Author: RJ Rushmore

RJ Rushmore has been involved in contemporary art as a writer, curator, photographer, arts administrator, and fan since 2008. With a focus on street art, graffiti, and public art, RJ facilitates and promotes catalytic and ambitious art outdoors, in galleries, and online. He founded the street art blog Vandalog and has worked at The L.I.S.A. Project NYC, Mural Arts Philadelphia, and Creative Time. Currently, RJ is Co-Curator of Art in Ad Places.
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Playing Field group show at Carmichael Gallery

Carmichael Gallery‘s next show is Playing Field, a group show of secondary market works. It opens this Saturday, June 18th and runs through August 9th. The line up hits most of the big names you’d expect to see as well as a few surprises: Banksy, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Sixeart, Os Gêmeos, Mark Jenkins, JR, KAWS, Barry McGee, José Parlá, Judith Supine, Swoon, Titi Freak, Dan Witz.

These sort of shows tend to be either really good or really bad. I’m liking the above piece by Barry McGee, so I’m thinking this should fall on the really good side of things. But LA residents can see for themselves starting on Saturday. The opening is from 6-9pm.

Photo courtesy of Carmichael Gallery

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OX hits the same billboard twice

OX‘s billboard takeovers are site-specific and often draw on the environment around them. OX has hit this particular spot in Paris at least twice, so these are pretty good examples of his thought process when designing a billboard takeover for a particular spot.

Photos by OX

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Retna: Hallelujah World Tour in London

Last week, Retna’s Hallelujah World Tour stopped in London. The show is open June 27th at The Old Dairy, a warehouse space at 7 Wakefield St, London, WC1N 1PB. If you go to see this show, you may think you’re lost. It does not look like there’s an art show at 7 Wakefield Street, but trust me, there is. It just might take a bit of searching to find. Once you do though, you realize that Retna has taken over a huge space with some equally huge paintings. I’ve seen a lot of Retna’s work over the last seven months, so I’ve been a bit spoiled for choice and certainly have some favorites in this show (the work on metal and a few others) and some that I don’t think were notable at all. Nonetheless, if you are in the UK and have not seen Retna’s work in the flesh, this is a show that you definitely should not miss. I spent about half an hour wandering the show and intend to revisit the it at least once. I just hope that in the future Retna has more time to paint his shows. It looks like most of this one was painted on site in London, which I don’t think nearly as bad a thing as I’ve heard people tell me it is, but it does limit what he can do. Here’s a sampling of the show…

Can you read the piece on the left? Hint: It is one word

Check out more images here.

Photos by RJ Rushmore

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Ron English at Lazarides Gallery

It’s been about two years since Ron English‘s last solo show in London, but he is back in a couple weeks for a solo show at Lazarides Gallery at their Rathbone Place gallery. If somebody could please explain the name of the show to us, that would be awesome. It is Skin Deep: Post-Instinctual Afterthoughts On Psychological Portraiture. So I’m not really sure what that’s about. But I did have a chance to get a sneak peak a much of the work for Skin Deep last month during a visit to Ron’s home and studio and I fell in love with a couple pieces. Expect a photos from that visit posted on Vandalog sometime soon. In the mean time, pop surrealism fans should mark their calendars: Skin Deep will be open at Lazarides from June 24th through July 21st.

Photo courtesy of Lazarides Gallery

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Two Everfresh shows

Meggs and Rone at The Underbelly Project. Photo by RJ Rushmore

Rone and Meggs from Everfresh Studio each have solo shows opening later this month. Rone will be at Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne. Meggs will be at Redbull Studios in London. Meggs’ so is presented by ZeroCool Gallery, so let’s hope this does not end in a repeat of their show last April. Very Nearly Almost has more info and teasers for both Rone’s show and Meggs’ show, here are the flyers:

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Clownsoldier heads to Pawn Works in Chicago

Clownsoldier is the next artist who will be showing at the Pawn Works gallery in Chicago. His solo show, The Human Cannon Ball will open in just under two weeks on Friday, June 24th. The press release describes Clownsoldier as “an explosion of absurdity wheatpasted onto a wall near you,” and I think that’s pretty accurate, but his gallery work isn’t half bad either! For this show, Clownsoldier has made collages on book covers and original paintings. In case you missed it, check out this studio visit I did with him last month. Clownsoldier’s best collages have a sense of wonder and playfulness. The combination of his fine arts background and seeming relative naiveté about street art culture combine to offer something a bit different from what street art fans have come to expect and yet make him the perfect fit for Pawn Works (whose previous shows have been with Specter and Gaia).

Check out The Human Cannon Ball at Pawn Works in Chicago, opening on June 24th from 7-11pm.

Photo courtesy of Pawn Works

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Weekend link-o-rama

"Circus" ad disruption in Philadelphia by Sorry

Wow, last week went by quickly. And Steph moved in with me today, temporarily. Should be a crazy few weeks. Here’s what I’ve been meaning to write about:

Photo by Carolinecaldwell

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Billy and Malarky at High Roller Society

Billy and Malarky, whose collaborations have recently been ending up on roll-down gates around London and Barcelona, have a two-man show opening on Friday June 10th at High Roller Society in London. Summer Breeze is sure to be a fun show, so stop by the opening from 7-10pm on Friday or check it out by July 3rd.

Photo courtesy of High Roller Society