Artists

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.03.22

July 3, 2022 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

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Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

It’s 4th of July weekend here, a patriotic holiday that marks the US independence. This year the overarching oft-repeated phrase is that America is more polarized than ever, perhaps on the verge of a civil war. But really? Where is this theme coming from? Is someone trying to con us into being deeply distrustful of each other and angry? Does anyone gain by making us fight?

We see New Yorkers, who are some of the most diverse and varied lot you are likely to ever find, treating each other daily with fairness; giving each other more space than ever to be who we are. We walk into restaurants, museums, buses, stores, laundromats, delis, offices, gymnasiums, parks – and usually find people being considerate, warm, respectful of differences, more inclusive than ever. New York proves time and again that people WANT to get along, and we DO get along with each other despite our huge differences, because we really have more things in common. That’s not rhetoric or glossing things over; that’s daily experience in this big weird melting pot of beautiful New York City.

Thanks to all the street artists who keep bringing it and sharing it.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Praxis, Gane, HOACS, Degrupo, Such, King Baby, Nemze, L.A. Hope Dealer, MFK, Renda Writer, Peek, and RB.

Unidentified artist (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Jesus is coming. Look busy.” Unidentified artist (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Isn’t this just a logo? Are graffiti tags and pieces just logos as well? Discuss. Such (photo © Jaime Rojo)

If public space can be appropriated for corporations to put their message, can you do it also? Such (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Birds understand abstract concepts. We all know this. Unidentified artist (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Barbara Kruger and “The End of Roe”

July 2, 2022 Artists

As America’s corporately-funded liberal establishment has been busy policing everyone on identity politics to distract from the fact that they’re otherwise actively inactive, Barbara Kruger has remained focused on the steady, studied moves of the right. Fifty years of building a legislative, legal, and lethal framework for reclaiming the country for the original power-holders eventually pays off. And if these folks are now abusing that power in the Supreme Court, Barbara Kruger is not surprised.

As the leak was circulating this spring in advance of the Roe v Wade reversal with Dobbs, the American artist, activist, and sometimes street artist was offered an opportunity to publish an op-art piece in the May 13, 2022 issue of the New York Times. In effect, her position is that the left should have seen this coming long ago but was lost in the weeds, playing a profoundly faulty strategy. Yes, it’s finger-pointing at its best – and in some way, it may prove constructive going forward. Perhaps its obvious to say now, but someone was asleep at the wheel.

The NYT published this artwork as well, along with these words from Ms. Kruger on its Instagram @NYTOpinion page:

“The end of Roe is the result of the Republicans’ relentless campaign to restrict reproductive rights and control women’s bodies. Many Democrats have been incapable of responding forcefully, and only recently has the left begun to understand that the contestations around gender, race, and class have to be engaged simultaneously and not siloed into rigid hierarchies of concern. This lack of compelling rhetoric and the inability to vote and think strategically has tragically informed the make-up of the current Supreme Court.” -Barbara Kruger

Barbara Kruger’s first solo exhibition at David Zwirner Gallery is now open to the general public. Click HERE for details.

BSA Film Friday: 07.01.22

July 1, 2022 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening:
1. David Fullarton: I Lied About Being An Artist. A short film by Blake Bogosian
2. PLASTIK. Directed by Philip Rom
3. Catherine Opie b. 1961
4. On the Fringe of Remembering: a Lecture on Memoryscapes on the Street

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BSA Special Feature: David Fullarton: I Lied About Being An Artist. A short film by Blake Bogosian

Wouldn’t be the first time, this imposter’s syndrome variant crops up in many people’s lives – that one where you feel that you may be misrepresenting yourself as an artist.

“It’s like I’m inhabiting a character.”

“I mean it’s not really me. It is. Maybe it is, I don’t know.”

An irked and uncomfortable Gen X white artist guy is bemused by life, after the rage has died down into a realization of the absurdity of it all.

Using illustration, collage, word-smithing and artful sloganeering, the artist has developed his own process and version of this thing called ‘visual language’.

“I hope that the humor can maybe make people be a bit more accepting and forgiving of our shared human flaws.”

David Fullarton: I Lied About Being An Artist. A short film by Blake Bogosian

PLASTIK. Directed by Philip Rom

Blissful daily scenes revealed as dystopian – but delivered in the sweetest way. Hopefully not so sweet that you won’t do anything about all that plastic you are using and throwing away….

Catherine Opie b. 1961

“I think that my portraits hold people,” says the realist photographer without irony. It’s good to hear the re-telling of her own story to appreciate the evolution of an artists life and how it is reflected in their work, and vice versa.

“I’m making the work because it was really important for me….” begins one sentence about one of her chapters as a photographer, but it can apply to all of them. Bearing witness, observing the temporality of life, looking at relationships of modern people to modern society.

On the Fringe of Remembering: a Lecture on Memoryscapes on the Street

Ljubljana Street Art Festival 2022 is underway as we reported HERE yesterday. The festival includes a day of conferences, talks, and panel discussions including practitioners of the art form, academics, cultural workers, and scholars. Below we share with you the last panel of the day. If you are interested in the first 4 panels click HERE.

Mr. Paradox Rappelling Down a Berlin Building, As Usual

June 30, 2022 Artists

The original Berlin Kid, if you will, Mr. Paradox is rappelling down the side of a building again, this time in broad daylight instead of surreptitiously in the darkness of night. It’s part of an initiative by Urban Nation museum and he’s happy to bring the stylized vertical letters that have set his work apart from others – something he refers to as ‘spiritual letters’. He’s his own man, independent, fearless, creative and talented.

Mr. Paradox in collaboration with Urban Nation Museum Berlin. (photo © Nika Kramer)

“I have always followed my truth-seeker spirit,” he says, “setting my visions higher.”

The saturated red and blue lettering have evolved over time, but his technique has stayed the same for the last decade or so – a style many first compare to Pixaçao. It’s an often dangerous technique of graffiti lettering associated with the aerosol daredevils on the streets of cities like Sao Paulo – but that has also spread to cities like Paris, Berlin and New York.

“I don’t do Pixaçao,” Mr. Paradox tells BSA. “I do a highly advanced form of lettering that I call spiritual letters. I want to deliver art and beauty to the street – and of course to deliver critical messages about the system we live in and life in general.”

And what about the distinctive combination of blue and red colors? “They are like fire and water,” he says. “Like good and evil. Also people recognize me because of it.”

Special thanks to photographer Nika Kramer, who captures and shares these exclusive shots with BSA readers of Mr. Paradox’s installation.

Mr. Paradox’s text (above):

BRAIN WASHED PLANET:
THE ELITE IS THE VIRUS !
THIS IS FOR ALL CRITICAL THINKERS
UNLOCK THE MYSTERIES OF LIFE
ESCAPE THE MAINSTREAM
GOVERNMENT HIDES THE TRUTH
THEY ARE HOLDING BACK TECHNOLOGY

Ljubljana Street Art Festival 2022

June 29, 2022 Artists

Ljubljana is in the house!

“The big day has arrived and we are about to open the festival in a couple of hours,” says Sandi Abram as he looks over the final list of artists, talks, and programs that mean LJSAF 2022 is underway. We’ll be bringing you the action directly to your screens as it unfolds on the ground for its fourth year. With live painting, conferences, music, and community affairs, this annual festival is dedicated to showcasing the practitioners of graffiti, street art, and urban art.

As in years past it will be focusing on the unique curation by festival director Sandi Abram and the program directors Anja Zver and Miha Erjavec. A community-run affair with some serious academic punch, photographer Martha Cooper went last year and told us that it’s a festival that strikes a balance with what may appear as a quirky selection of artists to participate, “with an emphasis more on conceptual, political work than on aesthetics.” More to come..

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS, SPEAKERS, THE PROGRAM, AND SCHEDULES

LJSAF 2022. Children participate in a painting workshop. Ljubljana, Slovenia. (photo © Crt Piksi)

LJSAF 2022. Warm-up concert with by DJ LABELLO, dvidevat, and Nulla. (photo © Crt Piksi)

LJSAF 2022. Opening of Antigoon‘s exhibition. (this is a residency in collab between LJSAF and EMOVES / UCMASTERS. A program run by Jasper Van Es. (photo © Crt Piksi)

LJSAF 2022. Guests attend the opening of the exhibition *I <3 LJ* by Nejc Zorenč. This is the first solo exhibition of the Slovenian artist who is also a graffiti writer. (photo © Crt Piksi)

Danilo Milovanović *“Head through the wall”*. LJSAF 2022. (photo © Crt Piksi)

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS, SPEAKERS, THE PROGRAM, AND SCHEDULES

Nuart Reconnects in Aberdeen 2022

June 28, 2022 Artists

We were fortunate to have been invited to participate in the very first edition of Nuart Aberdeen back in the quaint days of 2017. We had a blast, and in the process fell in love with this city made of granite. The locals and our hosts made certain that we had all we needed to do our job and to enjoy the festival, the city, and of course its people. With a theme of reconnection, the new iteration of the festival last month brought fresh murals to city walls, perhaps revitalizing people’s connection to the built environment in a new way.

Martin Whatson. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

A franchising, of sorts, of the original Norwegian Nuart festival and its originators, this offshoot festival was so successful that year that city officials here funded another few editions. The events that engage the community feature live painting, a speaker program, walking tours, a pub fight/debate, and children’s art programming. All told it’s a warm example of street art culture mainstreaming itself right into the daily fabric of this prosperous Scottish city often called the “Oil Capital of Europe”

Photographer Martha Cooper was invited to participate in Nuart’s newest event and she shares with us and our readers her documentation of the 11 artists’ artworks on the streets of Aberdeen.

“Most of the buildings in Aberdeen are built of granite giving the city a distinctive, very gray, look,” says Ms. Cooper of this city that boasts a long industry of granite work. “Martin Whatson’s mural this year shows a stone mason trimming off “excess” graffiti to make a straight edge along a graffiti-covered wall.” Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

James Klinge and Martin Whatson. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

James Klinge paints a portrait of his wife. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Erin Holly. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Nuno Viegas. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Nuno Viegas’ *“Queen of Hearts”* is a match to the *“King of Hearts”* mural he painted for Nuart in 2019. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Miss Printed. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Jacoba. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Jofre Oliveras. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Slim Safont. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Martha tells us that this “I Will Pay Taxes” mural is painted on a building whose owner didn’t pay his taxes. It was controversial but in the end, the organizers of the festival prevailed to keep the wall up without alterations or censorship.

Mohamed Lghacham. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Mohamed Lghacham based his mural on a vintage ad from a magazine. He collects these images for inspiration. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Elisa Capdevila. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Pejac. Nuart Aberdeen Festival 2022. Aberdeen, Scotland. (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Rubislaw Quarry is the biggest (or one of the biggest depending on the source)
man-made holes in Europe” says, Ms. Cooper. “Now it is filled with water to make a man-made lake in the center of the city of Aberdeen.” (photo © Martha Cooper)

Etnik Deconstructs Futuristically in Novara, Italy

June 27, 2022 Artists

Pushing the boundaries as expected, Italian-Swedish street artist Alessandro Battisti AKA Etnik, puts this new deconstructed piece in Novara, Italy, this month for ParkLife. With all the plastic and performative arts still seemingly in the throes of hybridization, it is no surprise to see this floating futurism of unknown origin. What is a surprise is that Etnik continues to evolve and fine-tune his tools, helping define the urban environment.

Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)

Etnik is enthusiastic about sharing his painting with audiences who may never see it otherwise. “The message in this wall is to innovate and to have the courage to make art in industrial platforms that are normally disconnected from the art world,” he says.

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.26.22

June 26, 2022 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

Not much to report this week.

Unless you’re talking about the seismic Supreme Court decision to take away people’s right to have a legal abortion in the United States. The topic immediately appeared in street art. Abortions will still continue in the US of course. Rich women will pay for them, and go back to church the following week. Senators and congressmen will pay for their girlfriends abortions, with a crocodile tear and a wad of cash. Poor women? Not a consideration.

Clarence Thomas took a swing at other Americans by hinting that same-sex marriage may be in jeopardy. He didn’t mention interracial marriage.

Because of this legal shock and its affect on people – It looks like we have another long hot summer coming. Protests in the streets will also take on a different caliber because Thursday the Supreme Court decided that people are entitled to carry guns openly on the streets.

What could possibly go wrong?

One street art text piece we caught yesterday just as the abortion decision was being announced is appropriately in Spanish. Que voy hacer con llorar? or “What good does crying do?”.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Captain Eyeliner, JJ Veronis, Modomatic, Voxx Romana, Hijack, Fear Arte, IMK, 3784, Jaw1, Smoe, JC3, Mayd1, Spot KMS Crew, Heavylox, and Bongggblue.

An unidentified artist is sharing with us, what many of us might be feeling. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Houston/Bowery Wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The curator/owner of this wall, Jessica Goldman, posted recently on social media that the famed graff/street art/mural wall is “on pause.” The street has its own ideas of course and the wall has been very active for the last weeks in an organic manner. As usual, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Houston/Bowery Wall. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bongggblue and Heavylox for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bongggblue for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Heavylox for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KMS Crew for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mayd1 for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JC3 for The Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Modomatic. Bug 029. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. The Chrisler Building. Manhattan, NY. Summer 2022. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Broken Fingaz and the Dance of ‘Dog Sniff Dog’ at UN in Berlin

June 25, 2022 Artists

It’s all a dog dance, this social life, this series of prescribed and occasionally poetic movements that we must learn to navigate. Whether its origins are in Israel, France, Russia, New York, or Berlin, the Broken Fingaz Crew (BFC) tells us that the complexity of contemporary communication all comes down to ‘Dog Sniff Dog.’ It could be a reference to the contortions of connections on social media or simply the convoluted machinations of the so-called ‘art world.’ Still, you get a clear idea about their sarcasm and opinions with their new mural for the façade of the Urban Nation Museum (UN) that accompanies the opening of the latest exhibition.

Broken Fingaz. Paint the facade at Urban Nation Museum Berlin in conjunction with the opening of the new exhibition *“Talking…& Other Banana Skins”*. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Nika Kramer)

Often referencing the visual language of comic books, poster graphics, mid-century advertising, and hand-animated music videos, the Haifa-based crew brings a fresh neo-primitivism to their stinging social critique as it bends across the public-facing walls of Urban Nation Museum.

Appropriate for the graffiti writers and street artists whose work this museum champions, the painter Henri Matisse was also known for breaking the rules of harmony and order well over a century ago. They haven’t pointed to Matisse in their public comments on this canine cavorting street canvas. Still, modern art historians will instantly identify the rough contours, bright color fills, and interactive natural movement as a possible reference to his study Dance (1) (at MoMa in New York) and completed painting Dance (at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg).

We’re all familiar with these instinctive behaviors of dogs that can be comical or embarrassing to their owners. Still, science tells us that dogs sniff each other’s butt with an olfactory system far more complex and advanced than humans – and with a great sense of purpose. The layers of scents detected give information about gender, reproductive status, temperament, health, and much more. You may try to tell engaging stories and jokes at cocktails, dinner parties, and beer halls. Dogs sniff butts.

Photographer Nika Kramer captured the action of Broken Fingaz’s sometimes animated visceral dance on the wall as they installed ‘Dog Sniff Dog.’

Broken Fingaz. The completed facade at Urban Nation Museum Berlin in conjunction with the opening of the new exhibition *“Talking…& Other Banana Skins”*. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Nika Kramer)

“Talking… & Other Banana Skins” is currently open to the general public at Urban Nation Museum Berlin. Click HERE to find schedules and details on the exhibition.

BSA Film Friday: 06.24.22

June 24, 2022 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening:
1. Chile Estyle, from Pablo Aravena
2. ARCHIFONT
3. Tartu Street Art Comes to Berlin – Hello Mister Police Officer | FWTV

BSA Special Feature: Chile Estyle, from Pablo Aravena

The evolution of a graffiti/street art movement is not unilateral in its formative influences nor its cities of germination. Not only does Chile have a unique genesis story born of oppression and rebellion that is written into the history of the modern street art movement, it has produced a number of strong proponents of the current global scene.

“Young people took to the streets with political muralism all over Chile in the late 60’s at the same time as young people in New York were starting Modern graffiti and May 68 happened in Paris. Chile Estyle is a documentary film that explores the past and present of Chile’s unique street art tradition which comes from a remix of political muralism and graffiti and has been part of the Chilean cultural and political life since the 60s, resulting in a visually arresting, informative and entertaining film.”

Chile Estyle – Trailer – Pablo Aravena

ARCHIFONT

“I kept looking at it and saying, ‘I could do a whole alphabet based on it.'”

ARCHIFONT Letters dressed in architecture. For the fonts lovers and the architecture lovers this little video of the names of master architects, past and present will stir emotions, we are certain of that. But we also know a thing or two about the letter form art we call graffiti…certainly, our emotions were stirred…will yours?

Tartu Street Art Comes to Berlin – Hello Mister Police Officer | FWTV

It’s been a little while since we’ve seen the folks from Tartu and are happy to see them doing a show in Berlin. Doug from Fifth wall interviews 4 of the originators/artists from the “Stencibility” festival in Estonia – as they mount their exhibition in Berlin. Open till June 25th!

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada “Wishing For Wings” in Catalonia

June 23, 2022 Artists

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada has been looking for ways to draw all of his practices into one; his land-art works, sculptures and paintings. Here in Penelles, Lleida, Spain his new mural appears to combine the three directions into one flowing portrait full of lines in movement.

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. *“Wishing for Wings”*. Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival. Penelles, Spain. (photo courtesy of the artist)

Part of the annual Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festiva, this year in late April and early May, Rodriguez-Gerada says his intention was to attract attention to the towns like this on in rural Spain that are suffering from depopulation. It’s not a common theme, but one that Gargar has been inviting people to contemplate for about a decade by inviting artists to come and paint this Catalonian village of about 500 and its surrounding area.

“The festival hopes to generate resources that allow us to correct the effects of time and the
deterioration of our streets, reinspiring hope in our neighbours,” say organizers of the Gargar Festival.

6 More Murals for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Belgrade, Serbia

June 22, 2022 Artists

Making Art on the Streets More Accessible

In November of 2021, we reported HERE on a public art program for visually impaired persons in Belgrade, Serbia. The program provides 3D models of murals for people with visual impediments so they can better enjoy the art painted on the streets of the city.

Flying Fortress. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)

Today we bring you an update as we look at new 3D models of murals for blind and visually impaired people here; bringing the total number to 8 in this capitol city. The first two models were put up in October 2021, representing the work of artist Weedzor. In April and May, six new models were created for murals done by artists Jana Danilović and Hope, TKV, Piros, Junk, Rage, Lunar, and Flying Fortress. Accompanying each model is a description of the works in Braille.

Led by the organization Street Art Belgrade, the new works invite members of the City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade to feel what it looks like to discover art on the street through a short walk, say, organizers.

Piros. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)

“At the beginning of this project, I did not believe that it was possible to adapt murals to the blind and visually impaired, and in less than a year, we have a total of eight works available to us,” says Nikola Djordjevic, president of the City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade.

“Our community is small and art is still insufficiently accessible to blind and visually impaired people. The very fact that artists will now think of adapting their works to everyone means a lot to us. The models on the streets motivate our members to feel as a part of the city, to move and walk more, which is very valuable.”

Junk. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)

Jana Danilović and Hope. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo © Aleksandar Dalek Dordevic)

Jana Danilović and Hope. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)

TKV. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)

Rage. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)

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