Tag Archives: London

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

November 14, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

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

PREVIEW

Emma Stibbon at Room

November 14, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

Emma Stibbon’s work in this exhibition looks at history and collapsed empires. The shadow of classical antiquity cast on Western civilization ominously stretches into present times – the city is a symbol of both memory and amnesia.

Her focus looks at simultaneous periods of time, mainly sites of ancient Rome, and how Imperialist and republican architecture was later appropriated to lend credibility to new regimes. She is interested in the dialogue between two pasts; that of Ancient Rome and Mussolini’s Fascist plans for the city and in places that can be read as a palimpsest, a layering of historical traces.Rome as a site of overlaying ideologies – the ultimate collapsed empire leading one to reflect on human endeavour,
vanity, frailty, time and impermanency.

Where
31 Waterson Street | London E2 8HT | www.roomartspace.co.uk
When
10 November – 17 December (Wednesday – Saturday 12- 6pm)

Emma Stibbon at Room — Bench 44.5 x 63cm Ink on paper

PREVIEW

Unfair the Whisper gallery

November 14, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

Uncategorized

Meet the little workers in Clerkenwell

November 3, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer 1 Comment

Looking down as usual when I am on my way to the office, I must have heard them calling on me that day. I looked up that morning. One was proudly sat down on a wooden pillar while another little man and a woman had found refuge in small cavities of what looks like a very depraved wall. But they were all very glad, I spotted them as so many by-passers never do, they told me.

At first I loved them but was also eager to know what the hell these little characters were all about. After a what seemed to me a long chat, I did not know more than before I talked to them. What I knew for sure is that they were over the moon that someone took them out of their boredom by spotting them.

Slightly puzzled by this encounter, I was trying very hard to remember whether I had seen these guys elsewhere when right there in front me, was another little worker but this time amongst the display of some kitchen and bathroom furniture shop on Clerkenwell road. I was stunned and started to believe they were either following me or spreading all around.

I decided to step in the shop and find out once for all…

These little workers are actually part of an advertising campaign to increase awareness about the imminent opening of a new DOMUS shop on Great Sutton street. DOMUS is speacialising in tiles. Representatives have been around shops in Clerkenwell and gave away these little figurines to scatter around willing shopkeepers’ shop windows as well as right on the street nearby the new store.

Whatever this is, street art used in advertising, this is a genius idea and if the guys at DOMUS had in mind to get people to find out and talk about these guys, well they got it right. Look above, I mentioned three times their brand in this blog post and are about to insert a link about their new shop which is about to open. Clap, clap, clap.

Read more about the new DOMUS shop (might be of interest to you, huh?). Find out what they look like with photographs below.

CONTEMPORARY ART, REVIEWS

Adam Neate, dimensional painting at Elms

November 2, 2011 Pierrick Senelaer

Adam Neate - Red Dimensional Portrait — Adam Neate – Red Dimensional Portrait

Once again I was on my way to the Elms Lesters Painting rooms to go and check out the latest dimensional paintings from Adam Neate. I still had so many good memories from Adam Neate’s last year’s show, also held at this venue, that I could not wait to see what this new show had to offer.

The layout and feel of the Elms Lesters painting rooms is as I remembered it – high ceilings, wooden floors and a relative darkness only interrupted by spots of lights giving the artist’s pieces all the shine and attention they deserve. But Adam Neate’s works would not even need all that for the visitor to quickly realise that what they are looking at is something quite special, something you also need to look at for a little moment to get what it actually is.

Acrylic, perspex, metal and aerosol on board : there you have what makes up Adam Neate’s works. But these mediums need some solid imagination as well as some advanced manual dexterity to transform and assemble some elaborate and intricate pieces of dimensional art – Adam Neate has just done that.

The palette used is flamboyant with a preference for red, the shapes are rounded, the end result is astonishing. Adam Neate’s art is very evocative, his job is to put shapes and colors together, your job is to see through these and come back out with a vision of the piece, your own vision of what you are actually looking at. I found his series of “Red Dimnesional Portraits” very powerful, I could almost hear them shouting at me as I walk past them. The flamboyant colors and defaced visages have certainly something to do with it.

This review will not be complete without mentioning his “Canvas Crucifix”. The Elms Lesters Painting rooms have been accommodated to give even more emphasis to this amazing piece of art. A wall was especially made so the piece could be hang on and with a clever setting of light and shadow, isolate the piece from everything else and draw people’s attention. I found myself very intrigued, slightly apprehensive and thinking “What the hell is that? Adam Neate torn the whole canvas, while still attached the frame, in a such way that he managed to produce what looks like a character on a crucifix. No painting here just a very original use of the canvas as such – a dimensional approach again.

The show at Elms Lesters Painting Rooms is now over. You will find more pictures of the show by scrolling down.

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS