Whitehot Magazine
May 2024
"The Best Art In The World"
"The Best Art In The World"
May 2024
January 2009, Sickboy: Stay Free
Sickboy, Installation View, 2008
Sickboy – Stay Free
Not content to simply wow exhibition goers with a retrospective of his best street and studio work, prolific London graffiti artist, Sickboy (whom we interviewed back in February 08), saw his recent solo show, Stay Free, as an opportunity to give something back to his fans in the way of offering his massive Stay Free Factory installation as a prize to one lucky exhibition visitor. During the December 4th through 10th run of the Stay Free exhibition, a thousand golden keys were released to the exhibition visitors with the person whose key fit the lock becoming the new owner of the Stay Free Factory (worth an estimated £20,000).
The centerpiece of the show, Sickboy's Stay Free Factory installation, is essentially a small house (or large shed) spanning over fourteen feet and featuring custom-designed windows, a veranda, and a conveyor belt … and of course, completely covered inside with Sickboy art. On its exterior, the installation is red and yellow, the signature colours of Sickboy's street art. Says Sickboy on his colour choices, "These colours are known to be the best combination to make people feel warm and fuzzy inside. McDonalds stole this idea off me...or maybe it was the other way around, I can't remember."
Held within the cavernous Tramshed, a Victorian Grade II listed building in East London's Shoreditch, Stay Free is mere steps from some of Sickboy's most celebrated and notorious street works. The edgy industrial atmospher of the venue along with the defiant and provocative – yet cheerily tinted – feel of Sickboy's art created the perfect blend for his first major solo exhibition which spanned much of his career. For more about Sickboy, visit thesickboy.com.
Link to the February 2008 interview here.
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Chris Osburn
Chris Osburn is an American transplant living in London where he has a blast working as a freelance photographer, writer, consultant, blogger and more. www.tikichris.com
