As seen at Art Basel's Public Provocations Swiss show recently here's something a bit different. Shok 1's lovely black and white style previously featured on here has been scaled down to the size of a VHS box and presented as a series of 'video nasties' customised cases. The detail is immense and these pieces look so fresh. You can see all eight pieces here. 

 

Well I've never really done this video lark thing before but the animatronics at the Banksy Versus Bristol Museum show really need to be seen in motion. So here's a video I knocked together showing the main action (after a short look around a few other bits of the show).

Click here for the video on youtube.

It's been funny watching the high brow art critics squirm a bit over the Banksy Versus Bristol Museum show. Typically some have questioned the fine art credentials of his work but so as not to look completely out of touch they've all pretty much given the show 5/5 for its populist appeal in engaging people with art. They seem to be caught between maintaining their lofty credentials and the fact that this is one of the summer art blockbusters that they make their money writing about.. One exception is Serena Davies, reviewing for the Telegraph, who actually had the guts to come out and say the show 'succeeds triumphantly in its aim' and comments very favourably on some of Banksy's less obvious juxtapositions. Some of her contemporaries need to catch up a bit.

The crowds are still heading to Bristol with the advice on the Museum's website informing visitors that last entry will be at 4pm due to the very long queues. If you're planning on going in the next few days or at a weekend you probably need to take that advice on board. Allow yourself a few hours if you want to see / find(!) everything and if you're taking photos pack an extra memory card and batteries - you're going to need it!

Here's a few more photos - there's more on artofthestate.

'Banksy Versus Bristol Museum' opens tomorrow but following hot on the heels of whats already been published on the BBC here'a a peek at what's inside. This is just a small selection of the work on display - it looks like its Banksy's biggest ever exhibition. You could spend a good hour just looking around his workspace alone.

The show runs for three months, opening Saturday 13th June through to Sunday 31st August. Start making your plans....

 

 

Banksy has a summer show opening this weekend - Saturday 13th June. For the precise details keep watching banksy.co.uk. (Image from banksy.co.uk).

unsubscribe: unsubscribe@artofthestate.co.uk

Good to see Above has once again arrived In Europe. These are working shots of a work installed in a Copenhagen Street. Here's hoping Above makes it to the UK but in the meantime there's a video to go with this installation. 

Before - an all too typical street scene of neglect

After: A complete shower unit complete with tower rail.

Nice punchline!

Dr D has been busy reclaiming billboards (and a bus shelter) with photofits of a couple of wanted crooks. If you know the whereabouts of Gordon Brown or David Cameron be sure to call Swinestoppers. More politics this weekend.

Anybody remember 'Gordon is a moron'?

Deliver us from evil 

David Cameron. The original Eton rifle. What a catalyst he turned out to be.

Are we calling you Dave or David now? Or maybe we'll just call you something else if that's OK?

 

As promised more pictures from the Curtain Road walls (now buffed after only lasting a few days). Work includes Insa, Tizer, Twesh, Solo One, Probs and Bonzai.

bonzai

solo one

probs

twesh

insa

tizer

According to Wooster Jeff Soto hasn't done any street work for 10 years so its nice to see he's been putting up work in London to coincide with his Stolen Space show. These two pieces are in Brick Lane with reports of others appearing around the area. By the way that's not Jeff in the top picture - its just the nearest I could get to someone looking remotely Californian at 3.30pm on a cold, windy afternoon!

You can see more from Jeff Soto on nolionsinengland's photostream

Great new video of  work by Vhils that really documents his creative process. <br>

Ridiculously this work from Dep only lasted about a week after complaints from local residents. There will be more from this wall in Curtain Road, Shoreditch tomorrow.

Dep

Solo One / Dep

15,000 people have signed up to see a free event taking place in the dank, dark Victorian Tunnels underneath Waterloo station during this week. Details are very sketchy of what to expect - the official website offers very little in the way of clues as it hides behind the façade of a railway track cleaning company with only a booking form and a rough map to guide the visitor. Reports detail that it's a head on collision of ideas between performance art company Punchdrunk, Kevin Spacey's Old Vic and a multitude of artists, many of whom are loosely connected with the 'urban/outsider' art scene - certainly Lazarides is listed amongst the contributors. Arriving at the entrance located on the taxi run up to Waterloo station you are ushered inside to a lobby where the minimum of information is given to you by black clad masked guards who tersely instruct "No photos, do not speak to other visitors, wear this face mask'. I'd asked earlier about taking photos and was told "absolutely not, not even for the press" so you're going to have to use your imagination from hereon in to visualise whats down in the tunnels. Getting your eyes accustomed to the dark you walk down a slope to a series of interconnecting rooms with significant pieces of art picked out by spotlights. There's a ridiculously (as in bling) over the top gold statue of two angels fighting by Antony Micallef and tucked away in small corners are deftly lit model railway sized street scenes of bingo halls and service stations by Slinkachu. Looking at a coffin the guy next to me attempts to take a picture on his mobile phone and a guard immediately slinks out of the shadows and forcefully tells him "no photos, respect the dead". In fact there are guards everywhere, watching and ticking off those who fail to obey the rules. Its hard to tell whether they are acting a part (strangely there's another guy wandering around untroubled with a large camera taking as many photos as he wants), protecting image rights to the place or are just no different to the attendants who would tell you off for attempting exactly the same things in Tate Modern. And that is in part my problem with the show. Kevin Spacey had the idea for the place after seeing Banksy's Cans Festival in the tunnel next door to these ones. That show was also free but had no restrictions on taking photos - hell you could even rock up and paint the walls yourself if you fancied a go. Here, in Tunnel 228, everything is controlled which left me wondering about the reasons why. Was it because if people could take pictures or talk it would take away from the chilly atmosphere generated by the guards? I can certainly understand that as a reason and I respected it during my time there but something else gnawed at me - were the restrictions simply about ensuring control? There were to be 'No press photos' - so why does the Evening Standard and Guardian have a gallery of shots taken at the show on their website? And the free book that you receive on exit (a very nice touch indeed) lists amongst the sponsors Bloomberg - yes that Bloomberg - the chief herder in the financial markets. It might just be me but I've been used to seeing work by the artists involved being free from this kind of 'support', certainly in such a visible way. There's a fantastic Vhils 'Boss Face', cut out of the render on a wall and stained with coffee but unlike any other pieces of his work it felt as protected as if it had been in the National Gallery. There's a great deal to see, much of it is very good (I particularly liked the miniature train that disappeared off into the darkness, rising up into the air only to return a few minutes later). The worker walking upside down on a track in the ceiling just to plant a flower was another favourite. No doubt about it - if you've managed to get a ticket you're in for a treat - I just wish I could get rid of this feeling that something is being lost in our connection to this art…and yet I understand fully that without sponsorship an event on this scale would be almost impossible to be kept free. Outsider art sponsored by Bloomberg...I'll leave you to make your own mind up where this is all going....

Against my better judgement you can now follow artofthestate on twitter.

Well maybe the titles a bit harsh because its not exactly their fault that Eine's tour de force of a screen print of his shutter font has sold out online. This only leaving tonights event at Nelly Duff as probably the final opportunity to get one. And I can't make it. Hence the title.

Anyone wondering what all the fuss about Eine's shutter font is about should take a look here.

Show flyer is below:

Yesterday I finally managed to make it over to see the London Police show at Stolen Space. It's one I've been looking forward to ever since it was announced as TLP were once prolific on these streets and it's about time they had a London gallery show of their work. They've produced a stunning set of canvases all painstakingly hand drawn in indelible ink. The results are, in my opinion, incredible in their complexity and their obvious talent. I liked the small details which only become apparent on closer inspection such as the inclusion of self portraits on one canvas and setting the time on Big Ben to include 20 12. The show finishes soon so if the pictures below whet your appetite get there while you can. If you can't make it you can also see a very nicely shot complete set of pictures from the show on Wallkandy's Flickr stream.

 

I blogged about Shunt recently (the cooperative running one of London's most interesting venues in tunnels and vaults under London Bridge station) and a return visit was in order after several artists were invited to paint its walls. The work below will more than likely remain in place until Shunt's permit to use the space expires around May 2009.

Dep paintshopstudio.com

Orko

Mishfit

Finbarr DAC

Hutch

delete

foundry

Left to right

Fark FK / Snub23 / Dan Kitchener

More photos from Shunt on the artofthestate Flickr photostream

I don't normally post about print releases - all of these are covered much better elsewhere on other blogs - but I thought I would make an exception for this one from Above as I made a special effort to see the original on which it is based back in 2005.

The original location was in New Haw in Surrey under the M25. Unless you wanted to get very wet (!) you had to go on a long walk to get to take a picture like the one below from the other side of the canal.

 

There has always been some dispute if the flag should be referred to as the 'Union Jack' or the 'Union Flag'. The Royal Navy call it the Union Flag when it is on land and its only called the Union Jack when it is flying on one of their ships, i.e. 'at sea'. I guess in this location Above is more than entitled to call it a Union Jack!.

There's a new print available of this based on Above's photo for both £69.00 and £99.00 from Above's website. More details below or order from here: http://goabove.com/main/?p=256

(Green and red special edition)

PRINT NAME: “UNION JACK ARROWS”

EDITION SIZE: 70 REGULAR EDITION (RED/BLUE) + 20 SPECIAL EDITION (ORANGE/GREEN)
PRICE: REGULAR EDITION (RED/BLUE) = 69.00 BRITISH POUNDS /// SPECIAL EDITION (ORANGE/GREEN) = 99.00 BRITISH POUNDS.
LIMIT PER PERSON: 2 PRINTS PER PERSON TOTAL  *(ONLY 1 SPECIAL EDITION PER PERSON)
PAPER/INK: 7-COLOR HAND PULLED SCREEN PRINT ON 22 IN. X 15 IN. ( 56 cm. X 38 cm. ) LENNOX 100  ARCHIVAL WHITE 250 GSM.
*EVERY PRINT IS CUSTOM EMBOSSED, SIGNED, DATED AND NUMBERED BY ABOVE.
AS ALWAYS, ABOVE DESIGNED AND SCREEN PRINTED EVERYTHING HIMSELF. IT DOESN’T GET MORE PERSONAL THAN THIS!

OFFICIAL PRINT INFO: Above first painted these UNION JACK Arrows in LONDON during his “2005 EUROPEAN TOUR” where he painted and installed his signature Arrow’s in 14-countries. We think this prints image and reflection transforms the already good looking UNION JACK motif transform into something mesmerizing. The directional symmetry of the arrows going up and down are a great balance with sharp colors to draw you in even closer. Above spent a lot of time making sure each print was “perfect” and we all agree that this is his best screen print has pulled thus far. We hope you enjoy this print as much as we do. We thank you in advance for your support.

New work from Fake in Hoxton Street, London. Great idea, great execution. Painted on (I'm guessing) a permissioned spot in Hoxton Street.

Its Easter time and to celebrate this time of year Above has completed a new stencil scene which combines this theme with more topical issues. Welcome to the Easter AIG hunt. There's a video here too.

Eine's most recent work in Hackney, East London is quite literally amazing.

eine amazing

Ronzo's latest work, 'Crunchy', sits atop of the Village Underground location in the City Of London. You can find out more about it by visiting ronzo's site.

ronzo crunchy

 

First up 2000 And Down features art at £2000 or less and starts today (preview) at the Urban Angel gallery in Redchurch Street, Shoreditch

.

Opening tonight for a private view and then on from tomorrow Kid Acne has a solo Show at Stella Dore in Rivington Street, Shoreditch

A bit further afield but also opening tonight is a group show in Bristol's Old Bridewell Police Station featuring work from C215 and Bruno Leyval amongst others. More details on stealfromwork.org.

Looking forward I'm dead excited to see the return of the London Police with a solo show entitled '10 Years On The Circle Line' at Stolen Space.

A recent walk through the old Cans Festival tunnel yielded some stunning work from Shok1 and Lovepusher. It must have been fresh as even good work in the tunnel gets battered with in a few days (or hours).

more shok1 on artofthestate. Shok1's website

lovepusher's website

First up was a trip to see a projection art show by SDNA at one of London's strangest venues. Shunt is a series of underground tunnels and rooms under London Bridge station and its main corridor is currently taken over to present CINETAXIS - 'a unique personal insight into the world of insects'. If you've never been to Shunt before the entrance is worth explaining. Despite its large size its accessed via a tiny door opposite the Underground barriers at London Bridge station. After going through security (photo ID and bag search) you walk down a long underground corridor to the main venue. Its this corridor with its many dark offshoots that SDNA have taken over with large scale projections of insects busily working away to the accompaniment of an incessant buzzing. Arriving early and walking through the unknown territory on my own I think I felt the full unerving affect of the installation. Maybe the photos below will give you an idea of what to expect (it's on again this week from the 1st to the 4th April) but to be fully appreciated it needs to be seen in person.

more photos of SDNA's CineTaxi's here.

 

Earlier a far more relaxed trip was made to Pure Evil's gallery for the launch of the 'Graffiti Argentina' book. It's already been out in the shops a while and been reviewed on artofthestate. The full colour volume has been put together with care and consideration and seems more authentic than a great many recent graffiti books - mainly as the writers get to directly explain their motives behind their work (which includes outright hatred of the train companies)!

Also on Friday night was a chance to see End Of The Line's stunning work on the urban art wall at the John Jones site near Finsbury Park, North London. Bleach, Probs, Hicks, Zadok and Rabodiga have all contributed to create a fantastic panorama full of high quality work. John Jones are famous for their high quality framing and fine art photography services which the content of the panels (a selection of which are below) give a nod to.

more John Jones photos here

Finally Saturday night was hardcore heaven and spent in the company of Ipswich's finest The Stupids and Australia's The Hard Ons in Kingston. It must be close on 20 years since I last them but both bands still tore up the stage in fine style. I was 'off duty' for taking pictures but still couldn't resist a few snaps.

The Stupids

Hard Ons

These are not any old pants, these are hand sprayed Banksy pants



Posted up on Ebay last night (well spotted by Martyn from Nuart on his twitter stream) were a load of pants which are being auctioned off for charity. Included in amongst the smalls of Daniel Day Lewis, Jordan, Joanna Lumley and Ian Hislop (I never thought I'd be writing that list as a line up) is a reworked version of Banksy's 'Very Little Helps'. Created with spraypaint and emulsion the kids are now running a pair of pants (American readers might want to look at the picture at this point) up the flagpole. So what's the significance of this? Simon Hattenstone, the organiser behind the charity auction, explains in the Guardian why he's been calling up well known figures and asking them for their pants "Look, I'm not a seedy old hack, I help run a drop-in centre for destitute asylum seekers. These people have no money for the basics in life. One of the things they most lack is underwear, so we're drawing attention to it with an auction of celebrity underwear".
You can view the Ebay auction and further details here:
cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2503955...

If the starting price of £30,000 is a little too steep you might like to make a donation to the charity here.
www.mycharitypage.com/NNLSDropin

Ludo has been pasting up images in London recently from his Nature's Revenge series. This CCTV sprouting flower found off Shoreditch High Street is a stunning example, more on artofthestate.

Forgot to revisit this event - here comes the press release...should be a great night.

The Portobello Film Festival presents four nights of free film and urban art in W10 in March.
Entry to all events is free, no tickets, first come first served and everyone welcome.

Featuring Dotmasters, Inkie, Chu, Graffiti Research Labs Zeus and Solo One.

Urban Art Showcase & Films
Thursday March 5.
Westbourne Studios,
242 Acklam Road,
London W10
6pm - 11pm.
Admission Free

Launch party for year round urban art/state of the art graffiti
exhibition at Westbourne Studios featuring works by Inkie, Zeus,
Dotmaster, Solo 1 and others TBA. Plus films from the artists
explaining their work, showing it in the context of new art
revolution, and recording their techniques.
In the wake of Banksy's success these painters' work is currently
attracting unprecedented media interest and has touched the hearts of
a generation bored with corporate culture and meaningless 'concepts'.

Dr D has 'HMP London - Brainwash Launderette' opening tonight (Thursday 5th March, 7pm onwards) in the unusual location of an East London launderette. The good news is that its open to all - there's no guest list and you can bring your own booze. Music will be provided. Sounds like a lot of fun. Head along to 222 Bethnal Green Road, London.

In the meantime here's some recent hits from Dr D:

Another modern day interpretation of one of the ten commandments in Willesden

 

And a take on the Duffy Diet Coke billboards currently looming all over London (original billboard included underneath).

 

Previewing tonight and open from tomorrow until is Part2ism's superbly titled 'Artillery For Pleasure' show at Urban Angel. Part2ism has a long history of eye catching street work so the accompanying 'Artillery for Pleasure - The Manual' book sounds like something well worth checking out at the show. 

Well they've got to be Banksy haven't they?

First up is one in Gillett Square, Dalston (just around the corner from the police tape if you're heading thay way today). Look at the way the air vent is brilliantly turned into a speaker and the addition of a stenciled dance mat on the floor.

And a bit further afield (unless you live where the A1 joins the North Circular Road in London) is this second piece with a reworking of a well known slogan:

Recent work by C215 in Hackney Wick. You can see more from C215 on Romanywg's excellent Flickr photostream.

Its been running a long while but its worth revisiting when the water in canal is as still as this. Hackney Wick's very best wall featuring amongst others Sweet Toof, Mighty Monkey, Gold Peg and Rowdy.

And as has been said before graffiti often works best when it incorporates the elements around it as in this daydreaming dustbin.

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed a pattern in Dr D's recent billboard interventions and here's the latest from North West London.

Recent work by Mighty Mo and ATG's Panik adding a bit of colour to London's grey outlook.

Mighty Monkey

Panik / ATG

Well its Valentine's day tomorrow (you did remember, right?) so what better way to spend it than walking around the grotty streets of London with your loved one looking for left art. Tomorrow Beautiful Crime will be dropping 142 canvasses on the streets of London (14th of the 2nd month - geddit?). So look out for work by artists Fark FK, Finbarr and Bon Bon. They're calling it their inaugural Valentine's Day MassARTcre. And yes, they are looking for a slightly better title for the event.

Meanwhile Above has sent in his latest and very well timed work. There's a neat little video to accompany this piece which includes some further work stenciled while standing in a river.

 

If there was a competition category for 'The best painted wall in town for the past eight years' (a bit unlikely I admit) then there would only be one clear winner - Cargo in Rivington Street, Shoreditch. During that time it's played host to a multitude of graffiti writers from all over the planet. Sandwiched between its legendary pieces - Banksy's 'Authorised Graffiti Area' and 'Nipper With Bazooka' (my title) - are several walls that have played host to the likes of Shepard Fairey, Adam Neate, Dface, Herakut and Pure Evil. Currently they're rocking work from C215, Bruno Leyval and Run. There's a very neat video of the Run install here.

Bruno Leyval

C215

So this wall originally had work on it by Dave The Chimp, Mighty Mo and I think Elmo. It was then painted over by Sam3 with a huge feline. Whatever, I'm not getting into an argument on the rights and wrongs of going over. Its always been part of the game and always will be.
Anyway these two latest additions are obviously interracting with the Sam3 piece. The baked bean on the left doesn't need a speech bubble to convey his feelings! It wasn't actually done by Dave The Chimp, just in his style. It made me chuckle. And when you've spent a sodden wet Friday trudging around that can only be a good thing.