All posts tagged: BrooklynStreetArt.com

Barry McGee Mid-Career at ICA in Boston

April 10, 2013

The mid-career survey of artist Barry McGee opened last week at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston and the whole is in fact greater than the sum of its parts.

Looking at his productive timeline from the 80s as anti-establishment graffiti writer/tagger to art school student on residency to San Francisco “Mission School” originator to celebrated New York gallery star complete with large scale installations of dumpsters, vans and animatronic vandals, McGee has had quite a varied trajectory that will be difficult to summarize.

But as you simply look at the magnitude and variety of imperfect and quirky characters he presents throughout his career, it doesn’t surprise you when he ends this show with a community center. This is loner who continues to create community.

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You will want to see this show in its entirety if you are to glimpse just how wide McGee reaches for inclusiveness. Whether its the camaraderie of the love of the letterform, the 130 screen totem of graffiti culture video, the bulging and clustering of framed photos and hand drawings, or the bundle of clear glass bottles with portraits of street guys painted on them, each chapter can be seen as cobbling separate elements into a more clannish arrangement.

Like a living folk scrapbook, this non-digital one gathers the disparate relationships and experiences and emotions of a life into groupings, blending them with stories remembered, forgotten, imagined, fictional, funny, violent, and vocal – a rollicking life omni-bus that rolls onto its roof, laying still on the pavement, while you walk around and peer into the windows.

A look inside his jacket, with pockets for cans. Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

During his talk before the official opening of the show Friday night, McGee gave his own take on the view of this sequentially laid out show path, telling the audience that he enters the gallery and looks down at the floor as he walks through most of the rooms, as if to say the that some of the trip is too difficult or painful to encounter.  All the more interesting when he says the last room is his favorite. This is the one modeled on the concept of a community center and all its imperfect variety; a deliberately inclusive space with three vitrines reserved for local Boston artists to curate with ephemera about their lives intersecting with street culture. In fact, this is the room that feels more alive, less museum.

If you take your time through this survey, McGee introduces you to people along the road, along the rails, in boxcars, in gas stations, behind warehouses, under bridges, in delis, in ditches. In many ways, this is a story told by the street, captured by a pair of observing eyes. Look out for humor and humanity, augmented by rage and tomfoolery while peering into these stories . While the materials are multitudinous, it’s more than just miscellany and it’s made greater by way of the gathering.

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An animatronic tagger mechanically vandalizing the gallery. Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This interior room contains works by Margaret Kilgallen at the Barry McGee mid-career survey at ICA, Boston. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee. Mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee AKA Amaze and crew with a tribute to Oker behind Fenway Park in conjunction with his mid-career survey at ICA, Boston now on view until September 2. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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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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Dan Witz Creates Disturbing Street Art to Fight Political Imprisonment

March 26, 2013

Street Art Campaign With Amnesty International

“In many countries people are imprisoned simply because of their political views,” begins the video just released by Dan Witz and Amnesty international.

Screenshot from “Wailing Walls”, a video about the Dan Witz “Prisoners” campaign that raises awareness and engages passersby to immediately take action for human rights. (screenshot from video © Spiffy Films and Dan Witz)

So dangerous are those views that their outspoken owners are persecuted and hidden from us in an attempt to silence the ideas and opinions that may threaten a prevailing status quo. With his “Prisoners” series of installations on the streets of London, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Los Angeles, Witz is bringing much needed attention to those who are hidden against their will just behind walls, doors, and windows.

Image from London campaign, “Eric” by Street Artist Dan Witz (photo © Dan Witz)

For Witz, using actual names and case histories brings the conceptual to painfully full light, and his well-known artistic command of light in these photo-realistic works gives these individuals an opportunity to step out from the shadows. In conjunction with an innovative street campaign entitled “Wailing Walls”, the street art pieces become interactive with QR codes and a phone app that allows passersby to learn instantly about the people depicted and to send their opinions to government officials while standing right there on the sidewalk with traffic driving past them.

Scanning the QR code (screenshot from video © Spiffy Films and Dan Witz)

Learning and immediately writing to the “Wailing Wall”. (screenshot from video © Spiffy Films and Dan Witz)

During his presentation this weekend at the Amnesty International conference in Washington DC, Witz detailed his Frankfurt project in front of an audience of hundreds, giving a riveting first person account of how art on the streets has the power to impact social and political change.

Along with the video explaining the street and digital campaign that he created in collaboration with the Leo Burnett Agency in Frankfurt, the Brooklyn-based fine artist and street artist shares here his personal slides of the project, which he showed at the conference.  Of special note is the soundtrack to the new slide show which is composed by Witz at the piano and recorded on his phone; a tonal reflective transmutation of the myriad emotions that the images evoke.

Premiere: Slideshow of Dan Witz’s “Prisoner” Series of Street Art Installations

Shown at Amnesty International’s Annual General Meeting in Washington, DC, March, 2013

Among the many ways to measure success as a Street Artist; “Wailing Wall” garnered great traditional, web, and social media attention for the campaign in Frankfurt, raising awareness and advocating action on the behalf of those imprisoned. (screenshot from video © Spiffy Films and Dan Witz)

Premiere : “Wailing Walls” campaign by Dan Witz for Amnesty International

Photos by Dan Witz and Hans-Juergen Kaemmerer

Our sincere thanks to Dan Witz for sharing his work and this very important project with BSA readers. A special BSA shout out to Christoph Wick, Tiffaney McCannon, Monika Wittkowsky, and Hans-Juergen Kaemmerer for their talents and tireless work on this project also.

 

 

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BSA Film Friday 02.22.13

February 22, 2013


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

Now screening: En Masse X Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal , Entes y Pesimo AKA Los Primos in Chile, and Jessy Nite in Hollywood: Diamonds….

 

BSA Special Feature:

En Masse X Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal from Fred Caron

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts invited the En Masse Project in for the creation of their new educational area, and here is a record of the installation by Fred Caron. Using only black and white, En Masse covered walls, ceilings, a hallway, and a staircase in the Museum as part of a new program of “educational zones” that offer free access and workshops to kids and their adults.

Artists include: Labrona, Tyler Rauman, Jason Botkin, Rupert Bottenberg, Fred Caron, Melissa DelPinto, Alan Ganev, Beef Oreo, Bruno Rathbone, Jason Wasserman, Peru143, Raphaële Bard, Ad Deville, MCBaldasseri, Dan Buller, Adam Vieira, Peter Ferguson, Carlos Santos, Katie Green, Cheryl Voisine, Tyson Bodnarhuk, Fred Casia, Dominic Brunette, Olivier Bonnard, Troy Lovegates, Lea Heinrich, Dave Todaro.

Entes y Pesimo AKA Los Primos in Chile

Here’s a video of Entes y Pesimo on their visit to Chile in November 2012.

Jessy Nite in Hollywood: Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend…

Creating a Hollyhood Kaleidoscope for The Downtown Hollywood Mural Project in Florida, here is a sunny warm look of the installation in video edited and shot by Peter Vahan.

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BSA Film Friday 01.18.13

January 18, 2013

 

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

Now screening: Premiere of the Baltimore Documentary “One City-Eight Artist-Seven Days”, The Re + Public augmented reality software in Miami, Brain Killers in Chicago, and Andy Warhol Enthuses About Professional Wrestling.

BSA Exclusive Premiere:

“One City-Eight Artist-Seven Days”

We’re pleased today to debut a new short film documenting the work of eight street artist over the course of a week in the city of Baltimore.

www.facebook.com/xxistance

Wynwood Walls Miami: Re + Public

A collaboration between The Heavy Projects and Jordan Seiler’s Public Ad Campaign, mural art is used as trigger to activate animations that are created with the artist’s work to create a 3-D scene you view with a tablet.

Brain Killer: Villains in Chicago

Friends in Chicago have a blast with paint bombs on a wall.

Andy Warhol Enthuses About Professional Wrestling

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Blanco Freezes Street Art to Wall in Mongolia at -25 Degrees

Blanco Freezes Street Art to Wall in Mongolia at -25 Degrees

January 5, 2013

New Yorkers are now complaining bitterly about the cold January weather because, well, it’s our job. In a city where opinions collide into each other daily about all topics like bumper cars at Coney Island, you can always get someone to complain about the weather, no matter the season.

Brooklyn native and Street Artist Blanco has you all beat with his first installation on a wall that uses only water – because that’s the only thing that works when the temperature is -25 degrees fahrenheit.

“Its currently -20F outside my ger,” he says as he refers to the house he is staying in as he talks to us from the the frigid lands he is visiting for a while. “The overnight low is expected to be -36F and this isn’t even bad yet.” Okay we get the point, sounds disgusting.

So what about that new wheat-paste he just made of his friend Nandia?

“Nandia”, Blanco in Mongolia (photo © Patrick Findler)

“Last week I did that experiment where you throw boiling water up in the air and it didn’t hit the ground because it froze into an icy mist in mid-air. It has not been above freezing here for about two months and it wont be above freezing again for a couple more,” he says.

“This makes it almost impossible to wheat-paste anything for about 4 months of the year. The paste will freeze to the surface of a wall before you can even get the paper on it. I have a couple pieces waiting for the spring. But I decided to try something new.”

“On New Years Day I froze a piece to a door using water instead of paste. It should stay there for a couple months until the thaw sets in. The climate will dictate the lifespan,” describes Blanco. Let us know when the crocuses are popping up and maybe we’ll come and take a look.

“Nandia”, Blanco in Mongolia (photo © Patrick Findler)

“Nandia”, Blanco in Mongolia (photo © Patrick Findler)

“Nandia”, Blanco in Mongolia (photo © Patrick Findler)

“Nandia”, Blanco in Mongolia (photo © Patrick Findler)

 

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BSA Film Friday 01.04.12

BSA Film Friday 01.04.12

January 4, 2013

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

Now screening: NYC in One Minute, Basquiat & Patti Astor At The Fun Gallery, and The Brooklyn Subway Circus.

NYC in One Minute

Basquiat & Patti Astor At The Fun Gallery – Classic Street Art

The Brooklyn Subway Circus

This cold January weather is so rough on the skin, yo! Gotta keep it moisturized and smooth.

Send us your submission and you might see it next week on BSA Film Friday!

FilmFriday at brooklynstreetart.com

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BSA Covers the Globe, Top Stories with HuffPost in ’12

January 3, 2013

BSA is not just Brooklyn, you know. Last year we brought you new Street Art from Atlanta, Arizona, Baltimore, Berlin, Boston, Bronx, Brooklyn, Brisbane, Bristol, Costa Rica, Chicago, China, Dominican Republic, The Gambia, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Istanbul, Italy, Jamaica, Johannesburg, Kenya, Los Angeles, London, Mexico City, Miami, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Norway, NYC, Palestine, Panama, Paris, Perth, Queens, Reno, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, and Trinidad. And that is a partial, incomplete list. Remember that the next time someone says we cover just Brooklyn and New York. Not quite.

Also while we were surveying what we did in 2012, we were curious to see which were the top stories we covered for the Huffington Post, measured by hits, social sharing, and emails sent to us. Here are the top stories you liked the most of the 44 we cross-published with Huffington Post Arts & Culture in 2012. (A complete list at the end of the posting)

Baltimore Opens Its Walls To Street Art

 

MOMO. Open Walls Baltimore 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Atlanta Hosts First All Female Street Art Conference 

Neuzz (photo © Wil Hughes)

OS Gemeos And “The Giant Of Boston” 

Os Gemeos “The Giant of Boston” at the Rose Kennedy Greenway at Dewey Square, Boston. This side of the van was with Graffiti Artist Rize. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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

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

Mexico City: High Art in Thin Air

Escif (photo © courtesy of All City Canvas)

UFO Crashes at Brooklyn Academy of Music

UFO 907 and William Thomas Porter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

‘See No Evil’ in Bristol Brings Thousands to the Streets 

El Mac. (photo © Ian Cox 2012)

What’s New in Bushwick: A Quick Street Art Survey 

QRST in the wild. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sex In The City: Street Art That is NSFW

Anthony Lister in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NUART 2012: International Street Art Catalysts in Norway 

Ben Eine (photo © Ian Cox)

Springtime in Paris : Une Petite Revue of New Street Art

David Shillinglaw and Ben Slow (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Pulling Strings in Berlin; “Heinrich” The Public Marionette

Various & Gould “Heinrich” (photo © Lucky Cat)

“Poorhouse for the Rich” Revitalized by the Arts

Adam Parker Smith. “I Lost Of My Money In The Great Depression And All I Got Was This Room”, 2012. Installation in progress in collaboration with Wave Hill. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here is the complete list of BSA / Huffington Post pieces for 2012

 

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JC Has Something On His Mind in Instanbul

December 17, 2012

As winter settles in, I’ve been thinking about getting a fur hat. Is that wrong? How about fake fur?  What about just hoisting a cat up on my head and balancing it there? They sleep all the time anyway so they might as well provide some service to mankind aside from hunting the occasional mouse.

Street Artist JC has been in Istanbul with his bud MuryzOne and they may have the same thing in mind. Here are couple of shots of new stuff they did while there.

JC “La Paz” Hand painted wheatpaste. Istanbul 2012 (photo © JC)

JC . MuryzOne. Hand painted wheat paste and spray paint. Istanbul 2012 (photo © JC)

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Bamboo Replaces Billboard on LA Freeway

November 24, 2012

 “Imagine floating, globally connected urban forests growing where billboards stand. Artist Stephen Glassman and his team are doing it.”

Here’s a unique breath of fresh air by artist Stephen Glassman, an LA based sculptor who has worked many times with bamboo for large projects in the public realm. Here he has an idea for designing and engineering a green project that reclaims one of the thousands of billboards in Los Angeles and turns it into an oasis of bamboo.

Image © Stephen Glassman

With an eye toward bamboo’s resiliency, Glassman creates here a welcome metaphor for the man-made environment and our ability to adapt it to our changing needs and evolving understanding of our internal and external environments.

“UrbanAir transforms existing urban billboards to living, suspended bamboo gardens. Embedded with intelligent technology, UrbanAir becomes a global node – an open space in the urban skyline… An artwork, symbol, and instrument for a green future.”

You can donate to his Kickstarter page to help make it happen.

All images ©  Stephen Glassman

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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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Fun Friday 11.23.12 – VIDEO Request Edition – Chosen by You

November 23, 2012

It’s the BSA Reader Video Request edition of Fun Friday for all us peeps who are not shopping today. We asked our Facebook friends and fans for their favorite street art related video flicks and give them to you here- in no particular order. Peace out and have a great Black Friday everybody.

1. Vhils in Germany
2. Wild Style Part 1
3. Open Air
4. In Bed with Invader
5. En Masse in Miami
6. Berlin Street Art as Lyrics (Emus Primus)
7. Shai Dahan new Ted Talk “Beyond Borders”
8. TEJN LOCK ON STREET ART – Street Art Sculpture by Tejn
9. Burn – Episode 3
10. Graffiti Verite Part 1
11. Japanese Stencil
12. BLU – BIG BANG BIG BOOM
14. Hanoi Lantern Bearers – Vietnam with The Yok
15. Bomb It

Vhils in Germany

The Portuguese Street Artist at work, produced by Euromaxx, recommended by Crist Graphicart (German language)

Wild Style Part 1

The classic Charlie Ahearn movie as recommended by Nahua Prince Huitzilin

 

Open Air

“In 2006, we created this short for the University of Southern California’s Public Arts Studies Program.

This documentary explored the studios and methods of six of the top street artists in America: Faile, Skewville, Mike De Feo, Dan Witz, Espo and Tiki Jay One.” Recommended by Lou J Auguste

In Bed with Invader

H Veng Smith likes this one with Invader.

En Masse in Miami

“At the end of November (2011), the En Masse Art Initiative flew down to Miami to take part of the Miami Art Basel events. With the help of Sodec Quebec and Galerie Pangée, EM teamed up with Scope Art Fair, Fountain Art Fair, Safewalls, Primary Flight and the Found store to create multiple work of art. During 10 days, the team grew exponentially, adding members from all around the globe; Tel-Aviv, Montreal, Brooklyn, Woodstock, Staten Island, San Fransico, San Diego, Miami etc.”  – recommended by Beth Tully

Berlin Street Art as Lyrics (Emus Primus)

Emus Primus and photography of Berlin Street art, set to music. As recommended by Da Andal

Shai Dahan new Ted Talk “Beyond Borders”

The keynote is about my travel into Palestine.  Considering what is going on there –  Being that everyone is talking about the violence, this video can reflect a bit of light on how there are some ways to find peace.  It may not find the sort of wide peace we hope to all gain there, but through the message in the keynote, I hope people can see that Israel and Palestine can share a common beauty: Street-art.” Shai Dahan

TEJN LOCK ON STREET ART – Street Art Sculpture by Tejn

Suggested by Mogens Carstensen

Burn – Episode 3

“The third episode of BURN graffiti video series. Best episode so far! Featuring rolling freight, live painting and more!   As recommended by Beyond The Rail Photography

Graffiti Verite Part 1

“Part 1 of the 1995 Los Angeles graffiti documentary directed by Bob Bryan. Featured artists include Duke, Skept, Tempt, Prime, Mear, Relic, Cre8, and Design9.”

Japanese Stencil

A stencil artist creates a piece as a tribute to Japan in the wake of the destruction it suffered last year. – As recommended by Crist Graphicart

BLU – BIG BANG BIG BOOM

“an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life … and how it could probably end. direction and animation by BLU.”   This one recommended by Martha Becker

Hanoi Lantern Bearers – Vietnam with The Yok

In Vietnam on a roof. As recommended by The Yok

Bomb It

The full documentary – “Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe.” Recommended by Orson Horchler

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Carlo McCormick at Nuart 2012

November 17, 2012

One of the best parts about a celebration of Street Art culture like Nuart in Norway is that there sometimes is an opportunity to speak with and listen to people who make it their mission to put it into context. New York art critic, curator, editor, and writer Carlo McCormick has an exhaustive knowledge and enthusiasm for the scene that evolved on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1970s and 80s concurrently with the evolution of graffiti into a celebrated art form.  As Street Art continues apace, having perspective on some of its precursors is imperative and McCormick knows how to bring it alive.

An moment of elation with Carlo McCormick while he addresses the Nuart audience in his keynote presentation Re:mark. (image still © Nuart 2012)

To hang out with Carlo on the street is a joy because he can ground your current observations with his knowledge of their antecedents and yet become as equally appreciative of the new artists on todays’ scene whom he hasn’t heard of.  During this talk he gave this year at Nuart in a very conversational somewhat meandering unscripted way, Carlo reveals the mindset that is necessary to keep your eyes open and appreciative of the new stuff without feeling territorial or enslaved to the past. We appreciate him because he recognizes that the march of graffiti, street art, public art, and it’s ever splintering subsets is part of a greater evolutionary tale that began before us and will continue after us.

Carlo speaks about New York artist Haze and the distinct parallels between corporate branding with the practice of developing and distilling one’s tag for repetition on the street.  (image still © Nuart 2012)

Carlo at ease, conversing with you. (image still © Nuart 2012)

During his presentation McCormick dedicates a significant portion of his remarks to the historical practice of subverting advertising and official forms of messaging – referring to the Situationists, “détournement” and similar methods of playing with perception and turning it on it’s head. Here is an uncredited image from his presentation of a Times Square scene where artist Yoko Ono’s billboard toyed with the perceptions that the Vietnam war was inevitably unending while also alerting a compliant citizenry to it’s role in the matter. (image still © Nuart 2012)

“As I do my best as a really bad scholar to investigate this history of graffiti and mark-making – kind of prior to the official history – the greatest evidence that I find of stuff is in the real canon of fine art photography. Just about every famous photographer turned – I mean it’s not incidental – turned their attention to this illicit anonymous practice., ” Carlo McCormick at Nuart.

 

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