All posts tagged: Detroit

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 2 with Lauren YS, Cey Adams, Dalek, Taylor White

September 20, 2016 Artists

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

“I have been painting a lot of moths lately because as I am a gypsy myself ,” says Lauren YS as she contemplates the wingspan of the enormous insect she’s creating for Murals in the Market. She says that she has learned alot about the Eastern Market since she has been here and the importance of the organic foods that it brings to the community – which naturally reminds her of moths. The underrated winged creatures actually protect crops, she says, and she feels more akin to them than butterflies.

Lauren YS at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Originally from Oakland, California, she talks about the importance of the market and the local foods and the fact that moths protect crops and they eat other pests.

“I am so obsessed with them right now both ideal logically and aesthetically because there are so many that are so gorgeous and they’re really beautiful in a way that is much more badass in a way than butterflies are.” Badass and perhaps better suited for the dark pop fantasy surrealism in many of her characters and complex compositions. Also, they are “a little more my style – they are transitory creatures just like that always moving and they are awake at night like I am.”

Lauren YS sketch for her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ouizi collaborates with Lauren YZ mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Taylor White at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Taylor white and Dalek are working along a busy high trafficked noisy sidestreet but they have their trays of bucket paint carefully laid out on the sidewalk in a dazzling pattern that is as interesting as any mural. Two distinct different styles – his geometric and optically beguiling in the choices of pattern and colorplay – her’s organically figurative and fluid – are coming together at least with their shared pallette thus far.

Driving up from Alabama with a friend, White says that she likes the contrasts in styles because it helps her understand both better. “I think it’s kind of a fun challenge to work collaboratively with someone whose work is different. We have to figure out the best way to marry the two styles.” Typically interested in the figurative and the natural world, White is working now with two hands and two forearms working in concert.

“Most of my work right now is figurative and I’m really interested in how forms move through space and connect with one another,” she says. “I really like how the flatness of his work really and enhances the organic qualities of my work and vice versa.”

Dalek at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jeremiah Britton at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Saunders at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marka27 at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sydney G. James and Tylonn Sawyer at work on their mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As part of the Murals in the Market fest there was a barbershop talk with top designers who have made names for themselves in the hip hop and advertising business – Cey Adams and Kevin Lyons. The one hour talk in Innerstate Gallery featured barbers actually cutting their hair while they free associated about their careers and gave advice to artists and the next generation.

Shop talk with Cey Adams & Kevin Lyons with The Social Club. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Somehow the young people today are strangely more talented than even the generation before,” said Mr. Adams at one point when reflecting on the current Street Art scene that has far diverged from the graffiti roots that he laid. “I don’t understand how they do some of the things that they do they are absolutely brilliant.”

When giving advice he reiterated many times the importance of doing your research, asking, questions, and working and hustling. I think the future is really great if they can sort of understand it in time all things are possible they just have to be patient.”

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 1

September 19, 2016 Artists

A Detroit lion taking form thanks to Atlanta’s Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This market place is known for its local based foods and community based Detroit roots. We’re getting rides in cars at the moment – it is Detroit after all – but the best way to see the murals is on foot. Of course you may discover that there are some cutty little behind the scenes organic graffiti and Street Art spots too and this city has a lot of those as well.

Also, football fans – an ocean of them having “tailgate” parties in parking lots not far from the stadium before, during, and after the actual game. An organic practice born from the counter culture with hippies and rock bands back in the 60s and 70s, the “tailgating” of today is full-blown commodified excess with tents, chairs, flatscreen TVs, and beer. Lots of beer.

The wiley, quirky artists painting walls in the Eastern Market were inundated yesterday with these fans in team jerseys looking for parking spots and mural fans following maps and snapping pictures, and guys asking for a loosie or a light. Between the clubs/cafes, the sports fans, motorcyclists, custom bike tours, and pop-up djs hanging with the artists-the neighborhood was thumping with and aural menagerie of classic rock, funkadelic, hip-hop, and many slices of dance/techno throughout the day into the night.

Here a just a few of the artists at work whom we caught in the late summer Detroit sun.

Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Greg Mike is getting to work on the facade of a factory-like abandoned, now refurbishing, building that is jammed with organic graffiti inside. He came from a design background and says he grew up loving old-school cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and 1960s Disney characters. “All of that stuff inspires me and I like to mix it up and kind of mash them together,” he says.

Aside from being the symbol of the Detroit football team, the lion figures into his piece because it reminds him of his iconic personal character “Larry Loudmouth”.

“The lion is the loudest animal in the kingdom … I have him speaking the language of love because it is all about living life loud but being positive with the message of love – not just being angry, you know what I mean? There’s a lot of angry people out here.”

Gregg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sheryo at work on a tattoo inside The Yok and Sheryo’s Ping Pong Auto Shack” at the headquarters. That girl is a machine! Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Valencia-based, Buenos Aires-born Felipe Pantone is knocking out a lateral slice of optic/ hallucinatory muralage in the heart of the Market across the street from Patch Whisky and Ghost Head’s new piece.

He usually works on walls that are taller and thinner perhaps, but he says he’s throwing himself into it by assessing it’s character and shape and creating a new mural in the moment.

“Yeah I’m used to working with every kind of format.
Every time you have to think of something specifically for the work. I didn’t bring anything from home – I saw the wall and sat across the street and looked at it for a while so I made this design that hopefully works.”

Is he a little unsure of how it is going to work, but he’s not worried about it.

“Uncertainty is the very essence of romance,” he says here on the sidewalk that is broken up and erupting. “That’s Oscar Wilde don’t give me the credit! But even when you don’t know what’s happening that still is what makes it fun.”

Mr. Jago at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Jago is collaborating with Xenz on a wall and the music on this block it loud – a guy with a big grey beard and big belly just rode past blasting Foghat’s “Slow Ride,” effectively cancelling all conversation and even thoughts for a minute. Mr. Jago is himself nursing a sore shoulder, torso, head, and broken glasses from an unfortunate spill off a motorcycle recently. He moves limberly nonetheless, and keeps backing up into the traffic jam on the street, standing between cars to get some distance on his emerging composition.

“We’re going to slowly build it up I think and to add more of each other’s signature colors so they Marry,” he says of the celestial miasma emerging from the wall. He says that he and Xenz will begin with two large separate characters. “We will surround them with this sort of universe of gases and floating islands and his signature of insects and birds and make it a kind of nice place that doesn’t exist in this world.”

Pat Perry’s mural in progress. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detroits’ Pat Perry is taking a huge wall to address a huge issue bigger than Detroit, yet firmly rooted in its history as a car producing capital of the oil-burning 20th century. Even though it was trade agreements that turned much of this city into a shadow of that former muscular self, Perry is also looking hopefully to the end of the fossil-fuel age which is represented here by a marching band that reaches and arc and then declines.

“It’s like a timeline of the end of one chapter a humorous last celebration of the oil age,” he says.” This is kind of a look into the eight ball of the futuristic city of Detroit”

An illustrator for magazines and online publications, he says he is really a painter who has been doing a lot of landscapes lately. Painting with aerosol is not usual for him.

“I kind of don’t like the look of spray paint and I’m trying to make it feel more painterly I think if I had endless time I would try to make this all bucket paint. But I’m learning to work with this medium – like doing the big areas with bucket paint and doing small areas with line work but trying not to have the line look so huge and thick.”

Patch Whisky at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Patch Whisky fashions. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I’m from Charleston South Carolina and my buddy ghost beard lives up here so I’ve been coming here for some years now,” says Patch Whisky as we stand under a temporary tent on the street by his wall to hide from the midday sun.

His second year at Murals in the Market, Patch says the two are college buddies from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh 16 years ago and they have always had affinities for similar cultural references.

“Stylistically we are both cartoon dudes and we grew up watching those Bugs Bunny cartoons – so we both come from the same love of those characters that we grew up with.”

How would he describe his work?

“Colorful, playful, whimsical, creepy, silly.”

Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm Strike a “Balancing Act” in Detroit

May 21, 2016 Artists

Yin and Yang.
Good and Evil.
Joy and Pain.
Positive and Negative.
Bitterness and Forgiveness.
These are among the laws of polarity that are at play in our daily lives with us somehow moderating, ameliorating, mollifying, strengthening, accentuating one or the other to achieve a sense of balance.

brooklyn-street-art-how-nosm-detroit-05-16-web-6

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

Graffiti writers/Street Artists and twin brothers How & Nosm draw our attention to this continuous and natural process in an epic new mural that they just completed in Detroit. They tell us that the framework of “family” was on their minds when conceptualizing the piece, with cogitations on the traditional polarity of matriarchy and patriarchy and the often delicate nature of providing a harmonious structure within that framework. It’s an idyllic concept, and in their press release the brothers acknowledge that is not always the case.

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

Completed in conjunction with their “In Between” show at the Library Street Collective, this balancing act is “We are each pulled in different directions and balancing work, personal life, family and friends and health is increasingly difficult.”

The massive work contains symbols of struggle and throughout the composition looks for optical counterweights to answer overages, completed with patterning, character, and calligraphic linework. As with many of their nested storylines, How & Nosm leave much of the interpretation to the viewer here – a vibrant and organic painting that provides a balance to an equally massive one on this prima facade by Shepard Fairey that was also commissioned by a real estate company.

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

Proudly coming from a background of graffiti and vandalism to completing a paid legal mural itself encompasses a polarity that many fans and critics discuss regularly today, not always producing agreement. We don’t know if the brothers considered this debate specifically when approaching the project,but you know it probably crosses their minds. Maybe that’s why the last statement they make in their description of the new work is “This mural stands as a reminder to strive for that balance.”

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” with Shepard’s Fairey on the right. Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

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Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock – “Joy & Pain” 12″ Extended Version

BSA Film Friday: 05.20.16

May 20, 2016 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Christian Omodeo Talks About “Street Art – Banksy & Co.”
2. Guido Van Helten on Abandoned Silos in Australia
3. CTVà Street Fest 2016 Recap
4. How & Nosm’s Monumental Mural in Detroit by Dennis Porto
5. Shepard Fairey being Quick on his Feet

BSA Special Feature: Christian Omodeo Talks About “Street Art – Banksy & Co.”

It’s impossible to enter a chatroom or a bar frequented by graffiti/Street Art types today without some mention of this exhibition in Italy. The topic centers around an unresolved, largely heretofore undiscussed question of any removal of illegally placed art from property for any purposes except to destroy it. Here one of the curators of the exhibit, Christian Omodeo takes you on a tour of the complete exhibit discussing tags, photography, collectors habits, the relevance of an object as a conveyor of culture. Finally the interviewer, Good Guy Boris, broaches the subject of works taken from the urban wild. The topic is tackled head-on with Omodeo very clearly laying out a case for …

Guido Van Helten on Abandoned Silos in Australia

A beautifully shot feel-good story of a small town farming community decimated by corporate industrial farming in Brim in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia. It is a familiar story about the disappearing family farm and our control of the food supply that has happened across much of the so-called First World but most people still haven’t connected the dots. Here artist Guido Van Helten focuses on the local story, the left-behind individuals affected directly by economic downturn and loss of community – and paints them heroically across an architectural archetype that rises triumphantly above the land, a row of grain silos. Juddy Roller produces, Round 3 Creative directs.

CTVà Street Fest 2016 Recap

Highlights of the CVTA Festival – Street Fest in Civitacampomarano in Campobasso (Italy). A small town of 400 celebrated for 4 days in April with Biancoshock (Italy) , David de la Mano (Uruguay) , Pablo S. Herrero (Spain) , Icks (Italy) , Hitnes (Italy), and ONE (Italy).

How & Nosm’s Monumental Mural in Detroit by Dennis Porto

A huge new piece by How & Nosm captured here helps you appreciated the talents and the scope. More on this project soon here.

Shepard Fairey being Quick on his Feet

Quick! A word choice game that keeps you apprised of your local Street Artist’s preferences. Video by Konbini

Roland Henry and Shark Toof : 15 For 2015

December 27, 2015 Artists

What are you celebrating this season? We’re celebrating BSA readers and fans with a holiday assorted chocolate box of 15 of the smartest and tastiest people we know. Each day until the new year we ask a guest to take a moment to reflect on 2015 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for him or her. It’s our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and saying ‘thank you’ for inspiring us throughout the year.

Roland Henry is the managing editor and a journalist for VNA (Very Nearly Almost), the UK-based independent magazine which features interviews with some of the world’s top artists, illustrators and photographers from the urban art scene since 2006. Mr. Henry’s in-depth studies and interviews with artists are warmly informative and revelatory, presenting fresh perspectives on a complex scene that is always in flux. Studied in Sociology and English Roland is multi-disciplinary—curator, producer, actor — building an expanding network of respect among artists and brands in cities like London, Sydney, New York, Los Angeles, and Detroit.

Detroit, MI, USA

September 2015

Title: “Shark Toof”
Photograph by Roland Henry

I love this image, not only because I didn’t fuck it up and it’s actually a cool shot, but because of what it represents. The 1xRUN guys brought me over to Detroit in September for their Murals in the Market festival, which embodied everything good about art for me right now – travel, meeting awesome new people, sharing stories, making new ones and creating an amazing international community. In these times of war, love, peace and understanding are the things that will bring us all together.

~ Roland Henry

BSA Film Friday: 10.02.15

October 2, 2015 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Shepard Fairey: Natural Springs.
2. West One: Future Communication
3. Monica Canilao: Alchemy. Detroit
4. Herakut in Rome by Blindeye Factory

BSA Special Feature: Shepard Fairey: Natural Springs.

Jersey City hosted Shepard Fairey a couple of weeks ago at MANA Contemporary and naturally he chose this huge wall with a high profile to host his image entitled Natural Springs. If you are going to do a subtle lambasting of the oil economy where better than a location visible to the millions of drivers traveling between Jersey City and Manhattan via the Holland Tunnel.

Shepard Fairey: A Steady Drumbeat Inside and Out on BSA

West One: Future Communication

This promo for a show with West One without words calls for the rise of a third way (or fourth or fifth) that draws connection to graffiti of our earliest days of mark-making and movements of today employing symbol, shape, line to communicate in a monochromatic mode.

Monica Canilao: Alchemy. Detroit

As Detroit is settled by the artists you see the movement here from other cities has reached the former Motor City in this group show featuring the spirit of D.I.Y and re-imagining our empty neglected spaces as stages for aesthetic creation. This long video advertises an upcoming group show with Monica Canilao at the center describing a vision of alchemy.

Herakut in Rome by Blindeye Factory

Promoting their gallery show in Rome the german duo Herakut created this wall in Tor Pignattare forte STREET HEART PROJECT, curated by Marta Gargiulo, Massimo Scrocca and Marco Gallotta.

“In our moment of need we rely on the family of humans. I wished we could remember these family bonds in our moments strength”
Herakut.

“Nei nostri momenti di bisogno ci affidiamo alle persone come famiglia, sarebbe bello se potessimo ricordarci di questi legami anche nei momenti di forza”. Herakut.

BSA Film Friday: 05.22.15

May 22, 2015 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Rap Quotes ATL: Dirty South Edition
2. Narcelio Grud – Cinetic Graffiti
3. DourOne in South Park LA by Phil Sanchez
4. Haeler Keeping Detroit Alive

Rap Quotes ATL: Dirty South Edition

We’re here in the Waffle House in the dirty south talking about putting up site-specific rap lyrics all around Atlanta. Pass the syrup please. This Rap Quotes project has taken you from New York to LA and Philly and now to the gateway. It’s a treasure hunt, it’s educational, it’s musical, historical, geographical, features strip clubs, – fun for the whole dysfunctional family! Big ups to Jay Shells and Animal New York for keeping this flame high!

Narcelio Grud – Cinetic Graffiti

The latest project incorporating hand made creations and artistic vision, Grud may have perplexed more participants than titilated with this one; a hand-powered sound installation.

DourOne in South Park LA by Phil Sanchez

The neighborhood of South Park hired DourOne to paint this mural in Los Angeles through their business improvement initiative. The commercial artist from Madrid has done a number of jobs with alcohol brands so his chops are smooth and this multi-sliced portrait is meant to evoke the character of various neighborhoods in LA.

Haeler Keeping Detroit Alive

Another entry from Animal New York this week – the graffiti artist Haeler in Detroit, where all things are running wild right now as entrepreneurs, artists, prospectors, and snake oil salesmen are laying claim to the bones that the banks left. Sidenote: why do people sound like Darth Vader in these videos?

BSA Film Friday: 01.02.15

January 2, 2015 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Urban Forms 2014 in Łódź, Poland
2. Memorie Urbane 2014
3. Alice Pasquini: New Journey
4. Detroit with Sheryo, Yok, Daek, Fecks
5. Chris Dyer in Denver and Boulder, Colorado

BSA Special Feature: Urban Forms 2014 Łódź, Poland

Poland’s mural art scene has blown up in recent years thanks largely to the efforts of Urban Forms in Lodz, who have successfully completed 10s of them across the city. More importantly, the success of the program is striking a fine balance between the permission granted from the community and the desire to secure high caliber artists to come and paint. The newest video recap of the 2014 program illustrates that the impression of the viewer on the street is a large part of the calculus, and the resulting conversations and engagement, when it comes to this new public/private/permissioned/commissioned muralism, are as important as getting a huge wall to go big on.

Memorie Urbane 2014

Equally successful for the mural movement that has evolved from Street Art is Memorie Urbane in Italy and organizers have taken pains to be cognizant of placement in context. The results have been meaningful and have impact because the historical and the modern are part of one conversation in this city not far from Rome. By sponsoring conferences and bringing in a great sense of public arts place the life of a city and a culture, these works become one of the same cloth that the city is made from– while still retaining the voice of the artists.

Alice Pasquini: New Journey

Painter and storyteller Alice Pasquini has as much energy and grit as any prolific Street Artist at the moment, and her style is immediately recognizable. What you may not have known is that her stories are initiated by a need to speak with a town or a neighbor about personal, social and political issues that affect them – as well as to facilitate her own journey. In this respect we continue to see a growing similarity between the muralists of today and the community muralists of the last century – without the heavy handed quality of design-by-committee that often mars a good mural.

Detroit with Sheryo, Yok, Daek, Fecks

The wonderous wreckage of industrialism, corruption and global trade agreements that has left Detroit a disaster area has spawned an era of artists rushing to the crash site to see what sort of sculpture can be made. Largely white, apolitical and unquestioning, the communities of creators that are forming and coalescing will eventually be commodified by brands, no doubt, and already commercial deals are being signed. In the mean time, there is still plenty of unsanctioned fun to be had and Sheryo and Yok give you a sense of what it feels like to run free in Detroit.

Chris Dyer in Denver and Boulder, Colorado

Hmmm, wonder what kind of graffiti/street art scene takes root in a large affluent city where the state has legalized marijuana? Can you say “visionary”? Chris Dyer recently tripped through some of the galleries, studios, and skate ramps of Denver and Boulder with a camera behind him, showing his aerosol skills and capturing the observations and aspirations of a quickly evolving community of folks whose social/political/party mission is integrated with their artistic world vision.

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.24.14

August 24, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Angelina Christina, Azores, City Kitty, Colettivo FX, Damon, EaseOne, Fidel Evora, F.S., Gone Postal, HDL Corporation, JR, Kraken, Love is Telepathic, Mark Samsonovich, Mesa, Never, Pixote, Rubin415, Seher, Smithe, Specter, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Wrdsmth, and X-O.

Top Image >> Smithe, Seher and Kraken new mural for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smithe, Seher and Kraken new mural for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

X-O (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smithe for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Specter and Mesa in Cadiz, Spain. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Fidel Evora for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Specter Ad-Takeover (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WRDSMTH clearly knows his audience. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon is caught in a lip-lock. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty has the four panel street exhibit for Woodward Project Space. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HDL Corporation in Detroit. August 2014 (photo © HDL Corporation)

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh clarifying things in case you were not sure. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Detail of both ends of his large new mural in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Samsonovich in Jersey City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Collettivo FX. Portrait of Abidi. Reggio Emilia, Italy. August 2014. (photo © Collettivo FX)

Collettivo FX explains the portrait above:

“In our city of Reggio Emilia in Italy there is a very big factory named Officine Reggiane that is completely abandoned. It was famous in Italy for its metal work production (they made the Orient Express train, the crane used for the Costa Concordia, and then there was the longest occupation of a factory in the history of Italy here).

Now this is a major venue for graffiti and a refuge for homeless people. We began going to the factory more that two years ago and some of the people living there became our friends; in particular a man named Abidi, who we named “the boss of the Officine Reggiane”.

So a few weeks ago Abidi announced to us that he is leaving the factory to go back to Tunisia: he had found a wife! So, we thought about a gift we could give him. We are poor, very poor, we just had the paint, so one night we went in the factory (usually we go during the day) and we painted a big portrait of Abidi in the principal part of the place. It’s a gift for Abidi but also for us and for our memories of the Officine Reggiane.”

Pixote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gone Postal (photo © Jaime Rojo)

F.S. We are intrigued by this bubble tag. Was the stencil work done by a different artist? Is this the original piece as first installed by the artist? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Angelina Christina, EaseOne and Never collaboration for Savage Habbit in Jersey City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. August 2014. It looks like Spiderman has found a formidable adversary. Last time he saw him battling this monster hanging from wire cables in Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.10.14

August 10, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

If you haven’t gone barefoot in the park yet this summer, what are you waiting for? Everybody’s doing it. Not recommended for the sidewalk in Bushwick, Bedstuy, …okay, most of Brooklyn. Limit your barefootness to grassy areas.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring AK, Bifido, Che Man, Clint Mario, Cooper, Crummy Gummy, Damon, Jilly Ballistic, Karl Addison, ME, OverUnder, Pyramid Oracle, Razo, Sean9Lugo, and Skount.

Top Image >> Jilly Ballistic blasts something out of the sky while the modern version of the Keystone Cops blasts an advertisement at unsuspecting citizenry. What’s with all the guns all the time? Jeez.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I recently visited Detroit, MI and created some new work while I was there. When I told people I was going to Detroit the typical reaction was “It’s Dangerous” Or “That place is dirty!” or they would just make a face about it like I’m crazy for going. After visiting I felt, yes there are some areas that are not great to hang around at, but I also fell in love with the people there and how they take a lot of pride in their city. So the two works loosely were inspired by people’s reactions to visiting Detroit using references of “crime” and “cleaning up” with my twist of humor put in them” – CG

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GAIA : New Mural Work in Greenville, Atlanta, Detroit

June 30, 2014 Artists

The traveling Street Artist and historian / student / observer / critic of urban planning, anthropology, people’s movements who goes by the moniker GAIA shares with us today some of the back stories for recent murals he has authored.

When he posts on his Facebook page that he is looking for recommendations for reading about a certain city or culture where he will be soon visiting, you can have a degree of certainty that GAIA will soon be depicting what he learns with portraiture and dioramic imagery that illustrates what he has found. This fascination for self-education and public education through public artworks has roots in mural history that has persisted for decades in cities and neighborhoods around the world.

Typically public murals are stories told from a formal city or town historical perspective or come about from the distilled sentiment of a community to address or commemorate pivotal people and events that formed and molded the direction or DNA of a population. With Gaia’s personal study, criterion for selection, and style of storytelling one wonders if there is not a GAIA school of mural making that has been evolving over these last five years – one that already appears to have adherents and enthusiastic co-creators – and which reflects his focus on social movements, political machinations, industry, economic drivers, and anthropology.

Here are recent examples of work by Gaia and collaborators in three American cities (although his work is not limited to just this continent) along with some explanatory text from the artist to help contextualize the stories and players evoked within them.

“City of Altruism” – Greenville, North Carolina

Part of #yearofaltruism, the mural features the warped images of four mills that have been repurposed or are slated for renovation and that flow through the Reedy River falls. Previously sites of industry and working class employment that are now used for shopping, upper-income lofts, and entertainment culture, these mills are part of a local heritage that GAIA wanted to preserve.

“Global competition restructures the lives of working class and white collar communities as the South meets the 21st century,” he explains as he describes the new piece. “The calla lilies are a nod to the Bible-minded nature of Greenville; the flowers represent purity yet are also poisonous. These are paired with the tumbling red brick of change and destruction. A single story brick duplex emerges out of the top left of the composition with the phrases “Webster Street” and “Phillis Wheatley” as a memorial to the African American neighborhood that has been erased from this area.”

Gaia would like to thank The Year Of Altruism Foundation for including him in their programming and for inviting him to Greenville, with special thanks to Steve Cohen and Don Kliburg for orchestrating the project.

“Boundary” – Atlanta, Georgia

GAIA in collaboration with artists Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil created these three warped Bierstadt paintings that fade into images of Mayor Hartsfield and of H. Rap Brown in the bottom corner. The project was completed for Living Walls, the City Speaks in the city’s West End, which GAIA describes as “an industrial neighborhood that is used as a buffer with the construction of Interstate 20 to prevent Mechanicsville and Pittsburgh from encroaching further north into the downtown and the Mosley Park areas.”

Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Process shot. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Detail. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

The Murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit, Michigan

The primary focus of the elongated piece is a memorial to #VincentChin who, observes GAIA, “passed in 1982 in an altercation that possessed attributes of a hate crime and whose perpetrators who were given lenient sentencing in a plea bargain.”

With that image as the central one, GAIA combines images of leaders whose careers directly or indirectly could be tied to that event, he says. He describes the mural like this: “Painting post war economic miracles as a portrait of global competition that led to layoffs in Detroit and fueled the frustration and xenophobia behind Vincent Chin’s murder”.

Here are the other players in the mural, as described by GAIA;

“Wirtschaftswunder” Ludwig Erhard was a German politician notable for his role in Germany’s robust post war recovery.

Sun Yun-suan (Chinese: 孫運璿; pinyin: Sūn Yùnxuán; November 11, 1913 – February 15, 2006) was a Chinese engineer and politician. As minister of economic affairs from 1969 to 1978 and Premier of the Republic of China from 1978 to 1984, he was credited for overseeing the transformation of Taiwan from being a mainly agricultural economy to an export powerhouse.

Hayato Ikeda (池田勇人 Ikeda Hayato?, 3 December 1899 – 13 August 1965) was a Japanese politician and the 58th, 59th and 60th Prime Minister of Japan from 19 July 1960 to 9 November 1964. Takafusa Nakamura, a leading economic historian, described Ikeda as “the single most important figure in Japan’s rapid growth. He should long be remembered as the man who pulled together a national consensus for economic growth.”

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BSA Images Of The Week: 10.27.13

October 27, 2013 Artists

This weekend Halloween began early, and with Banksy leading the way on Friday night, it looks like there will be more tricks in store before the end of October (Thursday). Another surprise came when Swoon took her turn at the Houston wall. As of right now, everyone is keeping their eyes open for what will happen next. Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Banksy, Blanco, HDL, JR, London Kaye, and Swoon.

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Lauren YS at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lauren YS sketch for her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ouizi collaborates with Lauren YZ mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Taylor White at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dalek at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jeremiah Britton at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jeremiah Britton at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Saunders at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marka27 at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sydney G. James and Tylonn Sawyer at work on their mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shop talk with Cey Adams & Kevin Lyons with The Social Club. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Detroit lion taking form thanks to Atlanta’s Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gregg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gregg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sheryo at work on a tattoo inside The Yok and Sheryo’s Ping Pong Auto Shack” at the headquarters. That girl is a machine! Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Felipe Pantone at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Jago at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pat Perry’s mural in progress. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Patch Whisky at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Patch Whisky fashions. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” with Shepard’s Fairey on the right. Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

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Top Image >> Smithe, Seher and Kraken new mural for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smithe, Seher and Kraken new mural for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smithe, Seher and Kraken new mural for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

X-O (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smithe for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Specter and Mesa in Cadiz, Spain. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Fidel Evora for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Specter Ad-Takeover (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WRDSMTH clearly knows his audience. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon is caught in a lip-lock. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty has the four panel street exhibit for Woodward Project Space. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HDL Corporation in Detroit. August 2014 (photo © HDL Corporation)

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh clarifying things in case you were not sure. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Detail of both ends of his large new mural in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Samsonovich in Jersey City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Collettivo FX. Portrait of Abidi. Reggio Emilia, Italy. August 2014. (photo © Collettivo FX)

Pixote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gone Postal (photo © Jaime Rojo)

F.S. We are intrigued by this bubble tag. Was the stencil work done by a different artist? Is this the original piece as first installed by the artist? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Angelina Christina, EaseOne and Never collaboration for Savage Habbit in Jersey City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. August 2014. It looks like Spiderman has found a formidable adversary. Last time he saw him battling this monster hanging from wire cables in Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Top Image >> Jilly Ballistic blasts something out of the sky while the modern version of the Keystone Cops blasts an advertisement at unsuspecting citizenry. What’s with all the guns all the time? Jeez.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Che Man makes a comparison with Pancho Villa and the EZLN in Bushwick. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder continues to completely blow your mind. This one for Wall Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY (photo © Mark Deff)

And it goes something a little like this… Karl Addison for Wall Therapy 2014. Rochester, NY (photo © Josh Saunders)

Skount at Java-Eiland. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo © Skount)