All posts tagged: El Seed

Coney Art Walls Opens for the Mermaids! Update V

June 20, 2015 Artists

Dude/Dudette, it’s Mermaid Parade Day – part of Coney’s modern pop-carney cultural heritage. Rolling up Surf Avenue, turning right and coming back down the boardwalk, the three decade old event is both a well organized and entirely rag-tag D.I.Y. affair simultaneously. It’s the enthusiasm of the participants and their street performances and costumery that pull in the equally enthusiastic fans, but it is the bedazzled breasts and free-flowing beer that make them seek that illusive and effervescent feeling of abandon.

Skewville at work on their piece…while some folks go against gravity above…(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meanwhile more walls were being painted at Coney Art Walls this week by another impressive cross section of talents from points local and international. The Skewville twins completed their free-standing monster boom box, El Seed brought his lyrical Arabic inspired calligraffiti, fine artist Jane Dickson applies her eye to the symbols of the carnival footprint and turns amusements into colorful cakes, Katsu spreads wider with his investigations into drone painting that are looking impressionistic, Mr. Cartoon enlivens a Vandal/Copper chase with a grim reaper and a selfie-snapping angel, former graffiti outlaw Gregg LaMarche slams his collaged font explosion with color, Coney-Island artist icon Marie Roberts invokes ghosts and her own family’s deep roots in this place’s history, Miami’s Rage Johnson of Inkheads Crew brings crisp psychadeliac forms with AVAF (Assume Vivid Astro Focus), Sheryo and The Yok use a new palette to depict a beach inspired hotdog caper, and Tatiana Fazlalizadeh creates warm black and white portraits of local current neighbors who live in these environs here year round.

The Twins Skewville at work on their piece…yes the other one showed up for photo op… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Briefly, a snafu in the proceedings popped up when Cope2 suddenly did one of his eponymous bubble tags smack on the center of a freshly finished Retna wall Friday. Shortly thereafter Retna’s assistant was seen buffing the tag. Sources tell us that Cope’s participation in the project wasn’t originally scheduled and while some permissions had been secured, not all parties were in agreement before work commenced. The affair spurred speculation about who gave permission and who denied it in a flurry of social media postings, but the matter has been resolved. No doubt rumors on the street and online will be profligate – it is the nature of these aerosol Olympic games. Let’s see how the buffed section of Retna’s wall is addressed now that fin-fested visitors are schooling through the concrete complex chomping on cotton candy and sausages.

Skewville at work with the help of an assistant. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But don’t let this petit drama overshadow the talent and effort and storied history of the two dozen other artists whose work is on display. A more diverse collection of artists from the past four decades from across this spectrum is rarely assembled in one location – a mini reprise of Mr. Deitch’s Art in the Streets, minus the ceiling. It’s not street art, urban art, or graffiti so none of those labels rightly apply to this amusement park exhibit. To the visiting crowds this is primarily background for selfies but fans of these artists will attach a much greater significance to some of these brand new works, as they should. Stay tuned for our final roundup of all the walls next Wednesday on a screen near you.

Skewville… for a dollar we’ll show you the rest… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville practicing an abundance of caution while at work … (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Seed (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Seed with Martha Cooper. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Seed (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jane Dickson’s work in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jane Dickson at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jane Dickson work in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jane Dickson (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Katsu tried his hand at Impressionism with a drone. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Cartoon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gregg Lamarche at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gregg Lamarche (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marie Roberts at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marie Roberts (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rage Johnson of Inkheads Crew working on the piece designed by Brazilian AVAF (Assume Vivid Astro Focus). (photo © Jaime Rojo)

AVAF executed by Rage Johnson of Inkheads Crew. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sheryo and The Yok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tatiana Fazlalizadeh at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tatiana Fazlalizadeh…”The Day Before Easter And The Day After Labor Day – People Still Live Here. People Die Here. People Love Here” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
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Tour Paris 13 : Fluorescent & Towering Show Book

December 13, 2014 Artists

Another book to tell you about today! Remember when BSA took you to Paris that time and we skipped the line and went into all the floors of this soon to be demolished building?

“The numbers are astounding; 105 artists, 9 floors, 36 apartments, 30,000 visitors.

One hour.

That is how much time Street Art enthusiast Spencer Elzey had to himself inside the largest gallery of Street Artists and graffiti artists ever assembled specifically to transform a building for a public show. As he looked out a window to see the snaking lines of Parisians and tourists restlessly waiting to get in, he couldn’t believe his luck to be able to walk through the exhibit by himself and get off some clear shots before the throng hit.”

That is how we described it in November 2013 when Spencer took us on a whirlwind tour of TOUR 13.

Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Published last month this towering book with the page edges sprayed neon orange was released by Mehdi Ben Cheikh in French and English to commemorate the event, and seeing the installations this way is going to make you wish the place wasn’t destroyed. 500 new photos previously unpublished allows you to see the show as you travel from the cellar to the top floors.

You may wish you had more background on the artists and the context and clearly not all of the artistry is of similar quality but you will be satiated by the images and thankful that they were recorded during their brief duration. Published by Editions Albin Michel, in partnership with the Itinerrance Gallery, this show will continue to soar long after the dust has settled.

Entes . Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inti . Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ethos .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Seth .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Moneyless .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artists included in the Tour Paris 13 project:

108, 2MIL FAMILIA, A1ONE, ADD FUEL, AGL, AGOSTINO IACURCI, AMINE, ALEXÖNE, ARRAIANO, AWER, AZOOZ, BOM.K, BTOY, C215, CEKIS, CELESTE JAVA, CLET, COPE2, CORLEONE, DABRO, DADO, DAN23, DAVID WALKER, DEYAA, EIME, eL SEED, ENTES, ETHOS, ETNIK, FENX, FLIP, GAËL, GILBERT, GUY DENNING, HERBERT BAGLIONE, HOGRE, HOPNN, INDIE, INTI ANSA, INTI CASTRO, JAZ, JB ROCK, JÉRÔME GULON, JIMMY C, JOYS, JULIEN COLOMBIER, KAN, KATRE, KEITH HARING, KRUELLA, LEGZ, LEK, LE CYKLOP, LILIWENN, LOIOLA, LUDO, MAIS MENOS, MAR, MÁRIO BELÉM, MARKO, MARYAM, MATÉO GARCIA, MAZ, MONEYLESS, MOSKO, MP5, MYRE, NANO, NEBAY, NEMI “UHU”, NILKO, ORTICANOODLES, PANTÓNIO, PEETA, PHILIPPE BAUDELOCQUE, RAPTO, REA ONE, RODOLPHE CINTORINO, ROTI, SAILE, SAMBRE, SAMINA, SEAN HART, SÉBASTIEN PRESCHOUX, SENSO, SETH, SHAKA, SHOOF, SHUCK 2, SOWAT, SPAZM, SPETO, STeW, STINKFISH, SWOON, TELLA’S, TINHO, TORE, UNO, URIGINAL, VEXTA, VHILS, and WISIGN

Click HERE to read BSA’s coverage of this project before the building was demolished.

A Calligraffiti Journey Through Tunisia with eL Seed

August 12, 2014 Artists

A Travelogue Through Familiar Land Leads the Aerosol Writer Along New Routes

eL Seed took a trip to discover his country and his roots and in the process learned about authentic and storied history, local culture, the generosity of strangers, and the strangeness of Darth Vader in the desert.

eL Seed “Los Walls” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“There is no separation between form and language in eL Seed’s work. His images embody language to the extent that the line and the subject become one, and the flow of the line is part of the meaning. The viewer does not have to understand Arabic to sense the poetry of the message,” says Jeffrey Deitch in the preface to Lost Walls, A Calligraffiti Journey Through Tunisia, and the seamless integration of intent, inquiry and inspiration carries throughout this country-wide journey.

Choosing walls, blocks and buildings to leave his visual poetry is not an act of graffiti as much as it is a weaving of this modern moment with historical heritage and public art as he discovers and shares his observations and conversations in this travelogue of towns and communities.

eL Seed “Los Walls” (photo from the book © Jaime Rojo)

“I wake up to the full light of day. The city, it seems, is up well before me. From the window of my room, I can see a wall in shambles. It calls out to me. I leave quickly to find out its history and who owns it,” he writes of El Kef, one of about 20 towns and cities he visits and paints while exploring history and perspectives of neighbors. Spurred on by his near life-changing experience painting a verse from the holy Quran on a minaret in his ancestral home of Gabes, the revelations about how people reacted to his work illuminated his impressions of himself as well as others, eL Seed took on a path of inquisition and the discovery of new places to leave his mark.

eL Seed “Los Walls” (photo from the book © Jaime Rojo)

The book is richly illustrated, heavily essayed, and openly spoken. The physical journey accompanies and internal one; a full spectrum of issues, ideas and quandaries that propel his ride through this small northern African country bordering the Mediterranean. While essayist Wassim Ghozlani examines the role of public art in the democratization of society, Amel Djait contemplates the role of cultural tourism to the future of the country. As a corollary to both threads eL Seed quizzically studies the semi-preserved site of a Star Wars movie filmed here in the desert and finds a sort of Western incursion that trivializes the heritage and struggle of the people, even as “music from the film resonates in my mind”.

eL Seed “Los Walls” (photo from the book © Jaime Rojo)

Seeing these freestanding pieces of calligraffiti in the midst of monochromatic and sun bleached scenes baked in clay and sand is surprising and singular, a clarion call to the past using tools of the present. eL Seed has his unique perspective as he observes and acts, questions and listens, and finally as he blends what he learns into his gestural and stately script. If there is a way forward for the tribes and the traditions of such storied lands, it will be perhaps by a new third party who gains the trust and respect of the old and the new. By trekking carefully along many a cultural fine line containing myriad curves and turns, eL Seed is creating his own path forward in his home land while others are doing the same.

eL Seed “Los Walls” (photo from the book © Jaime Rojo)

eL Seed constructed this wall by hand, before dismantling it in “Los Walls” (photo from the book © Jaime Rojo)

eL Seed “Los Walls” (photo from the book © Jaime Rojo)

eL Seed “Lost Walls” A Calligraffiti Journey Through Tunisia. From Here To Fame Publishing. Berlin, Germany 2014

Liliwenn on Island in Tunisia For Djerbahood with C215, El Seed, ROA

August 4, 2014 Artists

The Djerbahood project is midway through its stated goal of having one hundred artists from 30 countries come to paint in this North African island in Tunisia called Djerba. Organized by the same folks who brought you Tour Paris 13, this sun-bleached town features a culture distinct from the mainland and many white-washed domed homes.

El Seed working on his piece for The Djerbahood Project. Tunisia. July 2014. (photo screenshot from video below)

Here we have new exclusive photos of Liliwenn doing her installation and some screen shots of El Seed, Roa, and C215 from the teaser video attached below. The multi-cultural exchange will beautify a large number of walls in the small village and bring many artists to this island town of many traditions, fresh grilled fish, couscous and fricassee.

Liliwenn at work while kids play nearby. The Djerbahood Project. Tunisia. July 2014. (photo © courtesy of Liliwenn)

Liliwenn. Detail. The Djerbahood Project. Tunisia. July 2014. (photo © courtesy of Liliwenn)

Liliwenn. Djerbahood Project. Tunisia. July 2014. (photo © courtesy of Liliwenn)

Liliwenn. The Djerbahood Project. Tunisia. July 2014. (photo © courtesy of Liliwenn)

C215’s finished piece for The Djerbahood Project. Tunisia. July 2014. (photo screenshot from video below)

One of ROA’s many pieces for The Djerbahood Project. Tunisia. July 2014. (photo screenshot from video below)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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13 from 2013 : Spencer Elzey “A Once in a Lifetime Moment”

December 31, 2013 Artists

Happy Holidays to all you stupendous and talented and charming BSA readers! We thank you from the bottom of our socks for your support this year. The best way we can think of to celebrate and commemorate the year as we finish it is to bring you 13 FROM 2013 – Just one favorite image from a Street Art or graffiti photographer that brings a story, a remembrance, an insight or a bit of inspiration to the person who took it. For the last 13 days they will share a gem with all of us as we collectively say goodbye and thank you to ’13.

To close out our 13 FROM 2013 series we bring you photographer Spencer Elzey who has been a contributor to BSA periodically and who took a cool trip to Europe this year and who was featured for a full week on this site. The image he chose of eL Seed’s piece on the side of a soon to be demolished building captures the “La Tour 13” project and the ephemeral quality of Street Art. It is an apt metaphor for the passage of time itself that reminds us to celebrate and cherish what we have today.

Tomorrow? Tomorrow is 2014.

Spencer followed his passion, seized the opportunity to meet new people and to experience new street environments and he shared with us all his sense of wonder and celebration. As we say goodbye to 2013 we thank him and all our readers for keeping that spirit of discovery alive and for being an active participant in the creative spirit.

el Seed. Paris, France 2013. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

A Once in a Lifetime Moment

~ Spencer Elzey

I selected this picture for a few different reasons. Firstly, I liked this picture from an aesthetic standpoint. The way that the orange building pops against the monochromatic Parisian landscape makes it hard to miss, especially to someone who is a fan of public art and has an eye peeled for these things.

The fact that this art – and even more so this building – was short lived made it almost a once in a lifetime moment. Usually a Street Artist goes into painting a mural with the awareness that his or her canvas is temporary and that within a few months it will be covered up.

Knowing that the whole building was going to be knocked down put this on a whole other level. Out of the 100 plus works of art that were painted and installed within the building there were lots that were better, however, I chose to submit the picture of the exterior almost as a symbolic tombstone for everything that it contained. This picture also represents a series of big accomplishments for myself from a personal level.

I couldn’t imagine a better way to memorialize my whirlwind trip around Europe then by having a weeklong feature on BSA. To top that off Steve and Jaime choose one of the articles for publication on their weekly column at The Huffington Post Arts & Culture and this photograph was the banner picture.

Thinking about these moments still puts a smile on my face.

Artist: el Seed

Location: Paris, France. 2013

#13from2013

Check out our Brooklyn Street Art 2013 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo here.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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The 2013 BSA Year in Images (VIDEO)

December 18, 2013 Artists

Here it is! Our 2013 wrap up featuring favorite images of the year by Brooklyn Street Art’s Jaime Rojo.

Before our video roundup below here is the Street Art photographer’s favorite of the year, snapped one second before he was singled out of a New York crowd, handcuffed, and stuffed into a police car – sort of like the Banksy balloons he was capturing.

“Among all the thousands of photos I took this year there’s one that encapsulates the importance of Street Art in the art world and some of the hysteria that can build up around it,” he says of his final shot on the final day of the one month Better Out Than In artist ‘residency’ in NYC this October. It was a cool day to be a Street Art photographer – but sadly Rojo was camera-less in a case of mistaken identity, if only for a short time.

Released two hours later after the actual car-jumping trespasser was charged, Rojo was happy to hear the Chief Lieutenant tell his officer “you’ve got the wrong man”, to get his shoelaces back, and to discover this photo was still on his camera. He also gets to tell people at parties that he spent some time in the holding cell with the two guys whom New York watched tugging down the B-A-N-K-S-Y.

What’s everybody looking at? Jaime Rojo’s favorite image of the year at the very end of the Banksy brouhaha. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now, for the Video

When it came to choosing the 112 images for the video that capture the spirit of the Street Art scene in ’13, we were as usual sort of overwhelmed to comb through about ten thousand images and to debate just how many ‘legal’ versus ‘illegal’ pieces made it into the mix. Should we include only images that went up under the cover of the night, unsanctioned, uncensored, uncompromised, unsolicited and uncommissioned? Isn’t that what Street Art is?

Right now there are a growing number of legal pieces going up in cities thanks to a growing fascination with Street Art and artists and it is causing us to reevaluate what the nature of the Street Art scene is, and what it may augur for the future. You can even say that from a content and speech perspective, a sizeable amount of the new stuff is playing it safe – which detracts from the badass rebel quality once associated with the practice.

These works are typically called by their more traditional description – murals. With all the Street Art / graffiti festivals now happening worldwide and the growing willingness of landlords to actually invite ‘vandals’ to paint their buildings to add cache to a neighborhood and not surprisingly benefit from the concomitant increase in real estate values, many fans and watchers have been feeling conflicted in 2013 about the mainstreaming that appears to be taking place before our eyes. But for the purposes of this roundup we decided to skip the debate and let everybody mix and mingle freely.

This is just a year-end rollicking Street Art round-up; A document of the moment that we hope you like.

Ultimately for BSA it has always been about what is fresh and what is celebrating the creative spirit – and what is coming next. “We felt that the pieces in this collection expressed the current vitality of the movement – at least on the streets of New York City,” says photographer and BSA co-founder Rojo. It’s a fusillade of the moment, complete with examples of large murals, small wheat pastes, intricate stencils, simple words made with recycled materials or sprayed on to walls, clay installations, three dimensional sculptures, hand painted canvases, crocheted installations, yarn installations etc… they somehow captured our imaginations, inspired us, made us smile, made us think, gave us impetus to continue doing what we are doing and above all made us love this city even more and the art and the artists who produce it.

Brooklyn Street Art 2013 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

A Dying Breed, Aakash Nihalini, Agostino Iacursi, Amanda Marie, Apolo Torres, Axel Void, Bagman, Bamn, Pixote, Banksy, B.D. White, Betsy, Bishop203, NDA, Blek le Rat, br1, Case Maclaim, Cash For Your Warhol, Cholo, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Billy Mode, Christian Nagel, Cost, ENX, Invader, Crush, Dal East, Damien Mitchell, Dase, Dasic, Keely, Deeker, Don’t Fret, The Droid, ECB, el Seed, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Faile, Faith 47, Five Pointz, Free Humanity, Greg LaMarche, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy & Sot, Inti, Jilly Ballistic, John Hall, JR, Jose Parla, Judith Supine, Kremen, Kuma, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Love Me, Martha Cooper, Matt Siren, Elle, Mika, Miss Me, Missy, MOMO, Mr. Toll, Nychos, Okuda, Alice Mizrachi, OLEK, Owen Dippie, Paolo Cirio, Paul Insect, Phetus, Phlegm, Revok, Pose, QRST, Rambo, Ramiro Davaro, Reka, Rene Gagnon, ROA, RONES, Rubin, bunny M, Square, Stikki Peaches, Stikman, Swoon, Tristan Eaton, The Lisa Project 2013, UFO 907, Willow, Swill, Zed1, and Zimer.

Read more about Banksy’s last day in New York here and our overview of his residency in the essay “Banksy’s Final Trick” on The Huffington Post.

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Towering Gallery Full of Art to Be Demolished : “La Tour Paris 13”

November 20, 2013 Artists

The numbers are astounding; 105 artists, 9 floors, 36 apartments, 30,000 visitors.

One hour.

That is how much time Street Art enthusiast Spencer Elzey had to himself inside the largest gallery of Street Artists and graffiti artists ever assembled specifically to transform a building for a public show. As he looked out a window to see the snaking lines of Parisians and tourists restlessly waiting to get in, he couldn’t believe his luck to be able to walk through the exhibit by himself and get off some clear shots before the throng hit.

El Seed. La Tour Paris 13. Exterior of the tower. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

“The La Tour Paris 13 experience was something that I’ll never forget,” Elzey recounts as he thinks of himself nearly running from apartment to apartment with camera in hand, each room a new discovery, many of them inspiring awe.

“I was on an adrenaline rush while I was inside since I only had an hour by myself before it opened to the public. It wasn’t until later in the morning when I looked back at all of my pictures that I was able to fully understand exactly how much art I just witnessed,” he says.

Kan. La Tour Paris 13. Come in. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Mehdi Ben Cheikh from Galerie Itinerrance, who curated the project La Tour Paris 13 gave permission to Elzey to get these shots for BSA before the crowds arrived and now he was snapping as many as possible.

Over the course of the year artists have devised specific paintings, sculptures, and installations inside the housing tower knowing that it would be exhibited for a month before being demolished. “The number of artists and the amount of space dedicated to this one exhibit is something that I don’t think will ever again be replicated,” he says.

a1ONE. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

While touring former living rooms, bathrooms, and kitchens Elzey quickly discovered that aerosol and markers were not the only materials used by this global pool of street/graffiti/urban artists who came from far places like Brazil, Iran, US, Tunisia, and even Saudi Arabia in addition to many European countries.

a1ONE. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Some artists had staged new perspectives and environments by combining sculptural elements that married into their wall pieces, others like C215 cut into the floorboards to create a relief, still others worked in and around the decaying, partially destroyed infrastructure to create venues that slid into the fantasies of subconscious. “It was a free-for-all in a sense that once inside the apartment the artist had free reign to transform it however they wanted,” he says.

“What isn’t apparent in the pictures is how dark a lot of the rooms were. There were at least three rooms that were essentially dark with the exception of a little black light, while others were dimly lit by a solo lamp or fluorescent bulb. Sometimes you had to walk through holes in the walls to access further rooms.”

Seth. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

In his images here you can see the variety of styles and influences that the artists brought to the game, each accepting that it was a one-time-only installation. Maybe this group wasn’t so hard to convince, since the very nature of art on the streets is ephemeral.

“Street Art on the street has an expiration date, but the exact amount of time in which it will stay up isn’t known,” says Elzey, “It can either be covered up by graffiti or another wheat-paste, it can be removed by the building owner, or it can just wither away from being exposed to the elements.”

La Tour Paris 13 brings to mind the multitude of urban explorers who regularly trek into abandoned and neglected places all over the world and leave their mark, activating previously moribund spaces with art, but no one has ever launched a show like this with such genuine quality or with this scope.

Uriginal. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

“The closest thing that I can compare it to is 5 Pointz,” Elzey says of the grouping of buildings in New Yorks’ Long Island City that provided what was perhaps the original group show venue for urban art from the 1990s until yesterday. In an ironic mirroring of events, 5 Pointz and its multitude of external paintings underwent “the buff” the night before last after running an every-changing show for about three decades.

The 5 Pointz factory buildings themselves are also slated for demolition and will make way for new condos. “We all knew that its days were extremely numbered,” he says sadly of what had become a New York cultural heritage icon to some and a holy place for graffiti writers and Street Artists and fans from around the world.

Tellas. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

The true impact from the La Tour Paris 13 project and 5 Pointz may happen in the mind and heart of the artist and the art fan; perhaps the beauty of this exercise, however short lived, is that the public is being encouraged to re-imagine old buildings for new uses, to consider what else we can do with private and public space.

When that conversation takes place we often realize how the limits of creativity are determined in no small part by imagination.

Sambre. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

While we keep tracking the routes and machinations of this first global people’s art movement that has evolved into Street Art, we fully expect that we will continue to be surprised and inspired by the creative spirit and by artists.

For Spencer, this Tour was a lot more personal. “Having experienced something like this on such an immense scale and with a definitive end date made me feel like I was part of something special.”

Stew. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Shoof. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

David Walker. Detail. Jimmy C in the background room. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Guy Denning. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Katre. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Rea1. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Pantonio. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Jaz. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

C215. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Belem. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Add Fuel. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Dado. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Bom K . Liliwenn. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Agostino Iacurci. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Entes. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Inti. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Dan 23. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Maz. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Hopnn. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

JB Rock. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

el Seed. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Cekis. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Nebay. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Ethos. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Mar. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Loiola. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Mosko. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Cope and Indi 184. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Ludo on the exterior with a view of the line to get in. Detail. La Tour Paris 13. (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Visit La Tour Paris 13 site for a full set of photographs, details and a full experience of the project.

This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

Artists participating include: 108 ( Italy) – 2mil (Brazil) – Add Fuel ( Portugal) – AGL ( France ) – Lacurci Agostino (Italy) – Alexone ( France ) – A1one (Iran) – Amin ( France ) – Aous (Saudi Arabia) – awer (Italy) – Azooz (Saudi Arabia) – Belem (Portugal) – BOM.K ( France ) – Btoy (Spain) – C215 ( France ) – Celeste Java ( France ) – Cope2 (USA) – Corleone (Portugal ) – Dabro (Tunisia) – Dado (Italy) – Dan23 ( France ) – David Walker (UK) – Eime (Portugal) – eL Seed ( Tunisia) – Ethos (Brazil) – Etnik (Italy) – Fenx ( France ) – Flip (Brazil) – Gael ( France ) – Gilbert ( France ) – Guy Denning (UK) – Herbert Baglione (Brazil) – Hogre (Italy) – Hopnn (Italy) – Indie 184 (USA) – Inti Ansa ( France ) – Inti Castro (Chile) – Jaz (Argentina) – JB Rock ( Italy) – Jimmy C ( Australia) – Samina Joao (Portugal) – Jonone (USA) – Joys (Italy) – Julien Colombier ( France ) – Kan ( France ) – Katre ( France ) – Kruella (Portugal) – Legz ( France ) – Lek ( France ) – Liliwenn ( France ) – Loyola (Brazil) – Ludo ( France ) – Mrs. Sanbor ( France ) – March (Portugal) – Marko93 ( France ) , Mario Belem (Portugal) – Maryam (Saudi Arabia) – Mateo Garcia Leon ( France ) – Maz (Saudi Arabia) – moneyless (Italy) – Mosko ( France ) – Mp5 (Italy) – Myra ( France ) – Nano (Chile) – Nebay ( France ) – Nemi Uhu ( France ) – Nilko ( France ) – Orticanoodles (Italy) – PANTONIO (Portugal) – Paulo Arraiano (Portugal) – Peeta (Italy) – Philippe Baudelocque ( France ) – Rapto (Brazil) – Rea 1 ( France ) – Rodolphe Cintorino ( France ) – Roti ( France ) – Sambre ( France ) – Sean Hart ( France ) – Sebastien Preschoux ( France ) – Senso (Italy) – Seth ( France ) – Shaka ( France ) – Shoof (Tunisia) – Shuck2 ( France ) – Sowat ( France ) – Spazm ( France ) – Speto (Brazil) – Stew ( France ) – Stinkfish (Mexico) – Sumo (Luxembourg) – Tellas (Italy) – Tinho (Brazil) – Tore ( France ) -Uno ( France ) – Uriginal (Spain) – Vexta (Australia) – Vhils (Portugal) – / Maismenos (Portugal).

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Paris: A Mid-Summer Mural Art Dispatch

August 19, 2013 Artists

A quick look at three new murals from Paris today as the summer of ’13 has been one full of mural art around the northern hemisphere it would appear. Today we check the very active Street Art scene in Paris, which occasionally boasts large-scale murals as well.

Alexis Diaz. Detail. Belleville, Paris. (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Illustrator Alexis Diaz, or La Pandilla, has been travelling around Europe this summer (London, Turin) and we look at his most recent fantasy in Belleville to start us off. You may see similarities to Phlegm and even Gaia here in his work as he combines human limbs and animals to create heretofore non-existent hybrids and hand rendered illusion.

The scale here is also pretty impressive as Tunisia’s eL Seed carries his calligraffiti to ever larger installations since knocking out that minaret in Gabes last year and the series of underpass walls on Salwa Road in Doha. Finally we get a peek at Paris-based artist Pole Ka as she offers a new piece in her series of anatomies on the street.
Our special thanks to Sandra Hoj for sharing her images with BSA readers.

Alexis Diaz. Belleville, Paris. (photo © Sandra Hoj)

eL Seed painted this huge mural on a building set for demolition. View from the Metro near “Quai de la Gare” Station. Paris. (photo © Sandra Hoj)

eL Seed. Street View. Paris. (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Pole Ka. Detail. Paris. (photo © Sandra Hoj)

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Looking at 5Pointz Now, Extolling a Graffiti Holy Place

June 26, 2013 Artists

While famed LA/Chicago/Detroit graffiti artists Revok and Pose are in town getting up on the Houston Street wall this week and many members of the MSK crew were in Bushwick doing tributes to Nekst over the weekend, New Yorkers have had the opportunity to talk with a lot of visiting friends who are in town in advance of the Revok/Pose dual show at Jonathan Levine this Saturday. As graffiti culture continues to assert its place in modern art history even while expanding and redefining itself on the street and in homes, galleries, and museums along a storied continuum, we are reminded again about the foundational role that graffiti has played in our aesthetic, helping to define urban culture and at least partially fueling the evolution of what we call a Street Art scene today.

MERES. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As with most subcultures in a capitalist society, there are a fair amount of commercial influences swimming around and through the graffiti world too, the products and motifs employed to sell them somehow simplifying graffitis complex nature and diluting its emotional resonance for many. This is the water we’re all swimming in, however, and you could drown trying to fight it. Despite commercial pressures and their mutations, it is evident that the graffiti style is alive and well and building upon itself in new ways. For some, graffiti is analogous to the early punk scene for some others it could be inextricably tied to hip hop. But as it continues to morph into multiple subgenres it still seems perfectly clear that it is born from a scream, a helluva celebratory and defiant yell ; very individual, often powerful, it is tied to an agonizing drive to be heard and to be seen, to capture by hand something that is channeling by its own volition through your mind and from your gut. Probably. That incisive wisdom from BSA and $2.50 will get you a ride on the subway.

Zimer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA will never be versed enough to speak authoritatively about graffiti culture, nor do we pretend to – it is so vast and storied and sort of outside our wheelhouse. But seeing all this graff action this week brings our minds to a place like 5Pointz in Long Island City, Queens. Begun as Phun Factory and eventually changing its name, this 200,000 sf factory building cannot be overestimated in its impact visually over two decades as well as for the community service it has provided for many artists, young and older, to practice, experiment, and even hit a level of mastery of their craft. We won’t call it a Mecca, as we’ve been schooled that some of our brothers and sisters think that’s disrespectful – So we’ll just call it a Holy Place for many here and around the world. An ever evolving canvas viewable from the street and passing trains, many a tourist has made the pilgrimage to check it out; a touchstone for the true New York, and perhaps one that is disappearing.

Sen2 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As the fevered pitch of cries from fans and community for the preservation of 5 Pointz runs up against the dual realities of a crumbling infrastructure and an increasingly desirable location for real estate development, we all reluctantly cede that the writing is probably on the wall (pardon the pun). Absent a deep-pocketed philanthropist who wants to preserve it (Jay-Z?) or a groundswell of citizenry demanding public seizing of private property (torches and pitchforks anyone?), you have to know that this can’t last forever despite what many see as its importance and relevance to this culture, history, and this time. But really, just take a look around this spot. If you are here now, or are planning to come soon, you know that 5Pointz has the power of a beacon for many; a living thriving vessel for the creative spirit to be expressed in myriad ways, many personal. All hail 5Pointz and those who have made it successful all these years.

Here is a small collection of more recent images of 5Pointz.

Shiro (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Blob (photo © Jaime Rojo)

See TF (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ZMOGK . Shiro on top. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Toofly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week: 05.19.13

May 19, 2013 Artists

Here’s our weekly interview of the street, this week featuring Andreco, Athens, Col Wallnuts, CrispyT, eL Seed, En Masse, Faile, Faust, Greg LaMarche, Henry Darger, James Rubio, JJ Veronis, Jon Hall, Katsu, Mr. Toll Phetus88, Rae BK, Reme821, Sure, and Toofly.

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Museums Go Outside to Play With the Kids

May 7, 2013 Artists

Shots from “Ideas City”

As museums continue to look for ways to bring in the kids, they are finding that one way to do it is to go outside and play with them.

Last year The Brooklyn Museum had a really successful GO at engaging people with community-curated programming that put people in touch with the young artist scene that has transformed the BK in the last decade or so. Similarly the New Museum Ideas City is making extensive outreach to connect the disconnected phone-poking Millenials and X’ers to the brilliant and quirky creative community that makes Manhattan the live breathing beautiful beast that it is. This is the kind of meaningful museum programming that can make the city feel inclusive, asking you to participate with your own snapping synapses and probing inquiries about the nature of things.

When it comes to encouraging personal participation in the public sphere, nothing is more democratizing for an event than to bring it directly into the street. This is an exhibition that is not roped off, doesn’t charge an admission fee, has no dress code, has no gate keepers. It actually invites you to engage, to converse, to consider, question, and decide merit on your own. – Not to mention the transformative affect it all has on public space and our perception of our place in it.

For us the second installment of the Ideas City really hit its peak this weekend as the culmination of more than a hundred independent projects and public events spilled into the street and onto walls. For the sunny Saturday Streetfest set along the sidewalks and in nearby park space in the refreshingly dirty, loud, and un-tony Bowery section of Manhattans Lower East Side, people celebrated the public aspect of citizenry and interacted with projects and tested the ideas of artists, architects, poets, technologists, historians, community activists entrepreneurs, and ecologists. And there were some street artists around too.

Here are some of the scenes that caught the eye of our favorite BSA photographer, Jaime Rojo, who was feeling pretty inspired by the events.

Street Artist Hellbent took a spin on the box truck idea with his new “Mix Tape” Series. New Museum. Ideas City 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist XAM installed on the street a number of his custom architected homes for the urban bird. The Urban Habitat Project. New Museum. Ideas City 2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Draw Something. Yes, it’s an ad for an app, but at least people are encouraged to participate by drawing, so that’s good. On the side walk for Ideas City 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

eL Seed and Jaye did their calligraffiti/graffiti installation as part of World Nomads Tunisia. New Museum. Ideas City 2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist ND’A installed a new piece on the Influx In Flux/Centre-fuge project. New Museum. Ideas City 2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detail of an installation sprayed by stencillist MOR. Influx In Flux/Centre-fuge. New Museum. Ideas City 2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sofia Maldonado & Ray Smith. Detail. Influx In Flux First Street Green Park. New Museum. Ideas City 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The student group Cre8tive YouTH*ink. Centre-fuge. First Street Green Park. New Museum. Ideas City 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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eL Seed and Jaye in New York Nomadically

May 6, 2013 Artists, Interview

Tunisian-French Street Artist eL Seed is in New York right now to showcase his unique hand at calligraffiti, a genre of graffiti that has steadily grown in the last few years as traditional graffiti writers have tried their hand at differently stylized executions of lettering. Together with Jaye, a more traditional graffiti writer from Tunisia, the country that began the Arab Spring two years ago, eL Seed is spraying a number of messages in his own adaptation of Arabic on walls in New York for just over a week.

Born in Tunisia in the early 1980s and raised in Paris, the quick witted and thoughtful eL Seed calls well known calligraffiti artist Niels Shoe Meulman “a legend” and looks forward like a true fan to meeting Retna, even as his own painting exploits in the last couple of years include an enormous script on Tunisia’s tallest minaret, a high profile design gig with luxury brand Louis Vuitton, and a just completed 52 mural project on Salwa Road that features his own graffiti inspired calligraphy honoring Qatari culture and life.

“I spent nearly four months there, and painted almost one kilometer of wall,” he says of the project that traced his progress with a blog and enabled him to teach eager art college students how to use an aerosol can.

As a culturally bi-national artist who travels increasingly often, it is fair to say eL Seed is one of the new Street Art nomads who now regularly travel from city to city across the globe hitting walls. Maybe that’s why New York feels normal to him.

“I feel like everybody is a nomad in New York. You come, stay, and you leave, you know?” he says while we stand across the street from the still-wet wall he is completing on the Lower East Side with Jaye. What does this hot pink curvilinear script edged in red with the dropped shadow say? “Yeah in Arabic it says ‘We should all be nomads. We should cross ideas the same way we cross streets and cities.’ ” He sites the Cuban painter and poet Francis Picabia fro inspiring the text. The installation, and another one at 5 Pointz with Meres in Queens next weekend, are both part of “The World Nomads Tunisia” festival organized for the fifth time by the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF).

“I like a lot of pink and black,” he says as he surveys the new wall, which combines his stylized calligraphic lettering with the bubbled aesthetic of Jaye’s early graffiti style that many associate with NYC trains in the 70s. The new collaboration is just the sort of fusion that a multicultural city like New York is accustomed to, and one that it thrives on. “It is a good mix because we both represent a tradition of sorts. What I do is more related to very old traditions, what Jaye does is more relevant to our time, more modern. But the mix is a good combination, you know?”

Brooklyn Street Art: Have you experienced any negative reactions or attitudes while you have been painting?
eL Seed: I was a bit scared to come here and paint some Arabic after what happened in Boston, and actually people have been coming and treating me very well. They are totally open-minded and they accept it in a positive way. That is how we can break stereotypes. Some guys even said, “Yeah, we need more of that”. You know when a white American man comes to you and says, “I would like to see more of that”, you know, I say “Oh that’s cool”.

Brooklyn Street Art: Yeah it’s a good sign, right?
eL Seed: Yeah, it’s pretty good.

This weekend you can check out a new wall eL Seed and Jaye will be doing in Long Island City at 5Pointz in collaboration with Meres One, one of New York’s well known graffiti writers and founder of the revered graffiti holy place. On Sunday May 12th you will have the opportunity to view their new work during a celebratory reception from 6-8pm at 5Pointz as well.

In the meantime they hope to hit a wall with the Bushwick Collective and maybe a couple of other walls this week before eL Seed heads back to Paris for two more walls waiting for him, including a project that’s already featured Shepard Fairey and most recently, C215. Also a nine story building by the river.

“I’m glad that in Paris they are finally accepting my work,” he says as he recalls his first attempts to get permission to paint walls in the city that prizes it’s unique culture and heritage. “Last year they said ‘We cannot have Arabic script in Paris,’ ” he recalls as he remembers having a hard time getting people to agree to his calligraffiti.

Why the seemingly sudden change in political winds, he cannot say for sure. One might guess that it has something to do with word getting around about his collaboration with Luis Vuitton, the French luxury brand that has collaborated recently with Street Art names like Aiko, Retna and Os Gemeos and has more on the roster for future projects.

Whatever the reason, he wants to take his game up a notch. “Now I have two big walls, so that is good.” How would he challenge himself? “Maybe I can develop a new alphabet,” he smiles.

The project is sponsored by The French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) and offers opportunities for an exchange of ideas about urban revolutions.
To learn more about World Nomads Tunisia 2013, please click here.

A video from eL Seeds’ recently completed project in Doha in Qatar.

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