All posts tagged: Welling Court 2013

The 2013 BSA Year in Images (VIDEO)

The 2013 BSA Year in Images (VIDEO)

Here it is! Our 2013 wrap up featuring favorite images of the year by Brooklyn Street Art’s Jaime Rojo.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-2013-Year-In-Images-Jaime-Rojo

Before our video roundup below here is the Street Art photographer’s favorite of the year, snapped one second before he was singled out of a New York crowd, handcuffed, and stuffed into a police car – sort of like the Banksy balloons he was capturing.

“Among all the thousands of photos I took this year there’s one that encapsulates the importance of Street Art in the art world and some of the hysteria that can build up around it,” he says of his final shot on the final day of the one month Better Out Than In artist ‘residency’ in NYC this October. It was a cool day to be a Street Art photographer – but sadly Rojo was camera-less in a case of mistaken identity, if only for a short time.

Released two hours later after the actual car-jumping trespasser was charged, Rojo was happy to hear the Chief Lieutenant tell his officer “you’ve got the wrong man”, to get his shoelaces back, and to discover this photo was still on his camera. He also gets to tell people at parties that he spent some time in the holding cell with the two guys whom New York watched tugging down the B-A-N-K-S-Y.

brooklyn-street-art-banksy-jaime-rojo-10-31-13-web

What’s everybody looking at? Jaime Rojo’s favorite image of the year at the very end of the Banksy brouhaha. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now, for the Video

When it came to choosing the 112 images for the video that capture the spirit of the Street Art scene in ’13, we were as usual sort of overwhelmed to comb through about ten thousand images and to debate just how many ‘legal’ versus ‘illegal’ pieces made it into the mix. Should we include only images that went up under the cover of the night, unsanctioned, uncensored, uncompromised, unsolicited and uncommissioned? Isn’t that what Street Art is?

Right now there are a growing number of legal pieces going up in cities thanks to a growing fascination with Street Art and artists and it is causing us to reevaluate what the nature of the Street Art scene is, and what it may augur for the future. You can even say that from a content and speech perspective, a sizeable amount of the new stuff is playing it safe – which detracts from the badass rebel quality once associated with the practice.

These works are typically called by their more traditional description – murals. With all the Street Art / graffiti festivals now happening worldwide and the growing willingness of landlords to actually invite ‘vandals’ to paint their buildings to add cache to a neighborhood and not surprisingly benefit from the concomitant increase in real estate values, many fans and watchers have been feeling conflicted in 2013 about the mainstreaming that appears to be taking place before our eyes. But for the purposes of this roundup we decided to skip the debate and let everybody mix and mingle freely.

This is just a year-end rollicking Street Art round-up; A document of the moment that we hope you like.

Ultimately for BSA it has always been about what is fresh and what is celebrating the creative spirit – and what is coming next. “We felt that the pieces in this collection expressed the current vitality of the movement – at least on the streets of New York City,” says photographer and BSA co-founder Rojo. It’s a fusillade of the moment, complete with examples of large murals, small wheat pastes, intricate stencils, simple words made with recycled materials or sprayed on to walls, clay installations, three dimensional sculptures, hand painted canvases, crocheted installations, yarn installations etc… they somehow captured our imaginations, inspired us, made us smile, made us think, gave us impetus to continue doing what we are doing and above all made us love this city even more and the art and the artists who produce it.

Brooklyn Street Art 2013 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

A Dying Breed, Aakash Nihalini, Agostino Iacursi, Amanda Marie, Apolo Torres, Axel Void, Bagman, Bamn, Pixote, Banksy, B.D. White, Betsy, Bishop203, NDA, Blek le Rat, br1, Case Maclaim, Cash For Your Warhol, Cholo, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Billy Mode, Christian Nagel, Cost, ENX, Invader, Crush, Dal East, Damien Mitchell, Dase, Dasic, Keely, Deeker, Don’t Fret, The Droid, ECB, el Seed, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Faile, Faith 47, Five Pointz, Free Humanity, Greg LaMarche, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy & Sot, Inti, Jilly Ballistic, John Hall, JR, Jose Parla, Judith Supine, Kremen, Kuma, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Love Me, Martha Cooper, Matt Siren, Elle, Mika, Miss Me, Missy, MOMO, Mr. Toll, Nychos, Okuda, Alice Mizrachi, OLEK, Owen Dippie, Paolo Cirio, Paul Insect, Phetus, Phlegm, Revok, Pose, QRST, Rambo, Ramiro Davaro, Reka, Rene Gagnon, ROA, RONES, Rubin, bunny M, Square, Stikki Peaches, Stikman, Swoon, Tristan Eaton, The Lisa Project 2013, UFO 907, Willow, Swill, Zed1, and Zimer.

Read more about Banksy’s last day in New York here and our overview of his residency in the essay “Banksy’s Final Trick” on The Huffington Post.

 

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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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Welling Court 2013 Is a Blast, Was the Last

This was the last edition of Welling Court.

Or it will be if you don’t help.

Garrison and Alison Buxton have spent countless hours, elbow grease and their own money to make this huge non-commercial Welling Court Mural Project happen 4 years in a row – giving free walls to a few hundred artist during that time.

Cost to us: Zilch, Zero, Nada

Cultural workers extraordinaire with a Rolodex list as long as the banquet table at an Italian wedding, these two have given more Street Artists artists more free opportunities than a block full of GO-GO bars. Wait, that didn’t sound right. But you get our point.

If not, here’s the point: Go pledge 10 bucks or a hundred bucks to their fundraiser for all the fun and true community spirit they have brought people for the last four years.

And this means all the artists who have been helped too. Should we start naming names?

After you pledge some money to their Indiegogo come back here and enjoy brand new images of the 4th Annual Welling Court installation. It may be the last time. And then all we will have left are logo-smothered festivals sponsored by cool “urban” lifestyle brands, real estate agents, energy drinks, and/or the Chamber of Commerce and The Daughters of the Revolution.  Jeez that’ll be fun, won’t it?

Welling Court Mural Project

El Kamino (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Fekner . Don Leicht. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Welling Court Mural Project

John Fekner. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ND’A . Mataruda (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Foxx Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Toofly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Vexta at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vexta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Cupcake Guy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Icy & Sot at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS by:

Tweeting this:

Please Support #WellingCourtMuralProject on IndieGoGo http://bit.ly/1aNJXrH @AdHocArt

Pasting this on your FaceBook Wall:

Please Support #WellingCourtMuralProject on IndieGoGo http://bit.ly/1aNJXrH @AdHocArt

Sinned (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Ryan Seslow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

R. Robots (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Mike Fitzimmons at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mike Fitzimmons (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Kiji (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Queen Andrea (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Welling Court Mural Project

Chris . Veng . RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rusell King . Matt Siren (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

Magda Love (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roycer says, “You giving 10 bucks?” Abe Lincoln Jr. says, “WERD!” Royce Bannon . Abe Lincoln Jr. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For other images please see Images of the Week 6/06/13.

 

Please Donate to the Welling Court Mural Project

 

Previous 3 years on BSA:

Welling Court: A New York Mural Block Party Like No Other

Posted on June 27, 2012

Buxtons Bring “Welling Court 2″ to Queens, Artists and Scooters in Tow

Posted on June 28, 2011

Welling Up a Little? That’s the Street Art “Community” Feeling

Posted on May 24, 2010

 

Please TELL YOUR FRIENDS by:

Tweeting this:

Please Support #WellingCourtMuralProject on IndieGoGo http://bit.ly/1aNJXrH @AdHocArt

Pasting this on your FaceBook Wall:

Please Support #WellingCourtMuralProject on IndieGoGo http://bit.ly/1aNJXrH @AdHocArt

Thank you very much.

<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA<<>>><><<>BSA<<>>><<<>><><BSA

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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Joe Iurato Minimizes the Figures, Maximizes the Adventures

New Smaller Works Open Opportunities for Installation

Street Artist Joe Iurato is a creator, thinker, feeler, explorer. He is inspired and challenged by the world he lives in and with his work he often aims to inspire others with his observations and insights. For the last few years his stencil work has touched on themes relating to personal economics, a search for spirituality, and looking at life through the eyes of his little sons and their sense of discovery, enthusiasm and wonder.  Existential questions are Joe’s normal bailiwick, and he uses his figures to review the evidence gathered, sharing his conundrums openly with a public he won’t meet.

If one’s art practice is autobiographical, Joe’s is a series of life lessons. Recently the skater / climber / photographer / sommelier / philosopher began to take the large figures he once painted on walls and vastly reduced their size to make them mobile. The resulting display-like sculptures have led to many experiments including taking them with him into the woods, the park, atop tree stumps, in creeks, jumping fire hydrants, perched on roof ledges and fences.  In the same way his boys imagine themselves inside the trucks and other toys they play with, Joe’s action figures allow him to go on adventures with scale, his imagination, and memories along his path to adulthood. For those lucky to stumble on one, the adventure can be shared.

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We asked Joe if he could talk to BSA readers about his new experiments on the street and how he sees the experience. We thank him for sharing so openly and thoroughly.

The pieces I’ve been making are small, spray painted wood cutouts. No bigger than 15” in size. The subjects vary, but they’re all very personal – they sort of tell the story of my life in stages. From break dancing to skateboarding to rock climbing to becoming a father, all of these things have helped define my character. For me, it’s just about revisiting those moments in a way that’s familiar. I’ve always appreciated seeing architecture and nature in a different light. As a skater, the tar banks behind a local supermarket, a flight of stairs, a parking block, a drainage ditch, a handrail, a wall – they all present possibilities for interaction and fun in ways they weren’t intended to be used. Skaters see things differently, I think.

With a little creativity, the world becomes a playground. Same thing when I got into climbing. A rock isn’t placed there with a set of holds and a sign that says “climb me”. But to someone who loves to climb, movement shows itself in the face of that rock. You see a line – a way to get from down here to up there – and you begin to sequence the movements in your head. Suddenly it seems as though the rock was placed there for you. It’s an amazing feeling to unlock a sequence and climb. The mindset has also trickled down to the streets for some climbers, where buildings and other structures take place of rocks. Urban climbing.

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

I was the editor of a magazine that placed emphasis on this discipline. So I approach these tiny street pieces with the same pair of glasses as I did skating and as I do climbing. I try to see the possibilities for a larger picture within a smaller space: a puddle can become a lake, a small crack in a cement wall can become a magnificent climb, a curb or window ledge can fall away into a desperate void, a planter box can become a place for a child to play, and a shadow might be a tangible space for a few seconds a day. There’s no limit to the possibilities and I find myself more and more looking at the environment for ways to interact. The small pieces rely heavily on their surroundings to tell the story, and so I take a picture with my phone or camera from the vantage point I think works best.

I guess what I hear most is that the pieces won’t last. Unlike a painting on a wall, or even wheat-pastes and stickers, these just don’t have much longevity. Secured either by a dab of glue, maybe even a piece of tape, and if there’s writing involved, oftentimes it’s done with chalk – they might last a few hours, a few days, and in the rare exception I place them out of reach, maybe a few weeks. They’re taken by time or a passerby, without so much as leaving a mark. And then it’s gone. I’m not under any false impressions that these could be landmark pieces or anything.

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It doesn’t bother me that they’re fleeting. I got to do what I wanted to do, carried out my vision for the space, said what I wanted to say, and for the few that might have stumbled upon it during its life, maybe they had an experience they won’t forget. One of the elements that I love about doing these smaller pieces is the surprise factor. You might see it. You might not. If you do, though, it’s not something that grabbed you from across the street like a massive 40’ mural would. Chances are you caught it from the corner of your eye just a few feet away, and the connection made is intimate.

I’ve taken a little step back from doing large-scale pieces for time being. I have many reasons, but maybe mostly because this is where my heart’s at right now, and how I feel like expressing myself. I don’t feel like I should do massive sanctioned walls just to keep my name out there or because the opportunity’s presents itself. In a way, that’d be selfish. I always feel like I need to have a damn good reason, something to say, if I’m going to create a dialog with the street and the community. They deserve the honesty. And if I can’t give it to them on that scale, I’ll pass.

~ Joe Iurato

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

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