All posts tagged: L.A.

Priscilla Frank and The Bunny Museum : 15 For 2015

Priscilla Frank and The Bunny Museum : 15 For 2015

December 26, 2015
15-for-2015-E

What are you celebrating this season? We’re celebrating BSA readers and fans with a holiday assorted chocolate box of 15 of the smartest and tastiest people we know. Each day until the new year we ask a guest to take a moment to reflect on 2015 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for him or her. It’s our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and saying ‘thank you’ for inspiring us throughout the year.

Priscilla Frank is the Arts & Culture Editor of the Huffington Post. A student of Rhetoric at Berkley, and now based in Los Angeles, she favors Art Brut, feminist art, comic art and folk art. Some entertaining posts by Ms. Frank in 2015 include  Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina On Her Plans For A Women’s-Only Museum , Stereoscopic Nudes Are The Sexy GIFs Of The 19th Century, Artist Lip-Syncs Entire GOP Debate While Dressed As A Clown, and ‘World’s Greatest Cat Painting’ Sells For $826,000. As hilariously engaging as those sound, most germane to BSA readers might be her 10 Women Artists Who Are Better Than Banksy.

USA, Pasadena (LA)
May 2015
Photograph by Micah Hauser

This is an outdoor view of The Bunny Museum located in the private home of Candace Frazee and Steve Lubanski. The couple, who call each other “honey bunny” as a term of endearment, have given each other a bunny-centric gift every day for quite a while now. They now have over 32,000.

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I visited the museum in the midst of the Marie Kondo frenzy, when I felt a paralyzing pressure to clean up and grow up in more ways than just home tidying. When I saw the surreal gaggle of stuffed bunnies smushed against the suburban home’s window panes, it was as reassuring as cuddling up with a long lost stuffed animal.

I turned to my boyfriend and said “I’m not Kondoing.” This might have been a key liberating moment in my life, or perhaps a damning one, I guess it remains to be seen. For now I’m content to embrace the chaos, the clutter, all the bunnies.

 

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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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DOT DOT DOT in LA Goes for a Gentle Laugh

DOT DOT DOT in LA Goes for a Gentle Laugh

February 5, 2015

Norwegian street artist DOT DOT DOT is one of the artists from the mid 2000s who was quite influenced by the stencil work and sarcastic tone of Banksy and who faithfully stays true to the aesthetics and situational placement of his pieces, even though his roots are from the graffiti scene of Oslo. Not married to any one style, he looks for opportunity to be ironic, and perhaps cause the viewer to be puzzled, or to illicit an inside-joke smile.

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DOT DOT DOT. “Chanel Dogs” Malibu, Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

Crisp, painstaking, and understated, the style of work from DOT DOT DOT sometimes comes across as benign even if the ultimate message is shocking. Take the dogs fighting over the Chanel purse in a chic neighborhood in Malibu, for example. You make first think the playful tug-of-war is cute before you ever realize it is an insult to status-hungry consumerism.

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DOT DOT DOT. “Radioactive Sea” Venice Beach, Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

His signs posted on California beaches warning against radioactive material in the water in Japanese may be mistaken as genuine although his intent is to shake you out of your awe at the magestic ocean view.  “Fukushima continues to contaminate over 400 tons of water daily, most of which is let out to sea,” says the artist.  To this date the plant has produced over 500,000 tons, and they have already found radioactive contamination all along the California coast as well as Hawaii.” To drive the point home he leaves a stencil of men in hazmat suits spraying down a boy whose been playing at the beach.

Here we give you some images from DOT DOT DOT’s recent trip to the west coast of the US, and a few of his interventions.

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DOT DOT DOT. “Radioactive Wash” Venice Beach, Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

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DOT DOT DOT. A collaboration with a Stikki Peaches piece. LA, Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

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DOT DOT DOT. “404 Not Found” is an ironic physical reference to the digital error message. Downtown, LA. Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

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DOT DOT DOT. Work in progress. Nedada. Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

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DOT DOT DOT. “Rothko” Nevada, Nov. 2014. (photo © DOT DOT DOT)

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Best Miami Street Art: BSA Picks Awesomest for Basel ’12

December 5, 2012 , , ,

BSA Recommends: Where to Hit for the Best Street Art

Art Basel is set to whip Miami into a sea-foamy art-star laden froth this weekend, but art on the street is the unofficial engine that will be keeping it real. No one can doubt that the wave of Street Art, this first global grassroots peoples art movement, is sort of everywhere now, haters be damned.

The ugly streets of the Wynwood District easily get as much traffic as the big commercial art fairs even though there is no guest list or ticket price. It feels remarkably different to see the marbled horde exploring art in the public realm, posing for photos with each other in front of pieces, talking with the artists as they paint, sharing their favorite discoveries on Instagram.  This is the art of this moment, and there is just something more democratic about it all.

Our list, in no particular order, doesn’t even include the main fair actually. Hit the streets!

1. Wynwood Walls
2. Fountain Art Fair
3. The Factory Art Show
4. Scope Fair
5. Pulse
6. Miami Project Art Fair
7. Context
8. Primary Projects
9. BLADE at Adjust Gallery
10. A Box Truck Caravan from Klughaus
11. Snyder “Urban Pop Up Gallery”

We have sifted through the offerings in Miami for 2012, and made some selections to help you see Street Art inside and outside, by brand new artists and some with 40 years in the game.  Take your camera, take your sneakers, and take your love of the creative spirit.

Wynwood Walls

Arguably one of the main reasons that Street Artists began pouring into Miami in the late 2000s, Wynwood Walls opened the streets to the gallery world and increasingly galleries are opening doors to these artists from street. Wynwood Walls founder Tony Goldman would have wanted it that way and is credited by many artists as the first guy to give their art a chance to be seen.

WW doesn’t stop this year even as the recently departed real estate developer will be on many minds, not the least because of the huge wall installation by Shepard Fairey honoring him as a benefactor of the arts.

A well mixed list of internationally known and emerging names are featured on a slightly shorter list this year including: How & Nosm, MOMO, DAZE, Shepard Fairey, Jesse Geller (Nemel, IRAK), Faith47, Daleast, Santiago Rubino, POSE and Kenny Scharf. The out door walls are complemented with an indoor exhibition featuring new works on canvas by AIKO, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm and Futura.

How & Nosm. Wynwood Walls 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information about wall locations and all the artists click here.

Fountain Art Fair

A loosely spun ball of misfits and future art stars, Fountain Art Fair always flies just under the radar of it’s more tony neighbors with its somewhat haphazard staging and the kind of unpretentious collaborative punk flophouse environment that gives rise to many Street Artists on the scene today. If you don’t need your art spoon-fed, you’ll find a link to the future here in the motley D.I.Y. parade. Also, a few really strong talents. As usual Fountain is making certain to spill outside the white box, onto the streets and onto the walls. This year line up of Street Artists painting the Fountain Wall include:

Rone, Australia | LNY, New Jersey | PLF, Atlanta | Trek Matthews, Atlanta | Jaz, Argentina | Elian, Argentina | Ever, Argentina | Dal East, China | Faith 47, South Africa | Molly Rose Freeman, Tennessee | Dustin Spagnola, North Carolina | Pixel Pancho, Italy | Never 2501, Italy | Sam Parker, Atlanta | GILF!, NYC | EnMasse, Canada | Lauren Napolitano, Oakland CA | Joe Iurato, NJ | Anne Preece, LA | Nobody, NYC | Pastel, Argentina | Hec One Love, Miami.

RONE. Wynwood Arts District, Miami 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information and schedule of events for Fountain Art Fair click here.

The Factory Art Show

A little more on the commercial tip, Juxtapoz Magazine and its minion are leaders in blasting open minds to help you enjoy delicious tattoo art, graffiti art, Street Art, pop surrealist and dark pop, erotic art, and of course hypnotically animated gifs. Here Jux teams up with Mixed Media Collective to bring you an indoor and outdoor exhibition featuring a left coast imbued view of the street with national and international artists including: 131, Abstrkt, Alex Yanes, Myla (of Dabs & Myla), DALeast, Evoca1, Faith47, Jose Mertz, Lebo, Tatiana Suarez, Toofly, and La Pandilla among others.

Tatiana TATI Suarez at The RC Cola Factory in The Wynwood Arts District of Miami, 2009. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information about THE FACTORY art exhibition click here.

Scope Fair

Scope Art Fair is a few steps removed from the street, even as it deeply mines that vein and packages it for sale. Big sale. Usually high quality and undoubtedly commercial, the fair aims for deeper pockets and the art trade while still trying to maintain the accessible, challenging works that accomplished GenX collectors are looking for.  Not surprisingly, artists once known exclusively as Street Artists are all up in there too.

Scope’s roster of galleries includes many that represent Street Artists from around the world including:  Cory Helford Gallery from Culver City, CA will be presenting D*Face and Buff Monster. Galerie Swanström from NYC will be presenting Gilf!  White Walls Gallery from San Fransico, CA. will be presenting C215, Herakut, Augustine Kofie, Logan Hicks and Niels Shoe Meulman. Andenken Gallery / The Garage from Amsterdam, Spoke Art Gallery from San Francisco and Thinkspace from Culver City, CA will also have booths at Scope. Scope Art Fair includes a large variety of programs along with their main exhibition including Red Bull Curates with artists Cosbe and Claw Money among others and Anthony Spinello curates TYPOE.

Buff Monster at Wynwood Arts District, Miami. 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Pulse

Pulse Art Fair insists on paring works on canvas with art installations as a way to engage the public and make the art viewing experience (and hopefully the art buying experience) far less clinical and more accessible. Detailed, immaculate, and approachable, Pulse is always a must to visit if you are doing the fair circuit. This year as in previous years Pulse has included some of the most important art galleries representing and promoting the work of internationally established Street Artists. Some examples: LeBasse Projects from Culver City, CA will be presenting Herakut, The Joshua Liner Gallery from NYC will be presenting Stephen “ESPO” Powers, and The Jonathan LeVine Gallery from NYC will be presenting a solo exhibition by French Street Artist and tilest INVADER.

Invader. South Beach, Miami. 2010 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Miami Project Art Fair

One to watch, The Miami Project Art Fair originates from peeps in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and has about 70 galleries in its inaugural showing with contemporary and modern art offerings.  We expect this fair to provide the already charged air with an extra bolt of energy. One worth hitting is the Cooper Cole Gallery from Toronto, Canada will be presenting Brooklyn’s own Maya Hayuk.

Maya Hayuk. Monster Island, Brooklyn, NYC. November, 2009. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Context

Context is one of the newest fairs, and will feature French Street Artists RERO and Speedy Graphito, represented by the Fabien Castanier Gallery from Studio City, CA.

Speedy Graphito “Urban Dreamer” (photo courtesy of the gallery)

For a full listing of exhibitors, programs and other details click here.

Primary Projects

Honorable mention here for the originators of the Wynwood outdoor graffiti (and Street Art) exhibitions that pre-date the official Wynwood Walls and were run on a shoelace budget and lots of hustle, Primary Flight. This year as a gallery project they have refocused their scope and present a full installation by multidisciplinary artist Kenton Parker. He is planning to bring his “Taco Shop” to the 8th floor of the Soho Beach House in Miami Beach.

Kenton Parker. “Las Lucky’s” Taco Shop. (photo © Peter Vahan)

From the Primary Flight press release: “How do you encapsulate the underground, past-midnight culture of Los Angeles into a single structure? For multimedia artist Kenton Parker, his establishment stationed outside the fashionable Las Palmas nightclub brings the beautiful people back to their basic needs; everyone pays the same dollar for the same after-party, hangover fare. Sharply crafted from tile mosaic, Parker’s standalone shop offers patrons everything from sodas to recovered fake Louis Vuitton wallets, from spray paint to Nerds candy boxes”

For a full listing of Primary Projects exhibitions and other details click here.

ALSO HAPPENING IN MIAMI THIS WEEKEND:

In addition to the perhaps 100 or so Street Artists participating this year in the established art fairs and galleries, there will be dozens of installations outside the sanctioned venues. So far Miami is still in love with it all – both legal and illegal installations provide the essential ethos of an art world invasion. Without these artists and independent stagings away of the glitzy openings and glare of cameras, these art fairs and  just feel like “commerce”.  Some other gigs to check out :

BLADE at Adjust Gallery

Adjust Gallery in Miami will be hosting an exhibition of legendary Graffiti New York artist BLADE. Vernissage: December 6 from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Adjust Gallery Miami, 150 NW 24th Ave (305) 458-2801.

Blade in MoCA Los Angeles for Art in The Streets. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Box Truck Caravan from Klughaus

Klauhhaus Gallery has been mounting some of the best graffiti/Street Art/tattoo/low brow shows in NYC since the gallery opened in Chinatown in 2011. We give it up for these ruggedly smart idea people who will be making their inaugural trip to Miami. With a caravan of box trucks parked strategically in the Wynwood Arts District their artists will be live painting on the trucks and the trucks will parade around showcasing a mobile gallery as the trucks will in fact be moving canvases. The trucks will feature art by: RIME, TOPER, DCEVE, WANE, SP, CES, OBLVN, STAE2, GOREY among others.

Rime . Dceve . Toper (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information about live painting schedule and locations click here.

Snyder “Urban Pop Up Gallery”

And finally there is Snyder, who is just one of the intrepid D.I.Y. artists who inspire you with their will to succeed – even without being plugged in to the scene. From the artist’s press release: “Snyder, a Southern California based street artist, will be installing his ‘Urban Pop Up Gallery’ in the streets of Miami. With no contacts, no pre-arranged walls, no assistants and in a city never previously visited, Snyder attempts to install 30+ pieces of art in the streets of Miami over a 7 day period, ultimately curating his 2nd large scale ‘Urban Pop Up Gallery”.

 

 

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Bamboo Replaces Billboard on LA Freeway

November 24, 2012

 “Imagine floating, globally connected urban forests growing where billboards stand. Artist Stephen Glassman and his team are doing it.”

Here’s a unique breath of fresh air by artist Stephen Glassman, an LA based sculptor who has worked many times with bamboo for large projects in the public realm. Here he has an idea for designing and engineering a green project that reclaims one of the thousands of billboards in Los Angeles and turns it into an oasis of bamboo.

Image © Stephen Glassman

With an eye toward bamboo’s resiliency, Glassman creates here a welcome metaphor for the man-made environment and our ability to adapt it to our changing needs and evolving understanding of our internal and external environments.

“UrbanAir transforms existing urban billboards to living, suspended bamboo gardens. Embedded with intelligent technology, UrbanAir becomes a global node – an open space in the urban skyline… An artwork, symbol, and instrument for a green future.”

You can donate to his Kickstarter page to help make it happen.

All images ©  Stephen Glassman

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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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Fun Friday 11.23.12 – VIDEO Request Edition – Chosen by You

November 23, 2012

It’s the BSA Reader Video Request edition of Fun Friday for all us peeps who are not shopping today. We asked our Facebook friends and fans for their favorite street art related video flicks and give them to you here- in no particular order. Peace out and have a great Black Friday everybody.

1. Vhils in Germany
2. Wild Style Part 1
3. Open Air
4. In Bed with Invader
5. En Masse in Miami
6. Berlin Street Art as Lyrics (Emus Primus)
7. Shai Dahan new Ted Talk “Beyond Borders”
8. TEJN LOCK ON STREET ART – Street Art Sculpture by Tejn
9. Burn – Episode 3
10. Graffiti Verite Part 1
11. Japanese Stencil
12. BLU – BIG BANG BIG BOOM
14. Hanoi Lantern Bearers – Vietnam with The Yok
15. Bomb It

Vhils in Germany

The Portuguese Street Artist at work, produced by Euromaxx, recommended by Crist Graphicart (German language)

Wild Style Part 1

The classic Charlie Ahearn movie as recommended by Nahua Prince Huitzilin

 

Open Air

“In 2006, we created this short for the University of Southern California’s Public Arts Studies Program.

This documentary explored the studios and methods of six of the top street artists in America: Faile, Skewville, Mike De Feo, Dan Witz, Espo and Tiki Jay One.” Recommended by Lou J Auguste

In Bed with Invader

H Veng Smith likes this one with Invader.

En Masse in Miami

“At the end of November (2011), the En Masse Art Initiative flew down to Miami to take part of the Miami Art Basel events. With the help of Sodec Quebec and Galerie Pangée, EM teamed up with Scope Art Fair, Fountain Art Fair, Safewalls, Primary Flight and the Found store to create multiple work of art. During 10 days, the team grew exponentially, adding members from all around the globe; Tel-Aviv, Montreal, Brooklyn, Woodstock, Staten Island, San Fransico, San Diego, Miami etc.”  – recommended by Beth Tully

Berlin Street Art as Lyrics (Emus Primus)

Emus Primus and photography of Berlin Street art, set to music. As recommended by Da Andal

Shai Dahan new Ted Talk “Beyond Borders”

The keynote is about my travel into Palestine.  Considering what is going on there –  Being that everyone is talking about the violence, this video can reflect a bit of light on how there are some ways to find peace.  It may not find the sort of wide peace we hope to all gain there, but through the message in the keynote, I hope people can see that Israel and Palestine can share a common beauty: Street-art.” Shai Dahan

TEJN LOCK ON STREET ART – Street Art Sculpture by Tejn

Suggested by Mogens Carstensen

Burn – Episode 3

“The third episode of BURN graffiti video series. Best episode so far! Featuring rolling freight, live painting and more!   As recommended by Beyond The Rail Photography

Graffiti Verite Part 1

“Part 1 of the 1995 Los Angeles graffiti documentary directed by Bob Bryan. Featured artists include Duke, Skept, Tempt, Prime, Mear, Relic, Cre8, and Design9.”

Japanese Stencil

A stencil artist creates a piece as a tribute to Japan in the wake of the destruction it suffered last year. – As recommended by Crist Graphicart

BLU – BIG BANG BIG BOOM

“an unscientific point of view on the beginning and evolution of life … and how it could probably end. direction and animation by BLU.”   This one recommended by Martha Becker

Hanoi Lantern Bearers – Vietnam with The Yok

In Vietnam on a roof. As recommended by The Yok

Bomb It

The full documentary – “Through interviews and guerilla footage of graffiti writers in action on 5 continents, BOMB IT tells the story of graffiti from its origins in prehistoric cave paintings thru its notorious explosion in New York City during the 70’s and 80’s, then follows the flames as they paint the globe.” Recommended by Orson Horchler

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How & Nosm Want 100 Murals This Year – Here’s Today’s!

February 22, 2012 , , ,

New Wall Called “Mood Swings”

It could be Bronx Bravado but the New York based Alemannic Street Art bros How & Nosm say they want to hit 100 walls this year.

One hundred.

So they just saved us having to come up with 28% of our postings for 2012! Woooo Hooooo! Heute gehen wir steil! (German slang for “Let’s party tonight!”)

So here we are today with the just-completed “Mood Swings”, their new mural in downtown Los Angeles on the side of the brand new LaLa gallery, a new venture by Daniel Lahoda.

Special thanks to photographer and BSA contributor Birdman, who was on the scene to capture the action for the BSA family.

How & Nosm “Mood Swings” for LA Freewalls (photo © Birdman)

How & Nosm “Mood Swings” for LA Freewalls (photo © Birdman)

How & Nosm “Mood Swings” for LA Freewalls (photo © Birdman)

How & Nosm “Mood Swings” for LA Freewalls (photo © Birdman)

How & Nosm “Mood Swings” for LA Freewalls (photo © Birdman)

How & Nosm “Mood Swings” for LA Freewalls (photo © Birdman)

How & Nosm “Mood Swings” for LA Freewalls (photo © Birdman)

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CYRCLE in LA ; A Winter Interlude

January 21, 2012

This section of Los Angeles is like so many – teaming anonymous streams of cars and trucks rumbling by, oblivious, almost menacing to you on the sidewalk with their rapacious roar as you ascend the ladder, can in hand, a glint of mischief in your eye. Headphones buffer the cacophony, the conversations with mates giving warmth in this garish flashing peopled no-mans’ land.

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

With a sense of satisfaction the Street Artist collaborative Cyrcle complete their first installment of a year-long series for  the LA Freewalls project on Mateo Street next to Aiko, Saber, and Kofie. Exclusively for you, photographer Carlos Gonzalez captures these artists in the Spring of life as they create in the bluish hues of Winter.

 

Cyrcle by Carlos Gonzalez (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Aiko next to Cyrcle’s new piece “Winter” (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

Cyrcle  (© Carlos Gonzalez)

 

 

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Corey Helford Gallery Presents: Pure Evil. Pure Evil Goes Pop! (Culver City, CA)

January 19, 2012 , , , , , , ,

Pure Evil

Corey Helford Gallery
Los Angeles, CA
presents new works by
PURE EVIL – Pure Evil Goes Pop!

Opening Reception Saturday, January 21, 2012 from 7-10pm On View January 21 – February 8, 2012

On Saturday, January 21, 2012, Corey Helford Gallery will present PURE EVIL GOES POP! PURE EVIL’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.

“The show is inspired by Warhol and Rosenquist and by the 60’s and is a departure from a lot of the street art based work I have been doing.. I was inspired by Warhol’s diaries and his manic obsession to paint beautiful famous people. At a certain point he realised that he had kind of lost the plot, and he was kind of losing ground to new school graffiti artists like Basquiat and Haring and they gave him the boot up the arse he needed.

I was inspired by an email I got from a copy village in China, they sent me a list of all the paintings from the world of art that they could reproduce for me and I was struck by the fact that they had distilled Warhol’s entire career down to 3 works, an electric chair, a Jackie Kennedy and a Liz Taylor.. All available for cheap ! A whole life that had been turned into 3 tiny thumbnails available to buy NOW. Warhol would have loved the joke. I decided to run with the idea and turn myself into a copy village .

Edward Albee’s film ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ starring Taylor and Burton brilliantly illustrates a nightmare couple who use alcohol to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other. I was amazed at the film and so I did a painting of ‘Richard Burton’s Nightmare’ / Liz Taylor’ and a print in 2 POP colourways and 2 months later, Liz died… Sales started to grow as the obituaries and TV specials morbidly repeated the same details of her life and her loves over and over again. “

The upstairs gallery will feature new works by UK artist Pure Evil. Inspired by Warhol, Rosenquist and the 60s, the collection entitled -Pure Evil Goes Pop!- is a departure from the artist$)A&Ps street art work and cel- ebrates Warhol&Ps obsession with capturing beautiful, famous people. Icon Elizabeth Taylor is immortalized in the painting -Richard Burton&Ps Nightmare,- created from a palette of strange hues with subliminal meanings.

-I have kept this whole collection of paintings very simple,- Pure Evil explains. $)A!]The features of the women are simplified down to the most basic lines possible, cut into three stencil layers with a sharp blade, and labori- ously sprayed to build up the faces. The eyes drip painted tears, the product of broken dreams of love.!\
The opening reception for -Pure Evil Goes Pop!- and -It$)A&Ps a Jungle Out There- by Eric Joyner is on Saturday January 21 at Corey Helford Gallery. The reception is open to the public, and the exhibition will be on view through February 8, 2012.

8522 Washington Boulevard Culver City, CA 90232 T: 310-287-2340

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Chris Stain Describes His New Pieces for Cave

January 18, 2012

New York Street Artist Chris Stain is making some new pieces for his upcoming show at CAVE Gallery in LA with Street Artist Veng and Taka Sudo on February 11. The signature portraits, mounted on wood, of the everyday people Stain is known for depicting, are joined here by a new one one of the noted and celebrated American poet who passed in 2011, Gil Scott Heron.

Often you catch a piece by someone on the street or in a gallery, and you wish you knew the story behind it. Sometimes there isn’t much of a story – it’s more of an aesthetic exercise.  In the case of Chris Stain, the work is frequently drawn directly from his ongoing study and observations of socio-economic conditions in American society. With his portraits he examines how people are deeply impacted by a system that they feel affected by but frequently unable to affect in a meaningful way. Other times they are simply meditations on being alive.

Each piece is made from a hand-cut rubylith film that he burned onto a screen and then printed on wood and colored in by hand. Here are some detail photos, along with Chris’s words to describe them.

Gil Scott Heron by Chris Stain

Gil Scott Heron

For many years now I have gained inspiration from the music and writing of Gil Scott Heron. After his passing I thought it seemed fitting to create a piece in homage to the man and his achievements. If you know of Gil’s work and life you know that he struggled at times from addiction and the curve-balls that life threw at him. What I appreciate about him most is his ability to express his experiences in such a heartfelt way through music and writing.

“Skin Head Girl” by Chris Stain

Skinhead Girl

When I was younger, in the mid 80’s, I was an avid disciple of hip hop culture. When I hit adolescents I was turned onto punk rock and skinhead culture. Obviously not the white power skins here people. There’s a good little video here explaining the history of Skinhead and where it came from.This piece is a throw back to those days and how it meant something to be a part of an alternative lifestyle.

“A Small Something”  by Chris Stain

A Small Something

This piece looks back on the feeling of first riding off on a bike on your own. The first time you leave your neighborhood and explore; freedom, in a sense. As you get older it’s not such a big deal to adventure out alone. With this piece I further explore the use of handwritten text in the layout to see how it interacts with the image. However with any of the above pieces people will read into them whatever they want which is okay with me.

“What Holds Today” by Chris Stain

What Holds Today

The title is a play on words for what today holds. It’s about trying to make it through the day no matter what’s in store. Some days are easier than others and some days you just feel like giving up on everything. So What Holds Today means whats going to keep this day together when the shit hits the fan.

“Willem” by Chris Stain

Willem

Willem was a student I had in one of my printmaking classes last year. I photograph the kids as part of our self portrait project. When Willem stepped up in front of the camera with this pose I thought that there was no way I wasn’t using this picture for a piece of my own! I have painted this outside twice in NYC and once in Miami but this is the first time I made it as a finished piece for a gallery.

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Find out more about CAVE Gallery Here:

 

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Anthony Lister Talks to BSA : Analysis and Constant Consideration

September 29, 2011 , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“I’m like a hairdresser I guess.”

Painter Anthony Lister is also a Street Artist. His surreal pop and celebrity culture-infused abstractions are candy encrusted apples which may have something sharp inside. Many are figurative studies and wire frames bending wildly into characters who cavort and mock with blunt swipes of color, overlaid by costumed sexual role play… or is that a personal projection?  Did I mention elegance, defiance, wit? Wait, there is so much here!  Truth is, his work can be a cock-eyed psychological tempest, jarring to the head, strangely sweet.

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Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A decade of discovery under his superhero belt, Mr. Lister continues to analyze and build his creative practice and it always includes work inside the gallery and outside on the street. He’s currently preparing for his solo show in Sydney called  “Bogan Paradise” at Gallery A.S. At the same time he’s part of a group show with a gaggle of his Aussie expats on view at 941 Geary in San Francisco for “Young and Free”, including Kid Zoom, Dabs & Myla, Dmote, New2, Ben Frost, Meggs, Ha-Ha, Reka, Rone, Sofles and Vexta.  Not to mention his participation in our show last month in Los Angeles at C.A.V.E. with Thinkspace, “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories“.

The artist took some time recently to talk to Brooklyn Street Art about his practice;

Brooklyn Street Art: How much of one of your painted portraits is autobiographical? In other words, what portion of Mr. Lister is super hero, super model, furtive schoolboy, or Homer Simpson?
Anthony Lister: I don’t really think about myself when I paint. My figurative works are more like reflections of characteristics I absorb from real life day to day.

Brooklyn Street Art: If you were to wear colored glasses, which color do you think you would most likely screen the world through?
Anthony Lister: Pink, like John Lennon.

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Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Francis Bacon said, “The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness.” Would you drink that cocktail?
Anthony Lister: Nice words. I agree.

Brooklyn Street Art: What role does analysis play in your creative process when bringing a painting to fruition?
Anthony Lister: Analysis is the outcome of considered processing. Constant consideration is crucial.

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Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: A big piece you did on Metropolitan in Brooklyn – you reworked that face a couple of times over a period of months, producing what appeared as a slowly morphing image. Were you covering up tags, or were you unhappy with the original, or maybe combating the effects of age with a little nip and tuck?
Anthony Lister: When I re-work street paintings I think of it like I am a hairdresser. When something is in the public it has a different existence to something living privately in a residence. I’m like a hairdresser I guess.

Brooklyn Street Art: You have spoken about your work as reality, or a reaction to realities. What realities are you depicting these days?
Anthony Lister: I just finished a body of work for a solo show in Sydney. This next body of work is about contemporary Australian culture. The exhibition is titled “Bogan Paradise.”

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Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: When you consider the Street Art scene that evolved around Melbourne, how would you characterize its nature in a way that differentiates it from the work in other cities around the world?
Anthony Lister: No different. This whole street art thing has sprung up post the turn of the digital revolution so it is on the Internet quick and the artists who inspire others and the ones who are easily inspired are constantly swimming in the same aesthetic pools of consciousness. Not to mention that most of the prominent artists travel lots so it is easy to see work of the same artist in multiple cities around the world at the same time.

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Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: The titles you give your gallery pieces are entertaining, instructive, illustrative. Do you ever want to place a placard near a piece you’ve done on the street – just to make sure the message gets across?
Anthony Lister: No. My street practice is less thoughtful and therefore needs less commentary.

Brooklyn Street Art: When is a painting complete?
Anthony Lister: When it tells me so.

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Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anthony Lister in Manhattan (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anthony Lister in Miami for Primary Flight. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. LA FreeWalls (photo © Todd Mazer)

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Anthony Lister in Los Angeles LA FreeWalls (photo © Todd Mazer)

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Cry me a rainbow, Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. LA FreeWalls (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anthony Lister in Venice Beach CA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anthony Lister in San Francisco for Young and Free at 941 Geary (photo © Andrius Lypia)

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Want to see more work? Just “Lister” it.

www.anthonylister.com

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Carmichael Gallery Presents: “Like Father, Like Son” Eriberto and Estevan Oriol. (Culver City, LA)

September 21, 2011 , , , , , ,

Like Father, Like Son
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Like Father, Like Son

Eriberto and Estevan Oriol

Opening Reception : Saturday, October 1, 2011, 6:00 – 9pm

Please RSVP to rsvp at carmichaelgallery dot com

Carmichael Gallery
5795 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
USA

Carmichael Gallery is pleased to announce Like Father, Like Son, a retrospective survey of works by renowned Chicano, Los Angeles-based father and son photographers, Eriberto and Estevan Oriol. The exhibition will comprise twenty-five limited edition prints from each photographer, including black and white, color, silver gelatin and digital c-prints.

Whilst often distinguished by a complex melange of memory, emotion and intimacy that can manifest itself in equally terrifying and wonderful forms, the relationship between a parent and his or her child is a particularly unique human exchange and can hardly be defined in generalized terms. For Eriberto and Estevan Oriol, who are often cited as two of the most important contemporary documentarians of urban, hip hop, lowrider and Latino culture, the deep familial tie they share extends into and only serves to empower the unique nature of their professional relationship and the intense puissance of their work. Whether viewed together or apart, the Oriols’ photography presents the multitudinous contours of Los Angeles and urban life through a piercing, visionary lens that lends a fascinating, almost hyperreal layer to the earthy, often confrontational authenticity of their subject matter.

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the Oriols’ oeuvre to date when considered as a whole, as in Like Father, Like Son, is its ability to complement and contrast the talents and purports of each photographer. Both are long-time observers of city life and the experiences of its inhabitants; Eriberto, whose understanding of shape, line and shadow are key features of works such as LA Financial District, 2011, The Thinker, 1974, and Need A Helping Hand, 2000, which define with gut-wrenching elegance the struggle and strength of the poor and homeless in Downtown Los Angeles and San Diego, form an effective and deeply affecting concordance with Estevan’s depictions of these communities, who, in works such as Skid Row Body Bag, 2009, Chestnut Family, 1998, and Pepper’s Shopping Cart, 2011, combines brutal honesty with rich sagacity to uncover a subtle, fleeting beauty that might otherwise have disappeared unnoticed.

Other series represented in Like Father, Like Son include the photographers’ varied and illuminating portrayals of LA’s lowrider culture, dramatized to distinction in Eriberto’s color photograph Las Vegas Lifestyle Car , 2004, and the city’s gang life, exposed in a singularly vulnerable light in Estevan’s Bullet Holes and Stab Wounds, 2002, and Shaving the Dome, 2008. In addition to these and Estevan’s portraits of celebrities, including Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Dennis Hopper, both Oriols will present a selection of their exquisite, oft-touted photographs of LA women, from Eriberto’s Traffic Jam 110 FWY, 2011, to Estevan’s Erlinda, 2003.

There will be an opening reception for Like Father, Like Son on Saturday, October 1 from 6 to 9pm with both Eriberto and Estevan Oriol in attendance. The exhibition will run through October 29, 2011.

About the Artists:

Eriberto Oriol

Born in Indio, CA, Eriberto Oriol grew up in the San Diego neighborhood of Barrio Logan before relocating to Los Angeles, his home now for over three decades. In addition to expanding his internationally recognized portfolio of photographs of LA Latino street life, street art and graffiti, a talent he would later pass down to son Estevan, he and wife Angelica Gonzalez-Oriol are enthusiastic, proactive supporters of the local art scene, which led them to curate the first major exhibition of graffiti art in Los Angeles in 1989. In addition to the recognition the Oriols received from the Los Angeles City Council for the show’s contribution to the community and the praise from numerous media outlets, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles acquired a featured artwork for its permanent collection.

Select galleries that have exhibited Eriberto’s work to date include Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles, Chinese American Museum of Los Angeles, Crewest Gallery, Los Angeles and Anno Domini, San Jose, while commercial projects have ranged from work for the NBA, Nike, Vans and T Mobil to Jokerbrand, LA Metro, Altamont Apparel and Warner Bros. In addition to featuring in Los Angeles: Portrait of a City (Kevin Starr, David L. Ulin, Jim Heimann, TASCHEN Books, 2009), Eriberto and his work have been profiled in The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, Daily Telegraph, Downtown News – Los Angeles, Vogue Australia, Mass Appeal, tasj magazine, Swindle, Thrasher, Hypebeast, Rebel Ink, Juxtapoz, Oversight, Warp, Scratch, Rime, Fader Magazine, TCLY (thecitylovesyou.com), Format Magazine and Freshness Mag, amongst numerous other national and international print and online media outlets. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Estevan Oriol

From hip-hop club bouncer to tour manager for Cypress Hill and House of Pain in the late 1980s and early 1990s to the internationally celebrated professional photographer, director and urban lifestyle entrepreneur he is recognized as today, Estevan Oriol’s talent, fame and success only continue to grow. 1992 saw the beginning of what quickly grew to be an influential relationship with best friend, fellow Soul Assassin associate and now world-famous tattoo artist, Mister Cartoon. Together, they created the increasingly lucrative and high-profile Joker Brand Clothing, just one of Estevan’s ventures in the clothing industry, which range from Not Guilty, produced with Everlast, and his solo line Scandalous to his eponymous line with Upper Playground. In 1995, however, Eriberto gave his son a camera, and what began as a means of capturing life on tour led to a career that has snapped up images of everyone from gang members and graffiti artists to hip hop stars and Hollywood celebrities.

Select galleries and institutions that have exhibited Estevan’s work include Rivera Gallery, Los Angeles, Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles, FIFTY24SF, San Francisco, FIFTY24PDX, Portland, Lab 101, Los Angeles and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in whose highly acclaimed, controversial blockbuster exhibition Art In The Streets his work contributed an integral depiction of Los Angeles’ part in the worldwide evolution of graffiti, street art, skater, tattoo and related countercultures. In 2009, Italian print house Drago published LA Woman, a 112 page, hardback book that celebrates a decade of Estevan’s provocative, sensitive and alluring documentation of the city’s less-photographed female population.

Highly sought-after for both high-profile commercial projects and private commissions, celebrities photographed by Estevan include Xzibit, 50 Cent, Kim Kardashian, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Dennis Hopper, Mena Suvari, Dr. Dre, Blink 182, Eminem, Adrien Brody, Forrest Whittaker and Juliette Lewis. In addition to shooting campaigns for companies such as Cadillac, Nike and Rockford Fosgate and directing new media projects for My Cadillac Stories, MTV and Apple Computer, he has designed album covers and/or directed music videos for artists such as Eminem, Cypress Hill, Blink 182, Snoop Dogg and Tech N9ne.

Estevan and his work have been profiled in Rolling Stone, Complex, FHM, GQ, Details, Vibe, The Fader, Mass Appeal, Hypebeast, Juxtapoz, High Snobiety, Daily du Jour, Fecal Face, Risen Magazine, Acclaim Magazine, tasj magazine and The Source, amongst numerous other national and international print and online media outlets. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

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ROA in Los Angeles and Chicago

September 12, 2011 , , , , , ,

When Street Artist ROA hits your town with his aerosoled animal world, large swatches of walls, even blocks, become alive and are instant gathering places for new and old fans alike.  The one man monochrome machine from Belgium depicts a curious mix of overlooked animals, sometimes in states of death and decay by way of commenting on human’s impact on the natural world.

brooklyn-street-art-roa-jaime-rojo-los-angeles-chicago-09-11-web-2ROA in Chicago (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Whether in rural Mexico or urban New York, his work is reliably riveting and a favorite for neighbors and Internet surfers alike.  After catching the eye of LA MOCA this spring, his last minute addition to the “Art in the Streets” exhibit brought the collection up to the minute and cemented his place in the graff and Street Art continuum. BSA captured these images of ROA’s work this year on the streets of Los Angeles and Chicago this summer and we’re looking forward to his next stop at “Living Walls: Albany”.

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ROA in Chicago (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Chicago (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Chicago (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROA in Los Angeles (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA’s work in Chicago was done in collaboration with Pawn Works Gallery. Thank you to Nick and Brocke for their hospitality.

ROA’s work in Los Angeles was produced with Daniel Lahoda for LA Freewalls Project in The Arts District of downtown LA. Thank you to Daniel for his passion and his time with BSA. We wish Daniel a speedy recovery from a recent accident.

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