“The Ugly American” by Saber at The Outsiders

January 9, 2014 Pierrick Senelaer

“The Ugly America” show opening today at The Outsiders is the work of legendary graffiti artist Saber’. The artist spent 8 weeks immersed in the Outsiders Newcastle branch last autumn and created all the works on display in the gallery this time in London.

We stepped in and were hardly wowed by what we were seeing: a series of pale wooden pallets works. We quickly realised that they were all depicting “The Star-Spangled Banner”, understand the American flag.

But then we remembered that “The Ugly American” refers to a multi-million-copy best selling book and 1963 movie, in which Marlon Brando starred, and is all about telling about the dark side of the American foreign policy. I looked again at the pale stuff and could relate now. Off downstairs…

The mood was slightly happier down here and colours from Saber’s pieces smiling at me. The artist’s technique that consists of mixing aerosol art with oil and even charcoal pleased my little eyes.

What – “The Ugly American” by Saber
Where – The Outsiders London | 8 Greek Street, Soho, London W1D 4DG | Monday – Saturday, 11:00AM – 7:00PM
When – Friday 10th of January 2014 to Saturday 15th of February 2014

LISTS, STREET ART

10 Banksy facts – did you know?

November 24, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer

He was behind a famous hoax in 2004, where Photoshopped copies of Paris Hilton’s album were distributed in HMV shops.

The same year, he created and distributed fake £10 notes.

This piece was commissioned by Bono when it was a guest editor at The Independent

He has had 6 exhibitions since 2002. These are Existencilism, 2002, LA. Turf War, 2003, London. Barely Legal, LA, 2006. Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill, 2008, New York. The Cans Festival, 2008 London. Banksy vs Bristol Museum, 2009, Bristol.

The highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction was over £102,000 for his piece “Bombing Middle England”.

He visited New Orleans in August 2008, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. But some of the pieces are now gone. Banksy told Time Out: “In New Orleans I painted on a dilapidated shop in a street littered with abandoned cars and rotting mattresses, then two hours later the piece was gone. It turned out I’d picked the side of a crack house and the proprietor didn’t like the attention.”

He designed the cover of Blur’s Think Tank.

He was nominated for an Oscar for his 2010 documentary Exit Through The Gift Shop.

He illustrated the opening credits to The Simpsons in 2010.

In 2007, a photo purporting to be of Banksy was released.

PREVIEW

Sofles solo exhibition video: awesome

November 23, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer

Just watch it until the end. If you like graffiti and street art, you will watch it again.

DIGITAL ART

Self-Portrait Animation made with face paint by Emma Allen

November 20, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer

This is simply amazing.

London-based artist Emma Allen uses face paint to show herself aging, dying, and being reborn. It took her five days of face painting to make all the frames for the animation.

The stop motion animation is called “Ruby”

STREET ART

Tour 13, the biggest street art display ever

November 20, 2013 Pierrick Senelaer

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.