ROA in Mexico, Gambia, and Cambodia

September 13, 2012

Globetrotting the Man-Made World, Listening to the Natural One

It’s sort of unprecedented to see how far ROA has gone this year, and how much work he has done. When people say that well-worn phrase “catching up with _____”, in his case you’d be out of breath. Here is a Street Artist who has very effectively escaped the street, an introvert traveling quietly in the extroverted world, with open eyes and an acute talent for observation; decoding the universe through study of the natural, and unnatural.

Today we debut new images taken by ROA from his travels in 2012 to three continents, leaving his footprints in the soil in villages and towns, studying creatures and the humans around them. As soon as he arrives at his host country he shakes hands of the people and smiles and sets his mind to observe his surroundings, taking interest in what roams free on the ground. He asks about available walls and when possible he selects a perfect one – the more imperfect the wall somehow the more perfect for him. From there it’s a simpler matter of immortalizing the critters and creatures that are all around and usually overlooked.

ROA here gives BSA readers these exclusive images of his travels to Cambodia, The Gambia, and Mexico with some of his observations, and we thank him.

MEXICO

In his second trip to Mexico City, ROA powerfully depicted struggle that commands attention across a large wall. “The snake with rats in her tail strangled. And as Jaime knows, the snake is very important for the pre-hispanic culture in Mexico,” says ROA.

ROA. Mexico City. All City Canvas Festival. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Cholula, Mexico 2012 (photo © ROA)

“Cholula is legendary known for the 365 churches to celebrate every day another saint,” ROA says in reference to this city in Puebla. Legendary is the right word, as there are actually only about 160 chapels in the town and surrounding haciendas, but the powerful influence of the Catholic Church here may account for the impression that there is one for each day of the year.

ROA. Cholula, Mexico 2012 (photo © ROA)

THE GAMBIA, AFRICA

ROA. Makumbaya, The Gambia. 2012. (photo © ROA)

ROA. Bakau, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

“This was my second visit to the Makasutu Forest, The Gambia,” ROA explains as he describes getting his camera and computer stolen after his last trip – where many of the photos from that trip were lost. Thankfully he had retained some of his images from that trip, and here they are.  “The choice of the animals was mostly inspired by the moment; I would walk there and see a beatle, toad, lizard, .. and just paint it. The mosquito is the insect that has the biggest impact on the people’s daily conditions and health,” he says.

ROA. Kubuneh, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Kubuneh, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Roaming Cows, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Gunjur Beach, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Galoya, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Galoya, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Galoya, The Gambia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. The Gambia. 2011 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Galoya, The Gambia. 2011 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Babooms, Galoya, The Gambia. 2011 (photo © ROA)

CAMBODIA

Here on the invitation of  TheSk8Room (Bruxelles) ROA also gave some workshops to local youth, and had the opportunity to create something special for the tower of a school in Phnom Peng called Pour un sourire d’enfant (PSE).

“Because we spent time in the jungle near Vietnam two days before, I chose to paint a firefly. After sunset we hiked up the hill and we got to see hundreds of them in the middle of the tropics. Magical!” , he exclaims. He says that the firefly is important because  light pollution threatens her existence as that is the method fireflies use to communicate with one another.  “They produce with their lower body a yellow/green luminescent light, and cancer researchers observing them have posited the possibility that they would could kill cancer cells. They are very magical bugs!”

ROA. Sakateistan, Cambodia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Kep, Cambodia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Kep, Cambodia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA. Kep, Cambodia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

“During our two days stay in the forest we visited Kep,” says ROA remembering his time in the small town near Vietnam. “It  once functioned as the “French Riviera” of Cambodia, and you can see this in the villas they left behind, evidence of the former wealth of the area.” Unfortunately, many of the villas were destroyed during the time of the Khmer Rouge, he says. “Nowadays they are shelters for homeless people and for roaming animals.”

ROA. Kep, Cambodia. 2012 (photo © ROA)

ROA wishes to thank the following people:

Gonzalo, Roberto, and Jalil, Jesus and Francisco in Mexico City. All City Canvas.

Christian Milamores in Cholula, Puebla.

Lawrence at Wide Open Walls, The Gambia.

The people at TheSk8Room (Bruxelles) for inviting him to visit Cambodia.

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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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Living Walls Atlanta 2012 Complete, Women Define the Show

September 12, 2012 , , ,

Atlanta just finished the Living Walls festival, a collection of 30 female Street Artists who came for 10 days to create 18 new works around the city. The third festival in as many years, the event is equal parts inspiration and perspiration, and with a team of about 60 volunteers and 30 local businesses all working together to support the artists in whatever capacity is needed, it is largely non-commercial.

“You really don’t need much money to do this, just lots of heart and dedication. Taking back your public space, humanizing it, and reactivating it without selling anything to the public, is something that money can’t buy,” bemuses co-founder Monica Campana, and the point couldn’t be a finer one if it were a razor tipped Sharpie.

Hyuro (photo © Martha Cooper)

Hyuro’s mural from afar. (photo © Martha Cooper)

While Street Art festivals are seeming to blossom in cities around the globe that want to enliven the local cultural values (and possibly real estate values), more scrutiny is beginning to be paid by the watchers of the Street Art scene to see if mainstream acceptance will simply mean an enhanced currency stream for opportunists. In some cases Street Art festivals are looking like they’re getting ready to start moving some serious “lifestyle” product as events are being branded by sneakers and energy drinks. Of course, we’ve seen this movie before, along with it’s accompanying feelings of confliction.

Fefe (photo © Martha Cooper)

Living Walls has always had as a core component a series of lectures and panels dedicated to education and discussion about the role of art and artists in the public sphere. But that’s not the focus of everyone who throws one of these shindigs.

“I believe that there are some festivals that want to promote the scene, the street artists, and who  want to engage their communities via art. I also think that there are a whole other set of street art festivals that are using this movement to market a product and capitalize on it,” says Campana.

Fefe (photo © Martha Cooper)

Occasionally a wall in one of these festivals runs afoul of local tastes, as was the case for Street Artist Hyuro, whose line up of a female figure in various stages of undress brought at least one ornery feller out of the woods, or the recent depiction of two bears by ROA in Rochester that reminded some observers of a sexual position known best by it’s numeric moniker. Often you can look at these aesthetic flare-ups as a welcome opportunity for sophomoric jokes by teenage boys, selective umbrage by self appointed morality guards who rush passed the soup kitchen line to wave an angry finger, or the animated outrage of a story-hungry local newsreader reporting live on the scene. For a large part, surprisingly, many of the artists tell stories of Atlanta neighbors bringing food, their kids, sometimes a paintbrush.

For Alexandra Parrish, one of the festivals small army of volunteers, Living Walls and all of the raw youthful enthusiasm of the new D.I.Y. Street Art scene represents hope in an American city that she sees as having been abandoned, drained dry in the face of lowered economic prospects. “Since the 1990s, there’s been an overwhelming creative void in the city, as sort of ‘art-flight’,” says Parrish. “Many who galvanized the art scene in Atlanta left when it got too rough. Then, something like Living Walls comes around – with no money, no rhyme, no reason, in the midst of an urban sprawl least likely to care.”

Tika (photo © Martha Cooper)

In an economy that also feels abandoned and ever shifting downward in search of a new baseline, you can see a certain jadedness in the Millenial generation you wouldn’t have seen a few years ago, but here is a new ruggedness too.  Alexandra looks at the attitudes and the relentless efforts that a loosely woven group of art kids have made with little funding to create a genuine lifeblood. “Three years later, with the help of countless local businesses, foundations and individuals, it is overwhelmingly clear to us that yes, people do care.”

Here’s the evidence, an onslaught of walls shot by the dear Ms. Martha Cooper and expressly picked by her for BSA. We’re happy to share the bounty with you and this small interview with Monica. Ultimately these are fruits of labor by some who didn’t wait for permission to create a scene. It should be a surprise that they are accomplishing something that many urban planners and masters of industry have found illusive in cities during these harrowing economic times.

Says Parrish, “Our scrappy organization has somehow put Atlanta back on the map.”

Tika atop her double walled portrait (photo © Martha Cooper)

Brooklyn Street Art: Because you worked closely with the community and a large team of volunteers, do the artists feel welcomed to the event?
Monica Campana: Living Walls is an all-volunteer organization of about 60 people who act as staff or artists assistants – whatever role is needed. There are also about 30 different local restaurants that helped feed the artists during their 10-day stay in Atlanta, not counting the sponsors who hosted the artists and events during the conference. So many people are a part of each conference every year that it truly makes it a community project.

The whole city wants to welcome the invited artists, and during production week everyone will try to make an effort to make the artist feel welcome. Sometimes they show up to the events we are hosting or stop by the walls with water or food. During a giant family-style dinner given by a friend, one artist told me that she had heard we were nice in Atlanta but she was really not expecting this level of nice… I guess we really reinforce the “Southern Hospitality” concept here.

Sten & Lex (photo © Martha Cooper)

Brooklyn Street Art: How are festivals like this going to affect the greater Street Art scene, given that they are large, organized, and authorized?
Monica Campana: Festivals of this kind are definitely affecting the street art scene, positively and negatively. I believe that as long a street art festival works with its community, educates, promotes conversations in their communities about street art/graffiti origins and its motivations, as long as it reactivates spaces and helps create community, then it’s all good. Street art should remain illegal, but I also believe that organized street art festivals can help as a platform for dialogue about this craft.

Sten & Lex (photo © Martha Cooper)

Brooklyn Street Art: Organizers spoke initially of this being the first and largest organized festival of female street artists together. Does that include festivals like the “B*Girl Summit” in 2005 and the rest of the “B-Girl Be” events of the late 2000s ?
Monica Campana: When we decided to mainly focus on female street artists for this year’s conference, we researched as much as we could to see if this had been done before. We found art shows, showcasing only girls in the street art world – we found graffiti jams only showcasing female graffiti writers- we found b-girl festivals – but we were not able to find a street art conference that showcased only women.

This was a conference with 5 days of events, the creation of 18 pieces of public art, and lectures discussing urbanism and gender roles in public spaces. Living Walls 2012, focusing on only female street artist, was the first of it’s kind as of yet – and hopefully it’s not the last one.

Members of the Atlanta community helped with a number of murals, like this one by Olive 47 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Brooklyn Street Art: Having primarily women on the scene this year, how was the work and the environment of Living Walls Atlanta affected?
Monica Campana: Working with primarily female artists gave LW a very different sensitivity. I don’t want to sound stereotypical, but in the past the guys have been more wild than the girls. This year it was amazing to see how the girls would wake up early, stick to their schedule, would be more aware of keeping things cleaner and safe.

The work on the streets also had a different feel and artists experimented with new materials, like yarn, colored powder, balloons and even hair weaves. Some murals even continued from their walls onto the ground. I feel like this year the artists wanted to push themselves more and experiment with their space in new ways.

Olive 47 (photo © Martha Cooper)

Brooklyn Street Art: Are you up for another year of Living Walls?
Monica Campana: Yes! This is the first year that I finished the conference wanting to start the next one right away. Every year it is so hard and so much work but we really are a family, and I cannot wait to continue working with everyone and planning for the next conference. I’m motivated by so many motivated and talented. We’re already planning to have next years desired lineup by this October.

Mon Ellis (photo © Martha Cooper)

Molly Rose Freeman (photo © Martha Cooper)

“Every day I wake up thinking about all the art we are putting on the streets, all the conversations being sparked by the art, all the love and hard work each artist puts into leaving something so great in our city.” – Monica Campana

Molly Rose Freeman (photo © Martha Cooper)

Martina Merlini (photo © Martha Cooper)

Martina Merlini (photo © Martha Cooper)

Jessie Unterhalter and Katie Truhn (photo © Martha Cooper)

Jessie Unterhalter and Katie Truhn (photo © Martha Cooper)

Indigo (photo © Martha Cooper)

Indigo (photo © Martha Cooper)

“It is a great feeling to know that we might be inspiring others. Here is the thing though…what Living Walls does for Atlanta, it can be easily done in any other city. I encourage everyone that wants to promote street art and the creation of new public spaces in their communities to do something like Living Walls.” – Monica Campana

EME (photo © Martha Cooper)

EME (photo © Martha Cooper)

Art Hs (photo © Martha Cooper)

Miso (photo © Martha Cooper)

 

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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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941 Geary Gallery Presents: ROA “Dominant Species” (San Francisco, CA)

September 11, 2012 , , , , ,

ROA

ROA in Brooklyn Summer 2012 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

941 Geary is pleased to present “Dominant Species,” making San Francisco the latest home to ROA’s talent for the first time since his solo show at White Walls last year. “Dominant Species” will open Saturday, September 15th, from 6-9pm, with the exhibition free and open to the public for viewing through November 3rd, 2012.

Belgian-born artist, ROA, is known for his striking, and expressive depictions of animals, often stretching to multistoried heights. Even when not massive in scale, ROA’s animals are massive in impact, created with vivid details and the keen eye of a naturalist. Through a focus on local species, ROA reintroduces species that have been forced to the outskirts of urban areas back to the land they once inhabited freely. With this selection of creatures natural to the area, ROA is able to create a powerful sense of intimacy between the viewer and the animals represented. ROA’s paintings often show multiple anatomical layers of the same representation. The work is interactive and the depicted animals can be manipulated by the viewer.

ROA cemented his reputation as one of the world’s most prolific and recognizable street artists by painting members of the animal kingdom throughout major cities of the world, including Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Sydney and many more. His work has now become a global affair, reaching between the Andes and the coast of Chile, the Australian Outback, the African Savanna, the Asian tropic, the American prairie and back to the abandoned factories in the backyard of his hometown in Belgium.

ROA’s “Dominant Species” is his latest body of work created directly after his road trip from the East to the West of America. Driving through the states he experienced and observed a diversity of habitats and species, including the American eagle, the historic symbol of imperialism. Even the icon of the American country is endangered by nature’s most combative intruder: humans. “Dominant Species” refers to humanity aside the history of the States, from the Spanish conquest that consequentially, and brutally, changed the native life up to the contemporary human invasion of the landscape. Travelling throughout the tragically magical landscape of Northern Arizona, ROA was fascinated by the illustrative examples of the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, seen in the paradox of the harmony of the Navajo with Mother Earth alongside the chaos of commercial feed lots, bear hunting, and landfills.

ROA’s site-specific process gives his art the ability to conform to the dimensions of a space and grow from within it, and 941 Geary will be entirely used by the artist to create his installation. “Dominant Species” will be constructed from found objects and salvaged materials, with the large-scale installation guided by a dystopian narrative and ideas of how civilization can run down the land it grew from. Aging wood, rusting metal and skeletal remains come together to remind us of the interrelated workings of our manmade cities and the natural world, with ROA’s mastery of anatomical form and beautiful renderings making these discarded objects something to value anew.

Event Information:

ROA: “Dominant Species”

Opening Reception September 15th, 2012, 6-9 pm

@ 941 Geary (www.941geary.com)

941 Geary St,

San Francisco, CA

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Low Brow Artique Presents: “Just My Type” A Group Exhibition. (Brooklyn, NYC)

September 11, 2012 , , , , , ,

Just My Type

 

Low Brow Artique is proud to present Just My Type, which brings together four artists in a contrast of the various uses of typography. For this show, the gallery presents the work of Dirty Bandits, Gilf!, ND’A and QRST. The exhibition will be open to the public from September 14th to October 7th, with an opening reception on September 14th from 7 to 10pm.

Both being knowledgeable sign painters, ND’A and Dirty Bandits employ similar techniques when using typography in their art. Creating signs for different occasions, the Dirty Bandits employs humor combined with exceptional letterforms.  Through creating series themed around such things as ex-boyfriends and pickup lines, the artist pairs intricate and feminine type-work with a good amount of hilarity in each sign. In a similar vein, ND’A uses pop culture references and cartoon-like visuals to grab viewers’ attention as well as give them a good laugh. Known for his love of 1950’s music and comics as well as contemporary rap, the artist provides a wide range of visual and textual influences for his viewers.

In addition to providing humor, typography can also be used to convey a serious set of ideologies or beliefs.  For QRST, the banners integrated into his pieces typically carry a simple message of his moniker. However, occasionally, the cynicism seen in his portraiture paintings comes across through in these spaces. Using source material such as biblical quotations, the artist wants the viewer to see the world his way, with a dark, cynical bent. Carrying a similarly serious tone, Gilf! uses text to confront inequalities and promote change within society. Often, the artist subverts the manner in which viewers are traditionally accustomed to reading in order to garner their attention further. Whether it is forming the words into an eye chart or arranging them in an otherwise unusual form, issues such as equality and women’s rights remain the focal point of her pieces.

With work ranging from the self-conscious to the socially conscious, Just My Type represents the spectrum of concepts that words can be used to convey. Accompanying these ideas are a wide range of typographical styles whose details  are just as intricate as the thoughts behind them.

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Galerie Itinerrance Presents: LUDO “Metal Militia” (Paris, France)

September 11, 2012 , , , , , ,

LUDO

“I’ve been working hard this summer and I’m pleased to let you know that I have a solo show opening next week, first time ever showing in my home town Paris.
The show is called “Metal Militia”, opening september 14th at Galerie Itinerrance.
It’s a mix of canvases, this is the first time I’ll be showing big works on canvases plus pieces on paper and sculptures. All the pieces are graphite and oil painting”. LUDO

LUDO (image © Courtesy of the artist)

Au travers de son oeuvre Ludo relie le monde des plantes et des animaux avec notre univers technologique et  notre « quête de modernité », il observe l’humanité, déchiffre notre société afin de mieux s’exprimer dans les limites qu’elle impose.
Ses premières incursions dans l’art de rue ont eu lieu il y a plus de 10 ans. Il se tourne vers le collage en 2007 afin de maintenir une approche transgressive tout en se protégeant des peines juridiques les plus sévères.
« Revanche de la Nature ». Le titre inquiétant de sa série convient à son contenu : un nouvel ordre, dans lequel la faune et la flore se sont métamorphosés en des organismes hybrides, des créatures chimériques qui s’approprient les attributs de notre société, afin de reprendre leur place sur notre planète.
Des caméras de sécurité s’échappent des pistils d’un lis ; les abeilles voltigent, cachées derrière masques à gaz, des crânes humains se regroupent pour former une grappe de  raisin.

Tirées avec précision d’illustrations botaniques,

LUDO (image © Courtesy of the artist)

7bis, rue R. Goscinny 75013 Paris
Visite sur Rendez vous au (+33)06 19 98 06 33
Métro Ligne 14/ RER C  Bibliothèque François Mitterrand

 

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Opera Gallery Presents: Bäst “Germs Tropicana” Solo Exhibition. (Manhattan, NYC)

September 11, 2012 , , , , , ,

Bäst

 

Brooklyn-based artist Bast has been an important part of the street art scene for the past 10 years both in New York and Europe, where his wheat-pasted images feature prominently across the urban landscape. An elusive character that has rarely been seen in public, and whose very existence has been debated, little is known about Bast’s work outside of what the public sees throughout New York’s urban environment. Fortunately, more has become known about the artists as his images have evolved to gallery-exhibition status in recent years.

Bast is held in high regard by his fellow contemporaries such as Banksy, Faile, and Paul Insect. In 2010, Bast collaborated with the artist collective Faile on a conceptual video arcade project called Deluxx Fluxx. This project allowed the audience to interact with both of these artist’s work in an arcade game form. While not reviewed heavily in art publications, Deluxx Fluxx received favorable reviews by noted journalists such as Stephen Heyman of the New York Times who argued “art can be diverting, but people sometimes need winners and losers to get in the game.”

For Bast’s first solo show in New York City in 2004 at Transplant Gallery, fellow elusive artist Bansky wrote the introduction to the exhibition’s catalogue. His words give a glimpse into the personality of the artist: “Bast is an artist who represents for Brooklyn. He does this by writing ‘BAST-BROOKLYN’ on other people’s property (and in one case when visiting London the side of a moving red double-decker bus). He does this by speaking with a deep Williamsburg drawl that makes Al Pacino sound like a girl, but mainly he does it by making art that actually feels like Brooklyn. The borough is said to contain every culture and race that exists on the planet earth but that doesn’t necessarily make it interesting- so does the United Nations building but who wants to look at that? The key to Bast’s appeal is not being very responsible. The work isn’t so much a ‘melting pot’ of culture as a food blender, set on max and left until the motor burns out…”

Banksy adds, “His art is fast and loose and cheap, which is strangely why it endures, it’s punchy and it has value. As the great disgraced film producer Robert Evans once said “it’s irreverence that makes things sizzle, its irreverence that gives you a chance of truly touching magic…”

Bast’s work is also appreciated by many in the fashion industry. He has collaborated with Agnes b. on several occasions, who was an influential figure in the art world in the 1980’s during the peak careers of Haring, Warhol, and Basquiat and continues to cultivate artist’s careers today. Bast also teamed up with renowned fashion designer Marc Jacobs to create a clothing collection for one season that eventually lead to creating a 5 season long collaboration. This was a career highlight for Bast as Marc Jacobs had only worked with Takashi Murakami and Kaws previously on his collection label.

Bast’s current show at Opera Gallery New York, “Germs Tropicana,” displays a new direction for the artist, one where Abstract Expressionism meets Pop-Art. In addition to this new style, this group of work continues to explore his already know collage style of faces. The imagery in these pieces appear similar to giant petri dishes, where his text and pop iconography, aka germs, take over the canvas. This body of work is the evolution of Bast, and ties together many of the different styles which he has created over the years.

Fellow contemporary artist Paul Insect describes Bast and his work as, “Coney Island’s original warrior, copied by many, stolen by all…New York’s modern day Basquiat, Bast’s eccentric style delivers a punch to where most people dream of hitting.”

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Klughaus Gallery Presents: Reyes & Steel “All Write You Scumbags” (Manhattan, NYC)

September 11, 2012 , , , , , ,

Reyes & Steel

Klughaus Gallery & LRG present…
REYES & STEEL
“All Write You Scumbags”

Opening Reception: Friday, September 14 from 6-10pm
Location: 47 Monroe Street New York, NY 10002
RSVP: rsvp@klughaus.net

There will be (limited) complimentary gourmet Pat LaFrieda cheeseburgers by STEEL aka Sleazy McCheesy at the opening! Klughaus Gallery and LRG are proud to present, “All Write You Scumbags,” a dual artist show featuring recent works by Bay Area artists Victor Reyes and Steel. “All Write You Scumbags” marks the New York debut for both artists and showcases a distinct chemistry cultivated over years working together as friends, creative partners and members of MSK, one of the highest regarded graffiti artist collectives in the world.

Victor Reyes has been painting since the early 1990s and his work has been exhibited in galleries all around the world. As an artist preoccupied with what he once described as the “natural rhythms” of penmanship, Reyes’ self-instructed evolution from graffiti writer to fine artist has included a fascinating exploration of spelling and typography.

“These new works are painted and illustrated as a reveal to the contemporary ideas surrounding graffiti and its application within the conversation of fine art,” says Reyes of the duo’s Klughaus show.

Steel is an artist from San Francisco who paints cheeseburgers. He has a great appreciation for classic print design and sign painting. Among other things, he is known for his versatility and ability to create artwork in a gallery setting that is very distinct from his work in the streets. His vibrant, colorful paintings and illustrations are detailed, tongue-in-cheek, and often explored using untraditional canvases ranging from ammunition boxes to vintage silver cans. His inspirations include his friends, Richard Pryor, and good food.

There is going to be a limited edition Reyes/Steel zine released at the opening. The limited zine is 10 pages, hand bound saddle stitch and hand painted with gouache and serigraph on watercolor paper.

For a catalog, please contact: info@klughaus.net

The exhibit will be on display through October 7, 2012

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Know Hope Presents: “Others’ Truths” A New Zine Relase and Art Show (Tel Aviv, Israel)

September 11, 2012 , , , , , ,

Know Hope

“Others’ Thruths” a new zine by Know Hope

Release date: 13.9.12

The zine will be released in a special event that will take place on Thursday, September 13th at 20:00

(the exhibition will remain open Friday, September 15th, 12:00-16:00)

at “Studio”, 2 Harakevet St., Tel Aviv

“Others’ Truths”, Know Hopes tenth and newest zine is comprised of a series of drawings, texts and observations collected during the past year.

While working on the zine, Know Hope focused on the idea of ‘truisms’, which are often adopted without questioning; by the use of the image of the flag in his work, Know Hope attempts to research the concepts of patriotism and nationalism, not necessarily from a directly political stance, but from a viewing point of the personal or private human condition in relation to the more general and collective.

“Others’ Truths” is in a way a continuation of Know Hopes research, attempting to understand the current situation that we find ourselves in, being born into a charged reality structured on the foundations of past and outdated morals and values.

The original drawings that were used as pages in the zine will be exhibited during the event. The drawings are composed of Know Hopes repetitive iconography, that are an insight to the human condition, as well as the motif of ‘the flag’ and the relationship between the two.

The zine will be available during the event, and at www.thisislimbo.bigcartel.com and selected stores from Friday, September 14th.

“Others’ Truths” is independently published in an edition of 1000. The zines are soft cover and have 64 b/w pages.

In addition to the zines, sticker packs created specially for the event will be available.

 

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Joshua Liner Gallery Presents: “A Love Letter for You” A Film by Stephen Powers AKA ESPO (Manhattan, NYC)

September 11, 2012 , , , , ,

A Love Letter for You

In conjunction with our current solo exhibition, A Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures, Joshua Liner Gallery and Stephen Powers will be hosting a screening of Powers’ feature film A Love Letter For You followed by Q&A with Stephen Powers and director Joey Garfield.

The screening will be held this Saturday 9/15, at the Tribeca Grand Hotel at 8pm. Tickets are limited, so get them while you can!

Click here to buy tickets. Click here (or click on the image below) to watch the trailer.

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Nuart Presents: Nuart Plus International Street Art Summit (Stavanger, Norway)

September 11, 2012 , , , , , , ,

Nuart Plus

NUART PLUS
STAVANGER NORWAY : 27/28/29 SEPT

Nuart Plus, one of Europe’s first international Street Art summits kicks off this year!
Thurs Sept 27- Sat 29th Sept sees a host of industry professionals, creatives, authors and critics descend on Stavanger to discuss, dismantle and fight their way through issues surrounding Street Art, advertising, urban development and related issues.
http://www.nuartfestival.no/nuart-plus

Three days of keynote talks and presentations, panel debates with visiting artists, film premieres, street art tours and more. See full program attached.

Guests and Keynote speakers include
Carlo McCormick (US) – Tristan Manco (UK) / Ron English (US) / Saber (US) / Jordan Seiler (US) / Jon Burgerman (UK) / The Wa (FR) / RJ Rushmore (US) / Evan Pricco (US) / Kristi Guldberg (NO) / Eirik Sjåholm Knudsen (NO) / Marion Højris Jensen (DK) / John Xc (UK)


Nuart is proud to announce the latest addition to what’s fast becoming one of the most talked about events on the international street art calendar.

This three-day international Street Art Summit inaugurates the new PLUS series, a component of the festival that aims to bring together the public, artists and creative professionals in an environment of exploration, innovation and discovery.

Open to the public, Nuart PLUS is a professional gathering that explores the ever-strengthening links between creativity and our urban environment. Featuring a mix of keynotes, panels and presentations, the Nuart PLUS summit is a 3-day conference aimed at elaborating a cohesive view of the current trends within groundbreaking artistic mediums and proposing visions for the future.

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DAY 1 – Mental space
Day 1 will investigate the relationship between street art, the urban environment and advertising. For decades street artists have not only co-opted the visual strategies of advertising but also the physical billboards that advertisers use. Day 1 explores the corporate visual elements that surround us, how do they affect the way we engage and behave in society and what are street artists contributing to this arena?

DAY 2 – Physical space
Our second day is perhaps the most comprehensive, with a keynote address from renowned cultural critic Carlo McCormick as well as presentations, panel debates and discussions from a broad range of guests. Physical Space will tackle the complex relationship between Street Art, Urban Planning and our physical environment. Street Art and Graffiti now plays a prominent role in the cultural landscape and consciousness of a city. Can it and should it be assimilated. In other words, how can street art play a role in producing the city and society we wish to live in?

DAY 3 – Virtual space
Virtual Space will explore Street Art’s life on the web by exploring the growing relationship between the street, the artist and the Internet. With rapid photo and film uploading sites, dedicated street art forums, social media sites, blogs, mobile apps and other sharing platforms, Street Art and its life on the Internet is now a multi-authored environment. Can we see specific changes in art practices and expressions due to this?

Full day program with keynotes, panels etc.: http://www.nuartfestival.no/nuart-plus

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FILMS:

Thursday Sept 27. Kl 1700. Sf Kino
POPAGANDA. “The Art & Crimes of Ron English”.
With a live introduction and post film Q&A with Ron English, moderated by Juxtapoz Editor in Chief, Evan Pricco (US)

The modern day Robin Hood of Madison Avenue, subversive artist Ron English is on a mission to liberate all billboards. He paints, perverts, infiltrates, reinvents and satirizes modern culture on hundreds of pirated billboards. Popaganda chronicles the evolution of an artist who offers an alternative universe where nothing is sacred, everything is subverted and there’s always room for a little good-natured fun.


Saturday Sept 29. Kl 1700. Sf Kino
EXIT THROUGH THE GIFTSHOP
Introduction to the film from author and Banksy confidente Tristan Manco (UK)

This is the inside story of Street Art – a brutal and revealing account of what happens when fame, money and vandalism collide. Exit Through the Gift Shop follows an eccentric shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker as he attempts to capture many of the world’s most infamous vandals on camera, only to have a British stencil artist named Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner with wildly unexpected results.

One of the most provocative films about art ever made, Exit Through the Gift Shop is a fascinating study of low-level criminality, comradeship and incompetence. By turns shocking, hilarious and absurd, this is an enthralling modern-day fairytale… with bolt cutters.

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TOURS

THURS 27. STREET ART TOUR
STREET ART TOUR : ART AND ADVERTSING WiTH JORDAN SEILER (US) AND RJ RUSHMORE (US)
Join us for what’s probably one of the most unusual Street Art tours ever presented. Following on from the days discussions regarding who controls our mental/visual public space, Art V’s Advertising and the power plays in our utrban environment, Jordan Seiler (US), founder of the groundbreaking PublicAdcampaign and Rj Rushmore (US), founder of the highly respected Street Art site Vandalog will be your guides.

FRI 28. STREET ART TOUR #02
STREET ART TOUR #02 : LANDMARKS, WITH TRISTAN MANCO (UK)
Our second and final tour of the week will explore the work produced over the years in and around the city center and will take in several of the pieces created for this years event. Street Art and Graffiti now plays a prominent role in the cultural landscape and consciousness of a city. How can street art play a role in producing the city and society we wish to live in?

Hosted by world renowned Street Art expert and author Tristan Manco (UK), the tour will depart shortly after the final Nuart Plus talk of the day.

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Space 27 Gallery Presents: “Permanence” A Group Exhibition. (Montreal, Canada)

September 11, 2012 , , , , , ,

Permanence

C215 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Permanence

Space 27 Gallery and Pure Living present Permanence, an exhibition contrasting the ephemeral nature of street art with the permanence of collectible art.

Including a variety of artwork created by Montreal-based as well as Canadian and international street artists shaping our urban landscape, Permanence aims to show the transition of street art from its underground beginnings to mainstream.

The works presented are directly influenced by the artist’s involvement with the street art movement; one that uses the city as a medium of expression, combining a vast range of techniques and artistic influences. In Permanence, they are brought out of the urban landscape and into the fine art world.

INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS:
Army of One – US
Banksy – UK
Bast – US
Brett Amory – US
C215 – FR
Charming Baker – UK
Faile – US
Guy Denning – UK
Holly Thoburn – UK
Hush – UK
Jef Aerosol – France
Judith Supine – US
Luc Bouchard – US
Mario Wagner – Germany
Quik – US
Shepard Fairey – US

CANADIAN ARTISTS

Alan Ganev
Case
Earth Crusher
Fauxreel
Fred Caron
Gawd
Jason Botkin
Labrona
Lilyluciol
Mathieu Connery
Omen
Other
Philippe Chabot
Produkt
Rage 5
Roadsworth
Scan
Specter
Stikki peaches
WIA
Xavier Landry
Zilon

Details:

Date: September 15th, 2012
Time: 18:00h – 23:30h
Location: Space 27, 101 rue Louvain W. Montreal

 

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