When Banksy recently updated his website with new pictures featuring a stencilled couple holding mobile phones, it generated a complete frenzy.
Banksy website
It was located and identified in Bristol on a wooden door outside a youth club.
Within 24 hours the door was removed by Dennis Stinchcombe, the Broad Plain Boys’ Club manager, who decided to charge viewers before trying to sell it at auction in order to support his ailing club.
However the building of the youth club is council owned. So the Bristol Council then started to intervene and confiscated the artwork. The Mayor of Bristol has asked the piece to be to moved to the Bristol Museum while a battle of ownership continues.
Banksy Mobile Lovers is currently on display at the Bristol Museum until further notice…
View all pics here
Located behind a small door in the old town wall where the See No Evil street art festival takes place (covered here) , the Crypt of St John the Baptist is hosting an exhibition by UK artist Jessica Albarn with a series of works on canvas, paper, glass, wax and clay. Through her delicate and intricate drawings, she is paying tribute and celebrating the small and the endangered species, like the bees that are under threat of extinction.
When asked about the show and inspiration, Jessica Albarn indicates: When I draw dead things I do so because I want to draw out the beauty, preserving it and disconnect it from the decay, treasure it and in some sense resurrect it. For the exhibition in the crypt I wanted to create work that I hope embraced the space and connected with the ancient symbolism within it.
View the full set here
Jessica Albarn – Resurrection
Until 27 April 2014
Crypt of St. John the Baptist Church, Bristol
The exhibition continues on 13 June at The Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London , followed by a drawing performance in the garden of The Natural History Museum on 14-15 June 2014
As part of the second ever See No Evil event, Street artists from around the world are in Bristol city centre to take part in the UK’s largest permanent street art project.
Nelson Street is being transformed with graffiti during the second year of the See No Evil urban art exhibition.
Last year projectors were brought in to help artists create graffiti on buildings up to 10 storeys high.
A RECORD 50,000 people from across the UK and Europe flocked to Bristol over the weekend for the city’s See No Evil street art festival.
Organisers estimate more than 20,000 poured into Nelson Street during Saturday daytime alone for the urban art festival, which saw 40 top street artists from across the globe showcase their work.
See No Evil was organised by Team Love, made up of music producers Dave Harvey and Tom Payne plus festival director Mike Bennett and art curator Inkie, with funding from Bristol City Council, the Arts Council and London 2012 Festival as part of the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
View the full set of pics by Butterfly here
Curated by Coates and Scarry, the exhibition entitled Unnatural-Natural History recently launched at the Royal West of England Academy with many of the participating artists present at the opening. Featuring paintings, photography, drawings, sculptures and installations, 38 local and international artists are currently displaying their artistic interpretation of an alternative world. Following genetic mutations and environmental pressure, natural objects have been metamorphosed into unexpected forms in a place no longer ruled by humans.
At the entrance, guests are greeted by feathered installations by Kate McGuire. The viewer’s mind is then immediately transported into a different world, between captivating digital surrealist portraits by Natalie Shau, mutated animal paintings by Corine Perier, animated birds by Troy Abbott, or spherical taxidermy cows heads by Geza Szollosi. Graffiti and street artists ROA, Case, Xenz and Pure Evil added their own take on nature creating installations, paintings and neon sign artworks.
Portraits by Christian Rex Van Minnen are intringly beautiful and disturbing at the same time, while volcanic landscapes paintings by Fulvio di Piazza form spectacular animals, or the other way around.
Challenging the perception of what is considered as natural this exhibition certainly stimulates the mind and opens discussion.
Full set of pics from the opening here.
Full list of participating artists include Angela Singer, Geza Szollosi, Kate McGwire, Nick Bright, Meryl Donahue, Natalie Shau, Patrick Haines, Karen Akester, Beth Carter, Jessica Joslin, Troy Abbott, Chantal Powell, Dean Melbourne, Susie MacMurray, Christopher Russel, Angela Lizon, Rose Sanderson, Pitch Tangpun, Nicole Etienne, Erik Mark Sandberg, Marco Mazzoni, Deedee Cheriel, Heiko Muller, Corine Perier, Luis Sanchez, Christian rex Van Minnen, Scott G. Brooks, Fulvio di Piazza, Laura Ball, Lyndsey Carr, Xenz, Rupert Bathurst, Ryan McLennan, ROA, CASE and Pure Evil.
Unnatural – Natural History
14 July -23 September 2012
Royal West of England Academy
Queen’s Road, Clifton, Bristol BS8 1PX
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