March 2020

Escif Burns in Empty València Public Square: “This Too Shall Pass”

March 19, 2020 Artists

A spooky set of images today from València, where an enormous torso of a woman is set afire in the center of the city, billowing blackened smoke through its cut severed body upward hundreds of meters into the air.

Escif. “This Too Shall Pass”. Valencia Fallas, March 17, 2020. Spain. (photo courtesy Escif)

Only two years ago we gave you stunning photos by Martha Cooper of Okuda’s enormous geometric pop art sculpture aflame for this traditional festival (OKUDA Sculpture Engulfed in Flames for Falles Festival in València). The culmination of a city-wide street celebration that is enjoyed by hundreds of thousands in this city of 2.5 million. Now there is no one outside on Valencia streets.

Spain and most countries in Europe are closing their borders, going into some version of a 24-hour lock-down curfew, encouraging people to self -quarantine to protect against the spread of coronavirus.

Look at the images of the yoga posed woman with a face mask, cut in two, lit on fire, only her shoulders and neck, and head remaining. Is it violent? Is it poetry?

“Suddenly this image became a symbol of peace and calm, unity and solidarity,” says Spanish Street Artist Escif, the political sociologist who often infuses his figurative imagery with greater commentary on society.

Escif tells us that the Valencia government decided to burn just the body of the sculpture and to keep the face with the mask in the square – until this crisis ends. Surrounded by firefighters, this fire goes up. Yet this serene woman will remain after the flame is extinguished, what is left of her.

“This too shall pass,” he says.

Urvanity 2020 – Madrid Murals from Zest, D*Face, Never Crew, and Eversiempre

March 18, 2020 Artists

New walls from Madrid from only a few weeks ago at the Urvanity Festival, before the city became known as a hub for Coronavirus, went on full lockdown – today closing all of its hotels…

Zest (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)

We start off the collection with graffiti writer from Montpellier, France named Franck Noto aka Zest. His gestural abstracts are just the kind of bright swipes of energy that capture a commercial market these days, and here he brings those energies to the street as well.

Enjoy the new massive pieces from London’s D*Face, Switzerland’s Never Crew, GVIIIIE and Argentinian Eversiempre as they each knock out new murals that Madrid is thankful for – or will be when people are allowed outside again.

Franck Noto combines the different energies found in Graffiti and brings them out through the basic shapes and the primary colors he uses. The bright colors symbolize the aspect of urban art that immediately catches the eye of passers-by, even before they give a positive or negative opinion on what they see. As for the transparency of the forms, it reflects an accumulation of energies and movements.

Zest. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)

GVIIIIE (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)

GVIIIIE. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)

NEVERCREW (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)

NEVERCREW. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)

D*FACE (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)

D*FACE. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Leticia Díaz de la Morena)

Nicolas Romero (photo courtesy of Urvanity Art / Madrid 2020)

Nicolas Romero. Urvanity Art/Madrid 2020. (photo © Nicolas Romero AKA Eversiempre)

Gola Hundun Escapes to Ivy-Covered Nature in Japan

March 17, 2020 Artists

Animals use natural space without transforming it but they seek the space to meet their needs. A cave will provide shelter for a bear. The bear will not paint it, wire it for electricity or install air-conditioning.

Gola Hundun. “Abitare”. Emilia Romagna, Italy. (photo © Johanna Invrea)

Safely (somewhat) in Japan right now, the Italian land artist Gola Hundun is studying space again for his self-created ABITARE project.

“It’s my personal research on the border between human functional space and other species’ use of space,” he tells us as we look at this ivy-covered hump of industry that he regales with gold lame. We often imagine New York City’s skyscrapers engulfed in ivy and wildflowers with enormous insects and birds freely roaming about.

“I think I want to title it ‘Presence’,” he says, “Because this time I found a space where some dead trees were re-colonized by ivy and vitalba that generate really evocative imaginary shapes,” he says. “Like Readymade sculptures, like giants and strange horse-giraffes.” You can see his eyes alight, the dialogue inside his head full of calculation and intent that turns these ephemeral “sculptures” into abstract beings inhabiting space.

He talks about his relationship with gold, which has reoccurred throughout his multiple ABITARE installation. “Gold and green is the combo color for this project. I use gold because it is for me the color of the sun, the color of the soul, of the divine.”

And of our current crises of an infectious coronavirus circling the globe and threatening humanity, killing some of us, crippling our lives in many cases; what does this Earth-Star man observe?

“For me, it is a way to critique our modern human behaviors, post-capitalism, post-economic globalization, which is the main reason why we have arrived at this point, at the brink of ecological systemic disaster.
I think this issue with Corona is a good opportunity to meditate about slow down the rhythm.”

Love In The Time Of Corona: Pøbel

March 16, 2020 Artists

Our headline comes from adapting the title of a novel by the Nobel prize-winning Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, replacing the infectious Corona for the infectious Cholera. In his love-triangle story, he speaks of the lessons learned from a particular woman, but he may as well have been speaking about the now-global crisis we humans are facing:

“(she) stood him on his head, tossed him up and threw him down, made him as good as new, shattered all his virtuous theories, and taught him the only thing he had to learn about love: that nobody teaches life anything.”

Pobel. Bryne, Norway. March 2020. ( photo © Tor Staale Moen)

In an encounter that feels like Norwegian magical realism, Street Artist Pøbel has left this love-struck couple grappling for one another in the city of Byrne.

Sadly, not even this mask-kissing precaution is enough to protect these lovers from the transmission.

Dr. Muhammad Munir of Lancaster University’s department of biomedical and life sciences, and an expert in viral diseases, says “It’s not just sex itself – it’s any contact involved during the act,” in an article in the Guardian. Journalist Sirin Kale reports there that “Even if you don’t kiss the person you are having sex with, you may still contract coronavirus.”

Sorry people, we’ll need another strategy in this time of social distancing. Magnanimously, world community members like the website PornHub are doing their share to pitch in during this time of need, by offering free premium service to Italy. Perhaps free premium porn will be soon available around the world.

Tomorrow we’ll be talking about the importance of disinfecting your phone, computer keyboard, and mouse.

Our special thanks to BSA contributor Tor Staale Moen who shared these exclusive images from Bryne with BSA readers.

The Act Of Love. Meanwhile, on the streets of NYC, we have seen these posters around highlighting with images the topic(s) we just addressed above. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.15.20

March 15, 2020 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

Only two weeks ago we were making jokes here about the NYC plastic bag ban and Coronavirus. Now the city, state, and federal government are in official states of emergency. What will this city look like in another two weeks?

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring City Kitty, Erdogan Terrorist, Lego Party, Little Lucky, LMNOPI, Lunge Box, Messy Fart, Neon Savage, Sara Lynne Leo, The Mushroom, and Urbanimal.

Unidentified artist in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Little Lucky in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty, Neon Savage, Urban Ninja, Hello, The Mushroom (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist in Berlin. The caption reads: “AMERICA – A COUNTRY THAT HAS LEAPT FROM BARBARISM TO DECADENCE WITHOUT TOUCHING CIVILISATION” John O’Hara. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Women Are New York’s Strongest; Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

March 14, 2020 Artists

As New York City and the US march quickly into turmoil and tumult due to our unpreparedness in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic, we take a moment to look at this Street Art by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, who reminds us that women are the resilient front line warriors in many of our lives.

The artist has been a champion of her sisters throughout her art career in the public domain that’s why when we saw this large poster on the streets of New York we smiled and for a moment we felt hopeful. And thankful.

Tatyana Fazalalizadeh (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Film Friday: 03.13.20

March 13, 2020 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening :
1. VHILS: Stories Told with Explosives, Chemicals, and Power Tools
2. Our Collective Responsibility – eL Seed in London
3. Tomokazu Matsuyama: What inspires him to create his art?
4. Teenagers interview Barry McGee at ICA Boston

BSA Special Feature: VHILS: Stories Told with Explosives, Chemicals, and Power Tools

Blasting, buzzing, chipping, revealing. Vhils gives a tour to you with his creative destruction, exploration – and a spirit of discovery. He is reflecting on the idea of identity, your dreams, expectations of life and how they are shaped.

Our Collective Responsibility – eL Seed – London

Its been five years since the philosophical Tunisian-French street artist and muralist eL Seed painted this wall in the Shoreditch neighborhood of London. Overwrought with stirred emotions at the time because of recent terror attacks in Tunisia and London, it was a meaningful moment and installation for eL Seed, who now can reflect on it even after it is gone. A well-paced interview about his experience, it is placed in context by an Arabic calligrapher and a Street Art cultural commentator.

Tomokazu Matsuyama: What inspires him to create his art?

Brooklyn’s own Tomokazu Matsuyama may have been born in Japan, but his musings on self-identity, diversity, and globalization can only arise from the cultural mélange that gives birth to these considerations such as these.

Question; what’s the difference between sampling and copying, appropriating and paying tribute? Obviously these are themes battled for centuries, even your cousin Melvin used to tell you “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. He also told you that NSync was probably going to be regarded as the Beatles of the 1990s, so keep that in mind.

Teenagers Interview Barry McGee at ICA Boston

Teens at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston interview Barry McGee.

Elbi Elem: Detachable Kinetic “Resistance” in Badalona, Catalonia

March 12, 2020 Artists

Unveiled during an opening a week ago, a dynamic new blue resistance is on display in this inaugural space at the University of Badalona (Catalonia). A serrated kinetic mobile turning slowly as artist Elbi Elem brings her spray can inside for finishing aerosol touches the cerulean abstract.

Elbi Elem. “Resistance” for Recien Pintado Project. Baladona, Spain. (photo © Elbi Elem)

The muralist had been creating dimension on walls with paint and geometric assemblage for years, eventually popping out from the wall in 3-d sculpture. Now she is creating with metal, wood, and PVC – and hanging free, gently gyrating and re-casting shadows in public space in new ways that electrify her mind and imagination.

The show is called RECIÉN PINTADO (Just Painted) and she shares this suspended installation in the space with artists like Bre, Chan, Sm172, Dagoe, Spogo, Crajes, Ruben Sanchez, Juan Chacón and Marcos Navarro. Curated by Spogo and Martí Noy with the support of the Badalona City Council, the show marks another significant milestone in the ongoing movement from street to formal exhibition space.

For Elbi Elem the new work is an opportunity inside a space “that may normally go unnoticed,” she says. “The dimension that unites the material elements is full of energy and somehow I think that its life is created between it, me, and my emotions is on display. All of this is embodied in the final work and the space itself is filled with it, transforming it. ”

Figurative Dispatch From Cuenca, Spain.

March 11, 2020 Artists

So far the activity of traipsing through a town to discover new Street Art, graffiti, and murals will not put you at risk of contracting a virus.

Daniel Eime. Barrio San Antonio. Cuenca, Spain, (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

So BSA Contributor Lluis Olive Bulbena recently took a brief trip to Cuenca, Spain and he stumbled into the Barrio San Anton.

He says that he didn’t think the offerings were bountiful but he did manage to send us a cache of new and old images from which we are very happy to share with you. The majority here are figurative, full of character, almost speaking to you.

Unidentified artist. Barrio San Antonio. Cuenca, Spain, (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Dario Efren. Detail. Barrio San Antonio. Cuenca, Spain, (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Dario Efren. Barrio San Antonio. Cuenca, Spain, (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Eleman. Barrio San Antonio. Cuenca, Spain, (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Koz Dos. Barrio San Antonio. Cuenca, Spain, (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Agro Punk. Barrio San Antonio. Cuenca, Spain, (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Laurence Vallières and Red-Handed Mickey at Urvanity 2020

March 10, 2020 Artists

Presented by Swinton Gallery at this year’s edition of Urvanity Art Fair in Madrid, Canadian artists Laurence Vallières’ installation turned heads and made people think. Ms. Vallières is well known for her sculptures, mostly of animals in peril made out of hard cardboard. Her outdoor installation at Urvanity had a lot to say with two images that stop people in their tracks.

**Laurence Vallières**. Urvanity Art Fair. Madrid, March 2020. (photo © Martha Cooper)

The center stage in the outdoor area features a murdered triceratops and a triumphant Mickey Mouse astride the hapless animal with blood on his hands, possibly dining on its entrails. Art, of course, can be interpreted in so many ways, and that’s one of its inherent powers. To us, this sculpture represents the centuries of American colonialism around the world and the trail of blood and misery left behind by the conquerors. At the least its a stab at corporate power.

Or does this represent a more generalized corruption in the highest offices – with unashamed displays of nepotism and greed run amok. More literally you may think of those clueless bounty hunters who boast about their kill of the last members of species.

No matter your analysis of the art piece and what it represents to you in particular, this is a powerful socio-political critique given the mainstage at Urvanity Madrid 2020, and many will have an opportunity to see it firsthand.

Ana Barriga and “Trash-pop” in Barcelona

March 9, 2020 Artists

“Trash-pop” is a label that can be applied to so much that you see and hear today as an inheritor of massive consumer culture that has raged across the globe for decades.

Ana Barriga in conjunction with TÀPIA Collective Show and B-Murals Gallery. La Sagrera, Barcelona. (photo © Alex Puig Ros)

As it applies to Spanish artist Ana Barriga it is an act of salvation and reconnection to an image – reimagining its place in the modern world and examining the one it came from. Here in La Sagrera in Barcelona she is expanding the compendium of styles now assigned to the book of neomuralists. Born in Cádiz and a student at Seville’s University, her 3D knowledge may have come from her study of furniture design as well as painting.

“The image portrays one of Ana’s latest findings,” says photographer and cultural chronicler Fer Alcalá Losa as he describes the piece for you. “They are two pottery figures that create a casual but tender composition in that trash-pop style so characteristic of Barriga’s artwork, all of it with a super personal treatment of color and using different techniques such as oil painting, varnish, and spray cans.”

Images Of The Week: 02.08.20 – A Tale Of Two Fairs

March 8, 2020 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Brooklyn-Street-Art-Images-of-Week-solo-900x300.gif

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

New Yorkers are a fearless, foolish, and Faustian lot, this much was in evidence during opening nights at the art fairs this first week of March, a month of promise.

Coronavirus didn’t put a damper on the art-weirdo festivities and the artsy sorts all put on their creatively festooned frocks and went out in droves to celebrate art, the artists, and the spirit of creativity.

The rite of going to the fairs can be exhausting, not just physically but also mentally. What are all of these people thinking? How does it reflect on the current socio-politico-psychological state of society, our lifestyles, our outlook at each other and the world? Is art something to facilitate understanding or to wear like a badge or signifier of status in your pool of influence?

The plethora of art New Yorkers was treated to this week (and weekend) becomes overwhelming to the senses and after a while, everything seems to morph into one giant abstract, endlessly self-referential canvas.

Images Of The Week today will look a bit different. We’re inside the white walls. No street art and graffiti. We thought we’d show you two shows at ends of the art fair spectrum. The Armory Show is one, and Spring Break is the other.

There is greatness in both, both serve their audience, and both and have their own ethos and philosophy and indeed two very different business models. One is 107 years old and one is 11. Both say that they are international, innovative, and dynamic. One calls itself ‘premiere’. The other calls itself ‘visionary’.

As always we love getting lost in the maze of galleries, curators, artists, buyers, observers, performers, and attitudes – and being surprised by the art along the way.

Here is a selection of some things that caught our eye, a very different set of images for the week, this week featuring Amina Robinson, Andrew Ohanesian, Asif Hoque, Dorothea Lange, Dustin Lee, Gustavo Diaz, Jessica Lictenstein, Kate Kingbell, Kehinde Wiley, Lezley Saar, Liliana Porter, Pieter Hugo, and Susan MacWilliams.

Dustin Lee. Jeffrey Deitch. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jessica Lichtenstein. Untitled Space. Spring Break Art Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jessica Lichtenstein. Detail. Untitled Space. Spring Break Art Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gustavo Diaz and Liliana Porter. Sicardi. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kate Kingbeil. Field Projects. Spring Break Art Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kate Kingbeil. Deetail. Field Projects. Spring Break Art Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Susan MacWilliam. Connersmith. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dorothea Lange. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kehinde Wiley. Roberts Projects. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Asif Hoque. Curated by Anne-Laure Lemaitre. Spring Break Art Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pieter Hugo. Yossi Milo Gallery. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lezley Saar. Walter Maciel Gallery. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amina Robinson. ACA Galleries. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Andrew Ohanesian. Pierogi. The Armory Show. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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