‘Outsiders’ is a book about art by people as we are told on the cover, more precisely though, it is a book about art by people who are represented by the Lazarides Gallery. This is unsurprising as the book is compiled by gallery head honcho Steve Lazarides. The one notable and very obvious omission from this book is the mighty Banksy, it is surprising that he is not included and to be expected at the same time. After all, he could have been included as he has extremely close links to Steve Lazarides his gallerist, but then Banksy also has the power to top the best seller charts with his monologues.

The cover features a paste up of an image by French photographer JR which is powerful in its ability to make you question your own perceptions of reality and the prejudices that you may hold. On first inspection did you see a gun or a camera pointed at you? What does the answer to this question say about you, who you are and how you see the world? It is a powerful image…

In the introduction we learn that the Lazarides Gallery has something for almost every pocket, from a Banksy original, a print by one of the other artists or a book, whilst I do think that it is really good that you can just go and have a look around the gallery, I’m not sure that the point has ever really been to cater to all levels of wealth. Casting cynicism aside though, the gallery does provide a good opportunity to see the work of some real art superstars and from my experience they’re more than happy for you to have a nose around.

We are presented at first with a section entitled ‘Outside’ which contains photos of street work from some of the represented artists, amongst the best here in my opinion are Zevs’ Visual Kidnapping, Blu’s huge murals and Reas’ posters and classic Subway trains. This is followed by a section called ‘In’ which contains fine art; amongst the most interesting here are some of Connor Harrington’s paintings and the work of David Choe, Mode2 and Space Invader. Having said this nearly all of the work is very good, perhaps except that of Miranda Donovan which features the most embarrassingly toy lettering I have seen in a long time .Her work which does not feature lettering looks good, but the letters are just plain awful. The final section of work is ‘Other’ here we are presented with sculptures and installations, the highlights here for me were Antony Micallef’s sculptures and the work of Zevs and Polly Morgan. Alongside those mentioned above the book also contains work from the likes of; 3D, Stanley Dorwood, Faile, Jamie Hewlett, Paul Insect, Lucy McLauchlan and Vhils amongst others.

There is a lot here to feast your eyes on and this shows what a strong line up the Lazarides Gallery has even without the biggest star gracing the pages. Catch one while you can.

Review By Sami Montague.