Then I met an Englishman. “Oh,” he said. “Won’t you walk up and down my spine, It makes me feel strangely alive.” I said ‘In these shoes?’ I doubt you’d survive.”
“Olalalamode”, a project by Street Artist ELV, consists of a closet full of hand painted wheat pastes glorifying the most psychologically laden ladies accessory, the shoe. These eclectic shoes started to appear on Bushwick streets late summer, so we know they must be for Spring 2012. Garish, oddly elongated, and elevated beyond sense, this catch-me collection might not attract the eye of Imelda Marcos but Lady Gaga could certainly give them a lick. In a bold simple cartoon sketch style, the vividly rendered pumps in bright colors are marching and preening in better alleyways and empty lots everywhere.
Fancy shoes are not usual for the Street Art scene but many a man has been transfixed by a woman in some hot high heels, hoping to have them scattered across his living room floor, or elsewhere in his apartment. Mickey Rooney didn’t have that kind of fortune. “I buy women shoes and they use them to walk away from me.”
Certain women love them more – if for different reasons. That whinneying clothes horse Carrie Bradshaw once supposedly blew 40K on shoes, but no one ever believed the characters on that show actually existed. Madame Marcos, who did exist, lustily defended herself against Philipinos clamoring for her well-coiffed head by exclaiming, “I did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty”. And don’t forget Condi Rice, the Secretary of State and accomplished pianist who strutted up 5th Avenue shoe shopping and later catching a Broadway show while Hurricane Katrina ravaged the south. Clearly, the list of people who are driven crazy by shoes is endless. ELV is here for you.
Every day you are rushing to jobs or gigs or interviews for jobs or gigs, negotiating the path through the rough loud place you love, New York. It’s tempting to stay inside your apartment or a bar at night – especially when the sun goes down so early, but you can actually have a great time for free if you take a walk along one of Manhattans newest thoroughfares. The High Line Park has been open since 2009 and after many visits we’ve decided that this vast path of urban infrastructure is one of the most successful of the city’s public works. It is a work of art, if you can excuse a bit of gushing. And it’s work of art you can sit inside – or stroll, or jog, or dance, or steal a kiss. Not hog-kissing, don’t get carried away you kids!
Viewed from the High Line at night, the city is close enough to touch but still out of reach, the winding path of the former shipping rail guides you through canyons of warehouses that loom to both sides and allow you a look inside. Distant buildings form mountain peaks in fluorescent reds and greens and blues jutting behind the buildings in your foreground, holding up the sky with triumphal color and illuminating a diorama of the city before you while the Hudson River glistens alongside. You have a front seat to see architectural design of many schools and gaze down upon the creeks and streams of lights below without worrying about dodging traffic or crossing a street – or paying the high rent this island demands now.
In summer months the landscaping is tamed-wild lushness, with a wide variety of plants, tree, flowers, and tall waving grasses. Even in the off-season, the burnished hues and rusty textures bouncing in the cold breeze make sure the natural element takes a central role in a city which celebrates the man-made. The welcoming handsome furniture is integrated along the walkway to accompany, support, and even to facilitate lounging. What is amazing is how you can be firmly in the middle of an urban footprint and yet experience a sense of being in a serene environment.
On a recent evening there were few people walking and sitting in the hidden niches while we strolled up the High Line. People talk, gaze, and of course, take photos. In a semi enclosed underside of a warehouse a lone cello player filled the air with an achingly rich timber that reverberated directly through us like waves of amber. Just one guy playing his instrument. Where are we, on top of the world? Yes, it’s New York again.
From the High Line Web Site : “High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line, today unveiled The First $100,000 I Ever Made, a new work created by legendary artist John Baldessari for the 25-by-75 foot billboard next to the High Line on 10th Avenue at West 18th Street. This is the first of three works to be presented as part of a new series called HIGH LINE BILLBOARD, thanks to the generous support of Edison Properties, the owner of the property on which the billboard stands. The First $100,000 I Ever Made will remain on view until Friday, December 30, 2011.”
Still burping from those last hors d’oeuvres that you dumped in your backpack at the chic opening we went to at the regular Art Basel last night? God, what was that? Anchovy paste or snot on a cracker? Pass me that pizza box please, I think I left a crust in there. Come on, let’s get outside to the street and find some coffee and we’ve got to see who’s putting new stuff up this afternoon.
Photographers Mike Pearce and Kendra Heisler are on the ground in Miami documenting the happenings and sending updates.
Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Billi Kid, Dain, Ema, Fumero, Iwazaru, Kikazaru, Labrona, Lisa Enxing, ME, Miyok, Mizaru, and ND’A.
The city of Chicago is famous for many things, one of them is the city’s zero tolerance for Graffiti and Street Art. Lore has it that if a piece runs for more than one day before “The Buff” hits it with a drab splotch of municipal death, it’s because they thought it was an ad.
One piece that has survived the wrath of The Graffiti Blasters (as they are officially known) is the only known Banksy piece in Chicago. It’s a vintage baby carriage tumbling down the ghosted remnant of a staircase. It brings to mind the movie ‘The Untouchables” with mobsters and police and screeching cars and a panicked baby just for the hell of it. But, really, no one knows why this Banksy baby has survived so long.
Compounding the question this summer was the appearance of a mysterious unfinished non-Banksy body lying further down the staircase. Oddly stiff and praying, nobody knew the cadaverish forms’ origin as we looked through a lense at the Banksy in all it’s faded glory, looking more poignant and beautifully decayed, tagged but not destroyed. The unfinished form appeared to be levitating above the steps, it’s incompleteness adding an eerie feel to the Banksy carriage. Who painted it? Why was it not finished? Que significa?
Today we can report to you with certainty that the unfinished piece was by that side-busting Specter. And it is unfinished no more.
According to one account, it looks like the Brooklyn Street Artist had gotten in a little deeper than he intended when he began his unwanted collaboration with the biggest name in spraybiz, and he lost his concentration, one could say.
The resulting work, the “restoration” of the original Banksy, will surely infuriate some BSA readers. In the context of Specters other “sidebusts” and his own semi-rigid rulebook, however, it makes it’s own curious sense. And the woman who appears to have inched her way closer to the baby carriage as she become more complete? What of her? Reached for comment, Specter only said that in this unwanted collaboration he “used the Banksy baby carriage to make a reference to the conservative agenda that attempts to control women’s reproductive systems.”
“In this colab I used the Banksy baby carriage to make a reference to the conservative agenda that attempts to control women’s reproductive systems”. Specter
Miami is basically “South Brooklyn” starting right about now, minus the bagels, the B62 bus, and the compulsive habit of cutting you off mid-sentence. Artists, galleries, fans, party girls and boys, djs, – they all head south the first few days of December for the big fair and all the little ones.
It already seems a little quieter here because Fountain took the weirdos, Wynwood Walls took the Soho softshoes, and The Underbelly collected the hardcore characters just long enough to sign a book and scarf some pizza before looking for a tunnel somewhere. Art Basel is a feast and the draw of Street Art and graffiti continues apace this year, with entrants from all the strata looking for a wall, and maybe a party, and a honey to go skinny dip with.
We picked a few Street Art related gems here that you might want to hit, but even if you show up in Miami this week with no plans, you’ll easily find some trouble to get into, we trust. Do your best.
After a full year underground, The Underbelly Project is coming to Miami during Art Basel. A pop up gallery, the show will feature original artwork from many of the 103 international artists who participated in the hidden subway project in New York. The exhibition will feature a video piece of multiple installations happening simultaneously, as well as new pieces by many of the artists. Additionally a book signing of the first volume to come out about the project, published by Rizzoli, will take place on December 2nd. Artists participating in the signing include: Dabs & Myla, Rone, Gaia, Lister, Eric Haze, Joe Iurato, Adam Feibleman, Know Hope, Jeff Stark, Jason Eppink, Jim and Tina Darling, The London Police, Dan Witz, Specter, Surge and other surprise artists.
Included in the show are street, graffiti and fine artists alike. The full line-up includes: Faile, Dabs & Myla, TrustoCorp, Aiko, Rone, Revok, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Mark Jenkins, Anthony Lister, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, M-City, Kid Zoom, Eric Haze, Saber, Meggs, Jim & Tina Darling, The London Police, Sheone, Skewville, Jeff Stark, Jordan Seiler, Jason Eppink and I AM, Dan Witz, Specter, Ripo, MoMo, Remi/Rough, Stormie Mills, Swoon, Know Hope, Skullphone, L’Atlas, Roa, Surge, Gaia, Michael De Feo, Joe Iurato, Love Me, Adam 5100, and Chris Stain.
THE UNDERBELLY SHOW 29 November – Press Preview 5pm/ Private View 7pm 30 November – Collector’s Preview 7pm 1 December – Secret Wars US vs. UK 6pm 2 December – General Opening 5pm and Artist Book Signing 6pm
The show will take place in the heart of Wynwood at 78NW 25th Street
SCOPE
Jonathan Levine Gallery At Scope with WK Interact, Aakash Nihilani, Olek, and Jason DeCaires Taylor
“Placing a focus on public art for this program, the gallery will present a series of works that highlight a diverse range of distinct styles, cultural perspectives and unconventional mediums. Each of the four artists selected represent fresh directions in creating work in public space through their innovative vision and inventive use of materials. Photography documenting their interventional imagery, sculpture, and performances convey the transformative effect their work has on its surrounding
White Walls will be hosting four booths at SCOPE, situated in the center of Miami’s Wynwood Gallery Arts District, featuring a MTN Colors Group show with APEX, Neon, Estria, Vogue, Blek le Rat, HUSH, Kofie and Chor Boogie, a White Walls Group show with Casey Gray, Ben Eine and Greg Gossel, and solo shows for both ABOVE and ROA. APEX, Eine, Kofie, ABOVE, ROA and Chor Boogie will also be painting at the Kohn compound on 24th street.
For a full listing of exhibitors and events click here SCOPE
Wynwood Walls
Wynwood Walls is premiering 7 new Street Art murals and 16 new pieces at Wynwood Doors and walls outside.
Debuting in tandem with the new murals and installations during Art Basel this year on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, the “Shop at the Walls” the first Wynwood Walls Pop Up gallery space that will offer artworks and the new Wynwood Walls book.The book has interview with Street Artists and photography by Martha Cooper.
Artists include Retna, The Date Farmers, How and Nosm, Gaia (USA), Saner and Sego (Mexico), Liqen (Spain), Neuzz (Mexico), Nunca (Brazil), Vhils (Portugal), Interesni Kazki (Ukraine), Faile (USA) and b. (Greece). Kenny Scharf is expected to augment his existing wall, and remaining work from the last two years from Nunca, Shepard Fairey, Aiko, Ryan McGinness, Stelios Faitakis and avaf will be on display.
Walls Outside the Wynwood Walls, encompassing key locations outside of the actual art park itself and in the surrounding neighborhood, will be created by Friends With You (USA), avaf (Brazil and France), Nunca, and Interesni Kazki (Ukraine); joining works previously completed by Swoon and Barry McGee.
Location:
Wynwood Walls and the Pop Up Shop are located at NW Second Avenue – between Joey’s Italian Café on 25th Street and the art-filled Wynwood Kitchen & Bar on 26th Street – and are open to the public free of charge.
HERE COMES THE NEIGHBORHOOD: WYNWOOD (Video)
Fountain Art Fair
“Our preferred punk rock lopsided Anti-Fair.” —Brooklyn Street Art
This year Fountain Miami’s signature on-site street art installation is curated by Samson Contompasis, director of Albany’s The Marketplace, and will feature over 150 feet of work Street Artists including Sharktoof, Chris Stain, Olek, Hugh Leeman, Chor Boogie, OverUnder, White Cocoa, Army of One, Clown Soldier, Joe Iurato, CAKE, Tip-Toe, Elle, Ian Ross, Know Hope, Depoe, and Zero Cents.
Brooklyn’s own Mighty Tanaka Gallery is showing at Fountain Participating artists include: Adam Void, Alexandra Pacula, Alice Mizrachi, ChrisRWK, Ellen Stagg, Gigi Chen, Hellbent, Hiroshi Kumagai, JMR, John Breiner, Max Greis, Mike Schreiber, Robbie Busch, Skewville, TooFly, URnewyork, VengRWK & Miguel Ovalle
December 1–4, 2011 2505 North Miami Avenue (at the corner of 25th St) | Miami, FL 33137 General Hours: 12pm–7pm daily Tickets: $10 daily / $15 weekend pass. All tickets sold at door.
Primary Projects
A new exhibit debuting during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011
Thursday, December 1
Opening Reception
7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
RETNA, Jessy NITE, Stormie MILLS, Evan ROBARTS, Lena SCHMIDT, Luis PINTO, Andrew SCHOULTZ, Karen STAROSTA-GILINSKI, Kenton PARKER, TM SISTERS, Samantha SALZINGER, Emmette MOORE, Anthony LISTER, Charles KRAFFT, Tatiana SUAREZ, Edouard NARDON, Andrew NIGON, Johnny ROBLES and Lawrence GIPE.
Primary Projects
4141 NE Second Avenue
Suite 104
Miami, FL 33137
Living Walls is working with with Primary Flight, one of the original graffiti and Street Art mural projects, to create 3 new murals in the Wynwood District.
Opening under cover of night somewhere in Paris, four stories beneath la rue, a secret subterranean gallery in a sealed tunnel appears suddenly. While activity on the street overhead is hectic and dense with cars, trucks and pedestrians, the dry dust is ankle-high here in this darkened silent morgue, its cool dank air now permeated with fresh aerosol. The Underbelly has been here, and if you discover this curated collection of Street Art and graffiti in the chilled dim light, you are officially lost. And lucky.
“You start climbing down and it seems like it never ends,” says Workhorse, the project leader who, along with a partner named PAC, has lead wandering artists down a similar path with pounds of spray paint in their backpacks once before, “You feel like your descending into this black pit.” The last time Underbelly appeared, it was in Brooklyn with 100 artists mounting an unsanctioned show in abandoned tunnels during a one-year period. Now these organizers stood in an underground location deep beneath Paris with a tense troupe sworn to secrecy; ten artists, three organizers, two photographers and one writer, converging here from five countries for one goal; to paint walls unencumbered, if quietly, for half a day.
“The mood was a little tense until we were all safely in the tunnel,’ says Martha Cooper, the graffiti and Street Art photographer who has been doggedly pursuing these kind of painting parties in challenging locations for about 40 years. After decades of urban exploration, the world renowned photog with a journalists tenacity recounts stories like this with a glint in her eye and a sort of seasoned glee. “The process of climbing down steep ladders in narrow spaces in the middle of the night felt like a grand adventure.”
For Workhorse, the fear factor felt much more tangible, “If you get seen and stopped, there really is no good way to explain why you’re entering an illegal location with a dozen cameras and spray paint. I think we were all aware of the fact that it wasn’t a time to joke around or fuck up.”
If you’ve ever tried to organize artists, you know it’s almost impossible, and it always takes longer than you expect, especially when flights are delayed, luggage gets lost, and traffic is thick. “It took us 36 hours to finalize the supply list, get everyone in at the same time and same place and go over the itinerary of how things would work. We met up before sunrise, and made our way into the tunnel,” says Workhorse when describing the corralling of the crew.
The crew for Underbelly this time was a mixture of heavyweights and relative newcomers on the graffiti/Street Art continuum, each with a solid presence in an ever morphing scene; C215, Tristan Eaton, Futura, Conor Harrington, How and Nosm, Alice Pasquini, Saber, SheOne, and Will Barras. If there was street beef, nobody was showing it. In fact some of the biggest fans of these artists are their peers and many of them were just happy to be in each other’s company for the first time. “I felt very privileged to be a part of such an amazing secretive project in one of my favorite cities. It was an honor to paint with these artists and be photographed by Martha Cooper,” says Los Angeles graffiti artist Saber, whose recent health issues caused the team to craft a contingency plan for one of the intermittent paroxysms he’s had in the last year.
“As real dangers go, these guys had worked out the logistics of how to get me out of the deep hole if I happened to have a seizure. Lifting my unconscious big rear-end up many feet is no easy task. I felt safe with these guys knowing they had looked at all sides of the logistics,” he says, now happily at home.
But what about his piece on the wall? How did his painting go? “I was next to Futura, so no pressure there! How and Nosm’s piece along with SheOne`s wall was amazing. My piece wasn’t so fancy,” he explains while relating how delayed flights and jetlag contributed to a painting performance he feels was less than his best, “I got crushed by the friendly competition.”
Similarly, the New York Street Artist Tristan Eaton says the poor lighting leaves him wondering what his final piece even looks like today. “My area was only lit on one side, so half of my piece was in darkness while I painted. I planned a figurative piece with mostly dark reds, so how it came out is still a mystery to me. I haven’t seen any pictures, so I’m crossing my fingers that it’s not a total disgrace,” he says only half joking. The guy usually exhibits a technical mastery of the can, so it’s not unusual to hear him talk about taking on a new challenge with gusto. “I was trying to paint the Ferry man from Michelangelo’s Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel for God’s sake. I’ve been trying to do more figurative spray paint work lately, so I thought I’d push myself. Bad idea. I can normally trust myself to make anything work but given the challenges of the situation, I should have done a classic piece in a comfortable style and called it a day.”
For the ever sanguine quipster Futura, a graffiti legend whose savoir faire was primed by experience from the moment he arrived underground, his active imagination seemed enlivened by possibility and fantasy. With an elegant red cape and a can in hand, the graffiti and abstract artist clearly let his mind wander while the groups’ other amazing photographer, Ian Cox, looked for opportunities to capture the action and the attitude of the moment.
Four years in the US military will make a man look at this art project as a mission, and Futura was thinking of video games, regarding Underbelly as a real life multi-player call of graffiti duty. “You know it’s one thing to play Modern Warfare 3 Spec Ops: Parisian Metro,” he intoned semi-seriously while talking about the planning that brought him to this sweet spot to paint, “but the precision and logistical coordination was, without question, a highlight in danger and daring.”
Setting aside heroic associations with the mission, the paintings themselves are imbued with a mysterious quality that is aided by their clandestine location and the conditions in which they were created; There is Connor Harrington’s epic and faceless horseman astride a stately galloping steed, Alice Pasquini’s Pipi Longstocking girl shrouding her frightened face in the corner, and How and Nosm’s sharp swooping symbols, lines and patterns waiting to be decoded.
Imagine walking with a flashlight through this tunnel of darkness and discovering the 12 foot high stencil portrait by hometown Street Art star C215 as it hovers slightly above you. The large grizzled face looms as a memory, perhaps a miner or a railroad worker, with one eye closed, or missing. Maybe he is wincing at you because of the thick dust in this airless tunnel.
He could be also reacting to the aerosol spewing from many cans spraying all at once. Advance planning aside, one detail escaped the group; ventilation. While none of the participants we spoke with regrets for a minute the opportunity to bury paintings far below the surface of a historical city that celebrates it’s artistic culture, everyone mentions the fumes.
“The tunnel was pretty much sealed with no ventilation,” Cooper remembers, “Had I not been loaned a respirator, I would not have been able to breathe. The paint fumes accumulated so that there was a visible haze in the space.”
“Inside the tunnel, it became 60% visibility with the spray paint fog with an instant headache wall when you walked in,” says Eaton, “We all felt bad for Saber who showed up last and had to bear the worst of it all.”
Saber agrees, “If you stayed too long you could possibly get inhalation poisoning. Seriously, in my 21 years of painting I have never experienced a wall of fumes like that.”
Curiously, no one bolted from the space and six hours stretched to nine, nine to twelve. After fourteen hours, everyone in the party was exhausted by the stress, the fumes, and the new paintings they had labored over. With completed pieces installed and documented, the crew re-packed their bags and collapsed their equipment to begin their ascent back up the steel ladders to emerge into the streets one small group at a time.
Brooklyn Street Art:Did you see many rats? Martha Cooper: I don’t remember seeing any rats. Workhorse: Nope, usually rodents are in active areas because they are looking for food. We were in a section that hadn’t been used in decades so there was no sign of life there. Saber: No, but I was searching for as many Space Invaders and Horfe pieces I could find.
“After being in the drafty tunnel we were all a bit dried out and hungry,” says Workhorse when describing the scattering of the team once they hit the street. Above ground they were much more relaxed, and sleepy. But not everyone hit the couch.
Says Eaton, “We were all doing what we love doing more than anything in the world. We got three blocks from the tunnel and ended up sitting down for five cold beers, covered in black dirt from head to toe. The buzz from the experience was strong. Most artists covet the moment when the work is done and you sit back to reflect on what you did with the weight off your shoulders. This was that moment times infinity.”
As for Futura, he’s just a romantic, “Merci beaucoup Paris . . . Je T’aime.”
Here in New York everybody is still out kickin around the streets because the weather is warm and to welcome the oceanic flood of tourists who are here to see the big parade, the Rockettes, The Book of Mormon, and to buy fake Louis Vuitton bags on Canal Street. After Thanksgiving, it’s a tradition that we get mobbed by shoppers from all over the place, and it’s a tradition to complain about slow moving wide people in sweatpants slowing us down, even though secretly we’re happy to see cousin Bruce and Aunt Ida again. Also, if you slow down a little, you might even see some new Street Art and appreciate it.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Anthony Lister, Betten, CID, Dr. Za, Erik Berglin, Jaye Moon, Leidy, OverUnder, Phil, RWK, Sise, Veng, and Willow.
Our sincere thanks to BSA reader and New Yorker Spencer Elzey, who took a trip to Sydney at the beginning of the month and had the opportunity to check out the Outpost Project Street Art festival. Here’s his report.
Cockatoo Island is the Governor’s Island of Sydney. The ferry leaves Circular Quay, motors beside the shimmering tiles of the Sydney Opera House, sweeps underneath the arching Harbor Bridge and the tourist who pay $200 for a chance to climb the upper deck above. Twenty minutes later, a large “No Trespassing” sign begins to become in focus. We have arrived at the Outpost Project.
The island, who’s past includes an old Imperial prison and one of Australia’s largest shipyards, welcomes each street art enthusiast with a detailed information brochure. The inner cover contains a fairly easy to follow map of what lies ahead. Right away three large inflatables (imagine a small grounded hot air balloon) greet you adorned with Anthony Lister’s iconic caricatures. The info packet says it best when describing the images; the “superheroes are never indomitable conquerors or unequivocal villains.” Straddled by two of these is a large piece by Belgium artist, and frequent Brooklyn talent, ROA.
Follow the art around the corner through a mural-lined alley between two buildings and some familiar styles present themselves including the stick-figure arms by Perth Street Artist Creepy.
The second floor of one of these buildings is the current home to a large private collection of work by Banksy. The OI YOU! Collection had an interesting start, but where it currently stands is 22 pieces by Banksy. Intermixed are items by Faile, Swoon and others. The husband and wife team collecting behind OI YOU!, George Shaw and his wife Shannon Webster, sold both of their cars and re-directed a home improvement loan to feed their need for owning more street art.
Inside the main building, known as the Industrial Precinct, MOX (Mark Cawood) is hard at work. After over 120 hours of intricate stencil cutting, his diligence is well on its way toward a completed final product. At the end of the hall, behind the small traffic jam of mangled cars, is a life size recreation of the childhood home of Street Artist and fine artist Kid Zoom.
Located deeper within the hall of the Industrial Precinct are two other impressive arrays; NEXT by T-World and Pastemodernism 3. Both of these installations, while serious in their scope, were whimsical at heart. The NEXT collection, overseen by “Melbourne-born T-shirt messiah Eddie Zammit,” asks 20 artists to assemble over 1,500 T-shirts to display. Local shout-outs included Barcade in Williamsburg and Katz’s Deli on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Pastemodernism 3, now in it’s third year at OUTPOST, is the self-proclaimed “largest celebration of ‘paste-ups’ in Australia.” Over 100 artists had a part in this collaboration.
Traversing the Artery, a limestone lined subterranean tunnel, one passes by a “rogue gallery of 30 hand picked Australian street artists” including HA HA, Ghostpatrol, Numskull, Dmote and Yok, just to name a few.
Upon exiting, you end up back at the beginning, next to the “No Trespassing” sign and amongst a collection by Will Coles. His concrete cast items, usually adorned with a word or two, are lifelike enough even the Seagulls seemed a bit confused.
李小龍, the Chinese American martial artist and cultural icon otherwise known as Bruce Lee, is receiving a giant tribute by New York Street Artist Cern in Williamsburg, Brooklyn right now.
Over the course of a couple of weeks, this psychedelic scene has unwound from the longtime graffiti artist Cern’s imagination, an interwoven gently surreal color spectacle of traditional Chinese imagery; dragons, pagodas and pines, combined with a frisky feline and fully formed Cern birds from the artists own visual vocabulary. The ephemeral dream washes across the facades of two buildings, framing the commanding image of the master. Brought along for the trip are the inflateable Cern paintings that the artist is experimenting with, and who bring a cheerful bobbing third dimension to the worksite, augmenting the process and producing a curious stream of onlookers. Or is that a stream of curious onlookers?
We found Cern commanding his cherry picker, doing his mid-air wizardry on a beautiful autumn day perched along this wall that has been a very well known spot for Street Artists over the last decade or more. An abandoned piece of property while Williamsburg was of no interest to anyone but the artists who came here seeking large industrial spaces and places to create, many will recall these walls as a magnet to Street Artists like Cake, Feral, Dain, MOMO, Matt Siren, El Sol 25, Hellbent and many more, who were attracted to its beautiful decay and stately demeanor. With the advent of people with money (and strollers) moving in, the former dye factory is now becoming, what else, a martial arts center. With Cern’s help, the new work keeps artists in the mix.
German Street Artist ECB recently finished painting this elongated white guys head on a 150 year old building in the heart of Bushwick, Brooklyn. ECB says he likes painting wrinkles and ends up painting men because they have more. Additionally, stretching them out of proportion is a favorite technique, pushing the features and proportions like silly putty to cover as much space as possible. If you have been in Bushwick much over the past two years you’ve seen many of them wrapping around old warehouses and factory buildings.
While inspecting the latest ECB, we got to meet the owner of the building, Franz, a senior gentleman who actually was so engaging that he gave an entire tour of it, such is the nature of some friendly people. As you walk from floor to floor seeing how the building is used, it might strike you that Franz could easily be a sitter for one of ECB’s pieces. He explains that this building used to be a family farmhouse an stable and a resting station for horses. Travelers on a long trip from the North would replace their tired team of horses with a new fresh team and continue their journey. On their way back home they picked their own team up and headed back home.
Franz, an emigrant from Austria and a Master cabinet maker, has been working with wood and making custom furniture for over 50 years. He purchased the Bushwick farmhouse 35 years ago for $85,000 once the seller agreed to put on a new roof. Ask him why he still works so hard everyday and he looks at you like you’re crazy. He can build anything you ask, loves what he does, and has a staff of six assistants, one apprentice and an artist for faux wood finishing.
And what about the artists on the street? He said he likes to help out the young artists and is very happy to allow them to paint on the building’s front and sidewalls. He said he enjoys the murals, likes the crumbling paint on the bricks and wants things to stay as they are.
Elfo is a graffiti writer and social commentator whose work intentionally sidesteps traditional notions of style or technical lettering. This …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
