All posts tagged: Olek

Le Rat Has Arrived, Police Remove Cars from “Art Mile”, 2 Days to “Unstoppable” in Berlin : BSA Dispatch 3

Le Rat Has Arrived, Police Remove Cars from “Art Mile”, 2 Days to “Unstoppable” in Berlin : BSA Dispatch 3

September 13, 2017

Blek Le Rat arrived at the Urban Nation office today with his wife Sybille after a long car ride from Paris, ready for a coffee and possibly to take a look at the wall he’ll be painting here to celebrate “UNSTOPPABLE”, the inaugural exhibition of the UN museum this weekend. The wind taunted BustArt as he attempted to lay his irreverent stencil of Mother Mary coddling Pluto Jr. and the sliced cutout cardboard bent and bowed beyond an average person’s patience while his buddy Stephan helped hold it down for spraying.

Isaac Cordal. Detail of a larger outdoor installation for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Under the elevated train a legion of police and traffic cops removed 80 or so cars so the team could begin building stages, cages, platforms, lighting, electricity – for a slew of fresh outdoor pieces which will be installed Thursday and Friday for the weekend outside component.

Who is going to be on display as part of the Art Mile? Try Pixel Pancho, Franco JAZ Fasoli, Bordalo II, Mimi S., HowNosm, Zezao, Isaac Cordal, Olek, Seth Globepainter, Blek Le Rat, Hottea, Dot Dot Dot, Borondo, Herakut, Deih XLF, Faith 47, David De La Mano, Nespoon, Tank Patrol, Lister, Cranio, Sandra Chevrier, Aaron Woes M, Yok & Sheryo, Haroshi, Don John, Ben Frost, Various & Gould, Icy & Sot, Mademoiselle Maurice, the Juxtapoz newsstand, Mark Bode, Shepard Fairey, 1 Up, James Bullough, and 2501. It’s a real cross section of styles, influences, and voice that will be engaging guests this weekend.

Hot Tea at work on his site specific installation for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Berlin police actually use a truss and truck that picks up the offending car, puts it on a flatbed. Then, believe or not, they look for an empty parking spot in the neighborhood an place the car into the new place – also signs are posted to let you know where your car was re-located to.

In New York City if you are unfortunate enough to park your car in the wrong place it is simply towed away to a massive car yard somewhere, banging into things occasionally on the way and flying through potholes – and then held for a King’s ransom. Then you have to simply guess if it was towed or stolen.  No word on what the London Police do in regards to cars parked illegally.

Hot Tea at work on his site specific installation for the Art Mile. Florian couldn’t wait to take a peek. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Hot Tea)

Up on a lift for painting today also were Mademoiselle Maurice, David De La Mano, and James Bullough, and the company plastering the corner façade of the museum with pink letters. When the winds got to strong everybody was forced to bring the lifts down for an hour. Intrepid and lucky photographers like Jaime Rojo and Nika Kramer still managed to go up in the buckets to get some good shots in.

Hot Tea is spraying a big installation space with a rainbow of colors – on the walls and floors completely. People who are peeking through the plastic sheeting that protects the windows are wondering what this world of color is going to be.

Hot Tea at work on his site specific installation for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meanwhile the onslaught of arrivals continues, including hopefully we’ll see Martha Cooper and Carlo McCormick. Martha of course will be here to celebrate the beginning of the Martha Cooper Library within the museum and Carlo will be here to see the didactics and texts he wrote for the exhibition and catalogue –as well as speaking at the Unlock Book Fair. This publishing fair for graffiti, street art and related practices is a must see for those who relish the independent thinking minds who publish on paper in this scene. Other great speakers featured will be Pedro Soares, Jens Besser, Susan Phillips, Thomas Chambers, and Javier Abarca.

Okay that’s your update for today. See you on the streets tomorrow.

Ron English. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Graffiti Writer CARE at work for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Graffiti Writer CARE. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Graffiti Writer CARE. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bustart fights with the wind. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bustart. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tankpetrol at work. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mademoiselle Maurice detail and process shot of her installation for Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mademoiselle Maurice detail and process shot of her installation for Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David De La Mano at work. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David De La Mano at work. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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She Broke Night – Olek and Performers Inside/Outside UN in Berlin

She Broke Night – Olek and Performers Inside/Outside UN in Berlin

May 27, 2017

“Strong individual artistic statements in the streets can create these magical, deeply human moments in your everyday routine and push you out of the frame,” says Sebastian Purfürst. “It’s an alternative and amazingly uncontrollable channel of human to human communication.”

Multi-dimensional artists like the Polish-now-Brooklyn-based OLEK find it difficult to describe their work because they fall into many categories; installation, sculpture, performance, theater. Often they create their own category entirely, unconcerned with labels and dogmatically narrow definitions. Thanks to the elastic quality of her crocheted art materials, you may see people wearing them at official events, at dinners, in a swimming pool, or simply crossing a busy Berlin street on a Friday night.

Olek. We Broke Night. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Berlin, May 19, 2017. (photo © Sebastian M. Purfürst | Lem-studios.com)

As guests shuttled back and forth across Bülowstrasse to see the shows inside the raw space of the soon-to-be UN museum and the polished gallery space of the UN Project M/12 show, you may have caught one of those Olek moments where her costumed performers traipsed and cavorted along the sidewalks, momentarily distracting attention from the sex workers whose neighborhood this is.

“For me street art has the potential to turn the anonymous, commercial urban space into a walkable, immersive space to think and to feel, provoking new perspectives, ideas and communication,” says photographer Sebastian Purfürst, a Berliner who captured these inside/outside images last week and likens them to Street Art as much as live performance that occupies and activates public space.

Olek. We Broke Night. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Berlin, May 19, 2017. (photo © Sebastian M. Purfürst | Lem-studios.com)

A video/new media artist and musician whose sound and visual design has appeared in commercial, artistic, theatrical and academic settings Purfürst tells us that he was mesmerized by the immersive spectacle that unfolded and transformed the environment. “Street art has the chance to act and react fast, directly and in a totally unexpected way – literally over night. It’s a direct physically manifested response to a world.”

The warmth of the spring night made their languorous limbs entangle as the Olek performers  danced, posed, capered and marched, silently interacting with traffic and passersby, their creator strolling languidly among them in an impossible corset and red-rimmed round glasses.

Olek. We Broke Night. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Berlin, May 19, 2017. (photo © Sebastian M. Purfürst | Lem-studios.com)

“Strong individual artistic statements in the streets can create these magical, deeply human moments in your everyday routine and push you out of the frame,” says Sebastian. “It’s an alternative and amazingly uncontrollable channel of human to human communication.”

They were just a few moments to experience, and we’re glad Purfürst captured them. The images are full of energy and an insouciant charge of electricity and blood and flesh elevating the senses, street ephemera that wafts into you, through you, past you.

Olek. We Broke Night. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Berlin, May 19, 2017. (photo © Sebastian M. Purfürst | Lem-studios.com)

Performers are:

Hugo Bailly
Kevin Bright
Mila Bollansee
Carla Cixì
Aleksandra Szkopek
and Olek

Olek. We Broke Night. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Berlin, May 19, 2017. (photo © Sebastian M. Purfürst | Lem-studios.com)

Olek. We Broke Night. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Berlin, May 19, 2017. (photo © Sebastian M. Purfürst | Lem-studios.com)

Olek. We Broke Night. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Berlin, May 19, 2017. (photo © Sebastian M. Purfürst | Lem-studios.com)

 

 

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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.05.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.05.17

March 5, 2017 ,

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We had a chance at Spring this week, and then it blew away. We’re back to the Antarctic for a few days.

NYC was inundated by art fairs as well, which was swell. Volta, Scope, Clio, Spring/Break – which was surprisingly not political or contentious, given its rather outsider status. Fair talk was glum, attendance was actually light at times, and most people where blaming you-know-who.

Perhaps that’s why Thursday’s opening of Trumpomania was packed and rather sweaty, although when you have 30 countries and 30 artists represented, you will probably fill the place. Even so, the energy was palpable, and guests freely “voiced their concerns”, as your high school guidance counselor might say, about a seemingly corrupt cabal that is practicing shock and awe on/upon the country daily.

One portly fellow at the show with a perspiring red face, beige cardigan, overcoat, and a backpack possibly containing an anvil, accosted us forcefully with champagne flute in hand to nearly yell for 10-12 minutes straight about Russians, cabinet heads that want to destroy their departments, Goldman Sachs, Exxon, the wall, book burning, impeachment, recusals, Jewish cemetery vandalism, teleprompter scripted calmness, possible alzheimer’s, and general viciousness. It was a Greatest Hits album minus the catchy hooks and clever phrasing – but with all the drums and guitar solos. (For you kids, an album was this flat wax disc that contained 9 songs you didn’t want and 1 song you did… oh never mind.) Just before he ignited into flames or triggered the heart attack which appeared to be imminent, we were mercifully interrupted and led away to look at OLEK’s pussy
art and Icy & Sot’s crocheted barbed wire fence piece.

Out on the streets of New York and elsewhere, artists are nearly yelling as well with their text based and figurative Street Art work. There appears to be no rest right now, and everyone is losing sleep or fighting or shaking their heads or “finding healthy strategies to achieve a sense balance” in a chaotic gritty abrasive beautiful city that somehow keeps racing forward no matter what the hell is going on.

City that never sleeps? We hear that.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Ann Lewis, Beast, BustArt, El Sol 25, Empty Boy, Epic Uno, Felipe Pantone, Icy & Sot, Jerk Face, King, Koralie Supakitch, Mikael Takacs, Nico Panda, OLEK, Sen2, Smells, Stinkfish, and UFO 907.

Top image: UFO907 . Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist on the street. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sen2 at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mikael Takacs at Trumpomania. Salomon Arts Tribeca. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ann Lewis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

King (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Empty Boy . Stinkfish in Medellin, Colombia. (photo © Stinkfish)

Felipe Pantone (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nico Panda . Beast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BustArt. Basel, Switzerland. (photo © BustArt)

Jerk Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Koralie Supakitch (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Koralie Supakitch. Deatil. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Epic Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Epic Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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BSA Film Friday: 01.13.17

BSA Film Friday: 01.13.17

January 13, 2017

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

Now screening :
1. OLEK: In The Blink Of An Eye
2. Москва – Artmossphere by Kevin Lüdicke
3. Morden Gore: Painting for the Italian Earthquake of October 2016.
4. Art Is Tra$h


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BSA Special Feature: OLEK: In The Blink Of An Eye

“It is one thing to read about the events in those parts of the world, but it is something totally different to actually look in the eyes of the women who lost everything while running from the war,” says artist Olek about how her world view changed when crocheting the project featured this week.

While gathering and producing materials for her installation with Verket Museum in Avesta, Sweden, the Brooklyn based Street Artist was holding informal crochet workshops with volunteers who would be producing the decorative yarn skin that covered every single item inside and outside of the house with their handmade crochet stitches.

Some invited guests were refugees who had escaped war in Syria and Ukraine and the artist and local folks shared stories and crocheted, sewed, and prepared the art materials together over the course of a number of days. It was during these exchanges of personal stories that, “a conversation started that has changed me forever,” she says – and she immediately needed to reflect it in her project with the museum.

The documented result is here for you today. It was decided to destroy the domestic bliss of the home with a blast from outside, shattering and scattering the contents, a dramatization of the blasts from war and the machines manufactured to create them. The results are recorded in the video that leads BSA Film Friday this week.

In a split second our lives are turned upside down by explosions like these, and we block it from our minds until it happens to us or someone we love or someone we simply see the humanity within.

“I decided to blow up my crocheted house inside the museum to demonstrate the current, unfortunate situation worldwide, where hundreds of thousands of people are displaced,” Olek says. “In 2015, over 27.8 million people in 127 countries lost their homes due to conflict, violence and disasters.”

 

 

Москва – Artmossphere by Kevin Lüdicke

A thoughtful well-paced look behind the scenes of artists at work in studio – painting, sculpting, sawing, sanding, pouring concrete – preparing brand new works for the Artmossphere exhibition. Mounted in Moscow at the end of summer 2016 with 60 or so international and local artists drawn mostly from the Urban Art scene, this short film by director Kevin Lüdicke is narrated by artists and illustrated by common scenes in the city of Moscow. The artists are reflective, unhurried, and dig a little deeper to explain their work and process. Quiet spaces are allowed – which is where a number of revelations lie.

Learn more about the event from our BSA’s visit to Moscow for Artmossphere here:

60 Artists at a Moscow Street Art Biennale: “Artmossphere 2016”

 

Morden Gore: Painting for the Italian Earthquake of October 2016.

Aerial scenes of rubble caused by an earthquake put you at arms length, as does the hypnotizing synth glitchy pop track from Coconut Scale that enables you to focus and swerve away, zoom in and pull out before the pain gets too intense. Two earthquakes four days apart in the center of Italy shook these mountain areas and medieval villages – houses, schools, offices, histories, lives all crumbling. Artist Mordengore painted the mobile headquarters of the CGIL in the midst of the aftermath and documented his work and the context he created it within to capture what happened as a way to “not forget what happened to these lands only because we are hard-working and peaceful people.”

“Dedicated to Sylvester, pastor of Visso, symbol of these fragile lands, but tough, because we want to rebuild, despite everything.”

 

Art Is Tra$h

The Street Artist named Art Is Trash creates a full installation in an abandoned hotel to advertise sneakers for a well known brand.

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Clubhouse Chemistry in a Warehouse : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 4

Clubhouse Chemistry in a Warehouse : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 4

December 1, 2016

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One of the fantastic parts of Miami’s Art Basel / Wynwood craziness, aside from the colorful drinks and hair sculptures and accidental tripping over almost every Street Artist you have heard of (and many whom you haven’t) is the sheer amount of madhouse chemistry that explodes in your face because of new partnerships and events – like the Juxtapoz Clubhouse in Wynwood opening today.

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Olek. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The premier contemporaty and underground magazine and cultural stew from the west coast teams up with New Jersey’s Mana Urban Arts and others this year to take over one of those previously run-down and neglected parts of the neighborhood to create an “immersive retreat”.

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Denis McNett. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We got a behind-the-scenes peek at the installations and artworks in advance of today’s opening and were pleased to see that the quality is slammin’ –with sufficiently large installations to create an environment and to stand on their own as fully realized concepts.

So many of these artists can work larger, and many have: Dennis McNett stages fully performances and parades of characters pounding like warriors through streets, for example. Dude, the energy is good.

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Denis McNett. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The mix of producers/collaborators at the Clubhouse is contemporary, theatrical, and somehow darkly comic –Jonathan Levine Gallery, Chandran Gallery, MILK Studios, ThinkSpace, and the 1xRun crew – a smartly flipped trip of heavy hitters that relies on the strangely symbiotic and the serendipitous to succeed.

Check out some of the work here and if you are in Miami go to 2400 NW 5th Avenue from December 1-4.

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Laurence Vallieres. Detail. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ever at work on his installation. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ever. Detail. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Fintan Magee. Detail. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Cern at work on his painting. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Cinta Vidal. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Zio Ziegler. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Scott Campbell. This is is an interactive piece which will involve the public. Mr. Campbell is a tattoo artist and through a raffle willing participants will have the opportunity to have their arm tattooed but they will not know what the tattoo will be until completed. The participants will stick his or her arm, trough the hole in the middle of the installation and Mr. Campbell will be unseen, working on the tattoo on the other side of the wall. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Low Bros. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Swoon. Detail of her installation. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Swoon. Detail of her installation. Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Adam Wallacavage. Jonathan LeVine Gallery x Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dan Witz. Jonathan LeVine Gallery x Juxtapoz Club House x Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Shepard Fairey. Mana Urban Arts Projects/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Louis Masai. The Art of Beeing. Mana Urban Arts Projects x The Bushwick Collective/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Louis Masai. The Art of Beeing. Mana Urban Arts Projects x The Bushwick Collective/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Case Maclaim sketching his wall for Wynwood Walls/Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please Do! Artist Unknown. Art Basel 2016. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA /Urban Nation Berlin “Picks for Miami Art Basel 2016”

BSA /Urban Nation Berlin “Picks for Miami Art Basel 2016”

November 26, 2016

It’s the annual peregrination from Brooklyn to Miami after the Thanksgiving holiday to see the sand, the surf, the aerosol masterpieces. For readers who have witnessed the growing spectacle of the Street Art scene in this city and are worried about the full-scale absorption of Street Art and graffiti culture into the larger Urban Contemporary Art rubric, this place is a tidal wave of evidence that the sub-culture/counter-culture is simply loved and adored by too many people.

Of course, tastes vary and not everyone is into the same aesthetic, message, style, technique, and there are still plenty of ruffians trying to stir sh*t up, thank God. But it’s probably psychologically healthy for artists and fans from the origins of this scene on the street to take some pride in the fact that this grassroots arts movement is producing some of the most compelling shows, exhibitions, and events – many rivaling what is happening inside the ART BASEL fair that all these events are associated with.

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All week starting this Monday we’ll be there on the ground hustling from the formal to the informal, sponsored to the D.I.Y. – to at least capture some of that energy and insight to bring to you. In partnership with UN – the Urban Nation Museum of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin, BSA will bring you action and excitement on the streets – here are some highlight to help you with your planning:

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WYNWOOD WALLS MIAMI ART WEEK

An ongoing festival of murals begun in the late 2000s, Wynwood Walls’ theme for this year is “Fear Less” and the 12 new murals will for the double meaning of the expression. From the words of Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO of Goldman Properties, who are folks behind Wynwood Walls:

“Every year we choose a unifying theme and ask our artists to somehow address this in their work with the goal of pushing the narrative. This year, with everything going on in the world I felt it appropriate to advocate a message of courage, in the hopes that we can all embody courage in our everyday lives.   Street artists by vocation are some of the most fearless people I’ve met — and here in Wynwood, we’ve grown from a marginal area that many feared to explore – into one of the most desirable art-filled locations in the world. My father (Tony Goldman) always said, ‘Don’t give in to fear,’ and this year we’re honoring that sentiment.”

Fear Less will showcase the work of a varied mix of outstanding artists – some household names in the street art world, others up and coming. In addition to Hiratsuka, artists include AVAF (Brazil), Beau Stanton (CA, USA), Case (Germany)   Dasic Fernandez (Chile) David Choe (CA, USA), Faith47 (South Africa), Felipe Pantone (Spain), Findac (UK) , Okuda (Spain), Pixel Pancho (Italy,) Risk (CA, USA), Tatiana Suarez (FL, USA) . Artist Audrey Kawasak (USA) will be painting a mural at Goldman Properties’ The Hotel on South Beach. In addition to the murals artist Ken Hiratsuka will carve boulders in the style of his intricate carvings he did on the NYC streets during the 1980’s.

Artist Talk: Thursday December 1st. 6:30 PM at the Goldman Global Arts Gallery at Wynwood Walls. A panel discussion moderated by our own Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief Steven P. Harrington with participating artists: Martha Cooper, Faith 47, Crash, Tristan Eaton and Pixel Pancho. This event is free and open to the public.

Goldman Global Arts Gallery Exhibition:

  • Featuring original works by the artists of the Wynwood Walls. Open Thursday December 1st, 2016 thru December 4th 2016 from 10AM-10PM and then 11AM-8PM thru February 2017, when the exhibit ends.

  • Wynwood Walls, Open to the Public during Art Basel Miami Art Week, Wynwood Walls is free and open to the public daily from 10 AM to Midnight.

Wynwood Walls is located at 2520 NW 2nd Avenue between 25th and 26th Streets.

 

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MANA URBAN ART PROJECTS X JUXTAPOZ MAGAZINE

This is an epic intersection that you’ve been waiting for – hi brow/low brow, East Coast raw with West Coast surreally pop, old skool graff with hyperreal, graphic, optic and pop-gold muralistas .

All of these people in bed together is going to make a lot of sweet love people – and babies, and possibly some communicable diseases. Can you imagine the mass of the swarming of creative bodies from Juxtapoz, Thinkspace, 1XRun, Mana Contemporary, Bushwick Collective, Jonathan Levine, and many unannounced guests? It’s a first date for many of these awkward actors but we are not missing this gorgeous clusterduck!

Details are still being ironed out in many cases – check Juxtapoz for Updates:

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Juxtapoz Clubhouse: 2400 NW 5th Entrance

Juxtapoz bookstore 1xRun

Installations by:

David Ellis / Swoon/ Fintan Magee / Zio Ziegler  / OLEK / Laurence Vallieres / Cey Adams / Velia De Iuliis / Ever Seipre / Franco Fasoli / Waeone Interesni Kazki / Chris Lux

MILK presents Scott Campbell: WHOLE GLORY.

Juxtapoz Clubhouse: 537 NW 24th Street Entrance

Along with Milk Studios , Juxtapoz is teaming up for this special two-day tattoo exhibition/interactive art installation/tattoo emporium. “Lucky recipients will be selected via a lottery on an hourly basis”

Juxtapoz Cafe/Cody Hudson

Dennis McNett installation

Jonathan LeVine Gallery “A Conversation Between Friends”

Jamie Adams / Brett Amory / James Bullough / Tristan Eaton / Dylan Egon / AJ Fosik / Ian Francis / Jeremy Geddes / Alex Gross / Handiedan / Haroshi / Andrew Hem / Hush / Erik Jones / Kehoe / Ludo / Eloy Morales / Tara McPherson / Dennis McNett / Joel Real / Shag / Ben Tolman / Adam Wallacavage / Martin Wittfooth Rostarr.

Juxtapoz Clubhouse Alley: 537 NW 24th Street Entrance

BASE 12 COLLECTIVE

BUSHWICK COLLECTIVE BLOCKPARTY

MANA X JUXTAPOZ  NW 2nd and NW 22nd, Lane Mana Convention Center

Andrew Schoultz INFINITY PLAZA

Juxtapoz X 1XRUN NW 2nd and NW 22nd  Lane Mana Convention Center

1xRun Mobile Print Shop

Installation mural by Shepard Fairey and OBEY

 

SCOPE MIAMI 2016 801 Ocean Drive Miami Beach

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    Just to help you navigate, here are some of the exhibitors who will be showcasing Urban Artists and whom we intend to check out:

    Castle Fitzjohns Gallery – NYC
    FIFTY24MX / Art Gallery – Mexico City
    Graffik Gallery – London
    Inner State Gallery – Detroit
    NextStreet Gallery – Paris
    Samuel Owens Gallery – Greenwich, CT.
    Struck Contemporary – Toronto, CA
    Think Space Gallery – Los Angeles
    Macaya Gallery

 

X CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR Nobu Hotel, Miami Beach.

JONAS SUN 7 / Catherine Ahnell Gallery

SWOON – HELIOTROPE PRINTS MIAMI 2016

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Swoon and The Heliotrope Foundation are pleased to present a launch reception for the Miami 2016 Heliotrope Prints release, featuring Aidan Koch, Rashaad Newsome, Ebony G. Patterson, Emilio Perez, Kenny Scharf, and Anne Spalter.

Thursday, December 1, Downtown Miami

6 – 9 p.m. at The Dog (1306 North Miami Avenue)Heliotrope Prints are $50 limited-edition fine art prints with 100% of proceeds benefitting the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) founded by Swoon in order to streamline her three art-based community building initiatives in Haiti, New Orleans, and the Rust Belt town of Braddock, Pennsylvania.Learn more: www.heliotropefoundation.org

Buy prints: www.heliotropeprints.org

RSVP to reception: www.molly.nyc/miami2016

ABOUT THE HOST VENUE:
Curated by Christopher “Jillionaire” Leacock of Major Lazer, The Dog is a weeklong popup in Downtown Miami that will bring together a group of friends—comprised of acclaimed musicians and artists—to form a hub for inspired expression across the creative disciplines. The Dog is bar, dancehall, and art gallery rolled into one; a site-specific and immersive experience that bridges the gap between contemporary art, culture, and music. www.molly.nyc/thedog

MORE SWOON NEWS:

Swoon’s Pearly’s Beauty Shop with Chandran Gallery, Saturday, December 3, 2016. 7pm-late

 

 

Art Creates Water (Dec 1-4)

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Millerntor Gallery goes ART BASEL – MIAMI BEACH

Art with a social-environmental mission: ALL FOR WATER – WATER FOR ALL!

Artist Collective of LOW BROS, RAMBA ZAMBA, BOBBIE SERRANO und SEBASTIAN BIENIEK.

Mobile gallery shows works by BARBARA., BJÖRN HOLZWEG, BOBBIE SERRANO, FABIAN WOLF, FLYING FÖRTRESS, FROST, GUAPO SAPO, HEIKO MÜLLER, IT’S THE VIBE, JIM AVIGNON, JOBRAY WRITER, KLEBEBANDE, LOW BROS, MAXIMILIAN MAGNUS, NICO SAWATZKI, NILS KASISKE, PAPA SHABANI, PUSH, QUINTESSENZ, RAMBA ZAMBA, REBELZER, ROCKET & WINK, SADHUX, SASAN, SUTOSUTO, TASEK, TESE, ULI PFORR, WE ARE BÜRO BÜRO.

Millerntor Gallery goes Art Basel Miami Beach is supported by Hamburg Marketing GmbH.

ABOUT US

The Millerntor Gallery is a social business by and for Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli. Our mantra is ”art creates water” – we use art as a universal language to inspire people and involve them in collective creative engagement. Revenues from art sales and donations are being transformed into clean water. The Millerntor Gallery came to life in 2011 as an art festival inside the stadium of the legendary football club FC Sankt Pauli. Growing rapidly it has already become a global cultural movement that blends individual creative energies into one collective force to change the world for the better. More than 1000 artists have contributed their talents, crafts and works for countless Millerntor Gallery art projects in many different countries.

 vivaconagua.org facebook.com/vivaconagua

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“Magic City” in Dresden : Exhibition of Street Artists and City as Muse

“Magic City” in Dresden : Exhibition of Street Artists and City as Muse

November 16, 2016

An unusual amalgam of the interactivity of the street combined with the formality of a gallery environment, Magic City opened this fall in a converted factory in Dresden, Germany with an eclectic selection of 40+ artists spanning the current and past practices of art in the street.

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Skewville. Children enjoying Skewville’s “tete-a-tete” shopping cart. Ernest Zacharevic’s mobile in the background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With revered culture critic and curator Carlo McCormick at the helm alongside curator Ethel Seno, the richly marbled show runs a gamut from 70’s subway train writers and photographers like Americans Daze, Henry Chalfant, and Martha Cooper to the Egyptian activist Ganzeer, Italian interventionist Biancoshock, popagandist Ron English, and the eye-tricking anamorphic artist from the Netherlands, Leon Keer.

Veering from the hedonistic to the satiric to head-scratching illusions, the collection allows you to go as deep into your education about this multifaceted practice of intervening public space as you like, including just staying on the surface.

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Ernest Zacharevic mobile with a “listening station” on the left. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It’s not an easy balance to strike – some of these artists have heavy hearts and withering critiques of human behaviors and institutional hypocrisies ranging from 1st World treatment of refugees to celebrity culture to encroaching surveillance on individual rights, government oppression, and urban blight.

Magic City doesn’t try to shield you from the difficult topics, but the exhibition also contains enough mystery, fanboy cheer, eye candy and child-like delight that the kids still have plenty of fun discoveries to take selfies with. We also saw a few kissing couples, so apparently there is room for some romance as well.

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 A visitor to Magic City enjoys a “listening station”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“We believe that even the typical city is uncommon, and that the idiosyncrasies that make each city unique are collectively something they all have in common,” says McCormick in his text describing the exhibition. “This is then a celebration of the universal character of cities as well as a love letter to their infinite diversity. The special magic that comes from our cities is germinated in the mad sum of their improbable juxtapositions and impossible contradictions.”

Of particular note is the sound design throughout the exhibition by Sebastian Purfürst and Hendrick Neumerkel of LEM Studios that frequently evokes an experiential atmosphere of incidental city sounds like sirens, rumbling trains, snatches of conversations and musical interludes. Played at varying volumes, locations, and textures throughout the exhibition, the evocative city soundscape all adds to a feeling of unexpected possibilities and an increased probability for new discovery.

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Olek’s carousel from above. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Obviously this Magic City cannot be all things to all people, and some will criticize the crisp presentation of a notably gritty series of subcultures, or perhaps the omission of one genre or technique or important artist. It’s not meant to be encyclopedic, rather a series of insights into a grassroots art and activism practice that continues to evolve in cities before our eyes.

For full disclosure, we curated the accompanying BSA Film Program for Magic City by 12 artists and collectives which runs at one end of the vast hall – and Mr. Rojo is on the artist roster with 15 photographs of his throughout the exhibition, so our view of this show is somewhat skewed.

Here we share photographs from the exhibition taken recently inside the exhibition for you to have a look for yourself.

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Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ron English (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A MadC installation made with thousands of spray can caps. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Belgian urban naturalist ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skewville . ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Daze (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Martha Cooper at the gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Henry Chalfant at the gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Bordalo II (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Andy K. detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Isaac Cordal. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Isaac Cordal (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anders Gjennestad AKA Strok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Icy & Sot with Asbestos on the left. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Replete (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Truly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Leon Keer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jaime Rojo. A young visitor enjoying the Kids Trail through a peephole with Jaime’s photos inside an “electrical box”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jaime Rojo. The Kids Trail wasn’t only for kids it seems. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tristan Eaton on the right. Olek on the left. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Aiko at the Red Light District. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Herakut. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Herakut (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Full list of participating artists:

Aiko, AKRylonumérik, Andy K, Asbestos, Benus, Jens Besser, Biancoshock, Mark Bode, Bordalo II, Ori Carino & Benjamin Armas, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, Isaac Cordal, Daze, Brad Downey, Tristan Eaton, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Fino’91, Ganzeer, Anders Gjennestad, Ben Heine, Herakut, Icy & Sot, Leon Keer, Loomit, MadC, OakOak, Odeith, Olek, Qi Xinghua, Replete, Roa, Jaime Rojo, Skewville, SpY, Truly, Juandres Vera, WENU, Dan Witz, Yok & Sheryo, Ernest Zacharevic.

 

Visit MAGIC CITY DRESDEN for more details, news, videos and the blog.

 

This article is also published on The Huffington Post

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BSA Images Of The Week: 11.06.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.06.16

November 6, 2016 ,

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Today is Marathon Day in New York City and the leaves on the trees have turned to oranges and reds and yellows to welcome the 26,000 people running through all five boroughs.  In two days right here in New York City both Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton will wait at their campaign headquarters to see the results of the longest and slimiest presidential campaigns most of us can remember, with many of us reporting that it made us sick.

There is plenty of blame to go around, and hopefully these are simply the fitful growing pains of a fighting, evolving society and not the stabbing spasms of a dissolute, dying republic.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Amanda Wong, Atomik, Boa Mistura, BK Foxx, Cash4, Giver, Kobra, Lexi Bella, Moter, Olek, Rambo, Reverend, Rocko, Ruben Sanchez, Sheryo, Sokar Uno, Wolftits, and You Go Girl.

Our top image: Kobra’s new monumental mural of David Bowie in Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Kobra at work  on his mural of David Bowie. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Lexi Bella portrait of Frida Kahlo for JMZ Murals. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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OLEK on the roof of the Ice Factory in Jersey City, NJ in collaboration with Mana Urban Arts Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We asked Olek about this brand new crocheted billboard she and a small team installed this week in New Jersey. We publish her reflections and statement here for BSA readers.

“This crocheted billboard is my uncommissioned letter to Hillary Clinton, a letter from a woman, an artist, and a naturalized US citizen.

This election has been fueled by hate and negativity. Initially, I did not want to make overtly political art. But then I realized I must, as too much is at stake. I could either make a negative statement about the other candidate or a positive one about Hillary.  When a piece of art has 1000 hours of hand labor invested in it, I’d rather it be a positive statement.

Hillary might not be cool, but she is qualified, experienced and competent. I don’t want to hang out with her. I don’t want to drink beer with her. I don’t want to go dancing all night with her. I want her to be our president. I want her to run this country!

This is history happening in front of you, incredible and groundbreaking. The first African-American president will pass the most important job in the USA to the first woman president. No one would have imagined this just 50 years ago. So yes, these are amazing times.

Look at what is happening in Europe. Countries are returning to a conservative stance and people’s rights are being trampled and revoked. Few believed Brexit could take place, but indeed it did. We should learn from this mistake. Hate crimes are escalating. Immigrants, and especially Polish citizens, are being beaten and even killed. We cannot let this happen here in USA.  We cannot go down this path of destruction in The United States of America.

I involved people across the USA to help me with this project. It was about a community working together and making a statement. We had two main groups crocheting – one in Virginia Beach and one in NYC. The excitement was tangible as we worked together to realize this vision. Each day we gathered in my tiny studio, those outside of NYC would join via Skype, as we all crocheted around the clock, talking to each other about our commitment to this piece and to Hillary Clinton, listening to music, podcasts, and audiobooks.  Everyone involved jumped on this project because they believed in it.

We are happy that we have achieved it.

I am an artist.  I am a woman.  As both I must make a statement.  I cannot remain neutral or silent.  I wish more people would find a way make positive statements.  Unfortunately, negativity sells much better these days.

It is imperative for the future of our country that we succeed in electing Hillary Clinton as President of The United States of America this November 8th.” – OLEK

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Sokar Uno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BK Foxx for JMZ Murals. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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An Amanda Wong Love Letter to her man in Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Boa Mistura spreadin’ some love. It’s the Brooklyn way. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Boa Mistura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Atomik in Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Sheryo in Detroit Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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REVEREND at Lincoln Park in Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Reverend . You Go Girl . Giver and a couple of tags we can’t ID in Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Wolf Tits in Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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RAMBO in Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Class War…Cash4 in Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Moter…train spotin’ (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Rocko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ruben Sanchez in Jersey City, NJ for Mana Urban Arts Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. The Little Red Lighthouse on the Hudson River. NYC. October 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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“Magic City” Premieres in Dresden : Seno and McCormick as Alchemists

“Magic City” Premieres in Dresden : Seno and McCormick as Alchemists

October 3, 2016

40 Artists Up Along Main Street, 12 More in the BSA Film Program

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Curators Ethel Seno and Carlo McCormick in front of a new mural by German duo Herakut announcing the premiere of Magic City in Dresden. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

 

“Nature is a petrified magic city.” – Novalis

Curator Carlo McCormick quotes Novalis by way of describing this new exhibit of an eclectic blend of terrific troublemakers, pop-culture hijackers, and show-stopping crowd pleasers drawn from cities all around the Street Art/ graffiti /urban art scene today – and forty years ago. This is a welcoming walk of unexpected intersections that only McCormick and co-curator Ethel Seno could imagine – and pull together as a panoply of street wizardry that acknowledges activism, artistry, anarchy, and aesthetics with a sincere respect for all. It will be interesting to see how this show is viewed by people who follow the chaotic street scene today in the context of its evolution and how they read the street signs in this city.

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Curator Ethel Seno with Managing Director Dieter Semmelmann and exhibition Designer Tobias Kunz cutting the ribbon at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

McCormick, in his customary self-effacing humor, expects there to be some shit flying – as anyone who is involved in this scene expects from the hard-scrabble rebellious margins and subcultures that this art-making interventionist practice rises from. There also are a growing and coalescing mini-legion of scholars and academics who are currently grappling with the nature and characteristics of this self-directed art-making practice rooted often in discontent – now organized inside an exhibition that is ticketed and sold as a family friendly show.

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Street Artist and pop mashup painter Tristan Eaton in front of his new mural wall at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

In his descriptions of the public sphere, the writer, historian, author, and cultural critic McCormick often refers to graffiti and street artists messing with “contested space”. It’s an apt description whether we are talking about the public space in high-density gleaming metropolises or the bombed-out grid-less and polluted quagmires of human fallibility and urban un-planning that dot our globe; all public space its nature is contested.

Here is a place used by many artists to protest, agitate, advocate, or deliver critique – and many of the artists in this exhibition have done exactly this in their street practice, often pushing limits and defining new ones. Dig a little into many of the individual story lines at play here and you’ll see that the vibrant roots of social revolution are pushing up from the streets through the clouds of propaganda and advertising, often mocking them and revealing them in the process.

Ultimately, this Magic City experience is an elixir for contemplating the lifelong romance we have with our cities and with these artists who cavort with us within them. “Our Magic City is a place and a non-place,” McCormick says in a position statement on the exhibit. “It is not the physical city of brick and mortar but rather the urban space of internalized meanings. It is the city as subject and canvas, neither theme park nor stage set, but an exhibition showcasing some of the most original and celebrated artists working on and in the city today.”

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Mixed media Street Artist Asbestos from Dublin, graffiti master/ painter Chris “Daze” Ellis from NYC, and Tristan Eaton from Los Angeles at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Curator Carlo McCormick with New York billboard/culture jammer and artist Ron English in front of his new wall mural at premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Dutch anamorphic art master Leon Keer with Polish crochet transformer/Street Artist Olek at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

BSA curated the film program for Magic City with a dynamic array of some of the best Street Art related films today presented together in a relaxed environment. In this video hosted by Andreas Schanzenbach you get a taste of the works that are showing that we draw from our weekly surveys on BSA Film Friday. Over the last few years we have had the honor of presenting live in-person to students and scholars and fans an ever-evolving collection of videos that speak to the spirit experimentation, discovery and culture-jamming outrageousness of urban interventions, graffiti and Street Art.  The BSA Film Program at Magic City presents a survey of some of the very best that we have seen recently.

Magic City artists include:
Akrylonumerik, Andy K, Asbestos, Ben Heine, Benuz, Biancoshock, Bordalo II, Brad, Downey, Dan Witz, Daze, Ernest Zacharevic, Ganzeer, Henry Chalfant, HERAKUT, Icy & Sot, Isaac Cordal, Jaime Rojo, Jens Besser, Juandres Vera, Lady Aiko, Leon Keer, Loomit, MAD C, Mark Bode, Martha Cooper, Oakoak, Odeith, Olek, Ori Carin / Benjamin Armas, Qi Xinghua, Replete, ROA, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, SpY, Tristan Eaton, Truly, WENU Crew, Yok & Sheryo

The BSA Film Program for Magic City includes the following artists:
Borondo, Brad Downey & Akay, Ella + Pitr, Faile, Farewell, Maxwell Rushton, Narcelio Grud, Plotbot Ken, Sofles, Vegan Flava, Vermibus

Some behind the scenes shots days before the Premiere

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Popagandist Ron English preparing his Temper Tot at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Popagandist Ron English preparing his Temper Tot at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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DAZE reviewing his work at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Urban naturalist ROA at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Sheryo strikes a pose while the guys build the installation she did with The Yok at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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A Magic City Slowly Unfolds In Dresden : Artists Building Now

A Magic City Slowly Unfolds In Dresden : Artists Building Now

September 27, 2016

“The special magic that comes from our cities is germinated in the mad sum of their improbable juxtapositions and impossible contradictions,” says curator Carlo McCormick when talking about the new show opening in Dresden, Germany this week in a former engine factory called Magic City : The Art of the Street.

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AIKO at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

Along with curator Ethel Seno and a creative team (full disclosure, BSA is part of it) McCormick is evoking an interstitial city that rises from the streets in many urban centers globally. Whether it is graffiti, Street Art, urban interventions, detournement, adbusting, or myriad cultural refinements, artists and activists are commonly, sometimes radically, altering the city and our experience of it.

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Mad C at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

By engaging some of the best visual and intellectual examples of the whole current scene with a full knowledge of our recent past, Magic City lays out a route for you to appreciate the individual and a sense of the cumulative. It’s bold and somewhat romantic move to look for magic in the Graffiti / Street Art / Urban Art scene. Some may argue that it consists of nothing less.

Over the last few weeks about 40 artists have been installing brand new pieces and environments in the long wide factory space in advance of the grand preview this weekend. Here are some process shots of the building of a Magic City.

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OLEK at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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OLEK at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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ROA at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Ernest Zacharevic at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Benuz at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Qi-Xinghua at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Replete at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Ori Carino and Benjamin Armas at work on their piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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WENU at work on their piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Jens Besser at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Leon Keer at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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SpY. Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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BSA Film Friday 09.09.16

BSA Film Friday 09.09.16

September 9, 2016

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

Now screening :

1. Kerava Art Museum: Our Pink House by OLEK
2. Vegan Flava: “A Walk On Weak Ice”
3. Narcelio Grud. MASK
4. T̶̶O̶̶Y̶ CREW – Wir häng im Bahnhof ab
5. Avalanches: Walk On the Subway

 

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BSA Special Feature: Kerava Art Museum: Our Pink House by OLEK

Olek has covered a house in pink crochet with the help of volunteers for the Kerava Art Museum in Finland. A meditation on the life of a refugee, Olek says we all could stand to be more aware of it, and take more positive actions to help those in need. With projects like this she hopes to build a sense of community through art. Psychologically this pink skin is a protector against danger, a healer of wounds.

“Originally, this building, built in the early 1900s, was the home of Karl Jacob Svensk (1883-1968). During the Winter War 1939-1940, the family fled to evade bombs falling into the yard, but they didn’t have to move out permanently. In 2015, more than 21 million people were forced to leave their homes in order to flee from conflicts. The pink house, our pink house is a symbol of a bright future filled with hope; is a symbol us coming together as a community.”

 

Vegan Flava: “A Walk On Weak Ice”

This kind of public art-making is a first for us.

If you have ever been on thin ice before or heard the stories of those who didn’t survive it, this new piece by Vegan Flava filmed on Lake Mälaren during a cold Swedish winter day earlier this year – is chilling.

 

Narcelio Grud. MASK

Street Artist and Do-It-Yourself art maker, sociologist, interactive designer – all of these titles apply to Narcelio Grud.

In his latest video Mr. Grud creates masks with unused fabrics collected from textile factories and he customizes traffic lights in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil.

 

T̶̶O̶̶Y̶ CREW – Wir häng im Bahnhof ab

The U-Bahn train system’s Rosenthaler Platz station in Berlin has some new art thanks to graffiti crew called T̶̶O̶̶Y̶.

It’s not what your thinking.

Breaking rules, creating new aesthetics, redefining artistic codes. It’s all there.

T̶̶O̶̶Y̶ will be exhibiting for the first time in Berlin at Zwei Drei Raum this weekend and the opening is Saturday night, September 10th in Kreuzberg. Bringing the aesthetics of graffiti inside to canvases, videos, and installations will be Berlin based writers ROZER, IGIT, SPIRIT, LOFK, Viktor Treshkow and Max Grambow.

Avalanches: Walk On the Subway

For those of you who have not been on the New York City subway, this is exactly what it is like.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.28.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.28.16

August 28, 2016 ,

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“Back in the USSR” comes to mind as we touched down in Moscow yesterday to see and speak with the 60+ Street Artists who are creating this impressive 2nd Street Art biennale “Artmossphere” just a stone’s throw away from the Kremlin, Red Square and The International Military Music Festival that runs all week as well. We’ll be bringing you new stuff all week as part of our partnership with Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art (UN), investigating the creative process with artists, curators, and the organizing force behind all of this event.

In the mean time, we bring you work from New York and elsewhere in this week’s fine edition of BSA Images of the Week.

So, here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Aduk, Buff Monster, Crisp, Hiss, Lena Shu, Logan Hicks, Olek, and Wolfe Work.

Above: Logan Hicks. Detail of his mural “Story of My Life” on the Houston/Bowery wall,  which pays tribute to the personal and professional friends and family who have helped him in the last 10 years in NYC. New York City. August 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Logan Hicks at work on his Houston Wall mural. New York City. August 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Logan Hicks. Detail. Houston Wall. New York City. August 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Logan Hicks. Houston Wall. New York City. August 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Olek Our Pink House for Kerava Art Museum. Finland. August 2016. (photo © Olek)

Our Pink House is a new crocheted covering for a house (the second) by Street Artist OLEK – this one associated with Kerava Art Museum’s upcoming exhibition Yarn Visions, which will place the spotlight on knitted, crocheted, tufted and embroidered works.

Drawing an analogy of protection and safety in these pink crocheting patterns that stretch from the top of the chimney to the foundation of stone, this building in Kereva in southern Finland, where many bombs fell during The Winter War of 1939-40. Olek says she is concerned about the 21 million people worldwide who lost their homes due to war and conflicts in 2015 and she wants to create community based projects like this one to draw attention to the topic, and to provide some healing as well.

This particular project enlisted the help of a large group of volunteers, immigrants and women from a reception centre for asylum seekers who she brought together to crochet this covering. “Our Pink House” is about the journey, not just about the artwork itself.  It’s about us coming together as a community.  It’s about helping each other. We can show everybody that women can build houses, women can make homes,”she says. – OLEK

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Nailed it! Hiss is caught up in the Pokemon Go craze that has captured the attention of children, teens, and a certain photographer we know who is a perennial child at heart. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Buff Monster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Buff Monster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Buff Monster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Wolfe Work (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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CRISP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ADUK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Lena Shu in progress for Artmossphere – Moscow International Biennale of Street Art 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Unintended collaboration on the streets of Moscow.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Moscow, Russia. August 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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