Check out these beautiful photos from a week on the corner downtown…..

All the above shots are by great photographer and good guy Mr TODD MAZER

And all the shots below are from Mr BIRDMAN another great LA photographer

So I did it!

I made it to LA and I painted the whole damn building!

Located at the corner of Hewitt and 4th, Downtown Los Angeles.

The building is the home of Art Share L.A. a non-profit organisation dedicated to cultivating the creative Arts District community, and making art accessible to all. Having been at the heart of the Arts District for the last 15years, the Los Angeles Times describe Art Share as ‘the Town Hall of downtown Los Angeles’. So I was honored to be giving the place a facelift!

This painting is BIG! My biggest yet. Look at that bus dwarfed by the painting!

Covering all 3 sides of the building this painting measures 9,300 sq ft!!!

Which makes it THE CURRENT LARGEST MURAL IN LA- WHOOP WHOOP!!!

This massive free piece of public art was only possible due to the support of those that bought the ‘LA papers’ artwork and the dedicated hard work of LA FREEWALLS who are doing a very important job transforming the landscape of downtown LA and fighting a fearless battle with the crazy mural laws of Los Angeles.

SO if you didn’t know- I recently held a nail art competition in conjunction with Sophy Robson and NAILPORN. I’ve gotta say I was really impressed by the amount of great entries and the quality and creativity of the winning designs! Originally we were just gonna pick one winner but it was so hard to decide that we extended it to 3 winners!

1st> DECO NAILS>

We chose these as the winners not just because of the good execution and original ideas, but there were plenty of great shots of the finished piece and they came with a 40 page!! sketch book of thoughts, ideas and inspiration behind the designs. GOOD WORK!

2nd> Mona Leanne

I dont even need to explain why we chose these- Sick colours, amazing skill and the INSA ‘teardrop’ shaped thumb nail is inspired!! AWESOME!

3rd> Linda Khuu

A great set, very clean skillfully painted! Love the elephant dung texture on the little nail and the chain thumb nail is AMAZING- if it had been a whole set of heart chains it could even have been the out right winner!

As i said we had so many entries it was a tough job picking the winners. I though it would be cool to showcase some of the other entries here:

Special mention: Watch the how to video blog by Scratch DollFace

Special mention: Another sick chain thumb nail by Miss Handly

Special mention: Youngest entrant, 8 year old Lamaya,

Special mention: These 3D boobs are ridiculous in a good way!!

So as you can see from this selection we had A LOT of great work submitted! THANKS to each one of you that entered. There is nothing i love more than people getting involved and showing skillz!! x

The mission has begun….

SO YOU ANSWERED THE CALL! I am going to LA.

These sold out in under 5 minuets!!

Watch this space for further details on the mission to LA……

I have a new mission and i WANT your help!

I am a strong believer in keeping art free, or more precisely making money to re-invest in art and not just for profit. And i am always trying to involve those that follow my work (YOU GUYS) in new projects.

Some good examples of this are the SWAPSHOP from last year and the recent ‘SELF REFLECTION’ installation, where all the work was given away.

So now i have a new experiment and it relies on 12 people getting behind it and supporting the mission!

I have been invited to paint this building in downtown LA, in the heart of the Arts District.

I want to paint both sides to completely wrap the building in INSA love.

The awesome LA Freewalls are supplying all the materials and equipment, BUT i need to raise the basic costs of flights, car hire etc

I want to fly and paint next week!

Here is the mission: I want to see if I can raise all the funds for this trip and fly within the week- THIS WEEK!

I could of course just pay for the flights myself or coincide it with another trip out there- but then that would be no fun.

So here is how i hope to raise the funds:

This last week I have produced 12 paintings on paper (50cm x 34cm each)- each unique but part of the series.

Spray-paint and ink on 350mgs paper.

Because i don’t want this just to be a fund raiser but a great deal for the 12 awesome people that support this, i am pricing these at just £150 each!!! Much cheaper than the usual price of a hand painted original!

And NOT ONLY that, perhaps more importantly the supporters will get:

- their names painted on the final LA wall as a thank you

- a photo of their name and a hand written thank you letter for their support.

- a goodie bag with t-shirt, postcards and stickers

Not bad huh?!?!

To make this opportunity to get involved open to all the sale will go live at 4.00pm GTM (UK time) Monday 23rd April.

First come first severed (please email with any queries)

GOOD LUCK AND THANKS FOR HELPING MAKE THIS PUBLIC MURAL POSSIBLE

As i said this is a total experiment and a bit of a challenge and maybe no one will be interested or want to get involved… so lets see how it goes….

LALA Gallery is a new space in LA brought to you by Daniel Lahoda- the man responsible for the outstanding LA Freewalls street mural project.- a project that helped me paint a couple of walls in LA last year, this weekend officially opens with its inaugural group show, LA Freewalls Inside (4.21), featuring many of the artists who have contributed to LA Freewalls.   The show will feature all-new work from Anthony Lister, Askew One, Becca, Cern, Chris Brand, Cryptik, Cyrcle, Dale VN Marshall, Dan Witz, Daze, Dee Dee Cheriel, Evan Skredertsu, How & Nosm, INSA, Jaybo, Kim West, Kofie, Lady Aiko, Ludo, Mear, The Perv Brothers, Poesia, Push, Pyro, Ripo, Risk, Ron English, Saber, Shepard Fairey, Swoon and ZES.

LA Freewalls Inside
Opening: Saturday April 21st (7-10 PM)

LALA Gallery
1335 Willow St. (2nd floor)
Los Anges, CA 90013

While i had the installation room complete i invited some photographers in to create images in the room.

Here are two very powerful images shot with great up and coming photographer PHARAOH, who i have worked with on a couple of projects lately.

…grease paint, gold rope, vintage 90’s FILA hat….

So again a massive thank you to all those that came out to view this installation, it was a busy night and i hope you all enjoyed the work…

It was important for me not to sell anything at this show- i wanted it to strictly be about the installation and remain purely as a piece of art to be considered and not to be soiled by the involvement of money.

The only part of this work that could be taken away were the 50 premium signed and number prints.
These were given to the first 50 through the door….

So now the installation has gone these 50 people have ownership of the piece.

The queue for the print started a couple of hours before we opened, but the sun was shinning so it was all good.

Thanks to the lovely Miss Arabella Drummond for handing out the prints, and to the security for keeping things orderly.

The bar was stacked thanks to RedBull, Chris & Keir!

Place got filled up pretty quickly….

The crowd responded. The room was overwhelming. Pictures got taken.

And then within 24 hours of opening the door it all had to be painted over……

Thanks to Bernard Miller for all the photography on the night!

I would like again to give a big thanks to Papergraphics and BAF graphics for helping make this room possible. Clearly the best wall covers and printers in the business!!

For all of you that couldn’t see the installation in the flesh here is the next best thing- a full 360 panorama of the room, if you don’t have the software click on the image and get it for free, takes no time and it is worth it for this way of viewing the space!! view it full screen as well!

Thanks to ItDrewItself and PhotoSynth for making that!

Thank you to all those that made it along to the opening of my latest installation.
I will post pictures from the opening soon- but first a good look at the space….

‘Self Reflection Is Greater Than Self Projection’

These great pictures of the installation are shot by photographer Ian Cox:

And for those that want a greater understanding of the work please read the description below:

“This new installation piece is INSA’s most obviously paradoxical to date. Having built the INSA ‘brand’ through reiterating issues of the female body and commodity fetishism, here, amid a swirling cacophony of bikini clad women and chrome, the audience is assured that ‘Self Reflection is Greater than Self Projection’.

The work is a maelstrom of spheres reflecting a distorted and sexually exaggerated view of two women gesticulating amongst the chaos. Glimpses of a black and white striped background behind these spheres hint at, albeit briefly, some sort of superseded purity as the irrepressible foreground pushes its way back into focus. To produce the work, INSA constructed an 8ft x 8ft box, painted the interior with disorientating stripes with one wall made of reflective chrome spheres. With the cameras and flashes set to record remotely, INSA actively removed himself from participating in this process. In pitch black, and with the camera only recording the deceptive reflections with each flash cycle, the photographer and the girls were equally distant from the end results. Thus, the final imagery’s depiction of make-believe is further deepened and the artist is no more engaged with the fantasy/ reality than the viewer. The optical illusion created by the digitally printed vinyl melds the walls into each other to encircle the viewer in this disarming reality. Alluring and grotesque in equal parts; INSA’s work once again challenges our notions of attainment and success, questioning a culture obsessed with image and money and our own culpability and complicity in it. Even if we want no part in it, can we ever avoid being voyeurs of these two girls and the INSA bubble they inhabit?

‘Self Reflection is Greater than Self Projection’ is loaded with the iconic and counterpointed themes familiar in INSA’s work: that the ideal of projected success is different from that of genuine happiness reflecting the innate conflict of who we really are and who we strive to be. INSA’s art regurgitates stereotypes, but this repeated imagery, apparently gratuitous, aims to disrupt without simplistically rejecting the images that surround us. Instead, INSA calls on us to confront our own contradictions when we are drawn into the objectification of women’s bodies, and aligns this relationship of desire with the insatiable lusts of consumerism. It’s clear that success in this world is measured unequivocally by fame, money, and beautiful women in high heels. With no little degree of irony, INSA’s constructed reality has created an artistic brand as synonymous with attainment and success in the real world as the oiled and pouting women depicted in his imagery.

This world is a hyper-reality, in contrast to the artist’s own lifestyle, but one in which his fans across the globe often go to incredible lengths to take part in. In Spring 2011 the artist announced an open competition on his website, insaland.com, where people were asked to swap something in return for a limited edition INSA and NIKE bootleg t-shirt. Epitomizing the cult appeal surrounding his work, the successful winners included those individuals who tattooed their bodies with INSA artwork and one who named their first born child under the artist’s moniker. Another one of the successful participants was Francesca Selby from the wall coverings agency PaperGraphics who donated the vinyl covering that provides the canvas for this installation, a very generous swap that finds herself at the heart of INSA’s coveted and immersive world.

It may not be obvious at first glance, but INSA’s work is an astutely calculated critique of society, commodity fetishism and many of the ardent cravings of life in the 21st century. He throws our desires in our face and tells us to love them and become them, while at the same time trying to hope that there must be more to our life than this. It’s for this reason that INSA’s oeuvre, and this latest installation in particular, are crucial components of contemporary cultural criticism today. ”

I would like to thank:

Bernard Miller for his photography on this project, Alycia Blackman and Scarlett Duggan for modeling, Yuiko Kato for the custom made costumes, LONDONEWCASTLE for the use of their space, Digimura, Papergraphics, BAF graphics for their AWESOME printing and producing; and Barry, Dave and Ronnie for installing the work.