Ugly Side of Love

Gotta give a shout out to Malakai who finally released their album, Ugly Side of Love this week - and about time too!

On Wednesday the boys played an album launch gig down at the Louisiana to an audience packed in to the top room and I've gotta say this was one of the finest performances i have seen in ages - heavy beats, haunting vocals and rifts that had my head nodding all evening. The opening track 'Only for You' with its spooky repeated whispers set a tone that many felt a little unsure of - especially when Gee on lead vocals finally made eye contact with the crowd revealing some super heavy eye make up that made him look wilder than one of Strokes Croft's finest. When the first drum beat dropped so heavily i almost jumped out of my skin, but was reassured to see i was not alone - that one took us by surprise!

Highlights for me were (predictably) Snowflake, Blackbird and Shitkicker (aka The Battle) but perhaps that is because I'm familiar with these tracks already... but it was awesome to hear the stuff i hadn't heard before. Don't just take my word for it - grab yourself a copy here, you wont be disappointed. The Bristol Sound for 2009.

You'll also be treated to a CD booklet that contains artworks by Paris, Milk, Mr Jago, FLX, Andy Council and myself...

3 Wise Malakai Monkeys by Acerone

Crimes of Passion

In Spring 2009 the Royal West Of England Academy in Bristol is hosting a major show of new work by the city’s best known and most successful graffiti and street artists. Crimes Of Passion is the first major show of its kind in the city since the Arnolfini’s groundbreaking 1985 show, Graffiti Art and is a celebration of the city’s rich and diverse contemporary scene.
Crimes Of Passion takes the love of (and heartfelt dedication to) the art form as its starting point, with Bristol’s leading street and graffiti artists working both directly onto the walls of the gallery and exhibiting works on canvas, as well as exhibiting threedimensional pieces and installations. The show will also include a city wide programme of large-scale painting, a film season at local arts cinema The Cube (www.cubecinema.com) and a series of painting workshops and talks run in conjunction with the local Council and schools in the city.
Bristol has nurtured many of the UK’s most successful graffiti and street artists, including 3D, Inkie, Banksy, Nick Walker, Sickboy and TCF Crew, to name a few. The city continues to be a breeding ground for a wealth of exceptional creative talent and continues to have one of the UK’s most diverse and thriving scenes.
The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is one of only five Royal Academies of Art in the UK. It is a registered charity that has been self-supporting for over 150 years and possesses an outstanding Grade II listed building, galleries and permanent fine art collection. Opened in 1858, the RWA was Bristol’s first art gallery.

In no particular order, artists involved in the show include: 3D, Nick Walker, Filthy Luker, FLX, Sickboy, Cyclops, Rowdy, Inkie, Mr.Jago, Acerone, Dicy, Feek, Ponk, Seza, Banksy, Xenz, Ziml, Eco, Paris, Mudwig, What Collective, Cheo, Soker, Will Barras, and Andy Council.

Bedmonsters

Ziml + Acer

Dean Lane, Bedminster, Bristol

Nice to have a Sunday graff social today. Its always gotta be a big piece when painting with Ziml, average sized pieces just dont seem to satisify any more. Its pretty large this one...

Good to see Swishrelic and Knautia who passed through as well as Shab, Turroe and Sorse. I think we might see alot more from the old school Bristol boys this summer - hope to anyway!

CSB Screen Print - Done!

Hot off the printing press and drying on the rack, the new Clifton Suspension Bridge hand pulled 4 colour screen print.
I'm really pleased with how this has come out and it superseded my expectations - the ink really pops out on the Lustralux black paper.

A big thanks again to those who have placed orders for one - feel free to contact me if you would like to make an order for a standard edition print before they go on sale officially at the 'Crimes of Passion' Bristol Street Art exhibition at the RWA next month.

Clifton Suspension Bridge
Limited edition of 50 - 15 Hand Finished, 35 standard edition
4 colour hand pulled silk screen print on heavyweight Lustralux paper
Approx 450mm x 640mm
Special offer price - £65 plus £8 P&P

To buy or enquire contact me at lukepalmer78@hotmail.com

Another Bridge Shot...

Bristol University Wills Memorial Building

A bit more night time action from Park Street...

Everyone Loves a Snow Shot

All layers

All layers now done except for a few finishing touches that need to be added.

It seems the dodgy reflections in the acetate (see last post) are causing more trouble than expected. I need to photograph each of the layers perfectly so that they can be edited a little in photoshop to get them ready for turning into silkscreens, however the reflections are seriously getting int he way! I have tried it all, lighting it from all angles, draping black velvet blankets over my head, tripod and camera, shooting it in near darkness, but nothing seems to work.

Last time i made a print i took the acetate layers to a guy in the Create Centre who has a A1 scanner and managed to get clear, crisp and perfect images of each of the layers - will be paying him a visit again next week then!

Weird Reflections...

Top blogger and Bristol based photographer Lil' Pete (and smelly toed climber) just asked me what was causing all the weird reflections on the picture of the artwork i have been posting for the Suspension Bridge print. I guess others might have wondered too, and the simple answer is because each colour is painted directly onto acetate which, like glass, is highly reflective.

I chose to make this print (and the North St. print) using a process that stays as true the wall paintings i have made as possible.

So when making a print i start by taking the original photograph. This is then altered in Adobe Photoshop and the light areas printed out onto acetate (OHP paper). I project the light areas onto matt black mounting board and paint white paint into the areas of the highlights. This becomes the first layer.

The second layer, usually red, is painted onto a sheet of A2 acetate that sits on top of the first layer. This way i can accurately trace the white layer and add the red paint to the areas that will eventually be printed red. I then repeat this process for each of the different colours - in this prints' case, yellow and green. The reason for separating each colour as a new layer is to do with turning each layer into a separate silk screen to make the prints with. Each of the individual acetate layers are photographed in high resolution and imported into Photoshop, messed with a little bit and then printed back out in grayscale onto yet another sheet of acetate which is eventually 'burned' into a silk screen.

Complicated i know - and there are far easier ways to achieve a similar result, but i have decided to keep the process of making a print as true to the way i make a wall painting as i possibly can. I hope that this goes some way to capturing the energy of a large scale wall painting into the far smaller silk screen print...

So that is my long winded answer to a very simple question - Cheers Pete!

Layer 3 Yellow

Yellow layer completed.

Just the green of the lights to do (layer 4) and then the white cutbacks - the artwork is nearly done. Hopefully tomorrow ill have a date from the boys at Screen One as to when we can get this one printed - fingers crossed it wont be long!

Thanks again to all those who have supported me in the pre-ordering...

:-)