All posts tagged: Li-Hill

Swoon On the Streets, In the Fairs, and Beyond in Hong Kong

March 28, 2017 Artists

Brooklyn Street Artist Swoon has traveled to hot, hopping Hong Kong recently to create the façade for the tramline with HKwalls, a program of customization for the historic public transportation cars in the city center that has included also Portuguese Street Artist Vhils with HOCA, and during Art Basel this year a site specific tram from Hong Kong artist Kingsley Ng.

Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not surprisingly, as is the custom of Street Artists everywhere, the wheat-pasting romantic portraitist introduced a number of her friends to the streets of the Incense Harbor city among its myriad winding cobblestones, wending staircases, and wiley alleyways.

The experience of a local is perhaps to discover this new entity on a wall suddenly, a figure so full of presence and personality as if it may speak to you. As an international traveler the experience may be to be greeted in a foreign land by a friendly familiar face.

Swoon. Detail. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In our case, that same face greeted us again in the entirely scrubbed austerity of the white cube of a Parisian art dealer, nested as it was among a honeycomb of other white boxed and illuminated beneath a vast white canvas on a pier by the Ferris Wheel.

We meditated lightly on this topic of the gallery on the street – commercial gallery – museum gallery continuum during our Images of the Week wrap up this week. It is an unusual position that Street Artists’ occupy and one that introduces topics around speech, advertising, commercialism, and traditional graffiti practices of getting up and marking one’s name.

Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And now we muddy those waters once again, by telling you of a BSA-curated show of new prints that will benefit the Heliotrope Foundation when it debuts next week in New York. Swoon’s Heliotrope non-profit is literally building community, homes, shelter, and helping people become teachers in Haiti. (more at end of posting)

Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. This piece titled “Sonia” was destroyed in the process of bringing down a structure from the wall. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. But we found one intact and for sale at the Art Central Art Fair in Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Adeline the owner of Parisian Galerie L J at Art Central Art Fair is shown talking to a potential buyer not in the photo. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

By donating our efforts along with the donated talents of 6 world-renowned Street Artists; Miss Van, Tavar Zawacki (Above), Li-Hill, Case Maclaim, Faith XLVII, and Icy & Sot, we encourage others to contribute to Heliotrope and to buy a custom new print from these artists. We’re proud to curate for this project, to be associated with these great artists, and to provide a platform for everyone to make these connections.

Additionally, Swoon herself will release new drawings from Haiti.

SWOON X Heliotrope X BSA : A Benefit for Heliotrope Foundation
curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, co-founders of BSA

Opening Event: Thursday, April 6 from 6-9pm.
Beats and refreshments provided.

Location: 88 ½ Seventh Avenue (between 15th & 16th St.)
in Chelsea, New York
Pop-Up Exhibit runs April 7-9 from 11am – 6pm daily

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.12.17

March 12, 2017 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

A fun time on the streets this week in New York and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere as parts of spring infuse the air with excitement and hormones – later to be drowned in rain, or smothered under snow!

The rolling dumpster fire keeps frightening and perplexing everyone and we are gradually figuring out that as dreadfully entertaining as the occupant of the White House is, the real story is the wealthy men behind him stabbing at the poor and the elderly and the sick and the immigrants. Please, the only thing that is going to help us is a sense of humor and a lot of yelling apparently.

Almost every day you see new Street Art about this situation, this multi-pronged attack on the people, which quite possibly has begun to frighten those people who thought they were voting for a populist who cared about them.

Today we even have a homemade sign that has been scotch-taped into a car window on BSA Images of the Week. No one can say we’re elitist, bro. We’re down with your moms too, son! Get out that scotch tape!

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Adam Fujita, DeerBLN, Fred le Chevalier, Li-Hill, Moe79, Ostap, Senz.

Top image: Moe79 at The Haus in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Moe79 and Akut at The Haus in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Moe79 on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A billboard takeover by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A billboard takeover by an unidentified artist. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An ode to the most humble of papers: The toilet paper by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christian Rothenhagen AKA deerBLN on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Senz tribute to Biggie Smalls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fred Le Chevalier on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ostap on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Oh not you again. Looks like your Big Brother is back. Probably never left. Unidentified Artist on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Our own very ephemerous lil’ phone booth ad takeover…wink wink… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Domino Sugar Plant. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artmossphere Dispatch 4 : The Opening

September 1, 2016 Artists

This week BSA is in Moscow with you and Urban Nation for Artmossphere 2016, the 2nd Street Art Biennale, a group exposition introducing 26 Russian and 42 foreign artists who were shaped by street art in some way. Also present are international curators, museums and galleries who have significantly intersected with urban art in recent years.

Artmossphere co-founder and curator Sabina Chagina pulled off a second edition of this biennale last night in Moscow – not an easy feat. But with 11 curators and nearly 70 artists from here and around the world, the multi-discipline show unveiled on time and was well attended – with a steady stream of curious fans coming through the space today as well.

Sick Boy’s installation found a number of kids to climb the ladder and take the slide (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With the air of an art fair (minus the sales associates and plus the soaring arched windows) and work often so far removed from street practice that you may refer to it simply as Urban Contemporary, there is a palpable enthusiasm and curiosity here about what this “movement” might be bringing.

Most if not all of the international artists have intersected with illegal Street Art in cities around the world and this work has often evolved from the practice. Perhaps beneath the surface or just above it, there is a certain defiance and a critique of social, economic, political issues and systems.

A child exits the Sick Boy “The Rewards System” installation. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elsewhere the presentation is primarily aesthetic, very muted or so similar to previous mid-20th-century art schools as to appear separate from what one may recognize as the urban art of the last two decades. Similarly, the inclusion of graffiti is only occasional and is presented as part of the greater whole today rather than its genesis role.

Adding together a press conference, a Moscow superstar DJ, virtual reality headsets, interactive displays (otherwise known as selfie-with-art opportunities), major private business sponsors, cultural ministers, government grants, and official accreditation, this is a professional and polished presentation of a global culture that has filtered through the lense of the street.

Here are a few select shots to give you an idea of the feeling during the opening of Artmossphere 2.

Brad Downey and Alexander Petrelli performed Brad’s huckster mobile art-selling installation on the floor of the bienalle, where Brad used his laser-like sales skills to sell his own work. Mr. Patrelli is known for his unannounced appearances at Moscow openings wearing his “Overcoat Gallery”. This was reportedly his 461st such appearance since 1992 and his flashing overcoat contained original Brad Downey artworks for your perusal.

If you missed those pieces, Brad was also drawing portraits of guests with a thin white posca marker on clear plastic at the afterparty. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brad Downey and Alexander Petrelli (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Canadian-via-Brooklyn Li-Hill reflecting on his newest painting/installation. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaz (Franco Fasoli) completed this emerging subterranean power horse and rider in a Moscow studio days before the opening. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Galo stood among his characters in his paint splashed installation. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Minneapolis based Hot Tea’s whack-a-mole inspired interactive piece drew many wiley participants popping up and down within it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Katie & Jesse created this batik fabric here in Moscow and stretched it on a frame, illuminated from within. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Steve Harrington chats with the contingent from Museum of Street Art who took the train from their city of Saint Petersburg to see how Artmossphere interpreted the idea of ‘invisible walls’. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artmossphere curators at the press conference. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sepe, Denis Leo Hegic and M-City at the afterparty. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Coincidentally, or not, fireworks filled the night sky over Red Square as artists and curators and organizers all headed to the afterparty at a club a few blocks away. Um, completely magical. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artmossphere Dispatch 2 : Li-Hill, M-City, and Invisible Walls

August 30, 2016 Artists

Startlingly similar in theme to the multidisciplinary exhibit about borders and boundaries curated by Raphael Schacter this spring in St. Petersburg, Artmossphere has asked artists to think about and address the “invisible walls” in contemporary life and societies.

Li-Hill. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The themes are understandable of course, and perplexing to us all as walls are falling down rapidly while the foundations of new ones are taking shape. Catalyzed perhaps by the concept/practice of so-called “globalization” – where capital flows easily and humans are restricted – we are all examining the walls that are directing our lives.

Artist Li-Hill says his piece “Guns, Germs, and Steel” directly relates to the divisions between civilizations due to a completely uneven playing field perpetuated through generations. Inspired by the 1997 trans-disciplinary non-fiction book by Jared Diamond, Li-Hill says he combines it with pieces by the Russian sculptural group called “The Horse Tamers”. Together the forms represents mankind’s “ability to harness power of the natural world and to be able to manipulate it for its advantage.”

Wes21. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“The horse is one of the largest signifiers and is a catalyst for advancement in society because it has been for military use, for agriculture, for transportation,” he says.

“It was the most versatile of the animals and the most powerful.” Here he painted a mirror image, balanced over a potential microbial disaster symbol, and he and the team are building a mirrored floor to “give it this kind of infinite emblem status.”

Pink Power. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With 60+ artists working simultaneously throughout this massive hall, walls are the imperative for displaying art, supporting it, dividing it. Many are being built in this exhibition hall as we speak. These are the visible ones. With so many players and countries represented here, one can only imagine that there are a number of invisible walls present as well.

Afloat in the middle of some of these walled areas M-City from Poland is choosing to be more direct thematically in his three dimensional installation of plywood, plaster, aerosol and bucket paint, and machine blown insulation.

M.City. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“It is an anti-war piece,” he says, and he speaks about the walls between nations and sense that it is a losing battle of dominance that ensures everyone will be victim.”

“It’s kind of a monster who destroys arms,” he says of the lording figure who crushing tanks below. “He is destroying the tanks – but at the same time he is also a destroyer. So it’s a big circle. Nothing positive can come out of this. There is always someone bigger.” M-City tells us that the piece is inspired by the political situations in Europe today and the world at large.

Remi Rough work in progress. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For our part, we’re impressed by how quickly these walls are going up and the relative calm that the teams of artists and installers are working under, even as the deadline of the opening of this years’ Artmossphere draws perilously close.

See you tomorrow!

L’Atlas. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Krzysztof “Proembrion” Syruc. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Johannes Mundinger. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Galo. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Film Friday: 07.08.16

July 8, 2016 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Aaron Li-Hill: The Impact Of Discovery in Kiev.
2. Isaac Cordal: The Painter
3. Tilt. Part I & II. Interviewed by Steven P. Harrington of BSA at Jardin Rouge in Morocco

BSA Special Feature: Aaron Li-Hill: The Impact Of Discovery in Kiev.

A special treat for you today with this 360 degree interactive opportunity to buzz around Aaron Li-Hill as he completes “The Impact of Discovery”, his large-scale mural which we covered last month (Li-Hill in Motion and “The Impact of Discovery” in Kiev). Have fun scrubbing around with your mouse directly on the screen to see the action from every angle.

Part of a special program of 30 artists painting in Kiev, Odessa and Chernihiv, this roundabout view allows you to see the artist and understand his environment in a way not previously available in Street Art videos, further connecting the viewer to the process.

Congratulations to FILM.UA Group, Digital Cinema Ukraine for this piece, and we look forward to the next video from this International Festival of Urban Art called Mural Social Club 2016.

Isaac Cordal: The Painter

Isaac Cordal is expanding his practice beyond the small sculptures that he places strategically throughout the cityscape. Here is a new video that gives us a hint of the direction he is going in; a staged scene in the woods with a camouflaged military man of no discernable allegiance. He silently appears to be discovering his creative side.

Tilt. Part I. Interviewed by Steven P. Harrington of BSA at Jardin Rouge in Morocco.

This spring we had the opportunity to speak with French graffiti artist Tilt at Jardin Rouge, a unique residency just outside Marrakesh begun by a dedicated fan of graffiti and street art named Jean-Louis. Now at the advent of the recently founded Montresso Foundation exhibition building, we were treated to a behind the scenes look at the inaugural show; Tilt’s two-part sculpture of a sawed-in-half car representing migration of city folk to the country and vice versa.

“You are surrounded by people you know and people who know your work and people are expecting something from you. And then you can be more free I think. And then you can try and even if it doesen’t work, even if it is a failure, you can be like, “It’s okay.” It’s part of the game.” ~ Tilt

In coordination with Urban Nation (UN), BSA co-founder Steven P. Harrington has a wide-ranging talk with the artist that touched on his residency with Jardin Rouge, his fascination with examination of duality, and his own studied moves from the street to the gallery to private collections. This week we feature two small excerpts from that interview for your enjoyment.

Tilt. Part II. Interviewed by Steven P. Harrington of BSA at Jardin Rouge in Morocco in February 2016.

The Bushwick Collective Turns 5

June 11, 2016 Artists

BSA has been promoting and supporting The Bushwick Collective and the artists who paint there from the very beginning.

Before The New York Times. Before Time Out. Before The Daily News and many other news or culture outlets. Before there were any videos of Joe Ficalora telling his story. Before Social Media turned every private act into an object for mass consumption. Before the street art tours. Before Street Art was a cottage industry in our borough.

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As we celebrate five years of Bushwick Collective we have a question for you: Do you remember it’s original name before he changed it to Bushwick Collective? Joe contacted us out of the blue one day to ask us to curate some walls with him and to help him contact some artists and we immediately sensed a determination in Mr. Ficalora that was stellar. However, we never could have envisioned the huge daily festival it has become or how many people would celebrate or malign it.

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bushwick Open Studios was already in full effect by that time – another artists’ effort we were among the first to support – and Manhattan art fans were beginning to make the trek a little further out on the L train to Bushwick now that Williamsburg had been clobbered by consumers by the late 2000s.

The first Bushwick Collective party had a DJ and 10 muralists. Jim Avignon, KLUB 7, and Gabriel Spector among them. Unofficially included was the huge “return” of COST, who slammed an entire defunct garage shop with posters and paint – a site that he often returned to in the months that followed to revise and expand.

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It’s been a rollicking and sometimes rocky ride with the Collective, with mostly the voices of fans and few detractors, including silly art-school gentrifiers who bemoaned the gentrification that these murals brought to the neighborhood. Also local graff writers felt disrespected or overlooked by what they perceived as an invasion, and you can’t blame them for feeling that way.

Mostly, it has been a celebration of the creative spirit in these twenty-teens in Brooklyn and we all know that this too is a temporary era, as New York is continually reinventing itself. Enjoy these murals smacked cheek-by-jowl for block after block by an international train of talents running through Bushwick today, because they are here for you to enjoy in this moment. Like David Bowie wisely told us, “These are the golden years.”

Nychos. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nychos (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Celso (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sipros. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sipros (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Atomik (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dasic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BG183 . Tats Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NICER . DAZE . BIO . Tats Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CRUSH . Tats Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JMR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KLOPS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NEPO . CORO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill in Motion and “The Impact of Discovery” in Kiev

June 6, 2016 Artists

Street Artist Li-Hill is a professor and student of the science of motion on the street and in the public sphere, with figures captured at increments along a path of movement. Often his large scale murals reveal the nature of the journey that brings the figure forward in space, merging the energy and particles that comprise it. His largest mural to date, completed last week in Kiev, is as much a tribute to the science of particle physics as it is to the study of the human form in kinetic motion.

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Film UA )

Painted with the support of Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club founder Dmytro Palienko and curated by Oleg Sosnov and Yulia Ostrovska, Li-Hill super-collides science and motion photography in an enormous way not often seen with the naked eye. Painted on the multi-façade of the Kieve Polytechnical Institute, the Ukraine’s largest science and technical school, Li-Hill is capturing many explosions at once.

An interpretation of hydrogen protons flying into one another and creating an explosion, the piece points to the earliest photography that captured motion by laying plates over one another, like those of the 1880s made at the University of Pennsylvania by Eadweard Muybridge.

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Film UA )

Considering his work more science than art, his work along with that of Etienne-Jules Marey studied the range of human and animal motion, causing an explosion in the study by artists as well. In fact Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2, debuting nearly a quarter century after Muybridge’s own photographic studies of a woman descending stairs sparked an uproar on both sides of the Atlantic to the highest office of the White House.

Here Li-Hill says he was thinking of the impact on cinema as well and considers this an interpretation of the struggles he sensed in his host country. These conflicts he says, have the potential to “breed discoveries that, through struggle, enable culture, identity and community to be forged.”

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Film UA )

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Li-Hill)

”Walking and turning around rapidly with a satchel in one hand, a cane in the other” Animal Locomotion Plate 49, 1887, Collotype, Eadweard Muybridge

Two chronophotographic studies of a run taken from overhead, 1887 Etienne-Jules Marey (Graphic reproductions Courtesy of private collection)

“Young New Yorkers” Auction to Feature Jaime Rojo and 100 More

April 7, 2016 Artists

BSA has been supporting and donating to the organization Young New Yorkers and many of the participating artists who are in tonight’s auction for a long time through our work for a number of years. This year BSA Co-founder and editor of photography Jaime Rojo is also donating something else – his own photography.

Jaime Rojo. Untitled. Tawana and Miriam. Brooklyn, NY. August 31, 2003 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

YNY provides 16 and 17 year old people in New York State who have had the unfortunate occurrence of being arrested an opportunity to re-see themselves and society through an art-based program. The state has the unfortunate distinction of being particularly harsh with our youth, treating them as adults in some circumstances where other perspectives can and should come into play. It’s a mature and nuanced position that great societies can muster when we dig deep and we’re proud of the staff and volunteers who put in the huge amounts of effort to make YNY successful.

Shepard Fairey. Natural Springs. Print. (photo courtesy of YNY)

Joe Russo. Shepard Fairey, NYC 2010. Print. (photo courtesy of YNY)

This program is an opportunity to short-circuit a potentially harmful cycle of crime and incarceration because it recognizes the whole young person, not just a narrow aspect. If they qualify and graduate from the court-appointed program, graduates’ cases are dismissed and sealed, leaving them free of the collateral consequences of an adult criminal record.

Not surprisingly, graffitti and Street Artists and others familiar with the scene recognize the value of this kind of work and have given great pieces to the auction. Please consider the works here and go online to bid and attend the public auction in New York tonight!

Daniel Albanese. Larry The Bird Man. Print. (photo courtesy of YNY)

“I wholeheartedly support Young New Yorkers; not only as an art program and constructive alternative to teens being incarcerated, but it is also highly therapeutic. It builds problem solving skills that can boost self confidence and allow participants to feel more empowered to pursue their dreams as well as deal with their realities.”—Shepard Fairey

Fairey has generously donated a number of prints for tonight along with works by an array of artists you’ll recognize such as Ben Eine, Swoon, Cern, Pure Evil, Icy & Sot, Robert Janz, Know Hope, Daniel Albanese, Hellbent, Greg LaMarche, Joe Russo, LMNOPI, Li Hill, Dan Witz and many others for tonights’ event. Your support will actually help keep our young people out of jail and contributing in a positive way.

Swoon. Haiti Sketch (Older Man Collar). (photo courtesy of YNY)

This year’s YNY benefit auction show is curated by Lunar New Year, Ann Lewis, and Maya Levin.

Here is a small sample of the works being offered up for auction. To see the whole collection, bid and for more details on the actual works of art please go to: Paddle8 Young New Yorkers benefit auction.

Ben Eine. See No Evil. Print. (photo courtesy of YNY)

Brittany Williams. Blooming Mind. Painting. (photo courtesy of YNY)

Li-Hill. Dive. Work on paper. (photo courtesy of YNY)

QRST. In The House Of The Coyote. Work on paper. (photo courtesy of YNY)

Dan Witz. Container Study (Green). Mixed Media. (photo courtesy of YNY)

Jetsonorama. Stephanie on JR ‘s House. Print. (photo courtesy of YNY)

Mataruda. Verso, Perla, Pluma y, Flor. Giclee Print. (photo courtesy of the artist)

Queens Hit “Top To Bottom” by New Mural Project in L.I.C.

January 20, 2016 Artists

The spirit of New Yorks’ 5 Pointz graffiti/Street Art holy place has popped up in the same Queens neighborhood where it was demolished in 2014, and since last summer more than 50 local and international aerosol artists have been hitting a new project “Top to Bottom”.

brooklyn-street-art-icy-sot-arts-org-LIC-jaime-rojo-01-16-web

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The choice of “Top to Bottom”, a graffiti term that recalls 1970s trains painted their entire height, is no mistake as creative director James P. Quinn reveres the classic style and histories of those original writers like internationally and institutionally celebrated artists Crash and Daze, who have collaborated on a mural here.

Additionally, in yet another sign that the celebration of art on the streets is ever more ecumenical, Quinn and his project lead Geoff Kuffner are bringing the newer Street Artists who are expanding and defining the current era for art in the streets like Case Ma’Claim and Rubin 415. Not surprisingly, both of these artists started in graffiti, as did nearly every name here.

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I felt like a comfortable amount of space should be allocated to certain styles,” says Quinn as he describes the process of parceling out spots for the façade and roof of the 124,000-square-foot former warehouse. Truthfully, he tells us, not all the surfaces and shapes are attractive to graffiti artists, so a variety of styles is best.

“I tried to fit them in where I felt that graff writers could enjoy themselves and do something expansive. There are only a couple of spaces here that fit the epic, horizontally spaced forms of style writing. There are a lot of strange shapes to navigate as a painter here, rather than easy space to develop style as a writer.”

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Quinn and Kuffner give a couple of visitors a tour around the entire block on a gray day where heavy fog hangs in the air obscuring the top half of Manhattan and they excitedly recall stories about the many installations in this first project of their newly formed Arts Org NYC. Using the word “garden” often, Quinn reiterates that this project for them is a “proof of concept” for bigger projects that will spread further through the city. “Ultimately I’m approaching it as a mural project,” says Quinn, who has organized mural programs a number of times since the 1990s. “It’s just a beginning.”

Street Art has evolved into districts of murals in cities as a gentrification device in the last five years and despite the critique that it is often used for economic development, many urban art watchers would also agree that we’re in the middle of a renaissance of public/private art. Quinn says he wants to capture part of the public’s new interest and make it grow. “I’d like to leverage the current hype and acceptance of mural painting to open up doors to people – old women, young kids, everybody.”

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The neighborhood itself feels like it is in transition but it is not clear where it is heading. With Silvercup Studios and the number 7 subway line nearby and MoMA PS1 within a 10 minute walk, a quick survey reveals mixed light industry, sweatshops, corner delis, and the occasional strip club. Below the off-ramp of the Queensboro Bridge, which sweeps past the “Top to Bottom” exhibition, you will see first and second generation immigrants from the areas’ latin and African communities walking by, and Quinn reminds you that the Queensbridge Projects where Hip-Hop storyteller NAS grew up is just a short walk from here.

Conversation turns to plans for more focused programming on the walls in Phase II, possible fine art shows with local gallery spaces, and ultimately a city-wide mural project that offers art and art-making to greater audiences, including school kids.

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I do feel like murals get focused in certain locations but I feel like the entire city as a whole is still suffering. Huge demographics aren’t getting the painting,” he says, invoking the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. “I feel like my ‘I Have a Dream’ speech about this project is that I hope it gets to the point where 10 year-olds can have as much access to a neighborhood as developers.”

Does he think that projects like this are pawns for business interests to draw investments into the neighborhood and push poorer populations out? “You can debate whether or not we are opening the way for more shiny condos… but that shit is happening whether we do this or not. For me the importance is keeping us here; So we’re not totally pushed out 30-45 minutes away from here”

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Because of its proximity to the now destroyed 5 Pointz, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of urban artists painted a much larger block repeatedly for two decades, we ask Quinn if he’s concerned with comparisons.

“I’ve always managed other projects like this in my own style and my own way. There are comparable aspects and I have nothing but a huge sensitivity and respect for Meres and 5 Pointz,” he says, referring to the artist and de facto director of the hallowed spot. “It’s comparable only because it’s a building and it’s in Long Island City. But this is only a jump-off. I want to do way more projects like this across the city.”

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As the business partners walk past new pieces by DMote, Li-Hill, Icy & Sot, and Jick, the topic of the historically strained relationship between graffiti writers and Street Artists appears to be addressed head-on by the project by the inclusion of all manner of painter. The guys say that it is less of an issue than some people would have you think. As a long-time artist and muralist and curator of projects like this, Quinn says he’s over the supposed rivalry of the two camps, and sees mainly just one camp these days.

“I don’t know what the fans of graffiti or Street Art have any problem with. To me it’s all awesome.”

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alexandre Keto (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EGS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Binho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cekis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NEVER and Dirty Bandits (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sean9Lugo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zumi (photo © Jaime Rojo)

PORK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Key Details (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes Two (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kans115 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze . Crash (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Erasmo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more about ArtsOrg please go to www.artsorg.nyc.

#ArtsOrgNYC and @artsorg on Instagram

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><>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!<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><<>>><>

This article is also published on The Huffington Post

BSA “Images of the Year” for 2015 : New Video

December 16, 2015 Artists

Was 2015 the “Year of the Mural”?

A lot of people thought so, and the rise of commercial festivals and commissioned public/private mural programs probably brought more artists to more walls than in recent history. Judging from the In Box, 2016 is going to break more records. Enormous, polished, fully realized and presented, murals can hold a special role in a community and transform a neighborhood, even a city.

But they are not the “organic” Street Art that draws us into the dark in-between places in a city, or at its margins.

We keep our eyes open for the small, one-off, idiosyncratic, uncommissioned, weirdo work as well, as it can carry clues about the culture and reveal a sage or silly solo voice. It also just reinforces the feeling that the street is still home to an autonomous free-for-all of ideas and opinions and wandering passions. For us it is still fascinating to seek out and discover the one-of-a-kind small wheatpastes, stencils, sculptures, ad takeovers, collages, and aerosol sprayed pieces alongside the enormous and detailed paintings that take days to complete.

The main image above is from a vinyl subway advertisement that was high-jacked and we published it in February of this year on our Images of the Week posting. It’s small, personal, and very effective as you can see someone suspiciously similar to Batman is jumping out of the mouth of someone looking awfully similar to Hedwig of “Angry Inch” fame.

Of the 10,000 or so images photographer Jaime Rojo took in 2015, here are a selection 140+ of the best images from his travels through streets looking for unpermissioned and sanctioned art.

Brooklyn Street Art 2015 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo

Brooklyn Street Art 2015 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

365xlos43, Amanda Marie, Andreas Englund, Augustine Kofie, Bisser, Boijeot, Renauld, Bordaloli, Brittany, BunnyM, Case Maclaim, Casg, Cash4, CDRE, Clet, Cost, Curve, Dain, Dal East, Dan Budnik, Dan Witz, David Walker, DeeDee, Dennis McNett, Don Rimx, Ricardo Cabret, LNY, Alex Seel, Mata Ruda, Don’t Fret, Dot Dot Dot, ECB, El Mac, El Sol25, Ella & Pitr, Eric Simmons, Enest Zacharevic, Martha Cooper, Martin Whatson, Ever, Faile, Faith47, Findac, Futura, Gaia, Gilf!, Hanksy, Hellbent, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy and Sot, Inti, Invader, Isaac Cordal, James Bullough, Janet Dickson, Jef Aerosol, Jilly Ballistic, Joe Iurato, John Fekner, Le Diamantaire, Li Hill, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Low Brow, Marina Capdevilla, Miss Van, Mr. Prvrt, Mr. Toll, Myth, Nafir, Nemos, Never Crew, Nick Walker, Nina Pandolofo, Old Broads, Oldy, Ollio, Os Gemeos, Owen Dippie, Paper Skaters, Pet Bird, Kashink, Smells, Cash4, PichiAvo, Pixel Pancho, QRST, ROA, Ron English, Rubin415, Saner, Sean 9 Lugo, Shai Dahan, Shepard Fairey, Sheryo & The Yok, Sinned, Sipros, Skewville, Slikor, Smells, Sweet Toof, Snowden, Edward Snowden, Andrew Tider, Jeff Greenspan, Specter, Stray Ones, Sweet Toof, Swil, Willow, Swoon, The Outings Project, Toney De Pew, Tristan Eaton, Various & Gould, Vermibus, Wane, Wk Interact

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

“Wall Poetry” in Iceland : Stunning Views and Music-Inspired Murals

December 2, 2015 Artists

Urban Nation (UN) and Iceland Airwaves Festival Create Mural Program

Sound and vision are inextricably bound in the modern music canon, with inspired visuals leading our auditory imaginations at least since Toulouse-Lautrec’s depictions of Moulin Rouge orchestral and singing talents. Later illustrators were important for ushering us into the jazz era with snappy collage and geometrics for album covers and the birth of rock and roll expanded and shaped popular album-oriented daydreams. With every subsequent genre and subgenre of music from pop to rap to metal to disco and EDM, static and video artists continue to visually augment, interpret, define, and expand upon the music that we listen to.

Telmo & Miel. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

This autumn in Iceland an equally inspired program pairing of 10 Street Artists with 10 musicians for the Airwaves music festival brought Reykjavik new murals from a mix of local and international artists. Since Iceland is the new Brooklyn, you’ll like to see how Berlin’s Urban Nation (UN) is precisely on top of something hot and icy with these eye-popping murals inspired by pace-setting modern sounds.

“I love music,” says UN Director Yasha Young as she describes the process that she and Iceland Airwaves’ Grímur Atlason and Henny Frímannsdottír went through to select music for their 1^st edition of Wall Poetry. “We started to play our favorite bands from the lineup to each other, researched their album art, read their lyrics in great depth and watched all the video footage we could find,” she explains. “After that we decided who we thought would be interesting to approach for such a creative adventure. I know the artists I work with very well so it was more about listening to them and defining in more detail what the their individual ideas were for this project. The main goal for me was to pair them with the right collaborative partner musically and visually.”

Telmo & Miel. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

“With paintings in and around Reykjavik the artists had time to complete their walls in time for the 10 day music festival in November, drawing the attention of fans and locals who were interested in the artwork that is impacting their daily experience of the city. The musicians were asked to provide the street artists with a song, lyrics or poetry especially chosen or written for this project,” says curator Frímannsdottír on the site. “The visual artists were provided a city wall as surface for the large scale work.”

Artist and musician collaborations for Wall Poetry include:

Ernest Zacharevic + Dikta, Caratoes + Ylja, Tankpetrol + GUS GUS, D*FACE + Laxdæla saga, Deih XLF + Vök, Telmo Miel + Mercury Rev, Li Hill + John Grant, ELLE + ÚlfurÚlfur, Evoca1 + Saun & Starr, and The Ugly Brothers + Gísli Pálmi.

Telmo & Miel. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

We spoke to Yasha Young about the first year of Wall Poetry and the challenges of mounting a project like this:

Brooklyn Street Art: How important is the visual aspect of music to you? Many people may not always make that connection.
Yasha Young: To me it is so very important. I am a visual person to begin with but I think that it is vital as an individual who works with and for artists to work across genres and with as many different creative aspects as possible to be able to create one lasting and meaningful overall experience.

I remember buying LP’s for their cover art and the stickers and zines that came with them. I remember Buzzocks’s and The Ramones buttons and the silk printed posters by the Sex Pistols that came with the LP if memory serves me correctly. I think about The Rolling Stones “Some Girls” sliding cover and the art for Pink Floyds ‘The Wall’ and the “Led Zeppelin III” album with its rotating cover art that you could interact with.

And of course music videos became huge productions; actually they are little films that often connect with you on an even deeper level and enhance your experience of the music. Videos were launch pads for creative careers and massive innovations; for example Peter Gabriel’s ‘Sledgehammer’, ‘Cry’ by Godley and Crème, Gorillaz’ ‘Clint Eastwood’, Radiohead’s ‘No Surprises’, and my all-time favorite song and visuals combination was Radiohead’s ‘Street Spirit’. Of course as we speak I’m thinking also about Iceland’s Björk and her video for ‘ Human Behaviour” and John Grant and Tate Shots collaboration… I could go on and on.

Telmo & Miel. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

“Mothrider” is inspired by the lyrics of Mercury Rev for “Moth Light”:

If, if I was a moth
I’d fly to the light in you
And if, if I was lost
I’d lose myself in you

Planets line up in the sky
Feel the waves go rushing by
Let’s just give it one more try
Ain’t got nothing to lose.”

Telmo & Miel. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

(Young, continued) In my career I’ve had the great pleasure to be part of making album art happen for bands, such as KORN’s ‘Untitled’ for example. I worked with many bands on that creative level and it only deepened my connection and convictions when it came to art and music. Today we have a one-click behavior for experiencing streaming music that almost reminds me a little of when video killed the radio star. There is an essential part of the experience that is fading and we feed it with the “instant buy”.

I believe that we are losing more than ‘just’ the record store and the poster art or album cover. We are losing an essential and lasting connection that came with the purchase of the record or CD but was established long before; the multi-faceted creation of the entire visual aspect. You became part of a creative baseline and connected to the music through the visual work. Reading the lyrics as audio poetry on the back sleeve or the LP or interacting with the music and the art made it a much more lasting and impressive experience in my view. This is just the surface of what I think and would like to explore even further and on a deeper level next year when we return for the 2nd edition of Wall Poetry.

Brooklyn Street Art: What inspired you to start the project?
Yasha Young: I am always inspired by new opportunities to bring together different artistic genres and unusual or challenging – but always exciting – new venues. I had been visiting Iceland Airwaves for many years and finally decided last year to find walls and spaces and to connect with the Iceland Airwaves crew.

My idea was to visually prolong the reach of the music and bring it onto the walls through well-conceptualized and executed art pieces. In a way I wanted to re-connect two entities that have always been vital and necessary for each other in a public space, with music and art spilling out of the concert venues onto the streets and into the lives of people.

It was almost like we were going to extend the music, with the core idea being “We paint the music you love to hear”. Once that was established as the core of the project I very quickly had an idea of which visual artists would be not only be a great fit for the city and the project but also who would be able to work in rather unusual and unknown conditions – namely, the Icelandic weather, and I say this with great fondness for those wild and unpredictable skies.

Elle. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Brooklyn Street Art: How did you choose the lyrics? Was it a difficult process?
Yasha Young: Actually I only picked the bands and visual artists. It was more about creating and encouraging the connection between both of these groups to get their beautiful creative minds talking together. Once connected they picked songs and talked about their choices in depth. I was a bystander, a very curious fly on the wall and following the process was simply amazing. To read the exchanges and feel the moment the spark ignited – that moment to me is, and will always be, what marks true curatorial success and is key to all collaborative creative projects.

Elle. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Elle was inspired by the song “Tuttugu og Eitthvað” by Úlfur Úlfur

Elle. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Brooklyn Street Art: Were there any challenges along the way? Specifically regarding logistics..
Yasha Young: ( laughs ) Yes! Many many many – but less in the actual execution of the vision and more in the daily production. For example the wind picks up and the mechanical lifts start swaying in the wind like a leaf. It was “Safety first” of course so we had to stop working immediately. Often the rain can be surprising and torrential and water runs down the walls like little waterfalls washing all the hard work from the night before off the wall again. But these artists are professionals and in my job the goal is to work as innovatively as possible – always finding or inventing new methods and finding other options.

It’s part of the journey and it can actually be fun. For my stubborn mind the only factor that will always be in way is time – we have not found a way to stop it or make more of it.

Deih One. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Deih took inspiration from Icelandic band Vok Music’s song “Waterfall” for this mural.

Deih One. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Li’ Hill. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Li-Hill. Detail. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Li-Hill worked in collaboration with John Grant and his song “Pale Green Ghosts” for this mural.

Li-Hill. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Caratoes. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Caratoes. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Caratoes took inspiration to paint this whole house from the lyrics of the song “Ode To a Mother”by Icelandic band Ylja.

Caratoes. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

D*Face. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

D*Face depicts the Icelandic saga of Laxdaela; a tale of love, betrayal and intrigue.

D*Face. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Ernest Zacharevic. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Lithuania’s Ernest Zacharevic transformed the shadow of an earlier building into a personal photo book.

“It’s inspired by the song ‘I Miss You’ by Dikta,” says Ernest. “The image has the same sadness and nostalgia in the photographs that I felt in the piano track song. The work is my imagining of all the past scenarios that could have happened in this old heritage house, physically and emotionally being taken down and rebuilt.

It’s more about memory because after I spoke to a lot of locals they were very nostalgic about how Reykjavik used to be, not so keen on how modernized it has become.”

Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Tank Petrol. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Tank Petrol. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Tank Petrol’s modern take on the myth of Freya, considered to be the mother goddess of Love and Beauty.

Tank Petrol. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Evoca One. Process shot. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Evoca One tells the story of the Sauna and Starr song “Gonna Make Time” about home and returning to those waiting on shore.

Evoca One. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

The gang. Wall Poetry-Urban Nation in collaboration with Iceland Air Waves. Reykjavik, Iceland. October, 2015. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Our special thanks to photographer Nika Kramer for sharing her amazing shots with BSA readers.

To learn more about Iceland Airwaves please click HERE.

This article is also published on The Huffington Post

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What’s The Word, Bird? Fine Feathered Friends Soar On The Street

August 25, 2015 Artists

It’s a convivial if embarrassing juxtaposition when you witness a bird in flight in this brutish man-made city environment, so unrefined are all of our efforts next to his. He rewards us with a song or a soaring performance in air, and despite our heavy slow selves anchored to this pavement, we shield the sun with our hand and follow him with our eyes, paying some respect for his gift and his splendor.

Another crosses his path mid-air. Her wings are so tempered and fine, allowing her to glide with grace, cutting across the chorus of perpendicular and parallel lines, shapes, and epochs that rise and fall and crash clumsily into one another in this hard-edged city.

How do they do it, these birds – especially when it seems like we do very little to help them? Why do they persist in this city that seems often to be unconscious of nature? Is it just our nature to be so unconscious? They should have abandoned us long ago. Yet they persist, and Street Artists here pay them tribute for all that they give us.

“Fly on, sea-birds! fly sideways, or wheel in large circles high in the air,” says Walt Whitman as he crosses on the Brooklyn Ferry.

Emily Dickenson writes,
“A Bird came down the Walk —
He did not know I saw —
He bit an Angleworm in halves
And ate the fellow, raw,”

And William Blake paints a couple as love birds here:

“He. O thou summer’s harmony,
I have liv’d and mourn’d for thee;
Each day I mourn along the wood,
And night hath heard my sorrows loud.

She. Dost thou truly long for me?
And am I thus sweet to thee?
Sorrow now is at an end,
O my Lover and my Friend!

He. Come, on wings of joy we’ll fly
To where my bower hangs on high;
Come, and make thy calm retreat
Among green leaves and blossoms sweet.”

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA
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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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

Photos of 2024 on BSA – #10: Flaco the Owl a Folk Hero for a Minute in NYC
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We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
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We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
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Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Detail. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. This piece titled “Sonia” was destroyed in the process of bringing down a structure from the wall. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. But we found one intact and for sale at the Art Central Art Fair in Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Adeline the owner of Parisian Galerie L J at Art Central Art Fair is shown talking to a potential buyer not in the photo. Hong Kong. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SWOON X Heliotrope X BSA : A Benefit for Heliotrope Foundation curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, co-founders of BSA

Opening Event: Thursday, April 6 from 6-9pm. Beats and refreshments provided.

Location: 88 ½ Seventh Avenue (between 15th & 16th St.) in Chelsea, New York Pop-Up Exhibit runs April 7-9 from 11am – 6pm daily

Top image: Moe79 at The Haus in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Moe79 and Akut at The Haus in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Moe79 on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A billboard takeover by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A billboard takeover by an unidentified artist. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An ode to the most humble of papers: The toilet paper by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christian Rothenhagen AKA deerBLN on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christian Rothenhagen AKA deerBLN on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Senz tribute to Biggie Smalls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fred Le Chevalier on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fred Le Chevalier on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ostap on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Oh not you again. Looks like your Big Brother is back. Probably never left. Unidentified Artist on the streets of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Our own very ephemerous lil’ phone booth ad takeover…wink wink… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Domino Sugar Plant. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wes21. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pink Power. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

M.City. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Remi Rough work in progress. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

L’Atlas. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Krzysztof “Proembrion” Syruc. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Johannes Mundinger. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Galo. Artmossphere. Moscow International Biennale of Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Special Feature: Aaron Li-Hill: The Impact Of Discovery in Kiev.

Isaac Cordal: The Painter

Tilt. Part I. Interviewed by Steven P. Harrington of BSA at Jardin Rouge in Morocco.

Tilt. Part II. Interviewed by Steven P. Harrington of BSA at Jardin Rouge in Morocco in February 2016.

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nychos. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nychos (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Celso (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sipros. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sipros (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D*Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Atomik (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dasic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BG183 . Tats Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NICER . DAZE . BIO . Tats Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CRUSH . Tats Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JMR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KLOPS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NEPO . CORO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Film UA )

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Film UA )

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Film UA )

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Film UA )

Li-Hill in Kiev for Sky Art Foundation and Mural Social Club. Kiev, Ukraine. May 2016. (photo © Li-Hill)

”Walking and turning around rapidly with a satchel in one hand, a cane in the other” Animal Locomotion Plate 49, 1887, Collotype, Eadweard Muybridge

Two chronophotographic studies of a run taken from overhead, 1887 Etienne-Jules Marey (Graphic reproductions Courtesy of private collection)

Jaime Rojo. Untitled. Tawana and Miriam. Brooklyn, NY. August 31, 2003 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey. Natural Springs. Print. (photo courtesy of YNY)

SWOON X Heliotrope X BSA : A Benefit for Heliotrope Foundation
curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, co-founders of BSA

Opening Event: Thursday, April 6 from 6-9pm.
Beats and refreshments provided.

Location: 88 ½ Seventh Avenue (between 15th & 16th St.)
in Chelsea, New York
Pop-Up Exhibit runs April 7-9 from 11am – 6pm daily

If, if I was a moth
I’d fly to the light in you
And if, if I was lost
I’d lose myself in you

Planets line up in the sky
Feel the waves go rushing by
Let’s just give it one more try
Ain’t got nothing to lose.”