Saatchi Gallery Opens POP THE STREETS Pop Art Exhibit Today

Alaric Hammond is a UK based artist who has developed a diverse practice of painting, drawing, collage and fine art printmaking centred around his fresh approach to the traditional technique of etching. ALO is an Italian artist who has become a regular on London streets over the past two years. His recogniseable abstract portraiture has become well known to followers of the street art scene and become highly collectable. Ben Frost is an Australian artist known for his kaleidoscopic, mash-up paintings that take inspiration from areas as diverse as graffiti, collage, photo-realism and sign-writing. Ben Turnbull is a British artist fascinated by the dominance of American culture. He creates works which reveal startling truths about war, violence and patriotism. CEPT is widely regarded as a pioneer of the East London street art scene. His style is defined by a unique mix of letter forms, loud exaggerated colours and appropriated super humans; all adorning walls and shop fronts. Nick Walker is one of the world?s best known street artists, emerging from the Bristol graffiti scene of the early 1980s. He draws on the energy and imagery of graffiti but he succeeds in combining the freedom of spray paint with very controlled and intricate stencilling. Orticanoodles is the pseudonym for Italian artist duo Wally and Alita. Their creations are showcased in various public spaces where they feel their work can be judged on aesthetic merit and communicative impact. Paul Insect's refined interpretations of visceral subject matter are tempered by a joyous use of colour and an ambitious style. Insect is a British artist with an ability to produce work in many media - all of it invariably strong and highly coveted. Rene Gagnon is an American artist who has blended graffiti and pop culture in a captivating fashion and has helped push street art from the shadows and into the mainstream. Sten and Lex started their careers in their hometown of Rome, where they quickly acquired an international reputation. Their work consists of portraiture from album covers of the „60s and „70s as well as faces they have photographed. Their technique is a meticulous composition of hand cut stencils, and works are often executed on a great scale within and on buildings.

"Personally, I love the fact that we can take over a space and change some establishment views on contemporary graffiti and street art. Richard Hamilton defined Pop Art as „...popular, transient, expendable, low-cost, mass-produced, young, witty, sexy, gimmicky, glamorous, and Big Business". I believe that these are also the definitions that drive the modern graffiti and street art world. Hamilton missed "relevant and political" from his description but that is okay as POP THE STREET can show how street art adopted all of Hamilton?s criteria and moved beyond them."