Last week, C215 opened his latest solo show at Signal Gallery in London. Midnght Dreams is his second solo show at the gallery, and possibly third in London (Nolionsinengland seems to recall a solo show at Pure Evil Gallery). I’ve been a fan of C215 since seeing his art at Cans Festival, only months after I first got interested in street art, and an interview with C215 was one of the first things that I posted on Vandalog. In my house, we have a few pieces by C215. That said, Midnight Dreams isn’t at all what I was hoping for.

Photo by Nolionsinengland

C215 has two primary styles that he cuts his stencils. The first, the one that I prefer, is what he does for 1-layer stencils. To oversimplify things, I guess you could say that the definition in those images comes from C215 cutting lines that look like cracks running throughout the piece. This style is the one that’s so heavily influenced by Artiste Ouvrier.

And then there are C215′s multi-layered and often more colorful images. These stencils look like the above and below images from Midnight Dreams. I just don’t like looking at these pieces nearly as much as the 1-layer stencils and the subject matter is less interesting to me as well.

Photo by Nolionsinengland

My favorite pieces by C215 have always been those 1-layer pieces, maybe with a bit of color thrown into the background. C215′s street pieces tend to use those 1-layer stencils. That’s why, I’m loving these two pieces that C215 has put up in London recently:

Photo by C215

Photo by C215

You may also notice that the people C215 is making portraits of is different indoors and outdoors. To me, somebody who first found C215 from his street art, he will always be intimately connected with the streets. I tend to prefer C215′s paintings when the subject matter reflects his relationship to the streets. With Midnight Dreams, C215 has tried to distance his gallery art from his street art. It’s a move that a lot of street artists attempt and I think C215 has good reasons to separate the two worlds, but that just results in me becoming uninterested in his gallery art. I’m sorry to say that Midnight Dreams has disappointed me so much, but at least he’s still active outdoors and has been refreshing London with his artwork, since a lot of his work has been buffed since he last painted there.

So now that I’ve gone on dissing C215 for a few hundred words, I’d like to remind readers that there are other opinions out there. Nolionsinengland, one of the art bloggers and photographers that I most respect, enjoyed Midnight Dreams and has reviewed it on Graffoto (and he’s actually seen the show in person instead of just through jpegs).

Midnight Dreams runs through August 7th at London’s Signal Gallery.

Photos by Nolionsinengland and C215

A charity street art auction at the Factory Fresh gallery will see the largest array of street artists together anywhere so far this year in tandem with the book launch for Street Art New York.

The book by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo (brooklynstreetart.com), with a foreword by Carolina A. Miranda (c-monster.net), is published by Prestel – who have upped the ante with regards the front cover design. Instead of using a free download, ‘graffiti’ font, they have chosen one that doesn’t scream urban cool, tastefully adjacent to an image by Judith Supine. I’ve read that Harrington is a book designer by trade, so it makes sense. I guess the less said about the cover for the pair’s 2008 release, Brooklyn Street Art the better.

The art auction will raise money for the kids charity, Free Arts NYC, who aid children and families with educational art and mentoring programmes.

The list of participating artists thus far includes: Bishop 203, Billi Kid, Bortusk Leer, Broken Crow, C Damage, C215, Cake, Celso, Chris RWK , Chris Stain, Creepy, DAIN, Damon Ginandes, Dan Witz, Dark Clouds, Elbow Toe, Gaia, FKDL, General Howe, GoreB, Hellbent, Imminent Disaster, Jim Avignon, Jef Aerosol, JMR, Jon Burgerman, Keely, Know Hope, Logan Hicks, Mark Carvalho, Matt Siren, Mint and Serf, Miss Bugs, NohJColey, Peru Ana Ana Peru, PMP, Poster Boy, Rene Gagnon, ROA, Pufferella, Royce Bannon, Skewville, Specter, Stikman, The Dude Company, Tristan Eaton, Veng RWK.

The auction and launch will take place at the Factory Fresh gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn, April 24, from 7-11pm.

C215 recently painted one of his classic stencils in Milan…

Logan Hicks

Thursday night was the opening of Green Day’s The Art of Rock at StolenSpace Gallery. It would have been easy for Green Day to put together a street art show full of random artists that street art fans would hate but Green Day fans would like because it has the Green Day name on it. Instead, The Art of Rock was curated by Logan Hicks and he got some really talented artists involved.

My personal favorite was this piece by Chris Stain, one of his best I think:

Photo by Paulo20210

And I think you really have to see Logan Hick’s laser etched pieces in person, but this shot should give you some idea. The background is laser etched.

Each piece in the show (other than Logan’s portraits) is based on the lyrics from a song off of Green Day’s latest album.

C215

Sixten

Broken Crow, Ron English and The London Police

If you ever liked Green Day, you need to check out this show. The lineup is solid, the art is great and the connection to music is different.

Photos by S.Butterfly

As part of Vandalog’s “Great in ’08″ series, which will be running every day for the rest of the month. Check out previous posts here. Street artists from across the world have been given one post to give away to one artist who they feel has been doing great work recently. Today Armsrock (whose show with elbowtoe opens at thinkspace gallery today) and PaintGoggles have both picked the same artist.

Who is one artist doing really great work right now?

PaintGoggles: One artist making great stuff right now is C215. C215 creates work that is beautiful and seemingly personal. He consistently makes paintings that are both delicate and aggressive. The use of light in his work is truly amazing. He is also crazy prolific.

Armsrock: One of the people who’s work in the streets continues to impress and inspire me, is C215.
To me he seems to be constantly exploring the idea of what stencil art can do and could be. His pictures have a wonderful way of acknowledging and integrating themselves in their surroundings, taking in regard the space and the people who inhabits it. There is something deeply compassionate and honest in his pictures, and I greatly admire him for that.

C215 has a show opening tonight at Ad Hoc Art‘s project room. See more photos of C215′s work after the jump… Read the rest of this article »