June 2014

GAIA : New Mural Work in Greenville, Atlanta, Detroit

June 30, 2014 Artists

The traveling Street Artist and historian / student / observer / critic of urban planning, anthropology, people’s movements who goes by the moniker GAIA shares with us today some of the back stories for recent murals he has authored.

When he posts on his Facebook page that he is looking for recommendations for reading about a certain city or culture where he will be soon visiting, you can have a degree of certainty that GAIA will soon be depicting what he learns with portraiture and dioramic imagery that illustrates what he has found. This fascination for self-education and public education through public artworks has roots in mural history that has persisted for decades in cities and neighborhoods around the world.

Gaia “City of Altruism”. Detail. Greenville, NC. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

Typically public murals are stories told from a formal city or town historical perspective or come about from the distilled sentiment of a community to address or commemorate pivotal people and events that formed and molded the direction or DNA of a population. With Gaia’s personal study, criterion for selection, and style of storytelling one wonders if there is not a GAIA school of mural making that has been evolving over these last five years – one that already appears to have adherents and enthusiastic co-creators – and which reflects his focus on social movements, political machinations, industry, economic drivers, and anthropology.

Here are recent examples of work by Gaia and collaborators in three American cities (although his work is not limited to just this continent) along with some explanatory text from the artist to help contextualize the stories and players evoked within them.

“City of Altruism” – Greenville, North Carolina

Part of #yearofaltruism, the mural features the warped images of four mills that have been repurposed or are slated for renovation and that flow through the Reedy River falls. Previously sites of industry and working class employment that are now used for shopping, upper-income lofts, and entertainment culture, these mills are part of a local heritage that GAIA wanted to preserve.

“Global competition restructures the lives of working class and white collar communities as the South meets the 21st century,” he explains as he describes the new piece. “The calla lilies are a nod to the Bible-minded nature of Greenville; the flowers represent purity yet are also poisonous. These are paired with the tumbling red brick of change and destruction. A single story brick duplex emerges out of the top left of the composition with the phrases “Webster Street” and “Phillis Wheatley” as a memorial to the African American neighborhood that has been erased from this area.”

Gaia would like to thank The Year Of Altruism Foundation for including him in their programming and for inviting him to Greenville, with special thanks to Steve Cohen and Don Kliburg for orchestrating the project.

Gaia “City of Altruism” Greenville, NC. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

“Boundary” – Atlanta, Georgia

GAIA in collaboration with artists Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil created these three warped Bierstadt paintings that fade into images of Mayor Hartsfield and of H. Rap Brown in the bottom corner. The project was completed for Living Walls, the City Speaks in the city’s West End, which GAIA describes as “an industrial neighborhood that is used as a buffer with the construction of Interstate 20 to prevent Mechanicsville and Pittsburgh from encroaching further north into the downtown and the Mosley Park areas.”

Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Process shot. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Detail. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

Gaia, Nanook, Ozmo and Matt Cogdil collaboration. “Boundary”. Atlanta, Georgia. Living Walls Atlanta 2014 (photo © Gaia)

The Murder of Vincent Chin in Detroit, Michigan

The primary focus of the elongated piece is a memorial to #VincentChin who, observes GAIA, “passed in 1982 in an altercation that possessed attributes of a hate crime and whose perpetrators who were given lenient sentencing in a plea bargain.”

With that image as the central one, GAIA combines images of leaders whose careers directly or indirectly could be tied to that event, he says. He describes the mural like this: “Painting post war economic miracles as a portrait of global competition that led to layoffs in Detroit and fueled the frustration and xenophobia behind Vincent Chin’s murder”.

Gaia. Memorial to Vincent Chin. Process shot. Detroit. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

Here are the other players in the mural, as described by GAIA;

“Wirtschaftswunder” Ludwig Erhard was a German politician notable for his role in Germany’s robust post war recovery.

Gaia. Memorial to Vincent Chin. Process shot. Detroit. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

Sun Yun-suan (Chinese: 孫運璿; pinyin: Sūn Yùnxuán; November 11, 1913 – February 15, 2006) was a Chinese engineer and politician. As minister of economic affairs from 1969 to 1978 and Premier of the Republic of China from 1978 to 1984, he was credited for overseeing the transformation of Taiwan from being a mainly agricultural economy to an export powerhouse.

Hayato Ikeda (池田勇人 Ikeda Hayato?, 3 December 1899 – 13 August 1965) was a Japanese politician and the 58th, 59th and 60th Prime Minister of Japan from 19 July 1960 to 9 November 1964. Takafusa Nakamura, a leading economic historian, described Ikeda as “the single most important figure in Japan’s rapid growth. He should long be remembered as the man who pulled together a national consensus for economic growth.”

Gaia. Memorial to Vincent Chin. Detroit. June, 2014. (photo © Gaia)

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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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BSA Images Of The Week: 06.29.14

June 29, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alice Pasquini, Boy Kong, El Topo, Flood, Foxx Face, GSC, Kaffeine, Li-Hil, LMNOPI, Myth, NTC Cru, Olek, Ozmo, Texas, Gane, TV With Cheese, and Versus.

Top Image >> Snowden at 5Pointz. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OLEK “Believe the Magic” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kaffeine for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MYTH (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OZMO for The L.I.S.A. Project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Texas & Gane are names you’ll usually see in Philly. Interesting incorporation of the attenuated lettering you may associate with extinguishers here rendered solid and with a drop shadow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TV With Cheese (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Versus does Saddam Hussein (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And Versus paints Yasser Arafat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Foxx Face. One of his 17 plates installed in Little Italy for The L.I.S.A. Project. The artist took his inspiration from photographs of Italian immigrants whom he researched at the Italian American Museum in Little Italy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Foxx Face. One more plate for The L.I.S.A. Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Topo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NTC Cru (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Flood (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In NYC the streets are paved with gold…yup. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Boy Kong (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alice Pasquini for The L.I.S.A. Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Brooklyn, NYC. June 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anthony Lister is Power Tripping In NYC

June 28, 2014 Artists

Street Art A-Lister Mr. Anthony Lister is up and around the hood this past week or so with some fresh aerosol and automatic madness. The Brooklyn-Brisbane based contemporary artist is also opening at Jonathan Levine Gallery tonight for “Power Tripping”, a serpentine slicing of the status quo.

Using techniques of so-called adventure painting has been de rigueur in the street art practice for it’s history, and Lister has been incorporating new elements as they occur throughout his processes as well. For “Power Tripping” he’s making a more deliberate charge at it and promises to impale some of the dark spirits alive in our age of ascending raw capitalism, free of law and in love with might. We’re guessing there will be a superhero or two.

Check out these new adventures spotted around town recently as shot by Jaime Rojo.

Anthony Lister (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister’s solo show “Power Tripping” opens today at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Click HERE for more details.

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BSA Film Friday: 06.27.14

June 27, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Miss Van, Glamorous Darkness
2. Andaluz The Artist re-works “Nah I’m Talkin Bout”- G-Unit
3. Urban Calligraphy “Lucid Dream,” by Simon Silaidis
4. JR & José Parlá: Wrinkles of the City

BSA Special Feature: Miss Van, Glamorous Darkness

“I like it a little disturbing. As long as they are wearing masks I think it gives them the necessary strength I want them to express. I don’t necessarily need to dress them,” so explains Miss Van in studio in this rose colored atelier of the feminine form. For years the Street Artist has put forward a new definition of the female and the fantasy, and her newer works only invite. Lest you become too confident, Miss Van makes it clear that they also may bite. “I’m not coy in my paintings.”

One tasty bit of irony revealed here is that her own visual research of photography and the female form from a century ago alerted her to her own perceptions of what idealized feminine beauty is.

Andaluz The Artist re-works “Nah I’m Talkin Bout”- G-Unit

Andaluz tells you what it is all about, son, in this new painting/music video. While he looks suspiciously over his shoulder at you he continues with his aerosol portrait tributes to one of his favorite recently re-united Hip-Hop groups, G-Unit.

The real surprise is that mid-way through the jam the artist takes off his mask and starts laying down the lyrics himself which are witty and autobiographical.

Ed note: Wish people didn’t have to say n*****, hoe, and b****h. Otherwise it’s a great piece of creativity and ingenuity we can respect.

Urban Calligraphy “Lucid Dream,” by Simon Silaidis

“Simon Silaidis is a designer, a thinker, a vision-er, a pioneer,” says his autobiography that accompanies this video. He also loves calligraphy, part of a growing number of graffitti / Street Art based adherents to the gestural and decorative lettering of traditional language arts. Sit here with him in his reverie…

JR & José Parlá: Wrinkles of the City

A teaser for the full length piece, here is a gentle and rich introduction to “Wrinkles of the City”, the dual project in Havana, Cuba, completed by JR & José Parlá a couple of years ago.

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Tehran To NYC / NYC To Tehran, Curated by Icy & Sot

June 26, 2014 Artists, Interview

Iranian Brothers Generate Cultural Exchange Between Two Homes

Icy & Sot, the Iranian Street Artists who have been making their mark on the New York scene for just two years are again making news by curating a gallery show that introduces Iran and the US to one another through the visual vernacular of Street Art.

With two shows running concurrently in Tehran and Brooklyn, the stencil loving spray painters have successfully exposed fans of this genre to the artists in another country with actual examples of art in a gallery setting rather than simply through the Internet. During the South Williamsburg opening on June 13^th guests at the TBA temporary space were treated to works by 10 Iranian artists as well as a video projection on the wall of their counterparts viewing the US artists show at Seyhoun Art gallery, which was recorded only hours earlier.

Iran’s CK1 in “Tehran to New York” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Without diplomatic relations between the two countries, it is a wonder that this exchange could be cultivated, let alone executed. Given the restrictions imposed upon music, film, literature, and art since the revolution of 35 years ago, it added a layer of incredulity for gallery goers to measure the implications while viewing the works by a youth culture that has as its DNA a certain strain of rebellion.

New York sent the work of 35 artists, an impressively sized roster of participants who were each given size restrictions to keep shipping simpler and costs lower. While the brothers were clearly elated to bring new work to both cities, one might have surmised that the more excited feelings were directed toward their recently departed home where about 55% of the population is estimated to be under 30 years old and a youthful cultural evolution is said to be happening in the artist underground.

Iran’s CK1 in “Tehran to New York” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Work from the Iranians reveals an accurately studious affinity for the pop of Warhol and irony of Banksy alongside polished versions of wildstyle and more modern graffiti lettering and loose splattering. The larger cross section of New Yorkers sampled from that pot as well as the myriad influences on the streets today including illustration, photography, geometric patterning, cartoon, and collage.

BSA spoke with the brothers as they were installing the New York show:

Brooklyn Street Art: So would you say this is primarily about cultural exchange?
Sot: Yeah, I mean the fact that there hasn’t been any relationship between Iran and the US, but this is totally about the relationship between the artists.

Iran’s Ill in “Tehran to New York” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: What do you think that a viewer at the New York show is going to realize when seeing these works?
Icy: First of all they are going to get to know the artists because they are not familiar with their work and haven’t had a chance to know them before. Also they will realize the fact that there are people in Iran doing this kind of art. It is underground, it is just a small scene, but still.
Sot: It’s a good chance for these artists to show their work.

Brooklyn Street Art: Would you say that these artists are taking real risks by showing their work like this?
Icy: I mean, for the street artists there everything is risky, putting works in the street… like having the show is stressful but luckily the people there have gotten their permits and stuff.

Iran’s Cave 2 in “Tehran to New York” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Who did they have to ask for permission and what did they need to see?
Sot: It’s hard to translate the name but it’s an official organization
Icy: They have to check out the work and see it and they have to approve it.
Sot: Yes they have to do that for everything – for music performance or for art exhibits or anything, they have to go through this – but for this show it is at one of the oldest galleries in Iran so.

The guys related some of the exigencies of putting a show like this together and Sot talks about one of the artists who is an old classmate of his who doesn’t use the tools of communication that so many of his peers in the west would. “He doesn’t have a website for his art and he’s not on Facebook,” says Sot, “so I was like Facebook messaging another friend to ask him to call this guy for me and ask him to be in the show, and then to ask him for the status of shipping of his piece or information about the piece.”

Iran’s Hoshvar in “Tehran to New York”(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: So with the Superman and the Warholian Marilyn, I like this idea where there is a mixing of the two cultures together quite literally.
Sot: Yeah, for these shows there wasn’t really a theme but some artists, because they knew where they were going to be displayed made specific choices to communicate something. Like Gilf! wanted to write something in farsi so she picked the words “I am You” in farsi.
Icy: And El Sol 25 did the words “Iran So Far Away”, which is inspired by the song. (by Flock of Seagulls)

Iran’s MAD in “Tehran to New York” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: What is one of your favorite pieces here, or rather, which one would you like to talk about?
Icy: I like them when they talk about social issues.
Sot: Like this one with CK1 – it has all these pictures from newspaper with the Shah

Brooklyn Street Art: They look like they may have been around ’81 or ’82…
Icy: Yeah, then the hijab came after the revolution and then the women had to wear the hijab.
Brooklyn Street Art: So before then they didn’t have to wear it?
Sot: No, before that they could choose.
Icy: Then they had no choice.
Sot: And this one with Superman and on his chest it says “love” in farsi and there is Tehran in the background and there is the freedom tower in the background?

Brooklyn Street Art: Is that called “Freedom Tower”?
Sot: Yeah, or Liberty Tower, it’s like the symbol of Tehran. It’s like you have the Statue of Liberty here and that’s the freedom tower in Iran.

Iran’s CK1 in “Tehran to New York” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Iran’s FRZ in “Tehran to New York” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A more traditional piece by sh’b varies from the Street Art theme and displays the artistic influence of distinctly Persian origins. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“NYC TO TEHRAN”

Tony De Pew, Sonni, Hellbent and Bishop203 (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

Gilf! on the wall with Joe Iurato on the pedestal. (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

A screened piece by Chris Stain based on a Martha Cooper photo. (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

Buttless Supreme and El Sol 25 on the bottom. (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

QRST, Cruz, Phetus (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

Enzo and Nio, Russell King and Gilf! (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

Cern and Contemporary Adult Music (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

The mood in Tehran (photo © Rana Ahmadi)

The Exhibition NYC to Tehran is currently on view at Seyhoun Art Gallery in Tehran, Iran. Click HERE for more details. The sister exhibition from Tehran to NYC is now closed.

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“Welling Court” 2014, a Grassroots Mural Event Turns 5 in Queens

June 25, 2014 Artists

When the revered graffiti holy place named 5Pointz in Queens, New York was buffed and slated officially for demolition last fall the collective response of the graffiti / Street Art fan base and community was horror and lament. Nonetheless, community persists, and art in the streets is stronger than ever in many cities, including right here in Queens which has played host to an ever growing grassroots exhibition on the walls for five years called Welling Court.

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imagined and produced by two advocates of creativity in the public sphere and run on a shoe-string budget, Welling Court is a series of 100+ walls throughout this largely working class neighborhood that feels like it perhaps has been overlooked by the rest of the city. With a mix of some of New York’s newest immigrants and families, the modest residential/light manufacturing neighborhood has had a eye-jolting injection of spirit and free art every summer since 2009.

Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We look forward to this annual event for a number of reasons, among them: the unpretentious spirit of community creativity at work as tens of artist straddle ladders and stepstools side by side painting walls, the friendly inquisitive neighbors who hang out and discuss the art and prepare a variety of foods to share on folding tables in the middle of the street, and the unbridled enthusiasm of the kids who race through the neighborhood on foot, bicycle, scooter, even grocery cart.

Unsponsored by brands and run by community elbow grease, Welling Court brings lots of Street Art / graffiti / public art enthusiasts and almost no police presence or crime for that matter. Breaking their own record this June at 127 painted walls, organizers Garrison and Alison Buxton help hook up the opportunity and artists are happy to take advantage of it. Here is just a relatively small selection of images taken by photographer Jaime Rojo at Welling Court 2014.

Fresh from graduation and walking in front of a RHAK gate. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato and Rubin collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

R.Robots (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sub (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kaffeine at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kaffeine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Toofly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MRC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Ahearn temporary installation with a Dennis McNett wheat paste from last year as a background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Ahearn working on the details of the live casting he did of Roger Smith. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John Ahearn. More to be done with this Roger Smith piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pyramid Oracle at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Greeg Lamarche, Wane and Trap (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cekis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake and Ryan Seslow collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop203 with an old Flying Fortress in the middle gate. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ellis G, Joseph Meloy and Abe Lincoln collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alice Mizrachi (photo © Jaime Rojo)

PRVRT (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gregg Lamarche (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Mitchell at work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christopher Cardinale (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fun! Fun! Fun! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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This article was also published on The Huffington Post

Opiatic Overunder Gives You Poppies in Cleveland

June 24, 2014 Artists

As we enter into the languid sweaty city summer of your dreams and the cloud of concrete dust and carbon dioxide kicked up by passing cars settles onto your dewey skin, it’s time to spend a few hours with aerosol cans on a wall.

Overunder “Pop and Poppy”. Sinclair CU (photo © Overunder)

“It’s been busy lately,” says Overunder, who is relishing an extended tour through select cities this summer and he’s already on his way now to Baton Rouge at the Museum of Public Art for a mural program with young adults.

But here we bring you his latest interactions with fluid geometric forms, pulldown gates, planes and poppies. Yes, bright red poppies. May they provide an opiatic reverie to thee in your lawn chair and your bare feet as you mop your brow and enjoy an icy can of cola.

Overunder “Pop and Poppy”. Detail. Sinclair CU (photo © Overunder)

Overunder. Bonnaroo. (photo © Overunder)

Overunder flyover of KH. Cleveland. (photo © Overunder)

Overunder. Cleveland. (photo © Overunder)

Overunder. Bonnaroo. (photo © Overunder)

“Summer Sketch” by Chet Baker – a fitting accompaniment to your reverie…

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Adam Void, Graffiti, a Decade, and 1000 Polaroids

June 23, 2014 Artists

“This is why we can’t have pretty things.” That’s the thought that runs through your head walking through your average punk rock squat, with all its scattered art installations (including on the ceiling), hand made concert posters, curious clumps of clothes on the floor, a cigarette butt smashed into a beer cap on the windowsill, left over signs of impromptu all-nighters, ever shifting sleeping arrangements, and one creaky cracked bottom refrigerator drawer that is stuck and nobody can open it and probably they shouldn’t.

Adam Void probably has a poloroid of that. In fact during his 20s he spent lots of time ambling between his home state of North Carolina and points west and north, hopping freight trains, hitch hiking, sleeping in briar patches, pissing downhill, investigating the underside and inside and backside and countryside and cityside – and happily documenting with a poloroid camera that now feels as outdated as a cassette tape.

An installation by Judith Supine shot by Adam Void (Polaroid photo © Adam Void)

Hard to comprehend in the age of everybody-everywhere-everyminute cell phones, but a bad shot in this case is deleted by physically placing it in an actual garbage can. However Mr Void probably kept it anyway, such a fan of the blurry and splattered and textural is he. Cool thing is, you don’t have to apply a “poloroid” filter to the image.

The expanse of 1000+ shots he collected over eleven years is a good diary of liberty in the 2000s at a time when the hysteria of war had mind-locked the middle; polarizing and frightening and deliberately muddling the perceptions of the everyday. While people were alertly seeing things and saying things and buying duct tape, Void was blithely walking through their back yard taking shots and committing them to imperfectly perfect film.

UFO by Adam Void (Polaroid photo © Adam Void)

It’s also a visual diary of a young man looking at the detritus, flipping things over and inspecting the belly, testing the limits, and reveling in the process of discovery. “These photographs serve as documents of the beginnings of the Carolina’s graffiti scene, 2006-10 era Brooklyn Street Art/Weirdo Graffiti underground, Baltimore and Philly’s warehouse squat culture of the early 2010’s, and hundreds of pictures from America’s back roads,” says Mr. Void.

Today he shares with BSA readers a handful of favorites and a couple of shots of his new installation of 800 in Asheville, NC entitled “Adam Void / Instant Photography: 2003-2014”

Faile by Adam Void (Polaroid photo © Adam Void)

Adam Void / Instant Photography: 2003-2014 ( photo © Castell Photography)

“Adam Void / Instant Photography: 2003-2014” is currently open to the general public at Castell Photography located at 2C Wilson Alley in Asheville, NC.

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.22.14

June 22, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

It’s not all going to the dogs, peeps – it just looks like it sometimes. We start this week with a ferocious one from Zimer, and follow it by a chihuahua that it could probably eat for lunch. Dog eat dog, yo.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring ACNE, City Kitty, Crummy Gummy, EC13, Ema, FAS, Hitnes, Insurgency Inc., Irony and Boe, Kid Acne, Lajaxx, Myth, Not Art, Ozmo, Peter Kirill, Specter, and Zimer.

Top Image >> Zimer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Irony and Boe Collaboration in East London, UK. June 2014 (photo © Gary Hunter)

Commentary from Gary Hunter, who sent this big dog from London:

“The chihuahua is partly a comment on changing demographic due to development overspilling from the spreading consumerism of nearby financial district Canary Wharf. Located just north of the Isle of ‘Dogs’ in East London the piece is facing ‘Barking’ a town in Essex, just by the A13 a main road in and out of London.

There also used to be a very big Spratt’s (a manufacturer originally from Cincinnati, Ohio) dog biscuit factory nearby, now warehouse apartment conversions. I photographed the ‘model’ (coincidentally called Hunter and owned by London artist Cate Halpin) in great detail in my studio on a very high end Hasselblad digital camera, to bring out every aspect. Irony and Boe then transposed it brick by brick for their painted artwork.

This work is part of ‘Changing Spaces’ a a community cohesion project in east London’s Tower Hamlet’s district, one of the city’s most deprived, yet diverse boroughs – facilitating understanding of the immediate environment, important history, trade and migration.” – GH

FAS. Please help ID the rest of the tags. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pete Kirill tribute to the great Sophia Loren. (photo © Cesar Miesses)

Artists Unknown. Save the elephants! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crummy Gummy. In Los Angeles, CA. “I’m a big fan of H.R. Giger and this piece actually made me a little sad. But I thought it was a cool way to reference his passing” Lisa V (photo © Lisa V)

Hitnes wanted to create the perfect shade of color to highlight the eye of the bunny for the piece he did on a roof top in East Williasmburg this week. Here is how it all began…this plus a little water. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Acne and Ema are from England and they are visiting NYC and wasting no time on the streets. At the same time they have been showing a very poor judgment with the placing of their pieces by going over many writer’s tags. We like them both but are surprised by their selection of places to wheat paste their art since they are not new to the streets of New York, indeed we might say that they are even veterans of the streets of NYC given this we think they should know better.

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“We know exactly what we want – but we keep changing our minds!” (Various & Gould)

June 21, 2014 Artists

Watch what you say, people, because your words may end up as floating balloon heads on the side of a farmhouse in Germany.

Not sure if that new axiom will be memorized worldwide, but we were shocked shocked none-the-less to learn that some off-handed comment in Bed-Stuy a couple of years ago inspired Various and Gould to name a print and a mural after it.

“This line itself again was based on the talk we had with you, when we first met at Brooklynite,” explains Various and Gould about the origination of the title.

“You might not remember the exact situation, but during our conversation and while joking around in the Gallery’s garden somehow the title of the print was born, as one of us said something like ‘We know exactly what we want …’ and one of you completed: ‘… but we keep changing our minds!’ ”

Your challenge, dear BSA reader, should you choose to accept it, is to guess which one of us made such a sarcastic rejoinder. Until then enjoy this new mural piece in Brandenburg by Various and Gould.

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“From Street To Art” (Italy to New York) & Hitnes on a BKLN Roof

June 20, 2014 Artists, Interview

New Gallery Show Opens at Italian Cultural Institute of New York

Ever the melting pot, New Yorkers take it almost for granted that we are going to hear 10 different accents just in the course of our day walking through streets, getting a cab, shopping in a store, going to the theater, attending an art opening. We’re always in a midst of a cultural exchange. We often may not realize that the art on our street walls, legal and otherwise, may be the work of a cultural emissary as well, created by artists who hail from almost every country in the world. Such is the magnetic power of this international cultural center that even our graffiti tour guides sometimes need to be interpreters.

One of the countries where BSA has a large and loyal following is Italy and we’re excited to be a part of a cultural exchange that opens this evening with Italian graffiti and Street Artists exhibiting for the first time together in a formal gallery show. “From Street to Art”, opening today at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, is a survey of this moment in the twenty-teens from the streets of Italy that adds to the voices of cultural exchange in this city that sparked so much of the worldwide graffiti and street art movements over the last fifty years or so.

Using flat color and simplistic stereotypes demarked by clothing styles and associated characteristics of social types, the work of BR1 can evoke emotions and strong opinions on the street and in the gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Organized by Public and Urban Art curator Simone Pallotta, “From Street to Art” continues the thread of sanctioned/unsanctioned artwork and continues his personal and professional route of drawing connections between contemporary art and the dozens of interventions he has overseen in his native country.

“From Street to Art” presents a good caliber of this “contemporary” scene, a collection of artists that reflects the variety one will experience on the street as well. Agostino Iacurci, Aris, BR1, Cyop&Kaf, Dem, Eron, Hitnes, Sten&Lex, Ufo5, and 2501 have each established a voice of their own during this first wave of the new global Street Art explosion.

BSA is honored to partner with the organizers and curator to get the word out about the nascent Italian street scene not only for its energy and talent today, but for the historical roots of a painting tradition from the middle ages to the Renaissance to contemporary times; revered for stunning and expansive installations of art upon walls inside and al fresco, private and per il pubblico.

One of the original organizers of the Festival “Memorie Urbane” in Gaeta, curator Pallotta has worked with names you are familiar with from his home country: Blu, Sten & Lex, Escif, Aryz, Agostino Iucurci. While a few of those names are represented in this show, Pallotta hopes to go a step beyond the sizzling “Street Art” zeitgeist of this moment to re-consider the urban context of public work as interpreted by a new generation of artists whose practice is likely to develop into the future, authoring the evolving definition of public art.

By choosing a selection of conceptualists, muralists, illustrators, even social commentators, he presents a good cross section of experimentation and execution in a quiet gallery setting that may indicate where this art form is headed.

As you would expect, the gallery show (shown being unpacked here) is complimented by work out of doors as well and we had the opportunity to see HITNES on a roof in Brooklyn this week.

We also spoke with curator Simone Pallotta, artist BR1, and artist HITNES while he knocked out a wall on a roof in Bushwick .

BSA speaks with curator of “From Street To Art”, Simone Pallotta:

Brooklyn Street Art: What initially drew your attention to Street Art?
Simone Pallotta: In the 90s I was a graffiti artist and later on I went to university for 8 years to study Art History. I began to pay more attention to what was going on the streets and one day in 2004 I discovered the art of Italian Street Artist BLU. It made such an impression on me that at that moment I made the decision to focus my time and energies in supporting Street Artists and helping them get more exposure.

In the university I had learned about institutional Contemporary Art – and my experience seeing Street Art in situ helped me understand that the real Contemporary Art was happening before my eyes on the streets. This was a Contemporary Art that was not being taught in the classroom at the university.

Brooklyn Street Art: What is the attitude of the City of Rome towards Street Art?
Simone Pallotta:If by the City of Rome we mean the city as an institution, dealing with it in all matters of Street Art has become very hard to work with. Because the government changes so often there isn’t a state policy in place regarding Street Art so then we are left to work with single individuals in governmental departments that are receptive to Street Art. During the 90s many graffiti artists from all over the world came to Rome to write due to the lack of law enforcement.

From the late 90s to the early 2000s Rome didn’t have much Street Art so the laws remained as they were and weren’t enforced. In Rome it is relatively easy for Street Artists to put illegal work up but ironically, due to the intense bureaucracy, it is very hard to convince the people in power to authorize legal walls for Street Artists to put art on. Recently however the government has been more open to working with independent cultural organizations and foundations to promote art on legal walls.

Brooklyn Street Art: What would you like to communicate to viewers with this exhibition?
Simone Pallotta:I have been involved with Street Art for ten years now and when the opportunity to curate this exhibition was presented to me I wanted to select 10 artists with a strong urban background and attitude. With this exhibition I want to re-direct the focus solely on the merits of the art; the content, the style and the techniques employed to create it, without focusing too much on the street provenance.

BSA speaks with Street Artist BR1:

Brooklyn Street Art: You address a number of religious themes on your work. Can you talk about the importance of your perspective on religion in your pieces?
BR1: I’m drawn to religious themes mainly by the people who practice religion. It always interest me the lifestyle of people as a direct link with religious dogma. Institutional religions impose many demands on people – from the way they should dress to how they should behave in private and in public. The more that people associate themselves with a specific religion and become a part of that community, they may have little desire to explore life outside their religious bubble.

First I observe the people to be able to understand what are the things in their culture and life that have become religious symbols. In this case the burka is a dress but it is also a symbol. If the practice of an artist is purely social, more than political, it is important to show ideas in one’s work. With my work I would like to question the viewer. I don’t want to create problems but I’d want to further the discussion to see if people are able to go outside their drawn lines and to engage positively and constructively with the other side.

Brooklyn Street Art: Would you call yourself a feminist?
BR1: Yes. In fact I have been invited by some feminists groups to come and talk about my work.

Brooklyn Street Art: Why is it important to you to create work with issues that affect women in our society?
BR1: It is a hard question because when I began drawing I often drew women. In Italy and in many other countries women are not treated equally as men. They are discriminated against in the workplace and in society at large and I want to draw attention to this with my work. Also my work is about helping people understand that they have choices in life.

Brooklyn Street Art: Why are you attracted to put your work on the streets without permission?
BR1: The experience of Street Art is free and that’s what I liked about it. When I began doing Street Art I wanted to preserve the free spirit of it. When I first visited NYC I saw a lot of wheat pastes and some stencil work on the streets that were not legally installed. Now the trend is to go big on legal walls. For me placement is very important; art on the streets has to be in context with the surroundings.

During a hot day this week, BSA also got to speak with participating Street Artist HITNES as he completed a wall on a roof in Brooklyn in conjunction with the show “From Street to Art”:

Brooklyn Street Art: How do animals inspire your work?
HITNES: Animals are known forms of nature and like the alphabet you can work with them in any which way you want. I come from a family of biologists (and artists) and since an early age I was inspired by the books that were around me when I was growing up.

Brooklyn Street Art: You started as a graffiti artist. Why did you switch to Street Art?
HITNES: I switched from letters to animals because it was quicker for me to do them.

Brooklyn Street Art: You obviously love color – where does your palette derive from?
HITNES: I was exposed to color with comics and cartoons and I liked them. For me the use of color is very important, it is as important as the form. But at the same time you need to be prepared to work with what you have and to be flexible.

This wall was made possible with the assistance of NYstGallery

“From Street To Art” is a group exhibition of contemporary Italian Street Artists including Agostino Iacursi, Aris, BR1, Cyop & Kaf, Dem, Eron, Hitnes, Sten & Lex, UFO5 and 2501. Curated by Simone Pallotta opening today at the Italian Cultural Institute. Click HERE for further details.

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BSA Film Friday: 06.20.14

June 20, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Art Is Rubbish Is Art, Penang: Ernest Zacharevic
2. Argentina Street Art 2014: Favela & Arawak Tainos
3. Urban Nation Project presents Project M/4 (Berlin)
4. Razon Comun on a Concrete Column in Spain
5. “El Hijo De La Luna” CIX – SPAIK in Mexico, DF

BSA Special Feature: Art Is Rubbish Is Art, Penang: Ernest Zacharevic

A visual documentary of George Town & Ernest Zacharevic, 2011-2014 – A Street Artist who is known for incorporating objects of a three dimensional nature with this paintings on walls, Ernest Zacharevic has been ingeniously implementing a childlike imagination and an affinity for play into each work, no matter how humble the location. Not to be confused with the artist who goes by the name Art is Trash, Zacharevic simply shows that no object can ever be discredited entirely when you have the ability to imagine. Here is a fast moving survey through a number of installations he accomplished in the last three years.

Argentina Street Art 2014: Favela & Arawak Tainos

“Two walls painted during my trip in Argentina 2014, one is FAVELA in the city of Cordoba, the other one ARAWAK TAINOS realized in Buenos Aires (Padilla 921) with the help of Argentinian friends Ever, Jaz, and people of the GALPON !”

Urban Nation Project presents Project M/4 (Berlin)

A pretty stunning presentation of the fourth installation of Project M in Berlin featuring Andrew Hosner of ThinkSpace Gallery as curator this spring.

Razon Comun on a Concrete Column in Spain

There is an endless amount of concrete that is blighting our natural and artificial landscape – “Have You Hugged a Concrete Pillar Today?” According to that blog post by Bill Gates, China has really ramped up the worldwide production of it in the last few years – producing more concrete in the last 3 years than the U.S. produced in a hundred. Huh?

Here in Girona, Spain, The Razon Commune (Kwets, Once, Sener y Spogo) decided to adorn the supporting column of a massive highway overhead. It’s unclear whether this was officially sanctioned or not, but it has a good beat and you can kind of dance to it if you are a robot of some sort.

“El Hijo De La Luna” CIX – SPAIK in Mexico, DF

Okay so who’s more stoned on peyote in this video: the director (Spaik), the artists (Cix and Spaik), or the kids who are going to get to play in this room when it is finished? A masterful quik-cut dizzying piece of storytelling on the walls dips into Mexican and possibly Andean folk lore, and is that the Kool-Aid guy?

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