| London Police - Brothers in Arm |
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 ‘Did you have a bite of my apricot crusty?’ There is laughter, as Chaz steps toward fellow artist Bob Gibson, pasty in hand. Chaz holds it to Bob’s mouth and smiles wickedly. ‘Look, it’s your teeth marks.’ Bob smiles wryly. The London Police (TLP) have the opportunity to work on their new exhibition in a studio on loan, as opposed to using the smaller studio they usually occupy. They have 5 weeks. They seem comfortable in the new space, and are taking advantage of it just being the two of them. ‘It’s a God Send.’ Says Chaz. The London Police’s new show, Brothers in Arms, find the two artists perfecting some of the ideas they have collaborated on this past year by integrating their two divergent styles. Bob, smiling, asks ‘Could we move closer to the canvases? We have a time lapse going on.’ There is a lot of action in the studio. 3 fresh canvases are being worked. Outlines are pencilled in, some marker work has appeared on a few Lads, and taking shape in marker is a car that looks a lot like a Delorean. It is a long way from the beginning. Over ten years ago Chaz began experimenting as to whether he could draw the same character four times, and found that no matter how hard he tried, the images always came out with different personalities. The Lad soon evolved from this simple exercise -a large circular head on a simple body with some old school sneakers attached. It spread itself throughout Amsterdam, and the world. Bob was there, drawing the Lad as well. It was a team effort to create a world presence. Then Bob left the team to pursue his interest in an architecture degree. Chaz was left to deal with the workload of what once was a 3-member team, alone.  Barry and Barry ‘It was sad’ Chaz said of Bob’s leaving ‘but he wanted to do it.’ ‘I worked for a couple of years in that world.’ Bob said of his degree. ‘In the end … Bob is an artist.’ Grins Chaz. Bob left his architecture degree to rejoin the art world and teamed up with Chaz again last year. Bob’s experience away from the group, doing architecture and his solo projects, allowed Chaz to deal with the Lad characters exclusively, while Bob explored drawing cityscapes around them. When asked if there would be even more interaction this time around Bob answers in the affirmative. ‘Yeah, yeah I think so.’ He points me towards the canvas on the far right side of the wall, where a giant robot drawn by Bob is holding the outline of one of Chaz’s Lads. The new show has a distinctly LA feel in honour of the gallery location. Since reforming, there have been nods to the duos favourite movies peppered throughout the displayed canvases. Star Wars and Indiana Jones make several appearances. For this show, movies play a great part. Hung on the wall adjacent to preliminary sketches for the three hanging canvases in the studio today, are printouts of famous LA locations, scenes from movies, and flashy Hollywood cars. The research for each canvas is meticulous. ‘We’re trying to take it a little more serious.’ Says Chaz. Not that they have not in the past, he explains. With houses and kids between the members of TLP ‘A lot of motivation comes out of that.’ Says Bob. TLP are trying to shake the preconceived notion that they are graffiti or street artists alone, and are enjoying the challenge of making entertaining gallery shows. With a hefty schedule of gallery events already booked, and several others in the works, the endless city hoping, and the large murals popping up around Amsterdam, TLP are trying to shake the preconceived notion that they are graffiti or street artists alone, and are remoulding themselves as gallery artists instead. We did a lot of time on the street making “street art/graffiti”, call it what you will, but at this moment we're concentrating more on producing interesting exhibitions' Says Chaz. They are working on perfecting their style. ‘It’s like trying to draw like computers.’ Bob and Chaz explain that the vivid streets portrayed in the recent TLP work is like bringing the art off the street, and the street into the art. Huge landscapes integrate small in-jokes and well know movie scenes, and scatter them amongst thousands of lines, creating astounding structures in which to house the Lads. Passage of time has brought more integration and playfulness to the work. Over the past year the duo has begun experimenting with multimedia as well. At the 4 Geezers show at AdHoc, in Brooklyn NYC, Chaz took a photo every 20 minutes for an entire week to document the project. Bob was not involved with this project, but they soon took this idea to Amsterdam together. This was just the beginning. For the show in LA, Bob and Chaz are mixing different approaches in presenting their work. There will ‘be a bunch of short films’ projected, documenting the creation process. In alignment with the Brothers in Arms title, Chaz and Bob will handcuff themselves together during the final stages of the project. According to Chaz, they will ‘eat, shower, and sleep together. Really test the friendship.’ Bob smiles. This is where the playfulness of the pieces comes from, and why TLP work. The meaning of the work is to entertain their friendship, and push the boundaries of what the two can do together. With the separation of TLP has come a stronger bond, and more complex work. ‘What we're producing this year and the direction we've been taking is what we wanted to do 10 years ago but hadn’t quite realized it yet’ says Chaz. ‘In the end, it is all about the canvases and the work.’ From a character quickly drawn, filled in, and called the Lad, to grand canvases mixing the Lads, architecture, movies and dogs, it is undeniable that the London Police are moving towards goals beyond their roots of in Amsterdam. The London Police are off to LA. Reported in Amsterdam See the Brothers in Arms exhibition in LA at Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art 1257 N. La Brea Avenue West Hollywood, CA 90038 September 10 - October 1, 2009 http://www.carmichaelgallery.com/ Bookmark us: 
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