Ad Hoc Art‘s final show, I Know There is Love with Armsrock and Chris Stain, opened this weekend and Luna Park took some photos.
More photos from Luna Park or my pre-opening post
Beach Blanket Bingo at Jonathan LeVine
Beach Blanket Bingo, the summer show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, opened this week. Here are a few of my favorite piecest there:
Chris Stain and Armsrock preview
Just got a few preview shots for you of the Chris Stain and Armsrock show that opens this Friday at Ad Hoc Art. I’ve got a few friends who are currently on holiday in New York, and I’ve been urging them to all go to the opening of “I Know There is Love.” Last year’s show here in London with Chris Stain, Armsrock and Poncho was absolutely fantastic (got myself a Chris Stain from that show hanging right next to me as I type), and so I expect their work at Ad Hoc to be just as good. And look out for another post here on Vandalog after the show opens.
Photos via Ad Hoc Art
More photos at Arrested Motion
Dalek + Delta at Elms Lesters
I’ve got a book about Dalek sitting on my desk and just a few weeks ago saw some very cool work from Delta in Paris, so I’m glad to finally announce that these two artists will be doing 2 person show at Elms Lesters later this month. Dalek’s progression from graffiti to Murakami like precession and his ability to create new worlds is rivalled in street art only by perhaps KAWS, and Delta’s work just needs to be seen in person to be appreciated. The detail is too great for any jpeg to ever explain. This show should be a real treat.
Here are all the details from Elms Lesters:
28 August – 26 September 2009
Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 6pm, Thursdays ’til 8pmThis exhibition brings together two International painters of magnitude.
James Marshall, aka DALEK, who currently lives in Carolina, and Amsterdam based Boris Tellegen, aka DELTA, are both masters of their handling of colour and texture.
Marshall, who spent a year as an assistant to Takashi Murakami, has developed and honed a technique of meticulously applying flat blocks of colour, whilst playing with shapes and exaggerated optical perspectives.
“Two changes in technique have recently allowed DALEK to ratchet the spatial complexity up a notch. In linear terms, there’s an increased overlapping between forms whilst, in colour terms, subverting the light-to-dark or conversely dark-to-light build-up of tonal depth by interjecting chop-change colour values at will across the picture plane to break up conventional recession “ Ben Jones – art historian
Conversely, Tellegen is constantly experimenting with his his complex ‘architectural’ paintings, collages and 3D sculptural wall pieces, discovering, through his use of colour and references to urban decay, how to play with perspectives through the build up of textures and shadows.
“There’s an openness in DELTA’s practice to organic breakdown which might at first seem antithetical to the precision of his work’s apparently precise graphic underpinning. Thinking back to one of his street pieces, with the moss proliferating and gradually covering the relief, helps point up in a rare natural example a key conceptual theme for DELTA throughout: the organic system and its threat to subsume the man-made.” Ben Jones – art historian
Private View: Thursday 27th August between 6 – 9pm
More at Elms Lesters
Opening soon at Carmichael Gallery
This month’s offerings at Carmichael Gallery are a bit different from their usual fare. In the front gallery, Guy Denning has a solo show, and in the rear gallery, an all female group show called A Mirror Distorted. I say these are a bit different because only one artist of the whole bunch works on the street. The rest are considered part of the enigma that is urban art. Both shows open on August 6th.
From Slamxhype:
Celebrity Will Eat Itself explores the notion of the eternally solipsistic über-celebrity in all its splendor, hedonism, and pain. With intense brushstrokes and a dynamic use of texture, Denning unravels the darkness inherent in the socially dysfunctional idols of our time and the potentially damaging effects of Hollywood idolatry on both the idols and the idol-worshippers.
Says Denning, “I think this obsession is damaging not only to cultural growth but also to general social well-being and development.”
Denning has long entranced fans with the striking style and ethereal beauty of his androgynous portraiture. Sexual and temporal politics, objectification and isolation are illuminated through a carefully honed juxtaposition of shape and shade. His paintings blend an elegant classical form with an unflinching reflection upon issues that dog contemporary Western society.
From Carmichael Gallery:
Carmichael Gallery invites you to attend A Mirror Distorted, an all-female international group show featuring new works on canvas, paper and mixed media fabric by artists Andrea Michaelsson, Candice Tripp, Cherri Wood and Pam Glew.
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
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.
Two galleries worth a mention
Two gallery shows to mention today.
First, a show that surpised me. Last time Jaybo had a solo show in London, it wasn’t for me. Naturally, I didn’t rush to see Jaybo’s new paintings at Signal Gallery. Earlier this week, I made it over and I have to say I liked this new work much more.
Still not something I’m super pumped about, but at least I enjoyed stopping by, and there were one or two portraits of girls (like the one above) that I could see on my walls at home.
And the second gallery I need to mention is one that I’m very curious and excited about. As Black Rat Press closes up shop for the summer and the Matt Small paintings come down from the walls, you will still be able to find work from Matt and fellow BRP artist Luc Price over in New York City at Glowlab. July 30th is the opening of X: The Multiples Exhibition at Glowlab. Here’s the PR on that show:
Glowlab is pleased to present the group show X: The Multiples Exhibition, bringing together thirteen artists producing works linked via their mode of production. The artists included have published, screen-printed, photographed, performed and sculpted pieces that are identical either in manufacture or concept. The show’s title refers not only to the mathematical function of multiplication, but also to the crossing of aesthetic, commercial and conceptual boundaries when art is made in multiples.
So basically, Matt and Luc are showing screenprints. Matt’s prints are always as lovely as his paintings, which is exciting, and I have no idea what Luc is going to do, as his recent gallery work has been so different from his street work as Cyclops, and he has never done a print (to my knowledge) under his real name before. Looking forward to the pictures.
Urban Angel – The Show Must Go On
Yesterday I had the chance to see Urban Angel’s latest group show, The Show Must Go On.
There are a bunch of artists involved in the show, but I’ve just picked a few high (and low) lights to cover here.
As usual, Best Ever is coming out with even better work. These guys have continued to develop their style into something distinctive and just plain cool to look at.
Also some cool work from Remi. Just when I think I’m going to get tired of his stuff, he paints something to get me interested again. The sketch in particular caught my eye.
Ok and now for that lowlight (is that a word?) I mentioned. Mantis. Mantis has done some work that I like. His work at Hackney Wick is not to be missed and I’m sure that if this stencil had been by Banksy, it would be worth a couple hundred grand. But his latest piece by Old Street just doesn’t cut it for me. I get the message, but it’s about 10 months too late and not that great to begin with. And why does he have to turn that image into a print release and an original work after being on the street for less than a month?
Surely, the message is now completely gone. The way I saw this piece on the street, it is about how people paid absurd amounts of money for Banksy’s work, which is often meant to make a poltical statement about poverty, when instead they could spend that money actually helping some starving African kids. And now I’m expected to buy that image from Mantis. No thank you.
So as to not end on such a sour note, let me say that there is also new work from Mikael Alacoque in the show, and though I could never have one of those dogs in my house all the time, they sure are fun to go and have a look at.
Photos by WallKandy
Vhils – Scratching The Surface
Can we all just agree that the very best work at the Cans Festival was Vhils? That would make this whole thing a lot easier. Vhils completely surprised everybody there by literally taking a jackhammer to the walls of Leake Street. So then he released a couple of prints at Pictures on Walls which sold out instantly. They are beautiful and the bleaching technique is different from what anybody else is doing. Occasionally, there would be original work from Vhils available through Lazarides or at a gallery in Portugal. People loved his torn poster portraits and city-scapes. When Lazarides announced a Vhils solo show, it was cause for celebration. That show, “Scratching The Surface,” opened on July 3rd.
Now, I wasn’t in London for the opening, but I made sure to visit the gallery as soon as I got back in town.
The show includes a few different kinds of work from Vhils. First of all, there are his wonderful installation pieces that are carved into a temporary wall that has been installed in the gallery. These are probably his most iconic and identifiable works (check out this cool video of Vhils chiseling them). Then there are his almost as well known ripped poster portraits. These two styles take up more than half of the show. Although I like these works, there are just too many in this show.
The above piece was my favorite of Vhils’ ripped poster style, and I think it was one of only 2 of that style in the room it was in. Maybe it is a coincidence, but I think that maybe this style just doesn’t work well when you see a lot of them at once. They just don’t seem as well. I also like the drips on this one and the way it looks much more like a natural occurrence than some of the other paintings.
Then there were the pieces carved into wood.
They looked beautiful, and there were only a couple, so I’m still eager to see more. I think that’s the way to do it. Now I’m excited to see where Vhils takes this style in the future.
Another style I’m looking forward to more of are the pieces on metal.
They remind me of Vhils’ prints, and have a nice 3D look to them while, ironically, the actually 3d carving and ripped poster pieces look very 2d.
I think that the user “Irony” on the WallKandy forums sums up this show very well: “One of the few examples where the art in pictures looks better than the ‘live’ art. Although I see plenty of potential there (technique, variety of material used, skills), it just doesn’t work well in the gallery. Too clean and deliberate. And the mostly portrait theme of the show doesn’t help either. However one of the better artist out there.”
I like the portrait style, but would have liked to see more of Vhils’ cityscape pieces mixed in, and Vhils definitely has talent, I’m just not sure he quite compares to some of the other artists having solo shows at Lazarides just yet. After seeing the show, I suggested on twitter that maybe it could have been better as a two man show. Maybe I would be more excited about Vhils’ new work if there had been half as much, because then it would have been varied, and only the better half of this show would have been on display, and that better half is definitely worth checking out.
Although this post has been a bit critical of Vhils, I have to say that that some of my favorite new pieces of art for the past year have been Vhils’ prints, and I would urge people to check out his latest print release at Pictures on Walls, which is still available.