Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Good Guy Boris – Remote Sensing 2. ZEKY via Art Azoï. Video by Justine Bigot 3. DETOKS & GENOM, “Not Bigger, Not Better, But…More!” Via Montana Colors TV 4. HONET via Art Azoï. Video by Justine Bigot
BSA Special Feature: Good Guy Boris – Remote Sensing
The misadventures continue on the 1 Line in Athens.
“Athens now has that feeling of being wild and unpredictable – a little exciting or dangerous in some parts.”
And the voice…. it sounds so familiar.
ZEKY via Art Azoï. Video by Justine Bigot
DETOKS & GENOM, “Not Bigger, Not Better, But…More!” Via Montana Colors TV
Silvers! Rollers! Color Pieces! Oh my! Barcelona’s Detoks and Genom are on the loose around big highway spots and metro stops. They say they are not bragging, but they get around.
Something completely fresh today from artist Adele Renault, who tells us she is thinking about the beauty of nature more than ever. With this new mural of green leafy covering in Liège, Belgium, she is beginning a series she will call Plantasia (#plantasia) and will be developing into a new solo gallery show focusing on the plant world. It’s as old as the hills and the forests, but this new focus feels fresh to this aerosol master. We asked Adele how this new direction began to grow.
BSA: Millions of people worldwide are finally venturing out without masks, and many countries are opening up after a horrific year during the Pandemic. You are not an exception. You are painting murals again—only this time with a new direction. Now you are painting plants. Did the lockdown and the isolation make you re-think the direction of your career?
Adele Renault: I never really stopped painting, luckily murals were considered like construction, and most murals could still go ahead; we are fortunate. It’s probably the only cultural sector that hasn’t been completely devastated. Traveling was an issue, of course, and many events got canceled or perpetually postponed. What the lockdown allowed me to do (just like everyone else) was to slow down a bit, and for me, that meant more time for gardening/planting. That’s a passion that’s literally been “growing” my whole life without me even being aware of it.
As a kid, I always had to help my mum in her large vegetable garden, sometimes fun, sometimes felt more like a chore. But I was subconsciously gathering up all that information being passed down to me—the moon calendar, what to plant when, how to prepare the earth. And then, like so many, I lived in cities where gardening didn’t have a place.
Until I moved to L.A. and was fascinated by the vegetation at every street corner, everything and anything seemed to be growing. And then a revelation came when I realized I was enjoying growing things in pots, didn’t even need to have a patch or a backyard.
I occasionally went to help my friend Ron Finley in his garden, and that’s where I realized you could have a massive garden, all growing in pots if you are surrounded by concrete. And pots are actually fun; you can compose pots like a painting, put together different things that grow at different speeds or heights, play with colors and textures. So right now, I spend a lot of time growing stuff indoors in pots and veggies outside.
BSA:Why did you choose plants as your subjects? AR: I’ve always painted the mundane, whatever was around me. People, pigeons. I see beauty everywhere and in everything, and for me, it was always about showing beauty where you least expect it, but the subject could have been anything. It never had to be “special” to be painted. Now, yet again, the subject chose me rather than the other way around. I spend more time looking at plants from up close, and so I end up painting plants. But it’s not an overnight decision. The seed was planted a long time ago, quite literally.
BSA: Will you paint plant life that is native to the country or city where you will be creating? AR: Probably, but not always. I will repaint the mundane, like stinging nettles or a cabbage leaf. Of course, I will sometimes make site-specific installations, but I also paint what speaks to me or fits a building. Right now, I am starting to work on a solo show. It will be in Belgium, and I am in Europe now, but I miss Los Angeles a lot, so I will probably end up painting some California plants.
BSA:What are your feelings about the color green? You’ll be using gallons of it moving forward. AR: I wouldn’t say I like green. When I buy clothes or shoes, I would never buy something green. Or paint the walls inside my house green! But I love green in nature. I think everybody does instinctively like green nature, green plants. And in a way, when I cover a building in a green leaf, well, I m quite literally letting nature envelop and reclaim a bit of manufactured concrete. Even though it’s not eco graffiti and spray paint isn’t quite “green nature” taking over, but it can at least symbolize it and inspire people for a greener future. I am obviously not the first or last person to paint plants, and I think it’s one of the natural subject matters, just like portraiture. But I hope to bring something new with my approach.
Concreate Urban Art Festival, held now for the second time, has clearly taken over Keran Hallit in Espoo, Finland. Keran Hallit is a huge former logistics center currently operating as a space for art, culture, sport, and other free-time activities. During the next few years, the halls will be demolished to make space for a new neighborhood.
During the first two weeks of April, over 40 artists were selected by “open call” to create a unique mixture of urban and contemporary art to the halls. The art has spread from the inner yard of the halls to a former loading hall and office spaces.
The art complex is a mix of street art, murals, graffiti, and other art forms. Artists have created art both on the enormous walls of the halls and in smaller office spaces. The temporary use allows the art to be bold and creative. Together with the murals painted in the area already last year, the festival has attracted many visitors around Finland.
Highlights include Timo Ahjotuli’s sculpture that is rather kinetic and reaches into common space with complex precision, if vaguely menacingly. The contemporary artist says it’s meant to reflect the “infiltration of technology into everyday life. Additionally, a more traditionally “street art” stencil vibe from the late 2000s is recalled here by Plan B, who creates an installation called “Church of Putin.” The handmade hall of liturgical glory and heavy-handed holy music pointedly satirizes the long-term (or “Eternal”) president of nearby Russia.
Kicking off the summer season of many events for the community arts center, Concreate 2021 manages to create a sense of place for those curious about the urban art scene that has reached into metropolitan (and many suburban) corners all over the world.
Concreate 2021 was organized in collaboration with Keran Hallit and the City of Espoo. The event is also sponsored by STO Finexter Oy, Molotow, Powerlift Finland Oy and Estonian Institute.
As people across the country mourn George Floyd and mark the anniversary of his killing, many have been joining marches and memorials across the country and city. According to press reports, the nationwide unrest in the streets spawned by his killing a year ago was historic in reach and number coast to coast. That may be why the officer who killed him actually was convicted this spring – a rarity.
We’ve changed, but not enough. Regularly we are re-traumatized by recordings of violence toward citizens in an uneven display of ignorance and fear. We like to say we are better than this, but sometimes it’s hard to prove it.
Until all men and women are free, none of us truly are.
“People came to pay their respects to George Floyd on Tuesday at the site of where he was killed last year, placing flowers, some bowing their heads in reverence and others making the sign of the cross.
Vernon Rowland, a father of two who lives two blocks from George Floyd Square, came at about 9:30 a.m. to pay his respects.
‘Folks have talked about this place being holy ground and the suffering he experienced,’ Mr. Rowland, 43, said. ‘I see it as holy when you go and see the outline of his body.’”
On the occasion of artist David de la Mano’s second solo exhibition at Galerie Itinerrance in Paris, he’s painted a small mural on the gallery’s facade and shares exclusive images with BSA readers here. The mural’s title, “INTEMPERIE” is also the name of his exhibition.
David de la Mano. “Intemperie”. Paris, France. (photo courtesy of David de la Mano)
David’s work in monochrome looks at the limits between the intersection of mind and body. He shows the human body as it bends to the point of the infinite, never rupturing. In stark black lines create their own network of inner-contentedness, interconnectedness, of the mind and the body with vines and roots that keep it all together, strong.
With his natural figures, David makes it possible for humankind to inhabit an internal environment while exploring the universe around them. There is no fear for the fragility of life; his dream-like paintings and drawings are an exploration between humans and their psyche.
David de la Mano. “Intemperie”. Paris, France. (photo courtesy of David de la Mano)David de la Mano. “Intemperie”. Paris, France. (photo courtesy of David de la Mano)
The exhibition “Intemperie” is currently on view at Galerie Itinerrance in Paris.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week, where we are keeping our minds expanded and eyes wide open as the transformation of society and its fabric is happening right before us. We’re living in a bubble, or on one – an everything bubble at the end of a boomer age that will pop. Institutions compromised, media compromised, social net torn, leaders purchased and adrift. Late spring romanticism buoys us, as does the removal of masks out doors and sometimes inside them. New York is back, but its not sure.
And Jerome Powell finally announced that the dollar is in the gallows – or will rather be once he has successfully inflated to its ultimate death. No, we have no advice – No one is listening anyway.
So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: Aaron Hauck, Bastard Bot, Goog, Matt Siren, Mel, Mort Art, Neckface, Royce Bannon, Sac Sic, Samantha French, Stay Busy, Stikman, TNAW, and Winston Tseng.
Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada is working in a Spanish wheat field. Would you like to lend a hand?
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)
We travel today to the rural setting of Estopiñán del Castillo, a small town in Aragón, Spain to see this new piece of land art made by artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada with friends from Fundación Crisálida, a workplace that values the participation of individuals with intellectual disabilities.
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)
An artwork that is designed to grown and evolve over time, this first of three phases features the green of Spring time during April, at play with the earthtones of soil and compost. When it is in its final phase in October, this artwork will have fully completed its intended natural and aesthetic cycle.
Rodríguez-Gerada says this wheatfield installation is entitled “Nourishing Self-Esteem”, a reference to the interconnectivity of people and the interwoven nature of building community.
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)
“With their hands, the folks at Fundación Crisálida bake bread on a daily basis for their town and the towns nearby. Bread transcends cultures and geography, to unify in its simplicity, a fundamental physical and emotional sustenance,” says his press release. The two hands are meant to symbolize those of an adults and child. The artist says that uniting one to another creates family, community, bolsters feelings of self-worth, and ultimately strengthens everyone involved.
We’re looking forward to seeing how this project and artwork grows.
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Nourishing Self-Esteem”. Estopiñán del Castillo, Spain. (Ana Álvarez-Errecalde)
Video by Luis Campo Vidal / La Cupula Audiovisual
Fundación Crisálida with Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada, and Iris, Aleix, Martí, Cristina, Álex, David, Jacinto, Carina, Caroline, Jennifer, Esmeralda, Ana, Milla, Alén and many locals, create this work that will continue to change for the next six months with three interventions.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. SOFLES / Spillway 2. SOFLES/ Geometric 2 3. Abandoned Places with Cycki and Gienio via Dope Cans 4. The Day the Dollar Died 5/20/21
BSA Special Feature: SOFLES / Spillway
Did they say spillway or speedway?
In this edit by After Midnight Film Co, the low shutter speed effect ramps up the excitement of bombing.
In his comment on Youtube, Maxwell Morris says, “What in the actual f? Best bombing I have ever had the pleasure to witness. Pushing form, color combinations, abstraction, technique and motion and energy to a new level.”
SOFLES / Spillway
SOFLES/ Geometric 2
Abandoned Places with Cycki and Gienio via Dope Cans
In a return to smart sound and video editing, these two remind us how delicious silver bubble tags are. Satin sheeny and crunchy dopeness.
Song shout-out to Nicolas Jaar – “Space is Only Noise if You Can See”
The Day the Dollar Died 5/20/21
“We expect to play a leading role in developing standards for CBDCs,” ~ Fed Chairman Jerome Powell
“So, bye-bye, Miss American Pie Drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry And them good ol’ boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye Singin’, “This’ll be the day that I die This’ll be the day that I die”
We hope that “Summer Always Blooms” – and so far so good this year. If you follow the order of flowers blooming in Brooklyn you’ll know that we are in the middle of the peony explosion that happens every year just after the lilacs and just before the roses. Perhaps that’s what was on muralist Ouizi’s mind when she painted this new soft brush portrait of coral charm peonies in Bentonville, Arkansas.
Curated by Charlotte Dutoit of Justkids, the piece coincidences with the new Georgia O’Keeffe exhibition at Crystal Bridges, and you can see that the full pulsating expanse of natural blooms thrills Quizi as much as it did the mother of American modernism.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed being back in Arkansas for this project,” says Ouizi, “and I have heard nothing but positive responses about the mural. I even got to see the dogwoods start to bloom in real life!”
You are not alone. It’s a simple phrase that offers a lot of comfort in difficult times.
For one long, horrible year we’ve been bound to each other by one single catastrophic event: Covid-19. The Pandemic brought so much pain, despair, loss, urgency, clarity, and fear. It forced the invincible to their knees. It didn’t discriminate by class, social status, ethnic groups, skin color, or wealth. A Pandemic that crossed borders and forced us to withdraw almost completely from normality.
Throughout all of this, many of us, millions of us, never felt alone – and that kept us hoping for the ray of light. Hope for the day when we won’t be hearing the sound of sirens from emergency vehicles. Hope for the day when we’d be able to reunite with our loved ones. Hope for a day when going outside wouldn’t feel like risking death. Hope for the simplest of pleasures.
The Pandemic also exposed all of us to see the immense disparity between rich countries and poor ones. A vast and deep fissure in our humanity was exposed to the whole world when we saw images of people being left to die on the sidewalks, alone in nursing homes or their own homes, due to negligence, incompetence, or lack of resources. It may be years before we realize the damage of the Pandemic. At the least, we hope we have learned that we are not alone.
In recent years the city of Kingston has been hosting an urban festival that merges art and healing. The O+ Festival, headquartered here, has a holistic approach and promotes the well-being of individuals through arts, music, and wellness. It was during this visit that we found this piece on a wall on the side of a building. It caught our eyes as it resembled the style of Banksy. But the other characteristic that we noticed was that the unidentified artist was also playing with the words. They took from the ubiquitous “Your Ad Here” signs one sees all over large cities.
It could also have read “Your Logo Here”. Street art has changed throughout the years to become mostly a sanctioned art form with an intense focus on murals. Big and small cities all over the world have embraced the idea of art as a way to revitalize moribund old quarters of their cities and to bring a sense of belonging to an otherwise neglected neighborhood. No matter the original nobility of that idea – inevitably in comes commerce, the slogans, and logos. Then there is the slogan of the city or private organization in charge of producing the festival and suddenly a plethora of small logos and slogans promoting the companies that have contributed either with funds, equipment, or materials to the festival.
We are a society of advertisements, often prodded to buy something or to endorse something. Whether driving on the highway or flying or on a train or walking or sitting on the couch in our home, we can’t escape logos, slogans, and general advertisements. There are only a few precious areas left on earth without billboards and electronic signs. That’s why it’s especially jarring to also see them on display at art events.
Italian street artist Etnik has created a new “Botanica Resistente” in Rome to commemorate “Liberation Day” in Italy, which marks April 25th as the end of the Nazi’s occupation and the liberation from Fascism.
He calls the colorful and abstractly organic 4-story work “Botanica Resistente”, which he says may have multiple readings. Mostly, it is “A direct reference to the toponymy that characterizes the whole district of Centocelle – with its streets named after plants, trees, and flowers.”
As a story of overcoming great obstacles and thriving in adversity, he also posits that “in the mural concrete blocks, asphalt and artificial works succumb to natural elements, giving life to a slow but gradual reconquest of spaces taken from nature.”
“The work is representative of familiar urban corners, on the border, where between asphalt and concrete, spontaneous plants are in a constant struggle for survival.”
Completed in conjunction with the help and guidance of Mirko Pierri, curator of urban art for the a.DNA association, Etnik took about 5 days to transform this facade of the Liceo Scientifico Statale Francesco D’Assisi, between via Castore Durante e Viale Palmiro Togliatti.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
