It’s been an excellent year for Street Art all over the world and we’ve had the pleasure of seeing a lot of great stuff from big names to the anonymous. Eye popping, brain-teasing, challenging, entertaining, aspirational and inspirational – it’s all happening at once. We’ve been walking the streets, meeting the artists, going to shows, curating shows, speaking to audiences, providing walls, and asking questions. It ebbs and flows but never stays the same. With the rise of the Occupy movement this autumn, we’re already seeing an uptick in the number of people taking their messages to the street with a renewed intensity.
Let’s take a look at some of our favorite shots, whether from a rooftop in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a block-long wall in Miami, or the “Art in the Streets” show at LA MoCA. As you sample this eye-candy platter, dig the staccato soundtrack made of sounds culled from Brooklyn’s streets by electro duo Javelin, who spent a day in the Red Hook neighborhood collecting sounds and then mixed them in the back of their car. This is the kind of D.I.Y. ingenuity that is fueling the fire in artists neighborhoods all over the world, with people taking their stories and skills directly to the streets. With Javelin as the perfect auditory partner here’s 90 shots by photographer Jaime Rojo from 2011.
The scenes and scenester included here: 5 Pointz, 907Crew, Sadue, Gen2, Oze108, Droid, Goya, UFO, Aakash Nihalini, No Touching Ground, Aiko, Martha Cooper, Anthony Lister, Boom, INSA, Miami, Primary Flight, LA Freewalls, Los Angeles, Kim West, Kopye, L.E.T., Purth, Lisa Enxing, Baltimore, Banksy, LA MoCA, Barry McGee, Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, Albany Living Walls, Chris Stain, Billy Mode, AD HOC Arts, Chris Uphues, Monster Island, Wynwood Walls, Creepy, Brooklyn Street Art, Jaime Rojo, Steven P. Harrington, Dabs & Myla, How & Nosm, Vhils, Dain, D*Face, ECB, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, EMA, The London Police, Kid Acne, Will Barras, Enzo & Nio, Faile, Bast, Faith 47, Gaia Clown Soldier, General Howe, Hellbent, Herakut, Invader, JA JA, Jaz, Cern, Joe Iurato, Welling Court, John Baldessari, JR, Kenny Scharf, Knitta Please!, LMA Cru, LUDO, Mosstika, ND’A, IRGH, Labrona, Overunder, Nick Walker, NohjColey, Nomade, Occupy Wall Street, Os Gemeos, Veng, Chris, RWK, QRST, Radical!, Rambo, Retna, Gifted, Demon Slayers, Read, Booker, Read More Books, ROA, Shepard Fairey, Shin Shin, Wing, Skewville, Specter, Swampy, Sweet Toof, Swoon, Toofly, Various & Gould, VHILS, XAM, YOK, Pantheon Projects
1. Last Day to Enter “BSA Holiday Giveaway”
2. “Tokyo Tattoo 1970” Martha Cooper and Aiko in Brooklyn
3. Robots Will Kill & Friends Tonight in Brooklyn
4. Photographer Birdman Show tonight in Los Angeles
5. C215 at Shooting Gallery (SF)
6. Geoff Hargadon “Dealers Protected” (Boston)
7. GAIA Saturday @ Irvine Contemporary (DC)
8. “Home For The Holidays” group show at Klughaus Gallery
9. DD$ show “Everything Popular is Wrong” at Lab Art
10. Nick Walker’s Large Mural, “See No Evil”, in Bristol (VIDEO)
11. The Installation of David Byrne’s Giant Globe under the High Line in NYC (VIDEO)
Last Day to Enter “BSA Holiday Giveaway”
Folks today is the last day we are accepting submissions for our Holiday Giveaway Contest “12 Wishes for 2012”. Hurry! The prizes are great plus you can be featured on BSA along some great artists working today on the streets.
“Tokyo Tattoo 1970” Martha Cooper and Aiko in Brooklyn
Tonight at Urban Folk Art Gallery/Brooklyn Tattoo, a dual show of photographer and artist and friends.
Martha Cooper will be exhibiting photos from her book, and Aiko, internationally renowned stencil artist will be displaying work inspired by Martha’s work directly related to the book.
For Further information regarding this show click here
Robots Will Kill & Friends Tonight in Brooklyn
Mighty Tanaka ‘s new show “ROBOTS WILL KILL & FRIENDS” brings together an eclectic group of artist from different disciplines. The gallery is also celebrating 2 years.
For further information regarding this show click here
Photographer Birdman Show tonight in Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, esteemed photographer and BSA collaborator Bryan Mier AKA Birdman’s show “Wish You Were Here” opens today at Novel Cafe. Wish we were there!
Birdman’s exhibition, “Wish You Were Here,” will feature his adventures in the art world. Including shots on roof tops, night sessions and rare images of artists up close working on murals.
For further information regarding this show click here
C215 at Shooting Gallery (SF)
French Artist C215 new solo show “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” opens on Saturday at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco.
Christian Guémy, also known as C215, is a Parisian street artist known for his intensely emotive stencil portraits. C215 began painting six years ago, and has since brought his work all over the world, from New Dehli to Istanbul.
For further information regarding this show click here
Geoff Hargadon “Dealers Protected” (Boston)
Geoff Hargadon invites you to the reception of his solo show “Dealers Protected” on Saturday at the Gallery Kayafas in Boston.
For further information regarding this show click here
Also Happening this weekend:
“Home For The Holidays” A group show that includes works by Faust, Moody and Katsu among other artists at the Klughaus Gallery in Manhattan. Click here for more details.
DD$ show “Everything Popular is Wrong” at Lab Art in Los Angeles. Click here for more details.
Nick Walker’s Large Mural, “See No Evil”, in Bristol (VIDEO)
The Installation of David Byrne’s Giant Globe under the High Line in NYC (VIDEO)
Mc Fitti – Strap on Traumschiff (VIDEO)
Have no idea what he is rapping about but there are some sick tricks here.
Still burping from those last hors d’oeuvres that you dumped in your backpack at the chic opening we went to at the regular Art Basel last night? God, what was that? Anchovy paste or snot on a cracker? Pass me that pizza box please, I think I left a crust in there. Come on, let’s get outside to the street and find some coffee and we’ve got to see who’s putting new stuff up this afternoon.
Photographers Mike Pearce and Kendra Heisler are on the ground in Miami documenting the happenings and sending updates.
Miami is basically “South Brooklyn” starting right about now, minus the bagels, the B62 bus, and the compulsive habit of cutting you off mid-sentence. Artists, galleries, fans, party girls and boys, djs, – they all head south the first few days of December for the big fair and all the little ones.
It already seems a little quieter here because Fountain took the weirdos, Wynwood Walls took the Soho softshoes, and The Underbelly collected the hardcore characters just long enough to sign a book and scarf some pizza before looking for a tunnel somewhere. Art Basel is a feast and the draw of Street Art and graffiti continues apace this year, with entrants from all the strata looking for a wall, and maybe a party, and a honey to go skinny dip with.
We picked a few Street Art related gems here that you might want to hit, but even if you show up in Miami this week with no plans, you’ll easily find some trouble to get into, we trust. Do your best.
After a full year underground, The Underbelly Project is coming to Miami during Art Basel. A pop up gallery, the show will feature original artwork from many of the 103 international artists who participated in the hidden subway project in New York. The exhibition will feature a video piece of multiple installations happening simultaneously, as well as new pieces by many of the artists. Additionally a book signing of the first volume to come out about the project, published by Rizzoli, will take place on December 2nd. Artists participating in the signing include: Dabs & Myla, Rone, Gaia, Lister, Eric Haze, Joe Iurato, Adam Feibleman, Know Hope, Jeff Stark, Jason Eppink, Jim and Tina Darling, The London Police, Dan Witz, Specter, Surge and other surprise artists.
Included in the show are street, graffiti and fine artists alike. The full line-up includes: Faile, Dabs & Myla, TrustoCorp, Aiko, Rone, Revok, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Mark Jenkins, Anthony Lister, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, M-City, Kid Zoom, Eric Haze, Saber, Meggs, Jim & Tina Darling, The London Police, Sheone, Skewville, Jeff Stark, Jordan Seiler, Jason Eppink and I AM, Dan Witz, Specter, Ripo, MoMo, Remi/Rough, Stormie Mills, Swoon, Know Hope, Skullphone, L’Atlas, Roa, Surge, Gaia, Michael De Feo, Joe Iurato, Love Me, Adam 5100, and Chris Stain.
THE UNDERBELLY SHOW 29 November – Press Preview 5pm/ Private View 7pm 30 November – Collector’s Preview 7pm 1 December – Secret Wars US vs. UK 6pm 2 December – General Opening 5pm and Artist Book Signing 6pm
The show will take place in the heart of Wynwood at 78NW 25th Street
SCOPE
Jonathan Levine Gallery At Scope with WK Interact, Aakash Nihilani, Olek, and Jason DeCaires Taylor
“Placing a focus on public art for this program, the gallery will present a series of works that highlight a diverse range of distinct styles, cultural perspectives and unconventional mediums. Each of the four artists selected represent fresh directions in creating work in public space through their innovative vision and inventive use of materials. Photography documenting their interventional imagery, sculpture, and performances convey the transformative effect their work has on its surrounding
White Walls will be hosting four booths at SCOPE, situated in the center of Miami’s Wynwood Gallery Arts District, featuring a MTN Colors Group show with APEX, Neon, Estria, Vogue, Blek le Rat, HUSH, Kofie and Chor Boogie, a White Walls Group show with Casey Gray, Ben Eine and Greg Gossel, and solo shows for both ABOVE and ROA. APEX, Eine, Kofie, ABOVE, ROA and Chor Boogie will also be painting at the Kohn compound on 24th street.
For a full listing of exhibitors and events click here SCOPE
Wynwood Walls
Wynwood Walls is premiering 7 new Street Art murals and 16 new pieces at Wynwood Doors and walls outside.
Debuting in tandem with the new murals and installations during Art Basel this year on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, the “Shop at the Walls” the first Wynwood Walls Pop Up gallery space that will offer artworks and the new Wynwood Walls book.The book has interview with Street Artists and photography by Martha Cooper.
Artists include Retna, The Date Farmers, How and Nosm, Gaia (USA), Saner and Sego (Mexico), Liqen (Spain), Neuzz (Mexico), Nunca (Brazil), Vhils (Portugal), Interesni Kazki (Ukraine), Faile (USA) and b. (Greece). Kenny Scharf is expected to augment his existing wall, and remaining work from the last two years from Nunca, Shepard Fairey, Aiko, Ryan McGinness, Stelios Faitakis and avaf will be on display.
Walls Outside the Wynwood Walls, encompassing key locations outside of the actual art park itself and in the surrounding neighborhood, will be created by Friends With You (USA), avaf (Brazil and France), Nunca, and Interesni Kazki (Ukraine); joining works previously completed by Swoon and Barry McGee.
Location:
Wynwood Walls and the Pop Up Shop are located at NW Second Avenue – between Joey’s Italian Café on 25th Street and the art-filled Wynwood Kitchen & Bar on 26th Street – and are open to the public free of charge.
HERE COMES THE NEIGHBORHOOD: WYNWOOD (Video)
Fountain Art Fair
“Our preferred punk rock lopsided Anti-Fair.” —Brooklyn Street Art
This year Fountain Miami’s signature on-site street art installation is curated by Samson Contompasis, director of Albany’s The Marketplace, and will feature over 150 feet of work Street Artists including Sharktoof, Chris Stain, Olek, Hugh Leeman, Chor Boogie, OverUnder, White Cocoa, Army of One, Clown Soldier, Joe Iurato, CAKE, Tip-Toe, Elle, Ian Ross, Know Hope, Depoe, and Zero Cents.
Brooklyn’s own Mighty Tanaka Gallery is showing at Fountain Participating artists include: Adam Void, Alexandra Pacula, Alice Mizrachi, ChrisRWK, Ellen Stagg, Gigi Chen, Hellbent, Hiroshi Kumagai, JMR, John Breiner, Max Greis, Mike Schreiber, Robbie Busch, Skewville, TooFly, URnewyork, VengRWK & Miguel Ovalle
December 1–4, 2011 2505 North Miami Avenue (at the corner of 25th St) | Miami, FL 33137 General Hours: 12pm–7pm daily Tickets: $10 daily / $15 weekend pass. All tickets sold at door.
Primary Projects
A new exhibit debuting during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011
Thursday, December 1
Opening Reception
7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
RETNA, Jessy NITE, Stormie MILLS, Evan ROBARTS, Lena SCHMIDT, Luis PINTO, Andrew SCHOULTZ, Karen STAROSTA-GILINSKI, Kenton PARKER, TM SISTERS, Samantha SALZINGER, Emmette MOORE, Anthony LISTER, Charles KRAFFT, Tatiana SUAREZ, Edouard NARDON, Andrew NIGON, Johnny ROBLES and Lawrence GIPE.
Primary Projects
4141 NE Second Avenue
Suite 104
Miami, FL 33137
Living Walls is working with with Primary Flight, one of the original graffiti and Street Art mural projects, to create 3 new murals in the Wynwood District.
Here in New York everybody is still out kickin around the streets because the weather is warm and to welcome the oceanic flood of tourists who are here to see the big parade, the Rockettes, The Book of Mormon, and to buy fake Louis Vuitton bags on Canal Street. After Thanksgiving, it’s a tradition that we get mobbed by shoppers from all over the place, and it’s a tradition to complain about slow moving wide people in sweatpants slowing us down, even though secretly we’re happy to see cousin Bruce and Aunt Ida again. Also, if you slow down a little, you might even see some new Street Art and appreciate it.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Anthony Lister, Betten, CID, Dr. Za, Erik Berglin, Jaye Moon, Leidy, OverUnder, Phil, RWK, Sise, Veng, and Willow.
1. Occupy Wall Street This Weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Repeat)
2. The London Police at Opera Gallery
3. “Fresh Kills” Anonymous Gallery Opens in Mexico City
4. “Groundbreak” behind CBGB’s in the Alley Tomorrow
5. “Paperboys” at Pandemic Saturday (BK)
6. POSE and KC Ortiz show “White Wash” at Known Gallery
7. Sixeart at N2 Galeria in Barcelona, Spain
8. “Dissidents” A group show at West Berlin Gallery
9. “SelfEst” at Kind of – Gallery.
10. Bask solo show “Box of Fun” at William Rupnik Gallery
11. VIDEO PREMIERE! TEEBS by Brock Brake in Chicago
12. JM Rizzi “Day Dreaming Under Streetlights” (VIDEO)
13. Nuria Mora”2 Estrellas” (VIDEO)
14. New from Snyder : “Carlsbad Toreador” (VIDEO)
Occupy Wall Street This Weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Repeat)
Yesterday was the two month mark for this nascent people’s movement and the signs on the Street are bigger and clearer than ever. One of our new favorites is the addition of projection art, which has a powerful effect on the facade of iconic architectural structures, or non-descript ones. Dedicated projection art on the street simply takes a graphic, a hand truck, a projector, and a car battery. It is also non-damaging to property. In these new days of unbridled creativity set free on the street, you can’t beat a good D.I.Y. idea. Look ma, no cans!
“Who Cares Wins” opens to the public today, minus the Dandy Warhols singing songs about dogs like they did last night at the opening. The large show solidifies TLP’s place in Manhattan and the technical tightness belies a deep belief in the power of the fun, friendship, graffiti, architecture, and the imagination. Arrive in a playful mood and you’ll dig it.
“Fresh Kills” Anonymous Gallery Opens in Mexico City
A downtown staple of inquisitive exploration, Anonymous Gallery is opening “Fresh Kills”, a group exhibition today in D.F., featuring their customary mixing of artists to create an ever more potent cocktail. The organizing principal for this show is the huge dump we have on Staten Island that will one day be a beautiful park for dogs to catch frisbees and teenagers to smoke pot in. NO LITTERING!
Artists include Richard Prince, Tom Sachs, Aaron Young, Agathe Snow, Hanna Liden,Swoon, Barry McGee, David Ellis, and Greg Lamarche.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Groundbreak” behind CBGB’s in the Alley Tomorrow
Curated by Joyce Manalo of ArtForward & Keith Schweitzer of MaNY Project, this outdoor small group show will be waiting for you to come by tomorrow. Featured are Abe Lincoln Jr., Ellis Gallagher, and Jon Burgerman, who doodled the hell out of the sidewalk this week, bless him.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Paperboys” at Pandemic Saturday (BK)
Okay, time to haul out to the south side of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Saturday night. With this show, you are at an epicenter for a solid new direction Street Art is going to. Wouldn’t want to be so bold to say “don’t miss it”, but…
Featured will be brand new work by ND’A, Labrona and Overunder.
“Most of my contributions are gouache pieces referencing some of my favorite paintings and places. I feel so fortunate for being able to travel and paint so much the last 2 years. It has really been a blessing! But now I’ve begun sourcing all those past images and street pieces for this new body of work where I can combine the architecture features, the figurative wheat pastes, and the paper bird phrases. It’s been a real reflective period, which I think is beneficial for people like me that are constantly churning out work (whether good or bad) so that I can now begin to see it with fresh eyes.” ~ Overunder
Also happening this weekend:
POSE and KC Ortiz show “White Wash” at Known Gallery in Los Angeles. Click here for more information.
Sixeart at N2 Galeria in Barcelona, Spain. Click here for more information.
“Dissidents” A group show at West Berlin Gallery in Berlin, Germany. Click here for more information.
“SelfEst” at Kind of – Gallery. A group art event. Sydney, Australia. Click here for more information.
Bask solo show “Box of Fun” at William Rupnik Gallery in Cleveland, OH. Click here for more information.
VIDEO PREMIERE! TEEBS by Brock Brake in Chicago
BSA Video debut of Photographer and BSA collaborator Brock Brake of artist Teebs who was recently in Chicago for his solo show at Pawn Works Gallery.
Brock Brake “Black Book”
JM Rizzi “Day Dreaming Under Streetlights” (VIDEO)
Pandemic Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of:
Paperboys
featuring the artwork of:
OVERUNDER / LABRONA / ND’A
Opening Reception: Saturday, Nov. 19th 7-11pm
show runs through Sun. Dec. 11th
Join us on Sat. Nov. 19th for the opening of “PAPERBOYS”. An exhibition featuring new works by the artists & collaborators Labrona, OverUnder and ND’A. Each artist is known for their free and spontaneous styles when painting outdoors, where you may wander upon ND’A’s large, cartoonish murals in Bushwick or catch one of Labrona’s Mona Lisa-esque portraits and OverUnder’s birds as they fly by you on the side of a Trans American freight. Yet it is when these friends put their paint to paper & canvas that they have the luxury of time to fully develop and explore the themes and influences that have launched their work to international notoriety. For Paperboys, Labrona experiments with new spray painting techniques and layering to achieve looks that transmute between impressionistic, almost abstract forms to his colorfully combined take on surreal realism. In OverUnder’s gouache on butcher paper paintings, he invites the viewer on a tour of his favorite painting spots as he re-visits & re-creates a year spent in almost perpetual motion. ND’A works with bold black lines and sloppy, joyful fills to playfully analyze and critique his transition from street artist into a gallery ready painter. Though their mediums, styles and influences may differ, this trio of artists is brought together by an enduring love for creating art for art’s sake that has propelled them into a shared lifestyle of artistic freedom, transcending the limitations of lives more ordinary.
Overunder stays after class at “Living Walls” and gets extra credit
Street Artist Overunder just completed his astounding tiled installation this weekend in Albany on the wall of L’esperance Tile Works, a local tile maker with a special 1920s “dust press” that the artist also worked into the piece. For an artist with such a fluid and freewheeling figurative style with a spray can, it is surprising to see it interpreted with such permanence and cogitative consideration. As part of “Living Walls : Albany”, Overunder had already smashed a few walls around the city in the weeks leading up to this opportunity, but after touring the small tile press facility with co-owner Donald Shore, he fell in love with the idea of tiles as medium. “A lot of these tiles were in the backyard up north at our other facility – he and White Cocoa were standing in the pouring rain digging through these boxes of discards and overruns and he brought these back with him,” explains Shore.
“I think collaboration is a huge part of being an artist. That being said, I was excited when I learned I was doing a mural on a tile manufacturers building. I had never used tile for a mural let alone doing a full out mosaic but now the opportunity was right in front of me. Don was more than willing to teach me as I went and I was more than willing to experiment with this crazy, new medium, ” says Overunder.
“I particularly like the way he’s marking the tiles with his spray can for us to cut,” says Shore, who owns the business with his wife and founder, Linda Ellett.
With assistance from a number of young helpers who live in the neighborhood, the project took a little more than a week to complete, and the results take his stuff to a new level. With a patterned face like an Alexander McQueen model, the figure’s limbs get added dimension with Overunder’s mastery of the can. Small details let you know you shouldn’t be too serious about this, like the painted toenails. As the materials are all discards and overruns from other projects, it’s interesting to note that a number of these same tiles are actually in buildings right now, including the Kol Isreal Synagogue designed by Robert Stern in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, the Lt. Governors building in Albany, and even the home of Bill Gates.
“The patterned tiles are created using the encaustic method – an inlaid clay where you take a plaster impression using clay and it leaves a reservoir that you fill with different colors and you plain it smooth and it gives you a very nice two dimensional image — that’s a technique we believe was developed in the medieval period and it was reindustrialized in the 1860’s,” explained the enthusiastic as he gave us a tour of the mural while Overunder and his assistants Roberto and Messiah worked.
It’s not often that Street Art has this heft, and certainly it’s pretty rare to take this much time to complete a piece and manage to include the participation of the community at this level. In fact, certain arts critics and public arts academics might want to reclassify this work as something other than Street Art, but we grant wide berth to the term. One thing is for sure, the resulting piece is no less than a tribute to everyone involved and as a business owner in Albany during the first year of Living Walls, Mr. Shore is sold, “I totally support this thing”
This weekend in Albany very important Street Art presentations were made at the New York State Museum during “Living Walls: Albany”, including one from Street Art duo Broken Crow, pictured here in custom made aluminum foil head gear that reflected light rays all around the Clark Auditorium.
There were so many moving parts in this large and easy going cultural festival this weekend, and we were really happy to meet so many people in the street, at the Marketplace encampment, in St. Joseph’s Church, at the tile factory, and during our keynote lecture at the New York State Museum Saturday. Thanks to Samson Contompasis for asking BSA to partner with him for LWAlbany and a quick shout out to other local partners James Shultis at Grand Street Community Arts, Sivan Shimoni, the staff at NYS Museum, and local blogger KC Orcutt at KeepAlbanyBoring.com along with photographers Andrew Franciosa, Bob Anderson, MC3, Frank Whitney, and Ken Jacobie. Also big ups to Monica Compana, who c0-spearheaded Living Walls Atlanta, which we covered a lot when it began last year. For all the locals mentioned, they are just the tip of the iceberg of a large committed creative and professional community in the Upstate New York region who helped to pull this thing off with almost zero dollars and tons of planning and hustling. For the first year, it is/was a major achievement.
Of course our main focus is always the Street Artists and the creative spirit that is alive and well on the streets so it was a total honor to see the artists and see brand new stuff going up, like the last one before catching a train last night – Broken Crow’s ram under a bridge. There are still some pieces being finished by NohJColey, Clown Soldier, Doodles, and one we missed from Michael DeFeo. Also coming up should be Hellbent and possibly some other artists this fall, so we’ll get back to you on that. Not all these pics are from Living Walls : Albany by the way — when you are combing the streets you find all kinds of stuff you didn’t expect.
For the last 10 months this initiative to bring Street Art and public art to the forefront of the conversation in New York’s capital has been a boon to discourse, unusual during a period of retrenchment and an ongoing financial crises that is rocking every segment of society in the US. After years of incremental cuts to arts programming in public schools and cultural institutions at every level, it is a perfect opportunity for artists to re-assert their voices as this Street Art movement continues to evolve and develop in an organic way. Ironically this scene with roots in graffiti has shape-shifted and its emergence looks like a democratic movement, messily yet constructively filling a creative void for this new generation while the budgetary axes continue to fall around them.
As Street Artists have been installing their new works on walls around Albany these past 10 days or so, the common story one witnesses is the level of engagement of adults and kids stopping on the sidewalk, in their cars, watching the process, photographing and discussing the art, and exploring the creative process. Some folks have even become assistants to the artists, creating a sense of ownership, and yes, community. There is obviously more to this evolving story, and we’ll continue to track it.
Below are photos from photographer Jaime Rojo to give you an idea of the wealth of creativity that is alive in Albany at the moment. And we commence with our weekly interview with the street this week featuring Broken Crow, Chris Stain, Gaia, How and Nosm, Joe Iurato, LNY, Nanook, ND’A, NohJColey, OverUnder, Radical! ROA, Shin Shin, and Wing. First, we go to church with Joe Iurato.
Industry! The city of Albany is percolating with painters and wheat-pasters on walls all over the place as “Living Walls : Albany” is in full effect, causing people in neighborhoods to stop and talk and discuss the works that are happening before their eyes. Here are a couple in-progress scenes with German twins How & Nosm on a lift beginning their new mural Friday afternoon after arriving from Miami, where they completed new work for Wynwood Walls. Also we were excited to have spent some time seeing OverUnder working with a local tile maker and two new assistants from the neighborhood mixing up mortar and slapping those newly cut tiles to the wall. So much industry, so much excitement, and so many one way streets – including the one which earned us an interview with the police and a fancy new traffic ticket! It’s never a dull moment with the Street Art scene, but you can always be assured of a good show.
Overunder is a firecracker. From my initial participation in witnessing the Living Walls unfold in Albany, he has been nothing but a friendly and tireless ball of creative energy (in the best way possible) showing me parts of the city I grew up in that I didn’t even know existed on Google maps of places he’s been exploring. As a first time visitor adapting to the town, we joked about him about being able to give directions better than I, myself, could as a local.
Overunder has work installed currently at the Marketplace Gallery and his pieces have been sprinkled throughout Albany, such as one gem tucked away in the South End sharing a building with Broken Crow. His portraits are as engaging as the quirky characteristics of each building or wall themselves, picking up on elements of the city (such as painting people that he’s met during his stay here) and his attention to detail in his work brings out new characteristic aspects of walls that otherwise would have continued to blend in unnoticed with the city’s surroundings.
Overunder’s pieces are as conversational as the artist himself and his work has breathed fresh air into these community spaces. Just judging off of our several conversations over the past week, I’d say it’s a safe bet to make that he has more tricks up his sleeve and more work will surface as the weekend draws closer.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
