This is how you look on drugs

Drug taken: MDMA (click to enlarge)
Drug taken: MDMA (click to enlarge)

Les Baker V’s INEBRI-NATION project is one of a kind. One may look at it as another purely photographic work while others a bold take on drug use and in some cases, abuse.

Meet Les Baker, a New Mexico-based photographer who has embarked on the most ludicrous, yet interesting in many aspects, projects taking portraits of people at the moment when the subjects reach the ‘high’ state on different drugs.

The idea behind it is to showcase just how diverse the effects can be, with many various transformations of individuals’ faces. And this is why we like the concept, because we believe the last thing a drug user wants is to face their face in such a state.

Another point worth highlighting is the array of people who took part in this project. You may have thought participants are all drug addicts or heavy users and perhaps from a disadvantaged background, but you could not be more wrong.

“The individuals featured in this series showcase the diversity of those who use mind altering substances. They include students, servers, doctors, soldiers, lawyers, politicians, mothers, fathers, artists, teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and judges,” .

The Creators Project spoke to him about his influences, his visions, and why he started the project in the first place, so head over to find out more about it.

In the meantime, we included some of these portraits below, notice the caption for them which tells you what drug these (brave) souls are on.

Would you be up for having your face which you may not feel but you probably like it <– some may have worked out the reference to this tune “Can’t feel my face” by The Weekend… fitting nicely uh? 🙂

Methamphetamine
Methamphetamine
LSD
LSD
Cocaine
Cocaine
Crack Cocaine
Crack Cocaine
Oxycontin
Oxycontin
Psilocybin
Psilocybin
Ketamine
Ketamine
LSD
LSD

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”

Specter at Pure Evil gallery

Brooklyn-based street artist Specter is one of these very active artists who always come up with new projects. You may or may not like what he does but you have to give him credits for always keeping his creativity flame burning like Hell.

Pure Evil gallery is currently hosting his first UK solo show where Specter using garments such as scarfs or bandanas in his new portraits.

Here is what Specter says about it – “the story behind the pieces is that these are portraits of people who have influenced me artistically but instead of painting their faces I am painting fabrics that I feel represent them. I basically close my eyes and these images are what appears.”

The show only occupied the front room in the gallery, in other words the number of artworks is rather limited. I was quick to go round then and to be honest did not feel loads of excitment about what I had just seen. While I agree that the use of garments is an unique portrayal approach, it is most definitely not the most emotion-trigger one which I believe portaits should be all about: hard to feel sadness or joy looking at a piece of checkered shirt.

Solid drawing and painting skills though and a great attention to detail.

The show runs until the 24th August.

I cannot resist to include a few photos of Specter’s installations and street artwork which is known for in the US. I could not described better what his work is all about than what I read on the Pure Evil website:

He evolves the subject matter by interlacing influences from the environment he chooses to adorn, incorporating characteristics from the surrounding neighbourhoods, architecture, local business and social economic classes; transforming the unwitting publics’ understanding of the space.

Through graffiti influence, he became obsessed with art in public spaces, where he sees potential inspiration and appropriate location to express his creativity. His aim is to deconstruct preconceived perceptions and draw attention to the neglected and less desirable issues, the non-sensational stories of the undervalued detritus of our culture we seldom hear about.

ART-PIE

Related links
> Specter’s art: www.specterart.com
> Make It Fit” Various & Gould exhibition at Brooklynite gallery (New York)

Photos from the show at Pure Evil below as well as Various street installations and artwork from Specter below

 

Narcelio grud take on The Mara Hope in Brazil

By Narcelio Grud | Art-Pie

We always get impressed by large scale works and let’s face it, while Usain Bolt keeps running faster and faster than anyone else, street artists keep taking on bigger and bigger projects.

Narcelio Grud, a street artist from Brazil just did that. When we saw what he did, we immediately though about what a bunch of other street artists such as FinDac, Mr Zero and Fat Heat did to the Duke of Lancaster back in 2013.

What makes Narcelio’s work different and interesting is his abstract approach to this marvellous and colourful piece of art.

By Narcelio Grud | Art-Pie

For those who are lucky enough to live in Brazil, this piece is using the stranded ship Mara Hope located on Iracema Beach alongside the Brazilian city of Fortaleza.

By Narcelio Grud | Art-Pie

We are thrilled to relay Narcelio’s work on the site as we know he has been following us for a while.

The facts

  • 300 liters of water-based paint were needed
  • The Mara Hope wreckage, a former cargo ship has been stranded  for over 30 years

Well done mate.

First seen on Instagrafite

All photos  © Germano de Sousa

Catlin Art Prize 2012

Julia Vogl's "lets hang out" - Catlin art prize winner
Let’s hang out by Julia Vogl

Catlin Art Prize (www.artcatlin.com)
When: Wednesday 16 April 2012
Where: Londonnewcastle Project Space, London, E2 7DP

The winner of the 2012 Catlin Art Prize is Julia Vogl, a 2011 graduate of the Slade School of Fine Art at University College London. She is the sixth winner of the annual Catlin Art Prize, a competition showcasing the work of recent graduates of UK art schools.

Julia Vogl won the 2012 Catlin Art Prize for her ‘social sculpture’titled ‘Let’s Hang Out’. The work invites visitors to create a communal area by selecting and affixing coloured carpet titles that colour-correspond with Julia’s suggestions of various pastimes (such as ‘call Mum’, ‘tweet’, etc.). The work will evolve throughout the duration of the Catlin Art Prize exhibition while encouraging visitors to interact – and hang out.”

The official comments on the Art Catlin website confirming the recipient of the £5,000 award, now it its 6th year.

The exhibition showcasing the finalists of the artists compiled in the Catlin Guide was hosted at the Londonnewcastle project space and in my opinion was laid out and staged to create an explorative feeling when entering.

Before hearing the winner I was one of the first people to interact with Julia’s “lets hang out” and felt that for me this was quite rightly a centre piece, seemingly the concensus as it turned out.

In addition to film and other mixed media work the next most enjoyable piece was marbles and sand staged in one of the corners of the show. A mystical and engaging feeling from starting at the work and felt very much similar to my own thoughts on moments in time.

The second piece which was a stuffed horse on its back clamping on to a made object. This was very striking but wasted on me.

The guide is fast becoming as much a tool for collectors as it is for the artworld in showcasing talent and clamouring for the prize.

For more information visit: www.artcatlin.com

Centuries-Old Japanese Woodblock Prints Meet Animated GIFs

We’ve all seen these ancient centuries-old technique of prints, what about mixing some GIF animation and totally change how you see the art.

The artist is Segawa Atsuki, who uses Adobe Photoshop and After Effects to create the movement which often clashes with the subject background and throw in some Sci-File wonders.

We like the “Segways” one! The last one is a cracker too!

Which one do you like? Comment below!

Segawa Atsuki | Art-Pie

Segawa Atsuki | Art-Pie

Segawa Atsuki | Art-Pie

Segawa Atsuki | Art-Pie

You can see more of Segawa thirty-seven’s woodblock print animations on his Twitter. (via Spoon & Tamago)

Fin Dac and his Urban Aesthetics

Cork native artist Fin DAC has not been around the street art scene as long as some other artists such as Inkie for example but he has been nevertheless left his mark out there and his works are appreciated by an ever growing amount of people across the world.

UK, France and USA is where you are the most likely to encounter his ‘Urban Aesthetics’ as he likes to define his art and style which combines paint and stencil techniques. Fin DAC did not go to some Art Schools but rather grab spray, cardboards or brushes and had a go.

We thank him for doing this.

His influences range from dark graphic novels through to the works of Francis Bacon and Aubrey Beardsley.

Fin Dac | Art-Pie
Location : New York (x Christina Angelina)

Fin Dac | Art-Pie

Fin Dac | Art-Pie
Location: Wales

Girls seems to be the main subject in Fin DAC’s works. Here is what the artist says about this:

“I use 2 different models or muses: Nicole Wu for the very pretty/flowery pieces and Meghna Lall for the more edgy/rockier stuff. They are both people I found through Flickr. The shift towards more asian influenced themes in my artwork coincided with a seismic shift in my output and interest from the outside world… but I don’t ever think about the significance of that ”

Fin Dac | Art-Pie
Location: Madrid
Fin Dac | Art-Pie
Location: Cork (Ireland)

Video painting at Cordy house, London

Video installation by the creative Brooklyn duo Sweatshoppe. The principle is simple: a LED roller paints video onto a wall. The effect is guaranteed.

Thanks to the programming language called Max/MSP, Blake Shaw wrote a software that makes possible the projection of video visible when it comes in contact with the LED lights on the roller.

The video below is Sweatshoppe at it on top of Cordy House, Shoredith, London towards the end of last year.

SWEATSHOPPE video painting@ Cordy House from SWEATSHOPPE on Vimeo.

Related links
> www.sweatshoppe.org
> http://brunolevy.com/
>
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_(software)

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS