Countdown to Fame Festival 2010

Wow, it's September already and that can mean only one thing, the countdown has now begun for this years Fame Festival. Having had a blast at the festival last year we here at Hookedblog have already booked our flight for a return visit for Fame Festival 2010 in the small southern italian town of Grottaglie.

The festival now is it's third year is set to be bigger and better with an amazing line-up of international artists creating works for the festival. Curator Angelo Milano has done another fantastic job this year and we are looking forward to seeing the large scale street pieces as well as the studio works which will go on show in an exhibition set to open on the 25 September.

This years line-up includes: JR / ERICA IL CANE / SAM3 / NUNCA / BLU / OS GEMEOS / BORIS HOPPEK / ESCIF / 108 / DALEK / NICOLA TOFFOLINI / LUCY MCLAUCHLAN / SWOON / SLINKACHU / CYOP E KAF /DAVID ELLIS /VHILS / BEN WOLF / WORD TO MOTHER / MOMO / BASTARDILLA

GROTTAGLIE is located between two airports Bari and Brindisi both of which Ryanair fly to from London. There is more info on the Fame Festival website. We will see ye there!

Photos ©Studiocromie

Faile — Prints + Originals, Signed Edition

We blogged about the forthcoming Faile — Prints + Originals 199-2009 book back in June of this year {blogged here} and it would appear that Faile plan on releasing a number of special editions of the book which is dueto hit the shelves later this month. We have just spotted the New York based print house, Paper Monster are now offering Studio Editions of the book. This special studio edition is signed, stamped and embossed by the Brooklyn based duo and available now from the Paper Monster website priced at $69.

According to Paper Monster an Artist Edition of 200 will be availiable via the artists website, www.faile.net sometime in mid September. We suspect this will include some sort of hand finishing or prehaps maybe some screen printed covers, guess we will have to wait and see..more when we have it

Photos ©PaperMonster

UPDATE: We have been reading that Faile will release an Artist Edition of 200 on their site. Signed, numbered, dated, and embossed. And as we suspected the cover will be screenprinted with 1 of 5 different images. No price released yet.

Banksy Screening At Rough Trade East

Rough Trade East have announced they will be showing a screening of the Banksy film, Exit Through the Gift Shop to celebrate the DVD/ Blu Ray release. The screening will take place on the 8 September at 7.30pm and the tickets are limited to just 120 people.

You can buy tickets from Rough Trade in-store (East) or on-line for £3 each. Anyone buying the dvd on the evening of the showing will have the ticket price refunded.

Once5 in Bushwick

We have never heard of South Bronx artist Once5 before this or have we ever seen his work but we do like the piece in this clip put together to promote an upcoming show at My Addiction Gallery in Arizona. The  piece is the clip is called "The Self Immolation of Thic Quang Duc".

"This piece is based on the Buddhist monk who burnt himself alive in protest against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam’s Diem administration. This event is widely considered the turning point for the Vietnamese Buddhist crisis."


Some of the artist work can be purchased from the Curbs and Stoops website.

Inkygoodness 4 'Play' Exhibition

Entertaining new artwork, limited edition prints and lively installations all lovingly created by a specially selected group of international artists and illustrators, inspired by the theme of ‘Play’.

Featuring: Steph Baxter/Dave Bain/Good Wives & Warriors/ Jason Devine/Seb Burnett/Camelia Dobrin/Colourbox/ Hannah Baber/Docvek/Marcus Butt/Stephen Chan/DBO/Sarah Dennis/Christiane Engel/Lisa Hassell/Kate Hindley/ Mister Millerchip/Carlos Garde-Martin/Mc Bess/Simon David Mills/George Mitchell/Moot/olive47/Tom J. Newell/Sarah Abbott/Vicky Newman/Steve Rack/Steven Silverwood/Log Roper/Juan Salas/Matt Saunders/Leila Shetty/Karin Söderquist/Ben Steers/Michelle Turton/ Toy Factory/Simon Wild/ Mark Wilkinson & Gizem Vural.

Private view Thursday 02 September 6 — 9pm, the exhibition will run until 12 September  2010. 

RSVP to: inkygoodness@easy.com

EAST Gallery | 216 Brick Lane | London

Hookedblog — Berlin Streetart Photo Zine

We have just finished our second photo fanzine and uploaded it to our Issuu account. It features a selection of streetart images from our Berlin trip the other week. 66 pages of streetart including works from Blu, Miss Vans, The London Police, Dave the Chimp and Sam3.

Berlin is still covered in streetart and we ran outta memory space on our camera on the second day of our trip!! In case you missed it, earlier in the week we uploaded the first Berlin photo fanzine featuring mostly tagged up grimy doorways with a little graff. You can check the first issue here.There is a full screen option if you want to view the images full size, just click the image above.

Diary Date: Offset 2010 — Dublin

If you were ever looking for a reason to  head over to Dublin, Offset 2010 might just fit the bill.

Now in it's second year, Offset 2010 is set to take place in Dublin’s Grand Canal Theater from Friday 1st —Sunday 3rd October. Orgnasied by some super talented Irish friends of ours this awesome conference will feature some of the world’s top creative talent talking about their work, their ideas and their inspirations. In the run-up to the conference a week-long programme of club-nights, live performances, presentations, gallery shows and in-store events will also be taking place throughout the capital.

The speakers at OFFSET2010 are internationally recognised in their fields. Some of the highlights include graffiti legend, Steve Power (ESPO), Marc and Sara from the Wooster Collective, the original Mad Man, George Lois, Wired magazine and Condé Nast’s digital publishing guru, Scott Dadich, celebrated illustrator and artist Gary Baseman, artis and Designer, Daniel Eatock and groundbreaking photographer Zach Gold.

There is a whole bunch of info on the iloveoffset website for the event including the full line up of speakers, info on places to stay and travelling to Dublin. If you are interested in attending they have a limited Early Bird offer that will run until September 1st so get your skates on!! They have also have introduced a Student and Group rate this year so hopefully as many of you as possible can attend this year. Full details on the tickets can be found here.

D*Face Prints At The Metro Gallery

It would appear Australian based  Metro Gallery have just had a delivery of a bunch of D*Face prints, not sure if these are new editions of this punk image. They also have some older works which you can check out on their blog here or you can email nina(at)metrogallery.com.au for details.

Boy Soldiers Group Exhibition

We recently blogged about the upcoming Boy Solider group show which is opening next week Thursday 2 September. This clip was uploaded during the week and gives you a glimpse behind the scenes into the creation of the Boy Solider pieces that have each been customised by over 30 artists for the upcoming show.

Poster Boy — War of Art Book Launch

New York collective Poster Boy launch 'The War of Art' book tonight  Saturday, August 28 at Pure Evil Gallery. The global book launch  will also officially kick off a legal defense fund for artists.

Kids Are Rallying Against The Empire (K.A.R.A.T.E.) is a grass roots effort they hope to eventually turn into a non-profit organization. Sadly, when dealing with the legal system most artists don’t know, understand, or are intimidated into forgoing their rights. Artists are often poorly represented in court and do not have financial access to proper counsel. K.A.R.A.T.E. will be committed to helping artists defend themselves in court for art-related crimes conceived in public space.

Even at its infancy K.A.R.A.T.E. has managed to get Henry Matyjewicz, a Poster Boy participant, out of prison on appeal only two weeks after being sentenced to 11 months by a superior court in New York. Mr. Matyjewicz is now being represented by world class civil rights lawyer, Ron Kuby. Because of K.A.R.A.T.E. Mr. Matyjewicz now stands a fighting chance in court.

Email us at karatemeat@gmail.com if you’d like to know more about the fund. Signed copies of the book along with special edition prints are available through nycposterboy@gmail.com . A portion of the sales will go to the K.A.R.A.T.E fund.

Pure Evil Gallery | 108 Leonard st | London EC2

Hookedblog — Berlin Photo Zine

Things have been a bit hectic here at Hookedblog over the last two weeks what with weddings, leaving parties and trips to Berlin and Brussels. But we are back in London now and working our way though emails and all the photos we took in Brussels and Berlin. To kick things off we have just created an Issuu account and upload the first selection of our photos from Berlin in the form of a photo fanzine. The Hookedblog — Berlin fanzine features mostly tagged up grimy doorways with a little graff and a tiny bit of streetart thrown in. There is a full screen option if you want to view the images full size. We hope to upload some more as we work thought the images. Enjoy.

Kid Acne — Stabby Women T-Shirts

Looks like Kid Acne has launched an online shop with lots of goodies and artwork for you to purchase. Newly added are the 'STABBY COLLECTION' - a super limited collection of hand pulled T-shirts in editions of 25. There are three shirts in the collection one male and two for the ladies. Check them here on his bigcartel shop.
This also caught our eye in his shop. It's a STABBY WOMEN" DIY Fanzine & Postcard Set. The zine is 52 pages with a hand-pulled screen printed cover in pink flouro ink and inside it's traditional litho-print blood red on stone grey paper. Limited run of 250 - individually numbered and embossed by the artist and again available in his bigcartel online shop for £15.

Other — The Artwork of Troy Lovegates

We got back from Berlin to find our copy of Other's new book we ordered had arrived in the post. Having received an email from Other about the release, as big fans of his work we wasted no time in getting ourselves a copy.

The publication titled 'Other: The Artwork of Troy Lovegates' is a book of photographs showcasing the artist's work and experiences along the way. From oil stick characters on the side of trains, wheat pasted posters, large scale murals, snapshot photographs and his colourful illustration work it's all in this book.

Available in two editions, one is the paperback edition of 900 for $13 and the second is what we ordered and pictured here is the Hardcovered edition which is limited to 100 copies for $50.

Although the book is a little smaller than what we were expecting it is fantastic none the less. The limited edition is a hand-bound hardcover and the cover has a two colour screenprint which has been laminated to protect the print. The inside front and back cover (endpapers) have hand made prints created by the artist. The front cover print is a pattern which comes in two variations black or red ( we got the red one!). The back cover endpaper is a multi coloured print which is cropped at different spots throughout the edition making each book unique in a way.

Both editions of the book are available from the Anteism website.

Diary Date: Boy Soldiers Group Exhibition

Having worked in special effects with Hollywood and the UK film industry from a young age artist Schoony has gained an in depth knowledge of moulding and casting perfect creations of humans out of fibreglass. He has recently used these skills as a sprinboard from which to launch his newfound career as a Fine Artist.

Next Thursday 2 September, will see the launch of the 'Boy Solider" exhibition in partnership with Graffik London gallery.

30 Soldiers in pure white have gone out to the UK’s top artists of the current UK and European art scene to be customised by them, including Goldie, D*Face, Dan Baldwin, Matt Small, Mau Mau, Inkie, Joe Rush, David Bray, Dotmasters, BEST EVER, INSA, K-GUY, Carrie Reichardt, Nick Reynolds, John Nolan, Haruka Irie, Fin DAC, Part2ism, PEN1, Slice, Grafter, T.Wat, Don, David Bray, Matt Web, Liliwenn, Snub23, Leeks, Lost Monkey, and Carleen de Sozer.

The show will raise money for SHP a charity for London’s homeless people with close links to the city’s urban art movement.

Boy Soldiers will show in 2 Venues:
East London: Thursday 2 September — Saturday 4 September 2010.

Blackall Studios | 73 Leonard Street London| EC2A 4AS.

West London: Monday 6 September — Sunday 12 September 2010.

Graffik London Gallery | 284 Portobello Rd |  London | W10 5TE

Above's A Good Archer

After recently finishing his 2-month long U.S.A. tour, Above starts off his European segment of the tour in the city of Essen, Germany. The artist was invited to participate in "Concrete Playground" where he painted an interactive stencil and put a unique spin on a popular proverb.

Bast Solo Show — Lazarides Gallery

We are currently in Berlin on a short break, but we are gutted to be missing the launch party tonight in London for Brooklyn's finest, street artist and collagist Bäst. Botulism, is his first solo exhibition with Lazarides Gallery at the Rathbone Gallery and Bäst will present a collection of new works, developing past preoccupations in an exciting new direction.

Below is from the press release:

Bäst’s work is inspired by the early punk flyers of London and New York, playing with a variety of 21st Century icons and appropriating imagery from a variety of media. From advertising to comic book characters, Bäst subverts the familiar and recognisable into distorted counterparts. His collages, wheat-pasted posters and paintings morph Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio and Papa Smurf into multi-eyed sexually charged portraits of their former selves. Food packaging, 50’s newspaper clippings and brand logo’s all feature as the backdrop to his vibrant, brilliantly coloured works.

Whether appearing in the doorways of downtown New York or on the walls of a gallery, Bäst’s graphic language translates into prints, paintings, collages and mixed media sculptures. His latest acrylic paintings on wood have developed the colourful repetitive patterns so often present in his collages. For Botulism expect myriad unprecedented works with that classic Bäst flavour.

Botulism will open to the public on the 20 August and run until the 30 September.The gallery is open Tuesday — Friday 11am - 7pm and Saturday 12pm - 5pm, admission free. 

Lazarides Rathbone | 11 Rathbone Place | W1T 1HR

VNA ISSUE 12 — Now online

VNA magazine issue 12 from Make Some Tea on Vimeo.

The newest issue of VNA Magazine 12 launched at Pure Evil Gallery on Thursday.We haven't seen the magazine yet but from the few spreads we have seen it lots like they have put together another fantastic issue with interviews from ROA, Kevin Cyr, Buff Monster, Mr Jago, The Yok, M-City. The magazine is now available to buy via their website.

Photographer Sandra Butterfly was at the launch party on Thursday and has post some photos from the event over on her flickr here.

The Outsiders — Adam Smith & Frank Laws

'The Outsiders' is Lazarides Gallery recently refurbished and renamed premises which was it's original gallery and shop space on Greek Street in London. The Outsiders space is set to  cater for all your print, books, collectible and art buying needs with the upstairs featuring exclusive small-run editions, hand-finished prints, and works on paper.

Downstairs, The Dungeon is now a project space showcasing works from new and emerging artists, as well as offering Lazarides artists a place to play and produce experimental shows. For their second show in The Dungeon, they will be exhibiting original works from Central St. Martins MA graduates Frank Laws and Adam Smith.

The show will run from 13 August until the 10 September 2010 and opens tomorrow 12 August with a private view from 6pm — 9pm

The Outsiders | 8 Greek Street | Soho | London W1D 4DG