All posts tagged: Sainer

Art in the Alps Pt 2: A Visual Guide to Grenoble’s Street Art Fest 2024

Art in the Alps Pt 2: A Visual Guide to Grenoble’s Street Art Fest 2024

August 1, 2024

This is part 2 of a series of new works from the 10th Annual Street Art Fest Grenoble, with photographs by veteran photographer Martha Cooper. The massive variety, quantity, and quality of works at Grenoble place it ahead of many festivals, as you can see here. Many of the murals are in context with their surroundings and collaborate with them in a meaningful way. For its 2024 edition, the Street Art Fest Grenoble-Alpes celebrates its 10th anniversary under the direction of Jérôme Catz and The Spacejunk Art Center. Today we focus strictly on the big statements, and there are many.

SETH. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. 2021 Edition. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Veks Van Hillik. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. 2017 Edition. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Veks Van Hillik. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. 2018 Edition. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Etien. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2021. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Momies. Maye. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2018. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
PichiAvo. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2019. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Robert Proch. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2019. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Robert Proch. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2019. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Sebas Velasco. Sainer. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2018. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Inti. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2020. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Case Maclaim. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2022. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Brusk. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2020. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
SATR. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2021. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Jan is de Man. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2023. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Leon Keer. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2021. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
TelmoMiel. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2021. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Elisa Capdevila. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2023. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Will Barras. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2016. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Yann Chatelin. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2020. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Mr. Wanys. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2015. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Goin. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2017. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Goin. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2018. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Combo. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2020. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Beast. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2019. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Guido Van Helten. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2022. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
izzy Izvne. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2019. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Peeta. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2021. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Sarty31. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2017. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
My Stencil. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2023. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Shepard Farey. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2019. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
How & Nosm. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2017. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
SOWANONE. Talk about meta. Here is a mural of New York graffiti stylemaster Dondi from a photo take by Martha Cooper, in this new photo taken by Martha Cooper – about 40 years later. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Manolo Mesa. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Edition 2023. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)
KillahOne. Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest. Grenoble, France. (photo © Martha Cooper)

See PART 1 of Grenoble Alpes Street Art Fest 2024 HERE.

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“RETRANSMISSION__” Presents a Contemporary Collective from Poland

“RETRANSMISSION__” Presents a Contemporary Collective from Poland

July 7, 2022

This fresh new survey of Polish artists primarily born in the 1980s is called RETRANSMISSION__ . It has as much to do with the influence of digital arts as it does with the plastic arts and art in the street.

Bartek Swiatecki Pener. “Mirror Lake”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)

This group collection at the Denver location of Mirus Gallery may possibly represent a physical lynchpin to the coming metaverse, minus the Oculus headset. A professionalized crew of artists formally trained in studies like architecture and urbanism, illustration, graphic design, painting, typography, and sculpture; These are not the kids on the street who popularized first and second-wave graffiti of the West, but rather the students of the scene infused by lore and not necessarily beholden to it.

“This collective of artists have lived and worked amongst each other,” says the gallery press release, “individually and sometimes through collaboration for many years, establishing a contemporary style unique to Poland.”

Oskar Podolski. “Full Time Crime”. “Expect 1.0” “Nothing 2.0” RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)

To mention that a certain number of these artists have a past in graffiti/street art culture sets the context of the artist’s common background, but those influences appear through mirrors, or software filters, if at all. You may look for deconstructed letter forms or raw off-kilter placements of elements, but this is such a self-aware, contemporary tableau, one may need x-ray vision to see the street from here.

Spray tags, skateboard graphics, street interventions, and covert acts of illegal artmaking may be influences in this corner of the street scene – one that has matured in the last decade and a half to embrace geometry and sophisticated illustration. It’s maturity now and development of a visual language that brings one to RETRANSMISSION__ where we are currently meditating on form, texture, refracted light, and balanced composition.

Featured Artists: Bartłomiej Chwilczyński, Bartosz Janczak, Chazme, Lukasz Berger Cekas, Lukasz Habiera Nawer, Oskar Podolski, Pawel Ryzko, Bartek Świątecki (Pener), Robert Proch, Sainer, Seikon

Bartosz Janczak. “Faun”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Sainer. “Bez Nazwi-1”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Bartolomiej Chwilcznski. “Journey XCII” “Journey LXXXVI”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Pawel Ryzko. (left) “Modulation 01″ Chazme. (right) “Rise and Shine”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Seikon. “Back to the Roots”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Lukasz Berger Cekas. “Inter + Ferre”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Lukasz Berger Cekas. “Inter + Ferre”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Nawer. (center) “Transmission Fault 2”. “Transmission Fault 1”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Robert Proch. (background left). Foreground. “Sketches 2003-2018”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Left, Oskar Podolski. “Complete Manual of L1fe” and “Exclamat-i-on”. Center and right, Chazme. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
Left and center, Oskar Podolski. Right, background Bartosz Janczak. Right, foreground Nawer. “Inter + Ferre”. RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)
RETRANSMISSION_ Mirus Gallery. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Nawer)

RETRANSMISSION_ At Mirus Gallery in Denver, Colorado is currently on view to the general public until July 8th. Click HERE for more details and schedules.

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BSA “Images Of The Year” For 2018 Video

BSA “Images Of The Year” For 2018 Video

December 16, 2018

Here it is! Photographer Jaime Rojo of BSA selects a handful of his favorite images from his travels through 9 countries and around New York this year to present our 2018 BSA Images of the Year.

Seeing the vast expressions of aesthetics and anti-aesthetic behavior has been a unique experience for us. We’re thankful to all of the artists and co-conspirators for their boundless ideas and energy, perspectives and personas.

Once you accept that much of the world is in a semi-permanent chaos you can embrace it, find order in the disorder, love inside the anger, a rhythm to every street.

And yes, beauty. Hope you enjoy BSA Images of the Year 2018.

Here’s a list of the artists featured in the video. Help us out if we missed someone, or if we misspelled someones nom de plume.

1Up Crew, Abe Lincoln Jr., Adam Fujita, Adele Renault, Adrian Wilson, Alex Sena, Arkane, Banksy, Ben Eine, BKFoxx, Bond Truluv, Bordalo II, Bravin Lee, C215, Cane Morto, Charles Williams, Cranio, Crash, Dee Dee, D*Face, Disordered, Egle Zvirblyte, Ernest Zacharevic, Erre, Faith LXVII, Faust, Geronimo, Gloss Black, Guillermo S. Quintana, Ichibantei, InDecline, Indie 184, Invader, Isaac Cordal, Jayson Naylor JR, Kaos, KNS, Lena McCarthy, Caleb Neelon, LET, Anthony Lister, Naomi Rag, Okuda, Os Gemeos, Owen Dippie, Pejac, Pixel Pancho, Pork, Raf Urban, Resistance is Female, Sainer, Senor Schnu, Skewville, Slinkachu, Solus, Squid Licker, Stinkfish, Strayones, Subway Doodle, The Rus Crew, Tristan Eaton, Vegan Flava, Vhils, Viktor Freso, Vinie, Waone, Winston Tseng, Zola

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UPEA Finland 2018, A Cross Country Installation of Quality Murals

UPEA Finland 2018, A Cross Country Installation of Quality Murals

October 23, 2018

UPEART 2018 in Finland took place during the month of September including 20 international and local artists in 12 different cities across the country.

Case Maclaim. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Today we give you a recap of some favorite scenes from the festival across many cities of Finland thanks to the vision and organizing of Jorgos Fanaris and his team who collectively direct the festival from their headquarters in a post-industrial neighborhood of Helsinki. While there is a proud graff scene and history here, and the city has areas like the Pasila Street Art District, the capital is usually known as a sparkling international city of islands and a peninsula by the Gulf of Finland facing Tallinn, Estonia across the bay.

Proudly humble, elegant and rationally romantic, the city is flanked on all sides by arts and culture, low and high, with historical art institutions like the National Museum as well as the more contemporary Kiasma and cross disciplinary Kunsthalle Helsinki. A deeper rooted cultural history is also apparent in the traditional wooden architecture, the influence of its neighbors Sweden and Russia, and its ability even today to evolve with the most modern of global design practice.

Case Maclaim. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For urban explorers like ourselves who wander the margins and explore the forgotten, neglected parts of the metropolis, it was a bit of a shock to see 8 charming Finnish cities and towns in only a few days – interspersed with millions of birch tree forests and sweeping vistas of farmland, with Russia visible at one point just across a canal.

We drove from uncongested towns surrounded by woodlands like Joensuu and Hyvinkää to midsized cities like Tampere and Espoo, using a stick shift Volkswagen and minding the speed cameras on a smooth and well maintained system of roads and highways. Usually we’re looking out for rats and broken glass and homeless drug users, not slow-moving farming tractors and wily-eyed moose who may cross your path.

Case Maclaim. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But the murals! Choosing from among some of the most accomplished painters and planners of design in the current international scene, Fanaris relies on his own history with graffiti, hip hop, and perhaps the Finnish National Opera when selecting participants to invite.

The quality is high in many instances throughout the mural program and municipalities are gifted with some works may prove timeless – until they fade. Perhaps more decorative than transgressive as a whole, these are public works made in collaboration with local tastes. Some meanings are buried beneath layers, others more obvious and on the surface. An unrealized irony of many “legit” mural programs like this one is many of these artists used to do the illegal stuff too.

As UPEART travels and evolves it will be interesting to see how it changes. Fanaris tells us that the future will include installations, sculpture, even performance as the festival becomes more integrated with communities. With a solid foundation of curation on a massive country-wide scale in these first three years, we look forward to see where UPEART moves next.

Mantra. UPEArt Finland 2018. Hyvinkää, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“When I was a child I was not curious about painting,” Mantra says, “I was more curious about what I could find in the garden so that’s why I spent a lot of time studying these insects and these animals.” Later he shows us images of butterflies and other winged creatures rendered in high fidelity inside decaying factory rooms, including a large dead bird lying on its side. “I painted this because I had seen a dead bird in the garden only a week before.”

Read more: Mantra in Hyvinkää for UPEART Festival 2018 Finland – Dispatch 5

Mantra. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Hyvinkää, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Mantra)

Mantra. UPEArt Finland 2018. Hyvinkää, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Mantra)

Sainer. UPEArt Finland 2018. Helsinki, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I think my work is changing recently,” he says. “I have liked to do plainer paintings – like small landscapes . I’m not really into the characters that much in the same way that I was. When I do paint characters they are in the shadow. I like the idea of making portraits where the portrait is not the most important part of the painting.”

BSA: That’s so anti-intuitive – because normally that would be the center focal point, right?

Sainer: Yes – even here the portrait is central but I am trying to play all around it just to hide it. It’s just one of the ideas that I am trying to work with these days.

Read more from our interview with Sainer here.

Sainer. UPEArt Finland 2018. Helsinki, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Waone. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Kotka, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ukrainian artist Waone, of Interesni Kazki titled his mural “Spirit of Antique Book”.

“Reading the real book in the age of technology and internet may look rare and a kind of old fashioned, but not for me,” he says. “This mural ‘Spirit of Antique Book’ I dedicated to all book lovers. It represents the wonderful way to escape from ordinary life to extraordinary worlds, and depicts that magic moment when you read the book and lose yourself between the pages.”

BSA: Does it concern you that school children today are becoming unfamiliar with reading traditional books on paper?

Waone: Hmm I didn’t think about books in schools, in Ukraine we still use “normal” books… But I’m sure normal books will become more and more rare. I don’t judge it and I’m not saying that’s good or bad. I just love the book esthetic, a strong symbol of knowledge.”

Waone. UPEArt Finland 2018. Kotka, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Natalia Rak. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Joensuu, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Natalia Rak. UPEArt Finland 2018. Joensuu, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sepe. UPEArt Finland 2018. Jyväskylä, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David De La Mano. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Jyväskylä, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David De La Mano. UPEArt Finland 2018. Jyväskylä, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David De La Mano. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Jyväskylä, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Helen Bur. UPEArt Finland 2018. Kotka, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eero Lampinen. Work in progress. UPEArt Finland 2018. Helsinki, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Of his own work, he says, “It’s like a mix of fantasy with contemporary and realistic elements – kind of magic realism. I like to play around with fashion different types of characters.”

The characters are here in the evolving mural – three figures who are working the runways of the street in distinctly different styles.

“There is a night demon, a rubber-outfit person, and then an older character,” he says, “They are all walking separate ways in the streets – and it plays around with this street.”

Read more with Eero Lampinen here.

Eero Lampinen. UPEArt Finland 2018. Helsinki, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Eero Lampinen)

Pertti Jarla. UPEArt Finland 2018. Tampere, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fabio Petani. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Salo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fabio Petani. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Salo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fabio Petani. UPEArt Finland 2018. Salo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Lisalmi, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm. UPEArt Finland 2018. Lisalmi, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Leon Keer. UPEArt Finland 2018. Salo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Leon Keer. UPEArt Finland 2018. Salo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robert Proch. Detail. UPEArt Finland 2018. Joensuu, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robert Proch. UPEArt Finland 2018. Joensuu, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal made a number of interesting installations in Karakallio in Espoo, including a haunting series of small buildings attached on trees throughout the forest.

Read more about Isaac Cordal at UPEA Art Festival 2018 – Finland. Dispatch 3

Isaac Cordal. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. UPEArt Finland 2018. Espoo, Finland. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

NOTE: No trees were damaged by installing the birdhouse sculptures on them.

All the participating artists on UPEArt 2018 are: Andrew Hem, Case Maclaim, David De La Mano, Eero Lampinen, Fabio Petani, Gummy Gue, Helen Bur, How & Nosm, Isaac Cordal, Jussi Twoseven, Kenor, Leon Keer, Mantra, Natalia Rak, Pertti Jarla, Robert Proch, Sainer, Sepe, Silja Selonen and Waone.

 

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BSA Film Friday 9.24.18 – From UPEART in Finland. Dispatch 4

BSA Film Friday 9.24.18 – From UPEART in Finland. Dispatch 4

September 28, 2018

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

BSA is in Finland this week to see firsthand the work of UPEART, an expansive mural art festival in its third iteration. Unique for its geographical breadth as well as it’s curatorial depth, UPEART has quietly revealed its amazing strengths without being self-aggrandizing or showy, slowly transforming cities and towns across the entire country with consultation of the locals and an eye toward the incredible international. Come with us this week as we traverse the country with you.

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

Now screening :
1. Mantra in Hyvinkää
2. Isaac Cordal in Espoo
3. Sainer in Helsinki
4. Eero Lampinen in Helsinki

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: Scenes from UPEART this Week

This week BSA had the privilege of touring the sites from the mural arts program called UPEART in Finland which continues to showcase the work of many artists from graffiti/Street Art culture, their work now often morphing into public art. While on the road from city to city in this Nordic country full of natural lakes, forests and sparkling clean cities during the advent of fall, we also caught some past and present murals as well as a few artists in action. Here are a few quick home-made videos to share with BSA readers what we found.

Mantra in Hyvinkää

French entomologist and former graffiti writer Mantra studies insects – here specifically butterflies and a large moth that are all found in this region of the world. We found him just as he was finishing his newest work for UPEART in Hyvinkää.

Isaac Cordal in Espoo

Spanish Street Artist and sculptor Isaac Cordal has begun his nearly surreptitious installations of his concrete figures here above Finnish heads. Often businessmen, they contemplate existentially as you walk by them a number of times during your daily travails – until one day you discover them.

Sainer in Helsinki

Polish artist Sainer completed a massive portrait here in Helsinki this week on the side of a multi-story building – yet he tells us that he is less concerned with the mystery woman in the center than his is with the planes and palette that back her.

Read more here: UPEA Art Festival 2018 – Finland. Dispatch 1 – Sainer

Eero Lampinen in Helsinki

Helsinki native, illustrator and graphic designer Eero Laminen is at work on his second large scale mural here behind a complex scaffolding. We walked with him during a break to see the characters that he is imagining for this neighborhood.

Read more here: Eero Lampinen at UPEA Art Festival 2018 – Finland. Dispatch 2

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UPEA Art Festival 2018 – Finland. Dispatch 1 – Sainer

UPEA Art Festival 2018 – Finland. Dispatch 1 – Sainer

September 25, 2018

BSA is in Finland this week to see firsthand the work of UPEART, an expansive mural art festival in its third iteration. Unique for its geographical breadth as well as it’s curatorial depth, UPEART has quietly revealed its amazing strengths without being self-aggrandizing or showy, slowly transforming cities and towns across the entire country with consultation of the locals and an eye toward the incredible international. Come with us this week as we traverse the country with you.

On a wall facing one of Helsinki’s traditional wood house style buildings in ochre you find a woman in shadow – soaring multiple stories above the street. She has significance surely, but Street Artist Sainer is allowing you to tell this story.

Here at UPEART 2018, the Polish artist is playing more with forms and shape and color than the typical centerpiece of portrait; the subject. He also likes the wood building that obscures the figure for many blocks before you are upon the new woman of mystery.

Sainer. Work in progress. UPEA Finland 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I really like the idea that when you’re driving on this road the tower of this whole building covers the face so at some point you can only see the flat color of the painting in the background.” One half of the Etam Cru with Bezt, Sainer says that he is exploring less figurative aspects of painting these days on his own, despite the fact that during the last half-dozen years the duo made their name on the street with some of the most imaginative characters and scenarios suddenly sparking conversations in cities across the world .

While the late summer sun keeps him warm in the cherry picker basket above the street, the thirty year old blends the patches and plains of the sitters’ environs with a roller and paint. Sometimes he revises the color choice or timber, always absorbing the geometry and palette of his immediate environment. He lowers himself and steps out of the basket onto the driveway pavement to look at the deep green grapevines with plump blue fruits hanging on the chain-link  fence and squints up at the evolving mural against the saturated blue sky.

“I think my work is changing recently,” he says. “I have liked to do plainer paintings – like small landscapes . I’m not really into the characters that much in the same way that I was. When I do paint characters they are in the shadow. I like the idea of making portraits where the portrait is not the most important part of the painting.”

BSA: That’s so anti-intuitive – because normally that would be the center focal point, right?

Sainer: Yes – even here the portrait is central but I am trying to play all around it just to hide it. It’s just one of the ideas that I am trying to work with these days.

Sainer. Work in progress. UPEA Finland 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Etam Cru guys met in design school in Lodz as students even while working on class projects they quickly became known for their work on the Street Art seen at home and in many cities around the globe, their studio work garnering attention from gallerists and collectors as well. With many requests to paint large walls and with personal and family commitments to coordinate with, the professional duo found it was actually getting sort of hard to work together so they have loosened the arrangement for the immediate term, while their friendship and working relationship is as strong as ever.

“I’m trying to make life simpler these days – trying to focus more on the studio a lot more.”

And for larger commitments like this wall, he says that he values the project development when there is a feeling of spontaneity and discovery.

“I don’t prepare a final sketch for the wall. For me it’s always a sort of process. I am searching for the right ideas,” he says. “Sometimes when you have a small sketch you can put it on the wall but it doesn’t work – the sizes, shapes, colors, the elements. Anyway, if you have a final sketch before you start what’s the point of painting it? There’s no surprise, you are just repeating yourself.”

That said, since he isn’t leaving town till tomorrow, we’ll have to wait for the surprise of the finished wall. Meanwhile, we’ll take special note of the background, and keep looking into the eyes of the mystery woman in the middle.

Sainer. Work in progress. UPEA Finland 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA + UPEA in Finland

BSA + UPEA in Finland

September 20, 2018

BSA is excited to bringing you new works from Finland next week as we explore Helsinki and nearby cities that are part of the UPEA 2018 Festival. A unique model of mural festival that invites international and local artists to paint across the entire country, UPEART has quietly entered the global Street Art and graffiti stage without entering the fray: providing top caliber artists with uncommon opportunities to create works in cities for a handful of years now.

Waone Interesni Kazki at UPEART (image © the artist)

The full line up for this year’s stellar UPEART edition is:

Andrew Hem, Case Maclaim, David de la Mano, Eero Lampinen, Fabio Petani, Gummy Gue, Helen Bur, How & Nosm, Isaac Cordal, Jussi TwoSeven, Kenor, Leon Keer, Mantra, Natalia Rak, Pertti Jarla, Robert Proch, Sainer, Sepeusz, Silja Selonen and Waone Interesni Kazki, who poses here yesterday with the mural he’s been working on for 10 days

To keep on top of the action on the ground and up on the lifts click on UPEA’s FB link below:

https://www.facebook.com/upeart/

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch Welcome Autumn : “Enjoy The Silence” In Łódź, Poland

Etam Crew and Robert Proch Welcome Autumn : “Enjoy The Silence” In Łódź, Poland

October 1, 2016

In the northern hemisphere and in dirty Brooklyn the new season of Fall is upon us and in our minds we begin to hear Sinatra’s “Autumn in New York” intermingled with Van Morrison’s “Moondance” under the cover of October skies.  Yet on a hike through the Catskills just north of the city to see the leaves as they turn colors you reach a peak and look down on the rolling hills and the Hudson River below, smell the crisp clean air and listen.

What is that sound?

The buzzing of the city has left you momentarily and there is nothing but silence, spare the rustling of leaves blowing by your boots.

brooklyn-street-art-etam-crew-robert-proch-uniqa-art-lodz-poland-09-16-web-1

Etam Crew and Robert Proch for  UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

Perhaps this is the kind of silence that Etam Crew and Robert Proch are speaking of in their home country of Poland, which is also enjoying this turn from summer to autumn. Their new mural “Enjoy the Silence” combines the distinctly different styles through a shared palette of earthen tones, with Proch subtly softening the sharp illustrations of Bezt and Sainer with an impressionism that unifies. This is the harvest of three artists who have been working hard on their respective crafts.

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch for  UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

Part of the newly branded initiative UNIQA Art Łódź, “Silence” is one of the few murals that will be made in this mural-soaked city as curator Michał Bieżyński slowly moves the focus to sculptural installations in public space.

Happily, BSA has been there since the inception of the Łódź project and we’re pleased that we can continue to partner with Bieżyński to bring BSA readers these exclusive images of the new mural and a fresh new YouTube video of it’s process.

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch for  UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch for  UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch for  UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch. “Enjoy The Silence” Detail. UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch. “Enjoy The Silence” Detail. UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch. “Enjoy The Silence” Detail. UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch. “Enjoy The Silence” Detail. UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

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Etam Crew and Robert Proch. “Enjoy The Silence” Detail. UNIQA Art Łódź Project. Łódź, Poland. August 2016. (photo © Michał Bieżyński)

 


Our most sincere thanks to Mr. Bieżyński for sharing this project in exclusive with BSA. For more about UNIQA Art Łódź Project visit:

www.facebook.com/lodzmurals

https://instagram.com/lodzmurals

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Large Murals Adorn The City Of Lodz In Poland

June 10, 2013

The city of Lodz in Poland is promoting the work of Street Artists from around the world as a way of creating a cultural re-invigoration of this city whose population is three quarters of a million.  Begun in 2009, the Urban Forms Gallery has installed more than 20 large square paintings on elevations in the city center.

The public/private partnership and the addition of the artwork has attracted business and investment, and of course urban exploring tourists who can follow a map to see the works within a couple of hours. As a model for employing the talents of Street Artists to create public art in service of the re-invigoration of a city, this one appears to be very successful at respecting the work while adding value to a neighborhood, district, city, and community.

The roster of nearly two dozen works features international Street Artists like Os Gemeos from Brazil, Aryz from Spain, and Remed from France along with one of Poland’s proud Street Art sons named M-City from Gdynia, a city three hours north of here, and two hometown local talents Bezt and Sainer from the ETAM Crew.

Here are a number of images of many of the walls that have been going up in the last few years.  Special thanks to Michał Bieżyński for sharing these images with us exclusively for BSA readers.

 

Aryz (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Aryz (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Aryz . Os Gemeos (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

MCity (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Betzt (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Shida (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Sainer (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Remed (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Pener (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Otecki (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Massmix (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Lump (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Krik (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Kenor (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

ETAM Crew (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Gregor (photo © Courtesy Urban Forms)

Click on the links below to learn more about URBAN FORMS and for news regarding the new murals.

http://www.urbanforms.org/projects/en

https://www.facebook.com/urbanforms

 

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This posting is also published on The Huffington Post

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A Visit to Stroke02

June 3, 2010

A Danish Street Artist Reports from Munich About Last Week’s Stroke02 Urban Art Fair

by Don John

A piece by Morten Anderson and Sainer (© Don John)
A piece by Morten Anderson and Sainer (© Don John)

Last week I attended Stroke02,  a 4-day art fair for Urban Art that takes place in Munich, Germany. It is held in a former Federal Bank office building that is about 4 stories completely full of exhibitors.

Herakut and Case at work at Stroke02 (© Don John)
Herakut and Case at work at Stroke02 (© Don John)

Herakut and Case (© Don John)
Herakut and Case (© Don John)

I was with the gallery/store called Rocket, where I exhibited together with Lake from Berlin and Johannes König from Munich.  Last year the Stroke festival had 7000 visitors and my guess is that this year was about the same.

Don John and Kid Acne (© Don John)
Don John and Kid Acne (© Don John)

The visitors did not only consist of young people, but also a fair amount of middle-aged visitors. I thought it was great that Stroke had succeeded in reaching out to this segment as well.

A Sainer piece on display (© Don John)
A Sainer piece on display (© Don John)

The fair also featured live paintings from: Case, Herakut, Ma’Claim, Claudio Ethos and Morten Andersen among others.

EVOL creates building facades in his pieces (© Don John)
EVOL creates fascinating building facades in his pieces (© Don John)

ROA created one of his rabbits (© Don John)
ROA created one of his multi-panelled rabbits (© Don John)

All in all I think it was great to participate as an artist, and I think that the visitors got a lot of great art for their 12 euro entrance fee.

This dude in what looks like a dunce cap looks really similar to someone in my nightmares. (© Don John)
This dude in what looks like a dunce cap looks really similar to someone. (ECB, Henbdrik Beikirch) (© Don John)

For all the toy fans here is a sculpture by Biserama (Alexander Becherer) at Stroke02 (© Don John)
For all the toy fans here is a sculpture by Biserama (Alexander Becherer) at Stroke02 (© Don John)

I also grabbed the opportunity to do two paste ups while in Munich; one on Blumenstrasse and the other on Fraunhoferstr.

An outside piece by Don John (© Don John)
An outside piece called “Buzzard Kid” by Don John (© Don John)

www.donjohn.dk
http://donjohnstencils.blogspot.com /
Pics from Stroke02: http://www.flickr.com/photos/48068772@N02/

STROKE02 Website

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