Attention Spam - Hong Kong Happenings

ATTENTION SPAM - 14 November - 10 December

Cyclops, D*Face, David Bray, Vesna Parchet & Word to Mother

Schonei Main Gallery
21-31 Old Bailey Street
Central Hong Kong
MON - SAT 10.30am - 6.30pm
http://www.adaptagallery.com/

A special blog post and props going out to our friend and fellow blogger Selph ESP http://espvisuals.blogspot.com/ for what looks like it will be an absoloutely amazing project.

D*Face

UK Adapta have just set up their satellite gallery project known as Adapta Gallery and the first show called "Attention Spam" will be in Hong Kong next week, Thursday NOV 13th. They have imported 5 British artists: D*Face, Cyclops, David Bray, Word To Mother & Vesna Parchet to HKG to go bombing the streets, as well as maybe attending the preview perhaps for a refreshing cold beer afterwards.

Cyclops

David Bray

Vesna Parchet

Selph has expressed his extreme joy at getting to go out and hit streets with some of his idols and contemporaries, we should receive exclusive film footage of their happenings upon his return to the UK all being well.

Black Rat Press Print Show

Rivington Street 16 Feb 2008


With domestic interiors across the land filling up with prints from street artists, Black Rat Press have blessed the inquisitive and acquisitive with an education in the back stage aspects of the artists work. Sadly, the Rat couldn’t make it to BRP’s Print Show opening so will remain ignorant of how Matt Small suppresses the DTs to scrape a sharp object in smooth curves across an etching plate.

The walls however contain a good variety of new and familiar prints from most of the great leaders of the revolution, in no particular order (but willing to promote or relegate for gifts) these are Swoon, D*Face, Blek Le Rat, Matt Small, Nick Walker and Slinkachu.

In addition to prints released on Valentines day, D*Face has produced unique variants on dead Che, this time the luscious unique Che collage on ultra commie red background has a further inner skull tearing its way through the surface Che with skeleton hands bursting through the paper of the surface Che. Dead Che also appears in three colourways on burnished steel, wildly bling and strong wall mounts required!

D*Face

Tastily displayed are a set of Swoon very limited edition (20 I think) very hand finished prints called Baba Yaga (the wild woman, the witch, the mistress of magic – google expert). When Swoon hand finishes to make each edition copy different it isn’t the old “on this one that line is 1mm longer” trivial differences, each of this Swoon edition did look radically different, compare the two below. Baba Yaga has the wisdom of the years gouged in her wrinkles, not page 3 material.
Baba Yaga - Swoon


In parallel with the familiar but still stunning multicoloured portraits, Matt Small has worked on 6 light boxes, which weren’t actually turned on at the time of viewing. The paint run effect looked a bit messy and the usual capture of the subjects’ distrust, boredom, sullenness or suspicion is not quite there but these may well look spectacular with the light actually on, we shall return! [edit - rubbish! linoprints on VCRs, not lightboxes. Doesn't make them any better to these eyes. Sorry - NoLions] Several other Matt Small prints in the usual rich multi colour splatter are shown and an interesting etched line drawing black on cream paper, apparently Matt wasn’t impressed with the multi-colour version.

Matt Small Linoprints on dead VCRs


Six different Blek le Rat rat monoprints, all unique, looked the nuts with their rats clambering over a bleached background. The gun toting Space Cowboy, intimidating in posture and size, remain available having been seen at the White Noise show.

Blek Le Rat



At the time of viewing several blank spots on the wall were getting the BRP illumination effect – wouldn’t we all love to be able to light our collections at home like that – hopefully the missing Nick Walkers will have filled these spaces.

The Slinkachoo night time lover’s lightbox looked sweet, the out of focus background echoing the lovers’ oblivion to their surroundings.

Slinkachu



This show does what it says on the tin, a strong collection of prints and artists has been assembled for the benefit of those not quite in the league of commissioning one off canvasses direct from the artist, plus a bit of education for us rude mechanicals to boot.

Urban Art - Insanity Takes Hold

(all photos Bonhams)

Originating from the streets of Bristol, Brighton and London, growing up via galleries in the East End (TLSG and BRP well represented tonight), the street print and canvas fetish they call urban art arrived in the plush west end auction rooms of Bonhams tonight .

Standing room only as Banksy stole the show, with new records for signed and unsigned screenprints, and a high score of £190,000 plus about £50,350 in premium and taxes was reached for the multiple Laugh Now monkeys on painted board. Other Banksy highlights included £82,000 for the pink punk canvas, rather a lot for a picture which looks like it might belong in your daughter’s bedroom and the jaw dropping £80,000, that’s over £100k with add ons, for the signed editioned print, read it again..editioned, Kate Moss (30/50) which undoubtedly brought a smile to one seller’s face.

Note all prices here are hammer prices, add a further 26-28% for buyers premium, VAT and artists fees, which raises the interesting question of how will Banksy get his since you have to provide name and address to collect!

Christ With Shopping Bags (13/82) topped the prices for other signed prints at £17,000 whilst signed HMV (19/150) and Golf Sale (27/750) both realised £11,000 and signed I Fought The Law brought in £10,000. The last three make the £11,000 paid for an un-signed Bomb Middle England (288/500) look like in-explicable lunacy. The only rat at the show other than me, an un-signed Gansta Rat (94/350) went for £6,500.


Nick Walker’s burgeoning recognition, his soaring talent showcased superbly in LA at the moment was rewarded by a Moona Lisa canvas stretching to a cheeky £45,000. The beautiful London Morning After AP 12/12 with its lush blue sky went for £4,500 and probably drew the largest number of frantically waved paddles.

Two very dark but classy Guy Denning oil on canvases priced erratically with the 50x70 Fear and Loss knocking down for £8,000 compared to the comparative bargain of £2,000 for the 50x50 We Saw This.

Antony Micallef flippers failed to catch fire with the Peacekeeper Uzi loving quartet ranging from £1,700 to £2,200. That’ll teach ya.

Adam Neate’s The Apprentice went for a tasty £36,000 making the smaller Neates on cardboard look a comparative steal at between £5,500 and £8,500.

Catalogues sold out so expect those to flip on eBay at a ridiculous premium any minute now.

The auction had more buzz than a hive on acid and undoubtedly suggests that apparently faltering prices are due to kick on again. If that’s what you want. Frankly the mood did border on the insane, though the buyer of the top priced piece has been popping up at all the street art openings for some time so wasn't bidding in ignorance. Given the awesome/in-explicable prices achieved for the somewhat patchy to mediocre selection auctioned tonight I would be surprised if cashing in on the street art bubble isn’t attempted again fairly soon.

Bonhams biggun

After lunch, to Bonhams in the charabanc to view some arty items previewing for the so-called first ever Urban Art auction. No Sol or San Mig. so had to endure the daubings sober.

The star piece imo is the ultra pink Sid/spikey punk canvas by Banksy. Most spectacular is the multiple Laugh Now from that bar in Brighton, shame more care wasn't taken in removing it. The Guy Dennings pair look gorgeous.

It is worth popping along to the preview given the number of works you may not have seen in the flesh before.

Bonhams have used the same lighting as BRP at their recent show which makes the dullest screen print look like it has had the lightbox treatment.

I've been told that bloggies like a good moan, so: it's hard to shake off the impression that there are too many large edition prints, some (D*Face Lenticular, called "Dizzie Rascals" by Bonhams but I don't recall it having that name on release) only released 2 months ago. Also it's a bit Keith Haring heavy. Quite why the seller needs to include an "Authorised Graffiti Area" sticker with Happy Chopper defeats me, Gareth Williams, Bonham's annointed Senior Urban Art specialist says it "came with the print at the show", well blow me, at most shows one can rely on necking a bit of bubbly, so why not a free bottle of champers with all the other items. And the catalogue is a bit pricey, dammit.

Provenance on some items must be a bit iffy. Asking the staff about the Paris CD, they reckoned anyone cloning Banksy would be doing it for more expensive items. I reckon anyone of that bent with half a brain went out and bought a few legit Paris CDs that week (to obtain receipts) and has been churning CDs out since, cos there is no possible provenance on that (can "Banksy's people" distinguish a CD burner/photocopier copy from the original?).

The Meaning of Graffoto According To Me. . .

This site/blog is called GRAF FOTO (but all joined up for slickness) I thought it was time to add some more plain and simple FOTOS.......GRAF has pretty much consumed my life for almost 2 years now, and whilst I will always love it for how much it has re-opened my eyes to imagery again...I really do need to take pics of other stuff!

I always endeavour to use my OWN pictures as posted mainly on the Flickr website www.flickr.com/photos/howaboutno but wherever I use others, I always try to check it's o.k with them, and will always offer readers (who am I kidding....readers!?!) a link to other people's work. Everything here in this post (and 95% of others) however, is 100% mine.

Crapski central! :o)

Have always been more into candid shots of street life anyway, so its not all that far removed at the end of the day, but walls hold their pose for a little bit longer. Just out of practice of taking people.

Two brilliant print releases today, both of which I want, neither of which my pockets has money to cover :o(

The amazingly short lived street piece by D*Face:

This got painted over pretty much the day after it went up, as the ad agency next door represented some of the people dissed on it. Spineless really, not like they got up and did it themselves!

Anyway, it's been turned into a print called "What Wars are For". . . and it seems like nowadays wars exist as good fodder for street artists with a touch of writers block. To be honest it is getting a bit old hat, but I guess its pretty much been the case anyway, and some great images do crop up now and again that stick out from the dross . . . this is definitely one of them!

An edition of 75, priced at £150 each, and quite marvelously they are only available if collected in person at the StolenSpace group opening show tonight, hopefully meaning only true fans (or die hard scalpers) should get their mitts on it. In fact, who am I kidding. Expect at least 30% of these puppies on Ebay in the next few days at silly mark up's!

http://www.stolenspace.co.uk/

And then a complete surprise to me, Eine has obviously been busy in the studio as well as on walls as of late, a completely new letter style from him, made into two lush new prints. Whilst you may look on screen and think "hmmmpffh, what a load of pants" Eine's screen prints are a the nicest hand finished piece of gloriousness I have witnessed. Truly have to be seen to be believed.

Just not sure about the dodgy title!

Elton - Black and White, x 150 of each colour, all signed and numbered by the artist. £150 each.

http://www.picturesonwalls.com/

And it will be the best £150 you can ever spend on a screen print, trust me!