Parisian OG Lek has been working on the streets for the last three of his five decades, growing up close to the Mecca of European graffiti in the 1980s, Stalingrad. By the 90s he was ready to experiment with abstract and futuristic, with a balancing influence from the rigid uncompromising Bauhaus. Today he easily contemplates the illegal and legal, commissioned and commercial, and his compositions are not always easily categorized as graffiti, street art, or mural.
But he is easily called a pioneer among peers, having been one half of Lek and Sowat, as well as a member of Da Mental Vaporz, French Kiss, LCA, GNS, RAW, and 1984. Here we present a brand new gig he scored with Art Azoï last month in his hometown.
LEK in collaboration with Art Azoï. Paris. (photo courtesy of Art Azoï)LEK in collaboration with Art Azoï. Paris. (photo courtesy of Art Azoï)LEK in collaboration with Art Azoï. Paris. (photo courtesy of Art Azoï)LEK in collaboration with Art Azoï. Paris. (photo courtesy of Art Azoï)LEK in collaboration with Art Azoï. Paris. (photo courtesy of Art Azoï)
Remember that time when your best friend’s boyfriend was installing a towel rack in the bathroom of their apartment, and he clumsily busted a hole through the wall, revealing a hidden room – which subsequently released a ghost who regularly appeared at the foot of their bed and slammed doors throughout their dwelling? We do. That’s why it was/was not shocking when a New York woman investigated the breeze emanating from her bathroom mirror. She took the mirror off the wall and discovered a portal to a three-room apartment.
Dude, if that happens to us, we’re not putting it on Tik Tok. We’re heading to Bed Bath and Beyond. In a space-starved city, newly discovered square footage is like finding gold bullion or bitcoin between couch cushions.
In other New York news, some street art neighborhoods are devoid of new works these days – perhaps because January and February are a frozen, mischievous purgatory that chases you inside in a normal year – doubly so when you’re on your 37th consecutive month of pajamas, Minecraft, and Chef Boyardee Beefaroni. Have faith; the next tumultuous 8 weeks of winter-spring-winter-spring weather will eventually coax the street artists and graffiti writers outside in a perennial sign of spring like the appearance of a robin on your windowsill.
Despite the paucity of prancing vandals at the moment, our Editor of Photography, Jaime Rojo, still managed to capture new art in the streets this week in Red Hook, Bushwick, Chelsea, and Bushwick – amongst the scores of closed restaurant huts that have besieged sidewalks citywide. Movie theaters will open for 25% capacity now, and perhaps the moribund restaurants will be coming back to life in this city that never quite sleeps.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Adrian Wilson, Berkit, Binho, Blur, Captain Eyeliner, Colin Capernick, Comik, DYM Crew, Ethan Minsker, Know Your Rights Camp, Locs, Matt Siren, Paolo Tolentino, Sara Lynne Leo, Shark, Taboo, The Monks, and Tony De Pew.
Adrian Wilson in collaboration with The L.I.S.A. Project NYC draws our attention at the increase of hate speech and violent acts against the Asian Community – spearheaded by none other than our former Hateful-in-Chief. Why the GOP continues to make this pact with the Devil is a mystery, or is it? It alerts people’s darkest, most odious traits and keeps us fighting with each other. As a true melting pot, we believe New York is better than this. (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Now, now, Sara Lynne-Leo. Remember what the minister’s wife/organist at church always says; “The Good Lord doesn’t make mistakes.” (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Unidentified artist (photo @ Jaime Rojo)The Monks for The Bushwick Collective (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Psychedelic reimaginings by Tony De Pew in collaboration with Matt Siren. (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Comik. DYM Crew. (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Blur (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Berkit, Locs and Binho (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Shark (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Captain Eyeliner (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Taboo, Host. DYM Crew. (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Ethan Minsker (photo @ Jaime Rojo)Public service messages from Paolo Tolentino (photo @ Jaime Rojo)#knowyourrightscamp This is a form of advertisement, and we recognize it, despite its graffiti/street art vernacular. Even so, we admire Mr. Caepernick as one of the few brave sports figures of immense relevance and influence who was and still is willing to forgo fat checks in exchange for being free to speak his mind on social and racial justice issues that are close to his heart and to his home. Untitled. Manhattan. Winter 2021. (photo @ Jaime Rojo)
Angelo Milano, the founder of Studiocromie and FAME Festival, has been courting Brooklyn artist duo Faile for more than a decade, and they finally created a series of ceramics together for his studio art business in Grottaglie under the tutelage and traditional expertise of the centuries-old Ceramiche Nicola Fasano’s workshop.
Faile. Large Vases. Stenciled and Glazed Terracotta. (photo courtesy of Faile)
The model of hosting artists for a variable length of time and offering them cooperation with local artisans to create commercial products was part of the original concept of FAME, in addition to the well-curated placement of stunning murals on walls by artists including Erica Il Cane, Vhils, Interesni Kazki, Conor Harrington, Cyop & Kaf, Momo, Lucy McLauchlan, Bastardilla, and Ted Moneyless. Since the mural festivals’ dissolution by Milano a half dozen years ago, he’s hosted a growing list of talents mirroring his eclectic fine eye for quality, and devil-may-care philosophical stance – the solo show and rap album with the Italian trio Canemorto both come to mind, for example.
“Exploring a mix of our stencil processes and combining it with a variety of their methodologies,” says Faile (Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller), “we created a small collection of unique ceramic plates and vases.”
Faile. Multilayered Large Plate Collection. Stenciled and Glazed Terracotta Plate. (photo courtesy of Faile)
The pieces incorporate the familiar pop and pulp imagery and visual vocabulary of canvasses, collaged media, wheat-pasted posters, and street art stencils on a plate. Now you can enjoy your Friselle bread and tomato salad with your favorite stenciled skateboard girl in pink while looking at a vase that may recall prayer wheels.
Faile. Small Plate Collection in Blue.Stenciled and Glazed Terracotta Plate. ( Photo courtesy of Faile)
Faile. Small Plate Collection in Red. Stenciled and Glazed Terracotta Plate. ( Photo courtesy of Faile)
Collection available now via the StudioCromie Shop. Click HERE to see more.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening participants at Festival Asalto 2020: 1. FAITH XLVIII 410 BC – 340 BC 2. Ozmo / “La visión de Tondalo” via Urban Art Field 3. SOFLES / Geometric
BSA Special Feature: FAITH XLVIII 410 BC – 340 BC
You knew FAITH XLVIII was OG, but did you imagine she dipped back to the 4th century? In this newly unveiled clandestine scene, the South African street artist paints among the decay in Lexington.
She says it is part of her “7.83Hz Series”
FAITH XLVIII 410 BC – 340 BC, Lexington, Kentucky
Ozmo / “La visión de Tondalo” via Urban Art Field
Ozmo in Turin finds inspiration here from a Renaissance panel from the Bosch school and interprets it for Urban Art Field. In it, we find the journey of a dreamer in hell beneath the power of the Mole Antonelliana, the major landmark building that serves as a symbol of Turin.
SOFLES / Geometric
Professor Sofles takes us to school again with this brand new 3D-style graffiti piece he painted in a gym. He says he took inspiration from the interior wall design and climbing equipment.
In the US, families of military veterans say, “Freedom isn’t free.” It refers to the enormous amount of sacrifice people have to make – military and civilians alike – to guarantee that societies provide a fulsome measure of freedom and autonomy to their citizens. Likewise, free speech has to be fought for periodically to ensure that people have it – because it can be so swiftly taken away if we are not vigilant.
In our third installment of the murals painted in February in Barcelona, Spain, we are reminded that historically, the artist is often one of an oppressive government’s targets. It is somewhat sequential, the positions and stations in society who gradually are targeted for slurring and silencing. Academics, clergy, the press – a building degradation of respect for institutions and trust across the board.
These artists express their opinions in defiance of silencing because, inherently, they fight for everyone’s right to freedom of speech and expression, regardless of our comfort or discomfort with the ideas expressed. Because they must.
It is notable when an organized gang of aerosol-wielding vandals protests your protest against censorship with censorship.
It’s also odious.
Everyone knows that it is normal for graffiti writers and street artists to expect that their ephemeral work may be buffed by a municipality or crossed out by a rival painter. This is a different matter entirely.
This is our 2nd time to bring you this story from a paint jam in Barcelona’s Plaza de las Tres Chimeneas where a collection of artists gathered to paint works addressing what they see as an unjust attack on the freedom of a citizen to express opinions in lyrics and writings. Taken together, these works are a passionate rejection of censorship and a colorful act of free speech by a community.
It made international news last month when Pablo Hasel, a Spanish rapper/singer/artist/musician from this city, was imprisoned under a Supreme Court ruling, which found his lyrics about King Emeritus Juan Carlos De Borbon to be offensive.
Artist Roc Blackblock was surrounded by a tight semi-circle of scrutinizing journalists and citizens as he painted. This was his second mural since his first had been immediately censored and ordered removed at the action in mid-February by an NCNeta brigade who a Barcelona Urban Guard escorted. He didn’t appear to mind the pressure.
Because there have been demonstrations in various cities and because modern media drools over scenes of destruction and violence, it’s easy to forget the many peaceful artists who paint their opinions, says documentary photographer Fernando Alcalá, who shares his work here.
“I think it’s important to keep speaking about the artistic actions when, after days of riots and looting, the media has forgotten about freedom of speech, and they just talk about burnt trash cans,” he says.
We’re happy that he captured these before they were destroyed by ‘Union de Brigadas,’ who recorded their censorious actions proudly and shared them on Twitter and YouTube.
I think it’s important to keep speaking about the artistic actions when, after days of riots and looting, the media has forgotten about freedom of speech and they just talk about burnt trash cans.”
Calligraphist and decorative painter Tarek Benaoum has Algeria, Italy, and French in his blood, but it’s all gold when he writes across walls. A graffiti writer who studied script formally in his early twenties, his hybrid of Arabic and gothic takes him from wall to canvas in both hemispheres.
At the request of the Parisian public housing agency Régie Immobilière de la Ville (RIVP), Art Azoï conjured a solution to rehabilitate this massive structure with a mural that would resonate with the locality and its residents. The Salé-born Benaoum rose to the challenge with a 40 x 15 meter mural in his signature blue and gold on the south gable of this building on the boulevard Mortier in the 20th arrondissement.
Standing at the outer rim of these circular motifs are texts by the Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti from his 1969 book Freedom from the Known (Se libérer du connu), a treatise on the only worthwhile revolution: inner liberation.
Among the famous quotes often remembered from the book is this one, “To be free of all authority, of your own and that of another, is to die to everything of yesterday, so that your mind is always fresh, always young, innocent, full of vigor and passion.”
Welcome to BSA Images of the Week. Happy Purim! Streets in Brooklyn were wild with Hasidic Jews in funny costumes the last couple of days, accompanied by loud music and seemingly drunk men weaving through the streets.
“The efforts of underpaid artists and arts professionals have always powered NYC, but in an ongoing crisis, NYC is turning its back on them,” Nuyorican Poets Cafe Executive Director Daniel Gallant told the Daily News this week, referencing job losses that have affected 2/3rds of New York’s creative community. We are in crisis. And national leaders have been quibbling over a $1,400 check – which is only the third check for poor and middle-class people in a 1 year period. One month’s rent can be that much.
Thanks to the hate speech of many, including Donald Trump during the last year, there has been an increase in violence against members of the Asian community on the streets in New York and across the country. Yesterday hundreds rallied in NYC to protest attacks on Asian Americans. Clearly, it’s time for us to stand up and protect our brothers and sisters and to shame those who would harm them in any way. “We will not allow them to thrive. We will not allow them to succeed,” said Attorney General Letitia James.
Meanwhile on the street we have been seeing a boon of new creative displays by artists – with a broad sweep of themes and techniques.
Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Allie Kelley, Aya Brown, Billy Barnacles, Bobo, Elianel Clinton, Fells, George Ferrandi, George Collagi, Gianni Lee, Icebox, Megan Gabrielle Harris, Merch, Plan9, Sara Lynne-Leo, Sasha Lynn, Shoki San, and Swoon.
In collaboration with SaveArtSpace.Org Swoon and Giani Lee curated a series of billboards in NYC and In Los Angeles asking the artists involved to focus on the themes of climate change, racial justice and the places where those concerns intersect. Below we share with you some of the billboards we found in NYC.
When you are in trouble, reach out! You don’t have to do it alone. That is the sentiment you may think of when regarding this new mural by JDL (Judith de Leeuw) in Amsterdam.
The three frame story reads like stills in an animation, with two hand gradually getting closer to one another, loosely wrapped in bandage.
JDL. “Closer in distance”. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Intended as a temporary placeholder for the new HIV/AIDS monument that will be installed soon at Amsterdam Central Station, JDL says that she’s depicting the relationships between people who are ill and their loved ones.
“Illness often isolates, but also brings people closer together,” says the artist. “This piece is a symbol and a celebration of the love that grows at the edge of the abyss.”
The three separate frames will be placed around the station at the projects’ end.
JDL would like to thank her assistant painter on this project, James Jetlag.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening participants at Festival Asalto 2020: 1. Silence Shapes by Filippo Minelli 2. Apocalypse Now / INO 3. Vesod x Wasp Crew / Urban Art Field
BSA Special Feature: “Silence Shapes” by Filippo Minelli
“Most of my process is about finding the right place and finding the right time to start,” says Italian public space interventionist Filippo Minelli. During URVANITY 2019, the artist created billowing bending funnels of prodigious color that poured into the air, interacted with architecture, and redefined spatial relationships in the public realm. Our worldwide survey of ephemeral art is surpassed in brevity by this category of interactive art installation that quickly changes its dimensions and fills and evaporates.
He refers to it as giving shape to silence.
Silence Shapes by Filippo Minelli
Apocalypse Now / INO
With music by The Flood and smooth-paced shooting from Constantino Flood, Greek muralist INO is captured as he paints his masked figure in Athens at great scale.
Vesod x Wasp Crew / Urban Art Field
A quick look at the works completed by Vesod and Wasp Crew for the urban art festival hosted in the municipality of Cavagnolo for the second intervention of the three-year project. The artists say that it “addresses the issues of Sustainability and Equality, in terms of respect for the climate and the right to live in a healthy environment.”
Attributed to the Bristol-born street intervention artist Unikz, who has goaded and criticized people and institutions using his work in the past, the artist installed a monkey wearing a red mask offering the springtime flowers as well, minus the three that he is clumsily trampling underfoot.
Local photographer and businessman Olivier Krafft says the monkey and the method are in alignment with the previous works in public space by the mocking artist – where Unikz “installed giant rats in Paris during the contemporary art fair in 2018 on the Champs Elysées and placed masked rats lifting “Ratcoin” in front of the Palais Broignard.”
As is often the case with interventionist sculpture, this one has been standing for several days in public space without authorities’ comment. According to Krafft, who happened upon the installation, the artist told him that park authorities didn’t realize that he was doing some monkey business, and they left him alone to do his work. “It’s funny because the gardeners of the Ville de Paris thought he was a Jeff Koons assistant and the monkey was a part of the bouquet of tulips!”
South African fine artist and muralist Sonny has been a champion of the beautiful wild beasts that populate its native land and beyond throughout his career. Lions, elephants, tigers, jaguars, leopards, whales, bears, eagles, and the occasional human. He brings all these creatures to life on walls worldwide with precise and impressive realism, executed to the finest detail. The artist makes it his mission to raise awareness of the plight that many of these animals are confronting to survive in increasingly inhospitable habitats. Humans have been encroaching on their natural territories at an alarming rate – forcing wildlife to subsist in smaller areas at a huge risk to their ability to thrive and survive.
For the Baz-Art International Public Art Festival in Cape Town, Sonny painted a Cape Leopard in response to the festival theme of “100 Sustainable.”
Says Sonny, “For me, this Cape leopard is a symbol of hope, as people are waking up to new ways of approaching conservation that are less about fencing off wildlife in nature reserves, and more about adapting our world to allow animals and humans to safely and peacefully co-exist. We humans are not above nature, we are part of it.”
This year the festival poses a question: How can we answer today’s needs without compromising the world our future generations will inherit?
Street art welcomes all manner of materials and methods, typically deployed without permission and without apology. This hand-formed wire piece …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
