“If you believe the world will end in 2012 and you can’t do anything about it, maybe it’s better to blow yourself up when you feel like it,” says WK. (photo WK Interact)
The clock has been set and is ticking until November 7 when stark street art fantacist WK Interactive detonates his latest cluster of objets at SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS in L.A.
Let’s see what the little Missus packed in my lunch today… (WK Interact) (photo WK Interact)
Always more than pleased to tap into your fears, the original Interactive street artist hand-stretches your comfort level with How to Blow Yourself Up, a corrosive blast of physical possibility and psychic uncertainty.
Where’s my key? Where’s my key? WK Interact (photo WK Interact)
Tune in next week for our Q&A with WK >>>>>>>>
“Brooklyn Street Art: Some of these pieces look tempting to touch, but I’m afraid my hand might blow off.
WK Interact: By all means – touch………”
(final photo Adam Wallacavage)
SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS Presents How To Blow Yourself Up
New Works by WK Interact
November 7 – December 5, 2009
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 7, 8 p.m. – 11 p.m.
Better get these crated! We only have two days! (Faile) (courtesy Faile)
Brooklyn’s own (by way of Edmonton and Minneapolis) street artist duo Faile have announced that they are having a solo show in mid 2010 with New York gallerist Perry Rubenstein, who will now represent them here. In the meantime, this Thursday they will be debuting new works at the Cour Carrée du Louvre for the FIAC in Paris over the weekend.
Yes you did! (photo Jaime Rojo)
You may remember those spinning carved wood sculptures that they were creating this past year or so which showed up on the street in North Brooklyn?
Native Americans are figuring more heavily into the puzzle these days in Faile pieces (courtesy Faile)
This new series that they are doing are similar but are arranged on one flat plane. They also incorporate much of the ripped-torn imagery from pulp novel/graphic novel/print ads that may have appeared in the 1950’s and 60’s, along with text from ad slogans rearranged as non-sequitors. So, simple carvings, they are not. “We are calling them Wood Paintings”, says Patrick.
A Wood Painting from Faile (courtesy Faile)
Currently they are focusing on new works in the studio and have a number of projects lined up for the new year. Keep your eyes open for a new print release in November!
This one references some graff peers, gold caps, and of course BROOKLYN! Damn Straight! (courtesy Faile)
And if you ever wondered what Faile listens to when they are in the studio, click on this below to check out the mix they made for The World’s Best Ever just released…
Cold and rainy weather, obscenely bad public train service, great art!
Multi-colored Shag Head by Peru Ana Ana Peru at Brooklynite (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Okay, the train service in Brooklyn was really bad this weekend. Talk to the artists community in the Gowanus Canal section of Brooklyn, who had worked so hard to publicize a large constellation of open studios (AGHAST) this weekend. As if a shrinking economy isn’t bad enough, the trains/shuttle bus service to an area already poorly served by public transportation was so bad that some artists were forced to stuff themselves with the piles of the crackers and cheese they had set out for guests and drown their sorrows in Makers Mark – by 3 p.m. Saturday… Not mentioning any names out of respect for their mothers.
Video screen of a shaggy headed actor sitting in front of a screen that has a shaggy headed actor on it. This screen was embedded in – yes – a canvass of a shaggy headed guy. The piece used wheat pasted drawings on paper, paint, dripping markers, and video. (detail) Peru Ana Ana Peru (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Similarly, just traveling to Bed Stuy we had to take a train to a shuttle bus to a train and endure 3 hours of precious life under flourescent light just to get around the People’s Republic of Brooklyn on Saturday night. Grumpiness subsided when entering the warm gallery and shooting to the back yard to score a beer. In the grey heart of urban cold darkness this show is a bright surprise that warms you up, although my phone pics are bad.
Surgeon General says that pipe smoking is dangerous for toddlers. Just so you know. (Peru Ana Ana Peru) (photo Steven P. Harrington)
In the street art-to-gallery transition of the urban art/street art/graffiti art continuum you never know for sure if an artist can make the jump. Peru Ana Ana Peru did the jump in flying colors.
Most followers of the current street art events can readily recount some missteps by some and total train wrecks by others – but we love you and try to be positive. Anyway, bad news travels faster than helicopters after a balloon boy these days, so we wouldn’t need to report it, would we?
The original Balloon Children, in 3-D (Peru Ana Ana Peru) (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Blissfully, Peru Ana Ana Peru gave a jolt to the happy crowd on Saturday at Brooklynite – and it was tongue-in-cheek to cheek in the gallery space. From the “Goat Check” with pinatas hanging on a clothes bar, to the video screens embedded in the already multi-media canvasses, to the formal portraits with faces scratched out with a pen-knife, pieces brought sly smiles among even the smart-alecs in attendance.
Simple but horrid scenarios jumped to mind upon seeing this piece by Peru Ana Ana Peru (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Adding to the excitement was a story circulating that their film entry into an International Film Festival competition had just been awarded first prize that day. Certainly their love for film was evident.
Stills from their films were mounted next to one another on this piece by Peru Ana Ana Peru (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Overall it was a fun, snarky, witty, surreal, sexy, colorful show – aptly combining their various interests and moving them forward.
That night BSA received a nice vinyl piece by Street Artist Billi Kid:
A freshly silkscreened over stencil portrait of much loved street art photographer Elisha Cook Jr.
Elisha Cook Jr. has been on the streets capturing street art (among many other things) for a while, which has earned him a loyal fanbase, including Billi Kid.
At first glance we thought it was a tribute to Chris Stain’s work, and certainly there are similarities between this and Stain’s depictions of the working people. But stencillists do have individual styles, and closer inspection reveals this to be true.
Chris Stain on the wall (photo Jaime Rojo)
Says Mr. Kid, “Elisha Cook Jr. (AKA Allan Ludwig) and I have collaborated quite a bit on the streets as well as inside. He is one of my favorite photographers,” says Billi.
In fact you can see Elisha behind the wheel of one of Billi Kids’ favorite pink convertibles below:
Speaking of Chris Stain, he was busy putting up a piece Saturday night at “Art In General”
The fundraiser was to benefit the gallery and their artist in residence program. Art in Generalis nonprofit organization that assists artists with the production and presentation of new work. Also featured were works by Street Artists Cake and Cern.
The piece Chris did is of his son and his two friends from preschool last year. Says Stain, “I took the photo at the aquarium in Coney Island and adapted it to the urban landscape.”
The new Chris Stain oil pastel and acrylic wash piece stands at 12’H by about 20’W.
Instead of aerosol (mostly because the fumes would have killed some of the guests who had just plunked down some bucks to support the place ) he used oil pastel and acrylic wash.
“I like this technique because it shows the texture of the wall, although it’s more labor intensive than spray paint,” said Chris. Luckily, he had some help from Kevin, Heather and Robin, and Art in General fed the crew. “It was good,” he said.
Los Angeles Spends 3.7 million Dollars to Remove Largest Graffiti Tag in America
NO, this was not a story lifted from The Onion, although it sounds like it. I don’t think the total amount is for that one tag, but rather the whole L.A. River.
Brooklyn is on the opposite coast of the US, so we don’t really know what it’s like to see the graff on the concrete of that river.
But California, the world’s 8th largest economy, is on the brink of financial calamity, school classes are ballooning to 45 students, and the rising price of fish tacos on the beach is negatively affecting the surfers. Is today UPSIDE DOWN DAY?
As reported by Ed Fuentes in BlogDowntown.com, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers hired contractors to spray over the giant tag and made a big show of it, complete with a press conference.
“At 2,000 feet long by 60 feet tall, the MTA tag near the 4th street bridge was said to be one of the largest graffiti tags in the United States.
On Thursday it proved plenty large enough for a press conference that included the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, a pair of City Councilmembers and the L.A. Sheriff’s department.” More here…
NYC Mayoral Race ’09 HEATS UP with Bloomberg, Thompson, and Mr. Burns
Why limit the race for mayor to only ONE BILLIONAIRE? Spending like a drunken sailor during Fleet Week, Mike Bloomberg, the richest man in the state, has reportedly spent $16 for every $1 that his opponent Bill Thompson has. Not so fast, Mike! Here comes Mr. Burns, a real leader of the people and believer in democracy.
photo David Hershkovits in Papermag.com
In a press conference Mr. Burns attacked the end-run Bloomberg did around election laws to get himself on the ballot for a third term. “The man shows no guts, he should have simply declared himself king over these slack-jawed troglodytes, I mean good citizens. But that’s democracy for you”
Recently these campaign posters for Mr. Burns have been appearing all over New York, indicating that he is taking the race very seriously.
“…And Then We Jumped into the Abyss of Numbers: Memories in Absurdity From the Bowels of Peru Ana Ana Peru” opening October 17 at Brooklynite Gallery
Brooklyn-based street artists Peru Ana Ana Peru see action on the street as cinema in progress, full of color, adventure, and absurdity.
In fact, with their fantastical approach they are telling us what we already know; the logic of the street is illogical, so why begin to explain it. To embrace the swirling and jagged movement, color, texture, smell, sound, and architecture of the street is to embrace chaos theory. You can tell that Peru Ana Ana Peru find it invigorating.
Peru Ana Ana Peru (photo Jaime Rojo)
While graffiti culture has become somewhat codified in many respects, the rules of street art are being written before our eyes. Art theorists, facing ever-increasing irrelevance and impotence, find explanations being flushed out into the ocean as they clutch institutional inner-tubes to stay afloat. Street Art, or any name we finally settle on, is not going to be that easy to explain for a while.
Peru Ana Ana Peru (photo Jaime Rojo)
While a public gallery curated by chaos is unsettling to many, Peru Ana Ana Peru have jumped into the abyss and brought riotous color and an ever twisting fantasy narrative that makes sense to – them?
Peru Ana Ana Peru (photo Jaime Rojo)
Embracing the “traditional” wheat pasting is only one option, and while it may be the most pragmatic, don’t be surprised if they move their multi-media paintings, drawings, sculptures and video installations into the public sphere more in the future. And they will not be alone, if nascent trends in projection art (and technology), installation art, performance art, and flash mobs are an indication. Individuals are simply taking their voice to the street and claiming public space more than before.
Peru Ana Ana Peru (courtesy Brooklynite)
Maybe the only irony in this first solo show by Peru Ana Ana Peru at Brooklynite Gallery opening is that it is located in a formalized gallery at all. Bringing the abyss inside 4 walls, a ceiling, and a floor feels limiting. But maybe that’s just my need to define Peru Ana Ana Peru and their work. Obviously the energy and vitality that steams out and around the colorful collection suggest that the idea of venue is no concern to PAAP’s adventurous minds. The calliope plays merrily on.
Peru Ana Ana Peru (courtesy the artist)
Brooklyn Street Art:Do your street pieces express fantasy or reality?
Peru Ana Ana Peru: We are heavily drawn to the fantastic in our work, be it in street art, or even film to a certain extent. Perhaps this is an extension of our beginnings in the avant garde film/video scene more than anything else, but it’s something that seems to have stuck with us. More than that though, we find ourselves repeatedly drawn toward things of a more whimsical nature in our work, things that might express a ‘joy of life’ aspect of things, rather than a heavy handed ‘real life’ aesthetic. In addition to this, we are shamelessly addicted to color, and lots of it, so perhaps this lends itself rather nicely to the realm of fantasy
Brooklyn Street Art:What is the importance of cinema in your work?
Peru Ana Ana Peru: We consider ourselves to be primarily filmmakers/video artists first, and artists/street artists after that. It is the medium that we are most comfortable in, and in which we feel we have the most to offer. In this sense, cinema is our most important undertaking, and we are most happy when we are working on our films.
Peru Ana Ana Peru (courtesy Brooklynite)
Brooklyn Street Art: If Peru Ana Ana Peru had only one medium to express itself in, would it be painting, drawing, sculpture, or video?
Peru Ana Ana Peru: It would most likely be film/video, but with the exception that inside the video we’d use paintings and drawings and sculpture and what not.
…And Then We Jumped into the Abyss of Numbers: Peru Ana Ana Peru even made a promotional video for their first solo show (above)
Brooklyn Street Art: How would you characterize the experience of mounting your first solo show?
Peru Ana Ana Peru: Dizzying.
Three new pieces waiting to be hung for the show (photo courtesy the artist)
Brooklyn Street Art: Do the streets of New York have a particular personality that you speak to?
Peru Ana Ana Peru: It feels like New York has different personalities that speak differently to everyone. And quite frankly, it wasn’t really until after our foray into the street art/graffiti world that we realized where we fit in to the whole scheme of things. It would seem that graff/street artists can be lumped into a category of people that, when it comes down to it, just want to be noticed, just want to be seen, by anyone really. And from this point, it would seem that New York’s personality is one of indifference, like a rude bartender in a busy bar, and that by trying to put your name out everywhere, you’re really just saying, ‘hey, bartender, get me a beer.’
Peru Ana Ana Peru (detail) (courtesy Brooklynite)
Brooklyn Street Art:What messages would you hope the viewer will walk away with after seeing the work at Brooklynite?
Peru Ana Ana Peru: That we are just getting started.
And guess what? That’s right homie-lera, they have street art.
But that should not be a huge revelation to you by now.
Like my barber Pedro Fantilipaz says, “Street Art eees all ovah tha wooorrrrrl!”
Mundano, a street artist from the other BK, makes monster-type faces, and elongated forms using fat caps and thin ones, a smooth hand, and a playful eye. They are extreeeeeme closeups with flaring nostrils, big frowny lips, and ever-searching eyes. Sometimes 4 eyes, sometimes more.
“Líquen Vermelho” / “Red lichen” by Mundano at Factory Fresh (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Mundano was here in July doing a show with two other Brazilians, Loro Vez and Apollo Torez, where they installed a show at Factory Fresh Gallery, called “Lichen”. Add these three dudes to the two Os Gemeos, and this summer it was like the Brasil World Cup of aerossolistas right here in Nova Lorque!
“You Are a Slave of Consumption” – a bit of wisdom for the birds.(Mundano) (photo by Mike Ion)
Back home he makes many creatures everywhere, and he writes slogans and messages that harshly question the policies of the government regarding social policy. It was no surprise to see him muster enough English to make an observation about our materialistic society on one of his pieces here.
Mundano’s recreation of a cart commonly used by recyclers on foot in Brooklin. (photo courtesy Factory Fresh)
Right in the middle of the gallery in Bushwick, Mundano had installed a cart that was a facsimile of a cart (or “carroceiro”) that is commonly used in his town for people to gather discarded items and materials for recycling, an appreciable business there. While they were trolling our streets in a van looking for stuff to stock their gallery carroceiro, Mundano and his buddies were pretty shocked to find that here people throw out perfectly good stuff!
Keep your eyes open – This one is on lockdown in Brooklyn (Mundano)
Yeah, I know that for sure, because that was my first apartment; one man’s broken Barcalounger is another man’s throne. Most college students and newly arrived immigrants in New York can easily furnish their entire apartments from discarded furniture and other stuff that people drag to the curb. Even so, Mundano’s wild-eyed surprise and shock at how wasteful we are was an eye-opener for me too.
(Mundano) (photo Mike Ion)
Now Mundano’s back in Brooklin and making new stuff there, where people have a different approach to his art on the street. He had a great time here and got to put up some entertaining pieces while staying in New York and he’s looking forward to his next visit, “I really liked New York, and I will be back for sure.”
Is Smoking Relaxing? Mundano made a Musico puffing on a cigarro next to this anti-smoking ad in Brooklyn. (Mundano) (photo Mike Ion)
Some days I come up Jack, Zilch, Nada – Nothing new from me on the “street art” tip.
Damn, son, sometimes I just wanna sit at a desk and skip across Magic Interweb-Land and look at porn look for incredible art-related videos that I think you’ll find inspiring and titillating educational.
And when I round the corner on that imaginary interweb street, I have no idea what I’m going to find. So, it’s kind of like street art, except I don’t have to get off my arse.
This music video includes ink drawings and cut-out figures, inspired by illustrator Edward Gorey. It was developed this year during an animation workshop at UCLA’s Department of Theater, Film and Television.
But it’s just an OPTICAL ILLUSION! He’s not really going down on a big space missile. Get your mind out of the gutter, people! Honestly. That would be vulgar and I would not post such a thing!
And Finally, the Formation of the World in One Minute
The majority of today’s New Yorker’s have ADHD and absolutely no patience, or time, to wait around to see the formation of the world so Chris Cox jammed it in a minute for you.
And as AN ADDED BONUS, if you endure an additional 20 seconds you can see how the world all comes together in 250 million years, which is about how long it takes Joe at Fratellis deli to get me a coffee sometimes.
We have so much fun every day with Brooklyn Street Art. But sometimes you are too busy to read the ol BSA blogaroo, because, uh, you’re busy!
We’re starting a helpful service for you called the BSA Newsletter! You can get it all once a month condensed down to the most scintillating images, insightful insights, and mind-numbingly meaningful hard-hitting street art journalism this side of the Gowanus Canal!
If you’re not on the mailing list, here’s a perfecto tuniopperty to Sign Up! We’ll be hitting you up with truckloads of meaningless spam in no time. Kidding! You can also click “unsubscribe” anytime if we’re being obnoxious.
There are so many messages flying at you every day –
Messages from your neighbor “Turn that thumping music down!“,
your boss,”Going forward we’re going to need you to be more proactive in this area“,
your mom,”I love you, honey“,
and of course, advertising, “You’re in good hands with Allstate, Reach out and touch someone, The quicker picker-upper, A little dab’ll do ya, Please don’t squeeze the Charmin, It’s Miller Time, Drivers wanted, and Some times you feel like a nut, some times you don’t“
This image from Canada shows a campaign to question postering – even if it is dancing bears doing ballet! (photo Loozrboy)
While you may limit the messages from your mother, it seems less likely you can limit the ones from advertisers every day. They are even posted over urinals in bathrooms, for crying out loud. There are messages from advertisers on your phone, at the checkout counter, on the floor in the subway, on lightposts, on websites, – holy Jesus and Mohammed they are everywhere!
A mural by artist Conor Harrington was plastered over by advertising in Soho recently. (animation Steven P. Harrington)
How do those messages get to you on the street? There are laws for these things, and there are certain spots that are approved by the public, and certain ones that permission is denied for. But what happens a lot these days is that big outdoor ad companies make more money if they can erect more posters and billboards, and they know that they won’t be punished most of the time. If they are, it will take a long time and the penalty will be a tiny amount compared to how much money they make.
Gotta love the tourists! Times Square is a rapid and continuous bombardment of advertising messages, and sometimes you just have to snap a picture of the good ones. (photo Steven P. Harrington)
And don’t even compare this sheer quantity of illegal billboarding happening to the amount of illegal street art there is – it dwarfs it in square footage and paper and paste and hands and feet by 10,000 to 1 (not scientific but I’m guessing). But of course, it’s all up for discussion.
This Grey Gardens campaign was splashed across construction sites all over lower Manhattan in the spring. Of course a lot of New Yorkers love the movie, but was the postering approved by the City?.... (Edith 'Big Edie' Bouvier Beale: Aren't you going to feed, uh, Whiskers, Edie? Come on, go feed Whiskers. No, don't eat it; give it to Whiskers, please!)
So, in the past few years some people have been drawing attention to the fact that slowly but surely all of your public space is being covered by private companies messages. And there is a gradual awareness of this fact, and a movement to re-claim public space, or at least reclaim the space that has been taken without permission.
Last month this wall had a poster from a community group in Chinatown protesting illegal and unethical behavior of landlords and real estate developers. It was probably illegal. (photo Steven P. Harrington)
And here's the same wall today with tons of commercial posters - ? (iphone photo Steven P. Harrington)
Here’s a video about one group, Public Ad Campaign, that took a proactive and positive pleasant approach to reclaiming public space last spring in New York. They identified locations of outdoor advertising that had not been approved by the City, and replaced the images with hand-made art by a few of the thousands of artists who live here. Amazingly, most of the advertising was replaced in a day! Wow!
POSTER SCHMOSTER! The Bayer Company’s former Headquarters in Leverkusen, Germany is now a so-called “Media Facade” Built by ag4 media facade GmbH and GKD AG, the massive display apparently consists of 5.6 million LEDs that cover the entire 17,500 square meters of the building, and which can be lit up at will 24 hours a day. How does that affect the people in a city? (original source Public Ad Campaign site)
DATE: Friday, October 23, 2009 at 7:00PM | Share Event
Dick Chicken Presents ‘GIRLS & SNACKS’
October 23, 2009, 7 to 10 p, FREE admission
Join us for the Launch of our new space at 573 Metropolitan Avenue & the unveiling of a Dick Chicken mural & exhibition! This is your chance to learn more about the man behind the cock, preview the new space, and drink complimentary cocktails & Colt 45 & dance to DJ Alden Fonda.
It’s the most infamous tag of the moment. And we all know he’s prolific in his ability to hit every open surface this side of Williamsburg Bridge, but what does it all mean?! From his mouth to God’s ears:
“Here DC is doing what he/she does best, having fun. Is there a larger metaphor at work? Is this work social commentary? Is it about our unsustainable food industry? Does it speak of the lust, avarice and greed with which we have squandered our human potential? Does this work point to a larger method of subtle control put into play by those who stand to gain from it’s practice? Do you need something that heavy attached to it to enjoy it and have a good time? Maybe it is about whimsy, the idea that something can affect you on a base level. You can laugh and dance and play, without looking for meaning, like when you hear a good song…Maybe it’s about none of those things. I can tell you this though, there will be dickchicken, GIRLS & SNACKS.”
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
Friday, October 23, 2009 at 7:00PM
