Tuesday 26 April 2011

‘ART FOR AFRICA’ URBAN & CONTEMPORARY ART AUCTION IN BRISTOL




TEMWA PRESENTS ‘ART FOR AFRICA’: URBAN&  CONTEMPORARY ART AUCTION IN BRISTOL
Friday 6th May 2011 @ Attic Bar, Stokes Croft, Bristol

Featuring world-renowned artists raising money for development projects in Malawi. After the success of the last contemporary urban art auction in London, Temwa will bring Art for Africa back to its home in Bristol in order to raise funds for their community development projects in Malawi. The event will feature some of the UK’s world-renowned and up-and-coming artists including:


3rdeye * 45rpm * Andy Council * Bex Glover * Cheba * Cheo * China Mike *Deamz (Oxygen Thievez) * Dicy * Duncan Morris * Epok * FLX * Haka *Hemper * Iain Sellar * Inkie * JefRow * JK47 * Lokey * Max Gregor *Messias * MKWF * Nakama * Nick Lindo * Mr Riks * Paris * Ray Smith *RichT * Rowdy * SEPR * Sick Boy * Scott Barden * Tim Miness * Tom Lindo* Will Barras * Xenz

Plus: Incredible raffle / live graffiti / DJs&  special guest beats from
Pieman, MinAmus&  S30







 About the charity: Temwa's objective is to help build a sustainable future for the people of Malawi through community-based projects. Temwa is working with the people of Malawi, enabling them to become self sufficient and giving them hope for their families' futures. We support communities in improving health education services, agriculture, forestry, irrigation, skills training, and schools support. For more information please visit http://www.temwa.org




Charlie McFarley - Solo Show - May 6th-8th



Charlie Mcfarley
Backslang


Charlie McFarley is to showcase a new collection of paintings influenced by a love-hate relationship with inner city life in ‘Backslang’, his debut London solo show.  Bold, bitter-sweet and humorous, Charlie’s paintings invite the viewer to step into the shoes of an excited child growing up in London’s sometimes unsettling, sometimes awe-inspiring inner city.   Stories are told by a wide-eyed cast of animal and human characters using his trademark succinct, stripped-back style. Bright, simple colour palettes, strong form and colouring-book outlines seem to hover on the canvas and lure the viewer in. The paintings depicting this playful world will be on display at Gallery 5a in East London for just three days this May.  

“I want to convey the feeling of an excited child exploring the city with naive eyes, on the verge of the realisation that behind the scenes there are darker forces lurking,” - Charley McFarley.


Charlie McFarley’s work is rooted in his London upbringing, drawing on a youth submerged in music, art and subculture. His style was formed by a city carved with a mish-mash of cultural and social fault lines and neglected streets during the turbulent 1980s. His work is a homage to a London pre-gentrification when the grey wet capital was a jungle, tower blocks were speakers, pavements were patterned carpets and the chatter and music of people on the streets the city’s soundtrack.  Charlie prefers to swap grey, dank urban decay for a more colourful, bold and humorous view of his surroundings.  

Exhibition runs from 6th– 8th May 2011 
@ Gallery 5a, Regents studios, 8 Andrews Rd, E8 4QN          
Open from 10am – 6pm Fri – Sun.   
Private view held on Thursday 5th May from 6pm.





New Banksy Rat - London April 2011

Brand New Banksy - London April 2011





Sunday 24 April 2011

Irish Street Artist Karma in Amsterdam (HomeGrown)

This is brand new work from artist Karma, so new in fact, we received the email after he'd done it at 05.27am this morning. So this is the first public glimpse of the pieces unless a shed-load of people have already been there this morning!!! 

"I had my eyes on this site last week..Did a quick trip back last night to finish the job off the way it was always ment to be . Anyways It's called HOMEGROWN..:)"

We always appreciate artists sending us their pieces as soon as done and will do our best to get the pieces on the blog as the earliest convenience.  Massive respect to Karma currently doing the rounds in Holland... Nice One













Wednesday 20 April 2011

LSD Magazine - Issue 7 - Made in Space - Out in May

Visionary Underground's Kut Loose - Camden Friday 22nd Apr

Visionary Underground Productions & Eminent Promotions
Present a of Night Reggae, Hip Hop, Jungle, Drum n Bass



LSD Columnist Hedflux (Soulflux) and Broken Robot Crew London - Friday 22 April

LSD's science and spirituality columnist, Soulflux - better known as chart topping dancefloor guru Hedflux will be playing a rare London date this Friday at the Bussey Building in Peckham alongside previous interviewee and fellow destroyer of dancefloors - Neurodriver, bass drenched breaks bandit Far Too Loud, and the whole Broken Robot crew. Whipping up driving psychedelic mayhem, sparkling beats and rolling synthesised flow, this is going to be a killer night you absolutely have to be storming with full intent. GET IN................................

FAR TOO LOUD
HEDFLUX
NEURODRIVER
TOM REAL
BROKEN EYE
BAD TANGO
AGENT SMITH
FRANK

Visuals by VJ Air
Opus Sound by Twisted Clarity
Laser show by GI Lasers


ROOM 2 Hosted by Om Bongo
************************

SCUBAROOTS
WOTCHAMACALLIT?
ZUBZUB
METAPHRA
HEDFLUX (downtempo set)
MORBIDLY OBESE MIDGET
ROBIN TRISKELE & JAMEZ 23
ADE

Turbosound, Projections, VJs, Chai Stall, Comfy Seating

Tickets: £10 Advance / £15 on the Door
http://www.wegottickets.com/event/111997













Thursday 14 April 2011

Unique Banksy Street Art Rare Stencilled Safe (COA) E-Bay Now




PRICE AT TIME OF PRINT: £59,995 Number of Bids 15


E-Bay Description;


An extremely scarce piece of Banksy street art which has nevertheless been fully certified by Banksy's Gallery, Pictures on Walls (included is a Pest Control Certificate of Authenticity). This safe has an impeccable provenance. Not only does it appear photographed in Banksy's book 'Wall and Piece' on page 102, it was offered for sale by Christies as lot 180 in their sale in London on February 12th 2009. Early 2009 was about the bottom of the Banksy market, at time when UK Banks were nearing a precipice, and a general air of capitalist armageddon gripped the Square Mile. Unsurprisingly in that atmosphere the safe did not sell. The piece itself measures 25 by 18 by 19 inches and is executed as spray paint on an enamel and steel safe. The stencil used is one of Banksy's most distinctive early motifs, the rat with a parachute. The stencil has been arranged around the handle and combination wheel of the safe itself. The safe, dating probably from the 1970s, is currently locked and there is some damage to the outer surface of the safe - a number of scratches and chips. The stencil itself is in very good order. The central plastic covering of the combination wheel is missing, although this has been missing for some time, and was certainly lacking when it was offered at Christies. The combination wheel turns, and perhaps in the hands of the right cracksman might open. The safe comes from a friend of Banksy who writes 'To fill you in on me a bit. I have a tattoo studio in the West Country and prior to that I had a studio on Hackney Road, East London. It was there that I met and tattooed Banksy and he would pay me in prints. I also helped him out with his tattooed Venus sculpture that was in the crude oils show. I think because of this he gave me the safe as a thank you. I think also because of this two years later he must have approved the certificate for me when I tried to get it authenticated. 





A lot of people have contacted me with similar street pieces that they cannot get the paperwork for and thus not sell them. I was not intending to sell the safe but it is quite heavy and we have moved house twice already and it would make things a lot easier to move without it. Since living in Cornwall, nearly four years it has been on it's side in the spare bedroom. So it would be good for it to go to a good home where it will be appreciated'. Make no mistake this is a rare opportunity to buy a genuine piece of Banksy street art with full authentication. It is unique, so once it's sold, you won't see another. Please note this safe is extremely heavy and takes three people to lift it. Please contact us for estimates for delivery.







LSD Magazine Interviews ELATE


Well it’s not often that we find ourselves at a loss for words here at LSD, but having read the interview that Elate - Jon Hammer sent back to us, apart from getting straight on the blower and asking him to write for LSD, we gorged ourselves on the stunning intellectual breadth, conceptual range and lyrical wonder of his sparkling mind. Tracing a primal path between the organic and the magical, his canvasses plunge us into the fault lines between the utopian and the dystopian and hurl us out into a molten core of shimmering imagination where genesis and apocalypse close the circle of archetypal consciousness. A pure old school graffiti writer, Elate has lived witness to the artistic evolution of daubing punk slogans in ’82 to the renegade rush of bombing trains, then the explosive colour and sizzling letters of the street into the concept projects of breathtaking pieces of collaborative creativity like Mutate Britain and Arcadia. Instinctively poetic, searingly perceptive, profoundly positive and inspirationally open hearted, his art and his words hold an enchanted mirror to the ebbs and flows of decades of underground subculture and beyond into the bewitching landscapes of the collective consciousness and the ideas, emotions, complexities, corruption and towering innocence that defines the hidden Hades of the soul and the trickling mysteries of the unchained mind. Seriously though - just fucking read this. - his first ever interview



Can you tell us a little about your early life and your initial drive into art?

I was born in 1970, on the enchanted day of the enchanted month, according to the ‘Old Religion’, or so I’m told. I’ve always been captivated by colour, patterns, reflections and how things are affected by light and shade. My earliest memory is lying in my cot, rubbing my eyes to marvel at the crazy patterns which I could generate. When I got my own room I stared at the artexed ceiling above my bed to make vividly animated landscapes and characters, which kept me awestruck, as did my kaleidoscope, much as kids these days play video games. As I grew a little older I was similarly transported by viewing slides through our antique microscope. I could already read and write when I started school so I drew, in full perspective, in an attempt to ease the boredom and was brutally attacked by a teacher for my efforts. At this point I first realised that making art would not necessarily be easy. I came from a poor but cultured family, our working class background was lit up with amazing colour prints and books on art and music everywhere. We only had a black and white TV but Heironymous Bosch’s visions hung in almost every room which I lost myself in continually. There was always a fresh supply of paper and art materials to hand. My aunt was an amateur archaeologist, armchair historian and expert on the classics, and took me round museums, castles and churches regularly from the age of three. I loved the sacred architecture, staring at stained glass and into the cabinets. She told me what the things were and where they came from, how they were made and how they found their way to the museum and this fired my enthusiasm for art and history.



How did early experiences of sub culture and counter culture impact themselves on your developing identity?

In the early 70s the consciousness revolution that happened in the 60s, had spread from the hippy underground into broader society. My parents were clearly affected by that ethic and the self sufficiency and whole-food thing, there would always seem to be Bob Dylan and blues playing, vegetables growing, joss sticks burning and yoga going on. I remember hearing Dylan and blues songs as a very young child and making visual narratives in my head so I guess that stretched my imagination quite a lot.
We lived in Norfolk back then. A lot of the people who were involved in the London hippy scene in the 60s moved out to the West Country and East Anglia to pursue dreams of pastoral living and put on festivals. One I remember very well was Barsham Faire in ‘74 and ‘75; a medieval folk festival with entertainers, and puppeteers, horses and dogs everywhere. I remember seeing adults, playing totally innocently just like us kids, banging drums and playing flutes and singing and dancing and basking in the sun in wonderful costumes, it was like being transported into a golden age, very beautiful times. I felt at home instantly and understood what was going on. It gave me the idea that there was another way of living, a higher human purpose of imagination and fulfillment that was beyond the everyday capitalist conformity of living in a house and going to work or school.
Back in the real world I got more disillusioned with the iron fist of my teachers and became more aware of the rapid outbreak of punk from the ‘shock-horror stories’ on the news and from playground rumours. After feeling completely powerless at the hands of authority it was as if aliens had suddenly landed in our midst, and they were on our side. The significance of their presence in society was something we instantly understood, and as we got older and became brave enough to stand up to the teachers we found that punk was there for us too, it became a symbol that there really was another way of living that us kids could actually do ourselves, whether our parents liked it or not. Back then punk really adversely affected them, threatening the whole fabric of society. When we saw the punks walking down the street the adults’ powerless anger and outrage made us warm towards that and copy parts of it so that you could cause a little bit of that outrage too, it was a way to take back power, of standing up for yourself and saying no, fuck you I’m different, even if it was just a badge or a safety pin, or the name of a band on your schoolbag it showed your mindset and loyalty and really pissed authority figures off. It’s difficult to comprehend now just how shockingly different punk was, people were reacting like it was the end of society as we know it, punks were regarded with the sort of fear and loathing normally reserved for killers, as in effect they were, they were killing the broader conventions of polite society, behind which lurked all the bullshit.



READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE IN ISSUE 6

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Spiral Tribe - Free Week Long Royal Wedding Party



NOTORIOUS rave organisers Spiral Tribe are to stage an extended, royal wedding street party until everyone collapses.


The '90s traveller party crew hopes that the event, in a leafy Buckinghamshire cul-de-sac to be confirmed on the day, will attract around 30,000 well-wishers from around Europe, mostly arriving in large rusty Bedford trucks with no tax or MOT, for around a week of relentless, sweaty celebration.  Spiral Tribe spokeshuman Winnit said: "There will be all the classic street party ingredients, like bunting and lukewarm orange squash, but with the addition of facial tattoos, recreational horse tranquilisers and a sound system the size of Beaconsfield.   "Also there may be a few dozen roaming, semi-feral brindle dogs called Spike."  He added: "If anyone has a problem with any of this, they clearly hate Britain, the Queen and the concept of marriage."  Drug dealer Bill McKay said: "Possibly there may also be pills stamped with the Union Jack. What better way to reclaim the flag from the far right?

 
"Union Jack users will experience an intense rush of national pride that plateaus out into a warm sensation of patriotism lasting up to 12 hours at a time.  "Make sure you drink plenty of tea to avoid dehydration."  Householder Nikki Ellis said: "Given that royal wedding fun is compulsory, what I like about this idea is that it will be too loud to hear my neighbour's excruciating small talk.  "That alone is worth getting burgled for."




LSD Magazine spoke to a friend of a friend of the cousin that goes out with the girl whose is sister to the guy married to a friend of one of the neighbors living next door to the best friend of a sound guy that used to carry speaker boxes back in the Spiral Tribe Hey-Day. We asked him what Spiral Tribe was like when he was going and he said it looked great from the videos he'd watched. Later we were introduced to another man that threatened to move a sound system into our backyard if we even dared  mention his name. Brian Hopkins also know as Techno Dave of Southend also said 'they seem to have inside knowledge particularly about the tea addiction in Spiral Tribe!'


Hey Techno Dave, we mentioned your name, and we'll be waiting in the backyard, bring spare decks!







Beautiful World (Limited Ed) Mixed Medium Screen Prints by K-Guy

On Sale from this Friday (15th) we happy to present K-Guy's latest unique art pieces. We liked them so much we had to buy one ourselves... K-Guy's pieces sell on market for up to £5,000 and more so these little beauties are a good investment for collectors or just lovers of the genre... K-Guy is a good lad who does lots for charity so lets support this endeavor...


This is what K-Guy says about the new work...


'BEAUTIFUL WORLD: I've always been a big fan of hooking up with other   artists and this piece is my interpretation of Schoony's Boy Soldier   sculpture which was recently used as the cover art and poster   campaign for the Tiesto + Mark Knight single (Toolroom Records).  With my increasing passion for making screen print editions as unique   as possible, this set is not exactly hand finished but hand started.   There's a nice mix up of coloured paper, distressed gold and metal   leaf and some aerosol laid down to create some cool texture and   colour combos. Finished with a 2 colour screen print with varnish in   editions of only 15, priced at £120.00, signed numbered and blind   stamped.'
















Monday 11 April 2011

LSD Magazine Defends the Right To Paint (TNT Magazine)

TNT Magazine ran this article last week on graffiti street art...It features Wayne Anthony, Busk, Rich Simmons...












Wednesday 6 April 2011

Coke Moss by K-Guy (Auction 4 Charity Today)


K-Guy is a stand up artist who loves giving back by way of charity. A number of his works went under the hammer for charities last year and this year his kicked off his charity fest by creating a unique one-off edition of Coke Moss in deep red. We love this image at LSD but if you'd like one for your wall then you need to work fast. Going Under Hammer Today 6th April... Check Dreweatts Website for more information or follow the link to find Moss...


As part of their Urban Contemporary Art Auction, Dreweatts Auctioneers have kindly agreed to host a charity fund raiser in aid  of the Haven House Children Hospice in Woodford Green, Essex. 
http://www.havenhouse.org.uk/  









FOLLOW THIS LINK
http://www.dnfa.com/search.asp?view=lotno&auction=20462&lotno=98&uniqueid=435116-19








Infamy - A Graffiti Film by Doug Pray (watch here)


INFAMY is an intense journey into the dangerous lives and obsessed minds of six of America’s most prolific graffiti artists. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Doug Pray (“Hype!” and “Scratch”) who teamed up with writer, publisher, and graffiti guru Roger Gastman, the movie takes you deep into the world of street legends SABER, TOOMER, JASE, CLAW, EARSNOT, and ENEM.

With brutal honesty, humor and charisma, these artists reveal why they are so willing to risk everything to spray paint their cities with "tags," “throwups,” and full-color murals. You'll also meet Joe "THE GRAFFITI GUERRILLA" Connolly, a notorious “buffer” who paints out graffiti on his neighborhood’s walls with a vengeance matched only by those who vandalized them. From the streets of the South Bronx to the solitude of a San Francisco tunnel, from high atop a Hollywood billboard to North Philadelphia for a lesson in "Philly-style tags," from the Mexican border to a Cleveland train yard, INFAMY doesn't analyze or glorify graffiti... it takes you there and brings it to life.











Saturday 2 April 2011

LSD MAGAZINE INTERVIEWS UMEK


Creative pioneers are rarely gifted a silver spoon that rustles up effortless success, but Umek’s story truly encapsulates the passion, the drive, the energy, the talent and the sheer determination needed to realise a dream. From his beginnings in Slovenia - then a northern corner of Communist Yugoslavia, he has blazed a trail through every impediment in his path,
from closed political systems, to the dearth of inspirational material worming its way
through the state and cultural filters, to the insular nature of the Western European
scene and he has kept on striving to bring alive his dream of production, DJ’ing and a
thriving rave scene within his home country. Today he stands almost unrivalled as one of
the giants of the international dance music scene, whether from behind the decks,
locked in the studio, or raising up fresh talent to take their rightful place on sound
systems worldwide.

Wildly prolific and almost infallibly perched on top of the charts at any given time, he has brought a unique spin to underground techno and unleashed a fresh understanding of the sound across an ever expanding audience. From the deep, pumping and thunderously rolling to the scintillatingly funky and gorgeously eclectic manipulation of the 4 beat, both his awesome production and his infamously hypnotic DJ sets have made him a sparkling figure of inspiration within the global scene. Never losing sight of his roots, he uses his extraordinary status not only as an ambassador for Slovenia, but within the country itself to help generate creativity, action and positivity amongst the country’s youth and is always there to lend his energy to a worthwhile cause. He is one of the handful of incredibly special people across the creative arts who have managed to make their field more accessible and lay an underground world open to those who may not otherwise have penetrated it without shifting focus or selling out in any way whatsoever. We contacted Umek for a chat, and the resulting interview is wonderfully insightful, revealing, up front, and honest and we tip our proverbial hat to the techno maestro himself.


How much did communism impact wider creativity in Slovenia

It did, especially through the way that to be more inventive as we were always
working with limited resources. Of all the communist countries, Slovenia, the northern
part of ex-Yugoslavia, was the most open to the West, but this was still a communist
country. I remember the time in the 80’s when the oil crisis hit us and there was a
rule that only cars with odd numbers on the registration plates could be on the roads on a
certain day, and the ones with even numbers on the plates the next day; the range of goods
in the shops was restricted in that we could choose only among very limited number of mostly domestic brands of chocolate, yoghurt, detergent, soap … We lived in a one party system so there was no real freedom of speech. It wasn’t as extreme as in Orwell’s 1984 but you could be legally prosecuted and go to jail for expressing your thoughts publicly and your whole family could have problems because of that.

There was censorship in the politically controlled daily media as well as in literature,
music and the wider arts scene. We did have pop culture but it was a different one, and
even though hippy, punk and other alternative movements were seen as alien obstacles in
Yugoslavia, they did influence the art, which was dominated by realistic themes and expressions. As in the west the electronic dance scene evolved out of punk and new wave of the 80’s and these artists who were mostly anti-establishment were also in the vanguard of adapting new instruments and artistic / pop culture mediums. But everything happened with a few years of delay and still most of the things happen with a bit of delay in Slovenia, though the period is now much shorter.

I got involved in the music scene in the early 90’s, as a teenager, soon after the Yugoslav
state disintegrated and Slovenia gained independency and I can state that I and the whole Electronic Dance Music scene was determined by the communist past in that there was no infrastructure, no party culture, no record shops, no shops with modern studio equipment, no EDM oriented radio … so we had to build the scene from scratch and learned to produce music on our own. We made all the mistakes as we could not learn from others, but that made us a bit unique as we developed our own sound on those mistakes.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE - LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 6