All posts tagged: Rochester

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Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be the Media Partner of Wall Therapy 2013

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Sarah C. Rutherford Flies High at Wall\Therapy

July 25, 2013 Artists

One criticism leveled at Street Art events around the world (and they are around the world now) is that sometimes the invited artists work is stylistically or thematically so foreign to the local taste that the piece does not resonate, or worse, it rattles nerves. A seamless cultural match is not likely when you are bringing someone from, say, Belgium, to say, Rochester, and the fact that an artists style or content causes a friction of opinions is a fair critique, although not specifically a disqualifying one.

By its lineage, Street Art (or Urban Art as its known across the Atlantic) was at least in part spawned from the rather anti-authoritarian practices and ruminations of graffiti and its snotty little brother, vandalism. So you’re bound to get somebody roiled at some point with your art. Actually, if you are not pissing somebody off then you’re probably not trying hard enough.

Sarah C. Rutherford. Work in progress at Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

The act of doing your work in the public sphere puts it into a new category of considerations than hanging it quietly inside on a private wall and, by George, every person is entitled to their God-given opinion about it. And there are the children to consider after all. To be fair, there can be a modicum of “fear of the invader” for any city that is suddenly swooped in on by visiting weirdo artists from foreign lands like Argentina, Ireland, South Africa, and Newark. There may also just be unhappy people who are sort of bored. But we digress.

Local Street Artists and graffiti artists who have been toiling for years and who actually know the flavor of the city very well sometimes can similarly get the impression that they’ve been overtaken and overlooked in favor of the imperial aerosol forces, even if they are happy they came. That’s why it’s a smart organizer who takes pains to make sure that at least a few local talents are fully in the mix. It makes the whole feast richer, a great way to synthesize community, a positive way of evoking a host/guest dynamic among the artists and the organizers, and while the styles and interests are definitely going to be varied, the formula encourages a more genuine sense of cultural exchange.

Sarah C. Rutherford. Work in progress at Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

At BSA we always value the courageous person who dares to engage the creative spirit and to bring it out to be seen by others, and we are happy to introduce you to a talent who has called Rochester home for seven years and who has been hitting up a wall this week alongside her visiting guests like the total pro she is.

Illustrator and fine artist Sarah C. Rutherford says, “This event often feels like a dream for me as an artist and community leader. I look around at the talented people who are visiting us and those from our city and I feel the power of our voices collectively shaping walls around Rochester.” Modest, too, but the girl’s no slouch.

Sarah C. Rutherford. Work in progress at Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

Over the past few years Rutherford has contributed her line drawing talents for a brewing company, a school of music, a cookbook, the Rochester City Newspaper and the New York Times Magazine. An urban explorer who trudges in the rubble like the best of them, she’s admired the work of Street Artist Swoon for many years and has left her own mark on decayed walls in hidden places and has constructed installations with found materials. She also recently nailed a three month painting gig with her friend Lea Rizzo that included seven flights of stairs and 28 walls in the Highland Hospital, so she can handle a brush.

Yet WALL\THERAPY has filled her with a gratitude, she says. “I am so humbled and grateful to have been included as an artist in this event.”

BSA asked Rutherford to talk about her wall.

“My piece involves a familial scene based around peregrine falcons. Here in Roc, we have a falcon cam that was established on the Kodak tower and now has been moved to the Times Square Building.

I also included fragmented pieces of the Rochester logo, as well as magnolias – a popular flower in this area.

Sarah C. Rutherford. Work in progress at Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

Finally, I loved this wall for the broken up canvas it provided me – an interesting frosted window with bars, a wood panel amidst the concrete. I included a wooden installation element, something else I am quite fond of doing. I have built this structure in 3-D form before, but it was fun to include it in this manner. I’m hoping to experiment more with this in the future.

Overall, this mural is about the ones we love – the fierceness in which we protect them and the beautiful worlds we create for this love to dwell.”

Sarah says she wanted her mural to be rooted in this city as a matter of local pride, and because of her strong feelings of alliance with it. She sites as inspirational figures the co-curators of this years festival, Ian Wilson and Erich Lehman, as well as the rest of the Wall\Therapy crew and all the many volunteers.

We want to give special thanks to photographer Lisa Barker for sharing this photo essay with BSA readers.

Sarah C. Rutherford. Work in progress at Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

Sarah C. Rutherford for Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

Sarah C. Rutherford at Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

Sarah C. Rutherford. Her completed piece for Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

Top image Sarah C. Rutherford. Work in progress at Wall\Therapy in Rochester, New York (photo © Lisa Barker)

Take your phone and hit the road! Shoot your own pics and tag them @WallTherapyNY and @BKStreetArt – we’ll send them round the world! Click HERE for the updated Google map.

Check out our previous posts on WALL\THERAPY:

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Starts With FREEDOM in a Tunnel

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Daily Checkup and Scan of Founder Ian Wilson

Wall\Therapy 2013 Tuesday Update 7.22.13

Wall\Therapy 2013 Wednesday Update 7.24.13

To learn more please visit:

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Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be the Media Partner of Wall Therapy 2013

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Wall\Therapy 2013 Wednesday Update 7.24.13

July 24, 2013 Artists

POWWWWW!

Conor Harrington’s right hook is emblematic of the impact that the huge number of artists are having on Rochester right now for WALL\THERAPY. “It’s been a very well organized event and painting side by side with this line up of artists has been a blast,” says NYC graffiti veteran and globetrotter DAZE as he improvises his piece.

Meanwhile Martha Cooper is watching/shooting “Mike Ming about to attack his super colorful wall”, Lady Pink is talking to some neighborhood youth about her work, and EVER from Argentina is showing off his international collection of paint brushes to Deb Vanwert while Jason is snapping photos of him. And the weather is great since these are the two weeks a year when Rochester gets above 60 degrees. We’re up north yo! Just kidding.

Our update today contains fresh stuff from Mike Ming, Cern, Faith47, Gaia, EVER, Pose2, St. Monci, WiseTwo, Siloette, LNY, Binho, Change, Conor Harrington, DAZE, FreddySam, Lady Pink, and Range.

Special thanks to photographers Jason Wilder, Alex Stuart, Josh Saunders, Lisa Barker, and Mark Deff, for sharing these great process images with BSA readers.

Image above of Conor Harrington in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Conor Harrington. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

St. Monci. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Binho. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Siloette. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Range. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Cern. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

LNY gets some helpful input. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Lisa Baker)

EVER. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Mike Ming. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Alex Stuart)

Gaia. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Lisa Baker)

Gaia. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Pose2. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Pose2. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Change. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Faith47. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

South Africa’s FreddySam in the zone. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Daze. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

” The painting I’m working on is a bit improvisational in that even though I had made many provisional sketches for it before hand all that changed once I was in front of the wall. At least part of my inspiration for the painting is coming from my experience here in Rochester – The center of the wall features the Rochester skyline as seen from Hyland park. Everything in the painting is drawn to this center,” explains Daze.

Lady Pink takes a moment out to speak with local youth about her work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Take your phone and hit the road! Shoot your own pics and tag them @WallTherapyNY and @BKStreetArt – we’ll send them round the world! Click image above or HERE for the updated Google map.

Check out our previous posts on WALL\THERAPY:

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Starts With FREEDOM in a Tunnel

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Daily Checkup and Scan of Founder Ian Wilson

Wall\Therapy 2013 Tuesday Update 7.22.13

To learn more please visit:

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Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be the Media Partner of Wall Therapy 2013

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Wall\Therapy 2013 Tuesday Update 7.22.13

July 23, 2013 Artists

The sun is not as hot as it has been, but don’t tell that to the Conor from Cork (Ireland), who is turning as red as a tomato nonetheless. Not that he minds. “I love the way random people say hello to you in the street in Rochester,” he says on his Twitter feed from atop a cherry picker as he races across the wall.

Aside from Conor, we have a description directly from Gaia (below) of his new wall that is gradually being unveiled, and a nice collection of new shots from the action underway yesterday at WALL\THERAPY of works around town including stuff from Bile, Daze, Freddy Sam, Lady Pink, LNY, Saint Monci, Mr. Prvrt, Pose2, and Wise2.

Special thanks to photographers Mark Deff, Jason Wilder, Alex Stuart, and Lisa Barker for sharing these great process images with BSA readers.

Check out the MAP of all the WALL\THERAPY spots at the end of this posting too.

Above image Mr. Prvrt. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Wise2. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Wise2. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Bile. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Alex Stuart)

Connor Harrington. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Gaia. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Alex Stuart)

Gaia knocked out a grid-like series of 18 white windows on the entire side of a building and began placing items within. He says there are a mix of the Giambologna Mercury figure, the aqueduct building (presumably the Roman Aqueduct), Rochester’s own Xerox Tower and a young anonymous kid.

Of the 18 sheets of paper that are copied across the wall, “It is a poetic xerox reference to shifting industries that move more swiftly than communities of people and culture,” says Gaia from a cherry picker.

Daze. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Daze. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

LNY. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

LNY. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Lisa Barker)

FreddySam. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lady Pink. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Lady Pink. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Pose2. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Saint Monci. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Mark Deff)

Saint Monci gave a dramatic overview of his upcoming attraction, “My work, as of late, has really been inspired by the color and warmth of classic technicolor films; old sci-fi movies of the 50s/60s in particular, ” he says as he traces out the new wall. The palette is inspired by the red and green of vintage 3D glasses, which works out great since the building he is working on was actually a movie theater from the 1920s through the 50s. He’s also got a show coming up in September here in Rochester called ‘Adventures in Technicolor’. More on this wall tomorrow…

Take your phone and hit the road! Shoot your own pics and tag them @WallTherapyNY and @BKStreetArt – we’ll send them round the world! Click image above or HERE for the updated Google map.

Check out our previous posts on WALL\THERAPY:

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Starts With FREEDOM in a Tunnel

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Daily Checkup and Scan of Founder Ian Wilson

To learn more please visit:

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be the Media Partner of Wall Therapy 2013

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

WALL\THERAPY 2013 Daily Checkup and Scan of Founder Ian Wilson

July 22, 2013 Artists

WALL\THERAPY began in earnest this weekend with a Friday kickoff party that welcomed arriving artists and the local community together and then jumped directly into the making of art with many murals going up on walls around town in Rochester simultaneously Saturday and Sunday. The dual pronged focus of WALL\THERAPY is a mural festival that draws Street Artists and graffiti artists from around the world to work alongside local artists and to raise awareness of people’s access to medical technology.

Daze. Work in progress. WALL\THERAPY. Rochester, NY. July 2013. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Street Art and medicine; You may wonder how the two are related, and the answer is that these are two of Ian Wilson’s greatest passions. A Brooklyn born graff writer who went on to pursue a career in teleradiology, Ian works long doctors hours at his regular gig in a local hospital and puts this WALL\THERAPY event together with partners, volunteers, and community members. Finally, he is working to bring imaging and diagnostic equipment to communities around the world who don’t have this basic tool to treat disease.

Since BSA supports people who actually give back, we are very happy to be the Media Partner for WALL\THERAPY and are proud of the artists who are lending their talents to this initiative in this northwestern town of New York State.

This year the roster has expanded to include an eclectic mix of a few serious old skool NYC graffiti names spanning 4 decades, a healthy handful of international and nationally known Street Artists that are defining the scene today, and some important local talents.

As a group they represent a solid lineup and are a reflection of the inclusive approach that WALL\THERAPY is taking, while skewing toward high quality. The list includes Bile, Binho, Case, Cern, Change, DalEast, Daze, Ever, Faith47, Adam Francey, Freedom, Freddy Sam, Jessie & Katey, Labrona, Lady Pink and Smith, Lea Rizzo, LNY, Mike Ming, Mr. Prvrt, Faring Purth, Pose2 and Range, ROA, Sarah C. Rutherford, and St Monci among others.

All week we will bring you exclusive new images of the creative progress and some insights into the personal stories of some of the artists as they create their works in this unique combining of art, science, and community inspiration.

Thanks today to photographers Jason Wilder, Alex Stuart, and Mark Deff for sharing these images with BSA readers.

Here’s a video from a previous edition of WALL\THERAPY that lays out the inspiration that lead to and the community feeling that comes about from the event.

To learn more please visit:

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Brooklyn Street Art is proud to be the Media Partner of Wall Therapy 2013

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WALL\THERAPY 2013 Starts With FREEDOM in a Tunnel

July 20, 2013 Artists, Interview

BSA is totally psyched to be your source for hot exclusive images and a few scintillating stories that unfold during WALL\THERAPY, the Street Art festival anchored in Rochester, New York that is kicking off right about…. Wait! It already started! Here is your first dispatch.

FREEDOM – that’s what Street Art and graffiti means to a whole lot of people – is something that seems endangered around the world (including here), and is the name of a NYC graffiti writer who started off the 2013 Wall Therapy festival by painting in a………. wait for it…………. tunnel!

For the first time in eighteen years.

For those readers not familiar with Freedom Tunnel at Manhattan’s northern West End, it basically got it’s name from this guy because he held it down during the 80s and early 90s. Not only did he basically take up residency there for years, he also stretched his creative legs and let his mind free from the constraints of traditional graff lettering and style to entertain portraiture, pop art, advertising and even the Rennaissance. So how fitting that he’s debuting here in a tunnel, this time in the old Rochester subway, where he decided to return to pop influences that formed his youth.

There are a few artists who we identify as missing links, connective tissue, between New York’s storied graffiti history and today’s Street Art scene, and Freedom is one of them. He spoke with us about this trip back underground:

Brooklyn Street Art: In a way, it strikes us that there was more actual freedom to be yourself in this tunnel than the one that bears your name – whether because the original is now inhospitable or because it carries the weight of memories and associations, possibly even expectations. Is that true?
Freedom: When I painted in the original Freedom Tunnel from 1980 to 1995 nobody cared, and that was great for me. It allowed me to fail — which I think is a big part of the artistic process. The tunnel wasn’t even called the Freedom Tunnel until 1990 and the works inside of it had no value. Today, when I do a piece there’s a whole lot more to think about.

Brooklyn Street Art: Did you scope around this tunnel for a good source of light to frame your work?
Freedom: I spent the entire morning of my first day in the tunnel finding the right spots for the paintings. Admittedly, I miss the shafts of light from the Freedom Tunnel.

Brooklyn Street Art: Here in Rochester you returned to a personal nostalgia with advertising art, pop art, branding and that visual vocabulary. Some of your past work has also referenced European painting tradition and with some of the new Street Artists now making similar references (like Gaia, Dan Witz, Lister’s ballerinas and even Conor Harrington) do you have any inclination to knock out something painterly once in a while?
Freedom: My large murals – even when they are painterly – are merely impressions. I like to think of them as drawings done in spray paint. If I was going to paint on a wall then I might as well go all the way and grid it and become a muralist, but that doesn’t interest me. I do more labor intensive works on canvas.

Brooklyn Street Art: Do you have a personal collection of ephemera that you are digging the most right now? Or is your collection primarily in your mind?
Freedom: If there’s one thing I found out from when they closed down the Freedom Tunnel, it is that it’s a state of mind. When I decided to go back to buried treasure from my youth I Googled images from 1965 to 1967 and I tried to find things that had stuck with me. Thirty years ago I would’ve needed a more specific object, one that I had legitimately held in my hand. Today when I pore through the images I try to find things that are indicative of a bygone era. I’m fascinated by the terrible printing of the 60s – most of it is red, white and blue. That’s what I’m in to now, although it could change.

BSA is very pleased to start the weeks’ coverage of Wall Therapy with the voice of Freedom himself describing his experience as an essay sparked by the memories brought back from painting in a tunnel for the first time in almost two decades. He starts off by telling us how he used to retrieve treasure through street gratings, an apt metaphor for an artist who once turned a tunnel into a museum.

“When I was a kid in the 60’s my parents wouldn’t let me off the block.

I was, however, allowed to go ‘subway fishing’ on Lexington and 88th Street because it did not require me to cross any streets. The grating I fished through was located at a bus stop – which meant there were many buried treasures including: buffalo nickels, mercury dimes, baseball cards, political buttons, matchbook covers, a Green Hornet ring – the list was endless. I was able to fish out lots of great stuff with a string, a lock and a wet piece of gum.

When we moved to the West Side in 1967 I dragged part of my haul with me to my new neighborhood where I traded it for other pop culture ephemera. In 1980, when I started painting in the Freedom Tunnel these images began to re-emerge. Because of their proximity to a spot where (city) Parks employees got drunk and took naps, they painted over the paintings. I moved to a different section of the tunnel.

Thirty-three years later I had the chance to repaint some of the images that were dear to me. The original paintings were done in silver and black – after all, who would ever think of priming a wall?

Everything has changed. These paintings are not only done in color, the bottle cap is done with transparent paint. Tape and cardboard were used to make it a little crisper, and I had an amazing assistant named Justin from the Wall Therapy team who could point out mistakes while I was still on the ladder.

What used to be a paranoid solitary pursuit turned into a celebration of painting.

And that’s kind of what this is about.

My favorite image in Rochester was done by an artist from Capetown. It is a long colorful arm that points to a message – ‘For the City of Rochester, Thank You!’

Add me to that list.”

Chris Pape / FREEDOM

Freedom pieces photographed by Matt DeTurck. All locations are in the old Rochester Subway.

Special thanks to Ian Wilson, Erich Lehman, and John Magnus Champlin.

To learn more please visit: