All posts tagged: Aiko

Splashes of Color in the Norwegian Rain: NUART 2013

September 11, 2013 Artists

The pale wan institutional hues of the Stavanger International Airport now are punctuated by the brilliant blues and stencil patterning wrapping around the control tower.

Small multi-layered stencil portraits pop from post-boxes, primary color-clad children hang off of stoop stairs and balance on stacked chairs and a graffiti slathered Michaelango stands on the corner next to the eye doctors office. Turn up another street and an aerosoled sultry geisha rises, wrapped in boisterous brocade on a typically white wall in this rather monochromatic sea town.

With these new wall works by M-City, C215, Ernest Zacharevic, Martin Whatson, and Hush (respectively) and a number of others, Nuart 2013 brought a lot of color to the streets this year as it celebrated what founder Martyn Reed called “one of, if not thee, finest Nuart events yet”.

Ernest Zacharevic (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Best Wishes from cold and rainy Stavanger!” says Ernest’s friend Gabija in her note to us as she talks about the cool grey storms that held up many of the visiting artists waiting to paint. It didn’t delay the pieces going up on tunnel walls of the venue where the opening party crowds teamed Saturday night. The special installations by C215, David Choe, and Aiko among others also included a 1,300 slide show at the end of one tunnel that showed 50 years of graffiti, Street Art, and street life photography by Martha Cooper, who was invited as an artist.

Even the minister of culture stopped by for a tour on Thursday, which shows how far graffiti and Street Art have grown, or strayed, in the years since public service commercials equated aerosol art with illicit drug use, truancy, terror, and illegal firearms. Today we give tours in the streets to appreciative people who snap photos and pose with friends in front of the spray painted walls.

Ernest Zacharevic (photo © Martha Cooper)

Of course this is an international mural festival, and much of the work is done by more accomplished artists who may have once (or still do) sprayed their stuff illegally. The themes may need to pass some review process, but the opportunities that come from taking your time are appreciable also. One of the newest talents showing this year was the Lithuanian twenty-something Ernest Zacharevic, who photographs and paints kids interacting and playing on a variety of wheeled machines, usually the self propelled kind.

Ably steering clear of cute, Zacharevic uses props with his wall paintings to “tap into the original instincts of adult viewers who may have lost their ability to access their playful nature,” or so we said in our interview with him. He also merges 2D with 3D quite seemlessly. For his tunnel installation on opening night, Zacharevic sawed a car in half so his kids could dance on the roof, cram inside, and push it from the back like it was out of gas. More than likely it was the missing wheels that kept the car stationary. But no harm in playing.

Ernest Zacharevic (photo © Martha Cooper)

But of the 16 artists invited this year, each can say they brought life and their A-game to this jewel of an outdoor art show in Norway. Nuart 2013 included MARTHA COOPER (US), DAL EAST (CN), ROA (BE), M-CITY (PL), FAITH47 (ZA), HUSH (UK), VHILS (PT), ERNEST ZACHAREVIC (LT), C215 (FR), DOT DOT DOT (NO), DOTMASTER (UK), STRØK (NO), MARTIN WHATSON (NO), DAVID CHOE (US) AIKO (JP).

With very special thanks to photographer Martha Cooper for sharing these images with BSA readers.

Ernest Zacharevic (photo © Martha Cooper)

Stroek casts a shadow. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Stroek and a street scene. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Stroek finishing up his piece. (photo © Martha Cooper)

C215 does this portrait of fellow Street Artist Indi. (photo © Martha Cooper)

C215 self portrait looking perplexed, perhaps. (photo © Martha Cooper)

C215 (photo © Martha Cooper)

C215 on a post box in Stavanger. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Martin Whatson (photo © Martha Cooper)

AIKO (photo © Martha Cooper)

A tour of the walls in Stavanger with AIKO’s piece on the background. (photo © Martha Cooper)

AIKO and Martha Cooper’s collaborative tunnel, with Aiko’s stencils on both sides and a slide show at the end. This slide is of New York graffiti writer and fine artist Futura as a young buck at the tunnels’ end. (photo © Martha Cooper)

AIKO’s walls and Martha Cooper’s portrait of her in a perfect collaboration. (photo © Martha Cooper)

AIKO and Martha Cooper’ slide show on the background. (photo © Martha Cooper)

VHILS (photo © Martha Cooper)

M-City (photo © Martha Cooper)

M-City. Detail. (photo © Martha Cooper)

HUSH in a stunning shot by Ms. Cooper, who caught a woman in a hijab walking past at just the right moment. (photo © Martha Cooper)

DOT DOT DOT keeping warmed by the fire. (photo © Martha Cooper)

ROA’s whale is spouting oil, a reference to the driving force behind the local economy perhaps. (photo © Martha Cooper)

FAITH 47 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Dal East (photo © Martha Cooper)

Founder of NUART Festival Martyn Reed, standing in front of David Choe’s piece while giving a tour of the art to Norway’s Minister of Culture Hadia Tajik. (photo © Martha Cooper)

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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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NUART 2013 Update – David Choe, C215, Aiko, Vhils, Ernest Zacharevic, Dot Dot Dot, Hush, and M-City

September 7, 2013 Artists

“We’ve had terrible weather–rained most of the day today–so artists have been slow getting their walls done,” said Martha Cooper about the scene in Stavanger for Nuart 2013 on Friday. Today is looking much better, she reports, almost good enough for a boat ride.

Each of the artists have been commenting on the sometimes heavy rains, which can sort of kill your aerosol buzz, but no one really minds because the festival buzz is building toward tonight’s big events. We think the folks at Nuart had it planned this way because there is work that needs to be done underground in the tunnel gallery spaces for the Saturday night opening.

Ernest Zacharevic uses the attitude of childs play in his Street Art installations around the world, often incorporating a third dimensional installation element to complete it. Look for an interview with him on BSA shortly. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Here under cover from the storms C215 is hard at work on a very large and color drenched portrait, Hush is on a ladder glossing the lips of a modern geisha, and Aiko is stenciling a signature sexy pop-inspired theme that covers two thirds of the front of one tunnel – leaving the remaining space for Ms. Cooper to project some 1300 of her photos for the expected crowd this evening.

DalEast and Faith47 have been slowed down a bit too. “Raining now,,, waiting for it to stop,” she taps out on her keyboard in a brief cadence as if sending a guarded cable in Morse code across the Atlantic. Meanwhile, there are some other diversions to be inspected, and other artists to meet. Everyone has been talking about taking a local fjord boat ride up Stavanger Peninsula so they may accompany Martha on the voyage to see the natural beauty of the Norwegian coastline while things are drying out today.

Founder of NUART Festival Martyn Reed, standing in front of David Choe’s piece while giving a tour of the art to Norway’s Minister of Culture Hadia Tajik. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Luckily a fair share of work has been completed, and the Minister of Culture has already stopped by to tour and pose for a photo in front of the David Choe piece, and the scaffolding on the airport control tower came down to reveal the new large stenciled mural wrapping it by M-City, who has since moved on with ROA to Lodz, Poland for the Urban Forms festival.

“We’ll all be here through the weekkend so that’s when the bigger walls may get finished,” says Martha. Martin Whatson is just about finished and Ernest Zacarevic completed his outside installation with a stack of chairs for his stencil to balance upon. He also rather conspiratorially reveals this teaser to BSA, “my main installation for Nuart 2013 will feature a car, half sliced.” He says it will continue a theme in his previous work.

More from Nuart soon, but in the mean time, here are some progress shots for BSA readers including work by David Choe, C215, Aiko, Vhils, Ernest Zacharevic, Dot Dot Dot, Hush, and M-City.

C215 at work on his piece. (photo © Martha Cooper)

DOT DOT DOT (photo © Martha Cooper)

HUSH (photo © Martha Cooper)

HUSH working on a second piece. (photo © Martha Cooper)

VHILS (photo © Martha Cooper)

AIKO working on her piece. (photo © Martha Cooper)

M-City (photo © Martha Cooper)

M-City. Detail. (photo © Martha Cooper)

M-City (photo © Martha Cooper)

Martha captures the mimicry of Martin Whatson’s body language with the fellow working in his piece. (photo © Martha Cooper)

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Martha Bikes the Hills, Martyn Keeps Up at NUART 2013

September 5, 2013 Artists, Interview

“We’re really honored to have Martha amongst us this week,” says Martyn Reed, the barely well behaved director of Nuart 2013, as he welcomes the photographer Martha Cooper, who has just touched down next to the new piece going up on the airport control tower by Polish Street Artist M-City. Not that Martyn was there when she landed. “Unfortunately not, what with the Mayor and everything there wasn’t room in the limo,” he says in the joking manner that tells you he is still kind of in awe of the success of this internationally known Street Art festival now underway for its ninth year.

Martha Cooper. “Banner on wall in arrival area at airport” -MC. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“The trip was fine—a short flight from Oslo,” says Ms. Cooper, who immediately snuck an iPhone photo of the welcome banner with her name at the top, before wondering whether photos were actually allowed in that area of the airport. “I was met by Krystal, a Stavanger resident who has worked with Nuart before and who is very knowledgeable about the artists and the whereabouts of murals past and present,” she says.

“Faith 47 and Daleast were also waiting at the airport, having arrived a few minutes earlier from Cape Town and it was fun to reconnect with them.” And did they all get a look at the new piece that M-City is painting? “Unfortunately it was raining so we were unable to get a good look at the airport control tower which was shrouded in scaffolding and plastic,” says Ms. Cooper, but “The fact that permission had been obtained to paint the tower is an indication of how city officials have embraced street art.”

Martha Cooper. “This is Stavanger. I have a bike to ride around on but need to get in better shape to handle the hills”- MC. (photo © Martha Cooper)

As the visiting artists continue to land in Stavanger, already a number of pieces have gone up – ROA and David Choe have installed theirs and run out of town, for example. “I was especially happy to see C215 again because I hadn’t seen him since visiting Vitry a couple of years ago. Also I was excited to see a number of artists on the list whose work I was unfamiliar with. That always makes a festival more exciting,” says Martha.

Brooklyn Street Art: Have you been to Nuart before?
Martha Cooper: This is my first trip to Stavanger and I was really looking forward to it because I’d heard many great things about the festival from How & Nosm and also photographer Ian Cox, who had shown me beautiful photos of the walls and the charming seaside town.

Brooklyn Street Art: Typically you are an invited guest as a photographer. This time you are also regarded as an artist, right?
Martha Cooper: Correct. Although I usually say that I’m not an artist, it’s actually a relief not to be responsible for official photography.

Ian Cox. David Choe teaser. (photo © Ian Cox)

Brooklyn Street Art: What sort of project are you thinking of doing?
Martha Cooper: I’m not doing anything unusual. I’m having a slideshow of over 1300 photos; a sort of graffiti/hip hop/Street Art retrospective that we’ll be showing in an underground tunnel in the main venue. There is a series of short tunnels that artists are painting. Aiko is stenciling the sides of mine and the slides will be projected at the end.”

Cooper mentions her buddy Aiko, who will also be stenciling some work of her own on distinctive Norwegian seaport architecture that sometimes has as much character as the new stuff that adorns it. Aside from her projected installations, Ms. Cooper will of course be every where she can possibly be with her camera in hand, and probably one or two in her backpack.

“Martha’s here as an artist and our guest, she’ll be treated the same as all of our artists; Like a Queen,” Reed cracks, “only on a bike with a camera.”

“But seriously,” he continues, ”Martha’s quite rightly perfectly happy being recognized as a documentary photographer and I wasn’t sure she would accept being invited as an artist, but she did and we’re very thankful of that. I don’t see any reason why Martha can’t occupy this space. Inviting Martha to participate as an artist is due to the fact that, when I look at her work, I see art. I’d also heard she was a wonderful down to earth person with few airs and that’s very important for Nuart, which is fundamentally a volunteer-run organization.”

Ian Cox. Aiko teaser. “The blurred character is a volunteer who was helping Aiko to move her scaffold”-IC. (photo © Ian Cox)

Already the two of them have been having fun together checking out possible walls for projects, digging up found materials and strategizing how to prevent visitors from stepping in front of the projector on opening night. Also there was the moment in one of the installation tunnels when Martha came rushing toward him with her phone out to him saying “,Quick, quick, it’s the attaché to the Norwegian Culture Minister, they want to speak to you”. It was a confusing moment he won’t ever forget he says, because he couldn’t imagine why the minister was on Martha’s phone.

Reed recalls, “I was thinking, a) it was a practical joke, b) ‘how did they know where I was,’ and more importantly, c) How the hell did they get Martha Cooper’s private number?” While Martha stood there beaming he took the phone and the voice on the other end said, “ Hello, this is the personal assistant to the culture minister Hadja Tajik, she’d like to visit Nuart on Thursday…” .

“After the call, we stood there a little dumbfounded, but after scratching our heads for a while trying to work out how they came to call Martha, we realized the festival had used my bank card to buy a Norwegian SiM card for her phone and that the Government had searched and found the number registered to me,” he says with a brightening realization, and then a darkening one. “I know, very NSA. Anyway, mystery solved.”

But for him, the moment was a marker in his memory, he says, “The image of Martha Cooper rushing over to pass me the phone to speak with the Culture Minister of Norway will stay with me for life. It felt like the festival had finally come of age.”

Martha Cooper. ROA. “Whale spouting oil. Stavanger is an oil rich town”-MC. (photo © Martha Cooper)

For her part, Ms. Cooper is laying plans for the out door component of her participation as artist/documentarian/photographer. “We are also planning to project photos on the sides of buildings in town,” she reveals, “ – including a huge silo. This will be the night of the opening and we won’t know whether it works until it happens. I’ve selected about 25 verticals and horizontals with a little more contrast that I think might work well.”

Reed doesn’t much mind what they end up doing – he’s just glad that he’s having this opportunity right now. “Martha holds the unique position of being a forerunner, pioneer, ambassador and also important contemporary voice in our culture – we wanted to salute that.”

Ian Cox. M-City painting the Air Traffic Control tower at Stavanger Airport. (photo © Ian Cox)

Martha Cooper. “M-City with his completed control tower mural. Scaffolding to be removed in a day or two but he has already left”-MC. (photo © Martha Cooper)

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FKDL and His Vintage Glamour Women

May 2, 2013 Artists

New Wall Celebrates Audrey Hepburn for her May 4 birthday in the Brussells district she was born in. Liz Taylor is her special guest.

There are many references to pop culture, movies, fashion, and celebrity that have appeared in Street Art in the last decade or so, thanks to our full immersion in the National Entertainment State. We always say that the street reflects us back to ourselves, and apparently we are fixated on poised prettitude, at least in some cities. From Street Artists like DAIN to Judith Supine to Faile to The Dude Company, Tian, Aiko, TooFly and myriad anonymous stencillists, you are bound to see depictions of glamorous women and in a variety of archetypes popping up on walls and doorways no matter the year.

FKDL “Breakfast at Ixelles”. Brussels, Beligium. (photo © FKDL)

Parisian Street Artist FKDL reliably returns to his wheelhouse of the 1950s and 60s when he looks for images of idealized females. Even his silhouettes of graceful and lithe dancing figures will remind you of the 2-D animations of opening credits of Hollywood movies from the golden age, the hip early years of television, beatniks in tight turtleneck sweaters reading poems, and swinging chicks on the cover art from long-playing jazz albums. As a “fill” to his forms, he often pastes in an actual collage of vintage commercial illustrations that he cut from magazines and dress making pattern envelopes. Clearly his is a romance with an image of female beauty from an earlier time and he reliably visits it again and again in his work on the streets of Europe and New York.

FKDL “Breakfast at Ixelles”. Brussels, Beligium. (photo © FKDL)

So it is no surprise that last week when FKDL was in the Ixelles district in Brussels he found a lone façade wall on an empty lot that faces the street and was compelled to paint a tribute to the cinema icon Audrey Hepburn, born there 84 years ago this Saturday. “Breakfast at Ixelles” refers to the location and her most famous movie, set in New York, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. While doing the wall he decided to also pay tribute to another screen grand dame Elizabeth Taylor. The 30 foot wall uses his distinctive collage style and the paint colors are associated with the flag of Belgium.

FKDL “Breakfast at Ixelles”. Brussels, Beligium. (photo © FKDL)

FKDL in New York (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL (detail) in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL next to DAIN in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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This posting is also on Huffington Post Arts & Culture.

Film Friday 3.15.13

March 15, 2013 Artists

Aiko. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening: Aiko “Edo Pop”, ART POLLUTION with: Overunder, Jilly Ballistic and The Yok & Sheryo

BSA Special Feature:

Aiko: “Sunrise” for The Japan Society exhibition “Edo Pop”

In this new video released by The Japan Society, Street Artist Aiko speaks about her work in the street and how it relates to the current exhibition inside the gallery space, and of course about stencilling and staying up all night painting on the street.

“I believe that my energy is transferring through the stencil onto the wall. It’s like a transferring ceremony,” she says.

Art Pollution

A new series of brief introductions to some Street Artists currently working in BK are here from Brooklyn’s talented new film group called Dega. So far the “Art Pollution” series features sharply edited quick sketches of Overunder, Jilly Ballistic, and the duo Yok and Sheryo.

Overunder

Jilly Ballistic

The Yok & Sheryo

Images of the Week 03.10.13: Happy 70th Birthday Martha Cooper

March 9, 2013 Artists

“I can’t believe it. I never expected this, ever.”

The Houston Street Wall was the site of a sidewalk surprise birthday party Saturday for photographer Martha Cooper, who was planning to stop by for what she thought would be a new mural shoot. The world famous graffiti photographer had no idea that artists How and Nosm had begun masking the letters of her nickname out of their mural at 7 a.m. to prepare for an all-star cast of some big graffiti and street art names from the last 4 decades to create a larger-than-life birthday card for her.

Thanks to speedy social media, a sunny early spring day, and her stature as an historic photographer of fortitude and integrity, the impromptu guest list ballooned throughout the day for this street side celebration, while the boisterous honking New York traffic rolled by.

Above: Happy Birthday Martha Cooper (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The “Marty” wall begins at the Houston Wall in NYC as How and Nosm buff their mural and mask out her name. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

By the time Martha and her cousin Sally arrived with wall organizer Meghan Coleman just after noon, the “MARTY” letters had already been half completed and she stood staring with mouth smiling and agape, waving at the cluster of photographers shooting her atop the Houston Street meridian. A second later she was laughing and racing across the street, camera in hand, ready to capture the painting action and get mobbed with well wishers. Cooper confessed to being pretty overwhelmed by the sight of her name so big. For her part, Sally, a confidant and buddy since they attended grammar school together in their hometown of Baltimore, busted out into tears.

How & Nosm at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Just inside of one day the famed wall that has hosted the likes of Haring, Scharf, Fairey, and Faile was suddenly regaled in eye-popping color and a variety of styles by Lady Pink, How and Nosm, Bio from Tats Cru, Freedom, Free5, Crash, Daze, Terror 161, Faust, and Aiko – producing a head spinning and sweet greeting to a person whom they all respect and admire for her work and determination. In addition to the steady flow of fans, writers, artists, bloggers and photographers asking to have a photo taken with one the few photographers of New York’s 1970s subway graffiti scene, a number of friends stopped by to have some birthday cake and watch the painting – like Wild Style director Charlie Ahearn, his brother artist John Ahearn, hip-hop photographer Joseph Conzo, and master sculptor Simon Verity, among others.

The brand new “Marty” mural is up for an incredibly short time, possibly only days, so if you have an opportunity or inclination, catch this personal and public display of affection for a lady who helped us all appreciate art in the streets.

Bio from the Tats Cru at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crash shows his sketch for his portion of the wall. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crash at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha (center) arrives and gets a big surprise. Flanked by Meghan Coleman on the left and Cousin Sally on the right. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Davide (Nosm) greets Martha. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faust at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Freedom at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Freedom signs a book and talks to a young admirer. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Terror 161 at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bio at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A possible devotee of the Seapunk movement walks past “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A New Yorker captures the action from the comfort of his taxi while waiting for the light to turn green. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bio does the official birthday wish.”Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lady Pink at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm at work. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko at work, or rather, her shadow. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Laboutins and aerosol make a riveting combination for Aiko. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

All the artists with Marty. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marty poses for us. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA loves Martha Cooper. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko. (photo © Leah )

The final shot. “Marty” at the Houston Wall in NYC; A tribute to Martha Cooper in collaboration with How & Nosm, Faust, Freedom, Terror 161, Bio, Daze, Lady Pink, Free5, Crash and Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Street Artist AIKO in “Edo Pop” at The Japan Society

March 4, 2013 Artists

Tidal waves of fertility and good luck are stenciled across the walls inside the Japan Society right now by Street Artist Aiko as part of the Edo Pop show that is examining the impact of Japanese prints on the work of contemporary artists. Using motifs like the rabbit and butterfly, two of Aiko’s favorites that recur throughout her street stencils, this installation also references more mature themes of physical attraction and sexual liberation.

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Throughout her piece are reoccurences of works she has done in the street, including the stenciled back of a crouching figure derived from a photograph by Martha Cooper from the 1970s. With Japan providing the formative cultural backdrop for the artist, she also makes sure to include a shout out to Brooklyn in the front and center of this collaged installation – the place where her work on the streets began in earnest about a decade ago. Like the Aiko installation, Edo Pop features a long list of artists whose work has been influenced by Japanese prints and is on view until June 9.

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko. Wall reflection on glass panels. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko. Reflection of the installation on the gallery’s skylight makes it appear as a tower rising above the gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints opens at The Japan Society on March 09. Click here for further details.

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(VIDEO) 2012 Street Art Images of the Year from BSA

December 19, 2012 Artists

Of the 10,000 images he snapped of Street Art this year, photographer Jaime Rojo gives us 110 that represent some of the most compelling, interesting, perplexing, thrilling in 2012.

Slideshow cover image of Vinz on the streets of Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Together the collection gives you an idea of the range of mediums, techniques, styles, and sentiments that appear on the street today as the scene continues to evolve worldwide. Every seven days on BrooklynStreetArt.com, we present “Images Of The Week”, our weekly interview with the street.

We hope you enjoy this collection – some of our best Images of The Year from 2012.

Artists include 2501, 4Burners, 907, Above, Aiko, AM7, Anarkia, Anthony Lister, Anthony Sneed, Bare, Barry McGee, Bast, Billi Kid, Cake, Cash For Your Warhol, Con, Curtis, D*Face, Dabs & Myla, Daek One, DAL East, Dan Witz, Dark Clouds, Dasic, David Ellis, David Pappaceno, Dceve, Deth Kult, ECB, Eine, El Sol 25, Elle, Entes y Pesimo, Enzo & Nio, Esma, Ever, Faile, Faith47, Fila, FKDL, Gable, Gaia, Gilf!, Graffiti Iconz, Hef, HellbentHert, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy & Sot, Interesni Kazki, Jason Woodside, Javs, Jaye Moon, Jaz, Jean Seestadt, Jetsonorama, Jim Avignon, Joe Iurato, JR, Judith Supine, Ka, Kem5, Know Hope, Kuma, Labrona, Liqen, LNY, Love Me, Lush, Matt Siren, Mike Giant, Miyok, MOMO, Mr. Sauce, Mr. Toll, ND’A, Nick Walker, Nosego, Nychos, Occupy Wall Street, Okuda, OLEK, OverUnder, Phlegm, Pixel Pancho, Rambo, Read Books!, Reka, Retna, Reyes, Rime, Risk, ROA, Robots Will Kill, Rone, Sacer, Saner, See One, Sego, sevens errline, Sheyro, Skewville, Sonni, Stick, Stikman, Stormie Mills, Square, Swoon, Tati, The Yok, Toper, TVEE, UFO, VHILS, Willow, Wing, XAM, Yes One, and Zed1 .

Images © Jaime Rojo and Brooklyn Street Art 2012

Sex In The City: Street Art That is NSFW

October 24, 2012 Artists

This art is Not Safe for Work or School, even though it’s on public streets.

It sounds strange to say it but these images of Street Art are erotic, sometimes violent, and might even be considered prurient or pornographic by some viewers – yet they are part of today’s free-wheeling ever expanding visual feast on the streets that any random passerby may see. In New York, many of these pieces ride for a long time fully on display for hundreds or thousands before someone crosses them out or otherwise damages them.

Fila in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With flesh increasingly paraded across all manner of screen and print publications, it is no wonder that large public billboards in cities throughout the western world have grown increasingly blunt in their depiction of sexual themes and innuendo; with near-coital poses, barely covered breasts, and bulbous packages thrust into the public eye while we drive, walk, and sip a pumpkin frappuccino. As long as the image is in pursuit of the sale of a product, it’s hardly mentioned today.

Street Art today falls into that nether region of art too, where certain liberties for free expression and the depiction of the human body are protected from criticism because they can be classified as artful and part of our right to freedom of speech. As we continue to scan the streets for clues about ourselves and the direction that Street Art is taking, here are more than a handful of scintillating beauties that are beckoning for the attention of, well, everyone.

Insa in Los Angeles for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine in NYC. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Celso in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fuck Me in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Self Indulgence in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo via Iphone)

Self Indulgence in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RTTP in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Just Breathe in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LUSH in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We think this might be an ad campaign for the I’ll Be Your Mirror Festival but we like the inclusion of the famous collaboration between The Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol. Andy would have approved we think. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Fun Friday 08.10.12

August 10, 2012 Artists

Happy hot sticky Friday live from New York! Lots of cool stuff on the street and in the exhibition spaces this weekend – just bring a water bottle. Here are some of our picks for you on BSA.

1. Détournement, Carlo McCormick at Jonathan Levine (NYC)
2. Chris Stain and Joe Iurato at Mighty Tanaka (BKLN)
3. Peeta Solo at ArTicks (Amsterdam)
4. “You & Me” – Low Brow’s Second Group Show (BKLN)
5. Miss Van at Copro Gallery “Wild at Heart” (Santa Monica)
6. Part2Ism “New Horizons & Future Love Songs” at Red Gallery (London)
7. “Who’z Got Game!” ? at Sacred Gallery (NYC)
8. Numskull ,”Dance Like a Video, Sting Like a Gif” at Mishka (BKLN)
9. “Primeveal” group show Carmichael Gallery (LA)
10. Futura Live Painting (Richmond, VA)
11. KFC Loves The Gays with John Goodman (Video)

Détournement, Carlo McCormick at Jonathan Levine (NYC)

Carlo McCormick, Paper Magazine Senior Editor and NYC cultural intuitor, is guest curator at the Jonathan Levine Gallery with a show titled “Détournement: Signs of the Times” Carlo has assembled an interesting list of artists to tell his story with the works of AIKO, Dan Witz, David Wojnarowicz, Dylan Egon, Eine, Ilona Granet, Jack Pierson, John Law (Jack Napier), Leo Fitzpatrick, Mark Flood, Martin Wong, Max Rippon (RIPO), Mike Osterhout, Posterboy, Ron English, Shepard Fairey + Jamie Reid, Steve Powers (ESPO), TrustoCorp, Will Boone and Zevs.

Mining a vein that has been here in front of us all the time, the composition of the selected works reveals a powerful undertone about how we engage and communicate with our artwork, and hi-jack the messaging of others. Says McCormick, “We do not need to follow these signs, we need to make our own so as to find a way out of the mess we are in.”

It’s also one of the few shows that seamlessly blends Street Art and non-street art practices without needing to draw a distinction for its own sake. This show is now open to the public.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Chris Stain and Joe Iurato at Mighty Tanaka (BKLN)

Tonight at Mighty Tanaka Gallery in DUMBO the inevitable pairing of Street Artists Chris Stain and Joe Iurato finally takes place. With a show titled “Deep in the Cut” these two stencil artists will bring the knives out for the love of art and the perfection of their craft. Style and mannerism distinguish the differences between these two, and Stain has been at it much longer with a lot of work on the street, but metaphor and empathy to the human condition is the overlap in these guys work. Grab the F train to DUMBO and come see what new common ground emerges from this combination.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Peeta Solo at ArTicks (Amsterdam)

Italian Graffiti and Fine Artist Peeta has been writing his tag on walls, trains and many other surfaces since 1993. Like a few of his generation who have been stretching graff style past it’s outer limits and morphing it with abstraction, his work has slowing gelled into it’s own distinctive style. He focuses his lettering and his tag by feeding it through Chinese and Islamic calligraphy as a departure from the traditional Latin and Greek lettering. A collaborator of New Yorks RWK collective, he resides in Venice and tonight opens his solo show in Amsterdam at the ArTicks Gallery.

For further information regarding this show click here.

“You & Me” – Low Brow’s Second Group Show (BKLN)

The Low Brow Artique Gallery in Brooklyn has decided to enter the matchmaking business and Saturday their second show titled “You & Me” artfully combines the work of two at a time. While many of these artists have worked collaboratively on the street in the past, crossing freely between sanctioned and unsanctioned Street Art and graffiti, the results of merging their styles and techniques always creates new creatures with the combined DNA. Sometimes it’s a mutt, and sometimes it is purebred brilliance. Artistic couplings here include: Cash4 & Smells, Chris & Veng (RWK), EKG & Dark Clouds, Matt Siren & Fenix, OCMC & This Is Awkward, Royce Bannon & Russell King, and Veng & Sofia Maldonado.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Miss Van at Copro Gallery “Wild at Heart” (Santa Monica)

Miss Van, the French Street Artist and fine artist has a new solo show “Wild at Heart” in Santa Monica, California this Saturday at the Copro Gallery and the ladies are again strutting their stuff across her rich canvasses. Painting since the age of 18 Miss Van has chosen her appearances carefully while being very active within the smaller pool of female Street Artists, maintaining a continous presence with her unique doll-characters, a rich color palette and plenty of erotica.

Miss Van was included in the now famous “Art in the Streets” exhibition on April 2011 at MoCA Los Angeles.. April 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

Part2Ism has a new solo show “New Horizons & Future Love Songs” at the Red Gallery in London, UK and it is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.

Wanna know “Who’z Got Game!” ? Head over to the Sacred Gallery for this group exhibition opening today in Manhattan. Click here for more details on this show.

Numskull will “Dance Like a Video, Sting Like a Gif” at Mishka tonight in Brooklyn. Click here for more details on this show.

“Primeveal” a group exhibition including Emol, Stinkfish and Zio Ziegler opens tomorrow night at the Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, CA. Click here for more details on this show.

Futura will paint live in Richmond, Virginia this Saturday.

Screen Shot from Futura’s Hennessy NYC Video.

Master Graffiti Artist and fine artist Leonard “FUTURA” is touring the country to promote this project with a spirit maker and this Friday he will stop in Richmond, Virgina where he will paint live on a canvas inside the ABC Store located at 101 North Thompson Street. The live painting will commence at 2:00 pm. It is a rare opportunity to catch Futura in action.

A recent ad featuring Futura for this campaign (not a sponsor)

KFC Loves The Gays with John Goodman

Images of the Week 07.22.12

July 22, 2012 Artists, Brooklyn, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, featuring Aiko, Cost, KAWS, Leon Reid IV, Mint & Serf, Nick Walker, Phlegm, Poster Boy, REVS, Swampy, and Wing.

We start off the review with this pretty amazing and magical new installation by Street Artist Phlegm in a children’s playground at the Fulton housing project. He also hit a gate and a quick wall while he was in New York, but this series will be taking kids on rides through their imaginations for a few years to come.

Jetsonorama. Donté. Click on the link at the bottom of this posting to see more images of Jetsonorama at the Navajo. (photo © Jetsonorama)

AIKO. Detail of her installation at the Houston Wall. For process shots and full completed wall click on the link at the bottom. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Click here to see the full documentation of AIKO getting up on the Houston Wall.

Click here to visit Jetsonorama’s life with the Navajo through images and words.

Aiko Flies At Night on The Houston Wall

July 16, 2012 Artists, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street

At Tony Goldman’s reception for Street Artist Aiko on Friday, the diminutive dynamo looked pretty smashing as she signed fresh Martha Cooper prints, despite smashing a wall till 4 am the same day. In fact Aiko was on a cherry picker every night last week as she methodically knocked out the candy-pink and purple pastiche of sexy stenciled ladies and butterflies across this nearly institutional wall that stands as an edificial link to Manhattan’s Street Art past.

With summer’s sun now scorching NYC during the day, beginning the job as the sun set over Gotham meant Aiko could avoid the brain-frying heat and study the detailed booklet of plans she had prepared for this high-profile wall that’s been hit by the likes of Haring, Scharf, and Fairey. During the day you might spend a third of the time answering questions from inquisitive New Yorkers who want to know exactly what the hell is going on, but at 3 am on Wednesday morning it’s only sanitation workers, dog walkers and the occasional drunken revelers.

Ironically, while many Street Artists have worked anonymously under cover of night, in this case hitting a wall means you’re more public than ever before. For Aiko, it’s a perfect opportunity to bring her fully female flurry of power to “represent” in a scene that has a preponderance of dudes. For New Yorkers, this is another free Street Art show that runs 24/7 all summer long.

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