Having become interested in Chicha posters recently I stumbled across a Peruvian Street artist called Faber who uses these posters as a backdrop to his work.
A great use of found surfaces and colour contrasts for this emotive subject.
The most wonderful artist’s book of last year has to be Ericailcane’s Potente di Fuoco. The idea is so simple but just brilliant. Twenty years after he had drawn them Ericailcane’s parents showed him his first drawings featuring both creatures from this earth and fantastic ones. In this book he reinterprets them again side by side with his childhood drawings.
Picasso said – “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” Without a doubt Ericailcane is still in touch with his amazing childhood creativity…
Sam3’s new stop motion is a triumph of low-fi. One of those films you wished you had made yourself – but of course you didn’t so hats off to Sam.
I’m huge fan of all of Sam3’s work – he has a great commitment to his work and comes up with many beautiful ideas. Its also been a real pleasure to work with him in the past with projects like Santa’s Ghetto in Bethlehem and Cans Festival.
He’s produced a few stop motion films before but this is instantly my favourite..
Although Choque Cultural’s new ‘Acervo’ space has been open for a while. Baixo Ribeiro, the gallery director has posted a film giving us a flying visit around the space and the show at MASP. The new space, not too far from the old one which is still open in Pinheiros, is in a great quiet spot in the heart of one of the cities most famous graffiti halls of fame. So now Choque operates gallery shows in both spaces - including a current show of American artists Gary Baseman and Shag.
This month’s Creative Review Magazine (Jaunary 2010) features an article about the Chica poster culture of Peru. These posters are screenprinted with fluorescent colours typically with a strong black background. The designs are drafted by hand and with extraordinary skill, each layer of colour is the result of a hand cut paper stencil. Although I had seen similar posters in Mexico these Chicha posters have a very distinct aesthetic and culture behind them. I was made aware of their existence through my friend Nano from Equipo Plastico and through him I managed to reach Jules Bay a curator in Lima an expert in this area to find out more. It was fascinating story and so I approached Creative Review with the concept of a feature article on this subject. Like last year’s January 2009 issue which I was also involved with, Creative Review decided that it would be exciting if the cover of CR could be made in Lima using this technique – within weeks the cover image was designed and printed in Lima and now on news stands around the world…
A documentary was also commissioned which can be seen here
60 : Innovators Shaping Our Creative Future is a new book published by Thames and Hudson this November. To commemorate 60 years of Thames and Hudson, this book celebrates sixty innovators in art, design, fashion and other creative fields. I was asked to compile and write the “Street World” chapter featuring 5 artists that have been innovators in this field. My choices were Space Invader, JR, Darius and Downey, Swoon and Blu.
The book is handsomely hard-bound, with a die-cut glossy cover – although I don’t think the jacket cover will survive much handling…
For months Choque Cultural gallery have been preparing for an important show which they were asked to curate at MASP – The Musuem of Contemporary Art in Sao Paulo. The result are spectacular from some of my favourite artists such as Carlos Dias, Ramon Martins, Zezao and Titifreak. Opens November 19th for three months.
My wife Olivia has recently launched her new website promoting her work as an art consultant and dealer.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet all of the artists she works with personally, and their quality is superb. Web design layout by yours truly. www.oliviaconnelly.com
At the beginning of August I had the great pleasure of giving two talks at the University of Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia for the faculty of Design. The invitation was part of a three month long project called Memoria Canalla (Memories of the Walls) – http://www.flickr.com/photos/memoriacanalla/3832333148/
Many thanks to all those who invited me including the artists Bastardilla and Stinkfish who under the name Hogar were the organisers of the Memoria Canalla project.
Thanks also to Third World Pirate for your hospitality and for finding this spot to paint – the first time in years that I’ve painted on the wall myself!
