As promised a few days ago, here’s a round up for Meeting of Styles in London last weekend. Really a top notch graffiti festival. Check out the flickr pool for more photos.
Photos by delete08 and nolionsinengland
Meeting of Styles London 2009
Faile… I mean Greg Gossel
Okay I really hate these posts, so I avoid them as much as I can, but I just have to write how I feel about Greg Gossel. I’m sure he’s a great guy, but his work is just too much like Faile‘s. Today, Arrested Motion posted an interview with Gossel, and Gossel even addressed this concern of mine, so I must say that’s nice of him.
Here’s what was said:
AM: While I don’t take chat room bickering and pigeon-holing seriously, you have been referred to as “the poor man’s Faile”, what are your thoughts on this comparison and on artistic influences in general?
GG: Yeah, to be honest, that’s something that definitely bothered me when I initially heard things like that, but these days I really try not to pay too much attention to a lot of that stuff. Those guys do great work and have been very successful with a really recognizable style. I understand that there are some obvious stylistic similarities between their work and my own, so I see how the comparison is made. I think it’s human nature to make comparisons, whether it be art, music, or anything else. I’m the same way when listening to an album, or checking out a new artist, so I think it just kind of comes with the territory that if you’re creating work and putting yourself out there, you’re always subject to those types of comparisons and criticisms. There are some people out there who spend a bit of time online checking out my work, and would rather label me as some sort of imitation of Faile, rather than take the time to learn much about my past work or how I got to where I am today. But ultimately, I know that my own work will continue to change and evolve over time as it has over the past 5 years, so I really just try to stay focused on continuing in my own direction, and not worry too much about some of the negativity and criticisms that are floating around out there.
So that’s Gossel’s view of the situation. I’m going to assume most readers are familar with Faile’s work. Otherwise, you can look here. Now, Faile’s influences aren’t that hard to spot either, but just have a look at Gossel’s work:
Okay, so that piece is pretty influenced by Faile, but his latest work, which can be seen in that Arrested Motion interview, is the sort of thing that could actually be mistaken for early Faile work. I really don’t like the idea that this guy’s work is looking more and more like Faile. Maybe that’s just me though.
Banksy Show June 13th
Banksy’s official website has changed to just this –
Rumor has it, the location is Bristol, and there might be animals involved. (source for the rumors? Banksynews twitter)
Photos from Venice
It is 2am right now in Venice, so I’ll leave the text describing all of this for another day, but here are my photos from the trip. A few of the photos are of work from Shepard Fairey, 2 are of a random stencil I found, a few are of the band Dark Dark Dark performing, and the rest are of The Swimming Cities of Serenissima.
My Thursday Night
This week there were a number of great art openings in London. My friend and I went to 3 of them.
First was Charming Baker‘s show “The Meaning of Everything” at The Gallery on Redchurch Street. I know they say to save the best for last, but we decided to mix it up and start where I thought we would see the best work. I was right. Charming’s show was extremely cool. For me, his paintings either click and I think they are just fabulous, or they don’t click at all and I think they’re boing. Not much middle ground. Luckily, this show is full of pieces that really click with me. And the prints are extremely well made, which is always nice. I even went back today to check it all out in more detail. My only real criticism would be that the prices seem a bit high, even though the pieces are big. I saw a few works have already sold, so I could be wrong, but I don’t expect the show to sell out. Here are a few of the paintings. Photos are from S-Butterfly, and here is the rest of her set:
After the jump, my visits to Stella Dore and The Pure Evil Gallery… Continue reading “My Thursday Night”
Look closely: Unique urban signage
One of the best thrills of street art is walking by a piece a dozen times before realize it is there. Here are a few pieces of unauthorized signage that might just pass at first glance, and then once you get the joke, it’s totally obvious.
This piece by D&D, perhaps the kings of this sort of work, has been up since 2003.
Of course, there are hundreds of these sorts of signs. Leave your favorites in the comments section or shoot me an email. I’d love to do a Part 2 of this post.
Via Wooster Collective and Urban Prankster (Urban Prankster is an amazing source for these sort of things by the way)
No posers in Sydney
From letters to logos
I touched on this issue the other day, but I thought there was more to be said and some examples to be given.
There are a few graffiti writers who are blurring the line between graffiti and street art by painting trademark characters or symbols instead of, or in addition to, their names. Of course, painting characters has been around since the earliest days of graffiti, but in recent years, certain crews and writers have taken that a step further.
Here are a few examples of writers who I think are really pioneering a new form of character based graffiti. I think it could, and should, be one important direction for graffiti and street art in the coming years.
More after the jump… Continue reading “From letters to logos”
Self-Portraits @ CircleCulture
Circleculture Gallery’s next show is “Self-Portraits.”15 artists including D*face, Best Ever, JR, Jaybo, Charlie Isoe, Judith Supine, and Word To Mother will be exhibiting their self-portraits from June 5th.
Here’s the PR:
SELF-PORTRAITS
by contemporary urban artists from five continentsD-FACE / ANTON UNAI / JR / JAYBO AKA MONK / JUDITH SUPINE / XOOOOX / KILLPIXIE / DTAGNO / :PHUNK / STEFAN HIRSIG / AARON ROSE / MAROK / DALE GRIMSHAW / OSKAR / BEST EVER / NOMAD / WORD TO MOTHER / MYMO / STEFAN STRUMBEL / SOPHIE REINHOLD / CHARLIE ISOE / RUTGER TERMOHLEN
The idea of this exhibition is to approach the historical theme of self-portraits and to bring it into a contemporary art context. A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist. Although self-portraits have been made by artists since the earliest times, it is not until the Early Renaissance in the mid 1400s that artists can be frequently identified depicting themselves as either the main subject, or as important characters in their work. With better and cheaper mirrors, and the advent of the panel portrait, many painters, sculptors and printmakers tried some form of self-portraiture… In this respect it will be an interesting and new experience to show the vision of the “self-portrait” by contemporary urban artists from all over the world.
Opening reception: friday june 5th, 7-10 pm
until july 4th 2009 / tue-sat 2-6 pmCircleculture Gallery
Gipsstrasse 11
Berlin Mitte / Germany
Circleculture Gallery has a history of doing shows with the best street artists before they are known as the great street artists. Examples? JR, Shepard Fairey, and Steve Powers to name a few. Okay, Shep and Powers were probably already known as great, but they are definitely much more popular today.
That’s what I was presently suprised to see Best Ever on this lineup for this show. Apparently, some people over on the Banksyforum have been dissing Best Ever for looking too much like Herakut. I think this is some evidence that Best Ever isn’t just some Herakut rip off. A German gallery is asking them, a UK duo, to exhibit alongside artists like Shepard Fairey and JR (Herakut is from Germany).
Location. Location. Location
As the best street artists, and estate agents, will tell you, location is everything. These pieces that have popped up recently in New York City are just amazing examples of this.
First up, Judith Supine. Now, part of the reason this looks so good is probably due to Becki’s photography, but Supine definitely knows how to pick interest places for his work.
And of course, this piece by Dan Witz deserves a mention. It looks like a real person, or at least a sculpture like Mark Jenkins might do, but apparently it is just a 2d painting, like the rest of Witz’ work. Amazing. It’s definitely also seeing larger.
Photos by Becki Fuller