REVIEWS

Faile at Lazarides – part 1

If you like street art or graffiti, you know that you should find some good stuff at Lazarides as these guys have been around for a while and primarily sell this type of art. Artists such as Antony Micallef or Jamie Hewlett to name just a few have seen their first artwork being sold by Lazarides.
The exhibition, a retrospective of Faile’s work over the last 10 years consists of two parts, the first bit is held on Greek street and is the fun and interactive one, the second one is a more classical exhibition held on Rathbone place is all about showing you a number of Faile’s pieces from when he started up to today. ART-PIE went to the latter one (but will go this week end to the one on Greek street soon!) Continue reading Faile at Lazarides – part 1 →

CONTEMPORARY ART, REVIEWS

Robert Brandenburg at Gallery 1988

In “Pooh… and Other Sh*t,” Robert Brandenburg brings “hijacked” art to Gallery 1988 in Venice Beach, CA.

As a self-taught artist from Ohio, Brandenburg brings an expansive perspective to viewers. Born in 1954, he paints contemporary works that offer a light repose from the mundane.

His versatile style allows him to incorporate renderings into a variety of works on a variety of mediums. Less art than humor, he creates an entertaining interlude and encourages viewers to recreate everyday scenes in a less than ordinary manner.

Renamed The Bird, Brandenburg alters a metal sign from 1956 used to advertise the Ford Thunderbird. In the original a couple speeds away in the automobile, waving to onlookers. In the re-mastered version, the passenger extends her middle finger to the people standing by. From metal to cardboard, In Mammy Cakes Brandenburg alters a Hostess Cupcake box from a chocolate frosted vanilla cupcake to a white mouthed image mirroring minstrel shows that ran in America from the 1830’s into the mid-1900’s. During these often severely racist performances, white men painted themselves in black face.

To compliment his images, Brandenburg includes brief bios and explanations into the life of his creations. One of his works, Hannah Lecter, features a young girl on a greeting card. Originally, she was eating a tasty piece of chocolate but Brandenburg coated the original snack with a dripping red acrylic paint to make it appear as if she indulges in human flesh.  The title and corresponding story names her as Hannibal Lecter’s love child. He also alters several Norman Rockwell paintings depicting the ‘ideal’ family life of 1940’s America including one from Rockwell’s “Four Freedom” series entitled Freedom from Want. Brandenburg redubs it Freedom from Stress and replaces the original turkey with a glass pipe, beers, and whiskey explaining, “experience suggests that the happy family is going to need a little more than turkey to keep things running smoothly for the rest of the day.”

Brandenburg brings a fresh look to “normal” images by incorporating himself into a variety of mediums at his new solo exhibition. By redesigning iconic images, he urges society to reexamine omnipresent sights that do not always reflect truth.

“Pooh… and Other Sh*t” hijacked art by Robert Brandenburg at Gallery 1988 Venice
Dates: January 7 – 28, 2011
Hours: Wed – Sun: 11AM – 6PM

CONTEMPORARY ART, DIGITAL ART, LATEST

Jean-Paul Bourdier’s stunning body painted photographs

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Jean Paul Bourdier | Art-Pie

When I first saw these pictures by photographer Jean-Paul Bourdier, I was completely amazed by the clever compositions and juxtapositions and even more by the colours which shine in front of your eyes.

My immediate second thought was that these must be digitally manipulated but I was glad to find out that they do not appear to be, the models used here would get body painted.

What a superb piece of body art mixed with photography these are.

All the pics below were taken in the deserts of West America with an analog camera. You can find more of these body paintings photography in his book entitled Bodyscapes 

About the author

Jean Paul Bourdier is the author of Leap Into The Blue, Bodyscapes (introduction and dvd by Trinh T. Minh-ha), co-author with Trinh Minh-ha of Vernacular Architecture of West Africa, Habiter un monde, African Spaces and Drawn from African Dwellings. Production designer of seven films and co-director of two films directed by Trinh T. Minh-ha.

Awards include Guggenheim, American Council of Learned Societies, NEA, Graham, UC President’s Humanities, and Getty. Professor of design, drawing and photography in the department of architecture at UC Berkeley.

Jean Paul Bourdier | Art-Pie

Jean Paul Bourdier | Art-Pie

Jean Paul Bourdier | Art-Pie

Jean Paul Bourdier | Art-Pie

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AK47 “Bullets Straight from the Heart” at MEN gallery

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WIN a pink or a blue AK47 bullet. You just need to like us on Facebook or share this Facebook status, the competition closes on Friday 08/11 midnight

AK47, an active artist involved in underground and alternative sub-culture circuits since the 1980s, is back in London for a solo show of commercial works at the Maurice Einhardt Neu gallery.

You may have come across AK47 bullets around the street of East London. If you have not, take a look at the video we have included below.

AK47 the artist ‘Bullets Straight From The Heart’ from Art kieda on Vimeo.

AK47 | Art-Pie“Bullets Straight from the Heart” will comprises a series of heart-shaped works with bullets sandwiched between two sheets of perspex, their tip piercing through the front sheet, spell out words and phrases such as LOVE, HATE, KISS ME. These dictums or mandates readily reveal themselves when the viewer stands immediately in front of an individual piece. Direct exchange ensues — the back perspex is mirrored and reflects back to us our own image, the bullets targeting head or chest depending on our individual height. Until this point, when viewed at an angle, the bullets appear like batteries of missiles ready to launch.

‘Love Hearts’ — the tablet-shaped fruit-flavoured sweets, that feature prominently in the artist’s childhood memories, come together in Bullets Straight from the Heart, with another potent childhood memory: playing with guns. The snappy love-related messages of 1970s pastel-coloured confectionary are rehashed and perforated in the juxtaposition of these two referents.

Interaction continues also at the point of sale, with the smaller works in the show flat-packed in pizza boxes ready for self-assembly.

What – AK47 “Bullets Straight from the Heart” solo show
When – The exhibition opens to the public daily on Thursday 7th November and runs until 19th November 2013 from 12 noon – 7 pm FREE ENTRY.
Where – THE MAURICE EINHARDT NEU GALLERY | 30a Redchurch Street | London E2 7DP

CONTEMPORARY ART

Mikael Alacoque – Mitty and Badbabysitter

This is badbabysitter!
This is mitty!

Artists Statement:

Initially trained as a traditional figurative sculptor and Mouldmaker. I now seek to find new meaning and relevance in old outmoded techniques.

I’m fascinated by the idea of the public monument and much of my work revolves around the need to investigate the way in which society records events and people by casting them in metal and stone.

I seek to rip the idea of the public monument asunder and then re-build it in a new order with a revised iconography. My work seeks to expose and examine the insecurities and frailties of society, and our place within it.

Recent works ‘Gnome Kone’ and ‘Bad Babysitter’ are part of a series of sculptures that are concerned with a playfully sinister bastardization of familiar objects. The pieces have an initial feeling of innocence and irreverence but on closer inspection seem more bizarre and
unsettling.

More of Mikael’s stuff here

Pictures and statement taken from the A GALLERY website

INTERVIEWS, OPENINGS

WeLikeStatic tomorrow at Whisper Fine Art

WeLikeStatic at Whisper Fine ArtWe met up earlier today with Tom and Craig, better known at WeLikeStatic to have a sneak peak at their solo show opening tomorrow at Whisper Fine Art on Eastcastle street, London.

The place was buzzing with still “loads to do” but the team was at it and the display was shaping up nicely; this show, I could tell, will be a good one. Portraiture is what this show will try to tackle and we all know that it is rather an hazardous path to take, it does not take long to get it wrong and bore your audience with lifeless portraits, emotionless figures.

WeLikeStatic has managed with this new set of works to actually put the actual character depictation at a second plan and rather draw your attention to the making process of their pieces of art, this is for sure what got me interested here anyway.

“Look at it straight on and it will appear as one dimension work, but do two steps to left (or to the right) and a multi-layered artwork fades in front of your eyes”, giving a complete and unique take to the viewer’s eyes.

Spray paint, acrylic, screen printing, stenciling on layers of glass, Perspex and aluminum, you name it. A rather inpressive bunch of techniques and mediums got into that show which has been in preparation for months, we were told. And the result is something quite unique or in line with a trend I first had contact with when I encountered Adam Neate’s shows at the Elms Letters Painting Rooms: three dimensional art made of 21st century material – Perspex.

We also got a glimpse of the making of the front window display – the now recognizable space woman face. So far it looked like it will be ace. I cannot wait to see the end result tomorrow.

WeLikeStatic at Whisper Fine ArtWeLikeStatic at Whisper Fine Art

RSVP to Ruth at ruth@whisperfineart.co.uk, who will make you some lovely tea if you get there completely soaking wet, and lose your mind in the layered world of WeLikeStatic art

When – 27-28 Eastcastle Street, London W1W
Where – Private view on the 26/04/2012 | Show runs until 26/05/2012

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Wire sculptures by David Oliveira

Is “wire sculpture” becoming a thing? Well we met Robin Wight and his beautiful Fairies Wire Sculptures and we were astonished by the outcome.

Meet David Oliveira and his animal wire sculptures. His manipulation of wire to create a zoo of mind-boggling animal sculptures is just crazy. have you ever tried to make something out of the wire thingy around a champagne cork? Yes you did .

David Oliveira | Art-Pie

But take it to the next level and you get what might look like for some some sort of doodle or drawing. We have not had the chance yet to see the artist’s work in front of our eyes but we hear that the what looks like a 2d piece is an intricate yet clever use of wires to shape 3d wildlife animals.

What the artists says –

“My work 99% comes from my memory the other 1% is wire. Very ecological, right? Why wire? Because [it] is a line that can [stand] against gravity… Because [it] is naif, easy and spontaneous.”

David oliveira | Art-Pie

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