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
Boston ICA, big national modern art museum, is hosting a survey of Shepard Fairey’s work, aka Obey Giant. This survey runs from the 6th of February to the 16th of August, and shows works created over more than 20 years.
All media used by Obey are shown, from the simple sticker to the posters, skateboards, records sleeves, and paintings from private collections. The most impressive part of the exhibition is the huge wall inside the gallery, facing another wall covered with 90 screenprints.
(huge wall at the ICA)
This exhibition is fantastic for Obey fans, but apparently not for other people. Indeed when I was there there were a few groups of school children who seemed bored by the explanations of the guides. What would I have done to be taken there when I was in middle school!
(screenprints wall)
I unfortunately could not make pictures, it was forbidden in the museum. I could not even snak pics since the rooms were heavily guarded.
So, sorry about that, but you will only have the pics of the works Obey left accross the Boston. I could not find them all since, as you can see on the pics, it was the “Monday mega storm” on this day. I gave up when I froze.
Anyway, if you’re going to Boston, don’t miss it!
The artists Seize and YZ currently have a common exhibition at the Itinerrance Gallery, until the 28th if February.
(SeYZe Flyer)
Seize, aka Happy Wall Maker, makes huge, geometric and very colourful paintings. YZ makes faces with stencils, usually in black and white.
This gives a contrasted aspect to the exhibition, and also makes it very nice. The artists not only show their own works but various common paintings (search the faces hidden in the geometric shapes).
Anyway, if you’re currently in Paris, give it a shot!
Galerie Itinerrance
7 Bis rue Goscinny
75013 Paris
The Bailly gallery, located on the quai Voltaire, opposite the Louvres Museum, hosts until the 14th of February the graffiti artist Nasty. With his crew “les artistes en cavale”, are running wild in Paris underground since the end of the 80’s.
There Nasty shows his work on material borrowed from Paris underground company, and leaves messages for his detractors (“I sell my art not my soul”).
The exhibition is pretty nice, though very classic.
Galerie Bailly Contemporain
25, quai Voltaire
75007 Paris
The Sartorial Contemporary Art gallery in London hosts until the 4th of February the works of the artists Martin Lea Brown and Sweet Toof.
I did not know the first one, and had no idea what to expect. His universe is frightening. His paintings mainly show werewolves and clowns holding up banks. The clowns strongly look like one in Stephen King’s “It”, which makes the exhibition even scarier.
Concerning Sweet Toof, I knew what to expect, being used to is work in the streets. Well, I was surprised because there are only a few references to street art. Don’t worry though: the skeletons and gums are there! (yeah, Sweet Toof is obsessed with gums… dunno why…)
Fortunately the two big rooms of the gallery are well lit, so you can cope with the skeletons and werewolves…
To view the exhibition ring here:
Sartorial Contemporary Art
26 Argyle Square
London WC1H 8AP
Here are a fews pics to make up your mind, or if you can’t go to London:
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