Dreamers with empty hands
All sigh for exotic lands
But It’s autumn in New York
It’s good to live it againThis autumn in New York
Transforms the slums into Mayfair*
Don’t know if it was Mayfair but the Bloody Marys were spicy and the late autumn sun was shining Saturday in this back lot in Brooklyn. Gilf! Invited some buddies over to experiment on a corrugated metal wall for the afternoon, and the vibe was relaxed and fun as TipToe, Clown Soldier, Quel Beast, Bishop 203, and Gilf! took time to try some new ideas and just let the creative spirit run free.
A perfect sort of salon for BSA; Artists borrowing supplies, giving opinions when asked, offering insights, trading techniques, introducing new friends, noodling around, discovering… When it comes to free time for discovery and walls to try new stuff and hang out with creative peeps, there is only one thing to say. “More please!”
* lyrics to “Autumn in New York”, by Vernon Duke
French Street Artist and fine artist Ludo can go big and these days he usually does but even with his largest pieces the devil is always in the details, hidden just inside your subconcious.
In the new mini video released by the artist, a gauzy haze envelopes the installation of a floral orgy of S&M strapped cluster of blossoms with erect pistols pointing proudly through the center of their petulant petals.
No one on the street is perturbed as they rush by and he pumps up and down the walls with his hydraulic lift. Ludo’s been working on a solo show in Amsterdam opening end of this month, but “This is the big one that killed my back,” says the artist.
Street Artist JR continues to plaster parts of New York City with over-sized black and white portraits of Native Americans from North Dakota for his Inside Out Project. The images were taking by photographers in North Dakota and sent to the IOP to be printed and installed in Manhattan.
This newest installation took place this week over two days on four window panels in an empty retail space of a corner building in Chelsea. On the first day JR was on site lending a hand to the half dozen interns who came to help and to learn how to wheat paste in this cool little spot across from the High Line Park on 10 Ave and 19th Street.
A second installation went up on the windows on the 19th Street side of the building, providing a second pair of eyes to surveil the area. The wind was gusting like a mad mother-in-law and the cold was almost bitter – but that didn’t put a dent in the enthusiasm of the team made up of Natalie, Paola, Moira, Will, Nina, Nastasia, Rosie, Austin, Hillary, Gina and Rhiannon; Each have interned at either JR’s studio or with the Inside Out Project. It was cool to see teamwork and good spirits intact promptly at 9:00 am as they set to unroll panels, fight the wind and slap up gallons of gooey wheat paste on the windows. Marc, from JR’s New York Studio was there to give a quick lesson wheat pasting and to oversee the installation.
Directed by Tony Silver and produced by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant, STYLE WARS is an indispensable documentary that captured NYC Street culture in the beginning of the 1980s. Anyone who values the contribution of this examination of a moment near the birth of hip hop and graffiti culture will be familiar with the players that Chalfant and Silver profiled and the electricity that fueled a cultural movement that eventually went global.
“There is a lot of amazing and historically significant material there which never made it into the finished film”, says Chalfant today as he describes his new project to recover and restore the hours of remaining recordings and to create an outtakes reel from that 1981-82 project.
Spread the word! BSA would like to encourage you to donate to this Kickstarter campaign to make this project happen and to post this on Facebook and Tweet it. Write to your friends to ask them to throw a buck at this project that promises to deliver many new shots of trains not seen since ’81 and some surprising masterpieces rescued from oblivion.
They have cool stuff for various pledges – we’re hoping to score the “Art is Not a Crime” poster designed by Mare139.
But even if your stocks of green are low right now, you can forward this to one of your buddies. Style Wars is for everybody, and this history is yours.
The London Police
This show opens to the public on November 17 from 8-11pm. There will be live music from The London Police Dog Singers, Abner Preis, and a surprise guest.
The London Police started when big English geezers headed to Amsterdam in 1998 to rejuvenate the visually disappointing streets of the drug capital of the world.
The motive was to combine traveling and making art to create an amazing way of life not seen since the days of King Soloman. Known for their iconic LADS characters and precision marking TLP have been together for over 13 years and their work has graced streets and galleries in 35 countries during this time. London policemen have come and gone but founding members are still known to walk the streets of every city in the world spreading love with pens and stickers.
The current duo have managed to form a partnership more cohesive than Han Solo and Chewbacca in Star Wars and are consistently producing slick artwork that is tighter than a butlers cuff. Never be scared, don’t be a hero and let the good times roll.
For more info check www.thelondonpolice.com
OPERA GALLERY NEW YORK
115, Spring Street
NEW YORK NY 10012 – USA
Tel (1) (212) 966 66 75
Here’s the brand new video, less than an hour old, of Gregory Siff pouncing on an LA wall to prepare for his big solo opening tonight in LA. Big Ups to Carlos Gonzalez for slamming together an action packed video, timed perfectly to it’s musical score.
And the debut is all for you, the BSA readers.
See Carlos’ photos of Greg hitting up a wall on BSA from this week.
I think I missed the morning rush today because I hit the street earlier than usual… and got a seat on the subway (!) because I woke up at 5 a.m. thinking about Papandreou, Berlusconi, Merkel, Obama, and the 3 ring circus shaping up as the 2012 election. The great thing about worldwide impending calamity is, political hypocrisy and economic depression makes artists dig deeper for ways to portray both. That’s why we’re starting today’s Fun Friday with hi-larious satire by the number 16 puncher of all time, Mike Tyson. Always look at the sunny side peepul!
1. CAIN! Mike Tyson for Herman Cain 2012
2. K-Guy’s solo show “Iconic Irrigation”
3. TEEBS at Pawn Works (Chicago)
4. Gregory Siff’s solo “G” at The Site Unscene (LA)
5. Poster Boy in Brooklyn at Might Tanaka Saturday
6. Augustin Kofie “Circulatory System” at White Walls (SF)
7. “Art As A Weapon” (VIDEO)
8. “Luck Be A Lady” – a Frank Sinatra 1965 performance
Give it up for Mike Ya’ll! He don’t know karate but he knows KaRazy… just like in the Matrix!
Opening today to the public at the London West Bank Gallery, a solo show by Street Artist K-Guy, who’s political and social indictments range from Catholic Church hypocrisy to international banking scams portrayed as “crisis”.
For further information on this show click here
A multi-talented California based artist and musician, Mr Teebs’ solo show is called “Lady Luck” opening today in Chicago at Pawn Works Gallery.
To see the video click here
For further information regarding this show click here
Brooklyn born actor, film maker, Street Artist, fine artist Gregory Siff has his solo show “G” today in Los Angeles.
For further information on this show click here
See Greg hitting up a wall on BSA from this week.
There is only one, or maybe there are many, Poster Boy/s. The subterranean subway poster slicing hasn’t been so apparent for a minute, but maybe it’s because PB has been slicing at the old kitchen table in preparation for a proper show. “Not for Prophet” is the title, summoning up the Pharisees, the tax man, and the folks down on Wall Street. Let’s see who and what gets cut.
Augustin Kofie solo show “Circulatory System” opens tomorrow at the White Walls Gallery in San Francisco. Graffiti writer and fine artist. Old Skool Bomber. Wildstyle. Mid-Century Abstractionism. American Modernism. Choose One and Stick with it, right? Read our interview with him – Augustine Kofie in Studio
Jeff Durkin documentary “Art As A Weapon” explores the intersection of Street Art, Democracy and Buddhisim. View the film’s teaser here.
Jeff’s film is currently in production please help him complete his film with your generous contribution by clicking on the Kickstarter link below:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/artasaweapon/art-as-a-weapon
Stick with me baby I’m the guy you came in with.
California based Fine and Street Art artist and musician Teebs is currently in Chicago working on the last details for his solo show at Pawn Works Gallery. On this video he opens up and talks about being more in touch with his own feelings and having his brain spilled over onto the floor. He is experiencing a creative rebirth and inspiration comes to him from the simple things in life.
Teebs’ solo show “Lady Luck” at Pawn Works Gallery opens this Friday. Click here for more information.
Mexico City is plastered with plazas, throbbing with thoroughfares, and well stocked with statues of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It also has an active decentralized street art scene that is informed by it’s muralist history of the last century as well as the emerging international style.
And while the greater area of the city in the valley holds about 21 million people, you can spend and afternoon unperturbed in a downtown commercial square next to the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC Chapultepec), and wreck a wall with a few cans and a blackbook sketch.
Street Artist SEGO, an easy going and determined Street Artist, hops up and down the ladder, jogging back a few meters to check his progress and zooms back to the wall to build his image. As is common in work on the street, people stop by to comment, ask questions, and in one case, to sing a tribute to the art and the artist.
In cooperation with Gonzalo Alvarez at MAMUTT and Filmaciones de la Ciudad, SEGO debuts his new piece here on BSA just for you.
SEGO IN MEXICO Part II from Filmaciones de la Ciudad on Vimeo.
London continues to apply mud masks and disappearing creams in anticipation of presenting a sparkling face for the 2012 Olympics, and usually that would mean Street Art gets buffed right? Kind of. It’s a tricky position when Banksy has made your city a worldwide tourist destination for many and the Cans Festival is still talked about three years after it brought hundreds to a tunnel next to Waterloo Station. So Street Art persists for selected engagements in selected venues – with and without permission, as ever, despite the whole of UK being covered by millions of cameras.
Photographer Geoff Hargadon shares some images with BSA readers of his foot tour last month in Shoreditch. Part II will follow soon.
By now it has been very well documented that Monster Island in Williamsburg, Brooklyn has closed its doors after seven years of art exploration and experimentation with murals, art shows and music concerts. The building is set for demolition and it is rumored that it will be replaced by a Whole Foods Store.
During these years we’ve watched the exterior of Monster Island with great interest as it was an every-changing heaven for emerging artists to show their stuff to the public. The environment engendered creativity; With non for profit art galleries and performance spaces, an underground music venue, a surf shop, a screen-print studio, a recording studio, several artists studios and a family of lovely street cats, Monster Island was a symbol of what Williamsburg was all about; artists and community struggling to make cool stuff for each other and sometimes a big audience. Since the early 1990s, ad-hoc love-driven venues like this have opened and closed, along with art parties, loft performances, artist collectives, and a loose association of art galleries. The settlement of writers, dancers, bands, performers, and all sorts of artists helped give the area a decided edge, even if you couldn’t convince your Manhattan friends to come visit the neighborhood at night.
Now “The Edge” of course is the name of a corporate looking glass tower on the waterfront and the moderate frightened masses began their march to Williamsburg after the developers re-zoned 30+ blocks in North Brooklyn in 2005, transforming it quickly to a New York suburb with quirky, kooky shopping opportunities. It’s an old story, but we have to tell it; Now the rents are too high and the culture is increasingly inhospitable to artists and the Monster Island landlord has a different plan for the lot and the lease wasn’t renewed. Williamsburg is going upscale just like Manhattan and the rest of the city and for struggling artists and the venues that give them shelter and nurture them this is another reason why we are watching people move to other neighborhoods or out of New York altogether. In a way, this is what NYC is all about; Re-invention and greed.
We have been photographing the ever-changing facade of this building that was offered as a canvas for local and visiting artists all over the world to put their art up. Today we pay homage and say farewell to this iconic institution and to the people that endeavored to make it unique with a photo essay of the numerous murals that went up there since 2004. We have made an effort to identify most of the artists. Please let us know if you know the names of the artists we have tagged as unknown or if we erroneously credited a piece of art.