Arth daniels
Chloe early
D*Face
Dan Witz
David Bray
Kai & Sunny
Miss Van
Ronzo
Sylvia Ji
Toshi
Will Barras
Word To Mother
Von
Jeff Soto
Pete Fowler
EINE
Josie Morway
Kelly Allen
Charles Krafft
Ramon Maiden
Ryan Callanan
Curtis Kulig
William Stevenson
Like a lot of the artists crawling around Bushwick, Brooklyn today, Street Artist duo Skewville were once hustling to get a show in a gallery or “art space” – only to find out that few people showed up, understood their concept, and almost nobody bought it. A testament to youth and bravado and their persistence, they eventually wore us down.
Now as he’s rummaging through his crates and boxes of Skewville memorabilia, Ad Deville has a wry smile on his face. DeVille, along with his twin Droo, has made a lot of work since they first started throwing their screen printed jig-sawed shoes (dogs) up over electrical wires around New York and the world in the 90s. This week Ad’s a busy man again at Factory Fresh gallery as he’s preparing for their joint birthday party, because he’s dragging it all back out and nailing it to a wall.
“I feel nostalgic of course but at the same time as I pull old stuff out I realized how much initially people didn’t care, how much people didn’t get it. We hardly ever sold one piece at the first shows. Instead of feeling bad that made us work harder to come out with different ideas and make new stuff”
Their 80th Birthday Retro Retrospective Friday night will be an opportunity for you to tell Ad and Droo how much you totally “got it” from the very beginning. You’ll see things like a metal version of the dogs they once experimented with, a door slammed with stickers from the gallery he and Ali Ha had on Orchard Street on the Lower East Side, and examples of their newer hardware inspired sculptures.
As he’s pulling trunks, shopping carts, crates and boxes out of the basement and poking his head inside the walk-in freezer looking for “vintage” Skewville pieces, you can see that their output throughout the years has been prolific and the mess of creativity makes you feel overwhelmed with joy as well and alert to the need for hand sanitizer.
When we asked him how felt opening all of those boxes he remarks,”When I was 28 I felt old and bitter. Now that I’m older I feel like 28 but I’m not bitter. Being bitter is not productive.” So there you have it. He’s no longer bitter. Just really old.
“IF WE CAN’T CONTROL THE BOAT,LET’S CONTROL THE OCEAN”
Kyle Hughes-Odgers – Okazi gallery Berlin. Vernissage – February 10th – 6PM with attendence of the artist
These new works explore the futility of an uncontrollable existence, shown in moments of clarity and small gestures of resistance.
Kyle Hughes-Odgers is an Australian artist. His working approach encompasses a range of mediums. Primarily muted warm acrylics on wood, canvas and large scale street work.
Focusing on ideas of nostalgia and story telling through figurative, pattern and abstract imagery. His work is inspired by ideas of communication, chaos and memory.
He has exhibited throughout Australia, as well as internationally in New York, Los Angeles and Paris. His street art and installations have been seen across the globe. His work has previously featured in publications such as Street Art New York (Prestel 2010), Kingbrown, and Empty magazine. In 2010 he completed a 45m public art commission for the Murdoch university art collection in Western Australia.
Following the success of ‘Gossip Well Told’ group exhibition that launched the first Warrington Contemporary Arts Festival, Frankie Shea & Tina Ziegler return to Warrington Museum in March with an exhibition called ‘International Woman’. In conjunction with Moniker Projects, ‘International Woman’ brings together a stellar roster of more than 15 artists from 10 countries, being the first exhibition in the UK that highlights the cross-over of the Pop Surrealism and Urban fine art movements under one roof. Working in underground art movements these women have forged names for themselves by pushing the boundaries of contemporary art, experimenting with new mediums, ideas and visual concepts. Individually they have enhanced the overall direction of these underground movements, and as a collective they have changed the way women are viewed in urban culture today.Exhibiting artists: Catalina Estrada, Cheryl Dunn, Elizabeth Mcgrath, Faith 47, Hera, Kukula, Mel Kadel, Miss Van, Pam Glew, Sarah Joncas, Stella Im Hultberg, Swoon, Tara Mcpherson and Xue Wang.Curated by Frankie Shea and Tina Ziegler
Opening reception: March 29 th 2012. 6pm
On display until 7 July 2012
Museum Street, Warrington, WA1 1JB. United Kingdom
www.warrington.gov.uk/museum
BSA doesn’t spotlight too much graffiti because we’re not very smart about it, and there are a lot of geniuses on graff out there. Plus the S-A part of our name precludes much BS on the graff tip. But some artists straddle the edge of graff and Street Art, and one artist who keeps catching our eye because of his placement and the light-hearted comedic quality of his character is Optimo, sometimes referred to as Werds (depending where you are surfing).
Short for Optimo Primo (best cousin), the graffiti artist Optimo grew up as a boy in Chelsea in the 1980s excited and ignited by the colorful graffiti he saw on trucks and trains around him. As a true original New Yorker, he names some of his stylistic influences as 1990s graffiti writers including Wolf1, Revs & Cost, Seen, Reas, and Sabe. His signature character has been on the streets since 2006, the American flag bandana as a symbol of free expression and the First Amendment, and the showman top hat something the artist likes to wear as well.
Now a full time artist selling his stuff on the streets of Soho, Optimo has showed his work in a gallery setting with a 40-piece show at Revolution Studios in Chelsea last summer and in a group show at Brooklyn Fire Proof in Bushwick as well as Culture Fix on the LES in the fall. His soft spot is box trucks, which he says he’s painted over 100 of, according to his bio on Tumblr, and he aspires to retain his signature style of “optimism”. Here is a BSA collection of images of work in New York and Miami by Optimo NYC.
New York Street Artist Blanco did a little touring around Beijing and Shanghai last week and took a few pictures to send back home during the tour. He liked finding some familiar names in an unfamiliar country, and he was even surprised. Along with a few quick pictures he caught on the way, he wrote to tell us about what he saw. Here’s what he says:
“I went to the Great Wall like all tourists do and I discovered Neckface tags on almost every garbage can I walked past.
In comparison to Beijing, which seems bureaucratic like Washington DC, Shanghai seems to be a lot like NYC, with more going on culturally, massive apartment buildings sprouting up all over, and a lot of money running through it.
In Shanghai I went to the French Concession neighborhood and I found a door with several tags from Utah and Ether, which made my day. It was kind of cool because I also found a Utah tag when I was in Rome three years ago and I don’t know Utah but just knowing that she is from NYC and has been in the same exact places as me is kind of comforting.
The next day I went to this art neighborhood that has a graff wall where it’s legal to paint and there were some pretty good pieces but I get a little bored with legal pieces.
After some more walking I turned a corner and found an amazing piece by Vhils and a little while later, in a more secluded spot, I found a second Vhils piece. Unfortunately it is kind of blurry – I couldn’t get a great picture of it because it was getting dark and it was in a dimly lit hallway with only one exit. I was alone and I could hear someone moving on the second floor of the abandoned building so I took a couple shots before I got scared and left but both pieces were pretty cool.” ~ Blanco
Friday February 03 Advance Preview. RSVP to Danny@unit-44.com
Unit 44’s latest exhibit New Arrival by Philip Lumbang opening 6 February 2012 to the general public. The illustrator and street artist will be presenting a brand new body of work at the Newcastle space for his first UK solo show. Incorporating his childhood fascination with cartoons, pop art and logo designs, Lumbang will showcase an array mediums including found objects, tiled pieces, haind painted characters and limited edition screenprints. Formerly infamous street artist Shepard Fairey’s assistant, Lumbang has forged a name for himself with his involvement in LA’s premiere collective The Hundreds creating work and streetwear that has become a cult favourite among fans.
Hoults Yard, Unit 44, Walker Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE6 2HL.
Rising deities in a darkened house of worship, the new geisha-like figures silently rise above your earthbound concerns and hover, gestural hands signalling a blessing for all who enter. These new works by Street Artist and fine artist HUSH at 941 Geary impart a serenity even as they swirl in patchwork brocades and Maypole strips of holy aerosol tags. Well lighted and well appointed, these near theatrical figures pierce the veil, solemnly, in search of a shabby gilded cosmos as Hush’s marrying of styles ultimately creates a new one at this show.
The streets have been seeing an uptick in socio-political messages recently, whether because of the Occupy protests, or because artists are exercising their speech in low cost, low-tech, person-to-person methods. The very personal nature of this kind of messaging actually feels impactful when it catches your eye with a sense of intention, grabbing you by the ear and making you think. This week we have Street Art commentary about housing, class inequality, the abuse of poser, erosion of privacy and fears of a police state. It makes sense that art on the streets is reflecting us back to ourselves.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street; this week featuring Buff Monster, Cash4, Cope, Dirty Teddies, Ema, Enzo & Nio, Essam, Faile, Hush, Ment, Shiro, XAM, and XXX.
“Making Faces” is as much about mix mastery as it is happenstance – kind of like walking on the street in New York. The boldly unmatching collection of portraits on view at Opera Gallery in Soho is sometimes thrilling, even challenging in it’s dismissal of category. There is this new crop of many of the Street Artists you’ve seen in the wild these last few years hanging with stars of the Chinese new wave, early 20th century European revolutionaries, an historic leader of impressionism, a surrealist – you know, a gamut. You could call it cleaning out the closets, or you could call it “Girl Talk curates the gallery”. Either way, it can be thrilling to see these pieces in this context; sparring, harmonizing, both.
Street Art springs at you when you are in ratty decayed lots in Bed Stuy, and similarly here you have rely on your own intellectual strengths to process the work in it’s surroundings, analyzing and imagining the coupling, or tripling. Is this a master or a pretender? You’ll figure it out eventually but the stimulation lies in your ability to let go of hard classifications and surprise prejudices to re-assess the faces and appreciate an occasional revelation at this New York mixer.
Artists include Yasmina Alaqui, Marco Guerra, Karel Appel, B., Jean-Michel Basquiat, BAST, Simon Birch, Bernard Buffet, Lita Cabellut, Marc Chagall, Sas Christian, Mauro Corda, Dinorah Delfin, Jean Dubuffet, Lori Earley, Ron English, Paul Insect, John John Jesse, Kid Zoom, Li Tianbing, Bengt Lindstrom, David Mach, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro, Phiippe Pasqua, Pablo Picasso, Gerard Rancinan, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Rostarr, Judith Supine, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Tom Wesselman, Yan Pei Ming, Zhang Xiaogang.
Today on Fun Friday:
1.”Making Faces” at Opera Gallery (Soho, NY)
2. “Nostalgia” at Rook & Raven (London)
3. “Bone Yard Project” at Pima Air & Space Museum (Tucson, AZ)
4. Phlegm at Nuart (VIDEO)
5. Official Trailer for “Getting Up” (VIDEO)
6. The Big Egg Hunt: Baku Magazine x Secret Wars (VIDEO)
“Making Faces” at Opera Gallery (Soho, NY)
An unusual collection of portraiture is on display starting today in Soho that knocks your head for a spin because of it’s loose theme that can stretch to embrace a century or two, a few continents, and about 30 schools of art.
Favorite pairing from last nights opening: Picasso next to Judith Supine. If he only knew.
“Making Faces” throws a cocktail party for old masters along with contemporary fine and Street Artists, including Judith Supine, Bast, Paul Insect, Rostaar, B., Zhang Xiaogang, Ron English and Kid Zoom sharing wall space with Chagall, Matisse, Miro and Basquiat among others.
For further information regarding this show click here
“Nostalgia” at Rook & Raven (London)
At the Rook & Raven Gallery in London the group show “Nostalgia” opens todaywith new works by Various & Gould, Dain, David Shillinglaw and Stinkfish, among others.
“Nostalgia” participants: Terry O’Neill, Dave White, DAIN, Rosie Emerson, David Shillinglaw, Various and Gould, Alex Daw, James Mylne, Stinkfish, Charlie Masson
Here is a video of David Shillinglaw, who prepared his piece for the “Nostalgia” show over the course of a week:
For further information regarding this show click here
“Bone Yard Project” at Pima Air & Space Museum (Tucson, AZ)
Another mind-blowing project – curated by Medvin Sobio and Carlo McCormick and conceived by Eric Firestone – opens tomorrow in Tucson, where there is a lot of space. Carcasses of planes lovingly wrecked by artists you love; The Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona announces the opening of “Round Trip: Art From The Bone Yard Project” this Saturday January 28.
More than 30 artists have participated in Round Trip including DC Super 3 planes painted by graffiti artists How & Nosm, Nunca, and Retna, and a C97 cockpit by Saner, and C45 planes by Faile and Andrew Schoultz.
For further information regarding this show click here
The Bone Yard Project 2012 by Viejas del Mercado (Medvin Sobio & 塚本清市) Featuring Retna, Nunca, Saner and How & Nosm.
Also happening this weekend:
At the Urban Folk Art Gallery in Brooklyn founder Adam Suerte has curated a show that includes ten years of work from his personal collection. Click here for more information.
Phlegm at Nuart (VIDEO)
Official Trailer for “Getting Up” (VIDEO)
“After being diagnosed with ALS and rendered almost completely paralyzed, legendary L.A. graffiti artist Tony “Tempt” Quan gets his voice back through technology that reads the movement of his eyes and enables him to create art and write once again.”
The Big Egg Hunt: Baku Magazine x Secret Wars (VIDEO)
THE BONE YARD PROJECT | PIMA AIR & SPACE MUSEUM | JANUARY 28 – MAY 31
The Pima Air & Space Museum is pleased to announce the opening of Round Trip: Art From The Bone Yard Project on January 28 in Tucson. Conceived in Spring 2010 by Eric Firestone, and organized with curators Medvin Sobio & Carlo McCormick, The Bone Yard Project resurrects disused airplanes from America‟s military history through the creative intervention of contemporary artists, taking entire airplanes and their elements out of aeronautic resting spots in the desert, known as “bone yards,” and putting them into the hands of artists. Re-imagined by Brazilian graffiti artist Nunca, an abandoned DC3 comes to life with a striking picture of an eagle leading men through the skies, and the idealized dreams of flight are able to soar once again in our collective imagination. With a nod to the airplane graffiti and „nose art‟ that became popular during WWII, the project offers a vision of the wonder by which humanity takes to the air through some of the most prominent and acclaimed artists working today.
Round Trip: Selections from The Bone Yard Project, will include selections from the previous exhibition along with more than a dozen cones interpreted by artists new to this project. It will feature five monumental works created on military planes by a dynamic selection of popular graffiti and street artists from around the world. The curatorial team includes Medvin Sobio, an independent curator and consultant, and Lesley Oliver of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, a longstanding figure on the Arizona art scene.
More than 30 artists have participated in Round Trip including DC Super 3 planes painted by graffiti artists How & Nosm, Nunca, and Retna, and a C97 cockpit by Saner, and C45 planes by Faile and Andrew Schoultz. Additionally, Nose Job artists Aiko, Peter Dayton, Shepard Fairey, Futura, How and Nosm, Mare, Tara McPherson, Richard Prince, Lee Quinones, Saner, Kenny Scharf, and JJ Veronis will be on display, along with new nose cones by artists Colin Chillag, Crash, Daze, Daniel Marin Diaz, Tristan Eaton, Jameson Ellis, Ron English, Faile, Eric Foss, Mark Kostabi, Lisa Lebofsky, El Mac, Alex Markwith, Walter Robinson, Hector Ruiz, Randy Slack, Ryan Wallace, and Eric White, among others.
The Pima Air & Space Museum is the largest non-government funded aviation museum in the United States, and one of the largest in the world. It maintains a collection of more than 300 aircraft and spacecraft from around the globe and more than 125,000 artifacts. The museum is located at 6000 E. Valencia Rd. , Tucson, and is open 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily. Round Trip is open to the public from January 28 through the end of May 2012. Further details may be found at www.pimaair.org.
Street art welcomes all manner of materials and methods, typically deployed without permission and without apology. This hand-formed wire piece …Read More »