Apologies for the lack of posts recently, lots going on here but lots of really good stuff coming very soon. In the meantime, here’s a few recent iPhone snaps, my camera of choice lately. If you’re an Instagram user, you can follow me at ‘freakshow’.
Just been sent the link to this nice little video of the work we did out in The Gambia as part of the Wide Open Walls project. It unfortunately doesn’t cover all the work out there, and they spelled my name wrong, but it’s a lovely little video non-the-less.
Posted in Art, Events, Nature, Stencils
Tagged Broken Crow, bushdwellers, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, Mysterious Al, The Gambia, Wide Open Walls, Xenz
So I’m finally back from The Gambia after ‘curating’ the first every Wide Open Walls arts project. It was a tough few weeks, with many highs, plenty lows but the most important thing, lots and lots of incredible art.
I’m not sure where to begin with this one really, a million miles from anything I’ve been involved in before I’m not really sure what I expected. I guess I’ll start with the good stuff, the positives, because there was plenty of them. First of all, the team I got together was incredible, and I shall blow my own trumpet and sing their praises no end. It was a very tough job for everyone in many ways. The environment was challenging, the heat was relentless, humidity was high and sweat was never in short supply. Things were unpredictable out there, you never really knew what you was going to paint from one moment to the next and as soon as you’d finish one thing, you were guaranteed to have at least one villager leading you somewhere new to paint their compound wall or mud hut. It was difficult trying to keep everyone happy as there was so much wall space, all really spread out over quite a large area, we could only do so much, especially in such intense heat. But, with all that said, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, Matt Watkins, Mysterious Al, the Broken Crow boys and resident photographer Ian Cox handled everything that was thrown at them with such inspiring patience and professionalism that regardless of the problems we encountered, and there were quite a few, we were all able to stick together, help each other out and keep going.
The villagers we met and hung out with on a daily basis were also incredible. Friendly, kind and always ready to help in any way they could, even if it was just holding stencils or shaking paint cans. Not only did they make us all feel so welcome, they were genuinely excited and thankful for what we were trying to achieve.
It was an amazing thing to be a part of and an experience that I’ll never forget. I met some incredible people, made some fantastic friends, saw the most beautiful wildlife and worked out of my comfort zone. I painted pictures on trees, stood amidst a Baboon riot, saw snails as big as my fist and ate every night under the gaze of a barn owl who tried to shit on me.
Here are a few of my photos from the trip. I strongly suggest you head over to the Wide Open Walls Blog and the Flickr page for more amazing shots of what we did out there.
Posted in Art, Events, Graffiti, Nature, Painting, Photography, Urban art
Tagged Africa, Broken Crow, bushdwellers, Ian Cox, Kubuneh, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, Makasutu Culture Forest, Mysterious Al, The Gambia, Wallkandy, Wide Open Walls, Xenz
Busy busy yet again and as a result my bloggage hasn’t been getting the care and attention it needs, poor bloggage. Still got a load of photos I need to sort out and upload to my flickr, more video footage I need to put together and if you haven’t noticed already, my website has been given a total redesign thanks to rndm.net which STILL needs more content and general ‘stuff’ doing. I’m hoping to start selling some very limited quality prints of some of my photography as well as some very affordable doodles, but all in good time. For something else is happening right now that is priority number 1, Wide Open Walls.
If you’ve been following the blog or my Twitter for some time you’ll know about this already but if you don’t (and you should), in a weeks time I’m flying out to The Gambia to transform the village of Kubuneh with spray paint in the hope of encouraging tourism to help with the poverty problems that the people over their struggle with on a daily basis. I’ve been curating the project alongside organiser Lawrence Williams of the Makasutu Culture forest and managed to twist the arm of 7 other artists who are also on board and ready to paint over a 2 week period.
The artists are Eine, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, Xenx, Mysterious Al and Broken Crow, need I say more? For more info and regular updates on the progress of the project PLEASE subscribe to the W.O.W blog and Facebook page and help spread the word about this incredible project. We really need everyones help on getting behind this so please tell your friends, spread the word and help the W.O.W project really get out there.
I’ll be updating this blog AND the W.O.W blog as often as I can whilst we’re out there to keep you all updated on how it’s going and include you as much as we can on the journey.
Posted in Art, Events, Nature, Painting, Photography, Stencils, Urban art
Tagged Ballabu Conservation Project, Broken Crow, Eine, Gambia, Ian Cox, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, Makasutu Culture Forest, Mysterious Al, W.O.W, Wallkandy, Wide Open Walls, Xenz
…I’m sick and stuck on the sofa? I hit eBay. 2 purchases this week include a badgers skull and this awesome piece of tat. Woodland themed, cushioned dinner tray. The perfect accessory for any MacBook Pro.
Well, here we are, 3rd of Jan 2010 and not a hover-board in site. And with the end of the Mayan calendar falling on 21st Dec 2012 we’ve got just under 3 years to get our shit together before the end of the world…apparently. Apologies yet again for the lack of updates to the blog, I’ve spend most of December driving up the coast of Australia which was pretty awesome. Then of course we all had to celebrate the birth of that Jesus bloke in the only way most of us know how, getting drunk, eating way too much and losing at Trivial Pursuit.
So here is the first post of the year, and what a year t’will be. Febuary the 25th sees the opening of my first London solo show ‘The Colour Out Of Space’, a collection of over 20 new paintings and a couple of new prints. This will be followed by a barrage of brand new street work both here and abroad including NYC where I’ll be taking part in 2 large projects, one of which will see myself and the mighty C215 take over the Brooklynite Gallery to put on what promises to be an awesome collaborative show. I’ve also been asked to curate a HUGE project in Gambia where I’ve chosen 7 of todays best contemporary artists to turn an entire village into what will undoubtedly be an amazing site. Not to give too much away right now but if you like the work of people like Logan Hicks, C215, Will Barras and Lucy McLauchlan, I think you need to start getting excited about this now.
The next 2 months are gonna be the toughest for me so far but I’ll try my best to keep this place updated with randomness and sneak peeks of how the work for the show is coming on so drop in from time to time. For now, here’s a few snaps from down under.
Hope you all have a great year!
My new favorite way to travel.
This guy has moved into the fox den that’s beside my studio. All I know about him so far is that he’s a big fan of peanuts and his crap is almost as big as my cat.
