All posts tagged: Art Central Art Fair 2017

Skulls Reign On the Street and In Art Shows, Threatening and Humble Reminders

Skulls Reign On the Street and In Art Shows, Threatening and Humble Reminders

April 25, 2017

Skulls. We see them on the streets and recently many at art fairs.

The Memento Mori of the streets, these skulls reminding us that one day we all will be dead. Every single one. These are occasional, unplanned in pattern, surprising in appearance on the public stage perhaps.

Andrew Schoultz at Volta New York 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But in a culture that glorifies violence and guns in movies, television, video games, rock and roll t-shirts, backpacks… the sight of the skull is old school. Here on the streets there are one or two skulls, not like the thousands in an ossuary underground in the Paris Catacombes.

Stephen Wilson at Scope New York 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Possibly these skulls appear in artworks on the street as an omen; meant to shock, or frighten, induce dread. Certainly uniforms have carried logos and insignia with skulls- from Nazis to US Marines to Pirates of Penzance to Cypress Hill the images of skulls are more of a threat, a promissory note, an invocation of warrior status.

Mexicans, on the other hand, eat them as sugar cookies for celebrations set aside every autumn called Day of the Dead, where people make peace with the loss of love ones.

Guy Richards Smit at Spring Break Art Show, New York 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In the end, perhaps it is not the warlike associations. It may be the great leveling force of death, bringing every person to one level, that fascinates us. Regardless of where your body is buried, the rains will wash your bones into the oceans of time, and that is all you will be.

Maybe too it is healthy to keep these facts in mind despite all the drama, the tribulations, the wealth, the status, the suffering, the ignominy. Jim Morrison said no one here gets out alive, which is obvious, and funny as hell.

Here are some reminders of that fact on the street and elsewhere.

An unidentified artist in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Scott Campbell at Scope New York 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Hirst at Art Central Art Fair 2017 – Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Epic Uno on the streets of Brooklyn, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An MSK Crew member on the streets of Brooklyn, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unidentified artist at Scope New York 2017 . (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Henry Hussey at Volta New York 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Niloufar Banisdr at Scope New York 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images of the Week 03.26.17 : Hong Kong Edition

BSA Images of the Week 03.26.17 : Hong Kong Edition

March 25, 2017 ,

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

This week BSA and Urban Nation (UN) are in Hong Kong for the 4th edition of HKwalls to capture a very international and local mix of artists in this East/West nexus; a world-class city for art and culture, English and Cantonese, hi-tech and traditional methods – all during the enormous Art Basel week. We’ll bring you the new walls, some previous pieces, some graffiti, stickers, and a whole lot of color from this fast moving and dynamic city on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia.

Certainly Hong Kong got a little richer this week – not that it needed it. Of course we mean richer in the sense that more artworks and appreciators have been coursing through the streets, the art fairs, galleries, the back alleys, roof top gardens and even a terrace or two. The most satisfying aspect of being a part of a worldwide grassroots people’s art movement like Street Art/Urban Art/graffiti is that you will always find someone you know along this continuum of practices.

Anyway, a particular thrill this week was seeing it on the street – and on the art-fair wall. Some times the same exact image. We didn’t actually hit any museums but we did see Swoon in the alleyway and represented by a gallery. Same with Cleon Patterson. We saw Vhils work in his studio and in Art Central fair – and you can also catch it on the side of the International Hong Kong School – and once in a while it is on a wall of plastered posters in the city. Os Gemeos at Art Basel is a great find, but we didn’t see any of their yellow fellows on the streets.

Thorny questions arise for some – by way of pointing out that when you catch an un-permissioned tiled Street Art piece by Invader on the wall in public here it is no more than an advertisement for the one at his gallery in the art fair, a sign of the final deleterious stages of a free-spirited untarnished proletariat art practice now corrupted by capitalists, sold out.

Yes, got it. Also, remember that since it’s earliest days, graffiti and Street Art have often been about fame and burning one’s name into the minds of many – why else would you sign your piece? You may even use your name as the art itself.

Additionally you can see a fresh Swoon for no money at all in the street. At the art fairs or museums, not so much.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Barlo, Caratoes, Cleon Paterson, Crafty Cow, Faust, Invader, Jimmy Paint, MSK, Rukkit, Shepard Fairey, and Swoon.

Top image: Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cleon Paterson. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barlo. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MSK. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jimmy Paint. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faust. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rukkit. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KristopherH. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KristopherH. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cat Time with Caratoes. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Hong Kong. March 2017. HKwalls/Art Basel 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Art Central Art Fair. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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