Even if you do not know Ronzo but hang out in Shoreditch or the City, you’ve probably come across his works, I want to talk about his ‘big teeth’ monsters who are (some have been removed) spread over the area, either in the form of small statuettes or on posters

Ronzo is well-known among street art fans in London so it was not surprised to see a large number of people up for his second solo exhibition at Stolen Space.

This show offers a large range of works and proves once again how Ronzo can be creative and juggle between mediums.

A series of paintings, collages, prints and sculptures stand proud in the gallery and should please a large number of people from various backgrounds or tastes. The theme of the show, Crackney’s finest, becomes clear quickly: Ronzo tells us the story of ‘Crackney’ (read Hackney) which he lives and lingers.

Crack smoking squirrels or giant cock-roaches delivering pizzas, Ronzo has gone for the surreal to give his vision of Crackney. And it is right: Hackney can be sometimes sort of surreal, mad perhaps but fun too.

This show also confirms Ronzo’s interest in sculpture, as in recent years he has use the medium more than anything else. The show proudly displays one such sculpture, a huge larger-than-life cock-roach riding a pizza delivering bike, emblazoned with the words: I love Crackney. This piece rotates right at the entrance of the gallery: unique and bold.

It felt good to be at that show and it was definitely enjoyable to look at works ranging from collage to sculpture. Anybody should find a special piece for their likings.

Ronzo’s show is an invitation to enter his vision of Crackney or Hackney. If you are an East London lover, you’ll love this show.

StolenSpace Gallery:
The Old Truman Brewery (Located at the end of the Car Park/ off Dray Walk)
91 Bricklane, London E1 6QL, UK
P: +44 (0) 207 247 2684

Crackney’s finest runs until this Sunday 28th November 2010

Opening hours: Tuesday – Sunday 11:00am – 7:00pm

Enjoy the pics below from the opening night as well as the video of the making of ‘Crunchy’ that can be seen on the Great Eastern Street side of Village Underground.

Related links
> Google map of Ronzo’s monsters from the Londonist website
> Ronzo on Vimeo

ART-PIE

CRUNCHY – The Credit Crunch Monster from Ronzo on Vimeo.

I have always found that acrylic paint used in conjunction with spray paint is a definite winner and give you astonishing results. However, it is difficult to master both mediums for most of us unless you are Will Barras.

Bad Reception, his latest show at Stolen Space, brought to us a series of works never exhibited before which, for most of them, have been painted using acrylics and spray paint (oil and ink have also been used for some of the works).

I was walking towards the entrance of the gallery and could see some of Will Barras’ works and my first thought was ‘wow, it looks amazing from here’. I was eager to go in and check the show out.

The fact that most of the works are large scales pieces gives you the tone of the show – bold. A quick look around the gallery and it became obvious to me that the composition in his works is heavy and busy which, coupled with the large scale aspect make the whole experience very overwhelming. Add to this a varied and strong colour palette and often you get some sort of dramatic or epic feel to the painting, it is almost exhausting to look at his works as you need to look and look again to get the whole picture, to get the story behind it.

Indeed Will Barras intend to tell us a story, the story of Mr Benn – read more about iton the Stolen Space website

Will Barras’s technique is really remarkable, he manages to combine urban/graffiti techniques with more traditional mediums such as acrylics or oil and the result is breathtaking and definitely achieve to blur the line between abstract and reality – what is really going on these paintings?

“I want to maintain the natural flow and energy, the tension between abstract and figurative, while developing and elaborating on a narrative. To generate a multiple choice of possibilities of what could be happening Ideas usually develop from the everyday mundane, broken phone converations and awkward situations …” Will Barras

The show ran until the 14th November 2010.

NB: if you wonder whether the motorbike was part of the show, well not really. Will Barras decided to leave it there after the opening night. Random but it did fit well with the show!

ART-PIE

Panik is a renowned graffiti artist in London and beyond. Member of the ATG (Ahead of The Game) crew, you probably came across his work across Camden or Kentish Town. his mark can been seen also in the streets of Barcelona or Prague.

However the sight of Panik running across rooftops with ladders and spray paints might belong to the past. Continue reading Panik at Pure Evil →