Logan Hicks Creates “Sailor” His Largest Stencil Piece Ever

November 23, 2009 Artists, Brooklyn, Interview, Miami, NYC, On the Street, Primary Flight

“The Workhorse” gallops through Brooklyn and Sets Another Record

Stencil artist Logan Hicks completed his largest stencil to date today on the streets of Brooklyn. Then he posed for a few photos and ran off to his next art gig.

Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)

As he goes he leaves in his wake a 30′ x 8′ mural dedicated to somebody that keeps Logan’s horse power pumping at full speed, titled simply “Sailor”.

Fresh from his trip to Toronto for a show with another modern stencil master C215 and just before heading to Miami for Primary Flight to do the world’s largest site-specific street level mural with artists like D*Face, Shepard Fairey, Chris Stain, and the London Police, Logan Hicks gave his biggest present to his current hometown of Brooklyn and to his family.

Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)

Moving away from subject matter involving city canyons, tunnels and teaming crowds that he has been closely identified with over the last couple of years, Hicks has been feeling lately like it is time for him to concentrate on the stuff that really matters to him. Family, art, sanity.

Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)

The 5-layered piece required about 150 stencil plates to execute, and we watched what a logistical bad dream can ensue just laying out all the pieces on the sidewalk and following the plan. Not to mention how wind can whip those well placed plates down the sidewalk toward the East River.

Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)

Curated by Brooklyn Street Art for Espeis Outside, this mural is a hot blast of Logan Red to take us through the impending winter holidays and into the new year. Not that the burly plain-talking-force-of-nature stencil master has any plans for 2010.

Unless you count the shows he’s scheduled to do in Hong Kong, Paris, Gambia, London, Rome, Vienna, Miami and of course The People’s Republic of Brooklyn (at the Opera Gallery).

“Next year is going to be a little nuts. So basically I am not going to sleep until 2011. I keep telling myself that this is the life that I asked for. The stress gets to be a little much, but I think I secretly like it.”

Logan is pretty psyched to be working in what he calls “vector-based” stenciling, and his process is quite complex, even when planning a portrait of a boy with a toy train (photo Jaime Roj0)

Adding a layer, Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art was really happy to hang out with hard-charging but surprisingly somewhat normal Hicks for a couple days this weekend, even helping out with a paint brush once in a while. The sun was pretty bright although it’s duration brief, and the wind did keep everybody humble – but the continuous racket of skateboarders in this industrial neighborhood kept the pace of work lively. Below is an interview where Logan let’s us know what the story is behind the piece he debuted here.

Yep, Brooklyn is part of the Empire State. (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Your earlier subject matter tended toward architecture and large anonymous crowds on the street. More recently you have become more personal in your work. Where did you get the inspiration for this piece?
Logan Hicks: My son – Sailor Hicks, and watching him grow. The funny thing about time is that you don’t realize how fast it is passing until you have a kid to remind you. Each day my son grows, and although I love watching him sprout up, it reminds me of how quickly time is passing. Because I communicate with so many friends through email, I don’t normally realize that so many months have gone by when I see them in the flesh. Now though, when I see someone, I can take note “I haven’t seen you since Sailor started walking” or “I haven’t seen you since he started talking”. It really punctuates how quickly things go by.

Logan Hicks putting the black frame on to finish the piece (photo Jaime Rojo)

So watching him, it has made me reflect on my life. Made me thing about how much I am changing. Not so much in the physical aspect, but mentally. Striving to refine my craft. Striving to sustain stability. Striving to be a good parent. All this makes me want to be a better person. I look at myself 6 years ago, and I don’t even recognize that guy any more. So with this mural, I just think of it as a quick snapshot of my life. It give me a chance to pause and appreciate my life as it exists now.

Father and son. (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Does Sailor know he’s going to be immortalized?
Logan Hicks: No, but I don’t think he’s too pressed to take note of anything other than trains, letters, toys, and cars. I wouldn’t have it any other way. One of my reasons for doing this piece is because of an early conversation I had with C215. When I first met C215 I noticed that he kept doing a stencil of this one girl. I asked him who it was and why he kept doing stencils of her. His response floored me. He said that it was his daughter. He didn’t have full custody of his daughter and didn’t get to see her as often as he would like. He said he did at least one stencil a week of her because he didn’t want her to ever think that he forgets about her. That punched a hole in my heart. It was the most brutally honest comment that he could have said. I was amazed that he opened his life up so quickly and said something that was so personal. I guess for me I have always been a bit guarded. The older I get though, the more I realize that I’d be better if i shared more, instead of trying to protect it.

Logan Hicks with the original illustration he did taped to the mural (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: How can an artist put something so personal out in the public?
Logan Hicks: How can an artist NOT put something that is personal? For so long I feel like I have been striving to hone the craft of using stencils. I have worked on the technical side of things and I feel like in the past year or two I have, for the most part, conquered that. So now the question becomes, not how you make it, but what you make with it. For me. I feel like I have started back at square one. I have started to speak about what is most personal to me. I am tired of trying to be witty or technical or vague.

I am trying to filter out all the background noise in my life and make my art. All the haters, all the fans, all the blogs or magazines, or other artists. I think it’s gotten to a point where the best thing that I can do is just retreat into myself and speak honestly about what I am going through. For so long I have worked to gather information. Information about galleries, artists, processes, blogs, magazines, curators, etc. Lately I realized though that none of it matters. The only thing that matters is the here and now. The only thing that matters is what I am going through.

Brooklyn Street Art: How many layers are involved in this stencil?
Logan Hicks: There are 7 colors, but only 5 layers of stencils.

Brooklyn Street Art: What are some of your goals as an artist who works on the street sometimes?
Logan Hicks: Just to do a good job

Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)

It’s an artist’s tradition to use their own life for inspiration. (photo Logan Hicks)

I am trying to filter out all the background noise in my life and make my art. All the haters, all the fans, all the blogs or magazines, or other artists. I think it’s gotten to a point where the best thing that I can do is just retreat into myself and speak honestly about what I am going through. For so long I have worked to gather information. Information about galleries, artists, processes, blogs, magazines, curators, etc. Lately i realized though that none of it matters. The only thing that matters is the here and now. The only thing that matters is what I am going through.

Writing the dedication (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: How many layers are involved in this stencil?
Logan Hicks: There are 7 colors, but only 5 layers of stencils.

Brooklyn Street Art: What are some of your goals as an artist who works on the street sometimes?
Logan Hicks: Just to do a good job

“Sailor”, by Logan Hicks (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: How important is risk-taking in art?
Logan Hicks: Guess it depends on how you define risk. For me I just want to feel like i have accomplished something. I want to feel that i have done a service to my craft. to my trade. I want to feel that I have spoken honestly about my work, and done the best that i can. One of my favorite quotes is by Paul Rand, who designed the logos for companies like IBM, ABC, UPS, Westinghouse even Enron. He said “Don’t try to be original. Just try to be good.” That’s a motto that I have sort of lived by. I just try to do a good job. If that means that there is risk involved, so be it, but I don’t search out risk. It’s the sort of thing that you drive by on your way to the final destination.

>> <<< > <<< >>>> <<<<< >>>

Check out the time-lapse we did with Mr. Hicks – and at the end you’ll see the Sailor himself in action with his train.

Welcome to the show! You’re Under Arrest

November 20, 2009 Artists

First, the important news,

Oprah is retiring.

In 18 months! OMG.

So if you need to confess to an eating disorder or that you were molested by the mailman or if you have a book on self-empowerment for toads, you better call your P.R. agent and get yourself booked because in 2012 the world as we know it simply ends.

I saw the entire story from multiple perspectives on CNN today in the dentists’ waiting room as I counted the minutes till my wisdom tooth was scheduled to be yanked (OOOWWWWW).

Incidentally CNN had a little story about the US Senate debating the passage of the largest federal program in United States history. That 90 second story was sandwiched in between Oprah graphics and and heated conjecture about what the future without Oprah would look like.

And now it’s time for FUN FRIDAY!

WK Turns His Opening Into a Perp Walk

At his recent opening at Subliminal Projects in Los Angeles, 200 people were arrested.

He’s such a blast, isn’t he?

Usually at an art opening the artist is (A.) lingering around the gallery uncomfortably answering questions about the work, posing for a picture in front of it, collecting phone numbers of groupies. Unless you are the shy type, in which case (B.) you are huddling in the back office taking nips out of a flask, doodling on the desk calendar, and waiting till the gallery starts turning out lights.

Recently apprehended art fan flattened against the wall and photographed by WK.

OPTION (C.), if you are WK Interact, is you think of almost everything as performance art, and every person as part of an installation. Then at YOUR opening you criminalize any willing participant and arrest them and put them through some playful militaristic institutional dehumanizing.

After finger printing there are some forms to fill out.

“I was really impressed by the turn-out and the audience enthusiasm to partake and let me ‘book’ them. Almost 200 people [about half the audience] waited in line to be fingerprinted and have their mug shot taken, incorporating another sense into the interactive experience: touch. It’s not often I get to be that intimate with the viewers, who actually became a part of the show through their participation and who are now part of the installation that hangs in the gallery for the duration of the show,” said WK.

Who knew jail could be so much fun? “I simply did a mug shot that night and I let the crowd be part of my show.”

The artist posed in costume and ran the guests through the penal mill with dry wit and gentle but firm authority. According to attendees, at first the experience was disconcerting, then funny, then funnier (that could have been the wine). WK himself at first tried to keep a mean-looking demeanor but clearly was having too much fun. This is why I always meet him in a public cafe, preferably with a bodyguard around the corner.

After booking, the criminal records were posted as a public safety measure.

Brooklyn Street Art asked WK what was the procedure for processing the criminals in attendance:

“I simply did a mug shot that night and I let the crowd be part of my show. Then I put their arrest record on the wall ….. each one was finger printed and I Polaroid-ed them. I ask them their age and height in a typical arresting scenario. I recreated a desk at the entrance,” he recounted with satisfaction. And what was the reaction of the gallery guests? “The crowd was very enthusiastic!,” he reports. And for the officer on duty? “It was busy night of 4 hours’ work.”

His firearm was how big?

I’m not sure if there will be more audience interaction and role playing at WK’s next opening, but for this group, it was certainly captivating.

The arresting officer with guests.

Thank you to WK Interactive for these photos.

HERE is a good video to further describe the criminal records theory.

WK INTERACT at SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS from Joshua Gibson on Vimeo.

How To Blow Yourself Up NOW ON VIEW

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS

New Works by WK Interact through December 5, 2009

PANKABESTIA Punk Beasts of the Swimming Cities A retrospective of “Swimming Cities of Serenissima”

November 18, 2009 Artists

As the 53rd Venice Biennale enters its last days and the world’s art community reflects, Anonymous Gallery, curator Spy Emerson and the artist SWOON provide a glimpse of what critic Jerry Saltz called “…The most moving moment I had at the Biennale…”

“Pankabestia: Punk Beasts of the Swimming Cities of Serenissima”, is a retrospective of artist Swoon’s “Swimming Cities of Serenissima”, her recent invasion of the Venice Biennale. Traveling from the Karst region of Slovenia to Venice, Italy, Swoon and 30+ artists braved the waters of the Adriatic Sea and navigated a fleet of three intricately hand crafted vessels. The exhibition opens on November 20, 2009 and includes artwork, objects, and a series of performances based on the “Swimming Cities” invasion.

The environment/experience will include large-scale wall drawings, original Swimming Cities boat installations, portions of the ships, found objects acquired from sea, performances from the original members of the journey, beautiful photographic documentation from artist Tod Seelie, and art from Spy Emerson, Monica Canilao and many others.

Seelie, whose portraiture (www.todseelie.com/serenissimaportraits/ )will be featured in “Pankabestia,” documented the journey from Slovenia to Italy. His documentation of the journey can be found at www.todseelie.com/serenissima.

Money raised with this campaign will go to the production of the exhibition, theater performances and the series of peripheral events in New York and Miami that will coincide with “Pankabestia.”

The following prints will be offered as a part of this campaign:

Swoon:
Switchback Sisters – www.justseeds.org/blog/images/switchbacksisters.jpg

Tod Seelie:
Print 1 – www.todseelie.com/serenissima/content/_MG_9011_large.html
Print 2 – http://todseelie.com/serenissima/content/_MG_0517_large.html
Print 3 – www.todseelie.com/serenissima/content/_MG_8038_large.html

For a full calendar of Pankabestia events and performances, and availability of tickets, please visit www.anonymousgallery.com from November 1, 2009 on.

Curator Spy Emerson’s thoughts on the experience:

“Pankabestia”- what the Italian villagers called us when we floated into town on our junk rafts. It translates to “punk beasts”, and by all accounts we were – magical, grubby, unruly creatures carrying out an enchanted mythical scene, looking like bits of broken dreams, drifting.

The townspeople were apprehensive along the rural canals to Venice. They locked their doors and windows when we stopped in town, and they watched. The beauty of the rafts was captivating, the poetic pilings and forced perspectives, stairs spiraling upward, and tiny pagodas with corrugated reflections. The brave came to look… then the curious, and before long all people were welcoming us with gifts and food. In a remote fishing village, a woman told me in broken English, we kissed a breath of life into her old home, and we will not soon be forgotten.

The Swimming Cities of Serenissima was Living Art, designed by SWOON, and executed by 30 individual artists known for their abilities to make unreal things happen. Constructed was a reality without right angles, standard rules did not apply there. Alice, Maria, and Old Hickory were the protagonists of our story, and our traveling homes. Living on the rafts, the crew became a visual part of the large moving sculptures, and participants in the mad drama flourishing in turbulence, primal urges, euphoria and fear.

In retrospect, I see that we were punk beasts. We raided dumpsters, slept on the ground, shat in the woods, and laughed in the rain. We let loose our social restraints to be free to create and experience something profound,
to drag our fingertips along the underside of bridges, and jump the fences of the Venice Biennale.”

spy emerson
curator

Anonymous Gallery 169 Bowery New York, NY
Opens Nov 20 6-9pm

Inside the “ShineBox” With Rae McGrath from Brooklynite

November 18, 2009 Artists, Brooklyn, Gallery, Interview, Opening

A truly original and dynamic group show draws attention to what it means to survive in a shrinking economy. Shoe- shiners and Artists to the rescue!

photo credit: Adam Jones, Ph.D.

While you are waiting for Obama to do something Rooseveltian to replace the jobs our economy has been hemorrhaging for years, Rae and Hope McGrath at Brooklynite Gallery suggest you pick up a shoe-shine box and get to work.

I can’t even tell you how many artists I know who are out of work, and consequently how many are working harder than ever on the stuff that makes them happy and gives their life meaning – their art.

Like many New Yorkers watching their options dwindling, The Bushinomic Bank-zaster of ’08-’09-’10 has given many artistic types a lot of time to sharpen their skills, decide what needs to be done to survive, and to work together. One possible result, BSA is predicting, is an even bigger All-City BOOM in street art right around the corner. As jobs continue to evaporate and gallery doors close, the gallery of the street beckons a little louder each day to those who have a creative voice but no where to speak it.

Destroy & Rebuild stock their box with the essentials…

What does it mean for an artist to “survive” in a tough economic climate? – That’s the question Brooklynite Gallery in Bed Stuy posed to 100 artists when putting this show together. Focusing on the box of supplies that a shoe-shiner uses, Rae and Hope asked a very diverse group of street/graff artists to create a box of their own to express their approach to work and survival.

Anu Schwartz takes readings of the mind and heart globally.

The truly eclectic results reveal not just entrepreneurial aspirations, but psychological profiles expressing values and dreams and inner-workings of the artistic process. Symbolism abounds, and because of the limitations imposed, meanings densely packed alongside personal aspiration. To appreciate the intensity, plan your calendar to see the show twice.

Shinebox goes beatbox, literally. “VARIOUS & GOULD (with KUUK)’s box is stunning. Drop a coin in and make some beats. Completely captures the essence of this exhibition,” says Rae McGrath, owner of Brooklynite.

With the global economic downturn and the hardship it has caused, this show is clearly a tribute to, and an attempt to give voice to, the hard-working people who labor to make a living. By asking artists and fans to meditate on these realities, Brooklynite is pushing us to think outside our own drama and consider the meaning of work, and to see the shoeshine box as survival box.

Street artist Cake intimates a psycho-sexual-medical realm.

Brooklynite owner/curator/visionary/artist Rae McGrath took a break from installing the show to talk about his original inspiration for the show, and how it has evolved:

Brooklyn Street Art: Didn’t the shinebox go out with the icebox? What was the impetus for the theme of this show?
Rae McGrath: Last time I heard the term “icebox” I was well into my 11 hour of The Honeymooners Marathon they run on New Years Day. BUT -shinebox’s never go out of style. Everyone enjoys compartmentalizing things don’t they? Mostly for the wrong reasons but they do… However this exhibition goes beyond shine boxes and shinning shoes. It deals with working in the most stripped down, basic sense of the term.

Paper Monster adapted an actual shinebox.

The project stems from my love for shoeshine boxes. Traveling through Ecuador, Brazil, Costa Rica, etc., I was always impressed with how these things were built, mostly by kids. Any materials they could find held together with rusted nails and recycled bottles for dyes and you’re good to go. So out of that, combined with this f&*ked up economy I wanted to take it one step further and ask artists from around the world– “If you had to take to the streets to survive in this economy, what would you do?” I asked that each keep the “survival object” inside a square foot. It could be found, bought, modified, etc. We wanted to try and unify graffiti artists with street and contemporary

FKDL uses a collage of yesteryear imagery.

FKDL created part art supply, part sewing box (contents)

Brooklyn Street Art: How does the current financial crisis in the country play in the psychology of this show?
Rae McGrath: A lot of artists we approached with the concept said it really resonated with them. Some live off their work and lost studios, commissions, etc. It sucks. Art is considered a luxury item to most– but we don’t necessarily see it that way. Art inspires and motivates. Makes people think and study. To us that’s no luxury. It should be the norm.

Iconic stencilling from one of the Paris originators, Jef Aerosol

With an eye toward total transparency, Jef Aerosol tells us what it takes.

Brooklyn Street Art: Logistically, getting a hundred artists to create and deliver their pieces must have been like herding cats…
Rae McGrath: The logistics of this show have been pretty hectic. I also think that most people in my neighborhood believe I am a drug dealer at this point. Everyday another small package showing up. Strange and cool at the same time. But what makes it worthwhile is when you open a package and a true gem comes out.

I think the biggest feat when doing a show of this magnitude is making sure each artist get their work seen– Hence the video we just put out. We are not very fond of your run of the mill group show that focuses on a key word or something. We tried to keep the guidelines here a bit more rigid.

KNOW HOPE adorns the box with a storyline

Brooklyn Street Art: Did every artist take a shine to your idea?
Rae McGrath: Yes. EXCEPT for the ones that were afraid of working in 3 dimension.

A rather suggestive joy-stick tops this “Peep Show” by 3TTman

Brooklyn Street Art: What box is blowing your mind?
Rae McGrath: There are several boxes blowing my mind for different reasons… Some because of the design, others the concept and some for both. VARIOUS & GOULD (with KUUK)’s box is stunning. Drop a coin in and make some beats. Completely captures the essence of this exhibition. They also did the hand-made flyer for the show and limited edition prints. 3TTMAN’s peep show is a thing of beauty. KOSBE, TEN13ONE. I know I’m leaving some killer ones but– wait this isn’t print— Not trying to save trees— BEN FROST has a clever piece, Destroy & Rebuild … Look man just get over here and see them.

Anthony Lister goes 360

Smile and the blockheads smile with you. (Anthony Lister)

Brooklyn Street Art: Are any of them functional, practical, usable?
Rae McGrath: Some are functional in a practical sense others in a spiritual one– That part of the theme was open to interpretation and heavily expanded upon.

A strong stylization of the theme, Skewville keeps it real Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Street Art: The title sounds like an exhortation; “Go Get your Shine Box” are you telling us roll up our sleeves and get to work?
Rae McGrath: Hell yeah. Maybe the name should be “GO GET YOU ASS TO WORK”. Seriously I think we all know where that title came from…. Or should at least.

Brooklyn Street Art: BTW, I usually wear size 10.5 black wingtips. Can I drop them off anytime after Nov. 21? I’ll need them for Thanksgiving.
Rae McGrath: Oh sounds nice. We actually have the same size shoe… Drop them off .

“GO GET YOUR SHINE BOX” silk screen posterby Various and Gould

Opening Reception: November 21 7-10 p.m.

Brooklynite Gallery HERE

Artists in the show include:

MISS BUGS , JEF AEROSOL , SWEET TOOF , PURE EVIL , BEN EINE , DAIN , INKIE , BEN FROST , STEN , LEX , JACE , LUKE INSECT , VARIOUS & GOULD,KUUK, CEPT , WILL BARRAS , 5003 , DDOCK , PHIL ASHCROFT ,JOE BLACK ,THUNDERCUT , K-GUY ,ANTHONY LISTER , AIKO ,GAIA ,DAVID WALKER ,RYCA ,SKEWVILLE ,PENNY ,BILLI KID ,SADDO ,PAPER MONSTER ,DANIEL LUMBINI ,3TTMAN ,OZMO ,PERU ANA ANA PERU ,REMED ,FEFE TALAVERA , EVOL , SPECTER , ZBIOK , MYMO , LUDO , ELICSER , KNOW HOPE , BROKEN CROW, GAETANE MICHAUX, AUGUSTUS THOMPSON , COLLIN VAN DER SLUJIS , KOSBE , SPQR , M8 , HUSH , DEREK SHUMATE , ZOOT , FUMAKAKA , JORGE GALVAO , MEDO , EL MATO, AJAMU WALKER, PRESTO , RODRIGO LEVEL , EMA , NONOSE , MIKE FALES , IVICA CAPAN , PLIMSOUL , JO PEEL , THE KRAH , RAFAEL SLIKS , BLO , DESTROY & REBUILD , JAW , KAN , LIME, OSIK, ANU SCHWARTZ, JACE RIVERA, SOWAT , ROSTONE , TIKA, RICHARD DIX, JOAQUIM STEVENSON-RODRIGUEZ, CELSO , CAKE , AME72 , BRUSK , GEOMETRIC BANG, DARKCLOUD
, MARVIN CRUSHLER , LEAST WANTED , MANO DE PAPEL , TEN13ONE , KLONE , KNOX , FKDL , ROBOTS WILL KILL , RAE

“GO GET YOUR SHINEBOX”. AT BROOKLYNITE GALLERY

November 17, 2009 Events

What does it mean for an artist to “survive” in a tough economic climate? Can

business ever be “bad” for a diligently working artist? Making an honest living

—in a group show like NO OTHER, these artists, some legendary and some

suitably hungry, will dissolve the line between utility and luxury for an exhibition

entitled, “GO GET YOUR SHINEBOX”.

If you’ve spent time in a “third world country”, you’ve had a chance to see kids

carrying ingeniously designed work boxes, set up for shinning shoes. We find

that the variety and exuberance of these objects perfectly captures our world

climate.

With the global economic downturn and the hardship it has caused blue-collar

workers throughout, we find it fitting to explore theworld’s simplest way to make

a living— SHINNING SHOES. We are planning an exhibition around just that–

SHOESHINE BOXES.

However a “SHOESHINE BOX” should not be taken in the most literal sense of

the words. These objects, our inspiration, have all been created out of necessity-

a need to earn money, or further, to survive. We push “the need to survive” beyond

its literal context, commissioning our favorite established and emerging artists to

design their own, “SURVIVAL BOXES”.

A shoeshine box is a medium, a framework, the boundaries of which have not

been pushed …’til now.

Brooklynite Gallery

334 Malcolm X Blvd.

Brooklyn, New York 11233

347-405-5976

Documenting Decay Part II: Seeing Art in Street Layers of Detritus

November 17, 2009 Artists, NYC, On the Street

At 11 Spring Street in Nolita, a neighborhood in lower Manhattan, sits a 19^th Century brick building that two centuries ago was a stable and carriage house.

As the 2o^th Century turned, the building had gained a following by urban art fans and street artists from all over the world. Over the course of the 1990’s graffiti and street artists had used the exterior walls of this building as their multi-storied canvas. Within a short time the address had become a destination, an uncurated museum for graffiti, street artists, and tourists alike – an up-to-the-minute ever changing conversation of street culture.

But the blanding plague of gentrification that swept across the city claimed the urban art gallery and it succumbed to condoitus a couple of years ago. Like the visual equivalent of a New Orleans funeral march, street artists and graffiti artists took one last chance to festoon the edifice as it’s soul departed to allow conversion to condominiums, and the local paper did a story on it. Every inch of the facade and much of the interior was covered and recovered by layers of art and graffiti. “11 Spring” took one last bow.

Demolition, buffing, and upgrading to the comforts of a new Manhattan wealthy class soon followed the celebration, and pinstriped men and pencil skirted women strutted through it’s white plastered interior waving their arms and referring proudly to it’s storied past; the artists that once brought attention to the location, abruptly “unfriended”. Among the many ironies of the story, the market for the new spaces has not materialized, reportedly forcing it’s owners to cut their asking prices almost in half this year.

Street photographer Vinny Cornelli used to arrive at the building early in the morning, before the streets came alive with commuters and shop keepers, to gaze upon the raw collage.

He captured the thick layers of art that formed the exterior finish of the walls; covered in spray paint, wheat pastes, rubber, metal, plastic, cardboard, wood and just about anything available. As if in a zen haze, he zoomed in on details, and stepped back to frame the visible cacophony.

This small sample of images show the layering of creativity in the moment before mute. The organic collage speaks to the many contributors and the conversations of the street: a collective contribution evoking chaos, humor, classical, commercial, pop and poetry.

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See more of Vinny Cornelli’s street layers HERE

Images of the Week 11.15.09

November 15, 2009 Artists, Brooklyn, BSA Images Of The Week, On the Street

Our Weekly Interview with the Streets

A new installment in Specter’s series of portraits of New York’s homeless individuals (photo Jaime Rojo)

Specter (detail) (photo Jaime Rojo)

A “vintage” ElbowToe and C215 (photo Jaime Rojo)

Something new incorporating farm animals and airplanes (photo Jaime Rojo)

And another (photo Jaime Rojo)

Quel Beast (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn got a new sculpture this week – a 3D version of Specter’s homeless series. When we saw this, many people were walking up to it, taking pictures of it, discussing it with each other. One woman said, “This is New York!” (photo Jaime Rojo)

Specter (photo Jaime Rojo)

Oopsy Daisy (photo Jaime Rojo)

(photo Jaime Rojo)

Mutual of Ohamastan’s Wild Kingdom (photo Jaime Rojo)

New Video from Brooklynite “Go Get Your Shinebox”

November 14, 2009 Artists

Fun Friday 11.13.09

November 13, 2009 Artists, Brooklyn, NYC

President Burning Man

Faster than a bike messenger on blow, the insurance company lobbyists are busy paying Senators to write the “Public Option” out of the new health-care legislation while the President packs his suitcase for a trip to meet China’s President Hu Jintao next week.

Before you start YUANING from intellectual incuriosity about the rest of the world (that is SO 2007), you have to see the art on the streets that is welcoming Obamau. If you’ve HUNG around Chinatown in NYC you know that cultural differences can produce quizzical results.

Watch those scissors!

New York City school students come from homes speaking 150 different languages but every 13 year old kid will still crack up and fall on the sidewalk when they see this sign.

So, in another example of cultural differences, Beijing artist Liu Bolin will be showing his bronze sculpture of Obama next week featuring the president on fire. But it’s a tribute. Because Obama is so, like, hot.

Never mind that various protesters around the world burned President Bush in effigy during his eight years in office as a sign of utter contempt. In this case, the artist intends the fiery bronze sculpture as a big high-five!

“THIS IS WHY I’M HOT”

>if you can’t see the video click HERE

and in other Fun Friday News……

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Local Brooklyn Gallery supports Civil Unions

Jenny Morgan and David Mramor: “Civil Union” at Like The Spice Gallery in Williamsburg opens tonight

“I want to paint on your painting”

A true collaboration resulting from trading the canvas back and forth between their studios. “If I held your marks too highly I would be afraid to go over them” – Jenny

The aesthetic conversation on the street between artists are frequently intentional and many times disrespectful, falling into the category of beef or acrimony, or just obliviousness. One puts up a piece, then it gets tagged, then it get’s wheatpasted, then someone slaps a sticker next to it, or a stencil upon it. Maybe it’s collaborative, but not consensual.

A very interesting collaboration on view at Like the Spice Gallery opens tonight that clearly references the same conversations you can see on the street, but this time it’s fully consensual.

“He had to dress himself up in order to be vulnerable with us”- Portrait of New York performer Justin Bond

Recent grad school art classmates Jenny Morgan and David Mramor admired one another’s work when in studio together, and felt drawn to each other’s very different styles. With his David gestural, abstract background and graffiti instincts and Jenny’s detailed realism portraiture, you would not think they could be complimentary – But clearly the results are stunning, wild, and wildly entertaining.

“We’ll sit and look at our art for hours waiting for an answer”

Street art fans will reference Irelands’ Conor Harrington immediately, as he has built a jolting vocabulary of realism and punk chaos in his compositions. What makes this show so much fun is the relationship it speaks of, as well as the process of trading a canvas back and forth until it is deemed complete.

Big Ups to Brooklyn powerhouse gallerist Marisa Sage for finding this eyepopping duo and listen to her interview with the artists to learn why this partnership works so well for them on Like the Spice’s first podcast.

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DISTANCE DON’T MATTER
– Swoon & friends @ SPACE Gallery

Last month Brooklyn street artist Swoon went north with friends to Portland, Maine to do an installation at Space Gallery.

Some have used the word “Breathtaking”

DISTANCE DON’T MATTER
SPACE Gallery, Portland, Maine
10.15.2009 – 12.18.2009
A collaborative art installation by Swoon, Monica Canilao, Conrad Carlson, Ryan C Doyle, Ben Wolf, Greg Henderson, and friends.

Visit http://space538.org/ for more information

Thanks to Inspire Collective for the heads up

Billi Kid takes a Shine to Brooklynite and Street Art Sales

November 12, 2009 Artists

A Concept for a gallery show inspires one street artist to try an on-the-street experiment.

Billi Kid recently completed his version of a shoe-shine box to contribute to the unusual show that Bed-Stuy gallery Brooklynite opens next week, and he decided to take his box a step further.

Billi Kid’s contribution to the shinebox show also doubled as an experiment on the street (photo courtesy the artist)

The 100 artists, mostly street artists, have created their own version of a shoe-shine box, a metaphor for the entrepreneurial spirit. “Having been born in a third world country, Colombia, I have seen many a kid making a living shining shoes,” says Billi. “They hustle a modest living out of their shoeshine boxes. It is a testament to the human will to survive that these kids stretch their craft day and night to simply put food on their table. That is, if they even have a table.”

Billi Kid is a bit of an entrepreneur himself so he used his shine box on the street to sell some of his artwork. In New York City, as a result of street artists winning a fight with the Giuliani administration in the late 1990’s to sell their art on the streets, you are allowed set up a table and sell your own artwork without fear of reprisal.

“I took Brooklynite’s challenge to heart and set out to see if I could actually put food on the table working out of my “SHINEBOX,” says the artist. Taking into account overhead costs for creating his postcards, “I figured that I would need to sell at least 16 postcards per hour @ a $1.00 each to make $8.00 dollars in profit an hour.”

Traffic was pretty good on his spot near the park, and a number of people stopped to look at his signature political-personality postcards featuring the likes of George Bush, Sara Palin, and Michelle Obama. Within a couple of hours, 20 postcards of Billi Kid’s had sold, and the short-lived experiment ended up with Billi and his cameraman in a nearby pizza joint eating the profits. Luckily, there was money left for the subway home.

AND HE MADE A PROMOTIONAL VIDEO WITH THE EXPERIENCE

“A Hounding Obsession”: Armer, DarkCloud, Deeker, and GoreB at Factory Fresh

November 11, 2009 Artists, Brooklyn, Interview, Opening

Interview with the artists; Talking about New York, dumpster diving for canvasses, hidden spots, and hounding obsessions.

Dark Clouds holds up the sky (photo Jaime Rojo)

“A Hounding Obsession” is a great name for this show because it aptly describes the ever present drive that these artists feel to make new art and to get it out in front of an audience. Usually it’s on the street, but this week it comes together at Factory Fresh in Bushwick.

In a way it’s a reunion show, like the Beatles! Okay, not the Beatles, but they are a fab four that used to work side by side; now have split to different parts of the world. Only DarkCloud and Deeker are still in the Grimey Apple so the other two have flown in just to install for this show and to hang out again with old friends.

A recent visit to the lush underground FF Studios with the artists yielded a number of raucous stories from the four about past wild excursions painting walls and ceilings in an abandoned recycling center, a burned out embassy (complete with chandeliers and 12 foot mirrors), dumpster diving for canvasses, and a discussion on how to draw females into the gallery Friday night.

What to expect at the show? Ask the artists –

Armer: I’m gonna try to go big. The back wall is kind of large.
Deeker: Yeah we’re just going to do a good hard smash-down of the whole thing. We don’t really have a plan on it. We’ll just get a whole bunch of paint and do it.
DarkCloud: I’ve got a couple of pieces on glass that I’m really liking. I’ve been working on glass a lot and I just like the way they look.
GoreB: My pieces for this show all start off with Audubon-style bird paintings and I started mixing fonts with them, and each takes off with stories in it’s own direction. There is one menacing bird that looks like it’s going to pluck your eyeball out so that’s pretty cool.

“I had this really cool book with thousands and thousands of birds and I love picture books like that, ” GoreB (photo Jaime Rojo)

These guys have all painted together at different times and Deeker and Goreb started talking about their escapades a couple of years ago in Brooklyn…

Deeker: For like two solid years Gore and I were painting outdoors, indoors, finding fuckin’ huge canvasses and putting them in our bags and bikIng them home. Then we’d just mess them up and go back and hang them up outside somewhere.
Goreb: There was one time we were painting with images based off of a – what was that photographer guys’ name that we did all those paintings and shit? We found all these old photographs that he had dumped out up on Bedford, like 4 x 8 foot big…
Deeker: Yeah, gigantic
Goreb: Yeah I don’t remember his name but those were actually some of the first collaborations we did – on those photographs. That’s really when I first met Celso and everybody. (To Deeker) I actually really first met you creeping around the recycling center lot.
Deeker: That was the second time. Actually the first time was fucking drunk on the street.

But we digress. Each artist in “A Hounding Obsession” has a background in graffiti at some point and now continues to explore the street art thing. BSA wondered if NYC was still hot.

Brooklyn Street Art: Is New York still one of the best places to put up work?

Armer: In America, definitely.

GoreB: It’s a great spot; there’s so much neglect and cutty spots, so much discovery as far as strange places around the city. Like me and Deeker are always talking about the places you can creep to in Queens and Brooklyn. I think it’s even better to do your work there now because the street art scene is too popular. You do anything in Williamsburg or on Bedford or in Soho and people find it right away and it gets on the internet but it’s kind of not what it should be about.

Brooklyn Street Art: What should it be about?

GoreB: For me it’s about withdrawing my art as much as possible and finding little nooks and crannies.

Deeker: I feel like the one or two kids that find your stuff up in the most random of places – like their reaction is worth more than somebody who finds it right away and ten people go and photograph it and everyone talks about it.

Armer: It’s really about spots. I like spots in high traffic areas but I also like painting in strange places that only young kids might go see.

Brooklyn Street Art: And how did you get the name DarkCloud?

DarkCloud: The concept for DarkCloud came because I was hanging out with a good friend of mine who was always in a shitty mood at one point in his life. So we started joking about how he was like the cartoon with the cloud over him always following and over his head. He was more of a fine art painter and I was only into graffiti solely and I didn’t really want to do anything but graffiti.

He kind of painted his own version of a dark cloud and I was just like, “What is that”? He said, “That’s the dark cloud”. I was like, “No that’s not what it looks like!” So I painted my own version and I was so kind of hooked, obsessed with getting work out and I was really into the concept of doing bolt ups on signs. When I first started I only wanted to do them on signs. “

GoreB, Armer and DarkCloud pose while Deeker is looks for a saw (photo Jaime Rojo)

Thus the Hounding Obsession we have heard about, and the name of the show. Each one of these artists got hooked a long time ago on making street art, and while it may sound like an exaggeration to call it an obsession, it’s not a far stretch to call it that. Listen to Dark Cloud…

Dark Cloud: When I first moved to the city that’s how it was. I grew up in Vermont and when I was in Boston I was instantaneously overwhelmed by how people accomplish this stuff. I was so interested right away that it became like an obsession. Everything else I was into started to fade. It kind of took over. It was too much fun. And the mystery behind it was so much fun.

GoreB: Yeah that is probably a difference between what we do and most artists – we want to get our art out there and don’t want to have it anymore. I think that because of what we’ve done before we have this lack of a feeling of ownership that pervades all of our work. It’s very apparent in how we put it on the public. I think that feeling also comes from that ability to let go of it so easily. Anonymity is powerful too because it raises questions about why the piece is there. You round a corner and you have no idea who this person was or why it was created and it causes a lot more mystery that you wouldn’t get otherwise. It veils the work in mysterious ways.

Dark Clouds blue period diptych (photo Jaime Rojo)

Armer thinks that girls in particular are going to like this show and encourages them to come.

Armer: This is kind of my first show indoors, and it may be my last. So if there are any ladies that are interested in Armer, they should definitely roll through.

Brooklyn Street Art: So this is a one–time-only opportunity of a lifetime?

Armer: Yes, I’m retiring after this. Not from the streets though.

Armer meditates on a topic dear to the heart (photo Jaime Rojo)

And a few little hits from the Streets….

DarkClouds Free Delivery (photo Jaime Rojo)

DarkClouds in situ. (photo Jaime Rojo)

A botanical Deeker from a few years ago (photo Jaime Rojo)

GoreB coming in for a landing (photo Jaime Rojo)

FACTORY FRESH SITE IS HERE

“A Hounding Obsession” is opening Friday

Interview: Inside the “The Thousands” and Swoon’s lock box with Michael “RJ” Rushmore

November 10, 2009 Artists, Interview, London, Opening

After spending most of 2009 in preparation, Michael “RJ” Rushmore is one week from the opening of “The Thousands”, a retrospective survey covering artists of the last few decades that led to what we’re calling “Street Art” today.

Nick Walker for The Thousands (courtesy Michael “RJ” Rushmore)

As editor and author of the popular blog Vandalog, RJ has been taking readers on a tour of the Street Art scene from his unique perspective. Encouraged by his father, an avid and prodigious collector of street art, the recent high school graduate has labored for much of the last 5 months to pull together this show – reaching out to artists, collectors, authors, publishers, you name it.

When RJ first told us about his idea for a “pop-up” show in London, we thought it would be a small affair with perhaps one or three of the larger names and examples of work in an inflatable shop on cobblestone streets. But like so many young people energized by the excitement garnered in an exploding new movement, RJ has worked feverishly to grow this show into what he hopes will set a standard.

More inside looks at this Swoon Box below (courtesy Michael “RJ” Rushmore)

A tribute to his dedication and sincere regard for the work and the artists, “The Thousands” will feature many of the antecedent contributors (or pioneers) to the scene (Jenny Holzer, Blek le Rat, Futura 2000) as well as the better known artists that have come to symbolize the current explosion that began in the first half of this decade (Swoon, Banksy, Shepard Fairey) and many others of equal interest.

As if throwing a show of this scope was not enough RJ also created a book to accompany the show, published by Drago, one of the few small presses that have seriously and knowledgeably documented the growth of the graffiti-to-street art scene. With dedication, focus, and maturity, RJ navigates the back alleys and side-streets to bring this show in the heart of London to fruition.

Skewville from “The Thousands” (courtesy Drago press)

Brooklyn Street Art: What sparked your interest in curating this show of Street Art? How did the whole process start?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: I think it was an idea that I’d had brewing in the back of my mind for a while, but I wasn’t taking it seriously until last January when I met with another street art blogger who proposed a similar idea about a having a street art retrospective. Eventually, we went our separate ways and I continued to develop the exhibition further. This is the show that a major museum should put on, but so far nobody has, and I hope that The Thousands helps to change that.

Brooklyn Street Art: “The Thousands” – is this a reference to the rise in this new wave of street art since 2000?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: While probably 95% of the show is work from the last ten years, that isn’t where I got the name. It’s probably a more succinct explanation though.

The show’s title comes from a short story by Daniel Alarcón called “The Thousands”. The story is about this community that is built by society’s outcasts and dreamers and they build their city out of the discarded and disused materials of the city they used to live in. So that reminded me of street art and the street art community.

Veng from Robots Will Kill featured in “The Thousands” from his piece at the Mark Batty Urban Arts Fest in Brooklyn last month (courtesy Drago)

Brooklyn Street Art: Are most of the pieces in the show privately owned?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: Yes. More than 2/3rds of the artwork comes from private collections. I wanted this to be as much like a museum show as possible, almost a pop-up museum, and the way to do that is fill the show with amazing pieces from private collections.

The process of finding work has at some times been a challenge because I don’t know every street art collector in England, but it’s also been a unique opportunity to view some truly spectacular collections.

Chris Stain will be represented in “The Thousands” (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: What piece surprised the hell out of you?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: I’m saving pictures of this particular piece until after opening night, because I want people to come into the gallery not knowing exactly what to expect, but Roa’s piece is very cool and different. When Roa was in London recently, we spoke about his piece for The Thousands. He told me to wait and to trust him, that it was something special, so I did. Then he sent me the jpegs and I was definitely surprised. All I will say for now is that the piece is on venetian blinds.

Brooklyn street artists Faile will be in “The Thousands” (courtesy Drago)

Brooklyn Street Art: The show also has a handsome book to accompany it. What was the experience of putting it together?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: Everybody at Drago, my publisher, has been extremely supportive of the show and the book. I would even say that Paulo, Drago’s founder and head guy, was the first person to actually believe that The Thousands was going to happen and not be a complete train wreck. So working with them has been good fun. But the process of putting together a book in such a short amount of time was very stressful and even led to a few days of working 12 hours straight on the layout and design.

The best part about the reading book was also my favorite thing about putting it together. The book is split into sections, and most sections cover one artist. Since everything was already organized by artist, I was able to get a number of other artists and art world personalities to write about their friends and favorite artists. For example, Know Hope has written about Chris Stain and Elbow-toe has written a piece on Veng.

A hand-made box by Brooklyn street artist Swoon that will be in “The Thousands” (courtesy Michael “RJ” Rushmore)

Brooklyn Street Art: The Swoon Box for “The Thousands”; Did she construct the box herself or was it a found box that she then later decorated?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: I’ve never asked Swoon, but I would guess that she constructed the chest. It looks like the wood is salvaged from a bunch of different sources, and the hinges are so mismatched that the lid can’t sit parallel to the walls of the box.

Swoon lock box (top detail)

Brooklyn Street Art: It could be a time capsule, or a lock box of mementos and inspiring objects. What do you think?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: Right now, I think of it more like a lock box, but 15, 20, 30 years from now… the meaning will probably change with time as street art and Swoon become more or less important. Maybe one day Swoon will be written about in art history books and the box will be seen in an entirely different light. But at its core, and for my family, it will always see it box as a lock box.

There is this old deerskin chest in my house that my family calls The Treasure Box. It’s been in my dad’s family for generations and dates back to some time in the 1800’s. It’s full of old letters and locks of hair and things like that going all back though more than 100 years of Rushmore family history. My family and I see The Swoon Box as very similar to our Treasure Box, so we will always see The Swoon Box as full of mementos and not just a piece of art history.

Inside the Swoon lock box. (courtesy Michael "RJ" Reynolds)

Inside the Swoon lock box. (courtesy Michael “RJ” Rushmore)

Brooklyn Street Art: What’s your favorite object in the box and can you describe it for us?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: I usually like to get a behind the scenes view of things, so my favorite pieces in the box are the sketches for pieces that eventually became familiar Swoon images. In particular, I think the drawing for Zahra is a favorite. The sketch is beautiful, the end result is one of my all time favorite images by Swoon and I happened to meet Zahra earlier this year as well as her child.

Swoon’s “Zahara” (courtesy of Black Rat Press)

The Zahra sketch is pretty abstract, you can tell that there is a woman, but it’s really rough and seems to be more about the colors than any details about Zahra’s features. Without the image of a rising sun that is in both the sketch and the end result, you wouldn’t even connect the two pieces.

Swoon box has an original sketch for “Bethlehem Boys” (courtesy Michael “RJ” Rushmore)

Swoon’s “Bethlehem Boys” as seen on the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn. (photo Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: If you have a show in ten years called “The Teens”, what do you think we might see in it?

Michael “RJ” Rushmore: What really interests me right now and what I’ve been noticing lately is the continuing fusion of graffiti and street art. In most cities that have graffiti and street art, somebody is trying to merge the two cultures. In London some of those artists are Part2ism, Sickboy, the Burning Candy crew, Kid Acne, ATG crew, Elate and Word To Mother. Maybe that’s just my particular interest, but I’ve heard Pure Evil say that he is seeing something similar.

So if my taste is anything to go by, a decade from now I would like to see a show with classically trained painters showing off their lettering style and hard-core train bombing kings painting with a brush and telling everybody why Lee Quinones is their hero, except we won’t even notice the supposed role reversal I’ve just described.

And of course, since I’ll be nearing 30 years old, I’d want to include some artwork by actual teenagers to help support the next generation of street art/graffiti/whatever we’ll be calling this in ten years time.

What are you looking at? (Swoon courtesy Michael “RJ” Rushmore)

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“The Thousands” features artists Adam Neate, Aiko, Anthony Lister, Armsrock, Banksy, Barry McGee, Bast, Blek le Rat, Burning Candy, Chris Stain, David Ellis, Elbow-toe, Faile, Futura 2000, Gaia, Herakut, Jenny Holzer, José Parlá, Judith Supine, Kaws, Know Hope, Nick Walker, Os Gêmeos, Roa, Sam3, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, Swoon, WK Interact

November 18 “The Thousands” opens

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