All posts tagged: Nether

BSA Film Friday: 09.16.16

September 16, 2016 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. M-City at WL4
2. Faith47 – Who Will Guard The Guards Themselves
3. Henk and Louise Schiffmacher by Rust and Mako Deuza
4. Narcelio Grud: Mattress
5. Nether in Baltimore Philadelphia, Chicago and New York

BSA Special Feature: M-City at WL4

Polish Street Art stencillist, professor, and man-machine, M-City shows us with great dispatch the mechanics of production, with the occasional break for a snort of paint aroma to keep him going.

Also, are those pirates going by on a pirate ship?

Arrrrrr

Faith47 – Who Will Guard The Guards Themselves Film by Zane Meyer. Los Angeles 2016

Zane Meyer is killing it with his videos of artists in situ on the the street fighting and dancing with the wall. Faith47 is in her full stride with this herd of galloping wild horses, symbols perhaps of the runaway power we have allowed to take over our banks, military, companies – freed from regulation or governmental (citizen) interference. It is perhaps thrilling to watch, and then the herd turns toward you.

“This quotation is the embodiment of the philosophical question of how power can be held to account. It refers to the impossibility of enforcing moral behaviour when the enforcers are corruptible, as seen in timeless cases of tyrannical governments, uncontrollably oppressive dictatorships, and police or judicial corruption and overreach. How can we trust authoritative guardians of power when only they are left to guard themselves against themselves? It’s an age-old challenge; the phrase, as it is normally quoted in Latin, comes from the Satires of Juvenal, the 1st/2nd century Roman satirist,” says the text accompanying the video.

Only problem is the video is too short, too brief, not enough. But maybe that’s how Faith wants it.

Henk and Louise Schiffmacher by Rust and Mako Deuza

You don’t see stop action videos too much today in the Street Art realm but its nice to have this minute by minute account of the building of the image, complete with artists, friends, passerby, photographers, kids, butchers, bakers, shoemakers. The subjects here are the famed dutch tattoo artist Henk Schiffmacher and his wife Louise, or as the grandiose 90s rock star Anthony Kiedis is reported to have called him, “an absolute rapscallion of Dutch proportions.”

Made in Corsica in the City of Ajaccio, the artists say that the mural “is about a life dedicated to tattoo, art, lovers, inspiration and many things word can’t describe.” Rust made the portrait of Henk schiffmacher and Mako Deuza the portrait of Louise – all with cans.

Narcelio Grud: Mattress

Mr. Grud recycles foam mattresses and creates new public artworks from dreams. His inventiveness never ceases to amaze, his resourcefulness without end.

Nether in Baltimore Philadelphia, Chicago and New York

A lot has happened in our lives over the last couple of years and muralist Nether from Baltimore captures his street work from ’15 and ’16 here in his reel. A messenger to the streets as much as a reflection of it, Nether calls out the strife and the violence that people are marching in the streets about in cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York.

‘Homo Naledi’ in Baltimore Points to Our Modern De-Evolution

August 22, 2016 Artists

When you look at the corporate yellow journalism flashing across screens today, the shallow and sensational rhetoric may lead you to believe we are devolving as a race. In fact it is just the opposite in many quarters, so media literacy is more important now than ever to discern who is propagating this narrative, and to what ends?

Alfredo Segatori and Pablo Machioli (photo © Matt Fox-Tucker/BA Street Art)

Certainly many cultural observers deduct that man and woman have not progressed since prehistory and a new Baltimore mural by Street Artists Alfredo Segatori (Argentina) and Pablo Machioli (Uruguay) is a throw-back to our less-evolved selves. “I believe that cavemen still exist today and this mural is a like a mirror to look back at our roots,” says Segatori about the singular ‘Homo Naledi’ figure whose bones were discovered by anthropologists in South Africa in 2015 “We need to decide what future we want for our kids and if we want to move forward as a human race.”

The mural is part of a larger initiative including more than 20 street artists participating in a two continent cultural exchange between Baltimore and Buenos Aires, an outside component of a gallery show entitled “Roots”. The show is curated by Baltimores’ Richard Best of Section 1 Project and Matt Fox-Tucker of Buenos Aires Street Art along with local Gallery 788.

Alfredo Segatori and Pablo Machioli (photo © Matt Fox-Tucker/BA Street Art)

As Street Art and murals are continuing to bring more of the social and political themes to the streets in cities like Baltimore and Buenos Aires, traditional organizers of public art programming appear to be on the wane – perhaps because taxpayer funded initiatives have evaporated in most cities and more complex privately funded programs triangulate outcomes.

Actual grassroots organizers of programs like this, while still related to a gallery show, are more likely to respect intellectual rigor and are increasingly carving out their own curatorial niche. It is an interesting crack in the dialogue in public space where the final artworks often respond to society in more challenging ways, rather than producing only pleasing imagery and messages approved by committee or commercial interests.

Alfredo Segatori and Pablo Machioli (photo © Matt Fox-Tucker/BA Street Art)

For Segatori, this mural is a direct response to how we are behaving as a race – particularly toward one another. “I believe that in the world today there is still a lot of violence and intolerance so the idea of our mural is to show the reality of the society that we live in,” says Segatori of the new piece.

“There are people around us who are still forced to live in poverty, suffer from racism, discrimination and persecution due to the color of their skin.” Whether locals will take this message away from the mural is anyone’s guess, but the organizers of “Roots-Raices” say they hope to open the discussion between communities about how to assist in our collective evolution.

Alfredo Segatori and Pablo Machioli (photo © Matt Fox-Tucker/BA Street Art)

‘Roots’ brings together artworks by more than 20 street artists from Argentina and Baltimore exploring origins, cultural identities and social and racial history. Baltimore street artists who have created new artworks for the show include Gaia, Pablo Machioli, Paul Mericle, Billy Mode, Nether, Reed, Mas Paz, Ernest Shaw, Gregg Deal, Lee Nowell-Wilson and Toven plus photographs by Martha Cooper. Argentine artists represented are Alfredo Segatori are Nazza Stencil, El Marian, Luxor, Ice, Patxi Mazzoni Alonso, Maxi Bagnasco, Primo and Juan Zeballos.

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.29.16

May 29, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Woo hoo! Dip your toe in the ocean and the official beginning of summer in NYC. It’s Memorial Day Weekend and it is hot outside and Coney Island is already crowded and has new works this week from John Ahearn, Nina Chanel Abney, Tristan Eaton and more to come. Also you can hear that ice cream truck jingle in some neighborhoods, a welcome sound that will cause batty-ness in the brain after hearing it the 300th time.

Prospect Park and Central Park and hundreds of smaller parks around the city have barbecues and frisbees and refreshments and naps under trees. There is even the smell of marijuana wafting through the streets again. Also there’s a new Strokes album projected on the wall above Futura’s on Houston (soon to be refreshed), there’s a Ramones exhibit at the Queens Museum, and international artists are showing up to paint at the Bushwick Collective street party next weekend. Until then, let’s go up on the roof – you may see Duke Riley’s LED lit birds over Wallabout Channel at dusk. It all kind of feels like the 1980’s, minus the hair spray.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Aiko, Jins, John Ahearn, Lapiz, Nether, Nick Walker, Nina Chanel Abney, Pose, TurtleCaps, Saone, Sipros, Stavro, Stikman, Stu, Such and Turtle Caps.

Our top image: Fine artist and muralist Nina Chanel Abney for Coney Art Walls 2016. Coney Island, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Ahearn for Coney Art Walls 2016. Coney Island, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pose for Coney Art Walls 2016. Coney Island, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko. Side A. For Coney Art Walls 2016. Coney Island, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko Side B. For Coney Art Walls 2016. Coney Island, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Walker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lapiz for KURA Festival. Wittenburg, Germany. May 2016 (photo © Lapiz)

“Sigmar Gabriel (the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy) is riding a Leopard 2 tank. The tank is for sale (a little price tag is showing a €) and is painted in the colors of the German Flag (black, red, yellow). Gabriel is holding up a sign that reads ‘Nie wieder Krieg *’ (‘No more war *’). Running away from the tank is a family of refugees.” – Lapiz

Sipros. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Such. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zaone. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stu. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jins. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown. White people ruined Bushwick. Discuss. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NETHER from last year. That’s what is all about out here. Survival. Baltimore. (photo © Pat Gavin)

NETHER. Baltimore. (photo © Nether)

“A woman stands in water, half submerged, holding a withering lotus flower as the sky, lit by a rising sun and a setting moon, pans from darkness to light. The lotus in this setting symbolizes strength and courage when getting through life’s hardest obstacles such as addiction. The character is trying to save the lotus, which reflects her beauty and strength, as it is losing its pedals into the darkness. Her half-hidden face is slightly turned towards the light showing that she is turning towards help to revive her inner beauty and spirit. The obscured face speaks to the recovering addict’s battle with shame, anonymity, and pride for overcoming addiction due to public stigma. The 303 stars painted into the sky pay homage to the 303 people that died from overdoses in the last recorded year in Baltimore including a friend of mine.” – Nether

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

C3 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TurtleCaps and Stavro.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Brooklyn, NY. May 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nether and New Community Murals This Summer In Baltimore

August 30, 2014 Artists

A colorful harvest of local folk on walls here as we bring you images Nether has been painting this summer in his native Baltimore by himself and with friends. A mix of community projects and independently initiated walls painted on Baltimore’s surplus quantity of abandoned buildings, the style brings to mind community murals of the past, but it also has a genuinely new spirit. Nether and others like Gaia, LNY, and Mata Ruda are among some who are influencing and ushering in what BSA is calling “the new muralism”.

Nether. “The Fight For Building Blocks” Baltimore, MD. (photo © Nether)

The new muralism has evolved in the last five years from clusters of Street Artists who were originally interested in getting their name out and to advocate in some cases for their sociopolitical viewpoints but who also are often responding to calls from communities for intermediaries who can help them tell their stories. Taking root in this city and others like Newark, Jersey City, Atlanta, Bushwick (Brooklyn), and others, artists take into account local roots and are creating themes and portraits of everyday heroes and heroines and telling their stories. These are US eastern seaboard names but we have seen and heard these sentiments from cities as far as Honolulu, Berlin, and Delhi. This is what happens when people talk to each other.

Nether. “Tangled” Baltimore, MD. (photo © Nether)

In cities where “Street Art” or “Urban Art” festivals have been hosted, artists and producers have heard criticism that the international circuit of visiting artists are not always sensitive to the culture and the history of the locality. Their point is enhanced by a certain homogeneity of styles recurring on walls in many cities that is somehow separate from the culture, like a chain store or restaurant. Many organizers have responded by being more inclusive of the locals and today we are seeing a mural making tributary of Street Art that is maturing with an altruistic, intention-driven interest in empowering neighborhoods and their various populations that is reflective of the local in addition to the global.

Nether. “Fingers Crossed” Baltimore, MD. (photo © Nether)

Nether. A tribute to the author and poet Maya Angelou in Baltimore, MD. (photo © Nether)

Nether paraphrased this quote near this portrait;

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”

– Maya Angelou

Nether. Vulpes Vulpes. Baltimore, MD. (photo © Nether)

Nether. Detail. Vulpes Vulpes. Baltimore, MD. (photo © Nether)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Street Art and Activism with “The Slumlord Project” in Baltimore

October 9, 2013 Artists

In a twist on the Broken Windows Theory, Street Artists are using their skills to combat urban blight in Baltimore with “The Slumlord Project”. By drawing the attention of neighbors to abandoned and vacant properties and giving pertinent ownership information to take action on, 17 artists are spray painting and wheat-pasting in a D.I.Y. educational program that aims to renew the social contract in communities hard hit by crumbling real estate, crime, and diminished opportunity.

Harlequinade. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

With tongue in cheek, Baltimore Street Artist Nether calls “The Slumlord Project” an “unsanctioned public art festival”, where artists are invited to conceive of targeted installations on neglected properties. Along with Carol Ott, the founder of website and organization The Slumlord Watch, he encouraged artists to create with a sense of focus to draw attention to the companies, investors, private tax payers, and even the Housing Authority of Baltimore City about the large swaths of depressing and dangerous buildings decaying where neighborhoods and communities once flourished.

The result? A good old-fashioned bricks and mortar shaming project that calls property owners on the carpet, activates city agency responses, and encourages neighbors to get involved in a civic way to improve conditions on their block.

Harelequinade. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

“The goal of the project was to catalyze a larger conversation about Baltimore’s ignored vacancy issue,” says the Nether, who had been putting up his wheat-pasted portraits of neighborhood folks on boarded-up doorways of the city’s abandoned buildings when he met Ott and became impressed with her enthusiastic online blog that documents the sad side of Bmore. Just how many buildings are vacant ranges from the city estimate of 16,000 to community group estimates of more than 40,000. But just looking at a Google map that uses some of the data from the groups website gives an idea how widespread the problem of vacancy is in Baltimore.

“It’s really frustrating when the government won’t acknowledge the problem,” says Ott in a video about her experience with her organization and her work to make neighborhoods structurally safer, “You cannot fix what you won’t acknowledge.”

Nanook. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Now with “Wall Hunters Inc”, a recently created non-profit organization, Nether has invited 17 artists to create this new series of installations that combine art and activism – installing unauthorized artwork on various dilapidated vacant houses. Next to the art are posted notices that incorporate QR codes that link to online data on the Slumlord Watch website so community members may learn about the housing and safety code violations on the property and about the owner responsible for the property’s decline. When neighbors started accessing this information, phones began ringing. Already some of the properties have been razed because of their precarious condition and the danger they posed.

Here are the stories of some of these installations as told by artists themselves and along with images of their work you can read some informational, insightful, even poetic, observations about their pieces for “The Slumlord Project”. As you read, you realize that some undertook a fair amount of research to understand the relationship of their art with the vacant and abandoned property.

Underlying some of these stories are also critiques of the developers who have more recently begun rehabilitating or renaming neighborhoods, social conditions, and the history of the properties. Below the images of the new pieces here some of the artists give background of their process and the conditions. While we would have liked to confirm the names of some of the landlords who have been referenced in their accounts, we could not in time for publication and felt it would not be responsible to print them.

Jetsonorama. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Jetsonorama

“I spent a month in Baltimore in 1982. Shortly after leaving I heard Nina Simone’s version of Randy Newman’s song ‘Baltimore.’ Though I’ve never heard Randy Newman’s version, Nina sang is like she owned it and defined the persevering spirit of the city.

I shot this image in May of 2012 during Open Walls Baltimore. The girl in the photo, Johnnyasia, is an apprentice of Tony Divers, who is known at the Birdman of Greenmount West. The lyrics of the song appear around the periphery of the photo as a shout out to the city.”

Stefan Ways. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

STEFAN WAYS

“When conjuring up an idea I will be the first to admit I did play it a little “safe” going for a Raven — Baltimore’s football mascot — but I feel the piece received a very positive response from the community. That was important to me since they are the ones who not only have to live with the eyesore of the building, but my semi-permanent installation as well. I created a mixed-media piece of a Raven building a nest. Wood slats from the building are held tightly in its grasp while “caution” tape blows in the wind from its calling beak. Nether popped up the QR code and we were out in a couple hours.

To our surprise, days later the QR code displaying the owners info had been torn down. Nether went and put it up again – it was later found torn down. About a week later Demolition signs were put all over the property – did our project come to fruition? Nobody is quite sure, but I want to say ‘yes’. The property was eventually demolished about two weeks after its set date. All and all I am so glad for the neighborhood that those terrible buildings are gone.

The project was amazing to be a part of and everyone’s work was held in high regard by everyone – community members, the police, the drug boys, city officials, the general public, and fellow artists. Wall Hunters has now made me look at my work, where I work, and my city in a much more specific way and I hope to do many more ‘unsanctioned murals’.”

Stefan Ways. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Nether. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Nether

“The piece I made for my second install for the Wall Hunters ‘Slumlord Project’ was a piece that I designed for the Cherry Hill/ Westport/ Mt. Winan’s area of southwest Baltimore. This is an area of town that is very off-the-map and many people don’t even know it exists. It’s an area with a lot of historic importance, has been crippled by drugs, vacancy, and poverty since the 90s, and soon will be developed into the new “Harbor West”. It was created after FDR’s “New Deal” and was built for black veterans returning from WW2. I find it most interesting and shameful when developers change the names of neighborhoods as they develop them. This area will become another example of that.

The character in the piece is my good friend Troy, who is from Cherry Hill. Troy has talked to me a lot about the area’s history, and he encouraged me to do a Wall Hunters piece on the side of the abandoned Mt. Winan Projects.

The Mt. Winans projects have some unsettling history in the dating from the 1990s. The police department twice, in 1995 and 1998, tried to put police substations into the projects and both times the substations were firebombed before opening. The drug operation running out of the Mt. Winans projects was estimated by some to gross $100,000 a month.

It is my belief, and the belief of many people in the area, that the City and developer’s plans are to destroy the collapsed identity of the area rather than help it once again thrive. In the piece, Troy is holding together three structures which symbolize the fading history of the area, probably never to be revitalized. From left to right, a burned down abandoned multi-purpose center at the top of Cherry Hill which has been turned to a methadone clinic, some Westport-style row houses along Annapolis Boulevard, and the Section 8 building called The Cherry Hill Homes.”

Gaia. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

GAIA

“This piece depicts the crown of King Tut with the visage replaced by a cotton field that fades into another row home owned by Rochkind. A normal suburban home from Pikesville with eagle wings floats above the words Exodus in Hebrew and English. Rather than vilify an individual who could fairly be labeled a slumlord, this piece visualizes the connection between the Jewish and African American experience with migration.”

Gaia. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Mata Ruda. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Mata Ruda

“ ‘The Slumlord Project’ is a direct overture to a much-needed, urgent dialogue layered with complexity. To put it simply, the project is a visual catalyst for reform. From its conception to the moment I approached the wall with paint, two terms, in particular, had resonated with me: narrative, as a lead-up and description to a conversation of the condition of a specific form.

I painted a bust depicting a Greek Hellenistic muse next to a deteriorating cube. I chose the muse as a source of knowledge, relating a historical narrative of the neglected block. And for posterity, the bust of the muse personifies a face of prudence, relating the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of knowledge, reason, and truth.”

LNY. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

LUNAR NEW YEAR (LNY)

“ ‘Shawnee’s Call’ was totally colored by the public conversation Baltimore was having about the “Wall Hunters” project on paper and around town. I arrived a day before the Baltimore Sun published this article voicing businessman and real estate owner Stanley Rochkind’s allegations of racism as a distraction to the real issue and I was painting on yet another one of his neglected properties. Needless to say the whole experience was very political but that is the point: anything that happens in the public realm is inherently political. Loitering, picking up trash, smoking, putting up illegal murals, commenting on newspaper articles – it all comes loaded with meaning so my attempt was to channel that focus and attention back to the core of this project, which the mural depicts.”

From what I understand, a neighbor of this property called the Baltimore Slumwatch and reported the property next to her house along with its violations, which, in turn, led me to that location to paint and it is this small act of concerned citizenship that the mural celebrates.”

Pablo Machioli. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Pablo Machioli

To describe his project and his experience, artists Pablo Machioli wrote this poem.

“Breathing Peace”

Mother Nature’s arms warmed
By colorful patches of human skin.

Urgently they break through
Among millions of fallen daisies,
And open our windows.

They beg us to look outwards,
They beg us to look inwards .

Outside there’s Milagro, but she is my sister.
She’s nine years old.
Each time she inhales, a daisy falls,
Each time exhales, a dove is born.

Each dove brings a vein in its beak:
To continue sewing patches ,
To continue warming arms,
To continue opening windows,
To enable us to look outwards and inwards,
And to let us and them breath peace.

Sorta. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

SORTA

“Like many of the pieces in the project, mine was catered for the specific property. The “Vacant” that I pasted up on was noted as a lead paint infested dwelling. The house, which is listed as being owned by the Mayor and City Council, sits on the corner of a block with occupied houses all around it. Many of these houses have children living in them.

Lead paint exposure has been proven to cause many problems for growing children, including learning disabilities. The subject of the piece is a real person, the son of a friend of mine. He’s holding a Baltimore City Schools report card with failing grades and he’s standing in an oversized bucket of Dutch Boy lead paint.

I loved this project and the piece as the majority of my street works are portraits of people from the community. Additionally I often focus on children. But more often than not I try to capture real life topics, regardless of content and put it all together in a tasteful way. Sometimes I fail at this.

However I know who is walking or driving down that street. As a parent I am cautious to not offend other parents who might be exposed to my work without compromising the point I’m trying to make. The best part about street art for me is the interactions I have with the people walking up and down the street when I’m installing something. Baltimore offers a lot of love for street art and street artists; at least that’s been my experience. They seem to appreciate it. I mean, what’s easier to look at, a 14 foot tall portrait of a young man or the naked vacant building behind it that has been sitting there rotting for years?”

Sorta. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Specter. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Specter

“ ‘The Scaffold’ is a work that uses elements of construction and demolition
to comment on the uncertainty of vacant properties in Baltimore. The stairs have an eerie emptiness to them that reflects on this uncertainty leaving the viewer in limbo and questioning the fate of these structures.”

Specter. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Tefcon. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

TEFCON

“In addition to my installation, I was given the opportunity to design the ‘Wall Hunters’ logo. The project was rooted in some pretty complicated cultural issues. Attempting to broach such an involved ideology was causing me to churn out this… overly complex, incomprehensible logo art. So, I decided to approach both the logo and my piece from a more literal standpoint, using animal hunting imagery.

I illustrated the lettering for the logo, adding a pair of horns as the ‘t’ in ‘Hunters.’ I mimicked the knotty / gnarled horn texture throughout the lettering and added a cool light source to give it some dimension. My installation was a carryover from the logo. I chose to go with a hunter character in a ‘hero’ pose. I would never go as far as to say what we were doing was heroic as I have too much respect for the actual heroes out there. However, I did consider the participants and the overall project to be a force for good and I wanted to convey that feeling in my piece.”

Sirus. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

NohJColey. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Doom. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Doom

“This piece was pasted on what was reported to be the former base of operations for a self-proclaimed ‘King of Baltimore’, who was a convicted cocaine dealer and slumlord. These properties have been vacant for over 10 years.”

Doom. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

Cera. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

CERA

“In order for this piece to function, it simply needed to be activated. Creating ‘A Ship Will Sink With A Neglectful Captain,’ was such an exciting experience.

One of the more crucial points I try my hardest to maintain in my practice is the attention given to the viewer. Working on this wall, with this community, gave me the opportunity to see the their reactions to my artwork as well as their interest and noninterest.

Literally speaking with the community while working on this piece helped me understand what I do in my practice, and why I do it. I’m there for the process of assembling content, altering content, fragmenting it and spreading it out in layers. But I’m mostly driven by our people and our commonality.”

Cera. Slumlord Project, Baltimore Summer 2013. (photo © Tarek Turkey)

For more information on The Baltimore Slumlord Watch please click HERE:

For more information on The Wall Hunters Slumlord Project please click HERE:

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Weldon Arts Gallery Presents: Nether “Crumbling Cities” (Brooklyn, NY)

January 22, 2013 Afghanistan

Weldon Arts Presents “Crumbling Cities” – A Solo Exhibition by NETHER

Weldon Arts is proud to present Nether in his first New York exhibition. Nether is an urban art campaign that hopes to impact and beautify the bleakness of the city of Baltimore through vibrant street art with the aim of evoking public discussion. The pieces that are wheat pasted to the selected (usually vacant) facades comment on the city below the smog as well as the forces that have brought it to its shameful state. Nether sees his work as a force that solidifies people’s connections to the city Baltimore. The quest is an attempt to reclaim and recycle the tragic landscape all while opening people’s eyes to often ignored issues in the city, such as mass vacancy.

Opening Thursday, January 24th, from 6pm to 9pm. The exhibit runs through Saturday, February 16th.

http://weldonarts.net/

Images of the Week 12.16.12

December 16, 2012 Artists

Ahhhhhhhhh, we are all going to Hell in a hand basket! That’s what your music teacher Mrs. Penny Whistle said as she picked that last little caramel-colored shard of peanut brittle out of the box at her desk and crunched loudly as you played your Top 40 musical contribution for the whole 6th grade class to listen to on your mini-speakers. And in fact, she may have been correct. Look at what has happened since then! Also, the Mayans tell us we have about 5 fricken cold December days left till we all die a calamitous death, which is why I have done NO Christmas shopping.

Friday on Bushwick Avenue in Brooklyn you may have also learned about where YOU are likely to go after the big apocalypse and Jaime Rojo is pleased to share the answer photographically here (see the last picture).

But before we get to your final resting place, here is our weekly interview with the street, which is very lively this week! We’re featuring 4 Burners Crew, Bast, Dasic, EKG, Icy & Sot, Lädy, HUSH, MA, Mr. Toll, Nether, Okuda, Olek, Rubin, Square, Start, and Tripel.

What can we say? Have a great week.

Dasic in collaboration with Okuda. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Okuda in collaboration with Dasic. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin . 4Burners. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SQUARE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HUSH in action in Miami Art Basel 2012. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

HUSH in Miami Art Basel 2012. (photo © courtesy of the artist)

Artist Unknown. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OLEK makes a reference to 12.21.12 in this window installation in London. (photo © No Lions in England)

OLEK makes a reference to 12.21.12 in London. (photo © No Lions in England)

Mr. Toll practices his Latin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week: 12.09.12

December 9, 2012 Artists

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Astrodub, Cruz, Doug Nox aka the Harlequinade, Faring Purth, Herakut, How Nosm, Jilly Ballistic, MCity, Nether, RISK, Sonata, Trip, and VHILS.

We start off with MCity visiting Queens and hanging with Allison and Garrison from Ad Hoc, who helped him get some walls while he is here in New York. Then we get some Miami shots from Geoff Hargadon, and back to Brooklyn with photographer Jaime Rojo.

MCity, the Polish Street Artist paid a flash visit to NYC this week and proceeded to paint as soon as he set foot in our city. This carrousel was painted in Welling Court, Queens aided by Alison Buxton of Ad Hoc Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The restored Vhils wall captured at night flanked by the new How & Nosm wall for Wynwood Walls. Miami 2012. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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Images of the Week 08-26-12

August 26, 2012 Artists, On the Street

Once you’ve stumbled up and whizzed through the same streets in your neighborhood a hundred times it’s a great temptation to explore, especially in the summer. Jump off the gravel and wander along the stones and up the railroad bed and through the high grass and go single file on the dirt path, teetering astride a slimy inlet and shimmy through a hole in the fence that rips your shirt. What the hell – it’s all in service of discovery just off the beaten path.

And probably it’s no stunning surprise to you to find out that there is this lively conversation happening on the walls. Wouldn’t call it “party talk”, per se, but a lot of the guests seem to know each other, and many are very opinionated. So we find a lot of graff here, and mixed in with the tags and pieces are other artists we might call Street Artists. As your eyes acclimate to the new surroundings, you realize that this busted back lot and former crackhouse are not so abandoned. In fact, some times these buildings are more alive than any busy street, with a lot of activity in and around them. And sometimes you know that you’re are definitely not alone.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week including Anthony Lister, Blanco, Bored One, Celso, Dan Witz, Elbow-Toe, False, KSM, Kuma, LNY, LUSH, Michael DeFeo, ND’A, Nether, Nick Walker, Sorta, Tense, and Whisbe.

KUMA . Elbow Toe. It is common to find artists collaborating on the streets, or in the back lot full of overgrown weeds in this case. Some times they get together and jam all day on a wall playing off each others ideas. Other times these collaborations are forced, unintended. This one falls on the latter description with Kuma smacking over Elbow Toe’s cat, but we find that surprisingly, it works very well and KUMA’s placement of his tag was done artfully. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blanco was briefly in town from his two years of service with the AmeriCorps in Mongolia. He left something for us to remember him. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Unsanctioned Baltimore 2: Midtown Back Alleys

June 13, 2012 Artists, Baltimore, On the Street

Unsanctioned Baltimore (Part 2 of 3)

Dude, we found a lot of righteousness coming down hard in Baltimore. Don’t know why I said it that way, but I’m totally street for saying it. Right?

Here’s stuff from C215, Chris Stain, Flower Boy, Gilf!, Labrona, N310, OverUnder, Stikman, and Veng RWK.

See Part 1 of Unsanctioned Baltimore HERE: Pixel Pancho and 2501

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