January 2012

Klughaus Gallery Presents: Jesse Edwards “Dialogue of the Streets” (Manhattan, NY)

January 12, 2012 , , , , ,

Jesse Edwards
“Dialogue of the Streets” will feature a selection of Edwards’ strongest paintings produced over the last two years, including the classic landscapes and unconventional still lifes he is known for. Edwards’ rare appeal lies in a uniquely successful ability to cross-pollinate the classical 19th Century style of the Old Masters he idolizes with a contemporary subject matter from his personal street life. His oils on canvas are as likely to depict a marijuana plant or a crack pipe as they are a calming Tompkins Square landscape. A still life of a Playboy, a sock, and a jar of Vaseline is rendered as tenderly as a sweeping view of a Pacific Northwest park.

Opening Reception:
Date: Friday, January 13, 2012
Time: 6:00pm-10:00pm
Location: 47 Monroe Street New York, NY 10002

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Evolve Gallery Presents: “Ali: The Greatest” A Group Show (Sacramento, CA)

January 12, 2012 , , , , ,

Ali The Greatest

“Ali: The Greatest”  celebrates and commemorates Muhammad Ali’s 70th birthday.

“Ali: The Greatest”
A fine art exhibition and tribute to boxing legend Muhammad Ali’s 70th Birthday
January 12 – 28, 2012

Featuring: Adrian Pickett, Alvin Burts, Alex Forster, Corey Pickett, Charly Palmer, Gerry GOS” Simpson, Frank Morrison, Joe Iurato, James Gayles, James Henninger, Kadir Nelson, Kevin OKeith, Kelvin Curry, Kinzie Davis, Lauren Gillette, Lisa Alonzo, Paul Goodnight, Tim Okamura, Charles Bibbs, Michael Grattan, Michael Brennan, and David P. Flores.

Preview Reception – Thursday, January 12th (6pm-9pm)
Opening Reception – Saturday, January 14th (6pm-10pm)

Evolve Gallery
2907 35th Street, Sacramento, California 95817
Gallery Hours: Thursday through Saturday |1-6pm | Please call first (916) 572-5123

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Robyn Hasty AKA Imminent Disaster: Journey Across The Heartland

January 12, 2012 , , , , ,

About a year ago you may remember the Kickstarter banner we ran on BSA to raise money for New York Street Artist Robyn Hasty AKA Imminent Disaster to travel across the US capturing portraits with a very old photographic process for a project called “Homeland”.  The campaign was successful, and despite an episode where her car “Cecelia” completely broke down and needed a new engine, Robyn set out to find another side of the country, seen through a new set of eyes. The first portrait result we saw was the image she put in BSA’s show last August in LA, but tonight you have the opportunity to see her first real exhibition of this work at Kesting/Ray Gallery in Manhattan. In addition she’ll be showing new cut paper  works that many will be familiar with from her work on the street as Imminent Disaster in the late 00s.

Robyn Hasty (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Over the course of 15,000 miles with her wet plate collodion camera and her chemicals in hand, Robyn set out on a road trip across the country to take photographs of people living outside the established urban settings and gridwork that forms much of the US. These simple and complex works are “magical alchemy”, according to Hasty.

“Every time I took a picture it just surprised me how it looks when it comes up. The camera doesn’t see like your eye sees. So every time you see what the camera sees – it’s a discovery.”

The new portraits bring to mind the work of the late master photojournalist from Hoboken, New Jersey Dorothea Lange (1895-1965). Ms. Lange documented with her arresting images the plight of the migrant workers during the great depression for the Farm Security Administration from 1935 to 1939. Now amidst our great recession, her wet plate collodian tintype produce beautiful portraits of her subjects that seem strangely akin to those subjects of that time – captured in their surroundings as they live today.

Robyn Hasty. New Orleans (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ms. Hasty took a few moments from hanging the show to talk about the new work with Brooklyn Street Art.

Brooklyn Street Art: What did you think you were going to discover
Robyn Hasty: I guess I was hoping to find relationships between a community that I’ve been working with in New York, and across the country in various ways, to see how that community kind of extended beyond those boundaries and was formulating into a movement. It is a national movement creating an alternative way of living that is different from the capitalist system.

Brooklyn Street Art: In a way you kind of envisioned, or saw in a some way, what happened at Zuccoti Park but in different parts of the country?
Robyn Hasty: I think the thing that was significant about Occupy Wall Street was that it started in New York and within weeks it had spread to most other cities in the country. That seems to indicate that there is actually an unrest and a unity between people who feel that they want radical change and I think I do see a lot of commonalities with the different people I met. An overlap in ideologies; they may not agree in ideologies and there may not be an established ideology that is stated, that has been formalized.

Robyn Hasty. Brooklyn, NY (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: You encountered people you didn’t know. Was it difficult for them to say yes to posing? How did you approach them?
Robyn Hasty: Most people were receptive to it. I just introduced myself and sometimes I would chat for a while and then eventually I’d show them the wet plates I’d already taken and ask them if they wanted to be involved in the project and have their portrait taken. Usually they said yes.  There were a few cases where they said no.

 

Robyn Hasty. St. Louis, MO (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: What sort of inspiration do you get from these people?
Robyn Hasty: I feel like I choose the portraits that I take because I feel a connection to my subjects, like as a cohort. I respect what they are doing. I am inspired by what they are doing, and I feel like there is kind of an overlap between what we’re trying to do in our lives.  Based on that relationship, it is the reason why I’m taking the portrait and what I’m trying to convey in the portrait to other people.

Brooklyn Street Art: What was it like traveling across the country? Was it ever lonely?
Robyn Hasty: I rarely felt lonely. I think I had a very positive experience because I realized how large the country is, how beautiful it is, how many opportunities there are to build and to re-envision it. I think I saw that from traveling across it.

Robyn’s large scale, cut paper portraits for which she is mostly known with her work on the streets are part of this show as well.

Robyn Hasty. Self Portrait (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robyn Hasty. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robyn Hasty (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robyn Hasty (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Robyn Hasty (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

The original banner we ran on BSA for the Kickstarter fundraiser. (left)

For more information and complete details about tonight’s show “On the River…” opening at Kesting/Ray Gallery, click here.

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Isaac Cordal : New Cement Guys in Galicia, Spain

January 11, 2012 , , ,

Isaac Cordal,  “Survivor 1” (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Street Artist and sculptor Isaac Cordal installed new work on a recent visit to his native town of Galicia in Spain. As much a project about photography as sculpture, it is an illuminating trip to follow his little grey men while they interact with the world. With his impeccable sense of placement and capture, instant storylines emerge just because of their context. Vulnerable, engaging, sometimes pessimistic, or quietly reflective, Cordal’s cement vignettes always look like these cement fellows are caught in the middle of a stream of activity they didn’t quite elect. Ultimately, the impact lies in the artists imagination, and yours.

Here are exclusive images of the new work for BSA readers (along with our witty and insightful captions).

“He seems to be a soft-spoken, measured leader, with a solid vision for the future.”  Isaac Cordal, “Survivor 2” (photo © Isaac Cordal)

“Interesting, we may have a discovered a blind spot in the system, which otherwise seems to be on track for the year-over-year returns. ” Isaac Cordal, “Survivor 3” (photo © Isaac Cordal)

“Going forward, I’m optimistic about 3rd Quarter earnings, despite a rising tide of negative indicators”. Isaac Cordal, “Titanic 1” (photo © Isaac Cordal)

“You guys go ahead, I’ll be right there. I just want to check some messages.” Isaac Cordal, “Titanic 2” (photo © Isaac Cordal)

“On second thoughts, those environmental regulations were a good idea. Sorry.” Isaac Cordal, “Mutant” (photo © Isaac Cordal)

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Winners of Stikman Calendar Announced

January 10, 2012

Just wanted to update everybody on the Happy New Year Stikman 2012 Calendar give-away today …

As expected, a.) they went fast and,  b.) people love Stikman.  Congratulations everybody!

Discovering Stikman pieces in NYC is one of my fave things. Even better when I saw them in Chicago! Everyone I introduce them to falls in love with the city all over again.

RM

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<

Dear Stikman,
You are invited to my wedding. You will be the groom.
Love
Elisabeth T.

P.S. I would love to know what day it is

 <<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<

I’d be honored to have one of your calendars. I’ve been tracking your work all over NYC for the last 3-years…

Keep ’em coming!!!!

Scott B.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<

I love Stikman because I find him in the most unexpected places… like on a bridge in downtown Chicago! (I’m a New Yorker!)
And I he draws on choral hymn music… love.

Best,
Amanda D.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<

Stikman iz gr8 bc he izn’t overwhelming liek “soem” street
artiztz…and no matter where he may be found it’z alwayz juzt enough
2 grab ur attention until the next tiem u turn n find him…for such a
simple dezign he’z so recognizable.
do i win? lol! 0:P

Steven L

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Stikman Wants You To Have A Sexy 2012

January 10, 2012 , , , , ,

You’ve seen him in the pavement, you’ve seen him stuck to lamp posts, now see him every day inside your locker at school! Stikman made a handful of these for the new year, featuring one of those dapper dames from calendars you used to stare at while sitting on two phone books at Dad’s barber shop.

2012 by Stikman. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Always reinterpreting the iconic Stikman in new venues and mediums, this perky little new pin-up by the Street Artist is Joyce Ballantyne meets Penthouse meets The Car’s album “Candy-O”.  2012 is just big enough to slide into a legal sized envelope and Stikman is feeling very generous indeed, allowing us to send one free to the first five BSA readers who write and tell us why you love Stikman.

These calendars are not offered for sale anywhere and he only made a handful, so write to us with your address at stikman2012@brooklynstreetart.com and tell us why you love Stikman. We’ll write back to the first five.

In the meantime, enjoy these shots from Jaime Rojo in New York; Stikman’s recognizable  character pops up very often in different parts of the city. Below are some of our favorite versions.

Stikman plays with Banksy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Word! Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Watching your step, Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Straight to the heart of the matter, this Stikman appears on the remains of a piece by Know Hope. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman in cartoon hand (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A re-purposed movie poster by Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Le Salon d’Art Presents: Fumero and Joseph Meloy “90 Stanton Street Art Show” (Manhattan, NY)

January 9, 2012 , , , , ,

Fumero and Joseph Meloy

So it’s THURSDAY, JANUARY 12th and you ask yourself “What am I doing tonight? Where will I be? What is on the agenda for today?” And then you remember, “Oh right! Tonight is the opening party for the 90 STANTON STREET ART SHOW! Today is Thursday, January 12th!” A warm rush of endorphins lifts you up as you envision the idea of hanging out in the Lower East Side in an alternative gallery space on Stanton Street, surrounded by exciting urban artwork that’s never been seen before (expressive post-graffiti kind of stuff kinda exploding with colors and interesting lines and shapes and marks), and you are mingling, and you are drinking alcoholic drinks for free and having a pretty damn good time on this Thursday evening in January…This is the kind of vibe we’re talking about on January 12th at the 90 STANTON STREET ART SHOW, proudly presented by Le Salon d’Art and featuring the artwork of FUMERO and JOSEPH MELOY.

Joseph Meloy “Fiesta” (image © courtesy of Joseph Meloy)

If you’re in the mood for vibrant and uniquely personalized portraiture, rendered in bold post-graffiti style and composed with the eye of a Renaissance man, then come to the show and enjoy the classy and classic-meets-modern artwork that is FUMEROISM, courtesy of fine art painter FUMERO.

Fumero “Eyes” (image © courtesy of Fumero)

And if you enjoy futuristic cave paintings from an era that is right now, highly abstracted hieroglyphic land and cityscapes and maps and all kinds of wacked out post-graffiti-fine-art-Rorschach-Test-lookin’ goodness, then surely you will enjoy the artwork of JOSEPH MELOY and his special brand of VANDAL EXPRESSIONISM.

So come on out and have a good time and if you see something you really like, guess what, you can buy it and take it home with you so there you go. Free admission, top notch art to look at and to buy, a live DJ, uhh snacks, cool people and memories to last a lifetime! Maybe one day you’ll be telling your grandkids about how you were so cool back in the day because you were there for the opening party of the 90 STANTON STREET ART SHOW! On THURSDAY, JANUARY 12th!



Thursday, January 12, 2012
“90 Stanton Street Art Show – featuring VANDAL EXPRESSIONISM and FUMEROISM”
Opening Reception: 7PM – 11:30-PM
90 Stanton Street, NYC
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Texting at the Bus Stop, On the Bus Stop

January 9, 2012

(Image © Ludo)

An interesting departure for Street Artist LUDO, the Parisian who’s usually messing with nature:  a new series of images show what appears to be bus shelters scrawled with clever phrases and plays on words. Can’t help but be reminded of Brooklyn’s Elbow Toe, another studio artist who places text-based snatches of poetry and reverie on dumpsters and doorways around New York. Without stylistic flourish or flair, this form of street texting has antecedents of course; Basquiats’ SAMO scripting, for example, and REVS underground diaries, among others. It raises questions about how one might define it? Street Art? Graffiti? It is just interesting to follow this thread that continues into this new year.

Elbowtoe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Images of the Week 01.08.12 Miami Special Part II

January 8, 2012 , , , , ,

Here is the 2nd half of the Miami images we captured for you from the massive blocks long street installation party called Art Basel this year. Most of these pieces are legal, many are not. You can call them Street Art, but not all are actually on the street and many could also be classified as murals.

Now is a perfect window of opportunity to go see these as many will be buffed in the next few weeks and months, as property owners sell the buildings or decide they didn’t actually dig the art as much as they thought they would. Within a decade or so, this area in Miami will most likely be less enthused with and even hostile toward graffiti and Street Art in general, but the red carpet is laid out at the moment. Artists are flocking from all over the world to jockey for walls, hoping to be seen by potential fans and collectors, or at least to hang out with peers and make new friends. This is a moment on a timeline and, for right now, the colors, patterns, textures, messages and lucid dreams are pulsating on walls everywhere; a mountain of creativity set free.

So here are more than 50 images in our interview with the street, this week featuring 2501, Adjust, AM, Andrew Schoultz, Art Basel 2011, AWR, Bask, Ben Eine, Bik Ismo, Buff Monster, C215, Chris Stain, Clown Soldier, Col, Cope, Dabs&Myla, Des, Ema, Emo, Entes Pesimo, Ethos, Ever, Florida, Gaia, Interesni Kazki, Jade Uno, Jaz, Joe Iurato, Liqen, Miami, Michael DeFeo, Neuzz, Nomade, Nomads, Nunca, Pancho Pixel, Pez, PHD, Pi, el Pancho, Primary Flight, Remote, Retna, Roa, RONE, Shark Toof, Shiro, Smells, Spagnola, Stormie Mills, Vhils, Wynwood Walls, and Zed1.

With special thanks to all the people who helped us out, showed us around and provided insight and background, especially the good folks from Primary Projects and Wynwood Walls.

Liqen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Liqen’s metaphoric mural of miserable corporate finance workers in a labyrinthine maze may have been the singular most powerful and timely image this year.   (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Liqen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

International star Vhils and crew created a few signature portraits using his very original method of destruction and creation, a low relief sculpture that emanates from the wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rone’s model looked skyward from a few locations on the street. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shiro (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now, why is that? Smells Like Junk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA and Ben Eine hit up this little corner spot with Primary Flight. The unusual free-standing structure called “The Living Room” has played host to a number of graffiti, mural, and street artists over the last few years, and this year also featured a pop-up piano ensemble performance. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JAZ (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Neuzz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Assume Vivid Astro Focus killed this wall last year and it still looks fresh. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Famed duo Assume Vivid Astro Focus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New Jersey’s Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jade Uno . Entes Pesimo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia and C215 appeared frequently with one another this year on the street. This one is bookended by some Nomade posters (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia, C215 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bik Ismo, a custom hot rod, and of course a couple of appreciative dudes. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zed1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Despite relative domestic tranquility, sometimes Felix and Ana were not sure if they were seeing the same thing. Ever (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Retna stretched his alphabet tall, and tucked in many tributes to local friends. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Interesni Kazki . Liqen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki and Liqen combined forces on this mural referencing the world wide web. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki . Liqen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki . Liqen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michael DeFeo lit up a desolate spot under the highway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ethos (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Emo, PHD, Remote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Emo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ema (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A killer repetition from Des (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla collaboration with AWR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Col on a bed of seafoam blue (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain brought some friends from New York and Baltimore. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This bull head popped out at discrete locations. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bask bolted to a post. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stormie Mills (photo © Jaime Rojo)

One of the few blatantly political pieces from Spagnola, with additional commentary added by a third party. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This Shark Toof appears to be whispering something to Anthony Lister. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho kind of killed it.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pez is on multiple surfaces everywhere. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nunca (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nunca (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cope crushed repeatedly. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clown Soldier stands guard at the gate. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Buff Monster . Cope (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2501 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Andrew Schoultz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Andrew Schoultz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

AM (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adjust (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Max Zorn and a Roll of Packing Tape and a Razor

January 7, 2012

What? No Photoshop filter?

If you want to make something, you don’t need to spend a bunch of bucks. Once you train your eyes to see art everywhere, the limitations you accepted or self-imposed evaporate.

 A piece made with packing tape and a razor, hung on a lamp post. Max Zorn (still from video)

Since today is Saturday and I’m trying to clean up this apartment that has not seen a broom since back before the holiday vortex, I’m thinking about stuff like mops, paper towels, burning some sage, putting on some way-back music… and of course for high-end repair work around the mansion, duct tape. This dude Max Zorn uses packing tape as an art material, and it looks like he’s mastered it. Then he goes out and hangs it on lamp posts in Spain and Portugal. No need to complain that you don’t have a laptop or a degree, bro. Just go make some art.

 

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How and Nosm Brand New Video – How They Started

January 6, 2012

Artists, muralists, and graffiti artists How and Nosm – “That’s what we do, that’s who we are.” In this new video they talk about their beginnings in the world of graffiti, before becoming world renowned fine artist and epic muralists.

Produced and directed by The Little Squares.

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Fun Friday 01.06.12

January 6, 2012

That was a short week, right? Let’s resolve to have short weeks for the rest of the year! Welcome back to Fun Friday, which took a little vacation. Here are our stories this week;

1. LUDO and FKDL Welcome 2012
2. “Rather Unique” Saturday at Woodward Gallery
3. New Labrona Prints
4. Droid and Avoid “Live the Dream, Learn to Die II”
5. VHILs Video of his Skulls at Nuart
6. “En Masse”, Miami 2011 Parts I and II by Fred Caron

LUDO and FKDL Welcome 2012 with New Pieces

LUDO thinks of the new year as a big green pumpkin, an allusion to harvesting something that has grown gargantuan on the ground. (photo © Ludo)

FKDL prefers to look at 2012 as a dancing, strutting, posing proposition; an interpretive welcome to the new year. (photo © Courtesy of FKDL)

“Rather Unique” Saturday at Woodward Gallery

Taking advantage of the fact that a lot of New York street art goes into hibernation this time of year, artist/curator Royce Bannon ia collecting a “Rather Unique” group of Street Artists for this new show at Woodward, opening January 7.  A group show opening the 7th at the Woodward Gallery in Manhattan.

Along with the new piece, “Personality”, pictured above by Street Artist Infinity, the roster includes many of the names on the scene today bringing it inside from the cold, including Cassius Fowler , Celso , ChrisRWK , Cope2 , Darkcloud , H. Veng Smith , Indiw 184 , KA , Keely, Kenji Nakayama , Kosbe , Manhattan , Matt Siren , Moody , Nose Go, Royce B , Russell King , UR New York, and Wrona

For further information regarding this show click here

New Labrona Prints

Walls, freights, canvasses – all are attractive sights for Labrona, and now he’s hawking some new prints he made, like the one below, which he’s selling here.

Dogman Rides Again (yellow), by Street Artist/ Fine Artist Labrona

Droid and Avoid “Live the Dream, Learn to Die II”

Speaking of trains, Avoid and Droid have collected tales of their freight-hopping journey up the West Coast in the summer of 2011, and include fun stories told in rusted rail haiku like ones about the pot-growing subculture they discovered in California. Also they give helpful hints about how to pick your spot in the weeds to catch some shut-eye, how you should not defecate in the pathways, and that urine flows downhill. Welcome to the Jungle! Call it a punk-rock travel guide.

You can check out their publishing enterprise of zines here

VHILs Video of his Skulls at Nuart

Courtesy of Martyn Reed, here’s a new video of Street Artist Vhils’ work at Nuart 2011.

Vhils (Image © Courtesy of Nuart 2011)

 

En Masse. Miami 2011 Part I by Fred Caron

 

En Masse. Miami Part II by Fred Caron

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