Ronzo - Crackney's Finest

So I decided not to go to Stolen Space's preview on Thursday of Ronzo's opening as last time I tried to go there on an opening it was a total disaster.  The line wrapped around the building and there was no hope of getting in (yes...yes, even for a VIP like myself).

So this Saturday I took a stroll around the block and went to check out the gallery.  I nice surprise awaited as Ronzo was in the gallery finishing up some work and moving some pieces around.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Ronzo he's from Munich but has lived for a decade in Hackney (hence...Crackney) and was made famous by his Credit Crunch moster which sits over the city.

He's quite active in the area and there are plenty of paste-ups if you know where to look.

Ronzo paste ups off of Brick lane

My Favorite paste up - usually done with a partner image which claims 'vandalism is on the rise'

This is his first solo show since 2008 which was also shown by his managing gallery Stolen Space.  The gallery describes the exhibition in the following way:

Ronzo’s second solo exhibition features a new series of paintings, collages, prints and sculptures showing the life in the ‘Ronzo Borough of Crackney’. It is a dark but funny place inspired by the experience of living in London’s East End borough of Hackney. Ronzo’s vision of Crackney is crawling with surreal characters including crack smoking squirrels an a pizza delivering giant cock roach. Some of the work show the place as a whole, other offer a close up view inside a tower block. The parallel world created here may at times seem a little absurd but many parallels can be drawn to our reality. And hopefully the viewer will discover that things not always are what they seem to be.

It was great meeting Ronzo (tall bloke, can see how he gets to the top of these walls with the paste-ups!) and really enjoyed the pieces there.  Keep up the good work!

Ronzo rearranging his exhibition on Sat morning

The second cockroach

Cockroach number 1, riding a pizza delivery bicycle and spinning on a platform

The first of many dioramas in the exhibition.  Each were quite detailed and reflective of (an imagined) East London

These were the most different images in the exhibition, didn't quite seem to fit in with the rest

Moving a dead cockroach was never this hard

An Orchestra of Strings

I got to this exhibition a bit later than I intended as it opened in London almost two weeks ago.  I was initially quite excited to go to the gallery because they were featuring work from one of my favorite artists Otto Schade.

The gallery is tucked away in the back of the St. Pancras Parish church, just across the street from Euston station.  It takes a bit to find it, but the entrance is the back door of the church.

If you do journey to the gallery you won't be disappointed.  Featuring works by many contemporary artists the works are splayed throughout the Crypt both embracing the venue and emboldening it with the works vicious commentary on life, death and art.

Curator Teresa Mills explains:  

Our fear of love and loss is a very human condition. These artists present their work in a particular way around this theme. I hope this exhibition presents a serious side, a positive side but also a slightly humorous side to a necessary emotion to deal with the events of life.

I was most struck by both Otto's pieces and Jonathan Waller.  I hadn't come across Waller's work before but it intrigued me the way art should.  I walked by it and enjoyed it at first glance, and then needed to get a closer look and discovered things about the piece (the sea shells, the writing in the teeth) that had previously escaped me.

Apparently Waller is a senior lecturer at Coventry University and according to his bio:

Jonathan Waller is an artist living and working in London. He has exhibited widely, and has work in a number of important public and private collections. Both his parents and elder brothers served in the Royal Navy and his grandfather was a ship's doctor. His great-great grandfather was a wayward Victorian painter who earner a living as a portraitist and depicter of nautical genre scenes. 

In addition to Waller, the other artist that I was quite impressed with was Valentina Gomez.

Her installation in one of the Crypt rooms was haunting and powerful.  Her repeated pastups of flies (at least i think they were flies) on the walls only added to the closed in feel to the space.  With the empty shoes connected to a dress that looked like it had just been worn and left in a hurry, the entire installation left one quite moved by the precense of the art.  If i were more articulate i could probably describe it better!

Anyway, a great exhibition, always interesting seeing art in a crypt!

Anne Lydiat's piece - Return Flight.  Made on blank jigsaw puzzle pieces pen and ink

Anwyl Cooper-Willis' piece - The Legend of Alice Downham

A view looking down the hall of the crypt with one of Waller's pieces in the foreground.

Jonathan Waller - Lietenant Hog's-flesh.  Made of wood, wax and found objects.

Waller - Vice Admiral of the narrow Sea

The teeth say 'prologue'

This was an interesting piece that's hard to capture on (still) camera.  It's by Kathy Taylor and titles - Will you Still Love Me?  The toothbrushes are attached to strings which spin on a motor so the effect of the brushes clinking on the glass are what makes this piece powerful.

Otto Schade - this guy is just brilliant, this was a canvas piece

Otto Schade - Last kiss - Ink on paper.  Again, fantastic.

Valentina Gomez - Don't Air Your Dirty Laundry in Public

Gomez

ROA on Hanbury

this great video shows Roa painting on Hanbury street, just across the street from where i live.

Roa paints big bird

Invader

One of the most well known, and well seen street artists in the world, Invader's fame went through the roof with his role in Banksy's film, Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Undoubtedly you may have seen one of his many pieces in your city, either high on a wall (normally near a street sign) or on the ground you walk on (normally around gutters).  His homage to the classic Space Invaders game is distinct.

In London alone there are more than 100 of his pieces scattered around the city.  He came to London in 1999 and blitzed through it, leaving a majority of his works in and around Shoreditch/Hoxton but leaving plenty to be discovered walking through the heart of the city.

With the rise in awareness of street art, and specifically Invaders roll in it, you can see his pieces (all made from Rubik's cubes) popping up in art auctions around the world.  Here are just a few in my neighborhood.

This is literally around the corner on Brick Line, across from 93 Feet East

More in the center of the city

Ok, this isn't actually London (as you can tell from the crystal clear blue sky) but in San Diego, in conjunction with the Viva La Revolucion exhibition that ran over the summer

This is the biggest Invader I've seen, or heard of.  It's in the square right next to Big Chill in Shoreditch

Another in Shoreditch

A Parallax In Sight & Sound - Giles Hayter

Thursdays are great days in East London.  So many galleries, so many unexpected surprises.  On my way to go to the opening of the group show at Black Rat, I stumbled down Redchurch st and into and unexpected delight.

At the Gallery at Redchurch St, they're exhibiting a new artist - Giles Hayter.  Hayter is a contemporary artist, musician, composer, producer and part-time maths teacher who received his maths masters from Oxford.  Not the typical bio of an artist showing in East London!

What immediately struck me about the gallery as I walked by was everyone inside was wearing wireless headphones.  Intrigued, I went in. 

As Hayter explains on his website (click here):

'The Exhibition employs Silent Disco technology, whereby the music is transmitted straight to your wireless headphones. The Silent Disco experience combines the very personal sensation of listening to good headphones with the shared experience of hearing the same thing as your neighbour.

Three channels will simultaneously transmit three parallel pieces of music, each sharing melodies, rhythms and harmonies, yet the three pieces of music are entirely different in feel. The exhibition features a new poetronica collaboration with acclaimed poet Musa Okwonga.'

And I must say, it worked perfectly.  The three unique pieces of music transformed how you saw the pieces...all of which were quite dynamic and clearly influenced by the mood and rhythm of music.

What's nice about seeing these small gallery's is that the prices are reasonable.  There was nothing in there last night over £550 and most were in the £300-£400 range.  And while Black Rat put on another great show last night, it was this small gallery on Redchurch that I'll remember heading into this weekend. 

Not the best pic (I really should start taking a real camera to these things) but you can see everyone with their headphones on

A butterfly fanfare - beautiful

The Widening Horizon - My 2nd favorite piece there

Closeup of Horizon

Rhythm Breakers - My favorite piece

Close up of Rhythm Breakers

Black Rat Exhibition + Swoon

I was lucky enough to be able to take a sneak peak of the Black Rat Exhibition opening this evening.  It's their first group exhibition in some time and feature new installation work from Swoon and Matt Small (both managed by Black Rat) as well as pieces by Know Hope, Dotmaster and Armstrong.

Know Hope is someone to keep an eye on.  He's an American living in Tel Aviv and his work is extremely detailed and multilayerd.  He uses a variety of mediums in his work, and rumour has it that a solo London show isn't too far away.

It was also nice seeing some new Swoon work, the result of her recent trip to Haiti.  She also went out and put a few pasteups around Shoreditch which you'll see below.  As well as her being a great artist, she now has the honour of being in my collection.  Very excited to have one of her pieces in my flat.

A lot going on this week in Shoreditch, I missed the opening of the new group show at the Crypt Gallery last night but hope to make it there soon.  Otto Schade is not to be missed.  For more information click here.

There's a few openings tonight, Black Rat being the most prominent (and most full of free alcohol) but I'll be stopping at the Resistance Gallery first to see the new photo exhibition of Urban Explorers.  For more information about tonight's opening click here.

Know Hope.  I love how the flag is flying in the picture frame adding a new layer to the piece.

Know Hope

Swoon.  Unfortunately, this piece won't be in the show tonight as she wasn't happy with how the children look.  I'm sure they'll be something else quite good though.  I like this piece, the background colours are fantastic.

A view of Swoon's piece made from collected images of her trip to Haiti.

Swoon on the street

Swoon on the street.

Know Hope

And here is my Swoon piece.  So excited about this.  It's hard to tell on the picture but the gold leaf in the woman's outfit is beautiful.

Girl From Ranoon - Swoon

Girl From Ranoon

A saturday stroll

The amount of street art in the area I live is astounding.  It's something I often take for granted walking past to get a coffee, or paper or kebab each day but occassionally I'll take out my camera and grab a few pictures of what's within a 10 minute walk of me.

This is just a taste (and heavy on the Roa), there's a lot more and I hope to do a post on Stick boy, Invader, and Vhils  all of whose pieces I enjoy quite a bit.

This is just down the road on Brick Lane, one of many Roa pieces in the area.  Next to it is another striking piece, though I'm not sure of the artist.

Right next to the above rat roa is this crow, also on Brick Lane

One of my new favorite Britsh artist, David Walker.  He had a piece for sale recently at the Drewatts auction and this is his piece on Curtain Rd.

Walking along the canal I spotted this massive gorilla.  Not sure of the artist but impressive that it's painted on metal, brick, and glass

This is on Red Church street.  There used to be a geat Otta Schade piece here but it's been painted over.  Very excited for Schade's group show this week though.

Again, walking along the canal stumbled across this Roa which I haven't seen before.

And finally, right around the corner from me, one of the most striking pieces I've seen (and I know I'm a Roa homer).  This is on Hanbury, just off Brick Lane

And finally, another amazing Roa piece that went up in Torino over the weekend. The detail is just incredible (photo courtesy of Wooster Collective)