Olly Moss. The force is strong with this one. As Yoda might have said if he had been an art critic. For a blog.

…Read More.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Film by J.G.
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The film version of Beautiful Losers can now be watched online at babelgum. An inspiration for the burgeoning street art scene, the film version is a companion piece for the exhibition of the same name that documented many of the scenes trailblazers. Directed by Aaron Rose, and with an OG score Money Mark, Beautiful Losers features street luminaries such as Shepard Fairey, Margaret Kilgallen, Geoff McFetridge, Barry McGee, Mike Mills and Stephen Powers.

Having been lucky enough to visit the Beautiful Losers exhibition in Milan in 2006 I can safely say that Beautiful Losers is one of most dynamic, exciting and jaw-droppingly good documentations of counter culture art that I’ve ever seen.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Film, Street Art by J.G.
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UK street art and illustration are being represented in force in Leeds this Christmas.

Pure Evil (a thoroughly friendly chap who once sold me a raffle ticket) is bringing his anarchic artistic chic to creative emporium Paper Scissor Stone. The exhibition starts 9 December.

Also in Leeds’ city centre, Best Joined Up is hooking up with Bird’s Yard to produce Anti Claus on 18 December, to bring a day of live art, tasteful vinyl wrecking, hot mulled wine and ideal Christmas presents.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Street Art by J.G.
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Pictures on Walls (POW), the groundbreaking print house that has helped bring Bansky, Paul Insect, Micallef and the rest to the masses, has just launched their annual Christmas exhibition. Entitled Marks and Stencils, the show takes place at 1 Berwick Street, London. Not only have POW yet again selected a wonderful name that tips it’s hat to one of the nations favourite purveyors of fine goods (the person who comes up with the names for these shows should be headhunted by a tabloid) they have also got a line up that any retailer would be proud of, with new work by Dran, Banksy, 3D Del Naja, Micallef and many more. Sure to be popular with art lovers, Christmas shoppers and carpetbaggers in equal measure. …Read More.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Street Art, UK hip-hop by J.G.
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Unless you’ve been living under a fairly huge ninja shaped rock for the last 20 years, it would be difficult to deny the influence of one of the UK’s most seminal labels in modern music history – Ninja Tune. Started in 1990 by Coldcut, two pioneering DJs of the then emergent bleeps and bass scene, the label has since gone on to provide discerning punters with a plethora of instrumental hip-hop goodness, more leftfield acts than you can shake a stick at (with your left hand), as well as introducing us to splinter labels such as Big Dada and Mr.Scruff’s Ninja Tuna. With the UK positively running through its veins, Ninja Tune is a cornerstone of British independent music, well seasoned with some exotic foreign flavours. The roll call across the board runs from Amon Tobin to Zero dB, via Bonobo, DJ Vadim, Juice Aleem, and Roots Manuva. Wow. …Read More.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Graphic Design, Record Cover Design by J.W.
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Street portrait painter (literally) Matt Small is currently exhibiting at Black Rat Projects. Entitled That I May See the exhibition features work influenced by Small’s experiences at the Robert Shitima School, Kabwe village, Zambia, with portraits of of the young people he met hanging alongside work produced by students at the school.

Check the video for an introduction into Small’s innovative way of producing work and how he demonstrates that the brush, palette knife and pencil can more than hold their own in the street art game.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Street Art by J.G.
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Roy Keane isn’t someone (as a Leeds fan) I would be expecting to writing about on this site. Indeed as this site is all about hip-hop and associated activities it seems a bit of an odd thing to post full stop. Stay with me though.

I remember seeing this image by Murdo Macleod in the Observer Sports Monthly magazine (probably around the beginning of the millennium) and it blew me away. Macleod uses a seemingly random prop to create a dramatic, distinctive and intense photograph that in many ways captures the persona Keane, as a footballer, had cultivated. In hip-hop parlance, it’s dope to the effect of a gazzilion and puts a marker down for what photographic portraiture should be about.

Anyone interested in photography should check out Macleod’s new exhibition, Gnuis, and the accompanying book.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Photography by J.G.
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The work of UK street-artist Cept always brings a smile to the face. Often appropriating familiar images of superheros and adopting a pop-art style, his piece of street work that samples the lyrics to Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart has just been released as a print entitled Again and Again (OG image right, print left). OMG as one of Litchenstein’s characters would undoubtedly have exclaimed.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Street Art by J.G.
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Polish artist M-City’s work is currently being shown at the Carmichael Gallery. Wielding a spray can, scalpel and cardboard, M-City’s work is, like Logan Hicks’ output, about the method; the images are built up from complex, overlayed stencils that reveal images built within images. For his visuals think Sim City meets Lego meets a frustrated town planner with a spraycan. Recurring themes include ballooning tower-blocks and industrial cities painted on to walls and exude an energy fit for an urban space. 

Running between July 10 – August 7, 2010, the show includes new canvases, a site-specific gallery installation and outdoor mural project. 

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Street Art by J.G.
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Caught looks like a sumptiuous slice of contemporary illustration, graff and audio visual goodness and promises to be something special for the Leeds art scene.

Stemming from the BestJoinedUp nights, Caught brings together the likes of Will Barras, The Pern, Replete, Inkie, Sri McKinnon, Drew Millward and Phlegm and will uncover some of the treasures retrived during the BestJoinedUp sessions and also unveil some brand-new-it’s-still wet work.

Caught will run from the 21st May to the 7th June. Check the site for the skinny.

Filed under: Art Galleries, Artists, Street Art by J.G.
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