Tuesday 30 October 2012

OBEY X LONDON | Propaganda & Clothing

I had been looking at these awesome Obey t-shirts a lot online, even took a visit to the Laden Show Rooms to try on a top as soon as I knew that they were stocking the stuff.
They just had the ladies collection, and the shapes of the t-shirts and the styles didn't really do it for me. 
But then, as soon as the pop up shop opened I had to have a look.
I love the mens t-shirts! Fold up the sleeves and away you go. I'm all for cross dressing.
I didn't want pictures too perfect so I took to my high and windy balcony. 

When we went to the opening of Shepard's exhibition (which you can see in more detail in an earlier post) we didn't get to have a look around the smaller exhibition space in which Shepard and his team had installed a record shop. I was eager to see, and it really was awesome looking at the collection of Shepard's records!

When I'm walking and spot an Obey sticker, it does make me smile.
I have also been inspired and have embarked on my own little mission, which I will keep you all updated!
But it might take time or die prematurely. Time will tell! 

The pictures right at the top of the post were taken in The Vintage Emporium, who recently had a makeover and is currently dressed up for Halloween. If your around Brick Lane, check it out.  

Friday 26 October 2012

The Custard Factory.


The Custard Factory, that doesn't actually make custard (which my Mum was pretty is appointed about, and she asked 'so where do they sell the custard?' :-| ). But it does make for a great space for some interesting street art, and some quirky shops.

The picture of the Shop, the shirts and the Levi jeans are an incredible vintage shop called Cow Vintage in Birmingham. I have been on the lookout for some vintage Levis for a while now,,, and as most of the Levis on brick lane have been chopped into hipster shorts it isn't really the best place to look. But Cow vintage had Vintage jeans. LOADS of vintage jeans. And reassuringly not very many shorts.

So my Mum and I had a sift through the rails,,, and I picked off a good 5 or 6 pairs of jeans.. Being as picky as I am this was a real good number, the most important bit was that they had a button up fly. Hopefully I will get around to a style post... as it has been a while and I will show you guys! (and show you the new OBEY t-shirt I bought today!) 
Also, there prices were awesome, and my jeans were only £20,,! You should definitely have a look on their webpage :-) http://www.wearecow.com

The pictures below were taken in and around the Custard Factory, which has been referred to as Birmingham's answer to Brick Lane & Shoreditch.... I think that's a slightly optimistic comment.... but the work was pretty awesome and really brought the area to life! There was also loads of stickers around the place which was really interesting... and I bought a wide angle lens, I bought it on Amazon for like £8 or something and I am quite surprised as its not a shit as I thought it would be! Below I could take a picture of the whole piece without even stepping off the footpath :-)


Tuesday 23 October 2012

MESS.


An Amazon delivery! New Books! 

I bought those two incredibly tedious uni text books on Amazon and thought I would add another more interesting book to my basket too, after seeing it on the shelf in The Welcome Gallery and not buying it. Then finding it cheap on Amazon, I thought I would buy it! 

Its called Mess by Keri Smith and is incredibly, interestingly, pointlessly, super. 

The three pictures at the bottom are the result of my first page, where you cover the page with something sticky, so rather inevitably I went for glue. Then drop a powdery substance on the page and blow off the excess.  I figured a would drop pretty much anything there.... from breakfast & herbal tea, to sprinkles and coffee.

And yes, it does kind of smell. But the result was really interesting!

Monday 22 October 2012

GARAGE Nº3


Occasionally when I walk past the small newspaper and magazine stand across the road from Angel Station there's a magazine that glistens and catches my eye. 
Usually the ones with an interesting name, large pages and many pages!

So, I made a purchase of a rather bulky Garage nº3 Fall/Winter 2012 Magazine.Which on its cover featured a rather beautiful John Currin Unfinished Masterpiece. And a quick flick through showed as much text as writing (which I love) and some really interesting imagery printed on nice thick textural paper. 

You can read some interesting stuff about the magazines history hereeee...

The first feature in the magazine is intitled 'emails from the edge' and is a series of very amusing e-mails sent to 'prolific emailer Derek Blasberg'. Discussing topics from bad hair to slimming.

Above you can see a peak of a fantastic photographic spread by Nick Knight with captions by Perez Hilton ;-) followed by a discussion between Kevin Systrom ('the co-founder of the hit app Instigram) and Garage's Derek Blasberg. Talking about everything from party culture, how Instigram started, heroes and nerds (some of which you can see below).

A pictures are of pages in Garage nº3 Fall/Winter 2012 Magazine.

Sunday 21 October 2012

Triangles are my favourite shape. Δ


Uni update! 

We have begun. Full steam ahead with our Textile unit 'Fashion Futures'. 
Beginning with body mapping, it aims to help us understand the structure and scale of the human body.
We will further our mapped areas into body pieces that work with the body, in terms of both aesthetics, comfort and function.

Our practical classes run alongside CAD workshops where we develop our triangle based patterns using Rhinoceros (a PC based 3D design software) to be printed using a laser cutter, then trailed on the body and developed.  

And I must mention Kadi's amaze-balls vintage boots and trousers! 



Δ Peace and triangles Δ



Saturday 20 October 2012

OBEY | Shepard Fairey | Sound & Vision Exhibition Opening


SO! Yesterday, the girls and I went to the Shepard Fairey's Sound & Vision exhibition opening at Stolen Space. We were around Brick Lane from about four. Umbrella ready, the rain worked in our favour as we only queued for around and hour an a half!  

The exhibition was incredible. While we were outside, we spoke to the bouncers and were anxious to know if we would get a glimpse of the man of the moment. We saw him enter the gallery and were overjoyed once we got inside and saw him behind the decks! 

The music really helped bring the exhibition to life, and stuck two fingers up at the normal 'lets have an intellectual conversation vibe' that you too often find in galleries. 

And there was plenty of free drinks going round, which certainly doesn't make people complain.



The artwork wasn't in short supply either. The whole space was packed with the most textural, intricate, amazing works I have ever seen. Eerika and I discussed how amazing Shepards works look in books and on the internet but in person there was so much depth to the images and were highly more beautiful and striking than the works we had originally fallen in love with. 



Once Shepard had warmed up the crowd after standing in the cold with some awesome tracks, Z-Trip took to the Decks with a mix of music and visual projections that really blew everyone away.
 Everyone in the exhibition was having a great time and it sure did look like Shepard was too.... after an incredible exhibition opening like that he should do.



This morning I was back at the exhibition space, and waited outside for almost two hours to get my hands on a couple of the amazing prints that they had displayed in the exhibition last night.
I most certainly couldn't afford any of the original work,,, but a few of those was just about doable. And it wasn't an opertunity I wanted to miss after admiring Shepards last Stolen Space exhibition poster while I was at the Lord Clifden last week.

So Shepard please don't leave it five years again,,,,, 
because I think this superb event has left us well and truly wanting more!


Thursday 18 October 2012

Brum | the city of a thousand trades.


These pictures were snapped during my trip to Birmingham last weekend. 
The first three pictures were taken along the canal, and the second were taken in the Icon gallery.
They had a number of really interesting exhibitions there, the first was called 'And Europe Will Be Stunned' by Israeli artist Yael Bartana; and was a series of short films within the contect of poland about politics, desires and fears. You can find out more information HERE.
The second exhibition was Arefin & Arefin: The Work of Tony Erefin, Erefin passed away in 2000 and during the 1960's was one of the most important figures in the British Art World. I found his work incredibly interesting and very engaging, in the first room there was a couple of large tables showcasing a number of books showing pages of his work. I was desperate to flick through! But no touching,,,,, : - | 
You can find out more about that exhibition HERE.


We then took a trip to the famous Back to Back Houses.
The candy shop was really nice.......... I wanted to buy everything!
But the houses,,,, really....? There nicer than many of the houses in London. 
Cute quirky windows and a back garden, I mean that's pretty good going ;-)
Give them some good insulation and your ready to go.
You can have a look at some pictures on their website.


After a day of walking and a rather hungry tummy,,,, my mum and I went on a hunt for The Lord Clifden. I had read loads of really good reviews on the internet, and then after a visit to this little vintage shop I got talking to the owner and she said we should definitely check it out.
So we did and the food was delish
There was such as great vibe as soon as you walked through the door, the staff welcomed you and there was a real mix of characters. And of course the décor was awesome, with prints from the likes of Banksy, Shepard Fairey and D*Face hanging on their walls.
There menu is great too, I had a hard time choosing between the Banksy & Shepard Burger; settling for the Shepard burger was was delicious! And my Mum ordered the Haddock which she said was perfect :-) 
So. If you are ever in Birmingham, with a hungry tummy that is the place to get your grub!
(and they have Brothers Strawberry Cider) 

And of course the last two pictures of of the Iconic Selfridges building!




Monday 15 October 2012

Shepard Fairey | OBEY Propaganda.



Last Friday Eerika (Who blog's at Breathe Me) and I went on a trip after Uni, to check out Shepard Faireys New Mural on Ebor Street. Me and Eerkia learn't about or mutual appreciation for Shepard's work last semester, when we both featured his prints in our sketchbooks as an area of inspiration. 
As we walked down Brick Lane from Aldgate East you could see Obey stickers everywhere! 
Once we found the mural we took a walk down to Spitalfields Market to have a look in the shops, and due to curiosity we decided to take a walk down Corbet Place and Grey Eagle Street and came across Shepherd and his team working on a new mural! 
As you can imagine, we couldn't believe our luck. 
We managed to catch of glimpse of Shepard before he disappeared through a door. We were slightly gutted but we watched for a while, and spoke about pea soup .
And possibly may have mentioned how excited we are about the upcoming exhibition at Stolen Space!!
!YAY!  

To find out more about Shepard Fairey & OBEY Propaganda check out www.obeygiant.com 







Monday 8 October 2012

cheyenne.

Another Spanish Adventure!!!

This is photo collection number four in my 'Picture from Spain' compilation : - )

This time Kate and I's adventure took us to an incredibly interesting location. 
We came across this rather large abandoned bar and club, alongside a small outer building.

The small building had literally been destroyed to its foundations!  



I think the contrast been the destruction and the nature was so incredibly interesting, and how nature itself had begun to grow over and inside the building.



We then came to this entrance, I think both me and Kate found it pretty incredible how this area was just completely open and available for any body to walk into. The large sign which you can see, I initially thought was a tag; but it turned out to actually be the name of the bar. As we walked around and noticed a sign that offered Salsa dancing! 

I could image, as I am sure you will agree once you have looked through the pictures that this space must have once been a pretty incredible place....









Kate found a blog that had featured a post on club Cheyenne, you can veiw it here. It appears that when the blogger found the abandoned club back in January 2009, there was no way of getting into the main area of the club.... but it is now completely open and free for anybody to explore!


(Both images taken from  http://atuaire-ingelmo.blogspot.co.uk/2009/01/discoteca-cheyenne-guardamar-del-segura.html )


There was also a basement,,, but what with the massive holes in the floor and the state of the building a venture down there really didn't seem that appealing..


This was the décor in one of the side rooms,,, which must have been interesting to look at back in the clubs hay-day.














Wednesday 3 October 2012

xplt.

Here is the follow on from yesterdays post!

Even though out of Kate and I, I am the one mostly interested in street art and graffiti, and I guess somewhat happily forced Kate into appreciating it too. 

But, if there was any person to venture into a dark place and scary place with its fearless Kate!



These pictures were taken of the last remnants of a wall that appeared to continue for ever! 
Kate and I came up with loads of possibilities as to what this structure could have been,,, 
with ideas from a massive demolished house; which seamed unlikely due to the massive trees that has since grown within the foundations. To possibly bricks laid out on the land as plan for a possible structure.....? 
But what with all the rubbish left behind which varied from toilet seats, to sinks, to shoes, and of course the some spray paint cans we had no idea!




As we walked further along the road we came to this collection of buildings, the moods felt as you explored these derelict spaces were incredibly varied. The first little building we went into pretty small and covered in some rather ugly text..... probably Spanish, but I have no idea?!

The only element that I could grasp any meaning of was the several anarchy signs, religious motifs and crossed out swastika.

In the rear corner of the room was a large circular hole, Kate was brave enough to lean over and look down and tried to use the flash on her camera to see what was at the bottom.

I had a quick look and figured I would watch from a distance. 

As one person down a hole is much better than two.





This is the other building near by, it was much larger, several rooms and two stories. 

Again Kate and I tried to figure out what it was and why it had been left to fall into such a massive state of disrepair........

walking around these buildings were incredibly exciting, and some of the graffiti was pretty good and interesting; but the buildings were also incredibly eerie, 




Shower cubicles...







Kate investigating the functioning of the swing doors.... ; - )






And of course by this point Kate and I were itching to whip up some stencils and create a massive piece for everyone on the highway to see! And find some more buildings to explore : - )



Some really interesting mosaic tiles!







 And so, at the end of that adventure Kate and I came to the conclusion that the building was formerly a restaurant. As you may have noticed, the very resturant like swing doors, the bar in the main room, the nestle sign and the sign in the picture above.

Then we wanted to know why the restaurant has closed?