Wooden Toy Quarterly

This was a small pop-up exhibition at the Concrete Hermit Gallery, Wooden Toy Quarterly is essentially a magazine that features art work from mostly street artists and graphic designers. In this particular show they were featuring screen prints of Timba Smits, customised 12" vinyl's and selling their quarterly magazine editions. The gallery also has a shop, which sells street art, illustration and graphic design books so this exhibition was perfect for the chosen space. 
Work was presented in a a very original way, it felt like I was entering their personal shop as you could purchase the books that were on display and there was a cabinet with Wooden Toy Quarterly logo lit up from the inside which had the records hanging inside. The exhibition included an interactive piece, viewers had to push the button and one of the custom vinyl's span around on the wall display. I thought was great, pieces like that always make exhibitions more exciting and break it down from just looking at the work. My favourite pieces were the customised spray cans with gloomy colours, the illustration style was exactly what I am interested in at the moment. 
The atmosphere was vibrant and I was surrounded by so many reds, blues and wooden textures, it created a great mood and I just wanted to stay and observe pieces for as long as possible. After viewing this exhibition I felt like creating some of my own three-dimensional pieces and experimenting more with colour and textures. 
Over all it was a great experience its always nice to view the work I liked seeing online in real life, makes me appreciate it even more. 

Reverting to Type from Lima Charlie on Vimeo.

Reverting to Type

An exhibition of contemporary artists from all over the world coming together to show how old fashioned type is brought back in to our every day use at the Standpoint Gallery. All works confined in a small two room gallery space really came together, as most prints were small to medium size and not the standard paper shape they were thoughtfully scattered around the gallery's walls. I really enjoyed observing the works piece by piece, trying to figure out what methods were being used. There were no labels indicating printing methods, I guess the artists wanted it to turn in to an interactive display so viewers took time to notice and examine.
Most artists have used letterpress and screen printing as their main technique some merged lino cutting and digital print into their works. I thought Team Nerd and Prensa La Libertad had the most successful pieces, primarily because they had interesting combinations of printing techniques as well as blending typography and colour. The idea that this exhibition was based on was clearly shown by all the pieces, we see letterpress and other print methods being introduced in to posters and advertising campaigns everyday.
I was amazed by how this simple old craft method has been around for centuries and yet it is only being re-born now, every single letter looked perfect even if it wasn't filled completely with ink. With all the new printing technology it is easy to forget how precious the manually printed pieces can look. This exhibition has inspired me to begin using letterpress in my own work, I hope to one day produce pieces as high quality as these!

Red Star Over Russia

An especially dedicated show room to Soviet Era posters at Tate Modern. This small room has definitely become my favourite out of all of the modern art filled spaces in the Museum. I have always been a fan of Soviet poster art as it has one of a kind style and the modern look they have to the time when they were produced is extraordinary. 

As the viewer I felt like I was there to observe and soak in the vibe of what people of Soviet Russia felt during the October Revolution in 1917. Being able to read the text and understand the phrases has given me more knowledge about the work. It was clear that people united to produce these posters despite the hard times, they wanted to show the communal power by using simple printing techniques with bold text and imagery. The room is filled with works from floor to ceiling, so in a way you are being surrounded by all the messages without consciously realising. 

Once I have looked at all the pieces, I felt curious of what printmaking was like back then and whether following the old fashioned method of printing is better rather then developing short-cuts or using hight technology equipment to produce prints. This work has thought me to appreciate the original printmaking methods a little more. It was great to see a piece of  history presented in graphic design form.