Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Case Maclaim, Domdirtee, drsc0, Flood, Gregos, Mr. Toll, Pixel Pancho, Resistance is Female, Rodk, Suits Won, and XORS.
“This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or exercise their revolutionary right to overthrow it.”
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring ABOVE, City Kitty, Corn79, Crisp, D7606, Damien Mitchell, Dee Dee, EC13, Gregos, Hiss, Homo Riot, Imamaker, Invader, Mark Jenkins, MOMO, Olek, OneArt, Savior El Mundo, Stik, Wing, and Zimad.
We first called her the Christo of Street Art a number of years ago, and this latest project seems to finally confirm it. Olek created a two part installation for the Verket Museum in Avesta – in short it is about destruction and rebuilding. Above is the latest picture of the house she mounted the installation within – wrapped in meters and meters of pink crochet.
“Our pink house is about the journey, not just about the artwork itself. It’s about us coming together as a community. It’s about helping each other. In the small Swedish community of Avesta we proved that we are stronger together, that we can make anything happen together. People from all walks of life came together to make this project possible. Someone donated the house, another one fixed the electricity and Red Heart Yarns donated the materials. The of course, most importantly, many women joined us in the effort to make my dream a reality.
After I exploded the house I wanted to create a positive ending for them as a symbol of a brighter future for all people, especially the ones who have been displaced against their own wills. Women have the ability to recreate themselves. No matter how low life might bring us, we can get back on our feet and start anew.
We can show everybody that women can build houses, women can make homes. “
Cities are urgently playing the deliberate gentrification/beautification card by bringing in the murals to give the place a facelift: Richmond just finished their third, Chicago is gearing up for a new mural program this week, and we are getting emails every few days from city planners around the world who would like to explore how to juice their flagging de-industrialized economy. And why not? New studies report that it raises your property values and advertisers are happy to join in to sponsor the events.
Is it Street Art? Most experts would say not- they lack the freewill autonomous nature and illegal aspects of the original Street Art scene – especially when their content is so sternly steered away from political or challenging themes and have corporate and state sponsorship. These are public/commercial mural programs – with work done by people who often are Street Artists.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Audio Surveillance Zone, Balu, Chamberlin Newsome, Claw Money, Clock, D*Face, De Grupo, FR, Gold Dust, Gregos, Selfable City, Sheryo, Smart Crew, Specter, Strok, The Yok, TMO Plater, and Vexta.
Happy New Year to All! Thank you for inspiring us to do our best and to those of you who continue to support our personal art project / cultural examination, we extend our gratitude more than ever.
Begun as an enthusiastic discovery of what was happening in a few neighborhoods in New York, we continued to expand our view into more cities around the world last year and into the history and future of the scene. We also aimed to provide you with a critical platform for examination of the street art/ graffiti / public art/ contemporary art continuum with interviews with artists, curators, collectors, organizers, observers and thinkers in the street, studio, gallery, and museum – trouble makers and taste makers alike.
In the end, it’s your observations and the conversations on the street that are most important. As we begin the year with over 300K fans, friends, and followers on social media platforms and 225 articles on the Huffington Post (thanks HuffPost team!), we feel like we get a valuable good survey of current opinions heading our way daily.
With in-depth interviews, investigative articles, opinion infused examinations, plain celebratory reverie, occasionally silly non-sequitors, and public appearances where we get to meet you, we get a good analytical look at an ever-evolving movement, glittery polish and warts and all.
As the new year begins we take a look back at the top stories chosen by BSA Readers in the last 12 months. Among them are two takeover pop-up shows in soon-to-be demolished buildings, a story about commercial abuse of artist copyrights and the effort to fight back, a street art community’s response to the sudden death of an activist street artist, a Street Art tourist trip, and a few inspirational women, men, and Mexican muralists. Even though we published at least once a day for the last 365 days, these are the most popular pieces, as chosen by you, Dear BSA Reader.
Eco-tourism is so popular for vacation travelers right now. You know, treading light and your carbon footprint and all that. Then there is Plastic Surgery Tourism for those whose nose is slightly twisted or who otherwise feel your personal epidermal brand could use a “refresh”. For half the price of back home why not travel to a fashionable cosmetic surgery destination and you won’t have to worry about someone seeing you buying brie at Balducci’s with a bandaged beak.
In the wake of the global growth of interest in art in the streets, one form of tourism that may soon be blowing up could be graffiti excursions, street art sightseeing, or even mural journeying. New York has been a magnet for years for aerosol artists calling us to help them hit up walls while they are on “spraycation”, but this is just the opposite.
You may wish to plan your trip abroad hunting the elusive wheat-pastes, stencils, fill-ins, hoping to capture an exotic local throwie. And why not take a few selfies with your favorite works by Street Artists that you only previously saw on Instagram?
Street Art photographer Stephen Kelley went on his own art safari last month in Lisbon, Portugal with his fiancé and he checked out a lot of the work that has been organized during the past couple of years by the internationally known local VHILS and some of his friends in a project entitled Underdogs.
“Underdogs is an international working platform based in Lisbon, Portugal that aims at creating space within the contemporary art scene for artists connected with the new languages of urban visual culture,” say the organizers, and they have curated a program of some large-scale pieces around the city in an intelligently grand and contextual manner that makes them seem like the installations have been there for decades, not a handful of years. Urban or contemporary, it has serious fans.
Today Mr. Kelley shares with BSA some of the shots he got during a relatively short trip to Lisbon, along with some of his experiences and observations.
“In preparing for the trip we used the Underdogs project as one of the references for the map,” he says. “I was able to convince my travelling partner and fiancé to rent an apartment in the Bairro Alto area. This was a good central point for the spots I wanted to hit. We were only in town for 3 days so I had to balance your standard tourist locations with my off-the-beaten-path art spots. She appreciates the work and is incredibly patient but I can only get away with dragging her into so many back alleys and train tracks.”
“Immediately after leaving the airport the taxi unintentionally drove us by a block-long Os Gemeos, Blu, Sam3, Ericailane, and Lucy Mclauchlan mural. We told the taxi driver that I was in town to shoot art in the streets and in buildings. He mentioned I should check out this street where a group of artists painted a series of murals about the local government administration. I put that on the list,” says Kelley.
“We decided to take a taxi to the area where I had located some C215 work. The taxi driver asked why we were going to that location/area,” says Kelley. “Once we arrived at the location I brought him with us to show him the art. He was incredibly impressed with the C215 mural I showed him and said he’d bring driving in town for 25 years and had never been on that street or never seen the artwork.”
“One evening in town we took a ferry over to Almada with a great view of the 25 de Abril Bridge (the same architect who designed the Golden Gate Bridge),” says Stephen. ” You can walk up the coast toward the bridge and there are two quaint eateries that make for a perfect sunset meal or drink. The waterfront is covered with graffiti and is a good representation of the art in the area.”
As with any vacation, planning your means of transportation is key – and Kelley and his girl realized Lisbon is not quite as pedestrian friendly as other cities, mainly because of the topography. “One of the first spots we hit was the harbor area for the Pixel Pancho and Vhils collaborations. After that, with intentions to continue to explore, we had our first encounter with the hills of Portugal,” he says. “The taxi driver had reminded us that Portugal is the city of seven hills. He was not kidding, walking the streets of Lisbon is no joke and a workout and a half. We quickly realized public transit or taxi was the best way to see Lisbon.”
Like most tourists on vacation, the events that make the most impact may be the unplanned surprises, like actually seeing work in progress. Stephen explains, “One day we started to head toward the Belem Tower and a How Nosm mural. On the way we ran into Vhil’s in progress working on a water tower outside the World Photo Press exhibition at the Museu da Electricidade. I tried to wait for more action shots but he was taking a break and I couldn’t wait.”
“I also recommend taking a trip up to the castles in Sintra. It’s a 30-minute train ride from the center of Lisbon. The castles are breathtaking and shouldn’t be missed. Sintra was one of the highlights of the entire stay. The train ride also gave me an opportunity to see all the trackside graffiti that is quite common in Europe. The highway and train graffiti are very common, which was much different than what I am accustomed to in the US,” says Kelley.
1. Ron English “Crucial Fiction” at Opera (NY)
2. “Museum of Curiosity” at Black Rat (London)
3. “RELIEF” – A Brooklyn Fundraiser Tonight – Helping New Yorkers with an Art Auction
4. “High Class Trash”, Dotmasters at Reed Projects
5. “The Art of Comedy Art Crawl” (NYC)
6. Know Hope and “The Weight” (LA)
7. Lara Zombie and her “Blue Bird Lobotomy (NYC)
8. Krause Gallery has a new show featuring Hanksy (NYC)
9. “Once Upon A Time in The West” at Maximillian Gallery (West Hollywood)
10. JURNE has “Keys To The City” at Klughaus Gallery (NYC)
11. Jurne: “Keys to the City” (VIDEO)
12. OLEK “You Can’t Fool” (VIDEO)
13. Balai Seni Visual Negara (BSVN) (VIDEO)
14. HOPSCOTCH RHA RHA RHA 2012 (VIDEO)
Ron English “Crucial Fiction” at Opera (NY)
The new solo show by Ron English,”Crucial Fiction” is now open at Opera Gallery in Manhattan. The pop surrealist continues to mine the heroic and dark images of his childhood imagination and of those around him, technically masterful 3-D contortions pulsating with mischief and an attitude of play. Street Artist, commercial artist, anti-commercial artist, culture jammer, pop culture enthusiast; English continues to explore to the delight of his fans.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Museum of Curiosity” at Black Rat (London)
An unusual group exhibition titled “The Museum of Curiosity” is now open at Black Rat Projects and includes a new installation titled “Dream Reliquary” by Brooklyn based Street and Fine Artist SWOON. The show also includes American artist Butch Anthony along with Tessa Farmer, Candice Tripp, Nancy Fouts, Giles Walker, Jessica Harrison, Taylor Shepherd, Delaney Martin and Oscar Rink. A very personal show for Black Rat owner Mike Snell, you also get to see as well centuries old taxidermy and a hippo skull, among other curiosities.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“RELIEF” – A Brooklyn Fundraiser Tonight – Helping New Yorkers with an Art Auction
Making Deals Zine and Trumbull Studios have teamed to put together a silent auction and raffle with the proceeds to bring relief to Sandy’s victims. They reached out to dozens of artists and friends to donate art for this cause. The event aptly titled “RELIEF” will take place today at the Trumbull Studios in Brooklyn. Please come out, have fun, purchase art and help those that are in need. Click on the link below the image for a full list of participating artists.
All proceeds from the sales will go to designated charities for the victims of Hurricane Sandy: New York Cares (nycares.org), Red Hook Initiative (rhicenter.org) and the Red Cross (redcross.org).
For further information and full artists list click here.
“High Class Trash”, Dotmasters at Reed Projects
In Stavanger, Norway the Reed Projects Gallery new show opens tonight with The Dotmasters “High Class Trash” solo show.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“The Art of Comedy Art Crawl” (NYC)
Hit the streets with Vandalog and The New York Comedy Festival, who are teamed to produce a number of murals in Little Italy in the Lower Manhattan. There will be an art crawl, “The Art of Comedy Art Crawl” to be precise this Saturday, Nov. 10 where Street Art fans are going to be guided to appreciate the newly installed pieces by Ron English, Gilf! and Hanksy.
For further information regarding this event click here.
Know Hope and “The Weight” (LA)
The Israeli based Street Artist named Know Hope has a solo show called “The Weight” opening tomorrow at the Known Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. Know Hope unique characters and words come together on walls and found wood as entire poems. His art aims to lighten the burden of living, while contemplating it’s weight.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Also happening this weekend:
Lara Zombie and her “Blue Bird Lobotomy” solo show is now open to the general public at Broome Street Gallery in Manhattan, NY. Click here for more details on this show.
Krause Gallery has a new show featuring Hanksy called “Young Puns 2 – Now With More Pun”. Now open to the general public in Manhattan, NY. Click here for more details.
The new group exhibition “Once Upon A Time in The West” at Maximillian Gallery in West Hollywood, CA opens tomorrow with new works by Andy Appleton, Mauro Caputo, John Carr, COL, COPE2, DD$, DeeKay, Dog Byte, Richard Duardo, Rene Gagnon, Gregos, Listak, Devin Liston, Septerhed, Smear, Steven Swimmer and Tazroc. Click here for more details on this show.
Klughaus Gallery in Lower Manhattan will give JURNE the “Keys To The City” at the opening of his solo show tomorrow. Click here for more details on this show.
Jurne: “Keys to the City” (VIDEO)
OLEK “You Can’t Fool” (VIDEO)
Balai Seni Visual Negara(BSVN), Malaysia for ART BOOK FAIR 2012 (VIDEO)
HOPSCOTCH RHA RHA RHA 2012 (VIDEO)
A good use of duct tape on the street in Indonesia. – And an effective way to engage the public.
Featuring: Andy Appleton, Mauro Caputo, John Carr, COL, COPE2, DD$, DeeKay, Dog Byte, Richard Duardo, Rene Gagnon, Gregos, Listak, Devin Liston, Septerhed, Smear, Steven Swimmer and Tazroc
OPENING RECEPTION: SATURDAY November 10, 2012, 6PM – 8PM
Exhibition: Every Day, 1PM – 8PM, and by appointment
Maximillian Gallery, the award-winning street art gallery in West Hollywood, unveils its newest exhibit, Once Upon a Time in the West, with an artists’ reception on Saturday, November 10, 2012 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. The exhibit features top street and urban art by a talented roster of artists: Andy Appleton, Mauro Caputo, John Carr, COL, COPE2,DD$, DeeKay, Dog Byte, Richard Duardo, Rene Gagnon, Gregos, Listak, Devin Liston, Septerhed, Smear, Steven Swimmer andTazroc. Once Upon a Time in the West runs through Thursday, December 20, 2012. Also, Maximillian Gallery is pleased to now feature a selection of unique Rene Gagnon Abraham Obama lenticular prints reworked from Ron English originals. Maximillian Gallery is open daily from 1:00pm to 8:00pm, except major holidays, as well as by appointment, inside the Sunset Marquis Hotel (1200 Alta Loma Road, West Hollywood, CA 90069; 323-546-9615). Maximillian Gallery is also often open late on Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, please see http://maximilliangallery.com.“We are thrilled to showcase the exciting collection of cutting-edge works in the new exhibit,” says Caradoc, Maximillian Gallery’s owner and director, “The show brings together a fresh selection of work from emerging as well as established artists.”Once Upon a Time in the West -
Curated by third-generation art connoisseur and entrepreneurCaradoc, Maximillian Gallery is dedicated to showcasing contemporary art, featuring dozens of emerging as well as established artists, with an emphasis on urban, graffiti, and street art. The gallery’s upcoming exhibition, Once Upon a Time in the West, features works by some of the most provocative and prolific artists working today.
WHAT:Once Upon a Time in the West Art Exhibition
WHO: Andy Appleton, Mauro Caputo, John Carr, COL, COPE2, DD$, DeeKay, Dog Byte, Richard Duardo, Rene Gagnon, Gregos, Listak, Devin Liston, Septerhed, Smear, Steven Swimmer & Tazroc
WHEN: Opening reception Saturday, November 10, 2012 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm (with some featured artists in attendance), as well as daily through Thursday, December 20, 2012 from 1:00pm to 8:00pm, and by appointment
WHERE: Maximillian Gallery, 1200 Alta Loma Road, West Hollywood, CA 90069
MAXIMILLIAN GALLERY AT THE SUNSET MARQUIS HOTEL LAUNCHES SUMMER IN THE STREET EXHIBITION, JUNE 30, 2012
Known for its roster of celebrated street artists, Maximillian Gallery at The Sunset Marquis Hotel kicks off thesummer with a hard hitting exhibition of talent, including: Richard Duardo, Desire Obtain Cherish, Cyrcle, Dog Byte, DD$, Free Humanity, Septerhed, John Carr, Smear, DeeKay, Andy Appleton, Random Act, Gregos & Emily Bradley. Maximillian Gallery at The Sunset Marquis Hotel presents a celebrated group of street artists for its Summer in the Street exhibition. Opening event is Saturday, June 30, from 6p to 8p, with some of the featured artists in attendance, and will exhibit daily from 1p to 8p and by appointment.
Granting asylum to the guerilla works that every day pounce, halt and inspire throughout the city, Summer in the Street will feature cutting edge works from several of urbanity’s most prolific street artists. With street works being removed and covered regularly, this is a rare chance to witness the street art unobstructed and undiluted.
“Maximillian Gallery’s commitment is to the art, to the urban art lovers and to the as-yet enthusiasts,” Maximillian Gallery’s founder and Director, Caradoc, explains. “Here, an ever-widening audience can experience what makes the city truly inspirational”
CALENDAR LISTING
WHO: Provocative street artists
WHAT: Summer in the Street Exhibit
WHEN: Opening reception Saturday, June 30 from 6p – 8p, with some featured artists in attendance,
and daily from 1p – 8p and by appointment
WHERE: Maximillian Gallery at The Sunset Marquis Hotel
1200 Alta Loma Road, West Hollywood, CA 90069
About Maximillian Gallery
A l’heure où l’individualisme prime sur le collectif, où le culte du moi peut nous faire perdre la tête, il était tout naturel de s’intéresser à l’autoportrait. Doit-on le qualifier d’exhibitionnisme, de jubilation narcissique ou traduit-il tout simplement un clin d’œil amusé de l’artiste sur son propre miroir… qui lui renvoie forcément l’image d’un autre.
L’autoportrait nous interpelle, nous fascine, son côté « people » séduit notre côté voyeur car la mise en scène choisie par l’artiste – le lieu, le moment, l’attitude – sont autant de petits secrets qu’il nous livre sur sa personnalité. Ainsi les oreilles de Jef Aérosol, le gros havane de Spliff Gâchette, les fusils de Konny Steding, les humeurs de Gregos, les grimaces de Mimi The Clown, Mr Lolo et ses roses, les appareils photo de Jana et Js ou encore les empreintes de Pixal Parazit sèment une multitude de petits indices sur la personnalité des artistes.
L’autoportrait en quelques mots. Le genre a vu le jour sous la Renaissance et on attribue le premier autoportrait à Titien. Ces autoportraits coïncidaient alors le plus souvent avec le nouveau statut social du peintre. L’artiste est représenté dans son atelier, ou entrain de peindre. Mais c’est au XVIIe que l’exercice acquière ses lettres de noblesse avec Rembrandt, Velasquez… Par la suite tous les grands peintres ont laissé au moins un autoportrait puis l’influence de la psychanalyse au XXè siècle a particulièrement aidé au renouveau du genre (Van Gogh, Picasso, Bacon…). Se représenter est bien une tendance naturelle de l’être humain et la génération Street Art n’échappe pas au genre. Qu’il soit une représentation réelle de sa propre image, ou simplement une suggestion l’artiste aime jouer avec son image.
L’exposition réunira une trentaine d’autoportraits, et présentera également quelques portraits d’artistes, maîtres ou figures incontournables de leur époque : Gustav Klimt, Salvator Dali, Picasso, Epsylon Point…
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
