All posts tagged: Henrik Haven

Karl Addison : Creating Public Work for New Rail Line in Denver

August 13, 2016 Artists

The veils that separate our intellectual distinctions of art practice and theory are so quickly and easily pierced when viewing creative expression as lying upon a continuum. Somewhere between free improvisational, unauthorized, radical self expression (mark-making, graffiti, perhaps) and juried, approved, charted public art (institutional murals, perhaps) lie a thousand shadings of aesthetic expression – and myriad degrees of relationships between artist and passersby.

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Karl Addison. Federal RTD Station in Denver, Colorado. July 2016. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Today we look at a commissioned public work by mural artist Karl Addison, who has previously engaged in less structured, free will art-making in the public.This kind of painting takes planning (over a year) and a number of people in Denver to approve it (20 or so panelists) before he could make his first mark.

Concept, budget, timelines, sketches – each element carefully considered with input from office holders and planners, a public project on a federal light rail station with permission is anathema to the approach of taggers and bombers of trains. Which is not to say that all bombers are antagonistic of public taste or wishes.

Karl Addison. Federal RTD Station in Denver, Colorado. July 2016. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Additionally, unlike many but not all Street Art festivals which simply plop down artists on empty walls without a proviso to even educate themselves about the community they are visiting, Addison says a main consideration was whether the community likes or approves of the work they would be left to live with. “I love working with local communities and the people that inhabit those places – they are the ones that take the ownership and passion for their public artwork to the next level.”

Karl Addison. Federal RTD Station in Denver, Colorado. July 2016. (photo © Henrik Haven)

So here are new work-in-progress images from photographer Henrik Haven of Addison’s station, one of 8 new Federal RTD Stations along 11 miles of new track in Denver that will open this October. Addison says the forms of giants and small people are meant as placeholders, everyday archetypes if you will. His particular interest is color theory and the effect his careful washes and blends will have on train travelers.

Karl Addison. Federal RTD Station in Denver, Colorado. July 2016. (photo © Henrik Haven)

“The giants are overlaid on a smooth gradient of color blending from a rich warmer purple, to soft creams and ice blues, to a deep rich purple into blue,” he says. “The color transition goes into green and lighter subsection exceeding to the far left along an Ashlar Stone facade.”

In the most integrated consideration, he hopes that his work is soothing, and he painstakingly created each effect to ensure it. “Each cinder block is painted one by one with the same color blends as the gradient – a map of larger color blocks so the viewer can start to translate the 90 colors used.”

Karl Addison. Federal RTD Station in Denver, Colorado. July 2016. (photo © Henrik Haven)

“Surface” Brings 6 New Murals to Copenhagen

June 29, 2015 Artists

New images of epic murals in Copenhagen today from Conor Harrington (UK), ROA (Belgium), Borondo (Spain), DALeast (China), Maya Hayuk (US) and HuskMitNavn (DK) on the occasion of the release of Surface, the book by Danish photographer SØREN SOLKÆR. The walls were part of the grand official introduction in mid-June, supported by a huge 122 display of large format portraits of 220 x 330 cm in a grid-like street scape. The Surface events were done in cooperation with Øksnehallen, V1 Gallery and the municipality in Copenhagen, which contributed funds toward the completion.

No doubt inspired by SØRENs signature photography style that is influenced by the staging of cinema and theater, these new murals similarly take on a sweeping grand style and scope.

Dal East . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

Dal East . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Borondo . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

Borondo . Søren Solkær. Detail. “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

Conor Harrington . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Conor Harrington . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

Maya Hayuk . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

ROA . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Sandra Hoj)

ROA . Søren Solkær. Detail. “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

ROA . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

HuskMitNavn . Søren Solkær “Surface” (photo © Henrik Haven)

HuskMitNanv . Søren Solkær Detail.”Surface” (photo © Sandra Hoj)

Thank you to BSA collaborators Henrik Haven and Sandra Hoj for sharing their photos with BSA readers.

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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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Live Stenciling in Berlin with Street Artists for “Cut It Out”

February 10, 2015 Artists

The stencil has been a steady presence on the street since the beginning of graffiti and Street Art. Possibly picked up from commercial or military methods of labeling shipments, machinery, signage, and weaponry – it has remained a foundational technique of creative expression since the early days of the modern graff scene even as it’s use continues to expand stylistically.

The simple one color stencil captures the imagination of many first time artists working in the public sphere because it enables you to quickly spray your message on a wall and run. And replicate it. With time your cuts may become more sophisticated or not but its up to you; it’s not entirely necessary to labor for hours over a stencil for it to have a worthwhile impact, but it can help.

M-City. Urban Nation van. (photo © Nika Kramer)

In the 2000s the Street Art scenes in many cities have been teeming with stencil art, and a number of practitioners have developed the art form into one that expresses high degrees of artistry, complexity, and warmth, as well as conveying the bluntest of sentiments and slogans, with and without irony.

“Cut It Out” is a new exhibition in the Urban Nation Gallery in Berlin that pulls together an interesting collection of folks who have used stencils on the street across mainly Europe and the US and in the case of artists like Jef Aerosol, Epsylon Point, and Stencil King (Hugo Kaagman), across more than three decades, almost four.

M-City. Urban Nation van. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Curated by Olly Walker and Henrik Haven, the international group was on display in Berlin, and many of the participating artists were in attendance – and as is their wont they hit the walls inside and outside the gallery around Berlin, including the Urban Nation van. BSA is happy to share these exclusive shots of the honored stencillists in action = procured to us by Henrik Heaven and shot by Nika Kramer.

”Cut It Out!” features new works by: Above, Adam 5100, Aiko, Alessio-B, Artist Ouvrier, B-Toy, C215, Canvas, Don John, Eins92, Eelus, EismannArts, Epsylon Point, Icy & Sot, Jana & Js, Jef Aerosol, Joe Lurato, Logan Hicks, M-City, Mobstr, Nick Walker, Orticanoodles, Paul Insect, Pisa 73, RekoRennie, Rene Gagnon, Snik, Stan & Lex, Stencil King, Stew, STF, Stinkfish, Tankpetrol and XooooX.

M-City. Urban Nation van. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Jeff Aerosol. Urban Nation van. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Ken. Urban Nation van. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Ken Urban Nation van. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Amsterdam’s Hugo Kaagman, or Stencil King, did his first stencil on the street in 1978. Urban Nation van. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Kurar. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Kurar (photo © Nika Kramer)

M-City (photo © Nika Kramer)

Eismann (photo © Nika Kramer)

Alessio B (photo © Nika Kramer)

Hugo Kaagman (photo © Nika Kramer)

Canvaz (photo © Nika Kramer)

Eins92 (photo © Nika Kramer)

Jeff Aerosol (photo © Henrik Haven)

Above (photo © Henrik Haven)

Above (photo © Nika Kramer)

“Cut It Out” is currently on view and free for the general public in Berlin. Click HERE for further details. To inquire about works click HERE

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Mr. Toll Goes To The Malaysian Jungle

January 3, 2015 Artists

We have become accustomed to being surprised by the occasional tropical bird perched above head in the urban jungle that is NYC. But Mr. Toll has never looked so site-appropriate until now.

While taking part in the “Urban Xchange: Crossing Over” mural arts festival in Penang, Malaysia recently, Mr. Toll headed straight to the jungle with photographer Henrik Haven in tow. There he placed his now familiar clay sculptures of birds into verdant lush surroundings and you have to admit they look perfectly happy there.

Mr. Toll. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia 2014. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Somehow climbing up and over large moss covered tree roots is a very appealing thought on this grey January day, especially when you are confronted with the bright and colorful plumage of a sculpture by the Brooklyn-based street artist. Not sure about the availability of a deli here, or a corner for that matter.

Mr. Toll. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia 2014. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Click HERE to read our full coverage of Urban Xchange: Crossing Over.

Thank you to Henrik for sharing his photographs exclusively with BSA readers.

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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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“Urban Xchange: Crossing Over” A New Festival in Penang, Malaysia

December 11, 2014 Artists

Urban Exchange: Crossing Over 2014 is a brand new street art festival in George Town, Penang in Malaysia. In November they hosted 16 artists to paint walls throughout this city of two and a half million on the Strait of Malacca.

It is not a city that has hosted Street Art traditionally and one that frowns strongly on graffiti, but ever since Lithuanian Street Artist Ernest Zacharevic did some very successful installations here in 2012 which drew crowds and cameras, the citizenry and elected officials have become very hospitable to the idea — and have even enacted a formalized process for approving public art.

Skolo brings tradition, sport, and modern communications together in this brand new mural for Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Today we travel to Penang to see the brand new pieces for this first-year show, co-curated by Gabija Grusaite and Eeyan Chuah, who run Hin Bus Depot Art Centre, a creative space in the ruins of a bus depot that hosted a corollary gallery show. Alongside Berlin based Urban Nation’s director and curator, Yasha Young, the two invited a mixture of local and international artists to complete murals and to host some community workshops.

“There’s never a dull moment at Urban Nation’s exchange program,” says Young, “after a year in the planning we were excited to finally make the journey.”

Tank Petrol at work on is wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Among the various murals you’ll see a selection of figurative, realistic, and illustration styles that carefully walk a community moderated fine line, hoping to bring locals to be more actively engaged in the program. As a novelty outlier, you’ll also see Brooklyn’s Mr. Toll installing his colorful hand formed clay sculptures in unusual spots if you keep your head up.

In an interview with Malay Mail Online, Ms. Grusaite says, “We want to create an artistic international cultural exchange so that local artists can learn from international artists who will be here for the project while the international artists will get exposure to the local culture and art scene.”

Tank Petrol. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

As is the case more often, with Urban Exchange we are again seeing a new model of public art developing where at the forefront are artists who have laid their groundwork in graffiti rather than university exclusively. We’ve been using a term we’re calling the “New Muralism” to indicate the grassroots nature and populist generation of these works and we still think its definition is evolving. Not quite community murals in the strictest sense, and not seeking the approval of gate-keeping institutions either, these artists are looking for and finding new ways to challenge themselves creatively in the public sphere while being responsive to needs of the public. Huh!

Included in the Urban Exchange project are Antanas Dubra (Lithuania), Bibichun (Malaysia), Don John (Denmark), Donald Abraham (Malaysia), Elle (United States), Ernest Zacharevic (Lithuania), Fauzan Faud (Malaysia), Karl Addison (Germany), Kenji Chai (Malaysia), Rone (Australia), Sk10 (Singapore), TankPetrol (United Kingdom), Black Fritilldea (Malaysia), 4Some (a crew from Kuala Lumpur consisting of Donald, Black, Fauzan and Jojo), Mr Toll (New York) and Vexta (New York)

Our heartfelt thank you to Henrik Haven, who took a trip from Copenhagen which took 31 hours (and four different flights) for sharing his excellent photographs here with BSA readers.

RONE at work on is wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

RONE on the left with Karl Addison on the right. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

RONE. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Ernest Zacharevic at work on is wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Ernest Zacharevic. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

4Some Crew at work on their wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

4Some Crew (Donald, Black, Fauzan and Jojo) Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Vexta at work on her wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Vexta. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Bibichun. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Nikko Tan)

Don John at work on his wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Don John. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Elle at work on her wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Elle. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Karl Addison at work on his wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Karl Addison. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Antanas Dubra at work on their wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Antanas Dubra. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Sliz assists Skolo. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Mr. Toll installing his clay sculptures. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Mr. Toll. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Collaboration between Ernest Zacharavic and Etoja. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

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Project M/6 Curated By Jonathan LeVine

November 10, 2014 Artists

The sixth installment of Project M at the Urban Nation (UN) comes from a clever collection of painters, illustrators, and urban interventionists. Curated by gallerist Jonathan Levine, whose gallery consistently stages quality shows in Manhattan’s Chelsea art district, the street level windows, façade, and pop-up show feature deep, dark, and richly storied works that resonate.

DAL East at work on the facade. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Entitled “Greetings From New York City,” the show features artists who have intersected with the street primarily from outside of Gotham such as China/South Africa’s Dal East, Austria’s Nychos, Mexico’s Saner, and the Californian Jeff Soto. Two exceptions like Brooklyn’s Dan Witz and Olek are both currently active on the New York street art scene and in the case of Witz, dating back to his student days in the East Village in the late 1970s.

Consistent with his street pieces hidden in plain sight for street watchers, Mr. Witz drilled his hooded and gated prisoners to the installation board display and Olek crocheted a provocative slogan in her blaringly neon tableau, brightening and possibly flummoxing the grey Schöneberg streets.

DAL East at work on the facade. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Saner’s magically real folk references are meaty and disturbing – evoking the monstrous events currently happening back home, while Nychos’ cartoonish dissection of animals and people in 3-D trace directly to his family’s traditions of hunting and Jeff Soto straddles the street and the dark pop fantasy world that frequents the pages of magazines like Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose. For his exterior façade mural Dal East gathers the life force energy of an eagle to rise above and preside above the street in stark relief.

On the whole Mr. Levine’s stable communicates through layers both humorous and heavy, myriad meanings touched by a sardonic gloss of advertising finesse; sometimes slyly laughing, sometimes deadpan, always musing. Project M/6 smartly invites this view into the frame of modern contemporary as art in the streets continues to conflate.

DAL East with a detail of the facade on the background. (photo © Henrik Haven)

DAL East to the right. The center piece by mixed media collage artist Handiedan is not part of ProjectM/6 (photo © Henrik Haven)

SANER at work on his panels. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Jeff Soto at work on his panels. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Nychos at work on his panels. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Nychos. Sketch book. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Olek and assistant at work on her panels. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Dan Witz at work on his panels. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Jeff Soto on the left. Dan Witz on the right. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Dan Witz (photo © Henrik Haven)

Jeff Soto . Dan Witz . Olek (photo © Henrik Haven)

Olek (photo © Henrik Haven)

Nychos (photo © Henrik Haven)

SANER (photo © Henrik Haven)

SANER. Detail. (photo © Henrik Haven)

SANER (photo © Henrik Haven)

Jeff Soto (photo © Henrik Haven)

To learn more about Urban Nation and ProjectM click HERE

We wish to thank photographer Henrik Haven for sharing his work with BSA readers, and to UN Director Yasha Young.

URBAN NATION PRESENTS PROJECT M/6

NUART 2014 Roundup : Activism, Muralism, Graffiti and Aesthetics

September 10, 2014 Artists

The Norwegian mural festival named Nuart took place last week with a marked tilt toward the conceptual and the interventionist, a direct debate about the relevance of activism amidst a rising tide of sanctioned murals, and Tilt leading us down a path toward traditional graffiti.

Ironically graffiti seemed a rather tame topic for once.

TILT. “Panic Room” Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

“Urban interventionism is about not only making social commentary through artistic expression, but actually intervening in a public and social space in a poetic, unexpected or provocative way,” said architect and organizer Nicola Markhus when speaking to the local Stavangernews. Markhus may have been thinking about the Portuguese artist ±Maismenos±, who constructed a miniature oil tanker platform from found objects and installed it temporarily atop a sculpture honoring canning workers in Lervig Courtyard, by way of contrasting the past with the present.

±MaisMenos± NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Or maybe she was thinking about the Madrid-based SpY, who painted a massive red-lettered “ERROR” on two sides of a brutal block long building in decay down by the waterside, an ironic judgment on the eyesores of unfortunate urban decay. Among the contextual social commentary as well were the oil-dripping sentiments of geologist/artist Andreco, who regaled the façade of a classic Norwegian building with his geometric interpretation of rocks found poking up from the soil, and the three dimensional mural of homeless people by Brooklyn-based Iranian brothers Icy & Sot only three blocks from an outdoor encampment of homeless travelers whom some locals call gypsies.

SpY. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Such is one of the traditions of Street Art: social and political commentary that some call activism because of its advocacy, or at least its stubborn acknowledgement of imperfections in the human condition. This year’s Nuart fosters the spirit and intellectual pursuit associated with academic examination and in doing so again separates itself from the growing number of Street Art festivals who implicitly or explicitly censor the choices of the invited due to commercial or political pressures. Even during the painting this year there were conversations among artists about a high profile festival underway elsewhere that had just dis-invited certain Street Artists because of their “political” work in the past.

John Fekner. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

As if to drive the point home, New York street and multimedia artist John Fekner, who created hundreds of environmental, social, political and conceptual works consisting of stenciled words in NYC beginning in the 1970s that highlighted failed urban planning and public policy, was invited to reprise his classic text based “False Promises” stencil here. The choice of Fekner was perhaps atypical and one that could be overlooked if Nuart founder Martyn Reed didn’t decide to champion the artists work in his mini-retrospective indoors.

And need we mention that his indoor installation space for Saturday’s gallery opening was shared by Fra.Biancoshock’s instantly controversial merging of the nazi flag with the Facebook logo? Moments after we posted an early image of the installation in progress, cheers and condemnation populated our social media feeds – a happy discord that Nuart isn’t traditionally spooked by.

Fra.Biancoshok. Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

“This is a representation of two different iconic movements; the Nazis and the Facebook age,” says the Milan based Fra.Biancoshock who specializes in street interventions, not Street Art, per se. “I wanted to unite the two concepts in a unique logo as a way of describing two different ways to have control of the masses in two different ages. It is a provocative representation that is meant to say, ‘Imagine if these two things had met in the same period,’ ” he explains of the illuminated wheel of instantly recognizable letter f’s popping from a four alarm red background at the temporary gallery show in “tunnels” at Tou Scene.

“Obviously the story of the Nazis is very dramatic and heavy and Facebook is only social media but for me if it is not used in the right way it could result in some serious damage; in the areas of privacy, in having control (of people). So I wanted to make this interpretation of our contemporary situation of a certain totalitarianism in our communications today.”

DOT DOT DOT. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Comparatively the graffiti writer on display this year is a relative lightweight! Toulous-based Tilt actually created one of the more visually compelling installations (and an instant hit) at the indoor gallery of Tou Scene entitled “Panic Bathroom”, which consists of a tiled men’s restroom evenly split between YMCA and CBGB. The untouched half is pristine and gleaming white while its brother across the line is slaughtered floor to ceiling by pugilistic color, swollen bubbles and drippy tags; all just out of reach of the velvet rope that holds guests back.

±MaisMenos± NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

For the Norwegian born Street Artist named Strøk, Nuart this year is as much about aesthetics and the beauty of the moment as it is the intellectualizing that was on display here during the pub debate and two days of presentations for Nuart PLUS, organized by Eirik Sjåholm Knudsen. He shows us his rendering of figures casting long shadows across the wall on his glossy tablet and he talks about composition, negative space, and the serendipity of catching figures in motion.

Strøk. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

“I like watching people running around and seeing these movements, these frozen moments when they are heading somewhere but you don’t know exactly where – like a moment when time has frozen,” he says. “It’s a snapshot and you just happened to be there.”

Fortunately for many Nuart still knows how to produce a memorable shot of art in the public sphere, and we have some here for you to enjoy.

±MaisMenos± created Norway/No Way as a commentary about joining the European Union. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

±MaisMenos± Detail. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

±MaisMenos± Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

TILT. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Andreco. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Andreco. Deatil. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Andreco. Detail of his installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

SPY. Installation at TOU Scene enabled you to see the “error” part of the word only when the black light revealed it. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Martin Whatson. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Martin Whatson. Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Martin Whatson completed this new mural at the airport – after being stranded on top of the cherry picker for a few hours the first day because the balance was off. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Strøk’s new mural on the right and a large ground installation on the left by ±MaisMenos±. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Anders Gjennestad)

Levalet was one of many of the artists this year who made direct or indirect reference to the oil industry – the one that powers the economy in this town and much of the country. Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Levalet. Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Icy & Sot created this mammoth 3-D installation with wooden cut-out stencils rising above the edge of the the building. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Icy & Sot. Installation at Tou Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Not an official guest this year Hama Woods was one of a number of artists who autonomously brought work to put up during NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Etam Cru. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

M-City. Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Borondo. Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Borondo. By scratching paint from the front of the glass and painting diagrams or symbols on the back, Borondo created a full illustration with shadow on the wall when illuminated correctly. Detail of the installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Levalet’s outside installations. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Levalet. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Mathieu Tremblin created an interactive piece that guests could participate in by photographing themselves before a bluescreen wall and sending the image to him. Installation at TOU Scene. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Due to torrential rains Borondo couldn’t complete this wall before we left for NYC. Here is a composite image of the wall in progress. NUART 2014. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

BSA would like to extend special thanks to photographers Butterfly and Henrik Haven for sharing their work with BSA readers.

Our sincere thanks to Nuart director Martyn Reed and the entire staff of Nuart and Nuart PLUS, including all of the volunteers and organizers.

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NUART 2014 Begins with “Broken Promises”

ETAM CRU AND NUART 2014 X BSA

NUART 2014 X BSA UPDATE 3

NUART 2014 X BSA UPDATE 4

NUART 2014 X BSA UPDATE 5

NUART 2014 X BSA UPDATE 6

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This article is also published in The Huffington Post

Project M/5 Curated by Roland Henry & VNA in Berlin

August 18, 2014 Artists

The Berlin adventure entitled Urban Nation is readying for substantial renovation over the next year and meanwhile has embarked on rotating external exhibition of artists from many disciplines called ProjectM. Today we bring you images of the most recent in the series called M/5, curated by Roland Henry in conjunction with VNA Magazine and give an idea of the range of contemporary works and artists influencing the street art scene today through his eyes.

Will Barras and Steff Plaetz collab piece in progress. (photo © Henrik Haven)

The works are completed inside the future museum and displayed on the street along with a huge façade painting by Ben Eine. Here are images from the new headquarters as the artists prepared their works for Project M/5 and the list of artists includes Mark Lyken, Pam Glew, Will Barras, Eine, Steff Plaetz, Nick Walker, O.Two, Sickboy, Zenx and Ben Frost.

Will Barras at work on his piece. (photo © Henrik Haven)

James “SheOne” Choules at work on his piece. (photo © Henrik Haven)

To learn more about Urban Nation and ProjectM click HERE

We wish to thank photographer Henrik Haven for sharing his work with BSA readers.

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Roa Gifts A Tyrannosaurus to Bromölla, Sweden

August 7, 2014 Artists

Bromölla in Sweden is ROA’s latest stop just behind Tunisia and evidently he brought a dinosaur sketchbook in his luggage. The inaugural artist-in-residence for the in-development Ifo Center, ROA created this massive mural across a large-scale factory building. The municipality of 7500 at the southern tip of the Nordic country is this home of a limestone quarry and many ceramics related industries. Artist couple Teresa Holmberg and Jonathan Haner began the cultural center in 2011 at this former factory and eventually hope to open up 4,200 square meters of unoccupied floors for artist studios, workshops, and exhibition spaces.

Choosing the urban naturalist as their first international Street Artist was a bold move, and we are looking forward to see who they have in mind next. Why the dinosaur? Firstly, Bromölla boasts remains from the Stone Age and many fossils that indicate that this was a roaming ground for them. Not to mention they have the world’s largest ceramic fountain downtown called ‘Scanisaurus’ by Gunnar Nylund. Now they have what must be the world’s largest freehand aerosol painting of a dinosaur as well. Go ROA!

Our thanks to photographer Henrik Haven for sharing these exclusive shots which he shot hanging out with ROA on the roof, in the scissor lift, and on the ground.

We wish to thank guest contributor Henrik Haven for sharing his documentation of ROA’s work with BSA readers.

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LA in Berlin, Urban Nation Unveils Project M/4

May 26, 2014 Artists

Urban Nation in Berlin bellows quietly again as it partners with Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace in LA for an eclectic Project M/4 installation and group show.

The forth iteration of this open/secret streetside exhibition in the the front windows of soon to be renovated building near Nollendorfplatz, M/4 highlights the myriad influences of the New Contemporary scene that Hosner has crafted and curated for roughly a decade now. With LA-via-Australian couple DabsMyla festooning the five-story façade with signature cartoonish characters, the ground floor windows portend the ever widening array of influences that may reflect in the Urban Art story that UN founder Yasha Young envisions telling in the future.

In addition to the windows reflecting a titillating tomorrow for this edifice, the group show “LAX/TXL” fills a nearby gallery space with Hosner’s handpicked top 60 artists from the ever growing spheres of dark pop, pop surrealism, tattoo, illustration, street art, graffiti, new folk, and skater culture that have characterized the rolling visual feast that follows wherever he goes. With so many new voices and spirits in this neighborhood that sports a rich modern history of germinating subculture, it appears that Berlin is poised to again reconfigure, even if current passersby may be a bit puzzled.

Window murals for Project M/4 are planned to showcase works by Alexis Diaz (aka La Pandilla, Andrew Shoultz, C215, Curiot, Fernando Chamarelli, Glenn Barr, Joao Ruas, Low Bros, Nosego, and Word To Mother

The ‘LAX / TXL’ gallery show features 16” square works by
Aaron Nagel, Adam Caldwell, Alex Yanes, Alexis Diaz (aka La Pandilla), Allison Sommers, Amy Sol, Andrew Hem, Andrew Schoultz, Anthony Clarkson, Ariel DeAndrea, Bec Winne, Brendan Monroe, Brett Amory, Brian Mashburn, Brian M. Viveros, Bumblebee C215, Camilla d’Errico, Carl Cashman, Christine Wu, Craig ‘Skibs’ Barker, Cryptik, Curiot, Dabs Myla, Dave MacDowell, David Cooley, Derek Gores, Ekundayo, Erica Rose Levine, Erik Jones, Fernando Chamarelli, Frank Gonzales, Ghostpatrol, Glenn Arthur, Glenn Barr, James Marshall (aka Dalek), JBAK, Jeff Ramirez, Jeremy Hush, Joanne Nam, Jolene Lai, Keita Morimoto, Kelly Vivanco, Kevin Peterson, Kikyz 1313, Kyungyup Kwon, Linnea Strid, Luke Chueh, Mari Inukai, Meggs, Mike Egan, Nosego, Paul Barnes, Paul Romano, Pixel Pancho, Rodrigo Luff, Ryan Hewett, Sam Wolfe Connelly, Sarah Joncas, Seth Armstrong, So Youn Lee, Word To Mother, Yoskay Yamamoto, and Yosuke Ueno.

Andrew Schoultz and Word To Mother couldn’t resist the empty walls inside the building. Project M/4. Urban Nation, Berlin. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Word To Mother and Andrew Schoultz beautifying the empty soon to be demolished walls inside the building . Project M/4. Urban Nation, Berlin. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Click HERE for more information on Urban Nation and Project M and to see the previous editions of Project M

Special thanks to photographer Henrik Haven for sharing these exclusive images with BSA readers.

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Hand-Drawn Citycapes With Daniel Van Der Noon in Copenhagen

August 14, 2013 Artists

Remember when your dad came home and found you drawing on the hallway wall with your markers? That was a great day, right?

British artist Daniel van der Noon says he likes to travel a lot and see new cities, so maybe that explains why he can’t stop drawing them in all their meticulous complexity across walls, windows, and a variety of other surfaces. At this years Trailerpark Festival in Copenhagen, van der Noon spent hours on an orange wall while music fans poured in and milled about the grounds in search of bands like Micachu, Turboweekend, and When Saints Go Machine. “He specializes in city-scapes which he draws with poscas – and only poscas,” says photographer Henrik Haven, who offers these exclusive shots of the artist drawing his lengthy cityscapes, towers, and the manmade skylines that come largely from his imagination.

As if to underline with a fine marker the point that he can’t stop drawing, we include a post-party stop for the artist at a private home, where he convinced the owner that they needed a diagonal city climbing up the stairwell.

When Saints Go Machine (Live)

Micachu and the Shapes

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FAME Festival Is Cinematically Human in Grottaglie, Italy

October 1, 2012 Artists, Events, Grottaglie, Italy, Street Art Festival

The Fame Festival doesn’t take itself too seriously, but you should. Now in its fifth year, the festival is run by one fella and his friends, offering interesting walls and an opportunity to work with local artisans in the “aesthetically depressed” areas of this beautiful town named Grottaglie. A dozen or so international artists descended here again this year as summer turned to fall to eat amazing food, paint huge walls, and to create pottery works and limited edition prints with their host, Angelo Milano, in his print shop called Studiocromie.

Free from corporate sponsors or too many meddlesome civic interests, which can muddy the creative waters and contort presentation, FAME has reliably produced singularly striking work on the Streets: the kind of free-form ingenuity that could only result from a being in a positive environment. Artists who return from the experience report that Studiocromie and their peeps know how to make you feel right at home, complete with the dysfunctional human frailties we’re all prone to. Again this year some of the pieces that have come out of FAME have been remarkable for one reason or another – it also helps when the talent pool is so strong.

The lineup this year officially included;

ERICA IL CANE – Italy, INTERESNI KAZKI – Ukraine, BORIS HOPPEK – Germany, CONOR HARRINGTON – Ireland, 108 – Italy, LUCY MCLAUCHLAN – UK, MONEYLESS – Italy, NUG – Sweden, Giorgio di Palma – Italy, AKAY – Sweden, CYOP E KAF – Italy, VHILS – Portugal, PAPER RESISTANCE – Italy, JR– France, BRAD DOWNEY – US, and MOMO – US

Photographer and BSA contributor Henrik Haven was on hand the to cover FAME and he shares these exclusive images with BSA readers of works in progress by Erica Il Cane and completed walls by Vhils, Interesni Kazki and Conor Harrington. The videos are produced by FAME and they give an additional cinematic appreciation and humor to the entire experience.

Stay hungry, FAME.

Angelo remarks on the FAME website what his take on the festival has been as he sets up the video below, “It’s been an intense couple of weeks here at FAME, three artists at the same time and it was a hell of a mess. This is what happened with KING Erica il Cane. Here’s my advice to all artists around, both new and old, watch him doing what he does, and how he does it. You won’t get as good as he is, you won’t end up painting such a huge wall in just two days, but at least you can take notes: have fun and don’t think about the whole art world bullshit.”

Erica il Cane “Gipsy Disagio” @ Fame 2012

Is Vhils ticklish? Climb into the back of a crowded car and find out.

You ever notice that Conor eats a lot? Dang!

The harrowing and hilarious video helps explain why Interesni Kazki needed 12 days to complete the piece. Angelo describes it as “an extreme amount of bad luck”.

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