New Banksy artworks in Lowestoft, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth and Cromer

August 7, 2021 butterfly

Elusive artist Banksy seems to be enjoying a staycation on the British seaside this summer. Several stencilled artworks have popped up in Suffolk, in Lowestoft, Gorleston, Great Yarmouth and Cromer. With a careful selection of locations, the artworks play with their surroundings: a child is building a sand castle on the pavement, reminiscent of the 1968 French student’s uprising ‘ Sous les paves la plage’ ( beneath the pavement, the beach). Another artwork features three children who seem to empty buckets of water and stare at the horizon while a message reads ‘ We all in the same boat’.

An elderly couple are dancing away on a bus shelter while a guy is playing accordeon.

A giant seagull is about to pick up what looks like ‘chips’ from a dip, while on the beach a rat is laying on a sun-chair sipping a martini glass, and crabs approach a sign ‘Luxury rentals’ to become hermit crabs.

Photos PA and @leandajaineillustrations

Enjoy the English Summer!

Update 8.8.2021

A new model of a miniature stable, which appears to have been signed by the artist, was found at Merrivale Model Village in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on Sunday morning. On the side of the miniature stable a cheeky message states ‘Go big or go home’ with his signature rat character.

Photos Merrivale Model Village

CovidArt, London

Banksy’s Game Changer generates £16.7 millions for the NHS charities

March 24, 2021 butterfly

Earlier in March, it was announced that Christie’s auction house would be auctioning off Game Changer, the painting made by the elusive street artist Banksy in order to pay homage to NHS healthcare workers in the United Kingdom. The painting, which depicts a young child ignoring his superhero toys in favour of playing with one representing a nurse, has reportedly just sold for £16.7 millions (or approximately $22.9 millions), which is by far the highest price Banksy has ever fetched at auction. It’s both a great victory for the artist and for healthcare workers, because the money generated by the sale will be going to UK health charities.

Previously, the highest price Banksy had generated at auction was £9.9 millions, which was shelled out in 2019 for Devoted Parliament, the artist’s cheeky canvas depicting members of Britain’s parliament as chimpanzees. The higher price for the NHS-affiliated painting may have had something to do with the altruistic intent behind the sale; Banksy will donate the proceeds to “help support health organisations and charities across the UK that enhance the care and treatment provided by the NHS.” Additionally, in a statement regarding the sale of Game Changer, Christie’s said that the auction house will also “donate a significant portion of the Buyer’s Premium to these causes.”

When Game Changer first appeared in Southampton General Hospital (see our coverage here), it was almost stolen by a would-be thief brandishing a cordless drill. Fortunately, the saga of the painting appears to be ending quite well.

Toulouse

Studio Visit: Geb Le Maudit

November 1, 2020 butterfly

Geb Le Maudit (translated as Geb the Cursed) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toulouse. Coming from a graffiti background, he expanded progressively to tattoo and dark arts. Inspired by the esthetism of funeral art, dark romantism or illustrations by Gustave Dore, Geb Le Maudit impressively mixes dark macabre elements which repel and at the same time entice the observer.

Stepping inside his studio, you are greeted by a Grim Reaper on the wall and surrounded with a cabinet of curiosities featuring vanitas, taxidermy animals like a stuffed sparrow and other religious symbols and iconography.

A master of tenebrism, also called chiaroscuro, Geb Le Maudit shows an incredible ability to paint light while using only shades of grey and black with blue to brown nuances.

His characters are depicted within a fog, an eerie scenery, often ornated with poppies, symbol of eternal sleep.

For the Belgian Metal Band Amenra, the prolific artist designed a limited version of the cover artwork.

Juxtaposing symbols from religious beliefs and folklore, Geb also paints on found human bones and sculpts its bespoke frames to create surrealist dark artworks both evocative and timeless. Symbols are in effect, the mediator, presence, and real (or intelligible) representation of the holy in certain conventional forms.

Geb Le Maudit’s creations are both hypnotic and riveting. They tap into an inner consciousness and push us to examine our feelings and relationship with death and the inbetween worlds, the transition or the ‘passage’, hence the presence of psychopomps through various forms.

Find out more on https://www.instagram.com/geb_lemaudit/

Pictures @butterflyartnews and courtesy of the artist

London, Shows, streets

London: D*Face archived and unseen exhibition (Stolenspace)

September 30, 2020 butterfly

StolenSpace Gallery is showcasing a unique collection of archived and unseen works by D*Face, featuring some rare gems and editions that were meant to have been released but never were, as well as a few more misprints tucked away.

Its a great opportunity to step into D*Face creative world and discover some insights in his recreated studio space, as well as enjoy some recognisable characters and imagery, some of which have been misprinted or played around with to create truly special one-offs.

Thanks for sharing the experimentation process that goes into creating the perfect print!

In parallel to the show, D*Face painted a large scale mural in London, next to Kings Cross station.

Uncategorized

Banksy funds refugee rescue boat Louise Michel

August 27, 2020 butterfly

In 2019 elusive artist Banksy announced that he would finance a boat to rescue refugees attempting to reach Europe from north Africa.

The vessel, named Louise Michel after a French feminist anarchist, set off in secrecy on 18 August from the Spanish seaport of Burriana, near Valencia, and is now in the central Mediterranean where on Thursday it rescued 89 people in distress, including 14 women and four children.

It is now looking for a safe seaport to disembark the passengers or to transfer them to a European coastguard vessel.

Painted in bright pink with an extinguisher and featuring Banksy artwork depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety buoy, the Louise Michel sails under a German flag. The 31-metre motor yacht, formerly owned by French customs authorities, is smaller but considerably faster than other NGO rescue vessels.

The crew, made up of European activists with long experience in search and rescue operations, had already assisted in two other rescue operations involving a total of 105 people, who are now onboard the NGO vessel Sea-Watch 4.

Donations are welcome to support the missions of the Louise Michel Lifeboat such as medical supplies, SAR equipment, legal fees, boat maintenance, fuel and food so they can continue to save lives.

Pictures courtesy of MV Louise Michel / Ruben Neugebauer

Update – 29 August 2020

After rescuing 219 persons, with unfortunately one person passing away before reaching the boat, the Italian Coastguard have evacuated 49 of the most vulnerable guests on board of Louise Michel. They still need the support of European Authorities.

You can follow their live feed here

and donate here www.mvlouisemichel.org