Manhattan

Images of the Week: D*Face Drama in NYC With 3 Murals in 1 Week

March 11, 2012 , , , , , , ,

It’s true that the art fairs descended on New York this week. Equally true is that the multiple fairs don’t just bring rivers of collectors and dealers and Looky-Loos, these teeming steaming orgiastic fuster-clucks with names like Poke, Stroke and Fountain also can bring in a wave of the Street Artists! Look at the seven days alone with BSA posts on LA’s Retna, Tel Aviv’s Know Hope and todays’ very special edition King of Images of the Week, D*Face!

D*Face “Love Lost”. The first and largest mural to go up. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face, one of Street Art’s original British invaders, hit up New York with three new murals this week (two in Williamsburg, one in SOHO) employing sharply graphic pop lines and a humorously tart tongue to create works of high drama. With themes of lust, treachery and broken promises, the D*Face miniseries was streamed live on the street with no cover charge or icy art matron scanning through her iPad list for your name.

D*Face “Love Lost”. The first and largest mural to go up. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face “Love Her, Hate Him”. The second mural in SOHO. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face “Love Her, Hate Him”. The second mural in SOHO. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face “Love Her, Hate Him”. The second mural in SOHO. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The final mural D*Face did was on Friday in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. While nicely sunny, the wind whipped through often enough to keep his fingers cold and his collar up. But on days like this New York can feel like a small town and the icy weather didn’t prevent a small group from hanging out, helping the artist and entertaining one another. Producer Stephen Thompson, photographer Jason Lewis and videographer Cliff Cristofarah took turns making observations, cracking jokes, fiddling with the music, and checking out the local parade as it scurried by.

For an additional feeling of street art community, Futura sauntered by to say hello and to offer entertaining stories and even go on a run for refreshments; water, coffees, and Mexican Coca Cola (with real sugar!).  With Rob and Cliff taking turns at their MP3 players and the speakers blasting a bit of a 70s arena rock tribute (The Who, Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath), a couple of bike dudes came by to practice their tricks with a dog in the backpack.

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe these new pieces in New York?
D*Face: All the pieces surround the notion of ‘Love’, ‘Loss’ and ‘Longing’, all drawn from recent personal experiences, everything I create is pulled from experience personal to me, hopefully people will also connect to them too.  I have three new pieces so I wanted to get three good spots with as much visibility as possible, the larger the better.

Brooklyn Street Art: Will you get a chance to skateboard while you’re here?
D*Face: Unfortunately not. I love this city for skateboarding, but I wont get to do much other than paint walls and hopefully cut loose and party a bit.

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you talk about where your work is going thematically now?
D*Face: Thematically my work always draws upon personal experiences, whether thats the saturation of media in our lives, our fascination with celebrity and stardom or more singular experiences such as the loss of loved ones, searching your heart for love or holding people close when you should be letting them go.

I mostly rework old imagery that I’ve discovered, chopping bits of one or several images with another to create a new image that I feel is more relevant to today’s society and certainly the message I want to get across. So thematically its a continuation, it just has several veins that it runs off into.

Brooklyn Street Art: It feels like the Occupy Wall Street movement may have taken up some of the same punk aesthetics and energy that you were first drawn to.  Is your work changed or affected at all by OWS?
D*Face: Haha! No not at all, but there’s always someone more punk than you, punk!

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Reworking the vocabulary of advertising and the practice of culture jamming can be very effective as education. Do you think of your work as message-driven?
D*Face: Yes, first and foremost my work has to have a concept, an idea, a message, it’s that which drives my work. Conceptually I’m always trying to push my ideas, push myself, keep myself excited and interested. I don’t want to stand still and see the growth of my work as a flik book, by that I mean small evolutions over time, what I want are solid chapters, which carry a thread of thought linking them all together.

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: What role does humor play in your stuff?
D*Face: Oh its massively important, life is pretty heavy at the best of times, so even serious messages or thoughts don’t have to be heavy in execution, even the dark thoughts or concepts in my work I hope are executed in a poppy way, I want to draw people in first, get them to appreciate the aesthetic, then hopefully they start to question the image, its content, its meaning. If they don’t and appreciate it only on its surface value then thats fine. I don’t want to ram messages, political, religious, consumerist or otherwise down peoples throats in a way that burdens life’s load.

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg reflected on the side window of a vintage Ford Falcon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg. Stephen Thompson his producer and assistant showing some back handed technique and snaazy foot wear.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: You’ve had some serious success in galleries. Why is it still important to you to hit the street today?
D*Face: I’m privileged to have the gallery success I do. I thank everyone that has supported me and my work over the years, to live as an artist, support my family, employ artists to help me, is an amazing opportunity and something I wake up thankful of everyday.

Whilst I love gallery shows and the opportunity to work in a gallery, it brings with it the ability to create different works, execute concepts and play with space in a different way, but you have to want to see ‘art’ or know about the artist or the gallery to see that work, galleries can be intimidating places, I don’t want that, I want my work to be inclusive, not exclusive, so putting work in the streets is the most effective way of doing this.

You can’t beat the feeling of painting in the street, interacting with people, hearing their views, thoughts and ideas on what it is your painting… you know you get to bring the unsuspecting public in, people that may have no interest in art, never walked in a gallery, suddenly when faced with a painting in the street have a different take, a different perspective… it’s really, really interesting, that interaction, even if they don’t like it, you’ve still changed their day, opened their eyes, hopefully you might get them to LOOK at their surroundings and not just see.

D*Face. Doing a bit of mixiology.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Stephen takes D*Face and Futura’s portrait.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura tagging a dollar bill for D*Face. (He did one for Word To Mother as well).  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Two local kids and a puppy.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cliff gets the law of the land.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Painting the three dimensional part of the mural in the studio.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face. Third mural in Williamsburg.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With special thanks to the Corey Helford Gallery for helping coordinate these murals  and to Rob at Thunderdog Studios for hosting us on the Williamsburg sidewalk.

 

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Street Poet Know Hope is “Stampeded” In The East Village

March 10, 2012 , , ,

“All the limbs were fully outreached,

in spite of them being humbled; each

in different and specific ways” *

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Poet of the street Know Hope is in New York this week contemplating walls and occupying space. He spent some time in the East Village creating a new wall called “Stampeded” with Keith Schweitzer of MaNY Projects.  The Israel based Street Artist uses his figures, with their bending poses and tormented hearts, to enact the stories of the world. Confident and deliberate, Know Hope traces an internal dialogue known mostly to the painter, but also to you if you care to observe.

 

“And it’s through this tainted anthem

and its two-timing confessions that we’re

hinted that with all these walls

all we could really use is a mirror.

 

And the mirror reflects and reflects and it’s

because of it’s reflection and of its fainted

hymn that we realize how tired we all

are.” *

 

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The angular and contorted limbs of the figures are not dissimilar to those of the artist, and the poetic storylines are not unlike the battles of those who walk by. Quietly, this is a poet with a brush and a pot of paint.

We asked him if he writes the poem first then paints it. He said that sometimes the words come to him as he paints, but he does not consider himself to be a poet – not in the strict meaning of the word. But we disagree, of course.

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope “Stampeded” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Time Lapse Video of Know Hope, “Stampeded” By MaNY Projects:

 

The project was produced by Keith Schweitzer of MaNY Projects in conjunction with Fourth Arts Block (FAB).

* poetry by Know Hope, from “Bound by the Ties: Side-seen Moments” by Know Hope and Coin Bleus

To learn more about MaNY Projects click here.

To learn more about Fourth Arts Block click here.

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Fun Friday 03.09.12 Armory Week BSA Picks

March 9, 2012 , , , , ,

Hells yes, it’s the invasion of the art fairs in New York – and all the associated events around them, including Bushwicks Beat Night and Williamsburg’s Arts Not Fair in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn and many galleries have special programming planned for the weekend around the city. The big fish is the Armory, which is apparently taming itself down a bit if last nights opening was any indication, and their door is a hefty $30 – boutique indeed.  But the hardy street art fan never pays anyway, from what we’ve seen.

Also this weekend are Fountain, PooL Art, Scope New York, Volta , Art Now, and Theorize which are more affordable or free and can be a lot more interesting frankly. Or, just hang out on the street with your bagged container and check out the street art on selected streets and abandoned lots in neighborhoods like the L.E.S, Bowery, Chelsea, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, Red Hook, Long Island City, Dumbo. It’s cheap and you might get invited inside for a party if you bring a couple cans of beer. As you know, it doesn’t cost money to access the creative spirit.

1. Armory Arts Week
2. Fountain
3. Volta
4. Scope
5. Lisa Enxing at Le Salon d’ Art
6. Ambush Gallery, “Project 5, Volume 4”
7. “Beat Nite”
8. “Hyper/Hypo” at Secret Project Robot
9. OBLVN “100 Paintings at Klughaus Gallery
10. Jef Aerosol “Hot Spots” @ Galerie Austral
11. Street Artist Ives.One (Video)

For further information regarding Armory Arts Week click here

Fountain

(Images © Steven P. Harrington)

This year Fountain has provided a 200 foot long wall for a slew of Street Artists, including Chris Stain, Know Hope, GILF, Imminent Disaster, Joe Iurato, LMNOP, Elle, ShinShin, LNY, Cake, En Masse, Sophia Maldonado, Hellbent, Radical! and Wing. See some behind the scenes photos posted yesterday here.

Joe Iurato at Fountain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LNY will be at Fountain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fountain include a great line up of galleries that promote, support and represent Street Artists including:  Kestin/Ray Gallery, Mighty Tanaka Gallery, The Market Place Gallery and Marianne Nems Gallery.

XAM will be exhibiting at Fountain with Marianne Nems Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Brooklyn gallery Mighty Tanaka will be having a greatest hits collection of work by almost everyone in their stable of untamed horses. One of the best walls is the dual red white and blue side by side 3-D sculptural wall installations by Skewville and Miguel Ovalle – including swords on the bottom of the Ovalle piece for the kids.

Featured at Might Tanaka are Abe Lincoln Jr. Adam Leech, Adam Void, Alexandra Pacula, Alice Mizrachi, Andrew H. Shirley, Burn 353, Cake, CAM, Celso, ChrisRWK, Conrad Carlson, Criminy Johnson, Curtis Readel, Don Pablo Pedro, Drew Tyndell, ELLE, Ellen Stagg, EVOKER, Flying Fortress, Gigi Bio, Gigi Chen, Greg Henderson, Hellbent, Hiroshi Kumagai, infinity, JMR, Joe Iurato, John Breiner, Katie Deker, Lamour Supreme, Masahiro Ito, Matt Siren, Max Greis, Mike Schreiber, Nathan Pickett, Nathan Vincent, NEVER, Peat Wollaeger, Robbie Bush, See One, Sofia Maldonado, TooFly, UFO, Vahge, VengRWK, VIK with exclusive murals by Miguel Ovalle & Skewville.

For further information regarding Fountain Art Fair click here

Volta

Carmichael Gallery from Culver City, CA will be exhibiting new works by Aakash Nihalani.

Aakash Nihalani (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding Volta Art Fair click here

Scope

The Corey Helford Gallery from Culver City, CA will be exhibiting works by D*Face, Ron English and Risk at Scope.

D*Face in Los Angeles for LAFreeWalls Project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ron English in Miami for Wynwood Walls (photo © Jaime Rojo)

White Walls Gallery from San Francisco will be exhibiting works by Blek le Rat at Scope.

Blek le Rat in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding Scope Art Fair click here

Also happening this Weekend:

Lisa Enxing at Le Salon d’ Art For more information about this show click here

Ambush Gallery in Sydney, Australia presents “Project 5, Volume 4”. For more information about this show click here

Don’t miss “Beat Nite” happening this Saturday in dirty Bushwick and presented by Norte Maar. For more information about this event click here

“Hyper/Hypo” group show at Secret Project Robot opens this Saturday. For more information about this show click here

OBLVN solo show “100 Paintings” opens this Saturday at the Klughaus Gallery. For more information about this show click here

Jef Aerosol new solo show “Hot Spots” opens this Saturday at Galerie Austral in Saint-Denis, France. For more information about this show click here

 

Amsterdam based Street Artist Ives.One

A nice stop motion piece made with Arden de Raaij:

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Fountain 2012 Lands in a Grand Old Location

March 8, 2012 , , , , ,

Armory Week is back in town and Fountain Art Fair is nailing it. At the moment – literally. Walls are going up as you are reading this. 200 feet of walls are dedicated to Street Artists – Enough said. Fountain has moved inland this year from the floating, sometimes harrowing, gallery and submarine Murder Lounge on the Hudson waterfront, and in many ways the new Fountain also feels more grounded. Don’t worry, not too much.

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Apart from being in an actual Armory building, a 106 year old institution that lends a certain New York Beau-Arts grandness to it all, Fountain is still anybody’s guess in terms of content and execution; which in our minds is precisely the point of going. The chaotic nature of the creative spirit as wielded by many of these youngish artists means that they are better thought of as corralled, rather than curated, into this grand sweeping space that has plenty of headroom.  Part punk D.I.Y. art party and part Occupy Art Fair, the promise of Fountain lies in the work and your own sense of exploration, rather than the prepackaged pomp of slick-talking retailers.

Naturally there are a slew of Street Artists in Fountain this year, including Chris Stain, Know Hope, GILF, Imminent Disaster, Joe Iurato, LMNOP, Elle, ShinShin, LNY, Cake, En Masse, Sophia Maldonado, Hellbent, Radical! and Wing.  BSA caught some of them working in the last couple of weeks as they completed pieces and we give you some sneak peeks here.

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LNY working on his piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LNY, one of the newer Street Artists of New York at the moment, talked to us as he prepared his Fountain piece deep in Bushwick. His careful illustrative style has an unassuming quality, a sort of hand rendered fantasy he is channeling, and discovering, mixing and remixing symbols and imagination.

Brooklyn Street Art: How did you arrive at your current hybrid style of human/animals? Your depictions keep the humans remaining wholly human and the animals remaining wholly animals. They just seem to be attached to each other?
LNY: Animals are very interesting on their own but at the same time they have been used symbolically so much everywhere. For instance I noticed that many countries use the eagle as a national symbol: Egypt, USA and Mexico all have eagles in their national symbols. When I have an inclination to draw I often find myself drawing animals.

Brooklyn Street Art: On this piece you are working on for Fountain you have NYPD Mounted Police with wings on them?
LNY: Usually my ideas just sort of pile up and then they get to something else. For instance the wings are going to be fire actually. I will add a couple more riders and they could be an apocalyptic kind of scene. The fun thing about symbols is that you can read whatever you want into them. I like the ambiguity of symbols a lot.

Brooklyn Street Art: How do you find the process of painting?
LNY: I really don’t paint anymore. I used to paint. What I used to do with painting doesn’t work anymore because I lost faith in the idea of painting – so I have to find something else.

LNY working on his piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LNY working on his piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent working on his piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent working on his piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mockup for Hellbent’s piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Finished! A semi-blurry cellphone pic of it from last night. (photo © Hellbent)

I lo-lo-lala-lo-love you. Radical! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Click here to learn more about Fountain Art Fair 2012

 

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RETNA At The Houston Wall in NYC

March 6, 2012 , , ,

The weather is turning friendly, and RETNA is encouraging the conversation

We have been having a very mild winter in New York, even scarily warm. The daffodils are almost in bloom and you can already see the faint shades of pink on the buds of the cherry and apple trees. “Wait!”, we want to yell at them, “Wait! – there might be a frost yet.”  But when it is sunny and warm out, everybody wants to come out and play.

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For example Los Angeles based Street Artist and fine artist RETNA, who took Saturday through Monday to complete the Houston Wall with his brightly secretive musings, messages, and tributes painted in his now famous alphabet.  Maybe it was the holy day, or the holy hangover, but watching this piece appearing on Sunday was like seeing the wall turn into a soaring stained glass cathedral of gestural markings in crimson and blue, a private prayer out in the open.

Watching an artist at work is always a pleasure and it is a gift to see the unfolding magic of a community coming alive on the street, bonded by the humanizing experience of art in progress.  RETNA can be playful, serious, contemplative, relieved, pleased, and you will see it all.

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Houston Street is not one of those quiet hidden romantic streets where an artist can just zone out, no matter the hermetic fit of headphones; this rumbling thoroughfare splits Manhattan loudly and boisterously, dividing Soho from Noho, both ever more expensive and increasingly mall-like these days. Whatever the composition of foot traffic, the sense of community comes alive in this sacred presence of the creative spirit; Passersby, complete strangers, well-wishers and friends stop to say hello, to ask a question, dare a request, or just silently and introspectively observe the process.

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A very young painting fan gets an expert lesson on photography from his daddy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And he was a very good student of the new RETNA wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA obliged a fan with a request of a personalized tag. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA…on the back of what he claimed was a one of a kind Georgio Armani jacket. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA. Cigarette break. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RETNA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week: 03.04.12

March 4, 2012 , , , , , , , , ,

Our weekly interview with the street, this week including Bronco, Cindy Sherman, Dan Witz, LNY, Miyok, PK, Read, Royce Bannon, Stikman, Swoon, Trojan Horse, Various & Gould, and Who is Charlie?

LNY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Who is Charlie? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman says go put your records on (photo © Jaime Rojo)


Dan Witz was recently in Los Angeles and Daniel LaHoda from LA Freewalls Project took him around to visit some walls. This and the following images are of his series WTF in The Arts District, The Warehouse District and the Manufacturing District. (photo © Dan Witz)

Dan Witz (photo © Dan Witz)

Dan Witz (photo © Dan Witz)

Dan Witz (photo © Dan Witz)

Swoon, Royce Bannon and a Polaroid shot of an amorous couple complete this snap shot of the dialogue on the streets of NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read (photo © Jaime Rojo)

PK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miyok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

German duo Various & Gould spotted this box/crate free standing on the streets of Berlin. The crate was built to protect a very old iron gate from the harsh German winter weather. Then they got thinking… (photo courtesy of © Various & Gould)

Various & Gould. Back at their place they build a horse head with a wooden frame and covered it with cardboard.  (photo courtesy of © Various & Gould)

Various & Gould. And with the help of BRONCO and Studio Nura they transformed the box into an Art Deco Trojan Horse! (photo courtesy of © Various & Gould)

Various & Gould. “Trojan”, Berlin 2012 (photo courtesy of © Various & Gould)

We are very excited about the great, talented and hugely influential artist Cindy Sherman current exhibition at MoMA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A Mushroom Cloud in Manhattan: If You See Somethin’ …

February 29, 2012 , , , , , ,

Artist Jean Seestadt Plants a Package in a Bus Stop

Since the never-ending “War on Terror” commenced so publicly a decade or so ago, an intermittently insistent campaign exhorting the public to be aware of odd things and behaviors has beat a steady message of fearful dread in New York.  Posters on buses, brochures in city offices, and disembodied, firmly voiced recordings on trains and in airports remind us that evil walks secretly amongst us and we should be ever-vigilant and tell the nearest police officer if you see something suspicious.

Aside from the obvious challenge of staying alert on the morning subway ride when you haven’t gotten a coffee yet and you stayed up until 2 am playing “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3”, the plain fact is that most New Yorkers have no idea what strange looks like. We lost that ability sometime after hippies and freaks turned into punks and goths, pants dropped below butts, zombies had parades, “no pants day”, men started making out with each other on the park benches, and of course Donald Trumps hair. For something to catch our eye these days it would have to have to be levitating or in some way involve chocolate.  Otherwise, we’ll keep walking and texting.

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The billowing cloud rising in Manhattan this time is from artist Jean Seestadt, whose cut paper installation in the bus stop entitled “If you See Somethin” evokes one prevailing vision of the unmarked package spilling forth it’s curvilinear bilious hot plume into a public place with a stylized hand. On a warmish evening last week it went up on this buzzing island metropolis without anyone saying something.

 

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Following a similar installation in the subway a few weeks ago, Seedstadt brought her new installation to a well lit bus shelter on the street. Aided by a stool, a roll of tape, some scissors, and her good friend Nick, Jean rolled up her sleeves and installed her new work while some people stood by looking, pawing through their mobile devices, or leaning forward to preen down the street for a bus. Cacophonic truck and car traffic, including periodic police cruisers, rattled by in the night while the two enterprising Street/Public Artists took turns teetering on the stool to get it to hang just so. If anyone paid attention at all, no one said something to the artist or her assistant. You see??

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: You have done painting and ink work previously. What do you think of cutting paper?
Jean Seestadt: Cutting paper has all the things I like about painting and works on paper, I love the tedious beauty to it, but I was having a really hard time feeling that I could reach a viewer to the fullest when I am forced in a square 2D format.  Also, the process of letting go of the overly crafted piece and knowing it is eventually going to turn to litter is a real release.

Brooklyn Street Art: Would you say these are sculptures?
Jean Seestadt: They are very sculptural… I guess I think of them more as site-specific installations.  They have no meaning when they are in a static setting.

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: What leads you to mount this work in such a public place?
Jean Seestadt: I was interested the fragile, traditional paper cutting medium being forced into a public context. Each piece will be eventually be broken down by either the viewers or by the environment. Because it is not in a precious space the viewer can approach the work however they’d like-if that means touching it, ripping it, taking it, or taking care of it.  The piece doesn’t really work without people feeling free to do whatever they want.

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Have you seen paper cut work by street artists?
Jean Seestadt: I’ve only heard of Swoon… it doesn’t seem like the ideal material for street art because it only last for a day if you are lucky.  But street art is all about the temporal nature of the city’s surroundings so I think it makes a lot of sense as a medium.

Brooklyn Street Art: What makes you explore the theme of “If you see something, say something”?
Jean Seestadt: I was interested in the daily reminder we all digest about terrorism and how it is a fragile ghost of this city.  It just floats about our transit system and I thought it was really sad and strange. People might think I am making light of terrorism but I am really not.

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“If You See Somethin”, Jean Seestadt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Klughaus Gallery Presents: OBLVN “100 Paintings” (Manhattan, NY)

February 28, 2012 , , , , ,

OBLVN

AARON OBLVN “100 PAINTINGS”

MARCH 10—APRIL 1, 2012
OPENING: SATURDAY MARCH 10, 2012 FROM 6-10PM KLUGHAUS GALLERY
47 Monroe St. New York, NY 10002

Emerging Pacific Northwest artist OBLVN hand paints 100 exclusive illustrations in honor of New York City debut—New York, NY – Feb 27, 2012 – Klughaus Gallery is proud to announce the debut of “100 Paintings,” a solo exhibition of brand new, one-of-a-kind illustrated works by Portland, Oregon-based artist and cartoonist Aaron OBLVN. In honor of his first ever east coast show, OBLVN has been hard at work for months preparing one hundred illustrations exclusively for Klughaus; highlights of the character and cartoon-heavy exhibit include contemporary, tongue-in-cheek remixes of classic cartoon characters like ‘Felix The Cat’ as an art thief and ‘Dennis the Menace’ as a vandal, as well as many original works, from mischievous spray can characters to runaway inkwells.

Why one hundred works? “I’ve been drawing my whole life, but really focusing on this style for about three years now—but not on this scale,” says OBLVN. “I read once in a sign painting comic strip by [cartoonist] Justin Green that it takes about 100 hours of brushing before you finally get your lettering down,” says OBLVN of one of the motives behind sitting down to tackle the daunting task of creating one hundred pieces of art for a single show. “So I figured if I did 100 characters, I would definitely get some good practice in. I can tell from the first cartoons I started doing a few years ago that I’ve gotten better. It’s always great to see your own progress.”

In addition to breaking the gallery record for the highest number of works in a single show, the breadth and depth of OBLVN’s body of playful, accessible work makes “100 Paintings” a show with literally something for everyone. “I love cartoons,” he says of his trademark subject matter. “I’m picky, but I love a lot of styles. From Vaughn Bode, Basil Wolverton, Skip Williamson, Text Avery, Ralph Bakshi and John K to more contemporary artists like Barry McGee and Todd James.”

In this vein “100 Paintings” is both a one-of-a-kind body of work as well as a collective ode to the artists OBLVN emulates, and he is looking forward to piecing together his collection of puzzle pieces in New York City: “I’m really stoked on the work as a whole,” he says. “So much of my time is spent up close with the pieces, my face only a few inches from my brush and the ink that it’s sort of crazy to step back and see the work as a body. It’s pretty cool to see how much I cranked out. It’s so awesome that [the opening] is in NY, but seriously daunting. I’m excited.”

The opening for “100 Paintings” will take place Saturday, March 10th from 6-10 pm. Please RSVP to rsvp@klughaus.net.

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Images of the Week: 02.26.12

Images of the Week: 02.26.12

February 26, 2012 , , , , , , , ,

Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring AVOID, Boxpark, Dan Witz, Gilf!, Jaye Moon, Kosbe, Love Me, bunny M, Power Revolution, Pure Evil, Rae, and some new stuff in London from guest photographer Geoff Hargadon.

bunny M appears with a parable. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pure Evil making posters last night at Boxpark, a pop up mall made of shipping containers in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Pure Evil installing the posters at Boxpark. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz brings his “Dark Doings” to the streets of downtown Los Angeles for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Dan Witz)

Artist Unknown (Or is it an unfinished advertisement?) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RAE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And that’s the last word from the streets of Brick Lane in London. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Power Revolution (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaye Moon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marilyn is always game. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Love Me (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Avoid. Buy More Stuff! I can’t. It’s sold out! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Drago and Wooster Social Club Present: Chris Stain “Long Story Short” Book Launch and Exhibition (Manhattan, NY)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

 

Wooster Street Social Club and Drago are pleased to announce the exhibition and book launch for Chris Stain’s latest project and Drago’s newest title Long Story Short – A Collection of Inspiration, at the Wooster Street Social Club on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012, from 8-11pm. The exhibition will show all new work that explores two perspectives of intercity life; that from the internal struggles of the individual as well as the circumstantial elements to which that life subscribes. Both the exhibition and the book present an autobiographical reflection of the artist’s life through a collection of writings, letters, photographs, memorabilia, and artwork that illuminate a lifetime of experience that is the source of inspiration for Chris’ poignant imagery. Chris Stain’s subject matter has been compared to themes echoed in the American Social Realist movement of the 1930s and 40s. More importantly, however, Chris’s work is a communication of things that are relevant to him, the things that he sees everyday and the things that most people tend to, or try to, ignore. His work is marked by a strong social tinge and is filled with the adversity and diversity that one faces in the intercity. This visual narrative of social sufferance explores not only his personal architecture of experience, emotion, and inspiration, but shares the untold tales of the overlooked and the left behind. Despite being viewed by many as political statements, Chris Stain’s work is more than that. It is an honest and direct presentation of the basic levels of humanity, for better or for worse, what it means to be human and to treat others with an elemental sense of decency. The balance of today’s delicate social architecture bears the weight of many who feel threatened by social and economic injustice. These sentiments run high as a result of the events inspired by the Occupy movement, which have made Chris’s work feel that much more relevant in contemporary society.

The opening reception for Chris Stain’s Long Story Short will begin at 8pm on Wednesday, March 14th. The evening will include a slideshow presentation and round table discussion on art and social activism lead by Josh Macphee of Just Seeds, an interactive screen printing demonstration by Bushwick Print Lab, a live DJ set performed by Billy Mode, catering provided by Laurel Bell, and refreshments from Brooklyn Brewery. The slideshow will begin promptly at 9pm with discussion and Q&A to follow. Long Story Short – A Collection of Inspiration will be available for purchase during the event as well as throughout the run of the exhibition (through April 15th). You may also order Long Story Short through Drago’s website, www.dragolab.com. Chris Stain will be in attendance during the opening to sign copies of the book.

About the Artist

Chris Stain grew up writing Graffiti in Baltimore, MD in the mid 1980’s. Through printmaking in high school he adapted stenciling techniques, which later led to his work in street stencils and urban contemporary art. Chris currently teaches art in New York City and is pursuing a BA in Art Education.

About the DRAGO

Drago has been involved in the urban street movement for over a decade as an international think-tank for the creative class, working in unison with artists to realize projects with lasting cultural impacts. Drago identifies and promotes artists, develops communication projects, publishes books, and stages exhibitions and events. The street represents today’s leading visual and cultural aesthetic and the forefront of social resistance. Drago embodies and promotes this System of Independent Culture, sic!

About Wooster Street Social Club

Wooster Street Social Club is a tattoo studio, art gallery, and event space that plays host to TLC’s reality show NY Ink. It is an environment where art, culture, media, commerce, and entertainment live together and can be understood as complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
Through a series of art shows, activities, lectures, tastings, and large-scale events, Wooster Street Social Club has established itself as an ever-changing nexus of NYC’s creative community. The bottom line is to bring something new to the table, a forum for creativity, and something that is uniquely New York.

Wooster Street Social Club ⏐ 43 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10013⏐ 646.545.3300 info@woostersocial.com ⏐ www.woostersocial.com

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