Fine artist Fintan Switzer has been leaving his studio and going outside recently to experience the fresh air and to explore what it’s like to paint walls. From Michaelangelo to the erotic wall painting of Pompei to the great Latin American muralists of the the last century like social realist David Alfaro Siqueiros and the firebrand Diego Riveira, we have been addressing issues of class and social station with paintings on walls for a very long time. With this in mind, Switzer has been creating his social themed realist oil portraits that appear to break free from the walls of Killarney in the south of Ireland.
Mr. Switzer talked briefly to BSA and explained his interest in “Silver Inheritance,” his most recent foray into the outdoors.
“Indoors you are confined to the dimensions of your canvas and your studio. Painting outdoors offers you the freedom to use the surroundings and merge your piece with the setting.
The title ‘Silver Inheritance’ is a play on the expression ‘born with a silver spoon’, I don’t know if the expression is used much in the States but it means to be born into a wealthy family. The character in the painting is working class, a labourer condemned to a life of hard work and low wages, living on the margins of society. His inheritance is his family’s social class, lifestyle and a future of unrelenting marginal existence”
R E Z O L U T I O N
7 Artists will converge upon The Hive art space in Phoenix, Arizona on December 16th 2011 for the group show titled Rezolution (Resolution).
Rezolution (spelled with a Z instead of an S), is a focus on 7 artists who have experienced Native American Reservation life first hand and know the historical as well as the daily modern struggles, triumphs, smiles and cries better than anyone else in the so called American Dream Land. A popular term amongst Native people refers to these communities and land areas simply as “The Rez”.
Douglas Miles is an Apache artist from the San Carlos Apache Nation although he has already been recognized internationally and nationally for the last decade and more, Miles has recently gained the attention of the southern California gallery and street style art scenes. Miles brings stark depictions of strength with his stencils and illustrations of contemporary Apache women and warriors, while incorporating elaborate hand written typography that is heavily influenced by inner city “Cholo” writing which has its origins in Los Angeles.
Chip Thomas, a doctor on the Dine(Navajo) Reservation for the last 24 yrs, has recently taken inspiration from international street artists like Blu, JR, Os Gemeos, Gaia, and others by starting his own series of giant wheat paste murals from images that he has photographed and documented since first moving to Shonto, Az in 1987. Although not Navajo himself, Chip has seen a lot of love and support from his community of Shonto Arizona, as well as heavy outside criticism.
In addition to Doug and Chip: Anthony “Thosh” Collins (Photographer), Razelle Benally (Film Maker), Dwayne Manuel (Painter), Tom Greyeyes (Painter) and local Phx muralist Breeze will be participating. All 7 artists know what it means to live on a “Rez”, and have taken their experiences of everyday life, cultural identities and harnessed them into positive creativity through contemporary Photography, Film, Brush Painting, Charcoal, Graffiti Art, Propaganda, Stencils, Wheat Paste, Spray Paint, and more.
In many ways, the tool known as Art is now a modern warrior’s weapon and resource in being a voice for the at times seemingly forgotten original inhabitants. Rezolution is a platform to exhibit various styles and educate the unaware and unknowing populations about contemporary Native life, art work and the missions to break stereotypes and presumptions of what mainstream society portrays and exploits the American Indian as.
The imagery in this show will be truthful, abstract, blunt, surrealistic and ironically foreign to many eyes looking in from the outside.
李小龍, the Chinese American martial artist and cultural icon otherwise known as Bruce Lee, is receiving a giant tribute by New York Street Artist Cern in Williamsburg, Brooklyn right now.
Over the course of a couple of weeks, this psychedelic scene has unwound from the longtime graffiti artist Cern’s imagination, an interwoven gently surreal color spectacle of traditional Chinese imagery; dragons, pagodas and pines, combined with a frisky feline and fully formed Cern birds from the artists own visual vocabulary. The ephemeral dream washes across the facades of two buildings, framing the commanding image of the master. Brought along for the trip are the inflateable Cern paintings that the artist is experimenting with, and who bring a cheerful bobbing third dimension to the worksite, augmenting the process and producing a curious stream of onlookers. Or is that a stream of curious onlookers?
We found Cern commanding his cherry picker, doing his mid-air wizardry on a beautiful autumn day perched along this wall that has been a very well known spot for Street Artists over the last decade or more. An abandoned piece of property while Williamsburg was of no interest to anyone but the artists who came here seeking large industrial spaces and places to create, many will recall these walls as a magnet to Street Artists like Cake, Feral, Dain, MOMO, Matt Siren, El Sol 25, Hellbent and many more, who were attracted to its beautiful decay and stately demeanor. With the advent of people with money (and strollers) moving in, the former dye factory is now becoming, what else, a martial arts center. With Cern’s help, the new work keeps artists in the mix.
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.
Ludo. Still Image from the Video.
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.
Ludo. Still Image from the Video.
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.
“In Flagstaff, Az there is an effort on the part of the Navajo and Hopi tribes against using reclaimed waste water to make snow on a local ski resort, The Snowbowl. Thirteen surrounding tribes hold the San Francisco peaks, where the fake snow is to be made, a sacred mountain. the tribes believe that deities within their respective cosmologies reside there. To use reclaimed waste water is considered a desecration in a place where indigenous people go regularly to pray, collect herbs and to be in the presence of the holy ones” Jetsonorama
To see more images and to continue reading go here
On the Navajo Reservation the built environment tends more toward the horizontal than say, Manhattan. The similarity is that the man made structures for both are constructed on soil first belonging to the proud tribes of people we now call “Native Americans”.
Arizona based Street Artist Jetsonorama calls the Navajo Rez home and it is here where he plans most of his installations of wheat-pastes. The flat lands and sun parched structures, sometimes crumbling back into the dust, provide a suitable open-air gallery for his photos. The images are not somber, rather they are pulsing with life and possessing some urgency as if to remind you that these places are very alive and life stories are unfolding here.
These recent pieces are at the Cow Springs Trading Post. Judging from the scene, not much trading takes place there nowadays but Jetsonorama enlists its walls one more time to display the inhabitants of the area.
Belgian Street Artist ROA visited Mexico in January (see “ROA’s Magic Naturalism”) and now we have a video of his large installation in Mexico City. Whether in the detritus of the big metropolis or the bucolic country landscape, his unique and now iconic images of dead and alive animals rendered in perfect monochrome palette are never out of tune with their surroundings. Perhaps one key element in achieving this sense of context is ROA’s insistence on using as subjects the animals native to the land where he is painting.
ROA was invited by the art promoter MAMUTT ARTE in collaboration with the Antique Toy Museum Mexico (MUJAM). In the country for 3 weeks, ROA left about 15 murals in various locations like Mexico City, Guanajuato and Puebla and also collaborated with Mexican artists Saner & Sego.
This weekend brings a Spring bounty of delicious Street Art related openings in many cities across this great country of ours. But FIRST, this OLD SKOOL Romanic Boogie Down Production …
Pump Up the Sculpture Jam from SAM3
Sticker Phiends in AZ
Tempeh is a soy product and meat substitute originally from Indonesia. Tempe is a city in Arizona that is hosting the 4th giant Sticker Phiends show tonight. Stickers continue to grow in influence in Street Art and in private collections in black books and refrigerator doors and this is a cool show that gives them away and sells them. They have limited edition “Sticker Phiends” tee-shirts designed by Brooklyn street art collective Robots Will Kill. Also cold beer. Possibly tempeh too because Chris RWK is a good veggie.
FREE HANDOUTS provided by our sponsors
ALL ART for $ale!
Limited Merch for $ale!
Drinks with ID – 21+
Opens at 8pm April 8th!
Cartel Coffee Lab
25 w. University Dr.
Tempe, AZ.
480-225-3899
Some of the names include:
Abcnt, Age, Dolla, DumperFoo, Dissizit/Slick, 123 Klan,Griffin One, Clown Soldier, Mad One, Mat Curran, MBW, 20 MG, Obey, Pez One (U.K.), Sike’, U.W.P., Seizer One
The Carmichael Gallery will be throwing a memorable opening party for Martha Cooper’s REMIX show and, lazy hyperbole aside, this one is one NOT to miss.
Photographs by Martha Cooper
with
Original remixes of these photographs in a range of media by Aeon, John Ahearn, Aiko, Bio, Nicer & B-Gee, Blade, Blanco, Mark Bode, Burning Candy, Victor Castillo, Cey, Cekis, Claw, Cosbe, Crash, Dabs & Myla, Anton van Dalen, Daze, Dearraindrop, Jane Dickson, Dr. Revolt, Shepard Fairey, Faust, Flying Fortress, Freedom, Fumakaka, Futura, Gaia, Grotesk, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm, LA II, Lady Pink, Anthony Lister, The London Police, Mare 139, Barry McGee, Nazza Stencil, Nunca, José Parlá, Quik, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Sharp, Skewville, Chris Stain, Subway Art History, Swoon, T-Kid, Terror161 and more.
Carmichael Gallery
5795 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
April 9 – May 7, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 6-8pm
Click on the link below for more information regarding this show:
In San Francisco ROA will have his opening at the White Walls Gallery with his iconic paintings of nature’s marginalized animals in large scale. Ever the hard worker, ROA paints non stop year round all over the globe on surfaces that are challenging, like this one on the side of a mobile home. If you have only seen his art on line and if you are in San Francisco this Saturday, it’s your turn!
For more information about this show contact the gallery.
White Walls Gallery
835 LARKIN ST.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 94109
Phone: 415.931.1500
Chor Boogie in Washington DC
While the Rich Man Party of NO! brings the country to a halt in the Capitol, Chor Boogie will be bringing much needed healing color to Washington DC at The Fridge Gallery.
Chor Boogie is an artist, a conceptual genius, a street romantic, a master of illusion and technique, Chor Boogie is an original. His works can be described as having healing effects by his unique and unmatched use of color, which brings greater meaning and understanding to his works. Every vibrant piece has a story attached to it. Chor Boogie’s colorful paintings are attracting A-list celebrities, art galleries and museums. Originally from San Diego, the artist known as Chor Boogie currently resides in San Francisco but is an internationally known artist and has traveled extensively to exhibit his work around the world.
The Fridge is located at
516 8th Street, SE
REAR ALLEY
Washington, DC 20003
David Ellis and Blu in a collaboration of a loop video from 2009
Yo Son the Boyz from Queens are Comin out With New Jams Next Month!
Mad One Here is the run down of “Sticker Phiends” IV presented by” Mad One and some fliers to post if you all could do that would be greatly appreciated!! Send them out in your newsletters, blogs, sites etc..
April 8th 2011 Opening Reception
Featuring art by today’s top street artists, graphic designer’s and sticker makers & others!
Art By:
Abcnt
Age
Cryptik
Dolla
DumperFoo
123 Klan
Griffin One
Clown Soldier
Mad One
Matt Curran
20 MG
Obey
Pez One
Sike’
U.W.P.
Seizer One
& MANY OTHERS!!
Funky beats by:
-Sweaty Hot Junk
-Sick Duppy
-One Son
-Awb
FREE HANDOUTS provided by our sponsors
ALL ART for $ale!
Limited Merch for $ale!
Drinks with ID – 21+
Opens at 8pm April 8th!
Cartel Coffee Lab
25 w. University Dr.
Tempe, AZ.
480-225-3899
Ernesto Yerena knows about borders. The Mexican-American has been crossing them since he was born on the national border in tiny El Centro, CA.Now the 24 year old is crossing the border from Obey Giant studio assistant to featured artist in his first solo show at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco this Saturday.
For the past few months Ernesto has been at work in his garage/studio in Los Angeles preparing. With help of the talented photographer Todd Mazer, we get to see these exclusive images of Ernesto finishing his final piece for the show, “Ganas 20/20”.
For someone with an acute eye and the sensitivity of an artist, growing up in a border town 15 minutes from Mexicali, daily life in such a culturally rich and tumultuous environment can also be a wellspring of inspiration. The mundane, daily crossing over the border after school as a boy to visit with his grandmother and family in Mexicali, gave him insight into the complex lives of families who just happen to be geographically sprouted along an invisible political dotted line.Today that dotted line has razor wire that cuts everyone it touches.
Ernesto began some cutting of his own when he received a stencil cutting set for his tenth birthday from his grandfather. During time away from his business painting cars and doing auto-body repair, his father encouraged the boys’ painting projects and showed him how to cut stencils. As a youth Ernesto felt motivated and supported by his family to go to art school and sharpen his artistic skills.
As he got older, the geopolitical realities of the harsh cultural and social landscape where he was growing awakened his intellectual curiosity and desire to better understand his social surroundings.
A teen listening to his own bi-national music collection including Public Enemy and Mexican rockers Mana, he got a better handle on the underlying racism and social inequities that plague the American landscape. When his artistic chops got him an opportunity at age 19 to work alongside Shepard Fairey, the street artist known for frequently incorporating social justice and political themes into his work, Ernesto found a stronger voice.
Ernesto’s world of two countries, difficult border life, socially conscious music, a deep interest in history and human rights have prepared him to face, as an artist, the recent fierce issue of immigration in this country and in Arizona in particular. In collaboration with Shepard he produced, at his imprint “Hecho Con Ganas” or HCG, one of the posters that protesters in Arizona have used as a tool to denounce the racist and demonizing rhetoric coloring the immigration debate as well as SB1070, a bill that codifies racial profiling into law.
This Saturday night Ernesto crosses another invisible border as the White Walls Gallery provides a space for his new work in his first solo show.
Ernesto’s solo show “Ganas 20/20” Opens this Saturday, November 13 at the White Walls Gallery in San Francisco. The gallery is located at 835 Larking Street. San Francisco, CA. 94109
Thanks again to photographer and videographer Todd Mazer for these images he shot exclusively for Brooklyn Street Art.
Political postering has a long tradition in the public space – from slick to goofy to earnest to comic, everyone can get into the game of smacking their opinions on a wall or staking it onto a patch of grass. Street Artist Yote has jumped into the ring this year by putting his hand-painted signs amidst the forest of political missives along streets in Arizona.
In Yote’s case, it’s more of a plea for tolerance and brotherhood rather than a shill for a specific vote. Always a fanastic money maker for politicians and even religious leaders, the flames of good old fashioned racism have been fanned again this year. Here’s to the one-person campaign to dampen their enthusiasm.
Yote spoke to BSA about the background for his personal/political campaign called “Bienvenidos”.
“A few days after Governor Jan Brewer signed SB1070 into law she signed HB2281. 2281 bans all ethnic studies programs in public High Schools in the state of Arizona.
Last Thursday and Friday were two events for Ethnic Studies Week here in Prescott, AZ. I donated t-shirts I silk screened saying “Eduquémonos,” meaning “Educate Ourselves.” As well as some “Bienvenidos” stickers for them to sell. I was excited to hear that hundreds of dollars were raised for the Ethnic Studies Defense Fund from those two events. I also donated 50 “Bienvenidos” yard signs for the defendants and students to take back to Tucson.
As the sunset on Saturday Night a couple friends and I descended into Phoenix to add our voices to the political dialogue. Methodically we followed the light rail from North Phoenix to Mesa installing yard signs at every intersection already littered with political campaign signs.
We continued on to Guadalupe, a small town that in part inspired this project. My friend who runs The Garage Bike Shop there had told me a lot of people had left over the summer. Moved on to other places where they would have more security. In the shopping center where his shop is they were down to only a few business still open. Leaving about 20 vacancies. When I was there last fall every storefront was open. There was so much life and abundance then, now its just quiet. But my friend tells me the people who are here, are here to stay. They are ready to ride out whatever else is coming.
Then we headed north to the arts district and hit a few more spots in central Phoenix before finally ending the night on McDowell in West Phoenix. Over 100 signs were distributed throughout Phoenix. Keep an eye out for more appearing all over the rest of the state leading up to the November 2nd election.
Arriving home just before sunrise I was exhausted but felt elated to be participating in the immigration debate. As the election nears I hope “The Bienvenidos Campaign” can help shift the Immigration debate into a more constructive conversation. I also hope businesses and communities embrace the image to represent the hope for safer and healthier communities.
Here is a great trailer for a new documentary about some students experience in the Raza Studies program in Tucson, AZ. http://vimeo.com/15062646
Hospitality is one of our virtues throughout history… Along with periodic phases of racism and immigrant bashing.
For Fall 2010, brown is the new black and Arizona is working the runway with Jan Brewer on the catwalk! But let’s not all lose our heads, neighbors. Street Artist YOTE is firing up the grill and putting the ignorance on ice to welcome the Spanish speakers for an Indian Summer barbecue in Arizona (which used to be part of Mexico).
“Bienvenidos”; It’s Biblical, for those who profess to live by the teachings of that book. Judeo-Christian values. Welcome, Bienvenidos. The Pilgrims certainly relied on those values when arriving to Plymouth for a better life and the American Indians practiced hospitality even without reading the guests’ holy book..
Since this is campaign season in the US and Arizona symbolizes the most recent immigrant-bashing wave, Street Artist YOTE has created colorful messaging to at least divert some of the hate toward a more sane and healthy discussion about immigration in this country. The “Bienvenidos” Campaign posters are meant to remind the kind-hearted among us to speak up and practice hospitality to the newest immigrants in our midst. To raise funds for his signs (as all real campaigns must) he’s got a limited edition of signed posters for your house. The proceeds of the sales of this poster will help him fund his project.
YOTE describes the campaign:
“Over the summer of 2010 I have experienced very contradicting feelings for the state of Arizona. It was not hard to see how laws like 1070, 2281 and 287(g) have caused fear to spread through local communities, the state, and the rest of the country. By juxtaposing the Arizona state flag with the word “Bienvenidos”, I hope to spread a positive and affirming message throughout our communities. This symbol will appear as a political campaign sign leading to the November 2nd election. Additionally this symbol will appear as a sticker for residences, business and rebels who wish to express that all people are welcome in their homes, stores and communities. My intention is that the “Bienvenidos” symbol will spread throughout the state to be both a visible resistance to laws like 1070 and a representation of the hope for safer communities in the state of Arizona and beyond. All proceeds from the limited edition of signed posters will go to the production of “Bienvenidos” campaign signs and stickers. Thank you.”
Street Artists in sunny Gray Mountain, Arizona took a trip to the Navajo Reservation this weekend to hit one of their favorite abandoned sites. The juxtaposition of their work on the storage tanks as sculptures against the AZ sky somehow makes their impact profound. Add to this the fact that the three hadn’t realized their individual pieces would all carry a central theme of fertility until installing them, and the site could take on a mystic quality. Or maybe they were just freaking themselves out chewing on some peyote.
The unplanned coincidence began to take on an added dimension as Joerael worked on his fertility medicine man character and Jetsonorama installed the mother and child image. Yote’s rabbit, a traditional symbol of fertility, and ear of corn, a symbol of harvest, finished the theme. Whether the theme arose from the land or from like minds, this co-incidental installation is further evidence of the fertile soil that the current street art crop is planted in.
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
