Editorz

Editorz

DAZE: “Daily Commute”, Solo in NYC

DAZE: “Daily Commute”, Solo in NYC

February 19, 2018 ,

Most people commute to and from work. Some spend hours caught in rush hour traffic, trapped in their cars. Others use their bikes or skateboards or a bobbing, roaring ferry. Some lucky ones just walk. In New York City most commuters use the subway and the buses to get to their offices, kitchens, stores, classrooms, campuses, and after a while, the commute disappears.

On trains and buses we are packed like sardines, avoiding eye contact, keeping to our phones and books or staring at our shoes or out a window. Maybe you get a seat, otherwise you sway back and forth tethered to a silver bar, banging into others, observing or zoning out.
On your commute you may have serendipity, a discovery, a newly germinated idea.

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Subway Interior” 2017. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You may feel ill, or fall asleep, or become riveted by an evesdropped conversation. Children’s faces pressed against windows, parents catching a catnap, helping with homework, putting on eyeliner. Actors practice lines, others rehearse standup routines. Lust is awakened, love blooms, loneliness aches.

The act of commuting in NYC is rarely solitary. Or quiet.

A lifelong New Yorker, artist Daze has found inspiration in the train lines the way many authors do, relishing and memorizing details. Since hitting up trains in the golden 70s-80s era, he has never lost his love of the daily commute and the millions of idiosyncracies. Now in his first ever solo exhibition in New York City, Daze returns to the subways and streets for inspiration, bringing vibrancy and color and a few ragged edges.

Chris DAZE Ellis. “242nd Street” Detail. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For “Daily Commute” the artist revisits some familiar spots, paying tribute to known and unknown characters in a familiar way of someone who knows the city very well, without condescension or sentimentality but with the respect for a city that takes you and shakes you and throws you away and embraces you and comforts you and reads you a line from a play or a poem. If you’re lucky.

We spoke to the artist about his love for his city and his experience on its streets:

BSA: You have never lost your love for New York and its public spaces. Can you talk about something that stays true about the city decade after decade?

DAZE: I think of New York as always being a rather inclusive and diverse city. It has a long history of both that continues till this day. These are a couple of the ingredients that would make it difficult for me to live anywhere else.In choosing subject matter I am always searching for examples that represent these qualities.

BSA: The palette for many of these new works is bright and saturated with vibrant color, even though the actual city can be more subdued and grey. Is this emotion, or possibly imagination at work?

DAZE: I actually have two approaches to creating the “look” of my paintings. One is a more monochrome affect which is usually in greys,whites,and blacks. They are part of a series I call the” Grey Scale paintings” although because there are little bits of color they are not truly monochromatic. These paintings are based on black and white photo’s that I shoot on film.

The other approach is to use make work that is more color saturated. I begin with a color that will establish the overall look or mood of the painting and then work from there. I think that even though my paintings are very urban there can sometimes be something tropical about them.

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Midtown” 2016.  P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Rush Hour Reflection” 2017. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Blue Portal” 2017. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: When looking at many of the paintings it strikes the viewer that perhaps you are attracted to portals, small viewers that allow one to see further inside a situation.

DAZE: The use of portals is almost voyeuristic. It’s the old looking out at the contemporary. I got the idea for this from my memories as a child. The subways had these portal shaped windows on all of the doors. I really enjoyed looking out of them and watching the neighborhoods change as I rode by.

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Jackson Heights” 2017. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Masquerade, W.H. in Times Square” 2017. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: One of your opus pieces in this show, which we had the pleasure of seeing at its genesis in studio a little while ago, features an iconic personality who creates his own splendid costumery, and has for years.

DAZE: The subject of the painting,” Masquerade” is Wendell Headley. He is an artist that I’ve known since my early days at Fashion Moda gallery in the Bronx circa 1982. When I first met him he would come into the gallery wearing these elaborate outfits that he made himself and just hang out. People would donate clothes and he would take the clothes apart, reconstruct them, and give them new life. He is not only a brilliant designer but truly a living sculpture.

Wendell is not someone that is trying to perform, his life is his art. I had wanted to do a portrait of him for a long time but I would only run into him sporadically in different areas of the city, usually highly populated areas.

One evening I ran into him in Times Square and I photographed him for a bit. It was really great because in the midst of all these people dressed up as Disney or Marvel comic book characters he was just being himself. He was embodying his art and that’s what defines him. I have a lot of respect for him as a creative.

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Generations” 2017. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Can you speak about P.P.O.W and its connection to the graffiti and Street Art scene and what it means to you to be having your solo show here?

DAZE: PPOW is an amazing gallery that is very much like a family to me. I was close friends with many of the artists that they show and represent so it feels very natural to be there. I’ve watch them grow over the years from The east village scene in the 80’s until now and always respected what they do and how they present exhibitions, no matter how difficult.

Being represented by them continues the dialogue I’ve had with people like Martin Wong and Charlie Ahearn. I don’t think they see my work as “graffiti”. I’m not trying to do graffiti paintings. There are elements of it that appear within the layering of my paintings but my work is more about the the urban diaspora of New York and what I have lived here.

 

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Times Square blizzard” 2016 P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris DAZE Ellis. “Interior of an IND Subway Car” 2017.  P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris DAZE Ellis. P.P. O. W. Gallery. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris DAZE Ellis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

DAZE “Daily Commute” is currently open to the general public at P.P.O.W. Gallery at 535 West 22nd Street in NYC. Show closes on March 17th.

Read more
BSA Images Of The Week:02.18.18

BSA Images Of The Week:02.18.18

February 18, 2018 ,

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Welcome to Images of the Week! Great stuff this week from Portugal, Spain and good old NYC to flip your Aunt Betty’s wig.

The big news this week of course was that the 5 Points graffiti compound case was awarded to the 21 plaintiffs. But its not just local: it may have national implications when building owners will be insisting on contracts with anyone who paints their property. It may also confuse and scare off many opportunities for artists, where building owners will simply say no to the proposal.

The settlement, which we covered in Tell It to The Judge ; Graffiti Artists Win in 5 Pointz Case, has infuriated many and thrilled others expressing their opinion on social media. One of our 5 Ptz postings on Facebook this week garnered 1,300 comments, a nest of misunderstanding mediated by the occasional level head, offset by congratulations and victory laps. Naturally, folks from other parts of the country insulted us New Yorkers. Welcome to the world of graffiti and Street Art!

The Black Panther movie has many New Yorkers enthralled as it premiered on Tuesday night at the Museum of Modern Art. Theaters drew entire families and school groups many standing in line in costume as they waited to see powerful and positive black super-heroes and heroines. The Times Magazine says it is a defining moment for black America .

Nationally we are all still trying to grapple with another school shooting, producing more Thoughts and Prayers, and another round of Mueller indictments that continue to encircle the White House.

Finally, Brooklyn’s Kehinde Wiley pulled the curtain down with Barack Obama at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery to reveal his official portrait  – HERE.  Just kidding, here are Barack and Michelle’s official portraits.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Atomik,  Bigod, City Kitty, Daniel Eime, Desla, Exit.Enter.K, Fatal Fake, Free the Nipple, Gane, Gebraël, Kram, Little Ricky, Obey, Texas, We’kup, and Zest B.

Top Image: Daniel Eime in Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Going out on a limb here to say you may see MOMO, Vhils, and James Bullough similarities merged here. Nonetheless, its a solid mural by Daniel Eime here in Bairro Padre Cruz, Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bigod. Bairro Padre Cruz. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (we couldn’t decipher the signature) Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Atomik. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gane . Texas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Free Boobies. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Triple Nipple. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Free The Nipple. Yeah! Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Little Ricky (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’kup . Exit. Enter. K. Obey. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Desla (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zest B. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gebraël. Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smile. Bairro Padre Cruz, Lisbon. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fatal Fake . Kram. Barcelona, Spain.  (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Fatal Fake . Kram. Barcelona, Spain.  (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Fatal Fake . Kram. Barcelona, Spain.  (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

Bill S. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Yawn. Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more
Thoughts and Prayers; Writing on the Walls of Social Media

Thoughts and Prayers; Writing on the Walls of Social Media

February 17, 2018

The messages on public walls today seamlessly extend to the discourse on your Facebook wall and Instagram post, in addition to the walls on the street. In all cases it looks like the writing is on the wall regarding the US public’s attitude toward mounting gun massacres and firearm regulation and how it is evolving.

It’s a volatile conversation in the digital public sphere – rather like the the actual public sphere, complete with attempts to censor by shouting down and ridiculing, and the presence of disinformation-spreading agents and agent(s) provocateur.

With all that said, FB uses tailored formulas for presenting friends, followers and advertisers to you so the idea of true democratic speech is skewed by algorithms that produce an echo chamber, so the memes and cartoons and opinions we all see are sifted.

While BSA is seeing a shift toward disgust at the inaction of the our so-called representatives toward gun control laws, others are probably seeing continuous memes on their social media walls that depict an oppressive government that wants to take away their gun-ownership rights, or evidence that Godless black and brown people are trying to take over the society, or something.

One thing that seems for sure, most people are tired of “thoughts and prayers” being offered reflexively – as if intermittent but increasing public mass murders are a natural occurrence over which we have no influence, like the sun and the moon rising and setting in the sky.

Many cartoons and artworks critique our maddening collective inability to solve a growing social problem that we think we should be able to address, producing an underlying feeling of learned helplessness and fear.

Here’s a quick and ragtag selection of visual messages we grabbed from our walls, our social feeds, by way of preserving the conversation in the moment, before it passes.

Try your luck at Thoughts & Prayers, the Arcade Game (click here)

 

Read more
BSA Film Friday: 02.16.18

BSA Film Friday: 02.16.18

February 16, 2018

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. “The Clown” Harmen De Hoop
2. Artist’s Artist: The Process of Gary Lichtenstein
3. FinDAC: “The Wild Rose”
4. Ultra Wide by Good Guy Boris

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: “The Clown” Harmen De Hoop

Harmen De Hoop is always playing with you. Ignoring the established almost calcified “rules” that have become encoded in the Street Art and graffiti game, his public interventions abide by a certain set of guidelines known mainly to him. By questioning nearly every assumption in the planning of public space he typically selects an unassuming, unflashy route of interaction to tweak your perceptions.

In this new direct street action he freshens the visage of a clown with some new hand paint. If he had an aerosol can or fat drippy marker in his hands this would produce a different reaction from an observer. Street Art, anyone?

Artist’s Artist: The Process of Gary Lichtenstein

“I’m an artists’ artist because I can think as an artist with the techniques I can use in printmaking,” says master printmaker Gary Lichtenstein as he narrates a brief visit to his Jersey City studio where he collaborates with photographer Janette Beckman and visual artist/graphic designer Cey Adams.

By showing us a process of evaluation and hearing the deliberations that go into final selection of materials and techniques, we are allowed to grasp the basics here and appreciate that there is artistry in bringing the image forward in a new way.

FinDAC: “The Wild Rose”

The English street muralist and portraitist FinDAC somewhat secretively painted a roof in Miami at the most recent Basel in December with the organizers of Wynwood Walls. Just now he has released “The Wild Rose” to fly free upon the wings of the Internet.

Ultra Wide by Good Guy Boris

Would this be good guy Boris or bad guy Boris? You decide.

Read more
Scenes From a Spanish Restaurant : The Culinary Delicacies of DavidL

Scenes From a Spanish Restaurant : The Culinary Delicacies of DavidL

February 15, 2018

Barcelona Street Art may have been booted from many streets a few years ago during a period of commercial fueled gentrification but that organic scene sparked a generation of talents who continue to transform abandoned spots nevertheless. We continue to see fully executed pieces from this area of Spain that are highly imaginative and technically tight, like these dark characters from graffiti writer DavidL.

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

In an abandoned restaurant 40 miles outside BCN artist DavidL has created a menagerie of wicked characters, all from his fantastical cogitations and frequently inspired by comics and cinema. A recent post with images by Fer Acala focused on the aerosol painters’ famous people and/or characters.

In these new images by LluÍs Olivé Bulbena we see another breed of characters from this versatile artist – perhaps taking inspiration from the spirits who are still inhabiting this former house and restaurant.

The dishes, however, are less than appetizing..

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

DavidL (photo © LluÍs Olivé Bulbena)

Read more
Theresa May Graces the Street Art Scene in London

Theresa May Graces the Street Art Scene in London

February 14, 2018

“No you May not!”

Maureen Barlin, creative commons license

Or so you might imagine Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May saying if you asked to illegally wheat-paste a political parody of her person on a London street. But that is exactly what is happening often these days, says Matt Brown, who calls himself “probably the most London-obsessed person in the world”.

“Any Prime Minister can expect to become the target of mockery, parody and satirical anger,” says Mr. Brown in his recent photo essay published in The Londonist. “Theresa May is no exception. In fact, she’s an inspiration. You don’t have to wander far around London to chance across a wry stencil, or biting paste-up.”

A wheat-pasted poster campaign by the artist duo kennardphillipps, a collaboration between Peter Kennard and Cat Phillipps who have been working on the street together since 2002. (photo © kennardphillipps)

For a New Yorker its actually a relief to not have to look at Street Art that lampoons our own orange travesty for a change, as American cities are routinely assaulted with images of Trump. Somehow, however clever, they don’t bring a smile to most passersby. So, as a bit of aesthetic palette cleanser, here are a couple of recent Street Artist creations with Mrs. May as the surly, scary, and sometimes sordid subject.

See more in Matt Brown’s article Theresa May: London’s Unlikely Street Art Icon.

Follow him on Twitter at @mattfromlondon

 

 

Read more
Tell It to The Judge ; Graffiti Artists Win in 5 Pointz Case

Tell It to The Judge ; Graffiti Artists Win in 5 Pointz Case

February 13, 2018

In a ruling that many graffiti and Street Artists interpret as a validation of their artwork and which may spawn further legal claims by artists in the future, Brooklyn Judge Frederic Block, a United States Federal Judge for the Eastern District of New York, awarded $6.7 million in damages to a group of 21 artists in the high profile case of the former graffiti holy place in Queens called 5 Pointz.

Under the leadership of artist and organizer Jonathan “Meres One” Cohen, also a plantiff, the award is in response to a suit that cried foul on the overnight destruction of multiple artworks on building walls without consultation or notification of the artists.

5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Citing provisions of the 1990 Visual Artists Rights Act that grants artists certain “moral” rights, the artists claimed that their artworks on the 5 Pointz compound that was owned by real estate developer Jerry Wykoff were protected and should be afforded certain rights and considerations.

Arts and intellectual property lawyers and judges will now be examining the implications of the ruling and citing it as an example in arguments about art created on walls legally and possibly those created illegally as well. In a city that prides itself as being a birthplace of graffiti and Street Art, many artists and wall owners must ask themselves if there will need to be an additional layer of agreement before an aerosol can is held aloft.

5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For today the plaintiffs will celebrate the win and derive a sense of validation for their works at the compound that hosted an organic evolution of works by local, national, and international graffiti and Street Artist for nearly two decades under tacit or explicit agreement with the owner.

“I am happy to see my art form recognized as true art,” says Mr. Cohen in an article from Hyperallergic today, and ultimately that is the message that the graffiti writers and Street Artists will take from the story. Others will argue that this is gentrification issue of developers profiting from and then dismissing the artists who bring attractive buyers to a neighborhood. Now that a dollar value has been attached, a certain audience will also begin to again consider the intrinsic value of those artworks in the streets that they dismissed as pure vandalism with little other merit.

5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Of the nearly 1,000 comments posted yesterday on our initial Facebook post about the decision, it is evident that many people still see this kind of art primarily as illegal vandalism and opine that a ruling like this is only adding credibility to criminal behavior. In that argument it is helpful to remember that these artists all had permission to paint.

Undoubtedly additional legacies of the ruling will play out in coming months and years. For the moment, it looks like the artists won this time, which is a seeming rarity during a time when technology has created a nearly unmitigated “Wild West” landscape of rights and responsibilities when it comes to aesthetic expression.

Related stories:

Judge Awards Graffiti Artists $6.7M After 5Pointz Destroyed

Judge Rules Developer Must Pay 5Pointz Graffiti Artists $6.7M

https://qz.com/1107031/new-yorks-5pointz-graffiti-artists-are-suing-a-real-estate-developer-for-destroying-their-work/

Looking at 5Pointz Now, Extolling a Graffiti Holy Place

5Pointz. Meres. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Onur . Semor . Wes21 . Kkade . 5Pointz, Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Esteban Del Valle. 5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zeso . Meres. 5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kram. 5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

5Pointz. Queens.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

Read more
Berlin Wall Milestone : Down as Long as It Was Up

Berlin Wall Milestone : Down as Long as It Was Up

February 12, 2018

The Berlin Wall has now been down as long as it was up. 28 years, two months and 27 days passed in both cases, and we are still looking for sane global policy about the freewill of people to prevail.

Ronald Reagan, a Republican president lauded by the right, once intoned while standing in front of the wall,

“We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace…Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Dimitry Vrubel mural “My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love” first painted in 1990 and restored in 2009 is based on the iconic photograph by Régis Bossu of the Fraternal Kiss in 1979 between Soviet Leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German Leader Erich Honecker on the occasion of Brezhnev’s visit to East Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Also interestingly in that same speech Reagan referred to the graffiti on it;

“As I looked out a moment ago from the Reichstag, that embodiment of German unity, I noticed words crudely spray-painted upon the wall, perhaps by a young Berliner, ‘This wall will fall. Beliefs become reality.’ Yes, across Europe, this wall will fall. For it cannot withstand faith; it cannot withstand truth. The wall cannot withstand freedom.”

Chiseling the Berlin Wall (photo ©Owen Franken)

Mr. Reagan saw the hypocrisy of building walls, separating people, restricting freedom. Yet we today have another president so far to the right of Reagan that he has even threatened to shut down the government in order to secure funding to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

Fiodi Frede “Sons of Bitches. Stop Lying. We Learned Nothing.” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Which brings us to a more recent sentiment on part of the remaining wall, written in Spanish;

“Hijos de puta dejen de mentir no aprendimos nada”, or “Sons of bitches stop lying we did not learn anything.”  No kidding.

As we mark this mathematical marker, we present a few images of that wall that once stood unbroken for 10,316 days

Gabriel Heimler (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Andrej Scharow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michail Serebrjakow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jim Avignon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rhino (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Photo © Jaime Rojo

Read more
Images Of The Week: 02.11.18

Images Of The Week: 02.11.18

February 11, 2018 ,


BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Got anything lined up for Valentines Day? No pressure bro. Just be yourself sis! All that baloney about wine and dine and flowers – oh HELL NO! We’re all on a budget up in here! In fact we did some research for you and here’s 8 Cheap Valentine’s Day Dates in NYC thanks to writer Melanie Gardiner.

And for the rest of you non-attached and gorgeous BSA Readers may we recommend the delightful new cinematic pleasure from Urban Spree and the Berlin Kidz called “F**k the System” now available for the price of a movie house soda on Vimeo. Each time you think they won’t do it, they totally do it. Including riding bikes on top of the train. That part is NOT recommended.

In other news, the people in Washington are playing with fire and it looks like a large percent of them probably want to burn the whole government down. A second shutdown in one month? We have pyromaniacs bent on destroying basic stuff that the people built and need. Now that the taxes for the rich have been lowered so that social programs will go on a feeding tube, how many minutes will it take before they say, “we simply can’t afford to pay for Medicare and Social Security’? Tick Tick Tick.

Corporate taxes are now the lowest that they have been since 1939. Because that is the standard of living you want right? The 1930s. Ask your grandma and great grandma what life was like in the 1930s before they hiked the tax rate on the rich. MAGA, baby.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Avocado, Baston, City Kitty, Dede, Duke A. Barnstable, Irak, James Goldcrown, Joe Iurato, Little Ricky, Nora Breen Project, Pear, Smiler, Tez, The Joe Miller, Token 3784.

Top Image: Unidentified artist. We spot some similarities with the work of Nick Walker but we don’t think this is his piece.  (with Token 3784 sneaking in) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nora Breen Project with thanks to Billy Joel (photo © Jaime Rojo)

James Goldcrown. “It’s Not All That Black And White…” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Joe Miller tribute to Charles Bradley. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pear (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tez . Irak (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (with Token 3784 sneaking in for second time this week) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Baston (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Baston (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Baston (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Duke A Barnstable (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Avocado (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Little Ricky (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Little Ricky (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dede (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smiler (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Sunset over Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Read more
“David Bowie is” Coming To Brooklyn in March

“David Bowie is” Coming To Brooklyn in March

February 10, 2018

For those who felt that they lost a friend when David Bowie died two years ago, a new exhibition organized by The Brooklyn Museum will bring him back to you for a moment. For those who refuse to speak about him in the past, David Bowie is makes perfect sense to name an exhibition. As renaissance man whose work continues to influence the route of music, fashion, and culture, David Bowie is still here in New York City.

“From Central Park to shanty town, I’ve always heard that crazy sound.” A cut-out image of Bowie in the park accompanied by a lyric from “Don’t Look Down” (link at bottom of posting). Photograph by Brian Duffy. © @duffy_archive & The David Bowie Archive. Photo: @BrooklynMuseum / @thebrookelynway

Of course Bowie’s image is always reappearing in the streets of New York and other cities, as it did before and now more after his passing. A touchstone for many creatives and artists, his image is a reminder to pursue your own vision, however outside the norm. Eventually they catch up. Or not.

 

Gazlay  2009 portrait of David Bowie on the streets of Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Organized by Matthew Yokobosky, Director of Exhibition Design, the exhibition includes about 400 objects drawn mainly from the David Bowie archive, including more than 60 original costumes, handwritten lyric sheets, original album art, photographs, and videos, including rare scenes from the Diamond Dogs tour in Philadelphia.

Follow @brooklynmusem on Instagram   for developing news about the exhibit and associated programming, including the “Night of 1000 Bowies”.

David Bowie is

More on Brooklyn Museum website https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/davidbowieis

Photograph from the album cover shoot for Aladdin Sane, 1973. Photograph by Brian Duffy. Photo Duffy © Duffy Archive & The David Bowie Archive.

Last month Choir! Choir! Choir! teamed up with David Byrne and a TON of singers in the Ford Foundation lobby of the Public Theater during the Under the Radar Festival to sing ‘Heroes’ written by David Bowie and Brian Eno

“We passed upon the stair,
we spoke of was and when,
although I wasn’t there,
he said I was his friend,
which came as some surprise.
I spoke into his eyes,
“I thought you died alone
a long long time ago.”

“Oh no, not me,
I never lost control.
You’re face to face
with the man who sold the world.”

“Man Who Sold The World”, David Bowie

Looking through our own vinyl collection, we found this fine example of early Bowie, “The Man Who Sold the World”. A perfect Saturday way to blow your mind. Listen to the single here on YouTube here.

 

“From Central Park to shantytown…” in “Don’t Look Down” on “Tonight”

Read more
BSA Film Friday: 02.09.18

BSA Film Friday: 02.09.18

February 9, 2018

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. “Serenity” with SNIK in Manchester
2. Hellbent in Albany, NY
3. And Now a Message From Our Sponsors: Aphukenbrake
4. Low Bros in Rabat, Morocco

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: “Serenity” with SNIK in Manchester

“To women who stood against injustice. We honor you. We witness to your courage and are humbled by your sacrifice,” says the narrator and activist Leigh Cook about the suffragettes in this new video following the duo SNIK as they create “Serenity” on Little Lever Street in the northern quarter of Manchester, directed by Doug Gillen at Fifth Walls TV.

And below is a behind-the-scenes reporter-on-the-ground-and-in-cherry picker video where Mr. Gillen speaks with organizers who attempt the gentrification issue that accompanies the mural campaign they’re expanding and Laura takes a swing at the topics of feminism, empowerment and the #METOO movement. Doug does some dancing.

 

Hellbent in Albany, NY

A promotional video for a mobile company using the mural painting of Street Artist Hellbent painting in Albany, New York.

And Now a Message From Our Sponsors: Aphukenbrake

Low Bros #sweet15s Episode 12 / Rabat, Morocco

“Good memories of last year’s JIDAR festival in Rabat, Morocco,” say Low Bros in this very entertaining brief visit to a beautiful part of the world. The use of their own footage throughout makes this much more eclectic and personal. Thumbs up for the music track by ADP & Levi Lennox.

 

Read more
Black Panthers and Political Street Art from the 60s to Today

Black Panthers and Political Street Art from the 60s to Today

February 8, 2018

Amidst the hype surrounding the new Black Panther movie breaking records in theaters, we’re reminded by New York-based writer, photographer and documentarian Camilo José Vergara on City Lab that the people-powered revolutionary socialist organization Black Panther Party were superheroes on the streets of US cities who used art in the Streets to advance social and political goals.

Wheat-pasting political posters in the 90s “There is a Black Panther born in the ghetto every 20 minutes,” Former Brooks Bakery, 113 East 125th St., Harlem, 1995. (photo ©Camilo José Vergara)

“I was able to survey Black Panthers’ street graphics from the high point of the early 1970s, when they stood for black beauty, a respect for their African roots, anger at the police, self defense, and public service, all while exhibiting a unique style,” says the award winning Vergara  in this new photo essay of works on the streets about the Panthers. “They had moral authority as they risked their lives resisting arrest, taking over buildings, feeding children, and marching. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panther Party opposed the Vietnam War. But unlike him, the Panthers advocated self defense and demanded reparations for centuries of slave labor. ”

Read more in “The Black Panther Party’s History of Urban Street Art” here.

Read more

Recent Articles on BSA