Cheltenham: Banksy Spy Booth

July 14, 2014 butterfly

Back in April, following the scandal around the alleged use of mass surveillance programmes by UK intelligence services, a stencil depicting men spying on a phone booth appeared next to the government communications headquarters, GCHQ in Cheltenham (UK). When Banksy confirmed on his website in June that he had done the piece, this created a frenzy and attracted hordes of visitors.

Shortly after it was boarded and destined to be removed and sold to a London Gallery. In the turns of events, the Cheltenham Borough Council served a notice to stop work on the Grade II listed building for 28 days. In parallel a campaign to save the “Banksy Spy Booth” artwork has raised 115 000 pounds from the public so far. To be continued…

Banksy - Cheltenham

View the full set of pics here

London, Shows

London: The Unauthorized Banksy Retrospective

July 3, 2014 butterfly

The Unauthorized Banksy Retrospective - S|2

Curated by Banksy’s former gallerist Steve Lazarides, the Unauthorized Retrospective hosted at Sotheby’s gallery space S|2 is a selling exhibition featuring from prints, originals on canvas and wood as well as sculptures. With 70 pieces from the mid-1990s to 2009, the show displays some works to the public for the first time like the stencil version of the Kissing Coppers, a Monkey Queen portrait, or “Banksus Militus Vandalus,” a taxidermy sculpture illegally installed in a natural history museum in 2004. On view through July 25, the retrospective will give Banksy fans a chance to view these rare, much talked-about works in a strange collision of worlds — from the street to the high-end auction house.

The Unauthorized Banksy Retrospective - S|2

View the full set of pics here

The Banksy Unauthorized Retrospective
Until 25 July 2014
S|2
St George Street, London

London, Shows

London: Katrin Fridriks – Flying Awareness

June 29, 2014 butterfly

Icelandic abstract painter Katrin Fridriks is launching her first solo show at Lazarides Rathbone in London, following her participation in Lazarides’ 2013 group shows BRUTAL and Fresh Paint. The exhibition titled “Flying Awareness” features a brand new body of work with her signature style of idiosyncratic dripping enlargements and bold kaleidoscopic leaking effects.

With her distinctive liquid drippings, Fridriks creates a new architectural dimension to discover inside the artwork itself, reminiscent of satellite imagery or through the lenses of drones. A video also displays a drone flying around the gallery space.

Katrin Fridriks

View the full set of pics here

Katrin Fridriks – Flying Awareness
Until 24 July 2014
Lazarides Rathbone
11 Rathbone Place
London W1T 1HR

London, Videos

Video: Banksy ‘Sirens of the Lambs’ @ Glastonbury 2014

June 27, 2014 butterfly

The “Sirens of the Lambs” truck that Banksy initially showed in New York (see here) during last September is now touring at Glastonbury 2014.

Banksy Glastonbury

Paris, Shows

Paris: G I R L @ Perrotin

June 25, 2014 butterfly

After initially meeting up in Miami in 2007, multi-talented musician/designer Pharrell Williams and French gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin decided to continue their artistic collaboration seven years later with an exhibition curated especially for Galerie Perrotin’s new space, the Salle de Bal in Paris.

Set in a former ballroom at the Hôtel du Grand Veneur, a 17th century Hôtel
Particulier in the Marais area of Paris, “G I R L” is a contemporary art exhibition, which brings together 48 artworks – including 12 specially produced works. The show pays tribute to femininity through the vision of 37 artists / including 18 women.

G I R L - Perrotin Paris

Pharrell says, “Just like my album [G I R L], what I tried to do is offer many different facets of my appreciation for women…I love women everywhere. I make no apologies for the wide spectrum of affinity for women.”

Participating artists include: Marina Abramovic & Ulay, Chiho Aoshima, Daniel Arsham, Valérie Belin, Sophie Calle, Johan Creten, Tracey Emin, Daniel Firman, Gelitin, Guerrilla Girls, Laurent Grasso, Gregor Hildebrandt, JR, Alex Katz, KAWS, Bharti Kher, Klara Kristalova, Mr., Guy Limone, Annette Messager, Ryan McGinley, Takashi Murakami, Prune Nourry, Yoko Ono, Jean-Michel Othoniel, Rob Pruitt, Paola Pivi, Terry Richardson, Germaine Richier, Cindy Sherman, Taryn Simon, Mickalene Thomas, Aya Takano, Agnès Thurnauer, Xavier Veilhan, Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann…
G I R L - Perrotin Paris

Some artists have also decided to illustrate Pharrell in their artwork like Takashi Murakami. Daniel Arsham’s The Future Pharrell features a glass and resin life-size statue while Laurent Grasso painted Pharrell as Napoleon on a horse before a colossal statue of an Egyptian queen. The Japanese artist Mr. and the American artist Rob Pruitt have created, respectively, a painting of Pharrell with the word “GIRLS” on it, and a sofa, Studio Loveseat, which depicts Pharrell’s image over the years.

G I R L - Perrotin Paris