All posts tagged: Pixel Pancho

Urban Contemporary Inside the Fair : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 6

December 3, 2016 Artists

Art Basel in Miami is part of an annual three city fair that includes Hong Kong and it’s name sake Basel in Switzerland. This years fair in Miami hosts 269 galleries and your brain will be fried after the first 150, in an excellent way.

Okuda at Retrospect Galleries. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An art fair is not really a rarefied environment but many patrons walk with that air, presumably because they find it to be a flattering look, but most people are just excited to discover new ideas and techniques for channeling the creative spirit in a multitude of ways.

Far from the action of the actual graffiti and Street Art scene in long rows of white wall cubicles that average the price of a new car to rent for four days, SCOPE nonetheless has a healthy number of Street Artists represented with studio pieces that rock as hard as any killer piece under a bridge.

Felipe Pantone at Mirus Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inside this environment we’re probably calling the category Urban Contemporary and it’s always interesting to see how the street practice translates to a frame on a wall – and who can do it successfully. Maybe it shouldn’t, but it’s always surprising to see how many other derivative, hackneyed, or underwhelming works are proudly on display – by artists whose main connection to actual street culture is tenuous at best.

But imitators and replicators have existed in every genre of the plastic arts for as long as anyone reading this has been alive, so it shouldn’t be a shock when you have seen 5 Banksy-esque canvasses even before you stop at the commissary for your $14 pressed vegetable panini.

Hueman at Mirus Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For the actual fans and collectors of actual graffiti and Street Artists, it may be irksome to see the common tropes of colorful paint drips and ironic pop images mutated and slapped with cleverness – especially in view of the fact that there is a fleet of new kids outside in our cities and streets today whose work is regularly amazing.

Since many of the current generation of Street Artists have had a little or a lot of formal training as artists, the quality of work in the good spots is very high and we were happy to find many excellent pieces throughout the fair by folks whose name you may recognize. Here is a sampling of pieces we found during an audit of this year’s SCOPE just so you have an idea of the offerings.

Cinta Vidal at Thinkspace Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cyrcle at Station 16 Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clet Abraham at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dotmasters at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sitk at Graffik Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2501 and Cryptik at Innerstate Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho at Innerstate Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon at Chandran Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Logan Hicks and Joe Iurato at Station 16 Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

C215 at Next Street Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kurar at Next Street Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Denis McNett at Paradigm Gallery. Scope / Art Basel Miami 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

Paint, Protest, Party : BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 5

December 2, 2016 Artists

Scope! The verb, not the art fair.

We will be hitting SCOPE shortly but in the interim we’ve been scoping for action or trouble; trolling around the streets of Wynwood and other selected odd locations to find Street Artists actively brush-painting, aerosol painting, markering, stenciling, wheat-pasting, even tying some wires and ribbons around fences. The walls and murals and the scene are all transforming in front of your eyes here, with photographers, videographers, and drones all flying around to capture the action as it progresses.

Bob from The London Police working at their mural for the new Goldaman offices in Wynwood, Miami. Wynwood Walls 2016 /Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This neighborhood is an art fair, without the attitude. Well, maybe there is attitude occasionally on display as well.

Also, political speech was pushing through the carousing beer swilling, late-sipping, burrito chomping streets yesterday with a 50 person troop of protesters with home made signs addressing the massive oil pipeline that is routed through sacred land of Native Americans in North Dakota and a pipeline planned to go through Florida.

Oil pipelines protest in Wynwood. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

We followed them for a few blocks, listening to chants about water and hegemony and found that for many art/party fans it was a curiosity to see citizens demonstrating, and a few bystanders took the fluorescent green flyers offered and said thanks, while others took photos and naturally, selfies with the marchers.

Just one more element to add to your sense of cognitive dissonance.

Pichi & Avo. Work in progress. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Night time in the Wynwood District is a chaotic grimy glittery mix of high and low and middle in the neighborhood as well – where you are as likely to catch a whiff of a models’ perfume as she sashays past you in a backless silver mini dress with her 3 leggy friends flipping their long hair over their shoulders as you are to catch a whiff of sweet ganga smoke from the joint of an open-shirted, low-waisted Romeo in dreadlocks or one the acrid whiff of the rumpled grayish clothing worn by the guy who is sitting on a chair against a mural and is ready to spend another night laying on the sidewalk after you stumble back to your hotel.

Pichi & Avo. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An ongoing slothful and bloated and thumping network of car-minivan-limo-Escalade-motorcycle traffic is rolling into a mechanical Ambian lethargy, at times looking more like a parking lot or tailgating party, grid-locking and popping and actively cruising the options parading down the sidewalks, with windows open and music pumping.

With no police at intersections to ease the flow of this jamtastic scene, low-bubbling rage mixes with cologne and produces slick insults hurled at the guy whose car is blocking the traffic flow, or more importantly, your flow. The song of the night wafting through the air on one corner, perhaps because a bicycle would be a perfect solution here, is called Bicycleta.

Luckily for us, we are usually on foot and not afraid to walk to find the good stuff. That is the best way to experience the street and the various events and to catch artists at work. Enjoy a few scenes from the day and one from the evening in Wynwood in Miami.

Ron English touching up his mural from a previous edition of Wynwood Walls. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ken Hiratsuka. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Case Maclaim. Detail. Work in progress. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey. Work in progress for Mana Urban Arts Project. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Insa and Drew Merritt. Work in progress. This will be an augmented reality wall which the public will be able to appreciate on Saturday with an app. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Insa and Drew Merrit. Work in progress. This will be an augmented reality wall which the public will be able to appreciate on Saturday with an app. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Low Bros. Perfecting ones curtsy to the Queen comes in handy while painting on a wall. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Obey, people! Or not, its up to you. Wynwood / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Talk at the new Goldman art gallery with Martha Cooper, Crash, Tristan Eaton, Faith47 and Pixel Pancho. Moderated by Steven P. Harrington of BSA. Wynwood Walls 2016 / Art Basel. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pichi & Avo at the Hard Rock Stadium for Goldman Global Arts

This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

Police Arrest in Miami: BSA x UN BERLIN ART BASEL 2016: Dispatch 2

November 29, 2016 Artists

The police here in Miami have taken over the Goldman family offices in the Wynwood district.

Correction: Those would be the artists named The London Police and they are painting a new wall inside the just-opened offices of Goldman Properties – which is a different situation entirely.

The London Police at work on their mural at the new Goldman offices in Wynwood. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

However there was at least one arrest.

Hoisted overhead and hauled down to the station, Martha Cooper still manages to throw a gang sign as she is carted away by The London Police. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The real estate company has a new compound in Wynwood after years of supporting the famed Wynwood Walls compound where perhaps 100 or so international Street Art and graffiti names have brought their skillz since its inception as a living, breathing art project by family visionary Tony Goldman in the late 2000s.

David Choe. Detail. Portrait of Martha Cooper with her cat Mélia. The figure on the left that appears as half human/half whale is a reference to David’s graffiti days when whales were his signature. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In a shaded, gardened area of Wynwood we found Ken Hiratsuka pounding away with hammer and chisel Monday on the large boulders that have distinguished this part of the compound for years. It may have been only for a minute, but we’re pretty sure we saw these boulders covered with paint by Anthony Lister at one point, and perhaps one of these was washed in color at the foreground of a Ron English wall not long after. Definitely they’ve been a foundation for the crocheted pink camouflage skin created for them by OLEK only a couple of years ago during one of Jeffrey Dietch’s curations.

Ken Hiratsuka. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A close friend of Tony, who passed away in 2012, Mr. Hiratsuka has chiseled his continuous line-work into the sidewalks of Manhattan many times over the years – especially the ones made of slate and granite. Keep your eyes peeled and you’ll find his distinctive carvings where you walk in Soho right now, making him a true New York Street Artist.

Ken Hiratsuka. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Since first bringing his hand-pounded mark-making into the nearly lawless lower Manhattan after arriving from Tokyo in 1982, Hiratsuka may have done as many as 50 large pieces in the pedestrian paths of New York. He didn’t stop there but created a full career of it; with sculpted environments and chiseled streets in 21 countries. In this particular context, these new pieces may call to mind the paintings of Haring (and LA2) and Basquiat. All considered, it is remarkable to find him here for Wynwood’s wall celebrations this year – kicking off with the huge ‘artists dinner’ tonight.

Faith 47. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Speaking of artists, we caught a few on the street, somewhat feverish in this winter warmth, protected often by clouds. Trolling around this outdoor beehive with photographer Martha Cooper in the afternoon, we found that many murals have just been finished – like Pixel Pancho’s gilded and caged paradise, Faith 47s heroic poetry and Okuda’s blended portrait. Earlier in the day while touring the nearby new Hard Rock Stadium we found new pieces in progress, like those by Spanish duo Pichi and Avo and Australia’s Fintan Magee.

Pichi & Avo at work on their mural at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Choe. Detail. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Choe. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Okuda. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faith 47. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Beau Stanton. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Findac. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fintan Magee at work on one of his two murals at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. Wynwood Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This article is the result of a collaborative partnership with BSA and Urban Nation (UN).

BSA /Urban Nation Berlin “Picks for Miami Art Basel 2016”

November 26, 2016 Artists

It’s the annual peregrination from Brooklyn to Miami after the Thanksgiving holiday to see the sand, the surf, the aerosol masterpieces. For readers who have witnessed the growing spectacle of the Street Art scene in this city and are worried about the full-scale absorption of Street Art and graffiti culture into the larger Urban Contemporary Art rubric, this place is a tidal wave of evidence that the sub-culture/counter-culture is simply loved and adored by too many people.

Of course, tastes vary and not everyone is into the same aesthetic, message, style, technique, and there are still plenty of ruffians trying to stir sh*t up, thank God. But it’s probably psychologically healthy for artists and fans from the origins of this scene on the street to take some pride in the fact that this grassroots arts movement is producing some of the most compelling shows, exhibitions, and events – many rivaling what is happening inside the ART BASEL fair that all these events are associated with.

All week starting this Monday we’ll be there on the ground hustling from the formal to the informal, sponsored to the D.I.Y. – to at least capture some of that energy and insight to bring to you. In partnership with UN – the Urban Nation Museum of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin, BSA will bring you action and excitement on the streets – here are some highlight to help you with your planning:

WYNWOOD WALLS MIAMI ART WEEK

An ongoing festival of murals begun in the late 2000s, Wynwood Walls’ theme for this year is “Fear Less” and the 12 new murals will for the double meaning of the expression. From the words of Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO of Goldman Properties, who are folks behind Wynwood Walls:

“Every year we choose a unifying theme and ask our artists to somehow address this in their work with the goal of pushing the narrative. This year, with everything going on in the world I felt it appropriate to advocate a message of courage, in the hopes that we can all embody courage in our everyday lives. Street artists by vocation are some of the most fearless people I’ve met — and here in Wynwood, we’ve grown from a marginal area that many feared to explore – into one of the most desirable art-filled locations in the world. My father (Tony Goldman) always said, ‘Don’t give in to fear,’ and this year we’re honoring that sentiment.”

Fear Less will showcase the work of a varied mix of outstanding artists – some household names in the street art world, others up and coming. In addition to Hiratsuka, artists include AVAF (Brazil), Beau Stanton (CA, USA), Case (Germany) Dasic Fernandez (Chile) David Choe (CA, USA), Faith47 (South Africa), Felipe Pantone (Spain), Findac (UK) , Okuda (Spain), Pixel Pancho (Italy,) Risk (CA, USA), Tatiana Suarez (FL, USA) . Artist Audrey Kawasak (USA) will be painting a mural at Goldman Properties’ The Hotel on South Beach. In addition to the murals artist Ken Hiratsuka will carve boulders in the style of his intricate carvings he did on the NYC streets during the 1980’s.

Artist Talk: Thursday December 1st. 6:30 PM at the Goldman Global Arts Gallery at Wynwood Walls. A panel discussion moderated by our own Co-Founder and Editor-in-Chief Steven P. Harrington with participating artists: Martha Cooper, Faith 47, Crash, Tristan Eaton and Pixel Pancho. This event is free and open to the public.

Goldman Global Arts Gallery Exhibition:

Featuring original works by the artists of the Wynwood Walls. Open Thursday December 1^st, 2016 thru December 4^th 2016 from 10AM-10PM and then 11AM-8PM thru February 2017, when the exhibit ends.
Wynwood Walls, Open to the Public during Art Basel Miami Art Week, Wynwood Walls is free and open to the public daily from 10 AM to Midnight.

Wynwood Walls is located at 2520 NW 2^nd Avenue between 25^th and 26^th Streets.

MANA URBAN ART PROJECTS X JUXTAPOZ MAGAZINE

This is an epic intersection that you’ve been waiting for – hi brow/low brow, East Coast raw with West Coast surreally pop, old skool graff with hyperreal, graphic, optic and pop-gold muralistas .

All of these people in bed together is going to make a lot of sweet love people – and babies, and possibly some communicable diseases. Can you imagine the mass of the swarming of creative bodies from Juxtapoz, Thinkspace, 1XRun, Mana Contemporary, Bushwick Collective, Jonathan Levine, and many unannounced guests? It’s a first date for many of these awkward actors but we are not missing this gorgeous clusterduck!

Details are still being ironed out in many cases – check Juxtapoz for Updates:

Juxtapoz Clubhouse: 2400 NW 5th Entrance

Juxtapoz bookstore 1xRun

Installations by:

David Ellis / Swoon/ Fintan Magee / Zio Ziegler / OLEK / Laurence Vallieres / Cey Adams / Velia De Iuliis / Ever Seipre / Franco Fasoli / Waeone Interesni Kazki / Chris Lux

MILK presents Scott Campbell: WHOLE GLORY.

Juxtapoz Clubhouse: 537 NW 24th Street Entrance

Along with Milk Studios , Juxtapoz is teaming up for this special two-day tattoo exhibition/interactive art installation/tattoo emporium. “Lucky recipients will be selected via a lottery on an hourly basis”

Juxtapoz Cafe/Cody Hudson

Dennis McNett installation

Jonathan LeVine Gallery “A Conversation Between Friends”

Jamie Adams / Brett Amory / James Bullough / Tristan Eaton / Dylan Egon / AJ Fosik / Ian Francis / Jeremy Geddes / Alex Gross / Handiedan / Haroshi / Andrew Hem / Hush / Erik Jones / Kehoe / Ludo / Eloy Morales / Tara McPherson / Dennis McNett / Joel Real / Shag / Ben Tolman / Adam Wallacavage / Martin Wittfooth Rostarr.

Juxtapoz Clubhouse Alley: 537 NW 24th Street Entrance

BASE 12 COLLECTIVE

BUSHWICK COLLECTIVE BLOCKPARTY

MANA X JUXTAPOZ NW 2nd and NW 22nd, Lane Mana Convention Center

Andrew Schoultz INFINITY PLAZA

Juxtapoz X 1XRUN NW 2nd and NW 22nd Lane Mana Convention Center

1xRun Mobile Print Shop

Installation mural by Shepard Fairey and OBEY

SCOPE MIAMI 2016 801 Ocean Drive Miami Beach

Just to help you navigate, here are some of the exhibitors who will be showcasing Urban Artists and whom we intend to check out:

Castle Fitzjohns Gallery – NYC
FIFTY24MX / Art Gallery – Mexico City
Graffik Gallery – London
Inner State Gallery – Detroit
NextStreet Gallery – Paris
Samuel Owens Gallery – Greenwich, CT.
Struck Contemporary – Toronto, CA
Think Space Gallery – Los Angeles
Macaya Gallery

X CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR Nobu Hotel, Miami Beach.

JONAS SUN 7 / Catherine Ahnell Gallery

SWOON – HELIOTROPE PRINTS MIAMI 2016

Swoon and The Heliotrope Foundation are pleased to present a launch reception for the Miami 2016 Heliotrope Prints release, featuring Aidan Koch, Rashaad Newsome, Ebony G. Patterson, Emilio Perez, Kenny Scharf, and Anne Spalter.

Thursday, December 1, Downtown Miami

6 – 9 p.m. at The Dog (1306 North Miami Avenue)Heliotrope Prints are $50 limited-edition fine art prints with 100% of proceeds benefitting the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) founded by Swoon in order to streamline her three art-based community building initiatives in Haiti, New Orleans, and the Rust Belt town of Braddock, Pennsylvania.Learn more: www.heliotropefoundation.org

Buy prints: www.heliotropeprints.org

RSVP to reception: www.molly.nyc/miami2016

ABOUT THE HOST VENUE:
Curated by Christopher “Jillionaire” Leacock of Major Lazer, The Dog is a weeklong popup in Downtown Miami that will bring together a group of friends—comprised of acclaimed musicians and artists—to form a hub for inspired expression across the creative disciplines. The Dog is bar, dancehall, and art gallery rolled into one; a site-specific and immersive experience that bridges the gap between contemporary art, culture, and music. www.molly.nyc/thedog

MORE SWOON NEWS:

Swoon’s Pearly’s Beauty Shop with Chandran Gallery, Saturday, December 3, 2016. 7pm-late

Art Creates Water (Dec 1-4)

Millerntor Gallery goes ART BASEL – MIAMI BEACH

Art with a social-environmental mission: ALL FOR WATER – WATER FOR ALL!

Artist Collective of LOW BROS, RAMBA ZAMBA, BOBBIE SERRANO und SEBASTIAN BIENIEK.

Mobile gallery shows works by BARBARA., BJÖRN HOLZWEG, BOBBIE SERRANO, FABIAN WOLF, FLYING FÖRTRESS, FROST, GUAPO SAPO, HEIKO MÜLLER, IT’S THE VIBE, JIM AVIGNON, JOBRAY WRITER, KLEBEBANDE, LOW BROS, MAXIMILIAN MAGNUS, NICO SAWATZKI, NILS KASISKE, PAPA SHABANI, PUSH, QUINTESSENZ, RAMBA ZAMBA, REBELZER, ROCKET & WINK, SADHUX, SASAN, SUTOSUTO, TASEK, TESE, ULI PFORR, WE ARE BÜRO BÜRO.

Millerntor Gallery goes Art Basel Miami Beach is supported by Hamburg Marketing GmbH.

ABOUT US

The Millerntor Gallery is a social business by and for Viva con Agua de Sankt Pauli. Our mantra is ”art creates water” – we use art as a universal language to inspire people and involve them in collective creative engagement. Revenues from art sales and donations are being transformed into clean water. The Millerntor Gallery came to life in 2011 as an art festival inside the stadium of the legendary football club FC Sankt Pauli. Growing rapidly it has already become a global cultural movement that blends individual creative energies into one collective force to change the world for the better. More than 1000 artists have contributed their talents, crafts and works for countless Millerntor Gallery art projects in many different countries.

vivaconagua.org facebook.com/vivaconagua

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 3 with Heidelberg Project, Hueman, Pixel Pancho

September 21, 2016 Artists

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

The artists are quite spread out over multiple blocks on the street and in lots near and around the market area for the Murals in the Market festival and depending on where you ride your bike or drive your car you are probably going to find one on a scissor lift or ladder hiding from the sun under an umbrella or happily leaning against a wall in the shade nearby.

Pixel Pancho. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With Janette Beckman flipping through street art and photography books on the couch at the “headquarters” and Meggs and Mia putting the finishing touches on their combined “Verso” exhibition next door while artists wandered in and out looking for water, soda, and tortas, we climbed into a van with co-founder of Murals in the Market Jesse Cory, his dog Oscar, and artists Faith47, 1010, Hueman and some other friends to see the city through Jesse’s eyes.

Hueman at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

There were burned down houses, the Packard plant in a state of pronounced disrepair, lots of empty lots, tags, pieces, burners, and an amazing project called Heidleberg. An artist on the roster this year for this festival, Tyree Guyton has been doing his own reinvention and revitalization of urban space here for three decades, so Street Art has nothing on him.

Hueman at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The series of outdoor installations throughout the multi-building, multi-lot outdoor museum can only be described as personal and eclectic – using found and handmade materials including sneakers, stuffed animals, dolls, boards, mirrors, and plenty of paint.

Impossible to do this long term project justice in only a few lines, we encourage you to be inspired by the outward creativity of one individual in a community. The work is engaging and nearly as charming as the man himself.

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

After Jesse’s tour we had the opportunity to troll though a 7,000 square foot warehouse of new works with the curator Andrew H. Shirley in a huge recycling center compound containing works by a number of Detroit based graff artists and a visiting crew of graff/street art off-the-grid artists like Rambo, Wolftits, UFO 907, EKG, Adam Void, and many more.

The two-story raw cavernous environment hosted the debut of a new film called “Wastedland2”, a story and film by Mr. Shirley, first shown there on Friday night. The graffiti mockumentary follows fictional graff writers and characters through adventures on the street and off the radar. There is a planned tour of other cities in the offing and we’ll bring you more about this in a later posting.

In the meantime check out some of the scenes from our day in Detroit.

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho Soars into Future Past with UN One Wall Project

July 27, 2016 Artists

A quick shot from photographer Nika Kramer here in Berlin from Italy’s PixelPancho as part of the One Wall project in Tegel series. Part of the Urban Nation initiative, the new mural dips into is a memory of future past, as is his custom, and a stunning addition to the collection of works the group has brought so far to these neighborhoods.

Brooklyn-street-art-pixel-pancho-nika-kramer-urban-nation-one-wall-berlin-07-16-web

Pixel Pancho. One Wall Project. Art Park Tegel Series. UrbanNation Museum For Urban Contemporay Art. Berlin. (photo © Nika Kramer)

BSA is excited to be here is Berlin with UN for the final installment of Project M – a wide ranging and inclusive series of installations from many curators and artists over the past three years, seeding the ground for the new Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, opening Mid 2017. This week you will see new works from Faith 47, JAZ (Franco Fasoli), 2501, Axel Void, Speto, Panmela Castro (Anarkia), Olek, Nunca, and Robosexi – and surely a few more – as Marina Bortoluzzi and Marcelo Pimentel of Instagrafite curate PM/10.

We’ll see you at the opening hopefully! Please come by, we’d love to meet you!

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.03.16

July 3, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Heading into the 4th of July we reflect upon patriotism, our declaration of independence from England, and Britain’s new declaration of independence from the EU. Are there similarities?

Now, we’re all off the park for a barbecue! Where is the frisbee? Where are those hotdog buns?

And here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Agostino Iacurci, Alaniz, Aron Belka, Buttsup, Float Art, Gilf!, King, London Kaye, Pixel Pancho, QRST, Reed B More, Sipros, and WK Interact.

Our top image: London Kaye. Peace, please!! (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Agostino Iacurci (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho. The Italian artist was in NYC early in June to participate in a group show and painted this mural in Chelsea in NYC. While the mural appears unfinished by the blotch of white paint on the bottom that is not the case. The artist’s completed piece was tagged and as per the artist’s request the gallery removed the tag with the white paint. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Float Art (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

WK Interact (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reed B. More has been leaving these translucent pieces suspended about the fray. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reed B. More (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reed B. More tagging the sky. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reed B. More (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sipros for the Buschwick Collective. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! did this piece to honor the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando and debuted it in time for the LGBT Pride weekend in NYC. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aron Belka did this portrait of jazz pianist and composer Allen Toussaint, who passed away last autumn, for The L.I.S.A. Project NYC in Little Italy/China Town. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alaniz pointing in every direction at the abandoned NSA spy compound in Teufelsberg Hill in Berlin. Berlin, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Buttsup (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

King (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. June 2016. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Film Friday: 03.04.16

March 4, 2016 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence
2. Pixel Pancho: “Teseo e il Minotauro” in Rome
3. Read The Label: Blood, Sweat and Years.

BSA Special Feature: Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence

The depth of scholarship and research that Roger Gastman puts into graffiti history is only exceeded by his passion for the people and the culture that coalesced in the neighborhoods and streets of Philadelphia and New York in the genesis story of Wall Writers: Graffiti in its Innocence. He opens the doors to people who until now have been hidden and difficult to reach, and gives them an opportunity to tell the story of their lives then and how crucial the graffiti scene was to their experience of the city. He also examines the impact their work had on spurring the first of various art-in-the-streets scenes that evolved afterword.

Currently on tour for the 350 page tome and the documentary film, Gastman is bringing some of these original writers to cities to meet you, and possibly you may see the film’s narrator, Mr. John Waters.

For information regarding screenings click HERE

Pixel Pancho: “Teseo e il Minotauro” in Rome

In a city steeped in art history where every camera shot looks like a classic movie scene you have to be cognizant of the critical analysis that will be directed at your new mural from every Giovanni, Adriana, and Luca who are walking by or hanging out of the window. These are the countrymen and women of Pixelpancho so he takes it all into consideration and presents a classic of his own, merged with a steam-punked futurism of robots who are rather romantic in their own way.

Pixel Pancho: “Teseo e il Minotauro” in Rome

Special thanks to @theblindeyefactory

Read The Label: Blood, Sweat and Years.

A full length film about graffiti and skateboarding from this moment – a collection of skate, graff, rap, beatz, cops, vandalism, illegal mark-making, and legal murals that tells a story as seen by people who do it. How much is documentary and how much is fiction? Well, there probably wasn’t a soundtrack like this accompanying all of the original scenes, that’s for sure.

Pixel Pancho: “Teseo e il Minotauro” in Rome

March 3, 2016 Artists

Today we have new images of Italian painter/sculptor/installation artist Pixel Pancho doing a mural in the Primavelle district in Rome just after his new solo show at Varsi Gallery. Reimagining the mythological as robotic, his violent struggles are at once crushing and sensual, brutally lyrical, animatronically efficient.

Just enough gauzy romance remains in the details for neighbors in this famously popular suburb to appreciate the modern take on a classical story, and Pixel Pancho continues his passionate onward march across walls of cities around the world.

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Check out Pixel Pancho’s new video for this piece tomorrow on BSA Film Friday.

Pixel Pancho’s solo exhibition “Androidèi” is currently on view at Galleria Varsi in Rome. Click HERE for more information.

Our most sincere thanks to BSA Contributors Lorenzo and Giorgio at BlindEyeFactory.com for sharing their photos with BSA readers.

BSA “Images of the Year” for 2015 : New Video

December 16, 2015 Artists

Was 2015 the “Year of the Mural”?

A lot of people thought so, and the rise of commercial festivals and commissioned public/private mural programs probably brought more artists to more walls than in recent history. Judging from the In Box, 2016 is going to break more records. Enormous, polished, fully realized and presented, murals can hold a special role in a community and transform a neighborhood, even a city.

But they are not the “organic” Street Art that draws us into the dark in-between places in a city, or at its margins.

We keep our eyes open for the small, one-off, idiosyncratic, uncommissioned, weirdo work as well, as it can carry clues about the culture and reveal a sage or silly solo voice. It also just reinforces the feeling that the street is still home to an autonomous free-for-all of ideas and opinions and wandering passions. For us it is still fascinating to seek out and discover the one-of-a-kind small wheatpastes, stencils, sculptures, ad takeovers, collages, and aerosol sprayed pieces alongside the enormous and detailed paintings that take days to complete.

The main image above is from a vinyl subway advertisement that was high-jacked and we published it in February of this year on our Images of the Week posting. It’s small, personal, and very effective as you can see someone suspiciously similar to Batman is jumping out of the mouth of someone looking awfully similar to Hedwig of “Angry Inch” fame.

Of the 10,000 or so images photographer Jaime Rojo took in 2015, here are a selection 140+ of the best images from his travels through streets looking for unpermissioned and sanctioned art.

Brooklyn Street Art 2015 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo

Brooklyn Street Art 2015 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

365xlos43, Amanda Marie, Andreas Englund, Augustine Kofie, Bisser, Boijeot, Renauld, Bordaloli, Brittany, BunnyM, Case Maclaim, Casg, Cash4, CDRE, Clet, Cost, Curve, Dain, Dal East, Dan Budnik, Dan Witz, David Walker, DeeDee, Dennis McNett, Don Rimx, Ricardo Cabret, LNY, Alex Seel, Mata Ruda, Don’t Fret, Dot Dot Dot, ECB, El Mac, El Sol25, Ella & Pitr, Eric Simmons, Enest Zacharevic, Martha Cooper, Martin Whatson, Ever, Faile, Faith47, Findac, Futura, Gaia, Gilf!, Hanksy, Hellbent, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy and Sot, Inti, Invader, Isaac Cordal, James Bullough, Janet Dickson, Jef Aerosol, Jilly Ballistic, Joe Iurato, John Fekner, Le Diamantaire, Li Hill, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Low Brow, Marina Capdevilla, Miss Van, Mr. Prvrt, Mr. Toll, Myth, Nafir, Nemos, Never Crew, Nick Walker, Nina Pandolofo, Old Broads, Oldy, Ollio, Os Gemeos, Owen Dippie, Paper Skaters, Pet Bird, Kashink, Smells, Cash4, PichiAvo, Pixel Pancho, QRST, ROA, Ron English, Rubin415, Saner, Sean 9 Lugo, Shai Dahan, Shepard Fairey, Sheryo & The Yok, Sinned, Sipros, Skewville, Slikor, Smells, Sweet Toof, Snowden, Edward Snowden, Andrew Tider, Jeff Greenspan, Specter, Stray Ones, Sweet Toof, Swil, Willow, Swoon, The Outings Project, Toney De Pew, Tristan Eaton, Various & Gould, Vermibus, Wane, Wk Interact

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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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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.06.15 NUART 2015 SPECIAL

September 6, 2015 Artists

After Stavanger Mayor Christine Sagen Helgø made the official declaration of the opening of the Nuart gallery show at Tou Scene last night the sliding barn door on the ex beer factory moved back to allow the crowd to flow in like a river to see this years collection of art installations in the “tunnels” of the space. This component of the Nuart experience allows a certain degree of curation and idea development that brings you a fuller appreciation of the artists who create murals on the street as well.

Additionally, and we are telling you nothing secret here, the adhoc crew of technicians and scene creators here are rough and ready; obviously over qualified and with a fair degree of refinement when it comes to helping the artist realize some of their grander aspirations. Artists are encouraged to think big and a number of them have this year, including some who are so capacious they nearly collide or eclipse one another, but visitors this year may feel like the quality and depth of this editions 5-week show just advanced by a length.

This week’s interview with the street is not actually on the street – but rather a reflection of the direction that the street can take a curated collection of current artists and corollary influencers from years past.

Clearly you can go as deeply or shallowly as you want with this years theme of “Play”. Harmen de Hoop’s video of Thursday’s performance piece on Stavanger’s streets by a renowned mathematics and statistics professor Jan Ubøe, who mystifies the assembled audience while explaining the factors that form our world economy is rather utterly balanced on a jerking seesaw with Bortusk Leer’s incessantly cheery monster diorama.

50 years of selected photographs by ethnographer Martha Cooper of children in cities around the world at play with improvised tools and methods are almost matched in impact by Ernest Zacharevic’s slowly tumultous sea waters tossing a child’s paper boat with a handful of kids inside, evoking the current news with immigrants escaping to Europe in dangerous waters. Isaac Cordal’s installation of achingly desperate white-collar men in a desperate diorama is uplifted by Ella & Pitr’s fairy tale giant reaching from the heavens to pick one from a chair.

Sandra Chevrier brings a signature masking of a woman’s visual and olefactory senses, quite alone in the bright spotlight. The iconic ripped shreds and piled irony of Jamie Reid brings the radicalized hippie and punk politics into front and center while Pixel Pancho and Bordalo II each take swipes at the oil economy that dominates our lives while killing others.

Bordalo alone could command the entire space with his found/reclaimed Stavanger refuse that is fashioned into a immensely tragic scene of a spent whale submerged in muck and spouting that black gooey pulp from it’s blow-hole. Icy & Sot next door use their understated humor and biting criticism with a summer tree in a verdant hue captured as soliloquey, first appearing leafy and fluttering from a fan-stirred breeze, then revealed as suffocated by 300 petroleum-based green plastic shopping bags that are caught in its branches.

Finally the painterly abstractions of Futura across half a tunnel are set free, poignantly balancing the symbolic liberty of Martin Whatson’s graffitied butterfly, now cravenly pierced and readied for your private collection.

While you can practically smell the brands hovering over quality events like these to hopefully insinuate themselves into – Nuart continues to keep its independence of curation, broadening its branches with the Tou Scene installations and deepening its roots with academic forums and related programming in such a way that its true nature remains. Hopefully it will be to continue this way despite a tightening Norwegian economy.

Yes there was some talk at panels this week about the fact that a 15 year old Street Art mural festival is in itself an institution and anathema to what the graffiti/street/urban art practice may have originated from, but one of the myriad outcomes of pounding away with purpose at thoughtful parallel programming like this Tou Scene show year after year is that you may also develop something uniquely relevant in its own right.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street – this week via the exhibition space of Nuart 2015 and featuring Bordalo II, Bortusk Leer, Dolk, Dot Dot Dot, Ella & Pitr, Ernest Zacharevic, Furtura, Harmen de Hoop, Icy & Sot, Isaac Cordal, Jamie Reed, Martha Cooper, Outings Project, Pixel Pancho, and Sandra Chevrier.

Nuart Day 5: Flying High in the Norwegian Sky

September 5, 2015 Artists

Live from Nuart as it’s happening folks, and the festival is proving to be a rather impressive small beast at this point – one with multiple heads and legs and hands waving paint brushes, aerosol cans, saws, drills, stencils, spot lights, fans, ship buoys, shovels, ladders, helicopter blades….. What?

Friday began with an helicopter ride to take the full scope of the giant Ella & Pitr roof top mural. Here we see Martyn saying good bye to all of us earthlings. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes, Martyn Reed gave a healthy scare to a number of guests by inviting them to view the massive Ella & Pitr piece from a helicopter hovering about on Friday in conjunction with a formal dedication ceremony. It’s the only way to truly see it, darling, and that is not simply a clever manner of expression – it is a literal one.

Ground-based mortals may also see these painted red nails on giant hand inside the public art exhibition planned for Saturday night as the French couple have coupled their installation with the radically smaller scaled sculptures of Isaac Cordel, whose balding concrete curmudgeons lurk and mope and sink into the soil around the perimeter.

All three artists were in the audience at BSA Film Friday LIVE at the cinema downtown, which made us feel relieved because their videos were also featured in our show about PLAY. Thanks to everyone who came, including those sitting in the aisles and on the steps: think we need a bigger theater next time!

Elsewhere the Outings Project liberated a number of museum pieces on walls here and there around the neighborhood, their unsung regal figures set loose yet rigidly posed on concrete blocks in empty lots. Some malformed and miscreant monsters have also popped up, seemingly over night, on pieces of printed news. They look rather similar to the installation of Bortusk Leer in the beer halls of Tou Scene, but not much like the realistic children on cut-out wood in Ernest Zacharevic’s installation nor Pixel Pancho’s three dimensional robot – a symbol used in many of his large scale murals appearing in cities around the world.

Stay tuned for more images, as we are a bit buried under a wealth of them right now but feel compelled to run outside and gather more while the sun is shining and the paint is still wet.

The Outings Project brings the masters outside onto the walls and Bortusk Leer’s monsters take an art history lesson. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sandra Chevrier at work inside the Tou Scene tunnels at work on her collaboration with Martin Whatson. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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