As we know, I usually like to write about quaint, kitsch products – anything featuring teacups, cakes, florals – I’m your girl! But I’ve come across Flood The Valley and it’s totally the other end of the scale – harsh and brutal! But I like it because it’s unique. It’s kind of iconic in a very British way and the artist’s style really comes across.
Their work is based upon well known brands – the logos and words changed to give them a whole new meaning. i.e. the blue and white ‘Boots’ logo stenciled onto canvas and amended to read ‘Botox’. The iconic ‘Little Chef’ logo now reads ‘Little Chav’. The happy smiling face has been changed to look slightly menacing and a Burberry cap takes pride of place on the platter!
The ‘Ikea’ logo has been changed to read ‘Unklea’ and the image shows flatpack instructions of how to build stocks.
‘Killer Surprise’ is a play on the ‘Kinder Egg’ and ‘Air Raid Sirens’ takes off the retro ‘Sun Maid Raisons’.
All these iconic images are sold as limited edition screen prints for £49 + £10 postage and packaging and original work is sold for hundreds. The ‘Aah Castro’ stencil on canvas (Bisto meets Fidel)) is a snip at £359. Work can be viewed and purchased via the website www.floodthevalley.com
So who are Flood The Valley? They are Brighton based boys with an air of mystery. In my research I found the following quote on www.duck-artshop.com and thought it did a fantastic job summing up this duo: “Fuelled by a love of clever design and a mischievous sense of anarchy, Flood The Valley create
twisted iconic images using wordplays, juxtapositions and a healthy contempt for corporate values and cultural stereotypes. Flood The Valley are what art should be about. True pop contemporary art.”
Given their air of mystery I was very lucky to speak to Jim (one half of Flood The Valley) and here’s some snippets of information straight from the horses mouth:
- ‘We came up with the idea for flood the valley while sat in a greasy spoon cafe called the saucy chef’.
- ‘We first started out at Camden market selling t shirts and hoodies’.
- ‘We have had a stall at 2 Glastonbury festivals selling t-shirts and artwork’.
- ‘We don’t like to get too opinionated with our pictures, more that we give the viewer enough rope to hang themselves if they wish’.
- ‘Artist ‘word to mother’ painted our shop wall’.
He also told me about the shop/gallery space they had in the lanes for 6 months ‘local street artists would drop by for our big paint sessions in the evening at the shop. Most of what was made was donated and then sold the very next day, the proceeds went to cover the rent’.
Flood The Valley are very ‘Brighton’. They had an exhibition at XUMA at Seven Dials and they were part of ‘Renegade Potters Extreme Craft’ at the North Road ‘Ink D’ gallery. But they are also big on the London scene – they have exhibited at ‘Situation’ in Clapham, they were part of a live art festival at Trafalgar Square and they’re looking to do another exhibition in London this summer.
So look out for them! www.floodthevalley.com
By Helen Ruff
