London streets: Ludo

November 6, 2017 butterfly

French artist Ludovic Vernhet aka Ludo (covered) is back to the London streets with new large paste ups. Continuing his ‘Nature Revenge’ series, Ludo created three artworks on the theme of love, violence and fame using his signature neon green paint and monochrome paste ups. Featuring hybrid creatures mixing nature and technology and weaponry, Ludo highlights societal and environmental issues.

Ludo – Have a Nice Day, London 2017

Ludo – Everyone will be famous for 15 minutes, London 2017

Ludo – Love at first sight, London 2017

Here are further works from Ludo in the streets of London we enjoyed throughout the years:

Ludo – London 2015

Ludo – London 2014

Ludo – London 2011

Bristol, Shows

Bristol: Rowdy & Wilde at Clifton Fine Art Gallery

November 2, 2017 butterfly

One of Bristol’s most renowned street artist Rowdy is gathering forces with legendary London screenprinter Aida Wilde for a duo show ‘Rowdy and Wilde’ at Clifton Fine Art in Bristol.

Aida Wilde was born in Iran and arrived in the UK in the mid 80’s as a political refugee. Aida’s artistic career has been a diverse one. She has been a professional screen printer for the last twenty years.

Her work has been featured at the Victoria & Albert Museum since 2011 and 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).

Hailed by many as a screen-printing genius, Aida’s process is her art. She prides herself on her perfect printing technique and continually pushing the boundaries of this once traditionally considered art form. The artist’s skill is second to none when it comes to print making. Her unique style expresses her ongoing battle to bring alternative elements together, the graphic and the classical, whether this is through pop colours, texture (glitter, velvet…) or through image. Aida’s most recent experiments feature the use of the screen as a mono-printing tool to develop her ‘Life: Still’ edition.

Rowdy, member of the Burning Candy crew, is an integral part of the Bristol graffiti scene. His work appears worldwide and can be found in the most unlikely places, from underground rural settings to highly visible urban reaches. Rowdy’s trademark crocodiles are often huge in scale and are indicative of the playful nature of the imagery in his work.

Burning Candy Crew in London 2009

Rowdy’s abstract cityscape paintings show skyscrapers constructed out of the tiniest marks a spray-can can make, floating colour fields combined with 1980’s graffiti fades. Some are bustling and hectic, recalling markets and highways, motion and change, whilst others show a more meditative side to the city, haze and city lights hover within an expansive luminous ground.

The two artists bring an explosion of vibrant colours with bright, uplifting, and innovative works to Clifton Fine Art Gallery: upon entering the gallery a screen printed leopard rug with velvet feel by Aida Wilde is framed on the floor while abstract landscape paintings by Rowdy and still- life and neon pink screen-printed artworks by Aida adorn the walls. Rowdy signature monumental crocodile wooden sculpture is a playful delight for small children and guests.

View the full set of pics here

Rowdy & Wilde
Until 4 November
Clifton Fine Art
12 Perry Road, Bristol, BS1 5BG

Art Fair, Paris

Paris: FIAC 2017 Highlights

October 24, 2017 butterfly

After Frieze, the art world is gathering once more for the 44th edition of the International French Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC) in Paris. As the fair drew to a close this week end, we look back at the highlights amongst the 193 modern and contemporary art galleries from 30 countries filling the Grand Palais , like Flame of Desire a five meters high golden sculpture by Takashi Murakami featured at Galerie Perrotin.

Jeppe Hein

Andrea Bowers

Tomas Saraceno

John Giorno

Kohei Nawa

Photo Credit: Celine Neveux for Butterfly Art News

FIAC
18-22 October 2017
Paris

London, Shows

London: Chapman Brothers – Disasters of Everyday Life

October 14, 2017 butterfly

Jake and Dinos Chapman (covered), known for their provocative and pessimistic ruminations on human violence and barbarity , have created seven bronzes of suicide vests for Blain|Southern Gallery.

Made from images found online, the “life and death vests” are extremely detailed and real, apart from one which is based on a Hollywood film prop used in a Jackie Chan film.

The Chapmans’ work is often a response to the work of other artists. In this case, they were inspired by Jeff Koons’ Aqualung from 1985 (check our coverage on Jeff Koons retrospective here )

Jeff Koons Aqualung 1985

The bronzes clearly address world events but the artists have declined to speak about the new works. Each bronze is being sold as a one-off, apart from the one based on a prop used in the Jackie Chan film Rush Hour, which the brothers bought from a movie props website. That comes in an edition of six.

Also on display, Jake & Dinos Chapman continue to expand on their career-long preoccupation with Francisco Goya’s series of etchings, The Disasters of War. The Disasters of Everyday Life presents three full sets of Goya’s prints, each set substantially reworked in collage, watercolour and glitter by the Chapman brothers with their own wit to depict the absurdity of war.

Jake and Dinos Chapman
The Disasters of Everyday Life
Until 11 November 2017
Blain|Southern
4 Hanover Square London W1S 1BP

Art Fair, London

London: Moniker Art Fair 2017

October 10, 2017 butterfly 1 Comment

For 2017, Moniker Art Fair has undergone an exciting evolution, tripling in size to accommodate 40 gallery stands, a young galleries initiative, a benefit auction, an industry conference, a curated film programme, a VIP programme and a New York style pizza restaurant.
While Moniker has previously venue-shared with The Other Art Fair, this October they moved to a new floor of the Old Truman Brewery as they boldly re-instate their dominance on the East End arts hub, focusing this year on the origins of urban art.

Few art forms rely on collectives and collaborations as much as urban art; born in the dust of the locomotive age as far back as 1914, it has evolved to see modern-day monikers spring up on walls worldwide, shifting in style and message as international artists meet and influence each other. Just over a century later, Moniker Art Fair remembers where it all began, taking visitors on a journey from the root of the burgeoning international street art scene and its importance today.

Moniker’s eighth edition titled ‘Transient Tales’ is dedicating more than 9,000-square-foot of space to immersive art installations. Upon entering visitors discover an installation by documentarian, photographer and film editor Bill Daniel featuring a train track and a tunnel.

Moniker welcomes the best of contemporary and urban art galleries from across the world, showcasing artists working beyond norms and conventions. The UK is represented by the likes of returning exhibitors Stolen Space, RISE, Jealous Gallery and Curious Duke Gallery as well as debuts from Well Hung Gallery and BleachBox Gallery. Meanwhile, international galleries debuting include Thinkspace Gallery from California, Station16 Gallery from Montreal and Gallery Itinerrance from France.

Few artists also painted murals in the surrounding streets of the Moniker Art Fair, like Dutch duo Telmo & Miel.

In parallel Moniker also gives the opportunity to showcase younger galleries like UK-Art from Japan, Jewel Goodby Contemporary and 1963 Gallery from the UK.

A special section has been dedicated to installations by Ian Kualii and large photographs by Alex Fakso to name a few.

In terms of results, Moniker reports record-breaking sales figures from its opening night, having sold around £300,000 of art on its preview day. The Californian Thinkspace Gallery, who had eight booths and three artist solo shows sold out two solo shows by artists Audrey Kawasaki and Kevin Peterson over £100,000 worth of sales in the first five hours.

The Art Conference, Talks & Short Film Programme featured films by Lek & Sowat, and talks by Vermibus.

View the full set of pics here

Next step will be New York, as Director Tina Ziegler announced earlier that Moniker New York will have its inaugural edition at the Greenpoint Terminal Warehouse in Brooklyn from May 3 to 6 2018, to coincide with Frieze New York, and she hopes the art fair will continue to grow over the next five years.

Moniker Art Fair
5-8 October 2017
Truman Brewery London