Last night in London, SAN attended the opening of RONE and Tom French’s ‘Don’t Look Back’ show at ZeroCoolGallery which is a neatly tucked space into the building that houses the Red Bull Studio on Tooley Street, not far from London Bridge and resting in the shadow of Europe’s tallest building The Shard.
RONE’s work is instantly recognisable from his trademark street pieces, here he has been granted the time to produce large, detailed canvases and mixed media collages to deliver some visually stunning pieces of gallery work.
The massive 180 x 230cm feature piece, ‘Don’t Look Back’ is a classic RONE and could have been pulled straight from a wall in Melbourne, yet it looks completely at home in this South London gallery.
Original, thoughtful and striking, RONE’s work would stand proud in anyone’s living space, not surprising then that many pieces add already attracted the customary gallery ‘sold’ sticker.
At first glance, Tom French’s quite dark, sombre black and white skull images seem disturbing, but as you get closer, you realise that the shading that initially creates their texture and sombre appearance is in fact constructed from more detailed portrait images of people. Most are couples entwined in an embrace, whilst others appear to be the same person from different angles lost in thought & reflection.
The charcoal pieces are especially impressive, excellently executed and the soft, detailed charcoal shading totally sits at odds with the harsh brutality of the skulls working brilliantly to create multi-layered images.
The show runs until May 1st at Zero Cool Gallery, 155-171 Tooley Str, London Bridge
Pics by our London correspondent TenThree
+1,2,3.jpg)
comment