Big week for street festivals on BSA where we blew up our server on the LODZ murals in Poland, the MURAL Festival in Montreal, and now the most community based of them all – the Ad Hoc Wellington Court block party Street Art jamboree thing in Queens, which we have some new images of today. Not to mention we got up on some roofs and Klub7 got down on the ground. So much fun, sun, and good times to be had with art and the creative spirit cut loose in the streets.
Here’s our weekly interview of the street, this week featuring Alice Mizrachi, Amuse, Andy Pants, Billy Mode, Chris Stain, Dan Witz, Dennis McNett, Droid 907, Icy & Sot, JCHM-IX, Lucx, Nice-One, Okuda, Olek, PRTL, Stefan Ways, This is Awkward, and UNO.
Shout out to Garrison and Alison Buxton for the big throw-down at Welling Court, which they do so well and with such love. We’ll have more images coming up.
El Pez ¡Os esperamos a todos este jueves para inaugurar la próxima exposición de “El Pez”!
Acompañados por Cerveza Moritz y varios artistas contemporáneos!!
BSA Special Feature: Las Calles Hablan : Street Art in Barcelona
“Las Calles Hablan is a story about discovering a hidden world, an extraordinary subculture and the struggle between an artistic community painting for freedom of expression and an increasingly restrictive dogmatic government,” says Justin Donlon as he speaks about this hour long documentary he made with Silvia Vidal Muratori and Katrine Knauer.
An educational and unpretentious study of the spectrum of Street Artists and techniques currently at play in Barcelona, the team traces the scene through personal observations and their network of local and international artists, local gallerists, and their connections globally via the Internet.
The film traces the trajectory from the Street Art/graffiti’s emergence at the end of the 70s following the Franco dictatorship and the rise of international hip-hop culture through the 90s into a sort of freewheeling golden era in the early 2000s. It also explains the current unease with the city, the professionalizing of the artists through a growing gallery practice, and the collaborative initiatives of some community leaders with artists.
Taking a straightforward documentary approach, the motivations and inspirations of current artists on the scene are presented without much of the exaggerated myth-making that more commercial hype vehicles often contain. Included in the examination are how community and local citizens and authorities have taken a constructive role in facilitating space and opportunities for some artists here and elsewhere, while the definition and appetite for illegal work ebbs and flows.
Featured artists:Zosen, Mina Hamada, Kenor, Kram, El Xupet Negre, Debens, Fert, Dase, SM172, Ogoch, Kafre, Aleix Gordo, Meibol, Eledu, C215, H101, Miss Van, Btoy, El Arte Es Basura, Konair, Gola, Vinz.
With the international banking crises continuing to force everyday citizens to suffer, Spain is one of the more recent “developed” countries being forced to cut programs and services for its people. Just this past Saturday tens of thousands of Spaniards marched through cities across the country to protest deep austerity, the privatization of public services and political corruption. With tens of thousands of closed businesses and an economy in severe retraction and cuts to education and health programs, the pain hits the youth particularly hard as 55% of people under the age of 25 are unemployed.
To reflect this environment on the streets, four artists have begun a Street Art installation in Barcelona that highlights the human aspect of the economic crisis using sculptures of hands strategically placed in the public sphere. The results of HANDS are subtle but effective, and many passersby interact with them, take photos of them, pose with them, stand and discuss these gestural conversation pieces. Poignant and pointed, the installations aim to help people draw the connection between the crisis and those who ultimately are responsible.
All involved in the field of visual arts, the artists who have a hand in HANDS are Octavi Serra, Mateu Targa, Daniel Llugany and Pau Garcia. You may now applaud if you like.
Hey bro and sis! Here are some of our favorite picks for the weekend around the global way as we head into the final holiday and New Year beauty that we hope everyone is surrounded by. Happy 7th night of Hanukkah to the Jews, and Happy ongoing holidayz to the Christmas and Kwanzaa and Solstice people.
1. 215 “Orgullecida” (Barcelona)
2. “Kids Eat For Free” at Tender Trap (BKLN)
3. Fresh Low-cost Original Silkscreens at “First Worldwar in Silkscreen” Group Show (BKLN)
4. “Graffuturism” at Soze Gallery (LA)
5. “Dark Corners, Savage Secrets”, Photography by Imminent Disaster (BKLN)
6. “Snap Back…” Rime and Toper at Klughaus (Manhattan)
7. New2 at White Walls (San Francisco)
8. Dave Kinsey “Everything at Once” at Joshua Liner (Manhattan)
9. Brett Amory at 5 Pieces (Switzerland)
10. RISK: The Skid Row Mural Project by Todd Mazer (VIDEO)
11. Swoon’s Konbit Shelter in Haiti (VIDEO)
215 “Orgullecida” (Barcelona)
French Street Artist C215 has a new solo show titled “Orgullecida” at the Montana Gallery in Barcelona, Spain. The artist has been for awhile using a lot of color with his multilayered stencil work – expanding his established vocabulary bravely in a way that most artists are too afraid to do. His portraits are placed well, are individually hand-cut, and sprayed with a sense of the humanity he’s always giving center stage. This show is now open to the general public.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Kids Eat For Free” at Tender Trap (BKLN)
A phrase lifted from restaurant franchises that serve food like you are livestock at a trough, “Kids Eat For Free” is a mini survey of train riders who know the back sides of the country well. Under the moniker of The Superior Bugout, curator Andrew H Shirley continues to explore fresh talent from the emerging margin, and this group exhibition features work by North Carolina’s NGC Crew. Now open, and don’t forget the kids!
For further details regarding this show click here.
The best way to support your local artist is to give their stuff as a Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Soltice present. No kidding. Everybody wins. Tonight a show of original silkscreens at totally reasonable prices is at Low Brow Artique in Bushwick. For tonight’s opening of their silk screen print show where you’d be able to purchase prints for $20…yes you read it right $20 bucks buys you art from 25 artists – many of them with work on the street – from Sao Paulo, Brooklyn, Buenos Aires and Berlin. Participating artists include: Selo, Markos Azufre, Hellbent, El Hase, ND’A, XOXU, Daniel Ete, Salles, Baila, Anderson Resende, DOC, SHN, XILIP, Serifire, Vero Pujol, Marquitos Sanabria, Diego Garay, Desastre, and Head Honcho.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Graffuturism” at Soze Gallery (LA)
This is like an exclamation point for the end of the year. No kidding.
POESIA, founder of Graffuturism, the term and website, continues to explore the depths of “Progressive Graffiti” or, as it was previously known, “Abstract Graffiti”. With great intelligence, passion and an acute eye for detail, POESIA brings to the forefront the importance and beauty of this emergent new direction that is impacting the Street Art and graffiti scene (with ramifications for others).
“Graffuturism” opening tonight at Soze Gallery in Los Angeles and promises a smart-headed visual feast of shapes, patterns and color from a mini-galaxy of talent from all over the world. Perhaps more significantly, it’s a bit of a decentralized movement that has been centralized for you. The artists list includes: 2501, Aaron De La Cruz, Augustine Kofie, Boris “Delta” Tellegen, Carl Raushenbach, Carlos Mare, Clemens Behr, Derek Bruno, Doze Green, Duncan Jago, DVS 1, El Mac, Eric Haze, Erosie, Franco “Jaz” Fasoli, Futura, Gilbert 1, Greg “Sp One” Lamarche, Graphic Surgery, Hense, Hendrik “ECB” Beikirch, Jaybo Monk, Joker, Jurne, Kema, Kenor, Lek, Marco “Pho” Grassi, Matt W. Moore, Moneyless, O.Two, Part2ism, Poesia, Rae Martini, Remi Rough, Samuel Rodriguez, Sat One, Sever, Shok-1, Sowat, Steve More, West and Will BarrasSoze Gallery in Los Angeles .
Also New York chronicler and enthusiastic lover of the graff/street art scene Daniel Feral will be there with a special edition of the Feral Diagram in glicee prints, and a couple other formats (salivate). An ambitious exhibition like this is rare and not easy to come by so if you are in Los Angeles you must go.
For further information regarding this show and to read a great essay for the show written by Daniel Feral click here.
“Dark Corners, Savage Secrets”, Photography by Imminent Disaster (BKLN)
Self-appointed moral custodians (mostly white men) have traditionally hampered the exploration of sexuality in formal art history and the academic canon of what gets celebrated and revered continues to evolve more quickly now. The sea change that modern social liberation that was once revolutionary is now a given, but the debate of the appropriate role of sex and sexuality in the arts is far from over. We may have just quashed one Trojan horse of social conservatism in the White House, but the radical right wing has pulled the center pretty far in the last decade and some have even said there was a war on women launched legislatively throughout 2012. So we are pleased to tell you about fine artist and Street Artist Robyn Hasty AKA Imminent Disaster, who has a new show in collaboration with Alex Pergament entitled “Dark Corners, Savage Secrets”. Furthering her exploration of photography Ms. Hasty has semi-retired her now well known hand cut paper pieces and lino prints on the street and traded the cutting knife for the camera. With this show of photographs, sculptures and performance art she’s aiming to tear apart the inhibitions associated with the sexual act. “Dark Corners, Savage Secrets” opens tomorrow at Weldon Arts Gallery in Brooklyn.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Snap Back…” Rime and Toper at Klughaus (Manhattan)
Freshly snapping back to New York from their successful truck trip to Miami, Klughaus Gallery brings Brooklyn natives RIME and TOPER for their new exhibition titled “Snap Back – Dangerous Drawings About New York”. The storytelling show features illustration and painting inspired by personal stories. Says RIME. “This show aims to tap into our life experience coming up in New York.” Show opens Saturday.
For further information regarding this show click here.
New2 at White Walls (San Francisco)
The White Walls Gallery in San Francisco are fortunate to host Australian artist New2 with his solo show titled “In One Hand a Ghost, The Other an Atom”. New2’s work on the streets is complex and dynamic with aerosol, but his handcut collage work for the gallery is moreso somehow – maybe because of a painstaking process of arranging thousands of hand cut pieces of paper. This show opens on Saturday.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Also happening this weekend:
Dave Kinsey with “Everything at Once” at the Joshua Liner Gallery in Manhattan. This show is now open to the general public. Click here for more details.
Brett Amory at the 5 Pieces Gallery in Berne, Switzerland opens on Sunday with his solo show “Lil’ Homies”. Click here for more details.
RISK: The Skid Row Mural Project by Todd Mazer (VIDEO)
Art in the Streets from MoCAtv
Swoon’s Konbit Shelter in Haiti (VIDEO)
Street Artist Swoon is looking to return to Haiti to build more shelters for people in the rural part of the country. This video gives a great look at the families and community who are helped. You also can participate by donating to the Kickstarter campaign to help Swoon make it happen.
Inauguración Miércoles 12 de Diciembre del 2012.
Exposición del 13 de Diciembre al 02 de Febrero del 2013.
“Trato de interactuar con lo que me rodea, motivo por el cual intervengo la calle aportando elementos y personajes que tienen una estrecha relación con las calles. Me gusta enseñar ciertos aspectos y personas que la sociedad trata de mantener ocultas, como la gente sin techo, los fumadores, los granujas buscavidas, o la peña del barrio en los parques, por ejemplo.”
Christian Guémy, también conocido como C215, es un artista callejero parisino cuyo trabajo gira entorno al stencil graffiti. Nació en 1973, empezó a pintar en 2005 y se podría decir que, a día de hoy, es uno de los stencil artists más productivos dentro de la escena del street art .
Cada una de sus plantillas, con las que te has podido cruzar en las calles de ciudades tan diversas como Nueva Delhi, Londres, Estambul, Roma, Barcelona o Paris, tienen un significado especial por el sitio en el que han sido realizadas. Un singular estilo que nos ofrece impactantes retratos de gente corriente, representados con un aire digno y orgulloso, cargados de expresividad y que inciden por este motivo en el particular hecho de que se trata de individuos a los que la sociedad ha dado la espalda.
Montana Gallery presenta ahora la primera exposición en solitario de C215 en la ciudad de Barcelona, y en la que nos muestra una serie de instalaciones con objetos reciclados y pintados, en un intento de explorar el amor a través de la feminidad.
Montana Gallery
Barcelona
Carrer Comerç, 6
08003 Barcelona
T/F: (+34) 932 680 191
Mutuo Centro de Arte. Carrer de Julià Portet, 5. (Metro: Urquinaona)
Opening : Thursday, 25 October, 20hr
Works from Debens, Tom14, Kenor, Pez, Kafre, Alice, SM172, Ogoch, BToy and Gola.
Music : DJ Rocketman
Sneak preview of the Las Calles Hablan documentary.
Las Calles Hablan, the first exhibit by Mapping Barcelona Public Art, is about the evolution of street art in Barcelona. The opinions on graffiti go in many different directions – love, hate, indifference. This exhibit welcomes all opinions, inviting everyone to see and learn more about their community and how graffiti can be a compelling element for a visual discussion. Barcelona, like many cosmopolitan cities, has a rhythm, a natural beat that carries and communicates its personality: the very soul of the place. It carries the mood but also embraces the history in the streets. This vibrant energy has attracted many graffiti artists from around the world to live and work, documenting the life and soul of the city on its walls. here because of this energy.
After the death of Franco in the 1970s, Barcelona evolved into a bohemian, cultural city creating a place and environment where the people could reclaim their space, their culture and language. Over the next decades, the city flourished with street art freedom: graffiti along the city walls, music in every corner. During this urban cultural renaissance, artists created a public gallery where the people could enjoy a city which is flourishing with artistic expression. The street art of this time often provoked playful interchanges or posed political, economic or cultural questions. There was a public conversation between the artists and the people in the streets.
Other cities, like Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, developed and embraced their rich street art scenes to the extent where this urban art has become a part of their cultural identities. However, recent changes to the local laws in Barcelona have tightened restrictions on street art, increasing fines and limiting the spaces where street art can be shared with the people. Las Calles Hablan aims to open up the dialogue in the community about the value of street art by providing information on the various barrios and their history since the fall of Franco, a history of the graffiti scene in Barcelona during that same time period, and sharing photographs of work from various local graffiti artists along a timeline. We encourage and invite an open discussion about the graffiti scene.
Documentary
For the opening, there will be a never before seen documentary film, with footage of incredible graffiti areas in Barcelona, as well as interviews with artists, a street art gallery owner and others in the know. Justin Donlon and Sylvia Vidal are producing this fresh inspirational and educational view of the streets of Barcelona.
“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.
JAZ – FRANCO FASOLI.Solo Show Opening Thursday May 17th from 7.30 till 10 pm
RAS Gallery Barcelona . Carrer Doctor Dou 10
Jaz is Franco Fasoli, a respected artist that evolves like the ‘jazz’ his name evokes.
From his pioneering past as the most prolific graffiti writer in Argentina, he’s mastered the art of spray-paint taking it to another level and incorporating other materials, such as tar, oil and soil on large scale murals.
For his first European solo show at RAS, produced by Suben and curated by Maximiliano Ruiz, Jaz has reduced the scale of his raw looking figures without compromising the massiveness of their shape and intriguing textures. In the whole body of work, the duality within one and the clash of forces is a constant, all reinforced by a subtle, yet highly attained technique.
The show will comprise a broad selection of works on paper and some larger scale canvases.
Street works, artworks previews and further details on the exhibition can be found here.
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SUBEN PRESENTA
JAZ – FRANCO FASOLI . Exhibición Individual
Inauguración Jueves 17 de Abril de 7.30 a 10 pm
RAS Gallery Barcelona . Carrer Doctor Dou 10
Jaz es Franco Fasoli, un respetado artista que evoluciona como el ‘jazz’ que su nombre evoca.
Desde sus pioneros inicios como el graffitero Argentino mas prolífico, ha perfeccionado el arte del spray, llevándolo a otro nivel, incorporando materiales inusuales, como asfalto, tierra y combustible en murales de gran tamaño.
Para su primera exposición individual europea en Ras, producida por Suben y comisariada por Maximiliano Ruiz, Jaz redujo la escala de sus crudas figuras sin perder lo masivo de sus formas y las intrigantes texturas.
En la mayoría del trabajo presentado se aprecia la dualidad de la unidad y el choque de potentes fuerzas, todo resaltado por una sutil y depurada técnica.
La exposición contara con una selección extensa de trabajos sobre papel y varios lienzos de gran escala.
Argentinian Street Artist “Ever” is still in New York for a couple of days before heading off to Barcelona to do some new paintings and while here he was in Baltimore for the Open Walls he created a huge new piece in his realist/surrealist style. During his process and as he completed the painting Wednesday, Martha Cooper was there to catch the action, as she has been for all of the artists throughout the Gaia-led enterprise this spring. With just a couple more walls to go, including one by MOMO, Open Wall Baltimore is almost. Ever says it was a great experience and sent us a few pics for you to enjoy. Thanks Ever, y ¡Buen viaje!
A grand opening for Street Art sculptor Isaac Cordel in Barcelona last week brought people in to personally inspect the miniature concrete actors he creates. RAS Gallery housed the latest collection of works presented by SUBEN and curated by Maximiliano Ruiz.
A varied group of folks gathered to the call of Street Art and free beer including some of the finest canine noses in the art world as at least 5 dogs attended accompanied by their humans.
Adapting to the gallery format was a little challenging for Cordal since his small cement sculptures seemed more at home in the streets and the small incidental street locations he places them in are the perfect context to document them in. Nevertheless, the irony and depth of the message transcends the context and, in fact, can create it.
The social and cultural critique evident are as heavy sometimes as the little people, including a couple wearing gas masks to their wedding and the vision of a suicidal sculpture who chose to leap into the gallery void, leaving its pedestal empty.
In her latest mural, Faring Purth delivers a powerful reflection on connection, continuity, and the complexity of evolving relationships—a true …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
