DIGITAL ART

Fractal art: when Mr maths is the artist

When I first heard about ‘fractal’ art, I did not have a clue what it could be so I thought I’ll investigate this further and was quickly to find out that Mr mathematics has its role to play here.

Before carrying on, it might be best to get out of the way a few terms definitions which shall shed some light on this form of art

Fractal: Rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduce-size copy of the whole. So what is ‘fractal art’ then? Continue reading Fractal art: when Mr maths is the artist →

STREET ART

Tour 13, the biggest street art display ever

There is something beautiful in urban decay when you can imagine how it used to be, how it has been and there was but it might be even more beautiful when something on the verge to vanish forever, is given a last moment of glory.

This is what exactly happened to a massive ten-story building in a low-income housing district of eastern Paris. The site has become one of the largest venues displaying street art ever.

“Tour 13”, as it is called took seven months to complete and iover 100 artists from around the globe had a go at it. Unfortunately the site is now closed and the tower is set to be demolished in the next few days so we wanted to give a a last homage to this ephemeral yet awesome project.

If like us you did not manage to go to Paris to check this out, there is still the Tour13 website to visit as well as the teaser video below as well as the few pics we have included after the fold.

Tour 13 | Art-Pie

Tour 13 | Art-Pie

Tour 13 | Art-Pie

Tour 13 | Art-Pie

Tour 13 | Art-Pie

Tour 13 | Art-Pie

Tour 13 | Art-Pie

All images from Le Mag De Poche

PREVIEW

SAFEWALLS: Art Project by Cirque du Soleil

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To kick off the new year, High Roller Society teams up with Cirque du Soleil to launch a brand-new art project called SAFEWALLS.

On the first leg of a worldwide tour SAFEWALLS will stop over in London for 3 days ONLY, featuring original works and limited edition prints by British artists Sweet Toof, Jon Burgerman and Glenn Anderson.

The Safewalls project celebrates Cirque du Soleil’s roots—the street—as well as the creative freedom and raw energy associated with street arts by pairing up with artists all over the world to create art posters inspired by its shows. These art posters will be exhibited around the world on a 12-month tour, and limited edition prints of the works will be available for sale via High Roller Society and a dedicated website: www.safewalls.org

Safewalls at High Roller society

In this first video, in a series of three, Jon Burgerman, Sweet Toof and Glenn Anderson introduce themselves, talk about their art, about street art and a bit about breakdance! The next video will be unveiled next week and will present the artists’ vision of London.

SAFEWALLS: Art Project by Cirque du Soleil
When: 18 – 20 February 2011, Private View 17 February 7:00-10:00pm
Gallery hours Friday-Sunday 11-6pm (during exhibition) and by appointment
Where: 10 PALMERS ROAD | LONDON E2 0SY

Words from High Roller Society

PREVIEW

The Lock Up II (Behind Bars) at Red Bull studios

David Whittaker
by David Whittaker

I had the chance to make the first Lock Up and really enjoyed the diversity and quality of the works I saw that day from Goldie, Nick Walker and others. Another similar group show is upon us – Lock UpII (Behind Bars) held at the Red Bull studios, which will give us an insight of the latest pieces from renowned urban artists such as Dan Baldwin, Pam Glew, Goldie or Chris Bracey.

Chris Bracey, a pioneer in making neons, created some of the first ever neons including some for Stanley Kubrick films. View the interview he gave to Art-Pie in 2010

Dan Baldwin shall again give his fans bold colour and abstract forms while Pam Glew’s iconic portraits on bleached national flags recently fetched $20.000 at an aucti0n will surely be worth the visit to the galler. For those keen on street art installations, K-Guy will be of choice, FinDAC’s stencils should also draw your attention.

David Whittaker’s new paintings are most definitely  the most exciting aspect of this show. Ambiguity, calm, storm, hopes and fears, loads of feelings get on the canvases and certainly make David Whittaker’s pieces the most interesting and deeper works of art in this show.

When
Private view: 17th November. Show runs: 18th -27th November 2011.
Where
Red Bull Studios, 155-171 Tooley Street, London SE1 2JP. Nearest Tube London Bridge

Lock Up II

REVIEWS

Ben Eine’s ‘Tenderloin’ A-Z showcase

Ben Eine | Art-PieWhen I first read about this event from my inbox, I must admit I got quite excited as Ben Eine and his work are exciting. If you love colours, letters and typography, you will appreciate this artist’s work.

“The venue will be announced just before the show and via Nelly Duff’s social medias”. This was enough to convince me that we were on something good.

I was wrong. What the show had to offer was a series of pieces with the whole alphabet broken down in a multitude of versions, different colours, not coloured at all, this sort of things. It did not take me long to go round the whole venue to have seen it all. I actually must more enjoyed the old graffiti and tags spread all around the venue from old jams or other shows.

I have not mentioned the launch of of ‘The World Atlas of Street Art & Graffiti by Dr Rafael Schacter that happened that night too just because, let’s be honest, the hype around Ben Eine did a good job by bringing people in and to get the copies of the book flying off the shelf…

We took a few pics anyway.

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

CONTEMPORARY ART, REVIEWS

Cissy Cook at Smithfield gallery: chill out

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I had only gone once to the Smithfield gallery a while back ago to see DEUS – works from the UVA (United Visual Artists) and was happily pleased with it although I did not know what to make of it before seeing it. I headed down in the same state of mind last week end to check out their current exhibition – Cissy Cook – new work.

The only thing I know was that Cissy’s work is all about papercuts that mainly picture butterflies. Not the kind of things I am too keen on I first thought but getting to see things you know little of should be the attitude and I am glad I went that day. Continue reading Cissy Cook at Smithfield gallery: chill out →

REVIEWS

Ronzo art Pure Evil: creatures of Crackney

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.

REVIEWS

Joram Roukes at Signal gallery

Another show that was one not to miss so I pressed on to get there asap. Joram Roukes is a regular at Signal gallery, this is not his first show in the premises – Find out more

As soon as you step in, you cannot get your eyes off the large canvases that run along the walls. Joram Roukes mainly paints on a large scale with his preferred medium : oil once again. He clearly masters it and give us another set of figurative paintings where humans, animals and objects assemble.

As always, the artist’s work composition is simple: characters or simply a face on a plain background which emphasizes the figurative work. Joram Roukes breaks down to the extreme the usual sight we may be used to normalize when it comes to people’s apperances.  You find yourself spending some time on each artwork, there is so much going on the canvas. Look closer and paintings within the painting shows up – see an example below.

ART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal galleryART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal gallery

ART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal galleryART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal gallery

ART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal galleryART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal gallery

ART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal galleryART-PIE - Joram Roukes at Signal gallery

STREET ART

Alive heart by Promesto

We have come across this meaningful street art installation by Promesto and we like it so we talked to the artist and asked him to tell us a bit more about it.

Make sure to check out the video!

ART-PIE: What is “Alive Heart” all about?
Promesto: This installation is built to provoke and catch the reaction of the people as they pass by the broken-hearted mannequin and to intervene in the daily life of broken hearts and reminds them: no matter how broken your heart is now – tomorrow is another day!

A-P: How are people reacting to it?
P: People responded variously ‘heartbreak’ as a feeling of heaviness, emptiness, grief, sadness, confusion and even jealousy all at once. Our installation art on London’s famous Brick Lane made quite a few people ponder.

Some of the best quotes we got:
“it’s a bit “scary-tragic but true”
“My heart was broken once. It really hurt and I’m glad it’s over.”
“I still remember that B!$%H or BA%$!RD”

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS