Category Archives: REVIEWS

New York Kings at Pure Evil

November 5, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

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.

REVIEWS, STREET ART

Shepard Fairey Sound & Vision show

November 3, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Shepard Fairey’s Sound and Vision show has been the hot topic in town for the last few weeks. The artist and his crew has hit hard for this show since not only the Stolen Space gallery is hosting the show but another much bigger one a few yards away has also been necessary to give a roof to the impressive amount of pieces the artist has produced.

Since the Hope portrait of Obama back in 2008, Shepard Fairey and his brand OBEY has become something people recognize and like. You see a Shepard Fairey and you know it is one – the typography, colors and subject will give it away. OBEY is a brand here to stay.

REVIEWS

Guy Denning at Signal gallery – Paradiso

November 2, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

Bristol born artist, Guy Denning final part of his trilogy of exhibitions (It’s the final part of his trilogy of exhibitions interpreting Dante’s The Divine Comedy; PARADISO. Inferno and Purgatorio, which were shown in Bologna and New York) interpreting Dante’s The Divine Comedy: PARADISO has just happened at Signal gallery and has delighted us by his intensity and display of technical art skills.

Each piece in this show is boiling with emotions and dynamism and mirror the ecstatic route to a place of resolution and rest for Dante, the route to heaven that is for Dante.

A quite large part of the show present a series of female portraits appearing soft and fragile but transposed in some sort of tragedy thanks to the sketchy technique used by the artist, although achieved mostly with oil which is remarkable. The artist inspiration comes from Beatrice, Dante’s long dead love, who is the central figure in the poem and who symbolises feminine purity and vulnerability.

Denning’s characters are floating, dancing, tangling with each other and give you a sense of dizziness. The color palette is dark and deep like the multitude faces expressions disseminated all over the canvases. The perspective used for some of his pieces is also remarkable and is an invitation to dive into his vision.

Guy Denning will definitely arouse the viewer’s curiosity about Dante’s life and has given us an unique and modern representation of Dante’s 14th century world.

The show is now over.

CONTEMPORARY ART, PREVIEW, REVIEWS

Ye Hongxing "The Modern Utopia" at Scream

September 11, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer 1 Comment

Beijing based artist Ye Hongxing is having her the first UK exhibition at Scream on Eastcastle street, London and the interest seems to be great and not only for this artist but for the entire Chinese contemporary art since the country has turned to capitalism.

Hongxing new works will be an answer to this profound social system change that has gone with that change. What jumps straight at you you when looking at her works is the explosion of colours and the somewhat chaos of the composition. One will see in this body of works a mirror of what China’s expansion has been – fast paced, anarchic and incoherent. The artist looks at questioning what it has cost China and its people and put forward the utopian vision that governing people may sometimes have.

On a more pratical aspect, the artist’s technique is remarkable and definitely creative. Hongxing woud use canvases and elaborate complex collages made of stickers and what we could called popular imagery collected for different medias since she was a kid. This clever assemblage often results to an eruption of colours and intricated compositions.

For those interested to know where the title of the exhibiiton comes from, it actually references the 1905 novel ‘A Modern Utopia’ by H.G Wells and is suggestive of the artist’s investigation into society and modern life.

Read more about Ye Hongxing on the Scream gallery website

What – “Modern Utopia” by Ye Hongxing
Where – Scream | 27-28 Eastcastle street, London W1W 8DH
When – opens to the public on the 13th September 2012

CONTEMPORARY ART, REVIEWS

Otto Schade at Frameless gallery

August 9, 2012 Pierrick Senelaer Leave a comment

It was lunch time and I was again walking towards the place that would put an end to the hunger I had been victim off all morning.

I then once again walked past the Frameless gallery in Farringdon which I had never bothered to visit until today.

I certainly knew about it but either the thought of a mighty sandwich (I work really nearby) or a recurrent weak interest in what I could glance at, had always been dragging me away from it. Not today. Otto Schade’s show – Street art Olympics, was on.

It really adds a dimension to any show when the artist paints something onto the front of the building where his/her show is held at and Otto Schade just did that.

The one who knows Otto Schade’s works will recognise this familiar face – see picture. (more pictures after the fold)

There is a clear Olympics theme for the pieces on canvases that can be seen in the first part of the show (upstairs that is – it is worth to point out that I was not aware of the downstairs bit of the gallery which adds so much to the whole space and make it one of the best venues I have been in recent months).

Next to those, sit a series of more traditional prints.

The earthy colors scheme used for the Olympics themed pieces which are all on a black background gives them a very warm feel whilst the black – red – white scheme used for the prints does the opposite and seems to freeze the image.

Head downstairs and find a variety of other pieces from Otto Schade from portraits of the Queen Elizabeth to the representation of a panda which seems to have found a ball to play with. It was hard to find an obvious link with the Olympics here – let me point out that the show is called “Street art Olympics”.

And there I saw it, I saw the piece I want to own: a make over of the Queen of Diamonds playing card by Otto Schade. The colors work so well, the intensity of this piece obtained by hiding the face of the character is intense and seductive.

Would you agree?

“Street art Olympics” by Otto Schade rund until the 12th August
Frameless gallery | 20 Clerkenwell green | EC1R ODP | London
Opening Hours: 11am – 7pm Monday to Saturday