The marauding crowd, faceless and multi-podel, rumbling with half ideas and mislead missions. If you have lived in cities you know the feeling of being swept along inside one as it hurtles down the stairs, up the escalator, through the lobby, across various stadia.
We like it because we feel like we are part of something bigger, something that must have a logic of its own. In losing yourself, in becoming one with these others, we are reassured for that moment that there is something larger and of consequence, if only to break apart again into one once more.
Isolation
and pandemic have scarred many minds in the last few months because they’ve been
couple with fear, but these events have opened a few minds as well because we’ve
had time to examine, correlate, critique, observe our own impulses and needs
and wants.
Artist Alex
Fakso tells us that he used to be an avid traveler for his work, relying perhaps
on incessant movement for his sanity – moving from city to city sort of
mindlessly. He says he may have taken some things and people for granted,
including himself. and the current world crisis has allowed him to reflect on
what was left for granted by many people including himself.
In his installation
for the disconnect exhibition in London, he says these ideas of panic and isolation
are at the core. A distanced exhibit, he’ll be happy to see you contemplate the
images of crowds placed here. He hopes it will be “a dive into a world which
has dramatically changed,” he says, and one in which, “as individuals, we
currently long to belong again.”
Adam Neate (UK) Aida Wilde (Iran) Alex Fakso (Italy) Mr.Cenz (UK) David Bray (UK) Herakut (Germany) Icy and Sot (Iran) Isaac Cordal (Spain) Vhils (Portugal) ZOER (Italy)
When Jan Sauerwald, Urban Nation’s Artistic Director, began making plans in earnest for the new facade for the museum, he was pondering what the art on the walls should convey. Given the difficult Covid-inflicted times we are living in he thought that possibly something fun and humorous was what Berlin needed. Indeed, humor has the power to provide levity, but humor is also an exceptionally effective vehicle to impart knowledge and spread a positive message without appearing to be lecturing.
So it seemed most appropriate to gift the denizens of Berlin a fresh, humorous new mural, especially considering that collectively, the whole city had just endured months of lockdown, and they are just now slowly coming out to play outdoors and drink some beers with friends in the parks. Luckily Sauerwald knew who to call. Dave The Chimp. A Berlin-based artist, illustrator, and skateboarder who is known on the streets of Berlin for his simple but street-smart orange characters shaped like a bean. He calls them “Human Beans”.
We reached out to Dave The Chimp and asked him a few questions about the artists he invited to paint along with him and about his experience being able to get up and to get dirty again on the streets.
BSA: How did it feel to get up after the lockdown? How was the experience of working outdoors for the first time in many weeks?
DtC: I don’t work outside often. My work practice is constantly changing, sometimes painting, sometimes drawing comics or creating skateboard graphics, writing the text for zines, and in the past, I’ve organized costumed wrestling parties, played in a punk band, directed pop videos and tv commercials, compiled books… painting outside is just one of a constantly changing set of fun problems to solve!
I personally enjoyed the lockdown. I started meditating again, I was stretching and doing yoga and working out almost every day. Sitting on my balcony in the April sun, reading, catching up on all the movies I don’t have time to watch, helping plug the gaps in my son’s education, trying new recipes. All my projects and exhibitions were canceled so I figured “ok, guess I’m on holiday for a few months, so let’s forget about work”. I realized that this was a very unusual time, so why would I try and carry on with my usual life?
Germany locked-down early. Berlin was quick to organize an emergency fund for freelance workers, so most were able to receive money that meant they could survive a few months without worry. This lessened the fear. Fear shuts down the immune system, and during a pandemic, the one thing you need is a strong immune system!
It was great to come out of the lockdown here and be straight on a worksite, mingling with people, getting dirty, laying in the street. After two months of washing my hands constantly, it was fascinating to feel just how grimy I get just living a normal life! We’re a bunch of filthy little monkeys!
BSA:UN invited you to paint the UN facade for the first time. In turn, you invited four artists to join you. What were your criteria for inviting the other artists?
DtC: Due to Corona, the new museum exhibition had to be delayed until September. They had planned to paint the facade for this exhibition with other artists, so had the city permit to put the lift in the street at the end of May. The crisis has meant that all government offices are running slowly, and a new permit wouldn’t be possible until early 2021. Jan called me and asked me if I could paint the facade two weeks before work had to begin!
The first idea was for me to paint it with Flying Fortress, but unfortunately, he wasn’t available. This sowed the idea of working with others in my mind and I figured “if it would have been fun painting with one friend, why don’t I invite four?” I chose people I like, and whose work I like, and that I could see working with the theme I wanted to portray on the wall.
Originally I had a team of two boys and two girls, but one of the girls wasn’t available, and I couldn’t find another making the kind of thing I needed. Luckily my friend Matt Jones had recently sent me a zine of his doodles, and I saw how some of these could work as a kind of ancient alien language etched into my Stone Henge “stargate”. I invited Mina to paint her powerful females as prehistoric rock paintings, got my skateboard buddy Humble Writerz to chisel the faces he bombs in the streets into stone columns, and had Señor Schnu paste his posters onto boulders. And then I added my own characters so it looked like they were doing all of this work! 😉
BSA: The mural has a playful tone to it which goes well with your character but it also has a message of a team effort in order to build a better world. Is that right?
DtC: I’m pretty sure we don’t need to use fear and anger to change the world. As PiL said, anger is an energy, but I’ve learned that it’s one that is soon burnt out. Much better to try and make the world a better place with love as your fuel. There’s an endless supply of love in all of us. Political action doesn’t need to always be a raised fist, a black, red, and white stenciled shout at the world. Why can’t protests be a fun day out, just like a festival, a carnival of change?
BSA: Can you tell us about the genesis of the concept for the mural? Did you have a brainstorming session with the other artists or did you know what you wanted and just told them your idea and they jumped into action?
DtC: I pretty much see complete ideas in my head. I knew I wanted to paint rocks, and I knew the work of the artists I wanted to paint with. And I had a week to work out the design of an 8 meter high by 50-meter long wall, with three doors, six windows, various corners, and parts inaccessible by the lift! I didn’t have time for brainstorming! I came up with concepts, told the artists what it was I’d like them to do, and then trusted them to do their thing. I had way too many things to think about – five artists with different schedules, a lift that took 20 minutes to move each time, and three days when we were not allowed to use the lift, created an organizational nightmare! Plus I had to try and paint huge structures that I’d never painted before, and 25 characters, all doing different things. But that’s kinda what I like. Painting is setting myself problems, then trying to solve them. It’s fun! If I know what I’m doing, how exactly to do something, and how it will turn out, in advance, then it just becomes work. Better to keep yourself on your toes, make it play!
BSA: Where do you see public murals/outdoor murals going after Covid-19 and the worldwide protests about racial injustice, racism, and police brutality?
DtC: I’ve always thought of graffiti and street art as a political act. It is a reclaiming of the commons. In our cities only those with the money to buy the walls around us – public space – get to have a voice. Advertising is designed to make you require more, to feel like what you have, who you are, is not enough. This is psychological oppression and we are exposed to it thousands of times a day. If we can use walls to make people feel less than, can’t we also use them to feel greater than, to inspire, to cheer, or just simply to help people be satisfied that they are ok? Like Picasso, I believe art can be a weapon to wage war. Bad people win when good people stay silent.
I have been known to make political work and to use a lot of slogans and messages in my work, but right now, in 2020, I find that I am overwhelmed with things that need to be spoken about, with things that are being spoken about, and, frankly, I don’t feel able to speak. Things are changing so quickly. It’s all too confusing. So I am trying to keep my use of words to a minimum, and to try and communicate on a more subtle level. The rocks in this mural represent our belief in the human-built structures and systems of life. The scaffolding, the planks and ropes, represent just how fragile all these systems are, as we have been seeing, and show our need to work together to make life function.
A mural like this couldn’t have been made without a huge network of people. The group of artists I worked with, the production crew at YAP, the lift hire guys, the factory workers that made the brushes, the chemists who brewed the paint, the people that built the wall, the people that cooked our lunch, the people that farmed the food for our lunch, the people that made the bikes we rode to the site every day, that built the roads we rode on… thousands of people are involved in every single human action.
The world is a crazy place right now, and it’s important to remember that we’re all in this together. Maybe it’s better we stop finding ways to divide ourselves, and instead unite.
The folks organizing the disCONNECT exhibition in this Victorian townhouse in South West London can confirm that this sensation of anticipation and discovery is exciting indeed, for anyone who has been watching the street artists’ work over the last decade.
Named disConnect because of our communal feeling of disconnection during quarantine these last few months, the unconventional art exhibition is breaking some new ground. Pulling the doors off the hinges in the library and popping them in the mail is one.
The pandemic show opens in a few weeks with the bas-relief works re-installed for the socially distanced attendees who can see it in person. It is also “accessible to online audiences through Matterport software, (with) each work further activated through an accompanying programme of digital initiatives, including downloadable artworks, online videos, virtual tours and an Instagram Live interview series.”
Adam Neate (UK) Aida Wilde (Iran) Alex Fakso (Italy) Mr.Cenz (UK) David Bray (UK) Herakut (Germany) Icy and Sot (Iran) Isaac Cordal (Spain) Vhils (Portugal) ZOER (Italy)
We’re thankful to show you these
exclusive images of the new Vhils work to BSA readers today.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week and Happy Pride NYC.
No pride parade today, not that New York needs a special day for LGBTQI parades – that’s simply called walking on the catwalk, err, sidewalk.
The US is officially a pariah on the world stage – banned to travel to Europe. Because, you know, masks. But dude, we’re like in totally good company with other countries like Brazil and Russia. It’s a race to be number 1.
A special shout-out and respect today goes to the creater of the I (heart) NY logo and campaign, Milton Glaser, who passed away this week at 91. Many artists on the street today are aware of his other contributions to graphic design and illustration in the last fifty years or so. Rest in Peace.
In street art news, downtown Manhattan is still largely boarded up, so artists are taking advantage of the new canvasses. You see, there is a silver lining to everything if you look for it. Or a plywood one.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Daze, DPF Studio, Dragon 77, Hek Tad, Sara Lynne Leo, and Stikman.
The demographic contrast is colossal between the stereotype of your grandparents and the archetype of a delinquent hooded graffiti writer who bombs the margins of the nighttime metropolis.
The mental image of seniors wielding spraycans in public is also a reliable feel-good community story that TV news producers devour like frosted donuts and one that makes you feel like everything is all right with the world after all. Yes, Covid-19 looks like it is killing off half the country, but just take a few minutes to watch Mildred maneuvering that Montana Gold with two hands to spray a portrait of her cat on the wall!
Is there any doubt that all is well and everything is going to be fine after all?
Truth be told, we’ve met a significant number of old-skool New York train graffiti writers who are in their 60s and 70s and who still occasionally catch a tag when no one is looking, so perhaps our stereotypes of seniors need adjustment. Not to mention seniors like one of New York’s most prolific street artists, the octogenarian Robert Janz, and Jacques Villeglé, the French nonagenarian who originated a style of on-the-street Paris poster laceration that pre-dated by decades many street artists who followed.
Here in Belgrade, spirits have been lifted by this month by what organizers at Street Art Belgrade and Paint Kartel characterize as the “first ever ‘Street art workshop for seniors”. They say that the goal of this new program in the Serbian capital is “to inspire and provide practical knowledge to participants over the age of 60, as a way of support for understanding street art and further creative expression,” they say in their press release.
Indeed, many of the images feature people of different generations working together. “Through this workshop, the older generations connected with the younger ones in a unique way and challenged the stereotype that street art is only for ‘young people’.
At a time when (primarily) young people have been in the streets around the world vociferating about racism and other issues surrounding equality, maybe more of our conversations about intersectionality are going to include our seniors as well. Most would agree that any program that fosters greater mutual respect is a positive step forward.
You may also feel a note of optimism to see stereotypes of graffiti writers, muralists, and street artists evolving; artists from the Serbian “Paint Kartel” crew served these seniors as creative mentors throughout the workshop.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. 1UP in Napoli “This is Not Art Anymore” Parts 1 & 2 2. FLW_IN – Open Letter
BSA Special Feature: 1UP in Napoli “This is Not Art Anymore” Parts 1 & 2
There is spraycation, and then there is the 1UP Family Reunion, which was recently in Napoli. Members came from far and wide to see one another and to spread the familial gospel in aerosol. There were rounds of cards, bowls of pasta, storytelling, backslapping, and some family fights about perceived slights, or girls. But as far as most dysfunctional families and their reunions go, this one was pretty tame. Yeah, right.
“The architecture
is chaotic and in the midst of it we are just walking around. Roll ups, roll
downs. Partying hard in the streets.”
“There
would be a lot less love in my life without the graffiti, without One United
Power.”
FLW_IN – Open Letter
Musician Joseph Gabriel Harris AKA FLW-IN speaks from the heart in an “Open Letter” about the issues of systemic racism and being a black man in a hostile society that is now openly talking and examining. An American now living in Barcelona, he has an inside/outside perspective that can help bridge gaps in understanding. Of note, he also leans on the talents of a number of street artists/ mural artists and the Black Walls Movement for background art in this piece.
More hippy chic and free-wheeling than you may remember, Miss Van brings her buxom, plump, yet oddly drowsy beauties to the Avant Garde festival in Spain. Evermore stylized and romantic, her feathered and festooned ladies have always had a mysterious sensuality since you first began seeing them on the street over a decade ago. Now as their dandy evolution swoons them to something closer to hyperreal, we may be seeing a merging with aesthetics of AI and the smoothly moving robotics of today’s science realm.
The raven-haired Toulousean street artist/muralist/painter brings here ‘Las Gitanas’ as the final of this three-chapter Tudela tome, a warmly languid femininity that washes over you, bringing you closer than you had imagined to the future. With June’s mulberry bruised skies above the rusted mountain range behind them, these pursed-lipped adventurers are given an added dimension of surreality from the photo-framing by gifted photographer Fer Alcala in these shots for Avant Garde Tudela 2020.
Jeff McCreight crosses the rubicon with this allegory of summer joy at Avant Garde Tudela 2020. The American painter brings these two jumping boys to the river to cool off just as the heat of July is arriving to cook us all.
When it comes to street art and murals, as you know, context is everything and this spot at Paseo del Castillo is the environment that frames your childhood dreams, and hopefully, one many child will yet enjoy.
Japan’s Mina Hamada has just completed her mural for the 2020 edition of Avant Garde Tudela in Spain. Curated by artist Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada and organized by Tudela-Cultura, the northern Spanish city has been home to a number of murals in the last decade or so from names most street art fans will recognize, and despite being in the middle of Covid-19 lockdown and gradual stages of liberation, this show finds no excuse to stop.
“Betting on culture is always risky, even more nowadays,” say organizers, but the results are solid. Three new medium and large scale murals my Hamada, Miss Van, and Jeff McCreight were added to the twenty-one brought in the previous edition of the festival.
Here we see that Hamada’s universe of shapes and color call out the natural world and environmental elements. Flora and plant life react to the stimuli of wind and water, with Mina interpreting her relationship with them all.
In need a calming yet
stimulating distraction during these tumultuous times? Artists from Schoeni
Projects and HK Walls have made a free coloring book for you and so much more.
They’re also mounting a
show in a Victorian townhouse in South West London as part of an exhibition created
during our Covid-19 lockdown and we’ll be bringing you exclusive installations
from them. They’re calling it the disCONNECT Wall of Fame and
it will run July 24 – August 24.
And here’s a sweet spot:
You can participate in the exhibition with your own work. Submissions of your
complete own creation on your thoughts and feelings about the pandemic are
welcomed; a quote, a poem, a drawing, a painting.
Adam Neate (UK) Aida Wilde (Iran) Alex Fakso (Italy) Mr.Cenz (UK) David Bray (UK) Herakut (Germany) Icy and Sot (Iran) Isaac Cordal (Spain) Vhils (Portugal) ZOER (Italy)
David Bray (photo courtesy of Schoeni Projects)
An unusual approach to most unusual circumstances, this joint London/Hong Kong show will reflect on the creative and physical constraints of the current global crisis, exploring psychological and political reactions to the crisis, as well as the role of technology as conduit between the two. Accessible to online audiences through Matterport software, each work is further activated through an accompanying program of digital initiatives, including downloadable artworks, online videos, virtual tours and an Instagram Live interview series.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week and welcome to summer in NYC here on its 2nd day. Also Happy Father’s Day in the US.
Juneteenth. White Fragility.Defund the Police. How to Be an Antiracist. All of these new terms and phrases erupting on the main stage of the public lexicon today speak to a fundamental disgust with the system that’s been in effect. As uncomfortable as it may be, our better selves know that the conversations and changes that have started are vitally necessary to have if we ever want to move forward as a society.
Right now in New York people are marching, protesting, drinking on the street, setting off fireworks, and holding doors open for one another with a new sensitivity thanks to internal bruising. We also see people disregarding safety precautions in the spread of Covid-19, and honking their car horns more often.
But on the streets, the messages and the energy and the defiance and determination and the comedy are all there, running on the hot pavement.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Almost Over Keep Smiling, Cash4, Chris Tuorto, C0rn Queen, Crisp, KAWS, Menacersa, Nico, Skewville, Smells, and Tag Street Art.
Black Lives Matter is rolling forward, quickly and unevenly, causing revelation, elevation, discomfort, and hopefully eventually liberty and freedom and equality.
Until then, big wheels keep on turning. Berliner’s Various and Gould are the duo behind these new vintage clip-art wonders that may recall the permutations of yesterday’s kaleidoscopes, although the images may be new. That’s the paradox baked in to the truisms that these perennial mixologists offer. Just think of these new powerful and ironic artworks as a mirror on events of this moment, with a through-line to the past.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
