Rich Simmons at Imitate Modern

It’s Frieze week and London is in full swing with pompous art enthusiasts and decrepit rich men buying art and prostitutes all around the city. While most people get excited about the Fair itself, here at Vandalog, we like the satellite events happening that let the galleries go all out and give us a break from snobbery that encompasses Frieze. So besides Moniker and Lazarides’ Bedlam, Imitate Modern is joining the ranks of outsider shows with Just Be You Tiful – a solo show by Rich Simmons.

While most of our readers know Rich as Opera Gallery’ poster boy for commercial street art, this guy has really come into his own in 2012. While he may get a bad rep from all of the publicity that Opera threw at him, Simmons is one of the most hardworking artists I have had the pleasure of knowing. Always willing to lend a helping hand and constantly scrutinizing his own work, Simmons is his own worst critic (not the naysayers on the Banksy forum).

For Just Be You Tiful Simmons has been locked in the studio producing an entirely new body of work to showcase during Frieze at Imitate Modern. Known for its sold out Stik show last year, Simmons has impressed the gallery with his own brand of stencil and collage works. The master of the exacto knife, these intricate multi-layered canvasses are sure to turn a few heads when they find out this is Simmons’ new style especially the Sailor Jerry homages and naked pin-ups. Ooh La La!

Just Be You Tiful opens October 12 at Imitate Modern in London.

All images courtesy of Rich Simmons

Logan Hicks show this month at The Outsiders

Stencil master, urban adventurer and photographer Logan Hicks is going to be showing at Lazarides‘ Greek Street space The Outsiders London later this month for a solo show. Structural Integrity includes new body of stencil work from Logan as well as a rare opportunity to see his photographs in a gallery setting. Logan has been working his ass off making this new work, so it should be quite something. The show runs from July 20th through August 25th.

In addition to being one of my favorite stencil artists and maybe the hardest working guy I know, Logan is one of my favorite people. I’m excited that Logan will be showing at The Outsiders, but I’m equally disappointed that I won’t be able to see the show in person. If you want to see stencil art pushed to this limits, do not miss this opportunity. Go see Structural Integrity.

Photo courtesy of The Outsiders

Weekend link-o-rama

Specter

The week isn’t over yet, but this week’s news is going to be old if I don’t mention it soon. Here’s some of what I missed this week:

Photo by SMKjr

Morley and Lazarides Team Up Once Again

Fast Songs

Once again, Los Angeles street artist Morley has joined forces with the gang at Lazarides to release several limited edition prints. Editions of forty, each of the four unique prints are signed and numbered by the artist. They are printed on Magnani Litho 300gsm paper and are 70cm x 50cm costing £95 each. The two pictured are my favorite but to view the others and purchase the prints head over to The Outsiders.

Time Machine

Oh and if you haven’t heard already, Morley is coming back over the pond for his first solo exhibition with Lazarides at The Outsiders in Newcastle. Adapting his wheatpastes and parachute men for indoors has been interesting in the past for group shows the artist has participated in, so the Newcastle show will really be a test whether he is able to transport audiences into his charmingly witty world whole heartedly.

All Images Courtesy of The Outsiders

Weekend link-o-rama

Don't Fret

Lots of news to share this week and I’m late with this post, so let’s get on with it…

Photo by Don’t Fret

Morley teams up again with The Outsiders

School Reunion

A bit late on this post since there has been so much Lazarides news lately what with the recent Conor Harrington show at Rathbone and upcoming Antony Micallef show at The Outsiders, that Morley‘s print release has most unfortunately been overlooked. But I love his work, as anyone who reads Vandalog knows, so I had to post his latest print releases here.

Through The Outsiders, the artist is releasing three separate two-colour way prints as editions of 20 all signed and numbered by Morley. In the usual vein of the artist, the works include his cheeky mantras. Each is priced at £95.

Do It All Again
Curse of Imagination

Photos courtesy of The Outsiders

Bast Pokes Fun at Hipsters (Because No one else does…)

For Bast‘s latest print release with The Outsiders at Lazarides the artist has chosen to target the butt of recent jokes in London- Dalston. Home to the many hipster knobheads that run around claiming benefits and puking on doorsteps, the print entitled Dalston Unitooth looks at a fictitious world where the hipsters of Europe and the USA come together. One of the same breed, the print is amusing if you get it, but aesthetically is an explosion of color gone awry and a paint by numbers theme that is touched upon and lost immediately. Eh, at least it is a bit different. Can’t knock something for being a bit different. I’ll take a change of pace rather the same old stuff nowadays.

The print is available from today at The Outsiders or online and is a print in 21 colors as an edition of 10 for £500.

Image courtesy of The Outsiders

Weekend link-o-rama

A wall in Munich

Sorry this is coming a day late, but Thanksgiving and related activities took priority. Here’s what I missed posting about this week:

Photo by Luna Park

Split opinions: Fragments of Faile at Lazarides

Faile shocked their fans and detractors alike last week when they unveiled their newest body of work at Lazarides’ Gallery’s Rathbone Place location in London. The show, Fragments of Faile, features two distinct series. One is pretty much what you might expect from Faile: Familiar trademark imagery, styles and themes, mixed with some small steps forward. As usual, it was the introduction of new ideas into the Faile repertoire alongside the classics. If you’re a fan of Faile, you’ll like those pieces, and if you’re not, well the new twists probably won’t convince you. Most people I’ve spoken with say these are their favorite pieces in the show, and I have to agree. But those pieces are also getting very little attention compared to the completely new body of work that Faile introduced at the show: 100% painted (no screenprinting) portraits of women made up of abstract fabric patterns and bits of Faile iconography on top of very calm and un-Faile-like backgrounds. While there are a large number of people speaking out and saying how much they enjoy this new twist from Faile, among the people whose views I respect, the majority would not hang these paintings on their walls (although some would). Nuart’s reviews seem to best exemplify the reaction that I’m getting most often from those that I respect. Among that group, the new style has been met with general disappointment and confusion, with some people comparing it to a less gritty Bast or derivative of Miss Bugs (of course, Bast and Faile have collaborated numerous times in the past, and Miss Bugs has in the past been thought of as derivative of Faile). Nonetheless, nearly everyone I’ve heard from has also expressed great excitement that Faile have tried something so unexpected. My thoughts and some perspective from Faile themselves after the jump… Continue reading “Split opinions: Fragments of Faile at Lazarides”

Fragments of Faile at Lazarides Gallery

Faile are back at Lazarides Gallery and this time it’s going to very different. After a 3 year London hiatus, they return to the city with a solo show that “strikes out in a sophisticated new direction.”

Fragments of Faile sees the artist’s work stripped down to its bare essentials, promising to explore the “archetypical structures” beneath their decade of remixed mass culture artwork.

As Lazarides Gallery states in it’s elaborately worded press release, “Assembled from the artists’ own archive, Fragments of FAILE represents not a radical departure, but a rare opportunity to see their iconic practice anew.”

It certainly sounds interesting, but I’m a little puzzled as to how the work is ‘new’ whilst also assembled from the their archive. I’m imagining single layered images that hark back to Faile’s roots and go some way to forming the multi layered work we are used to seeing from the duo – a bit of image recycling maybe. Although that view could have something to do with the following picture.

Images of the work are currently being kept underwraps, literally, but here’s a little sneak preview thanks to Steve Lazarides

The show is open to the general public at Lazarides Rathbone from 4th November and runs until 3rd December, Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 7pm.

For more details about the show, including the press release, head over to the Lazarides website.

Photo courtesy of Lazarides Gallery