All posts tagged: Drago

Dorothy Circus Gallery Presents: Miss Van “Wild At Heart” (Rome, Italy)

November 13, 2012 , , , , , ,

Miss Van

“This whole world’s wild at heart and weird on top” (David Lynch)
Masked muses cling to one another like accomplices, embodying the wild nature of love as sweet tears openly flow down their faces; their swollen, blood-filled lips throbbing like hearts as they whisper their secret bliss. In the warm realms of the mind, suspended in memory, more intimate and personal than ever, Miss Van returns to the essence of the genetic code of seduction: a combination of feminine delicacy and animal instincts, amalgamated in a potion that both poisons and rejuvenates its devotees, sip by sip. Their faces concealed, these disturbing Venuses are both victims and predators, living their lives according to their instincts and feelings. Feeding off her own truth, able to release it only from behind her mask, Miss Van’s muse, just like an innocent Messalina, falls into a tangle of narrow bodices and strings, in a game of self -seduction which simultaneously reveals her as both queen and prisoner of her own role. In its own contemporary way, the art of Miss Van traces the taste of a metaphorical dance with female nudes reminiscent those painted by the likes of Klimt, Frida Kahlo and Lempicka. Moods and modern costumes are given a place of honour as soft bodies entwine and the fierce, burning character of a wild animal alter ego rears its head. Always fleeing from the dictates of Street Art despite being its appointed luminary, Miss Van continues to bring us her unique and unbridled vision, shaping the iconography of the modern femme fatale. In her own inimitable style, she is once again both the romantic tamer and sassy ballerina of the surreal circus that is the art of our times.

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Drago and Wooster Social Club Present: Chris Stain “Long Story Short” Book Launch and Exhibition (Manhattan, NY)

February 22, 2012 , , , , ,

 

Wooster Street Social Club and Drago are pleased to announce the exhibition and book launch for Chris Stain’s latest project and Drago’s newest title Long Story Short – A Collection of Inspiration, at the Wooster Street Social Club on Wednesday, March 14th, 2012, from 8-11pm. The exhibition will show all new work that explores two perspectives of intercity life; that from the internal struggles of the individual as well as the circumstantial elements to which that life subscribes. Both the exhibition and the book present an autobiographical reflection of the artist’s life through a collection of writings, letters, photographs, memorabilia, and artwork that illuminate a lifetime of experience that is the source of inspiration for Chris’ poignant imagery. Chris Stain’s subject matter has been compared to themes echoed in the American Social Realist movement of the 1930s and 40s. More importantly, however, Chris’s work is a communication of things that are relevant to him, the things that he sees everyday and the things that most people tend to, or try to, ignore. His work is marked by a strong social tinge and is filled with the adversity and diversity that one faces in the intercity. This visual narrative of social sufferance explores not only his personal architecture of experience, emotion, and inspiration, but shares the untold tales of the overlooked and the left behind. Despite being viewed by many as political statements, Chris Stain’s work is more than that. It is an honest and direct presentation of the basic levels of humanity, for better or for worse, what it means to be human and to treat others with an elemental sense of decency. The balance of today’s delicate social architecture bears the weight of many who feel threatened by social and economic injustice. These sentiments run high as a result of the events inspired by the Occupy movement, which have made Chris’s work feel that much more relevant in contemporary society.

The opening reception for Chris Stain’s Long Story Short will begin at 8pm on Wednesday, March 14th. The evening will include a slideshow presentation and round table discussion on art and social activism lead by Josh Macphee of Just Seeds, an interactive screen printing demonstration by Bushwick Print Lab, a live DJ set performed by Billy Mode, catering provided by Laurel Bell, and refreshments from Brooklyn Brewery. The slideshow will begin promptly at 9pm with discussion and Q&A to follow. Long Story Short – A Collection of Inspiration will be available for purchase during the event as well as throughout the run of the exhibition (through April 15th). You may also order Long Story Short through Drago’s website, www.dragolab.com. Chris Stain will be in attendance during the opening to sign copies of the book.

About the Artist

Chris Stain grew up writing Graffiti in Baltimore, MD in the mid 1980’s. Through printmaking in high school he adapted stenciling techniques, which later led to his work in street stencils and urban contemporary art. Chris currently teaches art in New York City and is pursuing a BA in Art Education.

About the DRAGO

Drago has been involved in the urban street movement for over a decade as an international think-tank for the creative class, working in unison with artists to realize projects with lasting cultural impacts. Drago identifies and promotes artists, develops communication projects, publishes books, and stages exhibitions and events. The street represents today’s leading visual and cultural aesthetic and the forefront of social resistance. Drago embodies and promotes this System of Independent Culture, sic!

About Wooster Street Social Club

Wooster Street Social Club is a tattoo studio, art gallery, and event space that plays host to TLC’s reality show NY Ink. It is an environment where art, culture, media, commerce, and entertainment live together and can be understood as complementary rather than mutually exclusive.
Through a series of art shows, activities, lectures, tastings, and large-scale events, Wooster Street Social Club has established itself as an ever-changing nexus of NYC’s creative community. The bottom line is to bring something new to the table, a forum for creativity, and something that is uniquely New York.

Wooster Street Social Club ⏐ 43 Wooster Street, New York, NY 10013⏐ 646.545.3300 info@woostersocial.com ⏐ www.woostersocial.com

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Brian Adam Douglas AKA Elbow-Toe : Inside Out

Brian Adam Douglas AKA Elbow-Toe : Inside Out

November 30, 2010 , , , , ,

brooklyn-street-art-WEB-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-TITLE-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-17

Brian Adam Douglas née Elbow-Toe stands inside looking out a third floor Brooklyn window down the block as late autumn winds whip and churn leaves and debris across the sidewalk, blowing lids off garbage cans and a Yankees cap off a bike messenger.  At his feet and all over the blond hardwood floor behind him are scattered piles of loose ArtForum pages; poked, pocked and carved with a sharp blade to cull their very particular hues.

“There’s a certain amount of chaos but I know where everything is. This is the brown palette, right? This is all browns. This is greys, oranges, violets, blues, yellows, greens. I use that palette (pointing) – I have that set up. That’s how I learned how to paint – with that particular palette. The chromatic values are laid out in a grayscale value,” says the artist as he explains the disarray.
Brooklyn Street Art: I don’t know what that means.
Brian Adam Douglas: So basically the color goes from white to black. If you were to take a black and white photo of this right now, you would see. That yellow would be a real light grey, and it works it’s way down to black.

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-15Photo © Jaime Rojo

His Street Art peers a few blocks from here, the Brooklyn Street Art collective Faile, have been exploring a new technique this year they call wood painting; not quite collage, nor sculpture or painting. Since the leaves that are blowing outside these windows first began to bloom in March this year, Brian has been exploring another difficult to categorize method of “painting” by assembling thousands of custom cut pieces of paper to create nearly 20 new canvasses. Its a process he calls collaging, and it’s effect leaves viewers stupified.

Brooklyn Street Art: You’ve been doing status updates on your Facebook and Twitter feed forever saying that you are collaging.
Brian Adam Douglas: I know! (laughing) That’s all I’m doing man! I can’t wait to say, “Today I’m sleeping”.

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-18

“Cocoons Come And Cocoons Go. It’s The Transformation That’s Key”. Photo © Jaime Rojo

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-12

Sketch for “Cocoons…” Photo © Jaime Rojo

Technically, yes, they are collage; a composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface. But it’s so easy to miss this obvious fact as you look at the painterly forms, their musculature, expression, gesture and puzzling symbolism. Each one of these new pieces fits somehow into an overriding theme that revealed itself to the artist only while Douglas labored. Surprising even the author, it took his wife and friends sometimes to help him see what was right in front of his exacting scalpel; through dream inflected symbolism he has unwittingly written a treatise about family, parenthood, and how they profoundly impact the formation of character. Without intending to, his inner world pushed it’s way to the outside, where he will be displaying this new powerfully personal collection December 4th at The Warrington Museum of Art in England with a show called “Due Date”, followed by a March show at Black Rat Projects.

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-8“Knitting Circle” Photo © Jaime Rojo

But the artist won’t reveal to you their exact meanings necessarily when you are standing with him looking at a new piece at the easel or laptop, throwing out possible interpretations. “This is what I enjoy,” he says a bit mischievously, “people bringing in their own sort of meaning into the pieces.” Other times he’ll gladly offer a backstory. Even then, you are left to your own observation skills to intuit the relative intensity of the symbolism.

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-10“Knitting Circle” sketch Photo © Jaime Rojo

Brooklyn Street Art: How successful have you been at fielding questions on what these pieces are about?

Brian Adam Douglas: Pretty good. There are certain things within them that I don’t talk about. I mean I think that they are kind of universal enough that they could mean a number of things. As far as I’m concerned with the work, I’d rather people bring their own interpretations of the work in. Rather than me saying, “This is what this work is about, this is my idea and this is what it has to be,” I find the most interesting art becomes better when you make it personal.

Even so, some of these are quite unusual depictions to trust oneself to interpret accurately. We did take a few guesses, and with time Brian also decided to help us uncover the meanings in these new paper paintings. One thing is not nebulous; this methodical and meticulous cutting and pasting has taken over his imagination so much that he’s confident that he’ll be doing it for a long time.

Brooklyn Street Art: Do you want to continue to explore this technique? Have you gotten tired of it? Is it still capturing your interest?
Brian Adam Douglas: As far as I’m concerned I understand the medium really well. Each piece builds confidence. Now I’ve got something and I want to really see what I can say with it. I’ve got so much inspiration about things that I want to really plump into that I want to figure out that I could do this for like 15 or 20 years.

And Street Art? What about the twisted forms and ephemeral poetic passages that put Elbow-Toe plainly on the public radar a handful of years ago? Now that he has a gallery presence, has he abandoned his street persona? “About the street stuff – I’ll do that but it will be purely for fun. An outlet, like it was at the beginning. It kind of became a pain a year or two in. It got very stressful for a while, it wasn’t fun anymore,” he says.

“Now that I’ve kind of got my ‘gallery voice’ I just want to have a street voice that is it’s own thing. – strictly for the street and completely ephemeral.

 

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-toe-After-Goya“After Goya”  photo © courtesy of  the Artist

Brian Adam Douglas: You get all this loaded meaning that’s happening behind it. The fire that’s happening in the backyard. This one is partly autobiographical of when I was a kid.
Brooklyn Street Art: The split-level ranch?
Brian Adam Douglas: Well, we didn’t live in one like that but I had to find a photo of the suburbs. It was wintertime, I was pretty young, maybe 12 or 13, and I was playing around with my paper airplanes. I had this great idea – I can light these on fire and it will look like World War II planes coming down crashing. Right? And I had the hope that they would burn up before they hit the ground. It’s winter time. Texas. I light this thing on fire and throw it and it’s one of those trick planes. Instead of curving up and flying it goes down into my yard. I see it land and it is like, “Floom!” – the ring of fire is running across my yard.
Brooklyn Street Art: And that’s how you burned down your house and killed your parents?
Brian Adam Douglas: Yeah, exactly! No. This piece is all about the fact that your kid is going to f*ck up a lot. But as a parent, the kid gives you that look and you are going to be like, “Oh, right, it’s okay” Like you still love them regardless the insanity they can produce.

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-9The sketch for “After Goya” photo © Jaime Rojo

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-toe“The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” photo © courtesy of the Artist

Brooklyn Street Art: Ha! Now that seems like a metaphor, doesn’t it?
Brian Adam Douglas: Yeah, but also it comes from life. My Dad is a landscaper and one day when I was in high school he was up in a tree and he’s got the chain saw and he cuts the branch off. He’s so busy in the tree – he’s like “zhrooom!, Vrooooooom!” And he’s like 30 feet up! And so he’s falling, with this chain saw going in one hand as he’s failing. He grabs a branch as he’s falling and he’s hanging there swinging. He drops the chainsaw. Then he climbs down the tree. This is so….. I can imagine that moment when you find out you are going to be a parent and you are like, “Fuck! Everything is changing”. In order to take care of something else you are having to let a lot of other things go, and adapt. You are pruning things in your life. Certain things are taking precedence that maybe didn’t before.

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-toe-Sweet-Dreams

“Sweet Dreams” photo © courtesy of the Artist

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-toe-tradition“Tradition” photo © courtesy of the Artist

Brian Adam Douglas: This one is called “Tradition”
Brooklyn Street Art: So the elders are in a supportive pose.
Brian Adam Douglas: Yeah
Brooklyn Street Art: And there is a lantern and a nest on your head?
Brian Adam Douglas: On my head. Yes.
Brooklyn Street Art: Well I like the body language of the guy in the middle. I suppose that could be a father figure.
Brian Adam Douglas: Yeah.
Brooklyn Street Art: It’s supportive, but directional also. With intent.
Brian Adam Douglas: Yeah.
Brooklyn Street Art: Wow, that says a lot of love there. That’s very nice.

brooklyn-street-art-brian-adam-douglas-elbow-tow-jaime-rojo-11-10-web-13Sketch for “Tradition” photo © Jaime Rojo

BSA…………………BSA…………………BSA…………………BSA…………………BSA…………………BSA…………………

Brian Adam Douglas will be showing these pieces and more beginning December 4, 2010 at The Warrington Museum of Art . He is currently preparing for his solo show at Black Rat Projects in March 2011

To see more images for “Due Date” visit the artist’s web site at:

http://www.elbow-toe.com/studio.html

“Due Date”
December 4, 2010 – February 19, 2011
Warrington Museum
Museum St
Warrington, Cheshire WA1 1JB, United Kingdom

http://museum.warrington.gov.uk/


Black Rat Projects
through Cargo Garden
Arch 461, 83 Rivington street
London EC2A 3AY

http://www.blackratprojects.com


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Sten & Lex & Gaia Portraiture at Brooklynite

Sten & Lex & Gaia Portraiture at Brooklynite

October 14, 2010 , , , , , , ,

Sten, Lex and Gaia create portraits for their upcoming show together.

Sten & Lex working on an outdoor portrait (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sten & Lex working on an outdoor portrait flanked by  Gaia’s work (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Two different approaches to portraiture are working side by side in Brooklyn right now- and the styles are distinct.Comparing the two in the charged energy of an October day, you’ll agree the contrast is pronounced – drawing attention to individual techniques and influences. Sitting with the portraits for a few minutes, one sees that their similarities may lie in something weightier.

Gaia's Chicken (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia’s work with color and layering technique has really flown the coop 2010 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sten and Lex began working in mundane portraiture on the streets of Rome in 2001 – a romance that continues almost a decade later. Drawing their inspiration from black and white images of European businessmen and the women who love them in stilted studio photos from the 1960’s and 70’s, they have plundered successive decades of posed formalized faces that are at times stoic, frank, and slyly droll.

Gaia is a study in energy, with increasingly loose lines thrown out and reigned in to wrap around the subject, whether man or animal. With visions of historical painting and European masters dancing in his head, Gaia is honing a vocabulary of symbols and signifiers while cross-shifting between painterly color layering and kinetically charged line drawing. It all accumulates in character more weighted than you might expect.

There lies the commonality of this combination – for such youthful protagonists, a certain weight, whether psychological or spiritual, anchors their explorations even as each is scaling new heights. It’s a highly charged, playful, and smartly grounded combination that reflects the serious times we are in.

Sten & Lex and Gaia. Men and Beast (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sten & Lex and Gaia. Detail. Man and Beast (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

When you ask them about their influences, Sten and Lex quickly call up old Italian films that pre-date them by Fellini, Pasolini, Rossellini, and Visconti. They also draw inspiration from photographs and portraits from magazines and from vintage photos found in outdoor flea markets in the many cities that they visit. They love the feel of the grain on those vintage photographs and it is that grain that comes across in their work with stencil.

Sten & Lex tons of cutting and pealing (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sten & Lex tons of cutting and pealing (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Using a stencil technique they created called “Hole School”,  faces appearing as dots and lines are selectively removed from the image. The resulting grey-scale is striking as if they had blown up everday men and women from vintage photos in magazines or daily newsprint.

Sten & Lex Working on a portrait on top of a collage of posters (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sten & Lex Working on a portrait on top of a collage of posters (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

More recently they have introduced another reductive technique, which they call the “Stencil Poster”.  The duos’ work begins by wheat pasting a poster on a surface then cutting the stencil directly on the board. The pieces are removed and the stencil remains on the board, where it is painted black and then removed to reveal the final product underneath. Oftentimes pieces of paper are left on the final portraits like adorning ribbons that also convey a sense of decay and an ephemeral existence.

As they start a new decade they are toying with the idea of using more contemporary images, perhaps their own photographs of friends and ordinary people. But they’ll stay in love with the past and as they put it: “Contemporary art is too difficult to understand”

Gaia. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia talks about his progressing ease and excitement with painting in flame tinged color that he began this year on the street and continues to challenge his creative skills, versus his black and white pieces.

“Logistically is easier to paint free hand in color. Painting in color is layering, free hand. With Black and white I need the projector because each line is very specific. Color work is always more vibrant and uplifting. Black and white work can be morose and dark. I enjoy black and white in my own personal work. The color work is more fitting for a community art because is more palatable and more exciting. People are initially sort of turn away by the black and white work on the street. Not to say that street art’s only merit is to uplift people. If the work is more permanent perhaps it would make more sense to make the art more accessible but if the art is not on a legal wall then the art is more making a statement. The intention is not necessarily happiness but more message or communication or contention,” says Gaia.

Gaia's Tiger Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia’s Tiger Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sten & Lex "Lex-Sten" Book from Drago will be available for purchase at the opening (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sten & Lex “Lex-Sten-Stencil Poster” Book from Drago will be available for purchase at the opening (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

A peak inside the book. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

A peak inside the book. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thanks to filmmaker Charles Le Brigand, who got special access to the artists as they prepare for their upcoming show at Brooklynite.

Sten & Lex • Gaia at Brooklynite from Charles le Brigand on Vimeo.

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Carmichael Gallery Presents: “Booked” ( Culver City L.A.)

May 29, 2010 , , , , , ,

Carmichael Gallery

Nick Walker Photo Courtesy Carmichael Gallery

Nick Walker Photo Courtesy Carmichael Gallery

For Immediate Release-

Carmichael Gallery is proud to present “Booked”, a group exhibition featuring over 35 of the  leading figures in contemporary art.
The gallery’s rooms will showcase a wide selection of original works from artists including:
Aiko, Banksy, Beejoir, Blek le Rat, Boxi, Bumblebee, 215, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper
C, D*Face, Brad Downey, Eine, Ericailcane, Escif, Faile, Shepard Fairey, Stelios Faitakis, Gaia, Hush,  Mark Jenkins, Dave Kinsey, Know Hope, Labrona,
Anthony Lister, Lucy McLauchlan, Aakash Nihalani, Walter Nomura (a.k.a. Tinho), Other
Steve Powers (a.k.a. ESPO), Lucas Price (a.k.a. Cyclops), Retna, Saber,
Sam3, Sixeart, Slinkachu, SpY, Judith Supine, Titi Freak, Nick Walker,
Dan Witz, and WK Interact.

Books and magazines will be available from a range of publishers,
including Drago, Gestalten,
Gingko Press, Murphy Design, Prestel, Rojo, SCB Distributors,
Studiocromie, Very Nearly Almost,
Zupi and more.

There will be an opening reception for the exhibition on Saturday,
June 5th from 6 to 8pm. The
gallery will be open for viewing from 12pm that day to coincide with
Culver City Art Walk. The
exhibition will run through July 3rd.

Carmichael Gallery
5795 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
June 5 – July 3, 2010

Additional and/or high resolution preview images available, please do
not hesitate to contact me!

Best,
Lauren Licata
PR Associate
Carmichael Gallery
www.carmichaelgallery.com

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Street Signals 10.10.09

October 10, 2009

Brooklyn-Street-Art-STREET-SIGNALS_1009

New Train Company Hires Well-Known Street Artists/ Graffiti Artists to Paint Trains

Vandalog Blog Writer Publishes New Book About Upcoming Street Art Show in London: “The Thousands”

Veng from Robots Will Kill painted this image one week ago in Bushwick. Now it is going to be in the book "The Thousands", by RJ Rushmore
Veng from Robots Will Kill painted this image one week ago in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Now it is going to be in the book “The Thousands”, by RJ Rushmore

Michael “RJ” Rushmore, founder of Vandalog, and bloggy friend of BSA, is still toiling in the fields of street art, turning out an impressive exhibition of street art next month called “The Thousands”, featuring work by some better-known street art names as Faile, Skewville, Banksy, Chris Stain, KAWS, Robots Will Kill, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Herakut, and Barry McGee.  To accompany the show RJ has written a cool book called “The Thousands: Painting Outside, Breaking In.”  It is so up to date it features an image of Veng’s mural from last weeks MBP Urban Arts Fest! Damn son, those pics travel fast!

Says RJ on his blog “I am ecstatic. This is a street art book with all the artists I’ve always wanted to see in a book together. Plus, it’s not just me writing standard bios for the artists (though there is a bit of that), a lot of the book was written by other contributors. Mike Snelle from Black Rat Press wrote the forward (did you know he is an amazing writer?), Panik ATG wrote about Burning Candy, Know Hope wrote about Chris Stain, Gaia wrote about Know Hope… the list goes on.”

The book is only available on publisher DRAGO’s website right now.

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Street Signals 08.29.09

August 29, 2009

Skewville Unveils New Website

After being in development for 13 years, Droo says the new Skewville site is ready to roll!

Actually, that’s not how long it took to build the site – just it’s content.  This roll-through left-right scroller is a quick primer for the uninitiated on the history and accomplishments of Skewville and the multiple projects they have embarked on over the last decade plus.

Or, as Ad and Droo say, “If you don’t know – now you know.”

All the round the whirl
All the round the whirl with Skewville irony

From launching galleries to launching thousands of pairs of their wooden dogs over wires around the globe, to offering shows to their peers and participating in shows internationally, and always adding their smart-aleck commentary about the street art “scene” to the discussion, these brothers have piled a sizeable stack of HYPE.

Complexity and mastery comes with practice. Blah Blah Blah
Complexity and mastery comes with practice. Blah Blah Blah

This must be the place. Skewville actually was a physical location and a lifestyle for the middle class and unfamous.
This must be the place. Skewville actually was a physical location and a lifestyle for the middle class and unfamous.

No strangers to sarcasm, the brothers have conceived and built a number of contraptions to get their message out.
No strangers to sarcasm, the brothers have conceived and built a number of contraptions to get their message out.

Currently the Skewville Corporation is participating in Nuart, a festival in Stavanger, Norway that celebrates the contributions of Brooklyn Street Artists.

See the New Site HERE
See the Gallery Factory Fresh HERE
Brooklyn Street Artists at Nuart Festival Sept 10 – Oct 11
Check the Tubeness below to see a piece that MTV Brasil did – After the first minute in Portuguese, Ad DeVille pretty much takes the show!


Vandalog’s RJ Hard at Work on “The Thousands”

His first “Pop-Up” is taking shape this November in London

The Thousands

An open and sincere voice in the street art blog world, RJ Rushmore is a stone cold street art lover.  Albeit still in his teens, this guy posesses a maturity and modesty that many of his peers may not develop for another 10 years. More significant; his industry is matching the size of his dreams.

This time the dream is a “Pop-Up” show featuring the big names in street art today, exposing a larger audience to the genre that has captured the imagination of the youth culture.

RJ has been planning the show for many months methodically and feels secure about it’s ultimate success but he is very aware that he is taking a big leap to undertake this labor of love, where most of the work won’t even be for sale.

So far the 40 pieces in the show are from most of the big names in street art – Adam Neate, Banksy, Barry McGee, Jenny Holzer, Bast, Swoon, Kaws, Os Gemeos, Shepard Fairey, Herakut, Blek le Rat and others.

People are jumping into “The Thousands” every day as word spreads, and RJ’s been sorting out the details that come along with this kind of show – Artists, Collectors, Permissions, Love.  In addition he’s working on a companion coffee table book to be published by Drago in November with photos and bios and a few guest contributors like Gaia and Panik.

His first exhibition includes some of the better known names and he’s looking forward to doing a future show with more emerging artists, but he’s smart to limit the scope the first time out. “The purpose of my efforts is to bring street art to the attention of a wider art community, and the best way to do that is to take the very best street artists’ artwork instead of all the emerging artists that I might love and think are promising”, says Mr. Rushmore.

The Thousands will be open from November 18th through the 22nd of November at Village Underground in London. Keep up on the details at the blog for “The Thousands” HERE

Vandalog is his street art blog

AD HOC Forms Alliance with Eastern District

Curating a Quick Show that Opens Today!

Eastern District, a 400sf gallery opened for about a year in Bushwick is looking to extend it’s reach by asking street art veteran gallerists Allison and Garrison Buxton to curate a new show in the ED space next door.  Most people know that Ad Hoc Art recently announced it’s downsizing it’s square footage due in their 49 Bogart space and stories of ED’s impending closure have been swirling around also.

Well, this is how neighbors do it in Brooklyn: by reaching out and working together. If either one of these parties had been the snooty white-box types, it never would have worked. But this is an arts community that knows that the resulting strength is greater with two.  When asked by ED to partner on shows, Ad Hoc Art happily and quickly accepted the invitation to curate and bring their peeps too.  Now they are looking at ways to bring more great shows to ED. That’s very good news for the nascent Bushwick gallery scene, not to mention the artists who get to show there.

And that brings us to today.  Garrison says, “AHA & ED have a Bushwick-focused show opening specifically highlighting very local talent from the hood where it all started.” Included are AHA/Bushwick favorites like like Destroy and Rebuild, LogikOne, Michael Allen, Molly Crabapple, Pagan, and Robert Steel”

Ad Hoc Art’s is now planning a fall exhibition featuring the work of Joe Vaux and Gilbert Oh to open in November at Eastern District and more shows planned into the winter, such as veteren British/French street artist Jef Aerosol in January.  For now, it sounds like the Ad Hoc extravganza and shenanigans will continue!

Prepare for exciting art extravaganzas and shenanigans in the present and continuing into the near future, for Bushwick and beyond.

And of course the current show at Ad Hoc:

Chris Stain, Armsrock, and Ezra Li on Display till September 6th.

SuperDraw Keeps Developing – Now it’s an Iphone App

Remember BSA’s Projekt Projektor last year at the Dumbo Festival, full of new projectionists stretching the definition of Street Art?  Remember the projectionists at the end of our Street Crush Show in February?

Then you’ll remember Josh Ott, or SuperDraw.  Dude developed an interactive interface for people to project their own art through a project with their iPhones, and at our shows he eagerly transferred it to your phone for free so you could slap your work all over the Manhattan Bridge.

True, GRL keeps setting some of the standards, but we firmly believe that the future of street art may be vibrating in your front pocket right now.  There is a whole crop of projectionists and video and multimedia artists that are sharpening their skillz for that Brave New Street Art World as we chase the wheat-pasters.

SuperDraw

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W.K. Interact: Artist Talk

June 30, 2009 ,

BOOK SIGNING and ARTIST TALK with Q&A

W.K. Interact will be in attendance for this special speaking engagement with an exclusive presentation about his new exhibition of work. WK will be available for Q&A and will also sign copies of his newly released book, published by DRAGO.

The publishing house and trend bureau known as Drago is a portal into the international mindset that is fueled by the ideas and values of the current generation. The worldwide creative evolution that Drago has sparked is based on the thoughts and actions of these avant-garde thinkers. It acts as the gatekeeper of a new youth movement that Drago has coined, “S.I.C: System of Independent Culture” in contrast to the “System of Official Culture.” As a cultural symposium, Drago creates and presents forums for exchange by remixing pop culture and undiscovered trends. It is from these creative platforms the that the lifestyle revolution that began on the street and over the internet will continue to expand and evolve. Drago represents the mainstream of minorities, where under is over and over is under.

Drago’s current project is the 36 Chambers Series. Within the next three years Drago is to produce thirty-six books that are dedicated to the work of thirty-six artists. The title of the project is inspired by the martial arts classic Enter the 36 Chambers of Shaolin. Like the 36 Chambers of Shaolin’s monastery, each of the thirty-six books represents a room for each artist to exhibit his or her artistic strength. The artists are confined to the use of only black, white, and a single color of their choice, yet this limited palette also serves as tool for creative liberation. The images that result are a pure impression, a powerful image without distraction, that mixes tradition and innovation.

The first twelve books have already been published and together they are known as the Bronze Series, including artists like Ivory Serra, Mike Giant, Pax Paloscia, and TV Boy. The thirteenth book 2.5 New York Street Life is the first of the Silver Series and is dedicated to the work of WK Interact. Other artists from the second collection include Logan Hicks and Nick Walker and an upcoming edition for the New York and Paris based artists JonOne and his wife and photographer Mai Lucas.

Drago is working in association with the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York who will inaugurate an exhibition of WK Interact in June 2009. Jonathan LeVine opened his gallery in Chelsea in 2005 after four years of operating as the Tin Man Alley Gallery in Philadelphia and New Hope, Pennsylvania. Jonathan LeVine acts as proprietor and curator of the gallery and focuses on a genre of work that is influenced by illustration, graffiti art, and pop culture images and exhibits a variety of celebrated, controversial, and unknown artists.

WK Interact is a French born artist who now lives and works in New York City. He made his first trip to the United States when he was eighteen and was instantly struck with an affinity for New York. Within only a few short years WK made the decision to leave his Provencal village and return to the City at the age of twenty-one. From there he began to grace New York’s urban landscape with his ferociously innovative, hand-painted, black and white figures.

WK’s creation of the figure in motion serves as a synonym to the haste and frenzied pace of the New Yorker lifestyle. His images are as forceful and energetic as a tornado and just like a force majeure these figures leave a lasting impression on anyone who have happened across their paths. The subjects are vigorous and unyielding in their action, yet despite their powerful motion and strength of presence there remains something eerie, an ephemeral quality, that is almost ghost-like.

WK demonstrates the ability to capture the most pertinent moment of the figures’ gesture and it is that specific aptitude which translates for the viewer what logically is a transient moment into an interminable memory.

WK interact
Creative Commons License photo credit: unusualimage

WK Interact Graffiti on a wall in New York
Creative Commons License photo credit: Aaron_M

The “canvas” for each image is carefully chosen with the intention to optimize the synergy between the location, the artwork, and the passersby. Each figure is life size or larger, not only to interact with its viewers, but to engage the given location, generate a response, and make an impact. These flash moments in time are from the perspective of someone who sees life from 360 degrees at all time and now WK has given New Yorkers the opportunity to see more, from more angles, even if we can’t slow down.

WK’s figures have their own stories to tell, but nuances of the narratives are added, subtracted, and transformed by the tales told by the streets and walls on which they now live. Each space has been molded by those who have walked down those streets and touched those walls. Each location contributes another level of vitality to the subject and just as the space’s history redefines the image, the image in turn redefines the space.

WK Interact has shown extensively in galleries and his work can be seen on the streets of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. While he has received great public renown and worked with some of today’s greatest street artists, he continues to place public pieces that are socially provoking and visually magnificent.

Location:

Jonathan LeVine Gallery
Street:
529 West 20th street, 9th fl
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