All posts tagged: Smells

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.24.15

May 24, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

New York is bittersweet as we are welcoming summer this weekend and remembering those who served and who were lost in war as well (Memorial Day); amidst a changing political atmosphere where the country is tentatively beginning to seriously debate whether the US should have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan.

So it’s also Fleet Week in New York, which means a lot of sailors and marines and Coast Guard personnel are carousing the tourist spots and bars – sort of a military spring break and a chance for the local girls and boys to yell out “Hey Sailor!” – and flash some flirty eyes. It’s also big weekend for movies, barbecues, beers, burping, suntans, rummage sales, bike rides, and of course spray painting empty trailers in cluttered lots. That’s why we start this weeks pack with a new stallion just sprayed on a trailer in Williamsburg by Cern. He’s running wild with a great view of the cityscape behind him.

Also, Kiss Me I’m Irish!

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Cern, Christos Voutichtis, David De La Mano, Din din, Dont Fret, DourOne, Iraq Veterens Against the War, Kuma, Mata Ruda, Miishab, Musketon, Pablog H Harymbat, Rebel, Smells, Sweet Toof, Temo & Miel, and Urma.

Top image above by Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Iraq Veterans Against The War (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mata Ruda in Jersey City, NJ for Savage Habbit. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mata Ruda in Jersey City, NJ for Savage Habbit. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Telmo & Miel new mural in Dortmund, Germany for 44309//Street Art Gallery. (photo © Courtesy of 44309 // Street Art Gallery)

Smells . Sweet Toof (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Musketon. It’s in the cloud… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DourOne new wall in Los Angeles, CA. (photo © Phil Sanchez)

Artist Unknown. This has got to be one of the more elaborate ways we have seen to throw an insult. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miishab (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dont Fret (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David De La Mano and Pablo H Harymbat in Montevideo, Uruguay. (photo © Harymbat)

KUMA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Din Din (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rebel (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Urma. New installation in Milan. (photo © Christos Voutichtis)

In case you thought that your uncle Ernie was the only one full of hot air, public artist creates this installation that attempts to capture the breath of the city. He tells us that in the end he decided his experiment was a good mix of architecture, Art, and postmodern French literature.

“I applied simple means to build parametric and temporary installations;

It is an open system, varying with steadily modifying environmental processes, but without completely changing its own structure.”

Urma. New installation in Milan. Interior. (photo © Domenico Laterza)

Untitled. Manhattan fly over. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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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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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.03.15

May 3, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

We’ve been seeing an increase in the number of politically charged pieces showing up in the street lately. It is no surprise given the rise in marches and demonstrations and discussions in our city and country about topics like racism, police brutality, and rising economic inequality. Street Art has a tradition of addressing socio-political topics, sometimes gently, sometimes yelling at the top of its lungs.

This comes at a time where the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is banning all political speech and religious ads in the advertisements it runs. “Hateful speech is not harmless speech. Only a fool or rogue would argue otherwise,” said Charles Moerdler, an MTA board member and Holocaust survivor who voted for the new policy. Of course any time you start to ban speech you don’t like, you are risking someone banning yours.

One could argue that all speech is political but you don’t recognize it when the message expresses views endorsed by the dominant culture; BP ads tell us that it is splendid to burn fossil fuels, CitiBank ads on bicycles tell us that bankers are nice community-minded people, and McDonalds ads tell us that eating meat is nutritious. Nothing political there right? Do you think the MTA would allow you to run an advertisement saying the opposite of any of those messages? Or would that suddenly be political?

The first few messages of this weeks walls are examples of speech, some of them political, some of them not. The streets will decide which get banned.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 907 Crew, Adam Cost, Anthony Lister, Balu, bunny M, Cash 4, David Shillinglaw, Defs, Deeker, FWC Crew, HA3, Icy & Sot, JR, Kaws, London Kaye, Merve Berkman, Myth, Omen, R2, Rambo, ROA, Rubin 415, SEA, Smells, Sote, and Specter.

Top Image: Turkish Street Artist Merve Berkman brings this Syrian refugee with child from the streets of Istanbul to the streets of New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Balu and his portrait of Malcolm X (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who are oppressing them” a quote from Assata Shakur in this new Myth piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Davaid Shillinglaw . Lily Mixe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Cost. Tell me about it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cash4 . Rambo . Droid . Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roman . 907 Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. Detail. Omen . SEA . Kaws (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA . HA3 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister and friends. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR from his series Walking New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DEFS and FWC Crew in Dubai (photo © DEFS)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. SOHO, NYC. May 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 11.30.14

November 30, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Aiko, City Kitty, Clet, Dain, Deekers, JB Rock, KCIN, LUC, Mr. One Teas, Obey, Peros, PX$H6XD, Shepard Fairey, Smells, Specter, Tank Petrol, and Tom Fruin.

Top Image >> Clet (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clet (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tank Petrol new wall in Penang, Malaysia for Urban Exchange. (photo © Tank Petrol)

Tom Fruin “Kolonihavehus” for Dumbo Arts Fest 2o14. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tom Fruin “Kolonihavehus” for Dumbo Arts Fest 2o14. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Deekers and Sweet Toof from a few years ago has had some collaboration on the dental work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smells . Peros (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LUC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain beginning to show the full figure on the street – a new direction and a welcomed one. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

PX$H6XD (photo © Jaime Rojo)

According to some conversations on social platforms about this issue, some NY ladies are not getting the full benefits in this arena. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JB Rock . Aiko in Rome, Italy for Outdoor Urban Art Festival. (photo © JB Rock)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OBEY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. OneTeas for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KCIN (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Brooklyn, NYC. November, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.20.14

July 20, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 907 Crew, Ainac, Aero, Afrodoti Galazios, Blanco, Bleeps, Cash4, Daek, Dasic, Elbow-Toe, Fecks, Icy & Sot, IDT Crew, Mike Makatron, Miss 17, Mr. Penfold, Overunder, Seth, Sheryo, Smells, Sonni, Sweet Toof, The Yok, Tripel, UFO 907, Wolftits, and You Go Girl!.

Top Image >> IDT Crew. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

IDT Crew. IDT is a Chinese Crew. It reads on the background “5ive” to celebrate their 5th anniversary piece. Miss 17 on top was a later addition. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You Go Girl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sweet Toof. Smells. Cash4. UFO907. Please help ID the rest of the tags. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mike Makatron with an assistant at work on his recent mural in Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mike Makatron (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe. The stencils below are by Ainac and Tripel. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (we think) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bleeps new piece in Athens, Greece. (photo © Afroditi Galazios)

Blanco new piece in Saratoga Springs, NY. (photo © Blanco)

Blanco. Detail from the piece above. (photo © Blanco)

The Yok, Sheryo, Daek and Fecks for Zoetic Walls in Cleveland, Ohio. (photo © Pawn Works)

DAEK for Pawn Works/NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sheryo with Sonni on the background for Pawn Works/NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sonni for Pawn Works/NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Penfold for Pawn Works/NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aero for Pawn Works/NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dasic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wolftits is even more Art Brut than ever. 907 Crew. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rarf! Seth in Baton Rouge for The Museum Of Public Art. (photo © Overunder)

Untitled. Gowanus Canal. NYC. July 2014 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Images Of The Week: 02.23.14

February 23, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 1up, Bishop203, Bradley Theodore, Cash4, Deekers, El Sol 25, Hiss Keeley, Kevin Cyr, King Amsterdam, Ludo, Mosco Clandestino, Not Art, ROA, Royce Bannon, Smells, Sweet Toof, Trap Art, and Zimer.

Top Image >> Sweet Toof joins Deekers, 1UP, Roa and Keely on this little wall of horrors. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sweet Toof and Smells collab on a roof top. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bradley Theodore gives Anna and Karl a face lift. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hiss (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cash4 . Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clearly this is Not Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Trap Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Padlock Menagerie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ludo up close at the show “Fruit of the Doom”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unusual thing for Ludo – a sculptural reprise of his recurring image “Fruit of the Doom” from his solo show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ludo “Fruit of the Doom” solo show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25, Bishop 203 and Royce Bannon adorn the facade of 17 Frost Gallery for the “Outdoor Gallery NYC” show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kevin Cyr “Right Place, Right Time” solo show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

King Amsterdam (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zimer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mosco Clandestino (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Central Park, Manhattan. 2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Power of Color via Street Art, Graffiti, and Murals

February 5, 2014 Artists

No doubt it is the grey days of late winter that is making us think about this as we brace for the next snowstorm, but today we’re considering the impact that Street Art color has on architecture that never asked for it.

We’re not the first to think of hues, shades, tones, and palettes when it comes to the man made environment of course, but it does strike us that most of the buildings that are hit up by street art and murals today were designed by architects who never imagined art on their facade.

Os Gemeos in Boston. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Modern architecture for some reason is still primarily grey, washed out greens, beige, eggshell, snore.

“Color is something that architects are usually afraid of,” said internationally known and awarded architect Benedetta Tagliabue in an interview last May about the topic of color. A generalization probably, and you can always find exceptions of colorfully painted neighborhoods globally like the Haight in San Francisco, La Boca in Buenos Aires, Portafino in Italy, Guanajuato in Mexico, Bo-Kaap in Capetown, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and the Blue City of India, but many of those examples speak to color blocking and pattern.

Interesni Kazki in Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ve been looking at the power of Street Art to reface, re-contextualize, re-energize, and re-imagine a building and its place in the neighborhood. Some times it is successful, other times it may produce a light vertigo. The impact of work on buildings by today’s Street Artists and muralists depends not only on content and composition but largely on the palette they have chosen. It sounds trite, and self-evident perhaps, but much of Street Art is about color, and primarily on the warm scale first described by Faber Birren with his OSHA colors and color circle in the 1930s .

Faile in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Birren developed his color system with the observation that artists favor the warm colors more than the cold, from the violet side of red and extending beyond yellow because “, their effect is more dynamic and intense and because the eye can, in fact, distinguish more warm colors than cold.”

It’s common now to think of 21st century Street Art as the graffiti-influenced practice that primarily activates the detritus of the abandoned industrial sector blighting western cities in the wake of trade agreements that sent all the jobs to lands without protections and regulations. While that is definitely the sort of neglected factory architecture preferred for “activation” by many graffiti artists and Street Artists alike, we also see more curious couplings of color with the delicately ornate, the regal, or even modernist structures today thanks to artists being invited, rather than chased.

Shepard Fairey in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The results? Abstractionist, cubist, geometric, letter-based, illustrative, figurative, text-based, outsider, folk, dadaist, pop. One common denominator: color.

“The environment and its colors are perceived, and the brain processes and judges what it perceives on an objective and subjective basis. Psychological influence, communication, information, and effects on the psyche are aspects of our perceptual judgment processes,” writes Frank H. Mahnke in his recent piece for Archinect. The author of Color, Environment, & Human Response has made it his mission to explore psychological, biological effects of color and light and to help creators of the man-made environment make good choices.

Whether all of these choices are good, we leave up to you. But it is worth considering that Street Artists have been part of the conversation on the street for decades now, making powerful suggestions to architects and city planners , so maybe it’s worth taking another look at what they’ve been up to lately.

Ever in Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Escif in Atlanta. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenton Parker and Roa in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LUDO in Chicago. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kobra in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smells, Cash4 and Spiro in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx in El Barrio. Harlem, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Agostino Iacurci in Atlanta. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaz and Cern in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pose and Revok in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rime, Dceve and Toper in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Deeker and David Pappaceno in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reka in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RRobots in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MOMO in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville in Brooklyn, NYC with an old NEKST tag on top. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

3ttman and Elias in Atlanta. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain and Billy Mode tribute to Martha Cooper in Brooklyn with ROA on the water tank. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos in Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JMR in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Greg LaMarche in Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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This article was also published on The Huffington Post

Bushwick Is Hot Now. Hurry!

May 29, 2013 Artists

Bushwick Open Studios is Paved With Street Art

Brooklyn’s already percolating artists neighborhood called Bushwick continues to thrive despite the circling of real estate agents, lifestyle brands and celebrity chefs. Born in the mid-late 2000s as it’s older sister Williamsburg to the West began to professionalize, this noisily industrial and dirty artists haven got a reprieve from gentrifying forces when the deep recession slowed the rise of rents for artist spaces, which remained still relatively cheap by Manhattan’s standards. Today the area boasts a diverse influx of artists, students, cultural workers, and entrepreneurs who are experimenting and collaborating on projects and shows.

Spagnola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

That radical economic downturn probably also nurtured the nascent Street Art scene here, which was one of the early outliers of a cultural influx as artists and explorers began to skateboard to the local delis and stare at laptops for hours in the one or two cafes that offered Wi-Fi. Outcroppings of this new art movement combined with old-school graffiti to pop up on selected concrete and corrugated walls, signposts, and deteriorated blocks where the authorities were disinterested and the neighbors only partially curious in their activities.

It’s an age-old New York story by now; a neglected or winding down post industrial neighborhood reacts to the incoming and odd-looking artists with a sort of bemused affection, happy that at least the block is getting some attention for a change. Puzzlement eventually leads to familiarity and then buying you a sandwich – and then asking you to paint a mural inside his foyer. While national and international Street Artists were already making Bushwick a stopping point thanks to some of the earliest galleries like Ad Hoc and Factory Fresh, the scene recently got newly shot in the arm by a local resident who is facilitating much desired legal wall space to a crowd of artists who otherwise would be hunting and hitting up less-than-legal spots. Not to worry, there are plenty of aerosol renegades and ruffians scaling walls at night too; this is New York after all, yo.

Zimad (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But for now the Bushwick Collective, as it is newly christened by wall-man Joe Ficalora, has infused an adrenaline rush of creativity inside and outside the area that is roughly bordered by Flushing Avenue, Starr Street, Knickerbocker Avenue and Cypress Avenue. The Collective has guidelines on content (nudity, politics, profanity) so the works are not completely unfettered in the true spirit of Street Art/graffiti, but most artists are happy for the luxury of time to complete their work and not look over their shoulder. With a selection of murals that are densely gathered and easy to walk through, the new collection has attracted attention from media folks (and tour guides) on the main island brave enough to venture into the gritty wilds of Brooklyn for a Street Art safari.

As Bushwick hosts its 7^th annual open studios cultural event this weekend, intrepid pedestrians who march through opening parties, rooftop DJ jams, dance performances, live bands, transcendent costumery, sidewalk barbecues, open fire hydrants and more than 600 open artist studios will also be buffeted by a visual feast on the streets themselves. As long as the L Train is running (fingers crossed) you can just get off at the Morgan stop. From there it should be pretty easy for any curious art-in-the-street fan to be regaled with big and small works of graffiti, Street Art, tags, wheat-pastes, stencils, rollers, murals, and ad hoc installations all day and night.

Trek Matthews (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A shout out to Arts In Bushwick, an all volunteer organization that has steadily grown and fostered an open sense of community inclusiveness each year for Bushwick Open Studios and to the many volunteers who have contributed greatly to the success of many of the cultural workers here. Without an open studios event many of these shy and quirky artists and performers would simply have stayed unknown and unknowable.

So far Bushwick still has the unbridled imperfect D.I.Y. enthusiasm of an experiment where anything can happen, but grey ladies with kooky bright colored spectacles have already begun to flip it over to inspect it with one hand while pinching their nose with the other, so savor this authentic moment. Ethereal by nature, you know the Street Art scene is never guaranteed to you tomorrow – neither is the mythical artists bohemian hamlet of New York’s yesteryear. For now we’re hopping on our bikes to catch a golden age of Bushwick before it’s repackaged and sold back to us at a price we can’t afford.

The first series of images are walls from the Bushwick Collective, followed by a series of walls that you may also see in the neighborhood.

MOMO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Solus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alice Pasquini (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Toofly and Col Wallnuts (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stik (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Billy Mode and Chris Stain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nard (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder and LNY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brett Flanigan and Cannon Dill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gats (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sheryo and The Yok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here are a series of walls not related to Bushwick Collective.

ECB (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A portion of a wall by the 907 Crew, Sadue. Don Pablo Pedro, Smells, Cash4, and Keely (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Phetus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Peeta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BR1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Apolo Torres (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris, Veng, RWK and ECB (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cruz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KUMA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Free Humanity (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Keely and Deeker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kremen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full list of activities, studios, schedules and directions for Bushwick Open Studios 2013 click HERE.

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A Grimey Organic Group Wall Grows in Bushwick

April 23, 2013 Artists

The audacity of the organically grown Street Art and graffiti wall, covered with styles and sentiments that are anybody’s guess, people painting whatever the heck they want. It may not be easy to digest, but maybe you’ll find part of it to be inspiring, or challenging, or eye opening. Or all three.

“One person did drive by and yell out the window, ‘This is awful!’ ” says artist Don Pablo Pedro as he lets out a belly laugh. “So that was fun, that was a good one. Other than that I’ve enjoyed it a lot.” He’s talking about the new wall still in progress in Bushwick Brooklyn that is taking shape without input from anyone but the artists. “Yeah there are no real rules, we’re just going out there and having fun. Not trying to do anything that is too important or anything,” says Pablo as he talks about his blue Jesus character with the chastity belt.

Don Pablo Pedro, Smells, Cash4 and Keely. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Usually this sort of work appears on abandoned lots where only few eyes will see it, not on this corner in the still industrial, intensely trafficked, sooty smelly occasionally ear-splittingly loud part of Bushwick. Here you are greeted by very aggressive truck drivers caterwauling by on 18 wheels like bats out of hell. If you are not alert you can be mowed down or choked by the gritty air along with growing numbers of desparados who have settled here in recent years as artists, students, and low-wage workers continue to migrate in search of affordable space to live and work.

Many of the artists painting on this wall come from different directions and backgrounds – graffiti, street art, fine art, painting, woodworking, screen-printing, sculpture – and many have worked collaboratively before. Smells is the curator, if for no other reason than there had to be some sense of order, and according to Don Pablo it won’t be finished until its completely covered. So far the collection includes work from Smells, Cash4, Droid, UFO, Gentu, Keely, Sadue, Don Pablo Pedro, Tony Bones…. “I think it’s still going to go on, it’s kind of a ‘progress wall,’ ” says Pedro.

Don Pablo Pedro, Smells. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Now the wall has turned into sort of a more grimey wall, which I love about it. It’s my friends building and he kind of loves that too. It mirrors more of him actually.”

Does he find that passersby have a negative reaction to some of the content of his piece – the nudity, genitalia, the multiple additional boobs? “You know, I was hoping so! I have seen a number of people look at it and laugh, like some of the worker guys in the neighborhood.”

And for this neighborhood, if you call it that, community standards divine that this explosion of tags and characters is cool, not that some of these artists give a rats butt. “The neighbors are really nice. They know most of the artists – the people next door have the art materials place and they’re really nice too.”

Don Pablo Pedro, Cash4 and Keely. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For Don Pablo Pedro, it’s the genuine artistic freedom he is attracted to and as part of his own practice he finds that he’s still learning about doing collaborative work with others and how to work with rough walls – since his typical practice is on canvas and is done solo and in a studio.

“This is also kind of new for me because I’m working with other people’s art pieces around mine and also the little nuances in the wall; like when I was doing the Jesus figure there were these little weird nail things that were on either side of the door so I used them. Also there were like some little nipple things so I used them. And I think Smells liked using the thing for the vagina so it could sort of spray out. Smells piece is really good. I love that one, it’s really good,” he says enthusiastically.

Don Pablo Pedro working on a fourth character. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

907 Crew . Keely. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

907 Crew . Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Whole Gang. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week: 01.13.13

January 13, 2013 Artists

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Bored, Defs, Faile, Lädy, Mr. Toll, Nick Walker, Penny, Plata, Smells, and Verb

Top image Nick Walker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Along with their recent announcement of their partnership with the New York City Ballet Arts Series came a marketing campaign blitz that saw the New York City transit system and streets blanketed with the promotional posters. So once again Street Artists see their work in place it was previously, but because a fee has been paid, this time it is legal.

Says Faile: “It’s pretty crazy to see that work on the subways and streets and not to have been the ones to put it up there. Quite ironic” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week 10.07.12

October 7, 2012 Artists

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Barry McGee, Berth Control, BustArt, Cash4, Hot Tea, JM, Michael DeFeo, OverUnder, Rae, Shie Moreno, Smells, Spiro, Swoon, and Willow. First we start with a selection of details from the brand new piece by Brooklyn Street Artist Swoon that appeared on the street recently – in her inimitable style of revealing an internal world at play within the larger structure.

Swoon. “Neenee. Bradock”. Swoon created this piece to raise funds for the restoration of the church in Braddock, PA. This hand tinted what paste for the streets was done on a metal fence with a colorful background by a different artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Detail of the maquette of the church as envisioned by the artist during a recent fundraiser called “Pearlys”. (photo © Jaime Rojo via Iphone)

Hot Tea’s latest very subtle installation almost got lost here in the photo. Too bad, as this is one of his best installs so far. The fonts are beautifully rendered with the yarn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of The Week 09.09.12

September 9, 2012 Artists

Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adeline, Cost, El Sol 25, JM, Joseph Meloy, Keely, LMNOP, Mr. Toll, No Sleep, NohJColey, Sanpaku, Sheryo, Smells, ICY & SOT, Shie Moreno,The Cretin, The Yok, and Werds.

The Beautiful and awesome Adeline performs to celebrate NohJColey’s birthday at his opening last night. Better than Marilyn at the MSG for Jack. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

From Wikipedia:

Sanpaku gan (三白眼) or Sanpaku (三白) is a Japanese term that means “three whites” and is generally referred to in English as “Sanpaku eyes”. The term refers to the iris being rather small, so that it only covers about two-thirds or less of the vertical axis of the eye; e.g. delineate an eye into four portions; the iris would only occupy one portion of the divided four sections; thus leaving the other three in white, hence “three whites”.

When the bottom of the white part of the eye, known as the sclera, is visible it is referred to as ‘Yin Sanpaku’ in Chinese lore. According to the myth, it represents physical imbalance in the body and is claimed to be present in alcoholics, drug addicts and people who over consume sugar or grain. Conversely when the upper sclera is visible this is called ‘Yang Sanpaku’. This is said to be an indication of mental imbalance in people such as psychotics, murderers, and anyone rageful. Stress and fatigue may also be a cause.^[1]

In August 1963, macrobiotic pioneer George Ohsawa predicted that President John F. Kennedy would experience great danger because of his sanpaku condition. This was reported by Tom Wolfe in the New York Herald Tribune.^[2]

People with sanpaku eyes may also be feared to be prone to violent or disordered behaviors.^{[citation needed]} There is no evidence for this belief, however.

John Lennon mentioned sanpaku in his song “Aisumasen (I’m Sorry)” from the 1973 Mind Games album. It is also briefly referenced in William Gibson’s Neuromancer, as well as in Michael Franks‘ 1979 song “Sanpaku”, and in The Firesign Theatre‘s piece “Temporarily Humboldt County”.

Icy and Sot. Special shout out to Joe’s buddy at Bushwick 5 Points for giving me a lift so I could get the right angle. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Fun Friday 08.10.12

August 10, 2012 Artists

Happy hot sticky Friday live from New York! Lots of cool stuff on the street and in the exhibition spaces this weekend – just bring a water bottle. Here are some of our picks for you on BSA.

1. Détournement, Carlo McCormick at Jonathan Levine (NYC)
2. Chris Stain and Joe Iurato at Mighty Tanaka (BKLN)
3. Peeta Solo at ArTicks (Amsterdam)
4. “You & Me” – Low Brow’s Second Group Show (BKLN)
5. Miss Van at Copro Gallery “Wild at Heart” (Santa Monica)
6. Part2Ism “New Horizons & Future Love Songs” at Red Gallery (London)
7. “Who’z Got Game!” ? at Sacred Gallery (NYC)
8. Numskull ,”Dance Like a Video, Sting Like a Gif” at Mishka (BKLN)
9. “Primeveal” group show Carmichael Gallery (LA)
10. Futura Live Painting (Richmond, VA)
11. KFC Loves The Gays with John Goodman (Video)

Détournement, Carlo McCormick at Jonathan Levine (NYC)

Carlo McCormick, Paper Magazine Senior Editor and NYC cultural intuitor, is guest curator at the Jonathan Levine Gallery with a show titled “Détournement: Signs of the Times” Carlo has assembled an interesting list of artists to tell his story with the works of AIKO, Dan Witz, David Wojnarowicz, Dylan Egon, Eine, Ilona Granet, Jack Pierson, John Law (Jack Napier), Leo Fitzpatrick, Mark Flood, Martin Wong, Max Rippon (RIPO), Mike Osterhout, Posterboy, Ron English, Shepard Fairey + Jamie Reid, Steve Powers (ESPO), TrustoCorp, Will Boone and Zevs.

Mining a vein that has been here in front of us all the time, the composition of the selected works reveals a powerful undertone about how we engage and communicate with our artwork, and hi-jack the messaging of others. Says McCormick, “We do not need to follow these signs, we need to make our own so as to find a way out of the mess we are in.”

It’s also one of the few shows that seamlessly blends Street Art and non-street art practices without needing to draw a distinction for its own sake. This show is now open to the public.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Chris Stain and Joe Iurato at Mighty Tanaka (BKLN)

Tonight at Mighty Tanaka Gallery in DUMBO the inevitable pairing of Street Artists Chris Stain and Joe Iurato finally takes place. With a show titled “Deep in the Cut” these two stencil artists will bring the knives out for the love of art and the perfection of their craft. Style and mannerism distinguish the differences between these two, and Stain has been at it much longer with a lot of work on the street, but metaphor and empathy to the human condition is the overlap in these guys work. Grab the F train to DUMBO and come see what new common ground emerges from this combination.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Peeta Solo at ArTicks (Amsterdam)

Italian Graffiti and Fine Artist Peeta has been writing his tag on walls, trains and many other surfaces since 1993. Like a few of his generation who have been stretching graff style past it’s outer limits and morphing it with abstraction, his work has slowing gelled into it’s own distinctive style. He focuses his lettering and his tag by feeding it through Chinese and Islamic calligraphy as a departure from the traditional Latin and Greek lettering. A collaborator of New Yorks RWK collective, he resides in Venice and tonight opens his solo show in Amsterdam at the ArTicks Gallery.

For further information regarding this show click here.

“You & Me” – Low Brow’s Second Group Show (BKLN)

The Low Brow Artique Gallery in Brooklyn has decided to enter the matchmaking business and Saturday their second show titled “You & Me” artfully combines the work of two at a time. While many of these artists have worked collaboratively on the street in the past, crossing freely between sanctioned and unsanctioned Street Art and graffiti, the results of merging their styles and techniques always creates new creatures with the combined DNA. Sometimes it’s a mutt, and sometimes it is purebred brilliance. Artistic couplings here include: Cash4 & Smells, Chris & Veng (RWK), EKG & Dark Clouds, Matt Siren & Fenix, OCMC & This Is Awkward, Royce Bannon & Russell King, and Veng & Sofia Maldonado.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Miss Van at Copro Gallery “Wild at Heart” (Santa Monica)

Miss Van, the French Street Artist and fine artist has a new solo show “Wild at Heart” in Santa Monica, California this Saturday at the Copro Gallery and the ladies are again strutting their stuff across her rich canvasses. Painting since the age of 18 Miss Van has chosen her appearances carefully while being very active within the smaller pool of female Street Artists, maintaining a continous presence with her unique doll-characters, a rich color palette and plenty of erotica.

Miss Van was included in the now famous “Art in the Streets” exhibition on April 2011 at MoCA Los Angeles.. April 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

Part2Ism has a new solo show “New Horizons & Future Love Songs” at the Red Gallery in London, UK and it is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.

Wanna know “Who’z Got Game!” ? Head over to the Sacred Gallery for this group exhibition opening today in Manhattan. Click here for more details on this show.

Numskull will “Dance Like a Video, Sting Like a Gif” at Mishka tonight in Brooklyn. Click here for more details on this show.

“Primeveal” a group exhibition including Emol, Stinkfish and Zio Ziegler opens tomorrow night at the Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, CA. Click here for more details on this show.

Futura will paint live in Richmond, Virginia this Saturday.

Screen Shot from Futura’s Hennessy NYC Video.

Master Graffiti Artist and fine artist Leonard “FUTURA” is touring the country to promote this project with a spirit maker and this Friday he will stop in Richmond, Virgina where he will paint live on a canvas inside the ABC Store located at 101 North Thompson Street. The live painting will commence at 2:00 pm. It is a rare opportunity to catch Futura in action.

A recent ad featuring Futura for this campaign (not a sponsor)

KFC Loves The Gays with John Goodman

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