February 2016

Lilliputian Art on Electric Poles: Patrick Picou Harrington in Albany

Lilliputian Art on Electric Poles: Patrick Picou Harrington in Albany

These quiet bits of visual punctuation on telephone poles in Albany caught our eye recently and we thought immediately of fairies, pixies, and sprites. Who else would care enough to adorn wooden telephone poles along a non-descript strip of sidewalk in the Delaware Avenue section of the New York State capital?

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Each assembly is a collage, an individually drilled collection of wood pieces painted and glued and arranged according to its own eclectic sense of order. Some are geometric, others organic in form, they strike you as a form of city folk art because of their handmade and idiosyncratic nature, but they not quite “crafty”.

Themes are surreal and unfixed, or scientifically diagrammatic, or campy reassemblies of 60s pop sci-fi and hair-salon motifs. Certainly the pieces are outside – You may not refer to them “outsider art” however.

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Friends Barb and Bobbie, who have lived in the neighborhood for years, tell us that these are the work of artist Patrick Picou Harrington and that the neighbors have grown attached to them since they started attaching themselves to power poles.

Each installation is a sort silent surprise that catches you off guard, Bobbie says as she points to another a few yards away. You may walk past them many times without noticing them and once you do, their tiny scale requires a certain amount of intimacy between viewer and the art, says Barb.

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

A little Internet digging reveals that these are part of a planned 365 day installation on these utility poles by Harrington last year that was cut short at 107 days when company officials discovered the project and firmly asked him to stop. Many street artists don’t ask for permission, preferring to apologize if caught, and he had already been identified. Still these pieces remain.

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As you can see, many of the poles are heavily pocked and addled by nails, screws and staples from myriad commercial and political signage that regularly gets posted here and  presumably those protuberances are approved or at least not troublesome enough to remove.

Either way, Picou Harrington’s half-pint interventions, some small enough to fit in your hand, may alter your strolling experience when they wink at you from their perch; a piece of the personal and the imaginative in the public sphere, studied before they are worn away by the elements.

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Patrick Picou Harrington. Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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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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This article is also posted on The Huffington Post.

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London Walls in Conjunction with Saatchi “XX: A Moment in Time”

London Walls in Conjunction with Saatchi “XX: A Moment in Time”

New murals today in London in conjunction with the Olly Walker curated “XX: A Moment in Time” show at Saatchi Gallery, which is now running until March 6. The all-female show highlights the depth of field that has emerged during these last few years with formally trained artists of many disciplines explanding the definitions of contemporary art and Street Art.

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Elle (photo © Allison Crawbuck)

A mix of emerging and established, the show brings in an international selection of artists, including: Aiko (Japan/USA), Alice Pasquini (Italy), Caratoes (Belgium/Hong Kong), Crajes (Spain), Elle (USA), Faith47 (South Africa), Handiedan (Netherlands), Hera (Germany), Hueman (USA), Lora Zombie (Russia), Madamoiselle Maurice (France), Marina Zumi (Argentina), Martha Cooper (USA), Mimi S (Germany), Miss Van (France), Olek (Poland), Sandra Chevrier (Canada), Vexta (Australia) and Zabou (France).

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Elle (photo © Allison Crawbuck)

Here we see new walls by Elle, Zabou, Marina Zumi, Himbad, and Alice Pasquini.

“XX: A Moment in Time”  is curated by Olly Walker of Ollystudio and is supported by Yasha Young. The exhibition is on view in the Prints & Originals Gallery at the Saatchi Gallery from until March 6. Please check the Saatchi Gallery homepage for some closure days in February and see the additional pieces available online.

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Elle (photo © Allison Crawbuck)

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Zabou (photo courtesy of Zabou)

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Zabou (photo © Allison Crawbuck)

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Zabou (photo © Zabou)

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Marina Zumi (photo courtesy of Marina Zumi)

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Marina Zumi (photo courtesy of Marina Zumi)

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Himbad and Marina Zumi (photo courtesy of Marina Zumi)

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Alice Pasquini (photo © Jessica Stewart)

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Alice Pasquini (photo © Jessica Stewart)

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Alice Pasquini (photo © Jessica Stewart)

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Alice Pasquini (photo © Jessica Stewart)

 

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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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Vermibus Returns to NYC to Dissolve Concepts of Beauty

Vermibus Returns to NYC to Dissolve Concepts of Beauty

The emancipation of the proletariat will be at its own hands!

Just thought we’d announce something vaguely Marxist on Presidents Day to get your attention, since the masses are awakening to the idea of a democratic socialist as a possibly viable Presidential candidate. Ah, but we citizens are now deep in the stew of consumerism, quite cut off from the means of production. Now we city people just buy stuff, and sell stuff.

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Part of that selling, especially when it comes to beauty and fashion, is to create obsolescence. Integral to the street messaging is to continually insult and degrade the passerby and plant insecurity about our appearance and physical attributes in our minds, ensuring that we never actually are good enough until we buy this new shirt, blouse, lipstick, purse, watch, cologne, sunglasses, sneakers, underwear.

Now as New York’s fashion week is underway with new looks for next fall and winter, street artist Vermibus continues to mount his personal DIY full frontal attack on beauty culture and fashion, one street poster at a time.

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Situationists of the 1960s would likely smiled at his brand of détournement, pranking the everpresent models who belittle you as you walk in public. Ironically in New York people are so focused on the game of keeping their jobs and their rents and their social lives that they pass right by Vermibus in broad daylight as he replaces these ads with his dissolved/repainted ones.

Some curious folks stop to watch as he replaces the gorgeous healthy wealthy young people who have fabulous lives and smooth complexions with these brutal and stylized grotesques. It’s like a jolt to the commercial streetscape in the frigid winter. The subtle changes are a curiosity that brings out the cell phone for a quick shot and a question to a companion. Then they hurriedly clop up the sidewalk to the next appointment.

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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BSA Images Of The Week: 02.14.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.14.16

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It’s a February pile-on this week with dangerous sub-zero wind chills on the street, Valentine’s Day smashing into Presidents Day, a Brooklyn Jew winning the New Hampshire primary against a former female New York Senator, a sudden passing of a Supreme Court judge, a T-shirt to wear to El Chapo’s Brooklyn trial. Also Kanye West held a fashion show at MSG/dropped an album/played SNL and may need counseling, Swoon popped up in Forbes, large bus stop screens were taken over by Vermibus, Specter and Seiler, and Conde Nast announced that there’s an art scene in Brooklyn. Who knew?

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Air3, Bie MOG, City Kitty, Gabriel Specter, Jordan Seiler, London Kaye, Naomirag, Raul Ayala, and Traz.

Our top image: London Kaye is flooding the sidewalk with love crochet (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Raul Ayala in collaboration with Fernanda Espinosa for The Laundromat Project in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The above and below pieces are part of  Whose Street? Community Mural Project  for The Laundromat Project installed at the Know Waste Lands Garden in Bushwick.

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Raul Ayala in collaboration with Fernanda Espinosa for The Laundromat Project in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter ad takeover in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter ad takeover in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter ad takeover in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter ad takeover in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter ad takeover in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Abe Lincoln by Bie MOG. This is a detail of a larger mural. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Martin Luther King by Air3. This is a part of a larger mural in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jordan Seiler ad take over. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jordan Seiler ad take over. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jordan Seiler ad take over. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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TRAZ (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Paper Whites in El Barrio by Naomirag. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Hibiscus in El Barrio by Naomirag. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. February 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

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Valentines From BSA

Valentines From BSA

Freezing cold on the streets today, warm hearts nonetheless. We thank BSA readers for all of your love and send it back to you today and every day.

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JPS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Love Spray (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Duke A. Barnstable (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Duke A. Barnstable (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Duke A. Barnstable (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Duke A. Barnstable (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ella & Pitr (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ROCKO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Hek Tad (photo © Jaime Rojo)


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Nick Walker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Nick Walker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

People all over the world (everybody)
Join hands (join)
Start a love train, love train
People all over the world (all the world, now)
Join hands (love ride)
Start a love train (love ride), love train

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BSA Film Friday: 02.12.16

BSA Film Friday: 02.12.16

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

Now screening :

1. Madrid’s Finest: Alber, Snack, and Ysen
2. 10 Spots to Experience Street Art and Graffiti in NYC
3. Aryz In Detroit
4. David Zayas Installation Timelapse for “Muralismo” Exhibition in Puerto Rico

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BSA Special Feature: Madrid’s Finest

A fresh new video with Alber, Snack, and Ysen piecing the be-jesus out of a wall in Spain and giving you pure eye candy for Film Friday this week. Each a member of a different crew, the collaborative effort is a demonstration of “unity is strength”. In their case, it is a lot of style as well.

10 Spots to Experience Street Art and Graffiti in NYC

A visitor from London took his tips about NY Street Art and Graffiti from Time Out magazine, as many tourists do. Hitting all the spots by car and shot entirely on an iPhone in January, it’s a surface survey, a current snapchat of a complex scene that quickly changes.

 

Aryz In Detroit

Aryz did this wall with help from Library Street Collective and it is a good look at his process of building an image, shot by Mike Mojica.

 

David Zayas Installation Timelapse for “Muralismo” Exhibition in Puerto Rico

A surprising video that captures the 44 day installation period artist David Zayas had to transform a space for his exhibition considering the contemporary mural as an historical and modern practice and a vehicle for communication at the Lugar Museo Las Americas.

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Mr. Fijodor’s Phantasmagorical Creatures Somewhere in Italy

Mr. Fijodor’s Phantasmagorical Creatures Somewhere in Italy

Wild Style. No, not the movie nor the distinctive look of aerosol lettering by a graffiti writer. But yes, that is what the Italian Mr. Fijodor refers to when talking about his surreal, simple and spontaneous creatures in an abandoned industrial grove. Maybe these are closer to Where the Wild Things Are since his style is more like an illustrator of a children’s fantastic tale than writer of a big burner.

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Livio Ninni)

“Clumsy hominids, hallucinated minotaurs, gargantuan fish and frightened dinosaurs peek out from the walls,” Mr. Fijodor tells us, and you can see how his imagination is freed in these spots that are slowly being reclaimed by the forces of nature. He says the hallucinatory phenoms come from his dreams as well as his nightmares but for urban explorers who like to discover places like this, they can become reality for a minute before they are covered with mold and vines.

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Livio Ninni)

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Livio Ninni)

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Livio Ninni)

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Livio Ninni)

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Livio Ninni)

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Mr. Fijodor)

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Mr. Fijodor somewhere in Italy. (photo © Mr. Fijodor)

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“HAD” Collective: “Silence” Stirs Memories Of War in Bosnian Town

“HAD” Collective: “Silence” Stirs Memories Of War in Bosnian Town

Some walls in Visoko still bear the pock marked patterns of bullets from the Bosnian War just over two decades ago. These newly battered walls bring back portraits of its victims.

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HAD Collective. “Silence” Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. January 2016. (photo ©  Ilhana Babic)

Using handheld electric jackhammers and circular saws to chip away at the façade in a manner similar to that popularized in recent years by the Portuguese Street Artist Vhils, the Bosnian artist collective HAD has created a series of images in a public park that commemorates war victims in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a focus on the Srebrenica genocide.

The wall portraits may take on additional meaning this week just as a convicted Srebrenica war criminal has been announced as dead in prison at The Hague. The polarized nature of the reactions to news of his death, including those calling him brave and honorable, is reflected in the reception that these artists received from passersby while they chiseled the concrete into anguished faces for their project called “Silence”.

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HAD Collective. “Silence” Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. January 2016. (photo ©  Ilhana Babic)

“Once they started working on carving the images into the wall, they faced objections from their fellow citizens,” says Josie Timms of Index On Censorship.  Assembled images from the artist’s own research, the figures are not necessarily of people well known, but still provoked strong emotions. “People were disgusted with what they saw, and many approached the artists while they were working, expressing their disapproval of having such images shoved in their faces.”

The three young artists of HAD – architect Muhamed “Hamo” Beslagic, fine artist Anel Lepic and street artist Damir Sarac – reportedly all worked for free and they say that “Silence” is intended as an activist act aimed at breaking a lulling censorship that they feel has taken over the topic in the years since the end of the war. Some passersby agree with that view and gave them encouragement, even thanked them for their work.

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HAD Collective. “Silence” Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. January 2016. (photo ©  Ilhana Babic)

“This really is a labor of love and hate, life and death, a story that needed to be told,” says freelance writer and photographer Ilhana Babic, who calls Visoko her hometown and who shares her photos of the walls here. “With every blow of the hammer into the wall, a piece of the past is removed to reveal the future. This art, through struggle, epitomizes the cultural and political landscape that these works come from. Here HAD shows a picture of the present to the world because the social, economic and political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is bizarre and no one wants to admit it – nor to feel responsible for it. It’s like they’re seeking help, answers.”

Babic describes her impression of the project this way, “They want to stop the silence that has happened in the recent past so they carved the real images of Bosniak victims from that period into this 35 meter long wall. The wall is portioned into frames and the columns are also used to display the number of the victims (8,372). Each frame has its individual story but together they all silently scream to remind people of those who were silenced in Srebrenica.”

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HAD Collective. “Silence” Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. January 2016. (photo ©  Ilhana Babic)

Perhaps because the new public work is painfully controversial, the artists steered clear of potentially contentious verbiage when unveiling it to an audience. “The opening ceremony was held without an opening speech, without applause. HAD decided to open it in complete silence, with a peaceful walk in order to pay their respect to the victims once more,” says Babic.

The newly drilled and hand hammered images are partly sculptural, partly memorial mural.  With these images “Silence” may not necessarily provide a salve on the wounds of war. Regardless of the viewers’ political position the effect of these sorrowful figures is difficult at best, deeply disturbing at worst.

One wonders how challenging work like this will fare in a public space, and for how long. While graffiti writers and street artists worldwide will tell you that they know their work in the public sphere is temporary, ethereal, will this same expectation apply to this new series of portraits by HAD?

Possibly the works have already served their purpose because they have caused the reopening of conversations that have been almost coercively quieted. Babic tells us, “Each frame has its individual story but together they all silently scream to remind people of those who were silenced in Srebrenica.”

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HAD Collective. “Silence” Visoko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. January 2016. (photo ©  Ilhana Babic)

 

For more information about HAD and their projects and exhibitions visit www.hadartwork.com

 

 

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This article was also published in The Huffington Post

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Borondo and Agostino Iacurci at St+ART India 2016

Borondo and Agostino Iacurci at St+ART India 2016

St+art India is coming on strongly this year with their Delhi festival of Street Artists and related talents meeting at the Inland Container Depot (ICD) and creating works on shipping containers. A walk-through installation that uses 100 shipping containers as canvasses and sculpture, approximately 25 national and international artists are painting here during the month of February.

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Borondo for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

Included in this years’ program are assorted walls in the newly created Lodhi Arts District which lies between Khanna Market and Meherchand Market. Now back in Rome, Italy after their visit to the ongoing events, Lorenzo Gallitto and Giorgio Base of Blind Eye Factory tell us, “India was incredible! We really enjoyed it! “

The guys also share with BSA readers these fresh new exclusive photos of walls by their countrymen, Agostino Iacurci and Gonzalo Borondo. Distinctly different styles, they are two of the real talents on the scene whose work we continue to keep our eye on.

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Borondo for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

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Borondo for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

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Agostino Iacurci for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

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Agostino Iacurci for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

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Agostino Iacurci for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

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Agostino Iacurci for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

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Agostino Iacurci for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

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Agostino Iacurci for St+ART India 2016. New Delhi, India. (photo © BlindEyeFactory)

 

Our most sincere thanks to BSA Contributors Lorenzo and Giorgio at BlindEyeFactory.com for sharing their photos with BSA readers. Stay tuned for a full photo essay of this year’s edition of St+ART India with more photos from these gentlemen.

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New Kashink, Swiz, and Stesi in Paris for “Art Azoï”

New Kashink, Swiz, and Stesi in Paris for “Art Azoï”

The Paris based cultural project named Art Azoï brings emerging and established Street Artists and contemporary artists to develop mural ideas on public walls – and has been doing it for about five years. They have a few programs of permanent and rotating murals and endeavor to initiate exhibitions and workshops for the artists to more closely interact with the community in the area of Paris that they operate in.

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Kashink at Centre d’animation Ken Saro Wiwa in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Michel Jean-Théodore)

Today we have a look at three new artist installations that are facilitated by Art Azoï. Our special thanks to photographer Alex Parrish for sharing images from this project with BSA readers

First we see that Kashink was on the terrace of the “centre d’animation Ken Saro Wiwa” with one of her signature poppy four-eyed monsters with a feminine prowess. Yo, “protect ya neck!”

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Kashink at Centre d’animation Ken Saro Wiwa in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Alex Parrish)

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Kashink at Centre d’animation Ken Saro Wiwa in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Alex Parrish)

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Kashink at Centre d’animation Ken Saro Wiwa in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Alex Parrish)

Swiz brought his geometry to this long wall located on the busy rue de Ménilmontant, a wall that has been previously hit by Sunset, RERO, Ella&Pitr and Augustine Kofie.

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Swiz at Pavillon Carré de Baudouin  in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Michel Jean-Théodore)

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Swiz at Pavillon Carré de Baudouin  in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Michel Jean-Théodore)

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Swiz at Pavillon Carré de Baudouin  in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Alex Parrish)

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Swiz at Pavillon Carré de Baudouin  in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Alex Parrish)

Stesi was invited to begin the 2016 program in January with his piece on the 40 meter long surface along Rue des Pyrénées, located in the 20th arrondisement. He uses his signature abstract style and stippling spray technique that recalls some graffiti letter forms as well as more organic ones.

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Stesi at Square Henri-Karcher in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Michel Jean-Théodore)

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Stesi at Square Henri-Karcher in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Michel Jean-Théodore)

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Stesi at Square Henri-Karcher in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Michel Jean-Théodore)

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Stesi at Square Henri-Karcher in Paris for Art Azoï. January 2016. (photo © Michel Jean-Théodore)

 

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BSA Images Of The Week: 02.07.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.07.16

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Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 92, Alice Mizrachi, Bifido, Dubois Does Not Speak French, El Sol 25, Futura, Jick, JR, Klops, Rubin415, Specter, and Tara McPherson.

Our top image: Tara McPherson is not usually someone whose work you see on the street but here it is… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tara McPherson (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Artist Unknown or is this mural an advert? Actually, the latter. The Guggenheim uses this ten-point motivational sign to advertise the restrospective of Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss. According to the artists the original sign was found in a factory in Thailand. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter advert take over on the NYC Subway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter does an abstract billboard take over in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter billboard take over in Dayton, Ohio. (photo © Specter)

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El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Klops for The Bushwick Collective illuminates the concentration of 90% of the media in the hands of 6 companies. In 1983 there were 50. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Bifido in Caserta, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

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Bifido in Italy creates this surrealist animation with flying garbage. (photo © Bifido)

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Dubois DNSF (full name Dubois Does Not Speak French) for Top To Bottom in L.I.C. Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The sky poem along the top reads: That Morning / Everything / Remember? / Made of SKY / The hardpress of Avenues / Your hands / My day a checklist mingling with a cosmos / We have been in love / Since the invention of gazing at stars / I still whisper “We one day / will have to party”/

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Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jick for Top To Bottom in L.I.C. Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Alice Mizrachi for Top To Bottom in L.I.C. Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Futura dissed. This is Futura’s Houston/Bowery wall in Manhattan which we published as he was painting it. Honestly! Actually, now that you see the choice of black on grey and white on black, you may even say this is a collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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92. Apparently in fact there is no respect; Neither for the masters nor for the emerging artists. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Playground. Brooklyn, NY. February 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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NeverCrew in Delhi: “See Through / See Beyond” Tells Story of Alienation

NeverCrew in Delhi: “See Through / See Beyond” Tells Story of Alienation

Switzerland‘s NeverCrew just completed two murals at the end of January for St+Art India in New Delhi that are connected thematically, though separated by a few kilometers. That geographical distance is intended to indicate time and loss of memory, they say, as the conceptual bases for “See Through / See Beyond” speaks to the loss of identity that colonized societies experience as their roots slowly fade over time.

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016 (photo © NeverCrew)

In this case, the story is linked to the British Empire imposing upon the Indians but it could just as easily apply to any displacement of a culture’s roots and history.

“The man finds himself with no history, unable to distinguish the outlines of his surroundings, without memories that make him aware and without reference points that make him conscious of his actual position,” says Pablo, one of the two members of NeverCrew. The disconnection here is embodied by the space man, floating above the surface of an odd moonscape, adrift and unable to establish connection.

Perhaps his name is Major Tom.

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016. (photo © Never Crew)

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016 (photo © NeverCrew)

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016 (photo © NeverCrew)

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016 (photo © NeverCrew)

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016 (photo © NeverCrew)

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016 (photo © NeverCrew)

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NeverCrew. “See Through / See Beyond” St+ART India. New Delhi, India. January 2016 (photo © NeverCrew)

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