Category Archives: London

London: Space Invader – Wave 18

Image April 2, 2016 butterfly 2 Comments

French artist Space Invader has just returned to London since 2013 for a 18th wave of invasion. As part of an art commission for the London Games Festival organised by Film London, 12 new artworks have appeared on iconic buildings and streets.

As always location is key, and to celebrate spring, brand new CCTV flowers have popped up across the city, including a union jack one next to the British Film Institute surrounded by four other video cameras .

A pixelated cheeky prince with crown and 3D glasses is flying high above the Prince Charles Cinema in the West End , while the Arts Building in Finsbury Park is adorned with a paint brush waiving invader mosaic.

London Invasion 2016 - Wave 18

Wandering through the Museum of London, visitors can enjoy two new invaders with bowler hats and umbrellas watching each other.

And before looking for the remaining invaders, enjoy a cup of tea in Shoreditch…

London Invasion 2016 - Wave 18

View the full set of pics here

London, Shows

London: Steven Claydon – The Guilded Bough @ Sadie Coles

March 20, 2016 butterfly

For the second exhibition of British artist / musician Steven Claydon at Sadie Coles HQ, ‘The Gilded Bough’ features sculptures, installations and sounds in which the artist examines the notion of the counterintuitive idea that cloaking an object might allow it to be seen more clearly.

Cloaking is a paradox found in the process of scanning electron microscopy, where samples are typically coated in ultra-thin layers of gold before going under the microscope (the conductive material increases the quantity of ‘secondary electrons’ that can be detected from their surfaces). Using gold plating as a material and a metaphor, Claydon equivocates between the surfaces and essences of objects. Gilding becomes a means of scrutinising.

The exhibition’s title refers to James Frazer’s The Golden Bough (first published in 1890), a seminal work of late-Victorian anthropology. Frazer’s understanding of ritual objects – as materials in which some special nature or aura may reside. In The Gilded Bough, objects appear in a variety of real and synthetic forms. Each oscillates between the status of an autonomous vessel and a vehicle for narratives.

By misquoting Frazer’s title, Claydon raises the idea of the alchemical mutations or degradations suffered by cultural artefacts over time. The gilding effect expresses the idea of projecting a potentially deceptive beauty or sanctity or financial worth onto an object. Weaving between the arcane and the technological, Claydon draws unlikely and improbable juxtapositions.

Steven Claydon - The Gilded Bough

View the full set of pics here

Steven Claydon – The Guilded Bough
Until 2 April 2016
Sadie Coles HQ
Kingly Court
London W1

London, Shows

London: Dean Melbourne – This Myth

March 19, 2016 butterfly

Artist Dean Melbourne returns to London for a second solo show ‘This Myth‘ with Coates and Scarry.

Inspired by childhood memories, references from Dante to Ted Hughes’ Ovid’s Metamorphosis, his vibrant oil paintings invite the viewer into a mystical world where nature, human figures and mythology are interconnected.

Dean Melbourne’s creative process has also evolved for this exhibition, using models, costumes and props, giving more freedom to the composition.

Dean Melbourne - Myth

View the full set of pics here

Dean Melbourne – This Myth
Curated by Coates & Scarry
8 Duke Street
London SW1Y 6BN

London, Shows

London: Venturing Beyond @ Somerset House

March 4, 2016 butterfly 1 Comment

The Somerset House is currently celebrating the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s book Utopia with a large show called UTOPIA 2016: A Year of Imagination and Possibility.
As part of this major exhibition, arts organisation A(by)P have renewed their collaboration with Somerset House ( see our previous coverage on Mapping the City and Futurismo Ancestral) with a new exhibition Venturing Beyond: Graffiti and the Everyday Utopias of the Street.

The show is exploring unsanctioned public art – or graffiti – as an intrinsically utopian practice and features specially-commissioned work of eighteen street artists from around the globe, including Antwan Horfée, Brad Downey, Eltono, Filippo Minelli, Huskmitnavn, Les Freres Ripoulain, Lucas Dillon, Mike Ballard, Misha Hollenbach, Nano4814, Petro, Revok, Russell Maurice, Saeio, Shepard Fairey, Sixe Paredes and Swoon.

Italian artist Fillipo Minelli kicked off the exhibition with his smoke performance, part of his ongoing Silence / Shapes series.

Using high visibility material, Petro (UK) enables the viewers to venture in places not normally accessible (through its ability to make the wearer invisible).

Venturing Beyond at Somerset House

Blur Book from Les Freres Ripoulain (FR) is a version of a graffiti artist’s ‘Black Book’, but they have pixelated the content, to draw attention to the site specific context in which these works exist and to the performative doing of graffiti. NegatifX features a selection of images from their urban interventions between 2006 and 2016.

Brad Downey (US) created installation works that remain invisible at first sight using coloured wall plugs, installed directly behind other artist’s pieces.

Venturing Beyond at Somerset House

Mike Ballard‘s series of work are inspired by the ‘urban hieroglyphics’ left by utility companies left on London Streets and explore the threshold between public and private space.

Venturing Beyond at Somerset House

From 13 – 20 April, French artists Horfée and Russell Maurice will take up residency, providing visitors with an insight into the processes of the practice. Working in situ, they will produce a new body of work based on the utopian themes of the exhibition. This project space will then remain open for viewing alongside the main exhibition until 2 May.

In addition, A(by)P and Somerset House will be producing a wide-ranging programme of events to follow the key themes of the exhibition, including workshops, talks, films, music and performances.

Venturing Beyond at Somerset House

View the full set of pics here

Venturing Beyond:
Graffiti and the Everyday Utopias of the Street.
3 March – 2 May 2016
Terrace Rooms, South Wing
Somerset House

London, Shows

London: Martha Cooper – Life Work @ Stolenspace

February 18, 2016 butterfly

Stolen Space Gallery is currently exhibiting Martha Cooper: Life Work, an extensive collection of photographs from legendary photojournalist Martha Cooper who started documenting the New York graffiti scene in the 70s, when it was still considered an ‘underground phenomenon’.

She was introduced in the late 70s to Dondi, one of the most significant graffiti artists of the movement and the ‘king’ of one of New York’s graffiti gangs, the CIA – in which kids would ‘write’ together, rivalling other gangs for popularity and fame. After this Cooper’s interest in the illegal graffiti scene and ‘trainbombing’ – covering trains with graffiti – was unstoppable. A complete novelty at the time, her photographs travelled the globe in the form of Subway Art, first published in 1984, inspiring many to join the growing culture of plastering buildings, trains and other public places with art.

The exhibition features a selection of her work spanning over 40 years from Basquiat, Keith Haring in NY to her travels in Thailand documenting the tattoo underground scene, and her most recent travels documenting the graffiti and street art scene.

Photography courtesy of Martha Cooper

Monica Norse, the exhibition’s curator mentions: “There’s so much behind the photos, she’s changed people’s lives, so many people started doing graffiti because they saw Subway Art and it opened up the world of graffiti and self-expression for them.”

A huge crowd came in for the opening to meet and discuss with the legendary photographer, who was happy to sign copies of her infamous Subway Art book.