A painting from James Jessop's "Subway Fiction" series

Parts 1-3 of DOTS, a series of films about London’s Burning Candy crew, have just been posted on Babelgum.com. The films follow members of Burning Candy as they travel around the world. So far, Luc Price aka Cyclops has visited India to work with signpainters, Rowdy has traveled to the Australian outback to see ancient wall-painting techniques and graffiti-history obsessed James Jessop saw New York City for the first time. Here are their stories…

(okay here’s a trailer first actually)

And now the actual films…

Bomb Chaser with James Jessop, which is without a doubt the highlight of DOTS so far and the one you should watch if you only watch one of these:

Beyond Cosmos with Rowdy:

Bollywood Clout with Luc Price aka Cyclops:

Also, James Jessop has a solo show opening tonight, also called Bomb Chaser, at Charlie Smith Gallery in London. Hooked has more info on that.

Photo by Lyfetime

Poster by Morley

Wow. This week has gone by really quickly. I guess the world feels like it is moving faster when you are running on less sleep. Such a counter-intuitive thing. Anyway, here is what has been going on that I didn’t have a chance to write about this week:

• Two members of the Russian artist/activist group Voina are finally out on bail, in part thanks to Banksy.
• These doors to nowhere sound like a fantastic project.
• Arrested Motion has a studio visit with Luc Price.
• I love this new wall from Oker and Mr. Dheo.
• Stik has a show in London next week.
• Mau Mau’s new work is simple, but it made me smile.
• The line up for Contra Projects’ booth at SCOPE NY next week is looking pretty good.
• Vhils and Brad Downey in Lisbon.
• One of these two Banksy’s is terrible, one is one of his strongest all year. Can you guess which I think is which?

Photo by Morley

Banksy's "Portrait of an Artist" sold for £60,000 at Bonhams

There were two auctions of note this week.

First, Bonhams has their latest urban art auction on Tuesday evening. Most of the notable sales in that auction can be found on Arrested Motion. Additionally, an Eine went for double the high estimate and a Luc Price did very well.

But of course, it’s worth noting that there’s an element of madness with auctions. Perhaps this is best exemplified by an eBay listing where the item for sale was Banksy’s identity (listed for a Buy It Now price of $25,000). The seller claimed to have matched a person’s tax records with Banksy’s sale records. Sounds like complete BS to me. The listing was taken offline last night for unknown reasons. IFC has more info.

UPDATE: The eBay listing is back online, this time selling a piece of paper with Banksy’s name on it, which should fit within eBay’s auction rules.

Photo courtesy of Bonhams

Since graduating college a few months ago, I have been forced to find other ways to pregame on the weekends other than a recurring bad romance with Natural Light and terrible displays of beirut.  Now that I am an official adult, going to art openings to see some fantastic art and gulping down the free beer is a pretty appealing alternative.  I always look forward to the shows in the Summer time because so many people go to galleries on opening night (for the booze) that the shows seem to be featuring their highest caliber artists.  Or maybe I just think so because I am five feet tall and feeling woozy after a beer.

On July 1st, Stolenspace in London will be opening their Summer group show featuring some of the biggest names in the game.  When I hear “group show,” my mind jumps to art school end of the year culminations that exhibit an eclectic array of amateur art.  This show, however, is too cool for school.  Shepard Fairey, Wordtomother, D*Face, Kid Acne, Mr. Jago, Cyclops will have works hanging alongside artists (Miss Van, The London Police, and Chloe Early) who had solo shows at the gallery this past year.

Sadly, I still will not be in London until mid-August and will miss the entire show.  I swear some higher power does not want me to see Miss Van’s art in person. Sigh

It’s been a long time since Seth and I have had a group show this big at Carmichael Gallery – there will be over 35 artists represented on the walls when we open “Booked” on Saturday, June 5th! Some of the artists we’ve worked with for several years and others we’ll be showing for the first time. We’re also going to have lots of great art books and magazines from publishers like Drago, Gingko, Studiocromie (I really enjoyed opening up the box of Blu and Sam3 books!) and VNA. Books and art are two of the best things in the world, in my opinion, so it should be a fun event! We will be open from 12-8pm on Saturday for Culver City Art Walk (make sure to visit all the other galleries on the block if you come by; there will be lots of cool things to see) and the reception itself is from 6-8pm.

Here are some of the pieces in the show.

Martha Cooper

Escif

SpY

Anthony Lister

Lucas Price (aka Cyclops)

Bumblebee

Brad Downey

Here’s the full line up of artists and publishers:

Aiko, Banksy, Beejoir, Blek le Rat, Boxi, Bumblebee, C215, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, D*Face, Brad Downey, Eine, Ericailcane, Escif, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Stelios Faitakis, Gaia, Hush, Mark Jenkins, Dave Kinsey, Know Hope, Labrona, Anthony Lister, Lucy McLauchlan, Aakash Nihalani, Walter Nomura (a.k.a. Tinho), Other, Steve Powers (a.k.a. ESPO), Lucas Price (a.k.a. Cyclops), Retna, Saber, Sam3, Sixeart, Slinkachu, SpY, Judith Supine, Titi Freak, Nick Walker, Dan Witz and WK Interact

Drago, Gingko Press, Murphy Design, Prestel, Rojo, SCB Distributors, Studiocromie, Very Nearly Almost, Zupi

The show runs from June 5 – July 3. Drop in to say hi if you’re in LA!

- Elisa

Tek33, Gold Peg and Sweet Toof. Photo by Tek33

There are a few little bits to mention today about my friends in Burning Candy. The crew have been keeping pretty busy lately.

1. The above wall (thanks to Tek33 for putting me up) is the latest in at least 3 large walls painted in London by members of BC in the last month or so. Nolionsinengland has photographed the other two.
2. Important note: I worked at High Roller Society for one day last week, but it’s not a regular job or something I expect to repeat since I’m moving soon. The crew’s Candy Shop show at High Roller Society kicks ass. It’s a small space, but Burning Candy have really made full use of the gallery. The installation is really fun to explore. There are so many little bits that it’s unlikely anybody noticed every minor detail that the crew had put into the assemblage of paintings, stickers, sculptures, drawings and found objects. There are photos on High Roller Society’s flickr, but I think that this weekend was the show’s last and it is now closed. But double check with HRS I guess, because I could be wrong.
3. The crew is traveling. Sweet Toof is painting in New York City and a standard Mighty Mo/Sweet Toof has appeared in Amsterdam.
4. Sweet Toof’s got an interview in this week’s le cool.

Recently, I’ve been working with Burning Candy (Cept, Cyclops, Dscreet, Gold Peg, LL Brainwashed, Mighty Mo, Rowdy, Sweet Toof and Tek33) on a project that’s really got me excited. For me, Burning Candy are some of the most interesting and talented street artists living in the UK right now. In the UK, there isn’t a street artist who gets up harder, a graffiti writer who hits better spots or a crew that pushes the boundaries of their art further than the members of BC. So about this project…

A man called The Barron is directing a film about the rest of Burning Candy called Dots. This isn’t your ordinary graff film though. Since The Barron is a friend of the crew, he’s got more access than the standard documentary filmmaker would ever get. So far, he’s filmed and edited the first 20 minutes or so of the film. The next 70 minutes? It’s on its way, but Burning Candy needs the help of their fans to make it happen. To fund the making of the Dots, BC have made a box set of prints. All nine members of the crew have contributed an image to this print release. Since I’m working with BC on this print release, I’m obviously biased, but I don’t think there’s a bad image in the bunch.

So here’s the press release with all that vital info:

To help raise funds and make Dots a reality, Burning Candy has put together a limited edition set of 9 screenprints, one print from each member of the crew. The set will come in a hand-screenprinted bespoke box. The prints are 2-colors and A5 sized and the edition size is just 150. These prints aren’t only artwork; anyone who buys a set of prints will also own the rights to 0.05% of the films revenues for the next 10 years. 100% of the profits from these prints will go to funding the making of Dots.

The prints will be released online imminently for just £500. In the mean time, you can email sales(at)dotsfilm.com for more information.

And for those curious about my personal involvement in the film and print release, I’m helping out friends and artists that I believe in, but I’m also getting paid for my work.

ukadapta have organized a group show in Tokyo that opens this week. Should be good. The line up is a varied of British urban art with Best Ever, D*face, Word to Mother, Luc Price/Cyclops, Matt Small and more.

Sickboy

More info from ukadapta:

Adapta Gallery’s third curated project will be held on November 12th – November 29th 2009, with a show in Tokyo called Close Encounters. The show consists of 8 British-based artists, including Best Ever, Cyclops, D*Face, David Bray, Matt Small, Sickboy, Word To Mother and Vesna Parchet.

The variety of work on show is eclectic, and that is precisely the reason why we chose them in the first place. From D*Face’s two-dimensional graphic art to the rich textures of emerging artist Vesna Parchet’s styled character-based paintings, a plethora of mediums, emotions and messages are employed for the viewer to digest.

This particular show is very close to our hearts as we are finally able to put together an amazing line up of artists to produce works for our Tokyo readers and Japanese collectors to see in person.  We have been interviewing and working on projects with so many talented British creatives over the years and to  finally curate our own show in Tokyo for our main audience is a true honour.

On the opening night, we will also have special guests: Usugrow, Jeff Soto, Shohei Takasaki, Yoshiki & Nagayama also showing their works.

Close Encounters

Exhibition venue : Time Out Gallery, Liquidroom 2/F, 3-16-6, Higashi, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo

Opening Date : 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, 12 November, 2009

Exhibition runs  : 13 November 2009 – 3 December, 2009

In case you happen to be in Tokyo, there is a map on the show’s website.

Vensa Parchet

D*face

Best Ever

Photos courtesy of ukadapta

Went to the opening of Luc Price’s solo show at Black Rat Press tonight. Just had a quick thought about the general vibe I guess…

I’ve been sitting excitedly on this for quite a while now, and finally I can say that Luc Price aka Cyclops’ first solo show is opening on October 15th at Black Rat Press and offer a few images. If you’re familiar with Cyclops’ work on the street, this show, Jesus Help Me Find My Proper Place, is going to be quite surprising in its content.

Here’s the press release which is worth a read if only for its slightly (unintentionally) funny exaggerations. But I suppose exaggeration and spin is the job of a press person.

This October, Black Rat Press presents ‘Jesus Help Me Find My Proper Place’ – a major London solo show by Lucas Price, also known as the acclaimed street artist Cyclops.

Heralded as a new star in the art world, the artist – whose familiar skeletal, giant toothed street art works with painting partner, Sweet Toof, can be seen in high profile spots all over the capital, and the world – will be exploring the fringes of society in a show which tackles narratives of homelessness, dereliction, madness, drugs and redemption.

The show marks Price’s ascension from a life on the streets to one of the UK’s bestselling artists from a graffiti background. Expelled at 15 for daubing the school with graffiti, he later experienced homelessness, drug addiction and jail on two continents. Five years after having kicked his addiction, Price’s much-lauded street and fine art has been recognised by critics, media and buyers the world over, and his works debuted to critical acclaim at auction last year, with pieces including Cease to Exist commanding £15K.

The new body of works on show in this exhibition feature the artist’s irreverent and often politically-loaded satire as well as visual commentary on society’s dark underbelly. Drawing from his personal experiences, the artist questions the ugliness that exists in society and demonstrates the beauty that can be found in even the most abject circumstances.

Price says: “All these references are alive to me. They have beauty within them – I’ve seen it first hand. The world is wrecked, but it’s still beautiful, and people are so dumb, arrogant, flawed, imperfect yet so capable of good, so full of potential, and that goes for everyone and everything. I’m lucky, so I suppose it’s my job to not forget and to show people how it can be.”

Featuring works on canvas and paper as well as a series of thought-provoking installations, this promises to be the most audacious debut show of the year. To underline the show’s narrative, Price has worked with Sweet Toof on a site-specific installation – a wake with a coffin bearing an effigy of one of his street art characters. Price says: “The way I see it, he’s dead and this is a new start.”

The show title Jesus Help Me Find My Proper Place is appropriated from the Velvet Underground track Jesus which has been re-interpreted by Price as a direct reference to his past and acknowledgement of his newfound acclaim. It is also one of the subversive slogans that appeared on a hard-hitting series of large-scale light boxes which the artist recently left outside high visibility sites including central London tube stations, police stations, art galleries and major advertising hotspots including Piccadilly Circus.

I think it’s fair to assume that this means Price is retiring his and Sweet Toof’s Lenny The High Roller character. This has got to show some maturity that few other street artists have. I could rattle of a list of half a dozen or more top tier street artists who have essentially been relying for years on the same image or character that made them famous and it get’s irritating, but Price doesn’t seem to want to rest on his laurels.

And finally, some pictures:

I really want to hear from Price what this painting is about, because it could be one of the most controversial pieces of street art this year (even more controversial than most of Banksy’s work for sure). I really like it.