Thursday 30 June 2011

LSD Magazine interviews DJ Laurent Garnier - Issue 7



Ever since Laurent Garnier dropped out of a clear blue, gastronomically tinged sky and surfed synchronicity all the way to the heart of the Hacienda, he has been forging a musical legacy spanning the years, the styles, the movements and the basslines. Staging a systematic prison break from the confines of French cultural orthodoxy he honed his inherently diverse musical understanding in the crucible of the acid house revolution, and stormed on to become an electronic legend and a passionately tenacious ambassador for the French scene on the global stage...


How the hell did you end up at the Hacienda?

I guess I was living in the right place at the right time! I graduated from catering school when I was 18 and immediately began looking for an opening in the UK to cement my English, as without a solid grasp of the language, there were very few decent opportunities in the catering world. I was lucky enough to land an excellent job as a waiter at the French Embassy in London, and during that period, I met a girl, as you do, whose sister ran a chain of restaurants around Manchester, and after nearly 3 years at the embassy, I made the fateful decision to move up north and take her up on a job offer. Now of course, alongside the conventional career I was developing, the passion for music that I’d had since the age of 12 was burning as hard as ever. I was a totally committed bedroom DJ, doing a few pirate radio shows, playing at a few small private parties between friends, and keeping my record collection nicely ticking over, but for all of that, it really did boil down to the strokes of fortune that got the right demo tape into the right set of hands. This was 1987, and the Hacienda were looking to launch a new night. I was a regular already, and when a friend of mine, Danny who did a lot of the lights and the visuals mentioned that a new night was on the cards, he suggested I gave him a mix to pass round a few of the relevant people. Danny managed to get it to Paul Cons, the principal booker, and having given it a listen, Paul invited me up for an interview and on the strength of that, gave me a trial run... and of course the rest is history. I was a lucky boy.....a very lucky boy.


 How aware were you at the time of riding a social and cultural movement that went beyond music alone?

Well the thing was that I started at the Hacienda before the explosion of acid house– as I say, this was 1987, and certainly in my first 3 or 4 months playing there, you just didn’t get the sense that something epic was brewing. You have to understand, I was spinning Wednesday nights and the music policy was EVERYTHING – plain and simple , you name it, we played it, – soul, funk, hip hop, rare groove –and of course a few of the original house records floating in from America even before it was called house. It was when we got our hands on Farley Jackmaster Funk’s first record that it began to dawn on us that a turning point had been reached, and within 3 months, the entire landscape changed. Up until that point we were playing to a ‘normal’ crowd in a ‘normal’ club, and then so suddenly, house music dropped and before you knew it, the scene was exploding at critical velocity as house rolled into acid house, ecstasy arrived with a sublime sense of timing and the whole thing blew. We felt very much as if we were being swept away on something that was bigger than us, but at the same time, we were equally aware of being at the heart of the new movement. Something was happening around us, we were at the epicentre and even then you had the feeling that you were helping to write the book on it, almost as if we were actors in this unfolding movie and we felt very personally involved with the core. It wasn’t like you might imagine – the idea that you were surfing this enormous external wave - that was the thing, it didn’t feel external or weird at all – call it being at the calm eye of the storm or just call it being young, but we embraced what was happening very consciously and worked very hard to harness it and keep driving it forwards.

 
Coming from the heart of this empathic, renegade spirit of freedom, how on earth did you cope with military service?

I was called up by the army in the summer of 88, which of course was deeply sad as I missed the peak of the Summer of Love. I managed to get to a couple of massive raves up north before the orders kicked in, and then that was it – I had to leave and there was no two ways about it. Naturally I was keeping in touch to the best of my ability, which basically consisted of forensically reading any magazine I could get my hands on to open a window onto what was happening back in the UK. In a way, I was actually very lucky in the grand scheme of things, because after the compulsory first 2 months in what they call the ‘class’ which is basically introductory training in an army camp, I managed to squeeze a job as a waiter in the mess serving the senior officers. The beauty of that position was being able to go back to my own house every day. I may have been geographically constrained by having to stay in France, but this was Paris now – not some rural camp and I was out every night playing house music in the clubs. Not only did that allow me to still go out, still play out and keep completely up to date with currents across the channel, but twice a week I was playing for English promoters in Paris which kept me in the loop and a lot of my friendships solid. In some ways it was like a parallel reality – I knew exactly what was going on, but I wasn’t living it – it was a really bizarre sensation – but then I was making the best of a non negotiable situation – it was compulsory and that was the end of it. The only way I could fight against it was to make damn sure I was going out every night, DJing every night, getting records from my friends in England and keeping my identity completely independent of my circumstance. But then it could have been so much worse, so I do have to recognise that I was lucky enough to stay on the trajectory and stay connected.

 READ THE FULL INTERVIEW FREE IN
LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 7




   



Wednesday 29 June 2011

Class of 88 - The Authors Cut on Kindle - OUT NOW!



LSD Magazine Co-Founder / Co-Editor 
Wayne Anthony Rides Again


The Special Edition 2011 has been completely rewritten and now includes brand new stories from Wayne Anthony’s epic journey into the world of Acid House and the organisers that staged some of the biggest illegal warehouse parties in the history Great Britain. The party promoter was the first amongst his contemporaries to tell his true story to the world. Genesis is one of the founding companies that created and neutered a platform for large-scale all night dance parties. This brought Wayne and his Genesis partners to the attention of gun totting mercenaries, well known gangsters, bank robbers, and members of parliament, riot squads though worse of all The Media. This true story tells the epic tale of England’s biggest sub-cultural movement that began on the Island’s of Ibiza and Tenerife in 1987. The influence of promoters such as Wayne Anthony can be felt in almost every dance music venue in the world today. Twenty years on this Special Edition delves even further into the history of the worlds biggest Acid House promoters. 

Over 100 Added Pages
Paperback Coming Later so for now: EXCLUSIVELY on KINDLE


 









Thursday 23 June 2011

Project Amsterdam Street Art 22-26 June - Amsterdam


(Inter)national street artists in Amsterdam
Project Amsterdam Street Art / 22-26 june 2011

After the successful Project Amsterdam Street Art 2010, Amsterdam Street Art Foundation organizes her second street art event in Amsterdam this year. Project Amsterdam Street Art (ASA) will take place during the last weekend of June (22-26 June). (Inter)national artists are coming to Amsterdam for paint jams, exhibitions and of course to leave their trademark on the Amsterdam streets.

In collaboration with our partner Unfold Magazine, ASA gives young street art talent the
opportunity to exhibit their work in The Thought Gallery. The GO Gallery is where the wellestablished
street art artists exhibit their work. The Bellamyplein is just like last year the windows gallery for art as seen from streetview. Café De Duivel has a street art in Amsterdam photography
exhibition.

Besides the exhibitions, the program has an Amsterdam street art tour and workshops as
organized by Alltournative. The invited artists will also be taken outside for paint jams on murals and billboards. Such as: Pand 14 (Holendrecht), Prinsengracht wall, three outside frames at Cafe Belgique (tbc - hotspot of The London Police), three billboards at Sloterdijk area and a mural on Bellamyplein (tbc). With a little bit of luck again the I Amsterdam is, just like last year, given a new coat at this year’s event.

Our two gems from the ASA All Stars exhibition are Btoy from Spain and Klone from Israel. Both
artists have already earned their spurs with shows and mural paintings far away from their
homecountr. Project ASA has premiere with KBTR (Gnome) from Utrecht, as he has never
exhibited in a gallery before. On Saturday 25th June you should keep a close eye on the Amsterdam canals. Guildor from Italy is on a mission to do something with 'urban intervention'. We are very pleased with the return of Orticanoodles. Last year they were also present at Project ASA. This years line-up has a lot of street art artists from the Netherlands. Such as: Ives.one, Ottograph, DHM, Ox-alien (Last Plak crew) and the already mentioned KBTR.

Wednesday 22 june (21:00-23:00) – Photography: Amsterdam Street Art in Café De Duivel. Photographers: Nicole Blommers, Wojofoto, Steven Boer, Olivier Moron, Marco Budding en Marian
Genet. All participating photographers document street art in Amsterdam in their own unique way. Whether it is via Flickr, Facebook, a website and / or private snapshots.

Friday 24 june (17:00-21:00) – ASA New Stars exhibition in The Thought Gallery
Artists: Zaira (Switserland), KARMA (Ireland), La Ira (Spain), Skount (Spain), Roy Schreuder
(Netherlands), Ian Phenna (England), Boxhead (Spain), Louis Michel aka masai (England), Daan Dirven (Netherlands), Snub (England), Dindin (Netherlands), Michan (Netherlands), Michiel van der Born (Netherlands) en Seifrei (Switserland).

Saturday 25 june (17:00-20:00) – ASA All Stars exhibition in GO Gallery
Artists: Btoy (Spain), Bustart (Switserland), Cosh (Netherlands), DHM (Netherlands), KBTR
(Netherlands), Erick Hikups (Belgium), Goin (France), Guildor (Italy), Ives.one (Netherlands), Kenzo (Spanje), Klone (Israel), Kazki (Ukraine), Orticanoodles (Italy), Ottograph (Netherlands), Ox-alien (Netherlands), Sweet toof (England), T.wat (England).

Sunday26 juni (starts 20:00) – Girls Only exhibition on and around Bellamyplein. As part of the Bellamy Window Project (BEP), Amsterdam street art is again the curator of the windows exhibition. On and around the Bellamyplein residents have made their windows available for artworks, which can be seen from streetview. During the opening there is an evening walk along all windows and artworks.

OFFICIAL HOME OF ASA - www.amsterdamstreetart.com


LSD Magazine interviews Douglass Rushkoff - Issue 7



Douglas Rushkoff could very well be our perfect interviewee here at LSD. Harnessing the rational to illuminate the transcendental, sharpening reason and academic rigour to crystallise a non linear, deeply human radicalism, he synthesises the measured discipline of scientific method with a psychedelic enlightenment immersed in the counter cultural understanding of social geometery and multi dimensional consciousness. From his revolutionary first book Cyberia which projected the evolutionary leap into a digital matrix, he has gone on to pen 10 best selling works of non fiction, novels, graphic novels and a steady stream of ground breaking columns for the New York Times, The Guardian, The Daily Beast and Time magazine to name but a few...


What impact did the social and cultural shifts of the ‘60’s have on your development personally and the community around you?


Well I wasn’t conscious during the seminal shifts of the 60’s or a direct, contemporary part of them, but I was born into a culture where 60’s values had already been substantially marketised and the real energy had been pretty effectively muted. I remember a couple of experiences on the playground where strange young people with long hair would drift in wanting to play with the kids, only to realise way later that they were probably tripping hippies getting off on our innocent energy! But I didn’t become fully aware of what the 60’s actually meant – the full impact of which really took place in the 70’s – until I was in college, having my own psychedelic experiences and looking for our lineage, our heritage; at which point you start pulling out the Velvet Underground through Brian Eno to examine where the roots lay and what they meant. Then of course you begin reading Tim Leary, Ram Das and everybody else. But that non linear sensibility, that lateral thinking, that psychedelic realisation was perhaps best described for me by Robert Anton Wilson as coming to see the world as just one of many possible reality tunnels.


He shaped the idea that each of us has our own template, our own filter through which we observe and construct reality, all of which are both equally arbitrary and equally real and that it almost doesn’t matter what angle yours is coming from as long as you realise that it’s both plastic and temporary. At the time, I was a theatre director, so for me, theatre seemed to be the best way to impart those ideas and that prism onto life because theatre is already an acknowledged social construction, so if you can show the transitions in and out of the play – being in character and in narrative, then not - that metaphor should prompt people to conceive of their own consciousness in those terms.


So I got very interested in Bertholt Brecht who for very different reasons tried to highlight what he called ‘the alienation effect’ by emphasising that ‘this is a play – the actors are donning their costumes and now we’re going to act out these scenes’. Now he did it in a search for intellectual distance and a bid to create revolutionary activity, but what with interpretation always subsuming intent, for me it was all about going meta and that cosmic element of a play within a play within a play. The question then becomes, how many of these realisations do you have to have before you look over your shoulder and wonder ‘who’s the audience watching me, what’s the play I’m in and who’s writing the script’. Psychedelics and theatre were parallel for me and very much about the same kind of exploration.


What confused me was that many of the most psychedelic people I knew after college didn’t end up going into crazy musical experimentation, lighting design or the wilder arts - all the things I thought they’d be doing, but moved out to Silicon Valley and started working for nascent computer companies. They were all into seriously bizarre stuff like virtual reality, 3D imaging, chaos mathematics and non linear equations and I needed to figure out why that had happened. As luck would have it, I was living in LA at the time, so I would take regular field trips up north to see what they were up to. They’d be working at Sun Microsystems by day before coming home to their hippy communes in Oakland’s Skyline Drive to shave the buttons off a Peyote cactus and embark on all night fractal drawing sessions.


I realised that the most out there, psychedelic people I knew had fully embraced computers and networking technologies as their principal path towards realising some of what they were searching for and had seen within their voyages into consciousness. And they would quite literally spend huge chunks of their time trying to render their hallucinations on screen (which is what Ralph Abraham and some of the Chaos mathematicians were talking about and of course the fractal is a visual representation of a feedback equation) or just understanding that we were now constructing the operating system for the next stage of human evolution and they wanted to be in on that. These were people who were already comfortable hallucinating reality, so who better to visualise the realities of the future that we’d all be living in?


So I guess the lessons, the mindsets and the epiphanies of the 60’s combined with the microchip helped me see in a real sense – not just in a theatrical or artistic way – that we were developing and creating a fresh reality and the computer seemed like the most literal tool and the best metaphor to help people understand the open sourceness of the world they were living in and the obligation we have as conscious human beings to participate actively in the writing of these new paradigms.


Was the open source generation of early networking a classic example of a self organising complex system on a consciousness level– a virtual organism?


Absolutely, and the funny thing was that the ‘makers’ of the internet kept trying to resist that quality. The internet was originally built to share computing resources rather than being based around people talking to one another. The fact was that there simply weren’t that many computers around. There were lots of terminals, however, and networking was devised to share the cycles of a powerful processor somewhere in a university with everyone who needed them. So the whole thing was based on a platform and a logic completely divergent to corporate capitalism or a market based framework. Consequently it became very biased towards social activity and establishing a connection between people.


The Defence Department had built this ‘thing,’ thinking that scientists would use it to discuss the merits of weaponised technologies and the finer details of nuclear detonators, and much to their horrified surprise, it was used to debate Star Trek and swap recipes. It became naturally social. At which point of course they gave it up and offered it to AT&T who didn’t want it either, as they couldn’t see the profit and ultimately, it fell into a government niche because no one organisation saw the value in exploiting it. Until, of course, the web came along and it turned into something resembling a shopping mall and the corporations all piled in. Now corporations actually own the web which is why we’re about to fight and lose so drastically on this Net Neutrality Act.










 


















READ FULL INTERVIEW FREE IN
LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 7

Monday 20 June 2011

Wayne Anthony v Graffiti Removal Bloke in Leake Street June 20 2011




There i was minding my own business taking shots of street art graffiti in one of London's 'Legal' spots when up rolls a graffiti removal van. At Leake Street artists are only allowed to paint down the tunnel and not on the gray walls being buffed. Fair enough given the amount of wall space in the tunnel. So every week or so a graffiti removal unit comes and removes it. I was on the spot and decided to shoot it as its not very often i get to film graffiti being removed... Im not sure what it is about wearing an official looking high res jacket that's makes the wearer think they have power over you...If it's in public space then you can shoot it, how else do you think councils get away with CCTV on public streets...Short of filming kids you can do what you want...Shot Today - I'll put the whole vid up later...



LSD MAGAZINE - ALWAYS ON THE FRONTLINE

Thursday 16 June 2011

LSD Magazine interviews Billboard Liberation Front - Issue 7


 Dontcha just love it when monochromatic ideas are subsumed by kaleidescopic shades of grey? Accepted counter-cultural wisdom would apparently have it that advertising is intrinsically corrupt, corporate, illegitimate and a searing indictment of our attitudes to social responsibility. And yet the Billboard Liberation Front, original hoarding pirates, scourge of the corporate ‘message’ since 1977 and one of the most influential forces on the understanding of modern street art, would argue a very different case. Advertising is not inherently wrong - in fact it’s intrinsic to human conceptions of identity and an ingrained social matrix since man began grunting seductively at a buxom cavewoman...




On a chicken and egg note – do you think that overproduction drove advertising or vice versa?

Depending on how you define it, I would argue that advertising is as old as human interaction itself. People have put up fronts when dealing with other people, socially, politically and economically, in order to achieve certain goals, since we were Neanderthals; I consider that to be advertising. A woman putting on makeup is advertising... the manner in which we carry ourselves, the way we dress, are all forms of advertising. I don’t see advertising as merely the bastard child of the industrial revolution. I think it existed long before that.

 

In light of what happened in Egypt, do you think we’re seeing a post ideological generational shift in attitudes to power and freedom, and the means to circumvent the tired, heavy handed control structures of the 20th century 

It seems so, although I’m in my 6th decade and having seen a lot of things go very differently from original assumptions about how they might go, I’m withholding judgement for 3 or 4 years to see how the Egyptian situation pans out, although it looks sorta positive so far. What’s happening there seems driven in large part both by technology and by an emerging class of young, educated people who see through the baloney and the sales pitch that claims their only options are a strongarm dictator or a rabid Islamic republic. So I hope the rebellious youth of Egypt can bring something new to the equation: it doesn’t seem like the ruling cabals have total control. Things have become more restrictive now than in the 70’s and 80’s but still not completely rigid. The game’s not over and the “evil capitalist cabal” or whatever you want to call them certainly don’t control everything yet. But I’m no political scientist, I’m an outside observer.


 


I believe in small business capitalism which seems to work on a local level where you have individual owners, small companies and people who deal with one another on that level. The big stumbling block is gigantism when too much economic power is controlled by too few hands and I’m not sure how to keep that from happening other than education. That’s what happened in Egypt which is why the authorities weren’t able to squash the revolt immediately as they would have at any time in the last 30 years. More people are more educated and have a means to communicate provided, but not entirely controlled by the corporate plutocracy. 


Keeping people in fear is what the governments need to do in order to divide the populous and keep as much power as they can. The idea of the public having real democratic power is a terrifying concept to those with disproportionate ownership stakes in the economy. Mob rule can be catastrophic, looking back at history. It’s gone both ways in the past. The majority of people in Britain decided that slave trading on the high seas was morally unacceptable. It took them 100 years to force the issue, but finally the British navy started interdicting slave ships in international waters and were the main instrument that strangled the trade. That was a morally driven populist movement right there. It came from an extremely religious core, but you never know who your allies are going to be when trying to change things for the better. 

I feel that our role politically, socially – whatever label you put on it, is to use the tools of communication as they exist and hopefully inspire others to realise that they can do the same. If there is anything that the BLF has ever done that’s worth a shit it would be encouraging a 16 year old kid to say ‘Wow, that ad is talking to me way beyond the surface communication, there’s something behind that. What are they really trying to say to me’. 


A good example of that would be ghetto kids back in the 80’s in America for whom owning a particular type of shoe was a major status symbol to the point at which they were killing one another for a pair of fucking shoes. However, if one of those kids were to understand where those shoes came from, how they were made, who was profiting from his desire to have those stupid things, if he really understood that whole chain of economic and political and social interchanges that put those shoes on the feet of his neighbour, the kid he’s going to knife to get them......if he understood that, then he and his buddies would get together, go to Westchester County and kill Nike’s corporate president. That’s knowledge, that’s understanding and that’s what people need. And that’s why the dynamic in Egypt is so interesting because you’ve got a preponderance of people who actually have an idea of what’s going on and they’re able to communicate despite the fear that those communication networks may be monitored or shut down. 


The rise of digital technology such as social networking sites and information sites like Wikileaks is a levelling mechanism where individuals acquire an enormous amount of power over a short period of time, although I’m sure it won’t take the powers that be long to figure out how to shut this shit down. How to re-control it: that’s what they do. I don’t even know if it’s always out of malfeasance - maybe sometimes it’s born of the idea that they are doing the best thing for the poor stupid people that can’t be trusted with decisions. And sadly, there is some validation to that point of view because so many populist uprisings have resulted in fresh waves of brutality. The job of the BLF is to make fun of these corporations. I figure that’s all we can do. If the BLF was doing anything that they felt really threatened their bottom line they would squish us like a bug and that’s a fact.


READ FULL INTERVIEW FREE - LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 7




Tuesday 14 June 2011

LSD Magazine interviews Israeli Street Artist Collective - Inspire One



What an inspiration if you’ll pardon the pun. Formed in the eternal maelstrom of Jerusalem in 2003, the INSPIRE Collective have worked tirelessly to build bridges across faiths, societies, creative dimensions and social gulfs through unrestrained expression. Bringing over 700 artists into the burning, conflicted heart of the Middle East to create unity, understanding, opportunity and spectacular art, the collective have a quite frankly mind boggling range of projects on the juggle at any one time...


We know you have numerous projects on the flickr site alone, what best describes your role within this community? 

First beginning writing INSPIRE as a social message on the streets of Jerusalem, in order to understand my creative perspective I can try to give you a glimpse of the vision that I have. It even extends beyond the world of inspiration…we all have enormous creative potentials. I try to maintain this vision of collective unity that I know we all can achieve and it helps me to see the context of the shows, all the different projects, & everything we do. So that extends to the online world as well. On flickr, we try our best to present authentic high-resolution reflections of our art & curating process.


You guys are involved in so many projects its hard to know where to start. So take us back to where and when Inspire One began… 

When I first came to this side of the globe I instantly noticed a dramatic contrast between the calmness and serenity of the actual land and the intensity and violence of the people who are inhabiting the land, so I knew I needed to take a step back and really think about what this area of the world is missing and what I could provide… After about 9 months I knew that the answer I had come to wasn’t just about what the local populations needed but that it would be a struggle to show genuine creative inspiration to those who have to be reminded: and so my Middle Eastern mission began. I wrote (and still write) EXODUS, Idiot The Wise, Seven, & INSPIRE among other things…I am always trying to express potential and realized freedom thru art expression and actions and walking the streets of West and East Jerusalem (big differences in populations) I used my painted expression to elevate my consciousness… the goal of each word or image I make is for the betterment of the people as a whole.


Did you envisage extending into so many areas from the offset or did that evolve over time? 

The many projects that we are involved in past and present have all grown organically from inspiration and self determination. Since my vision of social maturity is fairly broad, it becomes easy from that perspective to match any given social issue with an appropriate art action that both causes awareness about the problem, yet offers a directional solution at the same time. The words and images that come from this thought process end up being a creative process. We’re not just cutting a stencil and simply putting it on the street at random (not that there’s anything particularly wrong with that but that just not us), we are people who have thought about, fought about, debated, and then finally created something in the way of a visual solution or message. So then any medium becomes possible…





How many people are involved in INSPIRE Collective and how many artists make up the numbers? 

A few months into my painting mission in Jerusalem, I met my wife at a hip-hop open mic some friends and I were organizing. At this point my wife and I are the sole originators of INSPIRE Collective. The numbers of people that we have exhibited here are about 1,000 to date, so at any given time the visual representation of what the collective is showing is organically rotational…but like I said before , we’re not limiting our cooperative abilities, we could be working with any number of new artists that we’re just discovering. We want to extend a global idea that others can do this to… to say to the hopeful person, “You ARE the collective!” … Cooperation is magic…try it sometime; you’ll see. No seriously, try it!




How big is the street art scene in Israel? 

From top to bottom of the country, there are about 100 motivated people who maintain the visual presence in the streets …but, asking me, personally, I would have to change your question’s terminology a bit…I guess folks would just have to be here as well to know what its like. Having not grown up here, yet seeing the intense oppression, I would say describe myself as a soldier for humanity or some sort of art therapist on a kind of frontline…most places on the planet we confronted with different “cultural” concentration of fascism…Here, we are always confronted with the idea of nationalism and we see how it separates…how it tries to provide you with an ID as a child, before you get a chance to find out what that word means outside of their context…We have a life to live, beyond them…and every time we find our self-determination, we prove it by direct action. This may sound familiar with some of your readers…it simply means that a corrupt system of defaults exists for them to on some level and we all need to rid our lives of oppression in any form…collectively as groups nationalistic environments, for example, once we surround ourselves with walls for any reason whatsoever, we really have to ask: “Are those walls there to keep others out or to keep me in!”. To answer you’re question directly as I can is to call for action! We need help to both destroy and rebuild! The streets here NEED positive change. Get in contact with us: InspireCollective@gmail.com


READ FULL INTERVIEW FREE IN LSD MAGAZINE ISSUE 7


Astro Naut @ Spanish Revolution

Guilty Pleasures & Modern Vices Exhibition 23rd - 28th June







London Miles Gallery is proud to announce an exhibition featuring all Uk artists, from street artists Alex Young and Insa, to incredible digital painter Tom Bagshaw. Each artist was teamed up with a particular vice or guilty pleasure at random and are required to create a piece of art inspired by that vice. The outcome has been impressive and to say the least, we are already addicted to this emerging group of UK talent. "Vice is a practice or a habit considered immoral, depraved, and/or degrading in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect, an infirmity, or merely a bad habit. Synonyms for vice include fault, depravity, sin, iniquity, wickedness, and corruption."

Guilty Pleasures and Modern vices will not only highlight a group of talented Uk artists, but also shine the light on some of todays troublsome issues with our society, such as Gambling, alcohalsim to simply being addicted to facebook.

Featured Artists:
INSA, Alex Young ,David Marsh, Tom Bagshaw, Xue Wang, Craww, Carne, Mr Gauky, Michael Forbes, Ruben Ireland, 
Mr Penfold, Miss Led.

Exhibition opens on
Thursday, June 23rd 2011 from 6pm to 11pm. 
Gallery location is 65 Hanbury
Street. East London.












Monday 13 June 2011

Marko Maglaic Solo Exhibition 17th June - 3rd July - Australia


AUSTRALIA


Marko Maglaic "Queen Victoria’s Flying Machine" Solo Exhibit.

Opening to General Public Friday the 17th of June, showing until Sunday 3rd of July.
*Please contact Rtist ASAP for invitations to the private showing.

Croatian born artist Marko Maglaic (1972- ) believes his paintings come from a spiritual, logical, yet simultaneously chaotic, place. As an artist he strives to depict fact, myth, life, love, death and the eternal struggle of mankind. For Maglaic the enemy is time, as love or hate are of no consequence with its passing. He demands his art be thoroughly scrutinized by the viewer, to discover the works' truthful emotions. To act as a kind of raw sub-conscious, opening up new truths and providing evidence of a higher existence.

Maglaic's art is tribal and graffiti-like. It has drawn comparison with Australian painter David Larwill (1956-) and the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). Like Larwill, Maglaic's humanoids are angry, sullen and bewildered, yet somehow manage to possess serendipity. Their connection to each other is a kaleidoscope of irrational relationships. His picture plane is crowded with animated human figures, often mask-faced, arrows, words, phrases, numbers, dogs and urban decay. Likewise with Basquiat, Maglaic creates a dense, rich, glamour-strange mix of graffiti. The images and words lunge at the viewer with striking faces and figures, colour strong and random, yet subtle and convulsively sophisticated.

In the spirit of Larwill, Basquiat and ultimately Jean Dubuffet (1901-1985), Marko Maglaic's paintings establish themselves through their unique post-modern beauty, making odd things work with an extraordinary force. He has his own nomadism covering a kaleidoscope of expressionism and figuration. Maglaic explores the complexities and diversities of modern urban life by embodying his pictures with a jarring psychological strength.

Since becoming a favorite amongst art collectors in Melbourne and Sydney. With solo shows at iconic Kozminsky(Melbourne) and Soho(Sydney) galleries. So steady is Maglaic’s following that Alexandra Wilcox of The Financial Review mentions Maglaic’s work as an affordable entry into the world of art investment. “Imagine an investment that brings joy and wealth”writes Wilcox. Magalaic's first solo show in over two years, is sure to impress, surprise and memorize its viewers. Works depict a spectrum of modern day life, exploring subjects such as the aforementioned. Please hold onto your hats as your mind's eye takes flight in a financial journey of discovery. Marko Maglaic's "Queen Victoria's Flying Machine" at Rtist Gallery, enjoy the ride.






Jumble & Pearls Vintage Fayre - 26th June 12-6pm



JUMBLE AND PEARLS VINTAGE FAYRE
WE ARE VERY EXCITED AND PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE REST OF THE BEST, INTRODUCING LOST VINTAGE, NICOLA CLOSETS, PIP TAVERNER, CATHERINE REES & MISS WORLD WARDROBE....
 
Lost Vintage, Nicola Closets, Pip Taverner, Catherine Rees and Miss World Wardrobe are the final 5 who have been selected to join, Bashful in Batwings, Mistress Vintage, Ruby Pope, Made At The Wishing Well at the very 1st Jumble and Pearls Vintage Fayre which takes place on Sunday 26th June @ Light Bar, Shoreditch.  Throughout the day's activities will be a themed photo booth, dressing up box, photographer who will be taking your shots and providing on the spot service, Tarot reader, kid's corner, guest Djs, Glastonbury on the big screen, cupcakes galore aswell as drinks, roasts, bbq and kid's menu. There is something for everyone, a great day out indoors and outdoors, enjoy the sunshine and experience with us...

LOST VINTAGE.   
Seda’s fascination with antiques and vintage fashion began at a very young age when she would go to Spitalfields Market and admire the collection of stalls way back in the 90’s! Seda and her sister Esra grew up in Istanbul surrounded by a family line of Tailors. "We would seek out the best bargains in Turkey and the UK, our collection of vintage garments span ten years."   Seda wanted to continue the journey and started her brand 'Lost Vintage' last year, selling hand picked, quality, genuine vintage clothes and accessories in a selection of markets, fairs and online.  Carefully selecting a variety of items, ranging from the 30's to the early 90s. You can find one off pieces for a very affordable price!  Esra and Tanya will be launching a new brand presenting quality, bold, colourful textiles sourced from Turkey, tailored the old fashioned way into simple, well fitted cuts, creating modern but timeless, beautiful clothing for women. Watch this space.

NICOLA CLOSETS.  Accessories designer Nico throws opens ‘Nicola Closets’ for her debut at Jumble and Pearls. "We have an extensive collection of directional vintage, designer and sample pieces from the forties to the eighties and present day, sourced through a decade working for top fashion designers in London and Paris- and an ongoing fashion addiction, naturellement!" Create a complete look from summer separates and dresses from shoes to jewels with exclusive labels including: Yves Saint Laurent, Azzedine Alaia, Comme des Garcons, Luella, Jasper Conran, Manolo Blahnik, Charles Jourdan and Ferragamo; fine heritage knitwear; adorable vintage with an emphasis on luxury fabrics- plus a selection of tres affordable chic Also available are archive Ni-Co. samples, formally stocked at prestigious stores, her collection of softly sculptural chainmail bags and leather goods produced from found metals interwoven with luxury offcuts, at very special sale prices
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PIP TAVERNER is a stylist and make up artist specialising in vintage fashion.  Trained at London College of Fashion and Kensington and Chelsea.  Pip is a talented British milliner and jewellery maker, who's trademark style blends vintage buttons, ribbons and antique kimono silks with Swarovski crystal to create fun and flirty originals. Her love of vintage style infuses her designs ensuring “whether you want a piece for Ascot, a wedding or 'just because', any one of my creations will make you stand out from the crowd.” www.orkhid.com
<http://www.orkhid.com/
 
CATHERINE REE
S has always had a real selection of vintage, consisting of leather bags, necklets of style, brooches.  In addition she has Welsh wool bright coloured purses and leather knee high patchwork boots...Lots of unusual pieces from silk squares, unique fabrics, pretty clothes and groovy shades as copied this summer by Diesel. "I source all my lovely vintage pieces very early in the morning from many Northern markets my pieces are stylish, very wearable, good quality, enviable and above all, at a price you will remember us by - get down early and bag some originals at rock bottom price
s!" 
 
MISS WORLD WARDRO
BE; Journalist and stand-up comic Samantha Lyster has been collecting vintage for over 20 years, back when it was called second-hand.  Last year she embarked on a world tour performing at comedy venues under her stage name Kitty Kavanagh and shopping for the most fabulous dresses.  The rails will be filled with British vintage, including a silk Harvey Nicholls jacket, a Kangol fascinator and a Liberty waistcoat, but nestled among the treasure are items from America, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia.   Gems include a 1970s era Lanvin dress from L.A, a 1980s era dress by Australian designer Leon Cutler picked up in Sydney and a 1960s shift dress from the only vintage store in Siem Reap, Cambodia.   "I also have a fabulous Marie Antoinette period costume gown that I will be selling and several of the dresses were photographed for the Japanese fashion magazine Transparent."

LAURA MORRISSEY CUPCAKE
S present Jumble and Pearls limited editions: Strawberry & Creams, Mojito, Lemon Curd & Creamcheese & Chocolate Honeycomb..."I decided on strawberries and cream as they're by far one of my favourite things about the London summer.  The mojito cupcakes were chosen because I love a nice cold moijito on a hot day and the infusion of lime and mint is always amazing!  Lemon curd with creamcheese never really fails to get people excited, including myself. And the honeycomb is something new I'm trying as ive loved it since I was a kid!"
GUEST DJs featuring
Jacquilina Traher (Victoryus)
Howyin Mok (Can I Keep It?)
Paul Barkworth (Beat Promotion Group)
will be spinning a special Rock N Roll Jumble set of Electronica, Rock, Retro Pop, Nu Wave, Electro Swing, film soundtracks, classical and sleazy beats throughout the day.
Vintage Fayre facebook event @ Light Bar:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=189444357758798