Handsome Gentlemen

 We have been planning an empty shop project in the Bring Colour camp for some time now, lots of planning, plenty of meetings and numerous knock-backs later we are very pleased to anounce something bigger and better than an empty shop project............... An Empty Warehouse Project!

Bring Colour presents Handsome Gentlemen, the debut group exhibition of Coventry-based creatives, The Hearts Gang.

OPENING PARTY - Saturday 3rd November - Be there @ 6pm.

Art, Photography, Live Music, DJ's and its FREE!

Exhibits from:

ABEL

ANDREW JOHN SMITH

BODY ODOUR
JAMES MEWETT 

KEVIN DONNELLY 

PECKS 

VEL

Live Hip Hop from...

 

IDYLLIC

RICTA 

+ DJ's TBC

GALLERY OPEN - Tues-Sun (2pm-8pm) - Til' Saturday 17th November


" Coventry isn’t famed for its art. Words like – Vibrant, Fresh, Creative and Young don’t often take star roles in Coventry City Councils shopping list – However… all this is about to change; HG have a gig, and by gig I mean “Massive Warehouse” jam packed to the crumbling asbestos, full of amazing art, delightful music and a crisp exciting way of approaching life in this humdrum Coventry.

Handsome Gentlemen don’t profess to hold any of the answers to the stagnant mystery of Coventry’s “creative sector”. In fact HG don’t profess anything, cards and chest etc. They do however offer a large bowl of optimistic bread to the table - of course the bread is of good wholesome quality; weirdly sweet in sentiment, warm and steamy.

Make no mistakes, the group is a rabble. HG can be best described as a strange, fuming, potion, flaring in a cauldron of confusion. A raggedy bunch of tattooists, graffiti artists, musicians and photographers, who all excel in their chosen field (And if they don’t they think they do) They’re not short of confidence… However they do struggle for a voice. They struggle for a voice in Coventry, a city that fattens daily with an apathy for inspiration. Coventry sits spread, bursting with thick, grey goo slipping from its seams.

HG endeavour to change the plight of Coventry’s Creative Sector by breathing life back into the bowels of the dwindling city. The raggedy, rabble plan to carry out their demonic plot by showcasing an ethos of creativity, and expression. Pop along to the warehouse or you might get shot! "

Join the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/352267644858345

Break City Limits

Dtain from Flip The Script Promotions got in touch with Bring Colour to create a backdrop for their new hip hop night, "Break City Limits".  They wanted a big, bold, graffiti style backdrop to brighten up the West Indian Centre, ready for the b-boys, b-girls, MC's & DJ's to battle it out.

Break City Limits 2 is in the pipelines, so if you missed out on number 1, dust off those shell toes, polish up that name belt buckle, get your Kangol hat out of the loft and get practicing your b-boy stance!

Our Choice BBQ

The Groundwork gang have been running a youth project called 'Our Choice' for three years, working with young people aged 11-19 in the Tile Hill, Canley, Willenhall, Stoke Aldermoor, Hillfields & Foleshill areas of Coventry.

The 'Our Choice' project gave young people the change to get involved in their neighbourhood and get their voices heard on what they wanted to see happening in their neighbourhood.

Lou from Groundwork got in touch with Bring Colour, 'Our Choice' were having a summer BBQ for the young people at Coombe Abbey and wanted Bring Colour to come along and facilitate a workshop. The aim of the workshop was for the young people to create a piece of art, through which they could evaluate the 'our choice' project.

Vendetta Bass VB004!

The head honcho over at Vendetta Bass called the bring colour phone and requested some new graphics for the record label and its forth release: VB004. He knew what he wanted, "a music robot made of speakers" to use for the label graphics and then some "bee themed" artwork for the release. He also knew exactly what he wanted it to look like and couldn't of been more helpful with direction, which made our job a lot easier.

VB004 Artwork 

Robotic Vendetta Bass Artwork

If you have a graphics enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you then please get in touch

Back to School part 3

Bring Colour artist, John Mckeown was invited back for the third year in a row to deliver a Graffiti / Street art workshop at Cardinal Newman's Community Arts Festival.

The school wanted the young people to create some artwork with a science theme for them to display in the science block.

The weather on the day was awful but the young people battled against the elements & got creative!

Previous years workshops: 

Back to School part 1

Back to School part 2

FARGO

We were contacted by the guys at FARGO about possibly doing some artwork up Far Gosford Street, so we popped up to have a chat with them. They had a space on the road that was a bit of an eyesore, in between the Beer Engine and the newly restored shops. Their plan was to put temporary hoardings up and have them decorated with a mural until the derelict, former shops are restored.

The derelict site between the beer engine and the restored shops.

We were asked to paint two shop frontages on to the hoardings but we suggested that it might look a little flat and would look better with some depth to the mural. They understood what we were saying and we discussed alternatives. We agreed on having one half shop frontage and the other shops leading down a road to add some depth.

Far Gosford Street is a conservation area so everything has to go into the council for them to check that it 'fits' in to the right criteria. So we began the process, got the pencil and paper out and began sketching.

Initial sketch for the leading road submitted to the council.

We sent in our initial sketch idea for the mural to the council and it came back with a thumbs up, but they needed to see the colours that were going to be used in the mural, so we got busy again.

Colour illustration submitted to the council.

The Council were happy with the plans so we got to work and did our thing.

Hoardings painted with the leading road and shop frontage design.

There are lots of changes up Far Gosford Street that have happened and still lots more to come, if you haven't been up there for a while go check it out. They have restored some fantastic buildings back to there former beauty and have encouraged cool independent local business's to set up shop.

Wicced - alternative clothing and pagan wares

Marjoriedoo Vintage - Vintage clothing and accessories for men and women 

Hopefully we will be doing some more work up there in the future so you might see us too!

Artwork Up.

When Bring Colour artist, John Mckeown was back at his old school, Cardinal Newman for their 2012 community arts festival, he managed to get a photo of the artwork that they created at last years workshop, mounted on the wall in the music block.

KASUM!

Last week we did some work for the guys at Positive Futures. We were called in to deliver one on one sessions with a young person who had chosen to complete a 10 hr project on the theme 'Graffiti Art'. He chose a name to develop 'KASUM' and set to work in his sketchbook.

Through his sketchbook he showed how the evolution from a simple tag style name up to a colourful 3d piece.

He used what he had learnt over the week to create a final piece in the last session.

It was the first time we had delivered one to one sessions in this kind of format and it went really well, the young person worked really well, created artwork that he was proud of and also got to take his sketchbook home to continue creating!


If you have an enquiry or would like to book a workshop please get in touch.

Curtis' Café

Whilst we were up Holbrooks decorating Hedgey's tattoo studio we were introduced to a guy who was soon to be opening a Café down the road. The premises had previously been a Café, all he had to do was put his stamp on the place which is where we came in. He wanted us to paint some signage for the place and after a lot of deliberating he decided upon using his son's name and called it Curtis' Café.

GSK motors

About a year and a half ago we were contacted by a guy who wanted us to paint 'Supreme Kebabs' on the side of his Kebab Van.  He enjoyed what we did to his van and got back in touch with us to create some signage for his brothers business GSK motors.

Benga'd Backdrop

We were back down the Kasbah last week for a quick little job.
The third installment of "No Pain, No Gain" this time with Benga headlining. We had to quickly get rid of the Sub Focus logo from last time and paint up Benga's!

Tattoo Times

We have been bit quiet on the blogging side recently, been spending too much time creating.

So a little overdue, our first blog post of the year.

We did some work last year for the tattoo studio 'Hedgey's'. Hedgey, the bossman was so impressed with the graffiti shutter & custom mural we did in the reception that he got in contact with us again  to pop back down the studio to create a custom mural in the backroom.  

Hedgey, being surrounded by artwork daily, knew exactly what he wanted us to paint, a skull tattooing. After grabbing some tins of paint we popped down and got busy.

Our murals are bespoke, one-off, unique pieces of artwork.

Interior walls, exterior walls, vehicles, backdrops, canvases, we can paint the image you want where you want it!

If you have an enquiry or would like to discuss the design solutions that we can offer you, then please get in touch.  

The Best Till Last

The last post of the year is one of our favourite custom bedroom walls that we have ever done!

We were approached by a lovely couple wanting us paint a feature wall in their new converted loft bedroom.
The lovely couple knew exactly what they wanted, "A section of their red and white floral bedspread painted on a larger scale but not a repeated pattern".

This one took a lot of effort but in our opinion the finished room looks fab!

A Nightmare Before Christmas

We popped up the Kasbah for the last time this year to do a spot of decor. Went up and bashed out two balcony banners for their Christmas Eve special "A Nightmare Before Christmas".

Merry Kasbah

No Pain No Gain

The Kasbah crew have started booking some headline acts for their mid-week raves "No Pain No Gain" They've had two acts pass through so far, Rusko and then Sub Focus. Both of which the phone rang "Hey Bring Colour, can you come down the club please?"

Next up is Benga & Youngman!!!!



Didn't manage to get a photo when we popped down for Sub Focus so robbed this off Digital-Flow's Flickr.

Spooky UV times

We were back down the Kasbah with some UV paint at Halloween. This time with shorter notice and more stuff to paint, two balcony's and both ends of the room.

#CovArt

With our great passion for Coventry and of Art, we love it when we stumble across homegrown talent. Gifted people doing things!

So we thought we'd do a little blog entry linking some #CovArt that we enjoy!

(click the images to follow the links)


First up is the facebook page for undoubtedly the most prolific writer in Coventry. Lots of photos of full colour's and dubs. As far as we're concerned ABLE takes the title 'King of Cov'. Well worth a peek!



Next up is the Mean Mr Myer's Flickr. This guy oozes style and has been an inspiration to all at the Bring Colour camp from early. Definitely check his stuff out!



As 3 is the magic number we'll end with L'art du Odour a tumblr blog documenting the work of artist Body Odour. A mixture of Street Art and Graffiti, some funky bits, have a look!

Rock The Kasbah! Neon Style.

Whether you call it The Tic Toc, The Colly or The Kasbah the place has been partied in for YEARS!
We spent most of our teenage years in there and still pop in now and again if its a special occasion.

So it was a pleasant surprise when out of the blue the phone rings and its the manager of the Kasbah, Rax, wanting some backdrops,
asking "if its something we could do?"
Our response as always "Yes! Of course we can!"

He wanted some backdrops painted for a UV Full Moon Party they were having,
so we went down and got busy with some fluoro paint!

Didn't manage to get any photos of them up and finished myself, but managed to find one on Facebook, Thanks Edward Taylor!

Cat Gained, Mac Lost

Well then, meet the newest member of the Bring Colour family, 'Tigga'.

Tigga has been making work extremely difficult as the little monster thinks that anything that moves is his to play with, Paint, Brushes, Pens, Pencils, Scalpels, Paper and worst of all, Hands.
When hands move he pounces, clawing for attention & biting for fuss.

Computer work had become near impossible with Tigga around. Accusations have been flung in the past about 'affairs with apple' but nothing compared to how jealous Tigga had become of the MacBook Pro. Tigga decided enough was enough and being shut out of the room so the lappy could come out to play was unfair and something had to be done.

The scene was set, Tigga was chilling on the sofa, the lappy was switched on and open and a fresh cup of tea was just put down when........"boom" Tigga saw his chance and pounced, knocking the tea all over the lappy and swiftly fleeing to avoid the aftermath.

We switched the lappy off, took battery out and with fingers crossed left it upside down to dry out. After giving the lappy to the Apple Dr to fix, we were given the worst news back, the lappy was dead. Sad Times.

Although we're down a lappy and some recent work has gone, all was not lost! We had learnt from our past mistakes with "Mac Death" and had most things backed up on an external hd.

So that is why our internet presence has been quiet recently. We've degraded and are using an ibook g4, which just isn't a MBP but at least its not a PC! Now its time to catch up!