Although he’s been known in France for some time, Ken Sortais aka Cony finally popped up on my radar this year for his work at Komafest. Now he has his first show on in London. Princes of Darkness is open now through January 12th at Galleries Goldstein. The gallery has released a new screenprint from Sortais as part of the show, and it is available online for £45.
Alternative Paris has images on their site from the show, and they made this video (please note that although there is footage in the video from the film They Live, known as the film from which Shepard Fairey got the OBEY slogan, John Carpenter also made a film called Prince of Darkness just before They Live, which is presumably where Sortais got the title and theme of his show from rather than They Live):
It simultaneously amuses and saddens to me to no end how Richard Hambleton can be promoted and his works purportedly sold for astronomical sums by Valmorbida while at the same time fantastic paintings of his have difficulty reaching 5 figures at auctions when Valmorbida isn’t involved. Hambleton is one of the original street artists from the 1970’s, but his story has never really been told since the 1985 book Street Art by Allan Schwartzman. The short version is that Hambleton’s street art in the 70’s and 80’s, particularly his shadowmen, are easily up there with work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, or Jenny Holzer, but he has never really received due credit.
It’s difficult to say if Standing Lady Shadow #R1-R9 is worth the tens of thousands that a gallery might ask for it, the hundreds of thousands Valmorbida might ask for it, or something else, but I’m pretty confident that anything this solid by Hambleton should go for more than the $6,000 opening bid that artnet has it at right now.
I just hope there’s someone out there with $6,000 and a good home who agrees with me… The auction ends of December 20th just after noon Eastern Standard Time.
Here are some jpegs for your tumblrs. RJ is going to comment this and say “Looks like Sam3” and I’m going to contest that Sam3 does not own black silhouettes. These walls were painted by a duo based in Argentina by the name of Gaucholadri.
This weekend I’ve been without solid internet access, and Caroline and I have both been knee-deep in exams and final essays for the last week, so here’s a belated link-o-rama…
The New York Times has a story on Living Walls, centering on the removal of Hyuro’s mural a few months ago and now the removal of Roti’s mural. I hope that this does not dissuade artists or the amazing people behind Living Walls from doing more of the amazing work that they have become known for over the last three and a half years.
“Perameles Gunnii” EASTERN BARRED BANDICOOT (open doors). Photo courtesy of Alex Mitchell.
After meeting and developing a friendship with Roa in San Francisco earlier this year, I’ve been really looking forward to him arriving in Melbourne! I’ve always known Roa loved his animals, but have never appreciated him as much as I do until now.
Roa was invited by Healsville Sanctuary to visit and meet some of their animals and paint some walls. Healsville is a very special place and there is no doubt that experience shaped the entire trip in Melbourne and also heavily influenced the exhibition. There’s nothing like seeing an artist meet an animal, touch it, play with it, and then go off and paint it.
Bones. Photo courtesy of Alex Mitchell.
Roa’s inspiration for CARRION, his show that just closed at Backwoods Gallery in the Melbourne suburb of Collingwood, was a direct result of the visit to Healseville. The animals, the staff and their passion for the animals and having access to things even most Australians have never even experienced really made a difference.
Wombat skeleton on the wall outside Backwoods. Photo courtesy of Alex Mitchell.
So how did this impact the show? In so many ways! Firstly, all of the works were Australian native animals. But the installation, as Roa’s shows often are, was something else! The experience began even before entering the gallery, with the scent of something strange to come. Roa painted the wall in the alley way leading into Backwoods with a giant wombat skeleton. The strange smell kept luring you closer and closer, I won’t say it was a pleasant smell, far from it – soon you’ll understand why.
The entrance – CARRION. Photo courtesy of Alex Mitchell.
Upon entering Backwoods punters were greeted by a green wall with CARRION painted in red. To the right was a shed built inside the gallery, inside were several videos showing a wallaby autopsy (Roa got to watch and film this at the sanctuary). Rather confronting for those not knowing what to expect.
The shed with the Wallaby autopsy. Photo courtesy of Alex Mitchell.
Fish tanks were assembled throughout the gallery with a set of pipes joining them together for air flow. Inside was the cause of the smell, native Australian animals (a possum, a wallaby, an echidna, a kookaburra and several other birds) being slowly consumed by flesh eating beetles! If you were surprised by the autopsy video this was even more of a shock to some. Bones and various other found items were also scattered throughout the gallery.
Dead Kookaburra. Photo courtesy of Alex Mitchell.
The paintings, all of native Australian animals, were beautifully painted and came in a range of sizes and complexity (in terms of how many moving parts/doors they had). My favourite pieces were the Bandicoot, the Echidna, the platypus and the Honey Possum. Continue reading “Roa – “Carrion” at Backwoods Gallery, Collingwood”
I’m not always a fan of KR (I don’t care how good the ink is, a marker should not cost $10, and it should be designed to be refillable) or his murals (I’d much rather see pieces by Just or Katsu using similar techniques), but Olive47 got some great photos of a piece by KR in Miami.
German graffiti writer Just has been both a painter and photographer of street art and graffiti for over a decade. In this video, Just gives a little tutorial on how to use a fire extinguisher to uh… paint.
