“Outside In” is a small scale but potent and polished presentation of a number of today’s international street artists in one austere exhibition in the port town of Stavanger, Norway. Says Martyn Reed, founder of Nuart and director of this show, it’s also an answer to the selections of artists in the humongous graffiti and Street Art exhibition currently on view at MOCA in Los Angeles.
“We were looking at Deitch’s “Art in the Streets” and thought there were a few important artists missing. We were also a tad jealous so we thought we’d knock up our own little provincial version here in Stavanger, explains Reed. No exhibition of Street Art will ever be complete – that’s what the streets are for – but it is always exciting to see how the story is parlayed in different settings and locales.
140 works culled from private collections by 30 of the worlds leading practioners of Street and Urban Art, the show features Banksy, Os Gemeos, JR, Blu, Blek le Rat, Barry McGee, Ed Templeton, Mark Gonzales, Shepard Fairey, Dolk, Dan Witz, Borf, Faile, Jose Parla, Jeremy Geddes, David Shrigley, David Choe, Dotmasters, Swoon, Bast, Logan Hicks, Escif, Herakut, Ha Ha, Nick Walker, Charles Krafft, Martha Cooper, Steve Powers, Kaws, Retna, Chris Stain, Skewville, M-City, Date Farmers, Mark Jenkins.
Martyn Reed the affable bad boy from Norway curates this new show of urban and street artists who are equally at home tackling antiquated etching techniques, watercolors, drawing and oil painting as they are with a spraycan and marker. Says the impresario “On July 1st we’ll be opening one of Scandinavia’s, and certainly Norway’s, largest exhibitions dedicated to street and urban art.”
When we visited the LA MOCA “Art In the Streets” exhibit days before it opened in April, the feeling of camaraderie and expectation hung thick in the air as artists and curators and museum directors put the final touches on what they knew was the first major show of it’s kind; an historical taking stock of the route graffiti and Street Art travelled over the last half century to become an undeniably positive influence on art, music, fashion, … the culture. That week when talking with Sharon Matt Atkins, The Brooklyn Museum’s Managing Curator of Exhibitions, about the plans for bringing the show to our beloved city in Spring 2012, we were nearly apoplectic about the prospect of somehow being involved in the welcoming.
Sadly this afternoon we hear from the museum and friends that the show has been withdrawn. Sally Williams from the Museum’s Public Information Department confirmed the news to BSA over the phone. “This is a very important show for anybody to have but it is also a huge and very costly exhibition and we just couldn’t get funding for it”.
Meanwhile the last hour in the Twitterverse has raised a bit of a buzz about the statement by Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold L. Lehman’s that the decision is “due to the current financial climate”. The current home for “Art in the Streets” has found the show receiving great critical and popular acclaim and the much sought after younger demographic forming lines, making their own videos of the show, and yes, hitting up the giftshop. It really looks like it is proving to be a blockbuster for the museum and business in the community. That’s why its even more sad and a little confusing to find that Brooklyn can’t host what would surely be a boon to the organizers, the museum, and the city.
We thought that the cultural history of our city would have been greatly enhanced by the Brooklyn Museum’s decision to be the next stop of this exhibition. Despite it’s association with the negative aspects of vandalism and all that go with it, graffiti and Street Art have transformed global arts culture in many positive ways and New York is known worldwide as one of the birthplaces, an epicenter of this rich cultural history and what it has evolved from it.
Brooklyn Museum Withdraws from Art in the Streets Exhibition
Brooklyn, New York–June 21, 2011. The Brooklyn Museum has canceled the spring 2012 presentation of Art in the Streets, the first major United States museum exhibition of the history of graffiti and street art. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, where it is currently on view at The Geffen Contemporary through August 8, 2011, the exhibition had been scheduled at the Brooklyn Museum from March 30 through July 8, 2012.
“This is an exhibition about which we were tremendously enthusiastic, and which would follow appropriately in the path of our Basquiat and graffiti exhibitions in 2005 and 2006, respectively. It is with regret, therefore, that the cancellation became necessary due to the current financial climate. As with most arts organizations throughout the country, we have had to make several difficult choices since the beginning of the economic downturn three years ago,” states Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold L. Lehman.
Featuring original works from Banksy, Faile,
Shepard Fairey, Sixeart, Os Gêmeos, Mark Jenkins, JR, KAWS, Barry McGee, José Parlá, Judith Supine, Swoon, Titi Freak, Dan Witz
Carmichael Gallery
5795 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
USA
The exhibition will run through July 9, 2011
Carmichael Gallery is pleased to announce Playing Field, an exhibition of artwork from the collections of our collectors. Playing Field features original work from some of the best street artists around the world, including leading figures of the movement represented at the current Art In The Streets exhibition at MOCA Los Angeles.
No other group of artists has so polarized the contemporary art world in recent years. Street artists are loved and hated, tolerated and excluded, yet no one can deny the impact they have had on art in the 21st century. The success of artists such as Banksy and Shepard Fairey has transformed what was once a small underground movement into mainstream popular culture.
Playing Field brings together a selection of important works from the past 10 years, many of which have never before been exhibited in Los Angeles.
The gallery is still accepting submissions for consignments. Original work from the above artists only.
There will be an opening reception for Playing Field on Saturday, June 18 from 6 to 9pm. The exhibition will run through July 9, 2011.
Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Enzo and Nio, El Mac, Hargo, L.E.T., Paul Richard, Poster Boy, QRST, Retna, Skewville, Nice-One and Sweet Toof.
With photography by Carlos Gonzalez, Geoff Hargadon, and Jaime Rojo.
Well folks it’s the End of the World, as we know it. How’re you feeling? Actually, according to a certain sect of clairvoyant Christians today is Judgement Day, and the end of the world is not until October, so you should still forget about that Christmas Layaway Plan you have at Walmart.
New York subways and buses have been pummeled for weeks with pulp novel style posters impugning the good name of the Devil and overweight puff pastry people from the Midwest have been milling around Times Square in sensible shoes telling us that repenting from our sins is pretty much going to be the only way out of the Late Great Planet Earth. As usual, these wild eyed tourists never make it out to Brooklyn, so our borough is going now to Hell – which will be big news to the Hasidic population.
For those of you unwashed who are still here after the 6 o’clock earthquakes roll through each time zone across God damned America we bring you the gloriously sanctified beauty of “Twin”, the new HUSH show at that den of iniquity called New Image Gallery in God forsaken West Hollywood.
“Tagging, Graf, Street Art and art; each is always a choice, an action,” HUSH told us a couple of years ago when discussing his work, and his open approach to borrowing from comic books, graffiti, and traditional Japanese iconography is what makes his work modern.
Internalizing and interpreting the energy from Krazy LA has been a dream for a free expressionist like HUSH, who likes to throw everything at the wall – tagging, painting, collage, – deconstructing and reconstructing until it achieves balance. “I’m big on progression and I’m always looking at how to take my work forward, pushing it while still retaining pointers back to previous works,” says the artist. With a number of shows and countries and street pieces under his belt, the British native is also quietly achieving a mastery of his technique, as urban turns urbane in the finely sprayed misty glow surrounding these peaceful idyllic visages, rising from the blue cacophony.
Marsea Goldberg, a wild and fine former Brooklyn gal, has been looking out for and championing the new talent on the graffiti/Street Art/fine art scene at New Image since the mid nineties, including artists like Bäst, Cleon Peterson, Clare Rojas, Date Farmers, Ed Templeton, JoJackson, Neck Face, Os Gemeos, and Retna, so she knows what she is looking for and knows how to create a charged environment for artists to stretch in.
“Hush is a fantastic artist and he has a down to earth, hard working vibrant spirit,” Marsea explains, “I’ve liked his work for a long time – The first time I saw his work was at the “Cans Festival” which Banksy put on in London 4 years ago. When I saw his colorful, ornate murals in the long tunnel I was beyond impressed. The interesting thing about Hush’s art is the combination of influences.”
For his part, HUSH is taking the opportunity seriously, “It’s great to be at New Image because of its history… I’ve always admired the rawness and energy of the place and Marsea’s commitment to whatever this art movement is.”
As his work mutates and configures across mediums, one might wonder how much of this has meaning to him and whether it is an involuntary stream of favorite symbols and techniques combined and recombined. “I feel like my works have matured and I’m creating my own visual language, even though it’s probably only me who understands it,” he says smiling.
“It’s funny – I’ve had this work in my head for the last few years but it’s just fitting into the story now. I think I’ve got until the year 2014 in paintings now but I’ll have to take you through it in real time… I’m looking forward to showing how it all pans out in the future though.” We would love to stick around here on Earth to see how his work turns out in ’14, but there is someone knocking on the door…
Photographer Todd Mazer captured the artist working outside this week on the “Barracuda” wall where Saber and Shepard Fairey did their near iconic flag interpretations. And through Todd’s lense we get to see Hush tagging the gallery walls and the installation underway.
Here’s Part II of our tour of the museum at the “Art in the Streets” show that opened a week ago at MOCA LA. The breadth and depth of the show must have blown away many of the potential critics, because the grousing never really materialized. For our part, the review on the Huffington Post of the show itself (Red Hot and Street: “Art in the Streets” Brings Fire to MOCA) and the images of stuff on the street in 4 0r 5 neighborhoods in LA (Hitting Up LA: The Streets Outside the Show) have been fodder for some conversation (and voting!) and it’s a blast to see how this graffiti/street art movement sparks such intense opinion and feelings.
MOCA Part II Images of the Week, this week featuring Banksy, Barry McGee, ESPO,Steve Powers, Craig Stecyk III, Ed Templeton, Freedom, Invader, Martha Cooper, John Fekner, John Ahearn, Kenny Scharf, Lee Quinones, Margaret Kilgallen, Nunca, Os Gemeos, ROA, and Swoon.
Yes, Banksy is here. The giant “Art in the Streets” show opening this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles gives a patch of real estate to the international man of mystery who has contributed greatly to the worldwide profile of this soon to be, maybe already, mainstream phenomenon known as street art. A smattering of his pranksterism is an absolute must for any show staking claim to the mantle of comprehensive survey and an excellent way to garner attention. But “Streets” gets it’s momentum by presenting a multi-torch colorful and explosive people’s history that began way before Banksy was born and likely will continue for a while after.
“Art In the Streets” has begun exactly where it started – outside on walls. The number of people in Los Angeles this week to mark Sunday’s opening of the show at the Museum of Contemporary Art grows by the hour and there are more walls in progress than a housing boom. Just in the last couple of days we’ve seen commissioned and non-commissioned new murals, pieces, tags, and installations freshly dripping by people like How & Nosm, Lee Quinones, Shepard Fairey, Blade, Cern1, JR, Augustine Kofie, Invader, Os Gemeos, Nomade, Saner, and many others.
Futura says it’s like Summer camp and others have likened it to a family reunion, which makes us think of lawn chairs, cheap beer, barbecue, and crazy old uncle Jed sitting on a picnic table rubbing egg salad into his hair and talking about the Republicans. But yeah, right now in this little part of LA there is a feeling of a camp that is headed maniacally toward total circus.
The show itself, which we’ve seen in it’s entirety, is an audacious and colorful endeavor to bring about 50 years of Graffiti and Street Art history and a number of it’s influencers and influences under one roof. Engaging and educational, visitors will have the opportunity to learn how certain tributaries lead to this river. No show on this worldwide phenomenon could ever hope to include everyone, and Curator Jeffrey Deitch, along with associate curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose have chosen touchstones and flashpoints that push their individual visions of how the story unfolded. While it doesn’t break much brand new ground, only the Bittersons (or Jealousinskis) will find sufficient cause to try to mug this solid, entertaining and participatory show full of surprises. But for a scene that never sought permission in the first place, it won’t matter.
Here are a collection of images on the museum grounds itself. Previews from the show tomorrow.
Barry McGee (Twist) finished this wall before heading indoors to reprise an installation he did in 2000 with ESPO and REAS called Street Market. Roger Gastman says of the new installation that was still being finished as of yesterday afternoon, “This is another version ten years later, basically on crack. They brought in a number of other great artists to help work with them on it. Now it includes Alexis Ross, Dan Murphy, Jeff Flynn and a few others.” (photos tomorrow)
BKLN -> LNDN , Skewville is one of the High Rollers Now
If you lucky enough to be in London today, are looking for a good time, and are not afraid of possibly losing a limb go to High Roller Society and experience the art magic of Brooklyn Street Artist SKEWVILLE.
Apparently there is some kind of art show coming up on the west coast in April. Don’t know if you will be doing laundry or shopping for potted plants in the area at the time, but thought we’d let you know just in case you’re interested in this sort of thing.
Barry McGee, Houston Street and the Bowery, New York, 2010, photo by Farzad Owrang courtesy MOCA.
Art in the Streets will showcase installations by 50 of the most dynamic artists from the graffiti and street art community, including Fab 5 Freddy (New York), Lee Quinones (New York), Futura (New York), Margaret Kilgallen (San Francisco), Swoon (New York), Shepard Fairey (Los Angeles), Os Gemeos (Sao Paulo), and JR (Paris). MOCA’s exhibition will emphasize Los Angeles’s role in the evolution of graffiti and street art, with special sections dedicated to cholo graffiti and Dogtown skateboard culture. The exhibition will feature projects by influential local artists such as Craig R. Stecyk III, Chaz Bojorquez, Mister Cartoon, RETNA, SABER, REVOK, and RISK.
A special emphasis will be placed on photographers and filmmakers who documented graffiti and street art culture including Martha Cooper, Henry Chalfant, James Prigoff, Steve Grody, Gusmano Cesaretti, Estevan Oriol, Ed Templeton, Larry Clark, Terry Richardson, and Spike Jonze. A comprehensive timeline illustrated with artwork, photography, video, and ephemera will provide further historical context for the exhibition.
Os Gemeos With a Sharp Eye and Steady Hand and Dreamlike Imagination
Monica Canilao; You Light Up My Life
Have you ever found that perfect dinette set thrown away on the sidewalk, except that the veneer has been chipped off because the table was used as a vegetable cutting board, and two of the chairs are missing legs? Ever have a grandiose Aunt who sees the end coming and thinks that you would be the perfect recipient of her mid-century shlock loveseat or crusted poly lampshade? Ever explored a haunted house that is about to fall on you and crush you to death?
A look at this chandalier by artist Monica Canilao just makes you happy. She has some ideas about what you might be able to do with those things you involuntarily have to drag home from the street. She and some friends made a cool chandelier that has an audio component when it is rotated.
Tonight in Brooklyn: “Wholetrain” Screening at Closing Party for H. Veng Smith
Tonight at Pandemic they’ll be screening the film “Wholetrain” to close the “Identifiable Reality” show by H. Veng Smith.
“Florian Gaag manages to recount a tale colored by tension and aggression. The result is a many-sided portrait of characters whose world has never been documented in this way before. Their subculture remains authentic and realistic. Edgy editing and grandiloquent camerawork, a pulsating soundtrack and an excellent ensemble of actors, make WHOLETRAIN a film experience not to be missed.” – Wholetrain Website
On the streets of Milan, Italy five artists (Shepard Fairey, Invader, The London Police, Flying Fortress and Rendo) has been invited to create about 20 manhole covers.
Carmichael’s first show of the year “After the Rain” featuring new work by Boogie, Guy Denning, Aakash Nihalani, and Pascual Sisto.
5795 Washington Blvd Culver City, CA 90232
January 8 – February 5, 2011
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 8, 2011, 6-8pm
Whoops, “There It Is” at ThinkSpace
“There it Is” at ThinkSpace
‘There It Is’
Featuring new works from three Oakland CA artists:
Brett Amory / Adam Caldwell / Seth Armstrong
(Main Gallery)
Paul Barnes
‘Happy Valley’
(Project Room)
Both exhibits on view: January 8th – January 29th
Opening Reception: Sat, January 8th 7-10PM
Thinkspace Art Gallery
6009 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
(310) 558-3375 | Open Wed. – Sat.
1pm-6pm
or by appointment
contact@thinkspacegallery.com
“Street Degrees of Street” – Abztract Collective
Abztract Collective and Crewest Gallery group show “Street Degrees of Separation”
Opening Reception Jan 2008
CREWEST GALLERY
110 Winston Street
Los Angeles, CA
213 627 8272
BOXI and BANKSY TAKE No. 1 Spots
Here are the Final Results of the Year End 2010 BSA Polls
It was a blast to watch the images jumping positions like a horse race for the last weeks of the year as two BSA Polls were up on the Huffington Post. Thousands of people participated in the voting and we got lots of funny emails, and some varying opinions – and here are the results;
Now that the thumping headache from too many orange sodas on New Year’s Eve is gone, it’s time to regale little Baby 2011 with some eyeball pleasing baubles from sunny Miami. In early December many Street Artists converged upon this city to add to the sparkling traffic of Art Basel and to crush some major wallage.
Of course, not everybody finished their piece in time because there were parties to attend, booties to shake, and pretty things to watch workin’ it on the street. Dust settled and work completed, last week we climbed walls, squeezed through fences, and raced up railroad tracks to catch all the finished pieces for you. In the process we met some barking bulldogs and charming new friends, because Miami is mad friendly yo, and we even got some inside tips on hidden treasure.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
