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LA Special: Images of the Week 04.17.11

April 17, 2011 Artists, California, L.A., Los Angeles, On the Street

It’s been a hot week in Los Angeles for the Brooklyn set, this much warmth and sun consecutively is unsettling for cold northerners accustomed to six months of winter and unbearable cold. The hundreds of museum goers who are lined up to enter the MOCA “Art in the Streets” show this morning mark the end of official events over the last week as well as the private openings, events, and walls that popped up everywhere.

Dabs & Myla with How & Nosm. One of the strongest installations in or out of the museum this week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This weeks interview with the streets is largely an interview with Daniel Lahoda, an Angelino who has procured walls for visiting and local street artists in a few neighborhoods of the city since 2009. With no membership fee or admission, everyone is able to see the work of a whole lot of street artists where it was originated thanks to his organizational and diplomatic skills and his vision. We were very fortunate to receive a personal tour of the walls from Daniel over the course of a couple of days, including the gargantuan piece finished this week by Dabs & Myla with How & Nosm and the still fresh 42nd LA Free Wall as it was being completed by Street Artist Aiko. Since so many artists were in town for the general craziness, expect to see some new walls going up shortly that will thrill and delight.

So here’s this weeks interview with the street featuring Aiko, Augustine Kofie, CA, Carl Rauschenbach, Crayola, Dabs & Myla, David Flores, DFace, X, Herakut, How & Nosm, JR, Kid Zoom, M-City, Nomade, Philip Lumbang, Ripo, Roa, Saber, and Shepard Fairey.

Street Artist Aiko repels the punishing sun with a big hat while working on this stencil she created in honor of the people of Japan during the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami as well as to her friend Martha Cooper who shot the original image it is based on. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The completed piece by Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The original image by Martha Cooper that Aiko based her stencil piece from (photo © Martha Cooper)

Local quartet Nomade have a few pretty strong mixed media pieces around town. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nomade (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Two LA favorites Saber on the left and Augustine Kofie on the right (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saber. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Carl Rauschenbach on left, X on right and Philip Lumbang in center (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London’s D*Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla with Craola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla with Craola. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Flores “customized” this large portrait by JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Herakut from Frankfurt and Erfurt, Germany.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA adorned the side of this fine family establishment with hot fleshy pinks and red undulating color. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

INSA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Part of Shepard Fairey’s brand new series, this image of Ronald Reagan is pre-defaced with an “intervention” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey simplifies the approach, making it that much more powerful (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As if in a “free speech zone” behind the barbed wire, the man who started this all, Ronald Reagan, salutes “Mourning in Amerca”, by Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey’s piece, the first done with Daniel Lahoda for the LA Freewalls project (photo © Jaime Rojo)

French artist JR, part of a 16 piece installation across LA this spring called “Wrinkles in the City” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Zoom and Insa reversed the red and blue part of this piece, shot both with a camera, and created a stunning piece of GIF art that makes Kid Zoom’s skull float above it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gif Image courtesy LA Freewalls project.

Kid Zoom (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stencil artist M-City’s train in this parking lot is so long that it’s hard to get the full view (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MCity. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ripo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA’s sweet smelling piece adorns the side of this perfume store. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine “Ladyboy” Walking In L.A.

April 16, 2011 Artists, California, Gallery, Los Angeles, West Hollywood

Amid the madness that is the MOCA LA rollout of “Art in the Streets” this week, one of Brooklyn’s hometown favorites popped in her falsies and applied a fresh coat of Chanel Rouge lipstick before sinking her pointy incisors into the New Image Gallery in West Hollywood.

Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dressed head to stiletto in black and florescent night glamooouuuur, the gallery that had the balls to champion a number of unconventional street artists for more than a decade gave every inch of floor, wall and ceiling to Street Artist Judith Supine for this installation. Since the MOCA show so far looks like a compendium of the last 50 years, it’s understandable that it overlooks the 30 or so New Guard on the streets today who are ushering in an era of storytelling and mashups, but clearly Miss Supine will be in BSA’s “Art In The Streets” show when we’re talking about the 2010s.

Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A smaller version of the full blowout Supine did at English Kills in Bushwick Brooklyn a couple of years ago, “Ladyboy” is a more focused and tight hallucinatory play of collaged and freakish imagery alluding to the underground sex industry, child exploitation, and the magnetic allure of iniquity. When this heavy stuff is cut with a handy pen knife in your handbag, fed through the surreal filter of Ms. Supine’s mind and flooded over with a thick shiny coat of liquid glass, the dark magic is suspended in time. Our time.

Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Honored guests at Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Judith Supine
Lady Boy
April 13—May 13, 2011
New Image Art Gallery
Los Angeles, California

Red Hot and Street: “Art in the Streets” Brings Fire to MOCA

April 15, 2011 Artists, California, Events, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, Museum, Opening

Banksy’s Reliquary (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes, Banksy is here. The giant “Art in the Streets” show opening this weekend at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles gives a patch of real estate to the international man of mystery who has contributed greatly to the worldwide profile of this soon to be, maybe already, mainstream phenomenon known as street art. A smattering of his pranksterism is an absolute must for any show staking claim to the mantle of comprehensive survey and an excellent way to garner attention. But “Streets” gets it’s momentum by presenting a multi-torch colorful and explosive people’s history that began way before Banksy was born and likely will continue for a while after.

Os Gemeos Untitled. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

To continue reading about this exhibition go to The Huffington Post ARTS by clicking on the link after the image below.

Direct link to article on HuffPost Arts

BSA in LA (Update) – Walls Underway in Prep for MOCA Show

April 14, 2011 Artists, California, Events, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, On the Street

“Art In the Streets” has begun exactly where it started – outside on walls. The number of people in Los Angeles this week to mark Sunday’s opening of the show at the Museum of Contemporary Art grows by the hour and there are more walls in progress than a housing boom. Just in the last couple of days we’ve seen commissioned and non-commissioned new murals, pieces, tags, and installations freshly dripping by people like How & Nosm, Lee Quinones, Shepard Fairey, Blade, Cern1, JR, Augustine Kofie, Invader, Os Gemeos, Nomade, Saner, and many others.

Lee Quinones takes a break on “Birds of a Feather”, the wall collaboration he’s directing that features Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1. The new installation is on the wall that was previously installed by Italian artist Blu but was buffed soon after by the museum a few months ago – a subject still on the minds and lips of people here. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Futura says it’s like Summer camp and others have likened it to a family reunion, which makes us think of lawn chairs, cheap beer, barbecue, and crazy old uncle Jed sitting on a picnic table rubbing egg salad into his hair and talking about the Republicans. But yeah, right now in this little part of LA there is a feeling of a camp that is headed maniacally toward total circus.

Cern 1 workinfg on “Birds of a Feather” wall collab with Lee Quinones, Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The show itself, which we’ve seen in it’s entirety, is an audacious and colorful endeavor to bring about 50 years of Graffiti and Street Art history and a number of it’s influencers and influences under one roof. Engaging and educational, visitors will have the opportunity to learn how certain tributaries lead to this river. No show on this worldwide phenomenon could ever hope to include everyone, and Curator Jeffrey Deitch, along with associate curators Roger Gastman and Aaron Rose have chosen touchstones and flashpoints that push their individual visions of how the story unfolded. While it doesn’t break much brand new ground, only the Bittersons (or Jealousinskis) will find sufficient cause to try to mug this solid, entertaining and participatory show full of surprises. But for a scene that never sought permission in the first place, it won’t matter.

Here are a collection of images on the museum grounds itself. Previews from the show tomorrow.

“Birds of a Feather” (detail) wall collab with Lee Quinones, Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In this photo by Martha Cooper, Futura lends a hand to Cern1 to complete the collaborative mural on the side of Geffen Contemporary in time for the opening. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Birds of a Feather” wall collab in progress with Lee Quinones, Futura, Risk, Able, Seno, Push, Loomit and Cern1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Barry McGee (Twist) finished this wall before heading indoors to reprise an installation he did in 2000 with ESPO and REAS called Street Market. Roger Gastman says of the new installation that was still being finished as of yesterday afternoon, “This is another version ten years later, basically on crack. They brought in a number of other great artists to help work with them on it. Now it includes Alexis Ross, Dan Murphy, Jeff Flynn and a few others.” (photos tomorrow)

(photo © Jaime Rojo)

This Blade wall in progress is a direct reference to the famous Martha Cooper photo of one of his burners on an MTA train in the 70s. It was begun after the museum washed off a fresh new Katsu fire extinguisher tag that appeared suddenly a few days earlier. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blade. Finish wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos cube in progress will contain something quite special that is being prepared in a garage nearby. It actually looks like it could hold a dozen go-go dancers if that other thing isn’t finished in time for the opening. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos cube in progress (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos with mini-train painted by Blade (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blade painting the Os Gemeos mini-train (photo © Martha Cooper)

Os Gemeos mini-train opposite side (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sullivan takes off (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader’s “Blue Invasion” of the museum starts outside. Or is that BLU invasion? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Risk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fab 5 Freddy speaking on today’s press conference in front of bus by Risk (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not all brows are unfurrowed for the impending opening of “Art In the Streets”, as in these by French Street Artist JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST and His “Patron”

April 13, 2011 Artists

The Personal Story is the Story.

Often people like to refer to what’s happening on the streets today like it’s a homogenized “scene” in which a number of actors are somehow coordinated and in agreement, acting in concert with a predetermined speed and direction to deliberately affect Street Art’s evolution. While you may spot certain themes and influences that are common within the ever mutating scene, it’s important to know that for an individual street artist, usually the whole experience boils down to the personal story, and everything else that emanates from it.

Street Artist QRST recently completed and installed this piece in New Orleans and it’s topic and symbolism could not possibly be more personally meaningful.

QRST “Patron” Detail (photo © QRST)

His largest piece to date,”Patron” is a tribute to QRST’s father, a biology professor who studied the behavior of bees and wasps and whom he lost to cancer when the artist was a teenager. With this piece QRST attempts to examine “the manner in which a parent, and a father specifically, shapes a person and their view of the world”. He also points out how the memories that we have of the loved ones who have left us can change and fade with time and often all we have left are symbols that helps us connect with them. When QRST talks about this hand painted wheat paste as tribute and catharsis, you can tell that he thinks a lot about his father, his view of the world, and the symbols that remain as he makes his own marks upon it.

QRST “Patron” Detail (photo © QRST)

Here’s how he talks about it;

“I guess I am ‘Canonizing’ him in my mind with symbols that I associate with him. The person that he actually was evaporates over the course of time until he’s just a symbol, in a manner very similar to a saint in Catholicism. New Orleans felt like the perfect place for him with its brand of Catholicism, saint devotion, Caribbean and West African religious aspects all coming together in a strange and magic place with it’s own dark and long held traditions, ceremonies and celebrations. It felt like the ideal, polytheist environment to place my own devotional piece.”

QRST “Patron” Detail (photo © QRST)

“As to the specific iconography, most everything here is deliberate. There are a number of references to sex and virility, the bees being obvious (though also a personal symbol for me; he was a biology professor that specifically studied the behavior of bees and wasps); his hand gesture similar to a sexual reference though he’s actual spelling P and A in sign language, both the first two letters of the word “patron” and also spelling “pa”; his fingers are covered in pollen (which again references bees, but also the male half of a haploid reproductive system). He’s approximately seven and a half feet tall with the advantage of being about two feet off of the ground to begin with – this also relates to a fatherly figure in general.

He’s standing in a pile of books as a symbol of learning, teaching, and science, but also as a reference to St Albert the Great, the patron saint of science (and also teaching to some extent) who is generally shown with a book or tome. The books with bees and wasps on the covers are self explanatory at this point I suppose. Some aspect of their latin names are included in several instances, which again relates to both science and the canonizing aspects together. “Sceintia vulgaris” is a really poor way to write “common knowledge” in Latin (which works doubly well, as it’s close enough to get the point across without being pedantic) which is again a reference to teaching, or making knowledge less secret or esoteric. This also relates to my entire understanding of the influence that he had on me: science and reason and nature being the benevolent and humbling magic of the universe; The magnificence of the world around us, the cause to celebrate and be reverential, not because someone else claims secret knowledge of an angry deity telling me what to do and what not to do. The book with the hammer and saw is a reference to Joseph, the patron saint of fatherhood, the tree is a reference to family and ancestory.

I don’t think I’ve ever installed anything this large before. All tolled he’s about 9 or 10 feet tall, so the very top is about 11 or 12 feet off of the ground. Thankfully I had two eager assistants, but I still managed to almost fall off of the foot stool we were using resulting in the minor damage to the ‘Q’ in the banner and a tiny bit of damage to one of the books. He feels already well worn in, like he’s been there for some time, which I quite like. Overall I’m fairly pleased. ~ QRST

New Pieces from Ludo in Zurich for His First Solo Show

April 12, 2011 Artists, Features, Gallery, On the Street, Zurich

French Street Artist LUDO is back in Paris and fresh from his first solo show at the Starkat Gallery in Zurich, which was very well attended and as they say, well receeeeeeived.

LUDO. Zurich (photo © Roman @ Starkat Gallery)

The Zurichian streets received LUDO too. Roman from Starkat took these photos on the streets of this “spic-and- span” wealthiest city of Europe and shares a few with you here. LUDO’s ongoing wild imaginary mutant plants look as futuristic and menacing as ever, and in a pristine mall-like environment like this Swiss centerpiece, you have to wonder how how far some of these contraptions can be from reality. There’s some chocolate for thought.

Nature’s Revenge is the name of the series LUDO has been working on for a couple of years; a commentary on a lust for high-tech weaponry and man’s unending ability to foul the earth. Looking at all those directional signs is apparently a sort of bureaucratic revenge from the Department of Transportation. Zurich (photo © Roman @ Starkat Gallery)

Thematically disturbing and humorous, Ludo’s work is usually finished with a few splashes of minty green, like a toxic sorbet. LUDO. Zurich (photo © Roman @ Starkat Gallery)

LUDO. Zurich (photo © Roman @ Starkat Gallery)

LUDO in the gallery produced a mummified mini-car. Zurich. Starkat Gallery (photo © LUDO)

LUDO. Zurich. Starkat Gallery (photo © LUDO)

Jetsonorama : To Dogpatch With Love

April 11, 2011 Artists, California, On the Street, San Francisco

“It was fascinating during the installation to observe neighbors who have seen one another for years stopping to hang out, talk and meet one another. So it’s cool to think that after the images are down, the friendships will continue.” ~Jetsonorama

Street Artist Jetsonorama likes to take pictures of people and create large scale portraits of them to wheatpaste in their own community with the goal of fostering connectedness among neighbors.

Pat rises in the Dogpatch section of San Francisco by Street Artist Jetsonorama. (photo © Jetsonorama)

Using a friends’ building in San Francisco for a backdrop, he worked last week to put up portraits of two people and a neighborhood dog, BB. The Dogpatch section of San Francisco is the only part of the city left standing after the 1906 earthquake and the fires that followed it. Officially deigned a historic district in 2003, the nine square block section was initially an immigrant neighborhood with hand-built workers’ cottages, factories, and warehouses, many still standing.

Neighbors Pat and Imogene, by Jetsonorama. (photo © Jetsonorama)

Jetsonorama gives us some background on the project here:

“Bruno Mauro of Ampersand International Arts in Dogpatch knew I’ve been exploring the idea of using art to build community through my wheat pasting project on the Navajo nation. He was kind enough to literally offer me his home (after consulting with his wife, Surma), to pursue the idea of community building using his home as a canvas.

In exploring this idea here, Bruno suggested I meet Patricia Parker and her mother, who have lived in Dogpatch in their current house for 50 years or so. Both Patricia and her mom attended Irving M. Scott school, which was built in the 1890s and is the oldest standing public school in San Francisco. Together, these two people are dogpatch history, and they know it.

BB in the Dogpatch with love. Jetsonorama. (photo © Jetsonorama)

Imogen Doumani lives across the street from the gallery and from Pat. She represents the youthful vibe coming into the neighborhood. BB the beagle is representing those who give the area it’s name.

The piece is composed of regular bond paper from Fedex/Kinko’s adhered to the wall with wheat paste I made. It’s susceptible to the elements and will go away with time. My hope is that the conversations and community-building started with this project will continue long after the piece is down.”

BB with friends. Jetsonorama. (photo © Jetsonorama)

Long time resident Pat smiling at her neighbors. Jetsonorama. (photo © Jetsonorama)

Images of the Week 04.10.11

April 10, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, NYC, On the Street, Queens

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Bast, ChrisRWK, Creepy, ECB, OverUnder, Peeta, Ress Arts, REVS, RID, RWK, VengRWK, and YOK.

Veng of RWK, Overunder and Chris of RWK new wall in progress. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng and Chris from RWK gathered their paint tools and called a couple of their friends over to hang out and paint on their spot in Bushwick, BK. The results have been like chocolate and peanut butter together – you are not sure how it works, but it does. Overunder, ECB, Peeta and Never collaborated on this brand new wall, still in progress.

Sorry, baby, not tonight. Can’t you see I’ve got a lot on my mind? Veng of RWK and Overunder. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hello, I’m looking for da right kitchen. OverUnder re-creates pull-down grates commonly seen around the city after businesses close for the night, or because of the recession. After arranging them in a cluster, graffiti tags and pieces are applied in a mind-twisting reinvention with random human limbs sprouting out. We’re not smart enough to know what he’s getting at, and Veng’s character is keeping tight lipped about it. Veng of RWK and Overunder. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris of RWK (in progress), Peeta and Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never and Peeta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ECB brings on the parade of mournfully serious men (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ECB. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Manny the Buddah mechanic in the urban brush. Still Life with a plaster sculpture (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nothing that a coat of paint couldn’t help. We had previously published this REVS sculpture but someone gave it a new fresh coat of paint for the spring. REVS is looking pretty sharp and full of hope these days. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Just thought I’d chair my feelings with you. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An Aussie collab in 5Ptz with Yok and Creepy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yok. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Creepy. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Parts of 5 Pointz have gotten slap happy. Notice the large sticker robot made of stickers by RID. The plea to “Save 5 Ptz” refers to this hallowed block-long spot that is slated for development by it’s owner. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Phun Phactory’s new walls in North Williamsburg. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ress Arts (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng RWK is the friendly face of the new headquarters of Curbs & Stoops (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast has game (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crunch Crunch Crunch, Saturday Cartoons with Bortusk Leer

April 9, 2011 Artists

Since it’s Saturday and you are still in your pajamas and on your third bowl of sugar coated vampire cookie cereal, here’s a look at Bortusk Leers cartoons. The Street Artist has a whole posse of monsters and characters that splurp and plop and zing out of his imagination onto sheets of old newspaper with a child’s paint brush and florescent non-toxic paint that is safe to eat.

The wheatpastes on New York streets look so guileless and unaffected that you might also think his work is simple and unstudied. Truth is Bortusk is deliberate in his depictions of their crazy disproportions and he likes to poke fun at his creatures and play with the viewer. Luckily for the artist and kids, he also learned how to animate his monsters and his inventive short stories have an audience on TV and the web too.

FUN FRIDAY 04.08.11

April 8, 2011 Arizona, Artists, California, Culver City, Events, Gallery, Opening, Washington DC

This weekend brings a Spring bounty of delicious Street Art related openings in many cities across this great country of ours. But FIRST, this OLD SKOOL Romanic Boogie Down Production …

Pump Up the Sculpture Jam from SAM3

Sticker Phiends in AZ

Tempeh is a soy product and meat substitute originally from Indonesia. Tempe is a city in Arizona that is hosting the 4th giant Sticker Phiends show tonight. Stickers continue to grow in influence in Street Art and in private collections in black books and refrigerator doors and this is a cool show that gives them away and sells them. They have limited edition “Sticker Phiends” tee-shirts designed by Brooklyn street art collective Robots Will Kill. Also cold beer. Possibly tempeh too because Chris RWK is a good veggie.

FREE HANDOUTS provided by our sponsors
ALL ART for $ale!
Limited Merch for $ale!
Drinks with ID – 21+

Opens at 8pm April 8th!
Cartel Coffee Lab
25 w. University Dr.
Tempe, AZ.
480-225-3899

Some of the names include:

Abcnt, Age, Dolla, DumperFoo, Dissizit/Slick, 123 Klan,Griffin One, Clown Soldier, Mad One, Mat Curran, MBW, 20 MG, Obey, Pez One (U.K.), Sike’, U.W.P., Seizer One

*********************************************************************

Martha Cooper Remixed

The Carmichael Gallery will be throwing a memorable opening party for Martha Cooper’s REMIX show and, lazy hyperbole aside, this one is one NOT to miss.

Photographs by Martha Cooper

with

Original remixes of these photographs in a range of media by Aeon, John Ahearn, Aiko, Bio, Nicer & B-Gee, Blade, Blanco, Mark Bode, Burning Candy, Victor Castillo, Cey, Cekis, Claw, Cosbe, Crash, Dabs & Myla, Anton van Dalen, Daze, Dearraindrop, Jane Dickson, Dr. Revolt, Shepard Fairey, Faust, Flying Fortress, Freedom, Fumakaka, Futura, Gaia, Grotesk, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm, LA II, Lady Pink, Anthony Lister, The London Police, Mare 139, Barry McGee, Nazza Stencil, Nunca, José Parlá, Quik, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Sharp, Skewville, Chris Stain, Subway Art History, Swoon, T-Kid, Terror161 and more.

Carmichael Gallery

5795 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

April 9 – May 7, 2011

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 9, 6-8pm

Click on the link below for more information regarding this show:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=19900

Cern YMI in Greenpoint by Gandja Monteiro

ROA at White Walls in SF

In San Francisco ROA will have his opening at the White Walls Gallery with his iconic paintings of nature’s marginalized animals in large scale. Ever the hard worker, ROA paints non stop year round all over the globe on surfaces that are challenging, like this one on the side of a mobile home. If you have only seen his art on line and if you are in San Francisco this Saturday, it’s your turn!

For more information about this show contact the gallery.

White Walls Gallery

835 LARKIN ST.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA. 94109

Phone: 415.931.1500

Chor Boogie in Washington DC

While the Rich Man Party of NO! brings the country to a halt in the Capitol, Chor Boogie will be bringing much needed healing color to Washington DC at The Fridge Gallery.

The Fridge Gallery Presents: Chor Boogie “This Aint No Place For No Hero” (Washington, DC)

For more information about this show click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=19952

Chor Boogie is an artist, a conceptual genius, a street romantic, a master of illusion and technique, Chor Boogie is an original. His works can be described as having healing effects by his unique and unmatched use of color, which brings greater meaning and understanding to his works. Every vibrant piece has a story attached to it. Chor Boogie’s colorful paintings are attracting A-list celebrities, art galleries and museums. Originally from San Diego, the artist known as Chor Boogie currently resides in San Francisco but is an internationally known artist and has traveled extensively to exhibit his work around the world.

The Fridge is located at

516 8th Street, SE

REAR ALLEY

Washington, DC 20003

David Ellis and Blu in a collaboration of a loop video from 2009

Yo Son the Boyz from Queens are Comin out With New Jams Next Month!

Wheatpasted Photography “One Year Before the Oil Spill”

April 7, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, California, NYC, On the Street, San Francisco

Photographer Michael M. Koehler Talks About Shrimpers on a Brooklyn Street

The devastation produced by the BP oil disaster continues to affect the animals and people who live on the southern coast of the US and during an overcast day yesterday in Brooklyn a black and white memory of life as it was before the spill appeared on the street. Over top of a pretty battered Shepard Fairey installation from spring of last year a photograph by Michael M Koehler called “One Year Before the Oil Spill” was installed. The piece is from a series he did about life for people impacted by the polluted environment entitled Along Bayou Road.

Talking to a passerby, Mr. Koehler explained that after the largest oil spill in US history, citizens who live along the gulf coast are afraid to eat the shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico. In the image he captures the vibrancy of sea life, culture, and commerce with gulls flying over while the nets of “shrimpers” harvest the waters to support their families and the local economy. These days, Mr. Koehler says that stores and restaurants are importing shrimp because nobody wants to buy the local production.

The north Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg was once a bustling port town in the 1800s and Koehler chose this spot for his piece because he feels it has a certain kinship with the seafacing communities down south. In fact if you had been on these same streets in say, 1827, you would have seen daily industry related to cargo ships, shipbuilding (the Brooklyn Navy Yard is just next door to the West), sugar refineries, iron works, and brewing. With this wheat pasted series, Koehler draws attention to the plight of a life and industry imperiled.

Now it’s time to put on an old vinyl 45 and listen to Jerry Jackson singing about “Shrimp Boats” and get a 1950s taste of a celebrated part of culture and cuisine.

Upper Playground and FIFTY24SF Gallery Present: “THE HEAVIEST” – A collection of new work by KMNDZ (San Francisco, CA)

April 6, 2011 Artists, California, Gallery, Opening, San Francisco

KMNDZ
Upper Playground and FIFTY24SF Gallery are proud to present a collection of works by Los Angeles based artist and graphic designer, KMNDZ. The exhibition will run from April 7th – May 19th with an opening reception being held at 7pm on April 7th.

KMNDZ’s personal artwork has consistently drawn from his own experiences and the honesty of his work his gained as much notoriety as it’s form. For ‘The Heaviest,’ KMNDZ builds upon a quote from Bob Marley, “Every man thinketh his burden is the heaviest.” Taking from this quote a sense of faith and purpose, KMNDZ has constructed the personal works that make up this show. Playing with the mediums of wood and found paper he has constructed a variety of small and medium panel works which have given his artwork a chance to have fun and breath a new life.

ABOUT KMNDZ:
A successful leader in the graphic design community, this Los Angeles based artist, has worked for some of the world’s premier design agencies and top entertainment companies. With brands like MTV Networks, Universal Pictures, Microsoft, Lexus, Disney, and Activision populating his resume, Johnny has built an impressive portfolio of both artistic and technological accomplishments in the world of graphic design and new-media. However, first and foremost, Johnny is an artist. He attributes his success in commercial design as a direct result of his passion for art. KMDNZ is about both the past and the future. “Anyone who’s ever touched a Mac, knows that the keystroke combination ‘command’ + ’z’ = ‘undo’. After using it day in and day out at work, I started wishing that I had an ‘undo’ action for everyday life. We’ve all done things that we wished we hadn’t, and said things that we would like to take back.” Rodriguez’s personal work is quite different from his commercial endeavors. When he sits down to paint, he puts aside the pressures of mass appeal and commercial accessibility, and instead focuses on creating art for himself. Drawing from his own life, his paintings are filled with memories of family and friends, religious undertones, and iconic elements. A recent piece features a drawing of an audio cassette embedded into a hand grenade. This represents a tough look back at the time when his father left their family to fight a war in Nicaragua, and left only an audio recording to explain his actions. Other paintings depict the biblical stories of Jonah and King David. Yet another deals with a strange coincidence that reminds him of a close relative that recently passed away from cancer. “I’m overwhelmed by the reaction that I’ve received about my art. I paint about the things that have meaning in my life, and it’s amazing to know that it touches others. The messages are simple. Love GOD, Be honest to yourself. Hold yourself accountable for your actions. Never forget. And live your life fully without wishing to hit ‘KMNDZ’.”

The Heaviest will run at FIFTY24SF Gallery from April 7th – May 19th, 2011.

FIFTY24SF Gallery Contact Information:
Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Sunday from 12-6 P.M. and by appointment
Address: 218 Fillmore Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
Contact: Amanda Krampf / Phone: (415) 252-9144 / Email: Amanda@UpperPlayground.com

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