All posts tagged: Brooklyn Street Art

BSA Film Friday: 02.15.19

February 15, 2019 Artists, BSA Film Friday

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. MADC at Dresden Airport
2. Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda “COR” Santa Coloma de Gramanet
3. Murfy: Paisaje De Vida
4. ZTwins / Industrial Aesthetics

BSA Special Feature: MadC at Dresden Airport Old Terminal

“This kind of concept here is that you really see how I evolved during the last 22 years,” says MadC as she traces her own history in cans here in this old terminal in Dresden, Germany. It’s like going to school.

Taking a page from the Selina Miles/ Sofles playbook, Red Tower Films documents crisply the aerosol slaughter of an airport, rocking hard to a steadily snapping pentameter.

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Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda “COR” Santa Coloma de Gramanet

“Can you hear the heart beat? In this amphitheater in Parc del Pins you will definitely see it from every seat.” we wrote this week about this new Spanish floor installation by artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda

Murfy: Paisaje De Vida

A nice meditative timelapse called PAISAJES DE VIDA by Murfy, presenting a window into a massive natural valley.

ZTwins / Industrial Aesthetics

From Belgorod, Russia (“The White City”) come the ZTwins to talk about their roots as kids in this industrial city of factories and abandoned worksites. They tell you that this helped them develop what they call “Industrial Aesthetics”

Happy Valentine’s Day

February 14, 2019 Artists

Love seeing people like this high school gent on the train and in the street and on the elevator and in the store – in gentle anticipation of giving a rose to the one he has a crush on. Sending love to all of you today.

Happy Valentines (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

The Small Voices From the Streets Are Still Talking

February 13, 2019 Artists

BSA readers know that we’ve always been democratic about the work we show here- because that’s really how to best understand the evolution of the scene.

The illegal small stuff you find actually tells you a great deal – the selection is a barometer of sorts. These works aren’t permitted, commissioned, sold, traded or co-opted ususally, untouched by the voracious appetites of advertising and consumerism

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We love murals, don’t get us wrong. But we are always making certain to return to where things began for us; the small, eclectic mix of blink-and-you-miss-it pieces on the streets.

They come in all forms; stencils, stickers, wheat pastes, sculptures, crafts and small drawings. In some cases, we know the artist who created the piece and often we do not. But everyone gets a chance to address the public in the lively Street Art scene, and we bring to you a small selection of pieces we’ve found recently.

Homo Riot’s portrait of Jean Genet, the French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Salazar. This is a political piece that ran during the primaries to elect State Senator Julia Salazar to the NY State senate. She won her race. Congratulations to her!

Jesus Saves. Maybe he can save us from hypocrites in the church. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Film Friday: 02.08.19

February 8, 2019 Artists, BSA Film Friday

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
4 Videos from Penique Productions

BSA Special Feature: 4 in a Row from Penique

It’s a simple concept for redefinition of inner dimensions that blows up in your space.

Today we are highlighting 4 videos from Penique Productions, a unique artists collective based in Barcelona/Rio De Janeiro that “conquers” space with monochrome plastic.

Their installations are immersive, transformative, and allow you to have fun inside of them. Our space in Madrid is going to be wrapped by these “Christos of the Indoors” in a few weeks when we host BSA Talks at Urvanity March 1,2, and 3.

More on that exciting program soon, but today we thought we’d share with you the work of Penique!

Penique Productions. Sao Paulo, Brasil. 2017

Penique Productions. Tortosa, Spain. 2018

Penique Productions. Rio De Janeiro, Brasil. 2016

Penique Productions. Madrid. Spain. 2011

Urvanity 2019

Penique Productions

Shout (and love) To The Pangolin and ROA

February 6, 2019 Artists

Pangolin Smuggling!

A recent article in The New York Times caught our attention this week and it made us think about Street Artist ROA, and his many paintings in the street depicting them.

ROA. Pangolin. The Gambia. (photo © Roa)

The article reported that 9 tons of pangolins scales had been seized in Hong Kong, the scales were hidden under slabs of frozen meat on a cargo ship en route to Vietnam. The most frequently trafficked mammal in the world, the Pangolin suffers when it’s killed for its scales – believed to be a cure for cancer or asthma, among other things.

Pangolins, or scaly anteaters, are not as well known to audiences worldwide but we thought we’d give this darling of a mammal a shout out today and in the process bring attention to the plight of our planet.

When are we going to stop destroying ourselves by destroying our natural resources? Everything we do creates an impact.

Back in 2014 we published an article with a photo diary by Belgian artist ROA. He had traveled for several months from Brazil to The Gambia with stops in Australia, New Zealand, Spain and Rome. Here is what he had to say about his experience in The Gambia with the pangolin:

“I’ve painted a pangolin before in The Gambia but being back there and having read so much during the past year about the illegal trafficking of pangolins – to be served as exotic food or mostly as a ‘medicine’, I needed to paint them again.

Indian pangolin defending itself against Asiatic lions (from Wikipedia)

“Firstly, the so-called medical qualities of the ground-up scales are disputed and “the animals are currently on the list of endangered species because of the trafficking and the loss of habitat by deforestation in Africa,” explains ROA.

He notes that one of their unique attempts to protect themselves is to reconfigure their appearance. “They can roll up into a ball to defend themselves,” he says.

Painted Bird in New Delhi: Adele Renault in India

February 5, 2019 Artists, Street Art Festival

Belgian Street Artist Adele winged it over to New Delhi last week to bring one of her multi-feathered friends to this new wall in the Lodhi Colony.

With her mother as assistant (and photographer) the intensely detailed and passionate aerosolist hardly stopped while a steady parade of people and animals interrupted their daily travels to gander at the huge bird taking form in front of them.

Adele Renault. St+Art India. Delhi, Lodhi Colony, India. January 2019. (photo © Veronique Gillet)

January is the only cold month in Delhi, she tells us, so she felt quite lucky to be able to paint during a period of relative comfort. “I was greeted by stray dogs every morning,” she says.

“And I was fueled by fresh coconut water, chai, and amazing lunch boxes! It was so nice being in the trees with the birds and monkeys, and all school kids and rickshaw drivers stopping by all day long.”

Adele says she was thankful for a rare opportunity to spend quality time together with her mom Veronique and says they plan to continue their trip through India. We’re pleased to share her photos exclusively for BSA readers today.

Adele Renault. this was Adele’s favorite stray dog. He came to visit her everyday she told us. St+Art India. Delhi, Lodhi Colony, India. January 2019. (photo © Adele Renault)

Adele Renault. Young aspiring talent. St+Art India. Delhi, Lodhi Colony, India. January 2019. (photo © Veronique Gillet)

Adele with her mom Veronique. St+Art India. Delhi, Lodhi Colony, India. January 2019. (photo © Pranav Gohel)

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.03.19

February 3, 2019 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week, Graffiti, Mural Art, Street Art, Urban Art

“Man, what’s with this cough that never goes away?” you ask your boy Tre, who’s laying on the moss green living room rug by the radiator drawing in his black book with an extra fine tip paint pen, listening to Wu Tang. “Could be January,” he offers. “Or maybe its asbestos from that work they’re doing in the elevator shaft.”

Right. “Never mind, lets watch some Beer Bowl!”

Meanwhile on the streets the ideas never stop. We were pretty excited to get up to 167th Street station to see the new mosaics by Brooklyn artist Rico Gatson, who does painting, video, sculpture and installation. These portraits of important contributors to the culture make us all proud. Here are just a handful but there are more and you should go and see them yourself.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Atomik, Captain Eyeliner, Deih XLF, finDAC, Go Vegan, Hoxxoh, Kai, Kevin Ledo, Lefty Out There, Mastrocola, My Dog Sighs, Pez, Rico Gaston, The Revolution Artists, Uninhibited, and What is Adam.

Supreme Justice Sonia Sotomayor immortalized by Rico Gatson in the NYC Subway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Poet Laureate Maya Angelou immortalized by Rico Gatson in the NYC Subway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Singer Celia Cruz immortalized by Rico Gatson in the NYC Subway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lefty Out There in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Atomik and friends in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

What Is Adam in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Collaboration between FinDAC and Kevin Ledo in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Uninhibited in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Revolution Artists in Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A collaboration among different artists in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mastrocola in Miami (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Wynwood, Miami. December 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Graffiti Crew Takes A Dive To Save The Oceans

February 2, 2019 Artists

If art that is also vandalism is destructive then Artivism is meant to be something more constructive in the balance – even a polar opposite. For those of us who prefer to see the world holistically, the graffiti / Street Art continuum globally has always held wildly opposing instincts and missions simultaneously, neither specifically negating the other and none to be overlooked.

1UP. SeaWalls Festival / PangeaSeed Org. Nusa Penida, Bali. (photo courtesy of 1UP Crew)

The term Artivism has been around about 20 years, some saying it gained currency with artists helping the Zapatistas in Chiapas in the 90s. In the Street Art world, we’ve been witnessing its used by those artists and organizations who would like to distinguish the intent of the artist as something with a social/political goodness at its core.

It’s a generally positive trend, although one has to be as critical of it as any; because our marketing-soaked modern consciousness knows that terms like these can quickly be adopted/adapted to whitewash/greenwash so many initiatives. In practice, artists have espoused politics in their street murals and less-official works for decades before we began branding it artivism.

The Pangeaseed initiative has been encouraging artists to put their best flipper forward for a few years when organizing painting festivals that center on aquatic themes, and notorious Berlin-based vandals 1UP Crew have actually taken the plunge in a spectacular way here in Nusa Penida, a small island off the gorgeously scenic Bali.

“It took us a while to figure out what we can do, but we did it,” says a 1UP spokesperson about the cage they designed and built beneath the blue. “The world’s first underwater 3D installation that we hope will serve as an artificial coral reef to help regenerate corals and marine life.” It also is a giant “1Up” tag, although this one is down.

Perhaps all this communing with nature is slowly turning the attitudes of notorious vandals. “Please take care of your environment!,” they say without a trace of irony, “One United Power! One Love!” As usual, we discover that the graffiti/Street Art conversation is not always conveniently black and white.

Sometimes it is green, or aqua.

Special thanks to: Pangeaseed Foundation and Seawalls Festival Bali team.
Photos by @martincolognoli & @trax51

BSA Film Friday: 02.01.19

February 1, 2019 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. “Shadows Of Illusion” Eduardo Cuadrado
2. One Minute of Dance Per Day, Number 1352: Nadia Vadori-Gauthier
3. The Art Of Street Photography: Just Do It…Listen to the experts.
4. Marseille Street Art Show X IPAF Festival 2018

BSA Special Feature: “Shadows Of Illusion” Eduardo Cuadrado

The problem with fences and razor wire is that if you have enough of them in a society, you may begin to lose track of whether you are free or in prison.

The core inhumanity of certain humanity means that once you have successfully made it to the other side you quickly slam a door behind you, sometimes erecting a fence behind yourself, effectively surrendering.

Conceptual artist Eduardo Cuadrado created this haunted installation outside Saint Paul’s Church in Valladolid, Spain a couple of months ago at the International Art in the Street Festival 2018, and the impact was powerful in a wordless way that few artworks are. The man playing a cello live in front of it adds to the effect tremendously.

One Minute of Dance Per Day, Number 1352: Nadia Vadori-Gauthier

A dollop of creamy cement for your Art Brut cafe au lait this morning, here is your one minute of dance, number 1352.

The Art Of Street Photography: Just Do It…Listen to the experts.

Yeah, it is an ad for an online class, but we still find it inspiring. No surprise, right?

Marseille Street Art Show X IPAF Festival 2018

Packaged as tourism, this Street Art is illegal and commissioned and somehow all rolled into one experience of seeing and shopping and tasting delights. Its the IPAF Festival in collaboration with Marseille Street Art Show and Galerie Saint Laurent at Marseille June 2018.

OKUDA Boldly on Russian Permafrost with Artmossphere / Yakut Biennale

January 31, 2019 Artists

OKUDA is melting! Even in sub-zero frigid weather like this!

OKUDA. With Artmossphere in collaboration with the National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha. Yakutsk, Russia. (photo courtesy of Artmossphere)

As the US Midwest suffers a once in a generation “polar vortex” over the last few days, it may be hard to believe but that level of freezing cold is typical January weather in Yakutsk, Russia, where the average day in this city of 300,000 is −38 degrees celsius (−37 farenheit).

Yakutsk temperature reading during the Okuda sculpture installation (photo copyright Мария Васильева)

Spanish Street Artist and fine artist Okuda, who deals in powerful displays of tropicalia geometric color in his murals and sculptures, ventures far afield here- or should we say far atundra.

Sasha Krolikova, who curated this project with Artmossphere and the Yakut Biennale of Contemporary Art, says this is the world’s northernmost sculpture created by Okuda. The area is being developed into a modern urban space for recreation and sports and cycling area (it will be warmer this summer, promise). She says the installation is with the support of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha and appears on the embankment of Sajsary Lake in Yakutsk.

“We had a lot of work to do with the colors,” says Krolikova, “because they don’t look the same as in Spain when they have been exposed to this cold.” A melting skull with a spiked mohawk in technicolor, the capital city of Sakha Republic is going to have this Okuda for a long time – since it is made of steel. Not many people are likely to see it until spring here however, we are guessing.

GLEO Paints “The Original Dream” in Kansas

January 28, 2019 Artists

A blended composition of communities in a somewhat theatrical and warmly surreal rendering with personal features and cross-cultural decorative finesse, these folks painted across 17 silos in Witchita are not just going for special effects.

With a meditation on otherness and inclusiveness, Colombian muralist Gleo has brought the all the neighbors to this wall, intermingling social justice themes with characters and human nature – all passed through her mystical subconscious, her appreciation for ancestral cultures, and layered visual vocabulary.

GLEO *“The Original Dream”* Horizontes Project. Wichita, Kansas (photo courtesy of Horizontes)

Organized by multi-disciplinary artist Armando Minjarez the new composition is part of a public painting program and community engagement project called Horizontes that is meant to give visibility to two underrepresented neighborhoods in north Wichita, the predominantly Latino NorthEnd neighborhood and the historically African American Northeast neighborhood.

It looks like a stunningly effective and positive project that draws attention to groups of people who can be rendered invisible by industrial strength systemic blindness.

Aside from its size (4,500 sm), its 650 gallons of paint, and its time and cost overruns with 5 assistants over 11 weeks, the new community mural keeps the conversation fresh, and gives a pretty modern face to the city.

Public art initiatives like this can be a powerful key to fostering community – these Witchita neighborhoods are both physically and psychologically separated by these large grain elevators. The concept of community mural continues to evolve and this one shows promise for engaging modern ways to address social issues while honoring people and traditions.

BSA Images Of The Week: 01.27.19

January 27, 2019 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

The turning point may have occurred Friday when Trump capitulated to the two other branches of government, released his hostages (federal workers), and allowed the US government to fully open – and planes to land at airports. This continuous attack on institutions is wearing down the wall between the wolves and the chickens. Guess which one we are?

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Antennae, Art Dog NYC, City Kitty, Diva Dogla, Ken Hiratsuka, Pop Artoons, PostMan Art, Resa, Skewville.

We know how this movie ended…certainly it wasn’t a cliffhanger…artist unidentified. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Buff or Delete Elfo? The Last One For ’25, the First One For ’26
January 6, 2026
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January 4, 2026
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Photos of BSA 2025 # 2
January 3, 2026
Street art welcomes all manner of materials and methods, typically deployed without permission and without apology. This hand-formed wire piece …Read More »
Photos of BSA 2025 # 3
January 2, 2026
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Happy New Year 2026 From BSA
January 1, 2026
Okay let's do this! The future is unwritten. Get out your marker.Read More »
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December 31, 2025
We’re celebrating the end of one year and the beginning of the next by thanking BSA Readers, Friends, and Family …Read More »