The subversive street artist is making his first official mark in London’s The Outsiders gallery, one temple tag at a time
Street artist Sickboy is premiering his multidisciplinary Make It Last Forever exhibition at London’s Soho gallery, The Outsiders on 25th July 2014. Seemingly a day for firsts, the Bristol-born graffiti artist will be making his gallery debut; an occasion that has been a long time in the making, considering his humble beginnings in 1995.
The basement of Greek Street’s unofficial home of experimental art acts as the perfect setting for Sickboy’s similarly subversive work. His Make It Last Forever showcase hinges on the concept of life’s ephemeral nature, which he presents in a wide array of multimedia pieces. Sickboy aims to capture the ever-changing world in his technicolour surrealist canvases, thought-provoking sculptures and the art installation created especially for The Outsiders exhibit.
While many a graffiti artist’s tag is their moniker, Sickboy prefers to leave a temple on his concrete canvases, where this same emblem is rife throughout Make It Last Forever. The iconic Sickboy coffin serves as yet another piece within the showcase probing us to question the “wreckless nature of our existence” and how we can better preserve today’s artefacts.
“Since I can remember I have been collecting objects of personal interest and categorising them to give the sum of objects a new story amongst their interchangeable juxtaposition, anything from a Disney character jilted by the ages to inanimate objects of beauty found on the street, jewels amongst the trash or gifts from the good people in my life,” says Sickboy. “A good find always pushes the storyteller within me forward.”
Sickboy’s talent for spray-painting tales captured the attention of famed street artist Banksy, where he was included in Banksy’s irreverent, Oscar nominated 2010 documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop. Just like his work featured within the film, Make It Last Forever is another multimedia example of the unconventional techniques and dark humour for which Sickboy is globally renowned.
Sickboy and The Outsider’s Make It Last Forever exhibit is on show from 25th July – 30th August. For further information, visit The Outsiders London.
Words: Steph King