Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. The weather is tropical this weekend, like we’re expecting a hurricane – ominous and windy. Maybe its our ongoing fear of runaway inflation, which Fed Chair Jerome Powell is trying to make us forget he called ‘transitory’. That should be the word of 2021. Transitory. Like fanny packs worn diagonally across the chest, or Dua Lipa.
The city’s vaccination rate is 78, and the mayor is requiring more vaccine and mask mandates in private companies and schools. Let’s hope it works, brothers and sisters.
So here’s our regular interview with the street, this week including 4SomeCrew, Buff Monster, Calicho, DAK 907, DOT DOT DOT, Drecks, ERRE, MIDABI, Not Banksy, Paper Monster, Paul Richard, Praxis VGZ, Roachi, Swrve, Urban Ruben, and Zexor.
1. Abstract Art on the Street
2. “Abstractions” open at Opera Gallery
3. “Contemporary Abstractions” at Mighty Tanaka
4. “Abstract Graffiti” – The Book
5. Art Show and Charity Auction at FUTURE TENSE (Dallas)
6. Please Support “Electric Projected” TODAY
7.MISSED the SHOW? See “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories” in VIDEO
8. VIDEO -Street and fine Artist Peat Wollaeger
9. VIDEO Mr.Klevra Vs Omino71 – The Secret Spot 2011
10 VIDEO STEN & LEX at the ATTACK FESTIVAL 2011
“The more frightening the world becomes, the more art becomes abstract”~ Wassily Kandinsky
The street provides a forum from all dialogue and Street Artists can be sometimes divided into categories after you survey the expanse of expression. We’ve been tracking the geometry of abstraction for the last decade as an aesthetic counterbalance to the more free form gestural markings that are it’s more prevalent neighbors. The abstract direction continues to garner attention and you can get a good look at it’s past and present at two New York shows opening today, and learn more about it’s global movement in a recently published book by Cedar Lewisohn.
“Black and Violet”, Kandinsky, 1923
“Abstractions” open at Opera Gallery
The Opera Gallery new show in Manhattan titled “Abstractions” opens today to the general public. This show will examine the abstract movement from the 1940s through present day with artists that range from Miro and Matta to Bast and Saber.
Image of Saber courtesy Opera Gallery
Abstractions will be open to the public starting on September 23 at 11:00 am
September 23 – October 16
Free admission: 11:00 – 7:00 daily
Opera Gallery
212.966.6675
Further information on this show please click on the link below:
Mighty Tanaka Gallery in Brooklyn continues the theme with some names familiar to BSA readers and a couple of new talents at their show “Contemporary Abstractions” tonight, with the opening reception at their temporary location in the Power House Arena in DUMBO starting at 6:00 pm.
We’ve really been enjoying the schooling and the photography from Cedar Lewisohn in this new book “Abstract Graffiti” and can recommend it wholeheartedly. You’ll recognize a number of these artists from being on BSA, including MOMO on the back cover.
Art Show and Charity Auction at FUTURE TENSE (Dallas)
Saturday September 24 in Dallas, TX the Future Tense has curated and impressive line up of artists for a worthy cause. An Art Show and Charity Auction to benefit The MTV Staying Alive Foundation. Opening reception and live auction at the Goss-Michael Foundation starts at 7:00 PM.
Lee Baker, Shepard Fairey, Harland Miller, Adam Ball, Katrin Fridriks, Polly Morgan, Peter Blake, Christopher Gascoigne, Gerard Rancinan, Billy Childish, Pam Glew, Rankin, D*Face, Haroshi, Stuart Semple, Brian Adam Douglas, Pieter Henket, Jamel Shabazz, Elizabeth Eamer, Damien Hirst, Benjamin Shine, Ben Eine, Jeremy Kost, Gavin Turk, Tracey Emin, Joseph Loughborough, Dan Witz, Faile, James Marshall and Russell Young.
For more information regarding this event please click on the link below:
And our friends at Open Space in Beacon New York are seeking your help to save their project “Electric Projected: Reboot”
Dan and Kalene have been on the Street Art scene for a decade, have opened many doors to and championed Street Artists with their Electric Windows project. Today we are asking you to pledge their “Electric Projected: REBOOT” Kickstarter page. They got seriously rained out last month for this exciting project in Beacon, New York – a huge projection show on the side of a factory building. With your help, they are going to do it right next weekend.
“We still need your help to makeElectric Projected REBOOT a reality. Since our last email (only 5 days ago) we have received over $2500 in pledges to our kickstarter campaign. Over 100 people have already contributed to this campaign and we are so grateful for this generosity and support. Not a day goes by without people telling us how excited they are for the REBOOT event on October 1st. We are excited for it too, but here is the reality of the situation. If we do not meet our kickstarter funding goal by Saturday Sept 24th at 6pm Electric Projected REBOOT will not happen on October 1st.
Please hurry and pledge. They are almost there for their $16,500 goal and your donation will help them reach the finish line. They only have until tomorrow Saturday September 24 at 6:00 pm.
Please click on the link below to go to their Kickstarter:
MISSED the SHOW? See “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories” in VIDEO
Fabio Cunha shot and edited a video at the opening of “Street Art Saved my Life: 39 New York Stories” in Venice, CA. All those cool LA people milling around … love love
PEAT Makes a VIDEO
Street and fine Artist Peat Wollaeger is out of work – a very modern affliction.
Faile, the Brooklyn Based Street Art Collective just released a new print today on Paper Monster titled “Fashion Chimps NYC”.
From Paper Monster’s site: “This brand new print from the guys at Faile was a long time in the making, and it shows. Based on a piece from their 2010 show at Perry Rubenstein Gallery, this 25 color screenprint is done in their recent “block” style which gives the illusion of its 3D sister from the show.”
“The first New York gallery show in three years for Street Art collective Faile opens tomorrow at Rubenstein Gallery; a heavy graphic quilt of past, present, and “jimmer-jam”. With the 12-piece “Bedtime Stories”, Patrick and Patrick debut a densely packed wood painting show of story, texture and humor in a quite intimate setting.
Checking on progress as they finished final pieces last week, Brooklyn Street Art was treated to completed block tapestries and works in progress in their buoyantly buzzing studio. Long days have turned to long nights at the end of this parsing of pieces, and the output exceeds the storage…”
Sure, there are a lot of things wrong with our country these days. People are hurting financially, are losing homes and jobs, feeling insecure – and obstructionists fight against every possible people-centered bill that comes up in our legislative branch. Our sad legacies of racism and classism are stoked to pit us against one another rather than moving toward an equitable future for everyone. If you were to never go outside and only gathered your news from Yeller TV you might get the worldview that we are in an intractable war with one another. But the State of our Union is on Main Street, not cable.
Main Street in Beacon, NY for example. Electric Windows, the Street Art event put together by the tireless duo Dan and Kalene (owners of the Open Space Gallery) and three other friends, is a prime example of what’s good in our country these days. Appreciation for the creative spirit that lies inside each person brought together a large and a very diverse group of people to this small town on Saturday. Music (live and DJ), street dancers, screen printing on your clothes… Folks were moved, changed, challenged and inspired by the art being made in front of their eyes: Unrestricted, unfiltered and in direct contact with the artists that were creating it.
The day was glorious not only because of the low humidity and breezes up the Hudson Valley but mostly because we had the opportunity to witness the faces of delight of the community while watching the artists do what they love to do most: Paint. Saturday was important to America not because Chelsea Clinton was getting married a few miles north of Beacon but because a whole town literally opened its doors to everyone that wanted to come and make and experience art: Free of charge and uncensored.
We love art and artists of course but when we see people actually enjoying it and supporting it in a respectful and festive environment we are reminded once again that the stories that we are told about ourselves on TV are not often real or true. We are better than we are being told we are. We need to do a better job at getting the word out and at making sure that the good stuff gets reported.
Last Chance to see “Radiant Child” Movie this Weekend at Film Forum
A gem of a film, isn’t that what those old timey movie reviewers used to say? The previously unseen footage of Basquiat shot by his friend Tamra Davis in his studio is probably the most revealing about his short personal history, his meteoric rise, and wild free child within. Less illuminating is some of the self- aggrandizing by those who now lay claim to his history. Equally it is an indictment of a society dealing with it’s legacy of racism, and the misplaced value given to critics with personal agendas. Nonetheless most viewers will understand intuitively the work for what it is and focus on the Brooklyn guy who made it cool to be outside.
“Fuck Don Pablo Pedro” is the second solo show for this talented Bushwick painter tomorrow and is sure to be fun, colorful, libidinous, and nauseating. Pandemic Gallery
Brooklyn Street Art duo Faile recently took their sculptural installations to an earlier classical period of the Biennial Portugal Arte 10. The pop culture influences are re-contextualized, as they say….
Electric Windows Tomorrow in Beacon New York
Take the Metro North about an hour up the Hudson to see 30 Street Artists painting live. Is there more to say?
Among the many street artists flooding into Beacon for Electric Windows on Saturday will be a couple almost all of them know for their dedication to building and maintaining the community. Godparents to a street art gallery/collective/community in Bushwick, Brooklyn at a crucial time for Street Art in the mid 2000’s, Garrison and Alison Buxton are now on the road across the country 6 months a year continuing their collaboration with the Street Art community. It was a good five year run at Ad Hoc, the gallery, which officially closed late last year, having given many a street artist their first show while creating a sense of connectedness between Street Artists, Graff writers, photographers, screen printers, and social activists who all responded to the high vibrational pull Alison and Garrison created.
For the For the Buxton’s it was never about the hype. She’s full of industry and energy and organizing, while he’s full of a youthful wonder about life and loves to talk with you about social/spiritual movements. Together they have traveled a lot in the last 9 months across the States participating in art shows, re-connecting with friends, teaching screen printing, painting walls, organizing exhibitions, and discussing plans for a sustainable living project at their Vermont farmhouse, an old Buxton family homestead from the 17 & 1800′s. Amazingly, the Buxtons have recently learned that their old homestead was also where one of their favorite modern art forms, screen printing, was brought to life by a man named Harry Shokler, who lived and worked at the home & studio for over 40 years. Shokler is referred to as father of contemporary screen printing, a seminal figure in bringing screen printing from the world of industrial application to being accepted and recognized as a distinct fine art form. When you speak with either one of them for more than a few minutes you’ll learn they both sincerely believe we are here to share, learn, and teach lessons to each other and that now is time to do so.
Saturday Garrison and Alison will be making art at Electric Windows, and talking to friends about how to bring about the better world that is possible.
Brooklyn Street Art:How long has Buxtonia been working as an entity? Garrison Buxton: I actually used Buxtonia as the title of my first website in like 2002/3. Alison and I have referred to it as a state-of-being for years, with our first Buxtonia mural manifesting in Peru in 2008. It has been coming into being for a while now and it seemed natural that we start referring to the works we did together as such. We did Buxtonia murals with Broken Crow in Minnesota in 2009, and with NOLA Rising in New Orleans in 2010.
The installation for Unified Love Movement included a structure that arched in four directions and cast light from the center that emulated the patterns in their paintings on the ceiling. (Buxtonia)
Our first gallery work that I currently recall using Buxtonia was in October 2009 for an installation we did in Oklahoma called:
Buxtonia {Garrison & Alison Buxton}, Unified Love Movement
Installation from “Unified Love Movement” by Buxtonia, a meditation and commentary on the worlds’ major belief systems, their interconnectedness, and a global awareness of spiritual themes.
BSA: Your work is layered and multi-dimensional – can you describe a typical process you two go through in creating a piece? Garrison Buxton: Firstly, we come up with what the vision of the piece is, laying out and building the compositional aspects like imagery, arrangement, aesthetic, layers, and forms. After we have that in mind, then comes breaking it back down to the base and working up each of the aspects. Construction, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, on and on… After priming, we start out with washes and/or gradients to unify the background, then we build out light & dark areas based on the piece’s color palette. Once the background is built up, we then use layers of stencils to create textures and develop areas of light & pattern. We incorporate screen printing as well, either directly on the surface or via collage. Using hand painting and drawing helps to bring in the upper layers. Certain aspects are predetermined, like a border design, but building up the stencils and textures is a very participatory and engaged process. The action of assembling the pieces to the puzzle encourages reflection, dialogue, and feedback. It is a dialogue with all of us, humans, materials, and the voice of the work. We change with each other. Every piece is that moment’s exploration into human interaction and relationship.
“Resistance is Fertile”; a mechanized hand combines industrial revolutionary diagrammatic style with a surreal zeal of modern possibility. The piece repositions the struggle of the worker in a future context. From a mural done with NOLA Rising (Buxtonia)
BSA:Where do you draw upon for inspiration thematically? Garrison Buxton: The core of it for me would be that we are all part of the same thing, the singularity and inherent oneness of existence. Until we truly get that, we are not making real progress. There is a lot of misery being generated by the intention of a select minority on this planet enabled by the masses of under-informed. Most days, the urgency of our times inspires me to maintain a sense of peace in a world run by sociopaths gone utterly mad. I have a hard time believing that we are destined to go out this way, like a stupid rampaging beast, smashing to bits anything and everything in our path as we careen over the cliff. Another world is possible in every instant. The power to share, to contribute, to change is abundant and always around us.
BSA: For both Willoughby Windows in Brooklyn and Welling Court Queens also participated as artists. What about being in these group shows is gratifying to you? Garrison Buxton: Bringing creativity and beauty to people directly is very fulfilling. It is one of the most unfiltered ways to bring art to a culture largely starved of non-corporate, non-advertising-generated media. One of the fundamental aspects of street art is the democratization of public space. Maybe it is all an illusion, but it is fulfilling to believe in the power of art to create, inspire, and plant seeds of observation as well as shared experience. People relating to one another is what will get us to the other side. People fearing one another will not. Relating comes when people take the time to simply do it, relate. Seeing the direct results of these art projects has been profound and definitely inspires us to keep taking things to the next level. The bonds that result from bringing generations of different peoples together for a celebration of the human experience are so strong. Together we can do amazing things. I have seen it.
BSA: What are you planning to show the people at the Electric Windows show? Garrison Buxton: We have been working with a figure, Metatron, for a while now. Metatron is typically depicted as a eye with wings. The Electric Windows piece is going to have a small flock of Metatrons flying up on the horizon with rays and shapes of light emerging from behind.
Is the loosest of senses, Metatron is the messenger of the divine, translating the beyond-human transmissions to be human-comprehensive. I believe we are all Metatrons, our own divine messengers, and that we all transmit this divine information to our selves and each other. When we are still and listen to that part of us that existed before we can remember existing, the knowledge we seek is there. We are all self contained enlightenment, divinity, god, whatever you want to call it. How to illustrate that is the never ending pursuit. It has become important for us to focus on sending positive transmissions. We aim to send a net positive charge into the matrix. The grid is cracking. It needs all of our help. This piece depicts the strength of coming together and building something with a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
BSA: How has your life changed for both of you since leaving Ad Hoc? Garrison Buxton: For clarity’s sake, we never left Ad Hoc, as Ad Hoc Art still exists as an entity and we are still doing art events and projects like the previously mentioned Willoughby Windows and Welling Court projects as well as currently featuring many AHA artists with us in a screen printing project at SummerStage in Central Park through September. The mission of Ad Hoc Art is to promote awesome work made by badass human beings. We’ll keep doing that as long as we can, in myriad manifestations, which is the method to the madness. On the front burner is a fall/winter tour where we will be working with artists across the country, many of which we worked with at Ad Hoc, as well as artists we have worked with since then.
So, I’m assuming that you are referring to how have our lives changed since moving out of Bogart St, yes? That question is an expansive one, so many changes happening in so many ways. Like any era in a relationship coming to a close, it is largely in how one perceives it. Boiling it down, there are times we’re missing the great times, all the magic; we’d wish we were still making a difference in the Bushwick hood and wonder if there were somehow an angle we didn’t think of that could have kept the hull together. Then we quickly remember how working 18 hour days for years takes it toll, how there were days of stress and frustration, and how five years flew by in the blink of an eye and I hadn’t seen some good friends in years. Overall, we are much healthier and happier and realize we are blessed to have the opportunities that we have and don’t look back. There is so much to be accomplished now, more so than ever. We are still working crazy hours, but in a way that serves us better and is sane. We are operating at a more tenable, sustainable pace, training and running with a marathon mindset for a race of enduring as opposed to the frenetic burst of the 100 yard dash. Short term focus will not get us to the other side. Thinking beyond ourselves will get us there.
Some things we are loving: working our own creative endeavors/projects; less daily stress; the ability to be more dynamic and mobile (we’ll be on the road about six months of the next year, taking art love coast to coast and doing projects with people in places we never had time to visit before); more time to be human; & more time to work on altruistic projects. Basically, we have a lot more time to take care of ourselves, spiritually, mentally, and physically. As everything emanates from within, if the core is not stable, all that comes out contains that fundamental lack of stability. In taking time to be, we saw an immediate and direct positive return which correlates directly with overall happiness.
BSA: Any advice for people who are planning to go to Beacon for the show? Garrison Buxton: Bring sunscreen and drink lots of water. Beacon is a nice lil’ town and the show is going to be awesome event. Open Space again delivers a solid roster of fun. We are excited to be working with some of our favorite partners in crime and a whole slew of new peoples. Plan on staying late Saturday night if you like to dance. Bring clothes if you’d like to have them printed. We are going to be screen printing live and dropping some brand new images that Saturday.
We love you.
Electric Windows will feature Buxtonia, BoogieRez, Chris Stain, Depoe, Elbow Toe, Mr Kiji, Michael De Feo, Peat Wollaeger, Rick Price, Ron English, Big Foot, Cern, Chor Boogie, Chris Yormick, Elia Gurna, Erick Otto, Eugene Good, Faust, Gaia, Joe Iurato, Kid Zoom, Logan Hicks, Lotem & Aviv, Paper Monster, Ryan Bubnis, Ryan Williams, Skewville, and Thundercut
A book signing of “Street Art New York” by Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington will be in the Open Space Gallery from 2 pm to 3 pm.
Some things we are missing: seeing all the wonderful people that were a part of our Bogart St. existence, from the daily regulars to the stroll-ins showing up from all over the world to check out what was going on; all the wonderful things that can happen with having a space, like supporting and fostering community, facilitating people relating with one another, and providing a platform for diverse creative forms to manifest. It was a true pleasure to see all of the things that came out of having that space, a true nugget of fun, and a moment in time I wouldn’t trade for anything. We learned so much and met so many phenomenal people from all walks of life. Literally a life altering experience.
Together with new neighbors and old friends from back in the city Thundercut are steadily creating a cultural festival built around one of their first loves: Street Art.
The Street Art couple known as Thundercut are not the first Brooklyn artists to head to Beacon, New York, a picturesque phoenix on the Hudson River 59 miles north of Grand Central Station. Kalene Rivers and Dan Weise are just two of the most visionary and fun to talk with.
Once a town known for it’s hat making, Beacon (pop. 16,000) had a reputation as a sketchy drug and crime ridden place when Dan and Kalene were growing up in the Hudson Valley during the 80s and 90s. When the Dia Arts Foundation (also of Dia:Chelsea in Manhattan) renovated a 34,000 sf former factory in Beacon to create Dia:Beacon and to house a collection of Warhol paintings, hulking Richard Serra sculptures, and fluorescent Dan Flavin monuments, among other post 1960 art, interest grew in the town and an artist community largely from New York began to blossom. Many of the original artists who had brought a bohemian caché to rundown neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Red Hook in Brooklyn relocated to Beacon as their neighborhoods blanded in the mid 2000s. Much like those original artist enclaves, Beacon has become home to artist collectives, house parties, and experimentation.
Tina Darling poses in front of her work at Electric Windows (all photos courtesy and copyright of Thundercut)
While DIA was an important catalyst when it opened in 2003, Dan says the new residents brought a creative community that grew organically in it’s own direction.
“The people that have moved here have a very DIY spirit and have created something very special that continues to reinvent itself each year,” says Dan. In addition to Dan and Kalene opening their own gallery, Open Space, which shows fine art by many friends and artists in the street art scene, they recount inititiatives by neighbors who organize live concerts, have annual open studio events, host drawing nights at home, and began non-art related groups like soccer and ping pong clubs. Open Space itself has hosted a series of comedy nights that play to packed houses.
Says Dan, “If someone sees something missing in the community, they try to make it happen.”
Begun as a place to house their graphic design business, Open Space took root as a gallery and a community gathering spot. Explains Kalene, “We are both very passionate about giving something back to the community, from bringing new artists to show in the gallery, to organizing events like Electric Windows, these are things that we think are great and we are excited to share them with the town.”
Which brings us to the third year of Electric Windows, a project that fills the eyes of a moribund electric blanket factory with new canvasses painted live on the street by artists while the public mills about. Now in it’s third year, with thirty artists, three buildings and live performances, EW is organized with their neighbors Jon Miles, Jeff Ashey and Nicole Romano. With support from the mayor, a grant from the county arts council, donations from businesses of supplies and money, and even neighbors who are opening their homes to house the visiting artists, Electric Windows is thoroughly a community celebrating the creative spirit and the talent of Street Artists. The artists are traveling from Australia, Portland, San Francisco, St Louis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, and of course, Brooklyn without compensation and are all doing it for the love of the project.
Brooklyn Street Art: How did the Electric Windows project first develop?
Dan Weise: The Electric Windows building is what we see when we look out of the windows of Open Space. It is a beautiful turn-of-the-century factory building which, when we first got the space, still had the partially broken glass windows in the frames. It was a postcard for urban decay and having just moved up from Brooklyn, felt like home. Shortly after we opened the gallery, the owner removed all the glass and installed grey plywood window protection in its place. This was far from an improvement in our opinion, so we started discussing what could be done to bring life back to the building. This is when we began seriously talking about the idea of “Electric Windows”.
Our neighbors at the time, an art store named Burlock Home, really loved the idea and were on board to help make it happen. The four of us teamed up and put the whole project together in three months.
BSA: This year features 3 buildings, instead of one. Do you have enough artists?
Kalene Rivers: We are excited about expanding the project to include more locations in the same area and all surfaces are accounted for. Everyday we think about how lucky we are to know so many incredibly talented artists and we just keep meeting more and more. Not only are they talented but they are amazing friends willing to donate their time and talents to events like Electric Windows for the love of making art and supporting positive projects.
BSA: Street Art is normally associated with large metropolitan areas. How does Beacon fit in to the equation?
Dan: Historically, Beacon was a town of manufacturing and the evidence still remains. There are some really phenomenal factories here in town, some vacant, some in the process of renovations and others like the Nabisco Factory, which now houses DIA, have been transformed into something new. I think this helps bring a bit of an urban feel to a quaint little upstate town. Also, when we moved up here we realized that not many people even knew about Street Art. This being the something that we are both very passionate about we wanted to open the gallery and share this world with people beyond the Bronx. Open Space Gallery was formed, Electric Windows was conceived, and slowly the infiltration has begun!
BSA: Would you say most of these artists are Street Artists? Or are there also graffiti artists, fine artists….
Kalene: I would say that most of the artists are Street Artists but there certainly is a good group of graffiti and fine artists in the mix. Of course the first people we think to invite to the project are friends. Being involved in the Street Art scene for seven years means that these are the people we know best. However, it is wonderful to work with a variety of people from different backgrounds. The artists have to be able to paint big and fast so our selection of qualified participants is pretty limited to a certain kind of artist.
BSA: What’s your favorite part of the event?
Dan: Well, after we stress out for months planning and trying to take care of all the details, it is great to look up and see it all in action. Music filling the air, fumes wafting by, people admiring the amazing murals being created, children laughing and dancing. That is when it feels like it has all been worth it. But the event is just the beginning once the crowds leave and the art has been installed the projects gives back to the community, to visitors and to us each and every day.
Returning Artists for Electric Windows: Buxtonia, BoogieRez, Chris Stain, Depoe, Elbow Toe, Mr Kiji, Michael De Feo, Peat Wollaeger, Rick Price, Ron English
New Artists for 2010: Big Foot, Cern, Chor Boogie, Chris Yormick, Elia Gurna, Erick Otto, Eugene Good, Faust, Gaia, Joe Iurato, Kid Zoom, Logan Hicks, Lotem & Aviv, Paper Monster, Ryan Bubnis, Ryan Williams, Skewville, Thundercut
This year’s event, which includes two days of preparation by the artists, a one-day exhibition and street fair, music and dancing by M*POWER ELITE TEAM, live screen printing by Buxtonia, and an Open Space after-party, is expected to draw approximately 5,000 people to Beacon’s Main Street corridor.
The line-up of live music at ELECTRIC WINDOWS includes: Ben Neill, Aabaraki, Hart Costa, DJ Birds in the Building, DJ Bobby Collins, DJ Krisis, Dr. Ambassador, Gold Monkey, and Scambler Seequill.
See Chor Boogie’s “Romanticism” and other works by Electric Windows artists at Open Space online by clicking this picture.
And who are all these ferocious kittens that Paper Monster features on the street and in the studio and gallery, with their piercing sharp stares and barbed wire bangs? The young NYC street artist isn’t sharing too much about the inner psyche of the creator, but our armchair analyst will only charge you 50 cents to connect the Freudian dots, and it’s worth every penny.
According to the press release for the show opening tonight, “each piece is a beautiful combination of layered imagery, textures and colors conveying themes of love, anger, fear, passion and mystery.” Truth is, Paper Monster has been banging out successively more intricate and polished stencils of these comely ladies, with their alter-ego wild sides, in the quietly consistent manner of a panther. Once you get past their jet-black razor wire exterior, you find a lawless riot of fluorescent color and shapes, decorative and comic, leaping and pouncing about inside.
Paper Monster Image Courtesy of the Artist
Enjoy these pics of Paper Monster and his new show, six months in the making. If you are in Philadelphia tonight, stop by and give him a shout out from BSA.
Paper Monster (Image courtesy of the artist)
Paper Monster at work. (Image courtesy of the artist)
“PaperMonster Ate That Little Boy” running Friday July 2nd to Saturday July 31st
Opening Reception: Friday, July 2nd 6pm-9pm
Vincent Michael Gallery
1050 N. Hancock St. Suite #63
Philadelphia, PA 19147
– don’t know why I say it that way but it seems that the streets had a few more historical references and sudden intricate storylines when Gore B. was around. His new “drawing” show opening at Pandemic Gallery in South Williamsburg tomorrow features densely layered elements in black white and silver – all of his favorites: painted portraits from early photos, symbols from science, religious and maybe astronomy textbooks, ornate filigranic linework, and an ongoing fascination with type styles and letter faces.
But Gore B. will not be alone at Pandemic by any means on Friday – “Stokenphobia”, a show about two geometric shapes, will feature the work of around 40 street artists and friends in a show of community love for signage.
For the non-eggheads reading this – stokenphobia is fear of circles – so Pandemic has provided small rectangular shaped metal signs to a number of people to create a piece on.
Says Robbie D. of Pandemic, “It’s kind of sporadic. There was no real theme except ‘Just do whatever you feel on the objects we give you.’ We provided the metal signs and basically everybody is allowed to do what they want. So there’s no real theme to the artwork – it’s just about the shapes.”
Speaking about the makeup of the group who was invited to participate in the show, Robbie D say, “Mainly they are street artists but there are a lot of friends and artists who don’t work on the street but work in a studio. So it’s really just acquaintances and other street art people we respect and have known for a while now – kind of a close group of people that we know.”
While you are waiting for Obama to do something Rooseveltian to replace the jobs our economy has been hemorrhaging for years, Rae and Hope McGrath at Brooklynite Gallery suggest you pick up a shoe-shine box and get to work.
I can’t even tell you how many artists I know who are out of work, and consequently how many are working harder than ever on the stuff that makes them happy and gives their life meaning – their art.
Like many New Yorkers watching their options dwindling, The Bushinomic Bank-zaster of ’08-’09-’10 has given many artistic types a lot of time to sharpen their skills, decide what needs to be done to survive, and to work together. One possible result, BSA is predicting, is an even bigger All-City BOOM in street art right around the corner. As jobs continue to evaporate and gallery doors close, the gallery of the street beckons a little louder each day to those who have a creative voice but no where to speak it.
Destroy & Rebuild stock their box with the essentials…
What does it mean for an artist to “survive” in a tough economic climate? – That’s the question Brooklynite Gallery in Bed Stuy posed to 100 artists when putting this show together. Focusing on the box of supplies that a shoe-shiner uses, Rae and Hope asked a very diverse group of street/graff artists to create a box of their own to express their approach to work and survival.
Anu Schwartz takes readings of the mind and heart globally.
The truly eclectic results reveal not just entrepreneurial aspirations, but psychological profiles expressing values and dreams and inner-workings of the artistic process. Symbolism abounds, and because of the limitations imposed, meanings densely packed alongside personal aspiration. To appreciate the intensity, plan your calendar to see the show twice.
Shinebox goes beatbox, literally. “VARIOUS & GOULD (with KUUK)’s box is stunning. Drop a coin in and make some beats. Completely captures the essence of this exhibition,” says Rae McGrath, owner of Brooklynite.
With the global economic downturn and the hardship it has caused, this show is clearly a tribute to, and an attempt to give voice to, the hard-working people who labor to make a living. By asking artists and fans to meditate on these realities, Brooklynite is pushing us to think outside our own drama and consider the meaning of work, and to see the shoeshine box as survival box.
Street artist Cake intimates a psycho-sexual-medical realm.
Brooklynite owner/curator/visionary/artist Rae McGrath took a break from installing the show to talk about his original inspiration for the show, and how it has evolved:
Brooklyn Street Art:Didn’t the shinebox go out with the icebox? What was the impetus for the theme of this show?
Rae McGrath: Last time I heard the term “icebox” I was well into my 11 hour of The Honeymooners Marathon they run on New Years Day. BUT -shinebox’s never go out of style. Everyone enjoys compartmentalizing things don’t they? Mostly for the wrong reasons but they do… However this exhibition goes beyond shine boxes and shinning shoes. It deals with working in the most stripped down, basic sense of the term.
Paper Monster adapted an actual shinebox.
The project stems from my love for shoeshine boxes. Traveling through Ecuador, Brazil, Costa Rica, etc., I was always impressed with how these things were built, mostly by kids. Any materials they could find held together with rusted nails and recycled bottles for dyes and you’re good to go. So out of that, combined with this f&*ked up economy I wanted to take it one step further and ask artists from around the world– “If you had to take to the streets to survive in this economy, what would you do?” I asked that each keep the “survival object” inside a square foot. It could be found, bought, modified, etc. We wanted to try and unify graffiti artists with street and contemporary
FKDL uses a collage of yesteryear imagery.
FKDL created part art supply, part sewing box (contents)
Brooklyn Street Art:How does the current financial crisis in the country play in the psychology of this show?
Rae McGrath: A lot of artists we approached with the concept said it really resonated with them. Some live off their work and lost studios, commissions, etc. It sucks. Art is considered a luxury item to most– but we don’t necessarily see it that way. Art inspires and motivates. Makes people think and study. To us that’s no luxury. It should be the norm.
Iconic stencilling from one of the Paris originators, Jef Aerosol
With an eye toward total transparency, Jef Aerosol tells us what it takes.
Brooklyn Street Art:Logistically, getting a hundred artists to create and deliver their pieces must have been like herding cats…
Rae McGrath: The logistics of this show have been pretty hectic. I also think that most people in my neighborhood believe I am a drug dealer at this point. Everyday another small package showing up. Strange and cool at the same time. But what makes it worthwhile is when you open a package and a true gem comes out.
I think the biggest feat when doing a show of this magnitude is making sure each artist get their work seen– Hence the video we just put out. We are not very fond of your run of the mill group show that focuses on a key word or something. We tried to keep the guidelines here a bit more rigid.
KNOW HOPE adorns the box with a storyline
Brooklyn Street Art: Did every artist take a shine to your idea?
Rae McGrath: Yes. EXCEPT for the ones that were afraid of working in 3 dimension.
A rather suggestive joy-stick tops this “Peep Show” by 3TTman
Brooklyn Street Art: What box is blowing your mind?
Rae McGrath: There are several boxes blowing my mind for different reasons… Some because of the design, others the concept and some for both. VARIOUS & GOULD (with KUUK)’s box is stunning. Drop a coin in and make some beats. Completely captures the essence of this exhibition. They also did the hand-made flyer for the show and limited edition prints. 3TTMAN’s peep show is a thing of beauty. KOSBE, TEN13ONE. I know I’m leaving some killer ones but– wait this isn’t print— Not trying to save trees— BEN FROST has a clever piece, Destroy & Rebuild … Look man just get over here and see them.
Anthony Lister goes 360
Smile and the blockheads smile with you. (Anthony Lister)
Brooklyn Street Art: Are any of them functional, practical, usable?
Rae McGrath: Some are functional in a practical sense others in a spiritual one– That part of the theme was open to interpretation and heavily expanded upon.
A strong stylization of the theme, Skewville keeps it real Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Street Art: The title sounds like an exhortation; “Go Get your Shine Box” are you telling us roll up our sleeves and get to work?
Rae McGrath: Hell yeah. Maybe the name should be “GO GET YOU ASS TO WORK”. Seriously I think we all know where that title came from…. Or should at least.
Brooklyn Street Art: BTW, I usually wear size 10.5 black wingtips. Can I drop them off anytime after Nov. 21? I’ll need them for Thanksgiving.
Rae McGrath: Oh sounds nice. We actually have the same size shoe… Drop them off .
“GO GET YOUR SHINE BOX” silk screen posterby Various and Gould
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
The installation for Unified Love Movement included a structure that arched in four directions and cast light from the center that emulated the patterns in their paintings on the ceiling. (Buxtonia)
