laughing with a mouth full of blood

Interesting times. Births, deaths, weather.

I'm at work while a typhoon rages in the background. I'm painting large messy figurative works. The future crashing inevitably towards them. It's very satisfying. Life's good when I'm just making art.
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Just back from a round the world adventure. First up was London where I was exhibiting as part of a group show called 'Daydreaming With...'. The exhibition was loosely based around the artists connections with James Lavelle of the band UNKLE, and was held at the, now Christie's owned, 'Haunch of Venison' gallery on Picadilly in the heart of London. The building is part of the Royal Academy building, a stunning Victorian space.

Goodbye Hong Kong...

 

Hello London....

 

The venue, Haunch of Venison. Honestly one of my favourite galleries (not just saying that because I'm in the show!). A real honor to have been invited to show my work there.

 

The main hall.

Kai and Sunny.

 

Futura

 

A human sized Bearbrick version of James that we made for a show in Hong Kong some years ago. There were hundreds of tiny see-through versions too. The tattoos on the bear are the same as Lavelle's own.

 

The wonderful Futura 2000, the original graffiti artist, from NYC. 

These paintings are by 3D, from the band Massive Attack. 

Painting by David Nicholson.

 

Film by Oswaldo Macia

 

Paintings at the end by Ian Monroe.

 

Installation by Turner prize winner Nathan Coley.

  

Cool video games by NYC collective, Faile. 

Stunning painting by Jonas Burgert. I managed to grab him for a beer after the opening part, super nice artist from Berlin. Very inspiring.

 

Fully working robot by John Nolan.

 

My installation was of a horse galloping in the darkness, in slow motion and in 3D. It's very difficult to get the impact of it across with photos but there was very positive feedback. We originally showed the film at Hope and Glory but with Florian's help, we dramatically re-edited it for the Haunch show. Terribly expensive thing to do as the rendering in 3D is slow, technically demanding and complicated.

 

One of the best works was a film by Jonathan Glazer but, unfortuntely, like my room, his was a film also showing in an extremely dark room which meant it was impossible to photograph.

Also impossible to shoot was the work of Assi Glasser, who's contribution was a scent that subtly floated throghout the exhibition.

My room with the lights on. A protected heritage room, hasn't changed since Victorian times.

 

Some photos from the opening here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=16892&id=109959399052989&ref=mf

Upstairs from my show was a great exhibition, a very Hope and Glory-ish installation by Joana Vasconcelos.

  

This amazing, and difficult to shoot, room was a maze of glow in the dark plastic plants. Stunning in real life, the photos don't do it justice.

 

Lovely work also upstairs by Polly Morgan, a young British artist that works with taxidermy.

 

Tea break at the Wolsely. A London classic.

Typical summer day in London.

The same day an hour later.

 

As a favour for a dear friend, I managed to squeeze in a photo shoot for her brand new fashion brand. It's called Eponine and I can honestly say I was stunned by her work. Great stuff modeled by the lovely Yvonne. Not available in shops but soon to be online.

These are some shots from the Saatchi Gallery. This is a private museum, free entrance, owned by a wealthy art collector, Charles Saatchi. He buys tons of art and then shares it with the world.

 

This is a sculpture, not real people.

Saatchi had his own TV show in UK recently where artists competed to be the next art star, not unlike our parody film 'The A Factor' but for real. This girl won with her installation of a fence with a bit of tree stuck on it.

 

The basement of the museum houses a room full of oil, a beautiful installation by Richard Long.

Back to the Haunch to take some more shots of the spectacular work by Joanna Vasconcelos and Polly Morgan.

 

Bodies dressed with cable ties....seems familiar....

  

Lots of small things put together to make one big thing.

  

This was one of my favourite works. Large ceramic dogs that hung from a rack. There was a button on the floor which, when pressed, caused the entire work to rotate which in turn caused the dogs to smash into each other.

 

White Cube.

The Wolsely.

 

Quick trip around East London, always fun... 

Hanging in Los Angeles, you might notice Dan and Lisa from Hong Kong. 

The ever charming Conan Hayes. Just back from Taihiti. Having not surfed professionally for ten years, Conan decided to go enter the Teahupoo big wave competition spontaneously. He didn't get a prize but it's more amazing that he didn't die and actually made a bunch of 15ft waves. 

My whip while in LA, new Porsche Cayenne. Dope. 

To be continued...