All posts tagged: Daze

Best Miami Street Art: BSA Picks Awesomest for Basel ’12

BSA Recommends: Where to Hit for the Best Street Art

Art Basel is set to whip Miami into a sea-foamy art-star laden froth this weekend, but art on the street is the unofficial engine that will be keeping it real. No one can doubt that the wave of Street Art, this first global grassroots peoples art movement, is sort of everywhere now, haters be damned.

The ugly streets of the Wynwood District easily get as much traffic as the big commercial art fairs even though there is no guest list or ticket price. It feels remarkably different to see the marbled horde exploring art in the public realm, posing for photos with each other in front of pieces, talking with the artists as they paint, sharing their favorite discoveries on Instagram.  This is the art of this moment, and there is just something more democratic about it all.

Our list, in no particular order, doesn’t even include the main fair actually. Hit the streets!

1. Wynwood Walls
2. Fountain Art Fair
3. The Factory Art Show
4. Scope Fair
5. Pulse
6. Miami Project Art Fair
7. Context
8. Primary Projects
9. BLADE at Adjust Gallery
10. A Box Truck Caravan from Klughaus
11. Snyder “Urban Pop Up Gallery”

We have sifted through the offerings in Miami for 2012, and made some selections to help you see Street Art inside and outside, by brand new artists and some with 40 years in the game.  Take your camera, take your sneakers, and take your love of the creative spirit.

Wynwood Walls

Arguably one of the main reasons that Street Artists began pouring into Miami in the late 2000s, Wynwood Walls opened the streets to the gallery world and increasingly galleries are opening doors to these artists from street. Wynwood Walls founder Tony Goldman would have wanted it that way and is credited by many artists as the first guy to give their art a chance to be seen.

WW doesn’t stop this year even as the recently departed real estate developer will be on many minds, not the least because of the huge wall installation by Shepard Fairey honoring him as a benefactor of the arts.

A well mixed list of internationally known and emerging names are featured on a slightly shorter list this year including: How & Nosm, MOMO, DAZE, Shepard Fairey, Jesse Geller (Nemel, IRAK), Faith47, Daleast, Santiago Rubino, POSE and Kenny Scharf. The out door walls are complemented with an indoor exhibition featuring new works on canvas by AIKO, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm and Futura.

How & Nosm. Wynwood Walls 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information about wall locations and all the artists click here.

Fountain Art Fair

A loosely spun ball of misfits and future art stars, Fountain Art Fair always flies just under the radar of it’s more tony neighbors with its somewhat haphazard staging and the kind of unpretentious collaborative punk flophouse environment that gives rise to many Street Artists on the scene today. If you don’t need your art spoon-fed, you’ll find a link to the future here in the motley D.I.Y. parade. Also, a few really strong talents. As usual Fountain is making certain to spill outside the white box, onto the streets and onto the walls. This year line up of Street Artists painting the Fountain Wall include:

Rone, Australia | LNY, New Jersey | PLF, Atlanta | Trek Matthews, Atlanta | Jaz, Argentina | Elian, Argentina | Ever, Argentina | Dal East, China | Faith 47, South Africa | Molly Rose Freeman, Tennessee | Dustin Spagnola, North Carolina | Pixel Pancho, Italy | Never 2501, Italy | Sam Parker, Atlanta | GILF!, NYC | EnMasse, Canada | Lauren Napolitano, Oakland CA | Joe Iurato, NJ | Anne Preece, LA | Nobody, NYC | Pastel, Argentina | Hec One Love, Miami.

RONE. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information and schedule of events for Fountain Art Fair click here.

The Factory Art Show

A little more on the commercial tip, Juxtapoz Magazine and its minion are leaders in blasting open minds to help you enjoy delicious tattoo art, graffiti art, Street Art, pop surrealist and dark pop, erotic art, and of course hypnotically animated gifs. Here Jux teams up with Mixed Media Collective to bring you an indoor and outdoor exhibition featuring a left coast imbued view of the street with national and international artists including: 131, Abstrkt, Alex Yanes, Myla (of Dabs & Myla), DALeast, Evoca1, Faith47, Jose Mertz, Lebo, Tatiana Suarez, Toofly, and La Pandilla among others.

Tatiana TATI Suarez at The RC Cola Factory in The Wynwood Arts District of Miami, 2009. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information about THE FACTORY art exhibition click here.

Scope Fair

Scope Art Fair is a few steps removed from the street, even as it deeply mines that vein and packages it for sale. Big sale. Usually high quality and undoubtedly commercial, the fair aims for deeper pockets and the art trade while still trying to maintain the accessible, challenging works that accomplished GenX collectors are looking for.  Not surprisingly, artists once known exclusively as Street Artists are all up in there too.

Scope’s roster of galleries includes many that represent Street Artists from around the world including:  Cory Helford Gallery from Culver City, CA will be presenting D*Face and Buff Monster. Galerie Swanström from NYC will be presenting Gilf!  White Walls Gallery from San Fransico, CA. will be presenting C215, Herakut, Augustine Kofie, Logan Hicks and Niels Shoe Meulman. Andenken Gallery / The Garage from Amsterdam, Spoke Art Gallery from San Francisco and Thinkspace from Culver City, CA will also have booths at Scope. Scope Art Fair includes a large variety of programs along with their main exhibition including Red Bull Curates with artists Cosbe and Claw Money among others and Anthony Spinello curates TYPOE.

Buff Monster at Wynwood Arts District, Miami. 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Pulse

Pulse Art Fair insists on paring works on canvas with art installations as a way to engage the public and make the art viewing experience (and hopefully the art buying experience) far less clinical and more accessible. Detailed, immaculate, and approachable, Pulse is always a must to visit if you are doing the fair circuit. This year as in previous years Pulse has included some of the most important art galleries representing and promoting the work of internationally established Street Artists. Some examples: LeBasse Projects from Culver City, CA will be presenting Herakut, The Joshua Liner Gallery from NYC will be presenting Stephen “ESPO” Powers, and The Jonathan LeVine Gallery from NYC will be presenting a solo exhibition by French Street Artist and tilest INVADER.

Invader. South Beach, Miami. 2010 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Miami Project Art Fair

One to watch, The Miami Project Art Fair originates from peeps in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and has about 70 galleries in its inaugural showing with contemporary and modern art offerings.  We expect this fair to provide the already charged air with an extra bolt of energy. One worth hitting is the Cooper Cole Gallery from Toronto, Canada will be presenting Brooklyn’s own Maya Hayuk.

Maya Hayuk. Monster Island, Brooklyn, NYC. November, 2009. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Context

Context is one of the newest fairs, and will feature French Street Artists RERO and Speedy Graphito, represented by the Fabien Castanier Gallery from Studio City, CA.

Speedy Graphito “Urban Dreamer” (photo courtesy of the gallery)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Primary Projects

Honorable mention here for the originators of the Wynwood outdoor graffiti (and Street Art) exhibitions that pre-date the official Wynwood Walls and were run on a shoelace budget and lots of hustle, Primary Flight. This year as a gallery project they have refocused their scope and present a full installation by multidisciplinary artist Kenton Parker. He is planning to bring his “Taco Shop” to the 8th floor of the Soho Beach House in Miami Beach.

Kenton Parker. “Las Lucky’s” Taco Shop. (photo © Peter Vahan)

From the Primary Flight press release: “How do you encapsulate the underground, past-midnight culture of Los Angeles into a single structure? For multimedia artist Kenton Parker, his establishment stationed outside the fashionable Las Palmas nightclub brings the beautiful people back to their basic needs; everyone pays the same dollar for the same after-party, hangover fare. Sharply crafted from tile mosaic, Parker’s standalone shop offers patrons everything from sodas to recovered fake Louis Vuitton wallets, from spray paint to Nerds candy boxes”

For a full listing of Primary Projects exhibitions and other details click here.

ALSO HAPPENING IN MIAMI THIS WEEKEND:

In addition to the perhaps 100 or so Street Artists participating this year in the established art fairs and galleries, there will be dozens of installations outside the sanctioned venues. So far Miami is still in love with it all – both legal and illegal installations provide the essential ethos of an art world invasion. Without these artists and independent stagings away of the glitzy openings and glare of cameras, these art fairs and  just feel like “commerce”.  Some other gigs to check out :

BLADE at Adjust Gallery

Adjust Gallery in Miami will be hosting an exhibition of legendary Graffiti New York artist BLADE. Vernissage: December 6 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Adjust Gallery Miami, 150 NW 24th Ave (305) 458-2801.

Blade in MoCA Los Angeles for Art in The Streets. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Box Truck Caravan from Klughaus

Klauhhaus Gallery has been mounting some of the best graffiti/Street Art/tattoo/low brow shows in NYC since the gallery opened in Chinatown in 2011. We give it up for these ruggedly smart idea people who will be making their inaugural trip to Miami. With a caravan of box trucks parked strategically in the Wynwood Arts District their artists will be live painting on the trucks and the trucks will parade around showcasing a mobile gallery as the trucks will in fact be moving canvases. The trucks will feature art by: RIME, TOPER, DCEVE, WANE, SP, CES, OBLVN, STAE2, GOREY among others.

Rime . Dceve . Toper (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information about live painting schedule and locations click here.

Snyder “Urban Pop Up Gallery”

And finally there is Snyder, who is just one of the intrepid D.I.Y. artists who inspire you with their will to succeed – even without being plugged in to the scene. From the artist’s press release: “Snyder, a Southern California based street artist, will be installing his ‘Urban Pop Up Gallery’ in the streets of Miami. With no contacts, no pre-arranged walls, no assistants and in a city never previously visited, Snyder attempts to install 30+ pieces of art in the streets of Miami over a 7 day period, ultimately curating his 2nd large scale ‘Urban Pop Up Gallery”.

 

 

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FIRST LOOK at Miami 2012: Walls, Street Art, Action!

Street Art is already smacking up Miami walls – an aerosol advance committee of art in the streets to welcome the bacchanal of collectors, performers, artists, fans, galleries, hoodlums, charlatans, thumping beats, and very famous and important celebrities you have never heard of are all here for Art Basel and related fairs.

Just for you, we have some of the first images of the walls as they are going up…

..from Martha Cooper, who is on the ground documenting all the walls going up for Wynwood Walls as she has done officially for them for a few years now, and she talks about the new OBEY tribute to Wynwood Walls founder Tony Goldman who passed away this autumn, and shows us DAZE in action.

We also have on-the-beat stuff from photographer and BSA contributor Geoff Hargadon – who has an insatiable thirst for clever spots and a keen eye for capturing them. We’ll be bringing more from him to you later this week too.

Finally the ever clever twins How & Nosm offer you images of their just completed Wynwood Wall mural, a collabo with VHILS.

Herakut. Wynwood Arts District. Miami 2012. This seven story tall mural is part of Herakut’s Giant Story Book Project. The German Duo will be creating large scale murals across several cites to introduce characters from the children’s book the artists are in the process of creating. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Shepard Fairey/OBEY. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Mimai 2012. “This Wall was a tribute to Tony Goldman with a central figure of him surrounded by people he admired and was inspired by -MLK, Warhol etc…” (photo and text © Martha Cooper)

Shepard Fairey/OBEY. Detail. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“The biggest and maybe most interesting wall this year is the one by OBEY. They completely re-did their first Wynwood wall from 2009. That one was all wheat pasted. This time they used a technique similar to that of Sten & Lex. They lightly pasted pre-printed sheets on the wall and then cut out the black parts with X-Acto knives, making a stencil. After spraying, the paper was peeled away, leaving the paint” – Martha Cooper

Shepard Fairey/OBEY. Detail. (photo © Martha Cooper)

MOMO gives it a modernist splash at Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Oh, wait, this may be the real splash; Krink at Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Krink . Nemel. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

In an epic DAZE at Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

DAZE. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Faith 47 throws on a head scarf and drapes herself across a Wynwood wall. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

DALeast. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

How & Nosm . VHILS. “Cut Out For You”  Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © Martha Cooper)

How & Nosm . VHILS. “Cut Out For You” Detail.  Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm . VHILS. “Cut Out For You” Detail.  Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm . VHILS. “Cut Out For You” Detail.  Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm . VHILS. “Cut Out For You” Detail.  Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm . VHILS. “Cut Out For You” Detail.  Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2012. (photo © How & Nosm)

 

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Carlo McCormick at Nuart 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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Fun Friday 04.20.12

1. ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)
2. Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)
3. LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)
4. Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)
5. Marsea Gives You the “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)
6. Erica Il Cane  “Una Vita Violenta” at Fifty24MX Gallery (Mexico City)
7. Brett Amory “Waiting 101” at Outsiders Gallery (Newcastle, UK)
8. OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)
9. C215 “About Copyrights” (VIDEO)
10. The Bushwick Trailer (VIDEO)

ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)

With his current show, now on view at the StolenSpace Gallery in London, ROA will demonstrate how you can be asleep and awake at the same time. His solo show “Hypnagogia” opens today to the general public and offers a dissected view of ROA’s fantastic world of animals and beasts. ROA’s hand crafted book “An Introduction To Animal Representation” by Mammal Press is on sale at The Old Truman Brewery on 91 Brick Lane. Hurry there are only only 125 tomes being offered.

Roa (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)

Katowice, a Silesian city in Southern Poland celebrates Street Art with their own Street Art Festival, now on its second year, from April 20 through April 29. The gray, concrete architecture that dominates this town will be imbued with color, shapes and fantasy with the help of this city most prominent daughter, OLEK aided by an illustrious list of first rate of fine and Street Artists including Mark Kenkins, Escif, Boogie, Moneyless, Ganzeer, Ludo, Mona Tusz, Swanski, 0700 Team, Tellas, Dan Witz, Hyuro, M City, ROA, Goro, Kilo, Nespoon, Aryz, 108, Wers, Ciah-Ciah, Etam Crew, Otecki, Razpajzan, Sepe, Chazme, CFNTX Crew, Onte, Jezmirski, Terry Grand, Dast, Impact, Malik, Turbos and Mentalgassi.

Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this festival click here.

LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)

The West Coast continues to assert itself as a power house in the art world and as a Street Art mecca with the inaugural show of LALA Gallery. A brand new gallery conceived by Daniel Lahoda, the mind and soul and legs of LA Freewalls Project.

LALA’s line up of artists for this first show augurs an auspicious beginning and a successful life which we hope last for a long, long time. “LA Freewalls Inside” is the title of this show and artists included are: Anthony Lister, Askew One, Becca, Cern, Chris Brand, Cryptik, Cyrcle, Dale VN Marshall, Dan Witz, Daze, Dee Dee Cheriel, Evan Skrederstu, How & Nosm, Insa, Jaybo, Kim West, Kofie, Lady Aiko, Ludo, Mear, The Perv Brothers, Poesia, Push, Pyro, Ripo, Risk, Ron English, Saber, Shepard Fairey, Swoon and Zes.

Dan Witz. Detail of his installation “The Prisoners” on the walls of LALA. (photo © Dan Witz)

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Todd Mazer)

For further details regarding this show click here.

Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)

Herakut, the indefatigable German collective are a busy duo with an impressive craft and a mastery of the can and paint brushes. Never compromising their artistic output regardless of their environment or medium they set their collaborative standards high with an output rich in earthy colors. Their palette of ores, reds, grays, oranges, blues, browns and yellows give birth to a universe of characters that are  fantastic and mysterious and in pursuit of you, the spectator. In San Francisco at 941 Geary Gallery Saturday the reception will be open for the artists and you at “Loving the Exiled”.

Hera at work in preparation for the show. (photo courtesy © Jennifer Goff)

Akut at work in preparation for the show. (photo courtesy © Jennifer Goff)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Group Show “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)

HIGH FIVE! the new group show at New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles opens tomorrow and the artists include Alia Penner, Ashely Macomber, Curtis Kulig, Deanna Templeton, Maya Hayuk and Vanessa Prager.

Curtis Kulig AKA Love Me (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

Tomorrow, Saturday April 22 will be the last day to see Erica Il Cane show “Una Vita Violenta” at the Fifty24MX Gallery in Mexico City.  The gallery will also participate with Erica Il Cane at the Zona Maco Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair in Mexico City. April 18 – April 22. For further details about “Una Vita Violenta” click here. For more details about Zona Maco, Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair click here.

Brett Amory solo show “Waiting 101” At the Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle, UK opens today to the general public. Click here for more details about this show.

OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)

Still working on that scarf you’ve been knitting for OLEK’s birthday? You missed it.

C215 “About Copyrights” (VIDEO)

The Bushwick Trailer (VIDEO)

Starring: Bishop 203, Veng and Never

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Lala Gallery Presents: “LA Freewalls Inside” (Los Angeles, CA)

LA Freewalls Inside

Dear Friends, 

We are incredibly proud to announce the opening of LALA Gallery on Saturday, April 21, 2012 where we will be presenting LA Freewalls Inside.
LA Freewalls Inside is a group show featuring over 40 artists who have helped make Downtown Los Angeles one of the biggest and most recognizable public art spaces in the world, including Shepard Fairey, SWOON, HOW and NOSM. Keep a lookout as we unveil the final line-up over the next two weeks.
So spread the word, bring a friend and help us break-in the space for the first of what will be many, many, more events.
– Daniel Lahoda, LALA Gallery
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“Poorhouse for the Rich” Revitalized By The Arts

A block-long limestone mansion originally built as a welfare hotel for the retiring rich invites streetwise Graff artists and others to gild it’s decayed rooms, raising it from pigeon-infested squalor. Call it “This Side of Paradise”

Enter a discussion about the impact of the modern Street Art movement and someone will inveigh with swollen gravitas that Street Art has the power to “activate” or “re-vitalize” a previously moribund space, to bring it to life. Aside from sounding like part of the gentrification process, the “activate” argument is meant to tip on its head the impulse of  simple-minded dullards who opine that Street Art and it’s cousin graffiti are pure social disease and degrading to the foundations of city life.

How and Nosm “Reflections” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Opening in April in the Bronx a similarly anti-intuitive project invites artists of the street to create new life in a decaying mansion and the looking-glass contradictions are as rich as those of the benefactor for whom the aged home is named. The Andrew Freedman Home, with it’s Italian Renaissance details and stepped back grandeur along the Grand Concourse and a mile south of Yankee Stadium, acquired its landmark status in 1984 – the same year it breathed it’s final breath as a retirement home for the rich who had fallen on hard times.

When the building’s namesake, a New York millionaire businessman and colleague of the corrupt Tammany Hall, died as a confirmed bachelor in 1915, he wanted to make sure the money he left would keep the wealthy feeling wealthy after falling in the poorhouse. He simply didn’t want his peers to suffer no matter their financial plight so his wealth commissioned this mammoth home with roughly twice the space of the White House to give these deserved folk a good life in their later years, with servants. Beginning in the Roaring Twenties and over the next six decades, with hallways as long as 22 Town Cars, the ground-bound ship liner swam with former Cunard attendants serving the mostly white seniors as they dined in red and black Chinoiserie style, thumbed books in the library, played sport in the billiard room, and bobbed in the grand ballroom.

 

How and Nosm “Reflections” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How and Nosm “Reflections” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I think that you cannot help but be struck by the bizarre nature of the enterprise because it was class solidarity. He was less concerned with the indigent poor than protecting his own class who had fallen on hard times,” exclaims Manon Slome as she frames the ridiculous circumstances that kept “members” well heeled into their twilight.

Slome is President and Chief Curator of No Longer Empty, a contemporary public art organization that takes empty buildings that are often in disrepair and revitalizes them with site-responsive contemporary art exhibitions. Together with the Mid Bronx Senior Citizens Council, the non-profit that has owned the 117,000 square foot complex since 1984, No Longer Empty is curating a 32 artist show that for two months will offer curious visitors the first peek at the decrepitude that is slowly being enlivened.  Since bidding farewell to their last upper crust in the early 1980s, the crusty decay of walls and ceilings has been curling and peeling and dropping to the floor. With artists interpreting the history and memories of the place along with their own take on the economics involved, the results are definitely site specific.

How and Nosm “Reflections” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How and Nosm “Reflections” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As she talks about the new show “This Side of Paradise,” Jeanette Puryear, Executive Director of Mid Bronx Senior Citizens Council, reflects on how she used to watch the games and social activities in the grassy gardens of the home from the other side.  “We began across the street when the council started in 1973. I came aboard as a staff person in ’77 and I used to look down on the parties that they had on the lawn here. I just thought it was a wonderful building.”

Discussing the selection of No Longer Empty (NLE) as partner to the arts community and curator of the new show, Puryear feels like it is a natural accord. “The idea, our collaboration, really came about when I met Manon and she talked about NLE’s interest in revitalizing communities and it really fit very much with our mission of comprehensive community revitalization.”

Justen Ladda. “Like Money, Like Water”. Eventually this installation in progress would be black lit. The blue tape affixed to the walls is to economize and will not be a part of the installation. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This may come as news to some that graffiti kings like Crash and Daze were called upon to do community revitalization in the same borough where leaders once reviled their painting style.  With a few heavyweight street art and graffiti names bringing these rooms to life, it’s interesting to see their role as one of contributing in a positive way here where the emergence of a global “Wildstyle” graffiti first blossomed while entire neighborhoods burned.

“At the same time in the late 70s and early 80s when this home’s original purpose was failing you had the rise of Bronx graffiti,” says curator Keith Schweitzer, who introduced Crash, Daze and Tats Cru alumni How & Nosm to Slome, each taking one of the rooms and bringing it to life. Schweitzer sees many parallels in this Bronx tale as he reflects on the role of the artist rising from the ashes of the burned-out neighborhoods then and an art show in the decay of this home now. “At that time you had things like Fashion Moda in the Bronx, which sort of incorporated graffiti into a contemporary art exhibition and these conceptual spaces that Street Artists and Graffiti artists participated in. And it all happened at the same time.”

 

Daze (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Slone brings the stories full circle as she excitedly relates the multiple arts and education projects currently afoot in the home, including many with a social mission of building community and connections within it. “When we started selecting and inviting the artists, we steeped them in the history of the home. The goal was really to create a fusion of the history of the home and the nature of the history of the Grand Concourse and the present day realities of the Bronx. And that fusion was really the creative springboard, if you like, for most of installations in the exhibition.”

Whatever role you assign the artist in this clubby home of decay, the experience of discovering these complete room installations is at times reflective, sometimes illuminative, and often revitalizing to the spirit. It will depend on the definition of paradise.

Crash “Connections” 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crash “Connections” 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crash “Connections” 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Scherezaede Garcia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Scherezaede Garcia. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cheryl Pope “Then and There” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cheryl Pope “Then and There” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cheryl Pope “Then and There” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cheryl Pope “Then and There” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Parker Smith. “I Lost All 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)

Adam Parker Smith. “I Lost All 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)

Adam Parker Smith. “I Lost All 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)

Untitled. Pigeons took over while most of the house remained close and unused. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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This Side of Paradise will open on April 04 at 6:00 pm.  For further details about this exhibition click here.

With special thanks to President and Chief Curator Manon Slome and Curator Keith Schweitzer of No Longer Empty for their generous access to the installations in progress. To learn more about No Longer Empty click here.

BSA would also like to extend our gratitude to Jeanette Puryear, Executive Director of Mid-Bronx Council for taking time to answer our questions. To learn more about Mid-Bronx Council click here.

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No Longer Empty in Collaboration With Mid-Bronx Council Present: “This Side of Paradise” (Bronx, NYC)

This Side Of Paradise

On April 4, 2012, the gates of the Andrew Freedman Home will open to the public. The Home was once built to be a haven, a paradise, for the rich elderly who had lost their fortunes. Bequeathed by millionaire Andrew Freedman, the Home provided not only food and shelter but all the accoutrements of a rich and civilized life style – white glove dinner service, a grand ball room, a wood-paneled library, billiard room and a social committee who organized concerts, opera performances and the like.

Referencing this quixotic history, This Side of Paradise will reference the past and reconnect the vision of Andrew Freedman to today’s Bronx and its realities. The exhibition and its extensive public programming onsite and offsite will draw together the economic and social history of the Home with the present day realities of the Bronx and its residents.

The selected artists’ will work in a site-specific manner and will respond to such issues as memory, immigration, storytelling, aging and the creation of fantasy that the original concept of the Home “being poor in style” suggests. This Side of Paradise will celebrate human ingenuity, the strength of the human spirit and the resilience needed to fashion beauty, hope and rejoicing.

Opening Reception will be Wednesday, April 4 from 6 to 8pm followed by the Speakeasy After Party Fundraiser sponsored by St. Germain starting at 8:30pm. Support NLE and future exhibitions by purchasing tickets here.

Exhibition Hours: Thursday to Sunday, 1pm to 7pm (extended hours when events are hosted).

Bronx Arts Alliance is a partner for This Side of Paradise either installations, events or general cross-promotion of Bronx Arts. Partnering organizations are: Bronx Documentary Center |  Casita Maria  |  Hebrew Home at Riverdale  |  Lehman College Art Gallery  |  Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos College  |  The Bronx Children’s Museum  |  The Bronx Council of the Arts  |  The Bronx Museum of the Arts  |  The Bronx River Art Center  |  The POINT  |  Wave Hill

Organizations Presenting Installations are Wave Hill – Installation by Adam Parker SmithThe POINT – Designed by Carey Clark, Alejandra Delfin, Danny Peralta, Lady K Fever, Sharon de La Cruz, Tats Cru, David Yearwood among others;  The Bronx Museum of the Arts – Works by artists in the AIM Program; Bronx Documentary Center -Film by Tim HetheringtonLehman College Art Gallery – Works by Scherezade García

Video and Production SupportBronxNet– a not for profit  that provides local television by the people of the Bronx, for the people of the Bronx.

Media Partner: WNYC Radio

The Cafe in the Home is generously supported by La Colombe Torrefaction coffee.

This Side of Paradise is a collaboration with the Mid Bronx Senior Citizens Council, one of the largest nonprofits who has been providing community services in the South Bronx. Contact wpuryear@midbronx.org about the Andrew Freedman Home and mjenkins@midbronx.org about MBSCC.

Curatorial team is Manon Slome, Keith Schweitzer, Charlotte Caldwell and Lucy Lydon. A tremendous thank you to all our volunteers and interns involved in the project. Thank you!

ARTISTS:

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The Pima Air & Space Museum Presents: “Round Trip: Art From The Bone Yard Project” (Tucson, Arizona)

Art From The Bone Yard Project

The Retna Plane (photo courtesy of the curators)

THE BONE YARD PROJECT | PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM | JANUARY 28 – MAY 31

The Pima Air & Space Museum is pleased to announce the opening of Round Trip: Art From The Bone Yard Project on January 28 in Tucson. Conceived in Spring 2010 by Eric Firestone, and organized with curators Medvin Sobio & Carlo McCormick, The Bone Yard Project resurrects disused airplanes from America‟s military history through the creative intervention of contemporary artists, taking entire airplanes and their elements out of aeronautic resting spots in the desert, known as “bone yards,” and putting them into the hands of artists. Re-imagined by Brazilian graffiti artist Nunca, an abandoned DC3 comes to life with a striking picture of an eagle leading men through the skies, and the idealized dreams of flight are able to soar once again in our collective imagination. With a nod to the airplane graffiti and „nose art‟ that became popular during WWII, the project offers a vision of the wonder by which humanity takes to the air through some of the most prominent and acclaimed artists working today.

Round Trip: Selections from The Bone Yard Project, will include selections from the previous exhibition along with more than a dozen cones interpreted by artists new to this project. It will feature five monumental works created on military planes by a dynamic selection of popular graffiti and street artists from around the world. The curatorial team includes Medvin Sobio, an independent curator and consultant, and Lesley Oliver of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, a longstanding figure on the Arizona art scene.

More than 30 artists have participated in Round Trip including DC Super 3 planes painted by graffiti artists How & Nosm, Nunca, and Retna, and a C97 cockpit by Saner, and C45 planes by Faile and Andrew Schoultz. Additionally, Nose Job artists Aiko, Peter Dayton, Shepard Fairey, Futura, How and Nosm, Mare, Tara McPherson, Richard Prince, Lee Quinones, Saner, Kenny Scharf, and JJ Veronis will be on display, along with new nose cones by artists Colin Chillag, Crash, Daze, Daniel Marin Diaz, Tristan Eaton, Jameson Ellis, Ron English, Faile, Eric Foss, Mark Kostabi, Lisa Lebofsky, El Mac, Alex Markwith, Walter Robinson, Hector Ruiz, Randy Slack, Ryan Wallace, and Eric White, among others.

The Pima Air & Space Museum is the largest non-government funded aviation museum in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. It maintains a collection of more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft from around the globe and more than 125,000 artifacts. The museum is located at 6000 E. Valencia Rd. , Tucson, and is open 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily. Round Trip is open to the public from January 28 through the end of May 2012. Further details may be found at www.pimaair.org.

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Known Gallery Presents: Daze “The Gray Scale” (Los Angeles, CA)

DAZE
brooklyn-street-art-daze-known-gallery

DAZE The Grey Scale

October 15 – November 5, 2011

The Grey Scale Paintings
Walking along what seemed like an endless series of tracks my senses became accustomed to the dark labrythiniun tunnels that lay below. My eyes adjusted to the darkness and my ears acclimated to the endless series of subtle noises. Dripping water, the squeal of rats chasing each other, the release of train compressors, the clicking of the tracks as a train approached the next station, then, all at once, the roar of a passing train echoing through the tunnel, and then, silence.
This new series of works entitled “The Grey Scale” is an exploration into the context in which many of my subway works were created. Walls layered with years of tags and signatures, gravel floors covered in dust and debris, flickering lights, and the gleam of sharp steel tracks piercing the darkness are all portrayed in the context of subterranean tunnels that lead to nowhere. This is a world in which we are encouraged to stay away from the light at the end of the tunnel. These new works call to mind some of the layered complexity of Rauschenberg’s early black paintings or perhaps the subtlety of Cy Twombly’s blackboard paintings. Others yet clearly show references to the gritty urban landscapes of the New York ash can school: John Sloan, William Glackens, Robert Henri, and later most of all, Reginald Marsh. These artists chose, as I do, the streets as their primary source of inspiration. The paintings are a kind of hybrid that draws from the vocabulary of both the graffiti world and urban realism.

Known Gallery

  • 441 North Fairfax Avenue
    Los Angeles, CA 90036
  • Hours during shows:
    Wednesday thru Saturday: 12 – 7pm
    Sunday: 12 – 6pm
  • +1.310.860.6263
    info@knowngallery.com
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Red Hot and Street: “Art in the Streets” Brings Fire to MOCA

brooklyn-street-art-banksy-jaime-rojo-moca-art-in-the-streets-huffpost-04-11-web-15Banksy’s Reliquary (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes, Banksy is here. The giant “Art in the Streets” show opening this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles gives a patch of real estate to the international man of mystery who has contributed greatly to the worldwide profile of this soon to be, maybe already, mainstream phenomenon known as street art. A smattering of his pranksterism is an absolute must for any show staking claim to the mantle of comprehensive survey and an excellent way to garner attention. But “Streets” gets it’s momentum by presenting a multi-torch colorful and explosive people’s history that began way before Banksy was born and likely will continue for a while after.

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Os Gemeos Untitled. Detail  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

To continue reading about this exhibition go to The Huffington Post ARTS by clicking on the link after the image below.

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Direct link to article on HuffPost Arts

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FUN FRIDAY 04.08.11

Fun-FridayThis weekend brings a Spring bounty of delicious  Street Art related openings in many cities across this great country of ours. But FIRST, this OLD SKOOL Romanic Boogie Down Production …

Pump Up the Sculpture Jam from SAM3

Sticker Phiends in AZ

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Tempeh is a soy product and meat substitute originally from Indonesia. Tempe is a city in Arizona that is hosting the 4th giant Sticker Phiends show tonight. Stickers continue to grow in influence in Street Art and in private collections in black books and refrigerator doors and this is a cool show that gives them away and sells them. They have limited edition “Sticker Phiends” tee-shirts designed by Brooklyn street art collective Robots Will Kill. Also cold beer. Possibly tempeh too because Chris RWK is a good veggie.

brooklyn-street-art-mad-one

FREE HANDOUTS provided by our sponsors
ALL ART for $ale!
Limited Merch for $ale!
Drinks with ID – 21+

Opens at 8pm April 8th!
Cartel Coffee Lab
25 w. University Dr.
Tempe, AZ.
480-225-3899

Some of the names include:

Abcnt, Age, Dolla, DumperFoo, Dissizit/Slick, 123 Klan,Griffin One, Clown Soldier, Mad One, Mat Curran, MBW, 20 MG, Obey, Pez One (U.K.), Sike’, U.W.P., Seizer One

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Martha Cooper Remixed

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-Martha-Cooper-Remix-Carmichael-Aril-2011

How & Nosm interpret Martha Cooper’s original photo from the 1970s (both photos © Martha Cooper)

The Carmichael Gallery will be throwing a memorable opening party for Martha Cooper’s REMIX show and, lazy hyperbole aside, this one is one NOT to miss.

brooklyn-street-art-martha-cooper-remix-carmichael-gallery

Photographs by Martha Cooper

with

Original remixes of these photographs in a range of media by Aeon, John Ahearn, Aiko, Bio, Nicer & B-Gee, Blade, Blanco, Mark Bode, Burning Candy, Victor Castillo, Cey, Cekis, Claw, Cosbe, Crash, Dabs & Myla, Anton van Dalen, Daze, Dearraindrop, Jane Dickson, Dr. Revolt, Shepard Fairey, Faust, Flying Fortress, Freedom, Fumakaka, Futura, Gaia, Grotesk, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm, LA II, Lady Pink, Anthony Lister, The London Police, Mare 139, Barry McGee, Nazza Stencil, Nunca, José Parlá, Quik, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Sharp, Skewville, Chris Stain, Subway Art History, Swoon, T-Kid, Terror161 and more.

Carmichael Gallery

5795 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

April 9 – May 7, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 6-8pm

Click on the link below for more information regarding this show:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=19900

Cern YMI in Greenpoint by Gandja Monteiro

ROA at White Walls in SF

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Image of ROA in Salton City (© and courtesy of White Walls)

In San Francisco ROA will have his opening at the White Walls Gallery with his iconic paintings of nature’s marginalized animals in large scale. Ever the hard worker, ROA paints non stop year round all over the globe on surfaces that are challenging, like this one on the side of a mobile home. If you have only seen his art on line and if you are in San Francisco this Saturday, it’s your turn!

For more information about this show contact the gallery.

White Walls Gallery

835 LARKIN ST.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 94109

Phone: 415.931.1500

Chor Boogie in Washington DC

While the Rich Man Party of NO! brings the country to a halt in the Capitol, Chor Boogie will be bringing much needed healing color to Washington DC at The Fridge Gallery.

brooklyn-street-art-WEB-Chor-boogie-the-fridge-gallery

The Fridge Gallery Presents: Chor Boogie “This Aint No Place For No Hero” (Washington, DC)

For more information about this show click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=19952

Chor Boogie is an artist, a conceptual genius, a street romantic, a master of illusion and technique, Chor Boogie is an original. His works can be described as having healing effects by his unique and unmatched use of color, which brings greater meaning and understanding to his works. Every vibrant piece has a story attached to it. Chor Boogie’s colorful paintings are attracting A-list celebrities, art galleries and museums. Originally from San Diego, the artist known as Chor Boogie currently resides in San Francisco but is an internationally known artist and has traveled extensively to exhibit his work around the world.

The Fridge is located at

516 8th Street, SE

REAR ALLEY

Washington, DC 20003

David Ellis and Blu in a collaboration of a loop video from 2009

Yo Son the Boyz from Queens are Comin out With New Jams Next Month!

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Carmichael Gallery Presents: Martha Cooper “Remix” (Culver City, CA)

Martha Cooper
brooklyn-street-art-martha-cooper-remix-carmichael-gallery

Photographs by Martha Cooper

with

Original remixes of these photographs in a range of media by Aeon, John Ahearn, Aiko, Bio, Nicer & B-Gee, Blade, Blanco, Mark Bode, Burning Candy, Victor Castillo, Cey, Cekis, Claw, Cosbe, Crash, Dabs & Myla, Anton van Dalen, Daze, Dearraindrop, Jane Dickson, Dr. Revolt, Shepard Fairey, Faust, Flying Fortress, Freedom, Fumakaka, Futura, Gaia, Grotesk, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm, LA II, Lady Pink, Anthony Lister, The London Police, Mare 139, Barry McGee, Nazza Stencil, Nunca, José Parlá, Quik, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Sharp, Skewville, Chris Stain, Subway Art History, Swoon, T-Kid, Terror161 and more.

Carmichael Gallery

5795 Washington Blvd

Culver City, CA 90232

April 9 – May 7, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 6-8pm

For Immediate Release:

Carmichael Gallery is pleased to announce Martha Cooper: Remix, an expansive group show featuring highlights from Martha Cooper’s photographic archive and works by over 50 artists who have created their own unique interpretations of her iconic, historically significant imagery. There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on Saturday, April 9 from 6 to 8pm with Martha Cooper and several of the participating artists in attendance. The exhibition will run through May 7, 2011.

Martha Cooper, Photographer of Art on the Streets for Six Decades

Written by Steven P. Harrington, this article is featured in tasj vol ii – issue v.

The daughter of a Baltimore camera store owner, Martha Cooper’s romance with photography began in the 1940s when bobby-soxers and penny loafers were the sign of edgy youth culture. Her dad, an amateur photographer himself, gave his small girl a camera and together they hit the streets in search of adventure. “Yeah, my father used to take me out and we would take pictures. That’s what I thought photography was…we were just looking for pictures,” she recalls. Six decades later, Cooper is still looking for pictures; meanwhile, many works from her archive are cited as pivotal recordings of the birth of hip-hop culture and its plastic art form, graffiti.
During the cultural upheavals of the 1960s, Cooper earned a Bachelors of Art degree in Iowa, taught English for the Peace Corps in Thailand and rode a motorcycle from Bangkok to obtain a graduate degree at Oxford. As a freelancer and staff photographer in Japan, Maryland and Rhode Island in the early 1970s she moved to the media and art center of New York City to catch bigger fish. Landing a job on the staff of The New York Post in 1977, she discovered that the resistant and competitive boys club of photographers there were reluctant to countenance this scrappy young woman shooting hard news stories and Studio 54 celebrities.
Hungry for discovery, Cooper would spend her time to and from assignments in bombed-out neighborhoods, where she took pictures of kids entertaining themselves with games they devised on the street, often with the humblest of materials. It was during one of those trips that she stumbled on graffiti and the members of its community. She met a young boy who suggested she photograph the work she was seeing, then showed her a stylized drawing of his name, or piece, in his notebook.
Then he asked her if she wanted to meet “The King”.
Following this lead to Brooklyn, Cooper met Dondi, the citywide-famous graffiti writer who kept a published photo of hers in his black book because its background contained one of his graffiti throw-ups. Cooper quickly realized that she had stumbled into a lively street culture and became an avid student of the teen writers she befriended. By the time she took her last news picture for the New York Post in 1980, her primary desire was to capture as many pieces, tags, and trains as she possibly could find. Today, she remarks on her near-obsessive devotion to documenting New York’s graffiti: waking before dawn to hit the street, waiting five hours for a freshly painted #2 train to pass with the sun at her back and countless secret adventures with vandals in train yards, evading transit police in order to pursue a shot.
Joining efforts with fellow graffiti photographer, Henry Chalfant, Cooper proposed putting together a book of their documentation. The pair endured multiple rejections from publishers while lugging around a big “dummy” book with their pictures glued to the pages. Eventually, however, they landed a deal and Subway Art was published in 1984. Although not an immediate success, it came to sell half a million copies and established itself as a holy book for fans, aspiring artists and art historians worldwide. By the time the 25th anniversary edition was published in 2009, generations of graffiti and street artists had been influenced by it and the hip-hop culture Cooper and Chalfant had captured had gone global.

In the intervening years, Martha Cooper never stopped shooting. Her love of serendipity on the street and the exploration of cultures led her to publish thousands of photos in books such as R.I.P.: Memorial Wall Art, Hip Hop Files 1979-1984, We B*Girlz, Street Play, New York State of Mind, Tag Town, Going Postal, and Name Tagging. Her work has been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide and published in numerous magazines including National Geographic, Natural History, and Vibe. While she is still shooting graffiti, street art and the occasional break dance competition today, Cooper’s current project involves documenting people and events in Sowebo, a drug-riddled neighborhood in her birthplace of Baltimore.

Steven P. Harrington is editor-in-chief of BrooklynStreetArt.com and co-author (with Jaime Rojo) of Brooklyn Street Art and Street Art New York, both by Prestel Publishing. He and Jaime Rojo are also contributing writers on street art for The Huffington Post.

About Carmichael Gallery:

Founded in 2007 by husband and wife team Seth and Elisa Carmichael, Carmichael Gallery focuses on a select group of artists breaking ground in painting, mixed media, photography and sculpture. Their annual program consists of a series of solo and group exhibitions that document the progress of these artists.

For information on current, past and upcoming shows, visit www.carmichaelgallery.com. For additional information and press materials on this show, please contact the gallery at art@carmichaelgallery.com and

+1 323 939 0600 and Andi Baker at andi@carmichaelgallery.com.

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