September 2016

BSA Film Friday: 09.30.16

BSA Film Friday: 09.30.16

brooklyn-street-art-mathieu-roquginy-740-screen-shot-2016-09-29-at-9-56

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

 

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

Now screening :

1. “Street Food” from Mathieu Roquigny
2. Moses & Taps™ in Moscow
3. Panmela Castro in NYC “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”
4. Detroit: Murals In The Market. By Selina Miles
5. Murals In The Market 2016 Brings 40+ New Murals To Detroit.  By Selina Miles

 

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

 

BSA Special Feature: “Street Food” from Mathieu Roquigny

Some simple stencil activism well placed can be very effective. Vulgar, absurd, playful. Call it what you want, but Mathieu Roquigny is the first one we have seen do it. Do not view during your morning donut and coffee.

 

Moses & Taps™ in Moscow

Famed train writers and fine artists in the gallery, Moses & Taps got a gig with a paint manufacturer and made a short 50 second overview of three walls they recently did in Moscow.

 

Panmela Castro in NYC “Women’s Rights are Human Rights”

With her lyrical touch and the softest of soundtracks, Panmaela Castro makes New York look like a welcoming tropical oasis. Also we thank her for the reminder that women’s rights are human rights, because it is evident that not everyone knows this.

Detroit: Murals In The Market. By Selina Miles

We had the pleasure of meeting the spectacular video storyteller Selina Miles in Detroit. She only confirmed to us that the spirit and intellect and talent are all there and so much more is in store from this fine person. Here are a couple of the short videos she made with the 1xRun team while in the Motor City.

Dozens Of Murals Take Shape In Eastern Market For Murals In The Market 2016. By Selina Miles

 

Read more
Swoon’s “Thalassa” Rises at DIA Detroit; Gallery Show, Mural to Come

Swoon’s “Thalassa” Rises at DIA Detroit; Gallery Show, Mural to Come

Emerging from the clouded seas in the wake of the BP Oil spill of 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the sea deity Thalassa first rose in the New Orleans Museum of Art in the summer of 2011.  Street Artist Swoon remembers the disaster and her response to the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-11

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“She came from the gulf oil spill – even though she’s one of those pieces that people think of as being so optimistic.” The street artist eventually did find it optimistic as well, but the devastation of the air, water, sand, animal life and people’s individual economics was a lot to bear. “I am an Ocean baby,” she says of her upbringing on Daytona Beach.

“I am a Florida kid and an ocean person – and it was such an intensely emotional event for everyone. So when they asked me to do a piece I was only thinking about the ocean and so Thalassa came out of that.” Of course it wasn’t only in the museum – Thelassa also appeared wheat-pasted on the street and became a part of the family of recurring characters in other artworks and shows.

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-13

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This week, four years after Thalassa’s initial debut into museum life and public life, she takes up residence at The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA Detroit) and already the lobby of this main entrance has been clogged with skyward looking guests, many of them seeing Swoons’ work for the first time.

Here it does feel celebratory, with the cloud of paper, mylar and fabric ephemera buffeting in the wake of the mother of all sea creatures.

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-5

Swoon at work making Thalassa’s dress. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here at the Woodward Avenue entrance Detroit visitors are feeling hopeful as well, with plans for the new rapid transit line just outside the museum, past Rodin’s “The Thinker”. Inside as well the DIA’s new director Salvador Salort-Pons is said to be breathing new life into this huge encyclopedic institution, with new acquisitions from artists like Mickelene Thomas and an upcoming rocking exhibit into which Detroit native Jack White figures prominently.

As Detroit is pushing itself to rise from economic devastation, Thalassa and her quick 20 foot tall elevation at the entrance are perhaps symbols of artists at the forefront of recovery. How apt that an artist from the street is representing new generations from inside the museum, using a regenerative symbol that speaks of our ecological systems and our responsibility to protect, not simply ravage, the Earth and the seas.

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-4

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With a bosom of sea creatures and a curvaceous series of lines that undulate and ripple outward, Thalassa is on view until next March. While here in Detroit Swoon is preparing for a new show at DIA patron Anthony Curis’s gallery downtown on October 8th at The Library Collective.

The two indoor exhibits will be accompanied by a community mural project in Detroit’s Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood, and the artist herself is speaking at the museum this Saturday.

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-1

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress.  An assistant helps with Thalassa’s dress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-12

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-2

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-9

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. An assistant helps with the installation. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-6

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-3

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-16

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. An assistant helps with the installation. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-15

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-8

Swoon at work on Thalassa’s installation. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-14

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-7

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-thalassa-jaime-rojo-detroit-institue-of-arts-detroit-09-16-web-10

Swoon. “Thalassa” Installation in progress. Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Swoon’s Thalassa will be on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) Woodward Ave. Lobby from Saturday, Sept. 24 through March 19, 2017. Additionally the artist will hold an artist lecture at DIA at 1:00 pm on October 1st. The talk is free with museum admission. Click HERE for more information.

 

Read more
60 Artists at a Moscow Street Art Biennale: “Artmossphere 2016”

60 Artists at a Moscow Street Art Biennale: “Artmossphere 2016”

The Moscow Manege Hosts International and Local Street Artists for a Biennale

Moscow presents a Street Artist’s exhibition, but the streets have almost none.

When Street Art and it’s associated cousins move inside the possible outcomes are many. With exhibitions like this you are seeing urban becoming very contemporary.brooklyn-street-art-sozyone-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Belgian artist SozyOne at Artmossphere Biennale 2016, Moscow. photo © Jaime Rojo

The Artmossphere Biennale jump-starts the debate for many about how to best present the work of Street Artists and organizers here in Moscow chose a broad selection of curators from across a spectrum of private, commercial, academic and civically-inspired perspectives to present a solid range of artists from the graffiti and Street Art world inside a formal hall.

To be clear, unless it is illegal and on the street, it is not graffiti nor Street Art. That is the prevailing opinion about these terms among experts and scholars of various stripes and it is one we’re comfortable with. But then there are the commercial and cultural influences of the art world and the design industries, with their power to reshape and loosen terms from their moorings. Probably because these associated art movements are happening and taking shape before our eyes and not ensconced in centuries of scholarship we can expect that we will continue to witness the morphing our language and terminologies, sometimes changing things in translation.

brooklyn-street-art-the-london-police-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

A working carousel provides wildly waving optics for riders in this room by The London Police at the Artmossphere Biennale 2016, Moscow. photo © Jaime Rojo

Definitions aside, when you think of more organic Street Art scenes which are always re-generating themselves in the run-down abandoned sectors of cities like Sao Paulo, New York, Melbourne, Paris, Mexico City, London, and Berlin, it is interesting to consider that this event takes place nearly on the grounds of the Kremlin under museum like security.

An international capital that ensures cleanly buffed walls within hours of the appearance of any unapproved Street Art or graffiti, Moscow also boasts a growing contingent of art collectors who are young enough to appreciate the cultural currency of this continuously mutating hybrid of graffiti, hip hop, DIY, muralism, and art-school headiness. The night clubs and fashionable kids here are fans of events like hip-hop and graffiti jams, sometimes presented as theater and other times as “learning workshops” and the like.

brooklyn-street-art-remed-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Madrid-based Paris born artist Remed at the Artmossphere Biennale 2016, Moscow. photo © Jaime Rojo

Plugging into this idea of street and youth culture is not a singular fascination – there is perhaps an association with the rebellious anti-authoritarian nature of unregulated art in the streets that fuels the interest of many. With graffiti and hip-hop culture adoption as a template, newer expressions of Street Art culture are attractive as well with high profile artists with rebel reputations are as familiar in name here as in many cities. New festivals and events sometimes leverage this renegade free-spirit currency for selling tourism and brands and real estate, but here there also appears to be an acute appreciation for its fine art expression – urban contemporary art.


MOSCOW’S MANEGE AND “DEGENERATE ART”

So ardent is the support for Artmossphere here that a combination of public and private endorsements and financial backing have brought it to be showcased in a place associated with high-culture and counter-culture known as the Moscow Manege (Мане́ж). The location somehow fits the rebellious spirit that launched these artists even if its appearance wouldn’t lead you to think that.

The 19th century neo-classical exhibition hall stands grandly adjacent to Red Square and was built as an indoor riding school large enough to house a battalion of 2,000 soldiers during the 1800s. It later became host to many art exhibitions in the 20th century including a famous avant-garde show in 1962 that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev famously derided as displaying ‘degenerate’ art.

brooklyn-street-art-sepe-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Polish painter Sepe says his wall speaks to those who would pull the strings behind the scenes. He finished it within three days at the Artmossphere Biennale 2016, Moscow. photo © Jaime Rojo

One of the artists whose work was criticized, painter and sculptor Ernst Neizvestny, challenged the label defiantly and won accolades afterward during his five decade career that followed, including receiving many awards and his work being collected worldwide by museums. Russian President Vladimir Putin is quoted as calling him “a recognised master and one of the best contemporary sculptors”. In January of this year at the age of 90, Neizvestny’s return to Menage featured an extensive exhibition. He passed away August 9th (The Moscow Times), only weeks before Artmossphere opened.

In some kindred spirit many of these artists at Artmossphere have done actual illegal work on the streets around the world during their respective creative evolutions, and graffiti and Street Art as a practice have both at various times been demonized, derided, dismissed and labeled by critics in terms synonymous with “degenerate”.


A CLEAN CITY

“Moscow is mostly very clean,” says Artmossphere co-founder and Creative Director Sabine Chagina, who walks with guests during a sunny afternoon in a busy downtown area just after the opening. “But we do have some good graffiti crews,” she says as we round the corner from the famous Bolshoi Theater and soon pass Givenchy and Chanel and high-end luxury fashion stores. Shortly we see a mural nearby by French artist Nelio, who painted a lateral abstracted geometric, possibly cubist, piece on the side of a building here in 2013 as part of the LGZ Festival.

brooklyn-street-art-miss-van-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-2

Barcelona based Miss Van had one of her paintings translated into a woven wool rug with artisans in Siberia. Here is a detail at the Artmossphere Biennale 2016, Moscow. photo © Jaime Rojo.

brooklyn-street-art-miss-van-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-1

Miss Van at the Artmossphere Biennale 2016, Moscow. photo © Jaime Rojo

If there was graffiti here in Moscow, it was not on full display very readily in this part of town. In driving tours, rides on the extensive metro train system, and in street hikes across the city a visitor may find that much of the illegal street art and graffiti common to other global capitals is illusive due to a general distaste for it and a dedicated adherence to buffing it out quickly.

For a pedestrian tourist Moscow appears in many ways as fully contemporary and architecturally rich as any international world-class metropolis. One of the cleanest places you’ll visit, the metro is almost museum-like in some instances; the historic districts spotless, public fountains, famed statues of important historical figures. All is efficiently ordered and – a welcome surprise – most public space is free of advertisements interrupting your view and your thoughts.

brooklyn-street-art-pablo-benzo-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-2

Chile-born, Berlin-based artist and sculptor Pablo Benzo curated by The Art Union at the Artmossphere Biennale 2016, Moscow. photo © Jaime Rojo

Come to think of it, the sense of commercial-celebrity media saturation that is present in other cities doesn’t appear to permeate the artists psyche here at the Biennale – so there’s not much of the ironic Disney-Marilyn-supermodel-Kardashian-skewering of consumerism and shallowness in this exhibition that you may find in other Urban Art events.

Also, unlike a Street Art-splattered show in London for example that may rudely mock Queen Elizabeth or art in New York streets that present Donald Trump styled as a pile of poo and Hillary Clinton as Heath Ledger’s Joker, we didn’t see over-the-top Putin satires either. So personality politics don’t seem directly addressed in this milieu. According to some residents there was an outcropping of huge festival murals by Street Artists here just a few years ago but more recently they have been painted over with patriotic or other inspiring murals, while others have been claimed for commercial interests.

brooklyn-street-art-ethos-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Brazilian Claudio Ethos at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo


A REAL LIVE MURAL FROM L’ATLAS

Starved for some gritty street scenes, it is all the more interesting to see the one live mural painting that we were able to catch – a 6-story red-lined op-art tag by the French graffiti writer L’Atlas. Far from Manege, placed opposite a cineplex in what appears to be a shopping mall situated far from the city’s historical and modern centers, our guide tells us half-jokingly that he is not sure that we are still in Moscow.

brooklyn-street-art-latlas-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-2

L’Atlas on a Moscow wall for Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

Here L’Atlas says that he has painted his bar-code-like and cryptic nom-de-plume with an assistant on a cherry picker for a few days and he says that no one has stopped to ask him about it, neither to comment or criticize. Actually one man early one morning returning home from a disco did engage him briefly, but it was difficult to tell what he was talking about as he may have had a few drinks.

This lack of public commentary is mainly notable because in other cities the comments from passersby can be so ubiquitous that artists deliberately wear stereo headphones to prevent interruption and to be more productive. Sometimes the headphones are not actually playing music.

brooklyn-street-art-latlas-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-1

The inside installation by L’Atlas for Artmossphere features multiple abstract iterations of his tag in day glo. photo © Jaime Rojo


WALKING THROUGH THE OPENING

This Street Art Biennale nonetheless is gaining a higher profile among Urban Art collectors and its associated art dealers and the opening and later auction reaches directly to this audience. Included this year with the primary “Invisible Walls” exhibition are satellite events in association with local RuArts Gallery, Tsekh Belogo at Winzavod, and the Optika Pavilion (No. 64) at VDNKh.

The opening night event itself is wide and welcoming, a mostly youthful and populist affair with celebratory speeches and loosely organized group photos and an open bar. Added together with a press conference, a live DJ, virtual reality headsets, interactive artworks, major private business sponsors, government grants, ministers of culture, gallerists, and quirkily fashionable art fans, this is a polished presentation of a global culture that is filtered through the wide lense of the street.

brooklyn-street-art-wes21-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Wes21 from Switzerland is a graffiti artist blending reality and fantasy in this lunar-like landscape for Artmossphere features multiple abstract iterations of his tag in day glo. photo © Jaime Rojo

Perhaps because the exhibition hall is a cavernous rectangle with exposed beams on the ceiling and many of the constructed white walls that mimic vendor booths, it has the air of an art fair. There are thankfully no salespeople pacing back and forth watching your level of interest. People tend to cluster before installations and talk, laugh, share a story, pose for a selfie.


INVISIBLE WALLS

Similar in theme to the multidisciplinary exhibit about borders and boundaries curated by Raphael Schacter this spring in St. Petersburg at the Street Art Museum, Artmossphere asked artists to think about and address the “invisible walls” in contemporary life and societies.

brooklyn-street-art-doma-collective-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-2

Domo Collective present “Fair Play III” an enormous world map functioning ping pong table with a triple razor wire fence right down the middle. “We play an unhealthy game in which nobody believed to be responsible.” At Artmossphere 2016 in Moscow. Photo ©Jaime Rojo

The theme seems very appropriately topical as geopolitical, trade-related, social, digital, and actual walls appear to be falling down rapidly today while the foundations of new ones are taking shape. Catalyzed perhaps by the concept and practices of so-called “globalization” – with its easy flow of capital and restricted flow of humans, we are all examining the walls that are shaping our lives.

With 60+ international artists working simultaneously throughout this massive hall, newly built walls are the imperative for displaying art, supporting it, dividing it. These are the visible ones. With so many players and countries represented here, one can only imagine that there are a number of invisible walls present as well.

brooklyn-street-art-doma-collective-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-1

Domo Collective at Artmossphere 2016 in Moscow. Photo ©Jaime Rojo

The theme has opened countless interpretations in flat and sculptural ways, often expressed in the vernacular of fine art with arguable nods to mid-20th century modernists, folk art, fantasy, representational art, abstract, conceptual, computer/digital art, and good old traditional graffiti tagging. Effectively it appears that when Street Art and graffiti artists pass the precipice into a multi-disciplinary exhibition such as this, one can reframe Urban/Street as important tributaries to contemporary art – but will they re-direct the flow or be subsumed within it?

The work often can be so far removed from street practice that you don’t recognize it as related.

brooklyn-street-art-vitaly-sy-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Vitaly Sy created a visualization of “Fear” as the main causes of internal barriers. The pieces are built around a central axis with elements at right angle to one another, and the man’s head on a swivel. Artmossphere 2016 in Moscow. Photo ©Jaime Rojo

Aside from putting work up in contested public space without permission and under cover, an average visitor may not see a common thread. These works run aesthetic to the conceptual, painterly to the sculptural, pure joy and pure politics. But then, that is we began to see in the streets as well when the century turned to the 21st and art students in large numbers in cities like New York and London and Berlin skipped the gatekeepers, taking their art directly to the public.

Perhaps beneath the surface or just above it, there is a certain anarchistic defiance, a critique of social, economic, political issues, a healthy skepticism toward everyone and everything that reeks of hypocritical patriarchal power structures. Perhaps we’re just projecting.

brooklyn-street-art-artmossphere-09-04-2016-web

Moscow Manege exterior opening night of Artmossphere 2016 in Moscow. Photo courtesy of and © Artmossphere

Looking over the 60+ list of names, it may be striking to some that very few are people of color, especially in view of the origins of the graffiti scene. Similarly, the percentage of women represented is quite small. We are familiar with this observation about Urban Art in general today, and this show mirrors the European and American scene primarily, with notable exceptions such as Instagrafite’s home-based Brazilian crew of 4 artists. As only one such sampling of a wide and dispersed scene, it is not perhaps fair to judge it by artists race, gender, or background, but while we speak of invisible walls it is worth keeping our eyes on as this “scene” is adopted into galleries, museums, and private collections.

Following are some of the artists on view at Artmossphere:

ASKE

Certainly Moscow native ASKE is gently mocking our mutated modern practices of communicating with his outsized blocked abstraction of a close couple riveted to their respective electronic devices, even unaware of one another.

brooklyn-street-art-aske-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Moscow Street Artist ASKE at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

NeSpoon

brooklyn-street-art-nespoon-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-2

“Precariat” by Polish Street Artist NeSpoon at Artmossphere 2016 with Urban Nation photo © Jaime Rojo

Warsaw based NeSpoon creates a sculpture of another couple. Heroically presenting her vision of what she calls the iconic “Graffiti Writer” and “Street Art Girl”, they face the future with art instruments in hand ready to make their respective marks. She says her work is emblematic of a permanent financial insecurity for a generation she calls the “PRECARIAT”.

brooklyn-street-art-nespoon-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-3

“Precariat” by Polish Street Artist NeSpoon at Artmossphere 2016 with Urban Nation photo © Jaime Rojo

“ ‘Precariat’ is the name of the new emerging social class,” says curator, organizer, and NeSpoon’s partner Marcin Rutkiewicz when talking about the piece during the press conference. “These are young people living without a predictable future, without good jobs, without social security. It’s a class in the making and probably these people don’t have any consciousness or global unity of interest. But they are the engines of protest for people all over the world – like Occupy Wall Street, Gezi Park in Turkey, or the Arab Spring.”

brooklyn-street-art-nespoon-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-1

“Precariat” by Polish Street Artist NeSpoon at Artmossphere 2016 with Urban Nation photo © Jaime Rojo

The artist developed the sculpture specifically for this exhibition and planned it over the course of a year or so. Born of a social movement in Poland by the same name, the sculpture and its sticker campaign on the street represent “a kind of protest against building walls between people who are under the same economical and social situation all over the world,” says Rutkiewicz.

 

LI-HILL

Artist Li-Hill says his piece “Guns, Germs, and Steel” directly relates to the divisions between civilizations due to a completely uneven playing field perpetuated through generations. Inspired by the 1997 trans-disciplinary non-fiction book by Jared Diamond, Li-Hill says the Russian sculptural group called “The Horse Tamers” represents mankind’s “ability to harness power of the natural world and to be able to manipulate it for its advantage.”

brooklyn-street-art-li-hill-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-2

“Guns, Germs, and Steel” by Li-Hill at Artmossphere 2016 with Urban Nation photo © Jaime Rojo

“The horse is one of the largest signifiers and is a catalyst for advancement in society because it has been for military use, for agriculture, for transportation,” he says. “It was the most versatile of the animals and the most powerful.” Here he painted a mirror image, balanced over a potential microbial disaster symbol, and he and the team are building a mirrored floor to “give it this kind of infinite emblem status.”

brooklyn-street-art-li-hill-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-1

The artist Li-Hill inside his piece at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

M-CITY

Afloat in the middle of some of these walled areas M-City from Poland is choosing to be more direct thematically in his three dimensional installation of plywood, plaster, aerosol and bucket paint, and machine blown insulation.

“It is an anti-war piece,” he says, and he speaks about the walls between nations and a losing battle of dominance that ensures everyone will be victim.”

brooklyn-street-art-mcity-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

The artist M-City at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

“It’s kind of a monster who destroys arms,” he says of this temporary sculpture with a lording figure crushing tanks below.

“He is destroying the tanks but at the same time he is also a destroyer – so it’s a big circle. Nothing is positive that can come out of this. There is always someone bigger.” He says the piece is inspired by the political situations in Europe today and the world at large.

HOTTEA

Minneapolis based HOTTEA usually does very colorful yarn installations transforming a huge public space, but for Artmossphere he is taking the conceptual route. The walk-in room based on the Whack-A-Mole game presents holes which a visitor can walk under and rise above.

brooklyn-street-art-hot-tea-jaime-rojo-08-31-16-web

The artist Hot Tea at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

Visitors/participants will experience the physical separation of space, and perhaps contemplate facing one another and interacting or ignoring one another. It is something he says he hopes will draw attention to how many walls we have allowed ourselves to distract from human interactions.

 

SICK BOY

brooklyn-street-art-sick-boy-jaime-rojo-08-31-11-web-1

Climb over a wall to slide into Sick Boy’s “The Rewards System”. photo © Jaime Rojo

Englands’ Sick Boy calls his project The Rewards System, where guests are invited to climb a ladder over a brick wall and descend down a slide into a darkened house, setting off a series of sensors that activate a variety of multisensory lights and tantalizing patterns. After landing and being rewarded the visitor is forced to exit on hands and knees through a too-small square door.

brooklyn-street-art-sick-boy-jaime-rojo-08-31-16-web-2

A young visitor exits Sick Boy’s “The Rewards System”. photo © Jaime Rojo

“The concept of the show is about invisible walls so I was thinking about there being barriers in your life and I thought about the reward of endorphins one experiences for achieving a task – a small amount of endorphins. So I thought I would build a house that signifies the reward system,” he explains.

DEREK BRUNO

brooklyn-street-art-derek-bruno-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Temporary installations : Slab Fence PO-2. Derek Bruno. photo © Jaime Rojo

Atlanta/Seattle based Derek Bruno reached back to the Leonid Brezhnev years and into Moscow’s Gorky Park for his series of site specific installations based on Soviet Cement Fence type PO-2. The iconic fence was re-created in a nearby studio and Bruno shot photographs of his 10-15 minute “interventions” in the park itself, revisiting a field of design called “technical aesthetics.”

brooklyn-street-art-derek-bruno-artmossphere-09-04-2016-web

A photo on display for his installation from Derek Bruno “MOSCOW PO2 Escalator” for Artmossphere. Photo ©Derek Bruno

In a statement Bruno explains “Since the end of the Soviet Union, the iconic fence has become a persistent and ever present reminder of former delineations of space; while new forms of boundaries shape the digital and sociopolitical landscapes. “

REMI ROUGH

Remi Rough is known for his smartly soaring abstract geometry in painted murals and smaller scale works, and for Moscow he wanted to strip it back to the basics, approaching a white box with one undulating graphic composition.

“My idea was that Moscow’s a bit ‘over the top’,” he says, and he decided to strip back the audacity and go for simplicity, which actually takes courage.

brooklyn-street-art-remi-rough-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Remi Rough, “Fold”. photo © Jaime Rojo

“I said ‘you know what?’ – I want to do something with the cheapest materials you can possibly get. These two pieces literally cost 3000 rubles ($50). It’s made of felt, it’s like a lambs wool. I think they use it for flooring for construction.” Depending on the angle, the pink blotted material may translate as a swath of otherworldly terrain or a metaphorical bold vision with all the hot air let out.

“I wanted to do something peaceful and calming and use natural materials – something that’s different from what I usually do – but I use the folds in the fabric and the pink color – two things that I usually use a lot.”

ALEXEY LUKA

Moscow’s Alexey Luka is also challenging himself to stretch creatively by taking his wall collage installations of found wood and converting them into free-standing sculptures.

“For this biennale I tried to make something different so now I am going from the assemblages to 3-D.” The constructed media is warm and ordered, reserved but not without whimsy.

brooklyn-street-art-alexey-luka-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Alexey Luka at Artmossphere Biennale 2016 photo © Jaime Rojo

“My work is made from found wood – I use it with what I found on the street and my shapes and my graphics – so it’s kind of an experiment with three dimensions,” and he confirms that most of this wood is sourced here in Moscow.

We ask him about the number of eyes that peer out from his installation. Perhaps these eyes are those of Muscovites? “They are just like observers,” he says.

MIMMO RUBINO AKA RUB KANDY

brooklyn-street-art-rub-kandy-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web

Mimmo aka Rub Kandy at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

Torino’s Mimmo recreated the Moscow Olympic Village from the 1980 games in miniature presented as on a plainly brutalist platform. The sculpture is austere in detail on the hulking towers save for the tiny graffiti tags, throwies, rollers, extinguisher tags, and the like at the bases and on the roofs.

Curator Christian Omodeo tells us that Mimmo recreated the massive village based on his direct study of the site as it stands today; a housing project that has hundreds of families — and a hip-hop / graffiti scene as well.

brooklyn-street-art-rub-kandy-jaime-rojo-09-04-2016-web-1

Mimmo aka Rub Kandy at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

It is striking that the scale reduces the impact of the graffiti – yet when experienced at eye-level it retains a potency. Even so, by recasting the relationship between viewer and mark-making, this graffiti actually seems “cute” because of its relative size to the viewer.

BRAD DOWNEY

Brad Downey and Alexander Petrelli hi-jacked the opening of the Biennale by circulating within the exhibit as a gallery with artworks for sale. With Downey performing as a street-huckster pushing his own art products, Mr. Patrelli showcased new Downey photo collages and drawings inside his mobile “Overcoat Gallery”

brooklyn-street-art-brad-downey-alexander-petrelli-jaime-rojo-08-31-16-web

Alexander Petrelli exhibits work by Brad Downey at Artmossphere 2016. photo © Jaime Rojo

A charming Moscow art star / gallerist / performance artist, Mr. Patrelli is also a perennial character at openings and events in the city, by one account having appeared at 460 or so events since 1992 with his flashing overcoat. The artworks also feature Patrelli, completing a self-referential meta cycle that continued to circle the guests at the exhibition.

International artists participating in the Artmossphere Biennale 2016 include: Akacorleone, Alex Senna, Brad Downey, Chu (Doma), Orilo (Doma), Claudio Ethos, Demsky, Christopher Derek Bruno, Filippo Minelli, Finok, Galo, Gola Hundun, Hot Tea, Jaz, Jessie and Katey, Johannes Mundinger, L’Atlas, LiHill, LX One, M-city, TC, Mario Mankey, Martha Cooper, Miss Van, Nespoon, Millo, Pablo Benzo, Pastel, Paulo Ito, Proembrion, Remed, Remi Rough, Rub Kandy, Run, Sepe, Sickboy, Smash 137, Sozyone Gonsales, SpY, The London Police, Trek Matthews, Wes 21.


This article is a result of a Brooklyn Street Art partnership with Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin and was originally published at Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art


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!

Read more
A Magic City Slowly Unfolds In Dresden : Artists Building Now

A Magic City Slowly Unfolds In Dresden : Artists Building Now

“The special magic that comes from our cities is germinated in the mad sum of their improbable juxtapositions and impossible contradictions,” says curator Carlo McCormick when talking about the new show opening in Dresden, Germany this week in a former engine factory called Magic City : The Art of the Street.

brooklyn-street-art-aiko-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

AIKO at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

Along with curator Ethel Seno and a creative team (full disclosure, BSA is part of it) McCormick is evoking an interstitial city that rises from the streets in many urban centers globally. Whether it is graffiti, Street Art, urban interventions, detournement, adbusting, or myriad cultural refinements, artists and activists are commonly, sometimes radically, altering the city and our experience of it.

brooklyn-street-art-madc-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Mad C at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

By engaging some of the best visual and intellectual examples of the whole current scene with a full knowledge of our recent past, Magic City lays out a route for you to appreciate the individual and a sense of the cumulative. It’s bold and somewhat romantic move to look for magic in the Graffiti / Street Art / Urban Art scene. Some may argue that it consists of nothing less.

Over the last few weeks about 40 artists have been installing brand new pieces and environments in the long wide factory space in advance of the grand preview this weekend. Here are some process shots of the building of a Magic City.

brooklyn-street-art-olek-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

OLEK at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-olek-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web-2

OLEK at work on her piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-roa-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

ROA at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-ernest-zacharevic-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Ernest Zacharevic at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-benuz-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Benuz at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-qi-xinghua-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Qi-Xinghua at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-replete-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Replete at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-ori-carino-benjamin-armas-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Ori Carino and Benjamin Armas at work on their piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-wenu-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

WENU at work on their piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-jens-besser-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Jens Besser at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-leon-keer-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

Leon Keer at work on his piece for Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

brooklyn-street-art-spy-magic-city-dresden-rainer-christian-k-web

SpY. Magic City. Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

Read more
Detroit and the Paradox of Street Art : “Murals In The Market” Re-Cap

Detroit and the Paradox of Street Art : “Murals In The Market” Re-Cap

Running through many of the streets fanning from Detroit’s’ downtown will lead you to a graffiti scene that gave birth to the large murals being celebrated in the city center. It is a cognitive dissonance for many at this moment when Detroit’s Mayor Mike Duggan’s name comes into conversation as making political hay by targeting Street Artists – especially while that same genre is employed to brandish the creative vitality of a financially bankrupted yet proud American powerhouse like the Motor City.

brooklyn-street-art-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here in the dank darkened hallways of former factories and warehouses that once pumped life through an economy lies some of the DNA that can grow a creative resurgence. These property owners may have abandoned the citizenry and taxpayer and the bond of their promise to honor community, and that charge is often made as wide swaths of people are without work or pensions or viable social mobility. Technically these property owners would be entitled to prosecute the artists and taggers for vandalism – but many have skipped town with the wealth they gained here and left the city to deal with these architectural carcasses.

brooklyn-street-art-jaime-rojo-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Contemplate now with us the intersection of illegal art-making crossing paths with celebrated cultural recognition and commercial reward. It is a fiery collision of intertwined ironies. The Street Art paradox in Detroit and elsewhere is that the work of vandals eventually becomes celebrated by greater society, but until then you should look over your shoulder.

This is the city where Shepard Fairey was threatened with a 10-year jail sentence and simultaneously feted for his soaring murals. With a new director/ president/ CEO who is the same age as Fairey, the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is currently unveiling a new installation by Brooklyn Street Artist Swoon in the entryway of the Beaux-Arts building’s Woodward Avenue. During the installation Salvador Salort-Pons walks with Swoon through hundreds of pieces of hand-cut paper and linoprint that are spread across the tiled floors discussing logistics.

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-jaime-rojo-dia-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Swoon. Thalassa installation in progress at the Detroit Institute of Art. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Her character Thalassa is suspended high where a chandelier had hung and as you gaze upward you may wonder how many museum goers will know that Swoon began her career by illegally pasting papercut works and characters like Thalassa on the street in the late 1990s Brooklyn, risking arrest and prosecution.

brooklyn-street-art-swoon-jaime-rojo-dia-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Swoon. Thalassa installation in progress at the Detroit Institute of Art. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As we speak with Callie Curry, the artist known as Swoon, she marvels aloud that her work is hanging very near Rivera Court, a collection of 27 frescoes by the socialist-themed Mexican muralist Diego Rivera – which are now officially national historic landmarks. Her work in recent years has been featured in larger and more prominent institutions from the Venice Biennale to the Brooklyn Museum and LA MOCA’s “Art in the Streets” exhibition in 2011 in Los Angeles. For most Street Artists in their teens and 20s like Swoon was when she was doing illegal work, gallery doors are closed, let alone museum doors. The streets are the gallery and a petri dish for experimentation and engaging with the public.

brooklyn-street-art-diego-rivera-jaime-rojo-dia-09-18-16-detroit-web

Diego Rivera. Detail. Detroit Institute of Art. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

At the opposite end of the illegal spectrum are real estate interests who are actively inviting Street Artists to paint on their walls, like the multi-story twin pieces by Fairey and the German graffiti-writing train-tagging vandal brothers How & Nosm. 30 plus artists, many of them previous/current vandals were invited to paint inside the a vertical parking garage name Z and the alleyway adjacent to it in Downtown Detroit. We can cite cities and towns and real estate developers and business improvement districts who are seeking out these artists to activate public space in places like Miami, Philadelphia, New York, London, Lodz, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, Dubai, and New Delhi, among others.

brooklyn-street-art-shepard-fairey-how-nosm-jaime-rojo-09-18-16-detroit-web

How & Nosm and Shepard Fairey for Library Street Collective. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Library Street Collective in downtown Detroit, whose founder Anthony Curis is a big supporter of DIA and who will host a gallery show opening October 8th with Swoon as well, is facilitating a public mural for her to paint legally.  It is sort of an open secret that the majority of these artists on the Library Street Collective roster ran the streets doing illegal work on trains and public and privately owned walls and would have been pursued by real estate interests years ago for other reasons that include handcuffs. Most will tell you that they used the streets and street culture to hone their skills, and truthfully it is a fact that adds to their street cred and saleability among certain collectors.

brooklyn-street-art-nina-chanel-jaime-rojo-09-18-16-detroit-web

The newest mural for Library Street Collective is by a non-Street Artist, Nina Chanel. It references the Black Lives Matter movement and the targeting of African American men in the country. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

So here’s the message Street Artists are getting – don’t expect any institutional, academic or commercial support or nurturing of your talent or skills or craft. You are on your own. In fact you will be demonized and reviled and pursued and dealt with punitively. If, through the help of other artists and cultural workers in the graffiti and Street Art community and some serious luck, you can still persist and become marketable, your work will be recognized as worthwhile and rewarded.

Cultivate, no. Harvest, yes.

In the case of New York train writers from the late 1970s like Futura, you may still need to be a bicycle messenger through Manhattan streets dodging taxis and Town cars for many years to pay your rent and support your family before commercial and institutional support actually rewards your talent. In the case of the majority of graffiti and Street Artists, that opportunity has yet to arrive, and may not.

brooklyn-street-art-1010-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

1010 for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

One model of commercial and community support that is bridging the gap between the streets, artists, collectors, and the people who live and work in Detroit is the second annual “Murals in the Market” festival that is just completed. Originated by a local business couple named Roula David who serves as the festival’s director and Jesse Cory, who with Dan Armand founded a successful online art print business called 1xRUN. Ms. Roula and Mr. Cory also run the bricks-and-mortar gallery called Inner State. Working with neighborhood associations and businesses, the festival is supported by grants, local businesses, and the pairs’ personal investment.

brooklyn-street-art-1010-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-1-web

1010 for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The open air Eastern Market has a bustling, even booming, reputation for fostering fresh lifeblood of economic activity that supports local fresh organic farmers, makers, artisans, restaurants, families, and football tailgaters. This year about 50 local and international graffiti and Street Artists painted walls of factories and warehouses with impunity, and with maps given for finding the locations. Local galleries and businesses and only a few national brands, like an energy drink maker who sponsors artists with residencies, all provided a wild night of performances and art shows for a few thousand fans who swarmed the streets looking at and posing with art and their friends.

brooklyn-street-art-hueman-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Hueman for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-hueman-droid907-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Hueman for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. The DROID 907 tag above was not in collaboration with the Hueman or Murals In The Market. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The talents draw across disciplines, with great variations in approach, background, history, influences, and ability. With so many people walking the map route to see and engage with the works, a common comment was “why do I need to go to a museum when I can see this for free on the street?” They may also meet the artist in person.

With precious little governmental support for arts these days and at programs in public schools often cut out entirely in the US, many of these artists who began on the streets say they were pleased to participate in some formal program and to have an opportunity to show their work without fear of reprisal. They also showed fine art works in the crowded gallery show and heard presentations from photographers and designers who were deeply involved in the early punk and hip-hop scenes that rose in parallel with graffiti and Street Art.

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-7

Tyree Guyton. A three decade environmental art project in Detroit called The Heildeberg Project. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-6

Tyree Guyton. Heildeberg Project. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David and Cory routinely host talks and special events at Inner State and they allow it to be used by local design entrepreneurs and planners to host their own openings or meetings. Corey says they have worked hard to be inclusionary rather than exclusionary: fostering connections to important cultural contributors like the pioneering Detroit outdoor environmental artists Trey Guyton of The Heidelberg Project and Olayami Dabls with his Mbad African Bead Museum.  In fact, both of these artists are featured artists in this years Murals in the Market.

brooklyn-street-art-olayami-dabls-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Olayami Dabls. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-olayami-dabls-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-5

Olayami Dabls for Murals In The Market 2016. Installation process shot. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Additionally, the Murals in the Market scene commingled this week at a ‘Detroit Family Reunion’ bonfire, barbecue, and screening of “WastedLand 2” by filmmaker Andrew Shirley at Lincoln Street Art Park, which lies adjacent to a grassroots recycling center called Recycle Here! Shirley also curated the two-floor warehouse exhibition that pairs the wild untamed raw-graff artistry of the primarily New York based 907 Crew and a group of local Detroit graffiti kings who sprayed fresh elaborate show pieces side by side.

brooklyn-street-art-ekg-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

EKG. Detail. WASTEDLAND in conjunction with Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Collectively this alchemy of Murals in the Market and the active Graff/Street Art scene is precisely what is needed and what the artists and their admirers deserve. It is an inclusionary model that recognizes, nurtures and preserves the antecedents of the current global Street Art scene. It also lets young people in their teens and twenties know that this is an evolving artist community that is alive and dynamic – not a collection of dead people who they cannot relate to. If you look for it, you can see that the street is presenting a collective voice that is sometimes transgressive and draws upon the challenged communities living in these United States of Anxiety. Often there are the seeds of promise.

brooklyn-street-art-sydney-g-james-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Sydney G. James for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Museums and other institutions are missing a huge opportunity to engage with young audiences by ignoring these constituencies, and we encourage a kind of whole-hearted curatorial risk-taking that acknowledges the fuzzy grey areas and attempts to salvage the pertinent contributions of an active creative class. In our travels and writings and curatorial endeavors we have seen the promise and the talent. The work needs to be considered in a manner that far exceeds the calculation of its perceived market value – much of this work opens doors to our collective creative future.

As ever, when it comes to big name shows, institutional recognition, commercial adaptation, community-based efforts, and on-the-margins badassery, one can often find compelling reasons to love the continuum of Street Art / graffiti and their many tributaries and trajectories.

 

brooklyn-street-art-pat-perry-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-3

Pat Perry. Detail. Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pat-perry-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Pat Perry for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-mike-greg-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-3

Greg Mike for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-mike-greg-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Greg Mike for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pixel-pancho-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Pixel Pancho for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-felipe-pantone-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Felipe Pantone for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sheryo-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Sheryo for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sheryo-the-yok-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Sheryo and The Yok for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sheryo-the-yok-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Sheryo and The Yok for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-lauren-ys-ouizi-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Lauren YS and Ouizi for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dalek-taylor-white-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Dalek and Taylor White for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-apexer-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Apexer for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-apexer-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-3

Apexer for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-apexer-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-4

Apexer for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-chris-saunders-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Chris Saunders for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

brooklyn-street-art-mr-jago-xenz-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Mr. Jago and Xenz for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-mr-jago-xenz-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Mr. Jago and Xenz for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-patch-whisky-ghostbeard-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Patch Whisky and Ghostbeard for Murals In The Market 2016. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)


 

This article is also published on The Huffington Post

brooklyn-street-art-huffpost-detroit-screen-shot-2016-10-05-at-1-44-46-pm

 

 

 

Read more
BSA Images Of The Week: 09.25.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.25.16

brooklyn-street-art-droid907-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web
BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

We spent one whole week in Detroit, Michigan as guests of the good people who present the Murals In The Market , 1xRUN and the Inner State Gallery. We scratched the surface.

Our selections for this week’s edition of BSA Images Of The Week are harvested from Detroit streets and rooftops and hidden little spots – the murals painted for this year’s edition of  Murals In The Market, those are coming later on. Enjoy.

So, here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 907 Crew, Aryz, Avoid, Birdo, Dark Clouds, Droid, Ghostbeard, How & Nosm, Jarus, Kuma, Miss Van, NGC, Ouizi, Patch Whisky, Shepard Fairey, Smells, UFO, Vhils.

Our top image: Droid 907 with their original hybrid of fire extinguisher and outlining. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-vhils-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Vhils for Libray Street Collective. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-miss-van-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Miss Van for Murals In The Market 2015. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ouizi-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Ouizi for Murals In The Market 2015. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-shepard-fairey-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Shepard Fairey. Detail. Library Street Collective. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-how-nosm-shepard-fairey-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Shepard Fairey and How & Nosm. Library Street Collective. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ariz-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

ARYZ. Library Street Collective. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-kuma-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

KUMA. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-kuma-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web-2

KUMA. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-detroit-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web-1

A typical graffiti smorgasbord in an abandoned building in Detroit, Michigan. Multiply this snapshot by 5,000. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-janus-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Jarus. Murals In The Market 2015. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-birdo-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Birdo. Murals In The Market 2015. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-patch-whisky-ghostbeard-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Patch Whisky . Ghostbeard. Murals In The Market 2015. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-avoid-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

AVOID NGC. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-smells-ufo907-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Smells . UFO 907. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dark-clouds-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Dark Clouds. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-artist-unknown-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web

Artist Uknown. Detroit, Michigan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-detroit-jaime-rojo-09-25-2016-web-3

Untitled. Detroit, Michigan. September 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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!

 

Read more
DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 5. Details to Blow Your Mind

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 5. Details to Blow Your Mind

banner-bsa-murals-in-the-market-detroit-2016-740

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

Detroit rocked in many ways this week, not least because Roula David and Jesse Corey know how to manage a big moveable feast of walls and artists and food and lodging and parties and openings and donuts and a print business and gallery and still manage to have quality time with Oscar, their four year old chocolate pug-mix master who pretty much goes wherever he wants and investigates the scene.

brooklyn-street-art-chris-saunders-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Chris Saunders at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Together David and Corey and the team spread their wings wide to make sure everybody gets taken care of, and we salute their talent and passion. The 1XRun crew, and there are like 20 of them, don’t mess around when getting equipment and cold water bottles and cans of paint and ladders to the artists, along with a hundred other small and large favors and forms of assistance that make this thing run smoothly. And kindly.

The details can really make the difference, in life and in art of course. Today we’ll show you some of the details of a few pieces that resonate from this years collection of vibrating visuals on the street in this part of east Detroit. And you can see that some murals are close to being finished as well. A selection of the completed walls will follow soon from this successful second year of Murals in the Market.

brooklyn-street-art-hueman-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Hueman at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-apexer-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Apexer at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-apexer-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Apexer. Process shot. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-1010-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

1010 at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-1010-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

1010. Process shot. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-slick-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Slick. Detail. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pat-perry-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Pat Perry. Process shot. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-pat-perry-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Pat Perry.  Process shot. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-mr-jago-xenz-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Mr. Jago . Xenz. Process shot. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-lauren-ys-ouizi-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Lauren YS . Ouizi. Detail. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-felipe-pantone-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Felipe Pantone. Detail. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dalek-taylor-white-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Dalek . Taylor White. Detail. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Read more
BSA FILM FRIDAY: 09.23.16

BSA FILM FRIDAY: 09.23.16

brooklyn-street-art-sheryo-yok-video-screen-shot-2016-09-23-at-1-00

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

 

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

Now screening :

1. Detroit Quick Shots – Yok & Sheryo, Swoon, Heidleberg Project
2. HERAKUT -> Im heutigen Videoupdate von der Magic City

 

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

 

BSA Special Feature: Detroit Quick Shots

As you know we in town for Murals in the Market and are riding around Detroit’s attractive and less attractive and bombed-out portions to get a feel of the place. Once in a while Jaime remembers that he wants to try out his phone video editing chops and captures something to share.

Here’s the blinking Yok & Sheryo sign at their opening with 1xRun at the headquarters.

Here’s Swoon at the Detroit Institute of Art (DIA) preparing the installation of her Thalassa piece, the reception for which is Saturday night.

And this is short tour through some of the installation aspects of the 30-year art project by Tyree Guyton, founder and artistic director of The Heidelberg Project .  Following that is a short documentary so you can understand a little more about the project and it’s importance and relevance of so-called “environmental” public art exhibition.

HERAKUT -> Im heutigen Videoupdate von der Magic City Kreativphase trifft Andreas auf das Street Art Kollektiv HERAKUT

The Magic City exhibition, curated by Carlo McCormick and Ethel Seno in Dresden, Germany is currently a beehive of installation by arriving artists. We’ve curated the film exhibition portion, The BSA Film Program, and our director of photography Jaime Rojo is one of the featured artists. Check out the Magic City channel on YouTube to see the full compliment of interviews like this one with Herakut.

Read more
DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 4: The Beat of the Street and “Mighty Love”

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 4: The Beat of the Street and “Mighty Love”

banner-bsa-murals-in-the-market-detroit-2016-740

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

brooklyn-street-art-pat-perry-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Pat Perry at work on his mural. Also, his truck. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Every city, every neighborhood it seems, has its own beat on the street. It is a rhythm of movement and sound and light comprised of different elements that meter the activity, determine its pacing, its lilt, its cadence.

Cars figure heavily into the beat of this wide-spread city of Detroit of course, an inherited trait central to the story of this factory town that gives certain deference to cars and trucks careening around corners and flying up battered blocks. Riding bicycles, as we do to quickly cover ground and see murals and artists, is a curiosity and not always respected by drivers.

brooklyn-street-art-greg-mike-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But the rhythm of the human-powered bike is not entirely foreign here either, as the city boasts some of the most tricked out custom rides you are likely to see and posses of show-biking clubs like Detroit’s East Side Riders, who can shut down a few blocks at a time with flashy illuminated music thumping parades of stylish riders parading through.

The Slow Roll, which is a now a seasonal weekly biking event run by the non-profit Detroit Bike City, Inc. brings as many as 3- 4,000 bicyclists at a time to the city streets, a communal event that reintroduces people to each other and to their city.

brooklyn-street-art-selina-miles-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Selina Miles at work with her camera. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

There is cacophony in the market, with deliver trucks, sixteen wheelers, and construction and forklifts and all the hallmarks of light industry. Right now there are colorful and oddly dressed artists weaving like mangy cats through the sidewalks and streets with cans in their backpacks and visions in their heads.

Add to the mix the golf-cart driving 1XRun folks who are bringing bottled water, ladders, electrical generators flying around corners and rumbling up and down The Dequindre Cut, a below-grade pathway that used to carry the Grand Trunk Western Railroad line here on the east side – suitably covered with graffiti along its sidewalls.

brooklyn-street-art-kevin-lyons-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Kevin Lyons at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Toss in a few art gallerists, dreadlocked organic farmers, meat cutters and conduit benders in their respective aprons, graphic design shops, lifestyle brands, waitresses, drug dealers posing as fans, intrepid looky-loos with white-sneakers and cameras and maps of murals, watermelons, gladiolas, bags of string beans, the occasional pop-up DJ tent, camera grip, skateboarder, wide-eyed sophist, tattooed Romeo, army-booted art-school woman, and a random chicken who is pecking among the grass between street bricks by a dumpster and you’ll get an idea of this particular menagerie of sights and sounds.

It’s a beat on the street that is full of rumbling, beeping, clicking, thumping – sometimes placid, sometimes crashing. All full of life and possibility, and one that is only contained in this very moment.

brooklyn-street-art-1010-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

1010. Process shot. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-xenz-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Xenz at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-slick-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

OG Slick is gradually revealing his animated burner on a quiet side street. Process shot. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-cey-adams-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Cey Adams at work on his mural, inspired by a classic mid-70s hit “Mighty Love” by the Spinners, sometimes called the Detroit Spinners. Cey took a minute for us to find the song on his iphone and pump up the sound. Then he wished he had brought some speakers, but it still sounded beautiful. A great moment of harmony on the street. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)


brooklyn-street-art-shades-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Shades at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sheefy-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Sheefy at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-janet-janette-beckman-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

English documentary photographer and fan of Street Art and featured artist of Murals in the Market this year, Janette Beckman in front of Chris Saunders mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

_____________________

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!

Read more
DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 3 with Heidelberg Project, Hueman, Pixel Pancho

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 3 with Heidelberg Project, Hueman, Pixel Pancho

banner-bsa-murals-in-the-market-detroit-2016-740

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

The artists are quite spread out over multiple blocks on the street and in lots near and around the market area for the Murals in the Market festival and depending on where you ride your bike or drive your car you are probably going to find one on a scissor lift or ladder hiding from the sun under an umbrella or happily leaning against a wall in the shade nearby.

brooklyn-street-art-pixel-pancho-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Pixel Pancho. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With Janette Beckman flipping through street art and photography books on the couch at the “headquarters” and Meggs and Mia putting the finishing touches on their combined “Verso” exhibition next door while artists wandered in and out looking for water, soda, and tortas, we climbed into a van with co-founder of Murals in the Market Jesse Cory, his dog Oscar, and artists Faith47, 1010, Hueman and some other friends to see the city through Jesse’s eyes.

brooklyn-street-art-hueman-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Hueman at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

There were burned down houses, the Packard plant in a state of pronounced disrepair, lots of empty lots, tags, pieces, burners, and an amazing project called Heidleberg. An artist on the roster this year for this festival, Tyree Guyton has been doing his own reinvention and revitalization of urban space here for three decades, so Street Art has nothing on him.

brooklyn-street-art-hueman-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Hueman at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The series of outdoor installations throughout the multi-building, multi-lot outdoor museum can only be described as personal and eclectic – using found and handmade materials including sneakers, stuffed animals, dolls, boards, mirrors, and plenty of paint.

Impossible to do this long term project justice in only a few lines, we encourage you to be inspired by the outward creativity of one individual in a community. The work is engaging and nearly as charming as the man himself.

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-7

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

After Jesse’s tour we had the opportunity to troll though a 7,000 square foot warehouse of new works with the curator Andrew H. Shirley in a huge recycling center compound containing works by a number of Detroit based graff artists and a visiting crew of graff/street art off-the-grid artists like Rambo, Wolftits, UFO 907, EKG, Adam Void, and many more.

The two-story raw cavernous environment hosted the debut of a new film called “Wastedland2”, a story and film by Mr. Shirley, first shown there on Friday night. The graffiti mockumentary follows fictional graff writers and characters through adventures on the street and off the radar. There is a planned tour of other cities in the offing and we’ll bring you more about this in a later posting.

In the meantime check out some of the scenes from our day in Detroit.

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-4

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-3

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-6

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-9

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-5

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-tyree-guyton-heidelberg-project-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-8

Tyree Guyton. Heidelberg Project. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Read more
DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 2 with Lauren YS, Cey Adams, Dalek, Taylor White

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 2 with Lauren YS, Cey Adams, Dalek, Taylor White

banner-bsa-murals-in-the-market-detroit-2016-740

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

“I have been painting a lot of moths lately because as I am a gypsy myself ,” says Lauren YS as she contemplates the wingspan of the enormous insect she’s creating for Murals in the Market. She says that she has learned alot about the Eastern Market since she has been here and the importance of the organic foods that it brings to the community – which naturally reminds her of moths. The underrated winged creatures actually protect crops, she says, and she feels more akin to them than butterflies.

brooklyn-street-art-lauren-ys-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Lauren YS at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Originally from Oakland, California, she talks about the importance of the market and the local foods and the fact that moths protect crops and they eat other pests.

“I am so obsessed with them right now both ideal logically and aesthetically because there are so many that are so gorgeous and they’re really beautiful in a way that is much more badass in a way than butterflies are.” Badass and perhaps better suited for the dark pop fantasy surrealism in many of her characters and complex compositions. Also, they are  “a little more my style – they are transitory creatures just like that always moving and they are awake at night like I am.”

brooklyn-street-art-lauren-ys-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Lauren YS sketch for her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-ouizi-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Ouizi collaborates with Lauren YZ mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-taylor-white-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Taylor White at work on her mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Taylor white and Dalek are working along a busy high trafficked noisy sidestreet but they have their trays of bucket paint carefully laid out on the sidewalk in a dazzling pattern that is as interesting as any mural. Two distinct different styles – his geometric and optically beguiling in the choices of pattern and colorplay – her’s organically figurative and fluid – are coming together at least with their shared pallette thus far.

Driving up from Alabama with a friend, White says that she likes the contrasts in styles because it helps her understand both better. “I think it’s kind of a fun challenge to work collaboratively with someone whose work is different. We have to figure out the best way to marry the two styles.” Typically interested in the figurative and the natural world, White is working now with two hands and two forearms working in concert.

“Most of my work right now is figurative and I’m really interested in how forms move through space and connect with one another,” she says.  “I really like how the flatness of his work really and enhances the organic qualities of my work and vice versa.”

brooklyn-street-art-dalek-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Dalek at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-dalek-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-jeremiah-britton-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Jeremiah Britton at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-jeremiah-britton-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Jeremiah Britton at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-chris-saunders-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Chris Saunders at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-marka27-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Marka27 at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sydney-g-james-tylonn-sawyer-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Sydney G. James and Tylonn Sawyer at work on their mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As part of the Murals in the Market fest there was a barbershop talk with top designers who have made names for themselves in the hip hop and advertising business – Cey Adams and Kevin Lyons. The one hour talk in Innerstate Gallery featured barbers actually cutting their hair while they free associated about their careers and gave advice to artists and the next generation.

brooklyn-street-art-cey-adams-kevin-lynos-the-social-club-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Shop talk with Cey Adams & Kevin Lyons with The Social Club. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Somehow the young people today are strangely more talented than even the generation before,” said Mr. Adams at one point when reflecting on the current Street Art scene that has far diverged from the graffiti roots that he laid. “I don’t understand how they do some of the things that they do they are absolutely brilliant.”

When giving advice he reiterated many times the importance of doing your research, asking, questions, and working and hustling. I think the future is really great if they can sort of understand it in time all things are possible they just have to be patient.”

Read more
DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 1

DETROIT: Murals In The Market. Dispatch 1

banner-bsa-murals-in-the-market-detroit-2016-740

This week BSA is in Detroit with our hosts 1XRun for the Murals in the Market festival they are hosting with 50+ artists from various countries and disciplines and creative trajectories. In a city trying to rise from the economic and post-industrial ashes it is often the dynamic grassroots energy and vision of artists that sets the tone for how the community evolves.

brooklyn-street-art-gregg-mike-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

A Detroit lion taking form thanks to Atlanta’s Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This market place is known for its local based foods and community based Detroit roots. We’re getting rides in cars at the moment – it is Detroit after all – but the best way to see the murals is on foot. Of course you may discover that there are some cutty little behind the scenes organic graffiti and Street Art spots too and this city has a lot of those as well.

Also, football fans – an ocean of them having “tailgate” parties in parking lots not far from the stadium before, during, and after the actual game. An organic practice born from the counter culture with hippies and rock bands back in the 60s and 70s, the “tailgating” of today is full-blown commodified excess with tents, chairs, flatscreen TVs, and beer. Lots of beer.

The wiley, quirky artists painting walls in the Eastern Market were inundated yesterday with these fans in team jerseys looking for parking spots and mural fans following maps and snapping pictures, and guys asking for a loosie or a light. Between the clubs/cafes, the sports fans, motorcyclists, custom bike tours, and pop-up djs hanging with the artists-the neighborhood was thumping with and aural menagerie of classic rock, funkadelic, hip-hop, and many slices of dance/techno throughout the day into the night.

Here a just a few of the artists at work whom we caught in the late summer Detroit sun.

brooklyn-street-art-gregg-mike-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Greg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Greg Mike is getting to work on the facade of a factory-like abandoned, now refurbishing, building that is jammed with organic graffiti inside. He came from a design background and says he grew up loving old-school cartoons like Ren & Stimpy and 1960s Disney characters. “All of that stuff inspires me and I like to mix it up and kind of mash them together,” he says.

Aside from being the symbol of the Detroit football team, the lion figures into his piece because it reminds him of his iconic personal character “Larry Loudmouth”.

“The lion is the loudest animal in the kingdom … I have him speaking the language of love because it is all about living life loud but being positive with the message of love – not just being angry, you know what I mean? There’s a lot of angry people out here.”

brooklyn-street-art-gregg-mike-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-3

Gregg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-gregg-mike-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-4

Gregg Mike at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-sheryo-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Sheryo at work on a tattoo inside The Yok and Sheryo’s Ping Pong Auto Shack” at the headquarters. That girl is a machine! Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-felipe-pantone-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Felipe Pantone at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-felipe-pantone-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-2

Felipe Pantone at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Valencia-based, Buenos Aires-born Felipe Pantone is knocking out a lateral slice of optic/ hallucinatory muralage in the heart of the Market across the street from Patch Whisky and Ghost Head’s new piece.

He usually works on walls that are taller and thinner perhaps, but he says he’s throwing himself into it by assessing it’s character and shape and creating a new mural in the moment.

“Yeah I’m used to working with every kind of format.
Every time you have to think of something specifically for the work. I didn’t bring anything from home – I saw the wall and sat across the street and looked at it for a while so I made this design that hopefully works.”

Is he a little unsure of how it is going to work, but he’s not worried about it.

“Uncertainty is the very essence of romance,” he says here on the sidewalk that is broken up and erupting. “That’s Oscar Wilde don’t give me the credit! But even when you don’t know what’s happening that still is what makes it fun.”

brooklyn-street-art-mr-jago-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Mr. Jago at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Jago is collaborating with Xenz on a wall and the music on this block it loud – a guy with a big grey beard and big belly just rode past blasting Foghat’s “Slow Ride,” effectively cancelling all conversation and even thoughts for a minute. Mr. Jago is himself nursing a sore shoulder, torso, head, and broken glasses from an unfortunate spill off a motorcycle recently. He moves limberly nonetheless, and keeps backing up into the traffic jam on the street, standing between cars to get some distance on his emerging composition.

“We’re going to slowly build it up I think and to add more of each other’s signature colors so they Marry,” he says of the celestial miasma emerging from the wall. He says that he and Xenz will begin with two large separate characters. “We will surround them with this sort of universe of gases and floating islands and his signature of insects and birds and make it a kind of nice place that doesn’t exist in this world.”

brooklyn-street-art-pat-perry-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Pat Perry’s mural in progress. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detroits’ Pat Perry is taking a huge wall to address a huge issue bigger than Detroit, yet firmly rooted in its history as a car producing capital of the oil-burning 20th century. Even though it was trade agreements that turned much of this city into a shadow of that former muscular self, Perry is also looking hopefully to the end of the fossil-fuel age which is represented here by a marching band that reaches and arc and then declines.

“It’s like a timeline of the end of one chapter a humorous last celebration of the oil age,” he says.” This is kind of a look into the eight ball of the futuristic city of Detroit”

An illustrator for magazines and online publications, he says he is really a painter who has been doing a lot of landscapes lately. Painting with aerosol is not usual for him.

“I kind of don’t like the look of spray paint and I’m trying to make it feel more painterly I think if I had endless time I would try to make this all bucket paint. But I’m learning to work with this medium – like doing the big areas with bucket paint and doing small areas with line work but trying not to have the line look so huge and thick.”

brooklyn-street-art-patch-whisky-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web-1

Patch Whisky at work on his mural. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-patch-whisky-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Patch Whisky fashions. Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I’m from Charleston South Carolina and my buddy ghost beard lives up here so I’ve been coming here for some years now,” says Patch Whisky as we stand under a temporary tent on the street by his wall to hide from the midday sun.

His second year at Murals in the Market, Patch says the two are college buddies from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh 16 years ago and they have always had affinities for similar cultural references.

“Stylistically we are both cartoon dudes and we grew up watching those Bugs Bunny cartoons – so we both come from the same love of those characters that we grew up with.”

How would he describe his work?

“Colorful, playful, whimsical, creepy, silly.”

brooklyn-street-art-jaime-rojo-1xrun-09-18-16-detroit-web

Murals In The Market – 1XRUN-Detroit-September 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

 

 

Read more