All posts tagged: Jef Aerosol

Street Artists At Munich Museum Present the Portrait, “IMAGO” Curated by Elisabetta Pajer

Street Artists At Munich Museum Present the Portrait, “IMAGO” Curated by Elisabetta Pajer

July 18, 2018

From cave carvings in Angoulême in western France 27,000 years ago to your daily, perhaps hourly selfie on a cell phone today, our desire to depict the figure is as much a reflection of the artist and their times as it’s sitter.

A new show at MUCA Munich (Museum of Urban Contemporary Art) opening today invites 30 primarily Street Artists to choose a significant reference portrait of any historical time, country of origin, or artistic movement and interpret their inspirations into a portrait.

Whether drawing influences from Vermeer, Courbet, or Lucien Freud, each artist ultimately represents their own life experiences in their choice of subject and the technique of portrayal. Perhaps that is why curator Elisabetta Pajer has asked each of the artists to give us a statement with their work to help put it into context. Pajer tells us that she looks at the collection of works and the statements create a ‘harmonic mosaic’ of these figurative and written testimonies.

“These artists have sought out inspiration from many mediums that portraiture finds itself interpreted within,” says Pajer. “Taking their themes and inspiration from classical paintings, sculpture, film, theater, photographer, interactions, culture, religion, and science. Exhibiting a great understanding of the complexity of self-reflection with art as the catalyst.”

We’re pleased to be able to present some of the artists and their own words here.

Andreas Englund

Andreas Englund. Tripping. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

TRIPPING
Media: Oil on canvas
Size: 116 x 90 cm
 
-Statement
“I chose to tribute my artwork to the ‘‘Portrait of a smoking man’’ by Anders Zorn 1860-1920 – Swedens most internationally acclaimed artist. Born in my home region and very inspirational when it comes to his sketchy technique. By doing my own version of this masterpiece with my superhero, I have learned more about ‘‘the great Zorn’’ and his technique.”

Martha Cooper

Martha Cooper. Futura 1983. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

FUTURA 1983
Media: Archival pigment print
Size: 50,8 x 76,20 cm
 
-Statement
“This is a 1983 photo of Futura, a legendary New York City graffiti writer, with a classic can of Krylon spray paint. Thirty-five years later, Futura is still spray painting and I am still taking photos of graffiti writers.”

Icy + Sot

Icy & Sot. Under The Water Light. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artists)

UNDER THE WATER LIGHT
Media: Stencil spray paint on canvas
Size: 91,5 x 123 cm
 
-Statement
“This portrait is part a series we created reflecting on the relationship between human and nature. Nature plays a big role in human lifespan, but nowadays people have distanced from nature. With this work, we want to show humans closer to nature and pay a tribute to it.”

Swoon

Swoon. Thalassa. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

THALASSA
Media: Screenprint on paper with coffee stain and hand painting with collage mounted on board
Size: 123 × 138 cm
 
-Statement
“The name Thalassa is Greek word for ‘‘ocean’’, a primordial incarnation of the sea that is not often personified. Thalassa is said to have given birth to all tribes of fish in the sea. She is the pull of the sea that comes from inside the salt water in our blood. ‘Thalassa was originally created for New Orleans. It was the months after the Deepwater Horizon exploded in the Gulf in 2010, and this body of water that I’d loved since I was a child was in peril. As I drew Thalassa surging up from the water I felt her rising like a wake up call, one reminds us of our inseparability from the sea. When I stand in front of the ocean, the word that always appears first in my mind is “mother”. For me there is no mistaking the sense that the sea is our first mother.’ ”

Borondo

Gonzalo Borondo & Diego Lopez Bueno. Selfie Elvis II. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo © Blind Eye Factory)

GONZALO BORONDO & DIEGO LOPEZ BUENO
SELFIE ELVIS II
Media: Acrylic and plaster on wood – Plasma TV 50’’- Video on loop – 16:9 Digital – Color
Size: 7 panels each – 120 x 70 x 1 cm + 1 TV
 
-Statement
“Inspired by several passport photos found within the Marseilles “Marché aux Puches” (FR), Borondo and Lopez Bueno have designed an installation project with the title “Selfie Elvis II”. Imagination is the basis of the multimedia work with self-portraits of a man recalling the contemporary “selfie”. There are dozens of frames describing human aspects and obsessions. They have been digitally elaborated and assembled in a video by López Bueno. Borondo portrayed Elvis with acrylic on wood and applying gypsum, then scratched with sharp instruments. Faces appeared by subtraction, the absence tells about an ancestral and intangible dimension, wondering about its existence. Is Elvis looking at himself or us in that picture? And what about our images, do they look like us or they are just our dreams? Elvis is not there, Elvis is still there.”

Addison Karl

Addison Karl. Kamassa. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

KAMASSA
Media: Bronze, edition 1 of 10
Size: 30,48 x 20,32 x 15,24 cm
 
 
-Statement
“Portraiture in context to sculpture and form – referencing the masterpieces from both European Classical and Neoclassical time periods. From a culture l mirror of taking inspiration from Gods and Goddess of the ancient world, my sculpture’s subject is focused on a contemporary Chickasaw Elder. Using portraiture as a means of Cultural Preservation but equally re-appropriating classic sensibilities of art history to a Native Cultural narrative. “

 

Various & Gould

Various & Gould. Trigger (Rokhaya Diallo). IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artists)

TRIGGER (ROKHAYA DIALLO)
Media: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 200 x 140 cm
-Statement
“Our portrait of Rokhaya Diallo refers to an iconic work by Nikide Saint Phalle: The artistically revised film still “Daddy” shows the artist pointing a gun directly at the viewer. Even almost 50 years later, her eye and the muzzle of her rifle leave no doubt that she is serious about it. Anyone who sees the work feels immediately like coming into the firing line.
In our painting, the French journalist and film maker Rokhaya Diallo takes the place and – freely recreated – also the pose of Niki de Saint Phalle. Thus, an early feministic, vigorous artist of the twentieth century is followed by a modern, committed internet feminist with no less strong verve than her predecessor. Both women are even the same age at the time of the illustration. Only instead of the rifle, Rokhaya Diallo relies on her very own “weapon”, the hashtag. At first glance, it may seem more harmless than a rifle, but in times of #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo it can be an even more powerful tool.”

 

Fintan Magee

Fintan Magee The Removalist. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

THE REMOVALIST
Media: Canvas and acrylic on wall installation
 
-Statement
“The portrait has been ripped off the canvas and dragged across the ground and projected onto the wall. The artist has destroyed the canvas and made the portrait ephemeral, rendering it worthless and unsellable. The work comments on the commodification of artwork and the uneasy and paradoxical relationship between artist and the financier of his artworks. With street art becoming increasingly commoditized and contributing to gentrification this work doesn’t aim to make any grand statements on how art should or shouldn’t be produced, only highlight the illusionary, absurdist and contradictory image the art industry presents of itself.”

VHILS

VHILS. Matta. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

MATTA
Media: Bas-relief carving on plasterboard mounted on metal structure
Size: 181 x 120,5 x 34 cm
 
-Statement

“Resorting to a bas-relief carving technique, applied here to a free-standing structure of plasterboard, this piece is a homage to the work of Gordon Matta-Clark, which became a major influence on me after I first saw it at an exhibition in Portugal, in 2002. Matta-Clark was one of the first artists to look at the urban space as a space of creation and reflection on the human condition in the contemporary times we live in. Those are the considerations I try to translate in my own work too, reflecting about the human condition in the contemporary times we live in.”

Andrea Wan

Andrea Wan. Being Of Light. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

BEING OF LIGHT
Media: Ink on paper
Size: 50 x 70 cm
 
-Statement

“Fascinated by the lively and dynamic landscape in the paintings of native Canadian Artist Emily Carr, I chose one of her most renown works, Indian Church (1929) as the subject of reinterpretation. Seemingly more accurate than a realistic approach, Carr’s abstraction of nature elements not only communicated to me that nature is vast and subliminal but also ever-changing in form and expression. The white church which stands calmly in the midst of the mystical environment inspired me to personify the subject as a being who is in tune with all that’s around her.”

DALeast

DALeast. FIII. IMAGO. MUCA Munich. (photo courtesy of the artist)

FIII
Media: Acrylic on canvas
Size: 100 x 80 cm
 
-Statement
“A still moment of Fiii standing in the windy land, which is existing inside the transitory gathering of the particles of the magical net.”

IMAGO: A History of Portraits opens today at MUCA Museum of Urban And Contemporary Art. Munich. Curated by Elisabetta Pajer the show runs until November 2018.

IMAGO is a show dedicated to the history of portrait: over 30 artists from five different continents are invited to pay homage and interpret a portrait in their medium of their choice. IMAGO aims to lead visitors through different artistic eras, helping discover the international history and evolution of the portrait.

Artists include:

Jef Aerosol
ASKEW ONE
Borondo
Vesod Brero
Martha Cooper
DALeast
Paola Delfin
Anna Piera Di Silvestre
Andreas Englund
Evoca 1
Ricky Lee Gordon
Hubertus Hamm
Handiedan
Icy&Sot
Addison Karl
Know Hope
Klone Yourself
Fintan Magee
Mario Mankey
Marco Mazzoni
Antony Micallef
Miss Van
Nychos
Sepe
David Shillinglaw
Søren Solkær
Sten Lex
SWOON
TelmoMiel
TWOONE

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BSA Film Friday: 07.13.18

BSA Film Friday: 07.13.18

July 13, 2018

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Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. Lek & Sowat and the Towers of La Rochelle
2. ASTRO’s New Fresco in South of Paris
3. Jef Aérosol for Wall Street Festival in Evry
4. Art Meets Milk – Bonzai . Kenz / First & Second Edition

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: Lek & Sowat and the Towers of La Rochelle

The range and creative output of Street Artists and graffiti writers astounds many who would narrowly define these artists capabilities to the basic stereotypes. Often we find that people who began their art practice on the streets have a far greater depth of knowledge and interests.

Here we see two guys previously known primarily for being vandals educating us about the history of graffiti as a practice. In this case the Tour Saint-Nicolas, one of the three towers of the waterfront of La Rochelle,  contains evidence of serious mark-making that may date back to the time of its origin in the mid-late 1300s.

For this installation Lek & Sowat tell us about the history of the structure from an architectural point of view and describe how they planned their new sculpture  “in situ” using the bridge as inspiration architecturally, merging those aesthetics with their own history of graffiti.

ASTRO’s New Fresco in South of Paris

Parisian Street Artist and graffiti artist Astro (Odv/Cbs)is equally comfortable doing a sharply wild burner as he is with an optically magic trip to another dimension. His abstractions grew out of a passionate dedication to calligraphy, curvilinear finess, and attraction to dynamic forms. For this project last month in the south of the city with Galerie Mathgoth the artist created a multistory illusion that characterizes his unique style and soars above the street.

 

Jef Aérosol for Wall Street Festival in Evry

You may have seen our piece this week on this wall as well : Jef Aérosol Creates Huge Fresco in Paris Sud for Wall Street Art Festival

“He wanted to highlight youth, its beauty and diversity,” says Gautier Jordain about French stencil master Jef Aérosol for this new public mural he just completed in Evry, in the south of Paris.

 

 

Art Meets Milk – Bonzai . Kenz / First Edition

Since publishing a video a few weeks ago about this project the artists have alerted us to two more graffiti videos that promote cows and milk – an unusual combination of family farming and graffiti style from the urban center.

Art Meet Milk – BustArt . Homre . Kenz / Second Edition

 

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Jef Aérosol Creates Huge Fresco in Paris Sud for Wall Street Art Festival

Jef Aérosol Creates Huge Fresco in Paris Sud for Wall Street Art Festival

July 10, 2018

“He wanted to highlight youth, its beauty and diversity,” says Gautier Jordain about French stencil master Jef Aérosol for this new public mural he just completed in Evry, in the south of Paris.

Jef Aérosol. Wall Street Art Festival of Grand Paris Sud. Evry, France. (photo © Mathgoth Gallery)

One of his biggest frescoes to date, the rocker/Street Artist doesn’t usually include this much red in his compositions, aside from his signature red arrows placed alongside the figures in his portraits. The striking graphic nature of these bands of color pops a new wave into his work, creating a fresh look that somehow feels quite modern.

Part of this year’s Wall Street Art festival curated by Mathgoth Gallery in Paris, this new monumental work dedicates itself to the diverse nature of many of the city’s newest immigrant communities, something that many European nations have been faced with in recent years with new arrivals fleeing war-torn countries.

Jef Aérosol. Wall Street Art Festival of Grand Paris Sud. Evry, France. (photo © Mathgoth Gallery)

For some reason, we humans are tribal in our behaviors sometimes and we can have a hard time accepting new members of our tribes. As is a historical practice, we depend on the intuitive knowledge and talents of artists to help us make the transition to being more accepting of others and to possibly help us find the innate great qualities in each other.

Jef Aérosol. Wall Street Art Festival of Grand Paris Sud. Evry, France. (photo © Mathgoth Gallery)

“He portrayed children who are happy to live and to share with you,” Gautier, who curated the project with his partner Mathilde, “without question of skin color, origin or religion.”

“Un enfant, Ça écoute le merle Qui dépose ses perles Sur la portée du vent*,” a lyric from singer Jacques Brel provided the inspiration, Jef says, and he spent some days with local kids and families in the neighborhood to make sure that they know this mural is for them.

Jef Aérosol. Wall Street Art Festival of Grand Paris Sud. Evry, France. (photo © Mathgoth Gallery)

Jef Aérosol. Wall Street Art Festival of Grand Paris Sud. Evry, France. (photo © Mathgoth Gallery)

Jef Aérosol. Wall Street Art Festival of Grand Paris Sud. Evry, France. (photo © Mathgoth Gallery)

* “A child, he takes your dream and turns it into a song.” (approximate translation)

 

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Magda Danysz Brings “Art From The Streets” to Singapore Art Science Museum

Magda Danysz Brings “Art From The Streets” to Singapore Art Science Museum

January 16, 2018

“Art From the Streets”, an exhibition at the Art Science Museum in Singapore opened this weekend to coordinate with Singapore Art Week that runs from tomorrow until the end of the month with fairs, festivals and art exhibitions. Commercial art dealer and writer Magda Danysz curated the show with names she represents and whom you will be familiar with – Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Faile, and Futura, for example.

Two versions of the catalogue, one by Felipe Pantone, the other by Futura, are available on the Magda Danysz website .

But she also brings an eclectic mix of others on her roster and possibly lent from some private collections. Collectively they span many of the high profile, the saleable and known over the past 5 decades from various disciplines and philosophical practices; In the case of Jacques Villeglé, whose practice of lacerating posters in the 1960s predates Failes’ by 4 decades, a lineage can be drawn. Other connections are not as easy.

Ultimately the collection gives a sense of the vast number of personalities and techniques that have characterized the street practice in Europe and North America primarily without focusing on any one specialty too greatly. Here are the revered names along with mid-career folks and current darlings who are sure to leave a mark. There is also a small inclusion of more regional favorites like Eko Nugroho from Indonesia, and Singapore’s Speak Cryptic, who each were on hand this weekend with many of the artists for the opening.

Giving tours with microphone in hand during the opening days, the energetic Ms. Danysz educates new fans and potential buyers about an organic artists scene that grew from the streets and is now more frequently being offered for sale in places such as her three gallery locations in London, Paris, and Shanghai. Today it is slowly appearing more often in museums as well.

“Conscious that promotion of the emerging scene is necessary, Magda Danysz took part in many fairs,” says a press release, “such as for example Art Brussels, Arte Fiera in Bologna, Artissima in Torino, Fiac in Paris or Pulse in New York, and is one of the four galleries at the origin of the Show Off Paris art fair.”

This weekend’s activities included short presentations panel discussions and a screen of Wild Style.

Art from the Streets tickets are $17.00 on the Marina Bay Sands website.

A complete list of artists varies online with artists listed on the museum website including:

Banksy, Tarek Benaoum, Stéphane Bisseuil, Blade, Crash, Speak Cryptic, D*face, Fab 5 Freddy, FAILE, Shepard Fairey (aka Obey), Futura, Invader, JR, L’Atlas, Ludo, M-City, Nasty, Eko Nugroho, Nunca, Felipe Pantone, Quik, Lee Quinones, Blek le Rat, Rero, Remi Rough, André Saraiva, Seen, Seth, Sten Lex, Tanc, Hua Tunan, Yok & Sheryo, YZ, Zevs “and many more“.

Elsewhere online the roster is said to include 2Koa, Jef Aérosol, Ash, André, A-One, Aplickone, Banksy, Benjamin Duquenne, Tarek Benaoum, Stephane Bisseuil, Blek Le Rat, Boulaone, C215, Crash, Dface, Dondi, Dran, Eror729, Shepard Fairey, Faile, Futura, Keith Haring, Isham, Jayone, Jonone, Jr, Katre, Kaws, L’atlas, Lem, Ludo, Barry Mc Gee, Mikostic, Miss.Tic, Mode 2, Steve More, Nasty, Nord, Yoshi Omori, Os Gemeos, Psyckoze, Quik, Rammellzee, Recidivism, Rero, Remi Rough, Seen, Seth, Skki, Sore, Space Invader, Spazm, Spécio, Swoon, Tanc, Toxick, Vhils, Jacques Villeglé, Nick Walker, West, Yz, Zevs, Zhang Dali, Zlotykamien and Zuba.

 

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Welcome to the Jungle: HELLBENT’s Wild Kingdom

Welcome to the Jungle: HELLBENT’s Wild Kingdom

May 13, 2010 ,

The self-styled punk rock street artist in the studio PREPPING FOR HIS PARTICIPATION IN AD HOC ART’S “WILLOUGHBY WINDOWS V 2.0”

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Hellben

Welcome to the Jungle; Hellbent’s Wild Kingdom at Willoughby  VWindows 2.0

For the second year in a row, Ad Hoc is curating a block of defunct store window displays in a busted part of downtown Brooklyn with a series of installations by street artists. Opening officially tomorrow afternoon, the project brings to life a moribund block of 13 storefronts with 14 artists, each of whom have conjured themes from their imagination. A proactive public-friendly venture, WWII is yet another example of artists giving freely of their time and resources to encourage  conversations and add color and character to our public space.


A soon to be hand carved hummingbird by Hellbent in the studio earlier this week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This year sagacious smart-mouth HELLBENT is bringing his set-designing skills, which are many, to bear upon an abandoned storefront. In what he describes as a nod to the wild untamed nature of urban living, street art, graffiti culture, and the original wild kingdom, Hellbent’s ferocious animals rage and hiss at viewers from deep inside a lush field of plastic vegetation. The backdrop is a myriad of psychedelic dripping wall flowers and a BP oil spill of black industrial soot.

brooklyn-street-art-hellbent-willoughby-windows-jaime-rojo-05.103

In the studio, one of Hellbent’s ferocious hand carved snakes poses in advance of the show before a multi-layered colorful stencil background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The elephant, snakes, and hummingbirds are current favorites of Hellbent. To create heft and stability, he glued 2 layers of luan board together before sketching out the shapes and jigsawing them. The black painted surface is then carved out with a power drill and a lot more drill bits than you can imagine – as they only last 5-10 minutes before drilling.  “It cost me over $150 in drill bits – because they wear out so fast doing this kind of work. I was chasing these drill bits around town and I sold out every hardware store in the immediate area getting these.”

brooklyn-street-art-hellbent-willoughby-windows-jaime-rojo-05.104

Hellbent, on his knees carving the 7 foot tall elephant, “I’m just focusing on nature; the natural. Since graff is a predominately urban thing and we forget about animals and the wild, it’s a way to bring them back into the urban setting. They are like animals that are stuck in the city, like many people are.” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-hellbent-willoughby-windows-jaime-rojo-05.106

A peek at the “ANGRY ELEPHANT”, peeking back at you. Hellbent, “These are kind of menacing animals… it feeds back into the graffiti and street art aggressive nature, the determination to get your work out.  There is a lot of machismo out there so this work is kind of riffing on that. Like my name – it’s a play on words and on other themes – it sounds really fierce but it’s done in bubble letters, or a cursive hand, or in pastel colors – stuff like that.” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent pimped out the lush vegetation in his diarama for the animals to frolic in.

Hellbent pimped out the lush vegetation in his diorama for the animals to frolic in.

The original model for the installation was quite a bit smaller than the final project installation.

The original model for the installation was quite a bit smaller than the final project installation.

So, what’s it like working on this larger scale? “It’s nice. It’s overwhelming.  It’s a little overwhelming, a challenge, you know.  I learn stuff as I go. I’ve learned stuff definitely. For example, how much stuff and materials it takes to make something like this.  I got a lot of stuff donated from friends, and a number of friends helped me figure this out – I definitely didn’t do this by myself.”

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Willoughby Windows V 2.0 opens Friday, May 14th, 2-6pm and runs through the summer.

Artists include C. Damage, Chris Mendoza & Pablo Powers, Daryll Peirce, Faust, Hellbent, Jef Aerosol, Joe Iurato, Laura Lee Gulledge, LogikOne, Ron English, Skewville, and Thundercut.

106 Willoughby Street (not Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11201
Downtown Brooklyn

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