[painting by SheOne]
The ArchitectsIn the 1980s the words art and graffiti were rarely seen in the same sentence. Young people, inspired by the Hip-Hop and graffiti scene from across the Atlantic, picked up aerosol cans as a means to express themselves but were quickly labelled as vandals and criminals. Now, 20 years on, things have changed with street artists being given well-deserved recognition for their talent and message.
Keith Hopewell aka Part2ism is one of the UK's leading contemporary street artists and when approached by newly established gallery AtomRooms to curate an exhibition, he decided to go straight to the root of his influences.
His group show "The Architects" features some of London's most important artists who emerged from the original generation of graffiti artists in the 1980s. The show will highlight how Pride, SheOne, Prime and Fuel have bridged the gap from their early days as graffiti artists to their current status as fine artists with works ranging from charcoal, metalwork, graphic illustration to paint and aerosol on canvas. AtomRooms will offer for sale original works, together with fine art giclée prints, posters and postcards.
Open to the public from 24th September 2010 to 3rd October 2010, the exhibition will look at these four individual artists who have always pushed the envelope and at where their new work bridges the gap between what they created in the past and the fine art they produce today.
Errol Donald (Pride) was a founder member of The Chrome Angelz (TCA), widely acknowledged as the UK's most prolific and influential graffiti crew. In the mid-'80s they transformed Covent Garden and presented London's first-ever graffiti art exhibition as part of the 'Freestyle 85' Hip-Hop event. Pride was one of the first artists to exhibit professionally and undertake commercial commissions and has since established himself at a senior level within the both the creative and educational sectors. Metalwork installations and letter-based illustrations will feature within the exhibition.
Born James Choules in London 1969, SheOne has been producing art for over 20 years and now specialises in spectacular black and white abstractions three of which he will present for this show. These are based on typographic expression, rooted in '80s new wave graffiti, and tied brilliantly to space. They work just as well on canvas as they do on city walls. Over a twenty-year career, SheOne has offered his unique painterly style to a variety of surfaces. As an exhibiting gallery artist, his work has been shown in Asia, Australia, and Europe. SheOne's installations garner a reputation for their innate ability to tackle difficult spaces. His reputation has also grown through collaborative efforts in product development.
Matthew Bradford (Fuel) represents the type of artist who reacts to the world around him. His early years, set against the backdrop of Thatcher's government of privatisation and the promotion of individualism in the '80s, created for Fuel an unhealthy obsession with expressing himself on trains. Wanted on Crimewatch as one of London's most notorious graffers, Fuel has created an outstanding back catalogue of work in the most dangerous of circumstances. When security became stricter he was left mourning trains and has now moved his attention to contemporary fine art creating dramatic and enveloping abstracts on canvas.
For over two decades, Mark Sinckler (Prime) has been known as one of London's leading graffiti writers, combining the dynamism of street art with a style and execution that encompasses a wide range of creative, political and cultural influences. In 2008 Prime began working in charcoal as a basis for new work, stripping away the layers of his previous creative process to form a connection to the primal and ancestral through large-scale drawings. In his latest series, he explores how classical religious iconography and the structural actuality of modern urban living may merge, forming surreal expressions of landscape, scenes and portraits as a critique of the paradoxical state of belief.
The Architects will re-unite for a private view on Thursday 23rd September 2010 at AtomRooms, 328 Portobello Road, London 6-9pm and the exhibition will be open to the public from 24th September - 3rd October 2010.
For more information, contact Georgia Dussaud atomrooms@me.com or 07889 177 422.
