London: Conor Harrington ‘The Story of US and Them’

September 24, 2018 butterfly 3 Comments

Irish born painter Conor Harringtonreturns to London with a new solo exhibition “The Story of Us and Them” at HENI Gallery in London. Fascinated by art history, Renaissance and the Baroque era, Conor Harrington continues to explore patriotism and contemporary social political themes, combining classical oil painting techniques and graffiti influences.

The exhibition features 12 new large scale works featuring two fictional male figures dressed in ornate baroque uniforms fighting each other and brandishing their bright coloured flags as weapon.

The viewer is immediately transported in this semi fictional tale, through bold red and blue vibrant colours, while the energetic brushstrokes accentuate the feeling of drama and movement.
Duality is an omnipresent theme : realism vs onirism, a sense of political division occurs through the use of colours, flags.
Conor Harrington’s painting techniques have also evolved with more loose paint gestures, the use of solvent and extinguishers to create some blurring effects while some elements of the composition are in focus with intricate details such as the uniforms or expressions of the faces.

“The works are set against a background of a fictional nation state and feature two so-called ‘blind patriots’ engaged in combat,” the gallery says. “By using predominantly red and blue in their apparel and the flags they brandish, Harrington draws on the various political and cultural connotations associated with this pairing to make a comment on society today.”

View the full set of pics here

Conor Harrington: The Story of Us and Them
14th September — 13th October 2018

HENI Gallery
6-10 Lexington St, London W1F 0LB

London, Street, streets

Streets: Aida Wilde – Less Homes 4U

September 22, 2018 butterfly 2 Comments

London based artist AIDA WILDE continues her interventions denouncing the rapid gentrification of London’s iconic and creative areas like Hackney Wick.
Her powerful text based street interventions incorporate social media terminology as a tool for activism.

Earlier in September, during the Art on the Streets conference, she presented her work about the gentrification of Hackney Wick, the curation of the Lord Napier project for Hackney Wicked ( from Shithouse to Penthouse), and A Hackney Wick Funeral, uniting countless artists in homage to Hackney Wick’s vibrant artistic past.

Croydon, a borough located south of London, often nicknamed ‘Cronx’ due to its infamous and controversial reputation, from Kate Moss to the 2011 London Riots, has been undergoing a lot of real estate development and revitalisation in a bid to change its image and attract new crowds.

In the city center many of the local shops have now closed to give way to big brands and so on.

For the Croydon Rise Festival, a street art festival curated by Monoprixx, Wherethereswalls and Rise Gallery, aimed to become the largest free open air museum in Europe, Aida Wilde decided to create a bespoke shop front window namely apt ‘Less Homes 4U’.

Using her signature vibrant neon pink dotted wallpaper and black block text imagery, Aida Wilde continues to denounce the gentrification process.

Team Pic by @Wherethereswalls

Together with her glamorous assistants Aida pasted up bold messages on the shop window:

‘LESS HOMES 4 U’
‘IT’S OUT WITH THE HIPSTERS, IN WITH THE YUPSTERS’
‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH’
‘LONG DRAMATIC PAUSE…’
‘AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR NO ONE’

A sign next to the window indicates ‘WHERE ONLY THE 1% COUNT’, with the O being strategically stroked off.

In parallel in the Rise Gallery, the public is invited to add notes to Aida Wilde’s installation ‘My mother’s aspiration for me was…’

London

London: Banksy at the British Museum

September 4, 2018 butterfly 1 Comment

Back in 2005, Banksy installed this ‘cave painting’ titled ‘Peckham Rock’ in one of the galleries of the British Museum without permission, and without anyone noticing.
He gave it a fake identification number and label, and it remained on the wall for three days before the Museum was alerted to the prank via Banksy’s website.

This time the British Museum has invited Banksy back to the Museum to ‘officially’ exhibit the hoax piece in the upcoming ‘I Object‘ exhibition opening on 6 September 2018, highlighting the history of dissent and protest around the world.

More info on the British Museum website
http://britishmuseum.org/whats_on/exhibitions/i_object.aspx

I Object
6 September – 20 January 2019
British Museum
London

streets

Giant Turtle mural by Hisham Echafaki

August 17, 2018 butterfly

We are pleased to share a new project we have been collaborating with London based artist Hisham Echafaki in Saint-Aubin Chateau-Neuf in Val d’Ocre, France.

Initially known for his intricate surrealist compositions and three dimensional paintings (covered here), the contemporary artist braved the intense heatwave to paint this hyperrealistic monumental turtle.

Strong advocate and protector of the fauna and flora, Hisham Echafaki wanted to pay tribute to one of the endangered species as well as a nod to a Hermann turtle, member of the village since the past 45 years.

See more pictures of the work in progress.

Paris, streets

Paris: Banksy Festive Rats

July 16, 2018 butterfly

To conclude Banksy invasion of Paris, the elusive artist celebrated also the festive spirit of the French capital with a series of stencilled rats.

Popping champagne bottles while happy rats are flying high on top of cork bottles.

Location as always: Montmartre first, and then in the Marais district with a Bar called ‘Chez Marianne’, of course.

To complicate things further, Banksy returned several times on the same locations, updating the stencils in colours and shape as you can see on the little animations, giving them a lively feel, as they were getting stolen, repainted or covered under plexi .

In the overcrowded area of the contemporary art centre ‘Centre Pompidou’, the elusive artist returned to paint a bigger mischief rat holding a cutter.

Lastly the City of Love is celebrated with a little rat couple dressed in 19th century outfits, lovingly gazing at the Eiffel Tower in the background from under a bridge.

Such a romantic! Happy Summer !