April 2012

Shea & Ziegler Gallery Presents: Herakut “After The Laughter” Solo Show and Book Launch (London, UK)

April 25, 2012 , , , , ,

Herakut

Herakut – After the Laughter book launch and solo show
Shea & Ziegler are proud to announce Herakut’s long anticipated return to London this May with a solo show and book launch to celebrate the release of their new art book, After the Laughter. The exhibition will open in the intimate white wall gallery space, 99 Mount Street in Mayfair.Opening reception: Thursday 31st May 2012
Gallery 99 Mount Street
Mayfair
London W1K 2TFFor online preview request please contact:
info@shea-ziegler.com

Read more
Kosbe: Under the Radar and in the Studio

Kosbe: Under the Radar and in the Studio

April 25, 2012 , , ,

Why One Brooklyn Stick Up Kid is Worth Watching

Sometimes on the street you get an inkling of the future. It could be an overheard excerpt from a cell-phone conversation about a club show the night before, or the color and texture of woman’s blouse as it flutters around her while she reads on a park bench, or the sight of the 3rd food truck this week selling spicy meatballs. Something tells you that you just got a glimpse of the future. And while it doesn’t completely reveal itself in it’s fullness, you can see a nascent potential, a storyline developing that may go far beyond it’s current self. Sometimes when you see a Kosbe sticker on a paper box, it feels that way too. In fact, each time you see one of his pieces on the street, it grabs you from above the fray. Yet it seems like he’s been under the radar. He may not stay there much longer.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In the ebb and the flow of the Street Art conversation in New York, you keep seeing Kosbe’s wacky characters popping up in doorways and paper boxes. They aren’t tossed off little marker drawings done while watching TV – they’re intense petite character studies. Packed into one slapped on sticker is a lot of cacophonic kineticism; near crazed city characters with primitive wild eyes staring or blinkered, with tight jaws and teeth squarely gritted. The folk faces and forms are framed by an ardent prose, non-sequitors of angst and inside jokes. “What’s the guy saying?” you could ask. And why is he yelling? “Is he okay, is he mocking me? It’s the bundled rage and cryptic cleverness of the court jester.  Layers of reapplied color and repeated lines trap multiple actions on one non-static figure. This is not simple tagging, it’s a stationary tornado.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist Kosbe has put in two good decades of practice, and has learned some lessons the hard way. He’s been hitting up New York for a half decade but he comes from a long graffiti history as a kid in his native Chicago. Now a practicing artist readying a solo gallery show for fall, he grew up in a very young single-parent home where his mom created a small studio for the boy in the back of their apartment. “My mom was really supportive of me as an artist. When I was a kid she gave me this little back room that she allowed me to use like a painting studio. So I was always grabbing stuff off the street and bringing it in there, painting it. I was very secretive with my stuff. A lot of people would come over and see my stuff and they were like, ‘Dude, I didn’t know that you painted’. I was very protective of it.”

That hasn’t changed. He still likes to use found materials as canvasses, as he shows us around his small studio hidden in a warehouse in New York. “I’m always using things that I find in the streets. Like this is an old grading book from 1919,” he says as he pulls out a tattered tome with pages ripped out.  “It has all these people’s signatures. I found this outside a high school in Brooklyn. It’s really cool. So that’s what I’ve been using for my drawings.”

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tough times at home got him in trouble at school and with the police as a youth. Describing himself as hard headed, he talks about running away as a young teen to San Francisco for a while in the early 90s, where he spent a lot of time on the street admiring a new kind of character-based and tattoo influenced graffiti on the street by people like Twist (Barry McGee), Mike Giant, and Reminisce. “I went out and there were these Reminisce horses everywhere and they were great because you were going down the street and you would see this horse like galloping down the street. This stuff really blew me away. So I think the same time this stuff was going on there, over here in NY you had like Cost and Revs posting bills and doing rollers. And back then there wasn’t the internet.”

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Years later here in this fluorescent lit studio filled with his drawings, paintings, books, ‘zines, assorted ephemera, a desk, and a loveseat, his excited retelling of stories reveals how much those childhood escapades running Chicago streets and exploring San Francisco formed his view of Street Art and prepared him for moving to New York eventually in the 2000s. A self-schooled student of graffiti, fine art, and street art, Kosbe can recount names of writers and crews, timelines, styles; drawing etymologies and stylistic connections and talking about migrations. With much fanfare he’ll also tell you the  stories about the famed Chicago “buff” – a citywide anti graffiti campaign in the mid-late 1990s that he says whitewashed the city’s history.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But now he’s an artist on his own, and his practice is daily. “Now I’ve learned more that the only way, as an artist, that you can kind of grow and come up with new ideas is you gotta keep giving them away. So that’s why street art is kind of funny. I have friends who are painters that have become painters because of me. They are like ‘Dude, I was totally influenced by your drawings’ and stuff like that.” But the practice of Street Artists putting fully formed works out on the street still confuses some of his peers, “They say ‘Dude you give all your art away’ – you know, they don’t understand the concept.”

His new work on the street and in this studio now bends toward abstract expressionism and his years of comic book reading enlivens that rawness with a furtively bombastic character-driven personality. Almost every piece he does has some sort of commentary- a sort of helpful therapeutic narrative to explain what the character is thinking or feeling at the moment. “I like being bad for the sake of being bad”, “Tupac!”, “deathy”, “not good”, “astro zombie”,”power to the people”,“Kosbe don’t cry”.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe also credits the street as his formative and evolutionary art instructor. “When I took an oil painting class, my teacher was like, ‘Dude you already know how to paint. How did you learn this?’ and I was like, ‘graffiti.’ ” Even though graffiti still attracts him and captures his imagination, Street Art and fine art have occupied his efforts lately and the combined synthesis of a lifetime studying art on the street and plenty of experimentation is coming together very strongly aesthetically. Combine that individual vision with the maturity that hits a person in their 30s and you may think that you are seeing a sudden glimpse of the future.

Brooklyn Street Art: I want to talk about you and your art and your influences. What are these characters? Where did they come from?
Kosbe: I don’t know. I’ve been drawing since I was real young.  It’s always something that comes naturally. I don’t do any sketches, I don’t plan anything out. I just – for me it’s more a guttural, more natural thing. It’s good and bad.

Brooklyn Street Art: What’s the bad part?
Kosbe: The bad part is that I don’t focus on it, you know? I just have been doing it so long and I really enjoy it.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Is your experience kind of like a faucet that you turn on and it all comes flowing out and then you decide, “Okay I better turn it off”?
Kosbe: Exactly, right. So the thing with me is, I try to also look for other outlets. So I’m really into other things. Like I like music, photography, writing, all that stuff. But that stuff doesn’t come as naturally to me like this does. But it’s a great outlet for me and I feel really kind of lucky to have something like that – to be able to express myself in that form and manner. It’s helped me out tremendously to kind of learn how to communicate with people. Every year I realize new things – like this is how I communicate with people. Is it bad? Is it bad that I think that this is the only way I think that I can talk to people? Maybe I’ve gotta learn how to become better with talking with people verbally or something.

Brooklyn Street Art: You don’t seem to have great difficulty communicating verbally. But I’m interested in understanding a little more about how you think of this work and this practice as communication.
Kosbe: There is definitely a lot of emotional stuff in my work, you know,

Brooklyn Street Art: There is! Despair, anger …– you use a lot of descriptive words, verbal narratives throughout – whether it’s a sticker or a wheat paste.
Kosbe: Yeah it’s whatever is always popping into my head and so there are a lot of things that are on my mind and hopefully this is a good way to have an outlet for it. I’m trying to not be so negative anymore. And some people are like “Man, it’s so dark”. You know I use a lot of bright colors now, which has been phenomenal. That has really changed my work. Here you can see some of my earlier stuff and it’s really brown, dark. Actually this is beginning where I started experimenting with more color. And then as I got to New York, more and more color started getting into my stuff.

When you do graffiti you learn the fundamentals of color theory, you know. You learn what works.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: You know WK Interact talks about New York being a violent city
Kosbe: I love that guy! You know when I first moved to New York he had that little shop on the Lower East Side and you’d walk in and it was like a locker, a desk, and some Japanese kids standing around. And it would be like, “What is this? Is this a store? Is this a studio?”

Brooklyn Street Art: What made me think of him was I was interested in how you describe the city because WK has said that when he makes work on the street, if it is violent in nature and people walk by it, they sometimes give him the thumbs up! And it runs longer. But if he were to paint a pink bunny it would get crossed out because New Yorkers don’t really respond to positive cheerful stuff.
Kosbe: Oh yeah, and New York has definitely had a profound impression on me in that sense because my work before I got here still had that weird dark edge but it was a little cutesy-er. But like as time has progressed I just think I have kind of matured a bit more, becoming more of an adult and my stuff is getting more serious. But with me everything’s gotta be fun. I think it’s supposed to be fun.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more

RETNA “Time Traveler” on The Mexican Coast (VIDEO)

April 24, 2012

From Viejas del Mercado, Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto produced a new video trailer on the occasion of Retna’s new show “Time Traveler” at Art Careyes Mexico in Costa Careyes, Mexico next week.

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

With a blazing soundtrack of Hotel California by French group The Gipsy Kings singing in Spanish with an Andalucían accent, the time traveling continues throughout many cultures and times. As a continuous electric swirling of light masks the scenes behind it, the Los Angelino graffiti and Street Artist can be glimpsed carefully and deliberately applying his personal alphabet with sooty loose ink on a thin brush as well as thick paint on a flat wide brush. In the intervening scenes one sees flashes of still images and video referencing various cultures and continents flashing by in a multilayered collage of influences like a drug induced haze.

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

Video still from Retna’s show “Time Traveler” (© Medvin Sobio and Brian Tsukomoto)

Read more

All City Canvas: Festival de Arte Urbano in Mexico City (Mexico City)

April 23, 2012 , , , , ,

All City Canvas

 

ALL CITY CANVAS es un festival de arte urbano, a nivel internacional, que busca unir esfuerzos del movimiento alrededor del mundo, en un solo lugar durante una semana.

La ciudad sede, en este caso, la Ciudad de México, ofrecerá sus mejores espacios para que nueve de los artistas más reconocidos del movimiento de arte urbano intervengan espacios únicos e históricos de la ciudad.

Además, durante la semana del festival, se llevará a cabo una serie de conferencias impartidas por expertos en el tema, que ayudarán a contextualizar el trabajo que se realiza en las calles.

Finalmente, una reconocida galería de la ciudad expondrá obras de los artistas invitados y algunos otros talentos locales.

ARTISTS:

En esta primera edición de ALL CITY CANVAS, México fue seleccionado como sede del festival por ser, históricamente, un referente artístico y cultural. Este contexto histórico convierte a México en un importante punto de interés para la nueva generación de artistas que llevan años tomando las calles y los muros de las principales capitales del mundo para plasmar sus obras.

A finales de abril, los ojos del mundo estarán puestos en el corazón de la ciudad más grande del mundo y México se convertirá en uno de los focos principales de la escena del arte urbano.

El festival ALLC ITY CANVAS presentará del 30 de abril al 5 de mayo a 9 de los mejores artistas internacionales y nacionales, con amplias muestras de arte urbano, usando como lienzos algunos edificios icónicos de la Ciudad de México, creando una sinergia entre nuestras tradiciones y una nueva visión global. Es un festival inclusivo, que busca llevar el arte a superficies emblemáticas para crear murales de gran escala dentro del espacio urbano único que ofrece una de las ciudades más grandes del mundo. Así, la ciudad participará activamente, dejando un gran antecedente en la calle de lo que es el Arte Urbano en la actualidad.

Este proyecto ha sido la visión y trabajo de jóvenes mexicanos que asumieron la misión de voltear los ojos del mundo hacia México, insertándose en la historia, en un momento en el que es esencial mostrar de manera creativa y comunitaria la vitalidad, energía, magia, mezcla de razas y amor por la identidad mexicana en el espacio público. La Ciudad de México ofrece el escenario perfecto de una urbe con raíces históricas, arquitectura de gran visibilidad, ciudadanos abiertos a experiencias estéticas y una tradición artística de gran influencia.

ALL CITY CANVAS es un festival que desde su concepción ha sido inclusivo, trabajando con la autoridad, la iniciativa privada, la comunidad, con los estudiantes y los medios. Ha buscado impulsarse mostrando una cara positiva, apostando en el talento y energía del país. Es una apuesta por el arte en el espacio público, lo cual es y ha sido un concepto muy presente en la historiografía del arte en este país; en principio con tono revolucionario pero desde diferentes movimientos y con variantes en la manera de abordarlo, ha sido siempre una constante. Desde los muralistas, se tenía clara esta postura frente al arte; José Clemente Orozco se refirió así del muralismo: “La forma más desinteresada, ya que no puede ser escondida para beneficio de unos cuantos privilegiados. Es para la gente. Es para todos”.

Después del muralismo, el movimiento estudiantil de los años 60’s, en el que se manifestaba el descontento político, recurriendo a imágenes que se plasmaban en carteles, grafiti y fotografía llena de simbolismo. Movimientos artísticos conocidos como el Grupo, que a principios de los 70’s diseñaban pancartas y murales con variaciones de iconografía militante clásica para transmitir mensajes de disidencia o el No Grupo, que con imágenes populares y juegos de lenguaje criticaban el elitismo de las instituciones de arte, entre otras cosas. En el mundo, durante estos años, se gestionaba el manifesto de los Situacionistas, que se basaba en crear acontecimientos con significado que revirtiera el pre establecido por el sistema capitalista y de gobierno. En México surgió la neográfica y diversas técnicas de reproducción y transferencia de imágenes. Se organizaban happenings y trabajos muralísticos en comunidades campesinas e indígenas por el Taller de Investigación Plástica; se hacían exposiciones callejeras por parte de fotógrafos independientes como las del grupo Peyote y el de Narrativa Visual, del cual se desprendería el grupo Março con Alejandro Olmedo, Mauricio Guerrero y Sebastián, originadores de un manifesto Marxista inspirado en el Dadaísta. Todos coincidían en una postura clara ante el espacio público, ubicándolo como símbolo de democracia que planteaba cambiar el entorno diario a través del arte para poder dar un mensaje.

En los años 80’s crece el grafiti junto con algunas acciones de intervención que funcionaban como testimonios de eventualidades e inconformidades, como por ejemplo la toma del Balmori en la colonia Roma, en dónde, ante una campaña de demolición posterior al terremoto del 85, el edificio fue “tomado” al ser pintados los cristales y así evitando que fuera demolido. Esta acción marcó un momento muy importante en la regeneración urbana.

La postura del reclamo y la apropiación del espacio público con un mensaje, es algo que ha estado muy presente en la historia de la ciudad y sigue siendo actual. El festival apuesta y celebra el actuar en espacios estratégicos para establecer un diálogo entre la arquitectura, la imagen, el espacio y el observador, para así transmitir un mensaje que lleve a algún tipo de reflexión.

Con disciplina de trabajo, experimentación de técnicas y herramientas innovadoras, los artistas y sus murales nos harán dialogar y revalorar el espacio, nos mostrarán cómo un edificio se activa y transforma. Nos presentarán ideas de temas actuales a partir de lo que la ciudad les provoque e inspire, a través de su talentoso lenguaje plástico para experimentar con la estética que llevan años trabajando y  perfeccionando.

Esta experiencia la podremos tener in situ, al pie de los edificios intervenidos o a través del otro espacio público que ofrece Internet, ya que se podrá interactuar durante los días del festival a través de diversas redes sociales, con el contenido que se generará durante esa semana.

ALL CITY CANVAS creará una comunidad sólida en un espacio público: físico cerca de las PAREDES intervenidas por los artistas y virtual en el mundo online. Se presentará en espacio de galería PIEZAS, de la obra a pequeña escala que estos artistas producen, disponible para venta. Y se hablará al respecto en PALABRAS, desde el punto de vista de expertos que han dedicado su vida a registrar, teorizar, publicar y/o experimentar este arte espectacular.

Se presentará a la Ciudad de México como un museo al aire libre, con arte monumental y público, que de manera visual e interactiva, será un Festival para todos.

Click HERE to learn more about ALL City Canvas

Read more

LA + Auckland Honor Askew One, Graffiti and Street Artist

April 23, 2012 , , , , , , ,

It’s not often that a major city gives a spotlight to a graffiti / Street Artist and issues a formal proclamation about it, but that is exactly what happened Saturday in Los Angeles. AskewOne, a native of one of LA’s sister cities, Auckland, New Zealand , was honored by the City as his new mural “Under the Influence” was unveiled as part of the LA Freewalls Project.

“It’s much more likely in this city that a graffiti artist will be arrested than be recognized for positive contributions to the community”, as LA Taco reports, but really when you consider the major inroads that the LA Freewalls Project has made into the dialogue around the value of Street Art in LA’s local politics, it can’t be entirely surprising. It probably helps that the image itself incorporates the American flag into the composition– sort of disarms that whole negative rant that some politicos use when lumping Street Artists together with other social scourges like drug addiction, domestic terrorism, and the Ice Capades, doesn’t it?

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

“AskewOne is one of the world’s preeminent public artists, and one of the most accomplished contemporary graffiti writers,” says Daniel LaHoda, who spearheads LA Freewalls and who also hosted the inauguration of the new LALA gallery Saturday night with many of today’s best known Street Artist’s work on the walls. According to an official press release, the now famous LA mural moratorium will soon be lifted and “Kamilla Blanche, Senior Deputy for Arts and Culture, and the Director for Sister Cities, is excited about the possibilities to expand Los Angeles’ place as the national epicenter of public art.”

BSA is very pleased to be able to share with you these images of the new piece as shot by photographer Todd Mazer.

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project (photo © Todd Mazer)

To learn more about Los Angeles Sister Cities Program click here.

Read more

Images of the Week 04.22.12

April 22, 2012 ,


Our weekly interview with the street takes us to Poland, LA, Sweden, Wall Street, and dirty old Brooklyn with pieces by Bishop 203, Dan Witz, Gilf!, Hellbent, Ludo, The Metropolitan Etiquette Authority, Olek, Screwtape, and Shai Dahan.

Ludo in Katowice, Poland. (photo © Ludo)

Ludo in Katowice, Poland. (photo © Ludo)

Olek in Katowice, Poland. (photo © Olek)

Olek in Katowice, Poland. (photo © Olek)

Metropolitan Etiquette Authority (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Screwtape (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shai Dahan in Stockholm (photo © Shai Dahan)

Hellbent in Venice Beach, CA (photo © Patrick Iaconis)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz at LALA Gallery for LA Frewalls Project (photo © Dan Witz)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek and Ludo participated on the Katowice, Poland Street Art Festival. To learn more about this festival click here.

Dan Witz work is being featured at the inaugural show of LALA Gallery in Los Angeles. The gallery and the show are now opened to the public. Click here for more information.

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

Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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

 

 

Read more

Isaac Cordal In Barcelona : His Miniature People in the Gallery

April 21, 2012 , , , ,

A grand opening for Street Art sculptor Isaac Cordel in Barcelona last week brought people in to personally inspect the miniature concrete actors he creates. RAS Gallery housed the latest collection of works presented by SUBEN and curated by Maximiliano Ruiz.

A varied group of folks gathered to the call of Street Art and free beer including some of the finest canine noses in the art world as at least 5 dogs attended accompanied by their humans.

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Adapting to the gallery format was a little challenging for Cordal since his small cement sculptures seemed more at home in the streets and the small incidental street locations he places them in are the perfect context to document them in. Nevertheless, the irony and depth of the message transcends the context and, in fact, can create it.

The social and cultural critique evident are as heavy sometimes as the little people, including a couple wearing gas masks to their wedding and the vision of a suicidal sculpture who chose to leap into the gallery void, leaving its pedestal empty.

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Isaac Cordal (photo © Maximiliano Ruiz)

Isaac Cordal’s Solo Show is currently on view at the RAS Gallery in Barcelona. For further information regarding this show click here.

To learn more about Isaac Cordal’s street installations read our coverage on The Huffington Post here.

 

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

Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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

Read more

Fun Friday 04.20.12

April 20, 2012 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1. ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)
2. Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)
3. LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)
4. Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)
5. Marsea Gives You the “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)
6. Erica Il Cane  “Una Vita Violenta” at Fifty24MX Gallery (Mexico City)
7. Brett Amory “Waiting 101” at Outsiders Gallery (Newcastle, UK)
8. OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)
9. C215 “About Copyrights” (VIDEO)
10. The Bushwick Trailer (VIDEO)

ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)

With his current show, now on view at the StolenSpace Gallery in London, ROA will demonstrate how you can be asleep and awake at the same time. His solo show “Hypnagogia” opens today to the general public and offers a dissected view of ROA’s fantastic world of animals and beasts. ROA’s hand crafted book “An Introduction To Animal Representation” by Mammal Press is on sale at The Old Truman Brewery on 91 Brick Lane. Hurry there are only only 125 tomes being offered.

Roa (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)

Katowice, a Silesian city in Southern Poland celebrates Street Art with their own Street Art Festival, now on its second year, from April 20 through April 29. The gray, concrete architecture that dominates this town will be imbued with color, shapes and fantasy with the help of this city most prominent daughter, OLEK aided by an illustrious list of first rate of fine and Street Artists including Mark Kenkins, Escif, Boogie, Moneyless, Ganzeer, Ludo, Mona Tusz, Swanski, 0700 Team, Tellas, Dan Witz, Hyuro, M City, ROA, Goro, Kilo, Nespoon, Aryz, 108, Wers, Ciah-Ciah, Etam Crew, Otecki, Razpajzan, Sepe, Chazme, CFNTX Crew, Onte, Jezmirski, Terry Grand, Dast, Impact, Malik, Turbos and Mentalgassi.

Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this festival click here.

LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)

The West Coast continues to assert itself as a power house in the art world and as a Street Art mecca with the inaugural show of LALA Gallery. A brand new gallery conceived by Daniel Lahoda, the mind and soul and legs of LA Freewalls Project.

LALA’s line up of artists for this first show augurs an auspicious beginning and a successful life which we hope last for a long, long time. “LA Freewalls Inside” is the title of this show and artists included are: Anthony Lister, Askew One, Becca, Cern, Chris Brand, Cryptik, Cyrcle, Dale VN Marshall, Dan Witz, Daze, Dee Dee Cheriel, Evan Skrederstu, How & Nosm, Insa, Jaybo, Kim West, Kofie, Lady Aiko, Ludo, Mear, The Perv Brothers, Poesia, Push, Pyro, Ripo, Risk, Ron English, Saber, Shepard Fairey, Swoon and Zes.

Dan Witz. Detail of his installation “The Prisoners” on the walls of LALA. (photo © Dan Witz)

Askew One for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Todd Mazer)

For further details regarding this show click here.

Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)

Herakut, the indefatigable German collective are a busy duo with an impressive craft and a mastery of the can and paint brushes. Never compromising their artistic output regardless of their environment or medium they set their collaborative standards high with an output rich in earthy colors. Their palette of ores, reds, grays, oranges, blues, browns and yellows give birth to a universe of characters that are  fantastic and mysterious and in pursuit of you, the spectator. In San Francisco at 941 Geary Gallery Saturday the reception will be open for the artists and you at “Loving the Exiled”.

Hera at work in preparation for the show. (photo courtesy © Jennifer Goff)

Akut at work in preparation for the show. (photo courtesy © Jennifer Goff)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Group Show “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)

HIGH FIVE! the new group show at New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles opens tomorrow and the artists include Alia Penner, Ashely Macomber, Curtis Kulig, Deanna Templeton, Maya Hayuk and Vanessa Prager.

Curtis Kulig AKA Love Me (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

Tomorrow, Saturday April 22 will be the last day to see Erica Il Cane show “Una Vita Violenta” at the Fifty24MX Gallery in Mexico City.  The gallery will also participate with Erica Il Cane at the Zona Maco Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair in Mexico City. April 18 – April 22. For further details about “Una Vita Violenta” click here. For more details about Zona Maco, Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair click here.

Brett Amory solo show “Waiting 101” At the Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle, UK opens today to the general public. Click here for more details about this show.

OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)

Still working on that scarf you’ve been knitting for OLEK’s birthday? You missed it.

C215 “About Copyrights” (VIDEO)

The Bushwick Trailer (VIDEO)

Starring: Bishop 203, Veng and Never

Read more

Katowice Street Art Festival. April 20 – April 29 2012 (Katowice, Poland)

April 19, 2012 , , , , ,

Katowice Street Art Festival

Olek (photo courtesy © Olek)

Katowice Street Art Festival

20-29 kwietnia 2012

http://www.katowicestreetartfestival.pl/

INSTALACJE:

Olek (USA)

14-29.04.2012

plac pod Spodkiem, Katowice

www.agataolek.com

Mentalgassi (Niemcy)

27-30.04.2012

Katowice

www.mentalgassi.blogspot.com

Mark Jenkins (USA)

15-26.04.2012

ul. Mariacka 15, Katowice

www.xmarkjenkinsx.com

Nawer vs. Temporary Space Design / DJ Krime / Daniel Drumz

28.04.2012

godz. 20.00

sala widowiskowa DOKP, al. Roździeńskiego 1

wstęp: 5 pln

www.facebook.com/NAWER.VS.TEMPORARYSPACEDESIGN

www.myspace.com/funkmastakrime

www.danieldrumz.org

MURALE

Roa (Belgia)

23-28.04.2012

ul. Mariacka Tylna 11, Katowice

www.roaweb.tumblr.com

M-City (Polska)

26-30.04.2012

ul. Sobieskiego 13, Katowice

www.m-city.org

Escif (Hiszpania)

20-27.04.2012

ul. Mikusińskiego 5, Katowice

www.flickr.com/people/escif

Hyuro (Argentyna)

20-27.04.2012

ul. Gliwicka 58, Katowice

www.flick.com/people/hyuro

Moneyless (Włochy)

20-29.04.2012

ul. Mariacka Tylna 13a, Katowice

www.moneyless.it

Tellas (Włochy)

20-29.04.2012

ul. Mariacka Tylna 13, Katowice

www.tellas.org

Swanski (Polska)

24-28.04.2012

ul. Monte Cassino 5, Katowice

www.swanofobia.com

Ludo (Francja)

17-20.04.2012

ul. Markiefki 55, Katowice

www.thisisludo.com

Drobczyk / Mona Tusz / Vero King / Raspazjan (Polska)

20-29.04.2012

wiadukt przy ul. Mikołowskiej, Katowice

www.magdalenadrobczykportfolio.blogspot.com

www.monatusz.art.pl

www.raspazjan.com

Śląski Mural (Polska)

20-29.04.2012

wiadukt przy ul. Mikołowskiej, Katowic

WYSTAWA

Boogie: Bangkok, Belgrad, Kingston (Serbia / USA)

20.04-6.05.2012, wernisaż 20.04 o godz. 18.00

Galeria Centrum (d. Sektor I), Centrum Kultury Katowice, pl. Sejmu Śląskiego 2

www.artcoup.com

CZTERY OBLICZA BASQUIATA – PRZEGLĄD FILMOWY

24.04.2012

godz. 19.00

Kinoteatr Rialto, ul. św. Jana 24

Basquiat. Une Vie

Francja 2010, 52 min.

reżyseria: J.M. Vecchiet

występują: Bruno Bischofberger, Kai Eric, Micheal Holman i in.

24.04.2012

godz. 20.15

Kinoteatr Rialto, ul. św. Jana 24

Basquiat – Taniec ze śmiercią

USA 1996, 108 min.

reżyseria: Julian Schnabel

występują: Jeffrey Wright, Benicio del Toro, David Bowie, Gary Oldman, Denis Hopper i in.

25.04.2012

godz. 18.00

Kinoteatr Rialto, ul. św. Jana 24

Basquiat, promienne dziecko

USA 2010, 88 min.

reżyseria: Tamra Davis

występują: Julian Schnabel, Larry Gagosian, Fat 5 Freddy, Thurston Moore i in.

25.04.2012

godz. 20.00

Kinoteatr Rialto, ul. św. Jana 24

The New York Beat Movie a.k.a. Downtown 81

USA 1981, 72 min.

reżyseria: Edo Bertoglio

występują: Fat 5 Freddy, Vincent Gallo, Deborah Harry, John Lurie i in.

DEBATA:

25.04.2012

godz. 18.00

Rondo Sztuki, Rondo im. Gen. J. Ziętka 1

Podczas tegorocznej edycji Festiwalu odbędzie się debata poświęcona wyzwaniom, jakie obecnie stają przed street artem – komercjalizacją, festiwalizacją, wejściem sztuki ulicy do czterech ścian galerii. Do zabrania głosu zostali zaproszeni: Kristel Talv (Nuart Festival ze Stavanger w Norwegii), Angelo Milano (FAME Festival z Grottaglie we Włoszech) oraz Polacy: Ixi Color z Fundacji Vlepvnet w Warszawie i Michał Bieżyński z Fundacji Urban Forms w Łodzi. Debatę poprowadzi Łukasz Greszta (portal sosm.pl).

EGIPT / STREET ART / POLITYKA

Prezentując najnowsze zjawiska współczesnego street artu nie można pominąć zeszłorocznych ruchów rewolucyjnych, które przetoczyły się przez kraje Bliskiego Wschodu i które odbiły się szerokim echem na całym świecie. Znaczącą rolę w tych wydarzeniach odegrała egipska scena artystyczna, która – wychodząc na ulicę i tworząc tam politycznie zaangażowane prace – zachęcała ludzi do sprzeciwu wobec tyranii i zniewoleniu przez ówczesne władze. Wracając do tego, co leżało u podstaw street artu, egipscy artyści pokazali światu, jaką rolę może odgrywać sztuka w przestrzeni publicznej, nie ulegając przy tym komercjalizacji, uprzedmiotowieniu i dekoracyjności.

Ahmad Abdalla

22.04.2012

godz. 20.00

Kinoteatr Rialto, ul. św. Jana 24

The Microphone

Egipt 2010, 120 min.

reżyseria: Ahmad Abdalla

+ spotkanie z reżyserem

www.ahmadabdalla.net

Ganzeer – spotkanie

26.04.2012

godz. 18.00

Klub Festiwalowy KATO, ul. Mariacka 13

www.ganzeer.blogspot.co

MUZYKA

Young Fathers – koncert otwarcia

20.04.2012

godz. 20.00

ul. Mariacka

www.youngfathersmusic.com

www.myspace.com/youngfahters

U Know Me Night: Kixnare / Teielte

21.04.2012

godz. 21.00

Klub Festiwalowy KATO, ul. Mariacka 13

www.facebook.com/kixnare

http://www.myspace.com/tiltsound

KATO meets BRESLAU: Teleport Katowice / Igor Boxx

26.04.2012

godz. 20.00

Podcienia Centrum Kultury Katowice, pl. Sejmu Śląskiego 2

http://soundcloud.com/teleport_katowice

www.ninjatune.net/igorboxx

Cosmin TGR

27.04.2012

godz. 21.00

Flow Club

ul. 3 Maja 23

wstęp: 10 pln

www.cosmintgr.com

Nawer vs. Temporary Space Design / DJ Krime / Daniel Drumz

28.04.2012

godz. 20.00

sala widowiskowa DOKP, al. Roździeńskiego 1

wstęp: 5 pln

www.facebook.com/NAWER.VS.TEMPORARYSPACEDESIGN

www.myspace.com/funkmastakrime

www.danieldrumz.org

MaxFlo Fest

28.04.2012

godz. 20.00

Mega Club, ul. Żelazna 9

wstęp: pierwsze 300 sztuk – 25 pln, w przedsprzedaży – 30 pln, w dniu koncertu – 35 pln

www.maxflorec.pl

WARSZTATY:

Warsztaty z kibicami

1.02-29.04.2012

Prowadzenie: Urwis

Uczestnicy: kibice GKS Katowice / zapisy zamknięte

miejsce: Stadion GKS Katowice / ul. Jabłoniow

Warsztaty z typografii miejskiej

24.04.2012

26.04.2012

Prowadzenie: Zofia Oslislo-Piekarska

Uczestnicy: dzieci uczęszczające do MDK Bogucice

Miejsce: MDK Bogucice

Warsztaty dźwiękowe

20-22.04.2012

Prowadzenie: Marcin Dymiter

Uczestnicy: 16-30 lat / zapisy: magdalena.piechaczek@miastoogrodow.eu

Miejsce: SARP Katowice, ul. Dyrekcyjna 9

Warsztaty z szablonu

20-22.04.2012

Prowadzenie: Czarnobyl / Pisa73

Uczestnicy: młodzież z Domu Dziecka Stanica

Miejsce: Dom Dziecka Stanic

SPORTY MIEJSKIE:

Nightskating

21.04.2012

godz. 20.00

plac pod Spodkiem
Przed wyjazdem, w godzinach 18.00 – 20.00 na placu pod Spodkiem odbędą się warsztaty frisbee, które poprowadzi Śląskie Stowarzyszenie Graczy Ultimate Freezebeatz.

Wycieczka rowerowa szlakiem sztuki PRL-u

22.04.2012

godz. 10.00

zapisy: marcin.dzedzej@miasto-ogrodow.eu

Start: KATObar, ul. Mariacka 13

Zawody rolkowo-deskowe

28.04.2012

godz. 10.00

Miejsce: Skatepark PTG, Katowice
W czasie trwania zawodów, w godz. 10.00 – 18.00 odbędą się warsztaty frisbee, które poprowadzi Śląskie Stowarzyszenie Graczy Ultimate Freezebeatz.

Wycieczka rowerowa szlakiem katowickich murali

29.04.2012

godz. 10.00

zapisy: marcin.dzedzej@miasto-ogrodow.eu

Start: KATObar, ul. Mariacka 13

KATOWICE STREET ART FESTIVAL W PIEKARACH ŚLĄSKICH

Warsztaty budowania latawców

15.03.2012 / 1.04.2012

godz. 16.00

www.kuklok.pl

Warsztaty tworzenia murali

21.04.2012

godz. 12.00 – 14.00

Prowadzenie: Stowarzyszenie Kuklok

22.04.2012

godz. 10.00-16.00

Prowadzenie: 0700 team

miejsce: klub Piekarni.

Piknik z Latawcem

6.04.2012

godz. 13.00

Kopiec Wyzwolenia, Piekary Śląskie

www.kuklok.pl

0700 team

20-29.04.2012

Kamienica na rogu ul. Bytomskiej i Wyszyńskiego

oraz Brzeziny Śląskie

Stowarzyszenie Kuklok

20-29.04.2012

Kamienica na rogu ul. Wyszyńskiego i Traugutta

Przegląd Piekarskich Amatorskich Zespołów Muzycznych

28.04.2012

Ośrodek Kultury Andaluzja, ul. Oświęcimska 45

Read more

EVOL “Repeat Offender” in Manhattan

April 19, 2012 , , , ,

Berlin-based Street Artist Evol is now having his first solo gallery show in the US at New York’s Jonathan LeVine in Chelsea and it is an uncommon opportunity to see his ingenious mind up close.  As many artists working on the street know, it is possible to imagine a world in the mottled scarred façade of a surface, and here Evol shows what he can do with cardboard and metal.

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A product designer by training, Evols’ detailed lines and careful attention to the finer points of the most unromantic architecture of the metropolis somehow makes you smile, even as it attests to his command of the multi-layered stencil technique. Repeat Offender miniaturizes the large-scale impersonal utilitarian repetitiveness of institutional design and brings the buildings into your careful consideration of their exterior and the possible nature of their interior.  At that moment, he’s got you – having successfully transformed a surface into a world.

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evol “Repeat Offender” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Curious to know how Evol makes his stencil art? Find out the answer in the vid below from Evol:

 

 

Evol “Repeat Offender” is currently on view at the Jonathan Levine Gallery. Click here for more information regarding this show.

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

Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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

Read more

Various and Gould Perform “Guest Work” on the Street in Istanbul

April 18, 2012 , , , , , ,

The German Street Art Duo and “Berlistanbul”

A cobalt blue streak sweeps through a narrow street in Istanbul as Various and Gould don fluorescent orange work vests and push brooms with a purpose. The lunchtime crowd gathers a few steps back and to the sides to witness a remarkable cloud of ultra-marine pigment forming a wake behind the two German Street Artists as they perform their new installation focusing on work and workers.

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

Simply by changing the color of the dirt, the effect of an everyday act by municipal workers is effectively transformed, if not understood. 34 kilos of non-toxic blue pushed up a street with confidence and industry by two people wearing an official-looking logo on their uniforms does cause confusion. “What happened? Did someone die?” asks a spectator.  No, they are assured, it is an art performance – an explanation that calms most but not all, including restaurant owners here in this eastside tourist district of “Beyoğlu” while their dining guests look curiously with mouths agape.

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

“Zu Gast Arbeit”, loosely translated as “guest work”, is the name of the piece by Various and Gould and like many of their wheat-pastes on streets in cities around the world, it is focused on the topic of “work”.  In this part of Istanbul where they are participating in a group show called “Outside In” with eight other Street Artists, V&G talk about the significance of this public act of sweeping and the changing nature of work today, “Work nowadays is becoming increasingly invisible. It is getting harder to grasp and comprehend.” With a hint of the ridiculous their custom “uniform” logo shows their affinity for workers in their home and host city. “On the backs of our orange vests we stenciled the two city emblems merged into each other – on the bottom the shape of Berlin’s familiar television tower and on top the municipal logo of Istanbul. Together it can be read as the symbol for a utopian place called “Berlistanbul”.

So how did this performance go? And why is the topic of work so important to the duo? Various and Gould talked with Brooklyn Street Art to give us a better understanding of “Zu Gast Arbeit”.

Brooklyn Street Art: Your Street Art work often focuses on themes related to work and workers. While technological changes have caused many jobs to evaporate, the streets don’t clean themselves, do they? The world still depends on workers, right?
Various and Gould: Yes, of course the world depends on workers. In many areas migrants do mainly these physically exhausting and badly paid jobs. Physical labor isn’t very well respected and although this work is important, we hardly say “Thank You”! Also there ARE machines that clean the streets and replace the jobs of a lot of people.

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

Brooklyn Street Art: Are you drawing attention to the act of physical labor, or to the life of the worker?
Various and Gould:It has a lot to do with the physical labor of a worker and also with the role of a worker. The monotonous repetition of the sweeping movement is somehow neutral and peaceful. The street cleaner is a familiar image to the residents and is normally not much noticed. He is somewhat official, as he is hired and paid by the city, but he is also perceived as low-grade.

It’s just the little shift of a color in the performance that adds a different meaning to the act of sweeping and draws attention to it. The combination of “cleaning” (but actually doing the opposite of it) brought in a breeze of absurdity and senselessness. Art is irrational. And when an idea comes up, it comes from the guts and isn’t much explainable at first.

In the book Momo, by Michael Ende, there is a beautiful scene, where Beppo, the street cleaner, tells Momo that it is important not to look for the end of the long street and the long distance you still have to go, but rather to put your concentration in every step and sweep and breath. Then it is fun and you do your work well and suddenly you reach the end of the street.

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

Brooklyn Street Art: While this blue streak through town is visual, would you say the project is more conceptual in nature?
Various and Gould: Actually it isn’t very different from what we’ve done before: bringing some color to the street … but yes, it is a conceptual work. We chose the medium of a performance very carefully. We knew that every detail matters and each has a certain meaning, so we tried to reduced the elements of the performance and simplify it. It is about a seeing something in a new way and the context plays a big role this performance. If it were performed this way in Berlin it wouldn’t have the same meaning. (But since the element of chance is also part of a performance the perception of your work is unpredictable anyway.)

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

Brooklyn Street Art: What role does a public performance like this play in a community?
Various and Gould:This is hard to say, as we aren’t part of any community in Istanbul! We were guests and tourists. We were a bit afraid of coming to Istanbul with this performance, not knowing the community so well and all the customs – there is always a risk of being called an “Orientalist” – meaning a person who goes somewhere with a Western behavior of superiority.

And as the Turkish-German guest worker issue is as quite delicate, we didn’t know how our performance would be understood and perceived. But we had the feeling the spectators were quite open. Although the performance was meant as a dialogue and contribution it clearly holds the potential of (cultural) misunderstanding and incomprehension.

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

Brooklyn Street Art: Your logo merges the cultures of Berlin and Istanbul. Can you talk about the significance of these two cities to each other and their relationship to work?
Various and Gould: There are quite a few parallels. It seems that Berlin and Istanbul both are very popular as cultural hot spots at the moment. Many young creatives from all over the world are moving there and this is also accompanied by a higher tolerance for differences. For us these two cities are like a gate to a German-Turkish cultural exchange.  In light of the history of Turkish guest workers coming, living and staying in Germany it is time for a merging movement toward each other from both sides.

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

Various & Gould “Zu Gast Arbeit”.  Istanbul, Turkey.  5th of April 2012 (photo © Gülbin Eriş)

“Zu Gast Arbeit” – A performance by Various & Gould

In Istanbul, Turkey on the 5th of April, 2012.
Photos by and copyright of Gülbin Eriş.
With support from: Sinejan Kılıç and Önder Duman
Curator: Sinejan Kılıç

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

Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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

 

Read more

Featured Video | Martin Wong’s “Houston Street”

Recent Articles on BSA