New York has seen its share of people jumping into and out of the Street Art scene over the last couple of decades, and only a few have had the staying power of the non-profit org L.I.S.A. Project. Run by two guys who live on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Wayne Rada and Rey Rosa, L.I.S.A. has brought several international street artists to private walls in Little Italy, Chinatown, and their environs.
Big fans and collectors of street art themselves, the guys have hustled to get walls, lifts, and paint for artists they are fans of and some of the newcomers on the scene. Call it a private/public initiative that has steadily given artists opportunities and the locals one more reason to chuckle at the selfie-taking tourists who make this town tick.
Tonight to make the 10th anniversary and their new print program, L.I.S.A. Project joins with urban art clearinghouse West Chelsea Contemporary to host a panel featuring artists Crash, Daze, curator and graffiti expert Sean Corcoran, moderated by culture critic and curator Carlo McCormick. The doors are open at 6, and the talk begins promptly at 6:30.
Participating artists within the first series include Ron English, Indie184, John “CRASH” Matos x Chris “DAZE” Ellis, and Shepard Fairey.
West Chelsea Contemporary 231 10th Avenue New York, NY 10011
Shepard Fairey, Ron English, John “CRASH” Matos x Chris “DAZE” Ellis and Indie184. (Image courtesy of The L.I.S.A. Project N.Y.C.)Ron English. “Temper Tot Tramples Guernica”” (image courtesy of The L.I.S.A. Project N.Y.C.)
New Yorkers are looking forward to this week’s event at the International Center of Photography Museum downtown on Essex Street called In Conversation—Hip Hop Photography. A somewhat innocuous title, more likely it’s the thrust of the theme that will engage: how three of the biggest names in the early documentation of Hip Hop have formed a collective to protect their rights as photographers, which have been slowly eroding since the advent of the Internet and social media.
“Hip Hop Photography is a collective led by photographers Janette Beckman, Joe Conzo, and Martha Cooper founded to protect the photographs, artistry, subjects, and the hip-hop experience by standardizing fair terms of their image use,” says the trio.
Meet Cooper, Beckman, and Conzo as they talk about their collective with photography archivist and curator Julie Grahame about the founding of their photo collective and each of their recent publications and projects: Martha Cooper’s Spray Nation, Janette Beckman’s Rebels: From Punk to Dior, and Joe Conzo’s Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop.
Schedule
6-9 PM
Dj Misbehaviour and DJ Operator EMZ
6:30 PM
In Conversation—Hip-Hop Photography
7:15 PM
REWIND Creative Karaoke
8:00 PM
Book Signings—Martha Cooper, Spray Nation, Janette Beckman, Rebels: From Punk to Dior, Joe Conzo, Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop.
Down by the riverside. This is where the walls are nearly reserved for these artists about 30 kilometers north of Barcelona on the Congost River (Riu Congost).
Photographer Lluis Olive-Bulbena likes to get out on his graff-street art exploratory safaris early in the morning. This river bank is one of his regular spots to check. Lo and behold! He says these pieces are fresh – painted in the last ten days by this group of seven artists.
Ripped tiles. Wait, you can’t do that. Not traditional Portuguese Azulejo ceramic tiles…
Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” at Subliminal Projects. Echo Park, Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects)
Summoning the subversive intentions of rebellious youth, the Portuguese muralist Diogo Machado, aka ADD FUEL, does precisely that.
The ripping is not literal, of course, but the recurring idea of tearing back layers of tradition to reveal something less expected underneath has been his theme on streets for years. Whether it is a blend of pop and sarcasm or simply an escape into the adventures of childhood, ADD Fuel has mastered the art of hiding truths in plain sight with precision and allegory.
Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” at Subliminal Projects. Echo Park, Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects)
Also, he does make tiles; we’ve inspected the kiln personally just outside his native Lisbon. The colors, patterns, and homey motifs are easy to glaze over in such a city, which is perhaps why he beckons you to come and see the real story. You may imagine the specific dysfunction in this household, but Diogo’ll tell you the truth about what has been happening if you look a little closer. Nothing is what it appears to be.
Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” at Subliminal Projects. Echo Park, Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects)
“In my work, I always suggest an adventure, a journey through focused attention in the composition,” he says of his new show YOUTH ETERNAL, which opened Saturday night at Shepard Fairey’s Subliminal Gallery in Echo Park, CA. He intones that you’ll need to take a moment to experience “the discovery of nuance through layers, patterns, allegories, and the unstoppable constructive dynamism of the story I present in each piece.”
Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” at Subliminal Projects. Echo Park, Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects)
He doesn’t limit the works to studio pieces exclusively: his large-scale wall works across many cities have the effect of transforming, disarming: creating homey energy, sometimes in the oddest of places. His newest mural here in Los Angeles is just outside a place described as “Subliminal Projects’ favorite local watering-hole,” with the name Little Joy Cocktails. The new work has also spawned a new collaborative screen-print with Add Fuel and Fairey in a limited edition.
As with all expressions and output by the artist, the wall invites you. “It guides the viewer to discover intricate details, and a story over time,” he says.
Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” at Subliminal Projects. Echo Park, Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects)Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” at Subliminal Projects. Echo Park, Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects)Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” at Subliminal Projects. Echo Park, Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of Subliminal Projects)
Add Fuel. “Youth Eternal” is now on view at Subliminal Projects. Click HERE for more information about this exhibition.
One of the hardest weeks of our lives. But we’re still here to give you another posting of new shots of street art and graffiti on the streets. Thank you for your support, and thank God for the creative spirit that keeps us inspired, our cities alive, informed, and in-touch with the common person.
The so-called ‘Red Wave’ (red tsunami, red hurricane, etc.) didn’t materialize in the mid-term elections Tuesday despite the drumbeat on corporate media. On the other hand, the Democratic party can’t be too proud of their “squeaker” win – or their incremental moves to the corporate right for four decades. Nothing to sing and dance about.
Under the clattering rumble of the J Train, as it passes above from Manhattan into Brooklyn, this Ruby Crowned Kinglet hangs onto a small branch. An overcaffeinated and twitchy bird of very diminutive size, its birdsong is non-the-less one of the loudest – and quite musical. It looks like Mantra has chosen a perfect New York bird for this wall in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
In collaboration with the Audubon Society and Flora Fauna Funga (FEE), the French naturist, muralist, and former graffiti writer brought this natural scene into a boisterous babble of lateral glass and steel hubris. An artists’ neighborhood at the turn of the century, most of those colorful characters have been chased out by high rents, higher anxiety, and the startling, stultifying cultural homogeneity found in any suburb. It’s nice to see a little color back here.
“I had heard about this Audoban project on the street here,” Mantra explains, “and Martha said, ‘Why don’t you take the subway up to Harlem to see the new walls that feature birds and introduce yourself to the organizers.” He is referring to photographer and friend Martha Cooper whose cat Melia he once painted on a wall in Helsingborg, Sweden.
In the end, it was the Audobon Society in Paris who gave him the first opportunity, and now he is in the sister city of New York to paint this one for them. “We realized that it would be a good idea to have a mural in Paris and another one in New York City anyway,” he says.
Looking for a metaphor he says, “We are not even building a bridge but maybe as birds we migrated from Paris to New York.” New York has of course a public art connection with France at least since the 1880s when the Statue of Liberty opened – designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi , with its metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel.
“So basically,” Mantra says, “ I decided to design this mural so we could appreciate this bird above us. The ruby-crowned kinglet arrived and landed on the branch. Maybe he is as curious as we are.”
And what about the new mushrooms that have seeming popped up here overnight?
“There is a fungi foundation that is linked and is sort of a parallel foundation that is also a partner for this project,” he says. “From what I understand, there is a struggle to break into the scientific fields and establish a third order. It would be flora, fauna, and fungi.”
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. The Wanderers – Rone. A Film by Selina Miles 2. The Wanderers – Georgia Hill. A Film by Selina Miles 3. The Wanderers – Amok Island. A Film by Selina Miles 4. Barkaa – Blak Matriarchy
BSA Special Feature: The Wanderers -Rone, by Selina Miles
This edition of BSA Film Friday is dedicated to The Wanderers, a brilliantly human film documentary series by filmmaker Selina Miles. Today we share with you three of the six films. We published one of the films last week here – the film dedicated to Guido Van Helten. In next week’s edition of BSA Film Friday we’ll bring you the two remaining films.
“Directed by Selina Miles & Produced by Drew Macdonald This 6 x 10-minute documentary series explores Art as Adventure. The Wanderers profile six of Australia’s most exciting street artists as they take their work on the road to unexpected and unusual parts of Australia – discovering the influence of a new environment on their individual artistic styles.
From the Central Highlands of Tasmania to a farming town in regional NSW, a remote community in the Northern Territory to the islands in the Pacific, The Wanderers celebrates the amazing diversity of people and places found in Australia.
Along with a huge range of locations, each of the 6 artists featured in The Wanderers takes on a unique personal challenge. Whether reflecting on inspiration, learning more about Australian art history, or celebrating communities that often go unnoticed. This is a series about the discovery of self; of new cultures and places; and of Australia’s next generation of contemporary artists.”
The Wanderers – Rone
“Melbourne Artist, Rone, travels to Port Vila, Vanuatu to update a cyclone-damaged wall painted several years earlier. He creates a series of portraits of local women, hoping to use his skills to form relationships with people from each neighborhood.”
The Wanderers – Amok Island
“Amok Island journeys to the Heron Island Research facility on the Great Barrier Reef, learning about the ecology of the area and seeking inspiration via underwater photography, before painting a mural at a nearby abandoned marine park.” The Wanderers
The Wanderers – Georgia Hill.
“Georgia Hill brings her monochromatic lettering and pattern work to the isolated central highlands of Tasmania, where she explores the history and remoteness of the area before painting a 10-meter mural in the historic Hydro town of Tarraleah.” The Wanderers
Barkaa – Blak Matriarchy
A powerful message and a dope track from Barkaa.
“Blak Matriarchy is a testament to Blak women… That through all the pain and trauma we carry we cannot be broken and we are still here! It’s a middle finger to all the people who discriminated against me and who were racist towards me growing up, a testimony to the strength I hold within myself and the power I feel as a Malyangapa, Barkindji woman.”
Following our previous story on the public/private art initiative “Boom!” festival in Salina, Kansas, we follow today with the one previous project on silos that ushered in many approvals for the festival by Australian mural artist (and photographer) Guido Van Helten.
Completed in the summer of 2021, the images of children playing a circular game like “Ring-Around-the-Rosie” fairly surround the HD Flour Mill. With a mix of sepia tones and faded pastels, the scene includes a diverse mix of kids rendered with tender respect, a composition that evokes the moment and captures a timeless truth that children and play go together like peanut butter and jelly. Van Helten got to know the community before he began the project, making this work a mirror of life in the area. His technical skill is remarkable, able to render such imagery on rounded forms and shapes in such a way that perspective is not lost.
The project is part of the Salina Kanvas Project and is privately funded by businesses and property owners with an expressed interest in promoting the area and drawing tourism.
“I reinterpreted this facade with elements of color and graphic structures that have clear references to the life of the Social Center and that emerged during the meetings held with residents of the area,” says Vesprini of the inspiration for this new abstract exterior wall in Reggio Emilia, Italy. By asking questions and listening to the stories people told him in the Gattaglio District, he says he understood the way of life here and incorporated symbols, colors, and history into his composition.
Giulio Vesprini. “E SOM DAL GATTO – Struttura G069”. Reggio Emilia, Italy. (photo Matteo Consolini)
The artist tells us he chose yellow to represent the walkway that connects the district to the Crostolo embankment, the round symbols to indicate sports games, green for the plants, blue for the Crostol stream, and red to recall the overall map. With the finished composition, he is pleased that he has worked closely with the community to create it.
“Giulio Vesprini is now truly one of us,” says Graziano Tura, president of the Gattaglio social center.
He commented on “the beauty of the common experience of members and inhabitants of the neighborhood in the relationship and collaboration with the artist,” according to Vesprini.
Giulio Vesprini. “E SOM DAL GATTO – Struttura G069”. Reggio Emilia, Italy. (photo Matteo Consolini)Giulio Vesprini. “E SOM DAL GATTO – Struttura G069”. Reggio Emilia, Italy. (photo Matteo Consolini)
“E SOM DAL GATTO – Struttura G069,” by Giulio Vesprini.
Not the first place you think of for a mural festival: Salina, Kansas. But there are new mural festivals in downtowns across the globe right now, and their longevity, among other barometers for success, varies greatly. In addition to having a distinct point of view, we have observed that towns and cities that are beginning public art projects must have a serious budget and an excellent sense of organization. “Boom!” appears to have both.
The pacing has been good too – with the Australian Guido van Helten starting the momentum by painting a sweet scene in 2021 of local children here on the ‘canvas’ that has become a signature for him, a cluster of grain elevator silos. His realistic renderings, fully contextual, are romantic without becoming sentimental and outpace many with his painterly can-control and technical ability. Somehow the Brisbane native may have lit this fuse.
Following that Salina Kanvas project (there are a few initiatives on the boards) comes the first organized festival with a solid mix of talents from the international scene crossing murals, street art, and graffiti roots – not easy to accomplish with such a short roster. Like van Helten, the talent is self-assured, and some of it goes deep in self-knowledge and in the culture that fuels today’s scene. Thanks to private donations, corporate sponsors, and the Chamber of Commerce, initiatives like this community-building public art project are well-backed.
Add to this mix the world-renowned photographer Martha Cooper, who captured the scene that birthed this one about 45 years ago in neighborhoods where it started, and balance it with the high-flying image of Kansas’ most famous pilot Amelia Earhart, who pioneered aviation and capitalized well off her self-made brand. This year’s curation may well have put Salina on the mural-fest map in one fell swoop.
Martha shares some of her shots with us today – with a few from the organizers as well.
Ms. Cooper tells us that “I would have liked to have time to shoot more freights,” a historical method for transporting unsanctioned art and writing across the country on the sides of freight trains that is peculiar to American history as it braids with archetypes of rebels, hobos and cowboy mythology. “The train tracks run through Salina,” Cooper remarks with some relish, and she notes smaller details that a documentary photographer would catch. “The main street had lovely plantings of prairie grasses evoking what we outsiders think of as typically Kansas.”
Here is a sampling of the works and artists from this inaugural “Boom!”. We hear the second one will make some noise as well.
Boom! Salina is an annual mural festival in downtown Salina, KS. Boom! Salina is backed by the Salina Kanvas Project.
A stunning outdoor public art installation today from Isaac Cordal that borders conceptual art, land art, and activist art. It depends on how deep into these woods you go.
Isaac Cordal. “Green Desert”. Pontevedra, Galicia. (photos by Isaac Cordal, Cuco and Lois Cid)
We surmise that you are a true fan of art in the streets. If so, you’ll also fondly recognize the image of the fire extinguisher as the most badass uncontrollable way to spray your tag across a prominent city wall– the equivalent of a scream and a hot emotional mess all on display. Here Mr. Cordal hopes the symbolic image packs the same emotional/intellectual punch.
Mounted in his hometown, Pontevedra, in Galicia, which lies on the northern coast of Spain, the artist tells us that many areas of the earth are turning to monocultures, making us all much more fragile and susceptible to disaster. With greater diversity of plant life and the associated ecosystem, one species may suffer while the others can bridge the gap. The ironic term for this forest monoculture that Cordal addresses is called a “green desert.”
Isaac Cordal. “Green Desert”. Pontevedra, Galicia. (photos by Isaac Cordal, Cuco and Lois Cid)
And that is what is happening in Pontevedra, “which has had a factory called Ence in operation since 1957, dedicated to making cellulose pulp from eucalyptus trees,” he tells us. “This invasive species has practically wiped out the native forests. Since then, a large part of northern Spain and Portugal has become a monoculture of this pyrophyte species, which alarmingly aggravates forest fires and destroys biodiversity, as well as drying up aquifers. The landscape has become a green desert, where nothing grows; it looks like a synthetic forest.”
“We must recover our lost paradise that still remains resilient.”
Isaac Cordal. “Green Desert”. Pontevedra, Galicia. (photos by Isaac Cordal, Cuco and Lois Cid)
Walking through these woods, you may generally find the blue, green, and brown hues soothing and welcoming – the canopy overhead shielding you from the sun, and the crunch of the leaves and branches beneath you is enlivening. This fresh interplay makes one feel adventurous, on the lamb with a sense of possibility. When you see Cordal’s fire extinguishers hung with an alarming sameness, you may also question the uniformity of tree species. Something is precisely amiss.
Without becoming too complicated, the strength we are losing is in the variety – and Cordal says the current solutions offered are too superficial and insincere.
Isaac Cordal. “Green Desert”. Pontevedra, Galicia. (photos by Isaac Cordal, Cuco and Lois Cid)
“The project arises from the lack of a forestry policy in accordance with the current situation,” he says. This idea inspired his installation to instantly help people connect the idea. “The idea of decorative or marketing solutions is so fashionable today in the era of greenwashing. Our actions remain a kind of make-up to make us feel less guilty about the future.”
Cordal explains that the term ‘green desert’ arose in the 1980s when Brazil’s cellulose industry left the people with vast tracks of the same trees. He says this approach only fuels a hellish future, and we’re not doing much to alleviate the situation.
“Current forestry policy is more decorative than effective,” Cordal says. “We need a forestry policy that controls the monoculture of eucalyptus in Galicia, and northern Spain, that protects native biodiversity, that puts an end to this green, lifeless desert that has colonized our territory.”
Isaac Cordal. “Green Desert”. Pontevedra, Galicia. (photos by Isaac Cordal, Cuco and Lois Cid)Isaac Cordal. “Green Desert”. Pontevedra, Galicia. (photos by Isaac Cordal, Cuco and Lois Cid)
In other NYC news, do you ever feel like a slowly boiling frog? NYPD is talking about partnering with Amazon’s Ring network; the New York Times explains that all those 5G network towers going up on the streets around the city are really just upgraded cell phone equipment, the police will begin a “Drone Unit” to fight crime– “said to be equipped with night vision technology,” this article says, they “won’t be weaponized,” and the NYPD digi-dog program from Boston Dynamics has been discontinued for right now and drones patrolling streets soon, right? Also on Friday the New York Federal Reserve announced plans for a new Fed digital dollar – a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) and the new UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is all in favor of completely digitized money. Meanwhile, it looks like NYC schools are going to be a lot safer with new initiatives to put biometric screening in them including maybe facial recognition. Nothing to worry about, right?
The city pays tributes to its heroes in different ways, and NYC street art loves Biggie Smalls more than anyone, along with folks like Spike Lee and Jean Michel Basquiat. This week we spotted a few new ones among the bevy of new street art beauties we discovered below.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Jason Naylor, Homesick, Savior El Mundo, King Baby, Mutz, Glare, Banksy Hates Me, Ashley Hodder, Raisa Nosova, Qzar, Spin, INU, Cheatz, Ultraboyz, Humble, Carlos RMK, and Yuzly Mathurin.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
