The Art of Democracy - 5th March to 15th April

New show in The Bristol Gallery, starring some of my favourite street artists - FLX, Jef Row (in his D*Frost incarnation, with Andy Stott) and Inkie, among others

Opening night: Friday 5th March, from 7pm
Show: 6th March to 15th April, Mon to Fri, 10-6, Sat & Sun 10-5

Bristol Gallery, Unit 2, Building 8, Millenium Promenade, Harbourside, BS1 5TY
http://www.thebristolgallery.co.uk/

(If, like me, you had no idea where that is, there's a map here)

Random news and stuff

It's the last chance to see the Andy Council show at the Weapon of Choice gallery before it comes down on Sunday

Weapon of Choice, 14 St Michael's Hill, Bristol, BS2 8TD
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=251327759347&ref=ts

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Exit through the gift shop, the Banksy film is out on 5th March, and will be on at the Watershed then, according to Cheba, the source of all knowledge .

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3dom has got some great prints for sale, only 22 available, £40 each - check'em out here: http://3dom22.blogspot.com/2010/02/22.html

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MKWF has put this great collection of Bristol handstyles up on his blog. It's very simple, very lovely, shows the huge diversity of talent and variety in the city, I love it. Have a look here, and then spend some time on his blog, it's a nice one.

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The Sickboy Show is still on at the Friend and Co gallery, until 27th February

Friend and Co, 24 Park Row, Bristol, BS1 5LJ

Bye to Bris for a bit

I'm off to Madrid, so be prepared for a big pile of "Not Bristol - Madrid" pics in the near future... and any hints of where to find graff over there, let me know!

Anyway, don't forget the shows this week:

Friday 5th - 27th February - Sickboy presents Logopop Bristol
Friend & Co gallery, 24 Park Row, information here

Saturday 6th February - Cheo night of pictures, live painting and noise
Golden Guinea, Guinea Street, information here

Sickboy presents Logopop Bristol

holga sickboy, originally uploaded by knautia.

Break out your yellow and red paint and all your secret temples! Sickboy's back in town!

He's having a show at the Friend & Co Gallery (in their new venue, *not* the little small Glos Road one) starting Friday and lasting til the end of the month

You can see more of Sickboy's fabulous work here - and more about the show here. God, I love Sickboy's stuff, he's one of the reasons I got into graff in the first place, him and Jef Row. I miss his stuff being around Bristol, it made me grin and feel a bit happier to see his temples, even on the dullest days. Anyway, my pics of his stuff here

Sickboy presents Logopop Bristol
Private view: February 5th, 7-10pm
Show: 6th - 27th 2010, Tues - Sat 10am - 6pm

Friend & Co Gallery, 24 Park Row, Bristol, BS1 5LJ
http://friend-and-co.com/

Soker show 30th January

soker, originally uploaded by knautia.

OK, all I know about this one is that the amazing Soker, the absolute king of Wildstyle, is having a show tomorrow at the Golden Lion Pub on the Gloucester Road. No idea what time it starts (guessing maybe 7? 8?) assuming some kind of music and painting, and I *think* it's on for 4 weeks.

But everyone should go, just in case, because Soker is incredible, I love the way he just rocks up and makes the most amazing lettering, beautiful style. My pics of his stuff here

45rpm Fanzine

Free Fanzine, originally uploaded by 45rpm WHAT.

This photo is from 45rpm, not taken by me. Under it, he says

"Just got around to making a fanzine of my trip to New York New York. Loads of graffiti photos from Earsnot, Nekst, ATG, Ja one etc etc.
You can view it online and download it for free in the link below, over 100 full colour photos..."

http://issuu.com/45rpmwhat/docs/new_york_grime

And you do really need to look at it, it's amazing

Cheo Show 6th February

new show.....i love satuayz!, originally uploaded by CHEO_BRISTOL.

At the Golden Guinea, Redcliffe - with live music and live painting

Saturday 6th February 2010, 4pm - 2am

19 Guinea Street, Bristol, BS1 6SX

Jef Row - D*Frost, Triple S Gallery, 15th - 24th January

jef row monkey, zenit-style, originally uploaded by knautia.

I absolutely love Jef Row

These are old pieces, but from Friday there's loads of his new work at the Triple S Gallery on North Street in Bedminster

Pinched from their press release:

http://www.facebook.com/#/event.php?eid=245332241543&ref=nf

Following on from its first successful exhibition in December ‘09,
Southville’s new gallery, Triple S, will be hosting D*VOLVE, by Bristol collaboration D*FROST, running Saturday 16th January to Sunday 24th January.

**Opening night 15th January 7-9pm. All welcome. Music provided by
Barry Guffy and friends from Space Invader radio.com**

After a 10 year abscence from the South Bristol art scene, D*FROST
returns. Bringing back together Jef Row and Andrew Stott in a show
celebrating old and new work with new perspectives on techniques and mediums.

D*VOLVE includes the first artwork they made in 1997 for the exhibition 'Sole' at Eat the Beat record shop, original fridge doors painted between 2000 and the present day as well as new large scale collaborative work. Their social/political commentary on consumerism and waste often poses questions and provokes thought. As the pair say, "we are compelled to paint, as artists we feel we are beholden to make commentary on what's happening around us ... by whatever means"

http://www.triplesss.me/
200 North Street, Bedminster

Everyone should go, this will be a very good one

Steal from Work - Street Art Dealer

Do not use, originally uploaded by knautia.

I've been hanging out taking photos of the space for Steal From Work's latest project - here's what their Press Release says about it:

STREET ART DEALER
Before we take a well deserved break for the summer we've hooked up with C6, originators of the Street Art Dealer project, to stage a series of installations, interventions, events and urban games that combine art with QR Code technology (2D barcodes that encode information like hidden weblinks) to take art out of the gallery and on to the streets and bring a new interactive dynamic to public art.

Tomoko Takahashi - Turner Prize nominee, known for sprawling installations examining chaos and producing her first new work for quite a while.

James Powderly - From Graffiti Research Lab who has been pioneering fusing open source technology with graffiti all across the world.

Zeus - who has been pushing traditional graffiti since the mid 80s, and recently hit the headlines when he produced a street art monopoly board.

BEAM - a huge collaborative installation piece by local artists Joseph Watts and Haywood Slucutt simulating a warped architectural explosion meets anamorphosis.

Sebastian Lowsley-Williams - who here will attempt to modify the city's more hidden walls with paintings opposing more usual street art...

There's an installation in an old shop, a interactive urban game and several installations hidden amongst the city's public spaces, plus a free limited edition print. All of which need you to participate using your mobile camera phone and QR Code technology (don't worry it's dead easy).

We will be based in an former shop in the centre of Broadmead (Bristol's old shopping heart) which is where information to start hunting for the hidden pieces & play the games will be.

Opening night Thursday 9th July 6-9.30pm,
show runs 10th-31st July, Thur-Sat 12-7pm & Sun 12-4pm

74-76 Horsefair (formerly Stationary World), Broadmead, Bristol, BS1 3JS

More information here and my photos of the space here

Glostonbury - 26th - 28th June

I love the Glostonbury Festival at the Golden Lion pub

Last year it was barbeques, skating, live painting and other excitements all weekend - this year it should be more of the same on Saturday and Sunday, with live music Friday - Sunday nights

Golden Lion, 244 Gloucester Road, Bristol, BS1 8NZ

Pigeons

Pigeons, originally uploaded by knautia.

heart

heart, originally uploaded by knautia.

Copyright

Copyright, originally uploaded by knautia.

Does anyone not know the Banksy show opens tomorrow?

At Bristol Museum

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/homepage/Video-Inside-Banksy-s-Bristol/article-1072715-detail/article.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/bristol/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_8096000/8096891.stm

Boyd Hill at Upfest

Boyd Hill, originally uploaded by knautia.

And Acer below - both pieces unfinished. For more on Upfest, see a few posts down

Upfest

So, Upfest. I didn't have high hopes really, but I wasn't expecting it to be that strange.

For a start, having an event held in a car park is a bit random - not enough places to sit etc, not really big enough to move round. £4 to get out there as well, and then once out, there was a feeling of sterility to it. I couldn't put my finger on it, but then I realised. Usually when people paint together, they discuss what they're doing, and connect it somehow. So the fences at the Bristol Festival were painted by a huge number of people, but there was a 'flow' to them, even if the styles etc were different. Or if people just come and paint on a wall that's already painted, there's usually something done to connect the piece to what's there. But here it was just pieces next to each other, with pretty much no connections, and no attempt to join them together. Some of the writers I spoke to told me about how the people they were painting next to just weren't interested in that aspect - so it makes me wonder how much of the 'flow' is cultural to Bristol. I know in Barcelona there's a huge collaboration culture, and the stuff I've seen round Brick Lane, Southwark and Hackney - but maybe that's the exception? I can't imagine it is, so maybe it's something to do with the intention of the Fest? Something about the focus on having as many people there as possible, not on making it the best graff it could be?

It felt like was that it was a bit of a zoo of graff writers. People coming up and staring, getting close with no interaction with the writers - it felt a hundred miles from the atmosphere painting 'in the wild'. Everything I like about hanging out with graffiti artists felt missing - the cameraderie (in general - the groups chatting around Soker and Acer's pieces, f'rinstance, felt much more normal), the mellowness and the feeling of brotherhood. Sometimes I feel so out of place being a girl-but-not-girlfriend hanging around, because there's such a feeling of family amongst the blokes - but here I just felt weird.

It felt different in different sites though. The garage on North Street was just frantic, hundreds of stencillers inside, and no one local. By the time I got to the pub on Greenway Bush Lane I was doubting how I feel about graff - maybe I've just seen too much in these last 12 months? But then seeing the wall there, especially Jody and the lovely bloke whose name I didn't catch*, it all made sense again. It was like a finger down my spine - seeing how amazing graff can be again - and talking to them, especially about how they'd talked beforehand about what they were doing and how it would fit, reaffirmed the notion that the best graff relates to what's around it. It doesn't have to be slavish, it just has to take notice. Some really lovely pieces - will definitely go back and grab some shots when it's done.

It was fun to see so many people, and hang out and chat - and there were some nice pieces. It's just it didn't work as well as it could have done, and as an event felt soul-less. Someone told me that's the difference between events organised by writers and those that aren't.

* Edit: it was Boyd Hill, and I loved his stuff. Thanks Jody!

Weapon of Choice Gallery - next show opens 13th June

June 13th Group show, originally uploaded by cheba.

The next show at the Weapon of Choice Gallery opens on Saturday 13th June 5-10pm. Free entry
Exhibition runs until the 5th July 2009

14 St Michael’s Hill Bristol BS2 8DT
http://www.weaponofchoicegallery.co.uk

Featuring a lot of great talent - click on the flyer to go through to Cheba's flickr and see more details

Lokey, Nikill and some dubstep at Weapon of Choice!

woc-june-09-fly-no-bleed, originally uploaded by cheba.

Next WoC at Mr Wolf's 9th June, with added braking from Smurf! Click the flyer to get to the lovely Cheba's page and see more details

K148 - and lots of art tomorrow!

Some of you might know K148, who in my opinion is by far the best photographer of street art in Bristol (and pretty much anywhere else), and is also an occasional member of TCF.

Well, she's got a few photos in the next show in the gallery at Photographique, which opens tomorrow - really lovely black and white film pictures of Bristol graffiti writers.

The rest of the show is b&w portraits of members of the Invisible Circus.

The opening is from 7pm tomorrow, no idea how it's on for, but I'd guess at least a week

Photographique, 31 Baldwin Street, Bristol, BS1 1RG
Opening night - Thursday 28th May, 7pm - 9(?)
Monday - Friday 10-6, Saturday 11-5

I know, I'm rubbish, I'll find out more and stick it up tomorrow!

My plan for tomorrow - Ponk & Amour show at Emporium (6-8pm Emporium, Stokes Croft - still not seen it, looks great through the window though), K148 and then the Twinkle & Tinsel opening at the Long Arm Gallery - great art and great people - perfect!

Upfest, again - 6th and 7th June

I thought it was a shame that last year's Upfest decided not to feature a whole host of Bristol writers, especially those who lived in the neighbourhood - and I think they miss a trick by not linking to the Deaner, given that it's a grand total of 7 minutes away from the Tobacco Factory, where it's held... But I'll chalk that up to being the 1st time round, and give it the benefit of the doubt

Upfest, 6th and 7th June 09
Assuming it's at the Tobacco Factory again
More information here - http://www.upfest.co.uk/