Category Archives: London

London: Evoca1 ‘Caroline and the world on a stage’

March 10, 2018 butterfly

Dominican born street artist, Evoca1 (Elio Mercado) is currently presenting his first solo show in London at Stolenspace. ‘Caroline, and The World on a Stage’ explores the many conditions of human existence and the various misuses of power between people through the lens of a young fictional girl.

Growing up in challenging social and economic conditions in the Dominican Republic, Evoca1 is acutely aware of these difficulties that arise through social division, as well as the power that art has to alleviate such adversity. Despite not attending art school due to his family’s financial situation, Evoca1 learned and developed his style as a n autodidact.

Multidisciplinary artist, Evoca1 is showcasing his most comprehensive body of work, from graphite drawings oil paintings, wooden sculptures and videos. He magically combines the childhood innocence and dreams looking at a circus with the darkness of abuse of power by society.

Specifically about this show, Evoca1 has stated: “The oil paintings, drawings, sculptures and video performance in this show, serve as metaphors for our primitive world – a world which can sometimes resemble a ‘circus’. Through the eyes of a child, the puppet masters of our society are put on display and tried for their misuse of power and the calamity they create amongst us. The work mirrors our divided world in which people roll over all obstacles in their path in an attempt to gain popularity and experience “happiness” which is solely gained through the praise of others.”

View the full set of pics here

EVOCA1 – Caroline & the Wolrd on a stage
Until 8 April 2018
StolenSpace Gallery
17 Osborn Street
London E1 6TD

Interviews/ Studio visits, London

London: Studio Visit with Aida Wilde

March 8, 2018 butterfly 1 Comment

We are happy to have a look inside the London studio of Queen printmaker and artivist Aida Wilde

‘Who’s afraid of Aida Wilde?’ says one of the signs in the studio, surrounded by a screaming cute neon pink dotted kitty with dark kiss make up. Screenprinting is her ‘Weapon of Choice‘, as ‘Print is Power’.

Born in Iran, Aida arrived in the UK in the mid 80’s as a political refugee. She has been a professional screen printer for the last twenty years and has been pushing boundaries of the screenprinting techniques and transforming this traditional art form into fine art.

Hailed by many as a screen-printing genius, her unique style expresses her ongoing battle to bring alternative elements together, the graphic and the classical, whether this is through neon pop colours ( pink preferably), texture (glitter, velvet…) or through image. Some examples include a flocking velvet effect on a leapoard print to make it feel and look like a fur rug, or the use of the screen as a mono-printing tool to develop her ‘Life: Still’ edition.

Her most famous works are her colourful slogan paste-ups that can be found in the streets of London, Berlin, New York, Malaga or Aberdeen, featuring light hearted topics as well as raising awareness on sensitive subjects like gentrification, education and women’s rights.

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In 2009 in response to the financial and economic crisis Aida created a pink, black and white spotty slogan ‘There’s A Credit Crunch Not A Creative Crunch’, which is being featured at the Victoria & Albert Museum since 2011.

Strong advocate of women’s rights, her work has been featured at The Women’s Art Library (see our coverage here). Her HASHTAG series of works was used for the Brandalism project (covered) and the global project Subvert The City, which saw the world’s first coordinated international ad takeover & over 60 creative actions in 38 cities in 18 countries around the world. Aida still continues with her facilitating role with various workshops and community projects through Print Is Power – Reclamation Nation & more currently, Sisters In Print (All female international print collective).

So to celebrate the 8th March 2018, Aida is releasing a special screenprint from her famous Hashtag series ‘ A HASHTAG MIGHT NOT SAVE THE WORLD BUT … WOMEN MIGHT’ for one day only.

Initially before the craze of social media, this print was also part of the Brandalism campaign in Paris in 2015 and the statement is more valid than ever.

So grab yours here

Pictures courtesy of the artist and by Butterfly Art News

London

London: Marakami & Abloh Future History at Gagosian

February 21, 2018 butterfly 1 Comment

Coinciding with London Fashion Week 2018, Superflat Master Japanese artist Takashi Murakami is partnering with American Creative Designer Virgil Abloh and presenting a series of collaborative works “Future History” at the Gagosian Gallery in London.

The exhibition features large-scale paintings, sculptures and an installation drawing references to signature Off-White™ motifs alongside Murakami’s iconic cast of anime characters, reflecting incisively on the signs of the current times.

Amongst the works, visitors can enjoy The sculpture Life itself (2018), a kind of architectural carapace designed by Abloh to house one of Murakami’s brightly sinister flower sculptures; a pair of paintings embellished with yellow Off-White™ branding and a spray-painted “O” as well as “HOLLOW” lettering on each one; black Flowers sculptures, and a glass house installation completely covered with black spray-paint and “LIFE ITSELF” on one side panel in white.

In another instance, for Glance past the future (2018), the duo transformed Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s 1623 self-portrait by superimposing Murakami’s character Mr. DOB to affect a graphic blur of pink and black.

View the full set of pics here

Takashi Murakami & Virgil Abloh
Future History
Until 7 April
Gagosian Gallery
17–19 Davies Street
London W1K 3DE

London, Shows

London: JR ‘Giants’ at Lazinc Sacksville

February 15, 2018 butterfly

Ted Prize winner artist JR is currently displaying a solo exhibition titled “GIANTS” at Lazinc’s new flagship gallery in Mayfair, London.

The name of the presentation directly references the artist’s ongoing GIANTS project which made its debut during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he created enormous black and white prints of athletes jumping over Rio’s buildings, swimming in its ocean, and diving off its mountains like Greek titans. .

Even if pictures of the installations in situ might look good, it’s very difficult to recapture their impact. So to give some sense of the scale of the project in the gallery space settings, the viewer has to walk underneath the massive paper head and shoulders of Sudanese high jumper Mohamed Younes Idriss, fixed to scaffolding, just to get in.

At the same time, visitors can discover the artist’s process from start to finish with behind the scenes items like architectural plans that were created to support his large-scale installations, installation permits collaged into 3D-printed digital reliefs of the final images, and look at the artist’s digital photography techniques.

View the full set of pics here

JR – Giants
Until 28 February 2018
Lazinc Sackville
29 Sackville St.
Mayfair, London W1S 3DX
United Kingdom

London

London: Hassan Hajjaj – La Caravane

January 3, 2018 butterfly

Somerset House is currently hosting Hassan Hajjaj: La Caravane, a homecoming exhibition of the British-Moroccan artist, showcasing his vibrant fusion of contemporary cultures through new and celebrated works.

The exhibition is the first UK solo show of his work in seven years, celebrating his multi-layered works which fuse traditional and contemporary North African culture with familiar Western imagery and iconography.

Born and raised in Larache, Morroco, Hassan Hajjaj moved to London aged twelve and his artistic practice sees him spend much of his life travelling between these two countries and cultures. His artworks reflect his neo-nomadic lifestyle and the relationships he has formed with a variety of characters along the way, from musicians to artists and athletes to street performers. These individuals inspire Hajjaj’s diverse artworks from photographic portraits to video installations, sculptures, music, design and handcrafted objects.
Infused with a bold palette, the materials Hajjaj uses include patterned textiles, furniture, clothes and props often created by the artist to inform our understanding of the person in the image. All of these elements, including the frames made out of everyday items in which his images sit, are chosen deliberately to highlight these individuals’ identities.
He is perhaps best known for his colourful photographic portraits, including the Kesh Angels series, from which many new works feature in the exhibition.

Blending the glossy aesthetic of a fashion shoot with Moroccan tradition and street culture, these witty and poignant images, although outwardly light-hearted, challenge Western perceptions of the hijab and female disempowerment.

Another new body of work in the exhibition is My Rock Stars: Volume 2, a nine screen installation of distinctively dressed musicians. Each musician occupies an individual screen and takes it in turns to play their instrument, while the other performers turn to watch. The clothes and brightly patterned backdrops in each screen have been carefully selected by Hajjaj to highlight each player and their individual performance.

Visitors can view the performances from Hajjaj’s signature Le Salon installation, which takes the form of a customised sofa, whilst the music travels throughout the whole exhibition.

On 6 January a free special event will take place to celebrate the final weekend of the exhibition and Somerset House’s season of African Art, including live music and a family workshop inspired by elements of Hajjaj’s work.