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April 30th, 2010 admin Leave a comment Go to comments

Poster Art

Artrepublic Find Another Unique Art Print In Their Street Art Competition

After last years highly successful Art of Hope competition, in which over 150 artists from across the country entered their graphic work, artrepublic anticipated an even more overwhelming response to their Street Art competition. And they werent to be disappointed with what they saw.

Grant Dejonge, the originator of Lost and conqueror of over 250 entries to the competition, was the self-confessed wild card in this years campaign. His apparent unexpectedness to be shortlisted, let alone win, was testament to his unassuming attitude, as well as artrepublics liberal selection process.

Artrepublic has been embedded within the poster and graphic art community for over 20 years, with two established galleries in Brighton and Soho and act as the ideal stepping-stone for aspiring artists to highlight their creative dexterity to the art world. Their Street Art competition yet again unearthed a handful of raw diamonds, but none more stood out than Grant Dejonges Lost, not that the humble artist shared artrepublics appraisal.

In all honesty I never considered winning any competition. Ive entered so many in my life and in 42 years never won anything, so winning Street Art, after seeing the high standard of work, is a real joy, said Grant. Also as the competition was advertised as street art, I believed theyd choose a more urban style rather than a traditional oil painting.

Although street art is of course synonymous with graffiti and poster art, the term urban art has become a little more compromising in recent years. Post-graffiti, for example, has perpetually battled to distinguish itself from mindless vandalism or territorial graffiti, but fortunately now has more legitimate public space to use as a canvas. Also, street installations are increasingly prevalent due to the fact that 3-D images can manipulate the landscape without tarnishing it. Another key factor is its non-permission based, so artists can leave their mark without legal action or a tirade from a perturbed environmentalist

The wall that now projects Grants work, situated next to MyHotel, off Jubilee Street in the heart of Brightons North Laine, is commissioned by artrepublic and acts as the perfect exposed (and legitimate) platform for the artist. This is evidently the break Grant has both wanted and needed for some time; however an opportunity for creative success has presented itself before.

I've painted all my adult life and even managed to make a living at it at times, but I did turn down the chance of the Venice Biennale once (a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years) because I didnt know what it was! Grant admits. I was rather young and nave, certainly more nave, so I often wonder what if?. But, I also believe that particular decision was made for a reason and now is my time for some degree of success.

However, I am still no different from many other talented artists who live in Brighton and generally struggle, continues Grant. The Brighton art scene is certainly thriving, but I often wonder if theres enough money to support it. Thats why a competition like Street Art helps promote local artists, not forgetting that fact it raised the profile of a good charity too.

The charity was Street Smart, a fund raising scheme that works closely with participating restaurants to provide over 90 regional homeless charities with well needed financial support between November and December. This event occurs in cities throughout the UK and artrepublic wanted to highlight Brightons contribution by involving StreetSmart with their campaign.

When we devised the competition, we thought that Street Art could provide an ideal platform for raising awareness of the homeless situation in the UK and Street Smart were very enthusiastic from day one, says Andrew Milledge, Marketing Director at artrepublic. Were extremely proud to help the cause of a charity that does some much good and overwhelmed by the high quality of the entrants. The four judges, Pure Evil, Inkie, Ben Eine and Static, had a challenge when choosing the winner.

Although Grant was already familiar with Street Smart, he wasnt aware of the Street Art competition until a good friend educated him whilst decorating his house as a favour; practicing his artistic ability in a more pragmatic manner.

Yes, I have to confess that fortunately a friend informed me of the competition as I, ironically, had a paint brush in my hand, says Grant. I often disappear off the radar and work in my studio, so it wasnt at all surprising that this was news to me. I paint pretty much constantly, but if Im not doing that I occasionally use a kiln to produce ceramic-based pieces. I ran a gallery with studio space on the sea front for six years and ceramics was my main output. However, painting is my primary passion.

And when asked who influences this passion: Well, my favourite painter is Bacon, however my influences are varied but pertinent to me, says Grant. I particularly love Otto Dix and Max, as well as Beckerman. Painters such as Matta and Tanguy Futurism were an early influence, but in truth most of my day to day influences are my friends and fellow artists who no one has ever heard of - and my wife Jacqueline.

Over the imminent weeks people will begin to hear about Grant Dejonge; the guy whose painting transmits conspicuously from a wall in Brighton, and who may have been lost in some way, but has definitely now been found.

You can see Lost by Grant Dejonge by visiting the installation on Jubilee Street in Brighton.

About the Author

Matthew Crick is writing on behalf of artrepublic. artrepublic has galleries in Soho and Brighton and specialises in online art prints. They host rare and limited edition poster art prints from some of today