In the wake of the hugely successful Sand, Sea and Spray Festival (Blackpool’s own international graffiti festival), the town is still offering the best access to some world class street artists. This weekend it plays host to Pure Evil. His recent work includes Olympic street art efforts in Hackney, depicting a hooded figure running away with one of the Olympic rings. A very iconic image that could easily be mistaken for the work of Banksy, for those unaware of the variety of artists within this field.
Pure Evil also received more recognition after a televised appearance on The Apprentice earlier this year, where the teams were challenged to put on an art exhibition to make the most profit. The winning team even stated that they would not have done it, if they had not secured Pure Evil as one of the artists to represent. The striking images they used for this challenge are from his Nightmare series. This is a collection of pop-art style portraits of famous women, including Jackie Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor. However, in the portraits, they have large dark circles around their eyes which turn into thick black tears that run down their faces. In some exhibitions these ‘tears’ even continue off the edge of the canvass, down the wall and culminate in large dark pools on the gallery floor. It really gives a sense of the picture coming to life and provides a more unusual approach to engage the audience.
Pure Evil runs his own gallery in London and gives a lot of upcoming street artists their first shows and a legal forum for their work to be viewed. This includes My Dog Sighs, who recently attended Sand, Sea, Spray and whose work can be seen around Blackpool, if you know where to look!
Pure Evil was actually due to attend the Blackpool graffiti festival himself and his name even appeared on the promotional flyers. However other work commitments saw him going to Toronto to complete a commission for Radiohead. Unfortunately, during this tour, there was an accident and the drum technician was tragically killed in a stage collapse. Pure Evil finished work on the mural he was producing and this has since been placed in another venue in Toronto as a tribute.
Pure Evil has apologised for being unable to attend the Blackpool festival earlier in the year and promised to make it up to the organisers even then. This week sees him live up to his promise as he visits the seaside to deliver a workshop and Q&A session. This will be at the iconic sun lounge on North Pier on Saturday 25th Aug 2pm until 5pm. Admission is free!
So, if you have a love of graffiti and street art, make sure you don’t miss out on this rare opportunity to meet one of the best and learn about his inspirations and his rise to success.
Pure Evil will be appearing live at North Pier on Saturday 25th August 2012 from 2pm until 5pm and be delivering a workshop and a Q&A session. You can register your interest in attending this one off event on their Facebook page. Images courtesy of Pure Evil.
Show Comments (0)