On the Street

Street Artist Purth Takes “The Deleras” Cross Country

April 27, 2011 Artists, Boston, Brooklyn, NYC, On the Street

The fine artist and Street Artist named Purth has been completing an urban installation of her family this winter in Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, and New Orleans . Not literally her blood relatives, the oversize portraits of females are mirrors of her emotional journey and echoes of relationships she may have experienced coupled with ones she is creating for her future. Coupled with bits of prose that ground them somewhat, these women are strong and searching.

This kind of internal migration is not unusual for a painter in scanning the horizon for something however the actual physical distance run, with it’s long spaces of time and travel in between, is. It’s also something that Street Artists around the globe are setting a new standard for by completing installations in towns and cities around the globe much like a campaign. In her dog-eared travelogue, Purth carries ruddy hued people from her fluid imagination and raises them amidst abandoned rubble; high enough to be seen from a distance.

Purth “The Deleras” group in an abandoned train yard east of Boston. (Photo © Heather McGrath)

Having completed roughly the first half of the installations for “The Deleras Project”, she shares these images before Purth hits the road again to complete it with installations in Oakland, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati.

With the completion of “six months on the road, (with) snow storm & tornadoes endured, a car accident survived, and life affirming environments broken into,” the artist took a moment to chat with Brooklyn Street Art about her project:

Photographer Heather McGrath and a friend assisting Purth after installing The Deleras. East Boston (Photo © Purth)

Brooklyn Street Art: Who are the individuals depicted on your paintings?
Purth: Each piece was created from different sources of inspiration: references of old photographs I’ve been collecting for years, reflections … perhaps of someone’s lover, someone’s child. There will be ten once the work is completed, all of women, young & old, scattered across the country, & each installed with a single stream of thought. The writing is sourced in a very similar way … some pulled from found material, some from the words I was lucky enough to hear uttered; fragments to create a whole. I guess in my mind, they have become the women they are now. Completely independent of the remnants that built them up or who they are to me personally. I hope that for them … the right to stand on their own.

Purth. Detail of Delera. Abandoned brewery directly across from the Roxbury projects in Boston. (Photo © Heather McGrath)

Purth in Cincinnati. A slightly damaged Delera (due to bad climate conditions). She is included “as she is beautiful” (Photo © Zach Fein)

Brooklyn Street Art: Why are you traveling around the country putting them up on abandoned walls and buildings?
Purth: Abandoned spaces have a pronounced hum to them. They are shed, in a sense, but are still heavy with profound undercurrents that I believe can be tapped into … & reinvented. It seems completely fitting for me to search out these spaces as possible locations for the work even if they ultimately make home above, along side, or in areas close by. In regards to the distance covered … we have gaps that need to be bridged. I see them as shepherds and black sheep. It’s my responsibility to find them home.

Purth. “Opal” “I swear there are diamonds …. hundreds of them …
everywhere” East Austin, on the corner of E6th & Chicon. (Photo © Andrew Ashmore)

Purth. “Patricia the Beater” “I will grow …fiercely, love”, New Orleans. (Photo © Zack Smith)

Brooklyn Street Art: What is the genesis of this project?
Purth: The first, Delera, was created at an intense, pivotal moment in my life. I became very weak around the end of 2009 and I began painting her like a child screaming at an overbearing parent. In the simplest sense, I was depicting the strength I needed to rediscover in myself. Once she was suspended and I saw her upright for the first time, she literally took my breath away. Something so intimate, so tender, and so sincere towering over me … it was like gold leafing vulnerability and then lighting the shit on fire.

She was the first, the idea for the others quickly followed.

Purth. “Lu” “Take my breath away”. Brooklyn, NY. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Purth took this shot a few weeks into her trip hoping this would be her home for the next five months. (photo © Purth)

Liqen Converts a Crashed Plane into a Fish Tail on Oaxacan Beach

April 26, 2011 Artists, Mexico, Oaxaca, On the Street

“Lou: It’s the American Dream in a goddamn gym bag!
Hank: You work for the American Dream. You don’t steal it.
Lou : Then this is even better. “

In the book “A Simple Plan”, by Scott Smith, a trio of friends discovers a small crashed plane with $4.4 million stuffed in a gym bag in this moral tale of greed and opportunity. Without knowing how the plane dropped from the sky, the people on the ground are left to their own devices.

Street Artist Liqen discovered this aviatory carcass on Ventanilla Beach in Oaxaca Mexico and wondered what treasure it once carried and why it stood alone on the otherwise pristine white sands of the riviera. As an artists’ imagination will do, he made a story and converted the carcass of the plane with his paint brush into a fish tail.

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

“I did this “fish tail” in the ecstasy of the transformation, a comprehensive intervention of the stupid and amazing reality that happens at the hands of art, nature or magic. At the end of my story this fish-plane was eventually caught and died in ‘Ventanilla’, ” says Liqen.

The tail of of the fish plane now has the figure of what could be a indigenous fisherman with spear in hand, ready to haul the oversized catch. But the story does not end there.

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

According to website Vagabond Journey, the plane once carried a cargo of marijuana and was shot down six years ago. According to local reports, narcos came with a truck to retrieve the payload immediately after it hit the sands and some locals filled their backpacks with whatever was left, which was a lot. “Whoever got over there got enough to smoke for two years,” a hotel owner is quoted as saying.

In the case of our friend Liqen there wasn’t a rich bounty that we know of. What we know however is that he couldn’t resist the urge to give the remnants of the plane a lil’ pimpin’ and he shares the following images with you here.

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

The left wing remains, while the engine appears to have been removed. Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

In this video on Youtube, a commenter offers an alternate story on the circumstances of the plane’s crash. “It was a Colombian drug shipment that was intercepted by the Mexican army. the drugs were pushed out over the Pacific, they ditched in the ocean and crashed on the beach and got away before the Mexican army, navy or air force could get there. The only part above the sand as of April 2009 is the left engine and wing – the fuselage is completely buried.”

Skewville and Ali Ha Present The Bushwick Art Park A Prototype (Manhattan, NY)

April 25, 2011 Art Fair, Artists, Brooklyn, Events, Manhattan, Museum, NYC, On the Street, Opening

Skewville

“Bench” Image courtesy of Factory Fresh Gallery

BUSHWICK ART PARK
IN MANHATTAN!

The Festival of Ideas for the New City:
May 4 – 8

A major new collaborative initiative led by the New Museum to harness the power of the creative community in imagining the future city will feature an innovative StreetFest along the Bowery, where fresh new ideas for the city will be prototyped and on display.

Be sure to follow the Festival of Ideas blog, featuring guest posts by Trust Art.
Manhattan, New York – The Bushwick Art Park, a Trust Art project led by the artist collective and brotherhood known as Skewville, will be just outside the New Museum of Contemporary Art as part of StreetFest on Saturday, May 7. You can come ‘kick it’ at this street-inspired sculpture garden and philosophize on how to transform an under-used street in Bushwick into a community art park.
Don’t forget the ribbon-cutting ceremony at 1pm, featuring representation from the office of Council Member Diana Reyna.
The prototype art park will be curated by Factory Fresh gallery director Ali Ha, and feature pieces by Skewville, Leon Reid IV, Specter, and Olek.

Be Sure to join us at the Bushwick Art Part,
located in front of the
New Museum
Saturday, May 7th, from 1-7pm

MEET THE BUSHWICK ART PARK TEAM
Bushwick, NY – An whole team has emerged intent on making the Bushwick Art Park a reality. From three “Pratt Bratt” graduate students who are helping with policy research, community surveys, and proposal-writing; to Ali Ha, gallery directory at Factory Fresh; amazing infographic experts; and the hundreds of people who have already signed our petition, the Bushwick Art Park has a lot of friends. Live in Bushwick? Take our quick survey.

Click on the link below to learn more details of Street Fest

http://www.festivalofideasnyc.com/

Street Art:Downtown LA, Culver City, West Hollywood, Echo Park, and Venice

April 19, 2011 Artists, California, Culver City, L.A., Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, On the Street, Santa Monica, West Hollywood

In select neighborhoods of Los Angeles, certain street artists keep it local. You might see them in one neighborhood but not another, as the term “all-city” is not too important. Here’s a selection of pieces from the Arts District, Culver City, West Hollywood, Echo Park and Venice.

Ben Eine in Venice (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR in Venice (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Proving that it isn’t just for bankers, here’s Bankrupt Slut in Culver City (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bankrupt Slut in Culver City (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Longtime Los Angeles Street Artist Becca in Echo Park (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Becca in the Art District in Downtown LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Classic piece from Blek Le Rat in Echo Park (photo © Jaime Rojo)

I’ve got an idea! Let’s do a cat stencil in Downtown LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cfer does Kim Kardashian in Downtown LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

These Curly stickers showed up very quickly in LA this week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face in Sunset Blvd (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader, a visitor sticker from MOCA, and a Beatlesque statement about graffiti artist Revok in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A feeding fest from Kim West in The Art District LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JH in The Art District LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Word to Mother in Culver City (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pornography and Taxidermy in Sunset Blvd (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This piece near the museum in Little Tokyo was well placed for a lot of traffic and there were even a few people posing with it. Love More War Less (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Picasso’s famous anti-war “Guernica” is reinterpreted here by Street Artist Ron English in The Art District (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey lurking behind the fence on Sunset Blvd (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An Obey sticker in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey, Uti, and Charm in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A sticker crush in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Los Angeles Magnet Walls: An Organic Scene Breeds Free Speech

April 18, 2011 Artists, California, L.A., Los Angeles, On the Street

As we depart the City of Angels and the Devils go back to dirty old New York here are some images from the more organic and populist walls that exist in certain neighborhoods in every city. A Street Art pulse-taking, you can observe and assess the vitals of a community and some of the currents running through it just by observing these magnet walls that attract a cacophony of expression.

Photo © Jaime Rojo

In the case of this block of walls, the Street Art is notable also for the high degree of political speech one can not find in “papers of record” on display for anyone who cares to see it or report on it. Whether it’s AIDS, censorship, or the military industrial complex, political speech has always been integral to the conversation on the street that these artists bring. With references to leaders like Julian Assange, Ronald Reagan, Ben Bernanke, and Nelson Mandela as well topics ranging from Abu Graib, FOX News, corporatized American Indians, and of course MOCA’s Jeffrey Dietch whitewashing the work of Italian Street Artist BLU’s wall, the LA Street Art scene is on fire with popular discontent and acidic criticism. With roots in people’s movements, seeing these displays from a great number of sources is actually a bit of a tribute to free speech and the city that permits its continuance.

A playful skewering of Eli Broad and Jeffrey Dietch for the show “Art in the Streets” went up in advance of the show’s opening. Photo © Jaime Rojo

The variety of styles and processes is pretty wide, ranging from large-run stickers and screen printed posters to hand stitched abstract geometry and penciled portraits, some exhibiting the New Guard that didn’t make it into the timeline at the museum show running this summer. Aside from the political, other themes include celebrity, video games, pop culture and simple illustrations and fascinations or daydreams. As usual, some of the freshest stuff is displayed in the gallery of the streets – uncurated, unpermissioned, unbought, unbossed, and – giving lie to the charge of street art as a simple marketing tool – many times it is unsigned. As today’s new street artists claim what they consider a birthright to circumvent the established system and take their work to the street, you’ll see an ongoing conversation that is full of life.

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Boss Chief. Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

LA Special: Images of the Week 04.17.11

April 17, 2011 Artists, California, L.A., Los Angeles, On the Street

It’s been a hot week in Los Angeles for the Brooklyn set, this much warmth and sun consecutively is unsettling for cold northerners accustomed to six months of winter and unbearable cold. The hundreds of museum goers who are lined up to enter the MOCA “Art in the Streets” show this morning mark the end of official events over the last week as well as the private openings, events, and walls that popped up everywhere.

Dabs & Myla with How & Nosm. One of the strongest installations in or out of the museum this week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This weeks interview with the streets is largely an interview with Daniel Lahoda, an Angelino who has procured walls for visiting and local street artists in a few neighborhoods of the city since 2009. With no membership fee or admission, everyone is able to see the work of a whole lot of street artists where it was originated thanks to his organizational and diplomatic skills and his vision. We were very fortunate to receive a personal tour of the walls from Daniel over the course of a couple of days, including the gargantuan piece finished this week by Dabs & Myla with How & Nosm and the still fresh 42nd LA Free Wall as it was being completed by Street Artist Aiko. Since so many artists were in town for the general craziness, expect to see some new walls going up shortly that will thrill and delight.

So here’s this weeks interview with the street featuring Aiko, Augustine Kofie, CA, Carl Rauschenbach, Crayola, Dabs & Myla, David Flores, DFace, X, Herakut, How & Nosm, JR, Kid Zoom, M-City, Nomade, Philip Lumbang, Ripo, Roa, Saber, and Shepard Fairey.

Street Artist Aiko repels the punishing sun with a big hat while working on this stencil she created in honor of the people of Japan during the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami as well as to her friend Martha Cooper who shot the original image it is based on. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The completed piece by Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The original image by Martha Cooper that Aiko based her stencil piece from (photo © Martha Cooper)

Local quartet Nomade have a few pretty strong mixed media pieces around town. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nomade (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Two LA favorites Saber on the left and Augustine Kofie on the right (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saber. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carl Rauschenbach on left, X on right and Philip Lumbang in center (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London’s D*Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla with Craola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla with Craola. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Flores “customized” this large portrait by JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Herakut from Frankfurt and Erfurt, Germany.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA adorned the side of this fine family establishment with hot fleshy pinks and red undulating color. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Part of Shepard Fairey’s brand new series, this image of Ronald Reagan is pre-defaced with an “intervention” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey simplifies the approach, making it that much more powerful (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As if in a “free speech zone” behind the barbed wire, the man who started this all, Ronald Reagan, salutes “Mourning in Amerca”, by Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey’s piece, the first done with Daniel Lahoda for the LA Freewalls project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

French artist JR, part of a 16 piece installation across LA this spring called “Wrinkles in the City” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Zoom and Insa reversed the red and blue part of this piece, shot both with a camera, and created a stunning piece of GIF art that makes Kid Zoom’s skull float above it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gif Image courtesy LA Freewalls project.

Kid Zoom (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stencil artist M-City’s train in this parking lot is so long that it’s hard to get the full view (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MCity. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ripo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA’s sweet smelling piece adorns the side of this perfume store. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA in LA (Update) – Walls Underway in Prep for MOCA Show

April 14, 2011 Artists, California, Events, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, On the Street

“Art In the Streets” has begun exactly where it started – outside on walls. The number of people in Los Angeles this week to mark Sunday’s opening of the show at the Museum of Contemporary Art grows by the hour and there are more walls in progress than a housing boom. Just in the last couple of days we’ve seen commissioned and non-commissioned new murals, pieces, tags, and installations freshly dripping by people like How & Nosm, Lee Quinones, Shepard Fairey, Blade, Cern1, JR, Augustine Kofie, Invader, Os Gemeos, Nomade, Saner, and many others.

Lee Quinones takes a break on “Birds of a Feather”, the wall collaboration he’s directing that features Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1. The new installation is on the wall that was previously installed by Italian artist Blu but was buffed soon after by the museum a few months ago – a subject still on the minds and lips of people here. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura says it’s like Summer camp and others have likened it to a family reunion, which makes us think of lawn chairs, cheap beer, barbecue, and crazy old uncle Jed sitting on a picnic table rubbing egg salad into his hair and talking about the Republicans. But yeah, right now in this little part of LA there is a feeling of a camp that is headed maniacally toward total circus.

Cern 1 workinfg on “Birds of a Feather” wall collab with Lee Quinones, Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The show itself, which we’ve seen in it’s entirety, is an audacious and colorful endeavor to bring about 50 years of Graffiti and Street Art history and a number of it’s influencers and influences under one roof. Engaging and educational, visitors will have the opportunity to learn how certain tributaries lead to this river. No show on this worldwide phenomenon could ever hope to include everyone, and Curator Jeffrey Deitch, along with associate curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose have chosen touchstones and flashpoints that push their individual visions of how the story unfolded. While it doesn’t break much brand new ground, only the Bittersons (or Jealousinskis) will find sufficient cause to try to mug this solid, entertaining and participatory show full of surprises. But for a scene that never sought permission in the first place, it won’t matter.

Here are a collection of images on the museum grounds itself. Previews from the show tomorrow.

“Birds of a Feather” (detail) wall collab with Lee Quinones, Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In this photo by Martha Cooper, Futura lends a hand to Cern1 to complete the collaborative mural on the side of Geffen Contemporary in time for the opening. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Birds of a Feather” wall collab in progress with Lee Quinones, Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee (Twist) finished this wall before heading indoors to reprise an installation he did in 2000 with ESPO and REAS called Street Market. Roger Gastman says of the new installation that was still being finished as of yesterday afternoon, “This is another version ten years later, basically on crack. They brought in a number of other great artists to help work with them on it. Now it includes Alexis Ross, Dan Murphy, Jeff Flynn and a few others.” (photos tomorrow)

(photo © Jaime Rojo)

This Blade wall in progress is a direct reference to the famous Martha Cooper photo of one of his burners on an MTA train in the 70s. It was begun after the museum washed off a fresh new Katsu fire extinguisher tag that appeared suddenly a few days earlier. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blade. Finish wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos cube in progress will contain something quite special that is being prepared in a garage nearby. It actually looks like it could hold a dozen go-go dancers if that other thing isn’t finished in time for the opening. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos cube in progress (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos with mini-train painted by Blade (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blade painting the Os Gemeos mini-train (photo © Martha Cooper)

Os Gemeos mini-train opposite side (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sullivan takes off (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader’s “Blue Invasion” of the museum starts outside. Or is that BLU invasion? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Risk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fab 5 Freddy speaking on today’s press conference in front of bus by Risk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not all brows are unfurrowed for the impending opening of “Art In the Streets”, as in these by French Street Artist JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New Pieces from Ludo in Zurich for His First Solo Show

April 12, 2011 Artists, Features, Gallery, On the Street, Zurich

French Street Artist LUDO is back in Paris and fresh from his first solo show at the Starkat Gallery in Zurich, which was very well attended and as they say, well receeeeeeived.

The Zurichian streets received LUDO too. Roman from Starkat took these photos on the streets of this “spic-and- span” wealthiest city of Europe and shares a few with you here. LUDO’s ongoing wild imaginary mutant plants look as futuristic and menacing as ever, and in a pristine mall-like environment like this Swiss centerpiece, you have to wonder how how far some of these contraptions can be from reality. There’s some chocolate for thought.

Nature’s Revenge is the name of the series LUDO has been working on for a couple of years; a commentary on a lust for high-tech weaponry and man’s unending ability to foul the earth. Looking at all those directional signs is apparently a sort of bureaucratic revenge from the Department of Transportation. Zurich (photo © Roman @ Starkat Gallery)

Thematically disturbing and humorous, Ludo’s work is usually finished with a few splashes of minty green, like a toxic sorbet. LUDO. Zurich (photo © Roman @ Starkat Gallery)

Jetsonorama : To Dogpatch With Love

April 11, 2011 Artists, California, On the Street, San Francisco

“It was fascinating during the installation to observe neighbors who have seen one another for years stopping to hang out, talk and meet one another. So it’s cool to think that after the images are down, the friendships will continue.” ~Jetsonorama

Street Artist Jetsonorama likes to take pictures of people and create large scale portraits of them to wheatpaste in their own community with the goal of fostering connectedness among neighbors.

Using a friends’ building in San Francisco for a backdrop, he worked last week to put up portraits of two people and a neighborhood dog, BB. The Dogpatch section of San Francisco is the only part of the city left standing after the 1906 earthquake and the fires that followed it. Officially deigned a historic district in 2003, the nine square block section was initially an immigrant neighborhood with hand-built workers’ cottages, factories, and warehouses, many still standing.

Jetsonorama gives us some background on the project here:

“Bruno Mauro of Ampersand International Arts in Dogpatch knew I’ve been exploring the idea of using art to build community through my wheat pasting project on the Navajo nation. He was kind enough to literally offer me his home (after consulting with his wife, Surma), to pursue the idea of community building using his home as a canvas.

In exploring this idea here, Bruno suggested I meet Patricia Parker and her mother, who have lived in Dogpatch in their current house for 50 years or so. Both Patricia and her mom attended Irving M. Scott school, which was built in the 1890s and is the oldest standing public school in San Francisco. Together, these two people are dogpatch history, and they know it.

Imogen Doumani lives across the street from the gallery and from Pat. She represents the youthful vibe coming into the neighborhood. BB the beagle is representing those who give the area it’s name.

The piece is composed of regular bond paper from Fedex/Kinko’s adhered to the wall with wheat paste I made. It’s susceptible to the elements and will go away with time. My hope is that the conversations and community-building started with this project will continue long after the piece is down.”

Images of the Week 04.10.11

April 10, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, NYC, On the Street, Queens

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Bast, ChrisRWK, Creepy, ECB, OverUnder, Peeta, Ress Arts, REVS, RID, RWK, VengRWK, and YOK.

Veng and Chris from RWK gathered their paint tools and called a couple of their friends over to hang out and paint on their spot in Bushwick, BK. The results have been like chocolate and peanut butter together – you are not sure how it works, but it does. Overunder, ECB, Peeta and Never collaborated on this brand new wall, still in progress.

Sorry, baby, not tonight. Can’t you see I’ve got a lot on my mind? Veng of RWK and Overunder. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hello, I’m looking for da right kitchen. OverUnder re-creates pull-down grates commonly seen around the city after businesses close for the night, or because of the recession. After arranging them in a cluster, graffiti tags and pieces are applied in a mind-twisting reinvention with random human limbs sprouting out. We’re not smart enough to know what he’s getting at, and Veng’s character is keeping tight lipped about it. Veng of RWK and Overunder. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nothing that a coat of paint couldn’t help. We had previously published this REVS sculpture but someone gave it a new fresh coat of paint for the spring. REVS is looking pretty sharp and full of hope these days. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Parts of 5 Pointz have gotten slap happy. Notice the large sticker robot made of stickers by RID. The plea to “Save 5 Ptz” refers to this hallowed block-long spot that is slated for development by it’s owner. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wheatpasted Photography “One Year Before the Oil Spill”

April 7, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, California, NYC, On the Street, San Francisco

Photographer Michael M. Koehler Talks About Shrimpers on a Brooklyn Street

The devastation produced by the BP oil disaster continues to affect the animals and people who live on the southern coast of the US and during an overcast day yesterday in Brooklyn a black and white memory of life as it was before the spill appeared on the street. Over top of a pretty battered Shepard Fairey installation from spring of last year a photograph by Michael M Koehler called “One Year Before the Oil Spill” was installed. The piece is from a series he did about life for people impacted by the polluted environment entitled Along Bayou Road.

Talking to a passerby, Mr. Koehler explained that after the largest oil spill in US history, citizens who live along the gulf coast are afraid to eat the shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico. In the image he captures the vibrancy of sea life, culture, and commerce with gulls flying over while the nets of “shrimpers” harvest the waters to support their families and the local economy. These days, Mr. Koehler says that stores and restaurants are importing shrimp because nobody wants to buy the local production.

The north Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg was once a bustling port town in the 1800s and Koehler chose this spot for his piece because he feels it has a certain kinship with the seafacing communities down south. In fact if you had been on these same streets in say, 1827, you would have seen daily industry related to cargo ships, shipbuilding (the Brooklyn Navy Yard is just next door to the West), sugar refineries, iron works, and brewing. With this wheat pasted series, Koehler draws attention to the plight of a life and industry imperiled.

Now it’s time to put on an old vinyl 45 and listen to Jerry Jackson singing about “Shrimp Boats” and get a 1950s taste of a celebrated part of culture and cuisine.

Elbow Toe New Piece: A Bee in the Bonnet, A Geranium in the Cranium

April 4, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, NYC, On the Street

“I suppose you have heard of Mr. Coward’s pranks. He has, as the Scotch call it, a Bee in his Bonnet.” ~the Reverend Philip Doddridge’s Letters, 1790

Buzzing with pranks of his own, Street Artist Elbow Toe’s first street piece in New York since last summer appeared as a 14′ x 6′ hand colored wheat paste. According to online accounts Mr. Toe informs us it’s title is “Say I’m The Only Bee In Your Bonnet”. Stung by the mystery of the piece, the title has our minds swelling with possible explanations about what it could mean. Ah well, the onward march of spring continues in our midst.

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Purth “The Deleras” group in an abandoned train yard east of Boston. (Photo © Heather McGrath)

Photographer Heather McGrath and a friend assisting Purth after installing The Deleras. East Boston (Photo © Purth)

Purth. Detail of Delera. Abandoned brewery directly across from the Roxbury projects in Boston. (Photo © Heather McGrath)

Purth in Cincinnati. A slightly damaged Delera (due to bad climate conditions). She is included “as she is beautiful” (Photo © Zach Fein)

Purth. “Opal” “I swear there are diamonds …. hundreds of them … everywhere” East Austin, on the corner of E6th & Chicon. (Photo © Andrew Ashmore)

Purth. “Patricia the Beater” “I will grow …fiercely, love”, New Orleans. (Photo © Zack Smith)

Purth. “Lu” “Take my breath away”. Brooklyn, NY. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Purth took this shot a few weeks into her trip hoping this would be her home for the next five months. (photo © Purth)

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

The left wing remains, while the engine appears to have been removed. Liqen. Ventanilla, Oaxaca (photo © Liqen)

“Bench” Image courtesy of Factory Fresh Gallery

Click on the link below to learn more details of Street Fest

Ben Eine in Venice (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR in Venice (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR in Venice (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Proving that it isn’t just for bankers, here’s Bankrupt Slut in Culver City (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bankrupt Slut in Culver City (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Longtime Los Angeles Street Artist Becca in Echo Park (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Becca in the Art District in Downtown LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Classic piece from Blek Le Rat in Echo Park (photo © Jaime Rojo)

I’ve got an idea! Let’s do a cat stencil in Downtown LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cfer does Kim Kardashian in Downtown LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

These Curly stickers showed up very quickly in LA this week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face in Sunset Blvd (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader, a visitor sticker from MOCA, and a Beatlesque statement about graffiti artist Revok in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A feeding fest from Kim West in The Art District LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JH in The Art District LA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Word to Mother in Culver City (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pornography and Taxidermy in Sunset Blvd (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This piece near the museum in Little Tokyo was well placed for a lot of traffic and there were even a few people posing with it. Love More War Less (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Picasso’s famous anti-war “Guernica” is reinterpreted here by Street Artist Ron English in The Art District (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey lurking behind the fence on Sunset Blvd (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An Obey sticker in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey, Uti, and Charm in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A sticker crush in Little Tokyo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Photo © Jaime Rojo

A playful skewering of Eli Broad and Jeffrey Dietch for the show “Art in the Streets” went up in advance of the show’s opening. Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Boss Chief. Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Dabs & Myla with How & Nosm. One of the strongest installations in or out of the museum this week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

So here’s this weeks interview with the street featuring Aiko, Augustine Kofie, CA, Carl Rauschenbach, Crayola, Dabs & Myla, David Flores, DFace, X, Herakut, How & Nosm, JR, Kid Zoom, M-City, Nomade, Philip Lumbang, Ripo, Roa, Saber, and Shepard Fairey.

Street Artist Aiko repels the punishing sun with a big hat while working on this stencil she created in honor of the people of Japan during the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami as well as to her friend Martha Cooper who shot the original image it is based on. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The completed piece by Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The original image by Martha Cooper that Aiko based her stencil piece from (photo © Martha Cooper)

Local quartet Nomade have a few pretty strong mixed media pieces around town. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nomade (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Two LA favorites Saber on the left and Augustine Kofie on the right (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saber. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carl Rauschenbach on left, X on right and Philip Lumbang in center (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London’s D*Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla with Craola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla with Craola. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla with Craola. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Flores “customized” this large portrait by JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Herakut from Frankfurt and Erfurt, Germany.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA adorned the side of this fine family establishment with hot fleshy pinks and red undulating color. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Part of Shepard Fairey’s brand new series, this image of Ronald Reagan is pre-defaced with an “intervention” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey simplifies the approach, making it that much more powerful (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As if in a “free speech zone” behind the barbed wire, the man who started this all, Ronald Reagan, salutes “Mourning in Amerca”, by Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey’s piece, the first done with Daniel Lahoda for the LA Freewalls project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

French artist JR, part of a 16 piece installation across LA this spring called “Wrinkles in the City” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Zoom and Insa reversed the red and blue part of this piece, shot both with a camera, and created a stunning piece of GIF art that makes Kid Zoom’s skull float above it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Zoom (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stencil artist M-City’s train in this parking lot is so long that it’s hard to get the full view (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MCity. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Purth. “Opal” “I swear there are diamonds …. hundreds of them …
everywhere” East Austin, on the corner of E6th & Chicon. (Photo © Andrew Ashmore)