All posts tagged: Filthy Luker

Bristol’s Vanguard Exhibition Curators Bring Outside Installations Inspired by UN Goals for 2030

Bristol’s Vanguard Exhibition Curators Bring Outside Installations Inspired by UN Goals for 2030

Stylistically diverse artists are gathered loosely around a dispersed list of goals – and the results are a variety of public works that hope to challenge communities in Bristol, England, with pertinent messages about the collapse of ecological systems demarking the current age.

A series of art activations curated by Charlotte Pyatt this fall in conjunction with the Vanguard exhibition here at M Shed, Charlotte asked artists Richt, Peace of Art, Filthy Luker, Mau Mau, Gabriel Pitcher, Lucy McLauchlan, Caryn Koh, Ampparito, and Paul Harfleet to conceptualize pertinent responses to the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030. It’s a high order, but you must begin somewhere and, by partnering with local community groups in Bristol, the team hoped to show how the people of this city can localize global conversations on poverty eradication, environmental protection and societal equality.

The Vanguard team is made up of a collective of artists, specialists and collectors involved in the global street art movement, say the promotional materials, and the project is led by Mary McCarthy with creative direction from Charlotte Pyatt, art direction from Justin MacCarthy aka DICY, and design direction from Graham Dews aka PARIS.

Below are images from the outdoor installations along with some information from their press department about each artist. Special thanks to photographer Doug Gillen for sharing these excellent images with BSA readers.

Filthy Luker. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Paul Box)

Filthy Luker

“Luke Egan and Pete Hamilton AKA street art duo Filthy Luker and Pedro Estrellas have been creating inflatable artworks together for 24 years. The artist’s unmistakable style and use of medium has carved a unique niche in the international Street Art movement.”

The duo took over the rooftop of We The Curious with an inflatable floral sculpture to amplify SDG15 Life on Land, in partnership with The Natural History Consortium.

“This year city partners came together to create the first One City Ecological Emergency Strategy,” says Savita Willmot is chief executive of The Natural History Consortium. “Our challenge is to now bring these ideas to life across the streets of Bristol. Arts and culture are at the heart of our city, and harnessing the engaging power of art will be crucial to tackling our environmental emergencies.”

Filthy Luker. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Paul Box)
Filthy Luker. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Paul Box)
Pansy Project. “For the unheard” Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Pansy Project)

The Pansy Project

The Pansy Project created a tour calling for Gender Equality, say, organizers. More specifically they called for an end to all discrimination and violence against women and girls, which includes lesbophobia, biphobia, and transphobia.

Artist Paul Harfleet brought The Pansy Project to Bristol, leading a free walking tour of the city along which he planted pansies at sites of homophobic and transphobic abuse as a defiant but gentle resistance to hate.

“Despite the melancholic nature of my work, there’s always joy in connecting with my LGBTQ+ siblings to share our stories and connect,” Harfleet says. “I believe that sharing the challenges we face connects and strengthens us.”

Pansy Project. “Mocked gay couple” Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Pansy Project)
Pansy Project. “You gay queer!!” Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Pansy Project)
Pansy Project. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Pansy Project. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Gabriel Pitcher. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)

Gabriel Pitcher

A British artist based in South Korea, Gabriel Pitcher uses figurative portraits, short films, and on-street interventions to confront norms about classical beauty, and examines attitudes and psychology in the meantime.

The community ambassador for this intervention in St Werburgh’s is The Global Goals Centre. “I’ve always been interested in exploring and documenting the stories behind the people I paint,” says the artist. This portrait celebrates Katie Cross, her sport, and her effort to ignite that same curiosity and energy for engaging meaningfully with the conversation on climate action.”

Aligning his materials with the climate focus of the activation, Pitcher created his mural using Graphenstone paint which draws in carbon from the air as it cures.”

Gabriel Pitcher. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Gabriel Pitcher. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Gabriel Pitcher. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)

Lucy McLauchlan

Lucy McLauchlan. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Lucy McLauchlan. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Lucy McLauchlan. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Richt. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Plaster)

Richt

British Artist and illustrator based in Bristol, UK. Richt aesthetic is minimally monochromatic works with elements of comics, pop, and abstract landscape.

Focusing on the need for “Decent Work and Economic Growth,” he partnered with community ambassador Campus Skateparks and painted a mural at Campus Pool Skatepark to celebrate the role of skate culture in fostering pathways into the creative industries.

“Skateboarding is so many different things,” he says. “For me, at its core, it’s an act of rebellion where nobody is in charge of the biggest club of misfits and rejects ever assembled. The only logical outcome from that recipe is creativity in abundance.”

Richt. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Plaster)
Richt. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Plaster)
Mau Mau. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Pete Metcalf)

Mau Mau

Light-spirited satirist Mau Mau calls out social injustice and environmental disaster, as he has done for the past 2 decades.
“His stable of urban creatures have grown to become icons in their own right,” say organizers. “His foxes, pigs, and sheep have appeared on walls from Japan to the States,” they say, and “He has worked with the likes of Banksy, Dizzie Rascal, Surfers Against Sewage and Greenpeace to name a few.”


Speaking on the artwork, a representative for Frank Water said:
“[Here] The globe’s surface points to India, the country with the most people in the world (77 million) without improved access to safe water and the region where FRANK WATER undertakes most of their overseas work. This is juxtaposed with the fact that we undervalue our access to quality water here in the UK, we even flush toilets with drinking-quality water. This aligns with the organization’s efforts to encourage a shift in attitudes to water locally, increasing its perceived value and promoting stewardship.”

Mau Mau. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Pete Metcalf)
Mau Mau. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Pete Metcalf)
Caryn Koh. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Caryn Koh. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Ampparito. “Waiting for the fall”. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Ampparito. “Waiting for the fall”. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Ampparito. “Waiting for the fall”. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Ampparito. “Waiting for the fall”. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Ampparito. “Waiting for the fall”. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Doug Gillen)
Peace of Art Collective. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Plaster)

Peace of Art

Bristol-based female street art collective “Peace of Art” features local artists Emily Richards, Aumairah Hassan Safina Khan and Manazzar Siddique. Begun the street in 2020, the trio say they are “passionate about painting murals that are empowering and reflective of the diverse local community and bringing positive, inspiring art to the area.”

“This mural aims to highlight the issues around climate change and clean air inequalities. It is a reminder of our deep connection with nature as well as one another and the quality of the air we breathe should not and cannot be taken for granted.”

Peace of Art Collective. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Plaster)
Peace of Art Collective. Vanguard x Bristol Toward2030. What are you doing? Bristol, UK. 2021. (photo © Anya Agulova)
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At the Vanguard: Bristol Opens Exhibition On Evolution of Global Movement of Street Art

At the Vanguard: Bristol Opens Exhibition On Evolution of Global Movement of Street Art

This Saturday marks the opening of an outstanding exhibition in Bristol, England documenting the pivotal role the city has played in the formation of street art from the 1980s to today. Entitled Vanguard Bristol Street Art: The Evolution and mounted at the Global Movement Bristol Museum’s M Shed, the show presents the view of this worldwide movement as seen through the birth and growth of Bristol’s scene from the perspective of artists singular voices rising together in a crescendo that shook the arena of public self-expression with maverick ideas and activist ideals.

Bristol B-Boys head spinning in front of 3D’s and Z Boys’ Wild Bunch Rocit, 1983, photographic print on paper, Broadmead, Bristol, 21 x 29.7cm (8.2 x 11.7in) (photo ©Beezers Photos)

Vanguard positions itself as an examination of artists creative response to Bristol’s “pioneering underground scene throughout the UK’s turbulent social and political history” with a focus on driving social change – one that influenced subsequent street artists everywhere.

Among the Bristolian and UK artists featured will be new works by Adam Neate, Andy Council, Antony Micallef, Bill Posters, China Mike, Conor Harrington, Dale VMN Collins (Dale Marshall), Dicy, Eko, Feek, Filthy Luker, Inkie, Lucas Price, Lucy McLauchlan, Matt Small, Mau Mau, Mr Jago, Paris, Rowdy, Sickboy, Swoon, Will Barras, and Xenz.

Conor Harrington (Irish, b.1980) The Blind Exit, 2020, oil and spray paint on linen, SIGNED, 250cm x 200cm (98.5in x 78.5in) (Image credit: Conor Harrington)

A trove of documentation presents times that provide context and insight into the wild, wooley, and ingenious artist works that shaped what was to come – including a five minute edit of the seminal film Wild Style by filmmaker Charlie Ahearn, and a new seven-minute film by Scottish filmmaker Doug Gillen. Additionally presented are unseen and classic images specific to the Bristol graffiti and street art scene by Henry Chalfant, Matthew Smith, Carrie Hitchcock, Yan Saunders, and Beezer, along with projections by Kineta Hill and Karen Dew.

Carrie Hitchcock-Barton-Hill-Youth-Club-1990. (photo © Carrie Hitchcock)

Running through October 31st this year, the original works and memorabilia are key to understanding the events and socio/political arnarchistic framework that sparked and fueled what became known as the Bristol scene, replete with an accompanying book featuring worldwide academics, film directors, writers, artists, creatives and specialists and an exclusive album of tracks forming the roots of the Bristol Sound.

We’re pleased to offer a sneak peek of the show here today and we encourage you to make the trip to see what will undoubtedly be sited as an important exhibition – as we all continue our education about the pathways of the global evolution of street art.

Will Barras (British, b.1973), Blue Surfer, 2021, signed in bottom right corner, acrylic on canvas, 800mm x 800mm (31.5 x 31.5in) (Image Credit – Johnny Green)
Through the fence, Barton Hill Youth Club, 1990 (photo ©Carrie Hitchcock)

Vanguard | Bristol Street Art: The Evolution of a Global Movement is kindly supported by Vans. Vanguard | Bristol Street Art: The Evolution of a Global Movement M Shed, Bristol, BS1 4RN
Saturday 26 June 2021 – Sunday 31 October 2021
Admission £8 adult* / £7 concession* (*Tickets include £1 voluntary donation to Bristol Museums Development Trust)

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Selections from the URBAN NATION Biennale “ROBOTS AND RELICS: UN-MANNED”

Selections from the URBAN NATION Biennale “ROBOTS AND RELICS: UN-MANNED”

“What if…”

What If… UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

That’s how curator Yasha Young began the UN Biennale in Berlin this month. A fantasy-infused ramble through a future jungle teeming with dark pop goth and an animated gorilla, the multi-featured installation by the outgoing Creative Director was meant to pose questions about a possible future, or many possible futures on an Earth deeply scarred, reclaiming itself from man/womankind’s folly.

Millenium FX Ltd. Gorilla Albert. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Spread along a 100-meter path and teeming with small surprise exhibits popping from the savage magic of two-day overgrowth, the installation appeared to take inspiration, at least in part, from the wildly successful Berlin exhibition two years ago called, “The Haus”, by a trio called Die Dixons. That one featured 175 artists creating immersive, site-specific futurist/fantasy installations on the five floors of a former bank – inviting dance troops and performances and thousands who cued for hours around the block.

INTI with Millenium FX Ltd. Gorilla Albert. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

One of artists at UN’s “ROBOTS AND RELICS: UN-MANNED”, Herakut, was also in the Haus exhibition and here under the roaring U-Bahn on Bülowstraße produces one of the best synthesis of technology and fantasy. Their sculptural painted theatrical character of Mother Nature is straight from a childs’ imagination, blinking eyes forming a blue inquisitive aura around its visage.

Hera of Herakut. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Herakut. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

No doubt many visitors winding through this late summer wildness were feeling quizzical to one another, confronting the various staged scenarios by 27 artists and asking “what if…”. Perhaps a  lush and greener version of the traveling “29 Rooms” selfie house we saw in Brooklyn a few years ago, this one blended themes of post-disaster with a glistening dark leafy future girded with idiosyncracies and Hans Ruedi Giger airbrushed human/machines locked in biomechanical reverie.

“They carry us off into barren deserts with relics of human existence,” says the press release,  “colorfully patterned animals in overgrown areas as well as spherical light worlds.”

Coderch Malavia Sculptors. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Plotbot Ken. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Frederique Morrel. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Dan Rawlings. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vermibus. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vermibus. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Pappas Parlor. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Ekow Nimako. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Ekow Nimako. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vegan Flava. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vegan Flava. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Goin Art. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Goin Art. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Urs Koller. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Urs Koller. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
NesPoon . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Filthy Luker . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Filthy Luker . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Quinte55enz . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Nomad Clan. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Nomad Clan. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Theater Anu. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Theater Anu. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Theater Anu . Gehard Demetz. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Outings Project. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Participating artists include:

Coderch & Malavia // Cryptik // Dan Rawlings // David de la Mano // Dima Rebus // Ekow Nimako // Filthy Luker // Frédérique Morrel // Gerhard Demetz // Herakut // Inti // Julien de Casabianca // Louis Masai // Milenium FX // NeSpoon // Quintessenz // Nomad Clan // Rune Guneriussen // Sandra Chevrier // Theater Anu // Vermibus


Special shout out to Tobias Kunz, Annette Dooman, and the entire Studio Kunz team, Jens Rüberg and team and the YAP team.

We wish to express our gratitude to photographer and BSA contributor Nika Kramer for sharing her photos with us. Follow Nika on Instagram @nikakramer

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