The other evening we here at Hookedblog got attend a live painting event featuring Parisian artist Yassine ‘YAZE’ Mekhnache, in an intimate loft space above the Old Shoreditch Fire Station in London’s East End.

Mekhnache is fast becoming one of France's best-know young painters having grown up in Lyon were he worked as a graffiti artist before making the leap into the fine art world. We first became aware of the artist's work earlier this year as part of the Ralph Lauren Art Stars project, which saw the artist customize a 3 dimensional denim star for the project. Yaze's star is set to be auction along with 49 other customized stars, all  in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.

The evening saw a friendly crowd of UK Press, along with buyers and connoisseurs who were invited to the event as an introduction to the artist and his work ahead of his first solo exhibition which will be staged by Artorial in March 2011.

Through out the evening we got the witness the artist at work first hand as he created two new large scale canvases in his trademark style.  A fun relaxed evening and a great way to introduce a new artist to the UK. It's alway fascinating to watch an artists at work and seeing how they bring the piece to life, something that is not often seen with canvas work. On completion of the two pieces the artist took time to speak to the crowd who also were invited to interact and tag the floor of the venue, much to the delight of some of the attendees. We look forward to seeing more from Yaze's next year on his return to London, have a look at our full set of images from the evening and we will keep you posted on the upcoming show. A big up to the team at Artorial on a well organised evening.