BANG! BANG!

Take a dash of Soho sleaze, a few drops of William S Borroughs, one slice of fear & loathing, a large bottle of Gin, add surrealism, humour, wit and nostalgia then stir in a large portion of creativity. Put on 'The Cramps' and whizz the concoction in a blender, drink (on ice dear boy) until inebriated. Stagger home, piss against any wall (must be a dark street in Hackney) and hey presto- you end up with something loosely definable as LE GUN.

Hackney based collective LE GUN are a small group of Illustrators and artists who for the past 4 years have produced an independent narrative illustration publication which provides a common ground for both emerging and established artists, illustrators, writers and poets. In true creative egalitarian spirt LE GUN operate a free and open submissions policy that attracts artwork from as a far field as Korea and Japan.

Distributed world wide LE GUN launched 'annual no 4' last night with an exhibition at the Rochelle School in Shoreditch, titled 'the Family' the show featured the collective’s large scale drawings, forming a physical embodiment of the work found on the pages of 
LE GUN.

(click images for a better view)



These detailed yet crude drawings, some up to 10m in length, are all the more remarkable in that they are collaborative. Featuring an assortment of characters including a man with a crab on his head, the leopard walking heiress Marchesa Casati, the original fat boy actor Joe Cobb, caliper boy and the perennial Le GUN favorite Francis Bacon the Butcher, they ooze a witty, low fi simple touch that Monty Python might have produced if someone had spiked their Gin glasses with Crystal Meth and made them bugger boys in Tangiers. This show could only have originated from the diseased streets of Hackney, it's the acid bastard child protege of a perverted Ralph Steadman in a tutu.



Much of the show is taken up by these large drawings with a number of walls also taken up by salon style hangings of framed prints and drawings from previous editions. However the piece that steals the show has to be the 'art club'- a room one enters through a cardboard door. Once inside you enter a cartoon cardboard 'drawing room'- everything made from cardboard and illustrated. A monochrome, 2D world made real, this is a treat, made even more so by the accessible bar & 1930's,40's, 50's music playing sweetly in the corner. Sit and rest your weary eyes.




It is LE GUN's imaginative sense of fun, style, otherness and all round creative exuberance pervading this show that makes it well worth seeing. LE GUN make a refreshing change from the pretentiousness, seriousness and uninspiring fodder found in some gallery and art settings.



LE GUN 'the family' is on at the Rochelle School, Club Row, Arnold Circus E2 7ES until the 5th September. You can order the latest publication, prints and T-shirts by visiting www.legun.co.uk