On the Street

Images of the Week 01.23.11

January 23, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, Miami, NYC, On the Street, Primary Flight

Tonight it will be 7 degrees farenheit in Brooklyn, and the wind will blow down the East River to the Verrazano, around Coney Island and the Rockaways in a bashing fashion. New York City in January can be an inhospitable and unfriendly city, especially if you are a new arrival. “Where are all the people?” New Yorkers, all clad in blacks and grays pile out from the subway tunnels in droves and scurry fast down the sidewalk, like ants whose mound has been disturbed. The puffy fashions often mute gender, causing a great many otherwise fashionable or sexy dudes and dudettes to look like large tubers. Outside is a place to pass through as you stomp toward your dwelling without looking around or upward. Exhausted by layers of fabrics and zippers and buttons and laces and pulling on, over, and off – dropping bags and backpacks, the peeling off wet socks and salty boots are the final salvo before collapse. Depressed yet?

The flip side of this is that a lot of Street Artists are working in their kitchen/toolshed/studio right now and really putting a lot of effort into it – some are even stockpiling like squirrels for spring. If it is sunny for a minute in the afternoon, and you can peer over your scarf on the icy snow piled sidewalks of Brooklyn for a second you’ll see there is some new Street Art here and there. There is one reason to go outside and it’s encouraging to see that some street artists that call New York their home have been getting up despite the elements. It’s not really surprising to find that Street Artists are a scrappy lot; it kind of goes with the territory. Nonetheless it can bring a smile to your frozen face. Happy Winter.

And now our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring AVOne, AWR, BAST, DAIN, General Howe, Jim Darling, Katsu, Nasa, Nohj Coley, Rae, Skewville, Sofia Maldonado, Surge, and the Witness

Rae (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nohj Coley’s first interactive piece on the streets (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Mucho Gusto!” Nohj Coley First interactive piece on the streets (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nohj Coley detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wanna see a movie? Nohj Coley detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A big new Dain about town looking quite continental. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Double the pleasure with Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

AVOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Katsu (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Oh, fine thanks, except that I had to kill my boss.” Bast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville shows you to your entrance (photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe commentarty on past and present events in our still young Nation (photo © Jaime Rojo)

On to warmer climates…. and here are some more images from the glut of new work in Miami that we’ve been showing you this month.

Sofia Maldonado. Primary Flight Miami 2010 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jim Darling created this expansive sculpture made entirely from found objects. We learned that the owner of the lot was at first pretty disturbed by the accumulation of junk until the piece began to take shape. Now of course they love it and the streets are a little cleaner too. Primary Flight Miami 2010 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jim Darling. Detail Primary Flight Miami 2010 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Witness AWR NASA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

John J. Mahyo; After Xmas (War Will Be Over)

January 12, 2011 Artists, On the Street

From Italy we find that stencil street artist John J. Mahyo paid tribute last month on the anniversary of John Lennon’s murder to his anti-war past. Lennon’s song with Yoko Ono “Happy Xmas (War is Over) is re-interpreted here with a stencil called “After Xmas (War Will Be Over)”.

John J. Mahyo “After Xmas (War Will Be Over)” Photo © John J. Mahyo

We contacted the stencil artist to get an understanding of the piece and it’s placement on the wall of a military zone. He discussed how the original song was a protest against the war in Vietnam and now 40 years later it looks like history has repeated itself as we are told that the 9 year war in Afghanistan must continue 2,3,4,5 more years. And he worries about other potential conflicts brewing on the world stage. He says he intended this piece as “a call to prevent the imminent threat of a hypothetical nuclear war, if the tests carried out by North Korea (the 9th country in the world to have the atomic bomb and the 3rd most militarized) go wrong, it could potentially have disastrous consequences.”

Today, with a multitude of electronic images flying at people from every screen, a simple hand made stencil seems “retro” and tied to that earlier age – and a reminder that every person reading this was born into an age of war that never seems to end. Says Mahyo, it’s “The same old story… Men who hate other men, who face each other in a game of dominoes with weapons of mass destruction instead of the common cards. The wars of any size only bring destruction, sadness and anger. So to avoid this, I wish you all a happy New Year of peace and love, and hope that others will come.”

John Lennon listens to the streets in this photo attributed to Yoko Ono on beatlesbible.com.

QRST Gets Goosed

January 11, 2011 Artists, Indiana, On the Street

There’s no place like home under the bridge for the holidays, and QRST was feeling all fuzzy and warm and nostalgic for the days of his mis-spent youth over the Christmas/New Years break.

You may have seen QRST’s unusual hand-drawn illustrations of playfully tussling rat fights, wide eyed cats, and frumpy birds along with his series of everyday people (sometimes with wings). One common feature is the way they stare plaintively at you with just the slightest hint of burning outrage and/or accusation. Since it was the holidays and he’s not a splashy type, the Street Artist stuck to a big brown goose this time.

A modest brown goose, with a banner floating above (photo © QRST)

He tells us about this piece;

The goose “is often used as a symbol for the home and often more specifically the protection of the home,” he explains, “Brown geese in particular are often associated with humility; throughout Europe they were generally compared to the various orders of brown-robed monks; simple, unflashy and modest. I really like the way he’s falling into the wall. Being cognizant of my origins, having humility, putting it in a place where almost no one will see it, because it was really something that I was doing for myself, ended with this result. It’s quiet and very much fits into the environment, though it’s quite different from the flourescent, high school scrawls that are painted out there.”

Lest you think QRST is all kittens and rainbows, take a look at this recent piece on what appears to be an adjournment slip that’s been censored selectively. He says this particular form has nothing to do with his street art, but since he still rocks some rebellious sentiments in his adult life, he enjoyed the simplicity inherent.

brooklyn-street-art-qrst-redaction_cat_bsa-01-11

Fail to appear, a warrant will be issued for your pets (photo © QRST)

“The piece is sort of an adolescent flip-of-the-bird to the backs of authority… but then maybe there’s some of that in all good street work.”

I knew it! See what I told you about those stares… I could just tell that cat was saying “I just pooped next to the litter box. Deal with it.”

Images Of The Week 01.09.11 : From Miami With Love, Part 2

January 9, 2011 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week, Florida, Miami, On the Street, Primary Flight, Week in Images

Following up on Part 1 last Sunday, here are more amazing kick-arse photos from the various street artists who took over Wynwood in Miami last month. This weeks interview on the streets of the Miami features work by Burning Candy, Clare Rojas,Dustin Spagnola, Fumero, Invade, Joe Iurato, Kid Acne, LMA Cru, Mark of the Beast, Michael DeFeo, Miguel Paredes, ML, Nunca, OverUnder, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, VyalOne, and 305=2011=131,Vincent Luca,Shadowman,Luciano 3.

Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clare Rojas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clare Rojas Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

305=2011=131. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Burning Candy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Burning Candy, Kid Acne and Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fumero (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMA Cru (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mark Of The Beast Ishmael and Dustin Spagnola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miguel Paredes (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miguel Paredes. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michael Defeo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vincent Luca,Shadowman and Luciano 3 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nunca (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

VyalOne and Dustin Spagnola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BREAKING: Faile and Bäst in Action

January 8, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, NYC, On the Street

Fresh Images of Two of Brooklyn’s Best Known Getting Up

BSA caught up with the Brooklyn Street Artists Bäst and the Faile Collective on a snowy, pretty and serene Saturday morning on the streets of the People’s Republic of Brooklyn. While the artists assiduously jockeyed with ladders and stencils and paint on the sidewalk, the late waking Williamsburg morning unfolded around them. Friends and family stopped by to say hello, surprised passersby snapped photos, and a rumpled dog walker stole a glance while yanked down the street by his master. The 16 foot high industrial doorway is still damp with a panoply of pop/pulp/consumer culture images and text integrating recent graphic images seen from Faile paired with witty references to their buddy and longtime collaborateur Bäst. One of their largest recent installations, the new blast of monochrome stencil posters are sprayed on rough rectangular patches of white, arranged salon style in this brand new gallery of the street.

Faile and Bast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Images Of The Week 01.02.11 : From Miami With Love, Part I

January 2, 2011 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week, Florida, Miami, On the Street, Primary Flight, Week in Images

Now that the thumping headache from too many orange sodas on New Year’s Eve is gone, it’s time to regale little Baby 2011 with some eyeball pleasing baubles from sunny Miami. In early December many Street Artists converged upon this city to add to the sparkling traffic of Art Basel and to crush some major wallage.

Of course, not everybody finished their piece in time because there were parties to attend, booties to shake, and pretty things to watch workin’ it on the street. Dust settled and work completed, last week we climbed walls, squeezed through fences, and raced up railroad tracks to catch all the finished pieces for you. In the process we met some barking bulldogs and charming new friends, because Miami is mad friendly yo, and we even got some inside tips on hidden treasure.

Os Gemeos From 2005 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Os Gemeos Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tati (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenton Parker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lister Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chor Boogie and Kofie Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cash For Your Warhol (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bask (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tes One (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ephameron (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roa Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs ans Myla (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Cooper (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Cooper detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How Nosm detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How Nosm Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Right, because it’s for the breaded crunchy mac and cheese and green string beans your mom’s gonna make when you get home. Cause your momma loves you, that’s why. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader did this, or possibly that drunken tile guy your cousin Barney works with. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unlike what you have heard kids, smoking is cool. EMA+Will Barras+The London Police and Kid Acne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nunca (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Yago, Ron English, and Tristan Eaton (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ron English, Tristan Eaton, Mr. Yago and Nunca Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Surge (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: 2010 Year In Images (VIDEO)

December 20, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, Florida, Manhattan, Miami, NYC, On the Street, Queens

We’re very grateful for a wildly prolific year of Street Art as it continued to explode all over New York (and a lot of other places too). For one full year we’ve been granted the gift of seeing art on the streets and countless moments of inspiration. Whether you are rich or poor in your pocket, the creative spirit on the street in New York makes you rich in your heart and mind.

To the New York City artists that make this city a lot more alive every day we say thank you.

To the artists from all over world that passed through we say thank you.

To our colleagues and peers for their support and enthusiasm we say thank you.

To the gallery owners and curators for providing the artists a place to show their stuff and for providing all of us a safe place to gather, talk, share art, laugh, enjoy great music and free booze we say thank you.

To our project collaborators for sharing your talents and insights and opinions and for keeping the flame alive we say thank you.

And finally to our friends, readers and fans; Our hearts go out to you for lighting the way and for cheering us on. Thank you.

Each Sunday we featured Images of the Week, and we painfully narrowed that field to about 100 pieces in this quick video. It’s not an encyclopedia, it’s collage of our own. We remember the moment of discovery, the mood, the light and the day when we photographed them. For us it’s inspiration in this whacked out city that is always on the move.

The following artists are featured in the video and are listed here in alphabetical order:

Aakash Nihalani,Bansky, Barry McGee, Bask ,Bast, Beau, MBW, Bishop ,Boxi, Cake, The Dude Company, Chris RWK, Chris Stain, Dain, Dan Witz ,Dolk ,El Mac, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, Faile, Feral, Overunder, Gaia, General Howe, Hellbent, Hush, Imminent Disaster, Jeff Aerosol, Jeff Soto, JMR ,Judith Supine ,K-Guy ,Labrona, Lister, Lucy McLauchlan, Ludo, Armsrock, MCity, Miso, Momo, Nick Walker, Nina Pandolfo, NohjColey, Nosm, Ariz, How, Tats Cru, Os Gemeos, Futura, Pisa 73, Poster Boy, QRST, Remi Rough, Stormie Mills, Retna, Roa, Ron English, Sever, She 155, Shepard Fairey ,Specter, Sten & Lex, Samson, Surge I, Sweet Toof, Swoon, Tes One, Tip Toe, Tristan Eaton, Trusto Corp, Typo, Various and Gould, Veng RWK, ECB, White Cocoa, Wing, WK Interact, Yote.

Images Of The Week 12.19.10

December 19, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, BSA Images Of The Week, Gallery, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street, Week in Images

Our weekly conversation with the street, this week featuring Alec, C215, Cash4, DestroyRebuild, Egypt, Katsu, Kid Zoom, Kouka, KR, NohJColey, ROA, Samson, and WK Interact.

ROA had a brief stopover in Brooklyn from LA before returning home, and he had a moment to leave us a gift on the driveway gates at Factory Fresh in Bushwick (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cash4, Egypt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Katsu DestroyRebuild (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alec does Twiggy, Andy, and Graffiti (photo © Jaime Rojo)

C215 with Monkeys (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KR at Monster Island (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kouka (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohjColey enters the street as a sculptor for the first time. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Holidays sentiment, and the case for Collective Consumption. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here’s a nice lollipop. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This WK Interact piece has been on this wall for a long time. This time I liked the late Autumn light and the play between the climber and the stair case shadows against the white wall. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The mighty Samson has finished his mural in Bushwick (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kid Zoom’s Bear and Hands currently on view at the Opera Gallery Pop Up Shop in The Meat Packing District of Manhattan (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Images of the Week 12.12.10

December 12, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, BSA Images Of The Week, Manhattan, new york, NYC, On the Street, Week in Images

Our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Burning Candy, Deeker, DsCreet, Earl Greyhound, Goya, Jimmy Snatch, KARMA, Kill, Nineta, Paul Richard,Plasma Slug, Shin Shin, Skewville, Tek33, and UFO

Burning Candy Tek 33 and Dscreet at Factory Fresh Gallery (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A cluster of original pencil drawn faces by an anonymous artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Whatever you say, Paul! Paul Richard (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A B&W photograph of a boy by an anonymous artist. And by the way, Brooklyn trio Earl Greyhound Rocks! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Deeks offers this withering assessment: “Good For Nothing”. And there’s a little pink Plasma Slug too. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville sayz: “You are not in Kansas anymore” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Goya and UFO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Death Panel of some sort. Kill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nineta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dashing through the snooooww. ShinShin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KARMA “Be Kind To One Another Because Most Of Us Are Fighting A Hard Battle” Dublin, Ireland (photo © Jimmy Snatch)

The Simple Street Art Stencil: Cut To the Truth

December 8, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, Manhattan, new york, NYC, On the Street

“All I want is the truth. Just give me some truth” – John Lennon

John Lennon, a guy who lived in the eye of a hurricane of hype for a major portion of his adult life once screamed at the top of his lungs for something called truth. At a time when we are condescendingly shouted at to give up our previous conceptions of personal privacy for security and cookies, naked air travelers and torture victims and spillcams and spreadsheets and state secrets are now streaming live via the world wide buffet and everybody is seeing more truth than they were ready for.

Amidst the data storm, something about the simple, uncluttered straight-forward real deal is straight-up appealing. Maybe that is why the one layer stencil, however ornate it can be sometimes, is an enduring favorite of street art fans and artists. Effective visual communication doesn’t have to be fussy, filigreed, or high-falutin’, and some would argue that it takes real courage to let one stencil do the simple truth-telling.

On the 30th anniversary of Lennon’s death in NYC… We love you John and Yoko.

Miami 2010: Tales of the Streets

December 6, 2010 Art Fair, Artists, Events, Florida, Miami, On the Street, Primary Flight

Welcome to Miami! Now go home.

– It’s a paraphrase of the Christmas crabby New Yorker who relies on the tourists who pump money into Broadway and Times Square restaurants and FAO and who actually eat those hot dogs and pretzels on the street. In the case of Miami, Art Basel 2010 draws to a close now and one billion dollars are estimated to have been transacted. When you pair that figure with the estimated 2-3000 artists participating, it looks like the artists must have made out rather well, right?

Certainly there were more Street Artists than ever attending the events and transforming walls everywhere with their work and creativity – at least in the unofficially sanctioned areas. At the moment Miami is “The only city in the US where graffiti appreciates property value,” ironically says Mint and Serf, a Street Art collective visiting the tropical city from frigid New York. In an odd twist on the “broken window theory” and urban blight, artists who are normally looking over their shoulder can actually wave to and talk with police who are driving by in some run-down areas where they are given free reign over large swaths of walls. At this sunny moment in time various agendas are intertwined and one wonders how long this golden age lasts.

Street Art photographer and observer Geoff Hargadon took in the breadth of the week on the street and attended a number of the events over the past weeks’ art orgies. He captured many jewels and quick moments with his camera and his 6^th sense, which are below. As various larger pieces are unfinished right now, we’ll be going back in a few weeks for a year-end overview.

In addition to an intuitive eye about the art trends happening that impact the scene, Geoff gives a commentary about what else he’s thinking about: “Here is the other thing that’s a trend: property owners have their hands over all these walls for artists to takeover, and then suddenly they are leased out to restaurants, coffee shops, and other businesses. It’s hard to know who’s playing whom here – maybe it’s a happy co-existence – but when does the property owner step up to support these guys in other ways? (Unless, of course, it’s already happening.) Either way, artists are playing a big role in the development of these neighborhoods, and whether they know it or not, as the area gets more developed and gentrified, they will eventually run themselves out of town. Whether they are getting paid or not, they are creating their own extinction in Miami.”

brooklyn-street-art-cash-for-your-warhol-miami-2010-web

Images of the Week 12.05.10

December 5, 2010 Artists, Brooklyn, BSA Images Of The Week, Manhattan, new york, NYC, On the Street, Week in Images

Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Alec, El Celso, Faile, Kenny Scharf, Kouk, Robots, and UFO

The finished Kenny Scharf Houston Street wall has brought a jolt of flamboyant color to New York just as all the leaves have finally been beaten off the trees and we transition to grays. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This dead bird sticker has been on this spot in the Meat Packing District of Manhattan since 2007. Some street art is made to last! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kouk’s paintings of American Indians have been appearing in New York City – maybe they are a reference to this land that once was theirs before all the European illegal immigrants swarmed in? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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