August 2012

Barry McGee Mid-Career Retrospective at Berkeley Art Museum

“Barry McGee” Opens at UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive

After witnessing Mr. McGee working on his vast installation of the “Street Market” last year for the LA MoCA “Arts in the Streets” exhibit, we can imagine him working steadily and quietly, half meander and half engineer, on this retrospective of his prolific career so far.

He likes a certain colorful eye-popping clutter, in an ordered way that makes sense and envelops even as it unfolds. Words, signage, objects, color, patterns, characters, odes to freight riding and garbage sifting, finding gold in a dumpster – part of the DIY ethos and graphic designer’s hand that took hold among the many Street Artists who followed his 1990s San Francisco forays from graffiti.

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

“Throughout his career,” writes Alex Baker in the exhibition catalog, “Barry McGee has continued to surprise and contradict expectations.” Time passes, his tags and monikers cycled through, and this is now called “mid-career”, an exhibition of the timeline up until this splattered dot.  Bringing the street and the studio and the exhibitions under one large roof, the generous McGee gives us a huge attic of curiosities, a treasure-filled, salon-style, tag-burnished buffet.

We are happy to know that this exhibition will travel to ICA in Boston next spring. We will be there.

We want thank photographer Gareth Gooch for sending these exclusive images for BSA readers from his time spent with Barry as the artist worked throughout the museum galleries to install the show.

 ‘The huge dripping “SNITCH” tag on the exterior of the brutalist concrete Berkeley Art Museum exterior was my first sign that this was going to be a truly great exhibit. Among all the visual sensory stimulation, at our first introduction I was impressed with Barry’s attention to his guest. In the crunch of finalizing the installation to open in a few hours, Barry was calm and generous with his time allowing me to shoot without restrictions.

The beautiful concrete and glass galleries were filled with paintings, installations and collections of multiple works in such proliferation, I had to wonder if he ever slept! The scale of work from small ephemera collections to his signature large scale installations with life sized “taggers” and upended FONG TV delivery van and store fronts was awesome! His work is so unique and eclectic, I honestly felt I was in the presence of a modern master!” – Gareth Gooch

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee installation. (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

Barry McGee (photo © Gareth Gooch 2012)

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Barry McGee at BAM/PFA is organized by Director Lawrence Rinder, with Assistant Curator Dena Beard and will run through December 9, 2012. http://bampfa.berkeley.edu/

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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!

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ROA in The Navajo Nation Desert with Sleeping Enemies

Don’t be fooled by a coyote playing “dead”. He’s not really playing.

They say that rabbits comprise about 1/3 of a coyotes’ annual diet, and yet one of them is right here sitting by the door on this desert plain, so unimpressed is he with the fast moving varmits.  ROA has just painted the long eared napper at the entrance of this one story building just around the corner from a couple of equally sanguine and predatory kit foxes, their reddish hue desaturated by the Belgian Street Artist’s monochromatic aerosol treatment. It hardly seems like a coyote could mover faster than ROA has across the US this summer and now we catch him for you on the Navajo Reservation with Jetsonorams’s project, “The Painted Desert”.

ROA (photo © Jetsonorama)

ROA’s parade of wildlife is equally striking in these wide-open rural areas as they are climbing multi-storied city buildings.  Just last year he was in the Australian Outback, before that he was in Mexico’s highlands and Chile’s coastal towns.  It is good to see ROA here and with future visits he may find time to paint more animals from the coyote’s buffet, since they’ll eat anything it that they can catch among the low-rise bushes and brush – rabbits, mice, squirrels, gophers, lambs, calves, goats, small pigs, ducks, magpies, crows, buzzards, quail, grasshoppers, and other coyotes.

Thanks to Jetsonorama for sharing these exclusive pics for BSA readers.

ROA (photo © Jetsonorama)

ROA. Detail. (photo © Jetsonorama)

ROA (photo © Jetsonorama)

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Images of the Week 08-26-12

Once you’ve stumbled up and whizzed through the same streets in your neighborhood a hundred times it’s a great temptation to explore, especially in the summer. Jump off the gravel and wander along the stones and up the railroad bed and through the high grass and go single file on the dirt path, teetering astride a slimy inlet and shimmy through a hole in the fence that rips your shirt. What the hell – it’s all in service of discovery just off the beaten path.

And probably it’s no stunning surprise to you to find out that there is this lively conversation happening on the walls. Wouldn’t call it “party talk”, per se, but a lot of the guests seem to know each other, and many are very opinionated.  So we find a lot of graff here, and mixed in with the tags and pieces are other artists we might call Street Artists. As your eyes acclimate to the new surroundings, you realize that this busted back lot and former crackhouse are not so abandoned. In fact, some times these buildings are more alive than any busy street, with a lot of activity in and around them. And sometimes you know that you’re are definitely not alone.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week including Anthony Lister, Blanco, Bored One, Celso, Dan Witz, Elbow-Toe, False, KSM, Kuma, LNY, LUSH, Michael DeFeo, ND’A, Nether, Nick Walker, Sorta, Tense, and Whisbe.

KUMA . FALSE (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

KUMA . Elbow Toe. It is common to find artists collaborating on the streets, or in the back lot full of overgrown weeds in this case. Some times they get together and jam all day on a wall playing off each others ideas. Other times these collaborations are forced, unintended. This one falls on the latter description with Kuma smacking over Elbow Toe’s cat, but we find that surprisingly, it works very well and KUMA’s placement of his tag was done artfully. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

KUMA . Elbow Toe. Detail. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

KSM and Anthony Lister appear to have a sparkling interaction (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister has a message for you, and a bit of a scowl to wash it down with. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Walker looks like he’s done the crest for a men’s accessory designer here. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Walker (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

ND’A and Nick Walker at Bushwick 5 Points. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz, frighten as usual, in Bushwick 5 Points. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Celso goes in a bold new direction at Bushwick 5 Points. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

LNY at Buwshwick 5 Points. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tense (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bored One (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Whisbe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lu$h is Flu$h (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blanco was briefly in town from his two years of service with the AmeriCorps in Mongolia. He left something for us to remember him. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sorta in Baltimore (Photo © Nether)

Michael DeFeo (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

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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!

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Trailerpark Festival 2012 (Copenhagen, Denmark)

Trailerpark Festival

Soten (image courtesy of Trailerpark Festival)

Trailerpark Festival is  next week once again ready to take Copenhagen by storm. Trailerpark Festival focus on music and art from many subcultures. ArtRebels and Montana (mtn-world.com) are proud to announce this year’s street artists and graffiti crews, who will be playing a big part in the design and decoration of this year’s festival area. We have invited local as well as international world-class artists, who will be creating their works live within the festival area on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We are repeating last year’s success by putting up a 50 meter graffiti wall that will be available for our chosen artists during all three festival days. We want to give the audience a unique insight into how the very best graffiti artists work. The audience have a chance to follow the creation of a piece of work from start to finish, from sketch to the last outline.

This year, it is with great honour that we are able to present Letterbenders, Furious Styles, Big City Brains, Soten, Chifumi and Ogre.

August 31 – September 2, 2012  @ CPH SKATEPARK, Enghavevej 80-82, 2450 Copenhagen SV, Denmark

http://trailerparkfestival.com/

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Gamma Proforma Presents: Futurism 2.0. Group Exhibition and Book Launch. (London, UK)

Futurism 2.0

Futurism 2.0 is an exhibition, film and book examining parallels between 20th Century Futurism and 21st Century abstract urban art.  In the film and book we talk to historians, critics, cultural figures and the artists at work. Discussing creative revolutions, our world and today’s 24/7 creative society. Uncovering this truly international movement, which connects via silicon and copper across the globe, where each development is transmitted digitally and consumed organically.

The exhibition takes place in London from 27th September – 3rd October. The launch party/private viewing is on the 27th September 6pm – Late – RSVP events@gammaproforma.com

Artists include: Augustine Kofie, Phil Ashcroft, Boris Tellegen (Delta), James Choules (sheOne), Matt W. Moore, Mark Lyken, Sat One, Christopher Derek Bruno, Moneyless, Mr Jago, Nawer, O. Two, Morten Andersen, Keith Hopewell(Part2ism), Jaybo Monk, Poesia, Derm, Jerry Inscoe (Joker), Remi/Rough, Clemens Behr and more…

Find out more about the project and the artists at www.futurism2-0.com, you can pre-order the book here.

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NUART is Getting Ready for 2012

The NUART team in Stavanger, Norway are busy working on and organizing the last details of their ambitious NUART 2012 program for this Fall.

Still from video of ROA at Nuart (© Nuart)

Below is a promo video to get you ready to get ready to think about it and book your air tickets and accommodations and camera, black book, aerosol cans, markers, mints, condoms, and your most rockinest kicks.

So far the lineup for the opening on September 29 includes

RON ENGLISH (US), SABER (US), DOLK (NO), AAKASH NIHALANI (US), NIELS SHOW MEULMAN (NL), MOBSTR (UK), JORDAN SEILER//PUBLIC AD CAMPAIGN (US), EINE (UK), SICKBOY (UK), HOWNOSM (US), THE WA (FR).

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Cruz in Cholula, Mexico and Okata, Spain.

Italian born now Brooklyn-based Street Artist Cruz took the show on the road to Spanish speaking localities this summer to share these humor inflected symbol portraits. One wall is in Cholula, Puebla in Mexico and the other one in Okata, Spain near Barcelona.

CRUZ. Cholula, Puebla. (photo © CRUZ)

CRUZ. Okata, Spain. (photo © CRUZ)

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Fun Friday 08.24.12

DUUUUUUUDE, it’s Fun Friday! We changed the sign today. Looks fresh right?

1. ICY & SOT “Made in Iran” (NYC)
2. Barry McGee at Berkeley (CA)
3. BORF Solo in Newcastle (UK)
4. “Klimpt Illustrated” at Lazarides (London)
5. Lush Does “Shitty Drawings in New York City”
6. Shepard Fairey Does “Americana” (LA)
7. Dabs & Myla: Artists Driven (VIDEO)
8. CYRCLE “Beautiful Disaster” (VIDEO)
9. ALL STYLES Dance Battle at Postmasters Gallery in NYC (VIDEO)

ICY & SOT “Made in Iran” (NYC)

Two Street Art brothers, Icy & Sot, born in Iran and encouraged by their parents to pursue their dreams and aspirations have ventured outside their country and landed in New York, their first foreign trip, their first international city, their first art show in which they were able to attend. “Made in Iran” is now open to the everybody at the Open House Gallery in Manhattan.

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Barry McGee at Berkeley (CA)

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) mid-career survey of San Francisco based artist Barry McGee.  From the press release: “Using a visual vocabulary that borrows elements from comics, hobo art, sign painting, and other sources, McGee’s work addresses a range of issues, from individual survival and social malaise to alternative forms of community”. This exhibition is now open to the general public.

Junior, what up with the car? Barry McGee in Miami for Primary Flight 2009 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this exhibition click here.

BORF Solo in Newcastle (UK)

Detroit native BORF has traveled to England for his solo show “Walls Are Two-Sided” at The Outsiders Newcastle. With this new body of work, Borf illustrates the derelict aspect of Detroit and elevates the decay to art by zeroing in on a detail of the building’s peeling and corroding facade and transporting that vision on to the canvas. The result in the words of the press release is: “Rothko talked about wrestling with opposing and competing elements to eventually discover an equilibrium, what he called a pocket of silence” says BORF. “For this show I was fighting through layers of ambivalence and opposites: graffiti as youth expression and Rothko as adult expression; the art market and property rights; education and improvisation, youth and adulthood.” This show is now open.

Borf on the streets of Brooklyn C. 2007 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“Klimpt Illustrated” at Lazarides (London)

Gustav Klimt the famous Austrian painter is turning 150 years old and The Vienna Tourist Board has teamed with The Lazarides Gallery in London to give Klimt street creed in the hopes that younger audiences will start following him on Twitter to gain knowledge on the secrets of his longevity and hopefully on his craft as well. To this effect curator Sydney Ogidan tapped nine international artists to take inspiration from some of the master’s most iconic masterpieces and create their own paintings. The opening reception for this show “Klimt Illustrated” is tonight at Lazarides Gallery in SOHO.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Lush Does “Shitty Drawings in New York City”

We thought we noticed a change in the air when the Australian storm called LUSH landed on these shores. Well here he is, likely to offend a few uptight prone-to-nose-bleeds stiffs and even more likely to amuse a lot more of us loose New Yorkers. LUSH has been madly working on a series of drawings/illustrations for his show “Shitty Drawings In New York City” opening Saturday night at the Klughaus Gallery in Manhattan. Half political cartoons/ half comic book with a blunt appreciation of the mechanics of the male and female reproductive organs, LUSH’s commentary on social, political and popular culture can be right on the spot. Dimwits need not apply.

LUSH (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Shepard Fairey Does “Americana” (LA)

Shepard Fairey needs no introductions at this point in his career or this point in our dang blog. One can always be certain to find him busy at work and getting involved in as many projects as he can humanly fit in his schedule. Mr. Fairey is constantly looking for inspiration and finding it often in popular culture that is around and accessible to all of us. For his new show “Americana” opening tomorrow at the Perry Rubestein Gallery in Los Angeles the artist has created a new body of work inspired by the songs of the great artist-musician Neil Young.  Shepard has found material for his canvases in the songs of Mr. Young new album “Crazy Horse”.

Shepard Fairey in Miami for Wynwood Walls 2009. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Dabs & Myla: Artists Driven (VIDEO)

CYRCLE “Beautiful Disaster” (VIDEO)

ALL STYLES Dance Battle at Postmasters Gallery in NYC (VIDEO)

You gotta give it up peoples! These are some of the best kids doing their thing right now. BSA Love to all of y’all.

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Aryz in Copenhagen at Galore Urban Art Festival

Galore Urban Art Festival bills itself as “a gathering point for Copenhagen’s underground where artists can meet, exhibit and share art. We facilitate the raw, the unestablished and the alternative and take the role as an alternative to conventional art exhibitions”.  Street Artist Aryz has just completed this striking piece on the exposed brick side of a huge building here and we’re pleased that photographer Henrik Haven has joined us as a BSA collaborator to share some exclusive photos.

Can’t really tell what is happening in the scene though. Any ideas? Is she choking him, or comforting him?

The Galore festival took place this August from 16th to the 18th and please stay tuned for more images from the rest of the participating artists including: Above, Dems, Gary, GR170, KCIS, POS, Semor, Sobek, Sofles, The Nom Nom Collective, Sozy, Storm, Vizie and Zoer.

Aryz  (photo © Henrik Haven)

This is a great shot from inside the building next to Aryz  (photo © Henrik Haven)

Aryz  (photo © Henrik Haven)

Aryz  (photo © Henrik Haven)

Aryz  (photo © Henrik Haven)

Click here to learn more about Galore

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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!

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Lazarides Gallery Presents: “Klimt Illustrated” (London, UK)

Klimt Illustrated

Nine internationally-renowned street artists will produce Klimt-inspired masterpieces in front of a live audience in London’s Grosvenor Gardens, on Tuesday 21st August.

Situated upon plinths, the artists will create new works resonant with the influence of Klimt in the square format,as part of the Vienna Tourist Board’s campaign to celebrate the 150th birthday of the famous Viennese artist. Inspired by Vienna’s rich cultural diversity, the unique celebration aims to showcase the city’s modern art scene and imperial heritage.

The completed works work will be displayed in the famous Lazarides Gallery in Soho as a public exhibition, ‘Klimt Illustrated’.

The exhibition at the Lazarides Gallery will be free and open to the general public from 24th August to 1st September, Tuesday to Saturday 11am – 7pm.

The Vienna Tourist Board has worked with the Lazarides Gallery and curator, Sydney Ogidan of BLK River, to secure the nine artists, who are: Mode 2 www.mode2.org; Lucy McLauchlan www.beat13.co.uk; Vhils www.alexandrefarto.com; Ron English www.popaganda.com; Christian Eisenberger www.van.at/see/eisen; Bastardilla www.bastardilla.org; Know Hope www.thisislimbo.com; Marlene Hausegger www.mmhhh.com; Work will also be on display from Shepard Fairey www.obeygiant.com, the famous American contemporary street artist and illustrator.

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“Made in Iran” and a Studio Visit with Icy and Sot

“Made in Iran” and a Studio Visit with Icy and Sot

Iranian Street Artists Step Into New Territory as they prepare for US Debut

Born in the 1980s and early 1990s, Iranian Street Artists Icy & Sot are equally fans and loyal students of all the stencil techniques that have characterized the western scene in the last decade. What’s fascinating in this story is that, despite creating work on the street since 2005, neither brother has been able to attend their own gallery show in person outside of Iran until this week in New York.

With a new sense of freedom and some new works for “Made in Iran”, the self taught Tabriz-based artists are riding the momentum that will take this show to Amsterdam, Berlin and Milan. The gallery work on display is similar to the variety of styles they have experimented with in streets of cities like Tehran, Paris, Turin, Istanbul, and even the rural Mazichal forest in Northern Iran. Thematically they wrestle between oppression, celebrity, freedom, war, and daring to dream.

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hitting the well promoted New York opening will be an eager audience of curious fans who have been waiting to see in person the svelte guys who have become a bit of an Internet sensation because of their origin, and because being caught painting in Tehran is more severe than most illegal street artists in the west would care to imagine. “The worst thing in Iran is that when you get caught they will stick so many labels to you that are not even related to it, such as Satanism, for example, and you can be accused of political activities,” described Icy in a recent interview with BSA.

And that sort of harsh official penalty probably explains at least part of the reason why they are happy to be in New York, where they are doing many legal walls in this city that has given birth to a new generation of Street Artists in the last decade or so. Visiting with the brothers this week in the studio as they prepared new work for the show, their excitement to be here is evident.

Brooklyn Street Art: New York has a very large Street Art and graffiti scene with many participants. What is it like to be part of a large scene, compared to cities like Tehran?
Sot: It is perfect to be in such a large Street Art scene. There isn’t much going on in the street art ”scene” in Iran, really. It’s an underground movement mostly in Tehran and Tabriz.

Brooklyn Street Art: Would you characterize your work on the street to be political, social, or primarily artistic?
Icy: In our opinion Street Art itself is a kind of political art, because it says something directly to the people.
Sot: Yes, we are communicating our visions to the people with walls.

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Often your subjects have their vision obstructed or blinded entirely. What blindness are you referring to, and whose?
Icy: Most of them are about what’s happening to us and around us. For example, the last time we got arrested they just covered our faces with a red cover, which is similar to a piece we have done in the past called “Blindness”.

Brooklyn Street Art: Looking at your work, one can see similarities stylistically and thematically to many of Street Art’s well known stencilists like Banksy, Nick Walker, Jef Aerosol, Blek Le Rat, Chris Stain, C215 and others. How does a Street Artist differentiate their work from what has come before them?
Icy: Everyone borrows from the past. Banksy, for example, based his technique and style on Blek Le Rat, who is considered the godfather of Parisian graffiti art. Blek really  pioneered both stenciling and the image of the rat that Banksy later emulated. The important thing is that you are creating your own ideas.
Sot: We have tried different styles of stencil but our works right now are mostly black and white and come from our own ideas. Stencils are our way to communicate our visions to the people.

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Capitalism, the war machine, freedom of the press, the police state, distribution of wealth – are these the kind of themes that are now universal?
Sot: Yes they are universal now, even in Iran, probably because of access to information. Because of the lack of entertainment available, Iranian youth spend a lot of time on the Internet, although there’s lot of cyber censorship.

Brooklyn Street Art: Why put your work on the street? Why not stay in the gallery?
Icy: Because the streets are for everyone but the galleries are limited and all we want is to communicate our visions to the people.

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This upcoming exhibition is gonna be our first foreign exhibit that we are going to attend ourselves. We are so exited about it.”

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot and John Lennon’s shadow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot’s first solo show in the US titled “Made in Iran” opens Thursday August 23 at the Open House Gallery in Manhattan. Click here for details on this exhibition.

 

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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!

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Perry Rubenstein Gallery Presents: Shepard Fairey “Americana” (Los Angeles, CA)

Shepard Fairey

AMERICANA
New Paintings by Shepard Fairey

RECEPTION: Saturday, August 25th
7pm – 10pm

Perry Rubenstein Gallery (LA) presents a special project by Shepard Fairey and Neil Young in celebration of the recent release of Young’s new album with Crazy Horse, “Americana,” which features reinterpreted classic, American, folk songs. Fairey has created eleven new paintings, each one inspired by the songs, such as Oh Susannah, This Land Is Your Land and Clementine. The new Shepard Fairey paintings will be on view to the public at Perry Rubenstein Gallery in Los Angeles starting August 25th. In addition, Shepard will have a limited quantity release of the Americana Print Edition Box Set at the opening on August 25th at Perry Rubenstein Gallery. The Box Set will include a collection of screen print versions of all the new paintings, more info and official release date on the prints to come shortly, so STAY TUNED!

The “Americana” project developed as a result of Shepard Fairey’s relationship with Neil Young and his long-time manager Elliot Roberts. Fairey created a portrait of Young for the artist’s May Day show in 2010, based on his view of the musician as a social commentator philosophically aligned with people like Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, and Joe Strummer. Young and Roberts then asked Fairey to design the art, CD and DVD packaging for the 25th anniversary of Young’s Bridge School charity. Fairey states, “Neil really liked the art and I was thrilled he asked me to collaborate by making paintings inspired by the songs on his “Americana” album. I’m a huge fan of Neil’s music in general, but when I heard the album I realized how much the subject matter of several songs reflected the aspirations and tragedies of those pursuing the American dream tied into issues relevant to the 99% movement which I have been supporting.”

Fairey says he listened to the music and lyrics to come up with concepts for visual representations of the songs. Then for each song, Fairey presented Young with ideas about a visual image that would best capture the meaning and/or protagonist/s in each song. The artist enjoyed hearing how Neil interpreted aspects of the songs that moved him the most musically and lyrically. Fairey states, “I showed Neil sketches, and then we discussed the ideas and refined them. He was very open to my ideas and encouraged me to go with what inspired me the most. Latitude for interpretation is something that Neil utilizes and seems to value as an important way for the listener/viewer to personalize their interaction with art and music. I also was excited about this project because the concept of re-interpreting pre-existing songs filtered through Neil’s unique sensibility parallels what I have often tried to do as a visual artist by building upon iconic images that are an accessible part of the cultural dialogue.”

Each of the new Fairey paintings resonate powerful messages presented in the songs, some depicting a hopeful outlook on the pursuit of a better tomorrow, while others reflect the hardships that come in trying to achieve that dream. One painting related to Clementine, which captures the words of a mourning lover whose “darling,” the daughter of a California Gold Rush miner, drowned. Here she is represented by the levitating body of a young woman draped in white, with the text “And Gone.” Another painting is related to the 1848 minstrel song Oh Susannah that features a dungaree-wearing banjo player with the text “DON’T YOU CRY FOR ME.” Other works feature a wanted poster (Travel On); an iconic image of Queen Elizabeth embroidering an American flag (God Save the Queen); and, a lonely tree, stripped bare of its leaves, in a desolate landscape (Tom Dula).

For Young and Crazy Horse’s rendition of the famous 1940 Woody Guthrie song known to every school-aged child in America, This Land Is Your Land, written in response to Irving Berlin’s God Bless America, Fairey has depicted the hopeful face of a youth, set against a dramatic Western Landscape. Three rows of sharp, barbed wire cross the boy’s path with the text “NO TRESSPASSING / THIS LAND IS MY LAND.” The text is derived from a variant verse Guthrie added as a social commentary during a 1944 recording session. Fairey’s paintings are mixed media on canvas, including techniques such as stenciling, collage, and screen-printing. All of the paintings measure closely to the 30 x 44 inch dimension, which is one of Fairey’s standard choices of size. “Americana” is Neil Young with Crazy Horse’s first album together in nine years and is being released on June 5 on Reprise Records.

Perry Rubenstein Gallery
1215 N. Highland Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90038
T (310) 395-1001 / F (310) 395-1019
http://www.perryrubenstein.com

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