All posts tagged: Abstraction

HENSE Goes Abstractly Huge In Lima, Peru

April 25, 2013

Atlanta based graffiti artist and Street Artist Hense has just created a massive abstract wall in Lima that radically energizes a beige facade along a major artery through the city.

His largest mural so far, and yet one more Street Artist who is expressing this new romance with color, geometry and pattern on the streets, Hense says the scale presented some technical challenges on how to retain a loose, painterly feel even as he felt dwarfed by his own work. “We used strings and ropes to create circles and lines that needed to be accurate. However, most gestures and shapes were created freehand,” he explains.  Familiar with transforming architecture with his non-representational, sometimes graffiti tagged work, Hense was recently in the news for re-skinning a very traditional church in Washington.

Hense (photo © Jules Bay)

This time he and a lead assistant and a crew of 10 professional painters took about a month to layer multiple patterns and sections and colors mainly in latex, with some aerosol, to mask out and create and re-create until Hense felt like he hit the mark. Without a distinct plan in hand, he took inspiration from the colors of the region, the nearby architecture, and the imagination machinations of the moment.

“One thing I feel is important when working on this scale is the improvisational use of tools to create the marks and shapes. In order to reach heights and lengths I had to attach brushes to extension poles to paint in hard to reach areas,” he says. “Every shape and mark that we made on the wall had to be massive to be seen from a great distance. I also wanted to leave smaller, details that would be seen by viewers close to the work.”

The project was organized by Morbo Gallery and funded by the ISIL Institute in MiraFlores, and Hense says he is really grateful for the hospitality of people he met and worked with. He’s still sort of marvelling at the project, his biggest yet.

“I’m always wanting to challenge myself and the viewer in regards to painting and what that can be.”

Hense (photo © Jules Bay)

Hense (photo © Jules Bay)

Hense (photo © Jules Bay)

Hense (photo © Jules Bay)

Hense (photo © Jules Bay)

Hense. The Crew. (photo © Jules Bay)

Hense. The Artist. (photo © Jules Bay)

Hense. The Mural. (photo © Jules Bay)


With very special thanks to: Jules Bay, Taylor Means, Morbo Gallery, ISIL Institute, Luar Zeid, Panorama, Angel, Paul, Pedro, Alex, Miguel, Jaime, Mayo, William, Christian Rinke, Gino Moreno, Os Villavicencio, Carlos Benvenuto, Candice House, and Elard Robles for all the hard work and making this project come to fruition.

 

 

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BSA Presents GEOMETRICKS, Curated by Hellbent

July 26, 2012

BSA Presents GEOMETRICKS

Curated by Street Artist Hellbent

As part of their Vandal or Visionary Series, where BSA selects one Street Artist to curate a show that follows their specific vision of the scene, BSA is proud to introduce Hellbent as curator of the inaugural show of the series titled “GEOMETRICKS” at new Gallery Brooklyn in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York City, opening September 22, 2012.

Participating artists (alphabetically): Augustine Kofie, Chor Boogie, Drew Tyndell, Feral Child, Hellbent, Jaye Moon, Maya Hayuk, MOMO, OLEK, OverUnder, See One
***

GEOMETRICKS turns the spotlight on the movement on the streets that boasts bold color, wild patterning, sophisticated lineplay, and a modern approach to abstraction.

As the stylistic circle widens on the street, GEOMETRICKS grabs a razor-sharp cross section of the growing number of graffiti artists who depart from traditional forms of lettering, Street Artists who are not interested in Pop-inspired icons or irony, and fine artists who never considered the “rules” of the street to begin with.

GEOMETRICKS references modernists, tribalists, and the rhythmic symmetry of the natural world, with it’s hexagons and spirals and comforting repetitions. Old labels about graffiti and Street Art mean little; this group takes the formalist clarity that references geometry, folk art, and science, and often smashes it with an abstract hammer.

Parallel, perpendicular, rigid, curvilinear; lines and shapes intersect and play off color-rich pattern – challenging the shape, form and expectations of many in the Street Art scene. GEOMETRICKS show how graff and Street Art right now are exploding in a new direction together without first asking for permission, again advancing the conversation of art on the streets.

 

“I’m stoked to be able put together this GEOMETRICKS show with some artists who I’ve really admired for a long time as well as some of the new players on the scene. This show is a great opportunity for me to create a vision and really put a dream team of artists into one room and show people what I am diggin’ right now.” – Hellbent

The Vandal or Visionary Series presented by BSA
GEOMETRICKS
Curated by Hellbent

September 22 – October 28, 2012

Opening Reception
Saturday, September 22, 2012
6 pm – 9 pm

With sound provider SLEPTEMBER
Sponsored by Sixpoint Brewery

 

Gallery Brooklyn
351 Van Brunt St
Red Hook
Brooklyn, NY 11231

347.463.4063
info@gallerybrooklyn.com
gallerybrooklyn.com

Gallery Hours
Thursday-Saturdays: 12-6pm
Sundays: 12-5pm

Vandal or Visionary Series presented by BSA

The Vandal or Visionary Series calls into question the simplistic characterization of artists who work on the street as one dimensional vandals and it wonders aloud what a gallery show would look like if viewed through their eyes. Many artists have always had a better understanding of the scene than academics or experts who talk about it and this series allow us to see a show curated by someone with a direct view and a very unique perspective.

BrooklynStreetArt.com is a daily source for Street Art reporting, interviews, and photography in New York and around the world.

We’ve been thinking a lot about this show and recently published examples on the street that are indicative of this new direction;

“Art from the streets has been heralding a new eye-popping geometric disorder that can now fairly be called a movement.”
~ From our recent piece on The Huffington Post : “Color, Geometry and Pattern on the Streets”

 

Read all BSA posts on The Huffington Post HERE.

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For more details on GEOMETRICKS please contact us at GEOMETRICKS@BrooklynStreetArt.com

Thank you for your support.

See the GEOMETRICKS Square Invite

 

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