The idea that the boys of Canemorto are in danger is both repelling and dinosaurian. But the paint-roller free thinking rapping brutalists of Italy are staying safe in quarantine, thank Dios.
But they, like so many people who are not working right now, are in distinct danger of economic monstrosities lurking around every corner. Their real fears are mixed with imagined ones from movies of your childhood, so you can identify with their plight.
You can save them from ruin by getting one of their new Jurassic posters. “As for most of the artists during the lockdown, online sales are the only form of support and income we have,” they tell us. And then we hear the sounds of large talons of the Velociraptor thumping down the hallway to our door…
CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR LIMITED EDITION POSTER AND HELP THE ARTISTS IN THE PROCESS
Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)
CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR LIMITED EDITION POSTER AND HELP THE ARTISTS IN THE PROCESS
A
new joint mural from LAPIZ and Elmar Karla as the newly formed “Thealang
Collective”. Both formerly living in Argentina, the two artists have
distinctly different styles to combine here in a scene from a fever dream in
Hamburg, Germany.
Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
And
what a hot steamy shape-shifting surrealist diarama this is on a backyard wall
in St. Pauli, full of fire and raging destruction and ultimately, deception,
with the main character called EL CUCO.
The
combination of cut stencils and fluidly brushed paint, the two say that El Cuco
is a mystical creature who steals the souls of innocent children. The Wikipedia entry says “El Cuco is a
mythical ghost–monster, equivalent to the bogeyman, found in many Hispanophone and Lusophone countries.”
Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
“The mural portrays the impact of today’s society,” they tell us as we gaze upon these exclusive shots, “the eternally growing economy is symbolized by the donations for the partially destroyed Notre Dame, and its effect is one of constantly destroying the environment, here symbolized by the burning green lung – the Amazon Rainforest.”
Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
It’s fearfully treacherous, this adventurous scene mixing childhood myths and fun-loving characters who appear out of context under a sky of flames, Its an amalgam of the imaginations and experiences of the two –Elmar Karla’s painted characters from the comic world and the stencil techniques of Lapiz, who often likes to take a jab at socio-political themes.
Both members of Thealang have painted extensively internationally and have participated in festivals and exhibitions such as the Ibug, Meeting of Styles, Grenoble Street Art Fest and at the Street Art Museum Amsterdam.
Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
Yes, out door advertising is often a pox, a blight, most agree. But once in a while, artists take it over and it becomes a service to society.
Mark Titchner. London, UK. (photo @jack__Arts)
Example; this new campaign by Mark Titchner that reassures all of us that this is a temporary situation, and we will pass through it. The bold lettering and direct statements may bring to mind original text-based culture-jammers like Barbara Kruger or Jenny Holzer, who wrested the nomenclature of mass marketing and rather rearranged it. Clearly the sentiment here is a bit easier to connect with.
Mark Titchner. London, UK. (photo @jack__Arts)
But during a time where there appear to be more questions about the virus than there are answers, and the power-holders are slyly seizing more while the rest of us drift further toward poverty, it is a nice bit of a reassuring sentiment. Don’t you believe?
Mark Titchner. London, UK. (photo @jack__Arts)
CLICK HERE TO PRINT A FREE HOME VERSION OF THE POSTER
As you watch and wait to see
the festering uprisings of workers and the growing crowds of poor and hungry in
the US, we take you back to Friday, which was Labor Day in Europe. It was also
the release date for this curious and interesting project by the artist and people’s
advocate, the New Yorker John Fekner.
John Fekner “Memory” (photo courtesy Bien Urbain)
This unique collection of objects and images and textures called MEMORY is a publication linked by projects that are strung together in a constellation across five decades, a few continents, and pivotal moments that reflect the themes in this New York artists’ activism on the street and through various public interventions. A true innovator, trouble maker, and activator of moribund spaces, its Fekner’s cryptic pronouncements that can read as final judgements and humorous summaries.
“This publication gathers 6
objects edited by projects : a parcel memory from the artist’s archives,” says
the description of this limited edition. “It is the result of exchanges between
the artists John Fekner and Brad Downey, the artistic director of the Bien
Urbain festival David Demougeot and the graphic designers Laura Bouchez and
Bart Lanzini.”
John Fekner (photo courtesy Bien Urbain)
It all seems so current, of
this moment: with references to broken promises, saving schools, worker’s
movements, the remains of industry, government abandonment, citizen
participation, engaging memory, beseeching the power of poetry. It’s all of one
cloth, and all a wistful piece of our collective memory – now brought to life
again.
Rachel Maddow gets $7 million a year. Sean Hannity makes $40 million a year. Anderson Cooper $12 million a year. Joe Scarborough $8 million a year. Even Erin Burnett, who started her professional career as a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs GS, has a net worth of $13 million.
“Right” wing or “Left” wing, it doesn’t matter – these “news” reporters are millionaires looking at the world through your eyes, right?
Maybe this is why there are few positive news stories or policy debates or discussions or “Special Investigation” programs about student debt forgiveness, housing issues, workers rights, unions, Medicare for All, rent strikes, a guaranteed Basic Universal Income on the main networks and news sites. There are NO grand, sweeping financial/job/infrastructure solutions for everyday people that are being proposed, or being reported. There are more people out of work and without a safety net than any time in your life, and there are no big solutions to this?
Huh.
In other news, we’re still quarantining inside. 18,610 people are dead from Covid 19 in New York. That is 6 times as many as we lost on 9/11 – Please send us your pics of art in the streets! We love to hear from you. Spread love!
So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Ines, JJ Veronis, King Baby, One-Tooth, Moe, Pollyn, Praxis-VGZ, and Woe.
Everybody falls. Some know how to do it with great style.
Today we give tribute to the man who showed us how to do it right and spawned a thousand dancing and performing imitators and variations practiced since he flew across TV screens in the 1970s..
When it comes to the dance known Campbellocking – later shortened to “Locking” – Don Campbell was the originator of the series of pop and lock joint movements that fueled what would become part of the hip-hop dance lexicon.
Esquire – 1974 Photo by Harry Hamburg / J.P. Goude
The Camblelock Dancers were comprised of with members Toni
Basil, Fred ‘Mr. Penguin’ Berry a.k.a. Rerun, Leo ‘Fluky Luke’ Williamson, Greg
‘ Campbellock Jr.’ Pope, Bill ‘Slim The Robot’ Williams, and Adolpho ‘Shabba
Doo’ Quinones
Don “Campbellock” Campbell. Artwork by Cleveland Palmer
He passed in April in his home of Santa Clarita, California and we just wanted to pay tribute to the innovator, incorporator, and top notch operator. Put your hands together as we send off Mr. Campbell to a Soul Train dance floor in the heavens.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. Alaniz: A Journey’s Diary 2. Randy Rainbow – A Spoonful of Clorox
BSA Special Feature: Alaniz: A Journey’s Diary
It’s impossible to overestimate the expansive potentiality
of an open heart fueled by curiosity. Alanis reminds us of the creative nature we’re
all born with, not the twisted one that many of us end up with.
The painter/muralist is glimpsed and occasionally captured before he wriggles away from your slippery embrace to paint his face or riddle a cabbie or play coy with a dog or surf through traffic. Filmed by Federica Macis and directed by Emanuel Alaniz, this nomadic tale is a loosely knit selection of intergalactic and earthbound, fantasies and miseries. His figurative works are archetypes, emotional and real and wavering. His inclusion of others in his explorations is open, without an evident agenda except to experience as fully as possible.
A journey as guest of St.Art India, the diary presents the artist as one connected by lights that flow through the earth, the people, the plant life, the atmosphere, the multiple galaxies that he uses as trampolines and curtains and hammock and ladder and pedestal. Trusting in his approach to his divine nature you may sight a glimpse of your own.
Randy Rainbow – A Spoonful of Clorox
And now, as Monty Python may say, its time for something completely different. The musically pugilistic satire of Randy Rainbow often hits the spot, reassuring you that a. you are living in a surreal world, and b. you are not alone.
With a shout out to Julie Andrews, here is his “Spoonful of Clorox”.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
