All posts tagged: Deeker

Fun Friday 05.13.11

Fun-Friday

A GUIDE TO WHAT’S UP, BROTHERMAN AND SISTERWOMAN

This weekend is a perfect storm of shows that are opening on the East, West and points in between.

Up Close And Personal: RJ Curates Street Artists Into an Upper West Side Apartment (NYC)

In the intimacy of a private residence in the Manhattan suburbs of UWS, RJ Rushmore of Vandalog fame along with Keith Schweitzer and Mike Glatzer of newly minted M.A.N.Y. have mounted a fresh new open house show just off Broadway. An exquisitely curated show with marquee names and a few newbies the selection is solid in quality and unusual in it’s scale.

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Troy Lovegates aka Other (image courtesy of the curators)

Participating artists include:
Aiko, Chris Stain, Clown Soldier, Don Leicht, Edible Genius, Elbowtoe, Gaia, How & Nosm, Jessica Angel, John Fekner, Know Hope, Logan Hicks, Mike Ballard, OverUnder, R. Robot, Radical, Retna, Skewville, Tristan Eaton, Troy Lovegates aka Other and White Cocoa.
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Aiko’s cans are on proudly on display at the bachelor pad, and that’s not all (image courtesy of the curators)

Dates: May 12th– 15th, 2011
Times:
May 12th, 7 – 9pm
May 13th, 7 – 9pm
May 14th, noon – 9pm
May 15th, noon – 7pm
Note: Due to the limited exhibition space, people may be admitted in block times every half-hour.
Location: Apartment on the Upper West Side (217 West 106th Street, Apartment 1A, New York, NY 10025) – Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues.
Cost for entrance: Free

Go to Hellbent and John Breiner Tonight in Brooklyn (NYC)

Mighty Tanka is presenting a show with two Brooklyn based artists: Hellbent and John Breiner.
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Mr. Hellbent says of the show: “The best part of making a show like this is to finally see it up on the wall and the way that everything interacts. I have been thinking of these pieces as parts of a quilt, different fabrics being stitched together. The different colors, floral stencils, animals, and jaw bones melding together and playing off one another, even down to the different depths and sizes of panels, but until it was hung they were just pieces, not yet a whole. Its given me an opportunity to show the different elements that i am working with and how they have grown out of one another and to display all the different carvings and stencils patterns together, where on the street they are separated in different locations.”

To learn more about “Smiled Distress” at Mighty Tanaka tonight please click on the link below:

Matt Siren and My Plastic Heart present “Ghost in the Machine” (NYC)

25 spirits in the material world have made tributes to Street Artist Matt Siren’s Ghost Girl character for this show on the Lower East Side tonight. The custom toy show transforms the character that appears in doorways around New York, each putting its own unique spin on his character.

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The show includes work from 64Colors, Royce Bannon, Steve Chanks, Chauskoskis, DarkCloud, Deeker, Gril One, J*RYU, Jester, Keely, Abe Lincoln Jr., Map-Map, Marka27, Brent Nolasco, Lou Pimentel, Reactorss, Marc Reusser, Todd Robertson, Robots Will Kill, Chris Ryniak, Matt Siren, Scott Tolleson, Julie West, Wheelbarrow, Wrona

Click on the link below to learn more about this show:

http://www.myplasticheartnyc.com/gitm_051311/preview/gitm_051311_preview.html

210 Forsyth St   New York NY 10002 | 646 290 6866
Ghost in the Machine
May 13th 2011 – June 12th 2011

Chicago Street Art Show Tonight (CHI)

Tonight the book “Chicago Street Art” is being released at the the Chicago Urban Art Society  in conjunction with a show titled “The Chicago Street Art Show”

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Brooklyn’s AD HOC has a New Puppy in Los Angeles (LA)

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On the West Coast the dynamic duo and husband and wife Garrison and Allison Buxton have curated a group show “I have a dream, I have a nightmare: Friday the 13th” at The New Puppy Gallery opening this Friaday from 7:00 to 11:00 pm

Artists include: Alison Buxton, Beau Stanton, Bill Fick, Broken Crow, Bunnie Reiss, Chor Boogie, Chris Stain, CRASH, Dabs & Myla, Daryll Peirce, David Loewenstein, Don Leicht, Ezra Li Eismont, Garrison Buxton, Hellbent, Joe Iurato, John Breiner, John Carr, John Fekner, Jordan Seiler, Know Hope, Lady Pink, Michael De Feo, Mikal Hameed, Paul Booth, Peat Wollaeger, Ray Cross, Rex Dingler, ROA, Robert Steel, Sean Starwars, TheDirtyFabulous, & Thundercut.

Ad Hoc Art – www.adhocart.org

New Puppy LA – www.newpuppla.com

WHERE: 2808 Elm Street, Los Angeles, California 90065

English Kills Group Show Saturday, “The Mother Ship” (NYC)

Chris Harding, owner and ringmaster of the Bushwick Brooklyn-based space station English Kills brings out his strong stable of artists for this group show aptly titled “The Mother Ship” opening this Saturday at 7:00 pm. It’s not necessarily Street Art – but this is a hotbed of new ideas so it is always worth your trip.

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Participating artists include:

Brent Owens, Andy Piedilato, Vilaykorn Sayaphet, Jim Herbert, David Pacheco, Hiroshi Shafer, Gyles Thompson, Sarah H. Paulson, Holly Faurot, Tescia Seufferlein, Peter Dobill, Steve Harding, Judith Supine, Lenny Reibstein, Andrew Ohanesian, Jason Peters, Don Pablo Pedro, Steven Thompson, Andrew Hurst and Rob Andrews.

English Kills is located at:

114 Forrest St. Ground Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11206
(718) 366-7323

Specter is a “Repeat Offender” 5/14 at Pawn Works in Chicago (CHI)

Brooklyn based artist Gabriel Specter’s solo show “Repeat Offender” opens this Saturday at the Pawn Works Gallery.

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Opening Reception Saturday, May 14, 2011/ 6-10pm

PawnWorks
1050 N. Damen Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60622

Ph: 312.841.3986

London Police in Denver, “Amsterydynasty”

In Denver Colorado Black Book Gallery brings back the glamour of the 80’s with The London Police and Handiedan in a show titled “Amsterydynasty”

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Opening reception May 14th at 7pm

Click here to learn more about this show

Olek Crochets for a Bicycle in Poland

ROA in San Francisco

Women’s Faces in Art

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art by Philip Scott Johnson.

MoCA Art in the Streets. Wisk, Ser, Chubbs and Prime destroy a wall.

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Images of the Week 12.12.10

Images of the Week 12.12.10

Brooklyn-Street-Art-IMAGES-OF-THE-WEEK_05-2010

Our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Burning Candy, Deeker, DsCreet, Earl Greyhound, Goya, Jimmy Snatch, KARMA, Kill, Nineta, Paul Richard,Plasma Slug, Shin Shin, Skewville, Tek33, and UFO

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Burning Candy Tek 33 and Dscreet at Factory Fresh Gallery (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Burning Candy Tek 33 and Dscreet at Factory Fresh Gallery (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A cluster of original pencil drawn faces by an anonymous artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Whatever you say, Paul! Paul Richard (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A B&W photograph of a boy by an anonymous artist. And by the way, Brooklyn trio Earl Greyhound Rocks! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Deeks offers this withering assessment: “Good For Nothing”. And there’s a little pink Plasma Slug too. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skewville sayz: “You are not in Kansas anymore” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Goya and UFO (photo © Jaime  Rojo)

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A Death Panel of some sort. Kill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Nineta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dashing through the snooooww.  ShinShin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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KARMA “Be Kind To One Another Because Most Of Us Are Fighting A Hard Battle” Dublin, Ireland (photo © Jimmy Snatch)

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Images of Week 02.28.10

Images of Week 02.28.10

Last Day of FEBRUARY! Make Snowmen while you still can!

Snowman

One of the original displays of public/urban/street art – the Snowman (photo ©Jaime Rojo)


For the most part winter can be a bit barren of new street art in New York.  But these days the street art explosion continues no matter what the weather! Despite the crushing snow and black ice, BSA’s Images of Week keeps finding new stuff. This week’s crop includes a new-for-us REVS and a bunch of El Sol 25  with HAND PAINTED surrealist paper collages. Enjoy!

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Revs
Revs (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Luchador
Woody Luchador on an oak tabletop (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25
El Sol 25 goes to the circus (or a Christian LaCroix show) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

RWK
RWK (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25
El Sol 25 over Faile (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Deeker
Be sure to read Deeker’s latest posting (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Keely
Keely catching snowflakes on the tongue (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Celso
I dream that love will be a piece of cake (Celso) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25
Gray skies are gonna clear up,
Put on a happy face (El Sol 25) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Blip
A simple clean look for spring from this spaceman (Blip) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25
Tony Blair meets Anne Bancroft (El Sol 25) (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week 01.17.10

Images of the Week 01.17.10

Brooklyn-Street-Art-IMAGES-OF-THE-WEEK_1009

Our weekly interview with the streets

Aakash Nihalani

Aakash Nihalani's new green piece (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JC2
JC2 has taken the image originally wheat-pasted and turned it into a sign post.  Don’t recall seeing something this large bolted before, do you? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris RWK
The Blues Robot Brothers (Chris RWK) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clown Soldier
Clown Soldier makes his first entry on the New York Top Forty this week at number 32, with “The Gentle Clown from Verona” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EMA
EMA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia  and Deeker on top
Gaia and Deeker (or is that GoreB?) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sam McCurdy
Sam McCurdy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Trusto Corp
Trusto Corp (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Graffitti Soup
It’s easy as ABC (Graffitti Soup) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KId Acne
Oh, where where, has my little kid gone?  (Kid Acne) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pet Bird
Pet Bird has found a nice nesting spot inside this dumpster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of The Week 12.20.09

Brooklyn-Street-Art-IMAGES-OF-THE-WEEK_1009Our Weekly Interview with the streets

Avoid for Sale
It’s official. Avoid Pi is for Sale (© Jaime Rojo)

5003 DADA
5003  & Hobby Horse (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast
The never bashful Bast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Deeker
Honey, why do you still go with that man?  You know he’s just trash! (Deeker) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster
Imminent Disaster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe
Kosbe is rocking it  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (detail)
Kosbe is a detailed mess of color (detail) (© Jaime Rojo)

Horse Imminent Disaster (detail)
Horse Imminent Disaster (detail) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster (detail)

Imminent Disaster (detail) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster (detail)

Horse Imminent Disaster (detail) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Police
New technology aids the crime fighters. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Paper Monster
Paper Monster made this hot babe in a fur trimmed winter coat to keep her warm. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon
Swoon is chained to the gate.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon (detail)
Swoon (detail) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Peru Ana Ana Peru
See no evil, see no evil (Peru Ana Ana Peru) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We Are Coming
Simultaneously? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

UFO 907
UFO 907 is blasting off in all kinds of directions these days; All hail the alien. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng RWK
A very funny move toward cut outs in this piece by Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Fun Friday 12.11.09 – Support Your Artist Neighbors this Holiday Season

It’s a Festival of Blight!

Artists ’round Brooklyn-World are taking Christwanzaakkuheid matters into their own hands….with art fairs and screen-printing parties and good old-fashioned holiday disco-burlesque-debauchery !!!!

Here are a handful of opportunities to spend your cash and not worry that it is getting sucked through a tube to a corporate headquarters somewhere while the frightened-minimum-wage-no-health-benefits cashier who bags your item thinks about hitching a ride to her second job.

When you buy art in your community from your community your money stays in your community. Hooray!

Pandemic Printing Party 12.12

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More info @ Pandemic Gallery

Cream Studios Holiday Sale & Party 12.12

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238 Melrose street
between Wilson and Central
Sat Dec 12 4:30 – 12

Andy Kessler Memorial Benefit Art Show  12.12

Honoring the Godfather of NYC skateboarding, who passed away in August

Come by the Volcom NYC store on Saturday, December 12th for the Andy Kessler Memorial Art Show. The show is from 8 pm – Midnight, there will be a silent auction featuring a ton of art, drinks and good times to raise money for a good cause!

Volcom NYC
446 Broadway (Between Grand and Howard)
Also open Sunday, December 13th – 11 am – 7 pm

Secret Project Robot Channukah Party 12.13

4pm to 10pm
For your Jewish and Gentile friends alike a Menorah lighting at sunset
(they’re throwing a christmas/holiday party with Jonathon Toubin on the 17th as well)
German Measels
Jaques Detergent
The Mad Scene

Non profit Secret Project Robot supports the local weirdo arts scene consistently through-out the year

– whether it’s art shows, fashion shows, music shows, street art, conceptual art, performance pieces, parties, fundraisers -you name it. They are totally ART + COMMUNITY and many people have come through their doors that we know, and the doors are still open to struggling new people who are trying to make a go of it.

Make a Donation directly to Secret Project Robot (a 501(c) registered non-profit) arts organization by writing to them – they’ll make it easy for you to give back to the arts  >>>secrets@secretprojectrobot.org

Check out this hilarious “My Menorrah” video, a favorite of our own Manischewitz home-gurl Lera Loeb

3rd Ward & The Danger Party throw “Sugar Rum Cherry” 12.12

Click on this to RSVP at their site and see a delicious HIGH class striptease to Eartha Kitt, may she rest in peace.
Click on this picture to RSVP and see a delicious HIGH class striptease to Eartha Kitt, may she rest in peace.

“Explore twelve thousand square feet of debauched festivities” – oh promises, promises!

Professional art-party ambiance makers The Danger somehow mix the best elements of all holiday traditions while respecting none.

  • Dirty Santas
  • Seductive elves
  • loud sound,
  • jump-up dancefloors,
  • cheap drinks,
  • mistletoe and
  • an abundance of whip-cream and cherries.

Finally, next week it’s Brooklyn’s Own

BLIP FEST ’09 in Gowanus at the Bell House

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It’s Getting Hot Down There: ART BURN MIAMI

Eartburner-mpresario and street artist Celso has a sense of humor about most things, and street art in particular.

Without reading too much into it, it’s easy to understand how some of the hype surrounding the humongus Art Basel in Miami this week does tend to turn off the hot-headed anti-capitalist anti-consumerist anti-consumption anti-homogenization-of-everything-in-our culture-types in our midst.

Not that any of these artists are in that category, but it is pretty funny to learn that this one-day only art show ends with all the art being burned, and none of it added to your burgeoning street-art collection.

But Marge, what are they trying to say? While we prefer to create original content and not simply copy-and-paste, sometimes it just makes sense to take it directly from the press release >>

ART BURN: The Most Combustible Art Show in the World
International Contemporary Art Expo & Immolation

**To be held at LAS TIAS, 2834 N. Miami Ave., in Miami’s Wynwood District at sunset on Thursday, December 3rd, 2009***

(Miami, FL) — ART BURN, the most combustible art show in the world, will combine an international selection of original art with fire. Original works on canvas, wood and paper by a selection of more than three dozen international artists will be displayed and then flambeed in Miami on the evening of Thursday, December 3, 2009 at sunset. The exhibition/grilling, curated by NYC artist El Celso, will take place in the Wynwood Arts District, within walking distance of Miami’s lesser contemporary art fairs.

An exclusive selection of more than three dozen exceptional pieces by the hottest renowned artists and sizzling, cutting-edge newcomers will be displayed from 1pm until sundown. After the brief exhibition, all of these original works will be burned for the public’s viewing pleasure. Nothing is for sale.

We will be exhibiting and burning new works by:

Stikman
El Celso
Aurora Robson
infinity
Nick Fortunato
Skewville
Jayne Surrena
Darkcloud
Fabian Pena
Elbow-Toe
Rex Dingler
LA II
Royce Bannon
Leonardo Furtado (Brazil)
Rednose
Gore-B
Buildmore
Abe Lincoln Jr.
Cake
Paul Kostabi
Ellis-G
Jeannete Vidalia
2esae
Avoid Pi
Stefano Pasquini (Italy)
Keely
Destroy & Rebuild
Veng
F. Trainer
Ski
Joanne Mattera
Deeker
Sam Horine
Avone
Die Dose (Germany)
Billi Kid
Evelyn Metzger
Robots Will Kill
Adam Vincentz
Garrison Buxton (Peripheral Media Projects)
Michael DeFeo
James A. Willis
Dalva
Kristina Maria Lopez
Hargo
Ray Bradbury & very special guests TBA

You can even follow the events on Twitter at @elcelso and @cmonstah.

SPONSORS
C-MONSTER.NET
The official media sponsor of the ART BURN VIP Lounge

HYPERALLERGIC
The official blogazine, critic and beer sponsor of ART BURN

BROOKLYN STREET ART
The official street art and corporate snack sponsor of ART BURN

KINGSFORD Charcoal
The unofficial grilling partner of ART BURN

We’ve been assured that all local laws and safety precautions will be observed.  At least Miami is a coastal town so they are near water.

Enjoy this hunk o burnin’ luv….

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“A Hounding Obsession”: Armer, DarkCloud, Deeker, and GoreB at Factory Fresh

“A Hounding Obsession”: Armer, DarkCloud, Deeker, and GoreB at Factory Fresh

Interview with the artists; Talking about New York, dumpster diving for canvasses, hidden spots, and hounding obsessions.

Dark Clouds

Dark Clouds holds up the sky (photo Jaime Rojo)

“A Hounding Obsession”  is a great name for this show because it aptly describes the ever present drive that these artists feel to make new art and to get it out in front of an audience.  Usually it’s on the street, but this week it comes together at Factory Fresh in Bushwick.

In a way it’s a reunion show, like the Beatles!  Okay, not the Beatles, but they are a fab four that used to work side by side; now have split to different parts of the world.  Only DarkCloud and Deeker are still in the Grimey Apple so the other two have flown in just to install for this show and to hang out again with old friends.

A recent visit to the lush underground FF Studios with the artists yielded a number of raucous  stories from the four about past wild excursions painting walls and ceilings in an abandoned recycling center, a burned out embassy (complete with chandeliers and 12 foot mirrors), dumpster diving for canvasses, and a discussion on how to draw females into the gallery Friday night.

What to expect at the show? Ask the artists –

Armer: I’m gonna try to go big. The back wall is kind of large.
Deeker:
Yeah we’re just going to do a good hard smash-down of the whole thing.  We don’t really have a plan on it.  We’ll just get a whole bunch of paint and do it.
DarkCloud:
I’ve got a couple of pieces on glass that I’m really liking. I’ve been working on glass a lot and I just like the way they look.
GoreB:
My pieces for this show all start off with Audubon-style bird paintings and I started mixing fonts with them, and each takes off with stories in it’s own direction.  There is one menacing bird that looks like it’s going to pluck your eyeball out so that’s pretty cool.

"I had this really cool book with thousands and thousands of birds and I love picture books like that, " GoreB (photo Jaime Rojo)

“I had this really cool book with thousands and thousands of birds and I love picture books like that, ” GoreB (photo Jaime Rojo)

These guys have all painted together at different times and Deeker and Goreb started talking about their escapades a couple of years ago in Brooklyn…

Deeker: For like two solid years Gore and I were painting outdoors, indoors, finding fuckin’ huge canvasses and putting them in our bags and bikIng them home. Then we’d just mess them up and go back and hang them up outside somewhere.
Goreb:
There was one time we were painting with images based off of a – what was that photographer guys’ name that we did all those paintings and shit? We found all these old photographs that he had dumped out up on Bedford, like 4 x 8 foot big…
Deeker: Yeah, gigantic
Goreb: Yeah I don’t remember his name but those were actually some of the first collaborations we did – on those photographs. That’s really when I first met Celso and everybody.  (To Deeker) I actually really first met you creeping around the recycling center lot.
Deeker: That was the second time. Actually the first time was fucking drunk on the street.

Deeker

But we digress. Each artist in “A Hounding Obsession” has a background in graffiti at some point and now continues to explore the street art thing.  BSA wondered if NYC was still hot.

Brooklyn Street Art: Is New York still one of the best places to put up work?

Armer: In America, definitely.

GoreB: It’s a great spot; there’s so much neglect and cutty spots, so much discovery as far as strange places around the city.  Like me and Deeker are always talking about the places you can creep to in Queens and Brooklyn.  I think it’s even better to do your work there now because the street art scene is too popular.  You do anything in Williamsburg or on Bedford or in Soho and people find it right away and it gets on the internet but it’s kind of not what it should be about.

Armer

Brooklyn Street Art: What should it be about?

GoreB: For me it’s about withdrawing my art as much as possible and finding little nooks and crannies.

Deeker:  I feel like the one or two kids that find your stuff up in the most random of places – like their reaction is worth more than somebody who finds it right away and ten people go and photograph it and everyone talks about it.

Armer: It’s really about spots. I like spots in high traffic areas but I also like painting in strange places that only young kids might go see.

GoreB

Brooklyn Street Art: And how did you get the name DarkCloud?

DarkCloud: The concept for DarkCloud came because I was hanging out with a good friend of mine who was always in a shitty mood at one point in his life. So we started joking about how he was like the cartoon with the cloud over him always following and over his head.  He was more of a fine art painter and I was only into graffiti solely and I didn’t really want to do anything but graffiti.

He kind of painted his own version of a dark cloud and I was just like, “What is that”?  He said, “That’s the dark cloud”. I was like, “No that’s not what it looks like!” So I painted my own version and I was so kind of hooked, obsessed with getting work out and I was really into the concept of doing bolt ups on signs.  When I first started I only wanted to do them on signs. “

 

GoreB, Armer and Dark Clouds

GoreB, Armer and DarkCloud pose while Deeker is looks for a saw (photo Jaime Rojo)

Thus the Hounding Obsession we have heard about, and the name of the show.  Each one of these artists got hooked a long time ago on making street art, and while it may sound like an exaggeration to call it an obsession, it’s not a far stretch to call it that.  Listen to Dark Cloud…

Dark Cloud: When I first moved to the city that’s how it was. I grew up in Vermont and when I was in Boston I was instantaneously overwhelmed by how people accomplish this stuff. I was so interested right away that it became like an obsession.   Everything else I was into started to fade. It kind of took over. It was too much fun. And the mystery behind it was so much fun.

GoreB: Yeah that is probably a difference between what we do and most artists – we want to get our art out there and don’t want to have it anymore. I think that because of what we’ve done before we have this lack of a feeling of ownership that pervades all of our work. It’s very apparent in how we put it on the public. I think that feeling also comes from that ability to let go of it so easily. Anonymity is powerful too because it raises questions about why the piece is there. You round a corner and you have no idea who this person was or why it was created and it causes a lot more mystery that you wouldn’t get otherwise. It veils the work in mysterious ways.

Dark Clouds

Dark Clouds blue period diptych (photo Jaime Rojo)

Armer thinks that girls in particular are going to like this show and encourages them to come.

Armer: This is kind of my first show indoors, and it may be my last. So if there are any ladies that are interested in Armer, they should definitely roll through.

Brooklyn Street Art: So this is a one–time-only opportunity of a lifetime?

Armer: Yes, I’m retiring after this. Not from the streets though.

Armer

Armer meditates on a topic dear to the heart (photo Jaime Rojo)

And a few little hits from the Streets….

DarkClouds Free Delivery (photo Jaime Rojo)

DarkClouds in situ.  (photo Jaime Rojo)

Botanical Deeker

A botanical Deeker from a few years ago (photo Jaime Rojo)

GoreB

GoreB coming in for a landing (photo Jaime Rojo)

FACTORY FRESH SITE IS HERE

“A Hounding Obsession” is opening Friday

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Images of the Week 10.11.09

Brooklyn-Street-Art-IMAGES-OF-THE-WEEK_1009

Bishop 203 Christian Paine

A funny collabo from Bishop 203 and Christian Paine (photo Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe
I KNEW I should have come out with my slippers on. (Elbow Toe)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

Lost Space
A festive costume party of some sort. (Lost Space) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Blue Goose
Blue Goose (photo Jaime Rojo)

Green Goose
Green Goose (photo Jaime Rojo)

Deeker Knox
Deeker & Knox (photo Jaime Rojo)

Dick Chicken
DickChicken (photo Jaime Rojo)

Dick Chicken
DickChicken  (photo Jaime Rojo)

General Howe
There is a backstory here. (General Howe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

TD4
TD4 (photo Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week 08.30.09

Images of the Week 08.30.09

ur Weekly Interview with the Street

Black and White against blue backdrop
Summer Geometric Abstraction (photo Jaime Rojo)

C215
C215 with an OverUnder flyby (photo Jaime Rojo)

Deekers
Who holds the key to this Tainted Lovebox? (Deeker) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Sacer as interpreted by Deitch
Sacer as interpreted by Deitch (photo Jaime Rojo)

Gats and Gaia
Gats and Gaia (photo Jaime Rojo)

Double Cows Gaia
Double Cows (Gaia) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Haculla
Reminds me of that classic Dead Kennedy’s song (Haculla) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Haculla does Operah
Haculla has raunchy time with Britney and does Oprah the following Thursday (photo Jaime Rojo)

I Love NY
I Do Too!  (I Love NY)  (photo Jaime Rojo)

Ink
I Wanna Rock-n-Roll All Night!  (Ink) (photo Jaime Rojo)

King Kess
If you say so…. (King Kess) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Momo
(Momo) (photo Jaime Rojo)

NohJ Coley pays tribute tot he late Dash Snow
NohJColey pays tribute to the late Dash Snow (photo Jaime Rojo)

OHM
And if that’s not enough, I’ve gotta take the kids back-to-school shopping! (OHM) (photo Jaime Rojo)

OHM
The Lion King on Crack (OHM) (photo Jaime Rojo)

OHM
OHM (photo Jaime Rojo)

OHM
Do you know the way to Rockefeller Center?  I got cut-off from my tour group during a rainstorm in 1998 (OHM) (photo Jaime Rojo)

OHM
OHM (photo Jaime Rojo)

OHM
OHM (photo Jaime Rojo)

OHM
OHM (photo Jaime Rojo)

Pink lipstick on a Red Nose Pit Bull
Pink lipstick on a Red Nose Pit Bull (Tazmat Red Nose) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203
I see you and my heart takes flight… (Bishop203) (photo Jaime Rojo)

C215
Welcome to the entrance, now tell me the secret word, you fool, and kiss me!  (C215) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Celso
(Celso) (photo Jaime Rojo)

General Howe
Battle of Bushwick! (General Howe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

General Howe
Guarding the Graffiti Kingdom (General Howe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

General Howe
Halt!  Don’t move.  Hand over that Snickers Bar before we call in the rest of the troops. (General Howe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

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“The Great OutDoors” with Luna Park at ArtBreak Gallery

“The Great OutDoors” with Luna Park at ArtBreak Gallery

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

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

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

Image by Luna Park featuring a Celso in the doorway.

Image by Luna Park featuring a Celso in the doorway.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cake

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Dude Company

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Brooklyn Street Art: What door surprised you the most?

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

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

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

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

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

THE GREAT OUT DOORS
MAY 2 – 29, 2009

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

Opening Reception Saturday May 2, 6-10 pm

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

Billi Kid

Luna Park

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“Work to Do” is on Schedule for March 26 at The Combine

Collaboration is the Piece
Collaboration makes the total Piece (collage and design Anna Robie, photos Jazzmine Beaulieu)

Royce Bannon and the Endless Love Crew

have been working hard and probably playing a little too, and the group show they have engineered is a quick primer on what street art is looking like at the moment in Brooklyn, and elsewhere. The show inaugurates a hallowed creative space for artists in Soho and christens it with a new name, The Combine, at 112 Greene Street in Soho.

The theme of the show, “Work to Do” pays a tribute to words and works of the new president in this land, and Afrika Bambaataa has written a new song with the same name, which he’ll be performing when he reunites with the Soulsonic Force at the opening.

See more about the show and our interview with Royce here.

“We have to work like our future depends on it, because it does” – Barack Obama

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