Art For Heart's Sake – Charity Auction in aid of Kids Company

Margarita by Carne GriffithsThere is still time to go and see the Art For Heart’s Sake – Charity Auction in aid of Kids Company which runs until the 17th February 2012. Art For Heart’s Sake is a social enterprise that seeks to raise awareness and encourage charitable donation through creative engagement.

Some of the noticeable work on auction is ‘Margarita’ by Carne Griffiths. The artwork has been specially created for the exhibition, and is painted in tea and ink onto 540gsm watercolour paper, yes tea!

Other donated works includes artwork from David Spiller, Adam Bridgland, Charlotte Cory, Zoe Mendelson, Inject Love – Brusse and Hanse Cora, and will also feature 100 photographic prints all available to buy chosen from an amazing 5400 submitted works in the hipstamatic sponsored competition

Bid online for this work by visiting the art for heart’s sake website www.artforheartssake.co.uk

 

“Thirteen” at The Circle, 13 artists, 13 prints

"Thirteen" at The Circle | Art-Pie
Click to enlarge

Sugar For My Soul and The Circle celebrate the superstitions, history and mystery of Friday 13th with a limited edition print exhibition.

An exhibition like no other in London’s Soho district, each of the superstitious 13 artists will produce a limited print run inspired by Friday 13th with only 13 editions.

Curated by Sugar For My Soul this must see collection is open to the public for 13 days from Friday 13th May until Wednesday 25th May 2016.

The Superstitious Thirteen Artists:

Benjamin Murphy | David Bray | Ben Oakley | Elfin | Rugman | Inkie | Jeba | Carne Griffiths | Nomad Clan | Lilly Lou | Hicks | Captain Kris | Stedhead

To attend the private view on Friday 13th May, RSVP to hello@sugarformysoul.co.uk to be guaranteed entry. The private view is strictly guest-list only.

Private View: Friday 13th May 2016 (obviously!)
7:30pm – Late

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). □

‘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

The striking bar of the Prahran hotel in Melbourne

I am lucky to live in London where it must be said, you can find striking looking bars. And let’s face it, it is much better if you sit in some settings which wow you or which makes you happy to be there. After all, I (usually) go to bars to enjoy the moment, to relax or spend time with friends.

Have a look at this. We are now in Melbourne looking at this amazing piece of architecture – the Prahran Hotel, where massive concrete water pipes are used to make the bar stand out of anything nearby we hear (I have never been in Melbourne)

One might say that there are some sort of pigeon holes for humans but I would simply look at the inviting leather seated booths that the 17 tubed offer and grab my pencil and add this place to my “must-go” list.

Pictures of this place below

Prahran hotel in Melbourne | Art-Pie

Prahran hotel in Melbourne | Art-Pie

prahran-3

First seen on Design Taxi

It’s your funeral by Guerilla Zoo

It's Your Funeral by Guerilla Zoo | Art-PieEveryone needs live performance in their lives, everyone needs to get out there and enjoy moments with each other. It gets better if what you see is something unique or at least different with what you are used to see.

It’s Your Funeral, a new monthly event by Guerrilla Zoo founder James Elphick and The Late Night Shop Collective’s Charlie Buckitt may just be the answer and sounds like a good and quirky night out.

You will have understand by now that you are up for a twisted and macabre event which takes the form of a theatrical New Orleans jazz style funeral experience of mournful humour and morbid performance! It’s Your Funeral is a dark tragicomedy journey, breathing fresh life into grim tall tales of the dead.

The event is launching on Thursday 11th April 2013 and then will run every 2nd thursday of the month in the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club

More information can be found on the It’s Your Funeral website

What – It’s Your Funeral
When – 11/04/13 then every second thursday of the month
Where – Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club | 42-44 POLLARD ROW LONDON E2 6NB

MIX: Winter Group Show 2015 at Lawrence Alkin gallery

MIX: Winter Group Show 2015 at Lawrence Alkin gallery forms the second of the gallery’s biannual group show programme, which showcases the breadth of artists that are associated with the gallery and introduces those who we’re big fans of and will be working closer with in the future.

The exhibition runs throughout December and January offering you the chance to enjoy a wide variety of art and artists over the coming couple of months. On display you’ll find new original works from our roster of contemporary and street artists alongside iconic pieces from world renowned names. Expect to see everything from oil on canvas through to neon/light sculpture.

'Synthesis' by Tom French | Art-Pie
‘Synthesis’ by Tom French | Art-Pie

Works on show from the following names:

Jake Wood-Evans | Jessica Albarn | Miss Bugs | Jeff Koons | Dan Baldwin | Zoe Grace | Banksy | Dave White | Ryan Callanan | Dean Fox | Tom French | Nick Smith | STIK | Laura Keeble | Damien Hirst | Nick Walker | Static | Jube Jube | David Walker | Jackie Berridge | Shuby | Ai Wei Wei | Michelle | Mildenhall | Kim Smith | Will Blanchard (Wildcat Will) | Lucy Sparrow | Matthew David Smith

WHAT – ‘MIX’ winter show
WHERE – 42 New Compton Street, London WC2H 8DA
WHen – Until 16/01/2015

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS