December 2014

Lord Jim and “The Zurich Sprayer” : 14 From 2014

December 20, 2014 Artists

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Happy Holidays to all of you charming and sparkling BSA readers!
It’s been a raucous sleigh ride with you and we thank everyone most sincerely for your support and participation this year. A sort of tradition for us at the end of this December we are marking the year with “14 from 2014”. We asked photographers and curators from various perspectives of street culture to share a gem with all of us that means something to them. Join us as we collectively say goodbye and thank you to ’14.

We feel lucky to present Lord Jim to you because he knows how to tell a tale and turn a phrase. He also knows a little bit about Street Art and graffiti history and has a razor sharp ability to detect false posers on the scene, so no frontin’. Aside from those street skillz the Los Angeles based photographer intrepidly tracks down his intended and gets his shot. This year he had the great fortune of finding an art world near-legend. Okay, maybe a legend. True story.

“My shot of the year is not a very flashy one. It’s not even a good photo but a simple shot of a great and rather profound personal find that threw me back about 30 years:

This is one of a few pieces by Harald Naegeli, AKA the “Zurich Sprayer”, that I found in Duesseldorf , Germany a couple of weeks ago.

It was the first that I’ve ever seen in the wild too, even though I knew all about him and his style since, well…about 1980.

This find seemed completely implausible, but these were his fast, lanky stick figures; the crude curvy lines, sparsely added simple geometric shapes hinting torsos, heads, eyes, boobs, etc. They were all sprayed in one swig from the bottle that I had discovered and that were, at least in my mind, completely out of time and out of place there.

Naegeli had disappeared from the public eye in the late 1980s and I had all but relegated him to a footnote, granted – a seminal one, in the graffiti time line. You may call him the Cornbread of Germany.

Turns out Naegeli still lives in Duesseldorf, just celebrated his 75th birthday and…he gets up. Again. This piece was actually his and it was fresh!

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Harald Naegeli, AKA “The Zurich Sprayer”. Dusseldorf, Germany. November 2014. (photo © Lord Jim)

Naegeli is one of those characters of graff legend and lore who has really seen things through.

His graffiti in Zurich created a massive controversy in the art world in the late 70s; “vandalism is not art”, “private vs communal property”… nothing you have not heard before. This was probably the first art discourse that I could relate to and among my earliest flirts with graffiti and public uncommissioned art.

In his prime his wiry figures were everywhere in Zurich, tallying up to a thousand. Naegeli was a wanted man but he managed to stay up and anonymous, known only as “The Zurich Sprayer” until he was arrested there in ’79.

Neageli did the sensible thing; he fled to Germany and in 1981 he was sentenced to 9 month jail and a hefty fine in absentia.

This only fueled the conversation about the value of his art and set the stage for a spectacle in which the Swiss had issued an international warrant and demanded that Germany would extradite him. Art world heavyweights like Joseph Beuys and Klaus Staeck rallied to his defense but, alas, in 1984 Naegeli turned himself in and served the sentence that hundreds of artists and authors had petitioned the Swiss Supreme Court to commute.

That’s were I had left him standing. This was a time when Graffiti in Germany was mostly just daft slogans, when it was fresh only in America, when Street Art meant dreadful mimes, musicians and someone doodling old masters in chalk on the sidewalk.

Naegeli forced the hand of the art establishment at a time when the public was considered safe and exempt from art, when art was reserved for the academies, temples and ivory-tower collections. We were commanded to take sides in that great controversy about the sprayer, the vandal, the artist, his rage, revolt and work. I ran with the underdog and never looked back.

30 years later these few sprayed lines reminded me of that, and not just as an afterthought but in paint, there on the wall, here and now. Hard to beat.

Glad I found these, glad you’re still out and about, Harald Naegeli!”

~Lord Jim

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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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Alexandra Parrish : 14 From 2014

December 19, 2014 Artists

Writer and curator Alexandra Parrish has contributed her personal accounts and observations on BSA with her experiences in organizing Atlanta’s Living Walls festival and her various travels abroad. BSA was very fortunate this year when Alex wrote directly from Kiev during the democratic uprising there, where she explained a new sculpture installed amidst the crowds in Independence Square. Not surprisingly, it remains her favorite installation of the year.

“Members of the Euromaidan movement in Kiev face the sculpture titled “New Ukraine,” illegally installed in solidarity with the on-going civil unrest in Ukraine by French artist Roti. This photo was taken on the 16th of January, 2014, the day President Yanukovych attempted to thwart opposition by passing a series of anti-protest laws, and just a few days before a conflict with deadly consequences between protestors and riot police. While the area has been wiped clean following Yanukovych’s resignation, “New Ukraine” remains to this day a monument to the many months of struggle and lives lost, but more importantly, a symbol of renewal and hope.”

~ Alexandra Parrish

Roti. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo ©Maxim Dondyuk)

Read Alexandra’s original piece, A ‘New Ukraine’ Sculpture In Kiev By Street Artist Roti

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Fernando Alcala : 14 From 2014

December 18, 2014 Artists

Barcelona based photographer Fernando Alcala was featured on BSA in November with his shots for Open Walls and we liked his work so well that we invited him back to tell us about his experience and to share with BSA readers about his favorite shot of the year.

“The Open Walls Conference has been the Street Art & Graffiti event of the year in Barcelona – an event done with passion, love and respect for art and artists. This is the way I try to take pictures too.

This piece from local artist Roc Blackblock is one of the last works done during the event and I find some powerful meaning in it, as it took a lot of talking with the local authorities and patience to open new walls in the city. Most of the times, these words and promises were gone with the wind, the same way as the letters you are looking at in that wall.

I hope there will be more events like this in a near future in BCN and that some new free walls spread all over the town despite of the fact that Street Art & Graffiti is forbidden in Barcelona.

Thanks to everyone at Open Walls, Roc Blackblock and Brooklyn Street Art”

~ Fernando Alcalá

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

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The 2014 BSA Year in Images (VIDEO)

December 17, 2014 Artists

Here it is! Our 2014 wrap up featuring favorite images of the year by Brooklyn Street Art’s Jaime Rojo.

Before our video roundup below here is the Street Art photographer’s favorite of the year: Ask Jaime Rojo, our illustrious editor of photography at BrooklynStreetArt.com , who takes thousands of photographs each year, to respond to a simple question: What was your favorite photo of the year?

For 2014 he has swift response: “The Kara Walker.” Not the art, but the artist posed before her art.

It was an impromptu portrait that he took with his iPhone when the artist unveiled her enormous sculpture at a small gathering of neighborhood locals and former workers of the Domino Sugar Factory, informal enough that Rojo didn’t even have his professional camera with him. Aside from aesthetics for him it was the fact that the artist herself was so approachable and agreed to pose for him briefly, even allowing him to direct her just a bit to get the shot, that made an imprint on his mind and heart.

Of course the sculpture is gone and so is the building that was housing it for that matter – the large-scale public project presented by Creative Time was occupying this space as the last act before its destruction. The artist herself has probably moved on to her next kick-ass project after thousands of people stood in long lines along Kent Avenue in Brooklyn to see her astounding indictment-tribute-bereavement-celebration in a hulking warehouse through May and June.

But the photo remains.

And Rojo feels very lucky to have been able to seize that quintessential New York moment: the artist in silhouette before her own image, her own work, her own outward expression of an inner world.

Jaime’s personal favorite of 2014; The site specific Kara Walker in front of her site specific installation at the Domino Sugar Factory in May of this year in Brooklyn. Artist Kara Walker. (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

Now, for the Video

And our holiday gift to you for five years running, here is the brand new video of favorite images of graffiti and Street Art by Brooklyn Street Art’s editor of photography, Jaime Rojo.

Of a few thousand these 129 shots fly smoothly by as a visual survey; a cross section of graffiti, street art, and the resurgence of mural art that continues to take hold. As usual, all manner of art-making is on display as you wander your city’s streets. Also as usual, we prefer the autonomous free-range unsolicited, unsanctioned type of Street Art because that’s what got us hooked as artists, and ultimately, it is the only truly uncensored stuff that has a free spirit and can hold a mirror up to us. But you have to hand it to the muralists – whether “permissioned” or outright commissioned, some people are challenging themselves creatively and still taking risks.

Once again these artists gave us impetus to continue doing what we are doing and above all made us love this city even more and the art and the artists who produce it. We hope you dig it too.

Brooklyn Street Art 2014 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

2Face, Aakash Nihalani, Adam Fujita, Adnate, Amanda Marie, Andreco, Anthony Lister, Arnaud Montagard, Art is Trash, Ben Eine, Bikismo, Blek Le Rat, Bly, Cake, Caratoes, Case Maclaim, Chris Stain, Cleon Peterson, Clet, Clint Mario, Col Wallnuts, Conor Harrington, Cost, Crummy Gummy, Dain, Dal East, Damien Mitchell, Damon, Dan Witz, Dasic, Don’t Fret, Dot Dot Dot, Eelco Virus, EKG, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Etam Cru, Ewok, Faring Purth, Gilf!, Hama Woods, Hellbent, Hiss, Hitnes, HOTTEA, Icy & Sot, Jana & JS, Jason Coatney, Jef Aerosol, Jilly Ballistic, Joe Iurato, JR, Judith Supine, Kaff Eine, Kashink, Krakenkhan, Kuma, Li Hill, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Mais Menos, Mark Samsonovich, Martha Cooper, Maya Hayuk, Miss Me, Mover, Mr. Prvrt, Mr. Toll, Myth, Nenao, Nick Walker, Olek, Paper Skaters, Patty Smith, Pixel Pancho, Poster Boy, Pyramid Oracle, QRST, Rubin 415, Sampsa, Sean 9 Lugo, Sebs, Sego, Seher One, Sexer, Skewville, SmitheOne, Sober, Sonni, Specter, SpY, Square, Stay Fly, Stik, Stikki Peaches, Stikman, Swil, Swoon, Texas, Tilt, Tracy168, Trashbird, Vexta, Vinz, Willow, Wolfe Works, Wolftits, X-O, Zed1.

Read more about Kara Walker in our posting “Kara Walker And Her Sugar Sphinx At The Old Domino Factory”.

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

A Top Exhibition for ’14 on HuffPost: Swoon’s “Submerged Motherlands”

December 16, 2014 Artists

Street Artist Swoon’s show at the Brooklyn Museum was named in the recent The 15 Best Art Exhibitions Of 2014 listing on The Huffington Posts Arts & Culture page. We’re excited that our article, the first in the major press to be published about the exhibition, is sighted for the story. Here is the original article,

‘Swoon: Submerged Motherlands,’ A Tree Grows in the Brooklyn Museum

GIFFITTI and the Eye Popping Animations of Ryan Seslow

December 16, 2014 Artists

You think that maybe the animated GIF is the equivalent of graffiti on the digital wall?

Artist Ryan Seslow has been experimenting for a little while with that hyper eye-blitzing looping tag called the animated GIF – and today you’re getting splendid platter of GIFs like holiday cookies glistening before you. With bright visual references to graffiti history, culture and art, Seslow manages to simplify the vernacular in a poppy way that pushes the work into a playful cartoon realm – like the stuff on subway cars in the 70s. If the connection to Street Art isn’t clear, he has also been doing artful collaborations with a number of figures you may have seen on the street and in subway stations.

“It has been great fun so far working with Cake and Jilly Ballistic and we are making more!” says Seslow of this collaborative approach to GIF making. “I wanted to work with them both because they have great contrasting work that translates well on the street, subway tunnels and as digital images online.”

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

So far Seslow has been “trickling out the gifs one at a time” on his blog and as a project with RJ Rushmore of the blog Vandalog. They will be exhibiting their project entitled “Encrypted Fills” at the end of January for Concrete to Data in the Steinberg Museum of Art. Seslow’s GIF animations will include a host of other graffiti and Street Artists including Stinkfish, Broken Fingaz, General Howe, Caroline Caldwell, Abe Lincoln Jr., Gaia, Enzo & Nio, John Fekner, Olek, Ryan Seslow, Swampy, Peter Drew, Adam VOID, Rone, Enzo Sarto, and Leon Reid IV.

In the meantime all these jolting lights may make you think of the first night of Hannukah (tonight) as well as all the Christmas lights that are blinking from apartment windows overhead wherever you go on the street. Enjoy!

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with CAKE. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with Jilly Ballistic. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Art Basel Special – Miami 2014 Murals

December 15, 2014 Artists

Art Basel has wound up another successful year in Miami and artists, dealers, buyers and sun seekers have departed. In their wake the streets of Wynwood have sustained yet one more onslaught of murals from an international mix of graffiti writers, street artists, and large format illustrators as the Street Art scene’s thick syrup of spontaneity hardens into a slick shell of commercial opportunity. The average working person with two jobs (or no job) may not have noticed that there is a fabulous boom in this economy for some, and the bubbly is flowing all around fairs like this, out into the streets, into the galleries, receptions, cocktails, and celebrity DJ appearances. While it lasts Brock Brake takes BSA readers through the brand sponsored cloud of opportunity and keeps the focus on what made Street Art interesting to begin with; the artists and their work. We think you’ll dig his photos and for the first time here, an essay in his words:

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Swoon (photo © Brock Brake)

By Brock Brake

Miami’s Art Basel might be the world’s largest summer camp for artists. Every year, artists, galleries and enthusiasts from around the world come together in one place to paint, party and socialize. With a never ending list of desired activities and events during the week, it’s impossible to see and do it all. And many of the artists whose work towers on the walls of Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood have been there a week or so longer than anyone.

Evoca1 (photo © Brock Brake)

You know you’ve made it to the right neighborhood coming from the airport when all you see from the highway are large murals and roadside graffiti…and you’re most likely stuck in traffic.

Every single street in Wynwood was filled with artists from various parts of the world who all share one goal: to create. Artist like Meggs, Word To Mother, Hush, Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Lauren Napolitano, Aaron Glasson, Pose, Cleon Peterson, Ron English, Rone, Swoon and many others were all present and active.

Evoca1 (photo © Brock Brake)

It was hard not to get distracted by all of their process while walking from event to event. I spent a total of three full days in Wynwood documenting, visiting some walls more than once. It’s impossible to see it all.

When the fairs close around 7pm, the streets of Wynwood and South Beach explode. There are live painting events like Basel Castle and Secret Walls, pop up galleries, live concerts by hotel pools and, of course, The Deuce; South Beach’s best dive bar beehive of visiting artists.

I’m grateful for my annual “camp” reunion trips to Miami. Reconnecting with old friends you haven’t seen in years while making plenty of new ones. It’s fun to see that as the years go by, everyone is just as much a kid as you remember them. You see the same friend throughout the week wearing the same shirt for four days covered in paint, with no shower or sleep. All of these artists work very hard to do what they do and that’s why I do what I do.

Until next year – BB

Shout (photo © Brock Brake)

Cleon Peterson in collaboration with Shepard Fairey. (photo © Brock Brake)

Rone in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Rone (photo © Brock Brake)

Bicicleta Sem Freio (photo © Brock Brake)

Aaron Glasson (photo © Brock Brake)

Lauren YS in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Lauren YS (photo © Brock Brake)

Tatiana Suarez (photo © Brock Brake)

D*Face in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

D*Face (photo © Brock Brake)

Nychos (photo © Brock Brake)

Hush in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Hush (photo © Brock Brake)

Space Invader (photo © Brock Brake)

Ckue and Soduh (photo © Brock Brake)

Aaron Kai in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Aaron Kai (photo © Brock Brake)

Meggs in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

Soduh (photo © Brock Brake)

Word To Mother. Detail of a wall in progress. (photo © Brock Brake)

Word To Mother (photo © Brock Brake)

Pose and Revok (photo © Brock Brake)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 12.14.14

December 14, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

The year is winding down people, and the hits just keep on coming!

Bankers are ruling us and setting us up for their next crashing of the economy, mistletoe-carrying drones are a good idea gone wrong, and thousands continue to protest injustice toward black and brown people in Washington DC and Washington Square. In happier news: – just one photo we posted this week on Instagram – LMNOPI’s painting of a small boy protester – united the boy’s mother with the artist and us via social media, which was kind of magical. See a version of the image below. The city is also crammed with tourists (Hi Aunt Bobbie and Uncle Roy! Hi Kate and William!), drunken Santa’s are somewhat less cranky this year, and the Dyker Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn is already encrusted with Christmas lights.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring $howta, Crummy Gummy, Dhear, Don John, Eelco Virus, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Mistakoy, Mr. Oneteas, Peter Van Flores, Rocko, Tracy168, WERC, and ZIMAD.

Top Image >> A Mr. OneTeas tribute to Keith Haring appeared in Soho. Earlier in the week an “I Can’t Breath” piece by the artist appeared on the street in Williamsburg but was torn down before we could get to it. Things happen fast sometimes with this ephemeral form of speech, and some pieces (like anything too cutesy or anything with male nudity) come down fast. The artists Instagram has a version of the large wheatpaste. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. OneTeas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zimad just finished this tribute to Basquiat for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Tracey 168 re-resurgence appeared suddenly for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mistakoy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crummy Gummy in Miami. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye getting in the spirit of the season and sharing it on the streets. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eelco Virus with Rocko for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eelco Virus. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don John at work for Urban Xchange: Crossing Over in Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Nikko Tan)

Don John. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Nikko Tan)

Peter Van Flores in Miami. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

WERC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

$howta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dhear in Mexico City for MUJAM. (photo © Wladimir Sanchez)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tour Paris 13 : Fluorescent & Towering Show Book

December 13, 2014 Artists

Another book to tell you about today! Remember when BSA took you to Paris that time and we skipped the line and went into all the floors of this soon to be demolished building?

“The numbers are astounding; 105 artists, 9 floors, 36 apartments, 30,000 visitors.

One hour.

That is how much time Street Art enthusiast Spencer Elzey had to himself inside the largest gallery of Street Artists and graffiti artists ever assembled specifically to transform a building for a public show. As he looked out a window to see the snaking lines of Parisians and tourists restlessly waiting to get in, he couldn’t believe his luck to be able to walk through the exhibit by himself and get off some clear shots before the throng hit.”

That is how we described it in November 2013 when Spencer took us on a whirlwind tour of TOUR 13.

Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Published last month this towering book with the page edges sprayed neon orange was released by Mehdi Ben Cheikh in French and English to commemorate the event, and seeing the installations this way is going to make you wish the place wasn’t destroyed. 500 new photos previously unpublished allows you to see the show as you travel from the cellar to the top floors.

You may wish you had more background on the artists and the context and clearly not all of the artistry is of similar quality but you will be satiated by the images and thankful that they were recorded during their brief duration. Published by Editions Albin Michel, in partnership with the Itinerrance Gallery, this show will continue to soar long after the dust has settled.

Artists included in the Tour Paris 13 project:

108, 2MIL FAMILIA, A1ONE, ADD FUEL, AGL, AGOSTINO IACURCI, AMINE, ALEXÖNE, ARRAIANO, AWER, AZOOZ, BOM.K, BTOY, C215, CEKIS, CELESTE JAVA, CLET, COPE2, CORLEONE, DABRO, DADO, DAN23, DAVID WALKER, DEYAA, EIME, eL SEED, ENTES, ETHOS, ETNIK, FENX, FLIP, GAËL, GILBERT, GUY DENNING, HERBERT BAGLIONE, HOGRE, HOPNN, INDIE, INTI ANSA, INTI CASTRO, JAZ, JB ROCK, JÉRÔME GULON, JIMMY C, JOYS, JULIEN COLOMBIER, KAN, KATRE, KEITH HARING, KRUELLA, LEGZ, LEK, LE CYKLOP, LILIWENN, LOIOLA, LUDO, MAIS MENOS, MAR, MÁRIO BELÉM, MARKO, MARYAM, MATÉO GARCIA, MAZ, MONEYLESS, MOSKO, MP5, MYRE, NANO, NEBAY, NEMI “UHU”, NILKO, ORTICANOODLES, PANTÓNIO, PEETA, PHILIPPE BAUDELOCQUE, RAPTO, REA ONE, RODOLPHE CINTORINO, ROTI, SAILE, SAMBRE, SAMINA, SEAN HART, SÉBASTIEN PRESCHOUX, SENSO, SETH, SHAKA, SHOOF, SHUCK 2, SOWAT, SPAZM, SPETO, STeW, STINKFISH, SWOON, TELLA’S, TINHO, TORE, UNO, URIGINAL, VEXTA, VHILS, and WISIGN

Click HERE to read BSA’s coverage of this project before the building was demolished.

BSA Film Friday 12.12.14

December 12, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Mary Lacy: Life at Moran
2. Dhear: Similia Similibus Currentur
3. Sofles Black Book
4. Helpful Tips for Riding the Subway with Johnny T

BSA Special Feature: Mary Lacy: Life at Moran

The ever widening spectrum of culture that embraces graffiti-street art-muralism, gentrification, and commercialism blurs one more line in this promotional video for the development of an old factory on Lake Champlain. While well executed, it borrows completely from the urban explorers and graffiti artists who have been hitting up the walls of decrepit and abandoned places with paint for decades, while giving no credit for it.

Take note that the camera work neatly relegates those renegades work to the margins and incidental backgrounds while celebrating the “fine art” being blue taped into existence center stage. While not a straight up deal breaker, the sound track is principally a viola played with classical contemplation, making the whole rustic scene very palatable to investors and denotes a certain income level and educational background and well, class distinction.

That said, Mary Lacy chooses nature and flora to gently entice you to come in; her folk technique evoking stained glass or porcelain collage work, and she selects well placed vignettes that remind you of Cuba.

Makes you hanker for cup of rich fair trade hand pressed café mocha and a butternut elderberry quinoa bear claw glazed with raw sugar, doesn’t it? Fire up the Kindle and read insightful prose describing how factory jobs like the ones once here in this building were moved offshore, never to return.

Dhear: Similia Similibus Currentur

Done in conjunction with MUJAM, Dhear creates this enormous mural on the side of a homeopathic hospital that recalls Mexico’s 20th century mural tradition and inspires the people visiting and working there.

Sofles Black Book

Dude kills black books too, which is probably no surprise to anyone who has seen his previous videos here where he slaughters entire factories. Never imagined such a hard driving crunchy soundtrack would accompany art markers, did you?

Helpful Tips for Riding the Subway with Johnny T

Hey, whatsa matta wit you? Don’t do that! Jeez!

“Urban Xchange: Crossing Over” A New Festival in Penang, Malaysia

December 11, 2014 Artists

Urban Exchange: Crossing Over 2014 is a brand new street art festival in George Town, Penang in Malaysia. In November they hosted 16 artists to paint walls throughout this city of two and a half million on the Strait of Malacca.

It is not a city that has hosted Street Art traditionally and one that frowns strongly on graffiti, but ever since Lithuanian Street Artist Ernest Zacharevic did some very successful installations here in 2012 which drew crowds and cameras, the citizenry and elected officials have become very hospitable to the idea — and have even enacted a formalized process for approving public art.

Skolo brings tradition, sport, and modern communications together in this brand new mural for Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Today we travel to Penang to see the brand new pieces for this first-year show, co-curated by Gabija Grusaite and Eeyan Chuah, who run Hin Bus Depot Art Centre, a creative space in the ruins of a bus depot that hosted a corollary gallery show. Alongside Berlin based Urban Nation’s director and curator, Yasha Young, the two invited a mixture of local and international artists to complete murals and to host some community workshops.

“There’s never a dull moment at Urban Nation’s exchange program,” says Young, “after a year in the planning we were excited to finally make the journey.”

Among the various murals you’ll see a selection of figurative, realistic, and illustration styles that carefully walk a community moderated fine line, hoping to bring locals to be more actively engaged in the program. As a novelty outlier, you’ll also see Brooklyn’s Mr. Toll installing his colorful hand formed clay sculptures in unusual spots if you keep your head up.

In an interview with Malay Mail Online, Ms. Grusaite says, “We want to create an artistic international cultural exchange so that local artists can learn from international artists who will be here for the project while the international artists will get exposure to the local culture and art scene.”

As is the case more often, with Urban Exchange we are again seeing a new model of public art developing where at the forefront are artists who have laid their groundwork in graffiti rather than university exclusively. We’ve been using a term we’re calling the “New Muralism” to indicate the grassroots nature and populist generation of these works and we still think its definition is evolving. Not quite community murals in the strictest sense, and not seeking the approval of gate-keeping institutions either, these artists are looking for and finding new ways to challenge themselves creatively in the public sphere while being responsive to needs of the public. Huh!

Included in the Urban Exchange project are Antanas Dubra (Lithuania), Bibichun (Malaysia), Don John (Denmark), Donald Abraham (Malaysia), Elle (United States), Ernest Zacharevic (Lithuania), Fauzan Faud (Malaysia), Karl Addison (Germany), Kenji Chai (Malaysia), Rone (Australia), Sk10 (Singapore), TankPetrol (United Kingdom), Black Fritilldea (Malaysia), 4Some (a crew from Kuala Lumpur consisting of Donald, Black, Fauzan and Jojo), Mr Toll (New York) and Vexta (New York)

Our heartfelt thank you to Henrik Haven, who took a trip from Copenhagen which took 31 hours (and four different flights) for sharing his excellent photographs here with BSA readers.

Collaboration between Ernest Zacharavic and Etoja. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

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The Art Of Nick Walker: A Monograph

December 10, 2014 Artists

We like you to have books, even though BSA is almost exclusively a digital companion for our readers and fans. But yes, we are in love with books and Christmas is coming and so is Hannukah in 5 days or so and the end of the year is just brimming with good heavy tomes to pour over.

Today we’re showing you the new monograph by a 1980s graffiti writer from Bristol who evolved his work into a different sort of experience entirely and is known for his bowler – and Mona Lisa’s bare bum as well. Nick Walker is a world traveler by now and spends much of his time in New York at the moment so it’s a great pleasure to let you know about this big beefy one – something to pour over while the weather outside is frightful.

The Art Of Nick Walker can be purchased at: http://www.theartofnickwalker.com/

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Harald Naegeli, AKA “The Zurich Sprayer”. Dusseldorf, Germany. November 2014. (photo © Lord Jim)

Roti. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo ©Maxim Dondyuk)

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

Jaime’s personal favorite of 2014; The site specific Kara Walker in front of her site specific installation at the Domino Sugar Factory in May of this year in Brooklyn. Artist Kara Walker. (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with CAKE. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with CAKE. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with Jilly Ballistic. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with Jilly Ballistic. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with Jilly Ballistic. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with Jilly Ballistic. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Ryan Seslow in collaboration with Jilly Ballistic. (gif © Ryan Seslow)

Swoon (photo © Brock Brake)

Evoca1 (photo © Brock Brake)

Evoca1 (photo © Brock Brake)

Shout (photo © Brock Brake)

Cleon Peterson in collaboration with Shepard Fairey. (photo © Brock Brake)

Rone in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Rone (photo © Brock Brake)

Bicicleta Sem Freio (photo © Brock Brake)

Aaron Glasson (photo © Brock Brake)

Lauren YS in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Lauren YS (photo © Brock Brake)

Tatiana Suarez (photo © Brock Brake)

D*Face in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

D*Face (photo © Brock Brake)

Nychos (photo © Brock Brake)

Nychos (photo © Brock Brake)

Nychos (photo © Brock Brake)

Hush in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Hush (photo © Brock Brake)

Space Invader (photo © Brock Brake)

Ckue and Soduh (photo © Brock Brake)

Aaron Kai in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Aaron Kai (photo © Brock Brake)

Meggs in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

Soduh (photo © Brock Brake)

Word To Mother. Detail of a wall in progress. (photo © Brock Brake)

Word To Mother (photo © Brock Brake)

Pose and Revok (photo © Brock Brake)

Mr. OneTeas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zimad just finished this tribute to Basquiat for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Tracey 168 re-resurgence appeared suddenly for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mistakoy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crummy Gummy in Miami. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye getting in the spirit of the season and sharing it on the streets. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eelco Virus with Rocko for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eelco Virus. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don John at work for Urban Xchange: Crossing Over in Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Nikko Tan)

Don John. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Nikko Tan)

Peter Van Flores in Miami. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

WERC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

$howta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dhear in Mexico City for MUJAM. (photo © Wladimir Sanchez)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Entes . Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inti . Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ethos .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Seth .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Moneyless .Tour Paris 13 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skolo brings tradition, sport, and modern communications together in this brand new mural for Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Tank Petrol at work on is wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Tank Petrol. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

RONE at work on is wall. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)

RONE on the left with Karl Addison on the right. Urban Xchange: Crossing Over. Penang, Malaysia. (photo © Henrik Haven)