All posts tagged: MCity

Got the “Missing Berlin Blues” : Urban and Contemporary

March 9, 2016 Artists

Exactly a year ago we were in Berlin as invited guest curators by Urban Nation Museum’s Director Yasha Young to curate the 7th Edition of Project M. Our exhibition, “Persons Of Interest” was aesthetically rich and culturally relevant in the windows and on the facade of the under-renovation UN haus, and the positive feedback we received lasted a number of months. Each artist had dug deep in their research and were inspired to bring a Brooklyn-Berlin historical and contemporary story to the street in a meaningful way.

The indoor exhibition at the museum’s headquarters overflowed onto the streets on opening night as well; with artists, fans, curators, honored cultural muses, and officials from Berlin’s formal arts infrastructure all abuzz with the exchange happening in Kreuzberg.

Blu. Detail. This piece of Blu has been probably been shared thousands of times on line and on social media. It is still a powerful image in photos as well as in person. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As Ms. Young and her teams continue to build the cultural foundation of UN with a dizzying array of programs, initiatives, and artists this year leading to the official opening next spring, we remark on her singular vision as a cornerstone of the museum.

With a finger on the pulse of many movements within the current Urban/Contemporary scene Young has made some bold and sharp choices to get an institution like this underway. With a clear sense of the potential that this global scene has always shown, Young has harnessed goodwill and top talents in the urban arts community and is gradually attracting the eye of more formal institutions. Undoubtedly in many ways UN has already made history.

Blu (photo © Jaime Rojo)

So to mark a year since our first show with UN we’re looking at a treasure trove of photos of works on the streets that we didn’t publish at that time. This city is singular in it’s permissiveness to graffiti and street art – a tacit but undeniable appreciation for its eclectic contribution to contemporary art, the life of the culture. Berlin also somehow understands the intrinsic value of supporting artist communities. A laboratory on the streets, Berlin continues to afford art space to take shape before your eyes.

Berlin Kidz are well known for vertical tagging thanks to rappelling down from the roof. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alo for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kera . Sokar Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kurar for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cranio for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

M.City for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Above for Urban Nation Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roofing It in Brooklyn : A Summer Tradition on Top of the City

June 12, 2013 Artists

Your cousin Harvey is a “Roofing Technologist”, which he told you with spicy sausage and beer breath at the family BBQ on Memorial Day. He says it means that he has attained proficiency in roofing technology, including roof system types, roof system design and basic installation. Also, he periodically patches holes with black boiling tar.

As the sun begins to smite the bejesus out of your average Street Artist who is looking for spots in dirty old Brooklyn, you will also find that a number of the barbeque-ists of this species can become what we like to call “roof cosmetologists”. This means that they apply learned and impromptu methods of paintology to the plain or ugly sections of industrial grade roofs, veritably transforming their appearance aestheticallistically. Armed with lawn chairs, cans, and a 40 oz. (and possibly a grill if somebody wants to carry it), these Street Artists clammer up skinny metal ladders to play some tunes, get some sun, and have their version of a picnic in the park.

Yeah, you wish there was a tree up here. Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ve waxed about summertime roofs before when we published A Roof With a View : Looking at Art Up Above, so this is sort of your Roof Update: Summer 2013. It’s true, lately rooftop parties in Brooklyn have become as ubiquitous as Olive Gardens and Applebees in strip malls and the stimulating conversations there are probably just as likely. But you won’t need a cute outfit at this cookout. Wait, well, why not, as long as your coming, and grab some Slim Jims.

But for summer funnification nothing beats the swarthy sweaty delirium of being baked alive on a chrome coated roof with no shade in the brutal sun and humidity and wielding a pile of cans of eye popping colors across the bricks – with clouds of aerosol wafting by in a fine mist and sticking to your sunglasses. That’s the ticket, bro/sis.

Recently we found this smorgasbord of new stuff on some rooftops and aesthetically, stylistically, these new pieces are strutting a pared-down new simplified look. Instead of the sweeping extravagant pieces of traditional graffiti, with many handstyles and spray tricks competing for star position, many of these are one-off soliloquies or two person collabos with a story behind them. Not that we know what the stories are – guess it’s part of the “inside baseball” side of this scene to leave you guessing. But we’ll probably all agree that some of these bricks and beams and exhaust vents have never looked so slammified, even if no one but your cousin Harvey gets to see them.

Solus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vexta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Trek Matthews (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ian Ross (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ian Ross. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never (top) ZZ (bottom) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Creepy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MCity (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MCity. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yok . ND’A (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mata Ruda . ND’A (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Royce Bannon . SeeOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LNY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Feral . GATS (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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Large Murals Adorn The City Of Lodz In Poland

June 10, 2013 Artists

The city of Lodz in Poland is promoting the work of Street Artists from around the world as a way of creating a cultural re-invigoration of this city whose population is three quarters of a million. Begun in 2009, the Urban Forms Gallery has installed more than 20 large square paintings on elevations in the city center.

The public/private partnership and the addition of the artwork has attracted business and investment, and of course urban exploring tourists who can follow a map to see the works within a couple of hours. As a model for employing the talents of Street Artists to create public art in service of the re-invigoration of a city, this one appears to be very successful at respecting the work while adding value to a neighborhood, district, city, and community.

The roster of nearly two dozen works features international Street Artists like Os Gemeos from Brazil, Aryz from Spain, and Remed from France along with one of Poland’s proud Street Art sons named M-City from Gdynia, a city three hours north of here, and two hometown local talents Bezt and Sainer from the ETAM Crew.

Here are a number of images of many of the walls that have been going up in the last few years. Special thanks to Michał Bieżyński for sharing these images with us exclusively for BSA readers.

Aryz (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Aryz . Os Gemeos (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

MCity (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Betzt (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Shida (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Sainer (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Remed (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Pener (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Otecki (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Massmix (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Lump (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Krik (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Kenor (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

ETAM Crew (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Gregor (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Click on the links below to learn more about URBAN FORMS and for news regarding the new murals.

http://www.urbanforms.org/projects/en

https://www.facebook.com/urbanforms

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This posting is also published on The Huffington Post

Images of the Week: 12.09.12

December 9, 2012 Artists

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Astrodub, Cruz, Doug Nox aka the Harlequinade, Faring Purth, Herakut, How Nosm, Jilly Ballistic, MCity, Nether, RISK, Sonata, Trip, and VHILS.

We start off with MCity visiting Queens and hanging with Allison and Garrison from Ad Hoc, who helped him get some walls while he is here in New York. Then we get some Miami shots from Geoff Hargadon, and back to Brooklyn with photographer Jaime Rojo.

MCity, the Polish Street Artist paid a flash visit to NYC this week and proceeded to paint as soon as he set foot in our city. This carrousel was painted in Welling Court, Queens aided by Alison Buxton of Ad Hoc Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nether has some similarities to NohJColey in this wheat Paste. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sonata at Welling Court, Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A different angle from our previous Miami update of Herakut in action. Miami 2012 (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

The restored Vhils wall captured at night flanked by the new How & Nosm wall for Wynwood Walls. Miami 2012. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Risk at the Wynwood Arts District. Miami 2012 (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Tripel (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faring Purth “We’re All in this Together”. Omaha, Nebraska. December, 2012 (photo © Faring Purth)

Faring Purth “We’re All in this Together”. Detail. Omaha, Nebraska. December, 2012 (photo © Faring Purth)

The collage approach is still slammin. Astrodub. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Astrodub (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cruz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cruz. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Doug Nox aka the Harlequinade is looking straight up thuggish. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jilly Ballistic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Looks like someone got inspired by all those hand turkeys over Thanksgiving. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. December, 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Color, Geometry and Pattern On The Streets

July 11, 2012 Kabul, On the Street

Art from the streets has been heralding a new eye-popping geometric disorder that can now fairly be called a movement. With roots in recent art history and the rhythms of the street, artists are giving themselves over to pungent color, pattern, grid inspired line, and a sharp edged abstraction. No one can say what has moved the conversation toward this aesthetic – it all mimics the repetitive patterns that are found in nature as well as the cool symmetries programmed by human industry. These modern alchemists from across the globe are somehow pumping the Street Art scene with an oxygen-rich supply of lifeblood and a variety of possible directions to explore.

An uncanny blending of the cans, both the graffiti tradition and the Street Art practice each find common ground to be a place where tagging and Pop irony all dissolve together into form and shape. On walls around cities where these two practices were once polarized, we’re seeing that everybody can drop their guard and just paint, bro.

In these images collected by photographer Jaime Rojo over the last couple of years, you can see elements of mid 20th century modernism, sci-fi fantasy, retro-futurism, imperfect folk patterning, and the distinct echoes of Wild Style. The common thread in this new discovery of graphic geometry is not just what it is, but as it pertains to art on the street, also what it’s not.

Augustine Kofie and Chor Boogie in Miami for Primary Flight. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aaron De La Cruz, Poesia, Sueme, Ensoe and Augustine Kofie in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee in Miami for Primary Flight. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Ellis in Brooklyn. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaias Cron in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

4B Cru, OS Cru in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zeh Palito and Dasic in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Push in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Push painting on the LA MoCA wall for the Art in the Streets show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An Unknown Street Artist in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenton Parker in Miami for Primary Flight. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Sneed in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Claire Rojas in Miami for Wynwood Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sonni in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RRobots in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO in Baltimore for Open Walls Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aakash Nihalani in Brooklyn for the Crest Art Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ërell in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Assume Vivid Astro Focus in Miami for Wynwood Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cekis in Queens, NY for Welling Court. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile tiles in Brooklyn. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jason Woodside in Manhattan for The New Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maya Hayuk in Baltimore for Open Walls Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent in Queens, NY for Welling Court. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Josh Van Horne in Baltimore for Open Walls Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder in Albany, NY for Albany Open Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaye Moon in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Mexico City : A New Surrealist Face for Street Art

March 22, 2012 Artists, Features, Mexico, Mexico City, On the Street

Comic, surrealist, role-playing psychological explorations, with a tip of the hat to Breton, Carrington, and Lucha Libre, among others.

Pixel Pancho (photo © XAM)

Mexico City culture can be as varied and diverse as it is homogeneous, with a respect for tradition and, when it comes to artistic expression, a catalyst for exploration. André Breton is reported to have described Mexico as “the most surrealist country in the world,” where painters like Leonora Carrington and Frida Kahlo unhinged their imaginations from the limitations of the material world. As these new images on the streets of Mexico City taken by Brooklyn architectural street artist XAM show, the love for a psychic automatism continues into the public sphere.

Of course the Mexicans are not strangers to art on the streets; “great Latin American muralists” is a phrase almost synonymous with Mexico and names like Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros coming to mind. Political advocacy and populist criticism of social policy on the walls here is similarly a tradition respected by the culture. Now a century after the revolution and birth of the modern Mexico, the experience of Los Capitalinos, as the residents of Mexico City are called, is affected daily by surrealism, pop culture and global capitalism swimming alongside folk and historical symbology, and a bit of anarchy. It’s all part of one fabric, a rich and varied textile that we export to you here.

Ben Eine (photo © XAM)

Says XAM of his experience, “Barcelona, NYC, Amsterdam, and Paris are all similar in a way when it comes to street art – you can walk around and come across work on the streets fairly easily, but traversing the barrios of Mexico city is much different. I guess in some way you can compare it to San Francisco, Chicago or Los Angeles – there is quality work to be found. The city differs from all mentioned in that it appears to be young when it comes to street art by having a small group of participants.”

“I was hosted by both MUMUTT Arte and Museo del Juguete Antiguo Mexico, who are both responsible for providing concrete canvases in Mexico City for artist such as ROA, M-City, Pixel Pancho, and fresh stuff from the locals like Saner, Sego and the MOZ crew. Mexico City DF has the most museums in the world and MUMUTT and Museo del Juguete are largely responsible for adding street art to the vast archive of amazing work. They escorted me around to locations they provided for the above artists – It is evident that everyone brought their A-game. The weathered concrete walls made wonderful surfaces for imagery such as Dronz & Koko’s character, offering hallucinatory candy at the toy museum to Ben Eine’s work that speaks about class issues on a worksite for a future mall.”

Ben Eine (photo © XAM)

Pixel Pancho (photo © XAM)

Liqen (photo © XAM)

Jaz (photo © XAM)

Saner (photo © XAM)

Saner in collaboration with Bastardilla (photo © XAM)

Samurai . Ceci (photo © XAM)

Roman (photo © XAM)

Roman . Acute (photo © XAM)

ROA (photo © XAM)

SBTG. The artist worked on this piece on commission to promote an event sponsored by a shoe company. We like the placement. (photo © XAM)

Click on the links below to read our previous stories of MAMUTT Arte and MUJAM and to learn more about their work in Mexico City:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2011/09/20/m-city-in-m-city-polish-stencillist-in-mexico/

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2011/05/07/video-premiere-broken-crow-in-mexico/

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2011/03/04/broken-crow-a-mexican-travelog/

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2011/03/09/broken-crow-a-mexican-travelog-part-ii/

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/2011/02/05/roas-magic-naturalism-street-arts-wild-kingdom-in-mexico/

LA Special: Images of the Week 04.17.11

April 17, 2011 Artists, California, L.A., Los Angeles, On the Street

It’s been a hot week in Los Angeles for the Brooklyn set, this much warmth and sun consecutively is unsettling for cold northerners accustomed to six months of winter and unbearable cold. The hundreds of museum goers who are lined up to enter the MOCA “Art in the Streets” show this morning mark the end of official events over the last week as well as the private openings, events, and walls that popped up everywhere.

This weeks interview with the streets is largely an interview with Daniel Lahoda, an Angelino who has procured walls for visiting and local street artists in a few neighborhoods of the city since 2009. With no membership fee or admission, everyone is able to see the work of a whole lot of street artists where it was originated thanks to his organizational and diplomatic skills and his vision. We were very fortunate to receive a personal tour of the walls from Daniel over the course of a couple of days, including the gargantuan piece finished this week by Dabs & Myla with How & Nosm and the still fresh 42nd LA Free Wall as it was being completed by Street Artist Aiko. Since so many artists were in town for the general craziness, expect to see some new walls going up shortly that will thrill and delight.

So here’s this weeks interview with the street featuring Aiko, Augustine Kofie, CA, Carl Rauschenbach, Crayola, Dabs & Myla, David Flores, DFace, X, Herakut, How & Nosm, JR, Kid Zoom, M-City, Nomade, Philip Lumbang, Ripo, Roa, Saber, and Shepard Fairey.

Street Artist Aiko repels the punishing sun with a big hat while working on this stencil she created in honor of the people of Japan during the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami as well as to her friend Martha Cooper who shot the original image it is based on. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA adorned the side of this fine family establishment with hot fleshy pinks and red undulating color. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Part of Shepard Fairey’s brand new series, this image of Ronald Reagan is pre-defaced with an “intervention” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As if in a “free speech zone” behind the barbed wire, the man who started this all, Ronald Reagan, salutes “Mourning in Amerca”, by Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

French artist JR, part of a 16 piece installation across LA this spring called “Wrinkles in the City” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Zoom and Insa reversed the red and blue part of this piece, shot both with a camera, and created a stunning piece of GIF art that makes Kid Zoom’s skull float above it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gif Image courtesy LA Freewalls project.

Brooklyn Street Art: 2010 Year In Images (VIDEO)

December 20, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, Florida, Manhattan, Miami, NYC, On the Street, Queens

We’re very grateful for a wildly prolific year of Street Art as it continued to explode all over New York (and a lot of other places too). For one full year we’ve been granted the gift of seeing art on the streets and countless moments of inspiration. Whether you are rich or poor in your pocket, the creative spirit on the street in New York makes you rich in your heart and mind.

To the New York City artists that make this city a lot more alive every day we say thank you.

To the artists from all over world that passed through we say thank you.

To our colleagues and peers for their support and enthusiasm we say thank you.

To the gallery owners and curators for providing the artists a place to show their stuff and for providing all of us a safe place to gather, talk, share art, laugh, enjoy great music and free booze we say thank you.

To our project collaborators for sharing your talents and insights and opinions and for keeping the flame alive we say thank you.

And finally to our friends, readers and fans; Our hearts go out to you for lighting the way and for cheering us on. Thank you.

Each Sunday we featured Images of the Week, and we painfully narrowed that field to about 100 pieces in this quick video. It’s not an encyclopedia, it’s collage of our own. We remember the moment of discovery, the mood, the light and the day when we photographed them. For us it’s inspiration in this whacked out city that is always on the move.

The following artists are featured in the video and are listed here in alphabetical order:

Aakash Nihalani,Bansky, Barry McGee, Bask ,Bast, Beau, MBW, Bishop ,Boxi, Cake, The Dude Company, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Dain, Dan Witz ,Dolk ,El Mac, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Faile, Feral, Overunder, Gaia, General Howe, Hellbent, Hush, Imminent Disaster, Jeff Aerosol, Jeff Soto, JMR ,Judith Supine ,K-Guy ,Labrona, Lister, Lucy McLauchlan, Ludo, Armsrock, MCity, Miso, Momo, Nick Walker, Nina Pandolfo, NohjColey, Nosm, Ariz, How, Tats Cru, Os Gemeos, Futura, Pisa 73, Poster Boy, QRST, Remi Rough, Stormie Mills, Retna, Roa, Ron English, Sever, She 155, Shepard Fairey ,Specter, Sten & Lex, Samson, Surge I, Sweet Toof, Swoon, Tes One, Tip Toe, Tristan Eaton, Trusto Corp, Typo, Various and Gould, Veng RWK, ECB, White Cocoa, Wing, WK Interact, Yote.

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