All posts filed under: Art

‘Project Fifty’ by Little White Lies

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As we all know far too well, people’s tastes tend to differ quite a lot and films are certainly no exception here. Before even seeing a flick in its entirety, we’re inevitably biased by trailers, posters, reviews and most of all by our personal likes and dislikes of certain actors, directors, genres or themes. Still, there are definitely a few movies that almost everyone refers to as outstanding, timeless classics. Whether it’s Casablanca, The Godfather, Forrest Gump or Oldboy, you’ll find pretty much everything that shattered, revolutionised or redefined the world of cinema in IMDb’s infamous Top 250 films of all time. Well, but how on earth does, let’s say Charlie Chaplin’s remarkable City Lights from 1931 (#37) get beaten by 21st century sci-fi blockbuster Inception (#15), you might think? Fair question. Maybe because it oddly feels like comparing apples and oranges. ‘So why don’t we just cherish the most outstanding film of each year instead of compiling a general highscore list?’ was probably the initial thought behind Little White Lies’ exciting ‘Project Fifty’. Genius! In celebration …

Spot On: Swanski

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Ever since I set my feet on a four-wheeled wooden plank (precisely this one) in my early teens, my heart is entangled with the spirit, art and culture of skateboarding. And besides being the ultimate expression of freedom, escapism and shared identity, it was and always will be a fascinating hotbed for creative minds. Folks like Swanski. As I am closely following the scene’s myriad of print magazines and online media, his name eventually surfaced on my radar with the release of his graphic designs for ‘Girl skateboards’ newest ‘OG series‘ a few days ago. Whereas my sheer ignorance conveys a different picture, the Polish artist is by no means the new kid in town, but rather expresses his genuine relationship with street culture for over ten years. Based in Warsaw, he is running his own graphic design studio ‘Swanarts’ and his apparel brand ‘turbokolor’, collaborated with industry heavyweights like Vans or Lakai and travels the world to share his eclectic art. Well, Swanski’s works are simply as versatile in matters of technique, style and material as they are dripping with creativity, expression and inspiration: Ranging from graphic designs, acrylic paintings and urban …

Launch Night: Triple Hop – Illustration & Beer exhibition

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There is (probably) a saying ‘If you don’t know anything about wine, just pick the one with the most beautiful, fascinating, bad-ass or creative label’. Well, that’s most likely hocus-pocus and hardly the case for beers anyway – so many fairly tasty beers wrapped in kinda boring corporate designs. You can’t have everything, right? Wait. Actually, you can. ‘Column Arts Agency’ has joined forces with independent craft beer gurus ‘Honest Brew’ and arts events agency ‘Test Space’, bringing together the ‘noble pursuits of drawing and boozing’ for their terrific collaborative show ‘ . The exhibition at East Street Arts‘ showspace features delicious samples of bottled brewing-awesomeness, graced with the designs of twenty emerging artists, including Column’s Alan Dalby, Mr Hass or Peter Beatty and Test Space’s SixOneSix, Benjamin Murphy or Captain Kris. And there’s even more to it: Apart from these limited edition pieces of art, which are on sale throughout the 10-day pop-up show, the premises are filled with brewing interior and cheeky beer-themed illustrations – ranging from cute and wicked to creepy and hilarious. Well, if that’s the first time you heard of Triple Hop, you most …

Through the Minds Eye @ Curious Duke Gallery

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Buried in thought, the young woman gazes into the distance with a graceful spirit. And yet there is a mysterious element hidden somewhere beneath the fine layers of acrylic brush strokes, swirls of spray-paint and charcoal contours in all of Hannah Adamaszek’s mesmerizing artworks. Gifted with a distinctive, refreshingly different approach to her craft, the Crawley-based artist unites what the Curious Duke excels in: Providing a stage for thrilling art beyond the ordinary. Already featured in the wonderful ‘Art of Curiosity’, Hannah’s Aztec-inspired paintings now fill the gallery as her well-deserved first solo show ‘Through the minds eye’ sets off. Expressive and thought-provoking, the imagery of Hannah’s featured works is drawn from a wide range of inspirations. Unmistakably influenced by portrait photography and street art techniques, referring to the free spirit of the 60’s/70’s and the pristine philosophy of the Native-Americans, her artworks playfully explore the many facets of human emotion. Conceptually, she works her solely feminine figures around a personal feeling or brings the memory of a specific place on canvas: ‘I want to portray a feeling, normally …

Gallery Launch: The Unit London

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Well, as a downright enthusiast of fresh, inspiring art, it comes in handy to live so close to East London’s creative powerhouses Shoreditch, Hoxton or Hackney Wick. However pleasant it may be to roam these neighbourhoods on the hunt for new ideas and artists on a regular basis, the creative-self craves for variation – both of conceptual and geographic nature – every once in a while. So, where to turn to? Shush, »Chiswick« is the magic word. Trust me, there is a real stroke of luck that radiates the organic-libertine spirit of East End galleries, far from the prevailing elitist and highly exclusive art circuit of West London: ‘The Unit’. In many respects, it is not the average gallery start-up you’d expect these days. And the rather unusual location – clearly not an epicentre of the capital’s art sphere – is only one reason, why the artist-run project of Jonny Burt and Joe Kennedy sets itself apart from the mass. Unwilling to bow to the rules and methods of traditional art businesses, the collective advocates a more inclusive …

Hey Studio’s ‘Oh my God’ @ Kemistry Gallery

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Other than comic book superheroes like Superman, Batman or Thor, the ancient gods of Greek mythology have nearly vanished from our present-day cultural consciousness. Nonetheless, the Spanish design collective ‘Hey Studio’ playfully tries to reinstate the old order of Zeus, Heracles or Hades with its most recent series ‘Oh my God’ at Kemistry Gallery: “In ancient Greece they had something better than superheroes. They had gods – each with their own powers, weaknesses, history and followers. Jupiter and Mars came, Jesus and Mohammed, Buddha and Elvis. 2,500 years later, they return to claim their place and remind us that there is nothing more dangerous than believed immortality.” However, the legendary characters and creatures of ancient scholarly books are not unleashed in their dusty, cryptic and impalpable form of Homer’s or Dante’s narrative, but approach the observer with a slightly updated, simplistic comic-style, sparkling with cheekiness. Welcome to Mt. Olympus 2.0! True, compared to the images of the flashy Clark Kent, the gadget-lover Bruce Wayne or the hammer-swinging son of Odin, our exhibited Greek gods appear rather innocent, tame and somewhat cute. Well, …

‘Stranger – An exhibition of self portraits’ @ Flowers Gallery

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The word ‘stranger’ always implies a somehow dark, shady and yet mystifying connotation. In this regard, I caught myself wondering about the underlying conception of artist and œuvre in ‘Stranger – An exhibition of self-portraits’, which is currently on display at Flowers Gallery on Kingsland Road. Well, the key here is not to bother with the effect of the art piece on the audience, but to behold the intimate conversation between artist and canvas. Ever since, the art of self-portraiture has been perceived both as a medium of artistic self-exploration as well as a method to unveil and grasp the “true” persona of the yet anonymous artist. Regardless of educational, provocative or illusionary approaches to the subject, the self-portrayal can only capture a limited segment of a person’s life with all its emotions, experiences and mysteries. Thus, the artist’s observation of his “painted doppelgänger” might feel like the daily look into the mirror or scrutinizing an old photograph: Sometimes you discover a part of yourself that has been long forgotten or you are not able …

The Art of Curiosity @ Curious Duke Gallery

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By nature, I’m a curious person. Especially when it comes to art. That’s essentially how Eleni Duke caught my attention with her ‘Curious Duke Gallery’. Located in a lovely 300-year-old Victorian building on Whitecross Street, it provides a home for the work of rising surrealist and urban artists from the UK. Indeed, the tiny art space, which opened almost two years ago, stands out as a fresh, tangible and – above all – non-elitist part of London’s art scene. An ‘anti-gallery gallery’, so to speak. Last weekend, I abandoned the wonderful sunshiny weather for a short while and set out to discover ‘The Art of Curiosity’, the gallery’s beautiful new exhibition. The show’s spectrum is broad in scope and ranges from oil and water colour paintings to etchings and sculptures, encompassed by the overall concept of human curiosity for art. At first glance, it might seem difficult to curate an exhibition that includes the work of eighteen different artists in such a relatively small space. After wandering about the gallery for quite a while, the …

Ellen Tovey – ‘Wake’ @ Stour Space

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The way I stumbled into ‘Stour Space’ was actually quite accidental. On the hunt for a quiet, lovely place for some reading, writing and coffee sipping, far off my familiar routes around the East, I came across the promising ‘Counter Café’. Oh well, I had absolutely no idea that it was part of the same old warehouse building, which was about to become one of my favourite art galleries in London. Located along the Regent’s Canal and opposite of the Olympic Stadium in the formerly run down area of Hackney Wick – boasting the world’s highest density of artists per square meter – it offers an open gallery space and studios for artists within a creative environment. The premises of Stour Space have been the venue for many extraordinary exhibitions of young up-and-coming artists in the past four years and this tradition now continues with Ellen Tovey’s first London-based solo show ‘Wake’. Thrice shortlisted for the prestigious ‘BP Portrait Award’, Tovey assembled a compelling collection of retrospective and current paintings that visually attempt to ‘explore …