Norwegian Street Artist Pøbel is offering artists proofs of
his “The Lovers” print to raise funds for Covid-19 efforts in the Amazon. Today
you have an opportunity to get an original and unique piece that has been
featured on many publications since he first put this image of a couple in
embrace on the streets.
Pøbel “Tne Lovers” Detail. (photo courtesy of Pøbel)
He tells us that he’s travelled many times to South America
and has made friends with folks in indigenous communities. “Many of these are
now suffering due to the pandemic, and we hear little about this in our part of
the world. Hospitals have been collapsed for months, some are dying in the
streets, the government restrictions and economic fall make it impossible for
many people who live day-by-day to get what they need.”
Pøbel “Tne Lovers” Detail. (photo courtesy of Pøbel)
100 % of this sale is going to a goo friend of his who has studied with and
lived with different indigenous families for a decade, he says. “The indigenous
people are strong and their ancestors have survived similar things in the past
on their own, but this time I, like many others, would like to reach out a
helping hand to try to do some good.”
Pøbel “Tne Lovers” Detail. (photo courtesy of Pøbel)
The Lovers AP
Dirty test print
1/1 Unique
88 x 62 cm
34,6 x 24,4 In
Conqueror Connoisseur
300 gsm paper
Hand-printed
5% art tax included
Signed and numbered
DON’T FORGET TO CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROJECT AND TO PLACE YOUR BID:
“In some 50 years of documenting public art, I have never seen such an outpouring of political images as I have personally witnessed in the streets of San Francisco, Oakland and Sacramento, ” photographer and historian Jim Prigoff tells us. He’s been hitting the streets in the last week and feeling the rage and defiance of the protestors as well as the artists who are pouring themselves out onto colorful walls.
He tells us that he has watched as tens of thousands of people continue to demonstrate every day. “Much of it is related to the murder of George Floyd,” he says, “and all that it portends relating to race relations and specifically the phrase that sums it all up is ‘BLACK LIVES MATTER’.”
Limited in his personal mobility to shooting from his car window, Mr. Prigoff has an eagle’s eye when it comes to catching the good stuff and we are honored that he shares what he has found here with BSA readers. He says that he would like to disseminate his shots “in any way that helps to call attention to the continuing injustice and the absolute necessity for dramatic change.”
For Hip Hop philatelists, and there are a few, the US Postal Service is issuing a new set of stamps on July 1 commemorating Hip Hop’s contributions to the culture. Arguably the most impactful cultural export of the last 50 years, it has also revolutionized our home scene integrally.
It is kind of shocking to see the USPS paying homage to MC-ing (Rap), DJ-ing, B-Boying and Graffiti, but it just goes to show that you can make the road by walking.
Find out more at USPS. https://store.usps.com/store/product/buy-stamps/hip-hop-S_476504#moreinfofooter
Today we’re lending a hand to Street Artist and fine artist AKUT, who is using his name and privilege to organize a new video project that he hopes will continue the momentum against racism that is currently marching through many of the world’s streets.
Let’s ask all the questions about how a racists system is formed and if our actions or inactions and attitudes contribute to it knowingly or unknowingly. In the end, we’re all responsible.
“Use the power of your voice, show your face to be an ally in this movement against racism,” says AKUT in his new appeal for participants for his next video project.
“Be an amplifier for those who haven’t been heard for too long or have been shut down by officials and politics every time this ugly ball of violence gets another disturbing kick and rolls even faster.”
“I aim to use my abilities to participate in this worldwide movement, to stand in for humanity, equality, and to keep this fight a VISIBLE one as long as it takes. Again, the time for change is NOW!”
A Message from AKUT
I need you to help me creating another strong sign of solidarity with the whole act against racism. If you want to participate in a new video project, please send an email to:
BLM@AKUT1.COM SUBJECT: BLM IN *YOUR CITY/COUNTRY* UNTIL WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17TH.
All you need is a black and white printer, a camera (smartphone is sufficient), and the confidence to eventually make this change happen, step by step, together.
Thank you a lot in advance!
As a side note to all denier and conspiracy myths sympathetic, to the people, who have never been affected by racism, but keep on pointing out that all lives matter or saying this is not their problem:
I don’t say ONLY black lives matter. I was lucky so far to never have been under pressure because of anything that defines me by nature. I don’t take this for granted. You shouldn’t either. It should be everybody’s duty to make this world a worth one, to live in, with equality, freedom, and solidarity as a common basement.
It’s ridiculous and frustrating that one has to explicitly say that every life matters in order to not be attacked when standing up for others. There shouldn’t be any doubt about the value of lives, no matter the color of skin, gender, religion, social-economic or geographical background. In times when a specific group of human beings needs as much support as possible to be seen and heard, it should be a no-brainer to everyone, that this particular group needs to be underlined specifically in the public debate. Don’t mix this up or compare it to any other issue this world is facing. There’re for sure too many things not right on this planet, but we cannot act on all issues at the same time. This movement is against every act of alleged superiority over presumed minorities, against group-related misanthropy. This is against racism. – AKUT
It’s great to see that artists on the streets are actually reaching out to help passersby with enthralling words of encouragement these days – the signs and messages we’re seeing are sentiments such as “We will persevere!” and “No Fear. Keep Going!”
Perhaps it is the vacuum of support that has been created by the Divider in Chief – as well as the acquiescent one-party corporate Demoblicans who all haven’t the slightest desire to lead or actually support you in these times of crisis for millions.
And to this we add our voice; Hang in there people! You got this! We are going to pull through this stronger and more united, despite the disinformation war that is arrayed before us. Today people are once again taking to the streets around the world in a populist fervor not seen since the ’60s when Baby Boomers hadn’t abandoned their principles yet. What a pendulum we swing on!
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Buff Monster, Dan Witz, Gianni Lee, Mtitya Pisliak, Praxi, Skewville, and Techno Deco.
Under the initiative of Barcelona based street artist, Xupet Negre, around 15 artists responded to an invitation to participate in the project #theblackwallmovement at Parc De 3 Xemeneies in Barcelona.
Police brutality is not a foreign concept in Barcelona and the images coming out from the United States have hit a nerve within the creative community of this Catalan Metropolis, we are told, and the artists here decided to show their support for the protest against racism in Barcelona by painting these walls.
Photographer and frequent BSA contributor Lluis Olive shared his photos of the project with us.
The anonymous artist(s) who painted the mural above, titled “Here the police also kill” decided to paint the names of a number of the immigrants killed by the police in Barcelona since the ’90s. An individual who happened to be on the scene where the mural was painted and wishes to remain anonymous related the what unfolded once the police got wind of the mural:
“Here the police also kill…and censor!
Yesterday I visited Parc De 3 Xemeneies in Barcelona to support #theblackwallsmovement event organized by Xupete Negre. I wasn’t there as an artist, but rather in support of my fellow artists who were participating and painting in the event.
What caught my attention was a mural where a crew of anonymous artists decided that rather than paint images on the wall they wrote a list of the names of immigrants assassinated by the police in Barcelona from the ’90s to the present time. Shortly after the mural was completed a police squad arrived. The officers wanted to know the name of the artist(s) who painted the mural so they could charge the artist(s) of defamation and demanded that the mural be painted over.
The artists who were present at the time refused to name names and refused to paint over the mural. The following day the portion of the mural that reads: “Here the police also kills” was painted over. I find it abhorrent that crimes that took place are being censured and that the collective memory of said crimes is being erased.
Never mind that the event in question was to fight racism and police brutality and to denounce the murder of George Floyd in The United States.
“This is the end of pretty pictures,” wrote the artists at the end of the mural. “-by anonymous.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. Steven Siegel, Like a Buoy, Like a Barrel 2. Mural Intervention by Ana Barriga in Nau Bostik 3. The Revolution Starts in The Earth w/ the Self. Jess X Snow & Gavriel Cutipa-Zorn
BSA Special Feature: Steven Siegel, Like a Buoy, Like a Barrel
We’ve seen public works made with recycled materials in the street art scene for a few years – Bordalo II and Icy & Sot come to mind. American environmental artist Steven Siegel has been pulling apart and reassembling in public space for forty years or so, amassing a body of work that examines and reveals the geologic sedimentation of earth, bodies, memory, emotion.
A recent work, Like a Buoy, Like a Barrel in Providence, Rhode Island presents our collective waste in a container, front and center for all to look into, marvel at, perhaps be dismayed by.
“Piling a bunch of, for lack of a better word, ‘trash,’ is not going to move anybody. Whereas if you can articulate it into a form that is beautiful and surprising, they’re going to say ‘that’s beautiful and surprising. What does it mean?”
Mural Intervention by Ana Barriga in Nau Bostik
On the occasion of the closing of the TÀPIA exhibition, B.murals invited Ana Barriga to paint on the walls of Espai 30 La Sagrera, inspired by her tireless searches for inspiration in markets such as “El Rastro” in Madrid. Using a found item she enlarges it and takes comfort in the simple depiction of mutual affinity.
Project Highlight: Like buoy, like a barrel by Steven Siegel
The Revolution Starts in The Earth w/ the Self. Jess X Snow & Gavriel Cutipa-Zorn
Across the United States and in other parts of the world protestors are bringing down the last vestiges of sculptural racism etched in marble or bronze. Statutes of slave traders and confederate generals have been pulled down from their pedestals. Even Christopher Columbus lost his head in Boston this week. So yes, heads are rolling.
It’s not a moment too soon to have this conversation, to listen to others, and to confront the idea that we should revere and immortalize with monuments those who were not human enough to treat other humans fairly. The demonstrators protesting against racism and police violence are having an impact in our daily discourse on matters of race, violence against minorities, and police brutality. It’s not about time, it’s been time.
Bristol, a seaside city in the United Kingdom saw its own symbol of racism toppled down by protestors this week. It involved the monument of Edward Colston, a Tory Member of Parliament and an English merchant who profitted from the slave trade and died in 1721.
Bristol also gave us street artist Banksy, who looks to inject levity even in the darkest moments. He has come with an irresistible and clever idea about what to do with the monument that was thrown into the harbor at an anti-racism protest on Sunday, and has since been retrieved from the waters. Having already offered his serious commentary on the #blacklivesmatter movement on his Instagram account he decided to give us his humorous take on the fate of the statue.
“What should we do with the empty plinth in the middle of Bristol? Here’s an idea that caters for both those who miss the Colston statue and those who don’t.We drag him out the water, put him back on the plinth, tie cable round his neck and commission some life size bronze statues of protestors in the act of pulling him down. Everyone happy. A famous day commemorated.” Bansky
Taking a decade long view of your creative life can be astoundingly instructional if you are brave enough; perusing over the body of work that you have taken with eyes focused and blurred may reveal broad outlines and finer features of a creative life-path – a psychological mapping of the inner world and its outer expression with all its impulses, longings, expressions of received truths and newly discovered wisdom.
Publico. Privado. Jaz Franco Fasoli. 09-2019
Franco Fasoli aka JAZ has looked over his last decade (2009-2019) of work as a street artist and fine artist and offers you the opportunity to examine his public and private side as well in this new two-volume compendium. Painting on the streets since the mid-nineties and his mid-teens in his hometown of Buenos Aires, the visual artist knew his path would be a creative one. His family and role models, comprised of well-schooled artists and educators, had provided a foundation of critique and appreciation for him to build upon from the earliest years.
Now with many miles of travel on his personal odometer and introduction
to greater opportunities and institutions his visual output is here codified,
examined, and assessed in printed and bound form, to be respected and valued.
As observed in an essay by his street painting compatriot Elian, “Today it is
no longer about what physical space we select for each of these terms and their
respective experiences, it is about extremely sensitive decisions on what we
decide to transport from mental territories to others.”
Extremely sensitive is an appropriate descriptor. These massive and fragile and indestructible works all respond to weighty matters of history, struggle, nationalism, mythology, archetypical roles; now mingled uncomfortably with the ethereal nature of modern living that collapses, compresses, cheapens aesthetic values and relationships. Here is adolescence clamoring for maturity, idealism melting with monsters of the imagination, truth abutting uncomfortable irony.
In “Publico: Privado” JAZ has invited you to go on the trip with him. Artist,
teacher, and curator Diana Aisenberg writes in her essay, “I imagine the work
as a ship, a means of transport, as close to teleportation. It is the one that
moves and finds its place, there where it is necessary.”
Irish street artist Asbestos likes peeking
out, just his inquisitive orbs taking you in from a safe space. “We all wear
masks every second of the day.” Naturally that’s not hard to do since much of
the world has been in quarantine a lot lately.
But all these world events have left
him feeling fragile to tell the truth.
“I am fragile,” he says. “And I can
feel how fragile we all are right now.”
This new mural in Dublin speaks to
health, communities, our very lives, he says. It also speaks about masks that
people wear to hide how they’re really feeling right now in a time of great social,
political, and financial upheaval that you know is irreversible but you cannot
predict where it goes.
“We deny how
fragile we are. I wear these masks to hide the irrelevant parts of my identity,
and this mural let’s my eyes speak, if not shout out how fragile I am. It’s
empowering to admit that I’m fragile.”
New York officially marks 100 days of the pandemic today and is beginning phase 1 of ‘opening’ the city – allowing a certain modicum of liberty in some circumstances. In recognition of this we are discontinuing our practice of titling our postings called “Dispatch From Isolation”.
We thought we’d celebrate by showing you new photos from San Francisco streets by a respected name in the graffiti photography scene, Mr. Jim Prigoff. He and many others will still continue to self-quarantine in the most conservative manner for the near future anyway, because if you are in your 90s, you still gotta be careful.
“After two and a half months of staying at home, I ventured to SF to make an important pick-up,” he tells us. “I never got out of my car. I documented a few aspects of the trip which I thought I would share.”
We’re honored to share these new shots with the BSA family. Thank you Jim.
When a socio-political-economic nexus is forged with such historically contentious factors, it only takes a spark. If you are wondering who will win, merely look at history, as past is prologue. Sorry, we won’t be spoilers.
Historically sky-high unemployment in an economy headed for depression, a somnolent political-corporate class standing listlessly by to watch as you are lowered deep into the well, an unprecedented heist of the US cupboard in broad daylight, the flames of social inequity fanned by a muscular and shiny fascism. What’s not to like?
In one irony (among many) New York City is opening tomorrow. Except for the curfew at 8pm. It’s also boarding up. Just as graffiti and street art were effectively scrubbed from Manhattan, the city offers artists and poets thousands and thousands of brand new plywood canvasses. It’s a jubilee!
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Captain Eyeliner, Niko Alexander, Cadex Herrera, Greta McLain, Xena Goldman, Pablo Helm Hernandez, Dusty Rebel, No Sleep, Pajtim Osmanaj, Russian Doll NYC, and Soul Thundre.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
