French Street Artist and photographer JR hit a skyward spot last week in Brooklyn with a large watchful eye which looks toward the Williamsburg Bridge that connects Brooklyn to Manhattan. An image taken of a member of the Lokota tribe on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota, the new installation is part of The Inside Out – Lakota Project that JR began here in New York last year.
Working with a few assistants JR ferried the large prints up and down the building in a cherry picker, carefully matching the seams and wheat-pasting the pieces to gradually reveal this ocular oddity. The finished wall is alongside the north side of the bridge, perfect for bicyclists and pedestrians who want to stop and snap a photo.
Détournement : Signs of the Times
Group Exhibition curated by : Carlo McCormickAugust 8—25, 2012
Opening Reception:
Wednesday, August 8, 7—9pm
Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to presentDétournement: Signs of the Times, a group exhibition curated by Carlo McCormick, featuring work by a number of artists, including: AIKO, Dan Witz, David Wojnarowicz, Dylan Egon, Eine, Ilona Granet, Jack Pierson, John Law (Jack Napier), Leo Fitzpatrick, Mark Flood, Martin Wong, Max Rippon (RIPO), Mike Osterhout, Posterboy, Ron English, Shepard Fairey + Jamie Reid, Steve Powers (ESPO), TrustoCorp, Will Boone, Zevs
CURATOR’S STATEMENT
A détournement is a detour of sorts, but not so much along the scenic route as over the tougher road that goes more directly to the truth. A more proximate translation from the French might be a derailment, but I’m not sure English is so well suited to get both the violence and hilarity of the term. Since coined by the Lettrist International in the 1950s, it has served various generations as a common strategy by which to subvert consensus visual language so as to turn the expressions of capitalist culture against themselves. The most typical folkloric version we encounter of a détournement is when someone writes a word at the bottom of a stop sign, so that with say just three letters this mundane road command might read “Stop War.”
Employed brilliantly by the Situationists, whose great philosopher Guy Debord laid out the socio-aesthetic framework for this practice, détournements twist the terms of mimicry in ironic parody using the a semblance of the easily recognizable to dissemble and redirect the literal meaning of signs so as to construe a more honest picture of their deceptive intentions. As such they are a mediation of the media, a way of transgressing the fine art of persuasion that dominates our visual landscape to offer alternative readings and deviant possibilities to the hegemony of mainstream corporate culture. A natural response to the lies and coercions we are fed on a daily basis, the détournement has been the reactive impulse of all those who question reality, from the Punks who adopted it in the 1970s through Culture Jammers, Adbusters, contemporary street artists and the winding legacy of protest movements from WTO to Occupy.
This exhibition is meant to both celebrate the lineage of détournement and bring attention to some of its current practitioners who embody its continued vitality through their art. We live in a forest of signs that are meant to confuse, distract and numb us to the more dire consequences of the human condition as it is. We do not need to follow these signs, we need to make our own so as to find a way out of the mess we are in. I cannot thank these artists enough for their contributions towards helping us find another way.
ABOUT THE CURATOR Carlo McCormick is an esteemed pop culture critic, curator and Senior Editor of PAPERmagazine. His numerous books, monographs and catalogs include: TRESPASS: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art, Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art and Street Culture, The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene 1974-1984, and Dondi White: Style Master General. His work has appeared in numerous publications including: Art in America, Art News, and Artforum.
The gallery is located at 529 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 11am to 6pm. For further information, please visit:www.jonathanlevinegallery.com, call: 212.243.3822, or email:info@jonathanlevinegallery.com.
Brooklyns’ Pandemic Gallery recently invited a sort of painted pandemonium to fill all the walls of their space for a summer art party. Shoulder to hip and head to toe, this mixture of artists is actually emblematic of this moment in Brooklyn history and representing the raucous variety of styles that are mashing and mixing on the graffiti/street art/fine art continuum throughout the world.
But no one likes to be labelled and if you ask them and probably each of these artists would prefer not to be called graffiti artists or street artists or fine artists because each title has too many limitations or insulting inferences. One thing everybody agrees on is they like to paint on walls and while we have seen our share of bring-all-your-friends wall smashing that somehow goes awry, this indoor installation is one of the most cogent mashup derby style groupings you are likely to see this year.
New York was smacked upside the head this week by fresh work by Faith 47, DAL East, and ROA. BSA was lucky enough to catch all three, even as photographer Jaime Rojo was bouncing from spot to spot like a silver pinball to see as much of the action as possible. Here in the thick of summer, there was a lot more happening on other walls through the week too and we’ll be showing those images to you in the coming days.
Today we’re just going to bring you some of the live action, first with ROA, fresh from his controversial double bear portrait in Rochester for the Wall/Therapy project, which apparently alarmed some unfulfilled observers because it reminded them of a “69” position. Either a) they never experienced this personally or b) it’s been a really long time or c) things are kind of slow going in Rochacha right now, but clearly they may want to do some research before growling about these two sleepy bears. God only knows WHAT they would say about ROA’s new piece with three animals stacked on top of each other. Clearly what this Belgian hellion has created is an orgiastic scene of furry debauchery!
In Moscow last month Street Artist Göla popped out of the wall into a third dimension with this topiatastic sculpture that appears to contain as much exuberance and life as it’s creator. In town for a large festival that concentrates on sneakers and other lifestyle products, the ever fertile artist mind clearly is unencumbered creatively, letting his imagination off on a tear, with Göla gleefully running after it.
Yo what’s up Neeeewwwww Yawwwwk! You mean aside from brand new work on the streets this week in NYC from Faith 47, DAL, ROA, and JR? Oh, nothing really, just a normal boring summer. Street fairs, skateboarding, popsicles, public drunkeness, and I think the Olympics are still running but apparently only Michael Phelps is in them this year according to the TV. Also, something about VISA I think. Anyway, here are some fun activities for your weekend!
1. OS Gemeos Solo at ICA Boston
2. Fairey / Hecox / Houser at Black Book (Denver, CO)
3. “Public Works” at LALA Gallery (LA)
4. Faring Purth at Anno Domini (San Jose, CA)
5. Brett Amory and Adam Caldwell “Dirty Laundry” at ThinkSpace (LA)
6. “Cause and Effect” Group Show (BK)
7. “Eye in the Sky” Group Show @ Stolen Space (London)
8. Summer Exhibition at Joshua Liner Gallery (Manhattan)
9. Snyder’s ART HUNT in Carlsbad, CA
10. “Dead Meat” Conor Harrington By The Baron (VIDEO)
11. Does Anyone Care About the Olympics (VIDEO)
OS Gemeos Solo at ICA Boston
The first USA solo exhibition of Os Gemeos enjoys it’s first opening weekend at ICA Boston and you can see the first piece before you even enter the museum because they have just completed a large outdoor piece on a ventilation building over the Big Dig. The Brazilian Twins began their artistic career since 1987 doing graffiti and and have been painting all manner of imaginative pieces and murals non-stop on the streets of the world ever since. Along the way they have garnered the respect of their peers and thousands of art fans across all continents.
For further information regarding this exhibition click here.
Fairey / Hecox / Houser at Black Book (Denver, CO)
The Black Book Gallery in Denver, Colorado new Group Show includes Shepard Fairey, Even Hecox and Jim Houser and it opens today. The gallery is also organizing mural installations at the Metropolitan State College of Denver.
For further information regarding this show click here.
“Public Works” at LALA Gallery (LA)
“Public Works” is the title of the second show that is opening today at the still smelling-like-new LALA Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. Contributing artists include How & Nosm, Insa, Push, Revok, Risk, Ron English, Seen, Shepard Fairey, Trustocorp, WCA Crew, Uglar, and Zes.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Faring Purth at Anno Domini (San Jose, CA)
Portraitist Faring Purth spent a year or so traveling from city to city last year finding abandoned places to mount giant faces, full of character. “I will be sharing a body of work I’ve been preparing since my return from that insane journey last year and I will be taking over their entire space with pieces scaling from 10′ x 12′ to 3 “x 5”.
“This Snow Rising” opens at the Anno Domini Gallery San Jose today.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Brett Amory and Adam Caldwell “Dirty Laundry” at ThinkSpace (LA)
“Amory and Caldwell each mobilize their unique representational strategies to invoke the modern day disconnect between time and space, self and other, and present and past,” which is exactly what I was gonna say.
“Dirty Laundry” features very cool work by Artists Brett Amory and Adam Caldwell’s opening Saturday at the ThinkSpace Gallery in Culver City, CA. Feel free to show up and air some of your own.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Also happening this weekend:
“Cause and Effect”, a group show curated by URNew York and Tone MST at a Greenpoint Pop Up in Brooklyn is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.
In London at the Stolen Space Gallery the ATG Collective project “Eye in the Sky” is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.
In Manhattan the Summer Exhibition at the Joshua Liner Gallery is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.
Snyder has a solo show and a fun ART HUNT in Carlsbad, CA opening on Saturday. This event is all day or until supplies last. Click here for more details on this event.
“It’s so rewarding to know that we’re positively influencing the community by doing what we love,” says Street Artist Gilf! as she reflects about a bit of wall painting she organized this weekend in Williamsburg. “The best part of getting this fantastic lineup of artists in one place was the community’s super positive reaction. I was blown away- not only at the amazing pieces that everyone created, but also the neighborhood’s response.” On board were Cake, Gilf!, Joe Iurato, LNY, Veng (RWK), and special guests from Iran, Icy & Sot.
ICY & SOT (photo & Jaime Rojo)
Gilf! getting up (photo & Jaime Rojo)
Gilf! (photo & Jaime Rojo)
Joe Iurato . LNY (photo & Jaime Rojo)
J0e Iurato (photo & Jaime Rojo)
LNY (photo & Jaime Rojo)
Sometimes looking at a piece I just get a lump in my throat. Cake (photo & Jaime Rojo)
New York has seen its share of giants. For most people, Mike is just another one.
But for fans of cholo-style graffiti and tattoo inspired art, he is a giant among men. That’s why it was cause for a celebration to see this skate boarding, fixie tricking, graffiti painting, grandpa hipster in suspenders hitting up a fresh white wall with some juicy markers last week under the Manhattan Bridge.
Thermometer-wise, it was one of our worst July days. For a fleeting moment the bespectacled grey buzzcut artist looked like he wasn’t going to take the New York heat while working outside in crushing hot humidity that felt like the inside of a rice cooker here in Chinatown. But the visitor from San Francisco’s Tenderloin rallied, calmed himself, found his personal zen, and focused on his wall with a positive mindset. While a cluster of hosts and fans stood by Giant methodically laid out the kind of precise, sharp lined calligraphic illustration that has distinguished his work and indelibly marked his reputation among the skater-punk-tattooed-graffiti-lowbro West Coast heroes of the last two-plus decades.
Very covered in full color ink himself, except for black and grey sleeves, the sometimes tattooist routinely updates his personal skin art collection with work by the likes of Greg Rojas and Chris Conn, like the recent additions of the Apple logo and the bars from Black Flag among the skulls and snakes and sassy vixens. Also routinely, his exacting and precise drawings sell out at shops and packed gallery shows across the world as his work is compared to that of such Mexican/cholo art pioneers like Mr. Cartoon, Chaz Bojorquez, and Jack Rudy. The symbols and metaphors popping boldly, they frame each other even as their meanings and origins conflict; reptiles, tigers, garden roses and The Grim Reaper sit comfortably alongside ornately carved crosses, the Virgin of Guadalupe and hot tattooed girls in fishnets giving you the finger.
For this street installation, Giant’s act of inking the wall affected the assembled fans and observers like the chanting of Spanish monks in those remote and silent monasteries: a slowly creeping utter peace. He approached the task with serenity, at a pace that seemed to conserve time rather than spend it. In complete control of his craft, he can aptly break away when approached for a chat or to sign a deck or black book.
This gig at Klughaus Gallery was to help promote a group show and launch the 8th issue of Kingbrown magazine and Giant said he was happy to visit the town he once lived in for a year before seeking the quieter pace of San Francisco. Right across from the spot is one of the city’s busiest skateparks and for most of the afternoon his work was accompanied by the unmistakeable sound of some exhibition boards hitting the concrete for friendly competitive trickery. He probably felt at home like this since he’s known to hang at the occasional skatepark or empty swimming pool back on the west coast. And for one day in this unbearable NYC heat, a number of fans were happy to see him knocking out this black and white wall, meditating on the good things that a fine line brings.
For details to visit the gallery to see Mike Giant’s completed panels in person and to see the rest of the exhibition now open to the general public click here.
Klughaus and Kingbrown produced this event in partnership with Fountain Art fair.
Artists included in the show are Morning Breath, Andy Jenkins, Chris Cycle, Dave Kinsey, “Grotesk” aka Kimou Meyer, Stefan Marx, Kevin Lyons, Mike Giant, Raza Uno aka MAx Vogel, Greg Lamarche, Zach Malfa-Kowalski, Steve Gourlay, Jay Howell, and Ben Horton, Beastman, Phibs, Hiro, Reka, Kyle “Creepy” Hughes-Odgers, Meggs, Sean Morris, Yok, Sheryo, Ross Clugston, Daek, Lister, Numskull, Ian Mutch, Rone/ aka Tyrone Wright.
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BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
