All posts tagged: Jaime Rojo

BSA Film Friday: 05.15.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 54

BSA Film Friday: 05.15.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 54

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

Now screening :
1. AKUT: “Isolated”

BSA Special Feature: AKUT (plus 37) “ISOLATED”

A thrilling and educational flight through the private studio spaces of artists at home in isolation – what’s not to like? Guess which of your favorite artists studios are included?

“I worked on this film the past three weeks together with 37 artists from all over the globe,” says Street Artist AKUT. The call for response during his own family’s isolation resulted in an astounding 37 artists answering from all over the world.

AKUT, otherwise known as the urban contemporary artist and photographer Falk Lehmann – and founder of the legendary German graffiti collective Ma’Claim and half of the artistic duo Herakut – was suffering from isolation. Usually he’s out with the rest of the big name Street Artists going to exhibitions, festivals, working on commission.

Suddenly in March, stop us if you’ve heard this story, it all went “THUD”.

A social animal, AKUT says he loves the time home with his wife and three kids, but he felt locked out and detached from the adventures of painting that he had become so energized by.

“Those nice little (business) trips to locations at the end of the world, not for money, but for the place you would otherwise never have the chance to travel to, sound really awesome, don’t they?” he asks. “Even if the lift turns out to be a soul catcher, if the material arrives three days later and there was no giant tree in front of the wall on the photos you received beforehand and planed your project with. You start to appreciate the freedom to travel, to go far away from your daily duties at home… You meet colleagues and role models, old and new friends, who you share unforgettable experiences with.”

ISOLATED (part I), an infinite loop to despair

Here’s the idea with the 37 artists who joined in – please take a time laps shot through your studio, that is not longer than 4 seconds – but still challenging, because they had to move really slow and avoid vivid movements. Some artists took recording after recording and it still wasn’t optimal. However, in the end and after some long hours of editing and learnings the finished short film came out as a proof for the principle of mentalism. Sliding through the contrasting and inspiring studios as lively spaces in constant use by the respective artists felt refreshing and very comforting. It symbolizes the connection of all individuals being part of an universal infinite, living mind, in which you don’t necessarily need to check in physically. It’s always out there.

WE ARE ONE INFINITE, LIVING MIND (ISOLATED part II)

Credits

WE ARE ONE INFINITE, LIVING MIND (ISOLATED part II)

short film by AKUT, 2020

Idea and Editing: 

AKUT https://instagram.com/akut_herakut

Camera (participating artists):

@Adnate Melbourne, Australia

@Akut_herakut Berlin, Germany

@AndreasEnglundArt Falun, Sweden

@apolotorres São Paulo, Brazil

@23base Berlin, Germany

@bezt_etam & @nataliarakart Turek, Poland

@cantwo Wuppertal, Germany

@cristianblanxer Barcelona, Spain

@conorsaysboom London, UK

@craola Torrance, California

@daniel_man_codeak Munich, Germany

@spurcus_am Erfurt, Germany

@douglas_greed Berlin, Germany

@drewmerritt Saint Vrain, New Mexico

@hueman_ Oakland, California

@james_bullough Berlin, Germany

@kameahadar Hawai
@kevinledo Montreal, Canada

@kkade_schwarzmaler Bern, Switzerland

@louismasai Margate, UK

@low_bros Hamburg, Germany

@mad_c1 Halle, Germany

@marc_jung_ Erfurt, Germany

@ztm_oruam San Antonio, Texas

@telmomiel Amsterdam & Rotterdam, Netherlands

@mikedargas Los Angeles, California

@natepaints Los Angeles, California

@nunoviegas.pt Quarteira, Portugal

@onurpainting Berlin, Germany

@paola_delfin & @mateusbailon Itajaí, Brazil

@heypatyeah Detroit, Michigan

@rickyleegordon Sri Lanka

@suiko1 Hiroshima, Japan

@wes21_schwarzmaler Bern, Switzerland

@waone_interesnikazki Kiev, Ukraine

@markus_wow123_genesius Bremen, Germany

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HotTea’s “Perspective” on Jasper Johns and “Flags” on his 90th/ Dispatch From Isolation # 53

HotTea’s “Perspective” on Jasper Johns and “Flags” on his 90th/ Dispatch From Isolation # 53

Something resembling the truth, as painter Jasper Johns may say, is what we hear and see from the storm of disinformation we’re now in. Somewhere we know there is a dissembling of the economic and social order, the wolves are in the cupboard even while we are in the hospital bed, or morgue.

But the red white and blue still flies high, doesn’t it?

HotTea “Perspective” Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. ([hoto courtesy of the artist)

As he celebrates his 90th birthday Mr. Johns is perhaps best known for his interpretations of the American flag that began in our last true decade of rebellion against the “system”. By choosing an emotionally charged and historically impactful image to alter he knew he would trigger intense emotions of derision, as well as devotion.

HotTea “Perspective” Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. ([hoto courtesy of the artist)

One of his flag duos that currently is at the Broad Museum features a reimagining of coloration that has inspired the graffti/street/installation artist who goes by the street name HOT TEA. This month in the middle of a Minnesotan field the artist reprised one of his first loved pieces by Johns, “Flags”, which the 30-something Eric Rieger says he first experienced at 18. Using two of his typical art materials, yarn and spray paint, here in the fields of a troubled country in a deeply troubled time, it makes again invites response, critique.

HotTea “Perspective” Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. ([hoto courtesy of the artist)

He says he enjoyed the optical illusion of certain colors in the original, but his perspective has changed as he has gotten older.

“ ‘Flags’ to me now represents a much more conceptual experience.  I see this painting and think of everything that isn’t there but what the facade of the American flags is hiding,” he says.  “This painting is an optical illusion and to me speaks to how something so obvious can be hiding in plain site.  There is so much evil in this world it can make your head spin just thinking about it.  Sometimes I wish my perspective could go back to that of childhood – but it’s the knowledge we gain that shapes us into the person we are today.  One can only hope that our knowledge will be used for good and not to bring harm onto others.” 

Jasper Johns “Flags” 1967-1968
HotTea “Perspective” Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. ([hoto courtesy of the artist)
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0907 Plays in Xi’an Grass / Dispatch From Isolation # 52

0907 Plays in Xi’an Grass / Dispatch From Isolation # 52

In Xi’an, a modern metropolis of 7 million and home to the massive installations of  terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang (the first Emperor of China), the weight of history often meets with the shallow vanities of today. Street Artist 0907 continues to examine the riddles of development and the implied values of a consumer culture here by looking at the banal lawn.

0907. “The Goalkeeper” Beijing, China. (photo © GOKO)

Consider the green grass lawn, that earthen symbol of suburban wealth and mastery of the elements as it is beamed across the decades and cultures. A lush and tightly trimmed lawn contains ironies of development and progress;  defined geometries of  fulsome mono-plantings, it status symbol measured by the centimeter or meter, sprayed with chemicals, cut and trimmed into patterns and reliefs. In cities on printed on fences it is also a visual metaphor to block the disruptive chaos of a lot that is under construction.

0907. “The Goalkeeper” Beijing, China. (photo © GOKO)

“With the acceleration of gentrification, people print out such a symbol of happy life on the construction fence,” says 0907, “which serves as a fig leaf of the on-going city construction – presented in a rather stark and crude manner.”

As is his style, in a subtle act of culture jamming, he here converts the lawn into a sport field –with a subtle addition of an athlete – hoping to further disturb the cognitive dissonance.

0907. “The Goalkeeper” Beijing, China. (photo © GOKO)

“The imagery of neatly mowed lawns is always a symbol for highly organized urban civilization,” he tells us.

“With my painting I present the picture of a goalkeeper in a soccer game on the imagery of the fake lawn, creating a dual visual misplacement. Thus a brand new absurd urban spectacle emerges. … the message that this image sends is more than firm: to catch the ball that the city kicks at us.”

0907. “The Goalkeeper” Beijing, China. (photo © GOKO)
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TOward TOmorrow: Artists Instagram Competition with 10K Cash Prize / Dispatch From Isolation # 51

TOward TOmorrow: Artists Instagram Competition with 10K Cash Prize / Dispatch From Isolation # 51

ARTIST COMPETITION NOW OPEN – Ends JUNE 5

The United Nations has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

If you pick one of those goals and create a piece of art about it you may win 10,000 pounds – which is roughly the same amount of weight the average apartment dweller has gained in Brooklyn since the beginning of March.

This art-centered program named TOward TOmorrow 2030 has its sights set on 2030 and is working hard to get us close to achieving those 17 goals in a program they started last year with many mural artists.

BSA supports artists and we support this project because we know some of the folks behind it.

Submissions close 5th June 2020 so check out the rules from the coffee company that is sponsoring this competition HERE. Also look them up on #TOwardTomorrow

The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations by 2030

GOAL 1: No Poverty
GOAL 2: Zero Hunger
GOAL 3: Good Health and Well-being
GOAL 4: Quality Education
GOAL 5: Gender Equality
GOAL 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
GOAL 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
GOAL 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
GOAL 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
GOAL 10: Reduced Inequality
GOAL 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
GOAL 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
GOAL 13: Climate Action
GOAL 14: Life Below Water
GOAL 15: Life on Land
GOAL 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions
GOAL 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal

Shout-outs to @charlotte_pyatt @juxtapozmag @sdgaction. Cool video by @fifthwallTV

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Johannes Mundinger: Leave No One Behind / Dispatch From Isolation # 50

Johannes Mundinger: Leave No One Behind / Dispatch From Isolation # 50

#leavenoonebehind #savethem

That’s the message from Berlin based street artist Johannes Mundinger in his latest mural of melting slabs and abstraction and murky text. He tells us that he is thinking about the disparity of responses his government has toward immigrants when flying them in to harvest asparagus versus saving them from living in refugee camps in Lesbos.

Johannes Mundinger. “Leave No One Behind”. Urban Spree. Berlin, Germany. (photo courtesy of the artist)

“While borders are closed due to the lock down the German government invited around 40.000 foreign workers to fly in and harvest German asparagus,” he says. “This decision was taken within days.”

Meanwhile, he tells, “it took almost two months to discuss inviting 50 children from the refugee camp Moria on the Greek Island.”

Johannes Mundinger. “Leave No One Behind”. Urban Spree. Berlin, Germany. (photo courtesy of the artist)

He says his new 700 x 1200 cm acrylic mural at Urban Spree made him open up artistically, made him feel free after so long in quarantine. That city is trying to open up, as it were, to greater social and economic opportunity’s and to move beyond Covid. Only time will tell us all, and places like this are leading the way. This is good, we agree.

Mundinger just wants to make sure that we leave no one behind.

Johannes Mundinger. “Leave No One Behind”. Urban Spree. Berlin, Germany. (photo courtesy of the artist)


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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.10.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 49

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.10.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 49

Happy Mother’s Day in the US and in Mexico too.

We praise the work and the love that mothers around the world are giving today and every day, with gratitude and recognition for their shaping of our global society. Salute to all the mothers! Without them, it goes without saying, we’d be nowhere.

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Cake$, DG, Diez, GCG, HOACS, PREZ, Roachi, and Tag.

#TAG with commentary on one Mark Zuckerberg and the use of Pokemon to fully map and trace and predict our behaviors, and of course drive sales. In Tel Aviv. (photo © #TAG)
“This Space is Not for Advertisements.” AJ in Chihuahua, Mexico with commentary on walls free of advertisements. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
AJ in Chihuahua, Mexico with commentary on walls free of advertisements…and immigration. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
AJ in Chihuahua, Mexico with commentary on walls free of advertisements and immigration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tribute to Jason DG. We don’t know who painted “Jason” (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tribute to DG by PREZ. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
DG tribute. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hoacs, Roachi (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Hoacs. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Don’t Believe The Hype…in Wynwood… (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist…please help…(photo © Jaime Rojo)
GGC in Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Diez in Chihuahua, Mexico. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artists in Chihuahua, Mexico…please help…(photo © Jaime Rojo)
In da dog house in Wynwood…(photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cake$ Stencils in Bethlehem. (photo © Cake$)

“Today people all over the world are wearing the keffiyeh to offer support to Palestinians in their struggle for freedom,” says Street Artists Cake$, who sends us this new piece he did near the separation wall. He says he considers the wall to be a symbol of oppression – but worries more now that Coronovirus has hit the region as well – so he depicts Jesus with a face covering. “Because of the pandemic, this stencil is also a caution sign for locals that you need to cover your face to protect yourself and others. A new study and computer model provide fresh evidence for a simple solution to help us emerge from this nightmarish lockdown. The formula? Always social distance in public and, most importantly, wear a mask, scarf or bandana.”

Cake$ Stencils in Bethlehem. (photo © Cake$)
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Elfo: “Help Alive Inside” / Dispatch From Isolation # 48

Elfo: “Help Alive Inside” / Dispatch From Isolation # 48

Dark humor is precisely what we need at this moment. 20,000 people in New York City have died. Bodies are stacking up in refrigerated trucks and unmarked common graves in New York while the obtuse Trump is trying to tell us its safe to “reopen” states.

Right. You first.

Meanwhile Italian artist Elfo is taking inspiration from the classic horror zombie film, “Day of the Dead” with this new text intervention scrawled across a wall.

Elfo “Help Alive Inside”. (photo © Elfo)

Part of it also speaks to the frustrating feelings one can experience stuck inside your home and keeping your distance from the rest of humanity, even if you feel like you are doing the safe thing, the responsible thing — while privileged and otherwise entitled navel-gazers are hanging out in Domino Park like its 1999.

A film still from “Dawn of the dead” by Jorge A. Romero. 1978.

A well-timed and apt intervention on a rooftop by Elfo somewhere in Italy.

Elfo “Help Alive Inside”. (photo © Elfo)
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BSA Film Friday: 05.08.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 47

BSA Film Friday: 05.08.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 47

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

Now screening :
1. Kraftwerk: Pop Art, Remembering Florian Schneider

BSA Special Feature: Kraftwerk: Pop Art, Remembering Florian Schneider

They predicted what music would sound like and what the world would look like, fifty years before it happened. Merging man, machine and avant garde theatric sensibilities, these where the young artists were at the forefront of imagining and creating the future while residing inside a completely different one and enduring the overconfident and snide dismissals – later to be followed by the masses.

Florian Schneider, Karl Bartos, Wolfgang Flür and Ralf Hütter in Rotterdam.
copyright Gijsbert Hanekroot/Redferns

Over time, with critical embrace by the recognized academic and institutional authorities who were finally catching on decades later, the group itself was transformed in the eyes of global culture as a work of art.

Oh, the influence they have had; Karl Bartos, Wolfgang Flür, Ralph Hütter and Florian Schneider. Countless musicians in many genres point to their ground breaking sound for inspiration on thousands of pieces.

The Face Magazine, “The Werk Ethic” (Issue 23, March 1982)

Somewhere between the Black Forest and Cologne, the spirit of Kraftwerk swells and speeds and glides and calculates the upcoming curve up above on the Autobahn, this modern classicism sweeping minds and imaginations.

Our thoughts today to the family and friends of Kraftwerk co-founder Florian Schneider, who passed away recently at 73. May all our young men and women who are creating today reach this age, and may they inspire us to imagine a future one.

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Cane Morto in Txakurrassic Park (Video & Poster) / Dispatch From Isolation # 46

Cane Morto in Txakurrassic Park (Video & Poster) / Dispatch From Isolation # 46

The idea that the boys of Canemorto are in danger is both repelling and dinosaurian. But the paint-roller free thinking rapping brutalists of Italy are staying safe in quarantine, thank Dios.

But they, like so many people who are not working right now, are in distinct danger of economic monstrosities lurking around every corner. Their real fears are mixed with imagined ones from movies of your childhood, so you can identify with their plight.

You can save them from ruin by getting one of their new Jurassic posters. “As for most of the artists during the lockdown, online sales are the only form of support and income we have,” they tell us. And then we hear the sounds of large talons of the Velociraptor thumping down the hallway to our door…

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR LIMITED EDITION POSTER AND HELP THE ARTISTS IN THE PROCESS

Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)
Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)
Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)
Cane Morto. Jurassic Park. Detail. (photo courtesy of Cane Morto)

CLICK HERE TO ORDER YOUR LIMITED EDITION POSTER AND HELP THE ARTISTS IN THE PROCESS

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The Thealang Collective: “El Cuco” Stealing Souls of Children, Notre Dame, & the Amazon  / Dispatch From Isolation # 45

The Thealang Collective: “El Cuco” Stealing Souls of Children, Notre Dame, & the Amazon / Dispatch From Isolation # 45

A new joint mural from LAPIZ and Elmar Karla as the newly formed “Thealang Collective”. Both formerly living in Argentina, the two artists have distinctly different styles to combine here in a scene from a fever dream in Hamburg, Germany.

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)

And what a hot steamy shape-shifting surrealist diarama this is on a backyard wall in St. Pauli, full of fire and raging destruction and ultimately, deception, with the main character called EL CUCO.

The combination of cut stencils and fluidly brushed paint, the two say that El Cuco is a mystical creature who steals the souls of innocent children.  The Wikipedia entry says “El Cuco is a mythical ghostmonster, equivalent to the bogeyman, found in many Hispanophone and Lusophone countries.”

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)

“The mural portrays the impact of today’s society,” they tell us as we gaze upon these exclusive shots, “the eternally growing economy is symbolized by the donations for the partially destroyed Notre Dame, and its effect is one of constantly destroying the environment, here symbolized by the burning green lung – the Amazon Rainforest.”

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)

It’s fearfully treacherous, this adventurous scene mixing childhood myths and fun-loving characters who appear out of context under a sky of flames, Its an amalgam of the imaginations and experiences of the two –Elmar Karla’s painted characters from the comic world and the stencil techniques of Lapiz, who often likes to take a jab at socio-political themes.

Both members of Thealang have painted extensively internationally and have participated in festivals and exhibitions such as the Ibug, Meeting of Styles, Grenoble Street Art Fest and at the Street Art Museum Amsterdam.

Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
Thealang Collective. Elmar Karla and Lapiz. “El Cuco”. Detail. Hamburg, Germany. (photo courtesy of Thealang)
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John Fekner Exchanges “MEMORY” with Brad Downey / Dispatch From Isolation # 43

John Fekner Exchanges “MEMORY” with Brad Downey / Dispatch From Isolation # 43

As you watch and wait to see the festering uprisings of workers and the growing crowds of poor and hungry in the US, we take you back to Friday, which was Labor Day in Europe. It was also the release date for this curious and interesting project by the artist and people’s advocate, the New Yorker John Fekner.

John Fekner “Memory” (photo courtesy Bien Urbain)

This unique collection of objects and images and textures called MEMORY is a publication linked by projects that are strung together in a constellation across five decades, a few continents, and pivotal moments that reflect the themes in this New York artists’ activism on the street and through various public interventions. A true innovator, trouble maker, and activator of moribund spaces, its Fekner’s cryptic pronouncements that can read as final judgements and humorous summaries.

“This publication gathers 6 objects edited by projects : a parcel memory from the artist’s archives,” says the description of this limited edition. “It is the result of exchanges between the artists John Fekner and Brad Downey, the artistic director of the Bien Urbain festival David Demougeot and the graphic designers Laura Bouchez and Bart Lanzini.”

John Fekner (photo courtesy Bien Urbain)

It all seems so current, of this moment: with references to broken promises, saving schools, worker’s movements, the remains of industry, government abandonment, citizen participation, engaging memory, beseeching the power of poetry. It’s all of one cloth, and all a wistful piece of our collective memory – now brought to life again.

John Fekner “Memory” (photo courtesy Bien Urbain)

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR EDITION OF “MEMORY”

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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.03.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 42

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.03.20 / Dispatch From Isolation # 42

The Majority of lawmakers in Congress are millionaires.

Nancy Pelosi? She’s worth $115 million. Mitch McConnell? $34 million – his wife Elaine Chow has $30 million.

Republicans or Democrats – it doesn’t matter. The median is just over a million. Just like you, right?

Most of the people “reporting” on them are also millionaires.

Rachel Maddow gets $7 million a year. Sean Hannity makes $40 million a year. Anderson Cooper $12 million a year. Joe Scarborough $8 million a year. Even Erin Burnett, who started her professional career as a financial analyst for Goldman Sachs GS, has a net worth of $13 million.

“Right” wing or “Left” wing, it doesn’t matter – these “news” reporters are millionaires looking at the world through your eyes, right?

We’re all in this together, right?

Maybe this is why there are few positive news stories or policy debates or discussions or “Special Investigation” programs about student debt forgiveness, housing issues, workers rights, unions, Medicare for All, rent strikes, a guaranteed Basic Universal Income on the main networks and news sites. There are NO grand, sweeping financial/job/infrastructure solutions for everyday people that are being proposed, or being reported. There are more people out of work and without a safety net than any time in your life, and there are no big solutions to this?

Huh.

In other news, we’re still quarantining inside. 18,610 people are dead from Covid 19 in New York. That is 6 times as many as we lost on 9/11 – Please send us your pics of art in the streets! We love to hear from you. Spread love!

So here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring Ines, JJ Veronis, King Baby, One-Tooth, Moe, Pollyn, Praxis-VGZ, and Woe.

Our banner illustration is by Ben Wiseman (photo © the artist)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pollyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Pollyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)
JJ Veronis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
One Tooth (photo © Jaime Rojo)
One Tooth and friends (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Avocado (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Woe (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Ines (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Praxis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Praxis (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Please help with this writer’s ID (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Moe (photo © Jaime Rojo)
King Baby (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Regaelo…? (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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