Little Black Book of Art

Black Rat Press is a contemporary art gallery in the heart of Shoreditch that specialises in urban, street and graffiti artwork by the likes of Blek le Rat, d* face and Peter Kennard.

As the name suggests, the sale of prints is the mainstay of Black Rat Press, but the gallery also hosts regular exhibitions of original work. There are currently a couple of exciting new shows coming up that are well worth a visit.

Firstly there is an exhibition entitled ‘Now ‘s the Time’, which features important works by arguably the most influential artists ever to have worked in the streets,  including Jean Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Banksy, Barry McGee, Faile and Os Gemeos.

A collection of urban inspired artwork, woodcuts, sculptures, stickers, freehand paintings, posters, ceramic tiles and photographs all go some way to prove street art often involves more than a can of spray paint and a brick wall. The exhibition opens on 23 April 2010 and a preview evening will be on Thursday 22 April 2010.

For more information visit: www.blackratpress.co.uk

Black Rat Press also recently returned from an amazing trip to Zambia with Matt Small and Swoon. Matt will be working on a series on new paintings based on his time in Zambia and the gallery will be hosting a fundraising exhibition of the work later in the year. The money raised will be used to help with the work at the Robert Shitima School in Kabwe where Matt and Swoon ran a week of art workshops. Click HERE to view photos of the trip.

More information to follow…