All posts tagged: Espo

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.12.23

November 12, 2023 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

A Chagall painting is stolen from a midtown gallery, Fab Five Freddy is in Vanity Fair, Carlo McCormick opened his curated “Wild Style” show at Deitch, the Christmas tree is going up in Rockefeller Center, the mayor’s phones have been seized in a mystery investigation, students are walking out of class and people are hitting the streets at Columbus Circle, Grand Central, and the Brooklyn Bridge to demand a ceasefire in Israel/Gaza. The frenetic muse is you, trying to make it make sense.

Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Faile, Stikman, Elle, Queen Andrea, CRKSHNK, Shiro, Espo, Homesick, DeGrupo, Michael Alan, Dark Clouds, Gats, Manik, Drones, ICU463, El Chalvo Del Ocho, Saxgraf, Smart RIS, Bianca Does New York, Uloang, and Chespirito.

ULOANG’s portrait of Chespirito as El Chavo del 8. A beloved character from one of the most popular shows on Latin American television ever. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saxgraf and Shiro collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bianca Does New York (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elle and Queen Andrea collaboration (photo © Jaime Rojo)

GATS for East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HOMESICK, Degrupo, Manik and KimSHT. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist’s portrait of David Bowie. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Last Sunday’s edition of BSA Images Of The Week included a WIP photo of Michael Alan’s new mural. Here’s the completed version. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Behind the Scenes at Beyond The Streets London / Recap

March 11, 2023 Artists

Behind the scenes at “Beyond the Streets London” is a hive of activity, with artists deeply focused on installing their work and seeking assistance with tools and equipment. Curators, organizers, and lighting professionals are bustling up and down the stairs, carrying props, or ladders, and communicating with vendors and artists via text message. Salespeople are diligently crafting wall texts to accompany the art pieces. It’s a few hours before showtime, yet everything is somehow accomplished just as the first guests arrive for the preview.

According to our sources, this subway installation included actual wires and security cameras were “nicked”. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Photographer Martha Cooper is electrified by the activity at Saatchi Gallery. The event preserves the rich history of graffiti, street art, and commerce while pushing forward with new trends and directions. Cooper, who has documented this scene since the 1970s, has attended and exhibited in “Beyond the Streets” exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles – and we anticipate the next stop could be Shanghai. This particular iteration showcases an evolving mix of archetypes and invention, drawing on diverse influences from the US, UK, and EU.

Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Cooper observed many surprising music references at the show. Rock icon Eric Clapton was at the opening admiring a photograph of text declaring him to be God while filmmaker, musician, and BBC radio host Don Letts had a personal collection of his memorabilia/ephemera on display. Ron West, designer of the “Duck Rock” boombox, also made a sudden appearance at the opening, allowing guests to pose with his creation. Among the standout pieces was a Bob Gruen photo of Malcolm McLaren holding that boombox in front of Keith Haring’s Houston Street wall, a masterpiece of intersectionality, if you will.

Overall, “Beyond the Streets London” offers a smorgasbord of colors, flavors, and influences that are difficult to encapsulate in one show. However, Gastman, the visionary, gives it a good try, with a respectful nod to the many artists who have shaped this worldwide people’s art movement. Enjoy these behind-the-scenes shots from Ms. Cooper.

AgnesB at Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Aiko doing the last minute touch-up. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Aiko. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

NYC’s CES, a leader in characters with a streamlined and aerodynamic ‘wildstyleʼ, Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Conor Harrington. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

SoCal *Stecyk* artist known for writing and photographs documenting surfing and skateboarding culture, CR StecyK. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

CR StecyK. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

OG Daze extends the space of this subway car. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Don Letts looking at an installation of items from his personal collection. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Don Letts and BTS mastermind Roger Gastman. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

DRAX. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Martha’s famous Dondi photograph shows up in the most surprising places. Martha Cooper. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Lawrence Watson with his iconic shot of Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy. His other well known photos include Jam Master Jay, DMC, Rev Run, Chuck D, Flavor Flav and “Cool” James Todd Smith. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Clapton. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Clapton with Shepard Fairey. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Escif. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Espo. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Fab5 Freddy with his painting based on Martha Cooper’s photo of his soup can car. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Futura standing before his large stage backdrop created during the Radio Clash tour at the Lyceum Ballroom, London (1981). Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Futura with a mystery friend. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

HAZE in front of his new piece. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Henry Chalfant’s wall of train car sides was massive. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Husk Mit Navn. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Janette Beckman has helped you make selections with her red marker. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

John Ahearn in front of a poster for the seminal movie he directed. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Kenny Scharf points the way at Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Kenny Scharf. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Roger Gastman with old school graffiti writer “Pride”. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Ron West, creator of the original Duck Rock boombox. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

A guest posing with Ron West’s boom box. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Mode2 prepping his canvas. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Shepard Fairey wheat pasting his iconic Obey image of Andre the Giant. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Paul Insect. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Niels Shoe Meulman. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Installation of Toby Mott’s huge collection of punk ephemera (Mott not pictured). Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Vhils outside next to his sculpture for Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Vhils’ crew is pasting layers of posters on stairway in preparation for carving, which came later. Vhils. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

OG Zephyr in his clean wildstyle. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Shepard Fairey, Fab Five Freddy, Charlie Ahearn, Roger Gastman, and Janette Beckman. Beyond The Streets – London. Saatchi Gallery. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Beyond The Streets – London. Click HERE for more details, the schedule of events, tickets, and exhibition times.

BSA Film Friday 02.14.20

February 14, 2020 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening :
1. “Who is TAKI183?”, Jim Prigoff and Cedric Godin
2. ESPO: A Love Letter For You
3. Exquisite Waste Of Time – Telmo Miel

BSA Special Feature: “Who is TAKI183?”

Graffiti writers were going hard in New York City in the mid-late 1960s but it wasn’t until the elite cultural avatar The New York Times did a story on the prolific TAKI183 in July of 1971 that many felt that the graffiti scene was somehow validated. From that point forward, the writer’s reputation as being all-city and unofficial representative of taggers everywhere was gold plated among his peers, and competition to get up all-city was suddenly on fire.

Writer, photographer, author, lecturer and storied nonagenarian Jim Prigoff, who published Spraycan Art with Henry Chalfant in 1987, has just produced a new video with Cedric Godin that more closely examines this tagger/standard-bearer and lets the camera roll on stories from him and others inside his family’s car repair shop.

“A lot of the earlier graffiti was scratched or done with paint brushes. There weren’t really spray cans. I think because markers were available and you could do it quick,” says Taki.

“I discovered the first graffiti in NY as Taki 183. I was stunned. This determined my life direction,” says French Street Artist Blek le Rat.

“But in New York, it was the media capital of the world,” says Philadelphia graffiti king Cornbread, who was writing in the 1960s as well. “When they had done something, it was magnified. To be honest with you, New York overshadowed me.”

The storytelling leads to stylized writing and people like Stay High 149 and the dawn of more formalized or experimental gallery spaces like Fashion Moda in the Bronx. But Taki retained his tagger status, and remained a touchpoint for an era. “I never had a relationship with the art world because I was just so removed from it.

So much of this history is lost already, mostly because our art institutions and universities have been ignorant and adamantly so about the importance of graffiti in the language of society and its evolution as the most democratic global art movement ever. Videos like this one by Mr. Prigoff and Cedric Godin act to preserve and archive the images and voices of those at the forefront of a movement that influenced so many other parts of global culture.

WHO is TAKI183 A film by Jim Prigoff and Cedric Godin

ESPO: A Love Letter For You

“To mark the 10th anniversary of A Love Letter For You, ESPO and the film director Joey Garfield held a Q & A in Brooklyn’s Night Hawk Cinema. With this documentary, Mr. Garfield captures the artist’s process while directly asking the residents of this Philadelphia community, which was once ESPO’s own hood, what they wish was painted on the walls. ESPO took the inspiration that he received from the community and went onto painting 50 walls.

Exquisite Waste Of Time – Telmo Miel

Exactly how your dad describes your interest in painting, in music, in social work – an “Exquisite Waste of Time”. Luckily, this video promo for a show by Telmo and Miel will make you drool so much to paint that you won’t care what Dad says.

BSA Film Friday: 07.14.17

July 14, 2017 Artists

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

Now screening :
1. Various & Gould: City Skins – Marx und Engels.
2. The Brutalism Appreciation Society/Gesellschaft zur Wertschätzung des Brutalismus
3. ESPO at Bien Urbain 2017
4. Faith47 in Johannesburg
5. Creative collaborators AXE in Barcelona for 12 + 1

BSA Special Feature: Various & Gould: City Skins – Marx und Engels.

Conceptual Street Artists often perform interventions without explanation, satisfied with their own observations of the outcome. For Berlians Various & Gould the process has more often included the participation of the public – a way for more to take ownership and inspire dialogue. Sometimes many dialogues.

You may have seen our piece on their most recent public project called “City Skins”: Marx and Engels Statues Re-Skinned & Re-Located : Various & Gould. Here is a mini-documentary that shows you the artists, the process, and the thinking behind the process.

The Brutalism Appreciation Society/Gesellschaft zur Wertschätzung des Brutalismus

“21 artists whose works all deal with the post-war architectural style of Brutalism,” says Dr. Inke Arns, curator and director for “The Brutalism Appreciation Society” in the HMKV (Hartware MedienKunstVerein) in Dortmund U. Metal, stone, brick, exposed concrete – all a heavy shell against the rigorous torment of the world. Now steel and glass is slowly pushing out the blunt force of this mountainous movement, so it is a relief to see that architecture historians and, hopefully, city planners, are rallying to preserve these monuments.

2 Notes: Graffiti has had a meaningful dialogue with this evolution. Also, make sure you hang out till the end of this video for full effect.

Bien Urbain 2017 – ESPO

Stephen Powers aka ESPO participated in the 7th Bien Urbain festival in Besançon this spring and brought his wordplay and affinity for the language of advertising signage to a wall there.

Faith47 in Johannesburg

The inimitable Faith47 powerhouse has been creating some massive murals of late and while they capture the natural world epically, these pieces also manage to feel personal, intimate.

Creative collaborators AXE in Barcelona for 12 + 1

Friends since childhood and painting graffiti and murals together since 1999 in Barcelona, Adrià (Smaug) and Oriol (Gúma) together call themselves AXE Colours. Read more from our earlier posting ; AXE Colours – Two Graffiti Friends, Now Creative Partners

Stephen ESPO Powers Signage Spills Outside the Brooklyn Museum

March 19, 2016 Artists

While the branches on the trees in front of the Brooklyn Museum are not quite popping with buds it is a short time until they will be flushed with blossoms and then leaves, obscuring the view of some of the new site-specific signs just installed by Stephen Powers.

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The signs on the plaza, many humorous and coded, were originally created for a project he did with the New York City Department of Transportation a couple of years ago and they follow a theme of “emotional wayfinding” that he has been playing with in much of his sign-themed work for a while.

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The effect is almost decorative, to see so many of these clustered in one area – and a reminder that Street Artists have been using all variety of street poles as a means of expression for at least the last 20 years with regularity. This may be the first time we have heard of a museum acknowledging this means of communicating in public space, and Powers is a good ambassador for the technique of communication practiced by so many.

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Of course this installation is in concert with the announce extension of his show inside the museum, Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull), which was going to close this week but has been extended until August 21. The show, which features Powers and other sign painters occasionally in person painting (check museum schedules) is organized by Sharon Matt Atkins, Vice Director for Exhibitions and Collections Management, Brooklyn Museum.

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>

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!

BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>BSA<<>>

Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still A Dreamland (To a Seagull) exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum is now on view and extended through August 21st.

Coney Island Dreaming: Following the Signs to Stephen Powers

November 18, 2015 Artists, Interview

Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull) is one of 3 new exhibits inspired by the historic attractions of Brooklyn’s seaside

Graffiti artist-turned-sign painter Stephen Powers is dreaming of Coney Island and he is bringing a colorful collection of found and freshly produced signage that evokes a forgotten era to climb the columns of a Brooklyn Museum gallery.

Given the boisterous parade of brands and logos into museums that is happening as part of the institutional funding and programming mix, its fun to see the ninth episodic installation of this traveling ICY SIGNS shop here; its simplicity and guile recalling amusing persuasive techniques from the mid-century American advertising lexicon. Simultaneously, for those who have been lucky enough to sicken themselves on cotton candy and The Wonder Wheel, the new show imparts a rather reassuring and seedy nostalgia for Coney Island, complete with an inexplicable hankering for a thick beef hot dog.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Just as warm weather recedes and late autumn’s chill darkens that historic city seaside amusement park, the popsicles and sand and titillating oddities are all rushing inside for the winter at Brooklyn Museum. Here and in adjacent galleries, the stage-directing showfolks at BKM are offering conjoined triplets for you to gawk at: Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull), Coney Island: Visions of An American Dreamland, 1861-2008 and Forever Coney: Photographs from the Brooklyn Museum Collection.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In tandem with his merry band of mostly reformed graffiti writers-turned-sign painters, Powers’ installation pops up and outward chaotically like nighttime fireworks seen from the boardwalk on the 4^th. The fast talking Philadelphia-born Powers is a natural carnival barker, showman, and punny word player, and this textual chorus of messages invites you to consider the tantalizing language of the pitch as well.

While you tumble layer upon layer, feel free to revel in the clever permutations of implorative doublespeak delivered with non-linear panache, a cluster of colorful visual cues here cut from their tether and flying above your head. Rather than actually selling you something, however, it’s the method of delivery that Powers is celebrating. It’s a joyride of icons that trumpets the juxtaposition of the graphic, the selection of the symbol, the wink of an eye, the turn of the word, the jocular joust.

Just like any rollercoaster or peeping attraction, its a thrill best enjoyed by holding on tight, alternately letting go completely, blurring your eyes and drinking in the candied, fried, salty sweetness. And just like any tourist attraction that helps those yearning for a closer view, a classic binocular tower viewer is sited center stage for you to gaze further than the human eye.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In a city that is quickly stamping out the last remaining handmade signage that was once ubiquitous on bodegas, candy shops, record stores, laundromats, restaurants, bars, pizza joints, and hot dog stands, it is ironic that these new signs recalling that communication vernacular are being brought into the museum. If any of these signs remain in public space today, they are faded glories overlooked, often called “ghost signs”. Powers brings the language back to life, inverting the expected, cleverly blending in his own sense of Coney Island romance, heavily salted and smothered in ketchup.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anne Pasternak, the new director of this encyclopedic institution, saw the value in preserving this particular character of New York when she was President and Artistic Director of Creative Time and the organization collaborated with Powers for the first time in 2004 and 2005 on The Dreamland Artists Club in Coney Island. Those first two projects were the genesis of their collaboration in Coney Island again in 2008 with The Waterboard Thrill Ride. Emblazoned by Powers’ hand painted wit the darkly satirical project was sited in a Coney Island peeing booth/grindhouse that stirred controversy for its animatronic depiction of torture.

More often Powers’ installations in a dozen or more cities are affectionately referred to as Love Letters, including massive text-based projects that cover walls and neighborhoods in Philadelphia, Baltimore, Syracuse and 2011’s Love Letter to Brooklyn, which wrapped a building with city inspired phrases of 250 or so words in downtown BK.

Here at the museum you are best served to get in close and go full bore into the jumbled chaos of words always at play in Power’s work and mind. The installation features the twisted phraseology of a country baked in advertising jingles, slogans, and blustery bromides and each of the artists (Justin Green, Matt Wright, Mike Levy, Dan Murphy, Mike Lee, Mimi Gross, Alexis Ross, Sean Barton, Eric Davis, and Tim Curtis) bring their own handstyles and witticism to these conversations, a playful and sarcastic examination that bubbles and splashes like waterfalls of words beneath the rotunda.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As Powers and team completed their installation this week for Friday’s opening we spoke with curator Sharon Matt Atkins, Vice Director of Exhibitions and Collections Management, to see if the newest iteration of ICY SIGNS has been the fun house that it appears to be.

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you talk about the intersection of the three exhibits here as expressed in the signage of Powers?
Sharon Matt Atkins: Our three Coney Island exhibitions capture the spirit of the seaside community and give a feeling for how the place has inspired generations of artists. Powers’ installation in particular brings the visual language of Coney Island to the Museum by recalling the great tradition of hand-painted signs.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: How much of the exhibit is specific to this installation and how much is heritage pieces from its pre-iterations?
Sharon Matt Atkins: This installation combines found signs alongside those created by Powers and ICY SIGNS. The works by Powers and ICY SIGNS include both earlier work as well as new signs and paintings created for this exhibition.

Brooklyn Street Art: Brooklyn Museum is once again embracing the language of Brooklyn streets and public space, bringing it into a gallery and presenting it as vital and worthy of consideration. How does this one compare to the shows you organized for Swoon and Faile?
Sharon Matt Atkins: I have loved seeing the Cantor Gallery transformed with each artist’s installation, and also with recent exhibitions like Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic and Crossing Brooklyn. It’s a beautiful space that lends itself to different kinds of experiences.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: How does the space lend to or present a challenge for the displaying of the multiple signs?
Sharon Matt Atkins: Powers and team really wanted to respond to the architecture, much in keeping with how signage becomes layered in cities and places like Coney Island. Working with the piers of the Museum’s Cantor Gallery, they built layers and stretched upward about 40 feet, creating these soaring towers of signs that are anchored by sign benches at their bases. Providing a lively and educational element to the exhibition, we will also have sign painters at work here on Thursday evenings, and afternoons on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen Powers . ICY SIGNS “Shameak” “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers’ site specific installation “Stephen Powers: Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To a Seagull)” is presented in conjunction with “Coney Island: Visions of An American Dreamland, 1861-2008”. Both exhibitions will open to the public this Friday, November 20th and will run until March 13, 2016. Click HERE for more details.

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><>

This article is also published on The Huffington Post

The Wonderfully Dismal Kingdom of Banksy

August 26, 2015 Artists

Banksy has ventured into the entertaining resort business. One that would possibly be your last resort.

A scathing social and political critique of any number of targets that routinely come under the purview of this artist/curator/commentator/showman, this big tent brings everyone inside for a beating. Rampant capitalism, civic hypocrisy, the war industry, advertising deceit, an encroaching police state, environmental destruction, the widening gap in social equality, xenophobia with its inherent racism, and our insatiable penchant for sunny denial are a partial list of woes addressed. If you don’t feel sickened or guilty after visiting Dismaland perhaps you could affect a certain smugness that says, “Finally, someone is talking about all of these important issues that I’ve been going on about.”

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Cheerfully cynical and sarcastic, this magic kingdom is most successful when you are challenged to reconsider a behavior or position – and with 50 or so invited co-exhibitionists, some whose bodies of work are substantial on their own, Banksy clearly intends to challenge you and indict you with a relentless barrage of over-the-top funhouse symbolism and metaphor. If, for example, you are enthralled by those American right-wing Christian Halloween “Hell House” installations that feature pregnant teen girls in stirrups and sallow-faced gay HIV-positive patients in hospital beds you’ll cherish the harrowing Banksy path to salvation. Alas, there may be no salvation, sorry.

Here you can see bright yellow bathtub ducks swimming in an oil spill, there you can play paparazzi with the other flashing bulbs recording Cinderalla’s overturned carriage crash. Next, get a load of the toy boats dangerously overloaded with refugees and the knife-wielding butcher eye-balling the horses he’s riding with on the merry-go-round. If Disneyland clobbers you with candy-covered bromides and implausibly rosy fantasy, Dismaland brings you to the edge of the abyss of man’s folly and gently nudges you to fall into it. Or jump.

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Particularly effective to the experience are the grim and listless personnel who mind the grounds and offer no clear or meaningful help. Not quite menacing, they could just be impersonating sullen teens. Perhaps they are buckling under the weight of low wages and dim opportunities on the horizon or are simply humiliated by the balloons some are made to carry that say, “I’m an Imbecil”.

On a particularly gray and dreary day periodically warmed with the sun, the photographer named Butterfly made her pilgrimage to this nightmare fairy tale by the seaside for the big opening and below she shares with BSA readers her images and observations on the pop-up exhibition to help us all feel a bit of the dreadful experience first-hand.

Banksy. Escif. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

~ By Butterfly

Weston-Super-Mare is a British seaside town, 30 minutes from Bristol, where families spend the day out donkey riding, visiting the Seaquarium or trying arcades at the Pier while kids build sandcastles on a muddy beach in miserable weather.

Rumors had been circulating for weeks about big installations being built in the former Tropicana, a derelict lido closed since 2000 which once hosted the biggest outdoor swimming pool in Europe. The rumblings and the build up to the announcement to the show was phenomenal, along with the conjecture: Is it a film set? Is it a show? Is it a fair? Is it art?

Banksy. Cinderella sufferd a crash. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Finally we know: This is Banksy’s biggest show to date: Dismaland. It is, according to promotional materials “is a festival of art, amusements and entry-level anarchism.”

Moving towards Contemporary Art, the show is billed as a ‘Bemusement Park’. The global scale, diversity of installations, artworks and participating artists is unprecedented with 50 contemporary artists from 17 countries aiming to exhibit contemporary art and raise discussion about consumerism, political and environmental issues and to spur people to take action.

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

1000 lucky local people were invited to experience Dismaland before its’ opening to the general public. Concurrently the online ticket sales failed miserably, with the website crashing all day and earning it the award of ‘the most disappointing new website’.

We first enter the premises through a cardboard security control room built by Bill Barminksi where the security staff asks the most random questions. After the clearing security, doors open to a sinister derelict place with trash, paper on the floor and mud. It almost looks like a dump. The surrounding staff members are dressed in pink hi-vis (vests) and are looking bored, miserable and haggard. Some are holding David Shrigley’s ‘I’m an Imbecile’ balloons. When asking questions, they respond by whispering messages that are beyond understanding. Customer service is below standard and not responsive at best.

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Surrounded by murky water with a dumped riot van that has been transformed into an impromptu water fountain, a decrepit fairy-tale castle ‘shows how it feels to be a real princess’. A sinister scene of a Cinderella pumpkin crash sculpture is lit up by the swarm of paparazzi, with flashing cameras taking photo after photo of the tragic crash scene, echoing Princess Diana’s death. You may also pose with it and have your souvenir photo of the experience.

The amusements are purposely confusing – as they don’t let you win. An ESPO sign reads

‘WINNING IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED’. Arcade fans attempt miserably to score some of the bling necklaces by shooting spray cans, only to realize that they are screwed to the wall.

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Some local families were confused with Banksy’s Mediterranean Boat Ride, where the public can drive robotic boats of migrants amongst floating bodies. Kids tried to play on Paul Insect‘s overcrowded sandpit while others were desperately looking for disappearing golf balls on the impossible Mini Gulf course. Families enjoyed rides on the merry-go-round without noticing a butcher sitting next to a hanging horse draining blood with cardboard boxes marked Lasagnes (a nod to a horse food scandal in 2013).

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Alongside the rides, contemporary artworks are displayed throughout the site. There is also a large indoor space hosting 3 galleries with a selection of some of the best contemporary art. A circus tent features a freak show of strange animals from Polly Morgan and Dorcas Casey to a unicorn by Damien Hirst and a Banksy animatronic rabbit that makes the magician disappear.

The seaside and funfair themes have been given a certain twist as well: A statue of a woman being attacked by seagulls (Banksy), a giant ice cream cone (Ben Long), a wooden carved horse sculpture (Maskull Lasserre), a beach ball floating above razor sharp knives (Damien Hirst), a seaside painting showing a mother and child playing on the sand unaware of the tsunami of detritus coming toward them (Banksy).

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Environmental issues and relationships between human and nature are also highlighted with artworks from Paco Pomet and Josh Keyes. A Banksy killer whale sculpture is jumping out of a toilet peace. Other topics addressed are on war, geopolitics, and the Arab Spring. Artists from Palestine and Israel are displayed side by side. Within the Guerilla Island, the dome presents of series of activist banners from all over the world, including drawings from Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani.

A bus turned into a touring Museum of Cruel Objects curated by Dr. Gavin Grindon educates the public on surveying the role of design for social control, including CCTV. And you can sign up to one of the union stalls for action. Finally there is the mind-blowing model village installation by James Cauty called The Aftermath Dislocation Principle.

The evening turned into a big party with live music while a massive show of fireworks sealed the official opening. I found the experience to be overwhelming with so much artwork to discover and actions to be taken.

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Espo. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Paul Insect . Bast. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Paco Pomet. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Maskull Lassarre. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Kate MacDowell. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Jessica Harrison. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dietrich Wegner. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Damien Hirst. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Andreas Hykade. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Amir Schiby. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dorkas Casey. Dismaland Circus. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Thank you for visiting folks. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
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!
<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

BSA Loves You More Every Day

February 14, 2015 Artists

Happy Valentines Day to you from your friends at BSA.

Single?
together?
under the weather? –
we don’t mind, cause you’re just fine
and we
love
you.

Steve ESPO Powers. From Love Letter To Philadelphia. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

American Puppet (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Danielle Mastrion (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hek Tad (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I can’t give you anything but love, baby
That’s the only thing I’ve plenty of, baby”

Jimmy McHugh (music) and Dorothy Fields (lyrics)

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA 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! <<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

ROA Diary : New Work from Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and Panama

July 29, 2013 Artists

“I felt an intimacy with them…bordering on frenzy [that] must accompany my steps through life,” said the celebrated John James Audubon, the French-American naturalist and painter more than 200 years ago of his deep love for birds that began as a teenager and lead to his illustrations of the still revered book The Birds of America. By now we may consider the Belgian artist named ROA to be an Audubon of the Streets, so committed he is to documenting by hand and sharing with the public his studies of the animal world on walls, especially those that are often overlooked or dismissed as pests.

As we have tracked the aerosol orinthologist and urban naturalist for you during his travels of the last few years, his dedication to showcasing the oft-marginalized creatures of towns, cities, and regions around the world has not waned. Like Audubon, his depictions have become progressively more accurate in detail and now give a greater sense of mass, texture, and the presence of the subject.

Today we bring you new unpublished photos from some of his recent travels to Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Panama, along with some insights from ROA about some of the animals he has come in contact with. Not only do we not recognize a number of them, we also probably haven’t seen their skeletons or musculature, which the artist sometimes peels the skin off of for us to inspect.

As a body of work ROA’s mounting collection of birds and rodents must be nearing a hundred or so around the world, yet he continues to unveil more. As ROA told BSA a few years ago, “I like rodents. Birds and rodents. Without having made a choice, I feel really good painting birds and rodents.” We are very happy to bring you these newest birds and rodents for you to enjoy.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA:

“This past November I was invited to Melbourne for my solo show ‘Carrion’ in the Backwoods Gallery. The installation I built for the show was inspired by the numerous amount of roadkill that there is on the Australian continent. During my stay I painted a few days in the Healesville Sanctuary which specializes in rescuing and recovering native Australian animals and conducts breeding programs for almost-extinguished species. The sanctuary adopted a litter of orphaned marsupial babies found in the pouch of a mother who had been hit by a car.”

One morning after a storm as I walked to the gallery through a park I found a dead bat. When I looked under its wings I also discovered a living baby, which I helped to rescue and it is doing fine.

Here you can see that I painted an echidna (first image), an egg-laying mammal that I had spotted a few days earlier while in a car driving in Tasmania.

The skeleton images are of a wombat, a marsupial that often is hit by cars in Victoria and should always be observed after finding it to assure that there is not a living baby left in the pouch who needs to be rescued”

~ROA

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

After his visit to Melbourne, ROA traveled to Argentina where he was hosted and entertained by EVER and who showed him a great time for the New Year’s holiday in Buenos Aires. They also each did a new piece side by side while he was there.

“I painted a Serenia (sea cow) paradoxically also a ‘cow’. It’s a native (Patagonia) sea mammal and an herbavour,”says ROA. According to online sources Brazil outlawed hunting of sea cows (or manatees) in 1973.

ROA talks about this animal, “A three-toed sloth is a native slow-moving mammal who is hanging out in Buenos Aires nowadays.” ROA. Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2012. (photo © ROA)

Reminding you of the animal-as-food connection, ROA completed this partially skinned bull on the terrace of his friends place at the Post Bar and ‘Hollywood in Cambodia Gallery‘. “Maybe is is a sort of ‘Memento Mori’ in this beef and BBQ country,” he jests in a half-serious wisecrack

São Paulo, BRAZIL

ROA brought four new friends along to his first visit to São Paulo, a city that he has wanted to visit for a long time. “In March I stayed there a month and it was like a dream that finally came true. I loved it,” he says of the visit that was hosted by the people from Mathilda Cultural, who showed him around the city. Included in the walls were a bird, an anteater, an anteater, and the largest rodent in the world a capybara.

ROA. Capibara. ROA told us that this is largest rodent in the world and we confirmed it. That means that it gets bigger than the beaver and the porcupine, in case you were wondering. In fact, he is larger than this girl and the infant she is holding! São Paulo Paulo, Brazil. March, 2013. (photo © ROA)

An anteater is hanging out on the corner here in a neighborhood of São Paulo Paulo, Brazil. ROA. March, 2013. (photo © ROA)

PANAMA CITY, Panama

After Brazil, ROA visited Panama City at the invitation of the first Bienal Del Sur Panama 2013, a huge cultural festival that celebrated the 500th year of the discovery of the South Sea.

ROA would like to thank Sumo, INSANO and his other friends of Panama City for hosting him while there.

Finally, a new book cover by ROA

In March, 2013 ROA was one of ten Street Artists commissioned by Pinguin Books UK to create a cover for their series pairing Street Artists with contemporary authors whose modern classics novels are being re-issued.

A photo of ROA’s piece below graces the cover for the re-issue of singer, musician and author Nick Cage’s novel “And The Ass Saw The Angel”.

Other artists and authors included in these series are:

“Americana” by Don DeLillo. Art by Dr Henry Jekyll,
“Armadillo” by William Boyd. Art by YOK,
“Hawksmoor” by Peter Ackroyd. Art by BARN,
“How to Be Good” by Nick Hornby. Art by Agostino,
“Lights Out for the Territory” by Iain Sinclair. Art by ESPO,
“The Believers” by Zoe Heller. Art by Sickboy,
“The We Came to the End” by Joshua Ferris. Art by 45RPM,
“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” by Mohsin Hamid. Art by Mittenimwald and
“What a Carve Up!” by Jonathan Coe. Art by DAIN.

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

Black Book Gallery Presents: “Knock it Out” A group Exhibition And Fundraiser (Denver, CO)

March 19, 2013 Afghanistan

Black Book Gallery is using art as a platform to support Love Hope Strength Foundation’s (LHSF) mission of saving the lives of people with cancer. Cancer took the life of Co-owner Thomas Horne’s twin brother, Tim, as well as millions of others world-wide each year. The show titled, “Knock it Out” is Tom’s tribute to all the families,patients, and victims of this devastating disease. (www.knockitout.org). Everyone, in every corner of the world, knows someone affected by cancer, and on the evening of Friday, April 5th, 2013, Black Book Gallery invites us all to come together to celebrate the lives of our loved ones.

Horne and his partner, Will Suitts, at Black Book Gallery, have been working tirelessly to put together an amazing group of both national and international artists; many of whom are creating original works specifically for this show. These artists are leading the way in supporting LHSF’s “Get On the List” campaign, as well as LHSF’s Children’s Cancer Center in Tanzania. The night will be filled with art, music, fun, and a bone marrow drive which will allow you to register with the Get On the List Campaign. Black Book Gallery hopes to make a donation of $10K from original artwork sales that will help fund a Doctor at the Love Hope Strength Children’s Cancer Center in Tanzania.

Featuring

Bask, Miss Bugs, Shepard Fairey, Doze Green, Retna, Lucy Mclauchlan, Faile, Rich Jacobs, Niagara, Mr. Brainwash, Mel Kadel, Travis Millard, Alex Pardee, Rowdy, Cope2, Dean Zeus Colman, James Reka, ROA, Swoon, Judith Supine, Handiedan, Greg Lamarche, Mike Stilkey, Eelus, Dave Kinsey, Pure Evil, Jason Thielke, CEPT, Alex Lukas, Souther Salazar, The London Police, Titi Freak, Lisa Solberg, Blek Le Rat, Dabs & Myla, Indie 184, Pose, Luke Chueh, ESPO, Adam Wallacavage, Sam Flores, Hush and more!!!!!!

DETAILS

OPENING RECEPTION:
April 5th, 2013
6-11PM
Free & Open to the public

http://www.theblackbookgallery.com/knock-it-out/

ALL the JOBURG Videos

December 1, 2012 Artists, Johannesburg, On the Street, South Africa, Street Art Festival

Yesterday on Fun Friday we featured ROA in the first video from the I Art Joburg Festival. The festival took place this fall in Johannesburg, South Africa and featured people like Falko, Cameron Platter, ESPO, and Remed. Today we’re pleased to offer you the full compliment of all the videos that were directed, shot and edited during the festival. Much thanks to Ricky Lee Gordon, the organizer of the festival, who advanced all of these videos to us for BSA readers to enjoy.

See Monica Campana’s account of her visit to I Art Joburg here on BSA.

MARTHA COOPER

CAMERON PLATTER

ESPO

FALKO

REMED

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

BSA does not necessarily endorse any of the brands that appear in third party content and is not under any contractual obligation to do so.

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

Fun Friday 11.23.12 – VIDEO Request Edition – Chosen by You

November 23, 2012 Artists

It’s the BSA Reader Video Request edition of Fun Friday for all us peeps who are not shopping today. We asked our Facebook friends and fans for their favorite street art related video flicks and give them to you here- in no particular order. Peace out and have a great Black Friday everybody.

1. Vhils in Germany
2. Wild Style Part 1
3. Open Air
4. In Bed with Invader
5. En Masse in Miami
6. Berlin Street Art as Lyrics (Emus Primus)
7. Shai Dahan new Ted Talk “Beyond Borders”
8. TEJN LOCK ON STREET ART – Street Art Sculpture by Tejn
9. Burn – Episode 3
10. Graffiti Verite Part 1
11. Japanese Stencil
12. BLU – BIG BANG BIG BOOM
14. Hanoi Lantern Bearers – Vietnam with The Yok
15. Bomb It

Vhils in Germany

The Portuguese Street Artist at work, produced by Euromaxx, recommended by Crist Graphicart (German language)

Wild Style Part 1

The classic Charlie Ahearn movie as recommended by Nahua Prince Huitzilin

Open Air

“In 2006, we created this short for the University of Southern California’s Public Arts Studies Program.

This documentary explored the studios and methods of six of the top street artists in America: Faile, Skewville, Mike De Feo, Dan Witz, Espo and Tiki Jay One.” Recommended by Lou J Auguste

In Bed with Invader

H Veng Smith likes this one with Invader.

En Masse in Miami

“At the end of November (2011), the En Masse Art Initiative flew down to Miami to take part of the Miami Art Basel events. With the help of Sodec Quebec and Galerie Pangée, EM teamed up with Scope Art Fair, Fountain Art Fair, Safewalls, Primary Flight and the Found store to create multiple work of art. During 10 days, the team grew exponentially, adding members from all around the globe; Tel-Aviv, Montreal, Brooklyn, Woodstock, Staten Island, San Fransico, San Diego, Miami etc.” – recommended by Beth Tully

Berlin Street Art as Lyrics (Emus Primus)

Emus Primus and photography of Berlin Street art, set to music. As recommended by Da Andal

Shai Dahan new Ted Talk “Beyond Borders”

The keynote is about my travel into Palestine. Considering what is going on there – Being that everyone is talking about the violence, this video can reflect a bit of light on how there are some ways to find peace. It may not find the sort of wide peace we hope to all gain there, but through the message in the keynote, I hope people can see that Israel and Palestine can share a common beauty: Street-art.” Shai Dahan

TEJN LOCK ON STREET ART – Street Art Sculpture by Tejn

Suggested by Mogens Carstensen

Burn – Episode 3

“The third episode of BURN graffiti video series. Best episode so far! Featuring rolling freight, live painting and more! As recommended by Beyond The Rail Photography

Graffiti Verite Part 1

“Part 1 of the 1995 Los Angeles graffiti documentary directed by Bob Bryan. Featured artists include Duke, Skept, Tempt, Prime, Mear, Relic, Cre8, and Design9.”

Japanese Stencil

A stencil artist creates a piece as a tribute to Japan in the wake of the destruction it suffered last year. – As recommended by Crist Graphicart

BLU – BIG BANG BIG BOOM

“an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life … and how it could probably end. direction and animation by BLU.” This one recommended by Martha Becker

Hanoi Lantern Bearers – Vietnam with The Yok

In Vietnam on a roof. As recommended by The Yok

Bomb It

The full documentary – “Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe.” Recommended by Orson Horchler

Photos of 2024 on BSA – #10: Flaco the Owl a Folk Hero for a Minute in NYC
December 21, 2024
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of 2024 on BSA – #11: Support the Kids
December 20, 2024
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of 2024 on BSA – #12: Lady Pink’s Love Letters to the City at UN
December 19, 2024
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of 2024 on BSA – #13: Inkman’s Thin Line
December 18, 2024
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of 2024 on BSA – #14: Plastic Deli Bags and Feeling Homesick
December 17, 2024
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of 2024 on BSA – #15: BK FOXX and a Wonderland of Images
December 16, 2024
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of 2024 on BSA – #16 : Asbestos Seeking Psychological Sanctuary in a House
December 15, 2024
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »

BSA Special Feature: “Who is TAKI183?”

BSA Special Feature: Various & Gould: City Skins – Marx und Engels.

The Brutalism Appreciation Society/Gesellschaft zur Wertschätzung des Brutalismus

Bien Urbain 2017 – ESPO

Faith47 in Johannesburg

Creative collaborators AXE in Barcelona for 12 + 1

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen ESPO Powers. Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stephen Powers . ICY SIGNS “Shameak” “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Powers “Coney Island Is Still Dreamland (To A Seagull)” Brooklyn Museum. November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Escif. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Cinderella sufferd a crash. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Espo. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Paul Insect . Bast. Dismaland. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Paco Pomet. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Maskull Lassarre. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Kate MacDowell. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Jessica Harrison. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dietrich Wegner. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Damien Hirst. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Andreas Hykade. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Amir Schiby. Dismaland Art Gallery. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dorkas Casey. Dismaland Circus. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Banksy. Dismaland. Thank you for visiting folks. Weston-super-Mare, UK. (photo © Butterfly)

Single? together? under the weather? – we don’t mind, cause you’re just fine and we love you.

Steve ESPO Powers. From Love Letter To Philadelphia. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

American Puppet (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Danielle Mastrion (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hek Tad (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. Melbourne. November, 2012. (photo © ROA)

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA:

A wombat from ROA in Melbourne. November, 2012. (photo © ROA)

One morning after a storm as I walked to the gallery through a park I found a dead bat. When I looked under its wings I also discovered a living baby, which I helped to rescue and it is doing fine.

Here you can see that I painted an echidna (first image), an egg-laying mammal that I had spotted a few days earlier while in a car driving in Tasmania.

The skeleton images are of a wombat, a marsupial that often is hit by cars in Victoria and should always be observed after finding it to assure that there is not a living baby left in the pouch who needs to be rescued” ~ROA

ROA. Melbourne. November, 2012. (photo © ROA)

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

After his visit to Melbourne, ROA traveled to Argentina where he was hosted and entertained by EVER and who showed him a great time for the New Year’s holiday in Buenos Aires. They also each did a new piece side by side while he was there.

Single?
together?
under the weather? –
we don’t mind, cause you’re just fine
and we
love
you.

The skeleton images are of a wombat, a marsupial that often is hit by cars in Victoria and should always be observed after finding it to assure that there is not a living baby left in the pouch who needs to be rescued”

~ROA