All posts tagged: Tor Ståle Moen

Isaac Cordal + INO. Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. UPN Dispatch 1

July 10, 2017 Artists, Interview

This is the third year for Northern Norway’s UPN Festival and this year it’s on an Island called Røst and includes a collection of artists eager to do site-specific and environmental works – one evolutionary development in the mural festivals that blossom throughout the world right now. This week BSA is proud to bring you images and interviews along with Urban Nation this year at UpNorth, where the seagulls never stop calling and the sun never goes down this time of year.

Today we look at new work by Isaac Cordal from Spain and INO from Greece, with each artist telling us about their street practice up north.

“I think it was very interesting as Upnorth subtly left its footprint without overturning the aesthetics of the Island,” says Isaac Cordal about his experience at the UPN festival. You may be familiar with the miniature sculptural interventions by Isaac Cordal, whose corporate businessmen have sold their souls and are looking down at the traffic of the city from a ledge, contemplating their existence, dread, and guilt. Partly social critique, partly comedic play, partly redefining public space and scale, Cordal’s figures are reliably surprising. You can see that at UpNorth this year some of them are evolving as well.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you tell us about the new figures that you did for UpNorth?
Isaac Cordal: In a way they are part of the same series called “Isolated in the modern outdoors”. They are covered by a blanket with the colors of the houses of Røst. They are isolated in the middle of the sea with no possibilities of returning, without a house, like a kind of shipwreck. Unfortunately blankets have become the street fashion for many homeless people. Blankets remind us of other times, of the devastation, of the migratory crises and of the human being succumbing to the hostilities of the outside.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Brooklyn Street Art: We notice that they look quite different from the little businessmen that many have become familiar with. What inspired you to change them?
Isaac Cordal: As I said before perhaps the idea is a little dense. In modernity itself we have intense reflections of the Middle Ages, there are still different speeds outside exponential progress, too many contrasts between rich and poor, the so-called globalization leaves a trail of images of people delocalized, confused in space and lost in time.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
Isaac Cordal: Working in Røst was an interesting experience since you had to adapt to the peculiar nature of it; there were not many buildings to intervene so that gave me the opportunity to experiment with its geography. With its 24 hours of light its landscape became something completely hypnotic at certain times. The hours of sleep are altered and the perception of time changes in a certain way.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now?
Isaac Cordal: I’m going to try to work more in the studio after an intense year from one side of the world to the other. Perhaps I will decrease a little more – until disappearing.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Muralist INO uses a monochrome palette and a splash of color with most of his photorealist/surrealist figurative metaphors to talk about society. Not exactly critique, often the commentary comes across as straightforward observation, openly stated.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

An aerosol bomber in his teens in Athens, his hard work in his early thirties has brought his murals to many international cities and he says UPN was a great opportunity to address a favorite issue of late, our lack of privacy. The new piece is called “Photobombing”.

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you tell us about the piece that you did for UpNorth?
INO: The invasion of privacy in our societies is constantly increasing with the pretext that our lives are improving. This exposure may not concern some, but maybe they should think again about it.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
INO: It was interesting working on an island that has only one policeman and 24 hours daylight.

Brooklyn Street Art: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now?
INO: The production of images that will remain on people’s mind in this era of over-information could be a challenge.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © INO)

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

Ella & Pitr “Live Fast, Die Old” in Stavanger and Sandnes with Nuart

July 6, 2017 Artists

They are so sweet faced you would not guess that they are fire starters. French Street Art couple Ella + Pitr have a strong work ethic and a earnest dedication to fanciful flights of the imagination.

Ella & Pitr create an illusory metaphor for the #sandesarttrail, courtesy of Nuart called “Live Fast, Die Old”. Sandnes, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

With a touch of domesticity that may make you think of home, often they bring a child-like fascination with stories and characters; playful monsters and grouches setting at play inside a number of possible narratives, depending on your interpretation.

Here in Stavanger and Sandnes (Norway), Tor Staale Moen had the opportunity to capture them around the winding stone streets of the two adjoining seaside towns, adding illustrations in public spaces. We thank him for sharing his images here with BSA readers.

Ella & Pitr (Faith47 in the background) ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr. Aftenblad Wall. Nuart 2017. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Staale Moen)

“Junction” : Sandra Chevrier and Martin Whatson in Stavanger

July 1, 2017 Artists

Stavanger, Norway may not have throbbing Street Art scene per se, but it does have a lot of cool murals (thanks to Nuart festival) and a few favorite artists who reliably please the crowds (thanks to Nuart Gallery). This week opened a dynamic duo of the contemporary pop art side of the spectrum working in tandem with complimentary styles for a new show called “Junction” in the gallery space.

Sandra Chevrier . Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

The line outside stretched down the cobblestoned adorable block and around the adorable cobblestoned corner! Montreals based Sandra Chevrier has been quickly garnering attention since debuting at Reed Projects in 2013 with her masked beauties and Norwegian stencillist Martin Whatson has been touching on the vernacular of pop Street Art and hand-tagged abstractions in a way that has developed into his own style over these past few years. The collaboration is an easy reach for both and the resulting ironic/arresting images that only this mashup can produce.

Here are a few images from the new mural they collaborated on to celebrate Thursday’s opening – the show runs through the 28^th of July.

Sandra Chevrier . Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

The crowd waiting to get into see “Junction”, featuring new collaborations by Sandra Chevrier and Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Brian Tallman)

Event page HERE

TOR STÅLE MOEN : Wishes & Hopes for 2017

December 24, 2016 Artists

As we near the new year we’ve asked a special guest every day to take a moment to reflect on 2016 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for him or her. It’s an assortment of treats for you to enjoy and contemplate as we all reflect on the year that has passed and conjure our hopes and wishes for the new year to come. It’s our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and of saying ‘Thank You’ for inspiring us throughout the year.

Tor Ståle Moen is a Norwegian executive turned passionately engaged Street Art fan and photographer whom we first met in Stavanger during the Nuart Festival a few years ago. Donating his vacation time to volunteer with the artists at Nuart, the atmosphere is charged with Tor’s enthusiasm and knowledge about Street Art, artists, and the history of the people and Norway. Today Mr. Moen shares with us one of his photos from this year of art on a very quiet Norwegian island.

Artists: Ella & Pitr from Saint Etienne, France
Location: Utsira Island on the west coast of Norway
Date: August 27, 2016.
Photograph by Tor Ståle Moen

The beautiful island Utsira was the first public financed port in Norway. Since it was finished in 1870, it has provided safe shelter for lobstermen and merchant ships in the harshest part of the North Sea.

Today there are only 200 residents left on the tiny island – a vibrant mix of people of all ages and different corners of the world who share the love of nature and the windy life on an island far at sea.

Even though the community is tiny and isolated, their living tradition of welcoming strangers in distress sets an example to us all. In a time when world leaders calls for protective walls against foreign trade, religion and people escaping war and poverty – the people of Utsira reflects the opposite. They are known for their philanthropic engagement and heartfelt empathy.

Also when it comes to art, they have open-mindedly welcomed a number of street artists to work on their tiny island. The inhabitants are very proud of the art and memories the artists have left behind. The artists visiting have been struck for life by the beauty of the place and the warm, safe and welcoming atmosphere they experienced here.

This person, painted by the french artists Ella & Pitr on a roof top on Utsira, has obviously found his own peaceful and safe haven – and together with him I wish all BSA friends a relaxing festive season and a tolerant and peaceful 2017

Nuart 2016: ‘Post Street-Art’ and Our Changing Terminologies

September 17, 2016 Artists

For a considerable time now at BSA we’ve been discussing with authors, artists, academics, writers, historians, political scientists, sociologists, criminologists the topics of Street Art, graffiti, Urban Art, public art, and the milieu. Often considered is whether a piece or action is illegal, legal, activist, aesthetic, mark-making, territory-marking, interventionist. With few exceptions, there are often exceptions when it comes to labeling works and the artists who make them.

SPY. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Perhaps with more emphasis than it merits, we regularly note that no point on our individual or societal timeline is static. The state of art and creative expression in the public sphere is one of continuous evolution along the continuum. From Villeglé and his ripping back of layers of street posters that revealed the colorful strata of public communications like a social scientist to Add Fuels’ surreal ripping back of the skin of buildings to reveal a decorative Trompe-l’œil Portuguese tiling, art of the streets has infinite through-lines that defy our ability to label them.

But we try.

Invariably, it pisses someone off. For the record, we’re okay with that.

Henrik Uldalen. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

“Street Art” the term has had a number of definitions in common usage since at least the 1970s (probably earlier) that include things like handcrafts, jewelry, even the current ballyhoo, the mural. Today, because we’re all so much more enlightened and street-wise, we are convinced that no credible scholar of academia or the street would include a mural in the definition of Street Art, which must be illegal and (most likely) installed on-the-fly.

Recently Raphael Schacter made a claim to renaming a family of practices that moves beyond the confused state of labeling we are in to something with more clarity called “Intermural Art”. He says with his signature humor and cadence that “Street Art is a Period. Period.” – and that very soon, if not already, we are moving beyond that period.

Jeff Gillette and Jaune collaboration. Pictured here is Jaune at work. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Aside from the association that “intermural” has with both murals and with boys and girls playing dodge-ball in the school gymnasium (sorry that’s intramural), it somehow doesn’t capture a post Street Art period that is expanding to include so many practices and practitioners that it is altering things its path. But we get the point. Wait, did we just say “post Street Art”?

That’s what Martyn Reed at Nuart would like us to consider as a term that describes what he is illustrating with the curated installations this year for the festival in Norway. With a number of leaders of thought and letters doing some heavy lifting of street art antecedence and corollaries (and beer steins) at this annual festival over the last few years, it is with some careful consideration that he chooses his artists, and his terminology.

Jeff Gillette . Jaune NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

According to the show description ‘Post-Street Art’, an inside exhibition that opened last Saturday and continues through October 16, is an expression that “has been adopted to describe artworks, artists and events that are “informed by” and “aware of” the strategies, forms and themes explored by Street Art but which couldn’t rightly be regarded as ‘Street Art’ or ‘Street Artists’ per se. The term could also be used to describe a new breed of studio practice-based street artist, whose interest in and knowledge of the contemporary art world often far supplants that of an engagement with the street.”

Yes and yes. Additionally, we have heard this studio-originated practice that is informed by street practice described as Urban Contemporary or more simply Urban Art. You may also wonder how the label intersects with Post Modern and Post-Graffiti, if at all. We will not turn over these little monsters to look at their stomachs just now. Instead, let’s see these new exclusive photos from Ian Cox and Tor Ståle Moen of some of the new installations at ‘Post-Street Art’ at Nuart 2016.

Participating artists include: Add Fuel (PT), Axel Void (ES), Eron (IT), Evol (DE), Fintan Magee (AU), Henrik Uldalen (NO), Hyuro (AR), Jaune (BE), Jeff Gillette (US), KennardPhillipps (UK), MTO (FR), Nipper (NO), Robert Montgomery (UK) and SpY (ES)

Robert Montgomery. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery. Process shot. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Evol and Add Fuel collaboration. Process shot. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Evol . Add Fuel. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Fintan Magee. Process shot. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Fintan Magee. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Nipper. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © James Finucane)

EXHIBITION – ‘POST STREET-ART’
11 September – 16 October 2016
Opening hours: Wed – Fri 12:00 – 17:00 / Sat – Sun 11:00 – 16:00
Tou Scene Beer Halls, Kvitsøygata 25, 4014 Stavanger

JAUNE’s Miniature Worker “Dudes”: Nuart 2016

September 12, 2016 Artists

Brussels based stencillist Jaune says he “proudly created with his hands, his heart and sometimes his head,” on his website and it looks like he has been using all three to place his little “dudes” in small hidden spots around Stavanger during the Nuart festival.

Lifting or pulling or digging or just standing around having conversations and checking texts, there is a camaraderie among the workers that is somehow reassuring. It’s a knowing brotherhood, a community of man. It is notable that there we haven’t seen any women in the mix – perhaps there is a women’s brigade somewhere else.

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

You’ll see here that Jaune is a humorist and encourages you to think of public space as a place for adventure in a way that you may not have considered since you were a kid. He talks about his installations in Stavanger on his Facebook page.

“This is an easy way to explain my creative process : I just have coloured pipes in my head that constantly throw out some mini dudes. Then it’s the duty of the technical operation manager (that you see at the bottom) to try to catch one.”

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Sitting by the dock of the bay with Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

We wish to extend our most heartfelt thanks to Tor Ståle Moen for sharing his photos with BSA readers for this year’s coverage of NUART 2016.

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.11.16

September 11, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

It’s the 15th Anniversary of 9/11 in New York. It will be a quiet day for us.

We hope.

So, here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Bast, Elian, EQC, Hama Woods, MCA, Mundano, Robert Montgomery, SacSix, Sayer, Shok1, TomBob, Zachem, and Зачем.

Our top image: Elian in Moscow for the first edition of Artmossphere 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Plastic Jesus does his bit to stop this mean, selfish, racist, dishonest, greedy little man to become king. If he succeeds we’ll all lose – Even those who think they support him. The stench will reach us all. World War II didn’t just happen from one day to the other. It built up. It simmered. It took shape while people were distracted. Yo, this is surreeeus. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EQC fashions a Loteria Card with an image of you-know-who. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TomBob take on the proverbial See No Evil. Hear No Evil. Speak No Evil. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robert Montgomery’s installation for NUART 2016 Tou Scene indoor exhibition. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And now a little of the old soft-shoe shuffle. Hama Woods in conjunction with NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Shok1 for Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art (UN) at Lollapalooza. Berlin 2016. (photo © Nika Kramer)

BAST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A filthy piggy by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Зачем in Moscow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MCA toying around in Chelsea (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A tribute to Gene Wilder as the original Willy Wonka. SACSIX (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mundano giving a shout out to recycling and recyclers in NYC.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mundano (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SAYER in Moscow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“ALIVE” at Nuart 2016: Spy, Robert Montgomery, Hyuro, Add Fuel and EVOL

September 10, 2016 Artists

For the ninth straight year, BSA brings Nuart to our readers – artists, academics, collectors, instructors, curators, fanboys /girls, photographers, organizers, all. Not sure who else has been covering this international Street-Art themed indoor/outdoor festival and forum as early and continuously as we have, but we’re happy to say that this Norwegian pocket of public art continues to hold its own among a suddenly bloated field of new festivals and events globally.

Many of the new murals and installations are complete or nearing completion, the panels and presentations at NUART PLUS are just ending, the new Nuart Gallery has opened with sales of Jeff Gillette’s new print and other fine art works, and the barbs and laughs of Fight Night has already begun to recede in the blurry haze.

Tonight the opening of Tou Scene unveils the new works by invited artists and participants of Nuart 2016 to celebrate their work and contributions to the conversations on the street and chart many of their routes into the fields of contemporary art and academia – or at least getting them more hits on social media.

Here are a few of the artists at work whom we haven’t gotten to in previous posts this week.

SPY “ALIVE” at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

The Spanish artist SPY returns for a second facade this year at Nuart, this one playing off of its particular physical proximity to a reflective surface. Without saying so, it says that the ongoing examination and experimentation of public dialog with art and artists is very much in play today.

Robert Montgomery ad takeover in Stavanger. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

London based conceptual wordsmith Robert Montgomery brings a poetic tenor to the Street Art conversation at Nuart with a couple of bus stop takeovers and the façade of new construction. Cryptically chosen passages resonate gently according to your interpretation: “The purpose of art is to touch the hearts of strangers without the trouble of having to meet them,” he has been quoted as saying. Wish we could have been there to hear Carlo McCormick speaking about Montgomery’s work and its relationship to the Situationists.

Robert Montgomery ad takeover in Stavanger. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Add Fuel sorting out his stencil for his mural at NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Add Fuel rips off the dull beige exterior of this building to reveal a stunningly decorative tiled pattern beneath. Actually, here he is at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Add Fuel. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Hyuro at work on her mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Hyuro steps back to assess her progress. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Hyuro at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

EVOL returns to Nuart a second time to inspect buildings he left around town previously and to do some new construction. Very exciting to see what he has in store for the Tou Scene exhibition opening this evening after the final NUART Plus panels are completed. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

EVOL. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

We wish to extend our most heartfelt thank you to our friend Tor for sharing his photos with us in exclusive for this year’s coverage of NUART 2016.

Jeff Gillette and “Dismayland” Emerge from Nuart Debris

September 8, 2016 Artists, Interview

Today we have some process shots of artist Jeff Gillette in preparation for his exhibition at Nuart’s big opening this Saturday at Tou Scene. Tonight his solo show “Dismayland” opens at the inauguration of Nuart Galllery and Project Space with a very special presentation.

“Dismayland” sounds very similar to a magical kingdom that generations of kids grew up dreaming to visit in Orange County, California, where artist Jeff Gillette lives. For Street Art fans it also sounds very similar to the smaller version of that theme park lampooning it called “Dismaland” by the artist Banksy and 50 of his friends last September in Somerset, England. What many don’t realize is that “Dismayland” is the name a show that predates Banksy’s by five years.

Jeff Gillette, Minsky. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Born partially of his own disappointment at not being able to go to meet Mickey and Minnie as a kid, Gillette created canvasses, sculptures, installations of slums with the pristine blue sky and cavorting characters in animations most closely associated with his childhood memories. Drawing attention to the disparity of wealth and quality of life that exists in the world with millions living in desperate conditions, Gillette also acknowledges that the $99 dollar one-day ticket to Disneyland is an insulting reminder to many that their chances to experience that magic are very slim.

Jeff Gillette at work on his installation for NUART 2016 Tou Scene indoors exhibition. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: You have been subverting Disney for years and roiling Mickey fans with dystopian and humorous scenes of human settlement that lay bare the rotten state of our folly. Is this installation a redux or continuation of your “Dismayland” – a furtherance of the themes you originally touched on in 2010?

Jeff Gillette: I started my theme of messing with Disney as soon as I moved to Southern California in the early 1990s culminating wth my “Dismayland” show at Copro Gallery in LA. After my involvement with Banksy’s Dismaland, Copro invited me to create the archway of the alternative art aisle at the Los Angeles Art Show. A construction contractor and I created a huge facade of the Disneyland Castle Logo from distressed wood I gathered out in the Mojave Desert.

My invitation to NUART gave me another opportunity to create a Disney Castle, this time from diagrams I found on the Internet. My sculptor wife, Laurie Hassold, and two volunteers built the facade and picked up trash all over the town of Stavenger to create a landfill that it sits on. My future aspiration is to build a life-like Disneyland Castle in a slum. In Indian slums during festivals, it is common for the residents to construct colorful, fantastical, temporary temples that look like castles in their neighborhoods. I’m working with a few artists in India to hopefully realize this project. I’d like to also flood a slum with toy Mickey Mouse dolls, for all the kids to have and play with. It would make for some quite surreal images.

Jeff Gillette at work on his installation for NUART 2016 Tou Scene indoors exhibition. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: Who is Minsky? How did he get that name?
Jeff Gillette: When creating work for Dismaland, at some point Banksy said ‘ no Mickey Mouses.’ I had to obliterate Mickey, my favorite icon, from some of my paintings ( although in most of them I hid a Mickey elsewhere in the details). I thought up Minksy then and played around with sketches combining Banksy’s Rat with the features of Mickey. The name is a contraction of “Mickey” and “Banksy.”

Before leaving for The UK, I printed a bunch of stickers and placed one in each of the dozen or so (clean and new) porta-potties at Dismaland on the opening day. I found out the artist Nick Walker, whom I later met, thought they were Banksy’s and took one for himself! In the Dharavi Slum in Mumbai, India, I taught my guide, Hashim Abdul who lives there, to paint Minksy stencils wherever he could without getting into trouble. Now Westerners who go on the popular ‘Slum Tours’ will see these characters on some of the walls.

Here in Norway, I’ve taken advantage of Stavanger’s open policy of welcoming street art to paint some stencils of Minksy in the town. It is strange to do this activity and not have to look over your shoulder or be prepared to get accosted.

Jeff Gillette at work on his installation for NUART 2016 Tou Scene indoors exhibition. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: Last year Nuart featured the work of Bordalo II, who gathered local discarded junk to draw attention to our environmental impact on animal life. Your work appears to be more about the cost of meaningless consumerism to our souls. Is that right?

Jeff Gillette: That sounds good, but I like to think that my work specifically targets the commercial aspirations of Disney to be the “Happiest Place on Earth” mired in the reality of a world that screams out the exact opposite, at least on BBC and CNN. Personally, in my experiences interacting with poor people in slums, they appear surprisingly positive in their plight. What they lack in consumer comforts, they make up for in meaningful relationships with extended families and neighbor’s that the condensed living situation affords them. It still is abhorrent seeing people live in slum landfills, and my paintings try to show this.

Jeff Gillette at work on his installation for NUART 2016 Tou Scene indoors exhibition. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: To make something beautiful from a situation that is quite ugly – does that require a certain optimism?

Jeff Gillette: An optimism comes from the ability to be objective in experiencing the potential aesthetic quality found in ugly scenery. I travel to third world slums, visit landfills, and study visuals of natural and man-made destruction and find a strange beauty in it all. I struggle to distance myself from the actual toll on humanity and individuals by not including people in my work. The images instead become intricate fields of color and form conveying a feeling of beauty in worst-case-scenarios.

Jeff Gillette. Process shot. NUART 2016 Tou Scene indoors exhibition. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jeff Gillette solo show at Nuart Gallery “Dismayland Nord” opens tonight. Click HERE for further information.

We wish to extend our most heartfelt thank you to our friend Tor for sharing his photos with us in exclusive for this year’s coverage of NUART 2016.

Jaune and Axel Void on the Streets at Nuart 2016

September 7, 2016 Artists

Jaune and Axel Void are street practitioners of vastly different scale, yet both are on the streets of Stavanger right now putting up new work. Each have a way of engaging children with their work here, and probably the imaginations and memories of adults as well.

Jaune carries a miniature world that he recreates in many cities, and it invariably intersects with the sanitation workers who keep our daily existence so much cleaner. Adept at manipulating 2D and 3D scenarios using stencils, this small grouping of guys at the base of this building are only a small example of the much more expansive worlds he has created. Still you can image what kind of games this plays on the mind of your average 8 year old who discovers it.

JAUNE at work on a wall for NUART 2016 while a “subject” hovers over his shoulder. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Likewise your average Stavanger kid may be surprised to see a certain familiar boy on this big wall by Axel Void – a mural which has gone up rapidly over the last couple of days. Based on a portrait of Gabriel, the son of Nuart founder Martyn Reed, this image is an instant emblem of the city and quite appropriate considering its proximity to a nearby playground.

Axel Void at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Check our the little people balancing on the fence to his right. Such Dexterety! Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

We wish to extend our most heartfelt thank you to our friend Tor for sharing his photos with us in exclusive for this year’s coverage of NUART 2016.

ERON and Henrik Uldalen Figuratively: Nuart 2016

September 6, 2016 Artists

Two figurative paintings are taking form on Nuart walls at the moment, each revealing the distinct styles of their creators.

Italian Eron has a few routes to the form, some solid, others a mist. His themes have often included humanitarian crises and social injustice, most recently immigrants and refugees.

Sometimes his ephemerous forms of fine particulate matter take concrete shape, dimension, and finally lifting off and leaving the wall. In Stavanger for Nuart he is staying in the interstitial realm of almost here. The wading ghost-like female figure gazes on a whale, perhaps spouting a splashing, mired in a coal-hued timbre.

Norwegian oil painter Henrik Aarrestad Uldalen is classically figurative, owing to the impressionists as much as modern photographers. His people are similarly holding still in a contemplative space; fading in and out of your screen with realist focus and hand-rendered, painterly blur. Here in Nuart it looks like Henrik’s mural will have a photo-real quality reflecting with hint of the formal languidity of Renaissance subjects.

We wish to extend our most heartfelt thank you to our friend Tor for sharing his photos with us in exclusive for this year’s coverage of NUART 2016.

Fintan Magee. Nuart 2016

September 5, 2016 Artists

Melbournes’ Fintan Magee has just begun his 32 meter high double silos after the fierce rains dissuaded him for a couple of days. After carefully planning out the figure/s he’s gradually bringing them alive here in this coastal Norwegian town – a reminder of the maritime history of the people here, and the rising tides of our modern era.

Fintan Magee at work on his sketches for the silos murals for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. 09-2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ironically an oil economy like Norway’s is implicated in the warming of the atmosphere, so Mr. Magee’s ongoing program of climate-change related murals around the world takes on a special resonance here. Thanks to an unfailing respect for intellectual independence, Nuart has often featured work that is critical to the fossil fuel economy over the years. Stay tuned for a finished image of Fintan’s towers this week.

We wish to extend our most heartfelt thank you to our friend Tor for sharing his photos with us in exclusive for this year’s coverage of NUART 2016.

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Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst? INO: It was interesting working on an island that has only one policeman and 24 hours daylight.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © INO)

Ella & Pitr create an illusory metaphor for the #sandesarttrail, courtesy of Nuart called “Live Fast, Die Old”. Sandnes, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr (Faith47 in the background) ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr. Aftenblad Wall. Nuart 2017. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Staale Moen)

Sandra Chevrier . Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Sandra Chevrier . Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Sandra Chevrier . Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

The crowd waiting to get into see “Junction”, featuring new collaborations by Sandra Chevrier and Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Brian Tallman)

The beautiful island Utsira was the first public financed port in Norway. Since it was finished in 1870, it has provided safe shelter for lobstermen and merchant ships in the harshest part of the North Sea.

Today there are only 200 residents left on the tiny island – a vibrant mix of people of all ages and different corners of the world who share the love of nature and the windy life on an island far at sea.

This person, painted by the french artists Ella & Pitr on a roof top on Utsira, has obviously found his own peaceful and safe haven – and together with him I wish all BSA friends a relaxing festive season and a tolerant and peaceful 2017

SPY. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Henrik Uldalen. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Jeff Gillette and Jaune collaboration. Pictured here is Jaune at work. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Jeff Gillette . Jaune NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery. Process shot. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Evol and Add Fuel collaboration. Process shot. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Evol . Add Fuel. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Fintan Magee. Process shot. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Ian Cox)

Fintan Magee. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Nipper. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © James Finucane)

Nipper. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © James Finucane)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Sitting by the dock of the bay with Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Jaune. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Our top image: Elian in Moscow for the first edition of Artmossphere 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EQC fashions a Loteria Card with an image of you-know-who. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TomBob take on the proverbial See No Evil. Hear No Evil. Speak No Evil. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robert Montgomery’s installation for NUART 2016 Tou Scene indoor exhibition. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And now a little of the old soft-shoe shuffle. Hama Woods in conjunction with NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Shok1 for Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art (UN) at Lollapalooza. Berlin 2016. (photo © Nika Kramer)

BAST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A filthy piggy by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Зачем in Moscow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MCA toying around in Chelsea (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A tribute to Gene Wilder as the original Willy Wonka. SACSIX (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mundano giving a shout out to recycling and recyclers in NYC.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mundano (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SAYER in Moscow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SPY “ALIVE” at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery ad takeover in Stavanger. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery ad takeover in Stavanger. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Robert Montgomery. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Add Fuel sorting out his stencil for his mural at NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Add Fuel rips off the dull beige exterior of this building to reveal a stunningly decorative tiled pattern beneath. Actually, here he is at work on his mural for NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Add Fuel. NUART 2016. Stavanger, Norway. September 2016. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
INO: It was interesting working on an island that has only one policeman and 24 hours daylight.