Rocco And His Brothers – The Good, The Bad, The God And Her Lover at Stolen Space, East London, April 2026 – Catching up with things that probably need to be caught up with? Or maybe not? is any of this needed? Where we’re we? Heading to Crystal Palace again and again, chasing EarthBall and neglecting everything else. There probably is a need to say something about The Good, The Bad, The God And Her Lover? We did preview this show as well as making it one of out five recommended art shows during the week it was due to open a couple of weeks ago now. The last time we caught a London show from Berlin’s Rocco and his Brothers back in 2016, and if we have it right, if I have been paying attention, this current show at East London’s Stolen Space is the the first major Rocco And His Brothers show since that time when BSMT Space was still actually in a basement and still rather friendly ground. Our coverage of that opening that happened behind the train yard wire that night ten years ago at BSMT Space back somewhere towards the end of 2016 still remains one of the most visited pages on this website and I imagine is probably one of the few still existing records of that show ever happening over in Dalston back there.
That exhibition ten years ago felt like a real event, it felt like something was really happening, street art shows on the whole still did back then, that one stood out from the busy crowd of shows that were happening at the time. Truth be told I haven’t been to an exciting street art flavoured show for a month of Sundays now, the once exciting scene seems rather stagnant, conservative, polite, tired, dare I say boring? I still find myself at shows and events that would probably be presented (or marketed) as urban art or street art shows – the kind of shows that people talk about people ‘smashing it’ or ‘being the bomb’ at – I just can’t recall the last time anything of that nature really engaged or excited me? I still see things that occasionally excite me on the actual street, but when was the last time I was excited by an urban art gallery show? I really can’t remember. This should have been a good one though. Surely this would smash it, surely this would be the bomb? Surely the scenesters would be out in force? Surely I better get there early on the opening night if I want a proper look and get a proper feel for it all as an event as well as show?
Where is everyone? I was kind of expecting a queue outside, a bit of a buzz, a bit of a crowd, a sense of anticipation, does that not happen any more? Still, let’s get in and see. it is;nt exactly a scrum in here, the spae isn’t exactly packed, see the art is not the problem i was expecting it to be. I am expecting to be challenged, to have something to need to think about, maybe argue with or at least something that asks a question or two, after all, as AI tells us; “Rocco and his brothers is an anonymous Berlin-based artist collective known for socio-political installations and satirical graffiti. While they share their name with the famous 1960 Italian film directed by Luchino Visconti, they are a contemporary group focused on public space interventions” – that show is 2016 was alive with challenge, with an undertone of subversion, with an intelligent edge, you felt like that show ten years ago was the real deal.
The Good, The Bad, The God And Her Lover is the name of this new show from Rocco And His Brothers at East London’s Stolen Space. We’re told what we’re looking at is something to do with the idea of a subterranean network as a vital battleground. It mostly seems focused on the London tube network which in itself is a little strange considering they are a collective from Berlin – a little coals to Newcastle maybe? Selling sand to the good people of Arabia? Oh look, there’s the obligatory bit of train track and there’s their name up as a piece neon, that’s radical! And oh look, a whole load of riot police helmets, we’ve never seen riot police helmets at a street art show before (no sign of a Metropolitan Lice sticker though). There’s a slightly subverted play on the See it, Say it, Sorted thing the British Transport Police have been plaguing us with on every station and every train every five minutes for a good few years now, it isn’t the first time we’ve seen that bit of annoyance played with in terms of (street) art either though and you do wonder how often these Berlin-based artists have heard it themselves? There’s some big almost playful pieces up there on the walls, they look like Tube Trains as monsters to me, transformers? It all looks and feels like “stuff”, it doesn’t feel the least bit challenging or subversive or any of the things is surely is supposed to be? We’re told the train pieces are masks, that they’re lived pieces of reality, a series of ‘Alter Ego’ mask artworks and that the artists “position the mask not merely as a tool for evasion, but as the physical manifestation of the alter ego itself. In this exhibition the totality of the panoptic state, its unchecked power and methods of repression, is confronted by reclaiming the subterranean network as a vital battleground against unchecked scrutiny” – they mostly look like “stuff” to me, playful pieces of something or other for street art collectors who probably do collect Transformer figures or Star Wars stuff or street art print that they never take out of the tubes they come packaged in.
We’re told that the “Subway trains, masks, and textile works come together to examine surveillance, resistance, and the pressures of living within systems of unchecked power” – all I’m really seeing are playful piece of large scale tube train pop art things (actually we don’t call them subways over here, I guess the Brothers don’t know that though?). Not sure if a load of old tube train seat cushions with a load of half-arses tag-like dirty marks on them can really be called “textile works”, they’re flogging them at a bag of sand a go, something to to do with the £1000 fine you apparently get for misbehaving on the tube network, surely no one is going lay out a grand for an old seat cushion? Still, there’s a free glass of wine on offer as we’re invited to peruse the sales catalogue.
Here’s another #43SecondFilm…
Yes, in terms of urban art, Stolen Space is, on the whole, a pretty conservative space at the best of times but this really is a touch disappointing when I really had expected so much and I’m really not sure how the “pressures of living within systems of unchecked power” are being challenged or even addressed in any significant way in this show in this gallery tonight. The “Good Artists Steal” piece is little more than just a touch embarrassing. The plays on ancient Greek and Roman mosaics I guess are fun for a moment, but we’re really not here for fun are we? I guess I kind of like the stained glass police riot shields. But why are we here? Why am I here? Why are they here? Is street art a busted flush in 2026? Has it been a busted flush for quite a few years now? (sw)
The Good, the Bad, the God and Her Lover is open now, the exhibition runs until 10th May.
Stolen Space is at 17 Osborn Street, Whitechapel, London, E1 6TD. The gallery is open Thursday and Friday: 11 – 5pm and Saturday and Sunday : 12 – 4pm or by apoointment. www.stolenspace.com
Back in 2016
As always, do click on an image to see the whole thing or to run the slide show…
THE ORGAN 