In this age of increasing polarization, you may be cheered by the work of the artist collective Guerilla Spam, who invests their time and creative efforts into connecting communities with each other, with art, with history – across generations of citizens in Italy. Today we bring you Part One of a two-part installation they’ve just completed here in S. Croce di Magliano.
Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)
Created in November 2010 in Florence as a spontaneous, unauthorized form of resistance and protest in urban spaces Guerilla Spam works in schools, juvenile communities, reception centers, and prisons, among other places. Here they created workshops to identify the needs of the community and to understand its identity.
A combination of elbow grease and philosophy, the project repairs and restores public places to improve their usability and hopefully teach young people and local talents to respect the urban environment – and possibly honor the cultural heritage of the community.
Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)
This project, “Border light” is a cultural intersection of communal creations that are located in three strategic areas of S. Croce di Magliano. Today we look at a two-part artwork that transforms a skating rink of the former sports center and, cleverly, its access stairs.
“The interventions have in common the theme of the ‘path’,” says Guerilla Spam, “namely the path that leads, in a metaphorical sense, to popular knowledge, symbolized in both cases by a source of water. In a more concrete sense, this path leads to the very exploration of the artwork that can be crossed, touched, and used.”
Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)
The stairway is called “The staircase of the knowledge“. At the top of the staircase is an inscription “Ancora imparo”, symbolizing that “even at the end of the path, one never stops learning; this is because knowledge is a continuous, lifelong process.”
On the main stage is the Labyrinth representing the more complex path that life can take, and how difficult it can be to reach the water; the source of knowledge and life. “This indicates how reaching popular knowledge can be really hard, as it requires reading up and talking to elderlies, namely those sources of knowledge that might be lost if they are not allowed to hand down what they know.”
Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)Guerrilla Spam. “The staircase of the knowledge”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)Guerrilla Spam. “The staircase of the knowledge”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)Guerrilla Spam. “Labyrinth” and “The staircase of the knowledge”. Border light: istruzioni per abitare il margine. Creative Living Lab – 3rd edition. In collaboration with Cultural Association Antonio Giordano. Santa Croce di Magliano, Italy. (photo courtesy of ACAG)
Italian street artist, illustrator, and muralist Alice Pasquini just completed a new mural in London for “Generation Equality”. She says that she did it in partnership with StreetArtForMankind and UNWomen to mark the implementation of the #GenerationEquality Plan.
“The plan calls for equal pay, an end to violence against women and girls, and healthcare services that respond to their needs.”
An exceptional collection of new works from across the city today. The streets are not resting this summer in New York.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Praxis VOZ, Toxicomano, ERRE, A Visual Bliss, Huetek, Hef, COrn Queen, DepsOne, Baby Nivo, Vaynegiare, Ark, and Aerosol Kingdom.
Urban environments continue to evolve and adapt to the exigencies of population growth caused in part by the exodus of people from rural areas to metropolia around the world. Structural features of infrastructure previously thought of as “modern” is now simply eyesores as people aim to incorporate imagery and symbols of natural beauty and human warmth. “Calming” solutions in otherwise noisy and congested streets and boulevards in megacities include the reclaiming of space and “greening” of areas that were once reserved for motorists.
City leaders and urban planners more often now work with arts organizations to create a new visual landscape for our cities – by creating art programs to beautify spaces. One such project is in the municipality of Sant Adrià de Besos in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
According to the description, translated from Catalan to English on the organizer’s IG account, (@elbosc_encantat_c31), the project is “An open-air mural art museum. An impressive creative forest is formed by more than 200 columns that support the C-31 on its way through the municipality of Sant Adrià de Besos. A unique project in the world with the participation of local and international artists”. The project, while impressive, is not unique, as artists and organizations have been using highway support pillars to paint murals in cities all over the world as reported HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
The project EL BOSC ENCANTAT DE SANT ADRIÀ, is curated by Zosen and Juanki, and it began in 2016. It is carried out in collaboration with the Sant Adriá City Council and the Asociación Cultural El Generador, with the support of TRAMmi, it is part of the HOP Sant Adrià-Art Urbá.”
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Ñatinta Festival Comforts the Grieving and Brings “Ajayu” in Bolivia
BSA Special Feature: Ñatinta Festival Comforts the Grieving and Brings “Ajayu” in Bolivia
It’s only August, so you have time to prepare for Ñatinta.
Its fascinating to see this outpouring; of public performance and art created during this festival in the General Cemetery in La Paz, Bolivia. Reaching through the depths of sorrow and despair, the living are here to pay tribute to the dead and our memories of them. The artists interact with the place, in some way facilitating the living.
A festival organized by artists and cultural workers with ties to urban art, the group named Perros Sueltos pulls together the talents and encourages collaboration. The results are outstanding. Participants share creatively, define personal and public space, and create dialogue and interconnectivity.
According to some Andean beliefs, the “ajayu” is the spirit of the deceased – which returns to earth during the festivity of all saints and may communicate with the living. It is a beautiful and comforting story that says the spirit doesn’t disappear but stays in communication, becoming a complement to life.
Promoting his new exhibition at Cory Helford Gallery this weekend, street artist/muralist/fine artist D*Face paints a new mural in Beverly Hills that will make you think. And wonder.
Who is she remembering? And is the person she’s speaking to trapped alive underground?
Art is open to interpretation, and the best stuff leaves the questions open.
We wrote about his new exhibition Painting Over the Cracks at Corey Helford Gallery HERE.
D*Face. “Blue For You” in collaboration with Branded Arts and his exhibition “Painting Over The Cracks”. Beverly Hills, CA. (photo courtesy of Branded Arts Gallery)D*Face. “Blue For You” in collaboration with Branded Arts Gallery his exhibition “Painting Over The Cracks”. Beverly Hills, CA. (photo courtesy of Branded Arts Gallery)D*Face. “Blue For You” in collaboration with Branded Arts and his exhibition “Painting Over The Cracks”. Beverly Hills, CA. (photo courtesy of Branded Arts Gallery)D*Face. “Blue For You” in collaboration with Branded Arts and his exhibition “Painting Over The Cracks”. Beverly Hills, CA. (photo courtesy of Branded Arts Gallery)D*Face’s mural in Beverly Hills was inspired by his painting “I Know You’re Down There” which is included in the exhibition “Painting Over The Cracks” at Corey Helford Gallery. (photo courtesy of Corey Helford Gallery)
Painting Over the Cracks? Opening this Saturday, August 6th at Los Angeles’ Corey Helford Gallery with over 70 new works. On view through September 10th. Click HERE for more details and schedules.
Loosely layered and color-blocked figures in the desaturated tones of pre-Depression 1910s, the new lineup on these walls in downtown Providence, Rhode Island recalls a proud industrial age here – as painted by the graffiti/street artist Arz.
Originally from Palo Alto, he’s now considered a Catalan muralist of large scale works whose more than two decades of experience on the streets has fully formed this trim team of workers. It is a style that hearkens to the elegant depictions of a century ago by illustrators like Frank Godwin – known as much for his depictions of industrial workers as the privileged beneficiaries in their drawing rooms balanced gently on a piano bench.
“The idea is to make a representation where you can read the hard years of the construction of a ‘modern’ city from scratch,” says Aryz in a press release, “representing all the anonymous workers who built it, representing the American Industrial Revolution and the workers in their labors.”
Funded by donations from perhaps some of todays’ captains of industry, the mural lends a grace to that toil, a dignity to the classes who fought for union rights, better working conditions, a minimum wage, an end to child labor. Providence itself is known as the location of America’s first Labor Day Parade on August 23, 1882, with thousands of union members parading through downtown. 11 years later Labor Day became a holiday in Rhode Island.
Previously a graffiti writer in Barcelona, Aryz is no stranger to factory buildings when it comes to getting up. Now the owners of factory-looking buildings invite him to paint. A little over a decade we published his work on the side of a Brooklyn deli with How and Nosm. Today his visual style and mastery of technique has evolved into one that is quickly recognized and admired for its harmony, composition, and impeccable color palette.
The fight in the courts has people talking in the streets as well, and artists are there to articulate sentiments in a visual way.Los Angeles-based guerilla artist, street artist, activist, illustrator, and author Robie Conal produced a new poster that casts a rather unflattering light on US Supreme Court members.
As is his practice, Conal printed hundreds of his new posters and wheat-pasted them on the streets of Los Angeles, completing an age-old tradition of artists skewering the powerful with a pen, paintbrush, and ink. In Conal’s case, it’s not the first time the Court has received his aesthetic overview.
AwerOne. Mindscapes 22. Localize Festival 2022. Potsdam, Germany. (photo courtesy of the artist)
The ebbing and flowing of AwerOne’s mind appear uniquely suited to this site of the Localize festival in Potsdam, Germany. Located on the grounds of the Albert Einstein Park and the location of the world’s first astrophysical observatory, this new organically shaped pathway is his first artwork painted directly on the ground. Now it is also the location of his Mindscapes 22. A merging of topographical waves and atmospheric vibrations, one could consider this new epic piece to be documenting processes and phenomena that we did not know existed.
AwerOne. Mindscapes 22. Localize Festival 2022. Potsdam, Germany. (screen grab of video)
The brief extended to artists by the Localize organizers is “to develop site-specific works that address the possibilities, but also the impossibilities, of overcoming and ask how challenges can be overcome artistically.”
AwerOne decided that he would open his process of development to the crowd who attended the festival, some whom painted alongside him, filling his oscillating swells of spaces with hand-rolled paint. Here on these grounds that are acknowledged as one of the birthplaces of German meteorology, this artist may expand visitors consideration of what is possible with art as well – and extend the invitation to discover where the Universe leads.
AwerOne. Mindscapes 22. Localize Festival 2022. Potsdam, Germany. (photo courtesy of the artist)AwerOne. Mindscapes 22. Localize Festival 2022. Potsdam, Germany. (screen grab of video)
However, there do appear to be more sharks around this summer – and not just your cousin Melvin and his buddies at the pool hall. Ah, New York, your grizzled, gritty exterior hides such a fascinating crushed-velvet heart beating inside…
We’re mainly happy that it’s not a thousand degrees on the streets this weekend, a welcome relief to the heatwave. Ice cream, anyone?
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Faile, Stikman, Sticker Maul, Degrupo, Homesick, Cone, and Ked.
Thank god Saype finally gets to go to the beach! – after hanging around in those dreadful Swiss Alps painting on the side of a grass-covered mountain, he can finally get some surf. The “Beyond Walls” project takes him now to Rio de Janeiro, where his tenth stage of the campaign addresses those who take treacherous journeys via oceans, and some never return.
“To feel again the desperate embrace of those who saw them drift away forever… from African origin to American destination, from light to night, from freedom to slavery,” he says
The multi-stage global artwork is revealed in pieces as the land/street artist travels the globe. He recognizes the divisions between people and actively proposes a message of unity through his biodegradable paintings.
“Between the postcard image of Copacabana, which nevertheless bears the tragic marks of history, and the favela, the gigantic hands of ‘Beyond Walls’ strive to overcome the fractures of the past as well as those that are still very present,” says his press release. “They remind us that it is only through cooperation that walls fall down and that the universal becomes a reality: ‘the universal is the local minus the walls’ – a quote from Miguel Torga.”
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Damien Hirst: The Currency and Burning Art 2. Paola Pivi: Statue of Liberty at The Highline Park in NYC 3. Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada: “Outsight
BSA Special Feature: Damien Hirst: The Currency and Burning Art
Love me or hate me, please don’t stop talking about me. Just in time for currencies like the dollar and the pound to reduce to little more than colored paper: This cultural currency of this modern contemporary artist who is best known for colorful dots, sharks, and Banksy rumours is placed before you, courtesy Stephen Fry. To hear the marketing that goes into this release feels rather stunt-like, and just the kind of thing that the kids will adore. But they must make a choice of what kind of Damian Hirst artwork they would like…
Damien Hirst – The Currency and Burning Art
Paola Pivi: Statue of Liberty at The Highline Park in NYC
Possibly the oddest pairing of musical soundtrack and rapid fire documentation to accompany the making of a sculpture, this Emoji-faced statue of Liberty will surely confuse passersby as well.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
