All posts tagged: Never

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.01.19

September 1, 2019 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

The fires of summer still burn, as do their romances. Yet September 1 brings news of the racing teams of muscular autumn artworld horses just beyond the next valley, thundering their way through the streets of New York to the galleries and museums. Among the cries, “Hail Henry!” “Hail JR!” “Hail Roger!”

And the streets! As inspiring and perplexing and exciting as ever, providing the ultimate exhibition.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Dee Dee, Hugh Brisman, Hysterical Men, Jazz Guetta, City Kitty, Steve The Bum, De Grupo, Frank Ape, Gianni Lee, Never, Kendra Yee, Ruo Han Wang, Jazz Guetta, Nicholas Di Constanzo, Myth, Terry Urban, A Lucky Rabbit, Molly Crabapple, Ms Saffaa, and Vy.

The artist named Never says, “Always Pay The Artists”. You would be surprised to find out how many festivals, galleries, and museums are still ripping off artists – we’ll write a book about it one of these days. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Terry Urban and A Lucky Rabbit collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We don’t know who painted this cosmic vision. The style resembles a combination between Terry Urban and Gianni Lee, both shown above but we believe neither of them painted this. Of course some may say that both Mr. Urban and Mr. Lee are influenced by Basquiat, and possibly Stikman in their work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Frank Ape as charismatic leader of the warriors. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It’s nice to see Myth back on the streets of New York. Say their names! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Blessed are the destroyers of false hope, for they are the true messiahs. Cursed are the God adorers, for they shall be shorn sheep.” Thus ends todays’ reading from the Book of Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New Yorker Molly Crabapple and Ms Saffaa, Saudi Arabian artist and activist created this new small piece on New York streets called
“Rest in power, Orouba and Halla Barakat.” It is a tribute to the Syrian opposition activist and her daughter who were found killed in their apartment in Istanbul (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Collaboration between City Kitty and Steve The Bum (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” ― Albert Einstein. This piece is based on a photo of Einsteins often credited as taken California Institute of Technology trustee Ben Meyer on 6 February 1933 in Santa Barbara.
Hugh Brisman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kendra Yee and Ruo Han Wang (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jazz Guetta for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.14.19 / Selections From Welling Court 2019

July 14, 2019 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

It’s an annual event in Street Art and mural programs in New York for the last decade, The Welling Court Festival – now poised to be a victim of its own success. The original concept by a couple who ran Ad Hoc gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn, the neighborhood was full of working class and economically struggling families in a part of the city that had fallen into the margins. Suddenly it was full of color and imagination thanks to Garrison and Alison Buxton and their eclectic and widely dispersed cadre of local and international graffiti and Street Artists who spent one weekend out of the summer smashing walls side by side with community members in a cacophonous untamed way.

This year was no different, with families and children getting into the action, and relationships renewed between artists and admirers on a gorgeous New York summer weekend in June. But what is also evident is the invasion of developers and higher-rent homes and businesses being built. You’ve seen this movie before, and you know how it ends. Owners cash in, renters are priced out, and these walls will be commercial shortly – used to sell shampoo.

The connection between murals and gentrification? That debate continues, but for some, it’s a settled causational relationship. The question about what to do about it, if anything, is unsettled – and unsettling.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street (or boardwalk), this time featuring Caleb Neelon, Cey Adams, Depoe, Rene Gagnon, JCorp, Kimyon333, NYC Hooker, Peat Wolleager, Pinky Weber, Sara Erenthal, Caryn Cast, Joe Iurato, John Fekner, Never, Praxis, Queen Andrea, Hellbent, Bella Pharma, Color Eyes, and Hiss.

This is summer y’all. Caryn Cast knows better. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato: Art Is For Everybody. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Peat Wollaeger added his portrait of Keith Haring on the asphalt to complete Joe’s tribute to the artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Fekner & Don Leicht with a tribute to Elaine de Kooning (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rene Gagnon (photo © Jaime Rojo) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Caleb Neelon . Lena McCarthy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pinky Weber . NYC Hooker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A call out from #keepinitstreet (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.08.18 Selections From Welling Court 2018

July 8, 2018 Artists

“Anxiety is normal in an unjust society” says the new piece by Disordered in Welling Court, Queens, a working class neighborhood of New York where the latest Ad Hoc mural party was held a couple of weekends ago under the direction of Garrison Buxton. He started this festival with his former partner Alison Buxton nine years ago to create community here with a number of artists from across the graffiti/Street Art spectrum, and it has always been a great day to see families and kids interacting with artists on the street.

Anxiety rings true when the giveaways to business interests for nearly four decades under both dominant parties have gradually placed folks like these in this neighborhood constantly in fear of missing the rent, the grocery bill, the car payment, the cost of providing for their kids.

Some companies adore this dynamic exactly the way it is because when you are always feeling anxiety about losing your job and worried about paying the bills you won’t speak up to notify anyone when your boss is dumping poison in the river or placing his hand upon your seat. Imagine working so hard and getting paid so little that you are still relying on public assistance, as Walmart is known for now. Anxiety is normal for many today, and it is reflected in the art on the streets as well.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Cern, Caleb Neelon, Col Wallnuts, Damien Mitchell, Daze, Disordered, FKDL, Hellbent, JCBK, Joe Iurato, John Fekner, Lena McCarthy, LMNOPI, Maria Wore, Michel Velt, Never, NYC Hooker, Praxis, Queen Andrea, Robots Will Kill, Rubin415, Seeone, and Toofly.

Top image: Joe Iurato . Rubin 415. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Fekner. Don Leicht. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Disordered. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michel Velt. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Queen Andrea. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lena McCarthy . Caleb Neelon. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze . Crash. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JCBK. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Praxis. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Col Wallnuts . WaneOne . EpicUno. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hooker. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SeeOne. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Toofly. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robots Will Kill. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cern. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Mitchell. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maria Wore. Welling Court 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.26.16

June 26, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Berliners called it the “großes Ohr”. The Big Ear.

Run by the American NSA and the British in their sector, this “listening station” stands atop a man made mountain of rubble, at the bottom of which is said to lie the unfinished Nazi military-technical college (Wehrtechnische Fakultät) designed by Albert Speer. These structures with round orbs could be seen above the city from many angles rising from deep in the Grunewald Forest and yes, we can confirm that the one complete geodesic orb at the very top has such astounding acoustics even now that the sound of a camera clicking or clearing your throat or stepping on a piece of broken glass is instantly amplified anywhere within it, then re-echoed multiple times.

Our top image: Plotbot at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Plotbot at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“In its day,” says security expert and former employee Bill Scannell in a video online, “Teufelsberg (‘Devil’s Mountain’) was one of the most secretive intelligence facilities in the entire world.” Now it is a relic of the NSA behind three rows of barbed wire fences and a sort of freewill painting destination but the hulking grey and ivy clad compoung is a strong reminder of the extensive spy apparatus that the general public continues to get glimpses of in leaks and reports today.

Today this is a graffiti haven and hippie/punk love-in where people go to experiment with cans and rollers and brushes, drink beer, listen to scratchy voiced acoustic versions of Amy Winehouse, and pad around barefoot wearing nothing but a towel. The “guard” at the entrance, also shirtless and barefoot with a somewhat serious gaze requires from you a toll of 7 euro per head to get in, then smiles benignly as continue your trudging up the hill.

Strok at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

On the sunny hot sticky day that our guide took us, we saw enough good international and local artwork to offset the mediocre, boxes of old electronic doodads laying around on the ground and sticking out of boxes, blackbirds singing in trees, and strips of open asbestos fluttering in the breeze. Art themes ranged from standard graffiti name-making to the apocalyptic, the darkly sarcastic, pop culture parody, and a frequent critique of the surveillance stories we find in the news today.

It’s almost breathtaking with the Berlin views of the valley below – including another man-made mountain nearby that is often used for kite-flying, the Olympic Stadium from 1936, and the The Fernsehturm television tower close to Alexanderplatz in the central neighborhood of Mitte; this devilish mountain definitely had us entranced. Then we hiked back down the mountain through the deep wood and fields looking for air conditioning and cold beer.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alaniz, Biko, Crisp, Deuce7, Fanakapan, JBAK, Jule, Icy & Sot, Jule, Low Bros, Moe79, Mundano, Nasca, Never, Plotbot, Self Made Crew, Strøk, Tony Bones, and Wing.

Alaniz at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alaniz at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mundano built a three step platform for you to climb and look directly into the eyes of his figure, who pleads with us to “Damn the Dam on the Tapajos River” at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JBAK at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOE79 did this stencil of Edward Snowden at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOE79 at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A tongue-in-cheek public service message from MOE79 at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nasca at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Self Made Crew reinterprets Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer” eating a Döner kebab at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Self Made Crew paints a big ear at “The Big Ear” (großes Ohr), abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NEVER is always getting the short end of the stick at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BIKO & MACK at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Low Bros at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hulk Hogan victory lap at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Something awfully Jeremy Fishy about this Jule piece at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Some old stuff Tony Bones and Deuce7 that we’ll guess is 8 years old at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fanakapan at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crisp . Wing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Girl Power (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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 Week: 12.13.15

December 13, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

As the snow birds flew back to NYC this week from their Miami art debauchery with dark circles under their eyes and paint under their nails we tossed them right back in the roiling red & white mash of SantaCon in the streets, 2 more politicians going to jail, and the alleged hunk-hiring Bronx priest resigning from his parish. You can really feel the spirit of Christmas and Hannukah all around.

BSA was proud to co-sponsor the talk with DAZE, LEE Quinones, and Jane Dickson for the special reception at DAZE’s “The City is My Muse” show currently on exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, hosted by Sean Corcoran. The three are vital to the historical thread that reaches back to NY’s earliest graff days and it was evident from seeing their newest works as they each presented them on screen that they refuse to be nostalgic about the city – but prefer to be on top of it. Case in point was Lee’s opening the following night that showcased his new mural on the ceiling at the Indigo Hotel – his Sistine Chapel if you will.

P.S. We’ll be at MCNY with DAZE March 2 – mark your calendar.

Invader finished his 42 piece wave of tile installations in New York, according to reports, Banksy struck out with political pieces addressing immigration and xenophobia (videos at end of this posting), and Gilf! wrapped the façade of a Williamsburg bar with “gentrification in progress” tape to mark its death by market forces. As artists continue to grapple with socio/political events, the art of the street keeps mutating forward.

Side note: “Images of the Week” takes a hiatus for the next few weeks thanks to special Holiday programming. It returns in 2016.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Banksy, Bunny M, City Kitty, Cost, Daze, Dee Dee, Gilf!, Invader, Jaye Moon, Jordan Seiler, KET, Labrona, Lee Quinones, Lex56, Mint&Serf, Never, Pet Bird, Read, Sipros, Specter, Wing, and WK Interact.

Top Image: Sipros and a father of surrealism for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter in Paris. (photo © Specter)

Specter was in France last month with FKDL and Upian, among others. Here are some examples of paintings and ad takeovers in Paris as well as an abandoned factory called La Rodia in Besancon. The Brooklyn based artist tells us that “It was a trying time to be there but supporting my friends and creating some colorful distractions was more important.”

Specter in Besancon. (photo © Specter)

Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inva…sions are Cost…ly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lex56. Noted. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jordan Seiler (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For Dotty & Pearl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The company you keep… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Labrona and Ket in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

Labrona and Ket in Montreal. Detail. (photo © Labrona)

Labrona in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

Mint & Serf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detail of Lee Quinones’ inventive ode to New York at a newly opened hotel in the LES. The artist, who grew up in the hood was commissioned to paint on the ceiling of the hotel’s reception room a map of the neighborhood to which he attached painted “poloroid” portraits (sourced from previously existing photographs) who lived and played on those streets “Between Two Bridges”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze standing in front of a portrait of him taken decades ago. This piece is currently being exhibited at Chris “Daze” Ellis: The City is My Muse at the Museum Of The City of New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tom Warren with Christopher “Daze” Ellis
Portrait of Daze with Tags, 1983, Acrylic on Gelatin silver print

Jaye Moon has a sense of “awe” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never created this memorial to Peter Caroll AKA Pet Bird, who passed away suddenly in September. We love you Peter…and you too Never. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Balloons. Manhattan, NYC. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

From The Guardian:
“Street artist Banksy has painted a depiction of Apple founder Steve Jobs on a wall in a migrant and refugee camp in France known as the Calais ‘Jungle’. The artist, who has never revealed his identity, released a rare public statement challenging the perception that migrants and refugees from Syria are a drain on Western economies, UK media reported”

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.22.15

March 22, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Can we please not talk about snow? Spring, you temptress.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Angelina Christina, Bifido, BiP, Bortusk Leer, C215, Chris Stain, Crummy Gummy, Dan Witz, Dave the Chimp, Ease One, El Bocho, Icy & Sot, Little Lucy, London Kaye, Never, Otto “Osch” Shade, Peter Phobia, Punk Paul, Tuco, and Zid Leon.

Top Image >> C215 in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye. So, if you are made of crochet, do you get cold? Also see the Smells tag floating above this little lady. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Angelina Christina, Ease One and Never painted this wall in the Summer of 2014. I really never took a good photo of it due to cars always parked in front. The harsh winter conditions of the New York Winter 2015 made possible for me to take this photo. On a great day like this, as we endure our 154th snowstorm of the season, many of us have low hopes for the spring. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tuco. Manimal Chimp in Switzerland from his “Manimal” series. This image also looks rather like it was shot on the set of a TV show. More on this artist to come shortly. (photo © Tuco Wallach)

El Bocho in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Bocho . Little Lucy in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Little Lucy in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bifido in Caserta, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

Chris Stain in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We spotted this ceramic sculpture perched on a beam on the platform of the Berlin metro. This is the only one we saw so we are thinking it wasn’t sanctioned art. Who is the artist? That gold crown looks familiar. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BiP in San Francisco, California. (photo © BiP)

Otto “Osch” Schade in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Kate O’Callaghan)

Would you like a ride in my golf cart? Peter Phobia in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bortusk Leer in Madrid, Spain. (photo © Bortusk Leer)

Crummy Gummy in Las Vegas, Nevada. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

Oof! My head! Must have been those last few shots. Dave The Chimp in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zid Leon in Berlin in line for the porta-potty. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Punk Life, No Limit in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Um, personal comment: beauty queens should not smoke. It sends the wrong message to impressionable kids. That is all. Nick Flatt and Punk Paul in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot in Berlin for Urban Nation One Wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Layers in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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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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Happy New Year 2015 – BSA Readers Choice Top 10

January 1, 2015 Artists

Happy New Year to All! Thank you for inspiring us to do our best and to those of you who continue to support our personal art project / cultural examination, we extend our gratitude more than ever.

Begun as an enthusiastic discovery of what was happening in a few neighborhoods in New York, we continued to expand our view into more cities around the world last year and into the history and future of the scene. We also aimed to provide you with a critical platform for examination of the street art/ graffiti / public art/ contemporary art continuum with interviews with artists, curators, collectors, organizers, observers and thinkers in the street, studio, gallery, and museum – trouble makers and taste makers alike.

In the end, it’s your observations and the conversations on the street that are most important. As we begin the year with over 300K fans, friends, and followers on social media platforms and 225 articles on the Huffington Post (thanks HuffPost team!), we feel like we get a valuable good survey of current opinions heading our way daily.

With in-depth interviews, investigative articles, opinion infused examinations, plain celebratory reverie, occasionally silly non-sequitors, and public appearances where we get to meet you, we get a good analytical look at an ever-evolving movement, glittery polish and warts and all.

As the new year begins we take a look back at the top stories chosen by BSA Readers in the last 12 months. Among them are two takeover pop-up shows in soon-to-be demolished buildings, a story about commercial abuse of artist copyrights and the effort to fight back, a street art community’s response to the sudden death of an activist street artist, a Street Art tourist trip, and a few inspirational women, men, and Mexican muralists. Even though we published at least once a day for the last 365 days, these are the most popular pieces, as chosen by you, Dear BSA Reader.

10. Exploring Lisbon as a Street Art Tourist

Os Gemeos / Blu (photo © Stephen Kelley)

9. Kara Walker and Her Sugar Sphinx at the Old Domino Factory

Kara Walker. The artist portrait in profile with her sugary sphinx in the background. (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

8. Women Rock Wynwood Walls at Miami Art Basel 2013

Fafi (photo © Martha Cooper for Wynwood Walls)

7. A Sudden Secret Street Art House Party in Manhattan

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

6. Niels Shoe Meulman Balancing “Unearthly” Paintings

Niels “Shoe” Meulman. Process shot. (photo © Adele Renault)

5. It’s All the Rage, Street Artists Filing Lawsuits Left and Right

4. Shok-1 Street Art X-Rays Reveal a Unique Hand at the Can

Shok-1 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

3. 12 Mexican Street Artists Stray Far from Muralism Tradition In NYC

Sego (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2. Army Of One, Inspiration To Many : Jef Campion

Army Of One AKA JC2 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1. Graffiti and Street Art Lock Up “21st Precinct” in New York

Pixote in action. (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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Freewill Gallery in New Yorks Military Bunker on the Beach

October 22, 2014 Artists

Exploring Fort Tilden

National monuments are typically solemn places for reflection and remembrance. In the case of many decommissioned military installations across the world, the hidden parts of forts and bunkers are also serpentine galleries of freewill art shows. You may call it graffiti or you may call it a colossal explosion of creativity and unscripted free speech, but in all likelihood you will be moved by the clandestine display it in one way or another.

The entrance… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The site of New York’s abandoned WWI era military base (and site of the first Trans-Atlantic flight departure), Fort Tilden, also conveniently is a beach for many of its creative types and related mis-matched fun loving miscreants. While there are snide asides about this being a hipster spot, it is much more than a place for one-dimensional posers – if only because it is sort of hard to get to.

But it is also a little utopia for the grimy self-powered soot-covered bicycling city-set who gravitate to the margins and outskirts for a day at the beach; There are art shows and ad hoc performances, long days of reading and snacking, splashing, Backgammon, and nudity. Sometimes all at once.

Additionally the entire site can be a hidden, yet open, art gallery.

Artist Unknown. Also, Mika loves Mea. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Perched atop the bunker you can have a 360 degree view of the ocean and most of New York City, including the cluster of skyscrapers in yonder Manhattan. Inside it’s labyrinthine spaces below with a flashlight you will discover a 360 degree view of most all of the graffiti and Street Art techniques that are freely experimented with in these mid twenty teens.

On a recent overcast/sunny day at the end of the summer season we took a tour of the darkened spaces that are open to the public to find what kind of art gallery is on display and to discover hidden gems, furtive artists, discarded liquor bottles and the occasional condom. Are these the aesthetic meanderings of mad minds, the seeds of tomorrow’s art stars, or simply the unfiltered mark-making of youth on a summer day’s spraycation?

A monument to Walt Whitman by artist Patty Smith is one of many placed here during this summers “Rockaway!” art show here, organized by PS1’s Klaus Biesenbach. Whitman’s masterpiece “Leaves Of Grass” begins with the words carved on the stone above. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I Celebrate Myself. And what I assume you shall assume. For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”

~ Walt Whitman. July 4th 1855

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.24.14

August 24, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Angelina Christina, Azores, City Kitty, Colettivo FX, Damon, EaseOne, Fidel Evora, F.S., Gone Postal, HDL Corporation, JR, Kraken, Love is Telepathic, Mark Samsonovich, Mesa, Never, Pixote, Rubin415, Seher, Smithe, Specter, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, Wrdsmth, and X-O.

Specter for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Specter and Mesa in Cadiz, Spain. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Fidel Evora for the Walk and Talk Art Festival in Azores, Portugal. August 2014. (photo @ Specter)

Collettivo FX explains the portrait above:

“In our city of Reggio Emilia in Italy there is a very big factory named Officine Reggiane that is completely abandoned. It was famous in Italy for its metal work production (they made the Orient Express train, the crane used for the Costa Concordia, and then there was the longest occupation of a factory in the history of Italy here).

Now this is a major venue for graffiti and a refuge for homeless people. We began going to the factory more that two years ago and some of the people living there became our friends; in particular a man named Abidi, who we named “the boss of the Officine Reggiane”.

So a few weeks ago Abidi announced to us that he is leaving the factory to go back to Tunisia: he had found a wife! So, we thought about a gift we could give him. We are poor, very poor, we just had the paint, so one night we went in the factory (usually we go during the day) and we painted a big portrait of Abidi in the principal part of the place. It’s a gift for Abidi but also for us and for our memories of the Officine Reggiane.”

F.S. We are intrigued by this bubble tag. Was the stencil work done by a different artist? Is this the original piece as first installed by the artist? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. August 2014. It looks like Spiderman has found a formidable adversary. Last time he saw him battling this monster hanging from wire cables in Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Industrial Makeover: East Williamsburg Breaks Out the Cans

June 12, 2014 Artists

As the Borough of Brooklyn continues a rolling cultural renaissance the spotlight shifts from one neighborhood to the next as investors and cultural workers leapfrog one another in search of opportunity. Naturally, “capitalizing” on that opportunity can be interpreted in a variety of ways, and is.

The Williamsburg Industrial Park, sometimes referred to as East Williamsburg, has been known for light manufacturing industry such as food processing, furniture making, packing/shipping of dry goods, warehousing – and of course it has played host to a growing number of artists studios in the mix. Of course it has been impacted by the ballooning interest in Bushwick and Williamsburg and all-things-Brooklyn in general but for some reason this still feels fresh and unjaded. Because you don’t have to worry too much about nervous neighborhoody types it has also been a welcoming environment for musicians to rehearse and artists to experiment.

The doors of cafes, live music venues, scattered galleries and performance spaces have opened in the last couple of years and a growing number of legal murals alongside an occasionally lively graffiti / Street Art scene has been cropping up and out. As is the case with new bohemia and a heady mix of hormones/entrepreneurship/euphoria/good weed, some of these dreams will take off and grow while others will fade into the lore of an experimenting NY scene that proudly cuts a notch with a pen knife into the cultural timeline. The best idea is always to jump in and be a part of it right now and enjoy it to its fullest. But that’s just us.

A music and mural art festival called “Juicy Art” saw its first edition this past weekend and the transformation continues with entire blocks getting smashed by a mix of independently produced work, unsanctioned guerilla pieces, and naturally, murals. Take a look at this survey of a popping scene captured by photographer Jaime Rojo in the last couple of weeks.

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A Sudden Secret Street Art House Party in Manhattan

January 15, 2014 Artists

It’s a House Party Y’all!

With studio apartments in Manhattan now hitting nearly 3K a month the closest thing most Milennials will ever get to a house party in Gotham will be snagging a VCR tape of the Kid ‘n Play danceoff movie at their parents stoop sale. Last week during the “polar vortex” cold freeze some lucky invitees did get access to a secret house party in a dilapidated building on the Lower East Side for 2 hours however. There wasn’t much heat, no DJ, and your flask of Jack Daniels substituted as the bar, but if you made it in you scored a free condensed Street Artist show that is as rare as a New Jack Swing hit these days.

A little more than 40 (mostly) Street Artists brought the four floor former tenement building to life one last time before it will be destroyed – and they did it almost entirely in secret over the course of a week. Just how secret this event was is debatable considering the multitude of blog posts and photos of it that appeared in the days following but in the Internet age, news about stuff like this goes viral no matter what.

All tolled, the varied collection of participants was a cross-section; a blurry screenshot of Street Artists on the New York scene along with a few graff writers, taggers, sticker slappers, painters, illustrators, aerosol experts, installationists, art school students, and visitors to the big city who happened to be around at the right time. Also, a couple of pyros.

While this sort of artist takeover of an abandoned house or building is increasingly occurring in bankrupt cities and neighborhoods in America and Europe where no one wants to live except the creative types, you don’t find this unruly and freewheeling expression much in the increasingly scrubbed and mall-like playground for the rich in Manhattan.

Similarly, producers of large Street Art/Urban Art events in global cities can deliver murals that make you salivate and on a scale that dwarfs this “event” thanks to corporate underwriters and shills for sneakers/sodas/urban-themed tampons these days, but few can truthfully rival the unpolished impromptu spirit of a semi-secret House Party jam session. For one week during installations and on opening night it was like the ghost of New York’s downtown 1970s-80s Bohemia was coming back to the island in all it’s imperfectness to remind everyone of Manhattan’s former greatness as a petri dish for experimentation and discovery.

Considering the huge increase in sanctioned walls over the last two years in New York, this work looks surprisingly alive, and is just the sort of balm needed for the raw nerves of anarchists everywhere who have bemoaned the polished soul-deadening mural painting of late. Even if some of this looks sort of slap-dash and ragged in spots, and it does, it also gives off an air of being authentic and in-the-moment.

Notably, the ratio of penis, breast, and defacation-related themes was higher than your average art show but as you know, there is an audience for every artist, even the ones gravitating to bathroom humor as creative wellspring. Judging by the few hundred images floating around on Flickr and elsewhere, this pop-up was a hit for the people.

Given the growing number of artists communities that have blossomed outside of Manhattan, this could have been one of its last jams for Street Art. Yo! That’s my jam!

And now please step aside as we build another luxury condo.

This show, “Surplus Candy” was organized by Hanksy, and is now closed.

A near complete artist list includes:

Alice Mizrachi/AM, ASVP, BD White, Bishop203, CB23, Cernesto, Col Wallnuts, Cosbe, Dee Dee, Dick Mama, Drippings, Edapt, EKG, El Sol 25, Elizabeth Glaessner, Elle, Enzo and Nio, Foxxface, GILF!, Hanksy, Icy and Sot, Left Handed Wave, Lunar New Year, Magda Love, Martha Cooper, Mata Ruda, Moustache Man, Mr. Toll, Mr. Two Three, Mrs. Big Stuff, NDA, Never, Nicolas Holiber, Royce Bannon, Russell King, Sonni, Tako, Tone Tank, Tony Depew, Trap, UR New York, Vulpes Vulpes, Wizard Skull, and Wretched Beast.

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