All posts tagged: Dan Witz

JMR’s got his Piece done for the Queen’s Wall

May 20, 2010 , ,

No, not Queen Elizabeth, – it’s the borough of Queens this time.
Ad Hoc Art, with the Queen Alison Buxton and her ever-loyal servant Garrison at the helm, are putting together a very fun and expansive show on the walls on Saturday. We know the list, and there are a couple special guests, so don’t miss it.  It’s kind of far, but it will be worth it when you get there.

I dunno, I want to try something new. How about pink highlights? (JMR) (photo © and courtesy Jim Rizzi)
I dunno, I want to try something new. How about pink highlights? (JMR) (photo © and courtesy Jim Rizzi)

Welling Court Artists include: Alice Mizrachi, Beast, Chris Mendoza, Chris Stain, Celso, Cern, Cey Adams, CR, Cycle, Dan Witz, Darkclouds, Daryll Peirce, Don Leicht, Ellis G, Free5, Gaia, Garrison & Alison Buxton, Greg Lamarche, JMR, John Fekner, Lady Pink, Leon Reid, Matt Siren, M-City, Michael De Feo, Mr. Kiji, Pablo Power, Peripheral Media Projects, R. Nicholas Kuszyk, Remi/Rough, Ron English, Royce Bannon, Sofia Maldonado, Stormie Mills, Sweet Toof, Swoon, TooFly, Tristan Eaton, and Veng RWK.

Read more about Welling Court Mural Project HERE

Read more

Street Artists Give to NYC KIDS: A gift of Art and Self-Confidence

April 27, 2010

With 60 artists, 73 artworks, over 500 guests, and a happy vibe created by the mad-scientists Sifunk & Garmunkle at music mission control, the Street Art New York Silent Auction Benefit for Free Arts NYC was a huge success. At the end of the night most of the walls were bare, and most of the pieces remaining had been purchased by absentee bidders. With animated conversations, excited bidding, and occasionally rambunctious dancing (Andrew), the night was really an excellent example of how the street art community is alive and well, and how the work of street artists is in demand.

Thank you to Ali and Ad at Factory Fresh for co-hosting the event, thank you to all the volunteers from Free Arts NYC who helped to hang it, pack it, and execute the auction, and special thanks to all the artists who so generously donated their pieces to the event.  Also special thanks to all the blog friends (so many!) who wrote about this event and all the people who Tweeted it continuously, as well as the print publications who helped get the word out.  We hope to thank you all personally some time, if not via email. Because of your help, the gallery and back yard were jammed with more people than anyone could remember.

Thank you to Reid Harris Cooper for sending us these pictures he took at the crowded party (we threw in a couple crowd shots from the cellphone). Reid actually scored the Blanco piece in the auction.  If anyone else has pics from that night we would love to see them.

[flagallery gid=2 name=”Gallery”]

For more images by Reid Harris Cooper see his Flickr page HERE

See images and details of the pieces at our Flickr – which will be updated by the end of the day

Participating artists were: Abe Lincoln Jr., Alex Diamond, Anera, Avoid Pi, Billi Kid, Bishop 203, Blanco, BortusK Leer, Broken Crow, C Damage, C215, Cake, Celso, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Creepy, Dain, Damon Ginandes, Dan Witz, Dark Clouds, Dennis McNett, Elbow Toe, EllisG, FKDL, Gaia, General Howe, GoreB, Hargo, Hellbent, Imminent Disaster, Infinity, Jef Aerosol, Jim Avignon, JMR, Joe Iurato, Jon Burgerman, Keely, Know Hope, Logan Hicks, Mark Carvalho, Matt Siren, Mint and Serf, Miss Bugs, NohJColey, Nomadé, Peru Ana Ana Peru, PMP/Peripheral Media Projects, Poster Boy, Pufferella, Rene Gagnon, Roa, Royce Bannon, Skewville, Specter, Stikman, Swoon, The Dude Company, Tristan Eaton, UR New York (2esae & Ski), Veng RWK

Read more

Dan Witz Donates “Dark Doings” to Do Just the Opposite

April 22, 2010

Dan Witz has been painting for just over 3 decades since moving from Chicago to New York to study, and he has both a healthy fine art career and has garnered a wide swath of respect for his work on the street. In the piece Dan donated to the auction, it is evident why.

A realist, Dan seeks ways to master space and light with his work – as a street artist over many years, Dan has toyed with the obvious parts of the urban environment that you normally stroll by unthinkingly, subverting normal expectation.  Part of the “Dark Doings” series he began on the street last year, this piece snaps you out of your daily doze as you walk by it affixed to a steel door.

“Did I just see that?”

What lurks there on just the other side of the window is disturbing, and you may need to become involved.

Brooklyn-Street Art-DAN_WITZ_NEW-Directory-Street-Art-New-York-Silent-Auction_

Learn more about “Dark Doings” from his show in November at Carmichael Gallery HERE

See more of Dan Witz’s work HERE

See more pieces from the auction at http://www.flickr.com/photos/streetartnewyork/.

Learn more about the Street Art New York Silent Auction Benefit

Read more
Images of the Week 04.11.10

Images of the Week 04.11.10

April 11, 2010 , , ,
Our Weekly Interview with the Street: This week featuring Constellation, QRST, She Wolf, Dan Witz,$howta, C215

Street Art: Our Weekly Interview With the Street

C215 "Sailor"
C215 “Sailor” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

$howta
Show Me the Money!  ($howta) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An old Dan Witz
A classic Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

She Wolf (artist's name?)
She Wolf (artist’s name?) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Geometry
Sometimes the frame is even better than the picture. (artist ?) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST
Ouch. (QRST) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Constellation
Constellation (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more

STREET ART NEW YORK BENEFIT AT FACTORY FRESH FOR FREE ARTS NYC

March 27, 2010

Street Art New York at Factory Fresh
SANY-BENEFIT-Header-PR

“Street Art New York” Silent Auction Benefit for Free Arts NYC

For more information please contact:
Email: info@StreetArtNewYork.com; Web: www.StreetArtNewYork.com

“Street Art New York” Silent Auction Benefit for Free Arts NYC
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Event Time: 7-11 pm

Auction Time: Promptly 7 pm to 9:30 pm EST
Absentee bidders please register with Bernadette DeAngelis at bernadette@freeartsnyc.org or call 212.974.9092.

Location: Factory Fresh Gallery
1053 Flushing Avenue
Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York 11237
between Morgan and Knickerbocker, off the L train Morgan Stop

SILENT AUCTION BENEFIT BY STREET ARTISTS FOR “FREE ARTS NYC” AND A PARTY TO MARK THE RELEASE OF NEW BOOK
“STREET ART NEW YORK”.

To celebrate the release of the new book “Street Art New York” and to benefit the programs of Free Arts NYC, original artworks by a stellar array of today’s Street Artists from New York and beyond will be featured in a silent auction to take place on April 24, 2010, from 7 pm to 9:30 pm at Factory Fresh Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

The Benefit and the Artists

The Benefit, to be held at one of New York’s epicenters for the thriving new Street Art scene, Factory Fresh Gallery, will feature an incredibly strong selection of today’s Street Artists joining together for one night as a community to benefit NYC kids from disadvantaged backgrounds as the numbers of poor and low-income children in New York continues to rise. Representing a renaissance in modern urban art at the dawn of a new decade, this artists will very likely be the largest collection of 2010’s street artists in one location.

With exciting new work by 60 of today’s Street Artists

Abe Lincoln Jr., Alex Diamond, Anera, Avoid Pi, Billi Kid, Bishop 203, Blanco, BortusK Leer, Broken Crow, C Damage, C215, Cake, Celso, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Creepy, Dain, Damon Ginandes, Dan Witz, Dark Clouds, Dennis McNett, Elbow Toe, EllisG, FKDL, Gaia, General Howe, GoreB, Hargo, Hellbent, Imminent Disaster, Infinity, Jef Aerosol, Jim Avignon, JMR, Joe Iurato, Jon Burgerman, Keely, Know Hope, Logan Hicks, Mark Carvalho, Matt Siren, Mint and Serf, Miss Bugs, NohJColey, Nomadé, Peru Ana Ana Peru, PMP/Peripheral Media Projects, Poster Boy, Pufferella, Rene Gagnon, Roa, Royce Bannon, Skewville, Specter, Stikman, Swoon, The Dude Company, Tristan Eaton, UR New York (2esae & Ski), Veng RWK

About the Book

Street Art New York, by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, with a foreword by Carolina A. Miranda, published in April 2010 by Prestel Publishing (Random House).

The authors of the successful Brooklyn Street Art book (and founders of BrooklynStreetArt.com) expand their scope and take readers on a fast-paced run through the streets of New York, along the waterways, on the rooftops, and up the walls of today’s ever-morphing vibrant Street Art scene as only NYC can tell it.

With an introduction by noted cultural journalist Carolina A. Miranda (C-Monster.net) putting Street Art in the context of the personal experience of a New Yorker, readers will be taken aback by this compelling portrait of the state of urban art featuring work on the streets of New York from 102 artists from around the world. With a collection of aproximately 200 images by exciting new comers as well as beloved “old masters” such as New Yorkers Swoon, Judith Supine, Dan Witz, Faile, Skewville, WK Interact, LA’s Sphepard Fairey, Brazil’s Os Gemeos, Ethos, Denmark’s Armsrock, France’s Space Invader, C215, Mr. Brainwash, Germany’s Herakut, Belgium’s ROA, London’s Nick Walker, Connor Harrington, and the infamous Banksy.

About the Publisher, Prestel Publishing (Random House):

With its impressive list of titles in English and German, Prestel Publishing is one of the world’s leading publishers in the fields of art, architecture, photography, design, cultural history, and ethnography. The company, founded in 1924, has its headquarters in Munich, offices in New York and London, and an international sales network.

The Silent Auction

Commencing at 7 p.m. and ending at 9:30 p.m., the silent auction will be administered by Free Arts NYC, and all proceeds from the auction go directly to the non-profit. Highest bidder wins!

SANY-BENEFIT-Footer-PR

Read more

DFN GALLERY PRESENTS: DAN WITZ

February 18, 2010

DAN WITZ

New Night Paintings

March 10 – April 3, 2010

DFN Gallery is proud to exhibit New Night Paintings, a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Dan Witz. A continuation of his luminous nightscapes theme, Witz transforms banal subjects – lamps in apartment buildings and liquor bottles displayed in upscale bars, into glowing domestic shrines. These paintings transcend mere depiction, emitting (a private/public) light that reveals concurrent feelings of intimacy and isolation.

Witz creates his pieces using a distinctive process; first by printing a digital photograph onto a canvas as an underpainting and then adding layers of oil paint and transparent glazes, using the techniques of the 17th century European masters. The source photos for the Park Avenue Lobby Lamp series were all taken of building lobbies on the Upper East Side near DFN Gallery. Context here becomes subtext. As seen in Park Avenue Lobby Lamps with Poinsettia, Witz’s tableaus are transformed into shrines by their own self-contained auras. Stage sets posing as intimate domestic interiors allow us to suspend disbelief long enough to enter the world of the painting. The obvious artifice of these interiors and the alluring chiaroscuro play of opposites between light and dark call to mind not only the dualities of our everyday lives vs. packaged realities, but serve the artist as “a sustaining metaphor for what it is to make paintings”.

Dan Witz, Bar Shrine II (triptych) 2009, oil and mixed media on canvas, 56 x 78 in.

Dan Witz, Bar Shrine II (triptych) 2009, oil and mixed media on canvas, 56 x 78 in.

“There’s a revealing tension there – a subliminal signal of something significant, some clue to understanding our modern lives as outcasts, searching for light, and warmth, and meaning. As a kid I always sneaked over to look in the drawers of the lobby desks, hoping for some kind of sign or surprise. ” – Dan Witz

Dan Witz was born in Chicago in 1957. He studied at Rhode Island School of Design and Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture before graduating from Cooper Union School of Art in New York in 1980. He has had several international exhibitions and has been a grant recipient from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Witz’s work has been featured in publications such as Time, New York andJuxtapoz. In January 2009, a monograph titled, “Dan Witz. In Plain View. 30 Years of Artworks, Illegal and Otherwise,” will be published by Gingko Press. Dan Witz is also a well known street artist, balancing his time between making paintings in his studio in Brooklyn. This is Dan Witz’s fifth solo exhibition at DFN Gallery.

DFN Gallery is now located at 74 East 79th Street (between Park & Madison Avenues)
Gallery Hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11 AM to 7 PM.
For further information please call 212-334-3400 or visit us at www.dfngallery.com

Read more
Dan Witz is Doing Dark Things in West Hollywood

Dan Witz is Doing Dark Things in West Hollywood

November 4, 2009 , , , ,
Dan puts some dark touches on his new installation at Carmichael Gallery (image courtesy Carmichael)

Dan touches up some fingers on his new installation at Carmichael Gallery (image courtesy Carmichael)

You’ve walked by his work a hundred times on the street in plain view.  No really, you probably have, and didn’t know it.  Dan Witz specializes in detailed work that when fully realized, can be be easy to miss.

"Dark Doings" is getting a lot of attention for Carmichael Gallery

“Dark Doings” is getting a lot of attention along North LaBrea Avenue.

A Chicago native, Witz has been in New York since he was an art-school punk at Cooper Union during a drug deranged haze that reigned in the economically bombed-out Lower East Side at the dawn of the Reagan Revolution.  Graffiti art was expanding and morphing into many styles as this thinking-man explored an anti-graffiti that did anything but seek attention for it’s own sake.

gallery

Gallery preparations are underway for the show. (image courtesy Carmichael)

Over the years Dan has specialized in conceptual pranks, street interventions, and Dutch master inspired palm-sized oil paintings.  While inspired by graffiti writers as a student, he instead practiced a more studied craft on the street that almost asked to be overlooked. Much of his work has adorned quietly, a subtle strong commentary to those who would observe.

A ghostlike female visage appears behind the cracked wire-inlaid window (Dan Witz) (courtesy the artist)

A ghostlike female visage appears behind the cracked wire-inlaid window (Dan Witz) (courtesy the artist)

Tomorrow at Carmichael Gallery the prolific Witz, now from Brooklyn, will be expanding on a series he began a few years ago that was meant to draw attention to the new boom in soul-less building design in “up-and-coming” neighborhoods like Williamsburg.  The fake exhaust vents, placed appropriately along the facades of “ugly” buildings, feature fingers and gloved hands pressing between the grates in an act of escape.

Can you keep a secret? (Dan Witz) (image courtesy the artist)

Can you keep a secret? (Dan Witz) (image courtesy the artist)

“Dark Doings”, the new show, takes the experiment a step further to the safety windows that beckon from steel doors in industrial areas. Attached in such a realistic manner, you may think that a woman has her face pressed up against the glass from inside.  Or you may not notice his work in plain view.

New pieces by Dan Witz waiting to be hung for Thursday's show (image courtesy Carmichael)

New pieces by Dan Witz waiting to be hung for Thursday’s show (image courtesy Carmichael)

Brooklyn Street Art: Dan, my front doors have those same square wire-veined windows! One night a drunk neighbor couldn’t find his key so he smashed one with a can of coke and there were little pieces of glass all over the floor. Your people definitely look trapped in there. Little portholes of desperation. Or is that just me?
Dan Witz: I like that story. But I’d change it to little portals of desperation.

Dan did a special installation this week in L.A. for Halloween. Um, scary (Dan Witz) (image courtesy Carmichael)

Dan did a special installation this week in L.A. for Halloween. Um, scary (Dan Witz) (image courtesy Carmichael)

Brooklyn Street Art: Sometimes your pieces on the street are so well camouflaged that people will not know they are there. Would you rather that your work is discovered or looked over?
Dan Witz: I know it’s perverse and probably not in my best self-interest but I love the idea of thousands of people walking by my pieces every day and not seeing them. Eventually though the law of averages (I put up so damned many of them) will catch up with you and you’ll see one. Then I’m hoping you’ll go, ‘Holy shit!” and begin to wonder what else you’ve been missing out there.

Dark doings definitely happening in the gallery (Dan Witz) (image courtesy Carmichael)

Dark doings definitely happening in the gallery (Dan Witz) (image courtesy Carmichael)

Brooklyn Street Art: You like to be outdoors, and many of your pieces in Brooklyn are about people trying to get out through vents of ugly new buildings. Is this work autobiographical in any way?

Dan Witz: The Ugly new Buildings projects is autobiographical inasmuch as I live in the neighborhood that these arrogant architectural abominations have been inflicted upon. The subtext of the piece was never one of escape, but more of frustration and powerlessness. As a street artist I take what’s happening on my own streets very personally.

 

(Dan Witz) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Another project was to re-create street signs that contain characters or body parts in them, like this one with a scuba diver. (Dan Witz) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: “Dark Doings” still retains a punk rock flavor. And yet, so much of your work seems luminous and glowing and warm. Does a punk ever lose that rebellious dark side?

Dan Witz: It’s true that much of my youth was spent romanticizing the dark side. I believed that the truth could only be found by a violent rejection of the status quo. I still believe this, especially concerning creativity, but the truth about the so called dark side is that it’s mostly a pose and that the rest is ultimately sad and is the graveyard of a lot of wasted talent.

I’m just glad I made it back to report on it with my faculties (somewhat) intact. At some point after I hit thirty, I noticed that all I wanted to paint was light, and I needed to make it as warm and luminous and spiritually nourishing as I could. Not too ‘hip’ a career concept one would think, but somehow this turned out to be a rebellious act as well–at least for me. I can’t claim the metaphor was intentional but it’s not the first time my work has benefitted from such a suspiciously lucky coincidence.

>>>> > >  >>> >> > >>>

The exhibition “Dark Doings” will have an opening reception
Thursday November 5 from 7-10 PM at Carmichael Gallery in West Hollywood, CA.

Dan Witz’s Website Here

Read an excellent interview with Dan Witz by Ali Gitlow last week on JustSeeds.org

Read more
Images of the Week 09.13.09

Images of the Week 09.13.09

September 13, 2009 , , ,

Our Weekly Interview with the Street

Dan Witz
Oh Baby! (Dan Witz) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz
Dan Witz (photo Jaime Rojo)

Cow boy
I am just a cowboy lonesome on the trail
A starry night, a campfire light
The coyote call, the howling winds wail (photo Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe
Elbow Toe “Divine Hammer” (photo Jaime Rojo)

Explore Yourself
Explore Yourself (photo Jaime Rojo)

Gaia
Gaia (photo Jaime Rojo)

Gaia
Out on Cow Kontrol! (Gaia) (photo Jaime Rojo)

General Howe
Soldier bones (General Howe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster
Imminent Disaster (photo Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster
Birdie Birdie (Veng RWK) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Ink
And for my next number I’d like to return to the classics… (Ink, Shin Shin) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Ink
They did the MASH! They did the MONSTER MASH (Ink) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Keely
Fish head (Keely) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Niz
“Young Fella, if yer lookin’ fer trouble I’ll accomodate ya.” (Niz) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Click to hear the original John Wayne audio

Oopsy Daisy
Halloween is in the air! (Oopsy Daisy) (photo Jaime Rojo)

The Dude Company
Portrait of Common by The Dude Company (photo Jaime Rojo)

I'm gonna eat you!
You’re a nice Puddy Tat!  (photo Jaime Rojo)

Let's go shopping
You hear that?  No, I dint hear nuthin’.    (photo Jaime Rojo)

Read more
Images of the Week 05.31.09

Images of the Week 05.31.09

May 30, 2009 , , , ,

(photo Jaime Rojo)
Die young, stay pretty. (Shin Shin, Billi Kid) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain (photo Jaime Rojo)
Yo, he barely cleared that post. That was close! (Chris Stain) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo) crosby street
Crosby Street (photo Jaime Rojo)

Dain! There's something in mah ahh! (Dain) (photo Jaime Rojo)
Dain! There’s somethin’ in mah ahh!  (Dain) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(Dan Witz) (photo Jaime Rojo)
Okay, I’m going to need to see some I.D. (Dan Witz) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Oh hi (photo Jaime Rojo)
Oh hi, no I’m just looking for my contact.  I dropped it over here someplace. (photo Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster (photo Jaime Rojo)
Help us out with this one if you know the name/s (Imminent Disaster) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(Mussolini) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Mussolini. The original Che (photo Jaime Rojo)

(Nobody) (photo Jaime Rojo)
Incredible new colorful sculpture by Nobody. (photo Jaime Rojo)

NYDF (photo Jaime Rojo)
Another ingenious merging of the two cities. (NYDF) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(passenger pigeon) (photo Jaime Rojo)
(Passenger Pigeon) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Peru Ana (photo Jaime Rojo)
Blowing bubbles or smoking a pipe? (Peru Ana Ana Peru) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(Tazzmat) (photo Jaime Rojo)
(Red Nose Tazzmat) (photo Jaime Rojo)

(Tian) (photo Jaime Rojo)
You mention my multicolored bike and I’ll punch your lights out. (Tian) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Read more

Two Andrews talk about “From the Streets of Brooklyn”

January 6, 2009

An unprecedented show of Brooklyn street art starts off 2009 at ThinkSpace gallery.

Bam! The year has barely started and the momentum from the previous giant year for street art blows clear into January with a new show of 50 artists from the streets of Brooklyn.

ThinkSpace Gallery, a warm-hearted community space and home of rockin’ shows in L.A. since 2005, plays host to it’s brothers and sisters across the continent with a salon-style show of street artists, graff writers, a hot photographer, and live on-the-street work by the chalk artist from BK.

In the middle of the installation craziness, the curator of the show, Andrew Michael Ford (gallery director at Ad Hoc), and Andrew Hosner (co-founder of ThinkSpace), talked with Brooklyn Street Art about the show:

BSA: So how did AdHoc and ThinkSpace hook up to do this show?

Andrew Hosner: Andrew and I have been friends for a while, and met while he was still doing some curating before hooking up with the Ad Hoc crew. One day we were just shooting the s**t about some show ideas and I tossed out the idea of bringing Brooklyn to Los Angeles…

Andrew Michael Ford: I’ve followed what ThinkSpace shows for quite some time and I was always very impressed with the work. I also have always felt that the folks who run ThinkSpace and myself have very similar tastes as far as curating art goes. Something like this has been talked about or at least thought about for quite some time and when Thinkspace approached us about doing it I felt like it was the right place and right time.

BSA: Is it a kind of East-West cultural exchange?

Andrew Michael Ford: The show is about bringing a large group of Brooklyn street artists and graf writers to Los Angeles. We haven’t discussed bringing LA artists to Brooklyn but I would be open to talking about something like that for the future.

Thundercut (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

Thundercut (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

BSA: Brooklyn’s streetscape is pretty dense and is largely accessible by foot. Do you think the L.A. scene is more spread out? How do the two differ, in broad strokes.

Andrew Michael Ford: I have never been to LA but I heard you need a car to get anywhere out there so I assume it’s gotta be pretty spread out.

Andrew Hosner: I think you nailed it on the head, Brooklyn is much more condensed and has more of a community vibe to it I feel, whereas LA is the true meaning of urban sprawl, being one of the most spread out and varied big cities out there. There’s no real community vibe, save for lil’ pockets here and there, but the breadth of the city kind of goes against the notion of all that.

Dan Witz "Scott" from show "From the Streets of Brooklyn" (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

Dan Witz "Scott" from show "From the Streets of Brooklyn" (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

BSA: Maybe this is impossible to put your finger on, but what would be a couple of characteristics that distinguish Brooklyn street art from other cities in the world?

Andrew Michael Ford: For me it started in NYC. I mean, graf started in Philly but really came into it’s own in NYC. I just don’t see that kind of history anywhere else. I see the lineage of graf into street art and that is why so many graf writers have been invited to this show. It’s not just about who is doing a lot of street art. It’s about who is getting up and staying in the streets of Brooklyn regardless of tools being used. I don’t like it when street artists from other cities look at graf here in NYC as some kind of background for their work. It’s a massive slap in the face to all graf writers. Brooklyn street artists have a lot more respect for graf than street artists I have met from other cities, especially from Europe. Maybe that’s the thing that distinguishes what’s going on in the streets of Brooklyn from other places.

Imminent Disaster (earlier work) (courtesy ThinkSpace and Ad Hoc)

Imminent Disaster (earlier work) (courtesy ThinkSpace and Ad Hoc)

BSA: You are showing a LOT of artists…did you have enough (Think) Space?

Andrew Hosner: Hahaha… it will be a very packed show hung salon style, going off of color palette and style. Should look amazing, but it is going to be a visual overload for sure. Patrons will be overwhelmed by Gaia and Rachel Lowing’s thought provoking install immediately upon entering the gallery, then passing through the entry area will be met by a tidal wave of artwork, coming at them from all directions, floor to ceiling… before turning the corner into our project room in the back where Disaster’s massive undertaking will greet them.

BSA: A bit like herding cats?

Andrew Michael Ford: Not really. Honestly, everyone involved believes in this show so much and have been very supportive and helpful in putting it all together.

Matt Siren (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

Matt Siren (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

BSA: Will you have time to give Mr. Ford a tour of the sickest sites while he’s there?

Andrew Hosner: It’s hard to say since the focus will be our show, but hopefully on Saturday after the show has passed we will get out to see some of the hotter spots about LA to enjoy works outside. With so many coming to town for the opening, there’s a good chance we’ll be able to watch some of Brooklyn’s finest… cool thing is, all will be able to watch Ellis G. on opening night doing his thing on our block, and I can’t wait for that.

Andrew Michael Ford: I would love to see some stuff by Saber if possible. But really anything good being done would be great to check out.

Ellis G. (courtesy Ad Hoc and ThinkSpace)

Ellis G. (courtesy Ad Hoc and ThinkSpace)

BSA: The Brooklyn scene keeps evolving rapidly; what is one trend that you are seeing that is telling you about the future?

I see more and more people throwing up wheatpastes in the streets that I don’t feel are well executed or well placed. I mean, there is room for everything and I love to see what people feel they need to put up but it does worry me sometimes when I see tons of poorly crafted wheatpastes thrown all over the place with no thought to where it is being placed or the quality of the imagery they are producing. I would just like to see people take a little more time in the creation of their art and in the selection of the spots they decide to hit.

Elbow-Toe (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

Elbow-Toe (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

BSA: Whose work is exciting to you right now, and what does it say to you?

Andrew Hosner: I love the work of Elbow-Toe, whose work is really a statement on the state of things in our society right now. His every man piece is by far one of the most powerful and extremely well executed works of this past year. You can look at that work 20 years from now and know that it was referencing the economic struggles were going through currently, while also hinting at the 1st great depression. Powerful work.

Also very inspired by the works of Imminent Disaster, due to her strength in so many different creative outlets… Chris Stain also is someone who should be looked up to. Thought provoking work and just a great overall cat.

Stikman (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

Stikman (courtesy ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

Andrew Michael Ford: I think that street art needs to interact with the space where it is placed (good placement is key) and it needs to engage the viewer. Working big can sometimes do this but sometimes it can be a big massive nothing. It’s tough to point to a specific artist but if I had to pick one I can say I’m really intrigued by what the artist Stikman does, as he uses a wide variety of mediums and techniques and always catches you off guard with the placement of his work. Very smart work.

Anera (image by Luna Park) (courtesy Luna Park, ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

Anera (image by Luna Park) (courtesy Luna Park, ThinkSpace and AdHoc)

BSA: What impression do you think the gallery-goer in L.A. is going to come away with about the Brooklyn street art scene?

Andrew Michael Ford: That’s a great question but sadly one that I have no answer to. I haven’t got a clue what kind of reception we will get when we arrive. I am hoping this can be a positive experience for everyone involved.

Andrew Hosner: I hope they come away feeling inspired and filled with the desire to visit the streets of Brooklyn in person, so they can experience these works as they were originally meant to be, and also feel compelled to explore the works of each in the show further, hopefully coming away with a new favorite that they will watch in the years that lay ahead.

I think many will also be surprised at the sheer breadth and quality of work on view – it is definitely an eye opener type of exhibit. Hopefully this will help to open their eyes to the beauty that is all around them in Los Angeles and abroad. So many walk through their city with blinders on, and it really is a revelation when you start to take in and appreciate the work of urban artists.

ThinkSpace Gallery

AdHoc Art

From the Streets of Brooklyn

More stuff on ThinkSpace and Andrew Hosner from the art collector blog

Read more
Year in Images 2008

Year in Images 2008

January 1, 2009 , , ,

Paradigm Shifting and Cave Writings

Looking back at the powerful changes in ’08,

it’s not hard to see their reflection on the Brooklyn streets, which may serve as tea leaves revealing the messages swirling around us and in us. Each individual act of creating is of significance, yet it is the cumulative effect of the groundswell of new participants that seems so powerful, so hopeful in it’s desire.

Naturally, at the beginning of this selection of images from 2008, we are featuring the most visible street art piece of the year by Shepard Fairey, which appeared here on the streets of Brooklyn and transcended mediums to reach millions of people. Shepard’s graphic design style and his images of the man who would be president helped many to quickly glimpse the character and message of Barack Obama.

A Winning Campaign (Shepard Fairey) (photo Jaime Rojo)

A Winning Campaign (Shepard Fairey) (photo Jaime Rojo)

The image was replicated, adopted, adapted, transformed, re-formed, lampooned even. It became an icon that belonged to everyone who cared to own it, and a symbol of the change the man on the street was looking for. Like street art, Obama’s message was taken directly to the people, and they responded powerfully in a way that brought a historic shift; one that continues to unfold.

Elsewhere on the street we saw themes from topical to fantastical; crazy disjointed cultural mash-ups, celebrity worship or destruction, Big Brother, icons, symbols, death, war, economic stress, protest, dancing, robots and monsters and clowns and angels, and an incredible pathos for humanity and it’s sorry state… with many reminders of those marginalized and disaffected. We never forget the incredible power of the artist to speak to our deepest needs and fears.

The movement of young and middle-aged artists off the isle of pricey mall-ish Manhattan and into Brooklyn is not quite an exodus, but boy, sometimes it feels that way. The air sometimes is thick with it; the creative spirit. The visual dialogue on the street tells you that there is vibrant life behind doors – studios, galleries, practice rooms, loft parties, rooftops.

Even as a debate about street art’s appropriate placement on public/private walls continues, it continues. From pop art to fine art, painterly to projected, one-offs to mass repetition, Brooklyn street art continues to grow beyond our expectations, and our daily lives are largely enriched by it.

This collection is not an exhaustive survey – the archival approach isn’t particularly stimulating and we’re not academics, Madge. The street museum is always by chance, and is always about your two eyes. Here’s a smattering, a highly personal trip through favorites that were caught during the year.

[svgallery name=”Images of Year 2008″]

Read more

Quick Shot – The Anonymous “Piece Process”

December 18, 2008 , ,

Durn, it was awfully crowded over there on the isle of Manhattan last night,

but it was totally worth it if you took the time to peel people off the wall and take a gander at the art (pardon me Martha, mind the elbows, Elbow-toe). The show has the goal of drawing connections between the processes and techniques employed by well known names from the 70’s/80’s and the emerging crop of wild-eyed beasts today. Shockingly, the similarities were readily apparent, and that was somehow reassuring in a crazy mixed up world like ours. …Not to mention that this show brings you into the backroom, the studio, the cramped apartment, to see the doodlings, the lists, sketches, and planning that artists employ when they first conceive of their pieces. This is an educational show, and a kindly revelation.

There seemed like a hundred pieces or more – we show only a smattering here; all courtesy Anonymous Gallery.

[svgallery name=”Piece_Process_Anonymous”]

Anonymous Gallery

Read more

Featured Video | Martin Wong’s “Houston Street”

Recent Articles on BSA