Inkie

Inkie

Participating in the Secret Wars competition in 2007
Born Tom Bingle
1969/1970 (age 45–46)[1]
Bristol
Nationality British
Known for Graffiti, Street art, Bristol underground scene
Website inkie.co.uk

Inkie is a London-based painter and street artist, originally from Clifton, Bristol.[1][2] He is cited as being part of Bristol's graffiti heritage, along with Banksy, 3D and Nick Walker.[3][4]

Career

Inkie began working as part of Crime Incorporated Crew (also known as the "CIC" or the Crime inc.crew) in 1983, along with Felix and Joe Braun.[5] He was the head of the many artists arrested in 1989 during "Operation Anderson", the UK's largest ever graffiti bust.[6] He arranged 1998's Walls on Fire event with Banksy, on the site of the future At-Bristol centre.[7] He has subsequently worked in the video game industry,[2] including some time as head of creative design at Sega,[8] where his work featured in Jet Set Radio.[9] Inkie was one artist present to do live painting at the launch of Banksy's book Bristol: Home Sweet Home.[10] Inkie has likened the time spent training as a graffiti artist to that of classical musicians.[11]

He now teaches art and graphic design to young children and college students. Regarded as a modern-day father of street art, his rise to fame has been by producing iconic collaborations with various modern days super stars. Having chosen to only outsource his work via established members of the Fine Art Guild (Established 1847), the restricted work have seen demand increase in some cases by 10 times in value as his art demand has spread across all shores including Japan, China, America to name a few. Inkie is now a brand, a name, an artist and a phenomenon with auctions sales set to break records in 2013. [12]

Between 30 January – 29 February 2013, Inkie's work was featured at Art Below's first "pop up" billboard show in America in New Orleans. For the show, billboard space used normally for advertising featured a mix of urban and contemporary art. A curated selection of 20 billboards flanked the major New Orleans Mardi Gras parade routes. Running alongside the billboard show was an exhibition of the artists original works at Gallery Orange in the French Quarter. Scenes and moments from this exhibition were screened on the Art Below web site in April 2012.[13]

Influences

Inkie's works have been described as "diverse", incorporating styles from Maya architecture, William Morris, Mouse & Kelly, Alphonse Mucha, the Arts and Crafts movement and Islamic geometry.[14][15]

Works

CIC painted a mural in the canteen of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, where Inkie and Felix Braun were students.[5] Inkie's works were featured in a 2009 exhibition at Bristol's Royal West of England Academy and he curated 2009's Ibiza street art festival, Urban in Ibiza.[16][17]

He hosted a show of his works in 2010 for which 25% of the proceeds would be donated to Southmead Hospital's cochlear implant programme.[1]

His works have included murals in buildings in the Bristol area, including a friend's restaurant in Keynsham[18] and Clifton pub The Grapes (after being taken over by former video director Bill Butt).[19] He has taken part in Bristol's annual Upfest, the largest free urban paint festival in Europe.[6]

In August 2011 and 2012 Inkie was named as the organiser of a major street art event in Bristol, See No Evil, which involved painting the buildings of an entire street, turning it into Europe's largest outdoor art gallery.[20] Nelson Street, in the city centre, was painted by a large number of international graffiti artists over a two-week period.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Inkie show in Bristol to raise cochlear implant cash". BBC News. 16 December 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2011. The 40-year-old from Clifton is holding a show from which 25% of all proceeds will be donated to Southmead's West of England Cochlear Implant Programme.
  2. 1 2 Baker, Lindsay (28 March 2008). "Banksy: off the wall". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Like Banksy, Inkie has moved from Bristol to London, and now has a senior job in computer games.
  3. ↑ "Street art show comes to Bristol". BBC News. 9 February 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Street art [...] erupted in the UK in the early 1980s [...] active on the Bristol scene at that time included Banksy, Nick Walker, Inkie and Robert del Naja, or '3D', of Massive Attack.
  4. ↑ Reid, Julia (6 February 2008). "Banksy Hits Out at Street Art Auctions". Sky News. London. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Along with Banksy, Bristol's graffiti heritage includes 3D, who went on to form Massive Attack, Inkie, and one of the original stencil artists Nick Walker.
  5. 1 2 Hicks, Roger (1998). The airbrushing book: the handbook for all airbrush users. Broadcast. p. 156. ISBN 1-85404-000-6. Crime Incorporated Crew [...] began working illegally in 1983, and comprises three people: Felix Braun, Tom Bingle and Joe Braun. [...] they painted the mural in the canteen at Filton Technical College, Bristol, where Felix and Tom were students.
  6. 1 2 "Celebrate home of graffiti". Bristol Evening Post. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2011. Europe's largest free urban paint festival, Upfest [...] alongside big names in graffiti culture, including Don, Spqr, and acclaimed artist Inkie. [...] He [...] was famously arrested as the head of 72 other writers in the UK's largest ever Graffiti bust, Operation Anderson.
  7. ↑ Levinson, Mark (4 February 2008). "Tribute To Banksy – Not Just Another Piss Artist". lankanewspapers.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. In 1998 [Banksy] arranged the enormous 'Walls on Fire' graffiti jam along with fellow Bristol graffiti legend Inkie on the site of the future '@t Bristol' development.
  8. ↑ Joseph, Claudia (12 July 2008). "Graffiti artist Banksy unmasked ... as a former public schoolboy from middle-class suburbia". Daily Mail. London. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Those arrested included Tom Bingle (aka Inkie) [...] who is now head of creative design at the computer games manufacturer Sega.
  9. ↑ "Inkie". filthymodernart.com. Retrieved 31 August 2011. [...] his graffiti featured in SEGA’s seminal video game Jet Set Radio.
  10. ↑ Nowak, Sara (1 April 2008). "Home Sweet Home: "Banksy's Bristol" Launch Due". Clash. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Street artist Inkie, one such collaborator, will be doing a live painting at the event alongside fellow Bristol street artists Cheba and Lokey.
  11. ↑ Pheby, James (30 April 2009). "Guitar legends turn to graffiti to help Brazilian kids". news.com.au. Adelaide. Retrieved 31 August 2011. British artist Inkie, long-time cohort of street-art superstar Banksy, and fellow contributor, also voiced concern at graffiti's recent rise in popularity. "It's like any art form, you've got to do your training. They say a classical musician should do 10,000 hours before they are a professional musician and it's the same with graffiti," he said.
  12. ↑ "Skill of spray can reaches masses". graffaholiks.com. 6 December 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Now Mr Bingle teaches others, leading workshops for children as young as six and lecturing college students in graphic design.
  13. ↑ http://www.artbelow.org.uk/ab/Exhibitions.action?Open&exhibitionId=71
  14. ↑ "Inkie: See No Evil Bristol graffiti and street art festival interview". guide2bristol website. 9 August 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  15. ↑ Lazrides, Steve (27 September 2012). "INKIE – "Without Inkie there would be no Lazrides Gallery!"". Designwars. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  16. ↑ W, Miss. "Ibiza interview: Inkie, Curator, Urban In Ibiza". Retrieved 31 August 2011. Inkie [...] was first lured to Ibiza in 2009 to curate the inaugural Urban in Ibiza event at Atzaró [...]
  17. ↑ "Urban art exhibition". thisissouthdevon.co.uk. 4 September 2009. Retrieved 31 August 2011. Inkie has just returned from Urban in Ibiza, which brought together some of the UK's leading street and urban artists.
  18. ↑ "Opening night for Farrells – Keynsham's Irish/Italian restaurant". keynshampeople.co.uk. 8 June 2011. Retrieved 31 August 2011. [...] one of Bristol's most famous graffiti artists Tom Bingle, aka Inkie, spent two days working on an image on the wall [...] said: "I'm an old friend of Barry Farrell, so he invited me down to the restaurant.
  19. ↑ "Moving in and moving on – all change in 2010". Bristol Evening Post. Bristol. 30 December 2010. Retrieved 31 August 2011. In February, Clifton Village pub The Grapes was taken over by Bill Butt, the former pop video and wildlife film director-turned chef. [...] The Grapes was given a suitably cool makeover with walls covered with local art by the likes of 3D of Massive Attack and Inkie.
  20. ↑ Simon de Bruxelles (21 July 2011). "Urban gallery streets ahead". The Australian.
  21. ↑ "Art attack begins to transform Nelson Street, Bristol". Bristol Evening Post. 16 August 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
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