All posts tagged: Germany

Art Behind Bars in Berlin

May 7, 2016 Artists

Art behind bars today from Berlin in a strip of town that boasts piles of posters for concerts and DJs and a lot of visual anarchy. There are also many bars with delicious German beers along this strip under the train tracks on street level, but that’s not what we were looking for on the day we found these. These long-closed windows are still guarded by semi-decorative rusted thin iron beams and artists reach through them to wheat-paste a visual missive on the off-chance that you will peer between the bars to get the full effect.

Acting in concert with these remnants of an earlier time, you sometimes imagine the figurative subjects to be in jail, maybe in need of liberation. Here are a selection of images from photographer Jaime Rojo of art behind bars for your enjoyment.

Little Lucy. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TONA. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist interprets a Jamel Shabazz photo. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rolf . Rubi The Dog. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pro Homo. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist does Gary Coleman. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A digitized Che Guevara. Funny. Berlin, April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.17.16

April 17, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Hillary Clinton announced in Brooklyn this week that she supports raising the minimum wage to $250,000 a speech while Bernie Sanders scoped around the showroom of a Danish furniture designer in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to order a new blond wood desk and chair for the Oval Office. The two sparred live on national TV from Brooklyn Thursday but you couldn’t tell they were in the BK because the CNN logos engulfed the screen and candidates and the actual citizens were reduced to a babbling rabble who hooted and hollered like sports fans somewhere in the dark. Wonder how long CNN intends to have their brand new warehouse-sized logo beaming across the river at Manhattan.

Meanwhile, on the streets here it is pretty evident who many New Yorkers favor and the majority of new Street Art pieces and graffiti pieces are feeling the Bern. It’s true, we tend to hang out with artists, creatives, punks, hippies, and assorted wild-eyed weirdos – so its not exactly a true cross-section, but Clinton fans are not making much art on the streets. Possibly that is because level-headed reasonable people don’t feel the need to express their support for her so loudly and visibly. It will be interesting to see if Big Media predictions of a 17% Clinton lead are true by Wednesday morning. The Wall Street Journal seems to be banking on it.

Trump is #1 in NYC for the Republicans, presumably because of “New York values”.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Caratoes, Elle, Ever Siempre, Faust, Flood, Icy & Sot, Lola Jiblazee, Lora Zombie, Nafir, Shantell Martin, Stuart Ringholt, Thiago Goms, Thievin’ Stephen, Thomas Allen, TriHumph, Vandal Expressionism, Vanesa Longchamp, Vexta, You Go Girl!, and Zabou.

Our top image: Nafir for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nafir for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot . Nafir for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thomas Allen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Flood (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vandal Expressionism (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thievin’ Stephen in Rochester, NY. (photo © Thievin’ Stephen)

Lola Jiblazee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TriHumph styles Bernie as Bowie. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EverSiempre in Ostend, Belgium for Crystal Ship Fest 2016. (photo © EverSiempre)

“Homage to the Past and Future”

The city of Oostende began its great reforms in 1883. King Leopold II earned the nickname the “constructor” for his contribution to public works. These reforms were possible thanks to the large profits that were made from the king’s colony, an area sixty times larger than Belguim: the Congo. In the Congo, rubber was a resource that became precious because of its use in the automotive and bicycle industries. The king imposed high quotas on rubber production in the Congo and forced the indigenous population to comply using coercive methods and extreme violence. It is estimated that during Leopold’s years of domination about ten million natives were killed in the Congo.

“Homage to the Past and Future” is a work that talks about the heavy legacy of the past, about how societies live with the consequences of those that came before and how they build their current reality to be better. The mural is located at the urban entrance to the city, a work that perhaps Leopoldo II had not imagined at the gates of the resort town. Today, the reality is different; diversity flourishes in the city and the image is of a resident of Oostende. Humans learn from their mistakes and the future will always be better if our present remembers and pays homage to the real heroes.”

-Ever

Faust. Shantell Martin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zabou for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Caratoes for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stuart Ringholt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You Go Girl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elle for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vexta for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lora Zombie for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vanesa Longchamp for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

GOMS for Urban Nation Museum Of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. SOHO, NYC. Spring 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Got the “Missing Berlin Blues” : Urban and Contemporary

March 9, 2016 Artists

Exactly a year ago we were in Berlin as invited guest curators by Urban Nation Museum’s Director Yasha Young to curate the 7th Edition of Project M. Our exhibition, “Persons Of Interest” was aesthetically rich and culturally relevant in the windows and on the facade of the under-renovation UN haus, and the positive feedback we received lasted a number of months. Each artist had dug deep in their research and were inspired to bring a Brooklyn-Berlin historical and contemporary story to the street in a meaningful way.

The indoor exhibition at the museum’s headquarters overflowed onto the streets on opening night as well; with artists, fans, curators, honored cultural muses, and officials from Berlin’s formal arts infrastructure all abuzz with the exchange happening in Kreuzberg.

Blu. Detail. This piece of Blu has been probably been shared thousands of times on line and on social media. It is still a powerful image in photos as well as in person. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As Ms. Young and her teams continue to build the cultural foundation of UN with a dizzying array of programs, initiatives, and artists this year leading to the official opening next spring, we remark on her singular vision as a cornerstone of the museum.

With a finger on the pulse of many movements within the current Urban/Contemporary scene Young has made some bold and sharp choices to get an institution like this underway. With a clear sense of the potential that this global scene has always shown, Young has harnessed goodwill and top talents in the urban arts community and is gradually attracting the eye of more formal institutions. Undoubtedly in many ways UN has already made history.

Blu (photo © Jaime Rojo)

So to mark a year since our first show with UN we’re looking at a treasure trove of photos of works on the streets that we didn’t publish at that time. This city is singular in it’s permissiveness to graffiti and street art – a tacit but undeniable appreciation for its eclectic contribution to contemporary art, the life of the culture. Berlin also somehow understands the intrinsic value of supporting artist communities. A laboratory on the streets, Berlin continues to afford art space to take shape before your eyes.

Berlin Kidz are well known for vertical tagging thanks to rappelling down from the roof. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alo for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kera . Sokar Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kurar for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cranio for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

M.City for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Above for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Johannes Mundinger “Below The Fog” in Berlin

February 24, 2016 Artists

Indoor and outdoor merge in shifting slabs of memory that slip and stick in this new Berlin wall by Johannes Mundinger.

In work that similarly slides from representative and abstract, the work of the Offenburg born painter benefits from a sense of place and this new wall is especially good in these pictures when shot through by diagonal snow.

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Johannes Mundinger for Urban Spree. Berlin. February 2016. (photo © Lucky Cat)

Currently a resident artist at Urban Spree since 2012, Mundinger is preparing for his show opening next week at the galerie entitled ‘Unterm Nebel’. He tells us that it is an examination of memories first imprinted during childhood, somehow breaking and shifting during time, even crumbling and sinking deep into the subconscious.

Says Penny Rafferty in her description of ‘Unterm Nebel’ (Under the Fog), “The impressions we have aren´t reliable, it was a lifetime ago and now we have vague feelings of atmospheres, colours and smells; everything else remains inside a dense fog that psychiatry calls the consciousness.”

The exhibition will present a new series of large paintings, including a 8.5 meter canvas that he is painting in the gallery in the days leading up to the opening. Stop by if you remember.

Johannes Mundinger for Urban Spree. Berlin. February 2016. (photo © Johannes Mundinger)

Johannes Mundiger’s solo exhibition “Below The Fog” opens on March 4th at Urban Spree. Click HERE for more details.

Unterm Nebel

Opening: 4. March from 7pm

Introduction: Lars Hering
Finissage: 20. March from 6pm with a concert by Ori

Exhibition: 5. – 20. March 2015
Tuesday – Sunday, 12 – 7pm

Urban Spree Galerie
Revaler Str. 99, Berlin
www.urbanspree.com

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

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.02.15

August 2, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Did you see the blue moon over New York Friday night? Looked to be more crimson actually. Welcome to August and the hot sticky band of dirty grit that comes with it. Escape from New York if you can, even if it is just on a lawn chair in a park. NYC parks have a lot of free movies this summer and a huge array of free concerts all through the remainder of dog days. Naturally there is great deal of artful expression on the streets available on your way to and from the venue, very dramatic in its own way.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring $howta, 52, Brolga, BustArt, Esteban Del Valle, Dain, Dasic, Don Rimx, Droid, JR, Julien de Casablanca, KFA, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Ron English, Rubin415, Sokar Uno, and Willow.

Top image above >>> London Kaye. This is perhaps the artist’s largest piece and, as is the artist’s practice, it was made entirely with crocheted yarn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KFA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ron English. Hot Pink Temper Tot. Zephyr. For LoMan Art Fest 2015/L.I.S.A. Project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain for LoMan Art Fest 2015/L.I.S.A. Project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 . Dasic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle . Don Rimx (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bikismo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI. Portrait of Indian girl Dongria Kohnd. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI. Portrait of Iranian kid. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Willow. Portrait of Rwandan child with Emu turban. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR. Migrants, Ibrahim, Mingora-Philadelphia. For Mural Arts Program “Open Source” Series. (photo Steve Weinik. Courtesy Mural Arts Program).

Sokar Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

52 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Julien De Casabianca (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BustArt and shades of Lichtenstein in Basel, Germany. July 2015. (photo © Bustart)

BustArt. Basel, Germany. July 2015. (photo © Bustart)

Brolga goes skinny dipping to beat the summer heat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Felis traces flight patters with tape (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Felis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Droid (photo © Jaime Rojo)

$howta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Baphomet (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Flying over New York State. July 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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

July 28, 2015 Artists

Skount is debating whether to be or not in this adaptation of a hundred plus year old photo of Sarah Bernhardt, who holds the court jester Yorick’s skull in hand. A grave contemplation of suicide that leads the Hamlet character to contemplate the great leveling force of death on all stations and classes, this particular depicting of Shakespeare has had a profound effect on Skount.

Skount. Würzburg, Germany. July 2015. (photo © Skount)

“This photo has always been poetic for me since I first saw it,” he says, “I see in the photo a woman with a really special life that is intense, hard, full of difficulties and now finally a satisfactory life,” he says of the James Lafayette photograph that was possibly taken at the turn of the 20th century.

“To be or not to be,” is perhaps the most noted excerpt from the play and is

also the title of Skounts’ mural for Street Meet at Mainfranken Theater in Würzburg, Germany. See below the original photograph and the artists’ initial sketch for the wall.

Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet. (public domain, James Lafayette)

Skount. Würzburg, Germany. July 2015. (photo © Skount)

HAMLET: To be, or not to be–that is the question:

Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them.

To die, to sleep–No more–and by a sleep to say we end

The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to. ‘Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wished.

To die, to sleep–To sleep–perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub,

~Shakespeare

Skount. Würzburg, Germany. July 2015. (photo © Skount)

Skount’s original sketch for the mural (© Skount)

Skount. Würzburg, Germany. July 2015. (photo © Skount)

UN & StolenSpace Create PM/8 “Freedom” in Berlin

June 25, 2015 Artists

Urban Nation in Berlin has just completed a new series of walls, window displayed artworks, and a gallery show for the eighth edition of Project M (PM/8) in conjunction with StolenSpace Gallery in London.

Snik (photo © Nika Kramer)

The show is called “Freedom” and features a few of the better known names in the Street Art / Urban Art game along with other emerging artists in the Stolen Space stable. In addition to the opportunity to see new work being created live and meeting many of the artists, this version of Project M also included a roundtable discussion hosted by Very Nearly Almost (VNA) editor Roland Henry and featuring a conversation with D*Face, Shepard Fairey, and UN Director Yasha Young.

Project M is taking it to the street, into a gallery/museum-like setting, and into the community with various educational projects like these. We’re looking forward to seeing the nascent Martha Cooper library project as it continues to grow as well as seeing more panels, discussions, scholarly examinations, and interactive community programming in the future as the UN evolves.

Snik (photo © Nika Kramer)

Project M is meant as a lead-up to the opening of Urban Nation, currently slated for 2016, and many of the window works made here will become part of the future institutions permanent collection. The full PM/8 roster continued to shape-shift as additional artists were painting walls as well but we think we have it right when we say it includes Cyrcle, D*Face, Evoca1, Miss Van, Herakut, The London Police, Shepard Fairey, Snik, Word to Mother, Maya Hayuk, Cyrcle, Case M’Claim, Elle, and Lora Zombie, with many of artists in attendance, and one giving tattoos (see below).

Maya Hayuk took on the large task of the UN façade while Shepard and D*Face knocked out a slim set of tall twin walls and Cyrcle knocked out a modern text balanced graphic piece.

Our very special thanks to Nika Kramer, who shares her exclusive photographs of some of the artists and action at PM/8 here with BSA readers.

Snik (photo © Nika Kramer)

The London Police (photo © Nika Kramer)

Miss Van (photo © Nika Kramer)

Herakut (photo © Nika Kramer)

AkutOne of Herakut (photo © Nika Kramer)

Word To Mother (photo © Nika Kramer)

Evoka1 (photo © Nika Kramer)

Cyrcle (photo © Nika Kramer)

D*Face (photo © Nika Kramer)

Shepard Fairey (photo © Nika Kramer)

Maya Hayuk (photo © Nika Kramer)

Shepard Fairey . D*Face. Urban Nation OneWall Project in conjunction with PM8 “Freedom” (photo © Nika Kramer)

Cyrcle. Urban Nation OneWall Project in conjunction with PM8 “Freedom” (photo © Nika Kramer)

Lora Zombie. Urban Nation “Outbrake” in conjunction with PM8 “Freedom”. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Case M’Claim. Urban Nation “Outbrake” in conjunction with PM8 “Freedom”. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Case M’Claim (photo © Nika Kramer)

ELLE. Urban Nation “Outbrake” in conjunction with PM8 “Freedom”. (photo © Nika Kramer)

ELLE (photo © Nika Kramer)

More detail for Davey. During downtime tattoos were offered by Word To Mother in the back workshop at UN. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Human Sticker, Human Behavior in Berlin with Rallitox

May 12, 2015 Artists

You may be familiar with artist such as Maurizio Catelan and Marina Abramović who have featured live humans suspended from the wall as part of gallery or museum installations, and street artist Mark Jenkins creating lifelike sculptures in public space. The effect can be shocking and if done effectively, causes the viewer to review our role as humans when observed at the crossroads of performance, plastic arts, and sociology.

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RallitoX. Human Stickers. Berlin, May 2015. (photo © RallitoX)

Street art experimenter Rallitox treads the fine lines of art and sociology and behavioral studies – often provoking passersby into participating in his works even passively – like staging a crime scene with a grocery store chicken and some ketchup on a sidewalk, or inviting people to walk across the backs of 8 people lying on their stomachs as a free opportunity to walk on immigrants. If it doesn’t delve into sensationalism, this kind of work has the power to focus the view on your role as participant only by virtue of inhabiting a public space.

Rallitox’s latest sociological experiment in Warschauer strasse, Berlin is to transform a friend into a sticker – or rather – to stick a friend to a wall with duct tape. Static images here give part of the story, but nothing compares to the smallest movements of a head or a hand when you walk by, suddenly realizing this inanimate “sticker” is neither a sticker nor inanimate. “Im so interested in using people as an artistic tool to express what I feel, “ he tells us, “Especially when I get to create confusion and to break mental patterns.”

RallitoX. Human Stickers. Process shot. Berlin, May 2015. (photo © RallitoX)

RallitoX. Human Stickers. Berlin, May 2015. (photo © RallitoX)

…and a very brief teaser…

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Sunday Morning Wheat Pasting with Various & Gould

March 30, 2015 Artists

The best cure for jet lag is to jump on a bicycle and weave through the streets trolling Street Artists while they work. At least, that was the theory two hours after we landed early on a Sunday morning in Berlin, and Various and Gould agreed to lead the tour!

Various & Gould. Berlin. March 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With eyes a bit bleary and balance rather suspect, our intrepid photographer happily trailed the friendly duo who took him to see THE WALL as well as many other more scrappy, hidden, dodgy walls to shoot images of. They even watched in bemusement as he got assistance from a random passerby to hoist him atop an electrical box to get his shot. Dude always gets his shot.

Various & Gould. Berlin. March 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Naturally they brought wheat paste in their backpacks, and a few newly painted pieces to smack up. For those of you familiar with the mix-n-match limbs, torsos, and heads that V&G have used previously, you can see that the innovative experimenters have evolved their collage style to something new. It’s exactly the same, but completely different.

Various & Gould. Berlin. March 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You’ll also notice that all these pieces are going up in broad daylight – Berlin is very chill about street art, no joke. Judging by the zillions of people who you see posing for pictures with the art all over the city, they seem to like it.

Our very special thanks to Various and Gould for their hospitality.

Various & Gould. Berlin. March 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.22.15

March 22, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Can we please not talk about snow? Spring, you temptress.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Angelina Christina, Bifido, BiP, Bortusk Leer, C215, Chris Stain, Crummy Gummy, Dan Witz, Dave the Chimp, Ease One, El Bocho, Icy & Sot, Little Lucy, London Kaye, Never, Otto “Osch” Shade, Peter Phobia, Punk Paul, Tuco, and Zid Leon.

Top Image >> C215 in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye. So, if you are made of crochet, do you get cold? Also see the Smells tag floating above this little lady. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Angelina Christina, Ease One and Never painted this wall in the Summer of 2014. I really never took a good photo of it due to cars always parked in front. The harsh winter conditions of the New York Winter 2015 made possible for me to take this photo. On a great day like this, as we endure our 154th snowstorm of the season, many of us have low hopes for the spring. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tuco. Manimal Chimp in Switzerland from his “Manimal” series. This image also looks rather like it was shot on the set of a TV show. More on this artist to come shortly. (photo © Tuco Wallach)

El Bocho in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Bocho . Little Lucy in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Little Lucy in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bifido in Caserta, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

Chris Stain in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We spotted this ceramic sculpture perched on a beam on the platform of the Berlin metro. This is the only one we saw so we are thinking it wasn’t sanctioned art. Who is the artist? That gold crown looks familiar. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BiP in San Francisco, California. (photo © BiP)

Otto “Osch” Schade in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Kate O’Callaghan)

Would you like a ride in my golf cart? Peter Phobia in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bortusk Leer in Madrid, Spain. (photo © Bortusk Leer)

Crummy Gummy in Las Vegas, Nevada. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

Oof! My head! Must have been those last few shots. Dave The Chimp in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zid Leon in Berlin in line for the porta-potty. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Punk Life, No Limit in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Um, personal comment: beauty queens should not smoke. It sends the wrong message to impressionable kids. That is all. Nick Flatt and Punk Paul in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot in Berlin for Urban Nation One Wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Layers in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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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!

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See the Gallery Show! The BSA-UN PM/7 Pop-Up Exhibition

March 21, 2015 Artists

Behind the Scenes for the Brooklyn-Berlin Pop-Up

Last Saturday the 14th the public was invited to an open reception to meet the artists who had flown to Berlin to create new portraits for Urban Nation (UN), curated by BSA.

Don Rimx checks his original illustration on his phone while creating much larger color version on the wall at the UN Gallery Pop-Up show (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The companion show for “Persons of Interest” at the UN Gallery is a pop-up show by the same Brooklyn artists whose portrait works were in the windows of the future museum but there were two important differences from those installations:

1. The artist had no limitations or guidelines regarding the subject or style of their chosen piece
2. The installation was to be mounted directly on the wall and not for sale.

Don Rimx (photo © Jaime Rojo)

After asking each artist to research and select their “person of interest” for the main windows and façade of the UN, it only seemed fair that we put no restrictions on the content or inspiration for their other piece for the opening to allow more free expression.

While we like gallery shows that sell art it felt much more natural to see the artists hit the walls directly as they would on the street – from floor to ceiling and side by side, they created a sort of continuum that lead out of the gallery doors out to the walls of this much-decorated city.

Don Rimx “Ache”, a bendicion in the spirit of his birthplace of Puerto Rico.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Because these new artworks will have a limited run that ends in their destruction, the experience for the gallery goer of viewing them is an acknowledgement that the roots of this art-making practice embraces its ephemeral quality.

Something about that fact makes the work more immediate, more consequential, knowing that the work you are viewing on the street may not be there tomorrow. Each one of these artists knows this on the street, something another kind of artist may find difficult to accept or incorporate into their thinking.

Cake (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In the first couple of days everyone was recovering from serious NY-Berlin jet lag, and a handful of the artists were wearing the same clothes they arrived in while waiting for their luggage that was stuck in Düsseldorf because of a strike by bag handlers. One artist missed his plane, others got a little lost on the metro, and there were two lost phones – but these are small problems once you are confronted with a blank wall next to 11 peers on which to create something amazing.

It is a prospect full of opportunities and maybe a little bit of anxiety, but each artist brought their A-game and knew they were in a supportive environment. They also created it – reaching out to help with a brush or a ladder or can of paint, a word of advice and some problem solving too. Ultimately they were total professionals with skillz to lay down. By adapting and excelling at their work, the collective effect that this eclectic harmony produced clearly energized the crowd that overflowed onto the sidewalks Saturday night.

The result on the gallery walls is an acid rainbow pop of personality, metaphor, text, pattern, socio/political commentary, activism, and a tribute to ancestors. Each artist brought their individual style and approach to gallery walls in much the same way that appears on the street. For a few it was the first time meeting while others were long-time friends and clearly some were fans of each others work.

One coincidence that sort of blew us away was that Don Rimx and Specter both told us that their pieces were meant to be a “blessing” to their hosts; Rimx featuring a re-worked traditional image of a Puerto Rican grandmother and overflowing bucket of water – “the source of life” he said, and Specters post-modern repetition of leaves from a plant that he said you would bring someone as a gift. Neither had consulted with the other or us, and yet both mounted these pieces side-by-side.

Any day you get to work with artists is a good day – especially driven dynamic talented ones who are always challenging themselves, digging deeper to pull out something that speaks, that means something. These few precious days in Berlin with these few artists were very good days indeed for us and we hope for them too.

Swoon’s undulating biomorphic and ornate paper cuts were at center stage of the gallery, wrapped around the columns in the middle of the room.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter took off his shoes to create but remained in his long-johns while waiting for his luggage to arrive a day and a half after him. This plant was understated and yet commanded attention – this guy is one of the most intellectually adventurous in his street practice, easily sliding between mediums and concepts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain prepped his wall by tagging the surface multiple times in multiple colors and mucking it up with a roller – effectively bringing the street into the gallery so he could paste his new longer form enigmatic collage portrait on it and within the sea of colors and texture. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain likes to work alone so he took his body parts and pieces into the adjacent store room to assemble and reassemble, spray, color, cut out, selectively damage or damask – a process that allows for experimentation and discovery while the artist relies on some intuitive guidance to get to the final piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Some place in there you’ll find Chris Stain at work on his piece – an artist whose work always reflects the people you see on the street and in your neighborhood. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia’s gallery piece was directly related to his portrait of Fereshta Ludin that he completed for the “Persons of Interest” window installation. An artist who makes a fulsome study of his subject matter and the historical/social/political/anthropological factors that surround it – Gaia here incorporated the marching mass of right wing anti-Islamic Pegida demonstrators as a backdrop to a disembodied draped head scarf, a symbol of religious expression by Muslim women. Posted on the front, with dropped shadow to pop it forward, is a published interview with Ms. Ludin -who attended the opening reception last Saturday, meeting the artist and us in person for the first time. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 and the German translation of “Here today, gone tomorrow”, his reference to the ephemerality of the graffiti/street art game, and perhaps larger existential considerations. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For some, these are two essential products to survive while painting in a foreign country (or at home) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot used this opportunity to create something more abstract than the work that they are known for, which can be quickly understood. According to a few people at the opening, they liked it more than the brother’s typical work for that reason, so it was successful in that respect. Icy explained that it is a crouching figure with a mashup of a destroyed city within it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Project M/7 “Persons Of Interest” Street level exhibition and the Pop-Up show are currently on view and free to the general public at:

URBAN NATION
Bülowstraße 97
10738 Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany

Opening Hours
Monday-Friday 10.00 -18.00

http://www.urban-nation.net/

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Complete “Persons of Interest”: Brooklyn in Berlin

March 18, 2015 Artists

All the Works Completed for Project M/7 at Urban Nation with BSA

Our trip to Berlin with 12 of Brooklyn’s finest street artists was a quintessential cultural exchange; bringing together artists, curators, social activists, ministers of art, museum board CEOS, collectors, gallerists, fans, and the director of a future museum called Urban Nation. The seventh Project M, a program to draw artists and attention to the enormous UN haus while it is under construction, was called “Persons of Interest”. All week we got to meet interesting people – not a surprise in this raw cultural hot spot that bubbles with an effervescent underground and creative laboratory that is full of youthful vigor and serendipity.

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How fitting then that our first youthful arrivals were Icy & Sot, who set the tone with their 4 story portrait of an anonymous Brooklyn woman with “Freedom” scrawled across her face, an iconic scene of the celebrants at Berlin’s fallen wall inside her. With one of the brothers turning 24 that week, it was even more touching to see them marking an important event that predated him by one year – a new generation of artists helping us identify what events of the modern age are truly touchstones.

The 176 piece stencil had taken about 10 days for them to cut back in Brooklyn and the brothers methodically sprayed their missive to Berlin’s people over the course of 5 more days. This, their largest mural ever, was enormous and peaceful and an incredible act of discipline, determination, and dedication to teamwork.

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Persons of Interest” was meant to celebrate the connections between the lively artists communities in these sister cities over the last few decades, and being in Berlin felt like home to most of the artists in many ways. The curatorial vision was also meant to counter the criticism of many of the new Street Art mural festivals that have taken hold in cities around the world that they are not considering their hosts and to help focus on the neighborhoods where the new works appear.

Undeniably the Internet has supercharged this worldwide peoples’ art movement and has allowed us to learn about and connect with artists and their street work as we never would have encountered previously. It also has created a strata of international artists whose names appear again and again on these festival lists and while it is sort of exciting, it also is producing a sort of cultural imperialism that leaves a sour taste in the mouths of locals who don’t feel a connection to the artists or the art works that remain in their neighborhoods long after the festival has ended.

Our aim with “Persons of Interest” was to suggest a new model that may also be considered, one that is based on impactful work and meaningful exchange.

From this experiment that took us roughly six months to conceive, organize, and execute, we discovered two things:

1. Artists actually like to do research and create art that is meaningful and relevant to their personal stories, and
2. Many street passersby and art audiences are elated to find work that they can relate to – that reflects their lives, history, and culture.

Each of the artists had really challenged themselves to learn about the city they were making work for, and each had a story that also spoke of their own. Every day we were learning from them and they were learning from each other and without hesitation our hosts were schooling us as well.

Of course it helps when you are working with a dynamic urban contemporary art expert like Yasha Young, who has a deep well of ideas about community and more connections than the WiFi router at a One Direction concert. All week we were treated to a rotating list of visiting photographers, videographers, art directors, reporters, radio hosts, writers, culture mavens — and to many artists who were in town to put up new walls, show us their black books and iPhoto libraries, or just to meet their New York friends who were painting in the gallery.

Dain on the left with Gaia on the right at work on their portraits for “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shout out to Onur Dinc, Andreas Englund, Herakut, The Never Crew, KKade, Various & Gould, Strok, David Walker, FKDL, James Bullough, Vermibus, Roland Henry, Nika Kramer, Butterfly, Mark Rigney and other very cool well-wishers. While we’re at it, we all send a gold-plated shout out to the three women who kept us all cared for in so many ways in the gallery and on-site at the UN – Alejandra, Elisabetta, and Ana were indispensable.

Speaking of meeting interesting people, a huge highlight of the program for us was when two of the artists got to meet their “Person of Interest” face to face. We had arranged a surprise visit of one of them; NohJColey had no idea that Katharina Oguntoye would walk on the sidewalk in front of the UN and peer in the window where he was preparing his portrait of her.

To witness the enthusiasm with which they greeted one another and to hear them excitedly asking and answering each others questions regarding his work as an artist in Brooklyn and hers as an Afro German feminist in Berlin was the epitome of art as a catalyst for cultural exchange. We didn’t know life could be so rich.

Gaia’s person of interest, Fereshta Ludin also attended the opening in person on Saturday night, the first time that the two had met in person. Only two days before a Berlin law had been overturned allowing Muslim school teachers to wear headscarves – and Ms. Ludin has been a social activist advocating for the right for the last decade and a half.

The politics around this of course are highly charged and there have been xenophobic right-wing marches against Muslims and others in their defense in the streets in Berlin in recent months. Meeting Ms. Ludin in person and seeing her reaction to Gaia’s portrait of her gave such a powerful additional dimension to the entire experience of “Persons of Interest” that we never could have predicted when we first conceived of it. Gaia said it was a “life affirming moment”.

Probably what is most gratifying is when you see someone’s eyes light up with recognition at seeing one of their icons brought to life. One woman told us that she couldn’t believe that El Sol 25 knew Hannah Höch so well. Was it that she couldn’t imagine a former graff writer honoring the central female figure of Berlin’s Dada movement? We were shocked when a UN board director told us Marlene Dietrich had grown up in the same neighborhood where this new DAIN portrait of her was going up – we even met someone who went to her funeral here in ’92!

In the final analysis once again we witnessed the creative spirit alive and well in the street and in the gallery. Unlike early graffiti writers, these artists come from different backgrounds and disciplines – yet all intersected with art in the public sphere in New York; graffiti writers, muralists, painters, wheat-pasters, paper cutters… In Berlin you would have thought that they all had been working together for years, the collaborative spirit was so high – and luckily for us, Berlin welcomed them all.

The photo above captures the moment when NohJColey learns that Ms. Oguntoye is outside on the sidewalk looking at him through the window working on his portrait of her.

In the photo you see Ms. Oguntoye meeting NohJColey for the first time.

Urban Nation Project M/7 “Persons of Interest” is currently on view on the streets of Berlin until June 22nd at Bülowstraße 97
10738 Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany.

For more details on each artist’s Person of Interest click on the links below:

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