Tag Archives: 2012

Paris: Nick Walker TMA

June 24, 2012 butterfly

To close the loop on a year long project I have been following (covered here) British artist Nick Walker was in Paris for the release of the awaited TMA print, The Morning After, at the Opera Gallery.

Nearby luxury shop owners were shocked to discover people queuing, a first for French people and specially in the most prestigious district of Paris, at the corner of Place Vendome, home to Cartier. “What is going on, shall we call the police?”.

It was interesting to see the cultural differences, as some UK die hard fans crossed the Channel to sleep overnight in front of the gallery, while French people turned up later in the afternoon.

While wandering in Paris, Nick Walker also stopped by to put a stencil featuring a new female vandal character, admiring red paint on her Lauboutins boots. In broad daylight and in front of bemused passer-by.

Full set of pics by Butterfly here

London, Shows, Street

London: Mr Brainwash returns – Part 1

June 12, 2012 butterfly 1 Comment

Four years after officially launching his “MBW” pseudonym at the Banksy’s Cans Festival, Thierry Guetta aka Mr Brainwash has landed in London for the preparation of his first huge European show to date.

2008 Banksy Cans Festival

Celebrating both the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympics, the MBW show will take place end of July in central London, opposite the British Museum. Needless to say that the building is massive, known as the former post office.

MBW put up some huge colourful paste-ups around the building with some added trademark pink paint. Stay tuned for more details.

View the full set here

Melbourne, Shows

Melbourne: Da Mental Vaporz – Le Venin Part 2

March 11, 2012 butterfly 2 Comments

After mentioning the top floor installation (covered here) we continue our coverage about the Da Mental Vaporz exhibition at Rtist Gallery. With a brand new series of works by all nine crew members consisting of Bom.k, Blo, Brusk, Dran, Kan, Iso, Gris1, Jaw, Sowat, ‘Le Venin’ contains over a hundred artworks, from screensprints, sketches, photos, mix media paintings, to solo and collaborative pieces.

The key piece of the exhibition is an Exquisite Woman Corpse, done by all nine members, featuring all topics the DMV crew are passionate about: graffiti walls, eroticism, and imaginary characters.

Combining all their strengths, the collaborative paintings called Exquisite Corpses are a delight for the eyes, explosion of colours and styles, like Hypnotic Skull.

Reflecting on current world events, the show presents many politically engaged pieces as well as a fight for freedom of expression. Arab Spring by Kan features a halftone graffiti portrait of Stephane Hessel, 94-year-old former French resistance fighter and author of Time for Outrage (Inspirez Vous), which inspired young people to take the streets. Pieces by Gris1 highlight globalisation issues and fight for freedom of mind.

The DMV also responded to the current presidential elections climate in France. Liberte Egalite Fatalite by Sowat, tricolored animals like Pigeons by Gris1, and a sheep by Bom.k are all reminders of never fulfilled political promises “Travailler plus pour gagner plus” (work longer to earn more), or even a crucified cockerel, a French symbol, “Vive la France” by Brusk.

Using only spray cans, the level of details of Bom.k and Jaw‘s large format canvases is hallucinogenic – self portraits, imaginary bestiary and erotic distorted corpses hypnotize the viewers, who are left shocked but still asking for more.

Oniric figures by Blo present a duality of happiness and melancholy, with a constant presence of life and death.
It is also nice to see the initial sketch from Blo‘s recent Wedding Walls mural in Berlin.

Also, the DMV crew enjoy playing with words, like the 3D pieces by Bom.k (Crime doesn’t spray) or the DMV letters forming Dieu Me Voit by Gris1/Sowat (God is watching me), symbolising the big brother society.

The exhibition features many lighthearted and dark-humored pieces, like Smiley by Gris1, a collection of post-it notes and memos to Dran‘s figurative characters like Mr Tea, or Mr Propre, (Mr Clean’s household cleaner) pissing to clean graffiti walls. At first glance at Trompe l’oeil by Dran, a cute koala is happily resting in the forest, but looking closer, all that is left is a tourist backpack.

A patchwork of smaller artworks cover an entire gallery wall with Sowat‘ drippings, Gris1‘ Throw-ups, ISO‘ graffiti lettering, Bom.k screenprints, JAW‘s sketches and more.

As Channel 9 Australia was streaming live in the middle of the gallery, uncensored and fearless Sowat set fire to his calligraffiti paintings to add some unique finishing touches.

View the full set of pics here

Eventually for those who couldn’t see this crazy show in person, here is a video:

Melbourne, Street

Melbourne Streets: New Mural by the DMV crew

March 1, 2012 butterfly

As the Da Mental Vaporz crew is currently in Australia for an exhibition at Rtist Gallery, they couldn’t resist leaving a massive mural. Combining a patchwork of their different styles, the DMV crew consisting ofBom-K, Blo, Brusk, Dran, Gris1, ISO, Jaw, Kan, and Sowat just completed an imaginary bestiary on a four-storey building in the heart of Chinatown, making it the largest graffiti mural of Melbourne.

To view the entire set, click here

The Australian magazine Acclaim did a video of the mural

http://vimeo.com/37729381

Shows, Street

Melbourne: Da Mental Vaporz – Le Venin Part 1

February 27, 2012 butterfly 1 Comment

Aboard “Le Venin”, the French graffiti crew Da Mental Vaporz crossed oceans and snow storms for a spectacular show at Rtist Gallery in Melbourne. The top floor of the gallery has been totally transformed with a massive installation. The tunnel shaped space hosts a life size version of the raft ‘Le Venin’, while on the side a treasure chest reveals a multitude of gold and silver objects like spray cans, tools, toys, drinks.

Inside the cabin, viewers can enjoy detail shots of the Squatters mural done at Le Palais des Congres in Toulouse last summer, and look at accessories that survived this epic trip. While sharks are swimming around the raft, the dark horizon features a short documentary of “Squatters” directed by Emile Sacre.