May 2017

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.07.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.07.17

May 7, 2017 ,


BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Whether by design or organically grown, we have always gravitated to what we call “Magnet Walls” – those graffiti/Street Art gardens in a town or city that are an open canvas for artists to get up, try out new ideas, experiment with materials, implement a strategy. These walls play an important role in the ecosystem of what we call Street Art or Urban Art. They’re not always explicitly illegal because their reputation draws 10s or 100s of artists to pile on year after year without interruption. The building owners could be allowing the expressions to take place for charitable reasons, more likely just neglect.

The role of these magnet walls is important …and so we are happy to see that while some walls have ceased to exist in some New York neighborhoods in recent years, mostly due to the voracious appetite of developers and the dulling effects of gentrification – “the shack” in Bushwick, the candy factory in Soho to mention just two of them – others are flourishing elsewhere. Today we have many images from a block known as the Great Wall of Savas in Queens.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Aito Katazaki, A Cool55, Amanda Marie, bunnyM, Dirt Cobain, Hektad, JerkFace, Key Detail, Martian Code Art, Pat Perry, Stikman, Thrashbird, What Will You Leave Behind, and WhisBe.

Top image: Thrashbird at The Great Wall of Savas. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thrashbird at The Great Wall of Savas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thrashbird at The Great Wall of Savas. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thrashbird at The Great Wall of Savas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thrashbird & WhisBe collab at The Great Wall of Savas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pat Perry for Art in Ad Places. “Drop Bones Not Bombs”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jerkface (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amanda Marie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saint Francis reaching out to an Angry Bird – as he would, because he’s a saint. Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Cool55 at The Great Wall of Savas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Cool55 at The Great Wall of Savas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The artist’s name is What Will You Leave Behind. “Email me your heart”(photo © Jaime Rojo)

A small poem in the corner reads, “Email me your heart. Then in the morning while we watch the sun rise, kneeling down by the river, the blood drips freely as we wash our hands clean”

bunnyM (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aito Kitazaki at The Great Wall of Favas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aito Kitazaki for East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Key Detail for East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martian Code Art and Hektad at The Great Wall of Savas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dirt Cobain at The Great Wall of Savas. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Queens, NYC. April 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

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“GO GO GO” BYG in Spain for 12+1 Project

“GO GO GO” BYG in Spain for 12+1 Project

May 6, 2017

Maybe it’s because we just saw Mark Mothersbaugh interviewed live onstage at NYU by Carlo McCormick, but when we saw this mechanically growing text it reminded us of DEVO and Kraftwerk and possibly Dadaist collage. And Russian Constructivists and the Bauhaus.

BYG. GO, GO, GO. Contorno Urbano “12 x 1” 2017. Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

Ding Ding Ding! We knew if we kept guessing we were bound to get it right, right? Patricia and Luis, of the art collective BYG, tell us that their new piece for the 12 + 1 project ”is a tribute that BYG wants to do to Rodchenko and Russian Constructivism.” Made with paper and plastic paint on a wall in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, the renowned illustrators are passionate about collage and have done a number of street interventions using the technique, as well as legally in spanish art festivals like Asalto in Zaragoza, Open Walls in Barcelona or Poliniza in Valencia.

The constructed environment becomes the norm through repetition, so it is refreshing, sometimes jarringly so, to see deconstruction. Says BYG about their new wall,”Collage is what unites and what separates, it is the encounter, the surprise, it is to subvert and decontextualize, it is discovery.” Go Go Go!

BYG. GO, GO, GO. Contorno Urbano “12 x 1” 2017. Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

BYG. GO, GO, GO. Contorno Urbano “12 x 1” 2017. Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

BYG. GO, GO, GO. Contorno Urbano “12 x 1” 2017. Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

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BSA Film Friday: 05.05.17

BSA Film Friday: 05.05.17

May 5, 2017

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. Stick to It, Episode 1 : Sticky Community
2. Ella & Pitr / Frappés Pinpins
3.  Herakut. Nuart Aberdeen.
4. 12 + 1 Oriol Vlat.

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BSA Special Feature: Stick to It, Episode 1 : Sticky Community via Juxtapoz

“People had the same idea I had; ‘I wanna make stickers,’ I wanna put characters on stickers, not necessarily all graffiti, and we’re just gonna trade and we’re gonna put your stickers up in my city and you’re gonna put my stickers up in your city,” says artist El Toro.

“Right now it’s just like a storm.”

Running concurrently while graffiti and Street Art get most of the attention, the sticker slap game may turn out to be the portable protest that may get the most mileage in the end. Once a sly critique of the methodology of brainwashing that advertisers use, in the case of Shepard Fairey’s initial OBEY campaigns, today advertisers mix their messages in with the organic scene as a way to market to fans of it and to burnish their “street” bonafides.

As it turns out, we’ve learned that graffiti and Street Artists use the same methods of repetition and branding to get their name out and the ease and mobility of the sticker practice also means that small voices get into the mix quickly. Keeping it up depends on your industry – and many times your resources. This video highlights the organic artist culture that gave birth to and continues to grows around the stickering practice with guys like Roycer and Chris from Robots Will Kill, and naturally it slips in clothing and lifestyle brands seamlessly to sell you their products and strengthen their name.

 

Ella & Pitr / Frappés Pinpins

The French duo Ella + Pitr here revel in the simplicity of the gestural act of a full-body full-bucket splash of black paint.

Carnal, visceral, overlaid with psychographical information, the motion of splashing inky pigment across a white quadrilateral is an act of defiance and a release of the inner chaos – instantly recognizable as chaos elsewhere in the world.

The uncontrollable quality, especially when purveyed within an atmosphere of prim control, provokes amplified emotions in some. Fear, liberation, rage, release. Which ones will you experience?

 

Herakut. Nuart Aberdeen. Via Fifth Wall TV

“Don’t hide, because you are that light,” a quick summary of Herakut’s singular message in their mural at Nuart Aberdeen. Be a lighthouse bro.

12 + 1 Oriol Vlat.

A simple and clean presentation of Oriol Vlat’s new wall for the 12 + 1 project in Barcelona by video director Alex Miró.

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Skount Depicts “The Golden Ray”

Skount Depicts “The Golden Ray”

May 4, 2017

It may look like a gold medallion doorbell, or a fingerprint scanning ID validator, or an icon to poke to open up a celestial app, but Amsterdam Street Artist Skount says it is about accessing cosmic currents of energy.

Skount. Process shot. Amsterdam, May 2017. (photo © Skount)

That may feel a little esoteric for a Thursday, but then you are painting on a roof above Antiek tattoo studios, and it seems like a good time to reflect upon the Tibetan estoteric master Djwhal Khul. This fresh piece is part of a series of murals inspired by the meditations of the Seven cosmic currents of energy, according to the artist.

Skount. Process shot. Amsterdam, May 2017. (photo © Skount)

“This wall depicts the Golden Ray,” he tells us, and explains that it is a good idea to call upon this energy when there “are groups of children that must be calmed down so they can understand more easily the subject that they are studying.”

Skount. Process shot. Amsterdam, May 2017. (photo © Skount)

Thinking of taking this idea to the local public school up the block here in Brooklyn, because these kids are going crazy due to the fact that it is May and they are more interested in the spring breezes blowing past the windows outside than anything the teacher is saying. But Skount says the flame of the Golden Ray can help. “When you need to reach a Spiritual state of mind and feel ready to receive more special instruction, invoke this Flame and Great Instructors and Divine Intelligences will escort you.”

For more about the seven rays/flames, please click HERE.

Skount. Detail. Amsterdam, May 2017. (photo © Skount)

Skount. Amsterdam, May 2017. (photo © Skount)

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Mong Kok: Hong Kong and a Graffiti Hall Of Fame

Mong Kok: Hong Kong and a Graffiti Hall Of Fame

May 3, 2017

There is a lot you can do in Mong Kok, one of the most commercial and bustling neighborhoods in the Kowloon section of Hong Kong. There’s the Ladies’ Market with more than 100 vendors offering bargains on clothing and accessories, Sneakers Street, which will have you swimming in pumped up kicks, and don’t forget the Bird market – where you find old guys “walking” their birds in cages and see someone feeding live crickets to others.

Kwiz. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Surprisingly left out of most tourist guides however is this hidden patch of organic graffiti that just grows wild in a relatively quiet haven that is actually within this chaotic neighborhood.

Wild Style. Tags. Throwups. Bubble tags. Burners. The occasional burnout.

Wais. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

All is here today gone tomorrow, regularly replenished, some seriously styled. Local names are here, but so are a lot of international names so you know its a go-to spot for traveling vandals. Hidden from the main hustle of the streets and underneath a major viaduct lies a secret alley bursting with color…and trash…and homeless people and art. Some furtive lovers come here to steal a kiss or two.

On the day we went the sweet smell of weed hung in the air as if being blown from some secret pipe to keep the residents of this monstrous city chilled…Some tags we recognize, many other we don’t or simply can’t read.

Wais. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ares. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hadrian. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Graffiti Joiners, MATY. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maty. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miami’s Atomik hosted by XEME. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CWD. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Julien de Casabianca/Outings Project. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Julien de Casabianca/Outings Project. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ryck. Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mongkok: Hong Kong Graffiti Hall of Fame. March, 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Labrona and DB on the Road, Dispatch From Portugal

Labrona and DB on the Road, Dispatch From Portugal

May 2, 2017

“I didn’t get invited to paint anywhere this winter so I made my own street art trip,” says Labrona of his new wheat-pastes in Portugal. “It’s sort of a throw back to before mural festivals, when we just did stuff on the streets.”

Is that Buster Keaton? Labrona and DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

A clear distinction is made thusly, between the multitude of public-private-commercial mural initiatives that artists are participating in these days and the practice of creating Street Art, which is necessarily self initiated, without permission, an autonomous performance or intervention in public space. To merge these terms and practices is to disregard the significance of the distinction between.

Furthermore, this is not new. There just happen to be a lot of mural festivals right now and organizers sometimes misappropriate the term “street art” when in describing events. We can help.

DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

But we’ve digressed a little from Labrona and DB, who took a trip to Lisbon and set up shop. “We rented a place and turned it into a studio for 10 days and made a bunch of wheatpastes,” Labrona says. The figurative, character-driven painted pieces began to appear in this city that is known today as much for its Street Art as it is for its hills.

A painter with a studio practice, DB hadn’t done Street Art previously, says Labrona, so it is interesting to see what choices DB makes for his work here in the public realm where it suffers the indignities of abuse and neglect. As ever, we are also interested whether the placement has a particular contextual component or whether he uses the existing architecture as a framing device.

Labrona and DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

It is also significant to some observers how choices are made for the new wheatpastes to interact with pre-existing graffiti – sometimes in tandem, to the side of or sometimes directly pasted upon it, possibly angering the graff writer, maybe not. Because of the temporary quality of wheatpasted paper, the aerosol work will probably outlive it anyway. Sometimes a big bubble tag seems like an intentional background or co-actor. Other times a quickly dashed tag looks like it is not considered at all.

These are all metrics and filtering devices, and subjective ones at that. How an aesthetic expression hits an individual in that moment of discovery is as real as it gets.

Their dual experiments ended after 10 days and Labrona says he carried on solo for the rest of his trip, with some pieces appearing to have been drawn directly on the walls or doors – which rather lessens the distance between studio practice and street practice.

DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona and DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

This may be Picasso staring angrily from the corner at Labrona’s amorous couple, we aren’t sure. Labrona and DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona and DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona and DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona and DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

DB. Lisbon, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona Porto, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona Porto, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona Porto, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona Porto, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

Labrona Porto, Portugal. Spring 2017 (photo © Labrona)

 

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Working the Cornfields on a Santa Fe Facade with Jetsonorama

Working the Cornfields on a Santa Fe Facade with Jetsonorama

May 1, 2017

Just in time for May 1st, International Workers Day, we find a young member of the Hopi nation planting in his grandfather’s cornfield, thanks to this new project just completed by photographer/street artist Jetsonorama.

 

Chip Thomas. Hawthorne. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Earth Day 2017. (photo © Chip Thomas)

18 year old Hawthorne Hill has learned the traditional Hopi farming technique called “dry farming” from his mom, according to Jetsonorama, and he places seeds in shallow holes, while his sister Metzli creates rows of wind blocks using nearby brush.

The photos are taken on Second Mesa on the Hopi nation, but the artist brings them here to Santa Fe as part of a project he’s doing with Biocultura Santa Fe.

A project originally conceived of as part of Earth Day, with a focus on where our food comes from and traditional farming methods, its good to think of who works to bring food to your table.

Chip Thomas. Hawthorne. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Earth Day 2017. (photo © Chip Thomas)

Chip Thomas. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Earth Day 2017. (photo © John Donalds)

Chip Thomas. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Earth Day 2017. (photo © John Donalds)

Chip Thomas. Andrea Polli. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Earth Day 2017. (photo © Chip Thomas)

 

To learn more about Biocultura click HERE
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