Lodo Minelli

There are some tasty news coming from England. European art market is getting crazy for street-art and post-graffiti, well, let’s consider StolenSpace, a genuine gallery promoting not only fresh artists but also street-art and graffiti true legends.

Please take your agenda and save these 3 dates:

• 25th October - 25th November, Seen: Sign of The Times @ StolenSpace, Dray Walk, Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane, London
• 2nd – 25th November 2007, Shepard Fairey: NINETEENEIGHTYFOURIA @ StolenSpace, same address but @ 87-89 Brick Lane, London
• 29th November– 24th December Collective Expo: D*Face, David Bray, Calma, Ben Johnson, Dave Kinsey, Ronzo, Conor Harrington, Charles Krafft, Chloe Early and many others.

Here’s some stolen pictures of StolenSpace vernissage:

Expos concepts:

Seen: Sign of The Times - New works by the ‘Godfather of graffiti’
A stranger to the world of street art might wonder why quite such a fuss is made of an exhibition by 46 year old Richard Mirando. An unassuming figure, Mirando isn’t given to creative shock tactics or headline grabbing interventions these days. Yet meeting him reduces those who know his work to awed silence. The reason is simple: he is the man who invented modern graffiti.

Every tag you see, every stencil, each and every example of an individual mark among the increasing weight of advertising slogans and institutional instructions that are a fact of urban life is, in part, an homage to Richard Mirando, or as he is otherwise known ‘Seen’. At one point in eighties New York there were more pieces by Seen than billboards. Where others tagged on the subway and ran, Seen and his crew - United Artists - painted whole cars. His work travelled the length and breadth of the city on a daily basis, carrying hundreds of thousands of people and becoming an integral part of it’s cultural fabric . After featuring in the documentary ‘Style Wars’ it also circumnavigated the globe, inspiring countless others. His influence on graffiti is without precedent.
‘Sign Of The Times’ includes new works on canvas, found or stolen NYC objects, relief pieces, city signs and skateboard decks. Seen’s trademark mix of bold, wildly distorted lettering, luminous color and cartoon imagery combine to create a baroque, visionary extravagance. Seen shines a revealing light on the dreams and myths that animate contemporary American art and culture. This eye-catching and provocative exhibition re-iterates his position as the leading proponent of the long-controversial hybrid of art and vandalism, while proving involving and surprisingly fresh.

Shepard Fairey: NINETEENEIGHTYFOURIA
Arch manipulator, scoundrel, chief propagandist, provocateur, Shepard Fairey is the man many hail as the originator of the modern urban art scene and is an undeniable phenomenon. First coming to prominence in 1989 with his now ubiquitous ‘Obey Giant’ sticker campaign, the self styled phenomenologist has since gone on to become one of the most recognisable artists of the early 2000’s.

His work, a mixture of parody and protest, serves to subvert the very medium to which it attaches itself. Wall paper posters adorn advertising billboards that in his own words ‘market nothingness’ while large scale posters with the simple one word message ‘obey’ stir the bewildered masses. His unique use of stencils, collage, photography and painting have led to collaborations with among others, DJ Shadow, Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins and more recently the poster art for the Johnny Cash biopic, ‘Walk the Line’.