The Latest News, Events and Happenings...
Scottish Chef Adam Handling commissioned JJ Adams to create and curate the artwork for his new flagship restaurant 'The Frog by Adam Handling' and Eve bar in Covent Garden. JJ spent months working alongside Adam to realise the vision for this new fine dining restaurant. The VIP opening was on Thursday the 14th of September 2017 with music by DJ Nick Grimshaw from BBC Radio One. Here are some images from the event.
Make sure to book in advance:
34-38 Southampton St, London WC2E 7HF
BOOKINGS:
Wednesday, September 27th in Central Manchester. How would you like to get tattooed at the event? - Working alongside one of the UK’s most respected and ambitious tattoo studios Harry Flashmans and as a former tattoo apprentice turned artist, JJ will be presenting exciting new worksat The Hotel Gotham in Manchester for an evening of exclusive artwork, cocktails and live tattooing within a grandiose setting that is an evening not to be missed. The event will be strictly by invitation only. Please contact Generation Gallery for more info on attending the event itself.-
With three tattoo flash designs available to be tattooed on the evening for free – collectors of JJ's artwork will be able to be tattooed by one of the country’s most impressive and innovative ink artists Sean Kirby, the man that JJ gets tattooed by and who will realise the artwork via the needle on the evening of the event.
To express an interest in being tattooed live at the event please fill out the form on our contact page with "Getting Tattooed" added into the subject line or contact info@wishboneart.co.uk for more information and details on the evening. There are time slots for only 3 clients to be tattooed and one stand-by. All clients are tattooed free of charge and will also receive a signed print by JJ of their chosen tattoo design image. Get in touch...
JJ had a solo exhition at Eaton Fine Art in Solihull on the 2nd of September where he released some new work inspired by the TV series Game of Thrones, the work being commissioned two years earlier by Eaton Fine Art.
JJ attended a very successful solo exhibition with Robertson Fine Art in Edinburgh during the Fringe festival and released some new Scottish themed limited edition prints, his Grandmother who was an artist, was born and raised in Edinburgh and is a big inspiration to him and so he included a few references to her in his new piece "Here be Dragons" of Calton Hill overlooking Edinburgh. His "Ghost Piper" screen prints were inspired by a recent trip through the Glencoe valley and the Highlands recently. Here are some photos from the event.
JJ had some new ink done by Harry Flashmans Tattoo Studio in Chelmsford, Essex and while he was being tattooed he was filmed in conversation with the owner of the Studio. Enjoy.
JJ gets a rare opportunity to create a piece of artwork for one of his idols.
After realising that Slash the guitarist from Guns n' Roses had posted one of JJ's pieces on his Instagram account, JJ got in touch with Slash and they agreed for him to come up with a bespoke piece of artwork based on the original sold out piece from 2013, a one-off 'Slash' Edition was created and it was sent off to him in L.A. The piece features many of Slash's actual tattoos as well as a nod to Lemmy from Motorhead and many hidden changes and added extras including the large snake to represent Slash himself and a completely new backdrop. The piece had to be recreated from the ground up and we feel it is a fresh new take on a classic piece with a few rock n' roll elements thrown in like the bullet belt, playboy bunny ears, hooped earrings and a Gibson Les Paul.
JJ Adams and ZombieDan had a joint exhibition at Artisan Gallery in Epping on Saturday the 15th of April. It was a great turnout and JJ released two new prints and had a Space Invader competition running on his old Arcade Cabinet, the winner with the hisghest score on the day receiving one of JJ's newly released pieces from his Spring collection titled 'Arcade Wizard'.
Nacoa - The National Association for Children of Alcoholics.
To commemorate Mumford and Son’s recent South African tour of 2016 and the cumulative release of their EP ‘Johannesburg’, artist JJ Adams was proud to be commissioned by the world recognised English-band to create a bespoke artwork to celebrating the tour. The EP, which peaked at number 1 on the US Billboard Charts was recorded in South Africa, the country JJ Adams grew up in.
The sold-out artwork was exclusively released to galleries in the UK and abroad last year. As part of this collaboration, three of the museum
quality limited edition prints were autographed by the four-piece band. One print is owned by the band, one by JJ himself and the third was donated by JJ for auction to raise money for the Nocoa charity.
On the 1st of April JJ released his new spring collection. Available through galleries across the UK.
Celebrity Chef and Restaurant owner Adam Handling mentions working with JJ Adams Live on TV on BBC One's Saturday Kitchen. The footage is available to view on JJ's Instagram feed on the right of this page and the link below.
Scottish Chef of the year, Masterchef Pro and Restaurant owner Adam Handling will be opening his flagship restaurant in Covent Garden in late 2017 and has allowed JJ Adams to curate the interior with his own work. Adam's infamous restaurant The Frog in Shoreditch can be found here:
"Hiding objects, words and messages in my work is something I have been doing since I was a kid, I used to love staring at old Iron Maiden album covers looking for the hidden logos and messages, I would draw fighter jets as a kid from a picture in a magazine but then add my own elements to it, many times I would even add Iron Maiden logos, little hidden messages, bullet holes, graffiti, nose art and so on.
Add to that my love of the 2000AD comic characters "The ABC Warriors" who were robots that always had words added in somewhere on their arms or guns and my love of the artwork of "Tank Girl", you should have seen my school diary and school bag, it was covered with logos and messages, my version of graffiti in my teens was to scrawl something random or funny on a wall as I walked past at school or on the way home or I would trace a character out of a comic book and turn them into something else adding my own elements, so by the time I was apprenticing to be a tattoo artist at 18 years old, my tattoo flash drawing would always have hidden messages. It's part of who I am, I can't help adding my own touch to things preferably with a little humour.
It was a natural progression. I want to give the viewer something more than just the image, something that they'll find later and not straight away or give them something to laugh at to brighten their day or something that no matter how hard they try and work it out, it will never make any sense.
I have noticed that a few other artists are trying to do the same right now, I guess it's becoming trendy to hide easter eggs to convey a message, using graffiti and tattoos and words that are relative to the subject matter and I always wonder where their real inspiration comes from and why they are doing it. Do they understand graffiti and do they know why they are doing it? It only works with a very strong image to start with. I just hope that their initial idea and their images don't get lost in all the added detail."
I'd like to think of it as my own unique style that I created on my own but it's not really is it, I had a puzzle when I was five years old of hundreds and hundreds of tiny baked beans dressed in clothing doing random things like water skiing and driving cars, I'd stare at it for hours trying to find the hidden things they were doing. I honestly think I owe my artistic style to the guy that created that baked bean puzzle, it's entirely his fault." - JJ
Knights of Disorder
"The inspiration for this piece stems back to my youth and spending so many hours browsing local VHS video rental stores looking for something to rent out. There used to be so many films with covers filled with amazing artwork, most of the time they gave the film a whole different feeling to what it actually was about, it used to fuel my imagination and nine times out of ten I would rent the film based on the cover and nine times out of ten the film would be terrible. A lot of those classic 80's films have not made it to DVD or Blu-Ray and are lost in our VHS memories.
This piece is all about that feeling, wondering what the film would be like, how bloody it would be, how scary it would be and if it would live up to it's cover artwork.
This is my imagination running wild, after visiting the graffiti covered Leake Street underneath Waterloo station in south London late at night recently to do some paste ups, my mind started to wonder about what was behind one of the old doors in the tunnel, it was dark, it was scary and the "Knights of Disorder" idea started to form. I was careful not to wake them...
The title of the piece is a play on words as I was out causing disorder that night and I went so far as to add myself into the piece with a photo of myself on the far left covered by a "Please Rewind" sticker. There are many hidden Easter eggs in this piece and many references to the South London location which I live close to. Each print also has a custom hologram VHS sticker that I have stuck on before signing with my diamond logo on it.
The funniest bit for me personally is the Latin embroidered on the bottom of the central characters tunic which translates: "Screw you and the horse you rode in on bruv, innit"
As the description on the cover says: "There is no escape from the nightmare that has waited 700 years to return." Enjoy the film..
JJ Adams will have four new pieces of work on display at the Scope Contemporary Art Fair on Miami Beach from the 29th Nov - Dec 4th his work being represented by Eaton Fine Art Gallery. The four new original pieces consist of three new acrylic on canvas paintings and a new tattoo piece. When asked about the work for Miami JJ's reply was "I went back to using only acrylic paint and a brush to see what I came up with and I had a lot of fun painting them, can't wait to see them on the wall in Miami".
The Official launch night of Hyde Cocktail Lounge in Kensington on the 14th of September went down a storm. JJ Adams attended the event along with the infamous DJ Jaguar Skills as well as a host of celebrities and press all enjoying the incredible food and bespoke cocktails surrounded by JJ's work. Whilst we are fortunate enough to be able to show you some of the photos taken on the night, many taken at it's peak were unable to be shown due to certain guests attending, but it was an incredible night.
When asked about how the night went JJ's reply was "At one point I went upstairs onto the street and was admiring some Rolls Royce's that belonged to a VIP guest only to glance over and see the Duchess of Cambridge turning into Kensington Palace not 15 metres away and that was the icing on the cake for me, it was a really good night."
If you intend on visiting this fresh new underground cocktail lounge in Kensington, Hyde serve amazing food and cocktails, it'll be impossible not to have a great night out.
Available now in Galleries across the UK...
"ZOMBIES REVENGE" - STREET ARTIST ARTIST ZOMBIEDAN AND MIXED MEDIA ARTIST JJ ADAMS COLLABORATE TO RELEASE 5 COLOURWAY ORIGINALS THAT ALSO INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL FRAMED HAND CUT STENCILS BY ZOMBIEDAN. THE PIECES ARE MADE UP OF HAND SPRAYED BACKGROUNDS AND LAYERED STENCILS WITH PHOTOGRAPHIC TORN OVERLAYS OF JJ'S ORIGINAL PRINT "SKELETORS REVENGE". ALL FIVE ORIGINALS SOLD OUT WITHIN 15 MINUTES OF BEING UNVEILED AT JJ ADAMS 2016 AUTUMN RELEASE AT CLOUD GALLERY IN BRIGHTON ON THE 10TH OF SEPTEMBER 2016. NO DOUBT THESE TWO ARTISTS WILL BE WORKING TOGETHER AGAIN IN THE FUTURE...
" I HONESTLY FEEL THAT ZOMBIEDAN'S SKILL WITH A BLADE IS NEXT LEVEL, HE'S A STENCIL GENIUS AND I WANTED TO SHOWCASE EXACTLY THAT AT THE SHOW AND SO WE DECIDED TO DO SOMETHING CREATIVE TOGETHER THAT IS COMPLETELY UNEXPECTED AND THAT BREAKS THE MOULD... YOU'VE NO IDEA HOW HARD IT WAS TO LET THESE GO AS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, PHOTOGRAPHS DO NOT DO THEM JUSTICE" - JJ
JJ Adams adds his own touches to Hyde in Kensington, this is what he says about it:
"Having had such a big response to the project I’ve been working on with the guys at Hyde Kensington, the bar and restaurant located opposite the iconic Kensington Palace, I thought I’d write something on it for those wishing to visit so that you know what to expect.
This project has been absolutely huge and a long time in the making but something I’m so proud of. There are a number of installations that I enjoyed curating that include a full size throne and armour set, custom roulette table, lightbox collection, originals and prints that are either on loan to the venue, specially adapted one off originals or part of a private collection. I also had the chance to collaborate with the incredible London Neon artist "Courty" who provided the awesome neon artwork seen in the entrance above the throne.
The lightbox collection, first devised a few years ago and completed over 12 months ago now, were a tester and part of the inspiration for my ‘Surgery Collection’ from later in 2015.
It’s been amazing to see them up close again after so long but they are in a great home and are definitely worth the trip to see. I will not be releasing limited edition prints of this work as they are part of a private collection from early last year, so this is your only chance to see the originals on display."
Hyde serve incredible food and cocktails, it'll be impossible not to have a great night out.
E: info@hydekensington.co.uk
T: 020 7368 6677
