Mr. Brainwash, Life Is Beautiful

June 19, 2008 ,
Three's Company! (MBW)

Three's Company! Image from MBW's big new show.

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

If you can wait in line that is.  Filmmaker/street artist MBW must have broken some kind of records Wednesday for the opening of his new Swindled show at the former CBS Studios in Hollywood.  The fans lined up all along Sunset Boulevard to see all the pop culture mangling and icon mashing they could set their eyes on, from multiples of those fabulous Elvis with Shotgun screenprints, to a giant Warholic can of tomato spray soup,

For Fly Stencils that are mmm mmm Good. (MBW)

For Fly Stencils that are mmm mmm Good. (MBW)

to a mountain of discarded 50,000 books and shoes (I counted).  “Prolific” would be too stingy an adjective.

Banksy says he’s a “force of nature” (like a trailer park tornado ?), Shepard Fairey wants to hug him or smack him (but still DJ’d the opening); You know, chewing through popular culture isn’t new for street art, but MBW has a gargantuan appetite!  – and apparently a following to match.

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL

June 18 through Sunday June 22.

6121 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

www.artshow2008.com

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Armsrock the Explorer

June 15, 2008 ,
Humanity trudging through the debris (Armsrock) (photo Jaime Rojo)

Humanity trudging through the debris (Armsrock) (photo Jaime Rojo)

No words describe the wanderlust of Armsrock, who is continually en route these days back and forth across the pond.  In search of the secrets to the human condition and social geopolitical causation, his drawings depict the everyman and everywoman on the street; venturing into complex feelings of isolation, fear, hope, community.  As his insight grows, he eagerly shares it with the viewer; always treating the subjects, the people, with dignity.

After seeing them in person, we’re excited to see where he’s going to go with his 3-D diarama boxes – clearly they are studies for bigger things…. large scale installations? interactive virtual tours?  Set design?  Wherever Armsrock goes exploring, we hope to be there.

This spring Armsrock’s been creating and showing in San Francisco’s Fifty 24SF Gallery with D*Face ; at the moment right here in Brooklyn as part of Ad Hoc’s Poets of Paste show, and concurrently he’s paired with Chris Stain and Poncho at BlackRat Gallery in London.

Here’s an insightful look at Armsrock courtesy Daniel Lahoda and JetSetGrafitti.com

Armsrock Interview

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Poets of Paste at Ad Hoc

June 5, 2008 ,

ELBOW-TOE, Armsrock, Gaia & Imminent Disaster

June 13th – July 13th, 2008

Opening Reception: Friday, June 13th, 7-10pm

Poets of the Paste unites four figurative artists known for their striking images that comment on nature, contemporary society and the everyday lives we live. These artists transform public spaces to moments of private reflection with an emphasis on careful craftsmanship. ELBOW-TOE, Armsrock, Gaia, and Imminent Disaster have left their marks on the urban landscapes, generously giving their talent to the public, to time and to the elements. Now they bring their skills together at Ad Hoc Art; through drawings, stencils, paintings and block prints incorporated onto various media.

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Poets of Paste go LARGE at Ad Hoc

June 5, 2008 , , ,

Poets of the Paste

OPENING Friday June 13,
7 – 10 pm

featuring ELBOW-TOE, Armsrock, Gaia, and Imminent Disaster

Four stars of beautifully heart-rendered paste-ups on the bricks and boards all around us, Ad Hoc astoundingly unites these commentators; helping us read the tea leaves.  Hats off to the good peeps who chose to engender such love for the human condition and the fantastical world.

images courtesy of Ad Hoc

Each of these poets of paste could easily fill a gallery with their imagination and skill; So much stronger is the chord they collectively strum.

Gallery director Andrew Michael Ford has curated an incredibly strong group of drawings, stencils, paintings and block prints.

Ad Hoc Art
49 Bogart Street Unit 1G, Buzzer 22
Brooklyn, New York 11206

Telephone:     718-366-2466

Website for Ad Hoc

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Irony is the BAST Policy

June 5, 2008 , , , , ,

Nose Candy

with BAST

Brooklynite Gallery
334 Malcolm X Boulevard

Opening Night
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
7 – 10PM

Behold Brookynite! Yonder grows a New gallery in Bed Stuy and that is thy name; the Great Eastern Expansion emanates further out from the crusty rock of gothamite.  Brooklynite is a natural outgrowth of that thing that the Brooklyn art scene is famous for; community.

Brooklyn born and bred, Bast returns to blaze the trail a little further;  A continuous contributor to the Brooklyn street art scene for more than a decade, Bast is punk collage perfection – putrid pop and sexified grit; pure revolution de papel.

This time BAST has been sniffing around the pretty glitter and he blasts forward with certain and jarring new works that bring a rush to the senses, and base titillation to the loins. In addition, he features 4 plaster busts of disgusting creatures mounted like trophies with mad bling and even rhinestone studded grills.  The  pig, the alien – basically all of them are disconcerting in their resemblance to people I’ve known or been related to.

Brooklynite Gallery 347.405.5976

The show runs June 10 – July 12, 2008

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Factory Fresh & Skewville at BOS Fri/Sat Only

June 3, 2008

1053 Flushing Avenue
June 6 – June 7, 2008
Opening: Friday, June 6, 6 – 9PM

Transforming this former BKLN bodega into a brand new gallery in Bushwick will be Skewville; the inimitable dogs will be throwing a party instead of wooden sneakers this weekend as part of the 2nd Bushwick Open Studios.  

Finally in Brooklyn where they belong, Skewville christens the spanking new gallery Factory Fresh – and Ali says the gallery calendar is already brimming with new shows coming soon.

Come Friday to welcome Factory Fresh and Mind the Power Lines!

www.factoryfresh.net
www.whendogsfly.com
www.skewville.org

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Brooklyn Street Art Auction Benefit

April 2, 2008 , , ,

Brooklyn Street Art Auction Benefit
benefiting Free Arts NYC
celebrating the book release “Brooklyn Street Art”

April 25th, 2008
7-10 p.m. (press preview 6-7)

Ad Hoc Art
49 Bogart Street
Bushwick, Brooklyn
www.adhocart.org
718.366.2466

Confirmed Street Artists include; Anera, Armsrock, Borf, Celso, C.Damage, DAIN, Dark Clouds, Deeks, DiRQuo, Elbowtoe, ELC, Fauxreel, Flower Face Killah, Gaia, GoreB, Haculla, 
Infinity, Judith Supine, 
Jp, McMutt, MOMO, Noah Sparkes, Royce Bannon, 
 Skewville, Swoon, Dan Witz, and WK Interact

A silent auction to benefit the youth and family creative arts and mentoring programs of Free Arts NYC is being generously hosted by Ad Hoc Art on Friday, April 25th to celebrate the launch of “Brooklyn Street Art,” followed by a booty shakin after-party.

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B.S.A. Benefit Auction for FreeArtsNYC at Ad Hoc Art

April 2, 2008 , , ,

Brooklyn Street Art Auction Benefit
benefiting Free Arts NYC
celebrating the book release “Brooklyn Street Art”

April 25th, 2008
7-10 p.m. (press preview 6-7)

Ad Hoc Art
49 Bogart Street
Bushwick, Brooklyn
www.adhocart.org
718.366.2466

Confirmed Street Artists include; Anera, Armsrock, Borf, Celso, C.Damage, DAIN, Dark Clouds, Deeks, DiRQuo, Elbowtoe, ELC, Fauxreel, Flower Face Killah, Gaia, GoreB, Haculla, 
Infinity, Judith Supine, 
Jp, McMutt, MOMO, Noah Sparkes, Royce Bannon, 
 Skewville, Swoon, Dan Witz, and WK Interact

A silent auction to benefit the youth and family creative arts and mentoring programs of Free Arts NYC is being generously hosted by Ad Hoc Art on Friday, April 25th to celebrate the launch of “Brooklyn Street Art,” followed by a booty shakin after-party.

BROOKLYN, NY—Ad Hoc Art is thrilled to be hosting and supporting a special silent auction benefit Free Arts NYC and to celebrate the launch of Brooklyn Street Art, a new book of photographs by Jaime Rojo, designed by Steven P. Harrington, and published by Prestel.

Ad Hoc Art is generously donating their gallery space for the celebration and silent auction of approximately 25 works by well-known, emerging, and yet to be discovered artists who know no boundaries and follow no rules—their artistic turf is the public gallery of the Brooklyn streets.  The artists, whose work animates the pages of this new full-color book, are donating their original or editioned works to be bid up and auctioned off, with all proceeds from the winning sales going directly to benefit Free Arts NYC’s creative arts and mentoring programs for at-risk children and families in New York.

Some of the artists have participated in Free Arts NYC’s programs prior to this event and are creating original work to donate to this benefit event to generate significant support for Free Arts NYC.

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