REVIEWS

LUDO at Starkart gallery – La Belle Vie

We arrived in Zurich to find that the centre of town, near where we are staying is insanely upper class. Ferrari’s and Bentleys cruising the streets typically driven by what looked like teenage boys and the main streets lined with cafe’s filled with people wearing Gucci sunglasses laughing and sipping their cocktails.

It was not something that we were expecting and thought that it was extremely superficial, until we ventured of the beaten track in search of Starkart gallery that was hosting the LUDO solo show.

The neighbourhood that Starkart is located in is very culturally diverse and much more down to earth.

Starkart is one of the most understated spaces we have come across, set inside an old residence turned commercial space that gives no impression of what is happening behind the scenes.

The Ludo show is set over multiple rooms on two levels, it is a minimalistic show, with the works widely spread out to make use of the vast space provided.

The ground floor displays originals from his “nature’s revenge” series and the basement features two video installations of his work processes, from creation to installation on the street.

It really felt like urban exploration venturing into this show, moving from room to room, some brightly lit and others very dark with the sound of what seemed like a old French record echoing from the basement.

Check out the full set of Ludo pics here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chasingghosts/sets/72157626390493355/

BLOG, FEATURE, STREET ART

New Banksy in Calais depicts Steve Jobs

Banksy in Calais | Art-PieYou’ve probably heard of Banksy‘s Dismaland, a dystopian amusement park which closed its doors in October of this year.  However you may not have known the installations used for this art project have since been transferred to the port-side town of Calais France by volition Banksy himself.  Labeled “Dismal Aid”, the timber and building materials have been repurposed into housing, children’s play areas, and community centers for the 7000+ Syrian refugees.

At the same time, Banksy has taken this opportunity to spread a few messages about the situation of “The Jungle”, the largest refugee camp in Western Europe. Three new pieces with very strong messages can be seen around Calais – read on below to see the images and brief descriptions.

The Steve Jobs Piece

With weathered clothing and an exhausted body language we see a depiction of Steve Jobs, sporting the now notorious expression from this iconic photograph.  Steve carries an old Macintosh computer and a bin bag or rucksack on his shoulders. The message? Jobs is himself a son of Syrian migrants, he is of the same lineage as the refugees escaping ISIS today.

In a rare public statement to accompany the piece, Banksy expressed his drive and the message:

“We’re often led to believe migration is a drain on the country’s resources but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian migrant. Apple is the world’s most profitable company, it pays over $7billion a year in taxes – and it only exists because they allowed in a young man from Homs.”

Banksy in Calais | Art-Pie
Banksy in Calais | Art-Pie

The Medusa Piece in the Center of Calais

Based on French artist Théodore Géricault’s Raft of The Medusa, Banksy updates the dark and striking piece with a small background image of a modern cruise ship or luxury yacht. The boat, like the original piece, is embroiled in an intense struggle with the sea.  The message of “We are not all in the same boat” speaks for itself.

Banksy in Calais | Art-Pie Banksy in Calais | Art-Pie

The Young Boy Piece on the Beach

A silhouette of a young boy can be seen looking through a telescope while a vulture watches over him. The message of hope, future and dreams is cast harshly against a looming potential reality of darkness and death.

Banksy in Calais | Art-Pie

These artworks have been well-received by the city of Calais with an official statement in the local newspaper by mayor Natacha Bouchart, describing their value for the city.  The city has expressed their commitment to protect the pieces behind transparent plastic shields, so the message and artworks remain intact for the foreseeable future.

Uncategorized

Elissa Franceschi EP Launch at Nothing Hill Arts Club

Elissa Franceschi | Art-PieIntroducing Elissa Franceschi, a prolific songwriter with a distinctive powerhouse vocal who has built a reputation based on organic, grass roots promotion and haunting live performances. Having previously performed in some of the UK’s most famous venues (Brixton Academy, The Roundhouse, Astoria and Wembley Arena – supporting Paramore and You Me At Six), Elissa spent the majority of 2012 performing all over the UK with her live band, and being teamed up with the country’s top songwriting production houses (of Jessie J & Ellie Goulding fame) to co-write for other artists.

The release of ‘Devoid of Rue’ on 24th June 2013, the follow-up EP to Elissa’s three independent album releases ‘Touch’, ‘I Hold My Breath’, and ‘Into The Light’. Recorded and mixed by Matt O’Grady (You Me At Six, Don Broco, Deaf Havana), ‘Devoid Of Rue’ was funded without label support but instead through a successful fan-funded Pledge Music campaign, where Elissa gave fans exclusive access to bonus tracks and videos, opportunities for one-of-a-kind experiences, along with live updates which gave fans a unique interactive look at the process of making the EP. The embedded stream can be found here;

The record is an evolution of songwriting for Elissa, giving new listeners a taste of previous albums in the beautiful piano-and-vocal-only track ‘Oceans’, and existing fans something new in the form of the rockier ‘Outside My Body’. With additions of atmospheric ‘Chasing Something’, epic ‘Dust’, and the anthemic brand new single ‘All These Days’ – this EP really showcases the exciting and emerging talent Elissa Franceschi has become.

Elissa saw even greater success in 2012 as the first artist hand-picked to perform at the London 2012 Olympics as part of the Emerging Icons search for the UK’s best unsigned talent, and saw her track ‘Rainbow On Fire’climb Number 14 on the iTunes Singer-Songwriter chart through word of mouth alone. Now, 2013 has seen Elissa scale new heights with recent single ‘Salt’ being voted as ‘Track Of The Week’ on the Radio 1 Review Show with Edith Bowman, beating global superstar artists Beyoncé, will.i.am, Justin Bieber and 30 Seconds To Mars; while also hitting Number 1 on the National Student Radio Charts.

What – Elissa Franceschi EP Launch
Where – Nothing Hill Arts club
When – 25/06/13 from 7pm

More from the artist
elissafranceschi.com
facebook.com/elissafranceschimusic
twitter.com/elissa_f
youtube.com/elissafranceschi

CONTEMPORARY ART, DIGITAL ART, REVIEWS

Gordon Cheung at Room: multi media artist

I always find fascinating when an artist can juggle between medias or techniques, when artists can be as varied as Gordon Cheung is. It is definitely a sign of open mindedness and in this case also talent.

Pyrographics, spray paint, oil, acrylics, sculpture, animation… Gordon Cheung seems to explore everything in is art. THE JOURNEY (ink, acrylic gel and spray paint on canvas), BEAR and BULL (both being acrylic gel and spray on canvases) are definitely my favorite pieces. Acrylic gel is superb to get incredible texture and relief. Continue reading Gordon Cheung at Room: multi media artist →

BLOG, PREVIEW

Edward Akrout ‘First Impression’ show at Hoxton hotel

Edward AkroutBest known for his roles in high profile TV series and films including; Mr. Selfridge, Midsomer Murders and The Borgias, actor Edward Akrout has kept his talent as an artist hidden from the public eye.

This was until recently, when he presented his debut solo exhibition at Café Royal in March to an enthusiastic crowd of gallerists, collectors and VIPs.

A big step in the art world

Akrout admits that even though he is capable of handling the daily rejection and criticism he faces as an actor, the idea of showing his art to the world terrified him. This autumn Akrout will exhibit a suite of new drawings and paintings titled ‘First Impression’ at The Hoxton, Shoreditch, offering visitors an insight into the world of Edward Akrout.

Emotions and studies in France

There is an unmistakable connection between Akrout’s two chosen disciplines, for as an actor his job is to inhabit different emotional states, and as an artist he has an uncanny ability to capture in only a few strokes of the brush or pen, the fleeting emotions and personality traits of characters he comes across on his travels in London, Paris and New York.

Born to a Franco-British mother and Tunisian father, 32-year-old Akrout grew up in France, studying philosophy at The Sorbonne and theatre at Le Cours Florent in Paris, and then spending time at the National Institute in Bucharest. He left Paris for London when offered a place at the prestigious London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Akrout’s philosophical and theatrical training is evident in his expressive, psychological studies of the eclectic characters he encounters.

'Blue Man' by Edward Akrout | Art-Pie

WHAT – ‘First Impression’ by Edward Akrout
WHERE – The Hoxton, 81 Great Eastern Street, London EC2A 3HU | United Kingdom
WHEN – 2 Oct 2015 — 1 Jan 2016

First seen on WSIMAG

REVIEWS

Ben Eine’s ‘Tenderloin’ A-Z showcase

Ben Eine | Art-PieWhen I first read about this event from my inbox, I must admit I got quite excited as Ben Eine and his work are exciting. If you love colours, letters and typography, you will appreciate this artist’s work.

“The venue will be announced just before the show and via Nelly Duff’s social medias”. This was enough to convince me that we were on something good.

I was wrong. What the show had to offer was a series of pieces with the whole alphabet broken down in a multitude of versions, different colours, not coloured at all, this sort of things. It did not take me long to go round the whole venue to have seen it all. I actually must more enjoyed the old graffiti and tags spread all around the venue from old jams or other shows.

I have not mentioned the launch of of ‘The World Atlas of Street Art & Graffiti by Dr Rafael Schacter that happened that night too just because, let’s be honest, the hype around Ben Eine did a good job by bringing people in and to get the copies of the book flying off the shelf…

We took a few pics anyway.

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Ben Eine | Art-Pie

Uncategorized

Eating Robots: And Other Stories (Nudge the Future)

I have always been fascinated by SCI-FI subjects like AI – Artificial Intelligence.

AI is real and it’s slowly creeping into our lives, so I should probably not assimilate it to SCI-FI. 

But I ask myself – how far will AI go in controlling our lives?  Will it enhance them? Does AI mean the demise of the Human race – this is SCI-FI to me right now.

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If you feel the same way, Stephen Oram’s ‘Eating Robots: And Other Stories (Nudge the Future)‘ collection of short stories may bring you answers, or clues, as to what AI might look like in 100 years (or less, or more – I do not know).

Robots are AI
Robots are AI

The author’s imagination about the topic is vast and will definitely make you think more about what AI will actually mean to us as humans.

From the ability to share memories with someone you love, to reseting us every 1000 years, and even the ability to choose which celebrity hologram will drive your driverless car today.

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> BUY THE BOOK
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Stephen Oram goes from the very funny (which sometimes turns too silly for my taste), to the depressing and scary when it comes to AI, but why should it be one or the other.

Immerse yourself in these short stories and make up your own mind.

PS: Injecting some good old human anxiety into AI systems may be the answer for the fears we have. Described as the ‘anxiety loop’ by Oram, this sounds like a plan.

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> BUY THE BOOK
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PREVIEW

Malika Favre – Hide and Seek at Kemistry gallery

Malika Favre "Hide and Seek" | Art-PieNow in its summer break, the London art scene has slightly slowed down and galleries are either busy relaxing or putting altogether their next shows. One of these that has caught our eyes and attention is the “Hide and Seek” show by Malika Favre at Kemistry gallery.

This show is for the minimalistic art enthusiast and if you love prints, you should definitely come and see Malika Favre’s Hide and Seek show and become fascinated by the story of a furtive yet sophisticated woman very much looking like the elegant woman you would find strolling on the Champs Elysees in Paris. Malika Favre is from France and you can clearly feel a Parisian looking woman influence in her character.

<img src="http://www.artpie.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/malika-favre.jpg" alt="Malika Favre "Hide and Seek" | Art-Pie" title="malika-favre" width="200" height="283" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6779" />

The video that has been put together for the show – see below, is a real treat and is as funny in a way as intriguing. The woman keeps popping out of different patterns which are cleverly mixed together to lose viewers into them and thus increase the surprise effect when the woman appears.

From Kemistry gallery “Fascinated by patterns in everyday life, urban surroundings and architecture, French born Malika Favre has put together Hide and Seek, her first solo show in London. Malika’s work is bold and minimalistic, exploring the relationship between positive and negative space.”

From the artist “there is such beauty and intrigue in those repetitive concrete balconies, I felt like creating a series of abstract prints based on the architectural patterns that no one really notices.”

The 8 high end screenprints will be available for purchase at the gallery and online, each print is limited, signed and numbered by Malika Favre.

Malika Favre “Hide & Seek” | 6th Sept — 29th Sept 2012
Private View: Thursday 6th September 18:00 —21:00 | 43 Charlotte Road| London EC2A 3PD

DIGITAL ART

Fractal art: when Mr maths is the artist

When I first heard about ‘fractal’ art, I did not have a clue what it could be so I thought I’ll investigate this further and was quickly to find out that Mr mathematics has its role to play here.

Before carrying on, it might be best to get out of the way a few terms definitions which shall shed some light on this form of art

Fractal: Rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduce-size copy of the whole. So what is ‘fractal art’ then? Continue reading Fractal art: when Mr maths is the artist →

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS