The Joyful Bewilderment, an international group exhibition is opening next month at Rough Trade East, Brick Lane, London. The exhibition will be "showcasing the outpourings of a group of like minded image-makers. This exhibition can be seen as an expression of these artists compulsion to create. Fundamentally, the artists in the show all share an essential motivation to explore the possibilities of enhancing everyday life by making magic from the mundane."

Simon Peplow who I interviewed for Modart 17 is one of the co-curators of the show.

It runs from 2nd to 27th October. Check out TJB blog at www.joyfulbewilderment.blogspot.com for all the info including a list of the many fine contributing artists.

Matt Walford has just had his show installed at Spine Skateshop & Gallery here in Worcester. His show is called 1000 Leaves and features his unique digital montages which he creates using a flatbed scanner as a large format camera. He painstakingly scans leaves and petals to create the dreamlike landscapes in his work. The images are really beautifully made and the colours are incredibly lush, although the low res versions of the images here don't do that justice. Click More Information to read the full press release and see more images of his work.

I'm getting a little over excited that in just a few days we'll be embarking on a trip to NYC. I've got a long list of places to visit and things to do. I've been lucky enough to have been before 7 years ago, but this time I'll be checking out loads more galleries. Here's a few that are on our list with great shows on at the mo:
Jonathan Levine Gallery - Camille Rose Garcia exhibition
Joshua Liner Gallery - Greg Simkins
Deitch Projects - Chris Johanson exhibition at the Wooster Street location
Cinders Gallery - Mel Kadel exhibition
We'll also get to check out the 4 Geezers show at Ad Hoc Art - as advertised in Modart's news page.

As well as looking at art and buying as many zines as we can carry back, we'll also be squeezing in getting married and eating as much vegan food as humanly possible. So it shall be a trip to remember and no mistake. I'll have plenty of photos for blog fodder so check back after the 22nd Sept for pics of our adventures.

Got back from NYC this morning and feel like I've had my brain scrambled and pickled with the time zone hopping. Had a great time though and just need to sort out some photos before I can commence bloggings. In the meantime here's something to peruse: artist Ben Javens has a new online shop were you can pick up his delightful merchandise. Check it out at http://benjavens.bigcartel.com

I'm currently working on a new book, not a Concrete to Canvas, although it will follow the same format. This time it's a book of artwork by tattooists, so focusing on personal artwork, painting, drawing etc rather than images of actual tattoos.

There are a great bunch of international tattooists/artists submitting work, but I have a few places left to fill, so if there are any practicing tattooists out there with a large portfolio of personal artwork who are interested in being featured in the new book, you can get in contact with me HERE..

The final deadline isn't that far away so don't delay! Artists will be chosen on a first come, first served basis and places are limited.

Right then! Got loads of photos from last week's trip to NYC. I'll start off by posting up some photos of the street art we spotted while we were walking about the city. We probably did more walking than if we'd gone on a hiking holiday. I had the blisters and shinsplints to prove it! Here's the first photo. I believe this to be by Jordin Isip. He lives in Brooklyn and had co-curated a show currently on at the Jonathan Levine Gallery which we visited while we were there. The show was called 'Panorama Project 3' and featured work by 129 artists shown as one continuous piece round the gallery walls. Some of the work was really affordable, especially with the exchange rate, but typically everything we took a fancy to had sold. Click More Information below to see the rest of the photos --->

When we got off the train at Coney Island we were greeted by this huge wall of amazing work by Os Gemeos. It's a 60 ft wall and I think it was on Stillwell Avenue, opposite the subway station. The detail was really remarkable. For more pics of the wall click on More Information below:

The Joyful Bewilderment exhibition opens this Thursday 2nd October at Rough Trade East in London. For all the information about the show and the full list of contributing artists, as well as some photos of the installation, check out the TJB blog at www.joyfulbewilderment.blogspot.com