For 3 days only one of Bristol’s premier street artists, Sickboy, is exhibiting his new show ‘Heaven and Earth’ in one of the Truman Brewery spaces on Dray Walk in Bethnal Green. Going along to the preview last night I can tell you that you’re in for a treat! Sickboy’s work includes incredible psychedelic detail, a host of visual tricks and funny asides (look carefully at one of the large canvases and you’ll find DangerMouse shooting rainbow lasers our of his eyes) and he also pays tribute in this new series to some of the greats of the art world – just after you enter the space, the canvas on the right is a very well-executed urban art tribute to the work of Gustav Klimt, and there are visual references to surreal artist Hieronymus Bosch throughout the installation.
Elsewhere in the space one of Sickboy's graffiti'd caravans also puts in an appearance and a video wall also displays his rambling thoughts, while his trademark image, ‘The Temple’, appears throughout the gallery. On your visit see if you can spot all of the visual references to it, perhaps starting off at the elaborate confessional where the screen between priest and confessor is covered in miniature works, and have a look at the wall made up of a jumble of bricks picked out in phrases expressing guilt and remorse, inspired by people who have submitted their anonymous confessions to him, called naturally enough, ‘CONFESS’. You can actually buy the bricks, which are the result of a collaboration with other urban artists; D*Face, Vhils, Paul Insect, Eine, Hush, Conor Harrington, Word To Mother, Xenz, Mudwig and Eelus, as well as most of the other art on show, at the Save The Youth website.
I can’t recommend this show highly enough – it’s a breathtaking achievement and shows how far someone who started their artistic journey ‘tagging’ wheelie bins can come…
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