The exhibition will remain open during the day (hours shown below). In addition we will be opening it up for Owen to personally show people round on a few evenings before the showing closes in December. Now is your chance to come and see the artwork ‘in the flesh’. To quote a couple of the launch night attendees -

“everyone should go see the talented and creative work of Owen Roseblade. He has the most amazing exhibition called London Safari running at the Westbourne Grove Church Artspace in Notting Hill for the next six weeks.” Emily Johnston

“I had taken a good look at Owen’s website before hand, so I thought I knew what to expect, but the thumbnail images on his website just do not do justice to the final pieces. The size of the final prints allow you to take in and appreciate the complexity and detail. He has also printed them on some clever ‘Kodak Metallic’ paper which gives an extremely crisp yet very slightly reflective sheen, so that the image responds to the angle you view it from and your movement. In addition, adding to the interactive element, each print is accompanied in the exhibition by a key showing you the buildings that have been referenced.” Gillian Swan (read more at her blogpost)

The name Cobra Capelo is Portuguese for ‘hood-snake’. The venomous King Cobra can grow up to eighteen feet in length and raise one third of its body off the ground, high enough to look a grown man in the eye. In some parts of India this creature is idolised and worshipped as a god.

London’s Westfield Shopping Centre cost over £1.5 billion to build. With a floor area equivalent to thirty football pitches, it is the largest indoor urban shopping centre in Europe. With so many brands and so much advertising under one roof the temptation can be strong.

Love it or hate it, this retail giant invites a commentary on its powerful influence over the average consumer with the image of a snake. The ceiling is very much like snakeskin in appearance, and the external coverings or ‘hoods’ surrounding the centre inspired the image of a cobra. The deep cavernous mouth of this piece, with an enticing one-way escalator, depicts the subtle draw that this place can have.

The Hill
The Grove
Creative Review
Wallpaper*
The Architects Journal
Blue Print Magazine
Dezeen Magazine
Frieze Magazine
Notting Hill Magazine
Royal Institute of British Architecture
The Mayor of London

With the arrival of the finished press release it’s time to reveal the flagship composition, The Wasp. This was the first work created all the way back in 2007 and comprises many buildings along the River Thames. Along side the press release I’ve been working on descriptions of each artwork that will accompany the pieces at the exhibition. The story behind this one is as follows.

The Wasp

Wasps are widely considered pests, an intrusion into peaceful lives. Alone, they create an irritating drone, but in large numbers they can cause great frustration. Compared with bees, which pollinate and make honey, they appear aimless. In fact, wasps play a critical role in preying on almost every species of insect parasites. It turns out they are a vital part of the natural order.

Norman Foster’s GLA City Hall formed the initial inspiration for this piece, as it resembles the abdomen of an insect whose body is burrowing deep underground. Foster’s other designs, Thirty St Mary Axe (‘The Gherkin’) and the Millennium Bridge were built at the same time and bear stylistic resemblance to other contemporary structures such as Riverside House and The London Eye. All were completed between 2000 and 2002 and have contributed to the modern tourist frenzy that descends on the South Bank each year.

With more than fourteen million overseas visitors in 2009, London is second only to Paris among the cities of the world in terms of tourism. Some London residents may consider this annual migration a pestilent swarm. Nevertheless, it is a fundamental mainstay of our economy: tourists can contribute more than £6 billion to the economy per year.

With some help from a journalist friend and a good spell checker, we’re getting there.

Since creating the Facebook event there have been lots of requests to see the artwork/find out what the exhibition is all about. The finishing touches are just being applied so we’ll have to wait a little longer. There will be a sneak preview of one of the Safari Creatures soon. The whole set of 12 won’t be released until nearer the time of the exhibition.

Thanks for your patience.

The Exhibition will be held at Westbourne Grove Art Space in Notting Hill. We’ve met to discuss the installation and pretty much decided where everything will go. Thought this little sneak peak might be interesting. The art is going to be as big as possible within the available space.

Having been back over some old artwork I reached the unfortunate conclusion that lots needed reshooting. The first few days of shooting were done on my old Nikon D70 camera which has a very low resolution by modern standards. So, I’ve taken my Nikon D300 out on a planned route with lots of specific shots in mind that will slot into the early artwork – The Wasp, The Lion, The lizard and The Owl.

It’s quite a good feeling knowing I’m getting exactly the right shots rather than having to try and make do with what I’ve got when the ideas after shooting. I have shot a whole lot of new images as well but as I’m gearing up to exhibit, I’m not sure I’ll be starting many new creatures.

With the chance of an exhibition later this year I decided it was time to go in and clean up all the artwork. Having it printed out, even just at A3 has exposed all the little errors. Having been back over the earliest work I can see how far the editing process has evolved and I really think some work needs redoing and even reshooting.

Although the original work was created at large sizes with the anticipation of large scale printing, the files were not managed in such a non destructive way. Layers and masks were used but not the smart objects that came with the upgrade to Photoshop CS3.

So here starts the painstaking process of going back over ‘finished’ work to tweak things that other people may never even notice like the untidy masking on the wasp above. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t such a perfectionist.

I’m not sure what to do really as this is a great opportunity but not sure I want to compromise.