BrooklynStreetArt.com Blog is proud to be the Official Blog of the first MBP Urban Arts Fest!
The 2 PART, 1 DAY Urban Arts Festival goes from 1PM-2AM. Come celebrate and participate in the thriving urban art community MBP has advocated since it’s inception. With LIVE PAINTING, skateboard demos and contests, music and DJs, photography and art installations and plenty of art and books for sale, there will be something for everyone!
We will be taking over and transforming the entire lower-half of Castle Braid (114 Troutman Street, Myrtle Ave/Bwy JMZ Train) in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
PART 1
The day’s first part runs from 1PM-9PM and is open to all ages.
PART 2
9PM-2AM is 21 and over, featuring free beer and a dance party.
Art for Progress is the Non-Profit you gotta know;
an organization dedicated to supporting rising multi-discipline arts in New York City.
What to expect:
• Gallery-style art installations
• Live graffiti exhibitions & public graffiti wall sponsored by Montana Colors
• Live entertainment, DJs, dance & musical performances
• Skate park & sponsored game of S.K.A.T.E hosted by Substance Skateboards
• First 500 guests receive a FREE in-person signed copy of Talk Balk: The Bubble Project by Ji Lee
• Special Guest Signings
• All Ages Arts & Crafts: postal sticker tagging how-to; design your own “Umberto” character from Dutch artisit/illustrator Tijn Snoodijk; make-your-own recycled material tote bags with Bags for the People, design your own canvas laptop case from AIAIAI and more!
• Local & International Artist Showcases & Tables
• Unveiling of exclusive OBEY x PEEL poster by Shephard Fairey for Peel Magazine (authors of MBP’s PEEL: The Art of the Sticker)
• Shopping (MBP bookstore & Local Artists’ offerings)
• Food & Drinks (Brooklyn Brewery, Hoegaarden, Food Trucks)
• Gift Bags & Prizes – with bags from Bags for the People, goodies from Mimobots, Cafe Bustelo, Zoo York, AIAIAI and more!
ARTISTS/SPECIAL GUESTS
• Martha Cooper, Going Postal
• Remo Camerota, Graffiti Japan
• Ji Lee, Talk Back: The Bubble Project
• Luz A. Martín, Textura: Valencia Street Art
• Artists from ORBIT Gallery (featured in upcoming EdgyCute book: Joe Scarano, Angie Mason, Michael Caines, Chris Uminga, Motomich Nakamura, BECCA, Emma Overman, Robbie Busch; and Frank Sheehan)
• Special Guest Curator Mighty Tanaka (with art from: avone, JMR, Hellbent, Alexandra Pacula, Peter Halasz, Mike Schreiber, AVOID PI, FARO, Royce Bannon, BLOKE, Mari Keeler, John Breiner, Skewville)
• Tijn Snoodijk of Shop Around – Netherlands
• RobotsWillKill (featured in Going Postal & PEEL: The Art of the Sticker)
• Project Super Friends
• Royce Bannon (featured in Going Postal)
• Chris Stain (featured in Going Postal)
• Destroy & Rebuild
• Cosbe (featured in Going Postal)
• CR
• Abe Lincoln Jr.
• Indigo & Mania
• El Celso
• Chalk drawings by Ellis Gallagher
Writers, Cartoonists, Nude Figure Drawing, Puppets, and Battlestar Galactica
– you wouldn’t think those things have much in common – although Puppetry of the Peniskind of ties many of them together, now that I think of it. See the interview HERE
THE WEEK’s EVENTS at HiChristinaTuesday August 25th: Writers (& Cartoonists) Show N Tell8:00pm; $5 suggested donation, BYOB**Check out this event on Facebook**
Sunday, August 30: Frak Earth: an evening of Battlestar Galactica 6:00p; $5 suggested donation BYOB (scotch is also encouraged) **Check out this event on Facebook**
Tuesday Through Sunday at HiChristina, a small but densely packed show with LauraLee and Bishop203 will entertain those A.D.D.-addled button-punching phone-surfing multi-tasking Millenials and GenY Early-Adopters who have infiltrated large swaths of previously normal neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
Many Bangels Swirling around in this new canvas by Bishop203 (photo Jaime Rojo)
(Bishop203) (photo Jaime Rojo)
(Bishop203) (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Mid-installation, LauraLee has about 40 more to go (photo Jaime Rojo)
Installing the show (photo Jaime Rojo)
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Silhoetted rooftops by LauraLee (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Brooklyn born Street Artist Dain is hitting Brooklynite Gallery September 12 to revisit a time when socialism in America was WELCOMED via government work programs, the G.I. Bill, and Social Security. Now, during a national healthcare debate when such inexplicable, intractable ignorance is on display about the true nature of representative government, DAIN is doing his part aesthetically to usher in an era of social responsibility and community connectedness.
Dain 1943 (photo Jaime Rojo)
His black and white portraits of everyday working men and women from 65 years ago have been rearing their coiffed heads all over the streets this spring and summer, usually with a pastel painted background and selected garment features highlighted in a nod to Warholian oversplash.
Describing the work of Dain, Brooklynite says, “Infusing the glamour and glitz of the 1940’s together with a Brooklyn working class edge, he seeks to turn back the hands of time— Even if we were never there before.”
A usual phenomenon, street artists are a societal crystal ball.
Dain! There’s somethin’ in mah ahh! (photo Jaime Rojo)
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DAIN “COPASETIC” SEPTEMBER 12 – OCTOBER 10
OPENING RECEPTION SEPTEMBER 12,
7-10PM EASTERN (19:00 UK)SPECIAL MUSICAL GUEST:
BIG BAND SWING MACHINE
EL CELSO is pleased to announce the opening of PEEP-O-RAMA, a group art show and installation at the AK-57 Gallery at 830 12th Avenue, between 57th & 58th Streets in Manhattan, next to the West Side Highway in the historic ART KRAFT building.
PEEP-O-RAMA showcases the works of Brent Birnbaum, Celso, Jillian Corbett, Ian Farrell, Ryan Frank, Suzanne Goldenberg, LA2, Jose Landoni, Pamela Lawton, Danny Licul, Linda Lee Nicholas, Dean Radinovsky, Maggie Simonelli, Miryana Todorova, James A. Willis, and special guests.
PEEP-O-RAMA features paintings, sculpture, and a full-scale site-specific installation by New York’s most dynamic contemporary artists. The group show opens on Saturday, September 12 from noon-4PM with a reception from 6PM-10PM at the AK-57 Gallery at 830 12th Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.
Street artist Infinity is curating a live “in window” series with a spool of ribbon, staples and scissors. The show is consisting of five timed movements each day that take the spool from the floor to the walls and into 3D space.”Spool” features collaborations with Celso, AVOID pi, and Royce Bannon.
It’s a unique concept that will be interesting to see as it progresses from your vantagepoint of the street while the artist challenges the materials to behave in new ways. Already some of the installations have created patterning and echoes of graffiti, but maybe we are reading too much into it, and probably way too simplistic.
Hearing it directly from the artist- it’s better than “The Making of Thriller”!
Infinity took a break tonight after Day 4 of the installation – Elated, excited, and full of descriptive scientific-philosophical gnostic imaginings. If you catch this dude on a good day, he’ll take you to a magical world of banging hammers and exploding synapses and voltaic currents of life-force.
“Basically this activity (Performance? Sculpture? Installation? Game composition?) is an abstraction, simplification, mutation, of the definition of “drawing,” reducing it to it’s elemental nature, the “line,” and representing it with string so that one can draw in a three dimensional space, crisscrossing and looping through the space like telephone cables, electric wire, like veins, like waves.
“For instance, the first movement is called “Pollack” because we basically are playing with the string on the floor which is reminiscent of Pollack’s drip techniques. The fourth movement, which is about tieing together all the crisscrossing string, is named after Celso because of his interest in knots and an installation he did his summer with fabric woven into a fence. He’ll be doing a duo with me on Friday
“The fifth movemennt is named after David Ellis of the Barnstormers, not Ellis G, who most people seem to think of. Getting to do all these days at the Chashama Space has really been helpful to see what works best.”
“Aside: Transmissions are streaming through us everywhere at all times!!!! You are surrounded and infiltrated!!!!! The tools are no longer pencil and paper but stapler and walls. The five movements are based on the order of actions that one must take to make an interesting i.e. successful “drawing in space”, which actually is the goal, like any other drawing. So since each movement is comprised of a certain set of actions, I named each one after an artist whose signature work is similar to that set, ” says infinity.
These photos below are from end of day today, which was a two day solo piece.
End of today August 18, by infinity
A wild scene in the window at end of today August 18, by infinity
Street artist Infinity is curating a live “in window” series with a spool of ribbon, staples and scissors. The show is consisting of five timed movements each day that take the spool from the floor to the walls and into 3D space.”Spool” features collaborations with Celso, AVOID pi, and Royce Bannon.
It’s a unique concept that will be interesting to see as it progresses from your vantagepoint of the street while the artist challenges the materials to behave in new ways. Already some of the installations have created patterning and echoes of graffiti, but maybe we are reading too much into it, and probably way too simplistic.
Hearing it directly from the artist- it’s better than “The Making of Thriller”!
Infinity took a break tonight after Day 4 of the installation – Elated, excited, and full of descriptive scientific-philosophical gnostic imaginings. If you catch this dude on a good day, he’ll take you to a magical world of banging hammers and exploding synapses and voltaic currents of life-force.
“Basically this activity (Performance? Sculpture? Installation? Game composition?) is an abstraction, simplification, mutation, of the definition of “drawing,” reducing it to it’s elemental nature, the “line,” and representing it with string so that one can draw in a three dimensional space, crisscrossing and looping through the space like telephone cables, electric wire, like veins, like waves.
“For instance, the first movement is called “Pollock” because we basically are playing with the string on the floor which is reminiscent of Pollock’s drip techniques. The fourth movement, which is about tieing together all the crisscrossing string, is named after Celso because of his interest in knots and an installation he did his summer with fabric woven into a fence. He’ll be doing a duo with me on Friday
“The fifth movemennt is named after David Ellis of the Barnstormers, not Ellis G, who most people seem to think of. Getting to do all these days at the Chashama Space has really been helpful to see what works best.”
“Aside: Transmissions are streaming through us everywhere at all times!!!! You are surrounded and infiltrated!!!!! The tools are no longer pencil and paper but stapler and walls. The five movements are based on the order of actions that one must take to make an interesting i.e. successful “drawing in space”, which actually is the goal, like any other drawing. So since each movement is comprised of a certain set of actions, I named each one after an artist whose signature work is similar to that set, ” says infinity.
These photos below are from end of day today, which was a two day solo piece.
End of today August 18, by infinity
A wild scene in the window at end of today August 18, by infinity
With Punk Rock Chords banging in his ears, the “workhorse” slams together two of his favorite things – Rock and Street Art – with a careful eye.
Headbanger Hicks created portraits for the happy lads of Green Day; Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dimt, and Tre Cool (images courtesy Logan Hicks
He likes the dirt and the grit and diversity of New York, where he’s based today, as well as the thoughtfully applied paint of a well-placed stencil. You’ll see it in his work, painstakingly detailed and applied to faces, sidewalks, subways, tunnels, building facades, and the mighty canyons of Manhattan. Logan Hicks captures the haunted cityscape with his mammoth and marble-heavy photorealism, shocked with stinging hot colors, glowing in the sky like Armageddon looming.
That’s why he’s the perfect force to shepherd street artists to make custom pieces for “21st Century Breakdown”, the new Green Day album. The 90’s punk band’s 9th album has inspired a roving art gallery to be shown off as they roll their tour around the world, and they asked Hicks to assemble an impressive list including Ron English, Chris Stain, The London Police, C215, and Broken Crow.
Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong says, “Punk Rock is ground zero for us. It’s been my education”. His schooling continues in the visual world with help from Hick’s curatorial skills. “Seeing the pieces that our new album has inspired is very exciting. Many of the artists Logan has chosen show their work on the street, and we feel a strong connection to that type of creative expression, ” says Armstrong.
Just back from installing a 6,300 foot mural on the street course of the ESPN X-Games in LA with his crew of Jeremiah Garcia (n10z), Surge MDR, and Meow MDR, you would think Hicks is a little winded. Nahhh, the burly family man isn’t called ‘workhorse’ for nothing.
Getting his X-game on with live stencilling before a crowd in L.A..
In addition to painting the street course, Hicks painted a mural celebrating the 15th anniversary of the X-Games, featuring an LA skyline and portraits of winners over the last decade and a half (photo courtesy the artist)
We asked Mr. Hicks if he could take a break and talk about the traveling show he curated,
Logan Hicks latest stencil is on view at Jonathan Levine Gallery until August 22nd.
and after he submitted his newest stencil to the “Beach Blanket Bingo” show at Jonathan Levine Gallery, he crowd-surfed over for an inteview…
Brooklyn Street Art: What moved you to take on this responsibility; to curate a roster of this caliber street artists to interpret the entire new album by Green Day? Logan Hicks: The manager for Green Day is also my manager. We were talking one day and I had told him that Art is the new Rock and Roll. Back when I was in high school, I was always on the look out for the new band, or song that paralleled my own feelings or ideas. Once I found it, I would play that sh*t every day. Back then it was punk rock, so I was on a Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Agent Orange, or MDC kick.
Ron English
Adam 5100
Now I find kids rocking Shepard Fairey stickers the same way I would play music. It is an expression that shows others what you are into. The conversation morphed into the idea of literally drawing a line between the music and the art as a form of expression. From there, I went through tons of artists and worked with Billie Joe Armstrong to pick the ones that we thought would work best for this project. From there the project was born.
Jeremiah Garcia
Brooklyn Street Art: Are these one-of-a-kind originals? And are they for sale or is it more of a traveling gallery? Logan Hicks: They are one of-a-kinds. The execution of the show is still in talks, so we may do prints, or a catalog, but at this point the only concrete plan is that we will travel the show to as many stops as we can, and display the originals in a gallery like setting. I’d like to see this travel, and be as approachable to as many people as possible.
C215
Meggs
Eelus
Brooklyn Street Art: Each of these pieces is responsive to a specific track on their new release. Did you give the artists any other guidelines for their work, like turn the volume up to 10 and bang your head on a cinder block?
Logan Hicks: Actually the only guideline that I gave them was that I requested they make their piece without listening to the music. I wanted the piece to be a response to the lyrics, not the music. So the majority of the artists got the lyrics before the album was even released. That way they only had the words to go on. I just feel that sometimes the music can skew the perception of the song. Especially with Green Day, their lyrics can be a bit acidic but the melodies are a bit poppy. I wanted them to focus on the content, not the presentation so it was a truer interpretation of the song.
Sixten
Component
Sadhuy
Brooklyn Street Art: Surprisingly to some youth, before there were the 90’s there were the 80’s and 70’s punk rock scenes. What bands were you slam dancing to for inspiration at that time?
Logan Hicks: Tons. A very brief list would be: Minor Threat, Cro-mags, Bad Brains, Butthole Surfers, The Pixies, Rudimentary Peni, 9353, Agent Orange, Circle Jerks, Descendants, Government Issue, TSOL, Joy Division, X, Crass, Exploited, Fear, Agnostic Front, The Cure, SNFU, The Addicts, Unsane, Dead Kennedys, GBH, UK Subs, DI, Sex Pistols, Cock Sparrer, Motorhead, 7 Seconds, Reagan Youth, and Black Flag. There were literally hundreds of bands that I would play on a weekly basis. I was a huge punk rock kid.
Broken Crow
Chris Stain
Peat Wollaeger
Brooklyn Street Art: A lot of the street-artists on this project work with themes of social injustice. Was that why you thought they would be able to interpret Green Day?
Logan Hicks: Yes, partially. Artists like Chris Stain are perfect for a band like green day because both are talking about the inequality, or finding your place in the world. Others like Ron English point out the absurdity and injustice in the world. Other artists were chosen because I thought their style was raw, or particularly suited for the project.
Lucamonte
Myla/Adam 5100
“Well maybe I’m the faggot America, I’m not a part of the red-neck agenda..”
Brooklyn Street Art: American Idiot” was a blunt instrument that smacked some sleepy heads. Do you like art that attempts to wake people up?
Logan Hicks: I crave diversity, so yes, I like blunt work, but I also think that work like Lucamaleonte is great too. His work is subtle, and a bit somber. I have never been the kind of guy who is into just one kind of style. I like the full array of style. Back when I was listening to punk rock, I would also put on Run DMC or Public Enemy. Even Bob Willis and the Texas Playboys would find their way into my play list. I just like art that is well thought out, purposeful, and well executed.
M City
Will Barras
Pisa 73
Brooklyn Street Art: Among the international group of fine artists you called upon to submit work, who handed their work in on time, who was late, and who told you the dog ate it?
Logan Hicks: Ha-ha. Most were good. When you deal with a large group of artists, you have to expect that some will drag their feet. I did have one rather well known stencil artist who waited 3 months to read the contract, then one week before things were due told me ‘ this is not a good project for me’. That was rather disappointing. Rather than say who was bad, I will say who was good. Ron English was extremely prompt and had his shit in more than month ahead of schedule. Total pro, and great guy to work with. There is no one in the group that I wouldn’t work with again though.
Brooklyn Street Art: Bonus Question: Which one is your favorite? Why?
Logan Hicks: Mine. Why? Cause I totally rock.
My mom nearly busted her back one time trying to lift a couch.
So I spent a lot of time when I was 4 or 5 sitting in the chiropractor’s office waiting room.
Two things I remember are;
1. The receptionist actually played records on a record player next to her typewriter so there would be that dull and comforting waiting-room music on the speakers, and
2. They had these stoopid “kids” magazines that tried to be educational AND fun. NOT.
So, while Dr. Manhandle was cracking my mom’s back, I was sitting on a lime-green vinyl chair and listening to Lawrence Welk on wooden speakers, trying not to scribble on the walls with my no. 2 pencil and instead looking at “SPOT THE DIFFERENCE” pictures – two seemingly similar cartoons side-by-side. The trick was you had to find the 6 tiny little differences between the two by studying them closely. Maybe that is why I’m always spotting Street Art from 3 blocks away. Doesn’t explain why I can’t find my other shoe.
Here’s a fun game everyone can play. (CLICK on them to enlarge)
Okay here’s one very similar to the one’s in the waiting room. There are supposed to be six differences here – but I only saw the kat’s polly-lop first.
This one makes you think about all those official news pics you see on TV. Um, some slight differences here, people.
Very subtle changes in the original (on the left) and the knock-off (on the right) Are you observant enough to catch the differences?
I KNOW, it’s cheeky. Study hard.
No, their are actual differences. Take your time.
I Write the Songs that Make the Whole World Think I’m Sexy.
Okay, one’s in color and the other is in black and white. We’ll give you that. Anything else?
And finally….. courtesy of the street… (thanks to Thomas Goryeb)
So there you have it – how did you do? Are you observant?
If you are hooked on the game now – there is an iphone app too. Go crazy with your bad self,
Aakash Nihalani Continues to trace the geometry of the street & Now It’s Interactive!
Simple, cheeky and inspiring. Aakash Nihalani redesigns the streets of New York by creating simple geometric shapes with Day-Glo tape, intriguing many the New Yorker. His impromptu graphic pieces highlight the contours and geometry of the city, making for playful visual grids that brighten the urban landscape.
And now Aakash has unveiled with fanfare a new online project using interactivity and the familiar 3 dimensional line drawings he experiments with in tape world. Looks like someone has been studying his Action Script!
“In an effort to translate that very personal unique interaction of human and art, I have begun to explore interactive digital artwork that can be experienced via the internet, from anywhere in the world. Integrating the visual and experiential concepts present in my tape installations into this digital medium”
-Aakash Nihalani
Click the image to interact with Aakash’s illustrations
And you can wear tape too, apparently! (photo courtesy the artist)
Trip in the “Way-Back” Machine:
Keith Haring Live
Many artists look up to him as an originator. Did you ever see this guy in action painting a car? This short clip shows Keith Haring in his design of the BMW Z1 at the Galerie Hans Mayer in Dusseldorf.
Logan Hicks and C215 to team up at “Show and Tell” in November
From Logan Hicks,
“The single best thing about leading the life of the an artist is the people you meet. A few years ago, I saw the work of C215 and immediately loved his work. Some time later, I met C215 and got to know him personally. C215 is an amazing person and an equally amazing artist. Earlier this year C215 asked me if I was interested in doing a show with him in Toronto at the Show and Tell Gallery.
It was a natural fit and we quickly locked in the dates.”
Jon demonstrates that a donation to the Banker’s Bailout Fund will illuminate his calculating eyes (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Final preparations were being made yesterday for the “Brooklyn Bailout Burlesque” show tonight at Factory Fresh.
Billed as an “International Art Show” and curated by Artist Jim Avignon, it features artists from France, Japan, Switzerland, Germany and Brooklyn, and promises vibrant colors, playful items, and contemporary weirdness to help bail you out during the rigors of a crumbling economy.
Jim Avignon, cartoon poet, speed painter and performance genius (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Daniel Dueck’s imagination creatures are born from spontaneous spills and splatters of paint.(photo Steven P. Harrington)
Asuka Ohsawa makes these little banks when she is not baking cookies, making sock monkeys and thinking about garden gnomes (photo Steven P. Harrington)
An orgiastic splashtastic abstraction by Jon Burgerman (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Street Artist Ema says, “I have been painting walls since my early teens, and my style has changed quite a lot (photo Steven P. Harrington)
What are you looking at me for, I’m just a banker out of a job? Bail me out! (photo Steven P. Harrington)
“Brooklyn Bailout Burlesque” features Ema, Asuka Ohsawa, Roman de Milk & Wodka, Jim Avignon, Jon Burgerman, Christine Young, Daniel Dueck
Manhattan is turning into a Mall. There I’ve said it.
In the 80’s when I first got to NYC my best friend guided me through the canyons of Manhattan lamenting the pace of change, the cultural cornerstones gone, the new soul-lessness that was going up in new buildings and neighborhoods. I said, “Get over it, are you kidding? This place is amazing!”
Hi De Hi, Hi Di Ho! Making a call while Billi Kid looks on (photo Jaime Rojo)
Now the pace of “progress” that has turned every small and mid-sized city in America into an interchangeable power strip of Olive Gardens, Radio Shacks, and OfficeMaxes has gradually infiltrated the culturally vibrant and wacky island. But it isn’t only Manhattan, it’s true in almost every neighborhood in the city – In fact, the chains are shackling most of our culture to a homogenized dullness that preys on low-paid workers elsewhere and creates low-paid workers here. How many Mom-and-Pop stores have been wiped out by the undercutting prices and special tax considerations that Big Box stores have?
Ask James and Karla Murray.
They started taking pictures of New York’s Mom-and-Pop stores a decade ago when they were out shooting graffiti. By definition, a Mom-and-Pop is a family-owned and usually family-run business with roots in it’s community, providing needed goods or services and jobs and wealth to it’s small ecosystem. The Murrays noticed that they were disappearing, rapidly. It alarmed them and they published a book featuring those businesses call “Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York”, featuring 250 images of these Mom and Pops.
Buildmore, Morgan Thomas, and Blanco love pasta! (photo Jaime Rojo)
A new show, open to the public this Saturday, features images from that book blown up almost to their original size in a “streetscape” and installed on a gorgeous rooftop. The twist with this show of storefronts is it also includes the work of 28 artists all over it, thanks to the curating skills of Billi Kid, street artist and entrepreneur. We went to the opening of the event (read here) and then we had the pleasure of interviewing the authors and the curator of the show to get more of the backstory:
Brooklyn Street Art: How did the opening party go?
Karla Murray: The opening party was a huge success. We have to thank Liz and Genevieve at Gawker Artists for helping launch such a great event as well as Billi Kid for planning and curating the event. We have never seen our Store Front photos so big before, let alone be decorated by many talented graffiti and street artists. Lots of media and artists were there to celebrate the unveiling of the exhibit. We also want to thank Bear Flag wines who donated the wine.
Ticky/Underwater Pirates, and Celso with guests (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:How did you come up with this unusual idea and then convince Jim and Karla to help make it happen?
Billi Kid: Jim and Karla’s book had been sitting on my coffee table for quite a while and of course, triggered the original idea. MOM & POPism was my fourth collaboration with J&K, our second in which other artists work over their images, so it came down to a matter of trust and love for the concept. To be honest, they jumped right in. No arm twisting on my part. If anything, we three held our breath while waiting for Gawker Artists, who presented the exhibition, to decide whether they wanted to commit their time and resources to the event. Liz Dimmit, our champion and curator of Gawker Artists, fought our battle hard and flipped the POWERS THAT BE over to the dark side.
Royce Bannon monster takes a bite (photo Jaime Rojo)
Birds on a ledge by Cern (photo Jaime Rojo)
David Cooper and Ralph’s (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:Can you describe the process and materials you used to print these large scale repicas of storefronts?
James Murray: The process began by Billi Kid selecting the photos from our “STORE FRONT” book that he thought would have enough “negative” space for artists to paint directly on top of the photo but still maintain the integrity of the store. After Billi Kid told us his initial selection of images, we worked with him making the final selection. We based this decision on the actual image size because we wanted to use photos that we knew would be able to be blown up to that large size and remain clear. We then gave all the image files to Billi Kid so that he could do the math on every one of them and figure out how large the image would print. He also figured out what spaces the artist would paint on and assigned every artist a particular area to paint on. Billi Kid then printed out our photos in segments of 4 feet wide by 9 feet high on matte photo paper rolls using his wide-format printer. If it wasn’t for Billi Kid owning such a large printer, this project would never have gotten off the ground because it would have been too expensive to print at a local lab.
Ideal Dinettes, in business from 1953-2008 Brooklyn, 2004, by James and Karla Murray from “STORE FRONT- The Disappearing Face of New York”
Brooklyn Street Art: Were you ever afraid it wasn’t going to work out?
Billi Kid: Only in so far as the weather was concerned. When we kicked off the planning phase of MOM & POPism, the last thing we figured was a rainy July/August season. Who knew? We had considered the tremendous amount of work involved in getting this to look just right. I mean, Liz Dimmit actually committed to building 9 walls on the roof of Gawker Media HQ so that we could cover them with James and Karla’s beautiful photography. On top of that, we had to figure out the blown-up dimensions of each image and how to layer them up as wallpaper slices. It was definitely touch and go for most of the process, but the stars finally aligned in our favor.
Lady Pink (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Isn’t Billi Kid rude and difficult to work with?
Karla Murray: Billi Kid is one of the nicest and most generous guys as well as a talented artist. This is the 3rd time we have collaborated with him on an exhibition. The first was a graffiti/street art/photography hotel room installation at the Carlton Arms Hotel in Manhattan and the second was an exhibition called Underground/Overground at the Artbreak Gallery in Williamsburg. We also selected him to be part of an exhibition we are curating during Art Basel Miami called GRAFFITI GONE GLOBAL presented by SushiSamba Restaurants. His work, including the panel he painted as part of MOM and POPism, will be shipped down to Miami and included in the show that takes place from Dec 3-6, 2009.
Brooklyn Street Art:How important is community in a project like this?
Billi Kid: As curator, my first concern for MOM & POPism was to bridge the gap between graffiti/street art and how it is exhibited in a gallery environment. I wanted the public to experience it in it’s pure form, exactly how I see it when I walk the city streets. Secondly, I wanted to continue James and Karla’s “Store Front” conversation along with the sadness felt by all as we watch the disappearing face of New York along with the economic and artistic implications involved. And last, it was all about community. Bringing all of these talented artists to this roof was a dream come true. When working together, the community can go a lot further in spreading the love as far as I’m concerned.
Shiro and her buddy by her piece (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:What conversation do you hope to spark about the significance of these businesses, and their disappearance?
James Murray: We hope to open people’s eyes to the disappearance of these mom-and-pop businesses and encourage people to shop in them and support them. Since we began the project of documenting these stores over 10 years ago, over half of the images which appear in the book have now closed. With the economy doing poorly even more businesses are threatened. These mom-and-pop stores are what makes each neighborhood in the 5 boroughs unique. They are the backbone of the community and when they close a little piece of history is lost.
Brooklyn Street Art:Do you think people are beginning to make the connection between corporate power, globalism, big box stores, and the killing off of Mom-and-Pop’s?
Karla Murray: We hope that people do make the connection between corporate power and big box retailers and the killing off of Mom-and-Pops. People often have the misconception that shopping at a big box is cheaper then going to a local store but it’s not true! Many store owners have told us that their prices are actually lower and the quality of their goods are better. These mom and pop store owners take pride in what they sell and stand behind their product whether its food or clothing or whatever. Many of these businesses have been handed down from generation to generation and the owners are proud to have their name attached to their store.
Brooklyn Street Art:Sometimes when you stretch your mind to combine art and artists in a new way, you can reach a new audience. Maybe you are letting more people know about these artists…
Billi Kid: Whenever I have a willing ear, I’m always talking about preaching beyond the choir. The work deserves and demands a wider audience. It’s beautiful to see and read how people outside of the graffiti and street art world reacted to MOM & POPism. Hallelujah!
Zoltron took the signs to a new street (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:Now that the family owned stores are gone, do you see any hopeful signs in the development of the cityscape?
James Murray: Many family-owned businesses are still in existence so we remain hopeful that the cityscape will not change too drastically.
Infinity says he liked the garbage bags piled there because it looks more realistic (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art:What was the biggest surprise of the whole installation? Karla Murray: The biggest surprise was all the rain we got while doing the installation. We knew going into this that the weather was not something we could control but we really were subjected to extremes. The boards were even blown over by a heavy wind/rain storm and had to be secured more tightly. When the artists were painting on the photos we had to erect “tents” out of tarps to keep them covered from the heavy rain storms. We even had to change the date of the opening party under threat of rain. Despite all this, everything worked out well and the photos and artwork held up remarkably well to the elements.
David Cooper signing a copy of Jim and Karla’s book (photo Jaime Rojo)
Brooklyn Street Art: Work and logistics aside, it looks like you had fun putting this one together!
Billi Kid: OK, scratch everything I said so far! Hell yeah!!! It was all about having fun! Seeing how much pleasure each artist had working and looking over each other’s shoulder was my finest moment in bringing MOM & POPism to life. At the end of the day, we ALL have to enjoy what we do, because it shows.
Here’s a piece by videographer Greg DeLiso:
MOM & POPism include Blanco, Buildmore, Cake, Celso, Cern, Chris (RWK), Crome, Cycle, David Cooper, Destroy & Rebuild, Enamel Kingdom, Goldenstash, Infinity, Kngee, Lady Pink, Matt Siren, Morgan Thomas, Peru Ana Ana Peru, Plasma Slugs, Royce Bannon, Shai R. Dahan, Shiro, The Dude Company, Tikcy, Under Water Pirates, Veng (RWK), Zoltron and Billi Kid.
MOM & POPism will be open to public on Saturday, August 15th from noon to 4 p.m. Additional exhibition viewings are available by appointment throughout August.
Previous projects that combined the talents of James and Karla and Billi:
This one caught our eye for the merging of classic graffiti nerve, blunt style execution, sentimental velvety roses, inspirational verses, …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
