Tag: cept

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Dots: A Burning Candy film and print release

Recently, I’ve been working with Burning Candy (Cept, Cyclops, Dscreet, Gold Peg, LL Brainwashed, Mighty Mo, Rowdy, Sweet Toof and Tek33) on a project that’s really got me excited. For me, Burning Candy are some of the most interesting and talented street artists living in the UK right now. In the UK, there isn’t a street artist who gets up harder, a graffiti writer who hits better spots or a crew that pushes the boundaries of their art further than the members of BC. So about this project…

A man called The Barron is directing a film about the rest of Burning Candy called Dots. This isn’t your ordinary graff film though. Since The Barron is a friend of the crew, he’s got more access than the standard documentary filmmaker would ever get. So far, he’s filmed and edited the first 20 minutes or so of the film. The next 70 minutes? It’s on its way, but Burning Candy needs the help of their fans to make it happen. To fund the making of the Dots, BC have made a box set of prints. All nine members of the crew have contributed an image to this print release. Since I’m working with BC on this print release, I’m obviously biased, but I don’t think there’s a bad image in the bunch.

So here’s the press release with all that vital info:

To help raise funds and make Dots a reality, Burning Candy has put together a limited edition set of 9 screenprints, one print from each member of the crew. The set will come in a hand-screenprinted bespoke box. The prints are 2-colors and A5 sized and the edition size is just 150. These prints aren’t only artwork; anyone who buys a set of prints will also own the rights to 0.05% of the films revenues for the next 10 years. 100% of the profits from these prints will go to funding the making of Dots.

The prints will be released online imminently for just £500. In the mean time, you can email sales(at)dotsfilm.com for more information.

And for those curious about my personal involvement in the film and print release, I’m helping out friends and artists that I believe in, but I’m also getting paid for my work.

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New from Cept, and the politics of graffiti removal

Cept has put this piece up recently. It looks great, but that’s not really the whole story. It was painted on top of a classic Cept. Why paint over the old piece? Turns out that the council demanded that the owners of the wall remove the graffiti because there had been complaints about it. Instead of paying the £5000 to clean the wall, they just had Cept paint something new there. Graffoto has the whole story, along with other examples of Hackney council’s inconsistent and often absurd graffiti removal policy.

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Cept at new gallery The Writers Bench

Cept

Got this kind of confusing press release in my inbox today. For what I’ve been able to gather, there is a new London art gallery opening next month in Kings Cross. The Writers Bench is a gallery for graffiti. Their first show will be a solo show with Cept called “A Frozen Explosion.” That show opens on September 3rd and runs for most of the month. For me, Cept’s gallery work can be hit or miss (my preference being his superhero work, not so much the purely text-based paintings or the Zodiac series), but I do like it when I think it works, so I’m curious to see what he’s got in store. And with a show title like “A Frozen Explosion,” I think it’s safe to say we can see cool pieces like this:

cept

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Playing catch up with a few links

Here’s a few things that I could/should have done full posts about, but I’d just like to quickly cover before they become too old and get lost in my inbox.

  • Until May 30th you can get a special “early bird” rate on tickets to OFFSET2009, a 3 day conference taking place in Dublin this November. A number of street/urban/low-brow artists will be there including D*Face, Asbestos, and Brad Downey.
  • Faile put up another prayer wheel in New York. Unfortunately, @newyourpulse has just tweeted that the piece is gone. A picture below (and more here):
    Faile
  • Jeff Soto has been in London. I’ve never been a fan of his work (admitted, I have only seen jpegs), which is why I didn’t cover his current show at StolenSpace Gallery, but he’s also done a couple street pieces which I like much more than his gallery work, so below is one of those. Also, here’s a recent interview with Soto for Civil Clothing.
    Jeff Soto
  • Public Ad Campaign‘s recent New York Billboard Takeover was even larger than I could have imagined. They’ve just released a Google map detailing all the work that was done. Great job guys. Looks like you took over the city (if only for a day or two).
  • And lastly, the Brooklynite Gallery‘s latest show has brought a bit of London to New York, with Sweet Toof and Cept getting up in across the pond.
    Cept Sweet Toof

Jeff Soto photo by Sabeth718, other photos by SMKjr

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Thoughts on Bonhams February Auction

Spent some time today checking out the catolog for the February 24th urban art auction at Bonhams in London. A few people have noted the extremely high number of Banksy lots (22 of 78) and dismissed this auction, but I’ve found a few potential deals to be had. If you’ve got the money to spend and you can weed through the crap, people are looking to sell some really nice work. Here’s what I’ve found:

1. Banksy – Kate Moss (series of 6)
Estimate: £100,000 – 150,000

Banksy Kate Moss

There was a time when just one of these 6 could go for £100,000. Perhaps Banksy’s most sought after print. The winner of this auction will be a very lucky man/woman in a decade. Continue reading “Thoughts on Bonhams February Auction”

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3 Reasons A Recession Is Good For Street Art

Work by K-Guy. Photo by K-Guy
Work by K-Guy. Photo by K-Guy

Everybody’s been talking about how the recession is going to destroy every part of our economy, and yeah, it probably will, but it’s not all bad new… street art might actually get a boost in the long run thanks to this economic downturn.

Here are three possible advantages for street art in this recession:

1. The not very talented artists who have found their way into galleries are going to be put in their place.
So many people have been buying street art either for the name of the artist, or just because it is street art. This year, some collectors are concerned that even great artists won’t sell much work. People have stopped buying for name or genre recognition. Collectors are buying those “special pieces” that they feel are particularly great. At the end of this recession, there are going to be a lot fewer crap street artists because their work  is going to stop selling. Nobody wants to buy a piece any more just because the Sotheby’s catalog describes it as “stencil and spray paint on found wood.” Continue reading “3 Reasons A Recession Is Good For Street Art”