I recently visited 4 art events and exhibitions in various places in London and have now uploaded the images to the Urban Retro Flickr for your viewing pleasure. The first 2 shows have just opened so make you catch them before its too late. The last 2 took place last month.

SMALL, MEDIUM and LARGE - View the full set of images.

Group Show - SMALL, MEDIUM and LARGE at Elms Lesters. 5th October - 10th November 2007. Featuring Adam Neate, Anthony Lister, Dalek, Delta, Futura, Jose Parla, Mark Dean Veca, Phil Frost, Ron English, Space Invader, Stash and WK Interact.

Space Invader Invasion London & Rubik Bad Men II - View the full set of images.

Space Invader Invasion London & Rubik Bad Men II at Lazarides. 5th October - 9th November 2007

Designersblock Illustrate 07 - View the full set of images.

Designersblock Illustrate 07. September 2007. Highbury Studios

SUPER FLUO - Ericailcane and Blu - View the full set of images.

SUPER FLUO - Ericailcane and Blu at Lazarides. September 2007

Coming across an artist for the first and being blown away is always exciting.. and that is exactly what the of Yosuke Ueno does. He is an artist based in Japan who has had exhibitions through out the world. You can similarities in his style to other surreal, low brow and modern artists but that is no bad thing. Now I will pray that Yosuke Ueno one day comes to London.

Make sure you check out the website and the blog. [via Startdrawing]

Jeremy Dower used to have a very fun to navigate site with some great art work. The bad news is that site has now gone… but the good news is that the new site is even more exciting to go through and is filled with some mighty impressive art. The first thing that attracted me to Dower’s work is the isometric perspective for a lot of his work and he has used that to stunning effects. Check the Jeremy Dower website and enjoy yourself.

Receiving a Golden Prize for “Most Groundbreaking Film” at the Fantasia Film Festival 2007 sounds like a great accolade to me and I am itching to see this independent animation after viewing the awesome trailer. We Are The Strange is created by M Dot Strange and initially caught my attention as is features the amazing artist David Choe.

I have not really got into the whole independent film scene by this may sway me more into the world on movies made on small budgets and away from the recent disappointing big budget Hollywood movies.

Here is a synopsis of the movie taken from Film baby where you can also purchase the DVD.

Blue is a young girl navigating the streets of a terrifying, sinister fantasy world all alone. When she meets Emmm, a fellow lost soul, she joins him on a quest for some ice cream. Upon arriving, they realize the ice cream shop has been taken over by dark forces, and the whole city is teeming with evil. Bizarre monsters surround Blue and Emmm on all sides until Rain, a sadistic hero, arrives to rescue them and exterminate the source of the evil.

We Are the Strange is its own imaginative and immersive universe. M dot Strange spent three years painstakingly creating this film, using a range of animation techniques–traditional, stop-motion, computer, and his own unique blend of 8-bit graphics and anime, dubbed “Str8nime.” The stunning visuals are complemented by a soundtrack that is both beautiful and harrowing. The end result is a freaky technocarnival ride that climaxes with a momentous battle between innocence and darkness.

Ever wondered who was behind the amazing illustrations from the Lord of the Rings books? Well LCS has an excellent interview with the artist, John Howe. Learn more about the artist and see more of his amazing work.

Graham Corcoran is a freelance illustrator based in Dublin, Ireland who’s work has been in magazines, books adverts and he has also worked as a concept artist for video games and animation. His illustration style caught my eye because some of his work reminds me of all the great illustrations from the past and this is due to a superb retro style and colour pallet he uses for many of his illustrations. Visit Graham Corcoran’s website or blog to see more of his great work.

I discovered Brandi Milne’s work a short time ago during the Smitten show, when I was led to her website. I really love Brandi’s work. Its sorta nouveau but at the same time it has a slight cartoony flair to it. The faces and sometimes lack there of, sets a very soft mood, and an innocence to her characters. You can check more of Brandi’s work out at www.brandimilne.com

The Beans is the collective moniker of Melbourne artists Bonsai and Two. Their work together is called Beans Land, a sort of Fantasia-like world with mystical creatures of all kinds. Two is responsible for the characters in all of the designs and Bonsai is the creator of the wonderfully serene environments for the creatures to be in. Together they paint things that come out of our dreams where imagination is our only limit.

Their work spans many mediums and I wish this pictures did their work justice but somehow, I don’t believe they do.
[via Nice Produce]

The Simpsons are everywhere at the moment due to the movie being released very soon. There is no hiding from the amount of Simpsons goodies that are coming out but nothing compares to this… The Simpsons x Vans exclusive sneaker collection. Some of the leading international urban artists were gathered to created some outstanding designs for the limited edition 14 shoe collection.

Each style was limited to 100 pairs and they went on sale on the weekend in 10 US stores. Point Blank has coverage of the official launch party.

I am guessing they are now sold out everywhere and so you will just have to drool over the close up images of each sneaker over at MashKulture. Vans why did you not bring these to the UK? I would have done anything for a pair of Vans x The Simpsons x KAWS pair.