BSA “Images of the Year” for 2015 : New Video

December 16, 2015 Artists

Was 2015 the “Year of the Mural”?

A lot of people thought so, and the rise of commercial festivals and commissioned public/private mural programs probably brought more artists to more walls than in recent history. Judging from the In Box, 2016 is going to break more records. Enormous, polished, fully realized and presented, murals can hold a special role in a community and transform a neighborhood, even a city.

But they are not the “organic” Street Art that draws us into the dark in-between places in a city, or at its margins.

We keep our eyes open for the small, one-off, idiosyncratic, uncommissioned, weirdo work as well, as it can carry clues about the culture and reveal a sage or silly solo voice. It also just reinforces the feeling that the street is still home to an autonomous free-for-all of ideas and opinions and wandering passions. For us it is still fascinating to seek out and discover the one-of-a-kind small wheatpastes, stencils, sculptures, ad takeovers, collages, and aerosol sprayed pieces alongside the enormous and detailed paintings that take days to complete.

The main image above is from a vinyl subway advertisement that was high-jacked and we published it in February of this year on our Images of the Week posting. It’s small, personal, and very effective as you can see someone suspiciously similar to Batman is jumping out of the mouth of someone looking awfully similar to Hedwig of “Angry Inch” fame.

Of the 10,000 or so images photographer Jaime Rojo took in 2015, here are a selection 140+ of the best images from his travels through streets looking for unpermissioned and sanctioned art.

Brooklyn Street Art 2015 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo

Brooklyn Street Art 2015 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

365xlos43, Amanda Marie, Andreas Englund, Augustine Kofie, Bisser, Boijeot, Renauld, Bordaloli, Brittany, BunnyM, Case Maclaim, Casg, Cash4, CDRE, Clet, Cost, Curve, Dain, Dal East, Dan Budnik, Dan Witz, David Walker, DeeDee, Dennis McNett, Don Rimx, Ricardo Cabret, LNY, Alex Seel, Mata Ruda, Don’t Fret, Dot Dot Dot, ECB, El Mac, El Sol25, Ella & Pitr, Eric Simmons, Enest Zacharevic, Martha Cooper, Martin Whatson, Ever, Faile, Faith47, Findac, Futura, Gaia, Gilf!, Hanksy, Hellbent, Hot Tea, How & Nosm, Icy and Sot, Inti, Invader, Isaac Cordal, James Bullough, Janet Dickson, Jef Aerosol, Jilly Ballistic, Joe Iurato, John Fekner, Le Diamantaire, Li Hill, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Low Brow, Marina Capdevilla, Miss Van, Mr. Prvrt, Mr. Toll, Myth, Nafir, Nemos, Never Crew, Nick Walker, Nina Pandolofo, Old Broads, Oldy, Ollio, Os Gemeos, Owen Dippie, Paper Skaters, Pet Bird, Kashink, Smells, Cash4, PichiAvo, Pixel Pancho, QRST, ROA, Ron English, Rubin415, Saner, Sean 9 Lugo, Shai Dahan, Shepard Fairey, Sheryo & The Yok, Sinned, Sipros, Skewville, Slikor, Smells, Sweet Toof, Snowden, Edward Snowden, Andrew Tider, Jeff Greenspan, Specter, Stray Ones, Sweet Toof, Swil, Willow, Swoon, The Outings Project, Toney De Pew, Tristan Eaton, Various & Gould, Vermibus, Wane, Wk Interact

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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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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

BSA Top Stories As Picked by You from BSA and HuffPost in 2015

December 15, 2015 Artists

You picked them!

Last week you saw the Top Murals and the Top Videos. Today here are our Top Stories of 2015.

BSA readers told us by your direct comments and online sharing – that you love our coverage of Street Art festivals: 8 of the top 15 postings in ’15 were about them.

The rest of the most popular stories can be described as being about powerful personalities and consequential work on the street that is not simply visually impactful but is backed by a story that runs deeper.

Following are your top 15 postings from the year on BSA and our articles on The Huffington Post along with an excerpt from the original posting.

NO. 15

A Mexican Mural ‘Manifesto,’ Blackened Flags And Censorship (March 04 2015)

Erica il Cane (photo © Fifty24Mex)

“Striking and massive murals by international street artists have been populating the walls of Mexico City for the last five years thanks to the emergence of a global Street Art scene, a rise in mural festivals, and the country’s tradition of institutional support for murals that further a socio-political mission. There hasn’t been much of the latter lately, however, and it is doubtful that a new politically charged mural campaign underway in certain central neighborhoods is likely to receive tax dollars for the paint and ladders.

Without sighting a specific ill to address, the new mural initiative named “Manifesto” is challenging a select group of local and international street artists to express their opinions on weighty and topical matters through murals, “using art as a social tool to propose, reflect and inform.” Among possible topics that might be addressed, the manifesto for “Manifesto” says, are increasing poverty, glorified materialism, the exhausting of natural resources, a fraying social web, and a dysfunctional justice system.”

More…

NO. 14

Malik and ‘Note’ Bring 17 Street Artists To A Swiss Prison (November 04, 2015)

(photo © Malik)

“Initiated by Aarau-based graffiti/street/fine artist Malik in May of 2012, the project eventually corralled 17 street artists, all but one from Switzerland, to enter the confines of the new high security Lenzburg Prison to paint murals on exterior walls, courtyards, hallways, and common areas.

‘I was looking for a new challenge and a new and exciting project where I could show my art,’ says Malik and while the 18 month project originated with his vision of getting a nice wall for himself, quickly the project grew far beyond his expectations to become an educational, sociological meditation on the penal system, the appropriate role of art within it, and our collective humanity.”

More…

NO. 13

The Coney Art Walls: First Three Completed and Summer Begins (May 27, 2015)

Kave (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Instead of being hunted down for catching a tag or bubble-lettered throw-up, a couple dozen graffiti/street art painters are invited to hit up Coney Island this summer — and since we’ve just marked the unofficial first weekend of summer in New York — we’re bringing you the first three freshly completed pieces.

Part of “Coney Art Walls”, the muralists began taking the train out to this seaside paved paradise that is re-inventing itself once again, this time courtesy of art curator Jeffrey Deitch.”

More…

NO. 12

50 Years From Selma, Jetsonorama and Equality in Brooklyn (June 27, 2015)

Jetsonorama (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“From Selma to Ferguson, Birmingham to Charleston, Jimmie Lee Jackson to Michael Brown, Street Artist Jetsonorama is crossing the country from Arizona to New York and a half-century of America’s struggle with our legacy of racism and injustice.

As marches have continued across the country in cities like Ferguson, Oakland, Baltimore, New York, Dallas and Cleveland in the past year addressing issues such as police brutality and racism, the south is taking down confederate flags on state houses and the US is mourning another mass shooting.

Now as Americans everywhere are pulling out and waving the stars and stripes to celebrate freedom, this new powerful installation on a Brooklyn wall reminds us of what New York poet Emma Lazarus said, ‘Until we are all free, we are none of us free.’ ”

More…

NO. 11

Gender, Caste, And Crochet: OLEK Transforms A Shelter In Delhi (March 25, 2015)

Olek (photo © Street Art India)

” ‘It felt like I gave a birth to an oversize baby without any pain killers. I had to pull the black magic to make it happen. Physically and emotionally drained. Was it worth it? Absolutely YES,’ she types onto her Facebook page to let friends and fans know that she has finished the seven-day marathon of crocheting and directing a full team of volunteers and St+Art Delhi organizers. Triumphant, she stands atop the woman’s shelter, a one story structure of corrugated metal and concrete 40-feet long and 8-feet high, with a fist in the air, a symbol of celebration as well as a show of solidarity with the sisterhood of those who helped her make it and those will seek refuge here when other options have been exhausted.”

More…

NO. 10

A Tidal Wave of Lodz Reborn: ‘Lodz Murals’ Distinguishes a Polish City (October 28, 2015)

Alexis Diaz (photo © Maciej Stempij)

“Now I don’t want to create any new festival, any new brand — just want to keep the name as simple as possible,” he says of Lodz Murals, an ongoing program that functions year round rather than focusing specifically on a short-term festival. With all responsibilities for organizing, promoting, and working with city and private business under one roof, Michał says that his vision is to create the same sort of iconic image of Lodz with murals as Paris with the Eiffel Tower.

“I would like that people on the global scale would think of Lodz as a city with exceptional public art,” he says grandly while acknowledging that public art shines in many other cities as well. “When you are thinking about public art, one of the first places that you will see in your mind’s eye is Lodz. Of course, comparing the mural project to the one of the most important “pearls” of modern architecture is pure overstatement, but I would like to create this type of mechanism, this type of association.”

More…

NO. 9

WALL\THERAPY 2015: Surrealism and the Fantastic (July 29, 2015)

Never Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“We don’t know for sure if it was our current funhouse mirror atmosphere that drove the Wall\Therapy festival in Rochester, NY to choose this years’ themes. It may simply be a way of organizing artists whose work reflects these notions back to us and to illuminate one specific growing trend in street culture and murals.

Surely Magritte, Dali and Ernst would be very pleased by the uptick of modern surrealists and practitioners of the bizarre, fantastical, and dream-like in galleries, in the public sphere, and throughout popular culture in recent years.”

More…

NO. 8

NUART 2015 Roundup: A Laboratory on the Street (September 12, 2015)

Ella & Pitr (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“As we mark the halfway point of this decade and see the institutional discussions of Street Art taking form while academics try to place it in the canon of art-making and decide upon the nature of its impact, they do it with the knowledge that gallery shows, museum exhibitions, high-profile auctions, individual collecting, lifestyle marketers, and public festivals of many configurations and aspirations are already embracing its relevance. No one can possibly gauge this story in all of its complexity but some will capture its spirit. Being on the street helps.

One way to get a pulse on the present is to attend shows like Nuart and witness the diverse stratagems that artists are using to engage their audiences and judge if they are successful at realizing their intentions. With a deliberately mixed bag of thinkers, feelers, documentors, aesthetes, and pranksters culled together for your edification, this show stokes the discussions.”

More…

NO. 7

Coney Art Walls: 30 Reasons to Go to Coney Island This Summer (June 24, 2015)

Daze (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“The gates are open to the new public/private art project called “Coney Art Walls,” and today, you can have a look at all 30 or so of the new pieces by a respectable range of artists spanning four decades and a helluva lot of New York street culture history. We’ve been lucky to see a lot of the action as it happened over the last five weeks and the range is impressive. These are not casual, incidental choices of players lacking serious resumes or street/gallery cred, but the average observer or unknowing critic may not recognize it.”

More…

NO. 6

Barcelona: “Open Walls” Mural Festival and Conference 2015 (November 11, 2015)

RocBlackBlock (photo © Fernando Alcalá Losa)

“Barcelona was known as a city at the epicenter of a bustling lively organic street art scene in the mid 2000s. Today that has greatly been cracked down upon by authorities, but the Spanish city now boasts a mural festival called Open Walls, which celebrated its third edition last month with public works spanning a great number of influences and styles. Of course there is still plenty of autonomous, non-comissioned street art to be seen as well.”

More…

NO. 5

Basquiat’s Rarely Seen Notebooks Open At The Brooklyn Museum (April 01, 2015)

Basquiat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“In ‘Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks,’ now running at the Brooklyn Museum until August 23, the genius of his fragmenting logic is revealed as a direct relationship between his private journals and his prolific and personally published aerosol missives on the streets of Manhattan’s Soho and Lower East Side neighborhoods in the late 1970s and 1980s.

These notebooks were for capturing ideas and concepts, preparing them, transmuting them, revising them, pounding them into refrains. In the same way his text (and glyphic) pieces on the street were not necessarily finished products each time; imparted on the run and often in haste, these unpolished missives didn’t require such preciousness.”

More…

NO. 4

Borås ‘No Limit’ 2015: Graffiti Tags, Murals, Greco-Roman Antiquities (September 17, 2015)

Pichi & Avo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“This is No Limit, the second installation of murals done primarily by street artists in Borås, a pristine and pleasant city about 45 minutes east of Gothenberg. With the leadership of artist Shai Dahan and organizers Stina Hallhagen and Anders Khil the local tourism office works year round to promote this festival and the quality of the pieces are top notch due to the careful choices of international big names and up-and-comers.

In addition to this diversity, the scale is varied with massive walls like those by the Chilean Inti and Poland’s Robert Proch, and more personal-sized installations in surprise locations around town by American illustration artist David Zinn and New Jersey’s sculptural stencilist Joe Iurato.”

More…

NO. 3

Street Art Sancocho: ArteSano Project Brings Dominican Flavor (January 08, 2015)

Mario Ramirez (photo © Tots Films)

“It could be the name influencing our perception, but in one way or another it looks like these artists are chosen for their down-to-earth hand hewn approach. Sometimes decorative, sometimes storytelling, there are familiar themes and motifs that play well to their local audience as well as the virtual gawker.

Even with two dozen artists, it isn’t bloated: no logos or product tie-ins or DJs or high flying scissor lifts scaling massive multi-story walls with abstract surrealism, hyper photo-realism or dark pop human/animal/robot hybrids here – yet. Well, we take that back on the surrealism score; Pixel Pancho is here with a brood of chickens bobbing their industrial mesh necks atop fired tile bodices, hunting and pecking their way toward the beach, and Miami artist duo 2alas & Hox created a portrait of a boy with a partial mask overlay that calls to mind cyborgs (and Sten & Lex). But here in the loungey bare-foot tropical DR coastal area, even Pixel Pancho mutes the hues toward sun-bleached pastels, more easily complimenting their surroundings.”

More…

NO. 2

Renaissance Masters, Keith Haring and Ninja Turtles in Brooklyn Streets (July 15, 2015)

Owen Dippie. (photos © Jaime Rojo)

“And so it made sense last week when Dippie skillfully merged imagery spanning five centuries, two continents, and two distinctly different art movements. Call it a measured miracle, a ratherish revelation that Dippie completed a deftly realized mashup of Raphael and Keith Haring, with the Madonna del Granduca holding Haring’s icon-symbol that is variously referred to as ‘Radiant Baby,’ ‘Radiant Child,’ and ‘Radiant Christ.’ ”

More…

NO. 1

YZ and Her ‘Amazone’ Warrior Women On Senegalese Walls (January 14, 2015)

YZ (photo © YZ Yseult)

“French Street Artist YZ Yseult has begun her own campaign to pay tribute to the fierce female fighters of the 19th Century West African country of Dahomey, who are more commonly referred to as Amazons. A startling narrative of female power not often heard today for some, but as YZ is researching her own history as a descendent from slaves, her portraits reflect a personal impetus to tell these stories with a new force. She has named this series of strong warriors on the street ‘Amazone’.”

More…

1300 Metal Bars in Lodz: Cekas Creates Sculptural “Silence” on a Wall

December 14, 2015 Artists

The mercurial role of light and shadow continually vex the Street Artist as no two days are the same, sometimes no two hours. If you are a photographer or a fan, your experience of the work outside will be subject to weather, lighting, and wiseguys who want to buff or diss someones work. These elements are part of the game and you might as well get used to it.

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

This fall in Lodz, Poland the urban art organizer Michal Biezynski chose the Wroclaw-based artists Cekas (Lukasz Berger) to more fully play with the elements with his sculptural installation of 1300 metal bars protruding at different lengths perpendicular to a wall.

“The installation is permanent and it’s playing with the light and the sunbeams,” Biezynski tells us, “The everyday cycle of the sun creates a dynamic character and the “drawings” made of the shadows are directly related to the time of the day and the season of the year. Apart from that, the installation also works at night with the light of the moon.”

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

A graduate of the Sculpture Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Cekas favors experimentation – something not uncommon in graffiti, Street Art, and mural-making. As he watches the sun trace across the sky overhead and sees the configuration of the shadows produce new forms and patterning, he talks about the meaning of “Silence,” the name of the installation.

“The installation is an answer to the communication between the modern man and the reality around him,” he says, explaining that our individual an cumulative actions are “producing noise, which at times may seem inaudible, but it is still present.” So each one of those small metal bars (which cumulatively weigh more than 500 kg) is a contributor to a collective sound – in this case a sort of visual noise, if you will.

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

Michal says “Silence” (spelled in the Polish “Cisza”) is a great departure from the mural program he has fostered over the last few years that has drawn nearly 50 artists to walls around the city, and it has piqued his interest in what else may be possible when programming art for the public sphere. “I would like to implement new things in Lodz’s urban tissue – modern sculptures and installations. What’s more, in the framework of my work in Lodz Event Centre, I want to renounce the festival form – I want to convert it more into an all year round public art program.” That’s the sound of someone thinking for new ways for art to engage the public; another curious evolution of the Lodz festival that grew from graffiti and Street Art, casting his goals in a different light.

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

To learn more about Lodz Murals click HERE
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BSA Images Of The Week: 12.13.15

December 13, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

As the snow birds flew back to NYC this week from their Miami art debauchery with dark circles under their eyes and paint under their nails we tossed them right back in the roiling red & white mash of SantaCon in the streets, 2 more politicians going to jail, and the alleged hunk-hiring Bronx priest resigning from his parish. You can really feel the spirit of Christmas and Hannukah all around.

BSA was proud to co-sponsor the talk with DAZE, LEE Quinones, and Jane Dickson for the special reception at DAZE’s “The City is My Muse” show currently on exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, hosted by Sean Corcoran. The three are vital to the historical thread that reaches back to NY’s earliest graff days and it was evident from seeing their newest works as they each presented them on screen that they refuse to be nostalgic about the city – but prefer to be on top of it. Case in point was Lee’s opening the following night that showcased his new mural on the ceiling at the Indigo Hotel – his Sistine Chapel if you will.

P.S. We’ll be at MCNY with DAZE March 2 – mark your calendar.

Invader finished his 42 piece wave of tile installations in New York, according to reports, Banksy struck out with political pieces addressing immigration and xenophobia (videos at end of this posting), and Gilf! wrapped the façade of a Williamsburg bar with “gentrification in progress” tape to mark its death by market forces. As artists continue to grapple with socio/political events, the art of the street keeps mutating forward.

Side note: “Images of the Week” takes a hiatus for the next few weeks thanks to special Holiday programming. It returns in 2016.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Banksy, Bunny M, City Kitty, Cost, Daze, Dee Dee, Gilf!, Invader, Jaye Moon, Jordan Seiler, KET, Labrona, Lee Quinones, Lex56, Mint&Serf, Never, Pet Bird, Read, Sipros, Specter, Wing, and WK Interact.

Top Image: Sipros and a father of surrealism for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter in Paris. (photo © Specter)

Specter was in France last month with FKDL and Upian, among others. Here are some examples of paintings and ad takeovers in Paris as well as an abandoned factory called La Rodia in Besancon. The Brooklyn based artist tells us that “It was a trying time to be there but supporting my friends and creating some colorful distractions was more important.”

Specter in Besancon. (photo © Specter)

Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inva…sions are Cost…ly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lex56. Noted. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jordan Seiler (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For Dotty & Pearl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The company you keep… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Labrona and Ket in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

Labrona and Ket in Montreal. Detail. (photo © Labrona)

Labrona in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

Mint & Serf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detail of Lee Quinones’ inventive ode to New York at a newly opened hotel in the LES. The artist, who grew up in the hood was commissioned to paint on the ceiling of the hotel’s reception room a map of the neighborhood to which he attached painted “poloroid” portraits (sourced from previously existing photographs) who lived and played on those streets “Between Two Bridges”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daze standing in front of a portrait of him taken decades ago. This piece is currently being exhibited at Chris “Daze” Ellis: The City is My Muse at the Museum Of The City of New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tom Warren with Christopher “Daze” Ellis
Portrait of Daze with Tags, 1983, Acrylic on Gelatin silver print

Jaye Moon has a sense of “awe” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never created this memorial to Peter Caroll AKA Pet Bird, who passed away suddenly in September. We love you Peter…and you too Never. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Balloons. Manhattan, NYC. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

From The Guardian:
“Street artist Banksy has painted a depiction of Apple founder Steve Jobs on a wall in a migrant and refugee camp in France known as the Calais ‘Jungle’. The artist, who has never revealed his identity, released a rare public statement challenging the perception that migrants and refugees from Syria are a drain on Western economies, UK media reported”

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France and Their Largest Monkey/Bird Stencil

December 12, 2015 Artists

The Bordeaux-based Street Art duo Monkey Bird Crew were in the northern French capital Lille in November to create their largest mural ever and today we have some exclusive shots of the enormous piece from the natural stencilists as they scaled the bricked wall and sprayed the new work.

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Phototographer Aline Mairet tells us “This collaborative work was realized as part of the major cultural event called “Renaissance” (by Lille3000) and was built with the contribution and participation of the neighborhoods residents.”

It’s standard practice for Edouard and David to portray their chosen avatars of monkey and a bird – of many varieties – in a composition that shows their reliance on one another. Aline says that she sees the their inspiration as being derived “principally from sacred or lyrical works such as illuminated manuscripts, stained glass, and architectural ornamentation – as well as Japanese prints and fantastic illustrations from the ‘Arts and Crafts’ period.”

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

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Top 15 Videos on BSA Film Friday From 2015

BSA Film Friday: 01.23.15

Narcelio Grud Mixes Cement and Sprays It

“Narcelio Grud and “Chaupixo” brings us back into the inventive mind of this experimenter – now hand pumping a slurry of colored concrete over a stencil pattern. The results are solid!”

BSA Film Friday 04.10.15

The Reinvention of Normal: Dominic Wilcox

“By doing the ridiculous, something else might come of it,” says Dominic Wilcox, and we couldn’t agree more.

“Just off the wall. And that is what I’ve always encouraged in him.” says Dominic’s dad.

“I had this idea to come up with something creative every day for 30 days,” says the artist.

And this is how we all move forward.

BSA Film Friday: 04.17.15

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

“BSA readers will dig this animation of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” Gladys Hulot, also known as Hyrtis, brings Bowie to slink through the cracks and around the concrete underground, dripping with piercing drama, and plenty of distinctive style. The voice here is stunningly replaced with a musical saw, giving the chameleon just one more layer to his multiple identities. Not precisely street art, but Bowie’s ties to the street are undisputed.”

BSA Film Friday: 05.08.15

Shepard Fairey: OBEY This Film

“This is almost a year old but it is also sort of timeless when you see how Shepard Fairey’s continous re-evolving of his philosophies about art and its place in our lives has come to such cogent arguments. It’s a short film, a genuine distillation of the larger themes that we have seen at work in the life and the career and public person.

Shot by a guy whose primary focus up until this point was nearly exclusively about skaters and skate culture, Brett Novak says he was pleasantly surprised to learn that Fairey was likeable and had a lot of good information to impart. “I was not aware at how incredibly inspiring Shepard would turn out to be.”

BSA Film Friday: 05.15.15

Kinetoscope: Angelina Christina x Ease One

“Slab City is sometimes billed as an isolated desolated off-the-grid sort of place in California so it was an adventure for Christina Angelina and Ease One discovered the remains of this abandoned water tank and transformed it into a circular mural. They call it The Kinetoscope.”

BSA Film Friday: 06.05.15

1010 Creates a Crater in Paris

“And you thought New York had potholes? Be careful in Paris!”

BSA Film Friday: 06.12.15

Born and Bred: The Rise of Street Art in Bushwick

“It’s all about Joe! While you were looking for a brunch spot or a beard wax or simply at your navel, Joe took an opportunity to connect artists with walls and did more for the “scene” in Bushwick than an L Train full of pilgrims ever could. He cleared the way for a slew of local and international artists and writers looking for an opportunity to exercise their creative speech and courted the press with his local native personal story so often that you can imagine a Netflix series will be next.”

BSA Film Friday 07.17.15

Roma Street Art Tribes as Captured by Dioniso Punk

“Disorderly, discordant, and richly chaotic, these two videos are centered around the Italian street art paintings and artists whom you will recognize from our earlier postings on community/gallery organized urban art programming – but within the context of historical art publicly displayed, peoples movements, patronage, fascism, the classics.

Dioniso Punk allows everyone to talk – neighbors, artists, organizers, curators, public philosophers, elected officials, psychologists, sociologists, entrepreneurs, posers, professors, historians, students, an opera singer, the petite bourgeoisie, international visitors and hapless puzzled opinionated locals.”

Part I

Part II

BSA Film Friday: 08.21.15

(RE) Prisma by Narcelio Grud

“The ship Mara Hope, stranded for 30 years on Iracema Beach alongside the Brazilian city of Fortaleza, received a benediction of more color in July thanks to Street Art interventionist and experimenter Narcelio Grud. A mistake in 1985, the ship has become a monument over time, a symbol of the history of the fishing industry, and after so many years a symbol of personal history for people who have grown up with it.”

BSA Film Friday 09.11.15

Hitnes. The Image Hunter / Voodoo Duck

“At the Pine Island Audubon Sanctuary in Corolla, NC, The Image Hunter discovers the importance of duck decoys in Currituck County.”

BSA Film Friday: 10.16.15

Welcome To America Owen Dippie by Erin Dippie

“A nice homemade video this week by New Zealand painter Owen Dippie’s talented wife Erin, who documented his trip to New York and LA. Without the hype this gives you an idea what it is like to be a tourist here, and it is good to see the experience through the eyes of a loving partner.”

BSA Film Friday: 10.23.15

FAILE: “Wishing On You” Times Square 2015 NYC

“We debuted this video by Priest Fontaine live for the Brooklyn Museum audience with Faile and actual chills went up people’s spines. No lie. Now you can see it too here online Capturing the current Times Square as county fair with mountains of screens flashing images around the Selfie Stick Forest, all corporate creepy and still sleezey – Fontaine evokes the magic that Faile is, as well as the pure industry that it takes to make their art work. Also good to remember that it was a hot and humid overnight installation that started at 8pm and ended around 10 the following morning.”

What Happened with BSA + FAILE at the Brooklyn Museum?

BSA Film Friday: 11.06.15

Your Tour Through Dismaland with Butterfly and Lars Pederson

“The views are sadly hilarious, pure sarcasm and commentary on issues and behaviors. If Street Art is meant sometimes to hold a mirror to us as we pass by, this is a genuine funhouse of mirrors at every turn. Of course, this isn’t Street Art – its site-specific contemporary art – and many of the artists are street artists, but not all. Butterfly and Pederson discuss the installations as they encounter them and the viewer feels at though they have gotten a true sense of the wonderful world of Dismal.”

BSA Film Friday: 11.13.15

Ugangprosjektet 2015 in Drammen, Norway. A Film by Selina Miles

“UGANG2015 in Drammen, Norway had two weeks of murals from Street Artists and graffiti writers in late August. A relatively new event curated by local graffiti artist Eric Ness Christiansen (Eazy), the program is already slamming. A small town of 70,000 about 40 minutes from Oslo, they know how to take care of details, including inviting the inimitable Selina Miles to come and shoot it. Any questions?”

BSA Film Friday: 12.04.15

Brandalism Takes Over Bus Stops to Counter Cop21 Misinformation

“Here is a brief intro video about Brandalism’s answer to UN COP21 – and the first of what will surely be more videos about this massive effort by 82 Artists from 19 different countries to take back public space and the public dialogue about climate change from those who are skillfully employing misinformation and bending laws to enable them to continue making money at all costs.”

Rubin415 : Take Me To Church

December 10, 2015 Artists, Interview

Street Artist Invited to Bring Inspirational Modernism To a Brooklyn Parish

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saint Cecilia is the patroness of musicians, which makes a lot of sense for a guitar player like Rubin415, who also happens to be a Brooklyn-based Street Artist.

In fact when we invited Rubin to paint the Domino Walls in Williamsburg in 2014 he described his mural-making process in musicians’ terms;

“Like the rhythm in a piece, it has to start with the intro, getting into the verse, then in the middle it gets busy with the chorus, then you get a bridge, the song gets to breathe a little bit, and then you have the outtro so its all the same between music and art. It’s different tools to express – some ideas work better as paint and some as audio.”

Tiled fleur de lis inspired Rubin415 in his new works at Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The patroness saint actually has a number of churches named after her around the world and this Greenpoint, Brooklyn location is one of two named for her in New York City. This fall Rubin was invited by a priest to consider bringing his clean mid-century modernism to the back yard and other vignette locations around the church – an occurrence that would have been unthinkable to him as an active teen graffiti writer in 1990s Sweden. Churches were someplace to avoid – an unwritten rule for graffiti writers in most cities actually regarding houses of worship.

The project has been rewarding however, and while he hasn’t become an official follower, he sounds like he has a new appreciation for houses of the holy. Spending many quiet hours in and around the various atriums and vestibules and congregative spaces Rubin says he took cues from the obvious architectural elements as well as the smaller more decorative flourishes when planning his intersecting planes and forms.

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin says that no two commissions are alike and this was his first in a place so filled with history and meaning. He also will always associate it with the birth of his and his wife’s first child, so evidently Rubin was not the only one laboring in November, but more on that later…

Today we bring you exclusive images of this freshly completely and somewhat cloistered installation by Rubin, who actually took us to church to show us his inspired manifestations.

BSA: You mentioned that you thought the Priest had taken a big risk by giving you this commission. Why?
Rubin: It is very rare for the people of a church to commission a Street Artist to a paint mural on the church. It is kind of unconventional work that we do. He mentioned to me that a lot of new and young people are moving into the area and his idea was that Street Art could help to connect the church with them.

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Did you have to present a sketch for approval?
Rubin: Yes I had to present them with suggestions, not final sketches. They had to be approved by the community in the neighborhood at a community meeting on a Sunday. I attended one of those meetings. They wanted to meet the artist so I went and told them a little bit about what I do and who I am.

BSA: Did they ask if you were a religious person?
Rubin: No

BSA: Did they treat you well?
Rubin: Yeah, very well. I’ve done a lot of murals and every single one of them is different but this one is definitely a very memorable experience in many ways. They have been super easy-going and helpful. They gave total creative freedom.

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: How was it painting outside?
Rubin: Very different because I spent a lot of time inside the church making sketches, drinking coffee. I don’t know if you are supposed to drink coffee inside the church. I took my hat off but I drank coffee. It was a bit cold but being inside this church and watching the amazing daylight changing was very nice. I like to work on site-specific commissions and be inspired by the neighborhood I’m working in. I don’t know much about the church and I’m not too religious but I started the project with an open mind and it has been an amazing experience and very quiet – which I think affects the end result. I also took clues from the church architectural and decorative details for inspiration on the mural.

BSA: So you didn’t have people on the street asking you a million questions?
Rubin: Yeah. People asking you questions when you work in public is part of the job but working on this mural was a nice break from the ordinary. Not having to talk to anybody. I didn’t listen to any music I just enjoyed the quietness.

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: How did the Priest know of you and your work?
Rubin: It’s a very funny story. I went to the supermarket where I buy my groceries and the owner who had commissioned me to do a mural on the building approached me and told me that a Priest was asking for me. I was like “what’s going on, what have I done?”! He gave me the Priest’s number and I called him and I had no idea what was going on. His name is Father Thomas. He told me that he had seen my murals on Grand Street and Metropolitan Ave and he liked my work and he told me that it reminded him of the stained glass windows in the church. So he had this idea of me painting a mural on the back of the church on the walls of the auditorium. It worked very well.

BSA: So you mentioned that you were well into your first week of painting when your wife Sanna brought you lunch but didn’t mention to you that her contractions for giving birth had already begun?
Rubin: It was a Sunday, a beautiful day and she came here like she always did to bring me coffee and lunch and everything seemed fine. I worked for 12 hours at the mural and little did I know what I was going to find at home. My wife was having horrible contractions. But she wanted to wait as long as possible and at 11:00 pm I got the order from her to call UBER, that’s how it works nowadays. The UBER got lost on his way to us and it wasn’t fun to have her standing on the street.

We went to Bellevue and he screwed up again. He didn’t find the right entrance and had to walk for two blocks. She was checked in and I was told to sit in the waiting room and I waited for two hours and soon after that I was told that my wife was about to give birth. It all went very fast and they sent me back home. I wasn’t allowed to spend the night at the hospital. We all were tired so I decided to let them rest and I went home and crashed.

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: When did you resume work on the mural?
Rubin: I took off a week and the priest knew what was going on and they were happy with the news and told me to take my time to come back and finish the mural.

BSA: How did you feel when the mural was completed?
Rubin: The labor was hard. When you do a large mural there’s a lot of work and in this case it was both physically and emotionally. Many times I though I was done with it but the finishing touches were too many and the original walls were in very bad condition so just priming them took a long time. When I finally finish I felt relieved but my mind was already onto the next project. What I enjoy most is always the process. By the time the mural is completed I usually need a break from the work. But I enjoy the process very much.

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA’s 15 Most Popular Murals Of 2015 – A “Social” Survey

December 9, 2015 Artists

People’s Street Art preferences can be very hard to predict. On social media we can reliably tell you that opinions are unreliable. Murals that we are sure you’ll love fall flatter than a one-sided pancake. Conversely, that piece we were tepid about? – Up the charts faster than a Kardashian in search of a camera.

With that in mind we thought you might like to see how the top social platforms sorted out the shots of 2015 by our Editor of Photography, Jaime Rojo.

We surveyed the number of “Likes” and shares his images received on Instagram, and Facebook in 2015 and based purely on the numbers, here are the Top 15.

No. 15 : Os Gemeos in Manhattan

Brazilian twin brothers Octavio and Gustavo are Os Gemeos and this year they began popping out of walls – and that’s not all! See the original posting here :

OS Gemeos Pop Through Walls Downtown NYC, Screens in Times Square

Os Gemeos in Manhattan. August 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 14 : Icy and Sot in Berlin

Looks like we picked a winner when BSA curated Iranian brothers ICY and SOT onto this Berlin facade of the Urban Nation. Following the theme of our “Persons of Interest” show there in March with some of Brooklyn’s finest Street Artists, the brothers reflected the fall of the Berlin Wall in the face of this Brooklyn-based woman. Look for a release of their book by Lebowski Publishers with an essay by BSA telling the story of the Tabriz-now-Brookyn-based ICY and SOT to be released in Spring 2016.

See more about our Persons of Interest show and ICY and SOT’s mural here : Complete “Persons of Interest”: Brooklyn in Berlin

Icy & Sot in Berlin for Urban Nation. March 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 13 : Alexis Diaz in NYC

Surreal illustrationist Alexis Diaz has been making brains stretch and stand up and clap with his murals from Miami to Hawaii to Lodz, Poland this year, continually impressing with his meticulous and tight cross-hatching skills, wildly wide imagination, and his uncanny ability to collaborate stylistically with other artists. This relatively small piece by him in Manhattan turned heads for months and earned this pic lots of attention via BSA.

Alexis Diaz in Manhattan. May 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 12 : Dian in Brooklyn

Essentially a live shot of the last frame for a stop -action mural video (featured on BSA Film Friday: 11.06.15) this image got a lot of traffic probably because of it’s perceived political critique of the Republican Party – but the artists say that they weren’t even familiar with US politics when they made it.

“Dian is a street artist from European art label Life is Porno. In 2015, he decided to do a series of stop-frame stop frame animations around Europe and the world. This time he turned a building in Brooklyn, NYC into his animated reality. And grew an elephant from his mushrooms…

(The) whole animation was spray-painted, without any computer animation. The Bullshit sign was installed by a legendary fusion artist Shalom Neuman.”

Dian in Brooklyn, NY. November, 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 11 : Pichi & Avo in Sweden

“The Spanish Street Art duo Pichiavo brought the antiquities and modern day graffiti together last week on a soaring multi-story wall in Borås, Sweden,” we wrote of this multi-story mural that appealed to many readers this September. It’s the sort of formula that works again and again for these guys, most recently in Miami last week.

Pichi & Avo in Boras, Sweden for No Limits. September 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 10 : Dal East in Sweden

Participating in the same small festival (Borås “No Limit)” as PichiAvo above, the artist Dal East captured the imagination of BSA readers with this soaring wingspan painted high upon a five stepped modern facade building across from a textile university campus.

Dal East in Boras, Sweden for No Limits. September 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 9 : Owen Dippie “Radiant Madonna” in Brooklyn

The first of two entries by Kiwi Owen Dippie on our Top 15 list for 2015, this merging of Raphael’s Madonna with Haring’s radiant baby snapped people out of their stupor with the unconventional paring. A fan of both artists, Dippie’s mural reminded us of Haring’s flirtation with Christian “Born Again” fundamentalism before he decided to be an out gay man in the 1980s – at a time when the so-called Moral Majority was ready to send gays to be quarantined because of the AIDS crisis. This three story mural by Dippie is still vibrating with the tensions he encompassed in this one powerful composition.

Owen Dippie in Brooklyn. July 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 8 : Ernest Zacharevic in Brooklyn

Outside of this Lithuanian Street Artists’ typical wheelhouse, its the irony of this piece that contains his DNA. Capturing the same commercial advertising linguistic that Street Artists typically lampoon, the text based riff clearly draws the connection to the appreciation for hand-style that originally marked a “style” revolution in graffiti. Maybe it was this timeless “instant classic” quality that drew so many fans on Instagram and Facebook.

Ernest Zacharevic. Brooklyn, NY November 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 7 : Ella & Pitr in Norway

The French couple were in the town of Stavanger to create the World’s Largest Mural so comparatively this was just doodle on the back of an envelope for Ella & Pitr, but something about it struck a chord with you this September.

Ella & Pitr in Stavanger, Norway for NUART 2015. September, 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 6 : ECB in Brooklyn

His pensive and looming old men and women from Morroco have been made into a book recently, but ECB made this guy in dirty old Brooklyn this year and photographer Jaime Rojo caught it a day after heavy rains provide this reflective moment. Read more about ECB’s portraits of working folks in : The Trades: Street Artist ECB Traces Morocco’s Faces

ECB in Brooklyn. May 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 5 : Okuda in Manhattan

Nearing 20 years in the game, the Spanish Street Artist Okuda is always a pleaser with his rich-hued pop surrealism and geometrics that mimic the man-made urban environment. Here his organic forms in a New York doorway pop out from the dim grayness of the streetscape.

Okuda in Manhattan. June 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 4 : Case Ma’Claim in Berlin

One of the current crop of photo-realists that are drawing so much attention, Ma’Claims’ meditation is often on hands. This one may have had additional appeal on Social platforms because of it’s combination of skin colors and its appearance during the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” marches in cities across the US.

Case Ma’Claim in Berlin. March 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 3 : Nick Walker

The Bristol-born Mr. Walker has a soft spot for New York and this placement outside a pizza parlor of his iconic bowler-hatted avatar made a lot of connections for viewers on Facebook who shared this image like crazy last winter.

Nick Walker. Manhattan, NY. January 30 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 2 : JR in Manhattan

A commercial wheatpaste project with The New York City Ballet, their principal dancer the ballerina Lauren Lovette, a documentary called LES BOSQUETS, and a real estate developer, this image of a woman flying through the air to kiss Manhattan’s sky was so riveting that it continued to ricochet JR’s image across digital devices for months after we posted it.

JR in Manhattan. August 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 1 : Owen Dippie “Ninja Renaissance Masters” in Brooklyn

With 1.1 million shares across our Facebook page, this merging of four Renaissance master visages and the 1990s Ninja Turtles masks leap-frogged every other image we posted this year, and busted peoples’ brains open. The New Zealand based Dippie was killing it this summer in Brooklyn before heading out to the West Coast, but this trackside trick continued to draw visitors long after he headed back to his homeland, and his pic wins 2015 decisively. See the original posting here : Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello Spotted in BKLN : Owen Dippie Lies in Wait

Owen Dippie in Brooklyn. July 2015 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

A Quick Look at Wynwood Walls of Change 2015

December 8, 2015 Artists

Among the various events at this years’ Miami madness called Basel were the multiple projects that intersect with Street Art in the Wynwood District. Walls of Change brought new large scale murals and installations from fourteen international artists who have all done art in the streets at some stage of their career and represent some of the better known as well as a few up-and-comers.

Case Ma’Claim. Detail. “Walls of Change” at Wynwood Walls 2015. Miami, Florida. (photo © Todd Mazer)

The corporate sponsored program curated by real estate CEO Jessica Goldman Srebnick of Goldman Properties also debuted The Wynwood Walls Garden, a new space that cleverly added instant height to the scene by stacking shipping containers on top of each other.

Our thanks to Todd Mazer for sharing these fresh images for BSA readers to see what new pieces captured his eye at the installation. The invited list of artists includes Case (Germany), Crash (USA), Cryptik (USA), el Seed (France), Ernest Zacharevic (Singapore), Fafi (France), Hueman (USA), INTI (Chile), The London Police (UK), Logan Hicks (USA). Pichi & Avo (Spain), Magnus Sodamin (USA), and Alexis Diaz (Puerto Rico).

Case Ma’Claim. Detail. “Walls of Change” at Wynwood Walls 2015. Miami, Florida. (photo © Todd Mazer)

Case Ma’Claim. Detail. “Walls For Change” at Wynwood Walls 2015. Miami, Florida. (photo © Todd Mazer)

Ernest Zacharevic’s Miami collaboration with photographer Martha Cooper. Mr. Zacharevic recreated Pablo Picasso’s 1958 sculpture “Bull” and placed it a scene from Ms. Cooper’s photo of children at play taken in 1978 in The Lower East Side of Manhattan. Detail. “Walls of Change” at Wynwood Walls 2015. Miami, Florida. (photo © Todd Mazer)

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BSA HOT LIST : Books For Your Gift List from 2015

December 7, 2015 Artists

This year BSA brought you a number of reviews of Street Art related books to consider. Now that it is Christmas / Hannukah / Kwaanza / Solstice / New Year time we thought you would like a brief review of some of the best books of 2015. Enjoy!

Djerbahood/Open-Air Museum Of Street Art

From BSA:

“Djerbahood” Book About Tunisian Open-Air Museum Of Street Art

“Another top rate production from the Galerie Itinerrance in Paris, the book allows you to see most of the 150 or so artists who painted in this largest island of North Africa in Tunisia. Not surprisingly, most of these artists are represented by the gallery and organizer/author Mehdi Ben Cheikh so it is by default a catalog of talents whose studio work is for sale. But this is no mere sales catalog, Fatimah.”

Djerbahood/Open-Air Museum Of Street Art by Mehdi Ben Cheikh. Published by Editions Albin Michel. Paris, 2015.

For more on this book click HERE

Anthony Lister “Adventure Painter” Gingko Press.

From BSA:

The Adventures Of Anthony Lister

“Superhero and Street Artist/painter/contemporary artist Anthony Lister still crushes walls thank you very much. He never left the street actually – he just opened the door to the studio as well. And he lit things on fire in both.

Formally trained, he is one of the few of those much maligned art school kids painting on the street whom some graff heads allow themselves to admire, mostly because he doesn’t seem to give a good f**k. Don’t be mislead – he is a superhero as well as a villain, aesthete as much as vandal, respectful of convention even while shredding it. Anyone watching him work over the last decade will tell you that he cares very much and he is willing to do the heavy intellectual/emotional/physical labor to bring it to another level.”

Anthony Lister “Adventure Painter” Gingko Press.

For more about this book click HERE

Borondo: Memento Mori

From BSA:

Borondo and His Collection of “Memento Mori” (Book)

“By turning the pages you are a part of the research he is undergoing, and you see how he brings to the walls and windows his latest findings. Sometimes the process is additive, other times through subtraction, but Borondo appears to discover along with his audience what lies here.

A Street Artist yes, but one of the many former graffiti writers who are chafing against that term today, perhaps not realizing that their own practice is redefining it. Not only does the work speak to the average passerby in ways we haven’t been thinking of, he is using the context of the decaying wall as further evidence of a life cycle that everyone is a part of.”

Memento Mori is produced and coedited by Chiara Caprasecca and Chiara Pietropaoli and published by Yard Press.

For more on this book click HERE

Graffiti South Africa by Cale Waddacor.

From BSA:

Graffiti South Africa, The Book

“Arranged by three main areas of Cape Town, Durban, and Johannesburg, you even get a helpful map to help you appreciate the relative distance between them and the higher concentrations of writers in each – Graffiti South Africa gives a rather thorough overview of the scene, its players, and its history. The first book by the founder of the website by the same name, he has collected many images and interviews with artists from the early days as well as some of the newer ones, striking a balance in a widely varied scene that leans heavily toward graff vernacular while trying to incorporate the burgeoning street art scene as well.”

Graffiti South Africa by Cale Waddacor available from Schiffer Publishing, Ltd.

For more on this book click HERE

Street Art Santiago by Lord K2

From BSA:

Street Art Santiago : A Captivating Look and Insightful Read

“Using his own sense of discovery and a reporters’ tenacity for uncovering the story, Lord K2 (David Sharabani) scopes the walls for riveting images and first person accounts, digging below the obvious to present economic and social data along with a historical context of murals and their role in political life up to today.

Street Art Santiago adeptly draws connections between the quality of life, a lack of social mobility, and the soulful persistence of artists on the street who interpret the Santiago scene as one with its own distinct voice.

“The graffiti in Chile is mutating. We don’t want to paint graffiti from the Bronx anymore. We want to paint what reflects our Latin roots,” says Wend.”

Street Art Santiago by Lord K2. Schiffer Publishing. Atglen, PA. 2015

For more about this book click HERE

C215. La Monographie. Éditions Albin Michel. Paris 2015

From BSA:

The Genius of C215 In One Storied Tome : La monographie

“On the street and in the studio this guy has pretty much mastered the art of stencils over the last decade in a way that makes the medium have a human depth; something that few can do. He manages to give his subjects a character, revealing even the soul of his subjects in the lines on their faces, bringing life in their eyes. A proud and tormented fellow who honors art history as much as the suffering of people today, this is a talent that is fully engaged in the modern world.”

C215 La Monographie / The Monograph. Éditions Albin Michel. Paris 2015

For more on this book click HERE

Ein Wandblatt Aus Wien. Issue Nr. 3: Erotik Edition. Zine. Irga Irga Crew. July 2015.

From BSA:

Ein Wandblatt Aus Wien Issue #3: Erotik Edition

We’re always happy to see hand-made publications, especially when they are made by artists and collectives. For their 3rd edition, Ein Wandblatt Aus Wien have decided their theme is “Erotik”. With multiple contributions from fellow graffitti / Street Artists, you can see a few recurring themes amongst the figurative pieces. Included are some three dimensional pieces and many shots of favorite artworks on the street, which will apparently conjure erotik type feelings for certain folks.

To order a copy of Issue Nr. 3 of Ein Wandblatt Aus Wien: Erotik Edition click HERE

For more about this book click HERE

Søren Solkær: Surface

From BSA:

Søren Solkær: “Surface” Reveals What’s Below

“ ‘At first it seemed like a closed community, but one artist would lead me to the next and before I knew it, I had entered into an amazing new world – a very tight knit community of artists, many of which live like creative nomads.,’ says photographer Soren Solkaer in the foreward to his new collection called Surface. A three year project that has led the Dane to 13 cities capturing 140 artists whose practice lies along the graffiti-Street Art continuum is a revelation on many levels – who knew that you could convince so many of these undomesticated ferocious coyotes to pose? Who would have guessed that they would agree to be in staged photographs as well?”

Søren Solkær: Surface published by Gingko Press.

For more about this book click HERE

4661m² Art In Prison . Malik . Claude Luethi. Niggli Imprint. Zurich.

From BSA

Malik and “Note” Bring 17 Street Artists to a Swiss Prison: “4661m2″

“Initiated by Aarau-based graffiti/street/fine artist Malik in May of 2012, the project eventually corralled 17 Street Artists, all but one from Switzerland, to enter the confines of the new high security Lenzburg Prison to paint murals on exterior walls, courtyards, hallways, and common areas.

4661m² Art In Prison . Malik . Claude Luethi. Niggli Imprint. Zurich.

For more about this book click HERE

Shepard Fairey. Cover To Overt. Rizzoli, New York 2015

From BSA:

Shepard Fairey: “Covert To Overt” Book and Show in London

“Chronicling the last 6 years or so of murals, wheatpastes, shows, screen prints, posters, collaborations and art products that Fairey has brought to the fore, “Covert to Overt” is also chock-full of endorsements and analysis of his work’s impact from people who he’s met along the way like Jello Biafra to Neil Young to Pedro Alonzo, Russell Brand and D*Face.

Sean Bonner recounts a night wheatpasting with the Street Artist and the personal ruminations that can surface when sharing such bonding covert behavior, ‘We talked about small actions that can have huge impacts. Writing a song. Telling someone about a band. Creating an image that makes people ask questions. Simple actions that can change the world.’ “

Shepard Fairey. Cover To Overt. Rizzoli, New York 2015

For more on this book click HERE

Ella & Pitr “Baiser d’Encre” (=”Ink kisses”) France 2015.

This one is launching December 12th, and we haven’t had time to pour over it – but you might like to know about it anyway.

From Bizaare Beyond Belief:

“Ella & Pitr is proud to present their new book “Baiser d’Encre” (“Ink kisses”). It is set to be released on the 12th of December 2015 and the book will be available online for international shipping on this site: Superbalais and also in Le Feuvre’s gallery in Paris.

“Baiser d’Encre” is a collection of extracts from Ella & Pitr’s sketchbooks. Exclusive and intimate, this new book is an open window to the artists’ life. Mostly composed of sketches, it is completely understandable for non-french speakers. Tons of preview images after the jump!

Ella & Pitr “Baiser d’Encre” (=”Ink kisses”). France 2015

For more about this book click HERE

BSA Images Of The Week: 12.06.15

December 6, 2015 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

A wild week in world geopolitics, terror, social crisis – interpret them as you may through the prism of art collecting and fandom – as Miami Art Basel and the Wynwood District were bursting with high prices, high emotions, high celebrity-counts, and people who appeared to be high almost all the time. There were also heavy rains, big name music performances, custom designed cocktails, luxury brands, brand fusions, and sponsored walls and events everywhere. Also a stabbing.

Once we can sort through the best photos we’ll definitely share some of the great work with you this week.

Meanwhile, Street Artists continue to create in cities elsewhere and while Miami is celebrating brands, logos and luxury, on the other side of the ocean Brandalism completed a 600 kiosk takeover in Paris this week skewering all of the above and the undue influence corporations are having in writing environmental/trade laws. On the aesthetic tip we’ve recently made a mental note that photo-realism is now reaching a critical mass. So there you are.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring A Pill NYC, Bifido, Buff Monster, Cash4, Dan Witz, Fuzeillear, Invader, Jordan Seiler, Knarf, LikMi, Luca Ladda, Østrem, Otto Schade, Persue, Pøbel, Rahmi Rajah, Sean9Lugo, Sipros, and Skount.

A portrait of Biggie Smalls. This was probably ripped from the ad campaign and affixed to this phone box. We call this re-porpoising and we consider it to be Street Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

These two pieces are part of the NUART collection of murals painted for previous editions of the festival. They are not freshly painted but we wanted to publish them as they are calling our attention to a topic that is current and urgent and addressed by world leaders in Paris for the COP21 Climate Summit 2015 as well as dozens of Street Artists with the #brandalism campaign.

One cool thing about this piece: The plaid pattern was done by hand with gaffers’ tape – it isn’t freehand painted or stenciled or printed. It’s a 3D piece, including the silvery collar portion. There was a tag and a code at the collar but it was too faded for us to read. From what we could read the tag is #IywIkr (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skount surprised us with this abstract piece in Gold Coast, Australia – not the style he typically does. (photo © Skount)

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TES ONE + BASK Stay Curious In Tampa

December 5, 2015 Artists

You know, it’s not all about Miami, people. During this Art Basel-Wynwood week, sometimes it’s like all the other Florida cities are having Jan Brady middle-child syndrome (Miami, Miami, Miami!). Oh sure, Tampa has Disney, but what about beer cocktails being served in an aerosol spray can by a model in a white fur bikini?

brooklyn-street-art-tes-one-bask-greg-byron-tampa-11-15-web-2

Long before the current graffiti industrial complex, there were public art murals. These commissioned works have been a time-honored way to give a community and artists an opportunity to collaborate for a common purpose – or set of common purposes. With many Street Artists carrying a certain caché in this moment, cities and towns and “Business Improvement Districts” are seeking the same artists who they once put in hand cuffs to beautify the environs, minus any possibly transgressive messages. The embrace is conditional of course but an intelligent and thoughtful approach to engaging with and valuing the talents of artists – a little more Jersey City and a little less Detroit, as it were.

Street Artists/fine artists/mural artists Tes One & Bask recently completed a rather vast series of murals for the Arts Program Division of the City of Tampa with a team of 8 assistants and 175 gallons of paint — transforming a number of facades with a campaign they called “Stay Curious”. Here’s a look at some exclusive pics sent to BSA by the artists this week.

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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 »
Photos of BSA 2025 # 8
December 27, 2025
“When I watch people holding their smartphones, I often ask myself: are they holding their phones because they want to, …Read More »
Photos of BSA 2025 # 9
December 26, 2025
This was the year that rappelling from high places tipped the balance in New York graffiti. No matter the style …Read More »
Merry Christmas 2025 From BSA
December 25, 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 # 10
December 24, 2025
This one caught our eye for the merging of classic graffiti nerve, blunt style execution, sentimental velvety roses, inspirational verses, …Read More »

NO. 15

NO. 14

NO. 13

NO. 12

NO. 11

NO. 10

NO. 9

NO. 8

Ella & Pitr (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NO. 7

NO. 6

NO. 5

Basquiat (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pichi & Avo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NO. 3

Mario Ramirez (photo © Tots Films)

NO. 2

NO. 1

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

Lukasz Berger „Cisza” | “Silence” for Lodz Murals. Lodz, Poland. (photo © Maciej Stempij)

Top Image: Sipros and a father of surrealism for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Specter in Paris. (photo © Specter)

Specter in Paris. (photo © Specter)

Specter in Besancon. (photo © Specter)

Read More (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Inva…sions are Cost…ly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lex56. Noted. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jordan Seiler (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For Dotty & Pearl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The company you keep… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Labrona and Ket in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

Labrona and Ket in Montreal. Detail. (photo © Labrona)

Labrona in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

Mint & Serf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaye Moon has a sense of “awe” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never created this memorial to Peter Caroll AKA Pet Bird, who passed away suddenly in September. We love you Peter…and you too Never. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Balloons. Manhattan, NYC. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Monkey Bird Crew in Lille, France. (photo © Aline Mairet)

Narcelio Grud Mixes Cement and Sprays It

The Reinvention of Normal: Dominic Wilcox

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

Shepard Fairey: OBEY This Film

Kinetoscope: Angelina Christina x Ease One

1010 Creates a Crater in Paris

Born and Bred: The Rise of Street Art in Bushwick

Roma Street Art Tribes as Captured by Dioniso Punk

(RE) Prisma by Narcelio Grud

Hitnes. The Image Hunter / Voodoo Duck

Welcome To America Owen Dippie by Erin Dippie

FAILE: “Wishing On You” Times Square 2015 NYC

Your Tour Through Dismaland with Butterfly and Lars Pederson

Ugangprosjektet 2015 in Drammen, Norway. A Film by Selina Miles

Brandalism Takes Over Bus Stops to Counter Cop21 Misinformation

Street Artist Invited to Bring Inspirational Modernism To a Brooklyn Parish

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tiled fleur de lis inspired Rubin415 in his new works at Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin415. Saint Cecilia Church. Greenpoint, Brooklyn. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

No. 15 : Os Gemeos in Manhattan

Brazilian twin brothers Octavio and Gustavo are Os Gemeos and this year they began popping out of walls – and that’s not all! See the original posting here :

OS Gemeos Pop Through Walls Downtown NYC, Screens in Times Square

No. 10 : Dal East in Sweden

Participating in the same small festival (Borås “No Limit)” as PichiAvo above, the artist Dal East captured the imagination of BSA readers with this soaring wingspan painted high upon a five stepped modern facade building across from a textile university campus.

No. 7 : Ella & Pitr in Norway

The French couple were in the town of Stavanger to create the World’s Largest Mural so comparatively this was just doodle on the back of an envelope for Ella & Pitr, but something about it struck a chord with you this September.

No. 5 : Okuda in Manhattan

Nearing 20 years in the game, the Spanish Street Artist Okuda is always a pleaser with his rich-hued pop surrealism and geometrics that mimic the man-made urban environment. Here his organic forms in a New York doorway pop out from the dim grayness of the streetscape.

No. 3 : Nick Walker

The Bristol-born Mr. Walker has a soft spot for New York and this placement outside a pizza parlor of his iconic bowler-hatted avatar made a lot of connections for viewers on Facebook who shared this image like crazy last winter.