When does one end and the other begin? Fucked if I know. Actually I do know I just couldn’t afford to prove it.

And tiz the season to be jolly, falalalalalalala-la.

Carrie Reichardt

The upcoming Brighton Craft Fair made me think of this chimeric ceramica that I saw at Ink-d some time or other a bit ago. So, will the crafty collective be displaying crochet tea cozies and evening class thumb post. Or will they be bringing out something a bit more funky Brighton as opposed to blue-rinsed Hove?

I guess you can find out for yourself by popping into the Corn Exchange this weekend.

Remember you are only granted an extra 60 minutes, if you hang around Brighton enjoying yourself for too long you go all pumkniny. Here are The Hussy’s pick of the night.

White Night

1. Penny Arcade  –  Fishing Museum

Living arcade machines. Small groups of people (up to six) will be shunted in to the teeny-weeny venue themed around an ancient out-of-season arcade. Inside they will find the archana and signage of old seaside amusements, wonky experimental fairground music, and three human size fortune-telling penny arcade machines.

In each machine will be a performer re-enacting a classic amusement: The Laughing Fortune-Telling Musical Clowns; The Graveyard Scene; and the Gypsy Palm-Reading Machine. The White Night Penny Arcade will create an out-of time space filled with awe and wonder.

2. The Fortune Factory – Phoenix Gallery

A heady mix of experimental performances, artworks and music in this cutting edge happening. Featuring the Istitute of Unnecessary Research, Beatabet Colllective, the Spirit of Gravity, and many more.

3. Drawing Cards From The Deck – Komedia

Get naked and draw. The event will give people the opportunity to draw from a unique range of costumed and nude poses in the context of a theatrical life class. Tuition will be provided by Jake Spicer of the Brighton Life Drawing Sessions After 9pm every half hour the doors will be opened to allow participants to come down to the studio bar where there will be given a drawing board, paper and drawing materials and shown to a space in which to draw.

4. A Surprise – Jubilee Square

It really, really is a surpries. I have no idea what it is. But I have been promied that it will be very good. Or even excellent. And you can ask it questions???

Go out, have fun, don’t stay for longer than one hour and expect to queue for anything free. The area around Jubilee Library is always a good place to hang as you do something unusual in the middle of the night.

 Nadege Meriau

Nadege Meriau

Brighton Art: If we turn poppies into art prints, then the Taliban will no longer need to sell them as heroin. Making the world beautiful and safe all at the same time.

Millenium: The Print Collection

Crane Kalman Gallery

26th October – 22nd November

Private view 4th November, 6-9pm

Download invite here

If you enjoy art with a side order of interaction then you’ll no doubt be interested in the concept behind Fabrica’s latest exhibition – Chameleon.

Antipodean artist Tina Gonsalves and her team have somehow managed to create emotionally sensitive software which translates feelings into video portraits. These are then played back to visitors, which in turn affect their emotions anew, and mean that the mood within the gallery is constantly shifting in accordance with the exhibit.

It’s all to do with emotional contagion, an ability in human beings to absorb and display the emotions being expressed by others around them. Which the exhibition aims to demonstrate through you, the willing participant. It’s nice to feel part of something. Chameleon runs until 29th November.

Fabrica Gallery, 40 Duke St, BN1 1AG
Opening times
Wed-Sat 12-5pm
Sun 2-5pm
Late night opening on Sat 24 October until 2am
Closed Mon & Tues

Waller Hewett

Soft  little balls on spikes. And you can tickle them – gently.

Waller Hewett was the only artist at the Brighton Art Fair that encouraged me to stroke there fluffy balls.

Brighton Art Fair

Samantha Bryan

Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny little models. So cute. Except not when they come to life, crawl up your nose and tunnel into your brain. Tunnelling into a blamanchey gel is not easy so they have to be fast. Dig, dig, scratch, scratch, slither. Back out of your nose and away they go, taking your dreams with them.

Brighton Art Fair

Samantha Bryan

Mark Perronet

Brighton Art Fair was a few fucks and cunts short in the obscenity department, so the title for the sweariest had to go to Mark Perronet. SHITE not shight.

Brighton Art Fair

Laurie J Proud

Not only are they excellent paintings, but Laurie is a pleasant young man. And he wears a suit.

What more can you ask for?

Brighton Art Fair.

Angela Lizon, Colossal Cats

This image is enough to give me faith in the quality of the artists that are exhibiting at the Brighton Art Fair.

See you there…

Brighton Art Fair:

The Corn Exchange, 

2nd – 4th October.

To be continued…

Imbue's Brighton

In the beginning was the word. And the word was brief, succinct and to the point.

“Let there be light.” not a lot of verbosity in that statement.

“Thou shalt not kill.” no work for a sub-editor on that text.

And Imbue has done the same-same with this print. It’s part of the Made in Brighton exhibition at Ink-d. There is obviously other stuff there, and it is all worth seeing etc etc.

More of his stuff on the website or just look at any lamp post in Brighton.

Did you know that Brighton and Hove has a geological bedrock – the ‘elephant bed’, running beneath it? Well, no, why would you? 

So you’d best settle down for a brief geology lesson. Sussex was once a mysterious place under the sea. Much like it’s modern day residents discard their clothes at the first sniff of summer, coccolithophores - the microscopic algae that formed the primeval population of Brighton, would discard their shells and leave them to form the chalky mass we now know as the South Downs.

Keeping up? Well, inspired by those same wanton coccolithophores that would strip so readily, all those thousands of leagues ago,  American sculptor John Grade has created The Elephant Bed. An immense installation, it’s showing exclusively at the Fabrica Gallery,which was set up back in 1996 at the deconsecrated Holy Trinity church, by a group of artists from Red Herring studios. This is Grade’s first UK exhibition and Fabrica’s focus for the summer, so go forth and marvel, it starts today.

Dates: 11 July – 31 August 2009

Gallery opening times: Wednesday – Saturday 12-5.30pm
Thursdays in August till 7pm
Sundays & bank holidays 2-5pm

Entrance free

www.fabrica.org.uk
www.johngrade.com

Miss Aniela

“Naked, turned on Lolita, who lies on a sofa”

I got that quote from her blog, but to be fair there are worse ways of getting a name for yourself than exhibiting online photos of yourself naked. Miss Aniela – Flickr Queen - sprung to fame by snapping self-portraits and displaying herself on flickr. She became remarkbely famous with at least a squllion followers. The “would she be famous if she was a self-portraiting old man posing in his underwear” type arguments are too obvious to even waste time discussing. After all, it’s all about empowerment – ask Gok Wan – what can be more empowering than stripping, snapping and flauniting yourself before millions of droolling flickr fans -you go girl!

Miss Aniela in Ugg Boots

Aniela

Aniela got so famous so quickly she actualy lost her head. In order to become more grounded she seconded herself to 40 days wandering the desert naked. Ever the artists, she decided to take her camera with her, the result (above) shows Aniela resting after encountering a mountain lion. The scratches on her back were actually caused by the rough licking of the lion’s tongue. Such is the price of internet fame that even a solitary, roaming mountain lion is aware of flickr girl.

Flickr Girls

Due to popular calls for her time she was forced to replicate herself, and so waas born Flickr Girls – identical Anielas – seen here resting after trying each other out.

And anyway, despite Impure Art being a “naughty little gallery”, the upcoming exhibition has not much of the turned on Lolita content. Actually, what is the age limit on Lolitaness? I would assume it was sixteen. If that bit was a lie, maybe she wasn’t even turned on. Bloody hell, who can you trust if it isn’t a naked lady on a couch?

Action Man Art

Originally uploaded by Scarycrow

This was going to be a “Don’t Miss This” but is now a “You should’ve gone” brilliant exhibition at the Phoenix gallery. Best thing about it… the smell. If you missed it, you will have no idea what I am talking about!

However, at this weekend’s Japanese festival (kindly brought to the people of Brighton by Moshi Moshi) Seiko Kato caught my woefully inexperienced and lazy eye. A graduate from the University of Brighton, and now a freelance illustrator, she has produced a startling range of collages, drawings, textiles and 3D montages. All made from, or inspired by, items she has built up a collection of over the last 5 years. Damn, this woman must have some storage space.

Perhaps a little too eerie and complex for your average mantelpiece or downstairs bathroom, you should still definitely find some time to peruse her work, and see where it takes you. Make sure the kiddies are in bed first though.

www.seikokato.com

Sunday 28 June 12 noon – 6pm Phoenix Brighton

The first SUMMER Art Junky, an eclectic and busy bazaar, with artists, makers, collectors, performers & anyone else who has unusual object d’art to sell. Bringing together the best of Brighton’s lively jumble sale culture and its enterprising artist population for a one-day flea market. Located throughout the ground floor of Phoenix Brighton. Offering art works from fledgling and established artists in Brighton and the South East. It also caters for buyers on the look out for affordable art, antiques, unusual castoffs, and “junk stall” inspiration.

HOW IT BEGAN: In 2007 a group of Phoenix artists invited the public to attend a traditional jumble sale – a cosy indoor market in chilly February. The difference was that weird, wonderful and sometimes absurd items were for sale these items had once been the seed of inspiration for works of art by the artists. A regular clear out of the artists studios became a popular event in the creative calendar with the funds from sales being fed back into the Arts Charity, Phoenix Brighton www.phoenixbrighton.org

TO BE INVOLVED:
Artists can set up their own stall for only £20 or if too busy can submit art work for the 50/50 auction.
Visitor entrance fee on the day £1
For more information or to book a stall contact Clare on
clare@phoenixarts.org  or call (01273) 603700

If you only get a chance to go to one open house -which means you must be really-really busy- the The Hussy says go to….

Ben Allen’s House

It is a fucking huge mansion, the likes of which I forgot exist. There are probably still families of Victorian servants living in the house-bowels. Or maybe they have been replaced by eastern Europeans?

Anyway, the art is good, the house is nice and a very nice lady -maybe Mrs Allen?- served me big flappinjack (pictured above)

I did notice that Ben Allen is actually showing at two open houses, so maybe just the one fucking-huge mansion is not enough for him? Maybe he is becoming a property magnate? Is having two houses an Open House cheat? Does he get a second-home allowance for it? All these questions are yet to be answered…

Whereas the Artists Open Houses are generally a way to have a good nose round some creative types houses and pick up the odd piece of original artwork, House is all about bringing the everyday domestic environment into art galleries.

Various bits include a cinema in someones living room, a teenage bedroom in a gallery, some self destructive furniture and a tour of the Phoenix Studios.  It takes place at various venues all over Brighton and Hove and runs throughout May.

When I was growing up, the boy who lived next to me seemed to have everything.

Remote control car, skateboard, Salter science kit, Hungry Hippos. The works.I covetted his every possession.

One Christmas, we both got a BMX. His was better than mine, but this was the closest I ever was going to come to being his equal.

I now appreciate that this was all in eighties and  Thatcher’s wedge was being driven between us. The zen of the new millennium allow us to appreciate without covetting.

And anyway, I am sure thast Worthing’s Artists Open Houses will be jolly good.

The press release is reproduced in full below for you to use for advanced prep…

Worthing Open Houses  & Gardens 
July 18 / 19 and July 25 / 26,  2009 
 
Over two weekends in July more than 20 houses and gardens in the beautiful seaside town of Worthing will be open to the public showcasing high quality arts and crafts from the local area and further afield.  So many Worthing-ites have shown an interest in this event, highlighting the fact that the town has a strong and thriving artistic community. 
 
This is a perfect opportunity to view and purchase original and unique work across all media in the homes of local residents. Paintings, prints, textiles, jewellery, ceramics, sculpture, photography and glass are being showcased.  
 
Many houses will be opening up their gardens for viewing too with plenty of tea and cakes to help you around the open house route!

 
 
www.openhouses.org.uk

info@openhouses.co.uk  

Martin Schreiber, Nude Madonna

Madonna Nudes – 12 best

“I’ll take my clothes off and it will be shameless
‘Cuz everyone knows that’s how you get famous”

…well it worked for Madonna

Madonna  nude in Brighton. Well not really, but she has been nude lots of other times.

Recently, photographs of Madge’s Vad sold for $37,500 dollars. The photos were taken in 1978 by Lee Friedlander, but just gathered dust in a large porn-pile. Her fame in 1985 was sufficient to see them published in Playboy. She also found time to get naked for Bill stone in 1978; Penthouse published these images in 1985.

Bill Stone

Martin Screiber took the Impure images in 1979, when Madge was a year older and a year wiser. By this time she had lerned that for $25 dollars you keep your legs closed. She had also reached a level of professionalism whereby live animals could safely be incorporated into a photoshoot. These shots found their way into main-stream porn in 1986.

Martin Schneider, 1979

I note in passing the natural, unmanaged pubic hair in these images. It has been commented – by people that really have no idea what they are talking about - that the modern trend for depilatory styles will lead to future generations becoming naturally hairless through genetic inheritance.

Friedlander

Martin Schreiber, Nude Madonna

Helmut Newton

Helmut Newton, Madonna Nude

www.madonnashots.com has every photo ever taken of dear old Madge.

The exhibition is on at the Impure gallery throughout May www.impureart.com

Phoenix by Frances Duncan

 Frances Duncan

It would seem that the sexy-seaside-city is doing its bit to keep the nude in the forefront of contemporary art. There are at least six venues that are exhibiting erotic art as part of the Brighton Festival. 

Frances Duncan, painter of “sensual nudes with a fantasy twist” will be artist in residence at the Thomas Kemp every weekend in May. Which means you will be able to watch her creating new works and talk to her about it. The inspiration of her work is human form and the essence of sensuality, which translates to naked ladies with a dash of come-hither about them. That is the sensual nude part, the fantasy twist is that many of them have wings. Or body armour.

It is kinda like a Middle Earthian readers wives and all very well executed.

Frances tells me that she probably won’t be working using live models in the Thomas Kemp, so no naked birds -feathered or otherwise.

The work can always be seen online www.darkdeliverance.com

And in May…

Tickled Boutique, Ship Street

She Said, Ship Street Gardens

The Thomas Kemp, St Georges Road

Pecha Kucha is coming to Brighton

speaker-head-by-Gregor-Timlin

If you already know what Pecha Kucha is then the only info you need is…

Brighton PechaKucha #1, Red Roasters-Kemptown: 7.30pm

For everybody else…

If you ask most creative people to talk about themselves/their-work you will get lots of gesticulating motions and enthusiasm and it may take some time. Creatives don’t do boundaries; that is why they are creative, that can also be why they aren’t always good presenters. The format of Pecha Kucha puts edges onto thought spirals.

The 20:20 format…?

Each presentation comprises 20 slides; each one is viewed for 20 seconds. Total time; six-and-a-bit minutes. Difficult for that to become ethereal arty spirals.

The Presenters…

There is a mix of artists, performers, architects, designers (The above image is by one of the nights presenters). The founder of Pecha Kucha was an architect so the events can be over-represented in that area. But we all need houses, don’t we?

Will it catch on…?

It is already in at least a million countries (see www.pecha-kucha.org  for the full list)

Is Brighton big enough to support it…?

Well, this town is nothing if not fond of showing off. Standing in front of a crowd exposing yourself in 20 second bursts, perfect. Matched.

Can I go…?

Yes you can, but it will definitely sell out so be early, or at least punctual.

Brighton Artists Open Houses 2009

May is festival month in Brighton. The Brighton Fringe, Brighton Festival and Artists Open Houses (AOH) all vie for our attentions/monies.

The two festivals comprise the stuff you see all year, just concertinaed into one-twelfth the time frame. The only difference is that in May it is more difficult to get tickets. The AOH stands out as a truly original because it only happens in May and it only happens in Brighton.

There are two stand-out features of the Artists Open Houses; the artists and the houses. Each one of these is worthy of a couple of weekends of your time.

The Artists

AOH is a truly democratic affair, anybody who wants to can open their home up as a gallery to display their work and share in the publicity of the event. One hundred thousand brochures will draw the art-lovers to your door. The unique thing about it is that it is a truly democratic affair. There is no selection or censorship. This leads to the most-mixed up of mixed-bags imaginable. The cutting edge of enfant terrible art shares gallery space with the spawnings of old women’s pottery classes. The prices reflect the mix; some work is priced as “I am an arist” with the associated tags other is more reasonably at the placed at the “it took me three hours to make, so I’ll sell it for 20 quid” end of the market.

But the variety is the spiciness of it all. You don’t know what will be inside any house. Inside any house, you don’t know what may be inside any room. Nice people earnestly create all of it, and that is to be celebrated. Even if it is a coil pot. Or a holiday photograph from India (or other back-packery semi-adventurous destination)

The Houses

This is why it is doubly, uniquely fun. You can see inside other people’s houses. Spend half the time discussing art, half talking décor. Enjoy a leisurely stroll around the homes that you will never be able to call home. Granted, as this is Brighton many of the houses are fashionably, mediocrily, contemporarily predictable. But to get to snoop around as many homes as you can during May, you would need to annoy a lot of estate agents at any other time of year.

The AOH is on for every weekend in May. In the next  few weeks there will be enough brochures floating around to re-build an ancient woodland, so pick one up and plan your route. The five trails can individually be covered thoroughly in one day. The brochure will give you almost no information of use beyond the address. The verbiage will flit between flat and flowery and it will only include one preview image. So the only way to do it properly is to traipse, dip randomly, view, whisper and say what you really think on the way to next house.

Have fun.

The Hussy will be previewing selected artists in the arts pages

Andrew Mockett

When my three year old comes back from nursery then potato prints and corrugated card models are to be expected. But they are the sorts of thing only a parent could love. Andrew Mockett on the other hand has produced an exhibition that even people that didn’t give birth to him can enjoy.

Printed packaging card cut-out to make models and wood cut-out to make prints of packaging. Clever.

Primary colour. Naïve patterns. Retro-sweet-wrappers. Nostalgic.

The hand made books made collated prints had me thinking….

I keep getting emails from Taschen promoting “Limited edition” art books, often tipping over the thousand pound mark. But they are still made on the same machines that produced any-old book.

On the other hand Mockett’s handmade books are truly limited editions. And you could cut out the pages and sell them separately and make a tidily unscrupulous profit.

The exhibition is in the ever-so-lovely, seafrontally-situated Castor and Pollux gallery-cum-bookshop.

On until 20^th April

Just one month to go before you get to snoop around other peoples homes. The brighton artist open house trail is a defining Brightonian institution; it’s up there with…

•  mods and rockers,

•  fat old-men on a nudist beach,

• over-priced cafes

• wanky media-types

• Phil and Teds Prams

If you are exhibiting and want to show off your wares with The Hussy. Then please get in touch…

By leaving a comment below…

We will put you inour arts and artists section (if we like you)

Printed Papers – Stanley Donwood

20th March – 10th April

The lovely little ink_d gallery on North Road is filled with the smells of paint, and a transparent floor board allows a sneaky view into the basement studio space.  Voyeurism, a sense of modern malaise and the notion of Big Brother are themes that run through Stanley Donwood’s work on display here.

Donwood is most well known for being the man responsible for all Radiohead artwork since the My Iron Lung EP in 1994, he is also responsible for the collection of short stories Slowly Downward, alongside other art and fiction publications.  The work on display here has a certain focus on images familiar to music fans, the window hosts the multi-coloured cover art to Hail to the Thief; a version of the New York street map with buidings converted to boxed words such as ‘Geeks’, ‘Trickledown’ and ‘Revenge’.  Elsewhere there are prints from the OK Computer artwork and Thom Yorke’s solo album The Eraser, the latter of which are beautiful lino prints on shimmering, gold.

The exhibition also includes a number of new pieces from Donwood’s current obsession; goat bankers!?  These vibrant, striking pieces offset the slightly menacing faces of a goat in a suit with streaks and blobs of primary coloured paint to create the stuff of children’s nightmares.  You can pick up a complimentary goat banker badge or sticker from the gallery, and if you’re lucky they had some mini eggs when I popped in.

The exhibition runs until April 10th and was organised in collaboration with Donwood so a lot of the pieces on display are very rare and unique editions of artwork that, whether you’re aware of it or not, has been iconic in late-20th and early-21st century pop culture.

ink_d
96 North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YE

01273 645299
gallery@ink-d.co.uk
www.ink-d.co.uk

Rosie Holmes: Little Worlds

…

who?

My name is Rosie Holmes and I am a brighton-based artist using photography, film and animation. My work typically explores other versions of our reality or world that we humans choose to create or exist in.

what?

In the series ‘Little Worlds’, I have created intimate portrayals of life within the miniature world of model railways that attempt to explore the human urge to recreate tiny versions of our reality. These fictional, and yet familiar, narratives scratch beneath the surface of this seemingly innocent world and go beyond the benign.

why?

Inspired visually by the cinematic, these narratives are manipulated to include an adult perspective of this world where childhood innocence is mingled with a sense of loneliness, alienation and voyeurism.

 
This work is currently being exhibited at the Crane Kalman Gallery, 38 Kensington Gardens, North Laines, Brighton until 22nd March.

For further information contact rosieholmesis@gmail.com

.

Dr Brie the Drogon, by Mr Phil

 Mister Phil fell inside a psychedelic circuit board about a year ago.
Whilst attempting an escape, bits of his brain became hard-wired in and the resulting images appeared on the monitor.
A passing IT worker printed them out and displayed them here and there. He and Mister Phil now share a special relationship, he makes sure the computer doesn’t get switched off and Mister Phil keeps spewing colourful pixels. Yum.

Fleapit Refit, by Mr Phil

Frayed Constitution, by Mr Phil

Hindered Apoplexy, by Mr Phil

To see more of what Mr Phil has to offer www.misterphil.co.uk

Or to buy a t-shirt go here

The Free Brighton Hussy is happy to show off what you are happy to display. Please get in touch if you wish to be plugged. For Free.

Who?

We are a group of Brighton based artist that have banded together to create great functional works of art, largely made from recycled materials. which help us keep cost down and karma high!

What?

We make all sorts of hanging decor and are setting a new trend for interactive club decor, breaking new ground with our giant human jack in the box. Made big enough even for the largest of clubbers to climb in round the back of the box and jump out as a fully clothed jack in the box!and huge variety of other fun things for people to play with.

why?

because we love it! making something from nothing.whiling away the days making giant space ships and 6ft Lego men is our idea of a dream job

For more details or to make contact www.accessorizeallareas.co.uk 

A slightly odd, slightly scary world created by Elissa Elwick.

‘As she wept, three creatures crept and hid behind the trees,

For standing right before them was their queen of make believe.

So silently they turned and left to begin their tiresome duty,

To make their Queen a wondrous gift, deserving of her beauty.’

Elissa Elwick

“The ideas behind my narrative work are largely based on the concept of escapism and the ability of our imagination to allow us to venture into other worlds besides our own.

These two illustrations are from a children’s book I made entitled The Forgotten World of Imagination.

The story follows three characters as they venture from the world of imagination to the world of reality, in search of the little girl that dreamt them up.

It was an authorial exploration into the imagination and creativity of the childhood vision. The poem is about a little girl, who always finds herself in unfortunate situations, escaping from reality into the depths of her imagination. She meets some magical creatures and becomes their Queen of make believe, but not for long, for she must eventually wake up to the reality that surrounds her.”

Elissa also makes plush toys which are currently on holiday; more to follow…

Elissa reveals more of the inside of her head here www.elissaelwick.co.uk

Little is known about Gavin Edwards other than he is a third of a Freshwhip. And a conduit through which Ugbot can flow, bringing with it pheromonic melodies, bovine hypnotism and solo badminton. And t-shirts. And screen prints. And paintings.

Big Fuzz

Big Fuzz is one of the original Engoto-Glasters, 9 foot tall and eighteen bundles of fun. His fatty skin glows in the dark and produces pheremonic melodies. Unlike other synthi-droids he doesn’t eat humans, preferring to dance and mate with them instead.

His hobbies include wrestling, cheese, caravanning and Tuesday’s.

T-shirts available of this Big Fuzz design, clicky-click

Crenshaw↓

Ugbot Crenshaw

Crenshaw is Big Fuzz’s younger, rather irritating brother – tone deaf, inconsiderate and vain. Despite being 122 he is just a teenager by Ugbot standards and still has 30 years of puberty and several thousand more outfits to go before full Bot maturity.

Here we see his first performance for the up and coming beat combo band ‘Shattered Illusions’, described by Analogue Spaxmos magazine as ’some of the best noise produced by some Ugbots for some other Ugbots.’

It was also his last.

Ogilvy↓

Ogilvy's Elements

Ogilvy is a good friend of Big Fuzz and differs from his royal green-ness in that he has carefully braided horns and often walks on all fours.

He’s a largish brute and uses his forearms to gallop across the mesas and grasslands at full pelt. At top speed he can easily outrun a Flaming Zelerator.

Of course, these are not all of the Ugbots, that would hardly make for a viable world would it?

Visit Ugbot and see the rest for yourself www.ugbot.com

.

The idea behind this series was that an inanimate plastic has no personality. Everything about it must be projected onto it by the viewer. So, bearing this in mind, I found it amusing when at the exhibition then people kept discussing the “highly erotic” nature of the subject. Well, actually they are 5cm high and came from a pound shop. It is all in your head mate.

Personally, I think they need to be looked after and given a good home. The back story I see  involves negelct and living in cellars. But, that must be in my head? So maybe viewing plastic dolls as erotically charged is actually better.

.

Nobuyoshi Araki

Hog Tied Girls

Hog-tied ladies and flowers. Fragility, and destruction. Petals and genitals. Hold and Release. Rough and smooth. Basically it is bondage and flowers, but all very beautiful. Nobuyoshi has never tried to truss a delicate flower up in ropes, so there is plenty more to explore if he continues down this particular avenue. The other options could be to arrange the girls by the dozen and sell them off to drunk couples at the end of the evening. As the young ladies start to fade, then simply peel off the outer leaves  and once again – fresh as a daisy.

The Michael Hoppen Gallery is exhibiting Diptychs by Nobuyoshi Araki until 10th January.

It’s all there, you could base a GCSE essay on this exhibition.

www.michaelhoppengallery.com

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Petrusco-she came from the sea

[Show as slideshow]

“The model in ‘she came from the sea’ resisted the fish tank at first but when she saw us struggling with it along the beach she caved in. The sea was misbehaving too. It almost swallowed the tank. The idea behind this photograph was to capture the fragile relationship between man and nature. ‘West pier inhabitants’ is a mix of improvisation and circumstances. My friend Peter told me about the very low deep tide revealing normally submerged parts of the West Pier in the mornings for about an hour and a half. My friend Veronica agreed to model but she was babysitting. “Bring the boy you’re looking after,” I told her. Then it was dressing up time in colourful rags and facial masks.”

Lots more lovely and excciting prints can be viewed and bought from www.petruscoseye.com

Octopussy (screenprint, 2008)

Eve Poland, Brighton based artist and printmaker. Creator of the Kinky Ladies that inhabit many Brighton shops and boutiques.

“I carried the idea for this picture around in my head for years – ever since I discovered Hokusai’s amazing woodcut ‘Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife’ while I was working at the British Museum. The painting I eventually made was reworked as a line drawing, which became a playing-card design for a fancy lingerie retailer. Ultimately I produced this limited-edition screenprint. Weird as it seems to westerners, tentacle erotica has a long tradition in Japanese art, and more recently became popular as a way of getting round harsh censorship laws.”

eve-poland

Up to no Good (screenprint, 2007)

“This print also started life as a painting. It evolved from a doodle and the cats just happened to look very mischievous. I liked the idea of them hanging out on a street corner plotting naughtiness and trying not to look guilty. The title came out of nowhere and was instantly right; I think it’s been integral to the success of the picture – it always seems to make people smile.”

 The Brighton based artist Eve Poland is giving a limited edition print away, see our Freestuff