Summer News
Oi Oi
Note to self: Make mail out’s short and punchy.
Note from accounts: Rant & Waffle for England as these things cost $0.20 per recipient.
Yes folks we’ve reached the heady heights of the British summer so make haste with the sandbags & waders, come on, jump aboard the venga bus we’re off to high ground.
The Art-el ‘Happy Bus’ are pleased to announce that our numbers are growing and the resistance is strong.
First up is Mr Will Barass, the quintessential Englishman, never happier than when relaxing to the sound of leather on willow.
Will Barras is an illustrator and artist living and working in London. Born in Birmingham in 1973 he spent his formative years in Bristol. The subject matter is readily familiar, but captured in a manner that seems to jar time and space with absent mindedness, inattention and an evocative sense of exploration.
A founding member of the ‘Scrawl Collective’, Will has courted success worldwide and his latest solo show titled ‘’An Absolute Shower’’ has just opened to rave reviews at the Carmichael Gallery in LA.
Next up another man of prodigious talent and impeccable manners, a man whose work has stunned us for some time now and we are cock a hoop to bring you the work of ChinaMike (or dynamite) whichever rolls from ones tongue best. His work is so technically well executed that many pass his work by, thinking it’s just the ‘same old’ lazy photoshop! How wrong they are, this lad has the skills to pay the bills. Painting with a brush so damn fine that I can only best describe as ‘five eyelashes’ bound together, creating lines and detail that is so minutiae that it burns your retinas just watching him paint. As he stopped for coffee last week the sound of his bones cracking rang round the studio as his body unfurled ‘fern like’ from his painting hunch. Like a fool I interjected with a ‘How long do you reckon each piece takes China?’ He turned to me poker faced and politely said that he ‘didn’t like to think about it’!!
We start up with a few originals and some brand new screen prints in the next week or so.
China’s work has been showcased recently for painting Let Them Hang’s ‘First Great Weston’ a tribute & props to Screen One’s print guru Paul Weston. Trumpeting the 40 plus years of printing from the man that hand pulled many of the early works by Banksy & Nick Walker and many many more.
There’s always room for a right royal ball’s up so here goes. The northern sage & wit known to most as Misteraitch consigned us some prints for the 12 Days of Xmas show with the intention of the unsold ones going straight onto Art-el…………………….so here you have it folks with a mere 200 day’s till Xmas we give you the heads up on these two little festive beauties titled ‘The Ang-azing Ga-gy Jee-gus’ & ‘Peace’……..sorry Aitch.
Fresh out of North Londinium, and smuggled along the snake that is the M4, comes work from the ever creative, workaholic and insomniac that is Adam Koukoudakis. Having emerged from his most creative year to date Adz has again hit the floor running and turning heads all the while. At ease with a plethora of mediums as well as his very own unique CMYK paintings.
Having recently sold out in shows in Bristol & Japan the niche is being carved. He has recently put to bed the loveable Cheeky F**kin Pigz characters and in his latest body of work the artist also bids farewell to the Father n’ Son series, with the unleashing of another step into a new medium of collaged comic, plus a new Art-el favourite in the ‘Stencils are for Cu… series!
New work from Brighton’s brightest, bright young thing, Pam Glew who has had a whirlwind start to 2008 showing at a group show in LA, followed by her recent smash show at the Fair Trade Gallery, Brighton. Expect some very limited edition screen prints, more of the hugely popular ‘Red Fear’ stencil series and something of a first at Art-el……………….embroidery!
June brings us our first in house print from the master of the doodle, Scrawl founding member and the font of all Jedi wisdom, Mr Jago. The print titled ‘So Much’ is an edition of 123 and weighs in at 100 pounds sterling. His new free flowing ‘abstract mental, experimental sheite’ (his words not ours) is going down a storm and along with his much in demand originals things are building nicely towards his London solo show in the Autumn.
Incoming for June/July we will be mixing it up with work from Graham ‘Paris’ & his trusty partner in crime Milk who both featured in the recent documentary ‘Tags to Riches’ which was shown on Sky & ITV.
A new and exclusive screen print from one of our favourite street urchins K-Guy & originals & new work by the talented man from steel city known as Tom Hine, whom we’re waiting to mend, after throwing himself out of a paraglider…………….no shit, proper spacky blue cast to boot. Get well soon.
All this merriment and still yet to mention man of the moment Motorboy, the much lauded Brian Jones, ever increasingly talked of as the new ‘pop artist’ of a generation. The wonder of the female form, celebrated in contrasting yet intriguing styles by the sassy & lovable pair Dora and Ria Hill. Throw in the likes of Aussies Simon Lovelace & Ben Frost and another of our favourite street renegades Dr D and the mad old world of Jason Atomic and it really is a creative hive.
As ever a huge Art-el big love to all those that have supported, patronized, heckled, helped, harassed, stalked, shafted, buttered, bribed, bruised and generally amused us in our fledgling venture thus far. Late nights, opening nights and monster hangovers, to the folk we’ve burned and boozed with x.
To the artists, whose show it is, we merely try to conduct. God bless em, someone has to!
We’re out, All@art-el
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