All posts tagged: Brooklyn Street Art

Shepard Fairey in Dubai: A Mosaic Future and a Solo Show at Opera

April 27, 2021 Artists

Shots today from last month’s Shepard Fairey “Future Mosaic” at Dubai’s Opera Gallery. With works on canvas, paper, wood, and metal, as well as examples of iconic images and repeated motifs from the breadth of his art and design history, Fairey was very much present for his first solo show here. In a grueling schedule of just 9 days he also managed to install two huge murals facing a skate park in a commercial district of the city, the d3 (Dubai Design District).

Shepard Fairey. *“Future Mosaic”*. Dubai. UAE. March 2021. (Photo: Courtesy ObeyGiant.com / Photographer Jon Furlong)

Rise Above Peace Dove and Rise Above Peace Fingers incorporate what appears as a richer vibrant palette and pulsing graphic interplay than previously, perhaps due to more dense hues and the fact that his core crew of Dan Flores, Luka Densmore, and Rob Zagula were on hand along with Jon and Marwan offering additional help. Staying clear of strident language or slogans, the new works are largely representational and universal in themes of “justice, peace and human rights.”

Shepard Fairey with the dream team ready to work. *“Future Mosaic”*. Dubai. UAE. March 2021. (Photo: Courtesy ObeyGiant.com / Photographer Jon Furlong)

Fairey withstood criticism on social media for even working in the region, it would appear, let alone lending his name to an effort that they saw as hypocritical in light of his previous vocal stances on human rights, for example.

He took to Instagram to address his critics, “I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but it’s not a perfect place, but perfection does not exist and certainly not in the US. However, without this experience, I would not have been able to engage in robust discussions with the great people I met in Dubai. There’s nothing more relevant to my inside-outside strategy than traveling there and doing public art conveying harmony and positivity.”

Shepard Fairey. *“Rise Above Peace Fingers”*. Dubai. UAE. March 2021. (Photo: Courtesy ObeyGiant.com / Photographer Jon Furlong)

Elsewhere in another post, he wrote, “It is very important for me to do public art when I travel because it engages people outside of the art world, but it is not easy to secure public walls in Dubai.”

The opportunity to show and share and sell your art is something we want for any artist. In the case of Fairey, judgment metrics would need to include his two decades of generous acts promoting and supporting all manner of environmental, social justice, and civic participation efforts. We’ll confidently observe that year after year, his impact can far outstrip the average street artist and certainly most art collectors by miles. We dare say he’s unmatched. Let that be your goal.

“The show was massive, with 159 works that utilized the gallery space with a rhythm of scale and concentration,” he says. “My art practice focuses on the work’s cumulative effect, both visually and conceptually, so I was pleased with the final result.”

Shepard Fairey. Skectch for *“Rise Above Peace Fingers”*. Dubai. UAE. March 2021. (Photo: Courtesy ObeyGiant.com / Photographer Jon Furlong)

Shepard Fairey. *“Rise Above Peace Dove”*. Dubai. UAE. March 2021. (Photo: Courtesy ObeyGiant.com / Photographer Jon Furlong)

JDL Dancing in a Whirlwind of Documents in Amsterdam

April 26, 2021 Artists

Everywhere you look today it seems like there is a storm of papers and forms for you to complete – you may even feel like this Surinamese ballerina dancing in a whirlwind of official documents in Leidseplein, Amsterdam.

JDL. *Diversity in bureaucracy*. Leidseplein, Amsterdam. (photo © Leander Varekamp)

Aside from the annoyance, sometimes it is weaponized to deny people what they deserve as appears to be the Dutch case, as reported last year by NL.com “Over 11 thousand Netherlands citizens with dual nationality were subject to stricter inspections by the Tax Authority than other Dutch people.” In other words – those who were not born there were targeted for denied opportunities.

The topic drives this new mural by JDL, who chose a ballerina because she observed how few persons of color make it into the arts as well, and she wonders about those same prejudices at work in other forms of bureaucracy.

“The Netherlands has come a long way, but there is still a lot of work to do,” she says. “This piece is a small reminder and dedication to keep dancing in bureaucracy. With awareness comes change, and by constantly addressing the issue we will collectively walk towards a brighter, more equal future.”

This project was realized with the contributions of: Yourban2030, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Airlite, Won Yip and Humberto Tan.

Jelisa van Schijndel (Dancer, model)

JDL. *Diversity in bureaucracy*. Mural’s dedication. Leidseplein, Amsterdam. (photo © Leander Varekamp)

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.25.21

April 25, 2021 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

This week we wandered off the streets onto the train tracks to catch some graff in the wild. As we did we thought about photographer Jim Prigoff and how he told us that he relied upon the “graffiti gods” to lead him in the right direction to catch photographs. He was so right when he shared that jewel – an adviso to follow one’s intuition and trust your instincts. It was during this same adventure on the tracks that we learned of Jim’s passing, which was a very sad addendum to the exploration, at first. Then we realized that Jim is now one of those “graffiti gods” and he will lead us to find the next piece, burner, paste-up, sticker, poetry on the street.

May Jim and his instincts always be with us.

“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

– Mae West

Take it from Brooklyn’s own Mae West to give us the dry-eyed wit that pushes us further forward, boldly and without reservation.

So New York graffiti and street art continues to run apace – from Red Hook to Ridgewood to Williamsburg to Chelsea in Manhattan – we are dumb-founded by the new work that is covering Gotham. It is also notable the preponderance of LETTER-based street art and graffiti there is everywhere. Letters and their deconstruction, reconstruction, re-imagining have always been a part of the graff tradition of course, but it looks like many artists are talking at you from the wall right now.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: 2 Much, Adam Fujita, Al Diaz, Aneko, Healer, Jeff Roseking, Jet, Jowl, Lunge Box, Mega, Panic, RAKN, Riisa Boogie, Sac Six, Seo, Timmy Ache, UFO 907, and Wokem.

2 MUCH . HEALER . RAKN (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bus shelter takeover (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rapper DMX honored on the Williamsburg Bridge. Yesterday was his public memorial at Barclay Center in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA Film Friday: 04.23.21

April 23, 2021 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening:
1. BATTLEGROUND. A short film by Mark Bone and Kwesi Thomas
2. RIPDMX Via @NYCGRAFF.HEAD
3. Gigantic Graffiti by Ellr and Khol, via Montana Colors

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BSA Special Feature: BATTLEGROUND. A short film by Mark Bone and Kwesi Thomas

“It’s just weird to feel like you’re this ‘issue’ in society and that the world is divided with how much they should care about you or how much they should listen to you or should be concerned with issues around your life. It’s weird to be like a battleground,” says co-director and subject Kwesi Thomas says in the opening of the film.

A film purely of this moment, Battleground treads on soil that has been contaminated for centuries, the current inhabitants the inheritors of a heritage of racism. This week’s conviction of a white officer for killing a black civilian was only fraught with tension because the system doesn’t guarantee it and because it’s an exception rather than a rule.

“I wanted to make the film because I wanted to change that for other people.”

Born from conversations that followed the death of George Floyd, Kwesi Thomas & Mark Bone break silences, make themselves vulnerable, continue this painful conversation that is necessary for change.

BATTLEGROUND. A short film by Mark Bone and Kwesi Thomas

#RIPDMX Via @NYCGRAFF.HEAD

A tribute of wholecars to rapper DMX needs only the soundtrack of the steel wheels screeching on the rails.

Gigantic Graffiti by Ellr and Khol

“A small piece may look good in a picture but to look good in reality it needs to have size.”

50 meters should be sufficient for this new piece by Swedish writers Koll and Ellr. Montana Colors, who sponsored the wall, says the two are “drawing influence from some of the more sophisticated trends of Scandinavia and New York.”

Andreco: “Aula Verde” For Earth Day 2021 in Rome

April 22, 2021 Artists

Land artist, street artist, and scientist Andreco has given the Earth a gift of trees to celebrate Earth Day.

Andreco. *Aula Verde*. Earth Day 2021. Rome, Italy. (photo courtesy of the artist)

Together with citizens, environmentalists and researchers, he’s created a work of Land Art here in Rome, and he calls the project Aula Verde.

“The work is alive, and over the years it will take shape and as it grows it will return innumerable benefits to the territory,” Andreco says, “currently it is studied by the researchers who are involved in the project, both for the purification of the water and the redevelopment of the surrounding greenery.”

A more positive approach to community involvement in actively helping the air, soil, and water is hard to imagine, but Andreco never ceases to amaze with demonstrations like these; a parade of people of all ages marching to a field to plant trees together.

The name Aula Verde comes from the shape of the work, he says, “made up of poplar and willow trees, Polulus Alba and Salix Alba, arranged on two large concentric centres with a diameter of forty metres that forms a sort of Green Pantheon which can be accessed freely.”

Aula Verde is part of FLUMEN, a movement of climate actions for rivers and parks in Rome, and a project intersecting art and science conceived by the artist Andreco and organised by the cultural association Climate Art Project. A multifaceted initiative, FLUMEN includes the environmental monitoring of the waters and the ecosystems of the two rivers of Rome, the Tiber and the Aniene, as well as workshops, performances, exhibitions and tree plantings.

SEE VIDEO BELOW

Art in Odd Places (AiOP) 2021: Says this is NORMAL

April 21, 2021 Artists

The originators of Art in Odd Places have reliably embraced fully aware of the spirit of inclusivity that art on the streets originally embraced. For its 16^th iteration on May 14-16, AiOP the street festival will again launch a series of installations along a vast expanse of 14^th Street.

“We will not go back to normal. Normal never was…”
Sonya Renee Taylor

Gretchen Vitamvas. *Modern Plague Doctor*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Gretchen Vitamvas)

Taking inspiration from the quote by the author, poet, spoken word artist, and social justice activist, the show is called NORMAL. It is curated by artist Furusho von Puttkammer, who agrees that “normal” is a difficult concept that is not necessarily a sought-after goal, even if we could define it.

Johnothon Lyons. *Commensal Mischief*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Kidzrevil)

“Boldly pushing its way through pandemia, where social constructs warp to reveal discriminatory realities,” she writes in the manifesto, “corporations relentlessly claw at tax-payer dollars while citizens are made homeless, and the police continue to brutalize the black community, NORMAL confronts the term with artistic work.”

Ivan Sikic. *Trashed*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Ivan Sikic)

For AiOP (not to be confused with the much smaller and recent private project with the very similar name Art in Ad Places), von Puttkammer has selected a wide range of artists working in different mediums – and says she is aiming for an anti-elitist vibe. Borrowing from street artist credo over the last decades, she says, “The art world has become inaccessible and elitist. We take art outside of the galleries and museums and bring it out onto the streets of New York City.”

That sounds normal.

Laura Splan. *Precarious Structures*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Laura Splan)

Yeseul Song. *Invisible Sculpture*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Ninad Pandit)

WHEN & WHERE
May 14 – 16, 2021, various locations along 14th Street
from Avenue C to the Hudson River

Giulio Vesprini Hits the Court in Italy

April 20, 2021 Artists

“L A N D S C A P E / Struttura G051”

So many basketball courts have been used as canvasses these last few years. Here we have a small city in Marche Hills, Italy where street artist Giulio Vesprini says he has just painted his third.

A student of architecture and illustration, he says his influences come from land art and all manner of urban culture as well. It’s a bright palette of abstract geometry, owing as much to the courts’ function as the energy of the city.

Giulio Vesprini. *“L A N D S C A P E” / Struttura G051*. Monte Urano, Italy. April 2021. (photo © Giorgio Tortoni)

“It’s a popular place for boys and girls who play basketball,” he tells us, and he wanted to bring back the area that has fallen into disuse. “I wanted to recreate a meeting point between culture, sport, nature, and people.”

The artist wishes to thank the City Hall of Monte Urano city, Mayor: Moira Canigola, Public works Assessor: Federico Giacomozzi. Support by: Associazione Culturale ZacZac and his whole team.

“Unsmashed” A Street Art Sticker “Field Guide”

April 19, 2021 Art Book Review, Artists, Book Review, Street Art Book Review

The street sticker, be it ever so humble and diminutive, is profligate and sometimes even inspiring. An amalgamated scene that is anonymous, yet curiously stuck together, the organizers and sponsors of so-called sticker jams have been overwhelmed in recent years by thousands of participants.

Hand-made one-offs to slick mass-produced and custom die-cut by the hundred, these adhesive back expressions of personal branding may depict characters, slogans, witticisms, or satirical skewing of pop culture memes. Collectively these are the DNA of a global game played out in the street and in public spaces, a silent dialogue that yells quite loudly.

Artist and organizer IWILLNOT has compiled, organized, archived, and preserved this collection as a ‘field guide,’ he says, and another artist named Cheer Up has laid out page after page. It is a global cross-sample from 60 countries and a thousand artists – a treasure trove of the witty, insightful, snotty, and sometimes antisocial street bards of the moment, seizing their moment to speak and mark territory.

UNSMASHED: A Street Art Sticker Field Guide. Compiled by IWILLNOT, Designed by Cheer Up. A Collection of 1,229 full color sticker designs by 1,000 artists from more than 60 countries. Published by IWLLNOT and Cheer Up. December 2020.

“White people can’t be trusted with power,” from Dread Scott on the Street in Manhattan

April 17, 2021 Artists

Trust artist Dread Scott to perfect the provocative phrase that can raise the prickly ire of certain street passersby, simply and succinctly. And trust the self-elected censorious social media platforms like Instagram to actually ban it.

Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based Scott says, “White people can’t be trusted with power” in this new public artwork at 42nd near 10th Avenue in Manhattan. It may remind you of a Jenny Holzer “Truism” that she may have wheat-pasted on the street in the past, a pertinent pique that strikes at the heart of the matter, minus the sense of irony. But in the current context of white people’s reluctant awakening, Mr. Scott writes, “When this was originally posted, Instagram banned it as ‘hate speech.’ ”

The “opening” for this piece at the Playwrights Horizons performing arts theater was this week and will be up through May 9th.

Dread Scott. *White people can’t be trusted with power.* Manhattan, NYC. 2021 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It remains unharmed as placed safely behind thick glass in a nondescript contemporary vacuum streetside, – leading street artist and conceptual artist Ann Lewis to compare it to a single layer stencil by Bristol’s Banksy further that lies north about 30 blocks, which is also behind protective perspex eight years after it appeared.

“Though,” she writes to us, “that was meant to protect it because people ‘loved’ it, not because its radical enough for folks to want to destroy it.” In fact, the piece she speaks of depicts a small boy in the act of destructive vandalism – hardly an act normally worth preserving for posterity, but there you have it. Speaking of Scott’s taut text, Lewis comments on his posting, “I love that it’s sitting behind glass as if to say it will likely be vandalized because we white folks can’t take this sort of blatantly obvious criticism without attempting to destroy the truth.”

While the sentiment may or may not be the artist’s, more powerful perhaps is the reaction it engenders – again providing a mirror to the viewer as much great art on the street does.

Predictably, IG commenters on his artwork run the gamut, from the hands-down agreement to the mildly put-out to the outraged and whiney. “Seems to me – “PEOPLE can’t be trusted with power,” writes a poster called Lil Oak Productions – clarifying that one shouldn’t single out the predominant race that has held power on this continent for centuries for specific criticism.

Artist Steve Locke responds directly to this comment as if calling to a cabaret singer, “Great. Now do ‘All Lives Matter’ since you are playing the hits.”

BSA Film Friday: 04.16.21

April 16, 2021 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening:
1. Nadia Vadori-Gauthier and Friends Dance Through Parisian Empty Spaces
2. New Burner from Olivier Kosta-Thefaine – Symphonie / Hangar 107
3. Sofles / Mega Bunsens With Sirum
4. “Ingobernable” with C. Tangana, Gipsy Kings, Nicolás Reyes, Tonino Baliardo

BSA Special Feature: Nadia Vadori-Gauthier and Friends Dance Through Parisian Empty Spaces

Nadia Vadori-Gauthier: Dances in places of art and culture closed to the public during the Pandemic.

“In the almost-silence of these emblematic places, usually punctuated by the passage of crowds, vibrates an intense life: those of works, feelings experienced, memorial traces of art experiences, of the succession of eras.

Dancing in this context is, for me, both a resistance and a manifesto. It is an act of solidarity, a gesture of love and recognition. Because I would never be who I am without the familiar attendance of these extraordinary places where, over time, through the face-to-face with the works, a look is forged that embraces otherness, the new, the difference, a look that invites participation in life. ”

Nadia Vadori-Gauthier

New Burner from Olivier Kosta-Thefaine – Symphonie / Hangar 107

During his residency at Hangar 107, artist Olivier Kosta-Théfaine patterned the walls using a lighter, selectively burning 70 square meters to create a new carbon visual symphony.

Sofles / Mega Bunsens With Sirum

This video shows some mega bunsens being painted with SIRUM,” says Sofles in this brand new video filmed and edited by After Midnight.

“The sheer diversity of style Sofles has is unparalleled,” says only casual on Youtube. “I’ve seen the work of thousands and thousands of writers and nobody even comes close. It’s insane.”

“There is so much going on in every letter of that Sofles piece that each letter could be a video of its own! And also, I’m so stoked that they used some proper dope dnb for the tune!,” says Sciz. “Awesome work by Sirum too, whom I’ve followed for quite some time on Instagram; I always try to follow the artists whom I feel are breaking down barriers and this collaboration came out perfect because of the expertise of both artists.”

“Ingobernable” with C. Tangana, Gipsy Kings, Nicolás Reyes, Tonino Baliardo

Next time you make a video be sure to invite your sister, mother, and lots of aunts. It will leave the competition shaking in their shoes.

This guy is El Madrileño

MOMO Leaves His “Parting Line”

April 15, 2021 Artists

A year after its close, we open the book on American street artist MOMO’s new book chronicling the exhibition “Parting Line.” Writing about and covering his work for 15 years or so, we’re always pleased to see where his path has led – never surprised but always pleased with his evolution of decoding the lines, textures, practices, serendipity of discoveries unearthed by this wandering interrogator.

Here, along the river Seine banks, we see his exhibition for the still young Hangar 107, the recently inaugurated Center For Contemporary Art in Rouen, France. While we think of his work in New York in the 2000s, we see the steady progression here – his cloud washes, raking patterns, his experimental, experiential zeal. This is the spirit of DIY that we first fell in love with, the lust for uncovering and desire for making marks unlike others across the cityscape, quizzically folding and unfolding, pulling the string, drawing the line.

In this svelte purple rose volume, his work is captured. More importantly, we can see a sliver of the joy that he applies his entire being to the art of discovery with.

Edited by Christian Omodeo, “Parting Line” contains texts by Tilt, El Tono, Vittorio Parisi, and an interview with and by Swoon.

MOMO “Parting Line”. Hangar 107. Edited by Christian Omodeo – Le Grand Ju. Published by Hangar 107. Rouen, France. 2020.

Sasha Korban Creates a “Little Magic” Under a Bridge in Ukraine

April 14, 2021 Artists

It is a tenous connection that an adult may have with the fantasies of their own childhood and concepts developed through playtime and free-wheeling imagination.

When we are older we may realize that we have all but abandoned that part of ourselves. There is a s system of discouragement arrayed against our confidence as a kid, one that severs our relationship with the creativity that once burst freely from our little minds and hearts and hands.

Sasha Korban. *“Little Magic”* Kyiv, Ukraine. (photo courtesy of Yulia Ostrovska)

In her book The Artist’s Way, author Julia Cameron helps many people every year to rekindle that connection and celebrate it, nourish it.

Remember, your artist is a child. Find and protect that child. Learning to let yourself create is like learning to walk.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

And we just have to take that first step. Followed by one more.

A native of Kirovske in the of Donetsk Region, Ukraine, muralist Sasha Korban says this new work under a bridge in Kyiv is called “Little Magic.”

“I believe that only a little magic can help us with our pathway,” he says.

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