All posts tagged: JR

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.03.15

May 3, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

We’ve been seeing an increase in the number of politically charged pieces showing up in the street lately. It is no surprise given the rise in marches and demonstrations and discussions in our city and country about topics like racism, police brutality, and rising economic inequality. Street Art has a tradition of addressing socio-political topics, sometimes gently, sometimes yelling at the top of its lungs.

This comes at a time where the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is banning all political speech and religious ads in the advertisements it runs. “Hateful speech is not harmless speech. Only a fool or rogue would argue otherwise,” said Charles Moerdler, an MTA board member and Holocaust survivor who voted for the new policy. Of course any time you start to ban speech you don’t like, you are risking someone banning yours.

One could argue that all speech is political but you don’t recognize it when the message expresses views endorsed by the dominant culture; BP ads tell us that it is splendid to burn fossil fuels, CitiBank ads on bicycles tell us that bankers are nice community-minded people, and McDonalds ads tell us that eating meat is nutritious. Nothing political there right? Do you think the MTA would allow you to run an advertisement saying the opposite of any of those messages? Or would that suddenly be political?

The first few messages of this weeks walls are examples of speech, some of them political, some of them not. The streets will decide which get banned.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 907 Crew, Adam Cost, Anthony Lister, Balu, bunny M, Cash 4, David Shillinglaw, Defs, Deeker, FWC Crew, HA3, Icy & Sot, JR, Kaws, London Kaye, Merve Berkman, Myth, Omen, R2, Rambo, ROA, Rubin 415, SEA, Smells, Sote, and Specter.

Top Image: Turkish Street Artist Merve Berkman brings this Syrian refugee with child from the streets of Istanbul to the streets of New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Balu and his portrait of Malcolm X (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who are oppressing them” a quote from Assata Shakur in this new Myth piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Davaid Shillinglaw . Lily Mixe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Cost. Tell me about it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cash4 . Rambo . Droid . Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roman . 907 Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. Detail. Omen . SEA . Kaws (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA . HA3 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister and friends. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR from his series Walking New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DEFS and FWC Crew in Dubai (photo © DEFS)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. SOHO, NYC. May 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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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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BSA Images Of The Week: 04.26.15

April 26, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Bisser, Brolga, C3, D7606, JR, Kafka the Cat, Myth, Nineta, Right of Way NYC, and Urma.

Top Image: Bisser. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bisser (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bisser at work in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bisser (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR. Portrait of Mariela Goicochea in Brooklyn as part of Walking New York series. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detail of a memorial by @rightofwaynyc of the 264 New Yorkers killed by traffic in 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kafka the Cat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

C3 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D7606 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nineta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Squirrel the poet. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brolga (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gracelang Grooseling (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Urma. Paris installation. (photo © Urma)

Urma. Lisbon installation. (photo © Urma)

Untitled. The Williamsburg bridge under fog. Brooklyn, NYC. April 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Film Friday: 01.09.15

January 9, 2015 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. ROME in the Street and the Gallery by Dioniso Punk
2. Hendrik Beikirch (ECB): East Harbor in the Netherlands
3. Michael Beerens – “Master”
4. “Art As A Weapon” Trailer

BSA Special Feature: ROME in the Street and the Gallery by Dioniso Punk

The punk rock connection to graffiti is as strong as any subculture’s – or of any people who feel marginalized in effect or practice by the dominant culture preventing their voice. The narrative that graffiti belongs exclusively to Hip Hop has been posited and disproved over time; as Jesus said, “Graffitti belongs to everyone.” *

Modern French academics and intellectuals have celebrated graffiti and Street Art by way of political protest at least since the late 1960s and early 70s, first with the Situationists and later with the aesthetics and artistry of people like Ernest Pignon-Ernest and Gérard Zlotykamien.

In “Street & Gallery” we see that the need for expression, illegal and otherwise, is as urgent as ever in the Street Art scene in Rome today and for many it is a means to express opinions and philosophies that they hope will in turn push greater society forward in some way. For others it is simply to fight the stagnation.

Billed as an “unofficial video” by Dioniso Punk, the short documentary takes you into the kitchen and studio and gallery and street as a variety of artists, academics, vegetable vendors and philosophers narrate the pragmatic and the existential. Call it activism, call it a yearning for freedom, call it being generally pissed off at institutional inertia – the spirit of graffiti and it’s multiple urban art corollaries will not die. Either will arena rock and roll, despite early punk’s best wishes.

Interesting to note that the globalization of capital has not globalized all banks accounts and has thrust the xenophobia of the Italian middle class into a harsh light here, as it has elsewhere in so-called developed countries. Here we see a modern Italy struggling with ideological self-beliefs about justice and equality and wondering how they apply to a new immigrant class who has no interest in their cogitations. Moving from the educated class studio environment, the trained artist suddenly finds a social/political role, and for the first time perhaps contemplates it. Meanwhile, many in the street have never seen the inside of a studio and have a slightly different take on the state of things. Let the conversation continue.

Support was also provided by Maam – Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz, Dorothy Circus Gallery, M.U.Ro. – Museo Urban di Roma, Sacripante Gallery, SMAC – Segni Mutanti.

A nod to the artists whose work is shown in the video, including Nicola “Nic” Alessandrini, Jim Avignon, Gary Baseman, Mister Thoms, Eduardo Kobra, David “Diavù” Vecchiato, Veronica Montanino, Stefania Fabrizi, Danilo Bucchi, Mauro Maugliani, Ron English, Beau Stanton, Mr. Klevra, Finbarr “Fin” DAC, Omino71, David Pompili, Ray Caesar, Afarin Sajedi, Kathie Olivas, Pablo Mesa Capella e Gonzalo Orquìn, Massimo Attardi, Gian Maria Tosatti, Malo Farfan, Franco Losvizzero, Davide Dormino, Alessandro Ferraro, Mauro Cuppone, Leonardo “Leo” Morichetti, Mauro Sgarbi, Gio Pistone, Zelda Bomba, Micaela Lattanzio, HOPNN, Massimo Iezzi, Sabrina Dan, Jago, Giovanna Ranaldi, Santino Drago, Alessandro Sardella, Fabio Mariani, Marco Casolino, Veks Van Hillik, Hogre, Dilkabear, Lucamaleonte, Diamond, Alice Pasquini, Paolo Petrangeli.

Hendrik Beikirch: East Harbor in the Netherlands

Hendrik Beikirch traveled to Heerlen in the Netherlands to paint a new mural over three and a half days. Organized by Heerlen Murals, the wizened, troubled subject adds to the series of images ECB has been creating across many walls in the last handful of years.

Michael Beerens – “Master”

Last summer the Frenchman Beerens took a trip out into the mountains and created a piece on a a small abandoned building. Ah, summer, come thou near…

“Art As A Weapon” Trailer

From Breadtruck Films, the new documentary focuses on a school in Myanmar (Burma) that teaches street art as a form of non-violent struggle. Street Artists Shepard Fairey and JR figure into the story, as does the military, art as a weapon, and art as a tool for revolution.

* Quote from Jesus Cordero, aerosol sales associate at Near Miss Hardware store in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

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The 2014 BSA Year in Images (VIDEO)

December 17, 2014 Artists

Here it is! Our 2014 wrap up featuring favorite images of the year by Brooklyn Street Art’s Jaime Rojo.

Before our video roundup below here is the Street Art photographer’s favorite of the year: Ask Jaime Rojo, our illustrious editor of photography at BrooklynStreetArt.com , who takes thousands of photographs each year, to respond to a simple question: What was your favorite photo of the year?

For 2014 he has swift response: “The Kara Walker.” Not the art, but the artist posed before her art.

It was an impromptu portrait that he took with his iPhone when the artist unveiled her enormous sculpture at a small gathering of neighborhood locals and former workers of the Domino Sugar Factory, informal enough that Rojo didn’t even have his professional camera with him. Aside from aesthetics for him it was the fact that the artist herself was so approachable and agreed to pose for him briefly, even allowing him to direct her just a bit to get the shot, that made an imprint on his mind and heart.

Of course the sculpture is gone and so is the building that was housing it for that matter – the large-scale public project presented by Creative Time was occupying this space as the last act before its destruction. The artist herself has probably moved on to her next kick-ass project after thousands of people stood in long lines along Kent Avenue in Brooklyn to see her astounding indictment-tribute-bereavement-celebration in a hulking warehouse through May and June.

But the photo remains.

And Rojo feels very lucky to have been able to seize that quintessential New York moment: the artist in silhouette before her own image, her own work, her own outward expression of an inner world.

Jaime’s personal favorite of 2014; The site specific Kara Walker in front of her site specific installation at the Domino Sugar Factory in May of this year in Brooklyn. Artist Kara Walker. (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

Now, for the Video

And our holiday gift to you for five years running, here is the brand new video of favorite images of graffiti and Street Art by Brooklyn Street Art’s editor of photography, Jaime Rojo.

Of a few thousand these 129 shots fly smoothly by as a visual survey; a cross section of graffiti, street art, and the resurgence of mural art that continues to take hold. As usual, all manner of art-making is on display as you wander your city’s streets. Also as usual, we prefer the autonomous free-range unsolicited, unsanctioned type of Street Art because that’s what got us hooked as artists, and ultimately, it is the only truly uncensored stuff that has a free spirit and can hold a mirror up to us. But you have to hand it to the muralists – whether “permissioned” or outright commissioned, some people are challenging themselves creatively and still taking risks.

Once again these artists gave us impetus to continue doing what we are doing and above all made us love this city even more and the art and the artists who produce it. We hope you dig it too.

Brooklyn Street Art 2014 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

2Face, Aakash Nihalani, Adam Fujita, Adnate, Amanda Marie, Andreco, Anthony Lister, Arnaud Montagard, Art is Trash, Ben Eine, Bikismo, Blek Le Rat, Bly, Cake, Caratoes, Case Maclaim, Chris Stain, Cleon Peterson, Clet, Clint Mario, Col Wallnuts, Conor Harrington, Cost, Crummy Gummy, Dain, Dal East, Damien Mitchell, Damon, Dan Witz, Dasic, Don’t Fret, Dot Dot Dot, Eelco Virus, EKG, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Etam Cru, Ewok, Faring Purth, Gilf!, Hama Woods, Hellbent, Hiss, Hitnes, HOTTEA, Icy & Sot, Jana & JS, Jason Coatney, Jef Aerosol, Jilly Ballistic, Joe Iurato, JR, Judith Supine, Kaff Eine, Kashink, Krakenkhan, Kuma, Li Hill, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Mais Menos, Mark Samsonovich, Martha Cooper, Maya Hayuk, Miss Me, Mover, Mr. Prvrt, Mr. Toll, Myth, Nenao, Nick Walker, Olek, Paper Skaters, Patty Smith, Pixel Pancho, Poster Boy, Pyramid Oracle, QRST, Rubin 415, Sampsa, Sean 9 Lugo, Sebs, Sego, Seher One, Sexer, Skewville, SmitheOne, Sober, Sonni, Specter, SpY, Square, Stay Fly, Stik, Stikki Peaches, Stikman, Swil, Swoon, Texas, Tilt, Tracy168, Trashbird, Vexta, Vinz, Willow, Wolfe Works, Wolftits, X-O, Zed1.

Read more about Kara Walker in our posting “Kara Walker And Her Sugar Sphinx At The Old Domino Factory”.

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

BSA Film Friday 12.05.14

December 5, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Street Artist GAIA, Super Modernity in Italy, Austria, Turkey
2. JR: RIVAGES a film by Guillaume Cagniard
3. Curiot at the Mexico City’s Youth Institute

BSA Special Feature: Street Artist GAIA, Super Modernity in Italy, Austria, Turkey

“Traversing places in order to respond to place, what an absurd proposition.”

And yet, that is what Street Artist Gaia has been doing for the last 3 years or so. In route he has been seeing many other artists doing the same thing, and has been feeling super modern about it.

While Street Art grew out of the graffiti tradition of tagging your local city with your name and your artwork and calling it a day, few are satisfied with that audience today. True fame happens via the Internet and mural festivals, and Gaia has made it one of his goals to study the history and culture of his host city and the resulting art works have been affected by his self-education and observation.

In this new video mini-treatise, an existential examination of his own journey to this point, Gaia poses questions while cleverly jabbing at the roving rootless lifestyle that has arrested many artists in the Street Art scene; reveling in its benefits — possibly counting its costs.

The petite piece is scored by Max Muffler in a postmodern electronic timber, evoking the charging swing of perpetual cross-cultural travel that can be rich and repetitively banal.

Sounds like the beginning of a larger work to come.

JR: RIVAGES a film by Guillaume Cagniard

Curiot at the Mexico City’s Youth Institute

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.02.14

November 2, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Marathon Day in NYC today with people running in the streets more than usual, the time clock moved back an hour today, mid-term elections are this Tuesday, and New York’s first ebola patient is feeling a little better.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 2Face, Aine, Bifido, Caratoes, Cleon Peterson, Dal East, Dee Dee, Esteban Del Valle, Faring Purth, June, Kai June, Sean9Lugo, and Tara McPherson.

Top Image >> Chinese graffiti/Street Art due 2Face have been popping up around NYC and BK for the last few months, including this enormous portrait above of Ai Wei Wei looming large in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2Face. A smaller more personal version of it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2Face combines their trademark ski mask and pronounced mouth detail with this Van Gogh portrait in a Warholic repetition. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dal East (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faring Purth. “Ru” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Caratoes (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OK here is what we don’t know about this billboard: The artist’s name. Here is what we know: The billboard is printed, not painted. The same artist who did this one put another one in the Summer with the legend “May The Bridges I Burn Light The Way”. Anyway who didn’t dream of running away at some point in their lives…either solo or with company? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cleon Peterson. “The Kiss” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sean 9 Lugo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bifido. “Immotus ned iners” Caserta, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

June’s new piece for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

June. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kai June (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This wall by Esteban Del Valle recalls a linotype wheatpaste by Elbowtoe a few years ago. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Someone who you don’t see often on the street, Tara McPherson (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tara McPherson (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Domino Sugar Factory. Brooklyn, NY. October, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.24.14

August 24, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Angelina Christina, Azores, City Kitty, Colettivo FX, Damon, EaseOne, Fidel Evora, F.S., Gone Postal, HDL Corporation, JR, Kraken, Love is Telepathic, Mark Samsonovich, Mesa, Never, Pixote, Rubin415, Seher, Smithe, Specter, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Wrdsmth, and X-O.

Top Image >> Smithe, Seher and Kraken new mural for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smithe, Seher and Kraken new mural for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

X-O (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smithe for Savage Habbit in Union City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Specter and Mesa in Cadiz, Spain. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Fidel Evora for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Specter Ad-Takeover (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WRDSMTH clearly knows his audience. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon is caught in a lip-lock. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty has the four panel street exhibit for Woodward Project Space. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HDL Corporation in Detroit. August 2014 (photo © HDL Corporation)

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh clarifying things in case you were not sure. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Detail of both ends of his large new mural in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Samsonovich in Jersey City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Collettivo FX. Portrait of Abidi. Reggio Emilia, Italy. August 2014. (photo © Collettivo FX)

Collettivo FX explains the portrait above:

“In our city of Reggio Emilia in Italy there is a very big factory named Officine Reggiane that is completely abandoned. It was famous in Italy for its metal work production (they made the Orient Express train, the crane used for the Costa Concordia, and then there was the longest occupation of a factory in the history of Italy here).

Now this is a major venue for graffiti and a refuge for homeless people. We began going to the factory more that two years ago and some of the people living there became our friends; in particular a man named Abidi, who we named “the boss of the Officine Reggiane”.

So a few weeks ago Abidi announced to us that he is leaving the factory to go back to Tunisia: he had found a wife! So, we thought about a gift we could give him. We are poor, very poor, we just had the paint, so one night we went in the factory (usually we go during the day) and we painted a big portrait of Abidi in the principal part of the place. It’s a gift for Abidi but also for us and for our memories of the Officine Reggiane.”

Pixote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gone Postal (photo © Jaime Rojo)

F.S. We are intrigued by this bubble tag. Was the stencil work done by a different artist? Is this the original piece as first installed by the artist? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Angelina Christina, EaseOne and Never collaboration for Savage Habbit in Jersey City, New Jersey. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. August 2014. It looks like Spiderman has found a formidable adversary. Last time he saw him battling this monster hanging from wire cables in Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.03.14

August 3, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

It’s the Dog Days of Summer and there are a lot of cool cats on the street right now.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adam Fujita, Be Everything, Che Man, Clint Mario, Dan Witz, E.L.K. Icy & Sot, Ishmael, JR, Kenny Scharf, LMNOPI, Mika, Mike Makatron, Rusebk, Sabio, Solus, Sweet Toof, and You Go Girl!

Top Image >> As the world is watching, Icy & Sot again address the Iraeli/Palestinian crisis on a wall in this uncharacteristically openly political piece for the Bushwick Collective, who typically require artists to stay within content guidelines. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR’s 2006 “Holy Tryptich” appeared here in Manhattan, originally installed on the separation wall in 2007. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

E.L.K. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sweet Toof (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clint Mario really got in shape for beach weather this year. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sabio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You Go Girl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pop that thing open and let’s go run in the spray! Mike Makatron. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vivache has created “Che Man” and has mounted this message in San Francisco, Oakland, Cambridge, and now Bushwick Brooklyn with this Pak Man inspired solution to world ills. This Bushwick spot was up only two days before it was buffed over in green again, presumably because the message rubbed someone the wrong way. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clearly the wolves are running unimpeded in the valley of the skyscrapers. Ishmael. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rusebk. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenny Scharf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Be Everything. But don’t be a dumbell. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Solus. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mika (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dog Days – Florence and the Machine

Cool For Cats – Squeeze

BSA Film Friday: 06.27.14

June 27, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Miss Van, Glamorous Darkness
2. Andaluz The Artist re-works “Nah I’m Talkin Bout”- G-Unit
3. Urban Calligraphy “Lucid Dream,” by Simon Silaidis
4. JR & José Parlá: Wrinkles of the City

BSA Special Feature: Miss Van, Glamorous Darkness

“I like it a little disturbing. As long as they are wearing masks I think it gives them the necessary strength I want them to express. I don’t necessarily need to dress them,” so explains Miss Van in studio in this rose colored atelier of the feminine form. For years the Street Artist has put forward a new definition of the female and the fantasy, and her newer works only invite. Lest you become too confident, Miss Van makes it clear that they also may bite. “I’m not coy in my paintings.”

One tasty bit of irony revealed here is that her own visual research of photography and the female form from a century ago alerted her to her own perceptions of what idealized feminine beauty is.

Andaluz The Artist re-works “Nah I’m Talkin Bout”- G-Unit

Andaluz tells you what it is all about, son, in this new painting/music video. While he looks suspiciously over his shoulder at you he continues with his aerosol portrait tributes to one of his favorite recently re-united Hip-Hop groups, G-Unit.

The real surprise is that mid-way through the jam the artist takes off his mask and starts laying down the lyrics himself which are witty and autobiographical.

Ed note: Wish people didn’t have to say n*****, hoe, and b****h. Otherwise it’s a great piece of creativity and ingenuity we can respect.

Urban Calligraphy “Lucid Dream,” by Simon Silaidis

“Simon Silaidis is a designer, a thinker, a vision-er, a pioneer,” says his autobiography that accompanies this video. He also loves calligraphy, part of a growing number of graffitti / Street Art based adherents to the gestural and decorative lettering of traditional language arts. Sit here with him in his reverie…

JR & José Parlá: Wrinkles of the City

A teaser for the full length piece, here is a gentle and rich introduction to “Wrinkles of the City”, the dual project in Havana, Cuba, completed by JR & José Parlá a couple of years ago.

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Images Of The Week: 06.15.14

June 15, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Hello friend! Don’t forget that Welling Court is happening this weekend in Queens. The 5th annual neighborhood event has over 120 murals going up, and it is truly grassroots. Icy & Sot had their very successful cultural exchange this Friday as well, with 30 New York artists showing in Tehran, and 10 Iranian artists showing in Brooklyn – so hats off to them and the organizers for pulling that off. Olek has been at the Honolulu Museum of Art to celebrate World Oceans Day with a huge installation, and Swoon brought the New York premiere of “Flood Tide” and musical performances to The Brooklyn Museum this week for Submerged Collaborations. This week you don’t want to miss seeing four important NYC graffiti photographers at the same time in person at the Museum of the City of New York.

And we cannot believe the stunning amount of new stuff on the street: here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Blanco, Bradley Theodore, Damien Mitchell, Damon, Dan Witz, Dennis McNett, Dr. NO, Flood, Fra Biancoshock, Icy & Sot, JR, Myth, Olek, Sean 9 Lugo, Simek, Snow White, Sonni, TV with Cheese, and Winston the Whale.

This looks like a very tiny JR. Perhaps a fragment from a larger installation “accidentally” found its way on this wall? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist Blanco shares his new piece this week in Albany and in his description of it below you may draw a connection between recreation of old stories and myths and the recreation of our cities through gentrification as well – although he doesn’t specifically address the latter.

” This work was kind of inspired by my interest in the common roots of divergent cultures. An example is the eytemology of Dyaus Pitra (Sky Father, Hindu) = Zeus Pater(Father of Gods, Greek) = Ju Piter (God of the Sky, Roman). I am interested in the way that cultures evolve, split off and borrow from one another and how its all mixed back together. The way some Mongolian friends of mine revere Buddhist monasteries, consult shamans and consider themselves Christians or The way the Aztec mother goddess Tonantzin was transformed into the Catholic ‘Our Lady Of Guadalupe’. We are sometimes led to believe its all black and white but its not usually so simple. Cross cultural heritage and mixing have always interested me but Joseph Campbell wrote about this aspect of religion and story telling in a very interesting way.

In some ways modern cities bear some resemblance to this cross pollination as neighborhoods and buildings are transformed, converted and reclaimed.

Specifically for this piece I was interested in the Proto-Indo-European Mother Goddess and the way she was changed, destroyed, recycled and recreated as the Hindu goddess Kali. She is associated with the ability and powers for both creation and destruction.” ~ Blanco

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Sixe Paredes ‘Futurismo Ancestral’ Opens at Somerset House in London

May 21, 2014 Artists, Interview

Starting today, for one week only, the Andes will be inside the Somerset House.

London’s spectacular neo-classical home of arts and culture along the River Thames will play host to an all-encompassing exhibition experience mounted by the Barcelona-born graffiti artist Six Paredes in his tribute to Peruvian and Andean culture. Futurismo Ancestral: An Offering to Peru by Sixe Paredes has been inspired by the traditional and the modern, and aims to meld the two together surreally, and really.

For weeks we have been seeing the progress of a loosely banded consortium of brother street artists laying plans and constructing exhibition elements beneath the fountained public courtyard. Today the public can experience a series of walkways leading to large-scale and smaller works evoking the rich color and symbols of the region; tapestries, totem sculptures, ceramics and quipus (a system of knotted cords known as ‘talking knots’), masks and fluorescent chichas (posters).

“We are taking over three spaces at Somerset House, essentially the whole of the lower floor of the building,” explains Rafael Schacter of A(by)P, an organization that enables artists to produce events and exhibit work and who organized the installation with his partners and the Somerset House. Built and installed by a “dream team” of urban and street artists and students from University College London, where Schacter teaches, the exhibition is complemented with daily interactive events including Peruvian and Andean food, music, film, and performance.

Futurismo Ancestral is born from the travels of Sixe Paredes to Peru beginning in 2009 and his adoration of the richness he experienced in the culture compelled him to bring it back to share. One of the six street artists featured on the river façade of the Tate Modern six years ago along with Faile, JR, Blu, Os Gemeos, and Nunca for it’s pivotal street art exhibition, Six Paredes completed his most recent large scale wall just last month at the Biennale D’Art Urbain in Charleroi, Belgium. Schacter, who co-curated the Street Art expo at that Tate show and who authored The World Atlas of Street Art & Graffiti with Yale in 2013, says that this return is Paredes first major solo show in the UK .

Sixe Paredes spotting the future on the horizon. “Futurismo Ancestral” Somerset House. April 2014. London, UK (photo © A(by)P)

During the preparation for this much anticipated and lively show, BSA had the opportunity to speak with both Six Paredes and Rafael Schacter about the origins, inspirations, and preparations for Futurismo Ancestral.

Brooklyn Street Art: After touring Peru and being exposed to such eye-popping color, isn’t it surprising to be in such a grey northern city like London?
Sixe Paredes: It was not surprising for me to come here and find myself in a grey city because this color predominates in so many cities in Europe and so many European cities prohibit murals and even have specialized brigades set up to clean and remove color. Throughout my journey in different regions of Peru I’ve seen a lot of color but color can be found in all the different cultures of the world, when they maintain their primordial essence.

Brooklyn Street Art: Rafael, can you tell us about Futurismo Ancestral and how it came about?
Rafael Schacter: Futurismo Ancestral is all about the connection between the traditional and the contemporary, the fusion of the Peruvian visual culture and craft tradition with the visual palette so unique to Sixe Paredes himself. Since I last worked with Sixe in the UK, he has been living in between Peru and his hometown of Barcelona, he has become obsessed with the visual culture of the region and has learned the techniques of ceramic and textile production with famous artisans and artists throughout the region. This exhibition is about bringing together the deep history and heritage of Peruvian visual culture, and his love for this tradition with his unique, colorful, distinct style in an all embracing, multifaceted manner.

Brooklyn Street Art: Sixe Paredes, you have already been incorporating a certain minimalism into your aesthetics over the past ten years. Is it difficult to merge that understated quality with the vibrant enthusiasm of Peruvian and Andean folk?
Sixe Paredes: My art has always been characterized by the agglomeration of shapes and colors. Throughout different periods I started introducing more elements, such as the circuits, which led my paintings towards another dimension – this dimension enhanced my painting, allowing for other interpretations of my work. In recent years I have been synthesizing some of my series. I like to play with this idea because it leaves more room for reflection and I don’t need as many elements to express myself. Some of these elements are iconic to my work, such as crests or beaks which have always been in my compositions and can be found there today.

Brooklyn Street Art: The work here is simultaneously modern and folk – with the bold colors and raw patterning and symbols combined with a certain minimalism. Rafael, can you walk us through the spaces in a way that helps translate this convivial duality in an exhibition space.
Rafael Schacter: Somerset House is really an amazing location for us to be working in, we are both proud and excited to be working here! After you have exited our introductory area, our visitors will go outside into the Lighwells, an amazing outside space which has been used for films such as Sherlock Holmes among others; within this arched space, we have built a series of 3 meter high trapezoidal arches – shapes which are highly significant in Inca culture. Acting as a rite of passage, as a journey from one sacred space to another, visitors well make their way into what is called the Deadhouse, an underground catacomb which exists directly below the famous Somerset House courtyard. This space, aptly, will function as a sacred temple space, within which Sixe’s ceramics, quipus and tapestries will be housed.

Brooklyn Street Art: Not only are the color palettes from the traditional Peruvian culture warm, so too are the materials. Can you talk about the warmer, more earthen properties of wood, of yarn, and hand made masks – and how they affect your work?
Sixe Paredes: Peru has had a considerable influence on my painting palette, bringing more color to it and motivating me to use new mediums, materials and techniques, some of which have endured since ancient times. I always wanted to move towards a new path, a more ancestral path, revalidating primal techniques through a contemporary perspective.

Brooklyn Street Art: You have a stellar group supporting this one week event – some of these folks have had big shows of their own so it’s good to see them supporting another artist.
Rafael Schacter: One of the key things about A(by)P is that we want to be for artists by artists. We don’t want to simply get in a bunch of contractors to assist in bringing the project to life but want rather to recreate the group dynamic and energy that is so crucial to these artists’ worlds. As such, for every project, we want to bring the artist’s family together to help bring it to life; in that way, the creative juices and creative possibilities can flow in a much more organic manner. And not only that, but all these artists on the team are people who we will continue to work with in the future on solo shows of their own.

For Sixe’s show for example, we really have got a dream team working together, a group who like you say are all artists of massive acclaim themselves. Both Eltono and Nano4814 are two of my favourite artists in the world; Eltono has just had a superb solo homecoming show in Madrid at Slowtrack and Nano4814 and insane solo show at the Delimbo Gallery in Sevilla. Pablo Limon, our exhibition designer is one of the most amazing makers I have ever come across, a creative genius. And Lucas Cantu, who is working on our graphics, branding and exhibition production, is the director of the Savvy Studios as well as the founder of the Nrmal Festival in Mexico. As I said, the dream team! And then alongside this we have had amazing support from the students of University College London, who have all been absolutely incredible.

Brooklyn Street Art: Many Street Artists are bringing the animal world into their work today and sometimes artists will say they are giving the animals a voice to speak to us. How have animals been important in your compositions?
Six Paredes: In my case, the animal theme has been present in my work for many years, and this partly because of the admiration I feel for them. For me, among the most fascinating creatures of the animal kingdom are birds, mainly because of the wide variety of species, thousands of colours and silhouettes – and their relationship to the celestial and to flight. In terms of my compositions, this theme is important to me because it reminds us that we are also animals within the same world.

Brooklyn Street Art: In what way do you think of your work as something that evokes the future?
Six Paredes: I think my work evokes the future because it merges two different visions, the ancient and the contemporary and the bond between them which leads us to reflect about many of the things that humans have left on their way and some of them I think would be important to remember.

Sixe Paredes Futurismo Ancestral: An Offering To Peru at Somerset House in London, UK. Click HERE for more information on this exhibition.

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Images Of The Week: 01.26.14

January 26, 2014 Artists

BSA Images of the Week this week starts with a series of non Street Art photos because they are inside a hallowed hall of NYC high culture, namely the Phillip Johnson designed modernist building that houses the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center. International Street Artist, photographer and populist JR made a splash this week here with his project that puts ballet at the center of our eye.

For the second year the ballet has featured a Street Artist to lead their new artist series (last year was the duo Faile) and we’re nominating some names for next year already. This week however, JR’s large scale photographs of the ballet company ruled on opening night as a wide variety of guests walked on them all and marvelled up close and personally with the dancers images that lay artfully throughout the room.

Some guests climbed stairs to look down upon the giant ocular piece from balconies above, and in a true spirit of interactivity some fans went the full-immersion route by laying upon the image itself, striking a pose while friends took shots and tweeted and Instagrammed them. By the time the performers hit the stage we were all primed for the sprightly Gen Y talent to dance, and if this program by @balletnyc is successful, a new generation will also be filling the seats to see them this spring.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Ainac, Bask, El Sol 25, Elbow-Toe, JR, Pyramid Oracle, and Swoon.

The JR installation for his collaboration with The NYC Ballet Artists Series at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The JR installation for his collaboration with The NYC Ballet Artists Series at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

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