Icy & Sot Stencil An Enormous Blue Whale in LA

January 21, 2016 Artists

Street Artists Icy & Sot are thinking about the ocean. More specifically they’re thinking about its largest resident, the blue whale.

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Up to 110 feet long and 330,000 pounds, the blue whale literally can go 1,600 feet deep below the surface and hold its breath for 10 to 20 minutes.

This brand new mural is the brothers’ first stencil to address endangered species and it took a lot of blade wielding in their Brooklyn studio this month to cut the maritime scene before flying to Los Angeles to spray it out. Their work often speaks of social and political ills such as homelessness, war, arms proliferation, immigration. This is their very first that gives voice to those whose habitats are regularly contaminated and polluted by industry and individuals.

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

“We wanted to use a species that lives in water,” says Sot as they discuss the special project with the Justseeds Cooperative for the Center for Biological Diversity.

“California has suffered a lot recently with their lack of clean water and now the oceans are often polluted as well,” says Sot.

“There is so much plastic pollution in the ocean too,” Icy continues. “What it does to the animals is really bad. I was reading this article and turtles eat jellyfish for their diet. But then people throw plastic bags in the ocean and the turtle thinks they are jellyfish and they eat the plastic. A lot of sea creatures have plastic bags inside of their bodies – they find them when the animals are caught.”

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

The brothers spent two solid days hand cutting the multi-layer stencil here on Melrose Avenue. How many pieces? “19 pieces,” says Icy. “Its not that big but it has a lot of details” The composite image features an enormous whale emerging from the sea in full view of a coastline packed with industrial forms which presumably are dumping contaminants directly into the waters.

As ever, the brothers crash into each others sentences while talking to us. “Whatever happens in the ocean… it comes back to us,” says Sot. “Whether is trash or plastics or oil..”

Icy jumps in, “The fish eat them and then we eat the animals and we have the plastics inside of us.”

“Yeah, It’s a cycle. We are all making a lot of trash – we are affecting the world. Then it all comes back to us,” says Sot.

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

In coordination with scientist Noah Greenwald and Roger Peet, an artist who has been painting murals for this endangered species initiative, Icy & Sot are contributing their skill to help raise awareness about our direct impact on the ocean and animal life.

“The goal is to paint murals about endangered species in communities around the country, near to where those species are found, trying to increase awareness of and connection between communities and their ecologies. We’ve done four so far,” says Peet, and he sights locations in Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, and Alabama.

From the mission statement of the project:
“Everywhere on the earth is special, and has qualities that distinguish it from other places both nearby and far away. One of those qualities is the biodiversity of a place, the plants and animals that call that place home and that maybe aren’t found anywhere else. Those plants and animals embody the history of a place and its future, and contribute to what makes a place special. Many of them are, unfortunately, endangered.”

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Recent news headlines:

21,000 Gallons of Oil Leak Into Ocean Off California …

Fracking Waste is Being Dumped Into the Ocean Off California’s Coast

Legal Petition Urges EPA to Ban Dumping of Offshore Fracking Chemicals Into California’s Ocean

3 Billion Gallons of Highly-Toxic Fracking Waste Dumped

Millions of Tons of Trash Dumped Into World’s Oceans

Our special thanks to photographer and artist Jess X. Chen for sharing these images with BSA readers.

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Here is the link of the project’s site for more information and to find out how you can help or/and get involved: http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/about/creative_media/endangered_species_mural_project/index.html

Thank you to artist Roger Peet for his assistance with this article. More on Roger’s work here: toosphexy.com.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Queens Hit “Top To Bottom” by New Mural Project in L.I.C.

January 20, 2016 Artists

The spirit of New Yorks’ 5 Pointz graffiti/Street Art holy place has popped up in the same Queens neighborhood where it was demolished in 2014, and since last summer more than 50 local and international aerosol artists have been hitting a new project “Top to Bottom”.

brooklyn-street-art-icy-sot-arts-org-LIC-jaime-rojo-01-16-web

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The choice of “Top to Bottom”, a graffiti term that recalls 1970s trains painted their entire height, is no mistake as creative director James P. Quinn reveres the classic style and histories of those original writers like internationally and institutionally celebrated artists Crash and Daze, who have collaborated on a mural here.

Additionally, in yet another sign that the celebration of art on the streets is ever more ecumenical, Quinn and his project lead Geoff Kuffner are bringing the newer Street Artists who are expanding and defining the current era for art in the streets like Case Ma’Claim and Rubin 415. Not surprisingly, both of these artists started in graffiti, as did nearly every name here.

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I felt like a comfortable amount of space should be allocated to certain styles,” says Quinn as he describes the process of parceling out spots for the façade and roof of the 124,000-square-foot former warehouse. Truthfully, he tells us, not all the surfaces and shapes are attractive to graffiti artists, so a variety of styles is best.

“I tried to fit them in where I felt that graff writers could enjoy themselves and do something expansive. There are only a couple of spaces here that fit the epic, horizontally spaced forms of style writing. There are a lot of strange shapes to navigate as a painter here, rather than easy space to develop style as a writer.”

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Quinn and Kuffner give a couple of visitors a tour around the entire block on a gray day where heavy fog hangs in the air obscuring the top half of Manhattan and they excitedly recall stories about the many installations in this first project of their newly formed Arts Org NYC. Using the word “garden” often, Quinn reiterates that this project for them is a “proof of concept” for bigger projects that will spread further through the city. “Ultimately I’m approaching it as a mural project,” says Quinn, who has organized mural programs a number of times since the 1990s. “It’s just a beginning.”

Street Art has evolved into districts of murals in cities as a gentrification device in the last five years and despite the critique that it is often used for economic development, many urban art watchers would also agree that we’re in the middle of a renaissance of public/private art. Quinn says he wants to capture part of the public’s new interest and make it grow. “I’d like to leverage the current hype and acceptance of mural painting to open up doors to people – old women, young kids, everybody.”

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The neighborhood itself feels like it is in transition but it is not clear where it is heading. With Silvercup Studios and the number 7 subway line nearby and MoMA PS1 within a 10 minute walk, a quick survey reveals mixed light industry, sweatshops, corner delis, and the occasional strip club. Below the off-ramp of the Queensboro Bridge, which sweeps past the “Top to Bottom” exhibition, you will see first and second generation immigrants from the areas’ latin and African communities walking by, and Quinn reminds you that the Queensbridge Projects where Hip-Hop storyteller NAS grew up is just a short walk from here.

Conversation turns to plans for more focused programming on the walls in Phase II, possible fine art shows with local gallery spaces, and ultimately a city-wide mural project that offers art and art-making to greater audiences, including school kids.

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I do feel like murals get focused in certain locations but I feel like the entire city as a whole is still suffering. Huge demographics aren’t getting the painting,” he says, invoking the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. “I feel like my ‘I Have a Dream’ speech about this project is that I hope it gets to the point where 10 year-olds can have as much access to a neighborhood as developers.”

Does he think that projects like this are pawns for business interests to draw investments into the neighborhood and push poorer populations out? “You can debate whether or not we are opening the way for more shiny condos… but that shit is happening whether we do this or not. For me the importance is keeping us here; So we’re not totally pushed out 30-45 minutes away from here”

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Because of its proximity to the now destroyed 5 Pointz, where hundreds, perhaps thousands, of urban artists painted a much larger block repeatedly for two decades, we ask Quinn if he’s concerned with comparisons.

“I’ve always managed other projects like this in my own style and my own way. There are comparable aspects and I have nothing but a huge sensitivity and respect for Meres and 5 Pointz,” he says, referring to the artist and de facto director of the hallowed spot. “It’s comparable only because it’s a building and it’s in Long Island City. But this is only a jump-off. I want to do way more projects like this across the city.”

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As the business partners walk past new pieces by DMote, Li-Hill, Icy & Sot, and Jick, the topic of the historically strained relationship between graffiti writers and Street Artists appears to be addressed head-on by the project by the inclusion of all manner of painter. The guys say that it is less of an issue than some people would have you think. As a long-time artist and muralist and curator of projects like this, Quinn says he’s over the supposed rivalry of the two camps, and sees mainly just one camp these days.

“I don’t know what the fans of graffiti or Street Art have any problem with. To me it’s all awesome.”

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alexandre Keto (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EGS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Binho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cekis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NEVER and Dirty Bandits (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sean9Lugo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zumi (photo © Jaime Rojo)

PORK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Key Details (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes Two (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kans115 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze . Crash (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Erasmo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more about ArtsOrg please go to www.artsorg.nyc.

#ArtsOrgNYC and @artsorg on Instagram

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

Alan KET Brings You “Urban Art Legends”

January 19, 2016 Artists

A new hard cover book by Alan Ket aka KET One will be released next month that spotlights a select group of artists from both the graffiti and Street Art scenes, people whom KET calls “Urban Art Legends”.

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“This book is about the artists who have pioneered, promoted and transformed this ‘other’ art world,” says the author, himself a graffiti writer, artist, curator, activist, advisor and entrepreneur. What is fresh about his approach is the egalitarian respect that is given to artists regardless of their genre or associated scene, something we have always tried to balance as well amid a sometimes turbulent volley of antagonism that can sometimes distinguish graffiti/street art discourse.

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here “Urban Art Legends” focuses on a short list of widely agreed upon influencers of art in the streets throughout the last half century – since the early gang and tagging days of the late 60s in NY/Philly/LA through its various evolutions of the figurative, cartoon-inspired, Wild Style, symbolist, and abstract iterations to its intersections with fine art and DIY movements and pop, politics, illustration, duplication, and multiples. He’s right, this is the ‘other’ art world – and we daily see signs that it is seriously altering the more conventional contemporary art world, sometimes remaking it in its image.

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With names as varied as Crash, Cost, Blade, ROA, Lee, Banksy, Sane Smith, Faith47, Daze, Nick Walker, and Kase2 – “Urban Art Legends” reaches its arms wide to encompass style masters and stencil masters, each with a brief bio, overview and rationale for their “Legendary Status”. Consider it a primer that adds further rich detail to the canon. KET freely concedes “This is not the definitive book on urban street art. The world of street art is so dynamic and fast-paced that the story is still being lived out,” and elsewhere he says, “there are many more who deserve recognition.”

With that in mind, KET has beautifully captured many important artists and their stories in “Urban Art Legends”

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New Yorkers will have an opportunity to meet the author and two of those legends on February 9th at the Museum of the City of New York. DAZE and Nick Walker will join KET to discuss KET’s new book and visitors can also see the new show Chris “Daze” Ellis: The City is My Muse.

March 2nd it will be BSA and Daze in conversation at the museum so you can put that in your calendar as well.

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Urban Art Legends” by KET published by Lom Art. London 2015
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“Hate cannot drive out hate” : Martin Luther King Jr.

January 18, 2016 Artists

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

~ Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr by The Dude Company (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 01.17.16

January 17, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

This week David Bowie died. There isn’t much more for us to say.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Axe Colours, Faile, Homo Riot, J Morello, Jorge Rodriguez Gerarda, Jules Muck, KAS, London Kaye, Marina Capdivila, Nueks, SacSix, and Verb Five.

Top Image: London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Bowie organic memorial outside his and Iman’s apartment building in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kas. “The Kiss” Brussels, Belgium. (photo © Kas)

Verb Five (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Axe Colours paints a tribute to soccer star Lionel Messi on account of his Golden Ball award in Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda in Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Nueks (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kabuki faces in SOHO by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Homo Riot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

J. Morello with Jules Muck. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marina Capdevila in Miami, Florida. (photo © Marina Capdevila)

FAILE window dressing in SOHO. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan skyline. January 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki Pull You in With “Sacred Gravitation”

January 16, 2016 Artists

Ukrainian duo Interesni Kazki are as understated in person as they are fantastic in their illustrative paintings. Aleksei Bordusov and Vladimir Manzhos may offer insight into their process and thematic development when prodded, but they prefer that you travel within the stories they have created unencumbered by their perceptions.

Interesni Kazki “The Last Day of Babylon” (AEC) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Their new show, “Sacred Gravitation” at Manhattan’s Jonathan Levine Gallery plunges viewers into an open window of gods and monsters using a pungent and crisp graphic neo-psychedelia style that recalls rock double album covers of the 1970s and fully rendered computer animation worlds in the early 2000s. On the other side of these large looking glasses are tales told with allegory and metaphor, of blindness and revelation, politics and corruption, eternity and memory, suffering and transformation, conflict and guile, the natural world and the spiritual one.

Interesni Kazki “Spark Of Life” (WAONE) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Not fully mythic nor folkloric, theirs is a unique contemporary style that welcomes and escorts the viewer instantly to enter, much like their large scale murals on city walls in Eastern Europe, the US, Australia, South Africa, and elsewhere over the last decade and a half. Showing a genuine evolution and mastery of technique, this paintings in person create such a sense of dimension that you may long for your arms to be transformed into wings to more fully explore.

Interesni Kazki “The Great Colonizer” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “The Genesis” Detail. (AEC) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “Temple of Time” Detail. (AEC) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “Sacred Gravitations” is currently on view at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in Manhattan. Click HERE for further information.

BSA Film Friday 01.15.16

January 15, 2016 Artists

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

Now screening :

1. A time lapse of sunny skies and weaves: Damian Fulton
2. The Perfect Day in Cambodia
3. PUN18 1985-2016 In Memoriam
4. Zheani X Shida Collaborate

BSA Special Feature: Damian Fulton

A time lapse of sunny skies and weaves — “It’s such a righteous image that once you see it you go “YES!” Got it!” “I want that,” says Greg Escalonte, co-founder of Juxtapoz. He’s speaking to the gut reaction that California surf culture folks have when they see the new piece by Damian Fulton. Also, there’s a dream sequence!

The Perfect Day in Cambodia

This looks like a trailer for a larger piece:

Artist David Choe writes “This trip to Cambodia was not a news trip, we were there strictly to spread the message of love, light, beauty, joy, free expression and creativity. I didn’t realize how many millions of musicians, artists, writers and creative people had been murdered in the Cambodian genocide, so I wanted to bring the best artists in the world to Cambodia, a country that has virtually no murals or street art. Our goal, working through the #IglooHong Foundation, was simple: to spread some light, joy and beauty to a country with such a dark past.”

PUN18 1985-2016 In Memoriam

A small collection of video pieces from the recently passed psychadelic graffiti writer/ Street Artist Pun18 from Puerto Rico by his friends at TostFilms.

“Every moment that passes is one of learning and value all that we have, so Pun18: Today is a day to celebrate your life and all the moments I shared with you. Thanks for including me and count on me for all the inventions had. With great respect and love I dedicate this short video of some of those moments we shared . I will miss you very much and continue forward like you taught me well . I love you like a brother. Rest in peace.”

Zheani X Shida Collaborate

Berliner Shida is experimenting with some digital op art in this little promo video for his collaboration with Zheani Sparkes. It’s interesting to see how his street work is also reflected in this interpretation in video

Specter, El Sol 25, and Russell Murphy “Putting It In” 17 Frost Gallery Tonight

January 14, 2016 Artists, Interview

17 Frost was living up to its name last night when we caught up with Specter and El Sol 25 preparing their new 3 man show with Russell Murphy. It was a frigid night but we didn’t mind. The guys were busy putting up lights, hanging the art and drinking beers; All good things. We were taking pictures and making sure we didn’t step on a painting or a tool or a beer can.

Putting It In, Rejection Therapy, Street Smart

The year has just barely begun and already this show has had three names.

We’ll go for the first one because the three artists have been putting it in on the street for a number of years – the work that is. And by work we mean illegal and legal art work on the streets of New York for much of the 2000s, and probably more. According to the manifesto/show description in their press release they each are somewhat sick of what they perceive as a softening of the game thanks to the cliche toothlessness and sweetness of the current “Street Art” scene. Hell, BSA is probably part of the problem in the estimation of many renegades on the streets.

Specter. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As you walk around this former garage space that now houses art and performance, it is striking how disparate these three individual styles are, yet they all work on the street. Massive painterly abstracts, idiosyncratic collaged portraits, and gritty pop-naive symbolism together in one room. What the artists say to have in common is a reverence for the graffiti lifestyle and each is not eager to do pleasing work just to cash in on a “trend”.

We had the opportunity to speak with Specter and El Sol 25 while they prepared the show.

“I think we all have different ideas in mind,” says Specter as he balances on the top few rungs of a ladder to adjust the clip-on light to an exposed pipe, flooding a 12 foot by 12 foot abstract canvas over the roll down gate at the front of the gallery. “We have three very different artists coming together who have very different approaches and styles that we are doing – but the commonality is that addiction to wanting to do things illegally,” he says. “It’s not that we’re trying to be anarchists, we still know that we are a part of the system, but we’re still like ‘Fuck you guys, we’re not worried about what you think or whether you like it or not’. We just do it because it’s that statement, that beauty of being able to express yourself.”

Specter. Installation shot. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The canvas he has illuminated is like many of the billboard takeovers he has been doing this past year – a deliberate disruption in the commercial-larded cityscape with artful abstraction. Despite its execution without permission, you might not typically associate this artwork with badass rebellion, but in a slickly perverse way it is – upending the steady stream of ads wherever we turn.

As El Sol 25 chases his winter-bundled toddler across the gallery, hoping to catch him before he tries to eat nails from a paper cup or puncture a canvas with a T-square, Specter talks about these enormous works he creates now suspended in the space and he says he swears by the material he is using to make them with.

“Polytab, or parachute cloth is awesome because I’ve figured out so many different ways to use it. There are so many different types of ways to paint on it – transfers, dyes, dye cuts, stencils – I mean there are just endless amounts of stuff that I’ve done with it. Probably the most versatile material that I’ve used,” he says.

“This one is a mixed-media collage – there is commercial material already printed, then hand painted. I call it mixed media because of the amount of different techniques that are involved with it before it’s done. There are probably 25 different techniques just on this one piece – you have the material, all the different effects, the layers of pieces on top of it, the transparencies, the hand painting, screens. I use this stuff all over the street too.”

Specter. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 is moving large painted wood panels around on the wall alongside an impressive gallery of his original collaged miniatures. The wood panels are an interesting life-cycle installation because each has run illegally on the street. Now he has retrieved them to display here – a rare case where a gallery show contains actual street art, instead of new gallery work by a Street Artist.

Brooklyn Street Art: The truth is you don’t actually do too much work on the street. You do 98% of the work in your studio and then you put it up on the street whereas many graffiti writers like Cash4 for example, do a lot of their work while on the street. Is that right?
El Sol 25 : Yes, he works “in the moment”. I tend to be a little more calculated with my risks but he just tends to just go with it and go crush all the time. Like most graffiti writers have that mentality. I think I think I enjoy living through my friends like that because I just don’t have the balls to take those risks anymore.

These small scale collages are the genesis and the process for El Sol 25 to produce his larger pieces. Most of the pieces shown here have been created for the streets. El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Why do you think that is?
El Sol25: I think because I have a kid and I have experienced that stuff. I realize that I had my fun and I’m not that tough. I’m not going to kid myself. I’m not going to go out and try and hit the ground running so to speak. I’ve always thought that unless you are going hard with graffiti in New York, then you shouldn’t go at all. It’s like whispering in a room full of people shouting. You gotta go hard and you gotta go big. I’m not a big fish in a pond like I used to be when I was young. I wanted to go hard, I wanted to be like Nekst, doing huge pieces and just do hollows and tags.

We notice that looking at the multitude of smaller collages from which the larger paintings are derived, you realize that many of them are the actual studies for the larger pieces you have seen on Brooklyn Streets. In fact one of his collectors has loaned a large number of his older ones to El Sol 25 for this show exclusively, making it a rather rare opportunity for you to see this work while they are still feeling like generously sharing them.

El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: When you are making these small collages, is there usually a story or metaphor that you are working with and how does that compare to those you choose to interpret large scale and hand paint? Do those have more of a backstory or metaphorical/allegorical meaning?
El Sol25: Honestly when I’m making them its purely for the joy of making it, for the exploration of it. A lot of times I feel an immediate story or an immediate reaction to some of the pieces and some of them I don’t understand them at all.

A lot of the times, whether I chose to paint one those images (whether I have created a story or not) while I’m sitting in front of it painting it it almost certainly becomes apparent to me why I did this, why subconsciously I was making this. I was drawn to this imagery and a lot of it makes sense when I’m painting it and a lot of the stories attached often change again when they are on the street because I’ve let go of that story and it has a whole new environment.

El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: When you revisit earlier pieces, because you’ve brought some pieces from the past back into this show, do you feel like it is an earlier you, or do you feel like it is part of a whole?
El Sol: I feel a little embarrassed by how naïve some of the earlier pieces are. Both in their symbolic content and the way that they were actually put together. The way they were just like ripped. A lot of the new ones are like Hindu gods with multiple eyes and faces, and multi-gender, and some even have animalistic properties and I feel like that’s a direction I’m going more in now.

El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: I notice more nudity, more sampling from girly mags.
El Sol: I’ve always liked sort of painting those things. But I have to admit that the reason I’m more inspired to use what people may consider to be “vulgar” imagery is because I think we should say more things on the street that are not PG rated. I think we should explore our platform and not just say things that are safe. This is not a decorative art form. This is about expressing more than just that and I feel like this is the reason I want to be in a show with these guys because they are not afraid to drop “F bombs” with their work and I don’t think anyone should be.

Everything is so safe and boring – I do want to see something absurd. I’d rather see something that makes me think than cause me pleasure. It doesn’t necessarily need to please me aesthetically. I want the ideas to be more pronounced and I think that people who have been into Street Art for a long time are now doing Hello Kitty with a skull. Actually I’m tired of that. What are these other guys doing? What are the greats doing? What are the people in the museums doing? Hopefully they are paying more attention to what they are saying than just “That would look GREAT on a shirt”.

El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Russell Murphy. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Putting In It” Opens today at 17 Frost in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Click HERE for further information

Chihuahua, a Mexican Desert City with a Few “Street Art” Blooms

January 13, 2016 Artists

“Chihuahua is like one big ranch,” says a local reporter who guides you around this desert city known for beef, cheese, sotol, cowboy boots… and a growing middle class – thanks to the hundred plus multinational maquiladoras operating here with a focus on aerospace, medical equipment, and automobile manufacturing.

The “ranch” metaphor is meant to be welcoming, but it also lets you know that this city of nearly a million can still feel like a small town. This is the capital of Mexico’s largest state, which goes by the same name. And yes, the diminutive and scrappy dog originated here – as did Pancho Villa, and you can visit his homestead if you like.

It’s not the typical city where you might expect to find Street Art, yet only a few blocks from the government palace downtown that holds two stories of wall paintings by Mexican muralist Aarón Piña Mora, you will find new paintings in the dusty side streets that indicate a more international flavor is present.

Paola Delfin. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Largely conservative by most accounts, Chihuahua city in the twenty-teens has been sampling the flavors of the burgeoning global Street Art scene thanks two locally organized arts festivals; Ruta in 2013 and Centrópolis in 2014, and to the stylistic adventuring of local artists on other walls outside these approved ones.

Paola Delfin. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Local custom has been to dismiss those un-permissioned painters as cholos, a disparaging term referring to a criminal element. Today its not as simple to disparage this rising tide of painters in the streets when cities across Europe and the US are actually seeking out and inviting Street Artists and muralists to come and revitalize a neighborhood or draw youth into a city center.

“Street Art has traditionally been seen as a form of vandalism but thanks to the festivals that include visual artists as the special guest it is slowly changing the way people see graffiti and street art,” explains Ivonne Dalila Miramontes, a curator and photographer who studied in the Arts Faculty of the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua, and who currently teaches visual arts to high school students.

Paola Delfin. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“It’s a subtle distinction but it’s a big deal, because now the new murals have a meaning and people don’t see art in the streets anymore strictly as vandalism and it has been a great opportunity for local artist to express themselves and be recognized as artists.”

You’ll see tagging on abandoned walls in some neighborhoods, and there is a range of old-school graffiti styles represented along with political ads for candidates and commercial ads for muffler repair shops on the low flung long walls that run alongside some carreteras in Chihuahua.

You’ll also see uncommissioned paintings that are figurative, or minimally abstract, or have a more trained illustrators eye here and there. Suddenly it looks like there is a small mushrooming of art on the streets. Is it a movement, a sign of a future renaissance of arts and culture, as we have seen in many international cities, or is it a chance outcropping that will be stomped out or left to die in the sun?

Adán Estrada AKA El Disko. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“It is really great to be able to do my work in different cities,” says Paola Delfin, one of the new breed of Mexican Street Artists who has travelled to festivals internationally at the invitation of organizers in Miami, Puerto Rico, Brazil, even Berlin.

“I like to observe the impact that this work has on the people and on the environment in each of them. Coming from Mexico City where art, specifically muralism, has an important history, it’s always interesting and inspiring to work in new places. Some cities like Berlin also have a huge background of art, muralism or street art, so people are more accustomed to this work.”

HidroC. Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Delfin’s own female-centric paintings here were completed during the Centrópolis festival – one with undulating wavelike hair that envelops the monochromatic figure on a partially decayed wall. The other painting uses a more realist technique she is experimenting with; levitating above the street perhaps to recall the magic realism famous in Latin literature by writers like the celebrated Colombian Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who wrote many of his greatest works while living in Mexico City for decades.

“’Susana’, the levitating modern girl, is a based on a girl I met during the festival,” Delfin says, “She was helping all the artists there and she helped me a lot – and I like to paint people who had some impact in my life somehow, and I asked here if I could use her as a model.”

Serene and still, the artist says the figure is meant to allude to a dangerous trade that has claimed many young women closer to the border four hours north of here.“I painted ‘Susana’ sleeping. She is waiting to wake up and find some peace surrounding her. For me she represents the young women up there.” Of course some of the works touch on societal themes, and others can have political undertones.

CRON. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For Bebo, a Mexican artist who has created many of his trademark foxes as stencils and abtract linear forms on walls throughout cities south and north of the border, his work is allegorical – although most passersby won’t necessarily know how strong his intent is. “I use mostly foxes on my work. I think foxes’ faces show how diverse they are physically as specimens but I also like their character – playful and mythical at the same time. ”

“My work can’t ignore this absurd political reality we are in. It feels like the whole of Mexico is a battle ground,” he says as he talks about the five paintings he did in Chihuahua city in 2014. “My work can’t reflect this reality but instead wants to change it. It is a small step to do something. My approach is entirely metaphysical. To fight against the ignorance I use my imagination. To fight against terror I use hope. I like to offer a different path.”

Eldeini. Chihuahua, Mexico. Centropolis Art Festival 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

His path to Chihuahua was lead by Felix Lugo, a local artist and independent curator who organized the Street Artists with the Centrópolis festival, which included three days music stages, theatre, traditional cultural events, and according to organizers, close to 100,000 people. Although not all of that foot traffic was here to see the murals, he thinks that a painting is often better than a blank wall.

“I paint to open a dialogue on the streets,” says Bebo, “It is like a window to establish change in a specific city and at the same time to connect people with each other.”

For now, we offer you these images of a few remaining pieces and some brand new ones that were discovered around the city, as well as an abandoned spot north of the metropolis where you’ll find more typical graffiti artists trying their hand at the spray can.

Who knows if this warm and dry city can support the new generation of creative voices that are now being called on in many cities globally to create excitement and engage art fans, but we did see a few cafes and even a gallery or two where this art has been springing up.

“I do see a future for a large Street Art/mural festival,” says Miramontes, who notes that local artists were energized by the attention that the plastic arts were receiving.

“It made me feel that art is being taken seriously in my city. Also the murals are the only things that still remain after all the festivals, and when I pass by any of the artworks I remember being around while the artists were working and seeing friends, families and people in general having fun enjoying this form of art. We just need more people interested and involved in this environment so we can achieve success by bringing this kind of art to the community.”

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

This article is also published on El Huffington Post.

David Bowie 1947 – 2016

January 12, 2016 Artists

A few shots of David Bowie as art in the streets. A New Yorker as much as a Brixtoner, Bowie and his wife could be seen on the sidewalks, in shops and restaurants here over the last few decades – and of course his image showed up periodically as art on the streets as well.

Without fumbling too much for words at the news of his death we’ll just say that we at BSA and artists everywhere owe a large debt of gratitude to this man for making new paths for us to walk and encouraging us all to make our own. Our world will never be the same without him.

Celebrate life today because, “These are the Golden Years.”

Erik Denbreejen did this tribute to David Bowie back in 2013 using the lyrics to two of his songs, “Heroes”, and “Fashion” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

James Cochran, aka Jimmy C, did this mural in Bowie’s hometown in Brixton, South London – and yesterday it became a memorial wall. (Photo © AFP)

SONNI STARDUST

Street Artist Sonni created this animation merging Ziggy Stardust into one of Sonni’s his own unique characters.

Gladys Hulot, AKA Hyrtis Animates David Bowie “Life in Mars”

A thrilling animation created by Hyrtis, who brings Bowie to life on the streets and performs his singing parts with a musical saw.

Golden Years, David Bowie

“Tracing Morocco”, Hendrik Beikirch

January 11, 2016 Artists

Dignity in “Tracing Morrocco” gives pause, requests your consideration.

Last year we wrote about Hendrik Beikirch’s journey to Morocco, The Trades. With the support of the Foundation Montresso he embarked on a project to paint the portraits of people whose trades might be in danger of becoming obsolete and/or disappearing due to the complexities of the modern world. Tracing Morocco, the book about the project is now out…

“Magical and venerable tree whose roots piece the rock and seal an irrevocable pact with the earth,” says one of the quotes translated into Arabic, French, and English. This is the long view taken by a mature artist of a life lived with dignity, old enough to see that their roots run deep. Each portrait is compelling, a trades person enmeshed in this North African society, performing a role and a service deemed honest and necessary for the interdisciplinary machinery of daily life.

Barber, shepherd, carpenter, public letter-writer, henna artist, boat builder, tool merchant, fisherman: trades and services of Morocco where Beikirch (Street Artist ECB) traced the landscape, the city streets, the faces. Here you find his related studio practice, his gallery canvasses, his walls – all of which speak to the study he has undertaken of these singular figures.

Acrylic, india ink, spray paint – each have their individual character, able to tell tales in their own right, now rendered together in service of capturing a face, a woven straw hat, a printed scarf wrapped over the head.

Elsewhere the artist strikes a modern and smooth James Dean / Chet Baker figure in black and white as he seriously renders, pen in hand, thin brush clenched between teeth. He is looking to his future here and while the faces and trades vary, in each one Beikirch has coaxed, captured, delivered the same thing, a light burning inside the eyes.

The book is well planned, judiciously edited, and warm without sentimentality. Interspersed with cropped images of the completed sketches and canvasses is black and white photography illustrating the tools of the trade, sometimes a practitioner. “Tracing Morrocco” gives credit to the worker for their efforts and their skill and opens the door to so many inquiries, so many stories about the subject and how they have navigated through this life.

Given the successful portrayals here and ECB’s penchant for portraits, one can easily imagine more countries and people may be traced in the future, for you to examine.

Hendrik Beikirch’s Tracing Morocco published by and in collaboration with Montresso Art Foundation. November 2016.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 01.10.16

January 10, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

You did it! First week of 2016 DONE! Congratulations sis we still have a few blocks to go. Exciting new gallery shows already this weekend with Esteban Del Valle in LA and Dalek / Interezni Kazki in NYC and a home-baked hard nut trio of El Sol 25, Specter, and Russell Murphy “Putting It In” in Brooklyn this week. Actually the latter would like to further the dialogue with you about what is the current rightful state of illegal work among all the pretty murals going up now on the streets.

“Today the lines between legal and illegal works on the streets have been blurred by social media and the overcommercialization of the graffiti and street art aesthetic and although many of the artists working currently to create legal murals have helped the art form gain international recognition and acceptance, many of the artists strictly creating illegal works have not had opportunities to separate themselves from the growing roster of legal muralists,” says the press release.

Meanwhile this week the stock market was its worst since 2011, Obama readied his last State of the Union, El Chapo was thinking of vacationing north of the border, Hong Kong Street Art was asking people about 5 missing booksellers, the Lotto jackpot broke records and a Queen Victoria statue was “Vaj-ed” in Bristol.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Apples on Pictures, Billi Kid, Brolga, Felix Semper, Honschar, Hot Tea, Kai, Keith Haring, Kerry James Marshall, Lunge Box, Mgr Mors, Otto “Osch” Schade, Phoebe New York, Scoutpines, Specter, Thiago Goms, and War Buck$.

Keith Haring (1958-1990) painted these two murals on the same handball wall verso and reverso in a park on Harlem River Drive and E 128 Street in 1986. The murals were restored last year. Keith donated the art work to the city of New York. We heard his name mentioned in conversation as we were riding the subway and wanted to share these art works with you as a reminder of his art and his influence on today’s Street Art world.

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Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Millions of Tons of Trash Dumped Into World’s Oceans Our special thanks to photographer and artist Jess X. Chen for sharing these images with BSA readers.

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot. Endangered Species Mural Project. Los Angeles, CA. January 2016 (photo © Jess X. Chen)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Case MaClaim (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cern (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DMOTE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alexandre Keto (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EGS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Binho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Binho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cekis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NEVER and Dirty Bandits (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sean9Lugo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zumi (photo © Jaime Rojo)

PORK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Key Details (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Li Hill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes Two (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixote (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kans115 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze . Crash (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Erasmo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KET: “Urban Art Legends” Lom Art. London 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martin Luther King Jr by The Dude Company (photo ©Jaime Rojo)

Top Image: London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Bowie organic memorial outside his and Iman’s apartment building in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Bowie organic memorial outside his and Iman’s apartment building in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kas. “The Kiss” Brussels, Belgium. (photo © Kas)

Verb Five (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Axe Colours paints a tribute to soccer star Lionel Messi on account of his Golden Ball award in Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda in Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Nueks (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kabuki faces in SOHO by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Homo Riot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

J. Morello with Jules Muck. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marina Capdevila in Miami, Florida. (photo © Marina Capdevila)

FAILE window dressing in SOHO. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan skyline. January 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “The Last Day of Babylon” (AEC) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “Spark Of Life” (WAONE) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “The Great Colonizer” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “The Genesis” Detail. (AEC) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki “Temple of Time” Detail. (AEC) Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Special Feature: Damian Fulton

The Perfect Day in Cambodia

PUN18 1985-2016 In Memoriam

Zheani X Shida Collaborate

Specter. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. Installation shot. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

These small scale collages are the genesis and the process for El Sol 25 to produce his larger pieces. Most of the pieces shown here have been created for the streets. El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Millions of Tons of Trash Dumped Into World’s Oceans

Our special thanks to photographer and artist Jess X. Chen for sharing these images with BSA readers.