All posts tagged: TX

Blek Le Rat Tours the US South

Blek Le Rat Tours the US South

Tennessee and Texas Sample a Certain Street Savoir Faire

Look out for Le Rat!

He’s getting up in places down south that you wouldn’t normally associate with a French Street Artist, much less the one who started stenciling in a style and manner unusual on Paris walls in ’81 – an antecedent for much of what we later would call ‘Street Art”. 

Blek Le Rat. Houston, TX. (photo © Brian Greif)

Thanks to gallerist and collector Brian Greif, Blek Le Rat made a run for it through Texas in cities like Waco, Austin, and Houston – after spending a week teaching students at Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville how to create stencils in his distinct style.  

It was a unique experience for the artist roughly 40 years after he first began doing these same activities illegally and under cover of night – and Greif tells us that the artist was so moved by the large audiences and appreciation by new fans that he is even encouraged to return.

Blek Le Rat. Houston, TX. (photo © Brian Greif)

“I think its time now to go back to the real sources of street art by painting real walls in real cities and not just the major cities around the world,” says Blek in an interview with Greif. “We need to touch people by painting walls in cities that have not experienced this movement.”

Blek Le Rat. Nashville. (photo © Brian Greif)
Blek Le Rat. Nashville. (photo © Brian Greif)
Blek Le Rat. Nashville. (photo © Brian Greif)
“So two cats walk into a bar…” Blek Le Rat. Nashville. (photo © Brian Greif)
Blek Le Rat. Nashville. (photo © Brian Greif)
Blek Le Rat. Austin, TX. (photo © Brian Greif)
Blek Le Rat. Austin, TX. (photo © Brian Greif)
Blek Le Rat. Waco, TX. (photo © Brian Greif)
Blek Le Rat. Waco, TX. (photo © Brian Greif)
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Pixel Pancho: Wishes And Hopes For 2018

Pixel Pancho: Wishes And Hopes For 2018

  

As we draw closer to the new year we’ve asked a very special guest every day to take a moment to reflect on 2017 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for them. It’s an assortment of treats to surprise you with every day – to enjoy and contemplate as we all reflect on the year that has passed and conjure our hopes and wishes for 2018. This is our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and of saying ‘Thank You’ to each of you for inspiring us throughout the year.

*******

The retro-futurist Italian Street Artist and sculptor Pixel Pancho sets imaginations running with his robotically romantic stories that weave together elements of dystopian breakdown, steampunk adventure, heartbreak, and good old fashioned man-V-Man-V-Nature-V-Society-V-Self drama. We’ve run into him this year in Hong Kong, New Jersey, Brooklyn and Berlin, and each time his sparkling inventive mind is what hits you first, then his work ethic that is focused like a lazer – with each rusty and surreal-o-botic storyline thoughtfully planned into his compositions on canvasses, on walls, and into sculpture. Today Pixel tells us about a mural he did this year in Texas honoring a special member of his family.


PIXEL PANCHO

When you spend your life travelling, the concept of family and home are relative. But if home is where your heart is, I can be sure that I’ve always carried my family with me.

Before my last trip I lost a member of my ‘family’, the one who was with me since the beginning. Blanco my cat passed away into my arms. I made this wall to remind him that he will always be in my heart.

This is the motivation that defines my job; Painting walls, building sculptures to communicate to people that nothing is forever and we better take care of our beloved and our planet as long as we are here.

Wishing you all the best, take care
Pixel Pancho

#weareallimmigrants

Pixel Pancho. HUE Mural Fest. Houston, TX. November 25, 2017. (photo © Pixel Pancho)

 

Pixel Pancho

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Flying Squirrels and Houston Toads : Louis Masai in Texas and Tennessee

Flying Squirrels and Houston Toads : Louis Masai in Texas and Tennessee

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Austin, Texas

Austin is proud to plead, “Keep Austin Weird.” Street Artist Louis Masai felt like his recent visit to that Texas city was not the only part of the US that one could call weird – it was actually a place to seek refuge.

“After the introduction to Chump and his band of merry men for the next 4 years we definitely saw a massive change in the energy of the areas we were driving through,” he says of his post-election leg of a cross-country trip.

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Houston Toad. Endangered. Austin, TX. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

He’s probably just feeling that brotherly hate that spiked across the US when the primarily white supporters of Donald Trump asserted their vindictiveness and power across the country, registering in a rise of hate crimes, according to this chart from Forbes magazine by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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But here in Austin his “Art of Beeing” tour brought this topic of Houston Toads and their shrinking numbers to the wall in this city that is rich in arts and music and a bit more of that “live and let live” mentality.

The Amphibians Survival Alliance (www.amphibians.org) says that the decreasing population of these toads is only at 3-4,000 in Houston and Bastrop County and if these are killed off by drought, fire ants, disappearing habitat – they will become extinct.

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Houston Toad. Endangered. Austin, TX. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

And on his wall, Louis says about his Austin experience, “I guess the attraction is the abundance of frats and bar culture in the area. I got to know a handful of these homeless folks over the five days this mural took to complete and I can definitely see that the new mural in their neighborhood gave them some new color and appreciation in their lives. Several vowed to protect its longevity, bless them.”

Will he come back to all this weirdness?

Yes, he tells us. “This wall was painted in conjunction with Global Wildlife Conservation. These guys were amazing and I look forward to working with them again soon.”

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Houston Toad. Endangered. Austin, TX. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Houston Toad. Endangered. Austin, TX. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Houston Toad. Endangered. Austin, TX. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Houston Toad. Endangered. Austin, TX. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

 

Nashville, Tennessee

Later the “Art of Beeing” tour travelled to Tennessee and Louis continued to experience some of that southern hospitality, and a few questions about the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel. He also was surprised to endure some cold temperatures.

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Northern Flying Squirrel. Endangered. Nashville, TN. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

“I don’t think I have ever experienced such a difference in temperature. from 26 degrees (79 F) in Austin to 2 degrees (36 F) in Nashville. Thank you Ecoalf for those jackets, for without them our team surely would have not made this wall happen,” he says.

The Nashville Walls Project has brought artists like Niels ‘Shoe’ Meulman, Above, Herakut, and Rone to the city and now Louis added his work to the collection

“I have joined a roster of some of the worlds’ best mural artists and I feel humbled to be a part of this project.,” he says. “Nashville is an up and coming city, experiencing a boom in new residents, again more gentrification is weeping into the city and prices are soaring, apparently about 85 new residents move in a week.”

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Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Northern Flying Squirrel. Endangered. Nashville, TN. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

“The wall that I painted shadows a section of the city that I am sure will get pushed out. Men hang out on the street not doing much; we met a cowboy inspired gentleman that was proud to admit to eating gopher tortoise – a federally protected species. He said he had three in his freezer…he grew up eating what they hunted, from squirrels to rabbits and tortoise. Hopefully my line of work can help to steer people away from eating these species.”

Did Louis change this fellers’ mind? “I think this guy might be too late to inspire.”

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-emil-walker-nashville-11-2016-web-1

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Northern Flying Squirrel. Endangered. Nashville, TN. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

But you can help to save one of the rarest species – the Carolina Northern Flying Squirrel, which has been found in North Carolina, east Tennessee, and southwest Virginia. There doesn’t appear to be a specific species trust but you can support the Tennessee Wildlife Federation to protect all local wildlife.

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-emil-walker-nashville-11-2016-web-4

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Northern Flying Squirrel. Endangered. Nashville, TN. November 2016. (photo © Emil Walker)

brooklyn-street-art-louis-masai-emil-walker-nashville-11-2016-web-5

Louis Masai: The Art of Beeing USA Tour. Northern Flying Squirrel. Endangered. Nashville, TN. November 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

 

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GAIA in Progress at The Rice University Gallery in Houston

GAIA in Progress at The Rice University Gallery in Houston

Street Artist Gaia Talks About New Installation and Latest Study

For the opening this Thursday Gaia will be talking about the impressions he has gathered and internalized of Houston’s urban sprawl and of some of the folks on the front lines of the everyday; using painting, drawing, printmaking, and collage. Much like his commissioned installation at the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in 2012-13, where he created portraits of individuals in the community of Baltimore using techniques inspired by Gauguin’s Vahine no te vi (Woman of the Mango), this new installation will open Rice University Art Gallery’s fall season with faces, textual excerpts, and city/landscape sweeps of the city he is studying.

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GAIA. Installation in progress. Rice University Gallery. Houston, TX. (photo © Nash Baker)

“Essentially I am creating this mural as a pastiche of Houston and then interviewing faculty, staff and students at Rice University to get a sense of the institution’s place in the greater city,” says Gaia of his study of the city and its international populations. At the moment he is taking a break sitting atop a mountain of styrofoam that will be soon be cut, shaped, and sculpted for the installation – a constructed cloister within the gallery space. “I want it to mirror the campus’ architecturally byzantine quotation,” he explains of the temporary structure.

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GAIA. Installation in progress. Rice University Gallery. Houston, TX. (photo © Nash Baker)

Since BSA was a very early profiler of the work of this artist, our readers are quite familiar with Gaia’s work on the street and his interest in depicting important figures who influenced the direction he grew personally – remember the large head of his grandfather floating on Brooklyn walls in the late 2000s?

Eventually his examination and studies of important figures expanded to profiling politicians, developers, leaders, architects, city planners, spiritual figures, citizens, workers – all identified as pivotal parts of the DNA that give a city or a neighborhood its true sense of place. With these new oil paintings of participants in his latest anthropological exploration, visitors will be seeing a marbled moment in the storied history of Houston as a city and a society.

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GAIA. Installation in progress. Rice University Gallery. Houston, TX. (photo © Nash Baker)

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GAIA. Installation in progress. Rice University Gallery. Houston, TX. (photo © Nash Baker)

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GAIA. Installation in progress. Rice University Gallery. Houston, TX. (photo © Nash Baker)

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GAIA. Installation in progress. Rice University Gallery. Houston, TX. (photo © Nash Baker)

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GAIA. Installation in progress. Rice University Gallery. Houston, TX. (photo © Gaia)

 

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Fun Friday 06.29.12

1. XCIA “Street Artist Unite” (NYC)
2. “Letters From America” at Black Rat (London)
3. Broken Fingaz in Vienna
4. “The Crest Hardware Art Show” 2012 Edition (Brooklyn)
5. Tumbleweeds in Brooklyn – A group Show from El Paso
6. Kid Acne Solo at C.A.V.E. (Los Angeles)
7. Pamela Castro AKA Anarkia Boladona @ Bob Bar
8. “Summer In The Street” @ Maximillian (West Hollywood)
9. “Sea No Evil” @ Riverside Municipal Auditorium (CA)
10. Lush’s Lethal Beef-Defense System (VIDEO)
11. BSA Supports This 3-Mural in Baltimore (VIDEO)
12. Poland Summer Solstice with Thousands of Lanterns Flying (VIDEO)

XCIA “Street Artist Unite” (NYC)

Photographer Hank O’Neal AKA XCIA opened a solo show “Street Artists Unite” this week in the East Village at The Dorian Gray Gallery. Of particular interest are the collaborations: Hank’s photos of Street Artists stretched across a frame and painted on by some of the current crop. Be sure to check out the one of a Richard Hambleton piece on the street that has been re-faced by Jean-Michel Basquiat and now accompanied by Chris from Robots Will Kill. Gives you a sweet brain freeze to contemplate it. The show is meant to highlight the photographic work of XCIA on the street and accompanies this springs roll-out of his book XCIA’s STREET ART PROJECT: The First Four Decades.

XCIA (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“Letters From America” at Black Rat (London)

Yesterday’s US Supreme Court ruling on the health care legislation that BIG MONEY has fought tooth and nail against in the US highlights the relevance of this show opening on July 4th at Black Rat Gallery. Street Artists/Graffiti Artists RISK, Ron English, SABER, and TrustoCorp participate in this show with SABER leading the way with 3 canvasses, including “The Flag Of The National Health Service”, shown here.  The graffiti artist knows of what he speaks – the current US corrupted for-profit healthcare system has deemed the artist “uninsurable”, epilepsy be damned.

 SABER, The Flag Of The National Health Service, 2012

For more information, please contact Black Rat Gallery here.

Broken Fingaz in Vienna

In Vienna, Austria the Inoperable Gallery has invited the Israeli Crew Broken Fingaz to come and raise hell. This show is now open for the general public. You’re probably going anyway, so here’s your preview.

Broken Fingaz on the streets of Vienna. (photo © courtesy of Inoperable)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“The Crest Hardware Art Show” 2012 Edition (Brooklyn)

And this is the time of the year where the intersection of hardware and art comes in to play the right way (not that hardware, Nick). Joe Franquinha and Co. know how to put on a party for all ages and creeds. Come out this Saturday from 1:00 pm to 7:00 pm to Williamsburg and enjoy an art show in his family’s hardware store: “The Crest Hardware Art Show”. This art show should be taken as a model for all small family owned business that want to give back to the community and make art part of the everyday experience. In addition to the art show, Joe brings in bands and food in the courtyard and all proceeds go to help a local little museum, The City Reliquary Museum.

Travis Simon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Click here to see BSA preview of the show.

And for further details regarding this event click here.

Tumbleweeds in Brooklyn – A group Show from El Paso

“Tumbleweeds” opens this Saturday at the Sunset Surf Club with all artists hailing from yonder El Paso, TX including localito Street Artist El Sol 25.  Enjoy some Tex-Mex hospitality and have an unheard of opportunity to see first hand a border town show before it flies south.

El Sol 25. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Kid Acne Solo at C.A.V.E. (Los Angeles)

After his introduction to LA during BSA’s “Street Art Saved My Life” show last year, British Street Artist Kid Acne is now having his first solo show “Stand & Deliver” at C.A.V.E Gallery in Venice Beach, California.

Kid Acne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“12. BSA: Something you do when you’re procrastinating?
KID ACNE: You mean procrasturbating?

See our interview with Kid Acne on Juxtapoz for the “Back Talk”

Also happening this weekend:

Pamela Castro AKA Anarkia Boladona is showing at the Bob Bar in Manhattan. Click here for more details on this show.

The Maximillian Gallery in West Hollywood, California invites you to a “Summer In The Street” Exhibition this Saturday. Click here for more details on this show.

“Sea No Evil” is an art show at The Riverside Municipal Auditorium in Riverside, California. This show is a benefit for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society to preserve our oceans. Jeff Soto and Shepard Fairey are just but a couple of artists whose work would auctioned on Saturday. Click here for more details on this show.

Lush’s Lethal Beef-Defense System (VIDEO)

BSA Supports This 3-Mural in Baltimore (VIDEO)

Poland Summer Solstice with Thousands of Lanterns Flying (VIDEO)

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Sunset Surf Club Presents: “Tumbleweeds” A Group Exhibition (Brooklyn, NY)

Tumbleweeds

Friday June 29th and Saturday June 30th Sunset Surf Club is home to TUMBLEWEEDS.

This mixed media art event includes several original artworks and installations from native El Paso artists Keith Spencer, Eric Mckillip, Daniel Barragan, Arto Barragan, Cecil, El sol 25 and Raul Manyfeathers.

This dynamic group first came together in Texas while exhibiting, collaborating, and curating joint exhibitions. Merging a graffiti and street art practice with contemporary fine art, these artists have helped to shape what has become an important era for con- temporary art in El Paso.

Come celebrate their first exhibition together in New York with music drinks and dancing on Saturday June 30th.

Additionally we will be hosting an intimate viewing for press and collectors on Friday June 29th from 7-9 pm. Interested parties kindly RSVP for this event at info@sunsetsurfclub.com

the sunset surf club 253 wilson ave Brooklyn, new york sunsetsurfclub.com

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Fun Friday 03.16.12

Yowsah! It’s a Triple Header for Street Artist shows in Brooklyn tonight, with Haring at the Museum, Stikman at Pandemic, and JMR/See One at Mighty Tanaka. But that’s not all that’s happening this weekend.

1. Keith Haring: 1978-1982
2. Stikman “20” at Pandemic
3. JMR and See One @ Pandemic
4. SANER @ Fifty24SF (San Francisco)
5. Chris Stain “Long Story Short” at Wooster Social Club
6. Sickboy, White Walls Gallery new show “Wonder Club”
7. Asbjorn Skou AKA Armsrock “Stedfortrædere” at  Mosh Gallery in Copenhagen
8. “My Turn” at Carmichael Gallery with Bumblebee, Hyuro, Interesni Kazki, Jaz, Klone, LineLineDot, Moneyless, Penny, Stinkfish, Zeus.
9. KEMP “Behind her Disguise” at Artsee.
10. Kid NES in Dallas. Time Lapse (VIDEO)
11. Mimi The Clown turns Superhero by OAOFB. (VIDEO)
12. Mimi The Clown turns Superhero by OAOFB. (VIDEO 2)
13. Ben Eine getting up in London by Abbie Brandon (VIDEO)

Keith Haring: 1978-1982

“This exhibition shows you how much fun New York City used to be” – Mare 139

Opening to the public today Keith Haring: 1978-1982 at the Brooklyn Museum and while Mare 139 has a point, we contend that Brooklyn is still tons of fun, if Manhattan has lost much of it’s edge. Regarding this exhibit, GO! Exquisitely curated, it welcomes the viewer to Mr. Haring’s early days in NYC when the “downtown” scene was the scene.

Keith Haring. Pia Zadora subway installation. Courtesy of Mugrabi Collection. © Mugrabi Collection. The Brooklyn Museum (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The curators have included pieces rarely or never before viewed including an amazing slide show of images taken by Kwong Chi showing the artist illegally putting work in the subways. Combined with some of Harings journals, his Cipher chart, videos and 155 works mostly on paper, it is informative, accessible and fun to see.

Keith Haring. A photo taken from the Slide show at the exhibition of images taken by Kwong Chi. Courtesy of and © The Keith Haring Foundation. The Brooklyn Museum (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information regarding this exhibition click here.

To read our article on the Huffington Post of this exhibition with a complete photo essay and and written overview click here.

Stikman “20” at Pandemic

One of the most prolific and hermetic Street Artists working today on the streets of New York, sometimes literally melted into the street, Stikman has a gentle legend to his name. His solo show “20” opens today at Pandemic Gallery today, offering a rare glimpse into his world of secrecy and continuous invention. The little stick character he’s been leaving for two decades is synonymous with the symbol-based tagging of graff writers and the re-inventive practice of a fine artist continuously exploring new techniques of expression.

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

JMR and See One @ Pandemic

Fresh off their showing at Fountain last weekend, Mighty Tanaka is not skipping a beat by unveiling a brand new dual show in Dumbo tonight. If you thrill to “Color and Motion” then check out new works by JMR and See One tonight.

JMR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

SANER @ Fifty24SF (San Francisco)

Mexican Street Artist SANER has been impressing Street Art and graff fans in the last couple of years with his near magic interpretations, incredibly rendered. A down to earth fellow who often teams up with SEGO for collaborations, the artist makes his debut solo show in San Francisco tonight at the Fifty24SF Gallery.

Saner with Sego in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Chris Stain “Long Story Short” at Wooster Social Club

At the crowded opening for Chris Stain’s new show and book launch Wednesday, the vibe was a testament to his working class roots and real people charm, with Billy Mode on the turntables and Ray Cross from Bushwick Print Lab screen-printing some fresh Occupy Wall Street posters for people to take to the streets. It’s the the kind of kindred community that fostered “Long Story Short”, his new monogram on Drago, and the kind of environment that makes Stains work resonant in these times where the working person feels like they have a boot to his/her neck. Stop by The Wooster Social Club anytime to see Mr. Stain’s new body of work and catch an intimate look into his influences both as an artist and as a person.

Chris Stain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

  • San Francisco’s White Walls Gallery new show “Wonder Club” opens tomorrow. This is Sickboy‘s first US major solo show. Click here for more information about this show.
  • Asbjorn Skou AKA Armsrock new show “Stedfortrædere ” at the Mosh Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark opens today. Click here for more information about this show.
  • Bumblebee curates the new show “My Turn” at the Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, CA opening this Saturday with artists including: Bumblebee, Hyuro, Interesni Kazki, Jaz, Klone, LineLineDot, Moneyless, Penny, Stinkfish, Zeus. Click here for more information about this show.
  • KEMP solo show “Behind her Disguise” is marks his New York debut at Artsee. This show is now open to the general public. Click here for more information about this show.

 

Kid NES in Dallas. Time Lapse (VIDEO)

Mimi The Clown turns Superhero by OAOFB. (VIDEO)

Mimi The Clown turns Superhero by OAOFB. (VIDEO 2)

Ben Eine getting up in London by Abbie Brandon (VIDEO)

 

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JMR Stars Again This Week In Dallas (not JR, he got shot, remember?)

YEEE HAAAAWWWW!  Brooklyn Street Artist JMR has been exploring the dusty detritus of Dallas for a spell and has found that some of the BIG D’s outlying areas remind him of the wildness of abandoned spots in Brooklyn that provided succor and inspiration to artists and performers and poets and wise guys at the turn of the century. But he has no illusions about the future for a lively hipster art scene here. For one thing, there are no redheads from Portland with 36 stringed home-made musical instruments connected to a projector here yet. Naturally while exploring, JMR brought some paint with him. Here’s what he’s been seeing…

JMR (photo © Jim Rizzi)

“The wall was offered to me in collaboration with a Dallas graff legend named Ozone. The building is a live-work space for two local guys starting a longboard company/music studio. They also repair motorcycles while watching documentaries in their make-shift living room; it’s a very early 90s Williamsburg ‘Frontier Land’ vibe, sans the imminent real estate surge. That’s never coming here and it’s refreshing. In the midst of this industrial lower class neighborhood at night you can light a fire and sit around it and talk about politics or whatever, while drinking beer and smoking.

There’s a bunch of hardcore graff writers out here as well, who I met through this painting.  Although the city is oddly devoid of any tags, throw-ups, or fill-ins, there is a major freight yard where trains lay up for days and people are getting busy. The trains are bombed well and it’s inspiring to watch them pass, and frustrating to try and snag flix with my iPhone, fumbling to keep up with the motion.”

JMR (photo © Jim Rizzi)

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Fun Friday 09.23.11

Fun-FridayWelcome to Fun Friday

1. Abstract Art on the Street
2. “Abstractions” open at Opera Gallery
3. “Contemporary Abstractions” at Mighty Tanaka
4. “Abstract Graffiti” – The Book
5. Art Show and Charity Auction at FUTURE TENSE (Dallas)
6. Please Support “Electric Projected” TODAY
7.MISSED the SHOW? See “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories” in VIDEO
8. VIDEO -Street and fine Artist Peat Wollaeger
9. VIDEO Mr.Klevra Vs Omino71 – The Secret Spot 2011
10 VIDEO STEN & LEX at the ATTACK FESTIVAL 2011

“The more frightening the world becomes, the more art becomes abstract”~ Wassily Kandinsky

The street provides a forum from all dialogue and Street Artists can be sometimes divided into categories after you survey the expanse of expression. We’ve been tracking the geometry of  abstraction for the last decade as an aesthetic counterbalance to the more free form gestural markings that are it’s more prevalent neighbors.  The abstract direction continues to garner  attention and you can get a good look at it’s past and present at two New York shows opening today, and learn more about it’s global movement in a recently published book by Cedar Lewisohn.

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“Black and Violet”, Kandinsky, 1923

“Abstractions” open at Opera Gallery

The Opera Gallery new show in Manhattan titled “Abstractions” opens today to the general public. This show will examine the abstract movement from the 1940s through present day with artists that range from Miro and Matta to Bast and Saber.

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Image of Saber courtesy Opera Gallery

Abstractions will be open to the public starting on September 23 at 11:00 am
September 23 – October 16
Free admission: 11:00 – 7:00 daily

Opera Gallery
212.966.6675
Further information on this show please click on the link below:

“Contemporary Abstractions” at Mighty Tanaka

Mighty Tanaka Gallery in Brooklyn continues the theme with some names familiar to BSA readers and a couple of new talents at their show “Contemporary Abstractions” tonight, with the opening reception at their temporary location in  the Power House Arena in DUMBO starting at 6:00 pm.

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JMR image © Jaime Rojo

For more information regarding this show please click on the link below:

“Abstract Graffiti” – The Book

We’ve really been enjoying the schooling and the photography from Cedar Lewisohn in this new book “Abstract Graffiti” and can recommend it wholeheartedly. You’ll recognize a number of these artists from being on BSA, including MOMO on the back cover.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Abstract-Graffiti-Cedar-Lewisohn-2011

Art Show and Charity Auction at FUTURE TENSE (Dallas)

Saturday September 24 in Dallas, TX the Future Tense has curated and impressive line up of artists for a worthy cause. An Art Show and Charity Auction to benefit The MTV Staying Alive Foundation. Opening reception and live auction at the Goss-Michael Foundation starts at 7:00 PM.

brooklyn-street-art-mtv-redefine-future-tenseLee Baker, Shepard Fairey, Harland Miller, Adam Ball, Katrin Fridriks, Polly Morgan, Peter Blake, Christopher Gascoigne, Gerard Rancinan, Billy Childish, Pam Glew, Rankin, D*Face, Haroshi, Stuart Semple, Brian Adam Douglas, Pieter Henket, Jamel Shabazz, Elizabeth Eamer, Damien Hirst, Benjamin Shine, Ben Eine, Jeremy Kost, Gavin Turk, Tracey Emin, Joseph Loughborough, Dan Witz, Faile, James Marshall and Russell Young.

For more information regarding this event please click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=24739

Please Support “Electric Projected” TODAY

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And our friends at Open Space in Beacon New York are seeking your help to save their project “Electric Projected: Reboot”

Dan and Kalene have been on the Street Art scene for a decade, have opened many doors to and championed Street Artists with their Electric Windows project. Today we are asking you to pledge their “Electric Projected: REBOOT” Kickstarter page. They got seriously rained out last month for this exciting project in Beacon, New York – a huge projection show on the side of a factory building. With your help, they are going to do it right next weekend.

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Jared Deal projects Big Foot (photo still © Courtesy of the gallery)

Dan and Kalene say:

“We still need your help to make Electric Projected REBOOT a reality. Since our last email (only 5 days ago) we have received over $2500 in pledges to our kickstarter campaign. Over 100 people have already contributed to this campaign and we are so grateful for this generosity and support. Not a day goes by without people telling us how excited they are for the REBOOT event on October 1st. We are excited for it too, but here is the reality of the situation. If we do not meet our kickstarter funding goal by Saturday Sept 24th at 6pm  Electric Projected REBOOT will not happen on October 1st.

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Aaron Maurer projects Paper Monster (photo still © Courtesy of the gallery)

Please hurry and pledge. They are almost there for their $16,500 goal and your donation will help them reach the finish line. They only have until tomorrow Saturday September 24 at 6:00 pm.

Please click on the link below to go to their Kickstarter:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pilgrim/electric-projected-reboot

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Jack Myeres projects Elia and Cern (photo still © Courtesy of the gallery)

MISSED the SHOW? See “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories” in VIDEO

Fabio Cunha shot and edited a video at the opening of “Street Art Saved my Life: 39 New York Stories” in Venice, CA. All those cool LA people milling around … love love

PEAT Makes a VIDEO

Street and fine Artist Peat Wollaeger is out of work – a very modern affliction.

Mr.Klevra Vs Omino71 – The Secret Spot 2011

STEN & LEX at the ATTACK FESTIVAL 2011

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Future Tense Presents: “MTV Re:Define” Benefit Art Exhibition and Auction (Dallas, TX)

Future Tense
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The MTV Staying Alive Foundation today announced the final details of its RE:DEFINE benefit art exhibition and auction to mark the 30th anniversary of the discovery of the AIDS virus, including the full list of contributing artists. Event curators The Future Tense have assembled an eclectic roster of 30 original works valued at over $1m from some of the world’s most exciting, dynamic and sometimes controversial artists, including painting, photography, sculpture and a large-scale public installation in downtown Dallas by street artist Ben Eine. The 30 contributing artists are as follows:

Lee Baker, Shepard Fairey, Harland Miller, Adam Ball, Katrin Fridriks, Polly Morgan, Peter Blake, Christopher Gascoigne, Gerard Rancinan, Billy Childish, Pam Glew, Rankin, D*Face, Haroshi, Stuart Semple, Brian Adam Douglas, Pieter Henket, Jamel Shabazz, Elizabeth Eamer, Damien Hirst, Benjamin Shine, Ben Eine, Jeremy Kost, Gavin Turk, Tracey Emin, Joseph Loughborough, Dan Witz, Faile, James Marshall and Russell Young.

Hosted at the Goss-Michael Foundation in Dallas, MTV RE:DEFINE will be open to the public from September 16 – 23 with a live auction of all 30 works taking place at an exclusive reception on September 24, hosted by Simon de Pury, Chairman of Phillips de Pury & Company. 100% of the proceeds from the auction will benefit the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, which encourages, energizes and empowers young people who are involved in HIV and AIDS awareness, education and prevention campaigns. Simon de Pury, Chairman of Phillips de Pury & Company said, “Phillips de Pury is thrilled to support the fabulous initiative of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and of the Goss-Michael Foundation and The Future Tense.”

The evening will culminate in a live performance by alt-rock phenom, The Boxer Rebellion who are due to begin a major 22-date tour of North America in October to promote their latest album, The Cold Still. Tennessee-born Nathan Nicholson, lead vocalist for The Boxer Rebellion said, “The Boxer Rebellion are proud to support the MTV Staying Alive Foundation and feel privileged to play at this ground-breaking RE:DEFINE benefit event. We take our social responsibilities very seriously, and to be part of an event with such immense social and artistic merit – aimed at empowering young people all over the world to fight HIV and AIDS – is a real honor for us.”

Collectors unable to attend the event in person will have a wide range of absentee bidding options, including the ability to both view and bid in real-time, simultaneous with the live event via the following link:

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/catalog/26168

Full absentee bidding information can be found at: http://www.mtvredefine.com/absentee-bidding.php

The catalogue for the event can be found at: http://www.mtvredefine.com/catalogue.php

Sponsors of MTV RE:DEFINE include Moet & Chandon, The Dallas Morning News, Neiman Marcus, Hotel Zaza, Ben E. Keith Beverage Company, Land Rover/Range Rover of Dallas, RP Valet and Crazy Water.

For further information please visit the official website at www.mtvredefine.com You can also follow the project on Twitter via @mtvredefine and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mtvredefine

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Street Artist Purth Takes “The Deleras” Cross Country

The fine artist and Street Artist named Purth has been completing an urban installation of her family this winter in Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, and New Orleans . Not literally her blood relatives, the oversize portraits of females are mirrors of her emotional journey and echoes of relationships she may have experienced coupled with ones she is creating for her future. Coupled with bits of prose that ground them somewhat, these women are strong and searching.

This kind of internal migration is not unusual for a painter in scanning the horizon for something however the actual physical distance run, with it’s long spaces of time and travel in between, is.  It’s also something that Street Artists around the globe are setting a new standard for by completing installations in towns and cities around the globe much like a campaign. In her dog-eared travelogue, Purth carries ruddy hued people from her fluid imagination and raises them amidst abandoned rubble; high enough to be seen from a distance.

brooklyn-street-art-purth-McGrath-1-webPurth “The Deleras” group in an abandoned train yard east of Boston. (Photo © Heather McGrath)

Having completed roughly the first half of the installations for “The Deleras Project”, she shares these images before Purth hits the road again to complete it with installations in Oakland, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati.

With the completion of “six months on the road, (with) snow storm & tornadoes endured, a car accident survived, and life affirming environments broken into,” the artist took a moment to chat with Brooklyn Street Art about her project:

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Photographer Heather McGrath and a friend assisting Purth after installing The Deleras. East Boston (Photo © Purth)

Brooklyn Street Art: Who are the individuals depicted on your paintings?
Purth: Each piece was created from different sources of inspiration: references of old photographs I’ve been collecting for years, reflections … perhaps of someone’s lover, someone’s child. There will be ten once the work is completed, all of women, young & old, scattered across the country, & each installed with a single stream of thought. The writing is sourced in a very similar way … some pulled from found material, some from the words I was lucky enough to hear uttered; fragments to create a whole. I guess in my mind, they have become the women they are now. Completely independent of the remnants that built them up or who they are to me personally. I hope that for them … the right to stand on their own.

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Purth. Detail of Delera. Abandoned brewery directly across from the Roxbury projects in Boston. (Photo © Heather McGrath)

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Purth in Cincinnati. A slightly damaged Delera (due to bad climate conditions). She is included “as she is beautiful” (Photo © Zach Fein)

Brooklyn Street Art: Why are you traveling around the country putting them up on abandoned walls and buildings?
Purth:
Abandoned spaces have a pronounced hum to them. They are shed, in a sense, but are still heavy with profound undercurrents that I believe can be tapped into … & reinvented. It seems completely fitting for me to search out these spaces as possible locations for the work even if they ultimately make home above, along side, or in areas close by. In regards to the distance covered … we have gaps that need to be bridged. I see them as shepherds and black sheep. It’s my responsibility to find them home.

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Purth. “Opal” “I swear there are diamonds …. hundreds of them …
everywhere” East Austin, on the corner of E6th & Chicon. (Photo © Andrew Ashmore)

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Purth. “Patricia the Beater” “I will grow …fiercely, love”, New Orleans. (Photo © Zack Smith)

Brooklyn Street Art: What is the genesis of this project?
Purth: The first, Delera, was created at an intense, pivotal moment in my life. I became very weak around the end of 2009 and I began painting her like a child screaming at an overbearing parent. In the simplest sense, I was depicting the strength I needed to rediscover in myself. Once she was suspended and I saw her upright for the first time, she literally took my breath away. Something so intimate, so tender, and so sincere towering over me … it was like gold leafing vulnerability and then lighting the shit on fire.

She was the first, the idea for the others quickly followed.

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Purth. “Lu” “Take my breath away”. Brooklyn, NY. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Purth-Quote-1-April-2011

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Purth took this shot a few weeks into her trip hoping this would be her home for the next five months. (photo © Purth)

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OBEY Hits SXSW in Austin and Releases Print for Japan

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Shepard Fairey OBEY (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

SXSW, the annual music/culture/technology festival winds down the circus-like atmosphere of new bands and big-name performers and ideas cramming venues with one show and roundtable after another, sometimes resulting in chaos. A regular Street Art contributor to this scene, Shepard Fairey hit up some walls as part of the Local to Global Outdoor Gallery Project.

In response to the tragedies created by the tsunami in Japan Shepard Fairey is releasing a new variation on the Dark Wave print. Profits from Dark Wave/Rising Sun will go to relief efforts in Japan.

Release Date: 3/24/2011 at a random time at ObeyGiant.com

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Thanks to photographer Geoff Hargadon, who took these Austin images of Obey’s brand new work using a monochromatic palette that looks pretty fresh!

brooklyn-street-art-geoff-hargadon-obey-austin-5-webShepard Fairey OBEY (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Shepard Fairey OBEY (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Shepard Fairey OBEY (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Shepard Fairey OBEY (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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