All posts tagged: WorldPride Mural Project Initiative

Ori Carino on the LES Pays Tributes to His Heroes

Ori Carino on the LES Pays Tributes to His Heroes

New York artist Ori Carino does a roll down gate in the Lower East Side neighborhood in Manhattan, which he grew up in, to pay tribute to a movement that shaped his life.

Ori Carino. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“My artwork owes a lot to these downtown Heroes, Warrior Saints, visionary activists, and artists, and I hope to serve them in my work,” he tells us of this new piece he’s doing to celebrate the LGBTQI+ people who have been all around him since he was a kid.

“I was born on Houston Street and Sullivan Street in 1982, relatively close to Stonewall, moving two blocks from the Pyramid club when I was 8,” he says of the classic downtown bar known for pushing artistic and social boundaries in wild ways through the 1980s.

Ori Carino. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“It’s fair to say that my life has been significantly impacted by the sheer artistry and style, bravery, tragedy, and ecstatic triumphs of the gay rights movement. I’m proud that my home has always been a place where we celebrate diversity and fight for each other’s rights.”

There have been many murals in the past month that pay tribute to the history of this NYC scene that started a worldwide movement. For some reason, this one full of archetypal characters in the city strikes a deeper chord.

Ori Carino. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ori tells us that it is meant as “an allegorical reminder of the sacrifices and nobility of the myriad heroes who engaged in the fight for equality. Each one embodies an element of the movement, as the shadows of the violent police actions and the forces of ignorance and hate, woven throughout the Stonewall movement histories, are valiantly overcome.

From the peace-sign-waving, protest-sign-wielding archetype, to the flying hero who emerges from the waving flag, each character participates in an unrelenting fight for peace. By incorporating esthetic influences from both Classical Eastern and Western art, this new work reflects that this noble cause encompasses people from all traditions and backgrounds, and the fight goes on!”

Ori Carino. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ori Carino. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ori Carino. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ori Carino. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 06.23.19

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.23.19

Two things come to mind simultaneously as we publish this collection of Street Art and graffiti.
1. All the Rainbow Flag waving means nothing if you are not willing to help protect the dignity of immigrants who are being dragged from their homes and thrown in jail-detention centers in the US, and
2. All white people are immigrants and descendants of immigrants.

We’ve all seen this movie before. Or our parents did. Or our grandparents did. You’re next, baby!

It was great to see/hear/feel Faile and Swizz Beats doing a quick summer dance party this week in Manhattan – flourescent madness ya’ll. Also, it was astounding to see so many graffiti heads and other notables at Beyond the Streets this week – It was a cultural event that blew our minds. Seriously, Corn Bread was actually selling t-shirts on a table at the entrance – and that started the litany. You can see our review published yesterday.

And finally, can we call a moratorium on rain for a few days? The grass and trees are green already.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street (or boardwalk), this time featuring AME 72, Bisco Smith, Emma Apicelli, Feminists in Struggle, IXNAY, Joe Caslin, Katsu, Part Time Artist, Royce Bannon, and Tonk Hawaii.

Joe Caslin. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Royce Bannon (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Katsu (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bisco Smith (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Part Time Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
AME 72 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
AME 72 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Feminists In Struggle (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Emma Apicelli (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jaye Moon. Calle Me By Your Name. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ms. Moon made this installation using Legos with a message in Braille. The words in the message was taken from the script of the movie “Call Me By Your Name.”

Jaye Moon. Call Me By Your Name. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jaye Moon. Call Me By Your Name. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Street protester (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Novy (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Novy (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Novy (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tonk Hawaii (photo © Jaime Rojo)
IXNAY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. The Last Picture. Brooklyn, NY. June 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Kunle F. Martin AKA Earsnot of Irak Crew & WorldPride.

Kunle F. Martin AKA Earsnot of Irak Crew & WorldPride.

Murals and pieces just can’t crush tagging, and Kunle Martins aka EARSNOT, founder of the IRAK CREW, would probably tell you that you shouldn’t even try. It’s the buttery essence of the street.

Here he’s bringing it for World Pride 2019, and yes, he’s multi-color killing it.

Kunle F. Martin AKA EARSNOT OF IRAK Crew. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With our thanks to Wayne and Rey at The LISA Project for organizing the artists for this event.

This installation is part of the World Pride Mural Project Initiative. For more information please click here.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 06.02.19

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.02.19

June is Rose month in Brooklyn, and stoops, parks, and back yards are booming with them. Bushwick streets are booming with new murals this weekend with the 8th Annual BUSHWICK COLLECTIVE Block Party. Also New York had 130,000 rat sightings since 2010. Which is still less than the number of artists here, so nice try, rats. See you on the streets!

So here’s our weekly interview with the street (or boardwalk), this time featuring BG 183, Bio, BR163, Crash, George Rose, Indie 184, Love Pusher, Nicer, Nick Walker, NS/CB, PHibs, Remi Rough, Rubin415, Steph Burr, and Tats Cru, yo!

Bio TATS CRU for The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Crash . BR163. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
NS/CB (photo © Jaime Rojo)
NS/CB (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Phibs . George Rose (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Biggie Smalls (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Slick style from Love Pusher. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Nick Walker spills some magic in the Bronx (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tuff Stuff from SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Rubin 415 . Sinxero (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Renks (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Solus (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Solus. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
TATS CRU . BG 183 . BIO . Nicer. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Steph Burr. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Indie 184. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. June 2019. The Bronx, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Buff Monster Pride : New Melty Mural in Manhattan

Buff Monster Pride : New Melty Mural in Manhattan

Just in time New York’s Pride Month events, Street Artist Buff Monster unveils a wash of color and melty characters in lower Manhattan to commemorate the 50 anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village.

Over the next month a number of artists will be painting murals across the city as part of World Pride and we hope that in some way this campaign will reach those across the world who still long to be free but who are restricted by laws, even threatened, persecuted, and killed for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, or otherwise queer.

Buff Monster. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We talked to Buff to see what he was thinking when he was painting this mural over 6 days.

“It’s nice to see that NYC is getting involved in what looks to be the biggest pride celebration ever, but there still so many places around the US that are super conservative and unwilling to be inclusive after all these years,” he tells us. “It’s a shame that equality for all is still an issue in 2019, when we have so many other serious issues in the world that need to be addressed. It seems like there are news articles every day about this administrations’ efforts to undermine the progress we’ve made; so there is no better time to paint this mural.”

Buff Monster. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: What are the thematic elements that correspond to Pride and the rights of LGBTQ people?

Buff Monster: The characters have a bunch of mixed emotions, which mirrors the long journey for equality of the LGBTQ community. Putting together a diverse set of my cartoony ice cream characters, filled with the iconic rainbow, seemed like a good way to bring a bit of levity to a very serious issue.

All in all though, I think the colors and the characters create a positive and optimistic image, in line with this year’s Pride celebration and the future of equality. I’m really happy with how it turned out and I think it’s a really nice addition to the neighborhood.

Buff Monster. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Buff Monster. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Buff Monster. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With our thanks to Wayne and Rey at The LISA Project for organizing the artists for this event.

This installation is part of the World Pride Mural Project Initiative. For more information please click here.

For More about Buff Monster and his World Pride Mural please click here.


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Remi Rough Painting Pride Abstractly in The Bronx

Remi Rough Painting Pride Abstractly in The Bronx

“This one goes out to the whole LGBTQ community!” says Street Artist Remi Rough as he finishes his first of two brightly abstract and geometric installations here in NYC over the last couple of days.

Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The South London artist started in graffiti, which makes this wallss’ connection with Crash and Wallworks in the Bronx especially meaningful to him. He and other practitioners sometimes call themselves “graffuturists”, owing to the roots of graffiti and the complete deconstruction of the traditional letterform which leads to modernist aestheticism now expressed on the street.

Over the last fifteen years Mr. Rough’s work and practice successfully moved into formal gallery work along with his Street Art murals in cities like Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Paris…we’ve even saw him in Marrakesh a few years ago.

Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This particular wall is at the invitation of Wayne Rada and Rey Rosa of New York’s L.I.S.A. Project NYC, a business improvement initiative begun in the Little Italy neighborhood that has worked with many Street Artists over nearly a decade. They have selected and organized a significant number of local and international artists from the Street Art scene to install murals celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riot that turned back at the police to fight for the rights of gays, trans, and lesbians – a fight that eventually expanded to be more inclusive. 

Starting now and right through June (often called Pride Month) we’ll be bringing you many of these murals by some of the best Street Art and graffiti artists on the scene today.

Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Remi Rough. WorldPride Mural Project Initiative. The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. Bronx, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This installation is part of the World Pride Mural Project Initiative. For more information please click here.


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