July 2009

A few more pics from Chris Stain & Armsrock

Okay, there is love, most def.

And a lot of it is flowing toward these two artists, no doubt, who have always shown love for the dispossessed, working class, out-of-work, marginalized “everyman” and “everywoman” with their human depictions.  In these times when we are shedding jobs and waiting to see how far down the bottom is, maybe that’s why this show (one week from now) is striking a deep chord already.  Instead of emailing pics to all the fans, we’re posting them here.

(photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

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(photo Jaime Rojo)

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New Mural by Chris Stain and Armsrock!

Under cover of darkness, a beacon’s hopeful signal

(photo Jaime Rojo)

Childhood reverie before the sun breaks (photo Jaime Rojo)

In preparation for their upcoming collaboration at Ad Hoc in Bushwick next week, Armsrock and Chris Stain sailed deep into the night near Brooklyn’s massive Navy Yard, hoisting up ladders to put up a large mural stirring the contemplative inner currents of child’s play entitled “I Know There Is Love”.

(photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

Using projections of their original work as well as improvised “chalk drawings”, the storytelling includes two tadpole-aged lads and a small harbor of imaginary vessels. In it one instantly escapes to a freer time of discovery when multiple dreams were easily set afloat.

(photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

As if a reaction to the rough and salty seas of daily life in New York for many, the street artist co-captains hang a huge banner across the mast of this ship to announce that it is possible to right the bow and head toward hope.

Proclaiming hope in the face of adversity (photo Jaime Rojo)
A proclamation in the face of adversity (photo Jaime Rojo)

More pics and detail of this installation to follow in the next few days.

Ad Hoc

“I Know There Is Love” Show

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Dennis McNett: “WolfBat”

2009 is “Year of the Wolfbat” for printmaster from Brooklyn

Quicker than a tiger at your jugular, Dennis McNett has a brief show in LA  (Aug 8/9 at ThinkSpace) with some of his amazing friends from the Wild Kingdom. Sometimes known on the street as McMutt, if you have ever passed one of his ferocious creatures you know how starkly impressive they can be, full of movement and threat.

A professor of printmaking at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute, in the past year his own gallery work has begun to pile up and layer the incisors to great effect. Recently at the Willoughby Windows installation on the street in downtown Brooklyn, McNett pulled ahead of the feral pack with a knarly and strident geometry of line and pattern – punching some of his existing icons by multiplying them in an unexpected and beautiful way.

And you will know them by their teeth.  (Dennis McNett courtesy ThinkSpace)
And you will know them by their teeth. (Dennis McNett courtesy ThinkSpace)

Sneak Peek of ‘Year of the Wolfbat’

His recent show in San Francisco at the FecalFace Gallery and a great interview

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Creative Commons License photo credit: urban_data

Dennis McNett (McMutt) at Eastern District last month in Bushwick (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Dennis McNett (McMutt) at Eastern District last month in Bushwick (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Check the flickrness for better shots of this amazing installation (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Check the flickrness for better shots of this amazing installation at Willoughby Windows (photo Steven P. Harrington)

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Images of Week 07.26.09

Our weekly Interview with the Streets

Braia
J’regarde…(Braia) (photo Jaime Rojo)

El Celso
Natural beauty in the land of beast. (El Celso) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Chris RWK
Break on through to the other side! (Chris RWK) (photo Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25
The point we’d like to make is.. (El Sol 25) (photo Jaime Rojo)

MJ Tribute
MJ Tribute  (Reb 1501) (photo Jaime Rojo)

MJ Tribute
MJ Tribute in a box (Reb 1501) (photo Jaime Rojo)

MJ Tribute
MJ Tribute (Reb 1501) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Putin
Putin looks across with suspicion  (Pi) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Ay Chihuahua! QRST
Ay Chihuahua! (QRST) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Red Nose
That’s it, don’t even tell me. I’m not listening.  (Red Nose) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Artillery
Sing a song, make Bed Sty sing along. (Artillery) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Momo
(Momo)(photo Jaime Rojo)

NohJColey
4 handed shiva rusting to the door (NohJColey) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Rob 1501
Right son I totally dig those cats (Reb 1501) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Skewville
Now, how is this related to supply-side economics? (Skewville) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe
When nature calls… (Elbow Toe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

MJ Tribute
MJ Tribute (Buckler) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Passenger Pigeon and NohJColey
(Passenger Pigeon and NohJColey) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Point Blank
Point Blank (photo Jaime Rojo)

WK Interact
Motion picture. (WK Interact) (photo Jaime Rojo)

x

"Propero" (Specter) (photo Jaime Rojo)

xx

Sho Shin and friend (Specter) (photo Jaime Rojo)

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Chris Stain Honoring Workers One Piece at a Time

Chris Stain Honoring Workers One Piece at a Time

Street Artist Chris Stain talks about his mural last weekend in Albany, and the people who he honors with his work.

After a stint of screen printing with friends in Philadelphia, Chris Stain hopped the train this weekend up the mighty Hudson River to NY’s state capital, whereupon he put up a blue-collar mural.

The stencil-like imagery of two guys you think you know, is a style Stain has been mining since he began in the late nineties; and so it is topically. Time and again he features the very people who keep the wheels of society turning yet who are finding themselves getting pinned under those same wheels, the workers.

S

The warehouse had a number of setbacks and planes to negotiate to cover it’s entire side.  (photo Chris Stain)

Ironically, at a time when the workers’ plight get Foxily attacked, glossed over, and dismissed in the mass media, it takes a street artist using a much older medium to restore their voices.  Chris proudly points out that these are the people he grew up around, and he has a special affinity for their lives and a respect for their contribution.

Brooklyn Street Art: Who’s the 518 posse who asked you put of this piece?

Chris Stain: 518 Prints was founded by Jesse Brust, Don Naylor, and Justin Louden. I had worked with them over the years at Equal Vision Records. They put their heads together and started their own shop in the basement of Jesse’s house just about the time I made the move down to the City about 3 years ago.

The shop has flourished, printing mostly merch for touring hardcore bands on everything from basketball jerseys to short shorts. They now run a full shop with several employees, automatic and manual printing equipment, a warehouse and an online merch store for bands. I was asked to come up and paint the building they have taken over.

Brooklyn Street Art: The mural is huge; did you have any help?

Chris Stain: Jesse provided the ladders, paint, food, and space.  I started painting around 8:30 pm and finished about 2:30am. I set up my projector and went for it. The piece itself is about 30 ft wide by 14 ft high. It was a nice night. They had a bonfire going, a BBQ, and a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen in a minute.

Brooklyn Street Art: These images, which appear often in your work, look like working folk we see every day.

Chris Stain: Many of the images I choose have some relation to my upbringing;  whether they’re working class or inner-city, it all stems from growing up in Baltimore. I find myself drawn again and again to the subject matter. I cant seem to shake it but don’t find a reason to right now.

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

Now Chris is back in Brooklyn and feverishly preparing for a much-anticipated collaboration at Ad Hoc Gallery, where he is paired with a kindred soul in street art, Armsrock.  The two are preparing “I Know There is Love”, based on the lyrics of a song the same name by the 70’s punk band Crass.

A Return to the Simplicity of All Things

“A Return to the Simplicity of All Things” a very recent piece by Armsrock (image courtesy the artist)

A better pairing of styles may not happen for a while – both artists use the humanity of their subjects, unpolished and unassuming, to reflect back at us the state of our condition (or is that the condition of our state?)

[AUGUST72009frontfinal.jpg]
Stay tuned to BSA for exciting developments en route to the show!
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Good Day for B-ball in BK with WK.

Don’t veg with komputor all day!  Get outside!  Full court press!

Shoot some hoops with WK Interact and if you are in the neighborhood, catch his new work at Jonathan Levine, still up until Saturday (the 25th).

This video is from a few minutes ago, but it is so hot – showing the movement and violent splashes of paint that Mr. Interact is all about.  Oh, yeah, and there is that Kobe guy on it too.

Jonathan Levine Gallery

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Brooklyn! We Golf Hard!

Brooklyn! We Golf Hard!

INSERT GOLF METAPHOR HERE

Skewville Helps the Community by Participating in “The Putting Lot”

I have no pigging idea what real golf is like – it seems so snoozy and upper crusty and I don’t have any polo shirts or Dockers.  At a recent BBQ this guy Uly told us about Disc-golf, which he said involves frisbees, buckets, doobies and hippies/rednecks.  Sounds like my family reunion. Kidding! There are no buckets at the family reunion.

I can see your true colors shining through. And that's why I love you.

I can see your true colors shining through. And that’s why I love you.

Anyhoo, today we are talking about Mini-golf in industrial Bushwick, which doesn’t sound like it would be too hard to master and you don’t have to know about Bogeys or being On Par.

Walk right in!

They call it “The Putting Lot” and it’s sincerely and educationally constructed in an empty lot, and may be the first real addition of greenspace for the citizens of Bushwick since before Jay-Z was playing stickball.

The landlord of the lot is letting these people create a golf course on his property this summer because they seem like such nice earnest kids. Anyway it’s not like they’re a bunch of metal-heads or hip-hop thugs or graffiti artists or anything.  Ha-HA!  Just checking to see if you are still reading.

A family plays the course on 4th of July.

Little do they know, two of the most nefarious street artists, Skewville, have infiltrated their high-minded community-awareness-raising project and have constructed a pitch-perfect 3-D Skewville environment for hooligans – where else- in the back of the lot.

Oh, sure, they LOOK like they're up to nothing.

Oh, sure, they LOOK like they are up to nothing.

Gabriel Fries-Brigg, one of the Putting Lot organizers, gave us a little tour of the Green greens.

Brooklyn Street Art: What’s the big idea behind this little golf course?

Gabriel Fries-Briggs: The Putting Lot is all about trying to combat the lack of affordable recreation and general lack of recreation in New York City. The theme of the course is ‘urban sustainability’, but to us, fun is an essential part of making neighborhoods sustainable. In Brooklyn, where The Putting Lot is located there are also countless artists doing amazing work. A lot of that work goes unseen or unappreciated. We wanted to create a forum where people would literally get into the art, walk through it, think about it, and enjoy it.

Brooklyn Street Art: Why did you pick Bushwick as a location for this?

Gabriel Fries-Briggs: We chose Bushwick for a range of reasons. The first being mostly selfish, many of the volunteers that started “The Putting Lot” live in Bushwick and we wanted to put recreation near our homes.  Bushwick is also lacking in recreational options more than many neighborhoods, especially for kids.

Gorgeous Green Bushwick is a leafy paradise for kids in the summer.

Gorgeous Green Bushwick is a leafy paradise for kids in the summer.

Beyond that, the industrial nature of Bushwick is rapidly changing and vacant spaces are both plentiful and crucial to the neighborhood’s evolution. Vacant spaces are often places where developers, neighbors, and city workers come into conflict, but they can also be rich places for residents to imagine what they would like to see in the city. The conversion of spaces to different uses will have a big impact on Bushwick as a neighborhood. The Putting Lot proposes one use for these spaces and suggests the possibility of many more.

Building a better future for Bushwick (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Building a better future for Bushwick (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Brooklyn Street Art: How does it compare to the competition like Six Flags?

Gabriel Fries-Briggs: We won’t make you throw-up. Plus, you can hop on the L-train and be at The Putting Lot in minutes. The most important distinction might be that The Putting Lot was designed and built by Brooklyn artists. You don’t need to go ride a batman-themed rollercoaster to get your fix of fun in the summer. The Putting Lot lets visitors interact with the ideas and work of their local arts community.

Brooklyn Street Art: Are there any water slides?

Gabriel Fries-Briggs: Hole #3 has an extremely-tricky water hazard. It doesn’t make the hole any easier to play when people add to the obstacles by getting in their swim-suit and hanging out in the water, as happens on occasion.

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Playing in the gutter is not usually recommended.

Brooklyn Street Art: Who designed the various holes?

Gabriel Fries-Briggs: The Putting Lot issued a call for submissions in the spring and selected the 9-holes out of the sumbission pool. It’s an incredibly diverse course and group of people. Designers include gallery artists, art collectives, street artists, urban planners, engineers, architects, bike enthusiasts and students.

Should naseau or light-headedness occur while golfing on this hole, bottles of Peptol-Bismol are handy.

Should nausea or light-headedness occur while golfing on this hole, bottles of Peptol-Bismol are handy.

Brooklyn Street Art: What about those Skewville jokers?  Did they give you any trouble?

Gabriel Fries-Briggs: Skewville made hole #6, aka The Bushwick Art Mart. The only trouble they cause is that their hole tends to back up now and then as people like to linger because it’s so much fun. I have to admit though, during the construction process of The Putting Lot I never knew what Skewville was going to build next. Watching their hole come together was a constant surprise. One day they’d be hanging a huge awning, the next day they’d be installing construction barriers. It wasn’t until just before we opened that they brought in the last of the suprises and we were blown away, it looks amazing.

Hole number 6 by Skewville.

Hole number 6 by Skewville.

Brooklyn Street Art: What do you think of street art?

Gabriel Fries-Briggs: Take the Skewville hole for example, the front of the art bodega is periodically painted over by different street artists. It’s the only hole that has continued to evolve since the opening of The Putting Lot. While there are so many reasons to respect street artists, this is one that I love best-that street art is a constantly evolving and changing form. Something you love today might not be there tomorrow. The Putting Lot itself is a temporary project. We encourage visitors to draw on pictures we have of the lot when it was empty and imagine what might be put in the space when we are gone in the fall. Street art has this quality that we try to emulate; always adapting based on the community around it.

Bring on the flava!

Bring on the flava!

All images courtesy of The Putting Lot unless otherwise noted.
The Putting Lot
12 Wyckoff Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11237
(Take the L train to Jefferson Street)Hours of Operation:
Wednesday-Friday, 12pm to 8pm
Saturday and Sunday, 10am to 8pm

Cost: Adults: $5, Children (ages 12 and under): $3

Email: info@theputtinglot.org

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Mom and Popism, Curated by Billi Kid, Street Artists and Graffiti Artists collaborate with James and Karla Murray

MOM & POPism, an exhibition curated by Billi Kid reinterpreting James and Karla Murray’s latest book

Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York,

in unique collaboration with many of today’s hottest graffiti and street artists.

August 15, 2009

12 noon to 4 pm

210 Elizabeth Street, 4th Floor
Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York is a breathtaking visual guide to New York City’s cultural heritage, with special emphasis on the historic streets and ethnic shops that have defined its many neighborhoods. Meticulously photographed, its powerful images of time-worn institutions will be printed at close to life-size scale and installed on the Gawker Media roof, becoming canvases on which select graffiti and street artists are invited to leave their indelible marks. The result will be a unique impression of a New York City that seems to be fading with each passing day. Our cultural and economic landscape will be called into question, the role of art, particularly graffiti and street art, will be subject to reinterpretation.

Curated by Billi Kid, MOM & POPism brings together graffiti and street artists to create new artworks on top of the Murray’s photographs. The collaborating graffiti and street artists represent some of the most notable artists in the street art community and the media at large.  These include Blanco,  Buildmore, Cake,  Celso, Cern, Chris  (RWK), Crome, Cycle, David Cooper, Destroy & Rebuild, Enamel Kingdom, Goldenstash, Infinity, Kngee, Lady Pink, Matt Siren, Morgan Thomas, Peru Ana Ana Peru, Plasma Slugs, Royce  Bannon, Shai R. Dahan, Shiro, The Dude Company, Tikcy, Under Water Pirates, Veng (RWK), Zoltron and Billi Kid.

MOM & POPism will be open to public on Saturday, August 15th from noon to 4 p.m. Additional exhibition viewings are available by appointment throughout August.

MOM & POPism Public Viewing Invite.jpg

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Images of Week 07.19.09

Images of Week 07.19.09

Our weekly interview with the streets

Follow the Money
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
Its all about the benjamins baby
Uhh, uh-huh, yeah
Its all about the benjamins baby (photo Jaime Rojo)

Rose

A Rose on a bridge beam (photo Jaime Rojo)

Space Invader

Space Invader (photo Jaime Rojo)

Specter
Does this remind you of those cheap home-office printers you go through because they make them to last about a week and a half now?  (Specter) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Connor Harrington

(Connor Harrington) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Stop or I shot! Connor Harrington

Stop or I shoot! (Connor Harrington) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Dissed Nine

Do you love KH1? (Nine) (photo Jaime Rojo)

MBW Tian HomeTown HiFI
MBW, Tian, HomeTown HiFI (photo Jaime Rojo)

MBW
Who knew he would turn out to be a cross-dresser? (MBW) (photo Jaime Rojo)

MBW
Oops, you may want to wax that. (MBW) (photo Jaime Rojo)

MBW

Door to door salesman (MBW) (photo Jaime Rojo)

NINE

(NINE) (photo Jaime Rojo)

NINE

Shin Shin Stickman
Shin Shin, infinity, Stickman (photo Jaime Rojo)

Shin Shin
Bees near the entrance of the hive. (Shin Shin) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Sweet-Toof-Mobile eyeballing the girls in their summer shorts (Sweet Toof) (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Sweet-Toof-Mobile eyeballing the girls in their summer shorts (Sweet Toof) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Space Invader
You, that’s the bomb! (Space Invader) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Stickman
“The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths”, so sayeth the Stikman (Stikman) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Tian MBW
Everybody knows that Einstein dude is just a total hippie. (Tian, MBW, DickChicken) (photo Jaime Rojo)

)Elbow Toe "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?"
Perfectly balanced. (Elbow Toe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe "Kin"
These three homeys are spreading the good word. (Elbow Toe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe
Under the ever-watchful and wise eye (Elbow Toe) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Revs
Revs on the East River with Mad-hatten in the back (photo Jaime Rojo)

WK Motion Picture
WK Interactive motion portrait (photo Jaime Rojo)

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