A few shots of David Bowie as art in the streets. A New Yorker as much as a Brixtoner, Bowie and his wife could be seen on the sidewalks, in shops and restaurants here over the last few decades – and of course his image showed up periodically as art on the streets as well.
Without fumbling too much for words at the news of his death we’ll just say that we at BSA and artists everywhere owe a large debt of gratitude to this man for making new paths for us to walk and encouraging us all to make our own. Our world will never be the same without him.
Celebrate life today because, “These are the Golden Years.”
Every Friday you can stop by here to see a handful of videos that are directly/tangentially related to Street Art. The criterion for selection is admittedly loose so we’ll just say that BSA Film Friday is a platform for inspiration, expression, examination. Some people use video to write an exhaustive treatise, a thorough examination bolstering Street Arts’ rightful place in the canon of public arts. Others write a few verses of a poem with video. We give extra points for telling a story in a new way.
Here we collect 15 that resonated with BSA readers in 2015, along with some quotes from the original posting to show you what we were thinking. Our sincere thanks to the hundreds of videographers who work so hard and with so much passion to tell their story with this medium. We have such admiration for you and your talent.
“Narcelio Grud and “Chaupixo” brings us back into the inventive mind of this experimenter – now hand pumping a slurry of colored concrete over a stencil pattern. The results are solid!”
Gladys Hulot, AKA Hyrtis Animates David Bowie “Life in Mars”
“BSA readers will dig this animation of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” Gladys Hulot, also known as Hyrtis, brings Bowie to slink through the cracks and around the concrete underground, dripping with piercing drama, and plenty of distinctive style. The voice here is stunningly replaced with a musical saw, giving the chameleon just one more layer to his multiple identities. Not precisely street art, but Bowie’s ties to the street are undisputed.”
“This is almost a year old but it is also sort of timeless when you see how Shepard Fairey’s continous re-evolving of his philosophies about art and its place in our lives has come to such cogent arguments. It’s a short film, a genuine distillation of the larger themes that we have seen at work in the life and the career and public person.
Shot by a guy whose primary focus up until this point was nearly exclusively about skaters and skate culture, Brett Novak says he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Fairey was likeable and had a lot of good information to impart. “I was not aware at how incredibly inspiring Shepard would turn out to be.”
“Slab City is sometimes billed as an isolated desolated off-the-grid sort of place in California so it was an adventure for Christina Angelina and Ease One discovered the remains of this abandoned water tank and transformed it into a circular mural. They call it The Kinetoscope.”
“It’s all about Joe! While you were looking for a brunch spot or a beard wax or simply at your navel, Joe took an opportunity to connect artists with walls and did more for the “scene” in Bushwick than an L Train full of pilgrims ever could. He cleared the way for a slew of local and international artists and writers looking for an opportunity to exercise their creative speech and courted the press with his local native personal story so often that you can imagine a Netflix series will be next.”
Roma Street Art Tribes as Captured by Dioniso Punk
“Disorderly, discordant, and richly chaotic, these two videos are centered around the Italian street art paintings and artists whom you will recognize from our earlier postings on community/gallery organized urban art programming – but within the context of historical art publicly displayed, peoples movements, patronage, fascism, the classics.
Dioniso Punk allows everyone to talk – neighbors, artists, organizers, curators, public philosophers, elected officials, psychologists, sociologists, entrepreneurs, posers, professors, historians, students, an opera singer, the petite bourgeoisie, international visitors and hapless puzzled opinionated locals.”
“The ship Mara Hope, stranded for 30 years on Iracema Beach alongside the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, received a benediction of more color in July thanks to Street Art interventionist and experimenter Narcelio Grud. A mistake in 1985, the ship has become a monument over time, a symbol of the history of the fishing industry, and after so many years a symbol of personal history for people who have grown up with it.”
“A nice homemade video this week by New Zealand painter Owen Dippie’s talented wife Erin, who documented his trip to New York and LA. Without the hype this gives you an idea what it is like to be a tourist here, and it is good to see the experience through the eyes of a loving partner.”
“We debuted this video by Priest Fontaine live for the Brooklyn Museum audience with Faile and actual chills went up people’s spines. No lie. Now you can see it too here online Capturing the current Times Square as county fair with mountains of screens flashing images around the Selfie Stick Forest, all corporate creepy and still sleezey – Fontaine evokes the magic that Faile is, as well as the pure industry that it takes to make their art work. Also good to remember that it was a hot and humid overnight installation that started at 8pm and ended around 10 the following morning.”
Your Tour Through Dismaland with Butterfly and Lars Pederson
“The views are sadly hilarious, pure sarcasm and commentary on issues and behaviors. If Street Art is meant sometimes to hold a mirror to us as we pass by, this is a genuine funhouse of mirrors at every turn. Of course, this isn’t Street Art – its site-specific contemporary art – and many of the artists are street artists, but not all. Butterfly and Pederson discuss the installations as they encounter them and the viewer feels at though they have gotten a true sense of the wonderful world of Dismal.”
Ugangprosjektet 2015 in Drammen, Norway. A Film by Selina Miles
“UGANG2015 in Drammen, Norway had two weeks of murals from Street Artists and graffiti writers in late August. A relatively new event curated by local graffiti artist Eric Ness Christiansen (Eazy), the program is already slamming. A small town of 70,000 about 40 minutes from Oslo, they know how to take care of details, including inviting the inimitable Selina Miles to come and shoot it. Any questions?”
Brandalism Takes Over Bus Stops to Counter Cop21 Misinformation
“Here is a brief intro video about Brandalism’s answer to UN COP21 – and the first of what will surely be more videos about this massive effort by 82 Artists from 19 different countries to take back public space and the public dialogue about climate change from those who are skillfully employing misinformation and bending laws to enable them to continue making money at all costs.”
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1. Hyrtis Animates David Bowie and “Life in Mars”
2. Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda. “Grounded Gratitude” Paris, France.
3. Street Art in Dunedin, New Zealand
BSA Special Feature:
Gladys Hulot, AKA Hyrtis Animates David Bowie “Life in Mars”
BSA readers will dig this animation of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” Gladys Hulot, also known as Hyrtis, brings Bowie to slink through the cracks and around the concrete underground, dripping with piercing drama, and plenty of distinctive style. The voice here is stunningly replaced with a musical saw, giving the chameleon just one more layer to his multiple identities. Not precisely street art, but Bowie’s ties to the street are undisputed.
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda. “Grounded Gratitude” Paris, France.
With “Grounding Gratitude” painted at the festival In Situ Art of Aubervilliers during spring 2014, Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada paints Nicole Picquart, a social worker who helps people to have a better life.
Street Art in Dunedin, New Zealand
A quick overview of the murals for Dunedin in New Zealand.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1. The Reinvention of Normal: Dominic Wilcox
2. Rallitox: Chicken Murder on Williamsburg Street Corner
3. Abdel Maged Amara: LIES – The Street Walkers
4. Sbagliato in London Creates a False Hallway
5. Hitnes in Rome: Blind Eye Factory
The Reinvention of Normal: Dominic Wilcox
“By doing the ridiculous, something else might come of it,” says Dominic Wilcox, and we couldn’t agree more.
“Just off the wall. And that is what I’ve always encouraged in him.” says Dominic’s dad.
“I had this idea to come up with something creative every day for 30 days,” says the artist.
And this is how we all move forward.
Rallitox: Chicken Murder on Williamsburg Street Corner
Insert joke about hipsters here. Actually, this is Williamsburg – hipsters left a few years ago and only return to reminisce. Nonetheless this installation and the blasé reactions of the passive consumer class to Rallitox’s installation are illuminating. Please take your photo and move on.
Also interesting to note, Rallitox reports that a dead animal is cheaper than aerosol paint or markers for making art.
Abdel Maged Amara: LIES – The Street Walkers
Take a look at how to make a 3D Graffiti sculpture and then suspend it in what appears to be its natural environment.
Sbagliato in London Creates a False Hallway
Optical illusion is featured in this tease for upcoming Sbagliato project. Walk this way.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
