Cyclops – The Way Of All Flesh

Words straight from The Reference Council site, additional pictures below.

A last minute change of plans enabled me to attend the opening night of Cyclops’ exhibition “The Way Of All Flesh”. His first solo exhibition was held at The Outsiders gallery in London’s Soho. Described as “Baroque-era portraiture with late Renaissance vanitas paintings, vaporous street art motifs, religious iconography, and contemporary photorealism”, I found the subject matter well placed.

I saw it more like sex, branding and ritual than all those fancy words. I may have read more into this than was necessary but isn’t that what art is all about, the viewers objective? The official press release can be viewed via The Outsiders website.

You may not be as unfamiliar with the work of Cyclops as you think. It’s possible you’ve seen him in Banksy’s “Exit Through The Gift Shop”, or walked past his work in East London. A member of London’s Burning Candy graffiti crew for some years, Cyclops has turned his hand to painting works of art enabling him to sell in gallery space in the four figure and up regions. Smart move.

His work was reminiscent of recent pieces done by Nikko Hurtado, Carlos Torres and Amar Stewart in my humble opinion. It was a pleasure to view the canvases close up, I especially loved the depth portrayed in the Teenage Phantasm series. The free Heineken helped drown out the arty talk going on around me from people who could actually afford to buy something.

The exhibition runs until Tuesday 24th of December 2013 and is well worth a visit now the ponces have gone.

In my brief research I found an interesting (albeit old) interview with Cyclops via Juxtapoz magazine here, as well as a clip of his work with Adidas here.

I will be looking out for his work on my trips around Shoreditch (shiver) and online, you know my love for skulls is strong. Peace.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


-Bossman75