SECRET WARS X RYAN FRANK COLLABO!

Ryan Frank free-range furniture designer prepares for battle with international art

group - Secret Wars.

Ryan’s latest project the ‘Shoreditch Shelf’

becomes a battle field for premier art group

SecretWars x Ryan Frank

For the first time ever this live art battle will take place directly on to a Shoreditch Shelf in the Bricklane Gallery on Thursday the 24th at 3pm.

Artists involved: Stika, Inkie, Alfa and Moose and Yeti

Friday the 25th the Secret Wars posse take their markers and might to the courtyard of 93 Feet East, where they will step onto a purpose built stage and commence another head to head bout of illustrating. ‘six artists, six boards, 60 minutes’

The completed boards will be put to the public vote and the winning two will be made into a Shoreditch Shelf.

The shelf and the remaining boards will be displayed and auctioned by the Bricklane Gallery, with a follow up exhibition.

A completed Shoreditch Shelf and ‘Spruce’, Ryan’s new range of stackable stool will also be on display and in use during the 3 day event.

Origins of The Hackney Shelf

The now iconic Hackney Shelf originated when large white boards were installed at graffiti ‘hot-spots’ around East London. The concept is to present a blank canvas to the public. These blank canvases attracted a variety of random graf and sporadic stenciling, once covered in graffiti they were removed and transformed into mobile shelving units, bringing the street indoors.

Notes to press:

Further info about Ryan's work on - www.ryanfrank.net

SECRET WARS SPECIAL @ V&A - DEBUT ART vs DUTCH UNCLE

Bizarre, surreal and true! Secret Wars held a special team battle between two of the biggest illustration agencies in the UK.

It was hosted in the Raphael Cartoon gallery - On the night it looked so crazy as we were doing live art in front of 8 or so priceless paintings from the 1500's and owned by her majesty the Queen.

It took a lot of talks to set this one up but after we told the Royal family we would use spray paint nor drink inside the gallery... They were cool! ;) She even said she was a huge SW fan!

Thanks to all those peeps who came down.

Finished wall - Debut Art (Left) vs Dutch Uncle (Right)

Debut Art won 3-0 after the two judges and crowd vote.

Thought people?

Photos by Jay

V&A Friday Late / Pen-Paper-Scissors

Come and join us in the gorgeous John Madejski garden @ The V&A on the evening of Friday 26th June 2009.

Team Dutch Uncle (Noma Bar, Dermot Flynn and Kustaa Saksihave) have been invited by Secret Wars and the V&A to battle against Debutart and their selected artists Chris Price, Craig Ward and Serge Seidlitz.

This is an exciting twist for Secret Wars - Having two of the finest illustation agencies battling on stage will only raise the quality of artists Secret Wars wants to involve in the future.

The final artwork will be judged by two V&A judges as well as an audience decibel vote - so come down, have a few drinks.

>> Friday 26th June 2009

>> 6.30pm -10pm

>> The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, SW7

>> Free Admission

Hicks is the new London champion!

Wow - still shocked and hungover from an amazing night...over 1200 came through the door with a one in one out all night!! Thanks for all those who came down and had the patience to chill outside.

This Secret Wars was probably the best so far - everything went perfectly and the venue was a huge step up from Cafe 1001. A very proud moment seeing how far Secret Wars has come in just over 2 years....The USA is next!

With Reeps favourite to win, Hicks came in feeling little pressure - Both guys had a plan and both were well prepared for an intense and exciting SW battle.

The crowd was electric and the atmosphere at times was tense...The battle finally kicked off around 10:30pm and people stood in awe as the guys got to work on the large white walls (12ft wide by 8ft high).

All night DJ Session kept the crowd rocking with a stack of classic tunes, with the crowd screaming with every mix.

When the time came to get the judges on stage, the tension began to mount and I found it hard to get anywhere the stage. First up to judge came Ligaya (Victoria & Albert Museum) who decide to give her vote to Hicks, then Reeps came fighting back with a massive decibel smashing crowd vote 1-1....It came down to the final judge - Brett from MTV / 1/10, after much thought and pacing on stage he finally pulled out his edding board marker and scribbled Hicks on his white board!!

We have a new and very worthy champion....Hicks (54 crew)

Thanks to all those who came down and supported and a huge thanks to the entire team on the night and edding markers for linking us up as usual.

---

The set up during the day.

Sketch for the outside banner by Jimi Crayon - Oh and who stole it?? please leave a comment to say it is safe and in a good home....



The HUGE queue of people trying to get in from 8pm - Over 1200 people came through the door and it was one in / one out all night..Sorry to those that did not get in!



Hicks getting interviewed by one of many TV channels in attendance.



Some shots of Hicks celebrating with friends






Final wall - Reeps (Left) & Hicks (Right)



photos taken from - Elliot Rebellious & Phil Gabriel

Also check out this amazing full length timelapse from Light and Time - http://www.lightandtime.co.uk/rushes/secret_wars_timelapse.mov

SECRET WARS LONDON FINAL @ VILLAGE UNDERGROUND - 21ST MARCH

The end is really blooming nigh!

Hicks vs Reeps 1, who will win the £1000 and the right to call themselves a champion!

This, the Series 3 Final will be held in the biggest and best venue to date!

click flyer below for details...

Secret Wars

Village Underground

100 MINUTES OF HAVANA - REPORT

Things got messy last week down at Village Underground! In a Secret Wars special in collaboration with Havana club and edding UK - Monorex took on Innercity collective on the biggest Secret Wars wall ever built (40ft wide by 16ft high)!

The Monorex team was made up of Stika, Teck, Jimi Crayon, Mr K and Alfa - They came with a loose plan in mind, easiest way to explain would be to say they drew a Cuban party in a old skool Cadillac.

Not only was this event the biggest wall on record but the guys at Secret Wars hq also allowed a small amount of colour to help express the Cuban vibes! Probably never to be seen again at any Secret Wars event....

For all those that were lucky enough to get in and sip on free Havana cocktails (big up), and a HUGE sorry to those peeps that did not get in (RSVP AND GET THERE SOONER NEXT TIME).

Thanks to everyone that helped out and a massive thanks to WIGHT PRESERVATION for building the wall.

Big up to Havana for backing this crazy concept and edding uk for supplying us our battle markers!

Photos by Philip Gabriel - http://www.phiga.de/

SECRET WARS SEMI FINAL - LONDON

Secret Wars evolved into a monster of an event last Saturday - with over 700 people in attendance and all 4 artists on top form....Things really heated up for a great finale!

The crowd were hungry to see the art unfold...and thirsty for as much booze as they could possibly consume. The bar staff were working over time trying to serve everyone in the quickest time possible - We under estimated the amount of drink that would be sold and had to re-stock 3-4 times during the night! Don't worry as we will make sure there is at least double the amount available at the final, including bottles of champagne to toast the winner of this years champion.

Sick Reebok customs from Jimi Crayon on display @ the bar

The battles were staggered to allow us time to judge each one - the first to start was Mr K vs Reeps, crowd favourite Reeps going to head to head with the young Mr K who many (including Teck) feel would go on to win this series.

Over the 90 sweaty mins, the artists kept up the pace and both played slightly different tactics from their Q final battles with Reeps keeping his lines a lot cleaner and clinical while Mr K going for a darker and busier picture.

Unless you were sat at the front it was hard to get a look in as the warehouse was near full capacity.. The vibe was electric and the music was on point as DJ Session rocked it out!

90 mins were up and it is now judgement time for the 2 select judges (Brett - MTV & Jeff - PSFK).

Jimi Crayon struggled with the wireless mic as there were so many people it was hard for the mic to recieve the signal from the sound system. After what felt like a good tense 10 mins the results were dropped as follows:

RESULTS:
JUDGE 1 (JEFF) - REEPS
CROWD VOTE - REEPS
JUDGE 2 (BRETT) - MR K

A shock to some but delight to the majority within the crowd - as usual there will always be those who question if a crowd vote is fair but we feel @ Secret Wars HQ that the crowd deserve a say....

BATTLE 2 - HICK vs DRUNK PARK

The heavy weight match up of the night, seeing aussie Drunk Park take on the well dressed Mr Hicks.

Hicks set out his stall and slowly created a crest like picture with his trademark characters in and around, with the slogan title "Home time Drunk Park".

Drunk Park drew a magic show scene, with snakes popping out of the hat and shouting "I've got a bigger bag 'o tricks than the artist formally known as Hicks".. Hey Drunk Park with those lyrics you should be a rapper not an artist :)

RESULTS:
JUDGE 1 (BRETT) - HICKS
CROWD VOTE - DRUNK PARK
JUDGE 2 (JEFF) - HICKS

So there we have it, HICKS vs REEPS is our final battle for this years series! Both have overcome some amazing artists and fully deserve their places in the final.

DATE TO BE ANNOUNCED VERY SOON ON THE SECRET WARS WEBSITE - WATCH THIS SPACE!

PHOTOS BY PHIL - www.phiga.de