Sad news!

It's a sad day on Brick Lane! One of my all-time favourite pieces has been painted over! It''s a very unusual portrait of the revolutionary icon Che Guevara. I recently spoke to the artist - Osch - and asked him if the designs that make up his face were facial muscles and tendons. He said that he meant them to be stylised wrinkles, though he could see what I was getting at. Yesterday, I was walking down a street that I walk down everyday and looked at his usual spot to marvel at this piece as I usually do and there was a grey wall instead! I was nonplussed. I thought that Osch wouls make another painting. When I spoke to him later, he told me that it was another artist that was going to paint there whois his friend and he even asked permission.

I walked past again today and there was a new piece in it's stead (though as you know I can't take a pic as I am camera-less at the moment) of an artist whose work I have seen before but have not met as yet. I will take photos soon though and keep you posted on other new work in the Brick Lane area.

Here's the original piece in all its glory (click to enlarge)
















Che by Osch, (formerly on) Redcurch St.

Mission Statement

This blog is about showing people around the world the wonderful artwork on the streets and in the galleries in the Brick Lane area of London, which I have extended to Aldgate in the south and Hoxton in the north.

Art should be free, that’s why graffiti and street-art are so important to me.

I am cynical about the “artworld” and attack its commercialism whenever and wherever I see fit.

If a gallery has the prices of the artists work next to the piece, this exhibition will not get a good review, no matter how good the work is.

I will strive to get into the head of an artist when I interview them and always ask about the price as a way of ascertaining whether they are in it for money and fame.

I will also ask them about the concept of pieces, and as much as I can about their methodology and technique.

I will report on art-related issues that appear in the press and online.

N.B. This list is not exhaustive, I will probably add more as I extend the blog.

mancpete

First Thursday, Art Barter and Interview with Cédric Carré

Hey all! I haven't done anything here for over a month. As you may have read, my camera and blackberry were stolen a few weeks agon, then a second blackberry was stolen! And who said London was a nice place?

Well there is quite a lot to report and a new interview with Cédric Carré for your viewing pleasure! That, as usual, is at the end of the blog.

I will also be reporting on first Thusday 2 weeks ago and news of another exhibition opening last week.

On top of these, I will be reporting on a new concept called "Art Barter", which was held at Maurice Einhardt Neu gallery on Rechurch St. over the weekend.

This is an important time of year of the Arts in London as Frieze Fair is taking place at the moment. Go to http://www.frieze.com/ for more info

First up, over the last weekend I stumbled (quite literally, I was drunk!) into Art Barter at the Maurice Einhardt Neu gallery on Redchurch St. I immediately liked this because it was not just an exhibition, as implied by the name, this is a chance for mere mortals like me and you to obtain a piece of art for less than the astronomical prices asked for these days. Actually, according to the rules of Art Barter no money can change hands at all, people swap for items they feel are valuable, and the artists accepts the swap on what they feel is valuable to them. What a great concept!

Insecticide by Matt Collishaw at Art Barter

Read more at - http://www.artbarterlondon.co.uk

Below is an interview conducted with the artist Cédric Carré outside his exhibiton at the Gallery in Redchurch St. I won't write about it further as all my qusetions are in the interview, although below are quotes from the website of the gallery and from the organisers, Time Out's First Thursday.


French painter Cédric Carré is to make his UK debut this autumn at The Gallery In Redchurch Street. The exhibition consists of recent work from his Urban Landscapes series, which sees him document the urban periphery - that space which sits, undefined, between city and countryside. Depicting, in an almost literal sense, these no-mans lands, Carrés paintings are eerily absent of people, or any sign of their existence, bar the man-made objects that occupy them. The work seems to present an abandoned, perhaps even alien world, yet the repeated inclusion of these constructions allows us a sense of comfort that can only come from recognition. Pylons and industrial buildings all feature highly in the paintings. Not generally considered to be things of beauty, but with which we are all familiar, in Carrés hands they become worthy in their own right of aesthetic appreciation rather than just objects of necessity to contemporary living. Roads, another of Carrés favourite subjects, reassure us by offering an escape from these deserted non-places back to, or away from civilization - and a chance to follow those natural instincts towards society or into the freedom of isolation. Cédric Carré has shown widely throughout France and his work can be found in private collections and public galleries throughout Europe, including the Musée de la Piscine in Roubaix, which this summer acquired, and exhibits, a second piece of his work. With Urban Landscapes, his debut show in London this October, recognition of Carré as one of our most exciting and important contemporary artists is sure spread even farther.

www.carrecedric.fr

And here's what Time Out's First Thursday website had to say about the exhibition.

Cédric Carré - Urban Landscapes

05 Oct – 10 Oct 2010
Exhibition
Oil on canvas / Paper / Wood
50 Redchurch St
London E2 7DP
The Gallery in Redchurch Street


First Thursdays Late Opening, October 7, 6-9pm

French painter Cédric Carré is to make his UK debut this autumn at The Gallery in Redchurch Street. The exhibition consists of recent work from his ‘Urban Landscapes’ series, which sees him document the urban periphery - that space which sits, undefined, between city and countryside.

Depicting, in an almost literal sense, these ‘no-man’s lands’, Carré’s paintings are eerily absent of people, or any sign of their existence, bar the man-made objects that occupy them. The work seems to present an abandoned, perhaps even alien world, yet the repeated inclusion of these constructions allows us a sense of comfort that can only come from recognition.

www.firstthursdays.co.uk