Weapon of Choice - Exhibition

Really loving this guys work - Julian Kimmings (much better in the flesh).

And there's some interesting pieces up in the new exhibition at Weapon of Choice - St Michaels Hill, Bristol. Really liked Dirty30 and Nikill's work.

Banksy Bro-Ha-Ha

Preview (Friday)
Ian Brown
Sean Pertwee - actor
Mr Glastonbury - Michael Eavis, giving an autograph (?)
Peter Blake - who has a permanent piece of work in the museum.
Queues - an hour before opening (Saturday)
Press coverage
And we got to shake the hand of the Mayor of Bristol going in. Strange morning indeed.

Well as rumoured earlier and reported, said Banksy exhibition arrived on Saturday.

"Banksy vs Bristol Museum" is an amazing feat of putting an exhibition up in a couple of days, which few people appeared to know about - with so much of his work to see (new and old). And so many people are going to see it, especially as it's on for 3 months - and it's free! (apparently subsidised by the man himself).

The whole event was an interesting study in 'media', 'celebrity' and playing the game. And I fear this is an end to some of Banksy's old-school credibility by being so populist. It's definitely the end of something, something I can't put my finger on. But for me, I had a lot of fun piecing together snippets of info, using Twitter to it's full capacity (thanks Twitter buddy), and running around in my lunchtime looking for clues, especially ending up in a museum (a la Scooby Doo).

The preview was PR'd to the max - promoted by the Evening Post as 'celeb filled'. Carol Vorderman, Sean Pertwee, Justin Lee Collins, Michael Eavis, Meg Matthews, that bloke off of River Cottage. The more credible guests were Ian Brown, Peter Blake, Damien Hirst and Massive Attack, and some of the original Bristol Graffitti names - most of the guests lived locally - so a strange mix.

I love the fact it's in Bristol Museum, as I grew up a couple of streets away from it, and if you grew up in Bristol you were definitely dragged around it as a child, (although I was never a great fan of the stuffed animals, and the museum smell - especially the ugly huge fish which was next to Alfred the Gorilla and the Dodo).
And a nice touch that Banksy incorporated was the Gyspy caravan (with the eviction notice, and the Guantanamo pilot in the plane in the main hall), which are all original museum artifacts from my childhood memory.

There will be kids being dragged to this museum on a field trip, like I was (and presumeably Banksy too), but this time they will love the humour, be inspired or at least have fun, and take away some happy memories - and that in itself is quite a powerful thing.

My new favourite blog - Goths in hot weather

Goths in hot weather blog - sometimes you can love the blogosphere.

Thanks Everett True

Banksy - Summer Exhibition Location ?

This is looking like a strong contender for the Banksy Exhibition

Bristol Museum (top of Park Street) - Rumour has it that the preview is Friday 12th and it starts Saturday 13th June
(thanks to Bristolurbanart for the tip).

*update* from a sneaky pic I've just seen, it's looking like it's a retrospective.

Spotted Cow Show - Tonight

And still the graff goes on.

Hopefully get to post my UPfest pix in the next couple of days.

Still waiting on an update for the Banksy exhib - my theory is it's in Weston! Spray them donkeys up!

Why didn't I think of that - grrr

From the ever cool, CoolHuntingblog.

Designed by Don't Feed The Swedes to be shown at the up and coming Berlin Design festival.  So jealous, grrrr.

And incidentally, Bristol seems to have turned into Graffworld, with Stokes Croft being at the epicenter (artwork changing daily mainly thanks to the PRSC).  This weekend we'll see Upfest turning heads at the Tobacco Factory, Dave Whittle opening night tonight, at Friend & Co, Weapon of Choice 2nd exhibition starting next weekend, the Spotted Cow (pub) evening of graff in the garden on 11 June, and a rumoured Banksy exhibition called 'Homecoming' heading this way. 

(And not forgetting the Bearpit this Saturday).

Graham Coxon - Thekla

I saw Graham Coxon at the Electric Picnic a couple of years ago, playing one of the smaller tents, and he rocked the tent that day. He's such a shy, quiet and geeky guy, and very endearing, it takes you by surprise when he plays his punk-pop tribute guitar riffs like 'freakin out' or 'standing on my own again'.

There are some great tracks on his albums 'Happiness in Magazines' (an album title named after my life I reckon) and 'Love Travels at Illegal Speeds', so his new album 'Spinning Top', was another surprise - a full acoustic album, and a tour to promote it where he only played the album. Unfortunately we weren't told this, so I think I wasn't the only person who wasn't a little disappointed not to hear anything from his earlier albums. But as usual Graham won us over, with his guitar playing, rambling quiet banter and smiles. And after having a little chat with one of his crew, the promise of another solo tour in November where he's going to mix it up!

Do some work or take me for a walk!

My conscience has two eyes and a furry face!

This is the look I get every morning.

Today I'm excited

I sort of lost my mojo there for a bit...and I'm going to do my darndest to get it back!

and today (for the first time in quite a while) I got interested and inspired again, so I'd like to say thanks to Miss Susie Bubble (who I don't have time to read her blog properly, but when I do, I always get something out of it), Miss Milla (another inspiration in the blog world), lovely SP, the double D's and the mother of great talent and skill.

Currently listening and getting my groove onto...

Aeon - Antony & the Johnsons (and seeing at the Colston Hall)

Yeah Yeah Yeah's - It's Blitz

Peaches - Talk to me
Gorgeous, dark eerie, leggy ghosts in a horror movie house, and I love Peaches new style direction - delish!



Bjork - Wanderlust
I love the fact that Bjork takes an idea and runs with it. And this video is the perfect example. Filmed originally in 3D, animation.

The first time I heard this song I was standing in the cold, and damp at Glastonbury festival, and everytime I hear it I can feel the wind on my face, and the bass pushing through me.





and recently went to the RWA (Bristol) for one of their most successful exhibitions (according to the numbers through the doors) 'Crimes of Passion' featuring Mr Jago, Nick Walker, Sickboy, Inkie, Cheo. A great collection of work, in an amazing old building, which is generally used for stuffy old school art works. The artists were allowed to spray directly onto the walls. And the inflatable on the top of the building was a genius touch. Curated by 'FLX' (who I went to primary school with;)

Mr Jago - Keep from going under

For our monthly visit to the art centre of Bristol (Stokes Croft/Gloucester Road). We took in the Mr Jago exhibition where he painted his piece directly onto the wall. It’s great to see his work move in a slightly different field as the one thing I feel about the Graff/Stencil world is it’s a little stuck in it’s own rut. When we arrived, I did hear someone say “can you tell what it is yet,” in their best Rolf Harris voice.

Hokusai inspiration in the Croft

Will post further developments as they happen.

V

It's still nice to be surprised after all this time...

And here are two recent pix from my trip to London, taken outside my beloved Liberty, where there is a florist.

Snogs, Labbits and potted handbags

Here's some photos of a recent trip to London.

Of notable toy/design interest was the pop-up shop of Kidrobot in Selfridges with the wonderfully inflatable Kozik Smorkin' Labbit (want one) and their window displays with lots of mini labbits (want them too).

I also bumped into a heavily Japanese design-influenced frozen yogurt eaterie called Snog - in South Kensington - where I sampled the green tea frozen yogurt (super yumm) and had to negotiate round a giant Kubrick Bear and several American students. I particularly liked their seating stools which were made of plastic but looked like heavy lace.

Last creative mention goes to the amazing vintage dress store in Kingly Court 'Fur Coat, No Knickers', where I was knocked out by the quality of these dresses which would not look out of place on Audrey Hepburn or Miss Dita (but unfortunately had nasty price tags), they are utterly stunning and it's was lovely to see such appreciated dresses in a suitably lovely setting (including their handbag window boxes which were potted up with roses).

Fur Coat, No knickers - Kingly Court

What we're watching - Feb 09

How we love the bargainous FOP

I heart snow

We heart the snow!

Michael Lavine and August Bradley

Michael Lavine - Kurt and Court

Michael Lavine - Yoko Ono

I’m a bit of a photography stalker at the moment. It’s something I’ve always gravitated towards, but I’ve taken quite a fascination in the workings of it, and I seriously hope some of it rubs off on me. As I would love to be Mary Ellen Mark or Tim Walker or Eve Arnold.

So today the wonderful Cool Hunter pointed me towards Michael Lavine and this fabulous website Feature Shoot which interviews many photographers and their ways of working.

In rediscovering Micheal Lavine’s very 80’s rock style photography, I have discovered August Bradley – who’s work I’m so jealous of, as I’ve wanted to delve into this form of cinematic, ‘classic painter’ style of work.

And a here is a little snippet that is quite relevant to us crafty people I gleaned from Augusts’ interview:

‘It’s better to have 10 percent absolutely LOVE your work and 90 percent absolutely HATE it, than to have 100% like it. I have been fortunate with regards to finding a part of the population that is enthusiastic about what I’m doing, and they do the marketing for me’.

August Bradley

The Hurricane Grace Jones

This is becoming a bit of an ‘I love Grace’ blog, purely unintentional, but I did see her on the ‘Hurricane’ tour this week, and it was a wonderfully scary experience.

Scary because when she walked on stage she stopped, and looked dead at me (in the front row); it was then I realised that performers very rarely engage with the audience in such an eye-contact way, and it was quite unnerving. She certainly wasn’t afraid to do so, as pretty much everyone in the front got the same treatment.

Wonderful because there were so many hat changes, and little amendments to each outfit, all beautifully made (I got very close to them) and was quite astounded at the beauty of them. Each song had a different treatment, and almost its own little show. The finale of the title track ‘Hurricane’ saw her use a black cloak, wind-machine and wind swept hat to full effect – and included a performance of her falling to the ground. Love Love Love her.

Winter Dog Days

Walking in the winter...

Paris Hilton - Crafts?

Yes, you read this right - even Paris Hilton is trying to cash in on the craft-cow.

Here's the press release -
"Paris Hilton, internationally recognized model, singer, author, and entrepreneur will be available on Sunday, January 25, 2009 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm in the Wooky Entertainment booth #2500, to unveil Paris Hilton, the Creative Collection™ a multi-faceted line of fashion crafting kits from some of the most popular craft segments including scrapbooking, jewelry making and fabric embellishment. Paris will be on hand for photos and signing autographs."

Ron Asheton - The Stooges

Another tribute to Ron Asheton, but it really can't be stressed enough the importance of MC5 and The Stooges who's musical risk-taking brought us the indie-punk-rock music of today.

When I heard about The Stooges reforming after all these years, I thought it was such a dreadful idea, but we then decided to see them at a special one-off show at London's Hammersmith Apollo (their first London performance since 1972, and only their second London show ever), performing their entire Fun House album followed by songs from the first album and Skull Ring. The show, which was the first in the All Tomorrow's Parties-organised "Don't Look Back" concert series - was great.

Another fabulous picture find from Susi a.

Checkout those outfits!