All posts tagged: Hyland Mather

Graffiti, Architecture, and the Art of the Letterform at STRAAT in “Graffitecture: Typographic Blueprints”

Graffiti, Architecture, and the Art of the Letterform at STRAAT in “Graffitecture: Typographic Blueprints”

Graffitecture: Typographic Blueprints, on view at STRAAT Museum from February 14 to May 18, 2025, explores the evolving relationship between graffiti, typography, and the built environment. Curated by Hyland Mather, the exhibition brings together four artists—SODA, Gary Stranger, Antigoon, and Georgia Hill—who each push the boundaries of letterforms, blending street-born spontaneity with architectural precision. With around fifty works and several installations, the show underscores how graffiti’s evolution extends beyond its rebellious origins, shaping contemporary urban aesthetics through language and form.

What unites these artists is their ability to challenge traditional notions of typography and its place in public space. SODA’s optical illusions introduce a trompe-l’œil effect, where depth and structure emerge from flat surfaces. Gary Stranger, with his graffiti roots in MSK, refines letterforms into architectural compositions that exude elegance and control. Antigoon’s machine-assisted process introduces an almost industrial approach, evoking the mechanics of urban construction. Meanwhile, Georgia Hill’s poetic monochromatic works harness language as both message and material, inviting reflection through carefully curated phrases. Together, they offer a dialogue between chaos and control, craftsmanship and spontaneity, underscoring how typography continues to redefine urban landscapes.

BSA spoke with Curator Hyland Mather and the four artists about their practice and the show.

BSA: As an artist known for assemblages of ‘lost objects’ and a curator deeply involved in street culture, how do you perceive the intersection of graffiti and architecture influencing contemporary urban aesthetics?

Hyland Mather: Well, to start, graffiti and architecture have always been in conversation…more than that, married.  I mean graffiti happens on buildings.  That part is as clear as it gets. But, graffiti isn’t just something on the built environment…it’s reacting to it, engaging with it, sometimes even fighting against it, protesting. And also, the rebellious or mischievous practice of graffiti is an ethos and attitude, and that’s a huge part of the allure and charm for the culture for both the viewer and the artists. So, not only does graffiti take place ON the architecture but also IN the cityscape, IN the architecture of the city in ways other artistic movements simply don’t. 

In terms of contemporary urban aesthetics…which, we all know, is a moving target…I see the intersection of graffiti and architecture continuing to evolve in ways that go beyond just paint on structures. A lot of artists are playing with depth and layering, in ways that feel ‘in conversation’ with architecture. You’ve got geometric abstraction, precision lettering that mimics architectural lines, and even a kind of ‘graffiti expressionism’ (think NUG, or Revok, or even 108) where the movement and energy of tagging culture gets translated into something that engages with architecture more fluidly, without being so tied to strict letterforms.


More from our interview with the curator after the artists.


SODA

SODA. (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

Brooklyn Street Art: Your work plays with three-dimensional illusions on flat surfaces, blending hyper-realistic and abstract forms. How do you approach the balance between abstraction and realism, and what challenges arise when scaling these concepts to larger works?”

SODA: That’s a great question. I tend to think abstractly when creating both my artworks and music. One of my main goals is to achieve a certain look and feel—something that appears hyperrealistic in detail, despite the limitations of the medium on canvas, certainly not on wall.

SODA. Arrival. Banbury, UK, 2019. (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

I aim to depict something that appears tangible, but within an abstract space—unreal, yet rendered with a sense of realism. However, when working with oil paints, I completely avoid hyperrealism. Instead, I focus on abstraction, using expressive brushstrokes and fluid compositions to create depth and movement. Light and shadow play a crucial role in shaping the geometry, while the mind instinctively fills in the details to form the bigger picture.

To me, abstraction and hyperrealism hold broad meanings. Their significance depends on how we perceive and approach them.

SODA (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

When creating, I use my own sound design as either a starting point for inspiration or as a parallel process. My approach remains abstract, even in music—where notes and rhythms follow a non-conventional, almost random structure. This randomness often leads to unexpected results, which can be more compelling than the initial idea. The same applies to my visual work, whether on canvas or walls—there’s always an intended direction, but the “unintended” elements often become a focal point.

On a larger scale, my work offers different spatial and design possibilities. Every piece presents its own set of challenges, from the initial sketch to the final execution. But to me, that challenge is an essential part of the process—an evolving interplay between control and spontaneity.

GARY STRANGER:

Gary Stranger (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

Brooklyn Street Art: Having started in graffiti in the 1990s, you’ve developed a distinctive freehand typographic style. How has that background influenced your work, and what drives your commitment to precision?

Gary Stranger: The graffiti I painted was heavily influenced by type. The characteristics and some of those letter forms have persisted through to the work I make today. The structure, rigidity, and legibility of my graffiti were important to me. I think a foundational understanding of letter form is vital if you’re going to paint good graffiti. I hope that understanding now informs my studio work in the same way. 

Gary Stranger (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

I’m not sure I have a commitment to precision. I like order and I reflect that in my work. I am however trying to embrace the element of jeopardy in my current work. The nuances of the brush stroke and the imperfections of how the paint is picked up by the canvas are part of the joy now. Previously, I would have worked hard to eliminate these details. 

I spent 25 years learning how to make spray paint do what I wanted it to, only to realise it was never the correct medium for the art I wanted to make.

Gary Stranger. Word Up. (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

GEORGIA HILL

Georgia Hill (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

Brooklyn Street Art: Specializing in type-based, monochromatic artworks, your pieces may reflect personal and poetic themes. How do you select the phrases you incorporate, and in what ways do you aim for your work to engage viewers on both individual and communal levels?

Georgia Hill: The phrases I feature in my works are collected over time, in a number of ways. Sometimes, I play with collaging words together, noting down misheard lyrics, or simply noting thoughts or phrases that play on my mind. I keep a long list of these and am always waiting for the right place to put them – whether that’s as a painting title, featured in an artwork, or ‘fit’ the facade I’m working with. 

Georgia Hill. Come Close To Me. Mannheim, Germany, 2024. (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

I hold onto these phrases because they reflect or stir something in me, but often have an ambiguous nature. I really like that they’re open-ended and a record of a fleeting moment for myself, but that people use their own experiences and contexts to build their own connections to the work, whether that’s on an individual level or reflects a sense of connection and community.

Georgia Hill. Beg For Meaning. Newcastle, Australia, 2022. (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

ANTIGOON

ANTIGOON (photo © Pascal Duin)

Brooklyn Street Art: Your work pushes the boundaries of material and process using custom-designed tools. What inspired you to incorporate these unconventional tools, and how do they influence the final aesthetic of your typographic forms?

ANTIGOON: I guess it all comes down to the computer-controlled machines I started building out of boredom after years of being a web designer. These were little pen plotters that drew my designs with pen and paper. They’re very neat and precise, which was really nice in the beginning because, apparently, I did a great job building them.

After playing around with this pen plotter for a while, the neatness became quite boring. I started to enjoy the little mistakes it made, like the little blobs of ink here and there, the less-pronounced lines, and the visible vibrations of the motors.

ANTIGOON. Eindhoven, Netherlands. (photo courtesy of STRAAT)

One time, out of curiosity, I started using charcoal instead of the usual pen on paper. For the first time, it became more of a collaboration between me and the machine. I had to change my design because the lines were a lot thicker than before, tape some metal brackets to the Z-axis to add the needed pressure, and babysit the plotter because the charcoal kept running out.

In hindsight, this sparked a new playground: Let’s feed this machine weird things. This collaboration is at times a battle – this is what really triggers me. The boundaries that come with using a certain material and a machine that’s actually not made for this are fascinating.

In the end, it’s all about the question: How can we make this work? Sometimes, I have to alter my drawings; other times, I have to add extensions to the machine, change the material a bit, or completely build a new machine. These challenges are what keep it interesting for me and, hopefully, for the audience as well.


BSA’s interview with curator Hyland Mather continues here:

BSA: In curating Graffitecture: Typographic Blueprints, what criteria guided your selection of artists, and how do their diverse practices contribute to the exhibition’s exploration of typographic transformation in public spaces?

HM: I obviously couldn’t include everyone—that’s always the first limitation, haha. But these four artists I think represent a good glimpse into something much broader that’s been happening globally.  With these four artists I can help introduce this story to the visitors of STRAAT.

I wanted artists who manipulate letterform in unexpected ways, basically. Two of them, Gary Stranger (MSK) and SODA, came straight out of graffiti-writing traditions, while someone like Georgia Hill works more conceptually with language…like Barbara Kruger or Jenny Holzer but on the street.  

Anyways, it just seemed to me that all four of these artists share a deep understanding of how typography and letterform interact with space.  

BSA: Given your experience with found-object art, how do you see the concept of ‘reuse’ manifesting in the practices of the artists featured in this exhibition, particularly in their approach to typography and spatial design?

HM: Thank you for asking this.  With these four, ‘reuse’ isn’t happening in quite the same way that I engage with lost physical objects in my own work. But there’s definitely a shared sensibility. I see parallels in how they repurpose visual language, reclaim surfaces, and reinterpret structures.

Graffiti has always been partly about taking what’s available and transforming it…buildings, bridges, train cars, power boxes…, and on and on. These artists are working from that tradition but doing what good artists should do and pushing the traditions. We see great examples from each of these artists in terms of rethinking letterform, reusing language, and reshaping typography. 

There’s also a shared discipline in terms of approach. Like in my own work, I see a commitment to geometric abstraction, to working within a precise and often limited palette, and to an almost meditative focus on form. So while the materials are different, the mindset of taking what exists and flipping it into something fresh, I guess I would be speaking for them, but I definitely think we all share that. 

BSA: How do you see the dialogue between traditional graffiti practices and contemporary design evolving, and what role do exhibitions like Graffitecture play in this progression?

HM: See, this is a good but tricky question…I mean how many young turks started off as graffiti writers and now work in cushy design industry jobs?…a nearly uncountable number, I think.  Of course lines continue to blur … advertising for example, annexes more and more from graffiti and street art culture all the time.  But, let’s not forget, traditional in your face name writing graffiti is still super strong and needed…repetition, name recognition, getting up, the whole ruckus…to me this part of the culture is in ‘non-dialogue’ with contemporary design.  It can have an influence on the visual language of design, but the ruckus part of the culture will never truly be embraced by contemporary design, and thank fucking god, actually. 

But anyway, to go back to how I started to answer this question … a lot of artists are applying design sensibilities and innovations to their street work.  So instead of ‘Design always borrowing from Graffiti’, I like to think of it as ‘Graffiti sometimes stealing from Design’

The artists in Graffitecture, I see these artists as thinking about typography and letterform not just as a personal tag but as a system of communication, like a designer or an architect thinks of their work. Something that can be constructed or deconstructed, built or rebuilt.  Of course this is not new, artists like DELTA have been exploring themes like this for a very long time, there are just now more examples of artists working like this in our global culture. An Exhibition like Graffitecture helps amplify the ongoing conversations between graffiti, design and architecture for our STRAAT visitors. We are so very proud to provide the venue and forum for such a cool and nuanced topic.

For more information about this exhibition click STRAAT

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BSA Images Of The Week: 09.01.24

BSA Images Of The Week: 09.01.24

Welcome to BSA’s Images of the Week.

In the past two decades, Asbury Park, New Jersey, has undergone a dramatic transformation, evolving from a struggling, economically challenged city into a pleasantly eclectic one. This shift, driven by gentrification, has attracted a wealthier demographic, including professionals and artists from nearby New York City, drawn by affordable housing, a revitalized waterfront, and the promise of a burgeoning cultural scene. For many, it has become a trendy, artistic destination.

The Wooden Walls Project, launched in 2015, has been central to its evolution, thanks to Jenn Hampton and Porkchop of Parlor Gallery. A slew of artists—officially and unofficially curated— have regaled Asbury Park with many large-scale murals and street art installations. This week, you’ll see a few examples of work we caught down by the beach as summer slowly burns toward fall.

We’re also regaled by a few other pieces we’ve caught recently elsewhere.

Here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Logan Hicks, Joe Iurato, Pref, Beau Stanton, Hyland Mather, Ellena Lourens, Porkchop, Bradley Hoffer, H Kubed, Amberella, ONEQ, Ray Geary, Cameli, and Leaf 8K.

Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A clever signature from Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
LEAF 8K (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cameli (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Beau Stanton. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Beau Stanton. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Porkchop. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Porkchop. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Joe Iurato. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pref. “That’s Nice”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ray Geary. Detail. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ray Geary. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ONEQ. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Amberella. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
H Kubed (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Porkchop and Bradley Hoffer. Detail. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Porkchop and Bradley Hoffer. Detail. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ellena Lourens. Wooden Walls Project. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Summer 2024. Asbury Park, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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It’s “Not So Black And White” Outside Scope with STRAAT

It’s “Not So Black And White” Outside Scope with STRAAT

NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE

SCOPE WALLS 2023


A decade ago, spotting a fire extinguisher tag at a high-profile art fair was as rare as stumbling upon a unicorn. These tags, a raw expression borrowed from the rebellious part of street culture, remain one of the few graffiti forms embodying untamed, voluminous fury. Their wild, nearly uncontrollable nature often sends extinguisher tags sprawling chaotically across walls, typically in a burst of illegal exhilaration and complete disregard. Yet, at Scope, something has changed. Here, under the discerning eye of the STRAAT Museum from Amsterdam, New York’s Elle adds it to her graphic vocabulary, confined in a grid. The extinguisher phrase is sweetly an affair of the heart, neatly encapsulated within the structured lines of a painted grid on an outdoor display wall.

Valfre. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In this world (the West, East, North, and South), increasingly sliced by polarized political fault lines, the once rigid boundaries between art and vandalism blur into intriguing shades of gray. Consider hand styles like those of Bisco Smith at this venue – once underground, now they fold into the stylized lexicon of ‘calligraffiti,’ accessible to all. It’s a testament to the evolving nature of art, shattering the dichotomy of rules once as clear-cut as the commandments brought down by Moses.

HOXXOH. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Take Anthony Garcia Sr., for instance. His story is a narrative of contrasts. Born in Denver, that bastion of Boomer wealth now gasping in the throes of late-stage capitalism, Garcia’s roots are in Globeville, a less privileged neighborhood. He gets street cred for starting as a graffiti writer, then joins a DIY art collective – a move perhaps uncharacteristic for traditional graffiti artists. Garcia’s journey exemplifies the fading of stark black-and-white distinctions.

This year’s walls outside the Scope Fair in Miami vividly showcase this eclectic con/fusion. We see graffiti writers rubbing shoulders with art school graduates, graphic designers, and street artists. It’s a diverse panorama condensed into a concise exhibit. Curated by Hyland Mather and David Roos, STRAAT’s exhibition “Not So Black & White” celebrates this new, complex artistic landscape – where the lines between defiance and conformity, street and gallery, blend into a new, undefined horizon.

Artists include The London Police Hoxxoh, Pref ID, Bisco Smith, Mando Marie, Elle, Valfre, and Anthony Garcia Sr. .

HOXXOH. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ELLE. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
ELLE. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bisco Smith. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Bisco Smith. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mando Marie. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Mando Marie. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Anthony Garcia Sr. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pref ID. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The London Police. The Lost Object (text). Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project in collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
The London Police. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Not So Black & White Wall Mural Project. Detail. In collaboration with STRAAT Museum Amsterdam and Scope. Miami Art Week December 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR PEACE IN ANY FACE, AND FIND THE LOVE IN ANY PLACE” Hyland Mather AKA The Lost Object.

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Hyland Mather Floats Within an “Ocean of Being”

Hyland Mather Floats Within an “Ocean of Being”

Assemblage and collage don’t get much attention in the street art scene, let alone the graffiti scene, perhaps because these art-making techniques will not typically trigger police sirens and lights. You may be thoughtfully arranging a composition of found wood and metal elements from a nearby dumpster on the derelict wall of an abandoned building at 11 pm for no apparent reason – but that hardly reeks of vandalism. There’s no wild tagging scrawl, no aerosol cans, no bubbles, no drips, no silver fill, no dramatic fence-jumping. For that matter, this kind of work can look like fence-mending. Now that you think of it, assemblage and collage-making may be precisely an ideal vehicle for subversion.  

Hyland Mather. Viking Frolic Bar and Black Bottom Foggy Eyes. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather has been pounding together assemblages on the street for more than a decade – a gathering of the discarded of society into new relationships, new families. He’s been scanning the city horizon and collecting for a while – doing it so long that sometimes he feels like he may be a hoarder, but this search and rescue operation continues apace. His collections of objects are more like orphans given new homes, not discarded but simply lost. Whether drawn from city margins, dumpsters, post-industrial heaps, each element is adorned and joined with others. Maybe it is just an extension of the Western world’s consumerism of the last half-century, but perhaps it is also an inclusive practice of making sense from the chaos, finding great value and beauty in the discarded.

Now dividing his time between living in Portugal and in Amsterdam, and curating for STRAAT museum in Amsterdam, the Denver artist also collects and represents other artists and creates street-based artworks in many cities – a unique blending of elements, roles, and families that further evolves his profile. Here in a hotel lobby at the center of a Jersey City arts center revival, his found elements are appropriate; moving and mobile and newly combined and interconnected in an act of his ongoing global/local travels.

Hyland Mather. Viking Frolic Bar and Black Bottom Foggy Eyes. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

He calls the two-part installation his “Ocean of Being.” If their shapes, symbols, textures, and relationships are biographical, the stories are subterranean. Curated by DK Johnston for The Arts Fund, Mr. Mather tells us that it is an installation of two significant works named Viking Frolic Bar and Black Bottom/Foggy Eyes, “paired together for the first time as a massive installation of assemblage and collage.” Wood, acrylic, aerosol, objects, paper, canvas, frame; all gathered and working alongside, in tandem, in a constructed harmony unified by a calmed, natural palette and tied together with string, a “geometric component floating lightly above”.

Additional works completed in situ and for other projects are on display- gallery works and works on paper from what he calls his ‘Emblematum’ series.

Hyland Mather. Viking Frolic Bar and Black Bottom Foggy Eyes. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“These text-based pieces use imagery harvested from the pre-war (1930’s) Dutch magazine, Panorama, and post-war (1950-1960) photography from period photo journals,” his description says. He was aiming to “create a dreamlike collage behind ambiguous but uplifting slogans like the project title, ‘Ocean of Being’.

BSA spoke to Hyland Mather about his work, his influences, his strings, and his new indoor exhibition.

Hyland Mather. Viking Frolic Bar and Black Bottom Foggy Eyes. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Is this your first project in the USA after two years of the Covid Pandemic? If so how did you feel being able to travel again to execute your work as an artist?

Hyland Mather (HM): Actually, I guess you could say I was lucky, I had a bit of a ‘golden ticket’ in terms of travel documents during the height of the pandemic with a European residency permit and a US passport.  I did a bunch of large mural projects in the States in 2020 and 2021 and was in Philadelphia for an exhibition at Paradigm last July.  I will say it was an odd combo of super easy and super eerie traveling when the planes and airports were nearly empty.  

Hyland Mather. Viking Frolic Bar and Black Bottom Foggy Eyes. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: “Ocean of Being,” which is the title of your exhibition, does it refer to seeking balance, silence, meditation? The oceans are vast, and one can imagine being in the middle of them in complete silence, but not necessarily at peace since they can be turbulent and dangerous.

HM: You’re pretty right on about this.  I took the title from a Hindu idea, Brahman Ātman.  Where Brahman represents the unfathomable, immeasurable vast ocean of space, consciousness, and time and Ātman represents a tiny sample, or a water droplet in that ocean.  In the Lost Object installations, the objects in the install are a small sample representing a vast ocean of discarded objects that are around us everywhere, all the time. 

In the text-based works on paper, the collage backgrounds under papercut slogans make a kind of balance, where the slogan itself is like a cup of water and the collage underneath represents a vast ocean of imagery associated with the words.  The string paintings, Linea Pictura paintings, are also related to the Brahman Ātman meditation where the soft, loose, abstract backgrounds form the ocean upon which the crisp floating lines hover over…like a droplet of water in the air when waves collide.  

Hyland Mather. Viking Frolic Bar and Black Bottom Foggy Eyes. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Is your predilection for using found objects in your art purely as art materials or are you being conscientious about the environment by creating as much as you can with discarded objects?

HM: This is an awesome question, and I think about it a lot. In the beginning it was never about the environment, it was purely meditation and aesthetic. However, over time, especially working with recycling centers and junk yards when collecting materials, I’ve come to really see what’s going on with waste and it is, and I mean this sincerely, insane. 

I remember once going into the recycling center at the University of Oregon and seeing a huge industrial size hospital style laundry basket just filled to the brim with old CD’s.  The woman who ran the program was in shambles…she just pointed at the CD’s and said something like, ‘We’re a conscientious university town and there is just no way we can even begin to put a dent in how much recyclable trash there is even in our community’. It was pretty sad to see this front line activist super disheartened.   

I do have this dream project to work with some major player like Amazon, Ikea or Walmart to create a partnership where I make things with the mountains of stuff that they destroy when people return things. I just can’t wrap my head around how their PR departments would spin that … first they’d have to admit how much stuff is destroyed.  

Hyland Mather. Emblematum Parvus Series. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo courtesy of the artist)

BSA: What’s is the process for your text-based series? Do you come out with the text first then you find the images for the background? Or is it the opposite?

HM: The text works (Emblematum) are about wide ideas expressed in simple language. An expression like ‘Under The Sun’ has so many possibilities for interpretation…like a pretty day at the beach, or wild flowers on the prairie, or something darker like desertification, or inmates busting up rocks. Almost always it’s the text first, then the collages underneath, but the collages themselves are often fun to compose separately. It’s an enlightening exercise digging through old magazines and gauging the temperature of culture from a time period that is not so far in the past. 

I have a lot of old Dutch Panorama magazines from the 1930s and 1940s that I found behind an old book store in Amsterdam.  Panorama was comparable to Cosmo or something like that… it’s crazy to look at one from say late 1939 or early 1940 and there is absolutely no temperature of the war that was already raging in Poland and Czechoslovakia, and in a few short months would overrun the Netherlands as well, yet it’s still just ads for toothpaste and puff pieces on fishing.  

Hyland Mather. Emblematum Parvus Series. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo courtesy of the artist)

BSA: In your Linea Picture series one experiences the rigidity of the string and the beauty of the geometry but at the same time the soft yarn plays with the soft brushed, curvilinear work on the canvases. How would you describe this dual personality?

HM: This is such a flattering description, thank you. I’m happy with this work. This is the newest part of my practice and I feel like it’s taken me many years to arrive here. I’m not sure I can say it much better than you just did. String has been a tool I use in my work for a long time. I love how delicate it is and yet when stretched taut how precise it is. It’s kinda fetishy. The abstract painterly backgrounds are super meditative for me to make and put a great deal of peace into me as I’m working on them, but as artworks these pieces don’t feel complete for me until the string components are added, and a balance is achieved. I also really enjoy the shadow casting that the floating strings have on the surface of the canvases. 

Hyland Mather. Emblematum Parvus Series. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Emblematum Parvus Series. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Emblematum Parvus Series. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Linea Pictura Series. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Linea Pictura Series. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Linea Pictura Series. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Linea Pictura Series. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hyland Mather. Linea Pictura Series. Detail. Exhibition Ocean of Being in collaboration with The Art Fund and Canopy. Jersey City, NJ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ocean of Being is a project by artist Hyland Mather (@thelostobject), hosted by Canopy Hotel of Jersey City. The exhibition is curated by DK Johnston, founder of The Arts Fund.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 10.14.18

BSA Images Of The Week: 10.14.18

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Hope it isn’t trite, but don’t give up on your dreams – that’s what Street Artist AJ Lavilla advises in this piece on the sidewalk in Brooklyn. Dude and Dudette, this life can kick the stuffing out of you or just gradually wear you down, but we encourage you to keep you eyes on the prize! You can do it, in fact, you must.

In addition we have a Kiwi (Owen Dippie) in Brooklyn and an Australian (Lister) in Berlin this week. In fact, most of what follows is from a recent visit in that city we think of as a sister to Brooklyn – the chaotically beautiful Berlin. Special thanks to Various & Gould for helping us ID some of these works as well.

So here is our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring AJ LaVilla, Anthony Lister, Crypoe, Hyland Mather, Marycula, Owen Dippie, OXOX, Pappas Pärlor, Styro, and Vyoky.

Top Image: AJ Lavilla (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Owen Dippie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Styro in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Styro standing on Push in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather in Moscow for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

VYOKY in Moscow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pappas Pärlor in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pappas Pärlor in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pappas Pärlor in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentidied artist in Moscow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

OXOX in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Crypoe in Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

La Rouille at Urban Nation Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Care at Urban Nation Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (but it looks a lot like Carlos Mare’s B Boyz. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist memorial in Moscow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marycula at Urban Nation Berlin. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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BSA Images Of The Week 09.02.18 – Artmossphere Biennale 2018

BSA Images Of The Week 09.02.18 – Artmossphere Biennale 2018

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It’s been a packed couple of weeks between traveling to Moscow for the Artmossphere Biennale 2018 and immediately hopping to Leipzig, Germany for the magnificent Monumenta opening. Our heads are full of stories and conversations and images in two distinctly different scenes that somehow are still completely connected. Can’t tell if its euphoria or relief or jetlag but this Sunday is a dizzying day of taking account and being really thankful to be involved with an astounding amount of talent and camaraderie in the Graffiti/Street Art/Urban Art community that is connecting people around the world.

Here are our images of the week this time around; some selections from the Thursday night Artmossphere Biennale 2018 in Moscow, featuring 108, 1UP, Adele Renault, Bill Posters, BLOT, Canemorto, CT, the DOMA Collective, Egs, Faith XLVII, Faust, Finsta, Hyland Mather, LOT, Lucy McLauchlan, Lyall Sprong, Martha Cooper, Pablo Harymbat, and Pink Power.

Canemorto. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faust. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faith XLVII . Lyall Sprong. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Finsta. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Finsta. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper . Adele Renault. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Martha Cooper . Adele Renault. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Crew. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Crew. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pablo Harymbat. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

108. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CT . 108. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DOMA Collective. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lucy McLauchlan. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

EGS. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BLOT. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pink Power. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bill Posters. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sabina Chagina. Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Film Friday 08.31.18

BSA Film Friday 08.31.18

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Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :
1. Martha Cooper and Adele Renault at Artmossphere Biennale 2018
2. Canemorto at Artmossphere Biennale 2018
3. Pablo Harymbat at Artmossphere Biennale 2018
4. Hyland Mather at Artmossphere Biennale 2018

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BSA Special Feature: 4 BSA Homemade Videos From This Week in Moscow for Artmossphere

There is a certain glory to all of this; 50 or so artists from around the world who started in Street Art and graffiti now making art that cannot be easily classified as such. After a handful of international curators sifted through 350 applications this represents a moment, possibly one flashpoint in the movement between the street and the contemporary art scene and academia and the public.

For a capital city in Russia to be a facilitator of this conversation is unique because the modern stories we tell each other about this public art practice have rarely centered here. But Moscow has its own towering splendor and is taking a leadership role in helping us tell the history and possibly helping to form the future of this scene. Thursday night the legion of guests trolling the arched halls of the wine cellar could not have been more engaged, more full of question, more willing to consider that the minds and craft of these artists, at least in some cases, are apt reflections of our society, provide insight and critique.

Enjoy these small videos made by photographer Jaime Rojo on his phone this week as we surveyed some of the artists preparing their work for Artmossphere 2018.

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Martha Cooper and Adele Renault

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Canemorto

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Pablo Harymbat

 

Process at Artmossphere Biennale 2018: Hyland Mather

 

MONUMENTA / LEIPZIG

Next Stop – LEIPZIG for an audacious new festival that celebrates the flattening of the hierchies and the Intelligence of Many.

 

 

 

 

 

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Hyland Mather. Street Assemblage and his Scupture at Artmossphere 2018, Moscow

Hyland Mather. Street Assemblage and his Scupture at Artmossphere 2018, Moscow

BSA is in Moscow as curators of 50+ international artists in the Artmossphere Biennale 2018 for its 3rd edition called Street Art Wave. Till the end of the month we’ll working with a stellar cross section of people involved with Urban Art/Street Art/Graffiti at curious and fascinating intersections. We’re meeting with Street Artists, academics, collectors, gallerists, museum curators, organizers, and thoughtful pontificators of all sorts in studio, on the street, behind the scenes, and on display. Come with us!


Amsterdam resident Hyland Mather (street name X-O) is a hybrid of outside artist, Street Artist, muralist, sculptor, exhibition curator and gallery owner. Recently he also become owner of an apple orchard in Portugal, so perhaps you’ll add “farmer” to the list. This unique cobbling together of interests and art practices is often emblematic of the eccentric art practices that can be found on the street today, somehow tangentially related to the mark-making of graffiti and fine art studio practice at the same time – yet rather unclassifiable.

Hyland Mather at work at Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mather’s drilled, stacked and strung 3-D works on the street tend to be monochromatic in palette with geometric patches of white paint. Part assemblage, part outsider art, possibly art brut, elements of craft maker, some Louise Nevelson, a dollop of Caldor.

For his sculpture at Artmossphere’s OFFLINE exhibition he collected pieces of discarded wood, metal, glass, even string from Moscow streets and refuse bins and began to lay them out to find their commonalities and begin the process of assembly.

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I’m the kind of guy that mothers move their strollers across the street to avoid when they see me,” he says only half-joking when describing the practice of salvaging refuse for his painting-sculptures. “I look like a fucking crazy person when I’m collecting the materials and dragging the stuff through the street,” he says.

“But when the neighborhood people see you working and your earnest attempt to turn their trash into something great they are more supportive.”

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here the work has turned into something more fulsome and possibly interactive, an elevated stage and  block of wood pieces and screws and string and rusted metal that may look like an invitation to enter.

“I think habitually I kind of make things that are sort of fort,” he says, and you can certainly envision this new piece cradled in the limbs of a tree with a ladder hanging down to the ground. Although there are a lot of holes in the walls…

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Well, it doesn’t look like it would be very protective.
Hyland Mather: Yeah, even in a shantytown this would not be a desirable dwelling, right? Any kind of exposure to the weather would be a disaster here – including mosquitoes.

BSA: How do you decide on the shapes and the forms? Is it about geometry?
Hyland Mather: Obviously it depends on what I find in the streets. Some times it becomes more organic just because these are the shapes I have to begin with. Between organic or geometric I don’t know if I have a real preference but I do like simple geometries.

BSA: Are the works that you leave on the street meant to stand the test of time?
Hyland Mather: They are meant to interact with time. It is a collaborative effort between myself and nature over time.

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hyland Mather. Process detail. Vinzavod for Artmossphere Biennale 2018. Moscow. August 2018. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Scott Albrecht Mural Painting in Denver : A Family Affair

Scott Albrecht Mural Painting in Denver : A Family Affair

Brooklyn artist and designer Scott Albrecht usually works with collage or wood for his fine art of geometric patterning that hearken an arts and craft modernism of the 1970s. Now he has just completed a mural in Denver reprising his smaller works at a much larger scale – with a little help from the family.

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Scott Albrecht. Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Hyland Mather)

“My favorite part of the whole project,” says Hyland Mather, director of Andenken Gallery, “he had quite a bit of help from his extended family in the area. His uncle Dicky and his cousin Kimmy came out and painted with us for a whole day, so rad.”

If you look at the middle band of Albrecht’s new mural you may be able to see the word “Here”. The mural is part of a run-up to a graffiti and Street Art event in Denver this September called Colorado Crush.

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Scott Albrecht with help from Uncle Dicky and Cousin  Kimmy. Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Hyland Mather)

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Scott Albrecht. Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Scott Albrecht)

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Scott Albrecht with Jonathan Lamb of Like Minded Productions. Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Hyland Mather)

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Scott Albrecht with Jeremy Burns mural on the left.  Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Hyland Mather)

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Scott Albrecht. Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Like Minded Productions)

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Scott Albrecht. Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Hyland Mather)

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Scott Albrecht. Denver, Colorado. August 2015. (photo © Like Minded Productions)

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X-O and Amanda Marie Go To Philadelphia

X-O and Amanda Marie Go To Philadelphia

‘Beautiful Times – Philly Stop’

As we follow the “Beautiful Times” summer tour of X-O and Amanda Marie we find them in the city of brotherly love laying down layers of stencils and building out abandoned places with found object constructions. All tolled, the number of completed projects in this city made it the most prodigious of the tour so far.

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Amanda Marie at a Community Garden. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

First off they took a nice tour of Steve Powers ‘Love Letters’ murals that he did a couple of years ago with the Philadelphia Mural Project, and worked with that program to create their own project – something X-O refers to as an #emogarden called ‘High 5 Times’. Most likely that is about walking on stilts, we’re guessing.

As another project Amanda made some time to create a ‘camping’ scene in one of the many community gardens that dot the city of Philly, thanks to friends at HAHA x Paradigm, a magazine and gallery respectively. “Painting in the community garden was a good match for the ‘Beautiful Times’ vibe,” says X-O.

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Amanda Marie at a Community Garden. Detail. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

On their next investigation the two went on the hunt for more destitute architectural decay and hit the jackpot when X-O “found a beautiful demolition / construction site that had a super good sunken window temporarily covered in plywood,” he says excitedly. Did anyone mind that he created a new piece with various pieces of wood in the framed ventana? “The owners were happy to get a ‘lost object’ piece for the space,” he says, “and the neighbors are happy to have something more interesting than blank plywood to look at.”

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X-O at a Community Garden for Mural Arts. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

Moving along, the two found “Tattooed Mom,” and they thought they were in a celestial graff palace.  “If the paint store equals the candy store, then ‘Tattooed Mom’ equals the playground,” he exclaims the legendary graff writer / Street Artist hangout on South Street. “The whole upstairs is completely smashed with tags and pieces and a constantly shifting smorgasbord of aerosol madness,” says X-O.

Here Amanda Marie made some more urban ‘camping’ vignettes while X-O gave a Hanksy piece of his namesake actor some gender-reassignment surgery. “I dropped in a field of flowers behind him and updated his substantial forehead with the slogan ‘I Like Your Girlfriend’.”

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Amanda Marie at work on the street. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

The last thing that got done before we split town was a big beautiful total street move from Amanda where she painted a few of her ‘Pretty Baby’ images on 5th street just a half block off of South Street … a really nice match of image with the hodge podge coloring of the empty building behind it,” X-O says.

“For both Amanda and me, one of the most impressive things about Philly were all of the walls that have been left exposed when adjacent buildings are torn down,” he says. It looks like the great experience with the mural program and these more organic adventures have gotten their wheels turning on even larger ideas for Philadelphia in the future.

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Amanda Marie. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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X-O. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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X-O. Detail. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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Amanda Marie at Tattooed Mom. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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Amanda Marie at Tattooed Mom. Detail. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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Amanda Marie at Tattooed Mom. Detail. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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X-O at work at Tattooed Mom. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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X-O at Tattooed Mom. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

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X-O gives Hanksy a make over at Tattooed Mom. Beautiful Times. Philadelphia. August 2014 (photo © courtesy Amanda Maire and X-O)

 

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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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Amanda Marie and X-O: “Beautiful Times” in Denver

Amanda Marie and X-O: “Beautiful Times” in Denver

Amanda Marie and X-O have begun a road trip across the US – a summer spraycation for two artists who approach public space from different perspectives yet are complimentary somehow. It is not completely unheard of to trek across country painting – just ask any number of freight riders. It is probably kind of rare to name the campaign like and raise money for charity.

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Amanda Marie. “Beautiful Times” Greeley, Colorado. (photo © Joe Lee Parker)

It would be cool if they had some kind tour t-shirt with all the cities on the back:

“Beautiful Times” Summer 2014 Tour

Denver

Boulder

Philadelphia

Beacon

NYC

They didn’t do that unfortunately but they make a Kickstarter for it, which is equally smart. So if you are inspired by the work here, go over and drop a dolla in their cup.

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Amanda Marie. “Beautiful Times” Greeley, Colorado. (photo © Joe Lee Parker)

So, “Beautiful Times” is underway in Denver, and they already had a small venue change. Amanda Marie found a wall in nearby Greeley, and she began what X-O described as “quickly smashing a wall with one of her dreamy dream scopes.” While she was busy doing that, X-O was scoping for random wood to build his piece, or what he calls doing “recon”.

“I was busy doing recon to collect the wood and other random materials necessary for building my ‘Lost Object’ piece in the garden of Futuristic Films in Denver.  Whilst grabbing my coffee at the local caffeine haven, Crema Coffee, owner Noah Price offered a tour of a space across the street where they are starting a large bar and food truck renovation… looks amazing… and had pretty much everything X-O might ever dream of for materials … recon successful,” he reports.

So here you can see Amanda at work on her dreamy dream scope and X-O on his “Lost Object” piece. Looks like beautiful times indeed.

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Amanda Marie with stencils scattered about. “Beautiful Times” Greeley, Colorado. (photo © Amanda Marie)

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Amanda Marie. “Beautiful Times” Greeley, Colorado. (photo © Joe Lee Parker)

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X-O. Process shot. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Joe Lee Parker)

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X-O. Process shot. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Joe Lee Parker)

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X-O. Process shot. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Joe Lee Parker)

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X-O. Process shot. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Joe Lee Parker)

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 X-O. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Brandon Carter)

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Amanda Marie. Mural in progress. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Brandon Carter)

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Amanda Marie. Mural in progress. Night shot. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Brandon Carter)

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X-O. Detail. “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Brandon Carter)

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X-O “Beautiful Times” Futuristic Films. Denver, Colorado. (photo © Brandon Carter)

“Beautiful Times” is a collaborative project between artists Amanda Marie and X-O. Their goal is to raise awareness about the world we live in and to protect our children and wild flowers. To learn more about “Beautiful Times” Click HERE. To donate HERE.

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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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Images of The Week: 03.09.14

Images of The Week: 03.09.14

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Hi Everybody! Two things – We saw a big uptick in next generation Street Artists this week in the Armory Week shows and wrote about it yesterday; New High-Water Mark for Street Art at Fairs for Armory Week. So that is Thing One. Thing Two is yesterday was warm – like 60 degrees. That’s all.

Yes, there was Ash Wednesday this week with people walking through NYC streets with smudges on their foreheads and we may have entered a new cold war with Russia invading Ukraine and Rick Perry looks really really super smart just by adding heavy rectangular glasses – but for many in NYC, the pent up desire to run naked through the streets yesterday was superceded only by the fact that the last two months were spent eating large helpings of comfort food and peering out the ice-frosted window.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Acet, Bunny M, Damon, Hek Tad, Hyland Mather, Judith Supine, Kram, Kuma, Olek, and Red Grooms.

Top Image >> Judith Supine. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Judith Supine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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OLEK uses some fencing to reference a fencing term: Touché ! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Acet on a box truck. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Damon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Kuma reflecting on the toxic state of the Gowanus. Plase help ID the tags. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Hyland Mather’s installation using found wood and objects from the streets of Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Yeah, dude, we do too! Hek Tad (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Red Grooms. Clearly someone has some toe-stomping advantage in this scenario. “Be Aware of a Wolf in the Alley” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Red Grooms. “Be Aware of a Wolf in the Alley” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Artist who wishes to remain anonymous. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Talk about a social x-ray. bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Kram2013 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. March 2014. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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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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