British artist Phlegm is opening an installation-based show titled “The Bestiary” at Howard Griffin Gallery in London on February 1. Even though this is his first show in an official gallery space, he stayed true to his street art origins and created a completely non-commercial exhibit. Strongly influenced by medieval bestiaries, the artist created a 3D version of his own catalogue of characters with a large scale installation in wood, clay and plaster. Just like these antiquated guides, Phlegm created pseudo-scientific texts in which some descriptions of the creatures are accurate, while others are completely fanciful and refer to the recurring characters featured in his murals.
Known for his dedication to detailed line work, the artist put a lot of time into planning, building and finally painting this installation. As seen on these in progress images from the gallery space, the results give the visitor a chance to walk inside one of Phlegm’s paintings and experience it from different angles. For this show, he obsessively created a categorization of his creatures and collected them all in one place for the first time. The show will be on view through March 4, so make sure you see it in person if you’re in the area.
