Jun 17, 2011 - used for the design, which was released worldwide in 2011). Finally, Crash is one of .... crimson slicing
The Street Art Show Keith HARING SEEN
Jean-Michel BASQUIAT Ron ENGLISH
THE LONDON POLICE b.
SWOON
Anthony LISTER How & Nosm
Banksy
Logan HICKS
Nick WALKER KID ZOOM
BLEK LE RAT
CRASH
SABER
D*FACE
ALËXONE
ALEXANDROS VASMOULAKIS
MR. JAGO
SWEET TOOF
Rich SIMMONS
1
The Street Art Show Opera Gallery London • 17 June 2011 – 30 June 2011
In the early 1970s, alongside the world famous and already valued pop art movement, a unique form of art emerged, with strong and powerful messages from those who rejected the mainstream ideas and decided to express themselves on the walls and on the streets. The street art was born. In the same way everyone thinks of Andy Warhol when pop art is mentioned, the main figure of street art is undeniably the mysterious Banksy who, indeed, got a quick, well-deserved and widely shared recognition for his extraordinary sharp and accurate humour. However, although they are somehow less famous within the general public, one must not forget that the “founding fathers” of street art were Jean-Michel Basquiat and Blek le Rat. The African-American Basquiat is indeed the artist considered to have built the bridge between pop art and street art. Emerged from New York’s punk scene as the “street-smart graffiti artist”, Basquiat quickly rose to become one of the most celebrated American naïf painter of the widely celebrated art movement. As for Blek le Rat, he is regarded as one pioneer of stencil art: indeed he has been using the walls of Paris and other cities in the world as canvas since the early 1980s to convey his political and social messages. In 2008, he has even been invited by the London’s Tate Modern to be part of a talk on street Art. Beyond France and England, Blek Le Rat is now part of the international art scene. Banksy himself said: “Every time I think I’ve painted something slightly original, I
find out that Blek Le Rat has done it as well. Only twenty years earlier.” (Banksy, 2005). And in 2008, The Times wrote: “Blek le Rat, the man who gave birth to Banksy” (The Times, 2008). Having made its official entrée into the institutionalized world of museums via Los Angeles’ MOCA latest exhibition, the street art finally seems to have earned an undeniable and well-deserved respectability. Because at Opera Gallery we think that street art is a major art movement of the era, The Street Art Show will bring together some of its founding fathers above-mentioned; some very established street artists who have gained a worldwide recognition over the past years such as Seen and Nick Walker; and some young and promising artists who have inherited their humour and impertinent accuracy like the British stencil artist Rich Simmons. Opera Gallery wishes you a pleasant journey through the history of street art, since the beginning of the movement and through to the present and, even beyond, the future of the genre in the history of art.
© Argus
Gilles Dyan & Jean-David Malat Curators of the exhibition
2
3
Keith HARING
Untitled, 1984 Acrylic on canvas • 152 x 152 cm – 59.8 x 59.8 in.
Provenance Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York Galerie Paul Maenz, Cologne Acquired from the above by the present owner
Exhibited Cologne, Galerie Paul Maenz, Keith Haring, May 3-30, 1984 Berlin, Daimlerchrysler Contemporary, Private/Corporate Werke aus der Daimler Kunst Sammlung: Ein Dialog (Private/ Corporate; Works from the Daimler Art Collection: A Dialogue), May 28-July 21, 2002, p. 34
Literature P. Maenz, Keith Haring at Paul Maenz, Cologne, 1984, p. 5 Galerie P. Maenz, Ausstellungs- saison (Exhibition Season) 1983-84, Cologne, 1984, p. 13 G. Celant and I. Gianelli, Keith Haring, Milan, 1994, p. 37 Private/Corporate: Werke aus der Daimler Kunst: Ein Dialog (Private/Corporate: Works from the Daimler Art Collection: A Dialogue), Daimlerchrysler Contemporary, Berlin, 2002, p. 34
Certificate Certificate from the Keith Haring Studio LLC
4
5
Jean-Michel BASQUIAT
Chimp, 1983 Acrylic and oil stick on canvas • 182 x 144 cm – 71.7 x 56.7 in.
Provenance Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland Private collection, Tokyo, Japan Baron Boisante Inc., New York, USA
Literature Galerie Enrico Navarra, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paris 1996, No. 1, p. 106
Certificate Certicate from the Basquiat Committee
6
7
BLEK LE RAT
Bomb it Stencil and spray paint on canvas • 96 x 162 cm – 37.8 x 63.8 in. 8
Banksy? Stencil and spray paint on canvas • 73 x 100 cm – 28.7 x 39.4 in. 9
BLEK LE RAT
The last tango in Paris n.2 Oil painting and stencil on wood • 220 x 200 cm – 86.6 x 78.7 in. 10
11
BLEK LE RAT
Paintball cop Mixed media • 200 x 130 cm – 78.7 x 51.2 in. 12
San Francisco, 2008 Stencil and spray paint on canvas • 130 x 89 cm – 51.2 x 35 in. 13
SEEN
Thor, 2008 Aerosol on canvas • 220 x 220 cm – 86.6 x 86.6 in. 14
Skulls 4 Aerosol on canvas • 200 x 200 cm – 78.7 x 78.7 in. 15
RON ENGLISH
Groovy cowgirl Guernica, 2007 Acrylic paint over screen print on canvas • 92 x 227,5 cm – 36.2 x 89.6 in. 16
17
Ron ENGLISH
Disco Mac Donalds, 2008 Oil on canvas • 91 x 61 cm – 35.8 x 24 in. 18
Mac Boy at Big Ben, 2008 Oil on canvas • 91 x 61 cm – 35.8 x 24 in. 19
RON ENGLISH
Super sunflower squared Oil, synthetic polymer paint and collage on canvas • 91,5 x 91,5 cm – 36 x 36 in. 20
21
Logan HICKS
Left brain / Right brain Stencil on acrylic • 91,5 x 122 cm – 36 x 48 in. 22
Sleepy Stencil on acrylic • 91,5 x 122 cm – 36 x 48 in. 23
Logan HICKS
Sitting in limbo Stencil on acrylic • 91,5 x 122 cm – 36 x 48 in. 24
25
CRASH
Playground battleground, 2003 Spray enamel on canvas • 172 x 167,5 cm – 67.7 x 65.9 in. 26
Dream catcher #2, 2003 Spray enamel on canvas • 91,5 x 91,5 cm – 36 x 36 in. 27
THE LONDON POLICE
I saw Marcello Lippi in Gian Carlo nightclub, 2011 Indelible ink on canvas • 100 x 150 cm – 39.4 x 59 in. 28
29
Nick WALKER
Taj, the morning after Stencil on canvas • 84 x 104 cm – 33.1 x 41 in. 30
V for vandal Stencil on canvas • 183 x 122 cm – 72 x 48 in. 31
SABER
Purple ripped tags Mixed media on wood panel • 106,5 x 106,5 cm – 41.9 x 41.9 in. 32
Abstract flag in pink and purple Mixed media on wood panel • 91,5 x 213,5 cm – 36 x 84 in. 33
D*FACE
Dead Beatle (John Lennon) Mixed media on canvas • 84 x 122 cm – 33.1 x 48 in. 34
Sad Liberty Mixed media on canvas • 84 x 122 cm – 33.1 x 48 in. 35
b.
Loila, 2009 Anti-rust paint on rusted metal sheet • 180 x 90 cm – 70.8 x 35.4 in. 36
Octaelo Acrylic on wood • 140 x 100 cm – 55.1 x 39.7 in. 37
SWOON
b.
WarfluCo, 2011 Acrylic on canvas • 152 x 152 cm – 59.8 x 59.8 in. 38
Zhara 26 Mixed media • 86,5 x 71 cm - 34.1 x 27.9 in. 39
KID ZOOM
ALËXONE
Buck cab Aerosol on board • 118 x 240 cm – 46.5 x 94.5 in. 40
Adossée a la colline, 2008 Acrylic and mixed techniques on paper • 170 x 150 cm – 66.9 x 59.1 in. 41
Anthony LISTER
Alexandros VASMOULAKIS
Fists of Glory Acrylic on canvas • 152 x 152 cm – 59.8 x 59.8 in. 42
Peekaboo, 2009 Acrylic on canvas • 120 x 130 cm – 47.2 x 51.2 in. 43
HOW & NOSM
Main course Acrylic and spray paint on canvas • 122 x 154 cm – 48 x 60.1 in. 44
45
MR. JAGO
A most profitable conflict, 2011 Acrylic and spray paint on canvas • 122 x 214 cm – 48 x 84.2 in. 46
Every atom, 2011 Acrylic and spray paint on canvas • 140 x 200 cm – 55.1 x 78.7 in. 47
Sweet toof
Daisy Daisy III Oil on acid box • 153 x 52 cm – 60.2 x 20.5 in. 48
Blind man’s buff Oil on canvas (in black box frame) • 153 x 78 cm – 60.2 x 30.7 in.
Daisy Daisy I Oil on acid box • 153 x 52 cm – 60.2 x 20.5 in. 49
Rich SIMMONS
Everyone has a fetish Stencil and spray paint on wood • 160 x 120 cm – 63 x 47.2 in. 50
Will fight crime for food Stencil and spray paint on wood • 90 x 160 cm –35.4 x 63 in. 51
Rich SIMMONS
Obama mania Stencil and spray paint on wood • 190 x 120 cm – 74.8 x 47.2 in. 52
That’s all folks Stencil and spray paint on wood • 150 x 120 cm – 59.1 x 47.2 in. 53
BIOGRAPHIES
KEITH HARING Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s. Haring achieved his first public attention with chalk drawings in the subways of New York. Around the 1980s, “The Radiant baby” became his symbol. His bold lines, vivid colors, and active figures carry strong messages of life and unity. Haring contributed to the New York “New Wave“ display in 1981, and in 1982 he had his first solo exhibition. He established friendships with fellow emerging artists Futura 2000, Kenny Scharf, Madonna and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He also got to know Andy Warhol, who was the theme of several of Haring’s pieces including “Andy Mouse”. His friendship with Warhol would prove to be a decisive element in his eventual success, particularly after their deaths. By expressing concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war, Haring’s imagery has become a widely recognized visual language of the 20th century.
Keith HARING
Jean-Michel BASQUIAT
Banksy
BLEK LE RAT
jean-michel basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist, whose career began as a graffiti artist in New York in
SEEN
Ron ENGLISH
THE LONDON POLICE b.
SWOON
Logan HICKS
Nick WALKER KID ZOOM
CRASH
SABER
D*FACE
ALËXONE
the late 1970s, before he started producing neo-expressionist painting in the 1980s. In 1976, he began spray-painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan, working with friends under the pseudonym SAMO. In 1979, he appeared on the live show TV Party hosted by Glenn O’Brien, and the two started a friendship. O’Brien later introduced Basquiat to Andy Warhol, with whom he later collaborated. In June 1980, Basquiat participated in The Times Square Show, a multi-artist exhibition in New York’s Times Square. In 1981, Rene Ricard published “The Radiant Child” in Artforum magazine, which brought Basquiat to the attention of the art world. By 1982, he was showing regularly alongside artists from the neo-expressionist movement. When Andy Warhol died in 1987, Basquiat became increasingly isolated, and his heroin addiction and depression grew more severe. He died
Anthony LISTER How & Nosm
ALEXANDROS VASMOULAKIS
MR. JAGO
SWEET TOOF
Rich SIMMONS
a year later of a heroin overdose at his art studio in New York City’s NoHo neighbourhood. He was only 27.
BLEK LE RAT Blek Le Rat (Xavier Prou) was born in Paris in 1951. He is a grand master of street art, and considered by many to be the originator of stencil graffiti. Blek has been adorning the streets of Paris with his hugely original and intelligent artwork since the early eighties, and he has been a massive influence on today’s graffiti and guerrilla art movements. He started decorating the streets of Paris in 1981 with a rat stencil, hoping to create an invasion of rats in the city, while creating a style that would suit Paris and not copy the American style. He stopped painting on walls after 1991, when he was fined for ten years worth of graffiti and threatened that he would face jail if caught again. He continues to produce work but in the form of posters and canvases. Considered to be one of the pioneers of stencil art, Blek Le Rat was invited by the Tate Modern to be part of a talk about the Tate’s street art exhibition in 2008. Beyond France and England, Blek Le Rat is now part of the international art scene. He lives in France with his wife and teenage son.
54
55
SEEN
CRASH
Richard Mirando (1961, Bronx - ), known as SEEN, first started to paint on New York’s subway in 1973 and he may have been the greatest and
Crash (born John Matos in 1961 - ) is a famous graffiti artist.
most versatile artist from this generation of subway painters.
As early as 13, John Matos was spray-painting New York City trains and he quickly moved on to silk screened canvas. He was first noticed
Referred to as the “Godfather of Graffiti”, SEEN carries the title of being the world’s most famous graffiti artist. He is recognized as a leader
through his murals on subway, cars and dilapidated buildings, and he is now regarded as a pioneer of the graffiti art movement whose work
of the school of graffiti art and has become an icon of what was once considered an underground trend but now has become an international
is said to convey a ”visual link between street life and established society”.
art movement.
In 1980, Crash curated the now iconic exhibition ”Graffiti Art Success for America” at Fashion MODA, launching the graffiti movement that has
SEEN was also among the early street artists who took their art onto canvases. He was part of the landmark New York art show “New Wave
remained very active through today. By the 1980s he had had exhibits across the United States and abroad.
1981”, which also featured Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Basquiat among others. Today, his work can be found in private collections and
In 2010, Crash held a 30-year retrospective at Fairfield University’s Walsh Gallery. He also created a series of paintings to be shown at Miami
museums around the world. SEEN was also a pioneer in the application of graffiti in fashion. He began by painting graffiti-inspired designs
Art Basel. The same year, Crash was commissioned to create a special limited edition luggage for TUMI, Inc. (a painting was created and
on clothing, before being drawn to the art of tattooing and body art. He quickly began to master the art of tattooing and his tattoo parlour
used for the design, which was released worldwide in 2011). Finally, Crash is one of the New York artists featured in LA’s MOCA’s exhibition
became one of the largest and most popular in New York. SEEN once again showed the graffiti world another avenue in which the art form
“Art in the Streets“ in 2011.
could be explored. SEEN now lives in Paris, France, and he continues to exhibit worldwide.
THE LONDON POLICE
RON ENGLISH
The London Police are Bob Gibson and Chaz, born in England in the 1970’s.
Ron English (1966 Dallas - ) has exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide for over twenty years, influencing a generation of artists and
of the world. The motive was to combine travelling and making street art to create an amazing way of life not seen since the days of King
art lovers with his unique and newly disconcerting sensibility.
Solomon. From 2002 onward TLP started sending missionaries into all corners of the globe. Known for their iconic LADS characters and
A surprisingly polyvalent artist, he has worked across the visual arts spectrum, from vinyl sculpture to billboards and oil painting. Whereas
precision marking, TLP’s work has graced streets and galleries in 35 countries since the late 1990s.
most artists can be classified as either conceptual or visceral, Ron English is both, having achieved mastery of the physical medium even as
London Policemen have come and gone but founding members are still known to walk the streets of every city in the world spreading love
his conceptual basis for painting has deepened into a refined distillation of socio-political observation, humour, and memory. Although his
with pens and stickers.
work is highly conceptual, English mothers every inch of the canvas, where each brushstroke is an artistic decision; the resulting humanity
Last year saw the return of Bob Gibson to The London Police after five years of touring with the indie band “MOSS“. And so the original
and warmth of the work stands as counterpoint to its idea-based origin.
founding members are re-embarking on their quest to combine making artwork and traveling the globe to better themselves and spread
Using a mixture of imagery, medium and process referenced from great masters such as Warhol, Pollack and Picasso, combined with irreve-
artistic love through the world. The blueprint for this new phase was to produce solid back-to-basics black and white artworks collaborating
rent cherry-picking of populist totems from fast food to cartoons, English creates complex running narratives of his many alter-egos butting
the iconic LADS characters drawn by Chaz with the tight architectural and illustrative landscapes of Bob Gibson.
The London Police started in 1998 when the two headed to Amsterdam to rejuvenate the visually disappointing streets of the drug capital
headfirst into the Grand Illusion, where unstated cultural norms are exposed and analysed. Ron English’s sharp commentary and art were also featured in the 2004 hit movie “Supersize Me” by Morgan Spurlock.
56
NICK WALKER
LOGAN HICKS
Nick Walker (1969 - ) is one of UK’s leading stencilling artists who emerged from the infamous and ground-breaking Bristol art and graffiti
Logan Hicks is a New York-based stencil artist whose work explores the dynamics of the urban environment. Originally a screen-printer,
scene of the early 1980s.
Logan’s work has gained notoriety due to his ability to capture the sometimes mundane cycle of city life in a haunting, yet refined way with
As a forerunner of the British graffiti phenomenon Nick’s work became a blueprint for hundreds of burgeoning artists. His work has constantly
his hand-sprayed stencils.
evolved and always remains innovative, modern and thought provoking earning him the notoriety of one of the UK’s most wanted artists.
With his photorealistic style, Logan draws a parallel between the cold, harsh city and a warm, vibrant organism, a breathing creature where
It was after the continuous destruction of his illegal work that Nick’s distinctive style adapted effortlessly from the walls of Bristol to canvases
the ebb and flow of people washing over its sidewalks act as cells circulating through its veins.
on gallery walls.
Logan uses his art to explore the microcosm in which he is a cell, just part of a whole. The nuances of city life that epitomize the urban exis-
His work has been embraced by the mass media including the record, advertising and film industries, with commissions as prestigious as the
tence are what he dwells upon.
major motion pictures Judge Dredd and Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut“.
57
SABER
KID ZOOM
Born in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, SABER was already a fixture in the Los Angeles graffiti scene when, in 1997, he completed the
Originally from Perth Australia, KID ZOOM (1978 - ) has definitely become the one to watch in the Australian street-art scene.
largest graffiti piece ever created, catapulting him to global legend. His piece on the sloping cement bank of the Los Angeles River is nearly
Combining precise technical ability with tongue in cheek subversions of pop iconography, his work is not only attention-grabbing, but as well
the size of a professional football field, and can be read clear as day from a satellite photo.
innovative in its use of medium.
While painting graffiti is his main focus, SABER also explores other artistic avenues. He is known for his surreal landscapes and has also
A relatively new kid on this block, Kid Zoom brings a love of dark film to the game; the human body parts, hands, eyes, skulls and even some
created groundbreaking metal and wood sculptures of abstract letterforms and painstakingly rendered hyper-realistic canvases.
of his portraits resemble stills from movies. His Hitchcockian black and white paintings are detailed and precise - with a sudden shard of
In 2011, Saber was featured in Los Angeles’ MOCA exhibition “Arts in the Street”.
crimson slicing through them.
D*FACE ”D*Face”, aka Dean Stockton, grew up in London and had a childhood influenced by Shepard Fairey, Jim Philips, hip hop, punk music, and popular animated cartoons. An associate of Banksy, D*Face uses London as his own personal gallery, sticking, pasting and drawing on the walls or spaces that the city offers. Known for his subversive images, his work challenges orthodox thinking and common ideas. Recent examples of his work include his collaboration with H.R.H Queen Elizabeth II on a series of bank notes that were put into circulation for an unsuspecting public to notice them in their change. Then, to commemorate the instatement of Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican commissioned D*Face to paint a portrait. The piece was shown for the first time at the Outside Institute in May 2005, as well as on MTV Rome, to critical acclaim.
b. b. (1982 Athens - ) lives and works in Athens as an architect and street artist.
ALËXONE It is at the end of the 1980s that Alëxone discovered graffiti art and spray-painting. At the beginning of the 1990s, he sprayed graffiti on subway trains and in waste grounds and worked under the name of Oedipe. In 2000, he became Alëxone and started developing his technique of “billboard posting”. Thus, he created works on paper intended for a precise place, which he would then stick on to the walls on the streets. He later integrated the collective “9ème Concept” and took part in the itinerant exhibition “Sang Neuf ” based on diversion of the medical care sheet of the French social security. Alëxone has also become a member of the Belgian crew, the GM (Gentle Men), with whom he artistically continues to explore urban territories. Very coloured, Alëxone creates a surrealist universe, with animals and characters, sometimes ridiculous, turning in derision nowadays society.
anthony lister
He started as a graffiti writer in 1996 and studied architecture from 2000 until 2006. In a world full of corporate logos, religion symbols and
Anthony Lister (1979 Australia - ) is a painter and Installation artist. He has had solo exhibitions across Australia, United States, Europe and
team emblems, b. creates parasite brands, yellow and black mermaids, anchor-tattoos and oil-flags, personal symbols of his work, seen on
the UK and is notable within the Lowbrow Art Movement.
the walls of the city.
Lister has travelled extensively throughout the world, exhibiting his work both in art galleries and on the streets. His work suggests influences
In his studio ”thisismybworld”, he works on a wide selection of projects from graffiti to architecture and from illustration to industrial design.
from a number of areas and genres, including street art, expressionism, pop art, and contemporary youth culture. Lister currently resides in Brooklyn, New York City, with his wife and two children.
SWOON Swoon is a street artist originally from Daytona Beach, Florida. She moved to New York City at the age of nineteen, and specializes in life-size wheat paste prints and paper cut-outs of figures. Swoon, whose real name is Caledonia Dance Curry, studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and started doing street art around 1999. Swoon’s worlds are often populated by realistically rendered cut-out street people, often her friends and family. Riding bikes, talking on a stoop, going grocery shopping - these people are going about a cityscape of her own unique invention. Bridges, fire escapes, water towers and street signs create crisscrossing shadows and spaces through which her figures move. Inspired by both art historical and folk sources, ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian shadow puppets, Swoon uses cut paper to play with positive and negative space in a conceptually driven exploration of the experience of the streets. In 2011, Swoon was featured in LA’s MOCA exhibition “Art in the Streets”.
58
Alexandros Vasmoulakis Alexandros Vasmoulakis (1980 - ) is currently based in Athens although he has recently spent time in Paris, soaking up the culture that the city had to offer. It is in Athens that his work is most visible: there, he has produced many stunning pieces on doors, telephone boxes, hoardings and on the flanks of buildings. Alexandros’ work is predominantly character-based and his creations explore the core values of human nature such as love, desire, seduction and hate. His work is very much driven by his state of mind and will reflect the mood of any given day. He uses mixed media including collage, paint, photography and digital to convey the relationships between these above-mentioned emotions.
59
HOW and NOSM
RICH SIMMONS
The twin brothers HOW and NOSM (born Raoul and Davide PERRE in San Sebastian, Spain) are graffiti artists and professional muralists
Rich Simmons (1986 - ) is part of a new wave of street artists emerging from the UK. He uses an intricately detailed stencil style to convey
residing in New York.
his irreverent sense of humour. His self imposed mission to change peoples views on different subject matters stems from an autistic
They grew up in Germany, where they discovered the art form of graffiti and spray-painting. After a visit to New York in 1997, they became
background in which Simmons had to communicate his thoughts on the world through visual channels.
members of the legendary TATS CRU, and permanently relocated to New York shortly thereafter – a move that marked their transition from
He became a global name after creating a piece of work depicting Prince William and Kate Middleton as Sid and Nancy from the Sex Pistols.
painting on trains, and even the Berlin Wall – to creating elaborate murals for a number of known commercial clients such as SONY.
This “Future ***King“ piece created a media stir on every continent and made people aware of the Simmons’ style of work and ability to create
As members of TATS CRU, the twins have lectured at renowned US universities and their work has appeared in numerous films, music videos,
iconic imagery. He also founded an art therapy movement, Art Is The Cure, in 2008 to help other people find a cure to problems in a similar
documentaries and commercials.
way that the artist himself did.
In an age where lavish colour and effects often compensate for style, the Perre Twins have taken an opposite approach: in their newest works
A goal to inspire and a dark past have culminated in an exciting artist who is creating work that clearly portrays this personal struggle. His
the brothers have restricted themselves to a sparse colour pallet – red, black and white. The absence of colour accentuates every line so that
work demonstrates the questions of self-worth, pressures of society and a twisted sense of humour. The result is a style that is dividing
the outline jumps to the forefront. The meticulous lines and intricate patterns presented in such a minimalist fashion make the brothers’
peoples’ reactions between shock, laughter and new perceptions of the world.
work instantly recognizable and unique.
MR. JAGO Duncan Jago (1972 - ) graduated from the University Of The West of England in Bristol in 1998. His early – doodle-derived – mark making evolved deliberately into his current way of working; the droid-like figures of his formative, commercial illustration slowly enveloped in ever-deepening layers of colour and shade. These figures have now become almost entirely hidden, remaining as shadowy, compositional elements, spectres lurking in the gloom behind the kaleidoscopic vapours of what could be humankind’s vanity and pollution. Most recently, Duncan has taken the idioms of spray painting to a level of sophistication rarely seen in the medium, completely uninhibited by any notions of what spray painting is, or should be. There is maturity and depth to the use of colour that hints at the mineral traces left by geological time. One might well use the phrase abstract expressionism, since form and structure have undergone a process of abstraction, whilst primarily being emotionally expressive. It is both formally organised and balanced, as well as spontaneous and visceral. Duncan’s work has been exhibited extensively worldwide and is held in both public and private collections.
SWEET TOOF
Nicknamed the “Dentist of the streets”, dentally obsessed Sweet Toof is a Royal Academy-trained painter and one of the most prolific graffiti artists working today.
w w w. o p e r a g a l l e r y. c o m
Making the streets a brighter, funnier and more inspirational place, Sweet Toof is becoming very well known and successful on the inside of buildings with his work showing around the world. Indeed, he adds a needed colourful although dark humour to the streets and his trademark teeth and gums can be found all over London and increasingly across the globe. As well as his street work, Sweet Toof work is exhibited worldwide and hugely sought after.
60
134, New Bond Street • London W1S 2TF (T) +44 (0)207 491 2999 •
[email protected]
61
