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Throughout July our back gallery space was covered wall to wall in an explosion of colour and noise. This series of letterpress prints took inspiration from the sounds (onomatopoeic) & the bold colours of 1950s American comics.
ZAPP is the sound of a lazor battle taking place far away in an alien landscape. It’s yellow, red & black out there.. BOOM!!
An exhibition at KK Outlet celebrating the launch of Anthony Burrill’s new book of the same name.
Sometimes the world of graphic art can start to look like the background in Scooby Doo – the same thing on repeat which after a while starts to blend into one.
Then there’s the instantly recognizable and iconic work of Anthony Burrill.
His use of classic letterpress typefaces and devastatingly simple slogans creates work that is exquisitely crafted, profound and playful at the same time. The title of his 2012 project with Mesa & Cadeira “How to say the most with the least.” beautifully sums up his approach to work.
For the first time a selection of his best-known works have been repurposed exclusively for a new book of posters on heavyweight art paper and a sticker sheet in special inks. On the back of each poster is a description of the project and comments on Burrill’s work from key collaborators.
An exhibition showcasing work from the book will run throughout November at KK Outlet.
For someone with such ubiquitous influence, you might expect an inflated ego, however Burrill lives by his own mantra, he works hard and he’s a nice guy. Proof that you don’t have to be a d*ckhead to get ahead in this world.
Anthony Burrill was born in Lancashire and studied Graphic Design at Leeds Polytechnic University. Following an MA at the Royal College of Art, London, he has created pieces for clients including Wallpaper*, The Economist and The Design Museum. His work is held in the permanent collections of the V&A Museum in London and the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York.
‘Burrill is a great designer because he makes you notice and appreciate truths that would otherwise remain dead and inert. His work has such resonance because it’s so true: we should all work hard and be nice.’
Alain de Botton
Photographer Ewen Spencer has built his career around identifying and documenting youth subcultures. In ’98 Ewen started taking photographs for the Savoir Vivre section of Sleazenation. These assignments took him to clubs and parties all over London and in particular the Blue Note club on Hoxton Square – a basement garage night. It was here that the beginnings of his UKG project kicked off.
“The Blue Note is where I first started to see couples dancing together, smoking weed and sharing a bottle of Champagne. Nobody was sat around a table, no bourgeois pretence. It was stood up, in the corner, dancing, smoking in a packed basement. The main point of that evening was the music. That’s where I first heard what would become UK Garage.”
From the basement on Hoxton Square, Ewen’s Sleazenation assignments took him to the now well known club night, Twice as Nice where the air smelt of weed, the punters dressed, “like they were attending a wedding reception or going to church” and the sound system was the loudest in London. Over the next couple of years Ewen documented the UKG garage scene here and in Aiya Napa, before Craig David, drugs and violence took over.
Ewen’s latest book release, UKG is a compendium of these years when it was about dressing up and dancing, well before the Ministry of Sound compilation album – a definitive nail in the coffin for any “scene”.
KK Outlet is proud to announce the first solo show of French photographer Franck Allais. In Passing will present two of Allais’ projects that encapsulate his skill of taking a simple concept and executing it with his trademark flair and wit.
Opening the show, Allais presents Subverting The City – a collection of images featuring city boys dressed in drab conservative clothes from the waist up but who are a little more flamboyant in skirts and heels from the waist down. The composition of these images are so seamless and their motion so natural that you have to look twice and call your judgment into question.
In Passing, also features The Weight of Words. Originally Allais wanted to create a series about the movement, sound and chaos of traffic. After setting up his camera on a tripod and taking photos of passing traffic, Allais noticed that he was ignoring what should have been obvious: what was written on the vehicles. “Instead of seeing vans and trucks, I saw words floating by like a visual dialogue, messages bombarding my brain that were instantly forgotten. I realized I had hit on something both playful and
disturbing.”
Brands are ubiquitous; they are the pollution of the built landscape. As a visual language they make everywhere familiar. Brands are the reason why all British high streets look the same and why when you fly halfway round the world on the surface it’s all the same.
The suspended brands and see-through promises in Allais work remind us that no matter where we are there’s always someone trying to sell us something.
Allais’ work asks the viewer to suspend disbelief, whilst at the same time questioning what is accepted as the everyday norm. He does this without being judgmental or dogmatic. Most of all, he does this whilst having fun.
KK Outlet unveils Giles Duley’s latest Afghanistan photography series, as he returns to the country where he nearly lost his life.
Whilst embedded with the US army in Afghanistan, British humanitarian photographer Giles Duley stepped on an IED. The explosion left him with horrific injuries and ultimately, a triple amputee.
18 months after sustaining injuries that meant he hovered between and life and death, he kept the promise he made to himself the day of the incident: To return to Afghanistan to complete his work documenting the impact of the invasion on civilians.
In October 2012 Duley returned to the country where he very nearly lost his life and undertook his first major photographic assignment since the explosion.
This new body of work carries on where he left off. A project punctuated by a terrifying personal trauma but one that remains at its heart, exactly the same as when it began. As Duley explains, “The work I do hasn’t changed, but the audience has got bigger. I’m telling the same stories which have always been important to me but my voice has got louder.”
In a recent piece for The Observer, Duley states that he wants to be defined not by what he’s lost but by what he is – a photographer. Afghanistan (2012) showcases him as exactly that, a compassionate and talented visual story teller.
Arts and Sciences are two disciplines that are often thought of as disparate ways of looking at the world, when in fact both incite curiosity and encourage an exploration of the world we inhabit. Both innovate and encourage different ways of thinking. Being Dreaming is an exhibition that features work which explores this collision of arts and science. The exhibition brings together the works of twelve artists in the first ever exhibition of New York based creative agency, Hugo & Marie.
Exhibiting Artists: Hisham Akira Bharoocha / Deanne Cheuk / Tom Darracott / Merijn Hos / Mario Hugo / Hvass & Hannibal / Jules Julien / Micah Lidberg / Santtu Mustonen / MVM / Mike Perry / Kustaa Saksi
The works featured in Being Dreaming move through painting to drawing, weaving to video as each artist interprets motifs including – anatomy, botany, ecology, geometry, energy, mythology – in their own definitive style. Over 100 works will make up the exhibition. Displayed in a traditional salon style, the works will span every inch of the gallery from floor to ceiling, edge to edge.
Hugo & Marie are described as a creative agency but this doesn’t adequately define who they are and what they do. The creatives they work with are some of the most talented contemporary visual artists and together they have produced an array of thrilling and utterly brilliant pieces of work across a range of different mediums.
John Croft’s paintings are a brilliant example of Outsider Art at its best. His work aligns perfectly with this genre not because of his disability, but because of his visual dynamism and utterly unique individual style.
John creates portraits of popular iconic figures, often television and pop stars from the 70’s and 80’s in eye popping colours. They’re arresting images laced with a touch of his irrepressible humour. He paints out of an impulse to create something, connecting to a wider idea of what being creative is outside of the commercial art world.
All works were created whilst attending Project Art Works, an organisation based in Hastings that initiates and provides innovative opportunities for people with neurological impairments to engage in art activities.
More images of John’s work can be seen at Project Art Works.
Kurt Cobain is one of the most iconic figures of the Twentieth Century. He’s the poster boy for the MTV generation.
Belly Kids celebrate Cobain’s legendary status with Kurt and the Gang, an illustrated sticker collection chronicling the life, influence and friends of Kurt Cobain. The book is packed with work from 13 artists in the form of 60 stickers and features illustrations not only of the Nirvana singer/guitarist, but also of his friends and contemporaries including Daniel Johnston, Courtney Love, The Pixies, Dave Grohl and more.
The launch of the book will be accompanied by a month long exhibition at KK Outlet where illustrations from the book will be on show alongside specially devised, extended work.
Belly Kids will also be showing a selection of previous work in our side gallery including original pieces from Thrill Murray, The Mona Pizza, Monsters, Milkshakes, The Egyptians and more.
Artists involved – Murray Somerville, Patrick Schmidt, Michael C Hsiung, Sophy Hollington, Nick Alston, Chris Golden, Steve Keane, Paul Windle, Sean Morris, Thomas Key, Anneka Lange, Stu Ross, Thomas Slater, James Clapham, Logan Fitzpatrick, Christopher Worker, Sophie Alda, James Burgess, Louise Handyside, Daniel Fischel, Daisy Whitewolf and Mike Kilkelly.
Meal Ticket is a dinner series where we invite three speakers to give quick fire talks on a given topic and serve delicious culinary delights in between each presentation.
Hosted at the KK Outlet gallery to celebrate each new exhibition, the evening is fun, informal and pretty cosy. Catering is supplied by the brilliant Family Style London with each menu inspired by the theme of the evening.
For our inaugural event we have invited Wilfrid Wood, Kyle Bean and Gary Card to talk about nature.
Sculptor Wilfrid Wood is going to talk about how human nature inspires his fascinating 3D human sculptures.
Kyle Bean’s work encompasses set design, illustration and sculpture. He will talk about how he uses materials in their natural, recognisable form to communicate ideas.
Gary Card’s world is one of colour and surrealist goings on. He has created sets, props and other worlds for the likes of Comme des Garçons, Dover Street Market, Uniqlo, the New York Times, Stella McCartney, Penguin and Swatch, to name but a few.
Meal Ticket #1, celebrates the launch of Wilfrid Wood’s new solo show, Heads & Bodies. After abandoning a career in graphics, Wilfrid plunged into 3D model making at cult classic British television show, Spitting Image. He has carried this sense of humour throughout his career and in his latest characters he has found the perfect ensemble.
For Meal Ticket #2 we have invited photographer Giles Duley, illustrator Mr Bingo and photographer Sanna Charles to talk about hate.
Mr Bingo is the potty pencilled illustrator whose Hate Mail project will be on show at KK Outlet throughout June. More info on the Hate Mail exhibition and Mr Bingo here.
Sanna Charles is a photographer who has worked for the likes of Vice, Levi’s, Nike, NME, Dazed and Confused and many more in between. Her project Children of the Gravedocuments metal fans, showing that not all are full of hate and live in the black forest.
Giles Duley is a humanitarian photographer and Yeovil Town football supporter. Whilst on patrol in Afghanistan he stood on an I.E.D and was blown up, loosing three of his limbs. He has since gone back to Afghanistan to photograph civilians with similar injuries and most recently travelled to the Syrian/Jordanian border to document Syrian refugees.
Our monthly dinner series continues with the third edition.
Our current exhibitor Nick Ballon, artist Maisie Broadhead and architect practice Studio Weave will all deliver inspiring talks on the theme of HOPE.
Photographer Nick Ballon spent six months in Bolivia documenting LAB, a once flourishing airline which is now a crumbling organisation kept afloat by its 180 unpaid staff and one functioning aircraft, the eponymous Ezekiel 36:36. The project will be the basis of Ballon’s talk at Meal Ticket #3.
Much of Maisie Broadhead’s work cleverly borrows from the vast canon of art history and re-imagines classical paintings as modern day images. The allegories of her work often deal with hope or the false hope found in many contemporary pursuits and it is this which she’ll talk about at Meal Ticket #3.
Studio Weave is a young energetic architecture practice working on a diverse set of projects across the UK. They produce joyful and technically precise work which are the exact right balance of super fun and function. At Meal Ticket #3 they will talk about how architecture and especially public realm projects can inspire hope in communities.
For our fifth Meal Ticket event we’ve invited four different, but equally innovative brands to come and share with us their thoughts on harnessing tech and innovation to drive forward their business and wider culture.
Carl Waldekranz, CEO and co-founder of Tictail. Put simply Tictail is a Tumblr for e-commerce – a free service that simplifies the creation and running of online stores. It was voted one of the top 10 startups in Sweden by Wired. Carl’s previous companies/startups include Super Strikers, a design agency where he developed the Spotify, Wrapp and Bambuser brand identities, and Keyflow, a mobile guest list app.
Christopher Lukezic, Director of Communications at Air BnB. Who stays in hotels anymore?! With Airbnb you can live like a local in great locations, it’s easy to use and way cheaper than a hotel. Basically it’s one of the best online developments in the last five years. Christopher Lukezic will talk us through the early days of Air BnB, the innovation behind their brand, how they’re driving changes in culture and their plans for the future.
Chloe Macintosh, Co-Founder & Creative Director of Made.com. Having gained a degree in architecture she worked for Foster and Partners before working at mydeco.com and eventually launching Made.com with her partners.
Made.com has taken the relatively slow moving furniture industry and turned it around by cutting out the middlemen, offering well designed products without mark ups and incorporating an element of crowd-sourcing to their website – customers vote on products they like, then Made collect orders and only manufacture what has been ordered.
Nalden, Co-Founder of We Transfer. There are a few file sharing platforms but none work as well or look as good as We Transfer. Nalden, co-founder of We Transfer is a self-made entrepreneur who started ‘playing around’ with technology and the internet when he was 13-years old. With a background in the music and advertising industry, his knowledge about technology and the impact new media is having on the world allows Nalden connecting the dots to make this a better world to live in.
Berlin based bookshop, Motto and KK Outlet, London embarked on an old fashioned foreign exchange.
Motto brought a hand picked selection of their extensive catalogue to KK Outlet in London and in return KK Outlet took their publications and a specially curated exhibition of new work to Motto, Berlin.
Motto is a world renowned bookshop in Berlin with an almost cult – like following. Offering a dizzying array of art, design and photography titles, Motto also stocks rare finds, limited editions and out of print gems. The store now comprises more than 3000 titles, with the catalogue being constantly updated. This is a haven for the switched-on book collector.
Illustrator Mr Bingo was drunk late one night in his studio and tweeted, “I will send a postcard with an offensive message on to the first person who replies to this tweet”. Within the first minute over 50 people replied, desperate to receive some hateful post.
Over the last twelve months Bingo has posted out artistic abuse to more than 550 people. Each well-crafted piece of slander comes accompanied with an original illustration. They’re insults you wouldn’t dare to utter to your worst enemy in person, but somehow on the back of a vintage postcard, alongside one of Bingo’s masterful illustrations they’re weirdly charming and utterly hilarious.
The Hate Mail exhibition at KK Outlet will showcase 220 postcards from Mr Bingo’s now extensive archive.
Mr Bingo didn’t learn a lot at school but he did discover one valuable thing: he was good at making people laugh. Now a successful illustrator based in East London, he is “drawing stuff” for the likes of The Guardian, The Mighty Boosh, Channel 4, The New Yorker and Jimmy Carr.
‘Gorgeous and funny! Like a labrador doing stand-up’ – Noel Fielding
‘A horrible, hilarious little book’ – The Times
‘Wonderfully offensive’ – The Huffington Post
‘A curiously British social phenomenon that fuses comedy and art’ – Fast Company
‘Like all the best art, Nathan James’ new paintings challenge the idea that beauty is a universal term.’ Jake Chapman, 2013
Nathan James’ current series of paintings, Punchlines, is based on the idea of subverting modern life’s most aspirational images and using them to take a grimly comic, darkly humorous look at contemporary life. Painting in oil (often making his own paints) onto canvas or linen, James takes images of Americana, advertising, pin-ups, Hollywood and traditional beauty and injects them with his own feelings towards the characters and the scenes they inhabit.
In Punchlines, the original intent of the source material is undercut by darker elements which at first seem superficially funny, but leave the viewer with a bleak, lingering aftertaste. Archetypal beauty has turned sour and perfection is replaced by a warped cartoon aesthetic. James’ work draws influence from both the failed industrial background of his childhood in Ontario and the fantastical world of cartoons and characters he grew up immersed in.
Born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Nathan James spent much of his life in the Toronto area and studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design before moving to London, UK where he currently lives and works.
Ezekiel 36:36 is a project from photographer Nick Ballon which saw him spend six months in Bolivia documenting Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano (LAB), one of the world’s oldest surviving airlines.
With only one plane now operational from a downed fleet of aircrafts, it is a crumbling empire which continues to survive solely through the loyalty and faith of its remaining 180 unpaid staff.
Founded in 1925, it has played an important role in every stage of the country’s history. Since its privatisation in 1994, LAB has suffered at the hands of successive administrations, becoming gradually dismantled due to chronic mismanagement and corruption.
The project has resulted in a dedicated book and exhibition which will both be launched at KK Outlet. The project title, Ezekiel 36:36 refers to the name of the only plane LAB currently has in operation, renamed after it narrowly avoided a tragic accident.
Featured in the Ezekiel 36:36 book is an extra booklet which showcases the airline in it’s heyday. There is archive imagery taken by staff, coupled with dynamic graphic design and typography that was created in house using a technique called Rubylith.
To celebrate the London Design Festival in September, KK Outlet and leading food, arts, and culture journal The Gourmand combined forces to present a series of exhibitions, talks, and dinners that celebrate food as a catalyst for creativity.
Awake and at Home:
An exhibition of views from kitchen windows around the world. American poet Allen Ginsberg looked out of the same kitchen window for 30 years, and it is here that he wrote some of his most famous work, while reflecting on the ever-changing yet ever-present view.
A photograph taken by Ginsberg first thing in the morning of this very personal vantage point is the inspiration for an exhibition of newly commissioned photographic work. Ten photographers from across the globe have been asked to capture their own morning view. Each image offers an insight into the lives and working practices of the contributors, with vistas over Verona, Tokyo, London, New York, and Amsterdam.
Photographers:
Cameron Alexander, Gustav Almestål, Bridget Collins, Marco Sozzaro, Paolo Di Lucente, GoItami, Julia Grassi, Benjamin McMahon and Scheltens & Abbenes.
To get everyone into the Christmas spirit The Poundshop are taking over KK Outlet with their super affordable, incredibly desirable collection of products for a festive bonanza.
The celebrations are made even bigger and even better by the fact that this will be their tenth Poundshop. Bringing together a brilliantly curated selection of products direct from designers, The Poundshop offers a unique range of gifts at prices that are very easy on the pocket.
Designers involved include: Toby Leigh / Malika Favre / CUSTHOM / Alice Stevenson / Skev / Teresa Mum / Hana & Hasmita / QUINQUIN / espeargaerde / Alice Bosc / Nice to be Nice Studio / Annest Gwynedd / Hanna Melin / Dicky Bird / Ding Ding / Cat Johnston / Lucie Sheridan / Takako Copeland / David Bennett / Rachael Edwards / Sugar Snap Studio /
The Poundshop are well known for their eye popping displays and for their tenth shop they’re working with ADA projects, who are an association of artists and architects, to build a Christmas extravaganza you won’t find anywhere else.
The KesselsKramer Useful Photography series is a collection of magazines which focus on overlooked and supposedly underwhelming images taken for practical purposes. The latest publication, Useful Photography #11 rifles through the history of human targets culled from US shooting ranges. With the gun debate still raging in the USA, this unsettling collection of images throws up all kinds of questions about the attitudes towards guns in America.
A selection of images from this latest publication will be on show at Chert Gallery throughout August, as part of our collaboration with Motto.
The KesselsKramer Publishing catalogue hosts a vast collection of vernacular photography books as well as titles encapsulating short stories, advertising, graphic design and unusual art works. The KesselsKramer catalogue will be available at Motto, Berlin throughout
August. More information on the Motto X KesselsKramer collaboration here.
Sculptor Wilfrid Wood unveils new work as part of his Heads & Bodies solo exhibition at KK Outlet.
Driven by the notion that the human form connects most directly with our emotions, Wilfrid Wood creates characters that are all at once, sharp, funny and disturbing. Wilfrid’s fascination in people and the belief that “nature is much more interesting than your imagination”, means he spends a lot of time studying people he sees in the supermarket, on the bus and in celebrity magazines.
Youths on Mare Street, Simon Cowell kidding himself he can still fit into THOSE pants, a bare bummed Justin Beiber or pensioners on the bus, no one is to high or too low to be cast as part of Wilfrid’s gang.
Can you see evil in a face? Can you guess someone’s personality from their physical features? What does real sadness look like? Wilfrid’s work raises these questions and leaves you the viewer to decide. Some sculptures such as “Man on Mobile” are deliberately ambiguous, he could either be crying tears of joy or tears of pain. Wilfrid sees no need to spell it out, the tragicomedy in his face is exactly the point.
Made entirely by hand, Wilfrid’s sculptures are initially sketching his ideas then testing their validity in plasticine. They are finally created from plastic clay, airbrushed and varnished for an immaculate finish.
After dumping a career in graphics, Wilfrid plunged into 3D model making at cult classic British television show, Spitting Image. He said of this time, “it was a hilarious place and felt like an excitingly illicit foreign land where I found my freedom.”
He has carried this sense of humour throughout his career and in his latest characters he has found the perfect ensemble.
KesselsKramer invites you to
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