BLOG, PREVIEW

The creative bubble – April edition almost on!

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The Creative Bubble | Art-PieAnother month, another edition of The Creative Bubble and a myriad of emerging artists showcasing their work – visual artists, spoken word and Poetry, Music & the latest addition and now regular appearance of the guys from Let The Film Do The Talking who invite you to immerse yourself in short films and augmented reality.

As always, we are providing a selection of artists we feel should get some exposure just because we appreciate their work and hope you will to.

We are delighted to have James Kinsella involved in this pop up show. James currently resides in Austria, yes The Creative Bubble is international (!), who will be showing three of his screen print on acrylic paint latest work. We included below ‘Herschelgasse’ for you to see what you can expect to see on display if you come down.

James Kinsella | Art-Pie

‘Less is more’ is what we felt when we first saw James’ work. We like the “sketchy’ feel of this piece and above all the contrast between black outlines and bright and bold colours.

We cannot wait to hang it up on the walls of the Roxy Bar and Screen.

WHAT – The Creative Bubble, POP UP Art Gallery, Spoken Word, Poetry, Short Films, Music & Networking
WHERE – Roxy Bar and Screen, 128-132 Borough High Street, London SE1 1LB
WHEN – Wed 29/4/2015 (POP UP art gallery opening night) / Thursd 30 (Spoken word)

CONTEMPORARY ART, STREET ART

Anamorphic art

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We have all seen these street artists colouring our pavements without could not put the finger on what the piece actually represent. It is because you are not looking at it at the right angle. We are talking here about anamorphic art which has recently flourished all over the world.

But some artists take this form of art to the next level making it methodical and magical. Located in the factory hosted by Sub Urb Art based in Torino (Italy), Medusa, figure from the Greek mythology, has taken the patience, attention to detail and talent of two artists, Ninja1 and Mach505.

The number of surfaces used is phenomenal and make the task daunting. It took 35 hours to paint the whole lot. It was achievable by projecting the outlines of an existing Medusa drawing on those surfaces and paint over them.

“Also, tracing a projection might seem simple, but at a distance of 20 meters the pixels are the size of your head, and hardly visible at all because of other lights, so you do need to check what you’re doing from the viewpoint every once in a while. “

Read the full interview on Modernet

From certain angles

Medusa

MedusaMedusa

The end result

Medusa

CONTEMPORARY ART, IN THE NEWS

ART MOSH

The latest NIXON ART MOSH event just happened in Munich and the works exhibited on this occasion again look top quality. See the video they put together about the show.

I had the chance to attend the last NIXON ART MOSH held in London last year and I did not get disappointed but rather amazed. The venue, Rochelle School was one of the best venue I have seen for art shows – set on two levels, airy and large.

Beyond the excellent choice of venues, ART MOSH is all about getting a mix of artists and talents from various medias and they do it rather well – painting, photography, design, sculpture, music and street art, there is something for everyone. Regular artists include names like Dan Baldwin, Jaybo Monk or Faith47

NIXON ART MOSH shows are as eclectic as the bunch of artists and people attending the event. Once night only but what a night. I cannot wait for the next show in London.

I have included a few pics from last year’s ART MOSH in London

Featured artists at ART MOSH LONDON (last year – 25/11/10):
Richie Culver (UK) | Alexander James (UK)| Bose Collins (UK)| Andreas Muller (UK) | Thomas Traum (UK) | Morgan Slade (LA) | Yoskay Yamamoto (LA) | Sophie Stephens (UK) | Andrew Hem (LA) | Faith 47 (South Africa) | Herakut (Germany) | Mark Ward (UK) | Hornhead (UK) | Niall O’Brian (UK) | Tomomi Sayuda (UK) | B Project (UK) | Filtr (UK) | Sawdust (UK) | Neil Ayling (UK) | Yoojin Jung (UK)

Related link
> Check out the ART MOST store: www.artmosh.com/store

IN THE NEWS

Mannequin to save China – Greenpeace

Time to show some support and also to expose the polluted water issue that is happening right now in China.

“Not only is China one of the world’s twenty most water deficient countries, but irresponsible corporations and slack government has made water pollution highly prevalent in China. Today, as much as 70% of all rivers, lakes, and reservoirs in China are affected by water pollution, and with each passing day the situation only gets worse.”

Greenpeace is using what can called ‘street art’ and has launched a campaign by some creative street installations across the globe recently – mannequins bearing the Chinese symbol for water – ? ‘Shui’

Some have been spotted in London, see the pictures below.

Get yourself involved and follow @Greenpeace) and search for  the hashtag XM3N. Sign up today to support the campaign and check the Greenpeace facebook page too. You will also find more information here about the water pollution in China

BLOG, CONTEMPORARY ART, LATEST

Chen Wenling’s farting bull

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When we first noticed Chen Wenling’s “What You see Might Not Be Real” sculpture, we immediately wanted to find out more about the artist and his work. This is not the name which jumped at us but the rather amusing look of the sculpture – yes it a farting bull!

Here is what Zhu Qi says about Chen Wenglin’s sculptures

Chen Wenling’s sculptures represent the spirit of collective imagery that defines China after her entrance into consumerist society. His work uses a mythological form that encompasses the spiritual insemination that overtook a generation with materialism in the 1990s, as well as the self-awareness and post awareness era everyday spirit of Chinese after the 1990s.

"What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull)
“What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull)

Zhu Qi adds –

Two main themes are prevalent in Chen Wenling’s sculptures, the first being an expression of the extreme human condition, the latter being an expression of the spiritual imagery of a consumer society.

The “farting bull”, we will refer to the work above using this – so much more fun, is a reflexion ab about the infamous global financial crisis.

The man getting crushed by the bull is Bernard (Bernie) Madoff who is an American fraudster and a former stockbroker, investment advisor, and financier. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered the largest financial fraud in U.S. history.

Chen Wenglin’s “farting bull” has also been used in several other sculpture works. We included below a few examples of these as well as more about the “What You see Might Not Be Real” sculpture – the piece first described above

"What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull) | Art-Pie"What You see Might Not Be Real” (or the Farting Bull) | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-PieChen Wengling | Art-Pie Chen Wengling | Art-Pie

DIGITAL ART

The incredible digital art of Erik Johansson

Erik Johansson is one of those guys who have raw talent. He excels on digital photography and produces outstanding results. And you know what? He has not have any formal training in photography or studio art — or even classroom instruction in Adobe Photoshop

Erik Johansson is keen on surreal landscapes and often depicts characters trapped in their surroundings in some temporal break down.

We have included below the Cut & Fold (2012) piece as well as a very interesting video that will show you how Erik Johansson got to the end result.

Here is what the digital artist says about the work: “Inspired by the cut-along border of a magazine coupon, I wondered what a landscape would look like if it were peeled back along a road’s dotted line like a coupon.”

Cut & Fold by Erik Johansson

Cut & Fold – Behind The Scenes from Erik Johansson on Vimeo.

Here are other works from Erik Johansson

Downside of the Upside (2009)
Downside of the Upside (2009)
Go Your Own Road (2008)
Go Your Own Road (2008):
BLOG, PREVIEW, STREET ART

Tristan Eaton and Shepard Fairey to paint at sea

Tristan Eaton | Art-Pie
Tristan Eaton

Tristan Eaton and Shepard Fairey and other artists are working with Designersbloc on Painted Oceans, a project to preserve and celebrate sea forts off the Kent coast. The Red Sand Sea Forts, which are located just off the east coast of England are the lucky winners for this project.

The sea forts are located in a cluster eight miles north of Whitstable off the Kent coast and were built in 1943 after the Blitz as a strategic defense post to help defend against any similar attacks.

This project is nuts in terms of feasibility but exciting at the same time hence we wanted to publish something on the site and ask you to support it. A crowdfunding campaign is underway to raise money for the project and an accompanying documentary.

Red Sand Sea Forts | Art-Pie

“Painting at sea – are you crazy?”

According to Designersblock director Piers Roberts, Painted Oceans is set to be “one of the most dangerous and exciting mural projects in history”.

He says the motivation for the undertaking, is three-fold – “To preserve them and promote their value,  “to investigate their history “and to stimulate the economy of the coast.”

“There are two types of these forts, the army ones and the navy ones; the Redsand ones we’re working with are the army ones and were once connected by bridges,” adds Roberts, who is working with the Project Redsand Trust, which is able to grant access for the project.

A month at sea

Engineering consultancy Burro Happold has already looked at the structural integrity of the site, which was once home to pirate radio station Radio City in the 1960s.

Tristan Eaton – who is behind the idea for the project – specialises in large scale environmental work. He has already drafted in Shepard Fairey, Futura, How & Nosm and The London Police, who are all planning their murals now. All of the artists will live at sea for a month to complete the project.

Night mural for POW! WOW! in Hawaii by Tristan Eaton | Art-Pie
Night mural for POW! WOW! in Hawaii by Tristan Eaton

The logistics…

Roberts, who is project lead, says there is still a long way to go. “We need to think about how we get onto the forts, how will we link them, how we get gantries onto them, how we paint them…The murals won’t be painted straight onto the rusted steel, we need to get undercoats on there and use marine quality paint. It’s really about preservation.”

Chairman of the Project Redsand Trust Robin Adcroft says the project is still in review. “As yet no agreement has been reached between Project Redsand and Painted Oceans to carry out the mural paintwork,” says Adcroft.

For the project to go ahead “much detail would need to be clarified and agreed upon,” says Adcroft who wants Project Oceans work to contribute to the long-term conservation of the site.

He adds: “Further public consultation would be required before  any go-ahead can be granted.”

If the project gets the go-ahead it is expected to be completed this summer and after that boat trips will take visitors out to see the work, according to Roberts who says it is too early to say whether people will be able to access a landing platform.

A crowdfunding campaign is underway to raise money for the project and an accompanying documentary.

First seen on Design Week

CONTEMPORARY ART, PREVIEW

Rene Magritte at Tate Liverpool

Last time a major show about Rene Magritte happened was in 1992 at the Hayward gallery, London. This time, Tate Liverpool is having a go at presenting us a character known to be a sexual obsessive with a twisted mind – the perfect definition of a surrealist painter, some would say, which Rene Magritte was.

Reading about his biography and it does not take long to get to the bottom of his deviance. Rene Magritte saw his mum getting pulled out of the river she threw herself in, she only had her nightdress wrapped around her head, the rest was naked. Rene Magritte was 14.

A direct link to this traumatic event can definitely be seen in The Lovers, painting he made in 1928 and on display at the Tate Liverpool for this show.

Commercial works have also taken a large place in Rene Magritte’s life and this show dedicates a large section to them – Rene Magritte did not get rich until late in his career and resorted some freelance graphic design work. One of his main clients was the Belgian couture house Norine.

What – René Magritte: The Pleasure Principle
Where – Tate (Liverpool)
When – 24 June – 16 October 2011

Related links
René Magritte: The artist who turned the world on its head (The Telegraph)
René Magritte: The Pleasure Principle – exhibition (The Guardian)

BLOG, PREVIEW

Art4Peace Auction at The Ivy Club

Around 20 acclaimed urban and street artists from around the world exhibited their artwork in support of the peacebuilding charity International Alert’s #ART4PEACE campaign, at The Old Truman Brewery in London from 4-20 September 2015.

The art exhibition and sale, titled #ART4PEACE: Peace from the street up!, featured work inspired by the theme of ‘peace in our cities’. The artists, some of whom come from conflict-affected regions, refelcted on opportunities for peaceful change in an increasingly urbanised world. Graffiti, reclaimed police shields and road signs, and even rolling pins, all featured in this unique show in the run up to UN International Peace Day on the 21st of September.

We included images of the show at the end of this article.

Art4Peace | Art-Pie

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An online preview auction  opened to bidders worldwide on the 21st of September (UN International Peace Day), and the campaign will conclude with a public auction on Friday 2 October at The Club at The Ivy, in London’s West End   – get your tickets on eventbrite.

All proceeds are in aid of International Alert and its vital peacebuilding work in more than 25 countries around the world.

About International Alert

International Alert | Art-PieInternational Alert is one of the world’s leading peacebuilding organisations, with nearly 30 years of experience laying the foundations for peace in more than 25 countries (including the UK). We believe that dialogue is crucial for building peace. We bring people together to help them better understand their differences and resolve them peacefully. Find out more at www.international-alert.org

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The line-up of UK and international talent is: Ben Turnbull (UK), Clet Abraham (France), Dan Kitchener (UK), David Scheinmann (UK), David Whittaker (UK), Ganzeer (Egypt), Goldie (UK), Inkie (UK), K-Guy (UK), Know Hope (Israel), Malina Suliman (Afghanistan), Matt Small (UK), Olek (Poland), Otto Schade (Chile), Sadhu X (Nepal), Shraddha Shrestha (Nepal), Sten Lex (Italy), Tammam Azzam (Syria), Teurk (France), Victor Ash (France/Denmark), War Boutique (UK) and Yola (Poland/UK).

WHAT –
Online preview auction: 21 September – 1 October (www.talkingpeacefestival.org/art4peace)

Auction: Friday 2 October (The Club at The Ivy, 9 West Street, London WC2H 9N. Tickets. Exhibition catalogue, high-res images and information on participating artists:

Ivy Club (London) | Art-Pie

STREET ART ENCOUNTERS