At first glance, I thought I was looking at some Ian Francis‘ work but no this was in fact from a Polish artist called SEPE or Michal ‘SEPE’ Wrega. I instantly found the artist’s work remarkable and as Ian Francis’s work, you are drawn into the scene and want to get a feel of what is actually going on.
SEPE’s work above all focuses on figurative paintings and, unlike Ian Francis, has got an urban edge. You will notice that the king looking character in “Plagadaru” (see below) wears the famous 3 bands tracksuit bottom. Reading about SEPE’s biography, I am not surprised to read that he was raised in traditional graffiti movements back in Poland where he still lives. Addeed to that a strong interest in book illustration and then some studies at the Academy of Fine Arts, Lodz, you get a very original art style.
Definitely an artist that goes into our favorites list.
There are quite a few light-painting based videos/animations out there these days, some very well done, some others a bit less but what about this one – “RIPPLED“, another collaboration between Darcy Prendergast and the creative team at OH YEAH WOW.
Two words – truly amazing.
You do not get perfection or beauty without pain. 6 months is how long this work took to get wrapped up and frame by frame animation and long exposure technique were how they proceeded. The camera was the weapon and the creativity topped it all off.
‘The Space Between The Stars‘ opens this Friday at Scream. Expect London and international artists and the recurrent yet infinite “light” as a medium in art. Many artists in the past experimented with it, such as Robert Irwin for example, and as the artists in this show, gave an immersive experience for the viewer.
This show promises a variety of approaches in trying to break down light.
Korean-born US based artist Bohyun Yoon gives us an installation of silicon rubber figures suspended like puppets from a steel bar with a spotlight. Caroline Jane Harrisworks with paper and will present us with an epic landscape titled Sylvan Landscape over two metres in width. Chris Bracey, a veteran in workingwith neon and lights and who has worked for big names or productions such as Vivienne Westwood or the Batman films will impress. James Hopkins’ will use sculptures to create illusions. Regine Schumannalso works with sculptures but made of acrylic glass and a special phosphorescent pigment that allow the works to glow from within.
The collaboration between Hsiao-chi Tsai (Taiwan) & Kimiya Yoshikawa (Japan), masters in Mixed-media textiles and Sculpture respectively, their light sculptures and installations might steal the show. Shane McAdams ‘ landscape made with aball-point pen, oil and resin has also to be something to look for. Last but not least Sylvia Hommert experiments with a range of mediums including pigment, beeswax, holographic paper and glitter on birch panels to capture this ephemeral and iridescent quality.
Artists featured; Bohyun Yoon (Korea), Caroline Jane Harris (UK), Chris Bracey (UK), James Hopkins (UK), Regine Schumann (Germany), Tsai & Yoshikawa (Japan & Taiwan), Shane McAdams (USA) and Sylvia Hommert (USA)
Works from Regine Schumann
Exhibition opens on 11th January to 16th Febuary.
RSVP for Scream group show preview to info@leesharrock.co.uk
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
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.
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.
Modern Panic is our forth-coming exhibition, showcasing the work of provocative artists from around the world, from infamous prisoner Charles Bronson, Bolivian enfant terrible and coca-leaf artist Gaston Ugalde, taxidermy artist Iris Schieferstein, who’s hoof boots have been sought after by the likes of Lady Gaga, the provocative Kira O’Reilly, Tank Girl comic artist Rufus Dayglo and over 50 others!
Modern Panic is a well needed look into the worlds we inhabit and is designed to shake the viewer awake through a bewildering bombardment of the senses.
Modern Panic is a sequel to the popular Panic Exhibition we held in 2009, which featured the founding members of the Panic Movement (formed in the 1960’s by Fernando Arrabal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roland Topor), next to the new wave of controversial modern artists.
During our Private View on Fri 3rd June, we will be presenting a Panic Happening: Many artists will be spontaneously creating their art live in a 3 hour ‘Panic’ inspired happening, consisting of performance art, site specific characters, live sonic sounds, and plenty of interactive installations. ‘The Aftermath’ of this panic happening will then take the form of the exhibition.
Panic Movement (Mouvement Panique) was a collective formed by Fernando Arrabal, Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roland Topor in Paris, France in 1962. Inspired by and named after the god Pan, and influenced by Luis Buñuel and Antonin Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty, the group concentrated on chaotic happenings containing performance art and surreal imagery, designed to be shocking, as a response to surrealism becoming petite bourgeoisie and to release destructive energies in search of peace and beauty.
Chinese Art has been pushing its way through Europe and America lately and many movements and talents are starting to emerge from it. One of this very skilled and inspiring artists is Chen Yingjie (aka: Hua Tunan) who lives in the coastal city of Foshan, China.
With a background of classical Chinese painting and illustration, Hua Tunan has diverged into a remarkable and unique street art style. His art is a perfect example where two radically different styles – Classic Chinese painting v. Western Graffiti are married to give eye watering results. Hua Tunan would use ink painting, drum rhythms and a variety of cultural symbols.
Pictures of the ‘splatter’ portraits series are shown below. Look closer and what might appear as a splash to you actually reveal a face or shapes. The color palette is another remarkable thing in Hua Tunan art. Thumbs up all round.
On February 16, 1990, at age 31, Keith Haring’s life was cut short due to an AIDS-related illness. He would have been 54 today and as a homage, here are a few words and a tribute to his most iconic pieces of art.
I wonder what Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) would make of the global phenomenon that street art is now, art form very much confined to the street of New York City at the time when he decided to move there in 1978, aged 19.
Having studied commercial art and then Fine Arts, he took a keen interest in graffiti art, Haring would go out there and paste collages of fake New York Post headlines on lamposts or news stands. He explored the likes of SAMO (Jean-Michel Basquiat) or Fab Five Fred (Fred Brathwaite) graffiti art to quickly put in practice his own interpretation of this form of art and would develop his future vocabulary of primitive cartoon-like forms. The Haring’s chalk-drawn “radiant babies” and “barking dogs” were born (see pictures) and woud become familiar sights on the matt black surfaces used to cover the old advertisements in the subways.
These chalk drawings in the subways of New York got Haring in the public eye and he would go on from there to have his first exclusive exhibition in the Tony Shafrazi Gallery which put together a retrospective a few years ago about it – see picture. Willing to reach a larger public, he immersed himself in popular American culture and befriended individials such as Andy Warhol, Madonna or Grace Jones (whom he would body-paint).
Haring was also a keen social activist and as a result of his ever increasing political involvement; he designed a Free South Africa poster in 1985 (see picture) and painting a section of the Berlin Wall in 1986 (see picture). Other works include design for Swatch watches or the Absolut Vodka advertisement (see picture)
Keith Harring’s work are just simply one of the best examples of how consumerism, popular culture and fine art merged in the 1980s.
Recommended readings
Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography by John Gruen (1991) includes interviews with the artist and those closest to him and is an invaluable source for understanding the art and life of Haring.
The early work is illustrated in Art in Transit: The Subway Drawings (1984) and Keith Haring (Shafrazi Gallery, 1982). An enlightening interview by David Sheff appeared in Rolling Stone (August 10, 1989).
Elizabeth Aubert directed an insightful video entitled Drawing the Line: A Portrait of Keith Haring (Biografilm, 1989).
Later an attempt was made to place Haring within a broader art historical context in Keith Haring, edited by Germano Celant (1992). □
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. “
We met Fintan Scott-Magee originally from Brisbane and try to find out a bit more about his liking, it seems, for rubbish and bins in his art.
A-P: Tell us about yourself in a few words? FINTAN MAGEE: My name is Fintan Magee, born in Brisbane Australia. I have been writing for 10 years now but I started to move away from traditional letterforms about 4 years ago and started to paint more canvas and street art. Really I’m just trying to have as much fun as possible with my art while I am still young and stupid enough not to know better.
A-P: What is your process/approach when making graffiti/streetart/art? FM: I prefer to paint strait onto walls using oils, acrylic and of course spray paint. I like to paint in abandoned buildings a lot so I can relax and paint for as long as I want, the problem is my city is growing very quickly and becoming so developed that there is a shortage of empty and forgotten spaces. In my city almost everything painted on the streets is buffed within a week so I don’t really do many paste up’s or stickers any more, they say my city is clean but I just find it sterile.
A-P: Bin bags, rubbish seems to be an element that you like, why is this? FM:The rubbish is just something thats developed over the last few months because I was painting still life images of things that have been forgotten or left behind on the streets, I guess I like to add depth to what may be considered bland or boring subject matter and not worth painting. I believe that we live in such a throw away and progressive society now that we overlook the beauty in many things that we consider expendable.
A-P: Where/what do you look for inspiration? FM: I guess I look everywhere for inspiration, I think as an artist its important to take in the simple things around you, popular culture, nature, the city, your friends, etc. Keep looking and you will eventually find inspiration and influence where you least expect it.
A-P: Any upcoming shows/projects? FM: I am travelling to Sydney and Melbourne in June for some group shows and to do some walls, I also have a Solo show at Jugglers gallery in Brisbane in August and another solo show in Melbourne’s Rtist gallery in November. After that I think another overseas trip is on the cards, possibly to the Americas. I have been back in Australia for two years now and I am starting to get pretty itchy feet.
Thank you to Fintan for taking time for this interview
Pictures below of some of Fintan’s works. More on this website: www.fintanmagee.com
