September 2019

Spanish “El Konvent” Welcomes Street Artists and Nurtures Collective Culture

Spanish “El Konvent” Welcomes Street Artists and Nurtures Collective Culture

Typically you may expect to be praying the novena and asking God for absolution of your dastardly sins here in this sprawling compound called The Konvent near Barcelona. While no one would stop you today, you may also wish to check out a number of new installations throughout the many buildings by Street Artists.

Teo Vazquez (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

The Roman Catholic former convent hosted 50 or so artists over the last couple of years to transform the space, perhaps to reinterpret its original charge in a modern light, perhaps just to ready the compound for commercial, cultural, and community pursuits of the owners.

Certainly the decaying spaces and austere aesthetic is inviting, calming, possibly frightening, depending on your associations. Now they are home for music, dance, theatre, film festivals, and artist residencies – often offered only in Catalan but some also in European Spanish.

Teo Vazquez (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

As you walk through the spaces you are welcomed by these works by artists, many of them at one time or another categorized as Street Artists, whose voices now usher in a new era of contemplation and perhaps internal exploration.

Our thanks to photogapher and BSA contributor Lluis Olive Bulbena for sharing these images from El Konvent.

For more information about El Konvent please Click HERE

Jofre Oliveras (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Unidentified artist (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Samuel Aranda Studio (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
AEC – Interesni Kazki (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Valiente Creations (photo © Lluis Olive)
Holy Era (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Wedo . Slim (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Wedo (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Slim (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Slim (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Slim (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Mugraff (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Troy Lovegates (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Troy Lovegates (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Juanjo Surace (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
Simon Vazquez . Sebastien Waknine (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 09.29.19

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.29.19

Gorgeous, tremulous days and nights in New York as we march with determination into fall – Tomokazu Matsuyama and his 12 assistants finished his epic contribution to the Houston Wall, a huge crowd overflowed the Bronx Museum to celebrate the photographer/filmmaker Henry Chalfant and his pivotal work that brought fame to graffiti writers, and Kehinde Wiley stunned Times Square with a new monument entitled “Rumors of War”, which the artist says “attempts to use the language of equestrian portraiture to both embrace and subsume the fetishization of state violence.”

Meanwhile, the highest office in the land lies in disgrace, under a cloud of increasing impeachment odds even as the state exports multiple wars and the Feds are quietly pumping 75 billion dollars into financial markets with more planned over multiple days to stave off the coming crash.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Bunny M, Diana Garcia, Matzu, Muck Rock, RED, Sunflower Soulz, and WK Interact.

Matzu. Houston/Bowery Wall. Goldman Global Arts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Matzu. Houston/Bowery Wall. Goldman Global Arts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Matzu. Houston/Bowery Wall. Goldman Global Arts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Matzu. Houston/Bowery Wall. Goldman Global Arts. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sunflower Soulz (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Diana Garcia (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Diana Garcia (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Muck Rock (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Muck Rock (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact for RED (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact for RED (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact for RED (photo © Jaime Rojo)
WK Interact for RED (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Parees Festival Marks 3rd Edition in Oviedo, Spain.

Parees Festival Marks 3rd Edition in Oviedo, Spain.

The color palette of the new collection of murals at the 3rd edition of Parees Festival is softened, earthen, stable. Adding five new murals brings the total to 23 here in Oviedo The 3rd edition of Parees Festival in Oviedo in Northern Spain, only minutes from the Bay of Biscay.

Udatxo. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)

As you review the techniques and schools of influence you can see the careful curation of the selection of muralists – each seemingly contextual, whether figurative or abstract of geometric.

Organizers say the newest artist participants, Mina Hamada​, ​Hedof & ​Joren Joshua​, ​Udatxo​, ​Catalina Rodríguez Villazón​ & ​Matth Velvet​, were chosen from a global selection yet are expected to be cognizant of their immediate environment in their conception.

Udatxo. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)

There are themes based on regional culture, say the organizers, and “You can also add to this spirit the main characteristic of the event which make it something different from other urban art festivals in the country: the participatory processes: neighbors from every area where the walls are located collaborate with their authors in order to participate in the final design.”

Udatxo. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Udatxo. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Udatxo. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Hedfof & Joren Joshua. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Hedof & Joren Joshua. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Hedof & Joren Joshua. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Hedof & Joren Joshua. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Hedof & Joren Joshua. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Catalina Rodriguez Villazon. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Matth Velvet. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Matth Velvet. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Matth Velvet. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Mina Hamada. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Mina Hamada. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)
Mina Hamada. Parees Festival 2019. Oviedo, Spain. (photo courtesy Parees Fest)

All photos © Fer Alcala and Mira Hacia Atras.

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BSA Film Friday: 09.27.19

BSA Film Friday: 09.27.19

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

Now screening :
1. “Nos Jardins” By Anais Florin for Bien Urbain #9
2. Vhils and his Work. A look into the Lisbon based artist
3. YZ Yseult: Making of the Mural La Marianne


BSA Special Feature: “Nos Jardins” By Anais Florin for Bien Urbain #9

Horticultural Street Art Activists to the Rescue

These gardens have been maintained by gardeners. For generations.

Now the city council wants to take them over to build a new “eco-district” here in the Les Vaîtes neighborhood of Besançon. And the soil tenders say “These are Our Gardens,” resisting the change, insisting on the historical respect they believe these gardens deserve.

After spending many days with them, taking pictures and speaking with everyone, artist Anaïs Florin decided she could help by creating posters to highlight their struggle.

“Les Vaîtes before the eco-discrict” ! She put up some legally, and some illegally in the city center by taking over the bus stop shelter. Viva Les Vaîtes!

Vhils and his Work. A look into the Lisbon based artist

Yes, your grandmother is going to know about Vhils now.

YZ Yseult: Making of the Mural La Marianne

Marianne is a symbol of Republican France. A Marianne is a bust of a proud and determined woman wearing a Phrygian cap. She symbolises the attachment of the common citizens of the revolution to the Republic – Marianne is liberty, egality and fraternity.

The first thing you should know is that Marianne is a symbol in France – capturing the spirit of liberty, equality, and brotherhood/sisterhood (Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité). Commonly depicted as a proud and determined woman wearing a Phrygian cap, Marianne symbolises the attachment of the common citizens of the revolution to the Republic. 

Street Artist YZ and engraver Elsa Catelin have just finished their view of the heralded symbol on the streets of Périgueux (Dordogne) – and it actually became the new face of Marianne stamps. Selected by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, YZ had the opportunity to meet him and see her work unveiled across a 16 meter by 11 meter wall.

French President Emmanuel Macron poses at the end of the inauguration of the newly printed stamps with French national symbol “Marianne” designed by French-British street artist Yseult Digan aka YZ, in Boulazac, southwestern France, on July 19, 2018. Photo by Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images.French President Emmanuel Macron (C), poses at the end of the inauguration of the newly-printed stamps with French national symbol “Marianne” designed by French-British street artist Yseult Digan aka YZ, in Boulazac, southwestern France, on July 19, 2018. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP) (Photo credit should read NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP/Getty Images)
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Selections from the URBAN NATION Biennale “ROBOTS AND RELICS: UN-MANNED”

Selections from the URBAN NATION Biennale “ROBOTS AND RELICS: UN-MANNED”

“What if…”

What If… UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

That’s how curator Yasha Young began the UN Biennale in Berlin this month. A fantasy-infused ramble through a future jungle teeming with dark pop goth and an animated gorilla, the multi-featured installation by the outgoing Creative Director was meant to pose questions about a possible future, or many possible futures on an Earth deeply scarred, reclaiming itself from man/womankind’s folly.

Millenium FX Ltd. Gorilla Albert. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Spread along a 100-meter path and teeming with small surprise exhibits popping from the savage magic of two-day overgrowth, the installation appeared to take inspiration, at least in part, from the wildly successful Berlin exhibition two years ago called, “The Haus”, by a trio called Die Dixons. That one featured 175 artists creating immersive, site-specific futurist/fantasy installations on the five floors of a former bank – inviting dance troops and performances and thousands who cued for hours around the block.

INTI with Millenium FX Ltd. Gorilla Albert. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

One of artists at UN’s “ROBOTS AND RELICS: UN-MANNED”, Herakut, was also in the Haus exhibition and here under the roaring U-Bahn on Bülowstraße produces one of the best synthesis of technology and fantasy. Their sculptural painted theatrical character of Mother Nature is straight from a childs’ imagination, blinking eyes forming a blue inquisitive aura around its visage.

Hera of Herakut. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Herakut. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

No doubt many visitors winding through this late summer wildness were feeling quizzical to one another, confronting the various staged scenarios by 27 artists and asking “what if…”. Perhaps a  lush and greener version of the traveling “29 Rooms” selfie house we saw in Brooklyn a few years ago, this one blended themes of post-disaster with a glistening dark leafy future girded with idiosyncracies and Hans Ruedi Giger airbrushed human/machines locked in biomechanical reverie.

“They carry us off into barren deserts with relics of human existence,” says the press release,  “colorfully patterned animals in overgrown areas as well as spherical light worlds.”

Coderch Malavia Sculptors. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Plotbot Ken. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Frederique Morrel. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Dan Rawlings. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vermibus. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vermibus. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Pappas Parlor. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Ekow Nimako. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Ekow Nimako. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vegan Flava. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Vegan Flava. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Goin Art. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Goin Art. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Urs Koller. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Urs Koller. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
NesPoon . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Filthy Luker . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Filthy Luker . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Quinte55enz . Pedro Estrellas. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Nomad Clan. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Nomad Clan. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Theater Anu. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Theater Anu. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Theater Anu . Gehard Demetz. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)
Outings Project. UN Biennale. Berlin September 2019. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Participating artists include:

Coderch & Malavia // Cryptik // Dan Rawlings // David de la Mano // Dima Rebus // Ekow Nimako // Filthy Luker // Frédérique Morrel // Gerhard Demetz // Herakut // Inti // Julien de Casabianca // Louis Masai // Milenium FX // NeSpoon // Quintessenz // Nomad Clan // Rune Guneriussen // Sandra Chevrier // Theater Anu // Vermibus


Special shout out to Tobias Kunz, Annette Dooman, and the entire Studio Kunz team, Jens Rüberg and team and the YAP team.

We wish to express our gratitude to photographer and BSA contributor Nika Kramer for sharing her photos with us. Follow Nika on Instagram @nikakramer

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Henry Chalfant: Art vs. Transit, 1977-1987 Opens at Bronx Museum

Henry Chalfant: Art vs. Transit, 1977-1987 Opens at Bronx Museum


It wasn’t a fait accompli that Henry Chalfant was going to capture an entire graffiti train in late 1970s New York. He needed to devise a technique and plan his attack.

In much the same way that train writers like Blade, Dondi, SEEN, Mare and Skeme had to strategize, scope, and execute their hand-rendered work upon the rails under challenging circumstances and sometimes dangerous conditions, the photographic documentarian Chalfant had to likewise show up with his tools and skillz to document the work. He shot multiples in rapid succession by positioning himself, timing the trains, preparing his materials, and overlaying those images together end-to-end in a time-consuming methodology that he alone devised.

By presenting an ingenious visual anthropology, Henry captured for a greater audience the aesthetics and a more permanent record of the final product – at a time when most authorities and public sentiment saw little if any value in the work. This premeditated outlaw vandalism was also artistry, born with pure adrenaline by teenagers who were eager to make their mark in a rapidly declining US city in the midst of economic crises. When tags evolved to whole cars, whole cars became set pieces, and whole trains became a visual opus that swept into, through, and out of your view in minutes. By capturing and preserving them completely Chalfant ensured that future generations could appreciate them as well.

From the press release:
“He co-authored the definitive account of New York graffiti art, Subway Art (Holt Rinehart Winston, N.Y. 1984) and a sequel on the art form’s world-wide diffusion, Spray Can Art (Thames and Hudson Inc. London, 1987). Chalfant co-produced the PBS documentary, Style Wars, the definitive documentary about Graffiti and Hip Hop culture and directed Flyin’ Cut Sleeves, a documentary on South Bronx gangs, in 1993. He produced and directed Visit Palestine: Ten Days on the West Bank in 2002. His film From Mambo to Hip Hop was featured in the Latino Public Broadcasting series, Voces in 2006-2007, and won an Alma Award for Best Documentary.

Henry Chalfant: Art vs. Transit, 1977-1987 is generously supported by KAWS, Michael D. & Kristin Elkins, David Forbes and Velda Turan, Janet Goldman, Hal & Jodi Hess, Supreme, Powerhouse Arts, Philip & Cheryl Milstein, Eric Firestone Gallery, Sacha Jenkins & MassAppeal, Rob Cristofaro & Alife, Shepard Fairy, Anne Brown, and Josh Rechnitz.”


The exhibition is also supported by the 190 backers on Kickstarter who donated to his outreach. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/568527850/henry-chalfants-first-us-museum-retrospective


Banner image:

Henry Chalfant
Dondi, 1980, 2013, 2013
Kodak Professional Endura Metallic Paper
17h x 65h in.


Henry Chalfant: Art vs. Transit, 1977-1987

For more information about HENRY CHALFANT: ART VS. TRANSIT, 1977-1987 and the museum’s hours of operation and tickets click HERE

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ELFO Has a Romantic View of Florence

ELFO Has a Romantic View of Florence

Suppose it is not so insulting for someone to say that you tend to take a romanticized view of things. Frankly, the world could use a lot more romanticism, and less of the callous, obtuse, horror please.

Elfo. Romantic View. (photo © Elfo)

ELFO may be projecting his rose tinted view upon this abandoned and degraded building in Florence, Italy, but then again his lo-fi naïve lettering tells us he is in on the joke too – he’s just playing with you.

And what a romantic view it is, don’t you think?

Elfo. Romantic View. (photo © Elfo)
Examples of romantic views of Florence from Google Images
Elfo. Romantic View. (photo © Elfo)
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Size Matters: Octavi Serra Is In Search Of A Larger Wall in Barcelona.

Size Matters: Octavi Serra Is In Search Of A Larger Wall in Barcelona.

As illegal Street Art morphed into legal murals we began to witness the entry of formally trained artists and professionals who not only abandoned the politically charged or socially challenging themes in favor of pleasant topics and commercial aesthetics but accidentally launched an arms race for the biggest, tallest, widest walls possible.

Soon the descriptions we received about new artist works shifted from discussions on themes and messages to statistics about square meters covered, the number of stories high the building was, and how many cans or gallons of paint were required to finish it.

Octavi Serra. A Larger Wall Is Sought. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, Spain. September, 2019. (photo © Clara Anton)

Spanish artist, designer, and photographer Octavi Serra would like a larger wall please. The one that Contorno Urbano gave him for their 11th mural this year in Barcelona seems dreadfully small, and he has really big ideas. He calls this mural “Insufficient”.

Serra says his work often “focuses on capturing the irony, truisms and frustrations of modern life,” and while this piece is evidently meant to be tongue in cheek, he is tapping into a general sense of dissatisfaction that is part of a materialistic culture, and part of the human condition.

Octavi Serra. A Larger Wall Is Sought. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, Spain. September 2019. (photo © Clara Anton)

By letting the typography bleed off the edges, you also sense the claustrophobic feelings that are playing with the artists mind. “There is this feeling of never being completely satisfied even though reason argues that we should be,” he says. “There is this desire to always have more, which make the road impossible to enjoy.”

The mural is part of the 12 + 1 public mural project of Barcelona – at the Civic Center Cotxeres Borrell. Before the end of the year they are planning a collective exhibition where works by all the artists who have participated in the edition of the 12 + 1 2019 Barcelona project will be on display. The show will feature artists Jay Visual, Ivan Floro, Margalef, Anna Taratiel, Nuria Toll, Flavita Banana, Cristina Lina, Degon, Mr. Sis, Cristina Daura, Laia and Octavi Serra.

Octavi Serra. A Larger Wall Is Sought. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, Spain. September 2019. (photo © Clara Anton)
Octavi Serra. A Larger Wall Is Sought. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, Spain. September 2019. (photo © Clara Anton)
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BSA Images Of The Week: 09.22.19

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.22.19

“Distinguish sense from nonsense.”

Easier said than done perhaps, but that was probably one of our favorite signs Friday at the Global Climate March here in New York. With a steady flood of disinformation affecting the corporately owned media the popular movements that are rising may not be getting the coverage they deserve, but they are getting to talk to each other and skillfully dismantle the Fog State. 

It was a sunny week in New York again and despite the worries that are plaguing our minds, and there are many, the streets came alive with so many positive messages that even the casual passerby had to be moved by the enthusiasm, the optimism, and determination on display from thousands of their fellow New Yorkers.

This Sunday’s collection of images have one thing in common; text. With the exception of one, the Invader piece, all the others have a message to convey in the written word.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring signs from the Global Climate March and Invader, Sara Lynne Leo, Space Invader, and Steve ESPO Powers.

Sara Lynne Leo’d appropriate piece for the Climate March in NYC. The artwork is mounted on a sign post on the streets of New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Global Climate Strike. New York City. September 20, 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Wordsmith and street artist Steve ESPO Powers new take over in Brooklyn. We aren’t sure if the piece is fully completed but we wanted to share with you. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Steve ESPO Powers (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Steve ESPO Powers (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Steve ESPO Powers (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Steve ESPO Powers (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Steve ESPO Powers (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Montana Elevates With New Platform: Tramontana Magazine / Issue 03

Montana Elevates With New Platform: Tramontana Magazine / Issue 03

This March we were in Madrid hosting three days of BSA Talks at Urvanity Art Fair and while we were there, Esteban Marin, the director of Contorno Urbano Foundation, introduced us to the Editorial Director of a new magazine; Tramontana. Antonio Garcia Mora, un tio mu majo, as they say in Spain, impressed us with his knowledge and enthusiasm, showing off the first two issues of the perfect-bound volume. Unfortunately, due to our duties within the art fair, we didn’t have much time to visit with him and then the fair was over and we all went to our different countries and about our business.

We’re happy to see that the quality perseveres at Tramontana as the magazine publishes its third edition of the year, and its editorial standards continue to be very high. Rarely do we see a magazine these days that is so well edited, designed and with extraordinary, well-written content.

Leveraging its history as a Spanish aerosol paint manufacturer and art supplies brand that many within the graffiti/Street Art community use and laud, Montana Colors here ventures into a contemporary direction with the trappings of and subtle refinements more often associated with galleries and museums. It’s a safe bet at this point, but they’re not resting on their laurels – this is cut above what we’re used to seeing in terms of content, documentation, preservation, storytelling, and even academic detailing.

Don’t worry; you’ll also enjoy it. The Spanish/English format is open and accessible, the reasonably short essays and interviews are good for today’s attention spans, the balance of text to images and graphics suitable to one another. You may long for a glossy richness of image occasionally, and undoubtedly that is coming, but the design supports without overwhelming or calling attention away from what amounts to a textbook of the moment for the thinking fans, students, and collectors.

Issue 3 boasts interviews with people like photographer Martha Cooper, filmmaker Selina Miles, impresario Roger Gastman, graffiti writers Shiat, Ellas, muralists Shan and Spok. There is a condensed history of Punks and City Kids in 1970s-80s Amsterdam by Remko Koopman, an interview with teacher/author/photographer of NYC trains Craig Castleman as he tours Europe speaking, and an essay on the elusive quality of originality by conceptual Street Artist SpY.

You also get a one-shot impression of Amsterdam graffiti and an extensive train bombing background story on Chilean-Canadian couple LOS KEOS with Mr. Garcia Mora. From that interview, the world-travelers share their influences, techniques, and negotiating their way through variable legal/penal systems of different countries, but we also learn about the social interactions with writers and crews.

“We have met many people over the years, not all of them well-known. The best relationships are the ones where we share more than just painting: our lifestyle, our political thinking, the desire to go out to explore a city and learn a little about the local culture.”

The intersecting cultures of graffiti, Street Art, urban art, and Contemporary continue to blend, reorganize, and propagate. Tramontana appears poised to capture and communicate with respect the history, techniques, soft and hard sciences that all convene to study the movement, where it moves.  

Tramontana Magazine is published by Montana Colors under the guidance of its CEO Jordi Rubio Rocabert and the Editorial Director Antonio Garcia Mora. This magazine is free.

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BSA Film Friday 09.20.19

BSA Film Friday 09.20.19

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

Now screening :
1. “REWILD” from Escif
2. Guido van Helten in Faulkton, South Dakota by Brian Siskind
3. How Artist JR Is Helping Connect Our Humanity Through Street Art


BSA Special Feature: “REWILD” from Escif

As part of our core commitment as a non-commercial platform that has helped hundreds of artists over the last decade+, BSA significantly helped Escif to raise money for his Indiegogo fundraiser in Spring 2017 when we promoted his “Breath-Time” horticultural project heavily as he planted trees to reforest Mount Olivella in Southern Italy.

Today BSA debuts REWILD, a new tree-related project by the Spanish Street Artists – just as the Global Climate March is spreading to cities around the world, including New York.

The concept of the short film is simple: can’t we just push the “Rewind” button?

“The narrative runs in reverse, rewinding the clock on deforestation to undo the damage caused by the unsustainable production of one of the worlds most versatile commodities. Beyond the industrialisation of the land, we end at the beginning, a thriving eco system alive with wildlife. The concept mirrors the real world action of the Sumatran Orangutan Society and their partners in reclaiming land on the borders of the Leuser rainforests to rewild them with indigenous trees, expanding the boundaries of one of the most biodiverse places on earth.”  

Finally, a stunning custom soundtrack by Indonesian composer Nursalim Yadi Anugerah captures and carries this into another world, which is possible.

Shout out to the folks behind the project Splash and Burn: a cultural initiative curated by Ernest Zacharevic and coordinated by Charlotte Pyatt run in association with the Sumatran Orangutan Society and the Orangutan Information Centre.  

Guido van Helten in Faulkton, South Dakota by Brian Siskind

A massive piece by the observant eye of Guido van Helten, who knows how to capture a spirit, a gesture, a knowing expression. Here on a grain elevator in Faulkton, South Dakota, his piece becomes a clarion, captured here by Brian Siskind.

How Artist JR Is Helping Connect Our Humanity Through Street Art |

The Brooklyn Museum will be unveiling an exhibition with the works of French Street Artist JR this October. Here’s a small video of him explaining how his work is a connector between humans.

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Nevercrew Watch Their Paper Plane “Fade” in Torino

Nevercrew Watch Their Paper Plane “Fade” in Torino

Fresh from Torino, Italy, the Swiss artists Nevercrew did this commissioned piece for a coffee company with the theme of “responsible consumption” – which immediately reminds us that we were planning to switch from using K-cups to drip coffee. The image is abstract and realistic at the same time, a map of some sort folded into an airplane, a portion of it possible torched by a lighter. It looks fragile, yet full of possibility.

Nevercrew. “Fade”. Toward 2030 Project. Torino, Italy. (photo © Nevercrew)

“We decided to work around the concept of carefreeness to evoke both the human responsibility on the production and consumption side,” says Christian Rebecchi, “and the planetary emergency we’re already living.”

The image of a simple childs’ toy is meant to imply a story of two logics, says the other member of the duo, Pablo Togni. “The positive logic of the game and the negative one of the lack of conscience and the unnatural use of resources,” he says.

“There is a care-freeness that’s about acting unaware of the large-scale repercussions of the exploitation of resources, of what precedes and follows every small action and, at the same time, a reference to the lightness of the game, to all that is now put at risk for the generations that will hold the future of the planet.”

Nevercrew. “Fade”. Toward 2030 Project. Torino, Italy. (photo © Nevercrew)
Nevercrew. “Fade”. Toward 2030 Project. Torino, Italy. (photo © Nevercrew)
Nevercrew. “Fade”. Toward 2030 Project. Torino, Italy. (photo © Nevercrew)
Nevercrew. “Fade”. Toward 2030 Project. Torino, Italy. (photo © Nevercrew)
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