A city of juxtapositions, Los Angeles is heart-stoppingly alluring – the fast pace of the city smog versus the stoner madness of Venice Beach, the danger of South Central – as painted by your N.W.As and Ice Ts – versus the high society of Beverly Hills… and then there’s Hollywood, where for just a few weeks a year, hipsters and dive bars are replaced by the movie industry’s most successful figures. Magical. Its contradictions, its peculiarities, its trolley-pushing madmen – they all make it one of the world’s most fascinating cities.
Great, but what’s all that got to do with a fancy new art exhibition in Hoxton Square? Well, family owned and operating since 1946 (as their gleefully ’90s website duly informs us) Colby Poster Printing Co. deal very much in these contradictions and juxtapositions – just as comfortable knocking out posters for local elections as they are for Parisian super-chic concept store colette. Under the watchful eye of Glenn Colby, the team produce (according to the press release) “high art and low culture prints”… a paradox in itself.
And so, to why we’re here – graphic design icon Anthony Burrill is clearly a fan of their low-brow fluro aesthetic, and has been digging through their archives – as well as working on of his own exclusive prints – to curate a rather different exhibition at the aforementioned Shoreditch square’s KK Outlet. Needless to say, it’s ruddy brilliant; Burrill allowing the passion of the Colby family to shine its sun-kissed weirdness all over gloomy London, and deserves your attention – if the show’s migrane bothering content hasn’t done so already.
Made In L.A. runs at KK Outlet, Hoxton Square until 27th October.
