Graffoto Round Up of the Year - Part 1

Welcome pop pickers! A post I have meant to do for the last few years on Graffoto has been a look back at the year, be it a good or a bad one (the year, not the post). The problem in previous years was that I just always ended up leaving it too late in the holiday, my bingo wings thus being held down by my own weight in mince pies and turkey leftovers and sapped of the energy to bother. So whilst the intention this year was to start this post pre Christmas in the hope it kicks me up the arse to finish the rest closer to the end of the year, here I am a couple of days away from New Year's.... So it's more than likely that this will be a post that carries over into 2012. I'll split the year into 4 parts so as not to make the post so long. A picture heavy and word "lite" effort it's about my third post of the year and certainly the biggest on Graffoto. My favourite pictures and work that has gone up throughout the year, starting right at the top of January. . . All pictures are by HowAboutNo except where stated. Cept & Sweet Toof Nychos & Vibes Photo supplied by Mr S. Toof

Philth (indeed!) Kid Acne's Artfags (Spectre also on the decaying shop front sign) Plastic Bones Dscreet & Kid Acne AMAZING to see Zezao work up in London in his unmistakeable style Milo Tchais also getting up more than I remember in previous years. Roa In fact this whole spot got a lot of action in 2011, Mr Sperme popped up and knocked out this one. Shame there weren't many others. Ranking highly as my fave piece of the year...and it's a sticker :( Sadly Stormie Mills didn't paint any London walls that I found in 2011. Slipping in a little bit of South Coast action . . .I found a nice little spot closer to home in Hastings. Unfortunately I have only managed to go there once with a camera in hand. Must change that in 2012. Michael De Feo had a show in London and left a few flowers. A few artists hit the Grand Union Canal at Broadway Market one weekend in March, am not sure there was any event other than perhaps a meet at a local hostelry. . . Xenz Teddy Baden Dotmasters Just oodles of generic damage was often my highlight of the year...more in later posts but this was a big big fave. . .

Gold Peg did a few activist/occupy related pieces through the year (more later) This was the first and boldest, the ad company blocking the message out days later.

Tizer went to Leake Street and did this piece in amazing quick time. I think the squiddlywinkswould call this one SICK!

Gold Peg hit some of the most eye catching and clever spots throughout the year as far as I am concerned, proving as always that half, if not more of the work is all in the placement. My fave other placed spot this year was a piece by Revok, which featured on his blog Revok was later arrested in April 2011 for failing to pay damages to the victims of his previous vandalism crimes So that's it for part 1 of this round up which covered January to March (at least in the order I found them, as mentioned some of the pieces are years old) Part 2 to follow soon covering, you guessed it......April to June.

Shades Of Things To Come

feat ARYZ, BISER, BOM.K, DOES, NYCHOS, PROBS, RABODIGA, TIZER

Maverik Showroom
Redchurch St, London
25th - 29th (Sunday!) November 2009

All photos: NoLionsInEngland


When Probs23, laden with experience of putting on shows at The Dragon Bar (RIP) and a little black book filled with phone numbers of some the World’s best graff writers, not to mention the arranger of several London Meetings Of styles jams says he’s working with London graff heads favourite adopted son Tizer to put on a show, well you sit up and pay attention.


Probs – Shoreditch, London



Tizer – West London


The line-up is phenomenal and all apart from Bom.K (if memory serves) featured in this year’s London Meeting of styles.


Askym Bonsai Nash Biser Nychos Wany Aryz Does, MOS 2009, London


On the upper ground floor each of the artists has taken on an 8 by 4 panel , the standout being the violent distress of Biser’s abstract pterodactyl painted over cardboard, ink, paper and almost anything he could get to stick to the surface.


Biser – 8 by 4 panel



Biser – 8 by 4 panel detail


A set of four very deep chipboard boxes have been painted by Nychos, Does, Aryz and Biser , each producing something distinctive for their individual style yet each has used the managed to work the underlying chopped wood as if it was an un-prepped surface behind their graffiti.


Nychos, Does, Aryz and Biser


Tizer is a legend for letterforms, fills and characters so it is not a surprise that his work moves easily into the gallery. Among the canvasses, panels and sketches it is cool to find framed sketches featuring instantly recognisable Tizer characters annotated with the music that set the mood.


Tizer


Probs has been working with swirling vortices and warped intergalactic space effects in a number of wall pieces over the past year and these themes appear in several sketches and prints displayed in the show. The most stunning pair of canvasses take things in a very abstract direction and whilst the title Big Spaceora suggests more inter-planetary cosmic goodness but they could just as easily be read as sub microscopic intra-cellular life form skin fragments.


Probs – Big Spaceora


Rabodiga has one new piece in the show but seems to struggle making the canvas compositions appeal as much as her street face portraits.


Rabodiga – Queen Of Hearts


One of my pet hates is when writers do a large floor to ceiling piece on the gallery wall over a set of canvasses which each contains a small part of the piece, usually resulting is a set of meaningless accidental abstracts. Biser avoids this mess by writing his burner across a trio of canvasses, a gorgeous eruption of paint probes across a dirty drippy background, the wild lettering haemorrhages a slime of immiscible colour runs


Biser – Triptych Splats


Four favourite pieces:
Jaw dropping show-stopper is this very large canvas from Bom.K featuring snarling mutants rule a post apocalyptic (well, ok, slightly damaged) urban landscape, enormous amounts of detail in the composition and precision in the painting, many curious observers scrutinised the surface very closely seeking clues about Bom.K’s painting technique, several speculated the method is based on spray applied though airbrush.


Bom.K – Large Scale


Aryz has two spectacular canvasses, London (below) is a stunning colour shifting copper toned essay on booze and tea in an isolated self important world, which pretty much sums London up. Also check out his “Melting Portrait” on the flickr link below, another phenomenal canvas.


Aryz – London


Nychos contributes one of the large 8 by 4 panels, a deep chipboard box, sketches, a screen print and several canvasses ranging from the small (about 12 inches from memory) and ridiculously cheap canvasses featuring a rabbit character reminiscent of Studio Ghibli’s Totoro to this beautiful box headed roller wielding squid on acid paper.


Nychos – Box Head Squiddy


Like Biser, Does brings his letters off the streets and into the gallery, the meticulous detail of the lettering and the awesome fill patterns pop off the black backgrounds on a collection of five landscape canvasses.


Does


Graffoto tends not to write about group shows but this one is epic and has so many impressive pieces, two visits really weren’t enough. The art is extremely good yet a large amount of it retains something of the energy and roughness of street work. Probs and Tizer have put a load of effort into curating this show, gathering a strong collection of work and displaying the art to best effect, the attention to detail has paid off( though perhaps the piza-esque tower of print tubes in the basement is a distraction!). The show closes this Sunday, 29 Nov so there isn’t that much time left to whizz along and take in the goodness.