On the Street

Figment 2012 (Governor’s Island, NYC)

June 5, 2012 Artists, Events, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street, Opening, Performance

Figment

Deborah-Yoon “Hive Mind” Figment 2009 (photo © Michael-Dolan)

Drawing inspiration from other community-based arts events, the development, production, and experience of FIGMENT are guided by these 11 principles:

PARTICIPATION
Transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play.

DECOMMODIFICATION
FIGMENT seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We will not substitute consumption for experience.

INCLUSION
Anyone may be a part of FIGMENT; no prerequisites exist for participation except willingness to work and play. We welcome and respect the stranger.

SELF-EXPRESSION
Each individual and collaborating group has unique qualities, and through self-expression can offer a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of others.

SELF-RELIANCE
FIGMENT encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on his or her inner resources.

GIVING
FIGMENT is devoted to acts of gift giving and volunteering. FIGMENT itself is a gift from volunteer artists and event staff, who hope that each participant brings an attitude of giving. Giving does not imply a return or an exchange for something of equal value.

COMMUNAL EFFORT
We seek to create an environment ripe for each individual to achieve personal artistic transformation — but the creation of such an environment can be done only through creative cooperation and collaboration.

CIVIC RESPONSIBILITY
Each participant in FIGMENT is responsible for creating a civil environment for all other participants. We endeavor to produce this event in a way that fosters a civil society and that is socially responsible.

LEAVE NO TRACE
We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves to leave each place in a better state than we found it.

IMMEDIACY
Too often the limit for creative expression is the barrier between our inner selves and the selves that we present to the world. By breaking down that barrier, we can gain a profound appreciation for the opportunities that lie in each time and place.

GRATITUDE
We believe it is important to remind ourselves where we come from, and to appreciate what has been given to us to get us to where we are. We are not entitled to anything, and approach our relations to others from a place of gratitude for their efforts.

For more informati0n regarding Figment click here.

AD Hoc Art Presents: Welling Court 2012. (Queens, NYC)

June 5, 2012 Artists, Events, NYC, On the Street, Opening, Queens, Street Art Festival

Welling Court

Roa, Overunder and Veng RWK at last year’s Welling Court. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

3* Saturday, June 16th, 12-9PM: 3rd Annual Welling Court Mural Project; Queens, NY

AD HOC ART CONTINUES MAJOR PUBLIC MURAL PROJECT COMPRISING 60+ INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS REPRESENTING OVER 50 YEARS OF STREET ART

— An Art Event Celebrating the Streets, Solidarity, Community, and Culture —

FACEBOOK PAGE: http://www.facebook.com/events/407797092587142/

WHEN: Opening Saturday, June 16th, 2012 from noon until 9pm.
Afterwards: viewable 24/7/365, so enjoy!

WHAT: The community of Welling Court in Queens, New York first asked Ad Hoc Art to help them spruce up their neighborhood in 2009. Ad Hoc Art rose to the occasion in May 2010 organizing a project fitting for the diverse, enthusiastic, and energetic inhabitants. One year later, Ad Hoc assembled another spectacular crew of legendary and groundbreaking artists spanning more than 50 years of activity for the 2nd Annual Welling Court Mural Project. Now in its 3rd year, the project has received remarkable global acclaim and continues to garner support and momentum as more walls, artists, and enthusiasts compound those previous successes.

This third round is not to be missed as ever-more art and eyes visit this Queens gem. To celebrate, the community’s annual block party again coincides with the project’s opening, featuring cuisine and music from the ethnically diverse and multi-talented hosts. Whereas this tiny neighborhood is providing some major hospitality, it cannot provide for the attendees en mass, so please think of this as a big social-picnic-potluck-art-fun-action and bring some of your favorite tasty foods, beverages, or other contribution to share with your fellow revelers. Kind of like camping, but in the city. Pack it in, pack it out.

If you would like to offer help or assistance to the artists, items always useful are: beverages, exterior bucket paint, paint rollers/brushes, spray paint, acrylic paint, exterior primer, etc. If none of those suite your fancy and you would like to contribute some funds, we will be taking donations at the event.

Volunteers Needed: If you would like to help out in another fashion, there are many ways to get involved. As The Welling Court Mural Project is an all-volunteer event, from the project organizers to the people who help spread the word and take care of the artists & attendees, to the artists creating the work, we need your help to make it as amazing as possible. For volunteer questions and interest, please contact us at info@adhocart.org

The project transforms several city blocks into a 24/7 street-level gallery, bringing art from around the world directly to the heart of this community and NYC. Renowned artists with deep roots in the street movement have created site-specific works for this project and many will showcase various creative sundries for your perusal. This new array of visual experiences provides fresh contexts for how people working, visiting, and living in this diverse cultural gem of Queens think about and interact with their environment.

Artists Include: Abe Lincoln, Jr., Alice Mizrachi, Alison Buxton, Beau Stanton, Billy Mode, Caleb Neelon, Celso, Cern, Christopher Cardinale, Chris Mendoza, Chris Stain, CR, CRASH, Cycle, Dan Witz, Darkclouds, Deb Yoon, Don Leicht, El Kamino, Ellis Gallagher, Free5, Fumero, Gaia, Garrison Buxton, Greg Lamarche, JAZ, Joe Iurato, John Breiner, John Fekner, Katie Yamasaki, Kimyon Huggins, Lady Pink, Leon Reid IV, Lopi, Mensen, Michael Alan, Never, OverUnder, Pablo Power, Peat Wollaeger, R. Nicholas Kuszyk, Rene Gagnon, Richard Nugent, ROA, Royce Bannon, Sinned, Skewville, Sofia Maldonado, Stormie Mills, Subtexture, Thundercut, TooFly, Veng RWK, The Wretched Rapture Crew, Zam, Zéh Palito, & more.

* In addition to the murals and festivities, there are special events and projects happening throughout the day with…

** Music to boot{y}!!!
Some of Ad Hoc’s favorite DJ’s blend sublime block party beats to tickle your eardrums and keep you moving all day long. Bring food, water, dancing shoes and prepare for seeing some great art & shaking some body parts.

WHO: Artists + The Community of Welling Court + You + Ad Hoc Art

WHERE: 11-98 Welling Court {@ 30th Ave & 12th Street}, Astoria, Queens 11102

TO GET THERE:

* By Public Transit: Take the N or W train to 30th Ave. Then: 1) walk 10-15 minutes or; 2) take the Q18 west down 30th Ave to 12th St. You are there!

* By Car: Here is a link to the street map: http://tinyurl.com/2e7whgo

YOUR ATTENDANCE AND COVERAGE IS ENCOURAGED & INVITED.

Nick Walker Loves NY

June 4, 2012 Artists, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street

I don’t want to say that New Yorkers are blasé, but you pretty much have to flip over backwards and walk like a spider while juggling watermelons and singing “God Save the Queen” in a clown suit before most people even turn their heads, let alone break their gait. Bristol based and globally known Street Artist Nick Walker spent hours on New York’s streets last week putting up some new stencils in his signature style and as usual, New Yorkers took it all in stride.

It’s frickin’ Nick Walker, people! And he loves New York and the never ending parade of oddness and drop dead gorgeousness that you encounter just hanging on the sidewalk. With his loyal guard and court jester Stu on hand to hold down a stencil and to chat with the ladies and entertain the kids, Nick sprayed his way around Chelsea and the Lower East Side with some new characters, along with one familiar bowler-hatted fella.

Nick Walker “I Love NY” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And truthfully, there were many people stopping to chat and kids especially want to get the low-down on how all this stencil stuff takes place. They want details. Once again, expression of the creative spirit on the street provides a common ground for the exchange of ideas, opinions, and sideways glances.

Nick Walker “I Love NY” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Street Art Happening NOW @ Bushwick Open Studios 2012

June 2, 2012 Artists, Brooklyn, Events, NYC, On the Street, Opening, Street Art Festival

As the cultural center continues to shift further away from Manhattan, Bushwick and Street Art continue to have a love affair that grows every year. We just caught up with a handful of artists putting up work to celebrate Bushwick Open Studios (BOS) 2012 as it turns 6 this year. The artists were invited to paint by GCM Steel Products and Agency X Events to mark their Bushwick 5 Points Festival, which they hope will be the first of many in support of BOS.

BSA readers are probably at BOS right now, but for the 14 of you who couldn’t make it to BK today, here’s some process shots of Street Art going up before your eyeballs. Art seeking pilgrims will see it all as they race between the hundreds of studios that are open today. Artists of all sizes, shapes, styles, and disciplines continue to bring the neighborhoods of Brooklyn alive!

Specter at work faithfully creating a facade. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jim Avignon wall in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok, Sheryo, Never and Specter to the right walls in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sheryo at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Priscila de Carvalho, Maria Berrio, and Miriam Castillo at work (photo © Jaime Rojo)

There is even a wall by Graffiti legend COST. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Come out support the artists and play today and tomorrow as BOS will be going on through out the weekend. With special thanks to the good folks at GCM Steel Products, Bushwick 5 Points Festival will be happening all day today with art, food and music until 8:00 pm at Troutman and St. Nicholas.

For full details on BOS 2012 click here.

MOMO Up In The Air: Geometry, Color and Balance in Baltimore

May 31, 2012 Artists, Baltimore, On the Street

MOMO has just completed what he calls the largest mural he has ever done in the US. Baltimore is the lucky recipient of this piece by one of Street Art’s modern abstractionists, a fine artist who has proven to be a quietly inspired force for exploration in one of the developing new directions for Street Art.

MOMO. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The city of Baltimore has it charms and many people here will greet you and offer to help you or chat for a minute, and this weekend it was evident that Open Walls Baltimore has touched off an excitement in a few of the neighborhoods here. MOMO’s own contribution enlivens and activates such a large space that you can imagine the empty lot it’s in turning into a playground or park or at least a block party. We saw so many youth and children in this neighborhood with eyes wide and full of curiosity and interest in participating in the act of creativity. Perhaps work like this can eventually put doors on boarded homes, shore up foundations, create a sense of hope and connectedness and community engagement that supercedes mere dreams of making money.

During the MOMO installation, the blasting sun was ongoing and so was the serenade of the incessant singing of mockingbirds in nearby trees. Sincere thanks to MOMO for letting us get a close look at his process and his work.

MOMO. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. Wild flowers on the vast empty lot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Arts In Bushwick Presents: Bushwick Open Studios 2012 (Brooklyn, NY)

May 30, 2012 Artists, Brooklyn, Events, NYC, On the Street, Opening, Performance

BOS

About Arts in Bushwick

Our Mission

Arts in Bushwick is an all volunteer organization that serves and engages artists and other neighborhood residents through creative accessibility and community organizing. It is our goal to create an integrated and sustainable neighborhood, and to bring together all Bushwick residents and stakeholders to counter development-driven displacement.

Our History

Arts In Bushwick was founded in the fall of 2007, as a result of grassroots efforts to produce the 2007 Bushwick Open Studios festival. The organization was founded by a group of roughly fifteen local artists and community organizers, most of whom were involved in planning the 2007 Bushwick Open Studios, and has continued to operate on an all-volunteer, non-hierarchical, break-even basis to today, the fifth annual Bushwick Open Studios we have produced. Arts In Bushwick maintains a completely open structure, inviting all community members to bring their ideas and to participate in collaboratively producing the organization and its activities.

Our Projects

Arts In Bushwick has two core functions – producing neighborhood arts festivals, and facilitating community projects and dialogue. All of our activities are produced by volunteers and at no cost to the public. Learn more about our projects here.

Our People

Arts In Bushwick is an all-volunteer, non-hierarchical organization – we have a completely open structure, where anyone in the community who is willing to volunteer their time is welcome to join with us and take on a leadership role. Dozens of community members volunteer their time as organizers for each of our festivals and year-round, and many many more pitch in during our events. It would be impossible to list everyone we rely on to do what we do, but here are a few:

View BOS2012 Organizer Bios »

For more information visit BOS site:

http://artsinbushwick.org/bos2012/

Baltimore Opens Its Walls To Street Art

May 30, 2012 Artists, Baltimore, On the Street, Street Art Festival

Abstract geometrist and Street Artist MOMO is still sweeping across a massive brick wall in his cherry picker as he leads Open Walls Baltimore across the finish line with more than twenty artists and murals spread across these blocks straight off “The Wire” TV series.

MOMO. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. Stay tuned for process shots of MOMO’s wall on BSA tomorrow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Oh, man, he’s really getting it down over there,” says local pigeon trainer Tony Divers, who is looking out his back door past the bird’s coop at the new 5-story MOMO piece coming alive in the empty lot next door. Mr. Tony, whose pigeons have also had a starring role in the series, himself became the subject of a massive building-sized portrait by Jetsonorama two blocks up the street.

VHILS. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Welcome to Open Walls Baltimore.

New York Street Artist Gaia had been racing his fixie around this town since he started studying at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) a few years ago. In between trips back home he began hitting walls with his large scale paste-ups on sides of some of the abandoned buildings that comprise entire blocks in this city. Somewhere along the way he gradually fell in love with the neighborhood and it’s lively conversations on the stoop, secret speakeasies on the weekend, and eclectic shows with Dan Deacon and the Wham City Arts Collective.

Freshly graduated, the talkative 23 year old artist with a natural knack for organizing decided to stay in B’more and plot a Street Art revitalization of sorts. With Ben Stone and Rebecca Chan of Station North Arts & Entertainment as partners, the trio secured monetary backing and city support for 20 artists to come and paint murals this spring. When asked if the grand outlay of almost a hundred thousand dollars is a civic/private program, Gaia is quick to answer, “Totally private. I guess you could call it civic because they’re non-profit.”

Gaia. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Armed with a budget and Gaia’s knowledge of Street Artists on the scene, the team was able to garner a wide collection of artists to create murals. When Baltimore native and famous graffiti/hip-hop photographer Martha Cooper agreed to shoot it all, Gaia knew OWB was going to be a hit. Large walls were pretty easily secured with help from the City of Baltimore and sponsors helped with paint and services. From March to May the neighborhoods of Station North and Greenmount West have played host to internationally known Street Art names of the moment like Vhils, Sten and Lex, Swoon, Jaz, MOMO, and Interesni Kazki getting up on walls alongside a list of local and regional talents.

Chris Stain and Billy Mode. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The reviews and interactions between the organizers, artists and local residents have generally been positive in this part of town where the drug trade has filled the vacuum since all the factories died and communities were destroyed. With “art as a gentrifying force” being a huge discussion, these hippy kids have formed community in bombed out factory buildings here over the last decade and a burgeoning artists community has somehow sustained itself tenuously through the rigors of a ruthless recession. Programmatically OWB is not entirely new as a cultural stimulus but this sort of “jump-start” approach to engendering a creative renaissance by public/private development may be watched carefully by other cities as a possible formula to imitate.

Sten & Lex. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For the upbeat organizer/curator of the project, it’s been extremely gratifying and an eye opener to be accountable to such a range of interests, “I learned that murals can be a little threatening to people and bring out their latent fears and that the parties you think who are going to be most afraid generally might not be,” Gaia explains, “and the ones you think might be the most into it – provide the most criticism.”

“For example the artists community turned out to be the one that was most afraid of being a gentrifying force and was most critical of the project. And all the legacy residents were generally not bringing that up, even if I asked them,” he says.

Sculptor John Ahearn performs a live casting of a couple. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Two young art fans watch in wonderment as Mr. Ahearn applies the liquid rubber to cast the mold. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Ahearn’s street installation of previous casts. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist Nanook, also a student at nearby MICA and a logistical lynchpin for OWB, created his own mural that strikes at the historic manufacturing base that once provided a livelihood for the people who lived in many of these abandoned buildings. For him, the artist’s role is to connect the lines between past and present, “And so it’s just about bringing back these signifiers to the neighborhood. Especially for this housing area that was built to house the people who were working at these factories. It has been interesting to meet the people who are old enough to have worked at these factories – they actually worked at the coat factory and the rudder factory and the bottling factory down the street.”

As he smokes and points to the gears and the large hand on his mural, Nanook also talks about the former coat factory two blocks away that is now being renovated to be a magnet art school, and the possibility that work by creatives can create help neighborhoods re-imagine a future, “I think most artists are intermediaries for the communities they reside in.”

Swoon. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As we tour around the streets with Ms. Cooper, we make sure to hit the hot graffiti spot in town, an alley she’s known for more than 50 years and one that has provided uninterrupted opportunity for exploration with an aerosol can for many artists who start out here. “Usually there are people painting back here and there’s often somebody doing a fashion shoot back here,” she remarks while snapping images of tags and colorful pieces. “There was a “Wild Style” reunion here a few years ago with Charlie (Ahearn), and they painted all kinds of stuff. It’s fun and they all come to this – because there really aren’t too many locations to do this”

While we watch a handful of 20-year-olds pulling cans from backpacks and arranging them on the cracked concrete in front of a wall, we talk to Jeremy, a local Baltimore artist who also makes puppetry and masks. He says he likes the effect that OWB has been having on the neighborhood. “It’s an interesting project. It’s nice to see a kind of subtle but effective change. Baltimore is kind of rough. But because (OWB) is there it invokes something different and the space actually is transformed.”

On a Friday evening at a block party celebrating the completion of the final wall, Gaia is happy with how it has turned out, and pleased with the multiple conversations he’s been able to have with people in the community about murals, walls, pigeons, paint, and wheat-paste. “My only curatorial process was matching the artists with walls and sites that I thought would be pertinent and I thought would really work with the artists’ process – that was my biggest goal and it succeeded.”

Interesni Kazki. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ever. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JAZ. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Freddy Sam. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Josh Van Horn. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder created a new facade within the facade of this building and a tribute to a local resident, Dennis Livingston. Says Gaia, “OverUnder is remarkably improvisational and really works well with children and people and is super engaging.” Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder.Dennis Livinston. Detail. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mata Ruda. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Doodles. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jetsonorama’s portrait of Mr. Tony as he watches his pigeons in the sky. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Jetsonorama and Nanook collaboration from a Martha Cooper photograph. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nanook’s wall in progress. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Open Walls Baltimore includes the following artists: Gaia (Baltimore), Momo (New Orleans), Doodles (Port Townsend, WA), Maya Hayuk (New York City), Ever (Buenos Aires, Argentina, Overunder (Reno, NV), John Ahearn (New York City)
Specter (Montreal), Mata Ruda (Baltimore), Josh Van Horn (Baltimore) , Caitlin Cunningham (Baltimore) , Jessie Unterhalter & Katey Truhn (Baltimore), Freddy Sam (Capetown, South Africa), Intersni Kazki (Kiev, Ukraine),
Gary Kachadourian (Baltimore), Chris Stain (New York City, Baltimore), Billy Mode (Baltimore), Jetsonorama (Arizona), Swoon (New York City), Sten and Lex (Italy), Nanook (Baltimore), Jaz (Buenos Aires, Argentina), and Vhils (Portugal)

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Seeing Spain Through the Eyes of Street Artist “Ever”

May 29, 2012 Barcelona, Events, On the Street, Spain, Street Art Festival

“It’s a really cute little town with no stoplights and with a lot of old people!” says Street Artist EVER, who has been painting in Amposta, the site of the FAHR Festival.

About 2 hours from Barcelona, he’s hanging with Sam3 and Kenor and getting up with interesting pieces. He says that thematically he is addressing the social revolution that is right now happening in Spain, and trying to capture the feelings of insecurity that young people have for the future there. In a country with an 25% unemployment rate and with the very shaky prognosis for the Euro, you can understand why.

Ever “Buy Your Revolution” Detail. FAHR Festival. Amposta, Spain. (photo © Ever)

Ever “Buy Your Revolution” FAHR Festival. Amposta, Spain. (photo © Ever)

Ever “Occupy” Detail. FAHR Festival. Amposta, Spain. (photo © Ever)

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Images of the Week: 05.27.12

May 27, 2012 Artists, On the Street

Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Astro, Jaye Moon, JR, Olek, PP, Roa, and Russell King.

JR. High Line Park, NYC. Brandon Many Ruiz. Standing Rock Reservation, North Dakota. Inside Out A Global Art Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA in Vienna. ( exclusive photo for BSA courtesy of Inoperable Gallery © ROA)

OLEK “Love and Stop Lights Can Be Cruel” Quad installation in NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OLEK “Love and Stop Lights Can Be Cruel” Quad installation in NYC. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Our gratitude to Nicholas at Inoperable Gallery for the ROA photo. Click here to visit Inoperable.

Click here to learn more about Inside Out. A Global Art Project by JR.

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“Geometrip Soup” from Romania with Allan Dalla

May 26, 2012 Artists, On the Street, Romania

Exclusive photos for BSA Readers

Romania in Da House! That’s right yo, Allan Dalla are as funny as they are talented and you can reach right inside the mind of a child to get the playful poppy organic geometrics that wrap their figures and fantasies. The Romanian Street Art collective teamed up with Kero to make this big pot of “Geometrip Soup” and kids from the neighborhood were there to cheer them on, their mere presence bringing the street alive.

Also make sure to check out the video after the pics to see how you can make a fun Saturday in your house with just a few ingredients and some imagination. Kids! Try this at home!

Here’s that video we were telling you about:

In 2011 Allan Dalla made this with Platonic Forms for their project Cosmonotrips. We have shown it on these pages but it never gets old. See it again or see it for the first time.

Living Walls Concepts Presents: Everman Invites The Public To Participate. The Goat Farm (Atlanta, GA)

May 24, 2012 Artists, Atlanta, Events, Georgia, On the Street, Urban Art Festival

Everman

The ubiquitous and iconic Evereman crafted a unique game for the city of Atlanta, attaching his distinctive emblem everywhere. Usually in the form of a wooden magnet, Evereman offers the city to interact with their surroundings by collecting and redistributing his art. Evereman is for everyone, or as he puts on the back of each piece, Evereman is “4 U ATL.”

This Memorial Day, Living Walls Concepts invites the public to participate in Evereman’s technique. Starting Sunday, May 27, participants will have the chance to create their own wooden magnets in Evereman’s studio to scatter about Atlanta and beyond the following day.

Want to get involved? First, stop by AM1690’s “Vari-Okey” event this Saturday, May 26 at the Goat Farm and sign up for Evereman’s workshop through ARTWORKS, the new digital platform that will transform involvement in the Atlanta arts scene. If you miss the event, check back to our website to sign up. Anyone and everyone should participate.

After the workshop, Evereman will create a mural intervention somewhere in Atlanta’s urban landscape. We’ll keep it secret for now, but when the time comes workshop participants will be notified where and can take part in the installation.

Workshop Signup
Saturday, May 26
8:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.
The Goat Farm
1200 Foster St. Atlanta, GA 30318

Street Art, Bomb Scares, and Times of Anxiety

May 23, 2012 Artists, Brooklyn, Features, NYC, On the Street

Last Friday morning all was going normally on the streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn as the cool, crisp breeze of a sunny May day made New York as it often is: Glorious. Up and down the sidewalk smartly dressed professionals hurriedly carried coffees and pushed baby carriages as meandering tourists stared quizzically at clean cut NYU students in their search for the fabled hipster scene that their travel guides had told them would be here.

Suddenly police activity seemed to hasten on the streets and police patrol cars were rushing to sidewalks and scattering flustered pedestrians. Within a matter of minutes Bedford Avenue was cordoned off with “CRIME SCENE” yellow tape from North 4^th to North 7^th streets and officers in various uniforms descended upon the neighborhood with fire trucks wailing and helicopters thundering.

Quickly word spread that there was a bomb scare. Possibly in a tree.

“Scare” is a relative word for New Yorkers, as police gently prodded curious rubberneckers to stand back and swept sleepy cafes clear of reticent morning journal doodlers. An impressive armamentarium of tools and gadgets were pulled from trucks and trunks and assembled in a somewhat semi-circular arrangement near a shady tree that bended gently back and forth with the breeze.

These officers’ firm and calm demeanor gave a sunny day a relaxed atmosphere, but the tension was still thick – a potential bomb was in the midst and protection was top priority. The offending piece in question hung from a thin metal arm duct-taped to the tree’s limb; the container was a simple deli grocery bag with the ubiquitous pledge of fealty to the city, “I Love NY” screen-printed on the front. The little bag swung gently as wires poked out from it’s handled top.

To photographers who document Street Art every day in this city, continuously scanning the urban environment for any manner of creative expression, this object might have caught an eye and been captured with a camera. But frankly, the competition for attention is fierce.

Williamsburg nearly birthed the Street Art scene here in the early 00s when artists called it home and every discipline of fine art transmuted itself into installation. A new sort of direct engagement with the public sphere took root and it continues to grow in cities around the world. No longer simply stencils, wheat-pasted paper or stickers on a news kiosk, in Brooklyn you are now likely to see more three dimensional pieces like a DarkClouds board bolted to a sign post, a steel REVS sculpture welded to a fence, a tiny match-stick Stikman embedded in the pavement, or a pink and purple camouflaged crocheted piece by OLEK covering an entire bicycle. For years local artist Leviticus has been reassembling discarded furniture, musical instruments and found objects and placing them on these sidewalks on Bedford Avenue to the indifference of the rivers of people walking by.

And let’s not forget so-called “conceptual” work, ever able to confound.

In the case of this piece, this non-bomb in a tree, the materials were very familiar to the public: A vellum plastic box, an “I Love New York” shopping plastic bag, duct tape, some wires. The materials? Non-threatening. Their arrangement and location: potentially threatening.

According to news reports, the artist Takeshi Miyakawa was arrested long after the scare was called off as he was discovered installing a second piece not far up the street. It appears he had planned an illuminated string of bags to pay a tribute of some sort to the city.

According to the New York Times and The Huffington Post, Mr. Miyakawa, 50 years old, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, two counts of placing a false bomb or hazardous substance in the first degree, two counts of placing a false bomb or hazardous substance in the second degree, two counts of second-degree reckless endangerment and two counts of second-degree criminal nuisance. He was also placed under psychological evaluation.

Few will rightly question the actions of the bomb squad to prevent a catastrophic event from taking place, and most would openly express thanks for their work that can put them at great risk. But art like this, and any sanctioned public art that goes through a more vetted process, does raise questions about its intersection with the law and ethics. In a time when almost anything is considered as possible art, it also could be considered a possible bomb.

Should an artist be held accountable for every possible interpretation of the work, despite its original intention? Can other evidence be considered before assigning guilt? Does an artist, particularly those who install work without permission, bear responsibility to consider it’s effect on public safety? During a time in our history that is permeated with vacillating levels of fear and anxiety, should we attempt to agree on some guidelines?

Online images of Miyakawa’s studio and coworkers and their methodical design plans for this installation make you think he’s probably not a criminal, just a kooky artist with a questionable judgement. Welcome to New York; that sort of thing is the norm where academic and creative investigation often pushes into unusual territory we haven’t been in before. It even appears his intentions were to cheer the public – an expression of love for his city. But one does wonder what affect a renewed surveillance of trees and signposts and street furniture might bring to a Street Art scene that doesn’t look like it has tired of exploring itself.

Takeshi Miyakawa “I Love New York” This is how the installation was left after it was dismantled by the police. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Below are some examples of work on the street that are more than your run-of-the-can aerosol art.

In later winter this year artist Jean Seestadt created a series of installations in bus shelters and subway cars entitled “If You See Somethin;”. Her idea was to highlight the issue of objects that we encounter on our daily routine and as we use the public transportation system. Jean Seestadt. “If You See Somethin'” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Click here to read our full interview with Ms. Seestadt and to see more images of her installation.

An unknown artist installed a series of metal and glass “eye” sculptures in Williamsburg in 2007 and 2008. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here is a pair of BZBD shoes with LED lights in the soles for an installation a couple of weeks ago in Brooklyn. (photo © BZBD)

Street Artist XAM creates and places bird feeders and dwellings all over the city. Some are fitted with solar panels and an LED light. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read our interview with XAM here.

RAE commonly uses discarded household items and vintage appliances to create his sculptures before bolting them to streets signs. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OLEK has become well known for crocheting entire coverings for bicycles, strollers, sculpture, and even the Wall Street Bull. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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