Bien Urbain «BIEN URBAIN» is an artistic path in a popular city center district and the University campus of Besançon – France that aims at promoting art in public spaces just next a rich historic architecture.
The invited artists, all coming from the “street art” scene, are used to work with different kinds of tools and materials to create their own pieces of art: painting, paper, pasting, wood sculpture…
Once they have taken over the place, they finally start to make their ideas come true, revealing sometimes abandoned or unused spaces!
The event will take place every year at the end of summer, invading the town block by block.
Street art spread worldwide: many websites are updated every hour, presenting new crazy artists everyday, whereas in France a small number of events tend to promote these artists
BIEN URBAIN will contribute to make people realize the power of art on our everyday life perception on museums, theaters or clubs, and also on the streets!
For us presenting such an event is a good way to question everybody on our public space using. «Where is the place for art when ads and grey walls are everywhere? How to enjoy public spaces then?»
Moreover we are very proud to promote great artists and give them the possibility/chance to travel with their art in the best conditions.
As an inaugural issue, we wanted to welcome some of our favourite artists. So we got in touch with them and gladly realize that they really looked enthusiastic about our project!
Nine European artists and an Argentinean artist will be part of the artistic crew in September 2011.
ESCIFAfter a classic graffiti life, escif has developed a beautiful and poetic way of painting the everyday life on walls. Through simple scenes, he returns the context with an «mise en abîme» process: the painting wall is not just a wall, it is a canvas where escif paints another wall!
MONEYLESSThe Italian artist known as Moneyless uses geometric tools to reveal strange spaces: abandoned landscape, woods or temporary urban zones. The tension with his sculptures and the quiet space where he makes them create an unreal, ghostly third dimension.
SAM3
Painting his large black figures all over the world, Sam3 is about to come to France for the really first time. His really sensitive work combines huge painting and introspective scene. He also has an experimental way of working on fabulous stop motion films.
NELIO, TBLR*ONE & ZEROZEDRIP
They are three French guys who love pastel colours, old wood, abandoned things, geometric shapes and urban explorations.
SAN
One of the finest spanish street artist, SAN is first of all an amazing drawer who emphasise weird walls into great and disturbing pieces of arts.
For further information regarding this art festival visit the official site:
The More “Things Change”, the More They Stay the Same
Opening last night at Since-Upian Gallery in Paris, “Things Change”, Specter’s solo show is a collection of hand drawn, painted, carved, stenciled and collaged materials showing how the Street Artist continues to broaden technically while focusing socially.
In these images special to BSA readers, these individual paeans to the unflinching rugged personality of Brooklyn streets capture a moment and a bit of humanity as a rapidly downshifting economy gusts and blows through the streets, catching more people off guard as Towncars with tinted windows glide by. It’s hard to feel romantic about a fraying social net through which more people are falling, which is where the care of Specter’s hand rendered scenes, unpatronizing, clear eyed, and possibly sarcastic, take us again.
Similarly and with great determination, this Street Artist uses painting to capture and somehow give honor to the stickers and graffiti tags and stencils and commercial advertisements that appear on New York’s streets in some neighborhoods. Holding a mirror up, clearly with these paintings Specter appears to be glorifying graffiti and street art – a scathing charge leveled at certain museum exhibitions of late.
As in his work over the past few years this show Specter continues to draw attention to the gentrification that speeds unabated throughout many neighborhoods of New York today, as local character is buffed and expunged for vertical glass big-screen sanitized living. The commentary is not so much the lost vibrance and character of a city that doesn’t return, but a focus on the people who are pushed further and further, but to where?
AD HOC ART – Welling Court Community Street Art Celebration Saturday (Queens)
AdHoc Arts returns to Queens this year to Welling Court where Street Artists and the locals mix it up with music, local and homemade food and artists painting live. Bring your camera and bring a plate of cookies too. Sharing is caring.
The project transforms several city blocks into a 24/7 street-level gallery, bringing art from around the world directly to the heart of this community. Renowned artists with deep roots in the street movement have created site-specific works for this project and many will showcase various creative sundries for your perusal. This new array of visual experiences provides fresh contexts for how people working, visiting, and living in this diverse cultural gem of Queens think about and interact with their environment.
Artists include: Alice Mizrachi, Alison Buxton, Beau Stanton, Bunnie Reiss, Caleb Neelon, Chris Mendoza, Chris Stain, Celso, Cern, Cey Adams, Chor Boogie, CR, Cycle, Dan Witz, Darkclouds, Don Leicht, Ellis Gallagher, Ezra Li Eismont, Free5, Garrison Buxton, Greg Lamarche, Jesse Jones, JMR, Joe Iurato, John Ahearn, John Fekner, Jordan Seiler, Katie Yamasaki, Lady Pink, Leon Reid, Matt Siren, Michael De Feo, Michael Fumero, MIMEO, Mr. Kiji, Neko, Nuria, OverUnder, Pablo Power, R. Nicholas Kuszyk, ROA, Ron English, Royce Bannon, Sinned, Sofia Maldonado, TooFly, Tristan Eaton, Veng RWK, Zam.
WHERE: 11-98 Welling Court {@ 30th Ave & 12th Street}, Astoria, Queens 11102
WHEN: Saturday, June 25th, 2011 from noon until 9pm.
Click on the link below for more information regarding this event:
Right across the street where they’ll be debuting a new piece with BSA in August for “Street Art Saved My Life: 39 New York Stories”, the Brooklyn Street Art Collective Faile is presenting this pop up print show this weekend in Venice, Los Angeles. Tonight at the opening they’ll release a new print too.
“The show will feature a variety of works on paper over the last 12 years. A broad range of new and old prints and original works on paper. There are a variety of new pieces and a few surprises made for the show, including a new collection of works entitled Vintage Book Covers highlighting classic pieces from over the years” – Faile
Worth Something Gold
Edition of 50
Acrylic and Hand Pressed Gold Foil on Coventry Rag 335 gsm
35.75in. x 29in. (90 x 73cm)
Signed, Stamped & Numbered
Faile 2011
Opening Reception: June 24, 2011 (7 – 10pm)
Exhibition Runs: June 24 – July 24, 2011
POST NO BILLS
1103 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice Beach, CA 90291
310.399.2928
Click below for more information regarding this show:
One of the new clowns out there today is having a solo show of his fine art and some new interpretations of his Street Art funboys as well. With wit and a method to his absurdity, these new works give insight to the solid study he’s actually been doing for years.
Chicago at Pawn Works Gallery, Clown Soldier is “The Human Cannonball”
His new show in Paris at the Since-Upian Gallery is accompanied by some new work on the street – much of it inspired by Brooklyn streets. See brand new photos tomorrow on BSA.
Brooklynite Gallery welcomes the start of the summer with “Parlour” a sexy show Saturday Night. Also DJ Mayonaise Hands will be there with a camera and mike for insightful interviews and scintillating observations. Dress your rockinist cause you know the Bedstuy peeps are always in top form at this gem.
Miss Bugs. Detail of the new print “Eyes Glanced” (photo courtesy of the gallery)
“PARLOUR”
MISS BUGS
June 25 – JULY 16
Opening Night: Saturday, June 25, 7-10pm
MUSICAL GUEST: Hank Shocklee [Bomb Squad]
BROOKLYNTE 334 Malcom X BLVD
Brooklyn, NY 11233
Click on the link below for more information about this show:
Jon Burgerman Doodles on a Car in Brooklyn (VIDEO)
Last weekend for the CresFest and NorthSide Open Studios artist Jon Burgerman was invited by Brooklyn Street Art to paint on a car. We forgot to tell him to get dressed first. Little details like that escape him.
Video by µ-Ziq Theme by µ-Ziq.
K-Guy Print Release “Primate Pontificate”
London based artist K-Guy will be releasing a print on July 1st of his “Primate Pontificate” commentary on the state of affairs of the Catholic Church and their perceived hypocrisy on some relevant topics. He introduced this piece on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI most recent visit to England last year and we found some of these same primates on the streets of NYC in the fall. Funny to see them get released as prints.
The exhibition Shadows & Reflections emphasizes the variety of stencil’s artistic forms. First, by the variety of supports ranging from walls to installations including canvas and then by the diversity of techniques used by the artists.
Shadows and reflections, presents works on canvas, totally new installations, video, etc. The exhibition confronts the variety of expression of the stencil and proves the richness of this major movement of Street-Art which offers the artists infinite possibilities of creation…
L’exposition Shadows & Reflections montre la diversité des formes artistiques que prend le pochoir. D’abord, par la variété des supports, du mur à l’installation en passant par la toile. Surtout par les différentes techniques utilisées par les artistes.
Shadows and reflections, présente des œuvres sur toile, des installations inédites, de la vidéo, etc. L’exposition confronte les différents modes d’expression du pochoir et prouve la richesse de ce mouvement majeur du Street-Art qui offre d’infinies possibilités de création aux artistes.
Jef Aérosol, Blek le Rat, C215, Miss Tic, Kris Trappeniers, Vhils,
The show Shadows & Reflections goes on from june 25 to July 30, 2011
L’exposition Shadows & Reflections a lieu du 25 juin au 30 juillet 2011
ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations, la Biennale di Venezia
54th International Art Exhibition
Writer Lea Schleiffenbaum was recently in Venice for the Biennial and she kept an eye out for Street Art for us, but quickly discovered the streets were under water. With art from 89 countries, however, she found the city to be rich with spectacle and possibility.
Everything takes a bit longer in Venice. The small, north-Italian city is car-free, the only modes of transportation are so-called Vaporettos—boat-buses—or water taxis, both hard to find and slow. Walking is usually the fastest solution, as long as one does not get lost in the city’s maze of canals and narrow alleyways. I arrive at three in the afternoon—I am here to attend the opening of ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations, the 54th Venice Biennial—by the time I get to the apartment I am staying in, it is five. Getting lost or helping others trying to find their way is almost part of the Biennial experience. The best thing to do is to let go, adjust to Venice time, wander, and allow one self to be surprised. In the end getting lost might not be the worst; from the months of June to November every corner, every piazza, and every palace in Venice might hide another national contribution, a Pavilion, or a small exhibition.
This year’s Biennale is curated by Bice Curinger, director of the Kunsthaus in Zurich and founder of the contemporary art publication Parkett. With ILLUMInazioni – ILLUMInations the Swiss curator set out to explore contemporary art for its inner essence. “Popularization,” she warns, “should not be at the expense of complexity.” Following such rather elitist ambitions in search of value, self-reflectivity, and depth, Curinger turned the 54th Venice Biennial into a serious, well-organized, but rather sober exhibition. Aiming to connect contemporary art with its pre-modern routs, she decided to include three paintings by old master Tintoretto, the painter of light. The masterpieces are hung in the first room of the Central Pavilion in the Giardini, following Philippe Parreno’s light installation Marque. The exhibition continues with big names, including works by Seth Price, Christopher Wool, Sigmar Polke, and Cindy Sherman. On display are high quality works by high quality artists. Everything fits; nothing is too crazy, nothing very surprising.
My slight disappointment with the Central Pavilion is softened by a visit to the Arsenale, the second venue curated by Curinger. The pace here is good. Curinger takes her viewers from large-scale installations, to smaller more intimate sculptures, paintings, and photographs. Monica Bonvicini is followed by Klara Liden, Rosmarin Trockel, and Urs Fischer whose candle wax replica of Giambologna’s famous sculpture The Rape of the Sabine Women will slowly burn down as the exhibition continues. Video work interrupts the general flow of the show in regular intervals, giving the viewer a chance to stand still for a moment and watch. Christian Marclay’s wonderful film The Clock stands out especially. Three days later I hear he won the Golden Lion for best artwork—which he fully deserves.
Promotional still from “The Clock” by Christian Marclay
By far the most interesting concept Curinger introduced to this year’s Biennale is the so-called Para-Pavilion: Pavilions created by artists for artists. It is great to see artists set their work into a dialogue with other artists and cultures. Young Chinese artist Song Dong for example, collected one hundred old doors in Beijing and reconfigured them in Venice inviting African-French artist Yto Barrada, and British artist Ryan Gander to show their work within them. Eccentric as always, Austrian artist Franz West asked a total of 40 artists to fill his Para-Pavilion – a reproduction of his kitchen in Vienna – among them Mike Kelley, Sarah Lucas, Josh Smith, and Anselm Reyle.
This year’s Golden Lion for best national Pavilion was awarded Germany, for its reconstruction of a stage set by artist and director Christoph Schlingensief. Last year, Christoph succumbed to a long fight against cancer. A Church of Fear vs. the Alien Within was the second part of a trilogy written by Schlingensief following his first round of chemotherapy. Sitting on church benches in a dark candle lit room, visitors become witnesses to an artist trying to deal with life, death, and illness. Video projections of decaying animals, war, and fight sceneries are occasionally accompanied by a Wagner symphony; sometimes the voice of a woman reads aloud from the transcript of the play. It is hard to settle back into Biennial mode after such an intense and engaging installation.
The US is represented by Allora and Calzadilla. Working with former Olympic Athletes that execute choreographed performances on old US airway seats and upside down tanks, the Cuban-American artist duo questions heroic gestures and national self-presentation. Just like the Olympic games, international biennials swing somewhere in between competitive performance and peaceful encounter. Thomas Hirschhorn transformed the Swiss Pavilion into a vibrating Gesamtkunstwerk made of aluminum foil, old magazines, cardboard, and ear sticks. The Crystal of Resistance is a very physical, almost organic installation. Asking what art can do, how it can change the status quo, Hirschhorn engages his viewers in questions of politics, aesthetics, and transience. Hany Armanious’ subtle yet beautiful sculptural installations in the Australian Pavilion present a nice contrast to the many large-scale installations and performance pieces. Armanious casts everyday objects to reconfigure them in poetic assemblages. The French Pavilion stands right in front of the Australian Pavilion, and this year it stars Christian Boltanski, who deals with birthrates, death, and arbitrariness. This year’s choice for the Polish Pavilion has caused quite a bit of turmoil. Rather than choose a local Polish artist, the commissioners invited Israeli artist Yael Bartana to represent the country. Under the title …and Europe will be stunned, the young artist shows a film trilogy that asks Polish-Jews from all over the world to return to their country of origin, which needs them.
A total of 89 countries are represented in this year’s Biennial, the most of any Biennial so far. Those who don’t have a pavilion in the Giardini or the Arsenale are scattered across the city in one of Venice’s grand houses or palaces. Political statements are followed by aesthetic expressions, rebellious actions by poetic gestures. Of course, Venice is ridiculous, over the top, an incorporation of art-world glam and spectacle. But in between getting lost, queuing, and meeting old friends and acquaintances, one inevitably ends up discovering some previously unknown artists, and sees new work of already loved ones. In the end the visit is always worth it.
Gabriel Specter est un artiste américain, installé à Brooklyn. Internationalement reconnu pour ses installations d’art urbain, Specter expose pour la première fois à Paris chez Since.Upian avec « Things Change », un travail justement inspiré de la vie quotidienne des rues new-yorkaises. Dans ses tableaux ce sont les gens, les rues et les devantures de magasin qui sont mis en lumière, la mutation des quartiers, la difficulté de la vie dans la rue aussi. A la galerie Since, ce seront une dizaine de ses derniers tableaux qui seront exposés. Specter interviendra également sur le mur en face de la galerie pour poser son regard sur le quartier. Un événement que vous pourrez suivre en direct du 20 au 24 juin 2011.
Sa technique est complexe. Il utilise aussi bien la peinture, le collage, la photocopie ou des matériaux de récupération. Son esthétique est empreinte d’un travail d’anthropologie méticuleux. Ses peintures et ses sculptures représentent le changement, célèbrent les marginalisés et agissent comme une contribution à l’environnement urbain. L’oeuvre de Specter tient toujours compte de l’endroit où elle est placée. Le voisinage, les gens, les histoires et des caractéristiques comme l’architecture, les publicités et les commerces locaux sont autant de sources d’inspiration.
De nombreux endroits et cultures sont juxtaposés sur ses toiles pour représenter des espaces urbains new-yorkais en perpétuelle mutation : une mise en scène de ce qui est laissé de côté alors que le changement est en train de bouleverser nos quartiers.
VERNISSAGE LE 24 JUIN À 19H00
24.06.2011 – 23.07.2011
211 rue Saint-Maur 75010 Paris
T: 00 33 (0) 1 53 19 70 03 / T: 00 33 (0) 1 53 19 75 29
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 14h to 19h
A city steeped in it’s own history and a deep respect for the cultural arts, Paris has also had a romance with New York – style graffiti since the early 1980s and has a thriving Street Art scene of it’s own making today. In yet another example of institutional recognition of the contribution of graffiti and Street Art, the city hosted an exemplary tribute to graffiti history two years ago with “Graffiti, Born in the Streets,” an exhibition that took over the gallery space of the Fondazione Cartier. The popular show included the building’s façade and the surrounding garden as well as large scale photos of tags and pieces displayed in the Paris Metro on buses, and of course, trains.
Recently photographer Er1cBl41r did a small survey of the Street Art scene in Paris and shares some images here. In this collection we can see that the techniques of stencils (many one-color), wheatpastes, direct painting, illustration, and of course the glued tiles of local street artist Invader are in many locations around the city.
French stencil artist C215 has just released this video, a stylized manifesto of sorts giving his view on his art, his work, and the current state of Street Art.
We are pleased he is participating in “Street Art Saved My Life: 39 New York Stories” this August in LA, and this short but powerful video shows why the stories behind C215’s very personal portraits are some of the most impactful and resilient on the street today.
“I prefer the poetry of small paintings instead of big walls, which are very popular right now in the graffiti scene, but a bit fascistic.”
Itinerrance Gallery
Jana & Js
Solo show “Jeux de constructions”
February, 25 – March, 26
Opening on Friday, February, 25 from 6 pm
Deserted factories, parking lots being demolished, low rise apartment blocks : these elements – among many others – surround and inspire Jana & Js. Their work is nourished by the city they live in, together with its inhabitants and its ever changing architectural landscape. The paintings created by this couple of artists make use of extremely detailed and scrupulously prepared stencils..
Jana & Js raise the question of the individual in large groups of buildings and more widely in the cities, combining portraits and architectural views.
Their street paintings (in France, Austria, Russia, Slovakia, Romania and Spain) also led them to develop an interaction with the environment in which they operate and the public – passerby or spectator – using sets of mirrors as a game in order to create infinities of ways of seeing the city.
Jana & Js are young artists whose work began to take shape only in the mid-2000, and who are today among the most talented of their generation. After having lived and worked together in Paris, they are today between Austria and France.
Jeux de Constructions is the second exhibition in Itinerrance Gallery devoted to them. Combining their love for woodworking, rebuilding their own materials and images composition from their cuts, this exhibition will present for the first time a wide range of their work volume initiated a few months ago.
Galerie Itinerrance.
Art Director
00 33 6 58 05 56 01
samantha@itinerrance.fr
> The New Heart City Gallery is honored to host from February 18th to
> March 31st 2011 the urban artist who established himself these
> recent years in the Paris Street Art scene and now internationally
> recognized: Franck Duval (FKDL).
>
> The artist with the emblematic urban landmark has opted for his new
> solo show to use essentially the transparent scotch-tape collage
> technique.
>
> From pictures of 1950’s life scenes, he reinvents history. He
> removes the smooth side of idioms, boring scenes of perfection and
> innocence to lead the images in his time and modernity. Under his
> scotch-tape, the material is revealed, only the color goes through
> the ages, the mark of a new era.
>
> The female silhouettes, provocative inadvented, assert this sudden
> reality marked by rhythm and movement. Only characters’ ornaments
> are survivors of the Old Time and bear faces and attitudes of actors
> and actresses of the 50’s movies.
>
> The normalized and fixed scenes of life and the glossy paper stars
> have crossed through time to give way to a real live show.
> New heArt citY Gallery
> 11 rue de Picardie 75003 Paris
> +33 (0)1 43 55 03 95
> du mardi au samedi de 11h à 19h
> newheartcity@gmail.com
> http://newheartcitygallery.blogspot.com
>
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
«BIEN URBAIN» is an artistic path in a popular city center district and the University campus of Besançon – France that aims at promoting art in public spaces just next a rich historic architecture.
