All posts tagged: Brock Brake

Jet Martinez says “Beauty” is the End Game in Oakland

Jet Martinez says “Beauty” is the End Game in Oakland

Athen B. Gallery in Oakland just produced a field of flowers with decorative muralist Jet Martinez in Oakland, California and if you were looking for something floral to look at, it will interrupt your view on this Downtown landmark.  He says that beauty is necessary for this area that was ravaged by crack and high crime in the 80s and 90s.

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Jet Martinez in Oakland, CA for Athen B. Gallery. (photo © courtesy of Athen B. Gallery)

“The I Magnin building for me has always been one of the most beautiful buildings in Oakland.  A green tiled, art deco beauty, this building is a symbol of golden era from yesteryear. After the devastating effects of the Reagan drug wars and the crack epidemic, downtown Oakland became a shadow of the vibrant space it once was. Now, as downtown Oakland is experiencing a rebirth of sorts, I really felt a real responsibility to add to rather than subtract from this beautiful building and the downtown skyline. ”

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Jet Martinez in Oakland, CA for Athen B. Gallery. (photo © courtesy of Athen B. Gallery)

Motifs come from the artists Mexican heritage, folk art, Amante paintings, textiles, and of course mural painters like Diego Rivera, who frequently featured the calla lily in his socialist commentaries. Now of course these murals are privately financed and are part of a business improvement district initiative and the presentation is strictly one of beautification.

But sometimes beautification is also cool, though to say that in the Street Art world today might get you chased out the room for encouraging gentrification or not being “real” street.

A. This is not Street Art, it is a commissioned mural.

B. Martinez is an accomplished painter AND a family man who talks about his kids and feels strongly that men can make a positive contribution to community by doing just that, creating beauty. “It is a way for me, as a man in society, to be able to contribute beauty and not just destruction. I think it’s really important in our time for men to embrace the making of beautiful spaces and I hope this achieves that goal.”

C. Be happy, people, life is really short.

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Jet Martinez in Oakland, CA for Athen B. Gallery. (photo © courtesy of Athen B. Gallery)

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Jet Martinez in Oakland, CA for Athen B. Gallery. (photo © courtesy of Athen B. Gallery)

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Jet Martinez in Oakland, CA for Athen B. Gallery. (photo © courtesy of Athen B. Gallery)

The mural is located on 20th and Broadway in Downtown Oakland.
Mural Title:  “There’s More to Green than Money

 

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Oakland Murals from Zio Ziegler, Meggs, Ryan Montana and Ernest Doty

Oakland Murals from Zio Ziegler, Meggs, Ryan Montana and Ernest Doty

Athens seems like its on the brink of disaster but Athen B is having amazing success. With apologies for the lame name comparison today we bring you shots of new grand scale murals in Oakland done as part of the grand opening of Athen B Gallery with Zio Ziegler, Meggs, Ryan Montana and Ernest Doty.

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Zio Ziegler (photo © Brock Brake)

Ziegler’s 13 story mural actually was part of ceremonies marking the UN’s 70th Anniversary and a ribbon cutting with Mayor Libby Schaaff the President and CEO of the United Nations Foundation Kathy Calvin. This mural and the others are part of an initiative with VSCO Artist Initiative that Athen B. Gallery is curating in Oakland and upcoming artists will include Cannon Dill and Brett Flanigan.

Conratulations to Athen B’s three co-owners Brock Brake, Sorell Raino-Tsui, and Kriselle.

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Zio Ziegler (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler (photo © Brock Brake)

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Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

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Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

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Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

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Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

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Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

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Ryan Montoya . Ernest Doty (photo © Brock Brake)

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Ryan Montoya . Ernest Doty (photo © Brock Brake)

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Ryan Montoya . Ernest Doty (photo © Brock Brake)

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Ryan Montoya . Ernest Doty (photo © Brock Brake)

 

Click HERE for more details, hours of operations and exhibitions regarding Athen B Gallery

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Art Basel Special – Miami 2014 Murals

Art Basel Special – Miami 2014 Murals

Art Basel has wound up another successful year in Miami and artists, dealers, buyers and sun seekers have departed. In their wake the streets of Wynwood have sustained yet one more onslaught of murals from an international mix of graffiti writers, street artists, and large format illustrators as the Street Art scene’s thick syrup of spontaneity hardens into a slick shell of commercial opportunity. The average working person with two jobs (or no job) may not have noticed that there is a fabulous boom in this economy for some, and the bubbly is flowing all around fairs like this, out into the streets, into the galleries, receptions, cocktails, and celebrity DJ appearances. While it lasts Brock Brake takes BSA readers through the brand sponsored cloud of opportunity and keeps the focus on what made Street Art interesting to begin with; the artists and their work. We think you’ll dig his photos and for the first time here, an essay in his words:
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Swoon (photo © Brock Brake)

By Brock Brake

Miami’s Art Basel might be the world’s largest summer camp for artists. Every year, artists, galleries and enthusiasts from around the world come together in one place to paint, party and socialize. With a never ending list of desired activities and events during the week, it’s impossible to see and do it all.  And many of the artists whose work towers on the walls of Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood have been there a week or so longer than anyone.

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Evoca1 (photo © Brock Brake)

You know you’ve made it to the right neighborhood coming from the airport when all you see from the highway are large murals and roadside graffiti…and you’re most likely stuck in traffic.

Every single street in Wynwood was filled with artists from various parts of the world who all share one goal: to create.  Artist like Meggs, Word To Mother, Hush, Spencer Keeton Cunningham, Lauren Napolitano, Aaron Glasson, Pose, Cleon Peterson, Ron English, Rone, Swoon and many others were all present and active.

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Evoca1 (photo © Brock Brake)

It was hard not to get distracted by all of their process while walking from event to event.  I spent a total of three full days in Wynwood documenting, visiting some walls more than once.  It’s impossible to see it all.

When the fairs close around 7pm, the streets of Wynwood and South Beach explode.  There are live painting events like Basel Castle and Secret Walls, pop up galleries, live concerts by hotel pools and, of course, The Deuce; South Beach’s best dive bar beehive of visiting artists.

I’m grateful for my annual “camp” reunion trips to Miami.  Reconnecting with old friends you haven’t seen in years while making plenty of new ones.  It’s fun to see that as the years go by, everyone is just as much a kid as you remember them. You see the same friend throughout the week wearing the same shirt for four days covered in paint, with no shower or sleep. All of these artists work very hard to do what they do and that’s why I do what I do.

Until next year – BB

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Shout (photo © Brock Brake)

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Cleon Peterson in collaboration with Shepard Fairey. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Rone in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Rone (photo © Brock Brake)

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Bicicleta Sem Freio (photo © Brock Brake)

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Aaron Glasson (photo © Brock Brake)

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Lauren YS in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Lauren YS (photo © Brock Brake)

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Tatiana Suarez (photo © Brock Brake)

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D*Face in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

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D*Face (photo © Brock Brake)

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Nychos (photo © Brock Brake)

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Nychos (photo © Brock Brake)

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Nychos (photo © Brock Brake)

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Hush in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Hush (photo © Brock Brake)

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Space Invader (photo © Brock Brake)

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Ckue and Soduh (photo © Brock Brake)

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Aaron Kai in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Aaron Kai (photo © Brock Brake)

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Meggs in action. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Meggs (photo © Brock Brake)

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Soduh (photo © Brock Brake)

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Word To Mother. Detail of a wall in progress. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Word To Mother (photo © Brock Brake)

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Pose and Revok (photo © Brock Brake)

 

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
 
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Zio Ziegler: Using Intuition on the Street and In the Studio

Zio Ziegler: Using Intuition on the Street and In the Studio

Zio Ziegler opens his new show tonight in Oakland, CA and today on BSA we give you a full immersion in the “Intuitivism” that he is tapping into and channeling at the moment, as well a sense of his commitment to discovery.

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

The prolific San Francisco based artist opens his studio for you to see here while he ruminates and generates based on multiple influences: cubism and folk art forms parlay with the figurative and realist. It is a complex interplay he pulls off with a confident hand.

Outside Ziegler’s murals on the street have understandably more punch because of their scale and freedom to expand, but the gallery work has a lot of pull because of his attention to details and smart way of weaving complexity. Either way Zio Ziegler is grabbing ahold of the attention of many more these days  because of his down to earth demeanor and reliably quality output.

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

The PR for this show describes a thinker/feeler, and that goes a long way to explain the many directions dancing as one; “Ziegler approaches the canvas with pent up feelings and relies soley on unconscious reasoning to create.” It is good to see this unconscious at work freely while the technical skills keep sharpening and adding dimension.

Our thanks to photographer Brock Brake for sharing these exclusive images of Zio Ziegler at work and at play with BSA readers.

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Zio Ziegler. Oakland, CA. November 2014. (photo © Brock Brake)

 

Zio Ziegler Solo Exhibition “Intuitivism” opens today at LeQuiVive Gallery in Oakland, CA. Click HERE for more details.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
 
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We wish to express our gratitude to Brock Brake for sharing his work with us and for his collaboration with BSA

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San Francisco Survey : Street Art and Graffiti

San Francisco Survey : Street Art and Graffiti

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,” so says Charles Dickens in the opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities, and who can’t believe it is true that he was speaking of today? Whether you are Darnay or Carton, that books two protagonists, this is the prism through which you will see the twin beasts of wisdom and foolishness in all the writings on the walls in our cities.

Easily dismissed for decades by the classists as the uncouth scribblings of the unschooled, the graffiti that persisted throughout train yards and tunnels and cities globally also developed and deepened, expanded and metamorphosed. Once simply seen as outright rebellion, the language around the graffiti scene has  transformed, and with reason. Today sometimes clumsily grouped under the moniker “street art” or “urban art” graffiti and its family gets a second view, and a third; while academia and theorists and philosophers grapple to come to terms with a language they didn’t create, cannot compose in, but endeavor to learn.

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Reyes (photo © Brock Brake)

Meanwhile it is collected, traded, reproduced, emulated and imitated. For its part, new generations of freewheeling graffiti and its practitioners and celebrants continue unabated; uncommissioned, un-permissioned, and despite ever more apoplectic attempts by municipalities and technologies to silence it, it continues to speak.  Further confounding, some of its denizens have taken up arms and laid in the same bed with that most benign and good-willed pillar of public art, the legal mural.

Today we go to San Francisco, one of our most pricey cities, to see what the aerosol writers are saying currently. With new shots that capture part of this moment by photographer Brock Brake, we see that the language of the street and even the row house have become as multitudinous as the dominant culture and as perplexing as it is sometimes powerful. Or not. Are these the best of times?

“..in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only,” says Dickens.

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Niels Shoe Meulman. Detail of ‘ununhappy times’, a larger piece by the calligraffitist. (photo © Brock Brake)

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“Familia” by Reyes (photo © Brock Brake)

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Nekst . Jade (photo © Brock Brake)

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A tribute to a deceased and well loved graffiti writer named Nekst by Steel (photo © Brock Brake)

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Steel MSK (photo © Brock Brake)

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Andrew Schoultz. Detail (photo © Brock Brake)

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Andrew Schoultz (photo © Brock Brake)

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Andrew Schoultz RIP Jade. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Toro (photo © Brock Brake)

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Atomik (photo © Brock Brake)

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Treas (photo © Brock Brake)

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Steel . MSK . d30 (photo © Brock Brake)

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d30 Crew (photo © Brock Brake)

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Ich (photo © Brock Brake)

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Jurne . Amanda Lynn . Mags (photo © Brock Brake)

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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This article was also published on The Huffington Post

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Poesia and Kwest Pay Tribute to Persue In San Francisco

Poesia and Kwest Pay Tribute to Persue In San Francisco

“It is an amazing hybrid piece,” says Brock Brake as he describes the letter structure and color combinations of this new piece in San Francisco.

With Poesia bringing the wildstyle flames that evoke the firestorms that race across the western region of the US every summer, the graffuturist continues to tighten the angles here with Toronto’s accomplished and hi-definition Kwest in this new wall in San Francisco.

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Poesia, Kwest, and “Persue”. (photo © Brock Brake)

The wall is a tribute to their friend, the San Diego graffiti writer/graphic designer/ entrepreneur Persue, who is very much alive, says photographer Brock Brake, so don’t mistake it for a memorial wall but rather a “you’re rad, dude, we like your style” wall.  Nice.

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Poesia, Kwest, and “Persue”. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Poesia, Kwest, and “Persue”. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Poesia, Kwest, and “Persue”. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Poesia, Kwest, and “Persue”. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Poesia, Kwest, and “Persue”. (photo © Brock Brake)

Special thanks to photographer Brock Brake for sharing these photos with BSA readers. For more about Brock please click HERE.

 

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Brock Brake Photographs at Shooting Gallery Tonight in San Francisco

Brock Brake Photographs at Shooting Gallery Tonight in San Francisco

In the tradition of modern street photography, Brock Brake is finding places for you to get access to. Sometimes these are physical locations, like under a cavernous underpass and skateboarder hangout at the moment when a police officer is looking at you. Other places are more luminous and ethereal – a singular plane overhead framed by high rise angles flat against the sky. No matter the place he takes you, there is a certain emotional power and a singularity of the experience as you travel in the urban landscape.

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Brock Brake “Roger’s Hand” (photo © Brock Brake)

Featured tonight as one of the new artists who have been in the White Walls / Shooting Gallery ecosystem, it is good to see a talent developing and getting recognition among his peers. Brock has contributed his photos focusing on others work in the streets here on BSA a number of times, so it is a pleasure to see these shots that highlight his unique perspective.

If you are in San Francisco tonight, check out his photos at this very strong group show celebrating the 11th anniversary of the Shooting Gallery that surveys the contemporary and street influenced artists who have made this spot hot for more than a decade.

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Brock Brake “Jesse and Cop” (photo © Brock Brake)

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Brock Brake “Roger” (photo © Brock Brake)

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Brock Brake “Night Plane” (photo © Brock Brake)

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Brock Brake “Fog” (photo © Brock Brake)

 

Shooting Gallery’s 11 year anniversary show An Even Eleven opens today in San Francisco, CA. Click HERE for more details on this show.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
 
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“Major Minority” ; The Great Gathering of a Tribe

“Major Minority” ; The Great Gathering of a Tribe

Poesia and EKG Talk to BSA about an Audacious Survey

A new show organized by Poesia, a San Francisco based graffiti artist and founder of the site Graffuturism, pulls together one hundred or so artists from eighteen countries with the goal of mapping one constellation in the cosmos – a global survey of urban artists that hopes to articulate a body of aesthetics he’s calling Othercontemporary. And why not? Audacity and vision are qualities these times call for and if successful could lead to a clearer understanding of the trends, techniques, practices, and narratives underlying what has been happening on the streets for the last half century.

 

 

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Kwest (photo © Brock Brake)

With New York artist/historian/semiotic explorer EKG as a guide, the two have been synthesizing their findings and discovering the genuine firing of synapses that indicate they are uncovering the electrical impulses that have made graffiti / street art/ urban art feel so completely relevant to the last two generations. A “Major Minority” hopes to chart the course for the third.

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Mags (photo © Brock Brake)

 

Poesia invites you here to take a look at some of the pieces that will be on display, as shot by Brock Brake. Brooklyn Street Art asked Poesia and EKG about the survey and to make some conjecture about the way forward.

Brooklyn Street Art: Each generation and movement is defined and labeled by its participants, peers, and observers. In your treatise on this moment and this collection of artists you say that Stefano Antonelli coined the term Othercontemporary to perhaps set it apart from Contemporary. Why does this term sound appropriate to you?
Poesia: I had initially used the term Neo-Contemporary. After a brief discussion amongst some peers Stefano mentioned this term – it seemed the most accurate out of the terms being discussed. I feel it’s important because it starts a conversation about something other than contemporary art, and describes rather bluntly our separation from contemporary art, yet defines the contemporary nature of our art form. I have grown tired of comparing what we do to contemporary art, maybe this term will get people talking about something more present.

 

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Slicer (photo © Brock Brake)

Brooklyn Street Art: Take a guess and swing the bat wide, why has the established art world taken so long to give recognition to the urban artist?
Poesia: Canonization usually takes place long after the genuine moments of art movements, or when they are at their peak. Its no different even in today’s Internet era, even with all the information at their fingertips academics won’t ever understand why a 12 year old child and a 50 year old adult writes on walls. Its easier to make use of their MFAs by extending the reach of the contemporary art conversation than it is to look at society and to try to understand the writing on the walls.

 

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Hellbent (photo © Hellbent)

Brooklyn Street Art: Has something happened in the last 5-10 years that has caused so many urban/street/graffiti artists to make more geometric and abstract work that usually avoids the organic, figurative, and pop? Any idea what is driving it?
Poesia: It’s a culmination –  one of those things where maybe all the right ingredients are there and it happens.

Graffiti, being an abstract art form in its nature, lends itself to pure abstraction. Experimentation with the letterform usually takes place more with color and shape than it does conceptually or from a representational perspective. Additionally with the birth of Street Art it opened up the playing field a bit. Artists now were forced to compete visually with representational imagery on walls. It has allowed many artists to leave letterform and the rectangular space of a piece or even “wild style”. The horizontal rectangle was replaced with the square or vertical rectangle – that also pushed for the evolution of the artist.

 

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Silvio Magaglio (photo © Brock Brake)

Brooklyn Street Art: What will a viewer begin to realize when looking over the constellation of works in this show?
Poesia:
That painting is alive, and urban art seems to be the most relevant embodiment of this. This post-historical art form seems to be sending a message that there is something left in the visual image and its power. The goal was to show the widest spectrum possible from figurative to minimal in the area of Urban Art and I think we accomplished that.

 

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Silvio Magaglio (photo © Brock Brake)

Brooklyn Street Art: Can you speak about the “unique participatory and non-exclusionary nature” of urban/street/graffiti art practices?
EKG: Graffiti/Street Art (here defined as the public surfaces they affix themselves to, the container superseding the content, the medium as the message) is a broadcast channel that will not exclude anyone who wants to participate. Anybody with a passion to be seen and heard can broadcast on the graffiti/street art wavelength, as long as they are driven to take the risk of breaking the law in order to make their aesthetic statement.

When someone illegally transmits a signal on a public surface, aka a wall or monitor, there is no editorial hierarchy, no censorship board, no review panel, and no proofreaders. It is an individualistic and anarchistic means of expression. In order to transmit your mark, you don’t have to pay anyone, you don’t have to ask for permission, you don’t have to take a vote, you don’t have to take into account anyone else’s approval or opinion about your message.

At heart, graffiti/street art are visual civil disobedience, no matter the initial conscious intention of the mark maker, although a combination of action and intention can make the mark more meaningful to the receiver once they learn more about the broadcaster.

 

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Vsod (photo © Brock Brake)

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Vsod (photo © Brock Brake)

Brooklyn Street Art: “Illegal” and “transgressive” are two root words that reappear in your discussion of the collection. Did this movement germinate from anti-establishment sentiments, marginalized populations?
EKG: Doing anything illegal can be considered transgressive, but, more specifically for this discussion, illegal aesthetic manifestations are a minor infrastructural irritant that accrue a massive semiotic tumescence of cultural weight.

Currently incarcerated under the simplistic and myopic legal category defined as vandalism, aka criminal mischief, illegal aesthetic manifestations should instead be interpreted as more of a cultural statement than actually being a debilitating crime that selfishly and meaninglessly attacks a particular individual or society as a whole, as has been promoted by institutional authorities protecting the status quo.

The Original Writers discovered that Graffiti was a powerful means to: express rebellious dissatisfaction on political, economic, societal and cultural levels; define one’s identity as a powerful entity that was omnipresent, by proxy omniscient; delineate physical and semiotic territories that were theirs as opposed to their foes or society at large; connect with other members of their age group to form alternative communities of like-minds; and gain recognition with their peers and the public overall.

Like the seers who were channeling the oracles of our time, the old school original writers instinctually discovered an art form that continues to engage and challenge our global culture. Fifty years later the movement is still kept alive inside and outside by practitioners of all ages, styles, and intentions. Graffiti is no longer perceived as merely vandalism perpetrated by megalomaniac antisocial teens, but a positive and powerful cultural change agent practiced by conscious objectors of all ages.

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Drew Young (photo © Brock Brake)

Brooklyn Street Art: Specifics please: please place an artists name next to each of the following word whose work comes to mind.

Poesia: Okay, here are examples.

Activist: Boniface Mwangi
Idealist: Moneyless
Geometric: Nawer
Minimal: Christopher Derek Bruno
Expressionist: Jaybo Monk

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Askew (photo © Brock Brake)

Brooklyn Street Art: Sometimes it appears that the street is providing the stage for an explosion/implosion of all other historical art movements coalescing and deconstructing and recombining and mutating before us. Perhaps it’s because the street is reflecting society and we are all drinking from the Internet River. Maybe we’re witnessing a true globalism. You can say the movement on the street has roots in graffiti, and we would agree. But is it even possible to make sense of what is happening right now?
Poesia: I can only be a participant in this moment and hope to engage the conversation in real time versus when it won’t matter anymore. I think Urban Art is one of many emerging art forms that have been bubbling on the surface for a while now. As the generation shift takes place we will be accepted at the moment when we are irrelevant, as so many art forms before us. This makes today more important than tomorrow. I don’t know if I have the capability to make sense of it all, but I appreciate every second of it.

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Bezt Etam (photo © Brock Brake)

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Vincent Abadie Hafez Zepha (photo © Brock Brake)

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Thiago Toes (photo © Brock Brake)

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Sat One (photo © Brock Brake)

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Katre (photo © Brock Brake)

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Sowat (photo © Brock Brake)

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Gilbert1 (photo © Brock Brake)

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Gilbert1 (photo © Brock Brake)

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Dem189 (photo © Brock Brake)

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Bom.k (photo © Brock Brake)

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Borondo (photo © Brock Brake)

 

“A Major Minority” opens this Friday, March 14 at 1AM Gallery in San Francisco, CA.

Click HERE for more details on this show.

The Full Essay “A Major Minority” Group Exhibition by Poesia and EKG can be found HERE.

The interview answers from EKG were edited for length – please see his full responses on his Facebook page HERE.

We would like to thank Brock Brake for his excellent photos of the art and to Poesia and EKG for their thoughtful and insightful answers to our questions.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
 
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Images Of The Week: 01.05.14

Images Of The Week: 01.05.14

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It’s been weeks since we had an “Images of the Week” posting with you, due to the end of the year spectacular we presented  for 13 days; a solid cross section of the talented photographers who are documenting this important moment before it passes.

As a collection 13 From 2013 exemplified the unique and eclectic character of Street Art and graffiti photography today. Each person contributed a favorite image and along with it their insight and observations, often personal, very individual, and with a real sense of authenticity. Each day we were sincerely grateful for their contributions to BSA readers and to see the street through their eyes.

Thank you again to Yoav Litvin, Ray Mock, Brock Brake, Martha Cooper, Luna Park, Geoff Hargadon, Jessica Stewart, Jim Kiernan, Bob Anderson, Ryan Oakes, Daniel Albanese, James Prigoff, and Spencer Elzey for 13 from 2013. Also if you missed it, that list kicked off just after our own 2013 BSA Year in Images (and video) were published here and on Huffington Post, all of which was also a great honor to share with you.

And so we bring back to you some documentation of moments before they passed – our weekly interview with the street, this week including $howta, Appleton Pictures, ASVP, BAMN, Chase, Dceve, Doce Freire, EpicUno, Hot Tea, Jerkface, Judith Supine, Leadbelly33, LoveMe, Meres, Olek, Rambo, Ramiro Davaro-Comas, Square, and Swoon.

This weeks top image is a reprieve from the winter we’ve been enduring – a small hand cut frog clinging to a verdant fern – created by Swoon and snapped during a visit to her studio over the holidays. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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EpicUno (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Rambo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Leadbelly33 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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LoveMe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BAMN (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ASVP and Square (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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$howta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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JerkFace (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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HotTea (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Olek’s very latest piece completed on New Year’s Eve in Vancouver, Canada.  (photo © Olek)

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Olek. “Kiss the Future” detail. (photo © Olek)

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Meres has a message for Gerry. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Meres (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Chase (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Doce Freire in Sharjah City, UAE for the Al Qasba Festival. (photo © Doce Freire)

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Dceve (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Appleton Pictures (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ramiro Davaro-Comas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Manhattan, December 2013. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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13 from 2013 : Brock Brake “Being In the Middle of Creativity”

13 from 2013 : Brock Brake “Being In the Middle of Creativity”

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Happy Holidays to all you stupendous and talented and charming BSA readers! We thank you from the bottom of our socks for your support this year. The best way we can think of to celebrate and commemorate the year as we finish it is to bring you 13 FROM 2013 – Just one favorite image from a Street Art or graffiti photographer that brings a story, a remembrance, an insight or a bit of inspiration to the person who took it. For the last 13 days they will share a gem with all of us as we collectively say goodbye and thank you to ’13.

December-21

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Photographer and periodic contributor to BSA, Brock Brake moved from Chicago to San Francisco to discover a new world a couple of years ago and he has been working with gallerists, art, and Street Artists of many kinds since then.

Brock looks at his photography as one part of a greater holistic practice that includes interacting with people and art and the scene itself. The image he captures is as much about the situation as it is the subject.

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Spencer Keeton Cunningham at work. Miami 2013. (photo © Brock Brake)

Being In the Middle of Creativity

~Brock Brake

Doing what I do as a photographer living in San Francisco and as an art handler at White Walls Gallery, I build a relationship with artists while documenting and helping with the development of their exhibitions.  It’s always a great feeling to start a new relationship and to revisit old ones with some of the most creative people in the world. It’s kind of a crazy thing to think about; I’ve placed myself right in the middle of the creative process and I enjoy sharing it with BSA.

My pictures are usually focused around the process of work being created.  Sometimes I find the process more interesting than the final piece itself.  I’m a photojournalist by experience so I take a large amount of images and try to select the best ones as if they were going out for print.  I enjoy all of the minor details, the problem solving that occurs, and the long conversations that are made in such a creative situation.  It’s therapeutic in a way.

There is more to it, more involvement, than just showing up with a camera and pressing the button.  I try to develop a sense of comfort between myself and the artist. Once you have the awkward first impressions out of the way and you start conversing, then everything becomes golden.  Sometimes I help paint walls or hang work.  The best is closely assisting in the creation of installations for their show, a lot of times working late into the night and taking photos along the way.

I have a unique perspective on how things are done and wanted to share these moments with you.  So thanks to everyone at Brooklyn Street Art and all the artist out there that have let me lend a hand and take some pictures.

 

Artist: Spencer Keeton Cunningham
Location: San Francisco, CA. 2013

 

 

#13from2013

Check out our Brooklyn Street Art 2013 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo here.

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Word To Mother in the Tenderloin in San Francisco

Word To Mother in the Tenderloin in San Francisco

In San Francisco for his solo gallery show that is running until December 7, the Street Artist/graffiti artist/fine artist named Word To Mother had some time to hit a truck or two and a roll down gate in the Tenderloin.

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Word To Mother. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

Photographer Brock Brake caught him catching a tag on a truck that collects cardboard even as he was giving the White Walls gallery truck some old-school inspired lettering. He’s been quoted as saying he was first impressed with SF’s graffiti scene when he visited with his family as a near-teen in 1996 – and work by Twist, Amaze, and Reminisce  captured his imagination then even though he hadn’t had much exposure to graffiti previously.

Raised in a town along the sea in England and currently hailing from London, WTM has a soft spot for those memories of that trip and you’ll see that the brightly colored nostalgia is back in his show California Coming Home now on view.

Thanks to Brock for sharing this personal collection of shots with BSA readers as we see how the art-school trained illustrator seized a sunny day and a box full of cans to play a little.

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Word To Mother. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Word To Mother. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Word To Mother. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Word To Mother. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Word To Mother. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Word To Mother. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

 

Brock Brake is a photographer in San Francisco and a regular contributor to BSA. Recently he and his partner created an independent educational platform, ArtlyFesf, to foster the love of art to youths in the bay area.

“Our priority is to engage imagination and curiosity in young minds while teaching and building the confidence and skills necessary to bring creative ideas into realization. We help young artists discover new materials and techniques so that they can express their ideas with freedom,” says Brake.

Please visit ArtLyesf web site to learn more about this project.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!
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Steel Gives Firepower to NEKST and Lango Sees Red in San Francisco

Steel Gives Firepower to NEKST and Lango Sees Red in San Francisco

Here’s a quick shot from Hemlock Alley in San Francisco as Steel pays an explosive tribute to Nekst and the talented tattooist Lango lets the crimson power flow like a system of veins waving like flames across the wall.  The collaboration brings to life a street that looks like it otherwise may be losing some of it’s energy.

Thanks to Brock Brake for sharing these images with BSA readers. Extra points for the red water hose lying on the sidewalk that gives Lango a third dimension.

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Steel and Lango. Detail. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Steel and Lango. Detail. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Steel and Lango. Detail. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Steel and Lango. Detail. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

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Steel and Lango. Detail. San Francisco, CA. (photo © Brock Brake)

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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