Editorz

Hellbent, Rubin, and Aakash Nihalani In Progress on Domino Walls in BK

May 3, 2014 Artists

Williamsburg once ran heavy with renegade Street Art; names like Faile, Swoon, Bast, Shepard Fairey, Gaia, NohJColey, Judith Supine, Momo, Elbowtoe, Dain, DarkClouds, Matt Siren, Armsrock, Dennis McNett… well you get the point. Add about 40 more names and you can begin to re-construct the explosion that happened here mostly because industry had died and artists in the 80s and 90s and early 00s flocked to the previously industrial maritime neighborhood for space to create art, mount exhibitions, and have lots of free sex. Just checking to see if you were paying attention.

Hellbent at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Now almost 10 years into a North Brooklyn rezoning and construction boom (with a small break for the Great Recession) some of those same street artists are actually invited to paint walls in the same neighborhood – by landlords, advertisers, developers, and businesses. The Domino Sugar Factory, long an employer and symbol of industry on the river is now beginning a humungous decade-long renovation with new buildings planned while retaining the old refinery building on the site. Before buildings started coming down last summer these mammoth green construction walls went up, creating this sort of municipal/industrial sealed green monotony for five blocks on Kent Avenue.

Hellbent at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Today Hellbent, Rubin, and Aakash Nihalani, three artists who have been doing work in the streets for much of this time (and who have each made inroads into the gallery system), are each taking on their largest projects ever and culling more friends and buckets and cans and courage than ever to knock out these prodigious paintings. We’re calling it “Domino Walls” because we’re clever at naming things and we’re acting as “curatorial advisors” because hey, that’s what we do. BSA has a history of working with community and arts institutions, small and large, to give a variety of street artists a voice and to introduce them to greater audiences. This project provides a showcase to some of the strong voices who are familiar with working on the streets and who are pushing that language in new directions.

Hellbent. Process shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A lot of urban art academics and critics have been talking about this new hybrid of art on the street that is sometimes called ‘graffuturism’ and we are very gratified to present a few of the new practitioners on the street who reflect it. Employing geometric shapes, deconstruction, abstraction, minimalism, even Op Art techniques, this quickly shifting movement unites graffiti, street art, and contemporary; at once futuristic while paying tribute to art movements more than a hundred years old. With MOMA’s “Inventing Abstraction” show last year and the Guggenheim’s “Italian Futurists” show right now, we feel like our 2012 show “Geometricks” right here in Brooklyn was actually just ahead of the curve. Putting Hellbent, Aakash, and Rubin together on massive walls in Williamsburg feels like this is right on time for this decade.

So we’ll tell you more about the project and each artist a little later but we wanted to show you the progress thus far so you know what is going on on these giant walls. If you are planning to see the astounding Kara Walker show that opens this week on the site and features more sugar than you can consume during a month of Halloweens – you’ll also definitely be seeing some rockin’ eye candy in progress right on the street here as well.

Hellbent. Detail of one of the stencils. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“We all work in different ways but in a similar abstract nature and that is kind of why we are here together. It shows a little of the arc of abstraction and the different sort of forms you can go with. We’re all pretty geometric at the same time – using the power of the clean line and using optical tricks,” says Hellbent as he and his team are on their 9th day knocking out a nearly 500 foot long piece called We Walk (REM).

“I like the way Jaime (Rojo) described this wall when he said I was changing the shape of the wall through color and pattern and repetitions and that the visual effect pushes you forward. I think that more or less describes the movement for me at this moment and it is what I have been doing.”

Aakash Nihalani at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aakash doesn’t typically work with paint and stencils, preferring his trademark bright masking tape method of revealing geometry in public spaces but he is going huge here for his piece tentatively titled Spaced. “I don’t have a lot of roots in graffiti, I mean, we share the same territory and spaces. But I don’t liken myself to a graffiti artist per se. I mean it does make sense that after a certain amount of time in a period of an art movement that it is bound to start deconstructing and abstracting, concentrating more on the form instead of the content. So I guess that kind of makes sense and I guess my work sort of fits in with that evolution, so its definitely part of that, but it is not intentional.”

Askash Nihalani letting the sky bust through on this work in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aakash and his assistant at work on the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aakash Nihalani. Process shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

One of the most active graffiti writers in Sweden in the 1990s, Rubin has been deconstructing his earlier work and uncovering his Finnish/Swedish DNA. For his block long Resistance V. Acceptance, he says “I’m busy looking forward – I’m very much influenced by the Futurist movement , the Bauhaus. It’s also really natural for me growing up in Scandinavia – I grew up with the streamline and the IKEA – so it is like a parallel with the minimalism of Scandinavia so when I discovered the whole Futurist movement it made perfect sense,” he explains.

“Moving to working more large scale I had to adapt my work so that I can still work fast. It suits me so well. It is also is about balance – it can’t be too geometric so its’ always a struggle so that is why I try to keep my work free hand – so I don’t use projectors and stencils. I started using the chalk line more because it’s a time saver, but also I try to keep it analog and organic and physical. It can’t be too sharp – there has to be a more human element”

Rubin and one of his assistants at work on the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin process shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin’s detail of his sketch for the project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read Part II of this project here:

“Done!” Murals from Rubin, Aakash, & Hellbent : Domino Walls Part II

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BSAPlease note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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BSA Film Friday: 05.02.14

May 2, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Da Mental Vaporz and ‘The Wall’
2. YZ – Lost in the City
3. NYCHOS: Pen and Paper
4. Stealing Banksy
5. E1000 x Pablo Herrero at Memorie Urbane 2014

BSA Special Feature: Da Mental Vaporz and ‘The Wall’

To mark their new show that opened this week at BC Gallery, the 10 member France-based collective known as “Da Mental Vaporz” release this panoply of inventive and tight wall work and, as it turns out, canvasses. It is reassuring to see original thinking and solid skills still can win the day, and good to see artists sticking together to make great collaborations.

Included are Bom.k, Blo, Brusk, Iso, Dran, Kan, Lek, Gris1, Jaw and Sowat.

“The works of these artists can speak for themselves independently, differentiating from each other mostly in medium as in style and technique that which as soon as they are shown in a common context, creates an extraordinarily interesting and thrilling relationship. As can be deduced from the name ‘Da Mental Vaporz’, which, translated, means “The Vapors of the Psyche” it is for the artists a matter of concern to make the observer aware of the abyss of the personal psyche.” – from the description on Vimeo.

YZ – Lost in the City

YZ takes us on a trip through her city and invites us to get lost with her. For those non-French speakers, it is still a rewarding discovery that comes two thirds of the way through the small film that features jazz rhythms that wend you through the avenues of Paris, the suburban streets and into her studio.

NYCHOS: Pen and Paper

“All of my family – my dad, my grandpa, they all are hunters,” says Nychos at the picnic table as he explains his fascination for slicing apart animals and allowing us to see what organs and systems are arranged within. While listening to heavy metal you learn that Nychos was elated when he discovered his love of depicting dissection in graphic detail. He said, “Okay this is something I can stick to and go crazy on it.” May we all be so fortunate to find that thing too.

Stealing Banksy

“It’s like looking at a collection of hunting trophies severed from their natural environment,” our narrator intones, “stuffed into frames and soon to be seen by the privileged few”. Fair enough, you say, as long as I’m one of them. Wendy Hurrell says in her description of her new documentary “Stealing Banksy”, that she has been following Banksy’s work for a decade or more, and “it has been my privilege to wallow through the moral dilemma that is taking his works from the streets, legally and selling them for charity – never to be seen by the masses again.”

E1000 x Pablo Herrero at Memorie Urbane

The Blind Eye Factory shot this very large mural painted on the wall of a cemetary for the 2014 Memorie Urbane Street Srt festival in Gaeta, Italy

Etnik and Millo at Memorie Urbane Festival 2014

May 1, 2014 Artists

Here are a handful of in-progress shots at Memorie Urbane 2014 featuring Etnik and Millo at work on their site-specific pieces. The festival appears to be a departure from standard “urban art” aerosol jams because of its sensitivity to the location and historical considerations in the siting of artists – which makes this more of an edifying mural program.

Etnik is an Italian/Swede artist who calls Italy home and began his outdoor art career with graffiti. Now he has moved from the letter forms associated with traditional graffiti style to an examination of geometric forms interacting in a multi-dimensional field.

Millo completed his massive wall mid April – a dream like system of symbols and icons; highways and cities and a sliced self portrait floating amidst and above it all. The Mesagne born native studied architecture and illustrates the innerworkings of his mind to “reveal the transience of human existence, suspended somewhere between what we know and what is hidden inside us,” he writes on his website.

Etnik at work. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Etnik. Detail. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Etnik. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Millo at work. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Millo. Detail. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Millo. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Martin Whatson, David De La Mano, Pablo Herrero and E1000 at Memorie Urbane Festival 2014

Opiemme Bus Stops with Memorie Urbane and “In Attesa”

Click HERE for more Memorie Urbane Information

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Jaime Rojo and His Glimmering Series “The Last Picture”

April 30, 2014 Artists

The fog rolls in and your city gently disappears into it.

A young man tenderly clings to his lover under a bridge, or is he strangling her?

You are studying the secret and slow language of moving construction cranes traversing and bobbing backward and forward when suddenly a passenger plane cuts silently across the geometry in motion.

These are moments to witness, here and now gone.

Untitled. Williamsburg Bridge and the stately Empire. Brooklyn, NY. January, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Capricious.
Magical.
Flowing.

Jaime Rojo describes his photography in the city with those adjectives that evoke movement and something more ethereal than concrete, steel, and glass.

Untitled. Midtown, Manhattan from the L Train on the Williamsburg Bridge. Brooklyn, NY. January, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Known for his images of art in the streets, his photos of Street Art appear once a week in a parade on BSA called ‘Images of the Week’. But he always tacks one more at the end – one last picture.

It is always something unrelated to street art. That is, unless you think the city itself is art.

“NYC is compelling whether you are approaching from an airplane or driving in from the outer boroughs or on the train crossing a bridge. It’s just amazing how much industry, how much invention and design has gone into building this city,” explains Rojo about an environment continuously in flux.

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. February 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“At the same time it is surrounded by water that provides it with an amazing atmosphere that keeps evolving, depending on the climate. Even though the buildings don’t move it feels like the buildings are constantly changing because of the light, the season, or even the intense fog – it’s like a dream sequence in a movie because you know the buildings aren’t moving but it seems like they are,” he says.

Siting photographers like Wolfgang Tillmans and Richard Avedon as artists whose work inspires him, Rojo hopes to capture a singular poignant moment in a moving scene. “New York is very dense – It’s kind of magical for me to be able to capture an individual in the middle of the street in a city that is so crowded that invariably we are smelling the breath of each other at some juncture. So when I see the opportunity of an individual who is standing or doing something by himself or herself, I have to capture it as one New York minute.”

Untitled. Times Square, NYC. February, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“This is a busy intersection in Times Square. People are always going by. It is a cold night. People are hyped up with the Super Bowl. They are wearing, for the most part, monochromatic dark colors. And there is this guy who is trying to make a dollar playing Spiderman. And no one is paying attention to him. He’s doing every single thing possible to get attention and no one cares. I have a series of frames of this but this is the one I wanted to capture. There he is in the middle of this crowd in the intersection with that bright outfit and no one is paying attention.”

Untitled. SOHO, NYC. February, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. January, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Lower East Side, NYC. October, 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Union Square, NYC. July, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. DUMBO, Brooklyn. August, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. October, 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Houston Street, NYC. July, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn. March, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. East River from Brooklyn, NYC. March, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan sky landscape. January, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. February, 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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This article is also on The Huffington Post.

Joe Caslin Carries “Our Nation’s Sons” to Trinity in Dublin

April 29, 2014 Artists

After visiting the prison Kilmainham Gaol the second most popular place for visitors in Dublin is probably Trinity College. That’s where the latest installment of ‘Our Nations Sons’ is laying as it waits to be plastered on the 400 year old institution of learning that has about 17,000 current students.

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Original drawing for the installation at Dublin’s Trinity College ( © Joe Caslin)

Street Artist and illustrator Joe Caslin, who has been creating and executing the huge installations of marginalized or unfairly demonized youth on the streets of Edinburgh, tells us that the series will conclude at the end of the year. The portraits are drawn by him but the installations take a small team, even if the piece looks small in Trinity’s Great Hall as it is laid out for final alterations before it goes up.

“What looks massive on the floor gets somewhat consumed by the enormity of the urban landscape; This hall was given to us for the duration of the installation. We slept there, mixed paste there and made all final adjustments to the drawings. That night it was ours and it became our studio – we felt like we owned the space,” says Caslin.

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Process shot. Trinity College, Dublin. April 2014. (photo © Gavin Leane)

Miguel, who is the subject of this portrait, was also part of the crew who installed it on an overnight that lasted until 5:30 am. He admits it feels kind of strange to be pasting his own image on such a scale on a wall, but also says he likes the team.

“It was tough pasting through the night, there is no denying that. But I suppose it’s not everyday you stick a 42 foot monolith of yourself on a wall in Trinity College. The crew warmly accepted me as the clueless new lad. We worked in the cold and rain, but working with such a great team of hardened workers made the laboring that bit easier. Above all I am proud to be part of such an inspiring project,” Miguel says.

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Process shot. Trinity College, Dublin. April 2014. (photo © Gavin Leane)

“The portraits have been interpreted as a commentary on the social isolation of young men, issues surrounding suicide, how society perceives young men as a menace and more,” says the artist who conceived ‘Our Nations Sons’. Undoubtedly the sheer scale is a helpful reminder that everybody has something valuable to offer to the conversation, and Caslin managed to be persuasive with the university to let it happen.

“I think the power of both the subject matter and the portrait made this a much easier decision for Trinity to make at the end of the day. Who knows! I’m just happy it exists within the centre of Dublin city and on such a prestigious site,” he says.

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Process shot. Trinity College, Dublin. April 2014. (photo © Gavin Leane)

To read more about “Our Nation’s Sons” click HERE

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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New Stinkfish in The Pilsen in Chicago

April 28, 2014 Artists

The dudes from Pawnworks are back in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago with the “Art in Public Places” project and Stinkfish is here for his first time in the US. Nick Marzullo tells us this is only the second outdoor piece in the US. “He is also going to be showing an entire new body of work here in Chicago for his first ever Solo show in US with Vertical Gallery entitled Savage Gaze and that opens on Saturday May 3rd,” says Nick.

The program will continue work here in Chi-town this year as well and they have another project beginning this week in Cleveland. “We will also be facilitating a couple of really great installs in Brooklyn this year also!” More news on that later.

Stinkfish. Detail. Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Process shot. Pilsen, Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Pilsen, Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish “Savage Gaze” solo show at Vertical Gallery in Chicago opens on Friday, may 3rd. Click HERE for more details.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Images Of The Week: 04.27.14

April 27, 2014 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Here our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adam Fujita, Billy Mode, Cabaio, CB23, City Kitty, Damon, Dylan Egon, JB, Li Hill, Nychos, Olek, Roma411, Tec, Un Pez Verde, and Zola.

Top Image >> Zola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dylan Egon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CB23 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nychos new piece in Oakland, CA (photo © Steven Ballinger)

TEC for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Un Pez Verde (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roma 411 for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek does a special installation for Earth Day this week. That’s Mother Earth to you. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Balu. We are always happy to see Frida Khalo on the streets. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Balu. The same artist talking about war. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JB strikes a “Balance” in Rome, Italy. (photo © JB)

Cabaio. Detail. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Caballo for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Billy Mode for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. Spring 2014 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle and a Fire “Unextinguished”

April 26, 2014 Artists

Two women, two distinct generations. The same fight for recognition, let alone to determine the direction and manner of discourse.

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper in the 1970s newspaper world found herself as the only woman photographer in a huge room full of men at the New York Post – and she was often pushed into doing “weather” related or “soft journalism” photographs because only men could be presumed to handle the important hard news like politics and crime. Luckily for us, she didn’t accept those limitations and blasted her own path into the streets and shot what she wanted – but she had to fight for it.

In 2014 a certain kind of man still has a hard time finding space for the women to be in the game, so Elle gets hit with the vitriol often out on the street from some of the graff and Street Art dudes. Sometimes its just the banter of a beef-loving competitive spirit. Other times it takes on the undertones of gender related models of patriarchy.

Sorry Judy Chicago, the work isn’t done yet; that “feminist artist” who coined the term in the 1970s celebrates her own 75^th birthday tonight in Prospect Park by spraying her pyrotechnics across the sky, but she also is under no illusion that women have reached parity in the art world, or almost any other.

Even the most fundamental expectation of mutual respect on the New York streets cannot be assumed as harassment by men is still prevalent. Obviously if women were respected on the street we wouldn’t see Tatyana Fazilazadeh creating her postering campaign with New York women called “Stop Telling Women to Smile”.

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. Elle made these dresses from printed photos of Martha Cooper’s work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

That’s a long intro – and a sad one to have to write but the context somehow gives more power to the dual show by Cooper and Elle tonight. A combining of their skills, “Unextinguished” unites a flame of a mutual determination to take over a space and to define it.

Who knew that a Boomer and a Millenial would enjoin in the epic battle to extinguish the bullshit and make room for experimenting with new ideas while accommodating the old ones? For the viewers tonight it’s a juxtaposition of styles that merges into a collaboration of spirit.

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“We thought this had to do with a sense of history, through different generations. My pictures are all from 1978, so we are using some old school pictures but re-invigorating them with some new school techniques – like splattering them with a fire extinguisher with a sort of abandon,” says Cooper as she scans the gallery of plastered blown-up images she took thirty five years ago now newly splashed with color.

The view of her shots shown this way is an adjustment for Cooper’s eye too, but one she’s willing to go with for the spirit of collaboration.

“I wouldn’t want to see it every day – but in the context of this rough-and-ready kind of gallery, I think its kind of cool.”

Here are some shots of the show in preparation.

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A completely extinguished extinguisher outside of the Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” opens today at Mecka Gallery. Click HERE for more details.

Check out this cool video interview just released on AnimalNY.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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BSA Film Friday: 04.25.14

April 25, 2014 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. Bandes de Pub Strip Box from Farewell
2. Stop Telling Women To Smile: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh
3. Borondo London Glass by Fabiano Caputo
4. Dan Witz, a Veteran of the Streets

BSA Special Feature: Bandes De Pub / Strip Box from Farewell.

Disrupting the message system is something that challenges the ingenuity of many a culture jammer. Here we see the simplest of materials employed to shred the message and in the process create a compelling new lightbox installation.

Stop Telling Women To Smile: Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

A strong and effective campaign by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh in Brooklyn that draws attention the the catcalling and street time Romeos who like to pretend that they are being complimentary to complete strangers on the street but really they’re just harassing them.

Borondo London Glass by Fabiano Caputo

Dude is pretty talented. Here is Borondo creating by subtraction – a work on glass in Shoreditch on high street in London.

Dan Witz a Veteran of the Streets

A concise and focused look at Dan Witz by Animal New York that allows you to quickly understand the mind and the motivation for a guy who has been putting work on the street since he was an art school kid in the East Village in the 1970s.

Entes y Pesimo by Sea, Land, and Air; a New Mural in Lima

April 24, 2014 Artists

Here are some new images from Entes y Pesimo of their latest mural work in Lima. Former graffiti artists, the duo are now invited around the world to do their richly saturated figurative pieces that contain symbols of culture, images of nurturing relationships, and the depiction of an overall interconnectedness of life systems.

This more complex work, which they say was difficult to photograph in its entirety, appears to be telling a series of stories related to ornithological and marine life, coupled with agricultural themes and symbols. If in fact it is about the impact of humans on Earths’ other systems, then it would explain why the expressions indicate the people here are transfixed, pensive, thoughtful, and somewhat worried. But this is just conjecture, so don’t hold us to it.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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“The Wack Donald’s Project” and Mr OneTeas

April 23, 2014 Artists

The actual street and the digital version of it are now intrinsically linked and often if you see new occurrences of street art it takes just a bit of searching online to find out more about the artist and what they are up to. This week we were surprised to find these posters that incorporate Ronald McDonald into their messaging, and to find out how they appear to be marketed just as thoroughly through social media online.

It’s all about the subtleties of course, and many street artists leave a breadcrumb of clues digitally to lead you to their work on the street or in the gallery or on a t-shirt. And everyone is familiar with large “urban” brands that traverse the transgressive vibe through adroit social messaging that invariably leads to a product you may purchase. Nonetheless, sometimes it gets very confusing.

A French illustrator/painter/graphic designer from Nice who also has had shows in galleries in Monaco, Mr OneTeas is known to some as a graffiti artist who samples pop culture on his canvasses and appropriates commonly recognizable images of Hollywood names like Liz Taylor, Princess Grace, and Alfred Hitchcock. He also presents 80s television culture ironically (spotlighting Gary Coleman, Alf, Mr. T), inverts meanings with global brand logos, critiques consumerist culture, and interprets his subjects using the visual language of street art and the commercial finesse of artists such as Mr. Brainwash, for example.

That said, some people on the street here have been intrigued by these posters with the Mr OneTeas name on them which have popped up on street walls around Brooklyn appearing to skewer the fast food giant and consumerism – both because it has been a little while since we’ve seen a satirical bashing of a world brand on the street and because mroneteas appears to be so publicly documenting it on his Instagram and Facebook page.

If you consider the artist name as a brand (for the sake of argument), this is culture-jamming that is being re-jammed; a guerilla-advertising campaign-style series of postering that attacks a huge brand and is critical of consumerism which then employs common social media advertising techniques of promotion to get its message out. Is this still détournement?

In a brief email interview with the artist we learned that “The Wack Donald’s Project” began in 2011 when he first merged the Mona Lisa with Ronald McDonald. Influenced by the documentary “Supersize Me,” Mr OneTeas says that his illustrations began to equate the ubiquity of the friendly clown in the minds of children as something far more sinister than he originally thought.

“McDonald’s use Ronald the clown and they made him so friendly and attractive for the children customers,” he says. Describing the piece entitled, “Ronald’s Daughter / My Father Is A Terrorist,” the artist says, “Today we all are scared about terrorism, suspecting everybody around us, but no one is suspecting McDonalds to hurt us. We’ve been conditioned by it because we have grown up with it, and now if you’re looking at the Mc D restaurant world map, you will be surprised that they are everywhere.”

He says he started his campaign last month in Prague and this month he was in New York with five more posters. But the New York campaign was just a small one. “100 different Wack Donald’s characters are waiting to pop up, each one chosen for special reasons for different countries.” You can expect the social campaign will also follow the postering campaign closely because Mr OneTeas considers the fast food to be on par with tobacco. “On the cigarette packs in France you can read ‘Smoking Kills’. My thoughts are that I would like to make people realize that eating junk food can kill as well,” he says.

Guess we’ll just have to follow his Instagram to see how the campaign progresses.

Check out more on the artists Instagram page, which says “Mr OneTeas (ARTIST) Graffiti, Street Art, Recycler The Wack Donald’s Project… Oneteas@gmail.com http://www.facebook.com/Mr.OneTeas”

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

Finding Peace In Copenhagen with Sculpting Street Artist Tejn

April 22, 2014 Artists

Sandra Hoj has been tracking the work of iron sculpture Street Artist Tejn for a few years now and she tells us that she had spotted a number of new ones recently. Any kind of art in the streets that is illegal and elicits a response is considered “real” street art by most today, so it is interesting to see this welded storyline as it continues to unfold and lock itself around the capital city of Denmark.

“Tejn just released a fresh batch of lock on sculptures in Copenhagen. Made from salvaged iron found in the streets, welded into sculptures, and returned as art chained to public railings. The three pieces I have spotted so far, all speak of peace, and they seem almost tailored for the locations. Like the gun in the meat grinder, attached to a pole by the troubled People’s Park.”

“The attention to detail is extraordinary. Look at the tiny hands on the man carefully winding up the peace sign! I find it impossible to pass a Tejn, and not feel instantly better.”

~ Sandra Hoj

For more Street Art and other tasty morsels in Copenhagen visit Classic Copenhagen

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Hellbent at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent. Process shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent. Detail of one of the stencils. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aakash Nihalani at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Askash Nihalani letting the sky bust through on this work in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aakash and his assistant at work on the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aakash Nihalani. Process shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin at work on his portion of the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin and one of his assistants at work on the wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin process shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin’s detail of his sketch for the project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Special Feature: Da Mental Vaporz and ‘The Wall’

YZ – Lost in the City

NYCHOS: Pen and Paper

Stealing Banksy

E1000 x Pablo Herrero at Memorie Urbane

Etnik at work. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Etnik. Detail. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Etnik. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Millo at work. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Millo. Detail. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Millo. Fondi, Italy. Memorie Urbane Festival 2014 (photo © Lorenzo Gallitto)

Untitled. Williamsburg Bridge and the stately Empire. Brooklyn, NY. January, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Midtown, Manhattan from the L Train on the Williamsburg Bridge. Brooklyn, NY. January, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. February 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Times Square, NYC. February, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. SOHO, NYC. February, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. January, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Lower East Side, NYC. October, 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Union Square, NYC. July, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. DUMBO, Brooklyn. August, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. October, 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Houston Street, NYC. July, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Gowanus Canal, Brooklyn. March, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. East River from Brooklyn, NYC. March, 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan sky landscape. January, 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. February, 2012. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Original drawing for the installation at Dublin’s Trinity College ( © Joe Caslin)

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Process shot. Trinity College, Dublin. April 2014. (photo © Gavin Leane)

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Process shot. Trinity College, Dublin. April 2014. (photo © Gavin Leane)

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Process shot. Trinity College, Dublin. April 2014. (photo © Gavin Leane)

Joe Caslin “Our Nation’s Sons” Process shot. Trinity College, Dublin. April 2014. (photo © Gavin Leane)

Stinkfish. Detail. Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Process shot. Pilsen, Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Process shot. Pilsen, Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Process shot. Pilsen, Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Stinkfish. Pilsen, Chicago. April 2014. (photo © Pawn Works Gallery)

Top Image >> Zola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dylan Egon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CB23 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nychos new piece in Oakland, CA (photo © Steven Ballinger)

TEC for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Un Pez Verde (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roma 411 for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek does a special installation for Earth Day this week. That’s Mother Earth to you. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Balu. We are always happy to see Frida Khalo on the streets. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Balu. The same artist talking about war. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JB strikes a “Balance” in Rome, Italy. (photo © JB)

Cabaio. Detail. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Caballo for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Damon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Billy Mode for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. Spring 2014 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. Elle made these dresses from printed photos of Martha Cooper’s work. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A completely extinguished extinguisher outside of the Martha Cooper and Elle “Unextinguished” Installation in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Special Feature: Bandes De Pub / Strip Box from Farewell.