All posts tagged: Stinkfish

Bogotá : A Liberal Approach To Art Creates Exceptional Street Culture

January 29, 2015 Artists

Thanks to a globalism of culture, many cities around the world have sprouted vibrant Street Art scenes – including today’s focus, Bogotá, Columbia. Far more open to expression than many cities, Bogotá has become a tolerant and welcoming place for artists on public walls, with the mayor actually agreeing and decreeing that graffiti and street art are a form of valued artistic expression, as long as you lay off the statues and City Hall. The government even gives grants for some painting, and political and social protest on walls goes a little further than you might expect. As part of a personal tour of Columbia in the last couple of months, occasional BSA contributor Yoav Litvin travelled to Bogotá and met a couple of artists who told him about the scene there.

by Yoav Litvin

We arrived at the Bogotá airport in the evening. For convenience sake, we took a cab from the airport to our accommodation in the heart of La Candelaria, an area of town known for its museums, beautiful architecture and street art. I knew Bogotá was going to be as special as far as its street art scene. I just did not know yet how incredible it was going to be.

My introduction to Bogotá street art and graffiti was the highway from the airport into town, aka Calle 26—it was completely BOMBED. When I say bombed I mean there was not a single space free of art on the walls or tunnels of the highway for miles on end. The beautiful graffiti and street art along with countless tags adorning the walls made me feel like a kid in a candy store. Immediately I knew Bogotá was going to be special, a heaven for street art and graffiti.

Stink Fish. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

During my visit I was fortunate to meet two very active local artists: DJ LU (aka Juegasiempre), otherwise known as the “Bogotá Banksy” and CRISP, an Aussie transplant that has made the city his home. They were courteous and answered some of my questions.

Yoav Litvin: What makes the street art and graffiti scene so unique in Bogotá? Please discuss the political background in Bogotá in particular and Colombia in general and some policies (legality etc.) that influence the great diversity of work on the streets. What’s special here?
DJ LU: Bogotá’s treasure is its diversity, in every sense. It has very eclectic architecture, interesting places, and is extremely multiracial. Urban expressions are not the exception; here you can find murals, tagging, hip hop graffiti, paste ups, stickers, characters, lettering and stencil work among others. Bogotá is an ideal playground for public expression. First of all, its urban structure is patchy making it ideally suited as far as context; there are many residual spaces, remnants of highway constructions, parking lots and abandoned structures.

Second, the legislation is tolerant, so unless you are engaged in a very clear act of vandalism you won’t have a problem with the law. Residents are also becoming familiar with the practice so there is tolerance from the local population.

Toxicomano . Unknown . DJ LU . Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

CRISP: Bogotá is one of the most exciting, underrated and prolific urban art scenes on the planet. This is due to a combination of several factors, which have created a melting pot of creativity and expression. Firstly, there is a long history of civil unrest, inequality and injustices in Colombia that make street art and graffiti a potent form of expression and protest for the people.

It actually has the longest running civil war in the world, over half a century of bloodshed!

Toxicomano . DJ LU . Lesivo . Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Secondly, it has a very tolerant legal approach to urban art compared to most other cities in the world. It’s not technically illegal but “prohibited”, which provides a unique situation where grafiteros can take their time and paint in broad daylight. That said, an artist still needs to be cautious of police depending on the type of street art you are doing and due to police history of brutality.

Thirdly, Colombia has a rich resource of inspiration: its people, music, food, indigenous cultures, animals and plants from the Pacific, Andes, Amazon and Caribbean! This complex mix of factors makes Bogotá’s urban art scene truly unique.

DJ LU Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Yoav Litvin: What motivates you in your work? Please discuss how your work is an expression of your development within the scene in Bogota.
DJ LU: My work is motivated by reality. I’m interested in making people aware–through art–of lots of situations that affect us as a society. The first project I started with on the street is the Pictogram project. It is based on semiotics and sign language. As it proposes very simple designs it is intended to relay a message immediately. In this project I have designed more than 60 pictograms that I have put up all over Bogotá and many other cities around the world in stencil form, stickers and paste ups.

Afterwards came the Street Pride project in which I took photographs of anonymous people whose appearance I found aesthetically interesting and who were interacting with the public space and I used them as models for my work. I believe that advertisements and the media in general are fabricating idols for the people to follow and to speed up consumerism. I want to make the invisible visible, to bring attention to anonymous people who construct our street culture.

Crisp. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

CRISP: I’ve always expressed myself through art from a very young age. In terms of street art I was a late bloomer. Despite an interest and curiosity in urban art, It was only when I came to Bogota that I truly became a street artist! I met grafitero friends here who encouraged me to put my artwork up in the street. Street art has shown me that it’s important that our public spaces aren’t controlled and dictated solely by councils, corporations, marketing companies, and formal art institutes.

Toxicomano. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Yoav Litvin: How do you see the future of street art and graffiti in Bogota?
DJ LU: I believe that the progress of street art and graffiti is determined by a lot of factors: legal issues, trends, politics and economics. Graffiti and street art are trendy now in Bogotá, and this will most likely decrease. At that point only the ones that are doing it for real will keep working outside.

CRISP: The huge changes I’ve witnessed since 2001 through 2008 until the present are phenomenal. Bogota’s urban art has exploded in terms of quality and quantity. Everywhere you look, walk and drive, you see some form of creativity and expression on nearly every block in the city!

Mostly it is grass roots, passion-driven and totally devoid of the more corporate, council and gallery-organized and funded “street art” you see in many other cities in the world. In the near future I see many talented Colombian artists finally getting the recognition, support and ability to share their work with a wider international audience they deserve. Ironically this point isn’t important to many grafiteros here.

It’s the way of life, the friends, the culture, pure expression, fun, connecting with the public and the happiness this connection with the street brings that’s most important! In the future Bogota will be known as an urban art mecca but for all the right reasons!

Lesivo. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Guache. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Stinkfish. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

APC . Stinkfish . FCO . Temor. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Praxis. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Frank Salvador . Sur Beat. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Bastardilla wheatpaste afloat beneath a handful of dripping tags. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Bastardilla. Detail. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

El Pez. Bogota, Colombia. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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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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Sneak Peek “Concrete to Data” at Steinberg Museum

January 26, 2015 Artists

Curator and artist Ryan Seslow has pulled off an overview of art on the streets and the practices employed, minus the drama. So much discussion of graffiti, Street Art, and public art practice can concentrate on lore and turf war, intersections with illegality, the nature of the “scene”, shades of xenophobia and class structures; all crucial for one’s understanding from a sociological/anthropological perspective.

“Concrete to Data”, opening this week at the Steinberg Museum of Art on Long Island, gives more of the spotlight to the historical methods and media that are used to disseminate a message, attempting to forecast about future ways of communicating that may effectively bridge the gap between the physical and the virtual.

Joe Iurato. Detail. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Seslow has assembled an impressive cross section of artists, practitioners, photographers, academics, theorists, and street culture observers over a five-decade span. Rather than overreaching to exhaustion, it can give a representative overview of how each are adding to this conversation, quickly presenting this genre’s complexity by primarily discussing its methods alone.

Here is a sneak peek of the the concrete (now transmitted digitally); a few of the pieces for the group exhibition that have gone up in the last week in the museum as the show is being installed.

Chris Stain. Detail. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake. Detail. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lady Pink at work on her mural. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Fekner. Detail of his stencils in place and ready to be sprayed on. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Henry Chalfant. Detail. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Billy Mode. Detail. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Oyama Enrico. Detail. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Col Wallnuts. Detail. Concrete To Data. Steinberg Museum of Art. LIU (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CONCRETE to DATA will be exhibited at the Steinberg Museum of Art, Brookville, NY January 26th 2015 – March 21st 2015.

Opening Reception – Friday, February 6th 2015 6PM -9 PM

Follow the news and events via – http://concretetodata.com

Follow @concretetodata on Instagram – #concretetodata

Curated by Ryan Seslow – @ryanseslow

Museum Director – Barbara Appelgate

GIFFITTI and the Eye Popping Animations of Ryan Seslow

December 16, 2014 Artists

You think that maybe the animated GIF is the equivalent of graffiti on the digital wall?

Artist Ryan Seslow has been experimenting for a little while with that hyper eye-blitzing looping tag called the animated GIF – and today you’re getting splendid platter of GIFs like holiday cookies glistening before you. With bright visual references to graffiti history, culture and art, Seslow manages to simplify the vernacular in a poppy way that pushes the work into a playful cartoon realm – like the stuff on subway cars in the 70s. If the connection to Street Art isn’t clear, he has also been doing artful collaborations with a number of figures you may have seen on the street and in subway stations.

“It has been great fun so far working with Cake and Jilly Ballistic and we are making more!” says Seslow of this collaborative approach to GIF making. “I wanted to work with them both because they have great contrasting work that translates well on the street, subway tunnels and as digital images online.”

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

So far Seslow has been “trickling out the gifs one at a time” on his blog and as a project with RJ Rushmore of the blog Vandalog. They will be exhibiting their project entitled “Encrypted Fills” at the end of January for Concrete to Data in the Steinberg Museum of Art. Seslow’s GIF animations will include a host of other graffiti and Street Artists including Stinkfish, Broken Fingaz, General Howe, Caroline Caldwell, Abe Lincoln Jr., Gaia, Enzo & Nio, John Fekner, Olek, Ryan Seslow, Swampy, Peter Drew, Adam VOID, Rone, Enzo Sarto, and Leon Reid IV.

In the meantime all these jolting lights may make you think of the first night of Hannukah (tonight) as well as all the Christmas lights that are blinking from apartment windows overhead wherever you go on the street. Enjoy!

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with CAKE. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with Jilly Ballistic. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Tour Paris 13 : Fluorescent & Towering Show Book

December 13, 2014 Artists

Another book to tell you about today! Remember when BSA took you to Paris that time and we skipped the line and went into all the floors of this soon to be demolished building?

“The numbers are astounding; 105 artists, 9 floors, 36 apartments, 30,000 visitors.

One hour.

That is how much time Street Art enthusiast Spencer Elzey had to himself inside the largest gallery of Street Artists and graffiti artists ever assembled specifically to transform a building for a public show. As he looked out a window to see the snaking lines of Parisians and tourists restlessly waiting to get in, he couldn’t believe his luck to be able to walk through the exhibit by himself and get off some clear shots before the throng hit.”

That is how we described it in November 2013 when Spencer took us on a whirlwind tour of TOUR 13.

Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Published last month this towering book with the page edges sprayed neon orange was released by Mehdi Ben Cheikh in French and English to commemorate the event, and seeing the installations this way is going to make you wish the place wasn’t destroyed. 500 new photos previously unpublished allows you to see the show as you travel from the cellar to the top floors.

You may wish you had more background on the artists and the context and clearly not all of the artistry is of similar quality but you will be satiated by the images and thankful that they were recorded during their brief duration. Published by Editions Albin Michel, in partnership with the Itinerrance Gallery, this show will continue to soar long after the dust has settled.

Entes . Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inti . Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ethos .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Seth .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Moneyless .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artists included in the Tour Paris 13 project:

108, 2MIL FAMILIA, A1ONE, ADD FUEL, AGL, AGOSTINO IACURCI, AMINE, ALEXÖNE, ARRAIANO, AWER, AZOOZ, BOM.K, BTOY, C215, CEKIS, CELESTE JAVA, CLET, COPE2, CORLEONE, DABRO, DADO, DAN23, DAVID WALKER, DEYAA, EIME, eL SEED, ENTES, ETHOS, ETNIK, FENX, FLIP, GAËL, GILBERT, GUY DENNING, HERBERT BAGLIONE, HOGRE, HOPNN, INDIE, INTI ANSA, INTI CASTRO, JAZ, JB ROCK, JÉRÔME GULON, JIMMY C, JOYS, JULIEN COLOMBIER, KAN, KATRE, KEITH HARING, KRUELLA, LEGZ, LEK, LE CYKLOP, LILIWENN, LOIOLA, LUDO, MAIS MENOS, MAR, MÁRIO BELÉM, MARKO, MARYAM, MATÉO GARCIA, MAZ, MONEYLESS, MOSKO, MP5, MYRE, NANO, NEBAY, NEMI “UHU”, NILKO, ORTICANOODLES, PANTÓNIO, PEETA, PHILIPPE BAUDELOCQUE, RAPTO, REA ONE, RODOLPHE CINTORINO, ROTI, SAILE, SAMBRE, SAMINA, SEAN HART, SÉBASTIEN PRESCHOUX, SENSO, SETH, SHAKA, SHOOF, SHUCK 2, SOWAT, SPAZM, SPETO, STeW, STINKFISH, SWOON, TELLA’S, TINHO, TORE, UNO, URIGINAL, VEXTA, VHILS, and WISIGN

Click HERE to read BSA’s coverage of this project before the building was demolished.

A Miami Waterfront Stadium Slaughtered by Street Artists to Save It

October 9, 2014 Artists

Just over 50 years ago Cuban architect Hilario Candela designed the Miami Marine Stadium using modernist design to create a great open air theater along the water to watch powerboat racing. In the thirty or so years between its construction and Hurricane Andrew, the 6,566 seat stadium on Miami’s Virginia Key provided natural shade and entertainment including the races, orchestral music, popular music, political events, prize fights – all in a very original and unusual setting. And who can forget it was in “Clambake” with Elvis on skis!

Ron English. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Because of damage sustained during the 1992 hurricane storm, subsequent inspections have left it condemned by the city engineers and a six-year-old restoration and preservation project has been drawing attention to the site and raising money with the hopes of funding its return. While the restoration organization has received support from the original architect, local dignitaries, celebrities and even some corporate funds, the $30 million dollar renovation is still some distance away.

Recently a group of Street Artists and graffiti artists were invited to continue the visual adornment begun by many uninvited writers over the years. “Graffiti artists have been drawn to the stadium and its architecture,” says Street Artist/ fine artist Logan Hicks who participated in and helped organize many of the artists to check out the mid-century modern structure.

“While the city forgot about the stadium, artists continued to embrace it, illegally painting while the city left it to decay,” he says. In fact it is an irony to consider that one city demonizes the same behavior that another invites, but this isn’t the first time that a subculture is recognized for its contribution. Naturally, we know that the work of these artists will most likely be obliterated in the final design.

Ron English. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Now a part of an official campaign to draw attention to the restoration effort, artists from around the country and world have been traveling to the stadium to add their visual signature to the interesting venue. Today we share with BSA readers recent shots by photographer Martha Cooper, who spent some time with Logan and some of the artists for a few days this summer as they explored and hit up some spots in the stadium.

Artists invited to the site include Stinkfish, Axel Void, HoxxoH, Tatiana Suarez, Abstrk, Pixel Pancho, Logan Hicks, Joe Iurato, Rone, Elbow Toe, Risk, Doze Green, Evoca1, Ian Kuali’i, Luis Berros, Dabs Myla, Ron English, Tristan Eaton, The London Police, Crash, Johnny Robles, Reinier Gamboa, Jose Mertz, and Lucy McLauchlan.

Ron English. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Logan Hicks. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

A view from the stadium when it was doing live shows floating in the water offshore from the Miami Herald website (thus the watermark). To look at original photos the paper has for sale click on the photo or HERE.

Reinier Gamboa. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

CRASH. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Luis Berros. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Luis Berros and Crash. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

The London Police. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

The London Police, Crash and Luis Berros. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

The London Police and Crash. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

The London Police and Hoxxochs. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Tristan Eaton getting aerosol satisfaction. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Tristan Eaton. Miami Marine Stadium Mural Project. Miami, FL 2014 (photo © Martha Cooper)

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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 Film Friday: 07.25.18

July 25, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Our Nation’s Sons – Joe Caslin
2. Ludo: The Chaos Theory
3. Stinkfish Smashes Austrian Bus
4. Tom Herck: Searching for Light
5. The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra Fashions Music from Garbage
6. Mary Poppins Says “Raise the Minimum Wage”

BSA Special Feature: Our Nation’s Sons – Joe Caslin

“As a nation we have pushed a significant number of our young men to the very edges of society and created within them feelings of neglect and apathy. It is now time to empower these young lads and give them a sense of belonging,” says artist Joe Caslin of his Street Art project in Ediburgh, Scotland entitled “Our Nation’s Sons“.

The project that addresses marginalized youth is captured with a moody cinematic flair in this new video featuring the most recent wheatpaste of Joe Caslin’s drawings in Galway.

Ludo: The Chaos Theory

A one minute promo of Ludo in studio as he presumably prepares for his big show at Lazarides in October.

Stinkfish Smashes Austrian Bus

The world is just in black and white until Stinkfish sets it alive in color, completely smothering a huge Graz city bus in paint to promote the Livin’ Streets Festival in Graz, Austria.

Tom Herck: Searching for Light

A stained glass tribute by artist Tom Herck on the side of this decommissioned hospital has more meaning than this simple video can imply.

The image is a tribute to his mother who he says was rescued from the street as a child by the nuns at St-Anna hospital (St-Truiden Belgium), and who also worked here for more than 45 years as a cleaning lady.

“The hospital is closed now and I wanted to do a tribute to my mother,” he tells BSA.

The Landfill Harmonic Orchestra Fashions Music from Garbage

D.I.Y. as a means of survival is not the same as art school graduates joining a knitting circle on Wednesday nights. This community lives on a landfill and has ingeniously, no, miraculously, produced musical instruments from refuse. The resulting music and sense of pride is mountainous and the reason we stay in this beautiful journey to discover the creative spirit.

Mary Poppins Says “Raise the Minimum Wage”

Industrial Makeover: East Williamsburg Breaks Out the Cans

June 12, 2014 Artists

As the Borough of Brooklyn continues a rolling cultural renaissance the spotlight shifts from one neighborhood to the next as investors and cultural workers leapfrog one another in search of opportunity. Naturally, “capitalizing” on that opportunity can be interpreted in a variety of ways, and is.

Gabriel Gimenez AKA GG (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Williamsburg Industrial Park, sometimes referred to as East Williamsburg, has been known for light manufacturing industry such as food processing, furniture making, packing/shipping of dry goods, warehousing – and of course it has played host to a growing number of artists studios in the mix. Of course it has been impacted by the ballooning interest in Bushwick and Williamsburg and all-things-Brooklyn in general but for some reason this still feels fresh and unjaded. Because you don’t have to worry too much about nervous neighborhoody types it has also been a welcoming environment for musicians to rehearse and artists to experiment.

Sonni for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The doors of cafes, live music venues, scattered galleries and performance spaces have opened in the last couple of years and a growing number of legal murals alongside an occasionally lively graffiti / Street Art scene has been cropping up and out. As is the case with new bohemia and a heady mix of hormones/entrepreneurship/euphoria/good weed, some of these dreams will take off and grow while others will fade into the lore of an experimenting NY scene that proudly cuts a notch with a pen knife into the cultural timeline. The best idea is always to jump in and be a part of it right now and enjoy it to its fullest. But that’s just us.

A music and mural art festival called “Juicy Art” saw its first edition this past weekend and the transformation continues with entire blocks getting smashed by a mix of independently produced work, unsanctioned guerilla pieces, and naturally, murals. Take a look at this survey of a popping scene captured by photographer Jaime Rojo in the last couple of weeks.

Sonni for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cruz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ramiro Davaro-Comas for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kremen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never for The Juicy Art Festival. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx, Ricardo Cabret and Son for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matthew Reid (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ever for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ever in collaboration with Zio Ziegler for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NM Salgar and Chuck Berrett (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nepo for The Juicy Art Festival. Piece in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tony Washington and Ramiro Davaro-Comas for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Denton Burrows (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dasic for The Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Muro, Txemy, Stinkfish and Meca for the Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Exit Room Gallery current show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images Of The Week: 06.01.14

June 1, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

BOS, Bushwick Collective, Juicy Fest, RedHook Studio Tours, Northside Festival, Welling Court… BK and QNS are bombed with artists in June – and today’s throwdown in Bushwick is just one tab on the 12-pack to pop and spray all over your friends on a hot summer day. When it comes to street art we’re in this new legal mural phase right now and when you head out to Bushwick Open Studios today you will see freshly painted and in-process walls. Don’t worry, we’re still seeing a lot of uncensored freewheeling self-selecting artistic installations of the unsanctioned variety – and that sector is alive and well. See you out in the street!

Here our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring

Adam Fujita, BustArt, Cb23, Chris Dyer, Dain, Dasic, Don Rimx, Ethos, FoxxFace, Jerk Face, Labrona, Meca, Meer Sau, Milo, Muro, Osch, Princess Hijab, QRST, Ricardo Cabret and Son, Sem, Skewville, Stinkfish, Stovington 23, Txemy, Vexta, Zaira

Top Image >> Dasic for the Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Princess Hijab has a new installation in the Paris Metro (photo © Adrien Chretien)

Princess Hijab. Detail of the above installation. Paris, France. (photo © Adrien Chretien)

Are you feeling this felt lava lamp? Milo calls what she does Graffeltti. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Osch new installation in London’s Brick Lane. (photo © Massimo Filippi)

Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sem (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ethos new piece in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Claudio Ethos)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx, Ricardo Cabret and Son for the Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Labrona new indoor mural in Montreal, Canada. (photo © Labrona)

Vexta for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stovington23 new corporate takeover in Eastbourne, UK. (photo © Stovington23)

BustArt and Zaira new stencil work in Amsterdam. (photo © Bustart/Zaira)

Muro . Txemy . Stinkfish . Meca . Done for the Juicy Art Festival. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meer Sau in Salzburg, Austria. (photo © Meer Sau)

Jerk Face completed his Tom and Jerry piece in Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

cb23 and Foxx Face collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Dyer in Denver, Colorado. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

If you are lucky enough to be in NYC this Sunday, get out of the house and head over to East Williamsburg and Bushwick. You’d have the chance to see many of these murals in person and perhaps and artist or two while applying the final touches to his or her wall. Click HERE for more info on The Bushwick Collective block party taking place today. And HERE for the Juicy Art Fest which is not happening until June 5, 6 and 7 but artists are currently busy at work on their murals and it is only a short walk between the two.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.25.14

May 25, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

We start this weeks collection of images from the street with a new piece in Bushwick by Joe Iurato, a New Jersey based Street Artist who also, as we learned via press release this week, has been selected to co-curate the newly announced Mana Museum of Urban Arts in Jersey City with another stencillist on the street, Logan Hicks. Billed as the first museum of its kind, Director Eugene Lemay says it will be comprehensive and interactive and programming will begin as early as this September.

Mr. Lemay and co-founder Yigal Ozeri have expressed and demonstrated a sincere affinity and enthusiasm for the creative spirit since Mana Contemporary opened here in ’11 and this 100,000 square foot space represents just the audacity of hope that is demanded when building a stage for urban/street/graffiti art and its multitude of tributaries. New York and this entire scene is about 5-10 years overdue for this kind of bold development and we say, nevermind the armchair critics, let’s get going!

Here our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Art is Trash, Bast, Bio Tats Cru, Bishop203, Charlie Chaplin, Crash, Damien Mitchell, Dan Witz, Forest Ghost, Freddy Sam, Hiss, Hot Tea, Joe Iurato, King, Li-Hil, LMNOPI, Nick Walker, Olek, Paper Skaters, Shepard Fairey, Skount, Stinkfish, Tripel, and Zola.

Top Image >> Joe Iurato at The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stinkfish (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Paper Skaters (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI gives a shout out to Occupy Wall Street in this liberty lady (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Freddy Sam. in South Africa (photo © Rorry Allen)

“Recently South Africa celebrated the 20th anniversary of freedom day commemorating the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994.They were the first national elections in South Africa in which the franchise did not depend upon race.

My mural is of a photograph taken on this day in 1994.With a flock of birds flying through the middle representing freedom.Showing that to be free we need to work together, we need to live together.

Freedom is to be human. And to be human is to be connected.

My mural is not celebrating Freedom day but rather looking at what freedom really means and how far we really have come and how free we really are within South Africa and within a global context” ~ Freddy Sam

Damien Mitchell for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hot Tea. Well, actually, just the T. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barcelona’s Francisco de Pajaro is a resourceful performance street artist who goes by the name of “Art is Trash” or “El Arte es Basura”. He recently did a number of on the street installations with the Dusty Rebel in tow. Check out his excellent photos of the experience here. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast is going over himself;, updating his original comment from Oh Snap! a few weeks ago to Oh Crap!. Oh, word? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John CRASH Matos, BIO Tats Cru and Nick Walker on their second collaborative wall in the LES with an existing Shepard Fairey in the upper right corner. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.18.14

May 18, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring AEON, Arturo Vega, Bio Tats Cru, Balu, Bifido, COL Wallnuts, Crash, Federico Cruz, JMR, Kram, Kronik, Labrona, LMNOPI, Meca, Moby, Muro, Nick Walker, Stinkfish, TRN, Txemy, and Vexta.

Top Image >> Rooftop piece by Crash, Bio Tats Cru and Nick Walker. The shot was taken from a higher rooftop. A straight shot would have landed this photographer in the slammer and that would mean missing happy hour. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crash, Bio Tats Cru and Nick Walker. Detail. Same piece as above taken from the street. See what we meant? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detail of a wall with a variety of wheat pasted art. Artist(s) Unkown, though we think we see Stinkfish in there. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JMR and Col Wallnuts revisit the spot where a JMR rode for a few years, and now expanded and redefined it. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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New Stinkfish in The Pilsen in Chicago

April 28, 2014 Artists

The dudes from Pawnworks are back in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago with the “Art in Public Places” project and Stinkfish is here for his first time in the US. Nick Marzullo tells us this is only the second outdoor piece in the US. “He is also going to be showing an entire new body of work here in Chicago for his first ever Solo show in US with Vertical Gallery entitled Savage Gaze and that opens on Saturday May 3rd,” says Nick.

The program will continue work here in Chi-town this year as well and they have another project beginning this week in Cleveland. “We will also be facilitating a couple of really great installs in Brooklyn this year also!” More news on that later.

Stinkfish “Savage Gaze” solo show at Vertical Gallery in Chicago opens on Friday, may 3rd. Click HERE for more details.

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15 Murals and a Submarine: Amsterdam’s Urban Art Scene Now

April 21, 2014 Artists

We’re very pleased today to take BSA readers to Amsterdam, where the graff/Street Art continuum reaches back more than three decades and where the vibrant scene still remains fresh and relevant right now. We’re very thankful to Ed Little and Alex Pope for taking the initiative to present the scene here for us and to give us valuable context about Amsterdam’s Urban Art Scene. If you don’t know, now you know.

By Ed Little and Alex Pope

Amsterdam has always been progressive in welcoming Urban Art. This March, artwork by Banksy was projected on the Dutch National Museum (the Rijksmuseum), in support of Syrian refugees. More than thirty years earlier, New York graffiti artists such as Seen, Dondi, Blade, Quik, Rammellzee and Futura 2000 were given their first taste of success in the high brow art world by Amsterdam gallery owner Yaki Kornblit. In 1986, Keith Haring did a commissioned mural for the Museum depot. Even before the arrival of the Americans, Amsterdam had a uniquely homegrown punk graffiti scene.

By being exposed to the New York artists so early on, Amsterdam graffiti ignited and burned on well into the nineties. Amsterdam writers like Shoe and Delta, along with foreign partners Bando and Mode 2, spread the Crime Time style throughout Europe. In 1992, the city temporarily stopped cleaning subways because of toxic chemicals in the cleaning material. The writers completely took over the subways, creating a scene reminiscent of 1970s New York, as Amsterdam bathed in graffiti euphoria.

Today’s street art and graffiti scene is relatively small, and not pushing the envelope as much as it once was. That is not the say Amsterdam doesn ́t get down anymore. Feast your eyes on a selection of commissioned murals, illegal burners and creative get ups that Amsterdam has to offer.

Here is a double header by Brazilian female artist Fefe Talavera, painted as part of the 2012 RUA Festival. The RUA Festival aims to show urban and contemporary Brazilian art next to institutionalized art of museums and galleries. According to the artist, the two heads represent two Indians wearing animal masks. The vibrant tribal color scheme really stands out against the dull grey backdrop, and is a good reminder of what a little bit of paint can do for a building.

This is a mural by Italian artist Zed1 at creative hotspot café Roest, home of Max Zorn ́s Stick Together festival. Awesome incorporation of the building window into the depicted scene, which reads as a critique of the current cost of living.

Here is another Brazilian mural in Amsterdam, painted by Ethos for the 2011 edition of the RUA Festival. Once again, masks are a big part of the artwork, which fits well with Ethos’ surrealist style. The mural itself functions as an awesome mask for an otherwise pretty shabby looking squat.

Here is Australian artist Adnate along with Morten Andersen from Denmark. Nice clash of Adnate ́s photorealist style of characters and Andersen ́s abstract geometrics. Painted for the Kosmopolite Art Tour, next to an insane burner by Dems UB which unfortunately is no longer there to be seen.

The legal squat Vrankrijk is one of the focal points of Amsterdam ́s squat scene. The Lichtenstein type BOOM! is a clear representation of Pop Art, which was also used as a vehicle by Fab 5 Freddy to push graffiti into the American higher art sphere in the late seventies.

Here is a commissioned work by Englishman Inkie from 2012. Painted on what was once an always tagged up parking entrance. The wall on the right was painted later on, as the original was reclaimed by street bombers, who tagged it again within no time, even crossing out the artist ́s website with the word ́toy ́. The Inkie was left untouched, probably out of respect.

A good example of calligraffiti here by Amsterdam graffiti legend Shoe. Brushstroked fill in, outlined by black spraypaint. Though Shoe ́s calligraffiti style is so uniquely his, it reminds us of that Amsterdam ́s 1970s punk graffiti feel. Pigeon portrait by Adele Renault, who went on to have a pigeon inspired exhibit at Shoe ́s Unruly Gallery.

Above is a Rammellzee memorial wall by Shoe and friends from 2010, paying homage to the evo griller. Rammellzee was one of the twelve New York graffiti artists who each had a one month solo exhibit at Yaki Kornblit ́s gallery in the early 1980s and who would inspire Shoe and eventually many other writers worldwide to pursue a career in the streets and the fine arts world.

Here’s a large London Police commissioned mural on the Prinsengracht canal. Adopted Amsterdammers The London Police paid for their first stay in Amsterdam with t-shirts and art, and have made a comfortable living off their art ever since. The mural is located next to the street oriented Go Gallery, which has an original London Police mural from their earlier Amsterdam days.

Above are two subtle works by regular French visitor C215. The first one was painted with permission from the same Dutch family that first gave the London Police a roof over their heads. The second one is located near Amsterdam’s NDSM werf hall of fame. C215’s romantic works seem to make icons out of regular folks, which is probably why they are at their best when they are visible in the streets for everyone to see.

Italian-Dutch artist Jorit did this Vincent Van Gogh portrait. The technically very impressive photorealist depiction of Van Gogh didn’t fair well with everybody, as someone gave his 2 cents by writing “Vincent wouldn ́t approve” in the bottom corner. While Jorit’s photorealistic Van Gogh may be very opposite to the subject’s impressionist style, we wanna say that we do approve. Please note that Van Gogh ́s eyeliner was also added by a third party.

Here is an illegal burner by Amsterdam graffiti legend Delta from 2006. When Delta returned to graffiti in the 90s, he blew up big with his 3-D styles, which lead to a very successful career in the arts. Staying true to his roots, he remains active in his hometown streets while killing it in the galleries and even the architectural world.

An early work by international superstar ROA from the mid 2000s; While it is undeniably a ROA, it is awesome to see how his style and eye for detail have developed. It is part of an original mural that also featured Bue the Warrior and Chase. The wall was mostly repainted, but the ROA has been left untouched.

Above is some illegal wildstyle graffiti by the most prolific Amsterdam duo of the new millennium, Twice and Gear, along with colorful blockbuster letters by subway and trackside killer Leno on an old submarine nearby the NDSM hall of fame. Bastardilla and Stinkfish are on the bottom as well.

From Banksy projections to illegal wildstyle graffiti, all of the different aspects of today ́s modern urban art landscape are still a part of Amsterdam ́s creative daily routine. But for a city known for its liberal feel, it would be nice to see Amsterdam embrace urban art even more and reclaim its previous position as ahead of the worldwide pack. In order to do so, we will always keep an eye on the streets.

We thank Alex and Ed for this sharing this good work with BSA readers.

To see more Amsterdam Street Art and read interviews with the artists click Keep It Hush

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