January 24, 2011
After two sold-out raucous affairs at north London’s intimate Silver Bullet venue dance music website Data Transmission returns for round three; an Xmas Special with two special guests.
Headlining is Grum. His big, euphoric ‘80s-pop-meets-electro grooves has gathered fans from Annie Mac and Zane Lowe to DJMag, Mixmag, Clash Magazine, NME and iDJ and his debut LP Heartbeats is set to be one of the year’s hottest albums.
There is also a live set from Beardyman – the world’s greatest beatbox and vocal acrobat. This is a very rare chance to see him perform raw and unaided- just him and a mic. He very rarely does sets like this anymore instead choosing to use lots of gadgets and technology.
Festive dress is encouraged and Data Transmission will be dishing out freebies for your efforts.
Pam Glew is recognised globally for creating dynamic portraits which are painted onto national flags. Her latest ‘Circus’ exhibition brings together an eclectic mix of celebrities, dead and alive, tenderly saluting them as performers who have shaped popular culture. The high and low art icons make the show seem like a freak show, a circus of performers both beautiful and damned.
Portraits of Hunter S. Thompson, author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and a young Michael Jackson will sit amongst a striking collection of eminent female figures such as Jane Birkin, Edie Sedgwick, Kate Moss and Blondie, all immortalised on vintage national flags.
The Exhibition will run from the 26th of November to the 2nd of December 2010 at the Red Bull Studios, 155-171 Tooley Street SE1 2JP.
From the people that brought you the UNOFFICIAL NIKEiD parties 6FIFTYNINE is now presenting The Halloween Carnival in the dark depths of east London.
They have teamed up with WeAreHQ and InFormed London. Secret venue will be announced before the event, the night will feature a variety of circus performers and all proceeds are going to Fairbridge; a charity that “works with young people aged 13-25 that other organisations find difficult to engage – giving them the motivation, self-confidence and skills they need to change their lives“.
ROOM 1: Chris P Cuts / DJ Khalil / The Magdi / The doDOH / KASHISKLAY / A Parisian Guest
ROOM 2: Hosted by InFormed London – Cal Jader / Get Some / DRM / Theodore Wright / Aimee & Holly / PDex / SSG
Last week neon got the chance to take a look around the recently refurbished Rich Mix, which is looking fresh with a brand new bar and rooms now available to hire for events.
We managed to catch a photographic exhibition called Famous For The Wrong Reasons that forms part of the Rich Mix Arts & Culture programme.
Famous For The Wrong Reasons is a moving photographic exhibition that aims to educate and deter those vulnerable to gun and knife crime. Created by photographer Sal Idriss it is inspired by the artist’s own experience of this, his brother Nassirudeen, who died in 2007 as the result of an unprovoked knife attack in Islington, a few days before his 17th birthday.
The grieving experience drew Sal’s attention to the many families throughout London, dealing with the devastating loss of a loved one through knife or gun crime. Their personal stories are the impetus for this poignant project, which aims to educate and deter people from across London and beyond.
Individual portraits (many taken on location) show families who are coping with loss, pain and immense sadness every day as a result of knife and gun crime activity. Unfortunately so many families across London have become Famous for the Wrong Reasons.
We found the exhibition to be very moving, each portrait is taken so the families are looking directly into your eyes so you get an overwhelming sense of their grief. Neon recommend you have a look for yourself, the exhibition is FREE at Rich Mix until the 7th of November 2010.
Born in Brooklyn in the 60’s to a Puerto Rican mother and Haitian father Jean-Michel Basquiat lived a short but extraordinary life.
He started painting at a young age and as a high-school student spray painted graffiti on buildings in lower Manhattan under the name of SAMO, defining his work using philosophical quotes such as “SAMO as an end to to mindwash religion, nowhere politics and bogus philosophy” “SAMO does not cause cancer in laboratory animals” and “SAMO as a neo art form”.
When Basquiat was 18 legendary free arts tabloid Village Voice published a selection of his work and quotes. From here his notoriety developed and he grew to become the first painter of African descent to become an international art star.
The fame and fortune overwhelmed Basquiat and he was unable to keep control of the commotion surrounding him. He was rarely sober and would behave erratically; painting barefoot in expensive suits and then wearing the paint splattered outfit for days. At the age of 25 Basquiat appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a feature entitled “New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist”, three years later he died of a heroin overdose.
Basquiat drew this untitled piece aged 21 using wax crayon on paper – an impressive and vibrant example of his work. The skull was a favourite motif and appears often in both paintings and drawings accompanied by words and combination of letters and numbers, the symbol of a heart with a cross also appears in several works. The crown drawn in red on the upper right is another motif used extensively from around 1982 onwards, used a legacy of his days as a graffiti artist and is commonly used today to represent his continual influence.
East London’s Black Rat exhibition also features works by artists Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Banksy, Barry McGee, Faile and Os Gemeos.
Web: blackratgallery.com
Address: Walk through Cargo Garden, Arch 461, Kingsland Viaduct, 83 Rivington Street, London. EC2A 3AY.
Nearest tube – Liverpool St / Old St
Dates – 22nd April – 20th May 2010
Hours: Tuesday – Friday, 10am – 6pm. Saturday 11am – 4pm
Entry: Free
Information: 020 7613 7200
On November 11th Neon are going to be at the Proud Galleries in support of fundraiser juggernaut Natalie Legg and her charity event FTBC on the QT.
The event is a celebration and a thank you for a successful 2009 and a look forward to 2010 for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. Heralded as the most iconic charitable fashion campaign, FTBC has raised over £11 million for Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s lifesaving research work.
The knees-up will be hosted by Pearl Lowe with music from Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Suffolk indie boys The Cheek (NEON is a new fan, check Do Nothing), folk-pop singer-songwriter Jharda and a DJ set from model Ben Grimes.
Neon may get in trouble for not keeping this to ourselves but we had a sneaky peek at the entry wristbands and trust us you don’t want to miss out on these. Natalie has promised more surprises that she cleverly did not tell Neon. Tickets are £30. See you there!
Neon always knew our friend Taffy was a handsome chap, and if we ever forgot he would never be too far away to remind/tell us. So we were naturally very proud when he graced the cover of Design Week, despite being covered in dripping paint he’s under there somewhere.
Taffy features in Boo Ritson’s latest paint orgy Back-Roads Journey, a two-site show about a fictional road-trip across America. Part 1 is titled The Diner and showing at the Alan Cristea Gallery, here Boo introduces the characters in a small town diner. Part 2 features our painted face chum at The Gas Station and follows two characters from the diners as their lives cross along the road. This is showing at the Poppy Sebire Gallery.
Boo Ritson paints the subject, literally, the results photographed while the paint is still wet. There is a window for this of 20 minutes before the household emulsion dries and Taffy is forever a trucker in a Hawaiian shirt.
The results are vivid and it is such an unusual technique you want to stick your nose up close to the pictures and touch to see if it is actually wet.
Both exhibitions close on November 21st and it is pleasant ten minutes Mayfair meander from Alan Cristea to Poppy Sebire to catch both Part 1 and Part 2. If all this glossy Americana gets you in the mood for Yankie fare Goodmans and Automat are local.
