece made from a rusty plate – I wish I could show you a picture of it but unlike the dude said “All works are on the website”, I could not find that piece, not even on Ryan Hadley’s website. As a result, I’ll mention the work from Bomk entitled “La limite”, a complete surreal encounter.

Voodoo child by Finn Stone
Voodoo child by Finn Stone
Bomk - La limite
Bomk – La limite

Whatever the dude is all about, he’s got a fine collection of must-see artists works so go and get a peak at this show which runs until the 30th September 2011.

The APART 2011 London Summer Show
55-57 Great Marlborough Street, W1F 7JX

John Felix Arnold at Shooting gallery

We did not happen to be at the opening reception for John FelixArnold III’s show Pilgrimage just because being based in London, a trip to at Shooting Gallery in San Francisco would have been just too epic.

We read though about it above all enjoyed very much looking at the artist’s new works which associate painting, drawing and mixed media. We are presented in this show with his hyperbolised visual depictions of a post-apocalyptic future world called Unstoppable Tomorrow.

This is a new installment in Arnold’s series of Past exhibition volumes have included Unstoppable Tomorrow Vol.1, Past from the Blast, The Love of All Above, Should I Stay or Should I Go?, Found in Darkness, Bright on Time, and In Memory Of. Read more about this work on Vimeo

We have included some of the works in the show below.

JOHN FELIX ARNOLD III | Art-PIe

JOHN FELIX ARNOLD III | Art-PIe JOHN FELIX ARNOLD III | Art-PIe JOHN FELIX ARNOLD III | Art-PIe JOHN FELIX ARNOLD III | Art-PIe John Felix Arnold | Art-Pie

The exhibition, running from May 10 through June 7 at Shooting gallery in San Fransisco

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