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Pez, Penfold, and their colourful characters

Malarky x Pez in London (and spot the Mr. Penfold). Photo by HookedBlog

I have always been a fan of colourful character based street art. For me personally, there is only so much of the polar opposite, stencil art, I can take before I find it all merges into one large mess of overlapping ideas and style. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the use of stencils on the street, and there are a few artists that I really appreciate, Mobstr for one. But I rather enjoy seeing streets of brightly painted walls and shutters with a variety of characters and shapes popping out at me.

HUH? by Mobstr. Photo by HookedBlog

There seems to be a steady increase in the amount of artists painting in this style, one in which I feel the Burning Candy Crew recently promoted in the UK, but has been pushed by a variety of other artists including Malarky, Lucas, Ronzo, Billy, Sweet Toof, Paul Insect, Vinnie Nylon, and Mr. Penfold, among others.

My enjoyment of character based street art has been stirred this week by Pez, painting some nice pieces in the run up to his show at Tony’s Gallery, but also through Mr. Penfold’s exploits in Birmingham. I hope you enjoy them all as much I as do.

Pez in London. Photo by HookedBlog.
Mr. Penfold x Tempo 33 in Birmingham. Photo by Mr. Penfold
Mr. Penfold in Birmingham. Photo by Mr Penfold

Photos by Mr Penfold and HookedBlog

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Everything Ever & Nothing Never at Needles & Pens

Read More Books

This weekend Needles & Pens in San Fransisco has what looks to be a particularly cool group show opening. Everything Ever & Nothing Never, curated by Austin McManus, includes work by Read More Books, Deuce 7 and many others. The show opens this Saturday from 7-9pm and runs through May 27th. Seeing work made for indoors by either Read More Books or Deuce 7 isn’t too common, so seeing the art of these two very talented artists together in the same show is a rare opportunity. Don’t miss this one. Check out our exclusive preview of Everything Ever & Nothing Never after the jump…

Continue reading “Everything Ever & Nothing Never at Needles & Pens”

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G40 Art Summit murals

Aryz for the G40 Art Summit

By this weekend, the G40 Art Summit will have brought 19 new murals to Richmond, Virginia. This year’s version of Art Whino‘s annual event includes 19 new walls by muralists from around the world and an indoor group exhibition with over 500 artists across 6 locations. You can go here for more about the indoor show, which opens this evening. Once all the murals are done, you can expect a massive post here on Vandalog with photos of a lot of them. Artists painting murals include Aryz, Gaia, Jaz and Roa. For now, here are two videos of walls in-progress:

Photo by Shane Pomajambo

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This Side of Paradise @ the Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx: Scenes from an Opening

RJ shared background info and some photos last week regarding This Side of Paradise, an extraordinary exhibition that opened this evening at the Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx.  Curated by Keith Schweitzer with No Longer Empty, it features the work of over two dozen artists who — working in a wide array of styles and media — have transformed an abandoned mansion into a fascinating aesthetic experience, embracing a range of social and cultural issues. Here are some photos captured at the opening that focus on those artists whose works have been surfacing on the streets of the Bronx for years:

Daze
Crash installation, close-up with young documentarian at work
How & Nosm, close-up of huge 3-dimensional installation

Photos by Lenny Collado, Sara Mozeson and Lois Stavsky

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La Pandilla and Trek Matthews for Living Walls Concepts

Trek Matthews

Keeping with their tradition of bringing attention to under-appreciated artists, the latest edition of Living Walls Concepts (the mini festivals organized by the Living Walls organization) has just the duo La Pandilla to Atlanta where they were matched up with local artist Trek Matthews. Although I’d heard of Trek Matthews and La Pandilla, I definitely haven’t followed them closely. Now though, particularly with La Pandilla, I’m going to have to pay more attention. Here’s what Living Walls’ Joshua Rackliffe had to say about these artists:

La Pandilla (Puerto Rico) and Trek Matthews (Atlanta, GA) were the latest participants of Living Walls Concepts. Over the course of a week, the artists produced a mural in the historic Cabbagetown neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The duo behind La Pandilla created a piece true to their signature imagery of contoured, meticulous animal hybrids; their mural was installed with only brushes and Chinese ink, leaving behind a large format piece of art that activated the neighborhood and instigated ideas of enhancing the public space adjacent to the work. Several hundred feet away, emerging artist Trek Matthews painted the wall at Wylie & Carroll Street in the heart of Cabbagetown. His work combines imagery of tribal, geometric, and sacred iconography. The end result: a well-decorated and thoughtful design that blends itself into the urban landscape.

La Pandilla. Click image to view large

Photos by Bonham Johnson

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Pez – Smiling since 1999

Pez (the Spanish one) has his first UK solo show opening this week at Tony’s Gallery. Like most shows at Tony’s Gallery, Smiling since 1999 will be a mixture of installations and works on more traditional materials like canvas. Taking advantage of his time in London to hype the show a bit, Pez has been painting in Shoreditch.

Smiling since 1999 opens this Thursday evening from 6-9pm and runs through May 6th. Promises to be a fun show.

Image by Pez