ArtAttack had the chance to visit the studio of one of our favourite LA street artists, WRDSMTH, to discuss his practice, inspirations and what it’s like to be an urban artist in Hollywood.
I wonder how many people reading this have ever sat down and thought, “Hmm, I could be the next Banksy.” The truth is, there is major appeal in street art — the secrecy, the rush, the message, the money. Many individuals, both artists and non-artists (think Mr. Brainwash), have been attracted to the art of graffiti, whether for creative, adrenaline-based or financial reasons. But as up-and-coming LA-based street artist WasNMe will tell you, it’s not as easy as it seems!
We sat down with the British-born ex-photographer who is now making his mark (literally!) on the streets of Los Angeles to talk about his journey and get an inside look into what it’s really like trying to make it in street art.
ArtAttack sat down with American artist Raymond Salvatore Harmon to discuss his upcoming fundraiser exhibition Abstract Numerology.
All proceeds of the show will go to help fund the inaugural Beta Culture grants that will be open for submission the first week of January. The Beta Culture grant will fund artists/curators/writers and independent spaces with micro-grants from £500 to £1000.
A great opportunity to buy art and support the arts community: https://www.facebook.com/events/1495074467486697/
The last day of August not only marked a day off work, another rainy London Monday and the end of summer 2015, but also the night that ArtAttack finally visited Banksy’s Dismaland Bemusement Park.
For those who don’t know, Dismaland is the infamous street artist’s latest project, an exhibition he’s curated that will be on view at the old Tropicana pool in Weston-Super-Mare for the next 5 weeks. As the name implies, this show takes the familiar theme park concept, and turns it upside down; Instead of a world where we can escape reality like its’ namesake, Disneyland, Dismaland sort of rubs reality in our face. It forces us to stop pretending the problems around us are not our problems and makes us reflect upon the consequences of inaction and indifference to global issues.
In honour of the release of a new Dotmaster print entitled ‘Indigo Gets Up,’ Imitate Modern presents the famed London street artist live painting with a side of juice to boot! You heard us, this Saturday, 15th August, as part of Seven Dials juicery, Lab Organic‘s, ‘Spotlight Music, Comedy and Art Festival,’ you can catch The Dotmaster in the flesh doing what he does best!
The work itself, ‘Indigo Gets Up,’ which will be both live painted and sold as prints, is part of the artist’s ‘Rude Kids‘ series. The gallery explains the concept best: “The characters in the ‘Rude Kids‘ series are…simply too nice to ‘flip the bird’ or vandalise your walls. With teenage years looming, 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.'” In other words, Dotmaster is giving us a taste of some rude boys and girls in the making!
Last Thursday, we were lucky enough to be taken on a private tour of Artpusher’s recently-closed show ‘I Love Mangahattan‘ at MeadCarney, Mayfair. For those of you who don’t know his work, Artpusher is one of the new wave of European street artists whose works look sharp both in the gallery and on the streets.
Artpusher’s influences range from his father, an accomplished watercolour painter in his own right, to Picasso, Basquiat, Warhol and Koons, along with Street Art gurus the likes of Ron English, Banksy and Blek Le Rat. These inspirations can be seen in the size, scale and detail of his photorealistic works, which draw on pop art, street art and comic books (specifically Japanese manga) to create large-scale cityscapes focused on the consumerism of New York and Times Square. His works draw the eye to commercial inconsistencies; brands are warped, logos destroyed and reassembled. Irony practically drips off each piece and the humour is apparent. His are definitely works you spend awhile on rather than zoom past.
It’s been almost a week since I attended the private view of Nasan Tur‘s first UK solo exhibition at Blain Southern. And it’s not that I’ve been putting off writing this blog, but rather that I’ve needed some time to really let the German artist’s commanding work sink in, to make some sense of the powerful messages his art brings forward so rawly.
The first thing that struck me as I entered the space on Wednesday 25 March was the incredible range of works on view. The exhibition includes video, woodcuts, painting, sculpture, neon and collage, all executed with precision and purpose. But far from merely looking good, or strange, or interesting, each piece goes beyond just making a point about society and the human condition, instead grinding this point into the viewer’s head so that it’s palpable, inescapable, impossible to ignore.
The most painful yet rewarding example of this for me is ‘First Shot’ (2014). This video depicts several people, one after the other, picking up a gun, examining it and then shooting it for the first time. The entire soundtrack of the piece is silent except for the blast itself, which can be heard even in the other rooms of the gallery, making me jump every time, even when I knew it was coming.
I’m going to set things straight here once and for all, graffiti is hard. Now I know some of you may be shaking your heads, “street art is not art,” but last week I sat in Phillips auction house and watched a pretty average Banksy go under the hammer just a few lots before a Warhol pencil drawing, so I must respectfully beg to differ. Also, after taking a Street Art Workshop at Notting Hill’s Graffik Gallery this weekend, I am acutely aware of how arty street art really is.
That’s right, on Valentine’s Day, my boyfriend and I ventured out to Portobello Road to get our hands dirty, literally, prepared to realise in the 2 hour session of spray paint galore that we were the next Banksy, iCON or the couples version of Os Gemeos (Rio’s famed graffiti twins). Bursting with ideas and ready to show our stuff, we sat down on the back terrace of Graffik, awaiting instructions from our street artist/teacher, itching to grab the pencils and get started.
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