Keep your friends close.

Some favorites from the archives of PREMIERE ISSUES.

Keep your friends close.

Afro Noise Mix Vol. 1 by DJ Cut Hands (aka William Bennett).

“I think it’s been obvious for a while now my fascination with the African (and Haitian for that matter), especially in terms of the music, language, and art – the inspiration has been utterly invaluable, and now my plan is to take this passion and endeavour much further with the pursuit of an open-ended genre that I’ve dubbed afro noise. Essentially to consist of obscure African percussion elements in free-form work-outs with almost any other type of (genuine) sound experimenting. Already in evidence in some of the latter-day Whitehouse tracks, I believe there are incredible and exciting possibilities here which will also serve to draw a firm line between – what seems to me at least, and I’ve said it before – the utterly staid, conservative, conformist, and oh-so-boring ageing ‘noise’ genre. Let’s recapture the flame and the excitement.

We’re going to soon begin putting out a series of albums of the best of these compositions beginning with Afro Noise I which will proudly feature the amazing art of Stefan Danielsson – so anyone who has any interest will be very welcome to get in touch or send us their own experiments; it’s of no matter who you are, what you normally play (noise, jazz, classical, electronica, whatever), or what part of the world you’re from; just that it comes from the heart and that it works, just that it hits the spot. Also, in the Edinburgh vicinity, if there are any percussionists, djembe players, or just eager pairs of demon hands, it would also be great to hear from you because we’re going to be organising some regular sweaty work-out sessions.”

William Bennett – Edinburgh, June 2007

• djembe, doundoun, ksing-ksing, synthesiser, electronics by William Bennett; produced by William Bennett
  
• also excerpts from Florian Hecker, Whitehouse, East African witchcraft and Ghanaian funeral field recordings (with thanks to Brian Conniffe for his kind assistance), feline recordings

Keep your friends close.

Keep your friends close.

the sun never sets
High-density polyethylene and PVC sheet¹, black acrylic², pine³, colored acrylic⁴, drywall screws⁵, sheet metal screws⁶, burnt wood⁷, brass screws⁸, epoxy resin⁹, walnut¹⁰, corrugated plastic¹¹, climbing rope¹², lead¹³, enamel¹⁴, denim¹⁵, steel rings¹⁶, hot-pink masonry line¹⁷, buffalo horn and acrylic pen blanks¹⁸

76” x 48” x 60”
2008

by Taylor Baldwin.

via TalyorBaldwinStudio.com:

^1. Retrieved after hours from the Trident Plastics dumpster after the good old boy owner told me I could hit it up because he “thought I was alright” but not to tell anyone else.
^2. Cannibalized from an older piece that I reluctantly threw away but saved parts of in an effort to salvage some value from its expense.
^3. From the perfectly usable scrap that the VCU AFO students left behind, for which I feel both resentful of and responsible for, as I’d like to think I taught them better than that.
^4. Scraps bought at a discount from the nice lady at D&G Plastics that she had initially ordered for Arthur but he hadn’t purchased all of which she seemed slightly put off about.
^5. Admittedly bought from Lowe’s.
^6. Bought from Pleasants, which I feel less guilty about because it’s more of an old-school southern hardware store.
^7. From a house next door that was the site of a murder/arson in the 90’s that was graciously loaded into my truck in the middle of the night by the renovators who would suspiciously only work from midnight to 5am.
^8. Salvaged from the VDOT warehouse liquidation.
^9. Given to me as a gift for helping a stressed and departing Arthur quickly move his studio and house into a cramped POD after he realized he was being optimistic with how many of his belongings he could actually keep.
^10. Left in the studio from the previous tenant, a furniture designer who’s name I think was Jesse and who’s extensive use of walnut ended up covering every single square foot of that place with at least a quarter inch of toxic dust.
^11. Saved after demolishing Kerry’s jerry-rigged office that was also left in the studio, a large structure that I was proud of being able to totally disassemble myself in the span of only a few hours.
^12. From Ms. Walters high school “Rocks and Ropes” course.
^13. From fishing sinkers found in a coffee can in the Model Tobacco warehouse that we were recruited to help clean it out.
^14. Purchased on three separate occasions while the Art Market was going out of business and eventually bought the last and conceivably most expensive batch when it was down to 70% off and felt like a vulture picking over an art supply carcass, but knew I would never be able to afford one-shot any other way and regardless I had a good rapport with the owner who generally seemed to hate most people under fifty.
^15. Pieces from the dozen or so pairs of jeans my mother buys for me every year because she questions my sartorial decisions and yet I can’t bear to throw them away or even to give them to Goodwill because of the good intentions behind them.
^16. Salvaged from a set of antique 19th century leg-irons (which is an unsettling thing to come across in the south) that I found at a flea market in the boonies and initially intended for use in an ultimately failed video piece involving a pick axe and grave digging, but the current use of which in this later piece brought me a good degree of pleasure even though I still haven’t found a use for the actual chain that the rings were attached to.
^17. Snagged by Macon for me from her miserable job because she thought the color looked like something I could use.
^18. Inherited from my grandfather’s retirement pen-lathing hobby.

Keep your friends close.

United Visual Artist’s Deus at The Smithfield Gallery, London.

UVA’s first photographic show explores the potential of light to redefine an environment, both physically and emotionally. The exhibition aims to distill the experience of UVA’s installation work into a series of striking, large-scale images. These photographs document a number of experimental light installations in secluded areas of Britain – huge artificial lights which are in sharp contrast to the natural landscape around them, creating an ephemeral new space.

June 3rd through June 27th, 2009.

Keep your friends close.

Get Futuristic Road Jams and pirate radio treasures at Grimetapes.com

Images from The Silent Listener.

Keep your friends close.

Laura Brothers resides in upstate New York. Her work is born-on and bound-to the computer; until now, its primary venue has been the internet -

// a space functioning as a safe haven for exploring personally perceived dichotomies
// a space where second lives are framed unnaturally and with a simplified and haunting familiarity
// a space where one may wade through a sea of cultural referents in order to ultimately reach a sense of false nostalgia

These are rewritten pop songs under the guise of ephemeral landscapes.

See more of her work HERE.

Keep your friends close.

Keep your friends close.

JAHDIAMONDS

Ethiopian liquid-jams hand selected by Josh Diamond of Gang Gang Dance.

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Given up the Ghost

An Exhibition of new work by Russell Maurice

Stolen Space is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by British artist Russell Maurice.

Since the mid 90’s, Maurice has produced paintings, prints, collages, sculptures and installations that reflect the spontaneous and informal nature of graffiti writing and have explored the recurring themes of energy, growth patterns and cycles in nature.

This collection of new paintings, small-scale sculptures and installations, take these themes forward into new realms – to consider theories regarding the spirit world, the physical and metaphysical, consciousness and death.

Using a mix of abstraction and cartoon elements, many of Maurice’s paintings appear on old silkscreens and transparent silkscreen mesh, echoing their transient, ethereal subject matter. His works collectively attempt to create a layered narrative, each is a fragment that forms building blocks for a larger universe, holding theoretical ‘spirits’ that inhabit each work.

Influenced by wide ranging sources, from Blake and Alchemic theory, to the nostalgia of 1930’s cartoons, Maurice’s works are unsettling and humorous depictions of a world inhabited by roaming spirits.

RUSSELL MAURICE x ENEMIES CLOSER interview coming up next week.

we’re back.

Keep your friends close.

Keep your friends close.

New prints for sale at Friend & Co. – get some.

Keep your friends close.

Keep your friends close.