All posts tagged: TeebyFord

Louis Masai, Leaping Frogs and Crawling Crayfish in LA : “The Art Of Beeing”

Louis Masai, Leaping Frogs and Crawling Crayfish in LA : “The Art Of Beeing”

November 17, 2016

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-beeing-740-v2-0ct-16

Yellow legged frogs don’t know who the president is.

Either do Shasta Crayfish.

Regardless, both of these species are facing extinction and endangered, respectively. Are you doing anything about this?

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-downtown-la-11-2016-web-1

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Yellow Legged Frog. 90% have disappeared in the last 100 years. Downtown, LA. November 2016. (photo © TeeByFord)

Street Artist Louis Masai is raising the specter of the Extinction Crises we are currently living in with his paintings of animals in cities across the US this fall and early winter.

The tour is called “The Art of Beeing” and here are new images of some walls he hit in Los Angeles.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-downtown-la-11-2016-web-2

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Yellow Legged Frog. 90% have disappeared in the last 100 years. Downtown, LA. November 2016. (photo © TeeByFord)

“I painted the Shasta crayfish (or as Americans call it; crawfish) in Venice,” Louis says of the stylized patchwork fabric covered animal. The patchwork is a metaphor for the different people who will be needed to protect it – “an endangered species native to northeast California There are only seven remaining populations of the Shasta crayfish left and are found only in Shasta County, California, in the Pit River drainage and two tributary systems, Fall River and Hat Creek drainages,” says the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Louis painted this one on the back of an environmentally aware nature photography gallery, he says, in an instance of what he calls “synchronicity.”

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-lmnotree-downtown-la-11-2016-web-2

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Yellow Legged Frog. 90% have disappeared in the last 100 years. Downtown, LA. November 2016. (photo © Lmnotree)

And what about that little yellow-legged frog that doesn’t know we are transferring from President Obama to President Trump? This one is in the Korea Town area of LA and in general these amphibians are “threatened by predation by introduced trout, disease, pesticides, environmental changes from drought and global warming, and habitat degradation due to livestock grazing,” says the Center for Biodiversity.

“All in all it was a great week,” says Mr. Masai as he recounts the number of people who offered him walls to paint in this city of angels. “Now we set off for Joshua Tree and slab city before heading out to Phoenix.”

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-lmnotree-downtown-la-11-2016-web-1

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Yellow Legged Frog. 90% have disappeared in the last 100 years. Downtown, LA. November 2016. (photo © Lmnotree)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-lmnotree-downtown-la-11-2016-web-3

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Yellow Legged Frog. 90% have disappeared in the last 100 years. Downtown, LA. November 2016. (photo © Lmnotree)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-downtown-la-11-2016-web

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Yellow Legged Frog. 90% have disappeared in the last 100 years. Downtown, LA. November 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-lmnotree-venice-11-2016-web-1

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Shasta Crayfish. Critically Endangered. Venice, LA. November 2016. (photo © Lmnotree)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-arnelle-venice-11-2016-web

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Shasta Crayfish. Critically Endangered. Venice, LA. November 2016. (photo © Arnelle)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-lmnotree-venice-11-2016-web-2

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Shasta Crayfish. Critically Endangered. Venice, LA. November 2016. (photo © Lmnotree)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-venice-11-2016-web-1

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Shasta Crayfish. Critically Endangered. Venice, LA. November 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-venice-11-2016-web-2

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Shasta Crayfish. Critically Endangered. Venice, LA. November 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-venice-11-2016-web-1

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Shasta Crayfish. Critically Endangered. Venice, LA. November 2016. (photo © TeeByFord)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-venice-11-2016-web-2

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Shasta Crayfish. Critically Endangered. Venice, LA. November 2016. (photo © TeeByFord)

 

Click http://louismasai.com/projects/the-art-of-beeing/ to learn more about the project.

 

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-art-beeing-us-map-7

 

Read more
Cutthroat Trout & “The Art Of Beeing” in Reno, Nevada

Cutthroat Trout & “The Art Of Beeing” in Reno, Nevada

October 24, 2016

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-beeing-740-v2-0ct-16

“After 4 days of driving from Detroit to Reno we felt empowered by the incredible landscapes we had driven through, from salt lakes to deserts and the Rockies, not one part of the trip was unexciting,” says Louis Masai of the journey. “Well perhaps the 7 hours of corn fields.”

But The Art of Beeing Tour has buzzed into Reno, Nevada for some extinction talk in this lawless land. The English travelor is taking in all of the details of this next American city and remarks that there are plenty of casinos, indoor smoking is legal, and motorcycle helmets are for wimps.

Here he is painting a trout – the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout, to be exact.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-reno-emil-walker-october-2016-web-1

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

“A trout is a moment of beauty known only to those who seek it,” the co-founder of Esquire and author of The Fishing in Print: A Guided Tour Through Five Centuries of Angling Literature Arnold Gingrich once said.

Unfortunately for the fisherpeople and the Earth, this trout found in the Lahontan basin of northern Nevada, eastern California, and southern Oregon, is in serious decline due to pollution from logging, mining, and urbanization, among other things.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-reno-october-2016-web-1

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © TeeByFord)

The Art of Beeing continues to spotlight local endangered species in whatever region Louis and his compatriots visit and the trout is now jumping into Reno’s attention. He says the people are very welcoming and he’s been swimming around the metal and hippy cultural cityscape and describes a desert bohemia now peppered with “quirky coffee shops, bars and restaurants.”

Next stop, Sacramento!

Want to help the trout population? Donate directly to the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies. Also please check out the species foundation Western Native Trout.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-reno-emil-walker-october-2016-web-2

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-reno-october-2016-web-3

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © TeeByFord)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-reno-october-2016-web-2

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © TeeByFord)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-reno-emil-walker-october-2016-web-3

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-mia-hanak-reno-october-2016-web

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © Mia Hanak)


brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-reno-october-2016-web-1

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © Louis Masai)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-reno-october-2016-web-2

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Lahontan Cutthroat Trout. Endangered. Reno. Nevada. October 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

 

Click http://louismasai.com/projects/the-art-of-beeing/ to learn more about the project.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-art-beeing-us-map-7

Read more
The Gray Wolf and “The Art Of Beeing” in Detroit

The Gray Wolf and “The Art Of Beeing” in Detroit

October 15, 2016

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-beeing-740-v2-0ct-16

Louis Masai and his friends Tee and Emil are in Detroit right now on the 2nd city of The Art of BEEing tour, and the Gray Wolf is on their minds because it is endangered. Their numbers have been cut down in recent years because of humans shooting them and trapping them.

The Gray Wolf has a bad reputation for threatening herds of cattle but it is overrated and Defenders.org says that “wolf predation on livestock is fairly uncommon,” yet “wolves suspected of preying on livestock are often killed.”

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-detroit-10-16-web-3

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @teebyford)

Our local deli guy who sells Lotto tickets and sandwiches here in Brooklyn calls Michigan “The Islamic State”, which is pretty funny because the racist hype that leads to Islamophobia in some quarters these days would find that statement bone chilling and confirmation that the newest bogeyman is taking over. It’s meant to be funny, Yo!

It just means that a lot of Muslims are living in Michigan and anyone will tell you that the ones in the Big D are especially cool.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-detroit-10-16-web-2

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @teebyford)

“We discovered a thriving Arabic community in Detroit where children were playing safely in the streets,” says Louis of his visit. So much for stereotypes about this religious group who have lived in the US for about 400 years.

Mr. Masai feels like the city itself is victimized by a few stereotypes as well. “The media talks about Detroit as if it is a derelict forgotten city, but we discovered a whole community that has been here for a long time and they definitely wouldn’t agree with their city is a dead or abandoned space,” he says.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-detroit-10-16-web-1

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @teebyford)

“No one could argue that the city has many abandoned buildings on every street corner, fires and smashed glass are the norm. But within this are thriving communities…we were embraced and invited into the homes of a thriving Latino community, and also by many artists.”

Yeah, but what about the bee population? “The bee community is thriving in Detroit! We met beekeepers who reminded us that when a space becomes uninhabited by humans it becomes the best kind of space for bees to occupy and this city believes in a more hands-on farming way of life, with allotments and backyard vegetable plots being the norm.”

Thanks to Detroit for looking out for these dudes, and thanks to you for thinking about the endangered gray wolf. More about them at the end of the article.

“We leave Detroit wishing we had longer to explore,” says Louis.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-emil-walker-detroit-10-16-web

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @emil.walker)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-teebyford-detroit-10-16-web-4

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @teebyford)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-detroit-10-16-web-3

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @louismasai)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-detroit-10-16-web-1

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @louismasai)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-detroit-10-16-web-2

Louis Masai The Art Of Beeing. Gray Wolf. Endangered. Detroit. Michigan. October 2016. (photo © @louismasai)

 

Click http://louismasai.com/projects/the-art-of-beeing/ to learn more about the project.

Want to help the Gray Wolf? Adopt one!  Take Action, the “Wildlife Action Center to send a message to government leaders.

Species foundation – http://www.wolf.org

 

Read more

Featured Video | Martin Wong’s “Houston Street”

Recent Articles on BSA