BLAM EXHIBITION

We bumped into Blam on Thursday night at the excellent Toasters exhibition and he let us know about his upcoming show opening later this week. The show titled ' Blackout' will feature a selection of new works from Blam and will be held at Benny's Bar, located at the top of Brick Lane ( The Bagel shop end).

There will be a private view Thursday 4th from 6.30 - 9.30pm.The exhibition will run until the 1st July.

Benny's Bar | 119a Bethnal Green Road | London | E2 7DG

PINKY x Threadless Select

Awesome tshirt graphic designed by Brighton based Pinky for Threadless' Select label. The 'YES' tshirt is available now for only $25, get it here.Bargin.
Also worth checking is the Si Scott tshirt and David Cordero "El Latigo" tshirt.

NICK WALKER AT BLACK RAT PRESS GALLERY

Black Rat Press open their doors tonight with their newest exhibition, a book launch and solo show of works by Nick Walker. Drago publishing invited Nick to work with them on a book to be published as part of their 36 Chambers Series. The 36 Chambers is an ongoing Drago project where artists are invited to produce a book with 96 pages in black, white and a colour of their choice – beyond this broad guideline artists have total freedom over the content of the book. For Nicks book - A Sequence of Events - he produced a series of works on paper and we are delighted to celebrate the launch of the book by holding a exhibition of these works along with a book signing.

The exhibition will provide a unique opportunity to gain an overview of Nicks work to date. Currently planning a New York show featuring a new direction and body of work this show is a celebration of Nicks career so far and marks the beginning of the next chapter. A sequence of events opens tonight May 28th at 6pm. 2 Screenprints will be available at the opening so expect this show to be busy and as with previous show there may be large ques so our advice is to get in so get down there early.!!

Black Rat Press Gallery | thru cargo garden | 83 rivington street | London

TRESSPASSERS OF THE WORLD UNITE

Tonight will see the opening of the Toasters show on Kingland Road hosted by Nelly Duff Gallery.The Toasters and fifteen of their fellow trespassers, some of Europe’s most influential artists from the world of street art, will come together for a collaborative exhibition aptly named "Trespassers of the World Unite"

The Toasters, one of the original pioneers of street art in the UK and globally, have entertained the streets since 1999, appearing on posters, banners, stickers and murals all over the world in Berlin, Stockholm, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Sydney, New York, Paris, Peckham... everywhere!

Trespassers of the World Unite is a celebration of the last 10 years on the street for the infamous Toasters and a nod to those artists who they have respected over the years – hand picked through their long standing friendships. A total of fifteen artists are involved in this collaborative exhibition with The Toasters; Will Barras, Bomb Kid, Butch, Crackrock, Dicy, Eco, Erosie, Influenza, Mr Jago, Late, Paris, Phet, Rabodiga, space3 and Zime.


Private View this evening 28th May 6.30 - 9.30
The show will run until the 11th June.

Venue: 7 Kingsland Road | E2
(look for the orange building covered in Toaster stencils)

Slinkachu Solo Show

Slinkacu has an upcoming solo show entitled 'Whatever Happened to the Men of Tomorrow?' at the Andipa Gallery in London. The show opens on Thursday 4th June and will feature brand new images of installations that he has been placing around London over the past year.

Goodbye Metropolis - Caledonia Road area, London

Andipa Gallery | 162 Walton Street | Knightsbridge | London SW3 2JL

Free Banksy....?‏

The guys over at Hang-Up Pictures have just launched a little competition, offering you the chance to win a Banksy print.

Hang-Up Pictures have created a viral clip starring the very lovely Agent Provocateur model Jen Dawson which can be viewed over on their website here.There are two paintings featured in the viral clip and if you can name the artists of two of the pictures that are hanging (or leaning) in clip then they will enter into a draw to win the iconic long sold out Banksy Flag limited edition print worth £1000.

The Banksy Flag screen print was released in 2006 and is an edition of 1000. Up for grabs is the Silver flag version on shiny paper, 26.5 x 19.5cm in size.

The viral clip, entry form and all the terms and conditions of the competition can be found on Hung-Up Pictures website here.

Good Luck!!

Objectified London Screening

We blogged about the Objectified Documentary back in January of this year here and are delighted to see it has finally made it to UK.

The documentary will be screened here in London at the Barbican from tomorrow 22nd until the 28 May. There will be a Q&A with the director, following the screenings on Wednesday 27 May, 6.30pm and Thursday 28 May, 8.30pm. Screening times and ticket info can be found over on the Barbican's website.

Below is the trailer again:

"Objectified is a documentary about industrial design; it’s about the manufactured objects we surround ourselves with, and the people who make them.On an average day, each of us uses hundreds of objects. (Don’t believe it? Start counting: alarm clock, light switch, faucet, shampoo bottle, toothbrush, razor…) Who makes all these things, and why do they look and feel the way they do? All of these objects are “designed,” but how can good design make them, and our lives, better?" Gary Hustwit

Damien Poulain: Totem 49

One for your diaries, a new exhibition opening at the Kemistry Gallery in East London on the 5th June and featuring work of Damien Poulain.

Inspired by ancestral sculptures and religious fetishes, in Totem 49 designer Damien Poulain has reinterpreted the notion of the symbolic nature of the totem by creating fortynine hand-painted totems from reclaimed wood. By approaching contemporary concepts including politics, design, fashion and society, Poulain has reworked the ideology of the totem within a framework to which we can relate.

“My totems attempt to make solid, timeless objects from fleeting events of the 21st century, allowing for reflection on the colossal power of the image and the role of new tribes and mythology in our increasingly secular society.”

The totems will be presented in the gallery to create an insightful and thought-provoking exhibition that questions the roles and position of our modern-day icons and the significance and influence they assert, from the Berlin Wall to Britney Spears’ shaved head.

To accompany the exhibition, Poulain will create giclée prints of the totems available for purchase exclusively at the gallery as well as book to accompany the exhibition, published by Kemistry Gallery Press. The totems will also be available for purchase as a collection.

Kemistry Gallery | 43 Charlotte Road | London EC2A 3PD

Jeff Soto Hits the Streets

Jeff Soto, by invisiblemadevisible

Jeffo Soto show opened last night at Stolenspace. Fantastic show do not miss it. Jeff also took some time to paint some pieces on the streets of London, something he hasn't done in 10 years!

MyMO Exhibition @ Pure Evil Gallery

Also opening this Thursday 14th May at the Pure Evil Gallery on Leonard Street is a new show from MyMo. The show entitled 'Junkyard' will feature drawings, paintings and lots of junk!!

With roots tracing back to graffiti, Mymo creates “monsters” related to the classic Graffiti Characters, but the works consistently reach far beyond these fundamentals as the artist constantly develops new possibilities of aesthetic expression with the help of various techniques (from street and canvas painting to collage, from animation films to installations).. Life, with all its ups and downs, serves as a primary inspiration for Mymo’s work, and the artist’s monsters serve as a primary medium for communicating the entire spectrum of human emotions.

The show opens on the 14th with a preview and runs until the 21st June.

Pure Evil Gallery | 108 Leonard Street | London

BEST PUSSY

Our good friend Mr. Pinks dropped us an email to tell us about this show he is taking part in Brighton.

The show will see Niki Best (Best Shop Ever) join forces with Pussy Home Boutique to bring us a proper end to the Brighton Festival show, incased in a sunny spot close to the seafront. The bright gallery upstairs at the big Pussy store is a great venue to view these desirable, affordable and collectable pieces. With a weather eye to the future value, they are showing passionate work by inspired young artists.

The works on show are drawn from Niki's own extensive collection of rare and collectable prints together with new works by some of the artists she gave space to when they were new kids on her Clerkenwell block. When her gallery closed she took time out to relocate to Brighton, recuperate, and raise her son. Always ahead of the game, she was promoting and collecting the work of up-coming artists when some of them were barely out of nappies themselves. Her eye for vibrant, relevant talent has been proved again and again by the quality of the commissions and reputation that many of them have continued to make.

The show includes vintage framed and unframed, signed, limited edition prints from Frank Kozik, Nick Walker, Mike Giant, Rikki Marr, Shepard Fairey, Noah Butkus, Aztek and Matt Sewell to name but a few. New and exclusive work comes from Pinky, INSA, Danny Sangra, and illustrious illustrators such as Curly Mark, Al Murphy, Alex Binnie, Saira Hunjun and Bert, amongst others. Brighton's own Pinky will be contributing a mural in his eye-popping, life and love-affirming psychedelic style to the walls of the boutique. Not to be missed if you are in Brighton.

Press view Thursday 21st May 7pm-9pm
Open to the public Friday 22nd May. Free entry

Pussy Home Boutique | 3 Bartholomews | Brighton

Jeff Soto @ StolenSpace

StolenSpace present a new show from Californian artist and icon of the current pop art scene, Jeff Soto, in this his inaugural UK solo exhibition ‘The Inland Empire’.

This show will feature over twenty new paintings on wood panel. The opening will see the release of an exclusive limited edition hand pulled screen print and Soto will be signing copies of his newly published book ‘Storm Clouds’

The Inland Empire’ is a politically charged exhibition focusing on the theme of recession in the area in which the artist lives and how it reflects what is happening all over the world. Conceptually it is the next step of Soto’s hugely successful and critically acclaimed Museum exhibit at the Riverside Art Museum, “Turning In Circles” in December 2008. Being in Riverside, his home town for the last 24 years, he knew it had to relate somehow to this city that has moulded him and made me who he is.

“The region I live in is called the Inland Empire. It is an area about 50 miles east of Los Angeles nestled between the desert and the mountains. Overall it is a low-income area, mostly suburbs and manufacturing plants with a high minority population. When the economy was booming the Inland Empire grew at a fast rate as people headed east, unable to afford homes in Los Angeles. It was one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. But when the economy crumbled the Inland Empire was hit hard. As home values dropped most who bought houses ended up backwards on their mortgages and let them fall back to the banks. We have lost 115,000 jobs since 2007 and the unemployment rate is near 12%.

I see the Inland Empire as a miniature version of what is happening around the world- poor people and the working class are getting poorer and disempowered while the rich and powerful are getting more rich and more powerful.”

The show opens 14th May and runs until the 7th June.
STOLENSPACE GALLERY | Dray Walk | 91 Brick Lane | London

I-LIB @ Stella Dore Gallery

Also opening this evening Thursday 7th May 6pm - 9pm is the I-Lib solo show, "As Teardrops Fall" at Stella Dore Gallery.

For his first, much anticipated solo show 'As Teardrops Fall', I-lib (I Lurk In Bushes) depicts strange anthropomorphic creatures from another world in situations that will conjure up captivating visions of love, hate, life and death. Using a whole host of media, from his nostalgic Victorian style illustrations and paintings, to sculptures and installations, created using an arsenal of ink, spray-paint, charcoal and graphite worked on to old discarded material such as wood and paper. The textures, patterns and distressed/decayed look convey an enigmatic and wonderful body of work.

This work will be set in the gallery, which will be transformed into a feral woodland world of folk tale!

Private View: 7th May 2009 : 6pm – 9pm
Show Runs: 8th – 23rd May 2009

Stella Dore Gallery | 47 Rivington Street | London | EC2A 3QB

For RSVP Guest List please email stella@stelladore.co.uk

RON ENGLISH - LAZARUS RISING

American, billboard hi-jacking, political activist, pop surrealist Ron English, is returning to Elms Lesters in London for his first ever UK solo show "LAZARUS RISING"

The new exhibition, with its deliberately provocative theme of resurrection, reflects the contemporary socio-political situation, presenting uncomfortable and dark insights beneath the slick, plastic face of our society.

“Ron English continues to exploit the mismatch between effortless style and edgy content in his paintings. It’s an effective strategy, wrong-footing viewers and making them reconsider the way they might absorb imagery from advertising without critically engaging with it.” Ben Jones, art historian.

Private view: Thurday 7th May 6 - 9pm. The show runs from 8th May until 6th June 2009

An exhibition catalogue will also be released to tie in with the exhibition with an introduction by curator Paul Jones of the Elms Lesters Painting Rooms and an essay/interview by writer and critic Francesca Gavin. More info on the book here.

Ron English will be in the gallery to sign copies between 12.00 and 2.00pm on Saturday 9th May.

Elms Lesters Painting Rooms | 1-3-5 Flitcroft St | London

We Stride Worldwide Exhibition

Concrete Hermit has selected 10 incredible artists to launch "We Stride Worldwide" a riot of illustration and graphic installation, as the 8th of the ®OCHO group exhibitions series scheduled to take place this year, in different cities around the world. More than 150 artists are part of this ®artspace network world group show, that runs through world class galleries until end of August 2009.

Artwork by: Ian Stevenson, Gareth Bayliss, Jody Barton, Jasper Goodall, Anthony Burrill, Jon Burgerman, Supermundane, Andrew Rae, Holly Wales, Phil Ashcroft.

Opening tonight the 7th May at the Concrete Hermit Gallery

Concrete Hermit | 5a Club Row | E1 6JX

New Prints From Kelsey Brookes

American based artist Kelsey Brookes releases two new screenprints.

There are two prints available in this series, one titled SINK (pictured above) the other titled SWIM. They can both be purchased together or separately at Kelseys website here.

Both are edition's of 100 each and signed and numbered by Kelsey. Dimensions: 20 x 20in (50 x 50cm)
An impressive Nine color screenprint on archival paper. They are priced at $100 each (plus shipping) or Sink and Swim together for $180 (plus shipping).