Best of the Shadow Puppets – Noble & Webster

Back to back

Noble & Webster – I heard about this duo a little while ago so it was with baited breathe that I waited for the next opportunity to see their work in person. It arrived in the shape of Nihilistic Optimism at Blain Southern.

Shadow Chic

Many artists are too studious, too serious, too up their own fucking arse…. no names mentioned ahem. Tim Noble and Sue Webster are like the rock n roll version of artists, ones that you can well imagine living slightly in hedonistic debauchery. The now estranged couple were once married, married in fact by one Tracey Emin, the holy matrimony did not last however and for the sake of their creative partnership they had to split. Since then they still work together and thank goodness for that.

Solo Shadow

Through their Shoreditch studio designed by David Adjaye, the Dirty House, they have created some of the most visually striking pieces I have seen.

Shadow Man

On first site the constructs look like industrial piles, thrown together with abandon and with more of a maverick approach, but once shine the bright light through the shapes at the correct angle something beautiful appears across the wall.

Lone Shadow

Each of the pieces when placed together in a certain order with the correct spacing will shine a silhouette

Shadow Lands

SF does not own a big studio to house one their pieces but we are currently considering removing all the lounge furniture in order to house one of these creations.

Seeing the music

Love a bit of progress at SF, and music is one area that the digi age has changed the game and made music more accessible, sound different, play different, be shared differently and most of all stored differently.

Back in the day you would have stacks of vinyl, tapes and then CDs in your bedroom or front room, in themselves they were decoration and status symbols. What music are you into? Have you got the rare live album? etc.

The decoration or the aesthetic of music is the one thing that the digital age has affected in a negative way, the record sleeve has become almost redundant.

Artists such as Peter Blake and Peter Saville made their names through creating iconic album art work that caught the imagination of a generation, and generations to come. SF have collected some amazing sleeves through the years, some have been given as presents, others framed and hung and some out on display. All chosen not so much for the artist or the quality of the track, but because the combination of the music, the era, the artist, the track the title and the visual created something which is more than the sum of all of it’s parts.

Here are a few

Ferry = don

Roxy music were visually on it, from the suits to the videos to this amazing plastic collection

Gorgeous George

Rocking the salmon v-neck knit, Benson made signing about prostitutes sound romantic

Grace

What can you say about these?

Captain

Sounds a bit like a threat from Captain Grace…. ‘I’ll be seeing you….’

One is never enough

And then this….

Sex pest?

Yes Cliff Richard. A strange choice you have every right to think until you see the video. Who says this man is boring, lacks vision and has no talent? The guy skating around in a leather onesie says different. Wired indeed

Instagram – #thisisnow

Ultimate Instatwatting

Great aggregator app here, you can post your pictures for the world to see anytime and you can also see what is happening in some of the best cities in the world. Visit Now now

Simply add #thisisnow to your instagram pictures to join the party. Really nice idea here, so many people are on Instagram now and it is great to dip into what is happening all around the world at any time from the comfort of where you are sat

Funny Art-Soul

Cuddle up

SF has been a lil quite in recent days, this bloody work thing combined with bust shoulder and no transport. However there are other ways to share a little visual love.

Post smiles

Great website I stumbled upon recently Walls to Watch, has a great array of art, photography, graf, stencils, pottery etc etc. A lot of it seems pretty random and has been sent in from around the world.

Rolling doubles

The personal and possibly limited view of StandFact is that what you see should make a difference, and hopefully move you, currently the top of the list of things to look for are things that raise a wee smile, cause a titter and maybe make you release a little bit of wee with glee

Choca bloc

Well you know how much I love lego…

Ich liebe Berlin. That is all

Mit Zug

Best cities in the world…. London, New York and Berlin. But for me Berlin takes it after another lost weekend in the city of Sin. The one that the local government said they wanted to bill as ‘aber sexy’. Well the locals they might not agree but to many foreigners it is.

Paint & Sunshine

Berlin is the party capital of the world, somewhere along the line Berliners decided that parties, lax drug laws and sex would be the key to making it the go to location. They were right.

Artistic influence

Berlin is a melting pot with history, immigration, culture, art and banging techno. At the moment there is a little unrest in the city due to Gentrification and the locals rebelling against the hipsters and development of less desirable areas driving the rents too high for the locals who were there before skinny jeans, colourful tattoos and apple macs. Berlin has a very high unemployment rate, the highest homeless rates in the whole of Germany and the average wage is pretty low, the rents are also low which is what has attracted so many English, Italians, Spanish and French creative types. The mix of these cultures has made some areas so desirable to tourists who bring in money, it is a catch 22.

Humble abode

Now I am not going to go into details but rest assured it involved sampling some of what makes Berlin so > insert here <

And I ate here… typical

A little of home

Things I’ve seen….

Mooching around the city I call home has become rather difficult in the last 3 weeks, being as I was knocked off of my bike and bust my shoulder and cut my face open…. and then had my bike stolen while I was unconscious… but that is another story

So here are a few piece I have spotted on my hobbles around Londres….

Pez dispenser

Pez is a cute artist, his stuff adorning the walls and trains and sometimes even galleries in Barcelona, London, NYC, Amsterdam and beyond since 1999. On my recent trip to Barcelona to dance my ass off at Sonar his fishy pieces were everywhere, a bit like our friend Sweet Toof in London. He is the signature of Barca for me.

Then something I have seen more and more of recently in the Eastend…

BFC head

Relatively new to London but making a bit of a splash, more info to follow on Broken Fingaz Crew Love this, it looks like some weird super hero cum slasher porno mag from Sin City

That’s all paint pickers… until next time

Spencer Tunick – Munich 2012

Thats a lot of naked

Spencer Tunick is one of my fave photographers / artist out there, using scale to create some staggering shots. At some point I am going to manage to sell in an idea to my client to get Tunick involved in a campaign, and even more so to be a part of one of these shots.

Red n gold

Recently Tunick was asked to create an image to celebrate the launch of the new opera season in Munich at the Max Josephplatz, using 1700 people painted in red and gold. I’d explain more but this video which strangely seems to be voiced by Stephen Hawkings does a better job than I could do.

Red floor

Spencer Tunick if you are reading this then I have an idea for East London I think we should have a wee chat about. Hit me up

Skindeep – Julien Palast

Rubbered sickpack +…….

Spotted this today and thought it looked amazing, very beautiful but pretty damn erotic too me thinks. Julien Palast has shrink wrapped some clearly beautiful people, this would not work with fatties but with the 00% fat on these they look amazing

Ass shot

The sixpack through the rubber creates some amazing contours and shapes and that with the colour projected onto the surface it looks brilliant.

Vivid coloured boobs

Rainbow alien

http://www.palast.fr/