February 2017

A “Secret Dinner” at the Nascent UN in Berlin

A “Secret Dinner” at the Nascent UN in Berlin

Since its explosion of pigment and hue on subway cars and in the streets of New York and Philadelphia a half century ago to its spread to the hundreds of cities worldwide, the truly grassroots movement of Urban Art refuses to be owned by any one city or one people, insisting upon making its own rules and traveling wherever the creative spirit leads.

As if to underscore that global nature of the Graffiti/Street Art/ Urban Art movements, Urban Nation (UN) Director Yasha Young named the origins of the guests who were attending last weeks “Secret Dinner” at the under-construction site of the museum that opens this fall.

Yasha Young, Director of Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art (UN) delivers her welcoming remarks to the invited guests. A painting by Word To Mother hangs in the background. The painting was originally created for Project M/8 and curated by Stolen Space Gallery in 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“You came from Spain, England, Los Angeles, New York City, China, France, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Iceland, Italy, Mexico, every neighborhood in Berlin, from Leipzig, Munich, all across Germany, France, Switzerland, the UK, Norway, Sweden, the Netherlands, and last but not least, Russia,” she said as she stood before a large canvas by the London-based artist Word To Mother and next to Hendrik Jellema, the Chairman of Berliner Leben.

After recounting the three years of accomplishments and aspirations of the new museum to date, Young showed an animated video tour, a somewhat flying birds-eye view of the new museum projected on the wall.

Yasha Young, Director of Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art being introduced by Mr. Hendrik Jellema Chairman at Berliner Leben. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

In two dimly lit street-level raw and cavernous rooms were mounted a number of selected canvasses from the 10 Project M shows that have been curated in the last 3 years announcing the coming museum, each directed and refined by gallerists and cultural experts of various stripes and featuring the work of over 200 artists.

Across the street and Bülowstraße here in the Schöneberg district at the temporary UN headquarters was the grand opening of PM/11. Featuring 16 German artists curated by 3 experts in their respective scenes from Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg, “Radius” points to the vast and diverse urban art community here in a this famous street scene and artists and fans overflowed onto the sidewalk swelling even further when post-dinner guests arrived.

Celebrated photographer and ethnographer Martha Cooper attended the dinner. The library at Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art will bear Ms. Cooper’s name and will house items and books from Ms. Cooper’s personal collection. In this photo Ms. Cooper is wearing a skirt created by the American Street Artist Buff Monster. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

With graffiti artists and street artists spread among the 4 long dinner tables a colorful mix of politicians, cultural ministers, academics, collectors, press, curators, ambassadors, philosophers, photographers, and friends shared dinner, drinks, opinions, and their respective knowledge about the scene and the aspirations of the nascent institution.

We don’t know what everybody said to each other, but we did talk about cooking for a family of five with one guest and the trade routes between South Africa and Cairo during the last century and the importance of fish in the Icelandic diet with another.

Case Maclaim dinner plate. Each invited guest went back home with a gift of a special edition of one plate created exclusively for the occasion by an impressive roster of international artists. One hundred plates were created by almost one hundred artists. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Young burst in the room mid-dinner, as she’s wont to do, with a microphone to show a video series of 4 street art projects showcasing artists engaged with community projects, rather dispersing the often-indulged perception that all graffiti and Street Art is transgressive and illegal. Of course a lot of the good stuff is, but most artists possess additional dimensions outside these stereotypical descriptors, including an interest in helping others.

Artists featured included Norwegian Martin Watson, the German duo Herakut, the Polish crochet artist OLEK, and the German born Brooklyn-based twins HowNosm. The projects highlighted were not necessarily UN sponsored but instead drew attention to overall goals of the museum to be engaged with communities outside the typical art-going crowd.

A Daleast dinner plate. Each invited guest went back home with a gift of a special edition of one plate created exclusively for the occasion by an impressive rooster of international artists. One hundred plates were created by almost one hundred artists. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And so now the UN buzz has begun in earnest, with a steady run toward the opening doors of the Museum and significant involvement of international and local contingents of participants in the new institution. If anyone pretends to know how it will all look inside and outside on opening day or the months that follow, they are brave and fantastic in their willingness to prophesy. We say that because despite the much-heralded organizational skills of this land, and they are amazing, you can be sure that a vibrant and alive contemporary scene like this will continue to surprise us.

During the dinner a few films were presented to introduce a new series still under development. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

A general view of one of the two rooms where guests sat for dinner. (photo © Nika Kramer)

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“Urvanity” Fair Opens in Madrid, 68 Artists + Galleries + Walls + Panels

“Urvanity” Fair Opens in Madrid, 68 Artists + Galleries + Walls + Panels

You may not realize upon first glance through the series of modular white walled temporary gallery rooms, but this fine art on display all has origins in street practice.

Over the past long weekend Madrid’s Urvanity fair at The Palacio Neptuno showcased a sweeping cross-selection of crisply framed names – many of which are being identified as Street Artists en route to “Contemporary Artists”.

Banksy. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Hung at eye level, carefully spaced, and illuminated under tracked lighting, the studio work of nearly 70 Graffiti/Street/Urban artists went on this weekend in one of the first fairs dedicated entirely to this evermore emerging category.

With fresh works from artists like JonOne, Fin DAC, Pixelpancho, Miss Van, Jef Aérosol, Sixe Art, L Atlas, Stikki Peaches, and Ben Eine, it is a mostly Eurocentric roster of galleries you’ve come to know in the last decade or so from places like Amsterdam, Paris, Milan, Zurich, London, among others, and of course Madrid. Under the direction of Sergio Sancho, an advertising professional who has worked with major global brands, the fair calls the works on display New Contemporary Art and the program includes a companion mural campaign in Madrid streets featuring Eine, Jason Woodside, L’Atlas, PREF, MESA and Mohammed Lghacham.

Laurence Vallières. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

While receiving increasing support from serious press, museums, auctions, and festivals over the last decade and a half, it has been a great challenge for both commercial/social and historical/academic scholarship to agree on a moniker for these combined movements and makers – one that fairly encompasses the myriad motivations, styles of expression and intersecting cultures that have evolved from a half century of art on the streets.

Pro 176 . L’Atlas. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

With the inauguration of the Urvanity Mahou Talks Program during the fair, featuring again the artist Ben Eine and cultural curator Cedar Lewisohn, this topic and many more that continue to be raised can be examined and discussed in meaningful ways. At BSA we are finding that our participation in these panels, presentations, and discussions as well as being in the audience has furthered our understanding and appreciation for this natural and growing desire of scholarship.

The Urvanity program of conferences, debates and presentations here collect artists, curators and cultural managers with these purposes in mind and naturally will help collectors and fans contemplate these artists at the fair and better appreciate the bridge between the street and the fine art presented here. A strong first showing, you can expect to see Urvanity back again next year.

An outdoor mural from the Urvanity Instagram page. “We are excited to be able to be painting incredible murals in #Madrid. This one is by @oiterone on Calle de la Cebada!”

Miss Van . Peca. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Tilt . Moses & Taps. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Nano4814. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Vermibus . Jordan Seiler . OX. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Sixe Paredes . Suso33 Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

D*Face . Jason Woodside . Felipe Pantone . Pref . Okuda. Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Urvanity 2017. Madrid, Spain. February 2017. (photo © Alfonso Herranz)

Sergio Sancho and the Urvanity team outside the inaugural exhibition Palacio Neptuno.
Check out their Instagram here.

For more information please visit:

URVANITY
Palacio de Neptuno
Calle de Cervantes, 42. Madrid
From February 23rd 26th, 2017
www.urvanity art.com

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BSA Images Of The Week: 02.26.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.26.17

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Always good to get to Berlin to see what waves of text and pattern and outrage and snark and myriad metaphor are more-or-less relentlessly rippling across buildings and empty lots. The rippling effect was swelled by 4 days of rain, which makes windows streak with rivlets and wheat-pastes peel from the top, leaning forward and down and toward their demise, often sticking to themselves, halved and horrid in the process.

Nonetheless we got a lot of work done, seeing artists, urban gallerists, and of course the labyrinthine interior of the ‘secret’ project that is no secret any longer, the five floor Berlin HAUS, a former bank building in a well trafficked part of the city that is swarmed every day and nearly every night with graffiti writers, professional painters, Street Artists, illustrators, and the like – mainly, if not entirely, Germany based artists doing elaborate installations throughout.

Also checked out the new Project M show opening this week at Urban Nation “RADIUS” curated by Boris Niehaus (JUST), Christian Hundertmark (C100 and Art of Rebellion books) & Rudolf David Klöckner (URBANSHIT). The show runs for 6 weeks and again is exclusively German in its roster including names like Case Maclaim, Dave the Chimp, Flying Förtress, Formula 76, Low BrosMadCMoses & TapsNomadPatrick Hartl & C100Rocco and his brothersSatOneSweetunoVarious & GouldZelle AsphaltkulturXOOOOX, and Hatch Sticker Museum.

Across the street in the under-construction UN museum space the scene was a “secret dinner” for 100 thrown by Director Yasha Young to stir up the buzz for the inaugural exhibit in September as well as take stock of the hundreds of artist locally and internationally who have been part of the UN before the doors even open. In attendance were artists, graffiti writers, arts writers, photographers, academics, cultural organizers, supporters, elected officials, a spare ambassador or two, all lined up to hear of few speeches, a video or two about programming – and eat off plates designed by 100 or so artists.

But the real story of course was the stuff we found on the streets – legal and illegal, a bit of dashed text and time intensive murals. Berlin doesn’t stop surprising you, and regardless of rain that completely drenched us, we didn’t care frankly.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: 1Up, Alaniz, Berlin Kidz, BoxiTrixi, C215, Crisp, Damien Mitchell, Dave the Chimp, Don John, Eins92, Fink 22, Gilf!, Icy & Sot, K, Missing Girls, Priznu, Rinth-WLNY, Sozl35, Telmo & Miel, and Various & Gould.

Top image: Telmo & Miel. Detail. In collaboration with The Haus. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Telmo & Miel. In collaboration with The Haus. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Telmo & Miel. Detail. In collaboration with The Haus. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Various & Gould. In collaboration with Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dave The Chimp. In collaboration with Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dave The Chimp. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

C215. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

C215. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alaniz and friends. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sozl35. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Priznu. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

#missinggirls. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eins92. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don John. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Berlin Kidz. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Berlin Kidz. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Berlin Kidz. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fink 22. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rinth_WLNY. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BoxiTrixi. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

K. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We liked the composition between this Icy & Sot stencil and the Korn sticker. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crisp. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. Berlin. February 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Sixe Paredes: Future-Folk Geometry In Barcelona

Sixe Paredes: Future-Folk Geometry In Barcelona

The Future-Folk Geometrist named Sixe Paredes is in Madrid at Palacio Neptuno this weekend for the Urvanity commercial art fair but today we have a look at a recent large scale pared he painted for the Open Walls Conference in Barcelona recently.

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Even at this massive scale there is a handmade warmth recalling traditional craft and the people of perhaps Central and South America; dissembling and abstracting its patterns and elements and re-stitching them in an open, inviting way.

Here we give BSA readers a peak at the process of making the mural with documentation by BSA collaborator Lluis Olive Bulbena:

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Sixe Paredes. Open Walls Conference 2016. Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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BSA Film Friday: 02.24.17

BSA Film Friday: 02.24.17

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. Kate Tempest – “Europe Is Lost”
2. DESCUBRIENDO NUESTRA HISTORIA – Discovering Our History (Chile)
3. Cane Morto: Grimy Drawings With High Precision Tools.
4. Bezt X Natalia Rak in collaboration with Thinkspace. Film by Birdman


bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: Kate Tempest – “Europe Is Lost”

Not your average happy Friday video, but a powerful one for this moment showcasing some new talents in music and video – and the collaged technique of Street Art that we often find on “organic” walls in city centers where the multiple voices of many are collectively yelling for your attention.

Rage filled Trump, KKK members, police violence, industrial pollution, drug use, mechanized systems of production, fabulous hedonism, starving people, prisons: The technique of rapid-file visual shocks in a battering succession timed to illustrate the lyrics was popularized by punk bands in the nineties – who probably borrowed it from the collage photo and text technique in punk and anarchist hand-made zines of the 70s and 80s. By de-saturating the color images to black and white the various clips are on equal footing and the pacing is plainly rolled out sans filter for impressive impact.

Singer/rapper/poet South Londoner Kate Tempest is a clarion voice at this moment and an animated force to consider over a sparely punctuating musical arrangement. According to press reports the video was created by a fan named Manual Braun and it became the official video for the song, making the message feel even more grassroots as a result.

Quoted in The Independent this month, Tempest says her song isn’t offering much hope so don’t get your hopes up. “It’s too late now. It’s gone beyond somebody being right and somebody being wrong,” she said. “It’s far too late. “We’re in the middle of a massive humanitarian crisis.”  However, the very fact that artists and thinkers are getting these messages out and in front of us is a cause for hope and we believe the people have the ability to heal these crisis.

 

Also check out Kate’s live performance on KEXP in Kex Hostel in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves last November.

DESCUBRIENDO NUESTRA HISTORIA – Discovering Our History

Desie, Teo, Nao and Majestick collaborate on a new community mural at a bus station called PAZ. There is a certain poetry in that statement, as well as the reviving of memories from the previous traders and workers “helping to remember what was every inhabitant of the historic commune” in Santiago, Chile.

CRONICA B: GALERIA:

 

Cane Morto: Grimy Drawings With High Precision Tools.

Italian trio Cane Morto are back with a new grimy zine they made just for you.

 

 

Bezt X Natalia Rak in collaboration with Thinkspace. Film by Birdman.

Celebrated a new wall by exhibiting artists at Thinkspace in Los Angeles, photographer Birdman shoots a video of the making of the wall and the process.

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Johannes Mundinger Painting in Mexico City for “Wall Dialogue II”

Johannes Mundinger Painting in Mexico City for “Wall Dialogue II”

Berlin based Street Artist and abstract impressionist Johannes Mundinger just spent a month in Mexico City as part of WALL DIALOGUE II painting in collaboration with Blo and talking with other artists and the community mainly about the new president in the US and how it is affecting things in Mexico.

Johannes Mundinger . Blo. Tulum, Mexico. 2017. (photo © Johannes Mundinger)

Starting WALL DIALOGUE in Berlin in 2015, this combination of artist residency and cultural exchange aims to “feature international urban artists and bring their various forms of expression into an international dialogue and to create a physical space of exchange,” Johannes tells us.

The project is funded by Goethe Institute and IFA and is interested in “discussing city development and promoting an exchange between the independent scene of Berlin and Mexico City,” says the ATEA statement.

Johannes Mundinger . Blo. Tulum, Mexico. 2017. (photo © Johannes Mundinger)

The location this time was in the popular neighborhood of La Merced and included eleven artists from Europe, México and Argentina. The artists painted solo, collaborated, and all together for a wall painting jam in the independent art space ATEA.

Here are the walls Mundinger created so BSA readers can get a taste of the scene. Also participating were Pao Delfin, Libre, Vlocke, Said Dokins and La Piztola from Mexico, the artist couple Billy and Mernywernz from UK, Alaniz from Argentina and Nelio from France.

Johannes Mundinger . Mexico City. 2017. (photo © Johannes Mundinger)

Johannes Mundinger . Mexico City. 2017. (photo © Leda Fenix)

Johannes Mundinger . Mexico City. 2017. (photo © Oscar Sandoval)

Johannes Mundinger . Mexico City. 2017. (photo © Johannes Mundinger)

 

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Rough.eq Creates Miniature Refugee Boats in Basel, Switzerland

Rough.eq Creates Miniature Refugee Boats in Basel, Switzerland

As much of Europe is actually the recipient of refugees arriving in boats from war-torn countries, this image of a small boat filled past its capacity with people has a lot of relevance to people in Basel, Switzerland who spot them.

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Bernhard Chiquet)

The tiny concrete sculptures by a Street Artist who goes by the name of Rough.eq are usually attached via lock and chain near a body of water or stream or inlet, and a viewer can quickly begin making associations with the plight of people leaving home forever to go upon dangerous seas.

Other times the diminutive refugees are landlocked, or sitting in snow – giving perhaps an even greater sense of being adrift in unknown, unrecognizeable territory and the difficulty many people experience when trying to assimilate in what can be a strange and confusing society.

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Chihun Yang)

As frightening as the stories that immigrants and refugees tell of riding in overloaded and insecure vessels to escape war, poverty, persecution, they are increasingly in danger of not feeling safe in their country of destination, thanks to a rising xenophobic sentiment in some places.

The economic burden is not always easy to take on, and natives worry that the host culture will be changed in fundamental ways that they will not like. Some times the culprit is simply racism and fear of the “other”.

For Rough.eq, the response to his pieces has been quick, but it is hard to tell if it is supportive or the opposite.

“Three out of these four of my “Lock Ons” have already disappeared,” he tells us.

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Chihun Yang)

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Chihun Yang)

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Chihun Yang)

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Chihun Yang)

 

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Bernhard Chiquet)

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Chihun Yang)

Rough.eq. Basel, Switzerland. 2017. (photo © Bernhard Chiquet)

 



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

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BAST: “New Works” Are Vital, Animated at Allouche Gallery

BAST: “New Works” Are Vital, Animated at Allouche Gallery

Bast. Untitled Paper and Stuff 1, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The first full show of studio work by Brooklyn Street Artist Bäst in a gallery in about four years declares that the artist is currently running loose with an intoxicating freedom of gesture and brush strokes and character that reaches back to a creamy pastel abstractionist block party from mid-century, catching the eye of a neon neo-folk parade en route.

Bast. Untitled Paper and Stuff 2, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Insiders tell us that the brainy Coney chanticleer who blends many voices into one was not looking for a new exhibition, per se, but that he’s been prodigious in traversing new artistic neighborhoods and is glad to get the stuff out for people to see. You’ll be glad too.

In much the way that early-mid 2000s Street Art watchers became acquainted with his collaged pop-contorted figures and grocery store banner ad mocks, you’ll appreciate the opening up of space for new dialogue in his large canvasses, nearly balanced and reliably off kilter.

Bast. Nike-a-Tron, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With new sculptural inventions, misplaced punctuations, rhapsodic vibrations and materials that hit the jackpot with plain joy and tactility, there is always a feeling that nothing is off limits; it’s just a matter of scrappily side-eye capturing an unwinding story or furry element as it flies by and attaching it with purpose. This is the street, a happy chaos full of character and wit.

Bast. Farragut Fresh, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As if breathing air into the tight smaller pieces that are always densely rewarding, these newer larger roomy compositions allow him to stretch, and you think he’s going somewhere new, taking chances to discover. Of note for us is his technique of masking out the elements he decides are not necessary, a milky veiling that recalls “the buff” that wipes out graffiti and Street Art on city walls. In this case, it defines the composition and focuses the scene and feels like the artist is speaking directly to you.

While elements still peak through the partial opacity, these deliberate strokes are blotting out and re-defining with the resulting compositions as much a product of subtraction as addition and recombination – clarifying of what is vital and necessary.

Bast. Untitled 4, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast. Bubbledub, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast. Bubble La Rue, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast. Signora Alla Stazione Ferroviara, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast. Untitled 1, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast. Babooshka. Detail. Untitled 1, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast. Ceneri Tropico. Detail, 2016. Allouche Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)


Bast New Works Solo Exhibition is currently on view at the Allouche Gallery

 

 

 

 

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“NUART Aberdeen” Announced for April, BSA is There With You

“NUART Aberdeen” Announced for April, BSA is There With You

|  FIRST ARTISTS ANNOUNCED  | NUART TALKS PROGRAM | BSA FILM FRIDAY LIVE |  LIVE ARTIST INTERVIEWS  |  KEYNOTE  SPEAKERS  |  FIGHT NIGHT RETURNS  |
| SPECIAL FILMS THROUGHOUT EASTER WEEKEND AT BELMONT THEATRE |

NUART in Stavanger Norway has been distinguishing itself as a top-notch series of events showcasing Street Art and graffiti culture with full respect to its antecedents while spotlighting some talents and movements from the current scene who have made the path by walking.

Robert Montgomery (courtesy Nuart )

This April Nuart becomes mobile and shines from Aberdeen, Scotland with a line-up of International artists that will be announced this week to bring new voices to this pivotal port city where the Dee and Don rivers meet the North Sea.

BSA has closely followed Nuart for 9 years and presented, participated, documented, and interpreted the programming, street and gallery installations we’ve experienced for readers of Brooklyn Street Art and The Huffington Post and we’re happy to announce we’ll be in Aberdeen with you in April.

Herakut (courtesy Nuart )

The artist roster is looking stellar including these first three veterans of Nuart during its previous incarnations, Robert Montgomery, Herakut and Julien de Casabianca. Included in the events are some of the erudite Nuart Talks with keynotes and artist interviews and a new edition of Fight Night, as well as BSA in person for BSA FILM FRIDAY LIVE at the Belmont Cinema where we’ll also introduce movies to Aberdeen Street Art fans throughout the Easter weekend.

Julian Casbianca (courtesy Nuart )

We’re excited to see the reliably inventive, visonary and resourceful Nuart team, the installations of new works by some of your favorite Street Artists, and hopefully we’ll get to meet many BSA readers in Scotland this April! More on this on BSA Facebook and Twitter as details emerge.

For more info go to:

Website: http://www.nuartaberdeen.co.uk/

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/nuartaberdeen

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/nuartaberdeen

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BSA Images Of The Week: 02.20.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.20.17

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

We have a lot to show you this week of art from the street, museum, and studio. This horrid and chaotic political environment is proving to be fertile soil for the growth of politically themed works by artists everywhere.

We start todays’ posting with the image above created with the simplicity of a mirror held up during a recent demonstration as if to say, “this is what America looks like”, by the artists “Icy & Sot”.  The people who is reflected back to the camera appear in stark contrast to the nearly exclusively white, male, ultra-rich cabinet he has selected as his advisors.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Chor Boogie, EC13, Homless, Icy & Sot, JPO Art, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Love Breeds Love, Shepard Fairey, UNO, and Wayne.

Top image: Icy & Sot “United America” silhouetted mirror at a demonstration. (photo © Icy & Sot)

Love Breeds Love (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey for #artinadsplaces (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A posed in-studio performance courtesy of Icy & Sot “Knitting Hate” (photo © Icy & Sot)

Wane (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Keith Haring. Detail. The Whitney Museum of American Art “Fast Forward: Painting From The 1980s” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Keith Haring. The Whitney Museum of American Art “Fast Forward: Painting From The 1980s” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenny Scharf. The Whitney Museum of American Art “Fast Forward: Painting From The 1980s” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Chor Boogie. “The Birds & The Bees” Santa Rosa, CA. CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE (photo © Chor Boogie)

Homless (photo © Jaime Rojo)

UNO. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo © UNO)

First thing to know about the new piece in Lisbon above is that the Street Artist who made it, UNO, has a phobia with birds. The second thing is to know that if you see a crow flying overhead in Lisbon, some people will tell you that it is protecting the city. The belief is a remnant from a 12th century story that says the beloved Saint Vincent was buried in Sagres, where his body was protected by crows. When his body was moved to Lisbon by the first King of Portugal, D. Afonso Henrique, it is said that two crows accompanied the body. This is why the flag of Lisbon has a ship and two ravens on either side with the motto “MUI NOBRE E SEMPRE LEAL CIDADE DE LISBOA” (the most noble and always loyal to the city of Lisbon) .

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist. We couldn’t read the signature. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JPO Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EC13 new piece in Granada, Andalucia. Spain.  (photo © EC13)

Untitled. Landing. NYC. January 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Buff Monster says “Stay Melty”

Buff Monster says “Stay Melty”

Paint drips and ice cream drips: What flavor would you like? We have strawberry, cherry, coconut…

Buff Monster Stay Melty Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

If you haven’t seen Buff Monster and his melty crew on walls in the mid-twenty-teens then you have been looking at the sidewalk for loose change and lost earrings too much. Look up (!) on multiple walls all across the city and your find his friendly quirky sweet creamy characters cavorting and playing and melting together.

He and his fantastic army of ice cream scoops with surreal imaginations and likeable character anomalies have traveled worldwide of course; in multiple languages and on a variety of toys, posters, statues, garments, stickers and collectibles and even a select edition of Garbage Pail Kids cards called The Melty Misfits.

Buff Monster Stay Melty Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

Pink dominates the palette and fantasy denotes the worldview for this brightly quirky hard driving globe-trotting Hawaiian native, with Buff himself tirelessly promulgating his little friends into your life and perhaps helping to take things a little less seriously for a moment, and reminding you of your childhood fun times.

Stay Melty is his hard-bound pictorial collection of three years of all action, creation, discipline, collaboration, and production, with Buff giving you an inside view of  the pure glamour that goes into becoming a successful and recognized street/fine/commercial artist today. Hint: It’s about the time-honored practice of hustling, people. Also, ice cream.

Meet the man and see his show “Melt With Me” right now in Manhattan.

Buff Monster Stay Melty Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

Buff Monster Stay Melty Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

Buff Monster Stay Melty Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

Buff Monster Stay Melty Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

Buff Monster Stay Melty Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

 

Buff Monster Stay Melty Published by Gingko Press. Berkeley, CA. 2015

New Yorkers can see the pop up show Buff Monster has today in Manhattan at 168 Bowery.

 


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BSA Film Friday: 02.17.17

BSA Film Friday: 02.17.17

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. BEGR: Snow Painting
2. Gonzalo Borondo – ANIMAL
3. 2017 Women’s March from 50/50 Skatepark
4. What’s Your Story? PREZ


bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: BEGR: Snow Painting

Diggin the dreamy tip of this home-made video chronicling a frozen snowy winter day of spraying out with BEGR. Absent are the testosterone fueled showiness and fronting that sometimes characterize videos like this, instead the director BAZOOKAFILMS77 and the artist keep their mind on the art and invite you into the head. Great choice of tracks and attention to small details and interludes.

Gonzalo Borondo – ANIMAL

You may remember our piece in The Huffington Post about Borondo’s big mural in Berlin last summer and one community’s response to it.  Here he is in a new show curated by Rom Levy called ANIMAL.

2017 Women’s March from 50/50 Skatepark

Here’s a home made slideshow set to music of scenes from the the Women’s March that vastly dwarfed the inauguration of Trump.  That may have been our first clue…

What’s Your Story? PREZ From 50/50 Skatepark

We like this normal unassuming everyday interview with Staten Island graffiti writer and artist PREZ because it let’s him tell his own story while he’s just hanging out on a couch at a skatepark. And he has something to say, a few things actually.

2017 Women’s March from 50/50 Skatepark

 

 

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