All posts tagged: Tony’s Gallery

London Dispatch with Olek, Roa, Eine, FKDL and Friends

Photographer Geoff Hargadon loves London and on his most recent trip he took to the streets of the gritty London neighborhoods of Brick Lane and Shoreditch to see what’s up, and of course to check out a couple of galleries.  Here are a few things that caught his eye to share with BSA, beginning with Street Artist Olek’s installation of text-based knitting at Tony’s Gallery.

Olek at Tony’s Gallery in Shoreditch. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Olek’s installation at Tony’s Gallery in Shoreditch. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Olek’s installation at Tony’s Gallery in Shoreditch. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Move along now, we can’t have all you photo takers clogging up the sidewalk. ROA. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

ROA, FKDL, and friends. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Ben Eine through glass (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

The Best Car Wash…ever! (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Ink Fetich (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Tony’s Gallery Presents: Burning Candy “Fight Fire With Fire” (London, UK)

Burning Candy
brooklyn-street-art-burning-candy-tonys-gallery-4BURNING CANDY
Fight Fire with Fire
8th July – 25th August
Preview: 7th July

Fighting & Happiness, can they really go together? Well Chris Eubank used to talk about ‘the art of fighting’ and the cat & mouse scenerio endured by Police Departments and Graffiti Crews worldwide might just prove they can. Whilst London’s 2012 Olympics may appear to offer healthy competition, harking back to pitting one individual City or Country against each other, Burning Candy sense this one could be rigged and the only answer is to “Fight Fire With Fire.” The need to strike out or rise above conflict in a recreational sense is something that Burning Candy feel compelled to do. Their Art like most sporting events is defined by it’s location. Take the River Lea host to many a BC production, this may become more of an arena than the Olympic Stadium that it runs alongside. Burning Candy are coming indoors for a moment to take stock before the fight really begins…

Tony’s
68 Sclater st | London |E1 6HR
0203 5565201

info@tonysgallery.com

www.tonysgallery.com

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Bortusk Leer and Sticking Bubblegum Up Your Nose

Street Artist Bortusk Leer’s smiling and devious characters drawn and colored with a childlike mind continue to make people on New Yorks’ streets smile. As previous artist neighborhoods like Williamsburg are overrun with helicopter moms jogging behind strollers, the professional parents taking their progeny to playdates probably think the wheatpastes are the Universe’s welcome to their bundles of joy.

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Bortusk Leer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Actually, Bortusk’s demented and happy monsters predate many of the new arrivals and his googly eyed crew is now in many cities around the world, and more often these days galleries too.  Mr. Leer sure gets around with these unruly companions who have a disarming way of bringing the hype all down a notch to the simple joys of swinging mindlessly on the monkey bars and giving Billy Blickstein a wedgy and pulling Danisha’s  hair and sticking bubblegum up your nose.

brooklyn-street-art-bortusk-lear-WEBjaime-rojo-06-1010-web1

Bortusk Leer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

On the occasion of his solo show now on view (extended to June 26) at Tony’s Gallery in Shoreditch, East London’s Don’t Panic conducted an interview with the artist and along with his answers they give us a good view of the multicolor mad man installations:

brooklyn-street-art-bortusk-leer-dont-panic-tonys-galleryBortusk Leer “Bortusk Took a Trip” (image © courtesy Don’t Panic)

“I get to Bortusk’s playground just as the rain starts to fall. An Oompa Loompa lets me in through the main gate and guides me across the psychedelic courtyard. I take shelter under the peppermint trees and wait for my maniacal host to arrive. The walls are lined with weird, nu-rave creatures; a colourful assortment of monsters and mismatched porcelain dolls, watching through beady, fluorescent eyes as I wait for their master…

Click here to continue reading the interview and to see more images

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Tony’s Gallery Presents: Bortusk Leer “Bortusk Took a Trip” (London, UK)

BORTUSK LEER

“Bortusk took a trip”
6th May – 5th June
opening May 5th 6-9pm

Tony’s gallery is delighted to present ‘Bortusk took a trip’, the first solo show by UK artist Bortusk Leer. Since bursting onto the art scene in 2007, Bortusk’s naively spray-painted and marker penned monsters have become a common sight on the streets of London and New York . For the inaugural exhibition at Tony’s, Bortusk Leer will present a site-specific installation alongside a selection of recent paintings and sculptures.

‘Bortusk took a trip’ invites the viewer into the inner reaches of Mr. Leer’s psychedelic mind and takes you back to the fun and carefree days of our childhood. Transforming the gallery space into his private playground, we are invited to experience it as an opportunity to step out of the doom and gloom of our daily routines. An exhilarating mixture between a funfair, cartoon and rave party feel, the show’s only intention is to put a smile on your face and brighten up your day!

Bortusk has named his style ‘art comedy’ and dedicates himself along with a growing team of admirers and pasters to spreading the smiley faced, lolling tongued, and googly eyed LOVE around the world….Bortusk’s heavily satirical work and recognisable paste ups using newspaper as the support and method of spreading his own message, highlights an ongoing concern to challenge the idea of traditional mass media and mass produced objects. These acts of mischievous sabotage using obsolete objects and materials represent in fact another unconventional choice of his to use low-tech procedures to emphasis the often ephemeral nature and lifespan of these randomly applied paste-ups within our urban landscape.

These garishly coloured characters have travelled by sea and air to reach walls as far away as Auckland , Alaska , Jodphur and Barcelona and catching a glimpse of one of these little creatures in a dark corner or grim alleyway always brings a familiar friendly face to these far-away lands. These characters always seem to make themselves at home in their surroundings, be it taking a yellow cab in the Big Apple or tucking into a bratwurst in Berlin .

Over the past 3 years Bortusk Leer has exhibited in several London based group shows such as The Alternative Philosophy at Leonard Street Gallery and Mutate Britain at Cordy House with an array of big names in the street art scene. During the course of these shows his work has strayed into the realms of video, collage and sculpture, re-awakening an interest in 3D and installation art. Also in 2009 Bortusk’s monsters were made into ‘Street Monsters’, a series of 2 minute animations which were commissioned by the BBC.

Bortusk Leer shows no signs of slowing down, currently working on his first solo show in New York and cooking up some plans for further television take over. This top hatted avenger is only just warming up.

Tony’s
68 Sclater st | London |E1 6HR
0203 5565201
www.tonysgallery.com
info@tonysgallery.com

Bortusk Leer
brooklyn-street-art-bortusk-leer-tonys-gallery

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