We have brought you many images and artists from here since The Djerbahood Project began a decade or so ago – with the French Galerie Itinerrance organizers inviting street artists of various styles and influences to this Mediterranean island to transform the public environment, and of course to stoke interest in their artwork. Erriadh is literally an open air gallery, with over a hundred works filling this two-thousand year old village. Today we bring you new installations of works by Shepard Fairey, whose graphic geometries and pop colorways contrast sharply with the sun-drenched walls and small streets.
Never Again Gallery: Ukrainian artists reinterpreted posters from the Second World War
Every generation pats itself on the back, secure in knowing that it is way too savvy to be manipulated by propaganda, even smirking at the simplicity of those who fell for it the last time. Artists may have a better picture of that reality. Or not.
The “Never Again Gallery” project is an online effort by Ukrainian artists that examines the similarities between the visual campaigns that persuaded people about WWII events and the messaging we see daily today regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Left: Lawrence Beall Smith. USA, 1942. Right: WAONE Interesni Kaszi. Ukraine, 2022. (photos courtesy of Never Again Gallery)
Perhaps likening the NATO states to the World War II Allies, the project returns to the “hundreds of emotional posters” in cities across Europe and the US advocating for support. With new interpretations of eerily similar sentiments, visitors are encouraged to download PDFs of new posters, which, like the old ones, offer “calls-to-action, instructions, and motivation.”
The project’s messages get muddled; such is the fog of war, you may say. The similarities to the past – and these reinterpretations of compelling images and slogans – may cause viewers to question the motivations of those at war now or those who encourage it. But no one doubts how powerful these artworks can be.
Left: William Little. Great Britain, 1941. Right: Varvara Perekrest. Ukraine, 2022. (photos courtesy of Never Again Gallery)
This generation of artists and creatives use Facebook ads, Instagram graphics, and TikTok videos as much as earlier illustrators used posters and print ads to get the point across. One wonders if time passing always assures that artists who lend their creative talents feel pride for having helped their side, or if sometimes there is regret as well, or instead.
Projects like this one from the “Never Again Gallery” remind us that when it comes to propaganda and war, “Never Again” lasts only approximately as long as our memories do.
Left: Saalburg Allen Russel. USA, 1942. Right: Oleksandr Grekhov. Ukraine, 2022. (photos courtesy of Never Again Gallery)
20 Ukrainian artists attributed to the project:
Tetiana Yakunova, Oleksandra Kovaliova, Anton Logov, Anna Sarvira, Maria OZ, Varvara Perekrest, WAONE Interesni Kazki, Oleksandr Grekhov, Anton Abo, Alina Kropachova, WE BAD, Masha Foya, PLVNV, Mari Kinovich, Alina Zamanova, Bravebirdie, Sestry Feldman, Yulia Vus, Alex Derega, and Marie Hermasheva.
Click HERE to see the whole collection of images and posters, including the original and current versions, and to download and print the posters free of charge.
Then – WWII & Now – Ukraine. (photos courtesy of the Never Again Gallery)Then – WWII & Now – Ukraine. (photos courtesy of the Never Again Gallery)Then – WWII & Now – Ukraine. (photos courtesy of the Never Again Gallery)Then – WWII & Now – Ukraine. (photos courtesy of the Never Again Gallery)Then – WWII & Now – Ukraine. (photos courtesy of the Never Again Gallery)Philli. France, 1942 (photo courtesy of Never Again Gallery)Anton Logov. Ukraine, 2022 (photo courtesy Never Again Gallery)Betsy Graves. USA, 1943. (photo courtesy of Never Again Gallery)Masha Foya. Ukraine, 2022 (photo courtesy Never Again Gallery)
Click HERE to see the whole collection, including the original and current versions, and to download and print the posters free of charge.
We don’t usually talk about Amazon and now we mention them twice in one week; Just this Sunday we told you about Amazon employees who have voted to form a union for the first time in New York City to demand higher wages and better working conditions. Today we bring you news about a street artist/muralist named Addison Karl, whose work we have published a number of times in the past, and his recent residency in Seattle at Amazon’s brand-new Bellevue campus.
Addison says he began in printmaking before graduating to large private and public commissions painting contemporary murals. Now he draws upon his traditional Chickasaw and Choctaw roots and methods of creating to develop his sculpture techniques. Selected as one of five artists from across the Pacific Northwest as an Amazon Artist in Residence last year, Addison says the stories that people tell each other and themselves lay at the root of his 10 new sculptures created during that time.
“During my 10 weeks we managed to create a series of new work that all correlates,” he says. “My goal with the residency was to use my time to create 10 new sculptures that would then be transferred into the casting process, rather than be the final material of bronze, iron, or glass.”
He says the experience was not just about creating, it was also about forging new relationships and self-education. “As much time as I’m putting into the creation of my work, equal time is being spent learning, reading, and hearing stories, culture, and history that help guide my work.”
A huge Thank You to the community of the Amazon Artist in Residence Program – and for letting it get weird to create magic in the studio.
Thank you very much, Tim D., Caitlin O., Jeffery H., Kate B., Jens B., Miles T., Paco M., Christine P., Nidhi S., James H., Dana P., Jenny P., and Amanda K.
Story of Stories – Art Video:
Based on a Laguna Pueblo Story from Leslie Silko ‘The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative’ Written by Thomas King Retold by Addison
Regarding the video:
A storytelling art video was created during Amazon Artist in Residence Program 2022.
Graff, street art, and skate worlds have always overlapped and when it comes to gear and fashion, the street influences all of them. Now it’s a vernacular.
We like to look at new products; actually a growing ocean of art products that have proliferated faster than US weapons across the globe. As skate decks have metamorphosed into canvasses, it’s entertaining to see this new collection sort capturing and synthesizing trends from the last 10 years on the street as well.
We thought it would be some tasty Monday eye candy for you.
Mr. Pee. “Bain de Jouvence”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Tonce. “Lifestyle”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Gum. “Gum Over”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Snyder. “Slide Around”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)CRBZ. “Blue Adrenalin”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Loodz. “Vestige”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Tona. “Spacy Space”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Homek. “Sunrise”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Erell. “sp1 – sb”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Gomad. “The girl in the purple-red rose”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)Remy Uno. “Unbored”. Urbaneez. “Street Boards”. (photo courtesy of Urbaneez)
Click HERE for more details and to enjoy the full collection of boards
“Ramadan Kareem” to everyone celebrating it this month. Also in April the Jews will be celebrating Passover and the Christians will be celebrating Easter and the Hindus are celebrating Chaitra Navratri. New York has the most diverse assembly of amazing and beautiful neighbors and we are all richer as a result.
In Hollywood and elsewhere people are celebrating/mourning the events surrounding Will Smith. In street art style, his infamous act shows up on a wall this week already (below).
It’s been cold in NYC this week! Fingers are cold, noses are cold, and migrating geese are humming the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go”. The Cyclone at Luna Park in Coney Island, opened yesterday and assures New Yorkers that Spring is already here even if you don’t feel it yet.
We’re excited to see the new exhibition Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure opens here this week. Congratulations to his family for bringing this enormous undertaking to fruition, especially Jean-Michel’s sisters Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux and his stepmother Nora Fitzpatrick.
Also, don’t sleep on the Whitney Biennial, opening Wednesday! Curators David Breslin and Adrienne Edwards say they have had a guiding principle; “It’s got to be buck wild.” That’s enough for us. Hopefully, some people will be buck naked at the show. A special shout-out to Biennial artist Jane Dixon. Her paintings and photographs of New York in the 80s captured its electricity and unpolished promise – during the time when she lived with filmmaker Charlie Ahearn in an apartment overlooking the tawdry excitement of Times Square. She say the city was, “burning, broke, and dangerous.”
Gentle people, start your stopwatch! Let’s see how long it takes for news items and pundits to begin likening our new Staten Island Amazon warehouse union workers to terrorists.
We’ve allowed companies to become richer than nations, so you can imagine what resources they can summon; the most comprehensive campaign to malign, discredit, impugn the character of workers, and thugs to intimidate them. This is the biggest victory for organized labor in a generation, born in a time of unprecedented income disparity across the city and country. Most citizens would be pleased if corporate behemoths simply paid their fair share of taxes.
The street is still one of the best exhibition spaces, never to be recreated fully.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: AJ LaVilla, Clown Soldier, Little Ricky, Sticker Maul, Michael Alan, Dragon76, Diva Dogla, CP Won, Savior El Mundo, Acro, Jennifer Pod is Dead, and Masnah.
Located in one of France’s youngest and poorest regions, the city of Roubaix also is called home by a mix of immigrant populations from the global south who integrated into a vastly different culture than the one from which they came. Street Artist YZ has made women from these cultures the center stage of her large wheat-pasted portraits for about a decade, and we have published her campaigns of solid pillars of their communities several times.
YZ. Urbain.Es. La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France (photo courtesy of the artist)
In recognition of her participation in the women-centered exhibition URBAIN.ES here, curated by Magda Danysz, YZ says she conducted interviews of her subjects from Kabul, Vietnam, Tunisia, Cameron, and the Ivory Coast before creating their large-scale portraits. She says she considers her work as that of a documentarian. She says it’s a complex mix of conforming to the new culture and desiring to honor the traditions and habits of the old one. What has she learned, aside from the immigrant stereotypes of Roubaix that outsiders sometimes have about them?
“This is of particular importance when questioning identity issues in a country where the insistence on integration often prioritizes the cultural ‘smoothing’ over cultural identity,” she says.
YZ. Urbain.Es. La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France (photo courtesy of the artist)
Here are a few selections from YZ’s installations from her ongoing project “Empress,” which “explores the cultural diversity of different communities throughout the world, questioning ideas of consumerism and conformity.”
Click HERE to read our previous article about this exhibition.
YZ. Urbain.Es. La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France (photo courtesy of the artist)YZ. Urbain.Es. La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France (photo courtesy of the artist)YZ. Urbain.Es. La Condition Publique. Roubaix, France (photo courtesy of the artist)
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening: 1. ERWTJE83 turn to Spray Daily’s Black Lines 2. Ai Weiwei “Turandot”, His Version 3. Gold Digger: An Ephemeral Installation in an Historic Location
BSA Special Feature: ERWTJE83 turn to Spray Daily’s Black Lines
Graffiti writer ERWTJE83 shares with you the finer details of his practice here for Spray Daily’s Black Lines series. Since the early days of writers, the blackbook has been endemic to the culture. Similarly, the subway bench (or ‘writer’s bench’) was a place to share with peers and discuss. Today, the metaphor carries to Youtube, where you can get inspired by ERWTJE83’s command of think felts and black lines. Of course, you have to have product placement in the composition too because, you know, the man.
Ai Weiwei “Turandot”, His Version
He was an extra as assistant to the executioner. That was 35 years ago in the Lincoln Center staging of Franco Zeffirelli’s production of “Turandot”. He says he was just trying to pay New York rents.
Nonetheless, here Ai Weiwei is in Rome, triumphant after last nights closing of one week of performances at Opera di Roma. He says he never would have predicted this. Seeing the cast in street clothes rehearsing is revelatory as well.
Name: Turandot Direction, Scenes, Costumes, Video: Ai Weiwei Location: Teatro Costanzi, Opera di Roma Dates: March 22-31, 2022
Gold Digger: An Ephemeral Installation in an Historic Location
Gold Digger, the ephemeral installation winner of the first prize at the Tortosa’s A Cel Obert festival, a festival of ephemeral interventions held every year since 2014. Designed by architects Nicola Baldassarre, Salvatore Dentamaro, Francesco Di Salvo and Ilyass Erraklaouy, the ephemeral art transforms a historical space – without harming it. 112 thermal blankets cover the 16th century Patio de Sant Jordi and Sant Domènec dels Reials Colégis.
Both the Portuguese Underdogs Gallery and the Spanish Ink and Movement (IAM) project have been building respectable artists rosters with a sense of intention – of current and former graffiti/street artists who have contemporary art aspirations for about a decade each. We’re lucky to have visited both locations in person and have high regard for the organizers and artists. Now they join together to present a selection of these confident artists who have been making names for themselves, perhaps as a generation that has defined itself uniquely, in all its many variations.
They’re calling it “I don’t wanna be, I am”. Since you have seen a majority of these artists on these BSA pages during our last 15 years, you probably already know that.
Elian Chali. “La Insoportable Cotidionidad del Ser”. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)
“They are creators who combine their work outdoors, performing in public spaces through murals and large-format sculptures, alongside their work in the studio, where they produce their creative work through painting, sculpture, and the conception and development of artistic installations,” says the promotional material sent with the announcement.
These creative voices are certainly strongly original and many of these minds are focused on becoming masters. We’re pleased to see such a strong group, and are looking forward to the new exhibition as they traverse into new areas of the art world. Included artists are Elian Chali, Franco Fasoli, Martí Sawe, Misterpiro, Nano4814, Okuda San Miguel, Sabek, , Sixe Paredes and Spok Brillor.
Franco Fasoli. “En la manana suena musica de vecino”. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)Misterpiro. Untitled. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)Sabek. “Dog”. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)Okuda San Miguel. “The Rest of The Rainbow Muses”. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)Sawe. “Lampara del Pato Donald”. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)Sixe Paredes. “Paisaje Zoomorfo”. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)Spok Brillor. “Redondo1”. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)Nano418. Underdogs Gallery/Ink and Movement. Lisbon, Portugal. (photo courtesy of Underdogs Gallery)
The group exhibition “I don’t wanna be. I am” curated by Ink And Movement, opens today at Underdogs Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal. Click HERE for more details.
A French graffiti writer since the 90s, a skillful assistant to many of the big street art names on enormous walls since the 00s and 10s, a student and teacher of both genres, Gris Fluo is slowly coming into the light with his voice and thoughtful technique.
He confidently summons a lively scene on his new wall in Square Henri-Karcher for Art Azoi that flows across this pungent bright red sea on an otherwise dull gris day. The brushwork a bit brutish but intentional, the hand tender, the hues cultivated and cleverly combined, glowing. His skeleton characters are wicked, elongated, in motion, and mirthful – perhaps with more adventures in mind.
“When I make photographs, I often look into the eyes of the people I am witnessing,” says French-American photojournalist Peter Turnley, who recently published these images from his trip to Ukraine from Paris March 7-16. “Their eyes so often say all that I never could with words.”
Turnley spent his time, ten days, alongside Ukrainian refugees. He published his work, photos, and text in Blind Magazine. We wanted to share his diary and highlight his work with you.
“I flew today from Paris to Krakow, Poland, and then boarded a train to Przemyśl on the Polish / Ukrainian border. Already at the Krakow train station, I encountered many Ukrainian refugees that had fled the war in their homeland.
On the train from the airport in Cracow to the train station, I sat next to Liuba, 42, who fled from Zaporozhe, near the site of the Nuclear plant that had been bombed. She explained to me that she felt very guilty to leave her parents there. She is very proud of her husband who has stayed to fight.
At the train station, Vicka, 22, stood with Lidia, her 9-year-old daughter. Liliana and Sofia, from Dniepr, stood together as well.
On the train, Andre, 30, sat across from me. He has been working in Poland and has a wife and a 5-year-old daughter. I asked him why he was returning to Ukraine, and he told me, “I am returning to throw Molotov cocktails to defend my country.”
On the train to the border, Julia, 5, held her pet hamster and rode with her mother Maria, 37. When I arrived in Przemyśl, as I descended from the train, I saw several thousand refugees that had just arrived from Ukraine, boarding a train that was going in the direction of Prague. I walked in the dark up and down the train track next to this departing train. I looked into the eyes of dozens of refugees looking out the train window, waiting to depart for a new world-leaving behind everything they have previously known in life.”
Click HERE to read the complete diary and the photo essay.
Click HERE to read the complete diary and the photo essay.
Peter Turnley
Peter Turnley is renowned for his photography of the realities of the human condition. His photographs have been featured on the cover of Newsweek 43 times and are published frequently in many of the world’s most prestigious publications. He has worked in over 90 countries and has witnessed most major stories of international geopolitical and historic significance in the last 40 years. He has both American and French nationality.
What is a more quintessential activity in New York on a Sunday than to go to the museum? The steps of the Met Museum were crowded despite the cold blustery (spring?) weather. We climbed the steps with Martha to see one of street arts’ best storytellers in the mezzanine of a warm-hued private gallery area. A small collection of peers and friends and fans, adults and children, milled around the taupe linen space for a meet-and-greet that glowed like stained glass Mission table lamp wrapped in copper foil upon a thick oak table.
We were here to look at a new body of work inspired by that time – 30 or 40 small-scale pieces mounted on the wall. “Their paper forms take inspiration from harmonographs, Chladni plates, natural forms such as ice crystals and radiolarians,” said the invite, “as well as traditional textile and weaving patterns, alchemical symbols, and architecture.” Curated by Laura Einstein, she calls these collected pieces “Eidophones”.
She greeted us all, red bubbling ringlets spilling, happy for the reunion, pleased with the new works. Martha was taken with two girls who played on chairs patiently, their mom with one eye trained to them while talking with someone else nearby.
We chatted with a Bushwick artist named Felix who helped hang the show and who showed Martha his taxidermy, Steve talked with Robert Aiola and friend Fabiola about their trip this afternoon to the Hip Hop show at Sotheby’s. Robert was fascinated with a crate of vinyl there from DJ Jazzy Jeff. Faust arrived and interviewed a woman who carried a tablet like a clipboard and looked like a salesperson. All of us got to meet a young painting prodigy of 10 whose mom showed us her paintings on her phone, and then Jaime asked to snap a pic of Swoon before we left.
One of the first graffiti writers to name themselves after a laptop, ACER got up big on the front of the New Museum this week, which may be one of the most relevant shows they have presented in recent years. Just kidding, he’s not named after a laptop. Police will certainly be after him for this high-profile crossing of the legal line that got more press than Putin for a New York minute, but in terms of graffiti parlance, this got him major fame among peers.
Speaking of crossing the line, national embarrassment Ginni Thomas was accused this week of using her husbands’ influential seat on the Supreme Court as leverage to overturn the 2020 election. But competition for most embarrassing US citizens was very stiff this week. Did you see all those frustrated white guys grandstanding and preening before a black woman, presumably prosecuting a culture war while disrespecting her office and person? These Supreme Court hearings were especially painful for what they revealed. Ted, Josh, Dick,… Lindsay Darling, did you know the cameras were rolling? You know people can watch those for years, right?
Here in New York we have daffodils, shag mullets, and a man nesting in a tree. In street art news, its all about Ukraine and Zelensky, baby.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring: CRKSHNK, Sticker Maul, Sara Lynne-Leo, Stickman, David F Barthold, Savior El Mundo, Manuel Alejandro NYC, Home Sick, Georgi Collagi, The Bloom Project, and ACER.
Street art welcomes all manner of materials and methods, typically deployed without permission and without apology. This hand-formed wire piece …Read More »
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
