Philip Smiley at the B Store

Philip Smiley transformed the window of Saville Row’s finest boutique, The b Store, into an art installation inspired by his surreal rural childhood in Virginia. Smiley is best known as an illustrator, working on graphics and imagery for publications including Dazed (naturally), Spin and Blackbook as well as a host of fashion labels from Burberry and Stella McCartney to Comme des Garcons.

Following up on his exhibition of illustrative nature at the Dazed gallery, the London based artist’s current latest work consisted of delicate pastoral window and wall drawings with a dirty sculptural installation of two people (the sex of which was impossible to work out) under a sleeping bag, getting it on. It’s not quite a dark and gothic as Smiley’s work can be but there’s still a dose of darkness with a canopy of black hanging spiders. The show was organized by Kris Latocha best known as the co-founder of Paperback magazine. **K performed suitably unnerving pyschedelic sounds at the opening. The result was a funny romantic naïve vision to kick off the summer.