Ricardo Hernandez

Paintings of “Centropelia” in Madrid by Juan Yksuhc

November 18, 2020 Artists

Juan Yksuhc is more oil-on-canvas than aerosol-on-steel, but he’s done the latter with the same fantastical figurative free-wheeling quotidian panache as the former. Rich tones and stretched torsos give way to static snapshots of real life, always rendered in a fevered fervor.

Juan Yksuhc. *Centropelia*. Madrid. (photo © Ricardo Hernandez)

Here in Madrid his paintings are episodic and serially thematic, you may say. Photographer Ricardo Hernandez seeks them, warmed with curiosity at their formal classicism, their nonplussed aplomb and sometimes obvious symbolism. It’s a different kind of lengua de la calle.

Yksuhc in fact is not eager to be unpacked, preferring the graphic manifestation of a historical present to catch you in your moment, ready to walk into the world he’s just painted for you.

For example he tells us that this series “Centropelia” is an allusion to the conflicted realities bound within gentrification; as modern as it is historic with its themes of speculation, expulsion, and the spiraling economic violence of rent.

Juan Yksuhc. *Centropelia*. Madrid. (photo © Gema Rodríguez y Guillermo de la Madrid)

Madrid Dispatch: Primo Banksy and TVBoy

September 21, 2020 Artists

These days it is the default storyline of a non-British arts journalist to deign that their local street artist is “Tel Aviv’s Banksy”, or “Wanaka’s Banksy”. Here in Madrid, this artist just calls himself Banksy’s cousin, or at least that could be one interpretation of his artistic name.

Primo Banksy. Tribute at Garcia Lorca. Madrid, Spain. (photo © Ricardo Hernandez)

Primo Banksy is a trained artistic talent and uses his carefully rendered ink and watercolor illustrations to highlight cultural figures in art, politics, literature – like John & Yoko, the girl from the Velázquez’ Las Meninas, or this portrait of Federico García Lorca, the poet, playwright, and theater director.

Primo Banksy. Madrid, Spain. (photo © Ricardo Hernandez)

Meanwhile the street artist known as TVBoy is much closer in style and sentimentality to the Bristol-born street art man of mystery known around the world. The Barcelona based Italian favors the pop side of so-called “urban art” here, his filter treatments of popular figures a sure hit for passersby who relate to the subject.

TVBOY. Madrid, Spain. (photo © Ricardo Hernandez)

Our thanks to BSA reader Ricardo Hernandez who shares with us some recent shots while strolling the streets of Madrid.

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.29.20 / Dispatch From Isolation #7

March 29, 2020 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Highest claims for unemployment in our history. The best day on the Stock Market since 1933. People won’t get relief from the government for weeks and many live paycheck to paycheck. Typically one might predict these are conditions for a domino effect that sets in motion a revolution, if you’ve read history books. Already there are talks about mass rent strikes for April.

Meanwhile, our neighborhood in Brooklyn is in the code red zone on the maps for Covid-19 outbreak in New York; so you’ll forgive us if we don’t go outside to capture fresh new Street Art for a while. We did have to leave once this week for a friend’s medical emergency (not the virus, thankfully) but we’re back on self-quarantine. Much respect to all medical personnel all across the world.

So, as long as we’re able, we’re going to publish work from the street. But please do send us what you see, what you capture – maybe out the window. But don’t put yourself at risk, or others.

We have to flatten this curve and it will take us all to do it.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring DeGrupo, 1UP Crew, Gris, Hellon Wheels, Jeff Kowalsky, Laszlo, LOOK, Joan Aguilo, Seco, The Brujo, and Yiannis Bellis.

Joan Aguilo in Madrid, Spain. (photo © Ricardo Hernandez)

Vidom + Look in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vidom + Look in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Crew in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist at the marquee at the Magic Bag theater in Ferndale, MI.(photo © Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)

Gris in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Shabat prayers in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. March 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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