Martyn Reed the affable bad boy from Norway curates this new show of urban and street artists who are equally at home tackling antiquated etching techniques, watercolors, drawing and oil painting as they are with a spraycan and marker. Says the impresario “On July 1st we’ll be opening one of Scandinavia’s, and certainly Norway’s, largest exhibitions dedicated to street and urban art.”
Reed Projects Following the acclaimed and ongoing international success
story of Stavanger’s Nuart Festival as well as last years
“Lowlife” exhibition at Stavanger Kunstforening, Reed
Projects is set to consolidate the regions rising reputation for
providing a home for this, the 21st Centuries most dynamic
artform by unleashing a brand new show dedicated to Street
and Urban Art.
Spread across 220m2 of space, Skur 2, a beautifully
converted Victorian warehouse on the city harbour front will
house works from over 30 of the worlds leading urban artists
including Scandinavia’s largest collection of Banksy works
alongside new and exclusive pieces from Norway’s Dolk.
Part museum show, part contemporary art exhibition
and part urban art boutique, Outside In is nothing if not
ambitious, the show will present the myriad of ways in which
Street Artists explore and tackle a multitude of techniques,
both old and new. Drawings, watercolours, etchings, oil
paintings, acrylics, lithographs, screen prints, photography,
film and much more will all be on show.
Outside In aims to question and challenge the perception
that Street Art is primarily concerned with graffiti and the
spray can. A good selling point for gallerists and lifestyle
media as well its detractors, but as Outside In aims to show,
far from reality.
Outside In shows urban artists who are equally at home
tackling antiquated etching techniques, watercolours,
drawing and oil painting as they are with a spraycan and
marker. As likely to be found hunched over a litho stone
as they are scaling trackside fences, “Street” artists have,
over the years, explored and mastered crafts not popular in
contemporary fine art practice for generations.
Outside In is set to be the countries first major group
exhibition (outside of Nuart) dedicated to the most dynamic
and democratic art movement of the 21st Century.
Outside In opens on July 01st and runs until Aug 07
Martyn Reed
Curator and Creative Director
Reed Projects.
“I love art a lot, its a hobby that takes a lot of my time, and helps me being positive and keeps my mind off the more serious things in life,” says prize winner Martin C. from Denmark. Congratulations to him and to Marco C. from Italy who was stoked to win the big prize, “You made my day.” Finally, there is Mika A. from Washington, DC, who is a young street artist there and who sent us a cool pic.
Answer 3 Simple Trivia Questions from last nights Brooklynite LIVE chat with Martyn Reed
Man, that was a blast! The Chat Pub over at Brooklynite was pretty crowded last night with an international crowd of beer swilling NuArt fans all yelling and climbing over each other to grab the ear of the guest of honor. Peeps who logged online to see the World Premiere of “Eloquent Vandals” were happily peppering affable bad boy Martyn Reed with questions ranging from his experiences with the NuArt artists (95% good) to how his little Norwegian town became known for amazing Street Art over the course of a decade (work and talent and luck). All that chatter made it hard to hear the movie and if you were like us, you missed most of the show because of all the excitement.
But, as promised, we’re giving away the movie today to you. Just answer these three questions and send them to us at Eloquent@BrooklynStreetArt.com. The first three people who answer the three questions correctly win 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize.
No family or pets or employees or landlords of BSA are eligible. All complaints about the hardness of the questions should be addressed directly to Martyn Reed at thesequestionsaretoohardyousuck@nuart.no. Good Luck! We’ll tell you who won tomorrow.
Here are your Trivia Questions:
1) In the film, what does Dface’s work ask us to do?
2) GRL is an acronym for what ?
3) Nick Walker is from which British City ?
Shot and directed by Martin Hawkes, the film features work and interviews with Street Artists like Blek Le Rat, Graffiti Research Lab, Dface, Herakut, Nick Walker, Know Hope, Jimmy Cauty, Chris Stain, Wordtomother, Sten & Lex, Dotmasters, Zeus (UK) and Dolk & Pøbel.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Titi Freak from São Paulo via Japan has created a unique voice in Street Art in the last decade. A perfect East-West mashup of all the things you kids love… fashion, pop, illustration, commix, graff, and color. He’s got a new print coming out Feb 24 with OneThirty3 and we have a sneak peak here.
Don’t Forget LIVE Chat on Brooklynite Monday Night
You can chat with Martyn Reed of Nuart LIVE when you log in and see the WORLD DEBUT of the film this Monday the 31st. It’s free and you might win a copy of the film. More HERE
Ever Wonder Why You Are Nervous All the Time?
Swearword Alert! Hilarious spoof on the predilictions of those cable news stations that tell you it’s ALL EMERGENCY ALL THE TIME!
We’re really happy to see that this project is finished and congratulate Martyn Reed for finishing his film “Eloquent Vandals”, made during the NuArt Festival in Stavanger, Norway. You can congratulate Martyn LIVE when you log in to chat with him and see the WORLD DEBUT of the film next Monday the 31st.
Shot and directed by Martin Hawkes, the film features work and interviews with Street Artists like Blek Le Rat, Graffiti Research Lab, Dface, Herakut, Nick Walker, Know Hope, Jimmy Cauty, Chris Stain, Wordtomother, Sten & Lex, Dotmasters, Zeus (UK) and Dolk & Pøbel.
Win a FREE Copy! To celebrate the World Premier, BSA is hosting a trivia game and giveaway of copies of the film and other NuArt goodies the day after the show — Feb 1.
* first image of post is a still featuring work by Blek Le Rat in “Eloquent Vandals” courtesy of Nuart/Saft films.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Eloquent Vandals
Running time : 27 mins
Shot on location during Norway’s Nuart Festival in 2008, Eloquent Vandals
features candid interviews and work from some of the worlds leading street
artists including Blek Le Rat, Graffiti Research Lab, Dface, Herakut, Nick
Walker, Know Hope, Jimmy Cauty, Chris Stain, Wordtomother, Sten & Lex,
Dotmasters, Dolk & Pøbel.
Shot and Directed by Martin Hawkes
Produced by Nuart/Saft films
Tonight in Brooklyn: “Wholetrain” Screening at Closing Party for H. Veng Smith
Tonight at Pandemic they’ll be screening the film “Wholetrain” to close the “Identifiable Reality” show by H. Veng Smith.
“Florian Gaag manages to recount a tale colored by tension and aggression. The result is a many-sided portrait of characters whose world has never been documented in this way before. Their subculture remains authentic and realistic. Edgy editing and grandiloquent camerawork, a pulsating soundtrack and an excellent ensemble of actors, make WHOLETRAIN a film experience not to be missed.” – Wholetrain Website
On the streets of Milan, Italy five artists (Shepard Fairey, Invader, The London Police, Flying Fortress and Rendo) has been invited to create about 20 manhole covers.
Carmichael’s first show of the year “After the Rain” featuring new work by Boogie, Guy Denning, Aakash Nihalani, and Pascual Sisto.
5795 Washington Blvd Culver City, CA 90232
January 8 – February 5, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 8, 2011, 6-8pm
Whoops, “There It Is” at ThinkSpace
“There it Is” at ThinkSpace
‘There It Is’
Featuring new works from three Oakland CA artists:
Brett Amory / Adam Caldwell / Seth Armstrong
(Main Gallery)
Paul Barnes
‘Happy Valley’
(Project Room)
Both exhibits on view: January 8th – January 29th
Opening Reception: Sat, January 8th 7-10PM
Thinkspace Art Gallery
6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 558-3375 | Open Wed. – Sat.
1pm-6pm
or by appointment
contact@thinkspacegallery.com
“Street Degrees of Street” – Abztract Collective
Abztract Collective and Crewest Gallery group show “Street Degrees of Separation”
Opening Reception Jan 2008
CREWEST GALLERY
110 Winston Street
Los Angeles, CA
213 627 8272
BOXI and BANKSY TAKE No. 1 Spots
Here are the Final Results of the Year End 2010 BSA Polls
It was a blast to watch the images jumping positions like a horse race for the last weeks of the year as two BSA Polls were up on the Huffington Post. Thousands of people participated in the voting and we got lots of funny emails, and some varying opinions – and here are the results;
As we start a new year, we say thank you for the last one.
And Thank You to the artists who shared their 11 Wishes for 2011 with Brooklyn Street Art; Conor Harrington, Eli Cook, Indigo, Gilf, Todd Mazer, Vasco Mucci, Kimberly Brooks, Rusty Rehl, Tip Toe, Samson, and Ludo. You each contributed a very cool gift to the BSA family, and we’re grateful.
We looked over the last year to take in all the great projects we were in and fascinating people we had the pleasure to work with. It was a helluva year, and please take a look at the highlights to get an idea what a rich cultural explosion we are all a part of at this moment.
The new year already has some amazing new opportunities to celebrate Street Art and artists. We are looking forward to meeting you and playing with you and working with you in 2011.
A quick home made video of Ad Deville suspiciously skirting the upper wall along an entire block in Bushwick during he and Ali Ha’s block party. Now the news is that they are talking about taking the whole block for a sculpture garden. Hell yeah! More public space for art? Whaddaya think?
Tara McPherson New Cheap Print “Searching for Penguins”
That’s all you really have to say to get people excited these days. And today in London a new piece by the anonymous Darth Vader in a hoodie debuts at a group show called “Marks & Stencils”. It also features Greg Haberny, a very strong and prolific artist showing in Brooklyn for a few years now.
“Marks & Stencils” , 1 Berwick Street, London W1. Read more about the mysterious confluence of shows opening tonight at Nuart >>>
And check out this entertaining look at French Street Artist DRAN, who is also in the show. The video features graff and Street Art living in harmony. Who says it can’t be done?
SACE Tribute on Houston Wall
“The ever-changing graffiti wall on East Houston Street took another turn Tuesday, with taggers covering the massive canvas with a tribute to a late Lower East Side artist.
Witnesses said a graffiti crew arrived at the wall, located at the corner of the Bowery, Tuesday morning and proceeded to cover the previous piece by street artist Barry McGee in large black letters spelling SACE — the tag name of artist Dash Snow, who died of an apparent drug overdose in 2009.”
The small but very expensive (if you are not a resident) and oil rich Coastal town of Stavenger in Norway must be feeling a bit blue right now. Nuart 2010 artists cleaned up, packed up their tools and left after two weeks of painting monumental murals for the town’s folk to enjoy during the long, dark winter months ahead. This years’ Street Artists included Dotmasters, Dolk, EVOL, Sten & Lex, Vhils, and ROA, among others. As in the past 5 years under this curator, the ’10 group is a stellar selection of talent that is helping define what direction Street Art is heading.
The offerings this year were super sized and in many cases bold in color. All of the participants this year were painters, masters at their craft and supremely independent. Martyn Reed, curator and visionary engine behind this elaborate but accessible street art festival doesn’t limit himself to one large festival – instead he marries it with a prestigious electronic-based music festival he created as a result of his years as a DJ. This years’ NuMusic festival featured performances by luminaries like Krautrock grandaddies Neu! and American hip-hop cornerstone Grandmaster Flash.
The affable bad boy Reed took a moment this week to look at his route to success so far and tell BSA about what the Nuart festival is and why it is important to him.
Brooklyn Street Art:Putting on a festival of this magnitude must be a big task. How do you do it?
Martyn Reed: Actually, this year, though the largest in scale, was a much easier production than we’ve been used to. We’ve learned so much from previous events that this year things ran incredibly smoothly. The biggest challenge was the weather in the second week. A good 90% of the walls required cherry pickers, these are obviously booked well in advance, set up, artists arrives and yeah.. we’re on. The walls that required scaffold are rigged by professionals and we made sure that all of this years artists were painters. So once set up, people were pretty autonomous. It helped that we spread out the production period to cover two weeks and also that we had Marte, a Nuart regular, on an internship for a month during the planning phase.
Brooklyn Street Art:What has been the town folks’ main reaction when they see all the big creatures on the walls of their city?
Martyn Reed: It’s incredible, there’s nothing but love for Nuart in this city, and it’s spread across a really broad demographic, from toddlers to grandparents, and from bakers to the city mayor.
It’s interesting because in a city this size anything new, any new developments in culture for example, are judged on their intrinsic merits and not due to media hype or “trends”. The city has a population of 120,000 and though a few will be aware of Banksy, Dolk etc..that will it. The art isn’t really tied to a “culture”, to Juxtapoz or hipsters or the gallery set or limited edition sneakers and vinyl toys and all the other commercial detritus that’s blossomed around the scene. It’s simply art on the street, big bold beautiful artworks that noticeably improve the surroundings. It’s astonishing to me that more city councils around the world haven’t yet embraced and recognized the value of Street Art.
Brooklyn Street Art: You have combined music with the plastic arts. Is there a cross-over between the two? Does one influence the other when curating the festival?
Martyn Reed: Interesting question, but the short answer is no, not anymore. Interesting in that Nuart was established to explore the questions you raise.
The Numusic festival, like many other European electronic music festivals, was born from an involvement in early rave and club culture. Arts graduates social life’s began to merge with their studies and aspects of academic pursuits began to influence club culture, especially with Vj’s, the early web, digital arts and new media. This proved an especially fertile and creative arena for subversives and artistic outsiders who naturally gravitate to these still lawless new frontiers. Nuart was initially set up as a sister festival to Numusic back in 2001 to provide a platform for “cutting edge” digital arts and new media, which of course had parallels with Numusic which at the time was billed as “Scandinavia’s leading festival of Electronic music”. New Media quickly became the baby of Arts Councils and funding bodies around the globe with new departments established to support and fund the medium. Art and New Technology grants were everywhere and as a Techno Dj and promoter with a degree in fine art, I was ideally placed to take advantage of the situation. I wrote the applications and we hired in various freelance curators between 2001 and 2005 and opened up the galleries during the club nights mixing up the art and the music.
I’d had an interest in Street Art through Banksy having Dj’d at Cargo in London where he had his first UK show, 2001 I think. It hadn’t occurred to me until 2005 when I took over curating Nuart, that Street Art was occupying the same ground as these early digital pioneers had previously, with a similar message, greater coverage, mass appeal and for the price of a craft knife and Internet connection. Suddenly new media looked like the bloated expensive state sanctioned art-form it was, obsessed with the technology of production when the real technological revolution was in its ability to distribute. I’d already worked with C6/Dotmasters on a new media show which led to Graffiti Research Lab etc so in 2005 I made an application to the arts council with a view to pushing things into a more street art orientated direction. And of course it was rejected outright..We thought ‘fuck it’, took out a private bank loan and did it anyway.. that was the start of Nuart in it’s current form. I guess the only similarities with movements in music is how the form is distributed, though it’s interesting to note a few artists, Faile in particular, messing with “remix” culture.
Brooklyn Street Art: You have to deal with painters and musicians. How do you see their differences as artists and do you approach them differently?
Martyn Reed: We treat people as people, no heirs and graces and pretty plain talking. We’re an easy going bunch and I think most artists and musicians feel comfortable around the crew, obviously we have to adapt to certain peoples quirks of character, but for the most, peoples social antenna’s are tuned to the same channel. Our main goal is to ensure that the production and service we provide ensures that the artists have nothing to worry about other than their own performance or piece.
Brooklyn Street Art: Did you grow up in a family where the arts and music were a big part of growing up? If not when did you realize that music and art were your calling?
Martyn Reed: Ha Ha, no no, quite the opposite, lower working class council estate upbringing, trailer trash in your parlance, didn’t know universities existed until I was maybe 17 or so, left home and school at 16 and just tried to get on..
During all these centuries of the celebration of high art, of its life-affirming philosophies, the glorification, elevation and idolization, it’s monuments to human artistic achievement and even more monumental museums celebrating its history, you’d think, somewhere down the line..an attempt would have been made to bring this to my council estate. To our lives. Because I know for a fact, art is not only capable of “improving” lives, but of saving them also. Literally.
But for all the grandstanding, the “high” arts don’t run that deep, which is why I’m a massive supporter and promoter of street art.
As for realizing, not sure, to be honest, from a very early age I always felt like I was on the outside looking in, and the “in” seemed to be missing a few things. I guess Nuart is my attempt to provide the community and the artists (and my 4 year old kid), with the thing that I missed.
Nuart Main Gallery: It’s peaceful setting and appearance belie the great struggles of humanity inside (photo Logan Hicks)
What is it with that Norwegian air that makes some people so fresh? Or maybe that’s the beer…
One off-handed reference to Empires and before you know it, some closet soldiers start falling into character and spouting military metaphors and going off about seiges and skullduggery.
We aren’t completely positive what our in-the-field reporter is talking about but until they have a live blogging tent at Nuart this is what we can pass along your way, dear reader…. (The apparent rift between Baltimore and Non-Baltimore contingents has been independently verified however)
In the field, Chris Stain breathlessly relates the events as they unfolded;
“Yesterday BK converged in Stavanger at 1200 hours and planned a city-wide assault under the guise of NUART. During the meeting Skewville and Chris Stain were informed by Swoon that Stockholm and Copenhagen were not in Germany. ”
Lessons in geography.
“Swoon and accomplice Ben Wolf formed a plan to conquer the eastern wing of SKUR 2 by setting up an ambush in an adjacent alley.” (photo Chris Stain)
“Infantryman Logan Hicks wasted no time breaking into a full war cry with a new tactical approach on stenciling” (photo Chris Stain)
“…while the diabolical Leon Reid got busy drafting his piece for installation to take out a bank in the city center.” (photo Chris Stain)
“David Choe was meet with resistance when attempting a mission in allied territory.” (Photo Logan Hicks)
Finally, it was brought to the attention of NUART commander-in-chief Martyn Reed that two of the BK artists were originally from Baltimore and subsequently were made to ride in the back of the bus and eat at separate lunch counters to keep from contaminating the rest of the troops.
End apartheid in Stavanger! I’m putting this on my Facebook profile and if you really cared you would too. (Now, Baltimore is in Sweden right?)
“But seriously folks this sh*t is gonna be a classic!” – Private Stain
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
They are arriving by the boatload for “Outside In”. Hope there is valet parking. (Photo © courtesy Martyn Reed) 
K-Guy “Primate Pontificate” (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Crotched objects began appearing on the street this year. © Jaime Rojo
