All posts tagged: Carlo McCormick

“Magic City” in Dresden : Exhibition of Street Artists and City as Muse

“Magic City” in Dresden : Exhibition of Street Artists and City as Muse

An unusual amalgam of the interactivity of the street combined with the formality of a gallery environment, Magic City opened this fall in a converted factory in Dresden, Germany with an eclectic selection of 40+ artists spanning the current and past practices of art in the street.

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Skewville. Children enjoying Skewville’s “tete-a-tete” shopping cart. Ernest Zacharevic’s mobile in the background. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With revered culture critic and curator Carlo McCormick at the helm alongside curator Ethel Seno, the richly marbled show runs a gamut from 70’s subway train writers and photographers like Americans Daze, Henry Chalfant, and Martha Cooper to the Egyptian activist Ganzeer, Italian interventionist Biancoshock, popagandist Ron English, and the eye-tricking anamorphic artist from the Netherlands, Leon Keer.

Veering from the hedonistic to the satiric to head-scratching illusions, the collection allows you to go as deep into your education about this multifaceted practice of intervening public space as you like, including just staying on the surface.

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Ernest Zacharevic mobile with a “listening station” on the left. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It’s not an easy balance to strike – some of these artists have heavy hearts and withering critiques of human behaviors and institutional hypocrisies ranging from 1st World treatment of refugees to celebrity culture to encroaching surveillance on individual rights, government oppression, and urban blight.

Magic City doesn’t try to shield you from the difficult topics, but the exhibition also contains enough mystery, fanboy cheer, eye candy and child-like delight that the kids still have plenty of fun discoveries to take selfies with. We also saw a few kissing couples, so apparently there is room for some romance as well.

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 A visitor to Magic City enjoys a “listening station”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“We believe that even the typical city is uncommon, and that the idiosyncrasies that make each city unique are collectively something they all have in common,” says McCormick in his text describing the exhibition. “This is then a celebration of the universal character of cities as well as a love letter to their infinite diversity. The special magic that comes from our cities is germinated in the mad sum of their improbable juxtapositions and impossible contradictions.”

Of particular note is the sound design throughout the exhibition by Sebastian Purfürst and Hendrick Neumerkel of LEM Studios that frequently evokes an experiential atmosphere of incidental city sounds like sirens, rumbling trains, snatches of conversations and musical interludes. Played at varying volumes, locations, and textures throughout the exhibition, the evocative city soundscape all adds to a feeling of unexpected possibilities and an increased probability for new discovery.

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Olek’s carousel from above. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Obviously this Magic City cannot be all things to all people, and some will criticize the crisp presentation of a notably gritty series of subcultures, or perhaps the omission of one genre or technique or important artist. It’s not meant to be encyclopedic, rather a series of insights into a grassroots art and activism practice that continues to evolve in cities before our eyes.

For full disclosure, we curated the accompanying BSA Film Program for Magic City by 12 artists and collectives which runs at one end of the vast hall – and Mr. Rojo is on the artist roster with 15 photographs of his throughout the exhibition, so our view of this show is somewhat skewed.

Here we share photographs from the exhibition taken recently inside the exhibition for you to have a look for yourself.

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Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ron English (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A MadC installation made with thousands of spray can caps. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Belgian urban naturalist ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skewville . ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Daze (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Martha Cooper at the gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Henry Chalfant at the gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Bordalo II (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Andy K. detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Isaac Cordal. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Isaac Cordal (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anders Gjennestad AKA Strok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Icy & Sot with Asbestos on the left. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Replete (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Truly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Leon Keer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jaime Rojo. A young visitor enjoying the Kids Trail through a peephole with Jaime’s photos inside an “electrical box”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jaime Rojo. The Kids Trail wasn’t only for kids it seems. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tristan Eaton on the right. Olek on the left. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Aiko at the Red Light District. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Herakut. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Herakut (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Full list of participating artists:

Aiko, AKRylonumérik, Andy K, Asbestos, Benus, Jens Besser, Biancoshock, Mark Bode, Bordalo II, Ori Carino & Benjamin Armas, Henry Chalfant, Martha Cooper, Isaac Cordal, Daze, Brad Downey, Tristan Eaton, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Fino’91, Ganzeer, Anders Gjennestad, Ben Heine, Herakut, Icy & Sot, Leon Keer, Loomit, MadC, OakOak, Odeith, Olek, Qi Xinghua, Replete, Roa, Jaime Rojo, Skewville, SpY, Truly, Juandres Vera, WENU, Dan Witz, Yok & Sheryo, Ernest Zacharevic.

 

Visit MAGIC CITY DRESDEN for more details, news, videos and the blog.

 


This article is also published on The Huffington Post

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“Magic City” Premieres in Dresden : Seno and McCormick as Alchemists

“Magic City” Premieres in Dresden : Seno and McCormick as Alchemists

40 Artists Up Along Main Street, 12 More in the BSA Film Program

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Curators Ethel Seno and Carlo McCormick in front of a new mural by German duo Herakut announcing the premiere of Magic City in Dresden. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)


 

“Nature is a petrified magic city.” – Novalis

Curator Carlo McCormick quotes Novalis by way of describing this new exhibit of an eclectic blend of terrific troublemakers, pop-culture hijackers, and show-stopping crowd pleasers drawn from cities all around the Street Art/ graffiti /urban art scene today – and forty years ago. This is a welcoming walk of unexpected intersections that only McCormick and co-curator Ethel Seno could imagine – and pull together as a panoply of street wizardry that acknowledges activism, artistry, anarchy, and aesthetics with a sincere respect for all. It will be interesting to see how this show is viewed by people who follow the chaotic street scene today in the context of its evolution and how they read the street signs in this city.

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Curator Ethel Seno with Managing Director Dieter Semmelmann and exhibition Designer Tobias Kunz cutting the ribbon at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

McCormick, in his customary self-effacing humor, expects there to be some shit flying – as anyone who is involved in this scene expects from the hard-scrabble rebellious margins and subcultures that this art-making interventionist practice rises from. There also are a growing and coalescing mini-legion of scholars and academics who are currently grappling with the nature and characteristics of this self-directed art-making practice rooted often in discontent – now organized inside an exhibition that is ticketed and sold as a family friendly show.

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Street Artist and pop mashup painter Tristan Eaton in front of his new mural wall at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

In his descriptions of the public sphere, the writer, historian, author, and cultural critic McCormick often refers to graffiti and street artists messing with “contested space”. It’s an apt description whether we are talking about the public space in high-density gleaming metropolises or the bombed-out grid-less and polluted quagmires of human fallibility and urban un-planning that dot our globe; all public space its nature is contested.

Here is a place used by many artists to protest, agitate, advocate, or deliver critique – and many of the artists in this exhibition have done exactly this in their street practice, often pushing limits and defining new ones. Dig a little into many of the individual story lines at play here and you’ll see that the vibrant roots of social revolution are pushing up from the streets through the clouds of propaganda and advertising, often mocking them and revealing them in the process.

Ultimately, this Magic City experience is an elixir for contemplating the lifelong romance we have with our cities and with these artists who cavort with us within them. “Our Magic City is a place and a non-place,” McCormick says in a position statement on the exhibit. “It is not the physical city of brick and mortar but rather the urban space of internalized meanings. It is the city as subject and canvas, neither theme park nor stage set, but an exhibition showcasing some of the most original and celebrated artists working on and in the city today.”

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Mixed media Street Artist Asbestos from Dublin, graffiti master/ painter Chris “Daze” Ellis from NYC, and Tristan Eaton from Los Angeles at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Curator Carlo McCormick with New York billboard/culture jammer and artist Ron English in front of his new wall mural at premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Dutch anamorphic art master Leon Keer with Polish crochet transformer/Street Artist Olek at the premiere of Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

BSA curated the film program for Magic City with a dynamic array of some of the best Street Art related films today presented together in a relaxed environment. In this video hosted by Andreas Schanzenbach you get a taste of the works that are showing that we draw from our weekly surveys on BSA Film Friday. Over the last few years we have had the honor of presenting live in-person to students and scholars and fans an ever-evolving collection of videos that speak to the spirit experimentation, discovery and culture-jamming outrageousness of urban interventions, graffiti and Street Art.  The BSA Film Program at Magic City presents a survey of some of the very best that we have seen recently.

Magic City artists include:
Akrylonumerik, Andy K, Asbestos, Ben Heine, Benuz, Biancoshock, Bordalo II, Brad, Downey, Dan Witz, Daze, Ernest Zacharevic, Ganzeer, Henry Chalfant, HERAKUT, Icy & Sot, Isaac Cordal, Jaime Rojo, Jens Besser, Juandres Vera, Lady Aiko, Leon Keer, Loomit, MAD C, Mark Bode, Martha Cooper, Oakoak, Odeith, Olek, Ori Carin / Benjamin Armas, Qi Xinghua, Replete, ROA, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, SpY, Tristan Eaton, Truly, WENU Crew, Yok & Sheryo

The BSA Film Program for Magic City includes the following artists:
Borondo, Brad Downey & Akay, Ella + Pitr, Faile, Farewell, Maxwell Rushton, Narcelio Grud, Plotbot Ken, Sofles, Vegan Flava, Vermibus

Some behind the scenes shots days before the Premiere

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Popagandist Ron English preparing his Temper Tot at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Popagandist Ron English preparing his Temper Tot at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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DAZE reviewing his work at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Urban naturalist ROA at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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Sheryo strikes a pose while the guys build the installation she did with The Yok at Magic City in Dresden, Germany. (photo © Rainer Christian Kurzeder)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.31.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.31.16

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This week we bring you fresh stuff from Berlin where the final Project M/10 was debuted with a collection of artists curated by Instagrafite and we had an opportunity to ride the streets looking for interesting art, to avoid getting swept away by a sudden massive flood, and to visit Urban Spree for some great prints and paintings, and even to hang out in a boxing club for days with a cluster of curators.

Our special thanks to Yasha Young and the entire UN Team for their UNflagging support as we collectively are bringing a new institution that recognizes a wide swath of history and influences forward. More to come…

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring A Squid Called Sebastian, Anarkia, Axel Void, Hop Louie, JAZ, Marshal Arts, Mindaugas Bonanu, Nafir, Olek, Panmela Castro, RoboSexi, Roxi, Speto, Uriginal, and Various & Gould.

Our top image: Panmela Castro AKA Anarkia. Detail. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Panmela Castro AKA Anarkia. Detail. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Panmela Castro AKA Anarkia. Detail. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Panmela Castro AKA Anarkia. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Various & Gould. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Olek in collaboration with Robosexi. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New interventional pieces of objects in clear resin from the Polish duo Robosexi in collaboration with Polish/Brooklyner artist OLEK placed IN the streets of Berlin this week. An anagram of their first names Roxi and Sebo, the duo say their “Time Capsules” are an effort to freeze the truth about this time and people today. They say that they also do performances and video art in addition to these installations, but this week they are in town with OLEK for PM/10 at Urban Nation.

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Olek in collaboration with Robosexi. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Olek in collaboration with Robosexi. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Olek in collaboration with Robosexi. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Olek in collaboration with Robosexi. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A selfie gun from Hamburg based stencillist Marshal Arts. Berlin, Germany. One source tells us the title is “How to Take a Great Selfie.” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Uriginal in conjunction with Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Nafir is having some rather explosive ideas lately. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A Squid Called Sebastian in conjunction with Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A Squid Called Sebastian in conjunction with Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A Squid Called Sebastian in conjunction with Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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An unidentified artist’s painting of these two amorous lovers appears under the train tracks that lead across Oberbaum Bridge (German: Oberbaumbrücke), a double-deck bridge crossing Berlin’s River Spree. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Axel Void. Detail. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A new sculpture by Franco JAZ Fasoli commands the center exhibition space at Project M/10, which opened last evening in Berlin. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Curated by Instagrafite.(photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Beards and man buns are the default fashion accessory for men who would like to give an air of hipness at this moment. Arguably however, they are probably considered mainstream. Hop Louie. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Speto. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Roxi. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. Project M/10. Curated by Instagrafite. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-sreet-art-jaime-rojo-berlin-07-31-16-webAlleged ties between US Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimer Putin made it to the street via Lithuanian artist Mindaugas Bonanu and this week on the cover of Frankfurter Allgemeine. Although the German newspaper doesn’t credit the creator of this image (which happens a LOT with street art), we can tell you that the significance of the image is directly tied to Berlin Wall art history. As writer and art critic Carlo McCormick notes in a recent PAPER magazine portfolio of Trump-related art, this piece refers to ” a famous fraternal kiss in 1979 between Russian leader Leonid Brezhnev and his East German counterpart Erich Honecker that gained fame as a painting by Dmitri Vrubel on the Berlin Wall.”

Untitled. Berlin, Germany. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ganzeer’s Graphic Novel Imagines a “Solar Grid”

Ganzeer’s Graphic Novel Imagines a “Solar Grid”

The Solar Grid is a serialized sci-fi graphic novel in 9 parts by Ganzeer, the Egyptian Street Artist whose work on the streets during the Arab Spring caused him to fear for his safety, escaping to the US and in the process garnering press.

His work as an artist or course continues and this summer he is promoting his illustrated vision of a future based on his observations of the present wholesale consolidation and hoarding of planetary resources and the accompanying interruptions in our fundamental natural systems.

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Ganzeer. The Solar Grid. Photo still from the video.

“The concept of the Aswan dam is controlling a central natural resource. I figured if I was to apply it to the whole planet, that resource is obviously the sun. That’s what we see in the future with the two kids. As the sun sets, the solar grid automatically turns on and turns off as soon as the sun rises again,” he tells David Batty in The Guardian, as he describes the story that unfolds in chapters.

The next chapter is released in August, which is also when the list of artists participating in Magic City in Dresden will be released. We can happily tell you the Ganzeer is one of the them.

Learn more about The Solar Grid HERE.

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Ganzeer. The Solar Grid. Photo still from the video.

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Ganzeer. The Solar Grid. Photo still from the video.

Ganzeer: The Solar Grid. Trailer

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“The Art Of The Mural: Volume 01” Captures a Moment

“The Art Of The Mural: Volume 01” Captures a Moment

Murals hold their own place onstage in public space today for a variety of reasons that we discuss regularly on BSA. From grassroots and public, to private and corporate, we have watched the genre professionalize as Street Art festivals and other initiatives are often coupling artists with brands and are selling canvasses through the organizers galleries. Today we have the first of a promised four-part book series by Art Whino gallerist and organizer of the Richmond Mural Project in Virginia, Shane Pomajambo, that features many artists he has worked with in the brand new “The Art of the Mural”.

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Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

Featuring more than fifty current graffiti/Street Artists, the survey pays special attention to the show-stopping eye candy that commands attention for these nomadic painters who are developing their craft before an ever larger and more appreciative international audience.

Culture critic and curator Carlo McCormick, who writes the introduction to the Schiffer published hardcover, notes that this mural renaissance is quite unlike the US government funded New Deal era mural programs that produced “hundreds of thousands of murals for schools, hospitals, post offices, housing projects, and various government facilities”. And he’s right, these are emanating from a different place entirely.

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Antony Lister. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

The world-traveling media-soaked artists, of which this collection is subset, have had vastly more exposure to corporations and branding perhaps than, say, arts institutions, and a sophisticated self-handling is often on display with artists ever more savvy in their choices of style and content.

A greater percentage are now entering into private collections, galleries, and museums thanks to unprecedented platforms for huge exposure on the Internet, and their public works are adding rich character and dialogue to our neighborhoods and public spaces.

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Curiot. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

With academia, art critics, and auction houses all grappling with the rightful place of these artists in contemporary art and society at large it will be instructive to know the history and their lineage, content, context, and patronage. One has to agree when McCormick says that all of these “are helpful for us to consider in looking at and understanding the artists’ walls of today.”

This collection of talent is strong, with many of the mid-large names that are at play in this generation of painters whom are primarily born in the 1970s and 80s. In their work is a cultural appreciation for modern graffiti history as they now channel it along with formal training, art history, advertising, and a multitude of media. With few exceptions, it’s a tight list of artists, the images are riveting (though uncredited to their photographers), and the brief introductions by Pomajambo contain just enough biographical information and artist’ quotes to ground the story and give it context.

“As with everything I do,” says the Queens, New York native Pomajambo, “I always question and observe, and as we reach critical mass with murals I felt compelled to create this project and capture a moment in time.”

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Evoca 1. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

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Fintan Magee. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

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Miss Van. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

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MOMO. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

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Onur & Wes 21. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

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Telmo & Miel. Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

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Tone (Robert Proch). Shane Pomajambo The Art of The Mural Volume 01 Foreword by Carlo McCormick. Schiffer Publishing. 2016

 

All photos of the spreads by Jaime Rojo

 

The Art of The Mural: Contemporary International Urban Art. Volume 01 by Shaen Pomajambo. Schiffer Publishing. Atglen, PA. USA.

Participating Artists
Amose, Arraiano, Augustine Kofie, Axel Void, Bezt (Etam Crew), Chazme 718, Chor boogie, Clog Two, Curiot, Cyrcle, DALeast, Decertor, Dface, ETNIK, Faith47, Fintan Magee, Hense, INTI, Jade, Jaz, JR, Kenor, Lister, Logan Hicks, Low Bros, Meggs, Miss Van, Momo, Mr Thoms, Muro, Natalia Rak, Nosego, Onur, Pener, Reka, Robert “Tone” Proch,Ron English, Rone, Sainer (Etam Crew), SATONE, SEACREATIVE, Sepe, Smithone, Sten Lex, Stormie Mills, Telmo Miel, Tristan Eaton, TWOONE HIROYASU, Vhils, Wes21 and Zed 1

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Carlo McCormick, Lenin and Darth Vader : 15 For 2015

Carlo McCormick, Lenin and Darth Vader : 15 For 2015

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What are you celebrating this season? We’re celebrating BSA readers and fans with a holiday assorted chocolate box of 15 of the smartest and tastiest people we know. Each day until the new year we ask a guest to take a moment to reflect on 2015 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for him or her. It’s our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and saying ‘thank you’ for inspiring us throughout the year.

New York art juggernaut Carlo McCormick is a culture critic and curator at large, angling through the streets, galleries, museums, studios and vapor-filled back rooms of Gotham. He is the author of numerous books, monographs and catalogues on contemporary art and artists, and lectures and teaches at art symposia, festivals, universities and colleges. His writing has appeared in Effects : Magazine for New Art Theory, Aperture, Art in America, Art News, Artforum, Camera Austria, High Times, Spin , Tokion, Vice and other magazines. McCormick is Senior Editor of Paper magazine. He also is a cranky sage-like charmer whom we love and value for his insights and tirades.


Odessa, Ukraine
October 2015
Artist Oleksandr Milov
Photograph credit Dumskaya.net

As a culture of amnesiacs and liars we are always rewriting history to suit the present. This sculpture, by Oleksandr Milov, seems to capture the perversity and violence by which the past is continuously undone.

I don’t know much about this artist except that he does stuff that people who go to Burning Man think looks cool, and I have no idea who took the photographs, it was just one of those things that briefly became a  meme in that screen of perpetual distraction we call the news. Though no doubt an intervention it would be hard to call this street art for it is really public sculpture- a radical defacement legitimized by the passing of a law in April by the Ukrainian Parliament banning Communist propaganda and symbols.

 

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This becomes a rather ambitious and expensive program for a country that has already been looted by thugs and is currently fighting a war against Russian aggressions, especially considering that most things there are still named after some Soviet tyrant and most every public space seemingly has its own Lenin statue. Activists there have been addressing this unwanted Lenin population already, toppling statues, repainting them in the national colors of the Ukraine, and even covering them in a vyshyvanka, the traditional Ukrainian shirt.

Milov’s transformation however, a transference from one oppressor to another, merely trades one set of lies for another, those of the great American myth factory. Each is equally virulent, both before and after here are personifications of evil where their malevolent force must be measured not simply by might but by culture’s willingness to fully believe in their falsehood.

As the worst kind of public art we need to understand what monuments are: a kind of memorial, a way of representing memory in perpetuity. As we tend to this spectacle of public memory, Milov touches upon a rare strain that runs through this mundane legacy of forgotten heroes, a way of remembering the worst without the sentimentality of the lost (as in those monuments to wars and natural disasters) but with the epic monumentality of posterity by which the rich and powerful seek the eternal through bronze.

This past summer I came across a truly wonderful monument in Denmark put up in 1664 to a national traitor named Corfitz. It was a quite ugly large stone with the most remarkable inscription “To His Eternal Shame, Disgrace and Infamy.” This to me offers a viable path away from the morbid mediocrity of insipid monuments to historical irrelevance that seemingly choke town squares and parks around the world, a way to register our place on this planet as a kind of Monumental Shame.

~ Carlo McCormick

 

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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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Nuart Festival 2014 Artists and Guests Announced (VIDEO)

Nuart Festival 2014 Artists and Guests Announced (VIDEO)

The 2014 Edition of Nuart and Nuart PLUS Brooklyn-Street-Art-Nuart-2014

NUART is one of the first Street Art festivals and has remained a jewel. While we declared it an important part of the first decade of the modern Street Art explosion, we’re happy to say that it remains focused on a spinning a colorful balance of international artists, stunning placement in public, a very cool indoor gallery show, side projects, community engagement, smart-aleck critics, and sulking teens with no good on their minds. We’re also pleased to participate in person this year alongside folks like Carlo McCormick, RJ Rushmore, Evan Pricco, Natalie Hegert, and Peter Bengtsen.

Nuart founder Martyn Reed and his crack team keep expanding and evolving the programming of this festival that has focused exclusively on Street Art since ’06 and this year promises a few cool surprises like John Fekner as artist and lecturer, M-City knocking out an entire ship, and Iran’s brother duo Icy & Sot in one of their first international trips from their new hometow of Brooklyn who will be painting a wall and teaching kids how to cut stencils. And of course the OS Gemeos movie and BSA Film Friday LIVE!

Organized by EIRIK SJÅHOLM KNUDSEN this years Nuart PLUS is examining in detail two themes that are really topical at the moment – the rise of festivals and legal/ commercial murals and the relative importance and occurence of activism and illegal work on the Street Art scene in general. We’re looking forward to participating on panels, doing a couple of presentations, meeting folks who live in the Stavanger community, and of course seeing the great pieces that the invited artists will be doing live.

And now, we proudly unveil this year’s line-up for 2014:

Andreco (IT), Borondo (ES), Dotdotdot (NO), Etam Cru (PL), Fra.Biancoshock (IT), Icy & Sot (IR), John Fekner (US), Leval (FR), M-City (PL), Martin Whatson (NO), Mathieu Tremblin (FR), SPY (ES), Strøk (NO), Tilt (FR), ± Maismenos ± (PT)

 

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Here are all the details directly from the NUART PR team:

The ARTISTS

ANDRECO

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Andreco. Belluno, Italy. (photo © Andreco)

Andreco is a multi-talented artist/scientist blend who splits his time between Bologna and New York City. His work brings an authenticity due to his Post. Doc research on green technologies for urban sustainability, where he collaborated with the School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Bologna and the Columbia University of New York City. Andreco is an environmental engineer with a PHD specializing in sustainability which he uses in his murals describing the relationship between humans and nature as well as between the built environment and the natural landscape. Andreco varies his research between anatomy, urbanism, environmental sustainability, ecology and symbolism; At the base of this research he has begun exploring and creating new symbols in his work. Andeco’s art/science juxtapositions appear as many techniques from public installations to videos, to wallpaintings or drawings and he has been exhibited in numerous international museums, galleries, and festivals.

BORONDO

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Borondo (photo Courtesy NUART)

Borondos’ stunning realistic paintings stems from his academic training from the Beaux-Artes. The young Italian artist is a master of a multitude of techniques to let the audience interact with his pieces, one favorite being where he scratches paint off of glass to let the light shine through. This gives his pieces an integrating effect that gives viewers a glimpse of what’s hidden on the inside of the work by looking at (and through) any given piece from the outside. He has a special fondness for utilizing empty   store windows in this way as they are inherintly interesting ‘canvases’ for this technique.

FRA.BIANCOSHOCK

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Fra.Biancoshock. Milan, Italy. (photo © Fra.Biancoshock)

Fra.Biancoshock, the father and creator of ’emphemeralism’, lives and works in Milan, Italy. For years he worked, never questioning his motives or purpose in his creations or describing himself as an artist. As he began to dig deeper into the nature of his work it became clear that there was no perfect genre for his pieces to fit into – he uses both urban inclination, which is typical street art and a expressive process, which draws inspiration from the classical conceptual and perfomative arts. This is why he invented ephemeralism – for the purpose of producing works of art that must exist briefly in space but endlessly through photography, video, and media. Since the beginning of his journey Fra.Biancoshock has realized more than 450 works in the streets of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Malaysia and Singapore.

MARTIN WHATSON

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Martin Whatson. Nuart 2013. Stavanger, Norway. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Norwegian born and based stencil artist Martin Whatson studied Art and Graphic Design at Westerdals School of Communication in Oslo. It was here he discovered stencils and the sprawling urban art scene. Being previously interested in graffiti and the development of street art he started his own production in 2004. In his work Martin Whatson searches for beauty in the easily dismissed, things that are commonly thought of as ugly, out of style or left behind. He has an interest for decay that manifests itself as inspiration from landscapes, older buildings, or soon to be demolished compounds. In this combination of contemporary versus decrepit he develops a unique style in creating either unity or conflict between materials and motives – like a wrinkled old lady on a shiny plate of aluminum. In the beginning he found inspiration from political backdrops, inspired by DOLK and Banksy, but since has found a more aesthetic and subtle taste.

MATHIEU TREMBLIN

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Mathieu Tremblin (photo Courtesy NUART)

Mathieu Tremblin has a conceptual yet playful expression to his works. The French artist works under his concept of “Tag Clouds” where Tremblin re-makes tagged walls and areas by redesigning the names into fonts that are easily lebigle for the average viewer. His work mimics watermarks, that is, graphics to prevent image counterfeiting, by painting his fonts onto walls that are already tagged. By doing this he balances preserving the artist’s original intent, which is getting your mark out there, and cultivating it by forming a new aesthetic and quick to understand graphic representation.

STRØK

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Strøk (photo Courtesy NUART)

Strøk is a Norwegian stencil artist that works dualistically under his own name, Anders Gjennestad, for studio work and Strøk for street work. He was born in Arendal in 1980 and currently splits his time between Oslo and Berlin. His stencils have incredible detail and through the multiple layers achieve a photorealistic representation that questions both our perception and perspective concurrently; His figures float across the walls  in a world where time is standing still. Strøk’s characters are often at play with the environment in which they are placed, carefully hung along rusted metal and decimated plaster or the decaying ruins of factory walls – He obviously has a love of tactile material. There is a sensation that his figures are in mid-movement, caught in a timeless moment between actions, and the tension this creates to the viewer creates an intimate experience not often found in the vast world of street art today.

JOHN FEKNER

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John Fekner (photo Courtesy NUART)

John Fekner was ‘anonymously known’ in the 1970s for several hundred environmentally conceptual works consisting of words, symbols, and dates spray painted throughout the five boroughs of New York. These “Warning Signs” pointed out hazards and dangerous conditions that overtook New York City and its environment in the 70s. The project expanded into 1977 where Fekner created “Word-Signs”. Through hand cut cardboard stencils and spray paint he began a crusade that was tirelessly concerned with environmental and social issues. In the industrial streets of Queens and the East River bridges he began and continued to the South Bronx as late as 1980. His “messages” brought awareness to areas that were in desperate need of attention, whether through demolition or repairs. His labelization of these structures brought emphasis to the problems, where the objective was a shout to the authorities, agencies, and local communities to, above all, take action.

DOTDOTDOT

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Dot Dot Dot (photo Courtesy NUART)

Dot Dot Dot is a pseudonym for an anonymous stencil artist from Norway. Following in the footsteps of Banksy and those before him, Dot Dot Dot prefers to remain anonymous. This is possibly due to both his long career in graffiti as well as the allure of mystery. What we do understand is that his prolific career started in 1997 in Oslo, where he was born. He has since operated under many pseudonyms but settled on Dot Dot Dot after succesfully shifting to a more conceptual and figurative style. He began focusing primarily on stencil work in 2007 and has gained notoriety in Norway for being one of the country’s leading street artists.

ETAM CRU

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Etam Cru (photo Courtesy NUART)

Etam Cru is the polish artistic duo of Sainer and Bezt working together, equally, on everything from street art murals to more classical fine art oil paintings on canvas. They both graduated from the Fine Arts in Lodz and have since worked succesfully both separately and as a crew. Their phenomenal, illustrative large-scale murals can be seen all around the world.

ICY & SOT

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Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy and Sot are two brother stencil artists from Tabriz Iran who currently reside in Brooklyn, NY. Since 2006 they have continued on their mission to break down pre-conceived notions of a fleeting Iranian tradition through their striking stencil artwork.  They have made awe-inspiring headway creating international buzz by any means necessary, both as skaters and artists, highlighting peace, war, society issues and human rights. The duo has done outdoor pieces in the streets of Iran, Turkey, Paris, San Francisco, New York and more as well as several exhibitions.

LEVALET

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Levalet (photo Courtesy NUART)

French artist Levalet is best known for his life-sized ink drawings of human figures displayed around urban spaces which often utilize real objects such as books, umbrellas, cloth and, of course, natural objects from the chosen site for that particular piece. The French artist drafts and completes them first in his studio before heading to paste them onto walls strewn across the urban landscape.

SPY

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Spy (photo Courtesy NUART)

Spy is a modern day surrealist who intervenes in urban environments. The Spanish artist transforms our perspetive of the everyday by replacing objects found in the public space. He does this by, for example, rearranging the existing layout of a site and swapping objects that do and don’t belong, and therefore challenges us to rearrange our own definition of normality and make us aware of how our perception defines our world. Through context, or lack of, he suggests new perspectives.

TILT

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Tilt (photo Courtesy NUART)

Tilt, originally from Toulouse in South France, is an internationally recognized traditional graffiti artist. From a young age he learned his trade on the streets and on the trains. It was during this time he did his first tags on skateboards ramps in 1988 and has since come to define himself as a ‘graffiti fetishist’. The career that followed has been nourished by extensive travel. His inspirational journeys have seen Tilt leave his mark, whether through exhibitions or street pieces, as far and wide as the U.S.A,  Hong Kong, Japan, Mexico, Thailand, Australia, India, New Zealand, Laos, Taiwan, China, Canada, Phillipines, Indonesia, and more than 12 countries in Europe alone.

M-CITY

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M-City (photo © Jaime Rojo)

M-City, otherwise known as Mariusz Waras, is a Polish artist revered for his industrial, large-scale murals. M-City has worked on walls all around the world, including several trips to Nuart’s previous events and projects. One of Poland’s best known artists, his work involves hundreds of preciously cut stencils being pieced together to create an imagined cityscape filled to the brim with mechanical and industrial objects. His work is motivated by industrial areas and their surroundings where he takes inspiration from the factories, chimneys, cranes, hydroelectric plants, and other mechanized beasts that dominated his native town and childhood. His work is known to scale up to 85 meters long.

MAISMENOS

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Maismenos (photo Courtesy NUART)

Viral, direct, incisive. ± (2005) is a unique project that intervenes in current social structures by reflecting on models of politics as well as social and economical organizations that dictate life. It begs us to question, above anything else, the social implications and consequences resulting from these structures, displaying programmatic expression streamlined to an equation of simplicity and opposites: black/white, positive/negative, more/less.

NUART FESTIVAL 2014

Opening date:
06.09 at 19:00

Exhibition period, Tou Scene:
07.09 – 10.12

Opening hours:
Wednesday – Friday 12.00 to 17.00
Saturdays and Sundays from 11.00 to 16.00
Closed Monday and Tuesday

NUART PLUS 2014 – PROGRAM

This year’s Nuart Plus program will tackle the two ends of the street art-continuum, namely “safe murals” on the one hand and street art and activism on the other. While activism was an essential part of the early street art scene, we have over the last decade or so seen a gradual gravitation towards council- and sponsor approved safe murals as the dominant form of street art.  Is this a development we should embrace as a natural development of the scene, or should it be vigorously contested? Do artists approach street art differently if they are doing legal, versus illegal work? Do artworks that are perceived as unsanctioned engage the viewer in a different way than art that are perceived as sanctioned? Are safe-murals and activist street art complements where the development of one reinforce the other, or are they substitutes that repress one another?

Over three days, the Nuart Plus-program will dig into these- and other exiting questions related to muralism, activism, and the tension between the two. By doing so, we hope to stimulate both audience and participants to reflect around which end of the continuum we believe street art should gravitate towards in the future, or if the scene really need to gravitate anywhere at all.

 

Thursday  4th of September

21.00  FIGHT CLUB A.K.A. THE PUB DEBATE: Muralism vs. Activism: A Tag Team Battle

Team Captains, Evan Pricco (Juxtapoz Magazine) arguing on behalf of the contemporary mural art movement and writer Carlo McCormick, accusing in the name of activist art, will battle to inebriation as to which is the more valid public art form. Team Pricco will argue that the contemporary mural movement will undoubtedly have support from corporate interests because art is at its most popular, and that certain financial support is not a bad thing. Team McCormick will fight on behalf of the activist art, that the true nature of activist muralism is without corporate or institutional interest.

It may not be pretty, and it may not even make much sense, but in the end it will settle, once and for all, who indeed creates the true people’s art- those who make great paintings that edify the masses, or those who prefer to prod and provoke them to awareness.

In the spirit of collaboration, and the bloodlust of competition, Pricco and McCormick will assemble consensus-opinion based teams made up of artists, fellow critics, the citizens of Stavanger, or just people in the bar drunk enough to have already made up their minds. This pub debate promises to be the most uncompromising of all culture wars.

Friday 5th of September

12.15-15.30  SEMINAR DAY 1: MURALISM

12.15-12.20 Welcome and Introduction

12.20-13.00 Andreco: Artist Presentation

13.15-13.50 Peter Bengtsen: “Street art, murals and public space as a site of exploration

13.55-14.30 RJ Rushmore: “Art Ignites Change: Infiltrating the System to Promote Social Justice”

14.45-15.30 Panel
Moderator: Evan Pricco
Panelists: Andreco, Peter Bengtsen, RJ Rushmore, Jaime Rojo

 

16.00   FILM SCREENING:  CIDADE CINZA
The Scandinavian premiere of “Cidade Cinza”.                                                       

Synopsis: A new way of painting graffiti was born in Sao Paulo. Hip hop was replaced by Brazilian regional culture and OsGemeos’ crew works were spread to galleries around the world. However, a new visual pollution combat act made the City Hall cover their paintings in grey in their hometown.

 

19.00 BSA Film Friday LIVE

Short form video as a medium for storytelling is becoming more prevalent and important across all media and digital platforms today and BSA celebrates it every Friday with Street Art and graffit-inspired videos from many angles and many countries. Join Steve and Jaime from BSA and special guest RJ Rushmore from Vandalog as we explore some of the major themes that are being addressed today, some of most popular videos and our personal picks in this entertaining and educational show.

Saturday 6th of September

12.15-15.30 SEMINAR DAY 2: STREET ART AND ACTIVISM

12.15-12.20 Welcome and Introduction

12.20-12.55 John Fekner: “Being There There Being”

13.00-13.20 Maismenos: Artist Presentation

13.30-14.05 Carlo McCormick : “The Torn-Off Head Stuck in the Hatch of a Sewer Drain, or the Occupation and Negation of Public Space”

14.10-14.45 Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo : “#activism on the Street Now”

Taking a cue from the techniques of the earlier generations of subverters and culture jammers, many of today’s Street Artists are combining the language and techniques of advertising and media to effectively advocate for a cause.  Others are doing it one small handmade piece at a time. Personal or global, activism and Street Art are alive and well and Harrington and Rojo give a multimedia sampling of the opinions being expressed.

15.00-15.45 Panel
Moderator: RJ Rushmore
Panelists:  Maismenos, Steven P. Harrington, Carlo McCormick, Mathieu Tremblin

 

12.00-15.00 WORKSHOP WITH ICY AND SOT

The two Iranian brothers Icy and Sot is invited to join Nuart Festival this year to make an artwork, but this Saturday they’re taking some hours off to teach children of all ages how to make a stencil piece from scratch.

 

15.45-17.00 STREET ART TOUR (meeting spot: Rogaland Kunstsenter)

Our talented Nuart guides talk about the artists, the ideas behind the artworks and other fun facts from the festival and working with street art. Displays artworks so fresh that the paint is hardly dry. Let’s just hope they’re done… Come join us and be the first to see what new artworks Stavanger has received in 2014!

16.oo FILM SCREENING:  CIDADE CINZA
Synopsis: A new way of painting graffiti was born in Sao Paulo. Hip hop was replaced by Brazilian regional culture and OsGemeos’ crew works were spread to galleries around the world. However, a new visual pollution combat act made the City Hall cover their paintings in grey in their hometown.

19.00 NUART-EXHIBITION OPENING (venue: Tou Scene)

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“The City As Canvas” Opens with the Collection of Martin Wong

“The City As Canvas” Opens with the Collection of Martin Wong

Last night the graffiti and early Street Art history from New York’s 1970s and 80s was celebrated by the City of New York – at least in its museum. Criminals and outlaws then, art stars and legends today, many of the aerosol actors and their documentarians were on display and discussed over white wine under warm, forgiving, indirect lighting.

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DAZE in the background sliced by a wall of cans at the opening of “The City As Canvas” (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

“City as Canvas: New York City Graffiti From the Martin Wong Collection” is an exhibition as well as a book released last fall written by Carlo McCormick and Sean Corcoran, with contributions by Lee Quinones, Sacha Jenkins and Christopher Daze Ellis, and all the aforementioned were in attendance. Also spotted were artists, photographers, curators, writers (both kinds), art dealers, historians, family, friends, peers and loyal fans – naturally most fell into a few of these categories at the same time.

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“The City As Canvas” exhibition at Museum of the City of New York welcome text with pieces by Futura 2000 and Zephyr to the right. (photo via iPhone © Steven P. Harrington)

“City as Canvas” is possible thanks to the foresight, eye, and wallet of collector Martin Wong, an openly gay Chinese-American artist transplanted to New York from San Francisco, which is remarkable not only because of the rampant homophobia and near hysterical AIDS phobia at the time he was collecting but because the graffiti / Street Art scene even today throws the term “fag” around pretty easily. A trained ceramacist and painter whose professional work has gained in recognition since his death of AIDS related complications in 1999, Wong is said to have met and befriended a great number of New York graffiti artists like Lady Pink, LEE, DAZE and Futura 2000, who were picking up art supplies where he worked at the Pearl Paint store – a four story holy place on Canal Street that thrived at that time.

 Brooklyn-Street-Art-Sharp-Paints-a-Picture-copyright-Martin_WongThe show contains black books full of tags and drawings as well as canvasses and mixed media Wong purchased, commissioned, and painted, including a portrait of graffiti artist Sharp wearing a respirator and standing before a canvas he’s working on entitled Sharp Paints a Picture (1997-98).

The mood at the museum was celebratory as guests looked at the 140+ works from Wong’s collection; a cross between an art opening and a graffiti trade show, with enthusiastic peers and fans waiting patiently to speak with, pose for pictures with, and gain autographs or tags in their black books from artists in attendance. The only officers that could be seen were holding back the line of guests to make sure there was no overcrowding of the exhibit.

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The famous Martha Cooper photograph of Dondi in action in the train yards. “The City As Canvas” exhibition at Museum of the City of New York. (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

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A Keith Haring and LA2 collaboration at “The City As Canvas” exhibition at Museum of the City of New York. (photo via iPhone © Steven P. Harrington)

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Artist LA2 with Ramona “The City As Canvas” (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

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Keith Haring (Smiling Face) from 1982 at “The City As Canvas” exhibition at Museum of the City of New York. (photo via iPhone © Steven P. Harrington)

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Lee Quiñones speaking with a never ending stream of fans before his canvas Howard the Duck, 1988, at “The City As Canvas” (photo via iPhone © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Henry-Chalfant-Lee-train-Martin-Wong-Collection-copyright-MCNY-Feb2014

Digital prints of images shot by photographer Henry Chalfant brought the trains alive. On top is an image of a train with Sharp/Delta 2 from 1981 and below is “Stop the Bomb” by LEE (Quiñones), 1979 at “The City As Canvas” exhibition at Museum of the City of New York. (photo via iPhone © Steven P. Harrington)

 

 

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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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Carlo McCormick at Nuart 2012

One of the best parts about a celebration of Street Art culture like Nuart in Norway is that there sometimes is an opportunity to speak with and listen to people who make it their mission to put it into context. New York art critic, curator, editor, and writer Carlo McCormick has an exhaustive knowledge and enthusiasm for the scene that evolved on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 1970s and 80s concurrently with the evolution of graffiti into a celebrated art form.  As Street Art continues apace, having perspective on some of its precursors is imperative and McCormick knows how to bring it alive.

An moment of elation with Carlo McCormick while he addresses the Nuart audience in his keynote presentation Re:mark. (image still © Nuart 2012)

To hang out with Carlo on the street is a joy because he can ground your current observations with his knowledge of their antecedents and yet become as equally appreciative of the new artists on todays’ scene whom he hasn’t heard of.  During this talk he gave this year at Nuart in a very conversational somewhat meandering unscripted way, Carlo reveals the mindset that is necessary to keep your eyes open and appreciative of the new stuff without feeling territorial or enslaved to the past. We appreciate him because he recognizes that the march of graffiti, street art, public art, and it’s ever splintering subsets is part of a greater evolutionary tale that began before us and will continue after us.

Carlo speaks about New York artist Haze and the distinct parallels between corporate branding with the practice of developing and distilling one’s tag for repetition on the street.  (image still © Nuart 2012)

Carlo at ease, conversing with you. (image still © Nuart 2012)

During his presentation McCormick dedicates a significant portion of his remarks to the historical practice of subverting advertising and official forms of messaging – referring to the Situationists, “détournement” and similar methods of playing with perception and turning it on it’s head. Here is an uncredited image from his presentation of a Times Square scene where artist Yoko Ono’s billboard toyed with the perceptions that the Vietnam war was inevitably unending while also alerting a compliant citizenry to it’s role in the matter. (image still © Nuart 2012)

“As I do my best as a really bad scholar to investigate this history of graffiti and mark-making – kind of prior to the official history – the greatest evidence that I find of stuff is in the real canon of fine art photography. Just about every famous photographer turned – I mean it’s not incidental – turned their attention to this illicit anonymous practice., ” Carlo McCormick at Nuart.

 

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“NUART 2012” International Street Art Catalysts in Norway

“By far the best exhibition we’ve yet created,” says Martyn Reed, organizer of the Nuart 2012 street art festival as it draws to a close in Stavanger, Norway.  What’s left after two weeks of painting, panel discussions, and parties stands on it own; The Art.

On old factory buildings, bricked stairways, in labyrinthine tunnels, and hanging on gallery walls, the city itself has welcomed international Street Artists to do these installations over the last decade and the funding for the events, artists, and materials are largely contributed to from public grants.

It’s a stunning model of arts funding that we’d like to see more of; one that is sophisticated enough to make behavioral and aesthetic distinctions and that is appreciative of the positive contributions of Street Art to the contemporary art canon. Here is one model that recognizes the importance of art in the streets as something necessary, valued. And the city of Stavanger keeps inviting a varied mix of well-known names and newcomers who show promise year after year.

Ben Eine (photo © Ian Cox)

At some point during the panel discussions at Nuart Plus this year there was talk about the dulling effect that the growing popularity of Street Art festivals specifically and sanctioned public art generally can sometimes have on the finished pieces. Certainly we are all familiar with those brain-deadening community murals of yesteryear that include lots of diversity, droning morality lectures and cute ducks. But we think the right balance of currency, community, and unchecked creativity can often catalyze great results, and smart people will know how to help keep it fresh.

Another topic discussed this year, at least in part based on our 2011 essay “Freed from the Wall, Street Art Travels the World”, which we wrote for Nuart’s “Eloquent Vandals” book, is the game-changing influence that the Internet continues to have on the Street Art movement itself.  Considering that in the last year alone we have shown you art in the streets instantly from Paris, Iceland, Istanbul, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Panama, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Copenhagen, London, Sweden, Atlanta, Bristol, Baltimore, Boston, Berlin, Beijing, Brooklyn and about 25 other cities on five continents, we think it’s worth quoting the intro from that essay; “The Internet and the increasing mobility of digital media are playing an integral role in the evolution of Street Art, a revolution in communication effectively transforming it into the first global people’s art movement.”

Aakash Nihalani (photo © Ian Cox)

Solidly, Stavanger took a lead in the Street Art festival arena early and is still setting standards for high quality as an integrated cultural event without compromising integrity with so-called ‘lifestyle’ branding. These images from 2012 show just a sampler of the many directions that Street Art is taking us, with traditional graffiti and letter-based influences and new overlays of 20th century fine art modernism keeping the scene unpredictable and vibrantly alive. Nuart artists this year included Aakash Nihalani (US), Dolk (Norway), Eine (UK), Ron English (US), Saber (US), Sickboy (UK), Mobster (UK), HowNosm (US), Niels Shoe Meulman (NL), Joran Seiler (US), and The Wa (France).

Thanks to Ian Cox for sharing these images, some exclusive and some previously published.

Aakash Nihalani installing a piece on the street. (photo © Ian Cox)

Sickboy takes in his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Saber at work. (photo © Ian Cox)

Saber (photo © Ian Cox)

How & Nosm (photo © Ian Cox)

How & Nosm (photo © Ian Cox)

How & Nosm (photo © Ian Cox)

Jordan Seiler (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr takes in the wall. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr makes MOM proud. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr indoor installation. Detail. (photo © Ian Cox)

Mobstr makes friends with the notoriously wet climate in Stavanger. (photo © Ian Cox)

Ron English at work on his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Niels Shoe Muelman working on his indoor installation. (photo © Ian Cox)

Niels Show Muelman (photo © Ian Cox)

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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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NUART FESTIVAL Presents: Nuart 2012 (Stavanger, Norway)

Nuart 2012

NUART FESTIVAL 2012 . STAVANGER NORWAY
“The best street art festival in the world”  September 29 – November 18

AAKASH NIHALANI (US), DOLK (NO), EINE (UK), RON ENGLISH (US), SABER (US),HOWNOSM (US), MOBSTR (UK) NIELS SHOW MEULMAN (NL), JORDAN SEILER (US), THE WA (FR), SICKBOY (UK)

Now in its 12th ground-breaking year, Nuart 2012 – the annual contemporary street and urban art festival based in Stavanger, Norway –is set to be the biggest yet. An invited international team of street artists will take to the streets of Stavanger from September 20 – with an indoor show running at Tou Scene from 29 September to 19 November. The likes of Ron English and Ben Eine will leave their mark on the city’s walls, both indoor and out, creating one of Europe’s most dynamic and constantly evolving public art events. Known as ‘the Cannes’ festival of street art, Nuart’s works are exposed to over 100 000 people each week – including some of the most talented, insightful and connected individuals in the urban art world. 2012 sees the event set to attract record numbers as the festival begins to go global, with the additional Nuart Plus summit – running from 27-29 September – bringing global professionals and experts in the field together to discuss and explore this un-stoppable movement in contemporary art.

Fromthe billboard hijacking activism of Ron English (US) and Jordan Seiler (US) to The Wa’s (FR) playful urban interventions, from Saber’s (US) uncompromising stance on the positive power of Graffiti to Aakash Nihalani’s (US) more concise and conceptual use of coloured tape, Nuart 2012 has brought together an unlikely group of “festival” artists, whose diverse work and methods offer an authentic reflection on the real practice of Street Art. The UK’s globetrotting, ‘Obama gift-giving’, Eine and LA’s HowNosm are sure to set the standard for large breathtaking murals, whilst Dolk – Norway’s finest exponent of the genre popularised by Banksy – will produce some of his iconic stencil-work. Alongside the character driven graffiti of Sickboy (UK), the calligraphiti of Amsterdam’s Niels Shoe Meulman and the text driven Mobstr (UK), Nuart is set to create an explosion of – ‘mostly legal’ –  works, both inside, and out. Nuart 2012 sees a conscious shift away from the “acceptable” face of Street Art that has become favoured by councils and municipalities around the world. Recognising that there is a danger of this vibrant culture becoming sanitised by a surfeit of oversized legal murals Nuart 2012 will continue to take to the streets in new and more illicit ways. Alongside it’s exhibition at Tou Scene – which will host over half a kilometre of works along its 19th century tunnels – outdoor landmarks and un-missable billboards will be re-envisioned as subversive pieces of striking art. And if this isn’t enough to excite you, sister festival Numusic will be providing the weekend’s entertainment, with the likes of Mad Professor, The Orb, Lindstrøm, and many more performing. Nuart is set to break more than just boundaries in 2012 – will you be there?

The private view of the newly finished works will be held on the opening night:  Saturday September 29.

Nuart Plus: Sept 27-29:
Three days of key note talks and presentations, panel debates with visiting artists and related .
Film premieres. Ron English presents the Documentary ‘Popoganda’.

Sept 29-Nov 18
Nuart Opening (Indoors). Tou Scene
Nuart once again occupies this 19th Century Brewery Complex turned arts centre nestled on the coast of the Norwegian Fjords. These seven abandoned tunnels, offer over half a kilometre of wall space, and although an indoor space, it still retains the rough and ready urban elements we’re used to. Each single tunnel, at 15 x 15 x 5 metres is larger than the cities main commercial gallery space. With a fore-hall for group works and collaborations and an interlocking tunnel measuring over 40 metres long, this vast space is ideal for experiencing the best that Street Art has to offer.

Education
This years exhibition will be open 6 days a week for 6 weeks and with regional council support, will be host to over 3000 of the city’s high school students, Nuart being favoured over the city museum to extend the students horizons. That’s right. It will be compulsory to attend.

Sept 27-
International Guest speakers include
Carlo McCormick (US), Editor of the influential Paper Magazine, author, curator and renowned cultural critic.
Tristan Manco (UK), Author of several highly respected books on Street Art, co-organiser of cans Festival and curator for Pictures on Walls
Elisa Carmichael (US), Recently listed as one of the 30 under 30 art professionals to watch by the influential artinfo, Curator and co-owner of LA’s Carmichael gallery and founder and editor of the Internationally distributed art magazine The Art Street Journal
Rj Rushmore (US). Founder and writer for one of the worlds leading Street Art blogs, Vandalog
Evan Pricco (US), Managing editor of world leading  art magazine Juxtapoz.

Nuart specialises in showcasing work born out of urban creativity; we pride ourselves on giving a voice to artists and movements that are under-represented in mainstream cultural life, though widely acclaimed internationally.

Nuart’s street work begins Sept 20th
Nuart Plus “International Street Art conference” begins 27 September.
Nuart’s main exhibition opens 29 September.
The exhibition will be open 6 days a week and run for a full six weeks until Nov 18th .

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Fun Friday 08.10.12

Happy hot sticky Friday live from New York! Lots of cool stuff on the street and in the exhibition spaces this weekend – just bring a water bottle. Here are some of our picks for you on BSA.

1. Détournement, Carlo McCormick at Jonathan Levine (NYC)
2. Chris Stain and Joe Iurato at Mighty Tanaka (BKLN)
3. Peeta Solo at ArTicks (Amsterdam)
4. “You & Me” – Low Brow’s Second Group Show (BKLN)
5. Miss Van at Copro Gallery “Wild at Heart” (Santa Monica)
6. Part2Ism “New Horizons & Future Love Songs” at Red Gallery (London)
7. “Who’z Got Game!” ? at Sacred Gallery (NYC)
8. Numskull ,”Dance Like a Video, Sting Like a Gif” at Mishka (BKLN)
9. “Primeveal” group show Carmichael Gallery (LA)
10. Futura Live Painting  (Richmond, VA)
11. KFC Loves The Gays with John Goodman (Video)

 

Détournement, Carlo McCormick at Jonathan Levine (NYC)

Carlo McCormick, Paper Magazine Senior Editor and NYC cultural intuitor, is guest curator at the Jonathan Levine Gallery with a show titled “Détournement: Signs of the Times” Carlo has assembled an interesting list of artists to tell his story with the works of AIKO, Dan Witz, David Wojnarowicz, Dylan Egon, Eine, Ilona Granet, Jack Pierson, John Law (Jack Napier), Leo Fitzpatrick, Mark Flood, Martin Wong, Max Rippon (RIPO), Mike Osterhout, Posterboy, Ron English, Shepard Fairey + Jamie Reid, Steve Powers (ESPO), TrustoCorp, Will Boone and Zevs.

Mining a vein that has been here in front of us all the time, the composition of the selected works reveals a powerful undertone about how we engage and communicate with our artwork, and hi-jack the messaging of others. Says McCormick, “We do not need to follow these signs, we need to make our own so as to find a way out of the mess we are in.”

It’s also one of the few shows that seamlessly blends Street Art and non-street art practices without needing to draw a distinction for its own sake. This show is now open to the public.

Posterboy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Chris Stain and Joe Iurato at Mighty Tanaka (BKLN)

Tonight at Mighty Tanaka Gallery in DUMBO the inevitable pairing of Street Artists Chris Stain and Joe Iurato finally takes place. With a show titled “Deep in the Cut” these two stencil artists will bring the knives out for the love of art and the perfection of their craft. Style and mannerism distinguish the differences between these two, and Stain has been at it much longer with a lot of work on the street, but metaphor and empathy to the human condition is the overlap in these guys work. Grab the F train to DUMBO and come see what new common ground emerges from this combination.

Chris Stain. An old all time favorite on the streets of Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato for Fountain Art Fair 2012 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Peeta Solo at ArTicks (Amsterdam)

Italian Graffiti and Fine Artist Peeta has been writing his tag on walls, trains and many other surfaces since 1993. Like a few of his generation who have been stretching graff style past it’s outer limits and morphing it with abstraction, his work has slowing gelled into it’s own distinctive style. He focuses his lettering and his tag by feeding it through Chinese and Islamic calligraphy as a departure from the traditional Latin and Greek lettering. A collaborator of New Yorks RWK collective, he resides in Venice and tonight opens his solo show in Amsterdam at the ArTicks Gallery.

Peeta in Brooklyn with fellow RWK Chris. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“You & Me” – Low Brow’s Second Group Show (BKLN)

The Low Brow Artique Gallery in Brooklyn has decided to enter the matchmaking business and Saturday their second show titled “You & Me” artfully combines the work of two at a time. While many of these artists have worked collaboratively on the street in the past, crossing freely between sanctioned and unsanctioned Street Art and graffiti, the results of merging their styles and techniques always creates new creatures with the combined DNA. Sometimes it’s a mutt, and sometimes it is purebred brilliance. Artistic couplings here include: Cash4 & Smells, Chris & Veng (RWK), EKG & Dark Clouds, Matt Siren & Fenix, OCMC & This Is Awkward, Royce Bannon & Russell King, and Veng & Sofia Maldonado.

Sofia Maldonado and Veng collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cash4 and Smells collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smells and Cash4 on the streets of Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Miss Van at Copro Gallery “Wild at Heart” (Santa Monica)

Miss Van, the French Street Artist and fine artist has a new solo show “Wild at Heart” in Santa Monica, California this Saturday at the Copro Gallery and the ladies are again strutting their stuff across her rich canvasses. Painting since the age of 18 Miss Van has chosen her appearances carefully while being very active within the smaller pool of female Street Artists, maintaining a continous presence with her unique doll-characters, a rich color palette and plenty of erotica.

Miss Van was included in the now famous “Art in the Streets” exhibition on April 2011 at MoCA Los Angeles.. April 2011. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

Part2Ism has a new solo show “New Horizons & Future Love Songs” at the Red Gallery in London, UK and it is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.

Wanna know “Who’z Got Game!” ? Head over to the Sacred Gallery for this group exhibition opening today in Manhattan. Click here for more details on this show.

Numskull will “Dance Like a Video, Sting Like a Gif” at Mishka tonight in Brooklyn. Click here for more details on this show.

“Primeveal” a group exhibition including Emol, Stinkfish and Zio Ziegler opens tomorrow night at the Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, CA. Click here for more details on this show.

Futura will paint live in Richmond, Virginia this Saturday.

Screen Shot from Futura’s Hennessy NYC Video.

Master Graffiti Artist and fine artist Leonard “FUTURA” is touring the country to promote this project with a spirit maker and this Friday he will stop in Richmond, Virgina where he will paint live on a canvas inside the ABC Store located at 101 North Thompson Street. The live painting will commence at 2:00 pm.  It is a rare opportunity to catch Futura in action.

A recent ad featuring Futura for this campaign (not a sponsor)

KFC Loves The Gays with John Goodman

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