Like any major European city, Lisbon is famous for some epic murals but what is great about the Algarve is that a former industrial port town, Olhão, is starting to establish itself as an artistic centre in its own right, with the overflow pushing some very interesting art into some interesting locations.
Portugraff and Iberian Bombing // Wednesday 19th October 2011
The Algarve, in the south of Portugal is a rugged countryside with rocky soil and hardy trees. But at the end of September, these tough trees are heavy with pomegranates, almonds, quinces, carobs and the second citrus season of the year is well underway; fields of big green lumps gradually fulfil their orangey destinies while overhead, storks carry babies to their expectant mothers.
Abandoned and whitewashed farm buildings occasionally crop out of this lush and pleasant moonscape presenting the portugraffese with the perfect smooth canvas to showcase their al fresco skills.
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The individual pieces are great but the project has to be seen in full to really be appreciated; it stretches a few hundred metres all the way down Nelson Street and up to the old court buildings. You can sense the oozing sense of smugness as some of the old guard graffers, who had been through there for artistic crimes in their youth, now smear all over it with impunity.
See No Evil, Bristol // Tuesday 13th September 2011
People who live in the shadow of Mount Fuji or those whose local pub is round the corner from Chartres Cathedral must eventually get bored with being bowled-over with awe at the landmarks which fill their daily lives. After the twentieth time you’ve dragged your shopping home past the shiny facades of a major tourist attraction it may start to blend into the background. So too with Bristol’s plethora of graffiti. Unless you are actively seeking it, the huge red waves, cascading colours and giant robotic figures may escape your notice.
However, See No Evil (the title for the full-scale takeover of Nelson Street’s walls) should manage to buck this tendency for appreciative complacency by being one of the largest permanent street art events in Europe, and may even give street art some new fans, or at the very least, force some of the more blinkered members of the public to take a little bit more notice of the wealth of free art which surrounds them.
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Jamfree at Upfest, Bristol. // Wednesday 29th June 2011
On the 4th and 5th of June, south Bristol was host to Europe’s biggest Urban Paint festival: Upfest. Basically a huge celebration of all that is scribbly and painty in the graffiti scene, where 250 artists from around the world descended upon a labyrinth of blank canvases to jam side-by-side for a whole weekend and where nothing else mattered but the splish and splash of fresh creation, and the ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’ from benevolent aesthetic rubberneckers.
ByPlay used this chance to catch up with one of its longest serving members, Jamfree aka Cliff Beta aka Ewan as he worked on what they call in them poncy galleries ‘a mixed media piece’; a first for him, a combination of paint and paste.
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ddisorientationn Launch Party - Saturday 2nd July. Fishmarket, The Nook 8pm-11.30pm
Ddissorientationn at the Nook Cafe // Wednesday 29th June 2011
Byplay have been given the heads up by El Tobe about an exhibition in Northampton. Ddissorientationn seems a interesting title for the show with works from Ben Foot, El Tobe, Dale Merrick, Eric Rivera, Josh Ryan, Chloe Coles and Jack Parker.
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VALISTIKA STUDIO at Atticus, Barcelona “THE FUCKING TIGER & OTHER THINGS”.
“The Fucking Tiger & Other Things” by VALISTIKA STUDIO // Friday 3rd June 2011
MONDOTOYZ-ATTICUSBCN Gallery Invites you to the opening exhibition “THE FUCKING TIGER & OTHER THINGS”by VALISTIKA STUDIO
The exhibition will showcase a special selection of comercial-personal Works developed since 2006, among wich there will be illustration, typography, sneakers and much more…
Will be a SPECIAL GIFT for 50 first attendees….
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Dylan Shipley, Weapon of Choice, Bristol. // Thursday 26th May 2011
The western enthusiasm for manga, cute robots and tasty sushi has never really gone away, but maybe the spotlight has been recently refocused somewhat. Takashi Miike’s new film, 13 Assassins, is a return to Akira Kurosawa-style feudal epics, albeit with an almost insensitive take on violence (in the light of recent catastrophe, but then that’s the director of Ichi the Killer for you) and Dylan Shipley, while not exactly eschewing technology for antiquated woodcut techniques, is using sumi ink and imitating some of the skills and styles of Japan’s alluring Edo-period past.
Shipley currently runs Bristol’s Sun and Moon production studios and has worked on a huge range of animations, storyboards, character designs and illustrations over the years, including a spell working at Tokyo’s Enjin Productions, and this show at the new Weapon of Choice site is a direct homage to the techniques and subject matter picked up in the land of miniaturisation and the rising sun.
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Suspended Animation by Andrew McAttee - Acrylic, gloss and spray paint on canvas
107 x 107 cm. Part of the Mixed Doubles show at The Signal Gallery.
Mixed Doubles, The Signal Gallery // Saturday 30th April 2011
Creating art, whether it be music, poetry or visual art, is one of the most subjective and personal endeavours there is. The concept of group shows, then, is an odd one in the sense that it invites artists not to collaborate necessarily, but to present their work side by side.
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“Experimentation is always a motivating force as well although the images are sometimes quite simple they nearly always involve some kind of experimental element that is often being rolled out for the first time. When I'm painting experimentation is constant, I haven't yet arrived at a comfortable formula that I can use again and again.”
Byroglyphics “Subsidiary” Interview // Saturday 16th April 2011
There are feelings that aren’t easy to describe with words. For example, there isn’t a succinct way of saying to someone: I feel lonely, frightened and vulnerable. I feel everything at once. Too many ideas, memories, mistakes to defend. I feel uncomfortable having people around me. I’m not quite good enough yet.
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‘Rather than an emotional response, I set myself the mechanical task of creating a drawing every day for 70 days - allowing myself only 2 hours at the start of the day. The idea was to banish repetition by the physical act of repetition. Learning to make new marks, new subjects.’
David Bray ‘Great Disasters of the 20th Century’ // Saturday 16th April 2011
‘Great Disasters of the 20th Century’. It’s an ominous title and one that suggests images of war, earthquake, genocide. Flaming cities, perhaps. Busts of Hitler or Saddam Hussein. Maybe some kind of post-modern reference to the capitalist, media dominated world in which we live, should you subscribe to that school of thought. If you weren’t familiar with Bray you’d be forgiven for these expectations, and possibly surprised by the reality of his latest show. But for those with prior experience of David Bray, you’d be right to expect nothing so straight forward.
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