TheYorkshire Sculpture Park(YSP), the largest of its kind in Europe, presents the first UK museum exhibition by Brooklyn-based artist KAWS from Feb 6th to June 2016.
The exhibition, in the expansive Longside Gallery and open air, features over 20 works: commanding sculptures in bronze, fibreglass, aluminium and wood alongside large, bright canvases immaculately rendered in acrylic paint.
The artist has made a series of five paintings especially for the exhibition. Each measuring 112 x 92 inches, they will span the largest wall of the spacious gallery, creating a swathe of brilliant colour and complex energy. Constructed with painstaking attention to detail, the abstracted forms overlay and interweave, forming shadows and deepening space to reveal a slinking, enigmatic figure.
The Park’s historically designed landscape becomes home to a series of monumental and imposing sculptures, including a new six-metre-tall work, which take KAWS’s idiosyncratic form of almost-recognisable characters in the process of growing up.
‘Synergy’ is an artistic and social encounter between French street artist Jef Aérosol and British photographer Lee Jeffries.
Stemming from the original ‘Synergy’ exhibition that took place in Paris at Mathgoth gallery in March 2015, this collaboration casts a new light on a sensitive topic: the homeless.
The models in Lee Jeffries’photographs are homeless people that he has met in Europe and in the United States: «Situations arose, and I made an effort to learn to get to know each of the subjects before asking their permission to do their portrait.» From then onwards, his photographs portray his convictions and his compassion to the world.
The artistic chemistry was sparked when Jef Aerosol and Lee Jeffries first met in London, early 2014. They both felt the urge to explore and share with the public their vision of this universal issue. Together, they explore faces and confront techniques to give another life to the forgotten of the streets.
10% of the sales will be donated to the Connection, a homelessness charity in Central London.
As mentionned earlier (see here) Banksy created a new artwork in London on Saturday night. As usual location is key and the new stencil appeared on the corner of a very busy road of Knightsbridge, surrounded by lots of CCTV but most importantly opposite the French Embassy under the watchful eyes of security guards.
The mural is a re appropriation of the iconic image of Cosette for Les Miserables, the little girl depicted in the historical novel of Victor Hugo during the French Revolution, whose mum left to another family hoping she would get a better life.
The French flag, used as symbol of Freedom during the French revolution but also for Les Droits de L’homme (Human rights) is torn apart. Grey tears are rolling down the girl’s face, provoked by a cloud of teargas from the CS cannister laying on the floor.
The mural is a continuation of Banksy’s engagement in raising awareness about the migrant situation in Europe, and specially in Calais. It’s a direct comment on the recent actions by French authorities to destroy part of the Jungle and evict around 1,500 refugees using teargas.
France is the ‘Pays des Droits de l’Homme’, country of Human Rights, but looking closer at the living conditions in the “Jungle” camp of Calais, it is a total disgrace.
The mural also features an interactive piece, a QR code that directs you to a video showing the use of CS gas by French Police towards the migrants.
As soon as the mural was confirmed on Banksy’s website, a few attempted to steal the artwork overnight, but it only resulted in some visible damages.
While builders were having a meeting on how to protect / remove the piece, more media and fans arrived at the scene.
It was not long before builders tried to remove it, and failed miserably, noticing it was glued to another board (video).
It was subsequently covered and watched over by a security guard before being taken down permanently, only to appear in the near future at some art dealer or gallery.
Despite the short lifespan of the artwork, let’s hope that it continues to raise awareness about the refugees crisis and inhuman living conditions in the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp and that authorities (regardless of their country flags) will work to improve the situation for both migrants and local residents.
A new stencil by Banksy highlighting the use of teargas in the “Jungle” refugee camp in Calais has appeared on a building opposite the French Embassy in London.
The stencil on board features a CS can on the floor spreading a teargas cloud. With the French flag waving in the background, the infamous character Cosette from Les Miserables emerges with tears in her eyes.
The work is the latest in a series of pieces by the graffiti artist criticising Europe’s handling of the ongoing refugees crisis, after earlier his stencils in Calais (featured) . It is a direct comment on the recent actions by French authorities to destroy part of the Jungle and evict around 1,500 refugees.
In a first for the elusive graffiti artist, the artwork is interactive and includes a stencilled QR code beneath. If viewers hold their phone over the code, it links them to an online video of a police raid on the camps on 5 January.
Back in 2011, we were in Brooklyn as street artist Steve Powers ESPO was painting his monumental ‘LOVE LETTERS BROOKLYN’ (covered here) on the facade of the Macy’s parking garage.
As an ode to the borough of Brooklyn and its 99cents stores below, ESPO adorned the building with black and white sentences like ‘Euphoria is you for Me’, ‘Turn to Me, I see Eternity’,
Macy’s restructuring plan to close 36 stores in the United States this year is also affecting one of the most treasured mural in the local community. In a recent Instagram post, Powers confirmed the closing of the garage, and thanked fellow artist Dave Chino, mural painters Colossal Media, Macy’s, and Brooklyn “for making [him] the man [he is] today.”
Developpers will transform the parking into a residential high-rise with construction planning to start next spring.
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