Last night my friends and I made it to four gallery openings.
We started at Pam Glew‘s show at Stella Dore. There are a few pieces that are pretty cool and her bleeching technique is interesting, but I think I’ve become a bit jaded by street art. I couldn’t keep from thinking: “portraits from a one-layer stencil” And of course, those seem to be everywhere these days. My friend who doesn’t obsessively follow street art didn’t have that same bias, and really enjoyed everything.
Next we stopped by the Pure Evil Gallery for London graffiti icon Panik’s first show in a gallery. The top floor has photographs, a print, and a few original works that are a very different style from your typical Panik throw-up. The largest piece, Stupid O’Clock was my personal favorite. The downstairs was split into two sections. The first reminded me of a 1970’s-80’s graffiti show: Every piece was Panik throw ups in marker on paper. Only just over £100 if I remember correctly. Cool if you like that sort of thing, but not for me. My favorite work was in the last room of the gallery. The work here is by other London graffiti artists that Panik paints with (most of whom are also part of ATG). Mighty Mo’s monkey head on concrete might not be the best piece of art I’ve ever seen, but it is COOL. It’s just a slab of concrete with his logo on it, but where else are you going to see that?
Part2ism at The Art Lounge was meant to be our final stop for the evening. Of the 5 or so people in our group, we all had different favorite work in the show. Personally, I preferred his more abstract work that takes up the lower floor. My friends’ favorites were all from his women wearing gas masks series. I came into the show having never seen a gallery piece by Part2ism, and I came out very pleased with what he’s making. I even stopped by again today to check it out without the crowds.
The last show we stopped at, after randomly coming across it, was Dr. D’s show in a launderette. Honestly, I was surprised, but I didn’t really enjoy the show. Just not very interesting. Luckily, Dr. D’s work on the street is still going strong.