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Via FFFOUND
Dennis McNett at ThinkSpace
It doesn’t get much better than Dennis McNett. I mean, this guy knows printmaking. Well he’s got a show coming up at ThinkSpace in LA, but it is only on for two days. So if you are in LA on August 8th or 9th, you’d best make your way down to see McNett’s work.
More at Brooklyn Street Art
Little faces
Flickr user 80R6 sent me these images of a little project he’s been up to. I’m not going to call it great art, but just one guy trying to brighten up the world, one smiley face at a time.
See more on 80R6’s flickr.
Vhils book and print releases
And Vhils is back on top in my book. Man has he been busy. First, the work he’s done at Truman Brewery here in London. Then his work at the Fame Festival in Italy (photo above). Now, he’s got a super limited edition book being released and some new hand worked prints at Lazarides. In the gallery, prints are what I think Vhils does best, so a new print from him is always exciting to me. Here’s some info from Lazarides about the prints and his book:
As the hugely successful “Scratching The Surface” exhibition by Vhils (aka Alexandre Farto) draws to a close at our Rathbone Place gallery this Saturday, the action moves to our Greek Street Shop this coming Friday, the 31st of July, with the highly anticipated release of a rather special edition of our favourite Portugeezer’s first book and 3 new hand-finished prints for Lazarides.
Featuring a lazer-cut front cover, the full colour, 80 page, 28 x 22 cm, hard-back book ‘Scratching The Surface’ is also signed by the artist, is strictly limited to only 100 copies worldwide, and costs £45.
Vhils has also been hard at work hand-finishing 3 new prints for us, and we’re pleased to announce that we’ll be making available 10 variants of each edition to be displayed at our Shop on Greek Street from 10 am this Friday. Each print is from an overall varied edition of 30, measures 70 x 49.5 cm, is signed by the artist, and available to purchase at £350. Whilst both the book and prints can be ordered by calling the Shop on 0203 214 0055/0066, those buying in person have the advantage of being able to select their favourite version and take it home right there and then.
Jonathan LeVine summer show
Beach Blanket Bingo is the summer group show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York. Some of the artists I’m looking forward to seeing work from are AJ Fosik, Onesto, Anthony Lister, Ron English, Elbowtoe and Dan Witz. In fact, here is one of Elbowtoe’s pieces, which I absolutely love. I think it might be a bit London inspired.
Vhils at FAME Fest
Just a quick note to show off one of Vhils’ pieces for FAME Fest. There is something quite ethereal about this work, which was made by scratching the plaster off a wall in the old part of Grottaglie. Great placement for it, too.
Vhils is also working on some gallery pieces while he’s in town for the exhibition at the festival’s conclusion.
Elisa x
TIME Magazine’s top street artists
TIME Magazine recently put out this piece about the “Top 10 guerrilla artists.”
Their choices (unranked, I would assume):
1. The Barrel Monster Guy – I for one am amazed how much publicity this guy got. Roadsworth is way cooler.
2. Basquiat – Don’t think anybody is going to argue this one
3. Mark Jenkins – Another choice who makes unexpected sculptural interventions. Way underrated.
4. Blek le Rat – Important, innovative, and cool, but certainly not the best.
5. SendAMessage.nl – These guys will spraypaint your note on the wall in Israel for $40. Wouldn’t really call them artists unless that only pays for materials.
6. Iz The Wiz – A legend. Somebody whose work should be better known. Just not the greatest graffiti writer of all time.
7. Banksy – The list couldn’t be complete without him.
8. Shepard Fairey – See my opinion on Banksy.
9. Simon Rhodia – This guy sounds awesome. He built a bunch of giant sculptures in his back yard, some over 100 feet tall.
10. Graffiti Research Lab – The geek community loves them (and I count myself among the geek community, I do write a blog after all), the press loves them, but GRL doesn’t seem to get the respect they deserve among graffiti and street artist fans.
The Os Gêmeos blog
Don’t know how I haven’t mentioned this yet, but Os Gêmeos have started blogging on 12oz Prophet. My favorite thing they’ve posted so far is this classic piece:
Installation at Critica Urbana
I was a little late to do some work for the exhibit, but I got to paint a room at the wonderful Critica Urbana festival when I returned from Madrid. The building that the exhibit is currently being held is a remarkably inspiring squat that has been functioning as a cultural center, bar, workshop and living space. The curators and organizers of the show had one room that had no installations so I decided that I would try to do something in the small bathroom.
Since I had a flight in the morning the next day I started painting at around 10pm and was able to finish at around 7am in time to take a shower and meet up with my dad to visit the Prada museum before going to the airport. The installation that I painted decided itself as the work proceeded in an improvisational fashion since I really didn’t know what I was going to do with the space.
The piece ended up being a warped version of the bear image that I have been working with as of late. It wrapped around three walls, the ceiling and the floor and emanated from a small seat in the opposite corner of the room facing the viewer. The image was abstracted until one sat in the corner and received the proper perspective. A drawing above the sink with the knife and pencil inside its basin, provided a reference of the image when entering the room.
the room prior to the installation
The final product from the seat in the corner of the room.
Thank you to the wonderfully kind and generous people at Critica Urbana. I’m so appreciative of their being down for the last minute arrangements. It was pretty down and dirty
– Gaia
What the Walala‽
Recently some new wheatpastes have been popping up around London by somebody called Walala. A quick flickr search reveals the artist is fashion designer Camille Walala. Here are a few shots of Walala’s work:
Photos from Camille Walala’s flickr