In Marrakech this week painting for the Biennale with MB6, amazing place, really another world. Its early days and i’ve just started painting, going to be a weird Dotmasters piece and i have had to find something non figurative to fit with the local culture. More info as it happens
The Westbank Gallery have moved, and their first show in their new space is Big Bang a group show in a really quite cool space, It was the old social centre, so it has a bar in the middle of it, it’s a cool place to see art, or have a drink, or both. There’s a lot of friends in the show and last night was a good chance to catch up, not sure the tequila helped much.
I had other works planned for it, but with the death of Lemmy and Bowie recently i had to mark there passing somehow and the dollar bills seemed a good way to do it, the serial numbers are their birthdays and dates of their deaths.
The shows on for a month, nearest tube is Ladbroke grove, adress is 3-5 Thorpe Close W10 5XL, it’s under the westway.
Its that time of year again! Happy to be part of this show at the Crows Nest in Latimer road, West London. I’ve worked or played or both with nearly all of those on the roster, Its a proper fam affair. The last show there looked great, i’m not a huge fan of group shows but when they are done so well, they are a pleasure. Really looking forward to getting down to see what the combination of works produces!
I was super lucky to get Ian Cox (aka Wallkandy) down while i was painting the Astroboy in Croydon, he takes a great shot and i thought i’d share them. Cheers ian!
Picture by Ian cox aka Wallkandy
The second mural as part of the Croydon Mural Project is finished! Luckily i was the first artist to be asked to paint so… when offered a wall, I thought i could put one on the wall opposite and have the two Toys facing each other, luckily they said yes. After the very girly image of the Ragdoll i thought it would be nice to produce an image that was more male, Astroboy! All of the toys i paint are actual toys from my shelf of plastic crap i have in the studio (see below), Astroboy was something i got given in Japan a few years ago when i was doing a show with Rat king in Tokyo and have painted smaller versions for shows as part of the Toy series but really wanted to see it big!
A huge thanks to the Croydon Mural Project for getting me the walls and sorting out all the logistics. I had a fun couple of weeks in Croydon if not a little wet and i look forward to seeing what other artists put up around the town during the duration of the project
There are some new toys in Croyden! I’ve been painting there for a week and the first wall is done. The second is underway and should be finished by Friday. The two will stand opposite each other and are part of the biggest toy’s in Toy Town series first started years ago at Nuart in Stavanger.There’s loads of new street work in Croydon at the moment and there’s series of large scale street works planned by The Croydon Mural project which is produced by The Rise Gallery and Attollo art, Cheers guys!
can be found on google maps here
With the media reporting that the conditions in the migrant and refugee camp in Calais , where about 4,000+ residents, including an increasing number of women and children, are living in conditions “far below any minimum standards for refugee camps” its hard to ignore calls that ask you to help. On friday night, I had just finished the ‘Biggest Toy in Toytown’ piece mentioned in the previous post when the phone rung. The Connor Brothers were calling to ask if i would help them build some shelters for some of the more vulnerable residents in the place they call the Jungle.
It’s not often you get asked to directly to make a difference in stories you hear about in the papers, so i said yes. We set off to France on the tunnel the next monday started work, money from a Connor Brothers charity print release had been sent before we arrived and lauberge des migrants had materials waiting for us. There are a core of volunteers that make sense of the sprawling squalor, it was hard to know who to help and where to start, but with help withing the camp (mostly David) we soon started making shelters for families.
Here’s our first shelter and occupant family, Coptic Christians fleeing persecution in Eritrea, they asked me to put coptic crosses on the doors, proud of the faith that was in part responsible for their displacement. Luckily i had some old religious themed stencils Adam & God and angels from Sistine Madonna.
Day two brought very different problems, after a days had work on our second set of shelters, we were just packing up and walking back from the Eritrean area when fighting broke out between the migrants and the CRS, a back and forth antagonism between the two drew tear gas from the police and stones from the migrants on the road below the motorway.
Twice as we tried to get into the vans we were tear gassed, wether it was at those throwing rocks or us opening foreign registration plated vehicles, it is hard to tell. Getting a face of gas with your eyes burning and streaming doesn’t make you very charitable to their motives. However we got out in the end safe and sound and returned the next day to build more dwellings for the folk who are forced to live in these dire conditions.
We made a difference to a small path in the camp, it will take months to get the most vulnerable the women and children housed for the winter with more turning up each day it’s hard to see an end to it. We will be back, having learnt some lessons in dealing with the terrain, people and materials it would sad not to make the next trip even more effective.
Been involved in a great new space and its premier show. London wall street is a show curated by The Krah hosted at the Artcore’s new Crows nest gallery in Crowthorne road W10 6RP (nearest stop Latimer Road) London. It’s a really great show with old and new faces. Spent the week before the show painting up the front of the space, that can be seen from the West way flyover on your way in to london on the A40 (pics to follow)
There are several events happening over the coming weeks, with a load of bands on the 9th friday night, including Ruby Throat and Donut. With Pyratrix cabaret on the saturday the 10th of October. Entertainment till late with a bar as well as entrace to the art show.
The print pre release and launch event went well. Thanks to everyone who came to the Seven Dials spotlight festival and bought a print. We are over half way through the edition now with the Fluro pink edition sold out. If you still haven’t got a print you can buy it from Imitate Modern Gallery online here.
‘Indigo gets up…Before’ & ‘…After’ .The latest in the Rude Kids series.The characters in the Rude Kids series are friends and family, all under 12 and simply too nice to ‘flip the bird’ or vandalise your walls. With teenage years looming, those days are just round the corner; for now, these kids are still too sweet and without the angst to convincingly pull it off. The series captures these kids while they’re still just ‘rude kids’.
The three colours are:
Fluro Pink Before edition1/6 Fluro Pink After edition 1/6
Orange Before edition1/11 Orange After edition 1/11
Violet Before edition1/13 Viiolet After edition 1/13
Prints will be available from Imitate modern here.