Artists in battle of the brushes to save Leamington institution

AN ART battle is helping to raise further awareness of the campaign to save a large piece of Leamington’s artistic and architectural heritage.

Ashes2dust, the latest event organised by Brink art organisation, takes place outside the Old Library and Museum in Avenue Road in Leamington on Saturday September 1 and will run until September 14, when the Bath Place tenancy at the Old Library comes to an end.

The event will see street artists go head-to-head in a live graffiti/street art battle.

Writers from all over the UK have been invited by Brink to take part in the free outdoor demonstration, including, Duse, Mono, Ster and Mag1c, as well as local spraycan experts Crom, Pale and Crisp.

The aerosol action will start at 10am and continue throughout the day, until the paint runs dry.

Finished murals will then be relocated to inside the art deco building, as following on from the days’ creative activities, at 7pm, the doors will open to the public for a private view, when some of the region’s breakbeat and scratch DJs will be providing the contemporary audio backdrop to this unique art exhibition.

Lord Numb (Grind/Circus Warp), Problemchild (Dubplate Wars/Stamina Sounds), Shady and DJ Clifford (Dubplate Wars/Head Rush Radio), Rob May (Reminiscence), Noizee B (Gamma Funkula), Scratcher’s Delight, Squid and MC DTain (Stamina Sounds/Break City Limits) will take the stage to showcase their skills, finishing at midnight.

Tim Robottom, Brink founder, said: “I have always wanted to put on an event of this kind as, since childhood, I maintain a deep respect for artists who are able to work in this tricky medium.

“The brightly coloured forms and the cheeky characters they create are bold and often incredibly detailed, while heavily stylised lettering is sometimes difficult to decipher.

“I guess the art form as a whole could be viewed as a modern take on abstraction, where the past, the present and the future become combined into one creative mass.”

For more information about the event, or to take part in the graffiti battle, call 07960 043395 or email [email protected]