Erik Berglin

Images of the Week 11.27.11

November 27, 2011 Artists, Australia, Brooklyn, Manhattan, NYC, On the Street, Sydney

Here in New York everybody is still out kickin around the streets because the weather is warm and to welcome the oceanic flood of tourists who are here to see the big parade, the Rockettes, The Book of Mormon, and to buy fake Louis Vuitton bags on Canal Street. After Thanksgiving, it’s a tradition that we get mobbed by shoppers from all over the place, and it’s a tradition to complain about slow moving wide people in sweatpants slowing us down, even though secretly we’re happy to see cousin Bruce and Aunt Ida again. Also, if you slow down a little, you might even see some new Street Art and appreciate it.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Anthony Lister, Betten, CID, Dr. Za, Erik Berglin, Jaye Moon, Leidy, OverUnder, Phil, RWK, Sise, Veng, and Willow.

Betten (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Leidy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CID (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dr. Za (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Erik Berglin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaye Moon. “I write words in number codes so no one can understand. This series is called ” Transparent Barriers”. They look like address or phone numbers. but they are cursing words that people are not comfortable to say in public. By writing them in numbers, I feel free to bring them out in public. It’s about frustration about expressing inner feelings”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Phil (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sise (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Our Lady of Guadalupe. Artist Unknown. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Willow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New Yorker Spencer Elzey checked out Anthony Lister’s show “Bogan Paradise” while in Sydney recently. Here are a couple of images from the show:

Anthony Lister at Outpost (photo © Spencer Elzey)

See more photos by Spencer Elzey and read more about Sydney’s “OutPost Project” ReCap by clicking here

Anthony Lister at “Outpost” in Sydney (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Anthony Lister at Outpost (photo © Spencer Elzey)

Erik Berglin: Unusual New Birds of Brooklyn

October 6, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, NYC, On the Street

Swedish artist Erik Berglin has been installing photos of birds on the streets of Europe since 2006. This summer he was in Brooklyn to brighten the hood with an avian air not seen since the great escape of wild parrots from JFK in the 60s. In a typical New York immigration story, first the parrots began working as dishwashers and now they own most of the delis in some parts of Brooklyn. Just checking to see if you are paying attention. Seriously, those AWOL parrots first created a colony in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn and since then have expanded to other sections of Brooklyn and Queens, becoming the new natives.

More of a hobby than a statement, Erik uses existing photos of birds scanned from books and downloaded from the web, wheat-pasting them in unusual yet appropriate locations that catch your attention. They remind some of Dan Witz’s oil painted hummingbirds and the saturated natural habitats of ShinShin and Wing, but Berglin thinks more about the adaptive qualities of birds and that parallel to city dwellers.

“From all the wild animals, birds have adapted best to living in urban conditions. Except maybe for rats – but it is birds we see and encounter in our daily life in the city,” observes Berglin. He talks about rats and birds as heroic overcomers in the urban environment, apparently not aware of our fabulous cockroaches.

With more plumage, attitude and strutting than the Spring 2012 fashion shows at Lincoln Center, this new collection speaks also of the regal self-assured quality of aviators, and the laser like focus needed for survival in the natural and manmade environment. “We view them as a natural part of urban life,” he explains, but he doesn’t limit himself to the varieties that are common here. “With birds there are an endless amount of different species to chose from. I never have to repeat myself,” says Berglin.

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