Whitecross St party 2012
It was the third year that we participated in Whitecross Street Party. I think having been there from the start, I can honestly say that it just keeps getting better and better.There is just so much to do & it’s really family friendly with lots of activities for the little one’s. Although I am at our stall majority of the time over the two days, I did manage to see a few things like the fire breathing horse and my friends Brassroots performing on the new stage area on the Sunday.
I am sure we will back next year for more rising of the none-conformists!
Nelly Duff: Banger Art
Making Of: Otto Schade Sweat Heart & You Got the Power
Here are the latest new Screen Print offerings from the Chilean artist Otto Schade . They are the classic band illustrated art works.
The “Sweet Heart” is especially appropriate for you lovers out there with Valentines fast approaching….
“Sweet Heart” and “You Got the Power” are now available from The Ben Oakley Gallery (London), both are an edition of 25 printed, 3 colour screen print on Somerset Satin 300gsm paper.
Making Of: Remi/Rough Known
It was about a year ago when Remi/Rough released his first ever screen print Edition “Phenomenon” which was printed right here in The Glorious House of Brag by the infamous, talented screen printer Sam from Mula Printing.
After the success of the last print, Remi was ready to release his second print edition called “Known”. This one was a little bit different from his classic trait mark of clean graphic lines and angular shapes but never the less, still very recognisable as the artist work. I particularly love the large circular curves and and the perfect sphere that lies completely balance on the tiniest of hair line at the foot of the curve.
As a printer, for me, I knew the simplicity and the cleanness of the design would represent many hidden challenges to make sure everything was printed meticulously with all the colours being very much solid with no discrepancies in any part of the print. The colour balance had also had to be right and I did have to make a fair few samples to get this just right.
I think the most challenging part was that, I had no line or key lines to hide behind….it was all exposed, never mind getting rid of all the little bits of paper fluff and dust that kept obstructing the large solid areas of colour. Despite all this, the prints turned out beautifully and I am sure they are going to look fabulous hanging on any art lovers wall!
Remi/Rough- “Known” prints are now available in Two colour-ways, Black (edition of 25) or a very limited Blue (edition 10) from Whisper Gallery (London)
Scraffer Yearbook 2011
Well, I was in very good company when I was asked to be part of the very first Scraffer Year book (2011). The main objectives of the project was to make a summery of the year through the words and images of Urbanite artists all in the aid for Teenage Cancer Trust.
There was a lovely eclectic mix of artists in the annual, with the likes of many big names including Eine, Pure Evil & D*Face, and some that I have had the pleasure of working with in the past like (really don’t mean to name drop) Remi/Rough ( who incidentally designed the annuals cover), Dscreet, LLB, Ronzo, Ludo & off course James Jessop!
All of the 150 Limited Edition books were sold out almost immediately before they were officially released, so well done to those who managed to get your lucky mitts on one. For those of you who missed out: (, here are some snippits from the book to wet your appitites!
May I take this opportunity to thank Mr.Scraffer for all his hard work and bringing together some great artists for such a good cause. Well done sir! xx
Season Ticket Art Fair 2011
Sometimes you make work and your not exactly sure where it’s destined for or if you would even get to show it. For me, the art show Season Ticket at he Old Shoreditch Underground Station was set to me my destination. As I explained my plans to the curators I could see all my hard work and panic being worth it at the end.
I was delighted to be given the walls of the main entrance of the show and later on, an alter- esque boarded up arch window to place a more permanent robust piece of art work. I had many biblical visions on my mind for that space but as time was short and with my only options of transportation was the public sort, I opted to make a slightly smaller version of the main entrance piece, entitled “3 Wise Men”.
The main entrance pieces ended up taking about 8 hours to put up, maybe this was due to it being a freezing December evening in a cold building with no heat and working with fingers like icicles. Each piece of the instillation is individually Screen Printed on various papers with lots of hand embellishments and plenty of Glitter thrown in for good measure.
I even got to feed my new “money” addiction and covered one of the walls with the “Credit Crunch” wallpaper. We added some larger cut out, folded, 3D money on top, for added effect; a moment of genius from John. Made the whole wall look alive! If you don’t believe it, check out the photo’s.
One last note, I would like to thank Alex Daw and The High Roller Society for putting on, such an amazing show to see the end of 2011 with and letting me go Wilde xx
Making Of: Otto Schade Amy Winehouse Print
There were spooky going on’s in the studio when these Amy Winehouse art works were being printed . As the layers of the art work were broken down, with each layer I printed, I could almost see in to the soul of the subject….never mind all the things going missing and being moved around in the studio! It was the eyes.
Pretty sure this will be another classic print for Otto Schade, with only a limited amount printed (27 to be exact) of the Black & White edition, & only 5 in the Silver and 10 in the Gold. The lips & the nails are all lovingly hand finished by the artist in Amy’s signature Red. A lovely tribute & I ‘m sure these won’t be around for long too.
Print Yourself Out of Debt
It’s any printers long term dream…how to print money! So here at Brag Towers we thought we have a go and try to beat that nasty old Credit Crunch with the revival of our “Credit Crunch Note” Each $100 note is worth $50, with the exchange rate of: 50 USD = 32 GBP. It’s not guaranteed to get you out of debt but will sure look great on your wall or in your oversized wallet!
3 Colour Screen print with a hand embeleshed layer.
43cm x 73cm, 250gsm Somerset Antique paper, signed & numbered.
Making Of: Otto Schade: Message to Environmentally Unfriendly People
I had never met Otto Schade but had seen his work around the Truman Brewery and around East London. So, I was intrigued and a little nervous to be making some prints for him at the beginning. It’s always a bit weird to meet someone for the first time who’s work you have seen and that they have heard of you too but you have never met before. I was also a little under pressure as this was going to be his ‘debut’ Screen Print release, as far as I was told.
After much sampling and messing around with the colour-ways, the best option for me to get the gradient fade on the Panda ball was to hand blend the ink on the screen. As many screen printers know, this is a slightly artistic and an unpredictable technique to use, especially when editioning prints. Lucky for me Otto agreed for some manoeuvres in the colour fade and gave me a 3cm grace, which at some points in the printing process, my heart was skipping a beat a little! The beauty of these prints are that they are all individually unique and who ever is lucky to purchase one, will know now that so much love and care went in to making them by human hand.
They come in five different colour-ways and are limited to 10 of each colour (signed and numbered)
Making of: Sweet Toof Print: Under Proper
Aida & The Glorious House of Brag
Making of: Ludo’s e-Lepidoptera Print
I was so excited to be asked to print for Ludo for his first solo show in the UK at the High Roller Society which opened last Friday.
I really enjoyed printing this image, it was such a precise image with lots of delicate half tone dots so I had to make sure that the image didn’t finish too dark as they were being hand finished by Ludo himself.
Overall he was really pleased with them and I grow very fond of the print as I was making them. I think it’s going to be a classic image which is very accessible.
I also managed to get my self one of his signed books which I believe have sold out now! Check out the final finished article on the High Rollers site!
Thank you Ludo & High Rollers xx
Breuckelen@Recoat Gallery
While we were on our hols in Glasgow we managed to make it down to the EMA show @Recoat Gallery. The work was inspired by Ema’s time living in NYC for nearly ten years. The work was predominately chromatic with the only flashes of colour appearing in her well illustrated graphic screen prints. My absolute personal faves were the Black and White drop men which are her signature call!
While we were there, we also met Amy & Ali, who run Recoat, who were genuinely passionate and enthusiastic about their unique endevours in Glasgow. They are clearly on their way in putting Glasgow on the street art map.
Well worth a trip up to the city…… especially if you can go to the newly housed Transport Museum designed by Zahar Hadid…not entirely sure about the Pistachio interior wall coverings though!
Well done EMA & Recoat Galllery
xxx
Galloping New ZeVras
It’s a wrap for the new Silver ZeVra colour-way which was delivered to Nelly Duff last Saturday……the word is that there has already been some pre- orders so fingers crossed they will soon gallop their way out of the gallery again!
A final note on the ZeVras, I finally managed to get into the Nelly Duff HQ and decorated the cupboard doors in the office……thought it would cheer them up every morning!
Love
Aida xx
P.S Please contact the gallery for any pre-orders on the new colour way.
Kid Acne:Kill Your Darlings
I had the opportunity to go up to to Sheffield to the Millennium Gallery to see the Kid Acne solo show. What a great space and what a carefully contemplated show! Really worth going up, especially as there are lots of Kid Acne goodies to buy at the gift shop….I bought my self a ‘Colour Me Bad’ book amazing!
The show is on until the 23rd of October, so still plenty of time to visit.
Also check out the new ‘Stabby Women‘ film which is directed by Dscreet ,it’s dark and atmospheric with a killer sound track in my opinion.
Some of you may recognise the girls outfits in the film:
Making of: New Scarves
Well done to those of you who managed to buy a preview of the scarves at White Cross Street party, I think it was the classic case of ‘the early bird catches the worm’.
So, as of last week, the scarves have gone up on the Brag shop. There are lots more different designs and various colours to come, so keep checking them out, as I print them when I feel like it these days. So if there is one there that takes your fancy, GET IT……who knows when I would print that specific one again!
Bit of background information for you buffs out there. Each scarf is individually printed by hand on my beloved table. Depending on how intricate and how many colours are involved, each scarf can take anything between 30-40 minutes to set up & print from start to finish! and that’s just the making!
So those of you who have one already, lucky you!
P.S Have had a few reports recently that some of you have had yours nabbed when you have been out clubbing or in a bar, so beware, you have been warned…….’Brag scarves should be accompanied by a responsible adult at all times!’
Brag Boutique: Street View
Just Like Millions of others a few weeks ago, I was re-watching Exit Through the Gift Shop on the telly, and I got really sentimntal when the shot of Brag Boutique came on, funny how sugar coated some memories can be!
Then it suddenly dawned on me that I never took a descent photo outside the old shop (I thought I would be there forever). Especially of the walls which were painted next to it. Maybe I couldn’t take the memories of the eventful night . So I started to ask all my firends who were regulars at the old haunt if they had any photos.
A few days later, my dear friend Dave sent me these, which he found using Google Street View! So funny, as I distinctly remember that summer day, watching the van with the cameras going by. This made me feel even more nostalgic than the film. We used to hang out, outside the shop after closing for ages, chatting, smoking and laughing.
Good times!
Thank you for the photographs Dave & Google, xx
Parkway Rythm: Working Girl
I got a surprise email from a musician from Sweden who went about a spiral way to manage to find me, which I was really flattered by. I am sure I have never been head hunted like this before. What I found most amusing was that after he had spotted my work out on the street, he had envisaged me as being a starved 17 year old student looking for a bit of exposure……not sure if that’s a compliment or not!
To cut a long story short, I have provided some art work for his latest record release which is titled ‘Working Girl’…..my immediate memory was of the 80′s film which starring Melanie Griffiths and Harrison Ford, which I have lost count of ,the number of times I have watched this film. I also thought that it was fitting for me as I am also a working girl (not to be confused with the type that hangs around street corners at night anyway). So I couldn’t resist but do this project!
Try and look up the record, it’s got a real 80′s NYC vibe going on, the type of track which will make you feel nostalgic, well it certainly made me think of my youth anyway!
Labels called Parkway Rhythm- Working Girl
Vandalog
Thanks to everyone at Vandalog for the great write up and to all those lovely people who commented.
check it out: vandalog
Aida
xxx
Hackney Wicked
Hi everyone thanks for coming to see us last week at Whitecross St, if anyone has any pics you could send them to us aidaprints We are gonna be at Hackney Wicked in the Fete for the Wicked area this Sunday with a few more goodies. Some new scarves, prints, t-shirts, bags and our Beach Babes range (featured below). See ya Sunday Aidaxxx 
Latest update on Brag’s new range
Hi all, had a great session today photographing the new Brag Clothing collection. Today’s turn was the women’s wear which has had a good response so far! Well, from the few that have had a sneak peak, anyway!
Photographing the Men’s tomorrow, so looking forward to some torso action there! My model had demanded for a pair of Andy Warhol’s slippers…..pretty sure I am going to disappoint him there! Unless any one can write in and let me know where I can get a pair from???????
Will keep you updated very soon.
Luv Aida xx
White Cross Street Party
Date for your diaries: weekend extravaganza at The White Cross Street Part, craft stalls, street art, and yummy treats. The Glorious House of Brag will have a stall at the event with lots of goodies including the new clothing range, samples and artwork.
Come along and say HI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love and Kisses
Aida
Living Etc
Zevra print featured in May edition of Living Etc. The stampede has begun- grab yem while you can.
Safewalls
As you can see, we have ironed out our technical difficulties with ”the blank space” scenario….. hurrah! So, here is the link for the short film I was in, made by the sweet boys form the Safewalls Project! (Sorry, I’m too much of a skin flint to spend $56 on a video up loader upgrade from word press, seeing as I have just figured out how to fill the ‘blank space’).
It’s from the London stage of the project which was launched 17/02/11 at the High Roller Society in East London.
New prints coming soon
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- ummmm shiny
New Aida ’Zevra’, glitter Zebra screen prints coming soon to Nelly Duff the Columbia Road Gallery. There are two fantastic colour ways to choose from….you really need to get up close and personal with this print so that you can see the wonderful glitter finish! As soon as I put the last colour on these pieces I just thought ‘what a HOT print’.
Big Difference Print
Hot of the press, just printed last night in Brag Towers, is the new Sickboy ‘Big Difference’ print. All pre-coloured steciled, with a one colour screen print on top, then hand finished by the artist….only 16 of them so worth getting before they run out.
