Weapon of Choice present Pattern & Matter

a solo show by PHILTH.

Opening preview Friday 12th April 2013, 6-10pm.

@ Weapon of Choice Gallery,
8b Park Street, BRISTOL, BS1 5HR.

Facebook event. 

Artist bio:

Philth is not an illustrator, not an artist, not a designer, nor street artist or writer.
He will not be pigeonholed into a category, but instead considers himself to be any of those things on any given day. 

He has a diverse history of work ranging from corporates like Adidas, Snow Queen Vodka & China White to pay the bills, to preferring to spend his time collaborating with start ups Viva Sativa & UTC from grass roots where he has full control over the way they look form the offset.

His time painting has seen him travel form Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sheffield, Madrid, Berlin & Barcelona.

Closer to home he spends time painting at festivals: Big Chill, One Love, Beatherder, Leeds, Shambala & Upfest as well as T-shirt designing & workshops.
He was the winner of Secret Wars Birmingham and went on to the final of Euro league. He has created work with Red bull and regularly works with the collective Subism.

Philth is a lover of music and this has seen him design art works for Oris Jay/Darquan, Brotherman Eva Lazarus & Mr Woodnote, and Senseless records amongst others, as well as midlands based Under The Counter brand. He paints music venues like Muse aquarium, Leeds and the infamous Rainbow, Digbeth.

From childhood his influences have come from comic books, graffiti, characters, nature, science, and the unknown.

Today he prefers to look to the art of antiquity and is inspired by the art in science like alchemical symbolism, Victorian paintings and wood bloc printing. The art derived from Egyptian, Greek, Tibetan and African mythologies can been seen as influential elements in his work.

Philth considers N4T4 & Glen Anderson to be influences and inspirations to him.

He is more influenced today by Art Nouveau, religious symbolism and scientific diagrams than when younger from comic books & other graffiti writers of our time. It is these more ancient influences that inspire his creative processes. He uses pattern and sacred geometric archetype in his work as a way of exploring the nature of the universe.

And the women in the work,they represent the battle of the sexes, the left brain verses the right.

The presence of the female form within the work is a reference to female beauty as a manifestation of mother nature ,but also as a liberation of the right brain, or the feminine over the masculine elements of human nature leading the world to doom.

All of this with science fiction undertones and the creativity and imagination of his thought processes brings you the current works of Pattern and matter.

Art by Philth: 

Weapon of Choice are proud to announce our next solo show from French Graffiti writer and body painter:

MR SHIZ!

Bringing a mix of original works on canvas and limited run prints of his famous works of body art.

Opening preview Friday 15th March, 6-10pm.
@ Weapon of Choice Gallery, 8b Park St, Bristol BS1 5HR.

FB Event.

Show runs until Sat 7th April.

Artist Bio:
After painting professionally for nearly a decade and overall since I was 15, It occured to me that it was time to do what I wanted to do as opposed to what I thought was expected of me, so this what this show is about.

The "Shiz Heads" came about when I met with Vince from Shriiimp.com while we were talking I realised that I wanted to be different in my body painting and stand out from the masses, I thought, what could compliment the paintings I did on the models?

Hide their faces was the answer... It's the contrast that sums up what my art is all about, and there is definetely a contrast with hiding a pretty girl's face instead of showing it.
the Heads all reflect the body painting, enthasizing the theme.

The show, even though the women on the canvases don't feature body painting, I wanted to explore the photorealism technique with the Heads.

I have always said in interviews that I paint pretty pictures with no meaning, and this is the first time that I feel really connected with my artwork.

WEAPON OF CHOICE VI BIRTHDAY &

NIKILL SOLO SHOW AFTERPARTY!

CHESTER P - Task Force

BUGGSY

TWIZZY - Three Headed Beast

BASTARD SUNZ

C-FROO

NIKILL - MPC/Ableton Set

DJ SKINT

FINGERFOOD - Squared Roots

+ SPECIAL GUESTS!

FRIDAY 15TH FEBRUARY, 10-3AM

Tickets £5 from Weapon of Choice & Bristol Ticket Shop - Tickets available soon. More on the door. @ BASEMENT 45 Opposite WOC gallery, 8 Frogmore Street, Bristol, BS1 5NA. 10-3AM (ish)

Facebook event

Join us for pre-drinks at NIKILL's Solo show opening at Weapon of Choice Gallery 6-10pm just opposite Basement 45.
Nikill Interview and solo show details here.

Facebook event

Word up Nikill! It's been a while.. For those out there who don't know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself/your art and design background and what made you become an artist?

Yo! My name's Nikill or Nick Hill, depending on how thick your Bristolian accent is. I grew up in Bristol with my brother, lots of lego and seemingly ever changing house hold pets. I have the Bristol skate scene to thank for becoming an artist. College green and the legendary 5050 crowd opened me up to the culture surrounding graffiti in a 'pre' Banksy era, as well as awesome talent like TCF Crew who regularly blasted the walls of Dean Lane skatepark.

What artists/writers inspire you the most?

Stylistically in my early days it was TCF Crew, in particular Xenz and Ziml. Then as I developed more as an illustrator, Mr Jago, Will Barras, BLU and Sickboy were, and still continue to be, huge a inspiration. That being said, I have to mention the awesome artists that inspired me with their wisdom, not just their style. I remember Paris once advised me to develop a more wild style approach, Sickboy - as well as teaching me how to paint at a community project, also told me to find a symbol that represented what I was about and Cheba - he always gets me involved in events and is an all round amazing guy. He didn't pay me to say that, promise.

What media's do you use and what's your favourite?

When painting I mainly use spray paint and acrylic, with a sensitivity to whatever surface Im painting on. I love textures so always use areas of the bare wall within the painting and utilise its negative space. I've been using a load of digital 3D recently in my day job and am exploring ways to merge this with my more traditional approach.

Now your living in London, what are your thoughts on the current Bristol scene, has it changed since you moved? Is it much different to London?

My perception of the Bristol scene has changed as I feel quite out of touch with it, but a sense of disconnection is inevitable when you move away from anywhere. The scene as a whole seems very well accepted pretty much everywhere in Bristol now. WoC, UPFest and See No Evil have put street art right in peoples faces and now that graffiti is globally recognised as an art form, there is far less stigma attached to it. As for London, there is a lot of work around created by internationally recognised artists such as Shepard Fairey, Insa and a few others popping up on the streets and in galleries. As for the underground scene I haven't quite found that here for street art just yet. There is, however, a tight community of motion designers here in London.

You've been studying Motion Graphics over the last few years, has this had an effect on the way you paint?

Definitely, capturing a sense of movement is something I've always strived for in my paintings, so progressing into animation was inevitable in a sense. Exploring techniques in the motion graphics world led me to discover a love for geometry and that now feeds back into my painting. Studying at any kind of art school is also only going to enhance you image making skills if you allow it to, we were taught to be so sensitive to the core principles of image making that they are now always in my mind when painting. Its then just a case of leaving it to your eyes, mind and hands.

What can we expect from your show in February?

Zombies, trainers, the cosmos and geometry.

Is there anything that you want to do with painting that you haven't done yet?

Paint bigger pieces, like massive, whole sides of buildings and create more illustrative animations based around my paintings. Know anyone with a spare building? Ohhh, or paint in space, to be honest I'd be happy doing anything in space, except a number 2, that wouldn't be so hot.

What's on the cards for the next few years? Can you give us an example of your upcoming projects?

I've got plans to do an audio visual exhibition and to also make more music. I've got a track dropping on a legendary Bristol MC's forthcoming album and am going on tour with the band.

Any last words?

Love deeply, live positively, listen, think, advise.

Nikill's solo show opens Friday 15th February 6-10pm at Weapon of Choice Gallery on Park Street. Show runs until Saturday 9th March 2013.

Facebook event.

AFTER PARTY & WOC VI BIRTHDAY at Basement 45 opposite the gallery. With CHESTER P, BUGGSY, TWIZZY, THE BASTARD SUNZ and more.. Tickets £5 from Weapon of Choice & Bristol Ticket Shop more on the door. More info here.

Facebook event.

Weapon of Choice present

ART HEIST

A group show of affordable art from established and upcoming artist’s from around the south west.

Opening preview Friday 18th January 6-10pm
Show runs until Saturday 9th February.

Weapon of Choice Gallery, 8b Park Street, Bristol BS1 5HR