Watch this space: 2013

The Msindo Show at Notre Dame

Monday 23rd December saw the launch of a show at the community Hall by South African street artist " Msindo". His work was created entirely by recycled materials some of which were from the works carried out by T Brown on the Notre Dame Estate. ( Thanks to Ed).
Msindo's art training comes directly from the streets of Johannesburg and its a pleasure to host his first show here in London.
We are open from 10 am till 10pm Boxing Day and 10am till 10pm on Friday 26th December.
For enquiries regarding the work please pop in or email rickylee1984@yahoo.com

Artist Profile: Ekons

Ekons hails from Cape Town, South Africa and has been consistant throughout the last 10 years ( and the rest) in contributing some great graffiti art and design to this culture. Originally part of Cape Town's YMB crew he now paints with 40hk, a collective of like minded artists who are out there slugging paint on blank surfaces worldwide.
We had a quick chat with him whilst he dropped a piece in Notre Dame.

what inspires you?

Anything and everything creative. This can be music, cartoons, low brow art and fine art, bad graffiti, good graffiti, graphic design, exhibitions, books, magazines etc. I try to surround myself with things that help me to spark new and interesting ideas.

Have you studied art or design?

I did art all the way through school and am currently studying visual communication (graphic design) and aim to get a degree out of it. But for the last 30 odd years Ive been self taught.

How do you approach creating a concept? Examples?

With every concept you should try to create something new and interesting, if it can be beautiful - even better. So with this in mind new concepts generally come from the idea of merging a few ideas together.

As an example I’ll talk about a font I designed called “Astrotip”. The idea came from having really nice and simple letters and merging them with fat cap style graffiti flares, as this plays on the fact that I have been a writer for the last 16 years and enjoying playing with letters and styles. I felt I had not seen this before and therefore could present something new and original to the world.

What clients have you worked for?

Graffiti: New Balance, Puma, Edgars clothing retail, 8ta cellular network, Paramount Pictures, Engen Petrol, A wide range of festivals, Truworths clothing, Flexfit caps..

Design:Red Bull, Mountain Dew, Olmeca Tequila, Hellocomputer design agency, Coca Cola, DJ Jakob Snake, Shelflife street store, Puma, Nike.

What are you looking to do in the future?

One day I’d like to work for myself and to have a lot of side projects on the go. The ultimate is finding a balance between actual corporate design work and personal work, and hopefully having more paid personal work than corporate.

Some early Econ action

Econ, Mace in Retreat

check out www.ekons.tumblr.com

Artist Profile: RemiRough

RemiRough has been a consistant artist over the past 20 years not only in the Graffiti Scene but also working on collaborations with artists worldwide. We had a look at what he was up too in his studio and also stumbled upon some really old Blackbooks featuring work by other artists he let us have a look at .He recently visited Notre Dame Estate to work in the yard with fellow artist and style writer Yes B. Introducing the colourful world of RemiRough....

what inspires you to paint?

The daily objective is always to create something… Whether it's an amazing bowl of pasta, a canvas or a full scale mural. I can't say what it is exactly that drives me but I know that I just have to do it.

I guess other people inspire me to an extent. Seeing people get up and do some good work makes me want to do the same.

But really it just has to happen, there is no other way.

What has been your favourite project in recent years?

I think I'd have to say the Megaro Hotel in Kings Cross. Not only is it the largest mural in the whole of London but it's slap bang in front of Kings Cross and St Pancras stations, so pretty much the busiest location in London!

I painted it with Steve More, LX One and Augustine Kofie and it took over 4 weeks to paint. It's pretty epic as walls go and permanent so everyone gets to see it everyday. So far millions of people have seen it and it's a testament to good placement.

How did the Megaro project come about in kings cross?

The Megaro Hotel got in touch with us to put together a new collection of work and some interior painting for their new restaurant - Karpo. They also mentioned painting the entire building which I thought was a nice idea but was never really going to happen… For one thing the planning office were the building next door! Haha. But somehow it all began to take shape and after a long tumultuous to and fro with Transport for London (who owned one side of the road) and an easy ride with Camden Who owned the other). I found myself staring at the building one day with half a scaffolding going up around it. then a week later the scaffold was finished and I realised that I'd actually have to do it now! It was majorly monumental… Steve got really sick whilst we were doing it. Augustine and LX only had short 10 day time frames and then they were gone leaving me and Steve to finish it on our own… And weirdly considering we did it in March April 2011. It only rained 1 day out of the 4 weeks… we were pretty lucky.

If anyone hasn't seen it it's well worth a look.

Did you study art at collage?

I did a foundation in art and design at Croydon college but after not getting accepted into any universities I just went and became an artist. I didn't really have any other options open to me.

What future projects are you involved in?

My next show is with NYC Subway and Gallery legend John 'Crash' Matos and thats going to be amazing! It's in the Lower East Side of New York next month and then I have 2 trips to LA over the Spring and Summer and a show in San Francisco in October. I'm also in the process of planning a massive project for Agents Of Change (my collective), in Casablanca for the end of the year alongside the British Council. 2014 is looking pretty busy so far.