When Street Artist ROA hits your town with his aerosoled animal world, large swatches of walls, even blocks, become alive and are instant gathering places for new and old fans alike. The one man monochrome machine from Belgium depicts a curious mix of overlooked animals, sometimes in states of death and decay by way of commenting on human’s impact on the natural world.
Whether in rural Mexico or urban New York, his work is reliably riveting and a favorite for neighbors and Internet surfers alike. After catching the eye of LA MOCA this spring, his last minute addition to the “Art in the Streets” exhibit brought the collection up to the minute and cemented his place in the graff and Street Art continuum. BSA captured these images of ROA’s work this year on the streets of Los Angeles and Chicago this summer and we’re looking forward to his next stop at “Living Walls: Albany”.
ROA’s work in Chicago was done in collaboration with Pawn Works Gallery. Thank you to Nick and Brocke for their hospitality.
ROA’s work in Los Angeles was produced with Daniel Lahoda for LA Freewalls Project in The Arts District of downtown LA. Thank you to Daniel for his passion and his time with BSA. We wish Daniel a speedy recovery from a recent accident.
The Victorian era has been gently affecting the instrumentation and arrangement of art bands and the fashions of shabby chic sections of Bohemia since the steam punks started wearing dog-eared top hats and ruffles in the late 1990s and the ripples of this romance continues to gather into vaporous clouds in these early 10’s.
Street Artist Brent Houzenga fell under a deep sepia spell when he stumbled across a box of vintage 1890s photographs in the trash and for the last couple of years he’s been scheming on how to bring these anonymous individuals back to life on the street. Billing himself as “The Hybrid Pioneer” a.k.a “The Original Prairie Pirate”, the spritely Houzenga hails from Des Moines, Iowa, and is transfixed by these faces and fashions, re-imagining these earlier travelers in a context they never saw, and in the process he creates a bridge between centuries.
Photographer and BSA contributor Brock Brake trailed Brent recently and shares these images with BSA readers.
“Remixed Remains”, a current solo show at Pawn Works Gallery in Chicago by Brent Houzenga, features new works from this box of old photographs.
“We are really hyped on this guys work though he has not been very exposed within the street art world – as he is in Des Moines and sort of an outsider artist,” says Nick Marzullo of Pawn Works Gallery. Houzenga, however, could not be too much of an outsider, as he has some work in the collection of The Museum of Fine Art in Des Moines and Indianapolis, notes Marzullo, but his “installation is finally finished and the space is like nothing we’ve seen before.”
For details on “Remized Remains” click on the link below:
Five years ago, artist Brent Houzenga’s life was altered dramatically when he stumbled across a pair of antique photo albums from the 1890’s in the discarded trash of others. Since that discovery Houzenga has amassed an extensive body of work, attempting to bring these lost souls back to life through abstract painting and stencil work using vibrant colors and his own unique action painting techniques. Often displaying his subjects on re-purposed window frames suggests the antiquity of the subjects in his paintings as well as the rural and rustic background of this self-described ‘Prairie Pirate’. Working on the reverse side of the glass, painting backwards and tirelessly scraping away existing layers of paint to create new marks, Houzenga pays homage to those he renders. Many subjects remain unscathed peaking out of chaotic abstraction while others are altered entirely.
With his new show “Remixed Remains” Houzenga experiments with scrawling over the rendered photos leaving insignia and other messages for the viewer to ponder, all part of an installation transforming the space into a post punk Victorian funhouse. Remixed Remains will serve as a celebration of the painting and exhibiting over the last five years. For the artist, what once was classic is now revamped like a stolen bass line or punk cover with a little more class; splattered all over.
Brent Houzenga ‘Remixed Remains’
Opening Reception will be on Saturday September 3, 2011 from 7-10pm
Parisian Street Artist LUDO brought “Nature’s Revenge” to the US this month and his eye-popping surreal wheat-pasted creations are now on walls in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. By combining weaponry with insects and plants into hybrids, LUDO is using this ongoing series to draw attention to how we are messing with nature in ways we never have in an unquestioning way and at our own peril. From biotech to nanotech to robotics to remote controlled drones, the face of war is sold with branding and a sizzling “wow” factor, accompanied by vague assurances that these developments are necessary to protect us good guys from the bad ones. From the perspective of this ongoing “Nature’s Revenge” series, our romance with all things shiny and futuristic is quickly morphing out of our control and it’s likely to come back and bite us, or worse.
Using a reliably greyscale, white, and acid green palette, LUDO’s high-tech hybrids are alternately frightening and amusing, and even super cool. While a Freddy Kruger facemask is obviously symbolic, it’s pairing with a mechanical daisy is unnerving. The wheat paste of a tarantular top-loaded missile delivery device is laughable until you see the video of unstoppable multi-limbed all terrain “big dog” robots being developed to do the same thing. Even the bunch of grape skulls seems sort of blunt until you think of what we’re now learning about irradiation, pesticides, and genetically modified foods. Taken as a whole LUDO’s work is one of the more message-driven on the street today and is another example of the new narrative-driven story telling we continue to witness in Street Art. Luckily, it’s also visually compelling.
In LA Ludo installed work with Daniel Lahoda for LA FreeWalls, C.A.V.E. Gallery, and with curation by BSA. Special thanks to Daniel for his total support, hospitality, and vision.In Chicago special thanks to Nick and Seth from Pawn Works Gallery and to Brock for making this happen and for providing the wheels and the good company.
As mercenary Baynor holds the knife to the poor man’s throat, his boss starts to twitch nervously at the sound of many footsteps coming up the alley. “Maybe we shouldn’t kill in broad daylight. Maybe it’s better to do it like regular – in the boardroom…” ~ B.P. Dick, from “Confessions of a Corporate Hitman”
Anthony Lister has plastered the City of Angeles with images of beloved comic Heroes as being LOST and asking for HELP. This project is in collaboration with Junk Food ART HOUSE. Looking forward to fun Lister walls in the coming dayz.
For more information about this show click on the link below:
Also in Los Angeles tonight, Mexico City Street Artist SANER presents a solo show, Sequestro Express”, addressing how organized crime stages flash kidnappings south of the border.
Image Courtesy of Mid-City Arts
“SANER”
First Los Angeles Exhibition
Curated By Viejas Del Mercado
Mexico City Artist “SANER” brings the Outdoor Public Art Experience into a Private Gallery setting.
All Artwork pieces will be given out Free to the Public.
For more information about this show click in the link below:
Skewville “Not My Type” at Pawn Works Saturday (CHICAGO) – EXCLUSIVE IMAGES
Brooklyn Street Artist Skewville packed up the pickup truck with art, art, and art and headed out to the Mid West in search of fame and fortune. Let’s see if it works this time. The good folks at Pawn Works Gallery in Chicago are hosting the nearly legendary Sons of Brooklyn for a solo show tomorrow, called “Not My Type”.
In addition to the cool stuff Mr. Deville has been putting up since he got there (below), we hear there is some fun in store for you at the show opening, so don’t miss it.
Below are some exclusive images of Skewville gifts to the City of Wind:
If the movie is 1/2 as good as the trailer when it opens next month we’ll be looking at a hair-raising summer roller coaster of a thrill ride into fall. Not for persons with heart ailments, with child, or the simple minded.
BOMB CHASER (via Bablegum)
Jef Aerosol – CHUT! (Video)
A Massive art work from Jef AEROSOL in Paris @ Place Stravinsky; 350 square meters of wall, 4 days, 200 spray cans, 6 artists, and 1 love.
Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adri, Banksy, Dan Witz, Deform, Demon, Gaia, Jon Burgerman, Ludo, Nick Walker, Olek, Rambo, Slayers, and XAM with dispatches from Paris, Dubai, and Chicago.
“This new piece on the streets of NYC is an extension of some of the past work I have done connecting various concepts of catastrophe. I have found the imagery depicting the horrors of the plague especially pertinent to the state of our environment. Humanity has weathered and lived through various crises that have shaken our imagination and dramatically changed the way we organize our lives moving forward” Gaia
Street Artist Olek is a participating artist at The Crest Hardware Art Show currently on view in Williamsburg Brooklyn. Click on the link below to get full details on this show and go check out some imaginative interpretations:
• For those without Google: Since 1999, Skewville is most known for its fake wooden sneakers tossed over power lines worldwide.
• For those with Google: You might have noticed that Skewville has spent even more time trying not to be known for just one thing.
Skewville is always on a mission to change things up, whether through painting, printmaking or installations, their bulky block type has always been a staple in their evolving aesthetic. Since we now know they don’t like being known for just one thing, Skewville would like to take the opportunity to dismiss this font as their own while still showcasing it as a crucial part of the overall Skewville style.
For them, the constant influence of their urban surroundings play a huge part in their artwork. Signage and type clutter the NYC skyline to the point where it all blends in as visual slang. The elements of store signs, out-door advertising and graffiti has little impact by themselves, its the abundance of those combinations that makes the entire picture. With this always in mind Skewville presents…. “Not My Type” featuring all new work painted on old New York metal signs. Signage has always been a key reference point in their art but this is the first time they literally incorporate these influences in their work.
Its Summer, never a better a time to be in Chicago, follow Skewville or join in from wherever you are to celebrate the opening of ‘Not My Type’ and catch a glimpse of some of the planned outdoor works from Skewville.
We will be hosting an event on Saturday July 30 from 6-10pm for Skewville: Not My Type at Pawn Works; Artist will be in attendance.
Pawn Works
1050 N. Damen Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60622
Clown Soldier’s “The Human Cannonball” Show in Chicago opened this Friday at The Pawn Works Gallery. Here’s a dazzling circus of images that illustrate the collage based art that Clown Soldier holds closest.
When the huge Clown Soldier wheat-paste first appeared on the street a about a year and a half ago (see Images of the Week 01.17.10), few people understood that it was the result of a long process of selecting elements, combining, and re-combining to reach a sense of balance – Most of us just took it at clown-face value. Here are some images from the new show and a few behind the scenes pics for context.
Brooklyn Street Art:So what do you do, how do you make these, what is the process?
Clown Soldier: I start with collage. I cut up thousands and thousands of pieces of imagery until something works. What’s great about collage is you come with things that you wouldn’t come up with if you were drawing. So you cut up all these fragments, you know – it’s inspired by (William) Burroughs and it goes back to Picasso right? Anyway that process, you cut up these things and you put them together and not in a million years I would put these things together or come up with… so when I find this gem, this absurd thing.
Read more from his first public interview and studio visit here:
AD HOC ART – Welling Court Community Street Art Celebration Saturday (Queens)
AdHoc Arts returns to Queens this year to Welling Court where Street Artists and the locals mix it up with music, local and homemade food and artists painting live. Bring your camera and bring a plate of cookies too. Sharing is caring.
The project transforms several city blocks into a 24/7 street-level gallery, bringing art from around the world directly to the heart of this community. Renowned artists with deep roots in the street movement have created site-specific works for this project and many will showcase various creative sundries for your perusal. This new array of visual experiences provides fresh contexts for how people working, visiting, and living in this diverse cultural gem of Queens think about and interact with their environment.
Artists include: Alice Mizrachi, Alison Buxton, Beau Stanton, Bunnie Reiss, Caleb Neelon, Chris Mendoza, Chris Stain, Celso, Cern, Cey Adams, Chor Boogie, CR, Cycle, Dan Witz, Darkclouds, Don Leicht, Ellis Gallagher, Ezra Li Eismont, Free5, Garrison Buxton, Greg Lamarche, Jesse Jones, JMR, Joe Iurato, John Ahearn, John Fekner, Jordan Seiler, Katie Yamasaki, Lady Pink, Leon Reid, Matt Siren, Michael De Feo, Michael Fumero, MIMEO, Mr. Kiji, Neko, Nuria, OverUnder, Pablo Power, R. Nicholas Kuszyk, ROA, Ron English, Royce Bannon, Sinned, Sofia Maldonado, TooFly, Tristan Eaton, Veng RWK, Zam.
WHERE: 11-98 Welling Court {@ 30th Ave & 12th Street}, Astoria, Queens 11102
WHEN: Saturday, June 25th, 2011 from noon until 9pm.
Click on the link below for more information regarding this event:
Right across the street where they’ll be debuting a new piece with BSA in August for “Street Art Saved My Life: 39 New York Stories”, the Brooklyn Street Art Collective Faile is presenting this pop up print show this weekend in Venice, Los Angeles. Tonight at the opening they’ll release a new print too.
“The show will feature a variety of works on paper over the last 12 years. A broad range of new and old prints and original works on paper. There are a variety of new pieces and a few surprises made for the show, including a new collection of works entitled Vintage Book Covers highlighting classic pieces from over the years” – Faile
Worth Something Gold
Edition of 50
Acrylic and Hand Pressed Gold Foil on Coventry Rag 335 gsm
35.75in. x 29in. (90 x 73cm)
Signed, Stamped & Numbered
Faile 2011
Opening Reception: June 24, 2011 (7 – 10pm)
Exhibition Runs: June 24 – July 24, 2011
POST NO BILLS
1103 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice Beach, CA 90291
310.399.2928
Click below for more information regarding this show:
One of the new clowns out there today is having a solo show of his fine art and some new interpretations of his Street Art funboys as well. With wit and a method to his absurdity, these new works give insight to the solid study he’s actually been doing for years.
Chicago at Pawn Works Gallery, Clown Soldier is “The Human Cannonball”
His new show in Paris at the Since-Upian Gallery is accompanied by some new work on the street – much of it inspired by Brooklyn streets. See brand new photos tomorrow on BSA.
Brooklynite Gallery welcomes the start of the summer with “Parlour” a sexy show Saturday Night. Also DJ Mayonaise Hands will be there with a camera and mike for insightful interviews and scintillating observations. Dress your rockinist cause you know the Bedstuy peeps are always in top form at this gem.
Miss Bugs. Detail of the new print “Eyes Glanced” (photo courtesy of the gallery)
“PARLOUR”
MISS BUGS
June 25 – JULY 16
Opening Night: Saturday, June 25, 7-10pm
MUSICAL GUEST: Hank Shocklee [Bomb Squad]
BROOKLYNTE 334 Malcom X BLVD
Brooklyn, NY 11233
Click on the link below for more information about this show:
Jon Burgerman Doodles on a Car in Brooklyn (VIDEO)
Last weekend for the CresFest and NorthSide Open Studios artist Jon Burgerman was invited by Brooklyn Street Art to paint on a car. We forgot to tell him to get dressed first. Little details like that escape him.
Video by µ-Ziq Theme by µ-Ziq.
K-Guy Print Release “Primate Pontificate”
London based artist K-Guy will be releasing a print on July 1st of his “Primate Pontificate” commentary on the state of affairs of the Catholic Church and their perceived hypocrisy on some relevant topics. He introduced this piece on the occasion of Pope Benedict XVI most recent visit to England last year and we found some of these same primates on the streets of NYC in the fall. Funny to see them get released as prints.
Clown Soldier is an explosion of absurdity wheatpasted onto a wall near you. Plunging into the outer depths of the concrete jungle, firing a juxtaposition of images and landing in the urban street art scene. The incongruity inside the images reflects the incongruity outside the images: art in and of the urban landscape. The artist is interested in chance and the role chance plays in his work. Cut up and re-appropriation is the ever-present theme. His style is both easily recognizable and beyond the purview of recognizable narrative.
Formally trained in the arts, Clown Soldier brings to the streets an approach devoid of any specific political message or agenda and simply leaves the viewer to take away what they will from what they see.
With a new body of work featuring original paintings and book collages, Clown Soldier is making noise in Chicago for the very first time though he has shown work in the past at the NYSAT New York Street Advertising Takeover-Public Ad Campaign 2009Leo Kesting Gallery “Dead Letter Playground” New York, NY 2010 Living Walls Conference Atlanta, GA 2010 TOSAT Torronto Street Advertising Takeover 2010 Crewest Gallery “Street Degrees of Seperation” LA 2010Fountain Art Fair NY 2010 Munch Gallery “To Japan with Love” 2011 MANY (Murals Around New York) Vandalog Up Close And Personal New York, NY, most recently.
We will be hosting an event on Friday June 24 from 7-11pm for Clown Soldier: ‘The Human Cannon Ball’ at Pawn Works; Artist will in attendance.
New work from Specter speaks of his desire to not repeat himself, a quality distinguishing the New Guard of street artists, whose work is highly individual and hand made, from those of the recent past.
The Brooklyn based Street Artist generally denounces the culture of repetition in street art, and takes the practice of making multiples under careful consideration. His precise handmade wheat-pastes and paintings often highlight the individual, many of them regular folks he’s met on the street – and you will usually only see one of them.
Right now he’s been toying with retooling his work and recently in Chicago he created new stuff that appears to be a repetition of himself without really putting up the same piece twice. The first piece is from his “If I Saw You in Heaven” series, and the second is from his “Window Project”. Says the artist “It plays with repetition in multiple ways, but on my own terms.”
To expand on the theme, his new show “Repeat Offender” at Pawn Works in Chicago continues the repetition, where he’s showing his work in new tints and configurations, sort of sidebusting himself.
This weekend is a perfect storm of shows that are opening on the East, West and points in between.
Up Close And Personal: RJ Curates Street Artists Into an Upper West Side Apartment (NYC)
In the intimacy of a private residence in the Manhattan suburbs of UWS, RJ Rushmore of Vandalog fame along with Keith Schweitzer and Mike Glatzer of newly minted M.A.N.Y. have mounted a fresh new open house show just off Broadway. An exquisitely curated show with marquee names and a few newbies the selection is solid in quality and unusual in it’s scale.
Troy Lovegates aka Other (image courtesy of the curators)
Participating artists include:
Aiko, Chris Stain, Clown Soldier, Don Leicht, Edible Genius, Elbowtoe, Gaia, How & Nosm, Jessica Angel, John Fekner, Know Hope, Logan Hicks, Mike Ballard, OverUnder, R. Robot, Radical, Retna, Skewville, Tristan Eaton, Troy Lovegates aka Other and White Cocoa.
Aiko’s cans are on proudly on display at the bachelor pad, and that’s not all (image courtesy of the curators)
Dates: May 12th– 15th, 2011
Times:
May 12th, 7 – 9pm
May 13th, 7 – 9pm
May 14th, noon – 9pm
May 15th, noon – 7pm
Note: Due to the limited exhibition space, people may be admitted in block times every half-hour.
Location: Apartment on the Upper West Side (217 West 106th Street, Apartment 1A, New York, NY 10025) – Between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues.
Cost for entrance: Free
Go to Hellbent and John Breiner Tonight in Brooklyn (NYC)
Mighty Tanka is presenting a show with two Brooklyn based artists: Hellbent and John Breiner.
Mr. Hellbent says of the show: “The best part of making a show like this is to finally see it up on the wall and the way that everything interacts. I have been thinking of these pieces as parts of a quilt, different fabrics being stitched together. The different colors, floral stencils, animals, and jaw bones melding together and playing off one another, even down to the different depths and sizes of panels, but until it was hung they were just pieces, not yet a whole. Its given me an opportunity to show the different elements that i am working with and how they have grown out of one another and to display all the different carvings and stencils patterns together, where on the street they are separated in different locations.”
To learn more about “Smiled Distress” at Mighty Tanaka tonight please click on the link below:
Matt Siren and My Plastic Heart present “Ghost in the Machine” (NYC)
25 spirits in the material world have made tributes to Street Artist Matt Siren’s Ghost Girl character for this show on the Lower East Side tonight. The custom toy show transforms the character that appears in doorways around New York, each putting its own unique spin on his character.
The show includes work from 64Colors, Royce Bannon, Steve Chanks, Chauskoskis, DarkCloud, Deeker, Gril One, J*RYU, Jester, Keely, Abe Lincoln Jr., Map-Map, Marka27, Brent Nolasco, Lou Pimentel, Reactorss, Marc Reusser, Todd Robertson, Robots Will Kill, Chris Ryniak, Matt Siren, Scott Tolleson, Julie West, Wheelbarrow, Wrona
Click on the link below to learn more about this show:
Ghost in the Machine May 13th 2011 – June 12th 2011
Chicago Street Art Show Tonight (CHI)
Tonight the book “Chicago Street Art” is being released at the the Chicago Urban Art Society in conjunction with a show titled “The Chicago Street Art Show”
Brooklyn’s AD HOC has a New Puppy in Los Angeles (LA)
On the West Coast the dynamic duo and husband and wife Garrison and Allison Buxton have curated a group show “I have a dream, I have a nightmare: Friday the 13th” at The New Puppy Gallery opening this Friaday from 7:00 to 11:00 pm
Artists include: Alison Buxton, Beau Stanton, Bill Fick, Broken Crow, Bunnie Reiss, Chor Boogie, Chris Stain, CRASH, Dabs & Myla, Daryll Peirce, David Loewenstein, Don Leicht, Ezra Li Eismont, Garrison Buxton, Hellbent, Joe Iurato, John Breiner, John Carr, John Fekner, Jordan Seiler, Know Hope, Lady Pink, Michael De Feo, Mikal Hameed, Paul Booth, Peat Wollaeger, Ray Cross, Rex Dingler, ROA, Robert Steel, Sean Starwars, TheDirtyFabulous, & Thundercut.
WHERE:2808 Elm Street, Los Angeles, California 90065
English Kills Group Show Saturday, “The Mother Ship” (NYC)
Chris Harding, owner and ringmaster of the Bushwick Brooklyn-based space station English Kills brings out his strong stable of artists for this group show aptly titled “The Mother Ship” opening this Saturday at 7:00 pm. It’s not necessarily Street Art – but this is a hotbed of new ideas so it is always worth your trip.
Participating artists include:
Brent Owens, Andy Piedilato, Vilaykorn Sayaphet, Jim Herbert, David Pacheco, Hiroshi Shafer, Gyles Thompson, Sarah H. Paulson, Holly Faurot, Tescia Seufferlein, Peter Dobill, Steve Harding, Judith Supine, Lenny Reibstein, Andrew Ohanesian, Jason Peters, Don Pablo Pedro, Steven Thompson, Andrew Hurst and Rob Andrews.
English Kills is located at:
114 Forrest St. Ground Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11206
(718) 366-7323
Specter is a “Repeat Offender” 5/14 at Pawn Works in Chicago (CHI)
Brooklyn based artist Gabriel Specter’s solo show “Repeat Offender” opens this Saturday at the Pawn Works Gallery.
Opening Reception Saturday, May 14, 2011/ 6-10pm
PawnWorks
1050 N. Damen Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60622
Ph: 312.841.3986
London Police in Denver, “Amsterydynasty”
In Denver Colorado Black Book Gallery brings back the glamour of the 80’s with The London Police and Handiedan in a show titled “Amsterydynasty”
In her latest mural, Faring Purth delivers a powerful reflection on connection, continuity, and the complexity of evolving relationships—a true …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
ROA in Chicago (photo © Jaime Rojo)
