Among the thousands of people who make up the graffiti community around the world, there are few names that carry the same legendary quality as SABER. Born in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, SABER was raised by creative parents and discovered his passion for art at an early age. At 13, his cousins introduced him to graffiti when they took him to see the spray paint-covered Belmont Tunnel. From that moment on, he was hooked. After honing his skills on local walls, SABER joined MSK, and was later inducted into legendary piecing crew AWR.
SABER was already a fixture in the Los Angeles graffiti scene by 1997 when he completed the largest graffiti piece ever created. His piece on the sloping cement bank of the Los Angeles River was nearly the size of a professional football field, and took 97 gallons of paint and 35 nights to complete. In a famous photograph—taken by his father just after it was finished—SABER stands on the piece and appears as a tiny speck amid a giant blaze of color. It catapulted SABER to legend status in the graffiti world.
SABER began exhibiting in his fine art in 2002. While known for his elegant and aggressive abstract letterforms, SABER’s artistic output has also included drippy, surreal cityscapes and his painstakingly rendered “new reality” canvases. SABER has also worked corporate projects with Hyundai, Scion, Boost Mobile, Roland Sands Design, Montana Paint Company, and Karmaloop. His monograph, SABER: MAD SOCIETY, complete with stories of his graffiti misadventures, was released by Gingko Press in 2007 and is now in its second printing.
In October 2010, SABER released a video in which the year’s heated debate about healthcare was spray painted over the American flag. While some saw it as desecration, SABER advocated for healthcare reform in the video, revealing that he had epilepsy and was un-insurable. This work led SABER to create a large group of American flag paintings called the Tarnished series.
In 2011 SABER’s artwork is featured in two museum exhibitions, “Street Cred” at the Pasadena Museum of California Art and “Art in the Streets” at MoCA Los Angeles.
Brooklyn-based, Gabriel Specter is internationally known for precise street installations that revitalize forgotten environments. Taking an anthropological approach to his subject matter defines Specter’s aesthetic. Striking paintings and sculptures document change, celebrate the marginalized and ultimately become monuments to common urban experience.
In his first Chicago show Specter addresses the culture of repetition in street art that he notoriously denounces. He generally refuses to work in multiples, but in this work, REPEAT OFFENDER, Specter plays with repetition on his own terms.
First, he garners images from previous projects to hand-paint, carve and paste a central, large scale 8’ x 8’ piece. Using that as a reference he re-paints selected sections resulting in works that vary in scale, color and medium from that of the original. Specter stretches his muscles in figurative and abstract painting with this new body of work. Each piece is meticulously made employing a range of techniques and materials to impart an authentic, ‘stolen-from-the-street’ quality.
We will be hosting an event on Saturday May 14 from 6-10pm for Gabriel Specter: Repeat Offender at Pawn Works; Artist will be in attendance.
PawnWorks
1050 N. Damen Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60622
A Colorful Sprightly Enigma Emerges from his Private Brooklyn Shack
With visual mashups and genre-defying glee, Street Art in 2011 is making new rules for itself almost monthly at this point. Breaking from many graffiti and street art traditions there appears a new generation of what we’re calling “Storytellers” on the street today. It’s a New Guard of visual omnivores weaned on MTV and nourished by the Internet who consider all of recorded high art and low art history as an unending supply of small buckets available to dip their brush into. With individual, personal, frequently one-off pieces that are laboriously handmade this D.I.Y. decentralized army is hitting the streets with paper, brush, home made wheat paste, and other decidedly lo-tech materials.
With just a couple of years on the New York scene, El Sol 25 is a droll mashup enigma, pasting up fully formed composites of people in doorways and on construction walls. Dropping a mix-n-match irreverent Girl Talk style, the warmth and continuity come from the fact that everything is handmade and painted. Pulling images from magazines and books and using anything from skulls to tutus to dildos and Obama, El Sol 25’s plundering is almost Dadaist except that the outcome is reliably figurative, and each element is meaningful to him. But as to how you interpret it, the artist is happy if you make your own story.
Frankly, many a viewer doesn’t know what to think or who this is coming from – as El Sol 25 has let the art do the talking until now. And as the odd and sometimes humorous eye-popping work keeps appearing, it has also been gathering a buzz from street art fans wanting more details on this anonymous artist. What are these figures of? What do they mean? And why is the work primarily in one neighborhood?
“Williamsburg is an amazing place to work for me because you’ve got your Puerto Ricans on the block, your hipsters on the block, your old Polish ladies on the block, and everybody in between and they are all appreciating the work. That motivates me. It makes me feel like we are not as separated as we like to think we are. We are actually all together, “ explains El Sol 25 on a recent tour of his hand-built “shack” inside in a Brooklyn basement. 60’s jazz – John Coltrane and friends – spins on a vinyl platter on the old record player in the corner of the one room structure as the alert artist sits next to the Teepee he’s been sleeping in. Every part of this environment is his, an inner sanctuary of peace to seek spiritual tranquility, and of course to make collages and paint them.
A former graffiti writer from down south, he’s onto something more multi-dimensional and challenging artistically now. No longer writing, the self-described “sort of” hippie is seeking to be in tune with his personal quest of spirituality and with all receptors switched to “On”. Preparing for a fine art show in a gallery in early summer the dial is at full throttle as he is sending and receiving energies and color and images and messages all at once – thus the need for the sublime serenity of this shack.
With the opportunity to see many works in progress, including some for the upcoming show which pairs the artist with poets, Brooklyn Street Art sat down for the first public interview of El Sol 25.
At the end of the posting, be sure to see the brand new video “Howdy”, directed by Conor Hagen, to see the process of producing just one piece.
Brooklyn Street Art:A lot of your work is inspired from a variety of sources – where do you get your inspiration from right now? El Sol 25: I get my inspiration from everything from walking to work or bad music or bad films or great films or good days or bad days. I get my inspiration from everything. I’m dependent on my work spiritually so I really like the idea of incorporating anything and everything into it. I take inspiration not just from what I’ve put on a pedestal – I enjoy everything.
Brooklyn Street Art:Have you always been an omnivore like this? El Sol 25: No, not at all. When I was first coming up and learning about expressing myself on the streets I had a specific idea. I was like, “It can only be this way and it can’t have any outside influences” and I learned very quickly that that is not fun. That’s not a way of integrating your everyday life into your work so I learned very quickly to let that go and let my work be as much a part of my life as my life is a part of my work.
Brooklyn Street Art:Do you see a connection between what you used to write and the work that you are doing today? El Sol 25: I think the obvious difference for me, coming up as a graffiti writer, was just that a lot of time what motivates me is in the action. Seeing the aftermath of someone’s work to me is to appreciate that they took a huge risk to do it – to express whatever they wanted to express. When I was doing graffiti it was that immediate gratification, that immediate stimulation.
Now I can feel “in the moment” and it and does something that is very stimulating and wonderful and it takes me somewhere else. But I can also observe it the next day and appreciate it just as much as your everyday man can.
Doing graffiti, you do it and some people appreciate it, and most people don’t. They don’t like it and they want it gone. But with Street Art it’s little bit more for everyone, and I like that a whole lot more than the constraints of the graffiti culture.
Brooklyn Street Art:There is another Street Artist who sometimes puts pieces up and then walks around the block and comes back and hangs out and listens to people’s conversations about it. Do you ever think about the stories people make about your work?
El Sol 25: Often times, most of the time. When I’m creating a collage I have a very specific attachment to it symbolically. When I’m painting it, it changes. When I see it on the street, it changes. So I like the idea of having these cryptic messages that people can absorb in whatever way they want. You can explain to someone the meaning behind a painting until you are blue in the face, and it’s not going to matter. They are going to have their own personal connections to it and that makes things interesting for me.
Brooklyn Street Art:Sometimes people do have an agenda and they have a specific message in their work but there is no way to really control the message. El Sol 25: My hat’s off to them if they can but I’m sure you can relate – Art is a living thing – you learn from it. If you let it, art can be very transcendental. I learned very early on down south that you couldn’t spell it out for people. They’re going to figure out their own stories and if you embrace that, then that can bring more power to your work.
Brooklyn Street Art:Can you talk about the process? I think people on the street wonder what it took to get to the finished piece. El Sol 25: I collect magazines, for a year sometimes. I recycle through them over and over and sort of absorb new elements that maybe I didn’t see before and I didn’t appreciate. I definitely go through books over and over and collect pieces for a long time until I feel like there is something there that I can connect to. And then there is the building of the original collages… and a lot of time I make these huge series of collages that I organize in a way that I feel like, “I can feel good about painting this as a street piece, or as a canvas piece in a gallery” So a lot of times I’m just collaging constantly.
I’m really into the idea right now of making figures that are multi-gender, multi-race, multi-everything, because I don’t want to speak to one specific demographic. I want everyone to take something from the work. I definitely don’t want to speak only to people who are into the “street art” aspect of things. I think it is silly. I think people are going to connect to your work either way or I think it’s very considerate to think of how to connect with everyone, not just one type of person. That’s what ultimately motivates me so I definitely keep that in mind throughout the whole process.
Brooklyn Street Art:How long does it take to paint one piece? El Sol 25: It depends. Sometimes I give myself small projects where I can do a lot of work in a small amount of time. Other times I really need to have some “alone” time where I need to have some time to reflect on my life and my work and my interactions with people I love and I definitely have times when I need to do pieces that are elaborate and pronounced – when I’m trying to work some things out. So sometimes it takes me an hour to do a piece, or sometimes it takes me two days.
Brooklyn Street Art:Why wouldn’t you just photocopy or scan and print one of your collages and enlarge it on a large printer and paste it. Why is it more important to hand-paint your work? El Sol 25: A lot of artists do that and I think that’s a great way of taking an idea and making it large and be able to put it all over the place and I certainly enjoy some of those works a lot. But for me personally I really like the idea of putting so much love into something that it is very specific to the passerby’s experience. I’m sort of a hippie so I really like the idea of putting a lot of love into a piece and for people to respond to that.
Brooklyn Street Art:Where do get your sense of humor? El Sol 25: My mom, definitely. She’s the wild one. My dad’s the “by-the-book” OCD one – that’s where I get that. My mom is the life of the party, “I’m gonna make flan for everyone and they all have to have a piece and tell me what they think!”
Brooklyn Street Art:Right! So she is fully engaged. El Sol 25: She’s fully engaged. Brooklyn Street Art:But not in an overbearing way. El Sol 25: Sometimes in an overbearing way but for the most part she’s lovely. Brooklyn Street Art:So she celebrates the humor in life and we can see a lot of humor in your art. El Sol 25: It’s there. It’s dark and it’s fun and I think people can take more than one idea from it as opposed to some artists who may have a very specific idea and that’s great and I’m glad you’re expressing that idea but that’s not what I’m doing.
Brooklyn Street Art:You use many historical references, historical figures in your pieces. You put in faces of presidents and they are wearing panties and basketball jerseys and you mash up history with pop art and pop culture and it can be very humorous and intensively detailed. El Sol 25: Yeah the humor is definitely from my mom and it definitely a direct response to a lot of the artwork that is out there. I mean I love anyone who is willing to go out and take the risk and express themselves but I’m a little more interested in people who are provoking thought and provoking an emotional response.
You can be like, “I’m badass. Check out how badass I am” but you are really only expressing one thing.
Brooklyn Street Art:Badassness?
El Sol 25: Yeah, and coming up as a graffiti writer I already experienced that. I already experienced feeling badass. “I just conquered that space! I’m badass!” But now I’m more interested in connecting with everyone, not just people in the graffiti scene or any scene. I love the idea of speaking to everyone. So that motivates the humor behind my work – take it a little seriously but not too serious.
Our weekly interview with the street hits some bright notes including new arrivals from El Sol 25, Specter, and Faile along with some shots Futura did of HAHA in Melbourne and even a taste of Kentucky Street Art.
The roll call this week; Bast, Billi Kid, Clown Soldier, El Sol 25, Faile, L.E.T., QRST, Rae, Romi, S, and Specter.
Stay tuned on BSA this week as we’ll bring to you an interview and studio visit with enigmatic El Sol 25. This self described hippie artist has bounded onto the scene in the last three years with his colorful, witty and well executed hand painted collages.
Bryson Strauss and the L.A. Art Machine keep an eye on global art phenomena and support the ongoing conservation of Los Angeles’ substantial outdoor mural collection, continuing to promote a vital art community on all levels. This week they hosted Brazilian Street Arts Ethos to come and paint and the results have been giant! Talented photographer Carlos Gonzalez jumped into some very tricky spots to get you these dynamic process shots of Ethos in action.
Street Artist Bambi did this portrait in North London for today’s wedding – more art inspired by Will and Kate here at Artlyst.com
Royal His and Hers Prints from K-Guy
London based Street Artist K-GUY plays with Wills and Kate with these newly released prints to celebrate their union and to poke a little fun at the same time.
Sweet Toof solo show “Dark Horse” will merrily gallop at Factory Fresh tonight.
“Sweet Toof has developed a recurring motif that perambulates through periods and platforms – aerosol mural, oil painting, or theatrical prop – with a certain frank guile and handmade disarming charm.” from Ready for His Closeup: Sweet Toof Sparkles at Factory Fresh (PHOTOS)
A lot of fun tonight at Opera with 15 artists signing the new book and prints to celebrate the release of the new book by Tristan Eaton – including some of your favorites …
Andrew Bell, Stephen Bliss, Kevin Bourgeois, Ron English, Mat Eaton, Tristan Eaton, Filth, Haze, Travis Louie, Tara McPherson, Kenzo Minami, Mint, Serf, Dr. Revolt & Tom Thewes
3D Art Exhibition + Book Signing for:
The 3D Art Book
by Tristan Eaton
Friday, April 29th, 6-9pm
Opera Gallery New York
115 Spring Street New York, NY 10012 (212) 966-6675
The 3D Art Book & Exhibition features 100 artists including:
Glenn Barr, Craola, D*Face, Dalek, Eboy, Shepard Fairey, James Jean, Chris Mars, Mark Ryden, Jeff Soto, Rostarr, Todd Schorr, Stash, Gary Taxali, Toki Doki, Trustocorp, Junko Mizuno, Eric White and many more.
The rabid pursuit of President Obama’s birth certificate has puzzled many thinking people while the topic is repeatedly brought up during street marches and demonstrations – finally pushing the President himself to hold a press conference about it this week. The astro-turf fingered crowds in the streets during last years Health Care debates in the US pretty much revealed their base disagreement with all things Obama with their hand held signs that couldn’t be described as anything but racist – “off message” for the insurance companies but “on message” for the yahoos who took their buses. We know this “birther” movement won’t disappear because of the poisonous legacy of racism in our history, but we are thankful for the strong clear thinking of people like Goldie Taylor (video below) who helps us place current events in context.
The London Street Artist Sweet Toof’s new show, “Dark Horse” at Factory Fresh opens wide to a mouthful of gleaming new pieces as the artist debuts his first New York show solo, having previously been a part of the Burning Candy Crew with Cyclops and Tek33. A little frisky in the Brooklyn streets, we find that Sweet Toof is exploring more than the usual territory and challenging himself artistically, always with a healthy glob of humor. Yes, the pink gums and pearly whites continue to have prominence in each piece, but their permutations progress at a dizzying pace.
Sweet Toof has developed a recurring motif that perambulates through periods and platforms – aerosol mural, oil painting, or theatrical prop – with a certain frank guile and handmade disarming charm. Some of the new tableaus of madly grinning top-hatted drivers atop skeletal stallions are pure Dickensian wonder with animated allusions to extreme social conditions and the play of comically repulsive characters. Others touch on graffiti vocabulary and pop/advertising culture with cheerfully mocking glee, the winking enthusiasm and poppy color trumping your worries that it isn’t making any sense. All tolled, it’s a bit of a romp and a promise of tasty treats to come – and if you arrive early you’ll receive your own set of gold sweet teef atop a popsickle stick.
On the day we visited the gallery the place was a divine chaos of paint and construction materials, with works-in-progress laying on the floor waiting to be completed or hung. The partially lit space proved a helpful foil for the spooky pimped-out characters on the canvasses – the sort you wouldn’t trust with a bottle of milk.
The Factory Fresh shopkeeper Mr. DeVille, looking very trim and sunny, murmured something about the current artist-in-residence being on a roof somewhere and after further inquiry, Mr. Toof appeared promptly with a warm and genial demeanor. After a brief tour we took to the street to watch him work. He told us a bit about his work and the upcoming show, after starting with the topic of weather of course.
Brooklyn Street Art:How has your experience been so far in Brooklyn? Sweet Toof: I have really enjoyed it. The rain some days and then sun. But I can’t complain. I have just been eyeing out all these spots but yeah it has been really good. The weather has been very unpredictable but today is a beautiful day and I love Brooklyn.
Brooklyn Street Art: Is there a difference between working in Brooklyn and working in London? Sweet Toof: There is a little difference. I mean it’s quiet interesting. This is Bushwick and in London, in East London there is an area called Hackney Wick. That’s an area where a lot of people have been painting but they are cleaning it up now because of the Olympic buff – It is almost like a sister of Bushwick because of all the lofts spaces in warehouses and factories where people now live. So it is a similar type of vibe but I like the character here and the architecture.
Brooklyn Street Art:And the people? Sweet Toof: Yeah I forgot the people…my experience with the people so far is that everyone is really friendly and it is almost like everyone seems to be willing to help and in London none really says hello but here people would say hello…you’re engaged. Brooklyn is more engaging even when you go to the shop and you have been there for a couple of times people recognize you and they start talking and so it feels quite like a community.
Brooklyn Street Art:Tell us about the use of gold dust in your work. Have you always used it? Sweet Toof: Yeah I have used it before on paintings. I’ve used gold pigment, I’ve been using quite a bit of glitter and gold dust just to give it a little bit of extra “bling”. I like that whole sparkly thing, the way the light hits it and it gives it just like another layer in a way. But I just like to mix things up. Even pearlescent paint and I like all sort of paint; oil paint, bucket paint, spray paint – I love it all. But the pearlescent glitter is just like another element within that. You know I think teeth are like jewelry anyway but just with that extra bling, you know when you see people’s teeth and are like pearls.
Brooklyn Street Art:Have you been to the south of Mexico and seen the Day of the Dead festival? Sweet Toof: No but I’m intending to go to Mexico quite soon. I’m fascinated with the Day of the Dead and all of that stuff. It is almost like it has been with me since art school. Since I came across the old woodcuts and the imagery of Guadalupe Posada. The thing I like in Mexico, unlike in England, is that they celebrate death and in early age you are given these candy sweets and they eat it. It’s almost like you enjoy your days and you sleep when you are dead in a way. But death is not just doom and gloom.
Brooklyn Street Art:Tell us about your sense of color. Where do you get your inspiration for bright colors? Sweet Toof: England is very gray. I mean you do see color but I just sort of respond to the environment that I’m in but I love color anyway. When painting out on the streets I used to like the spontaneous part of it about not seeing your colors when you are painting in the dark. You’ve got a rough idea about what the colors are or you have written the colors on the can or you can see the tones in the dark, but then when you are in the studio and you are mixing your colors it’s almost like you have that whole understanding of color – and it’s the same in print making. You might look at the sky and you think “how I’m going to get that intensity?” It is about looking at the contrast with all the different hues and understanding color, which I think, comes from oil painting a lot but also from mixing colors for the stuff on the streets as well so you understand how the colors work.
Brooklyn Street Art: Would you like to talk a bit about you not being part of Burning Candy or is that a sore subject? Sweet Toof: No, not really. I left last September on my own decision but I really wouldn’t want to go into the politics of it. I just got to the time where I had to get on with my own stuff. I wish them all the best and I wouldn’t want to bitch. I want to keep it simple and getting my head down.
Brooklyn Street Art: What would you like to happen on Friday at the gallery for your show? Sweet Toof: I’d like for everyone to have a good time and enjoy. Bring people together and just let people mind their own minds about it. It’s one of those things where you never know how people would react to stuff but I want people to enjoy.
Black Book Gallery presents
The London Police & Handiedan
“Amsterydynasty”
Opening reception May 14th at 7pm – Open to the public
Artists in attendance
May 14, 2011 through May 31, 2011
Denver, CO (April 20, 2011) – Black Book Gallery is at it again for the month of May, delivering some of the most accomplished and established international street artists in the world to Denver. It’s pretty incredible, actually, to think of the shows Black Book Gallery has already produced this year… and 2011 isn’t even half over. We’re talking repeatedly on beat with the likes of gallery exhibitions found in major art hubs: New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and the UK. Only these shows require no major travel at all. Pay attention Denver, contemporary and urban art-loving fans; history is happening NOW and it’s all for you, so tuck away any excuses not to attend Black Book Gallery this month, mark your calendars for May 14th and treat yourself to a seriously special collaboration with The London Police and Handiedan! Artists will be in attendance.
Chaz and Bob Gibson make up The London Police, a widely-known and well-respected duo from England who combine styles on every piece they produce, often mixing in a tall portion of antics and mock-seriousness along the way. In fact, their work is largely created from the dynamics of their friendship, which is a result of two small-town artists who continue to share an insatiable desire to work big and leave their mark. Since the beginning, which was back in 1998, Chaz and Gibson have clicked not only with each other, but with the international, contemporary and urban art world. Unknowingly and out of pure satisfaction to create and collaborate, the two began by traveling into London from their nearby homes tapping into the big city energy and laying down what at the time was not so common large ink drawings on the street surfaces of London and later, Amsterdam. In a well-timed series of events, Chaz and Gibson soon found themselves propelled into a lifestyle of global travel, art-making and art-showing, where The London Police emerged as major icons in the street and graffiti art movement over the past decade, their influence still potent to this day.
On their upcoming Denver show, Chaz says, “In the collaboration work between Bob and myself we have tried as ever to mix images and impressions of Denver and USA with the world of the LADS (TLP characters). As always its a pure pleasure to be exhibiting our work in another great American city. Denver has always been in my heart ever since Heather Locklear joined the cast of Dynasty and I asked my mum and dad if I could have a lock on my bedroom door.” Bob responds with this, “I was more into ‘Dex Dexter’ in Dynasty to be honest. A dark, manly, well-dressed smooth operator who taught me the value of strong business etiquette and oily seduction.”
The name of the show is called “Amsterdynasty.” Chaz explains by saying, “Working life for an Amsterdam artist is a potent mix of love, obsession, sweat and tears. An everyday soap opera in the windmill-strewn, wooden-shoe-wearing canals and alleyways of Holland’s capital, not too dissimilar from the popular Denver-based soap extravaganza that was ‘Dynasty’.”
In addition, The London Police are working with Handiedan on an all black and white show. This is a departure from Handiedan’s normal work that is usually full of color. Although, she reports excitement that the black and white challenge is taking her back to her roots in photography.
Handiedan’s feminine and sensual content will be an interesting, uniquely bizarre, counterbalance to The LADS characters. The boudoir aesthetic Handiedan chooses, also mixing in bits from classic tattoo culture and fantastical collage, arouses a certain tenderness that accompanies the subject matter. Handiedan pays big respect to women and sexual expression in general by using pin-up shapes, reframing the notion of a modern goddess. Not only are the female forms attractive to view, Handiedan’s collage work is a highly enjoyable experience in-and-of-itself. It is delicate and ornate, incorporating vintage details and tactile pieces of history. Handiedan is from the Netherlands and sites cultural periods, especially in Europe, as a major influence in her work.
Truly, do whatever you need to do not to miss this show; it will be a mash-up of high creativity and well-developed style from far off and exotic places!
Amsterdynasty will feature original artwork and prints:
Handiedan Giclee Print – Details coming soon
The London Police Screen Print – Featuring the image above – Details coming soon
Handiedan X The London Police “Dog Days” Collaboration Screen Print – Information HERE
Handiedan Originals
The London Police Originals
Handiedan X The London Police Collaboration Originals If you would like to receive an online preview of available artwork please use the contact page to notify us.
“Bortusk took a trip”
6th May – 5th June
opening May 5th 6-9pm
Tony’s gallery is delighted to present ‘Bortusk took a trip’, the first solo show by UK artist Bortusk Leer. Since bursting onto the art scene in 2007, Bortusk’s naively spray-painted and marker penned monsters have become a common sight on the streets of London and New York . For the inaugural exhibition at Tony’s, Bortusk Leer will present a site-specific installation alongside a selection of recent paintings and sculptures.
‘Bortusk took a trip’ invites the viewer into the inner reaches of Mr. Leer’s psychedelic mind and takes you back to the fun and carefree days of our childhood. Transforming the gallery space into his private playground, we are invited to experience it as an opportunity to step out of the doom and gloom of our daily routines. An exhilarating mixture between a funfair, cartoon and rave party feel, the show’s only intention is to put a smile on your face and brighten up your day!
Bortusk has named his style ‘art comedy’ and dedicates himself along with a growing team of admirers and pasters to spreading the smiley faced, lolling tongued, and googly eyed LOVE around the world….Bortusk’s heavily satirical work and recognisable paste ups using newspaper as the support and method of spreading his own message, highlights an ongoing concern to challenge the idea of traditional mass media and mass produced objects. These acts of mischievous sabotage using obsolete objects and materials represent in fact another unconventional choice of his to use low-tech procedures to emphasis the often ephemeral nature and lifespan of these randomly applied paste-ups within our urban landscape.
These garishly coloured characters have travelled by sea and air to reach walls as far away as Auckland , Alaska , Jodphur and Barcelona and catching a glimpse of one of these little creatures in a dark corner or grim alleyway always brings a familiar friendly face to these far-away lands. These characters always seem to make themselves at home in their surroundings, be it taking a yellow cab in the Big Apple or tucking into a bratwurst in Berlin .
Over the past 3 years Bortusk Leer has exhibited in several London based group shows such as The Alternative Philosophy at Leonard Street Gallery and Mutate Britain at Cordy House with an array of big names in the street art scene. During the course of these shows his work has strayed into the realms of video, collage and sculpture, re-awakening an interest in 3D and installation art. Also in 2009 Bortusk’s monsters were made into ‘Street Monsters’, a series of 2 minute animations which were commissioned by the BBC.
Bortusk Leer shows no signs of slowing down, currently working on his first solo show in New York and cooking up some plans for further television take over. This top hatted avenger is only just warming up.
LWB London West Bank (LWB) is a brand new gallery opening in London on
Thursday 28th. www.londonwestbank.com. It’s a great space so please come down and
support the team involved in converting the old bank on the corner of
Westbourne Grove, Chepstow Road and Pembridge Villas, W11. To get an
invite RSVP to guestlist@londonwestbank.com
As an opening night teaser London based Street Artist K-GUY will be releasing a his ‘n’ hers special royal wedding commemorative mini print to celebrate the big occasion.
Limited to 40 prints at only 40 quid a pop available on the night….
and as a little incentive the first 10 people through the door get a
free one.
“Hi-Graff” is an installation-based street art exhibition that explores the concept of Graffiti as a contemporary art movement…
The exhibition, which opens on May 7th 7-11pm, showcases graffiti in its most original form –collaborative murals applied directly to walls. Though LA has seen hundreds of street art exhibitions in the past 5 years, there has always existed a growing disconnect between the artwork shown in the gallery shows and what these street artists produce on the streets. “Forcing a street artist to produce canvas or panel works as the only way of showcasing in a fine art gallery seriously compromises the quality of work, and direction these artists are taking. We wanted to open up our walls to these artists so the final product will closely mimic the actual art production of these artists on the streets, in an in-door environment” (Curator Lee). This allows the audience to truly understand and juxtapose where their talents and aesthetic differences lie. For “Hi-Graff”, Hold Up Art has brought together over 20 street artists to produce 10 separate collaborative murals highlighting unique trends and styles in Graffiti.
The artists that were selected for “Hi-Graff” embody a range of styles and techniques, showcasing the varying stylistic directions taken by contemporary graffiti artists. As with any art movement, Graffiti has evolved much since it had truly taken a hold in Los Angeles back in the 80’s. According to Curator Brian Lee, “We are now entering into a high point, the embellishment period, in the artistic movement of Graffiti. Not only are we witnessing the rise of a third generation of graffiti writers, a generation that actively looks forwards as much as it does backwards, but the public perception and reception of graffiti has grown increasingly warmer. With the release and world wide success of the movie “Exit through the Gift Shop,” Museum retrospectives on Street art as a culture like at the MOCA, and the ever present force of street art designers like Shepard Fairey–designing for everyone and everything from album covers to billboards for the Grammys–street art has permeated into every facet of American youth culture” (Curator Lee).
“Hi-Graff” Details Opening May 7th, 7-11pm
On Display May 7th-June 2nd, 2011
The fine artist and Street Artist named Purth has been completing an urban installation of her family this winter in Austin, Boston, Brooklyn, Cincinnati, and New Orleans . Not literally her blood relatives, the oversize portraits of females are mirrors of her emotional journey and echoes of relationships she may have experienced coupled with ones she is creating for her future. Coupled with bits of prose that ground them somewhat, these women are strong and searching.
This kind of internal migration is not unusual for a painter in scanning the horizon for something however the actual physical distance run, with it’s long spaces of time and travel in between, is. It’s also something that Street Artists around the globe are setting a new standard for by completing installations in towns and cities around the globe much like a campaign. In her dog-eared travelogue, Purth carries ruddy hued people from her fluid imagination and raises them amidst abandoned rubble; high enough to be seen from a distance.
Having completed roughly the first half of the installations for “The Deleras Project”, she shares these images before Purth hits the road again to complete it with installations in Oakland, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit and Cincinnati.
With the completion of “six months on the road, (with) snow storm & tornadoes endured, a car accident survived, and life affirming environments broken into,” the artist took a moment to chat with Brooklyn Street Art about her project:
Brooklyn Street Art: Who are the individuals depicted on your paintings? Purth: Each piece was created from different sources of inspiration: references of old photographs I’ve been collecting for years, reflections … perhaps of someone’s lover, someone’s child. There will be ten once the work is completed, all of women, young & old, scattered across the country, & each installed with a single stream of thought. The writing is sourced in a very similar way … some pulled from found material, some from the words I was lucky enough to hear uttered; fragments to create a whole. I guess in my mind, they have become the women they are now. Completely independent of the remnants that built them up or who they are to me personally. I hope that for them … the right to stand on their own.
Brooklyn Street Art:Why are you traveling around the country putting them up on abandoned walls and buildings?
Purth: Abandoned spaces have a pronounced hum to them. They are shed, in a sense, but are still heavy with profound undercurrents that I believe can be tapped into … & reinvented. It seems completely fitting for me to search out these spaces as possible locations for the work even if they ultimately make home above, along side, or in areas close by. In regards to the distance covered … we have gaps that need to be bridged. I see them as shepherds and black sheep. It’s my responsibility to find them home.
Brooklyn Street Art: What is the genesis of this project? Purth: The first, Delera, was created at an intense, pivotal moment in my life. I became very weak around the end of 2009 and I began painting her like a child screaming at an overbearing parent. In the simplest sense, I was depicting the strength I needed to rediscover in myself. Once she was suspended and I saw her upright for the first time, she literally took my breath away. Something so intimate, so tender, and so sincere towering over me … it was like gold leafing vulnerability and then lighting the shit on fire.
She was the first, the idea for the others quickly followed.
Street art welcomes all manner of materials and methods, typically deployed without permission and without apology. This hand-formed wire piece …Read More »
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Tony’s
