NYC

Images of the Week 05.09.10 on BSA

May 9, 2010 , ,

Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring:Urban Arts Projects, Swoon,  REVS,  Dolk, General Howe, QRST, Shepard Fairey, Nomade

A newly painted REVS "Street Sport"
A newly painted REVS “Super Sport” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon’s “Konbit Shelter” sculpture in the East River Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to raise awareness for her building project in Haiti. The installation was presented in conjunction with the Urban Arts Projects.

SWOON
SWOON (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SWOON
SWOON (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SWOON
SWOON (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SWOON
SWOON (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DOLK
“The Boxer” by Dolk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

GENERAL HOWE
General Howe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nomade

Nomade (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST
Hi my name is Norm and this is Rex. We like to go for walks over to the park and visit with our other dog friends.  (QRST) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

GENERAL HOWE
General Howe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SHEPARD FAIREY
Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more

New Interview and Signing With Swoon: Her Book With Jeffrey Deitch

May 8, 2010 ,

“Never wait, and never let the bastards get you down”

Swoon’s got a book, as you know – and she’s going to be signing it Saturday in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn_Street_Art_Swoon_Book_Cover May 20109780810984851

Jake Dobkin at the Gothamist just published a delicious interview with the paper-slicing queen on the street. They talk about “Swimming Cities”, the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, MOCA, Jeffrey Deitch, and her trip to Zambia.

Rushing past (image courtesy Jake Dobkin at The Gothamist)
Rushing past (image courtesy Jake Dobkin at The Gothamist)

From the interview:

Looking through the pictures, we were struck by how much artistic ground you’ve covered in just ten or eleven years. What do you see as the essential themes that bring all of your work together?
Workaholism. Um, just kidding. Themes? How about the hands on creation of our world—that’s tops. And the creation of moments of pause, human connection, empathy, surprise, wonder and ridiculousness. Bringing what you make to people in places where they are not expecting it. The belief that loving attention can and will be transformative. Democratized public spaces. The tying together of classical mediums and modern contexts. An obsession with looking deeply into the faces of other human beings. Also, never wait, and never let the bastards get you down. Are those themes? They should be.

Read the complete interview with Jake here:

Read more

Avoid PI and infinity In the Laboratory Making Preparations for their Bubbling Babbeling Show on the 21st

May 7, 2010 , ,

Babel Code : osmotic transmissions and JPEGS

You won’t find too many eggheads in the circles I run in.  Well maybe, but I’m too dim to realize it.

It is pretty evident when you meet street artists “infinity” and Avoid Pi that you may need some footnotes to follow if you want to really understand what direction they are going.  Don’t worry, I’m not completely snowed – just watch their feet, right?

A collabo called "The Treachery of Words" by infinity and Avoid Pi

A collabo called "The Treachery of Words" by infinity and Avoid Pi

The upcoming dual show by these somewhat mad scientists on the 21st at Mighty Tenaka should be a jolting trip of symbolism and secret languages and DNA strands – and a developing visual vocabulary that reliably is improving.

Avoid Pi "All One"

Avoid Pi "All One"

These are a few behind the scenes images of prep for the show,

An "infinity" 2 sided collabo.

An "infinity" 2 sided collabo.

as well as a sparky new video piece they made to promote it, which makes the hairs stand up on my arm. Fun times!

(even though it says May 20 in the video, it’s the 21st)

More about this show and these artists to come.

Babel Code : osmotic transmissions, Art from the minds of AVOID pi & infinity

  • Location: Mighty Tanaka Studio in D.U.M.B.O
  • Duration: May 21st – Jun 11th, 2010
  • Mighty Tanaka
    68 Jay St., Suite 416 (F Train to York St.)
    Brooklyn, NY 11201

    Click to see large

    Click to see large

    Web: www.mightytanaka.com

    • Read more
    Flying High With ROA in Brooklyn, NYC

    Flying High With ROA in Brooklyn, NYC

    May 6, 2010 , , ,

    As the sun sets, a mighty and serene Ibis rises 35 feet on a battered Brooklyn wall

    ROA begins his portrait of the Ibis, a wading bird common in the marshes on the mid-Atlantic coast of the US. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    ROA begins his portrait of the Ibis, a wading bird common in the marshes on the mid-Atlantic coast of the US. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Today we continue with our coverage of ROA’s arrival into New York and his second piece this week, a stunning long-necked Ibis on a tattered and weathered former rope factory in Brooklyn.

    We all took turns on the cherry picker (hooked up by our buddy Joe F. ) which was a blast to operate and after we scraped the wall free of ivy and managed to not smash any windows, ROA hopped inside and put on his safety harness and drove that bucket smoothly, like your grandpa on a Sunday drive through the countryside.

    Using only his eye, his spray can, and a confident hand, ROA mapped out the shape of the feathered creature with no false lines, and no chance of erasing.  Periodically he brought the mechanical bird to the ground to step way back and assess his progress and make adjustments: the wild animals’ belly got a little fatter, the feathers more shading for depth.  As the sun receded and the lights came on, the painting of the Ibis felt more like an “event”, a performance onstage in the floodlights by one of Street Arts’ rising talents who can command a stage and keep it real.

     

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    In Part 2 of ROA’s interview, he talked to BSA about his roots in graffiti, his transition to Street Art, and a few words about our move to the second wave of the street art movement.  (see Part I here)

    Brooklyn Street Art: How long have you been making animals?
    ROA:     I think I had a big period when I did all kinds of stuff – from letters to whatever when I was younger. Then I started doing characters. Then for myself I really changed my way of painting and I found out that I really wanted to paint animals.  This is a couple of years ago. But then when I look back to the stuff I did when I was younger, there were some earlier tags that were, at that point, not important for myself but when I look at them now I realize that they were already there.  In the last few years I think I really know what I am doing.  There were signs that told what I might become.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: So you were writing graffiti first, lettering, tags?
    ROA:     Yeah, I started when I was like 13 so we copied things out of Spray Can Art and Subway Art – these things were for us like The Bible or something.  So if we had a vision of how a piece should be it was like things we saw in these books — colors and a black outline and a white highlight. So for a long time that was what we did.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: These books were like textbooks for the school of graffiti.
    ROA:     In a way, definitely. When I started doing that I started skating and listening to Public Enemy. As a Belgian kid growing up in the late 80’s – early 90’s that was the strong influence, these kinds of things – so graffiti was one of these things.  So in our minds, it should be done like that. So I think at that point nobody was doing anything else, there was just old-school graffiti..

    Brooklyn Street Art: It had become globalized at that point…
    ROA:     And it is still there. It’s still being repeated now.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: When did you first see that there began to be a little divide in the graffiti/street art evolution? When did you first get an inkling that things were changing?
    ROA:     I think because I started to do different stuff, I started to see that there was different stuff.  It was not really obvious.  People were doing things that were more “characters” like a hip-hop MC with a cute female with a big butt and a chain around (the neck) and a big ghetto blaster. Then at certain points people started painting less of the MC styles  – they started to paint extra old-school and “crappy “– in a deliberate way because they wanted “crappy”.  A few years ago this was the first “unconventional” graffiti that I started to see – they tried to look crappy.  That was for me the first moment that I started to notice a change. And that was the moment when I started to say “you have new styles”.  It shouldn’t just be just the old style.  You have new styles.

    Brooklyn Street Art: So perhaps you had exhausted that vocabulary. You had done everything that you wanted to do and you wanted to discover something different.
    ROA:     I realized that I wanted to do something different. I had been drawing all my life and I sketched a lot.  Most often my sketches were way more powerful than the finished pieces on the wall.  So the moment I started to “sketch” with a can, that was the moment when I started to see for myself the change. When I stopped doing surfaces and I started doing lines… It is just a way of painting or drawing. You have a certain kind of culture where it came from but aside from that – it’s just paint and a surface to paint on so at that point I realized that there are so many things you can do and ways you can try to do it with spray paint.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: So now the proverbial horse is out of the barn and there is no use closing the door..
    ROA:     Yeah, I think so. It’s too late, that’s for sure. Of course you don’t know what the future will bring and I’m not saying I’m going to do forever what I am doing now.  I try to keep on pushing it farther and sometimes I take two steps back and re-examine.  It is not always clear, that’s the nice thing.

    Brooklyn Street Art: So, for you it is like an evolution.
    ROA:     Yeah, I think so. It’s an endless evolution. That’s what is so nice about drawing or making stuff.  It’s like a piece – when is it finished? Never. You can work on it for hours and hours more and then “Is it finished?” – you never know, eh? It’s like with drawing, too..… when are you a skilled artist? When you die probably, then. Then you are at the end of your journey, then you know what you know. Then you can not know more. Until then you can learn every day.  With drawing it is not like a game you can complete.  There is always a new level.  Even if you get to the next level, then you have ten new levels.  That is a nice thing about it, there is no ending.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Regarding the first wave of Street Art:
    ROA:     …everybody found a style and repeated it over and over and it was all around and people saw it and it was crazy what you could do with one small logo. Then at a certain point, it gets boring too.  If you have the same logo over and over — I’m not the guy who says what other people should do, though.  I want to do what I want to do.

    Brooklyn Street Art: So you feel like now we can identify some of those practices as being a part of the “first wave” of street art?
    ROA:     I think that made a big difference. Then people made logos and t-shirts and toys and calendars and condoms and whatever, which is ,in a way, really funny.  You can do it with stuff like that and you can be all over.  But at this point I think we are at a new level and people can do stuff like that but it is more interesting if somebody does stuff with it and it continues and it grows and it lives and you can be surprised by most of the new work.  It is not like this symbol repeated again and again with a different color and a little slight twist.  In the end, it’s been done.  Sometimes it is time to move. When DuChamp put his urinal in the museum it was really one of the biggest statements of the last century. Definitely. But the next guy who did something similar was less interesting.  If you see what was done later in the same tracks, it’s really boring.  It’s good that things get knocked down and rebuilt and knocked down.

    The finished Ibis by ROA in Brooklyn, NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    The finished Ibis by ROA in Brooklyn, NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Don’t miss ROA in his first New York Solo Show at Factory Fresh May 14.

    Read more
    Winging It With ROA – FreeStyle Urban Naturalist Lands Feet First in Brooklyn

    Winging It With ROA – FreeStyle Urban Naturalist Lands Feet First in Brooklyn

    May 5, 2010 , , ,

    While city birds sing and traffic swells and murmurs, Street Artist ROA shows BSA how his great unsung animals are made.

    One of ROA’s new Brooklyn birds (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    The eagerly anticipated arrival of one of Street Arts’ spray can naturalists in New York was begun with a marathon 15 hours of painting of two walls in Brooklyn that in the early morning hours of today.

    Energetic and excited to be here fresh from a successful show in London at Pure Evil Gallery, where he sparked great interest with his loud-speaking silent animals inside and outside the box, the down-to-earth realist ROA began his NYC tour with two incredible gifts to his host city. With days to go before his first New York solo show at Factory Fresh gallery in Brooklyn, it only seemed natural to ROA to get up strong on BK walls before heading inside to knock out new pieces.

     

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    “Brooklyn Free Style” was the word ROA decided to describe the approach he had yesterday to his work – a nod to the hip-hop culture of creating on-the-fly as well as the sometimes chaotic path a day in Brooklyn can take for a jet-lagged Belgium who didn’t really know where his new walls were, let alone what they would look like. Just like you might expect from a former graffiti/skater kid who still listens to Public Enemy and Suicidal Tendencies to keep balanced, this guy only wants to hit higher more difficult walls than the last time, and he does.

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    As we saw throughout the day, a bit of chaos is a natural environment for ROA and one he relishes creating within – embrace the imperfect world. He likes to take what comes flying at him and deal with it with dexterity and an intuitive flow. Our day included rented cars, roaring trucks, ladders, chairs, bricks, soil, plants, trees, a monstrous cherry picker (thanks Joe), pleasant sun/punishing sun, high winds, dark skies, blowing rain, flying garbage, old vines, utility lights, fat caps and thin, good paint and bad, rollers, a harness, utility lights, hand-rolled cigarettes, and some of Brooklyn’s best family biz food.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Like a wild willow sprouted from a patch of SuperFund soil in an abandoned industrial city lot, ROA bends and twists and re-configures effortlessly, ultimately standing strong no matter what flies his way. His credo is to find inspiration in adversity and yesterday he made obstacles seem effortless – welcoming the challenge, incorporating design issues and moving forward. It makes sense that his chosen subjects are the animals that get overlooked, are many times missed, yet persevere despite man’s dreadful determination to destroy.

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    In this first of a two-part interview, ROA talks to BSA about his approach to his work and his animals.

    ROA: I’m not really prepared, but I have a lot of things with me. I have a lot of cans, caps, things with me so I can decide what I want to do at the point at whatever point I am in the piece.

    Brooklyn Street Art: A little Brooklyn Freestyle
    ROA:     Yeah a little Brooklyn Freestyle.

    Brooklyn Street Art: How did you decide on this particular bird today?
    ROA:     I think because of the shape of the wall and with the stuff that is in front of it, it makes sense. It is really important when you enter a place that the animal looks at you. If not, it would not the same dynamic. Also it is not necessary to fill up the whole wall – it is filled but it is not filled.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: It genuinely occupies the rest of the wall without really being there.
    ROA:     Yeah. That is not always possible, sometimes you have a ladder, sometimes you do not have a ladder to reach, some times you have a pole, some times you do not. What you make all depends on what you have and how high the wall is.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: So that is one of the first things that art students learn about : how to recognize and deal with positive space and negative space compositionally. A lot of your work definitely utilizes the negative space surrounding it.
    ROA:     Yeah, I think it grew by doing so many walls. In the end you begin to feel how something should be on a wall. It’s logical when you are a little kid and you begin painting graffiti and you have six cans and a wall and you just start right there. As you paint more and you paint bigger you begin to see the thing in its totality. I think placement is kind of important for the piece. But it is also the possibilities that exist that tell you what you can and cannot do. It’s always depending on the possibilities. You can see immediately what it should be, and you see what is actually possible. If the two come together then you’ve got the perfect situation.

    ROA

    ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: So you do what you can with what you have.
    ROA:     Yes, I think that is the main rule. And the wall is part of that. In a way, the wall tells you what you should make.

    Brooklyn Street Art: You do tend to favor more difficult surfaces instead of smooth flat pristine surfaces.
    ROA:     Yeah, I like texture: I like when a wall, or an area, or a building tells a little bit of a story. It is sometimes really boring to paint on a wall that is just one color. It is always better to start from something that is interesting. That is probably the same reason why I don’t paint normal canvasses. There is not a lot of inspiration. But if you’ve got some dirty materials, it’s got a little bit of the story already. In that way it is like the walls… The shape and the textures tell you immediately what the possibilities are. There’s always more than one way.

    ROA

    ROA  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: Do you have any animals at home?
    ROA:     Yes I have a cat and a turtle. The turtle was a gift from a really good friend of ours and the cat chose our home as its home so that’s how the cat came. At a certain point she was there and she didn’t want to leave so she stayed. We had moved to a new house with a basement and we were there for a month and I decided to check out the basement and I left the door open. At night we were watching TV and the came in. I thought it belonged to one of the neighbors so I put it outside and the next day she was back in the basement. So probably she was living there for a long time before us. We moved to 3 different houses and she moved with us and 10 years later she is still our cat.

    ROA

    ROA  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    ROA

    ROA  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: Did you ever do a portrait of her?
    ROA: No. That’s not true I did some sketches of her – her form, a study of a cat. But I never painted her on a wall or something like that. I think animals like cats, even though they are powerful and beautiful, when you draw them you you can end up really easily with something that is a clichéd image of them. I have done an image of a cat with its skeleton inside but I’m always a little bit scared of doing cats, dogs, tigers – you know what I mean?

    ROA

    ROA  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: Have you seen the cats that C215 does? He does those pretty successfully while avoiding “cute”.
    ROA:Yeah, it’s true. The way he does it is not like a postcard or a cheesy album cover from the 80’s, you know what I mean? Anyway I like to paint unpopular animals. In a certain way I think it’s nice to paint animals that people expect.

    Brooklyn Street Art: You also like rats…
    ROA: I like rodents. Birds and rodents. Without having made a choice, I feel really good painting birds and rodents.

     

    ROA (Photo©Jaime Rojo)

    ROA (Photo©Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: Do you feel like you are telling their story?
    ROA: I’m definitely representing for them. That’s for sure. Regarding their “story”; I don’t know what they want to be told. If you could ask a bird what they are thinking about what I’m doing…. Definitely people eat chickens, pigs, and cows but they are not so familiar with the animal itself. They know it as food and these animals are more useful animals in a “product” sort of way so I think it’s good to confront people with what they are eating or what they are not familiar with. But I leave it more for people to see what they want in the animal. There is not a message – maybe for myself but it should not be seen that way. It’s just nice to do animals that are not typical. A lot of people hate pigeons and rats but I like them a lot. I think it is fascinating that certain animals really did not die out because of humanity but instead they use humanity to survive. I think it is interesting to see birds making nests in old buildings.

    Brooklyn Street Art: They persevere..
    ROA: in spite of our total f*ckups and global destruction. So I think it’s really fascinating – more than our cats and dogs that are totally domesticated as pets.

     

    One of ROA's two new Brooklyn birds (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    One of ROA’s two new Brooklyn birds (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Tune in tomorrow for PART 2: Amazing images of ROA’s giant second Brooklyn piece and we talk about his start as a graffiti kid, how he transitioned to street art, and why we may be entering the “second wave” of street art.

    READ PART 2 HERE

    Read more

    MAYHEM! Crowds Jam the Streets for Shepard Fairey’s show at Deitch Projects

    May 3, 2010 , ,

    Well, it happened. May Day Arrived.

    The immigration reform marches
    in major cities across the U.S.?

    The day that the British Petroleum oil spill
    started lapping up on gulf shores?

    The occasion of a mis-fired car bomb in Times Square?

    No, silly, the END OF AN ERA – Deitch Projects Final show featuring America’s Top Street Artist – Shepard Fairey.

    Part of the MayDay Mural piece - replicated on the Houston Street (photo © Reana Kovalcik)
    Part of the MayDay Mural piece displayed – a mirror image of the mural on Houston Street nearby. (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    The crowds bloated the streets outside, possibly dwarfing the crowd inside. Some old-timers said attendance may have also dwarfed the famed Haring and Hirst shows of years past and there was plenty of visual stimulation on the pavement, including a motorcycle gang and a fair amount of actual street art to gander, so even those hapless who were penned outside the formal show didn’t seem hopeless.

    The artist signing work for his fans (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    The artist signing work for his fans (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    The artist and the gallerist were in attendance, which is always nice, and minions of fans and insiders mixed with assorted downtown celebrities and catty journalists.  Mr. Fairey, in an interview with BSA earlier in the week , told us that HYPE is everywhere today, and one could say that the air felt kind of warm and summery thick with it.

    (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    And fun!  Did I mention Fun?

    A wall of framed rubyliths (photo © Reana Kovalcik)
    A wall of framed rubyliths (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    John and Yoko in the foreground (photo © Reana Kovalcik)
    John and Yoko in the foreground (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    Looks like Brooklyn style made it to the show too. (photo © Reana Kovalcik)
    A little Brooklyn style was in the house. (photo © Reana Kovalcik)

    See more photos by Reana Kovalcik HERE

    Read more

    Images of the Week 05.02.10 on BSA

    May 2, 2010 , , , ,

    Our weekly interview with the street; This week featuring Veng (RWK),Hellbent,Invader, Shepard Fairey, Showta, Gussa, Clown Soldier, Alec,C215,Chris (RWK), Skewville, DAIN,TrutoCorp, Trust Corp, Jaime Rojo

    Veng RWK
    A new rare red frog from Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Hellbent
    Hellbent (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Space Invader looking down on Shepard Fairey
    Space Invader looking down on Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    $howta
    Lemme tell you something, those Goldman Sachs guys just make me wanna Shout! ($howta) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Gussa in action
    Gussa in action (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Clown Soldier
    Hey Banana Head! New Clown Soldier (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Alec
    Alec (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    C215

    C215 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Chris RWK
    A new take on Batman by Chris RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Skewville
    Skewville goes pop. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Dain
    Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Trusto Corp
    YO Brooklyn!!  Trusto Corp (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Veng RWK
    A long fanged feller is partially viewable – Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Shepard Fairey

    The man of the moment in NYC : Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Read more

    Bike Cozy for Nostalgic Irony-Free Hipsters and Home-Knitters

    April 29, 2010 , , , , ,

    The god-forsaken winter has blown back for a few days and the wicked wind nearly blew me into the security cage on the Williamsburg Bridge last night as I ducked the turbine-strength gusts and clumps of city-debris blowing through the air. You know that scene from “American Beauty” where the creepy neighbor dude shows the innocent nubile teen his home video of a bag being blown around by the wind in a non-sensical but poetic way?  Okay, multiply that by 50 and throw in asbestos and a few broken umbrellas and you have BROOKLYN last night.

    And for these chilly late spring mornings…  Wouldn’t it be great if you could go out to your bike in the morning and find that it’s all warm and snug and ready for you to climb on?  Consider the Bike-Cozy.

    It beats starting it up and leaving it running for ten minutes before you go out - and better for the environment too!
    It beats starting it up and leaving it running for ten minutes before you go out – and better for the environment too.

    Man, they have EVERYTHING on youtoober..

    Read more
    OBEY MARTHA: Shepard Fairey Pays a Large Tribute to Martha Cooper and “Defiant Youth” in New York

    OBEY MARTHA: Shepard Fairey Pays a Large Tribute to Martha Cooper and “Defiant Youth” in New York

    April 28, 2010 , , , ,

    Sidewalk Philosopher Fairey Talks about New York, LA, Hype, May Day and this country of immigrants while pasting a building-sized ovation to a photographer and her work.

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey and Team begin placement of large new piece in Soho.

    Street artist Shepard Fairey was out on the streets of New York again yesterday in advance of his Saturday opening at Deitch Projects.  This time it was to put up a large portrait based on a black and white photograph by Martha Cooper called “Defiant Youth”.

    "Defiant Youth", by Martha Cooper (©)

    “Defiant Youth”, by Martha Cooper (©)

    While the original photo presented a group of young boys aligned in a semi-militaristic configuration, the Fairey version slightly altered the number and postures to achieve his graphic sense of balance.  Cooper’s images have served as inspiration for many artists over the years and also have been re-interpreted. Read our interview with her about the subject HERE.

    Martha Cooper (foreground) Shepard and Tanley from Arrested Motion (background)

    Martha Cooper (foreground) with Shepard and Tanley Wong from Arrested Motion (background) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Ms. Cooper, an ethnographer, was also on hand to capture the moment yesterday, snapping many photos and happily reflecting on what it was like to be a female on the scene running around with graffiti writers in the 70’s.  While she could see how some female photographers might have run into sexism in a predominantly male enterprise, Martha said that most of the writers thought little of her gender. They were taking photos of their work anyway and were happy to have a photographer around capturing their stuff before it disappeared.

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey holding one of the roses soon to be stuffed in the end of a gun (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey  (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

    During a break from the job, Mr. Fairey talked to BSA for a couple of minutes:

    Brooklyn Street Art: What’s the difference between putting work up in LA and putting up in New  York

    Shepard Fairey: Well, in LA you have to do everything big because everybody’s in a car. In New York there is a lot of foot traffic so even the smallest sticker is going to get seen by people walking around. I think also in New York  you want to integrate your stuff into the landscape in a way that makes sense with all the other art and architecture. LA is more sort of a wasteland – you know it’s built on top of a desert and there are a lot of flat spaces and a lot more open spaces.

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    I think New York has got more character and you can really put your work up in a way that makes sense with the other structures and the other art.  LA is more of a free-for-all; You’ve got billboards and walls and fences and boarded up things that are always changing.  Other than that it’s just the scale. For years I didn’t put anything up in New York. I just put up stickers and stencils on the lamp bases, which were a perfect canvas. And then later on I started to go a little big bigger with posters and then even bigger so I could do roof tops because getting yourself higher up where it’s harder to get to makes it run longer.  I just enjoy walking in New York – and you’ve gotta do everything driving in LA.

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: How about the reception from the public? Do you think there’s more hype in LA? Are people warmer in the way they relate to your work – or do you see any difference?

    Shepard Fairey: I think people are more aggressive and caustic in New York in general. It’s more dense. There’s more of an old-school sort of proprietary nature to all of culture and sub-culture in New York: whether it’s an old landlord or an old graffiti writer, people are sort of full of piss and vinegar in New York. But I think the challenge of doing things in New York against all these elements is one of the great things about it.  It’s a little more laid-back in LA.

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    As far as hype – there is hype everywhere.  In LA I think, recently street art became more of a popular thing so all sorts of young actors and people like that who don’t know that much about the culture latch onto it so it trends in a way that’s a little bit different but…. You know, there is hype everywhere.

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Shepard Fairey

    Shepard Fairey at work against a clear NYC sky. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Shepard with his assistants

    Shepard with his team at the end of the job (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Brooklyn Street Art: As May Day approaches, people have been talking about the current anti-immigration laws in this country, specifically in Arizona, which are very draconian and harsh. Are you going to do a campaign in response to it, or how do you feel about the topic?

    Shepard Fairey: You haven’t been looking at my website. My immigration reform posters that I actually created last year for May 1st are back up.  I’ve printed up a new batch and collaborated with my friend Ernesto, who I worked on stuff last year with also.  I’m working with some different organizations.

    From the Obeygiant.com website, "The continual persecution and exploitation of immigrants continues to grow in the United States of America. Anti-immigrant laws like Arizona’s SB1070 and national initiatives like Secure Communities and the 287(g) program have set this country back 60 years to a civil rights crisis. Hate crimes and racial hate groups are on the rise targeting latinos and immigrants, blaming these communities for the ales of society. On May 1st 2010 the voices of this community will be heard once again throughout this country denouncing the anti-immigrant sentiments. The purpose of these images and prints are to gain awareness and action to help change and improve immigration policy and perceptions. All the proceeds from these prints will go towards community based projects. "

    From the Obeygiant.com website, “The continual persecution and exploitation of immigrants continues to grow in the United States of America. Anti-immigrant laws like Arizona’s SB1070 and national initiatives like Secure Communities and the 287(g) program have set this country back 60 years to a civil rights crisis. Hate crimes and racial hate groups are on the rise targeting latinos and immigrants, blaming these communities for the ails of society. On May 1st 2010 the voices of this community will be heard once again throughout this country denouncing the anti-immigrant sentiments. The purpose of these images and prints are to gain awareness and action to help change and improve immigration policy and perceptions. All the proceeds from these prints will go towards community based projects. “

    Yeah, I’m an immigrant.  My family is originally from Europe. Everybody in this country other than the Native Americans are immigrants so to me it’s really ridiculous to not treat people like human beings just because they are not citizens.  It’s a country that’s really founded on the idea of pursuing a better life and so it seems very ridiculous to not respect that ambition today but respect it from a hundred or two hundred years ago.  It’s a complex issue because populations are growing and we are running out of space and resources but I think the way it’s being handled – it’s not aligned with the ideas about human rights that I think this country was founded on so I’d like to see it done a little differently.

    Obey!

    Obey! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

    Martha Cooper’s Influence: Inspiration, Imitation, and Flattery

    Martha Cooper on 12 oz. Prophet

    Obey Giant Website

    New York May 1 Coalition

    May Day Shepard Fairey Exhibition

    Arrested Motion Website

    Read more
    Ellis G. Lands Inside and Outside the Banksy Film

    Ellis G. Lands Inside and Outside the Banksy Film

    April 23, 2010 , , , ,

    BAM!  The opening montage flies by with the raucous music and your pulse is quickening, spotting art and artists and graffers and wild creatures and you may be wondering where this is all going until it becomes clear — you have landed in Banksy world. He’ll let somebody else tell the time-twisting story inside a story, and then he’ll weigh in with acerbically insightful bonmots….much like the stuff he leaves on the street.

    Ellis G. was doing backflips when he saw footage of himself in that opening sequence, and was stoked to be seeing it with a group of people directly related to the street art scene.  As is customary for the Brooklyn street artist, Ellis G. had already traced with thick chalk the shadows outside the spot where the movie was previewed .

    In a short time, he was doing it inside too.

    Brooklyn-Street-Art-Ellis-G-TITLE-Banksy-Movie-April2010-4006367

    Brooklyn Street Art: How did your work come off the sidewalk and into this theater?

    Ellis G: Marc and Sara Schiller invited me out to a private screening of the film last week and I did a couple street pieces out in front of the venue and also in front of the afterparty for the screening.  Banksy caught wind that I did those, and requested that I do work inside and outside of the Sunshine Theater for the New York premiere of the film.

    Brooklyn-Street-Art-Ellis-G-Banksy-Movie-April2010-4006367

    Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe what you do as an artist?

    Ellis G. : My work is directly related to everyday life. The content and subject matter of my work are all items or objects we deal with on a daily basis consciously and subconsciously;  Items and objects on the street outside as well as inside. Fortunately, my sources for subject matter are never-ending.

    Brooklyn-Street-Art-Ellis-G-TITLE2-Banksy-Movie-April2010-4006367

    Light is everywhere, creating shadows from all types of different light sources. I capture and enhance it. Outside, it can be fleeting.  Weather, pedestrian and vehicular traffic are considered.  Building owners or maintenance hose it away with water. One minute it’s here, the next it’s gone. Inside is a whole different ball game. It becomes photography and screen prints. It becomes installation and sculpture. Most times there is a rhyme and reason behind which objects I work with. Sometimes I like to randomly choose objects, in random geographical locations when I am outside. It really depends on what is catching my eye at the moment. The light source comes into play, as does color, dry or wet streets, surface, backgrounds, architecture, chalk brand, location, and vehicular as well as pedestrian traffic.

    Brooklyn-Street-Art-Ellis-G-Banksy-Movie-April2010-1564475_n

    Brooklyn Street Art: Since you are working with Banksy, does this mean you are going to start wearing a hood and talking like Darth Vader?

    Ellis G.: No, I will not be rocking a hoodie and talking like Luke Skywalker’s father anytime soon.
    Here is Ellis’s donation the Street Art New York Silent Auction Benefit:

    Directory-Street-Art-New-York-Silent-Auction33

    See more pieces from the auction at http://www.flickr.com/photos/streetartnewyork/.

    Learn more about the Street Art New York Silent Auction Benefit

    Read more

    NohJColey New Piece Ponders Career Choices

    April 23, 2010 ,

    Street artist NohJColey took the mission of the programs at Free Arts NYC to heart and head when creating his piece for the Street Art New York Silent Auction Benefit.

    This mixed-media piece focuses on a youth contemplating what path he will take in more grown-up pursuits. With typical NohJColey erudition, this portrait is revealing of an inner dialogue.

    NJC’s attention to detail and his uncommon handling of technique and medium truly makes his statement purely his.  You don’t need us to tell you that this talent is one to watch. But what’s up with that eyeball? Jus’ kidding.

    Directory-Street-Art-New-York-Silent-Auction55

    See more of NOHJ’s work HERE

    See more pieces from the auction at http://www.flickr.com/photos/streetartnewyork/.

    Learn more about the Street Art New York Silent Auction Benefit

    Read more

    Shepard Speaks to you on the Street, On Video, On Radio

    April 22, 2010 , ,

    As President Obama comes to New York this morning, some people are suggesting that he is actually coming to see the new Shepard Fairey wall on Houston Street, rather than a 3 blocks north at Cooper Union to speak about Financial Reform on Wall Street.

    You can catch some more cool “on the scene” pics from Becki Fuller on The Street Spot HERE.

    And listen to Shepard Fairy’s interview on WNYC with Brian Lehrer yesterday.  And a furtherance of the interview on video here:



    And Big Ups to Animal New York for this funny interview with Shepard Fairy on Houston Street a couple nights ago, where he addresses Guantanamo, Obama, campaign finance reform, and how the Banksy movie was marketed and is received.

    Read more interesting Shepard Fairey news at Animal New York

    Watch out kids – Shepard uses swear words in some of these answers.

    from ANIMALnewyork.com

    Additional on the street interview:

    Read more

    Featured Video | Martin Wong’s “Houston Street”

    Recent Articles on BSA