Exhibiting from Saturday 21st March until Saturday 2nd May 2009 @ The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol

50 Bristol artists, 500 litres of emulsion, 1000+ cans of spray paint, 20 sleepless nights, 1 transformed art gallery: Crimes Of Passion.

For too long the people of Bristol have been unaware of The Royal West of England Academy, oblivious of just another grand building along a grand stretch of road but with the gallery’s latest exhibition, Crimes Of Passion, Bristol has been forced to sit up and pay attention – not least because of the 20-foot, green tentacles that have been growing out of the building’s roof over the last couple of months thanks to Filthy Luker – just one of the 50 street artists exhibiting work inside. Crimes Of Passion has really put the RWA on the map, breathing new life into the gallery, attracting new people and breaking records, attracting more visitors than they’ve ever had!

“Crimes of passion” has been the buzz-word on everyone’s lips in Bristol for the past two months and it’s easy to see why. As soon as you walk into the five grand galleries, your senses are assaulted on all sides; huge, vibrant walls of colour and imagination lurch at you from all angles, surrounding you.

The art’s not just restricted to the canvas, it’s all over the walls, on the floors, on the ceilings, doors; there are sculptures, installations, photographs and every medium imaginable is taken advantage of, going far beyond the lowly spray can. It’s like talking a stroll inside the brain of one of these nutbox artists and, maybe it’s the cardboard armchair and road-cone lampshades, but I get a surreal flashback to the Beano cartoon - Numskulls. I can hear people walking from room to room around me literally exclaiming; “Wow!” to each other, especially when they see Mudwig’s 50-foot Mr Sausage – stick a fork in me, I’m done…

This is the first graffiti art exhibition in a public gallery in Bristol for over 20 years and there’s a suitable sense of pride and accomplishment. There’s a dilemma to be explored too though about the relevance of exhibiting ‘street art’ in a very traditional gallery like the RWA, but is this really any different then seeing the art hung in Guerrilla Galleries or the Friend and Co. Gallery? At least it is good to see that the street art scene is not being ignored and that this hugely popular, international, cultural phenomenon is being recognised and respected.

However, I do think Crimes Of Passion would benefit by putting the art on show here in a bit more context. If this was your first experience of Bristol’s street art then the exhibition would be more than a little confusing. Who are these artists? Where have they come from? How has graffiti grown and evolved from the streets?

If the art was put into a bit more perspective and had references back to the streets and the fact that street art is still illegal, then the experience would be a lot more rounded and satisfying. Perhaps the exhibit could have had more photos of these artists’ work in the streets of Bristol or at least have a board describing and explaining street art culture.

Crimes Of Passion is a brilliantly inspired exhibition even if it has been a long time coming and hopefully it will serve the art as much as it has the gallery, making people stop, take notice and appreciate the art all around them. A browse of the comments book afterwards reveals a lot of inspired people that have walked through these halls too, which is satisfying – hopefully they’ll have all learned a few new Bristol names other than Banksy.

www.crimesofpassion.info

www.rwa.org.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com