Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick : A flashback!

As the weather gets brighter, it's always nice to look forward to exhibitions being held in London over the summer months.

As it's a cool bank holiday weekend, I thought I would look back at an innovative exhibition I visited last year, as I want to share some of the amazing installations they had.

                                       DAYDREAMING WITH STANLEY KUBRICK

I loved seeing all the different art forms, especially themed around Kubrick's movies and career. 
I've often wished we would have a permanent gallery in London, to feature artists with themed briefs like these, such as Gallery 1988 in NYC and LA. Going through their exhibit pages is always a joy. 

The only closest thing I can think of is Little White Lies doing an exhibit of Victorian inspired art on Guillermo Del Toro's films when promoting Crimson Peak. 
Somerset House also did a shortlived screenprint art exhibition themed on their outdoor summer screenings slate, so I hope they do that again this year as I missed it last year! Cassandra Yap's Dracula print is a thing of beauty. 

It was a beautiful sunny day when I walked up to Somerset House which really is a fantastic venue for exhibitions, with lovely rooms off long corridors. I was lucky enough to get a ticket for one of the last days it was on and I'm glad I had the chance to see this in person.

Entering the corridors was eerie as straight away, you were transported into Kubrick's film worlds with the overlook carpet winding all around the corridors. Totally a hit on Instagram!

The pile of fireplaces was creepy and the radios scattered all along the corridors, I think were emanating static noises? 

One room had lots of different artwork on the walls, a taxidermy piece inspired by A Clockwork Orange, a Harland Miller artwork and a huge wall dedicated to a Kubrick baby photo, with a quote "the most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent..." 

                                                

My favourite of the hanging art prints were the Clockwork Orange print as well as this Full Metal Jacket one.

   

One room that I kept going back to was the teddy bears room, with two giant teddy bears dressed as a Clockwork Orange Droog and accessorized with Lolita sunglasses and lollipop. 

                                  I think it was the neon, I love a bit of neon.

                                "when you talk about love, you make me feel invisible"

I also loved the shelves with lots of glass, all etched with Kubrick film titles or quotes. I thought this was very effective as well as a metal maze for The Shining. 

A 'breathing' camera really unsettled me, as well as the lifesize Kubrick wax figure which was tucked away in an alcove, all on its own. 

          

Another more subtle piece that was a favourite, was one that I don't think many people noticed as it was tucked away in one of the staircases. As you entered, they had lines from The Shining script all around the staircases, interspersed with lights. I wish I could have seen how effective it was in low light, but this was one of my favourite parts of the exhibition!

After this, I was inspired to see more art and make a full day of it, so I trekked to see Jeff Koonz at the Newport Street Gallery, marvelling at this empty mosaic fountain I found along the way. 

I was not disappointed, look at this beauty of a Balloon Monkey!

  

and the sheer SIZE. I was in awe. 

I ventured home along the south bank and popped in to the Festival Hall see their "VENTRICLE" artwork by SOFTlabNYC, which had caught my eye from outside. Look at the sheer colours shining in the light, it was beautiful. 

I got the train home from Waterloo, where they had installed a giant STAY PUFT marshmallow man breaking through the floor and had slime all over the security cameras, a fun promotion for the new Ghostbusters movie, much along the lines of the Jurassic World raptors promo they did the year before. 

Somerset House has a lot of fantastic exhibitions and events lined up for this summer, so I look forward to venturing out to a few more! 

Meeting Rose McGowan at Cyrcle's first solo art exhibition in Shoreditch!

Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge fan of teen and horror movies and Scream is one of my all time favourites!

A few months ago, actress, singer and newly awarded director Rose McGowan tweeted that she was in town to attend her husband, Davey Detail's art exhibition and I jumped at the chance to hopefully meet her and check out some new exciting art.

Shoreditch is not one of the easiest places to get to from work but I prevailed, encouraged by Riikka worrying that it would be a closed press night but as I walked up, the warm lights through the open doors beckoned everyone in!

I grabbed a flyer and some stickers and started to look at the art on the walls, as much as I could move around the very packed gallery. (Yes, I love my phone's panoramic feature!)

There were cocktails handed out in gorgeous mason jars and photographers documenting CYRCLE's Davey and Rabi as they mingled with the gallery crowd.

The CYRCLE art collective as a whole, consists of three artists, all from very different backgrounds (graffiti, fine art and design) and their work is really striking to look at as it moves from woodprints, stretched canvases and screenprints, to busts on pillars to shadow boxes.

The crowd dispersed a bit when the bar shut down, so thankfully we all had more breathing room to step back and look at the art as a whole rather than being so close your nose is almost touching the frame (a good perspective, but doesn't work for all pieces!).
I really enjoyed several pieces you can see below, especially the NAKED one and the CYRCLE print is still a instant favourite. I am still tempted to buy a print from the gallery, fingers crossed they still have it! (These images are from a few days later on the weekend, I went back to get some proper photos!)

As I was checking out more of the artwork, I saw Rose talking with friends and fellow gallery goers. I didn't want to interrupt so I waited until she was heading to a different part of the gallery before saying her name and as she turned to face me, she smiled as she got a glimpse of the Dawn flyers I had printed.

We talked about Dawn premiering at Sundance, she told me it was coming to London and fistpumped with joy and excitement!  Rose showed me some amazing stills from the movie. I cannot wait to see it, it just looks like a true slice of Americana, with gorgeous pastel colours and atmospheric locations.

For Christmas, I'd bought a Scream themed Ghostface necklace from the talented BlackHearts Creative, designed by the marvellously macabre Smokin Tofu    (favourited by Wes Craven!)

I'd brought a spare one along to show Rose in the hopes she may pose for a photo and model it as only she could.  She instantly mentioned how she loved working with Wes Craven and Matthew Lillard and gladly posed for a photo or two! Rose gladly kept the necklace too.

I also got the chance to congratulate Davey on his show and his brilliant artwork. They are a talented couple and just seem to bring out the best in each other.  I look forward to seeing what else they create!

I have my tickets ready for Dawn's showing in Sundance London, Dawn will be in the Shorts Programme on Saturday and Sunday! Who else is going?

Scott and Olly's great Silhouettes Showdown!

Oh, I love the Internet, just the fact that you can find, follow, support and interact with talented, creative people who do something you like!

My last Twin Peaks entry left me wondering what Scott Campbell was doing now and was ecstatic to find out he was doing a signing of Great Showdowns at Forbidden Planet the next week!
He wouldn't be alone either as Olly Moss would be signing his new book too, Silhouettes of Popular Culture.

Just look at that amazing cover on Olly's book

 and can you name all the movies on Scott's?

I followed Olly Moss's work ever since he did that amazing minimalist black and red movie graphic set on Flickr (how much do you love the Indiana Jones one, sigh), that infamous Spoilt shirt and he started doing posters in Empire magazine too.

I couldn't turn that opportunity down to see the two of them in one place and especially when Scott C emailed to say he was bringing Twin Peaks prints to sell alongside signing his books, I just had to go!
The signing was only for an hour from 6-7pm so I was anxious that I may not get there in time as I finish work at 6.

Luckily Forbidden Planet is just down the road from the office and the queue was starting to wrap around the horror and supernatural romance shelves by the time I stepped down into the basement. So many lurid covers to giggle at.
As I peered around the people nearing the front, I could see the artists themselves taking their time to talk to people, drawing portraits in books, doodling and signing away and how did I never know that Scott C looked like Jason Sudeikis?! Um, helloooo.

I saw a girl in a West Ham scarf manning Scott's portfolio as people flipped through. Alas I had no cash on me(self, stop doing that) but I was able to reserve the last print of Concentrating on the Js that Scott had in his portfolio, hooray! She kindly took it out and put it in an envelope for me to pick up after the book signing then I carried on waiting in the queue and flicking through the books.

As an 80s pop culture fan, these two books are a total delight, both very striking in their artwork and a real joy for anyone who is a fan of films and artwork. Olly's book of silhouettes riffs on the art of profile silhouettes by showing the profiles of famous characters from films, television and video games. They are strikingly beautiful and it's amazing how well Olly is able to get characters down to the bare details.

Great Scott! 

Where's your brain?

Scott's Great Showdowns has a more whimsical watercolour take on the showdowns that happen in our favourite films, all with smiley faces painted on.

I feel funky

The cheque's in the mail!

Lots of people were there for Scott and Olly, I was also hoping that Kate Beaton may make an appearance and had brought her brilliant books, Hark! A Vagrant and Never Learn Anything From History.

I later stood off to the side to purchase my Twin Peaks piece  and saw Kate Beaton talking to Olly!

 I waited to be sure it was her, she introduced herself to someone as Kate and then I managed to catch her eye and ask if she would sign my books? She walked over and said hi as I took my books out, I had one of the original books of History and she was excited to see it, noting that it was one of the original runs and thanking me for taking care of it. We talked a little about history, comics and being in London and she drew a pair of my favourite characters of hers, The Mystery Solvin' Teens!

Needless to say the signing completely overran and there were lots of happy people clutching their signed books. Thanks to Forbidden Planet for running it all smoothly and to Olly, Scott and Kate for their time and signing so many books and prints! I cannot wait to frame my Twin Peaks art, it is even more beautiful close up.

I popped into Forbidden Planet at lunchtime on Friday to get some more copies of the books as Christmas presents for friends, and was delighted to see a stack of signed Kate Beaton books for sale.
Here are a few of the characters she drew! I really do recommend her Hark A Vagrant book for fans of history and literature, they're such fun to read.

I love the 80s Power Dressing Woman!

Do you have any favourite webcomics that you recommend?