In early December we’re moving into Kingly Court, a little shopping arcade that leads off Carnaby Street. We’ll be selling originals and prints from our international network of artists. We’ll also be using the gallery as a base from which to to co-ordinate a series of pop up shows in vacant shops throughout the Soho area.

We’re moving next door to Material, the bookshop / gallery where Ashes 57 had her show a few weeks ago. We’re looking forward to being their neighbour, they’ve got some lovely books and with links to Le Gun they have some cool art of their own.

We’re really excited to have a full-time gallery space of our own. (I use the term ‘full-time’ advisedly; the terms of the lease require us to be there bright and early 7 days a week!) It allows us to showcase our artists on an ongoing basis, as opposed to the flash-in-the-pan nature of pop up events. We love doing pop ups and we will continue to do them, but having a permanent base is a big development for us.

If all goes well, we’ll open our doors for the first time on Saturday 4th December. We’ll be starting off with a LAVA group show, featuring exclusive artwork from Ashes 57, Bruno 9li, Jo Peel and Stik. We’ll be throwing an official opening party later in December – keep an eye out for that.

LAVA Gallery, 1.11 Kingly Court, Carnaby Street, London, W1B 5PW Open Daily, 10am-6pm. Sunday: 12pm-6pm

Loefah gets The Message. Photo: Ashes 57

We’re excited to announce that we’re heading back to The Rag Factory on 22nd July. This time we’re showcasing the photography of Ashes 57 – see the events page for details. It is going to be a cool show; so many beautiful photos in there. My personal favourites would have to be the portraits of Madlib and Benga, which are both stunning.  As her thousands of Flikr followers will testify, Ashes is a prolific and talented photographer with a massive back catalogue to choose from.

The Rag Factory is one of our favourite exhibition spaces and in many ways it suits us down to the ground. Situated just off Brick Lane, the location is good, and Silas and his merry band of brothers are really accommodating and friendly. The smoker-friendly courtyard is a valuable asset and it is a great place for a party!

This show is on for one night only; we’ll be open from 6-11pm. We’ve invited Standard Place resident Jon Rust to DJ at the event, with support from LAVA DJs .The dubstep fraternity will be out in force for this one, so don’t be surprised if some very special guests pop up behind the decks at some point. We’ll be serving up drinks in the courtyard – have a free one on us but if you’re planning on getting drunk, we’ll be taking donations at the bar.

Bikers congregate in front of an Obey street piece

Big in the game: Russell Simmons attends the opening

Shepard Fairey at The Deitch Projects

LAVA artist Ashes 57 recently returned from NYC. She was there with the Obey crew, who were helping Shepard Fairey set up his May Day show at the Deitch Projects. Ashes was there primarily to document the event, and true to form, she took some fantastic photos. You can see the full set here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashes_57/

New York turned out in force to attend this event; the opening reception witnessed crowd swells more akin to a rock concert than an art show. Meanwhile, it seems that Fairey has gone on the counter-offensive, with a major court case looming large on the horizon:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/10/arts/design/10fair.html

Photos: Helen Lenarduzzi & Gordon Gibbens

Thanks to everyone who made it to The Rag Factory over the bank holiday weekend.  I’m sure you’ll agree that it was a memorable show- Bruno 9li  and Talita Hoffmann lit up the East End with their extraordinary imagination and skill.

The opening reception on Thursday was pretty wild – props to Sagatiba and Vitamin Water for providing the drinks. It was a really buzzy event and the enthusiasm was evident, not just for  Bruno and Talita but also for our very own Ashes 57 and Vitriol, who showcased their work in Room 2.

Special thanks to Silas and the crew at The Rag Factory for their assistance setting up the show, it is a great environment in which to work and we hope to do another exhibition there before too long.

We still have some original art and prints left over from the show, email us if you want a copy of the catalogue: info@lavacollective.com.

Image courtesy of Big Up Magazine

LAVA returns to Gramaphone on 11th March, and this time we’re taking over the whole building for a combined art and music event!

As the designer for Swamp 81, Ashes 57 is heavily involved in the dubstep scene. As well as designing album artwork and flyers, she is the definitive dubstep photographer, capturing intimate portraits of the scene’s leading artists.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashes_57/

Ashes has been invited to showcase her artwork in the ground floor bar area at Gramaphone. To celebrate the opening of the show, she has invited Loefah to throw a Swamp 81 party in the basement.

We are renting a pulsating Funktion 1 soundsystem – no more messing around with substandard audio! Full line up and further details will be released next month.