Brooklyn Street Art Presents Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories in collaboration with ThinkSpace Gallery, an art show to exhibit at C.A.V.E. Gallery in Venice (LA), California on Friday, August 12, 2011.
Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories heralds the new highly individual character of stories being told on the streets of New York by brand new and established Street Artists from all over the world. Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, founders of BrooklynStreetArt.com focus on this flashpoint in modern Street Art evolution by curating a strongly eclectic story-driven gallery show with 39 of the best storytellers hitting the streets of New York.
Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories, the gallery show, accompanied by an LA street wall series by selected artists and a public panel lecture and discussion, intends to stake out the New Guard in street art while recognizing some powerful near-legendary forerunners.
The mainly New York lineup exhibits talent from other parts of the US and internationally (Australia, France, UK, Canada, Israel, Germany) and it is as steely, idiosyncratic and storied as the New York scene itself, including Anthony Lister, Adam Void, Broken Crow, C215, Cake, Chris Stain, Clown Soldier, Creepy, Dan Witz, El Sol 25, Ema, Faile, Futura, Gaia, Gilf!, Hargo, Hellbent, How & Nosm, Imminent Disaster, Indigo, Judith Supine, Kid Acne, Know Hope, Ludo, Mark Carvalho, Miss Bugs, Nick Walker, NohJColey, Over Under, Radical!, Rene Gagnon, Skewville, Specter, Sweet Toof, Swoon, Tip Toe, Troy Lovegates AKA Other, Various & Gould, and White Cocoa.
The staunch individualists in Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories give voice to the evolution of the Graffiti, Mash-Up, and D.I.Y. movements that birthed them; creating an eccentric, highly individual, and raucous visual experience on the street. With widely varied backgrounds, techniques, and materials at play, “The Story” is the story. With truths as diverse and difficult as the city itself, each one of these artists is a part of a fierce, raw, new storytelling tradition that is evolving daily before our eyes.
Show Name: Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories
Location: C.A.V.E. Gallery, 1108 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, California 90291
Date: Opening reception Friday August 12, 2011
Duration: August 12 – September 4, 2011.
Online Press Release: http://mim.io/692a11
Contact: Info@BrooklynStreetArt.com
Presented by Brooklyn Street Art in collaboration with ThinkSpace and C.A.V.E
Curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo of BrooklynStreetArt.com
Brooklyn Street Art is proud to collaborate with ThinkSpace Gallery and C.A.V.E. Gallery.Please note that the show will be at C.A.V.E. Gallery. Thank you.
Thinkspace Art Gallerywww.thinkspacegallery.com
6009 Washington Boulevard, Culver City, CA 90232 (310) 558-3375
Wed – Fri 1PM-6PM Sat 1PM-8PM contact@thinkspacegallery.com
C.A.V.E. Gallery (location of the show) www.cavegallery.net
1108 Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Venice CA 90291, (310) 450-6560
Wed – Sun 12PM-6PM or by appointment info@cavegallery.net
Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo are founders of BrooklynStreetArt.com and co-authors of Brooklyn Street Art and Street Art New York, both by Prestel Publishing (Random House). Harrington and Rojo are also contributing writers on street art for The Huffington Post.
A Colorful Sprightly Enigma Emerges from his Private Brooklyn Shack
With visual mashups and genre-defying glee, Street Art in 2011 is making new rules for itself almost monthly at this point. Breaking from many graffiti and street art traditions there appears a new generation of what we’re calling “Storytellers” on the street today. It’s a New Guard of visual omnivores weaned on MTV and nourished by the Internet who consider all of recorded high art and low art history as an unending supply of small buckets available to dip their brush into. With individual, personal, frequently one-off pieces that are laboriously handmade this D.I.Y. decentralized army is hitting the streets with paper, brush, home made wheat paste, and other decidedly lo-tech materials.
With just a couple of years on the New York scene, El Sol 25 is a droll mashup enigma, pasting up fully formed composites of people in doorways and on construction walls. Dropping a mix-n-match irreverent Girl Talk style, the warmth and continuity come from the fact that everything is handmade and painted. Pulling images from magazines and books and using anything from skulls to tutus to dildos and Obama, El Sol 25’s plundering is almost Dadaist except that the outcome is reliably figurative, and each element is meaningful to him. But as to how you interpret it, the artist is happy if you make your own story.
Frankly, many a viewer doesn’t know what to think or who this is coming from – as El Sol 25 has let the art do the talking until now. And as the odd and sometimes humorous eye-popping work keeps appearing, it has also been gathering a buzz from street art fans wanting more details on this anonymous artist. What are these figures of? What do they mean? And why is the work primarily in one neighborhood?
“Williamsburg is an amazing place to work for me because you’ve got your Puerto Ricans on the block, your hipsters on the block, your old Polish ladies on the block, and everybody in between and they are all appreciating the work. That motivates me. It makes me feel like we are not as separated as we like to think we are. We are actually all together, “ explains El Sol 25 on a recent tour of his hand-built “shack” inside in a Brooklyn basement. 60’s jazz – John Coltrane and friends – spins on a vinyl platter on the old record player in the corner of the one room structure as the alert artist sits next to the Teepee he’s been sleeping in. Every part of this environment is his, an inner sanctuary of peace to seek spiritual tranquility, and of course to make collages and paint them.
A former graffiti writer from down south, he’s onto something more multi-dimensional and challenging artistically now. No longer writing, the self-described “sort of” hippie is seeking to be in tune with his personal quest of spirituality and with all receptors switched to “On”. Preparing for a fine art show in a gallery in early summer the dial is at full throttle as he is sending and receiving energies and color and images and messages all at once – thus the need for the sublime serenity of this shack.
With the opportunity to see many works in progress, including some for the upcoming show which pairs the artist with poets, Brooklyn Street Art sat down for the first public interview of El Sol 25.
At the end of the posting, be sure to see the brand new video “Howdy”, directed by Conor Hagen, to see the process of producing just one piece.
Brooklyn Street Art:A lot of your work is inspired from a variety of sources – where do you get your inspiration from right now? El Sol 25: I get my inspiration from everything from walking to work or bad music or bad films or great films or good days or bad days. I get my inspiration from everything. I’m dependent on my work spiritually so I really like the idea of incorporating anything and everything into it. I take inspiration not just from what I’ve put on a pedestal – I enjoy everything.
Brooklyn Street Art:Have you always been an omnivore like this? El Sol 25: No, not at all. When I was first coming up and learning about expressing myself on the streets I had a specific idea. I was like, “It can only be this way and it can’t have any outside influences” and I learned very quickly that that is not fun. That’s not a way of integrating your everyday life into your work so I learned very quickly to let that go and let my work be as much a part of my life as my life is a part of my work.
Brooklyn Street Art:Do you see a connection between what you used to write and the work that you are doing today? El Sol 25: I think the obvious difference for me, coming up as a graffiti writer, was just that a lot of time what motivates me is in the action. Seeing the aftermath of someone’s work to me is to appreciate that they took a huge risk to do it – to express whatever they wanted to express. When I was doing graffiti it was that immediate gratification, that immediate stimulation.
Now I can feel “in the moment” and it and does something that is very stimulating and wonderful and it takes me somewhere else. But I can also observe it the next day and appreciate it just as much as your everyday man can.
Doing graffiti, you do it and some people appreciate it, and most people don’t. They don’t like it and they want it gone. But with Street Art it’s little bit more for everyone, and I like that a whole lot more than the constraints of the graffiti culture.
Brooklyn Street Art:There is another Street Artist who sometimes puts pieces up and then walks around the block and comes back and hangs out and listens to people’s conversations about it. Do you ever think about the stories people make about your work?
El Sol 25: Often times, most of the time. When I’m creating a collage I have a very specific attachment to it symbolically. When I’m painting it, it changes. When I see it on the street, it changes. So I like the idea of having these cryptic messages that people can absorb in whatever way they want. You can explain to someone the meaning behind a painting until you are blue in the face, and it’s not going to matter. They are going to have their own personal connections to it and that makes things interesting for me.
Brooklyn Street Art:Sometimes people do have an agenda and they have a specific message in their work but there is no way to really control the message. El Sol 25: My hat’s off to them if they can but I’m sure you can relate – Art is a living thing – you learn from it. If you let it, art can be very transcendental. I learned very early on down south that you couldn’t spell it out for people. They’re going to figure out their own stories and if you embrace that, then that can bring more power to your work.
Brooklyn Street Art:Can you talk about the process? I think people on the street wonder what it took to get to the finished piece. El Sol 25: I collect magazines, for a year sometimes. I recycle through them over and over and sort of absorb new elements that maybe I didn’t see before and I didn’t appreciate. I definitely go through books over and over and collect pieces for a long time until I feel like there is something there that I can connect to. And then there is the building of the original collages… and a lot of time I make these huge series of collages that I organize in a way that I feel like, “I can feel good about painting this as a street piece, or as a canvas piece in a gallery” So a lot of times I’m just collaging constantly.
I’m really into the idea right now of making figures that are multi-gender, multi-race, multi-everything, because I don’t want to speak to one specific demographic. I want everyone to take something from the work. I definitely don’t want to speak only to people who are into the “street art” aspect of things. I think it is silly. I think people are going to connect to your work either way or I think it’s very considerate to think of how to connect with everyone, not just one type of person. That’s what ultimately motivates me so I definitely keep that in mind throughout the whole process.
Brooklyn Street Art:How long does it take to paint one piece? El Sol 25: It depends. Sometimes I give myself small projects where I can do a lot of work in a small amount of time. Other times I really need to have some “alone” time where I need to have some time to reflect on my life and my work and my interactions with people I love and I definitely have times when I need to do pieces that are elaborate and pronounced – when I’m trying to work some things out. So sometimes it takes me an hour to do a piece, or sometimes it takes me two days.
Brooklyn Street Art:Why wouldn’t you just photocopy or scan and print one of your collages and enlarge it on a large printer and paste it. Why is it more important to hand-paint your work? El Sol 25: A lot of artists do that and I think that’s a great way of taking an idea and making it large and be able to put it all over the place and I certainly enjoy some of those works a lot. But for me personally I really like the idea of putting so much love into something that it is very specific to the passerby’s experience. I’m sort of a hippie so I really like the idea of putting a lot of love into a piece and for people to respond to that.
Brooklyn Street Art:Where do get your sense of humor? El Sol 25: My mom, definitely. She’s the wild one. My dad’s the “by-the-book” OCD one – that’s where I get that. My mom is the life of the party, “I’m gonna make flan for everyone and they all have to have a piece and tell me what they think!”
Brooklyn Street Art:Right! So she is fully engaged. El Sol 25: She’s fully engaged. Brooklyn Street Art:But not in an overbearing way. El Sol 25: Sometimes in an overbearing way but for the most part she’s lovely. Brooklyn Street Art:So she celebrates the humor in life and we can see a lot of humor in your art. El Sol 25: It’s there. It’s dark and it’s fun and I think people can take more than one idea from it as opposed to some artists who may have a very specific idea and that’s great and I’m glad you’re expressing that idea but that’s not what I’m doing.
Brooklyn Street Art:You use many historical references, historical figures in your pieces. You put in faces of presidents and they are wearing panties and basketball jerseys and you mash up history with pop art and pop culture and it can be very humorous and intensively detailed. El Sol 25: Yeah the humor is definitely from my mom and it definitely a direct response to a lot of the artwork that is out there. I mean I love anyone who is willing to go out and take the risk and express themselves but I’m a little more interested in people who are provoking thought and provoking an emotional response.
You can be like, “I’m badass. Check out how badass I am” but you are really only expressing one thing.
Brooklyn Street Art:Badassness?
El Sol 25: Yeah, and coming up as a graffiti writer I already experienced that. I already experienced feeling badass. “I just conquered that space! I’m badass!” But now I’m more interested in connecting with everyone, not just people in the graffiti scene or any scene. I love the idea of speaking to everyone. So that motivates the humor behind my work – take it a little seriously but not too serious.
Our weekly interview with the street hits some bright notes including new arrivals from El Sol 25, Specter, and Faile along with some shots Futura did of HAHA in Melbourne and even a taste of Kentucky Street Art.
The roll call this week; Bast, Billi Kid, Clown Soldier, El Sol 25, Faile, L.E.T., QRST, Rae, Romi, S, and Specter.
Stay tuned on BSA this week as we’ll bring to you an interview and studio visit with enigmatic El Sol 25. This self described hippie artist has bounded onto the scene in the last three years with his colorful, witty and well executed hand painted collages.
As winter loosens it’s grip, the first signs of spring are popping up all over New York, with new buds of passion from tender branches, construction walls, softened soil and industrial doorways. What this season will bring to the streets is anyone’s guess, but there are shoots and seedlings that we haven’t seen before, and a new crop is obviously taking shape. Here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adam Krueger, Andrew Poneros, Betten, Cash-Money, El Sol 25, Enzo, Kinog, Kriest, Mint & Serf, Pork, Shark Toof, and Wheat.
Mint&Serf curated the show “Well Hung” The Chelsea Chapter at +aRT gallery located at 540 West 28 Street in NYC. Well Hung runs until Sunday April 3rd. A fundraiser to benefit the programs of Free Arts NYC . Below a few images of the art on the show:
Last summer we began noticing unusual bird houses installed in elevated locations around Brooklyn by Street Artist XAM. Fashionable high-tech real estate options for our fine feathered friends, the smart shelters are not just another pretty space. Each aviary domicile is designed, constructed, and installed free of charge – although rumor has it that a broker from Corcoran has tried to rent out one as “a cozy sun drenched studio with river views”.
XAM employs their Constructive Street Design process to this high-strung hangout in Manhattan and calls it CSD Dwelling Unit 3.0. It is equipped with a solar panel, a rechargeable battery and a LED porch light that lights up at night to attract insects. Additionally it has a food storage area, passive ventilation, slopes to aid in drainage, and a “green roof” system with angles that cut down on wind resistance and create more stability for the home.
We’re very grateful for a wildly prolific year of Street Art as it continued to explode all over New York (and a lot of other places too). For one full year we’ve been granted the gift of seeing art on the streets and countless moments of inspiration. Whether you are rich or poor in your pocket, the creative spirit on the street in New York makes you rich in your heart and mind.
To the New York City artists that make this city a lot more alive every day we say thank you.
To the artists from all over world that passed through we say thank you.
To our colleagues and peers for their support and enthusiasm we say thank you.
To the gallery owners and curators for providing the artists a place to show their stuff and for providing all of us a safe place to gather, talk, share art, laugh, enjoy great music and free booze we say thank you.
To our project collaborators for sharing your talents and insights and opinions and for keeping the flame alive we say thank you.
And finally to our friends, readers and fans; Our hearts go out to you for lighting the way and for cheering us on. Thank you.
Each Sunday we featured Images of the Week, and we painfully narrowed that field to about 100 pieces in this quick video. It’s not an encyclopedia, it’s collage of our own. We remember the moment of discovery, the mood, the light and the day when we photographed them. For us it’s inspiration in this whacked out city that is always on the move.
The following artists are featured in the video and are listed here in alphabetical order:
Aakash Nihalani,Bansky, Barry McGee, Bask ,Bast, Beau, MBW, Bishop ,Boxi, Cake, The Dude Company, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Dain, Dan Witz ,Dolk ,El Mac, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Faile, Feral, Overunder, Gaia, General Howe, Hellbent, Hush, Imminent Disaster, Jeff Aerosol, Jeff Soto, JMR ,Judith Supine ,K-Guy ,Labrona, Lister, Lucy McLauchlan, Ludo, Armsrock, MCity, Miso, Momo, Nick Walker, Nina Pandolfo, NohjColey, Nosm, Ariz, How, Tats Cru, Os Gemeos, Futura, Pisa 73, Poster Boy, QRST, Remi Rough, Stormie Mills, Retna, Roa, Ron English, Sever, She 155, Shepard Fairey ,Specter, Sten & Lex, Samson, Surge I, Sweet Toof, Swoon, Tes One, Tip Toe, Tristan Eaton, Trusto Corp, Typo, Various and Gould, Veng RWK, ECB, White Cocoa, Wing, WK Interact, Yote.
Skulls are everywhere on the street today, and here is a collection to mark The Day of the Dead. The commemoration of people who have passed is observed nation-wide in Mexico every year at this time. Although it is not a national holiday, the strictly religious and cultural observance is revered and, depending on the region, it varies in the ways in which the holiday is marked.
The cultural aspect of this holiday has inspired many artists, filmmakers and poets. Here we have selected images of Street Art culled from our library to mark the Dia de Los Muertos, focusing on the most prominent symbol used to represent this holiday: “Las Calaveras” or skulls.
Mexico’s “Dia de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead” takes place every year on November 2 to coincide with the catholic holiday of “El Dia de los Santos” or “All Saints Day”. The Day of the Dead is not the Mexican equivalent of Halloween. The Day of the Dead in Mexico is a celebration of Death and it does not carry any of the connotations of fear, fantasy and gore that Halloween does.
This religious and cultural holiday can be traced as long ago as 3000 years. Before the conquest of what’s now modern Mexico in the pre-Hispanic era the indigenous cultures celebrated death, rebirth and their ancestors by displaying human skulls as memento mori.
When the Spanish missionaries arrived more than 500 years ago they tried without success to eradicate such pagan and sacrilegious celebrations that seem to mock death while converting the indigenous people to Christianity. To the Spaniards death was the end of life but to the Aztecs it was a continuation of a journey not yet completed. The Aztecs embraced death and they celebrated it for the entire month of August, the ninth month of the Aztec Calendar, and the festivities were presided by the goddess Mictecacihuatl or “Lady of the Dead” presumed to have died at birth.
The Spaniards were met with fierce resistance in their attempts to vanish the rituals so in frustration they sought and found a common ground with the natives by moving the pagan rituals to coincide with the Catholic holiday of “El Dia de los Santos” or “All Saints Day” on November 2.
Modern Mexicans remember their friends and family members that have departed from life by honoring them with extravagant festivities that, depending in the region might include lavish offerings or “ofrendas” in private altars in the cemeteries at the tombs of their loved ones and/or at home. It is a day of celebration and many people elect to stay overnight at the cemetery for prayer, and remembrance but partying, eating and drinking is encouraged and expected always following the norms of respect and decorum for the defunct.
These “ofrendas” or gifts include the most favored dishes, foods and beverages that their loved ones enjoyed while alive. They also include photos and other personal mementos of the deceased ones. The “ofrendas” are meant to be eaten and shared by the relatives and friends of the departed and sometimes they are very elaborate five course dinners. Other times the relatives might choose to have a daytime picnic at the cemetery and return to their homes at dusk. The “ofrendas” are believed to nurture and help the souls of the dead while in their journey to heaven.
Some people use this day to just take their customary once a year trip to the cemetery to clean and maintain the tomb of their loved ones.
Regardless of the singular cultural distinction of each region two symbols are common throughout the country: “La Calavera” or The Sugar Skull and “La Catrina” or The Skeleton Lady. The Skulls can be made of sugar and chocolate and often are inscribed with the recipient’s names and are gifts to both the living and the dead. There is also “El Pan de Muertos” or “Bread of the Dead” which Mexicans give as gifts to the visiting relatives for their journey back home.
It is said that Mexicans not only celebrate death they also eat it.
Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Daily Void, El Sol 25, Hebru, Homer, JMR, K-Guy, Loaf, OverUnder, Quel Beast, Radical, Tip Toe, Veng RWK, and Wizzard Sleeve
K-Guy Readies a Sign for the Pope
K-GUY has a commentary on the hypocritical practices of the Catholic Church with this piece enitled “See-No-Hear-No-Speak-No”, timed to coincide with The Pope’s visit to London.
To see more work of the above featured artists click on the artist’s links on the menu on the top, scroll down the list of artists to find the artist’s site you wish to visit.
So you might as well move the furniture out on the sidewalk for your 4th of July Bar-B-Que this weekend and enjoy the best of both worlds. Look, some guests have already arrived! Pictured below on the Brooklyn street are Veng (RWK), Imminent Disaster, El Sol 25, Yote, and Andrew Michael Ford. Is the beer cold yet?
Let Jimi Put You In the Mood for a Patriotic Weekend
In Manhattan – Street Artist Dennis McNett’s Wild Kingdom Runs 50 Feet of Barney’s Windows
Brooklyn based artist Dennis McNett totally smashed the windows at Barneys with his imagination. “Passerby’s can see over sized wolf, owl, and skull masks paired with mannequins dressed in evening wear with a backdrop of psychodelic starbursts and swooping wolfbats. Dennis’s woodcut blocks, prints, masks and paper mache sculptures adorn the mannequins and window interiors. His imagery from nature, folklore, mythology, and story telling mixed with the graphic carved wood patterns from wood block prints sets a very unique stage for the store and this part of town.”
Barneys NY Madison Ave. between 60th and 61st through July 12th
They are best seen at night as they have been professionally lit. Check out Dennis at www.wolfbat.com
Our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring street art by Bast, Billi Kid, Bishop203, ,Brummel, El Sol 25, Faile, Grimus, Girl With Bikini, Homosapien Erectus, Kosbe, Mike Graves, Monkey, Over Under, WDZ, and ZHE155
In her latest mural, Faring Purth delivers a powerful reflection on connection, continuity, and the complexity of evolving relationships—a true …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
