This Thursday, 55DSL’s art studio: Studio55 kicks off Pic+Mix, a series of collabrative exhibits between two artist from different mediums working together. The first exhibit promises to be a good one, featuring art director Sanderson Bob and blacksmith Sam Sherbone. So if you’re in town check it out, and have free beer from Tiger.

The Super Scooby

“four beefburgers, eight rashers of bacon, eight slices of cheese, 12 onion rings and three types of relish”

Sounds (and looks) delightful

If you’re over in London, make sure you stop by Stolen Space to view Sylvia Ji’s new exhibition, Nectar.  Her work is so damn beautiful.

StolenSpace are proud to present ‘Nectar’, the premier UK solo show from Californian artist Sylvia Ji.

Sylvia Ji is a master of capturing the dark side of the beautiful and the sublime. Macabre ‘Day Of The Dead’ catrinas intermingle with exotic empresses, with a regal elegance. Ji’s imagery is a visual elixir of life and death, combining sacred symbolism with mystical glamour and opulence. Influenced by historical costumery, Ji incorporates Baroque detailing such as luxurious tapestries, ornamental feathers, and gold leafing into her work for a more elaborate and decorative effect.

Ji’s work encapsulates an alluring beauty that is both cutting edge and a nod to time-honored technique. Her paintings are symbolic reflections of herself, portraits of people she knows or nameless faces set in a landscape of fleeting and decaying beauty. Possessing an artistic voice as unique as the times we live in, Ji is at once contemplative, spiritual, enigmatic, and yet whimsically funny. Above all else, it is perhaps beauty that emerges as her defining characteristic, and her art reflects this: an extension of herself; a passionate appreciation of simple aesthetic pleasure fused with intimately complex subject matter.

For ‘Nectar’ which will be her first show in the U.K, Ji focuses on the sublime expressions of lust & love, expressed in a lighter colour palette mixed with gold leaf. Hauntingly beautiful images brimming with sexual provocation mix with a sense of consternation, hinting all is not well as it may initially appear.

Opening Friday night in London.  If you didn’t know, now you do.

DALEK & DELTA
28 August – 26 September 2009
Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 6pm, Thursdays ’til 8pm

This exhibition brings together two International painters of magnitude.

James Marshall, aka DALEK, who currently lives in Carolina, and Amsterdam based Boris Tellegen, aka DELTA, are both masters of their handling of colour and texture.

Marshall, who spent a year as an assistant to Takashi Murakami, has developed and honed a technique of meticulously applying flat blocks of colour, whilst playing with shapes and exaggerated optical perspectives.

“Two changes in technique have recently allowed DALEK to ratchet the spatial complexity up a notch. In linear terms, there’s an increased overlapping between forms whilst, in colour terms, subverting the light-to-dark or conversely dark-to-light build-up of tonal depth by interjecting chop-change colour values at will across the picture plane to break up conventional recession ” Ben Jones – art historian

Conversely, Tellegen is constantly experimenting with his his complex ‘architectural’ paintings, collages and 3D sculptural wall pieces, discovering, through his use of colour and references to urban decay, how to play with perspectives through the build up of textures and shadows.

“There’s an openness in DELTA’s practice to organic breakdown which might at first seem antithetical to the precision of his work’s apparently precise graphic underpinning. Thinking back to one of his street pieces, with the moss proliferating and gradually covering the relief, helps point up in a rare natural example a key conceptual theme for DELTA throughout: the organic system and its threat to subsume the man-made.” Ben Jones – art historian

As far as I am concerned freerun was made famous in the Jame Bond film Casino Royale. I know you may disagree but, that’s my opinion. Anyway, Barclaycard and the World Freerun Championship event is in London this weekend at Trafalgar Square, for more info and the Bond scene click after the jump.

“Barclaycard and their World Freerun Championship event (Parkour) is taking place this weekend in London.  The event, entering its second year, is the foremost international competition for the urban sport of freerunning.  For one night, Saturday 8/15, 27 freerunners representing 17 different countries will tackle a specifically designed course at Trafalgar Square, showcasing their creativity and personal style of freerunning.”

Londoners, put on your Clarks, Trainers, or whatever, and head over to the Pure Evil Gallery for Pure Evil’s new show.  We’ve seen some of the work and it is bangin’.  Opening tonight.

Pure Evil Gallery,
108 Leonard st,
London EC2A 4XS

Gallery Hours:
10am – 6pm daily
or by appointment.

Very cool comic book fueled work by Austrailian artist Jirat Patradoon. He currently has a show at Saatchi & Saatchi Gallery 70 George St. until July 22

Opening tomorrow night at Lazrides’ Rathbone space is Vhils‘ first solo show in England, Scratching The Surface.  If you’re over there, we highly recommend it.

Vhils’ first solo show in the UK, ‘Scratching the Surface’, features a series of new works inspired by his native city of Lisbon at a time of revolution, a time when walls turn into instruments of communication and hope for the masses, the remnants of which become a decaying playground for this young artist as he searches for his place. By contextualising the urban setting he explores and questions its many dimensions in a series of playful works. Focusing on the people that inhabit his multicultural environment he draws attention to the layers that underlie it. Vhils has created a set of portraits of unknown faces using unconventional techniques and materials; acid and bleach eat into surfaces to expose layers beneath, and the act of destruction becomes an act of creation. Posters that exemplify a consumer society are subtly converted into objects, poignantly celebrating humankind. In his street work he discards posters, metal and paper and comes face to face with the

rawness of the naked wall. He continues his celebration of the humanity underlying the urban canvas, this time by scratching beautiful portraits directly onto its walls.

Vhils has exhibited in major European cities as well as in the USA, and most recently he was invited to take part in the widely acclaimed ‘Tunnel 228’ show in London’s

Waterloo. The exhibition will coincide with the launch of his new book: Scratching the Surface, which will be released shortly after the show opening.

Words by Kwame Ferreira

Visitor Information:

3rd July to 1st August

Open : Tuesday – Friday 11am – 7pm and Saturday 12pm – 5pm.

Location: Lazarides, 11 Rathbone Place, London, W1T 1HR

Phone : + 44 (0) 207 636 5443

Nearest tube: Tottenham Court Road

Websites: www.lazinc.com, www.alexandrefarto.net

We just discovered Free News Projects, who in turn introduced us to Pablo Bronstein.

“London-based Pablo Bronstein is a young artist floating out of time. His is an eye that can, say, synthesize the dripping, ornate grandeur of European Rococo architecture with the juvenile, weird, building-block edifices of the 1980s. In A Guide to Postmodern Architecture in London, a short book published by Walther Konig in 2008, Bronstein made it look obvious, and perfect. Bronstein’s indulgence educates selflessly, for his is an art that encourages others to look harder and draw the most from their own obsessions. In October 2006, the artist dryly guided a coach tour around London to share his discoveries.” Thanks to FNP for the tip.

“I think it’s the duty of any civilised country to provide refugees with the basics of human survival. Just because I personally only change my pants once every six weeks doesn’t mean every asylum seeker should have to do the same.”

More info here

And if you like, a link to the actual celebrity undies auction which features the likes of Helen Mirren, Jordan, Robert Crumb, Rickey Gervais, Jarvis Cocker, Fergie, Daniel Day-Lewis and many more…

Lot 189 BAST, Electro-Tits, 2006

Phillips De Pury’s Saturday @ Phillips auction returns tomorrow to London, offering up some interesting lots.  The following is selection of works I think you should bid on and win.  Because winning is fundamental.

393
SWOON
Untitled , 2005
Hand-painted linoleum print on mylar.  Installation dimensions variable.
ESTIMATE £2,000-3,000

46
NAN GOLDIN
Simon and Jessika Makng Love, Jessika Coming, Paris, 2001
Dye destruction print, mounted on aluminium.   65.4 x 97.8 cm. (25 3/4 x 38 1/2 in.)  Signed, titled, dated and numbered on verso. This work is an artist’s proof aside from an edition of 15.
ESTIMATE £4,000-6,000

329
ROBERT CRUMB
Cleveland Building
Ink on paper.  28 x 21 cm. (11 x 8 1/4 in.)
ESTIMATE £2,000-3,000

392
OS GÊMEOS
Two works: Untitled (Head Box) , 2005
Mixed media on wooden construction.  123.2 x 124.5 x 124.5 cm. (48 1/2 x 49 x 49 in.)   These works are accompanied by certificates of authenticity.
ESTIMATE £4,000-6,000

212
SHEPARD FAIREY
Big Brother 2, 2001
Screenprint on paper. Work appears to be in original condition. This work is sold unframed.  61 x 45.7 cm. (24 x 18 in.)  Signed and dated lower edge. This work is from an edition of 200.
ESTIMATE £400-600

260
RUSSELL YOUNG
Kate Moss (as Myra Hindley), 2007
Screenprint on paper.  94.6 x 67.3 cm. (37 1/4 x 26 1/2 in.)   Signed and numbered lower edge. This work is from an edition of 20.
ESTIMATE £1,000-1,500

400
KELLY POE
Leave, Take, Kill, 2004
C-print, Diasec and flush mounted on acrylic.  17.8 x 76.2 cm. (7 x 30 in.)   Signed and dated on label on reverse of the mount. This work is from an edition of 6.
ESTIMATE £500-700

204
FAILE
F Head Torn, 2007
Screenprint and acrylic on paper.  60 x 45.7 cm. (23 5/8 x 18 in.)  Signed and annotated lower edge. Stamped and inscribed on verso. This work is unique.
ESTIMATE £4,000-6,000

50
GAVIN TURK
Sid Vicious, 2000
C-print, mounted on aluminium. 182.9 x 76.2 cm. (72 x 30 in.)  Signed, dated and numbered on reverse of the mount. This work is from an edition of 10.
ESTIMATE £1,200-1,800

Over the past couple days, Banksy has blessed the public with two new pieces.  This miniature b-boy (above) is picture perfect and the fact that Banksy integrated the wall into the piece makes it that much better.  Check after the jump for a detail shot, as well as the other piece Banksy put up.

All Photos by Romanywg

Grate technology

With the English ‘Urban Art’ market collapsing, an interesting marketing concept has popped up across the pond.  Brahma Beer and something called Artichoke have teamed up to raffle off the chance to buy a signed Banksy print, Trolleys, for 1 penny.  This really takes the phrase ‘Art is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it’ to the max!

More info here

Red Rag To A Bull is a “public service site funded by a cartell of rich and powerfull light industrialists who wish to remain annonymous.”

Turns out those wishing to remain anonymous include Jamie Reid, James Cauty, and Billy Childish and one of their purposes is to raise the £200 for Cartrain, a 16 year old artist who Damien Hirst demanded money from for using his diamond skull in a print. Another is‘as “a creative exercise that mocked and exposed the idiocy an overbearing and thoughtless approach to copyright control that creates fear and censorship in the arts.”

The shop shuts down today, but have a look anyway.

via, Art Observed

Brad Downey’s latest show, An Honest Thief, opened last night at Stolen Space Gallery in London.  We are especially partial to this piece (above), V Fresh.  If you’re in London, stop by and have a look, and if you haven’t done so already, buy The Adventures of Darius and Downey.  A great book