DesignYak

End of the line: Attitudes in Drawing

I had a day off yesterday. Timed really well with the downpour. So off I went to Bristol museum, to see End of the line: Attitudes in drawing. You should visit, some amazing pencil drawings on display.

Banksy vs Bristol Museum

I finally visited the Banksy exhibition on Thursday at a private viewing organised by Bristol Media. And wow, what an exhibition. I think it fully justifies the unbelievable queues I've seen over the past few months (I'm glad I didn't have to queue though). The exhibition was full of wit and was really entertaining. It was good to walk through the whole museum to spot small adjustments Banksy had made the usual exhibits as well as the pieces he had created.

Firstly, an apology as some of these pics are a bit blurry, I was forced to take my girlfriend's camera as I couldn't find mine, but you'll get the idea. On entrance to the museum you were greeted by this ice cream van.

Some of the best pieces were based around food, these chicken nuggets were amazing, as well as the Tesco's haddock swimming round the goldfish bowl (still can't figure out how it was swimming) and the hot dogs. 

A few pieces concentrated on celebrity and vanity culture.

Banksy is a master of taking an idea and getting the message across in an instant.

Glad to see the environment feature in the show

Detail of a large painting of a monkey filled Houses of Commons.

The show is finishing 31st August, so not long left. I highly recommend getting down there if you haven't already, it's really worth it. 

Limited Edition Prints by Bark Design

Ben from Bark Design has been in contact to tell us of their new limited edition prints. 'This first batch is entitled “Domestic bliss” as the economy improves, the print editions will become much more decorative and colourful - Much like a ’barometer’ to economic recovery.' These prints are available to buy from the Soma Gallery in Bristol. Might take a trip there myself this weekend. Bark Design were generous enough to send their last self promotion item to me a while back, to see it click here. 

Lego bricks repairs damaged walls

I've seen these before, but thought I'd blog it this morning. Created by artist Jan Vormann, project 'dispatchwork' uses lego bricks to repair damaged walls.

 

Turner Prize 09 shortlist announced

The shortlist for the Turner Prize has been announced for 2009. The shortlist suggests a return to the more traditional arts. It looks promising, I went in my third year at Uni and I was really disappointed with what I saw. Looking at the artists, I've decided I'm supporting Enrico David, his work looks visually interesting and looks pretty surreal.

Enrico David, who now works in London, was born in Ancona, which is where my Grandma was born and raised, always a good reason to support someone. You can read about the shortlisted artists on the BBC website.

Tate Modern to have an extension

Tate Modern's extension plans have been granted, with the £215m project set to be completed by 2012. The design of the extension (pictured above) was created by Swiss architects, Herzog and de Meuron. 

Art on an iPhone

Artist, Jorge Colombo, has been creating these images of New York street life. His impressionistic sketches are created using the Brushes application (bought for $4.99) on his iPhone. One benefit is that he can “draw in the dark”; the illuminated screen allows him to create these lively and immediate pics. They are not pretentious but a great use of a really accessible tool. You can see more on Colombo’s website.

Hello again…

Thanks to Steve for inviting me to continue as a guest on the DesignYak, really enjoyed looking after the blog while he was off sunning himself, I’ll try to keep you posted on anything that catches my eye.

NB: Studio have collaborated with four leading artists (Anthony Burrill, Billie Jean, Paul Bower and James Joyce) to produce a series of unique images, the prints are really nice, you can see Clown by James Joyce below.

I checked out Joyce’s website, he’s done some great work, liked this cover of Wallpaper and an illustration he created for The New York Times way back in 2007 about the economic crisis in the US. Great stuff.

Photofit

I saw this quite a while back and thought it was a really interesting project, definitely worth a mention. Giles Revell and Matt Willey have produced a series of portraits using a Photofit kit, the images are often striking and the accompanying interviews give a great insight. You can see more on Giles Revell’s site.

The Watermarks Project

The Watermarks Project uses public art to make people aware of climate change and how it could affect Bristol. They are using large scale projections around the city all this week. I think they are really effective and deliver the message in a very simple way. I'm pretty sure I saw these guys doing this about 3 years ago, drawing on buildings in chalk on College Green. This is exactly the same but on a bigger scale, I wonder if it's the same people?