All posts tagged: Ozmo

BSA Film Friday: 03.05.21

BSA Film Friday: 03.05.21

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

Now screening participants at Festival Asalto 2020:
1. FAITH XLVIII 410 BC – 340 BC
2. Ozmo / “La visión de Tondalo” via Urban Art Field
3. SOFLES / Geometric

BSA Special Feature: FAITH XLVIII 410 BC – 340 BC

You knew FAITH XLVIII was OG, but did you imagine she dipped back to the 4th century? In this newly unveiled clandestine scene, the South African street artist paints among the decay in Lexington.

She says it is part of her “7.83Hz Series”

FAITH XLVIII 410 BC – 340 BC, Lexington, Kentucky


Ozmo / “La visión de Tondalo” via Urban Art Field

Ozmo in Turin finds inspiration here from a Renaissance panel from the Bosch school and interprets it for Urban Art Field. In it, we find the journey of a dreamer in hell beneath the power of the Mole Antonelliana, the major landmark building that serves as a symbol of Turin.


SOFLES / Geometric

Professor Sofles takes us to school again with this brand new 3D-style graffiti piece he painted in a gym. He says he took inspiration from the interior wall design and climbing equipment.

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Göla Finding Direction with a Deer God for Viavai Project in Italy

Göla Finding Direction with a Deer God for Viavai Project in Italy

By way of re-balancing our chakras today, we check in with Göla and his new mural of the Deer God for the Viavai Project in Salento, Italy.

Along with Street Artists like Pastel, Ozmo, Eversiempre, CT, Basic, and Tellas, the festival takes the position that art in public spaces can shift the center of gravity away from the typical hype of a “scene” and focus instead upon the experiential aspects of art as a living thing and even an emotional one.

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Göla (or Gola Hundun). Viavai Project. Racale, Salento. Italy. July 2014. (photo © Matteo Bandiello)

Göla tells us that his new piece is centered on an amiable antlered diety as a “symbol of the rebirth of nature and the cycle of the seasons studied since Paleolithic cultures, described here through vegetal elements and reflected as an oracle and a mouthpiece of behaviors.”

The name of the new piece is “Direzione” (direction) which he says, “speaks about coexistence of man and other species and creating a sustainable path forward.” Conceived as a sacred apparition, it uses symmetrical and metaphorical symbols in a way that echoes more established conventions of religious art.

While the street artist and performer describes his new work you may wonder how the allegories contained within it about resources, sharing, giving, receiving and communion with nature could ever be achieved. He admits that these are long time aspirational goals that people have had for centuries and he obviously believes that they are still worthwhile to contemplate. He speaks of the rising path in the image that is “guided by the light purple color of meditation and spirituality to a new conception of the planet that is in reality nothing more than a new-found understanding of the ancient tribal societies – married by advances current technology.”

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Gola Hundun. Viavai Project. Racale, Salento. Italy. July 2014. (photo © Matteo Bandiello)

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Gola Hundun. Detail. Viavai Project. Racale, Salento. Italy. July 2014. (photo © Vincenzo Basile)

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Gola Hundun. Detail. Viavai Project. Racale, Salento. Italy. July 2014. (photo © Vincenzo Basile)

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Gola Hundun. Detail. Viavai Project. Racale, Salento. Italy. July 2014. (photo © Vincenzo Basile)

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Gola Hundun. Viavai Project. Racale, Salento. Italy. July 2014. (photo © Vincenzo Basile)

 

Click HERE for more on the Viavai Project

Click HERE for more on Gola Hundun’s work.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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GAIA :  New Mural Work in Greenville, Atlanta, Detroit

GAIA : New Mural Work in Greenville, Atlanta, Detroit

The traveling Street Artist and historian / student / observer / critic of urban planning, anthropology, people’s movements who goes by the moniker GAIA shares with us today some of the back stories for recent  murals he has authored.

When he posts on his Facebook page that he is looking for recommendations for reading about a certain city or culture where he will be soon visiting, you can have a degree of certainty that GAIA will soon be depicting what he learns with portraiture and dioramic imagery that illustrates what he has found. This fascination for self-education and public education through public artworks has roots in mural history that has persisted for decades in cities and neighborhoods around the world.

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Gaia “City of Altruism”. Detail. Greenville, NC. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

Typically public murals are stories told from a formal city or town historical perspective or come about from the distilled sentiment of a community to address or commemorate pivotal people and events that formed and molded the direction or DNA of a population.  With Gaia’s personal study, criterion for selection, and style of storytelling one wonders if there is not a GAIA school of mural making that has been evolving over these last five years – one that already appears to have adherents and enthusiastic co-creators – and which reflects his focus on social movements, political machinations, industry, economic drivers, and anthropology.

Here are recent examples of work by Gaia and collaborators in three American cities (although his work is not limited to just this continent) along with some explanatory text from the artist to help contextualize the stories and players evoked within them.

“City of Altruism” – Greenville, North Carolina

Part of #yearofaltruism, the mural features the warped images of four mills that have been repurposed or are slated for renovation and that flow through the Reedy River falls. Previously sites of industry and working class employment that are now used for shopping, upper-income lofts, and entertainment culture, these mills are part of a local heritage that GAIA wanted to preserve.

“Global competition restructures the lives of working class and white collar communities as the South meets the 21st century,” he explains as he describes the new piece. “The calla lilies are a nod to the Bible-minded nature of Greenville; the flowers represent purity yet are also poisonous. These are paired with the tumbling red brick of change and destruction. A single story brick duplex emerges out of the top left of the composition with the phrases “Webster Street” and “Phillis Wheatley” as a memorial to the African American neighborhood that has been erased from this area.”

Gaia would like to thank The Year Of Altruism Foundation for including him in their programming and for inviting him to Greenville, with special thanks to Steve Cohen and Don Kliburg for orchestrating the project. 

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Gaia “City of Altruism” Greenville, NC. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

“Boundary” – Atlanta, Georgia

GAIA in collaboration with artists Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil created these three warped Bierstadt paintings that fade into images of Mayor Hartsfield and of H. Rap Brown in the bottom corner. The project was completed for Living Walls, the City Speaks in the city’s West End, which GAIA describes as “an industrial neighborhood that is used as a buffer with the construction of Interstate 20 to prevent Mechanicsville and Pittsburgh from encroaching further north into the downtown and the Mosley Park areas.”

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Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Process shot. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

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Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Detail. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

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Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Detail. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

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Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

The Murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit, Michigan

The primary focus of the elongated piece is a memorial to #VincentChin who, observes GAIA, “passed in 1982 in an altercation that possessed attributes of a hate crime and whose perpetrators who were given lenient sentencing in a plea bargain.”

With that image as the central one, GAIA combines images of leaders whose careers directly or indirectly could be tied to that event, he says.  He describes the mural like this: “Painting post war economic miracles as a portrait of global competition that led to layoffs in Detroit and fueled the frustration and xenophobia behind Vincent Chin’s murder”.

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Gaia. Memorial to Vincent Chin. Process shot. Detroit. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

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Gaia. Memorial to Vincent Chin. Process shot. Detroit. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

Here are the other players in the mural, as described by GAIA;

“Wirtschaftswunder” Ludwig Erhard was a German politician notable for his role in Germany’s robust post war recovery.

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Gaia. Memorial to Vincent Chin. Process shot. Detroit. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

Sun Yun-suan (Chinese: 孫運璿; pinyin: Sūn Yùnxuán; November 11, 1913 – February 15, 2006) was a Chinese engineer and politician. As minister of economic affairs from 1969 to 1978 and Premier of the Republic of China from 1978 to 1984, he was credited for overseeing the transformation of Taiwan from being a mainly agricultural economy to an export powerhouse.

Hayato Ikeda (池田 勇人 Ikeda Hayato?, 3 December 1899 – 13 August 1965) was a Japanese politician and the 58th, 59th and 60th Prime Minister of Japan from 19 July 1960 to 9 November 1964. Takafusa Nakamura, a leading economic historian, described Ikeda as “the single most important figure in Japan’s rapid growth. He should long be remembered as the man who pulled together a national consensus for economic growth.”

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Gaia. Memorial to Vincent Chin. Detroit. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

 

 

 

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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BSA Images Of The Week: 06.29.14

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.29.14

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Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alice Pasquini, Boy Kong, El Topo, Flood, Foxx Face, GSC, Kaffeine, Li-Hil, LMNOPI, Myth, NTC Cru, Olek, Ozmo, Texas, Gane, TV With Cheese, and Versus.

Top Image >> Snowden at 5Pointz.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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OLEK “Believe the Magic” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Kaffeine for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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MYTH (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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OZMO for The L.I.S.A. Project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Texas & Gane are names you’ll usually see in Philly. Interesting incorporation of the attenuated lettering you may associate with extinguishers here rendered solid and with a drop shadow.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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TV With Cheese (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Versus does Saddam Hussein (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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And Versus paints Yasser Arafat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Foxx Face. One of his 17 plates installed in Little Italy for The L.I.S.A. Project. The artist took his inspiration from photographs of Italian immigrants whom he researched at the Italian American Museum in Little Italy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Foxx Face. One more plate for The L.I.S.A. Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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El Topo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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NTC Cru (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Flood (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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In NYC the streets are paved with gold…yup. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Boy Kong (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Alice Pasquini for The L.I.S.A. Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Brooklyn, NYC. June 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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BSA Images Of The Week: 06.22.14

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.22.14

 

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It’s not all going to the dogs, peeps – it just looks like it sometimes. We start this week with a ferocious one from Zimer, and follow it by a chihuahua that it could probably eat for lunch. Dog eat dog, yo.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring ACNE, City Kitty, Crummy Gummy, EC13, Ema, FAS, Hitnes, Insurgency Inc., Irony and Boe, Kid Acne, Lajaxx, Myth, Not Art, Ozmo, Peter Kirill, Specter, and Zimer.

Top Image >> Zimer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Irony and Boe Collaboration in East London, UK. June 2014 (photo © Gary Hunter)

Commentary from Gary Hunter, who sent this big dog from London:

“The chihuahua is partly a comment on changing demographic due to development overspilling from the spreading consumerism of nearby financial district Canary Wharf. Located just north of the Isle of ‘Dogs’ in East London the piece is facing ‘Barking’ a town in Essex, just by the A13 a main road in and out of London.

There also used to be a very big Spratt’s (a manufacturer originally from Cincinnati, Ohio) dog biscuit factory nearby, now warehouse apartment conversions. I photographed the ‘model’ (coincidentally called Hunter and owned by London artist Cate Halpin) in great detail in my studio on a very high end Hasselblad digital camera, to bring out every aspect. Irony and Boe then transposed it brick by brick for their painted artwork.

This work is part of ‘Changing Spaces’ a a community cohesion project in east London’s Tower Hamlet’s district, one of the city’s most deprived, yet diverse boroughs – facilitating understanding of the immediate environment, important history, trade and migration.” – GH

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FAS. Please help ID the rest of the tags. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Not Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Pete Kirill tribute to the great Sophia Loren. (photo © Cesar Miesses)

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Artists Unknown. Save the elephants! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter and Ozmo collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Lajaxx (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Insurgency Inc (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Crummy Gummy. In Los Angeles, CA. “I’m a big fan of H.R. Giger and this piece actually made me a little sad. But I thought it was a cool way to reference his passing” Lisa V (photo © Lisa V)

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ACNE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Hitnes wanted to create the perfect shade of color to highlight the eye of the bunny for the piece he did on a roof top in East Williasmburg this week. Here is how it all began…this plus a little water. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Hitnes. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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EC13 New tile installation in Granada, Spain. June 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Kid Acne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Kid Acne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Kid Acne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Acne and Ema are from England and they are visiting NYC and wasting no time on the streets. At the same time they have been showing a very poor judgment with the placing of their pieces by going over many writer’s tags. We like them both but are surprised by their selection of places to wheat paste their art since they are not new to the streets of New York, indeed we might say that they are even veterans of the streets of NYC given this we think they should know better.

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Ema (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ema (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ema (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Summer 2014, Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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OWB2 : Open Walls Baltimore 2 Winding Up (VIDEO)

OWB2 : Open Walls Baltimore 2 Winding Up (VIDEO)

Two years after Baltimore opened its walls to Street Art, the street artist Gaia has again summoned artists this spring and summer to regale walls with murals throughout the up and coming neighborhood it was meant to help develop and revitalize, the Station North Arts & Entertainment District. From March through June this year fifteen artists from hometown Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Europe and South America were slated to come through and hit big walls.

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Escif. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

With the majority of the original works still remaining from the first phase, the new walls OWB2 were scheduled for Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez, Betsy Casanas, El Decerter, ECB, Escif, Gaia, LNY, Logan Hicks, Santtu Mustonen, Nanook, Ozmo, D’Metrius (DJ) Rice, Ernest Shaw Jr., Katey Truhn & Jessie Unterhalter, Zbiok, and the Urban Playground Team.

Thematically derived in many cases from local history and figures and culture, the publicly/privately funded mural program is complemented by a series of free performances and workshops throughout the duration of this year’s installations.

Here are some recent images of walls being completed thanks to Martha Cooper and M Holden Warren. Back in April we also published a selection of images from OWB from photographer Geoff Hargadon.

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Escif. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

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Santtu. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

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Santtu. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

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Gaia. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

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Gaia. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

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Ozmo. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

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Ozmo. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

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Nanook. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

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Nanook. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo courtesy © OWB)

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Logan Hicks. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

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Logan Hicks. Open Walls Baltimore 2014 (photo © M Holden Warren)

 

 

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New Shots from Open Walls Baltimore 2

New Shots from Open Walls Baltimore 2

Open Walls Baltimore 2 has begun and only a few pieces have been completed but we thought you’d like to take a look, courtesy photographer and BSA Contributor Geoff Hargadon, who was tooling around one afternoon.

This spring Baltimore will be hosting a list that includes Zbiok, Anttu Mustonen, Ozmo, Nanook, Logan Hicks, Lesser Gonzalez, LNY, El Decertor, ECB, D’metrius Rice, Ernest Shaw, Escif, Gaia, Jessie and Katey, and Betsy Casanas.

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Gaia (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Clearly! Baltimore (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Nether at work on his wall. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Nether. Detail. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Santtu Mustonen (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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What’s the 911? A police mini-bunker features Open Walls Baltimore 2 posters. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Click HERE to learn more about Open Walls Baltimore 2

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Escape The Golden Cage Art Fair. (Vienna, Austria)

We look forward to welcome you very soon at Palais Kinsky in Vienna!
Grand Opening: Thursday, May 16, 19:30.

Again we selected exciting artists from all over the world
Anthony Lister, Brad Downey, Dan Witz, Ellannah Sadkin (presented by Moniker Art Fair), Faith47 (presented by Moniker Art Fair), Max Wiedemann, Mode 2, Olivier Hölzl LIVIL, Ozmo, Stephen Tompkins, Vermibus (presented by Moniker Art Fair).

http://www.escape-goldencage.com/escape2013/news/

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On The Road With Nanook, Ever, Sten & Lex Through Italy and France

What did you do this summer? We’re starting off the week with a colorful and detailed travelog  from Rosanna Bach, who really gives BSA readers a sense of the experience for Street Artists who go to distant places to create their art on walls for fun and festivals. Thanks to Rosanna as photographer and contributor, here you have an opportunity to spend some time in Italy traveling with Ever, Nanook, Sten & Lex as they go from Rome to Foligno, Italy. She documents their participation for the second edition of Attack Festival and captures the artists working under the scorching sun and in intimate, quiet settings. In this BSA exclusive Rosanna also put in words her summer experiences as she leaves Foligno for Paris where she documented EVER as he participated in Le Mur.

Roma to Foligno. We de-board the train and are about to exit the station when Ever waves me back. Sten is scuttling back and forth in the train like a trapped hamster. We thought he was stuck in there looking for an open door so we wave him over to the open door but he does not get out. He is struck with confusion as different orders fly from different directions. Meanwhile, the passengers are hanging over the windows to see what all the fuss is about.

Mission accomplished; Laptop is retrieved.

Barely begun, this trip already seems promising.

Ever. Roma to Foligno. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Foligno, Italy. This was once called the “Centre of the World” because the Pope had supposedly kept his treasury here in the 15th century. It is certainly a beautiful place, although considerably more modest than its name implies. This is where we would spend the next five days and would be introduced to the “Hurdi Gurdi”. It is also a place where it seems that the solution to every problem was, “Lets go have a coffee”.

Sten & Lex, Nanook, and Ever had been painting together at the Open Walls Festival in Baltimore just a few months back. Three very different artists, from three corners of the world, were here meeting again in the “Centre of the World” for the second ever “Attack Festival”.  Upon arrival we learn that we have arrived early. Two months early!

In September Foligno’s Attack Festival will be graced by the likes of; 108, Andrea Abbatangelo, Achille, Airone,  Bol 23,  Danilo Bucchi, Stefano Canto,  Mario Consiglio, Diamond TTS, Alberto Di Fabio, Ericailcane, Hitnes, Hogre,  JB Rock, Kindergarten,Lucamaleonte, Martina Merlini&Tellas, Roman Minin, Moneyless, Ozmo, Alice Pasquini, Cristiano Petrucci, David Pompili, David Eron Salvadei, Ale Senso, Sten&Lex.

Main Square, Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook, Ever and Sten & Lex check out their new walls. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Sten & Lex. The two Italians have been working together for more then 10 years and are considered kind of the “Mama and Papa of stencil” in Italy where their current style consists of “stencil posters”; large scale wheat pasted portraits that they hand-cut intricate patterns onto. They usually use portraits of strangers, however this piece was of a friend’s brother who had taken his own life.  They will return in September for round two.

Sten & Lex, Foligno, Italy. (photo © Federica Tega)

Sten & Lex, Foligno, Italy. (photo © Federica Tega)

Nanook.  Fairly new to the street art scene (painting large scale for a year or so), he has left his studio that he used to share with “Gaia” back in Baltimore for new adventures in the old-world. He has been recording on paper his plan as he goes (from Berlin to Budapest and now Italy) “I feel so privileged to even be able to paint in this town, with all this history and the beautiful buildings”, he writes.

A calm and humble figure, he is constantly knocking out new sketches, whether using black ink or espresso in his black notebook, leaving no time for siestas. His hunger to learn is energizing; “I would just love to work and learn from an old master like they have here in Italy”.

As his style evolves playing by with realism, abstract lines and shapes, it will be very interesting to see how this young artist grows. In this piece he incorporated the shape of Umbria, the region in which Foligno lies. Now he is a one-way ticket to Buenos Aires. Lets see what happens…

Nanook “Siesta Time”. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Argentine artist Ever creates the most political work out of the three.

It must be a challenge to try and explain yourself in a foreign language that; you are not actually a devoted worshipper of Mao Tse Tung but that you are in fact talking about human contradiction, how in times of crisis people always seem to be convinced that the opposite is the solution. For example, as a result of the current decline of the capitalist system, many are swaying towards the left side of the political spectrum. “We are looking outward into one room. But why don’t we go to another room to find new solutions?” asks Ever.

Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Paint bucket. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook, Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

As passers stopped to comment, Nanook looks frazzled and Ever lets them ramble on for minutes without a clue what they are talking about. “Si si bene bene grazie, bon journi!” he’d reply to them and they’d be on their way.

The language barrier doesn’t seem to faze this one character though. He is here to stay with his beloved Hurdi Gurdi. “We make artistic exchange!” he cries.

The Hurdi Gurdi. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Nanook, Ever. Foligno, Italy. (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Once the 3 x 5 meter mural was finished I was expecting some sort of a scream of joy or something like that, but Ever just said: “I am always dissatisfied with a wall when I finish it. I never like it at first.”

We go from a scorching roadside in Foligno to “Le Mur” beside a trendy café in Montmartre, Paris. One of the few legal walls in Paris – it is a billboard-style space that a new artist is invited to paint every two weeks. “It is really hard to paint here in Paris, especially big walls,” Ever explains.

Paris. The place where Ever has spent the last 2 months, and where he lived for a while back in 2010. Paris was the turning point for him; he began to inject politics into his art. “Paris is a political place for me”.

Ever. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Ever. “Free Tibet” Detail. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

After just one night the wall was tagged and “Free Tibet” stickers had been stuck on the soldiers’ suits. “No, no this is good, this is France, it’s a good thing when the people react. We leave them on. This is like a conversation with the people.”

Ever. “Free Tibet”. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

A lady who must have been about 80 years old appeared on day one, and whipped out a huge DSLR camera from her purse. She returned there everyday since. She even brought photographs she had taken of the process and took the time to hand write the date and place on each photograph.

Ever. “Free Tibet” Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Ever. “Free Tibet” Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

Why are you guys doing this?!” An agitated pedestrian asked me hastily. Once I explained that concept to him he replied, reassured; “Oh I see, it’s meant to be provocative.”

Ever. “Free Tibet”. Le Mur. Paris (photo © Rosanna Bach)

From what I understand, after listening to countless conversations about street art, these artists are really looking for long term investors for their work, not just fast money. They’re resisting becoming a passing phase only to be dropped like a hot potato after this street art wave dies down. Fame seems to be irrelevant – but if it is a by-product then so be it. “I don’t like business, I just want to paint”, Ever says.

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Many thanks to Rosanna Bach for her diligence, passion and her talents.

http://rosannabach.tumblr.com/

http://openwallsbaltimore.com/

http://associazioneattack.wordpress.com/

http://eversiempre.com/

http://stenlex.net/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nanookart

http://lemur.asso.fr/

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