All posts tagged: EKUNDAYO

Street Art in Honolulu as Pow! Wow! Hawaii Enters Fifth Year

Street Art in Honolulu as Pow! Wow! Hawaii Enters Fifth Year

December 4, 2013

Before the year wraps we wanted to take a look at images from Pow! Wow! Hawaii as it enters its fifth year with a collection of images recently captured in Honolulu where it happens.

Begun by founder Jasper Wong in Hong Kong, Pow! Wow! Hawaii is a non-profit gathering in his hometown that he co-produces with another artist named Kamea Hadar. In a promo video for the festival Wong says that the festival is about “beautifying a neighborhood, changing a neighborhood through art”.

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Rone and Wonder spell it out in their largest collaboration to date. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

A criticism of street art festivals often leveled has been that the stars of the international circuit overpower the local tastes or are somehow insensitive to them, and the hip doesn’t always respect the homegrown.

Pow! Wow! Hawaii steadily avoids that criticism by including local community throughout open participatory events and it makes sure to include artists who work with traditional motifs and values in their pieces, bringing indigenous cultures into the mix in a meaningful way.

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Woes, Meggs, Peap, Tarr, Mr. Jago and Will Barras (photo © Yoav Litvin)

Since the rich pop colors of the modern age are also the visual lengua materna for these Street Artists and graffiti artists, it is common to see figures and patterns from the past updated with punch. The waterside commercial neighborhood along the southern shores of the island of Oʻahu is called Kaka’ako and the name itself has inspired some of the artists to include it in their pieces.

Recently photographer Yoav Litvin took a trip to the neighborhood where Pow! Wow! takes place and we bring you some of the images from Honolulu to get a taste the work that has been left there by an estimated 100 artists since 2010.

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Faith 47 (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Askew pays tribute to the Tuhoe Iwi and references the time of the Treaty of Waitangi (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Nychos and Jeff Soto (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Scribe (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Roids and Madsteez punch up the color when paying tribute to King Kalakua. (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Dal East (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Ekundayo (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Kamea Hadar and Rone (photo © Yoav Litvin)

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Eddie Colla (photo © Yoav Litvin)

From the website:

“Centered around a week-long event in Hawaii, POW! WOW! has grown into a global network of artists and organizes gallery shows, lecture series, schools for art and music, mural projects, a large creative space named Lana Lane Studios, concerts, and live art installations across the globe. The central event takes place during Valentine’s Day week in February in the Kaka’ako district of Honolulu, and brings over a hundred international and local artist together to create murals and other forms of art.”

For more about Pow! Wow! Hawaii click HERE

 

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“Wall & Frames”, Today’s Street Artists, Tomorrow’s Masters

December 10, 2011

There is an uneasy reluctance among some artists in the graffiti and the Street Art community to let themselves be seen hanging with art collectors or even entering galleries sometimes because they might lose credibility among peers for not being ‘street’ enough. Seeing well manicured men in pinstripes and shrieking birdberry women with tinted/straightened/plumped everything looking at your shit hanging on a wall and asking vaguely patronizing questions about it like you are an exquisite curiosity could make you go out and slice their tires after downing a few white wines.  Not surprisingly, “keeping it real” sometimes translates to keeping it out of private collections.

Even as there is an every-growing recognition of art and artists who work sometimes illegally in the street, it’s a sort of high-wire act for anyone associating with art born in margins, mainly because it forces one to face the fact that we marginalize.

Sociological considerations aside, over the last decade there is a less traditional definition of Street Artist entering the fray. The graffiti scene originally boasted a sort of grassroots uprising by the voiceless and economically disempowered, with a couple of art school kids and the occasional high-minded conceptualist to mix things up. It’s all changed of course – for myriad reasons – and art in the streets takes every form, medium, and background. Now we see fully formed artists with dazzling gallery careers bombing right next to first time Krinks writers, graffiti writers changing gears and doing carefully rendered figurative work, corporations trying their hand at culture jamming (which isn’t a stretch), and all manner of Street Art referred to as an “installation”.

A new book by Maximiliano Ruiz called “Walls & Frames”, just released last month by Gestalten, presents a large collection of artists who have traversed the now permeable definitions of “street”, gallery, collector and museum. Admittedly, this may be a brief period of popularity for Street Art, if the 1980s romance with graffiti is any indication, but there is evidence that it will endure in some form.  This time one defining difference is that many artists have already developed skill, technique, and a fan base. Clearly the street has become a venue, a laboratory for testing and working out new ideas and techniques by fine artists, and even a valued platform for marketing oneself to a wider audience.

A spread of work by Conor Harrington in “Walls and Frames”.

The resulting work, whether hanging on a nail inside or painted on a street wall, challenges our previously defined boundaries. The current crop of street art stars and debutantes, many of the strongest whom are collected here by Ruiz, continue to stay connected with the energy of the street regardless of their trajectory elsewhere. Some are relatively new, while others have been evolving their practice since the 70s, with all the players sliding in and off the street over time. The rich and varied international collection is remarkable and leaves you wanting to see more work by many of the artists. All considered, “Wall and Frames” is a gorgeously produced book giving ample evidence that many of today’s artists in the streets are tomorrow’s masters, wherever they practice.

Augustine Kofie in “Walls and Frames”.

 

Sixe in “Walls and Frames”.

Remed in “Walls and Frames”.

Anthony Lister in “Walls and Frames”.

Judith Supine in “Walls and Frames”.

Alexandros Vasmoulakis in “Walls and Frames”.

D*Face in “Walls and Frames”.

Interesni Kazki in “Walls and Frames”.

Jorge Rodriguez Gerada in “Walls and Frames”.

M-City in “Walls and Frames”.

 All images © of and courtesy of Gestalten and Maximiliano Ruiz.

Artists included are Aaron Noble, AJ Fosik, Alexandre Farto aka Vhils, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Alëxone Dizac, Amose, Andrew McAttee, Anthony Lister, Antony Micallef, Axel Void, Basco-Vazko, Base 23, Ben Frost, Blek le Rat, Bom-K, Boris Hoppek, Boxi, C215, Cekis, Conor Harrington, D*Face, Dan Witz, Daniel Muñoz aka San, Dave Kinsey, Der, Dixon, Docteur Gecko, Doze Green, Dran, Duncan Jago aka Mr. Jago, Eine, Ekundayo, El Mac, Evan Roth, Evol, Faile, Faith 47, Fefe Talavera, Gaia, George Morton-Clark, Herakut, Herbert Baglione, Interesni Kazki, Jaybo, Jeff Soto, Jeremy Fish, Jesse Hazelip, Johnny “KMNDZ” Rodriguez, Joram Roukes, Jorge Rodriguez Gerada, Josh Keyes, JR, Judith Supine, Katrin Fridriks, Kevin Cyr, Kofie, L’Atlas, Lightgraff, Logan Hicks, Ludo, M-City, Mark Jenkins, Mark Whalen aka Kill Pixie, Maya Hayuk, Medo & Demência, Meggs, Miss Bugs, Miss Van, Morten Andersen aka M2theA, Mr. Kern, Mudwig, Nicholas Di Genova, Okuda, Patrick Evoke, Paul Insect, Pedro Matos, Peter Owen, Pose, Pure Evil, Remed, Remi/Roughe, René Almanza, Retna, Ripo, Ródez, Sam3, Sat One, Shepard Fairey, Sixe, Smash 137, Sowat, Sten & Lex, Stephan Doitschinoff, Tec, Tilt, Troy Lovegates aka Other, Turf One, Vitché;, Wendell McShine, Will Barras, and Zosen.

 

The launch; “Walls & Frames” will be presented at Gestalten Space Berlin on December 15th.

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Think Space Gallery Presents: Ekundayo and Brett Armory New Paintings (Culver City L.A.)

June 3, 2010 , , , , ,

Think Space Gallery

Ekundayo Image Courtesy Think Space Gallery

Ekundayo Image Courtesy Think Space Gallery

Thinkspace presents:

Main Gallery:

‘Joy Today Jeopardy Tomorrow’

New paintings, drawings and an installation from Ekundayo

Project Room:

‘The Waiting Room’

New paintings from Brett Amory

Opening Reception:

Fri, June 11th 7-10PM with both artists in attendance

The Crepe’n Around Truck will be out during the opening reception – be sure to bring your appetite!

Both exhibitions on view: June 11th – July 2nd

(Los Angeles) Thinkspace is excited to welcome back Los Angeles based artist Ekundayo for his second solo show with our gallery. Also taking place at the same time in our project room will be the debut Los Angeles solo show from San Francisco based Brett Amory.

‘Joy Today Jeopardy Tomorrow’ is an exhibition about the beautiful struggle we all face of reaching for our dreams, in hopes of guiding our own destiny. Whether we succeed or fail is not important, as long as it’s on our own terms. Ekundayo’s work illustrates the sacrifices we make in the pursuit of fulfillment, while simultaneously questioning the actions taken to attain this ‘fulfillment’ we all seek. A great deal of inspiration for this new body of work has come from the life of Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr., an African nationalist who during the 1920’s had a vision to bring his people from all over the world to a higher level of  conciseness in regards to where they come from and how they provided for themselves. Although Garvey failed in his ultimate goal of having a fleet of steamships fairing people from all over the world to Africa in-order to connect them to their origins, he left a legacy behind that continues to inspire countless others.

When looking at the work you get a sense of an inner struggle with the central figures being anchored by a large burden, while at the same time appearing weightless, as if suspended in moments of relief. A sort of “misshapen beauty” which speaks to the imperfections and vices found within all of us. Ekundayo’s pieces are handled with a deliberate sensitivity, framed by moments of very loose, almost sporadic applications of paint, which help to give the finished works a sense of inadvertence, that in turn serve as a testament to the artist’s intent.

In our project room we welcome Brett Amory. His painting series entitled “Waiting” depicts the urban individual’s yearning for presence and the seeming impossibility of attaining it. The paintings portray commuters in transit immersed in either a quiet, even hopeful state or, alternately, a state of anguish due to unfulfilled anticipation.

At first, the series, begun in 2001, depicted travelers waiting underground. But as the paintings evolved, the people ceased to be exclusively travelers, and began to emphasize figures selected from anonymous snaphots of city streets taken by the artist during his travels. Although the experience of waiting remains, the perception of it has changed from one of mundane task to one leavened with transcendence.

The series has also charted the evolution of an artist—the reductive elements of the compositions provide an outward echo of the inner states of the figures.  By reducing the elements of the painting as far as possible, a frozen moment is extended.

Lastly, Amory has developed favored motifs in the series, a kind of visual music, such as repetition of a human image, to show not only the passage of time but of the human being through it.

In our main gallery space::

Ekundayo

‘Joy Today Jeopardy Tomorrow’

Ekundayo (Dayo) was born in Honolulu, Hi, in 1983 where he lived with his mother and father until the age of five when his mother and father could no longer get along. Ekundayo’s father snuck him out of the state without his mother’s knowledge, and for seven years Ekundayo and his father moved from place to place living a life on the run. Meanwhile in her desperate need to find her son, Ekundayo’s mother helped start Hawaii’s first clearing house for missing children. The life on the run ended in 1994 when his father moved to California with Ekundayo’s sister because his father was dying from cancer. In early 1995, Ekundayo’s father passed away from lung cancer; Ekundayo was eleven…

Ekundayo lived with his sister, brother in-law, four nieces and his sister’s mother in a small three-bedroom and one-bath house in Pacoima, Ca. It was in this house at the age of 13 that Ekundayo discovered his love for art. After being involved in school fights, stealing and hanging with the wrong people, he was suspended from school. One day while in the garage, he found one of his uncle’s black books. This uncle wrote for a graff crew in L.A. called C.H.B. This book completely changed Ekundayo’s life. He became obsessed with drawing and copied every single page in that little book. Meanwhile, the Dept of Justice had located Ekundayo at his sister’s home and returned him to the custody of his mother. Ekundayo went back to Hawaii to live with his mother. His drive to create didn’t stop, and the encouragement from his family only fueled that ambition. Shortly after graduating high-school, Ekundayo moved back with his sister and brother in-law in much more spacious accommodations. He attended Pierce College in Winetka, Ca, where he practiced his craft and worked on his portfolio until 2003 when he was accepted into Art Center College of Art and Design on a scholarship.

Although the teachers he studied under and the friends he met while going to Art Center were priceless to his development, Ekundayo dropped out after completing his foundation courses in order to create his own path in the fine art world. He combines both subversive graffiti aesthetics in combination with art-historical erudition using acrylic, gouache, watercolor, ink and various carving techniques. Ekundayo’s work expresses the struggle of life and how those struggles and burdens can either inspire us to change in a constructive way or weigh us down by our own inability to change.

Take a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the works for ‘Joy Today Jeopardy Tomorrow’ coming together:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157623719360265/

Artist website:

www.ekundayo.com

Brett Armory Image Courtesy of Think Space Gallery

Brett Armory Image Courtesy of Think Space Gallery

In our project room:

Brett Amory

‘The Waiting Room’

Brett Amory was born June 25th, 1975 in Portsmouth, Virginia. His father, Harry Amory, was a mechanic at a shipyard and his mother, Sally Roebuck, a nurse. When he was 21 Amory moved to San Francisco to study motion pictures at the Academy of Arts. Soon after enrolling in school, Amory took his first drawing class and was introduced to his passion for the arts. Around the time Amory celebrated his 24th birthday he tried his hand in painting. In 2002 Brett switched his major to fine art and started his current body of work called “Waiting”. This series of paintings explores the anticipation of the next moment.

Amory graduated from the Academy of Arts in 2005 and has shown his work all over the country. In 2006 Amory along with five other artists (Mars-1, David Choong Lee, Damon Soule, Nome Edona, Oliver Vernon) published a book called “Convergence” and had book signings in New York, Los Angeles and at the SFMOMA in San Francisco.

Amory currently works as a graphic designer at an environmental company in San Francisco and continues to show his work in galleries across the country.

Take a ‘Sneak Peek’ at the works for ‘The Waiting Room’ coming together:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thinkspace/sets/72157623844101930/

Check out a great video documenting the process behind the piece ‘Waiting #54’:

http://vimeo.com/11705089

Artist website:

http://www.brettamory.com/

About Thinkspace Gallery:

Established in November of 2005, Thinkspace exists as a catalyst for the ever expanding new contemporary art movement that is exploding forth from the streets and art schools the world over. We are here to help represent this new generation of artists, to provide them that home base and to aid them in building the right awareness and collector base necessary for long-term growth.

Our aim is to help these new talents shine and to provide them a gallery setting in which to prove themselves. It is our hope and dream that through these opportunities these individuals will prosper and continue to grow to amaze us all for years to come. With the love of and for our community, and with the talents of so many incredible artists involved, we believe that this movement will provide the necessary proving ground for the ideas and dreams of today to become the foundations of a new tomorrow.

Thinkspace Gallery is located at 6009 Washington Blvd, in the heart of the Culver City Arts District, Culver City, CA 90232. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, please call 310.558.3375, visit www.thinkspacegallery.com, or email contact@thinkspacegallery.com.

Also opening on June 11th in London, England:

‘The Next Generation: A New Chapter in Contemporary Art’ – 45 international artists curated by Thinkspace and presented by London Miles Gallery (www.londonmiles.com)

Coming up in July at Thinkspace:

July 9th – July 30th

‘Negative Never Again’ featuring new paintings and sculptures from Yosuke Ueno

+ ‘Waking in the Dark’ featuring new work from Dan-ah Kim (project room)

*Please note our new address and phone number*

Thinkspace

6009 Washington Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232

#310.558.3375

www.thinkspacegallery.com

www.sourharvest.com

Hours:

Wednesday thru Saturday

1 p.m. – 6 p.m. (or by appointment)

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Posterboy! Posterboy! Oh and there were four other artists next door.

April 5, 2009 , , ,

April showers only slightly dampened the mood in Bushwick Brooklyn

at two openings Friday night. AdHoc featured 4 fine artists from outside New York in their various gallery spaces, while Eastern District devoted their room entirely to the first solo show of Posterboy that drew an excited inquisitive crowd.

Ekundayo & Joshua Clay shared the front gallery, where their complimentary illustration styles and sordid-themed murals easily took over and called the space home.

Hawaiin born L.A. native Ekundayo’s contorted curmugeons and malformed miscreants sang a song of sixpence, saliva, and silly – in a well formed cast of characters that could be called a family (but you may want to pack a crucifix in your picnic basket on reunion day). In fact one looks kind of like my Aunt Marge.

Lookout, Cannonball! (Ekundayo at AdHoc Art) (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Lookout, Cannonball! (Ekundayo courtesy AdHoc Art) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

A well regarded talent in the current post-pop L.A. scene, Joshua Clay, easily opens the door to dark dens of iniquity with playful flair.

Ekundayo
Whisky and wayward women are a sure way to run afoul of the church. One of the murals in the gallery (Joshua Clay courtesy AdHoc Art) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Elisabeth Timpone held down the alcove with her own mini-show called “Tails of the North”. The collection of finely inked animals and creatures read like shaker drawings, but closer my dear pretty, come closer, and see friendship, fear, and feral savagery.

Timpone
Elizabeth Timpone courtesy of AdHoc Gallery (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Timpone

Elizabeth Timpone courtesy of AdHoc Gallery (photo Steven P. Harrington)

To curvaceously round out the show with 60’s pop poster colors and buxom babes was TheDirtyFabulous. A sort of cherry on top, you might say.

TheDirtyFabulous courtesy Ad Hoc Art (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Peter Max, the Grateful Dead, & Juggs Magazine all Come Together Over Me (TheDirtyFabulous courtesy Ad Hoc Art) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

And just steps away, the subway slicing superhero/s stirred the minions of inquisitive fans into Eastern District Gallery for Posterboy‘s first solo show.

Adbusters all (courtesy Eastern District) (photo Steven P. Harrington)
Adbusters all (courtesy Eastern District) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

The show consisted of two very large expanses of billboard grade vinyl stretched along facing long walls and loosely affixed pieces creating a new story with the same material.

From the vinal were cut familiar shapes from Picasso paintings and a troubled-looking Obama under the lettered banner “Hype?”. Tongues wagged about meanings, motives, and make-believe, as gallery goers read into the wall pieces and donated $5 for a sticker stencilled with “Posterboy ?”.

Don't believe it (Posterboy courtesy of Eastern District) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

Don’t Believe It (Posterboy courtesy Eastern District) (photo Steven P. Harrington)

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EKUNDAYO & JOSHUA CLAY at Ad Hoc

February 10, 2009

EKUNDAYO & JOSHUA CLAY

“Duality”

April 3rd through May 3rd 2009

Opening Reception: Friday, April 3rd, 7pm-10pm

EKUNDAYO

Ekundayo was born in Honolulu, HI, but spent most of his childhood moving from place to place with his father, living a life on the run. At the age of 13 Ekundayo discovered one of his uncle’s black books, which completely changed his life. Ekundayo became obsessed with drawing and copied every single page of that little book.

Ekundayo combines both subversive graffiti aesthetics in combination with art-historical erudition using acrylic, gouache, watercolor, ink and various carving techniques. Ekundayo’s work expresses the struggle of life and how those struggles and burdens can either inspire us to change in a constructive way or weigh us down by our own inability to change.

JOSHUA CLAY

Joshua Clay was always destined to become an artist, choosing pencil and paper over toys and technology. Throughout his high school years Clay found himself consumed by the act of painting creating over fifty original works and several large scale murals. Following college Joshua relocated to Los Angeles where he apprenticed under artist Blaine Fontana. In under 2 years of living and working as a fulltime fine artist Clay found himself immersed in the emerging Los Angeles new contemporary art movement.

With four successful solo exhibits and dozens of group exhibits under his belt, Clay has been busy making quite a name for himself. In addition to having his work featured in several books and magazines in recent years, Clay has also caught the attention of the music industry creating artwork for bands including Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park, Gym Class Heroes and Fall Out Boy. Joshua Clay is sure to be a name you’ll be seeing again.

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