London to Los Angeles, from the perpetually overcast to the consistently sun soaked, Art No Cube is pleased to announce CRAZE, an exhibition of contemporary street art and a bridge between the two world renowned centers of counter culture.
Opening Reception May 12, 7PM-10PM, The Whole 9 Gallery
CRAZE
London is an eclectic hub of international artists who flock to this Metropol to explore, to find their voice, to create and to inspire culture. This vibrant city has made a name for itself with high quality art and it's been recognized as the global center of emerging culture and trends. Street Art is one of the most prominent and influential art forms to be found in London; this ever changing canvas of subversive ideas has become the biggest artistic movement of the 21st Century, attracting international visitors, art professionals and fellow artists.
Street art has given artists a revolutionary way of communicating and expressing their views and commentary. Work that promotes social change and makes radical thinking accessible for big audiences. Street art has proven to serve as a powerful tool to raise awareness and create social resistance. And social media has amplified this, allowing people to spread the work and interact with the artists.
Craze will bring the latest and best work of these artistic trouble makers to Los Angeles. It will showcase the rebellious, the innovative, the political, the provocative and the critical. We invite you to experience an art show of freestyle creativity and feel the London vibe from up close and to become part of this exciting conversation.
the artists
A political refugee from the Middle East in the early 80′s, Aida had been an associate lecturer (2004-2015) and alumni on the Surface Design Program at the LCC for 15 years. Some of the highlights of her teaching career have been her Course Directorship for the Foundation Course in Applied Arts at the LCC (2004/05) and the EDPM Intensive Program at Budapest Tech Polytechnical Institution in 2009.
Fueled by a visit to The Hayward Gallery in 2007 to see ‘The Painting of Modern Life’, her obsession with painting and photography and their relationship was formed. After receiving a first class Fine Art degree from Cardiff School of Art she went on to co-run a voluntary arts space / studios and gallery ’The Abacus’ in the centre of Cardiff as well as the Street Art festival, ‘Empty Walls’ for two years, submerging herself in a creatively fueled environment, alongside maintaining her own practice.
Pang lives and works in London, painting both in the studio and around the city. Most of her work can be found in London, and she has painted walls in Rome, Lisbon, Paris, Vienna, Palermo, Marrakech, Ibiza, Seville and Poznan.
Exploring themes of psychology, mass social behaviour and the human condition, her work contains a grisly, humorous narrative that vividly expresses her morbidly curious nature, and the more awkward questions regarding social facade, the inner-self and humanity’s constant struggle between the two.
Edwin is a multi-disciplinary artist, based in London, whose practice spans from critically-responsive street art to contemporary sculptural pieces. Depending on the intended statement, he easily shifts between painting, drawing and photography, often employing layers of text or symbols and found objects to create a semi-autobiographical account of events witnessed or experienced.
For Edwin, no surface is untouchable. In fact, public space should be open to all: to be used as a platform for public conversation, especially in a climate where certain communities struggle to have their voices heard or find their views censored. Edwin is seeking to bridge the gap, to bring out the underlying concerns of all who call this city home, and to even out the playing field.
Mobstr’s typographical street art blatantly spells out many issues involving the dichotomy between the urban “public” environment and those who inhabit this space with great satirical humor. In a city filled with adverts on every corner, continuously demanding our attention, Mobstr’s work acts as the anti advertisement.
Clever and arresting, his witty sayings stop pedestrians in their tracks and, even if for a moment, cause one to begin asking questions about the world around them.
Wasp Elder is a socially engaged artist whose aim is to paint murals that communicate with people. He often paints pictures populated by enigmatic figures and unstressed backgrounds, enticing a sentiment of an obscure journey.
His paintings present an evocative combination of sol- itary gures, collaged scenes, close-ups and obscured features.
Through this working process he is able to present often marginalized figures through a dignified representation. Highlighting their humanity outside of the conflict that is seen to define them.His work is an attempt to echo how we filter information around us with the result being presented like a blurred memory or statement, not the statement its self.
Darren Cullen is a satirical artist, illustrator and writer, born in Leeds to Irish parents and currently based in London. Cullen initially thought he to go into advertising as a career, studying it at Leeds College of Art where he learned the language and techniques of the medium but became steadily horrified at the ethical implications involved. Claiming that “manipulating the desires and aspirations of the public, and especially children, using an arsenal of sophisticated and emotionally damaging psychological techniques is an appalling way to make a living and an even worse way to sustain an economy.”
Cullen abandoned advertising to study Fine Art at Glasgow School of Art. He now uses the language of advertising to make work about the empty promises of consumerism and the lies of military recruiters. Releasing his first comic, an anti-army recruitment booklet sarcastically called ‘Join the Army’ in 2013 (bethemeat.co.uk).