Life's Good

About

‘Life's Good' is a showcase of prints from a private collection of works by some of the U.K's most talented young artists: Banksy, Antony Micallef and Adam Neate. The kind of work they produce is often umbrella-d under such banners as urban art, graffiti, graphics or ‘street art', the catch-all term for any provocative, fresh and challenging work outside any strict ‘fine-art' criteria. The global art scene has seen a massive preoccupation with these emergent art forms since the early 80's, but these artists are fully evolved from anything presumed to be a hangover from the heyday of the underground art scene. The one thing they have in common is the desire to confront and critique: their art often representing commentary on anything from contemporary culture to the mechanics of the art world itself. Contemporary cultural dialogue often constitutes the work as ‘outsider art' or ‘critical pop', both great terms to describe a stylistically individual art that straddles both the public street and the art gallery. In a sense contemporary ‘expressionists' -the styles of each of these artists is distinctly different. Micallef, a Fine Art graduate, is described as a kind of Francis Bacon in reference to both the style and content of his work. Banksy, a graduate of the Bristol aerosol boom of the 80's is known for his trademark combination of Graffiti writing and distinctive stencilling technique. Adam Neate is a design graduate who first came to the public's attention by bounteously leaving thousands of his paintings on the streets of London. Favoring cardboard over the price of canvas, his work combines paint, aerosol and even found objects built in layer upon layer. In other words they are anything but typical examples of any one style or school of art. A thriving market for Limited Edition Prints has arisen hand in hand with these artists and their counterparts. This print show then offers a great opportunity to view some of the U.K's most coveted art pieces. We've all read the news on the often-frenzied market and sales of these items-some being so desirable they often reach far beyond their estimates and this show offers access to the wares of one such avid collector. The pieces on exhibition have been carefully chosen to show the best of the crop, for both the collection and each of the artists' works.