Crimes of Passion

In Spring 2009 the Royal West Of England Academy in Bristol is hosting a major show of new work by the city’s best known and most successful graffiti and street artists. Crimes Of Passion is the first major show of its kind in the city since the Arnolfini’s groundbreaking 1985 show, Graffiti Art and is a celebration of the city’s rich and diverse contemporary scene.
Crimes Of Passion takes the love of (and heartfelt dedication to) the art form as its starting point, with Bristol’s leading street and graffiti artists working both directly onto the walls of the gallery and exhibiting works on canvas, as well as exhibiting threedimensional pieces and installations. The show will also include a city wide programme of large-scale painting, a film season at local arts cinema The Cube (www.cubecinema.com) and a series of painting workshops and talks run in conjunction with the local Council and schools in the city.
Bristol has nurtured many of the UK’s most successful graffiti and street artists, including 3D, Inkie, Banksy, Nick Walker, Sickboy and TCF Crew, to name a few. The city continues to be a breeding ground for a wealth of exceptional creative talent and continues to have one of the UK’s most diverse and thriving scenes.
The Royal West of England Academy (RWA) is one of only five Royal Academies of Art in the UK. It is a registered charity that has been self-supporting for over 150 years and possesses an outstanding Grade II listed building, galleries and permanent fine art collection. Opened in 1858, the RWA was Bristol’s first art gallery.

In no particular order, artists involved in the show include: 3D, Nick Walker, Filthy Luker, FLX, Sickboy, Cyclops, Rowdy, Inkie, Mr.Jago, Acerone, Dicy, Feek, Ponk, Seza, Banksy, Xenz, Ziml, Eco, Paris, Mudwig, What Collective, Cheo, Soker, Will Barras, and Andy Council.

Pineapple Wrestler for Miss Hubbard

Sometime ago now my friend James Bourne of Themlot asked me to take part in a project titled 'Dear Miss Hubbard'. Here's what it's about and what I came up with...

In 2004, artist James Bourne, stumbled upon an unopened envelope addressed to a Miss J.E.Hubbard postmarked 1970. James has worked closely with Solihull school children to investigate what could be inside this unopened envelope. James and other artists have made their own explorations and responses to the children's artwork and it is to be exhibited at Solihull Arts Complex, 16th March - 16th May 2009. Full information on the opening times and stuff here.

So, back in November 2008 I get this email and attached picture from James -



Hello Andy

Cheers for getting back to me about the project

Now that I'm getting work back off the kids, the project is developing slightly, and I'm able to extract the right kids work for the right artists

Instead of a letter, I reckon this attachment is more up your street
The kids were asked to design a wrestler
This kids has used pineapples as his inspiration

he has written the following text next to the character

"spiky pineapple mask to protect the head"

"pineapple juice on his body to make him slippy for his opponents"

"spiky pineapple hands to hurt his opponent"

let me know what you think!

cheers

james




Well, I thought it was amazing and this is what I came up with...



I have done a comic book style montage of the pineapple wrestler. He's a pretty dark character and looks like a bit of a pervy sex gimp or something. I have portrayed him about to dive on to his arch rival - the man from Delmonte!!!!

Beyond Architecture

I have some of my work featured in 'Beyond Architecture' by Gestalten. It looks like it's going to be a pretty interesting book. Here's a bit of info on it -

Beyond Architecture is the first publication of its kind to document the creative exploration of architecture and urban propositions in the contemporary arts. The projects collected in this book demonstrate how not only architects and designers but also artists are taking architecture as a starting point for experimentation. They range from performance, installation art and crafted sculptures to architectural models, alternative ideas for living spaces and furniture, as well as illustration, painting, collage and photography. Through stunning photography, visuals and complementary texts, these visionary concepts reveal the hidden creative potential for architecture and urban environments in inventive ways.

More info can be found here. The book is due for release in the UK end of February.

W.I.P tank heart painting

As it's nearly Valentines day I thought I would post this work in progress pic of a painting I'm currently working on. It's a human heart made of tanks painted in acrylics with a few bits of spraypaint here and there. As usual it's taking me bloody ages. Shame it's not ready for Valentines...will probably be finished by Easter. Expect an egg themed pic by Xmas.

Russian Mall Illustration

This is my latest illustration for Russian design magazine Interni. It is probably one of the most technically difficult piece I have done. I drew it all by hand and it really fried my brain doing it. It's a bit like one of Rod Hunts pieces - respect to him for doing stuff like this!

It is of a typical Russian shopping mall and features all sorts of shops, a cinema, car park, metro station and also a giant mutant rat. I managed to get a dino in there also!

Urban Scrawl Dinosaur

This is my poster design for a group exhibition I am part of in March. I'm really happy with how this came out. It was fun to draw and looks pretty mental. Here's the info again in case you can't read it.....

* Upfest Presents

* Urban Scrawl

* 24th of March - 5th of April

* Opening night - Tuesday 24th March, 7.30pm

* The Muse Gallery at 269

* 269 Portobello Road, London W11 1LR; Nearest Tube - Ladbroke Grove

* New Urban Works by; Agent Provocateur, Andy Council, Avian Security, Dan Kitchener, FarkFk, Myne, Nik Ill, Spqr

Contact; Website; www.upfest.co.uk Email; UrbanScrawl@upfest.co.uk Tel; 07725231878

Quick bit of painting on a damp miserable day

Bit of a quickie out painting with 3rd Eye. This is a rather stripped down version of what I had planned as it was a Cold damp day. Wet paint and my rudimentary wall painting skills helped form this beastie with poo horns. Below is the design of the tribute piece I had in mind to do for the little un - will sort out doing it on a bigger better wall soon.

Hip Hop Lounge

I have recently redesigned the logo for the club night Hip Hop Lounge in Bristol. Writing based around awkwards handstyle. All the objects are a combination of old granny style lounge things and hip hop stuff.

Alot of things in it are quite old skool...I have included -

Ski goggles
paint pens
spraypaint
kangool hats
adidas shell toes
Nike hi tops
courvoiser brandy
head phones
humpty humps nose
forty ounce bottle
blunts
name belt buckle
chains
ornament of west moreland house
tupac ornament that you can buy from shop on stokers
mf doom mask
base ball hat

And a load of other stuff!

The Hip Hop Lounge is dedicated to showcasing Bristol's artists across the elements with the overall aim to further the music and culture in a positive way. It is run by a collective of promoters and artists representing a cross section of Bristol's Hip Hop community on a not-for profit basis. The Hip Hop Lounge needs your support so that it in turn can support Bristol's homegrown talents. Hip Hop is not a spectator sport!

It's at the Croft, Bristol, Friday 27th February 9-3 £5/6. More infor above...

Interview with me on BUG

You can catch me rambling on about my name, Bristol, Illustration, Graff and creatures like the Beast of Bodmin over at BUG (Bristol Underground blog).