Toulouse (FR): Da Mental Vaporz – Squatters

February 18, 2012 butterfly 1 Comment

Back in summer 2011, while they were showing in Toulouse at the GHP Galerie, the Da Mental Vaporz crew couldn’t resist leaving their mark on an iconic building: the former Palais des Congres of Toulouse (exhibition center). Famous for its political corruption and dirty money, the place was being left abandoned following legal disputes and is currently being squatted by a small community of local residents.

During a week-end, all members of the crew Bom-K, Blo, Brusk, Dran, Gris1, ISO, Jaw, Kan, and Sowat revisited the building and gave it a second life. Featuring harmoniously their distinctive style, the prolific DMV crew created a skull headed giant with his heart on his sleeve.

Eight months later, while France is being crippled by snow storms and presidential elections delirium, the Da Mental Vaporz have decided to head to sunny horizons down under, boarding their vessel “La Misericorde – Le Venin” with a pirate flag reminder of the “Squatters” face. Direction Melbourne, Australia…

London, Shows

London: Philippe Pasqua at Opera Gallery

February 1, 2012 butterfly

Opera Gallery London is providing a complete insight into the art of self-taught French artist Philippe Pasqua through a broad collection of artworks featuring paintings, drawings and sculptures.

The show includes monumental provocative nudes, as well as sensual up close and personal portraits. There are also Pasqua’s signature large “palimpsests” – works on paper mixing silk-painting techniques, printing and painting, where the painter goes back over his own work and adds patches of colour to them or redesigns them.

Another major aspect of Pasqua’s work lies in his series of “vanities”. For years the artist has been collecting human skulls, which he covers in gold or silver leaf and decorates with butterflies with iridescent colours. Other gigantic skulls have been sculpted in Carrara marble, and tattooed with delicate motifs of imaginary flowers interleaved with mythical animals.

View more pics from the opening HERE

Philippe Pasqua
Until 15 February 2012
Opera Gallery London

London, Shows

London: Unweave the Rainbow at Scream

January 29, 2012 butterfly

Scream Gallery is currently presenting their second annual exhibition entitled “Unweave the Rainbow” with emerging artists from the USA, UK, China and Poland, each with a unique style, who have in common a psychedelic, other worldy or surreal sensibility.

Featured artists include Andrew McAttee, Cain Caser, Caroline Jane Harris, Jen Stark, Malgosia Stepnik, Scott Hove, and Ye Hongxing.

More pics from the opening HERE

Unweave the Rainbow
Until 17 March 2012
www.screamlondon.com

Paris, Shows

Paris: Futura 2012 Expansions at Jerome de Noirmont

January 20, 2012 butterfly

Graffiti legend and contemporary artist, Futura recently opened his newest exhibition Expansions at Galerie Jerome De Noirmont in Paris.

The new body of works on canvasses explore spontaneity and geometric abstract forms through a vibrant colour palette, where viewers might recognise either real or imaginary landscapes. Futura happily signed books and invites for the eager crowd.

View the full set of pics of the opening HERE

Guillotine also did a video of the Futura mural in the gallery

Futura 2012 Expansions
Until 29 February 2012
Galerie Jerome de Noirmont Paris

Paris, Shows

Paris : Damien Hirst – The Complete Spot Paintings

January 17, 2012 butterfly

Damien Hirst’s latest exhibition, The Complete Spot Paintings, is being held simultaneously at all 11 Gagosian Galleries across the world, from London to Paris, Geneva, Rome, Hong Kong, New York and Los Angeles.

Presenting a retrospective of Hirst’s infamous spot paintings between 1986 and 2011, the exhibition features dotty canvases of all shapes and sizes, from miniature dots to large format spots. Viewers are submerged by this colourful pharmaceutical universe where no colour is being repeated within any single piece.

The artist is even offering a personalised signed spotty print to the lucky few who complete the polka-dot marathon and visit the 11 locations within a month.

We stopped by the Paris exhibition which expands over two floors: