July 2010

Fun Friday 07.30.10

Fun-Friday
Fun Friday 07.30.10 on BrooklynStreetArt.com

Last Chance to see “Radiant Child” Movie this Weekend at Film Forum

A gem of a film, isn’t that what those old timey movie reviewers used to say?  The previously unseen footage of Basquiat shot by his friend Tamra Davis in his studio is probably the most revealing about his short personal history, his meteoric rise, and wild free child within. Less illuminating is some of the self- aggrandizing by those who now lay claim to his history. Equally it is an indictment of a society dealing with it’s legacy of racism, and the misplaced value given to critics with personal agendas. Nonetheless most viewers will understand intuitively the work for what it is and focus on the Brooklyn guy who made it cool to be outside.

Jef Aerosol

Jef Aerosol doing a tribute to Basquiat in Brooklyn earlier this year (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Pablo Pedro this Saturday at Pandemic

“Fuck Don Pablo Pedro” is the second solo show for this talented Bushwick painter tomorrow and is sure to be fun, colorful, libidinous, and nauseating.  Pandemic Gallery

Don Pablo Pedro Poster (© Jaime Rojo)
Don Pablo Pedro Poster (© Jaime Rojo)

Faile in Lisbon (Video)

Brooklyn Street Art duo Faile recently took their sculptural installations to an earlier classical period of the Biennial Portugal Arte 10. The pop culture influences are re-contextualized, as they say….

Electric Windows Tomorrow in Beacon New York

Take the Metro North about an hour up the Hudson to see 30 Street Artists painting live. Is there more to say?

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Read about Electric Windows HERE.

A book signing of “Street Art New York” by Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington will be in the Open Space Gallery from 2 pm to 3 pm.

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Buxtonia at “Electric Windows”, Ad Hoc in the House

Garrison and Alison Buxton, known together as Buxtonia, continue to carry the spirit of Ad Hoc wherever they are. See them at Electric Windows Saturday. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Garrison and Alison Buxton, known together as Buxtonia, continue to carry the spirit of Ad Hoc wherever they are. See them at “Electric Windows” Saturday. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Among the many street artists flooding into Beacon for Electric Windows on Saturday will be a couple almost all of them know for their dedication to building and maintaining the community. Godparents to a street art gallery/collective/community in Bushwick, Brooklyn at a crucial time for Street Art in the mid 2000’s, Garrison and Alison Buxton are now on the road across the country 6 months a year continuing their collaboration with the Street Art community.  It was a good five year run at Ad Hoc, the gallery, which officially closed late last year, having given many a street artist their first show while creating a sense of connectedness between Street Artists, Graff writers, photographers, screen printers, and social activists who all responded to the high vibrational pull Alison and Garrison created.

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For the For the Buxton’s it was never about the hype. She’s full of industry and energy and organizing, while he’s full of a youthful wonder about life and loves to talk with you about social/spiritual movements. Together they have traveled a lot in the last 9 months across the States participating in art shows, re-connecting with friends, teaching screen printing, painting walls, organizing exhibitions, and discussing plans for a sustainable living project at their Vermont farmhouse, an old Buxton family homestead from the 17 & 1800′s.  Amazingly, the Buxtons have recently learned that their old homestead was also where one of their favorite modern art forms, screen printing, was brought to life by a man named Harry Shokler, who lived and worked at the home & studio for over 40 years.  Shokler is referred to as father of contemporary screen printing, a seminal figure in bringing screen printing from the world of industrial application to being accepted and recognized as a distinct fine art form. When you speak with either one of them for more than a few minutes you’ll learn they both sincerely believe we are here to share, learn, and teach lessons to each other and that now is time to do so.

Saturday Garrison and Alison will be making art at Electric Windows, and talking to friends about how to bring about the better world that is possible.

Brooklyn Street Art: How long has Buxtonia been working as an entity?
Garrison Buxton: I actually used Buxtonia as the title of my first website in like 2002/3.  Alison and I have referred to it as a state-of-being for years, with our first Buxtonia mural manifesting in Peru in 2008.  It has been coming into being for a while now and it seemed natural that we start referring to the works we did together as such.  We did Buxtonia murals with Broken Crow in Minnesota in 2009, and with NOLA Rising in New Orleans in 2010.

Unified Love Movement, by BuxtoniaThe installation for Unified Love Movement included a structure that arched in four directions and cast light from the center that emulated the patterns in their paintings on the ceiling. (Buxtonia)

Our first gallery work that I currently recall using Buxtonia was in October 2009 for an installation we did in Oklahoma called:
Buxtonia {Garrison & Alison Buxton}, Unified Love Movement

 

Installation from "Unified Love Movement" by Buxtonia, a commentary on belief systems, beauty, and global awareness of spiritual themes.

Installation from “Unified Love Movement” by Buxtonia, a meditation and commentary on the worlds’ major belief systems, their interconnectedness, and a global awareness of spiritual themes.

 

BSA: Your work is layered and multi-dimensional – can you describe a typical process you two go through in creating a piece?
Garrison Buxton: Firstly, we come up with what the vision of the piece is, laying out and building the compositional aspects like imagery, arrangement, aesthetic, layers, and forms.  After we have that in mind, then comes breaking it back down to the base and working up each of the aspects.  Construction, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, on and on…  After priming, we start out with washes and/or gradients to unify the background, then we build out light & dark areas based on the piece’s color palette.  Once the background is built up, we then use layers of stencils to create textures and develop areas of light & pattern.  We incorporate screen printing as well, either directly on the surface or via collage.  Using hand painting and drawing helps to bring in the upper layers.  Certain aspects are predetermined, like a border design, but building up the stencils and textures is a very participatory and engaged process.  The action of assembling the pieces to the puzzle encourages reflection, dialogue, and feedback.  It is a dialogue with all of us, humans, materials, and the voice of the work.  We change with each other.  Every piece is that moment’s exploration into human interaction and relationship.

A mechanized hand combines industrial revolutionary diagrammatic style with a surreal quality of modern possibility. From a mural done with NOLA Rising (Buxtonia)

“Resistance is Fertile”; a mechanized hand combines industrial revolutionary diagrammatic style with a surreal zeal of modern possibility. The piece repositions the struggle of the worker in a future context. From a mural done with NOLA Rising (Buxtonia)

BSA: Where do you draw upon for inspiration thematically?
Garrison Buxton: The core of it for me would be that we are all part of the same thing, the singularity and inherent oneness of existence.  Until we truly get that, we are not making real progress.  There is a lot of misery being generated by the intention of a select minority on this planet enabled by the masses of under-informed.  Most days, the urgency of our times inspires me to maintain a sense of peace in a world run by sociopaths gone utterly mad.  I have a hard time believing that we are destined to go out this way, like a stupid rampaging beast, smashing to bits anything and everything in our path as we careen over the cliff.  Another world is possible in every instant.  The power to share, to contribute, to change is abundant and always around us.

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BSA: For both Willoughby Windows in Brooklyn and Welling Court Queens also participated as artists. What about being in these group shows is gratifying to you?
Garrison Buxton: Bringing creativity and beauty to people directly is very fulfilling.  It is one of the most unfiltered ways to bring art to a culture largely starved of non-corporate, non-advertising-generated media.  One of the fundamental aspects of street art is the democratization of public space.  Maybe it is all an illusion, but it is fulfilling to believe in the power of art to create, inspire, and plant seeds of observation as well as shared experience.  People relating to one another is what will get us to the other side.  People fearing one another will not.  Relating comes when people take the time to simply do it, relate.  Seeing the direct results of these art projects has been profound and definitely inspires us to keep taking things to the next level.  The bonds that result from bringing generations of different peoples together for a celebration of the human experience are so strong.  Together we can do amazing things.  I have seen it.

BSA: What are you planning to show the people at the Electric Windows show?
Garrison Buxton: We have been working with a figure, Metatron, for a while now.  Metatron is typically depicted as a eye with wings.  The Electric Windows piece is going to have a small flock of Metatrons flying up on the horizon with rays and shapes of light emerging from behind.

Is the loosest of senses, Metatron is the messenger of the divine, translating the beyond-human transmissions to be human-comprehensive.  I believe we are all Metatrons, our own divine messengers, and that we all transmit this divine information to our selves and each other.  When we are still and listen to that part of us that existed before we can remember existing, the knowledge we seek is there.  We are all self contained enlightenment, divinity, god, whatever you want to call it.  How to illustrate that is the never ending pursuit.  It has become important for us to focus on sending positive transmissions. We aim to send a net positive charge into the matrix.  The grid is cracking.  It needs all of our help.  This piece depicts the strength of coming together and building something with a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

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BSA: How has your life changed for both of you since leaving Ad Hoc?
Garrison Buxton: For clarity’s sake, we never left Ad Hoc, as Ad Hoc Art still exists as an entity and we are still doing art events and projects like the previously mentioned Willoughby Windows and Welling Court projects as well as currently featuring many AHA artists with us in a screen printing project at SummerStage in Central Park through September.  The mission of Ad Hoc Art is to promote awesome work made by badass human beings.  We’ll keep doing that as long as we can, in myriad manifestations, which is the method to the madness.  On the front burner is a fall/winter tour where we will be working with artists across the country, many of which we worked with at Ad Hoc, as well as artists we have worked with since then.

So, I’m assuming that you are referring to how have our lives changed since moving out of Bogart St, yes?  That question is an expansive one, so many changes happening in so many ways.  Like any era in a relationship coming to a close, it is largely in how one perceives it. Boiling it down, there are times we’re missing the great times, all the magic; we’d wish we were still making a difference in the Bushwick hood and wonder if there were somehow an angle we didn’t think of that could have kept the hull together.  Then we quickly remember how working 18 hour days for years takes it toll, how there were days of stress and frustration, and how five years flew by in the blink of an eye and I hadn’t seen some good friends in years.  Overall, we are much healthier and happier and realize we are blessed to have the opportunities that we have and don’t look back.  There is so much to be accomplished now, more so than ever.  We are still working crazy hours, but in a way that serves us better and is sane.  We are operating at a more tenable, sustainable pace, training and running with a marathon mindset for a race of enduring as opposed to the frenetic burst of the 100 yard dash.  Short term focus will not get us to the other side.  Thinking beyond ourselves will get us there.

Some things we are loving: working our own creative endeavors/projects; less daily stress; the ability to be more dynamic and mobile (we’ll be on the road about six months of the next year, taking art love coast to coast and doing projects with people in places we never had time to visit before); more time to be human; & more time to work on altruistic projects.  Basically, we have a lot more time to take care of ourselves, spiritually, mentally, and physically.  As everything emanates from within, if the core is not stable, all that comes out contains that fundamental lack of stability.  In taking time to be, we saw an immediate and direct positive return which correlates directly with overall happiness.

BSA: Any advice for people who are planning to go to Beacon for the show?
Garrison Buxton: Bring sunscreen and drink lots of water.  Beacon is a nice lil’ town and the show is going to be awesome event.  Open Space again delivers a solid roster of fun.  We are excited to be working with some of our favorite partners in crime and a whole slew of new peoples.  Plan on staying late Saturday night if you like to dance.  Bring clothes if you’d like to have them printed.  We are going to be screen printing live and dropping some brand new images that Saturday.

We love you.

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Electric Windows will feature Buxtonia, BoogieRez, Chris Stain, Depoe, Elbow Toe, Mr Kiji, Michael De Feo, Peat Wollaeger, Rick Price, Ron English, Big Foot, Cern, Chor Boogie, Chris Yormick, Elia Gurna, Erick Otto, Eugene Good, Faust, Gaia, Joe Iurato, Kid Zoom, Logan Hicks, Lotem & Aviv, Paper Monster, Ryan Bubnis, Ryan Williams, Skewville, and Thundercut

A book signing of “Street Art New York” by Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington will be in the Open Space Gallery from 2 pm to 3 pm.

Some things we are missing: seeing all the wonderful people that were a part of our Bogart St. existence, from the daily regulars to the stroll-ins showing up from all over the world to check out what was going on; all the wonderful things that can happen with having a space, like supporting and fostering community, facilitating people relating with one another, and providing a platform for diverse creative forms to manifest.  It was a true pleasure to see all of the things that came out of having that space, a true nugget of fun, and a moment in time I wouldn’t trade for anything.  We learned so much and met so many phenomenal people from all walks of life.  Literally a life altering experience.

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Fifty24SF Gallery Presents: Pez and Joshua Blank “You Can’t Win” (San Francisco, CA)

Fifty24SF Gallery

"You Can't Win" Image Courtsy of the Gallery

"You Can't Win" Image Courtsy of the Gallery

For Immediate Release
July 26th, 2010

FIFTY24SF GALLERY PRESENTS:
“You Can’t Win”
by PEZ AND JOSHUA BLANK

FIFTY24SF Gallery present’s “You Can’t Win” by PEZ and Joshua Blank, featuring collaborative works and zines by both artists. The title of the show, “You Can’t Win,” has roots in the year 2001 when PEZ and Joshua lived in San Francisco and collaborated on a zine by the same name. Both owned very little more than their bicycles and cameras and would set off on adventures with marginal characters in hopes of making and finding the inspiration for art; and the zine itself became a part of this adventure. Documenting tragic, erotic and peculiar situations, this culminated in the “You Can’t Win” zine. In 2004, Joshua moved to New York City to pursue fashion photography, and the zine lost momentum. After individually refining their talents and pursuing photography zines on their own, PEZ and Joshua’s reconvened in San Francisco last year, and this show marks the revival.

Although the work that PEZ and Joshua were accomplishing during 2001 went largely un-noticed, in retrospect the immediacy and relevancy of what they were doing is easily evident. Their work, unbeknownst to them, played an integral part in the larger graffiti movement of the past 25 years and has been recognized by the bigger players in the movement for its honesty and innovativeness; Shepard Fairey has even remarked that “Pez, a bike messenger, has crushed every city he’s live in…” Rediscovering these pioneering artists and bringing them to the public’s attention through these new works is what makes You Can’t Win one of the more exciting exhibitions at FIFTY24SF Gallery this year. The show runs from August 6th – August 25th with an opening reception occurring on Friday, August 6th at 7:30PM.

“We were and are both very depressed individuals and do not really view ourselves as really fitting into any group, but as persons who kind of sit on the cusp of several. More as loners than anything else.”
-PEZ and Joshua Blank

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
PEZ – In the late 90’s PEZ worked as a bike messeneger in NYC and would frequently use pay phones around Manhattan to contact his dispatcher and quickly became inspired by the DIY advertisements posted in the display windows. Pez began to create his own photocopied ads as an innovative take on graffiti art. He is widely recognized around the world as one of the earliest sticker taggers in the history of graffiti, following in the footsteps of the legendary and infamous graffiti artists, Cost and Revs. He documented his experiences in NYC with his Nikon FM2 35mm camera, and continued to post his stickers and other printed work around NYC. His zine, Kollision, combined NYC graffiti and bike messenger culture, featuring his photographs, found objects and the work of his friends. Today, Pez continues to make stickers and publish photography zines. He has done design work for HUF, Ever Gold Gallery, The Flop Box, and Stay Gold. Pez has exhibited in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, and Tokyo.

JOSHUA BLANK – During the turn of the century Josh was attending San Francisco Art Institute studying painting and film when he dropped out of school to move to Paris for six months to live in an abandoned building. When he returned to the US he began teaching himself photography and was reunited with Pez who he had met many years before in NYC. In 2004 Joshua moved back to New York City where his focus shifted to youth and street fashion photography. He also worked for Smack Mellon Gallery and began to do art handling for galleries and museums around New York and attended the Photography Program at Parsons the New School for Design where he received his BFA. During this time he continued to draw but kept his work private and would never show it to anyone. In late 2009, he moved back to San Francisco to photograph his friends and embark on new projects that seemed impossible in NYC. He has worked as a photo journalist and news writer in the Bronx and has shot assignments for Time Out New York, Toast Magazine, and has  contributed photos to several issues of Vice. He also worked as a product and party photographer. He has exhibited his work in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin and in Paris.

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Electric Windows: Thundercut and Street Art in “North Brooklyn”

Electric Windows: Thundercut and Street Art in “North Brooklyn”

Together with new neighbors and old friends from back in the city Thundercut are steadily creating a cultural festival built around one of their first loves: Street Art.

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The Street Art couple known as Thundercut are not the first Brooklyn artists to head to Beacon, New York, a picturesque phoenix on the Hudson River 59 miles north of Grand Central Station. Kalene Rivers and Dan Weise are just two of the most visionary and fun to talk with.

Once a town known for it’s hat making, Beacon (pop. 16,000) had a reputation as a sketchy drug and crime ridden place when Dan and Kalene were growing up in the Hudson Valley during the 80s and 90s. When the Dia Arts Foundation (also of Dia:Chelsea in Manhattan) renovated a 34,000 sf former factory in Beacon to create Dia:Beacon and to house a collection of Warhol paintings, hulking Richard Serra sculptures, and fluorescent Dan Flavin monuments, among other post 1960 art, interest grew in the town and an artist community largely from New York began to blossom. Many of the original artists who had brought a bohemian caché to rundown neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Red Hook in Brooklyn relocated to Beacon as their neighborhoods blanded in the mid 2000s. Much like those original artist enclaves, Beacon has become home to artist collectives, house parties, and experimentation.

Tina Darling poses in front of her work at Electric Windows (all photos courtesy and copyright of Thundercut)

Tina Darling poses in front of her work at Electric Windows (all photos courtesy and copyright of Thundercut)

While DIA was an important catalyst when it opened in 2003, Dan says the new residents brought a creative community that grew organically in it’s own direction.

“The people that have moved here have a very DIY spirit and have created something very special that continues to reinvent itself each year,” says Dan. In addition to Dan and Kalene opening their own gallery, Open Space, which shows fine art by many friends and artists in the street art scene, they recount inititiatives by neighbors who organize live concerts, have annual open studio events, host drawing nights at home, and began non-art related groups like soccer and ping pong clubs. Open Space itself has hosted a series of comedy nights that play to packed houses.

Says Dan, “If someone sees something missing in the community, they try to make it happen.”

Begun as a place to house their graphic design business, Open Space took root as a gallery and a community gathering spot. Explains Kalene, “We are both very passionate about giving something back to the community, from bringing new artists to show in the gallery, to organizing events like Electric Windows, these are things that we think are great and we are excited to share them with the town.”

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Which brings us to the third year of Electric Windows, a project that fills the eyes of a moribund electric blanket factory with new canvasses painted live on the street by artists while the public mills about. Now in it’s third year, with thirty artists, three buildings and live performances, EW is organized with their neighbors Jon Miles, Jeff Ashey and Nicole Romano.  With support from the mayor, a grant from the county arts council, donations from businesses of supplies and money, and even neighbors who are opening their homes to house the visiting artists, Electric Windows is thoroughly a community celebrating the creative spirit and the talent of Street Artists. The artists are traveling from Australia, Portland, San Francisco, St Louis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, and of course, Brooklyn without compensation and are all doing it for the love of the project.

Thundercut at work against a backdrop of lush Hudson Valley trees (© Thundercut)

Thundercut at work against a backdrop of lush Hudson Valley trees (© Thundercut)

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Brooklyn Street Art: How did the Electric Windows project first develop?
Dan Weise:
The Electric Windows building is what we see when we look out of the windows of Open Space. It is a beautiful turn-of-the-century factory building which, when we first got the space, still had the partially broken glass windows in the frames. It was a postcard for urban decay and having just moved up from Brooklyn, felt like home. Shortly after we opened the gallery, the owner removed all the glass and installed grey plywood window protection in its place. This was far from an improvement in our opinion, so we started discussing what could be done to bring life back to the building. This is when we began seriously talking about the idea of “Electric Windows”.

Our neighbors at the time, an art store named Burlock Home, really loved the idea and were on board to help make it happen. The four of us teamed up and put the whole project together in three months.

Elbow Toe returns this year to Electric Windows (© Thundercut)

Brooklyn Street Artist Elbow Toe returns this year to Electric Windows (© Thundercut)

BSA: This year features 3 buildings, instead of one.  Do you have enough artists?
Kalene Rivers:
We are excited about expanding the project to include more locations in the same area and all surfaces are accounted for. Everyday we think about how lucky we are to know so many incredibly talented artists and we just keep meeting more and more. Not only are they talented but they are amazing friends willing to donate their time and talents to events like Electric Windows for the love of making art and supporting positive projects.

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BSA: Street Art is normally associated with large metropolitan areas. How does Beacon fit in to the equation?
Dan:
Historically, Beacon was a town of manufacturing and the evidence still remains. There are some really phenomenal factories here in town, some vacant, some in the process of renovations and others like the Nabisco Factory, which now houses DIA, have been transformed into something new. I think this helps bring a bit of an urban feel to a quaint little upstate town. Also, when we moved up here we realized that not many people even knew about Street Art. This being the something that we are both very passionate about we wanted to open the gallery and share this world with people beyond the Bronx. Open Space Gallery was formed, Electric Windows was conceived, and slowly the infiltration has begun!

Alison from PMP shows kids how to screenprint (© Thundercut)

Alison from PMP shows kids how to screenprint (© Thundercut)

BSA: Would you say most of these artists are Street Artists? Or are there also graffiti artists, fine artists….
Kalene:
I would say that most of the artists are Street Artists but there certainly is a good group of graffiti and fine artists in the mix. Of course the first people we think to invite to the project are friends. Being involved in the Street Art scene for seven years means that these are the people we know best. However, it is wonderful to work with a variety of people from different backgrounds. The artists have to be able to paint big and fast so our selection of qualified participants is pretty limited to a certain kind of artist.

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BSA: What’s your favorite part of the event?
Dan:
Well, after we stress out for months planning and trying to take care of all the details, it is great to look up and see it all in action. Music filling the air, fumes wafting by, people admiring the amazing murals being created, children laughing and dancing. That is when it feels like it has all been worth it. But the event is just the beginning once the crowds leave and the art has been installed the projects gives back to the community, to visitors and to us each and every day.

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Returning Artists for Electric Windows: Buxtonia, BoogieRez, Chris Stain, Depoe, Elbow Toe, Mr Kiji, Michael De Feo, Peat Wollaeger, Rick Price, Ron English

New Artists for 2010: Big Foot, Cern, Chor Boogie, Chris Yormick, Elia Gurna, Erick Otto, Eugene Good, Faust, Gaia, Joe Iurato, Kid Zoom, Logan Hicks, Lotem & Aviv, Paper Monster, Ryan Bubnis, Ryan Williams, Skewville, Thundercut

Daryll Peirce at Electric Windows (photo © Thundercut)

Daryll Peirce at Electric Windows (photo © Thundercut)

This year’s event, which includes two days of preparation by the artists, a one-day exhibition and street fair, music and dancing by M*POWER ELITE TEAM, live screen printing by Buxtonia, and an Open Space after-party, is expected to draw approximately 5,000 people to Beacon’s Main Street corridor.

The line-up of live music at ELECTRIC WINDOWS includes: Ben Neill, Aabaraki, Hart Costa, DJ Birds in the Building, DJ Bobby Collins, DJ Krisis, Dr. Ambassador, Gold Monkey, and Scambler Seequill.

See Chor Boogie's "Romanticism" and other works by Electric Windows at Open Space online by clicking this picture.

See Chor Boogie’s “Romanticism” and other works by Electric Windows artists at Open Space online by clicking this picture.

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Electric Windows Beacon

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Amores Perros: Elbow Toe Gets Ferocious in Brooklyn

Move over little dog, Brooklyn Street Artist Elbow Toe is moving in with teeth-baring charm. Breaking loose from the studio he runs a little wild with this piece “Move It On Over”, named after the Hank Williams song. With this disposition this mean dog looks more like the George Thorogood version.

Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)

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Curbs and Stoops Presents: “Something Good” An Inaugural Group Show

Curbs and Stoops

If you’re the type who let’s the media decide how you feel about the world, you might be inclined to feel pretty negative about the state of things. Wars are raging, stocks are falling, and the environment has gone to shit. But those of us who turn the volume down on network news stations, while keeping our ears tuned to less impersonal sources, see something different happening. Something Good. People are waking up, bridges are… being built, challenges are being met and transcended. We are learning to speak to one another in manners that transcend the language barrier. And one of the most profound, universal dialects that we can speak is the language of art.

Not only has the technological boom of the late 20th century changed the way we communicate globally, it has had a profound effect on the manner in which art is displayed and promoted. 20 years ago art students were warned that having their art online would not only cheapen it, but open it to the threat of plagiarism and misinterpretation. The past few years has seen the art world, and the young artists who are constantly redefining it, embracing the digital world. This has allowed an interchange of ideas and styles so monumental that even the most stridently old school of critiques will have to admit: The game has changed.

Collaboration has become common place. Mixed media has taken on new meanings. And the notion that a group show requires a coherent visual theme is an idea on the endangered species list. This August 14th, preeminent contemporary art publication Curbs & Stoops will open their inaugural group show at 220 Atelier in Chelsea New York. The show includes pieces in a variety of media from a wide range of the world’s brightest rising talents including: Aaron Nagel, Ashley Zelinskie, Carlos Donjuan, Chor Boogie, Hector Hernandez, Jeffrey Pena, Korakrit, Lapiztola, Pep Williams, and UR New York. The show will serve as a visual manifestation of the publication’s written goal to provide exposure to stellar talents who have one common theme to their work: It’s good. It’s really fucking good.

The “Something Good” show is curated by Chloe Gallagher and Jeffrey Pena. The opening will be an entire night of art and culture with Salsa dancing early in the evening with World Salsa Finalist, Alfred Pena and will end with an exciting performance by local New York City rising hip hop artists who have performed at top cultural venues through out the city including the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.

August 14 at 6:00pm – August 15 at 12:00am

220 Atelier

220 West 30th Street Second Floor
New York, NY

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Geoff Hargadon on the Scene (and behind it) for la Revolución

Unprecedented Access to an Unprecedented Street Art Show

The Street Art photographer gives us a personal look with some of his favorite shots in a photo essay on “Viva La Revolucion”

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Shepard Fairey in action on Kettner Street not far from the museum (© Geoff Hargadon)

It’s very exciting to be a part of a growing and ever-evolving art movement comprised of so many diverse artists and talents.  Among them of course are the photographers who enable us to see what is happening without leaving our computers. Sometimes they are simply documenting pieces so you have the opportunity to see what the street artist created.  Other times a photographer will open other doors of understanding, write a bit of poetry with the moment.

We are so impressed with Geoff Hargadon and his deft positioning of the frame and his storytelling ability.  During the installation of the city-wide street art show “Viva la Revolución” that is running right now in San Diego, Hargadon was given unprecedented access to the artists as they immersed themselves in their work. We asked Geoff to tell us a story with his images of that exceptional experience.

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Two team members of French large-scale Street Artist JR helping with his installation on 5th-Ave (© Geoff Hargadon)

Geoff explains:

” ‘Viva la Revolución,’ curated by my good friend, Pedro Alonzo, opened last week at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Pedro and I got to know each other well during Shepard Fairey’s museum show in Boston at the Institute of Contemporary Art, which he also curated, and through that show he became acquainted with the photography I had done on Shepard’s work in Boston and Miami. When I heard he was putting this show together, with 20 of the best artists in the world, I urged him to document the outdoor work well, and offered to spend 10 days following the artists around.

My proposal was to be everywhere at once, and to get as close to them as possible without getting in the way. Without exception, the artists were gracious and welcoming. The result was 45GB of photographs, from which the museum will select a bunch for inclusion in the show’s catalog, media coverage, and potentially some commemorative prints. Here I have selected, with some difficulty, a handful that attempt to capture the diversity of the work, the varied processes the artists used, the wide range of locations in San Diego, and the spirit of street art itself.”

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Brazilian brothers Os Gemeos piece on a parking garage (© Geoff Hargadon)

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French tile wizard Invader did a number of well placed pieces in the city (© Geoff Hargadon)

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The preparation of a piece by Stephan Doitschinoff, also known as Calma (© Geoff Hargadon)
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The finished Calma piece (© Geoff Hargadon) Brooklyn-Street-Art-copyright-Geoff-Hargadon-Os-Gemeos-creating-one-of-their-museum-pieces-D3S_7988

Os Gemeos in the studio space (© Geoff Hargadon)
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Brooklyn  Street Artist Swoon’s piece being installed with help by her team. (© Geoff Hargadon) Brooklyn-Street-Art-copyright-Geoff-Hargadon-JR-installation-at-the-museum-DSC_8313
A JR installation in progress with the help of an intern at the museum.”It’s the left wall of a mini theatre in which he shows
one of his recent video works – a brilliant and moving piece.”(© Geoff Hargadon)
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Mexican tattoo artist Dr. Lakra installed a mural in a lot next to this low rider, which continued to beckon him during his work.  (© Geoff Hargadon)

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Images of the Week 07.25.10

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Our weekly interview with the street; this week featuring Andy Kessler Foundation, ASVP, Bishop203, Brummel, Clown Soldier, Imminent Disaster, JC2, JJ Veronis, Mr. DiMaggio, QRST, Shin Shin, Special Graffiti Unit, Zako, Zhe155

This summer has the floodgates open for all manner of oddities and agendas evident on the walls in NYC. While there is beauty and skill of varying degrees, more often you’ll also encounter themes better categorized as anxiety-ridden. Don’t look to our street artists to shield us from the rawness of messy life that is lurking under the cosmopolish of a world city. The conversations on the street continue to contemplate war and violence, render social and political critique, create memorials, offer blunt opinion and propose existential questions.  Conversations among street artists also continue before our eyes, making for progressive theater and on-the-fly “collaboration”.

We start off with something more along the lines of graff, framed by July’s succulent green.

Goya

Goya (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zako. Girls Girls Girls!

These bikini babes are not simply oogle worthy eye candy; their fourth member poses more profound topics. Zako.  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

oBishop 203
Brooklyn’s Angels have fallen to the street. Bishop 203 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artistic Tile BP
As the environmental ecological disaster pushes the oil economy to the forefront of our minds, this artist includes the logo of the corporation whose very charter is being questioned. Artist WING (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster

A new Imminent Disaster stares frankly and quizzically at you as you pass by. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

JJ Veronis (Andy Kessler Foundation)

A sculpture honoring the memory of a skateboarder and friend. JJ Veronis (Andy Kessler Foundation) (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Soldier Games

Soldier games are afoot amongst Fumero’s family and Shin Shin’s fruit offerings (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

ASVP, JC 2, Clown Soldier

A splash of red colors everything. ASVP, JC 2, Clown Soldier (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pampers the Cow

Pampers the Cow. Brummel (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST

QRST is evidently embattled (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Special Grafitti Unit. Wall Hoarders

Special Grafitti Unit receives a criticism for taking up too much space in Chelsea.  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clown

Even the clowns are ready to deck you. Ninja Clown (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Radioactive Monkey

Radioactive Monkey Police. Brummel (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zhe 155

A Roger Waters advertisement posing as street art looks almost a part of the portrait by Zhe 155 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shin Shin

Yep, watermelon wins every time. Shin Shin  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

JJ Veronis (Andy Kessler Foundation)

JJ Veronis (Andy Kessler Foundation) (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Dimaggio (Photo © Luca)

Mr. Dimaggio sits at the base of the heavily vandalized Shepard Fairey mural. Not sure if it is direct commentary or a general philosophical axiom. (Photo © Luca)

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Fun Friday 07.23.10

Fun-Friday

Fun Friday Brooklyn Street Art

MOMO at the Fame Festival in Italy

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American Street Artist MOMO has been working with abstract, geometric and modernist elements on scaffoldings and walls in New York for a few years.  This new video of his participation in the FAME festival shows his sense of humor, command of negative space, and sophistication of placement.

Somebunny’s Getting Up in Seoul

Actually he’s back in New York now but while in Korea studying about public art for the last month, Gaia put up a number of brand new pieces, all in color, and all deeply rooted in the culture, art history, and traditional symbolism of his host as well as the western world.  So it’s not just about a rabbit?
Brooklyn-Street-Art-Copyright-Gaia-Korea-July2010 “Sunrise Neighbor” (image © Gaia)

In the video for another piece we see Gaia’s “Ungnyeo in Namdaemun”

“The body of Ungnyeo is composed of buddhist cloud motifs and the center of the massive body has an oval silhouette to signify the womb flanked by two strong inwardly turned hands. The earth woman is then hybridized with the supremacy of the sky to institute the female figure into a role of reproduction versus reception. Within this new iteration of the ancient narrative, the woman animal becomes the most prominent figure of genesis.”

Billi Kid New Vid with Carlito Brigante

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ROJO in Edgeware Gallery Group Show Saturday (San Diego)

Street Art Themed Show Raises Money for Children With Autism

Jaime Rojo. Untitled. Greenpoint Old Rope Factory. 2003Photo © Jaime Rojo. Untitled. Greenpoint Old Rope Factory. 2003

If you are in San Diego for the big “Viva la Revolución” Opening at MCASD then stop by Saturday night at Edgeware Gallery’s “Out From the Underground”. The show is a fundraiser for children with autism and features some of the same artists in the museum but you can actually buy these pieces. BSA’s own Jaime Rojo, street art photographer, will be showing some of his urban archaeology photography (above) in addition to his street art shots.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of David Gillerman and Joshua Bellfy this street-art themed show will be a highlight of the weekend — especially with live painting by spraycan monster Chor Boogie.

Edgeware Gallery is run under the auspices of the Autism Research Institute.  100% of the net profits from art sales go to fund autism research.  At Edgeware, talented West Coast artists are exhibited alongside Mark Rimland,  Edgeware’s gifted resident artist with autism. Included in this show are Acamonchi, Brett Amory, Kathleen Blavatt, Chor Boogie, Kim Maria Cruz, Michael Cuffe, Kimberly Davis, Shepard Fairey, Nicholas Gecan, Robert Harris, Emily Jaworski, Robert Lebsack, Ben Liddi, Sam Martin, Kevin Meyer, Tara Nichole, Nathanel Osollo, Penny, Charles Perera, Bill Pierce, Mark Rimland, Jaime Rojo, Romany WG, SkEm oNe, Bryan Snyder, Caryn Southward, Kirsten Starcher, Michael Starkow, Johnny Taylor, Frank Vicino, Eric Wixon, D Youung V

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Out From Underground:

Opening:   July 24, 2010     5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Regular Hours:   Wed, Fri :   5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Sat, Sun :   1:00 p.m. to  7:00 p.m.

Runs:  July 24 to September 17, 2010

Edgeware Gallery:  4186 Adams Ave, San Diego, CA  92116   (619) 534-8120

www.edgewaregallery.com info@edgewaregallery.com

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