November 2017

Vandalizing Mario Testino in Berlin, at Helmut Newton Foundation

Vandalizing Mario Testino in Berlin, at Helmut Newton Foundation

November 18, 2017

Now that we are closing the exhibition, how would you like to vandalize it?

Mimi Scholz . Mario Testino “Undressed” Helmut Newton Foundation. Berlin. One Day Only Street Art Intervention curated by @strychninberlin. (photo courtesy @strychninberlin)

That’s basically what Yasha Young said to three artists this week in Berlin.

Of course Hera from Herakut said yes, having caught a few tags in her career. So did Mimi Scholz and Sandra Chevrier, studio artists who have done some work on the street and jumped at the idea – Chevrier actually flew from Montreal just to fool around with these sexy portraits. Together, the three have made a beautifully tattooed and magic mess of all of your favorite iconic photographs by Mario Testino in this exhibition called “Undressed”.

Mimi Scholz . Mario Testino “Undressed” Helmut Newton Foundation. Berlin. One Day Only Street Art Intervention curated by @strychninberlin. (photo courtesy @strychninberlin)

“Because of the huge scale of my work in this show,” says Testino, “and the way it’s applied directly to the walls like wallpaper – I felt like we had no choice but to experiment with vandalizing before taking it down.” As anyone in the Street Art world can tell you, some of the best results come from unconventional experimentation.

The Helmut Newton Foundation probably wasn’t open to the idea of big fire-extinguisher tags sprayed across its walls and various sundry surfaces, but like the fluid aesthetics of the Street Art world, the 5 meter tall photos now have plenty interventions or “collaborations” that effectively transform the meanings of the original Testino images.

Mimi Scholz . Mario Testino “Undressed” Helmut Newton Foundation. Berlin. One Day Only Street Art Intervention curated by @strychninberlin. (photo courtesy @strychninberlin)

“We tested with pens, aerosol spray, paints, scratches, markers, paste-ups and chalk,” says curator Young, who scored the final day of this stunning photography exhibition to effectively flip the script. “The three artists managed to change the original intention and subject into entirely new stories and perspectives. With texts and poetry, some sharp wit, and incredible talent – this show is mind blowing.”

Somehow it makes perfect sense for this boundary-pushing photographer to let his work be pushed further by three artists who have been pushing the imposed/accepted limits of street culture for the last decade or more, each willing to provoke when necessary.

Hera . Mario Testino “Undressed” Helmut Newton Foundation. Berlin. One Day Only Street Art Intervention curated by @strychninberlin. (photo courtesy @strychninberlin)

Scholz routinely pokes fun at all the cliches of female psyche, while Chevrier points at the superficiality of image forced upon girls and women, and Hera’s critiques of all manner of hypocrisy softly lacerates with the phrasing of a poet. All three are ready to play with sexuality and emotion, a perfect combination with the world summoned by this starkly sensual show, which Helmut Newton Foundation curator Matthias Harder describes as “filling the rooms with bodies and emotions in a sensational way.”

In case you’re wondering, all art work will be destroyed after the close of the exhibition, say the organizers; a perfect parallel to the ephemeral nature of art on the street.

Our thanks to Ms. Young for these exclusive photos of Sunday’s show just for BSA readers.

Sandra Chevrier . Mario Testino “Undressed” Helmut Newton Foundation. Berlin. One Day Only Street Art Intervention curated by @strychninberlin. (photo courtesy @strychninberlin)

Sandra Chevrier . Mario Testino “Undressed” Helmut Newton Foundation. Berlin. One Day Only Street Art Intervention curated by @strychninberlin. (photo courtesy @strychninberlin)

HELMUT NEWTON FOUNDATION
Museum of Photography
Jebensstrasse 2 / 10623 Berlin
info@helmut-newton-foundation.org
www.helmut-newton.com
phone +49 30 3186 4856

For more information about the ONE DAY ONLY event click HERE

For more information about the Helmut Newton Foundation click HERE

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BSA Film Friday: 11.17.17

BSA Film Friday: 11.17.17

November 17, 2017

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. We’re Street (Somos Rua) – Rollerblading as Urban Art and Performance
2. PEZA – Yoseba MP
3. Don’t Fret Does Commercial Gig for Sports Team
4. “Complex Meshes” Miguel Chevalier, Fabian Forban, Krista Kim, REO

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: We’re Street (Somos Rua) – Rollerblading as Urban Art and Performance

We marvel at, seriously dig, these Rio-based daredevils on rollerblades, adapting the equipment and pushing their physical limits to produce an urban art, a street sport, an adventurous full body poetry of the city.

When you see a sequence of repeated tries to master a stunt here, you can also appreciate the perseverance.

“We care about the satisfaction of a successful stunt, a photo or a video that carries the identity of each member, for we all are different, but, in the end, We’re STREET (RUA).” #SOMOSRUA

Patinadores / Riders: Tony Gonçalves, Nei Neves, Van Souza, Danyel Araujo, Fernando Areas, and Fabio Carneiro

PEZA – Yoseba MP

Dude, it’s your grandma with a basket of produce on her head, surveying the scene with her binoculars. What is not to like as you watch Joseba Muruzábal, aka Yoseba MP, from Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain’s Galicia region, turn this senior into a superhero with superhuman powers.

It’s all part of enPEZAS Proxecto de Arte Pública y Partcipación Cidadá – a project of public art and citizen participation

Don’t Fret Does Commercial Gig for Sports Team

Humungus tax breaks for sports stadiums and tickets so expensive that everyday families can’t see a game – All that aside, it still tickles the ardent Don’t Fret fan to see the wheels turning in his head while the creative director spouts forth about this “activation” he does on a Chicago wall.

 

“Complex Meshes” Miguel Chevalier, Fabian Forban, Krista Kim, REO

A large scale inside projection in Jacksonville, Florida that exposes a universe of networks with a mesh of three-dimensional vertices, edges, polygons expanding and peeling off and de-constructing as the viewer physically interrupts and sets off reactions – genuine first person disruptors.

“Within this vital flow, everything floats about, branches out, always turning into something else through the interweaving of multiple lines of colored light, layered networks, and varied pathways. Elements are attracted and repelled by one another, creating a breathing-like rhythm of dilation and contraction.”

 

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And The Winner Is… ESCIF ! (Barcelona Dispatch 2)

And The Winner Is… ESCIF ! (Barcelona Dispatch 2)

November 16, 2017

This week BSA is in Barcelona to participate in the Contorno Urbano competition to select an artist for a new community mural and residency in the municipality of Sant Feliu de Llobregat – and of course to see the famed Barcelona Street Art scene as it continues to evolve.

Street Artist ESCIF is Chosen as Contorno Urbano Winner.

From 300 to 12 to 1, we have a winner.

The final phase of the judging process was the meeting of the citizens who have a stake in the outcome that far outstrips the considered analysis of experts in the Street Art/ Public Art world. Four veteran members of the Sant Feliu De Llobregat Neighborhood Association generously shared their personal oral history recounting the struggles of this neighborhood that coincided with the passing of Franco in the 1970s.

Theirs is a story of people’s struggle; a coalescing neighborhood’s movement to fight for self determination, democracy, education, health, women’s rights, union rights, human rights, and yes, the right to public space in battles against the dictatorship and powerful private interests. Hearing these people talk was illuminating, educational, and inspiring – as was our visit to the Plaza De La Salut (La Salut Square), itself a result of the neighbors fight for public space against moneyed interests who wanted to build a huge gas station there in 1977.

After reading through close to 300 submissions and asking 12 to submit specific proposals, a thoughtful deliberation and strict voting process took place among an assembled panel of Mónica Campana, Verónica Werckmesiter, Fernando Figueroa, Esteban MarÍn and Jaime Rojo.

The chosen proposal was submitted by Escif, a Spanish artist who lives in Catalonia.

“Any public intervention is political as it modifies the daily life of people in the cities. This modification can be directed in two possible directions: bringing people closer to their reality or away from it,” he says on his website today.

“Even if my work is inevitably within the parameters of spectacle, I try to find a way to bring painting closer to reality. I try to erase (or at least blur) boundaries between life and spectacle, between presentation and representation, between contemplation and experience, between landscape and territory, between the power of institutions and the power of the people.”

More details will follow about his winning submission later, but here’s a loose collection of some examples of Escif’s previous work.

Learn more about Escif at Street Against.

Escif. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Escif. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Escif. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Escif. (photo © lluis Olive Bulbena)

Escif. (photo © Henrik Haven)

Escif. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Escif. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

BREATH – TEMPO DI RICARICIA

 

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BSA en Barcelona: Miss Van, La Escocesa, and Reskate! Dispatch 1

BSA en Barcelona: Miss Van, La Escocesa, and Reskate! Dispatch 1

November 15, 2017

This week BSA is in Barcelona to participate in the Contorno Urbano competition to select an artist for a new community mural and residency in the municipality of Sant Feliu de Llobregat – and of course to see the famed Barcelona Street Art scene as it continues to evolve.

Fresh off the plane from New York at 7 am, BSA hit the streets with the talented Street Art photographer Fer Alcalá and the director of Fundacion Contorno Urbana, Esteban Marin – both amazing and generous hosts.

Miss Van (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We covered a lot of terrain in this pretty, clean and relatively quiet European city (Catalonian referendum marches last month not withstanding) and there is a wide variety of sanctioned and unsanctioned art on the streets even today, years after the city began cracking down on an organic Street Art scene that flourished here in the mid 2000s.

You’ll find a lot of local Street Artists here as well as a few international names who are passing through, or who have settled here and have studios in addition to a street practice.

Yo también ! A very early Escif at La Escocesa. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For lunch you may want to check out the regional special dishes like Escudella d’Olla , a hearty Catalan stew with poached meats and vegetables, or fideuà, a noodle dish that locals may prefer to paella – made with seafood like cuttlefish, monkfish, prawns all cloaked in alioli, a thick garlic and olive oil sauce.

Afterwards you can check out La Escocesa, a self-managed artistic production center that focuses on the visual arts with the public in mind. The artist spaces, performance spaces, gallery spaces – a real hothouse of invention and an art factory on the site of a former textile factory  that reminds you of what artist communities can be like when the right elements are present and in balance.

Escif at the wonderfully raw The Hangar.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

A number of artists have residencies here at the moment, including muralists Mina Hamada and Zosen, who we just saw in Brooklyn at the Vinz Feel Free “Innocence” show while they were in town to paint a huge wall in Jersey City – it is a small world.

Unfortunately in two years La Escocesa will be demolished to make room for affordable housing – it’s owned by the city council which purchased it from the banks.

Reskate (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reskate (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Also if you come here you’ll want to check out a new mural by Reskate, an artistic collective formed by Maria López and Javier de Riba, who have a workshop and studio in the Sants district of Barcelona.

With an illustrative style full of life, you can see influences from popular culture, graphic design, pop and traditional sign-painting. Our hosts tell us they often paint referencing social themes – and they certainly are loved here. Here’s a shot of our little touring group at one point. See you all tomorrow!

Miquel Wert. A “secret” spot curated by Jiser. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Brooklyn King in Barcelona. Biggie Smalls by Axe Colours (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Axe Colours goes GOT. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Costa Rican artist is still a revolutionary act!” Akore (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rice (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

1UP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sixe Paredes (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fàbriques de Creació. La Escocesa from Barcelona Cultura on Vimeo.

 

For more about Jiser: www.jiser.org

For more about The Hangar: www.hangar.org/es

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Andreco Charts Sea Level Rise Predictions Along Venice Canal

Andreco Charts Sea Level Rise Predictions Along Venice Canal

November 14, 2017

“Man is nature becoming conscious of itself ”    ~Elisée Reclus

Focusing his public art and Street Art work on raising our consciousness about the Earth and drawing the connections between us and our environment has been Andreco’s focus for most of this century. Like the 15,000 strong Union of Concerned Scientists who just released a “letter to humanity”, he’s not sure if we will act fast enough to halt the catastrophe we collectively are creating.

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Andreco)

During the past year the Italian Street Artist, scientist, and environmental engineer has been working on the fourth step of his project educating people about the consequences of climate change, rooted in science.

Gondolas! Naturally when you think of Venice the first image conjured is of those long thin boats wending their way through canals so you can see the city of water.

Water. That is what continues to rise, eventually eliminating Venice and cities around the globe.

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Like Agency)

CLIMATE 04 – Sea Level Rise. That is the name of Andreco’s fourth step installation in the project called Climate Change Consequences. The 100 meter long wall painting on the Canal Grande in Fondamenta Santa Lucia opened the new installation on October 27th along with an iron sculpture. Completing the piece are local plants that Andreco selected “for their important role in the resilience of the Venice lagoon.”

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Like Agency)

In short, the mural tracks expected sea levels of the future, demonstrating in diagrammed color just how high the water will rise. Done in collaboration with the Institute of Sea Studies of the National Research Center (CNR-ISMAR) and others partners, Andreco says he hopes the mural, which runs through February 1, will bring a greater appreciation and raise consciousness in viewers of the genuine impact.

“On the mural there are all the expected sea level quotes in the future, based on the most important international scientific studies on Sea Level Rise,” he tells us. “Also on the mural are the mathematical and physical variables and equations for calculating the extreme waves and the sea level height.”

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Andreco)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Andreco)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Andreco)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Andreco)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Andreco)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Giovanni Fiamminghi)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Giovanni Fiamminghi)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Giovanni Fiamminghi)

Andreco. Climate 04-Sea Level Rise. Venice, Italy. (photo © Giovanni Fiamminghi)

Climate 04-Sea Level Rise
Andreco

October 27th, 2017 – 2:30 PM – to February 1st, 2018
Fondamenta Santa Lucia, Venice, Italy
(S. Lucia Train Station – Grand Canal)

Find out more about Climate 04-Sea Level Rise at http://www.climateartproject.com/climate-04-see-level-rise/

 

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BSA in Barcelona for Fundacion Contorno Urbano “Mural Salut”

BSA in Barcelona for Fundacion Contorno Urbano “Mural Salut”

November 14, 2017

BSA is in Barcelona right now and we are honored to collaborate with Fundacion Contorno Urbano and their project Mural Salut.

Working in conjunction with the municipality of Sant Feliu de Llobregat and Kaligrafics, Contorno Urbano put out an international call to all artists to enter a mural contest. With close to 300 applications submitted 12 finalists were chosen. Among the 12 finalists only one of the proposals will be selected to paint their project on the historic wall in the old city center in Sant Feliu.

Five jurors, including our own Jaime Rojo will have the difficult task to choose the winning proposal to be announced this Thursday, November 16th.

After the winner is announced all members of the jury will participate in a panel discussion to talk about the relevance of commissioned artworks within the context of Urban Art and the cities, the relevance of murals in today’s Urban Art environment and the different ways in which cities, artists and curators approach these commissions in Europe and in the United States.

In conjunction with the panel discussion urban artists Elisa Capdevila and Elbi Elem will be on hand to paint live in front of the guests.

We hope to see you at the panel discussion. All information is below.

Congratulations to the 12 premiere finalists for the Mural de la Salut in Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain) are:

Axel Void
Borondo
Colectivo Licuado
David de la Mano
Escif
Guido Van Helten
Hyuro
Innerfields
Millo
Otecki
Sabotaje al Montaje
San

For more information about the panel discussion click HERE

 

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“Half A World Passed Me By”, In the Studio with David Walker

“Half A World Passed Me By”, In the Studio with David Walker

November 13, 2017

Known well as a portrait painter of pensively wistful women across numerous expansive walls in cities around the globe in the last decade, Street Artist/muralist/fine artist David Walker is opening his scope of work to new things. Men for example.

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

“Half a World Passed Me By” represents a turning point for the artist, or a few, says Walker, of the new exhibition opening at Lawrence Alkin Gallery in London this week. Of course he’s still using spray paint, but “I feel that using new approaches and materials has allowed me a fresh dexterity and an opportunity to mature as a painter,” he says.

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

Maybe it was simply the event of turning 40 years old, but Walker tells us that he’s experiencing a new sense of freedom to explore that he didn’t have before and the two-level show includes figurative works, studies and sketches, along with a new series of text-based paintings featuring his own writings.

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

‘Half A World Passed Me By’ refers to a few changes for the artist, including talking about something he says he hasn’t felt comfortable speaking of previously.

“I have been completely blind in my right eye since birth. It’s not common knowledge,” he says, as he didn’t want it to cloud perceptions of his work. Whatever obstacles he’s referring to, the new collection speaks for itself. In the meantime we’re happy to hear him say,”I feel far more fearless as a person and artist and far more comfortable to invite people further into my world.”

Take a look at these new images, including exclusive process shots for BSA readers, thanks to photographer Yuli Gates.

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)


David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

David Walker. Half A World Passed Me By. Lawrence Alkin Gallery. London. (photo © Yuli Gates)

David Walker’s Half A World Passed Me By opens this Thursday, Novemeber 16th. Click HERE for more details.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 11.12.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.12.17

November 12, 2017 ,

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Yoko Ono has been talking about and advocating peace for half a century and with her husband John Lennon she asked us first to imagine it.

Is it the absence of something, or the presence of it?

“Think Peace. Act Peace. Spread Peace. Imagine Peace.”

As the US commemorates Veterans Day this weekend, we lead this weeks BSA Images of the Week with Ms. Ono’s latest public art piece, a white banner flag flapping in New Yorks’ wild winds atop Creative Time’s headquarters. Part of a multi-city installation by ONO and Creative Time’s Pledges of Allegiance program, this flag and others like it will fly at museums and other educational/cultural institutions across the country.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Ai WeiWei, Buff Monster, Curb Your Ego, Damien Mitchell, Disordered, Don John, Ghost Beard, KLOPS, Mina Hamada, Sac Six, Patch Whisky, Squid Shop, Turtle Caps, Vinz Feel Free, VY, Yoko Ono, and Zosen.

Top image: Yoko Ono “Imagine Peace” for Creative Time #pledgesofallegiance (photo © Jaime Rojo) Thanks to RJ Rushmore for his help.

Yoko Ono “Imagine Peace” for Creative Time #pledgesofallegiance (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Disordered (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Best buddies (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ai Wei Wei for the Public Art Fund (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ai Wei Wei for the Public Art Fund (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Buff Monster (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

M.O. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

VY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Patch Whisky . Ghost Beard (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Klops . Curb Your Ego and friends… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zosen . Mina Hamada (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zosen . Mina Hamada (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mind the heart project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Turtle Caps (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Garabato Arte (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vinz Feel Free (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don John in Copenhagen. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Squid Shop (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. The Last Picture. NYC October 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

BED PEACE – John and Yoko

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Bifido & Julieta in Buñol Go to Church with “EGO”

Bifido & Julieta in Buñol Go to Church with “EGO”

November 11, 2017

Here is the third recent collaboration of Spanish Street Artists Bifido and Julieta, a combination that plays on the strengths of each individual while retaining their respective characters.

Julieta . Bifido “EGO”. Work in progress. Buñol, Valencia. Spain. October, 2017. (photo © Roberto Palmer)

As the creative partnership continues you can begin to see a common language forming with the oddly surreal photography/painting collage work that Bifido does and the context of Julieta’s paintings that are often occupying an other-worldly sphere of existence. Curiously, they ground one another.

Here the storied overture is your associations with the spiritual life, a young girls imaginings of being something ethereal and able to take wings. The façade of this austere Spanish colonial architecture provides a series of sizes and angles to work within for a scene surely inspired by the buildings use as St. Rafael’s Church.

“Our new work is about the power of church and the influence that religion has on people,” Bifido tells us as they finish the mural here in Buñol, not far from Valencia. They have given the piece the title, “EGO”.

Julieta . Bifido “EGO”. Work in progress. Buñol, Valencia. Spain. October, 2017. (photo © Roberto Palmer)

Julieta . Bifido “EGO”. Work in progress. Buñol, Valencia. Spain. October, 2017. (photo © Roberto Palmer)

Julieta . Bifido “EGO”. Work in progress. Buñol, Valencia. Spain. October, 2017. (photo © Roberto Palmer)

Julieta . Bifido “EGO”. Detail. Buñol, Valencia. Spain. October, 2017. (photo © Roberto Palmer)

Julieta . Bifido “EGO”. Detail. Buñol, Valencia. Spain. October, 2017. (photo © Roberto Palmer)

Julieta . Bifido “EGO”. Buñol, Valencia. Spain. October, 2017. (photo © Roberto Palmer)

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BSA Film Friday: 11.10.17

BSA Film Friday: 11.10.17

November 10, 2017

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. OLEK: Keep Going
2. Aïda Gómez: Ladies First
3. A Look at the Worlds First Museum of Urban Contemporary Art
4. MurOne // 12 + 1 Project
5. Obey Giant – The Documentary

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: OLEK: Keep Going

During the opening weekend of the Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art (UN), BSA and the other curators invited 150 artists to exhibit indoors and about 35 to do site specific installations and performances in the 5 block radius of the museum. Polish/Brooklyn Street Artist OLEK created and performed along with a team of assistants a three hour meditative crocheting event under the elevated train line between Bülowstraße and Nollendorfplatz stations.

Entitled “Keep Going,” one can imagine a number of interpretations of what is intended by the artist. Is it to reflect the unstopping, unstoppable traffic of people on the street who saunter blithely by despite your unique and meaningful actions, née, existence? Is it a poetic and literal illustration of the cyclic nature of construction/destruction exhaustion/renewal that are earmarks of the life and death process we are all engaged in? Perhaps it is a commentary on the workers who toil day after night after day in this world, never able to get ahead, never meriting more than a curious look or consideration. Or is it an exhortation to fully live ones’ life regardless of obstacles, fears, or the senseless chaotic behavior of the world around us?

Director/cinematographer Ulle Hadding gently observes the scene, examining the performers’ body language and capturing facial expressions as they quietly perform their work amidst the currents of a human river flowing in around and through them.

Also Martha C. is there among the re-assembling assembled, bless her and bless us.

 

Aïda Gómez: Ladies First

While doing an artists residency in Iceland recently with ART Attack Neskaupstaður, Aïda Gómez noticed the signs around her. “The plaque shows a man followed by a woman and I asked myself, why is this signal like this? Why the feminine figure is following the masculine figure?”  Indeed.

 

A look in the WORLD’S FIRST MUSEUM OF URBAN CONTEMPORARY ART

Doug at Fifth Wall TV puts himself in the middle of the UN inaugural events and uses his astute powers of observation about its move into contemporary art, with a stop along the way to wonder about gentrification.

 

MurOne // 12 + 1 Project. Contorno Urbano

The latest from the 12 + 1 Project, the artist MurOne bringing some mechanically inspired eye candy to enjoy.

Obey Giant – The Documentary

Finally it all comes together and we get a balanced insight into the art and dissent of Shepard Fairey.

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Bezt Etam Talks About “Beautiful Mistakes”

Bezt Etam Talks About “Beautiful Mistakes”

November 9, 2017 ,

A certain unease follows Street Artist Bezt in his creative practice.

“I get bored very fast so I try not to repeat myself.” Not an Achilles heel exactly, this need to experiment and learn, as many artists who are stylistically or thematically in a rut could benefit from that affliction.

In New York recently for a brief show entitled “Beautiful Mistakes” at Spoke Art in cooperation with Thinkspace in Manhattan’s Lower East Side , the Polish neo-realist appears to thrive on trying new things – including this solo career he’s embarked on after seven or so years painting in tandem with Sainer as one half of the very popular Etam Cru.

Bezt Etam. “Beautiful Mistakes”. The artist is pictured here looking at his self portrait. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Our styles were really separate but when we started we began to blend in – it was kind of natural. We didn’t talk about it,” he says of the friend he met when they were both art students at University of Łódź.

“There was a point with Sainer when we met we kind of knew – like best friends who kind of understand each other on some level. And the goal was always to do a good piece. It is never about me or about him. It was always to do the best thing on the wall,” he says as he describes a collaborative style that was born out of both artists desire to find a common style and to learn from each other.

Bezt Etam. “Beautiful Mistakes”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“To do that we had to kind of resign from our own kind of “super styles” and mix them together, if that makes sense. It was a slow process but we got to the point where everyone thought that only one person was painting. But still after so many years we can both see the differences.”

His new canvasses stand still, portraits primarily, with often singular figures caught in a moment contemplating in an eerie series of twilights and meditations. A master of light, he talks about his ongoing challenge to understand it and to reveal structure with it.

Bezt Etam. “Beautiful Mistakes”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“You use the lights of the first figure as a shadow,” he says of a woman who faces you against a backdrop of ornate patterning, evocative of wall paper from a large old house. “I like to feel the structure of the face and so I like to see the shadow and the lighting on the face, how the face is built.”

He points to a darker figure in front of a brightly heraldic architectural background. “The colors on his shirt and his jacket are the shadows from the background. It’s kind of a trick that I like to do with the painting because the person pops out and blends in at the same time. It’s hard to explain and it is easier to show when I am in the process.

Bezt Etam. “Beautiful Mistakes”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bezt explains that really he just wanted to paint the background but realizes that many of his fans will also appreciate a figure – which he gets bored with.

Sometimes a portrait is actually the means to an end, rather than the focal point, just so he has the opportunity to paint something new. “For example the painting with the woman and the daughter piece, that one with the house. I wanted to paint the trees! I had a night photo of the trees and I said ‘Okay, I need an idea so I can paint the trees.’

Bezt Etam. “Beautiful Mistakes”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I did another piece for a big show in Germany that has a big fallen tree. Basically I saw the tree when we were driving and I was with Natalia, my girlfriend, and we just jumped out and I took the photos. And again, I needed to find a concept for a painting where I could include that image of the tree. Sometimes you just want to learn something – to try something new.”

Bezt Etam. “Beautiful Mistakes”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

He pauses for a moment in front of a painting and you realize that the shape of his head is mirrored in it, and actually the painting is a self portrait. And then you see the small white rat –a moniker that has been occurring in Etam Cru and Bezt pieces over this last half-decade or so.

“It’s like a spirit animal. I don’t like to paint rats. I think that I can’t really paint a good mouse and I’m always trying to do my best. It’s never perfect. There is always something wrong with it. But I add it as a sort of friend or a spirit animal. If the person is alone he always has some company.”

“Years ago when I was painting girls I was always adding a bird, so like the rat is a boy thing. But I have started to mix things and I add the rat to wherever the character is. It’s an animal that is quite small so it doesn’t take much space to add to the piece and it kind of adds some warmth.”

Bezt Etam. “Beautiful Mistakes”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

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Arnau Gallery In Barcelona. A Wall with a mission

Arnau Gallery In Barcelona. A Wall with a mission

November 8, 2017

The celebrated but now ruinous Arnau Theater in Barcelona sits patiently awaiting to be revived. Once an effervescent center of spectacle and entertainment the theater opened its doors in 1894 and through various mutations including a place to go to the “talkies” and a variety program hosted by the then famous actress Sara Montiel closed its doors in 2004. The theater is now the property of the municipality and with that it has a very good chance to see the light of day again.

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

As it’s often the case the revitalization of our city centers or downtown falls on the hands of the artists and the creative sort. Once an artist has set his or her eyes on a crumbling piece of real state or on a neglected part of town it’s almost unavoidable for these artists to ignore what they see. That’s precisely what Arnau Gallery is. Not a gallery in the traditional white walls cube but and open door wall, Arnau Gallery is a canvas, an opportunity for artists to paint commissioned work under the guidance of Street Art Barcelona and Difusor.

The wall sits at street level close to the pedestrians and is part of the edifice that bears the theater’s name. The curators have a rotating schedule of local, national and international artists who are invited to experiment, paint and create on the wall. The project has as its main supporter Platform to Save The Arnau Theater the organization leading the fight to keep Arnau Theater alive with the hopes that in the not so distant future the theater will re-open its doors.

In October the Moroccan born Spanish artist Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha, joined Barcelona native artist Emilio Cerezo to collaborate on this wall. Below are the results of their efforts.

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Mohamed Lghacham AKA Moha and Emilio Cerezo collaboration at Arnau Gallery in Barcelona. October 2017. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

 

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