All posts tagged: Swoon

BSA “Images Of The Year” for 2017 (VIDEO)

BSA “Images Of The Year” for 2017 (VIDEO)

December 15, 2017

Of the thousands of images he took this year in places like New York, Berlin, Scotland, Hong Kong, Sweden, French Polynesia, Barcelona, and Mexico City, photographer Jaime Rojo found that Street Art and graffiti are more alive than every before. From aerosol to brush to wheat-paste to sculpture and installations, the individual acts of art on the street can be uniquely powerful – even if you don’t personally know where or who it is coming from. As you look at the faces and expressions it is significant to see a sense of unrest, anger, fear. We also see hope and determination.

Every Sunday on BrooklynStreetArt.com, we present “Images Of The Week”, our weekly interview with the street. Primarily New York based, BSA interviewed, shot, and displayed images from Street Artists from more than 100 cities over the last year, making the site a truly global resource for artists, fans, collectors, gallerists, museums, curators, academics, and others in the creative ecosystem. We are proud of the help we have given and thankful to the community for what you give back to us and we hope you enjoy this collection – some of the best from 2017.

Brooklyn Street Art 2017 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

Artists included in the video are: Suitswon, Curiot, Okuda, Astro, Sixe Paredes, Felipe Pantone, Hot Tea, Add Fuel, Hosh, Miss Van, Paola Delfin, Pantonio, Base23, R1, Jaune, Revok, Nick Walker, 1UP Crew, SotenOne, Phat1, Rime MSK, Martin Whatson, Alanis, Smells, UFO907, Kai, Tuts, Rambo, Martha Cooper, Lee Quinoes, Buster, Adam Fujita, Dirty Bandits, American Puppet, Disordered, Watchavato, Shepard Fairey, David Kramer, Yoko Ono, Dave The Chimp, Icy & Sot, Damien Mitchell, Molly Crabapple, Jerkface, Isaac Cordal, SacSix, Raf Urban, ATM Street Art, Stray Ones, Sony Sundancer, ROA, Telmo & Miel, Alexis Diaz, Space Invader, Nasca, BK Foxx, BordaloII, The Yok & Sheryo, Arty & Chikle, Daniel Buchsbaum, RIS Crew, Pichi & Avo, Lonac, Size Two, Cleon Peterson, Miquel Wert, Pyramid Oracle, Axe Colours, Swoon, Outings Project, Various & Gould, Alina Kiliwa, Tatiana Fazalalizadeh, Herakut, Jamal Shabaz, Seth, Vhils, KWets1, FinDac, Vinz Feel Free, Milamores & El Flaco, Alice Pasquini, Os Gemeos, Pixel Pancho, Kano Kid, Gutti Barrios, 3 x 3 x 3, Anonymouse, NeSpoon, Trashbird, M-city, ZoerOne, James Bullowgh, and 2501.

 

Cover image of Suits Won piece with Manhattan in the background, photo by Jaime Rojo.

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Top 15 Videos on BSA Film Friday From 2017

Top 15 Videos on BSA Film Friday From 2017

December 13, 2017

Every Friday we invite you to stop by and take a look at new videos that have been submitted or recommended or that we tripped over walking by the railroad tracks. This year we showed you about 250 of them.

We call it BSA Film Friday and it travels with us to cities around the world now when we do it LIVE with you and other audience members in theaters and lecture halls and museums. The beauty of the video/film form is you can get a full story quickly, and you are often surprised by how transformative it can be. You can also see how many people are affected by urban and street culture through these films – we see people’s eyes light up when they realize that they too can create in public space, that the world is not simply a product but is a piece of art that many of their peers are now jumping in to co-create.

As a collection, these 15 are illuminating, elevating, riveting, strange, soaring, and achingly beautifully normal. From looking at the Separation Wall and Banksy to a travelling crew of graffiti writers on farms in Polish pig country to the amazing dance troupe who interpreted the 5 floors of art installations in a downtown Berlin former bank, you have before you a massive buffet of a visual feast.

The final desert is hand-held phone video caught in the moment last month in Mexico City. We didn’t know Keith Haring was coming down the tracks to surprise us, and we didn’t know that this unpolished jewel would garner thousands of viewers and commenters – effectively placing this little piece of video at number 1 for its popularity. Maybe the fact that it is so raw is what people relate to – along with an ongoing adulation for Haring.

We hope you can take some time to enjoy some of the best Street Art videos from around the world and on BSA this year.

No. 15
Faith XLVII / Aqua Regalia Hong Kong

From BSA Film Friday 05.19.17

“Distant universes delicately tangled,” says the near-whispering narration as you are gazing upon scenes from Hong Kong – those interstitial moments that carry you between the more remarkable ones. Faith XLVII gives us a quiet look at these inside a the dencse cacophony called “Aqua Regalia”, looking at the parts of a culture that a visitor is sensitive to because they are not taken for granted. With this ability to see, one takes a quick course of a city, a society. Invariably you end up with more questions.

“We speak of death and birth in terms of celebration and mourning.” Faith XLVII is in search of more universal truths, the timeless ones, since we understand them so poorly. Herein are glimpses, romantic and unvarnished.

“This is one of the first videos I’ve co-directed, alongside filmmaker Dane Dodds,” Faith tells us. “Its a project that is close to my heart.”

No. 14
Gonzalo Borondo / Cenere

From BSA Film Friday 08.11.17

Borondo keeps it open for you. He provides the stage, the staging area, the proscenium, the altar, the emanating light, the associations and memories you have with your belief system, or lack of one. During his artist residency with Pubblica, curated by Carlo Vignapiano and Elena Nicolini in May, the Street Artist (among other things) creates a journey as much as a destination in this intimate chapel. The video by Gerdi Petanaj captures this and perhaps a little more.

 

No. 13
The Haus / Lunatix Dance

From BSA Film Friday 04.07.17

From the moment it opened on April 1st, the Haus was a hit! BSA was very lucky to be there in February for a full tour while still in development in Berlin, nearly dancing ourselves through all five floors of this former bank with full scale installations in places that once held offices, conference rooms, employee coffee lounges.

By inviting Creative Director/dancer Serdar Bogatin and the film crew “Shuto Crew” into the space with members of the Lunatix Dance Production troupe, these spaces and art environments come completely alive, invoking stories and dramas – clearly making the spaces into elaborate set-design pieces.

 

No. 12
Ella & Pitr / Frappés PinPins

From BSA Film Friday 05.05.17

The French duo Ella + Pitr here revel in the simplicity of the gestural act of a full-body full-bucket splash of black paint.

Carnal, visceral, overlaid with psychographical information, the motion of splashing inky pigment across a white quadrilateral is an act of defiance and a release of the inner chaos – instantly recognizable as chaos elsewhere in the world.

The uncontrollable quality, especially when purveyed within an atmosphere of prim control, provokes amplified emotions in some. Fear, liberation, rage, release. Which ones will you experience?

 

No. 11
Indecline/ Rail Beast

From BSA Film Friday 10.20.17

“This reminds why I hate vandals! All this does is create more unnecessary work for the guys at the paint shop,” says a commenter on the Vimeo page where INDECLINE has posted this locomotive takeover.

You see kids, this is why we can’t have nice things. I just mopped this floor and you come running in here with your muddy boots! For Pete’s sake.

Truthfully, this decidedly unpolitical piece is a surprise coming from INDECLINE. Guess they were taking the day off from railing against hypocrisy and injustice with this animated train that recalls Saturday morning cartoons like Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner.

 

No. 10
Olek / In the Blink of an Eye

From BSA Film Friday 01.13.17

“It is one thing to read about the events in those parts of the world, but it is something totally different to actually look in the eyes of the women who lost everything while running from the war,” says artist Olek about how her world view changed when crocheting the project featured this week.

While gathering and producing materials for her installation with Verket Museum in Avesta, Sweden, the Brooklyn based Street Artist was holding informal crochet workshops with volunteers who would be producing the decorative yarn skin that covered every single item inside and outside of the house with their handmade crochet stitches.

Some invited guests were refugees who had escaped war in Syria and Ukraine and the artist and local folks shared stories and crocheted, sewed, and prepared the art materials together over the course of a number of days. It was during these exchanges of personal stories that, “a conversation started that has changed me forever,” she says – and she immediately needed to reflect it in her project with the museum.

 

No. 09
Sebastian Purfürst – Soniconoclasm / Broken Motor

From BSA Film Friday 06.02.17

In Berlin recently we met a photographer/media artist/musician who showed us a music video he just made of regular people whom you might meet on the city streets at night. This spring he asked more than 25 of them to recite phrases and “cut-up of army radio slang phrases” and by splicing them together with his band mate’s recitation of the lyrics synched to their lips, the rawness and rage and disconnected connectedness of people whom you can meet on the street rang true. “

This unvarnished quality bypasses the styled self-awareness of a lot of commercial media, and the anger actually comes across as fear. Perhaps you’ll think its too dark in demeanor – but then suddenly the melding together of the faces into one common entity makes it magic, even transcendent – revealing a simple sameness of everyone.

“This suspenseful individuality of the people is almost completely dissolved in the chorus,” says Sebastian Purfürst of his video with bandmate Markus F.C.Buhl.

Together they are called SONICONOCLASM.

 

No. 08
Pixel Pancho/ UN – Berlin

From BSA Film Friday 09.22.17

Pixel’s original installation was nixed by the city at the last moment but that didn’t prevent the Italian Street Artist from rallying to find another solution!

This new installation in the back courtyard was conceived of, designed, and constructed over a period of 4 days last week and became the secret surprise behind the museum for those who wandered there. Using landscaping techniques and botanical knowledge that come naturally from his farm in Italy, the artist create a mise en scène of epic impact with his robotic folk-futurist sculptures. Night time lighting took it to another world, but you can see the details better here in this short video Jaime Rojo shot on site.

 

No. 07
FifthWall TV / Occupied in Bethlehem – A visit to BANKSY’s “Walled Off Hotel”

From BSA Film Friday 06.16.17

“It’s almost become a playground for people to come to,” says your host Doug Gille as he looks at the section of the Separation Wall that the Banksy “Walled Off” Hotel is installed upon. “I think it is so crucial for people not to just come to see the wall or to paint on the wall,” he says.

“50 years under military control makes it the longest occupation in history,” is a quote that Gillen brandishes across the screen from the United Nations. The fact that Banksy is using his art star power to keep this on the front burner says a lot about the man.

“I think a lot of these people feel like we are forgetting about them and we have to remind them that we’re not,” says Gillen as he soul searches next to the Dead Sea.

 

No. 06
Various & Gould / City Skins – Marx und Engels

From BSA Film Friday 07.14.17

Conceptual Street Artists often perform interventions without explanation, satisfied with their own observations of the outcome. For Berlians Various & Gould the process has more often included the participation of the public – a way for more to take ownership and inspire dialogue. Sometimes many dialogues.

You may have seen our piece on their most recent public project called “City Skins”: Marx and Engels Statues Re-Skinned & Re-Located : Various & Gould.  Here is a mini-documentary that shows you the artists, the process, and the thinking behind the process.

 

No. 05
Rurales

From BSA Film Friday 01.27.17

Now to the Polish pig farms! Another Street Art/Mural road trip movie, this time across Poland with JAYPOP, Seikon, Krik KONG and filmmaker Cuba Goździewicz. See the discoveries, the relationships, the reactions to the work from a warm and considered human perspective.

The beauty of randomness and the randomness of beauty. These guys are fully engaged with their surroundings, the opportunity, the myriad people they befriend or portend to make allies. It’s an uncharted trip where permissions are sought and often refused, but they never stop painting somehow.

 

No. 04
Swoon/ Fearless

From BSA Film Friday 10.13.17

Using existing and new footage of Street Artist Swoon and selected interviews with people in her orbit, director Fredric King presents and hour long documentary that looks over two decades of art making. The stories told and the insights that Calendonia Curry aka Swoon presents while en route to her next adventure illustrate the fluidity with which she pursues the creative spirit, whether on the street, on a vessel down a river, or installing in a museum. An integrated explorer, Swoon brings you into the fold to go on this journey that always feels like its just begun.

No. 03
Fin DAC/ Rooftop in San Francisco

From BSA Film Friday 08.25.17

On an expansive rooftop in rainy/sunny/rainy San Francisco, Street Artist Fin Dac brings to life ‘Shukumei’, an ebullient and mysterious muse. The film is largely a stop motion record of the work set to music, but did you notice how much dexterity and effort goes into this precision play when you are working at this angle, basically painting the floor? The remarkable integration of the glowing skylight orb, dramatically revealed, imparts the figure a mystical dimension as well.

Video editing by Tonic Media, Soundtrack by Mombassa/Lovechild, and shout out to Ian and Danielle at Rocha Art and Missy Marisa, model.

 

No. 02
Niels Shoe Meulman In Magic City / The Art Of The Street

From BSA Film Friday 12.01.17

Niels Shoe Meulman spent some nights in a Munich jail thirty years ago for mucking about on the walls. This year he was paid to do it in Munich for Magic City, the travelling morphing exhibition (now in Stockholm) where Street Art is celebrated along with all its tributaries – including a film program and a number of photographs by your friends here at BSA.

Born, raised and based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Shoe shares here his new improvisational piece and some of his reflections on his process and his evolution from being in advertising as an art/creative director and reclaiming his soul as a graffiti/Street Art/fine artist. As ever, Martha is in the frame, putting him in the frame.

No. 01
Keith Haring- Rough Cut / Mexico City Metro

This rough cut lil’ video reached more than 300K individuals and had 100K views with thousands of shares on FB and on Instagram with dozens of comments and high engagement was easily propelled to the #1 spot.

From BSA Film Friday 12.01.17

It all took us by surprise last week in Mexico City when suddenly a whole train covered on both sides with Keith Haring’s work approached while we were waiting at the platform to catch the Linea 2 of the Metro. He made his name in part by illegally doing drawings like these in NYC subways and here now they are crushing a whole train. The name of the project is “Ser Humano. Ser Urbano” or “Being Human. Being Urban” and it aims to promote human values and human rights. The pattern you see is from “Sin Titulo (Tokyo Fabric Design)” – now stretched across these whole cars, if you will.

The train itself is inexplicably having brake troubles, so we get some jerky spur-of-the-moment footage but all week on Instagram and Facebook we’ve received tons of comments from people reacting to this little bit of Keith video by Jaime Rojo on BSA.

 

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BSA Film Friday: 10.13.17

BSA Film Friday: 10.13.17

October 13, 2017

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. Swoon: Fearless

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: Swoon: Fearless

Using existing and new footage of Street Artist Swoon and selected interviews with people in her orbit, director Fredric King presents and hour long documentary that looks over two decades of art making. The stories told and the insights that Calendonia Curry aka Swoon presents while en route to her next adventure illustrate the fluidity with which she pursues the creative spirit, whether on the street, on a vessel down a river, or installing in a museum. An integrated explorer, Swoon brings you into the fold to go on this journey that always feels like its just begun.

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Swoon – A Peak Inside “The Archivist’s Circle”

Swoon – A Peak Inside “The Archivist’s Circle”

August 5, 2017

Old, rare, nearly lost pieces of Swoon are rotating through her new The Archivist’s Circle online, along with small editions of recreated pieces like the first sticker designs, wallpapers, paper cuts, and linoleum blockprints. Prepping for her first major museum retrospective next month at CAC Cincinnati covering her street-to-studio-to-waterways-to-Haiti-to-museum career over the last 15 years, the Brooklyn Street Artist says that she’s been doing some serious crate digging.

Swoon. Hello My Name Is. 1999. These stickers, hand made were one of Swoon’s earliest street art projects. (photo courtesy @ Swoon Studio)

“It’s the first time that I synthesize the entire story of my creative progression, from the moment that I turned away from oil painting and began to carve my first linoleum blocks for the street, to the home building work in Haiti, (and everything in between) into a single exhibition. I’m beginning to understand this show as a coming of age story,” she says by way of introducing the new companion website.

Swoon. Fence Jump. 2000. Swoon’s first linoleum block created for the street. (photo courtesy @ Swoon Studio)

Just looking through the imagery on the site is educational, aiding one’s understanding of the evolution that an artist can go through, and how their taste and focus changes. Accompanying text with some of the pieces also gives context to the topics and worldview the artist had at the time she created the work.

Along with “Siamese Skeleton Fish” for example, we learn how the artist sees the dual swimmers that she exhibited as part of the show “Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea” which floated down the East River to the shores of Long Island City in 2008, where we watched Swoon and 30 or so raft mates disembark and lead us into her exhibition at Deitch Projects.

Swoon. Grandpa OVE. 2001. This is Swoon’s first ever paper cut portrait, depicting her grand father here. In the following 15 years of her career paper cut portraits became part of Swoon’s vernacular on the streets and helped define her career.  (photo courtesy @ Swoon Studio)

“The imagery on the walls was drawn from coastal cities, from the sea and from the mangrove swamps that Swoon explored in her Florida youth. She was inspired by the way the trees in the mangrove swamps send out huge networks of roots, both below and above the water, creating two parallel ecosystems. Above the imaginary waterline, Swoon created the image of a city rising from the sea. Below the waterline, another city reflected, yet diverged. This city echoed the subconscious mind and spoke to the vulnerability of coastal cities in an age of rising seas.”

Swoon. Siamese Skeleton Fish. (photo courtesy @ Swoon Studio)

It’s a fascinating trip for a Saturday, The Archivists Circle, and most likely a temporary one.

 

Click HERE to visit Swoon’s Archivist Circle and support her project

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Swoon “To Accompany Something Invisible”

Swoon “To Accompany Something Invisible”

April 27, 2017

A good way to familiarize oneself with the additional dimensions that Swoon has taken on since you last caught up with her is the Street Artists show called To Accompany Something Invisible newly exhibited at Allouche Gallery in New York.

Swoon. “Sasu and Kasey”. To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Whether it’s Edline or Moni or Dawn and Gemma who you came to see again, freshly colored and framed in mandella-ed ships or modest rectangular rafts, these living ghosts greet you on gallery walls, silent and familiar as you have become with them on city walls. On wood or on butcher paper, you are never far from the author or her subjects, even as they are flowered and leaved and ribboned and swagged and cut so that the light passes through organic and ornate patterning.

Swoon. To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon’s process is here on display; drawing sketches, sometimes just outlines of ideas later detailed and drawn intricately and hand cut into linoleum. These are her hand-rendered personal journeys.

Now actually building walls with those same hands in Haiti for people to shelter within, Swoon is also readying works to display on walls at a major retrospective this autumn at Cincinnati’s Contemporary Arts Center.  The invisible something may be the stories told and heard during the last twenty years of Swoon’s journey, voices that can be heard if you care to listen.

Swoon. The original sketch for Edline. To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invisible are your friendships, the lovers, the worries, the experiments, the artists milieu, the early shows in Brooklyn neighborhoods that now are transformed; reassuring and warm voices now glimmering in the buzz of an opening, like this one tonight here in the Meatpacking District – a neighborhood itself rife with the stories of people whom you first met on the street.

We stopped by the Allouche Gallery yesterday to catch a glimpse of Swoon’s magic world as she was preparing for her exhibition opening today. Here are a few process shots, as proper lighting was not yet in place and Swoon and her assistants were busy helping her build new environments.

Swoon. Detail of Edline in an environment created in an installation box. To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Detail. To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Swoon. Detail of Yaya and Sonia . To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Ben. To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Detail. To Accompany Something Invisible. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon’s To Accompany Something Invisible opens today at the Allouche Gallery in Manhattan. It is free and open to the plublic. Click HERE for details.

 

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BSA Images Of The Week: 04.09.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.09.17

April 9, 2017 ,


BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Hooray! Spring is here in New York again. That means daffodils and crocuses are sprouting up among the soda cans and candybar wrappers and cigarette butts in the park’s gardens, and new proud or furtive aerosol missives are being sprayed on crumbling walls and phone booths are getting hi-jacked with posters by artists and galleries are again overflowing onto sidewalks for openings.

Our thanks to everyone who came out for the Heliotrope fundraiser this Thursday, to Swoon for being Swoon, and to her for asking us to curate the new line of prints, and to the six artists who gave their best to us all and to the Heliotrope projects in Haiti specifically:  Case Maclaim, Faith XLVII, Icy And Sot, Li-Hill, Miss Van, and Tavar Zawacki (Above). Thank you also to all of Swoon’s team for helping us mount the show.

Also saw the press preview of the new documentary about NYC Street Artist Richard Hambleton called “Shadowman” this week, which was thrilling, frightening, sickening, and beautiful. People in the room were all feeling a bit nauseous when the lights came up – but for various reasons; the commercial art world seems to suck the beauty out of things, artists can be finicky like cats, and the worship of drug culture is dreadfully overglamorized and it killed off lots of cool people and cancer (from smoking) is actively killing the artist right in front of your eyes, which he freely admits to. Also, his work is amazing.

Accurately capturing the ragged, wooly, wildly creative downtown scene in which Hambleton first came up, Director Oren Jacoby premieres “Shadowman” at The Tribeca Film Festival in NYC on April 21, 2017.

On a totally related note, we were sad to learn Friday afternoon of the death of Glenn O’Brien, influential part of the NYC “Downtown” art and cultural scene in the 1970s, 80s and much much more. We had last seen him doing an interview with Lee Quinones in Chinatown for Lee’s show two years ago.

This week we’ll be seeing you at Nuart Aberdeen! It’s Nuarts’ first foray into another city and really it’s just a stone’s throw across The North Sea to Stavanger, the original home of Nuart in Norway. The kids are on spring vacation in Aberdeen all week so we know we’ll see a lot of swag youth traipsing around to see new artworks going up by artists and thoughtful academic types attending conference lectures. Drunken types will be attending the Friday night fight at a local bar. BSA will be at Belmont theater presenting BSA Film Friday LIVE and introducing “Saving Banksy” and “Beautiful Losers” over the weekend. Come on over; can’t wait to meet you!

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Bifido, Chip Thomas, Chzz, Faust, Hydeon, Janz, Mdom, Nick McManus, Pyramid Oracle, Rubin 415, SacSix, Sheryo, Sonni, Swoon, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, and The Yok.

Top image: Pyramid Oracle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hydeon at The Centrifuge Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Janz. Ransom notes and collage. The main collaged figure in the center reminds us of the work of Richard Hambleton and the Studio 54 fixture Grace Jones. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Janz. Ransom notes and collage. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Janz. Ransom notes and collage. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tatyana Fazlalizadeh for Art in Ad Places. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chip Thomas’ portraits of Rose and Paul at The Reservation. “Rose and Paul who have been together living, loving and experiencing lives challenges + joys together for the past 65 years” -CT (photo © Chip Thomas)

Chip Thomas portraits of Rose and Paul at Antilope Hills. “Rose and Paul who have been together living, loving and experiencing lives challenges + joys together for the past 65 years” -CT (photo © Chip Thomas)

Faust (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Indeed. And shameful. MDOM (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bifido. Mommy. “This is in a squat place. Some people occupied this space and they use it to give  Italian language courses for new migrants, to present concerts, mount exhibitions, build a study room and generally create others things for people in the district. I made this work here to support activity and the guys who every day spend their time helping other people.” Bifido (photo © Bifido)

Sonni (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Woody is riding the wrecking ball by SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A bejeweled storm trooper from SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chzz experiments with robots in Ukraine. (photo © Chzz)

The prints of the six artists for Helitrope Prints that BSA had the honor to curate for Swoon. Form left to right: Tavar Zawacki (Above), Icy & Sot, Miss Van, Fiath XLVII, Swoon, Case Maclaim and Li-Hill. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The photographer and, in our humble opinion, performance artist Nick McManus perilously stands atop a foot stool to snap the perfect Polaroid group shot at The Heliotrope Foundation’s Pop-Up on Thursday with Swoon’s new hand drawn sketches to his right. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. SOHO, NYC. April 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

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Swoon’s New Drawings for Heliotrope Foundation Benefit with BSA in NYC

Swoon’s New Drawings for Heliotrope Foundation Benefit with BSA in NYC

April 6, 2017

Here is the first public look at eight of the new thirteen drawings by Swoon which she made while in Haiti a couple of week ago. She is donating her own work to aid Heliotrope Foundation programs in Haiti and Braddock, Pennsylvania. These drawings, along with the limited run prints from six international artists will be released today, April 6th, at a pop up show opening in Manhattan and we hope you can come.

Hand drawn originals while in Haiti recently, Swoon captures the people she’s hanging around with, playing with, working with. During her work there she has forged relationships and an understanding of how to help, in small and large ways, to build opportunities along with basic shelter.

A gentle observer, each portrait tells a little about the person who she spending a few moments with, a time captured that can be shared. Now that homes will be built and some folks are learning new trades, you know that your support is appreciated in many ways that impact others in a meaningful way.

We’re very pleased that these new sketches will be framed and on display for visitors this weekend at the pop-up gallery and to know that some lucky folks will go home with Swoon originals – the proceeds from which go directly to the Heliotrope foundation.

 

WHAT: Swoon x Heliotrope x BSA Pop-Up Opening Reception
WHEN: Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM – 9 PM
WHERE: 88 1/2 7th Avenue, between 15th & 16th St., New York, NY

Heliotrope Prints Fundraiser
Curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Brooklyn StreetArt


Join us for the opening of our pop-up exhibit, featuring newly released sketches by Swoon Studio and limited edition prints by six world-renowned street artists:

Case Maclaim
Faith XLVII
Icy And Sot
Li-Hill
Miss Van
Tavar Zawacki (Above)

Prints starting at $50 apiece.

Proceeds support the cultural and education programs of the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Swoon aka Caledonia Curry.

Super stoked that @DJScribe will be providing tunes for the festivities. Scribe has been the founder of many notable NYC residencies over the years, including the classic I Love Vinyl party. In addition, he has shared the marquee at live music venues like the Highline Ballroom, Le Poisson Rouge, SOB’s and Joe’s Pub with Lykke Li, Little Dragon, Antibalas, Chin Chin, Roy Ayers, Me’Shell Ndegeocello, Omar, Dwele, Les Nubians and many more. He has worked in the studio alongside DJ Spinna, including work on remixes Spinna did for Michael Jackson & Shaun Escoffery.

Refreshments provided by Stolen Rum and by Smart Beer

https://www.facebook.com/events/1174138686030369/

 

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Li-Hill x Swoon x BSA : Unveiling New “Crumbling As We Climb” Print

Li-Hill x Swoon x BSA : Unveiling New “Crumbling As We Climb” Print

April 5, 2017 ,

Here is the first public look at the new print by Li-Hill which he made especially to aid Heliotrope programs in Haiti and Braddock, Pennsylvania for Swoon and Heliotrope Prints. The limited run print will be released this week, April 6th, at a pop up show opening in Manhattan and we hope you can come.

Li-Hill “Crumbling As We Climb” (image courtesy of the artist)

Street Artist Swoon asked BSA to curate this special Spring 2017 edition of prints and we chose Li-Hill as one of six world renowned Street Artists whose work we admire greatly and whom we think you will appreciate as well.

Canada-now-Brooklyn-based Li-Hill uses some of the language of graffiti in his mural painting, but you can be sure where it originates. There is a definite wildstyle, but it is scientific in nature, arrays of nerve receptors and transmitters; beams of light shooting outward, mirroring back. His figures are heroic, his animals allegorical, his diagnosis a thunderbolt of revelation. He says the works are meant as critique of the modern expressions of age-old battles of man against nature, man against himself, fears of losing our grip on technology. The complex sculptural installations, the painting, illustration, and stenciling – it blends and balances, and takes him around the world including Australia, Thailand, China, Myanmar… we last saw him in Moscow. Now he’s heading back to Montreal, closer to his familiar Toronto… but we’ll let him tell you about it.

We asked Li – Hill about this new piece for the Heliotrope benefit.

BSA: Can you tell us about the image you have chosen for this new release?
Li-Hill: The image I have chosen is something newly made for the release.

Lately I have been creating these split scenes, dividing the picture plane into a dark background and a light background to marrying two thematic and stylistic approaches into a single idea. This is the first time utilizing this approach off of a wall.

A lot of my work is about the effects our current global dynamic of information saturation, technological advancements and economic structures effect the outside and inner worlds. Many of my figures are about the psychological impact while the animals allude to the ecological effects. Here they are both represented and reacting to the circumstances of their world. There is also a reoccurring theme of man versus nature in my work and at it’s most basic level that is what this design depicts but the fact the two main subjects (the figure and the bear) face away from each other creates a more ambiguous reading, they could be attacking each other or both reacting to their own hostile individual situations.

Li-Hill “Crumbling As We Climb” (detail) (image courtesy of the artist)

BSA: Do you have a special connection with the people of Haiti or Swoon?
Li-Hill: Not specifically besides knowing her work for a long time. She has been an inspiration through so many of her projects. I find it really inspiring that she works to change the world around her by not just making artwork about that change but using that work in practical ways to benefit people. I think the first project that really impressed me about her approach were the floating ships. The fact that the project wasn’t just the act of having these floating artworks but that it created a community around them was so impactful. I also own a print of hers from donating to one of her projects years ago. It was the music box in New Orleans and the idea of a house as an instrument was so intriguing to me.

BSA: How do you see the role of an artist in relation to addressing socio-political/humanitarian issues in the world?
Li-Hill: I see this role shifting between artists and the work they create. I think it depends a lot on the artist and what they are addressing. I use to think that work that did not address these issues was a missed opportunity, that artwork should address the ills of the world to help better it. But sometimes I see it in another light, that if every artist and artwork were political or heavy with message, we would be over burdened. Sometimes touching on other subjects can allow the viewer a break from the pressures of the world. I do personally think that it is very important that artists do address these issues because in many ways we are set up in our society to impact a lot. It reminds me of a quote by Queen Victoria that one should “Beware of artists. They mix with all classes of society and are therefore the most dangerous.”

BSA: Many art fans are excited to buy prints of their favorite artists – have you made many prints in the past?
Li-Hill: No, I actually have only made 3 prints in the past and small runs of each. I have also never made a print of one of my figures in motion.

BSA: What new project are you looking forward to this year?
Li-Hill: I am really looking forward to the Montreal Mural festival where my proposal to create a semi-permanent installation has been approved. I am excited because it will be one of the first outdoor installations that is on the street as well as combining a community element. I will be asking neighbors to house elements of the installation on their balconies and in windows. It should be really interesting and a fun project. I also really love Montreal and haven’t been back in years.

**********

We are honored that Li-Hill agreed to participate in this show with us and pleased that she is part of this great effort.

To learn more about Li-Hill please click here.

 

 

WHAT: Swoon x Heliotrope x BSA Pop-Up Opening Reception
WHEN: Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM – 9 PM
WHERE: 88 1/2 7th Avenue, between 15th & 16th St., New York, NY

Heliotrope Prints Fundraiser
Curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Brooklyn StreetArt


Join us for the opening of our pop-up exhibit, featuring newly released sketches by Swoon Studio and limited edition prints by six world-renowned street artists:

Case Maclaim
Faith XLVII
Icy And Sot
Li-Hill
Miss Van
Tavar Zawacki (Above)

Prints starting at $50 apiece.

Proceeds support the cultural and education programs of the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Swoon aka Caledonia Curry.

Live DJ for your enjoyment. Refreshments provided by Stolen Rum and by Smart Beer

https://www.facebook.com/events/1174138686030369/

 

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Miss Van x Swoon x BSA : Unveiling Masked Ladies for Heliotrope Prints

Miss Van x Swoon x BSA : Unveiling Masked Ladies for Heliotrope Prints

April 5, 2017

Here is the first public look at the new print by Miss Van which she made especially to aid Heliotrope programs in Haiti and Braddock, Pennsylvania for Swoon and Heliotrope Prints. The limited run print will be released this week, April 6th, at a pop up show opening in Manhattan and we hope you can come.

Miss Van (image courtesy of the artist)

And you will gladly discover that Barcelona’s Miss Van has again brought the rouge, the lips, the nubile hips in a fantasy where the story is revealing itself before us. Her new piece is femininity and flesh in full force, a glorious sensuality that is all showy and a bit burlesque while these friends are contemplating events of the day, perhaps exhausted by them.

In this dramatized scene, as is often the case, you are invited to dive into rich hues, lushly soft texture, imagining veiled promises or threats from two of Miss Van’s signature tableau of characters. Typically there is at least one duality, and you may become seduced to believe that you are invited to play along and plunder the complexity of such personalities and plot twists. Just be careful where you put your hands.

Street Artist Swoon asked BSA to curate this special Spring 2017 edition of prints and we chose Faith XLVII as one of six world renowned Street Artists whose work we admire greatly and whom we think you will appreciate as well.

**********

We are honored that Miss Van agreed to participate in this show with us and pleased that she is part of this great effort.

To learn more about Miss Van please click here.

 

WHAT: Swoon x Heliotrope x BSA Pop-Up Opening Reception
WHEN: Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM – 9 PM
WHERE: 88 1/2 7th Avenue, between 15th & 16th St., New York, NY

Heliotrope Prints Fundraiser
Curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Brooklyn StreetArt


Join us for the opening of our pop-up exhibit, featuring newly released sketches by Swoon Studio and limited edition prints by six world-renowned street artists:

Case Maclaim
Faith XLVII
Icy And Sot
Li-Hill
Miss Van
Tavar Zawacki (Above)

Prints starting at $50 apiece.

Proceeds support the cultural and education programs of the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Swoon aka Caledonia Curry.

Live DJ for your enjoyment. Refreshments provided by Stolen Rum and by Smart Beer

https://www.facebook.com/events/1174138686030369/

 

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Faith XLVII x Swoon x BSA and Her New Print for Heliotrope

Faith XLVII x Swoon x BSA and Her New Print for Heliotrope

April 4, 2017 ,

Here is the first public look at the new print by Faith XLVII which she made especially to aid the programs in Haiti and Braddock, Pennsylvania for Heliotrope Prints. The limited run print will be released this week, April 6th at a pop up show opening in Manhattan and we hope you can come.

Faith XLVII 315 – 317 BC (image courtesy of the artist)

Street Artist Swoon asked BSA to curate this special Spring 2017 edition of prints and we chose Faith XLVII as one of six world renowned Street Artists whose work we admire greatly and whom we think you will appreciate as well.

A visual poet, painter and urban explorer, the South African now Los Angelino Faith XLVII has created classically inspired works on the walls of inspiring ruins for the last few years and her print is exactly one of those hallowed interventions from her time in Detroit last fall. With some similarities in social consciousness to Swoon and her practice, Faith often expresses through her work a deep connection to people, stories, and political/social issues that affect communities and cultures. Perhaps its why Faith didn’t hesitate for a second when we asked her if she would participate in this benefit for Heliotrope Foundation.

BSA: Can you tell us about the image you have chosen for this new release?
FAITH XLVII: The painting is entitled “315 BC – 307 BC,” and it forms a part of the 7.83Hz series that is still ongoing. I’m interested in exploring the inner workings of my own psyche and the abandoned spaces, like this cathedral in Detroit, form perfect chambers for me to quietly explore notions of human connection, alienation, bare skin, the comfort of human touch in a brutal world.

BSA: Do you have a special connection with the people of Haiti or Swoon?
FAITH XLVII: We were in Haiti during the hurricane last year, for a project with Artists for Peace and Justice.

The history of Haiti is shocking. It is a country that highlights the true brutal force of imperialism and the consequences thereof.

It is truly heartbreaking that we as a human race have not been able to create a new system that would allow for us all to peacefully and sustainably share in the abundant resources that this planet has to offer. We have the technology but not the wisdom to make this happen.

The fact that there are people living in sub-conditions on this planet while others live in excess, is shameful.

A great culture and strength of spirit prevails in the people of Haiti, i am sure. But i can’t express enough the frustration i felt when i learnt the history, echoing too loudly that of other countries who have been systematically pillaged and raped by foreign powers.

I admire that Swoon is doing her project there, these kind of interventions, when done in conjunction with local teams on the ground, can be very effective on a personal and collective basis.

BSA: How do you see the role of an artist in relation to addressing socio-political/humanitarian issues in the world?
FAITH XLVII: In order for us to heal and to make better decisions, we need to open up more.

Creative thought can assist in this, so I guess all artists, musicians, writers, philosophers, dancers and filmmakers are naturally a part of this larger process. Whether their work is directly addressing socio-political issues or not, it is creating space for us to expand emotionally and intellectually.

**********

We are honored that Faith XLVII agreed to participate in this show with us and pleased that she is part of this great effort.

To learn more about Faith XLVII please click here.

 

WHAT: Swoon x Heliotrope x BSA Pop-Up Opening Reception
WHEN: Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM – 9 PM
WHERE: 88 1/2 7th Avenue, between 15th & 16th St., New York, NY

Heliotrope Prints Fundraiser
Curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Brooklyn StreetArt


Join us for the opening of our pop-up exhibit, featuring newly released sketches by Swoon Studio and limited edition prints by six world-renowned street artists:

Case Maclaim
Faith XLVII
Icy And Sot
Li-Hill
Miss Van
Tavar Zawacki (Above)

Prints starting at $50 apiece.

Proceeds support the cultural and education programs of the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Swoon aka Caledonia Curry.

Live DJ for your enjoyment. Refreshments provided by Stolen Rum and by Smart Beer

https://www.facebook.com/events/1174138686030369/

 

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Icy & Sot x Swoon x BSA : Unveiling “Unforced Hijab” for Heliotrope

Icy & Sot x Swoon x BSA : Unveiling “Unforced Hijab” for Heliotrope

April 4, 2017 ,

Here is the first public look at the new print by Icy & Sot which they  made especially to aid the programs in Haiti and Braddock, Pennsylvania for Heliotrope Prints. The limited run print will be released this week, April 6th at a pop up show opening in Manhattan and we hope you can come.

Icy & Sot “Unforced Hijab” (image courtesy of the artists)

True to form, the Iranian brothers challenge conventions with the personal and political, creating a new piece that their growing and ardent fan base will appreciate. Taking a stance about the religious/cultural garment that many women around the world wear is common today, especially with Westerners derisively rejecting it as a sign of women’s suffrage – or worse yet, deception. Icy & Sot take a deliberately opposite approach, regaling the maligned hijab with spring colors and flowers.

Like their stencil works on the streets of Brooklyn, Iran, across the US and Europe, Icy and Sot don’t always take the easy road, preferring to use their voice to challenge systemic social/political/environmental injustices and hypocrisies. “Unforced Hijab” combines this activism with their ever increasingly more sophisticated technique and taste level for direct communication.

We asked I&S about this new piece for the Heliotrope benefit.

BSA: Can you tell us about the image you have chosen for this new release?
Icy & Sot: “Unforced Hijab” depicts that the Hijab can be a beautiful thing for someone if it’s not forced.

BSA: Do you have a special connection with the people of Haiti or Swoon?
Icy & Sot: We have always been huge fans of Swoon’s work and we admire her projects that help communities. We see that she is always caring for others.

BSA: How do you see the role of an artist in relation to addressing socio-political / humanitarian issues in the world?
Icy & Sot: Art definitely can contribute to change in society, especially public art because it has more and diverse views. We believe that the role of the artist is to advocate for the freedom and the hope of the general public. We think the artist is to raise awareness about the issues happening in their time

BSA: Many art fans are excited to buy prints of their favorite artists – have you made many prints in the past?
Icy & Sot: Yes we have had numbers of print releases in the past.

BSA: What new project are you looking forward to this year?
Icy & Sot: It’s going to be a busy year. We are looking forward to some group museum shows that we will be part of. We are also excited about our next solo show in November at Thinkspace gallery in Los Angeles.

We are honored that Icy & Sot agreed to participate in this show with us and pleased that they are part of this great effort.

To learn more about Icy And Sot please click here.

 

WHAT: Swoon x Heliotrope x BSA Pop-Up Opening Reception
WHEN: Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM – 9 PM
WHERE: 88 1/2 7th Avenue, between 15th & 16th St., New York, NY

Heliotrope Prints Fundraiser
Curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Brooklyn StreetArt


Join us for the opening of our pop-up exhibit, featuring newly released sketches by Swoon Studio and limited edition prints by six world-renowned street artists:

Case Maclaim
Faith XLVII
Icy And Sot
Li-Hill
Miss Van
Tavar Zawacki (Above)

Prints starting at $50 apiece.

Proceeds support the cultural and education programs of the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Swoon aka Caledonia Curry.

Live DJ for your enjoyment. Refreshments provided by Stolen Rum and by Smart Beer

https://www.facebook.com/events/1174138686030369/

 

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Tavar Zawacki (Above) X Swoon X BSA : Unveiling “Metamorphosis” Print for Heliotrope

Tavar Zawacki (Above) X Swoon X BSA : Unveiling “Metamorphosis” Print for Heliotrope

April 3, 2017 ,

Here is the first public look at the new print by Tavar Zawacki (aka Above) which he made especially to aid the programs in Haiti and Braddock, Pennsylvania for Heliotrope Prints. The limited run print will be released this week, April 6th at a pop up show opening in Manhattan and we hope you can come.

Tavar Zawacki (Above) “Metamorphosis” (image courtesy of the artist) for Heliotrope Prints

Street Artist Swoon asked BSA to curate this special Spring 2017 edition of prints and we chose Tavar as one of six world renowned Street Artists whose work we admire greatly and whom we think you will appreciate as well. From his ubiquitous stickers to his fine art, mobiles, and enormous murals, Above is in many cities across the world with the upward pointing arrow that tells you things are somehow looking better. We talked to him about his new piece for the print.

BSA: Can you tell us about the image you have chosen for this new release?
TS: The title of my print design is ‘Metamorphosis’.  Swoon’s project in Haiti is about transformation, and change. From a symbolic standpoint the word, Metamorphosis is applicable to the project in Haiti. It’s about transformation, and taking an existing situation, and changing it. I designed this print to have a wide range of colors. I wanted a print design that was uplifting (small pun) and colorful for someone to want to hang on their wall.

BSA: Do you have a special connection with the people of Haiti or Swoon?
TS: Yes, I have a connection to both. I first worked with Swoon in 2003 on an art exchange. We both helped put up each others work. We sent each other many posters, to the other, which we put up in our respective cities. I also worked with Caledonia in NYC during the 11 Spring event in 2006.

In January 2010 there was a horrible earthquake in Port au Prince, Haiti. I was arriving to La Havana, Cuba by co-incidence just days after the earthquake. When I was in La Havana I made a site specific stencil depicting a young Cuban boy with a First Aid kit in one hand, and a raft in the other. The title of the piece was called ‘Help Thy Neighbor’. *

BSA: How do you see the role of an artist in relation to addressing socio-political / humanitarian issues in the world?
TS: Very important! As artists working in the public domain, we have an enormous reach and voice that is uncensored. I would say that my best street works were the stencil works I painted that dealt specifically with social, political, and current affairs in the world. I respect the artists that have a voice, and are not afraid to use it!

BSA: Many art fans are excited to buy prints of their favorite artists – have you made many prints in the past?
TS: I’m a print maker and I have my own screen print studio here in Berlin. The answer you can guess is, yes. I must say that I’m excited to have this Metamorphosis design be for this project. I hope you, the viewer, will purchase it and support this benevolent cause.

BSA: What new project are you looking forward to this year?
TS: I’ve already started working on my most ambitious museum style solo exhibition for September. I’m most excited about debuting these large canvas works for everyone to enjoy.

We are honored that Tavar agreed to participate in this show with us and pleased that he is part of this great effort.

To learn more about Above please click here.

 

WHAT: Swoon x Heliotrope x BSA Pop-Up Opening Reception
WHEN: Thursday, April 6 at 6 PM – 9 PM
WHERE: 88 1/2 7th Avenue, between 15th & 16th St., New York, NY

Heliotrope Prints Fundraiser
Curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, Brooklyn StreetArt


Join us for the opening of our pop-up exhibit, featuring newly released sketches by Swoon Studio and limited edition prints by six world-renowned street artists:

Case Maclaim
Faith XLVII
Icy And Sot
Li-Hill
Miss Van
Tavar Zawacki (Above)

Prints starting at $50 apiece.

Proceeds support the cultural and education programs of the Heliotrope Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Swoon aka Caledonia Curry.

Live DJ for your enjoyment. Refreshments provided by Stolen Rum and by Smart Beer

https://www.facebook.com/events/1174138686030369/

 

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