All posts tagged: El Sol 25

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.11.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 06.11.17

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“Yes, I’m an infowarrior,” says the African American yelling about how CNN is promoting Sharia Law in downtown Manhattan for the #MarchAgainstSharia and a short distance away someone is wrapping the “Fearless Girl” statue with a black burka. The infowarrior is wearing a red “Make America Free” baseball hat and very much seems like he might be gay. And then your head explodes.

Welcome to the “Disinformation Age.”

But New York is waaaaaay too diverse to even countenance this weird new wave of anti-Islam sentiment and the counter-demonstrators with their signs dwarfed the haters– and being good liberals, they probably invited them to come over for dinner after all that yelling.

Otherwise the weather has been gorgeous and Street Artists have been getting up in New York, when they are not too busy fighting about the David Choe wall and calculating new ways to spray over it. We have brand new mural works from people like Dasic, Cekis, and Case Maclaim, and there is a lot more political content in the new free-range Street Art that we are seeing, with much of it focused on the corruption at the top of the national government, racism, environmental matters, the growing police state.

The Puerto Rican Day Parade is today down 5th Avenue, with people celebrating – and also fighting over the “freedom fighter”/ “Terrorist” Oscar López Rivera, who was going to be the Grand Marshall but whom will now simply be a marcher. And Lucy Sparrow tells us that “Vagisil” and champagne are the two big sellers at her temporary bodega under the Standard Hotel that is 9000 items made entirely of Felt. Our own story on that this week, so there’s something to look forward to, along with 90 degree weather and more brain-frying tweets from 45 in the White House while the Congress is emptying all the cupboards, privatizing everything that used to be the people’s and leaving the back door open for banks.

Other than that, everything is dope!

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Adam Fujita, Beast, Blanco, Brandon Garrison, Cekis, Dasic, Dirty Bandits, El Sol 25, FKDL, Jetsonorama, Jerk Face, Joe Iurato, Logan Hicks, Mataruda, Mr. Toll, Myth NYC, Opiemme, S0th1s, and She Wolf.

At the top: Dasic and Cekis collab for The Bushwick Collective Block Party 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dasic in action. The Bushwick Collective Block Party 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

S0th1s (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks restored collab for The Bushwick Collective Block just in time for the block party 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FKDL for The Bushwick Collective Block Party 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roof top view of The Bushwick Collective Block Party 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

She Wolf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brandon Garrison (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Trainwwg (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adam Fujita and Dirty Bandits. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blanco has a new piece about prison and police reform, including advocating for the closure of New York’s Rikers Island. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mataruda (left) and Jetsonorama (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth and She Wolf collab. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jerk Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Disney Dollars (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Opiemme in and abandoned USA base in Ligure, Italy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Toll (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Beast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Bushwick, Brooklyn. June 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 


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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BSA Images Of The Week: 04.02.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.02.17

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Good to be back in dirty old New York from dirty old Hong Kong this week. Actually on the dirty meter, we think New York still wins! Hooray!

Looking to the national stage, things couldn’t possibly be more dirty, as the rolling dumpster fire looks like it is setting records for failure to deliver on promises and a gathering cloud of accusations of straight up conspiracy, nepotism, corruption, even treason. And that’s on a good day. Art on the streets sometimes reflects directly and often indirectly on the facts on the ground. Now that spring is here, we expect to see a lot more voices again joining the fray.

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring: Below Key, Chzz, Crash, Danny Boy Doid, El Sol 25, Laser 3.14, Obsrvrone,Pixel Pancho, Snik, Two One, Tony Matelli, Wrong Kong, Xeme, and Zura.

Top image: Crash in collaboration with The L.I.S.A. Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dany Boy Doid . It’s A Living (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Two One in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Laser 3.14 in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wrong Kong in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chzz in Ukraine. (photo © Chzz)

Zura (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We have previously published this Pixel Pancho piece shown in detail above and below. The artist had to restore the piece after additional text was added to it without permission from the artist. We liked how the piece plays with the architecture and the trees as experienced from the High Line Park, sort of like she is lounging and specifically peering through this opening.

Pixel Pancho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Xeme in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Xeme in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Xeme in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Snik in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A more common refrain these days as New York’s long-heralded creative community finds fewer neighborhoods to afford – this one on a Williamsburg musical instrument store that had an amazing collection of guitars. It started out as a small business in the basement of a storefront and grew two more times during the 2000s. A powerful engine of the economy in the city, when artists can’t afford to stay due to high rents the city stands to lose revenue – and soul. The stories keep piling up as artists now often are giving up and leaving for cheaper cities – so whoever put this up addressing the mayor knows of what they speak. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Obsrvrone in Hong Kong. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Below Key (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tony Matelli at the High Line Park. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. A client waits while a her shoes are being repaired in Hong Kong last week. March 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Slap It! Slick Stickers Spread Across City Surfaces Speak and Surprise

Slap It! Slick Stickers Spread Across City Surfaces Speak and Surprise

Stickers, or slaps, are small but formidable graphic and text messages, especially when massed together on a doorway or light pole. They are also fast and surreptitiously placed, as simple as a gesture, undetectable in their ease of application.

A board covered with stickers at Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Begun exclusively perhaps as vehicles for handwritten or hand drawn missives, usually the tag of an artist, today they are often mass produced and designed on a screen, commercially printed on stock that is weatherproof, yet crumbles into pieces when you try to remove it. Personal and political are often on display, as well as that eternal graffiti impulse to simply spread your name.

Phil (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stickers and their creation, distribution, and collection are a culture unto themselves, with fans mounting massive sticker shows and books tracing historical roots and telling stories. On the street, just one sticker can alter your day. Because you know it is made and placed by an individual and not a corporation, it feels like a personal message. Because it is small enough for you to get close to, it becomes intimate.

Here is a selection of recent images of stickers caught by our editor of photography, Jaime Rojo, for BSA readers to get up close to.

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Above (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cash4 and Smells with friends in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El sol25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Where is He? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist…YES!!! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

45 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fonki World (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dceve . Croma . Above . J0eg (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Detail of the fridge door at Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art in Berlin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of the Week: 01.22.17

BSA Images Of the Week: 01.22.17

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015Inauguration week was just as bumpy as you could have expected with an incredibly divided country discussing the outgoing president, the incoming president, the foreign interference and weird circumstances around the actual election, the nearly all white all billionaire cabinet nominees, and the Women’s March‘s that vastly overwhelmed Trumps ceremony attendee numbers while “sister” marches took place in nearly 700 cities around the world. This president, more than any one in decades, is galvanizing people to take action and get involved, just not in the way he might have preferred and we’ve been seeing a steady dialogue on the street about him since last fall.

He certainly wasted no time by signing his first executive order within minutes of being sworn in, one that aims to repeal Obamacare and that would deny health care. In the early and mid-2000s there was a lot of anti-Bush/ anti-war street art. At this inauguration George W. looked giddy and relaxed (despite a poncho battle) perhaps because he might not be the most disliked president of the century after all. Trump v. Obama inauguration numbers were pretty stark, and this week Trump’s national approval ratings have tanked, although a fresh war always tends to perk up a presidents approval numbers, so maybe he can start one of those. Not sure if his popularity would go up or down if he triggered a crisis in the financial markets, but it does feel like absolutely anything is possible with this wildcard. You can be sure that Street Art will be probably be there to respond! We’re keep our eyes open.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Adline, City Kitty, D7606, Drsco, El Sol 25, Hek Tad, Homo Riot, Jerk Face, Jose Feliz Perez, Lunge Box, Meguru Yamaguchi, Michael Vasquez, Nimai Keston, Not Art, Shepard Fairey, Sheryo & the Yok, and Vicki Da Silva.

First image above: American Puppet (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vicki Da Silva (photo © Vicki Da Silva)

Yeah, we didn’t know what it meant either so we looked it up. Here’s what Wikipedia says: Kompromat (Russian: компромат; IPA: [kəmprɐˈmat], short for компрометирующий материал, literally “compromising material”) is the Russian term for compromising materials about a politician or other public figure. Such materials can be used to create negative publicity, for blackmail, or for ensuring loyalty.

In other words, light artist Vicki Da Silva is referencing the apparent influence of the Russian government over the presidential election by smearing Clinton publicly with information they had found. Luckily they didn’t find any information to influence Trump in any way.

Nimai Kesten. This is the wheat-pasted mural of Ai Wei Wei before Hebru Brantley added goggles to it. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Adine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DRSCO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jeffrey Gibson with a quote from James Baldwin for #artinadplaces (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Homo Riot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Obey and friends in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Some writers couldn’t resist the white huge canvas that was the Houston Wall, freshly primed for Pichi & Avo’s turn to paint on it this week. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok & Sheryo in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

D7606 . City Kitty . Lunge Box collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meguru Yamaguchi (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meguru Yamaguchi. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michael Vasquez . Jose Felix Perez in Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This piece of plywood was tagged several times by different artists at different times. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jerk Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Looks like Pepe Le Pew is lurking around for some lovely lady skunk to walk by so he can use his famously suave pickup lines;

“Permit me to introduce myself, I am your new lover.”

“Where are you, my little object of art? I am here to collect you.”

“Is it possible to be too attractive?”

Humans Crossing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. January 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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BSA “Images Of The Year” for 2016 (VIDEO)

BSA “Images Of The Year” for 2016 (VIDEO)

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Of the thousands of images he took this year in places like New York, Berlin, Dresden, Moscow, Marrakesh, Detroit and Miami, photographer Jaime Rojo found that the figurative image still stands prominently in the Street Art scene – along with text-based, abstract and animal world themes.

Surprisingly the scene does not appear to be addressing the troubled and contentious matters of the political and social realms in a large way, but the D.I.Y. scene keeps alive and defies the forces of homogeneity with one-of-a-kind small wheat-pastes, stencils, sculptures, and aerosol sprayed pieces alongside the enormous and detailed paintings that take days to complete.

Every Sunday on BrooklynStreetArt.com, we present “Images Of The Week”, our regular interview with the street. Primarily New York based, BSA interviewed, shot, and displayed images from Street Artists from more than 100 cities over the last year, making the site a truly global resource for artists, fans, collectors, gallerists, museums, curators, academics, and others in the creative ecosystem. We are proud of the help we have given and thankful to the community for what you give back to us and we hope you enjoy this collection – some of the best from 2016.

Brooklyn Street Art 2016 Images of the Year by Jaime Rojo includes the following artists;

1Up, Above, Adele Renault, Alaniz, Amy Smalls, George Vidas, GEN2, Apexer, BordaloII, Buff Monster, C215, Collin Van Der Sluijs, Super A, David Choe, D*Face, Duke Riley, El Sol 25, Sean 9 Lugo, EQC, Faile, Faith47, Faust, Shantell Martin, Felipe Pantone, Hueman, Droid907, Icy & Sot, InDecline, Invader, JJ Veronis, Jilly Ballistic, John Ahearn, JR, London Kaye, Louis Masai, MadC, Marshal Arts, Mongolz, MSK, Rime, Myth, Nina Chanel, Optic Ninja, Otto Osch Schade, Panmela Castro, Plastic Jesus, QRST, Reed b More, Remi Rough, REVS, Self Made, Sharon Dela Cruz, Maripussy, Specter, Stikman, Strok, Swoon, Ted Pim, Thievin’ Stephen, Farin Purth, Thomas Allen, Tobo, Uriginal, Vermibus, Vhils, Wing, Yes Two, Zola.

The artist featured on the main graphic is D*Face as shot by Jaime Rojo in New York.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.21.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.21.16

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Here we go! Eat all the last fresh corn-on-the-cob, watermelon, lemonade, tomatoes, green beans, black berries, peaches that you can get before the summer disappears and your local grocer turns all those things into plastic hot-house versions imported from Pluto and transported with a million gallons of fossil fuel to you table. New York has many farmers markets and delis with fresh produce — it is not all expensive either.  Chinatown in Manhattan still has some of the coolest stuff to eat and hasn’t jacked up the prices.

We’ve been riding around New York looking for new Street Art and for those who are complaining that the scene has devolved into festivals and large murals, you are just being lazy and relying on the Internet for all your news. There are so many artists out putting up small one-off individual pieces with social and political messages on the street – and of course there is a lot of aesthetically pleasing stuff as well. Its all alive and well and we are still missing much of it.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Baron Von Fancy, Buff Monster, bunny M, Crisp, El Sol 25, Mister Melty, PaytoPray, QRST, Space Invader, and Square, Suckadelic.

Our top image: QRST. An ad takeover in Brooklyn, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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QRST. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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QRST (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Buff Monster. Mister Melty. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Buff Monster. Mister Melty. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Baron Von Fancy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Square. Being Their. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Pussy Power (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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An unidentified artist impression of a deranged con artist trying to fool the whole USA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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#overthrownewyork (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Crisp (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Crisp (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Invader Ninja (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Suckadelic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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#paytopray (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Manhattan sunset and the East River. July 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.17.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.17.16

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Welcome!

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring American Puppet, Ant Carver, CDRE, Consumer Art, Crisp, Dain, David Hollier, Dee Dee, El Sol 25, Jules Muck, Myth, Ron English, The DRIF, and VJZ .

Our top image: Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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JR from his Ellis Island Series. Sorry we don’t know the name of the original artist. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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JR from his Ellis Island Series. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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American Puppet (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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David Hollier (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Text on  the illustration from Steppenwolf’s  “Monster/Suicide/America”, written in 1969

“America where are you now?
Don’t you care about your sons and daughters?
Don’t you know we need you now
We can’t fight alone against the monster”

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Speaking of monsters…Donald Trump as re-imagined by Ron English. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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…and by Consumer Art. This is a takeoff of a Banksy piece (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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…and by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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But Jules Muck has hope and so do we… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ant Carver (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ant Carver (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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CRISP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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CRISP does “Bling Vader” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Drif for The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And let’s pay tribute to all the ballerinas out there who train so hard for years and years and days and days and hours and hours and go on the stages big and small all over the world who rapture us with their grace and artistry. We salute you!

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CDRE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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CDRE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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VJZ (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Okay, okay! No shampoo. We get it. Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Myth (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. China Town, NYC. July 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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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BSA Images Of The Week: 04.03.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.03.16

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BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Dang! The birds are singing! Why do birds suddenly appear every time you are near?

An uptick in politically based street art in New York and elsewhere as people are waking up to the reality that Donald Trump is an actual contender for the presidency. Also New York, which tends to vote for the Democrat is now being targeted by former senator Clinton and Brooklyn native Bernie Sanders for New York’s April 19 primary, with both candidates appearing here this week.

Meanwhile a worldwide corruption scandal that was revealed this week about Unaoil and major oil corporations like Dick Cheney’s Halliburton is expanding to include corruption in the (gasp!) banking industry as well. What’s next? Revelations about 9/11 and the war in Iraq? Is it just us or do many of the figurative images on the street look alternately docile, frightened and/or angry?

Here’s our our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring A Pill NYC, Anarkia, CASH RFC Crew, Crummy Gummy, Damien Mitchell, DKF, El Sol 25, Gold Loxe, Monsh & Grey, Nick Walker, Riner, Sac Six Art, Stray Ones, Thomas Allen, and Twazzo.

Our top image: Never get __________– discouraged, a fake tan, seafood in a land-locked state, health advice from a drug dealer, fooled. From Thomas Allen… you fill in the blank… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Sac Six Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Sac Six Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Damien Mitchell (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A cat and mouse game from Stray Ones (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Stray Ones (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Monsh & Grey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Loser (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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DKF (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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A Pill NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Crummy Gummy in Mexico City. (photo © Crummy Gummy)

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Twazzo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Riner…or so we think. The signature could actually spell something else… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Riner (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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CASH RFC Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anarkia (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anarkia (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Nick Walker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Gold Loxe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Brooklyn, NYC. Spring 2016 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.20.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.20.16

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The Street Art world was shaken this week by the announcement and group action by BLU and friends in Bologna buffing/chipping away his street pieces in reaction to the opening of a new show there Friday night that contained BLU works done on a derelict building owned by someone else.

The ironies are rampant when a city chases down vandals, sponsors graffiti/street art clean-up programs, and then heralds the exact same works in a formal museum show with good lighting, cocktails, elegant suits, a press conference, and invited guests. Aside from the various contingencies trying to hi-jack these events to put forth other agendas or establish their opinion as sacrosanct, the psychological and philosophical rifts have been self-evident long before this show and this astounding act of self-destruction.

We’re all wondering what is an amenable solution to interests that are by nature in conflict yet are so intertwined as to appear fused, and the list of questions to consider continues to grow. See our questions from a posting earlier in the week HERE.  Normally the press ignores these stories which we talk about regularly, but BLU mastered the PR game this week (and you know that serious money is involved) so it was in Le Monde, The Guardian, and ArtNet, among others. See some images from the opening and press conference are here.

Meanwhile the street can’t stop, won’t stop.

Here’s our our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Adam Fu, ATOMS, Butt Sup, El Sol 25, Fish With Braids, KEO Xmen, Knon, London Kaye, Nipper, Persue, Reed B More, Sean9Lugo, Scott Marsh, Self-Indulgence, SGNL, Skewville, Tara McPherson, The Yok & Sheryo and Zola.

Our top image: Reed B More. — Finding this handmade wire mobile hanging from electrical wires somewhere in Brooklyn made us very happy this week because; a. mobiles are cool, b. It’s hand made, one of a kind, and c. artists like Skewville and others were doing them at the turn of this century and we haven’t seen many lately. It is fashionable to bash muralism at the moment for usurping the spirit of Street Art, or some other silliness. It’s mucho mas dopetastic to just do good work and put it out there and let the hackneyed non-debate rage without you. We’re keeping our eyes open for small, often hidden, fresh, well placed, unexpected, unpredictable, original, one of a kind, non-derivative, non-hash-tagged pieces. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Speaking of Skewville…these new dogs have suddenly been flying in Brooklyn skies. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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It’s not just Pi. It’s octopi. London Kaye forever and ad infinitum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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London Kaye. Here is our guess with this installation. The graff by Knon was already on the wall and she decided to collaborate. What do you think of the results? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Butt Sup under a Pear. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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SGNL (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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KEO Xmen on the other side… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tara McPherson (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Sean9Lugo in collaboration with El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Sean9Lugo. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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El Sol 25. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Popeye imagery pops up again. El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Nipper in Stavanger, Norway. (photo © @toris64)

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Zola. An apt street visual representation of the polarity we’re dealing with today. Although there would probably need to be 98 more of the figure on the left to present a more accurate ratio, and 97 of them would be sleeping or watching reality TV and ESPN. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Zola. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Speaking of celebrity culture, Sydney based muralist Scott Marsh often depicts recognizable music personas like James Brown and Biggie Smalls in his figurative works. This week he completed this intense love scene parody on the street. But this is evidently more than romance, it’s carnal.

“No one can love Kanye quite like Kanye,” says Marsh of the new piece on Zigi’s Wine & Cheese Bar in Teggs Lane, Chippendale. Wonder what music they are listening to?

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New mural of Two Kanyes kissing in Sydney. Detail. Scott Marsh (photo © Scott Marsh)

“I’m a big Kanye fan,” says Marsh. “He’s an incredible artist and a character and I like that. I was contacted by Lush’s manager to help find him a wall in Sydney. He painted a giant Kim Kardashian at the other end. It’s probably the least effort I have put into any mural – I painted it in four hours as a bit of a laugh. The response has been hilarious.”

 

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Two Kanyes kissing in Sydney. Scott Marsh (photo © Scott Marsh)

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Two Kanyes kissing in Sydney. Scott Marsh (photo © Scott Marsh)

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Fish With Braids updates Frida Kahlo on a purple van (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Self Indulgence (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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ATOMS. Adam Fu and Persue (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Yok & Sheryo. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Yok & Sheryo. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Yok & Sheryo. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. SOHO. NYC. March 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 03.13.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 03.13.16

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Seeing these new El Sol 25 collaged figures and Stephen Powers’ new ironically worded signs posted around the grounds of the Brooklyn Museum may have given us a sense of irrational optimism this week. It also could have been the 75 degree Wednesday afternoon, the birds singing through open apartment windows in the morning or the two-for-one bagels at Hamid’s deli.

Whatever it was, lets keep this springy buzz going a minute. Can we please skip the presidential race for a couple of days please?

Here’s our our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Chagall, City Kitty, Dismist, El Sol 25, Faust, Ivanorama, Jeff Koons, Joseph Meloy, Leaf, Lunge Box, Menace, Mint & Serf, Muse in Me, Nick Walker, Reading Ninja, Reka One, and Skount.

Our top image: El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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RekaOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Skount’s new work in Amsterdam inspired by his recent travels. (photo © Skount)

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Faust (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Mint & Serf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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TOY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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HATER (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Ivanorama (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Nick Walker. “Brooklyn Morning After”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Nick Walker. “Brooklyn Morning After”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Guess that beats Chanel #5, doesn’t it? Muse In Me (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The cow jumped over the moon. Reading Ninja pays tribute to Chagall…maybe. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Leaf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Joseph Meloy has some creepy company. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dismist. A collaged history of violence…(photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Menace (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Groundswell mural in progress with the help of Jeff Koons…yes THAT Jeff Koons. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Groundswell in collaboration with Jeff Koons in Chinatown. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. SOHO, NYC. March 11, 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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BSA Images Of The Week: 02.07.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 02.07.16

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Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 92, Alice Mizrachi, Bifido, Dubois Does Not Speak French, El Sol 25, Futura, Jick, JR, Klops, Rubin415, Specter, and Tara McPherson.

Our top image: Tara McPherson is not usually someone whose work you see on the street but here it is… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tara McPherson (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Artist Unknown or is this mural an advert? Actually, the latter. The Guggenheim uses this ten-point motivational sign to advertise the restrospective of Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss. According to the artists the original sign was found in a factory in Thailand. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter advert take over on the NYC Subway. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter does an abstract billboard take over in Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter billboard take over in Dayton, Ohio. (photo © Specter)

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El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Klops for The Bushwick Collective illuminates the concentration of 90% of the media in the hands of 6 companies. In 1983 there were 50. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Bifido in Caserta, Italy. (photo © Bifido)

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Bifido in Italy creates this surrealist animation with flying garbage. (photo © Bifido)

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Dubois DNSF (full name Dubois Does Not Speak French) for Top To Bottom in L.I.C. Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The sky poem along the top reads: That Morning / Everything / Remember? / Made of SKY / The hardpress of Avenues / Your hands / My day a checklist mingling with a cosmos / We have been in love / Since the invention of gazing at stars / I still whisper “We one day / will have to party”/

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Rubin415 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jick for Top To Bottom in L.I.C. Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Alice Mizrachi for Top To Bottom in L.I.C. Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Futura dissed. This is Futura’s Houston/Bowery wall in Manhattan which we published as he was painting it. Honestly! Actually, now that you see the choice of black on grey and white on black, you may even say this is a collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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92. Apparently in fact there is no respect; Neither for the masters nor for the emerging artists. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Playground. Brooklyn, NY. February 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Specter, El Sol 25, and Russell Murphy “Putting It In” 17 Frost Gallery Tonight

Specter, El Sol 25, and Russell Murphy “Putting It In” 17 Frost Gallery Tonight

17 Frost was living up to its name last night when we caught up with Specter and El Sol 25 preparing their new 3 man show with Russell Murphy. It was a frigid night but we didn’t mind. The guys were busy putting up lights, hanging the art and drinking beers; All good things. We were taking pictures and making sure we didn’t step on a painting or a tool or a beer can.

Putting It In, Rejection Therapy, Street Smart

The year has just barely begun and already this show has had three names.

We’ll go for the first one because the three artists have been putting it in on the street for a number of years – the work that is. And by work we mean illegal and legal art work on the streets of New York for much of the 2000s, and probably more. According to the manifesto/show description in their press release they each are somewhat sick of what they perceive as a softening of the game thanks to the cliche toothlessness and sweetness of the current “Street Art” scene. Hell, BSA is probably part of the problem in the estimation of many renegades on the streets.

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Specter. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As you walk around this former garage space that now houses art and performance, it is striking how disparate these three individual styles are, yet they all work on the street. Massive painterly abstracts, idiosyncratic collaged portraits, and gritty pop-naive symbolism together in one room. What the artists say to have in common is a reverence for the graffiti lifestyle and each is not eager to do pleasing work just to cash in on a “trend”.

We had the opportunity to speak with Specter and El Sol 25 while they prepared the show.

“I think we all have different ideas in mind,” says Specter as he balances on the top few rungs of a ladder to adjust the clip-on light to an exposed pipe, flooding a 12 foot by 12 foot abstract canvas over the roll down gate at the front of the gallery. “We have three very different artists coming together who have very different approaches and styles that we are doing – but the commonality is that addiction to wanting to do things illegally,” he says. “It’s not that we’re trying to be anarchists, we still know that we are a part of the system, but we’re still like ‘Fuck you guys, we’re not worried about what you think or whether you like it or not’. We just do it because it’s that statement, that beauty of being able to express yourself.”

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Specter. Installation shot. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The canvas he has illuminated is like many of the billboard takeovers he has been doing this past year – a deliberate disruption in the commercial-larded cityscape with artful abstraction. Despite its execution without permission, you might not typically associate this artwork with badass rebellion, but in a slickly perverse way it is – upending the steady stream of ads wherever we turn.

As El Sol 25 chases his winter-bundled toddler across the gallery, hoping to catch him before he tries to eat nails from a paper cup or puncture a canvas with a T-square, Specter talks about these enormous works he creates now suspended in the space and he says he swears by the material he is using to make them with.

“Polytab, or parachute cloth is awesome because I’ve figured out so many different ways to use it. There are so many different types of ways to paint on it – transfers, dyes, dye cuts, stencils – I mean there are just endless amounts of stuff that I’ve done with it. Probably the most versatile material that I’ve used,” he says.

“This one is a mixed-media collage – there is commercial material already printed, then hand painted. I call it mixed media because of the amount of different techniques that are involved with it before it’s done. There are probably 25 different techniques just on this one piece – you have the material, all the different effects, the layers of pieces on top of it, the transparencies, the hand painting, screens. I use this stuff all over the street too.”

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Specter. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 is moving large painted wood panels around on the wall alongside an impressive gallery of his original collaged miniatures. The wood panels are an interesting life-cycle installation because each has run illegally on the street. Now he has retrieved them to display here – a rare case where a gallery show contains actual street art, instead of new gallery work by a Street Artist.

Brooklyn Street Art: The truth is you don’t actually do too much work on the street. You do 98% of the work in your studio and then you put it up on the street whereas many graffiti writers like Cash4 for example, do a lot of their work while on the street. Is that right?
El Sol 25 : Yes, he works “in the moment”. I tend to be a little more calculated with my risks but he just tends to just go with it and go crush all the time. Like most graffiti writers have that mentality. I think I think I enjoy living through my friends like that because I just don’t have the balls to take those risks anymore.

 

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These small scale collages are the genesis and the process for El Sol 25 to produce his larger pieces. Most of the pieces shown here have been created for the streets. El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Why do you think that is?
El Sol25: I think because I have a kid and I have experienced that stuff. I realize that I had my fun and I’m not that tough. I’m not going to kid myself. I’m not going to go out and try and hit the ground running so to speak. I’ve always thought that unless you are going hard with graffiti in New York, then you shouldn’t go at all. It’s like whispering in a room full of people shouting. You gotta go hard and you gotta go big. I’m not a big fish in a pond like I used to be when I was young. I wanted to go hard, I wanted to be like Nekst, doing huge pieces and just do hollows and tags.

We notice that looking at the multitude of smaller collages from which the larger paintings are derived, you realize that many of them are the actual studies for the larger pieces you have seen on Brooklyn Streets. In fact one of his collectors has loaned a large number of his older ones to El Sol 25 for this show exclusively, making it a rather rare opportunity for you to see this work while they are still feeling like generously sharing them.

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El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: When you are making these small collages, is there usually a story or metaphor that you are working with and how does that compare to those you choose to interpret large scale and hand paint? Do those have more of a backstory or metaphorical/allegorical meaning?
El Sol25: Honestly when I’m making them its purely for the joy of making it, for the exploration of it. A lot of times I feel an immediate story or an immediate reaction to some of the pieces and some of them I don’t understand them at all.

A lot of the times, whether I chose to paint one those images (whether I have created a story or not) while I’m sitting in front of it painting it it almost certainly becomes apparent to me why I did this, why subconsciously I was making this. I was drawn to this imagery and a lot of it makes sense when I’m painting it and a lot of the stories attached often change again when they are on the street because I’ve let go of that story and it has a whole new environment.

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El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: When you revisit earlier pieces, because you’ve brought some pieces from the past back into this show, do you feel like it is an earlier you, or do you feel like it is part of a whole?
El Sol: I feel a little embarrassed by how naïve some of the earlier pieces are. Both in their symbolic content and the way that they were actually put together. The way they were just like ripped. A lot of the new ones are like Hindu gods with multiple eyes and faces, and multi-gender, and some even have animalistic properties and I feel like that’s a direction I’m going more in now.

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El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: I notice more nudity, more sampling from girly mags.
El Sol: I’ve always liked sort of painting those things. But I have to admit that the reason I’m more inspired to use what people may consider to be “vulgar” imagery is because I think we should say more things on the street that are not PG rated. I think we should explore our platform and not just say things that are safe. This is not a decorative art form. This is about expressing more than just that and I feel like this is the reason I want to be in a show with these guys because they are not afraid to drop “F bombs” with their work and I don’t think anyone should be.

Everything is so safe and boring – I do want to see something absurd. I’d rather see something that makes me think than cause me pleasure. It doesn’t necessarily need to please me aesthetically. I want the ideas to be more pronounced and I think that people who have been into Street Art for a long time are now doing Hello Kitty with a skull. Actually I’m tired of that. What are these other guys doing? What are the greats doing? What are the people in the museums doing? Hopefully they are paying more attention to what they are saying than just “That would look GREAT on a shirt”.

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El Sol 25. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Russell Murphy. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Russell Murphy. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Russell Murphy. Installation shot. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

“Putting In It” Opens today at 17 Frost in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Click HERE for further information

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