Street & Urban Art « Arrested Motion

Category Archives: Street & Urban Art

Showing: Sebas Velasco – “A New Error” (London)

Posted by feralthings, October 17, 2021

This week, the Spanish artist Sebas Velasco opened his first solo exhibition in London entitled A New Error. The show presents 16 new works on canvas and wood which capture forgotten urban environments at night and into daybreak. Velasco’s style, with its aversion to idealism and the picturesque, contains references to the Realism of both Gustave Courbet, who was at the forefront of the movement in the 19th century, and his own compatriot Antonio López García. Both Courbet and García sought to capture the visible […]

Studio Visits: Sickboy – “Dreamworlds POV” @ Mirus Gallery (SF)

Posted by feralthings, October 6, 2021

Returning to San Fransisco next Friday for his second exhibition with Mirus Gallery, Sickboy (interviewed) will be presenting a new series of paintings and sculpture entitled Dreamworlds POV. Arrested Motion paid a visit to the Bristol-based artist’s studio, which is housed in a former Victorian church, to see what he has in store. Sickboy’s installation at the Vanguard museum show (covered) takes viewers from a 2D painting, through a 3D sculpture and onwards to an ethereal 4D otherworld. This new body of work builds on that […]

Showing: “Vanguard” @ M-Shed

Posted by feralthings, September 2, 2021

Currently midway through a four month run at Bristol’s M-Shed Museum, Vanguard explores the development of the city’s graffiti and street art scene and its global impact from the early 1980s until today. The exhibition opens with the story of the birth of graffiti in the city and how the spark lit by Robert ‘3D’ Del Naja and the Z-Boys was kindled into a flame at the Dugout youth club in Barton Hill. That story has been told many times before, both in print and […]

Showing: Mr Jago – ‘Imbolc’ @ Unit London

Posted by feralthings, May 18, 2021

Returning for his third exhibition with Unit London, Mr Jago is currently presenting a new body of work entitled Imbolc. The name is derived from the traditional Gaelic festival which marks the beginning of spring and the large-scale canvases, which strike a deliberately hopeful tone, are a celebration of renewal and new beginnings. Imbolc falls at the midpoint between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and there is a sense that the show’s optimism for brighter days to come is grounded in the realistic […]

Showing: Miss Van – ‘Pale Moonlight Muses’ @ Dorothy Circus (London)

Posted by feralthings, May 15, 2021

Currently on view at Dorothy Circus’ recently opened London space, Pale Moonlight Muses presents a series of sensuous portraits by leading street artist Miss Van. The paintings are smaller and more intimate than those which we have become accustomed to seeing from the Toulouse-native. The seductive finish to the paintings and the blue velveteen walls on which they are hung have the effect of physically drawing the viewer in closer to the works which, in turn, triggers a heightened emotional response and connection. The canvases range […]

Openings: “KAWS: WHAT PARTY” @ Brooklyn Museum

Posted by sleepboy, February 26, 2021

Tonight in New York, the Brooklyn Museum opened KAWS: WHAT PARTY to the public, featuring more than 100 works including drawings, paintings, sculptures, smaller collectibles, furniture, and larger-than-life COMPANION figures. The comprehensive exhibition is surprisingly the Brooklyn-based artist’s first major museum survey in New York, touching on the highlights of his 25 year career from his early rarely seen graffiti drawings and notebooks, to examples his now famous xx-eyed characters painted on fashion ads in phone booths and bus shelters, to the continuation of this figurative work into the fine […]

Streets: Banksy (Bristol)

Posted by feralthings, December 11, 2020

Delivering an early Christmas present to the people of Bristol, Banksy has painted a new work depicting a sneezing pensioner in the neighborhood of Totterdown. The area acquired its name because the steepness of the hills make it appear that the terrace houses are tottering, or tumbling, down the precipitous slope towards the River Avon below. The piece itself is located on Vale Street which at 22° is the steepest residential street in the UK and the native West Country artist has played with these angles […]

Streets: Banksy (Nottingham)

Posted by sleepboy, October 17, 2020

Making good use of a prop, Banksy has struck again with some covert art-making in the city of Nottingham in the UK. Stenciled in behind a dilapidated bike with a missing wheel, a girl can be seen using the said tire sans spokes as a hula hoop. Painted on the wall of a salon on Rothesay Avenue, the whimsical piece has already attracted local vandals to spray over it despite being protected by perspex and being cleaned multiple times. Photo credit: @mikespencer58, @mary_christina90, @rossswift, and […]

Showing: Vhils – “Momentum” @ Danysz Gallery (Paris)

Posted by sleepboy, October 16, 2020

Earlier this week, Danysz Gallery’s space in Paris presented a selection of new works from Vhils (interviewed). Entitled Momentum, the exhibition begins a new cycle of reflection that focuses on the idea of fossilization – “of capturing various symbolic material elements from our present-day culture in order to preserve them for the future as a fossil-like memory of the current times.” Further refining his unique techniques of mark-making, the Lisbon-based artist has created a compelling new set of works that demonstrate the breadth of his practice. Vhils further […]

Streets: Shepard Fairey – “Voting Rights Are Human Rights” (Milwaukee)

Posted by sleepboy, October 16, 2020

Shepard Fairey (interviewed) recently completed a new mural in Milwaukee entitled Voting Rights Are Human Rights. Created in collaboration with local artists Tyanna Buie, Niki Johnson, Tom Jones, Claudio Martinez, and Dyani Whitehawk, the wall brings attention to voter suppression, something especially prevalent in Wisconsin which often targets communities of color. Painted on the side of the Colby Abbot Building in downtown, the piece’s central figure is based on a mid-60’s civil rights march photo by Steve Shapiro. Learn more about the project here. Photo credit: @jonathanfurlong & @nikijohnsonstudio. Discuss Shepard […]