Only the richest, most aromatic coffee seems to linger in the breezes of Miami, where even winter days can carry a tropical heat that halts you in your tracks. Street art and graffiti flourish like a teenager’s restless energy, leaping unpredictably from block to block, wall to wall, driven by possibility and the city’s desire to reinvent itself. Just when you think Wynwood may have run its course, new work emerges, reminding us that the creative pulse is alive and insistent. When it comes to street art and graffiti it all starts with the artists – and the economic/social underpinnings of a city. Here are some recent highlights from this hub of creativity and inspiration.
Flags are at half-staff for former President Carter, with a national funeral service scheduled at the Washington National Cathedral on Thursday. Meanwhile, former/future President Trump is set to attend his sentencing on Friday following a criminal conviction related to hush money payments. You may not find a more stark contrast between presidents. While speculation surrounds the sentencing outcome, it is widely thought that Trump will not serve any time behind bars, a fine message to young people everywhere.
In Brooklyn, the temperature is hovering around freezing, with biting winds signaling the arrival of harsher weather across this part of the country. Few expect much new street art or graffiti this week as forecasts predict bitter cold and snow along the coast.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week in New York and Miami, featuring Homesick, Degrupo, Pez, Denis Ouch, Great Boxers, Atomiko, Morcky, Elena Ohlander, Face, Masnah, SKE, Rich Ayers, Gleibys, Genius, JEST, Tesoe, Extra Polo, Lino Ozon, Maestro, Spray Paint Arts, and Emerge 710.
In New York and Miami and across the U.S., stories of legitimate struggles with the healthcare system are a constant backdrop to everyday life. Someone you met can’t afford insurance. Someone else is battling their insurer to approve a critical procedure. Surprise medical bills arrive for your girlfriend without warning. Your coworker avoids the doctor altogether because the costs are prohibitive. Teachers face medical bankruptcy, parents delay surgeries, and families turn to GoFundMe campaigns to defray crippling medical costs not covered. Meanwhile, seniors ration medication, cutting pills in half to make them last. It’s a system where multi-billion-dollar corporations, shielded by their (paid) influence over government, operate with impunity, leaving the sick ill-equipped to challenge them.
This backdrop of frustration likely fueled the sharp sarcasm and bitterness that erupted in conversations on social media and on the street after the UnitedHealthcare CEO was shot and killed on a Manhattan sidewalk this week. A young man in a hoodie fled the scene on a bicycle. Hundreds, no, thousands of responses on platforms like Twitter included jabs such as, “My empathy is out of network” and “Thoughts and prior authorizations.” UnitedHealthcare’s Facebook page was inundated with thousands of comments mocking the company’s public statement of sorrow. Many appeared to post pictures of family members or rejection notices they received from United Healthcare, their addresses blacked out.
To be clear, ‘denial of care’ is not just a business or policy practice; it is a systematic design rooted in contempt for people. These practices profoundly impact millions of people, possibly you and your family.
Now, five days later, the FBI joined the NYPD search for the suspect, who is believed to have left New York. Yet in laundromats, bars, and online forums, some people quietly invoke phrases like “snitches get stitches,” a colloquialism from hip-hop culture discouraging cooperation with law enforcement.
Critics in the media have rightly denounced the ethics of vigilante justice. At its core, vigilantism threatens to unravel societal order. Yet, so does a society that lets a profit-driven industry determine which sick lives are worth saving. The bitter truth is that for many, the system already feels unraveled.
Miami, we love you. This week was great at Wynwood Walls and Museum of Graffiti, and in the streets of Wynwood. The new STRAAT Catalogue is shipping on Christmas – and our Editor in Chief is one of the authors along with great folks like Carlo McCormick, Christian Omodeo, and Charlotte Pyatt. Most importantly, we cannot tell you how much we enjoyed meeting BSA readers and receiving your feedback and support. There are so many talented, creative, brilliant minds on this trip, and we like meeting each and every one. Don’t be shy! Thank you sincerely.
Shout out to our hosts at MOG Alan Ket and Allison Frieden, to David Roos from STRAAT, and to artists Nina Falkhoff, and HOXXOH.
Here’s our weekly conversation with the street, this week in New York and Miami, featuring: Retna, Adele Renault, Inkie, Werds, Pez, Astro, HOXXOH, Zimer, Kern, 1457 Wave, Juju the Frog, Trek86, Ishmael Book Art, Shey Lunatic, KTAN086, Code-E, and Z. Veiz.
Urban environments continue to evolve and adapt to the exigencies of population growth caused in part by the exodus of people from rural areas to metropolia around the world. Structural features of infrastructure previously thought of as “modern” is now simply eyesores as people aim to incorporate imagery and symbols of natural beauty and human warmth. “Calming” solutions in otherwise noisy and congested streets and boulevards in megacities include the reclaiming of space and “greening” of areas that were once reserved for motorists.
City leaders and urban planners more often now work with arts organizations to create a new visual landscape for our cities – by creating art programs to beautify spaces. One such project is in the municipality of Sant Adrià de Besos in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
According to the description, translated from Catalan to English on the organizer’s IG account, (@elbosc_encantat_c31), the project is “An open-air mural art museum. An impressive creative forest is formed by more than 200 columns that support the C-31 on its way through the municipality of Sant Adrià de Besos. A unique project in the world with the participation of local and international artists”. The project, while impressive, is not unique, as artists and organizations have been using highway support pillars to paint murals in cities all over the world as reported HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
The project EL BOSC ENCANTAT DE SANT ADRIÀ, is curated by Zosen and Juanki, and it began in 2016. It is carried out in collaboration with the Sant Adriá City Council and the Asociación Cultural El Generador, with the support of TRAMmi, it is part of the HOP Sant Adrià-Art Urbá.”
Brexit deadlock is like a thorn in the side of the UK people this week, Trump is shutting down the US government partially here for almost a month (to celebrate 2 years in the White House?), the ‘Yellow Vests’ are striking through France for the 10th weekend, its going to get very cold tonight in New York, and your cousin Marlene is back from the local Women’s March with fire in her eyes and hope in her heart. As usual, the streets are alive with Street Art and graffiti, and we’re bringing it to you.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring 2501, Add Fuel, BirdCap, BustArt, C3, City Kitty, Cranio, Duster, Edu Danesi, Fafi, Frances Forever, Jaeryaime, Kram, LMNOPI, Mark Jenkins, Neon Savage, Os Boys, Pez, Rx Skulls, Sickid, Tatiana Fazlalizadeh, UFO 907, and Zaira Noir .
Of course it was not all about spectacle this week in Miami, but about tribes and community as well. Many conversations with artists on the street and at openings revolved around this chaotic/fearful time we are living in – and it seemed like if you weren’t discussing the incoming president and offering predictions about what fresh hell this time will bring, you were trying hard to avoid the topic altogether.
There were talks this week about activism or the lack of it on the street, relevance of the work of artists in the body politik, paint supplies, ladders, Tindr, licensing, how Pete Rock and CL Smooth blew everybody away late Friday night with the Bushwick Collective, how murals are not to be confused with Street Art and Street Art is not to be confused with graffiti and of course the evergreen “Is Street Art Dead?” – which has popped up as a topic about every 3 months since it was coined. Answer: no sight of it yet, but we’ll let you know if it stops mutating and shapshifting and re-defining itself. Promise
Without repeating some of the images from our previous postings this week, here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 2Alas, Bordalo II, Caratoes, Cleon Peterson, CRASH, Dan Witz, D*Face, Don Rimx, Evoca, Fluke, Hoxxoh, Jules Muck, L’Atlas, Okuda, Pez, Shepard Fairey, Shida, Shok1, and Sipros.
A. It has a good name, and
B. It’s the way Wynwood feels every year during Art Basel and this self published book by photographer Andrew Kaufman captures the excitement unpretentiously.
In the fall of 2012 Kaufman began walking the streets with camera in hand in what used to be called “El Barrio”, shooting the murals of the international Street Art magnet called the Wynwood District. The previously low-income and light manufacturing neighborhood had been transforming itself as a destination in the shadow of the decade old art fair across the water in Miami Beach. He discovered artists from in town and around the world painting walls side by side and a palpable thrill in the air in this 20 square block public space like none he had previously experienced.
“Every year in late November artists from around the world descend on the streets of Wynwood to remake the façade of almost every building, overhead door and nook or cranny where paint could be applied,” he says in this image packed softcover. He doesn’t try to romance it, he just lays it open for you to take a look and to possibly feel what it was like for him for a few weeks talking to artists, interviewing locals and pilgrims and internationally known names as they painted, listened to music, traded stories, passed a joint, ate barbecue, and got distracted by the bikinis, parties, hammocks and lawn chairs.
In a down-to-earth way Andrew steers clear of grandiosity or otherwise put a self-serving spin on the scene. He learns just by asking questions and taking photos, with highlights including conversations with Kenny Scharf, DAZE, and BooksIIII Bischof, who lays bare the conflicting feelings of local graff writers who had already been organizing and slamming walls organically for a handful of years before the real estate developer Tony Goldman brought his economic heft to flood the scene with international Street Artists.
The rapid change that neighborhood has undergone the other 11 months of the year has created rifts between the locals and the well-heeled newbies, and its good that Kaufman gives airtime to those perspectives as well, diplomatically describing the power struggles as “growing pains”. While some characterizations may be a bit naïve at times with statements like “there are no curators, no rules,” he still captures the near spiritual peregrination of idealist artists from around the US who hop trains and buses or hitch-hike to a warm sunny climate at the end of November with little more than a desire to find a wall to paint and a couch to crash on.
I’m in Miami Bitch is a personal account of the zoo and the spectacle and an historical capture of a moment on an evolutionary timeline that will become more valuable as the inevitable cultural seachange in this Miami neighborhood takes place and the presumptive commodification and gentrification runs its full course. For the moment you can still catch the crazy collaborative creative magic yourself just by showing up. But if you can’t, Kaufman is happy to share his sense of magic with you.
Included in the book are works by Cite, Crayola, Dabs and Myla, Ewok, Pia, Fumerosim, Pose-MSK, Aimer, Patch Whiskey, La Paneilla, Kenny Scharf, Blink, Torek, Daze, Pez, Gorey, and about 50 more artists. For more information about I’m in Miami Bitch, cliek HERE.
1. Perfect Storm “Big Freedia” Coming
2. Kid Acne, “Damn Straight” (Vienna)
3. Blue Dog at Michael Mutt (NYC)
4. “Las Calles Hablan” Group Show (Barcelona)
5. SANER Has “Catharsis” at New Image (LA)
6. Saner “Catharsis” Teaser # 2 (VIDEO)
7. Jeff Frost “Modern Ruin” Preview (VIDEO)
8. See No Evil 2012 (VIDEO)
Happy Friday NYC. Halloween is in full effect on the streets and there are people in costume at bars, at art parties, galleries, and in the corner deli throughout this weekend as we get ready for the Frankenstorm that is on it’s way from the South, West, and North. And from New Orleans another storm system called Big Freedia is set to hit on Halloween at Brooklyn Bowl. Watch the skies for this perfect storm – Ya’ll get back now!
Kid Acne, “Damn Straight” (Vienna)
This week Kid Acne has been led by his small army of sword-wielding women to Vienna, Austria for his solo show at Inoperable gallery with mono prints, graphite, screenprints, qatercolor, and more. The Kid says that the show will also feature a limited print “honoring the worlds first Graffiti Artist, Kyselak“, an Austrian who painted during the early 1800s. “Damn Straight” is now open.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Blue Dog at Michael Mutt (NYC)
With canine pragmatism, the Street Artist Blue Dog 10003 describes the rules of the street: “You put up and if people like it they take pics or poach it. If it sucks they slap over it.” Not sure how it applies to the rules inside the gallery ; “Re Tail Blue’s” is now open to the general public at the Michael Mutt Gallery in Manhattan.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Las Calles Hablan” Group Show (Barcelona)
In support of a forthcoming documentary of the same name, Las Calles Hablan is the first exhibit by Mapping Barcelona Public Art and it is tracing the evolution of street art in Barcelona since the death of Franco. While this collection is not exhaustive, it gives an overview. Presented by MBPA at the Mutuo Centro de Arte, the show includes: Debens, Tom14, Kenor, Pez, Kafre, Alice, SM172, Ogoch, BToy and Gola. Now open.
For further information regarding this show click here.
SANER Has “Catharsis” at New Image (LA)
“I visited Oaxaca a lot when I was growing up because my mother is from there, and certain traditions which they carried out there really caught my attention.,” says Mexican Street Artist Saner as he talks about his youth and the rich influences that can be traced in his work. Medvin Sobio curates Saner’s new show “Catharsis” at New Image Art Gallery in West Hollywood, CA. A cultural and stylistic fusionaire, Saner is clearly poised to influence many – Saturday night it is the place to be in LA.
Mutuo Centro de Arte. Carrer de Julià Portet, 5. (Metro: Urquinaona)
Opening : Thursday, 25 October, 20hr
Works from Debens, Tom14, Kenor, Pez, Kafre, Alice, SM172, Ogoch, BToy and Gola.
Music : DJ Rocketman
Sneak preview of the Las Calles Hablan documentary.
Las Calles Hablan, the first exhibit by Mapping Barcelona Public Art, is about the evolution of street art in Barcelona. The opinions on graffiti go in many different directions – love, hate, indifference. This exhibit welcomes all opinions, inviting everyone to see and learn more about their community and how graffiti can be a compelling element for a visual discussion. Barcelona, like many cosmopolitan cities, has a rhythm, a natural beat that carries and communicates its personality: the very soul of the place. It carries the mood but also embraces the history in the streets. This vibrant energy has attracted many graffiti artists from around the world to live and work, documenting the life and soul of the city on its walls. here because of this energy.
After the death of Franco in the 1970s, Barcelona evolved into a bohemian, cultural city creating a place and environment where the people could reclaim their space, their culture and language. Over the next decades, the city flourished with street art freedom: graffiti along the city walls, music in every corner. During this urban cultural renaissance, artists created a public gallery where the people could enjoy a city which is flourishing with artistic expression. The street art of this time often provoked playful interchanges or posed political, economic or cultural questions. There was a public conversation between the artists and the people in the streets.
Other cities, like Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, developed and embraced their rich street art scenes to the extent where this urban art has become a part of their cultural identities. However, recent changes to the local laws in Barcelona have tightened restrictions on street art, increasing fines and limiting the spaces where street art can be shared with the people. Las Calles Hablan aims to open up the dialogue in the community about the value of street art by providing information on the various barrios and their history since the fall of Franco, a history of the graffiti scene in Barcelona during that same time period, and sharing photographs of work from various local graffiti artists along a timeline. We encourage and invite an open discussion about the graffiti scene.
Documentary
For the opening, there will be a never before seen documentary film, with footage of incredible graffiti areas in Barcelona, as well as interviews with artists, a street art gallery owner and others in the know. Justin Donlon and Sylvia Vidal are producing this fresh inspirational and educational view of the streets of Barcelona.
Welcome to our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Destroy All Design, En Masse, False, Goel, Lisa Enxing, Logan Hicks, NTAS 1979, Pez, Pink Clouds, Ron English, and this snappy new one from VINZ that was set free in Williamsburg last week.
Here is the 2nd half of the Miami images we captured for you from the massive blocks long street installation party called Art Basel this year. Most of these pieces are legal, many are not. You can call them Street Art, but not all are actually on the street and many could also be classified as murals.
Now is a perfect window of opportunity to go see these as many will be buffed in the next few weeks and months, as property owners sell the buildings or decide they didn’t actually dig the art as much as they thought they would. Within a decade or so, this area in Miami will most likely be less enthused with and even hostile toward graffiti and Street Art in general, but the red carpet is laid out at the moment. Artists are flocking from all over the world to jockey for walls, hoping to be seen by potential fans and collectors, or at least to hang out with peers and make new friends. This is a moment on a timeline and, for right now, the colors, patterns, textures, messages and lucid dreams are pulsating on walls everywhere; a mountain of creativity set free.
So here are more than 50 images in our interview with the street, this week featuring 2501, Adjust, AM, Andrew Schoultz, Art Basel 2011, AWR, Bask, Ben Eine, Bik Ismo, Buff Monster, C215, Chris Stain, Clown Soldier, Col, Cope, Dabs&Myla, Des, Ema, Emo, Entes Pesimo, Ethos, Ever, Florida, Gaia, Interesni Kazki, Jade Uno, Jaz, Joe Iurato, Liqen, Miami, Michael DeFeo, Neuzz, Nomade, Nomads, Nunca, Pancho Pixel, Pez, PHD, Pi, el Pancho, Primary Flight, Remote, Retna, Roa, RONE, Shark Toof, Shiro, Smells, Spagnola, Stormie Mills, Vhils, Wynwood Walls, and Zed1.
With special thanks to all the people who helped us out, showed us around and provided insight and background, especially the good folks from Primary Projects and Wynwood Walls.
Ding Ding Ding! The New Year has been rung in and your head has stopped ringing, so it’s back to work – and back to Images of the Week, our weekly interview with the street. This week we’re bringing you incredible new work from Miami. In fact there is so much there since Art Basel hit a month ago that we’re gonna split it over 2 (or 3!) episodes of Images of the Weeks. With all this art on the streets surrounding you, it feels like a prosperous way to start 2012.
So here’s our first part interview with the Streets of Miami, today featuring 2501, Above, Adjust, Aiko, Anthony Lister, B., Ben Eine, CFYW, Chu, Cope, Dabs & Myla, Dan Witz, Date Farmers, Faile, Fila, Hargo, How & Nosm, Interesni Kazki, Jaz, Jeff Soto, JR, Kenny Sharf, Kenton Parker, Know Hope, La Pandilla, Liqen, Logan Hicks, LRG, MDR, MPR, Pez, Pixel Pancho, Retna, REVOK, ROA, Robots, Rone, Saner, Sego, Shark Toof, Shepard Fairey, Spencer Keeton, Tati, and Vhils.
With special thanks to all the people who helped us out, showed us around and provided insight and background, especially the folks from Primary Projects and Wynwood Walls.
Thank you for all the excellent and splendid and wacky and warm submissions to the BSA Holiday Giveaway this week. BSA just has the smartest, knowledgeable, talented and most badass readers! Our panel of judges will be casting their votes for the five winners soon and we’ll be revealing the winners during “12 Wishes for ’12” at the end of the month. A sincere “Thank You” to everybody (from everywhere!) who took the time and made the effort to share their personal wish and image. We value each and every one.
The bachanal of Street Art known as Art Basel washed like a typhoon over walls of Miami last weekend and more Street Artists than ever put up work before heading home to locations around the globe. By all accounts it was an overwhelming experience for many and artists, fans, photographers, and promoters are taking a little time to consider the experience and think about the ramifications for Street Arts’ direction. You may have seen a couple of postings we had as the work was going up last weekend here andhere.
This week we show you a handful of somewhat reflective shots from the streets of Miami (and some from New York too). With time for consideration and after letting the aerosol settle, BSA will give you a huge overview of the whole Miami Street Art scene as it stands on January 2nd.
For now, here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Dain, Gaia, Hargo, Love Me, Need You, Pez, La Pandilla, Rone, and Spencer Keeton Cunningham. Photographs by Jaime Rojo and Geoff Hargadon.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
