The street

Thursday evening,  start of the art season apparently? East London, off on another night of exploring (and carefully dropping) and the much-anticipated Mad C show and who knows what else. . First Thursday of October, traditionally the start of some kind of art season so we’re told – never really saw it like that, the art media wakes up and starts taking note and yes, in terms of the media then just maybe it is the start of some kind of season and yes, Frieze, and all the offshoots, are almost upon us again, art season though?  The reality is that art never really stops here in London, artists never stop, there’s been art events happening every week, indeed 2016 has been a non-stop flow of stimulating exciting art. This year (like last year and the year before) has seen shows and event constantly flowing,shows here there and everywhere – waiting, thrilling, provoking, all there if you want it. Art season? Nah, don’t really hold with this start of the art season stuff, feels like non-stop to us. .

Mad C @ Pure Evil

First Thursday of October then and it does feel a little bit disappointing to pass an almost deserted Vyner Street as we head out exploring, two years ago you really couldn’t move for the people, the chained up bikes almost blocking the pavements at the top of the street, Vyner Street was a place alive with anticipation, sad to see it looking so empty.  Ah well, jump on the 48 bus (with a bag full of #365ArtDrops) and head for Shoreditch, for Pure Evil’s superstore and that Mad C show.  Last time she took over a warehouse yard, that was 2011 and she was certainly going to have a tough time following that one with this return to the Pure Evil gallery.  Tonight we’re greeted with a big piece, an impressive piece painted on the boards around the building site across from the gallery, good start! The Superstore itself is alive with a window full of balloons and colour and people, lot of people here already, openings are always busy affairs at the Pure Evil gallery.

Mad C @ Pure Evil

Not sure what to make of this one though, without a doubt Mad C knows how to use a spray can, she’s certainly a technically brilliant street artist, she has a delicious use of line and colour, beautifully controlled energy, her work is always bold, bright, you might even say her work is fun (the balloons and such are adding to the feeling of fun in here tonight). Mad C is a delight, but this feels a little too much like a superstore salesroom and this collection of relatively smaller, relatively polite, relatively conservative canvas pieces does feel just a little too much like yet another technically slick street artist playing it just a little too safe and here’s a piece of her for sale on the wall and there’s the new book over there and, oh, I don’t know, really really like Mad C’s art but this is, oh, is this just a little too safe and polite and a bit too much about selling and just a little bit safe and those canvases are just a little too slick and the show kind of feels like it is all about, oh look, this isn’t what I want and Mad C is a fine painter and….

Danny Augustine @ Jealous

over at Jealous the opening night of Danny Augustine‘s new show Natural’s Not In It  is in full swing. big frames full of textures, alive with layers, fine details, the English artist (not to be confused with the American one of the same name) offers all kinds of information in the layers, in the textures, in the shapes painted and printed over shapes, some of it feels almost like doodles – that’s insulting though, and this is not work to insult, no, these aren’t doodles, all kinds of things to read in to these layers, textures to enjoy unpeeling and look behind. There’s an edge to these pieces, a refined quality, pieces that feel like they’ve grown, like they’d grow around you. His art is on the wall behind glass and in frames tonight and it works well there  The show at Jealous East only runs until Sunday 4th October, well worth catching if you can (Jealous East is at 53 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, London, EC2A 3PT)

Pablo Delgado @ Howard Griffin

And of course we have to go grab some torches and go explore that Pablo Delgado show at the Howard Griffin Gallery again. I suspect I might be visiting this show several more times before it ends, this really is brilliant, this is what we want for an artist, this is what we want galleries to do, there’s a review here – The triumph behind artist Pablo Delgado’s yellow door – I;m pretty certain there’s more in here than there was last week, I’m wrong, where did that purring cat come from? With this show Delgado really has challenged us, challenged the way we might think of him, he’s certainly elevated himself way above the safe world that is street art now, there’s a whole load of words and images here, this might just be the best art show I’ve been to this year and the fact that the relatively small commercial gallery have been brave enough to put this show on really must be celebrated as much as the artist himself, just brilliant!  – Opens Tomorrow Morning by Pablo Delgado runs a the Howard Griffin Gallery, Shoreditch, London, until 1st Nov 2015. Find the gallery over the road from the foot of Redchurch Street at 189 Shoreditch High Street, London, E1 6HU.

Danny Augustine @ Jealous

A quick stroll along Brick Lane for another look at the Jimmy C show at Lollipop before it comes to an end this weekend, and bit of poking around another couple of shows that we don’t feel inclined to offer an opinion on, we’re not here to cover things if we don’t have anything that positive to say about them, certainly can’t get excited by anything happening in Boxpark…  First Thursday is just another Thursday now and art never stops, Dandy Augustine’s layers are exquisite, Mad C is a fine painter, her show at Pure Evil may not be quite what we wanted from her, but she is a fine painter, exploring the art London has to offer, both in the galleries and on the streets, is as rewarding as ever, start of the season? No, but if it is then then surely the show of this season surely is going to be that Pablo Delgado show at Howard Griffin, might go again this afternoon, that Delgado show is still has me glowing, love that show, conceptual art indeed.  (SW)

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