After years of discussions, months of planning and weeks in the studio Fire Sale has finally opened its doors to a very eager public. Last night saw the private opening party hosted by Mr Robert Del Naja aka 3D and our one and only Steve Lazarides at Lazarides Rathbone. With a soundsystem stopping people in the streets, artwork from floor to ceiling and a host of VIPs turning up despite the ever persistant rain outside, it really was quite an experience. 3D and Daddy G left the crowd waiting until the final hours of the evening before they stood side by side for the first time in years to smash a classic Massive Attack DJ set and kick start the bank holiday weekend in style. The exhibition will be running until 20th June, Tue–Sat, 11am–7pm.
Biography
Robert Del Naja's painting and graphic design work have represented the music of his band for over a decade, from the symbolic cover art of Blue Lines and Protection to his collaborative work with Tom Hingston and photographer Nick Knight dramatically realised on mezzanine and 100th window. Under the tag 3D, he was a central figure in the Bristolian graffiti movement that would eventually spawn Banksy. Like his music, 3D's art is both modern and grounded, challenging and beautiful, industrial and ethnic. The conscious elements of the pieces are a reminder that Massive Attack were outspoken on social and international issues long before Michael Moore's populist documentaries gave this generation a pass to question the establishment. This is the first time 3D's extensive body of work is available to a wider audience than a few people in Bristol, and the music industry.
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News
It's taken five years of planning and months of late nights – with anyone brave enough to venture into Massive Attack mayhem leaving covered in multi-coloured glitter – but finally the long anticipated Fire Sale by 3D is upon us. As we approach the final days of magic making in the studio, there is a stomach-flipping mix of anticipation and excitement in the air whilst we eagerly await the special delivery to Lazarides Rathbone next Monday. Fire Sale will open on the 24th May and run until the 20th June. Get Ready.
On Tuesday afternoon, a long boozy lunch was well attended by Lazarides artists in honour of the launch of the Soho's newest and finest hotel, the Dean Street Townhouse. Curated by our very own Jonathan Yeo and Francesca Gavin, the hotel's dining room and breakfast nook house a permanent collection of artwork which includes a cross-section of 70 odd artists namely the YBA's and The Outsiders bunch.
Works by Keith Tyson, Tracey Emin and Peter Blake intermix with originals from Lazarides artists Jamie Hewlett, Lucy McLauchlan, 3D, Stanley Donwood, Blu, Polly Morgan, Antony Micallef, not to mention the curator himself, whose pornographic falling leaf wallpaper makes for a cozy breakfast setting. Artists were ever-present, intermingling with the likes of Kevin Spacey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gordon Ramsey and Stephen Fry who dropped in to check out the new Soho House-owned establishment.
The complimentary tabs were free flowing from midday until well after midnight as the artists relished in the opportunity to take advantage of the endless bar. And because the artists were paid with credit for bar tabs and hotel rooms for their creative contributions, there is a likely chance you'll find one or two of them hanging around the bar if you head over there now …
For more information, please read the press release.
Bonjour!
Before Thursday 4th September, the predominantly non-French citizens of Newcastle upon Tyne could have been forgiven for thinking that CRS was simply an initialism for the Catholic Relief Services, or perhaps the Child Rebel Soldiers – the hiphop "supergroup" comprising Kanye West, Pharrell, and Lupe Fiasco. But thanks to Mr Lazarides' collection of 48 surviving hand-made street posters from the Paris rebellion of May 1968, a good few hundred Geordies now know it stands for Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, otherwise known as the riot police, whose suppressive role in the streets of Paris during that month features heavily in many of the amazing posters on display in the gallery.
The learning curve continued on to our basement rooms, where new work from Lucy McLauchlan, 3D, Mark Jenkins, Antonio Diaz, Miranda Donovan, David Choe, BORF and Candice Tripp was shown for the very first time.
And all without a single bottle of Stella Artois (the French vessel of choice for a molotov cocktail) being thrown, or indeed the smashing up of Quayside paving stones as ammunition against the CRS. For now, sous le pave: la plage, or to those who haven't made it to the show yet, under the pavement: the beach.
Thanks to everyone that ventured out in the rain to make it here and also to Red Bull and Abbey Well water for the refreshments. The show runs until the 1st November.
How to turn your gallery into a night club:
- Take an artist;
- Get them to produce images for another artist/musicians album;
- Create a music/hang out/catch up area in your print room;
- Add far too many people for the venue;
- Tear up your guestlist;
- Add alcohol (lots and lots);
- Make sure its a Thursday night;
- Call the show "War Paint";
- Stand well back and watch ...
