All posts tagged: Elbow-Toe

Street Art And The Day Of The Dead

“Dia de los Muertos”

Skulls are everywhere on the street today, and here is a collection to mark The Day of the Dead. The commemoration of people who have passed is observed nation-wide in Mexico every year at this time. Although it is not a national holiday, the strictly religious and cultural observance is revered and, depending on the region, it varies in the ways in which the holiday is marked.

The cultural aspect of this holiday has inspired many artists, filmmakers and poets. Here we have selected images of Street Art culled from our library to mark the Dia de Los Muertos, focusing on the most prominent symbol used to represent this holiday: “Las Calaveras” or skulls.

PeruanaAnaperu (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

PeruanaAnaperu (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mexico’s  “Dia de los Muertos” or “Day of the Dead” takes place every year on November 2 to coincide with the catholic holiday of “El Dia de los Santos” or “All Saints Day”. The Day of the Dead is not the Mexican equivalent of Halloween. The Day of the Dead in Mexico is a celebration of Death and it does not carry any of the connotations of fear, fantasy and gore that Halloween does.

El Sol 25 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

This religious and cultural holiday can be traced as long ago as 3000 years. Before the conquest of what’s now modern Mexico in the pre-Hispanic era the indigenous cultures celebrated death, rebirth and their ancestors by displaying human skulls as memento mori.

Gaia Channels Mexican Artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia Channels Mexican Artist Jose Guadalupe Posada (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Booker (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Booker (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

When the Spanish missionaries arrived more than 500 years ago they tried without success to eradicate such pagan and sacrilegious celebrations that seem to mock death while converting the indigenous people to Christianity. To the Spaniards death was the end of life but to the Aztecs it was a continuation of a journey not yet completed. The Aztecs embraced death and they celebrated it for the entire month of August, the ninth month of the Aztec Calendar, and the festivities were presided by the goddess Mictecacihuatl or “Lady of the Dead” presumed to have died at birth.

Spazmat/Skullphone (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Spazmat/Skullphone (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Spaniards were met with fierce resistance in their attempts to vanish the rituals so in frustration they sought and found a common ground with the natives by moving the pagan rituals to coincide with the Catholic holiday of “El Dia de los Santos” or “All Saints Day” on November 2.

Hellbent (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hellbent (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Modern Mexicans remember their friends and family members that have departed from life by honoring them with extravagant festivities that, depending in the region might include lavish offerings or “ofrendas” in private altars in the cemeteries at the tombs of their loved ones and/or at home. It is a day of celebration and many people elect to stay overnight at the cemetery for prayer, and remembrance but partying, eating and drinking is encouraged and expected always following the norms of respect and decorum for the defunct.

Look at that Bunny! (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Look at that Bunny! (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ludo (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ludo (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

These “ofrendas” or gifts include the most favored dishes, foods and beverages that their loved ones enjoyed while alive. They also include photos and other personal mementos of the deceased ones. The “ofrendas” are meant to be eaten and shared by the relatives and friends of the departed and sometimes they are very elaborate five course dinners. Other times the relatives might choose to have a daytime picnic at the cemetery and return to their homes at dusk. The “ofrendas” are believed to nurture and help the souls of the dead while in their journey to heaven.

Some people use this day to just take their customary once a year trip to the cemetery to clean and maintain the tomb of their loved ones.

Y The Fuiste (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Y Te Fuistes  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Regardless of the singular cultural distinction of each region two symbols are common throughout the country: “La Calavera” or The Sugar Skull and “La Catrina” or The Skeleton Lady. The Skulls can be made of sugar and chocolate and often are inscribed with the recipient’s names and are gifts to both the living and the dead. There is also “El Pan de Muertos” or “Bread of the Dead” which Mexicans give as gifts to the visiting relatives for their journey back home.

It is said that Mexicans not only celebrate death they also eat it.

Sweet Toof (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sweet Toof (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dr. Hoffman (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dr. Hoffman (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smilee (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Smilee (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

PMP (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

PMP (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Viki (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Viki (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Main Banner image credit: Jose Guadalupe Posada “Gran Calavera Eléctrica” Courtesy Library of Congress.

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Fun Friday 10.29.10 BSA Halloween Special

Fun-Friday

Have a great Halloween Weekend Everybody!

Our longest post ever – scarily long. First we start off with a bunch of cool Street Art that is evocative of Halloween.

Then we hear a special Halloween/Election  message from Christine O’Donnell, a look at tonights’ events including Unified Love Movement’s installation across from MOMA, Erik Burke’s Closing Party, and Crest Hardware’s Pumpkin Carving Party (tonight). Also, video of Dan Witz’s disturbing WTF Street Art, and the most popular person to dress up as.

Careful out there, ya’ll.

The ghost of Bedford Ave (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

The ghost of Bedford Ave. (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evils (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evils (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake pays tribute to Nosferatu (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake pays tribute to Nosferatu (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

C2 Army of One (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

JC2 Army of One (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain Sidebusted (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain Sidebusted (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faro (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faro (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ink (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ink (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dark Shadows (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dark Shadows (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren and Royce Bannon (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren and Royce Bannon (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Oopsy Daisy (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Oopsy Daisy (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christian Paine (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Christian Paine (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Haculla (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Incubator Studio (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sweet Toof (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sweet Toof (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tats Cru How, Nosm with Aryz. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tats Cru How, Nosm with Aryz. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Halloween-Vote-2010



Unified Love Movement – Alison and Garrison Buxton in Manhattan Tonight

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-unified-love-movement

Garrison and Alison Buxton invite you to come celebrate the unveiling of their Unified Love Movement installation across from the MoMA at 20 West 53rd St. The Buxtons are honored to manifest their latest vision on Halloween weekend via chashama’s “Windows at Donnell” program. The exhibition runs October 29th – November 28th, 2010 and is viewable 24/7. This visual fruit is timely and ripe for viewing.  MORE HERE

Bring Your Carved Pumpkins To Crest Tonight

brooklyn-street-art-crest-art-show-halloween-pumpkin-contest

FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO THE WEBSITE. FOR THE OFFICIAL RULES LOOK UNDER THE HALLOWEEN TAB ON THE MENU BAR
http://cresthardwareartshow.com

“This Land is My Land” Closing Party Tonight at 17 Frost

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Erick-Burke-WEB

More here

Dan Witz WTF??

And Finally, The Halloween Costume Report:

Lady GaGa Costumes Are All the Rage This Year. You can blow 50 bucks on one of these, or just visit your local hardware store and glue-gun stuff to your swimsuit.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Lady-Gaga

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Street Art in NYC: Weathering Storms, Fending Off Predators

In New York City, unlike London, Chicago, and San Francisco, the art on the streets has a longer run. Street Artists love to get up in New York and come from all over the world and the rest of the country for the experience of it. The city has plenty of walls and the artists know that if they are lucky to get up their pieces can stay there for weeks or even years without being disturbed. If the piece survives predators or the capricious moods of New York weather, time will add a natural depth to the art. These pieces don’t simply surrender their character, they aggregate it, eventually attaining an aura of invincibility.

Some stencils acquire an ore patina against the rusted metal that is a wonder to behold, a finish that decorative painters strive for years to achieve. Layers of paint begin to peel and give the art a sense of movement and life. Wheat-pastes that survive summer storms and winter Nor’easters are imbued with a new whimsical life as they curl, buckle, shred: starting their transformation and ultimate disappearance.

Street art is ephemeral but it can also be resilient; a metamorphosis that, when underway, is always fascinating and pleasure to see. We present here pieces that have endured many a storm and lived to tell a story.

Gaia (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gaia. Detail  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

C215 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
C215 (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faile (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cake (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe . Detail.  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pink Silhouette (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pink Silhouette (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Con Cojo (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Con Cojo (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gaia (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gaia. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Swoon. Detail  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Imminent Disaster (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Spazmat (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Spazmat (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jef Aerosol (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jef Aerosol (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faile (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Imminent Disaster. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Imminent Disaster. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Swoon (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Swoon. Detail  (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter Spot-Jocks Shepard Fairey in New York City

Specter Spot-Jocks Shepard Fairey in New York City

Ice-T is still stylin’ like an American Che Guevara, but he’s officially joined the force 19 years after “Cop Killer”.

Brooklyn_Street_Art_740_Specter_Shepard-Fairey_Before_After

photos © Jaime Rojo

As part of a string of strikingly personalized spot-jocking intended to send shivers through the New York Street Art scene, artist Specter is brazenly re-crafting other artists pieces, including high profile names like Swoon, Faile, Skewville, and Shepard Fairey.

This discovery side-busted our heads when we saw the radically altered Shepard Fairey piece – a myriad of nested ironies that takes “homage” to a new level. Or is that a “diss”?

The Fairy piece he’s messing with is a 2010 version of his Nubian Signs that appeared on walls during the run-up to his May Day gallery show this spring at the now closed Deitch Projects in Soho. Since that time, the wheat-pasted piece has weathered and faded. As part of Specters reworking of the piece, the portrait of Ice-T, itself criticized for incorporating the iconic image of Che, is now backed up by his fictional TV partner Detective John Munch from Law and Order: SVU. Ice-T has a new posse. Aside from that quizzical pairing that has left Street Art watchers dumbfounded, it’s even more confusing that Fairey’s original was restored before Specter smacked his own piece on top.

Brooklyn_Street_Art_740_Specter_Shepard-Fairey_AFTER

photo © Jaime Rojo

“It was totally defaced, you could not make out what was going on anymore,” said Specter this week when reached for comment.

Dissing doesn’t usually include restoration.

Explaining the choice of adding Ice-T’s fictional police partner to the existing Fairey piece, Specter talks about the duality of a celebrity’s image that can produce a cognitive asymmetry.

“Ice-T plays a detective on a very popular crime show that everyone likes so much. (My piece) is kind of poking at these popular figures – who maybe were seen as a visionary. This was a rebellious figure, who is now on prime time television playing a police detective, who he previously was talking about shooting.” According to the show’s website, the rapper-turned-actor “formed the thrash metal band Body Count”, whose “1991 self-titled debut contained the controversial single ‘Cop Killer.’”

In an additional homage to Fairey, Specter appears to have used a copyrighted promotional photo off the internet to interpret Detective Munch – calling to mind the current lawsuit Fairey is defending himself against that accuses him of incorporating copyrighted material to create his famed Obama poster of two years ago.

In this piece by Street Artist Swoon that has been up for perhaps two years and has sufferred wear, tear, and sprayed out faces, Specter meticulously repairs the visages and adds a bit of fabric. (photos © Jaime Rojo)

In this piece by Brooklyn Street Artist Swoon that has been up for perhaps two years and has sufferred wear, tear, and sprayed out faces, Specter meticulously repairs the visages and adds a bit of fabric. (photo left © Specter, right © Jaime Rojo)

In each of the cases where Specter is hitting the street art of somebody else, the style and technique closely mimics that of the original artist, creating a counterfeit that so closely resembles their own body of work that it could be confused theirs. This alone opens up a discussion about high-jacking a message, misleading a passerby, or even damaging a reputation.

A new piece by Swoon! Wait, maybe not. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A new piece by Swoon! Wait, maybe not. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This new crop of “side-busts” may get him in hot water, but Specter is giddily unapologetic to the other street artists whose work he’s jocking. In an extensive interview he talked about the nature of impermanence implicit in the Street Art scene, his own weariness with attempts at codification of rules that some have endeavored to create for the street, and the fact that many of these pieces already have run for a long time – so they’re fair game according to his rules. For Specter, it is evident that this project is a social experiment as much as an expression of creativity and an attempt to shake open a can of conversation.

Brooklyn_Street_Art_740_Specter_Skewville_Before_After

For a series of posters by Brooklyn Street Artists Skewville, who have done their own block-letter wisecracking spot-jocking in the past with street pieces by Fairey, Elbow Toe, and Gaia, Specter shoots close to the bone. (photos of Skewville and Specter above © Jaime Rojo)

Poking the Monkey

Is Specter sort of poking the monkey to see what will happen? Surely he knows that someone is going to see it as a sign of disrespect.

The cheerful Specter replies, “Yes, of course. I also thought it was also kind of good to push the button. It might piss them off, or they might love it or they might hate it. The point is I can do it regardless because of the nature of the work.”

Specter adds a waving American flag to the partially destroyed collage image by BAST. (photos © Jaime Rojo)

Specter adds a waving American flag to the partially destroyed collage image by BAST. (photos © Jaime Rojo)

In the Street Art world, as in the graffiti world before it, the unwritten “rule book” (existing mainly in the heads of the participants) pretty clearly marks ones territory. Putting up your piece too close to someone else’s, let alone over part or all of it, can occasion vendettas, retaliation, or at least some trash talk. Never mind that this claim to real estate sometimes refers to a building actually owned by somebody else entirely – a bothersome contradiction that falls to the wayside when street rules are in effect.

That's no mare! Specter re-genders the scuba diving horse of Street Art duo Faile (photos © Jaime Rojo)

That’s no mare! Specter re-genders the scuba diving horse of Street Art duo Faile (photo left © Specter, right © Jaime Rojo)

“I was talking to another Street Artist who was saying that people were angry with him for spot-jocking and I said that’s what these pieces are about: the ridiculousness of these kinds of ideas. It all harkens back to these ‘rules’ of this anarchistic form of art. Street Art can be this unauthorized kind of art form and people are like, ‘Oh you shouldn’t come within 12 feet of me’. This project talks about that too and it’s supposed to bring up this dialogue. I really think that these issues need to be discussed because people take it very seriously”

Perhaps a reference to recent street art stencils dealing with LGBT issues, Specter uses pulp-fiction styled lettering and a pretty bow to give this Faile piece a sex change. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Perhaps a reference to their recent stencils dealing with LGBT issues, Specter uses pulp-fiction styled lettering and a pretty bow to give this Faile piece a sex change. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Electric Windows 2010; Street Arts and Community

Sure, there are a lot of things wrong with our country these days. People are hurting financially, are losing homes and jobs, feeling insecure – and obstructionists fight against every possible people-centered bill that comes up in our legislative branch. Our sad legacies of racism and classism are stoked to pit us against one another rather than moving toward an equitable future for everyone. If you were to never go outside and only gathered your news from Yeller TV you might get the worldview that we are in an intractable war with one another.  But the State of our Union is on Main Street, not cable.

Main Street in Beacon, NY for example. Electric Windows, the Street Art event put together by the tireless duo Dan and Kalene (owners of the Open Space Gallery) and three other friends, is a prime example of what’s good in our country these days. Appreciation for the creative spirit that lies inside each person brought together a large and a very diverse group of people to this small town on Saturday. Music (live and DJ), street dancers, screen printing on your clothes… Folks were moved, changed, challenged and inspired by the art being made in front of their eyes: Unrestricted, unfiltered and in direct contact with the artists that were creating it.

The day was glorious not only because of the low humidity and breezes up the Hudson Valley but mostly because we had the opportunity to witness the faces of delight of the community while watching the artists do what they love to do most: Paint.  Saturday was important to America not because Chelsea Clinton was getting married a few miles north of Beacon but because a whole town literally opened its doors to everyone that wanted to come and make and experience art: Free of charge and uncensored.

We love art and artists of course but when we see people actually enjoying it and supporting it in a respectful and festive environment we are reminded once again that the stories that we are told about ourselves on TV are not often real or true. We are better than we are being told we are. We need to do a better job at getting the word out and at making sure that the good stuff gets reported.

Chris Stain (© Jaime Rojo)
Chris Stain pays homage to the workers. (© Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain. It looks beeter sitting down. (© Jaime Rojo)
It looks beter sitting down. (Chris Stain) (Elbow Toe on the door from last years event) (© Jaime Rojo)

Kid Zoom
Kid Zoom installed probing eyes in the windows of a building. (© Jaime Rojo)

Two generations admiring the work of Elbow Toe
Two generations admiring the work of Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)

Cern discussing what's next. (© Jaime Rojo)
Cern discussing what’s next as the canvasses cascade down Main Street. (© Jaime Rojo)

And when one needed a quiet brake from it all this bucolic site was just a mere feet away. (© Jaime Rojo)
If you needed a quiet break from it all, this bucolic site was just a mere feet away. (© Jaime Rojo)

Anera and PeruAna Ana Peru prepping for their installation. (© Jaime Rojo)
Anera and Peru Ana Ana Peru prepping for their installation. (© Jaime Rojo)

Chor Boogie
Chor Boogie flew in from the west coast to participate. He’ll be in NYC this week. (© Jaime Rojo)

Gaia (foreground) and PaperMonster (background) and a striking pose. (© Jaime Rojo)
Gaia (foreground) and PaperMonster (background) and Kim striking a thoughtful pose. (© Jaime Rojo)

Gaia and Papermonster pieces almost finished. (© Jaime Rojo)
Gaia and Papermonster pieces almost finished. (© Jaime Rojo)

JC2 Army of One. (© Jaime Rojo)
JC2 Army of One. (© Jaime Rojo)

Michael DeFeo piece goes up first. (© Jaime Rojo)
The Michael DeFeo piece goes up first, causing an eruption of applause from the crowd on the street. (© Jaime Rojo)

Peat Wollager eyes. (© Jaime Rojo)
Peat Wollaeger brought inflatable versions of his signature eye to hang. (© Jaime Rojo)

An attentive art fan with Ron English piece on the background. (© Jaime Rojo)
An attentive art fan with Ron English piece behind her. (© Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato. (© Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato. (© Jaime Rojo)

Joe Iurato's piece goes up. (© Jaime Rojo)
Joe Iurato’s piece goes up. (© Jaime Rojo)

Measure Twice! Skewville. (© Jaime Rojo)
Measure Twice! Skewville. (© Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (© Jaime Rojo)
Skewville (© Jaime Rojo)

Logan Hicks. (© Jaime Rojo)
Front seats to watch Logan Hicks at work. (© Jaime Rojo)

Sailor Hicks. (© Jaime Rojo)
Sailor Hicks takes his puppet for a march up the tracks. (© Jaime Rojo)

To read BSA interview with Dan and Kalene go here:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=12873

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Fun Friday 07.30.10

Fun-Friday
Fun Friday 07.30.10 on BrooklynStreetArt.com

Last Chance to see “Radiant Child” Movie this Weekend at Film Forum

A gem of a film, isn’t that what those old timey movie reviewers used to say?  The previously unseen footage of Basquiat shot by his friend Tamra Davis in his studio is probably the most revealing about his short personal history, his meteoric rise, and wild free child within. Less illuminating is some of the self- aggrandizing by those who now lay claim to his history. Equally it is an indictment of a society dealing with it’s legacy of racism, and the misplaced value given to critics with personal agendas. Nonetheless most viewers will understand intuitively the work for what it is and focus on the Brooklyn guy who made it cool to be outside.

Jef Aerosol

Jef Aerosol doing a tribute to Basquiat in Brooklyn earlier this year (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Don Pablo Pedro this Saturday at Pandemic

“Fuck Don Pablo Pedro” is the second solo show for this talented Bushwick painter tomorrow and is sure to be fun, colorful, libidinous, and nauseating.  Pandemic Gallery

Don Pablo Pedro Poster (© Jaime Rojo)
Don Pablo Pedro Poster (© Jaime Rojo)

Faile in Lisbon (Video)

Brooklyn Street Art duo Faile recently took their sculptural installations to an earlier classical period of the Biennial Portugal Arte 10. The pop culture influences are re-contextualized, as they say….

Electric Windows Tomorrow in Beacon New York

Take the Metro North about an hour up the Hudson to see 30 Street Artists painting live. Is there more to say?

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Electic-windows-copyright-Thundercut-Electric-Windows-FINAL_building_arial

Read about Electric Windows HERE.

A book signing of “Street Art New York” by Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington will be in the Open Space Gallery from 2 pm to 3 pm.

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Buxtonia at “Electric Windows”, Ad Hoc in the House

Garrison and Alison Buxton, known together as Buxtonia, continue to carry the spirit of Ad Hoc wherever they are. See them at Electric Windows Saturday. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Garrison and Alison Buxton, known together as Buxtonia, continue to carry the spirit of Ad Hoc wherever they are. See them at “Electric Windows” Saturday. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)

Among the many street artists flooding into Beacon for Electric Windows on Saturday will be a couple almost all of them know for their dedication to building and maintaining the community. Godparents to a street art gallery/collective/community in Bushwick, Brooklyn at a crucial time for Street Art in the mid 2000’s, Garrison and Alison Buxton are now on the road across the country 6 months a year continuing their collaboration with the Street Art community.  It was a good five year run at Ad Hoc, the gallery, which officially closed late last year, having given many a street artist their first show while creating a sense of connectedness between Street Artists, Graff writers, photographers, screen printers, and social activists who all responded to the high vibrational pull Alison and Garrison created.

Brooklyn-Street-Art_Garrison-2-Quote

For the For the Buxton’s it was never about the hype. She’s full of industry and energy and organizing, while he’s full of a youthful wonder about life and loves to talk with you about social/spiritual movements. Together they have traveled a lot in the last 9 months across the States participating in art shows, re-connecting with friends, teaching screen printing, painting walls, organizing exhibitions, and discussing plans for a sustainable living project at their Vermont farmhouse, an old Buxton family homestead from the 17 & 1800′s.  Amazingly, the Buxtons have recently learned that their old homestead was also where one of their favorite modern art forms, screen printing, was brought to life by a man named Harry Shokler, who lived and worked at the home & studio for over 40 years.  Shokler is referred to as father of contemporary screen printing, a seminal figure in bringing screen printing from the world of industrial application to being accepted and recognized as a distinct fine art form. When you speak with either one of them for more than a few minutes you’ll learn they both sincerely believe we are here to share, learn, and teach lessons to each other and that now is time to do so.

Saturday Garrison and Alison will be making art at Electric Windows, and talking to friends about how to bring about the better world that is possible.

Brooklyn Street Art: How long has Buxtonia been working as an entity?
Garrison Buxton: I actually used Buxtonia as the title of my first website in like 2002/3.  Alison and I have referred to it as a state-of-being for years, with our first Buxtonia mural manifesting in Peru in 2008.  It has been coming into being for a while now and it seemed natural that we start referring to the works we did together as such.  We did Buxtonia murals with Broken Crow in Minnesota in 2009, and with NOLA Rising in New Orleans in 2010.

Unified Love Movement, by BuxtoniaThe installation for Unified Love Movement included a structure that arched in four directions and cast light from the center that emulated the patterns in their paintings on the ceiling. (Buxtonia)

Our first gallery work that I currently recall using Buxtonia was in October 2009 for an installation we did in Oklahoma called:
Buxtonia {Garrison & Alison Buxton}, Unified Love Movement

 

Installation from "Unified Love Movement" by Buxtonia, a commentary on belief systems, beauty, and global awareness of spiritual themes.

Installation from “Unified Love Movement” by Buxtonia, a meditation and commentary on the worlds’ major belief systems, their interconnectedness, and a global awareness of spiritual themes.

 

BSA: Your work is layered and multi-dimensional – can you describe a typical process you two go through in creating a piece?
Garrison Buxton: Firstly, we come up with what the vision of the piece is, laying out and building the compositional aspects like imagery, arrangement, aesthetic, layers, and forms.  After we have that in mind, then comes breaking it back down to the base and working up each of the aspects.  Construction, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, on and on…  After priming, we start out with washes and/or gradients to unify the background, then we build out light & dark areas based on the piece’s color palette.  Once the background is built up, we then use layers of stencils to create textures and develop areas of light & pattern.  We incorporate screen printing as well, either directly on the surface or via collage.  Using hand painting and drawing helps to bring in the upper layers.  Certain aspects are predetermined, like a border design, but building up the stencils and textures is a very participatory and engaged process.  The action of assembling the pieces to the puzzle encourages reflection, dialogue, and feedback.  It is a dialogue with all of us, humans, materials, and the voice of the work.  We change with each other.  Every piece is that moment’s exploration into human interaction and relationship.

A mechanized hand combines industrial revolutionary diagrammatic style with a surreal quality of modern possibility. From a mural done with NOLA Rising (Buxtonia)

“Resistance is Fertile”; a mechanized hand combines industrial revolutionary diagrammatic style with a surreal zeal of modern possibility. The piece repositions the struggle of the worker in a future context. From a mural done with NOLA Rising (Buxtonia)

BSA: Where do you draw upon for inspiration thematically?
Garrison Buxton: The core of it for me would be that we are all part of the same thing, the singularity and inherent oneness of existence.  Until we truly get that, we are not making real progress.  There is a lot of misery being generated by the intention of a select minority on this planet enabled by the masses of under-informed.  Most days, the urgency of our times inspires me to maintain a sense of peace in a world run by sociopaths gone utterly mad.  I have a hard time believing that we are destined to go out this way, like a stupid rampaging beast, smashing to bits anything and everything in our path as we careen over the cliff.  Another world is possible in every instant.  The power to share, to contribute, to change is abundant and always around us.

Brooklyn-Street-Art_Nola-copyright-Buxtonia

BSA: For both Willoughby Windows in Brooklyn and Welling Court Queens also participated as artists. What about being in these group shows is gratifying to you?
Garrison Buxton: Bringing creativity and beauty to people directly is very fulfilling.  It is one of the most unfiltered ways to bring art to a culture largely starved of non-corporate, non-advertising-generated media.  One of the fundamental aspects of street art is the democratization of public space.  Maybe it is all an illusion, but it is fulfilling to believe in the power of art to create, inspire, and plant seeds of observation as well as shared experience.  People relating to one another is what will get us to the other side.  People fearing one another will not.  Relating comes when people take the time to simply do it, relate.  Seeing the direct results of these art projects has been profound and definitely inspires us to keep taking things to the next level.  The bonds that result from bringing generations of different peoples together for a celebration of the human experience are so strong.  Together we can do amazing things.  I have seen it.

BSA: What are you planning to show the people at the Electric Windows show?
Garrison Buxton: We have been working with a figure, Metatron, for a while now.  Metatron is typically depicted as a eye with wings.  The Electric Windows piece is going to have a small flock of Metatrons flying up on the horizon with rays and shapes of light emerging from behind.

Is the loosest of senses, Metatron is the messenger of the divine, translating the beyond-human transmissions to be human-comprehensive.  I believe we are all Metatrons, our own divine messengers, and that we all transmit this divine information to our selves and each other.  When we are still and listen to that part of us that existed before we can remember existing, the knowledge we seek is there.  We are all self contained enlightenment, divinity, god, whatever you want to call it.  How to illustrate that is the never ending pursuit.  It has become important for us to focus on sending positive transmissions. We aim to send a net positive charge into the matrix.  The grid is cracking.  It needs all of our help.  This piece depicts the strength of coming together and building something with a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

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BSA: How has your life changed for both of you since leaving Ad Hoc?
Garrison Buxton: For clarity’s sake, we never left Ad Hoc, as Ad Hoc Art still exists as an entity and we are still doing art events and projects like the previously mentioned Willoughby Windows and Welling Court projects as well as currently featuring many AHA artists with us in a screen printing project at SummerStage in Central Park through September.  The mission of Ad Hoc Art is to promote awesome work made by badass human beings.  We’ll keep doing that as long as we can, in myriad manifestations, which is the method to the madness.  On the front burner is a fall/winter tour where we will be working with artists across the country, many of which we worked with at Ad Hoc, as well as artists we have worked with since then.

So, I’m assuming that you are referring to how have our lives changed since moving out of Bogart St, yes?  That question is an expansive one, so many changes happening in so many ways.  Like any era in a relationship coming to a close, it is largely in how one perceives it. Boiling it down, there are times we’re missing the great times, all the magic; we’d wish we were still making a difference in the Bushwick hood and wonder if there were somehow an angle we didn’t think of that could have kept the hull together.  Then we quickly remember how working 18 hour days for years takes it toll, how there were days of stress and frustration, and how five years flew by in the blink of an eye and I hadn’t seen some good friends in years.  Overall, we are much healthier and happier and realize we are blessed to have the opportunities that we have and don’t look back.  There is so much to be accomplished now, more so than ever.  We are still working crazy hours, but in a way that serves us better and is sane.  We are operating at a more tenable, sustainable pace, training and running with a marathon mindset for a race of enduring as opposed to the frenetic burst of the 100 yard dash.  Short term focus will not get us to the other side.  Thinking beyond ourselves will get us there.

Some things we are loving: working our own creative endeavors/projects; less daily stress; the ability to be more dynamic and mobile (we’ll be on the road about six months of the next year, taking art love coast to coast and doing projects with people in places we never had time to visit before); more time to be human; & more time to work on altruistic projects.  Basically, we have a lot more time to take care of ourselves, spiritually, mentally, and physically.  As everything emanates from within, if the core is not stable, all that comes out contains that fundamental lack of stability.  In taking time to be, we saw an immediate and direct positive return which correlates directly with overall happiness.

BSA: Any advice for people who are planning to go to Beacon for the show?
Garrison Buxton: Bring sunscreen and drink lots of water.  Beacon is a nice lil’ town and the show is going to be awesome event.  Open Space again delivers a solid roster of fun.  We are excited to be working with some of our favorite partners in crime and a whole slew of new peoples.  Plan on staying late Saturday night if you like to dance.  Bring clothes if you’d like to have them printed.  We are going to be screen printing live and dropping some brand new images that Saturday.

We love you.

Brooklyn-Street-Art_ali+G_Minneapolis-copyright-Buxtonia

Electric Windows will feature Buxtonia, BoogieRez, Chris Stain, Depoe, Elbow Toe, Mr Kiji, Michael De Feo, Peat Wollaeger, Rick Price, Ron English, Big Foot, Cern, Chor Boogie, Chris Yormick, Elia Gurna, Erick Otto, Eugene Good, Faust, Gaia, Joe Iurato, Kid Zoom, Logan Hicks, Lotem & Aviv, Paper Monster, Ryan Bubnis, Ryan Williams, Skewville, and Thundercut

A book signing of “Street Art New York” by Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington will be in the Open Space Gallery from 2 pm to 3 pm.

Some things we are missing: seeing all the wonderful people that were a part of our Bogart St. existence, from the daily regulars to the stroll-ins showing up from all over the world to check out what was going on; all the wonderful things that can happen with having a space, like supporting and fostering community, facilitating people relating with one another, and providing a platform for diverse creative forms to manifest.  It was a true pleasure to see all of the things that came out of having that space, a true nugget of fun, and a moment in time I wouldn’t trade for anything.  We learned so much and met so many phenomenal people from all walks of life.  Literally a life altering experience.

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Electric Windows: Thundercut and Street Art in “North Brooklyn”

Electric Windows: Thundercut and Street Art in “North Brooklyn”

Together with new neighbors and old friends from back in the city Thundercut are steadily creating a cultural festival built around one of their first loves: Street Art.

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The Street Art couple known as Thundercut are not the first Brooklyn artists to head to Beacon, New York, a picturesque phoenix on the Hudson River 59 miles north of Grand Central Station. Kalene Rivers and Dan Weise are just two of the most visionary and fun to talk with.

Once a town known for it’s hat making, Beacon (pop. 16,000) had a reputation as a sketchy drug and crime ridden place when Dan and Kalene were growing up in the Hudson Valley during the 80s and 90s. When the Dia Arts Foundation (also of Dia:Chelsea in Manhattan) renovated a 34,000 sf former factory in Beacon to create Dia:Beacon and to house a collection of Warhol paintings, hulking Richard Serra sculptures, and fluorescent Dan Flavin monuments, among other post 1960 art, interest grew in the town and an artist community largely from New York began to blossom. Many of the original artists who had brought a bohemian caché to rundown neighborhoods like Williamsburg, Greenpoint, and Red Hook in Brooklyn relocated to Beacon as their neighborhoods blanded in the mid 2000s. Much like those original artist enclaves, Beacon has become home to artist collectives, house parties, and experimentation.

Tina Darling poses in front of her work at Electric Windows (all photos courtesy and copyright of Thundercut)

Tina Darling poses in front of her work at Electric Windows (all photos courtesy and copyright of Thundercut)

While DIA was an important catalyst when it opened in 2003, Dan says the new residents brought a creative community that grew organically in it’s own direction.

“The people that have moved here have a very DIY spirit and have created something very special that continues to reinvent itself each year,” says Dan. In addition to Dan and Kalene opening their own gallery, Open Space, which shows fine art by many friends and artists in the street art scene, they recount inititiatives by neighbors who organize live concerts, have annual open studio events, host drawing nights at home, and began non-art related groups like soccer and ping pong clubs. Open Space itself has hosted a series of comedy nights that play to packed houses.

Says Dan, “If someone sees something missing in the community, they try to make it happen.”

Begun as a place to house their graphic design business, Open Space took root as a gallery and a community gathering spot. Explains Kalene, “We are both very passionate about giving something back to the community, from bringing new artists to show in the gallery, to organizing events like Electric Windows, these are things that we think are great and we are excited to share them with the town.”

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Which brings us to the third year of Electric Windows, a project that fills the eyes of a moribund electric blanket factory with new canvasses painted live on the street by artists while the public mills about. Now in it’s third year, with thirty artists, three buildings and live performances, EW is organized with their neighbors Jon Miles, Jeff Ashey and Nicole Romano.  With support from the mayor, a grant from the county arts council, donations from businesses of supplies and money, and even neighbors who are opening their homes to house the visiting artists, Electric Windows is thoroughly a community celebrating the creative spirit and the talent of Street Artists. The artists are traveling from Australia, Portland, San Francisco, St Louis, Milwaukee, New Jersey, and of course, Brooklyn without compensation and are all doing it for the love of the project.

Thundercut at work against a backdrop of lush Hudson Valley trees (© Thundercut)

Thundercut at work against a backdrop of lush Hudson Valley trees (© Thundercut)

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Brooklyn Street Art: How did the Electric Windows project first develop?
Dan Weise:
The Electric Windows building is what we see when we look out of the windows of Open Space. It is a beautiful turn-of-the-century factory building which, when we first got the space, still had the partially broken glass windows in the frames. It was a postcard for urban decay and having just moved up from Brooklyn, felt like home. Shortly after we opened the gallery, the owner removed all the glass and installed grey plywood window protection in its place. This was far from an improvement in our opinion, so we started discussing what could be done to bring life back to the building. This is when we began seriously talking about the idea of “Electric Windows”.

Our neighbors at the time, an art store named Burlock Home, really loved the idea and were on board to help make it happen. The four of us teamed up and put the whole project together in three months.

Elbow Toe returns this year to Electric Windows (© Thundercut)

Brooklyn Street Artist Elbow Toe returns this year to Electric Windows (© Thundercut)

BSA: This year features 3 buildings, instead of one.  Do you have enough artists?
Kalene Rivers:
We are excited about expanding the project to include more locations in the same area and all surfaces are accounted for. Everyday we think about how lucky we are to know so many incredibly talented artists and we just keep meeting more and more. Not only are they talented but they are amazing friends willing to donate their time and talents to events like Electric Windows for the love of making art and supporting positive projects.

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BSA: Street Art is normally associated with large metropolitan areas. How does Beacon fit in to the equation?
Dan:
Historically, Beacon was a town of manufacturing and the evidence still remains. There are some really phenomenal factories here in town, some vacant, some in the process of renovations and others like the Nabisco Factory, which now houses DIA, have been transformed into something new. I think this helps bring a bit of an urban feel to a quaint little upstate town. Also, when we moved up here we realized that not many people even knew about Street Art. This being the something that we are both very passionate about we wanted to open the gallery and share this world with people beyond the Bronx. Open Space Gallery was formed, Electric Windows was conceived, and slowly the infiltration has begun!

Alison from PMP shows kids how to screenprint (© Thundercut)

Alison from PMP shows kids how to screenprint (© Thundercut)

BSA: Would you say most of these artists are Street Artists? Or are there also graffiti artists, fine artists….
Kalene:
I would say that most of the artists are Street Artists but there certainly is a good group of graffiti and fine artists in the mix. Of course the first people we think to invite to the project are friends. Being involved in the Street Art scene for seven years means that these are the people we know best. However, it is wonderful to work with a variety of people from different backgrounds. The artists have to be able to paint big and fast so our selection of qualified participants is pretty limited to a certain kind of artist.

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BSA: What’s your favorite part of the event?
Dan:
Well, after we stress out for months planning and trying to take care of all the details, it is great to look up and see it all in action. Music filling the air, fumes wafting by, people admiring the amazing murals being created, children laughing and dancing. That is when it feels like it has all been worth it. But the event is just the beginning once the crowds leave and the art has been installed the projects gives back to the community, to visitors and to us each and every day.

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Returning Artists for Electric Windows: Buxtonia, BoogieRez, Chris Stain, Depoe, Elbow Toe, Mr Kiji, Michael De Feo, Peat Wollaeger, Rick Price, Ron English

New Artists for 2010: Big Foot, Cern, Chor Boogie, Chris Yormick, Elia Gurna, Erick Otto, Eugene Good, Faust, Gaia, Joe Iurato, Kid Zoom, Logan Hicks, Lotem & Aviv, Paper Monster, Ryan Bubnis, Ryan Williams, Skewville, Thundercut

Daryll Peirce at Electric Windows (photo © Thundercut)

Daryll Peirce at Electric Windows (photo © Thundercut)

This year’s event, which includes two days of preparation by the artists, a one-day exhibition and street fair, music and dancing by M*POWER ELITE TEAM, live screen printing by Buxtonia, and an Open Space after-party, is expected to draw approximately 5,000 people to Beacon’s Main Street corridor.

The line-up of live music at ELECTRIC WINDOWS includes: Ben Neill, Aabaraki, Hart Costa, DJ Birds in the Building, DJ Bobby Collins, DJ Krisis, Dr. Ambassador, Gold Monkey, and Scambler Seequill.

See Chor Boogie's "Romanticism" and other works by Electric Windows at Open Space online by clicking this picture.

See Chor Boogie’s “Romanticism” and other works by Electric Windows artists at Open Space online by clicking this picture.

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Electric Windows Beacon

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Amores Perros: Elbow Toe Gets Ferocious in Brooklyn

Move over little dog, Brooklyn Street Artist Elbow Toe is moving in with teeth-baring charm. Breaking loose from the studio he runs a little wild with this piece “Move It On Over”, named after the Hank Williams song. With this disposition this mean dog looks more like the George Thorogood version.

Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe (© Jaime Rojo)

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General Howe: Fruits of War and Imagination

General Howe: Fruits of War and Imagination

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If you pay close attention, you will always see something new on the street in Brooklyn.  Thanks to the imagination and efforts of General Howe, a street artist who has been laboring carefully in small scale plastic soldiers placed in historically accurate locations on the street, you may also get an education.  In this most unusual of street artists lies a deep commitment to honoring the sacrifices of soldiers of war and he deploys his installations to help us learn some of the history that our culture has forgotten – and hopefully draw some connections to the current wars we are engaged in.

From General Howe:

“I make war in Brooklyn. Did you know the Revolutionary War was fought in Brooklyn? Did you know we’re at war in Afghanistan and Iraq? It’s easy to forget we’re battling in foreign lands against invisible adversaries. I bet you know more about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This is why I make war in Brooklyn.”

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: How did you get so interested in history?

General Howe: I used to work in the United States Senate and was exposed to U.S. government, politics, and history all day, every day. If I found something interesting I would explore it further in the senate library. After reading the book 1776 by David McCullough I realized that a portion of the Revolutionary War (now known as the Battle of Brooklyn) went down in the neighborhoods I lived and travel in within Brooklyn. I’ve been researching locations and events of the Battle of Brooklyn for about three years now. For example, the area of the Brooklyn Navy Yard was a bay filled with British prison ships. Over ten thousand patriot soldiers died in those ships due to poor conditions or torture. Places where we live, work, eat, and socialize are the same places where people fought, killed, and died during a revolution. Coincidentally, I find a lot of street artists working in these same locations.

BSA: In your art you work with plastic toy soldiers in installations and collage, do you go back to memories of your childhood playing with toy soldiers?

General Howe: Childhood experiences have become a big part of my process. If you watch a 5-year-old play, they have so much magic and imagination going through them that is hard to match as an adult. The battles I make are influenced by all the pretend battles I fought growing up. Reflecting on the countless hours I would spend with my friends or by myself hunting down bad guys with plastic guns or spears made of tree branches was so intensely creative. I try to tap into that same energy. To help me do this, I have been collecting old coloring books, games, and toys that I had growing up.

A look around his fort reveals influences for General Howe

A look around his fort reveals influences for General Howe.

BSA: The Battle of Brooklyn plays a big role in your installations. What significance is this battle to you and to the country?

General Howe: The significance of The Battle of Brooklyn is that I feel more connected to it and its purpose then the current wars we’re fighting in the Middle East. It’s definitely significant to our history as a country. We almost lost the entire revolution in Brooklyn. Washington recognized that the British had the upper hand at the time, so he had the entire army retreat to Manhattan. It took many losing battles and retreats, but eventually we gained the upper hand and the rest is history.

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Is there a central message that you want to convey with your work and installations?
General Howe:
There isn’t really a central message, more like a central goal. The goal of my work is for the viewer, or participant, to have an experience of reflection on his or her own experiences. Be it, war, childhood, or anything else that comes to the surface. We were attacked on 9-11 and we’ve been fighting 2 wars in the Middle East. It seems like that is all easily forgotten in our daily life. As we get older our childhood diminishes and memories are forgotten. For myself, I need to hold onto those memories in order to understand what’s going on now and live through it.

BSA: The American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell spent a lot of his life in Queens. Do you see his work as an important influence on yours?
General Howe:
The quality a self-taught artist produces is intriguing to me, but Joseph Cornell has not had an influence on my work. The work for shows, and recent street ICON pieces I have been making, are influenced by religious icons. One summer I spent some time studying art in Venice, Italy and I would sometimes stumble across religious icons built into actual walls of buildings in random streets and alleyways. Their purpose is to invoke spirituality and reflection. I try to achieve this same experience in the context of being in the street environment, childhood play, and of actual war.

The writings of John Dewey have had a major influence on my work and me personally. Walking around Brooklyn looking at the different textures and decay along with various forms of street art and graffiti provides constant inspiration.

A rendering by Goya for his "Disasters of War"
A rendering by Goya for his “Disasters of War”

Influential Artists for General Howe:
Seeing SWOON’S (and many partners) boats from Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea float down the East River will be a memory I never forget. The wheat pastes of Elbow-Toe never get old. Thundercut crosswalk stickers are brilliant and I always look forward to new Peru Ana Ana Peru films. The prints of Goya, especially Disasters of War are timeless and three of my favorite paintings are Thérèse Dreaming by Balthus, The Guitar Player by Manet, and The Death of Marat by David.

I am also an art teacher at a rigorous high school and the drive and dedication my students posses definitely keeps me going.

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: When you are manipulating and carefully placing your figures, do you worry that they will be stepped on?

General Howe: No way, part of the reason I became interested in street art was the ephemeral quality the work attains once placed in the street. The environment, nature, or people will unpredictably change the work. In one installation someone melted all the soldiers down to figurative stumps. Another person tastefully rearranged a battle inside a hollowed out log. Whether they’re playing with or destroying a battle, the fact that they’re spending time to do that and having an experience is why I create work in the street.

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Can you hear a dialogue among the figures in your head when you are working with them?
General Howe:

Poncho: You’re bleeding, man. You’re hit.
Blain: I ain’t got time to bleed.

(From the movie Predator)

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Elbow Toe Creates Fictions With Little Bits of Shredded Truth

The Street Artist talks about New Collage Series, NPR, and Haiku

Heat waves shimmering
one or two inches
above the pavement.

This is New York right now. Blistering smells of bubbling soot from the street.  Like no other time of the year most of these summer streets are a haven for life and freedom. School’s finally out, few summer jobs are available, and there are more service cuts on the bus and subways.  But in this time of lowered expectations the parks are still open and the free concerts and block parties and parades hint very little at the stress that so many are under.

Elbow Toe

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Brooklyn artist and poet of the streets whose moniker is Elbow Toe gets up early to “go to work” on the subway, where he rides and draws portraits of his fellow riders in a sketchbook before returning to his studio.  It’s there, in the air-conditioned underground, that he wakes up and re-connects to his city, loosening up the lines so that they can wend and bend freely, and jotting a little text as it manifests.

His impressive body of work continues to grow and develop both on the streets and, in the last couple of years, into galleries on both coasts and across the pond. Recently kicked out of his studio (another New York artist story), he has settled in to working at home on a new collage series using ripped and shredded paper to create quite detailed pieces that from a distance look like paintings.

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BSA: How’s the new studio? Have you done any work in it yet?
Elbow Toe: The new studio is suitable. I lost the last space when the landlord got in a dispute with the owner and forced us all out. I have been in the new space for a couple of months at this point and it has seen it’s fair share of work. I am primarily working on collages.

At this point I have converted part of my residence to a studio. It is a weird mix because we don’t have any walls in our place per se. And I don’t want to ruin the floors so I had to build a wall that could balance on the floor to provide privacy yet let in some light. I have done well over a half dozen collages at this point so the space is pretty broken in. If I had one complaint it would be that I wish I was in a studio building again so that I could just shut the door at the end of the night. As it is, the pieces sort of nag away at me. Who knows, it might make them just that more intimate with my psyche.brooklyn-street-art-elbow-toe-jaime-rojo-2

She’s seen it all. Two of Elbow Toe’s figures stretch from Madonna’s eyes as Elbow Toe adds to MBW (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: What’s informing your art right now? What’s inspiring you?
Elbow Toe: I have to hold the cards for what is informing me pretty close to my chest, as I am still engrossed in working out the imagery for the show. But I can say that I spent the better part of a year working out the boundaries and technical hurdles in my approach to collage. Though I am doing some portraits still, the new works are exploring narrative frameworks. I would say that I am creating fictions with a little bit of truth.  I do my best to let my imagination play with the hopes that it know intuitively what stories I want to tell.

Elbow Toe

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: You touch on political and social themes in your art. Are you a news junkie?
Elbow Toe: I am a news junkie. It certainly doesn’t help that I get into bouts of listening to NPR for 8 – 10 hours a day. It really makes for great light small talk in social situations, let me tell you.

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Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: What’s your best way to get news right now? Radio, TV, or internet?
Elbow Toe: I primarily stream NPR in on my computer.

BSA: What’s the environment that you like to create in your studio while you work?
Elbow Toe: When I start a piece I like the studio to be pristine. By the time I have completed the piece there is very little space to stance, and it is quite visually painful as there is basically a storm of color all over the floor. I generally get so pulled into the process that the chaos works to my advantage as I tend to know where every piece of paper is amidst the chaos. The real problem that arises is when I set my  keys down in the studio by accident.

Elbow Toe

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: You’ve referred to classic and modern art masters in your work. Is there anybody in the current crop of contemporary artists who do you admire and with whom you would like to collaborate on a piece with?
Elbow Toe:
There are a lot of artists out there that I really admire. I am always looking. Cutting up Art Forum magazines for my collages keeps introducing new artists to me. As much as I like their work, I am really not that interested in collaborating with any of them. I prefer honing my own vision.brooklyn-street-art-elbow-toe-jaime-rojo-5

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: You are known to write a bit of poetry – what brings it forth? People on the street? Books you read? Music?
Elbow Toe: The quotes that I write around town… They tend to just well up from somewhere inside me. I go draw (in my sketchbook) on the subway in the mornings to warm up, and when I really drop into the work, they just sort of present themselves.

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Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)
Elbow Toe

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Who is your favorite poet? What resonates about their work?
Elbow Toe: I like the Haiku masters Basho, Buson and Issa. There is such a compactness to the form. And the work is so humble.

I have been a fan of Sharon Olds for some time. There is such a vocal quality to her work. The rhythm is so strong that it completes the ideas perfectly that she is conveying. A particular favorite book of hers is The Father. Amazing.

Elbow Toe

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

You can see Elbow Toe’s newest piece tonight at the Perry Rubenstein Gallery in a collage based group show, “Shred”. See the press release and his piece HERE.

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Perry Rubenstein Gallery Presents: “Shred” A Collage Based Group Show

Perry Rubenstein Gallery

Brian Douglas "Bears" Photo Courtesy of the Artist

Brian Douglas "Bears" Photo Courtesy of the Artist

PERRY RUBENSTEIN GALLERY
527 WEST 23 STREET
ANNOUNCES
SHRED
Curated by Carlo McCormick
July 1st – August 27th, 2010
Opening reception: Thursday July 1st, 2010 6-8pm
Perry Rubenstein Gallery is pleased to announce SHRED, curated by Carlo McCormick, senior editor of Paper magazine, opening on Thursday, July 1st from 6:00-8:00pm and on view through Friday, August 27th, 2010. A small catalogue brochure with an essay by McCormick will accompany the exhibition.
SHRED will feature collage-based works from a diverse group of artists, some who have pioneered collage as fine art and others who are expanding upon the subversive flavor inherent to the medium. Featured are works in myriad media—from simple collages of newsprint on paper to lively video animations made from cutout paper silhouettes.
The exhibition will include historic works by Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008);Bruce  Conner (1933-2008); a prominent member of the Beat community recognized for his innovative assemblages; California-native, Jess (1923 – 2004) whose oeuvre includes collages based on alchemy, religion and comic strips; Dash Snow (1981-2009) whose work on paper appears deceptively simple; Gee Vaucher whose surrealist tendencies are tied to punk; and Jack Walls whose self-portraits incorporate photographic imagery taken by his long-time partner Robert Mapplethorpe.
Provocative new works were specifically produced for the exhibition. The collective Faile will show a ripped painting featuring brand new iconography. Shepard Fairey, Leo Fitzpatrick, Mark Flood, Erik Foss, Swoon, Judith Supine will all debut their latest works. Finely cut paper collage by Brian Douglas (Elbow-Toe) resembles intricate painting and Shelter Serra will present three-dimensional work: cast roses in white silicone. Video works by Martha Colburn, Tessa Hughes-Freeland and Bec Stupac will be featured, with Stupac premiering a new piece.
PRG is thrilled to welcome Carlo McCormick as guest curator for this extraordinary summer exhibition. McCormick is a prominent New York City-based author, curator, critic and champion of the downtown art scene. He has authored numerous books, monographs and catalogues on contemporary art and culture, including The Downtown Book: The New York Art Scene 1974-1984 published by Princeton University Press which he coauthored. He has lectured and taught extensively at universities and colleges around the United States. His writing has appeared in Aperture, Art in America, Art News, Artforum, Camera Austria, High Times, Spin, Tokion, Vice and countless other magazines. He has curated exhibitions for the Bronx Museum of Art, New York University, the Queens Museum of Art and the Woodstock Center for Photography.
Perry Rubenstein Gallery
527 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10011
T 212.627.8000
F 212.627.6336
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00pm
Summer Hours from July 2nd to September 3rd: Monday – Friday, 10:00am to 5:00pm

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