Today marks the start of another school year. Last year's seniors graduated to make space for a gaggle of incoming freshmen. I hope those grads enjoy college, because the real world is one giant booty slap. To kick off a new year, here's a post from Kill Pixie, a.k.a. Mark Whelan. He talks about his latest show back home in Sydney. He writes:
"Two of the world’s most exciting emerging artists - Australia’s Kill Pixie and the USA’s Cleon Peterson- come together in August for the much anticipated two-man show at Monster Children Gallery."
"Titled ‘The Mirror Stage’, the show commences on August 21 and will feature recent works by both of these sought after artists, who are all enjoying growing recognition and success."
"After starting out as a graffiti artist on the streets of Sydney, Kill Pixie (Mark Whalen) is now enjoying sold out shows around the world and is renowned internationally. In his highly collectable works, he combines delicate line work with extraordinary use of colour through ink, watercolour and acrylic. In Kill Pixie's meticulous work, the viewer senses the indomitable spirits of creativity, humor and resistance, and the power of adaptation. Currently based in LA, Kill Pixie has just ended a soldl-out show at Los Angeles’ Merry Karnowsky gallery. His work has featured in magazines and newspapers around the world from Vogue, ModArt, Artist Profile and Nylon to graphic art bibles Arkitip and Juxtapoz."
"Cleon Peterson is a Los Angles-based artist who has exhibited extensively across the northern hemisphere, including shows at iconic galleries such as Deitch Projects in New York, White Walls in San Francisco and New Image Art in Los Angeles. His paintings depict a world in chaos, where violence is the status quo and ethics have been abandoned in favor of what every individual believes they are entitled to. Characters are shown committing random acts of violence - clashing figures which symbolise a struggle between power and submission. Peterson was recently invited to collaborate with Shepard Fairey on the 2009 Saks Fifth Avenue Project in New York."
Sweet as, guys! Good luck with the show. For more info, visit Monster Children's website. Looks pretty hot; they've got a gallery, a magazine, and a shop filled with goodies. Ah, if only I were in Sydney. Okay, back to reality. Gotta go teach some kiddies.
“I used to do a little bit of graffiti when I was a teenager skating around the streets, but I only started doing my Beastman characters on walls a couple of years ago. I developed my characters over years of drawing in sketchbooks.”
”I live and work in my house in McMahons Point (North Sydney). Unfortunately, North Sydney’s council is very much against public art and graffiti. I usually paint walls wherever I can get one.”
“I sometimes paint with Phibs, Max Berry, Numskull, Roach...and whoever else is in town and wants to go paint.”
”I like painting at my house. It’s quiet and all my stuff is here. These days, I only really do legal walls.”
“I’m currently working on paintings for a solo exhibition at Gorker Gallery in Melbourne in July. I’ve also got some artwork for some other group exhibitions.”
