Artists

Art In Odd Places 2022: Story. Open Call For Proposals

February 23, 2022 Artists

We’ve been supporting the work of the New York organization Art In Odd Places (AiOP) for years and are always intrigued and inspired by their productions and the artists they select to offer their proposals. Mounted outdoors along and below 14th Street in Manhattan, we’ve seen works by performing artists, painters, sculptors, conceptual artists, dancers, and a myriad of artists who defy categorization and refused to be boxed in. This is what makes this a unique art event in the city; its ability to be inclusive, fearless, and unconventional. We look forward to being surprised once again this year.

Al Diaz for AiOP 2021 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Art in Odd Places (AiOP) 2022 will be present with the theme of “Story” this September and curated by Atlanta artist Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn, who asks “Will the story of your existence endure the test of time?”

Today, public personal merit is based on the number of followers on social media – and relevance changes with the shifting weather. True identity and community are where words are genuinely heard, truths shared, stories told, and perceptions possibly changed.”

AiOP 2022: STORY seeks imaginative proposals by artists from the Disabled, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and Allied communities that tell her, his, their “Story”

Click HERE to apply.

Angela Muriel for Art in Odd Places 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jessica Elain Blinkhorn (photo © courtesy the artist)

Matthew Burcow & Carmen Rodriguez for Art In Odd Places 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gretchen Vitamvas. *Modern Plague Doctor*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Gretchen Vitamvas)

Yeseul Song. *Invisible Sculpture*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Ninad Pandit)

Marissa Mickelberg – Goat Walk (photo © Courtesy of the Artist)

AKIMBO Honors Transgender Valencian Killed in 1460

February 22, 2022 Artists

“I am very happy with how the Mural turned out,” says Marcos Chelo aka Akimbo, of this new mural, his first large format, in Valencia, Spain. A tribute to trans people in general and to Margarida Borrás in particular, this multicolored deity of style is likely more a feature of Akimbo’s modern tastes and imagination than what Borrás wore in the 1450s, where the prized yet persecuted beauty is said to have visited many a home of noble society in Valencia.

Akimbo’s new mural in Plaza del Mercat in homage to Margarita Borràs, a trans woman who was hanged here in 1460. (photo © the artist)

Commissioned by the Intramurs festival, Senorita Borràs overlooks the open-air parking lot of the vendors of the nearby Mercat Central de Valencia not far from Plaza del Mercat where public records say she was hanged in 1460. “I represent Margarida interpreting her image from my erotic-festive galactic imaginary,” says Akimbo in his Instagram posting, “turning her into a futuristic Saint, returning her the mystic quality and the honor that Christianity took from us hundreds of years ago.”

Akimbo’s new mural in Plaza del Mercat in homage to Margarita Borràs, a trans woman who was hanged here in 1460. (photo © MÒNICA TORRES for EL PAÍS)

According to Ferran Bono in El Pais, the spot has been formally recognized by the city and named for the trans woman, which we translate here: “The priest Melcior Miralles recorded such a tragic outcome in his 15th-century work Crònica i dietari del capellà d’Alfons el Magnànim: ‘In the year 1460, Monday, July 28, in the Valencia market, Margarida was hanged, and she was man, and his name was Miquel Borras, who was the son of a notary from Mallorca and was dressed as a woman, and he was in many houses in Valencia dressed as a woman, which was known, and he was imprisoned and tortured. And because of the said Margarida or Miquel, some were imprisoned and tortured’.

A few years ago, the Valencian researcher and writer Vicente Adelantado investigated the Manuals de Consells of the old juries that ran the city and the municipal archive to prepare his doctoral thesis on the origin of theater in Valencia and found traces of Margarida.”

David Hollier Paints Kennedy with His Own Words: Presidents Day

February 21, 2022 Artists

Street artists and fine artist David Hollier has made innumerable portraits of political and pop figures in the last couple of decades – often with their own words, and often with stunning capturing of their likeness. Today on President’s day in the US, we give you John F. Kennedy.

The words with which the President’s features are created are lifted from one of his more famous speeches in April of 1961 given to the American Newspaper Publishers Association in New York. He had been discontented with the press coverage of the Bay of Pigs incident and spoke of a need for “far greater official secrecy.”

Read the full text of the speech here.

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.20.22

February 20, 2022 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

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Welcome to BSA Images of the Week, where New York keeps pushing forward through this stormy winter – although the amount of new street art and graffiti dissipates this time of year as artists stay in their creative caves, waiting for spring. Hang in there peeps.

It’s still cold today so you may want to check out the last day of the Christian Dior show at Brooklyn Museum, or you can see BG183’s solo exhibition at Wallworks in the Bronx, or Daze’s solo show in Manhattan at PPOW.

Great news for New York artists this week: artists can now apply for a monthly stipend of $1,000. This is big news because unlike a lot of Europe, the US and its institutions do not support artists or cultural workers.

Bad news for the orange man in New York this week: The Supreme Court says he and his progeny have to testify under oath, after the Attorney General uncovered “copious evidence of possible financial fraud”. Perhaps Ivanka can consult with her friends Christine Lagarde or Angela Merkel about what to say.

Speaking of exemplary New Yorkers, Jeffery Epstein’s friend Jean-Luc Brunel has been found dead in his prison cell, mysteriously. One of Epstein’s other friends, Prince Andrew, reportedly settled out of court this week. “Prince Andrew reportedly agreed to never again deny raping Virginia Giuffre”, says the New York Post, The Independent, and The Sun. The Times says: “A new nursery rhyme is doing the rounds at the Palace:

‘The grand old Duke of York,
he had 12 million quid.
He gave it to someone he’d never met,
for something he never did’”.

Jesus, let’s go out for a walk and see if we discover some new street art.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Skewville, Specter, City Kitty, Adam Fujita, Pork, Jason Naylor, Below Key, Lexi Bella, Jowl, Nimek, Klonism, Harvey Ball, Eloy Bida, Kat Blouch, Timmy Ache, and Eyedao.

Adam Fujita pays tribute to Keith Haring. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty & Kat Blouch (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eloy Bida. Memorial mural in honor of Ingrid Washinawtok. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville turned 100 years old this month. Long Live Skewville! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Smiley Face. The design of the iconic image turns 50 years. Originally created by Harvey Ball the symbol has been used everywhere from advertising to movies to fashion and high and low art. This poster has been plastered all over the city to highlight its anniversary…oh don’t forget to SMILE!

The Art Of Will Power. “Hip Hop” is my religion. Here’s Mary being a muse again. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lexi Bella with the lush lips. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Snow ghosts. East River. Brooklyn, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dmitri Aske Gives Tribute to “Colleagues” in Moscow

February 19, 2022 Artists

Great to see this new print by Russian graffiti/street artist Dmitri Aske (aka Sicksystems), who has been on the street since 2000 and has developed his fine art practice in studio, in commercial projects, and on large scale murals in recent years. A modern stained glass motif freezes the action of the mundane, catching a moment like a photograph, his figures are transmitted into archetypes in a modern scene.

A student, editor, and lecturer on the Russian graffiti scene, Aske gave us a rare and unexpected personal tour of some of his favorite spots one afternoon in Moscow when we were there to curate at the Atmosphere Biennale in 2018. His ease transversing the margins of the city included revealing hidden walls and stopping into a gallery to show us interactive digital works. This multi-discipline approach is illustrated by his defined colorful graphic approach to mosaic reliefs made of plywood, large-scale murals, and sculptures in public and private.

Here in this new print issued by Winzavod Art Center in Moscow, Aske captures the staid, proforma stances of gallery-goers contemplating the work of an artist, in this case his own. By placing himself in the situation, he is showing you his world, and ours – without outward expression, but capturing the subtleties of spatial relationships and body language that may be expected in the formalized atmosphere of a museum or gallery.

In fact, the new print is a distillation detail from a larger mural work he completed on the campus of Winzavod, a public/private exhibition complex in Moscow that serves as a social and educational platform for discovery and discussion of the legacies of graffiti and street art as they transition into all manner of urban contemporary art.

“Recently, I’ve made a new mural at @winzavod in Moscow (approximately 7x30m, 210m2). It’s called ‘Colleagues’ and is dedicated to viewers, art collectors, curators, and artists, people who are both my peers and whom Winzavod was made for,” he says.

BSA Film Friday: 02.18.22

February 18, 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. BSA Special Feature: ‘Gold Mine’ by Pejac
2. Graffiti & Jail: Doug Gillen and FWTV
3. Said Dokins, Cix, and Spaik: Memoria Canera

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BSA Special Feature: ‘Gold Mine’ by Pejac

Pejac recently completed a series of interventions within the oldest prison in Spain, the Penitentiary Center of El Dueso. Located at the entrance of artist’s hometown of Santander, overlooking the Cantabrian sea and surrounded by marshes, the prison built at the beginning of the 20th century on the remains of an old Napoleon’s fort was another challenging setting to carry out his poetic interventions.

For 11 days, its walls, courtyards, and corridors became the artist’s workplace, giving life to the Gold Mine project in that sense. The project integrates three singular pieces, which as a whole represent the value of the human condition, its resistance to adversity, the need to create, and its desire, above all, to leave a mark.

“A prison itself is a place wrapped in harsh reality and at the same time, I feel that it has a great surrealist charge. It is as if you only need to scratch a little on its walls to discover the poetry hidden inside.” PEJAC

Graffiti & Jail: Doug Gillen and FWTV

And on another side of the coin, Doug Gillen of FifthWall TV talks about graffiti and street artists who go to prison as punishment for doing illegal graffiti on the streets.

Memoria Canera

Said Dokins, Cix, and Spaik: Memoria Canera was part of a three mural series made by the outstanding Mexican Street Artists Said Dokins, Cix, and Spaik at the Maximum Security Penitentiary in Morelia, Michoacán.

The project intended to shed light on a discussion about Cultural Rights and how artistic and cultural practices can be a valuable tool to mediate against exclusion and marginalization. By disrupting the space with color and text, symbols and patterns, the environment is transformed. The new murals are “Puedes Volver a Volar” (You can Fly Again) by Spaik, “Estado Mental” (Mental State) by Cix, and “Memoria Canera” (Memories from Jail) by Said Dokins.

“No Room For Racism” Begins Right Where We Are

February 17, 2022 Artists

We were just looking at this piece by graffiti writer and mixed media artist Greg Lamarche aka Sp.One, and we were reflecting that art-making and advocating for social/political change can be a one-person brigade.

Greg Lamarche (image courtesy of the artist)

We’re also reminded that borrowing from advertising campaign techniques doesn’t always mean selling wars or shampoo; sometimes it is a powerful force for changing society in a positive way.

The Premier League and other sports organizations have tackled racism head-on with the “No Room For Racism” campaign, and continue to do so. This active allyship with all our brothers and sisters is what must happen if we are to effectively combat our historical legacy, and you never know what your one resolute action will do, or how far it will travel.

No Room For Racism. (image courtesy of the Premier League)

American football player Colin Kaepernick stuck to his convictions and used his position to do so, and this past Sunday rapper Eminen used his influence during the Super Bowl. Action takes many forms: Rock Hill South Carolina just began its “No Room For Racism” college basketball classic in December, and T-shirt maker Teepublic dedicates a whole line of shirts that focuses on fighting racism graphically – the people wear those t-shirts to parties, to work, to the grocery store.

Person by person, sport-by-sport, game-by-game, people are being confronted and reminded. These are sometimes purely individual changes, but they send important messages to our peers and future generations.

Rapper Eminem takes a knee behind Dr. Dre at Super Bowl halftime show this past Sunday. (©Ben Solomon for The New York Times)

In this article about a recent act of racism in the sport of ice hockey, Canadian professional defenseman P.K. Subban reminds us, “But people have to start with their friends and their family. That’s where it comes from. But fans too. We need fans and everybody to make this a place where everyone feels comfortable.”

Manyak’s Transformative Perspective in Paris

February 16, 2022 Artists

Transfigurative. Transmutative. Transformative.

Welcome to Manyak’s world.

Manyak in collaboration with L’association Art Azoï. Paris, France. (photo © Michele Garnier)

The Paris-based graffiti writer and aerosol transformer has been active around the world since the 1980s and has been anamorphosing letters and his home city once again with a scene of industrial destruction/deconstruction caught mid-collapse.

Fresh from his successful exhibition with Aloha, Neok, and Raeone at Garlerie 59 Rivoli, Manyak here takes his brilliant mind outside again to paint with L’association Art Azoï.

It can be a serious challenge to coax some margins of the city alive, but Manyak has the experience and unique ability to create a vibrantly dimensional fantasy scene – even with a pile of broken concrete in a bombed out lot. Here the challenge is to transform this long expanse in Paris – and the length of the piece is difficult to capture well in its totality, so we bring you these details of his new work, courtesy of photographer Michele Garnier.

Valentines Day 2022

February 14, 2022 Artists

Let’s be fools in love, shall we? Let’s be exuberant in our love for this city, this life, this opportunity.

Life only happens once. Let’s fall in love with it.

Happy Valentine’s Day to the whole BSA family.

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.13.22

February 13, 2022 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week.

The media is beating the war drums again. Where are we being led this time? Truckers protesting vaccine and mask mandates at the border with US|Canada are being painted as kooks, but most are vaccinated – they just don’t want the governmental overreach. Truckers are forming a ‘freedom convoy’ in Paris. Kooks again? New Zealand and Australia too? Oh heck let’s just watch the Superbowl. It will be fun to watch the fans reaction to a half-time show of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.

You could watch the Olympics on you screen – and who doesn’t love those amazing athletes? So inspirational. Problem is there are so many reports across the media that Beijing is quashing dissent (NYT, Human Rights Watch, The Guardian) so its hard to separate the place from the event. The banner for this week’s collection is a sticker we saw in Berlin in October – and it’s small but shocking.

Meanwhile here in the city we’re dropping indoor masking in a number of places, and Covid cases are dropping like Kamala’s presidential expectations. So people don’t have to wear masks, but deer do? Our new Vegan mayor is giving school children Vegan Fridays for lunch and taking the bus to work – at least in his new commercials. Think Bloomberg did the same with the subway when he began too. Also, guess he called white people “crackers” way back in 2019.

No wonder our street art is frequently conflicted – full of beauty, rage, disgust, confusion, fear, flaunting, hope, and poetry. It’s a mirror to us collectively, individually.

And here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week in Berlin, New York and Miami, featuring Tona, Batmanxi, Lahoedealer, Artist Diaz, Anne Baerun, Tinkers Trumpf, FCK WRS, C.M.B., Kiez Miez030, Huckleberry Fuckup, and Roberto Rivadaneira.

The Red Chair. Unidentified Artist. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

#LAHOPEDEALER. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Diaz. Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anne Baerun. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentifed artist. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unidentified artist in New York. According to the CDC, suicide rates declined in the USA during the COVID Pandemic, while the suicide deaths for young adults males and People of Color saw an increase. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Santa Cruz. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tinkers Trumpf. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tona and Batgirl. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kiez Miez030. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Huckberry FuckUp. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roberto Rivadaneira. Urban Nation Museum Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Taking concrete steps in Brooklyn, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pejac Transforms Decay With a Fine Brush in Madrid

February 12, 2022 Artists

“A minimalist artwork charged with surrealism,” says the press release about this new street art piece by Madrid-based Pejac in his city. Taking the opportunity of disrepair as an expanse in the imagination, the tiny forms are ant-like in their industry with flake paint providing oddly shaped morsels to save or cavort with.

Here in the neighborhood of Antoñita Jiménez, the artist adorns the exterior of the new VETA Gallery, perhaps as a meditation on artists role in gentrifying parts of cities – drawing attention to a place generally overlooked. In the southernmost area of the city, “this traditionally working-class neighborhood is one of the most diverse areas of the capital.” That is usually how it begins.

Pejac. *“Everything Is Relative”*. Madrid, Spain. (photo courtesy of the artist)

BSA Film Friday: 02.11.22

February 11, 2022 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening:
1. Global Street Art: “Cultural Vandals”?
2. DOES: Cement Graffiti piece at Amsterdam’s STRAAT Museum
3. New Border. Imagine a different kind of Southern Border between the USA and Mexico.

BSA Special Feature: Global Street Art: “Cultural Vandals”?

Calmer, more measured perhaps, and still pissed off at those who appropriate the culture and then mow it over, here’s Doug Gillen examining a community led mural program being dissed by a fast food corporation in Cardiff, Wales. More alarming perhaps are the middle people who smooth the path and take a cut, according to this new episode of Fifth Walls, called “Cultural Vandals”.

DOES: Cement Graffiti piece at Amsterdam’s STRAAT Museum

An unusual feat of art-making that brings his piece into another dimension, DOES builds up the foundation for his lettering with a carefully applied layer of cement. STRAAT Museum has the story and DOES brings the skillz.

New Border. Imagine a different kind of Southern Border between the USA and Mexico.

The project is called “New Border” and it proposes a constructive alternative bilateral, ecological and humanistic solution to the wall erected (in part) under the Trump administration on the decaying US-Mexican border.

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