Archive for the 'London' Category
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
Subway Art 25th Anniversary Special Edition
There is no arguing the pivotal roles Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfant played in the documentation of New York City hip hop and graffiti from the late 70s through the 1980s, and that their images have been just as crucial to these movements’ recent resurgence in popularity. Many of Cooper’s and Chalfant’s now iconic photos were collected in the 1984 publication Subway Art, limited to an initial run of 5000 copies. It has been in print ever since. To celebrate the book’s 25th anniversary, Thames and Hudson have produced an updated and expanded edition of Subway Art, along with a special limited edition of 100 copies produced in collaboration with Black Rat Press, including two signed photos by Cooper and Chalfant.
On Thursday, June 25, Black Rat Press welcomes Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant and subway artist Blade to London for the official book launch of Subway Art: 25th Anniversary Edition. More info here
Cooper and Chalfant at Revolutionary Books, NYC signing in May.
Image: Joe Conzo via Martha Cooper
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
London Contemporary Art Auctions
Estimated far below similar works sold just one year ago, Richard Prince's Country Nurse is scheduled for auction June 30th, during Christie's Postwar+ Contemporary Art Evening Sale in London.
The big three auction houses are gearing up for their annual summer Contemporary Art sales in London. Day and evening sales kick of with Sotheby’s on June 25th and will be followed by Phillips de Pury on June 29th and Christie’s on the 30th and July 1.
With an estimate of £1.5-2 million at Christie’s Postwar + Contemporary Art Evening Sale on June 30, Richard Prince’s Country Nurse (pictured above) is telling of the increasingly conservative methods auctioneers are using to minimize risk in an already diminished market. One year ago a similar piece from the Nurse series was estimated at £4-6 million and sold for £4,241,250 at Sotheby’s July 1 London Contemporary Evening Sale.
Follow the links below to browse auction catalogs:
Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction, London – June 25
Sotheby’s Contemporary Day Auction, London – June 26
Phillips de Pury Contemporary Art Day + Evening Sale, London – June 29
Christie’s Post War + Contemporary Art Evening Sale, London – June 30
Christie’s Post War + Contemporary Art Day Sale, London – July 1
Friday, June 12th, 2009
Bansky’s Bristol Show Revealed
Via BBC
Today, Banksy unveiled the secret show he had eluded to on his website earlier this week. The artist’s largest exhibit to date, Banksy Versus Bristol Museum, opens to the public in his hometown at the City Museum and Art Gallery. The show features over 70 new works, as well as some familiar ones, including animatronics that were first seen at Banksy’s Village Pet Shop in New York last year. “This is the first show I’ve done where taxpayers’ money is being used to hang my pictures up rather than scrape them off,” said the artist in a statement (AP). The show is free and runs through August 31. In the meantime, check out the video tour below, and see more pics via BBC
Via BBC
Friday, June 5th, 2009
There Will Be Blood – Anish Kapoor to Fill Royal Academy
Anish Kapoor – Svayambh, 2007 at Le Musée des Beaux Arts. Image: Exporevue
This coming September, London’s Royal Academy of Arts will host a major exhibition by acclaimed sculptor, Anish Kapoor, representing the first time the main exhibition galleries will be filled by a living contemporary artist. Here, Kapoor will present several new works, alongside signature pieces representing his accomplished career. The exhibition’s focal point will be Svayambh (Sanskrit for self-born), a site specific work comprised of mammoth block of red wax that slowly trudges along on motorized tracks, morphing to the shape of the gallery arches it passed through and staining the walls along the way. An earlier version of the piece debuted at Le Musée des Beaux Arts in 2007. Also on display will be Shooting Into the Corner, a new work that sees an air-powered cannon continually firing red pellets of wax at a wall.
The pieces represent Kapoor’s recent exploration of art that is both transient and self-generating. In an interview for Tate Magazine, the artist noted, “I am interested in sculpture that manipulates the viewer into a specific relation with both space and time. Time, on two levels; one narratively and cinematically as a matter of the passage through the work, and the other as a literal elongation of the moment.”
Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy of Arts opens September 26 and runs till December 11, 2009.
Image: The Royal Academy of Arts
Friday, May 8th, 2009
Tonight :: Ron English at Elms Lesters
Tonight, Elms Lesters Painting Rooms opens Lazarus Rising, the (long overdue) first UK solo exhibition by one of the founding fathers of billboard hijacking and most astounding talents of modern pop, Ron English. English will be on hand Saturday, May 9, from 12-2pm, signing copies of the new hard-bound exhibition catalog, which can also be purchased via the gallery here. Not to be missed – For those outside of London, here are a few images of some pieces included in the show – more on the Elms website.
Ron English – Lazarus Rising
May 8 – June 6
Elms Lesters Painting Rooms
1–3–5 Flitcroft Street, London WC2H 8DH
Images: ©Ron English/Elms Lesters
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Jeff Soto @ StolenSpace
Jeff Soto’s first UK solo show will detonate at StolenSpace, London, on the 14th of May. TAC congratulates one of our favorite voices of his generation. Keep up with Jeff’s experience on his blog. While the show’s title – ‘The Inland Empire’ – is a handily recognized reference in SoCal, London will undoubtedly formulate their own definition.
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
A Forca Da Rua Charity Auction
D*Face Gibson Les Paul
ABC Trust (Action for Brazil’s Children) has organized A Forca da Rua (Force of the Streets), an exhibition and charity auction to help raise funds and awareness for Brazil’s impoverished youth. According to the non-profit, an estimated 7 million children live or work on the streets of Brazil, and 60% do not complete primary education. The organization has invited 12 street artists from Brazil and the UK (including D*Face, Inkie, Titi Freak, Calma and Speto) to paint Gibson guitars, which will be exhibited from April 24 – May 12 and auctioned on April 29 at The Printspace in London.
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
London :: Black Rat Press Print Show
D*Face
In London, Black Rat Press opened their first show of the year with a line-up that including D*Face, Nick Walker, Swoon, Matt Small, Sweettoof, Brian Adam Douglas, Gaia, Lucas Price, Blek Le Rat and Slinkachu. Highlighting the collectability of prints, especially in trying economic times, the exhibition is a strong statement.
Photos courtesy of London-art-scene mainstay and frequent TAC contributor, Romanywg.
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009
Artists11 @ Bonhams
D*Face
The Bonhams offering of Urban Art on February 24 will have 78 lots, but 11 of them are set to be auctioned as part of the Artists11 project that supports the Prostrate Cancer Charity. The artists participating are D*Face, Nick Walker, Eine, Blek le Rat, Mr. Jago, Pure Evil, Pete Fowler, Xenz, Andrew McAttee, Dan Baldwin and Gerald Laing.
Photos courtesy of Romanywg, who caught the preview in London.
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
LONDON :: Phillips de Pury Saturday Sale
AUCTION March 14th 12pm / VIEWING March 10th – 12th / RECEPTION March 10th 6-8pm
In a most generous move, Phillips will be brokering charitable sales. German artists, Herakut, will be creating unique work to benefit the charity War Child.