“Dream Big” or go home, champ. We don’t need any half-solutions today. This alligator with a hidden nature revealed in its’ shadow appears quite prepared to bellow and bite in Gainesville, Florida.
Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)
The Dutch pop surrealist and anamorphic muralist Leon Keer
imagined the scene here with a regional animal archetype and took it for a
spin. The innovative artist always has hidden magic in his works, even if you
don’t realize it the first time you look. So it was an original and slick
decision by the team who invited him and his assistant Massina to paint this
new 20’ x 7’ mural on a retail store.
Shout out to Iryna Kanishcheva, Deborah Butler and Mary
Reichardt for making this project happen.
Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)Leon Keer. “Dream Big” Gainesville, Florida. February 2020. (photo and curation by Iryna Kanishcheva)
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. “Offset” by Nevercrew at Urvanity in Madrid 2. Icy & Sot: “Our house is on fire” By COlabs / Marco Figueroa 3. Said Dokins on Cultura Colectiva
BSA Special Feature: “Offset” by Nevercrew at Urvanity in Madrid
Welcome to BSA Film Friday with a new mural from the Urvanity commercial art fair in Madrid that culls together 30 or so galleries and mounts a public art campaign during the same week. “Offset” by the Swiss muralists called Nevercrew presents a massive pile of bears, one stacked upon the other.
The manner of arrangement of the bears presents creatures of the wild as no more than commodities, in the same way that corporations and countries think they can “purchase” offsets through a surreal trading market where one purchases the right to pollute and kill our atmosphere. In a positive light, the title “Offset” may refer to the practice of biodiversity offsetting, where previous wrongs are righted following a mitigation hierarchy to produce “no net loss” of biodiversity.
Also, bears are really cute.
“Offset” NEVERCREW in Madrid for Urvanity Art Fair 2020
Icy & Sot: “Our house is on fire” By COlabs / Marco Figueroa
The pacing is quick, the reversal of the timeline adds a sense of mystery and mastery to the brothers’ fox-witted ability to communicate horror in a rather elegant way.
The vast expansive character of
climate change is as elusive to visualize in the popular imagination as conceptual
art.
Conversely, conceptual art may prove to be an effective messenger of the immediacy and danger that we are presented with during this quickly maturing threat to life and quality of life called Climate Change.
With the release of new images and video record of “Our House is on Fire”, the Iranian artists Icy and Sot again drive us to the brutal heart of the matter without quite employing brutality. Their firey deconstruction performance leaves nothing, just a quickening of the blood, a sinking of feet into wet concrete. But is has staying power.
Here we are, contemplating the reassuring framework of normality; the structure of the home, sweet home. Now it falls to the ground, as are our previous frameworks for measuring danger.
The video: The pacing is quick, the reversal of the timeline that adds a sense of mystery and mastery to the brothers’ fox-witted ability to communicate horror in a rather elegant way. The static images are sad and unwavering, damnation, a burning bludgeon of warning that goes unheeded.
Set in the California desert, the
brothers say they took inspiration from climate activist Greta Thunberg as she
vilified those who have chased only plunder to bring the Earth to this point.
“I want you to panic. I want
you to act as if your house was on fire,” she says.
“Allowing for the untouched
surrounding nature to be seen between the blazing framework of the house,” says
writer Sasha Bogojev, “the artists suggest looking at the wider picture in
which the Earth is our only home.”
See the new video tomorrow on BSA
Film Friday. Meanwhile, enjoy these exclusive images only for BSA readers.
Puerto Rico, “La Perla del Mar” (The Pearl of the Sea) Or “La Isla Bonita” (The Beautiful Island”) had a huge earthquake on January 7 and many vital services and systems have not been restored, causing 8,000 people to be homeless and 40,000 to camp outside of their homes, according to rescue agencies. The power plant that supplies a quarter of their needs is still shut down.
Given those challenges to humans, you don’t usually think about the animals who live on the island.
But ROA does.
The urban naturalist has long championed the marginalized animals of any culture, and since the Belgian Street Artist has basically made Puerto Rico his second home, it is no surprise that he has painted a number of the island’s animals on run-down, neglected structures to remind neighbors who their neighbors really are.
Globe exploring photographer Martha Cooper was in Puerto Rico for other pursuits this January and managed to meet up with a number of ROA’s more recent friends on her journey.
We were lucky to speak to ROA to ask him about his new pieces and his affinity for the people and climate of Puerto Rico and here we share his responses along with Ms. Coopers’ photos with BSA readers.
BSA: There have been a few major natural disasters in Puerto Rico recently. First the hurricane and most recently the earthquake. What sort of negative impact do these natural disasters have on the fauna in Puerto Rico? Are the resources in Puerto Rico available to help the animal species that are in danger? ROA: Undeniably, the island was hit by the disaster, but to tell exactly how great the impact is on the fauna is difficult to estimate. For example; the local green Puerto Rican parrot that was listed as critically endangered for many years and whereof were only 200 left, most of these were reintroduced in El Yunque Rain Forest as result of a recovery plan, but the hurricane completely blew out the population and we are back to point zero, and almost no PR parrot has been seen in El Yunque since then. Recently I’ve read they released 30 parrots out of captive conservation programs into the El Yunque rainforest.
BSA: Speaking of the impact that natural disasters have on animals, would you say that the largest disaster that animals face is the humans and their disdain for the preservation and the protection of our natural resources?
ROA: Of course, the greatest threat on earth for nature and all animal species, is humanity. Though we are also animals. For example, Puerto Rico: from the moment people arrived on the island the number of animal species declined dramatically and when the Europeans arrived; the original ecosystem became completely destroyed: lost natural habitat and the introduction of cattle, etc.
BSA: Are these new paintings on walls part of a personal project and if so could you talk a bit about it? ROA: My love for Puerto Rico started when I was invited by Alexis Dias en Celso for Los Muros Hablan in 2012. I returned in 2015 for an art residency organized by JUST KIDS in San Juan and this resulted in a very long residency and during that period I painted my first walls on the island and that’s how I got stuck in Puerto Rico, and that’s super great! So, since the beginning, I started to paint around in different places on the island and in San Juan, and this project is naturally grown out of road tripping, painting and meeting Stefan from Elegel in 2018 by painting the Red-Tailed Hawk in Humacao (Grita Walls).
Stefan started helping me with getting around the island and to gather material in order to do this, somewhat a very natural project arose, that now just gets more site-specific over the island in a way that actually ties together all the different places in Puerto Rico where introduced, non-introduced and endangered animals are living, so that’s how we came across the people from “Recursos Naturales y Ambientales’, an organization that saves manatees and sea turtles… so it’s a naturally grown project started out loving being in Puerto Rico, and about being much into road trips!
BSA:For an artist and specifically for you and your work what are the advantages of living in a country with year-round sunshine and nice weather? ROA: I consider Puerto Rico one of the places I call home. I spend time during the year there to relax between certain intense projects and meanwhile, I can go snorkeling, go scuba diving, and paint around any moment of the year. So that’s the advantage of good weather, so it allows you to be and paint outside, so you don’t have to deal with a “winter”, not in a European way where you get obliged to spend much of your time inside, and I am just happier outside.
BSA:Have you found the people in Puerto Rico to be helpful with your work? ROA: Los Muros Hablan, Alexis Dias and Celso, Charlotte from JustKids who brought me here, and now with the help of Stefan Lang (Elegel) and the new art residency, I definitely have felt support in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans are very warm and jovial people and it has a unique ambiance.
ELFO. MORTE AL L’ ESTETICA!!! Florence, Italy. (photo Grabriele Masi)
Enough with these figurative studies, these needless sucklings of the romantic ego, these thick gilded frames, these meanderings of hue and saturation and volume and texture and drapery, these idyllic landscapes and soul-wrenching faces and kinetic geometries, these soaring flawed metaphors of grandiosity realized in succulent and fulsome lustful blood red, swollen and bruised purple, capacious blue, auspicious goldenrod.
In fact, death to aesthetics. In Florence, no less.
ELFO. MORTE AL L’ ESTETICA!!! Florence, Italy. (photo Grabriele Masi)
Elfo intends to scrawl upon the walls of the cityscape like a desperate inmate who has lost his will, peaking briefly upward to the wan grey, drained of all expression. His rant is gestural, harried and blunt.
All caps, it reads MORTE AL L’ ESTETICA!!!
The best translation is, I think, “F**k Aesthetics,” he tells us.
ELFO. MORTE AL L’ ESTETICA!!! Florence, Italy. (photo Grabriele Masi)
The New York State Plastic Bag Ban is in effect March 1! That’s today.
This is troublesome because New Yorkers have started to use their single use plastic grocery bags to wrap their feet, hands, and entire heads before going outside to protect them from the Coronavirus.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 1Up Crew, Blanca Romero, Captain Eyeliner, Flash, Frank Ape, M Quan, Makh21, Neon Savage, Neckface, Praxis, Pure Genius, RAW, Shiny, The Brujo, Theo, Yiannis Bellis.
Bear
with us, it’s a new installation by Bordallo II
Bordalo II. Nancy, France. February 2020. (photo courtesy of Mathgoth Gallery)
“This
is the first time I’ve made a polar bear,” says Street Artist Bordallo II, “A
species that, unfortunately, perfectly illustrates the urgency of the
situation.”
That situation of course is that species like the polar bear would be a hell of a lot better off if we weren’t here allowing industry, war, and our own mindless behaviors to kill off their natural habitat.
Bordalo II. Nancy, France. February 2020. (photo courtesy of Mathgoth Gallery)
More
fitting perhaps for this new installation is that the Portuguese sculptor has created
his new piece on the wall of a school in Nancy, France. Growing there are the minds that will
help us stop, reverse, and restore the natural balance. The kids will
undoubtedly love to see this polar bear and little cubs – a natural scene that
is made of recycled man-made waste.
The
project is spearheaded by the Parisian Mathgoth Gallery, which provided
artistic support for the production. It is part of an ongoing program called
“ADN” (Art Dans Nancy) and joins a series of murals around town by artists like
Jef Aerosol, Kogaone, David Walker, Momo and Vhils.
Bordalo II. Nancy, France. February 2020. (photo courtesy of Mathgoth Gallery)Bordalo II. Nancy, France. February 2020. (photo courtesy of Mathgoth Gallery)Bordalo II. Nancy, France. February 2020. (photo courtesy of Mathgoth Gallery)Bordalo II. Nancy, France. February 2020. (photo courtesy of Mathgoth Gallery)Bordalo II. Nancy, France. February 2020. (photo courtesy of Mathgoth Gallery)
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening : 1. Bernie Sand Art on NYC Street 2. Welcome to My Colorful World x Okuda San Miguel 3. “When Does Tribute Become Exploitation?” Kobe Murals and Fifth Wall 4. Michael Bloomberg Buys Media, DNC, Presidency. Enjoy! 5. Sorceror Robot Buttigieg Channels Obama Delightfully
BSA Special Feature: Bernie Sand Art on NYC Street
Sand Art is a barometer of populism on the street, so it seemed significant to find that this piece by Joe Mangrum of the Democratic frontrunner Bernie Sanders appeared in NYC in the spring of 2016. Now that Bernie is again polling the highest again against Trump, this little video keeps popping up in our feed for the 2020 race.
Joe Mangrum Creating sand art of Bernie Sanders in NYC’s Washington Square Park.
Welcome to My Colorful World x Okuda San Miguel
The Spanish Street Artist takes another public victory lap for his accomplishments in this new one from Okuda San Miguel.
“When Does Tribute Become Exploitation?” Kobe Murals and Fifth Wall
“Your grief, your pain, your anguish is completely side-stepped because this is a great opportunity,” says Doug Gillem as he imagines the wife and mother who has just lost two of her dearest family in an accident. These are relevant arguments made well by him in the Street Art observer’s newest video “When Does Tribute Become Exploitation.”
As long as we’re looking at politics this week, here are two stunning video pieces on two of the Democratic contenders. Well, actually only the billionaire is a contender anymore. The programmed robotic one, no chance this time.
Michael Bloomberg Buys Media, DNC, Presidency. Enjoy!
But oh the travails of a wandering art prankster. Prior to his trip to Japan, Mr. Lister was wondering if he would learn some rude words in Japanese while in Tokyo…we are certain that his stint in jail gave him opportunity to expand his Japanese vocabulary into something a bit more colorful.
The swashbuckling Lister shares with BSA readers some of his artistic interventions on the streets of Tokyo…quite possibly the cause of his 12 day hoosegow “residency”.
Cats are not particularly hard-hitting as a topic, but you must admit they are ubiquitous right now. So why wouldn’t they be prowling around the streets as well? God knows there are enough rats. You would think they would make a calendar of these. Wait, they have.
People came together at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to remember the victims of a racist attack in Hanau this week, vowing to stem the tide of right-wing movements in Germany and elsewhere. The more you see the remnants of the ugly past rearing their heads, the more determined we will all have to be to unify and celebrate our differences and similarities with equal enthusiasm.
Another
promising sign of unity and community for us was the opening for the showcase
of works donated by artists to benefit Daniel Weissbach aka DTAGNO aka COST88
in Berlin on Friday night. The musical/art-making performances were enervating
and stirring – and there were so many people that the crowd on the sidewalk
outnumbered the crowd in the gallery area. Please support – The online auction
starts tonight and is refreshed with a new collection of art pieces donated by
the old skool and new in a hybrid of genres. Please check out www.getwelldaniel.de
We also saw this incredibly well designed and curated show called WALLS at Urban Spree – with powerhouse names in graffiti, street art, contemporary art, and even a couple of pieces of antiquity, all examining the implications and ramifications of figurative and literal walls. The essays in the small catalogue further explore. More on this show later here but please go see it if you can.
One
big find this week was this amazing collaboration of pieces on a wall with OS
Gemeos and various other dignitaries atop an art supply store in a rapidly
gentrifying neighborhood. Hope you enjoy the show here from our Director of
Photography, Jaime Rojo.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 1Up Crew, Berlinsky, Black Land, Daze, ISE.THR, Kevle, Marina Zumi, Mira, Mode2, Os Gemeos, Shine, TFB, The Birds, VLK, WENU, and Zabou.
In a striking decision that appears to favor the protection of graffiti and Street Artists works in the public space, the 5Pointz case came to a close this week with a ruling that punishes the owner/developer of the compound in Long Island City for acting “willfully” and out of spite toward the artists whose work had transformed his dilapidated property into a world-known holy place for exhibition of the art forms there.
“The legacy of 5 Pointz we hope is that this elevated art form is now valued and recognized in a court of law as art no less no more,” says Meres One in a statement with Marie Cecile Clageul co-founder of 5 Pointz Creates and the creator of Museum of Street Art (MoSA) on the Bowery.
“The other legacy is how this art form is now respected and it
has been humbling to see in recent years how real estate entities want to
collaborate with artists and understand the need for preservation…
“On a personal level, this is a validation that as difficult as these past 7 years have been, standing up was the right thing to do and justice prevailed.”
Many see the new ruling by a federal judge in the Second Circuit as a vindication of the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990 (VARA), which grants specific rights to artists to control the use of their work, even if it is on someone else’s property. In the case of 5Pointz, it was not the act of destroying the art that eventually cost the wealthy developer a large fine of nearly seven million dollars, it was the manner in which it was done in defiance of the court proceedings and against the proscribed actions called for in the VARA.
Central to the events that were examined was the sloppy whitewashing of the compound under cover of night while legal proceedings to prevent the demolition of the property were underway – a poker game move that has ultimately cost the developer Wolkoff far more than the cheap paint his workers used for buffing.
Cautious observers say that the ruling is narrowly focused on the behaviors of this actor, rather than a carte blanche endorsement of illegal graffiti that protects it from being destroyed by property owners. “If he did not destroy 5Pointz until he received his permits and demolished it 10 months later, the Court would not have found that he had acted willfully,” said Judge Block in his original ruling.
As ever with an art form that muddies the waters of law and opinion, Street Art and graffiti’s countervailing winds are blowing a new direction in the city as a resurgence of illegal whole-car graffiti again is being seen by NYC train riders. With increased rhetorical anger from the MTA and newly beefed-up anti-graffiti resources targeting the illegal stuff, those winds are souring a cultural détente that has existed in the everyday person’s assessment of the relative value and contributions these artists make to our cityscapes.
Jesse Cory, co-owner and director with Roula David of Detroit based Inner State Gallery and the annual Murals on the Market festival, has worked with hundreds of artists in these related genres for two decades or so. With Mercedes’ muscular defense of its right to use whatever art they find on the street as fair game to sell a product, many in Detroit say they have seen the shift of interest by private business toward Street Art and murals go from curious to passionate to predatory.
“This ruling to uphold the settlement and compensation to 5 Pointz artists affirm that judges consider (VARA) Visual Artists Rights Act statue as law and that the artists do control the right to their mark even if it’s on a property that they do not own,” says Cory.
“While this case of Mercedes Benz preemptively suing artists to make a claim that the artist does not have any rights in the usage of their art in corporate advertising is much different from the 5 Pointz legal dispute the fact that judges are ruling in the artists favor is a positive sign.”
For the moment, many artists and fans are celebrating a ruling that will undoubtedly be cited in future cases – a ruling that gives added credibility and cultural currency to the valuable contributions that graffiti, Street Art and many other forms of Urban Art have made to our cities and our culture.
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
