All posts tagged: Georgia

“The Sunrise of Edgewood”, GAIA & Nanook open Living Walls Atlanta 2012

March 17, 2012 Artists, Atlanta, Events, Georgia, Street Art Festival

The 3rd Edition of Living Walls begins this spring and BSA is pleased to again partner with Monica Compana and her team to bring you the action in Atlanta for 2012. Supporting the ATL efforts since they popped in ’10, we’ll again bring you updates from the field as the artists converge in Atlanta to bring color, vibrancy and a dialogue with Street Art in the city.

Officially the 2012 conference begins in August but we’ll be bringing you a series of installations leading up to it. This years quality lineup will be a bit more international and focused with skillz on display from Gaia, Nanook, La Pandilla, Trek Matthews, Interesni Kazki, Everman, Neuzz, Pablo Gnecco, and Liqen.

So right now we want to give a huge shout out to our partners in non-crime, writer Alexandra Parrish, who is also Director of Communications for Living Walls, Charles Flemming, Living Walls Media team photographer and Albert Lebron, videographer who will all be BSA contributors to bring to you dispatches from the field. Thank you and welcome.

Gaia and Nanook

Text by Alexandra Parrish
Photos by Charles Flemming
Video by Albert Lebron

Gaia and Nanook (photo © Charles Flemming)

In terms of mural making, Gaia and Nanook believe public art has the ability to designate place. They are hardly strangers to the rich history layered in the gridded streets of Atlanta. Last weekend, Gaia and Nanook returned to the heart of the south to participate in Living Walls Concepts, a year-round conduit to the conference, which aims to create a more intimate relationship between the artist and the community.

The sketch came naturally – the wall, located on Edgewood Avenue in the heart of Old Fourth Ward sits firmly in the neighborhood Martin Luther King Jr. called home. Gaia and Nanook opted for an equivocal face to represent the street itself – and the passerby’s whom they interacted with regularly; Which is something I’m sure they revel, as Gaia took the time to explain what he was doing to anyone who cared to ask.

After three days and a stunted thunderstorm, Gaia and Nanook named their finished wall “The Sunrise of Edgewood.”

Gaia and Nanook (photo © Charles Flemming)

Gaia also sent us a description of the project:

“The collaboration that Nanook and I produced on Edgewood avenue is an observation on the neighborhood’s changing complexion. Historically, the Fourth Ward is considered in many regards as the epicenter of the Civil Rights movement so naturally creating Martin Luther King Jr’s face just down the block from the King Home seemed logical.

But rather we created a portrait that was more ambiguous, an everyman face that faded into a rising sun. This vibrant visage is surrounded by a turmoil of rope and vine forms that nanook created which is derived from one of his early street pieces. Now the mural is surrounded by a contentious area whose gentrification is imminent like the endless cycle of the sun.”

Gaia and Nanook (photo © Charles Flemming)

“The Sunrise of Edgewood” by Albert Lebron (VIDEO)

To learn more about Living Walls Altanta: The City Speaks and to make a donation to help this year’s conference click here. BSA thanks you for supporting this good work.

Nice-One and Lucx in Cincinnati, Savannah

February 28, 2012 Artists, Cincinnati, Georgia, On the Street, Savannah

Street Artists Nice-One and Lucx did some painting and wheat-pasting recently in Cincinnati and Savannah as part of a special student arts themed tour they took out of their native Chicago. Their complementary illustrative styles are thoughtfully whimsical, colorful, and sometimes satiric. The collaborations here captured by Chicago based photographer and BSA contributor Brock Brake give you a sense of some artists lustful focus on so-called “appropriate placement”, or putting the work where it functions with a bit of harmony in its context.

Nice-One. Cincinnati. (photo © Brock Brake)

How a Street Artist chooses location can make a huge difference on its impact and how long it runs, believe it or not. Regardless of the wall choice (permissioned or not) street justice by peers and critics can take out a piece if it offends anyone’s sensibility, but some say that Nice-One has a rep for riding longer because of his good placement – even in cities officially hostile to any of this kind of work. Often, the piece can make you laugh. It probably doesn’t hurt that a large amount thoughtful preparation goes into each piece, and work by both artists could easily hang in your house, or school.

Nice-One. Cincinnati. (photo © Brock Brake)

Nice-One. Savannah. (photo © Brock Brake)

Nice-One in Savannah. (ed. note; We’re supposed to be looking at the art, but is that a tray of cupcakes?) (photo © Brock Brake)

“Stakes is High”, Nice-One. Savannah. (photo © Brock Brake)

Nice-One. Savannah. (photo © Brock Brake)

Lucx. Savannah. (photo © Brock Brake)

Click here to read about Nice-One and Lucx project the “Hot Box Truck”.

Click here to read about Nice-One project with high school students in Savannah.

Hugh Leeman & Faber at Living Walls

September 29, 2010 Artists, Atlanta, Events, On the Street

The Living Walls Conference in Atlanta ended weeks ago and the organizers still think of all the artists who helped in their first ever event; the art, the conversations, the animated debates, the camaraderie.

The pieces and murals left behind mostly are still untouched and naturally some have been tagged, destroyed, gone over. The life cycle for art on the streets, it would appear, is getting shorter – like 3-week TV pilots, 18-hour news cycles, and the average texting teen attention span, the pace of change is a quickening. Few artists can say that their pieces stay untouched, or “ride”, for very long periods of time.

One artist at Living Walls, Hugh Leeman, saw his portrait of an American civil rights icon actually precipitate the removal of an alcohol ad, due to local community sentiments – although no-one has said who brought it down. Street Artist Faber, takes a less literal, more intuitive approach to creating pieces specific to their location and his inner dialogue.

Hugh Leeman’s first stage (photo © Jenna Duffy)

Following are observations from Jayne McGinn along with photos from Jenna Duffy, who both covered the conference extensively:

Hugh Leeman

Hugh Leeman is easily one of the most inspiring people I met during Living Walls, if not my lifetime. His drive, passion and sincerity shone throughout his short stay in Atlanta.

After losing his wall on the side of Sound Table in the Old Fourth Ward due to a conflict with an Old English ad, Hugh ventured to the establishment at 1 a.m to convinced the owners to let him use the wall. He was allowed to create his piece with the stipulation that he would cut his mural in half and not cover the malt liquor add. Using only the Martin Luther King Jr side of the mural, Hugh pasted up his mural quickly, and before Leeman had left Atlanta the next day- the malt liquor add was down.

Leeman’s mural of MLK is adjacent to the MLK historic district, including his birth house and church. The brief time that the OE advertisement and the MLK wheat paste shared the wall together, it caused controversy within the community, igniting anger and confusion. Leeman and Living Walls posted a sign saying they did not support the advertisement.

Leeman’s mural changed the way OFW looks and represents the people and the neighborhood in an honest and uplifting way.

Faber

Faber takes only a basic idea of a mural and his paint to his wall with him. He lets his murals evolve in a stream of consciousness as they adapt and respect the walls they coexist with.

Faber is careful not to break the aura of the structure and to maintain the feeling, form and character of the building.

Faber’s interest in graffiti inspired him to study fine arts in school and further influences his work today. His artwork is personal, and appears on the street for the people who don’t have access to an art gallery, thus he creates a “public gallery” with his work. He sees his artwork as alive because of it interacts with the public.

To see more of Jenna Duffy’s work go HERE:

The Living Walls Blog

To learn more about Living Walls go HERE:

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