“The big day has arrived and we are about to open the festival in a couple of hours,” says Sandi Abram as he looks over the final list of artists, talks, and programs that mean LJSAF 2022 is underway. We’ll be bringing you the action directly to your screens as it unfolds on the ground for its fourth year. With live painting, conferences, music, and community affairs, this annual festival is dedicated to showcasing the practitioners of graffiti, street art, and urban art.
As in years past it will be focusing on the unique curation by festival director Sandi Abram and the program directors Anja Zver and Miha Erjavec. A community-run affair with some serious academic punch, photographer Martha Cooper went last year and told us that it’s a festival that strikes a balance with what may appear as a quirky selection of artists to participate, “with an emphasis more on conceptual, political work than on aesthetics.” More to come..
CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PARTICIPATING ARTISTS, SPEAKERS, THE PROGRAM, AND SCHEDULES
We were fortunate to have been invited to participate in the very first edition of Nuart Aberdeen back in the quaint days of 2017. We had a blast, and in the process fell in love with this city made of granite. The locals and our hosts made certain that we had all we needed to do our job and to enjoy the festival, the city, and of course its people. With a theme of reconnection, the new iteration of the festival last month brought fresh murals to city walls, perhaps revitalizing people’s connection to the built environment in a new way.
A franchising, of sorts, of the original Norwegian Nuart festival and its originators, this offshoot festival was so successful that year that city officials here funded another few editions. The events that engage the community feature live painting, a speaker program, walking tours, a pub fight/debate, and children’s art programming. All told it’s a warm example of street art culture mainstreaming itself right into the daily fabric of this prosperous Scottish city often called the “Oil Capital of Europe”
Photographer Martha Cooper was invited to participate in Nuart’s newest event and she shares with us and our readers her documentation of the 11 artists’ artworks on the streets of Aberdeen.
Martha tells us that this “I Will Pay Taxes” mural is painted on a building whose owner didn’t pay his taxes. It was controversial but in the end, the organizers of the festival prevailed to keep the wall up without alterations or censorship.
Pushing the boundaries as expected, Italian-Swedish street artist Alessandro Battisti AKA Etnik, puts this new deconstructed piece in Novara, Italy, this month for ParkLife. With all the plastic and performative arts still seemingly in the throes of hybridization, it is no surprise to see this floating futurism of unknown origin. What is a surprise is that Etnik continues to evolve and fine-tune his tools, helping define the urban environment.
Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)
Etnik is enthusiastic about sharing his painting with audiences who may never see it otherwise. “The message in this wall is to innovate and to have the courage to make art in industrial platforms that are normally disconnected from the art world,” he says.
Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)Etnik. Novara, Italy. (photo courtesy of Etnik)
Unless you’re talking about the seismic Supreme Court decision to take away people’s right to have a legal abortion in the United States. The topic immediately appeared in street art. Abortions will still continue in the US of course. Rich women will pay for them, and go back to church the following week. Senators and congressmen will pay for their girlfriends abortions, with a crocodile tear and a wad of cash. Poor women? Not a consideration.
Clarence Thomas took a swing at other Americans by hinting that same-sex marriage may be in jeopardy. He didn’t mention interracial marriage.
One street art text piece we caught yesterday just as the abortion decision was being announced is appropriately in Spanish. Que voy hacer con llorar? or “What good does crying do?”.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Captain Eyeliner, JJ Veronis, Modomatic, Voxx Romana, Hijack, Fear Arte, IMK, 3784, Jaw1, Smoe, JC3, Mayd1, Spot KMS Crew, Heavylox, and Bongggblue.
The curator/owner of this wall, Jessica Goldman, posted recently on social media that the famed graff/street art/mural wall is “on pause.” The street has its own ideas of course and the wall has been very active for the last weeks in an organic manner. As usual, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
It’s all a dog dance, this social life, this series of prescribed and occasionally poetic movements that we must learn to navigate. Whether its origins are in Israel, France, Russia, New York, or Berlin, the Broken Fingaz Crew (BFC) tells us that the complexity of contemporary communication all comes down to ‘Dog Sniff Dog.’ It could be a reference to the contortions of connections on social media or simply the convoluted machinations of the so-called ‘art world.’ Still, you get a clear idea about their sarcasm and opinions with their new mural for the façade of the Urban Nation Museum (UN) that accompanies the opening of the latest exhibition.
Often referencing the visual language of comic books, poster graphics, mid-century advertising, and hand-animated music videos, the Haifa-based crew brings a fresh neo-primitivism to their stinging social critique as it bends across the public-facing walls of Urban Nation Museum.
Appropriate for the graffiti writers and street artists whose work this museum champions, the painter Henri Matisse was also known for breaking the rules of harmony and order well over a century ago. They haven’t pointed to Matisse in their public comments on this canine cavorting street canvas. Still, modern art historians will instantly identify the rough contours, bright color fills, and interactive natural movement as a possible reference to his study Dance (1) (at MoMa in New York) and completed painting Dance (at the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg).
We’re all familiar with these instinctive behaviors of dogs that can be comical or embarrassing to their owners. Still, science tells us that dogs sniff each other’s butt with an olfactory system far more complex and advanced than humans – and with a great sense of purpose. The layers of scents detected give information about gender, reproductive status, temperament, health, and much more. You may try to tell engaging stories and jokes at cocktails, dinner parties, and beer halls. Dogs sniff butts.
Photographer Nika Kramer captured the action of Broken Fingaz’s sometimes animated visceral dance on the wall as they installed ‘Dog Sniff Dog.’
“Talking… & Other Banana Skins” is currently open to the general public at Urban Nation Museum Berlin. Click HERE to find schedules and details on the exhibition.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. Chile Estyle, from Pablo Aravena 2. ARCHIFONT 3. Tartu Street Art Comes to Berlin – Hello Mister Police Officer | FWTV
BSA Special Feature: Chile Estyle, from Pablo Aravena
The evolution of a graffiti/street art movement is not unilateral in its formative influences nor its cities of germination. Not only does Chile have a unique genesis story born of oppression and rebellion that is written into the history of the modern street art movement, it has produced a number of strong proponents of the current global scene.
“Young people took to the streets with political muralism all over Chile in the late 60’s at the same time as young people in New York were starting Modern graffiti and May 68 happened in Paris. Chile Estyle is a documentary film that explores the past and present of Chile’s unique street art tradition which comes from a remix of political muralism and graffiti and has been part of the Chilean cultural and political life since the 60s, resulting in a visually arresting, informative and entertaining film.”
Chile Estyle – Trailer – Pablo Aravena
ARCHIFONT
“I kept looking at it and saying, ‘I could do a whole alphabet based on it.'”
ARCHIFONT Letters dressed in architecture. For the fonts lovers and the architecture lovers this little video of the names of master architects, past and present will stir emotions, we are certain of that. But we also know a thing or two about the letter form art we call graffiti…certainly, our emotions were stirred…will yours?
Tartu Street Art Comes to Berlin – Hello Mister Police Officer | FWTV
It’s been a little while since we’ve seen the folks from Tartu and are happy to see them doing a show in Berlin. Doug from Fifth wall interviews 4 of the originators/artists from the “Stencibility” festival in Estonia – as they mount their exhibition in Berlin. Open till June 25th!
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada has been looking for ways to draw all of his practices into one; his land-art works, sculptures and paintings. Here in Penelles, Lleida, Spain his new mural appears to combine the three directions into one flowing portrait full of lines in movement.
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Wishing for Wings”. Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival. Penelles, Spain. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Part of the annual Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festiva, this year in late April and early May, Rodriguez-Gerada says his intention was to attract attention to the towns like this on in rural Spain that are suffering from depopulation. It’s not a common theme, but one that Gargar has been inviting people to contemplate for about a decade by inviting artists to come and paint this Catalonian village of about 500 and its surrounding area.
“The festival hopes to generate resources that allow us to correct the effects of time and the deterioration of our streets, reinspiring hope in our neighbours,” say organizers of the Gargar Festival.
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Wishing for Wings”. Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival. Penelles, Spain. (photo courtesy of the artist)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Wishing for Wings”. Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival. Penelles, Spain. (photo courtesy of the artist)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Wishing for Wings”. Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival. Penelles, Spain. (photo courtesy of the artist)Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada. “Wishing for Wings”. Gargar Mural and Rural Art Festival. Penelles, Spain. (photo courtesy of the artist)
In November of 2021, we reported HERE on a public art program for visually impaired persons in Belgrade, Serbia. The program provides 3D models of murals for people with visual impediments so they can better enjoy the art painted on the streets of the city.
Flying Fortress. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)
Today we bring you an update as we look at new 3D models of murals for blind and visually impaired people here; bringing the total number to 8 in this capitol city. The first two models were put up in October 2021, representing the work of artist Weedzor. In April and May, six new models were created for murals done by artists Jana Danilović and Hope, TKV, Piros, Junk, Rage, Lunar, and Flying Fortress. Accompanying each model is a description of the works in Braille.
Flying Fortress. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)
Led by the organization Street Art Belgrade, the new works invite members of the City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade to feel what it looks like to discover art on the street through a short walk, say, organizers.
Piros. Murals for the blind and visually impaired. Street Art Belgrade. (photo courtesy of Street Art Belgrade)
“At the beginning of this project, I did not believe that it was possible to adapt murals to the blind and visually impaired, and in less than a year, we have a total of eight works available to us,” says Nikola Djordjevic, president of the City Organization of the Blind in Belgrade.
“Our community is small and art is still insufficiently accessible to blind and visually impaired people. The very fact that artists will now think of adapting their works to everyone means a lot to us. The models on the streets motivate our members to feel as a part of the city, to move and walk more, which is very valuable.”
Today we go to Belfast to see the latest installation of the “Beyond Walls” campaign of large-scale artworks by the French-Swiss street/land artist Saype,
Created across the front lawns of the Parliament Buildings in Stormont, Belfast, the biodegradable artwork measures 45m by 240m. Each of the large-scale works has had individual features, whether they appeared in places like Ouagadougou, Paris, Geneva, or Dubai. Joining a 30-city list across five continents, this installations’ local touch comes from actual Belfast hands as models.
His dedication to this multi-year project speaks to the determination of the project, as well as its appeal and willing financial backers to spread this message of eco-friendly art and world unity. “One of my aims is to not only shed light on issues of social transformation,” says Saype, “but to promote eco-friendly and sustainable methods of creating art through respecting nature.”
Most would agree that the new artwork is best seen from a drone or plane. The work has been realized with support by the Embassy of Switzerland in the United Kingdom and is officially part of the Belfast Photo Festival (June 2-30, 2022)
Indeed, the Grenoble Street Art Festival in France doesn’t care about you unless you parlez français – at least that’s the impression you’ll get from their website and social media. Nevertheless, they have been mounting monumental high-quality mural eye candy for eight editions, and art speaks volumes – so it’s still gratifying to look at the photos.
In the current edition in Saint-Martin-d’Hères, we see a new piece by Italian botanist and illustrator Fabio Petani, who rather brilliantly incorporates the landscape of the majestic Alps directly into his background multi-story mural called Silicon Carbonate & Cattleya Mossiae. At once richly detailed and mistily atmospheric, his sophisticated rendering must have been inspired by the enchanted beauty of the region.
Petani says he would like to thank the Grenoble team for their support and hospitality, especially the volunteers. We give praise to photographer Andrea Berlese for the excellent shots, like this one.
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Happy Fathers Day to all the fathers and those filling that role for families. We know it’s not easy work. We’re thankful to all the guys who are there to raise our kids, to provide guidance and love, and to model love and respect for their partners and wives.
Also today is Juneteenth, one of our country’s newest official holidays, recognizing the foundational earthquake of African emancipation from slavery in the US. Institutional slavery and all its effects – events in our history that continue to impact our laws, institutions, education, civil and economic justice, our relationships with one another – are yet to be addressed in many ways. For Juneteenth, this is a sweet and joyful celebration that is also deeply needed.
It doesn’t get any better with the weather than at this time of the summer in New York – and street art and graffiti are enjoying a very prolific crop this season. The politics of this moment are also showing up the street, with abortion and gun rights and vaccines surfacing as themes alongside what seems like ever-present LGBTQ+ rights. We keep seeing the graffiti/street art spots enlarge, contract, and scatter like a sneeze from one neighborhood to another, largely do to the rampant gentrification rate in some areas and the tendency for people to kill off the very arts culture that attracted them to the neighborhood in the first place. Right now street art in Manhattan is concentrated on the Lower East Side and Chinatown – Chelsea has a few remaining pockets left but it could be gone soon, and a little still remains in Soho and Noho. In Brooklyn, the neighborhoods Bushwick of going strong, Williamsburg Industrial park Williamsburg and Dumbo not so much. In Queens there is Welling Court, maybe Ridgewood, and of course Mott Haven and South Bronx are still popping
But let’s not get distracted by the city topography – lets look at some new stuff Jaime Rojo caught this week.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: Sipros, Adam Fu, CRKSHNK, Below Key, Modomatic, Hijack, Homesick, BK Ackler, Sally Rumble, Real Art Daddy, Yosnier, JG, The Eyeknow, Fear Arte, and Natalie Robinson.
Subway Art on Steroids: Spray Nation Sorts Through Mountains of Kodachromes
Spray Nation by Martha Cooper and Roger Gastman, with a foreword by Roger Gastman and essays by Steven P. Harrington, Miss Rosen, Jayson Edlin, and Brian Wallis.
Page after page of golden NYC hits from the Martha Cooper archive; this new hardcover tome expands the galaxy for fans and academics of that amber-soaked period when it seemed like New York was leading a Spray Nation of graffiti for cities across the country. Known for her ability to capture graffiti writers’ work in its original urban context, Ms. Cooper once again proves that her reputation as the documentarian of an underground/overground aesthetics scene is no joke.
With an academics’ respect for the work, the practice, and the practitioners, Cooper recorded volumes of images methodically for history – and your appreciation. With the vibrant and sometimes vicious city framing their pieces, an uncounted legion of aerosol-wielding street players raced city-wide at top speed, ducking cops and cavorting with a confident abandon in the rusted and screeching steel cityscape. By capturing these scenes without unnecessary editorializing, Cooper gives you access to the organically chaotic graffiti subculture on the move at that moment – directly through her unflinching eyes.
Martha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger Gastman
Culled from thousands of her Kodachrome slides from the early 1980s, the celebrated photographer and ethnologist worked with American graffiti historian Roger Gastman over many months during the initial Covid period to select this rich collection of images of tags, walls, and pieces. Each turn of the page more profoundly deepens your understanding of the graffiti-writing culture Cooper captured with Henry Chalfant in their book Subway Art nearly forty years ago. That clarion call to a worldwide audience took years to reverberate and shake culture everywhere. With time that book became the standard root documentation for what many see as the largest global democratic people’s art movement in history.
A smartly laid-out and thick volume (as well as its “Outtakes” collection), the high-quality printing and spare design hew to the photographer’s reliably straightforward approach, preferring to let the photos tell the story. From this perspective, Spray Nation is likewise a sleeper; We’ll probably only wholly appreciate its pivotal value and cultural importance with time.
Martha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger GastmanMartha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edition Box Set. Published by Beyond The Streets/Roger Gastman
Martha Cooper: Spray Nation. Signed Limited Edtion Box Set is published by Beyond The Streets. With a foreword by Roger Gastman and essays by Steven P. Harrington, Miss Rosen, Jayson Edlin, and Brian Wallis. Click HERE to purchase the book.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
