Mayday bank holiday saw the opening of Cans Festival. Behind the scenes this festival of Stencil Art had been in preparation since Feb 08. I was honoured to be given a curatorial role of behalf of POW to invite artists from around the world who I thought to be producing the best in Stencil Art.
With nearly 30,000 visitors over three days and over 50,000 photographs tagged “Cans Festival” now on Flickr – the public and artists thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Perhaps most gratifying was the level of interactivity, with 651 artists from the public registering to paint their own stencils during the event. The main attraction unquestionably was Banksy, with four new large-scale murals, sculptures and anarchic installations, his work brought in a diverse crowd that art galleries can only dream of attracting. Not to be overshadowed, around 50 artists invited from 15 countries also made their mark with a diverse range of styles and subjects. From the well-regarded stencil graffiti hubs of Buenos Aires and Melbourne to the lesser-known hotspots such as Lisbon and Bergen, the cream of the stencil art world was in attendance.
A number of Brazilian artist friends of mine have been visiting the UK to take part in various gallery shows. To put their spare time to good use I suggested to Mission Print screen printers (who I often work with) that they commission these artists alongside local artists to paint a mural on their buildings in central Birmingham. The results are stunning – many thanks to Missionprint.
Featuring Daniel Melim, Titifreak, Carlos Dias, Milo Tchais, Rodrigo, Zezao and the Ikonoklast crew (Birmingham).
Many thanks to Matt (45rpm) for producing this trailer for me to promote the ‘Street Sketchbook’ book. Using footage taken out our launch at Rough Trade, Brick Lane, London.
Habitat Mugs series. For around two years I’ve been talking to Habitat about curating and designing a series of mugs with the theme of stencils. Finally they have been made and are in the shops – sporting artwork by Pablo Fiasco and James Dodd. Turned out well!
I finally have a printed copy of my new book “Street Sketchbook” published by Thames and Hudson, ISBN 978 0500 513620. The book will not reach the shelves for another few weeks yet.
I have to say that its looking fantastic – hard bound, rounded corners, spot varnished cover and 272 pages!
After two years hard work [...]
