London Miles Gallery in association with Upper Playground are delighted to present a new exhibition featuring the culturally defining and visually astounding artwork of three artists from the furthest flung corners of the globe. Boasting a line-up of truly stellar international talent, this show will feature all new artworks from world-renowned and internationally feted new contemporary artists Morning Breath, Ekundayo, and Fernando Chamarelli.
This exciting three-way exhibition explicitly highlights the creative depth and diversity within the new contemporary field today, showcased exclusively for a British audience at London Miles Gallery in west London at the heart of the city’s sub cultural art community. A major coup for British audiences, this anticipated show brings three of the most prolific and abundantly talented new contemporary artists to the UK for what is a rare and insightful close up with some of the leading lights of the genre.
Opening Night - Friday 8th October - 7pm @ London Miles Gallery, Westbourne Studio's, 242 Acklam Road, London, W10 5JJ
For more information, images or interviews with the artists please contact:
Tina Ziegler. Tina@londonmiles.com. www.londonmiles.com
Doug Cunningham and Jason Noto are better known as Morning Breath which is the name of their Brooklyn based graphic design company. The duo have accumulated an impressive resume of clientele ranging from Zoo York Skateboards to Album design for bands such as Slayer, Foo Fighters and T.V on the Radio. Their work often depicts boldly coloured, mixed-up layers of Old Skool advertisement slogans, pin-up girls and comic book style characters. Its hard to know where to look first! Morning Breath will be coming to London for the first ever time as part of London Miles’ group exhibition alongside Ekundayo and Fernando Chamarelli.
Why the name Morning Breath?
The name Morning Breath comes from the title of a song a friend of ours wrote. One night when Jason and I were thinking of names for our new found venture, we were listening to music drinking some beers, and put on a 7” from a friend of ours band named Sweet Diesel. We thought what a great/fucked up name for our new company. We looked no further.
Could you give a brief summary of your line of work
Morning Breath does a broad range of work ranging from straight up graphic design/illustration to commercial projects that take on a look and feel from our more personal work. We paint and experiment with personal work along side of commercial projects. Sometimes it becomes a juggling act to maintain both worlds.
What mediums do you guys use?
Most of our paintings are done with a combination of acrylic paint and silkscreen. We paint primarily on wood board.
How and why did you both start doing art?
We both have been creating art since childhood. I don’t know if there is an answer to why?, we just do, and in a way always have been creating art. I guess if there is an answer it’s been different throughout stages of our lives. If you ask why we do it now, I guess it’s just a need to escape the confounds of commercial work. Although one might think even our commercial work is creative, it still has more compromise than we’d like.
Did you know each other before the formation of Morning Breath? Where and how did you both meet?
We both worked at Think skateboards in San Francisco in the mid nineties. That is where we began to collaborate, and eventually developed our method of creating art.
Was buildinga work dynamic difficult for you at all and if you hadn’t begun working together, how do you think your artistic styles would be different today?
The building of our work dynamic came about very naturally, we each offered something that the other didn’t have. Jason was trained as a graphic designer, and I was an illustrator. Had we not joined forces I guess we both would have evolved, but only in our respective areas of art.
Have you ever been to London?
Jason had been to London about a decade ago, I have never been.
Will your work for the upcoming show consist of any British influences for this show?
I don’t think there will be much in the way of British influence on our art. Most of the influence on our art comes from 1950’s to 1970’s Advertising and typography. We take the ideas from that era and remix with a fucked up broken aesthetic.
Did you guys make any kind of alterations to your work for the upcoming exhibition at London Miles because you will be showing to a different audience or, is audience a non-factor for you?
The audience is really a non factor for us. When it comes to our painting we’re doing it for Morning Breath. Our commercial work forces us to keep the client in mind, so when it comes to our personal work, we need the freedom.
You guys have been doing a lot of incredible design work for albums recently, who has been your favourite musician/band to work with?
The Band we had the most fun on the Project was wit
h Queens of the Stone Age. That was one of the fewMusic projects that very clearly let the Morning Breath aesthetic come through.
You recently teamed up the merchandise monster, Upper Playground, to whatextent do you feel that this helped you gain recognition?
Upper Playground was pivotal in getting us exposure. In 2006 they published a book of our Art, along with a showin their Portland gallery space. There is also a bit of a connection with Juxtapoz that also brought us to their readers attention.
What is your creative process, how do you amalgamate your ideas?
When we are working on our personnel work there is very much a free flow of ideas, and theprocess is experimental within the confines of our familiarity. Our paintings are a reflection of the tag team approach that we take. We don’t force the evolution of our paintings, but just let our feelings toward them add, or subtract over time.
What is your creative process when working with clients?
When working with clients, we often takean opposite approach than we take with our paintings. Ther isa lot of preplanning and presenting of ideas. I guess you could say it’s much more structured.
Who has been your biggest client to date?
Our biggest client to date has beenUniversal Music Group. With it’s many sub-labels, and a huge list of Big and small artist, they have kept us fairly busy with work for roughly the past decade.
If you could only choose one, would you rather produce for galleries or continue doing commercial work for clients?
If we could make a comfortable living doing nothing but Gallery art, we would much rather go that route. We both have families, and live in New York. It is very expensive here, and the reality for us is that we need to bring in a solid income if we want to maintain life the way we’ve been living. If we we’re single and younger we probably would give to much a shit about it.
Its been 3 years, 2 days, 1 hour, and feels like FOREVER! Daydream has been producing and distributing its print based publication by hand in the UK and particular international hotspots.
Supporting and celebrating artists and performers alike, Daydream has been a unique source of fresh inspiration, hosting events and launching editions at the world reknowned M & C Saatchi and the Royal Albert Hall making some fantastic friends along the way.
A change is said to be as good as rest, and now we feel that the time is right to push Daydream into a new online format; thats available to download! The ethos is still the same: A source of fresh, uninhibited inspiration, from all disciplines side by side in societies scrapbook. The new format will allow us to reach a larger target audience, communicate and interact with our readers, clients and copycats. We will still be printing Daydream alongside the online publication, however these issues will be in limited supply and will make up a collectors series.
To commemorate the magazine and the launch of the new online format, we will be hosting an Exhibition of previous Daydream greats at the London Miles Gallery - Westbourne Studios 242 Acklam London W10 5JJ -
Friday 1st October 2010 - 9pm - till late
D'LOGO PARTY
JUSTIN ROBERTSON deadstock 33’s DIGITAL AFRICAN - NICO LUPO YOUNG & POSITIVE PLUS MORE Djs & LIVE PROFORMANCES
The newest party in west london M&C Saatchi - Graham Fink “ Fucking Amazing!”
ALL happening on Friday, October 1st 2010. from 9pm till LATE! Advance R.S.V.P required for guestlist. Reserve your place NOW!
The image from the Opening of Made in Britain and Visual Splendor are now up on London Miles Gallery's facebook page- go have a look at the incredible night and opening of two wonderful exhibitions.
A big thanks to everyone that came out to support London Miles Gallery and all the artists that took part in the exhibition. Congrats to David Marsh for the opening of his first solo exhibition!
Thanks to our sponsors: Firefly Tonics, Small Car big City and Brothers Cider! You all helped make it one unforgettable quintessentially British event.
Our current exhibition, Made in Britain, opened on Friday evening the 10th of September. It was such a busy night, with over 400 attending guests through out the evening. We will have images for you shortly, but till then take a look at this great review the exhibition has received from Amelia's Magazine.
"So the London Miles gallery’s latest exhibition is a very timely wake-up call to the fact that Pop Surrealism, with its Graffiti and Lowbrow fellow flavours, has a very natural home here in the UK. We’re so culturally jam-packed with icons, ironies and idiosyncrasies, its a recipe fit to burst kola-kube-sour onto your culture buds."
"This is the best show I have seen for a while, in one of London’s tastiest spaces. Energetic, democratic, authentic, and even, dare I say it, affordable. It doesn’t have a big ego, doesn’t puff itself up. It just does what it says on the tin, as gleefully as possible. If Britain’s really got talent for a new dawn, this is the place to watch."
Chamarelli. faultlessly creates paintings withbrave andunusual colour palettes thatdemand a viewer’s attention. You instinctively need to squint and look closer to find, the figures, faces and extravagant birds that tower over the smaller creatures in his paintings. His paintings remind me of harlequin clowns and bright carnival costumes (no doubt connected to the artists Brazilian Background), calmed down his thin and intricate black lining. Chamarelli is a UNESP formed graphic designer, recently being commissioned by sportswear giant Umbro to re-design the Brazilian football shirt crest.He is also an illustrator and painter. He is set to take part in a London Miles group exhibition alongside Ekundayo and Morning Breath in October.
(left)Escambo com yansa 60x90cm(acrylicon canvas)
Q:If you could put a name on your style, what would you call it?
I don´t know, maybe Multicultural art
Q:Around what age and stage were you in your education and career, when you created you distinctive style, how did you know that your style was what best represented you?
Ever since I started drawing I made things in several different styles. I started drawing cartoons, realistic portraits, caricatures, I made tattoo, graffiti and a lot of digital art. During college I had a great time, yet I went without creating anything. After I finished college I started drawing and realized I was doing something different and I thought if I did that with paint on canvas the results could be interesting. That's when I found this style, it was exactly three years ago.
Q:What was growing up in Brazil like?
I was born and raised in a small town nearing the centre of Brazil. A city surrounded by rivers and waterfalls, I had much contact with nature and I think it helped me with organic shapes, colours and the elements that I put in my artworks. There are always animals in my works, especially birds.
Q:Can you give examples of Brazilian culture that is relevant to your work and are there any other cultures that influence you?
Brazilian music is very important to me when I'm creating a new work. However there are several other elements of Brazilian culture that I put in my paintings: The fauna, flora, folklore, carnival costumes, artwork of indigenous art, the costumes used in religious festivals, etc. Brazilian culture is rich, as are several other cultures. I like Maori, Celtic, Egypt and Chinese art etc And I have a very strong connection with pre-Columbian cultures: Maya, Inca and Aztec. Actually I try to add elements of different cultures in my work
Q:Are there any general undertones or a general theme attached to the works you have done for you upcoming exhibition at London Miles?
In the paintings that I did for London Miles the main theme is about Gods and myths, but each painting has its own history.
Q:What feeling do you like to elicit from your viewers?
Hmm, that's a good question. Actually I don’t like to impose a meaning onto the paintings and I don’t expect a single type of feeling. If I painted a horse and the viewer sees a dragon, no problem. I enjoy seeing people's imagination, I let them be free to imagine whatever they want. My work can mean something for me and a different meaning for another person. My intention is always to do something I enjoy, something that I enjoy and that makes me happy
Q:How did you first encounter art and when did you decide to pursue it?
I have no artist relatives and I haven’t been drawing since childhood, like most artists. In my house there were few books, newspapers and magazines. There were little printed images that inspired me to start creating something. I didn’t have much contact with art at that time. But when I was 14 my friend gave me a super hero comic and I thought these characters were fantastic. Since that day I never stopped drawing, and over time I had contact with other kinds of art until I started painting.
Q:When thinking of a piece, do you begin with the subject matter or the general colour palette?Because both elements are powerful in your work.
First I always think about the matter, then I think about the colours. I always try to use new combinations of colour, but always intertwined with white, black and gray. I worry about the colour balance, I like to make sure that similar tones don’t touch each other.
Petroleo 60x90cm (acrylic on canvas
Q:What is your creative process, how do you form your pieces?
First I turn my radio on.
I draw and study the colours on paper. then I draw and paint on the canvas.
Q:What was it like re-designing Brazil’s crest for Umbro?
The Umbro release a collection of shirts with tribute to the seven teams that have won the World Cup: Argentina, Brazil, France, England, Italy, Germany and Uruguay. It was called The World Champions Collective. I was the Brazilian artist chosen to create a crest for the shirt of Brazil with my style. It was an amazing project, I liked partici
pating
because I love football.
Q:If you could only
choose one area to continue working in for the rest of you life would you rather be a graphic designer,
or a painter?
Well, I’d rather be a painter in the morning, and a graphic designer in the evening. But if I had to choose between them, I’d want to be a painter.
We recently went by the artist studios of Xue Wang and David Marsh. Both artists will be exhibited this September at London Miles Gallery.
Have a look at the videos and visit London Miles Gallery's artist profile pages for more information. We hope to see you at the opening reception of Made in Britain and Visual Splendor on September 10th 2010.
London Miles is a contemporary art gallery and showroom located in West London.
London Miles is the UK’s foremost gallery for exhibiting, nurturing, and unearthing artists working within the realms of surrealist, pop, lowbrow, comic book, and illustration art. With our unparalleled dedication to these subcultural art forms, London Miles provides the ideal gateway through which to explore these diverse and provocative genres, for both long-term art enthusiasts and newcomers alike.
