March 2015

BSA Film Friday 03.20.15

March 20, 2015 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Lucy McLauchlan: Coexist
2.Boa Mistura: Live To Learn/Vive Para Aprender
3.FINDAC “Magnificent 7”
4. The art of Andrzej Urbanski by Rowan Pybus
5. SOLO fifteen hours in London: The Magpie Project

Lucy McLauchlan: Coexist

Do you get high? Listen to this soundtrack and go full screen and contemplate Lucy as she dialates your eyeballs with a black and white mural titled “Coexist”. Just released, the scene is from the Bien Urbain festival from two years ago in Besançon, but thanks to these scratching popping beats by Photay it actually takes place in a lost afternoon. Dude, don’t fall out of the cherry picker bucket!

Boa Mistura: Live To Learn/Vive Para Aprender

A meditative look at a monochromatic mural by Boa Mistura in India. The narrator breaks it down for you.

“LIVE TO LEARN”

Shiva’s three eyes (the Present, the Past and the Future) with the Lotus flower, symbol of purity on top.
“Live as if you are going to die tomorrow. Learn as if you are going to live forever”, a quote by Mahatma Gandhi tattooed on the four arms of Sarasvati, Goddess of the fine arts.

Ganesh, God of intelligence and wisdom, the plumage of the peacock, God of War, a Baobab, tree of life…

With all this imaginary, present in all India, we created the image of the Tiger, victory over any force, and we tattoed it on this old corner of Delhi

FINDAC “Magnificent 7”

“A film of 7 portraits created by urban aesthetic artist FIN DAC in Dublin, Ireland.”

A top quality view of the artist and the work. The word “magnificent” is perfectly appropriate here.

The art of Andrzej Urbanski by Rowan Pybus

A short film introducing the art of Andrzej Urbanski, you get to see and hear what makes him tick. An excellent description of his goals, motivations, frustrations, and inspiration.

SOLO fifteen hours in London: The Magpie Project

A nice home made timelapse video of SOL painting in Brick Lane. Obviously the guy is inspired by comic books and superheroes. Fun!

Ben Eine and a Sheikh in Abu Dhabi: Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

March 19, 2015 Artists

Banksy may be sought after by the Prime Minister of Israel but one of his old mates Ben Eine is shaking cans and hitting up an embassy with a Sheikh in the UAE.

Ben Eine. Presenting a gift to His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Five years after Mr. Obama and Mrs. Obama received a Ben Eine piece for their art collection, the list of important office holders who want a piece of the letterman’s glow has grown longer than your arm and sword. Not bad for a former insurance salesman and graffiti artist who reportedly was convicted of criminal damage a few times for spraying around town. Things are rather looking up!

Ben Eine. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan “tagging” the wall. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Now Mr. Eine is using his aerosol skillz to teach willing student Sheikhs how to improve their hand style in broad daylight before a cluster of snapping cameras for the debut of his new solo show Hand in Hand just opened at the Dubai gallery ARTSPACE in anticipation of the international art fair Art Dubai 2015 which begins Saturday. For an art form whose beginnings are associated in many minds with youth of modest means vandalizing private property, this is a remarkable development.

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

So it has come to pass that the UAE and the UK are bonding over graffiti – or rather, murals. Since this sort of public expression of creativity is rather new in Abu Dhabi it was worthy of a ceremony that is captured here for you. Featured in addition to the artist are His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan and Her Majesty’s Ambassador Philip Parham – each tagging (err, inaugurating) a wall while the British Council Country Director, Marc Jessel admires the work with an appreciative crowd. Well Done!

The joyous art affair was all completed in the name of cross-cultural awareness and exchange, and the 40-meter mural on side of the embassy reads “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” How true that is, wouldn’t you agree?

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Her Majesty’s Ambassador Philip Parham tagging the wall. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

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BSA Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Complete “Persons of Interest”: Brooklyn in Berlin

March 18, 2015 Artists

All the Works Completed for Project M/7 at Urban Nation with BSA

Our trip to Berlin with 12 of Brooklyn’s finest street artists was a quintessential cultural exchange; bringing together artists, curators, social activists, ministers of art, museum board CEOS, collectors, gallerists, fans, and the director of a future museum called Urban Nation. The seventh Project M, a program to draw artists and attention to the enormous UN haus while it is under construction, was called “Persons of Interest”. All week we got to meet interesting people – not a surprise in this raw cultural hot spot that bubbles with an effervescent underground and creative laboratory that is full of youthful vigor and serendipity.

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How fitting then that our first youthful arrivals were Icy & Sot, who set the tone with their 4 story portrait of an anonymous Brooklyn woman with “Freedom” scrawled across her face, an iconic scene of the celebrants at Berlin’s fallen wall inside her. With one of the brothers turning 24 that week, it was even more touching to see them marking an important event that predated him by one year – a new generation of artists helping us identify what events of the modern age are truly touchstones.

The 176 piece stencil had taken about 10 days for them to cut back in Brooklyn and the brothers methodically sprayed their missive to Berlin’s people over the course of 5 more days. This, their largest mural ever, was enormous and peaceful and an incredible act of discipline, determination, and dedication to teamwork.

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot. A passer by spans a photo of the completed mural with her iPad. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Persons of Interest” was meant to celebrate the connections between the lively artists communities in these sister cities over the last few decades, and being in Berlin felt like home to most of the artists in many ways. The curatorial vision was also meant to counter the criticism of many of the new Street Art mural festivals that have taken hold in cities around the world that they are not considering their hosts and to help focus on the neighborhoods where the new works appear.

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake at work on her portrait of Käthe Kollwitz. “Persons of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Undeniably the Internet has supercharged this worldwide peoples’ art movement and has allowed us to learn about and connect with artists and their street work as we never would have encountered previously. It also has created a strata of international artists whose names appear again and again on these festival lists and while it is sort of exciting, it also is producing a sort of cultural imperialism that leaves a sour taste in the mouths of locals who don’t feel a connection to the artists or the art works that remain in their neighborhoods long after the festival has ended.

Our aim with “Persons of Interest” was to suggest a new model that may also be considered, one that is based on impactful work and meaningful exchange.

From this experiment that took us roughly six months to conceive, organize, and execute, we discovered two things:

1. Artists actually like to do research and create art that is meaningful and relevant to their personal stories, and
2. Many street passersby and art audiences are elated to find work that they can relate to – that reflects their lives, history, and culture.

Cake at work on her portrait of Käthe Kollwitz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake her portrait of Käthe Kollwitz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Each of the artists had really challenged themselves to learn about the city they were making work for, and each had a story that also spoke of their own. Every day we were learning from them and they were learning from each other and without hesitation our hosts were schooling us as well.

Of course it helps when you are working with a dynamic urban contemporary art expert like Yasha Young, who has a deep well of ideas about community and more connections than the WiFi router at a One Direction concert. All week we were treated to a rotating list of visiting photographers, videographers, art directors, reporters, radio hosts, writers, culture mavens — and to many artists who were in town to put up new walls, show us their black books and iPhoto libraries, or just to meet their New York friends who were painting in the gallery.

Dain on the left with Gaia on the right at work on their portraits for “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shout out to Onur Dinc, Andreas Englund, Herakut, The Never Crew, KKade, Various & Gould, Strok, David Walker, FKDL, James Bullough, Vermibus, Roland Henry, Nika Kramer, Butterfly, Mark Rigney and other very cool well-wishers. While we’re at it, we all send a gold-plated shout out to the three women who kept us all cared for in so many ways in the gallery and on-site at the UN – Alejandra, Elisabetta, and Ana were indispensable.

Dain at work on his portrait of Marlene Dietrich. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain. Portrait of Marlene Dietrich. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Speaking of meeting interesting people, a huge highlight of the program for us was when two of the artists got to meet their “Person of Interest” face to face. We had arranged a surprise visit of one of them; NohJColey had no idea that Katharina Oguntoye would walk on the sidewalk in front of the UN and peer in the window where he was preparing his portrait of her.

To witness the enthusiasm with which they greeted one another and to hear them excitedly asking and answering each others questions regarding his work as an artist in Brooklyn and hers as an Afro German feminist in Berlin was the epitome of art as a catalyst for cultural exchange. We didn’t know life could be so rich.

Gaia at work on his portrait of Fereshta Ludin. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia’s person of interest, Fereshta Ludin also attended the opening in person on Saturday night, the first time that the two had met in person. Only two days before a Berlin law had been overturned allowing Muslim school teachers to wear headscarves – and Ms. Ludin has been a social activist advocating for the right for the last decade and a half.

The politics around this of course are highly charged and there have been xenophobic right-wing marches against Muslims and others in their defense in the streets in Berlin in recent months. Meeting Ms. Ludin in person and seeing her reaction to Gaia’s portrait of her gave such a powerful additional dimension to the entire experience of “Persons of Interest” that we never could have predicted when we first conceived of it. Gaia said it was a “life affirming moment”.

Gaia’s portrait of Fereshta Ludin in progress. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Probably what is most gratifying is when you see someone’s eyes light up with recognition at seeing one of their icons brought to life. One woman told us that she couldn’t believe that El Sol 25 knew Hannah Höch so well. Was it that she couldn’t imagine a former graff writer honoring the central female figure of Berlin’s Dada movement? We were shocked when a UN board director told us Marlene Dietrich had grown up in the same neighborhood where this new DAIN portrait of her was going up – we even met someone who went to her funeral here in ’92!

In the final analysis once again we witnessed the creative spirit alive and well in the street and in the gallery. Unlike early graffiti writers, these artists come from different backgrounds and disciplines – yet all intersected with art in the public sphere in New York; graffiti writers, muralists, painters, wheat-pasters, paper cutters… In Berlin you would have thought that they all had been working together for years, the collaborative spirit was so high – and luckily for us, Berlin welcomed them all.

Gaia. Portrait of Fereshta Ludin. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Olivia from Swoon’s Studio at work on “Cairo”. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon and her tribute to Turkish immigrants for “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohjColey at work on his portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The photo above captures the moment when NohJColey learns that Ms. Oguntoye is outside on the sidewalk looking at him through the window working on his portrait of her.

In the photo you see Ms. Oguntoye meeting NohJColey for the first time.

NohjColey at work on his portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohjColey. Portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter at work on his portrait of Sally Montana. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. Portrait of Sally Montana in progress. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. Portrait of Sally Montana. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx at work on his portrait of John A. Roebling. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx. Portrait of John A. Roebling. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle at work on his portrait of George Grosz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle. Portrait of George Grosz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 at work on his portrait of Hannah Höch. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25. Portrait of Hannah Höch. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain at work on his portrait of Charles Bukowski. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain portrait of Charles Bukowski in progress. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain. Portrait of Charles Bukowski. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Urban Nation Project M/7 “Persons of Interest” is currently on view on the streets of Berlin until June 22nd at Bülowstraße 97
10738 Berlin-Schöneberg, Germany.

For more details on each artist’s Person of Interest click on the links below:

CAKE and Käthe Kollwitz, “Persons of Interest”

Chris Stain and Charles Bukowski – “Persons of Interest”

DAIN and Marlene Dietrich – “Persons of Interest”

Don Rimx and John A. Roebling – “Persons of Interest”

Esteban Del Valle and George Grosz – “Persons of Interest”

El Sol 25 and Hannah Höch – “Persons of Interest”

GAIA and Fereshta Ludin – “Persons of Interest”

ICY & Sot and Berlin’s People – “Persons of Interest”

NohJColey and Katharina Oguntoye – “Persons of Interest”

Specter and Sally Montana – “Persons of Interest”

Swoon and Turkish Immigrants – “Persons of Interest”

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From Katherine Brooks at the Huffington Post, an interview with us and more images to recap.

Rukkit . OKUDA . João Samina at St+ART Delhi 2015

March 17, 2015 Artists

Here are new exclusive shots of three artists at work for the Indian street art festival called St+Art Delhi.

Bangkok based Rukkit digs the multicolored graphic approach that Okuda works with but says he favors animals over abstract and we’ll say possibly folkloric over modern. Well versed in sculpture, Rukkit is a graphic designer/art director who digs stencil more than anything else on the street.

Rukkit (photo © Pranav Mehta)

His second year at St.Art Delhi, Okuda began his outdoor work in the factories and rail lines of his home town of Santander, Spain in the late 90s. His body of work has matured into galleries and private collections but the energy of his street work is still present after traveling to many street/urban festivals around the world in the last five years – including Brooklyn, Miami, Lisbon, Johannesburg, and Hamburg.

Okuda (photo © Akshat Nauriyal)

Okuda (photo © Pranav Mehta)

João Samina is a self-taught artist from Lisbon who started slapping stickers in the late 90s as a teenager and worked his way into larger pieces over the next decade until he discovered stencils in 2010. He says he is working on his own language with his stencil technique and you can see influences from early Street Art master stencillists like Jef Aerosol and current ones like C215, combined with the abstract forms of Graffuturists like Remi Rough and Augustine Kofie, as well as from his interests in graphic design, painting, and architecture.

Joao Samina (photo © Pranav Mehta)

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A Brief Look at NY Art Fairs : Spring/Break & Scope

March 16, 2015 Artists

Did you have a chance to hit some of the shows during New York’s Amory Week? Part blessing and curse, New York has this pre-Spring ritual of organized galleries tucked into little booths in far-flung neo-convention center architectural spaces that offer an onslaught of fascinating new ideas and artists who inspire you and give you a glimpse of the future. Alternately the works on display can sadden you with much derivative mediocrity scattered around and small chartreuse plumes of resentful dealers who clearly are not “people” people alternately ignoring or staring at you.

Before we headed to Berlin for a show we had time to made a mad dash through Scope and The Spring Break Art Show. Here are a few things that caught our eye.

“A Door Within a Door” – Grace Villamil curated by Coming Soon and Katya Braxton. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Spring/Break Art Show, now in its 4^th year, is perhaps a current favorite because it creates space for exploring and considering. A 40 curator-driven art fair that featured 150+ artists on display in the re-purposed Moynihan Station (the enormous and grand old main post office), the panoply of concepts tweaked and piqued electrodes in the brain with plays on perception – one of the best outcomes you can hope for with contemporary art. Perhaps because the space is free for the curator, the ideas are similarly liberated.

Bazaar Teens curated by Dustin Yellin. 10K of donated cash was shredded to make paintings. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And everyone is welcomed – collectors, artists, galleries, critics, scene junkies. TRANSACTION was the theme in the Skylight wing that looked like it hadn’t been used for about 20 years. There was a faint fear of Asbestos swirling around our heads while we appreciated the institutional decay of the interiors, laying a background for the fairs multiple installations. Somehow the possibilities for the curators to transform the space were endless, and one wasn’t completely sure when the decay of the interior was intentional or residual…but that was part of the fun.

What separates this fair from the rest of the pack is that the art here is not presented as an unattainable commodity, rather for the most part it is an installation/performance art show where you roam through custom fashioned rooms on both sides of long hallways of deadened fluorescent lights and ceiling leaks. Maybe its because we see a lot of urban art in detritus and abandoned buildings, but this was fun. And yes some of the art was amazing. Good to see artists are still experimenting and taking risks and can make site-specific installations that are alive and provocative.

Bazaar Teens curated by Dustin Yellin. 10K of donated cash was shredded to make paintings. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bazaar Teens curated by Dustin Yellin. 10K of donated cash was shredded to make paintings. Shredded money taken from the donations box. Some prankster put some of the brochures in there for color we suppose… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rita Ikonen curated by Yulia Topchiy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Margaret Bowland curated by Tess Sol Schwab. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christine Sciulli video projection on fog was curated by Ambre. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cate Giordano curated by Eve Sussman and Simon Lee. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anne Nowak curated by Cassandra M Johnson. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Grace Villamil curated by Coming Soon and Katya Braxton. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fall On Your Sword Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Samsonovich (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Samsonovich and friends in the wild on the streets of NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Over at Scope the story was much different. In their press release and on their site they were heralding a “progressive format” in a new location. The latter was true. It was a new location. The former didn’t materialize and we were hard pressed to find what was progressive or new about it. There were still the temporary partitions and rented booths and while some of the spaces did run into each other it wasn’t with any particular goal for a collaborative spirit or some such idealist notion. If anything, Scope was chaotic with visitors and exhibitors remarking about not having enough time to set up when the doors open at 2:00 pm for the VIP and press, giving a frustrated aura of discord that may have influenced our perception.

Many galleries were still hanging works and adding price and information tags on the walls when we were there. But we know how it is when your dinner party guest arrives at 7 on the dot and you haven’t gotten dressed- you may want them to go out for a cocktail and then return.

Additionally, and unfortunately, Scope more than any of the other show seems to incorporate more derivative and secondary market works than their competitors. Street Art/Urban Art is increasingly hot so it appeared at many more galleries this year but without much curatorial consideration. The fair also including works we have already seen elsewhere, so it was hard to get too excited about that. But there were definitely some gems in there as well. Here are some shots of things we saw:

Isaac Cordal (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miss Van (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nathan Vincent (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swampy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amanda Marie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michael Mut. Click HERE to learn more about this artist and Still Counting Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikki Peaches (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li-Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

XO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaybo Monk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vinz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Banksy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.15.15 : Berlin Edition

March 15, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Berlin is slaughtered with Street Art, graffiti, stickers. It appears in so many areas and neighborhoods that you feel like you are being spoken to by artists everywhere you go, not just advertisers – although there are plenty of illegal advertisements all around as well. This week of course we have been surrounded by Brooklyn artists as well for the show with Urban Nation (UN) “Persons of Interest” but luckily some kind and witty Berliners showed us some of the hot spots when we had a spare hour or two gaze upon the wild urban forest. Here are a few shots we got as the briefest of introductions.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alaniz, Alias, Case Ma’Claim, Craneo, FLE, Jones, Miss Van, One Truth, Poet, Rhino Berlin, Sebr, Various & Gould, and Vhils.

Top Image >> Case Ma’Claim (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Various & Gould (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rhino Berlin (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miss Van (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

One Truth (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jones (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alias (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Craneo (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alaniz (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alaniz . Poet . FLE (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alaniz . Vhils (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sobr (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dispatch from Germany: Pop-Up Show at UN Gallery with BSA

March 14, 2015 Artists

A great many things underway here in Berlin for the debut of “Persons of Interest”, a show of 12 artists who have worked on the streets of Brooklyn bringing their A Game to Berlin. This group of talented people have transformed the Urban Nation Pop-Up gallery with an astounding array of styles, skillz, techniques, and a lot of imagination. We couldn’t be happier with the results. The camaraderie is strong and the creative display directly on the gallery walls is iron-clad.

If you are in Berlin anytime Saturday come see the windows being installed in the UN Haus and at 7 pm come to the reception. Both events are curated by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo co-founders of BrooklynStreetArt.com and we will be very happy to meet you.

Here is a preview of the Pop-Up Exhibition…more to come

Click HERE for the FaceBook event and more details about UN Project M/7 Persons of Interest and Pop-Up Exhibition.

ICY & Sot and Berlin’s People – “Persons of Interest”

March 13, 2015 Artists

BSA is in Berlin this month to present a new show of 12 important Brooklyn Street Artists at the Urban Nation haus as part of Project M/7. PERSONS OF INTEREST brings to our sister city a diverse collection of artists who use many mediums and styles in the street art scene of Brooklyn. By way of tribute to the special relationship that artist communities in both cities have shared for decades, each artist has chosen to create a portrait of a Germany-based cultural influencer from the past or present, highlighting someone who has played a role in inspiring the artist in a meaningful way.

Today we talk to ICY & SOT and ask them why they chose their persons of interest, The People of Berlin.

The façade of the UN building is being painted right now by Street Artists Icy & Sot, who have lived in Brooklyn for not quite three years since arriving from Iran but have quickly made an impression on the street and in the discourse that follows it. The brothers’ work on the streets and on rooftops has been an ongoing exploration and discovery of their own style and voice. Their work on the streets has addressed homelessness, war, violence, peace, hope, despair, and human rights.

Influenced by Brooklyn’s D.I.Y. culture on the street and in studios, a new freedom of speech, and their deep admiration for stencil artists who came before them, their style and message continues to define and refine as they also have been gathering an international following.

Ask to choose a PERSON OF INTEREST to create as a portrait, Icy & Sot have selected the people of Berlin who celebrated the fall of the Berlin wall, as reflected in the face of a new generation. Twenty five years later, this symbol of celebration and liberty atop the Berlin Wall is a powerful one they bring to the present with a 2015 image of a young woman from Brooklyn.

“It’s a portrait of freedom, Berlin’s peoples freedom,” they say. “The image inside the portrait was a very important moment for Berlin when the wall came down and we wanted to celebrate it.”

Check out the Facebook page for PERSONS OF INTEREST

See Full Press Release HERE

NohJColey and Katharina Oguntoye – “Persons of Interest”

March 12, 2015 Artists

Today we talk to NohJColey and ask him why he chose his person of interest, Katharina Oguntoye.

For his portrait at Urban Nation the Brooklyn native NohJColey chose Katharina Oguntoye, the Afro-German feminist writer, historian, activist, and poet raised in Nigeria and Heidelberg, Germany. Her study of German culture and her status within it led to her co-editing of the 1986 book Showing Our Colors: Afro-German Women Speak Out (Farbe Bekennen) and to the founding of Joliba, a nonprofit intercultural association in 1997. The organization provides support to a varied intercultural community and hosts educational and cultural events like dinners, seminars, kids events, reading groups, and public art events.

“I have chosen to create a piece that focuses on Katharina Oguntoye because of her contribution to the woman’s equality movement in Germany, “ says NohJ. “She has overcome countless obstacles in her lifetime and has changed so many lives for the better because of her relentless efforts.”

Street Artist NohJColey tells stories with his figures in the public sphere, examining their interrelationships and their place within an urban environment that is often hostile, fraught with anxiety and hypocrisy, yet tempered with humanity. Using various art making disciplines he constructs the stage; hand-carved linotypes, paper cuts, mobile sculpture, painting. A shrewd observer and communicator, his sometimes surreal narratives can be complex, often involving critique of classism, consumerism, racism, addiction, and a broken justice system – each from the perspective of characters who are affected by or perpetuating them.

Check out the Facebook page for PERSONS OF INTEREST

See Full Press Release HERE

Update: Berlin, Icy & Sot “Freedom” Mural Underway

March 11, 2015 Artists

Here’s a quick shot of the action at the new enormous mural, the largest stencil ever done by brothers Icy & Sot, now underway in Berlin for our “Persons of Interest” show for Urban Nation project M/7. After two and a half days, you can begin to get a good glimpse of the future piece. The guys think it should be completed by Friday.

Icy & Sot in progress at “Persons of Interest” for UN Project M/7 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Icy & Sot in progress at “Persons of Interest” for UN Project M/7 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter and Sally Montana – “Persons of Interest”

March 11, 2015 Artists

Today we talk to Specter and ask him why he chose his person of interest, Sally Montana.

Specter is multi-disciplinary on the street, including sculptural installations, photography, and hand-painted large-scale one-off wheat pastes. It was the latter practice that first drew us into his personal stories and portraits on the streets in the 2000s, enlarged versions of people you might meet in the neighborhood. There was the guy with a grocery cart full of recyclable bottles, the food delivery dude on a bicycle, the burly homeless gent wrapped in a red blanket.

These are everyday people on the streets of Brooklyn, and Specter elevates them for passersby to stop and consider.

For his PERSON OF INTEREST Specter is painting another Brooklyn artist as a way of honoring the thousands who have made a thriving and buoyant scene in the 1990s-2010s in neighborhoods like Bushwick, Gowanus, BedStuy, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint – similar in many ways to Berlin’s neighborhoods of Kreuzberg, Friedrichshain, Prenzlauer Berg, Schöneberg and Mitte.

To find his portrait subject, Specter just looked next door to his studio. “Sally Montana is my neighbor. She is from Germany but lives in Brooklyn and is a professional photographer and one of the nicest people anyone could ever meet. The reason I choose her is because I feel she embodies this project. The connection between NY and Berlin art communities being the two of the largest in the world and the back-and-forth sharing of people and influences from each others cultures.”

Check out the Facebook page for PERSONS OF INTEREST

See Full Press Release HERE

Esteban Del Valle and George Grosz – “Persons of Interest”

March 10, 2015 Artists

Today we talk to Esteban Del Valle and ask him why he chose his person of interest, George Grosz.

An interdisciplinary artist living in Brooklyn, Del Valle has been rendering figures and scenarios on walls here and in his native Chicago, San Antonio, Kansas City, Spartanburg – even at 5 Pointz, the graffiti holy place in Queens that was recently buffed and destroyed. A performance artist in the public sphere as well as painter, his complex stories run deep with his contemplations on an imbalanced world. His is an activist approach to tearing apart and rebuilding to reveal influences, emotions, and motivations. In these ways and others he is not unlike his selected subject, George Grosz, a pivotal figure in Berlin’s Dada movement.

A German artist known especially for his drawings of people as caricature during the roaring days and nights of Berlin’s 1920s, Grosz was acerbic, crude and corrosive in his depiction of corruption and abuse of power. Eventually moving to New York and settling down in Bayside, Queens, the artist continued his work as a painter and cultural critic. For his portrait of Grosz, Del Valle inserts the artist into Grosz’ own 1926 painting, Eclipse of the Sun, along with ex Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley and some headless businessmen. Too much to describe here, Grosz can speak for himself:

My drawings expressed my despair, hate and disillusionment, I drew drunkards; puking men; men with clenched fists cursing at the moon. … I drew a man, face filled with fright, washing blood from his hands … I drew lonely little men fleeing madly through empty streets. I drew a cross-section of tenement house: through one window could be seen a man attacking his wife; through another, two people making love; from a third hung a suicide with body covered by swarming flies. I drew soldiers without noses; war cripples with crustacean-like steel arms; two medical soldiers putting a violent infantryman into a strait-jacket made of a horse blanket … I drew a skeleton dressed as a recruit being examined for military duty. I also wrote poetry. —Grosz Friedrich, Otto (1986). [note] Before the Deluge. USA: Fromm International Publishing Corporation. pp. 37. [/note]

“I believe art is inherently powerful,” says Del Valle, “and that power can be used to reflect and reshape reality. Much like I aspire to do, George Grosz used satirical imagery to call attention to social inequalities while blurring the line between illustration and painting. His poignant content and aesthetic seems just as relevant today as it did in post 1920’s Berlin.”

Check out the Facebook page for PERSONS OF INTEREST

See Full Press Release HERE

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Lucy McLauchlan: Coexist

Boa Mistura: Live To Learn/Vive Para Aprender

FINDAC “Magnificent 7”

The art of Andrzej Urbanski by Rowan Pybus

SOLO fifteen hours in London: The Magpie Project

Ben Eine. Presenting a gift to His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan “tagging” the wall. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Her Majesty’s Ambassador Philip Parham tagging the wall. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

Ben Eine. Abu Dhabi. British Embassy. March 2015. (photo © courtesy of JB.PR)

All the Works Completed for Project M/7 at Urban Nation with BSA

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot. A passer by spans a photo of the completed mural with her iPad. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot. “Persons of Interest” Portrait of an unknown girl from Brooklyn to the people of Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake at work on her portrait of Käthe Kollwitz. “Persons of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

From this experiment that took us roughly six months to conceive, organize, and execute, we discovered two things:

1. Artists actually like to do research and create art that is meaningful and relevant to their personal stories, and 2. Many street passersby and art audiences are elated to find work that they can relate to – that reflects their lives, history, and culture.

Cake at work on her portrait of Käthe Kollwitz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake her portrait of Käthe Kollwitz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain on the left with Gaia on the right at work on their portraits for “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain at work on his portrait of Marlene Dietrich. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain. Portrait of Marlene Dietrich. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia at work on his portrait of Fereshta Ludin. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia’s portrait of Fereshta Ludin in progress. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia. Portrait of Fereshta Ludin. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Olivia from Swoon’s Studio at work on “Cairo”. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon. Olivia from Swoon’s Studio at work on “Cairo”. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon and her tribute to Turkish immigrants for “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohjColey at work on his portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohjColey at work on his portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohjColey at work on his portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The photo above captures the moment when NohJColey learns that Ms. Oguntoye is outside on the sidewalk looking at him through the window working on his portrait of her.

In the photo you see Ms. Oguntoye meeting NohJColey for the first time.

NohjColey at work on his portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohjColey. Portrait of Katharina Oguntoye. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter at work on his portrait of Sally Montana. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter at work on his portrait of Sally Montana. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. Portrait of Sally Montana in progress. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. Portrait of Sally Montana. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx at work on his portrait of John A. Roebling. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx at work on his portrait of John A. Roebling. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Rimx. Portrait of John A. Roebling. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle at work on his portrait of George Grosz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle at work on his portrait of George Grosz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle at work on his portrait of George Grosz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle. Portrait of George Grosz. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 at work on his portrait of Hannah Höch. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 at work on his portrait of Hannah Höch. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25. Portrait of Hannah Höch. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain at work on his portrait of Charles Bukowski. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain at work on his portrait of Charles Bukowski. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain portrait of Charles Bukowski in progress. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain. Portrait of Charles Bukowski. “Persons Of Interest” UN PM/7 Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rukkit (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Rukkit (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Rukkit (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Rukkit (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Okuda (photo © Akshat Nauriyal)

Okuda (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Okuda (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Joao Samina (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Joao Samina (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Joao Samina (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Joao Samina (photo © Pranav Mehta)

Bazaar Teens curated by Dustin Yellin. 10K of donated cash was shredded to make paintings. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bazaar Teens curated by Dustin Yellin. 10K of donated cash was shredded to make paintings. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bazaar Teens curated by Dustin Yellin. 10K of donated cash was shredded to make paintings. Shredded money taken from the donations box. Some prankster put some of the brochures in there for color we suppose… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rita Ikonen curated by Yulia Topchiy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Margaret Bowland curated by Tess Sol Schwab. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christine Sciulli video projection on fog was curated by Ambre. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1. Artists actually like to do research and create art that is meaningful and relevant to their personal stories, and
2. Many street passersby and art audiences are elated to find work that they can relate to – that reflects their lives, history, and culture.