Brooklyn Street Art | …loves you more every day.

D*Face on the Silver Screen in Milan

April 12, 2023 Artists

London-based street artist, fine artist and muralist D*Face reminds us about the power of cinema as a comforting vehicle to escape reality. With Silver Screen Eye-Cons, his new show opening today at Wunderkammern, he takes well-known artwork from classic movies and customizes it with his visual vocabulary.

Whether these classics cause you to recall the soothing anonymity of a darkened movie theater and early childhood silver screens or the quick flick you just watched on your phone on the plane to Miami, classic artwork by artists often formed your perceptions and impressions. With his first solo exhibition here in Milan, D*Face culls work from his vast archives of movie memorabilia and invites you to his world of pop dreams, romantic idealism, terrifying characters of doomed days in Zombieland, and damsels in distress caught in the embrace of handsome knights trapped forever in the afterlife.

D*Face. “Nosferatu”. (photo © D*Face Studio)

“With the Silver Screen Eye-Cons exhibition at Wunderkammern, DFace offers a wide range of his works and ideas, with some new elements. […] it should not be forgotten that it was the big screen that made DFace what he is. In fact, it was the 1980s when a very young Dean was thunderstruck by Michael J. Fox’s skateboard in Back to the Future, beginning a journey first into the world of skateboarding and then into the aesthetics of sticker art and street art. Perhaps this is also why DFace felt the need to contaminate old movie posters; proposing, for the Milan exhibition, a selection of Hollywood and Italian film posters: from Django to Platoon, from Il padrino to La mosca, passing through Scarface and Klaus Kinski’s Nosferatu. In these works DFace’s characters, brands, and style contaminate the posters and appropriate and desecrate them, transforming them into “aPOPalyptic” visions, to use a term dear to him.” -Silvano Manganaro

D*Face. *“D’Jango”.* (photo © D*Face Studio)

“Throughout the history of cinema, film has been used as a method of escaping reality. More so today than ever, we are allowed to exist in alternate realities which can be endlessly rewatched and revisited – never letting us down because we know how they start and end. […] Are these classics really as good as we hold them up to be, or is it time to take off the rose tints for a better look?” – D*Face

D*FACE

Silver Screen Eye-Cons

Press Preview 12 April 5.30 p.m.

Opening 12 April 6.30 p.m.

Wunderkammern Via Nerino 2, Milan

A Tale Of Two Trees

April 11, 2023 Artists

April is Earth Month and the 22nd of April is the dedicated day of the year to focus on planet Earth. The beautifully hued blue planet.

With that in mind, we wanted to show two photographs that speak volumes about our environment; the juxtaposition of images illustrates in a simple microcosmos what’s happening to the earth. During the winter, when the trees are bare and dormant, awaiting the arrival of Spring to show their true colors we notice how chocked full of plastic they are, especially in large cities like NY. It’s a sad sight. When the winds are strong the plastic breaks free of its constriction and is caught on tree branches – and eventually all the way into the oceans.

One feels for the trees and imagines having some sort of superpower to climb them and free them from the “invasive species” that are strangling their branches. But realistically, we can’t do that, can we? Climb every tree we see on the streets to liberate it from the unsightly man-made product?

Most of the plastic we see on trees is plastic deconstructed from either single-use plastic bags ; from the grocery store or possibly from industrial-grade plastic used in construction sites. Other times it may be from eighteen-wheelers transporting construction wood or heavy equipment or industrial-grade plastic wrap used to encase pallets that hold cardboard boxes on truck beds.

We can prevent this by being more self-aware of how we discard our waste. We could carry our own grocery bags. If we stop expecting or demanding plastic bags at the grocery store, they will stop offering them to us – a direct relationship. It’s important to advocate for systemic change by contacting companies and elected officials to urge them to prioritize sustainability and reduce our plastic use. We can all do our part to protect the planet and leave a healthier world for future generations. During this euphoria of spring may we also take a moment to appreciate the beauty of nature, like the Magnolia tree, and work to protect it.

Aryz. La Pugna / Bes-Art The River Museum

April 10, 2023 Artists

Aryz goes first. And he’s feeling pugilistic.

With “La Pugna” (The Fight”) the Catalan artist leaves his fistprint on the walls that were built to contain the waters of río Besós (Besós river), which flows below sea levels through the neighborhood of Santa Coloma in the Spanish city of Barcelona. It’s an apt mural and title for an artist whose work is often imbued with messages about social justice, the environment, and human rights. His fight is the people’s fight, and the earth’s fight.

Aryz. *La Pugna*. BesArt. The River Museum. Besòs River. Santa Coloma de Gramenet (Barcelonès Nord). Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Once one of the most contaminated rivers in Europe, río Besós has seen a turnaround, and its waters flow again into the Mediterranean Sea free of pollutants. Its walled embankment follows the roughly 11 miles that snake through the city, providing much-needed green areas for its inhabitants to enjoy outdoor activities and enjoy nature.

But the story doesn’t end there. BesArt The River Museum, the art project under the umbrella of the municipality of Santa Coloma de Gramenet, the Mediterranean Association of Street Art, and the Royal Artistic Circle of Barcelona is born. The goal is to invite a constellation of local, national, and international artists to execute works of art on the river’s walls.

When the project is completed, Barcelona will boast one more cultural attraction among the already long list of landmarks that make the city a popular destination. If only its residents would come to grips with the inconveniences that a heavy flow of tourists causes them every year. No fighting, everyone!

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.09.23

April 9, 2023 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Merry Arrestmas!

This is an excellent time to be in New York because everything is in bloom, and for a moment, there is love in the air everywhere you look. Or is that just the legal weed they sell from the truck in front of your apartment the way they used to sell falafel?

This is s beautiful time

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Louis Masai, Jason Naylor, Voxx Romana, HOXXOH, Voxx, Optimo NYC, Vers, Jesus, Lasak, D.Z.L.T., Envio, MENY X, Krave, and Abuse.

Optimo NYC. DeGrupo. Ollyn. SAY NO WARS. Houston/Bowery Wall takeover. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This is not going all too well Donald, is it? Unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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

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

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

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

Louis Masai for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Magnolia. Spring 2023. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saman & Sasan Oskouei – Object / Subject

April 8, 2023 Artists

Coming up May 1^st will be the release date of the new self-published book by street artists/contemporary artists Saman & Sasan Oskouei called Object / Subject. They are also releasing a Box set, their first and will include a collection of selected prints along with the book.

If you are familiar with their conceptual pieces and their powerful resonance – like Our House Is On Fire, for example, you will be excited at the prospect of having an opportunity to have this Box set in your collection. As a special commemoration of their most recent 8 years of work – that has re-defined their vision, their reputation as contemporary artists, and their ability to profoundly render verdicts on the human condition – the new book will also include an essay by author and art critic Carlo McCormick.

Object / Subject, the book will be available May 1st through Oskoueistudio.com and bien-urbain.fr for European orders.

Object / Subject Box set to be released on April 10th, 12 noon EST at oskoueistudio.com/shop

Saman & Sasan Oskouei. *Break Free*. Object / Subject Box Set

Saman & Sasan Oskouei. *Our House Is On Fire I*. Object / Subject Box Set.

Saman & Sasan Oskouei. *Our House Is On Fire II*. Object / Subject Box Set.

Saman & Sasan Oskouei. *Our House Is On Fire III*. Object / Subject Box Set.

Object / Subject Box set to be released on April 10th, 12 noon EST. Click HERE to place your order.

BSA Film Friday: 04.07.23

April 7, 2023 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening:
1. Damien Hirst – The Beautiful Paintings

2. SHOE – UNMOVEMENT

3. TCK – STEEL DIVISION – THE VIDEO (BERLIN) Via I Love Graffiti

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BSA Special Feature: Damien Hirst – The Beautiful Paintings

Yes, of course, you could make art like this, in fact, it looks like you do the lion’s share of creating this one online and he signs the print – but that is not the point of this video here today. Damien Hirst has a corner on branding and selling that many do not, and he has been commercially successful at it. From our perspective, if an artist wants to live on their creative work, all lessons are welcome!

Damien Hirst – The Beautiful Paintings. Or a master lesson on selling art.

SHOE – UNMOVEMENT

Careful when you slam on the breaks here, SHOE is driving the painting process, and it is terrain yet unmapped. This promotional video for UNMOVEMENT at the Curators Room is a solo exhibition by SHOE featuring his most recent body of work.

As explained by the artist, “The title ‘unmovement’ is inspired by the ever-present dichotomy of movement and stillness. While the painted surface of a work is a still object, the particles of the paint are constantly moving, as well as the material quality of the canvas itself: time consumes, and transforms. The crystallization of an impression is, however, present in the here and now, prompting a question concerning the nature of time and, inevitably, of change.”

Click HERE to read about UNMOVEMENT on BSA

Video by: Sander Lanen
Music by MAYO

SHOE
UNMOVEMENT
(Curated by Gabriel Rolt for The Curators Room)

7 April – 27 May, 2023

Location:
The Curators Room – Art Chapel Amsterdam
Prinses Irenestraat 19
AMSTERDAM

TCK – STEEL DIVISION – THE VIDEO (BERLIN) Via I Love Graffiti

This movie by the TCK CREW from Berlin was available by the end of 2022 for a very short time, a limited quantity of 100 pieces, and was sold out as quickly as it came.

Now it’s time to show you the full-length film here:

“From the underground to the top at last. A concentrated 35 minutes of TCK and their partners banging non-stop trains in your face. Mostly footage from 2011-2016 and a few more recent shots. No 4K, no drones, just trains. Berlin only.”

Enjoy!

Divine Feminine Graffiti Energy From The Bronx

April 6, 2023 Artists

Graffiti Women from the BX in the BSA house for Women’s History Month, which is really every month as far as we’re concerned. Artist @lovenotes got together this wall for three other strong female creators @kaylovebx, @mrrs.bx, and @erotica67 – to represent nature, strength, and the beauty of the Boogie Down Bronx.

“The street art scene and the mural scene are abundant in NYC but I felt it was important to highlight amazing Graffiti Women from the Bronx who I’ve always admired and respected,” says Love Notes, “and who were in the streets painting cute street art years before its current aesthetic popularity.”

Painted on this wall for The Alleyry, a collective of artists for artists in Manhattan’s Freeman Alley, Love Notes says she’s keeping focus on the Bronx babes, the women who “have held it down in the male-dominated world of graffiti with their sick styles abd characters – keeping graff in the Bronx alive and reminding everyone Girls Can Get Down Too!”

Murals for Art and Education In Wynwood, Miami

April 5, 2023 Artists

Under the art organization A Wall Mural Projects initiative and in collaboration with the Dunbar Elementary School in Wynwood, Miami, an ambitious program to bring art to new generations keeps growing on campus. The mission statement of “A Wall Mural Project” makes it clear that this collective of artists is interested in planting the “art bug” early – and preferably in the environment of formal education – with the Dunbar school committed to highlighting the importance of the arts in general as crucial to pupils’ intellectual development.

Let’s hope that Florida Governor DeSantis has bigger fish to fry (or mice) and leaves these mural programs in the schools alone. The trend toward devolution in American schools has been sad to see in recent years. In the meantime, check out the cool walls at Dunbar Elementary.

Zach Curtis. A Wall Mural Projects. Dunbar Elementary School. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Daniel Ferino. Stone Graffiti. A Wall Mural Projects. Dunbar Elementary School. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jason Naylor. A Wall Mural Projects. Dunbar Elementary School. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sophy Tuttle. AB Hill. A Wall Mural Projects. Dunbar Elementary School. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

w3r3on3. A Wall Mural Projects. Dunbar Elementary School. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tread the Path Less Traveled: Shoe Creates “Unmovement” in Amsterdam

April 4, 2023 Artists

Using a 1992 Buick Park Avenue as your painting utensil is completely normal in late capitalism. So is calling yourself Shoe.

In his latest exhibition, the graffiti writer and contemporary artist Niels Shoe Meulman takes us the extra mile inside his shiny blue “paintbrush,” crushing cans in the process, tracking patterns across the canvas in a smoothly violent kinetic joyride. Unlike other tools one uses to create paintings, this Buick is central to the show.

Did you guess that he would coin a term? The author of “Calligraffiti” may imagine that this automotive move into contemporary art will be adopted by other’s who want to write with a steering wheel. In promotion of this UNMOVEMENT, “the artist reached what he semi-ironically calls Carrigraffiti: signs, interventions, actual paintings created by using his car as a tool.”

Niels SHOE Meulman. *ZERO KELVIN (MINUS 273 DEGREES CELSIUS)*. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)

Can you imagine a branding collaboration with Formula 1 racers and, say Montana Colors, as curated by the driver at the head of the pack, Shoe? What would that track look like? And would it be contemporary art?

Sara van Bussel, the art curator, researcher, and writer based in Milan, tells us this work is of the moment. “If everything is the contrary of everything we find ourselves here,” she says, “in the midst of a still movement, a temporal interval in the constant transformation of matter, absorbing Shoe’s work as precisely what it is: the paradox of our time.”

Niels SHOE Meulman. *ALL DISORDER DISAPPEARS*. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)

SHOE /// 2023

The Curators Room is proud to announce UNMOVEMENT, a solo exhibition by SHOE featuring his most recent body of work.

(in cooperation with Niels Shoe Meulman, Amsterdam and Gabriel Rolt, Barcelona)

Niels SHOE Meulman. *NOTHING CAN BE COLDER*. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)

Niels SHOE Meulman. *ON AND UNDER THE VULCANO*. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)

Niels SHOE Meulman. *PERMANENTLY CLOSED*. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)

Niels SHOE Meulman. Process shot. (photo courtesy of The Curators Room)

SHOE UNMOVEMENT(Curated by Gabriel Rolt for The Curators Room) Click HERE for additional information.
7 April – 27 May, 2023
?Opening: Friday, 7 April, 17 – 21 hrs

Video by:
Sander Lanen
Live DJ set by:
Cristel Ball

Location: The Curators Room – Art Chapel AmsterdamPrinses Irenestraat 19 AMSTERDAM

New Portraiture In The Springtime Streets

April 3, 2023 Artists

Since the rise in muralism in the late 2000s, street art portraiture has become an increasingly popular form of urban expression, with artists employing diverse techniques and styles to capture the essence of individuals and personalities.

V Ballentine pays tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This street art genre draws inspiration from western portrait painting and contemporary advertising practices, combining traditional and modern elements. Beyond a simple aesthetic exercise, some street art portraiture has emerged as a means for artists to challenge dominant societal norms surrounding notions of beauty and power dynamics, making it a vital mode of cultural expression. Other times, obvious norms are in full embrace.

Android Oi pays tribute to Grace Jones in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

While the issue of the male gaze has been a prevalent topic in the fine arts for centuries, street art gave a new platform for artists to consider and sometimes debate this issue in a public forum. Artists celebrate real and fictional individuals of all genders, challenging traditional ideas of beauty and reclaiming agency for those traditionally relegated to the margins. By doing so, these artists engage in a larger cultural dialogue, and through their work, reflect the diversity and values of the communities they inhabit.

Call Her Al pays tribute to Mexican movie star Maria Felix in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A high percentage are celebrities and icons of popular culture. From musicians to actors and athletes, these individuals make the artwork personal, relatable, and Instagrammable. Younger artists tend to gravitate toward contemporary figures in popular culture, while older artists may focus on historical or political figures. But don’t quote us on that.

From stenciling, painting, and wheat pasting, each method contributes to the unique character of the artwork, reflecting the artist’s vision and the cultural landscape in which it is created. As a mirror to the culture, the subjects chosen for street art portraiture can reflect the diversity and cultural landscape of the city, creating a visual representation of the community, its values, and aspirations.

J Novik pays tribute to I Love Lucy in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Angela Marie Alvarez pays tribute to Dolly Parton in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sage Gallon pays tribute to CHER in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Frampton O Fun pays tribute to Mary Tyler Moore in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bianca pays tribute to Michelle Yeoh in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Santi of All Trades pays tribute to Hayle Williams in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nass Art pays tribute to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Mary Church Terrell in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Subway Doodle pays tribute to Anne Frank in collaboration with Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Hollier forms a portrait with lyrics by The Notorious B.I.G. song Sky’s The Limit. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.02.23

April 2, 2023 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

64% of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, China and Russia are buddying up, BRICs countries are looking for new members, and the Bankers in your life are again looking toward their gilded escape bunkers.

We are transfixed by the first indicted US president, and gloating about having a system of democracy and justice. Now he is positioning himself as an “outsider,” a martyr. A billionaire outsider. We’re just waiting for these crowds outside Trump Tower to materialize. Where are they? Honestly, Fifth Avenue is more interested in the Easter Bonnet Parade that is coming.

But it’s a circus on the national tabloid news, which is unfortunately all of the news now. Our best minds are being entertained by 24 hour sports channels, Netflix and Tic Toc, and it’s not an accident. People are chided into fighting each other over trans-woke-snowflake-abortion-race-laptop-AR15-centered-drag-readings. Look! A squirrel!

Meanwhile, the daffodils are blooming everywhere in anticipation of Easter Week. People were cramming subways, buses, and sidewalks yesterday because of the warm sunny spring weather – and Smorgasborg opened this weekend in Brooklyn. NYTimes calls it “the Woodstock of eating,” due to its variety of incredible food choices – but of course, you can have just as much fun with a bag of chips or a slice of pizza sitting on a stoop watching the parade of New Yorkers march/sashay/stride by.

We had a great time at the Bronx Museum yesterday, catching the John Ahearn/ Rigoberto Torres retrospective and seeing both the artists in person during a panel discussion with artist Abigail DeVille – with fans rushing the stage for an autographed exhibition book afterward. These guys have championed everyday New Yorkers through their painted sculptures for four decades. It is revelatory and heartwarming to see this very large collection of works never shown together before. Make sure to check out “Swagger and Tenderness: The South Bronx Portraits” until April 30.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Stikman, Zimer, Subway Doodle, A Lucky Rabbit, Qzar, Optimo NYC, Sekt, AMMO, CEYNYC, Toeflop, Early Riser NYC, Julia Cocuzza, and Miki Mu.

Miki Mu for Underhill Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This might be the work of A Lucky Rabbit…not sure. We’re also not sure if the work has been completed. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LL Cool J is Bad forever. Zimer NYC (photo © Jime Rojo)

CEYNYC lying down…not sure who did the buble…but sure it burns. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Memorial bench in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kinshasa: Recycled Street Fashion Inspires Wild Imaginings

April 1, 2023 Artists

Some Kinshasa residents are known for their resourceful fashion sense and wild imagination in pursuit of sartorial matters, often using recycled materials to make stunning garments that reflect their individuality and sense of style.

Recycled street fashion. Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. All images © Colin Delfosse

Photographer Colin Delfosse‘s series Fulu Act showcases the unique and innovative ways in which street artists in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, repurpose discarded materials found on the streets, like wigs, wires, soda cans, and bottle lids, into striking costumes that raise awareness of environmental issues. Delfosse’s images highlight the potential beauty of recycled street fashion, which has gained popularity in recent years as a way to reduce waste and promote sustainable fashion practices – bringing attention to larger issues of sustainability and consumer culture in Kinshasa.

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