Mighty Tanaka Presents: Hybridism: Where Raw Meets Refined Premier Exhibition in New DUMBO Gallery Space presents an array of mediums, techniques
New York, NY – November 24, 2009 – Mighty Tanaka (http://www.mightytanaka.com) is proud to announce Hybridism, the premier show within its new DUMBO project/gallery space, opening with a reception on December 3, 2009 through January 7, 2010. There’s a growing creative movement that we’ve dubbedHybridism: a blend of both street art and fine art – a hybrid – as the raw meets the refined. It is the juxtaposition of genres, which both compliments and conflicts; the balance between these otherwise artistic opposites. Hybridism, the show, captures a collection of both twisted fine art and underground street art in a span of mediums: vivid photography, collage, and rich oil & acrylic paintings on everything from canvas to found wood.
Alex and Caleb have been working so hard to make this thing happen!
From classic oil paintings of alcohol-blurred nightlife, a squirrel riding a two-headed goat, and a trippy diorama of the industrialization age, to street-style satanic mummies, tribal paintings on book covers, and graffiti-influenced silkscreens on newspapers – Hybridism displays the atypical and the urban within one space.
“I always look to accentuate the idea of hybridism, and of pairing opposites together; this will be common thread in all of my shows, despite their varied themes,” says Mighty Tanaka owner and curator, Alex Emmart. “My goal? To bring this burgeoning and exciting artistic movement to the next level.”
Featured artists include: Adam Miller, Alexandra Pacula, Alexis Trice, AVOID pi, Bruno Perillo, Destroy and Rebuild, Don Pablo Pedro, FARO, Hellbent, Infinity, JMR, John Breiner, Josh McCutchen, Katie Decker, KOSBE, Lionel Guzman, Mari Keeler, Miss Marlo Marquise, Max Greis, Mike Schreiber, Peter Halasz, Reginald Pean, Robbie Busch, Royce Bannon, Skewville, Vinny Cornelli.
Mighty Tanaka’s Hybridism opening reception coincides with DUMBO’s Culture 411 First Thursday Gallery Walk on Thursday, December 3, 2009, from 5:30PM-8:30PM at Mighty Tanaka Studio on 68 Jay Street, Suite 416, Brooklyn, NY 11201. # # #
About Mighty Tanaka
Mighty Tanaka (http://www.mightytanaka.com) is Alex Emmart and Caleb James: an independent curatorial organization dedicated to the advancement and integrity of the urban arts. Through the utilization of skilled curating and various media techniques, we strive to create a stable foundation for artists operating within the urban environment. Mighty Tanaka is driven by urban inspiration and is clearing the way for this emerging art movement to expand beyond the city walls and into our personal lives. Our mission is to provide a myriad of curated and production services.
Contact
Mighty Tanaka Studio 68 Jay St., Suite 416 Brooklyn, NY 11201 Hours: M-F 12PM to 7PM, weekends by appointment only Office: 718.596.8781
For questions, info or interviews, please contact Alex Emmart at alex@mightytanaka.com or (718) 596-8781.
Sorry for the last minute notice, but I’ll be showing some photos at a friend’s open studio this coming Friday. If you’re in town, I’d be happy to see you there! I’ll be selling limited edition poster prints for $25.
Best,
Katherine
********************************************
luna park http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunapark/ http://twitter.com/lunaparknyc http://www.thestreetspot.com
Friday, December 4th, 6-10pm
245 East 37th Street #6B
New York, NY 10016
Celebrating the holidays, Ad Hoc Art is in Miami for art’s annual all-you-can-see smorgasbord. We have an amazing list of artists on board, making it one of Miami’s most energetic showings. From over forty of today’s brightest stars come pieces of creative genius, many never seen before this exhibition.
Please go to Ad Hocs site, www.adhocart.org, to see the press release and invite flier for BKMIA, Ad Hoc’s Miami show in collaboration with AE District {Miami} and Eastern District {Brooklyn}.
The exhibition opens Thursday, December 3rd, noon to 5pm, with the Opening Reception / Party following that evening from 7pm – 11pm. If you or anyone you know is going to be in the Miami hood, please come see this outstanding art in a beautiful space. AE District asked Ad Hoc Art to showcase a strong representation of the art Ad Hoc Art has supported over the years. We aimed to deliver and brought together an amazing lineup of some of NYC’s finest as well as some friends from other blocks on the globe.
BKMiA is located in the Moore Building, a gorgeous historic Art Deco building in Miami’s Design District. We’ll be in good company, as Russell Simmons is doing something in the same building
The address is: The Moore Building/Miami Design District – 4040 NE 2nd Avenue, Suite 103 {Zip: 33137}
If you have any questions regarding this exhibtion, please contact Ad Hoc Art at info@adhocart.org or 917.602.2153.
Many blessings,
Ad Hoc Art
Garrison Buxton – Owner / Director
Exhibiting Artists {more details on our website}
• Avoid Pi
• Buxtonia {Alison & Garrison Buxton}
• Cahbasmn
• Cash4
• Celso
• Cycle
• Dan Taylor
• DarkClouds
• Dennis McNett
• Destroy & Rebuild
• Eastern District Collective
• Ezra Li Eismont
• Faro
• Flying Fortress
• Frank Russo
• Fred Harper
• Gaia
• Imminent Disaster
• Infinity
• Jim Kiernan
• Joe Vaux
• John Breiner
• John Fekner & Don Leicht
• Jonathan Villoch {DEPOE}
• JuseOne
• Keely Brandon
• Keith Haskel
• Kevin Brady
• Lady Pink
• Logik One
• Lucas
• Mario Brothers
• Martin Mazorra & Mike Houston {Cannonball Press}
• Martina Secondo Russo
• Michael Alan
• Mike De Feo
• Molly Crabapple
• Morning Breath
• NohJColey
• Peat Wollaeger
• Peripheral Media Projects
• Pez
• Poster Boy
• Rafel Fuchs
• Robert Steel
• Ronin
• Royce Bannon
• Ryan Doyle and UFO 930
• Scott Draves / The Electric Sheep
• Skewville
• The London Police
• The Senator
• Thundercut
• Tod Seelie
• Uhuru Design
About the BKMIA Team:
• Garrison Buxton (Principal Curator) is the owner & co-founder of Ad Hoc Art and Peripheral Media Projects, Inc., Brooklyn.
• Alison Buxton (Co-Curator) is a co-founder of Ad Hoc Art, Brooklyn.
• Michael Cabrera (Co-Curator) is the owner and founder of Eastern District, Brooklyn.
• Max Pierre (Creative Director) is the owner and founder of AE District, Miami.
Gallery Hours during Art Basel Miami Beach:
• December 3, 2009 | 12PM to 5PM
o Opening Night Party: December 3rd: 7PM – 11PM with special performances TBA
• December 4, 2009 | 11AM to 7PM
• December 5, 2009 | 11AM to 7PM
• December 6, 2009 | 11AM to 5PM
o Closing Night Party 7PM – 11PM with special performances TBA
BKMIA | 4040 NE 2nd Avenue, Suite 103 | Moore Building | Miami, FL 33137
Somewhere between drawing the drapes and playing “I’m a little teapot”, Emma’s hair began to grow and curl like a Victorian furniture, causing her head to become heavy. (Imminent Disaster) (photo Jaime Rojo)
Imminent Disaster (detail) (photo Jaime Rojo)
OverUnder (photo Jaime Rojo)
Thanks to nanotechnology, soldiers can be shrunken and posted in fairly well hidden locations (General Howe) (photo Jaime Rojo)
Okay, everybody push your chair away and stand up from the Thanksgiving table and reach for the ceiling with me. One, two, three, streeeeeeetch! (Elbow Toe) (photo Jaime Rojo)
The Doe Fund in Williamsburg, Brooklyn is feeding 500 people for Thanksgiving. This organization helps the people in our community who have fallen to get back on their feet. Here’s a link for donations. http://www.doe.org/donations/
Hope you enjoy this video of one of our favorite songs by some of our favorite artists!
Featuring The London Police and Galo Show Opens Thursday, December 10, 7-10pm
This December, Factory Fresh pulls out all the stops as we welcome The London Police and Galo as they return to New York to celebrate more than a decade in the game.
Known for their iconic characters collectively these artist work have respectively graced streets and galleries in 35 countries and have been feature in numerous publications throughout the globe. The artists will be showcasing new canvas, featured films of the artist and installation works created site specifically for Factory Fresh.
Show Runs till January 10, 2010.
——————————————————————————————————————————
For more info on Factory Fresh and it’s upcoming shows go to www.factoryfresh.net or email info@factoryfresh.net
“The Workhorse” gallops through Brooklyn and Sets Another Record
Stencil artist Logan Hicks completed his largest stencil to date today on the streets of Brooklyn. Then he posed for a few photos and ran off to his next art gig.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
As he goes he leaves in his wake a 30′ x 8′ mural dedicated to somebody that keeps Logan’s horse power pumping at full speed, titled simply “Sailor”.
Fresh from his trip to Toronto for a show with another modern stencil master C215 and just before heading to Miami for Primary Flight to do the world’s largest site-specific street level mural with artists like D*Face, Shepard Fairey, Chris Stain, and the London Police, Logan Hicks gave his biggest present to his current hometown of Brooklyn and to his family.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Moving away from subject matter involving city canyons, tunnels and teaming crowds that he has been closely identified with over the last couple of years, Hicks has been feeling lately like it is time for him to concentrate on the stuff that really matters to him. Family, art, sanity.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
The 5-layered piece required about 150 stencil plates to execute, and we watched what a logistical bad dream can ensue just laying out all the pieces on the sidewalk and following the plan. Not to mention how wind can whip those well placed plates down the sidewalk toward the East River.
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Curated by Brooklyn Street Art for Espeis Outside, this mural is a hot blast of Logan Red to take us through the impending winter holidays and into the new year. Not that the burly plain-talking-force-of-nature stencil master has any plans for 2010.
Unless you count the shows he’s scheduled to do in Hong Kong, Paris, Gambia, London, Rome, Vienna, Miami and of course The People’s Republic of Brooklyn (at the Opera Gallery).
“Next year is going to be a little nuts. So basically I am not going to sleep until 2011. I keep telling myself that this is the life that I asked for. The stress gets to be a little much, but I think I secretly like it.”
Logan is pretty psyched to be working in what he calls “vector-based” stenciling, and his process is quite complex, even when planning a portrait of a boy with a toy train (photo Jaime Roj0)
Adding a layer, Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art was really happy to hang out with hard-charging but surprisingly somewhat normal Hicks for a couple days this weekend, even helping out with a paint brush once in a while. The sun was pretty bright although it’s duration brief, and the wind did keep everybody humble – but the continuous racket of skateboarders in this industrial neighborhood kept the pace of work lively. Below is an interview where Logan let’s us know what the story is behind the piece he debuted here.
Yep, Brooklyn is part of the Empire State. (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Your earlier subject matter tended toward architecture and large anonymous crowds on the street. More recently you have become more personal in your work. Where did you get the inspiration for this piece?
Logan Hicks: My son – Sailor Hicks, and watching him grow. The funny thing about time is that you don’t realize how fast it is passing until you have a kid to remind you. Each day my son grows, and although I love watching him sprout up, it reminds me of how quickly time is passing. Because I communicate with so many friends through email, I don’t normally realize that so many months have gone by when I see them in the flesh. Now though, when I see someone, I can take note “I haven’t seen you since Sailor started walking” or “I haven’t seen you since he started talking”. It really punctuates how quickly things go by.
Logan Hicks putting the black frame on to finish the piece (photo Jaime Rojo)
So watching him, it has made me reflect on my life. Made me thing about how much I am changing. Not so much in the physical aspect, but mentally. Striving to refine my craft. Striving to sustain stability. Striving to be a good parent. All this makes me want to be a better person. I look at myself 6 years ago, and I don’t even recognize that guy any more. So with this mural, I just think of it as a quick snapshot of my life. It give me a chance to pause and appreciate my life as it exists now.
Father and son. (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:Does Sailor know he’s going to be immortalized?
Logan Hicks: No, but I don’t think he’s too pressed to take note of anything other than trains, letters, toys, and cars. I wouldn’t have it any other way. One of my reasons for doing this piece is because of an early conversation I had with C215. When I first met C215 I noticed that he kept doing a stencil of this one girl. I asked him who it was and why he kept doing stencils of her. His response floored me. He said that it was his daughter. He didn’t have full custody of his daughter and didn’t get to see her as often as he would like. He said he did at least one stencil a week of her because he didn’t want her to ever think that he forgets about her. That punched a hole in my heart. It was the most brutally honest comment that he could have said. I was amazed that he opened his life up so quickly and said something that was so personal. I guess for me I have always been a bit guarded. The older I get though, the more I realize that I’d be better if i shared more, instead of trying to protect it.
Logan Hicks with the original illustration he did taped to the mural (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:How can an artist put something so personal out in the public?
Logan Hicks: How can an artist NOT put something that is personal? For so long I feel like I have been striving to hone the craft of using stencils. I have worked on the technical side of things and I feel like in the past year or two I have, for the most part, conquered that. So now the question becomes, not how you make it, but what you make with it. For me. I feel like I have started back at square one. I have started to speak about what is most personal to me. I am tired of trying to be witty or technical or vague.
I am trying to filter out all the background noise in my life and make my art. All the haters, all the fans, all the blogs or magazines, or other artists. I think it’s gotten to a point where the best thing that I can do is just retreat into myself and speak honestly about what I am going through. For so long I have worked to gather information. Information about galleries, artists, processes, blogs, magazines, curators, etc. Lately I realized though that none of it matters. The only thing that matters is the here and now. The only thing that matters is what I am going through.
Brooklyn Street Art:How many layers are involved in this stencil?
Logan Hicks: There are 7 colors, but only 5 layers of stencils.
Brooklyn Street Art:What are some of your goals as an artist who works on the street sometimes? Logan Hicks: Just to do a good job
Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:Does Sailor know he’s going to be immortalized? Logan Hicks: No, but I don’t think he’s too pressed to take note of anything other than trains, letters, toys, and cars. I wouldn’t have it any other way. One of my reasons for doing this piece is because of an early conversation I had with C215. When I first met C215 I noticed that he kept doing a stencil of this one girl. I asked him who it was and why he kept doing stencils of her. His response floored me. He said that it was his daughter. He didn’t have full custody of his daughter and didn’t get to see her as often as he would like. He said he did at least one stencil a week of her because he didn’t want her to ever think that he forgets about her. That punched a hole in my heart. It was the most brutally honest comment that he could have said. I was amazed that he opened his life up so quickly and said something that was so personal. I guess for me I have always been a bit guarded. The older I get though, the more I realize that I’d be better if I shared more, instead of trying to protect it.
It’s an artist’s tradition to use their own life for inspiration. (photo Logan Hicks)
Brooklyn Street Art:How can an artist put something so personal out in the public? Logan Hicks: How can an artist NOT put something that is personal? For so long I feel like I have been striving to hone the craft of using stencils. I have worked on the technical side of things and I feel like in the past year or two I have, for the most part, conquered that. So now the question becomes, not how you make it, but what you make with it. For me. I feel like I have started back at square one. I have started to speak about what is most personal to me. I am tired of trying to be witty or technical or vague.
I am trying to filter out all the background noise in my life and make my art. All the haters, all the fans, all the blogs or magazines, or other artists. I think it’s gotten to a point where the best thing that I can do is just retreat into myself and speak honestly about what I am going through. For so long I have worked to gather information. Information about galleries, artists, processes, blogs, magazines, curators, etc. Lately i realized though that none of it matters. The only thing that matters is the here and now. The only thing that matters is what I am going through.
Writing the dedication (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:How many layers are involved in this stencil? Logan Hicks: There are 7 colors, but only 5 layers of stencils.
Brooklyn Street Art:What are some of your goals as an artist who works on the street sometimes? Logan Hicks: Just to do a good job
“Sailor”, by Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:How important is risk-taking in art?
Logan Hicks: Guess it depends on how you define risk. For me I just want to feel like i have accomplished something. I want to feel that i have done a service to my craft. to my trade. I want to feel that I have spoken honestly about my work, and done the best that i can. One of my favorite quotes is by Paul Rand, who designed the logos for companies like IBM, ABC, UPS, Westinghouse even Enron. He said “Don’t try to be original. Just try to be good.” That’s a motto that I have sort of lived by. I just try to do a good job. If that means that there is risk involved, so be it, but I don’t search out risk. It’s the sort of thing that you drive by on your way to the final destination.
>> <<< > <<< >>>> <<<<< >>>
Check out the time-lapse we did with Mr. Hicks – and at the end you’ll see the Sailor himself in action with his train.
So if you need to confess to an eating disorder or that you were molested by the mailman or if you have a book on self-empowerment for toads, you better call your P.R. agent and get yourself booked because in 2012 the world as we know it simply ends.
I saw the entire story from multiple perspectives on CNN today in the dentists’ waiting room as I counted the minutes till my wisdom tooth was scheduled to be yanked (OOOWWWWW).
Incidentally CNN had a little story about the US Senate debating the passage of the largest federal program in United States history. That 90 second story was sandwiched in between Oprah graphics and and heated conjecture about what the future without Oprah would look like.
And now it’s time for FUN FRIDAY!
WK Turns His Opening Into a Perp Walk
At his recent opening at Subliminal Projects in Los Angeles, 200 people were arrested.
He’s such a blast, isn’t he?
Usually at an art opening the artist is (A.) lingering around the gallery uncomfortably answering questions about the work, posing for a picture in front of it, collecting phone numbers of groupies. Unless you are the shy type, in which case (B.) you are huddling in the back office taking nips out of a flask, doodling on the desk calendar, and waiting till the gallery starts turning out lights.
Recently apprehended art fan flattened against the wall and photographed by WK.
OPTION (C.), if you are WK Interact, is you think of almost everything as performance art, and every person as part of an installation. Then at YOUR opening you criminalize any willing participant and arrest them and put them through some playful militaristic institutional dehumanizing.
After finger printing there are some forms to fill out.
“I was really impressed by the turn-out and the audience enthusiasm to partake and let me ‘book’ them. Almost 200 people [about half the audience] waited in line to be fingerprinted and have their mug shot taken, incorporating another sense into the interactive experience: touch. It’s not often I get to be that intimate with the viewers, who actually became a part of the show through their participation and who are now part of the installation that hangs in the gallery for the duration of the show,” said WK.
Who knew jail could be so much fun? “I simply did a mug shot that night and I let the crowd be part of my show.”
The artist posed in costume and ran the guests through the penal mill with dry wit and gentle but firm authority. According to attendees, at first the experience was disconcerting, then funny, then funnier (that could have been the wine). WK himself at first tried to keep a mean-looking demeanor but clearly was having too much fun. This is why I always meet him in a public cafe, preferably with a bodyguard around the corner.
After booking, the criminal records were posted as a public safety measure.
Brooklyn Street Art asked WK what was the procedure for processing the criminals in attendance:
“I simply did a mug shot that night and I let the crowd be part of my show. Then I put their arrest record on the wall ….. each one was finger printed and I Polaroid-ed them. I ask them their age and height in a typical arresting scenario. I recreated a desk at the entrance,” he recounted with satisfaction. And what was the reaction of the gallery guests? “The crowd was very enthusiastic!,” he reports. And for the officer on duty? “It was busy night of 4 hours’ work.”
His firearm was how big?
I’m not sure if there will be more audience interaction and role playing at WK’s next opening, but for this group, it was certainly captivating.
The arresting officer with guests.
Thank you to WK Interactive for these photos.
HERE is a good video to further describe the criminal records theory.
As the 53rd Venice Biennale enters its last days and the world’s art community reflects, Anonymous Gallery, curator Spy Emerson and the artist SWOON provide a glimpse of what critic Jerry Saltz called “…The most moving moment I had at the Biennale…”
“Pankabestia: Punk Beasts of the Swimming Cities of Serenissima”, is a retrospective of artist Swoon’s “Swimming Cities of Serenissima”, her recent invasion of the Venice Biennale. Traveling from the Karst region of Slovenia to Venice, Italy, Swoon and 30+ artists braved the waters of the Adriatic Sea and navigated a fleet of three intricately hand crafted vessels. The exhibition opens on November 20, 2009 and includes artwork, objects, and a series of performances based on the “Swimming Cities” invasion.
The environment/experience will include large-scale wall drawings, original Swimming Cities boat installations, portions of the ships, found objects acquired from sea, performances from the original members of the journey, beautiful photographic documentation from artist Tod Seelie, and art from Spy Emerson, Monica Canilao and many others.
Seelie, whose portraiture (www.todseelie.com/serenissimaportraits/ )will be featured in “Pankabestia,” documented the journey from Slovenia to Italy. His documentation of the journey can be found at www.todseelie.com/serenissima.
Money raised with this campaign will go to the production of the exhibition, theater performances and the series of peripheral events in New York and Miami that will coincide with “Pankabestia.”
The following prints will be offered as a part of this campaign:
For a full calendar of Pankabestia events and performances, and availability of tickets, please visit www.anonymousgallery.com from November 1, 2009 on.
Curator Spy Emerson’s thoughts on the experience:
“Pankabestia”- what the Italian villagers called us when we floated into town on our junk rafts. It translates to “punk beasts”, and by all accounts we were – magical, grubby, unruly creatures carrying out an enchanted mythical scene, looking like bits of broken dreams, drifting.
The townspeople were apprehensive along the rural canals to Venice. They locked their doors and windows when we stopped in town, and they watched. The beauty of the rafts was captivating, the poetic pilings and forced perspectives, stairs spiraling upward, and tiny pagodas with corrugated reflections. The brave came to look… then the curious, and before long all people were welcoming us with gifts and food. In a remote fishing village, a woman told me in broken English, we kissed a breath of life into her old home, and we will not soon be forgotten.
The Swimming Cities of Serenissima was Living Art, designed by SWOON, and executed by 30 individual artists known for their abilities to make unreal things happen. Constructed was a reality without right angles, standard rules did not apply there. Alice, Maria, and Old Hickory were the protagonists of our story, and our traveling homes. Living on the rafts, the crew became a visual part of the large moving sculptures, and participants in the mad drama flourishing in turbulence, primal urges, euphoria and fear.
In retrospect, I see that we were punk beasts. We raided dumpsters, slept on the ground, shat in the woods, and laughed in the rain. We let loose our social restraints to be free to create and experience something profound,
to drag our fingertips along the underside of bridges, and jump the fences of the Venice Biennale.”
spy emerson
curator
Anonymous Gallery 169 Bowery New York, NY
Opens Nov 20 6-9pm
While you are waiting for Obama to do something Rooseveltian to replace the jobs our economy has been hemorrhaging for years, Rae and Hope McGrath at Brooklynite Gallery suggest you pick up a shoe-shine box and get to work.
I can’t even tell you how many artists I know who are out of work, and consequently how many are working harder than ever on the stuff that makes them happy and gives their life meaning – their art.
Like many New Yorkers watching their options dwindling, The Bushinomic Bank-zaster of ’08-’09-’10 has given many artistic types a lot of time to sharpen their skills, decide what needs to be done to survive, and to work together. One possible result, BSA is predicting, is an even bigger All-City BOOM in street art right around the corner. As jobs continue to evaporate and gallery doors close, the gallery of the street beckons a little louder each day to those who have a creative voice but no where to speak it.
Destroy & Rebuild stock their box with the essentials…
What does it mean for an artist to “survive” in a tough economic climate? – That’s the question Brooklynite Gallery in Bed Stuy posed to 100 artists when putting this show together. Focusing on the box of supplies that a shoe-shiner uses, Rae and Hope asked a very diverse group of street/graff artists to create a box of their own to express their approach to work and survival.
Anu Schwartz takes readings of the mind and heart globally.
The truly eclectic results reveal not just entrepreneurial aspirations, but psychological profiles expressing values and dreams and inner-workings of the artistic process. Symbolism abounds, and because of the limitations imposed, meanings densely packed alongside personal aspiration. To appreciate the intensity, plan your calendar to see the show twice.
Shinebox goes beatbox, literally. “VARIOUS & GOULD (with KUUK)’s box is stunning. Drop a coin in and make some beats. Completely captures the essence of this exhibition,” says Rae McGrath, owner of Brooklynite.
With the global economic downturn and the hardship it has caused, this show is clearly a tribute to, and an attempt to give voice to, the hard-working people who labor to make a living. By asking artists and fans to meditate on these realities, Brooklynite is pushing us to think outside our own drama and consider the meaning of work, and to see the shoeshine box as survival box.
Street artist Cake intimates a psycho-sexual-medical realm.
Brooklynite owner/curator/visionary/artist Rae McGrath took a break from installing the show to talk about his original inspiration for the show, and how it has evolved:
Brooklyn Street Art:Didn’t the shinebox go out with the icebox? What was the impetus for the theme of this show?
Rae McGrath: Last time I heard the term “icebox” I was well into my 11 hour of The Honeymooners Marathon they run on New Years Day. BUT -shinebox’s never go out of style. Everyone enjoys compartmentalizing things don’t they? Mostly for the wrong reasons but they do… However this exhibition goes beyond shine boxes and shinning shoes. It deals with working in the most stripped down, basic sense of the term.
Paper Monster adapted an actual shinebox.
The project stems from my love for shoeshine boxes. Traveling through Ecuador, Brazil, Costa Rica, etc., I was always impressed with how these things were built, mostly by kids. Any materials they could find held together with rusted nails and recycled bottles for dyes and you’re good to go. So out of that, combined with this f&*ked up economy I wanted to take it one step further and ask artists from around the world– “If you had to take to the streets to survive in this economy, what would you do?” I asked that each keep the “survival object” inside a square foot. It could be found, bought, modified, etc. We wanted to try and unify graffiti artists with street and contemporary
FKDL uses a collage of yesteryear imagery.
FKDL created part art supply, part sewing box (contents)
Brooklyn Street Art:How does the current financial crisis in the country play in the psychology of this show?
Rae McGrath: A lot of artists we approached with the concept said it really resonated with them. Some live off their work and lost studios, commissions, etc. It sucks. Art is considered a luxury item to most– but we don’t necessarily see it that way. Art inspires and motivates. Makes people think and study. To us that’s no luxury. It should be the norm.
Iconic stencilling from one of the Paris originators, Jef Aerosol
With an eye toward total transparency, Jef Aerosol tells us what it takes.
Brooklyn Street Art:Logistically, getting a hundred artists to create and deliver their pieces must have been like herding cats…
Rae McGrath: The logistics of this show have been pretty hectic. I also think that most people in my neighborhood believe I am a drug dealer at this point. Everyday another small package showing up. Strange and cool at the same time. But what makes it worthwhile is when you open a package and a true gem comes out.
I think the biggest feat when doing a show of this magnitude is making sure each artist get their work seen– Hence the video we just put out. We are not very fond of your run of the mill group show that focuses on a key word or something. We tried to keep the guidelines here a bit more rigid.
KNOW HOPE adorns the box with a storyline
Brooklyn Street Art: Did every artist take a shine to your idea?
Rae McGrath: Yes. EXCEPT for the ones that were afraid of working in 3 dimension.
A rather suggestive joy-stick tops this “Peep Show” by 3TTman
Brooklyn Street Art: What box is blowing your mind?
Rae McGrath: There are several boxes blowing my mind for different reasons… Some because of the design, others the concept and some for both. VARIOUS & GOULD (with KUUK)’s box is stunning. Drop a coin in and make some beats. Completely captures the essence of this exhibition. They also did the hand-made flyer for the show and limited edition prints. 3TTMAN’s peep show is a thing of beauty. KOSBE, TEN13ONE. I know I’m leaving some killer ones but– wait this isn’t print— Not trying to save trees— BEN FROST has a clever piece, Destroy & Rebuild … Look man just get over here and see them.
Anthony Lister goes 360
Smile and the blockheads smile with you. (Anthony Lister)
Brooklyn Street Art: Are any of them functional, practical, usable?
Rae McGrath: Some are functional in a practical sense others in a spiritual one– That part of the theme was open to interpretation and heavily expanded upon.
A strong stylization of the theme, Skewville keeps it real Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Street Art: The title sounds like an exhortation; “Go Get your Shine Box” are you telling us roll up our sleeves and get to work?
Rae McGrath: Hell yeah. Maybe the name should be “GO GET YOU ASS TO WORK”. Seriously I think we all know where that title came from…. Or should at least.
Brooklyn Street Art: BTW, I usually wear size 10.5 black wingtips. Can I drop them off anytime after Nov. 21? I’ll need them for Thanksgiving.
Rae McGrath: Oh sounds nice. We actually have the same size shoe… Drop them off .
“GO GET YOUR SHINE BOX” silk screen posterby Various and Gould
At 11 Spring Street in Nolita, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, sits a 19th Century brick building that two centuries ago was a stable and carriage house.
As the 2oth Century turned, the building had gained a following by urban art fans and street artists from all over the world. Over the course of the 1990’s graffiti and street artists had used the exterior walls of this building as their multi-storied canvas. Within a short time the address had become a destination, an uncurated museum for graffiti, street artists, and tourists alike – an up-to-the-minute ever changing conversation of street culture.
But the blanding plague of gentrification that swept across the city claimed the urban art gallery and it succumbed to condoitus a couple of years ago. Like the visual equivalent of a New Orleans funeral march, street artists and graffiti artists took one last chance to festoon the edifice as it’s soul departed to allow conversion to condominiums, and the local paper did a story on it. Every inch of the facade and much of the interior was covered and recovered by layers of art and graffiti. “11 Spring” took one last bow.
Demolition, buffing, and upgrading to the comforts of a new Manhattan wealthy class soon followed the celebration, and pinstriped men and pencil skirted women strutted through it’s white plastered interior waving their arms and referring proudly to it’s storied past; the artists that once brought attention to the location, abruptly “unfriended”. Among the many ironies of the story, the market for the new spaces has not materialized, reportedly forcing it’s owners to cut their asking prices almost in half this year.
Street photographer Vinny Cornelli used to arrive at the building early in the morning, before the streets came alive with commuters and shop keepers, to gaze upon the raw collage.
He captured the thick layers of art that formed the exterior finish of the walls; covered in spray paint, wheat pastes, rubber, metal, plastic, cardboard, wood and just about anything available. As if in a zen haze, he zoomed in on details, and stepped back to frame the visible cacophony.
This small sample of images show the layering of creativity in the moment before mute. The organic collage speaks to the many contributors and the conversations of the street: a collective contribution evoking chaos, humor, classical, commercial, pop and poetry.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
