February 2009

Week in Images 02.22.09

Week in Images 02.22.09

We’ve been a little busy on that “Street Crush” KRAZEE-ness for a few weeks,

so we thought everyone should just take it easy, and not put up any work on the street until we could get back out there and take a look around. Well, that didn’t really work very well, did it? What the heck?

Specter

Remember your patriotism being questioned at every corner a couple years ago? Specter would like to continue the conversation apparently. (photo Jaime Rojo)

artzososhinshin

Don't know where Zoso is going with this, but Shin Shin is surrounding it with spring flowers (photo Jaime Rojo)

aakashnihalani1

Oh, you are like, such a square. I mean, like you are so square you are like a cube, or whatever. (Aakash Nihilahni) (photo Jaime Rojo)

aakashnihalani2

This was on a floor, which means it is probably destroyed by now. (Aakash Nihilahni) (photo Jaime Rojo)

blanco

Dreaming of Brownstones and affordable mortgages. (Blanco) (photo Jaime Rojo)

c215

I'm watching you. (c215) (photo Jaime Rojo)

chris

Someone needs a bib (Robots Will Kill) (photo Chris)

chris

The Amish Robot (Robots will Kill) (photo Chris)

chris
chris

All tied up (Chris from Robots Will Kill) (photo Jaime Rojo)

unknown

unknown (photo Jaime Rojo)

Ellis G.

Ellis G. (photo Jaime Rojo)

Gaia

Can't tell if he's petting it or snapping it's head off (Gaia) (photo Jaime Rojo)

General Howe

Obama and Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth at Arlington Cemetery - on a gravemarker covered with lace. (General Howe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Art Goons C215

Like my new Stoll? Filene's Basement of course! I know, PETA would probably have a fit, but it was 40% off. (Art Goons, C215) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Art Goons
Art Goons

Damn! Forgot my gloves! (Art Goons) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Haculla

Siiiiinnngggiin in the Rain, Just Singing -- In the Rain!! (Haculla) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent

I used to live in this apartment on the upper east side near Gracie Mansion, and sometimes at night a golf-ball sized cockroach would run across my bed and thump onto the hardwood floor and run away. I kid you not. (Hellbent) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Hope

Hope, expressed as a garish, heavy pyramid-like sculpture. (unknown) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster

Imminent Disaster (photo Jaime Rojo)

I want a Divorce
Keely

Keely (photo Jaime Rojo)

Keely

Keely (photo Jaime Rojo)

MBW

That famous kiss by two of our visionary leaders (MBW) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Momo

Momo (photo Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Afternoon

Sometimes the right hat can just MAKE the whole outfit. (Mr. Afternoon) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Sex

A temple to Sex. (photo Jaime Rojo)

Deeks and Stikman

Deeks and Stikman on a corroded wall (photo Jaime Rojo)

The Dude Company

The Dude Company honors Dr. King (photo Jaime Rojo)


Unknown

Bishop 203 (photo Jaime Rojo)

Unknown Collage
Veng

I know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Veng from Robots Will Kill) (photo Jaime Rojo)

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Rock On! Sticker Madness at Ad Hoc With Martha Cooper Going Postal

Long before Flickr was a Flicker in your daddy’s eye, Martha Cooper

was “all-borough” out on the streets and subways of New York with her camera capturing and documenting the legacy of graffiti images for future generations. A quarter century later, Ms. Cooper picked up her first digital camera and found it’s diminutive size and ease of use was perfect for capturing one of her new street loves, the postal sticker, in it’s multitude of incarnations.

*******************

On Friday night Ad Hoc Gallery hosted a lively show, party, and sticker fair to fete Martha and her new book “Going Postal”, the bound document that presents what she’s been snapping since 2002. To paraphrase Ms. Cooper, the book recognizes the aesthetics of the postal label and preserves the ephemeral form in print.

*******************

Lined up outside in the cold Bushwick night, the guests ranged from 7 to 77, the widest demographic we’ve ever seen at a show like this, attesting to the regard people have for sticker art as an art form, and, more likely, their regard for this strong proponent of the creative spirit, Martha Cooper.
Martha Cooper Basking in the Sticker Glow

Martha Cooper basking in the sticker glow (with family helping at the sticker table) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

The Crowd Stuck for Hours before Peeling Away

The Crowd Stuck for Hours before Peeling Off to the Afterparty (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Retrieving the newly dry stickers from the clothesline (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Retrieving the newly dry stickers from the clothesline (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Fans flipped through books to select their favorite (Kosbe) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Fans flipped through books to select their favorite (Kosbe) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

This troupe of art fans added a new energy to the night! (photo Steven P. Harrington)

This troupe of art fans added a new energy to the night! (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Tazz Red Nose says he's been on the scene since back the day (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Tazz Red Nose says he's been wreckin' stickers since way back in the day. This piece is a full size canvas tribute to two of his most popular characters. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

9 Panels like this

9 Panels like this with stickers dating back to 1990, were placed around the Ad Hoc gallery. Martha likes the way the two distinct disciplines of graff-styled lettering and street art have intersected on stickers. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Looking hard while posing for a pic. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Looking hard while posing for a pic. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Trading and giveaways between fans were happening all around (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Trading and giveaways between fans were happening all around (photo Steven P. Harrington)

A new giant bear by C.Damage (photo Steven P. Harrington)

A new bear by C.Damage (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Kosbe covers the options  (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Kosbe covers the options (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Blanco Explains Why BK is Down (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Blanco Explains Why BK is Down (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Dwell and One Unit win the award for most fanciful and otherworldly use of materials

Dwell and One Unit win the award for most fanciful and otherworldly use of materials on stickers. A small collection of their work incorporated wood patterned shelf-lining vinyl collage on postal labels. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Chris Stain pulls at your humanity with his depictions of our neighbors. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Chris Stain pulls at your humanity with his depictions of our neighbors. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Depoe had more colorful abstracts on canvas in the show. Here is one of his stickers. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Depoe had more colorful abstracts on canvas in the show. Here is one of his stickers. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Aiko bunny with splashes of paint (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Aiko bunny with splashes of paint (photo Steven P. Harrington)

PC? - This may stand for Prince Charming (photo Steven P. Harrington)

PC? - This may stand for Prince Charming (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Giving generously, Chris from Robots will kill prepared envelopes containing 3 stickers and a button for the show. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Giving generously, Chris from Robots will kill prepared envelopes containing 3 stickers and a button for the show. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Blanco obliterated a postal label completely (almost) to create these stencil tributes to Norman Rockwell. This one refers to

Blanco opaqued a postal label completely (almost) to create this stencil tribute to Norman Rockwell. This girl walks the red line - the original "The Problem We All Live With" by Norman Rockwell appeared in Look magazine in 1964, ten years after the Brown Vs. Board of Education decision and during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

James Brown Blanco

Hilarious tributes to the cassette tape, Blanco made multiple variations of this stencilled sticker and, with an actual typewriter, gave them labels, including MixTape groupings of old-skool jams, as well as iconic album titles like "in Utero" by Nirvana, and this one. (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Click here for “Going Postal” by Martha Cooper

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Crash and Daze at Ad Hoc

Image

CRASH & DAZE

May 15th through June 14th 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, May 15th 2009

A contemporary of Keith Haring and a modern-day master of this present day art form, Crash One shoots his metaphorical arrows into art galleries, subway cars and dizzying flashes across concrete walls. His is a lavish gift to the eyes and a statement in time and space that celebrates the movements and change of an ever changing world. His work is a direct descendant of the Roman wall-scribes but he has evolved this inherited gift back to its simplest form: “tagging,” leaving his name. Great artists sign their names on the paintings they leave behind, in this new/old incarnation the artist leaves just his name. A reduction of unadulterated form; or “refined” art.

Daze, aka Chris Ellis, began painting New York City subway trains, the canvas of choice for the serious graffiti artist, in the late 1970s. After moving from subway trains to gallery walls he has exhibited in Paris, Stockholm, Tokyo, Florence and many other cities around the world.

Ad Hoc

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First Splash from the “Street Crush” show

A Kisser-Packed Spectacular

Martha Cooper “Next I caught the L out to Greenpoint where Alphabeta was having a very cool (or should I say hot?) Valentine’s bash complete with a Kissing Booth and Strippers.”

Hrag Vartanian “Nothing like a blindfolded burlesque dancer twirling a hola-hoop in front of a wigless drag queen..

It’s kind of hard not to have fun when you are surrounded by art, artist, homies, kissers, and ladies with sequined tassles hanging from the ceiling.

Fun Valen-Times, a perfect street art/ graffitti marriage, and a mash-up of cultural influences swirling around that may not have happened since chocolate met peanut butter. No time to go into it all right now so here’s a few pics to sate your appetite.

But it is never too early to express a heartfelt Thank You to all the street artists, the burlesque performers, the djs, the projectionists, the electronic drummers, the kissing booth builder, the Kisser volunteers, and the family of Alphabeta.

Aiko (Detail)

"Girls Can Play" by Aiko (Detail)

Jes

Kissing Booth Happy; The show reflected in Jess's smile.

"Girl With No Thumbs" (Detail) by Broken Crow

"The Girl with No Thumbs" (Detail) by Broken Crow

Nasty Canasta and Mimi the Clown (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Nasty Canasta and Mimi the Clown (photo Steven P. Harrington)

"Wild In the Street" (detail) by Jef Aerosol

"Wild in the Streets" (detail) by Jef Aerosol

Jus

Kissing Booth Fun

ti

Tigger! and Madame Voulez-Vous debate the necessity of clothing.

s

"Sex Sells" (detail) by Royce Bannon

Harvest

Harvest Moon flies above the crowd (photo by Kat)

ti

"Mam'zlle de mon reve!!" (detail) by Titi from Paris

crowd

What did he just say? I can't look, but I can't stop staring.

Clams

Clams Casino Elegance

The gallery is open till the 28th!

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Jon Burgerman and Jim Avignon tonight at Factory Fresh

Anxiety Room is Open. Step on in.

Look what Ali and Ad locked up in their basement! Is this what they mean by Anxiety Room? All week Jon and Jim have been painting like mad men to get ready for this opening tonight. They are all very anxious and excited about the show, which will be full of brilliant characters no doubt (not just the guests).

Jon in a Blue Swirly Mood

Jon in a Blue Swirly Mood (photo DA Stover)

Jon in a Blue Swirly Mood (photo DA Stover)

"Um, when you are done with the pink can I borrow it?" (photo DA Stover)

Anxiety Room at Factory Fresh

And you can see a cool new animal sexy piece by Jon Burgerman in the “Street Crush” show.


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PMP’s Swollen Purple Headedness at “Street Crush”

Peripheral Media Projects, a screen print troupe of artists,

anchored in the ever-expanding artist empire of Bushwick, Brooklyn, favors the symbol and it’s implicative powers. With clip-art flat icons combined with photo realistic images and textbook illustration, the compositional elements continue to break apart and regroup with each new piece.

For the “Street Crush” show, PMP is raining bunnies like a spring shower over nascent Brooklyn flower beds, drenching the toxic soil with fresh acid rain. Holy Cannoli!, don’t those bunnies multiply? We don’t pretend to know what the rest is all about, why don’t you have a look. Look straight and steadily into my eyes…….

Peripheral

You Are Feeling Very Sleepy. "Purple Head" by Peripheral Media Projects for the "Street Crush" show

Peripheral Media Projects

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The Dirty Fabulous comes to Ad Hoc

TheDirtyFabulous

April 3rd through May 3rd 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, April 3rd, 7pm-10pm

TheDirtyFabulous was born in the year of the Dragon and travels the windblown highway of Interstate 40.

This body of work actually began in 1997 – in a small, run-down house on some wooded land. The place has since been deserted. Working in that place helped bring into focus the narratives I would continue to work with. Over the years, the work has been slowly accumulating. I see this as an ongoing project – a book of fables, with large paper drawings as pages. These drawings have no set sequence of images or reading. The word fable is derived from the Latin word fabula, meaning “story”. I repeatedly explore themes such as myth, psychology, philosophy, apparition of beauty, eroticism, machines of fate, human folly, nostalgia, mortality, history, consumer culture, industrialization, loss and regret. Imagery is used from many sources and typically a work is generated in response to readings or in reference to life experiences. I use nineteenth century mechanical relics, sequences from dreams, vintage pin-ups, scientific historical images, anatomy and nostalgic panoramas as symbolic references. Combined in the work, they allow for commentary, connection and invention on many topics and ideas.

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EKUNDAYO & JOSHUA CLAY at Ad Hoc

EKUNDAYO & JOSHUA CLAY

“Duality”

April 3rd through May 3rd 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, April 3rd, 7pm-10pm

EKUNDAYO

Ekundayo was born in Honolulu, HI, but spent most of his childhood moving from place to place with his father, living a life on the run. At the age of 13 Ekundayo discovered one of his uncle’s black books, which completely changed his life. Ekundayo became obsessed with drawing and copied every single page of that little book.

Ekundayo combines both subversive graffiti aesthetics in combination with art-historical erudition using acrylic, gouache, watercolor, ink and various carving techniques. Ekundayo’s work expresses the struggle of life and how those struggles and burdens can either inspire us to change in a constructive way or weigh us down by our own inability to change.

JOSHUA CLAY

Joshua Clay was always destined to become an artist, choosing pencil and paper over toys and technology. Throughout his high school years Clay found himself consumed by the act of painting creating over fifty original works and several large scale murals. Following college Joshua relocated to Los Angeles where he apprenticed under artist Blaine Fontana. In under 2 years of living and working as a fulltime fine artist Clay found himself immersed in the emerging Los Angeles new contemporary art movement.

With four successful solo exhibits and dozens of group exhibits under his belt, Clay has been busy making quite a name for himself. In addition to having his work featured in several books and magazines in recent years, Clay has also caught the attention of the music industry creating artwork for bands including Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park, Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy. Joshua Clay is sure to be a name you’ll be seeing again.

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Posterboy at Eastern District

PosterBoy “AdBooster” presented by PublicAdCampaign

April 3rd – April 26th
Opening Reception 7-10pm Friday April 3rd 2009
43 Bogart Street, Brooklyn, NY
PosterBoy
www.publicadcampaign.com Street Art and and vandalism have never been paired so eloquently as they are when PosterBoy gets out his razor. Through a simple act of civil disobedience, this work challenges our intense relationship with outdoor advertising in the city. It proposes new ways of interacting with your public environment and challenges notions of public and private space. Out of the work comes a dialogue which is sometimes political, sometimes humorous, and always a perspective shifting moment of communication.

By bringing outdoor advertising into the gallery, this installation will attempt to discuss the appropriation of public space by outdoor advertising from within the gallery walls. The artist, having more time to construct the imagery will engage a more intense dialogue with both the advertisement and the viewer. By physically altering the medium of outdoor media, the PosterBoy movement critiques both the content and the dissemination methods currently overwhelimg our collective consciousness. Ultimately what starts as an act of social unrest becomes a reimagination of the spaces we all occupy and a vision of a different shared public environment.

Over the past year PosterBoy has brought his critique of advertising and public space use to the streets of New York City with prolific force. Eastern-District is proud to bring you his first solo exhibition, including a large scale installation by the artist as well as prints of his now famous subway installations.

Posterboy and Aakash Nihalani

Posterboy and Aakash Nihalani (photo Steven P. Harrington)

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Matt Siren and Lee Holin at “Street Crush”

Ghost Girl is a perfect amalgam of the perfect girl for Matt Siren.

Long hours playing Pacman as a kid seered her ghostly shape into his retina. Long hours sitting in the pew at Catholic church in Queens staring at the rosary produced the stylized Keltic Cross barrette in her perfectly combed hair. Her prim reserve and Japanime styling probably folds into that Catholic upbringing too, but let’s not all be armchair psychoanalysts! Or am I projecting?

You’ll find Ghost Girl nested into pieces by Matt, even when the topic is something else, or when he is collaborating.  He likes collaborating with artist to see what is produced by the collision of styles, and usually is really stoked by the results.  His show at Woodward Gallery with Dark Clouds last year featured multiple collaborations with a number of street artists (see a nice post on C-Monster from that show).  A designer at heart, Matt has produced clean boyant posters for bands and burlesque shows.

For the “Street Crush” show at Alphabeta this Friday, Matt is collaborating with artist Lee Holin, who favors portraits of friends in his work – first photographing their image and then painting it.  “Skinny Drip”, their piece together, features one of these black and white images with silver screen print of Matt’s newest character (the Skull Mistress) masking out part of Holin’s model.  And of course, nestled into the text at the bottom you see 4 little red “Ghost Girls”. Perfect!

"Skinny Drip" by Matt Siren and Lee Holin (for "Street Crush" show)

"Skinny Drip" by Matt Siren and Lee Holin (for "Street Crush" show)

STREET CRUSH is a BEST BET in New York Magazine this week.

Matt Siren’s Site

Woodward Gallery

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