INVURT

With his first solo show in some time, Gasp will be bringing his own form of painted mayhem to Aucklands Ninety Gallery tonight.

Gasps aerosol and mural works are a well known feature around Auckland, and everyone is in for a treat as this guy gets set to display a whole bunch of imagery with his playful, ever so slightly tongue in cheek works.

Head down tonight for this sick as opening! Also, for some reason, they’ve requested those attending the show to bring along an umbrella – okay. There’s definitely something mischievous brewing there …

Who: Gasp
What: Gasp solo show
Where: Ninety Gallery, Ninety Wellesley St, Auckland
When: Show opens Thursday 17th November at 6pm and runs til the 24th November.

Check out Gasps website, as well as the facebook event page for more info.

The grandly named and amazingly talented new crew, Aotearoa Skellywag Crew are having their first group exhibition tonight at Aucklands Rakinos Bar.

We’ve been following the exploits of these creative dudes over in NZ over in NZ for a while now, and their numbers include some of the finest that the land has to offer – artists such as PNTR, Yelz, Cracked Ink, Cinzah Seekayem, Smud and Kidd C. Grand.

We’re really looking forward to seeing shots and images from this show!

Who: PNTR, Yelz, Cracked Ink, Cinzah Seekayem, Smud and Kidd C
What: ASC group show
Where: Rakino Bar, Level 1, 35 High Street, Auckland, NZ
When: Show opens Monday 7th November at 5:30pm.

Check out the Aotearoa Skellywags here on Tumblr.

So much goodness coming out of New Zealand lately, and The Depot has another really great show on next month with Beauty Meets The Bizarre!

"A group exhibition of new work from emerging artists from Auckland and Wellington exploring contrasting themes; from light to dark; the ethereal to the macabre; the delicate and the disgusting – all on beautiful wood."

Have to say, we’re big fans of art on wood – the grain, the texture, the natural warmth – and with many a favourite Invurt artist on the list, its one that you shouldn’t miss if you’re over that way.

Who: Michael Kennedy, Meghan Geliza, Jinx in the Sky, Gina Kiel, Xoe Hall, Cracked Ink, Kate Elise, Sin Mae Chung, Paul Walsh, Cleo Barnett, Anna Johnstone, Dominique Baker, Sam Yong, Lucy Yu
What: Beauty Meets The Bizarre
Where: The Depot Artspace, 28 Clarence St, Devonport, Auckland
When: Show opens Saturday 19th November, 3pm til 4:30pm, and runs til 2nd December.

Check out The Depot Artspace for more info.

We all know it – life really is completely random – yet many of us don’t embrace such a fact as a real ethos, instead  we relegate the chaos in our lives to simple expressions of "wtf" and "huh?"

As his moniker simply implies, Random is one artist who has long since embraced the chaotic disorder in the world, and turned it into his own personal motto. Traversing a wide range of disciplines, from painting to graffiti, and now with a large focus on body art, Random is one of those artists whose travels and tribulations have forged a unique path by which his creative impulses are explored.

Having recently held a solo show for Aucklands Art Week festival, we had a chance to throw a few questions at the man himself, and get the low down on his work, and what it is about his art, DIY ethics and his travels to Japan that have spurred on his journey …

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“Expanding the visual arts audience through discovery and discussion.”

Who: ‘Southern Gallery Express’ Bus Tour, ‘Goodnight Wanganui’ by Richard Lewer, Spencer Harrington aka Random: The Colour of Originality, Be Tender by Reuben Paterson, Emma Thomsen: Nonlinear Complications and many more.
What: Art Week Auckland
Where: Big Little City, Devonport, Auckland South/West, Karangahape Road, Newmarket, Parnell, Ponsonby
When: 13th – 23rd October 2011

We’ve been waiting for a show like this one to pop up, and it looks like our friend Cleo Barnett has organised something pretty damn rad for everyone to check out over in NZ.

"A bakers dozen of Auckland and Wellington’s best – armed with paintbrushes, spraycans, permanent markers, pencils, stencils and whatever else comes to hand – will be making their mark at The Basement.

The Dirty 13′s work has won awards, shown up in galleries and private collections and also on many, ahem, non-commissioned sites in and around our fair city."

These are the kinds of shows we absolutely love – great art from great artists representing the amazing New Zealand street art scene – fuck yeah!

Who: Deus, Tanya Jade, Flox, BMD, Cut Collective, Xoe Hall, Drypnz, Mica Still, City, Cinzah, Erin Forsyth, Frey Jones and Josh Monoghan
What: The Dirty 13 group show
Where: The Basement, Lower Greys Ave, Auckland, New Zealand
When: Show opens 28th September at 8pm til 11:00pm, and runs until October 22nd.

Check out the facebook event page for more info on the show!

Calling all aerosol artists! It’s you, and your crew, against the rest of the world! Break out the Ironlak cans and get ya game on, the prize is worth is weight in paint. All your rule and regulations, stipulations and reservations are below -  put this at the top of you list of things to do this year! Werd!

Information regarding the competitions rules and regulations was posted up by Ironlak the other week, and are as are follows.

"Regions:
1. Australia/New Zealand
2. North/ South America
3. UK/Europe
4. Asia.

Entries will be judged on quality of pieces and letter styles, overall theme and composition, background elements, characters and originality. All entries will be judged by The Ironlak Family.

Prizes:
GLOBAL WINNER: 800 cans of Ironlak.

GOLD PRIZE: 500 cans of Ironlak.*
SILVER PRIZE: 240 cans of Ironlak.*
ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD: 48 cans of Ironlak.
*ONE GOLD and ONE SILVER will be awarded for EACH REGION – TOTAL 8 regional prizes)

HOW TO ENTER:

Grab a bunch of Ironlak, get together with some friends (1-5 people) and rock a fresh production wall.
Email a large photograph of your finished production AND photographs of your used cans in front of the wall (compulsory) to: competition@ironlak.com

Pieces must be painted with 100% Ironlak paint
(roll/ buff paint is allowed as a base).
Enter as many times as you like. Be sure to include the names of the artists involved plus the city and country where the wall was painted.

COMPETITION CLOSES 30th NOVEMBER, SO DON’T SLEEP!
Keep a close eye on the blog for regular updates…
To view last year’s winners click here."

This looks like a great competition, and we can’t wait to see all the pics that will be coming out of the competition entrants, and, of course, cheering on all those involved! Game on!

Image: The 2010 WINNER of Category 1 – BEST PRODUCTION in AUSTRALIA/ NEW ZEALAND: RASE, DV8TE and ASKM – Melbourne, Australia.

Who: The general public
What: Ironlak Graffiti Competition
Where: World wide
When: Entries close November 30th 2011

For Further info check out the Ironlak official website.

We only just spotted this one, which opens up tomorrow in Auckland, and looks like a great showcase of a variety of talented artists – some of whom have graced our pages here before.

From Seekyam:

"Key speaker from the We Can Create programme, New York based illustrator, designer and fine artist Sara Blake is having a mini-exhibition at Alleluya Cafe in K Road’s venerable St Kevin’s Arcade.

She is flying over a selection of new work, never before exhibited especially for us lucky Aucklanders who’ll get first peek at this exhibition evening!

Alongside Sara’s work will be an artist showcase by The Busy Nice, featuring Henrietta Harris, Sarah Lanarch, Stephen Richardson, Cinzah Seekayem and Tane Williams. These artists produce some of the top illustrative work in our fair town and are each contributing original works for your optical pleasure.

This intimate evening will all feature music provided by The ARC and drinks specials from Coopers beer available on the night, this is not one to miss … But if you do … the exhibition will be reinstalled at the Aotea Centre THE EDGE where the We Can Create conference is taking place, 26-27th of August. Phew!"

We figure the press release says it all, looks like lots of cool art (and a fair bit of New Zealand street art influence) in the show, so we’ll keep it short except to say that it looks great! Love seeing shows like this happening over there! So if you’re up in the North tomorrow night, head down to K-Road to see the show!

Who: Sara Blake, Henrietta Harris, Sarah Lanarch, Stephen Richardson, Cinzah Seekayem and Tane Williams
What: We Can Create Sara Blake and local artist showcase
Where: Alleluya, St Kevins Arcade, K Road, Auckland
When: Show opens Tuesday 23rd August from 5pm til 7pm and then will show at the We Can Create conference from the 26th to the 27th August

Go and check out the facebook event page for even more details as well as Sara Blakes website! Also take a look at We Can Create.