A discussion with the artists Sebastian Wandl, Honey & Philip Wallisfurth
We’re pleased to invite you to a discussion about climate change at the Martha Cooper Library (MCL) at Urban Nation in Berlin about a new book by author Xavier Tapies called “Graffiti in Times of Climate Crisis”.
As we consider the role of artists as activists, one wonders if there is an appropriate response to the cascading events caused by climate change as expressed in our cities by artists. Keeping the real questions on the forefront, including what agendas may be behind large multi-national backed agencies setting goals for us, the discerning artist will have to study the issues first – so it’s great to have this book as a jumping-off point.
These and other issues will be discussed by three persons active on the current graffiti/street art scene, including Philip Wallisfurth (Senor Schnu), who has been active on the street and inside installations in Germany since 2007, Munich-based illustrator and painter Sebastian Wandl (aka WANDAL) who brings skateboarding and hip hop culture to his work, and style writer HONEY, who has been at the game since 2018 in a still male-dominated graffiti scene.
Four contemporary artists with native American heritage will be mounting a new exhibition in Amsterdam this spring called “Indigenous Americans: Post Colonial Expressions.” This is an excellent derivation of the typical grafftiti/street art story that we like to expose – especially when it is rooted in inviting more people into the room that continues to redefine itself.
Curator Hyland Mather and team at STRAAT Museum have been building a good foundation of diversity in the last few years as their collection has grown and their exhibitions schedule widens – with a professed mission to examine the street art and graffiti culture as it is expressed around the world.
“ ‘Indigenous Americans: Post Colonial Expressions’ speaks to the unity a diverse culture embodies, and to the deeply rooted history of Indigenous makers and their ongoing relationship with public space painting,” say organizers.
The four participating artists are Jaque Fragua, Danielle SeeWalker, Kaplan Bunce, and Anthony Garcia Sr. You may be familiar with one or all of them – we recall the text billboards of Jaque Fragua a few years ago in a distinctive hand that alerted public to some historical facts like “This Is Indian Land”, on a Los Angeles construction site wall – and some highjacked signs saying ”Sacred” and “Stop Coal”.
Danielle SeeWalker. Denver Central Market. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)
“I see graffiti as a primordial art form of mark-making that started on caves and rocks as petroglyphs or pictographs,” Fragua said on ArtNet a few years ago. “The language is a bit different in modern times, but the spirit of visual storytelling is still there.”
“The contemporary Urban Art landscape to me looks like a mix between a culture-rich sharing of art practices from around the globe,” says artist Kaplan Bunce in a press release from the museum. “I see unity in the community and have found that by continuously practicing my indigenousness throughout these spaces I am continuing a pathway made by those who have been making marks on walls for all of time.”
Danielle SeeWalker. “Not Today Cowboy”. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)Danielle SeeWalker. “Uncle Giving Directions”. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)Jaque Fragua. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)Kaplan Bunce. “Four Directions Prayer”. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)Kaplan Bunce. (photo courtesy of Straat Museum)
Exhibition opens Saturday April 8th, 2023, from 7-10 pm in the STRAAT Gallery at STRAAT Museum, with the artists in attendance. In addition to the gallery exhibition which runs through Sunday June 4th, 2023, each artist will also create a mural scale work for STRAAT’s permanent collection in our massive main hall.
As Part II of our coverage of street artist Mantra painting Monarch butterflies in an astounding natural biosphere located in Mexico, we speak today with the artist about his original investigation into the region, his interactions with the local scientific community and the people who live in these areas, and his experience with documentarian photographer Martha Cooper and her travel companion and cousin, Sally.
“We had a really good time,” says Mantra. “It was quite perfect weather for what we wanted to see and we had a few happy surprises, including this celebration that was taking place in one village I painted in.”
Brooklyn Street Art: Can you tell us why you were in this part of Mexico at this time of the year?
Mantra: As you know, from my entire life path and professional path, I always have been mesmerized and attracted and curious of the living – especially insects and butterflies. However, I have never had the opportunity to create a body of work that speaks about monarch butterflies.
Last year after my solo show in Miami, I really felt that it was the moment to start to study and investigate this beautiful insect.
In January 2022 when I was in Mexico City, I decided to travel to the area where the main migration of monarch butterflies in the world settle for the winter.
So I went there via Mexico City to the nearby region in Michoacán to try to understand all the smaller details and mysteries about this migration – and it mesmerized me. Not only did I go with a scientific state of mind and this kind of spirit, but I was also interested in assuming an anthropologic approach to learn what was happening in this territory.
During different journeys in 2022, I met with so many different communities that are part of a patchwork of communities living in this lens. And I made these connections with the great help of an NGO named Alternare, and its director Ismael Venegasa at their headquarters in Zitacuaro.
They connected me with the ongoing main investigation on Monarch butterflies in Mexico happening at the University of Morelia. I learned with students from the university
I had the opportunity to investigate in a restricted area that must be approached carefully because of sensitivity to their protection. I have talked with Martha many times about her coming to see this, and this year we just turned this old wish into a reality.
Brooklyn Street Art: You had the opportunity to paint murals in a few locations. How did you decide which butterflies were appropriate for the walls?
Mantra: It’s an NGO that builds bridges between communities and institutions to try to assist the community and its relationship with the institutions, which means not only focusing on the scientific and biological aspects but also recognizing and respecting the social patterns that we can find.
My intention was to provide Martha and Sally the greatest experience I could, girded by the knowledge I gained last year from all my visits on-site with the different communities and inside the different monarch colonies. Martha is always saying she and Sally like to see how people are living. So with all of us animated by this same spirit, like really an anthropologic point of view, we were happy to make this journey together.
Brooklyn Street Art: Can you describe the local culture and the environment for painting that you experienced?
Mantra: Well, honestly, in each location, I painted a monarch butterfly; a male and another female – from my collection of photos.
We spent one afternoon with Martha and Sally in front of a small wall of a beautiful family house that I just walked to and knocked on the door and asked permission to paint on their wall. They accepted my request, and it turned into a really beautiful and sweet afternoon for the girls and for me. For this family of five people (plus a dog), I just wanted to paint monarch butterflies because it’s the main butterfly, and it is really emblematic of the city and the region.
The second location was inside a village and really high in the mountain at nearly 10,000 feet in elevation. Because of the height, the village of one of the communities that earn the right to visit the second main butterfly colony, which is Sierra Chincua (on Cerro Prieto community territory).
I would say that my experience in this environment with the local culture that people are really warm, open, kind, and humble. They welcome you as part of their community as long they understand your vision – and that you are coming in peace and in a friendly way.
They teach you about the community they are living in, they bring you food, and they invite you to be part of their traditional celebrations. It’s amazing to see how they feel you part of their community once you share a vision with them.
This journey with Martha and Sally was for me the second year there, and I kept some of the friendships and I hope to keep those friendships naturally growing. I can’t wait to come back next year when the Monarch is back.
Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (Reserva de la Biosfera de la Mariposa Monarca – RBMM) Main city : Zitacurato State: Michoacán Name of the sanctuary they visited : – El Rosario (on El Rosario community territory) – Sierra Chincua (on Cerro Prieto community territory)
The first mural was painted in Zitacuaro downtown. The second mural was painted on the wall of the 2nd school, “Lazaro Cardenas del Rio” in Cerro Prieto.
Read our first part of Mantra’s murals in the Monarch Butterfly Reserve HERE
Gorgeous natural beauty today from a part of the world known for hosting millions of butterflies during their annual migration to the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Mexico, where millions of monarchs gather each year to overwinter in the oyamel fir forests, primarily in the state of Michoacán. Street artist, muralist, biologist, and entomologist, Mantra has traveled to this region several times to study the butterflies, and this year he invited photographer Martha Cooper to witness this annual event and to see him paint in local towns like Zitabcuaro, Cerro Prieto, El Rosario, and Sierra Chincua.
The monarch butterfly migration usually begins in late August and lasts until early November, bringing butterflies from Canada and the United States. The purpose of the sanctuary is to protect the monarch’s habitat and promote conservation efforts to ensure their survival. The Mexican government and local communities manage the sanctuary, which reports as many as 200,000 human visitors annually.
Various local, regional, and federal authorities work together to protect the forest and educate visitors about preserving the monarch butterfly. Towns and farmers, even religious organizations, have embraced the monarch butterfly as a symbol of hope and renewal, and they have incorporated it into their art, music, and festivals.
We are thankful to Mantra, Martha, and cousin Sally for taking this trip to see these scenes just days before they began their migration northward again in March to places like the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, where the butterflies will stop to refuel and reproduce, as well as parts of the southern United States and Mexico where they breed and lay eggs before continuing their journey northward.
In the Ejido Cierro Prieto community, located in the state of Michoacán, the Bio-Cultural Festival of the Monarch Butterfly brings together community, conservation organizations, and visitors from everywhere to celebrate. Martha and Sally caught the “Danza de los Tecuanes,” or the Dance of the Jaguars. This dance is performed in many indigenous communities in Mexico and involves dancers wearing elaborate costumes and masks depicting jaguars and other animals.
The dance is accompanied by live music played on traditional instruments, such as drums and rattles, and it incorporates elements of storytelling and ritual. The sword clashes are said to represent the jaguars’ fierce and robust nature, as well as their role as protectors of the forest and its inhabitants. The dance symbolizes the community’s connection to the natural world and its commitment to preserving the monarch butterfly’s habitat and other vital ecosystems.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Sofles “Gold Fat Cap”
2. Thomas Medicus -Best Before.
3. Edward Hopper’s New York: First Impressions via The Whitney Museum
BSA Special Feature: Sofles “Gold Fat Cap“
Fresh paint from Sofles, a night session from a beyond-writer at the height of his powers and using a single gold fat cap. To the sounds of breezes, traffic, and the muffled strains of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Chuck Berry. Followed in the sunlight by birds chirping. Isn’t life rich?
Thomas Medicus -Best Before
His sculptural works are usually more involved than this. Still, it is entertaining to watch the active destruction of this piece using at least some of the vocabulary of deconstruction and urban decay.
Unpacking Hopper’s New York: First Impressions via The Whitney Museum
“Edward Hopper’s first impressions of New York with exhibition organizers Kim Conaty, Steven and Ann Ames Curator of Drawings and Prints, and Melinda Lang, Senior Curatorial Assistant. In 1899 when he was seventeen, Hopper began commuting to New York from Nyack by train and ferry to study art. In 1906, he entered the commercial art field and worked as a freelancer for several New York advertising agencies and magazines. Starting in 1913, Hopper lived and worked at 3 Washington Square North and, with his wife Jo, he remained until his death in 1967.”
Knowing that most of the corporate media and state interests are owned or influenced by interests vested in oil, we’ll never get an accurate reading on the extent of damage incurred nor the danger to our future. If so, it will be after the money is made.
Remember how many decades it took to get cigarettes out of our daily life/death? And when we caught them, they just renamed themselves, rebranded, and moved on to greener pastures of unsuspecting consumers. They’ll keep kicking that can down the road, keeping the economy hooked, creating clouds of confusion and suspicion around the topic in the media and culture until they can squeeze the last dollar out of it. Or Yuan, once the BRICs countries fully congeal.
In the meantime, some are still pursuing alternate energy options, like solar for example.
“I chose to paint this child playing with the magic of solar energy,” says French-Swiss street artist and land muralist Saype. “Looking towards the horizon, he symbolizes the renewal of a civilization that must now reinvent itself to continue to grow without destroying the planet.”
The 11,250 square meter artwork is titled “Toward Good Ideas?”, is made of biodegradable pigments, and is at the Ibri solar farm in Oman. Saype says that he hopes the work causes us to question our relationship to energy and to seriously consider what new solutions are available to replace fossil fuels.
The project is supported by the Swiss Embassy in Oman.
The ironic Italian minimalist Elfo is returning with their latest intervention on an abandoned wall in their homeland. This time it contrasts the good-humored optimistic lyric of a Dean Martin classic on a crumbling building in the middle of the bush.
“It’s the best thing to do on the worst abandoned house in the middle of nowhere,” says Elfo.
New Zealand artist/muralist Owen Dippie has not been painting much outside lately, so it’s a pleasure to welcome him back to BSA today with a new portrait and tribute. “I painted this mural of my friend as a symbol of the infinite love between a father and his son,” Owen tells us. “This piece is also for everyone who has ever lost someone. As we look to them they look to us.”
The image is in the photorealist style Dippie is known for – portraits full of warmth and intention, so that they feel as if they could speak to you at any moment. We let Owen do the speaking here:
“I stretch my gaze towards the universe and watch for you my son, for every luminous celestial body that enters earth’s atmosphere is you illuminating the sky and sending me messages of hope in the falling stardust.
For Stu, moko in particular the Matatūhua (facial moko) has been the central tool he has used to heal from the grief and trauma of losing his son to cancer 8 years ago. While the tohu (symbols) on his moko are a reminder of his past grief and trauma; the moko also depicts his neverending love for his son and provides a map guiding him on his journey forward. Every year new lines are added or existing lines are deepened and the physical pain and spilling of blood are a healing release of the profound emotional pain held deep within the body.”
Mumbai is a city that captures the essence of Indian culture and tradition. When people think of Mumbai they may envision Bollywood actors executing their hook steps in flashy outfits with bright colors against extravagant backdrops. True, it is a place where Bollywood glamour and grandeur are made, but don’t forget the street food and Hindu festivals, and elaborate idols of Lord Ganesha. Also, the city’s Marine Drive, a picturesque promenade along the coastline, is a famous landmark that offers stunning views of the Arabian Sea. And yet, there is more to Mumbai than just the glitz and the glam.
Just a stone’s throw away from the Marine Drive lies Sassoon Docks, a hidden gem that has become a hub of Mumbai’s vibrant arts community. Located in South Mumbai’s historic fishing harbor of Colaba, Sassoon Docks has attracted a diverse range of artists, writers, photographers, and galleries. These artists are known for their focus on environmental issues and their collaborations with local fishermen. They use their work to celebrate and document the rich cultural traditions of Mumbai’s fishing communities. Through sculptures, paintings, and installations, they have created a unique tapestry that reflects the character and history of this charming area.
As part of St+art India’s festival, this year, invited artists had the opportunity to participate in murals, of course, but they also shared in the events that are rather normal for Sassoon Docks: talks, classes, performances, DJs. Recent events include researcher Shripad Sinnakaar presenting their poetry on Flamingoes in Dharavi, a light and sound installation, and the Indian drag queen Teya reading to kids and adults the children’s short story ‘The Many Colours of Anshu.’ They also hosted a conversation with pioneering documentary photographer Martha Cooper, the Swiss/San Franciscan muralist Mona Caron, and the Brooklyn-based Japanese street artist Lady Aiko on a panel moderated by co-founder and curator of St+art India Foundation Giulia Ambrogi.
Since Ms. Cooper was in Mumbai, she did us the great favor of capturing the works on the streets to share with the BSA family.
Today we have images from the Dharavi slum, a completely different street art project than the docks. It is an afternoon trip. According to some, it has become a larger tourist attraction than the Taj Mahal after it was featured in the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire”.
An ethnologist by training, Martha also befriends people. She asks if she can photograph them, so you will always get a sublime mix of art and people and the context in her collection. We’re proud to share these with you today; a city full of rich colors, street activity, elaborate design, religious symbols, and maritime history.
Behind the scenes at “Beyond the Streets London” is a hive of activity, with artists deeply focused on installing their work and seeking assistance with tools and equipment. Curators, organizers, and lighting professionals are bustling up and down the stairs, carrying props, or ladders, and communicating with vendors and artists via text message. Salespeople are diligently crafting wall texts to accompany the art pieces. It’s a few hours before showtime, yet everything is somehow accomplished just as the first guests arrive for the preview.
Photographer Martha Cooper is electrified by the activity at Saatchi Gallery. The event preserves the rich history of graffiti, street art, and commerce while pushing forward with new trends and directions. Cooper, who has documented this scene since the 1970s, has attended and exhibited in “Beyond the Streets” exhibitions in New York and Los Angeles – and we anticipate the next stop could be Shanghai. This particular iteration showcases an evolving mix of archetypes and invention, drawing on diverse influences from the US, UK, and EU.
Cooper observed many surprising music references at the show. Rock icon Eric Clapton was at the opening admiring a photograph of text declaring him to be God while filmmaker, musician, and BBC radio host Don Letts had a personal collection of his memorabilia/ephemera on display. Ron West, designer of the “Duck Rock” boombox, also made a sudden appearance at the opening, allowing guests to pose with his creation. Among the standout pieces was a Bob Gruen photo of Malcolm McLaren holding that boombox in front of Keith Haring’s Houston Street wall, a masterpiece of intersectionality, if you will.
Overall, “Beyond the Streets London” offers a smorgasbord of colors, flavors, and influences that are difficult to encapsulate in one show. However, Gastman, the visionary, gives it a good try, with a respectful nod to the many artists who have shaped this worldwide people’s art movement. Enjoy these behind-the-scenes shots from Ms. Cooper.
Elfo is a graffiti writer and social commentator whose work intentionally sidesteps traditional notions of style or technical lettering. This …Read More »
In her latest mural, Faring Purth delivers a powerful reflection on connection, continuity, and the complexity of evolving relationships—a true …Read More »
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