All posts tagged: Broken Crow

Week in Images 05.24.09

May 25, 2009

Just hanging out on this ledge. (Bishop203 and Specter) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo Jaime Rojo)
(Rednose Tazzmat and Bishop 203) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo Jaime Rojo)
Bishop 203 (photo Jaime Rojo)

What the duck are you lookin at? (photo Jaime Rojo)
Sit down here and I’ll tell you a secret. (C215) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine (photo Jaime Rojo)
Collecting alms at the door. (Judith Supine) (photo Jaime Rojo)

misle (photo Jaime Rojo)
This way across the bridge! (photo Jaime Rojo)

(Shepard Fairey) (photo Jaime Rojo)
Such a friendly smile. (Shepard Fairey) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(Shepard Fairey) (photo Jaime Rojo)
Have you seen my moped? (Shepard Fairey) (photo Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo Jaime Rojo)
Member of the SWAT team. (QRST) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)
A veritable natural paradise teaming with bear, a canadian goose, long-billed stork, seagull, and some flying arrows (Chris and Veng of Robots Will Kill, Broken Crow, Over Under) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)
A stroll in the middle of the grey. (Chris and Veng of Robots Will Kill) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo Jaime Rojo)
Things are looking up (Stikman) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Tian (photo Jaime Rojo)
How much is this beige one? (Tian) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Tian (photo Jaime Rojo)
Would love to help but a little tied up at the moment. (Tian) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Tian (photo Jaime Rojo)
A big round ample breath. (Tian) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Veng and Chris from Robots Will Kill (photo Jaime Rojo)
Angel and Devil robots whisper into Mochni’s ear, “Go ahead and have the tart!” “Leave that little trollop alone!”  (Veng and Chris from Robots Will Kill) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Veng from Robots Will Kill (photo Jaime Rojo)
Ready for the annual roller-bed race? (Veng from Robots Will Kill) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Veng from Robots Will Kill (photo Jaime Rojo)
“Not to get into the weeds about this, but” (Veng from Robots Will Kill) (photo Jaime Rojo)

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Broken Crow & Over Under Redux

Broken Crow & Over Under Redux

May 21, 2009 , ,

[svgallery name=”Broken_Crow_Over_Under_May09″]

Images Jaime Rojo

If you’ve tooled around the northside of BK recently you probably saw a giant porcupine and bear up there. Yes, Broken Crow was in town to participate in two art shows and put up three walls before heading on back to Minneapolis, where they participated in a 24 hour art creating event and painted a gigundo mural on the entire side of a building, with their bud Over Under.

So to recap – They drove from Minn. to Brooklyn in a beat-up loaner van, installed work in 2 art shows, painted 2 murals in Brooklyn, 1 in Manhattan, then drove the van all the way back to Minn. and painted 2 more murals… in 3 weeks. Kind of blows that stereotype about lazy shiftless artists, huh? Now they are exhausted, famished, delirious, and waaayyyy creatively satisfied. John and Mike reflect on jobs well done;

Brooklyn Street Art: You guys have been really busy for the last 21 days! How did the two shows go?

John: The two shows were great, as far as I can tell. I was happy with what we painted, and we got some good feedback, I think that’s the best you can ask for.
Mike: I had lots of fun at the shows. It was great to meet so many talented, and like-minded people.

Brooklyn Street Art: What else have you been up to?

John: Last week we painted two murals in Brooklyn and one in Manhattan, this week we’re back home in Minnesota we did a 3 hour slot in a 24 hour art-making marathon working with teenagers, and we’re also painting a 20×80 foot wall. Who knows what we’ll be doing next week..
Mike: We want to paint it all, but it is nice to be home and have a balance between art and family.

Brooklyn Street Art: How do you guys lay out a plan for the piece in Williamsburg?

Mike: We try to plan, but mostly our plans don’t work out. We usually just start with something that we want to paint. The creative problem solving happens while we are living in the painting.
John: There’s a lot of guesstimating going on, and then usually someone says something like “what do we have that will fit?”, and then the next thing you know, you’re stepping back from it and it’s done.

Brooklyn Street Art: Did you bring all your supplies to Brooklyn or did you have to make preparations once you got here?

John: We brought paint with us, but we spent 2 days cutting stencils while it was raining cats and dogs outside. It was actually a blessing in disguise, the rain, because if it had been nice out, the last thing we would have wanted to do was sit inside cutting holes in stuff.
Mike: While everything might be more expensive in New York, bringing your own supplies comes with the price of 38 hours in drive time.

What porcupine? Did you see a porcupine anywhere? (photo courtesy John Grider)

Brooklyn Street Art: John’s angel boy character can see into the future. What about the porcupine dude?

John: The porcupine is overly concerned about what the angel boy is telling him.
Mike: The porcupine is all about self defense. D-Fence D-Fence!

Brooklyn Street Art: Are you optimists?

John: We are opportunivores.
Mike: Yes.

Brooklyn Street Art: Are those airplanes flying out of the bears’ mouth, Mike?

Mike: They are paper airplanes. Over Under makes them. He loves origami and windsocks.
John: Over Under loves puppies and unicorns. And machine guns.

Brooklyn Street Art: If these animal buddies were talking, what would they be saying to each other?

John: It’s sort of like the scene in Green Mile where the bees start flying out of Michael Clark Duncan’s mouth when he’s on healing people..
Mike: The bear is saying “Move or I will projectile vomit in your face!” The porcupine is thinking”Not again. It will take me forever to pick this sh*t out of my quills.”

Broken Crow

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Porcupine and Bear Sighting: Broken Crow in Billyburg

May 7, 2009 ,

Seen on the Street: Work in Progress

After two successful openings over the weekend, Broken Crow gets up in the BK.

During a brief respite from the rain – for about 8 hours yesterday, Broken Crow brought back the wild into our Brooklyn urban environment.  All you need is a cool slab of flat, a couple ladders, and giant stencils you’ve been cutting all night, and you’re ready to rock the block!

broken

Amazing how much you can get done in 3 hours! Broken Crow at work (photo Jaime Rojo)

br

Bear keeping his distance from his prickly cohort. Broken Crow at work on a new large mural in one of Williamsburg's still ungentrified sections. (photo Jaime Rojo)

blossom

Kind of makes all the rain worth it. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

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“Broken Horse” Gallops by: Logan Hicks and Broken Crow

May 3, 2009 , ,

Brooklyn’s Derby was a Tie!

“BROKEN HORSE” happened faster than you can say “Mint Julip” – in fact this show was too brief perhaps for such concentrated talent and such a strong collection of work.

Two street stencil artists, Logan Hicks and Broken Crow, inhabited an abandoned bank hall in Cobble Hill this weekend only, and even though their approach to their craft was different, they played off of each other happily while grounding each other in their mutual adoration of cutting stencils.

Broken Horse fans (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Broken Horse fans (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Friday night, despite a May Day deluge earlier and a misty fog-like darkness that crept through the Brooklyn streets, a fair number of fans of Logan Hicks and Broken Crow – known names on the street art stencil front – hurried past the tall wrought iron gates into a warmly lit temporary gallery with chandeliers and ceiling fans.

Athens Alley (Logan Hicks) (courtesy the artist)

Athens Alley (Logan Hicks) (courtesy the artist)

Logan Hicks is a meticulous multi-layering documentarian of imposing man-made structural engineering, architecture, the common byways worn by use and neglect, and the small matter of large groups of humanity. Veins, cracks, surface textures all create a heavy web of detail in a photorealistic way. Even when there are no human forms in the frame and you are looking at the worn geometry of a back alley, the evidence and activity of the throbbing mass is felt as it pounds through it’s ritual of living.

Locust Plague (Logan Hicks) (courtesy the artist)

Locust Plague (Logan Hicks) (courtesy the artist)

In one near-epic foreboding scene set on Broadway in Soho, the stark pairing of glistening industrial hues with hot acid red skies feels apocalyptic, yet the multi-headed horde plods on unimpressed and unaware of encroaching doom. Hicks has chewed his way through the tunnels and streets of cities around the world and is frequently drawn to weighty matter, whether marble, concrete, steel, or humans – and sees it without sentimentality.

Golden Insight (Logan Hicks) (courtesy the artist)

Golden Insight (Logan Hicks) (courtesy the artist)

Injecting a bit of levity, the Minnesotan duo Broken Crow (John Grider and Mike Fitzsimmons) are primarily concerned with the animal kingdom/queendom, and their less layered style of stencil work promotes the creatures of the natural world back into our unnatural one with a big dollop of irreverence. Normally outside on ladders making large-scale murals, Broken Crow presented gallery-show sized portraits of animals snapped out of their context. Their open expressions talk directly to the viewer, joking or mocking what a fabulous job we’re doing.

Bears on Wall street? "Optimism" (Broken Crow) (courtesy the artist)

Bears on Wall street wreckin' s__t? "Optimism" (Broken Crow) (image courtesy the artist)

There’s a grizzly on his hind legs in front of rubble in the street, here’s a porcupine looking you in the eye as he’s poised to stick a metal fork in an outlet, and now a monkey couple laughs together like they are watching “All in the Family” on the boob tube.

"Fine Whisky Products" (Broken Crow) (courtesy the artist)

"Fine Whisky Products" (Broken Crow) (courtesy the artist)

The out of context surrealism of some pieces will make you question a comparatively normal scene of birds flying past telephone poles. Broken Crows’ poppy colors, wide lines, and op-art backdrops keep it light, but the subtext may not be.

Broken Horse show - wall of Broken Crows(photo Steven P. Harrington)

Broken Horse show - wall of Broken Crows(photo Steven P. Harrington)

“Broken Horse” is a jolt of energy by observant and studied street artists refining their craft and leaving a mark. Hope you caught it, but if you didn’t you can see more work by the artists here:

Logan Hicks

Broken Crow

"I'm not a player I just Crush a lot" (Broken Crow) (image courtesy the artist)

"I'm not a player I just Crush a lot" (Broken Crow) (image courtesy the artist)

And now for something completely different: Have you heard that song about Taco Bell and Pizza Hut?*  

– “gimme a enchilada slice with extra pepperoni and sour cream! Or better yet, lemme have a jalapeno ricotta slice with spaghetti and that orange cheese on top. I’m a rock this burrito pie, son!”

* not an endorsement.

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“The Great OutDoors” with Luna Park at ArtBreak Gallery

“The Great OutDoors” with Luna Park at ArtBreak Gallery

April 28, 2009 , , ,

A true street art Opening in Brooklyn, with shutters open wide and many doorways to contemplate.

A collection of 30 artists on the street art scene are contributing to the vision of the adoorable Luna Park and her co-curator Billi Kid.  Ms. Park, a well-travelled street art photographer who calls Brooklyn home, is among a very select group of intrepid souls cris-crossing the borough by any means possible to get the right shot.

Well regarded and always smartly outfitted, Ms. Park and Mr. Kid have added a bit of poetry to the street art oeuvre by decorating the departure, edifying the entrance, festooning the frontage, and gilding the gateway!

Image by Luna Park featuring a Celso in the doorway.

Image by Luna Park featuring a Celso in the doorway.

Brooklyn Street Art: How did you and Billi Kid conjure a show using doors as canvas?

Luna Park: Last year, Billi Kid, Jim and Karla Murray, Cern and Elisha Cook Jr. decorated a room at the Carlton Arms Hotel, which is known for it’s fabulous, one-of-a-kind, artist-decorated rooms. I highly recommend it as an affordable place to send your arty guests. To capitalize on the network of artists they’d built through the hotel, in March 2008 the owners opened Artbreak Gallery in Williamsburg. When Billi Kid contacted them about the possibility of doing a doors-themed street art show, they were immediately on board. I agreed to participate last December and the rest, as they say, was a matter of logistics, logistics, logistics.

Brooklyn Street Art: As you march across the city looking for great shots, have you found that some artists gravitate to doorways?

Luna Park: Definitely! I’d even go so far as to say not only SOME, but MANY. Your average urban door is the perfect gateway to graffiti – pardon the pun – it provides a smooth, even surface, accessible to all and, most importantly, visible to all. Although I don’t subscribe to the so-called “broken windows” theory of graffiti leading to crime, I do think it holds true for doors in the sense that graffiti on doors DOES attract more graffiti. It generally starts with a lone tag and – provided that tag isn’t buffed – the tags soon multiply. Before you know it, stickers get in on the action, the odd wheatpaste sticks around and, voila, suddenly you have a proper door!

Brooklyn Street Art: Why would a doorway be better than, say, a wall?

Luna Park: I’m not saying doors are better than walls, but as a surface on which to write or stick, a doorway offers a certain degree of protection from prying eyes. No one looks twice at someone who is ostensibly fumbling for keys in front of a doorway, but that same person loitering by a wall…

Cake

Cake from “The Great Outdoors” (photo Luna Park)

Brooklyn Street Art: Where did all of these come from? Have you been dumpster diving?

Luna Park: Well, I’m certainly not one to condone any kind of illegal activity, ahem, so I’m assuming the doors were all acquired legally, perhaps through a fine, neighborhood purveyor of sundry household items.

I personally salvaged two doors from the curb down the street from my house. Billi Kid acquired his door and several others at a farmhouse sale in rural Connecticut.  A few people must have visited demolition sites, as there are a number of extraordinarily heavy fire doors as well. The doors really run the gamut of everything from vintage to factory fresh.

Brooklyn Street Art: Are most of the pieces in this show made specifically for “The Great Outdoors?”

Luna Park: Yep, with one notable exception, all of the pieces for this show are brand spanking new!

“Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” – Johnny Cash

The Dude Company

The Dude Company for “The Great Outdoors” (photo Luna Park)

Brooklyn Street Art: Every door has two sides; has anybody addressed both for the show?

Luna Park: We asked the artists to decorate only one side of the door – to make hanging them all the easier – but Celso and LA2 collaborated on one side of a door that already had a piece on the other side. I’d mention who, but that would spoil the surprise.

Brooklyn Street Art: It’s not the same as painting ox blood over the doorway, but do you think there is any symbolism to the act of decorating a door?

Street art and graffiti covered doors aside, I think the decorated door functions as a marker, defining the threshold between the private and the public spheres. There are certainly any number of cultures around the world that place markings on doors to celebrate rites of passage: in the part of northern Germany from which my mother comes from, it is not uncommon to see important family dates chalked onto doors, presumably in conjunction with some kind of religious blessing.

“we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” – Alexander Graham Bell

Feral for "The Great Outdoors" (photo Luna Park)

Feral for “The Great Outdoors” (photo Luna Park)

Brooklyn Street Art: On a grander scale, this show could be a commentary about the times we’re in, with many doors slamming shut, while others that we scarcely imagined only two years ago are opening wide.  Do you care to philosophize?

Luna Park: I’m an optimist at heart and a pragmatist by nature, as such, I believe very much in silver linings and unforeseen occurrences. Especially in times of crisis, one has to embrace change, because only by accepting change can one move forward. When Billi Kid approached me with the opportunity to co-curate this show, you better believe I opened that door, despite initial misgivings about never having organized anything of this magnitude before.

I can only speak for myself, but having this show – something I’ve come to see as an incredibly positive force in my life – to occupy me and to look forward to has made the struggles I endure at work all the more bearable. I am slowly realizing that this show has opened doors for others, and that has made this experience all the more meaningful to me. By the same token, the outpouring of support from the street art community – BSA included – has been enormous and for that I am very grateful.

Brooklyn Street Art: Given their past locations and your personal experience shooting the streets, what does it feel like to see these doors lined up in a spare white box gallery space?

Luna Park: There is often critique of street art and graffiti work in galleries, in many cases justified in that some work simply does not translate well onto canvas. But in this case, we’re literally bringing doors in off the street and taking them to the next level (the gallery’s on the 2nd floor). Because the doors are relatively large and heavily decorated, being surrounded by a clean, white gallery wall gives each piece space to breathe. Above and beyond that, it’s nice to see the humble door elevated to a place of honor.

“Listen; there’s a hell of a good universe next door: let’s go.” – e.e. cummings

His holiness Blanco for "The Great Outdoors" (photo Luna Park)

 

Brooklyn Street Art: What door surprised you the most?

Luna Park: Without a doubt, Blanco! I’ve been following his stencils since he first started putting them out, seeing his progression with each, more intricate piece. When we invited him to be part of the show, I had high hopes, but he’s really exceeded all expectations and then some! Bravo, J!

That having been said, I’m very pleased by the quality of ALL the work and am super proud of everyone’s efforts. My sincerest thanks to everyone that helped make this show possible.

Brooklyn Street Art: What time do doors open on Saturday?

Luna Park: Doors open at 6pm. I for one can’t wait to find out if it’s Bachelor #1, #2 or #3 behind my favorite door! ;p

“Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one of them home, I’m tired.” – Brooklyn’s own Mae West

THE GREAT OUT DOORS
MAY 2 – 29, 2009

Art Break Gallery
195 Grand Street, 2nd Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Thursday through Sunday, 1-7 pm.

Opening Reception Saturday May 2, 6-10 pm

At the opening Saturday you’ll also get to see a projection show of Luna Park’s photography, specifically images of doors on Brooklyn streets and elsewhere.

Billi Kid

Luna Park

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Logan Hicks + Broken Crow = “Broken Horse” at 498 Court Street

March 7, 2009 , ,

Renowned stencil artist Logan Hicks will be teaming up with the two-man painting team known as Broken Crow for the Broken Horse exhibit running May 1 – 3 at the former Hamilton Savings and Loan Bank in Brooklyn, NY (498 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231).

‘THE BROKEN HORSE’  
The Artwork of Broken Crow and Logan Hicks  

BROKEN HORSE will run May 1st to May 3rd  
Opening: Friday, May 1st 7-11pm  
Hours: May 2-3 12pm to 6pm  

Broken Crow, the two-man painting team, and Logan Hicks (Workhorse) are proud to announce the ‘The Broken Horse’ show. This 3-day event will mark the first offcial show in New York for all three of the internationally acclaimed artists.  Taking the current economic state head on, the show will be hosted at the former Hamilton Savings and Loan Bank at 498 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY, in Carroll Gardens.  

Although it appears to be simply a mix of the artists’ monikers (Broken Crow and Workhorse), the show’s title ‘The Broken Horse’ rejects the dualism of each artist’s work. Using this platform, the artists tackle the subject of living beings in their environment. Perhaps the Broken Horse is one whose spirit has been ‘broken’ – reared for servitude; maybe it refers to a busted horse, one that is damaged and no longer of use.  This dualism leaves the title, and each artist’s respective work, open to interpretation: productive versus ruined, urban landscape or wildlife, ominous against auspicious.   

Logan Hicks’ work often showcases the sprawling inhabitants of the city juxtapozed against the stark, grey environment in which they live. In many of his pieces, people wind through the streets, walk between cars, and pour out of buildings. It is as though the flow of people within the street mirrors the movement of water in a stream snaking around rocks, trees, and obstacles. The focal point of Logan’s work rests within the rhythmical pattern of crowds in the metropolitan environment.

By contrast, the central theme of Broken Crow’s artwork is the solo animal in nature. The work elevates the status of nature and showcases the importance of life outside the city. Often, the subject matter of Broken Crow’s pieces are animals menacingly staring down on the viewer. With murals larger in size than real life, these animals hover over the viewer in wait, observing and plotting.   

BROKEN CROW

John Grider
John Grider is a stencil artist and muralist from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In 2008, he painted walls in Paris, London, Duluth, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Brooklyn, took part in exhibitions across Europe, was published in books from France and Greece, painted inside of a sky scraper, retired all of his stencils, and got deported from England.   

As part of the two-man team known as Broken Crow, they have sought out to quadruple-handedly paint the largest stencils known to man- and womankind.  They are rumored to hold the unoffcial record for cutting the world’s largest stencil.   

Mike Fitzsimmons
Mike Fitzsimmons is a muralist/painter, and the platonic other half of the world-renowned duo known as Broken Crow.

He was classically trained in sculpture and painting at Illinois State University and has been cutting his own hair for a whopping fourteen years.   

He cites his influences as everything from mid-nineties West Coast gangster rap, home remodeling and repair, music, cooking dinner with his wife, and long road trips.

He currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.  

WORKHORSE

Logan Hicks 
Logan Hicks is a stencil artist who has been stenciling his way around the world for the past 10 years. Known for his meticulious multi-layered stencils, his work captures the sensory overload with which a city can inundate a person.

With shows in nearly 30 countries and showing no signs of slowing down, Logan has brought his artwork to cities as far away as Cape Town, South Africa and Shanghai, China.   

Logan is from Baltimore, Maryland, but currently lives in New York City.  Citing New York as the ‘city of all cities’, Logan can often be found wandering the subway system at 4 in the morning taking pictures for his artwork or simply observing the army of people coursing through the tunnels like blood through a body’s veins and arteries.   

Our interview last summer with Broken Crow can be seen here:

Logan Hicks

Broken Crow

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First Splash from the “Street Crush” show

February 15, 2009 , ,

A Kisser-Packed Spectacular

Martha Cooper “Next I caught the L out to Greenpoint where Alphabeta was having a very cool (or should I say hot?) Valentine’s bash complete with a Kissing Booth and Strippers.”

Hrag Vartanian “Nothing like a blindfolded burlesque dancer twirling a hola-hoop in front of a wigless drag queen..

It’s kind of hard not to have fun when you are surrounded by art, artist, homies, kissers, and ladies with sequined tassles hanging from the ceiling.

Fun Valen-Times, a perfect street art/ graffitti marriage, and a mash-up of cultural influences swirling around that may not have happened since chocolate met peanut butter. No time to go into it all right now so here’s a few pics to sate your appetite.

But it is never too early to express a heartfelt Thank You to all the street artists, the burlesque performers, the djs, the projectionists, the electronic drummers, the kissing booth builder, the Kisser volunteers, and the family of Alphabeta.

Aiko (Detail)

"Girls Can Play" by Aiko (Detail)

Jes

Kissing Booth Happy; The show reflected in Jess's smile.

"Girl With No Thumbs" (Detail) by Broken Crow

"The Girl with No Thumbs" (Detail) by Broken Crow

Nasty Canasta and Mimi the Clown (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Nasty Canasta and Mimi the Clown (photo Steven P. Harrington)

"Wild In the Street" (detail) by Jef Aerosol

"Wild in the Streets" (detail) by Jef Aerosol

Jus

Kissing Booth Fun

ti

Tigger! and Madame Voulez-Vous debate the necessity of clothing.

s

"Sex Sells" (detail) by Royce Bannon

Harvest

Harvest Moon flies above the crowd (photo by Kat)

ti

"Mam'zlle de mon reve!!" (detail) by Titi from Paris

crowd

What did he just say? I can't look, but I can't stop staring.

Clams

Clams Casino Elegance

The gallery is open till the 28th!

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“Street Crush” coming up Feb 13 at Alphabeta

January 15, 2009 , , ,

Whassup Brooklyn!

This show is going to be off the hooker.

It’s for all the fans, that’s you. 42 artists, that’s all we gotta say, and lots of fun because it is all about community, and creativity, and love.

You’ll be hearing more about it as we get closer – in the meantime read all about it here in the calendar.

And In Preparation for Street Crush…

And for those of you who will want to be practicing up on yer def mooves for the Ladaays of the Eightaaays – here is an instructional video below. Stand up in front of your computer please and practice according to the directions.

I only needed like two minutes and I totally got it. Some other people (no names please, people) may want to view it in it’s entirety.

“Street Crush” Press Release Here

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“Street Crush” Street Art Show at AlphaBeta

January 14, 2009 , , ,

STREET CRUSH:
Sexy New Work from the Street Artists
You Have a Crush On.

A Show for the Fans.

“Street Crush” a Brooklyn Street Art show and party, featuring brand new work by 42 street artists, 4 dazzling Street-Tart burlesque performers, and a Kissing Booth will be thrown at AlphaBeta in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on Friday, February 13th, 2009.

BROOKLYN, NY-BrooklynStreetArt.com and AlphaBeta are thrilled to be hosting a timely and sexy show of brand new art by veteran and rookie street artists who are on the scene today redefining our ideas of street art. Working around themes of “Love, Sex, and the Street”, well-known street artists like Aiko and Jef Aerosol dig deep for fresh takes on gritty street ardor alongside relative whipper-snappers like Cake and Poster Boy.

In addition to a salon-style show, the opening party will feature live art collaborations and installation.

Full Press Release HERE

THE STREET ARTISTS You Have a Crush On

An unprecedented killer lineup of many of 2009’s best in one Brooklyn location, “Street Crush” will run from February 13 until February 28 and will feature work from an artist list that includes:

Aakash Nihalani, Abe Lincoln Jr., Aiko, Anera, Bortusk Leer, Broken Crow, C. Damage, Cake, Celso, Charm, Chris Uphues, Creepy, DirQuo, Ellis Gallagher A.K.A. (C)ELLIS G., Eternal Love, FauxReel, FKDL, General Howe, GoreB, Imminent Disaster, Hellbent, Infinity, Nobody, Jef Aerosol, Jon Burgerman, Matt Siren, Mimi the Clown, NohJColey, Pagan, PMP, Poster Boy, Pufferella, Pushkin, Chris from Robots Will Kill, Col from Robots Will Kill, Veng from Robots Will Kill, Royce Bannon, Skewville, Stikman, The Dude Company, Titi from Paris, and U.L.M.

STREET CRUSH SHOW OPENING INFORMATION

Friday, February 13, 2009, 7-12 pm
Press Preview by appointment

Location: Alphabeta, 70 Greenpoint Avenue
Greenpoint Brooklyn, New York 11222
Suggested Donation: $8

For more information on Brooklyn Street Art and to see images of the “Street Crush” artworks in the days before the show please visit http://www.BrooklynStreetArt.com

CONTACT: Crush@BrooklynStreetArt.com

THE PERFORMERS

To entertain the Opening Party street art fans, exotic passions will be alerted with Street-Tart Burlesque performances by 4 of today’s award-winning NYC burlesque artists – thrilling, titillating, and Twitterpating the audience in the back-room gallery at AlphaBeta. The rollicking rollcall includes Nasty Canasta, Clams Casino, Harvest Moon, and your MC, Tigger!

THE KISSING BOOTH

A funky loveshack built by artist and set-designer J. Mikal Davis and lorded over by Madame Voulez-Vous, will awaken furtive crushes in the crowd AND raise funds for Art Ready, a mentoring program created by SmackMellon Gallery to serve NYC High School students who are interested in the arts.

For more Information about the Art Ready program for New York City high school students, please visit: http://www.smackmellon.org/education.html

MUSIC

Live DJ sets by DailySession.com will be pumping and streaming live from the “Street Crush” event over the internet all night.

The featured Street Crush DJ will be Jessee Mann, a Williamsburg hottie and self-professed music nerd who plays weekly at Bembe and has mooved booties all over the whirl.

Look out for a special performance by electronic drummer Kamoni, who flagellates the street-sin out of you with a solo live audio collateral collage of beats, sounds, and samples on stage. yeow!

AFTER PARTY AT COCO66 NEXT DOOR

Immediately following the “Street Crush” show opening, guests are invited next door to continue celebrating their new found love at Coco66 and the 68 bar/restaurant, where the booty-shaking music continues and site-specific installations by 2 Brooklyn projection artists, SeeJ and SuperDraw, will blow minds with their original forays into the next horizon on street art.

BIOS OF THE PERFORMERS

DJ Jesse Mann

Jesse’s musical style encompasses all that is soulful and funky, incorporating familiar sounds with obscure forgotten classics and upfront remixes. In a single DJ set he can travel effortlessly between vintage funk and disco to Afro-Latin grooves, house, techno, hip-hop, and everything in between.
His DJing career has taken him far and wide in the last nine years; Paris, Berlin, Vienna and England, to San Francisco, Miami, and Puerto Rico. He has played at many of NYC’s biggest and most revered clubs, its most chic and exclusive lounges, and its most intense underground parties. Favorites include APT, Cielo, Limelight/Avalon, Love, Sullivan Room, Hotel QT, Socialista, Goldbar, Lunatarium, 3rd Ward, Cabaret Sauvage (Paris), Batofar (Paris), Watergate (Berlin), Roxy (Vienna). Currently Jesse is resident DJ at Bembe weekly with the BodyMusic party.

Download his mixes at:
http://www.jesse-mann.com/mixes.html

Live Electronic Drumming

Kamoni
Kamoni is a Brooklyn based sound designer, live performer and sonic experimentalist. His work encompasses everything from live electronic shows to commercial music production and sound library development. Kamoni has acquired numerous credits on TV, film and animation soundtracks while consulting with music software pioneers such as Ableton and Native Instruments. He launched Puremagnetik in 2006 and his work has been featured in Electronic Musician, Sound on Sound, XLR8R, Remix, Computer Music, Knowledge, Keys and numerous other publications.

See an example of Komoni’s work here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBPSRJAaubg

Street-Tart Burlesque Performers

Tigger!

Tigger! (the MC) is The Original Mr. Exotic World! – Best Boylesque 2006 at The Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas. Winner of Four Golden Pastie Awards including “Performer Most Likely to Get Shut Down by the Law” and “Most Unpredictable Performer.”, and “the King of Boylesque.” The New York Times called him a “hysterical and acrobatic man in drag,” Next Magazine called him “the taboo-defying dynamo,” and San Francisco tried to ban his striptease.

Tigger! has a MySpace page here:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=16832866

Nasty Canasta

Nasty Canasta is the co-producer of Pinchbottom (“Best Burlesque in NYC” – NY Magazine, “Most Innovative” – Miss Exotic World Pageant) and the impresario behind Sweet & Nasty Burlesque. Her performances combine classic burlesque, pop culture, and a theatrical sensibility to create a dazzling mummery of perplexing proportions. The reigning Cheese Queen of Coney Island, Nasty is, quite possibly, too damn clever for her own good.

Nasty Canasta can be found here:
http://www.nastycanasta.com/

Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon otherwise known as the Sultry Siren of Burlesque has been sauntering on burlesque stages since 1995. She has performed in Sydney, Paris and many cities in the US. She is founder of award-winning troupe, The Cantankerous Lollies. In the summer of 2008, Harvest toured the Netherlands and Italy in a special showcase of American Burlesque “Cabaret New Burlesque”. From her homebase in New York City she continues to push the frontiers of modern Burlesque with each new act.

Miss Harvest Moon’s website is here:
http://missharvestmoon.com/

Clams Casino

Clams Casino has been called a “Burlesque Queen” by the New York Times, and is the proud winner of the awards for Most Comedic and Most Innovative at the 2008 Miss Exotic World Pageant in Las Vegas. Clams is the co-producer of the Gameshow Speakeasy at the Slipper Room, AM Gold at Coney Island, Killer Queen Burlesque and Borderline Burlesque:Midnight Madonna Madness at the Zipper Factory, and many other pop-culture obsessed burlesque shows around New York City and the Eastern Seaboard.

Miss Clams Casino can be found here:
http://www.missclamscasino.com/home.html

PREVIOUS EVENTS from BrooklynStreetArt.com

An on-going celebration of the creative spirit, BrooklynStreetArt.com presents “Street Crush” as the 4th street art event thrown in the last 10 months.
Previous events include;

* April 2008: a benefit street art auction of work by 27 street artists at Ad Hoc Art in Bushwick that raised money for the youth and family creative arts and mentoring programs of Free Arts NYC (www.freeartsnyc.org) and launched the book “Brooklyn Street Art” published by Prestel worldwide and authored by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo.

See highlights on Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP3by_SolwA

* May 2008: a street art showcase of 10 street artists at Fresh Kills in Williamsburg also benefiting Free Arts NYC,

* Sept 2008: “Projekt Projektor”, a first-ever curated show of projection artists as street artists in a live show by 6 projection artists on the side of the Manhattan Bridge and the Pearl Street Triangle during 2 nights of the Dumbo Arts festival on September 26 and 27.

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Featured Video | Martin Wong’s “Houston Street”

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