DAN WITZ AT STOLEN SPACE GALLERY

On our recent trip to London we checked out the exhibition at the Stolen Space Gallery, paintings by Dan Witz. Don't know too much about the artist but the paintings are certainly impressive. As you can see from the photos, the technical expertise of these photo realist works, in oil on canvas is astounding. That said photo realism generally leaves me a bit dry, it always seems a bit pointless, like a clever, parlor trick and makes you think why not just take a photograph but with Dan Witz's work there seems to be something else present which raises them above this. Whether its the more contemporary subject matter, which we have not really seen before as in the Mosh Pit Yankees, or the Girl/Girl Pictures or the Edward Hopperesque late night isolation of the more urban pieces. Whatever it is they have an intriguing quality of otherness that is hard to put your finger on. As we were leaving we bumped into DFace who runs the gallery and curates the shows; allowing us to congratulate him of the birth of his daughter.

This show has since finished but you can pretty much guarantee a good show at Stolen Space so check out the latest exhibition which is 'RackGaki' 10th May - 20th May. The exhibition accompanies the publication of the first book on Japanese graffiti, RackGaki, by Ryo Sanda and Suridh Hassan. For more information check www.stolenspace.com

All bodes well: Mark Bode in London

At the end of April, Evil From The Needle, tattoo parlour in Camden, played host to a visit to London by Mark Bode. Now a resident of San Francisco, the US Underground Comics illustrator turned tattooist is the son of underground legend Vaughn Bode; creator of "Cheech Wizard" and a deeply imaginative mystical cartoon universe of characters. Mark carries on his father's work, upholding the legacy of genius and bringing wider attention to the cornucopia of comic character classics, that deserve far more recognition within the mainstream cultural consciousness. Most are familiar with the work through it's use as the character accompaniment to Graffiti pieces the world over and through the annual Bode Jams, Mark hopes to bring greater appreciation of where these images come from. Always popular with his tattoo clients, he is also involved in creating new projects to bring the characters back into the limelight. The recently published Cheech graphic novel "The Lizard of Oz" was the full realisation of the last project that Vaughn was working on before his untimely death in 1975. The last month has seen a fever to snap up the highly collectable Limited Edition collaboration with Puma; a Cheech Wizard star patterned colourway pair of Puma Clydes and zip through hoody, released to mark the 50th anniversary of Cheech's creation. Then there is the live action "Cobalt 60" movie in production with Universal Pictures.




In honour of our son, Taylor (aka "Amore", aka "Son 101") meeting Mark Bode, we got busy with the applique and knocked up our own one off Cheech Wizard baby hoody (as seen in the pics).

To further add to the family affair my brother DJ Ollie Teeba, of Ninja Tune recording artists "The Herbaliser", was in the house for his 2nd Bode tattoo, having sat under his needle on his 1st visit back in 2004. Mark Bode is a fantastic guy, ever amiable and humble he made time for everyone in attendance, which included; Graff heads, Tattoo heads and Graphotism Magazine



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We all got super hyped hearing about projects on the horizon, so here's to Bode and Cheech Wizard becoming household names in the future. More will be revealed in our in depth interview with the man himself, watch this space and if you want to find out more about both generations of Bode, check out www.markbode.com