OBEY SAMPLE SALE London

Just to let you know that the Obey Mens and Womens Sample Sale kicks off once again this Friday 31st October, starting at 11.30am and rolling through until Sunday 5.30pm. They will be resident once again in their favourite spot within the The Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, East London from Friday morning at 11.30am through to 5.30pm on Sunday 2nd. They have also got some sticker packs for the first 10 people through the door who say ‘Halloween has a posse and I’m in it!!!!’.

VNA ISSUE 7: LAUNCH PARTY

The guys over at Very Nearly Almost have just finished the newest issue of the magazine and are set to drop issue 7 with a launch party this Thursday at Concrete Hermit.

We have been fans of VNA after picking up one of the early issues last year at Stolen Space Gallery. The once black and white photo zine, has developed into a full colour perfect bound magazine over the last six issues and issue seven looks set to be the best yet with over 80 pages of full colour graffiti and street art.

As well as documenting the most recent street activity in London, this new issue will include a feature on the incredible stencil work of French artist C215, an interview with London graffiti writer Cept148, a look at the recent street art in New York and a feature on the York/London crew and design collective One Trick Pony. Plus a look at what VNA believe to be one of the best street art projects of the year so far "The Chapel of St Martin" by Dave the Chimp and Nothing But Print studio.

Thursday October the 30th from 6-9pm at...

Concrete Hermit | 5a Club Row | London | E1 6JX
Nearest tubes...Liverpool Street and Old Street

Space Invader On His New Binary Code

JetSet Graffiti have just mailed us about their newest video interview.

It features Space Invader, who they inteviewed when he was in LA recently. In the clip Invader explains his new Binary Code street art, which utilizes hi-tech Binary Code technology combined with his trademark lo-tech ceramic tile work as seen in urban centers all around the world. This style of artwork is among the most progressive and conceptually interesting in the world. Invader has definitely continued to take it to the next level with this latest development. Using a simple IPhone Application called, I-Matrix, (now known as BeeTag) you can translate the hidden meanings behind his street-art.

Part 2 of the video will be released in a couple days...

DAVE THE CHIMP INTERVIEW

Check this short intervew with Dave the Chimp over on the Art Bastard website. Read it here.

Other artists interviewed, to name a few include: Jon Burgerman, whose show opened this week at the Coningsby Gallery; C100 artist/ designer and author of The Art Of Rebellion books and Matthew The Horse who recently had a show at Jaguar Shoes on Kingsland Road last month.

First impressions last

Kemistry Gallery announce their latest exhibition – First impressions last. If someone met you for just two minutes, what would they say about you? In a time of personal image consultants, constant scrutiny and ever multiplying subcultures, we carefully craft our outward appearances for friends and strangers alike: first impressions last.

Part performance-piece, part exhibition, part guessing-game; Kemistry Gallery and Fallon London have collaborated to challenge your self-image. They invite you to have your portrait written by five diverse people: from a rapper to a romance novelist. What will they think of you and how will they differ in opinion? How well do you know yourself: would you be able to identify the five different versions of yourself on a wall of others?

The exhibition will comprise the following:

Part One (23 Oct—1 Nov) Visit the gallery; have your portrait written.
Opening Hours: Mon–Fri 12.00–6.00 / Saturday 12.00–4.00

Part Two (3—22 Nov) Return to the gallery for the written portrait exhibition and try and find the five that describe you.
Opening Hours: Mon–Fri 9.30–6.00 / Saturday 11.00–4.00

There will also be an evening event at the gallery for all participants and their friends to see what has been written.

Kemisrty Gallery | 43 Charlotte Road | Shoreditch | London EC2A 3PD

ZINE SWAP SHOP

Zineswap aims to be a resource through which people can swap their zines with one-another. It also aims to become a vast archive of contemporary zine publishing, existing as both an online catalogue and an annual exhibition.

Next saturday, November 1st will see the launch of Zineswap with a party at The Rag Factory.This will be a chance for you to bring along your zines and swap them with other people. You will give ZIneswap your zines, and in return will be given a selection of other people's work.

All zines will be displayed and put on view for all to see. Whether you produce zines or not, they want you there. Zine swap will kick off at 1pm with the zine swap from 3pm. There will be music through out the day with DJ's providing the music until 8pm when the live bands take over. Bring your own booze to the party.

Rag Factory | 16-18 Heneage Street | London E1
(Just off Brick Lane, nearest tube Aldgate East or Liverpool Street)

GEE VAUCHER @ P.O.W.

New Gee Vaucher print has just been released over on Pictures On Wall. The print pictured is titled " Great Scott" and is an edition of 200 signed and numbered by the artist. It's a 9 colour screenprint on archival paper is available here.

Update: This is now sold out!

BEN ALLEN SCREENPRINTS

Brighton based artist Ben Allen has released three new screenprints which are available now.To view all three prints and several new original works, visit Ben's website and go to the silkscreen & works available sections.

Pictured above is "PARADISO LANDSCAPE " screen print, an edition of 20 on Fabriano 5 paper,50 x 70 cm. The other two prints have also been released in small editions of 35 and 20.

Ben Allen will be exhibiting works this weekend at The Affordable Art Fair here in London with The Richard Goodall Gallery and Brighton Independant Printmaker.

The Affordable Art Fair | Battersea Park Event Arena | London |SW11 4NJ
23 - 26 OCTOBER

MARCUS JANSON @ STOLENSPACE

Stolen Space Gallery present New York native artist Marcus Antonius Jansen’s 1st London solo exhibition, showcasing a new body of oil paintings on canvas.

Jansen is not afraid to be ideological, an epithet that’s unfairly earned a bad name in these contentious political times. We recognize the turmoil, the chaos, the simultaneous destruction and construction that comprise contemporary urban life.

In his work we recognize our physical and emotional world in the sparkle of oil slicks on the pavement, amid the flowers and detritus, and in the objects abandoned in the streets. His paintings record our culture’s spiritual wounds and voids, and our apathy. His work compels us to see where, and how, we live now. He reconciles opposites, identifying the elegance in the tawdry and decrepit, glorify the pure object severed from conventional beauty, balance ugliness with lightness and delicacy, and juxtapose grimness with playfulness. Open vistas erase time as they sweep us from present to past and back again. His art asks us, are we in the midst of disassembling or rebuilding, and it warns us of the danger of mistaking one process for the other. Decay, wreckage, and neglect coexist with orderly functional urban scenes. They will not let us forget that a city is merely a habitat that the human animal creates for itself. From Abstract Expressionism and Expressionism, from Rauschenberg and Basquiat, Jansen absorbs a hyper-awareness of words, text, and individual letters as pure visual objects. His work sings with Expressionism’s distortion, dynamism, and emotion. Add to that the Abstract Expressionist’s rebellious spirit and impatience with confining conventions, as well as the physicality of Jansen’s brush.

Opening reception is October 23, 2008, from 5:00 - 9:00pm and the Artist will be in attendance

Stolen Space Gallery | Dray Walk | 91 Brick Lane | London

JON BURGERMAN EXHIBITION

“Jon Burgerman makes vibrant, neo primitive scrawls of shapes and colour. He's pushed his monster-like characters into compositions where cartoon-like forms are crammed on top of each until they create a screaming mass of energy. Intensely prolific, he has pushed the character obsession of the late 90s into a far more interesting and strong direction. Think Walt Disney at an Incan monument on mescaline." Francesca Gavin, author of Street Renegades, Visual Arts Editor Dazed & Confused

The UK artist has built a strong international reputation through his unique and colourful artworks of swooping, intertwining lines and hyper-emotional characters. Working across a variety of media that includes drawing, painting, print, animation, large scale murals and toy design, his art retains a hand-made, hand-drawn quality. A sense of British self-deprecation, dry humour and modern-day anxiety imbues his work along with an enthusiasm for salads.

Because I Can’t Sit Still is Burgerman’s second solo show in London this year and follows on from his successful exhibition at Helium Cowboy Artspace, Hamburg in August. Work featured includes Anxiety Wall, a sprawling installation of ink drawings wallpapering the entire back of the gallery space, sculptural pieces, new large scale fabric prints and the showcase of his new 300 page monograph 'Pens Are My Friends' published by IdN.

This show will be on from 20 October to 1 November 2008 at Coningsby Gallery, opening night on 21 October from 6.30pm - all are welcome.

Coningsby Gallery | 30 Tottenham Street | London, W1T 4RJ

NEW Lucy Mclauchlan Prints

Two new prints released from Studiocromie, featuring the work of Lucy Mclauchlan. Lucy was one of the 15 artists that took part in the FAME Festival organised by Studiocromie over the summer.

The two prints are both available in editions of 100 and are 56x76cm, 2 colour screenprints on cotton rag paper.
Both are available here.

Beautiful Losers LONDON

BEAUTIFUL LOSERS celebrates the spirit behind one of the most influential cultural moments of a generation

In the early 1990's a loose-knit group of likeminded outsiders found common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the "establishment" art world, this group, and the subcultures they sprang from, have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture.

Starring a selection of artists who are considered leaders within this culture, Beautiful Losers focuses on the telling of personal stories. It speaks to themes of what happens when the outside becomes "in" as it explores the creative ethos connecting these artists and today's youth.

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The film is being screened at the BFI on the 18th October and the ICA on the 21st October. There are only a few seat left at both venues. See the movie trailer above.

There will be a post-screening party at Cordy House in Shoreditch which will be free for ticket holders of Beautiful Losers screening or £5 on the door for everyone else.

DJs performing at the party will include Squeak E. Clean (LA), Nosaj Thing (LA), Take (LA) and Patchwork Pirates (London). Beautiful Losers artists are collaborating with London graffiti artists to create art installations at Cordy House and also at the Nike Space currently in Batemans Row, Shoreditch. Artsits include James Jarvis, Will Baras, Insa, French, Cheryl Dunn and Ben Drury.

The installation at Nike Space Bateman Row will be open to the public from Mon 20 Oct. The installation at Cordy House will be unveiled at the after party on Sat 18 Oct.

Cordy House | Curtain Road | Shoreditch | London, EC2A

DAVE WHITE EXHIBITION

Also at the Truman Brewery as part of Frieze week is the exhibition 'Planes, Tanks and Automatics' by Dave White, again presented by Opus Gallery. Liverpool based artist Dave White draws inspiration from things he loves and has created oil paintings of sneakers, cars, animals and comic characters to date.

Planes, Tanks and Automatics focuses on vintage military hardware and tank warfare, described by White, “This series explores the dynamism of dogfights, tank warfare and moments of frozen tension as grenades fly, guns unload, explosions burst, and smoke bellows from broken hardware destroyed through battle.”

White's first screenprint edition was released at the private view yesterday. Featuring hand-finishing and diamond dust, "Bang Bang!" will be from a signed edition of 50. Not sure if these have sold out yet, check with Opus.

Truman Brewery | 91 Brick Lane | London E1 6QL
15th - 19th October

KOUNTER KULTURE

A refreshingly edgy and exciting art fair bursts onto London’s arts scene this week. Kounter Kulture, an Opus Art production, offers a launch pad for new and established international talent. Kounter Kulture is all about the art, the artists and a sense of discovery - bringing the essence of London’s arts week back to its roots.

For those reaching stalemate with the usual suspects at Frieze, the artistic offering at Kounter Kulture provides a welcome relief. The free art fair, spread across 11,500 square feet of the Truman Brewery offers a variety of artists to fit all tastes, with areas dedicated to Urban Art, Contemporary, Recent Graduates, Chinese Contemporary and the very best from the print world. Artists include Stuart Semple, Ju$t Another Rich Kid, Miss Bugs, Pure Evil, Hush, Wang Jie, Rob Carter, Josie McCoy, Justine Smith, Will Tuck and Dave White.

Truman Brewery - T3 and T4 (Wilkes St entrance)
146 Brick Lane | London, E1|

11-6pm 15 – 19 October 2008
Private View 14 Oct, 7pm, Truman Brewery

CONCRETE HERMIT: NEW TSHIRTS

East London gallery / design shop Concrete Hermit have just released a selection of fresh new tshirts. Artist who have contributed to their tshirt range include Jon Burgerman, Al Murphy, Richard May, Ian Stevenson, Phil Ashcroft and Supermundane to name a few. Pictured above are two of our favourites: "Pencil Attack" by designer John Slade and "Big Synth" by illustrator Andrew Rae

Check the new tshirts here

Concrete Hermit | 5a Club Row | London | E1 6JX

BURNING CANDY SHOW

After four years based in Notting Hill, Sartorial Contemporary Art moves to Kings Cross and will open their new exhibition space on October the 15th. Two major shows will launch the space on this date, one of which is "Burning Candy". It will feature three of the UK 's most notorious graffiti vandals, Cyclops, Sweet Toof and Tek33 who have exclusively for this show created new works with their raw messy trademark punk style that has brought them cult status over the last two years.

The opening night will also see the release of the Limited Edition ‘Burning Candy' book with text by Olly Beck.

The private view opens on OCTOBER 15th, 5 – 11pm with music and live performances on the night. The show will run until November 11th.

SARTORIAL CONTEMPORARY ART | 26 Argyle Square | London | WC1H 8AP

PATRICK THOMAS EXHIBITION

Following recent shows in New York, Tokyo, LA, Milan and Melbourne. Barcelona based artist Patrick Thomas returns home for his first solo exhibition in the UK. Do not miss this show which is opening tomorrow night at Nelly Duff Gallery, or the opportunity to buy previously unseen one-off prints and also new editions " hot off the press"

The show will run for three days only with a private view tomorrow evening - Thursday 9th, 6 - 9 pm

Nelly Duff | 156 Columbia Road | London E2 7RG

ABOVE :SKOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

New video from Above filmed in Lisbon, Portugal last month.

D*FACE - Apopcalypse Now

aPOPcalypse Now is the new D*Face show also opening tonight, Thursday 2nd October. Black Rat Press Gallery felt that the show was so special they decieded to hold it at secret location which was reveal earlier this week. The show will take place across the street from the current gallery space in a new space at 89a Rivington Street.

D*Face, has created an entirely new body of work for this show. Work that, while still recognisably D*Face, shows a marked stylistic departure.

Black Rat Press will be releasing two prints to go with the show. The first one a seventeen colour screenprint with etched background. This print will only be available to those attending the opening night.

The second print was released earlier today via the Black Rat Press website and is now sold out.

In D*Face's own words: “My work reflects our popular culture encompassing the American dream and the ideal of good triumphing over evil, no longer relevant in today's society where the 'invade now and ask questions later' philosophy isn't tolerated or indeed wanted. Colliding cultures are no longer receptive to the American way, the Superhero's triumph of good over evil as portrayed through the political circus is now decoded through the eyes of different cultures, weary and wary of the sub-plot played in today’s political climate where war equals brand invasion”.

Black Rat Press | 89a Rivington Street | London
Preview 2nd October 6pm - 9pm.(Invite's are need for this show)
Please note the Part 1 of the show will only be open on Thursday 2nd 6pm - 9pm, Friday 3rd October 10am - 6pm, Saturday 4th October11am - 4pm and Sunday 5th October 11am - 4pm.

PERIPHERAL MEDIA PROJECTS EXHIBITION

Another street art show opening this Thursday. This evening will see Peripheral Media Projects, the twisted masters of the Ad-Hoc Gallery in New York take over the upstirs space at the Pure Evil Gallery in East London.

PMP, was formed in 2004, a group of artists, designers, printers, street artists and activists.
"We are committed to promoting awareness and social transformation through the creation of art and clothing, both within and outside the gallery and fashion systems."

The show opens this evening with a private view from 6pm... with drinks sponsored by Tiger Beer.  Also in the Basement : Psychedelic Brasil show EXTENDED with work from Zezao , Highraff and Milo Tchais. Keep your eyes open and look up, as Peripheral Media Project have also been hitting the streets of East London the last few days.

Pure Evil Gallery | 108 Leonard St | London | EC2A 4RH

Dan Witz 'Night Paintings'

StolenSpace will host New York based artist Dan Witz, 2nd London solo exhibition, showcasing a new body of oil paintings on canvas this Thursday 2nd October.

As a legendary street artist, Dan Witz lends wit, color, and grace to New York City. As a painter, he seduces outsiders into his oil painted worlds. His early influences were a mixture of punk rebellion, culture jamming and the scary urban blight of New York in the early eighties. As a painter, technically he has always been fascinated by old master techniques of simulating reality. In the 1980s, Witz was also a musician involved in the downtown art-punk scene. He currently lives in Brooklyn and splits his time between making gallery paintings and street art. Witz started doing street art when he moved to New York City in the late 1970’s.

“I’ve put up some kind of anonymous un-permitted outdoor work every summer since. The intention behind my projects has been varied - aesthetic, socio political, and personal – but the motivation has always been to get out of the studio and have fun while making work that’s direct and uncompromised.”

Dan Witz is arguably the Godfather of Street Art and this, his 2nd solo show with StolenSpace, is deserving of the attention it is gathering. The show runs from 02 of October - 19 October.

Stolen Space Gallery | Dray Walk | 91 Brick Lane | London

For our New York readers Dan also has a solo show opening the same night in New York at the DFN Gallery titled "IN PLAIN VIEW". The gallery is located at 210 11th Avenue in Chelsea. More info here.

JR - 28 Millimetres: WOMEN

Lazarides Gallery present's new work from Parisian photographer JR. Huge vistas around the world adorned with JR’s challenging images are now his trademark, and this double gallery show will inspire new large-scale street works.

The shows at Lazarides Greek Street and Charing Cross will be linked by a street work inspired by JR’s time spent in Rio de Janeiro, where he worked on his project, 28 Millimetres: WOMEN. In the favelas he met women for whom crime, violent loss of loved ones and arbitrary repression are part of everyday life. His response was to paste images of their eyes onto the buildings of Providencia, creating an arresting image that was seen around the world, and fuelled JR’s ongoing campaign to draw attention to things that go unnoticed. In Soho JR will create the first audioguide to be taken out of the museum and into the street, readapting the concept for a larger public. Under each image will be a freephone number, which the public can call to hear each woman’s story.

The show runs from 3 October – 14 November 2008
Lazarides Gallery | Greek Street and Charing Cross

Image taken by Unusualimage, see more on his flickr here.

EElus- ELECTRIK EEL

This Thurday the 2nd October will see Electrik Sheep host Street Artist EElus' first solo exhibition "Electrik Eel". The show will be held at the Electrik Sheep Gallery in Newcastle and will feature brand new original works and prints. An exclusive print will be released on the opening night. For those of you not in Newcastle all the work will be available online the following day on the Electrik Sheep website, with a downloadable brochure of all work.

Electrik Sheep Gallery | 22 Pink Lane | Newcastle |
Preview Night 2nd October from 6pm