Tag Archives: London

London: War Boutique – MAS*HED

September 29, 2017 butterfly

Scottish artist War Boutique (covered) is currently showing at London’s Lawrence Alkin Gallery. The exhibition entitled M*A*S*H*E*D presents a new body of work using original military armour, weaponry and bullet-proof textiles.

War Boutique’s work conveys strong anti-war messages, exposing the interface between the civil and military spheres, and playing on the parallels between the uniforms and tools of war and the development of mainstream cultural trends and fashions. M*A*S*H*E*D features more than 20 mixed-media pieces by War Boutique, spanning over a decade of his practice, and including his signature bulletproof vests, riot shields and batons.

The top floor of the gallery focusses on ‘military’ themed works, and a ‘civil defence’ theme downstairs, including some of his ‘wearable’ artworks.

The show debuts his new “Camoufleur” series of large-scale oil paintings on military textiles. These canvases recollect the abstract expressionist movement, with references to the founding of the New York School, Jason Pollock and its initial promotion to the art world through a covert CIA program. The Camoufleur series explores the interdependencies between war and art from two perspectives: the long history of military intelligence services ‘surprising ‘interventions’ in popular culture; and how artists themselves have been conscripted into war efforts, either consciously or covertly.

The exhibition also features new works from his new ‘Shot-At’ and ‘Blast’ series – subverting the traditions and history of the Action Art movement. The shot-ats are huge reflective metal shields contoured by the impact of 9mm rounds on a firing range. The works echo the patterns of star constellations, also a reminder on how faith and spiritual beliefs play a key role in the soldier’s ability to risk his life.

War Boutique commented: “With these new works I wanted to physically manifest some of the real force and impact of modern-day weaponry, and perhaps invoke our collective responsibility and choices around the use and development of such forces”
“My art seeks to address the political and material dimensions of war, and the destructive patterns we are weaving into our cultural fabric”.

For ‘Bomber’, a NYPD jacket looks like a suicide bomber jacket, but on closer inspection instead of dynamite sticks, it has been filled with graffiti pens, suggesting that an alternative approach to change is always possible

A key piece within the show is ‘Big Game’, a multi-layered textile artwork exploring the history and complexity of the conflict in Afghanistan. The title is taken from the term used to describe the strategic rivalry between Britain and Russia over trade routes through Afghanistan during the 19th century. The military fabrics that make up the letters are a chronological history of combat uniforms worn by British soldiers during the repeated Afghan wars from 1839 to the present day. This striking work is part of War Boutique’s “The Great Game” series, the first of which was acquired by the National Army Museum for its permanent collection in 2014. The Afghan Farsi version – ‘Big Game’ – was first shown at the Dresden Museum as part of the international touring exhibition ‘Caught in the Crossfire’, but M*A*S*H*E*D will be the first time this work has been shown in the UK.

Peacemaker recycles original Police batons, while Filth is a full UK police riot uniform enhanced with S&M paraphernalia, questioning the balance between justified discipline and the abuse of power.

War Boutique – M*A*S*H*E*D
Until 30 September 2017
Lawrence Alkin Gallery
42 New Compton Street London WC2H

London, Shows

London: Herakut – ‘Sad but Happy’ Solo Show

September 6, 2017 butterfly

After five years travelling and painting throughout the world , the German duo Herakut is returning to London for a new solo exhibition at Stolenspace entitled ‘Sad but Happy’.

Hera and Akut first came to London in 2010 when they painted their enigmatic character on the walls of the Moniker Art Fair, followed by a solo show in 2012.

Herakut at the Moniker Art Fair in 2010

The public discovered the magical energetic duo with their spraycans with Hera starting the figurative outlines and setting the rhythm like she’s dancing graciously while Akut focusses on photorealistic feature details like the eyes, conveying a myriad of emotions.

Additionally, the incorporation of poignant messages in their works creates a sense of wonder when observing their art. Specifically, their words take you into what seems to be the childlike, pure essence behind Herakut while delivering a punch to the imagery they provide.

What’s more, the recurrent theme of both animal imagery and hildren subjects transport us back to our childhood where innocent imaginary friends were an embraced accompaniment to our creative minds.

On the title for the show ‘Sad But Happy’, the duo stated; ‘It fits every single piece, we think, and fits our style in general. Ambivalence. Schizophrenia even. That’s us. That’s the essence of Herakut.’

This series of new works sees the duo progress with their distinctive and dark style. Depicting children and animals with large emotive eyes, they draw the viewer in to their mysteriously eerie world, making them contemplate the statements scribbled across the canvas and their relationship with the characters in the works.

Their dark use of colour contrasts with the bright and fast use of movement and brush work. Their style welcomes a kind of imperfect perfection, the brushstrokes seeming erratic and fluid but also so beautifully placed.

Their joint creative art process is about storytelling, the creation of imaginary worlds and inspiring their figures with individual characters:

The message on a canvas where two little girls with kitty masks hidden in a cardboard box says ‘She said lets go back to when all was perfect’, while a portrait of a thoughtful little girl mentions ‘ Stop destroying my city says the dragon’.

View the set of pics here

Herakut – Sad but Happy
Stolenspace Gallery
Until 1 October 2017
17 Osborn Street, London UK E1 6TD

London

London: Harland Miller – One Bar Electric Memoir

July 10, 2017 butterfly

UK artist Harland Miller, renowned for his satirised Penguin paperback paintings, is returning to the White Cube this summer for a new exhibition called ‘One Bar Electric Memoir’. Featuring two series of paintings, the works on show are a continuity of Miller’s investigation into the relationship between viewer, text and image.

The first series of large-scale works is based on Miller’s extensive archive of psychology and social science books, dating from the 1960s and ‘70s. Characterised by their bold and colourful abstract covers, these books embraced a positive attitude and the possibility of ‘fixing’ disorders through a process of self-help. The geometric cover designs reminded of contemporary abstract paintings but also provided a foil to the darker aspects of social neurosis addressed by the books’ content.

In another series of fictional book cover paintings, Miller depicts the outlines of letters in a range of typefaces and colours, intersected or layered over each other to create short, enigmatic words such as ‘Up’, ‘If’, ‘Ace’, ‘Pot’. With their bold, saturated colours, these paintings reference American abstraction and, in particular, Robert Rauschenberg and Ed Ruscha’s use of vernacular signage and motifs.

The shapes stand out from the saturated mute backgrounds, as do the paired fictional but witty titles such as Reverse Psycology Isn’t Working, 2017. In both series of paintings Miller uses his own name as author. The inclusion of his own name, not only alludes to his authorship of both image and text, but to the fine line that exists between fiction and reality.

View the full set of pics here

Harland Miller – One Bar Electric Memoir
Until 9 September 2017
White Cube, Mason’s Yard, London

London, Street, streets

London streets: Fanakapan

May 21, 2017 butterfly

Street artist Fanakapan recently completed series of murals in the streets of East London. Using a shiny silver inflatable 3D style, the artist painted a silver balloon dog, a duo of clown characters holding a smiley balloon , and a tribute to Peanuts fictional characters by Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip featuring a flying helium balloon of the bird Woodstock and Snoopy.

London

London: East End Mob

April 22, 2017 butterfly

In the last decade London’s East End has seen some remarkable changes. The wave of gentrification has forced the once industrial sprawl and urban wasteland of the area into adopting a different facade. ‘East End Mob’ presents work from iconic artists who have been actively painting in the area before and during this change, their character-driven style synonymous with the walls and landscape of the East End.

The line-up includes A.CE London,Coloquix, Dscreet, Mau Mau, Mighty Mo, Pez, Rowdy, Sickboy,Sweet TooF, Tizer, Vinnie Nylon and Cranio.

‘East End Mob’ is an authentic exhibition and much needed nod to some of the biggest pillars in East London’s Street Art and Graffiti scene.

Specially loving the Mighty Mo miniature brick wall, nod from back in 2010.