MAIL ORDER MONSTERS
At long last the Mail Order Monsters show finally hit London. After internet stalking and freaking out over the show for a looong time, i was super excited about it...but did it live up to my high expectations after all that? one word... YEAH!
First up the space was amazing, i had no idea there was such amazing gallery space to be found in central Old St, and this place was like the Tardis...so big and so nicely touched up with slime green floors.
So the art...I loved the Dennis Tyfus HUGE canvas...i personally have never seen any canvases as big as the one shown here...it was rested on the floor, on one side of the room, and attatched to the ceiling at an angle, on the opposite side of the room - and madly intense and intricate...i could have spent hours looking at it....
Of course I loved the Ben jones (paper rad) large sculpture, Mat Brinkmans monster reproductions, Misaki Kawais large canvases and of course, for me the highlight of seeing Taylor Mckimes large canvases in the painted flesh...so much colour and detail...super intense and super awesome.
I was narked that the zines on show were for artists only as i wanted one, but i was pysched to have witnessed the show first hand, and that it was in London.
DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS
Union gallery was a new space I hadn’t yet checked out intentionally, although I had been passed it loads of times. The gallery is under a train line, but inside the gallery, the show i had come for - THE DESTRUCTION OF ATLANTIS was hidden away round a bend that you had to find, and force your way through some corregated iron gates. Inside was a V1 sandwich, which for me, my favourite was the Steve Powers piece and the aftermath of a football riot with broken glass, café tables and flags (reminded me of Samuel Francois)…but I was surprised to be disappointed by the Todd James piece (seemed like a left over from Lazarides) and the Huskmitnavn piece …. I was surprised as I love these two!
Outside of the V1 curated room was a mirrored maze which was cool, because you soon realise that the mirror in front of you is angled so that the image you see in front of you isn't the image of you from the front, but by the way the maze of mirrors are angled, the mirror in front of you shows your back....so when your walking forwards in the maze, you walking towards an image of you walking away...does that make sense??
EYE AT B STORE
When Frieze hits town, its often as much about the parties as it is the art...but thankfully there was an event that hit both awesome party levels and awesome art levels....B STORE was the location on Saville Row, Paperback (Go Kris!) magazine co-running the night, Fergadelic spinning insanely good cosmic vinyl and EYE YAMATAKA! HOLY SHIT!!!! YES! thats right! EYE from the BOREDOMS first London show! SOOOOOO GOOD....you guys should 1000000% go check it out, but its just a shame that there wasnt more work.
PS Pick up Paperback 2 when it drops!
JOYFUL BEWILDERMENT
So theres a new crew in town...rooting and tooting and putting up awesome shows...that posse be Joyful Bewilderment and their first (of hopefully many!) shows is now on at Rough Trade....a wall of amazingness...go and see it!!! SO GOOD!!! stefan marx, marcus oakley, merijin hos, thomas petherick and more...
...woah! Chrisse abbot and valerie phillips...both super rad...
BEAUTIFUL LOSERS at the BFI
Alledged gallery is one of my biggest influences. In my growing years I was addicted to what was going on in NY, and that is arguably down to Aaron Rose and Alledged gallery. So I was super excited for this film...and it lives up to the expectations I had.
If you have either book ('Young sleek and full of hell' or 'Beautiful losers')then you’ve probably know / seen 75% of this, but it was a great watch, and a surprisingly well madefilm – nicely edited, shot and soundtracked, which was at times very funny and very inspiring...although as a self confessed Alledged nerd it offered nothing eye opening or new.
Steve Powers & Mike Mills came across very well, whereas Harmony Korine and Chris Johanson add weight to the argument that the more fucked up you are / have been, the more interesting the artist.
I kinda ruined the experience by taking full advantage of being able to drink beer in the cinema, so I ended up with the last half an hour, switching between watching the film, and trying to concentrate on not pissing myself.
I partly wish I was a kid in 5 years time, flicking through tv late at night and catching this and being exposed to its history and rosta of artists for the first time…
Everyone who is looking at this blog needs to see this film, and to everyone that thinks Lazarides or Banksy or some street art shit is important / historic or forward thinking should see this...this is a scene / group of historic artists where content and quality was/is paramount and hype was never the priority. And these dudes will be around long after the colour fades on another fad screenprint
LUCKY DRAGONS, BARR & UPSET THE RHYTHM
After the screening of Beautiful Losers there was a party in Cordy house for it, but we had heard from a great source that the aaron rose and Brendan fowler camp weren’t happy with the party (or some rumour), so they were going to have it unofficially at the Luminare in Kilburn, as BARR was playing for Upset the Rhythm, with Lucky Dragons….so Barr and Lucky Dragons at Upset the Rhythm? IM THERE
Lucky Dragons were AMAZING live...truly unbelievable...words cannot express how much i loved them...hypnotic...pyschadelic...sweet...experimental...primal...communion...religious...touching... serious, if you get a chance to see these two legends live - FUCKING BE THERE!!!
Lucky Dragons are two sweet musicians who, like Lightning Bolt, set their musical camp in the middle of the crowd and then unleash fucking magical jams, that actually hypnotise and join the audience in a communal trance...and their secret weapons are homemade weapons, one being an instrument where one person holds a wire (leading to an noise making box) and then when people touch that person it makes diffrent noises, so the audience is encouraged to touch / stroke this person, and then create a giant ring of hands to create a crazy noise...so good. Also they have another instrument which changes frequency when people put mineral rocks on it....basically like the most opposite to a death metal gig that is possible!
***WARNING!!! EXTREME HIPPY SHIT CONTAINED WITHIN***
Lucky Dragons were playing with BARR and some others for Upset the Rhythm, which is an AMAZING London organisation that puts on fantastic musical events in London, so check their link in the blog rolecall to the right...they only do great stuff so they really should on top of your list if you wanna check out exciting and innovative music in London...support good shit, support Upset the Rhythm!
No comments:
Post a Comment