February 2013

Avant Gallery Presents: Dain “Transformations” (Miami Beach, Florida)

February 20, 2013 Afghanistan

http://avantgallery.com/shop/index.php?cPath=38_66

El Anatsui Shows Both “Gravity and Grace” in New York

February 20, 2013 Artists

Post industrial African urban pointillist El Anatsui is outside at The High Line in Manhattan and inside the Brooklyn Museum right now to offer “Gravity and Grace”, two characteristics one may associate with the man himself.

Using aluminum bottle caps and similar mass consumer materials from his home country of Nigeria, the Ghana-born Anatsui paints temporary organic facades, glittering curtains, crumpled moonscapes that bend clumsily and undulate gracefully. So familiar has he become with his materials over his four decade career, Anatsui can create translucent scrims to peer through and reptilian skinned impressionist coats of armor, each bending and folding of the metal fabric in service of a multitude of imaginations.

El Anatsui. “Peak”, 2010. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I have a desire to manipulate the material to get something else out of it,” he said during his recent talk with African art expert Susan Vogel and Kevin Dumouchelle, Associate Curator of Arts of Africa and the Pacific Islands at the museum before a capacity auditorium audience this month.

While speaking about his own approach to his practice, Anatsui showed a refreshingly straight forward investigative approach to his own process of discovery, perhaps explaining how such rigid materials are transformed by his hand into something flexible, malleable, free. “I have a feeling that artwork is a parallel of life, it is life itself. It is not something static. We are about changing, forever in a state of flux. If that is the case then the artwork should be in a state of flux.”

El Anatsui. “Peak”, 2010. “Earth’s Skin” 2007 on the left. “Gravity and Grace”, 2010 on the right. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As he offers observations of his own culture and the effects of consumerism and globalism on it, he encourages you to take a hands-on approach to art making. A scholar and professor, El Anatsui’s practice has been rooted in the same D.I.Y. ethos that propelled many a street artist in the current global scene that emerged in the 2000s and 2010s. Mining the diamonds in his backyard, El Anatsui models a personal mission that encourages artists to look at everyday consumer products and see their potential as high art, as vehicles for expression that go beyond craft making or green initiatives.

In an invitation to collaboration, El Anatsui appears to have a remarkably un-Diva-like disposition when it comes to how his work should be exhibited, inviting others to determine how to best display it according to their site-specific considerations. Speaking of his retrospective that ran from September through the end of 2012 at the Denver Art Museum, the artist expresses a gleeful sense of surprise at how curators there displayed his work. “I saw that they were able to mount some of the works very interestingly and they were able to give them shapes that I would not have thought about myself. “

El Anatsui. “Earth Skin”, 20o7. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn’s curator Dumouchelle used that same freedom to formulate exhibition decisions as he mounted work in the varied spaces for this show – to great effect. Describing the rationale for some of his curatorial choices, Dumouchelle talked about it this way to the artist, “We were very inspired by your admonition to collectors and curators to take your work and use it to respond to the space and that’s really what happened with ‘Gli’,” one of the larger works in the show.

“We had this incredible 72-foot rotunda that is very rarely used for art, ” says Dumouchelle, “Very rarely do we have art of the scale that will actually fill that space, so we wanted to think about how best to make use of that space. ‘Gli’ is designed as this sort of architectural environment where you find yourself as a visitor immersed and sort of surrounded by these works and so we wanted to make full use of the drama of that space.”

El Anatsui. “Gravity and Grace”, 2010. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The work of El Anatsui is equally charged and effective inside the formal exhibition and outside on the street, and New Yorkers are treated for free to the latter through the summer with “Broken Bridge II”, a huge work suspended along a passage of The High Line in Manhattan. With threadbare and broken pieces disrupting the glistening grid-like patterning, there are striking similarities to the work he hung outside the Palazzo Fortuny during his famed splash at the 2007 Venice Biennial. A patchwork effect that he associates with frugality and poverty, free hanging portions of “Broken Bridge II” are fluttering and gently knocking in the East River breezes on The High Line. Similarly, you are reminded of “Ozone Layer”, an aluminum and copper wire piece hanging in the museum with some sections loosely fluttering and banging against one another in the small breezes created by fans mounted into the wall.

In a video for the exhibition El Anatsui appears to dismiss formal art training and relies upon his own conviction, “All the things I was taught about in art school – I set about subverting them,” he appears to say with aplomb. With “Gravity and Grace”, viewers will experience some sense of awe and unexpected appreciation for ingenuity and revealed beauty; a confirmation that El Anatsui’s steadfast dedication to his own exploration and instincts has expanded the options for artists who will follow.

El Anatsui. “Earth Skin”, 2010. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Peak”, 2010. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “GLI (Wall)”, 2010. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Ink Splash”, 2010. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Drifting Continents”, 2009. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Drifting Continents”, 2009. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Ozone Layer”, 2010. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Red Block”, 2010. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Amemo”, 2010. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Broken Bridge II”, 2012. Detail. Currently on view at the High Line Park in NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Anatsui. “Broken Bridge II”, 2012. Detail. Currently at view on the High Line Park in NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information regarding the Exhibition “Gravity and Grace” at the Brooklyn Museum click 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

The Superior Bugout Presents: Darkclouds “Big World” (Brooklyn, NYC)

February 19, 2013 Afghanistan

The Superior Bugout would like to extend an invite to you and yours, to join us this Thursday at the Tender Trap for the opening of the internationally recognized street visionary DARKCLOUDS in his show “BIG WORLD.” Opening Thursday February 21, 2013 from 6-10:30pm.

DJ Robbie Drizzle & friends will be spinning. As always, there will be drink specials at the bar.

The Iconic imagery of DARKCLOUDS grey, dripping mass surrounded by vibrant color has been a staple in the street art scene for a decade now. Locally and internationally, the public knows the unmistakeable image hovering overhead, confronting you when you least expect it. Placed dominantly on the busiest of streets or hidden deep in the cuts, far out of the path of foot traffic the cloud evokes a sense of discovery and mystery for the viewer. Representing the angst and turmoil one goes through on a daily basis, it brings levity and light into focus, hopefully leaving the viewer with a sense of clarity for whatever they’re current situation may be. Mass produced, hand painted stickers and signs have been affixed to walls, poles, and countless other surfaces worldwide since 2003, while the home base of the artists remains nestled in Brooklyn, NY.

“If you know my work and have played Super Mario 3 enough to get to level 4 you will understand the conceptual brilliance of this show…All this work was created specifically for the space at the Tender Trap. Limited ed. prints will be available for the first time basically ever.”

https://www.facebook.com/events/131401803702348

30 Works Gallery Presents: “Dirty Words” A Group Exhibition. (Cologne, Germany)

February 19, 2013 Afghanistan

Gruppenausstellung mit Decycle , EMESS, L.E.T., Marc Peschke, mittenimwald, Various & Gould und Van Ray

„dirty works @ 30works“ geht in die vierte Runde. Ein weiteres Mal wird die Kölner 30works Galerie zur Spielfläche, zum Experimentierfeld, zum Treffpunkt der Jungen Wilden der Kunstszene. Streetart? Pop Art? Bildende Kunst? Es ist heute schwer, da noch eine Grenze zu ziehen. Diesmal sind Decycle, EMESS, L.E.T., Marc Peschke, mittenimwald, Various & Gould und Van Ray zu sehen – Stars und Talente aus ganz Deutschland: eine wilde Mischung. Ausstellungseröffnung ist am Samstag, den 26. Januar, um 20 Uhr.

Streetart ist rau. Sie ist handgemacht. Sie ist ein Spiel mit Zeichen und Codes. Manchmal ist sie wie eine feindliche Übernahme, lässt einen Raum des Widerspruchs entstehen. „dirty works vol. IV“ bietet nicht weniger als einen Culture Clash, einen kulturellen Mustermix. Neueste Pop-Hybride, rau und unmittelbar werden hier präsentiert. Spektakuläre Bilder, junge Kunst, die provoziert und anmacht, die den Kunstbetrieb herausfordert, die nach einem anderen Leben giert, die sich wehrt gegen Kommerzialisierung und Gentrifizierung der Städte, die sich als Gegenpol versteht, als beißender Kommentar auf eine zunehmend normierte Umwelt. Diese Kunst ist vielgestaltig, technisch wie inhaltlich – aber vor allem ist sie: nie langweilig. Streetart, Urban Art und Bildende Kunst. Neue, frische Bilder. Jetzt zu sehen in Köln bei „dirty works vol. IV @ 30works“.

Finissage: Sonntag, 24. Februar von 15 bis 18 Uhr.
Ausstellung: 26.01.2013 bis 23.02.2013
Di-Fr 15-19 Uhr, Sa 11-17 Uhr sowie nach Vereinbarung.

30works Galerie
Antwerpener Str. 42
50672 Köln

Finissage – dirty works @ 30works

New Wheat-Pasted Letter Forms from El Sol 25

February 19, 2013 Artists

New text based stuff has been popping up that may remind you of ransom letters or a D*Face logo but it actually turns out to be Street Artist and former graff writer El Sol 25, who we are accustomed to seeing figurative painting mashups from. If you apply the same technique he favors of recombining heads, torsos, and limbs from various sources to create a new franken-form, it makes sense that this is how text would come out too. As with the other work, this appears to be entirely hand painted also. So, to review, these are hand-painted letter forms that are then wheat-pasted – is it a new category? Not exactly a piece is it? – and definitely not a tag.

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kobra Pays Honor to Architect Niemeyer in São Paulo

February 18, 2013 Brazil, São Paulo

Brazilian Street Artist Eduardo Kobra and four other painters have been working six hours a day since January 14^th to complete a 52 meter high mural that honors architect Oscar Niemeyer who passed away in December just days before his 105^th birthday. Covering the entire side of a skyscraper on Paulista Avenue in São Paulo’s financial district, the artwork is inspired by Niemeyer’s architecture, his love of concrete and Le Corbusier.

If you look closely among the colorful forms that overlay the photo-realistic portrait, you’ll find that some of them are based on Niemeyer’s works. In this case, art on the street could not find a more fitting tributary than a modern architect who espoused populist sentiments that his field should serve everyone, not just the privileged few.

Eduardo Kobra. Installation in progress. São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Alan Teixeira)

“Oscar Niemeyer was an important figure to us,” explains Kobra during a break from painting, as he talks about the Rio born citizen of the world and Brazils modernist icon, “The decision to paint this here reminds us of the importance of the several works he did in the city. Given their relevance even today, I think he deserved this great space on Paulista Avenue.”

The logistics and costs of this labor of love have been as great at the mural is high. Beginning in the early autumn, the process included getting permission from the building and city hall, placing the scaffolds, agreeing on and setting the design, and buying the paint. “In the end, the paperwork was the most difficult part and I wanted to get it all resolved so I could paint the mural,” explains the artist.

“Furthermore it was a very expensive project. The staff of the building gave us the paint, the André Art Gallery helped us with the equipment, there was a hotel near the building that hosted us and we also got a restaurant to help us with food. This project relied upon genuine cultural support and it could only happen because of it,” says Kobra. “For this project we didn’t receive a penny of compensation – we are doing it for the pleasure of doing a job here at Paulista, the most important avenue in São Paulo.”

Eduardo Kobra. Detail. São Paulo, Brazil. (photo © Alan Teixeira)

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

Images of the Week: 02.17.13

February 17, 2013 Artists

Guess it shouldn’t surprise us when we find out that the sticker, wheat-paste, or mural we published of “Street Art” or graffiti actually turns out to be a logo or promotion for someone who is selling sneakers, t-shirts, lip-gloss, tampons, or toe fungus spray. That’s how people pay the rent, yo!

After all, we get press releases all the time from “Street Artists” who purport to get up all over the place in their home city of New Jesusville – but nobody we talk to has heard of them. Eventually word gets around and its not our business to trash people. And we all know at least one or two fine artists who have used the strategy of putting their stuff on the street to add some sort of “cred” to their “brand”. Fine. And look at the countless corporate names that have been inserting (or “integrating”) themselves into all manner of social/electronic media and “stories” in the last couple of years – just to leach off grassroots D.I.Y. culture and make the money and get the clicks but not actually support the art community that birthed it. It’s a complex story.

But it’s hard not to feel a little bit like you just got punked when you walk into a store and find the stuff you shot in a putrid garbage strewn alley is now silk-screened across a cheap flask or frisbee or truckers cap, giving it about as much meaning as a Kardashian wedding ring.

What are we going to do? Oh probably nothing – there is no purity test or reliable scale for measuring when someone has “sold out” and we don’t like pompous peeps who pretend otherwise. We’re just keeping an eye out, sister, and trying not to get fooled again.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alinic, ASK, BAMN, Chris & Veng RWK, Gilf!, Icy & Sot, Lambros, Meer Sau, Mosstika, MUDA, Pixote, Tripel, and WD.

Top image > ASK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lambros (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tripel (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meer Sau “I Love Porno” in Salzburg, Austria. (photo © Meer Sau)

Meer Sau “Art is not a Crime” in Salzburg, Autria. (photo © Meer Sau)

MUDA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! Her tribute to Malala Yousafzai (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris, Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BAMN does a memoriam for Aaron Swartz. Pixote on top. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mosstika (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alinic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WD in Athens, Greece. (photo © Philipp Gor)

Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. Februray 2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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

BAST Collection for FALL 2013 Hits The Streets

February 16, 2013 Artists

Fashion Week in New York means more models than usual on the subway and on the sidewalk. Poor us.

Impossibly thin tall pretty and hunky people with beautiful skin and far-away eyes parading up and down the street in their free designer clothes and accessories, peering into their phones at MTA maps and fashion blogs to see if they have shown up somewhere… it’s one of the more glamorous part of the conversation on the street.

Just like most art on the street, these scenes are ethereal. Brooklyn Street Artist BAST takes a turn at the runway this week by installing a new series of saucy models for the street too, and here are a couple of shots from the collection.

Favorite song from a fashion show this week – “Girls” by Beastie Boys, which accompanied the 80s/90s inspired Fall 2013 show by Jeremy Scott, who studied fashion design at Brooklyn’s Pratt.

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

BSA Film Friday: 02.15.13

February 15, 2013 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening: Miss Van in São Paulo, Ronzo and “Roachio”, and David Gouny: Gouny the Froggy and his Polaroid 1000

BSA Special Feature:

Miss Van in São Paulo, Brazil

“I’m trying to find a way to do painting the same way I would do a throw up.”

“I’m over sensitive and I have to use it somehow.”

In this film by Dscreet the Street Artist and fine artist Miss Van shares some insight of her personal approach to her fwork, her roots in graffiti, and her feelings about getting up in the street.

Ronzo and “Roachio”

A short time-lapse of Ronzo on a rooftop in East London doing a painting of his cockroach character “Roachio”.

David Gouny: Gouny the Froggy and his Polaroid 1000

Parisian Street Artist and performance artist David Gouny also creates a bloated form of sculpture and costume – mirroring the full-figured roundness of his ladies on the street. In this brief vignette we see him as frog, taking his polaroid camera to the park to do some photography.

Stephanie Chefas Projects Presents: “Something Wicked This Way Comes” A Group Exhibition (North Hollywood, CA)

February 14, 2013 Afghanistan

Something Wicked This Way Comes
A Group Exhibition Curated by Stephanie Chefas

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 23rd, 2013 from 7-10pm
For an advance online preview, please email info@stephaniechefas.com.

The artwork for Something Wicked This Way Comes is beginning to roll in and it’s deliciously provocative! Featuring multiple works from Annie Owens, Christian Rex van Minnen, Christine Wu, Chrystal Chan, David Ball, Fulvio Di Piazza, Jana Brike, Jessica Ward, Judith Supine, and Michael Page, these innovative artists are creating incredibly strong pieces for the exhibit and I’m very honored to be working with each and every one. As I eagerly await the unveiling on opening night, I’d like to share with you a few sneak peeks of what to expect.

Please join us on February 23rd at Cella Gallery and prepare to feel the hairs on your neck stand straight up; for something wicked this way comes.

http://stephaniechefas.com/#home

Woodward Gallery Presents: “Detail” A Group Exhibition (Manhattan, NYC)

February 14, 2013 Afghanistan

DETAIL
March 2nd – April 28th 2013
Opening Reception:
Saturday March 2nd 6-8pm

Our society places great emphasis on detail, but the rare individual pauses long enough to appreciate this specialty. If detail refers to the parts which make up the whole, this exhibition relies on the small elements considered for each unique work of art. The group of Artists are: Michael Alan, Susan Breen, Thomas Buildmore, Deborah Claxton, Cassius Fouler, Kosbe, Kiriyo Kuchina, Moody, Margaret Morrison, Kenji Nakayama, Jaggu Prassad, and Cristina Vergano.

http://www.woodwardgallery.net/exhibitions/ex-detail.html

Benjamin Krause Gallery Presents: Moustache Man A Solo Exhibition (Manhattan, NYC)

February 14, 2013 Afghanistan

Moustache Man – February 21st – February 24th – 4 days only!
Reception: February, 21st – 7-9pm

Patrick Waldo, a.k.a. Moustache Man, who penned his signature cursive “moustache” tag on thousands of subway ads from 2011 to 2012, is inking upper lips once again in his solo gallery debut, Moustache Man, opening February 21st from 7-9pm at Krause Gallery.

http://www.krausegallery.com/WP/

Barcelona Tributes for The Amazing SKE
April 18, 2024
Today, we pay tribute to an iconic figure from the Puerto Rican graffiti scene, Eliezer “SKE” Pagán Torres. Born on …Read More »
Elfo Declares “I’m a Figurative Painter”… and I’m the Queen of England!
April 16, 2024
Elfo, the ever-witty Italian street artist, strikes again with his latest work scrawled across an abandoned building in Italy. Known …Read More »
BSA Images Of The Week: 04.14.24 / “Return2Burn” in Hunts Point, Bronx
April 14, 2024
Welcome to BSA’s Images of the Week. We decided to dedicate this weekly survey to the artists of “Return 2 …Read More »
Martha Cooper and Seth in Kibera. Kenya: Part 2 / “We Are One”
April 11, 2024
Nestled within the bustling city of Nairobi, Kenya, Kibera is a testament to its inhabitants’ challenges and its collective indomitable …Read More »
“Tiempos Muertos”. Idle Time With Isaac Cordal in Madrid
April 9, 2024
“Idle Time has become that free moment we have between one task and another in the production process. Productive inertia …Read More »
BSA Images Of The Week: 07.07.24
April 7, 2024
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! To BSA’s Muslim brothers and sisters, we hope your Ramadan has been fulfilling …Read More »
Murals, Art, Childhood, and Community in Lwala: Martha Cooper and Seth in Kenya: Part 1
April 4, 2024
In the heart of Lwala, Kenya, a place where the warmth of the sun is matched only by the warmth …Read More »