A Força da Rua | The ABC Trust

The ABC Trust supported by Gibson Guitar are pleased to present A Força da Rua (Force of the Street), a contemporary street art project bringing together 12 of the finest visual artists from Brazil and the UK, including D*Face, Inkie, Titi Freak, Speto and Calma. Each street artist will create a unique piece of art that will help raise funds and awareness for Brazil’s most vulnerable children.Gibson Guitar a long time supporter of the ABC Trust charity have generously provided twelve electric guitars including a Gibson Les Paul, Gibson Melody Maker, Gibson Flying V and a Gibson SG to be specially customised. These hand painted guitars will be exhibited at The Prints Space in London’s East End from 23^rd April before being sold at a high profile VIP charity art auction at The Cuckoo Club on 29 April.https://vimeo.com/4313522The ABC Trust (Action For Brazil’s Children’s Trust), whose co-founder and Patron is Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, have chosen graffiti and street art to work with as it reflects the rebellious free spirit of music and Brazil’s creative youth. Each of the artists’ work for the guitars reflects how art and music should be accessible and available to young people without discrimination and have the ability to inspire and transform.Public Exhibition: Thursday 23 April – Monday 12 MayThe print space, Kingsland Road, London, E2 8DL - www.theprintspace.co.ukA public exhibition of hand painted Gibson guitars, limited edition prints and special commissions.Exhibition Dates: Thursday 23 April – Tuesday 12 May 2009Opening Times: 9am - 7pm, Monday - FridayCharity Auction: Wednesday 29 April, The Cuckoo ClubAn auction of Gibson guitars exclusively painted by 12 of the world’s most celebrated Brazilian and British street artists.This auction event is by invitation only. Interested parties should contact Roberta at auction@forceofthestreet.comto attend.UK ARTISTSD*FACE, KID ACNE, INKIE, REMI/ROUGH, WILL BARRAS, PURE EVILBRAZILIAN ARTISTSSPETO, RAMON MARTINS, CALMA, TITI FREAK, DANIEL MELIM, TINHOThere will also be a public competition hosted by a panel of judges including Cedar Lewisohn (Tate Modern Curator), graffiti expert and author Tristan Manco (including Graffiti Brasil, Thames & Hudson 2005), filmmaker Lorna Lavelle, participating artist INKIE and Francesca Gavin, Dazed & Confused Magazine’s Visual Arts Editor and author of Street Renegades: New Underground Art (published by Laurence King).  The competition will be launched this month, inviting UK residents to submit their own designs for customising a Gibson guitar, inspired by the project title, with the opportunity for the winning work to be featured as part of the exhibition.ABOUT THE VISUAL ARTISTS:D*FACEThrough screen-printing, sculptures, posters, stickers and paint London’s D*Face has produced an iconic aesthetic for global street art. Subway Art inspired his career as a graphic designer, and opening his first gallery Outside Institute, D*Face curated the first London show from NYC graffiti godfather SEEN. His second gallery Stolen Space in east London is still running strong, working with rising stars like Conor Harrington alongside international art magnates such as Shepard Fairey/OBEY.INKIEOriginally from Bristol, INKIE grew up painting graffiti alongside 3D (Massive Attack) and Banksy and has been a major figurehead of the UK’s graffiti community for 25 years. Known as the Bristol Kingpin he was arrested in the early 90s as the “supposed” leader of over 70 artists in the biggest graffiti bust in UK history - Operation Anderson. Today INKIE exhibits in galleries worldwide and works as Jade Jagger’s in-house artist/designer.REMI/ROUGHFor the past 25 years South London’s Remi/Rough is one of London’s most forward thinking graffiti artists. Stepping out of the confines of being labelled as simply a graffiti artist Remi/Rough is now an established graphic designer, creative director, gallery curator and fine artist – working with Nike and Red Bull and was the invited guest speaker at the Tate Modern’s Street Art series, where Remi/Rough presented a talk and debate on the history of the UK graffiti movement.WILL BARRASBirmingham-born, now London-based Will Barras is known as part of Bristol alumni and as an original member of the illustrative Scrawl Collective (alongside Mr Jago and Steff Plaetz) featuring in the 1998 publication Scrawl, Dirty Graphics and Strange Characters. Now crossing the fine art divide Will Barras also works as a director and designer for the animation company Bermuda Shorts and exhibits worldwide, most recently Barcelona and Miami Art Basel.KID ACNESheffield’s Kid Acne started painting at 12-years-old, inspired by graffiti and underground comics and fanzines. A modern renaissance man infamous not only for his prolific and worldwide touring graffiti schedule, graphic novels, illustration work for the likes of Warp records and a collection for Prada – Kid Acne is also a rapper, producer and DJ signed to Lex Records.PURE EVILFrom spray painting fanged vampire bunnies on the streets of London to creating canvases and prints inspired by “the wreckage of utopian dreams”. Stir in a mix of gonzo American pop culture, rock n roll, 19th century London life and French literature, pearly kings and queens, bunnies and psychotic penguins and you start to understand the quadrophrenic gallows humour of Pure Evil’s artwork. These days Pure Evil can be found creating art on the streets and artwork on canvas, metal, glass, perspex and in neon when he isn't running his Pure Evil Gallery in Shoreditch, London. Pure Evil has recently exhibited in New York, San Francisco, Beijing, Berlin, Sydney, Sao Paulo and Amsterdam.TITI FREAKTiti Freak aka Hamilton Yokota is a São Paulo native with Japanese ancestry, resulting in his art reflecting east vs. west,  graffiti meets pop imagery and fashion, his references ranging from Hokusai and Murakami to Robert Williams and Dave Cooper. One of the most breakout artists from the Brazilian street art and graffiti movement, his commercial work has seen commissions for Nike and Adidas, whilst his sell-out gallery shows include a recent solo exhibition at New York’s Jonathan LeVine Gallery and São Paulo’s world-renowned design museum, Tomie Ohtake.SPETOSpeto aka Paulo Cesar Silva is one of São Paulo’s premiere older-school graffiti artists whose work has evolved from self-taught, Brazilian cultural heritage-inspired graffiti to Brazilian wood carvings, illustration, folk art and character animation. Speto represents the brilliant aesthetic of São Paulo street art – tradition vs. contemporary, one that was recently commissioned as the identity of Brahma and featured in the stunning Ilustradores group show at Choque Cultural (São Paulo) alongside Mariza Days Coast, Alan Voss and Stephan Doitschinoff (Calma).TINHOTinho aka Walter Nomura is one of the Brazil’s graffiti pioneers and punk art skateboarders who started skating at the age of 9 and painting graffiti at 13, in 1986. His art has sprung from the global graffiti and skate art movements, and he is dedicated in supporting the Brazilian skateboard industry, providing a blanket of graphics whilst exhibiting his social, dramatic and political style worldwide – from Buenos Aires and Berlin to London’s Embassy of Brazil and last year’s monumental collaboration with the US Beautiful Losers exhibition entitled Transfer in Porto Alegre, Brazil.RAMON MARTINSBorn in São Paulo and a fine art graduate form Belo Horizonte, Ramon Martins considers his greatest training to have been through his work on the streets of Brazil and it is clear. Immersed in graffiti and street art culture, with a surging pop art and comic aesthetic, Ramon Martins’s graphic style is loaded with sexuality and psychedelia, attracting collectors from Rio de Janiero’s Museum of Modern Art to all the major international art fairs including Art Basel, Scope New York and the London Art Fair.CALMACalma aka Stephan Doitschinoff is one of the most celebrated artists to emerge out of the traditional Brazilian street art movement, moving into collections and galleries worldwide with his immediately recognizable painting style. One that takes in a subversive account of religion, gothic symbolism, Afro-Brazilian folk art and pichação – all of which showcased in a gorgeous monograph published at the end of 2008 by Die Gestalten Verlag. With his work Calma has produced stand out iconography and a perfect fit for his street artist alias – Calma, shortened from “con alma”, with soul.DANIEL MELIMFeaturing in the high profile global graffiti documentary Bomb It as well as an invitation to Banksy’s Cans Festival, Daniel Melim is a São Paulo street artist rapidly on the rise. With a beautiful mixed media style that exploits both graffiti and graphic design elements (alongside a fine art degree) Melim fuses both techniques and materials. International group and solo shows aside, Daniel Melim is heavily involved in local São Paulo social art projects. ABOUT THE ABC TRUST - Action For Brazil’s Children TrustThe ABC Trust is dedicated to helping the most vulnerable children and young people of Brazil. By raising awareness and funding they support the work of local, community-led organizations who give children the education, support and inspiration they need to transform their own futures.ABC has supported 22 projects across Brazil, making grants of nearly £1 million to projects that provide education and training and shelter and care as well as projects that use theatre, film, arts and music, giving young people the skills, confidence and the self-belief they need to fulfill their potential. From counseling to training to arts-based activities, their work provides a source of hope for some of Brazil’s poorest and most vulnerable children.The ABC Trust is supported by a number of high profile Patrons from the world of film, music, art and sport:  Jimmy Page, Brian May, Fernando Meirelles, Pele, Jeremy Irons, Bebel Gilberto, Juliette Lewis, Julian Lloyd Webber, Carlos Miele, and Romero Britto.For more information on A Force Da Rua, please visit http://www.abctrust.org.uk/