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Spider Tag + NesPoon. Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. UPN Dispatch 3

July 12, 2017 Artists, Interview

This is the third year for Northern Norway’s UPN Festival and this year it’s on an Island called Røst and includes a collection of artists eager to do site-specific and environmental works – one evolutionary development in the mural festivals that blossom throughout the world right now. This week BSA is proud to bring you images and interviews along with Urban Nation this year at UpNorth, where the seagulls never stop calling and the sun never goes down this time of year.

This year we tried to focus more on installations/sculptures than earlier years,” says Gøran Moya of UpNorth Festival, pointing to a discipline within the organic Street Art milieu that is sometimes overlooked but is elemental to the spirit of free expression that one often discovers in abandoned places. “Spidertag did his light installations in a time where there is 24 hours of daylight, but everything turned out amazing!”

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

He’s speaking of the glowing geometric shapes inside of an old barn structure by the sea which Spanish Street Artist Spidertag has focused on as an enclosed dilapidated stage for this installation.

He began his string art about a decade ago and BSA may have been one of the first to publish it actually, transforming and framing spaces in abandoned or neglected venues, bringing a workman’s toolbox and an alchemists zeal for new astral formations in places where most had given up.

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Now he has been toying with this glowing string perhaps in the hopes that in six months when this place is purely nocturnal there will be a radiant reminder of the summer in Røst.

BSA: Can you tell us about the piece that you did for UpNorth?
Spidertag: I did 5 pieces in total; 4 interior and 1 outdoor. The challenge for me is that in summer in the north of Norway, there is no darkness, no night time. So, for my light installations it was a difficult…but I made it! And the wall will be turning on in a few month…

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
Spidertag: Amazing location. The old and abandoned houses made of wood were perfect for my nails and also to contrast styles. Was a nice experience!

BSA: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now
Spidertag: I continue to keep on developing; growing up and experimenting with my wires.

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Poland’s NesPoon is bringing the decorative element of lace to this Norwegian island, an historical patterning that one may associate with hearth, home, and the finer practices of handicraft.

It is an unusual element in Street Art, though not limited to NesPoon (New York’s Hellbent comes to mind), bringing a sweetness to the urban landscape that befits a feminine character, rather than the hardcore testosterone infused hooliganism that the scene may like to portray about itself.

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

We met NesPoon in Moscow at the Artmossphere Biennale last year when she was doing an installation focusing on the so-called “Precariot”, the current worldwide worker class that is made to be insecure about their jobs, healthcare, shelter, food, future. So don’t think this stencil work is purely about decoration – more likely it is about asserting the feminine into public space and claiming the right to steer the dialogue and set the agenda.

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

JAZ + Dzia at Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. UPN Dispatch 2

July 11, 2017 Artists, Interview

This is the third year for Northern Norway’s UPN Festival and this year it’s on an Island called Røst and includes a collection of artists eager to do site-specific and environmental works – one evolutionary development in the mural festivals that blossom throughout the world right now. BSA is proud to bring you images and interviews along with Urban Nation this year at UpNorth, where the seagulls never stop calling and the sun never goes down this time of year.

“We try to show a big spectrum of styles and have as much variation as possible,” says Gøran Moya.

Moya runs the UpNorth art festival with about 5 other people, he says. “Without these people this would not be possible.” This year Urban Nation from Berlin, including director Yasha Young, joined with the UpNorth team and co-curated the selections of artists as well.

BSA: How did this Street Art festival begin?
Gøran Moya: It began with getting Phlegm to paint a big mural in Bodø in 2013. The positive response to this made me think that it could be possible to extend this into something bigger. We have some great locations up here. Something different. So in 2015 the first UpNorth Festival was arranged in Sulitjelma, the second in 2016 was in Bodø, and this year in Røst.

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: How did you chose these artists this year for the festival?
Gøran Moya: This year´s festival is curated together with Urban Nation Berlin. We are just trying to get artists that we think fit the surroundings, but not in an easy way; Something that brings a contrast.

More from Mr. Moya tomorrow but now lets look at the two interventions from artists JAZ and Dzia.

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Franco Fasoli, or JAZ, has travelled to many cities over the last decade painting murals that often involve historical archtypes at war or readying for battle. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the early 80s, he says his studies in ceramic art have also been taking form in his mind and he will be doing more sculpture.

We have actually seen two of his sculptures in person over the last year: the emerging lower half of a military horse coming up through the floor at the Artmossphere Biennale in Moscow last September and again earlier in Berlin for his anamorphic multi-limbed wresters in the PM/10 show at Urban Nation with Instagrafite last June.

For UPN here in Røst we find JAZ painting a new stately equine image as well, and you can see his affinity for the depth and volume of form even in his wall murals.

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

BSA: This is an unique place for a mural festival – both because it is away from a major urban center and because the days are 24 hours long this time of year. How would you describe painting on this island this time of year?
JAZ: The environment in Røst is great and it is like a surreal dream to paint there- such an amazing place to paint. The contact with the locals is kind of limited, but there was a lot of super good energy .

BSA: You have been doing murals for many festivals and towns for a while. How is your practice evolving today?
JAZ: Right now I’m concentrating more on sculpture than before and I am working with new kinds of materials, new languages, pushing me away from the profile of only a muralist. I am interested in new views of my work, getting involved with institutions and using my background as a public artist to generate bridges between different art perspectives. The role of the “street artist” or “contemporary artist” is something that I don’t want to be too concerned with – I’m trying to not get fixed in either of them .

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Another world traveller, artist Dzia didn’t have to fly too far from his native Antwerp to bring his geometrically influenced feathered friends to this Norwegian wall. With a masters in fine art from the Royal Academy, Dzia only joined the mural game half a decade ago and his active animal kingdom has brought him opportunities to work with big brands thanks to a commercially appealing technique.

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Here in Røst the wood façade of this one-story barn building is a natural analogue to the aviary scene he adds, even with such porous material soaking up the pigments of his paint. Nearer the chopping waves of the sea, his illustrative COD fish forms adds color to a plainly white waterfront building.

He says he loved all the time spent here and the other artists and his hosts. “6 nights on the amazing island Røst, 115km above the pole circle and 100km from the city Bodø, Norway, all 24h daylight and a magic midnight sun!”

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

Isaac Cordal + INO. Up North Fest X BSA: Røst, Norway. UPN Dispatch 1

July 10, 2017 Artists, Interview

Today we look at new work by Isaac Cordal from Spain and INO from Greece, with each artist telling us about their street practice up north.

“I think it was very interesting as Upnorth subtly left its footprint without overturning the aesthetics of the Island,” says Isaac Cordal about his experience at the UPN festival. You may be familiar with the miniature sculptural interventions by Isaac Cordal, whose corporate businessmen have sold their souls and are looking down at the traffic of the city from a ledge, contemplating their existence, dread, and guilt. Partly social critique, partly comedic play, partly redefining public space and scale, Cordal’s figures are reliably surprising. You can see that at UpNorth this year some of them are evolving as well.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you tell us about the new figures that you did for UpNorth?
Isaac Cordal: In a way they are part of the same series called “Isolated in the modern outdoors”. They are covered by a blanket with the colors of the houses of Røst. They are isolated in the middle of the sea with no possibilities of returning, without a house, like a kind of shipwreck. Unfortunately blankets have become the street fashion for many homeless people. Blankets remind us of other times, of the devastation, of the migratory crises and of the human being succumbing to the hostilities of the outside.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Brooklyn Street Art: We notice that they look quite different from the little businessmen that many have become familiar with. What inspired you to change them?
Isaac Cordal: As I said before perhaps the idea is a little dense. In modernity itself we have intense reflections of the Middle Ages, there are still different speeds outside exponential progress, too many contrasts between rich and poor, the so-called globalization leaves a trail of images of people delocalized, confused in space and lost in time.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
Isaac Cordal: Working in Røst was an interesting experience since you had to adapt to the peculiar nature of it; there were not many buildings to intervene so that gave me the opportunity to experiment with its geography. With its 24 hours of light its landscape became something completely hypnotic at certain times. The hours of sleep are altered and the perception of time changes in a certain way.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now?
Isaac Cordal: I’m going to try to work more in the studio after an intense year from one side of the world to the other. Perhaps I will decrease a little more – until disappearing.

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Muralist INO uses a monochrome palette and a splash of color with most of his photorealist/surrealist figurative metaphors to talk about society. Not exactly critique, often the commentary comes across as straightforward observation, openly stated.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

An aerosol bomber in his teens in Athens, his hard work in his early thirties has brought his murals to many international cities and he says UPN was a great opportunity to address a favorite issue of late, our lack of privacy. The new piece is called “Photobombing”.

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you tell us about the piece that you did for UpNorth?
INO: The invasion of privacy in our societies is constantly increasing with the pretext that our lives are improving. This exposure may not concern some, but maybe they should think again about it.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
INO: It was interesting working on an island that has only one policeman and 24 hours daylight.

Brooklyn Street Art: How are you challenging yourself as an artist right now?
INO: The production of images that will remain on people’s mind in this era of over-information could be a challenge.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © INO)

Our thanks to our partner Urban Nation (UN) and to photographer Tor Ståle Moen for his talents.

See our Up North roundup piece on The Huffington Post

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.09.2017

July 9, 2017 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Culture Vultures, yo. Those folks and corporations and brands who don’t originate, but they sure know how to take. They’ve been around for millenia, but are always a surprise anyway. This week the graffiti comedian Klops leads the way on Images of the Week. He’s always cracking us up with his social/political commentary – like Mother Mary and others at the foot of the cross taking a selfie with Jesus, or his bubble tagged slogans like “Yuck. Poor People,” “USA, Why You Always Lyin’?” and “War Money War Problems.” This week his culture vultures took us by surprise. Recognize anyone?

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Andrew Hem, BK Foxx, Camo Lords, Dede, Drinkala, Eelco Virus, Golden 305, Influx Residence, Key Detail, Klops, London Kaye, ONO, QRST, and Sipros.

Top image: Klops takes aim at Culture Vultures, those folks you just love. One of them is Mr. Brainwash, but who’s the other? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Key Detail for JMZ Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Camo Lords (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eelco Virus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dede (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Andrew Hem. “Misty Blue” for INOPERAbLE Gallery and INFLUX Mural Residency. Providence, RI. June 2017. (photo © Damian Meneghini)

Drinkala for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BKFoxx doe JMZ Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sipros rendering of Dali as a dummy. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ONO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This actual wall appeared in a painting we covered in an interview we did with Laura Schecter last week. Below is her painting. Various artists hit up this magnet wall in Brooklyn regularly – and here it is viewed from the J train. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Laura Schecter in studio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Golden305 for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Summer 2017. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Largest Mural in The World in Vyksa, Russia, Says Artist Misha Most & Artmossphere

July 8, 2017 Artists

Organizers at Artmossphere are calling this new mural in Russia the largest mural in the world. They say that representatives of the Guinness World Records are considering its inclusion in the collection of world records.

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Courtesy of Artmossphere)

Celebrating the 260^th anniversary of the metallurgical plant in Vyksa and the 25^th anniversary of the United Metallurgical Company (OMK), the Moscow based painter, street artist and a graffiti-writer Misha Most and five assistants took 35 days to paint this 10,800 square meter mural this spring. Presented to the public as part of the urban art festival ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia.

Thematically, Mr. Most says he looked to stories in science fiction a half century ago – many about our current time. It includes elements related to scientists, chemistry, psychology, robotics, androids – basically stuff you see today going to the shopping mall, ad agency, or factory floor.

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Kirill Makarov)

“I included into the scheme six stories taken from the past and present of the Vyksa smelter,” says the artist. “I think the workers can easily recognize them. If you look at the wall from left to right, you can grasp the development of the plot: from small – to greater, from research – to creation, from idea to result.”

Organized by the Artmossphere Studio creative association, who continuously are pushing the boundaries of street culture, high culture, and community engagement, the winning mural was chosen from 260 applications from 34 countries to the “Vyksa 10000” open competition and juried by artists, designers and architects.

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Narodizkiy)

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Courtesy of Artmossphere)

BSA Film Friday: 07.07.17

July 7, 2017 Artists

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

Now screening :
1.Vegan Flava. Throwing Leaves Against Machines.
2. Andrew Hem “Misty Blue”
3. Laura Llaneli: 12 + 1 in Barcelona
4. Misha Most. Evolution -2. The largest mural in the world. Vyksa, Russia
5. Agnès Varda JR’s Faces Places (Visages, Villages). Trailer.

BSA Special Feature: Vegan Flava. Throwing Leaves Against Machines.

“We are exploring crossroads where different creative paths such as painting, video-making, dancing and music meet,” Vegan Flava tells us about this new collaborative performance he has just completed with his friend Mario Perez Amigo.

They call it “Throwing Leaves Against Machines” and it is the third video chapter of a series named Northern Street Sketches. This painting and dance performance took play at Subtopia in the Botkyrka municipality of Stockholm – the city where both artists hail from.

Taking place the same night that Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris agreement on climate change, Vegan Flava tells us that the video is “a climate action performance addressing the costs consumerism today imposes on future generations, and time is limited.”

Andrew Hem “Misty Blue”

Street culture and impressionism filter into the singular form compositions of Los Angeleno Andrew Ham. In this hand painted mural with The Avenue Concept in Providence, he tells the story of a child he met. The artist shoes how he mixes paint and speaks of his practice of going far from the wall to make sure the mural “reads” well from a distance.

Laura Llaneli: 12 + 1 in Barcelona

Back in June we showed you process photos of this wall in Barcelona in a posting entitled Laura Llaneli “OUR ACTIONS BECOMING THE POLICY”. It is an interesting concept of translating a short speech, a tirade actually, of a singer upbraiding audience members for not fitting his image of them -as if his self-image was derived from the audience. True, mom always said, “Show me your friends and I can tell you what kind of person you are.”

Misha Most. Evolution -2. The largest mural in the world. Vyksa, Russia

Periodically you hear a claim of a mural being the largest. This one by Misha Most with the folks from Artmossphere looks pretty close!

Agnès Varda JR’s Faces Places (Visages, Villages). Trailer.

A trailer for JR’s new movie follows his team as he travels from place to place wheatpasting photos of people to walls in their towns.

Ella & Pitr “Live Fast, Die Old” in Stavanger and Sandnes with Nuart

July 6, 2017 Artists

They are so sweet faced you would not guess that they are fire starters. French Street Art couple Ella + Pitr have a strong work ethic and a earnest dedication to fanciful flights of the imagination.

Ella & Pitr create an illusory metaphor for the #sandesarttrail, courtesy of Nuart called “Live Fast, Die Old”. Sandnes, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

With a touch of domesticity that may make you think of home, often they bring a child-like fascination with stories and characters; playful monsters and grouches setting at play inside a number of possible narratives, depending on your interpretation.

Here in Stavanger and Sandnes (Norway), Tor Staale Moen had the opportunity to capture them around the winding stone streets of the two adjoining seaside towns, adding illustrations in public spaces. We thank him for sharing his images here with BSA readers.

Ella & Pitr (Faith47 in the background) ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr ad take over in Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Ella & Pitr. Aftenblad Wall. Nuart 2017. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Tor Staale Moen)

Guido Van Helten, Mr. Estes, and Changing “The Nations” in Nashville

July 5, 2017 Artists

The great irony of painting a mural about the evils of gentrification is that you may indirectly aid gentrification in the process.

Guido Van Helten for Nashville Walls Project. Nashville, TN. June 2017. (photo © Eric E Johnson)

The up and coming, soon-to-be-hip Nashville neighborhood christened “The Nations” will undoubtedly presently have an ironically old-timey barbershop with Millenially bearded men wearing pocket watches and tattoos as trendy arts neighborhoods often do at the moment.

“You know I grew up on Pennsylvania Ave,” says local Vickie Gilliam Keeton on a Facebook post that addresses the new massive mural by Australian Street Artist Guido Van Helten. “But I’d never heard this area called ‘the nations’ till just in the past 10 years. It was always just West Nashville.” It may be a case of re-branding a former industrial zone for future development.

Guido Van Helten for Nashville Walls Project. Nashville, TN. June 2017. (photo © Eric E Johnson)

“It used to be Gilette grainery,” says the man who is the subject in the new soaring portrait, 91 year old Lee Estes, who has lived in the neighborhood since the 1920s – a time when houses like his didn’t have indoor plumbing. In an interview with Amy Eskind of Nashville Public Radio he continued “And we had another, Purina grainery, that was demolished years ago, but they left this one as a historical part of the Nations.”

It is a stand out for sure, this old silo, raising into the sky above all the others nearby. With the dignified Mr. Estes representing the past history of the area in almost sepia tones, it is a reassuring reminder of the areas character and working class industrial roots. Three Corners Coffee on Centennial Boulevard may already indicate the changing character of the area that the new mural joins. Describing itself as “a homey coffee shop specializing in great brews, friendly baristas, and vintage charm,” it also sells vintage furnishings, baby onesies, and dish towels and provides a retro 1970s domestic warmth for visitors. Nevertheless it appeared to let down one customer writing on Yelp recently who could not give it five stars. “Deducted one star because they were out of brioche breakfast sandwiches at 9am on a Friday morning.” From no indoor plumbing to no $5.95 brioche breakfast sandwiches is a bit of a jump.

Guido Van Helten for Nashville Walls Project. Nashville, TN. June 2017. (photo © Eric E Johnson)

This is all part of a mural project called Nashville Walls Project that has brought a number of Street Artists to the city to paint in the last couple of years, including Herakut, Louis Masai, Curiot, Niels “Shoe” Meulman, Rone, and Tavar “Above” Zawacki. Co-founded by Street Art gallerist and art collector Brian Greif, who produced the movie “Saving Banksy” in which he personally recovers an original Banksy from a wall in San Francisco, the Nashville Walls Project is adding a new excitement and character to the area that is approximately bounded by Charlotte Avenue, the Cumberland River, Richland Creek and the CSX railroad tracks.

We’ve contemplated it in our writings, debated it on panels around the world, listened to impassioned conversations about it in bars, this gentrifying cycle and the accusations lobbed at artists; this cycle of gentrification that the creative community unwittingly aids sometimes through its own industry. There appears to be a direct relationship between the positive aspects of reviving a moribund sector of a town or city with murals and the eventual rise in rents and costs of services that invariably push out the poor and working class.

Not surprisingly, the artist who created this beacon of warmth and humanity has the same observations that he has gained from his travels.

“I find the relationship between murals and gentrification conflicting, and in this work there is this conflicting yet harmonious composite of the two sides of social change,” says Van Helton in an interview with the other co-founder of Nashville Walls Project, Éva Boros, published on NashvilleArts.com “There is juxtaposition between a mural that discusses and commemorates the blue-collar demographic while at the same time being a powerful part of the change in the area. This is a dialogue and talking point that I hope this mural can create.”

For the moment, this new looming portrait is a fine example of elevating a local citizen in his community and a focal point for neighborhood pride, and Mr. Estes has enjoyed a great amount of congratulations in person from folks who have known him for years. Mr. Van Helten has also received much praise and thanks from people in the area in postings on social media. The young kids painted on the mural around the corner are also local from the community center nearby, representing the future of the neighborhood that many are hopeful for.

Kelly Evans wrote in a Facebook posting to the artist a sentiment that combines the sentiments of many. “From the bottom of my native Nashvillian heart thank you so much for understanding. Before I even read the commentaries and articles, when I stood outside your unfinished work, I understood some of what you are trying to say. This so strongly moved me. Tears of love for our fathers that built this “big little city” poured. My prayer is that we are not priced out of our homes we so lovingly built and raised our families in.”

Brian Siskind documented on Guido Van Helton painting for 17 days to complete the enormous figures. This is his record the final day. Mr. Siskind says he will be combining all the videos into one complete overview of the project shortly.

This article is also published on The Huffington Post

“The Head of John the Baptist” in a Water Fountain in Łódź, Poland

July 4, 2017 Artists

For a decade we’ve been saying that art in the streets of the modern city lies along a continuum between illegal, autonomous interventions and those that are officially sanctioned by institutions. In today’s posting from Łódź, Poland, we’re much nearer to the latter end of that continuum.

Part of UNIQA Art Łódź, a public art project that itself has metamorphosed from a multi-year mural program by (primarily) Street Artists on city walls to its current public sculpture program under the direction of Michał Bieżyński, here we have the head of John the Baptist.

Weighted with references to Biblical story of the martyr in spiritual opposition to King Herod and baptism by water, organizers also say that the sculpture commemorates the Jewish victims in Łódź ghettos during a time when their culture and lives were once blossoming, later destroyed by the Occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany. With the decapitated head as a symbol, one also may draw a connection with the highly staged videos circulated in recent years that purport to show hooded ISIS militants beheading people.

Sited on a pedestal in Old Town Park in its central pond, the location is in the part of the city where the Jewish community once settled, and the visual itself may be quite disturbing to viewers as it reflects a mirror image here until the end of the season. The artist Szymon Ryczek is a recent graduate of the Faculty of Graphic Art and Painting, Strzemiński Academy of Art in Łódź and the sculpture is made of epoxy resin dusted with carbon dust.

Previous artists in the sculpture program have included Lump, Etam and Robert Proch, Crystal Wagner, and Mona Tusz. The next project will be a large-scale sculpture by two Warsaw artists Tomasz Górnicki and Chazme at the end of July at the Łódź Fabryczna train station.

Etnik and a Poplar Tree for “Without Frontiers” in Montova, Italy

July 3, 2017 Artists

Stockholm born, Florence based ETNA created this poplar tree to rather levitate on a wall in Mantova, Italy recently.

The 90s graffiti writer who now often participates in mural festivals says he chose this geometric abstraction to represent the poplar tree because of its historical connection to this host city and because of the undeniable intertwined associations he also has with the architecture that these trees often frame.

Part of the “Without Frontiers’ project that ran June 19-24 and was curated by Simona Gavioli and Giulia Giliberti of Caravan Setup Gallery in Bologna, the mural project includes work by artists Elbi Elem, Panem et Circenses, Zedz, and Corn79.

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.02.17

July 2, 2017 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

4th of July weekend here in New York so we are headed to a barbecue and a frisbee game. Maybe to the Jersey shore for some sun. Happy 4th ya’ll! Looks like the country needs to take itself back from the corporate overlords – if we want to declare the US to be independent ever again. Right now we’re in trouble, gurl – and everyone knows it!

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Banksy, Clint Mario, Crash, El Sol 25, Felipe Pantone, FinDAC, Hopare, Hot Tea, Invader, John Ahearn, Logan Hicks, Mark Jenkins, Resistance is Female, SaxSix, and Sonny Sundancer.

“Junction” : Sandra Chevrier and Martin Whatson in Stavanger

July 1, 2017 Artists

Stavanger, Norway may not have throbbing Street Art scene per se, but it does have a lot of cool murals (thanks to Nuart festival) and a few favorite artists who reliably please the crowds (thanks to Nuart Gallery). This week opened a dynamic duo of the contemporary pop art side of the spectrum working in tandem with complimentary styles for a new show called “Junction” in the gallery space.

The line outside stretched down the cobblestoned adorable block and around the adorable cobblestoned corner! Montreals based Sandra Chevrier has been quickly garnering attention since debuting at Reed Projects in 2013 with her masked beauties and Norwegian stencillist Martin Whatson has been touching on the vernacular of pop Street Art and hand-tagged abstractions in a way that has developed into his own style over these past few years. The collaboration is an easy reach for both and the resulting ironic/arresting images that only this mashup can produce.

Here are a few images from the new mural they collaborated on to celebrate Thursday’s opening – the show runs through the 28^th of July.

The crowd waiting to get into see “Junction”, featuring new collaborations by Sandra Chevrier and Martin Whatson. Nuart Gallery. Stavanger, Norway. June 2017. (photo © Brian Tallman)

Event page HERE

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January 2, 2026
The most successful murals are created within the context of a community. Too often, street art festivals operate with little …Read More »
Happy New Year 2026 From BSA
January 1, 2026
Okay let's do this! The future is unwritten. Get out your marker.Read More »
Photos of BSA 2025 # 4
December 31, 2025
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of BSA 2025 # 5
December 30, 2025
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »
Photos of BSA 2025 # 6
December 29, 2025
It's not all doom and gloom, but sometimes you may get that impression. In New York—like everywhere else—economic stress, global …Read More »
Photos of BSA 2025 # 7
December 28, 2025
Somewhere along the King’s Road, punk hardened into a classic ‘look’ - or dictionary of ‘looks’. Stripped of its insurgent …Read More »

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

Spidertag. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Spidertag)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

NesPoon. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

JAZ. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Dzia. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst? INO: It was interesting working on an island that has only one policeman and 24 hours daylight.

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © Tor Ståle Moen)

INO. Up North Fest 2017. Røst, Norway. (photo © INO)

Top image: Klops takes aim at Culture Vultures, those folks you just love. One of them is Mr. Brainwash, but who’s the other? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Key Detail for JMZ Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Camo Lords (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Eelco Virus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dede (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dede (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dede (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dede (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Andrew Hem. “Misty Blue” for INOPERAbLE Gallery and INFLUX Mural Residency. Providence, RI. June 2017. (photo © Damian Meneghini)

Drinkala for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BKFoxx doe JMZ Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sipros rendering of Dali as a dummy. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ONO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This actual wall appeared in a painting we covered in an interview we did with Laura Schecter last week. Below is her painting. Various artists hit up this magnet wall in Brooklyn regularly – and here it is viewed from the J train. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Laura Schecter in studio (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Golden305 for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Summer 2017. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Courtesy of Artmossphere)

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Kirill Makarov)

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Narodizkiy)

Misha Most. ArtOvrag in Vyksa, Russia. June, 2017. (photo © Narodizkiy)

Brooklyn Street Art: How would you describe the environment working in Røst?
INO: It was interesting working on an island that has only one policeman and 24 hours daylight.