Volta BCN Design Story – the Electric Motorc...

The Volta Bcn is the 1st electric motorbike unveiled by Volta Motorbikes at EICMA last November born from the collaboration with the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) & the Design & Innovation studio Anima Barcelona.Volta. The Project Volta Motorbikes is the new full electric motorbikes brand founded by Marc Barcelo, Industrial Engineer with a big experience in automotive field, with the main aim of creating environment friendly urban motorbikes without renouncing to brilliant performances & seductive design. (Source Cardesigncommunity.com)

Abstract Art Prints: Limited Editions Or Unlimited...

Today with Giclee printing technology, an artist is able to produce high quality abstract art prints on canvas or paper in unlimited editions.  In traditional printmaking such as wood-cut, screen printing or lithography, a limited edition was a natural result of the time-consuming, hand-made process. 

It's true that the initial investment in a large-format top-quality ink-jet printer is not something the average artist might be able to afford, but there are plenty of printmakers online or often, locally, who will do it for you at a reasonable charge.  The important thing is to get a high-quality, high-resolution photo or scan of the original painting to work with.

There is no physical reason why the number of Giclee prints made from one of my abstract paintings has to be limited, except to make them more scarce.  People have a sense that a scarce commodity is worth more than an unlimited one.  A limited edition also distinguishes a fine art museum qualit print from one made in hundreds or thousands by lesser-quality offset printing. 

A number of years ago I licensed six of my paintings to a publisher to offset print on paper in large multiples, and now I'm sorry I did so.  This type of ...

Chock At The Eastpak Gallery

Manchester based graffiti artist Chock is the latest artist to exhibit at the Eastpak Gallery on London's Carnaby Street. She has been a graffiti writer for 14 years and also studied Fine Art, graduating from Manchester Metropolitan in 2001. Chock has made her living the past 6 years teaching graffiti workshops all over England and painting various commissions with her company Paint My Panda.

Chock is part of the Girls on Top crew which formed back in 2001 and brings together artists from all over the world. They host Girls On Top crew jams which are intended to unite female graffiti artists and the jams get bigger each time due to their soaring popularity. 

For the Eastpak gallery she has made prints of “Pandabet”, her graffiti alphabet along with photos of previous large scale work she has produced. “Pandabet” will be on show at the Eastpak Gallery from Friday 25th November.

Eastpak Gallery - No 1 Carnaby Street - London.

Entwined – Painting by Graham Matthews

"Entwined"
Oil Painting on Canvas4' X 5'1997Artwork by Graham Matthews
Graham completed this surreal/abstract painting in art school in 1997. This artwork began with a painting of two separate models (male and female), in two separate studio sessions. They are bond together in unity by the entwiningof forms. Vine like forms surround, entangle and further fuse the two individuals. 
The artist used the original under-painting of the models as the basis for a full scale artwork. The forms were abstracted and surrealized, but still recognizableas figures. Graham kept the basic forms of the body to accomplish this task, distorting and molding the forms. 
He combined bright and contrasting colors, obvious erotic symbology, and entwining forms all together to produce a superb masterpiece -a painting that tells the story of two lovers joined forever. 
Who could they be? Adam and Eve? Romeo and Juliet? Tristan and Isolde? Odysseus and Penelope? The artist does not tell us this, and it does not matter.
The couple embodies everlasting love and a closeness that spans eternity.

Olek Yarn Bombs a Black Cab

Earlier last month we posted about Polish-born, New York based artistOlek, having stumbled across one of the artist's yarn bombed installationson the street. We were hoping we would be seeing more from the artist on the streets of London and she certainly didn't disappoint.

We hung out with Olek over the weekend as she worked on her latest installation outside Tony's Gallery on Sclater Street. The artist spent two days wrapping an entire London Black Cab, wheels and all in crocheted yarn featuring her signature camouflage print with the addition of some union jack's much to the delight of the passing public. Have a look at our photos below of the finished taxi. 

Ohh! Rococo!

Even the cherubs look dismayed.

Baron de St. Julien asked Fragonard to depict him in the foreground of his 1766 painting, where he could "see the legs of this charming girl, and more, if you want to enliven your picture still further." The Baron was the Receiver General of the French Clergy; a tax collector. He is seen in the shrubbery by the rake, whereas his mistress's clueless husband, plays the cuckold, swinging his wife ever higher.

Fragonard's The Swing stands for the values of the time. Infidelity was a privilege of the 18th century French aristocracy. This promiscuity stood  for how courtly life was perceived. The idle rich running running about sexually rampant seemed decadent. And it was was corrupt, decadent anddecaying. Rococo style would soon be replaced by the more moralizing Neoclassicism. Shimmering boudoirs gave way to solidity. Rococo curlicues smoothed into bold flat planes of color. 

The rising middle class in France preferred Neoclassicism and the moral enlightenment it was pointing toward. In a generation many of Rococo's patrons would have a date with Madame Guillotine.