Image slideshow
London plays host to two majorly underrated artists from the Continent for their first London solo shows. First, on Thursday the 8th, Roa (http://www.flickr.com/photos/roagraffiti/) from Belgium brought his trademark spraypaint animals to Pure Evil Gallery. And from Friday the 16th, Escif (http://www.flickr.com/photos/escif) from Spain will have his art hanging at Pictures on Walls. For me, Escif and Roa are two of the most exciting European graffiti artists. Soon enough, these guy may be up there with Ericailcane and Blu as kings of continental European street art and graffiti.
Roa’s show has already been received with massive excitement from the London art community. The opening was packed and almost everybody I trust is raving about the artwork. The work included small sketches, installations painted directly on the gallery walls, photos, spraypainted works on found materials and even a short video animation. Londoners need to head over to Pure Evil and see this in person, and New Yorkers should be looking forward to seeing Roa’s solo show at Factory Fresh next month. For those who live in the rest of the world though, I’ve made a short video walking through some of the show:
If you read the Vandalog or Unurth blogs, you’re probably at least vaguely familiar with Escif’s murals. Otherwise, it seems that Escif hasn’t been given his fair share of attention just yet. Luckily, Pictures on Walls doesn’t do too many proper shows, and they are definitely not the type of people to do things in a traditional way, so expect something special, different and attention grabbing. With any luck, POW’s involvement will help propel Escif towards greater popularity outside of Spain. If you’ve seen Banksy’s film Exit Through The Gift Shop, you may have already seen Escif in action and just not realized it. This clip from the film was actually set up by Escif in an effort to get arrested on camera. I guess he was successful, but I’m not exactly sure why that’s a good thing.
To have these shows open just a week apart, especially in art-market driven London of all places, is a real treat. Hopefully you can check them out in person.
Updates from RJ Rushmore
12 May, 2010