Bad Habits

October 8th, 2007

Ron English

ELMS LESTERS‘ innovative “Small, Medium, and Large” group show featuring art by ADAM NEATE, ANTHONY LISTER, DALEK, DELTA, FUTURA, JOSE PARLA, MARK DEAN VECA, PHIL FROST, RON ENGLISH, SPACE INVADER, STASH and WK INTERACT opened on Friday nite. I was pissed because I couldn't make it.You know how it is,too much work to do. But any way as the show’s title implies, each artist created works in three different sizes and price brackets allowing collectors with radically different budgets a chance to hit the cash register with equal force and, as expected, there were no shortage of takers. Most if not all these Artist I study and highly respect thier craft. My two favorites are Ron English and Jose Parla. Big artistic inspirations.

Adam Neate's 'Bad Habits'

Jose Parla

Space Invader

WK Interact

Ron English (above and below)

Dalek

Pics via Supertouch

T.Magic

Art Is The New Crack

October 4th, 2007

Couple weeks ago went down to Lazarides gallery for the release of the new Antony Micallef prints. Fuck me! I couldn’t believe what I saw, I thought people were lining up for Crack or something. I saw Remi (one of the guys from the gallery) and proceeded straight to the front, spoke to him for a minute and he told me that people had slept outside the gallery and waited for more than 20 hours. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I didn’t realise artists created this much hype apart from maybe Bansky, but to be fair, I heard about the Adam Neate exhibition was total mayhem. Anyway let me stop going on. The prints that were released are below. They are in editions of 400 each print, retail at £1000 each and were sold out within the first hour of the gallery opening.

More pics inside

UPDATE: Art Is My Hustle Sweaters

October 4th, 2007

Wats up peeps, After two painstaking months of trying to get the Art Is My Hustle jumper right, I’ve almost nailed it! The picture above is the seventh sample I’ve received from my manufacturers and believe me they hate me right about now! It’s about 95% right… but without a doubt I’m still strivin for that vital 5%. (If this means you have wait an extra 2 weeks people apologies… but it will be worth the wait!) While producing this piece I have encountered so many problems and had many arguments with my manufacturers. Because its cut and sewn (produced from scratch) there has been issues such as getting hold of the best cotton and sourcing fabric for the multicoloured, ribbed hem, neck and cuffs. The process of making this piece has definately been a big challange that I've almost overcome. The release date of this product will be sometime later this month. Stay tuned.

T.Magic

TM???

October 4th, 2007

T.Magic

Optical Illusion

October 4th, 2007

T.Magic

Larger Than Life

October 1st, 2007

Hyping the forthcoming Discovery Channel reality show, “London Ink,” UK-based creative agency Mother masterminded the placement of two giant, Ron Mueck-style sculptures in very public places in an incredibly effective shock and awe campaign that got word-0f-mouth spreading like wildfire. Located in the Victoria Station Tube concourse, a giant sleeping woman with her head in a photo booth awed subway goers while an enormous Speedo-clad figure “Swimming” through the grass alongside the Thames on London’s South Bank looked like a Mark Jenkins installation.

Info via Supertouch

T.Magic

Magic City

September 26th, 2007

Available at most Train Stations nationwide - The magazine people, not the Artwork. Ive been seeing it about. I wonder who's responsible.

T.Magic

He(ART)less

September 21st, 2007

The prison sentences given to two young graffiti artists have caused a storm of public protest - and it's about time.

When Banksy sells for six figures, should an 18 year old be sentenced to a year in prison for the same 'crime'?

Work by the jailed victims

Article by The Guardian

After a good few decades of the media representing graffiti artists as scummy youth destroying public landscape, it seems the tables have turned. The public's reception of graffiti is changing - and about time.

Take Krek and Mers. These two graffiti artists in Manchester were recently sentenced to 12 and 15 months for their art crimes after being traced through their websites. Between them they caused £13,000 worth of damage in the area.

Almost 2,000 people have signed an online petition calling for a reduction to their sentence, and various events have been staged to raise awareness about their case. The obvious reaction is incredulity that a couple of boys scrawling on walls is being treated as a crime equal to rape or worse than GBH. According to this sentencing, painting on property that isn't yours is worse that violence. What kind of world is that? And maybe a bit of vandalism is a form of positive protest against this country's blatant obsession with the spoils of capitalism. Maybe the pointlessness of ownership should be highlighted. After all you can't take a wall with you when the floods come...

Judge Anthony Ensor is attempting to use these two young men as examples fn the evil of vandalism. In this case it looks like he picked the wrong two people. Thomas "TJ" Dolan (Krek) has worked with young offenders while Thomas Whittaker (Mers) was about to begin an art degree. Both have applied to teach literacy and run art workshops while in prison. Sound like evil criminals to you?

More interesting than the absurdity of their sentences, however, is the public's strong response in their favour. After years of people complaining about spray-can art, it has now become lodged in the public consciousness as something worth fighting for. Painting pictures or scribbling names is a lot more positive than gun crime.

And in this case the art is actually good. Krek, for example, draws on Japanese-style pop cuteness to create pieces that are bright, kitsch and well executed. It's a street nod to artists like Takashi Murakami.

Often he works on shutters or the poles of street signs depicting large doe-eyed childish characters. This is cute not criminal.

In a world where Banksy is getting six figure sums, why should an 18 year old be sentenced to a year in prison for the same "crime"? It's all a bit daft - and thankfully the majority of the public seem to agree.

Heres my take on the whole thing. By giving such a hefty jail sentence, society is pretty much saying (in the case of these two): Drawing some nice pretty pictures on private surfaces is worse than rape/violence. How can society expect to get respect in return when judgements like these are deemed acceptable? Art can add colour to the dullest urban areas. A lot of street Art is inspiring and can be seen as visual therapy in a very grey place such as the UK. On the the flip side of all this madness the boys should be able to do thier time, come out and make a big success out of their story. Maybe do a documentry, get a book deal etc. Basically turn a negative into a positive. Dont worry guys Im sure them Lord is watching over them.

T.Magic

TMAGIC - Online Exclusives Now Available

September 17th, 2007

Wats up peeps. The 'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst' tee's are now available online in two different colorways. Happy shopping!!! (Click Image to Buy)

T.Magic

The Art Of Screenprinting

September 14th, 2007

Went to the screenprinters to get some Exclusive new color ways of the 'Hope for the best, prepare for the worst' tee. I also got a chance to take some pics of the screenprinting process. Once again they are a small limited run and they be on sale on Monday 17th September @ 1pm.