The Bare necessities!
These last few years I have watched my friend and fellow graphic designer Nick Daley flourish with his popular venture Bareface. Although a successful art director and designer, Nick felt that he wanted to revisit his childhood love of art and drawing.
In early June last year I stepped out of Shoreditch station, London to find an impressive selection of Nick’s work proudly displayed on walls along Shoreditch High St, with large groups of passers by looking on admiringly or mucking in with his interactive ‘draw your own selfie wall’. With the assistance of Art no cube, his bold graphic work was shown as you would find in a gallery, carefully lit with descriptions for each piece, but without the formal confines of an actual gallery space. All of this was carefully curated alongside a fantastic band that also added to the vibrant atmosphere.
More recently I visited Koncept Music in Dalston, East London, who are playing host to Nick’s latest show ‘Needle to the Groove’. This venue is a natural home for his artwork, as music plays a big part. Bowie, Blondie, Michael Jackson and many more music giants are all immortalised in Nick’s distinctive graphic style. Other strong influences are comic books, super heroes, street and pop art.
My favourites from the show have to be the poster wall emblazoned with various digital prints pasted floor to ceiling and the incredibly smart piece entitled ‘I’m a Junglist’ using the distinctive Disney typeface and Mowgli from their much loved film ‘The Jungle Book’.
With work shown in various locations around the UK and even in LA, this Croydon boy wonder is the one to watch!
Catch Bareface at the following venues:
– ‘Needle to the Groove’ is on show at Koncept Music, 129 Kingland Road, Dalston until 14th April 2016. It will then move to Cafe Adagio, 227 Lower Addiscombe Road, Croydon from 7th May 2016 for 1 month.
– Art Medley Pop Up Market Day at the Hackney Showrooms on 2nd April 2016.
– Bareface collaboration with Reigate’s very own DrunkWolf on a piece for Drunkwolf’s solo show at The World of Glass, St Helens, Merseyside from 30th April – 3rd June 2016.
