BSA Images Of The Week: 09.23.18

September 23, 2018 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Biggie Smalls and Alfred Hitchcock open Autumn Equinox for BSA this week and we can’t help but think of that movie “The Birds” by the English film director where nature turns against man. Kiwi Street Artist Owen Dippie painted the mural in Brooklyn at the end of the summer and the mashup of references between the Brooklyn rapper and the dark cinematic thrillmaster in black and white may frighten you if you imagine those birds balanced at the end of their cigars began to peck their eyes out.

Friday night marked a new milestone for Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin there was a preview of the newly completed and opened artists’ residencies put on display. We were treated to the creative environments of 11 of the residencies with the first group of artists in attendance including NeSpoon, Herakut, Li-Hill, Snik, Ludo, Mia Florentine Weiss, Quintessenz, Sellfable, Dot Dot Dot, Louis Masai, Wes 21 and Onur. The museum will open its doors again for the museum’s second exhibition titled “The Power of Art as a Social Architect” this Thursday. Check it out if you are in Berlin.

So here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring 1UPCrew, Adele Renault, AKUT, Berlin Kidz, BustArt, Dina Saadi, Exit Art, L.E.T., M-City, Mehsos, Owen Dippie, Snik, and Vegan Flava.

Top Image: Owen Dippie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adele Renault in Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tyson’s Corner. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BustArt at Urban Nation Museum in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

L.E.T. Urban Nation Museum in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SNIK. WIP and detail shot for the new facade at Urban Nation Museum in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vegan Flava. Urban Nation Museum in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Crew at Urban Spree in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Urban Spree in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Crew and Berlin Kidz in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

M-City at Urban Spree in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

MEHSOS at Urban Spree in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dina Saadi at Urban Spree in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EXIT. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pizza Activism. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Akut. Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. September 2018. Urban Spree, Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister Confronts Picasso At Urban Spree in Berlin

September 22, 2018 Artists

After three weeks of willfully thoughtful sprawling scrawling figural historical allegorical and emotional channeling, the cannon spray of creative expression that is Lister smashed across canvasses, sculpture, media art, and the highest profile wall in the crumbling Urban Spree compound.

Anthony Lister. Urban Spree. Berlin. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Australian Street Artist/fine artist completed his residency in his own tumultuous style – and took it seriously; perhaps because he posits an action-packed new confrontation with cubism that lurches at the master, and perhaps because director Pascal Feucher has the scholarly depth and street/graffiti/urban art cred to organize an environment that contains and liberates simultaneously.

Education and experience may prepare you to contemplate Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles d’Avignon” and “Guernica” re-addressed, but Lister brings additional friends to the party with raging erections, water ballooned bosoms, superhero costumery, Damian Hirst’s shark and of course a pregnant aboriginal transwoman playing a didgeridoo fashioned from Coca-Cola cans.

As you do.

Anthony Lister. Urban Spree. Berlin. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The surreal is an open manifestation, a lense to view the struggles and signifiers that pilot this vessel, whether it slides smoothly ashore or breaks apart on cubist jetties. No matter the angle it’s an exciting violently smashing sensual ride ripe with skullduggery, masquerade and skewed perspective.

While the early 20th century movements of cubism and surrealism have been present in his work previously, these direct references to Picasso have come to fore with force only recently, even since his New York solo show at Allouche this spring, which is a more classical “Pop” Lister with some urban references, says Feucher.

Anthony Lister. Urban Spree. Berlin. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“There is a clear transition in the last six months, and maybe this exhibition shows it for the first time, between his traditional presentation of superheroes and ballerinas and references to pop art to something that references more either idols of contemporary Art or classic painters in masters of the 20th century,” he says as we walk through this spare open gallery planted inside an urban playground for graffiti writers, rock climbers, pyromania displays, beer stein swigging and late night chain-link fence pissing.

“The need to confront oneself with Picasso is something that a lot of painters do – because you have to, I guess, strangle the master. So it has to be the right time for that. You don’t show paintings of you referencing Picasso that clearly if you’re not super confident about achieving something,” say Feucher. “And I think he did something very important and it is very strong fight – and somehow out of the Street Art universe. There’s no self-reference here that leads into street art and that is maybe a good step forward for him as a painter.”

Anthony Lister. Urban Spree. Berlin. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Based on the numerous rawly stylized “Lister” tags on the street we witnessed over the last few days in Berlin, he’s not abandoning the street just yet. But borrowing a fire extinguisher from the 1UP crew to tag across his own works in this temporary studio and stepping across/upon multiple works spread on the floor – it’s definitely a hybrid of practices and references that coalesce.

The artist himself at times prefers the costume and the character, perhaps a clever subterfuge that protects his privacy from prying invasions, or annoying distraction. In the end as always, the work speaks for itself and these newest works are heralding a street hero fusion future we’re excited to witness as it permutates in the mind of Mr. Lister.

Anthony Lister. Urban Spree. Berlin. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister’s “Sneaky But In” at Urban Spree Gallery in Berlin is open to the public until October 20, 2018. Click HERE for more information about this exhibition.

BSA Film Friday: 09.21.18

September 21, 2018 Artists

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

Now screening :
1. Adele Renault Visits Tyson’s Corner in Jersey City
2. Monumenta Leipzig 2018: The Monuments-of-Many
3. Jan Kuck Kinetic Installation at Monumenta in Leipzig 2018
4. Dictador Art Masters in a Old Distillery in Colombia

BSA Special Feature: Adele Renault Visits Tyson’s Corner in Jersey City

In our own homemade video on the gritty streets of Tyson’s Corner in Jersey City, Street Artist Adele Renault ducks punches in traffic as she finishes her new mural of a pigeon.

Read about Adele’s new book featuring many of her bird murals and people portraits from last week on BSA here:

Adele Renault Takes Flight With a Message of “Feathers and Faces”

Monumenta Leipzig 2018: The Monuments-of-Many

A short tour of the monuments of many at this unusual exhibition in Leipzig. Read more about it HERE.

Jan Kuck Kinetic Installation at Monumenta in Leipzig 2018

You may need the didactic text here to appreciate the conceptual piece created by Berlin-based artists Jan Kuck at Monumenta in Leipzig, or you may simply enjoy the wax filled lamps as their light bulbs melt colored wax to drip on the pile of mirrors below. A student of law, history, and philosophy, Kuck has made a number of kinetic sculptures/installations like this through Bernheimer Contemporary at events and venues like the Venice Architecture Biennale, Art Budapest, SOFA Chicago, and the Deutches Museum Munich. We captured a bit of video with the phone while BSA was in Leipzig a couple of weeks ago to host the weekend of presentations and panel discussions.

Dictador Art Masters in a Old Distillery in Colombia

You may remember our coverage of this unique compound in Columbia this spring with a number of Street Artists from Poland, the UK, and Columbia. Here is a video produced by director Colin Day for the host of that event at an old distillery.

BSA in Colombia:

New Spirits in an Old Distillery : Colombia Diary. Day 1

This is How It’s Done : Colombia Diary. Day 2 – Process

Selected Scenes from the Colombia Diary. Day 3 – Moments

Blue Steel from the Streets. Colombia Diary : Day 4 / Interview with ERRE

Colombia Diary: The Completed Works, The Gold Rush, and the Jaguar in You

BSA + UPEA in Finland

September 20, 2018 Artists

BSA is excited to bringing you new works from Finland next week as we explore Helsinki and nearby cities that are part of the UPEA 2018 Festival. A unique model of mural festival that invites international and local artists to paint across the entire country, UPEART has quietly entered the global Street Art and graffiti stage without entering the fray: providing top caliber artists with uncommon opportunities to create works in cities for a handful of years now.

Waone Interesni Kazki at UPEART (image © the artist)

The full line up for this year’s stellar UPEART edition is:

Andrew Hem, Case Maclaim, David de la Mano, Eero Lampinen, Fabio Petani, Gummy Gue, Helen Bur, How & Nosm, Isaac Cordal, Jussi TwoSeven, Kenor, Leon Keer, Mantra, Natalia Rak, Pertti Jarla, Robert Proch, Sainer, Sepeusz, Silja Selonen and Waone Interesni Kazki, who poses here yesterday with the mural he’s been working on for 10 days

To keep on top of the action on the ground and up on the lifts click on UPEA’s FB link below:

https://www.facebook.com/upeart/

Urban Nation: The Power Of Art As A Social Architect

September 19, 2018 Artists

With Director as Curator, Urban Nation opens it’s second exhibition since last years’ inaugural opening show, entitled “The Power of Art as a Social Architect” next week on September 27th in Berlin.

“My curation is a play on Beuys and the idea or ‘radical theory’ that everybody by simply being a human is an artist which to him is the essence of what it means to be a human being: The deep need and fundamental ability to create and be creative,” says UN’s Yasha Young. But on the opposite end of the spectrum almost as a mirror I place the philosophy of Dr. Seuss and his approach and huge social impact via simplicity and compassion.”

In addition the museum is planning to unveil their Artists in Residency Programme with 11 artists invited to participate including “Nespoon, Herakut, Li-Hill, Snik, Ludo, Mia Florentine Weiss, Sellfable, Dot Dot Dot, Louis Masai, Quintessenz, Wes 21 and Onur.”

BSA is headed to Berlin to see what’s happening and will bring you an update soon.

Place : Bülowstrasse 7 Urban Nation
Time : 8pm
Date: September 29, 2018

Flyer artwork by Herakut

ASU Calligraffiti and Contorno Urbano

September 18, 2018 Artists

“Leave the rationality of your brain and listen to your heart, what you feel, what vibrates,” recommends ASU, the muralist painting the Contorno Urbano wall in Barcelona this month.

ASU. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, September 2018. (photo © Alex Miró)

Since he was a kid the Franco-Spanish philosopher-artist says he has been inspired by sacred art and in particular the great pyramids of Egypt. As an artist he also looks at his work for a sense of balance, and you can see that here as he fills the forms with an evenly weighted layering of gold and silver calligraphy; yin and yang.

ASU. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, September 2018. (photo © Alex Miró)

He says that he enjoys the public interaction when painting and he had plenty of it during the four grueling days he dedicated earlier in the month here.

“I like to paint on the street. People talk to you, try to understand, bring you some snacks, something to drink. It’s very nice to receive this kind of generosity, kindness,” he says in his posting on Facebook.

Now we are intermingling the spiritual and mystical with snacks. We propose that to get your mind in the right place while looking at this new calligraffitied sprinkled circle, you may wish to think of donuts.

ASU. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, September 2018. (photo © Alex Miró)

ASU. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, September 2018. (photo © Alex Miró)

ASU. Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. Barcelona, September 2018. (photo © Alex Miró)

Luca Ledda, Carnivorous Plants, and “Gulia Urbana” in South of Italy

September 17, 2018 Artists

“Gulìa Urbana” is what its called here in Mangone, Calabria in the South of Italy. Nestled in a wooded mountainous area and surrounded by agriculture and small vineyards, the festival for the roughly 1,800 inhabitants marks September as the end of summer and the beginning of harvest.

Luca Ledda. “Sarracenia Flava”. Gulìa Urbana Festival. Mangone, Calabria. Italy. (photo courtesy of Luca Ledda)

It features costumed reenactments of historical activities, tours through the snugly small winding streets, street demonstrations of the making of traditional recipes, locally produced wine, live music, performances, speeches, and of course some freshly painted murals.

“Ricoglitive !”

Turin based Street Artist Luca Ledda tells us his piece is called “Sarracenia Flava”, something he considers “the utopian relationship between humans and nature.” Aside from the fact that this is a carnivorous plant eating the sitter, you couldn’t agree more.

A character painted in a style one recognizes as Ledda’s, the artists idea of Utopia perhaps is the story of life’s cyclical nature; unless you are cremated after all our bodies will likely be consumed by plants and animals and disintegrate into the soil.

You’re welcome. Happy Monday!

Luca Ledda. “Sarracenia Flava”. Gulìa Urbana Festival. Mangone, Calabria. Italy. (photo courtesy of Luca Ledda)

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.16.18

September 16, 2018 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to the beginning of fall in New York, hopefully not the Fall of New York – although you can never tell when monetary policy is incredibly loose and we’re living in an “everything bubble” about to burst. Here in NYC people used to say the major industries were FIRE (Finance, Insurance, Real Estate) and it is probably still true to a large extent. You could add Casinos to the acronym today because the this falsely high-flying and treacherous economy feels like a giant windowless drunken room full of sparkly lights, laughter and speculative plays. CAFIRE! Totally made that up. Might stick.

Also this week Manafort flipped, NYC voters got clipped, Hieronymus Bosch’s “Triptych of Temptation of St. Anthony” is alive on the subway, and Loren Naji is living in an 8 foot ball of reclaimed wood from demolished homes on the street.

So here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring 1312, 1UP Crew, Adele Renault, Adopt, Bailon, Ben Slow, Daze2, Dede, El Sol 25, Jonathan Allen, Marshal Arts, Mr. Joul, Nick Flatt, Nitzan Mintz, Not Pinky, Paul Punk, and Sandra Chevrier.

Top Image: 1UP Crew at Urban Spree in Berlin. Anthony Lister is preparing his show inside the golden windows. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Hi Art Machine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marshal Arts in Berlin for Paste Up Festival 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dede and Nitzan Mintz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze2 in Berlin for Paste Up Festival 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze2 and Not Pinky in Berlin for Paste Up Festival 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1312 in Berlin for Paste Up Festival 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bailon for Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NYC Subway ad take over by Jonathan Allen. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adopt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adele Renault at work in Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Slow for Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Unsere Werte” (Our Value). Unidentified artist in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Flatt and Paul Punk in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist…or is this an ad? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Oh! One more thing. Unidentified artist in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Joul in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sandra Chevrier for Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Downtown Manhattan. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adele Renault Takes Flight With a Message of “Feathers and Faces”

September 15, 2018 Artists

For many the shock of Silent Spring was not that the chemical industry had run roughshod over the rules and poisoned our water, air, and soil.

For a large number of readers it was the fact that Rachel Carsen’s “fable for tomorrow” included a vision of the future that we didn’t want to imagine; our lives without birds, without their songs, their beauty, their plumage, their companionship, their resilience in the brutal city and in the great outdoors.

Yes, DDT was eventually banned in some countries – after its use was linked to damage to wildlife, birds, bees, agricultural and domestic animals – and to humans. 56 years after JFK included Silent Spring in his summer reading, his nephew won a lawsuit, the first of thousands expected, against Monsanto and RoundUp this summer – so obviously we’re slow learners.

Street Artist/fine artist Adele Renault understands our interdependence with the birds and with each other perhaps better than many, and “Feathers and Faces” carries the message powerfully by delivering these works she has done on city streets and galleries in New York, Berlin, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Singapore, Burkina Faso, Helsinki, Moscow…

We saw her in Moscow just two weeks ago where she collaborated with photographer Martha Cooper on an installation for Artmossphere Biennale 2018, which BSA co-curated. In addition to her stunning wall painting of a pigeon and Martha’s photographs of her pigeon photos during the last 40 years, the two of them created a coop, named “Coop’s Coop”, and featured Adele’s painting of “Martha”, the last carrier pigeon – that died September 1914 and whose remains are now on display at the Smithsonian.

Clearly, there are more than six degrees of interconnectivity in this story and literally billions of stories across the world of our interdependence with birds.

We share this city with pigeons. We look to the same environment to supply us with what we need, including food, water, shelter – depending on physical factors like as soil, air, a temperate climate, other organisms. Adele studies our feathered friends and brings them full force to the streets, and we know that here only the scrappiest survive and get to display their colors.

Adam Eeuwens takes his worldview and interpretations of the ornithologists and merges them with a stark assessment of the significance pigeons have to us in his intro to Feathers and Faces.

“As a spirit animal in symbology, the pigeon represents the values such as home, and it’s attributes of love, peace, grace, care, security, foundation, fertility, and family, bringing an inherent sense of belonging. The pigeon is safest in a flock, with the strength and support found in the community and in communication.

The pigeon is determined, nothing will chase it away from food. And of course, the pigeons are messengers, of tidings that one must be open and receptive to, as it is the nature of this beast to hold blessings. Being aware of seeing a pigeon, whether awake or in a dream, teaches one to be resilient, to find the comfort of home within, to be cooperative, compassionate, resourceful, loving, and forgiving. It asks you to embrace change.”

Art on the streets is a state of continuous change and murals are redefining our cities, drawing our attention to issues somehow overlooked in our movies and media. Right now, today, the animal kingdom is being decimated and humans are being turned into refugees in an unprecedented number.

Our ecological interdependence is woven into our historical, cultural, sociological, political, physical, mystical, emotional existence. It is fitting that the resilient Adele Renault finds the details of perseverance and beauty in the lines of our faces and the sheen of their feathers and the determination in the eyes of us all. It is our nature.

Adele Renault. Feathers And Faces. Foreword by Carlo McCormick.

Feathers And Faces by Adele Renault was published in 2018 and is distributed in the United States and Canada by SCB Distributors.

Click on the link below for information on Ms. Renault’s one day exhibition tomorrow Sunday September 16, 2018 in Jersey City, NJ:

In Situ Creative and The Ring Side Lounge present: Adele Renault: “Tyson’s Corner” (Jersey City, NJ)

BSA Film Friday: 09.14.17

September 14, 2018 Artists

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

Now screening :
1. “GIGANTES CERVECEROS” by Miquel Wert
2. Shepard Fairey and Johnny Cash on 50th Anniversary of “Folsom”
3. PasteUp Festival in Berlin
4. Yemeni Street Artist Murad Subay on Fifth Wall
5. Rocco And His Brothers Crash the the Party at The Police Station

BSA Special Feature: “GIGANTES CERVECEROS” by Miquel Wert

A year ago we were watching artist Miquel Wert balancing awkward family dynamics in Barcelona and today he’s painting about beer.

We enjoy watching the progression of the portraiture across these vertical fermentation tanks over about 375 square meters of space. Part of a private gig with the client, the artist chose four tradespeople involved in the production of beer to adorn these tanks in Zaragoza, Spain.

Shepard Fairey and Johnny Cash go big in Sacramento, California.

“When I was just a baby, my Mama told me, ‘Son, always be a good boy, don’t ever play with guns.’ But I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” Johnny Cash sings with some bravado in Folsom Prison Blues on an album released 50 years ago this year. Street Artist Shepard Fairey honors the album and here in Sacramento, California to raise consciousness about the outrageously high rate of incarceration here. “The United States has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of it’s prisoners,” he says, making you question the system in the Land of the Free.

PasteUp Festival in Berlin

“PasteUp Festival” Brings 130 Voices to Berlin Walls is the article we wrote a few days ago about this streetside exhibition of international paste-up street art. Here is a full walk-by so you can see it all.

Yemeni Street Artist Murad Subay on Fifth Wall

Doug Gillen takes us to Yemen where Street Art takes on the politics of the region and the war-torn life that has been foisted upon its citizenry. A brief overview of geopolitics followed by an Internet interview with Murad Subay is accompanied by examples of his work and Mr. Subay’s own recounting of his experiences creating work on the public sphere – even while bombs are dropping.

Rocco And His Brothers Crash the the Party at The Police Station at Monumenta, Leipzig 2018

One of the installations in the new Monumenta exhibition in an old factory in Leipzig creates a car crash into a local precinct. The graffiti crew Rocco and His Brothers have mounted the scene and we were happy to capture it at the precise time that the building security alarms happened to go off – adding an additional audio track to the troubled scene.

“Monument-Of-Many” Installation at Monumenta Leipzig

September 13, 2018 Artists

An unusual exhibition that combines works from the established to the newcomer, Monumenta was mounted by a team of about 25 people in only five weeks inside this cavernous former metalworks factory in Leipzig, Germany and now on display through mid-October for the public. A grandly soaring gesture that welcomes visitors to an austere modern re-use of the cavernous industrial hall, the space is now referred to as ‘the church’.

Flanking its grand red staircase are 100 monuments hanging on swings, a literal interpretation of the thematic “Intelligence of Many” called “Monument-of-Many”. We asked Antoine Te, who organized the monuments portion of the exhibition, to speak to BSA readers about his experience with the show, specifically what his observations have been of how people interact with the works in this unique space.

– Antoine Te –

The Monument-of-Many is a beautiful installation that consists of one hundred aerated concrete blocks that are transformed by 100 artists in the fields of visual, street and urban art to create their vision of a future city: an alternative urban space for a iconic installation.

I love watching visitors’ facial expressions when entering the hall…. their eyes widen and the eyebrow rises. Then you see the head tilt slightly back to they begin looking up, with Victor Fresco’s Angry Man sculpture staring back down. It is a grand space but each concrete artwork has an intimate feeling as it appears to levitate in front of and around you, giving you room to contemplate or confess which artwork you may like or dislike, or to simply experience the old factory in a new context.

This creates an interesting atmosphere in which to observe and speak to the visitors – which has been an amazing part of the exhibition. Even though all artists shared the same starting point not all have treated their monument equally. For example the artist Bea Puschkarski’s monument titled ‘reflexion’ and she covers her block with reflective mirrors, making it a piece that is frequently used for selfies.

As the hundredfold monuments quietly sway on red platforms beside the angry man, I also noticed that visitors tend to whisper as they walk around the hall, adding to the calm environment. Some visitors choose to photograph the original Pittlerwerke machinery, the halls, the oiled rope or the yellow crane hook. However my favorite is when I hear visitors hum ‘I’m still, I’m still Jenny from the block’ when they see the Jennifer Lopez lyrics.

Christoph Voy. “Jenny” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ultimately the Monument-of-Many installation symbolizes a sentiment that great ideas and beauty can arise from the intelligence of many.

Antoine Te. “Naturity” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SC Szyman. “Sz Cube” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Teresa Braunschweig. “Utopie keimt im Kopf” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marshal Arts. “Grave New World” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hemma & Silvan. “Log-In” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dino Richter. “Utopia” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Maximilian Zeitler. “3 Turning Icons” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Naok Write. “Material Time” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alina Debski. “Seeing yourself” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Irwin Suimuri. “Neue Karni Mata” The Monument-of-Many. Monumenta Leipzig 2018. Leipzig, Germany. September 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pop Culture at Citric Festival in Torreblanca, Spain

September 12, 2018 Artists

Celebrity, photorealism, illustration, fantasy, spectacle. These have always been part of popular art culture and have had an increasingly strong representation in Street Art culture, particularly in the last decade and a half as well.

Since the earliest reproductions of comic-book characters and voluptuous women by graff writers on subway cars in the 1970s, the chasm between your life and this art in public is short. From pin-up girls to stylized Dali’s to adorable animals, its the thrill of recognition, the associations you have with the figure’s back-story, and the familiarity with the visual nomenclature that makes it popular.

Audiences in Torreblanca, Spain have been responding strongly to these images for their local Citric Festival, and photographer Lluís Olivé Bulbena was on the street from last month’s events and he shares some of his shots with BSA readers. Our thanks to him.

Dados Punto Cero in collaboration with Asier Vera. Citric Festival 2018. Torreblanca, Spain. (photo © Lluís Olivé Bulbena)

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