Exhibiting between Friday 8th May and Tuesday 2nd June 2009 @ Weapon Of Choice Gallery, Bristol
Featuring Artwork From: Cheba, Stanley Donwood, Inkie, Lokey, China Mike, Mr Jago, Andy Council, 45RPM

What with the regal art institution of the RWA jumping on the graffiti bandwagon earlier this year with their ‘top-down’ look at Bristol’s very popular class of art, it was refreshing this month to see the little guy succeed too with the opening of the brand-spanking new Weapon Of Choice Gallery. St Michael’s Hill’s latest addition is a lip-licking example of a ‘bottom-up’ approach to the same class of art, an approach which is now paying dividends its creator; local graffiti artist, Cheba.

Back in the day when graffiti was still on the cusp of exploding into popular culture as it now has in Bristol and artists who are now household names were still cutting their teeth and getting to grips with their cans, one of the first tags I distinctly remember seeing on pretty much every spare bit of wall going was Cheba’s very own wavy tie wearing, wide-faced schoolboy.

Bristol rewards the motivated and determined and Cheba has always been one to bring graffiti to the people. Last year he brought a live graffiti and music night to Mr Wolfs, a monthly dose of art battles under the new guise of Weapon Of Choice, and though that is still going fantastically well (every second Tuesday of the month – June 9th sees Lokey vs. Nikill), Cheba is still itching for more and so has opened a new gallery! Weapon Of Choice is a brand which has now grown synonymous with our favourite goatee-clad graffer (so much so that when he was asked to do us a front cover he couldn’t help but slip in a subliminal reference to it) and so it was the obvious choice as a name for the gallery. The Weapon Of Choice Gallery then is a new space to showcase graffiti and other art, to show the world the artists of Bristol and also show Bristol the other interesting artists of the world.

The Opening Show was the benchmark, highlighting exactly what we would like to see more of in the future from the gallery; a heady mix of medias and techniques from an equally heady mix of local and international graffers, illustrators and painters. Top draw!

www.weaponofchoicegallery.co.uk

Matthew Whittle www.matthewwhittleblog.blogspot.com