The latest in my series of videos for Babelgum Metropolis is online. Essentially, I’ve figured out how to best enjoy the latest large mural from Burning Candy as well as new pieces by Blek le Rat and Pure Evil which have popped up in East London.
Also, yesterday I meant to post a video of me at MuTate Britain, but accidentally posted another video of the show. Well here is the video I meant to post:
The first (along with the time lapse video of Roa painting) in a series of videos I’ve started to make for Babelgum.com is this tour of The Brick Lane Zoo, a show that just closed at The Brick Lane Gallery. Every week there will be two new videos going online: one will be a sort of different video like a time lapse or an extended interview, and the other will be me checking out the latest street art gallery openings.
In this video, make sure to listen to what Pure Evil says toward the end about street art and graffiti. And hey, there’s an interview with Roa so that’s awesome.
I’ve got a few shows opening this week to highlight, most of them in London, one in Brazil.
Let’s start in Brazil. Sixeart has his first solo show in Brazil opening on Tuesday the 11th.
Sixeart “Sueñan las gallinas con ser humanas”
In 2008 the Spanish artist Sixeart achieved international fame by participating in “STREET ART AT THE TATE MODERN” in London, along with brazilian Os Gemeos, and Nunca, french JR, united states Faile and italian Blu. Today his works are shown in Spain alongside those of Miró, Chillida and Tapies.
“Sueñan las gallinas con ser humanas” is series of 13 new pieces on paper made exclusively to be exhibited in ROJO®artspace Sao Paulo from 11.08.2009 to 05.09.2009.
ROJO®artspace Sao Paulo
POP. Rua Virgilio de Carvalho Pinto 297,
Pinheiros. 05415-030 Sao Paulo. Brazil
talk: +55 11 3487 1677 online: http://www.rojo-saopaulo.com
And now back to London.
My Thursday evening starts off with a stop over at Lazarides‘ Rathbone Place gallery for Invader show ‘Low Fidelity’. There should be everything we’ve come to expect from the Parisian globe trotter: mosiac video game characters, rubix cubes, QR codes and even sculpture. Personally, I’ve always preferred the thrill of discovering an Invader on the street to seeing it in my home, but that hasn’t stopped me from buying one in the past. I’m curious, though not enthusiastic, about what this show will bring. Plus, everybody knows that Lazarides throws great opening parties.
Then it’s off to Pure Evil’s gallery for his solo show which mixes art and music.
And then maybe a stop over at Urban Angel for “The Sentiment of Love,” a show of erotic photography.
Friday night I hope to be back in Shoreditch for the launch of London Handstyles at Rarekind Gallery. Another London graffiti book.
Two really enjoyable street art videos hit the blogosphere today.
The first is from Pure Evil. He’s been in Brazil for a show, and it looks like he’s having a great time checking out the street art there. Some really cool work by extremely talented artists, most of whom I’ve never heard of.
C00l Pure Evil story. The other day, my friend asked me about buying some art for her room. She’s into stuff like Rothko, but I thought I’d try to get her into street art. I sent her an email with links to about 15 street artists to try to get a feel for her taste. I figured she’d end up loving stuff by Remi/Rough or Anthony Lister for their more traditional styles. I threw Pure Evil onto the list because I have a piece by him that I really like, but I didn’t expect her to like it at all. It’s a stencil and it just didn’t seem like her taste. Turns out, Pure Evil was her favorite artist that I linked to. Now, she and I are going to stop by Pure Evil’s gallery to check out his work in person. So that’s my tangent for the day.
The other video is of Shepard Fairey on CBS. It’s a pretty good interview, though I think I caught an error or two when they talk about his original Andre the Giant campaign. Fairey mentions his problems with the AP and claims that his work falls under free speech, so he is not guilty. Can’t wait to hear how that argument plays out in court. I’d love it if he gets off not guilty with that defense.
Via The Art Collectors Blog and Hooked
UPDATE: I had an error in this article. Pure Evil tells me that Lister bought a comic or two featuring The Joker right before hearing of Ledger’s death. Not a tabloid magazine. The photo that Lister used for his painting was found at a different time.
Here’s the second of my artist profiles based on the Saints and Sinners show at the St. Martin’s Lane Hotel.
Walking around Shoreditch and Hackney, Pure Evil’s work is almost impossible to ignore. He is undoubtedly one of London’s most prolific street artists, both in how much of his work is on the streets, and how varied the work can be.
PE’s work stems from a fear that something is just going wrong is the world. “I just kinda have this sense of a shit-storm coming, you know, all the time,” he said. In part due to this sense of impending doom, he spends much time researching its potential causes: from the power of multi-national corporations to Milton Friedman’s economic theories and groups like the Illuminati. When his reactions to his research emerge in his work, PE says they often get mixed up and come out as a sort of hodgepodge of fears.
Much of PE’s work parodies or plays on pop culture gone wrong. “I’m trying to summon the dark side of popular culture,” he said.
The PE persona comes from some of his early childhood experiences. When he was young, he would spend time with his cousins in the countryside. PE’s cousins had a lot of guns, and he used to walk around the countryside with guns strapped to his body. One day, his cousins gave him a shotgun and let him go out hunting for small game. While he was out, he “saw some rabbits and shot them,” said PE. “I didn’t think anything of it and then walked over and there was actually a rabbit that had been shot, and it’s that kind of thing where you go ‘what does that actually gain?’” Killing the rabbit made PE realize that death is real and that it can come so easily from something as simple as a gun. “[The Pure Evil tag is] the idea that this rabbit that I killed is now sort of undead and coming back to haunt me.” Continue reading “What Is Pure Evil?”
