London: Julian Schnabel – Every Angel Has a Dark Side

May 3, 2014 butterfly

Julian Schnabel

Brooklyn based artist and film-maker Julian Schnabel is returning to London after 15 years with an exhibition titled Every Angel Has a Dark Side at the Dairy Art Centre.

Bursting onto the New York art scene in the late 1970s, Julian Schnabel became one of America’s most famous living artist. But Schnabel artistic career was almost eclipsed by his second passion as a film-maker. In 1996 he made a biopic of his late friend Jean-Michel Basquiat, played by Jeffrey Wright, which also starred Gary Oldman and David Bowie. In 2007 Schnabel was nominated for an Oscar and won Best Director at Cannes and the Golden Globes for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. On a humorous note he mentions ‘All the guys that were in my movies end up being in Bond films — Jeffrey Wright, Mathieu Amalric and Javier Bardem. But I don’t want to direct a Bond movie!’

Now Schnabel is back in vogue on both sides of the Atlantic. Already this year he has had two exhibitions in New York ( at the Gagosian NY) and one in Dallas (his first museum show in the US since the 1980s). For his London show Schnabel is keeping with his trademark use of multi-textured materials, using cowhide, polyester, canvas and tarpaulin. A video on Nowness shows his creative process.

“This show is a capsule of what happened, a selection of paintings from the past 10 years, more or less. It’s a continuum of ways that I have made marks, used materials and created images.”

Julian Schnabel

View the full set of pics here

Every Angel Has a Dark Side
The Dairy Art Centre
Until July 27 2014

Bristol, Street

Bristol: Banksy Mobile Lovers

May 2, 2014 butterfly

When Banksy recently updated his website with new pictures featuring a stencilled couple holding mobile phones, it generated a complete frenzy.

Banksy website

It was located and identified in Bristol on a wooden door outside a youth club.

Within 24 hours the door was removed by Dennis Stinchcombe, the Broad Plain Boys’ Club manager, who decided to charge viewers before trying to sell it at auction in order to support his ailing club.
However the building of the youth club is council owned. So the Bristol Council then started to intervene and confiscated the artwork. The Mayor of Bristol has asked the piece to be to moved to the Bristol Museum while a battle of ownership continues.

Banksy - Mobile Lovers

Banksy Mobile Lovers is currently on display at the Bristol Museum until further notice…

View all pics here

London, Shows

London: Zhang Huan – Spring Poppy Fields

April 28, 2014 butterfly

Having exhibited in Beijing and New York, contemporary Chinese artist Zhang Huan opened his first UK solo show at Pace Gallery. Spring Poppy Fields feature fourteen new oil on linen paintings inspired by his travels to Buddhist sites in Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan and India between 2011 and 2014.

Using a pointillist technique, his colourful and psychedelic paintings provide the viewer with some optical illusions. Looking closer skulls appear from their abstraction, while some grinning faces remind of the Cheschire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. Drawing inspiration from the hallucinatory effects of the poppy’s opiate properties, the use of skulls motifs reflects the Tibetan beliefs of endless deaths with their cycle of birth, death, rebirth and journey to nirvana.

Zhang Huan - Spring Poppy Fields

View the full set of pics here

Zhang Huan – Spring Poppy Fields
Until 31 May 2014
Pace London
6 Burlington Gardens, London, W1S 3ET

Bristol, Shows

Bristol: Jessica Albarn – Resurrection

April 28, 2014 butterfly 1 Comment

Located behind a small door in the old town wall where the See No Evil street art festival takes place (covered here) , the Crypt of St John the Baptist is hosting an exhibition by UK artist Jessica Albarn with a series of works on canvas, paper, glass, wax and clay. Through her delicate and intricate drawings, she is paying tribute and celebrating the small and the endangered species, like the bees that are under threat of extinction.

When asked about the show and inspiration, Jessica Albarn indicates: When I draw dead things I do so because I want to draw out the beauty, preserving it and disconnect it from the decay, treasure it and in some sense resurrect it. For the exhibition in the crypt I wanted to create work that I hope embraced the space and connected with the ancient symbolism within it.

Jessica Albarn - Resurrection

View the full set here

Jessica Albarn – Resurrection
Until 27 April 2014
Crypt of St. John the Baptist Church, Bristol

The exhibition continues on 13 June at The Lawrence Alkin Gallery, London , followed by a drawing performance in the garden of The Natural History Museum on 14-15 June 2014

London, Shows

London: Vinz – Tempus Fugit

April 27, 2014 butterfly

Vinz - Tempus Fugit

Spanish artist VinZ opened his latest solo show Tempus Fugit at Rex Romae Gallery in Shoreditch.Tempus Fugit showcases a series of original works and sketches as well as pictures of their street counterparts. The show features narratives through different stages of life, with originals sharing moments of youth and beauty while the streets works represent the ephemeral and aging moments.

Vinz - Tempus Fugit