Dreweatts Urban Art Auction at Paintworks: Second Coming

I was pleased to hear that Dreweatts were returning to Paintworks in Totterdown again to host a preview show for another of their Urban Art auctions. It's been well commented on the forums that this set of lots is a slight step up the quality scale than the previous.. and I thought the last set of pieces were good. Indeed there is so much good stuff in this time that it's difficult to know where to start.

Some of the Nick Walker pieces are really good, particularly the set of framed Apish Angel heads and the Headless Astronaut on black canvas.



The Inkie's are great sat either side of the huge Eelus (The good, the bad and the moon).



The Seen pieces are really nice (again), wouldn't mind one of those :P



Some nice Dennings there too and the large OS Gemeos is superb.



I really didn't think I would say this but I really liked the RYCA canvas, not the Mondrian caravan, but the black (acieed?) heads on grey which has excellent textures and glossy deep blacks. Surprise of the show for me.

D*face is nicely represented in the catalogue, and a cracking display of his pieces I thought.



Ok, onto the Banksy's. Really nicely arranged around a large, central viewing area, there were some cracking prints and originals this time. Seeing a signed Laugh Now and Happy Chopper (quite possibly my holy grail) in the same room is always a good thing. The Vandalised Oil didn't disappoint but for me the Monkey Detonator was the best Banksy original in this auction. Like all the pieces from the Sevenshed show in 2000 what a scoop they have turned out to be for their owners. I think this one is good enough to top out the reserve price of £40-60k but we'll have to see. But where's my picture of it gone??





The Parla is lovely but I can't help thinking it looks out of place in this set of work.



Oh, and there's a Rowdy and Dora collaboration print available too.

Good vibes, great gallery space, nice to have some tunes whilst browsing and good to see a healthy amount of visitors coming to see the cream of street art work on show.

The show is off to London to preview in Shoreditch, and the auction itself takes place on the 14th. All the details of the auction can be found here.

My thanks to Mary x

Drops by Jelly Antler (excerpt)

Drops from 2006.

Gonker by Jelly Antler (excerpt)

Gonker from 2006.

Tracks up

I thought I'd stick some Jelly Antler tracks up on this blog for those that would like a listen. I'll start with a few excerpts from older tracks and then hopefully in the weeks and months to come will be able to put up some new stuff.

Blurble - the most spectacular thing

Simply had to blog this.
The Burble is a massive structure reaching up towards the sky, composed of approximately 1000 extra-large helium balloons each of which contains microcontrollers and LEDs that create spectacular patterns of light across the surface of the structure. The public, both audience and performer, come together to control this immense rippling, glowing, bustling 'Burble' that sways in the evening sky, in response to movements of the long articulated interactive handle bar at the base of the structure. The ephemeral experience exists at such a large scale that it is able to compete visually in an urban context with the buildings that surround it.



More info from www.haque.co.uk/burblelondon.php

Bristol blog - Threenine

Just chanced upon a Bristol based gallery/blog called threenine. I've only read one page form the blog but it covers artists and news from the local street art scene. They've got Lokey on their books who's has just released a new print.
http://www.threenine.eu/

Hats off to them for sneaking a few pics from the Dreweatts show. I was down there on the same Sunday and at points during the day there must have been more staff than viewers. I only managed to get a few shots of some proper vandalism done in the loos. Those pics may one day surface. Anyway, I digress.

Their blog is at http://threenine-eu.blogspot.com/

Ben Eine

New show from Ben and a new screenprint. A kind of monoprint looking affair of his trademark alphabet. He's currently in Denver showing at the Andenken gallery for which this is the show screenprint.

Some beautiful glittery canvass on offer along with other variations on his letter style. One of the best street artists on the block and at the peak of his work right now.

Check out more details from the show at http://www.andenken.com/ and on the Andenken blog http://beautyandthestreet.org/

Might have just scored one of the prints too. Fingers crossed.