Pang, Ben Murphy and Sophie Mason get together to create Morella an Abstract Extravaganza on Hackney Road

This had been a show that Inspiring City has been looking forward to. Released just over a week ago and closing today it was a last chance to see the collaborative works of three artists who are very much the epitome of freestyling art.

Benjamin Murphy and Pang have featured on this blog before and have styles that will be well known to regular watchers of the Shoreditch street art scene. Sophie Mason is a newcomer to our eyes at least. A classically trained painter and fine artist she was born in London and studied in the city as well as in Florence. She tries to explore the relationship between natural and urban environments and having seen the show her work fits effortlessly in with the others.

Pang earlier in the year next to a piece of her art in the Leake Street tunnel

Pang, who also spent time studying classical painting in Florence, will be best known on the street for her abstract monochrome doodlings featuring cowboys, disembodied arms and goodness knows what else. She is an artist of many talents and I’ve always been struck by her ability to re-invent herself time and again. Her art is certainly an evolving process and she is able to switch effortlessly from classical, to abstract, to collage and back again.

Murphy’s last show, another collaborative effort with Italian artist Millo, is perhaps where the genesis of this latest exhibition was born. That event, just before Christmas last year, played to wide acclaim as the two artists seamlessly blended their work together. Having made his name creating art out of electrical tape he is now, more and more, developing his style in the studio. A regular on the Shoreditch street art scene his work can be seen all over the place, you just need to know where to look.

Collaborative effort featuring works from all three artists. The empty shell heads are from Pang, The woman in the boat and quite possibly the woman whispering in the ear seem to be the work of Ben Murphy and the boat itself looks like it is by Sophie Mason — Collaborative effort featuring works from all three artists which show just how effortlessly their work fits together. The empty shell heads are from Pang, The woman in the boat and quite possibly the woman whispering in the ear seem to be the work of Ben Murphy and the boat itself looks like it is by Sophie Mason but it’s quite possible that I could be wrong on any of those

Now with the three of them together they have created a turbo charged epic of randomness. It is a surrealist feast for the eyes and I dare say it’s possible to keep finding new details in the art even when you think you’ve seen everything already. Look closely and you can try to unpick the styles of the artists but even then there’s many occasions when they blend in with each other so well it’s almost impossible to tell who has drawn what.

The show, Morella, is based in the back on the Gugiuman & Timperley store on 59 Hackney Road in what was possibly a former storage area. The walls, floors and ceilings have been covered with black and white drawings all flowing into each other. The mix is eclectic and the sheer volume of work overwhelming, I would have loved to have seen them at work together.

So with the show on for only a week and finishing today I thought I’d put together a little gallery from what has been one of the most innovative shows so far this year. I haven’t even attempted to describe what the images are I’ll leave that for your own interpretations. 🙂

Morello Gallery

Morello was a collaborative show held at Gugiuman & Timperley on 59 Hackney Road in Shoreditch. The artists were Pang, Benjamin Murphy and Sophie Mason and the show was curated by James Elwes and Stephanie Moran. It was produced in association with ELX art and sponsored by Pistonhead Lager. It opened on Friday 6th June and ran until Saturday 14th June 2014.