Street Artist Stik - Solo Show 3rd-26th March

PREVIEW WEDNESDAY 2 MARCH 

6-9 PM
LIVE GRAFFITI BY STIK
EXHIBITION 3-26 MARCH 2011

SINGLE MUM 2011 silkscreen print 45 x 112 cm - edition of 50

Stik’s latest solo show at the Subway Gallery features a Live Graffiti event on the opening night, an installation comprised of four large
light-boxes and hosts the long awaited launch of the new high quality print edition “Single Mum” produced by Squarity.  As always there will be smaller,affordable pieces on sale too at this free show.

Live painting by Stik on Saturdays throughout the month.

 
If you’ve visited East London in the last ten years you’ll doubtless have seen the huge mysterious stick figures lurking on the sides of buildings and billboards. Deceptively simple in form, with just six lines each and dots for eyes, they are packed with subtle form and emotion. They are the work of street artist Stik, who having spent many years homeless and working
on the streets, knows the city from the inside and manages to reach seemingly superhuman locations to paint these highly stylized pieces.

These days Stik exhibits in the West-End, liaises at Central Saint Martin’s “Graffiti Dialogues” with Police and Councils and is funded to run graffiti workshops by councils and schools. The artist also works with groups as diverse as Amnesty International, Reclaim the streets, Queeruption, Mutoid Waste Company and British Waterways and yet still regularly paints unauthorised pieces around the capital, underlining Stik's status as a key component of both underground and mainstream art scenes.

This is a short film we made of Stik's first solo show...

FEATURED REGULARLY IN LSD MAGAZINE

Open publication - Free publishing - More urban art

Inkie - Valentines Day Print Release

‘The Look of Love’ Screenprint : Pink & Blue Editions
A2 (594 x 420mm) 5 Colour Screenprint hand printed by the artist on Heavyweight Art Paper at 280gm. 

Emboss Stamped , Signed and Numbered in a limited edition of 50.
at a special Valentines price of £75.00 each plus P&P.

This is also available as a 24k Gold Leaf Edition with Hand finished heart only available in an Super Limited edition 5 of each colourway at £150.00 each plus P&P.

UK Orders received before 3pm on Thursday the 10th February
will be guaranteed delivery for Valentines day.

Exclusively available at: www.inkie.co.uk

Plus limited edition colourways of other Classic Prints, Original Canvases, Tees & Cards. Genuine Inkie original products since 1984…

Twitter: @inkiegraffiti

Upcoming Events:
February 17-20th - 20|21 International Art Fair
March 11th Street Fonts: Thames & Hudson Book launch
March 10-13th: Affordable Art Fair
April: Solo Show - Best Joined Up - Leeds
May: Solo Show - Lazarides Outsiders Gallery - Soho

Open publication - Free publishing - More urban art

Street Artist RUN New Website

Italian street artist RUN has just launched a new website...He 's a hard man to track down due to flying around the world painting though of late RUN has been creating his works of art throughout London...

http://www.runabc.org/

Open publication - Free publishing - More urban art

The Lock Up Show - Nov 20th - 10th December

Friday the 20th Nov sees the opening of The Lock Up Show. An exciting show set in the centre of London featuring original art from some class artists, should be a good one so don't miss it if you're in the neighborhood. Artist K-Guy (interviewed in Issue 1) has produced a unique piece in corroboration with dance music legends The Prodigy.

'I'll be previewing an original 1 off version of the collaborative piece I've just produced with The Prodigy . It's a real mashed up version on an old school desk framed in a massively decorative
antique style black frame.' K-Guy

K-Guy
Death by Daylight

Banksy Mistaken Identity - Mantis New Piece

NEWS in London

Friday's Hackney Gazette featured an article and photograph of a stencil which was accredited to Banksy. Street art photographers both on personal and business levels, made haste to the spot in Hackney hoping to shoot the art before the council or taggers destroyed it. LSD's Wayne Anthony was onsite shortly after hearing of the Gazette's announcement. He met couple chaps from the magazine Crack for your Eye's and almost had s scrap with a busker who tried to bully the lads into giving money. The busker accused the lads of exploiting Hackney which is laughable considering Wayne's connection with the area.

Eventually the true identity of the artist was revealed as Mantis. We immediately contacted Mantis requesting an interview which he agreed to do and will feature in the next issue...

Name that Artist: ISSUE TWO - Invasion Monsters

Artist: Post Morten

We've been recently told that the Invasion Monsters in Issue Two were created by Post Morten. We publish hundreds of photographs in each issue so tracking down all the artists names is a job in itself. We'd have to become expects in man hunting, CSI conditioned and prepared to trudge the streets at night in all weathers. So if you know the names of artists featured in LSD please contact and let us know... We're not saying your grasses, informers or snitches...Credit due where Credit due...

Aerosol Legend Chor Boogie Speaks 2 LSD on Recent Stabbing

Chor Boogie is a beacon of transcendental positivity in the streets and public spaces of our world, tirelessly offering up his soul and his talent to inspire harmony, creativity, insight and reflection. His astonishing creations have woven a world of healing colour and soaring imagery on all four corners of the globe and you would think, sown respect and wonder in the hearts of those lucky enough to engage with his work. You’d think….. Chor Boogie – pure heart and embracing spirit was stabbed twice this weekend as he worked on a 100 foot long public mural on the streets of San Francisco. He took some time out of his recovery to speak to us and we send him all our love, respect and positivity

So what happened
I was working on a 100 foot mural on Market Street, one of the main roads in downtown San Francisco, painting hard at around 7:15 in the evening, and I had my paints stacked up in the middle of the project wall so I could jump back and forth to grab cans when I needed them. Usually, it’s a busy street and so I generally keep an eye out as people are passing in case any of them tries to take anything, and so that night as a large group of people were forming near the middle I looked over to check everything was cool. I saw this girl scampering behind everyone else there like a little cockroach, grab a can and put it in her bag and I’m like ‘Whoooaa’. At first I thought it was just her, and I jumped off the ladder, stopped her and confronted her, but it turns out that she had three guys with her who I think were in some way related to ‘graffiti’. So as I pulled her up on it, she tries to deny it, so I grabbed her bag and that was when it started to escalate drastically. She hit me while I’m trying to wrestle the can away and then the guys piled in so it’s me trying to fight the four of them and as I say, it just escalated and turned seriously nasty and the next thing I know I’ve been stabbed twice….. deep..

Have you ever encountered anything like this before
No, this is the first time that something like this has happened to me, and I’ve painted in some CRAZY places all around the world - favelas in Brazil which get a pretty bad press and I tell you – the vibe was far cooler there .

Are you disappointed that they simply could not see the beauty and the love in the art
I truly am disappointed that there was no respect and appreciation for the art. But you know, I don’t think they even cared about that – it simply was not relevant to their reality and I think they were far more focused on the spray paint itself rather than what the spray paint can create. The thing is, it is pretty common for graffiti writers and taggers to have this kind of mercenary attraction to spray paint – it’s like candy to them and they are going try and steal it – that’s their whole motto.

Do you see this as the dark side of some people’s conception of what street art is all about
It is the dark side, but in some ways, it’s what graffiti is all about. There’s a balance to everything – a positive and a negative side, and I believe that I represent and energise the positive side of this medium. Saying that though, I don’t go by the term graffiti at all, I consider it spray paint art, because that is my tool just like oils or acrylics, but I do see that other s can blur the lines and what happened is the grimy street side to it which some people may want to glorify, but I’ve got a very different perspective on it with 2 stab wounds to prove it. These are my different perspective right here.

Do you feel in any way betrayed as all you were doing was giving to a community
I wouldn’t say that, no. I’m not going to play the blame game and I am most definitely going back to finish the project, but I do feel disrespected. And don’t forget, these guys were at least 20 – 25 years old, so we’re not talking about young kids here. They were grown adults, so they know better – or at least they should.

Do you wonder why, if these guys were into spray paint, they didn’t just come, watch and learn
Bottom line – they’re miseducated. I don’t think they have that mentality. I don’t even think that they paint with spray, create anything. I think they just go out and scrawl their name on walls and the creative process is just alien to them

Do you see this as an escalation of someone tagging badly over a beautiful piece?
Well that’s already happened to this piece and I fixed it, and I think that the word was put out by some of the locals on the street, but nothing else happened until now, and this was early on in the project. But what’s crazy, is that they intentionally, purposefully tagged an area that I’d put a lot of detail into - one of the retinas in the eyes, while there was all this other space around that they could have had their moment in and would have been far less destructive and far easier to retouch. But this was unquestionably the deliberate destruction of beautiful artwork…..so what can you say.

Can you even begin to understand that mentality
No. I don’t. If someone could explain the philosophy behind it to me, I might just at least see their perspective, but everything I’ve heard, everything I’ve seen points to destruction for destructions sake – plain and simple. But going back to core philosophy, there is a balance within everything, and this might just be the element of negativity that exists to anchor the positive side of this medium. But if you’re going to go out and intentionally destroy someone’s beautiful creation, well you’ve got some problems – some REAL problems. No matter what the medium is, spray, oil, acrylic, sculpture, if you’re going to go out and destroy something just because you can’t do it, or just because you have some searing negativity inside….there is definitely something wrong with any individual who is doing that. If you cannot find it within your basic world view to respect someone’s artwork, you are deeply lost. Whoever is out there damaging the work of others, whether it be through intrinsic human jealousy or ANY reason whatsoever– they need to take a good long look within themselves.

What has the support been like
Oh WOW. The support has been amazing. An outpouring of love from around the world and a lot of Facebook comments on stuff that I’ve been posting about what happened. People have been putting it up on their blogs and it was on the news the other day so it reached out to a lot of people. There’s going to be a press conference at the mural site on Saturday, bringing me back to the community, and sending out the message that I am coming back and I am still going to putting the love and the beauty into the community. The response has been wonderful – there’s a lot of love out there for the Boogie!!

Can something positive come out of this
Yeah absolutely – finishing the project despite the circumstances will be the ultimate positive. And I suppose if these guys get caught – they will suffer the consequences, learn their lesson and not be in a position to inflict their negativity on anyone or anything else for a while. Personally, I’m going to embrace what happened here and make sure that I take a lot of safety precautions the next time I work on a project like this. I’ve generally worked on my own up until now, but when I take my next steps – I will have someone there – either a friend or someone from the Arts Commission who backed this project from the start. They’ve offered me security if I want to work at night, but I’m thinking more toward starting early in the morning, putting in 8 – 10 hours and breaking for the day when it gets dark.

Will this change you or your art in any way
Definitely……. Crisis precipitates change….. I’ll only really know about the deeper impact and the influence it may have on my work when I start painting. I’m still running with the colour therapy aspect, and all my other styles, but I believe that it will have an effect on my style

It may sound strange, but are you feeling positive
Yes I’m feeling positive…with a little bit of anger… It’s something that I forgive, but that forgiveness and the healing process is going to take some time. I’ve got two holes in my body, so every time I look at them…….it’s emotional. But you know – I’m taking it good, taking it good, and I just want to get back out there and paint..

Brand New Mantis Not Banksy - Hackney November 2009

Mantis not Banksy

News just in says the stencil in Hackney is Mantis...It appears on his website

www.themantisproject.co.uk/

Initially like thousands of others we were lured into group-think and quickly assumed it was our boy which actually goes to show that many people are in-waiting for a Banksy to appear. Within half hour of posting the original blog we've fallen back into group-think and now say its a Mantis piece... Hope we're right this time as its getting bloody embarrassing...


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Graffiti Legend Drax - Global Village

Old Skool graffiti writer Drax recently toured India & Thailand... Drax Interview coming to LSD Magazine real soon...

Drax's Photostream

'Style Never Dies: The Scandalous Adventures of ErmOne'

This November The Soup Gallery proudly welcomes globe trotting, graffiti artist: ERMONE for his first solo show:

'Style Never Dies: The Scandalous Adventures of ErmOne'

Graffiti artist ErmOne, who is originally from the North of England will be traveling over from his studio in Paris to exhibit a collection of work produced exclusively for his show at The Soup Gallery in Truro, Cornwall.

The Soup Gallery is extremely excited to welcome an artist who rides high in the estimation of his peers, a style captain who has been rocking on top with his groundbreaking approach to graffiti for over 15 years.

ErmOne is well versed in applying his unique style to any given platform whether it be canvas, concrete, metal or paper. Never failing to drop a mad fresh flavour that leaves fellow graffiti writers awestruck and eye candy enthusiasts hungry for more.

'Style Never Dies: The Scandalous Adventures of ErmOne' is an exploration of the classical graffiti elements – letters, arrows, connections, drips, splats and clouds.

The funk master will be flexin' his unique style with an exhibition of framed original paintings and photographs, with a price range to suit all pockets.

There will be an opening party for the exhibition on the evening of Friday 6th November @ The Soup Gallery 106 Kenwyn Street, Truro from 5 p.m - 9 p.m.
Refreshments will be provided together with live music, everyone is welcome.

All of the artwork from the exhibition will be available to view and purchase in our online @ www.thesoupgallery.co.uk from Monday 9th November. The exhibition will close on the 12th December.
For any enquires please email info@thesoupgallery.co.uk or tel: 01872 278135



ERMONE Biography-

“I started writing graffiti in the very early 90s aged 12, doing a Daze piece outlined in duplicolor brown and filled with olive green, after meeting and hanging out with some older writers. Inspiration came from the local scene, which was strong but fading out, and from Sheffield which was really bombed at the time.

I’m into graff for the experience of painting, I just love the way it looks, everything about it. Graffiti works best when it’s illegal but I’ll paint legal walls too sometimes. I’m not into generic graffiti, or being in one place stylistically, for too long. I try to be experimental and work loosely, not taking too long over getting lines right or having a few drips here and there. Recently I’ve stopped sketching, instead drawing big tags when I want to do a piece, and building them up until the vibe's right. I want my pieces to live and move a bit, and to have that mysterious fresh factor.

I’m like painting new and interesting spots, exploring around. I’ve traveled around the world painting in many countries. I’ve met some amazing, talented people on the way, who’ve kept me safe from harm, fed me, dropped knowledge and been super cool. I’m based in Paris right now, and there’s an amazing graff scene here… so much inspiration that it’s impossible not to want to paint.

I’m also trying to create work on canvas - graffiti inspired but more than just a piece on canvas. I’m interested in using the classical graffiti elements – letters, arrows, connections, drips, splats and clouds, the little things that bring drama to a piece.

In the future I’d like to continue traveling to see and paint more of the world.

Influences: Old school new york graffiti, old school London Graffiti, the fine art world, my crew and everyone I’ve painted with, google image search, graphic design.

Crazy shouts to my crew FMB: Rialto aka Skrew Face, Alter aka Boxcar Joe, Coek, Mune, Jova. XXXL props to Tyser, Vets & Chek. Yes TNQ30, Frote, Hork DSK, Vejam & Rizo, Amed, Jade, Wesr, Ven, Spencer, Fatty-C & Jumps, SagaUno, B+, Diksa, Manik, Beam, Mr. Diet, Blackdice, and my man Doitall. One love to all the other peeps I’ve painted with, at home in England and around this planet…WERD!”

http://www.thesoupgallery.co.uk/
http://shop.thesoupgallery.co.uk/

Graffiti Removal - Hackney Wick

Hackney Wick is the home and canvas to many of London's street / graffiti artists for a few years now. Cursing down the canal yesterday i came across the blank walls and obvious attempts to totally wipe the other wall. There seems to be an unwritten rule down there as the work stays on walls for months so unlike Sclater Street where the corporation claimed graffiti artists were fighting amongst themselves this corporation makes no such claims. Now we're wondering if that white paint is graffiti proof because it just looks like a massive blank canvas to us. In the true spirit of the Olympic we can hear starters orders, Ready, set, GO!!!

Chilean - Street Art

Sam Bassett - Tapes the City of New York

Sam Bassett uses tape to make his mark across the streets of New York. This undestructive approach to street installations is pushing the boundaries of what can be deemed as crimminal damage as merely harmless vandals of sorts. We hope to catch up with Sam for an LSD interview real soon...

Graffiti cleaning unit - NOT!

This video has been viewed more than any other on our You Tube Channel. It shows a group of lads who appear to be graffiti writers except instead of writing on trains they're actually polishing them with cleaning products. We're not about how the legal implications though these days new laws are being made on the hoof so continue at your own peril...

Bombing Beirut

3D Street Installations