Ah, the feckless, sebaceous, inward-turned man; Bumbling through the world unaware and uncaring how his actions may impact the lives of others. Little does he know that the fire he starts will burn him as well.
Italian street artists Nemo’s and Nicola Alessandrini created this awful and gorgeous scene on a wall in San Martino in Pensilis. The significance of its physical placement is alluded to by the burned upper body of the figure, the grotesque through whom is popping finely plumed birds who perhaps have just lost their homes.
“We painted it next to a natural area deeply wounded by a fire that broke out only a few days earlier,” Nemo’s explains. “The image was born from our intimate need to share in that wound and as an ode to a nature that resists and exists despite everything.”
It’s a strong image, one that rises up from a mountain once covered with trees. “Like every summer, many wooded areas throughout Italy are on fire due to several causes: the reckless action of man, arson, the effects of global warming and drought,” the two say in a formal statement.
“Land burning because of neglect, because of brutal will, because of auto-da-fé, showing the remains and waste from a humanity that is wholly inadequate to care for the land. Among the stumps of burnt trees, birds return to fly – the only witness to nature’s untamed return to life.”
You got furious at us sometimes this year. Or rather, you were mad at artists whose work pissed you off. Thanks for the emails though bro. We still love you of course sister.
Without a doubt the polarized atmosphere in social/economic/geopolitical matters worldwide in 2018 was increasingly reflected in the graffiti and Street Art pieces and projects that we wrote stories about. Loving it or hating it, often BSA readers were motivated to share the story on social media for discussion and to write directly to us to take issue, or even to chide us for “being political”.
Let’s be clear. Art has always been and will always be “political”. We tend to think that the artwork that we agree with is not political because it is expressing our values, opinions, and worldview.
So that’s why you propelled stories about a clandestine Trump cemetery installation by InDecline onto the list this year. That’s why Winston Tseng’s inflammatory campaign against a certain kind of Trump supporter on NYC trashcans proved to be so provocative and offensive to so many people, while others crowed support.
The topic of free speech under fire also attracted high interest for Fer Acala’s story of artists and rappers who took over a Spanish former prison to protest restrictive recent federal laws aimed at protest in that country.
But BSA readers also love the spectacle, the vast animated murals, the scintillating stories behind the art and the artist; the connection that communities and festivals create with art in the public sphere – or in abandoned factories, as it were. The biggest splash this year was the over-the-top creation of and the fiery destruction of an art sculpture at the Falles de València celebration in Spain by Street Artist Okuda. You loved the tantalizing images by Martha Cooper, and somehow everyone relishes the idea of building and constructing a large, colorful, inspiring piece of art and then lighting it on fire in the public square – propelling that story to the top of the BSA list in Top Stories in 2018
Box trucks are a favorite canvas for many graffiti writers in big cities and have become a right of passage for new artists who want the experience of painting on a smooth rectangular surface that becomes a rolling billboard through the streets advertising your name, making you truly “All City”.
When in French Polynesia a few weeks ago with the ONO’U festival, a number of artists were given the significant gift of a large truck or school/commuter bus on which to create a mural, a message, a bubble tag.
Together on the islands of Raiatea and Bora Bora there were about 10 of these long and low autobuses that became sudden celebrities in the sparsely travelled streets, debuted as some of them were in Raitea, when painted live at an all night party for the public.
The Painted Buses of Raiatea and Bora Bora. Continue reading HERE
Ajo Samaritans describe themselves and their mission on their website like this; “Samaritans are people of faith and conscience who are responding directly, practically, and passionately to the crisis at the US/ Mexico border. We are a diverse group of volunteers around Ajo that are united in our desire to relieve suffering among our brothers and sisters and to honor human dignity. Prompted by the mounting deaths among border crossers, we came together to provide food and water, and emergency medical assistance to people crossing the Sonoran Desert.”
Destroying Desert Water Bottles; Chip Thomas New Work in AJO, Arizona. Continue reading HERE
A current survey today from the streets in Copenhagen thanks to a couple of BSA fans and friends who share with readers their recent finds in one of the world’s happiest places, according to the 2018 World Happiness Report. Apparently it is also a good place for gay birds to come out of the closet.
With a storied history of graffiti bombing of the red trains that goes back many years, possibly generations, Copenhagen has long been a treasured destination for graffiti writers.
Now you will also find murals and installations illegally and legally by local and international Street artists – and the iconic full sides of buildings here are subtly transforming the public face of the city.
Copenhagen Diary: A Street Surevey of The Moment. Continue reading HERE
So INDECLINE picked a swell morning to debut their long-planned and complicated site-specific installation at this golf-course in New Jersey.
“INDECLINE felt is necessary to commemorate some of the victims,” they say. “The dates on the headstones correspond to some of the highlights of Trump’s first year in office.” You may remember some of these milestones on the tombstones, you may have to Google others.
The saddest death for us all year has been the civility and respect of Americans toward one another – as those hard working families who are just scraping by are being skillfully manipulated through sophisticated PR / media campaigns into thinking that they are the only real uber-patriots and to hate the wrong people. Most importantly they are fighting and voting against themselves without realizing it.
“Grave New World” Trump Cemetery. Continue reading HERE
Borondo. Utsira. Utsira, Norway. Summer 2018. (photo courtesy of the organizers)
From BSA:
Today we revisit Utsira, the tiny island in Norway that has hosted a few Street Artists over the last couple of years, like Ella & Pitr and Icy & Sot. This year the fine artist and Street Artist Gonzalo Borondo blended into the hills and the forest and the lapping waves, making his spirit dissipate into the community and into a boat.
“There’s a strong sense of community,” he says as he reflects on the metaphor he has chosen to represent his time here on an island of only 420 people, “There is a mutual support among citizens and a common feeling of enjoying the same unique condition.”
Borondo Finds Community on The Island of Utsira in Norway. Continue reading HERE
Equally gifted in the heavier handmade artisanal crafts of porcelain and ceramic as she is with aerosol, Nespoon did installations of both this month during the Emergence Festival in Sicily (Valverde + Catania. The seventh year of this international festival for public art, Nespoon shared the roster with American Gaia and Sicilian Ligama from March 10-26 creating works related to the city and its stories. In many respects these new works appear integral, interventions that belong there, may have been there a long time without you noticing; a sort of netting that holds the skin of the city together.
Nespoon Casts a Lace Net Across a Sicilian Wall. Continue reading HERE
One of the direct actions organized by the platform for fighting against Partido Popular’s civil rights oppression was to film a video clip featuring some of the most renowned lyricists on the scene as Frank T, Elphomega, Los Chikos del Maíz, La Ira, Rapsusklei, and César Strawberry, among others, at the old La Modelo prison. The location is an accurate metaphorical scenario when you are seeing that your liberty is being cut off thanks to laws like ‘Ley Mordaza’.
The song ‘Los Borbones son unos ladrones’, which alludes directly to the Spanish monarchy, includes some excerpts from some of the songs created by rappers serving a prison sentence. The video clip for the song, which you can watch at the end of this article, has become viral and almost all media outlets in the country are speaking about this big shout-out in the name of freedom.
No Callarem. La Modelo Prision. Barcelona. Continue reading HERE
Highlighting collective efforts that advance events during war and the tales of heroism, butchery, resistance, intrigue, and subterfuge that are braided into historical retelling, three Italian Street Artists commemorated citizen resistance and a Nazi massacre in a lengthy mural for the Penneli Ribelli Festival this month in Bologna.
At the center of the story is the resistance by everyday Italians of various ages, genders, and social classes, a movement known as the Italian resistance and the Italian Partisans, or Partigiani. The icon of the festival is a wolf in honor of the Partisan who led the group, Mario Musolesi, whose nickname was “Lupo”, or “Wolf”.
NemO’s, Ericailcane and Andrea Casciu Ride a Tandem Resistance. Continue reading HERE
We knew that these two talented and powerful personalities would compliment each other stunningly and that’s why we encouraged them two years ago to do a doc. A short term one was the original plan. But the two hit it off so well and when you are looking at a five decade career like Ms. Cooper’s and you have the dogged determination to do her story justice, Ms. Miles tells us that even an hour and a half film feels like its just getting started.
Now “Martha” the movie is at a unique juncture in the project and YOU may be able to participate; Selina and the team are looking for any original footage you may want to show them – and it may be used in the documentary.
“Martha” The Movie. Selina Miles Most Ambitious Project To Date. Continue reading HERE
After 25 years writing graffiti, DavidL has found his own way of working. It’s funny because one of the inherent issues about graffiti and street art is visibility. All the trains, the bombing, the tagging…it’s all about being noticed, being every f-ing where. It has been like this since day one (Taki 183, Terror161, 1UP…you know how it works).
But for David it’s not like that anymore.
Maybe it’s a sign of the days that we are living with social media, communication 2.0, etcetera. It’s obvious that if you have certain skills managing all this and a little bit of talent, plus a pinch of good taste, you can reach a global audience and show your work to the entire world even when you are concentrating the majority of your creations in a secret location.
DavidL, Through The Lens of Fer Alcala. Continue reading HERE
This week we have a selection of the UPEART festivals’ two previous editions of murals – which we were lucky to see this week after driving across the country in an old VW Bora.
We hit 8 cities and drove along the border with Russia through some of the most picturesque forests and farmlands that you’ll likely see just to collect images of the murals that this Finnish mural festival has produced with close consultation with Fins in these neighborhoods. A logistical challenge to accomplish, we marvel at how this widespread program is achieved – undoubtedly due to the passion of director Jorgos Fanaris and his insatiable curiosity for discovering talents and giving them a platform for expression.
When I was asked how to name the exhibition few weeks ago, I merged the words “vandalism“ and “Wandel“ (the German word for “Change“). That’s how Wandelism (or Changeism) was born and how it started transforming itself into an exhibition, which is truly accepting, embracing and living CHANGE.
On the grounds of a former car repair shop that is soon to be demolished, one can literally feel the constant movement and transformation of the urban fabric we all live in. Everything changes. Constantly. Change is evolution. Change is progress. Change is also the DNA of the art represented in the Wandelism show.
“Wandelism” Brings Wild Change For One Week in Berlin. Continue reading HERE
The city of Eugene in Oregon is preparing for the 2021 IAAF World Athletics Championships and like many cities these days it is transforming itself with murals.
With a goal of 20 new murals by ’21 (20x21EUG), the city began in 2016 to invite a slew of international Street Artists, some locally known ones, and a famous graffiti/Street Art photographer to participate in their ongoing visual festival.
A lively city that is bustling with the newly blooming marijuana industry and finding an endless array of ways to celebrate it, Eugene has been so welcoming that many artists will report that feeling quite at home painting in this permissively bohemian and chill atmosphere.
“At the end of the day when one is towing the line of being provocative, you may cross that line in some people’s mind but I think if one is not trying to find that line then the work is not going to make any impact”.
Winston Tseng has probably been crossing that line, pissing off some people and making others laugh for a few years now. He appears to consider it an honor, and possibly a responsibility. Relatively new on the Street Art scene the commercial artist and art director has also created his 2-D characters on canvasses and skate decks that depict the abridged characteristics of a typecast to play with the emotions and opinions of passersby.
Winston Tseng: Street Provocatour Brings “Trash” Campaing to NYC. Continue reading HERE
Yes, Street Art is ephemeral, but OKUDA San Miguel just set it on fire!
During the annual Falles de València celebration, it’s normal for artworks to be destroyed publicly in about 500 locations throughout the city and in surrounding towns. Part of a spring tradition for València, Spain monuments (falles) are burned in a celebration that includes parades, brass bands, costumes, dinners, and the traditional paella dish.
This year the first Street Artist to make a sculpture in the traditional commemoration of Saint Joseph is the un-traditional OKUDA, creating his multi-color multi-planed optic centerpiece.
Okuda Sculpture Engulfed in Flames in Valéncia. Continue reading HERE
We wish to express our most heartfelt gratitude to the writers and photographers who contributed to BSA and collaborated with us throughout the year. We are most grateful for your trust in us and for your continued support.
Highlighting collective efforts that advance events during war and the tales of heroism, butchery, resistance, intrigue, and subterfuge that are braided into historical retelling, three Italian Street Artists commemorated citizen resistance and a Nazi massacre in a lengthy mural for the Penneli Ribelli Festival this month in Bologna.
Naked men share the elongated tandem bicycle with uniformed fighters, and each character contains details and symbology that point to events or qualities known to locals of a certain generation about the Marzabotto massacre that killed between 770 and 1,000 civilians, now presented to a new one in this city where these events took place.
Street Artist NemO’s tells us that this first edition of the Penneli Ribelli Festival is born in memory of the events that happened during the Second World War.
At the center of the story is the resistance by everyday Italians of various ages, genders, and social classes, a movement known as the Italian resistance and the Italian Partisans, or Partigiani. The icon of the festival is a wolf in honor of the Partisan who led the group, Mario Musolesi, whose nickname was “Lupo”, or “Wolf”.
“Here a big battle broke out between the Nazis and the Partigiani, who fought for the freedom of Italy,” he tells us. “This is one of the most important areas, because here was where the largest group of civilian Partigiani were killed by the Nazis as revenge.”
Nemo’s naked men, hapless and without even bicycle seats, appear unprepared for any battle, burdened and exposed. Andrea Casciu’s “uniformed” riders are prepared, comfortable, confident, even jubilant in the efforts forward – their red star and flags of resistance assuring victory.
The three artists worked for twelve hours a day for four days on the side of the old Lama di Reno paper mill that closed in 2013. Locals of various ages stopped to inquire about the stretched bicycle and its meanings, and local news accounts say that many people in the neighborhood supported the artists work.
“The full presentation is meant as a symbol of the resistance,” says NemO’s, “in honor of the women who, with their bicycles, carried secret messages and food for the people hidden on the forest.
A badger at the head of the procession breaks apart traps of war that were meant to ensnare and disable, the kerchiefed animal even converting one into a stringed instrument to play.
Here in this abandoned spot in Uruguay his fairies and wolves and princesses without dresses in high pointed hennin hats are running and prancing and headed for the door. A Spaniard living in Montevideo for the last five years David De La Mano says he has been working on an independent project of exploration involving neglected spaces like this one.
And when you come to visit, he’ll bring you along to discover the dilapidation – as he did recently with Italian Street Artist Nemo’s. While their somewhat unrelated individual styles have certain aspects that perplex or mystify, their combined powers are tripled here with Nemo’s dejected and tired men literally sliced open and De La Mano’s rampant and spooked animal spirits running at a gallop.
And what do these wolves represent as they burst from the chest of one and into the flesh vessel of another?
“I suppose it’s a little bit of everything, fear, emotions, ideas,” he tells us, “but also everything that we transfer from generation to generation without considering the reason that originated it.”
Rappelling down its’ side using a doubled rope coiled around the body and fixed at a higher point, NemO’s efficiently averts the complications of ladders or cherry pickers and gets right to work on this bunch of grapes.
“I have translated into an image what I perceive of this district,” he says of the Rome suburb of Primavalle, which he tells us has always had a populist, anti-fascist sentiment since it was formed in response to the gentrification of downtown.
“In the 1930s the people who lived in via della conciliazione, a street near San Pietro, were displaced from the centre of Roma and forced to move to the outskirts,” he says, as he describes this neighborhood that has hosted collectives and movements of the left wing historically.
Thus the collective nature of this bunch of grapes, one entity composed of a greater number. “A ‘bunch’ of grapes is a singular word, composed of many grapes,” he says. “I drew a leviathan where each grape has a face, a fragment of a district, an inhabitant of Primavalle.”
An anti-Banksy & Co. Street Art show opened in Bologna Italy the same night as its controversial bank-backed cousin with brand new works by 50 or so Italian and international Street Artists and open admission to their outdoor ‘museum’.
“It is free and spontaneous, as Street Art should be,” says an organizer and participant named About Ponny as he describes the exuberant and sometimes saucy toned exhibition on the grounds of the sprawling former headquarters of Zincaturificio Bolognese which is destined for future demolition.
“The message we want to convey is that true street art is found where it was born, in the street and not in the paid exhibits,” says Bibbito, who along with two other out-of-town street artists named Jamesboy and Enter/Exit found food and couches during their installations thanks to an association of artists called L’Associazione Serendippo. Together, these artists say, they and other organizers want to send a “strong signal” by creating “one of the largest museums of ephemeral street art ever made”. The new coalition named this project “R.U.S.Co” (Recupero Urbano Spazi Comuni) or (Urban Renewal Common spaces).
The new 16,000 m2 open-air art show may appear as a rather curious development because its method of protest runs completely counter to that of the shows’ most vocal and high-profile critic, BLU, who last week protested the same show by defiantly destroying 20 years of his own public paintings, rather than making new ones.
The contested Banksy and Co. exhibition contains, among many other works, walls removed from a privately owned abandoned building in Bologna that were painted by BLU. Displaying the walls and his artwork without his consent so angered the painter that he rallied artists and activists to help him snuff out all his remaining murals and paintings in this Northern Italian city last week. (See A BLU Buffer Talks About the Grey Action in Bologna)
The heavily attended Friday night opening of Street Art – Banksy & Co. at Palazzo Pepoli – Museo della Storia di Bologna was curated by Luca Ciancabilla, Christian Omodeo and Sean Corcoran and features roughly 250 historical and contemporary works spanning about fifty years and highlighting a number of movements within the so-called Urban Art genre. On balance it appears that 90 percent of the the works are studio works, paintings, sculpture, videos, original sketches and ephermera and were probably collected in a more conventional way and the tagged psters, stickers, metal doors, and wall fragments are viewed in the context of the whole scene.
Of the counter exhibit, About Ponny says “Many artists have participated. It’s fantastic foray into an abandoned factory that maybe in the future will be demolished,” on the metal production factory grounds that have laid unused for about 15 years. Completed over three weeks time with freshly painted pieces, many of the new works hint at the Street Artists intentions to lampoon the formal museum show with a bit of sarcasm. Included in some of the pieces are overt references to the contested issues at hand, such as a portrait surrounded by a diagram of scissors and a dotted line by About Ponny and Nemo’s large troubled and naked man pierced through the head with a price tag reading 13 €, the entrance fee for the museum show .
Attendance at the new outside show will be difficult to gauge as the facility is in such disrepair that organizers cannot encourage the public to attend it without putting people at risk because of safety matters. This method of art-making in abandoned places has been a cornerstone of the graffiti and Street Art practice since youth first started to chart their urban explorations and these new pieces seem perfectly at home on decaying walls and crumbling infrastructure, despite any possible dangers present. It is exactly this sometimes-idealized rebellious ethos that is offended by the practice of displaying this art in a more rarified environs.
Our sincere thanks to About Ponny for taking the time to shoot exclusive photos for BSA for this article. Please follow About Ponny on Instagram at @around730
The ex factory is home to many immigrant families who took it over a few years ago to make homes inside; without permits, electricity, heat, water. In 2012 two imaginative film directors became conduits of creativity and christened it the Metropoliz Space and introduced interactive art projects to draw the newly formed community together and provide artful diversions.
Mafia Capitale is both the name of Nemo’s new piece and the organized crime group in Rome newspapers for the last 15 years who stood accused of a variety of crimes such as “extortion, usury, bribery, false billing, fraudulent transfer of assets, money laundering and other crimes,” says the artist.
Most significant to this painting is the crime organization’s alleged profiting from trafficking immigrants. Nemo’s says that one of them was reportedly caught on a wiretap saying, “do you realize how much I can earn on immigrants? Drug trafficking doesn’t make this much! …”.
The stories Nemo’s can tell you are intricate and dizzying, and again his mural is painful and truthful – and a little bit funny. Don’t you admire the ladder on top of the car?
“I created Mafia Capitale on na outside wall of Metropoliz and it’s a self-financed project, built without permits and sponsors,” says Nemo’s. “The project was wanted and curated by Giorgio De Finis e Michela Pierlorenzi.”
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
Nemo’s is hanging us all out to dry with his newest mural on a multi-story factory wall in Messina, Italy that features his familiar hapless chaps clipped to a clothesline, sans clothes.
His critique is of a shallow and shock-addicted press and media that exaggerates and simplifies the suffering, the unmitigated tragedy of people – sometimes for our comfort.
His focus is on immigrants escaping oppression who have drowned and the pseudo-compassion of contemporary news coverage and grand-standing politicians that feed xenophobia. He says we are overlooking the complete desperation of an escaping individual that causes them to take such risk, only to be swallowed in a watery death due to unseaworthy vessels.
“I’m depicting an insane state imbued with selfishness, where the deaths of the sea are overshadowed by sterile discussions on how migrants can create much discomfort to our conditions,” he says. Here he points to us behaving as outsiders, perhaps guilty of xenophobia, willing to flatten a tragedy of its dimension in order to keep the “other” at arms length, distancing ourselves from any responsibility.
“With those four naked bodies I am representing, through a surreal metaphor, the total and absurd unconsciousness that newspapers and diplomacy use for talk about the theme of the deaths in the sea.
In the tragedy of death, the worst and selfish aspects of our society, with banal and thoughtless actions, take the bodies from the sea and hang them out like clothes to dry. It is as if the problem of these people is to be wet and not to be drowned.”
His method is a dark comedy, depicting these very similar looking guys in an unlikely situation. His attached message may not be clear to the average unlooker, but it may pique their curiosity to inquire what NemO’s newest piece is about.
Dude, Dudette, this is the moment to make the most of Summer before it in subsumed into crazy New York fall. There is so much art on the streets you may not even want to go inside. Actually, if you haven’t seen the China: Through the Looking Glass at the Metropolitan Museum, you have to go – it could blow your mind with all the video and costume and power and history and modern western interpretations of it, sho nuff.
Right now Street Artists are beginning to take into account a large pimple on the butt of the US, Mr. Donald Trump. Of course the streets always render opinions in such clever and pointed ways – helping us to cope with a corporate media infotainment machine that can’t help but chase a fire and pour gasoline on it for ratings. Actually NemO’s new mural of a man caught inside a TV-as-guillotine is also apropo.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adam Cost, Aiko, Clint Mario, DRE, Ernest Zacharevic, Foxx Faces, Hanksy, Hunt, Indie184, Ivanorama, LUDO, Mr. Toll, NemO’s, Overunder, Phlegm, Raphail, She Wolf, Sure We Can, Thiago Goms, and Zed1.
Italian Street Artist NEMO’s made his first trip to New York last week and immediately gave one of his desperate men to the cityscape in Williamsburg.
We should mention that the subject was obviously a man until some neighbors complained and one particular detail had to be buffed to satisfy their tastes. The artistic metaphor of a person being fed into a meat slicer to produce dollars was not offensive by the way. NEMO’s made the change perhaps reluctantly and as an act of a polite guest, but not without some serious consideration and conversations.
A social and political commentator, this illustrator of the comedic and the grotesque is not afraid to portray some dirty hypocrisies and conundrums of modern existence. Since we have featured Nemo’s a number of times, we were eager to find out first hand who are his influences and what motivates him to depict these fleshy ghoulish men who simultaneously perpetrate and are exposed to dangers of the world.
The tenor of his answers didn’t surprise us, it only confirmed what we had thought – Nemo’s is an adept observer of our dualities with an fondness for gallows humor, in possession of a sense of wonder at our potential as humans that is tempered by disgust at our weakness and folly.
Brooklyn Street Art:Is this your first time in NYC? NEMO’S: Yes, this is my first time out of Europe as an adult. I was born in Bolivia, La Paz but my parents are Italian and they took me to Italy when I was 4 years old. My father is a doctor and he was in Bolivia working with the miners. My mother is a homemaker.
Brooklyn Street Art: What’s your impression of NYC so far? NEMO’S: I love New York very much. Las year I was in London but I prefer NYC to London – I don’t know why. New York is really big but I like the New Yorkers. People were very friendly with me the second day I was here. I like the fact that New York has tons of different cultures and immigrants from all parts of the world. In Italy the politicians don’t like diversity even though we Italians are immigrants as well.
For example in the early 1900s many Italians emigrated from Italy to America and South America –there is a Little Italy neighborhood here in NY for example. Al Capone was the first gangster in America and he was Italian. We Italians are good people but when we talk about immigration and other people we are the worst – especially the politicians.
Brooklyn Street Art: So your first time painting on the streets in NYC is in this noisy neighborhood under a bridge. How do you like painting here? NEMO’S: Yes this is my first time painting in NYC but it isn’t my first time painting in a heavily trafficked area. In Italy, especially in Rome and in Milan, the traffic is worse. Actually for me here under the bridge the condition is good – this bridge is not as heavily trafficked as they are in Italy. When I came to NYC I couldn’t believe the environment because in Italy is much worse. NYC is probably four times bigger than Milan but the noise is much less.
Brooklyn Street Art:How do you consider yourself as an artist: A muralist? An illustrator? A Fine Artist? NEMO’S: I usually I don’t like to call myself an artist. In our society artists are considered super-heroes and I’m not a hero. I’m a normal guy and I paint what I think. I’m happy if people like my drawings but really I’m happiest when I paint in the streets. I began as a writer with a can when I was 16 years old. I did graffiti only for a year because I really didn’t really have a good can control. I almost always would much rather paint my characters with a brush.
Brooklyn Street Art:Who are your inspirations? NEMO’S: I take a lot of inspiration and a lot of direction from the filmmaker David Cronneberg. I like his work and very much his interpretation of the relationship between men and insects in his movie “Naked Lunch”. I like surrealism and some Italian and French illustrators. One favorite is Francis Bacon and I also like the Italian painter Antonio Ligabue. He was like Van Gogh but much sadder. He was interested in animals as subjects as well as men.
Brooklyn Street Art:How about music influencers? NEMO’S: I like Trip-Hop music. I like Radiohead, Interpol. I also like Rap music but not the new contemporary rap music – only the black rap music. I like the Fugees and Lauryn Hill, rap from the 80s and also blues-rap.
Brooklyn Street Art:Can you talk about your work? Why are your characters so sad? NEMO’S: I usually try to portray our society and the current situation of our humanity with my work. I try to draw my characters and build them around what I observe happening in the world. So my men are sad creepy and wrinkled. My characters have the burden of humanity on their shoulders. I personally suffer a lot from what I see every day.
Daily existence is difficult for me because I see a lot of bad things happening in the world. I try to put aspects of my own condition and the bad condition of humanity into my characters. I draw the men without clothes because that’s how I see the current condition of humanity. I see our society being constantly humiliated so I depict what’s happening in and to our society in my characters.
Brooklyn Street Art:During the first couple of days the character on the wall had a small penis. The final piece shows the character without it. What happened? NEMO’S: Because the owner of the wall is a religious man and because the district where I painted is full of religious men I had to erase penis.
Usually I paint my character naked to portray human vulnerability. The penis or others sexual/sensual organs are important to convey the feeling of my drawings. They are important because they are not accepted by society. The penis is a little symbol of what society doesn’t want to see.
Brooklyn Street Art: Permitted walls usually come with strings attached from the landlords. They sometimes insist on certain themes not to be portrayed on their walls. Most people would consider this censorship. How do you feel about this? NEMO’S: The word “legal” in this context is a paradox. Drawing a penis is “legal” and censuring it is “illegal”. Someone can say that the penis is an obscene thing, but I’m from Italy and some of the best pieces in world art history have a penis; David by Michelangelo in Firenze, the Nettuno in Bologna, even the Bull near Wall Street in Manhattan. In Roma, in the Cappella Sistina (Sistine Chapel) Pope Pio IV censured and “dressed” God and other Saints painted by Michelangelo.
So when someone says art is somehow “illegal” the situation is really about what people think and are afraid to see. In my opinion real “Street Art” fights against these things! Real “Street Art” is illegal and totally free! I try always to paint what I think not to compromise.
Coming up during the third weekend of July will be the second installment of MIAU (The Unfinished Museum of Urban Art) in the tiny town of about 325 people named Fanzara, Spain. Begun by local artists and with a tiny budget from the local council, more than 20 Spanish and a handful of Italian street artists took part in the grassroots festival the first time around last summer, transforming homes and buildings in this aging municipality. In advance of the new paintings we bring you images of the current murals as shot by Lluis Olive Bulbena, who offers his personal account of visiting the town and getting a tour from MIAU co-founder Javier López and artist Ana Pez.
By Lluis Olive Bulbena
When I first learned of Fanzara’s Street Art I had no idea where the town was so I had to search on the Internet to locate it. The town is located about 186 miles from my own town of Barcelona in the Province of Castellón, Fanzara is about 55 miles from Valencia on the Iberian Peninsula.
Their local web page told me they had about 30 murals so my wife and I contacted the town’s office of tourism and made arrangements to meet someone there when we arrived.
Sure enough, Javi and Ana were there waiting for us and they gave us an extensive tour of the town. It was a very hot day, bathed with sun light and I had enormous problems shooting pictures because of the light. But our hosts couldn’t have been more gracious.
After our tour a drink was in order and we got a table at a bar called “Abajo” (meaning “below”). 50 meters up the street there used to be a bar called “Arriba” (above) but the owners changed the name.
Fanzara’s love for Street Art began when a group of youths began thinking of new ways to revitalize the town and Street Art was mentioned as a possibility.
They posed themselves a couple of questions to the town: Would local people want Street Art on their home’s walls? The answers came back; the majority said yes. Some said no. Many of the naysayers have now changed their minds to the yes column.
The second question: Who would they invite and under what criteria? This problem was swiftly solved as Javi was friends with a graphic designer located in Madrid named Pincho Lopez. Because of his familiarity with the mural art scene Pincho was put in charge of curating the artists who would be invited to paint.
The first group of artists included: Escif, Julieta Xlf, Deih, Laguna, Cere, Ruina, Chylo, Sabek, Xabier Xtrm, Pincho, Susie Hammer, Lolo, La Foix, Hombrelopez, Joan Tarragó, Yes, Pol Marban, Ana Pez, Rafa Gascó, Natzo, y Acció Poètica La Plana Castelló.
Once in town the artists worked tirelessly to complete the murals, big and small in just three days in September of 2014. Since the small budget did not allow for much more than paint and ladders, the town folks banded together to provide accommodations and food to the artists. In mid-January of 2015 three Italian Street Artists, Collettivo FX, Nemo’s, and Bibito, were invited to paint three additional murals.
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
