With “La Pugna” (The Fight”) the Catalan artist leaves his fistprint on the walls that were built to contain the waters of río Besós (Besós river), which flows below sea levels through the neighborhood of Santa Coloma in the Spanish city of Barcelona. It’s an apt mural and title for an artist whose work is often imbued with messages about social justice, the environment, and human rights. His fight is the people’s fight, and the earth’s fight.
Once one of the most contaminated rivers in Europe, río Besós has seen a turnaround, and its waters flow again into the Mediterranean Sea free of pollutants. Its walled embankment follows the roughly 11 miles that snake through the city, providing much-needed green areas for its inhabitants to enjoy outdoor activities and enjoy nature.
But the story doesn’t end there. BesArt The River Museum, the art project under the umbrella of the municipality of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the Mediterranean Association of Street Art, and the Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona is born. The goal is to invite a constellation of local, national, and international artists to execute works of art on the river’s walls.
When the project is completed, Barcelona will boast one more cultural attraction among the already long list of landmarks that make the city a popular destination. If only its residents would come to grips with the inconveniences that a heavy flow of tourists causes them every year. No fighting, everyone!
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Merry Arrestmas!
This is an excellent time to be in New York because everything is in bloom, and for a moment, there is love in the air everywhere you look. Or is that just the legal weed they sell from the truck in front of your apartment the way they used to sell falafel?
This is s beautiful time
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Louis Masai, Jason Naylor, Voxx Romana, HOXXOH, Voxx, Optimo NYC, Vers, Jesus, Lasak, D.Z.L.T., Envio, MENY X, Krave, and Abuse.
Coming up May 1st will be the release date of the new self-published book by street artists/contemporary artists Saman & Sasan Oskouei called Object / Subject. They are also releasing a Box set, their first and will include a collection of selected prints along with the book.
If you are familiar with their conceptual pieces and their powerful resonance – like Our House Is On Fire, for example, you will be excited at the prospect of having an opportunity to have this Box set in your collection. As a special commemoration of their most recent 8 years of work – that has re-defined their vision, their reputation as contemporary artists, and their ability to profoundly render verdicts on the human condition – the new book will also include an essay by author and art critic Carlo McCormick.
Object / Subject Box set to be released on April 10th, 12 noon EST at oskoueistudio.com/shop
Saman & Sasan Oskouei. Break Free. Object / Subject Box SetSaman & Sasan Oskouei. Our House Is On Fire I. Object / Subject Box Set.Saman & Sasan Oskouei. Our House Is On Fire II. Object / Subject Box Set.Saman & Sasan Oskouei. Our House Is On Fire III. Object / Subject Box Set.
Object / Subject Box set to be released on April 10th, 12 noon EST. Click HERE to place your order.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Damien Hirst – The Beautiful Paintings
2. SHOE – UNMOVEMENT
3. TCK – STEEL DIVISION – THE VIDEO (BERLIN) Via I Love Graffiti
BSA Special Feature: Damien Hirst – The Beautiful Paintings
Yes, of course, you could make art like this, in fact, it looks like you do the lion’s share of creating this one online and he signs the print – but that is not the point of this video here today. Damien Hirst has a corner on branding and selling that many do not, and he has been commercially successful at it. From our perspective, if an artist wants to live on their creative work, all lessons are welcome!
Damien Hirst – The Beautiful Paintings. Or a master lesson on selling art.
SHOE – UNMOVEMENT
Careful when you slam on the breaks here, SHOE is driving the painting process, and it is terrain yet unmapped. This promotional video for UNMOVEMENT at the Curators Room is a solo exhibition by SHOE featuring his most recent body of work.
As explained by the artist, “The title ‘unmovement’ is inspired by the ever-present dichotomy of movement and stillness. While the painted surface of a work is a still object, the particles of the paint are constantly moving, as well as the material quality of the canvas itself: time consumes, and transforms. The crystallization of an impression is, however, present in the here and now, prompting a question concerning the nature of time and, inevitably, of change.”
SHOE UNMOVEMENT (Curated by Gabriel Rolt for The Curators Room)
7 April – 27 May, 2023
Location: The Curators Room – Art Chapel Amsterdam Prinses Irenestraat 19 AMSTERDAM
TCK – STEEL DIVISION – THE VIDEO (BERLIN) Via I Love Graffiti
This movie by the TCK CREW from Berlin was available by the end of 2022 for a very short time, a limited quantity of 100 pieces, and was sold out as quickly as it came.
Now it’s time to show you the full-length film here:
“From the underground to the top at last. A concentrated 35 minutes of TCK and their partners banging non-stop trains in your face. Mostly footage from 2011-2016 and a few more recent shots. No 4K, no drones, just trains. Berlin only.”
Graffiti Women from the BX in the BSA house for Women’s History Month, which is really every month as far as we’re concerned. Artist @lovenotes got together this wall for three other strong female creators @kaylovebx, @mrrs.bx, and @erotica67 – to represent nature, strength, and the beauty of the Boogie Down Bronx.
“The street art scene and the mural scene are abundant in NYC but I felt it was important to highlight amazing Graffiti Women from the Bronx who I’ve always admired and respected,” says Love Notes, “and who were in the streets painting cute street art years before its current aesthetic popularity.”
Painted on this wall for The Alleyry, a collective of artists for artists in Manhattan’s Freeman Alley, Love Notes says she’s keeping focus on the Bronx babes, the women who “have held it down in the male-dominated world of graffiti with their sick styles abd characters – keeping graff in the Bronx alive and reminding everyone Girls Can Get Down Too!”
Under the art organization A Wall Mural Projects initiative and in collaboration with the Dunbar Elementary School in Wynwood, Miami, an ambitious program to bring art to new generations keeps growing on campus. The mission statement of “A Wall Mural Project” makes it clear that this collective of artists is interested in planting the “art bug” early – and preferably in the environment of formal education – with the Dunbar school committed to highlighting the importance of the arts in general as crucial to pupils’ intellectual development.
Let’s hope that Florida Governor DeSantis has bigger fish to fry (or mice) and leaves these mural programs in the schools alone. The trend toward devolution in American schools has been sad to see in recent years. In the meantime, check out the cool walls at Dunbar Elementary.
Using a 1992 Buick Park Avenue as your painting utensil is completely normal in late capitalism. So is calling yourself Shoe.
In his latest exhibition, the graffiti writer and contemporary artist Niels Shoe Meulman takes us the extra mile inside his shiny blue “paintbrush,” crushing cans in the process, tracking patterns across the canvas in a smoothly violent kinetic joyride. Unlike other tools one uses to create paintings, this Buick is central to the show.
Did you guess that he would coin a term? The author of “Calligraffiti” may imagine that this automotive move into contemporary art will be adopted by other’s who want to write with a steering wheel. In promotion of this UNMOVEMENT, “the artist reached what he semi-ironically calls Carrigraffiti: signs, interventions, actual paintings created by using his car as a tool.”
Niels SHOE Meulman. ZERO KELVIN (MINUS 273 DEGREES CELSIUS). (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)
Can you imagine a branding collaboration with Formula 1 racers and, say Montana Colors, as curated by the driver at the head of the pack, Shoe? What would that track look like? And would it be contemporary art?
Sara van Bussel, the art curator, researcher, and writer based in Milan, tells us this work is of the moment. “If everything is the contrary of everything we find ourselves here,” she says, “in the midst of a still movement, a temporal interval in the constant transformation of matter, absorbing Shoe’s work as precisely what it is: the paradox of our time.”
Niels SHOE Meulman. ALL DISORDER DISAPPEARS. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)
SHOE /// 2023
The Curators Room is proud to announce UNMOVEMENT, a solo exhibition by SHOE featuring his most recent body of work.
(in cooperation with Niels Shoe Meulman, Amsterdam and Gabriel Rolt, Barcelona)
Niels SHOE Meulman. NOTHING CAN BE COLDER. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)Niels SHOE Meulman. ON AND UNDER THE VULCANO. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)Niels SHOE Meulman. PERMANENTLY CLOSED. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)Niels SHOE Meulman. Process shot. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)Niels SHOE Meulman. Process shot. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)
SHOE UNMOVEMENT(Curated by Gabriel Rolt for The Curators Room) Click HERE for additional information. 7 April – 27 May, 2023 ?Opening: Friday, 7 April, 17 – 21 hrs
Video by: Sander Lanen Live DJ set by: Cristel Ball
Location: The Curators Room – Art Chapel AmsterdamPrinses Irenestraat 19 AMSTERDAM
Since the rise in muralism in the late 2000s, street art portraiture has become an increasingly popular form of urban expression, with artists employing diverse techniques and styles to capture the essence of individuals and personalities.
This street art genre draws inspiration from western portrait painting and contemporary advertising practices, combining traditional and modern elements. Beyond a simple aesthetic exercise, some street art portraiture has emerged as a means for artists to challenge dominant societal norms surrounding notions of beauty and power dynamics, making it a vital mode of cultural expression. Other times, obvious norms are in full embrace.
While the issue of the male gaze has been a prevalent topic in the fine arts for centuries, street art gave a new platform for artists to consider and sometimes debate this issue in a public forum. Artists celebrate real and fictional individuals of all genders, challenging traditional ideas of beauty and reclaiming agency for those traditionally relegated to the margins. By doing so, these artists engage in a larger cultural dialogue, and through their work, reflect the diversity and values of the communities they inhabit.
A high percentage are celebrities and icons of popular culture. From musicians to actors and athletes, these individuals make the artwork personal, relatable, and Instagrammable. Younger artists tend to gravitate toward contemporary figures in popular culture, while older artists may focus on historical or political figures. But don’t quote us on that.
From stenciling, painting, and wheat pasting, each method contributes to the unique character of the artwork, reflecting the artist’s vision and the cultural landscape in which it is created. As a mirror to the culture, the subjects chosen for street art portraiture can reflect the diversity and cultural landscape of the city, creating a visual representation of the community, its values, and aspirations.
64% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, China and Russia are buddying up, BRICs countries are looking for new members, and the Bankers in your life are again looking toward their gilded escape bunkers.
We are transfixed by the first indicted US president, and gloating about having a system of democracy and justice. Now he is positioning himself as an “outsider,” a martyr. A billionaire outsider. We’re just waiting for these crowds outside Trump Tower to materialize. Where are they? Honestly, Fifth Avenue is more interested in the Easter Bonnet Parade that is coming.
But it’s a circus on the national tabloid news, which is unfortunately all of the news now. Our best minds are being entertained by 24 hour sports channels, Netflix and Tic Toc, and it’s not an accident. People are chided into fighting each other over trans-woke-snowflake-abortion-race-laptop-AR15-centered-drag-readings. Look! A squirrel!
Meanwhile, the daffodils are blooming everywhere in anticipation of Easter Week. People were cramming subways, buses, and sidewalks yesterday because of the warm sunny spring weather – and Smorgasborg opened this weekend in Brooklyn. NYTimes calls it “the Woodstock of eating,” due to its variety of incredible food choices – but of course, you can have just as much fun with a bag of chips or a slice of pizza sitting on a stoop watching the parade of New Yorkers march/sashay/stride by.
We had a great time at the Bronx Museum yesterday, catching the John Ahearn/ Rigoberto Torres retrospective and seeing both the artists in person during a panel discussion with artist Abigail DeVille – with fans rushing the stage for an autographed exhibition book afterward. These guys have championed everyday New Yorkers through their painted sculptures for four decades. It is revelatory and heartwarming to see this very large collection of works never shown together before. Make sure to check out “Swagger and Tenderness: The South Bronx Portraits” until April 30.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Stikman, Zimer, Subway Doodle, A Lucky Rabbit, Qzar, Optimo NYC, Sekt, AMMO, CEYNYC, Toeflop, Early Riser NYC, Julia Cocuzza, and Miki Mu.
Some Kinshasa residents are known for their resourceful fashion sense and wild imagination in pursuit of sartorial matters, often using recycled materials to make stunning garments that reflect their individuality and sense of style.
Photographer Colin Delfosse‘s series Fulu Act showcases the unique and innovative ways in which street artists in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, repurpose discarded materials found on the streets, like wigs, wires, soda cans, and bottle lids, into striking costumes that raise awareness of environmental issues. Delfosse’s images highlight the potential beauty of recycled street fashion, which has gained popularity in recent years as a way to reduce waste and promote sustainable fashion practices – bringing attention to larger issues of sustainability and consumer culture in Kinshasa.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Minerva Cuevas in “Mexico City” – Season 8 / Art21
2. Nick Cave in “Chicago” – Season 8 / Art21
3. Damián Ortega in “Mexico City” – Season 8 / Art21
BSA Special Feature: Mexico City and Chicago Artists in Their Own Words Via Art 21
Today’s edition of BSA Film Friday presents three short films from ART21/Artists in Their Own Words Series, “Art in the Twenty-First Century.” Two artists from Mexico City, Minerva Cuevas, and Damian Ortega, and one artist from Chicago, Nick Cave, tell us about their work, how they come around to it, how they understand it and execute it. The series illustrates well how artists often find the inspiration to continue doing their craft and to stay true to their philosophy and core principles.
Minerva Cuevas in “Mexico City” – Season 8 / Art21
Minerva Cuevas is a socially conscious artist who uses her work to respond to political events and spark change, in sometimes idiosyncratic ways. Her art includes sculptures and paintings that bring attention to issues like world hunger and the negative impact humans have on animals and the environment. She also creates mini-sabotages, like altering grocery store bar codes and making student IDs, to support her non-profit organization, Better Life Corporation. Through her art and activism, Cuevas is mapping out resistance and promoting a world where all living beings are valued.
Nick Caves in “Chicago” – Season 8 / Art21
Here’s Nick Cave – not the musician, but the artist who creates unique sculptures called “Soundsuits.” These suits began as a response to the Rodney King beatings, but have now become a tool for empowerment in ways beyond what he may have imagined. The suits completely cover the body and are designed to obscure the wearer’s race, gender, and class, allowing people to see the suit without any bias toward the person inside. Nick Cave himself often performs in the suits in front of a live audience – or for the camera. They are more than just costumes – they also become musical instruments and symbols of living art; including assemblages of found objects that project out from the wall, and installations that fill entire rooms.
Damián Ortega in “Mexico City” – Season 8 / Art21
Damián Ortega creates amazing sculptures using objects from his everyday life, including things like Volkswagen Beetle cars, Day of the Dead posters, and locally sourced corn tortillas. Arranging these objects in precise ways, often suspended from the ceiling or part of a mechanical system, Ortega creates sculptures that look like diagrams, solar systems, words, buildings, and even faces. The stories are mythic, in cosmic scale – and told through performance, sculpture, and film.
BLU re-creates his mural from 2009 and gives the neighborhood of Carmel, in Barcelona, Spain reasons to be overwhelmed with joy.
The internationally known and respected muralist, street artist, and activist, Italian painter BLU worked intensely for one month with the producer, B-Murals to recreate this 70 meter mural (about 230 feet). The new Tauró del Carmel neighborhood mural is on the same wall and street where he had painted the original back in 2009 on calle Santuari.
It is a series of sharks, the first one pure capitalism, the second the bastardized evil form of war profiteering that currently rules the nation, the third the impact of both on the body politic, the institutions, the formation of society, and the impact on the ecology. Blu retains integrity throughout, and this neighborhood appears rejuvenated.
When the original mural had to be painted over by the municipality in 2001 for safety reasons due to the wall being in bad shape, the residents in the neighborhood were in disbelief when they found out that they had not only lost a monumental piece of art but also a well known and loved landmark instantly recognized by the locals as a point of reference, for directions or simply on a mutually agreed meeting spot.
Working together with the community, local authorities, and B-Murals, BLU began working on this project with purpose and intensity with the idea of giving his new Shark an interpretation that is both current, timely and of time.
As a starting point, BLU kept the original design, the shark with the Euro bill, a commentary on capitalism run amok, greed, banks and corporations ever hungry for more profits at any cost. From there, he proceeded to paint a colossal story with images about the most urgent, pressing and, topical issues affecting our world today: Wars, the military-industrial complex, the environment, the intensity of natural disasters made more dangerous and devastating by global warming, and the imminent dislocation of entire societies due to the degeneration of natural habitats and the lack of natural resources for these communities to continue living in their lands.
With this new mural by BLU, and many others produced by B-Murals under the Carmel Mossega Project, and in conjunction with the municipal authorities, the residents of Carmel will again find their attachment to this piece of art; they know that it belongs to them as all street art should be for the people.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
