March 2020

#Tag Street Art in Tel Aviv / Dispatch From Isolation # 9

#Tag Street Art in Tel Aviv / Dispatch From Isolation # 9

Here are new pieces on street walls from the Street Artist named #Tag in Israel, who is interpreting art-world and TV icons through the lense of the current Covid-19 crises. With new pieces on the street in Tel Aviv, Bat Yam, and Jaffa, these three are as international as they are local.

@tagstreetart “After Breaking Bad” Tel-Aviv. March 2020 (Photo © TagStreetArt)

We asked him about these new pieces and his experience in the last few days as a Street Artist in Isreal, where new coronavirus guidelines are edging the country closer to total shut down .

@tagstreetart “After Magritte”. Detail. Tel-Aviv. March 2020 (Photo © TagStreetArt)


Brooklyn Street Art: Has it been difficult to do work on the street, or has it been easier?  
#Tag: I will describe it more like weird. I pasted all the three works at the beginning of the Coronavirus in Israel. I think after the Breaking Bad work, a few days after, the quarantine started. In general, it was kind of the same, but a weird feeling in general, like literally the virus was in the air.

@tagstreetart “After Magritte” Tel-Aviv. March 2020 (Photo © TagStreetArt)

Brooklyn Street Art: What do you hope people will experience when they discover your work?
#Tag
: In general all my messages are meant with a sense of humor. I believe that art should deliver positive messages but not necessarily in an obvious way. I saw that that’s exactly what happened with my works, from things people have said on social media, and I am very happy about that. 
During these days we need to stay positive, and after almost a full quarantine I started to create digital works and use Facebook / Instagram as my digital wall 🙂

@tagstreetart “After Frida” Tel-Aviv. March 2020 (Photo © TagStreetArt)
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Lapiz “Life In Time Of Corona” Hamburg/Dispatch From Isolation #8

Lapiz “Life In Time Of Corona” Hamburg/Dispatch From Isolation #8

The intervention “Life in Time of Corona” is Lapiz’s attempt to fight the feeling of isolation and loneliness.

“I created and glued it up a day before the first phase of lockdown happened here in Hamburg, just in front of one of the biggest supermarkets in town,” he tells us.

Lapiz. “Life In Time Of Corona”. Hamburg, Germany. (photo © Lapiz)

The young woman exists with a margin of danger following her – a buffer band of gold that prevents any other person from getting to close. Of course, the hermit-like among the human family have been practicing social distancing for years, but for most people it’s new and unusual.

For most of us the time of self-isolation, quarantine, and illness is ahead of us and we have no idea how long this might take. We can stay in contact with loved-ones, family, friends, and almost forgotten acquaintances on the other side of the planet via email, skype or video link.

This might also be a great moment of solidarity and an opportunity for empathy, but the minimum safety distance of 6 feet also excludes affection, warmth and closeness.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.29.20 / Dispatch From Isolation #7

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.29.20 / Dispatch From Isolation #7

Highest claims for unemployment in our history. The best day on the Stock Market since 1933. People won’t get relief from the government for weeks and many live paycheck to paycheck. Typically one might predict these are conditions for a domino effect that sets in motion a revolution, if you’ve read history books. Already there are talks about mass rent strikes for April.

Meanwhile, our neighborhood in Brooklyn is in the code red zone on the maps for Covid-19 outbreak in New York; so you’ll forgive us if we don’t go outside to capture fresh new Street Art for a while. We did have to leave once this week for a friend’s medical emergency (not the virus, thankfully) but we’re back on self-quarantine. Much respect to all medical personnel all across the world.

So, as long as we’re able, we’re going to publish work from the street. But please do send us what you see, what you capture – maybe out the window. But don’t put yourself at risk, or others.

We have to flatten this curve and it will take us all to do it.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring DeGrupo, 1UP Crew, Gris, Hellon Wheels, Jeff Kowalsky, Laszlo, LOOK, Joan Aguilo, Seco, The Brujo, and Yiannis Bellis.

Joan Aguilo in Madrid, Spain. (photo © Ricardo Hernandez)
Vidom + Look in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Vidom + Look in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hellon Wheels (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Brujo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
1UP Crew in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist at the marquee at the Magic Bag theater in Ferndale, MI.(photo © Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
DeGrupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gris in Berlin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Yiannis Bellis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
SECO (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Laszlo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Shabat prayers in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. March 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Dispatch From Isolation #6 : Rich Go to Head of Line for Testing of Covid-19

Dispatch From Isolation #6 : Rich Go to Head of Line for Testing of Covid-19

Why does it seem the rich and famous get tested for coronavirus while others don’t?

That is an excellent question from The Boston Globe. Others are beginning to ask this question, including The New York Post , The Guardian, and The LA Times,

Even the New York Times says “Need a Coronavirus Test? Being Rich and Famous May Help.”

Street Artist Trustocorp shows us how art reflects life in these messages on new signposts in the street. If only the corporate cable news were so clear.

Trusto Corp (photo courtesy of the artist)

How does this situation happen so seamlessly and without your involvement? Quick answer: Privatization of Health Care. 

That’s why Medicare for All is sounding better every day. It’s so much more obvious as we watch the unfolding disaster in a country that has allowed every aspect of its social net to be sold off to private companies in the last 40 years, turned into for-profit ventures, not service to citizens. Certainly not poor citizens, working poor citizens, non-citizens, middle class citizens.

Here we see art reflecting life. And death.



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Dispatch From Isolation #4 : A New Mask to Save Thousands

Dispatch From Isolation #4 : A New Mask to Save Thousands

There’s professional disinformation, and then there is simply disingenuous.

This native New Yorker told us Covid-19 was a hoax, and now New York is on its way to being the epicenter for the greatest outbreak, with officials harrowingly planning for 140,000 hospital beds for our neighbors, friends, coworkers, family, with 40,000 of them needing to be in intensive care.

“Probably more than half of all New Yorkers will be infected with this disease,” said Mayor Bill DiBlasio yesterday.

Graffiti writer Terror 161 favors the digital expression of political critique these days, and he shared this simple image with us yesterday. Since we’re not going outside to capture new Street Art for you, we thought we’d share this visual commentary with you.

Unidentified artist

How’s the nations’ supply of duct tape, we wonder. Because we know we don’t have enough ventilators for sick people. Or masks for that matter.

Medicare for All sounds better every day, doesn’t it?

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Dispatch From Isolation # 3 : A Kid in a Mask from Jilly Ballistic

Dispatch From Isolation # 3 : A Kid in a Mask from Jilly Ballistic

Street Artist Jilly Ballistic has long favored face-masks on her black and white photo figures of yesteryear, so it interesting to see this vintage kid incognito in the current context of Coronavirus on the streets of New York. At the very least the mask prevents transmission to some degree, but no one seems to know how much. And what about children?

Jilly Ballistic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Children don’t need to wear facemasks

“If your child is healthy, there is no need for them to wear a facemask,” says the website Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “Only people who have symptoms of illness or who are providing care to those who are ill should wear masks.”

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Dispatch From Isolation # 1 : The Pure Genius of Toilet Paper Hoarding

Dispatch From Isolation # 1 : The Pure Genius of Toilet Paper Hoarding

As New York enters its first full day of Pause, or lock-down, the social ramifications of the panicked psyche have all been rivetingly on display.

Todays’ Street Art piece by Pure Genius lampoons the behaviors of people actually fighting one another to greedily horde supplies. The drawback with toilet paper is, it is not food, which may become a much larger topic of interest shortly.

Pure Genius (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.22.20

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.22.20

We’re off the street now, the BSA team, as New York City goes into lock-down mode in the face of the global Covid19 virus pandemic.

We know that our medical infrastructure will be overwhelmed, because it was broken apart systematically into a thousand tiny pieces years ago. Unlike centralized medical care that many other countries have, it has been only available to some of us and usually at a great cost that outstrips our abilities to provide for our families.

Now, as New York faces the prospect of becoming completely overwhelmed for months, we see that even basic testing, medical supplies, beds, and personnel cannot be pulled together fast enough through a decentralized profit-based system. This isn’t political – this is life. Unfortunately this is also death.

So if we do get sick, we’re not even thinking of going to a hospital. If some of our older friends and relatives get sick, we’re hoping that there will be enough money and resources to serve their needs. But the signs are not good here in the country with the highest GDP in the world. Makes you wish there was Medicare for All right?

So, as long as we’re able, we’re going to publish work from the street. But for the first time since we began publishing 12 years ago, the new shots on the street will also need to come from you – since we are quarantined. Please send us what you see, what you capture – maybe out the window. But don’t put yourself at risk, or others.

We have to flatten this curve and it will take us all to do it.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring 1UP Crew, 907, Fours, Kuma, Pork, Pøbel, Poi Everywhere, Raf Mata Art, Smells, Stres, The Act of Love, The Postman Art, and Zexor.

We begin with this educational and artful animation by Juan Delcan & Valentina Izaguirre

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The power of social distancing
Stres (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Smells / Punk / 907 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pork (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Zexor for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pøbel addition to an old existing piece in his hood in Bryne, Norway. (photo © Tor Staale Moen)
Pøbel addition to an old existing piece in his hood in Bryne, Norway. (photo © Tor Staale Moen)
1UP Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Poi Everywhere (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Raf Mata (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Fours (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Postman Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)
KUMA (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The Act Of Love (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. March 2020. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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ROA Welcomes You to “ANNIHILATION”: Show Opens and is Closed in Melbourne

ROA Welcomes You to “ANNIHILATION”: Show Opens and is Closed in Melbourne

Grassroots organizations like Extinction Rebellion have been battling to raise awareness and turn back the tides of disaster in our climate systems, ecological collapse, and loss of biodiversity. But how many listen, and how many bankers and corporations summon the resources that will be necessary to reverse the extinction of species and biodiversity?

ROA. “Annihilation”. Backwoods Gallery. Melbourne, Australia. (photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery)

As a worldwide virus sweeps through the species, causing a scale of suffering and fear not experienced in a few generations, the topic of our own extinction presents itself boldly and with no opportunity to negotiate. 

ROA. “Annihilation”. Backwoods Gallery. Melbourne, Australia. (photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery)

Enter ROA and his newly opened show which you are able to attend by appointment only, called “Annihilation”.

During his Street Art career of the last decade and a half, his focus has often been on the marginalized and endangered and our culpability – directly as it relates to the animal kingdom but also by extension it is a metaphor for the human condition. Taking extinction one step further, the word annihilation captures the deliberate violent intention behind the killing, decimating, wiping away a record with great finality.

ROA. “Annihilation”. Backwoods Gallery. Melbourne, Australia. (photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery)

The Ghent based Street Artist and studio artist cannot invite you to the Backwoods Gallery in Melbourne unless it is by appointment, so hostile is the natural world toward our immune systems right now. But he says in his press release that the new show “is ROA challenging us to quietly focus, observe, and investigate nature without the noise of current climate discourse.”

ROA. “Annihilation”. Backwoods Gallery. Melbourne, Australia. (photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery)

Looking at his collection of images from the animal kingdom rendered in the distinctive style that he has painted on hundreds of walls across the world, he tells us that this exhibition is “an invitation to reconnect to nature, to empathize, and as the dominant species, to recognize that the choice is ours alone to ensure all of nature’s survival, not just our own.”

ROA. “Annihilation”. Backwoods Gallery. Melbourne, Australia. (photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery)
ROA. “Annihilation”. Backwoods Gallery. Melbourne, Australia. (photo courtesy of Backwoods Gallery)
ROA. Kangaroo Bones. Pilbara, Australia. (photo © ROA)

Annihilation
ROA
March 20 – April 05, 2020

Backwoods Gallery
25 Easey St Collingwood
Melbourne Australia

“Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.”
− Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC ~ 43 BC)

By appointment only : info@backwoods.com

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BSA Film Friday: 03.20.20

BSA Film Friday: 03.20.20

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

Now screening :
1. Challenging The Status Quo With Street Art – Blanco

BSA Special Feature: Challenging The Status Quo With Street Art – Blanco

One could argue that the whole modus operandi of Street Art was originally to challenge the status quo, however that is defined. The fact that in recent years banal “Street Art” festivals have cooked that goose and various industry brands have adopted it for a perceived ‘edge’ appeal doesn’t really change our minds about what real Street Art was and is.

Of course the graffiti and Street Art “scene” itself is not free of its own status quo – the need to circle wagons, slamming doors, forming cliques, and keeping gates is perhaps an ironic hypocrisy in a counterculture that prizes itself for bucking these practices, but examples abound.

True to form, Blanco has not pursued slick stardom as a Street Artist per se, and you probably have not heard of him. That’s sort of the way he likes it.

Challenging The Status Quo With Street Art / Blanco / TEDx Coeurdalene

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