November 2014

Fighting Prohibition with MTO In Lexington, KY

November 20, 2014 Artists

“The Bluegrass State” is probably one of the first things you think of when you hear about Kentucky. Also bourbon, horse racing, and college basketball. And Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul.

Nope, street art and graffiti don’t spring to mind.

MTO “My Name Is MO” For PRHBTN 2014. Street Art Festival in Lexington, KY. (photo © MTO)

Well gird your loins; How & Nosm, ROA, and Kobra all have big pieces here in Lexington. So does Phlegm, Gaia, and now MTO (though barely, we’ll get to that in a minute). The point is, these are well known and regarded artists from the street art scene globally, and each is still on the rise professionally.

Spearheaded by John and Jessica Winters, gallerists and the co-founders of a mural and cultural program called PRHBTN, about a dozen international artists and a number of local ones have been putting up work on walls here since 2011. While it’s not the free-range illegal sort of graffitti and is mostly comprised of legal murals, the room for expression is great and the program undeniably brings a lot of life to the city, engendering a lot of discussion between neighbors and people on the street.

MTO “My Name Is MO” For PRHBTN 2014. Street Art Festival in Lexington, KY. (photo © MTO)

“We don’t necessarily have a particular vision aside from the idea of continuing to bringing amazing artists to Lexington, for them to create art on our walls,” say John and Jessica in a recent interview with Christine Huskisson in a local cultural arts website named UM (Under Main). In fact their desire to not intrude on the creative vision of the artist may have spurred some neighborhood conflict with the newest addition by MTO.

The enormous piece MTO did upset some of the neighbors and community leaders because the hands and fingers of the figure reminded them of something they might have seen on TV dramas. Before you knew it, there was a “controversy” about gang signs and discussions about whether it would draw unsavory types to the area.

MTO “My Name Is MO” For PRHBTN 2014. Street Art Festival in Lexington, KY. (photo © MTO)

You know – gangs! Here! Soon! According to the folks at PRHBTN, the majority of the businesses and community responses they had were supportive, but a few vocal concerns lead the narrative for awhile. They also say they sought all the necessary permissions to put the art up on private property. Some say the criticisms are about personal tastes, but it may also reek of deeper prejudices.

MTO has triggered this sort of response in the past, and we’ve published a piece about a Floridian community response to his work that was startlingly similar. Here again it looks like he has provoked a subconscious reaction that is very telling about the “discomfort” that perfectly nice folks can’t quite put their finger on.

MTO “My Name Is MO” For PRHBTN 2014. Street Art Festival in Lexington, KY. (photo © MTO)

In reality, MTO is just spelling out his initials, silly. Of course he is poking the monkey by putting himself (or someone) behind bars – and the aspirator ads to the scary mask effect.”I finished the biggest mural I ever did in Kentucky,” he says, “The controversy started when I was just starting to sketch on the wall.” He explains the particulars and doesn’t really mind the discussions his art has started, and is pleased with his wall overall.

Along with a video he has just released, the back story is now told – or at least a colorful fictional version of it. Taking his tip from the Winter’s program name, he tells an winding tale about Prohibition that drunkenly mixes real life and metaphor. The guy makes interesting film/videos too, by the way.

Its guaranteed that you will not predict the end of this tale – and it probably isn’t over.

MTO “My Name Is MO” For PRHBTN 2014. Street Art Festival in Lexington, KY. (photo © MTO)

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Additional stories about the issues that some took, and some rode, with this new mural by MTO.
http://www.wtvq.com/story/d/story/new-lexington-mural-draws-complaints/12600/BmTuJfXCxE-TS6y7UXajLw
http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/24/3498530_manchester-street-mural-raises.html?sp=/99/322/&rh=1
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=547713198705900
http://www.lexingtonprosecutor.com/this-mural-painted-on-the-james-pepper-warehouse-on-manchester-street-appears-to-be-someone-in-jail-flashing-hand-signs/
http://www.billwarnerpi.com/2012/01/fast-life-gang-sign-mural-on-tube-dude.html

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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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As Street Art Turns to Public Art in Barcelona

November 19, 2014 Artists

Spain’s Second Largest City Hosts “Open Walls”

A popular city for Street Art in the early-2000s that attracted artists from across Europe and elsewhere to its intimate doorways and darkened small streets, Barcelona has become less inviting to illegal painting in recent years due to an organized campaign to contain the freewheeling art and convert it into a respectable city to shop in. Like many cities now engaging the talent if not the transgression of this generation of renegade artists, there are other ways now appearing to help artists get up on walls.

Madsteez. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

In October Difusor, a non-profit cultural association that works with the city, businesses, and the artists mounted Open Walls, a conference and mural program for four days that included installations/interventions, workshops and lectures from an international roster.

Included among the speakers were Todd W. Bressi from City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, mural conservator Will Shank and Leon Cullinane from Nuart. Artist represented were people like Escif, Alexis Diaz, Pastel, Joao Lelo, 310 / Stepan Krasnov, M-City and Madsteez.

Madsteez. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

The resulting mix is wide reaching and good quality, and just when the palette is becoming too subdued and the geometry possibly municipal the wild acid royal canine court by Madsteez parries forth in a line kicking formation. Not everything is rainbows and butterflies; of note are the swarming drones by the Polish M-City, their insect-like bodies clustered madly together in a cloud of all-seeing killers in the sky.

For an “approved” roster of works the variety of styles represents what is happening as modern and contemporary art movements gain currency in the public art eye. Also, you can still check out plenty of illegal spots nearby and Barcelona still is popping with possibility if you know where to look for one of Miss Van’s ladies, or maybe even an old C215 or Faile one-color stencil.

Madsteez. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

Escif. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

SPOGO. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

M-City. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

Alexis Diaz . Pastel. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

Joao Lelo. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

Joao Lelo.,Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

310/Stepan Krasnov. Open Walls Conference 2014. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Fernando Alcalá)

For more information on Open Walls in Barcelona, please click HERE.

Our special thanks to Nerea Rubio from Difusor for her expert help.

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ROA and An Orphaned Bear in Rome

November 18, 2014 Artists

Entirely within the character of Street Artist ROA, his new piece in Rome addresses the underlying rift between man and nature. The urban naturalist is known for his depictions and portraits of creatures who share the earth with us, often endangered or otherwise misused at the hand of man. In town for his solo show, “Suovetaurilla”, at the Dorothy Circus Gallery, ROA painted this particular bear kid who was famously orphaned this summer.

The case of his mother attacking a human hunting mushrooms in the forests of Trentino and open public deliberations about the ethics of killing or capturing her was openly discussed and debated in grocery stores, beauty parlors, and halls of government. It even sparked an online petition drive that gathered more than 120,000 signatures to protect her from being punished while behaving like a bear.

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ROA at work on his new mural in Rome. (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto/BlindEyeFactory.com)

Sadly Daniza was accidentally killed by too much anesthesia in the process of subduing her, effectively ending the debate about her fate. ROA paints here a timid orphan baby bear holding a dart similar to the one used for anesthesia. Using his work to advocate awareness is not the first thing that comes to most people’s mind, but ROA once again subtly shows his own method of activism is very effective.

ROA at work on his new mural in Rome. (photo © Giorgio Base/BlindEyeFactory.com)

ROA. Rome, Italy. (photo © Lorenzo Gallito/BlindEyeFactory.com)

For more on the story of Daniza the bear:

The Guardian August 22
The Guardian September 11

The Online Petition

The Daily Mail

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Skount & Amsterdam DNA: Dutch Historical Art and an Exploded Prism

November 17, 2014 Artists

‘Amsterdam DNA: Street Art’ at the Jongensbinnenplein of the Amsterdam Museum.

Amsterdam Museum featured Street Artists in their recent Museum Nacht on November 8 as part of an outdoor exhibition called AmsterdamDNA. As Street Art continues to make its way into museum collections, it is interesting to see this work exhibited just outside the door and in the courtyard. The assortment of artists on display in this show curated by Streetart.nl and Roel van den Sigtenhorst were Skount, TelmoMiel, Super A, Laser 3.14, Max Zorn, Bustart & Zaira and Hugo Kaagman.

Skount in collaboration with The Visual Brothers. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo © Skount)

Here we take you to a corner spot by Street Artist Skount, who created a piece entitled “Implosion, Essence of a Memory” in collaboration with The Visual Brothers, intended to look at the DNA of Amsterdam and Dutch artists in particular. Skount uses symbols and artworks that have become “part of the collective memory”, he says, “reinterpreting them through a kaleidoscopic vision in fragments.”

Skount in collaboration with The Visual Brothers. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo © Skount)

Within the fragments are symbols referencing the history of the Dutch culture and milestones of fire, flood and plague. Artists and their well-known works that appear include, Van Gogh and “The Starry Night”, Hieronymus Bosch and “The Peddler”, Rembrandt and “The Jewish Bride”, MC Escher and “Eye”, and Rembrandt’s “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp”.

“This installation represents a break into subjective memories, which may or may be, some of the characteristics that determine the nature of an ‘entity’,” says Skount.

Skount in collaboration with The Visual Brothers. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo © Skount)

“The Peddler” Hieronymus Bosch. Created C. 1494-1516. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Skount in collaboration with The Visual Brothers. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo © Skount)

Rembrandt. “The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp” 1632. Mauritshuis Museum. The Hague, The Netherlands.

Skount in collaboration with The Visual Brothers. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo © Skount)

A trailer for the Amsterdam Museum

BSA Does Banksy (New Doc and Book Projects)

November 16, 2014 Artists

BSA founders appear in new documentary on HBO debuting November 17 and write the introduction for new book on world’s best known elusive street artist.

Both “Banksy Does New York” and “Banksy In New York” debut one year after the elusive British street artist known as Banksy launched a self-proclaimed month-long residency in New York City, the city that spawned the modern graffiti and Street Art movement.

Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, founders of BrooklynStreetArt.com and authors of Brooklyn Street Art and Street Art New York (Prestel/Random House) and over 200 global street art articles on The Huffington Post and French and Spanish subsidiaries, help set the tone for the story in the new documentary BANKSY DOES NEW YORK which premiered in New York City this Friday night (9/14) at the DOC NYC festival and will debut nationwide Monday November 17th at 9pm on HBO.

“We are completely honored that director Chris Moukarbel and producer Jack Turner interviewed us first for this important piece of modern street art storytelling because we were really able to tell it from the perspective of New Yorkers who cover the scene daily from the street,” says Harrington, Editor in Chief.

The film engages everyday New Yorkers, street art fans, Banksy hunters, and general mainstream media as well as experts on the present day graffiti and street art scene like photographer Luna Park, blogger RJ Rushmore (Vandalog), culture critic and curator Carlo McCormick, editor Hrag Vartanian of Hyperallergic, and artist/blogger Robert Stevens.

READ MORE HERE

A second Banksy-related project debuting at the same time is the release of the book, BANKSY IN NEW YORK by Ray Mock, founder of the independent publisher Carnage NYC, who has been documenting street art and graffiti in New York and around the world for almost 10 years. The book contains Mock’s personal account and photographs of the month-long installation.

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.16.14

November 16, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Eelco Virus, Faith47, Jetsonorama, JJ Veronis, Monica Canilao, Mr. Prvrt, Pyramid Oracle, Rambo, Sean9Lugo, Seeone, She Wolf, and Vexta

Top Image >> Pyramid Oracle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

VEXTA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JJ Veronis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. PRVRT new mural for Savage Habbit in Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It’s officially deer hunting season in New York State right now, and Sean9Lugo is in the spirit! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sean9Lugo for Savage Habbit. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eelco “Virus” van der Berg (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RAMBO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This artist has been adding a tiny tile to mark the train station on the NYC Subways. Please help ID the artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faith47 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jetsonorama’s portrait of Monica Canilao in Seattle. (photo © Jetsonorama)

Don’t Fret stops for a smoke in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Polly Wanna Bribe? Dont Fret. Would she tell or worse, blackmail you? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SeeOne’s new Batman-themed mural for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SeeOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SeeOne and the Joker at The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

She Wolf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Atlanta, Georgia. August 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Zio Ziegler: Using Intuition on the Street and In the Studio

November 15, 2014 Artists

Zio Ziegler opens his new show tonight in Oakland, CA and today on BSA we give you a full immersion in the “Intuitivism” that he is tapping into and channeling at the moment, as well a sense of his commitment to discovery.

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

The prolific San Francisco based artist opens his studio for you to see here while he ruminates and generates based on multiple influences: cubism and folk art forms parlay with the figurative and realist. It is a complex interplay he pulls off with a confident hand.

Outside Ziegler’s murals on the street have understandably more punch because of their scale and freedom to expand, but the gallery work has a lot of pull because of his attention to details and smart way of weaving complexity. Either way Zio Ziegler is grabbing ahold of the attention of many more these days because of his down to earth demeanor and reliably quality output.

Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

The PR for this show describes a thinker/feeler, and that goes a long way to explain the many directions dancing as one; “Ziegler approaches the canvas with pent up feelings and relies soley on unconscious reasoning to create.” It is good to see this unconscious at work freely while the technical skills keep sharpening and adding dimension.

Our thanks to photographer Brock Brake for sharing these exclusive images of Zio Ziegler at work and at play with BSA readers.

Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

Zio Ziegler Solo Exhibition “Intuitivism” opens today at LeQuiVive Gallery in Oakland, CA. Click HERE for more details.

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We wish to express our gratitude to Brock Brake for sharing his work with us and for his collaboration with BSA

BSA Film Friday: 11.14.14

November 14, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Mystery Man: The Madness of Advertising by Farewell
2. TILT at NUART 2014
3. The London Police in Downtown Hollywood
4. Rubin415 from The Creative Influence
5. Ramiro Davaro-Comas and UndergroundUP
6. Jazzsoon: Portrait of a Brooklyn Hustler

BSA Special Feature: Mystery Man: The Madness of Advertising by Farewell

You ever play that game FREEZE with your friends in the park or in the street? Everybody runs at top speed away from the kid with the ball until he yells “FREEZE!”. Then somebody gets bashed with the ball. Or something like that.

Farewell (that’s his name) did a version of that game recently – surrounded by fluorescence and bars…

NUART 2014: TILT

The London Police in Downtown Hollywood

Rubin415 from The Creative Influence

Ramiro Davaro-Comas and UndergroundUP

Jazzsoon: Portrait of a Brooklyn Hustler

Graffiti Haven “American Flats” Slated for Destruction in Nevada

November 13, 2014 Artists

The news of the impending destruction of a primary spot for graffiti fans in Nevada has saddened a number of artists who have spent long hours painting and socializing at the former site of the American Flat Mill in Virginia City. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal in late October the Bureau of Land Management has just awarded the contract “to dismantle, crush and bury what’s left of the massive mill.” As an abandoned industrial site for the last ninety years or so, it is catnip for graff writers and street artists. Even though it is one of Nevada’s most culturally fascinating relics anyone would admit that it can be hazardous because of its state of neglect, even if its an open secret that it is well trafficked by thrill seekers. For former Brooklyn-now-Reno Street Artist Erik Burke, the news signals the end of an era for him not only as an artist, but because he married his wife on the site. Today Erik provides an essay for BSA readers about his perspective on the loss of this site that holds many memories for tourists, artists, filmmakers, and countless others.

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American Flats. Reno, Nevada. 2014 . Please help ID the artists on this photo. (photo © Meryl Burke)

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by Erik Burke

Over the last week there has been increasing talk of the imminent demolition of The American Flat Mill. In case you are not familiar with this place, the CliffNotes version of the American Flat is that it was a gold, silver and low-grade ore processing plant that opened in 1922 and after a painstakingly brief period of boom it went bust in 1926. Since that time it has been a sightseeing and activity playground for countless visitors. Since local nostalgia is currently running a fever and countless people are sharing their experiences I feel compelled to share my unique bond with this skeletal ruin of Nevada’s formative mining days.

American Flats. Reno, Nevada. 2014. Please help ID the artists on this photo. (photo © Meryl Burke)

The American Flat will always hold a special place the relationship between my wife and I. It had been the destination of one of our first dates and in April of this year we were married there. The fact that we were able to share this experience with our closest friends and family was truly astonishing given the fact that our hallowed ground was on hollow ground.

The smell of sage and spray paint mingled with our Pastor’s words as we confided our eternal love for one another in a makeshift church, and while we forgave those who trespassed against us we too hoped the Sheriff would return the favor. It was in those time-slowing moments that we all could attest that there truly is beauty in ruins.

American Flats. Reno, Nevada. 2014 (photo © Meryl Burke)

During the prior week my closest friends and I spent whole days preparing for the ceremony by secretly removing fallen obstacles, assembling monumental towers of rusty barrels, creating mirrored mosaics, sweeping aisles through rubble, tie-wiring bouquets of brush and wild flowers. We also installed works by artist friends from Berlin, Tel-Aviv, Portland, Seattle, Minneapolis, and New Orleans.

Each morning we would arrive to a bit of un-curated vandalism that happened during the night and we would have to do damage control. When people say, ‘how would you like it if I tagged your house?’ I can now sympathize.

Arnz . Rogue. Yesir . Sunset. American Flats. Reno, Nevada. 2014 (photo © Meryl Burke)

By the day of the wedding we had completely transformed the place, and like so many current testimonies about the Flats, the site had also transformed us. Whether you perceive the ruins as a backdrop to your fashion shoot, canvas to your creative whim, or, as my wife and I did, center stage for exchanging your vows, I think The American Flat should be preserved for generations to come.

While some individuals and entities see the demise of the flats as a trash-strewn, rotting liability of juvenile vandalism, a far larger majority see it as an Americana gestalt. Sadly, Building Solutions Inc. out of Reno recently won the contract with a $1.3 million bid for an un-building solution and they will begin dismantling shortly.

American Flats. Reno, Nevada. 2014 (photo © Meryl Burke)

When the Reno Gazette Journal interviewed Dave Erbes, a BLM geologist working on the project, he said, “There is going to be more known about the site after it is gone than there ever was before. In a couple of months hopefully you will be able to go online and tour the whole thing.”

Sadly the difference between knowing and experiencing is quite significant. Future generations will never know the feeling of clinging to the sun-warmed iron stairs as pebbles of concrete ping their way into a darkened tunnel or the sight of dropping a cheap flashlight into a pool of cyanide and watching it illuminate.

American Flats. Reno, Nevada. 2014 (photo © Erik Burke)

Mark Twain said, “an honest politician is an oxymoron”, and he would be rolling in his grave at the thought of an online “experience”. It’s disheartening to live in a western society that chisels history off the totem pole and places a fence around the remainder all in the name of liability. While it seems that salvation of the mill is not in our cards perhaps this demolition will serve as a good kick in the ass for us to get out there and truly experience our diminishing back yard.

American Flats, we’ll miss you.

American Flats. Reno, Nevada. 2014 (photo © Erik Burke)

Please help ID artists whose names we didn’t know in this article. Thank you.

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Icy & Sot on a European Street Art Tour

November 12, 2014 Artists

New York’s adopted Street Art brothers Icy & Sot have been spreading their wings in Brooklyn for a couple of years since we first interviewed them upon their arrival in the US from Iran. In that time they have continued to develop their personal style and voice, which is probably strongest when they use their work to address social issues and express opinion. To say that their New York experience has been a roller coaster of good and bad fortune for these two is an understatement, including having a solo show in Manhattan, being part of a supportive art community formed by ex-pats and street artists, and a horrifying shooting in their home that left three friends dead and Sot injured.

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The intensity of the experience was fed by a media frenzy, and for a few months the brothers were in a surreal state of mind. The music and art community rallied to support them and they continued working and focused on more positive endeavors, like curating a cross cultural dual show between Brooklyn and Tehran in galleries in both cities this summer.

Now for the first time the brothers were free to travel this fall and they wasted no time hopping a plane to Norway for the Nuart Festival in September and continued their trip through Switzerland, France, and Germany to paint and meet friends and (gasp) collectors. Yes, these 20-somethings who work very closely together to conceive of and produce their work have garnered a growing following of fans in a relatively short period of time. While Icy and Sot have no plans to return to Iran in the near future, the brothers were excited to see Europe for the first time and to experience the sometimes pronounced differences in acceptance of street art and graffiti in various cities they visited.

“It was our first time traveling and painting around Europe and it was a great experience,” says Sot of their various venues which included in-town interventions and a more intricate and contextual piece high in the mountains of Switzerland. They did some normal tourist stuff of course and Icy says, “From painting in a different environments and cultures to meeting artists, people and friends, we just loved it.” Aside from the many free-wheeling installations, including painting, stencil work, and bus shelter takeovers, they still are relishing the huge wall they did about homelessness in Stavanger, Norway they say. “We were so honored to be part of Nuart Festival,” says Sot, “which is our all time favorite festival.”

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El Sol 25 Merges Forward on NYC Streets, Creating Distinctive Path

November 11, 2014 Artists

Brooklyn Street Artist El Sol 25 is collaging his way onto the aerosoled byways of the BK again, this time with a series of pieces that are adorned by his metaphors instead of attached. Stylistically diverse and as chaotic as mixing Journey with Afrika Bambattaa in an A&D mashup, El Sol 25 keeps his mind wide open to combine any influences and images necessary to make new harmonies on the street. From what we can tell, nobody else is doing this sort of work right now, and it continues to evolve in a forward direction.

El Sol 25. The green arm to the right is by NDA, the remnants of a piece previously published on these pages. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Project M/6 Curated By Jonathan LeVine

November 10, 2014 Artists

The sixth installment of Project M at the Urban Nation (UN) comes from a clever collection of painters, illustrators, and urban interventionists. Curated by gallerist Jonathan Levine, whose gallery consistently stages quality shows in Manhattan’s Chelsea art district, the street level windows, façade, and pop-up show feature deep, dark, and richly storied works that resonate.

Entitled “Greetings From New York City,” the show features artists who have intersected with the street primarily from outside of Gotham such as China/South Africa’s Dal East, Austria’s Nychos, Mexico’s Saner, and the Californian Jeff Soto. Two exceptions like Brooklyn’s Dan Witz and Olek are both currently active on the New York street art scene and in the case of Witz, dating back to his student days in the East Village in the late 1970s.

Consistent with his street pieces hidden in plain sight for street watchers, Mr. Witz drilled his hooded and gated prisoners to the installation board display and Olek crocheted a provocative slogan in her blaringly neon tableau, brightening and possibly flummoxing the grey Schöneberg streets.

Saner’s magically real folk references are meaty and disturbing – evoking the monstrous events currently happening back home, while Nychos’ cartoonish dissection of animals and people in 3-D trace directly to his family’s traditions of hunting and Jeff Soto straddles the street and the dark pop fantasy world that frequents the pages of magazines like Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose. For his exterior façade mural Dal East gathers the life force energy of an eagle to rise above and preside above the street in stark relief.

On the whole Mr. Levine’s stable communicates through layers both humorous and heavy, myriad meanings touched by a sardonic gloss of advertising finesse; sometimes slyly laughing, sometimes deadpan, always musing. Project M/6 smartly invites this view into the frame of modern contemporary as art in the streets continues to conflate.

DAL East to the right. The center piece by mixed media collage artist Handiedan is not part of ProjectM/6 (photo © Henrik Haven)

To learn more about Urban Nation and ProjectM click HERE

We wish to thank photographer Henrik Haven for sharing his work with BSA readers, and to UN Director Yasha Young.

URBAN NATION PRESENTS PROJECT M/6

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