July 2017

Finishing Pieces in Rochester for Wall Therapy 2017: Dispatch 3

Finishing Pieces in Rochester for Wall Therapy 2017: Dispatch 3

With a theme of “Art and Activism”, the 2017 edition of Wall\Therapy is happening mid-summer in Rochester with local and national artists coming to complete murals that keep people in mind. More of a grassroots mural festival than many, this one works to deepen engagement with the community through new programming intended to connect residents of all ages. BSA is happy to support Wall\Therapy again this year and we invite you to take a look at a people-powered organization that continues to keep it real.


Eeerbody get their hands in the air! Dance like you just don’t care!

Sean9Lugo at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Sean9Lugo’s been gesticulating with a victorious pose in Rochester for Wall\Therapy for the last few days, wheat-pasting his human/stuffed animal amalgams on walls here and there. The New Jersey native had to travel a half day to get here but didn’t waste any time or his signature sense of street humor once he arrived. As a collaboration with artist Magnus Champlin he even brought his creatures out to frolic in a pastoral natural setting.

Sean9Lugo for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Saturday’s successful panel discussions and block party have put wind under the wings (and perhaps a couple hangovers) as they work to complete their murals. Todd Stahl’s participation on the activism panel Saturday at Wall\Therapy’s first conference took him away from his wall that is inspired by the plight of refugees world wide, Syrians in particular.

Based in part on images from humanitarian photographer Manar Bilal, the collaged scene includes text, form, and warplanes – an ironic choice that reminds us that wars make refugees and cause suffering, regardless of whose fighting. Stahl is sharing the painting duties with community members and many have been eagering joining in, each bringing their particular style and talent to the overall composition.

Sean9Lugo at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Thematically the festival this year is closer to the ground than previous years, closer to day-to-day issues that affect residents of Roc. With a focus on art and activism – a combination familiar to the Street Art world dating as least as far back as the early billboard jammers – the themes of our systemic racism, LGBTQ issues, women’s rights, families, feminism, the war machine, and the importance of community are all on display with great tact.

Sean9Lugo for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sean9Lugo and Magnus Champlin at work on their collaboration for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Sean9Lugo at work on his collaboration wall with Magnus Champling for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sarah C. Rutherford. Detail. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lucinda Yrene/La Morena. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Lucinda Yrene/La Morena. Detail. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Ian Kuali’i at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

Ian Kuali’i work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Todd Stahl at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Todd Stahl work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

 

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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.30.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.30.17

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

We really dig these new collaged political cartoons that are on the street as quickly as the weeks news – each depicting one of the many rich white men who are impacting our minds and our bank accounts and our health and sense of security right now. Are we watching the White House or Good Fellas? The backstabbing, front stabbing, chicanery, and ongoing systemic tomfoolery makes you wonder who’s actually running things.

The news cycle is hourly it seems, with tweets and personnel changes and threats happening so fast that people are developing PTSD that is triggered by news alerts on the phone. We have to admire any Street Artist who tries to keep up with the developments and get their commentary on a wall.

Many young and old New Yorkers are wincing from high rent, high debts, crumbling infrastructure, and everyone is working longer hours, if they are lucky enough to work. Some just give up. Meanwhile the one plausible healthcare option that many have gained over the last handful of years? – the servants of the rich have been trying to stab it to death – but they couldn’t muster it this week. Even now – Trump says he’ll stand by and watch it die rather than improve it in any way. Have we ever had a leader who is so cynical?

Even Senator McCain – in our top image above – fresh off his tax-payer funded brain cancer surgery, waivered this week before providing the pivotal vote that saved healthcare for 20 million or so. Most GOP Senators ignored the majority of the US citizens who implored them to fix Obamacare not nix it. But their bank accounts proved far more important than our health. The rich and their corporations are flooding our entire political system and only after we get their money out would we be able to call the USA a democracy. Otherwise we are just fooling ourselves.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Bifido, El Sol 25, Jarus, London Kaye, Luna Park, Miss17, MSK, Myth, Otto Schade, Rime, SikaOne, Solus, Sonni, Spy33, and Wonderpuss Octopus.

Top image: Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sonni (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Solus for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sidka One (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Otto OSCH Schade “Taurus” in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Otto Osch Shade)

Otto OSCH Schade “Taurus” in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Otto Osch Shade)

Otto OSCH Schade paints a small Snoopy and Woodstock on a sunsent in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Otto Osch Shade)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miss 17 with unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rime . MSK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bifido for Oltremare Festival in San Cataldo, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

“In this area the government is building a gas pipeline and to do it they are cutting many olive trees. Part of the local economy is based on olive oil production, so people are fighting for preserve their lands and trees. I wanted to address this situation with my artwork.” -Bifido

Bifido for Oltremare Festival in San Cataldo, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

Bifido for Oltremare Festival in San Cataldo, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

Luna Park for #resistanceisfemale (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. We want to attribute this to Mr. Toll but we don’t think this is his work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jarus for Art Untied Us in Kiev. Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

“This mural depicts a woman sitting at the window sill and reaching outwards. Turning the wall into a window is a metaphor for opening your mind and heart towards new ideas and concepts. The woman is in a red dress because I felt it would compositionally fit into the area of the wall and surrounding buildings.”-Jarus

Jarus for Art Untied Us in Kiev. Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

El sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Spy33 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wonderpuss Octopus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. Looks a lot like JMR work but we don’t think it is his. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Boots on the NYC Subway. March, 2017. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Wall Therapy 2017: An Intersection of Art, Celebration and People Power : Dispatch 2

Wall Therapy 2017: An Intersection of Art, Celebration and People Power : Dispatch 2

With a theme of “Art and Activism”, the 2017 edition of Wall\Therapy is happening mid-summer in Rochester with local and national artists coming to complete murals that keep people in mind. More of a grassroots mural festival than many, this one works to deepen engagement with the community through new programming intended to connect residents of all ages. BSA is happy to support Wall\Therapy again this year and we invite you to take a look at a people-powered organization that continues to keep it real.


Wall\Therapy is progressing very nicely right now with three members of Rochesters’ youth mural program doing self portraits.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Etana Brown, Nzinga Muhammed, and Kaori-Mei Stephens are each 17 years old and are focusing the message that All Black Lives Matter. Elsewhere Jess X Snow is doing a portrait of transgender poet Chrysanthemum Tran and muralist Sarah C. Rutherford honors all mothers with her portrait of Trelawney McCoy, a celebrated Rochester native who has opened her home to children through adoption and fostering. The mural is part of Rutherford’s “Her Voice Carries” project.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Today is the inaugural Wall\Therapy conference featuring Keynote speaker Jessica Pabón-Colón and a full day of panels and discussions and a project room featuring representatives from other community-based art programs and social justice/relief organizations such as the O+ Festival, WXXI, The Ghandi Institute, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Refugees Helping Refugees, Flying Squirrel Community Space and the Visual Studies Workshop.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Tonight is the block party, a summertime celebration with Kaleidoscope Collective, a local artist space that will include an artist market, an official revealing of the murals by Aubrey Roemer and Jess X Snow, food trucks, live art, and music from Danielle Ponder and the Tomorrow People. Check out this video by the ebullient and classy Ms. Ponder performing with this talented local family of friends with an inspirational tagline, “Live Your Life, Love Your Life.”

Jess X Snow at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Jess X Snow at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Jess X Snow at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Jess X Snow. Work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sarah C. Rutherford at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sarah C. Rutherford. Detail. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Sarah C. Rutherford. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

Ian Kuali’i at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

“Yesterday was super productive. I was able to paste up everything for Rochester’s new hand cut paper mural and starting today I begin the actual process…weather permitting naturally…,” says Ian Kuali’i on his Facebook page.

Ian Kuali’i at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Ian Kuali’i at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Aubrey Roemer. Work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lucinda Yrene/La Morena. Work in progress Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lucinda Yrene/La Morena. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Todd Stahl. Work in progress Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

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BSA Film Friday: 07.28.17

BSA Film Friday: 07.28.17

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance
2. Nomad Clan: “Athenas Rising” in the UK
3. DERMA TAPE// Tape Art Installation by TAPE OVER in Berlin
4. The Vanderbilt Republic x Ashton Worthington “RESIST”

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: GRAFSTRACT: The Bronx Street Art Renaissance

“It’s happening here and now. It’s in the Bronx,” says Sinxero, born and raised Bronx native, artist and entrepreneur in this short documentary about his TAG Public Arts Project. The film captures some of the artists he has worked with, names that many will recognize including James “Sexer” Rodriguez, Luis “Zimad” Lamboy, the Baltimore-based street art duo of Chris Stain and Billy Mode and legendary NYC graffiti artist John “Crash” Matos.

Local Pride, Yo! Respect to Sinxero for taking his work and his community so seriously – shout out to his wife and daughter on the camera tip and of course to Dan Perez, who wrote, directed, shot and edited.

Nomad Clan: “Athenas Rising” in the UK

Nomad Clan says they’ve just created the tallest mural in the UK, with an owls’ watchful eye keeping track of the citizenry below. At 46 meters above street level, who can argue?

DERMA TAPE// Tape Art Installation by TAPE OVER

Tape artist collective TAPE OVER just completed this installation in Berlin which they are claiming also sets a world record as the” largest transportable tape artwork”. With 50 panels covered with dynamic geometric patterning in this lobby you’ll agree that it certainly is impressive.

 

The Vanderbilt Republic x Ashton Worthington “RESIST”

A great reverse projection mapping project in Brooklyn and easily visible from street level and the subway platform overhead, the art space called Gowanus Loft is hosting artist Ashton Worthington with the written word in collaboration with George Del Barrio. They refer to this digital projection as an evolving, purposeful lamp “in the darkness of xenophobic fearmongering and kakistocratic greed.”

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Wall Therapy 2017 Under Way! Local-Heavy Artist Roster Brings Spirit of Community to Rochester

Wall Therapy 2017 Under Way! Local-Heavy Artist Roster Brings Spirit of Community to Rochester

With a theme of “Art and Activism”, the 2017 edition of Wall\Therapy is happening mid-summer in Rochester with local and national artists coming to complete murals that keep people in mind. More of a grassroots mural festival than many, this one works to deepen engagement with the community through new programming intended to connect residents of all ages. BSA is happy to support Wall\Therapy again this year and we invite you to take a look at a people-powered organization that continues to keep it real.


Aubrey Roemer, La Morena, Roc Paint Division, Sarah Rutherford, and Todd Stahl have already begun work with gusto (!) on their walls as the 2017 edition of Wall\Therapy gets into full swing right now in the city of Rochester in northwestern New York State.

Sarah Rutherford at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Begun by Dr. Ian Wilson a handful of years ago and joined by professional partner Erich Lehman as co-producer, the community level interventions of murals throughout the city have been a metaphorical analogue to the medical programs he has championed, including providing high-tech teleradiology services to underserved communities here and abroad. Thinking of artists as healers and artworks as a kind of therapy for a community, Wall\Therapy takes on a unique personality among the mural festivals that are currently happening in cities around the world.

Sarah Rutherford. Work in progress. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

This years’ collection of artists is keeping it very local, with a few exceptions from elsewhere in the US. Organizers say they are looking to deepen their engagement with Rochester’s communities through new programming intended to connect Rochester residents of all ages and all walks of life – including a new conference component. “Arts & Activism” will feature speakers and panels organized around topics like social change, community activism, and creative practice.

Todd Stahl. Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

No doubt many will be interested in the keynote on Saturday by Dr. Jessica Pabón-Colón, Assistant Professor for Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at SUNY New Paltz. She’ll be talking about her upcoming book “Graffiti Grrlz: Performing Feminism in the Hip Hop Diaspora” and she’ll examine how contemporary street and graffiti art movements have responded critically to the demands of the creative neoliberal city, with examples of works to provoke thought on the relationship between aesthetics and politics.

Todd Stahl at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Over the next week BSA will be bringing you progress shots and finished walls in this community-centric, volunteer infused festival that merges the aesthetics of community murals with the influences of today’s Street Art scene.

Wall\Therapy 2017 artists include Aubrey Roemer, La Morena, Todd Stahl, Ian Kuali’I, Sarah C. Rutherford, Jess X Snow, Sean 9 Lugo, and Roc Paint Division.

Our very special thanks to photographers Mark Deff, Lisa Barker, Jason Wilder, and Thomas Flint for sharing their images of the action for BSA readers.

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Lisa Barker)

Roc Paint Division at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Tomas Flint)

Aubrey Roemer at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Aubrey Roemer with some little help for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Aubrey Roemer work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

Lucinda at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Jason Wilder)

Lucinda at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Josh Saunders)

Lucinda work in progress for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Mark Deff)

La Morena at work for Wall Therapy 2017. Rochester, NY. (photo © Ted Wong)

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Martyn Reed Calls Us to “Rise Up” for Nuart Festival 2017

Martyn Reed Calls Us to “Rise Up” for Nuart Festival 2017

The news out of Nuart 2017 is splendiforous and we are feeling celebratorious. These irregularly formed adjectives are in good company with the mismatched yet harmoniously woven characters who together have again selected and summoned artists, academics, kooks and cultural workers to Stavanger for a September synergy of Street Art, public art, and myriad interventionist ideas. It is a highly particular hybrid germinated, conjured, emancipated perhaps, by the free-form and analytical mind of its Founder and Director Martyn Reed. While sowing Nuart seeds spectacularly on the shores of Aberdeen earlier this spring, it is here in Stavanger where the new ideas germinate, are nurtured and given latitude. It is also where the tortoises of conventional thinking are happily rolled onto their backs, little webbed feet waving. We’re pleased today on BSA to publish Martyn’s new manifesto in preparation for Nuart’s festival this autumn in Norway so one might better appreciate the ruminations behind and development of this year’s theme.


RISE UP!

Nuart produces both temporary and long-term public artworks as well as facilitates dialogue and action between a global network of artists, academics, journalists and policy makers surrounding street art practice. Our core goal is to help redefine how we experience both contemporary and public art practice: to bring art out of museums, galleries and public institutions onto the city streets and to use emerging technologies, to activate a sense of public agency in the shaping of our cities.

Outside of Nuart Festival, our growing portfolio of projects represents an on-going art and education program that seeks to improve the conditions for, and skills to produce, new forms of public art both in Stavanger and further afield. For us, public spaces outside conventional arts venues offer one of the richest, most diverse and rewarding contexts in which this can happen.

Vermibus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Our work is guided by our belief in the capacity for the arts to positively change, enhance and inform the way we think about and interact with each other and the City.

The Real Power of Street Art

Nuart festival presents an annual paradigm of hybridity in global sanctioned and unsanctioned street art practice. Through a series of large and human scale public artworks, murals, performances, art tours, workshops, academic debates, education programs, film screenings and urban interventions, supported by a month long exhibition of installations, Nuart explores the convergence points between art, public space and the emergent technologies that are giving voice and agency to a new and more creative civilian identity, an identity that exists somewhere between citizen, artist and activist.

The real power of “street art” is being played out daily on walls, buildings, ad shelters and city squares the world over, and it’s now obvious that state institutions can neither contain nor adequately represent the fluidity of this transgressive new movement. As the rest of the world begins to accept the multiplicity of new public art genres, it is becoming more apparent, that street art resists both classification and containment. The question is, not how can this inherently public art movement be modified or replicated to fit within the confines of a civic institutional or gallery model, but how can the current model for contemporary art museums, galleries and formulaic public art programs, be re-examined to conform with the energy of this revolutionary new movement in visual art practice.

John Fekner in Stavanger (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In the 1990’s, Situationist concepts developed by philosopher Guy Debord, surrounding the nature of “The City”, “Play” and the “Spectacle”, alongside sociologist Henri Lefebvre’s theories exploring the rights to shape our own public and mental space, came together to form an emergent adbusting “artivism”, which now forms the foundation of street art practice. Radical cultural geographer David Harvey has stated, “The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources, it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city”.

It is here, at the intersection between philosophy, geography, architecture, sociology, politics and urbanism, that Nuart situates itself, it exists as a critique of the colonization of everyday life by commodity and consumerism, whilst recognizing that one of the only radical responses left, is to jettison the hegemonic, discursive and gated institutional response to capitalism, and engage it directly where it breeds and infects the most, in our urban centers.

Know Hope (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The challenge for a new and relevant public art isn’t to attempt to negate capitalisms neoliberal market logics with an ever more dominant liberal discourse, both are ultimately mired in a conflict that on the surface simply serves to feed the polarization and spectacle that we’re attempting to transcend. What we need is the active participation of citizens in the creation of their own holistically imagined environments, both physical and mental, a direct and collective response to space that leads to the shaping of place. A place in which the disengaged and passive citizens desired and ever more manipulated by market forces, are inspired to re-make themselves. Nuart proposes that the production of art in public spaces outside conventional arts venues offers the community, not only the most practical, but also the richest, most relevant and rewarding contexts in which this can happen.

It is in this “remaking” of self, this deep desire to engage with the world, to develop civic agency and purpose, that transcends identity, gender and class, and enables those locked out of the arts by a post-Adorno obscurant lexicon (eh?), that street art delivers. It offers an opportunity to reconnect, not only with art, but also with each other. Hundreds of people covering a vast swathe of demographics, from toddlers and single moms to refugees and property barons, on a street art tour conversing with each other, are testament to this.

 

±maismenos± (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

We believe that when you want to challenge the powerful, you must change the story, it’s this DIY narrative embedded within street art practice, that forms the bonding agent for stronger social cohesion between citizens from a multiplicity of cultures, as our lead artist for 2017, Bahia Shehab will attest. It is this narrative, that is acting as the catalytic agent towards street art becoming a vehicle capable of generating changes in politics as well as urban consciousness.

The question of what kind of city we want cannot be divorced from what kind of person we want to be. The transformation of urban space creates changes in urban life, the transformation of one, being bound to the transformation of the other. What social ties, relationship to nature, lifestyles, technologies, art and aesthetic values we desire, are closely linked to the spaces we inhabit. The “banalization” of current city space, combined with the numbing effect of digital devices that guide us from A to B, have rendered us passive. Consumer cows sucking at the teat of capital trapped in a dichotomy between left and right, instead of right and wrong. And for the most, the hegemonic islands of sanitised cultural dissent we call Art Institutions, are either unable or uninterested, in engaging with the general public in any meaningful way.

 

Ricky Lee Gordon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In the early 2000’s, the evocative power of certain already existing and often crumbling industrial interzones, including that of Tou Scene, our main exhibition space, one that we were instrumental in establishing, gave rise to a new form of engagement with art in urban spaces that is only now being fully recognized and exploited. Street Art is at times of course co-opted and complicit with the “creative destruction” that the gentrification process engenders, but Capitalism’s continuous attempt to “instrumentalize” everything, including our relationship to art should be vigorously resisted. It is these “Stalker-esque” zones of poetic resistance, that initially gave shelter to one of the first truly democratic , non-hierarchical and anti-capitalist art forms, and unlike most cultural institutions, it is still, for the most, unafraid to voice this opinion, important in a time when even our art institutions are beginning to resemble houses of frenzied consumption. Street art exists to contest rather than bolster the prevailing status quo. As such, it is picking up as many enemies as friends within the field of public art.

By attempting to transform the city, street art attempts to transform life, and though by no means is all street art overtly political, it does, in it’s unsanctioned form at least, challenge norms and conventions regulating what is acceptable use of public space. In particular, it opposes commercial advertising’s dominion over urban surfaces, an area that Nuart are active in “taking over” throughout the year and in particular during the festival period. Our curating initiatives not only aim to encourage a re-evaluation of how we relate to our urban surroundings, but to also question our habitual modes of thinking and acting in those spaces. Street art is not just art using the streets as an artistic resource, but also an art that is questioning our habitual use of public space. Street art doesn’t simply take art out of the context of the museum, it does so whilst hacking spaces for art within our daily lives that encourage agency and direct participation from the public, “Everyone an artist” as Joseph Beuys would have it, and if it is accussed of being produced without academic rigour, we are reminded that he also asked, “Do we want a revolution without laughter?”.

Nuart’s programs are designed specifically to explore and silently challenge the mechanisms of power and politics in public space. Increasingly, we see the rights to the city falling into the hands of private and special interest groups, and yet, we have no real coherent opposition to the worst of it. The 20th Century was replete with radical Utopic manifestos calling for change, from Marinetti’s Futurist manifesto of 1909 to Murakami’s “Superflat” of 2000. Nuart’s annual academic symposium, Nuart Plus, acts as a platform for a resurgency in utopic thinking around both city development and public art practice, and whilst recognizing that street art is often co-opted and discredited by capital, it also recognises that even the most amateur work, is indispensable in stimulating debate and change in a Modern society that has developed bureaucracies resistant to seeing art, once more, as part of our everyday life.

As the Situationst graffiti scrawled on Parisian walls in 1968 stated, Beauty is in the streets, so Rise Up! and support those dedicated to unleashing one of the most powerful communicative practices known to mankind, there’s work for art to be done in the world amongst the living.

Martyn Reed, July 2017



Artists scheduled to participate in Nuart Festival 2017:
Ampparito (ES), Bahia Shehab (EG), Carrie Reichardt (UK), flyingleaps presents Derek Mawudoku (UK), Ian Strange (AU), John Fekner (US), Know Hope (IL), ±maismenos± (PT), Igor Ponosov (RU), Ricky Lee Gordon (ZA), Slava Ptrk (RU) and Vermibus (DE).

 

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Jeremy Fish and “Happily Ever After”

Jeremy Fish and “Happily Ever After”

If you missed his show this month with Jonathan Levine, you can comfort yourself with a copy of his book Happily Ever After, which gets you promptly inside the head the storytelling Jeremy Fish.

Jeremy Fish “Happily Ever After” The Artwork of Jeremy Fish.

It’s unusual to see his work in New York (or in this case New Jersey) since after leaving Upstate New York nearly two decades ago this fine artist/commercial illustrator has been dancing in the arms of San Francisco. You think we’re being poetic about his West Coast cred, but he literally illustrated 100 drawings in SF City Hall over 100 days, was awarded with his own “Jeremy Fish” day by the city, might have the record for the most shows at Upper Playground Gallery, and has even collaborated with a cannabis company to create a branded oil and vape pen.

Jeremy Fish “Happily Ever After” The Artwork of Jeremy Fish.

You can see the influence of skater culture, tattoo culture, and Street Art/graffiti in his crisp aesthetic that brings animals, skulls, camping, and the chill life to every design and fantasy. Bombing around in a 1976 Dodge Van with a dream catcher hanging off the rearview mirror is not just a mindset for Fish, it is a natural fact. It’s also a symbol for his wandering spirit.

With exactitude and whimsy and a bit of sarcasm wending its way through this handsome hardcover, you can get an insight into the paintings, screen prints, sculpture and murals that Fish did over a recent 6 year period. Naturally it ended Happily Ever After.

Jeremy Fish “Happily Ever After” The Artwork of Jeremy Fish.

Jeremy Fish “Happily Ever After” The Artwork of Jeremy Fish.

Jeremy Fish “Happily Ever After” The Artwork of Jeremy Fish.

Jeremy Fish “Happily Ever After” The Artwork of Jeremy Fish.

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Icy & Sot, Land Art on Utsira Island, Norway.

Icy & Sot, Land Art on Utsira Island, Norway.

An essential element of creating works on the street or in the public sphere is having the latitude to discover and experiment. Here on Utsira Island in Norway the Street Art brothers Icy & Sot have been discovering ways to work with the garbage that the sea brings to the shores.

Icy & Sot. Utsira Island, Norway. July 2017. (photo © Icy & Sot)

It’s an interesting way to spend your time when there is not really a street culture of any sort on this island where the total population is less than can fit into a subway car. Nonetheless the garbage that the artists were able to collect among these rolling hills of waving green grasses reminded them of the cities they’ve traveled to and made artwork for.

Somewhere along the way the guys Street Art practice has morphed into Land art, a movement quite separate from graffiti and Street Art, yet another one that was at least in part started by New York artists who were getting out of the city in the 1960s and 70s. Rather then manipulating the Earth directly, however, I&S are using as a canvas.

Icy & Sot. Utsira Island, Norway. July 2017. (photo © Icy & Sot)

Here at the water’s edge and far from the urban scene, Icy & Sot experiment with these found objects to further their examination of environmental matters, a theme they have often spoken to in their Street Art work.

“Norway is one of the most environmentally friendly nations on earth,” says Icy, “Especially Utsira which is a super clean and magical Island with 211 people living on it. It is frustrating to see all this plastic waste on the shores. This could have been dumped in the ocean in any part of the world, and if we collected it from the entire island it would create a huge mountain of plastic.”

Icy & Sot. Utsira Island, Norway. July 2017. (photo © Icy & Sot)

One man’s garbage is another man’s art materials, so the artists show us here sculptural works and installations that they created while there.

“We did some interventions, installations about the environment and the plastic pollution,” says Sot. “We made all the works by using garbage that we collected with the islanders from a very small section of a shore in the island. In an hour we were able to collect so much plastic, there was everything you can think of that is made out of plastic; gasoline cans, soda/water bottles, shampoo, slippers …”

Icy & Sot. Utsira Island, Norway. July 2017. (photo © Icy & Sot)

Icy & Sot. Utsira Island, Norway. July 2017. (photo © Icy & Sot)

Icy & Sot. Utsira Island, Norway. July 2017. (photo © Icy & Sot

“Warming Warning”, by Icy & Sot

 

Icy & Sot. Utsira Island, Norway. July 2017. (photo © Icy & Sot)

“Human Reflection On The Ocean”, by Icy & Sot

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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.23.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.23.17

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Alexis Diaz, Below Key, Bia Does NYC, Blox, Ceas, City Kitty, Donut, Drsc0, El Sol 25, Kimyon333, LDLR, Lego To The Party, Loa Jib Lazee, London Kaye, Lunge Box, Mr. Fijodor, Myth, Pat69, Pixote, Willow and Witch Christ.

Top image: Alexis Diaz. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alexis Diaz. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alexis Diaz. Coney Art Walls 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alexis Diaz. Detail. Coney Art Walls 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alexis Diaz. Detail. Coney Art Walls 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Girls in their summer skirts strike a pose. London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentifed Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty . Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentifed Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Below Key (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“No Clothing except socks 10 pm to 4 am. Underwear mandatory on Sun as required by Law” Did you get that? Thank you. Unidentifed Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Witch Christ (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Drsc0 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LDLR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Fijodor in Camposanto, Modena, Italy. July 2017. (photo © Mr. Fijodor)

Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Is this David Cho wearing a C215 stencil of Patty Smith? Just a guess. Unidentifed Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not hard to visualize actually. Unidentifed Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kimyon333 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Donut . Pat69 . Ceas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Vegan Squad (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Willow comes back for a little Father and Son portrait (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bia Does NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blox . Lego To The Party (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lola Jib Lazee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Homelessness in NYC. Manhattan, NY. July 2017.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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“Lost Optics” and his Post-Graffiti Mural for SISF Festival in Sibiu, Romania

“Lost Optics” and his Post-Graffiti Mural for SISF Festival in Sibiu, Romania

Found!

Here in Sibiu, Romania for the 3rd International Street Art Festival is an artist named Lost Optics.

Lost Optics Gestaltism at International Street Art Festival Sibiu 2017, Romania. (photo © courtesy of Lost Optics)

“My proposal for this year’s mural is a kind of post-graffiti,” says the Bucharest-based member of Sweet Damage Crew, using a term being bandied about by scholars and academics these days to describe the period we are now in, as well as the number of art practices being employed on the street today.

Lost Optics Gestaltism at International Street Art Festival Sibiu 2017, Romania. (photo © courtesy of Lost Optics)

An fan and experienced practitioner of the traditional graffiti letter form, Lost Optics says that he is updating his personal practice by defragmenting them – perhaps feeding them through a refracting optic glass? With modern elements of glitch and pixel art, you can see how this new mural may be his interpretation of urban in the context of digital media.

The festival is produced by the ART FACTORY Transylvania Association, a group of artists and professionals who are interested in promoting the city as well as bringing art to the youth in this picturesque 13th century metropolis of 425,000 in southern Romania with winding cobblestone streets, Germanic architecture, the Brukental Palace, Evangelical Cathedral and Bukenthal National Museum.

 

Lost Optics Gestaltism at International Street Art Festival Sibiu 2017, Romania. (photo © courtesy of Lost Optics)

The murals created this year by two dozen local and international artists are added to those of the first two Sibiu Street Art festivals for a full fledged two hour bicycle tour. These pieces of course are fully realized legal murals: Not sure where to go to see actual Street Art, but local writers and crews can surely show you the way.

Lost Optics Gestaltism at International Street Art Festival Sibiu 2017, Romania. (photo © courtesy of Lost Optics)

Lost Optics Gestaltism at International Street Art Festival Sibiu 2017, Romania. (photo © courtesy of Lost Optics)

2017 SISF artists include:

Camilo (Pt)
Otto Constantin
Ștefan Radu Crețu
D 21
Homeboyldj
Jabra 22
John.S
Kaps Crew
Kero
Kitră
Lost Optics
Lucian Sandu Milea
Luchian
Ocu
Ortaku
Pandele
Pisica Pătrată
Mircea Popescu
Robert Roca
Sweet Damage Crew
The Orion
Ana Toma
Urka (It)
Wasp Elder (UK)


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BSA Film Friday: 07.21.17

BSA Film Friday: 07.21.17

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. Jessie + Katey Cover a House Completely in Massachusetts
2. Fabio Petani in Kiev, Ukraine
3. Ampparito in Walthamstow, North London
4. Chris Wunderlich in Portland: Painting with an overcast sky
5. The Future of Cities

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: Jessie + Katey Cover a House Completely

Bringing art to the public sphere is dicey when you have to be on the run – but that is how some vandals self-style. Others think of the work as a big open-air craft project and are happy to engage with the public. During their month long residency in Allston, Massachusetts in May, Jessie + Katey covered an entire building on Western Avenue with colorful geometries. They’ve been transforming large public spaces with their projects for six years, and each site-specific art installation redefines the relationship between you and the location – often making both more engaged.

 

Fabio Petani – Kiev- Art United Us

We posted the images and some background of Fabio Petani’s new wall earlier this week (Fabio Petani and the Golden Light in Kiev for Art United Us) and now we have the sweet video to accompany it.

Painting with Ampparito in Walthamstow, North London

Spanish Street Artist Ampparito sits with Doug from Fifth Wall to talk about his singular image of a typical Spanish napkin that would be recognizable to his countrymen and countrywomen but not necessarily to people in this neighborhood. See him soon here when we bring you the action at Nuart in Norway this September.

 

Chris Wunderlich in Portland: On how it is much better to paint with an overcast sky

A strangely named architectural creation called the Fair-Haired Dumbell in Portland, Oregon also has the distinction of being a radically patterned double full-building mural under creation this summer. A quick talk with muralist Chris Wunderlich gives you insight into some of the logistics.

The Future of Cities from Oscar Boyson

For urban planners and designers and, well, the rest of us: A quick paced and riveting examination of the urban environment and how it is likely to change in global locations as cities become the place where the majority of human populations live.

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Louis Masai in Shanghai with a Red Panda Talking About Deforestation

Louis Masai in Shanghai with a Red Panda Talking About Deforestation

New images today of a red panda painted by artist Louis Masai in Shanghai. The quilt piece covered animal rises from street level with an endangered bee nearby ready to stitch him together. The image is familiar to anyone familiar with Masai’s work of publicizing species who are endangered around the world.

Louis Masai. Red Panda. Endangered & threatened by deforestation & climate change. Color Way Of Love. Shanghai, China. July 2017. (photo © courtesy of Louis Masai)

His first time in Asia, the Londoner says he was impressed with the trucks washing and cleaning the streets twice a day in Shanghai while he was painting. He also says air quality was quite challenging. When he wasn’t painting he did a bit of sightseeing as well.

“There are pockets of city life protected for the tourists and they have great historical value,” says Masai. “They are stunning with the Yu Garden in particular showcasing a fine example of indoor and outdoor living working in perfect harmony.” But much of Masai’s work is about animals threatened by our disharmonious ways.

Louis Masai. Red Panda. Endangered & threatened by deforestation & climate change. Color Way Of Love. Shanghai, China. July 2017. (photo © courtesy of Louis Masai)

He says he chose the red panda as a focal point because of its endangered status in China due primarily to deforestation and destruction of its natural habitat. “There are many reasons for their decline; from overpopulating humans, to canine disease. Perhaps the worst impacting factor is deforestation,” he says.

“Pandas mostly eat bamboo and the lack of growth after the flowering season, due to increased deforestation, leaves the pandas with a severe lack of food.”

Louis Masai. Red Panda. Endangered & threatened by deforestation & climate change. Color Way Of Love. Shanghai, China. July 2017. (photo © courtesy of Louis Masai)

Louis Masai. Red Panda. Endangered & threatened by deforestation & climate change. Color Way Of Love. Shanghai, China. July 2017. (photo © courtesy of Louis Masai)

Louis Masai. Red Panda. Endangered & threatened by deforestation & climate change. Color Way Of Love. Shanghai, China. July 2017. (photo © courtesy of Louis Masai)

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