Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. Wall Writers
BSA Special Feature: Wall Writers
Wall Writers: Graffiti in its innocence. Directed by Roger Gatsman and narrated by John Waters is a documentary accompanied by a book with an introduction by Barry McGee. The film was released in 2016. Redbull is streaming the full film on their website now. For those interested in the birth of graffiti and wish to know more about the pioneers writers such as Taki 186, Cornbread, Snake 1 and, many more legends this is a perfect weekend treat.
Who are these revered men cast in iron, carved in marble, poured in bronze? What great lengths have they traveled to achieve what high aims, and who decided they were worthy of statuary? Also, how long should these figures stay up, remain relevant, remain revered?
History is written by the victors,
not the morally sound. Some get elevated because of the cult of personality, or
a campaign of suppression. So whether they are soaring, sublime, or ridiculous,
most statues represent the values and goals of the society – or at least the
dominant culture. But when values and social mores change, so do these
character’s relevance and appropriateness.
Street artist Vlady
questions whether we really know everything we should about these people
hoisted above us at City Hall, in the center of the fountain at the park, at
the entrance to the library. Have you done your due diligence?
In fact, Vlady believes
that “despite our memorable achievements, we are all despicable people.”
“Morality, ethics, fashion,
taste and even religion can change profoundly over time. Nothing remains
constant, and neither good nor bad are defined exactly the same way.”
Helpfully, he has drawn up
a number of “Accusation checklist” signs for Swedish city-dwellers to
learn truthful or bogus facts about their statues.
“I have targeted random
statues in Stockholm, assuming that each of these celebrated individuals of the
past had despicable moral conduct, according to today’s ethics,” he tells us. “My
accusations are on the funny side, but quite frankly, probably close to real.”
Birmingham, Englands’ Lucy McLauchlin carries the patterns and textures of natural forms in her mind and her paint brushes wherever she goes. In this new mural on a pebbledash wall in London, her ongoing fascination for the organic again intercedes the spirit of graphic geometry.
“I tend to approach a wall
by firstly understanding it’s situation within its surrounding area,” she tells
us, “this leads my painting so it’s more of a collaboration in a sense.” Working
in context is still uncommon in the street art milieu, although some profess to
create work with the local culture firmly in mind. For McLauchlin, it’s an intuitive
process.
“In this case I allow a
spontaneous approach to guide my brush marks as they grow across the surface,”
she says.
“The citizens, using their artisanal skills, built a new bus-stop in the same place where the institutional one resided,” says street artist Biancoshock, “choosing the shape, the colors, the useful information and its name.”
Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)
This is community participation at its best and another route of inquiry into public space and its relationship to city dwellers for this Italian conceptual artist.
“The old bus stop was removed many years ago because it was damaged. The transport company never replaced it,” he explains.
Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)
The space was abandoned by the municipality but not by the neighborhood – so he and another noteworthy street artist Alice Pasquini convened a Zoom meeting with area neighbors during a Covid-skewed version of this years’ CVTà Street Fest in Civitacampomarano. Pasquini is also the Artistic Director of the Festival in this Medieval Italian village that is wrestling with depopulation and the related loss of services.
Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)
The bus shelter was designed to shelter a historic bench where every day the inhabitants meet for a chat at the end of the day – a symbolic and meaningful place that helps keep the sociability alive.
Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)
Together with the shelter, the stop pole was created, which shows the institutional signage and the updated timetables of the urban routes that connect the village with the city. Together they have named the bus stop A-VIA-NOV, which in the local dialect is translated as New Street.
Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)
A great new public space for the public to enjoy and the municipality is still happily ignorant of the fact. “No transport company was notified about this action,” Biancoshock tells us.
“So for me, this intervention can be interpreted more as an activist gesture than an artwork.”
Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)Biancoshock. A Via Nov (New Street). Cvtà Street Fest. Civitacampomarano, Italy. (photos courtesy of the artist)
Project by Biancoshock
Art direction: Alice Pasquini
Cvta Street Festival 2020, Civitacampomarano (CB) – Italy
Before there were drones, there were bees. They are far more sophisticated still when it comes to their subtleties of collecting pollen on their furry bodies, flying on translucent panels through the heavy sticky air.
Here in Stornara, Italy, artist Bastardia is thinking of their bodies positively charged with static electricity, nervously excited as they plunder the petals, ready to attract the fine powder dust shaken loose from the flower, alight on the music meanderings of summer.
The artist invites us into this delicate world, imagining further the relationship of the bees and the flowers, playing to one another, with one another, their minds drunk with love.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring CAM, David F. Barthold, JJ Veronis, Martha Cooper, Poi Everywhere, REVS, SoulOne, Tones, UFO 907, Winston Tseng, and WK Interact.
We’re proud to announce that our exhibition Martha Cooper: Taking Pictures will be featured during the prestigious European Month of Photography (EMOP) in Berlin this October for Urban Nation Museum’s very first photography-based program.
The European Month of Photography is a network of European photo festivals which began in 2004 when photography enthusiasts in Berlin, Paris and Vienna decided to put photographic art at the center of public attention for one month at least every two years. It is Germany’s largest photography festival.
Today EMOP it is a network of photography and visual arts institutions from seven European capitals: Berlin, Budapest, Bratislava, Ljubljana, Luxembourg, Paris, and Vienna with aims “to confront expertise in curatorial practice in photography and the intention to develop common projects, notably exhibitions, including exchange of information about the local photographers and artists concerned with photography. Founding members include the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris, the Cultural Department of the City of Berlin (Museumspädagogischer Dienst Berlin headed by Thomas Friedrich) and the Department for Cultural Affairs of the City of Vienna (director Bernhard Denscher).
Martha Cooper:
Taking Pictures combine
photographs and personal artefacts in this retrospective that traces her life
from her first camera in nursery school in 1946 to her reputation today as a
world-renowned photographer. The exhibition covers Cooper’s wide range of
subject matter. Many of her photographs have become iconic representations of a
time, place, or culture and are distinguished by their frank human vitality,
with an eye for preserving details and traditions of cultural significance.
#emopberlin
We’re grateful for this recognition
of the exhibition and look forward to participating in the EMOP 2020 this October
and we hope you can join us at Urban Nation – if not in person then please join
us ONLINE for our LIVESTREAM opening October 2 ! https://www.facebook.com/events/3400074053384213 All are welcome!
Our special thanks to our entire team at Urban Nation including but not limited to Martha Cooper and Director Jan Sauerwald and Melanie Achilles, Dr. Hans-Michael Brey, Carsten Cielobatzki, Sean Corcoran, Annette Dooman, Steve Fiedler, Seth Globepainter, Florian Groß, Sven Harke-Kajuth, Nancy Henze, Michelle Houston, Hendrik Jellema, René Kaestner, Kerstin Küppers, Nika Kramer, Barbara Krimm, Tobias Kunz, Jean-Paul Laue, Beatrice Lindhorst, Nicola Petek, Carlo McCormick, Selina Miles, Michelle Nimpsch, Christian Omodeo, Christiane Pietsch, Dennis Rodenhauser, Jens Rueberg, Dr. Anne Schmedding, Malte Schurau, Janika Seitz, Anna Piera di Silvestre, Skeme, Markus Terboven, Reinaldo Verde, Lennart Volber, Akim Walta, Samuel Walter, Rebecca Ward, and Susan Welchman.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. Esteban del Valle – The End is Near 2. NADIA VADORI-GAUTHIER: Une minute de danse par jour – September 2020.
BSA Special Feature: Esteban del Valle
An excerpt from Esteban del Valle’s artist talk for The Fine Arts Work Center Summer 2020 Virtual Event, where he discussed his work in an upcoming solo exhibition “The End is Near” at Albert Merola Gallery Sept 4 – 24, 2020.
Une Minue de Danse in 2020
LET’S DANCE! Your interpretation is welcomed.
It’s good to see that Nadia Vadori-Gauthier is still innovating on the street. BSA has featured her work many times in the last half-decade, and we admire her tenacity. With more than 2066 daily dances, the French performer has been dancing every day for at least one minute since January 14, 2015.
She often stages her performances in Paris in public spaces. Before Covid-19 she had the freedom to interact with the public and immerse herself within the context of the public space. Below we share with you some of her most recent performances.
NADIA VADORI-GAUTHIER: Une minute de danse par jour / September 7 2020.
NADIA VADORI-GAUTHIER: Une minute de danse par jour / September 3 2020.
NADIA VADORI-GAUTHIER: Une minute de danse par jour / August 23 2020.
NADIA VADORI-GAUTHIER: Une minute de danse par jour / July 3 2020
Slowly the world is opening up, one little step at a time. We hope.
Essential services and workers never shutdown, people who were on the frontlines of the Pandemic, making certain we have emergency medical attention, electricity, food on the table, running water, trash collection, and a secured environment in our homes and outside deserve our gratitude for many years to come. Most countries have set up phases for reopening with the goal of returning to a normal life, or at least a semblance of it.
Among the many sectors of our society that are hit by Covid and vulture economics, the art community was among the most affected; many artists the last to return to their practice, or losing their spaces. In fact, in many countries, the arts and entertainment are still in lockdown. It’s especially gratifying for us to see our peers getting up and making art after months of not being able to do what they love the most.
Today we have a familiar glowing face on the pages of BSA. Spider Tag who tells us that after months of not being able to even go to his studio finally he has something new up for the Take Tomorrow Back Festival in Söderhamn, Sweden to celebrate the cities 400th anniversary. His work has evolved from using yarn to cable to neon with his illuminated pieces now being interactive as is the case of his new creation Neon Mural #9 (INM#9).
Sometimes the eyes tell you
a lot. In the case of masked people, its all you can rely on aside from posture
and body language. Here in Cork, Ireland,
the artist who calls himself Asbestos keeps the faces hidden and the eyes alert
– very alert.
“The piece is another in a
series of mask murals I’m doing,” he tells us. “This mask has drawings on it by
my childhood subconscious, an imaginary version of myself called Left Hand. He
exists as an innocent and naive version of myself, who doodles thoughts of the
past and snippets of the life he sees through my eyes.”
The mural was part of this years Cork Graffiti Jam was organized by @mistertrixy. Asbestos would like to thank him for the chance to paint this and the wonderful hospitality.
As summer sun wanes in the
Northern Hemisphere, we are again reminded of our dependence upon nature, the
print it leaves upon us.
Gola Hundun. Habitat. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Gola Hundun is fascinated at
the moment with the marks that nature can make, and presents these new handmade
prints for us to look at. A land artist largely, Gola has experimented and observed
our complicated relationship with the earth for more than a decade with his
work.
“The human world has many examples of neglected buildings whose demolition is always very tricky and may lead to additional damage to nature,” he tells us. “In the meantime, nature immediately starts to reoccupy the land with fern and fauna, naturally and gradually replacing it.”
Gola Hundun. Habitat. (photo courtesy of the artist)
With his new series “Habitat”,
Gola says he is researching degradation and growth with an aesthetic analysis. “I
like mapping it,” he says. “It is a way to witness different cases all over the
world and to show it up as a universal phenomenon.”
Here he shows us his prints
made with his own version of “eco-printing”, a process that begins with the
selection of leaves. Then “I use the leaves to release colors from their
tannins and carothens, instead of using chemical inks.”
To learn more about this series, check out his Instagram
Gola Hundun. Habitat. (photo courtesy of the artist)Gola Hundun. Habitat. (photo courtesy of the artist)Gola Hundun. Habitat. (photo courtesy of the artist)Gola Hundun. Habitat. (photo courtesy of the artist)Gola Hundun. Habitat. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Today we celebrate American worker’s contributions to our society. The workforce is the engine moving our country to the realization of our dreams and goals. The men and women who get up every day to seek a decent living in this country are increasingly under assault by the corporation’s manipulation of people and profits. Our labor unions have been decimated and the workers’ rights chipped away little by little, or a lot by a lot. All of it began with Reagan and it hasn’t stopped since. Congress is beholden to special interests with most of our elected officials’ ears more attuned to the lobbyists’ demands roaming the halls of Congress than to the ordinary people’s plight for help for better wages, better work conditions, better parental leave, better health insurance.
The Pandemic has only exacerbated the already perilous conditions among the middle class and poor Americans. Most working-class individuals were already living paycheck to paycheck with little if any savings to confront personal, family crises. The poor have always counted on the safety net that the government has put in place to help alleviate their financial and health burdens but those services have been either privatized for-profit or totally eradicated. When Covid-19 took hold of the whole world and Trump made the situation in the USA worse, the majority of Americans have found themselves steps removed from the economic precipice, or pushed into it. Strangely, Democrats also are not coming to the rescue.
There are many lessons to be learned from this Pandemic, one of them will undoubtedly be the abysmal difference between those with money and those without it to confront this crisis. The rich are getting incredibly richer and the poor are getting poorer. Lockdown has been difficult for all of us but certainly easier for those without financial difficulties.
Almost 30 million Americans have lost their jobs, and their hopes of getting them back are slimmer by the week. If there is to be an economic recovery in this country the divisions of who’ll benefit from said recovery will be sharply divided. While the stock market has hit record levels of wealth, ordinary Americans have seen greater inequality. So you might wonder, what are we celebrating today? Our workforce is in tatters and our service economy has been decimated.
Shepard Fairey made the works shown above in LA almost a decade ago, and his message resonates even stronger today.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
