Something Else…
An Exhibition of Street Inspired Art

Friday 26 November – Friday 24 December 04

Vinyl Factory Gallery, below Phonica Records,
Poland Street , London, W1F 7QH



Six female street artists from around the globe come together for this unique exhibition, Something Else…  at the Vinyl Factory Gallery, Soho, London UK from 26 November to 24 December 2004.

Swoon (New York), Nuria (Madrid), Sasu (Tokyo), Nina (Brazil), Che Jen (New York) and Miss Van (Paris), renowned for displaying their unique illustrative styles in unsuspecting places, often without permission, have been commissioned to produce original work for this new exhibition. Ranging from paper cut-outs, provocative characters, fantastical animals and abstract logo's, all six artists will create unique installations using their trademark techniques inspired by the street art culture found in city's around the world.

Urban Art Official has promoted street based art exhibitions throughout the UK for the past two years, the most recent of which is the acclaimed Ill Communication 2, Urbis in Manchester. Ill Communication 2 broke attendance records at the gallery despite local demonstrations on the opening claiming these exhibitions ‘glorify graffiti'.



Notes for Editors

Preview: Thursday 25 November 8pm

For more information including interviews and images contact
Mark Brennan                             M:07837 964 445
Urban Art Official                       E: info@urbanartofficial.co.uk
                                                      W: www.urbanartofficial.co.uk






1. Urban Art Official

Urban Art Official's purpose is to promote street based art recognising
and representing each form of urban influenced expression. There is a
 heavy focus on quality and the mixing of media with work predominantly
installation based, responding to the environment around it. UAO is not
based in one specific venue, preferring instead to find appropriate locations
 and gallery spaces that suit the artists.

www.urbanartiofficial.co.uk

2. Artists

Swoon
Since the late 90's, Swoon has created work that reflects as well as
directly impacts New York. Understanding that observing any situation
can influence it, Swoon's work attempts to forge a two-way street
between the effect that the urban environment has on its citizens and
citizen's roles in affecting change in their environments. Inspired by
traditional graffiti and other artists who have used the city as raw
material, she has been using city walls and subways as a space for
creating publicly engaging work. Swoon has most recently been working
with the collective Toyshop, creating interactive and performative work
that focuses on the same question of how we can more actively live
within our cities.

Nuria
After graduating in Interior Design, Nuria became interested in using
the street as a canvas. She felt her work was not as creative as it
could be and began painting in downtown Madrid as a more satisfying
form of expression. Nuria has a broad range of inspirations from family
to fashion. Her interest in fashion has progressed into designing
handbags and accessories. The majority of her street actions and
exhibitions are in partnership with El Tono.

Sasu
Sasu's work fuses natural and urban elements with her graphic yet
balanced style. Her sensibilities, rich colours and feminine lines
create a unique world never seen before. Born in Tokyo, Sasu initially
became interested in expressive art while in Canada, after being
invited by a friend to paint at a skate park. In 2003, Nike
commissioned Sasu to collaborate with artists David Ellis and Frek. The
three created a collaborative vision of movement and nature that was
animated by Motion Theory and shown in theatres, projection screens and
on billboards throughout Asia. Sasu has infiltrated the male-dominated
Japanese street art scene.

Nina
Nina was born in 1977 in Sao Paulo and is one of Brazil's graffiti
pioneers. Since 1992 she has exhibited in France, Spain, Germany and
the USA. The subject of her work is nature, giving importance to small
insects and recognising the beauty in all animals. Her characters often
have large eyes which express secret feelings that mirror the soul.

Miss Van
Miss Van started painting in the early nineties in her hometown of
Toulouse, creating directly on walls because of the lack of censorship
and accessibility of the street. She creates characters who have their
own sensual personalities often in seductive poses but without ever
becoming vulgar. The characters, mostly feminine and accompanied by
animals or cuddly toys, have developed from self-portraits to
provocative dolls that incite reactions often because of the chosen
location.

Che Jen
Che Jen is from Brooklyn, New York and has worked with the Barnstormers
collective for several years. She is originally of Korean decent but the heart
and soul of the city she grew up in have had a major impact on her entire life,
particularly in terms of speech, gestures and cultural affections. Growing up
in the late 70's-80's Jen's visual instinct was inevitably drawn to graffiti, street
 proliferators and media/adverts/promos, and remains relevant today. Her
recent work has been rooted in an exploration of natural physics, which
draws back to urban decay, layers of paint chipping, constant overlapping
of adverts and the elements pulling it's layers away.