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Vertical Gallery's very good friend Xenz has a very special solo exhibition opening at Fluorescent Smogg in Barcelona this week. Go to www.fluorescentsmogg.com for more details.

Xenz: The Moon On A Stick
Opening Event: Thursday 30th April, 7-11pm
Project Space, Carrer de Radas 41, T2, Poble Sec 08004, Barcelona

Xenz’s opulent wildlife scenes are replaced with a stripped-back colour palette, creating arresting compositions that highlight our post-industrial landscape with dreamlike execution. Bridging the gap between graffiti and decorative fine art, Xenz’s work is both grounded in the present and provides a welcome escapism from contemporary routine. The contemplative artist addresses themes of identity, relationship, success and competition increasingly associated with modern life, and presents a pensive look at the current state of things.

The Moon On A Stick celebrates Xenz’s debut collaborative venture with Fluorescent Smogg, featuring a five-colour screenprint (edition of 25), hand-finished special edition (edition of 5), and a super limited box set edition of A3 black and white prints with an original sketch (edition of 4). The multifaceted print release will be accompanied by a unique site-specific takeover of the Barcelona project space, extending ideas intrinsic to the print’s development and incorporating a series of unique artworks. A limited run of black and white show posters will also be available to purchase exclusively on the opening night.

 

 

Inkie is one of the most notorious and prolific graffiti writers in UK history to emerge out of the 80’s Bristol scene. Painting alongside 3D, Nick Walker and Banksy, in 1989 the ‘Kingpin’ was arrested as the head of 72 other writers in the UK’s largest ever Graffiti bust, Operation Anderson. He now curates and helps to organize Europe's largest Street Art event ‘See No Evil’ which attracted over 50,000.

Inkie has since worked as head of design for SEGA, Xbox and currently works as Jade Jagger’s in-house designer as well as running a West London design studio creating prints, illustrations and clothing. The globally respected artist, whose diverse inspirations include Mayan architecture, William Morris, Mouse & Kelly, Alphons Mucha and Islamic geometry has exhibited worldwide, and been outed as Banksy’s right hand man by The Daily Mail and simultaneously lauded by The Times. His art has been published in the books Banksy’s Bristol, Children of the Can, Graffiti World, Street Fonts and magazines GQ and Dazed & Confused. More recently, Inkie has been nominated as one of Time Out and The Hospital Club’s most influential 100 people in their h.Club 100 poll for 2012. He’s also a member of the Courvoisier future 500.

Inkie is featured in the seminal 2007 LA graffiti documentary film ‘Bomb It’, the Sky Arts documentary ‘From Tags to Riches’ as well as the BBC’s ‘Drawing the Line’. His recent exhibitions include London, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Ibiza, Warsaw, Belfast and Lisbon. His work is coveted by celebrity collectors including: Robbie Williams, Jade Jagger, Fatboy Slim, Roots Manuva, Alan Carr, Massive Attack & Sean Pertwee, amongst others.

Leading up to our big 2-year anniversary show, we're going to share bios on each of the participating artists with a preview of one of their works for the show.

Today we feature Mr. Prvrt: Born on a family farm in upstate New York, Mr. Prvrt is an artist who marries the rural and the urban. Celebrating wildlife, he paints flora and fauna flawlessly over concrete and brick. The animals he paints come to life as the viewer is drawn into the world of the painting. A valued handler of birds of prey at Wild Wings Animal Sanctuary outside Rochester, NY, he is able to capture the majesty of the natural world through his explosive graphics and remarkable technique. He also works well with humans, with a rich history of collaborating with other artists on a vast array of murals.

Mr. Prvt’s work has been exhibited throughout the world and his wall commissions can be found throughout the US.

Leading up to our big 2-year anniversary show, we're going to share bios on each of the participating artists with a preview of one of their works for the show.

Today we feature STATIC: STATIC is the creative output of London-based image makers Tom Jackson and Craig Evans who have been producing limited editions and original works in house and by hand since 2006. Their work is known for its blend of graphic and patterned imagery created through a combination of screen printing and mixed media techniques. STATIC’s work is constructed from found visual imagery as well as symbols and signifiers from modern culture which they continue to apply to a wide range of surfaces, including wood, metal, perspex and glass.

Since 2010, STATIC have been producing layered glass works which have been exhibited in the UK, Japan, Singapore, Italy, the US, India and Russia. In 2013 a selection of pieces from their ‘Phantasms of the Living’ show was added to the private art collection of the Saudi Arabian Royal Family and in 2014 they were commissioned by Activision to create a unique Camo pattern for the release of the new Call Of Duty AW game launch.

Follow STATIC on Instagram: WELIKESTATIC

Leading up to our big 2-year anniversary show, we're going to share bios on each of the participating artists with a preview of one of their works for the show.

Today we feature Tankpetrol: Tankpetrol is a Polish street artist, now based in Manchester. He uses stencils as his main medium, which he entangles with carefully placed background details, making neat, well-executed art pieces.

Born in 1982 in Poland as Irek Jasutowicz, he spent his teenage years doing graffiti tags. His obsession over details, visible in his artwork, was noticeable in his childhood – he used to spend hours assembling plastic models of planes, boats and tanks. In the later years, he joined the army, where he was a tank driver and tank gunner – and that’s from where his moniker originated. After quitting his army job, in 2006 he moved to Manchester in search of a decent paid job which he couldn’t find in Poland. It was in Manchester where Tankpetrol first got in touch with stencil art, inspired and influenced by anonymous street artists.

His search of personal style and development led him to complex looks, in which he tries to fade stencils and spray paint using other techniques like acrylic paint and various mixed media. Although he doesn’t want to use multi-layered stencils, in order to preserve a certain look of stencil art in his pieces, Tank’s works are highly detailed, full of background elements like upside-down triangles, geometric shapes, self-made fonts, typography and logotypes. Central figures in his work in most cases are women dressed in military fashion, surrounded by animals and depicted in strong posture.

Using a combination of stencils, fonts and traditional paint, Tank is comfortable working across a variety of media and projects that include painting, customizing, creating large scale murals, interior design and carpentry, always retaining the finest quality of his works.

Tankpetrol has gone on to be commissioned by Sven Vath, Channel4, Adidas, Microsoft, Carhartt, San Disk and Red Bull. He has done live painting for many UK and international festivals and events in Sweden, Germany, Lithuania, Malaysia, Poland and France. Tank has exhibited internationally.

Follow Tank Petrol on Instagram: TANKPETROL