Funky Fresh pages for your fresh paint from the Museum of Graffiti in Miami today.
They’ve been doing their best to make your quarantine dope! Every week for the last month they’ve been releasing new pages in what will ultimately be the biggest most supercharged graffiti coloring book we’ve seen.
This week Volume IV is here with a special cover designed by PURE TFP, featuring art by CES, DOC TC5, DR. DAX, INTEL TCI, and MICKEY. Pick it up a hardcopy by ordering it online – and they’ll immediately send you a PDF file to print.
Don’t forget to be sure to tag your work-in-progress or finished photos at @museumofgraffiti on instagram or Facebook!
It’s good to see that Stikman is still lucidly dreaming himself into a world of mid-century superheroes and gorgeous dames even while in lock-down for this never-ending quarantine.
A charmingly witty self-insinuator into all manner of Americana from yesteryear, the mysterious Street Artist who started simply as a man made of matchsticks regularly utilizes a sophisticated array of printing methods to place himself in pop and pulp settings.
And he shape-shifts into the background easily, sometimes assuming a character or using himself as a billboard, or in a couple of these, a reminder to wash your hands and stay home.
Judy Chicago, Jane Fonda and Swoon are teaming up for a Global Open Call to #CreateArtForEarth, and the hashtag is picking up speed quickly.
“There are so many ways that art will be part of how we survive this climate crisis and the current pandemic, from helping us work through paralyzing fears so that we can act constructively, to keeping our hearts and minds inspired by what matters, and even using the creative process to tackle tangible solutions. I’m such a believer that the first step to action is an act of imagination.”
– Swoon
Swoon. “Healing Arises in Slowness” 2020 (photo courtesy of Swoon)
Working side by side with Greenpeace USA, National Museum of Women in the Arts and $FireDrillFridays invite you to join the launch of #CreateArtforEarth – a global initiative to encourage art that addresses the climate crisis and hopes to inspires action.
Plastic arts, songs, performance, poems, – all are encouraged. Just follow the hash tag to see where you can participate. #CreateArtforEarth
“Over the last few decades, we have witnessed the melting of the Arctic ice; the warming of the oceans; massive wildfires; dramatic changes in weather patterns; the extinction of hundreds of living creatures; and now, the coronavirus which is upending human behavior all over the planet, causing the disruption of economic systems at a level never seen before and death for many thousands of people. The most pressing issue for us today are the conditions out of which these dire occurrences have happened, which artists can help illuminate if they start addressing what matters in understandable modes.” – Judy Chicago
On Thursday, April 30th, at 1:00 PM MST @Hansulrichobrist and I will be in conversation with on @SerpentineUK account for an Instagram Live. Join us as discuss the global creative campaign ‘Create Art For Earth’ and my involvement in Serpentine’s #BackToEarth project.
“Like everyone in the world, my family has been affected by this pandemic,” says celebrated Street Artist, painter, pop culture jammer, and marketer Ron English.
He’s reflecting on Covid-19 from the perspective of someone who’s been knocked down by it and who was able to get back up. While he is feeling good now, he says the impact on his health was substantial and says it will affect his art-making going forward due to damaged lung capacity.
“That means no more spraypaint for now,” he says, “and it’s
possible that I may never paint another public mural.” Let’s hope that changes
with time.
For now his wife Tarza has poured herself into making
amazing masks to give to nursing homes, postal workers, grocery clerks – first with
leftover fabric scraps, eventually with Ron’s PopLife Popaganda cotton shirts.
Now that the English’s joining with Threadless and “a purchase price that goes directly to MedShare”, his custom design face masks are going to the next level.
Ron says he is proud to do this work and BSA is proud to support families – his and ours – and yours!
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week and Ramadan Mubarak for all our Muslim brothers and sisters this week. We all know that we have to keep a safe distance and wash our hands, even during holy days – science is science whether its Jesus or Mohammed or Timothy Leary whom you worship.
Overall this pandemic is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable around the world. If you are okay, please share what you have. This week we recommend The International Rescue Committee.
If you, or someone you care about, are feeling overwhelmed with emotions like sadness, depression, or anxiety, or feel like you want to harm yourself or others
Call National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255.
The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. We need a Marshall Plan for everyday people right now and the next year. Instead, we have a circus.
In other news, we’re still quarantining inside so we thought you would enjoy these cool instant classics shot in Miami recently. Please send us your art in the streets! We love to hear from you. Spread love!
So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Bubblegum, Carolina, Dicesar Love, Friks84, Inphiltrate, Jodi Cox, Joshila Dhaby, Le Doers Club, Outrank Brand, Oz Fua, Ric Azevedo, Roger Peet, Smogeone, The Suited Racer, Toosphexy, Tomer Linaje, and Toysnobs.
Bill
Posters knows his street art and activism history.
From Beuys’ practice of ‘social sculpture’ and John Fekner’s blunt upbraiding of urban planning hypocrisies to AIDS activists using street art to shame government homophobia and the paint-bombing of a Mao portrait that led to the arrest and torture of the artists/activists for counter-revolutionary propaganda, he’ll give you a solid foundation on precedence for this rebellious art life in “The Street Art Manual.”
He also knows how to yarn-bomb.
And myriad other techniques for freelance intervening in city spaces that you own, that all of us own, but which are often commandeered for commercial messages, political propaganda messages, or commercial-political propaganda messages – otherwise known as fascism.
His new book on hacking public space is one of the most instructive, constructive, serious and light-hearted romps through your world with new eyes. He has mastered a balance of educational and fun, sane and irreverent as he takes you methodically with text, photos, and cleanly modern diagrams through practices such as graffiti, stencils, paste-ups, subvertising, large-scale murals, yarn bombing, guerrilla theater, dropping banners, light projections, launching paint projectiles, and mastering aerial art via drone.
One may say that it is a handbook for taking back your voice in a sea of disinformation to advocate for a point of view. But don’t take yourself so seriously, dawg. Also, mind your manners. For being a rule breaker, Bill Posters wants you to be gentlemen and gentleladies and gentlepersons – Don’t just hit the streets as a hormone-fueled dunderhead who rides roughshod over others in a toxic, abusive way.
Check out his list for how to do the most fundamental of forms, graffiti. The “DO” list includes admonitions to “say something more than your name. Stick up for those less privileged”, which may sound like a tear-jerking sermon. But then he also tells you not to bring your cellphone to the train yard, which just seems logical.
In the “DON’T” list he suggests you don’t go into train yards without experienced writers, and he implores aspiring aerosol mark makers to be original, “Focus on developing your own voice and your own style.” In many ways, Bill Posters is the supportive dad you never had, which probably would have helped you avoid this whole vandalism lifestyle to begin with.
But since you are a vandal or are unwittingly breaking some municipality’s law by wrapping a sculpture with crochet to look like a clown, he does offer direct advice on dealing with authorities, knowing your rights, knowing what your options are, and knowing that some times police actually like your art and might let you off if you don’t act like a jerk. All that said, this book is not about breaking laws, it’s philosophically about reclaiming public space and having a voice in your society.
“Throughout
history, people have used creativity to push against conformity in search of
experiences that create more meaning,” he says in his introduction. “Street
art, and its predecessor, graffiti, are two art forms that do just that.”
And
when doing your subversive or society-saving art installation under cover of
night, elsewhere he recommends, “Don’t forget to scope things out and check for
onsite security. Dogs are a real issue when you’re stuck on a fence, hanging
there like a tasty human sausage.”
The Street Art Manual by Bill Posters. The Street Art Manual new US on-sale date is now Sept. 8th. 2020. Published by Laurence King Publishing Ltd. London, UK. 2020.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. Confrontation & Form – Jaz and Elian in Montreal
BSA Special Feature: Confrontation & Form – Jaz and Elian in Montreal
A nicely paced, informal series of insights into the creative milieu around and between the two Street Artists Franco Fasoli “Jaz” and Elian Chali, captured with clarity and dexterity by director Pablo Aravena. Only recently on our radar, the video takes place during the corporate and commercial Mural festival in Montreal in 2015.
Jaz speaks about his ongoing studies of history and culture, mythologies and the characteristics of Latin American identity. In his sketches and large murals you are witness to the tensions he finds and reflects in symbolic heroic metaphorical struggles – giving center stage to conflicting impulses and a sense of ever-present struggle. Elian injects his computer generated compositions with his uniquely devised techniques of chance – a curious digital manipulations of the original artwork using specific data sets – giving his own abstractions a fresh and glitchy electricity on a wall.
On a
rainy New York Friday in quarantine, it is nice to see the social activity and
excitement on the streets in this video. It is also good to see Franco and
Elian unguarded, sincere and succinct in their descriptions of their work and
their techniques. Professional peers, they are also very good friends and
mentors to one another. Aravena captures the dynamics without a forceful hand,
letting the story unwind naturally in a warm story.
Shout
out to Chancha via Circuito for the music that compliments the scenes.
The famous piece inspired by the other more famous piece
“Girl with a Pearl Earring” by Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer has been
enhanced by the addition of the now-ubiquitous blue face mask on the girl’s
face.
Word on the street is that the addition might not be that of the famously reclusive artist himself but that of an admirer. Usually, Banksy gives his pieces on the street his imprimatur by posting them on his Instagram account. At the time of this posting on BSA, such action hasn’t yet been taken.
Unfortunately it doesn’t realize that all this clean air and water from the last couple of months is not intentional – we just had to stay inside our homes and not ruin stuff.
Shepard Fairey. Earth Day 2020. (photo courtesy of Studio No. 1)
Airplanes
are grounded, parks are closed, and asthma is down. Wild animals are enjoying
their natural habitat without the hordes of humans traipsing about their
territory. Mountains, rivers, lakes, and our oceans are experiencing less
stress and our cities, in general, are calmer and cleaner. When people float
conspiracy theories about Covid-19, we always like the one about the Earth
creating it to get our attention and be better earth citizens.
50
years after the first Earth Day, we pause to recognize people like US Senator
Gaylord Nelson, a Democrat from the state of Wisconsin who founded it. He
probably had no idea that corporations would take over the Senate and House and
White House and the media here in 2020.
Who
did?
Shepard Fairey. Earth Day 2020. (photo courtesy of Studio No. 1)
But
the good work of those first environmentalists hasn’t been completely reversed,
however they have tried to smear the name of people who love the Earth, eroding
laws that protect it. “Teach-ins” from the Vietnam War era actually inspired Senator
Nelson to envision a “national-teach-in-movement” where neighbors taught each
other and empowered and encouraged one another to act positively and directly
to protect natural resources. For all those who have fought for our environment
and our fellow creatures, some at great personal cost, we salute you.
Street
Artist and activist Shepard Fairey has been sounding the alarm on environmental
issues and the climate for years now. His voice resonates because he’s informed
and straight-forward with his graphic campaigns to elevate the discussion where
we all can participate with the shared goal of leaving this planet in much
better shape than it was when we were born. Here are a couple of posters he
just released through his design studio Studio No 1.
Since most of us are
quarantined at home right now, arts and cultural institutions have been
challenging themselves to devise new programming that can be engaged with in
virtual ways. Some of them require you to join in a meeting or event, others
are self-directed.
Urban Nation Museum of Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin, like most museums, has been forced to close its doors for the near future, but they still want to give you an opportunity to walk through the exhibition with a warm and informative guide who also understands critical thinking.
It’s a difficult task to give a tour to a guest when you cannot see them, but Markus Georg has a disarming natural way of describing his ideas so that you definitely feel sometimes like you are there with him looking at the studio art by many of today’s graffiti and Street Artists. We were particularly thrilled to see him talk about the Swoon piece because we brought her to Berlin as UN curators in 2015, and this was the collaged menagerie of her imagery made for that show.
Jan Sauerwald’s enthusiasm for the urban art scene dates back at least to his own experience on the street in the 1990s, and he knows what a special challenge it is for youth and families to be cooped up inside. As a cultural manager in Berlin for many years and today as Urban Nation’s Director, Mr. Sauerwald is especially pleased that the museum can offer an unhindered opportunity to see the works on display.
We asked him a few questions about the new video.
Brooklyn Street Art:What gave you the idea to have a virtual tour of the museum? Jan Sauerwald: It is an unfortunate development that the museum and all the excellent works by different artists won’t be available for the visitors for such a long time period. It is pretty sad for an educational art institution like ours, so we were thinking hard about alternatives and we decided to implement an online tour to deliver easy access for all groups of interested people. We want them to feel like they are having a unique experience that is similar to the real thing as possible.
Brooklyn Street Art:Can you tell us a little about the guide who is helping us become familiar with the works? Jan Sauerwald: Markus Georg is an experienced art mediator and tour guide. We have worked with him on other projects as well and we are very glad that he responded very quickly to our call to produce the digital tour through the museum. Speed is everything when it comes to mounting such a project in these times.
Brooklyn Street Art: What is one of the works you find most interesting? Jan Sauerwald: One of my favorite works is the London Police painting in the exhibition. London Police do give us a lot of inspiration with their view of a fantastic and futuristic, but always friendly world. If our future could be like that – a friendly coexistence of men and machines- then I think it could I would be glad about that.
This way when the neighbors in the building across the street see you hanging out the window during our 7 pm public applause session — they’ll know even more about your worldview.
Social Distancing (courtesy of Studio Number One)
“Art has the power to bring us together, even when we’re apart,” says Street Artist, graphic artist, fine artist Shepard Fairey, who has designed posters along with his Studio Number One for us all to use as we like. It may even help many of us feel like we are doing this together, instead of solo.
“We are all in this together,” Shepard says, “and we will
overcome this.”
Where is the People’s Bailout? Why has the bailout that was promised to small businesses already run out? Why is congress on vacation? Why is Biden staring up at the wall like he’s concentrating on a dead spider? The people are dying, running out of food, the economy is dying, businesses are dying. The Post Office, starved and bad-mouthed for years by the capitalists who want to kill it, is finally dying. Do we realize which direction the US is being dragged by the oligarchs and their one party corporate Republicrat-Demoblicans?
Banksy, with his typical sense of humor and levity, came out from isolation to share with us his visual metaphor that accurately illustrates one of the many ways in which isolation affects humans…photos were taken directly from the artist’s Instagram account. (photos @Banksy)Banksy. Detail. (photo @ Banksy)Banksy. Detail. (photo @ Banksy)Banksy. Detail. (photo @ Banksy)Banksy. Detail. (photo @ Banksy)Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. Spring 2020 (photo @ Jaime Rojo)
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
