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

Spotlight on Mighty Mo at Tony’s Gallery

Photo by S.Butterfly

Burning Candy have a show, A Fist Full of Paint, on right now at Tony’s Gallery in London. There’s work by Rowdy, LL Brainwashed, Sweet Toof, Dscreet and Mighty Mo. For the most part, it’s the sort of show you’d expect from Burning Candy. I’m a fan of the crew, so I enjoyed it. But most of the work wasn’t going to convert any new fans. The possible exception to that are the pieces by Mighty Mo. He has continued to develop his style of making realistic models of his outdoor work. These pieces were what everyone at the show was talking about, and they were as fun as ever. In fact, I think Mighty Mo is getting even better.

Photo by S.Butterfly

While Steph can go on about Morley all day long, Mighty Mo an artist who is actually finding an interesting way to transition from the street to the gallery. Like pieces by Invader, many of Mo’s sculptures depict actual street pieces, so the work acts as a sort of nostalgia trigger and documentation/preservation of outdoor pieces. At the same time, there’s a high level of craftsmanship.

Photo by S.Butterfly

And Mighty Mo can paint well on more traditional canvas as well. Check out this collaboration with Rowdy. It’s a knock-out… (yep, had to say it)

Mighty Mo and Rowdy. Photo by Alex Ellison

S.Butterfly has more photos from the show on her flickr, and if you’re curious about all the paint splatter on the walls of the gallery, watch this video.

Photos by S.Butterfly and Alex Ellison

Burning Candy – A Fist Full of Paint

The outside of Tony's Gallery

As you can read in the latest issue of Very Nearly Almost, Burning Candy is a crew in the midst of upheaval right now. Nonetheless, the remaining members of the crew have a show opening this week in London at Tony’s Gallery (just off of Brick Lane). Sounds like A Fist Full of Paint is going to be a madhouse, but what else would you expect from Burning Candy? BC hit the front of the gallery last week with a fire extinguisher full of bright red paint, and extinguishers are due to play a large role in the show itself too. Two members of BC held a showdown with extinguishers in the gallery, and part of the show will be an installation of the aftermath of that fight, as well as a short film depicting what went down. The show will also include some more traditional work from members of Burning Candy and more new footage from Dots, the film the crew have been working on I posted footage from about a month ago. That said, Burning Candy shows always seem to come together and evolve at the 11th hour, so there’s just one thing that can be said for sure about A Fist Full of Paint: Expect the unexpected.

The show opens on Thursday and runs through August 21st.

Photo by AdversMedia