Hello October ! It’s the first official day and Nuart 2011 is in progress. The streets of Stavanger have been sunny, with people out checking out the action by Street Artists from Europe and the US on walls all over the city in summer-like conditions. There is an indoor contingent happening too, as well as the debut of “Vigilante Vigilante” (trailer at end) and a panel discussion with downtown New York’s own Carlo McCormick and Street Artists Herbert Baglioni and Escif.
Here are a few exclusive pics from Mooki to give you a peek at the scene.
Check out the trailer for “Vigilante Vigilante”, which had it’s European premiere at Nuart last night and which is showing tonight and tomorrow at 16oo hrs. It’s a supercharged wending path and story profiling personalities, behaviors, and agendas of intersecting players on the street. In the process it exposes grey areas and overlapping interests, all of which can be simultaneously uncomfortable and riveting.
1. Fountain LA This Weekend
2. NUART 2011 – Stavanger, Norway
3. “Bring to Light” in Greenpoint Brooklyn for the 2nd Year – Saturday Night!
3. “Rituals” on 14th Street, Art in Odd Places
4. Pantheon Projects at THE NEW YORK ART BOOK FAIR AT MoMA PS1
5. Art Platform Los Angeles
6. RETNA at Art Platform (LA)
7. Brian Adam Douglas at Art Platform (LA)
Fountain LA This Weekend
New York’s own specially warped outsiders are in LA this weekend, and BSA is happy to sport support for whatever madness they can stir up, including the Murder Lounge, which Dave Ill says will be in full effect. (Murder- .slang. To defeat decisively). When you are milling around the big LA shows this weekend make sure you stop by Fountain and say hello to Señor Kesting and check out the Street Art contingent doing their thing on the Left Coast ya’ll.
NUART 2011 has arrived and the streets and buildings of Stavanger are a heating up with all the artists getting up and doing what they know what to do best: Paint. Brooklyn’s own Dan Witz already hit the streets with his “King Baby” street installations on faux city street signage. Tonight (Friday) their is a panel debate with artists, Carlo McCormick and Juxtapoz Magazine that we wouldn’t miss.
Artists include DAN WITZ (US), DAVID CHOE & DVS1 (US), VHILS (PO), HERBERT BAGLIONE (BR), DOLK (NO), LUCY McCLAUCHLAN (UK), HERAKUT (DE), TELLAS (IT), ESCIF (ES), HYURO (ES), PHLEGM (UK)
For a complete listing of events and schedules please visit the NUART site:
“Bring to Light” in Greenpoint Brooklyn for the 2nd Year – Saturday Night!
“All manner of projectors blasted on the walls with myriad images, forms, and shapes, some breathtakingly beautiful. Other artists created sculptures and installations that worked as light vessels and amorphous creatures while collaborative dancers entertained groupings of appreciative observers.” from BSA’s review on Huffington Post
OCTOBER 1ST, 2011, Greenpoint, Brooklyn New York. 6:00 pm to Midnight.
Bring to Light is a free nighttime public festival of art in New York City that takes place simultaneously with “nuit blanche” events in cities around the world. Inviting emerging and established artists to make site-specific installations of light, sound, performance and projection art, the event creates an immersive spectacle for thousands of visitors to re-imagine public space and civic life. Bring to Light will transform streets, parks and the industrial waterfront of Greenpoint, Brooklyn set against dramatic views of the Manhattan skyline.
Nuit Blanche (French for “white night” or “all-nighter”) is a global network of locally-organized nighttime contemporary art events. Originating in Paris in 2001, the nuit blanche concept now involves millions of people in cities around the world.
One performance we will NOT miss will be Chris Jordan and Josh Goldberg, who have serious chops in public projection work, presenting CHRONO GIANTS.
Art in Odd Places 2011: RITUAL features a wide variety of actions, participatory performances, theatrical presentations, public installations, and small and large-scale interventions all of which revolve around the concept of ritual.
Art in Odd Places (AiOP) presents visual and performance art in public spaces with an annual festival each October along 14th Street in Manhattan, NYC from Avenue C to the Hudson River.
Opening Reception for Art In Odd Places Festival 2011
Friday, September 30, 6-9pm
Theaterlab
137 West 14th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues
New York, NY
For a complete listing of artists and a full schedule of events and locations visit Art In Odd Places site:
This art book fair always rewards you – just walking around the floorplan of MoMA PS1 is a trip and the books are tripped out. This year we are in a new one – The Pantheon Catalog from Joyce Manalo and Daniel Feral;
“The street has always been the thumping beat that pumps the pulsing lifeblood through creative New York. Yes, there is a lot of action behind the walls in the offices and galleries and studios and stages and clubs and boardrooms, but everyone knows it is the kinetic electricity of life on the street that inspires New Yorkers to dig deeper and dream bigger and play hard.”
~ from the essay Street Art New York, The 2000s, Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo of Brooklyn Street Art.
If that is not enough to make you absolutely plow down crowds to get there, consider the real talents who are going to be there to SIGN YOUR COPY:
***Catalog Signing on Sunday, October 2nd, 3-3:45 PM featuring***
Join Pantheon Projects at The NY Art Book Fair
September 30-October 2, 2011, 11AM-7PM, at PS1/MoMA, Free Admission
Hours: Friday–Sunday, 11AM-7PM
THE NY ART BOOK FAIR
September 30–October 2, 2011
MoMA PS1
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue
Long Island City, NY (map)
Art Platform Los Angeles
From their press release; Art Platform – Los Angeles will demonstrate the rich and vibrant cultural landscape of Southern California and underscore Los Angeles’ influential position within the contemporary art world. MMPI is one of the largest show producers in the world, including a growing portfolio of premium art shows. We have assured the continued development and enhancement of the Art Show division by bringing together some of the top minds in art fairs under one partnership”
For more information, location and a complete list of exhibitors please visit Art Platform at:
If you can’t wait to see the Retna spread as shot by David LaChapelle in October’s Vanity Fair you can check out these new pieces at Art Platform and see BSA’s photos from his New York show this spring.
New Image Art Gallery will be exhibiting at Art Platfrom Los Angeles Featuring new large-scale paintings on canvas and paper by RETNA Visit them at booth #108
Brian Adam Douglas at Art Platform (LA)
Andrew Edlin Gallery will exhibit Brooklyn Fine and Street Artist Brian Adam Douglas along with Henry Darger, Thornton Dial and Jeremy Everett. Visit them at booth 814.
Painter Anthony Lister is also a Street Artist. His surreal pop and celebrity culture-infused abstractions are candy encrusted apples which may have something sharp inside. Many are figurative studies and wire frames bending wildly into characters who cavort and mock with blunt swipes of color, overlaid by costumed sexual role play… or is that a personal projection? Did I mention elegance, defiance, wit? Wait, there is so much here! Truth is, his work can be a cock-eyed psychological tempest, jarring to the head, strangely sweet.
A decade of discovery under his superhero belt, Mr. Lister continues to analyze and build his creative practice and it always includes work inside the gallery and outside on the street. He’s currently preparing for his solo show in Sydney called “Bogan Paradise” at Gallery A.S. At the same time he’s part of a group show with a gaggle of his Aussie expats on view at 941 Geary in San Francisco for “Young and Free”, including Kid Zoom, Dabs & Myla, Dmote, New2, Ben Frost, Meggs, Ha-Ha, Reka, Rone, Sofles and Vexta. Not to mention his participation in our show last month in Los Angeles at C.A.V.E. with Thinkspace, “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories“.
The artist took some time recently to talk to Brooklyn Street Art about his practice;
Brooklyn Street Art:How much of one of your painted portraits is autobiographical? In other words, what portion of Mr. Lister is super hero, super model, furtive schoolboy, or Homer Simpson? Anthony Lister: I don’t really think about myself when I paint. My figurative works are more like reflections of characteristics I absorb from real life day to day.
Brooklyn Street Art:If you were to wear colored glasses, which color do you think you would most likely screen the world through? Anthony Lister: Pink, like John Lennon.
Brooklyn Street Art:Francis Bacon said, “The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness.” Would you drink that cocktail? Anthony Lister: Nice words. I agree.
Brooklyn Street Art:What role does analysis play in your creative process when bringing a painting to fruition? Anthony Lister: Analysis is the outcome of considered processing. Constant consideration is crucial.
Brooklyn Street Art:A big piece you did on Metropolitan in Brooklyn – you reworked that face a couple of times over a period of months, producing what appeared as a slowly morphing image. Were you covering up tags, or were you unhappy with the original, or maybe combating the effects of age with a little nip and tuck? Anthony Lister: When I re-work street paintings I think of it like I am a hairdresser. When something is in the public it has a different existence to something living privately in a residence. I’m like a hairdresser I guess.
Brooklyn Street Art:You have spoken about your work as reality, or a reaction to realities. What realities are you depicting these days? Anthony Lister: I just finished a body of work for a solo show in Sydney. This next body of work is about contemporary Australian culture. The exhibition is titled “Bogan Paradise.”
Brooklyn Street Art: When you consider the Street Art scene that evolved around Melbourne, how would you characterize its nature in a way that differentiates it from the work in other cities around the world? Anthony Lister: No different. This whole street art thing has sprung up post the turn of the digital revolution so it is on the Internet quick and the artists who inspire others and the ones who are easily inspired are constantly swimming in the same aesthetic pools of consciousness. Not to mention that most of the prominent artists travel lots so it is easy to see work of the same artist in multiple cities around the world at the same time.
Brooklyn Street Art:The titles you give your gallery pieces are entertaining, instructive, illustrative. Do you ever want to place a placard near a piece you’ve done on the street – just to make sure the message gets across? Anthony Lister: No. My street practice is less thoughtful and therefore needs less commentary.
Brooklyn Street Art:When is a painting complete? Anthony Lister: When it tells me so.
Brooklyn based Street Artist and Fine Artist Specter was in Dushanbe, Tajikistan for two weeks where he gave a few lectures and conducted workshops about street art and public art and his experiences as a Street Artist in the last few years.
“While I was there I also had a chance to put up what I would call the first piece of street art in Tajikistan,” says Specter, and we have no reason to doubt it. The hand painted wheat-pasted pieces Specter has been doing featuring sober, no-nonsense portraits swathed in woven fabric that wraps or floats loosely around the head or torso. As is his practice, the neighborhood, history, and people play into his selections of model and materials.
Opening Reception: Friday, September 30, 6-9pm at Theaterlab, 137 W 14th Street.
Rituals on 14th Street
Art in Odd Places 2011: RITUAL features a wide variety of actions, participatory performances, theatrical presentations, public installations, and small and large-scale interventions all of which revolve around the concept of ritual.
A ritual is generally defined as a series of established actions that are carried out in private or public spaces, by individuals or by groups, for their spiritual, social, or political significance. Tapping into the everyday significance of these habits, the artists in AiOP 2011: RITUAL continuously integrate these practices in their work to explore a broad range of issues in contemporary life such as politics, culture, religious beliefs, notions of individuality and community, the endurance of the body and the fragility of life, the relationship with nature, among many others.
The collective character of the public setting offered by one of the busiest New York City arteries as the context for the festival has opened up the possibilities for the ritualistic interactions between artists, objects and people along 14th Street. The street’s daily environment will be transformed by secular and sacred activities and the relationship and reaction of the people attracted by the festival’s ephemeral events. A new sense of place and time, inherent to the concept of ritual, will confront passersby as they flow through the sidewalks, subway stations and storefronts during their everyday commutes or their spontaneous visits to the neighborhood.
The work will be performed and made available along the east-west corridor of 14th Street. The projects may be different each time as they are informed by the varying interpretations of the spectators and their nomadic qualities as they travel through the street. Artists creating pilgrimages will bring new importance to particular places, shrines will be created as sites of worship, and the public will witness miracles. Reenactments of past events based on the collections of oral history, the use of symbols, the exploration of traditions and myths, and the use of magic and astrology are key to some of the artists’ work. Another group of artists create impermanent situations that are reminiscent of childhood and familiar events; worldly rituals that refer to identity politics, queer culture, dominance and submission, are experienced as organic and transcendental happenings.
The use of the body is central to artists that touch upon life and death, real and spiritual borders, love affairs, human relationships and the connection to nature. Through music and dance, walks, palm reading and the use of masks, wigs, and spraying perfumes and scattering ashes, some artists evoke mundane obsessions, venerate popular icons and reject and criticize certain aspects of today’s social values.
From kissing trees to making wishes, from healing souls to dreaming in a park, from washing feet to praying to the sky, the artists transcend the borders of the everyday space. By ritualizing actions and highlighting the different realities that coexist, the projects of AiOP 2011: RITUAL manipulate impressions, satisfy emotions, create effects, and most importantly transform – not only the surroundings in which they position their work, but also the audiences they engage, and who will become fundamental to the ritual itself.
Overunder stays after class at “Living Walls” and gets extra credit
Street Artist Overunder just completed his astounding tiled installation this weekend in Albany on the wall of L’esperance Tile Works, a local tile maker with a special 1920s “dust press” that the artist also worked into the piece. For an artist with such a fluid and freewheeling figurative style with a spray can, it is surprising to see it interpreted with such permanence and cogitative consideration. As part of “Living Walls : Albany”, Overunder had already smashed a few walls around the city in the weeks leading up to this opportunity, but after touring the small tile press facility with co-owner Donald Shore, he fell in love with the idea of tiles as medium. “A lot of these tiles were in the backyard up north at our other facility – he and White Cocoa were standing in the pouring rain digging through these boxes of discards and overruns and he brought these back with him,” explains Shore.
“I think collaboration is a huge part of being an artist. That being said, I was excited when I learned I was doing a mural on a tile manufacturers building. I had never used tile for a mural let alone doing a full out mosaic but now the opportunity was right in front of me. Don was more than willing to teach me as I went and I was more than willing to experiment with this crazy, new medium, ” says Overunder.
“I particularly like the way he’s marking the tiles with his spray can for us to cut,” says Shore, who owns the business with his wife and founder, Linda Ellett.
With assistance from a number of young helpers who live in the neighborhood, the project took a little more than a week to complete, and the results take his stuff to a new level. With a patterned face like an Alexander McQueen model, the figure’s limbs get added dimension with Overunder’s mastery of the can. Small details let you know you shouldn’t be too serious about this, like the painted toenails. As the materials are all discards and overruns from other projects, it’s interesting to note that a number of these same tiles are actually in buildings right now, including the Kol Isreal Synagogue designed by Robert Stern in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the Lt. Governors building in Albany, and even the home of Bill Gates.
“The patterned tiles are created using the encaustic method – an inlaid clay where you take a plaster impression using clay and it leaves a reservoir that you fill with different colors and you plain it smooth and it gives you a very nice two dimensional image — that’s a technique we believe was developed in the medieval period and it was reindustrialized in the 1860’s,” explained the enthusiastic as he gave us a tour of the mural while Overunder and his assistants Roberto and Messiah worked.
It’s not often that Street Art has this heft, and certainly it’s pretty rare to take this much time to complete a piece and manage to include the participation of the community at this level. In fact, certain arts critics and public arts academics might want to reclassify this work as something other than Street Art, but we grant wide berth to the term. One thing is for sure, the resulting piece is no less than a tribute to everyone involved and as a business owner in Albany during the first year of Living Walls, Mr. Shore is sold, “I totally support this thing”
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: XAM, JR, El Sol 25, NohJColey, Mint & Serf, PEZ, Leo Kuelbs, Michael Mut, MTM, DGa, SX2BU, G2R, JOX, ONU.
Street Artist XAM is participating in this year’s DUMBO Art Festival taking place this weekend in the Brooklyn riverfront neighborhood called DUMBO. The annual art festival champions a huge public art element, with installations and projections in the street, in tunnels, on bridges, – and always contains a mix of sanctioned and unsanctioned art that blur the distinct lines of your position as a spectator or participant. With or without an official map to guide your feet, pedestrians can freely explore and stumble upon small thoughtful pieces and huge mind-bending light projections, conceptual mind candy, social commentary, and political screeds. Together with Art In Odd Places and Bring to Light Nuit Blanche NYC 2011 next weekend, it looks like New York is actively courting art in the streets this Fall – not to mention the street theater and artful costumes and signage playing out live in the “Occupy Wall Street”demonstrations. The DUMBO festival will run until today, Sunday September 25.
Street Artist Jetsonorama has a new campaign in Flagstaff, Arizona and on the Navajo Nation reservation using his photographic wheat pastes to highlight the relationship of coal to health, economy, and people. As a health care professional, he sees the impact of burning coal vividly, and with a fresh faced model named JC, he makes the simple and powerful connection to the cloud of history that is fossil fuel metaphorically hanging over our heads.
Beginning September 24th, an organization called 350.org will launch an international campaign to raise awareness on carbon emissions and climate change and Jetsonorama joined with a number of other artists to illustrate the relationship we have with fossil fuels.
“If the Navajo Nation and coal were to declare their relationship status on Facebook, they’d chose the ‘it’s complicated’ option. I live and work on the Navajo Nation where coal is mined and burned. That’s why I chose to work with this imagery and to use coal as a metaphor for a black cloud over the head of future generations.
I informally interviewed 16 Navajo co-workers and asked them to share with me the first thing that comes to mind when I say ‘coal.’ Everyone identified respiratory problems associated with burning coal in the home.
The Navajo Nation is home to 170,000 people who live in an area that is 27,500 square miles in size, or approximately the size of Ireland. Despite having land that is rich in coal, natural gas, uranium, water and timber, the Nation has an unemployment rate of 40% and over half of the Navajo population lives below the USA defined poverty line. A small segment of the population is able to provide a middle class lifestyle for their families by working in mining operations. The cost to the families who burn coal in their homes and to the environment is great, as indicated in my interviews. Interestingly, only 1 of those 16 identified CO2 emissions associated with coal burning as being a contributing factor to climate change.
Again, it’s a complicated relationship and hopefully the 350.org campaign will heighten awareness of coal’s dark side and strengthen support for more environmentally friendly alternatives such as solar power and wind turbines. We have plenty of sun and wind in Arizona after all.”
350.org will launch an international campaign on 09.24.11 to raise awareness on carbon emissions and climate change. To learn more about this project and become involved please visit the organization site:
On Every Street Michael DeFeo has been busy curating a large exhibition entitled, On Every Street for Samuel Owen Gallery in Greenwich, CT.
Mark your calendars, folks… the show opens on October 6th and features over 30 artists that work in the streets or use the streets in their works.
Artists in the exhibition are: Above, Aiko, Michael Anderson, Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, C215, Tony Curanaj, Michael De Feo, D*Face, Ellis Gallagher, Keith Haring, Ron English, Blek le rat, Faile, Shepard Fairey, John Fekner, JMR, Gaia, Richard Hambleton, Hargo, Maya Hayuk, Don Leicht, Tom Otterness, Lady Pink, Lister, Ripo, Mike Sajnoski, Jeff Soto, Chris Stain, Swoon, Thundercut, and Dan Witz.
Stay tuned for more details, this is surely going to be one not to miss!
On Every Street
October 6 – November 3, 2011
Opening reception: October 6, 6:00 – 9:00 pm
Samuel Owen Gallery
378 Greenwich Avenue
Greenwich, CT 06830
+1.203.422.6500
Greenwich is approximately 35 minutes from Grand Central Terminal and the gallery is only a one minute walk from the Greenwich Station.
Bring to Light is a free nighttime public festival of art in New York City that takes place simultaneously with “nuit blanche” events in cities around the world. Inviting emerging and established artists to make site-specific installations of light, sound, performance and projection art, the event creates an immersive spectacle for thousands of visitors to re-imagine public space and civic life. Bring to Light will transform streets, parks and the industrial waterfront of Greenpoint, Brooklyn set against dramatic views of the Manhattan skyline.
Nuit Blanche (French for “white night” or “all-nighter”) is a global network of locally-organized nighttime contemporary art events. Originating in Paris in 2001, the nuit blanche concept now involves millions of people in cities around the world.
Directions
By Water:
The East River Ferry runs regular service to the India Street Pier in Greenpoint from Manhattan, Queens and several locations in Brooklyn. Join our mailing list or check back here to learn about ferry service on the night of the event.
By Train:
G Train to Greenpoint Ave. Walk (2min) down Greenpoint Ave. to the site. L Train to Bedford Ave. Walk (15min) to water then North on Kent which becomes Franklin to reach festival site
By Bicycle:
Bicycle parking will be available at Franklin St. and Milton St.
By Taxi/Car Service:
Please drop at Greenpoint Ave and Franklin St. From there, it is a one block walk to the site.
This weekend in Albany very important Street Art presentations were made at the New York State Museum during “Living Walls: Albany”, including one from Street Art duo Broken Crow, pictured here in custom made aluminum foil head gear that reflected light rays all around the Clark Auditorium.
There were so many moving parts in this large and easy going cultural festival this weekend, and we were really happy to meet so many people in the street, at the Marketplace encampment, in St. Joseph’s Church, at the tile factory, and during our keynote lecture at the New York State Museum Saturday. Thanks to Samson Contompasis for asking BSA to partner with him for LWAlbany and a quick shout out to other local partners James Shultis at Grand Street Community Arts, Sivan Shimoni, the staff at NYS Museum, and local blogger KC Orcutt at KeepAlbanyBoring.com along with photographers Andrew Franciosa, Bob Anderson, MC3, Frank Whitney, and Ken Jacobie. Also big ups to Monica Compana, who c0-spearheaded Living Walls Atlanta, which we covered a lot when it began last year. For all the locals mentioned, they are just the tip of the iceberg of a large committed creative and professional community in the Upstate New York region who helped to pull this thing off with almost zero dollars and tons of planning and hustling. For the first year, it is/was a major achievement.
Of course our main focus is always the Street Artists and the creative spirit that is alive and well on the streets so it was a total honor to see the artists and see brand new stuff going up, like the last one before catching a train last night – Broken Crow’s ram under a bridge. There are still some pieces being finished by NohJColey, Clown Soldier, Doodles, and one we missed from Michael DeFeo. Also coming up should be Hellbent and possibly some other artists this fall, so we’ll get back to you on that. Not all these pics are from Living Walls : Albany by the way — when you are combing the streets you find all kinds of stuff you didn’t expect.
For the last 10 months this initiative to bring Street Art and public art to the forefront of the conversation in New York’s capital has been a boon to discourse, unusual during a period of retrenchment and an ongoing financial crises that is rocking every segment of society in the US. After years of incremental cuts to arts programming in public schools and cultural institutions at every level, it is a perfect opportunity for artists to re-assert their voices as this Street Art movement continues to evolve and develop in an organic way. Ironically this scene with roots in graffiti has shape-shifted and its emergence looks like a democratic movement, messily yet constructively filling a creative void for this new generation while the budgetary axes continue to fall around them.
As Street Artists have been installing their new works on walls around Albany these past 10 days or so, the common story one witnesses is the level of engagement of adults and kids stopping on the sidewalk, in their cars, watching the process, photographing and discussing the art, and exploring the creative process. Some folks have even become assistants to the artists, creating a sense of ownership, and yes, community. There is obviously more to this evolving story, and we’ll continue to track it.
Below are photos from photographer Jaime Rojo to give you an idea of the wealth of creativity that is alive in Albany at the moment. And we commence with our weekly interview with the street this week featuring Broken Crow, Chris Stain, Gaia, How and Nosm, Joe Iurato, LNY, Nanook, ND’A, NohJColey, OverUnder, Radical! ROA, Shin Shin, and Wing. First, we go to church with Joe Iurato.
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
