All posts tagged: Futura

“Urban Revolution” Offers a Graff/Street Art Installation Survey in Lisbon

“Urban Revolution” Offers a Graff/Street Art Installation Survey in Lisbon

Urban Revolution. On view from July 21 / December 03. Lisbon, Portugal.

“Urban[R]Evolution: A Journey from Graffiti to Contemporary Art” is a large exhibition that marks the rise and popularity of urban art and features original installations by 18 renowned Portuguese and international artists. Curated by Pauline Foessel and Pedro Alonzo, this showcase takes place at Cordoaria Nacional in Lisbon, running from June 21st to December 3rd.

Nuno Viegas. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)

The historic and iconic building that once served as the National Rope Factory during the late 18th century, catering to the needs of the Portuguese Navy by producing ropes for naval purposes, is situated near the scenic Tagus River. With its imposing neoclassical and industrial design, the building stands as a testament to the city’s cultural heritage and is now a versatile venue for hosting events after its meticulous restoration. With free-standing booths carefully built not to endanger the historic structure, the flow of the exhibition offers a pod-like adventure to visitors to experience individual artists’ work and visions. Some utilize the spaces fully with installations, while others choose the homey quality of an artist’s studio with work in progress.

The exhibition brings together a lineup of artists whose work was featured in early graffiti images by photographer Martha Cooper, second-wave western street artists who have burnished their names in the commercial urban contemporary art milieu, and a collection of names more locally known – each with profound ties to the graffiti and street art scene. Among them are esteemed names such as Barry McGee, Futura, Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Vhils, and Obey SKTR, to name a few. The curators thoughtfully selected these artists to narrate the fascinating development of urban art, tracing its origins from early tags, graffiti, and subway pieces to its current expression as street art and mural art.

Nuno Viegas. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Many of the artists are associated with previous projects of the curators and with one of Lisbon’s anchors of the street art scene, the artist and businessman Vhils. Aside from these connections and the common roots of early graffiti culture, it may be difficult for ticketed visitors to the show to discern the commonalities of the works on display. The connective tissue between the booths will be the many iconic photographs of North American photographer Martha Cooper, whose lens has captured the human experience in urban areas for about 50 years, immortalizing the origins and evolution of graffiti, street art, and urban art – when the scene was viewable directly on the train cars and streets of major cities like New York.

Nuno Viegas. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Another nerve center for the show is the installation by conceptual street artist ±MaisMenos± , known for his thought-provoking art pieces and street activations that sublimely challenge social norms and provoke critical thinking. Within this kinetic electronic display, a phalanx of screens emulates a bustling stock trading floor, listing street artists and graffiti artists and their market line charts bumping up and down alongside various commercial, academic, institutional, and cultural influencers and influences that have coalesced to foster their success.

Vhils. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)

In this exhibition’s composition of artistic expressions, each artist has the opportunity to tell their unique story through their installations and accompanying texts, reflecting on their journey from the streets to the contemporary art world. “Urban[R]Evolution” is a testament to the significance of Lisbon as a vital city for urban art, with the show embracing a dynamic mix of international pioneers and established/emerging talents from Portugal.

This major exhibition, presented by Everything is New and Underdogs Gallery, invites visitors on a dreamlike, poetic, and moving journey, oscillating between light and shadow, the humor and rancor of the street, expressing the heart of urban art’s evolution. It is an immersive experience into urban art’s origins and possible future, exemplifying a sample of the boundless creativity and diverse voices that have emerged from the graffiti and street art scene.

Our sincere thanks to exhibition participant and famed photographer Martha Cooper for sharing here her photos exclusively with Brooklyn Street Art, and to Vasco Vilhena, one of the exhibition’s official photographers.

Vhils. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Futura in action preparing his booth. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Futura. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Martha Cooper. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Martha Cooper. Urban Revolution. (photo © Ana Pires & Fransica Capelo)
Revok fine tuning his machine. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Revok in action. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Revok. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
The multi-layered Akacorleone. Urban Revolution. (photo © Ana Pires & Francisca Capelo)
Akacorleone. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Lee Quinones perched atop a ladder at Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Lee Quinones. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Add Fuel and assistant prepare a show local color and the reworking of traditions. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Add Fuel. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Swoon continues her European tour with some greatest hits. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Swoon. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Swoon & Shepard Fairey discuss inside-outside theories and strategies. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Swoon shimmering gold. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Barry McGee set up shop in his booth. Snacks anyone? Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Barry McGee. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Shepard Fairey presented a dense and graphically satisfying survey inside – in addition to some outside installations. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Shepard Fairey. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Shepard Fairey. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
As if the aesthetic energy could not be contained within the exhibition space, this outburst of rich colorplay and graphics exploded out the window. Shepard Fairey. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Felipe Pantone. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Felipe Pantone continues to explore inside the digital world, balancing on the trespass with the physical. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Maya Hayuk. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Maya Hayuk. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Maya Hayuk. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Lisbon king on the streets Obey SKTR talks about his new burners for the contemporary art fan. See an interview with him last year HERE. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Obey SKTR. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
±MaisMenos± Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)

The artist presented a video installation addressing the “market” for graffiti and street art, the intersection with art and commerce in a brilliant display.

“This took me to what is my thesis subject, where my work is the centerpiece of an eventual (or questionable) dichotomy between street art and the art market, the evolution from illegal, interventive and subversive work into a continuous institutionalization, mercantilization and commoditization, normalized with the (before pursued) but now consecrated and valuated (street) artists.

All of this materialized in an art industry (or market) of artist-companies, studios, galleries, festivals, fairs, museums, curators, collectors, political and media attention, touristic tours, financialization, etc, as so it is with the art world as a whole. Being this specific show, for its size, importance, where it is, its public, a realization of this “evolution”, or this stage of the urban arts. So I thought of an installation as a self-critique and self-awareness of this stage and present context of urban art (one of which myself and my work makes part), how capitalism kidnaps, agglutinates and transforms its (possible) critique and counter-culture, commodifying, massifying and selling it.”

±MaisMenos± Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
±MaisMenos± Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Curator Pauline Foessel stands by curator Pedro Alonzo as he describes the work of Wasted Rita during a tour. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Wasted Rita. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Andre Saraiva. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Andre Saraiva. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Andre Saraiva. Urban Revolution. (photo © Vasco Vilhena)
Tamara Alves. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Tamara Alves. Urban Revolution. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Urban Revolution. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo © Ana Pires & Francisca Capelo)

Artists include @maismenos [PT]; @addfuel [EN]; @akacorleone [PT]; @andresaraiva [SE-FR]; Barry McGee [US]; @felipepantone [AR-ES]; @futuradosmil [US]; @_revok_ [US]; @leequinones [PR-US]; @marthacoopergram [US]; @mayahayuk [US]; @nunoviegas.pt [PT]; @obey_sktr [PT]; @obeygiant [US]; @swoonhq [US]; @tamara_aalves [PT]; @vhils [PT]; @wastedrita [PT]

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BSA Film Friday: 04.28.23

BSA Film Friday: 04.28.23

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

Now screening:
1. Da Corte looks at Everyday Icons

2. Vhils – Jose Saramago

3. FUTURA on How To Think About Identity + Brand, and The Power of Collaboration. Via Idea Generation

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BSA Special Feature: Alex Da Corte looks at Everyday Icons

“In a darkened gallery, artist Alex Da Corte appears projected on the wall in Slow Graffiti (2017) as Boris Karloff, performing as both the actor himself and his 1931 role as Frankenstein’s monster, blurring the lines between actor and character. In his work, the artist never appears as himself, but rather, embodies the larger-than-life characters who influence or intrigue him: Mr. Rogers, the Wicked Witch of the West, Marcel Duchamp, and the Pink Panther are but a handful. Studying these characters who exist in worlds of fantasy and cartoon and integrating them into his own expansive artistic vision, Da Corte hopes to gain a deeper understanding of them and learn new ways of thinking. Alex Da Corte was born in Camden, New Jersey, in 1980 and lives and works in Philadelphia.

Da Corte creates vibrant and immersive large-scale installations, including wall-based works, sculptures, and videos. Colorful and surreal, his work combines personal narrative, art-historical references, pop-culture characters, and the glossy aesthetics of commercial advertising to reveal the humor, absurdity, and psychological complexity of the images and stories that permeate our culture.”

Alex Da Corte / “Everyday Icons” – Season 11 – “Art in the Twenty-First Century”. Via Art21

Vhils – Jose Saramago

“That is the virtue of maps, they show what can be done with limited space, they foresee that everything can happen therein.” José Saramago, The Stone Raft

FUTURA on How To Think About Identity + Brand, and The Power of Collaboration. Via Idea Generation

“What’s a good idea, what’s a bad idea…you gotta give both a shot”

“Street Art pioneer FUTURA started painting his name on walls as a coping mechanism to deal with his struggle with identity. But as he turned a signature into a brand, he quickly realized that it could also be a business. And that’s where things got interesting. From Lower East Side galleries to t-shirts and toys to collaborations with nearly every blue chip brand you can name, over the last 40 years, FUTURA has redefined what it means to be a pop artist.”

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Behind the Scenes at Beyond The Streets London / Recap

Behind the Scenes at Beyond The Streets London / Recap

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)
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)
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.

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History On View and On Sale: “1970s / Graffiti / Today” at Phillips, New York

History On View and On Sale: “1970s / Graffiti / Today” at Phillips, New York

It may be a challenge to identify the through-line when it comes to curation of artworks at an auction house exhibition. Selections are predicated on the availability of artworks at the moment and the exigencies of the market. And 30 additional variables.

You will however see a warm confirmation of greater themes in the new exhibition at Phillips auction house that opened last week entitled 1970s / Graffiti / Today, and you’ll leave enriched by the experience. With the works of 30 or so artists on display for approximately a month, it is not intended to be a comprehensive survey, yet it manages to spread a wide net over a number of scenes, practices, and personalities working on US streets during the previous five decades.

1970 S / Graffiti / Today sign with two canvasses by Eric Haze beneath. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)

There is a vastness to this scene, its people, its practices, its histories, its quality variations. As evidenced by a show like this, there is now a general acceptance of the street-born form of visual expression called graffiti, its various hybrids expressed broadly as street art, and the onward march of certain forms of both toward acceptance as contemporary art. As suggested by the title, you’ll probably see a good representation of each here, and one or two will strike you as quite impressive.

Swoon. 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Curator Arnold Lehman is a recognized champion of that march forward, most notably for when he shepherded the “Graffiti” exhibition as Director of the Brooklyn Museum in 2006. That show, one of the first museum shows dedicated to the movement, featured 20 large-scale canvasses by graffiti artists that were donated by the estate of famous mid-century New York gallerist Sidney Janis, who had shown a number of them in the early 1980s.

A native New Yorker, Lehman grew up with graffiti on the trains and easily recognized the contributions it was making to his city and the culture. When he had an opportunity to introduce the works as an exhibition, he says he faced much opposition, despite the fact that it came from the collection of a gallery owner who was celebrated for introducing most of the emerging leaders of abstract expressionism, the Fauves, the Futurists – and later the proponents of Pop.

“He began showing graffiti in his gallery in 1981 or 1982,” Lehman says of Janis when speaking of the canvasses he organized in the Graffiti show at the Brooklyn Museum. “A number of my colleagues were quick to write and say, ‘Have you lost your mind?’ “

Arnold Lehman gestures toward canvasses by “TKid 170” and King Saladeen as the show’s curator gives a tour of the exhibition. 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Five of those same canvasses provide an anchor in the timeline here, supported with early photos and light ephemeral documentation of the burgeoning graffiti scene on subway trains and elsewhere in New York. This city and its streets and culture figure prominently into this collection of about 150 pieces, with Mr. Lehman estimating for us during a recent tour that the mostly US-focused show is divided into two-thirds New York and one-third Los Angeles.

“The artists we are showing really deserve a presentation like this,” he says as we walk through an exhibition of individual expressions that are as varied as the kind of people who’ll typically ride a subway car; drawings from sketchbooks (Al Diaz), stenciled canvas (Chaz Bjorquez), photographs (Martha Cooper, Gusmano Cesariti, Steve Grody, Cheryl Dunn), elaborate “wood paintings” on welded steel sculpture (Faile), canvasses by early generation graffiti pioneers (Fab 5 Freddy, NOC, Daze, Lady Pink, Toxic, Haze), repurposed metal subway signs (Julius “T. Kid” Cavero), a slickly painted motorcycle (Crash), mixed media collage (Augustine Kofie) a refurbished ice cream truck (Mr. Cartoon), a repurposed bus stop poster (KAWS), an acrylic painting on scrap metal (Margaret Kilgallen), a mounted neon sculpture (Risk), paper cutouts pasted on found wooden doors (Swoon) and a heavily tagged Fun Gallery refrigerator hit up in the early 1980s by people like Basquiat, Haring, and Futura.

Mr. Cartoon. 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)

The newly completed Phillips gallery is ironically and literally underground. Its thousands of square feet lie just below the Park Avenue street level, lending a hidden secretive quality to it. Nevertheless, the massive venue sports triple-height ceilings and a vast marble spaciousness that allows for mounting and lighting a variety of gallery sizes, shapes, and volumes. It’s also free.

A large backdrop cloth with tags by Futura, Dondi, Fab 5 Freddy, Phase2 and others. 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)

One piece caught our eye and the eye of our companion, the photographer Martha Cooper, whose photos of 1970s-80s graffiti on subway trains places her squarely at the center of the scene. It’s the large fabric canvas/backdrop that commands one of the walls in the gallery – not only for its dynamism of placed elements and handstyle-vibrance but because of the history of the piece and the cross-section of writers and performers who intersect on it. Attributed to Futura 2000, it also contains work by Dondi and a tag by Phase2, at least. It also pays tribute to the musician and performer Afrika Bambaataa, the Rock Steady Crew, a number of possibly British graffiti writers and crews.

When posted on social media by people like Futura and Ms. Cooper this week, discussion of this piece lit up like a fire – with people surmising different venues where it may have been displayed, arguing about the propriety of selling such an item, conjecturing about who owns it, and spotting it in the background of photographs by Janette Beckman and David Corio.

The backdrop cloth shown above appears in this photo taken in London in 1982 with Afrika Bambaataa in the foreground. (photo © David Corio)

Mr. Corio allows us to show his images here of that event, which he identified as being part of the London stop of the NY City Rap tour, November 23rd, 1982. Assessing photos and the relic itself, one surmises that it was not signed by all the persons named necessarily since its function was a marquee naming of participants of the tour as well as a vehicle of visuals.

The backdrop cloth shown above appears in this photo taken in London in 1982 with Afrika Bambaataa in the foreground. (photo © David Corio)

Corio later posted images from the event on his Instagram with his current recounting, but we like this older one from his website, as it is lyrical.

“Welcome to the future. This was one of the first hip-hop shows in London and it was at my favourite place to shoot gigs. Bam had brought with him vibrant visions of the New York street in the form of graffiti legends Fab Five Freddy and Futura 2000. While he played, they spray-painted the backdrop. Londoners had never experienced any gig like this before – with break-dancers from Bambaataa’s Zulu Nation and a team of skippers doing the double-dutch. ‘Planet Rock’ and ‘Looking For The Perfect Beat’, two singles of 1982, along with Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’, gave notice of a new musical force breaking out of New York – hip-hop and electro – and it was all rising straight off the record decks. It was amazing to witness this revolution in person.”

This photo shows Dondi painting on the backdrop cloth in London in 1982. (photo © David Corio)

As you stand before the piece, you may better appreciate the human scale of some events that have stepped into a golden storied past. Without these antecedents, many would not have known the art, music, and dance world as it evolved – nor appreciate the components that Hip Hop grew and evolved from. Looking at this unnamed banner, you remember again that once in a while a piece of art transcends itself, and becomes a historical document.

1970s / Graffiti / Today is an opportunity for fans and historians to see some of these works before they disappear into private collections. That alone is worth the trip.

This photo shows Dondi painting on the backdrop cloth in London in 1982. (photo © David Corio)
This photo shows Dondi painting on the backdrop cloth in London in 1982. (photo © David Corio)
Fab 5 Freddy, whose tag also appears on the backdrop was part of the New York City Rap Tour at The Venue in Victoria, London in 1982. (photo © David Corio)
Al Diaz. 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Steven P. Harrington takes a photo of Martha Cooper taking a photo of Al Diaz at 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)
1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)
Martha Cooper before her photos at 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)
Crash. 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Faile. 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)
King Saladeen poses before his canvas at 1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)
1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)
1970 S / Graffiti / Today. Phillips, New York City. (photo © Martha Cooper)

1970s / Graffiti / Today at Phillips Auction House in Manhattan, NY is open to the public until February 20, 2022.

Our sincere thanks to photographer Martha Cooper for contributing her photos to this article. Her Instagram is @marthacoopergram

Thank you as well to the photographer David Corio for allowing us to use his historical photos here. To learn more about him and his work please go to www.davidcorio.com and his Instagram is @david.corio

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Miami Art Week Begins and Wynwood Has “Agents Of Change”

Miami Art Week Begins and Wynwood Has “Agents Of Change”

Miami awakens from a Covid-19 stupor this year with a bonified Art Week, featuring associated fairs and events like Wynwood Walls that are activated by the Art Basel behemoth. Some of the high-profile organizers of yesteryear may be on the ropes this time but you are sure to see many of your favorite and familiar art dealers, drug dealers, street artists, graffiti writers, djs, taco sellers, and lucite stiletto slide-ons. Cold weather birds love to fly here for the art fairs and a quick suntan and a Pina Colada just after Thanksgiving every year – it’s equal parts breezily laid back and sketchy and only slightly hedonistic, the gritty-glam blocks of Wynwood know how to keep it real, unless it was silicone to start with.

Futura. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ve heard some solid talents are going to be in the neighborhood, of their own volition or by invitation, as is usually the case. Wynwood Walls is offering 11 artists painting the outdoor space and the Brooklyn art duo Faile mounting a large indoor exhibition of new works that are sure to shock and thrill new fans and those who have watched them from street to museum in and elsewhere in between in their 22 years as visual alchemists. We’re also interviewing them live onstage at Wynwood Walls Wednesday December 1st at 7 pm. We’d love to see you there and talk with you so please stop by and say hello!

Dan Kitchener. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With a theme of “Agents of Change” Wynwood Walls is bringing AIKO (Japan), Diogo “Addfuel” Machado (Portugal), Bordalo ii (Portugal), David Flores (United States), Scott Froschauer (United States), Joe Iurato (United States), KAI (United States), Kayla Mahaffey (United States), Mantra (France), Ernesto Maranje (Cuba), Greg Mike (United States), Farid Rueda (Mexico), and for the first time, Wynwood Walls will open one wall to a local artist in an “Open Call” competition. 

VHILS. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wynwood Walls/Goldman Properties Event Schedule to Date

  • Beginning Monday, November 22 – Sunday, November 28, 2021
    • Wynwood Walls Begins Art Week Live Installations 
      • Monday, November 22nd – Wednesday, November 24th: 11am – 10pm
      • Friday, November 26th – Sunday, November 28th: 10:00am – 10:00pm
  • Monday, November 29, 2021
    • Unveiling Event and Wynwood Walls Opening Party | Invitation only
  • Wednesday, December 1, 2021 
    • 7 – 8pm – Artist Talk l FAILE talks to Brooklyn Street Art (BSA)
      Open to the public, included in Wynwood Walls Admission 
  • Thursday, December 2, 2021 
    • 3 – 5pm – KAI unveils sculpture in collaboration with Odell Beckham Jr.  l Open to the public, included in Wynwood Walls Admission 
  • Friday, December 3, 2021
    • 4 – 7pm – Superplastic Activation & Kranky Art Competition l Open to the public, included in Wynwood Walls Admission 
  • Miami Art Week – Tuesday, November 30 to Sunday, December 5, 2021
    • 9am – 10pm – Walls will be open Tuesday, November 30th – Sunday, December 5th
    • Daily DJ set at the Wynwood Walls Tuesday – Thursday 2:30 – 7:30pm, Friday – Sunday  3:30 – 8:30pm 
DEIH. Wynwood Walls. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Martha Arrives in Berlin for “Martha Cooper: Taking Pictures”

Martha Arrives in Berlin for “Martha Cooper: Taking Pictures”

After Covid kept us all away from this exhibition, BSA and Martha finally got a chance to see her retrospective in person, rather than through virtual 3-D tours or videos and photos. Here she is at a vitrine this morning for our first official tour together in person.

“Martha Cooper: Taking Pictures”. Graffiti Section. Urban Nation Museum. Martha pointed out an original sketch for a subway car by SHY. into the Graffiti vitrine with a foto that Martha took of a young Futura above the vitrine. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 09.12.21

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.12.21

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. Our hearts and minds are heavy and quiet this weekend as we contemplate the two decades and lost lives and liberties since September 11, 2001.

It’s impossible to know what the world would have looked like had those fateful events not taken place twenty years ago, and only a handful would have predicted that it would have been used as a springboard for more wars that cost more lives. As the country pulls out of Afghanistan so badly and obviously, a real examination of the soul is taking place. There is no real purpose served by trying to extricate the pain of loss locally from those sufferred globally as a result of the events of September 11th, except for us New Yorkers to reflect on how our city is forever changed. Thankfully, New Yorkers prove time and again that we are also forever determined to overcome and to come together.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring BAT, Below Key, BK Foxx, Chris RWK, Chupa, De Grupo, Early Riser NYC, Fumero, Futura, Hand Up, Manik, Modomatic, Naito Oru, Pope, Rezo, and Toofly.

Fumeroism (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fumeroism (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Toofly (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Early Riser NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Early Riser NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hand Up (photo © Jaime Rojo)
XXX (photo © Jaime Rojo)
CP Won (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fat Jay (photo © Jaime Rojo)
De Grupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rezo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Modomatic (photo © Jaime Rojo)
BKFoxx (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Below Key (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Chris RWK in collaboration with Naito Oru. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bat, Manik, Pope, Chupa… (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. September 2021. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)
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BSA Film Friday: 01.17.20

BSA Film Friday: 01.17.20

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

Now screening :
1. “Dinner For Few.” A short film by Nassos Vakalis.
2. NYCHOS. Five Weeks Of Rabbit Eye Movement
3. Futura X Wynwood Walls. Chop ’em Down Films
4. Shok1 in St. Petersburg, Florida

BSA Special Feature: “Dinner For Few.” A short film by Nassos Vakalis.

“Those who eat their fill speak to the hungry of wonderful times to come,” an applicable bromide for all those folk who got the big Trump tax cut last year. Meanwhile, you are rationing your insulin.

Do you think Capitalism has run amok? This darkly entertaining animation illustrates one version of our current disordered/ordered world.

“(The capitalist machine” solely feeds the select few who eventually, foolishly consume all the resources while the rest survive on scraps from the table. Inevitably, when the supply is depleted, the struggle for what remains leads to catastrophic change.”

NYCHOS. Five Weeks Of Rabbit Eye Movement

A road-trip film is an ideal vehicle for mythmaking and definition of persona, especially when accompanied by timely music choices and distracted stares into the burned horizon. This amber-tinged panoply of rockstar travel shots, nomadic spraycation side trips, behind-the-scenes production, off-the-grid hippy encampments, rusted detritus sculpture, post-apocalypse signposts, and the energized, intensely industrious, exquisite dissection of Nychos that puts his oeuvre under the microscope and behind the looking glass. Alternately elegant and violent, this is a laboratory sweep of imagined scenarios that can make the mind cavort with fear and lust, toil and soil, pensive thought and power chords, ready to be sliced and peered into.

Futura X Wynwood Walls. Chop ’em Down Films

A brief look at Futura as he recounts his revisiting of a mural he made in Miami. Calling to the fore his inspired abstractions that first set him apart from the pack in the late 70s/early 80s, it’s a treasure to see engaged with his past, his process, his futura.

Shok1 in St. Petersburg, Florida for Shine Mural Festival.

2nd in a row from Chop ‘Em Down Films, this look at the technique of Shok1, who reveals the world through his brilliant mastery of x-ray and fantasy, is a rare treat and a great way to close this week’s survey.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 01.05.20- Wynwood Walls/Miami

BSA Images Of The Week: 01.05.20- Wynwood Walls/Miami

Welcome to Wynwood! – A little piece of chaotic urban paradise and real estate development that has blossomed into a mini-holy city for fans of murals.

The convergence of three events during the 2010’s – cheap digital camera phones, social media, and mural festivals – have created this intense and colorful tourist neighborhood in Miami during the same time. The sheer number of happy extended families, groups of friends, and couples in love all were converging on the evolving neighborhood to see art in the streets. They also take pictures with it, pose in front of it, buy refrigerator magnets of it, and listen to tour guides speak about it.

During a recent day in the Wynwood Walls compound, which is surrounded on neighboring streets with a plethora of other murals, unsanctioned Street Art, and graffiti, we saw a number of newly painted murals that have replaced others there. We also saw that a few of the old favorites have been reinvigorated. Here is just a handful of images of the action.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week from Miami, and this time featuring Dasic Fernandez, Ernesto Maranje, Faile, Michael Vasquez, Buff Monster, Futura, Dan Kitchener, and Tats Cru.

Dasic Fernandez. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dasic Fernandez. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dasic Fernandez. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ernesto Maranje. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ernesto Maranje. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ernesto Maranje. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faile. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Michael Vasquez. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Buff Monster. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Futura updated his previous mural on the same spot. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dan Kitchener. This is only a detail of his large wall. It was practically impossible to shoot this wall due to a large number of visitors in front of it. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tats Cru. Wynwood Walls 2019. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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“Beyond The Streets” Opens in New York : Beyond Labels, With Roots

“Beyond The Streets” Opens in New York : Beyond Labels, With Roots

Look Who’s Back in the Neighborhood

They used to run from the Vandal Squad in this neighborhood. Now people pay to see their art here.

Through the expansive glass wall on the 6th floor you can look down Kent Avenue to see the spot where a monster pickup truck with a heavy chain tied around a FAILE prayer wheel almost jackknifed on the sidewalk, gave up and sped away. Not that many Brooklynites saw that event in the 2000s – nobody walked here and few people drove through Williamsburg then except truckers looking for street walking ladies wearing high heels and spandex. Oh, and a serial killer.

Faile. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now visitors buy tickets to see a circular colonnade of FAILE prayer wheels here at 25 Kent – including the real estate developers and Wall Street professionals who displaced the community of artists whose work made the neighborhood attractive and “edgy”.

Along with Street Artists in this exhibition like Shepard Fairey, Bast, Swoon, Invader, Aiko, Dan Witz, Katsu, 1UP, and Lister, the FAILE duo put completely illegal artworks on walls under cover of night and threat of arrest in this same neighborhood then – transforming it with many others who are not in this show into an open gallery of the streets, placing Williamsburg on the map as New Yorks’ epicenter of the newly emerging Street Art scene. 

Swoon. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Nature of Graffiti and Street Art

As graffiti and Street Art are migratory and necessarily elusive by nature, this story is only one chapter in a volume of history that serious academics are now reconstructing and analyzing. With each passing year and published white paper, the practices of 20th century public mark-making are being examined in greater detail for archiving and for posterity. Not surprisingly, institutions, patrons, collectors, and brands are increasingly interested in this story as well.

When it comes to the anarchic subculture of illegal street art practice and its influence on society, there are non-stop ironies sprayed en route from verboten to Vuitton, and street culture has supercharged the imagination of the mainstream and high culture throughout history – that’s where the best ideas come from sometimes. Many seminal artworks from “the scene”, as it were, represent much more than what you are seeing at first glance. As art and cultural critic Carlo McCormick has described the iconic Shepard Fairey ‘Hope’ image in Art in America, many graffiti and Street Art works saved are “not a fleeting pop-culture sensation but simply the latest crossover hit in a long line of underground classics.”

The wide-ranging survey that is Beyond the Streets makes sure that you know where the roots are, and who many of the pioneers were. It is impossible to tell a complete story that includes scenes as diverse as west coast Chicano muralism, hobo graffiti, hip-hop commercial design, NY downtown artivism, Japanese low/hi contemporary, skateboard, tattoo, early train writing and a current romance with muralism, but BTS at least gives a serious consideration to each and offers you the opportunity to look further into them.

Martha Cooper with BGirl Ana “Rokafella” Garcia. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With the help of photography documentation from people like Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, Jim Prigoff, Lisa Kahane, Joe Conzo, John Fekner, Bill Daniel, Maripol, and Dash Snow, the crucial importance of this work provides needed interstitial and contextual information that enables myriad stories to be elucidated.

Joe Conzo. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Scale, The History

Exhaustive, no. Exhausting, possibly. Pace yourself.

 “I spent my life surrounded by graffiti and Street Art,” says the shows’ director Roger Gastman “and you could say that I have been obsessed with understanding the culture, its origins, and its evolution. It’s incredible to me how far it has come.”

With 150 artists whose practices span five decades and various (mainly) American subcultures displayed in a maze of new walls in this 100,000 sf, two-floor exhibition, the Beyond the Streets senior curatorial team includes Gastman, filmmaker/ graffiti historian Sacha Jenkins SHR, Juxtapoz Editor in Chief Evan Pricco, and author/ graffiti historian / graffiti writer David CHINO Villorente. Each curator brings core competencies and knowledge of the graffiti scene (Gastman, Jenkins, Villorente) as it has evolved to include the Street Art practice and an eventual move toward contemporary art (Pricco).

“It’s absolutely phenomenal,” says Villorente, who says his history as a graffiti writer compounds the impact for him. “I was glad that the show was coming to New York because I was born and raised in Brooklyn. I couldn’t have imagined it – especially when I think back on when I was writing on the trains and doing illegal graffiti. To have of show of this magnitude is really special.”

Mike 171. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

“We started writing in ’68 and here we are, fifty-one years later,” says Mike 171 as he gestures toward himself and crew writer SJK 171 when talking about how they began and continued writing their tags on the street in New York City. “This is the history right here,” he says, and you know you are about to be schooled about the plain realities of early graffiti writing. At the opening, you witness each guy tagging in a large dusty window here and realize the love for writing never actually stops.

“We were expressing something that was inside of us,” says SJK 171. “The streets were like ours,” he tells you against a backdrop of their work, Cornbread’s work, and of images full of one color, single line monikers that set the stage for the more colorful, character-driven pieces and burners a decade later, transforming trains into a rolling aesthetic symphony by the mid 1970s.

Cornbread. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo). Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

One of the actual “whole car” writers of that period, Lee “LEE” Quinones, here recreates a “Soul Train” car side on a canvas that looks like it could easily wrap an actual MTA #2-line car that he used to slaughter with cans in the middle of the night at the train yard. When describing the new work he said he was intentionally keeping it simple – perhaps owing the style to his earlier practice.

Lee Quinones. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I think this is one of Lee’s most amazing pieces,” says Charlie Ahearn, the director of the seminal 1982 “Wild Style” film that Quinones stars in. Ahearn self-produced that film which became an important distillation of the merging of graffiti with hip-hop culture during a pivotal moment in the history of both. Now also a professor of Hip-Hop, art, design, and documentary film making at Pace University, Ahearn is familiar with many of the artists work here, many relationships reaching back decades. “I told Lee that I liked that it was a one-off, that he painted all the color straight off without the embellishment, texturing, and all that stuff.”

John and Charlie Ahearn. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Charlie’s twin brother John Ahearn is represented here popping out from walls as well, his sculptures serving as authentic portraits of people you may easily have seen on New York streets over the last four decades. Casted directly on top of the people themselves in a technique he has perfected, the placement of the sculptures gives life to the space.

Star Writers, Immersive Environments, Foundations

Dabsmyla. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The individual clusters of work and canvasses by 1970s-80s train painters like Futura, Crash, Lady Pink, Freedom, Carlos Mare, Blade, Haze, and Daze and next gen graphic painters like Doze Green and Rime are complemented by a number of so-called “immersive” spaces here like the Mission Schools’ Barry McGee storefront with smashed window, and the Australian Pop duo Dabs & Myla’s eye candy floral walls with thousands of artificial fauna created in collaboration with Amelia Posada.

Myla. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Shepard Fairey. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The high-profile graphic activist Shepard Fairey’s 30 year career overview takes a large area and encompasses all elements of his street and studio practice, and Bill Barminski’s cardboard home is open for you to explore with a wry smile, remembering the security room installation he did at Banksy’s Dismaland a couple years earlier.

Bill Barminski. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You’re also treated to a full rolling wall of Craig Stecyk posters that brings you the sun and surf of California skate culture, sculptures by Mr. Cartoon and Risk, a kid-friendly illustrated room with crafting supplies for young fans on tables from HuskMitNavn, and an astute freight train culture educational display by writer/painter/sculptor Tim Conlon (complete with a mid-sized Southern Pacific freight on train tracks he and friends built), prints/photos by historian Bill Daniel, and original drawings by the man some call the King of Hobo Art, buZ blurr.

John Fekner. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“These are a self portrait as predicated on a first Bozo Texino person and I kind of changed the image around,” says Mr. blurr, a legendary figure in denim overalls, as he patiently describes his classic tag image of a railway cowboy.

“It is a writer motif – the pipe smoke is going up and then it is trailing back to signify movement as the train goes down the track,” he says. “I worked in the train yards and my job was as a brakeman. I had a little free time so I started making drawings. I made my first one on November 11, 1971,” he says as he recalls the state of mind that he was in at the time as he began to tag freights with the image and text that came to him clearly – and may have perplexed other travellers.

buZ blurr. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“They came from a confused state. I was questioning everything. I was putting kind of cryptic messages under my drawings. It was anybody’s guess as to its literal interpretation. I addressed some of them up to specific people but whether they saw them or responded to them, I wouldn’t have any idea.”  

Tim Conlon. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“When it’s shipped in the crate its 550 pounds,” says Conlon as he stands by the 3-foot high freight car re-creation on tracks and ties that is hit with a couple of wild and colorful graffiti burners. “Here I’m going to show you something,” he says as he pulls back the roof to reveal the narrow coffin interior in rusted red. “So I’m going to hide some beer in here during the opening party. This is like the fifth one of these I’ve made,” and he proudly confides that one lives in the house of Robert Downey Jr.

Digging Deep to Take Risks

Not content to rest on laurels and previous formulas of success, the show keeps a freshness by presenting known entities pushing themselves further and taking creative risks; a reflection of that spirit of experimentation we have always prized on the street.

Graffiti writer Earsnot from Irak crew, now known professionally as Kunle Martin, said he had been making work for the gallery containing elements of graffiti, but felt they were too “safe”.

Kunle Martin AKA Earsnot. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Then my friend Dan said ‘you should go back to doing drawings,’” he says as he stands before figurative canvasses in black and white on cardboard. “I said ‘I can’t! It’s too hard! But eventually I began working in my studio five days a week, and I made enough for a show.”

Reflective of the attitude of Gastman toward artists in the community, he told Martin that if he made enough of them, he could place them in this show. “I think he was happy to hear that I was in my studio working. He’s been very supportive of it.”

Kunle Martin. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A fluorescent color-drenched graphic/photographic collage style is featured with plenty of space in large frames from Chicago’s Pose, who says he is letting photography and geometry lead him away from his previous pop collage style that may have reminded many of Lichtenstein. His inspiration here comes from his research into early photos of graffiti writers running from police “I was obsessed with John Naars photos and I have usually Norman Mailer as in inspiration. Some of these photo references are from the Philadelphia Inquirer,” he says.

Pose. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pose. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

New York’s Eric Haze also dares himself to take a new direction with three canvasses featuring a refracted piecing-together of imagery and memories of this city in monochrome. Based on black and white scenes of the city by photographer and NYC taxi driver Matt Weber, the scenes capture aspects that are culled from imagination and impression. The centerpiece canvas captures an iconic piece of the Williamsburg waterfront that has been removed in the last few years by developers; the signage of the old Domino Sugar factory by the Williamsburg Bridge.

Haze. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Haze said he meant it as a gift and tribute to his wife, actress and longtime resident of the neighborhood, Rosie Perez who used to see it along Kent Avenue as a kid.  “He’s not afraid to take risks. He’s not afraid to go in the studio and express what’s inside of him. When he brought me to the studio, he says, ‘I have a surprise for you’,” she remembers. “I saw the beginnings of the Domino painting and I was stunned into silence and I got teary-eyed.”

Rosie Perez. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Beyond Labels

An expanded version of the show that first mounted in Los Angeles last year, the collection is focused a great deal on the American history of graffiti with a balance of East/West coast graffiti history – in a way that may remind you of 2011’s “Art in the Streets” at LA MoCA. That makes sense, considering Gastman co-curated that show as well.

“It’s both a historical and current look at where the culture went and where it started and how widespread it is,” says co-curator Evan Pricco, who perhaps provides a lynchpin view toward the big name Street Artists who continued to push expectations in the 2000’s on streets and in commercial galleries around the world. “With the space spread over two floors it has a way better curatorial sense. I also think it does compete with museums because it shows that this kind of work is on the same level. You kind of have to present it in a way that feels very institutional and archival.”

So is Beyond the Streets a graffiti show or a Street Art show or a contemporary art show? For artist Kenny Scharf, who first gained attention during the heyday of Downtown Manhattan’s art scene that benefitted from an interlude where rents were dirt cheap and Wall Street was on a cocaine high, there is no need to categorize what kind of art this is.

Kenny Scharf. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“You know I never liked labels or titles anyway so even back in the early 80s I was pegged like ‘oh you’re a graffiti artist,’” he says. “People feel the need to title and label so I’ll let them to continue to do that but I don’t fit into any of them and I don’t want to. I want to fit into all of them and none of them.”

Beyond the Streets opened June 21 and continues through the summer.

MADSAKI. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Blade and Doze Green. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Katsu. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gajin Fujita. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith XLVII. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
John Ahearn. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jane Dickson. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dan Witz. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
1UP Crew…it’s always a good thing to have your friends near by when you need them the most… Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
1UP Crew. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)ork. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cleon Peterson. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Conor Harrington. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Felipe Pantone. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Beastie Boys. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Nekst . Risk. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bast . Paul Insect. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Invader. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ron English. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Patrick Martinez. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Dust tagger. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Martha Cooper with Freedom. Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
What’s left and soon to be gone of the old Williamsburg’s waterfront right across from Beyond The Streets New York. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper’s work as exhibited at Beyond The Streets New York

Beyond The Streets NYC is now open in Williamsburg, Brooklyn to the general public and will run until August 2019. Click HERE for schedules, tickets and details.

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Futura Goes “Full Frame” by Magda Danysz

Futura Goes “Full Frame” by Magda Danysz

One benefit of being ahead of your time is that you can paint your own rules, discover your own voice, set a standard. A drawback is that you may have to push forward on your own before you gain support for what you are pursuing. The key is to keep moving.

Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.

As Futura pulls fully into the frame of contemporary artist, its important for upcoming artists to remember that he had a long route – including being a bike messenger on Manhattan’s untamed streets to provide for his family – while he was waiting until the rest of the street and art world caught up with him. Now that Street Art has confirmed that his abstract explorations on subway trains were an early sign of what was coming, brands and gallerists and collectors often call.  “Full Frame” helps appreciate the body of work he developed during that time.

Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.

Self named Futura 2000 when that sounded futuristic, Lenny Gurr has done more painting on canvas than he realized since the early 80s and his style has continued to evolve and clarify.  

“Just for people to finally get a look at my work – I feel like a lot of what is being revealed hasn’t really been seen,” he tells us as he describes the nearly 300 page yellow tome “Full Frame,” published by Drago and organized by Magda Danysz. Among the richly illustrated pages, Danysz presents important benchmarks in Futura’s steadily growing career and personal life that bring the evolution closer to the reader.

In terms of the visual language in these sketches, diagrams and canvasses, there are a wealth of orbs and symbols and sprays and washes and stellar interstellar journeys that you have never seen before. Evolution appears to be natural for Futura, his pores and nerve endings collecting signals, firing synapses, pushing deep into imaginary worlds.

Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.

Influences run from expressionists, abstractionists, modernists, punks, the race to the moon and the moonage daydreams of city hippies everywhere. His recurring circle motifs are as much about his internal mind and world as they are about the cosmos.

A sense of balance in the chaos is always present, the palette choices impeccably on point, sharply sweet and frequently daring. Is this fantasy or diary? If Futura hasn’t flown to most of these places, it’s not because he hasn’t tried. But we’re treating these pages and frames of eye-popping other-worlds as evidence that he has.

Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.

“I think for the most part people appreciate survivors,” he is quoted in the book. Few survivors could be so freely percolating with ideas and graceful in their delivery.

Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.
Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.
Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.
Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.
Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.
Futura 2000 FULL FRAME By Magda Danysz. Drago Publisher. Rome, Italy. 2018.
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Futura 2000 In Studio and “The 5 Elements”

Futura 2000 In Studio and “The 5 Elements”

EARTH, AIR, FIRE, and WATER. And FUTURA 2000.

These are the five elements.

“Hey Guys!” he bellows from the doorway and invites us in.

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A non-stop full-voiced welcome fills the air of this factory loft space with stories and smoke and sports talk radio as you ascend steps from the truck-traffic cacophony of cold and rain on this Bushwick thoroughfare. For the next hour and a half, you are warmly surrounded by clothes racks and boxes and spray cans and multi-faceted anecdotes and impressions and fragments of memories that get shaken and sprayed and circled back to.

Here is a fond remembrance of something his mom or dad said from his childhood, an adroitly drawn quip about a curious gallerist, an excited discovery of new Super 8 footage of a mission with famed NYC graffiti writer Dondi in Japan to promote Wild Style. Elsewhere he recounts a meeting with Joe Strummer in a New York studio to share and record his own penned rap lyrics with The Clash, a trip to Berlin in ’85 with Keith Haring, a recent conversation with MODE2 who lives there now, a description of his personal misgivings about wearing his US military uniform into town while stationed at Yakuska Naval Base as a 20 year old.

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An omnivore of ideas and initiatives and world cities, his march as a creative force of nature only gathers speed as he nears 40 years since first emerging from graffiti writing as a studio artist.

“1980 was the breakout year for us because we were all beginning to surface,” he says of the number of events that occurred that year and brought graffiti and street culture to a larger, more mainstream audience, and hopefully, a collector base. That was the year of the “Times Square Show” by Colab that introduced art and performance from the “Downtown” and “Uptown” scenes. It was also the year that Stefan Eins’ Fashion Moda gallery in the South Bronx had its first exhibition of graffiti art – Graffiti Art Success for America (GAS) – curated by artist John Matos (aka Crash), the show included work by graffiti culture artists such as Futura, Lady Pink, John Fekner, Disco 107, Fab Five Freddie, Futura, Kel 139th, Lee, Mitch 77, Nac 143, Noc 167, Stan 153, Tom McCutcheon, and Zephyr.

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“We were all willing to come above ground and investigate what was happening,” he says. “That was also the year I did the ‘Break Car’,” he says of the uniquely abstract whole graffiti car he painted that set him apart stylistically from the NYC graffiti writing pack and was captured famously by photographer Martha Cooper. That car and that style would proved to be the Cold War inspired rocketship that launched Futura 2000 into a forty year exploration of the Cosmos.

Fast forward to April 2018 in Lille, France, and Futura toils and emerges with a new body of work incorporating his long-held love for the interconnectedness of the galaxy, the stars, and the planet.

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I’ve been a child of the planet since I was a kid,” he says as he recalls the impact of the 1964 World’s Fair in Queens and how it tapped into his innate desire for exploration. “Every nation had a pavilion,” he says, and suddenly you see his collection of miniature architectural wonders from around the world, all grouped together for an idealized cityscape.

“I’ve got Berlin, Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers, Roma, Peru (Easter Island), the Blue Mosque in Turkey, Sheik Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi,” he says. “I don’t have Taj Mahal, but I’ve been to it. I need that.”

“The 5 Elements” is the exhibition that opens this week at Urban Spree in Berlin and of course refers as well to the so-called “Five Elements of Hip-Hop”, of which graffiti is one. But he reserves this reference to a greater sweep, expressed in about an expansive show. “There’s a whole series on water, air, on fire,” he says, “It’s all at some point color coated for each element.” He also creates a series of circular canvasses hung in relation to each other to evoke the planetary system.

“I think they’re like 70 pieces, in terms of that I don’t think I’ve ever done anything this extensive,” he says.

But “The 5 Elements” is not a retrospective show, says Urban Spree founder and curator Pascal Feucher, who has been preparing the show with co-host Art Together. “On the contrary,” he writes, “Futura worked specifically on a large museum-style conceptual exhibition, tackling the ambitious theme of the Creation of the Universe, confronting himself to the cosmos, the planets, the infinitely small, the Big Bang and the fundamental elements, producing a corpus of works that becomes a path to the exploration of the universe as well as providing a backdoor into Futura’s internal galaxy.”

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Coinciding with the show will be the release of a 128-page companion book titled “Futura, les 5 éléments” – certain to be sought after.

For the ever expansive graphic designer, clothing designer, wordsmith, musician, sneaker head, graffiti writer, abstract painter, photographer, the dots are all connected – and it always also connects to his roots.

“I like it when it’s a degree removed, yet connected – when you realize that the whole school – at least the whole New York City school, is vast,” he says. “It has touched a lot of people.”

Rather like Futura 2000.

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura sharing a picture of Lee Quinones on a moped in Roma (photo © Jaime Rojo)


Below are images of the 4 screen prints that will be released at the opening of “The 5 Elements”, based on the painting series “Pure”. Each 8-color screen print is hand-pulled by Dolly Demoratti (Mother Drucker/Urban Spree Studio), signed and numbered by Futura. The 50 x 50 cm prints are only sold as a limited edition of 100 sets.

Futura. Pure Earth. (photo courtesy of Urban Spree Gallery)

Futura. Pure Air. (photo courtesy of Urban Spree Gallery)

Futura. Pure Water. (photo courtesy of Urban Spree Gallery)

Futura. Pure Fire. (photo courtesy of Urban Spree Gallery)

Futura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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