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
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