Features

A Night At The Opera With The London Police ; “Who Cares Wins”

November 17, 2011 Artists, Events, Features, Gallery, Interview, Manhattan, NYC, Opening, Street Talker Interview

Opening tonight, “Who Cares Wins” cares enough to make you laugh.

Bathed in the warm lucid glow that is the music of Pink Floyd, Bob and Chaz put finishing touches on their new New York show at Opera Gallery, compelled to sing along with two assistants while tightly touching up pieces with a brush or marker. The show is almost ready to be hung. On the sparkling white walls of this Soho gallery the everpresent LADS characters will be floating and cavorting throughout Manhattan space-scapes while handpicked celebrities, friends, and cultural icons bob into the frame. Among the active characters The London Police themselves are happily participating- like truly interactive players in their own pristine video game stills. After 13 years and 35 countries and a few personnel permutations, the LP lads are very happy to be making new art for you and having a bit of fun while doing it.

The London Police. Puppy love. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

On the floor are stacks of completed paintings leaning against the walls, waiting to be framed. We’re not used to seeing their canvasses, large and small, with black simple and elegant wooden floater frames.

“We thought it would add an architectural element to the work,” explains Bob.

It’s quite usual for London Police to use the symbols and architecture associated with the city they are in when creating new works for a show, always in crisp linear black and white. What’s new this time is their use of color – employed here as washes of pastels, backdrops that evoke uneven city walls and incorporating graffiti tags; an homage to New York and their own roots. It’s the first time they’ve done color together on canvasses, and they are taking it slowly, happily.

The London Police. Bob working on a piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: You went from dreaming in black and white to dreaming in color?

Chaz: I think the point is we always felt that there’s a whole world to explore. When we were ready to start with the black and white work we knew that once we opened the door to the world of color it would be a whole new world there too. Such is the way in London Police. We take something and we try to explore it fully before we move on.

Bob: Slowly as well, not jumping in and go too crazy. We like a slow evolution.

The London Police. Chaz working on a piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Change can advance very slowly sometimes.

Chaz: It is not just that, it is also about exploring that which you have already. We haven’t even discovered everything we can do with black and white. Just holding back so color does not overflow yet. We felt ready to go into color. It’s a big show. Erik from Opera called and say “hey guys we’d like to see something with color,” and we said to each other “we make mostly black and white, are you sure?” He said, “Just bring in a few pieces with color and let’s see what happens.” We are quietly pleased with the results. We’d like to take it further, explore it. We’d like to dive in.

Bob: It does not mean that if you are doing a big show you should lose control and say, “Oh yeah everything should have color. Loud and bigger.” We like the black and white because I think we can leave it in itself in a few things. Just like Chaz said we have not yet explored it fully. To be honest, with the color works, we just wanted to have fun.

Brooklyn Street Art: The colors are muted, pastels.
Bob: Yes the palette is muted in all the works with color simply because we like nothing to fight against the black and white subject. You never really see dark blues. We didn’t want to do a black and white and colored in some big scene. We felt that we wanted to try a different approach with the color, not drastically different.

Brooklyn Street Art: So the color in this case serves as a background?
Chaz: Yes like wallpaper.
Bob: The color gives some sort of a context to the characters. These swirls that Chaz makes are like tagged over. These layers on the canvas give the same context that the street gives – it’s a reference to the street.

The London Police. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chaz: It is like graffiti really – specifically New York doorways always inspire me. There’re doorways around the world that are tagged but with New York doorways, there is that beauty in seeing 50 tags on top of each other, wheat-paste being thrown off and a tag on top, and then stickers. These doors are rich with life. That’s why I always feel sort of romantic about graffiti.

I know that there’re a lot of people that have said it but I concur that I’d rather see a bunch of New York’s throw ups on a rooftop than a full commissioned color piece that is nice…in a way it says more when you see stuff on the street that is raw. Because we have not done so much stuff on the street in the last few years – we have been doing gallery work it is nice to revisit that style and hopefully, by doing a show like this we might make enough money that we can take a few months off and do other projects, get back on the street and work on other things.

The London Police. Bob and an assistant putting the final touches on a piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In addition to incorporating color, there are a number of languages being bandied about on these new pieces; new scripts and characters – their curvilinear characters bold and swinging, sharp and smart in the whirling pieces of New York City, seemingly placed by the settling of a shaken snow globe. The appearance of other languages is again appropriate for the melting pot that is New York, but what does it say?

Brooklyn Street Art: Here’s a new color piece with the Statue of Liberty on the foreground. Can you talk about the words written in Arabic?
Chaz: There are different languages. We have the gift of Google Translate. We translate The London Police into every available language that has a different alphabet and different fonts. Being that we are two people and that I mostly work on the characters it is a way for me to really enjoy another part of art. Making all these different fonts and enjoying different languages. I like it a lot. That’s one of my things to do. Bob does everything else.

Bob: (in jest) I don’t like it personally but I’m glad he is happy.
Chaz: He just wants to see me smile.

And The London Police want to see you smile, so they are planning a number of twists on the typical gallery opening tonight in hopes that you’ll break out in a big LOL, and sing from the choirbook; 17 songs about dogs that will be handed out at the event. Included with the charismatic Abner Preis performing, telling stories, and changing his voice. Additionally, there is some talk about the dog singers.

Brooklyn Street Art: What about the performances we’re hearing about at opening night?
Chaz: We are going to sing 17 songs about dogs… It is The London Police Dog Singers and a surprise guest appearance will be singing with us as the back up singers.

Why? Why not?

“It takes off the serious edge off the gallery art show because it is a little bit too serious some times,” says Chaz. “This is what is so special about making performance and making art: It is pure entertainment. If you are going to worry about what people think about it if they like it or not you are thinking wrong in my opinion.”

The London Police. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The London Police. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The London Police. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The London Police. Bob at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Looks like the Thanksgiving Parade is about to start. The London Police. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The London Police. Chaz and Bob. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Einstein peers back at you from this new canvas by The London Police. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The recently departed Steve Jobs in a new piece by The London Police. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The London Police. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The London Police floating in full color through a galaxy of tags. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further details about tonight’s LP opening click here

London Street Art Part II: Shoreditch Dispatch

November 16, 2011 Artists, Features, London, On the Street, U.K.

When you hit the street in search of street art, it helps if you keep you eyes AND mind open. On his trip to London for the Moniker Art Fair last month, photographer Geoff Hargadon had time to trek the East London neighborhood of Shoreditch and was usually surprised by what he caught. Old stuff like Fauxreel’s father on a ladder, and fresh new work going up before his eyes by Dabs and Myla next to Word to Mother.

A wide faced Anthony Lister stands at the gate (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Here he captures what he liked and what moved him regardless of how old or new it was. This is what Street Art is all about anyway – an ongoing conversation on the street that tells you as much about the artist as contemporary society. In a city that values it’s oldest architecture and its revered historical legacy, there is still plenty of room for the newest voices in the public sphere; even if officially unsanctioned, it is still permitted to ride a while. Sometimes, it is even invited.

The tagging conversation here is colorfully chaotic, a continuous piling up and covering of messaging with new messages and signatory statements. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

C215 placed behind bars. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Canary Flavour with txemy. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Swoon, Bast. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Word To Mother and Dabs & Myla sharing a wall for Moniker. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

The D*Face wall for Moniker. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

A splash of colour on Turville Street incorporates the natural elements of the urban environment into the scene . (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

And the first prize goes to Prize. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

By Don. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Elvis serenades, “I can’t help falling in love with you.” Juany. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

FauxReel, ACE, Bortusk Leer, and a beautiful pile of tires. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Faile, Specter. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Night Market. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

See Geoffs pics from last week in London’s Bricklane : A Few Shots of Street Art at the Moment

Monster Island in Williamsburg; 2004-2011

November 8, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, Features, NYC, On the Street

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.

Kid Acne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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.

Armsrock (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ripo and Maya Hayuk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“This Wall Could Be Your Life” was a 7-year project conceived, curated and solely funded by Maya Hayuk. “For the following seven years artists were invited from all over the world, given paint, space and freedom to create” Maya Hayuk. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This spring the Lilac bush outside the building was majestic. Punto and Blok’s mural on the background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wolfy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Noah Sparkes (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA pulls a rabbit out of a hog. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO and Zosen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO and Zosen working on a makeover. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Waldo with a hook looks on as an artist works on a makeover. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Troy Lovegates AKA OTHER. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Troy Lovegates AKA Other, Deuce 7 and Pork. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

YOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent and Hellcat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cat with Punto’s mural in the background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

I just finished my installation. Time to take a cat nap. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Spring 2011 model. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kyle Ranson and Oliver Halsman Rosenberg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Julia Langhof (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk. As a final collective event, a paint pour and block party was organized in September. Multiple artists went up to the roof and poured paint down the walls, a colorful blessing on the home that gave so many opportunities to artists and built community. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk. Paint Pour (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unknown artist painted this figure while the building awaits demolition. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Uphues gives the building a heart while it awaits demolition. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gregory Siff Across a Wall in Echo Park

November 7, 2011 Artists, California, Features, Los Angeles, On the Street

Brooklyn born artist and actor Gregory Siff continues in a casually deliberate way to be everywhere he can to garner your eyeballs. This weekend Carlos Gonzalez and his camera captured him stretching across a wall in LA as he prepares for his first solo show Friday at La Founderie, a huge raw warehouse in Echo Park with The Site UnScene. Attracted to primary colors and basic geometry, the sometimes Street Artist here explodes the grid, breathing a lot of space into his hand patterned designs. Looks like it was a beautiful sunny California day and thanks to Carlos for letting BSA readers have a look.

Gregory Siff (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Instagram it! Gregory Siff (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Gregory Siff (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Click on the link below to learn about Gregory Siff’s solo show on 11.11.11:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2011/11/07/the-site-unscene-presents-g-gregory-siff-solo-show-los-angeles-ca/

“Outpost: Art From The Streets” Sydney’s Own Mega Street Art Festival

November 2, 2011 Artists, Australia, Events, Features, On the Street, Opening, Street Art Festival, Sydney

The Outpost Project begins in two days on a former military outpost, Cockatoo Island, the largest island in Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. This city really knows the value of the Street Art scene and celebrates the contributions of artists to the cultural wealth of the people who live there.

The entire island is basically porn for Street Artists, and right now about 150 are readying work their magic ways on the industrial spaces. Artists like ROA, Ethos, KidZoom, Anthony Lister, Everfresh Collective, Os Gemeos, Swoon, Faile, and Banksy are on the bill and a number of other projects will be taking place simultaneously, including a Pro/Am skateboarding exhibition, a region art gallery, DJs, artist battles, and pop-up bars. The island becomes a canvas, and there is no admission. Um, are you coming?

Kid Zoom will be dominating the Turbine Shed with his project Kid Zoom: “Home”. Right now his home is split between Brooklyn and Perth, so he’s kind of a hometown boy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Another Brooklyn/Australia native, Anthony Lister will pepper the island with his signature characters grinning larger than life transposed on enormous balloons. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DMOTE will be involved in multiple projects but primarily on his own panel installation demonstrating new leaps and techniques he’s implementing in his ever-evolving style. (photo © Andrius Lippa)

Ben Frost is curating “Pastemodernism 3″ where every inch of surface area will be covered in wheatpasted posters from a slew of hand-picked artists. Probably the most populated exhibition of OUTPOST, “Pastemodernism 3” will include over 250 artists, both local and International. (photo © Andrius Lippa)

REKA. EVERFRESH STUDIO. The crew whose stellar lineup includes Phibs, Meggs, Rone, Reka, Sync, Prizm, Wonderlust, Stabs and Makatron will be tackling the East Apron Cliff Face with a tongue-in-cheek statement of the anti-graffiti rhetoric of yesteryear. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist Creepy: Project Ugly will sit gazing over the harbour displaying 20 panels from interstate street artists, including an onsite live painting on an industrial scale by Sydney figure Sprinkles and as well, Brisbane based Shida. Amongst the pre-created collection will be Above (San Francisco), Creepy and Daek (Last Chance Studios, Perth) and Drypnz (NZ). (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yok. Artery, located in the Dog Leg Tunnel will greet patrons upon first landing – being a sample of the creative tone to come including Meggs, Haha, Rone, Yok and Drewfunk amongst other featured Outpost Artists. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Also included will be the Oi You! Collection featuring the largest private collection of Banksy’s, amongst works by David Choe and Herakut. As well, live painting by Sao Paulo artist Ethos and Belgian monotone muralist Roa.

Banksy is going to participate, but how? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ETHOS. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Herakut. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

From the press release:

“The crown jewel of Sydney harbour, Cockatoo Island, a former military outcrop and penal colony will be transformed this November. In conjunction with the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust, witness the island wide invasion as aMBUSH Gallery launches a curatorial take-over – transforming the industrial monument into a battlefield of street-art. The Outpost Project will be the Southern-hemisphere’s largest Street Art Festival to date, with a projected 90, 000 visitors over the course of 5 weeks. Amongst a myriad of forums, educational programs, aMBUSH will bring to the table the nexus of content featured on the island.”

For further information and a complete list of participating artists, events and schedule please visit the sites below:

http://outpost.cockatooisland.gov.au/

http://www.ambushgallery.com/

Stencils: Simple, Small, Effective

October 26, 2011 Albany, Artists, Brooklyn, California, Chicago, Culver City, Features, L.A., Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, Manhattan, new york, NYC, On the Street, Queens, Venice Beach

One trend these days in the world of Street Art is to go lavishly large, big with a bang, gargantuan with gusto! Copius expanses of epic walls, scissor lifts, cases of cans and buckets of wheat-paste, an assortment of assistants, photographers, a public press release, and a panting play-by-play on social media as the Street Artist progresses across the cinder blocks. The desire to think big is a historical human inclination, from the pyramids to the Great Wall of China to Burj Khalifa to the works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude , we love gigantic work.

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Due to its completely democratic nature, the Street Art practice also includes the simplest, least showy, and anonymous pieces. Often we find little one-layer stencils, sprayed in ten seconds, to be just as interesting, and sometimes more powerful than the largest mural. Hidden, tucked away on the bottom of a doorway or a lamppost, the stencil is a fast way for an artist to get up and run, as fast as a sticker slap and just as effective. This collection of stencils recently collected in a few cities reminds us of those days when a lot of Street Art was not conspicuously installed and the works were small. The artists here are unknown to us but maybe you have seen them.

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don’t crack your knuckle! They’ll grow as big as the Ritz-Carlton. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Could be hallucinating but does this fly have a lion face? Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Even pugilists take a break. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Señor Conejo has an announcement. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“The Minotaur” in London’s Nether Regions

October 25, 2011 Artists, Events, Features, London, U.K.

Lazarides Gallery in London has a penchant for spectacular pop-ups in cavernous quarters, effecting a theatrical aura for the work of artists to take center stage. This month, Lazarides dives beneath the City of London, where there lies a complex system of tunnels and activities, including reportedly a military citadel – a bunker called Pindar. The Old Vic Theater, built in 1818, is located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London and just above an almost mythic installation by the gallerist this month. The tunnels and subterranean chambers housing “The Minotaur”, a collection of work by fine artists and Street Artists, add a clandestine mystery for the visitors who venture below. Combined with a program that can include dining and theatre, the mythic theme of the Minotaur is interpreted by the stable of artists to sometimes stunning effect.

Doug Foster (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Photographer and BSA collaborator Geoff Hargadon visited the exhibition and sends these exclusive images to BSA. The 16 international artists in the show, David Falconer, Sage Vaughn, Vhils, ATMA, Zak Ove, Doug Foster, 3D, Antony Micallef, Boxi, Conor Harrington, David Choe, Ian Francis, Jonathan Yeo, Lucy McLauchlan, Michael Najjar, Ron English, Stanley Donwood and Zevs.

If you have missed this, hurry because The Minotaur closes on October 25.

Zak Ove (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

ATMA (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Murdoch with friends. Vhils (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Murdoch with no friends. Vhils (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Sage Vaughn (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

David Falconer (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

The Dining Chamber (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

http://theminotaur.co.uk/exhibition/

New Street Art from Nuart 2011 in Norway

October 24, 2011 Artists, Features, Norway, Nuart, On the Street, Stavanger, Street Art Festival

Nuart 2011, the annual Street Art festival in Stavanger Norway, just wrapped with a small tight roster of international artists putting new murals and installations around this waterfront city of 120,000. An inventive late “Summer Camp” that has brought worldwide attention and fame to the city in the last decade, Nuart continues to creatively stretch and challenge it’s participants while putting them on the street, in the gallery, and in front of the classroom.

Lucy McLauchlan (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © Mookie Mooks)

It could be the electronic music festival, the wicked history of goth and black metal spawned here, or the nearly thousand year old cathedral downtown, but something smart skews the outlaw impulses of artists toward exploration here. Perhaps it’s just the contrast of this sharp manicured capital of culture playing host to an art movement associated with urban decay that feeds the uncanny tension in some of the work. Whatever it is, each year there is something of high caliber that helps keep Nuart fresh and relevant.

For Nuart 2011 eleven artists from seven countries worked to create installations, including an indoor exhibition in a complex of buildings that formerly housed a brewery. Participating artists were Dan Witz (US), David Choe & DVS1 (US), Vhils (PO), Herbert Baglione (BR), Dolk (NO), Lucy McCluchlan (UK), Herakut (DE), Tellas (IT), Escif (ES), HYURO (ES), and Phlegm (UK)

Lucy McLauchlan (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © CFSalicath)

Escif (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © CFSalicath)

Escif, Hyuro (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © John Rodger)

Hyuro (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © CFSalicath)

David Choe, DVS1 (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © CFSalicath)

David Choe, DVS1 (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © John Rodger)

Phlegm (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © CFSalicath)

Dan Witz (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © Dan Witz)

Dan Witz (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © John Rodger)

Dan Witz conducted the first ever Workshop for Children at Nuart with great success! (photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © John Rodger)

Herakut (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © Akut)

Herakut (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © CFSalicath)

Hera of Herakut (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © Mookie Mooks)

Herakut (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © John Rodger)

Dolk (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © CFSalicath)

With special thanks to the talented photographers: CFSalicath, John Rodger, Mookie Mooks and Akut.

To learn more about Nuart visit their site at:

http://www.nuartfestival.no

This article also appears on The Huffington Post

Nuart Presents: An Invitation to the launch of “Eloquent Vandals” (Stanvanger, Norway)

October 18, 2011 Artists, Book Review, Events, Norway, Nuart, Stavanger

Eloquent Vandals

INVITATION
ELOQUENT VANDALS – A HISTORY OF NUART NORWAY
————————————————————————————————————————–

WELCOME TO THE LAUNCH OF THE MUCH ANTICIPATED HISTORY OF NUART BOOK
TOU SCENE, ØLHALLENE
FRIDAY 28TH OCTOBER – 19.00

GUEST DJ’S, GIVE-AWAYS, OPEN BAR

ELOQUENT VANDALS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE ON THE NIGHT

Eloquent Vandals: A History of Nuart Norway [Hardcover]

Marte Jølbo (Editor), Martyn Reed (Editor)

Eloquent Vandals tells the story of how the Nuart festival has grown from a small underground festival to an Internationally acclaimed street art event. Without the usual restraints of corporate sponsorship or sales to consider, Nuart consistently brings out the best from some of the worlds leading Street Artists. This book offers an opportunity to look back over previous years and shows why Nuart is regarded as an important figure in the 21st century’s most dynamic and vital art movement. The book also tells the story of a movement that instead of fulfilling the criteria for modern art, created new arenas for art in the streets and on the Internet. The relationship between Street Art and the net is one of the things Steven Harrington and Jaime Rojo write about in ”Freed from the Wall, Street Art Travels the World”. This is one of three essays that have been written for the occasion by some of the most important and influential people in the field. Together with texts by Carlo McCormick, Tristan Manco, Martyn Reed, Logan Hicks and The Dotmasters we hope that this book can offer new reflections and perspectives on an art form that has been underestimated and under theorized for over a decade.

Anthony Lister Talks to BSA : Analysis and Constant Consideration

September 29, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, California, Features, Florida, Interview, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Miami, NYC, On the Street, San Francisco, Street Talker Interview, Venice Beach

“I’m like a hairdresser I guess.”

Painter Anthony Lister is also a Street Artist. His surreal pop and celebrity culture-infused abstractions are candy encrusted apples which may have something sharp inside. Many are figurative studies and wire frames bending wildly into characters who cavort and mock with blunt swipes of color, overlaid by costumed sexual role play… or is that a personal projection? Did I mention elegance, defiance, wit? Wait, there is so much here! Truth is, his work can be a cock-eyed psychological tempest, jarring to the head, strangely sweet.

A decade of discovery under his superhero belt, Mr. Lister continues to analyze and build his creative practice and it always includes work inside the gallery and outside on the street. He’s currently preparing for his solo show in Sydney called “Bogan Paradise” at Gallery A.S. At the same time he’s part of a group show with a gaggle of his Aussie expats on view at 941 Geary in San Francisco for “Young and Free”, including Kid Zoom, Dabs & Myla, Dmote, New2, Ben Frost, Meggs, Ha-Ha, Reka, Rone, Sofles and Vexta. Not to mention his participation in our show last month in Los Angeles at C.A.V.E. with Thinkspace, “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories“.

The artist took some time recently to talk to Brooklyn Street Art about his practice;

Brooklyn Street Art: How much of one of your painted portraits is autobiographical? In other words, what portion of Mr. Lister is super hero, super model, furtive schoolboy, or Homer Simpson?
Anthony Lister: I don’t really think about myself when I paint. My figurative works are more like reflections of characteristics I absorb from real life day to day.

Brooklyn Street Art: If you were to wear colored glasses, which color do you think you would most likely screen the world through?
Anthony Lister: Pink, like John Lennon.

Brooklyn Street Art: Francis Bacon said, “The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness.” Would you drink that cocktail?
Anthony Lister: Nice words. I agree.

Brooklyn Street Art: What role does analysis play in your creative process when bringing a painting to fruition?
Anthony Lister: Analysis is the outcome of considered processing. Constant consideration is crucial.

Brooklyn Street Art: A big piece you did on Metropolitan in Brooklyn – you reworked that face a couple of times over a period of months, producing what appeared as a slowly morphing image. Were you covering up tags, or were you unhappy with the original, or maybe combating the effects of age with a little nip and tuck?
Anthony Lister: When I re-work street paintings I think of it like I am a hairdresser. When something is in the public it has a different existence to something living privately in a residence. I’m like a hairdresser I guess.

Brooklyn Street Art: You have spoken about your work as reality, or a reaction to realities. What realities are you depicting these days?
Anthony Lister: I just finished a body of work for a solo show in Sydney. This next body of work is about contemporary Australian culture. The exhibition is titled “Bogan Paradise.”

Brooklyn Street Art: When you consider the Street Art scene that evolved around Melbourne, how would you characterize its nature in a way that differentiates it from the work in other cities around the world?
Anthony Lister: No different. This whole street art thing has sprung up post the turn of the digital revolution so it is on the Internet quick and the artists who inspire others and the ones who are easily inspired are constantly swimming in the same aesthetic pools of consciousness. Not to mention that most of the prominent artists travel lots so it is easy to see work of the same artist in multiple cities around the world at the same time.

Brooklyn Street Art: The titles you give your gallery pieces are entertaining, instructive, illustrative. Do you ever want to place a placard near a piece you’ve done on the street – just to make sure the message gets across?
Anthony Lister: No. My street practice is less thoughtful and therefore needs less commentary.

Brooklyn Street Art: When is a painting complete?
Anthony Lister: When it tells me so.

Want to see more work? Just “Lister” it.

www.anthonylister.com

Clown Soldier, Wing, Shin Shin, NohJColey, N’DA at “Living Walls : Albany”

September 15, 2011 Albany, Artists, Events, Features, new york, On the Street

A Special Report

Words by KC Orcutt

Photos by Bob Anderson

With Marketplace Gallery transformed into what is best classified as a sleep away art camp — complete with scattered sleeping arrangements, wheat pastes hung up on the gallery walls ready to greet the outside world, in progress portraits of some of the participating artists by White Cocoa and a healthy buzz of street art-fueled conversations late into the night — the past couple of days and nights have blurred together leading up to the debut of the Living Walls project in Albany, officially launching this weekend.

Away from the hustle and creation taking place both in the street, at the gallery and St. Joseph’s church, a conductor of sorts sits under a bridge in Rensselaer at the Art Park, overlooking Albany. The piece, as created by Clown Soldier, puts a figure in command of the happenings of the city from a detached control station. One can’t help but picture the happenings in Albany in relation to the Living Walls as beneath the futuristic bubble Clown Soldier created. The tag line that organically manifested surrounding the Living Walls in Albany — “This Is Happening In Your City” — is setting in.

Kitty corner to the Clown Soldier piece is another Living Wall where Shin Shin and Wing collaborated under the massive support of the bridge in Rensselaer. The pair got to work using a bright palate environmentally fitting for the open industrial space, creating a natural and whimsical balance on the surface of the bridge’s support.

NohJColey, Depoe and N’DA also got down in Rensselaer, working over the course of several days on large-scale pieces, bordering existing (and aging) public murals, while also bouncing in between St. Joe’s church, where Living Walls installations are coming into form from a multitude of artists, local and beyond.

N’DA and NohJColey lend a hand to Shin Shin with the installation of one of her Golden Trees at St. Joe’s Church (photo © Bob Anderson)

Cake at Living Walls: Albany

September 14, 2011 Albany, Artists, Events, Features, new york, On the Street

Street Artist Cake brought her hand painted people to Albany yesterday, with these portraits of a “wondrous traveler”named Saige. A fine artist who makes one of a kind wheate-pasted pieces as a means of therapy and tribute, Cake has a unique style that is at once melodic and medical, enabling the viewer to have x-ray vision. Recently Cake has been introducing metallic, as in these two new pieces using silver leaf.

Learn more about Cake and see Jaime Rojo’s photos of her work in our recent interview with her on Juxtapoz.

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