sheOne - Blackatelier

228 pages
Edited by sheOne & Rob Swain
Text(s) by John 'Crash' Matos
23 x 23 cm
Language: English
Hardback
Publisher: Gamma Proforma
First edition of 300 copies
2014

The long overdue book from London's sheOne (James Choules), the UK's original abstract rattle can rebel. Featuring works and photography from his personal archive of the past 20 years. Choules’ work, like all good urban art, makes subtle use of its environment. It’s about a highly advanced technique of lifting detail from the surface with subtle flourishes of light and shade.

Having watched him at work, I’m always amazed by where he paints and how he does it, on one occasion i saw him paint alongside several other artists on a long wall in east London. Most of the artists chose the flattest, smoothest surfaces for their piece whilst Choules went straight for a crumbling, crooked and semi hidden wall (the last place you’d choose if you wanted people to see your work).

He then set about utilising the crumbling stone and peeling paint, lifting it out further with his trademark black flourishes. On another occasion i saw him paint in a burnt out paint factory, moving through the space adding little details to old signs, doorways and even an abandoned forklift truck. Unlike a lot of the street art mob, Choules isn’t on a mission to become famous. He’s an artist traveller who uniquely inflects his persona with subtlety on the world around him. One of a kind… (Rob Swain, 2013).