Colours, colours, colours!

Up in the air

Storm clouds on the horizon

(L to R) Foundry & Mr.Shiz

Intermat Exhibition’s official newspaper – WPP, Foundry & Mr.Shiz on the cover

The last seven days have had Wet Paint Productions in Paris working at an international construction event that attracts more than 125,000 visitors from around the world. Our client, the International Powered Access Federation (IPAF) who are the leading force in aerial access (cherry picker) safety, firstly trained the artists – Foundry and Mr.Shiz – to use the machines before asking us to paint two 7m x 4m canvases. Our brief was to make the machines look heroic and slowly progress the images over the course of the week. What could be more fun than painting in Paris in spring? Well, that was before we saw the weather forecast for the week. Huge respect to both Foundry and Shiz who were working 6 metres up and had to contend with fierce rain, hail and up to 19 mph winds. It was a tour de force of patience and a masterclass in can control. Competing for visitors’ attention and pitched against global manufacturers with massive marketing budgets, Foundry and Mr. Shiz got the front cover of the official show magazine. Images of the completed work up soon!

Last, but by no means least, of the films covering the cities Wet Paint Productions covered for Channel 4′s Street Summer season is Birmingham. This was a weird one as Lucy, the winning entrant, was unable to take part as she was busy bouncing around Europe and couldn’t make it back in time so it was left to mentor Ventsa of Four Pence Collective to recreate her design as he explains here. On this film Ventsa also touches upon the graffiti versus street art argument and what is art and what is vandalism? A subject which Graffiti Wars – a film commissioned as part of the Street Summer season about the fued between King Robbo and Banksy – tried to tackle. Ironically this competition sparked similar arguments that played out across several forums, chat rooms and websites. Massive thanks to Ventsa and all of the artists for their help and support on this project. For more information on Street Summer and it’s offerings hit HERE.

Last weekend marked another Wet Paint Aerosol Workshop for the kids of Brighton and Hove’s parent-run group the Link-Up Project. As we have posted before, this amazing group offers support and social activities for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). Once again the incredible Snub 23 put them through their paces – teaching them can control and compostition - all overseen by our very own Projects & Community Manager Charlie Allsebrook. Despite most of the kids being new to spraypaint their efforts really impressed us and they all left with a finished canvas as a memento of the day. Above all the other projects Wet Paint get involved with this is probably one of the most rewarding, especially as the kids enjoy it so much.  But don’t take our word for it. This is what Julie Sissions of the Link-Up Project had to say: “The children all loved the workshop. It was good that the session was inclusive of all age groups and it was fantastic to see an 8 year-old as engrossed as a 17 year-old working alongside together. The artist was informative and worked well with the young people, sharing his skills and passing on confidence to those who normally find art at school difficult. We will be booking [Wet Paint Productions] again for sure.” To find out more or to book workshops contact us at: wetpaintproductions@hotmail.com   

Manchester’s winning entry for Channel 4′s Street Summer season went up at the start of the month. Designed by local writer Theodore and mentored by Sheffield’s own Faunagraphic, the piece draws inspiration from an unlikely source. In this film, Theodore explains that his design is based on a painting by the Czech Art Nouveau artist Alphonse Mucha no less. Watch the film for an explaination and look out for Fauna’s expression – it’s priceless. Wet Paint would like to thank Faunagraphic and all of the artists we worked with during this project. And to view all of the regional winners and their films skip to the Don’t Panic website HERE.

The start of this month saw the winning entries of Channel 4′s Street Summer street art competition go up. This design by Technicolourmoon, was picked by Channel 4 as the winner for the South East region and was painted in Brighton and overseen by mentor Req. This is the first film of the three cities that Wet Paint Productions represented. We’ll leave the artists to do the talking…

It’s not every day a Mexican street artist based in Colombia rolls into town but yesterday was one of those days. The man in question is Stinkfish who has been painting and pasting his way around ‘Londres’ since visiting our fair capital to promote and launch the London release of Nuevo Mundo, a book about Latin American street art, at Pictures on Walls. Back in 2010 Brighton son Hutch was one of a handful of Europeans invited to attend the Bogota Stencil Festival and that’s where the two first  met. So, in the true spirit of Anglo – Latin American relations it was only proper that Hutch and Wet Paint got Stinkfish down for some seaside action before he continues the next leg of his European tour. This collaboration is in Brighton’s North Laine and Wet Paint have to thank the residents and freeholder Paul Bonett for allowing the artists to get up as well as Cityclean for the go-ahead. We will post a time- lapse film of this soon but in the meantime check out a collaborative print by the two artists. It comes in a couple of colourways and measures 62cm x 52cm on somerset 100% cotton rag. Details of where to buy it will be released soon.

Voting lines for Channel 4′s Street Summer have been kept open for an extra three days and will now close on 20th July. So if you haven’t entered your design or voted for your favourite piece then you had better be quick about it! Follow the link to Don’t Panic’s website: http://www.dontpaniconline.com/street_summer for terms and conditions and on how to enter and you can also watch the online videos from the artists Wet Paint Productions put forward – Req, Ventsa and Faunagraphic. They’ll give you their insight on what they are looking for and will ultimately choose their favourite pieces for each area from the top 10 with the most Likes. So, go to the website now and start voting for your favourites!

Last Sunday saw another Wet Paint productions’ Graffiti Workshop and this time we were working with some budding young artists from the Link-Up Project .  The Brighton and Hove parent-run group  provide support and a social network for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and their parents. As part of their activities and outings they included an aerosol art afternoon schooled by Snub 23 (powered by Kobra Paint) who introduced the kids to the art of the craft. The kids loved it so much we have a sneaking suspicion they will be coming back for more. We’d like to thank all the members of Link-Up as they were great and a pleasure to work with. Especially Tom who at 15 years-old had this to say: “I feel this workshop has really enriched my knowledge of graffiti, character construction and building on a canvas.  I think we have all learnt new skills with spray paint and I’d definitely love to do it again in the near future.  All participants have really enjoyed themselves and found a way of expressing their individual artistic side with brilliant outcomes.” And of course a huge thanks to Snub 23 for being inspirational and to Wet Paint’s Community & Projects Manager Charlie Allsebrook for heading up this and all of our workshops and community work. To find out more about The Link-Up Project click the highlighted link and to enquire about Wet Paint’s workshop and community related work contact Charlie Allsebrook: wetpaintproductions@hotmail.com

David Dimbleby wearing Hutch’s flying can tie

Regular readers of this blog will know that some months ago Wet Paint worked with the tailor Gresham Blake and stencil artists Hutch and Funky Red Dog on some unique tie designs. Well, who would have guessed that David Dimbleby was such a fan of Brighton-based stencil maestro Hutch, and indeed so much of a street art advocate that he felt the need to promote this fact on national televison? No stranger to courting controversy when it comes to the old neck wear  (there is even a Facebook group dedicated to his penchant for extravagant ‘Peckham Ryes’) Dimbleby was seen sporting a Hutch/Blake combo in green and pink colourways on the BBC’s Question Time. Unfortunately, one question not put forward by the audience was “where did you get it?” The answer to which is HERE and keep an eye out  for upcoming manoeuvres from Hutch who is currently working on a screenprint collaboration with Colombian artist Stinkfish (teaser HERE) and other surprises once he hits UK soil.