SNUB23 x PRHBTN 2019
This adventure began like many with an email, which at first sounded too good to be true. ‘Please come to Lexington, Kentucky and paint a massive mural. With each further contact our excitement grew, a personal but professional attitude from the organisers reinforced our determination to make this wall special.
We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but also knew that with a bigger wall and more time than we do at most of the weekend events, we could really leave our mark in this faraway place.
“PRHBTN is an annual celebration of art forms that have been criminalized, marginalized, and under-appreciated in the mainstream, featuring public murals alongside an exhibition of street art works in a space that complements the raw, powerful nature of the message and artistry of each piece.”
Our design took plenty of planning, from calculating the amount of each colour we would need to the scale of each cube. We built a model, tested colour combinations, setting our scale and worked out a schedule.
As with all our painting trips, this one started with a long journey, London to New York then on to Cincinnati, we had totally lost track of what day it was already. From the moment we met John (one half of the mighty PRHBTN duo) we knew that we’d get on, good sense of humour and sarcasm always help. The drive to Lexington flew by and we arrive at what to us looked like a big house from an old American horror movie.
After a day of unpacking kit, cutting stencils and fighting jet lag our first night out was a VIP PRHBTN Launch party at Oracle tattoo shop. Sipping our first real Kentucky bourbon the rollercoaster began, it seemed that everyone we met from that point was someone we’d get on with. We saw the artwork of Patrick Smith, who was exhibiting there, then met the man himself, he is now a good friend. Free tattoos were available, we resisted. That night was a sign of things to come, late nights with good people followed by happy days in the cold and sunshine painting.
No sooner had we begun, than visitors and local business owners visited, all with smiles, some with treats and one woman with the comment "I know what it is... it’s a chicken!" Followed by her own raucous laughter.
Day two of painting marked the arrival of Alex, a wandering art warrior who we met at Art Basel, Miami last year. We are so lucky to meet such great people, Alex is easy to like and it wasn’t long before he became a big part of our trip, even coming along to our fancy dinner at Tom Fielders home. He is now back on the road and leaving his art and happiness wherever he goes.
As you can see from the progress photos, the start was slow and the size of the wall daunting, all that white space seemed endless. But step by step and cube by cube Sprite and I smashed into it, focus and determined.
PRHBTN set up the project just right, taking us to and picking us up from the wall, feeding us delicious food, laughing at our Englishness and putting on a beautiful exhibition in a deluxe location Loundoun House. We saw great art and again met more good people, Sprite met her double and I met ‘Flash Gordon’ well not really but turned out Pat Armstrong is just as much a hero as Flash. We had one day off in the 12 days of painting and we spent with Pat, he drove us to his land in the mountains, we learnt about and fired a bunch of guns while talking about gun control and the land his family left to him, then we hiked across that very land. Then on the way back we took the sky lift (cable car/ski lift) to the natural bridge, a giant chunk of sandstone the formed a bridge across a canyon, we saw it from afar, walked under it and across it. The whole day is one neither of us will forget.
We would like to thank John and Jessica, team PRHBTN for inviting us, supporting us and all the other artist who have been lucky enough to be part of there vision of what a city can look like when it embraces large scale murals.
And a big thank you to the support and generosity of everyone we met.
Clay
Graham and Geoff of Square Pegs Studio
Alex
Rolling oven pizzas
Mirror Twin Brewing
Eppings on Eastside
Blue Door Smokehouse
Paul our Air BnB host
Patrick and Katelynn
Pat Armstrong
Nick and Michelle Hardesty
Kobra paint USA
SNUB23 : JET LAG SOLO SHOW 2017
SNUB23 : JET LAG
Solo show, London
8th until 24th September 2017
@benoakleygallery
PRIVATE VIEW contact the gallery.
Opening times –
Thursday to Sunday, 11am – 6pmMonday – Wednesday
by appointment9 Turnpin Lane, Greenwich Market
London, SE10 9JAAtwo-minute walk from Cutty Sark for Maritime Greenwich DLR Station
Tel: +44 (0)7976 692 751
Email: info@benoakleygallery.com
SNUB23 SOLO SHOW – POLYHEDRON
A solo show from SNUB23.
POLYHEDRON: One solid – Many facets.
Show runs from April 2nd to April 30th
PLAY DEAD STUDIO,
131 Highland Road, Southsea,
Portsmouth PO4 9EY
Map here
Private view: April 1st from 7pm
Last night POLYHEDRON opened at the Play Dead studios.
Thanks to all that came from far and wide.
You can see all the work here (with a few exeptions)
Contact Play dead for prices via facebook or phone:
www.facebook.com/playdeadstudio
+44 7949 797575
DOWNLOAD THE POLYHEDRON CATALOGUE HERE
I answered a few questions before the show opened for VERY NEARLY ALMOST. See it here and below
With his first big event of the year, cyborg heavy-hitter Snub is treating us to POLYHEDRON, an all-new solo show in Southsea, Portsmouth, between the 2nd and the 30th of April. One of the key themes in the exhibition is to capture demonstrate the scope of the Brighton-based graphic artist, as mentioned when we caught up with him for a quick interview about the new show.
“The name of the show ‘Polyhedron’ means ‘one solid, many facets’, this also fits my artwork. Anyone who follows my work knows I don’t stick to one technique. I sketch, stencil, brush, sticker, paste, craft and paint.” He explained, before warning that this new body of work may not be exactly what his fans normally see. “I guess I’m known for ‘mongrel’ the robot inspired by my childhood comic book hero’s the ABC warriors, he appears in this show but isn’t the main feature.”
The show is held at Play Dead Studios, an uncommon merger between tattoo studio and creative exhibition space. Making the most of the unique venue Snub has created a custom set of 10 tattoo flashes to run alongside the exhibition, each to be inked only once by the artists at Play Dead. “The crossover is perfect for my work.” Snub began, “we already have bookings and think some may even be inked by the time the show opens on Friday. I plan to then frame some of the designs.”
“The shift between me painting a fictional character and it becoming something more solid and real happened couple of years ago. I started to introduce a skull into my robot sketches which led to more realistic looking creatures and people. The difference between human and robot in my sketches blurred and they became one.” This metamorphosis between robotic and biological is demonstrated best in HYBRID, Snub’s self-proclaimed favourite piece from the show, “A brushed acrylic piece. It’s either a human being revealed as a robot or the other way round and it’s about not knowing.”
The most iconic pieces from the show are undoubtedly his formidable garrison of overhead masks in all their mechanised glory. “The masks developed from conversations with good friends and a model maker, it started with a full skull and developed into the masks. Firstly a cardboard prototype which is layered with resin, sculpted and sanded. Then that’s the master for making a cast. This is then used to produce more but these are reinforced with fibreglass.” However he was unwilling to take all of the credit for the pieces, stating, “I’m really happy how they turned out but I can’t claim all the credit in their realisation, without Ed Nottingham they wouldn’t have gotten this far. We have other plans for the future and with these new customs even more ideas have sprung up.”
Especially created for the solo show, Snub has released five blank masks to a group of hand selected artists to bring their signature styles to each cyborg head, although through the variety of artists involved some unexpected results arose. “My Dog Sighs has given his an aged metal effect and realistic eyes, which freaked me out the first time I saw it. Also Aremsee is an artist currently working on the Star Wars movies and has blasted one side of a mask painted with actual stormtrooper paint. Nerd alert! I’ve yet to see Fark’s and Betso’s but I know they’ll be killer.”
The show’s opening night is tonight from 7pm and it runs right up until the end of the month so if you are in the south of the country at any point over April it is definitely worth a look. As well as picking up your one-off Snub inking, a limited run t shirts has also been created to commemorate the event so make sure you head on down there, the more the merrier. “A SNUB army would be glorious.”
URBAN CURATIONS XMAS SHOW 2011
5th December – 3rd Jan
PV- Saturday 3 December 2011 6-9pm
Opening Hours
Tues-Sat 12:00-7:00
Curated by Infinity Bunce in conjuctions with Triple X Tattoos
TRIPLE X Tattos – Netil House, Studio 206, 1-7 Westgate Street London England, E8 3RL
PV- Saturday 3 December 2011 6-9pm
Opening Hours
Tues-Sat 12:00-7:00
5th December – 3rd Jan
Leticia 07412099018 or Infinity 07961452703
contact : infobunce@gmail.com
www.urbancurations.com
www.triplextattoo.com
INK_D XMAS KNEES UP 2011
X-MAS PRESENTS @ INK_D
‘A XMAS KNEE’S UP’
2 DECEMBER 2011 — 24 DECEMBER 2011
‘A Xmas Knee’s Up’ is the galleries offering for this year Xmas show.
We have the artists all warmed up and ready for the up an coming festive jollies. The gallery is bringing you a wide selection of seasonal treats, from small affordable arty items to some large tasty originals. We have some great items this year and you’ll be guaranteed to find something for that loved one or a early present for yourself. All this will be housed in our wonderful gallery and served up with a tipple of mulled wine. So drop in and have a sip as you browse our festive art selection.
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