The Mooch Contemporary Street Art gallery yesterday had its second exhibition, and introduced for the occasion three British artists whose works are mostly based on portraits, with three very different styles.
Danny O’connor, a Liverpudlian artist, makes canvases in an abstract style and mostly works with several layers overlapping each other.
Ben Slow uses a lot drips and thrown paint in his portraits.
As for Gemma Compton, she makes magnificent and very realistic paintings of half-human, half-animal characters.
The Beautiful and The Damned,
from the 20 August to the 2 Octobre
Open to the public from Wednesday to Saturday from 11a.m. to 6p.m.
The Mooch Contemporary Street Art Gallery
88 Oldham Street, M4 1LF
Manchester
Sten & Lex show in their current exhibition a new concept in street art, the “poster stencil”. This is very innovative and does not follow any existing rules: the stencil is pasted straight onto the canvas, like a poster, and parts of it are then torn up to reveal the picture. That’s what makes the stencil a fundamental part of the final piece, and also explains why it is therefore not reusable.
The exhibition has two separate parts: on the ground floor are displayed pieces made with their new technique, and on the first floor more classical pieces. These are however remade in a “mini” version, which implies cutting the stencils had to be evry elaborate.
A fun fact about the “poster stencil” is that the stencils are peeled off at the very last time, right before the exhibition opens. Artists and visitors then discover the end result at about the same time.
The Vitry Jam takes place every month in Vitry sur Seine. The 4th edition was held this weekend, and a party was organized with the artists for the opening in a private loft, the Monk. This loft is the dream home for any street art fan because all the artists staying there for the Vitry Jam left their mark on all the walls of the three-storeys house. And such artists! To name just a few: C215, Btoy, Finbarr, Snik, Sly2, Orticanoodles, Fake, Pixel Pancho, etc.
The Vitry Jam is also an opportunity for the artists to express themselves on the walls of Vitry sur Seine. You can’t turn a corner without finding a piece!
I have two regrets after this great night, though. First of all, the light was fading when I arrived in Vitry, so the pics I took in the street are not worth the originals. Then, I could not attend the next day to see what was in the Zongo’s Project Room and in the Concept Loft, the two other locations of the Vitry Jam.
And a big thank you to Virginia for inviting me!
Paris, Paris
Ben Slow, Bruno Leyval, Btoy, Bue, Bunka, C215, Dale Grimshaw, David Le Fleming, Fake, Finbarr, Indigo, KoTek, Le Monk, Morten Andersen, Mosko & Associés, Niark1, Orticanoodles, Pixel Pancho, Shaka, Sly2, Snik, Spadge, Veuch, Vitry Jam 4, Vitry sur Seine
The exhibition of the Italians of Orticanoodles at the Itinerrance gallery is outstanding. Three series of paintings are exhibited. The first one shows the streets of Milan, the artists’ hometown, with buildings and doorbells.
The second series, called “The Hammer” shows products of over-consumption being destroyed by a hammer. My favourite was the iPod triptych, for its Warholian influence with an added destructive aspect.
The third and last series depicts the financial crisis, with symbols of banking like big metallic panels showing a cash machine or a safe from which melted gold is leaking. This is to my mind a very well-foud way of representing the current financial crisis.
Of course the symbol of Orticanoodles was not left behind; there was a series of black and white faces of Jesus, like I saw at the Bricklane gallery, but with an extra helping of gold.
I leave you to drool at the pics:
Galerie Itinerrance
7 bis, rue Goscinny
75013 Paris
Opening times:
From Wednesday to Saturday, 2p.m. to 7p.m.
A brilliant Roa exhibition will be taking place until Sunday at the Itinerrance gallery in the 13th arrondissement of Paris.
(store of a shop near gare de l’est)
I had already seen some impressive pieces by this Belgian artist in the streets and knew he was talented, but I could not picture how his work would be adapted to a gallery. Hence I went to see this exhibition, ans was not disappointed.
The pieces were made suitable for the gallery by using recycled supports with articulated panels; depending on the position you put them in, you can see the insides of the animals. It reminded me of the picture of the rabbit I made in London recently.
The gallery walls are of course showing Roa’s totem animals: rabbits, crows and small insects. Some smaller pieces are pencil-drawn, and there is also a series of pictures showing the extent of the artist’s work outside.
Anyway, great exhibition, and brilliant welcome!
Galerie Itinerrance
7bis, rue René Goscinny
75013 Paris
interview with Roa (in french)
The “Né Dans La Rue” exhibition shows the New York origins of graffiti. First of all, in the basement, the 70’s are represented by documents dating by to this period, like blackbooks of legendary graffers, records of the NYPD, painting equipment showing how luckier we are today, etc.
Some of the sketches in the blackbooks were reproduced by the graffers themselves, for instance a whole train coach by Seen on the wall of the room we are in. This gives a peculiar impression but immerses us in the atmosphere from then. One of the walls is covered by pictures of New York train coaches; the origin of each one is explained, as well as the letterings they show.
Upstairs, an exhibition features works by Jonone and Poch, reflecting today’s graffiti. This is temporary, as the exhibition changes constantly.
In the garden two huge walls have been set up, showing, when I was there, works by Obey and the French stencil artist YZ. Moreover the front of the Fondation Cartier has been covered by a giant graffiti.
Outside the foundation, on the street side, the fence is free to use for passing graffers, which is nice considering the location.
Here are some pics, mostly of the outside fence, as it was forbidden to make pictures inside the foundation.
Until the 10th of January,
at the Fondation Cartier
261 Boulevard Raspail
75014 Paris
Paris, Paris
Amaze, Exhibition, Jonone, L'Atlas, Né Dans La Rue, Obey, Paris, Poch, Seen, YZ
For you people who have been living in a cave these last months, the very media-friendly Banksy is currently having an exhibition in the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.
If you want to go there, be aware that you’ll have to be incredibly patient. Not less than two hours before I could enter… And it was in the middle of the week!!
Then, once inside, you queue again, in front of each painting. But it’s worth the wait: the exhibition is much diversified with huge paintings, hilarious ones, pretty weird robots, sculptures…
The exhibition is composed of three distinct rooms. The first one mainly contains paintings, as well as what seems to be a reproduction of Banksy’s workshop, which is full of details, so keep a keen eye!
The second room contains pieces made for the fake pet shop of New York, that is to say embezzled animal robots (salami snake or chicken made of nuggets). You’ll also see pics explaining how they were made in the fake workshop.
The main hall of the museum hosts embezzled sculptures, such as a revisited ice cream truck, and a part of Stonehenge made of chemical toilets, which was made for Glastonbury Festival a few years ago.
What amazed me the most was the number of people who queued for hours to see Banksy’s exhibition, and do not even go and see the rest of the museum. That’s a shame, because Banksy hid a lot of stuff everywhere in the museum. I appreciated that; because it felt like being in the street, looking for each tiny detail.
Anyway, except for the crowd, this was a great exhibition, and you should definitely go there.
All my pics are here:
I’m quite late in my articles, indeed the Matt Small exhibition is over, and was replaced by another one about Nick Walker, at Black Rat Press.
I did not know Matt Small before going to Black Rat Press, and it was a wonderful surprise. Matt Small makes portraits by throwing multicolour paint on any type of recycled materials: computer skulls, car hoods…
If you did not see the exhibition, here are my pics:
The last time I was staying in London, Andipa gallery was showing a dozen of works by Banksy, including the biggest canvas he ever painted. This exhibition was not supported by the artist, and showed all the works Andipa stored up over the years.
Because of that, there was no link between the works, which made the exhibition look untidy. But Banksy being rare these days, it was nice to see so many of his works in one place.
Here I the pics I made there. Sorry about their quality, but the paintings were protected by glass, which caused reflections.
First of all, I have to admit that before going to this exhibition I thought I would not talk about it here. The advertising is indeed amazing: ads in the underground, in magazines, on the TV news…
I’d rather mention small exhibitions which don’t have the means to make ads. However, when I saw the quality of the works and the way they are presented, I changed my mind, even though a few works are simply a shame (the kind a 6 years old would do in 5 minutes).
The exhibition brings together 150 artists on one theme: love. Each work is a diptych of given dimensions.
The interesting thing is the works are presented in chronological order, from the 70s to nowadays, which shows the evolution of graffiti.
The choice of artists represents the graffiti current quite well, even though I was disappointed by the absence of Revok or Saber, who, to my mind, can’t be ignored.
The visitors’ comments were as interesting as the paintings. I for instance heard “I did not think graffiti was like that, but I did not know it at all… anyway next time let’s go to the opera” or “how do they make such thin lines with a spraycan?” – when the work was made with Posca.
Anyway, more initiatives like this one must be made in order to open the general public’s mind to the graffiti, because I think a lot of people will less see it as vandalism when they find graffiti in the street, and more like a real art with various styles and talented artists.
You understood my point: this exhibition is beautiful and you should go there, for only 5€. Be prepared to queue.
If you can’t go, here are the pics I made there. If you’re going, do not look at them!
From the 27th March to the 26th April from 11am to 7pm (open until 11pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays)
Grand Palais porte H
Av Winston Churchill
Paris
Paris
Ais Lap, Alexone, Amaze, Ash, Askew, Atome, Baboo, Bacou, Bando, Blade, BO 130, Butch 2, Cap, Ces, Claw, Coco 144, Comet, Cope2, Cornbread, Crash, Creez, Cren, Cycle, Darco, Dash, Daze, Dead, Dealyt, Delta2, Deszio, Dize, Doc Arabica, Doze Green, Duro, Duster, Echo, Emi, Exhibition, Eyone, Ezo, Faust, Fenx, Fist, Flint 707, Freedom, Fridricks, Fuzi, Ghost, Gilbert, Horfe, Illies, Isba, Iz The Wiz, Jace, Jay One, Jaya, Jaye, Jonone, Kase 2, Kayone, Kea, Kel First, Ket, Kongo, Koor, L'Atlas, Lacriz, Lady Pink, LadyK, Lazou, Lek, Loomit, Mac Coy, Marcel, Mare 139, Marko93, Meak, Meo, Mico, Microbo, Mike Giant, Min, Miss17, Moze, Myre, Nascio, Nasty, Native, Nel, Noc, Nosbé, Nov, Nunca, Other, Paris, Part1, PBoy, Phase2, Popay, Psyckoze, Quik, Rammelzee, Rap, Reach, Reso, Revolt, RFC One, Riff, Rosy, Seen, Shaka, Sharp, Shock 123, Shoe, Shuck, Skki, Slice, Smith, Snake 131, Spirit, Stay High, Sunset, Swen, Swiz, TAG, Take 5, Taki 183, Tanc, Teach, Team, Teurk, TKid, Toxic, Tracy 168, Traffik, Tran, Uno, Utah, Vision, Vulcan, Wane One, Wen, West, Wyre, Zebster, Zedz, Zeky, Zen2
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