Here’s a question to the Street Artists out there; Have you ever knocked on the door before putting a wheatpaste or stencil or sticker on it? The work you put up is for the public to see, but what if “the public” who lives inside asked you to come in?
It sounds crazy – but it DOES happen. Last summer one Brooklyn landlord snagged two street artists on two occasions and paid them to put work up on walls inside her house – artists whose work has appeared on BSA with some regularity in the last 12 months. When Street Artist MOMO was invited to a residency program in Key West, Florida last year, he decided to try out a similar experiment and now some people are living with his work every day. In his own words:
“I was curious to try creating artwork for a sampling of “the public” for free and with no obligations, like I’d do in the street, but more directly. I really don’t know the public I’m working for when I make things anonymously, and often the idea of public becomes mythic and hazy. This seemed like a way to learn what different people thought of my work, and to experience some pressure from the close contact” MOMO
In 2010, Brooklyn-based street artist Swoon traveled to Haiti as part of the Creative Time Global Residency Program and worked with communities in Port au Prince and Bigones to rebuild housing and community structures after the devastating earthquake last year. Hyperallergic reported on the the project’s recent inauguration in Haiti:
The project is a rebuilding initiative, which “uses dome-style structures and the super-adobe technique of earth bag architecture to create sustainable, inexpensive and dependable housing for the people of Haiti. While the structures are extremely resistant to natural disasters, they also have the major benefit of being comprised of 90% earth and requiring no specialized scaffolding and understructure to build — making it a viable option for the people of Haiti to continue building on their own once they learn the method.”
Swoon was one of six New York-based artists—along with Sanford Biggers, K8 Hardy, Emily Jacir, Maya Lin and Walid Raad—given the opportunity “to get off the race track” that is life in New York City and focus on their work in another part of the world. Maya Lin researched mass extinctions while visiting Ecuador, Egypt, and China, Walid Raad traveled to Beirut, Sanford Biggers visited Brazil to work with video; K8 Hardy made stops in Chile, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina to investigate fringe queer culture and Emily Jacir investigated activism in Italy.
This Thursday, January 20, all six artists will come to 92nd Street Y to share the stories, findings and lessons from their time abroad.
Click on the link below to read Brooklyn Street Art Studio Visit and Interview with Swoon on The Huffington Post:
Sadly, Swiss film maker Joachim Levy says he was left off the credits in the movie and should have been included, according to a New York Times piece by Melena Ryzik, “A few minutes of “Life Remote Control” and some footage from Mr. Guetta and Mr. Levy appear in “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” which subsequently became the story of how Mr. Guetta was transformed, with Banksy’s prodding, from a chronicler of street art into an artist himself”. He’s protesting bitterly about his exclusion from the credits, and the cash cow the movie is turning into, we might add.
For all we know this is just one of the many marketing plots that Banksy or Banksy’s camp have concocted to create extra buzz for the film in the hopes that it would get nominated by the Academy. What with the many interviews (via email) that the normally invisible Banksy has granted? So far the strategy appears to be working as the film did get a nomination this week from the BAFTA people (the British version of the Oscars) for outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer.
And finally, we won’t get to find out his true identity now that Ebay has taken down the auction that had 38 bidders up to almost a million bucks. The prize? A scrap of paper with his alleged real name. Sorry kids, no Banksy or Santa Clause information will be revealed. Luckily you can still bid on a chunk of concrete with a rat stencil sprayed on it.
Tomorrow on Ebay, to more robust bidding I expect, I will be auctioning my electric bill from December. As a bonus you’ll see the price of a weekly Metrocard and a cellphone shot of my granny’s teeth in a glass.
What are we to think? Is Banksy behind this “auction”? For sure he knows his own identity, or does he? And why would this be on Ebay? – Shouldn’t it be on Sotheby’s or Christie’s?
In the next “‘Breathless Banksy Update” we’ll talk about who we think should design his full length burka-style hoodie to attend the Academy Awards ceremony should he be so lucky as to snag a nomination. If he is reading this, as we know he most certainly is, we urgently implore him to start looking for a designer PRONTO.
In the midst of all the speculation about Banksy’s identity, perhaps the elephant is on the screen in your living room.
Remember Eli Cook? He’s the BSA reader who had a wish last month to finish a painting?
Well, he finished it and sent us the picture so we thought we’d share it with you. It’s a way to honor the creative spirit in all of us, and to honor Eli’s grand dad.
LA ART Machine
The L.A. ART MACHINE is proud to present VOX HUMANA, a large-scale, live art installation by celebrated international artists Edward Walton Wilcox, Andrew Hem, Shark Toof,and Chor Boogie at the 2011 L.A. Art Show, January 19-23, 2011. Taking place over five days and covering more than 500 square feet of canvas, this unique art happening invites visitors into the esoteric world of the artistic creative process. You are cordially invited to join us for this special art happening.
Schedule:
January 19: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM (VIP Opening)
January 20-22: 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM
January 23: 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Completion ceremony January 23, 2:00 PM Location:
Los Angeles Convention Center, West Hall
1201 S Figueroa St
Los Angeles, California 90015
map it
Presented in partnership with:
LeBasse Projects, FIND Art Magazine, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Sister Cities Los Angeles, and Castelli Framing
for more information contact: voxhumana@laartmachine.com or 323.702.3594
A Survey of Works and Installation by Ellis Gallagher AKA Ellis G
Ellis Gallagher, AKA Ellis G, is the quintessential street artist, having created a highly unique and stylized interpretation of the City and its surroundings that New Yorkers take for granted. Through tracing of shadows with sidewalk chalk, his artwork is the very definition of temporary, marking a specific time and place that few are lucky enough to stumble upon. Mighty Tanaka is proud to bring you Permanently Temporary, A Survey of Works and Installation by Ellis Gallagher AKA Ellis G.
For the first time ever, original Ellis G shadow and chalk drawings will be made available to the public. The installation for Permanently Temporary will double as a performance piece during the opening reception on Friday, January 21st, as he will create custom shadow and chalk artwork on site for the gallery visitors. This special event translates an otherwise temporary form of art into an obtainable milestone of artistic interpretation.
Ellis Gallagher has paid his dues time and time again on the streets of NYC and throughout the world, as he has created an iconic technique that is recognized globally.
Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring CBS Cru, Ryan McGinness, Kopye, Gaia, M-City, Wing, UR New York, Sonni, Tati, Nekst, Sera, Tizie, Wing and Clown Soldier.
Street Artist NohJColey travelled to Texas for a few weeks to visit friends and put up these new portraits in the studios of a de facto music factory. The former meat packing plant is abuzz with activity day and night with up-and-coming entrepreneurs of all stripes pounding out the beats, doing fashion shoots, making videos, mixing music, and a little bit of partying to ease the stress of all that work. NohJ slept on couches for a few weeks and hung out with many unknowns on the hip-hop tip, and a few bigger names too. He also spent long stretches of time killing large walls in these artists studios with his very distinctive illustration style of portraiture. Not surprisingly, the theme of music runs through them.
“The first piece I did was done in the place I was sleeping in. It wasn’t about the owner but it was a reflection of him in a way because he literally ran around with his head cut off and he didn’t know what was going on half the time. He was mostly crying about his girlfriend or surfing the net looking at new videos. Supposedly he was a DJ. He had gigs, but no turntables. He was scratcher and mixer,” explains NohJ about this mural going up a staircase.
If you know anything about NohJ, it’s that he is always thinking and observing people. Each piece has a story that is rooted in his imagination as much as his observation of the human condition. His characters are illustrative of greater truths and of their personal idiosyncracies. You can imagine him becoming a literary or screen writer because he knows his subjects inside and out. Psychology, sociology, and popular culture all come to fore, placed with symbolism and gesture into the portrait and into a moment. If NohJ inhabits each fictional character he creates just for a moment, he stays with them for hours, gently observing their motivations and making judgments about their judgment, blending in some social critique.
No. 1
Brooklyn Street Art:What about this dude?
NohJ: These are piano keys, I don’t know if I ever said that.
Brooklyn Street Art:No, I didn’t see that
NohJ: Yeah, they’re supposed to be exiting his chest
Brooklyn Street Art:So does it seem like musical notes coming out of his chest?
NohJ: No, just keys
Brooklyn Street Art:So they’re musical tools with which to create the sound but they don’t necessarily have a sound?
NohJ: I’d say they represent the sound just because those are the keys, you know?
Brooklyn Street Art:Biomorphic, undulating
NohJ: Definitely, contorted, yeah
Brooklyn Street Art:What about these gray lines that go around?
NohJ: That’s the chords
Brooklyn Street Art:He looks kind of constricted by them, his lower torso
NohJ: He’s can’t go anywhere because the line is wrapped. He wants to DJ but he can’t get the turntable, it keeps rocking back and forth. He can’t really see it. The right eye is covered because, you know how there are constantly music videos going – he’s constantly seeing the music video in something. He sees clothes, a phone, somebody’s chain, sneakers. He sees it in a video and thinks he’s gotta buy it.
Brooklyn Street Art:So he’s imprisoned by his consumerist tendencies?
NohJ: Yeah
Brooklyn Street Art:or just his impulses
NohJ: Probably his tendencies though because he’s like being brainwashed.
Brooklyn Street Art:It becomes a tendency after a while
NohJ: He’s like “Oh, it’s a whole lifestyle”, you know
Brooklyn Street Art:“this stuff represents ‘me’”. He doesn’t look like he’s very old.
NohJ: I don’t know – mid twenties, early thirties
Brooklyn Street Art: So what was the reaction of the person who hangs out in this space?
NohJ: He liked it. He didn’t know what it was about. It was about him though.
No. 2
NohJ: This one is about noise levels.
Brooklyn Street Art:She’s plugging her ears too.
NohJ: Even though the sound is coming out of her nose. That’s why I used the pattern- It’s octagons and triangles. I usually use triangles to represent strife, the points!
Brooklyn Street Art:So if we see shapes that are in your work that are circles or are circular, what are those going to represent?
NohJ: I rarely use circles but it probably would mean that you are going through a transition. It might be rough but it’s going to get better. It all depends though cause it all has to do with the number.
Brooklyn Street Art:What’s her name?
NohJ: She doesn’t have a name but this is in a guys studio and when he has the speakers on, this piece makes so much sense to you. Because it’s like all this noise coming from the right side of the house and you are just looking at this woman and she is looking at you and she’s like, “Yeah it’s noisy right?”
Brooklyn Street Art:This pattern also makes me think of some folk art or maybe Native American art.
NohJ: I kind of figured you’d…. I mean, why?
Brooklyn Street Art:Because of the diamond motif repeated. I mean it’s a quadrilateral but it’s squashed. There’s no Native American influence here.
NohJ: Maybe, but if so it subconsciously got in there.
Brooklyn Street Art:I think her name is Consuelo. That’s what I’ve decided. But you don’t have a name for her.
NohJ: She’s trying to distance herself from the rest of her body because this over here is her back and the speakers are inbetween, you know?
Brooklyn Street Art:Man! She is really trying to get away!
NohJ: She’s pulling herself apart.
While a portrait may be a symbol of a greater truth, he isn’t going to stand on a soapbox. But if you really want to know and you are listening, he’ll tell you. If not, he won’t worry very much. Amalgams of people he’s met and the person he is, the pieces and their stories have their own logic – part reality and science fiction. Mixing fantasy with reality, sometimes it’s not clear where one ends and the other starts;Just when you think you got the scenario and you think it’s all symbolism and representation, you’ll learn that a character actually does have a piece of jewelry protruding from their head, or a cassette tape flowing out of his mouth and it is not a metaphor after all.
No. 3
Brooklyn Street Art: Tell me about this boy
NohJ: He’s just like a teenager that listens to all this new music that we’ve been talking about. – Like poor quality stuff.
Brooklyn Street Art:He doesn’t think it’s poor quality though.
NohJ: Exactly, that’s the problem. That’s why there are all these tapes flying at him and he’s just covering his ears. He doesn’t want to hear the titles of the good stuff you know? – Whether it’s like Led Zepplin or the Beatles or I don’t know.
Brooklyn Street Art:What does he want to listen to?
NohJ: I don’t know, like Justin Bieber, Souljah Boy, stuff like that.
Brooklyn Street Art:Is this other guy lecturing him?
NohJ: Yeah, definitely. He’s like an older musician, dressed in 70s fashion.
Brooklyn Street Art:He looks like he was on the set of “Sanford and Son”
NohJ: Yeah, definitely. The large oversized collar, open.
Brooklyn Street Art:That looks like a VCR tape
NohJ: It’s a cassette tape.
Brooklyn Street Art:So what do you think this guy has on these cassette tapes?
NohJ: Like Hendrix, the O’Jays
Brooklyn Street Art:Oh yeah, like “Love Train”.
NohJ: …Sonny Rollins… I mean he’s really just telling him about quality stuff, and really where most of the new stuff derives from.
Brooklyn Street Art: This kid looks a little bit mad
NohJ: Yeah he’s super angry, he doesn’t like this
Brooklyn Street Art:But he can’t talk back, that’s why his mouth is closed
NohJ: I think he’s really scared though because he’s like “how are cassette tapes coming out of someone’s mouth?”
“A new generation is making street art that is conceptual, abstract, and even sculptural in nature,” says Carolina A. Miranda, in her new essay for Art News on the changing nature of art in the street. We couldn’t agree more, as we’ve witnessed young artists completely circumventing the established art school/gallery/museum route and taking their message directly to the public for the last decade at least. It still has the do-it-yourself, in-your-face attitude of it’s predecessors in graffiti, but what has changed is the number of influences and levels of engagement at play in today’s scene.
“Working with pure abstraction,” as described by Miranda – possibly evidenced in this piece by Street Artist MOMO. Photo courtesy the artist’s website, momoshowpalace.com.
And it Isn’t Just for the BK Either
Obviously, cultural and art movements are no longer simply local for more than about 12 minutes, and it is always interesting to see the permutations of Street Art as it moves through the world. And it’s always fun to see how it’s being observed in academia – like this piece about Northeastern University professor Doreen Lee, who is “examining broad social and political developments in Indonesia through a narrowed focus — street art.“
“She’s found some of the art to be political, some to be exploratory or ‘art for art’s sake,’ said Lee. But she’s also noted ‘recognizable’ international influences, giving graffiti in Jakarta a striking resemblance to graffiti in New York City or elsewhere around the world. The significance of this resemblance is one of acknowledging and assessing global connections and influences, she said.”
Yesterday we showed you an anti-war Street Art piece that partially addressed the war in Afghanistan. Today we tell you about Skateistan, a non-political skateboarding and education program for the youth growing up in this country overrun by war for 9 years. Street Artist Ludo created this fresh piece to raise some cash for Skateistan and all proceeds from the sale of his print benefit their programs. His street work often is a combination of natural beauty and man-made evil – a cautionary tale meant to draw attention to us, the creators of destruction. This piece appears to again pair the beauty of life with the specter of what all war leads to.
Ludo’s piece for Skateistan
Each Ludo piece is unique and hand drawn, a mix of graphite and acrylic on 300 gram water color paper, measuring 32 x 24 cm.
From the Skateistan web site:
“Operating as an independent, neutral, Afghan NGO, the school engages growing numbers of urban and internally-displaced youth in Afghanistan through skateboarding, and provides them with new opportunities in cross-cultural interaction, education, and personal empowerment. Skateistan students come from all of Afghanistan diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. They not only develop skills in skateboarding and skateboarding instruction, but also healthy habits, civic responsibility, information technology, the arts, and languages. “
Street art welcomes all manner of materials and methods, typically deployed without permission and without apology. This hand-formed wire piece …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
“You touch my Miami and I’ma bite you, Future Boy,” MOMO (photo © MOMO)
