Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening:
1. Chris Pape: The Freedom Tunnel via VICE
2. SOFLES: The Humble Rollerdoor
3. Stargazing Mojave/Joshua Tree National Park
4. Angel and Z Podcast Interview NECKFACE
5. Tripl Stays True to the Name

BSA Special Feature: Chris Pape: The Freedom Tunnel

All time Top 10 stories in NYC graffiti lore will invariably name-check the “Freedom Tunnel,” so called in the 1980s because of its most famous writer, Chris “Freedom” Pape. You may not know where it is located, but you know that it is cavernous, that the sun is filtered into it from grates above like jolts of raw power, and that it is also home to many New Yorkers who are off the grid. That’s just one of the many ironies of calling this “Freedom Tunnel.”

One of the revelations of this intimate interview is that Freedom is rational in his rather laissez-faire approach to people and painting, preferring his own counsel and leaving others to theirs without judgment. These could be the gifts of later life on display – certainly rarely heard sentiments from your average vandal. He says he chose the tunnels as a strategy to avoid the withering criticism that he heard other writers had of train pieces while reviewing passing cars. An illustration painter, his time-intensive works based on more classical fine art works and techniques were unusual on the graffiti scene, perhaps presaging the coming Street Art movement.

SOFLES: The Humble Rollerdoor

With his customary ease and can-control panache, SOFLES is aided here by sophisticated variations in pacing, focus, gaze of the camera. Drop in a few visual glitches and slights of hand – all against a non-background audio that sounds like pouring rain, and he takes us somewhere else again, again.

Stargazing Mojave/Joshua Tree National Park

Is life magic? Are there holes in your dreams into which birds can drop into? Is the earth in movement at all times, always dancing? Yes, it is.

Angel and Z Podcast Interview NECKFACE

It doesn’t get better than this. Interview with a writing/fine art legend in a fleabag hotel. Who knows what kind of wisdom he’s about to lay on you.

Tripl Stays True to the Name

Okay okay okay you win!

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