All posts tagged: LA Freewalls Project

Sex In The City: Street Art That is NSFW

October 24, 2012 Artists

This art is Not Safe for Work or School, even though it’s on public streets.

It sounds strange to say it but these images of Street Art are erotic, sometimes violent, and might even be considered prurient or pornographic by some viewers – yet they are part of today’s free-wheeling ever expanding visual feast on the streets that any random passerby may see. In New York, many of these pieces ride for a long time fully on display for hundreds or thousands before someone crosses them out or otherwise damages them.

Fila in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With flesh increasingly paraded across all manner of screen and print publications, it is no wonder that large public billboards in cities throughout the western world have grown increasingly blunt in their depiction of sexual themes and innuendo; with near-coital poses, barely covered breasts, and bulbous packages thrust into the public eye while we drive, walk, and sip a pumpkin frappuccino. As long as the image is in pursuit of the sale of a product, it’s hardly mentioned today.

Street Art today falls into that nether region of art too, where certain liberties for free expression and the depiction of the human body are protected from criticism because they can be classified as artful and part of our right to freedom of speech. As we continue to scan the streets for clues about ourselves and the direction that Street Art is taking, here are more than a handful of scintillating beauties that are beckoning for the attention of, well, everyone.

Insa in Los Angeles for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine in NYC. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Celso in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fuck Me in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Self Indulgence in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo via Iphone)

Self Indulgence in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RTTP in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Just Breathe in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LUSH in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Enzo & Nio in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vinz in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bik Ismo in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sofia Maldonado in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smile Your Beautiful in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Love For Rent in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Just Breathe in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Astrodub in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We think this might be an ad campaign for the I’ll Be Your Mirror Festival but we like the inclusion of the famous collaboration between The Velvet Underground and Andy Warhol. Andy would have approved we think. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Choe in NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

J in NYC (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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Cyrcle Brings Summer to LA

June 30, 2012 Artists, California, L.A., On the Street

You knew it would eventually get here, right?

Cyrcle (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh, Summer. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways… green grass, rolling sideways down a hill in Prospect Park and feeling dizzy at the bottom, park benches and a book, 55 city swimming pools, rooftop parties and films, flip flops, rose bushes, beer from the Turkey’s Nest in a big styrofoam cup, softball games, free out door concerts (hip-hop, merengue, rock, and the philharmonic), bike riding, the Cyclone roller coaster on Coney Island, a nap under a tree, stoop sales, 5 packs of tube socks on sale at street festivals, free Shakespeare in Central Park, Dominican card games on folding tables on the sidewalk, a whole day of aerosol spraying on a huge wall, every body-type on Brighton Beach, grilled notdogs, frisbees, the smell of coconut oil, the sound of birds, kids, and the icecream truck jingle.

LA based Street Artists Cycle have done tributes to winter and spring already here. Now photographer and BSA guest contributor Carlos Gonzalez brings you Summer from the Cyrcle crew at their spot in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles. It’s part of the LA Freewalls Project, naturally, and we thank Carlos for sharing with BSA readers these images of the new installment.

Cyrcle (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

To see the photo essay on Cyrcle Spring Interlude click here.

To see the photo essay on Cyrcle Winter Interlude click here.

Thank you to Carlos for his beautiful photography. Check him out on Facebook.

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Size Matters: INSA Kills Biggest L.A. Free Wall

May 17, 2012 Artists, California, L.A., Los Angeles, On the Street

The great thing about a California King Size mattress is you can fit six people on it comfortably. Five if you need to accommodate beer, corn chips, coffee cake, and a bong.

The point is California is a quintessential long-ass big-ass state that rivals many entire countries in terms of the size of the overall economy, the miles of beach, quantity of Mexicans, and metric tons of silicone injections. That’s why it hardly surprises us when Daniel Lahoda reports that recently his LA Freewalls project crossed the 100th wall mark and that INSA just completed the biggest project so far. Clocking in at 9,300 square feet, the Street Artist covered more space with paint than the Kardashian sisters use preparing for a poolside photo shoot. But these results are spectacular and the scale is quite fitting for this city.

Our thanks to collaborator and photographer Todd Mazer, who doesn’t just capture the action here. He rhapsodizes with it before revealing the full project at the end. Enjoy the largesse.

INSA (photo © Todd Mazer)

INSA. Wow, that’s a big set of cans. Which ones would you take? (photo © Todd Mazer)

INSA (photo © Todd Mazer)

INSA (photo © Daniel LaHoda)

INSA had a mission to complete on the walls of this building. He also has a philosophy and a work ethic when doing his craft. Click on the link below to read how he came about to see this project completed:

http://www.insaland.com/blog/mission-to-la/

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LA + Auckland Honor Askew One, Graffiti and Street Artist

April 23, 2012 Artists, Auckland, California, Features, L.A., Los Angeles, New Zeland, On the Street

It’s not often that a major city gives a spotlight to a graffiti / Street Artist and issues a formal proclamation about it, but that is exactly what happened Saturday in Los Angeles. AskewOne, a native of one of LA’s sister cities, Auckland, New Zealand , was honored by the City as his new mural “Under the Influence” was unveiled as part of the LA Freewalls Project.

“It’s much more likely in this city that a graffiti artist will be arrested than be recognized for positive contributions to the community”, as LA Taco reports, but really when you consider the major inroads that the LA Freewalls Project has made into the dialogue around the value of Street Art in LA’s local politics, it can’t be entirely surprising. It probably helps that the image itself incorporates the American flag into the composition– sort of disarms that whole negative rant that some politicos use when lumping Street Artists together with other social scourges like drug addiction, domestic terrorism, and the Ice Capades, doesn’t it?

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

“AskewOne is one of the world’s preeminent public artists, and one of the most accomplished contemporary graffiti writers,” says Daniel LaHoda, who spearheads LA Freewalls and who also hosted the inauguration of the new LALA gallery Saturday night with many of today’s best known Street Artist’s work on the walls. According to an official press release, the now famous LA mural moratorium will soon be lifted and “Kamilla Blanche, Senior Deputy for Arts and Culture, and the Director for Sister Cities, is excited about the possibilities to expand Los Angeles’ place as the national epicenter of public art.”

BSA is very pleased to be able to share with you these images of the new piece as shot by photographer Todd Mazer.

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

To learn more about Los Angeles Sister Cities Program click here.

Images of the Week 04.22.12

April 22, 2012 Artists, On the Street

Our weekly interview with the street takes us to Poland, LA, Sweden, Wall Street, and dirty old Brooklyn with pieces by Bishop 203, Dan Witz, Gilf!, Hellbent, Ludo, The Metropolitan Etiquette Authority, Olek, Screwtape, and Shai Dahan.

Ludo in Katowice, Poland. (photo © Ludo)

Olek in Katowice, Poland. (photo © Olek)

Metropolitan Etiquette Authority (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Screwtape (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shai Dahan in Stockholm (photo © Shai Dahan)

Hellbent in Venice Beach, CA (photo © Patrick Iaconis)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz at LALA Gallery for LA Frewalls Project (photo © Dan Witz)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek and Ludo participated on the Katowice, Poland Street Art Festival. To learn more about this festival click here.

Dan Witz work is being featured at the inaugural show of LALA Gallery in Los Angeles. The gallery and the show are now opened to the public. Click here for more information.

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Fun Friday 04.20.12

April 20, 2012 Art Fair, Artists, Barcelona, California, Events, Gallery, Katowice, L.A., London, Los Angeles, Mexico, Mexico City, Newcastle Upon Tyne, On the Street, Opening, Poland, San Francisco, Spain, Street Art Festival, U.K.

1. ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)
2. Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)
3. LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)
4. Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)
5. Marsea Gives You the “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)
6. Erica Il Cane “Una Vita Violenta” at Fifty24MX Gallery (Mexico City)
7. Brett Amory “Waiting 101” at Outsiders Gallery (Newcastle, UK)
8. OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)
9. C215 “About Copyrights” (VIDEO)
10. The Bushwick Trailer (VIDEO)

ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)

With his current show, now on view at the StolenSpace Gallery in London, ROA will demonstrate how you can be asleep and awake at the same time. His solo show “Hypnagogia” opens today to the general public and offers a dissected view of ROA’s fantastic world of animals and beasts. ROA’s hand crafted book “An Introduction To Animal Representation” by Mammal Press is on sale at The Old Truman Brewery on 91 Brick Lane. Hurry there are only only 125 tomes being offered.

Roa (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)

Katowice, a Silesian city in Southern Poland celebrates Street Art with their own Street Art Festival, now on its second year, from April 20 through April 29. The gray, concrete architecture that dominates this town will be imbued with color, shapes and fantasy with the help of this city most prominent daughter, OLEK aided by an illustrious list of first rate of fine and Street Artists including Mark Kenkins, Escif, Boogie, Moneyless, Ganzeer, Ludo, Mona Tusz, Swanski, 0700 Team, Tellas, Dan Witz, Hyuro, M City, ROA, Goro, Kilo, Nespoon, Aryz, 108, Wers, Ciah-Ciah, Etam Crew, Otecki, Razpajzan, Sepe, Chazme, CFNTX Crew, Onte, Jezmirski, Terry Grand, Dast, Impact, Malik, Turbos and Mentalgassi.

Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this festival click here.

LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)

The West Coast continues to assert itself as a power house in the art world and as a Street Art mecca with the inaugural show of LALA Gallery. A brand new gallery conceived by Daniel Lahoda, the mind and soul and legs of LA Freewalls Project.

LALA’s line up of artists for this first show augurs an auspicious beginning and a successful life which we hope last for a long, long time. “LA Freewalls Inside” is the title of this show and artists included are: Anthony Lister, Askew One, Becca, Cern, Chris Brand, Cryptik, Cyrcle, Dale VN Marshall, Dan Witz, Daze, Dee Dee Cheriel, Evan Skrederstu, How & Nosm, Insa, Jaybo, Kim West, Kofie, Lady Aiko, Ludo, Mear, The Perv Brothers, Poesia, Push, Pyro, Ripo, Risk, Ron English, Saber, Shepard Fairey, Swoon and Zes.

Dan Witz. Detail of his installation “The Prisoners” on the walls of LALA. (photo © Dan Witz)

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Todd Mazer)

For further details regarding this show click here.

Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)

Herakut, the indefatigable German collective are a busy duo with an impressive craft and a mastery of the can and paint brushes. Never compromising their artistic output regardless of their environment or medium they set their collaborative standards high with an output rich in earthy colors. Their palette of ores, reds, grays, oranges, blues, browns and yellows give birth to a universe of characters that are fantastic and mysterious and in pursuit of you, the spectator. In San Francisco at 941 Geary Gallery Saturday the reception will be open for the artists and you at “Loving the Exiled”.

Hera at work in preparation for the show. (photo courtesy © Jennifer Goff)

Akut at work in preparation for the show. (photo courtesy © Jennifer Goff)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Group Show “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)

HIGH FIVE! the new group show at New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles opens tomorrow and the artists include Alia Penner, Ashely Macomber, Curtis Kulig, Deanna Templeton, Maya Hayuk and Vanessa Prager.

Curtis Kulig AKA Love Me (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

Tomorrow, Saturday April 22 will be the last day to see Erica Il Cane show “Una Vita Violenta” at the Fifty24MX Gallery in Mexico City. The gallery will also participate with Erica Il Cane at the Zona Maco Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair in Mexico City. April 18 – April 22. For further details about “Una Vita Violenta” click here. For more details about Zona Maco, Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair click here.

Brett Amory solo show “Waiting 101” At the Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle, UK opens today to the general public. Click here for more details about this show.

OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)

Still working on that scarf you’ve been knitting for OLEK’s birthday? You missed it.

C215 “About Copyrights” (VIDEO)

The Bushwick Trailer (VIDEO)

Starring: Bishop 203, Veng and Never

Spring is in the Air and on the Wall: Cyrcle in Los Angeles

April 3, 2012 Artists, California, L.A., Los Angeles, On the Street

Ahhh, spring. Birdies, jellybeans, the smell of tulips, lavender hyacinth, aerosol paint. Cyrcle is putting up a new royally purple piece to celebrate the change of the season at LA Freewalls and Carlos Gonzalez was there to catch it in bloom.

See what Winter looked like here.

Cyrcle “Spring” for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Images of the Week: 03.04.12

March 4, 2012 Artists, Berlin, Brooklyn, California, Germany, L.A., Los Angeles, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street

Our weekly interview with the street, this week including Bronco, Cindy Sherman, Dan Witz, LNY, Miyok, PK, Read, Royce Bannon, Stikman, Swoon, Trojan Horse, Various & Gould, and Who is Charlie?

LNY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Who is Charlie? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman says go put your records on (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz was recently in Los Angeles and Daniel LaHoda from LA Freewalls Project took him around to visit some walls. This and the following images are of his series WTF in The Arts District, The Warehouse District and the Manufacturing District. (photo © Dan Witz)

Dan Witz (photo © Dan Witz)

Swoon, Royce Bannon and a Polaroid shot of an amorous couple complete this snap shot of the dialogue on the streets of NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read (photo © Jaime Rojo)

German duo Various & Gould spotted this box/crate free standing on the streets of Berlin. The crate was built to protect a very old iron gate from the harsh German winter weather. Then they got thinking… (photo courtesy of © Various & Gould)

Various & Gould. Back at their place they build a horse head with a wooden frame and covered it with cardboard. (photo courtesy of © Various & Gould)

Various & Gould. And with the help of BRONCO and Studio Nura they transformed the box into an Art Deco Trojan Horse! (photo courtesy of © Various & Gould)

We are very excited about the great, talented and hugely influential artist Cindy Sherman current exhibition at MoMA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Images of the Week: 02.26.12

February 26, 2012 Artists, Brooklyn, California, L.A., London, Los Angeles, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street

Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring AVOID, Boxpark, Dan Witz, Gilf!, Jaye Moon, Kosbe, Love Me, bunny M, Power Revolution, Pure Evil, Rae, and some new stuff in London from guest photographer Geoff Hargadon.

Pure Evil making posters last night at Boxpark, a pop up mall made of shipping containers in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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

February 22, 2012 Artists, California, Los Angeles, On the Street

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.

An Organic Wall Grows in Los Angeles

October 20, 2011 Artists, California, L.A., Los Angeles, On the Street

The Magnet Wall. The Organic Wall. Street Art is drawn to it like a moth to a flame. Even if a city officially prohibits any form of uncommissioned Street Art, it probably has a few spots where artists can reliably put their wheat-pastes, stencils, stickers, even sculptures – a community nerve center that quickly gives an overview of the players in the local scene. Usually the art is covered instantly by more art and if it lasts a few days intact it has had a good run. Since Street Art is an ephemeral scene, the artists know this and they are not particularly bothered by the rapid turnover, knowing that their piece will be seen by their peers and the public at large.

Leba’s cartoon illustration influenced work on this wall echos directly some sentiments of the Occupy Wall Street movement. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We always think of the streets as an outdoor gallery, and recently in Los Angeles we checked out this magnet wall in the Arts District where it could not have been a more apt description. Hanging out for a little while on this block, we saw a group of four teens taking a casual walk on a sunny day pivoting to the wall to check out the new additions, to point, comment, joke, and pose with each other in front of their favorites – making faces and giving each other the rabbit ears in photos. Minutes later a European tourist family, urban hikers with cameras and fannypacks, carefully scanned the patterns, textures and layers, taking photos and discussing their discoveries. Even a bulky fella crossing the street to get into a van emblazoned with a plumbing company logo – paused for a second to snap a cellphone pic before rumbling down the street.

This LA wall is a bit of a community billboard; an outlet and a showcase, where Street Artists try out new stuff and sometimes express personal or political sentiments. It’s never the same, and usually interesting.

NOMADE Points to the Lights of Metropolis L.A.

October 11, 2011 Artists, California, Los Angeles, On the Street

Street Art collective Nomade continue apace with reinventions of their fearless painting Roman soldier – that spear is a paintbrush by the way – in LA once again. The piece is 89 feet long by 22 feet high (27m x 7m) and located in the heart of the Arts District in Downtown LA, their sixth installation over the last couple of years with the LA Freewalls Project. The group boasts designers of various stripes who have been actively involved in a number of LA industries and who collectively bring this metaphor to life in new ways, each time with elements of photorealism, illustration, and a generous amount of propagandic heroicism from classical antiquity.

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