All posts tagged: Jaime Rojo

Andreco: “Aula Verde” For Earth Day 2021 in Rome

April 22, 2021 Artists

Land artist, street artist, and scientist Andreco has given the Earth a gift of trees to celebrate Earth Day.

Andreco. *Aula Verde*. Earth Day 2021. Rome, Italy. (photo courtesy of the artist)

Together with citizens, environmentalists and researchers, he’s created a work of Land Art here in Rome, and he calls the project Aula Verde.

“The work is alive, and over the years it will take shape and as it grows it will return innumerable benefits to the territory,” Andreco says, “currently it is studied by the researchers who are involved in the project, both for the purification of the water and the redevelopment of the surrounding greenery.”

A more positive approach to community involvement in actively helping the air, soil, and water is hard to imagine, but Andreco never ceases to amaze with demonstrations like these; a parade of people of all ages marching to a field to plant trees together.

The name Aula Verde comes from the shape of the work, he says, “made up of poplar and willow trees, Polulus Alba and Salix Alba, arranged on two large concentric centres with a diameter of forty metres that forms a sort of Green Pantheon which can be accessed freely.”

Aula Verde is part of FLUMEN, a movement of climate actions for rivers and parks in Rome, and a project intersecting art and science conceived by the artist Andreco and organised by the cultural association Climate Art Project. A multifaceted initiative, FLUMEN includes the environmental monitoring of the waters and the ecosystems of the two rivers of Rome, the Tiber and the Aniene, as well as workshops, performances, exhibitions and tree plantings.

SEE VIDEO BELOW

Art in Odd Places (AiOP) 2021: Says this is NORMAL

April 21, 2021 Artists

The originators of Art in Odd Places have reliably embraced fully aware of the spirit of inclusivity that art on the streets originally embraced. For its 16^th iteration on May 14-16, AiOP the street festival will again launch a series of installations along a vast expanse of 14^th Street.

“We will not go back to normal. Normal never was…”
Sonya Renee Taylor

Gretchen Vitamvas. *Modern Plague Doctor*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Gretchen Vitamvas)

Taking inspiration from the quote by the author, poet, spoken word artist, and social justice activist, the show is called NORMAL. It is curated by artist Furusho von Puttkammer, who agrees that “normal” is a difficult concept that is not necessarily a sought-after goal, even if we could define it.

Johnothon Lyons. *Commensal Mischief*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Kidzrevil)

“Boldly pushing its way through pandemia, where social constructs warp to reveal discriminatory realities,” she writes in the manifesto, “corporations relentlessly claw at tax-payer dollars while citizens are made homeless, and the police continue to brutalize the black community, NORMAL confronts the term with artistic work.”

Ivan Sikic. *Trashed*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Ivan Sikic)

For AiOP (not to be confused with the much smaller and recent private project with the very similar name Art in Ad Places), von Puttkammer has selected a wide range of artists working in different mediums – and says she is aiming for an anti-elitist vibe. Borrowing from street artist credo over the last decades, she says, “The art world has become inaccessible and elitist. We take art outside of the galleries and museums and bring it out onto the streets of New York City.”

That sounds normal.

Laura Splan. *Precarious Structures*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Laura Splan)

Yeseul Song. *Invisible Sculpture*. Art In Odd Places 2021. Manhattan, NYC. (photo © Ninad Pandit)

WHEN & WHERE
May 14 – 16, 2021, various locations along 14th Street
from Avenue C to the Hudson River

Giulio Vesprini Hits the Court in Italy

April 20, 2021 Artists

“L A N D S C A P E / Struttura G051”

So many basketball courts have been used as canvasses these last few years. Here we have a small city in Marche Hills, Italy where street artist Giulio Vesprini says he has just painted his third.

A student of architecture and illustration, he says his influences come from land art and all manner of urban culture as well. It’s a bright palette of abstract geometry, owing as much to the courts’ function as the energy of the city.

Giulio Vesprini. *“L A N D S C A P E” / Struttura G051*. Monte Urano, Italy. April 2021. (photo © Giorgio Tortoni)

“It’s a popular place for boys and girls who play basketball,” he tells us, and he wanted to bring back the area that has fallen into disuse. “I wanted to recreate a meeting point between culture, sport, nature, and people.”

The artist wishes to thank the City Hall of Monte Urano city, Mayor: Moira Canigola, Public works Assessor: Federico Giacomozzi. Support by: Associazione Culturale ZacZac and his whole team.

“Unsmashed” A Street Art Sticker “Field Guide”

April 19, 2021 Art Book Review, Artists, Book Review, Street Art Book Review

The street sticker, be it ever so humble and diminutive, is profligate and sometimes even inspiring. An amalgamated scene that is anonymous, yet curiously stuck together, the organizers and sponsors of so-called sticker jams have been overwhelmed in recent years by thousands of participants.

Hand-made one-offs to slick mass-produced and custom die-cut by the hundred, these adhesive back expressions of personal branding may depict characters, slogans, witticisms, or satirical skewing of pop culture memes. Collectively these are the DNA of a global game played out in the street and in public spaces, a silent dialogue that yells quite loudly.

Artist and organizer IWILLNOT has compiled, organized, archived, and preserved this collection as a ‘field guide,’ he says, and another artist named Cheer Up has laid out page after page. It is a global cross-sample from 60 countries and a thousand artists – a treasure trove of the witty, insightful, snotty, and sometimes antisocial street bards of the moment, seizing their moment to speak and mark territory.

UNSMASHED: A Street Art Sticker Field Guide. Compiled by IWILLNOT, Designed by Cheer Up. A Collection of 1,229 full color sticker designs by 1,000 artists from more than 60 countries. Published by IWLLNOT and Cheer Up. December 2020.

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.18.21

April 18, 2021 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week! Ramadan Kareem to Muslim brothers and sisters in New York and around the world. May you have an easy fast.

We’re bowled over by the beauty in the streets and parks and rooftops right now, with performances and painting and the blossoming of flowers underfoot and on branches overhead. Fires are alit in hearts everywhere.

“All the roofs are wet
and underneath smoke
that piles softly in
streets, tongues are
on top of each other
mulling over the night.”

from Gamin ~ Frank O’Hara

Yes, there is a sort of battered nervousness in conversations on the streets and as we go about our quotidian duties; a discerned increase in agitation due to economic instability, surges of new Covid strains in our hospitals, and ongoing examples of police brutality toward black and brown people is met with resistance and sometimes violence as well.

Still, consider the robin. In your heart, may hope spring eternal. Also, we learn today that summer may be returning at least one exceedingly creative and participatory public art event as the Gothamist reports that “Coney Island’s Mermaid Parade May Return In The Flesh This Summer.”

And yo! Don’t sleep on the street artists who are putting up new work right now. They are addressing our ills, regaling us with visual puns, poking at our foibles, recontextualizing and performing feats of wonder under cover of night, or while heads are turned in broad daylight. Entertaining, bragging, dreaming… onward they go.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: Absconded Project, Atakbf, Bastard Bot, City Kitty, Clown Soldier, Degrupo, George Collagi, Lexi Bella, Manik, Marka27, Matt Siren, Peachee Blue, Royce Bannon, Sonni, Teens for Press Freedom, Vexta, and Zaver.

We welcome SONNI back to the streets of NYC. In collaboration with East Village Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Teens For Press Freedom (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clown Soldier. Bus shelter takeover. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lexi Bella welcomes the new rules for grass in NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren and Royce Bannon collaboration. #stopasianhate (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren and Royce Bannon collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We also welcome VEXTA back to NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Bro do you even fish?” Not a direct quote from Jesus, as far as we know. George Collagi (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cuomo keeps workin’ it, per Degrupo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bowie does a hair flip while Bastard Bot gives him a mask (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC. Spring 2021 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“White people can’t be trusted with power,” from Dread Scott on the Street in Manhattan

April 17, 2021 Artists

Trust artist Dread Scott to perfect the provocative phrase that can raise the prickly ire of certain street passersby, simply and succinctly. And trust the self-elected censorious social media platforms like Instagram to actually ban it.

Chicago-born, Brooklyn-based Scott says, “White people can’t be trusted with power” in this new public artwork at 42nd near 10th Avenue in Manhattan. It may remind you of a Jenny Holzer “Truism” that she may have wheat-pasted on the street in the past, a pertinent pique that strikes at the heart of the matter, minus the sense of irony. But in the current context of white people’s reluctant awakening, Mr. Scott writes, “When this was originally posted, Instagram banned it as ‘hate speech.’ ”

The “opening” for this piece at the Playwrights Horizons performing arts theater was this week and will be up through May 9th.

Dread Scott. *White people can’t be trusted with power.* Manhattan, NYC. 2021 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

It remains unharmed as placed safely behind thick glass in a nondescript contemporary vacuum streetside, – leading street artist and conceptual artist Ann Lewis to compare it to a single layer stencil by Bristol’s Banksy further that lies north about 30 blocks, which is also behind protective perspex eight years after it appeared.

“Though,” she writes to us, “that was meant to protect it because people ‘loved’ it, not because its radical enough for folks to want to destroy it.” In fact, the piece she speaks of depicts a small boy in the act of destructive vandalism – hardly an act normally worth preserving for posterity, but there you have it. Speaking of Scott’s taut text, Lewis comments on his posting, “I love that it’s sitting behind glass as if to say it will likely be vandalized because we white folks can’t take this sort of blatantly obvious criticism without attempting to destroy the truth.”

While the sentiment may or may not be the artist’s, more powerful perhaps is the reaction it engenders – again providing a mirror to the viewer as much great art on the street does.

Predictably, IG commenters on his artwork run the gamut, from the hands-down agreement to the mildly put-out to the outraged and whiney. “Seems to me – “PEOPLE can’t be trusted with power,” writes a poster called Lil Oak Productions – clarifying that one shouldn’t single out the predominant race that has held power on this continent for centuries for specific criticism.

Artist Steve Locke responds directly to this comment as if calling to a cabaret singer, “Great. Now do ‘All Lives Matter’ since you are playing the hits.”

BSA Film Friday: 04.16.21

April 16, 2021 Artists, BSA Film Friday

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

Now screening:
1. Nadia Vadori-Gauthier and Friends Dance Through Parisian Empty Spaces
2. New Burner from Olivier Kosta-Thefaine – Symphonie / Hangar 107
3. Sofles / Mega Bunsens With Sirum
4. “Ingobernable” with C. Tangana, Gipsy Kings, Nicolás Reyes, Tonino Baliardo

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BSA Special Feature: Nadia Vadori-Gauthier and Friends Dance Through Parisian Empty Spaces

Nadia Vadori-Gauthier: Dances in places of art and culture closed to the public during the Pandemic.

“In the almost-silence of these emblematic places, usually punctuated by the passage of crowds, vibrates an intense life: those of works, feelings experienced, memorial traces of art experiences, of the succession of eras.

Dancing in this context is, for me, both a resistance and a manifesto. It is an act of solidarity, a gesture of love and recognition. Because I would never be who I am without the familiar attendance of these extraordinary places where, over time, through the face-to-face with the works, a look is forged that embraces otherness, the new, the difference, a look that invites participation in life. ”

Nadia Vadori-Gauthier

New Burner from Olivier Kosta-Thefaine – Symphonie / Hangar 107

During his residency at Hangar 107, artist Olivier Kosta-Théfaine patterned the walls using a lighter, selectively burning 70 square meters to create a new carbon visual symphony.

Sofles / Mega Bunsens With Sirum

This video shows some mega bunsens being painted with SIRUM,” says Sofles in this brand new video filmed and edited by After Midnight.

“The sheer diversity of style Sofles has is unparalleled,” says only casual on Youtube. “I’ve seen the work of thousands and thousands of writers and nobody even comes close. It’s insane.”

“There is so much going on in every letter of that Sofles piece that each letter could be a video of its own! And also, I’m so stoked that they used some proper dope dnb for the tune!,” says Sciz. “Awesome work by Sirum too, whom I’ve followed for quite some time on Instagram; I always try to follow the artists whom I feel are breaking down barriers and this collaboration came out perfect because of the expertise of both artists.”

“Ingobernable” with C. Tangana, Gipsy Kings, Nicolás Reyes, Tonino Baliardo

Next time you make a video be sure to invite your sister, mother, and lots of aunts. It will leave the competition shaking in their shoes.

This guy is El Madrileño

MOMO Leaves His “Parting Line”

April 15, 2021 Artists

A year after its close, we open the book on American street artist MOMO’s new book chronicling the exhibition “Parting Line.” Writing about and covering his work for 15 years or so, we’re always pleased to see where his path has led – never surprised but always pleased with his evolution of decoding the lines, textures, practices, serendipity of discoveries unearthed by this wandering interrogator.

Here, along the river Seine banks, we see his exhibition for the still young Hangar 107, the recently inaugurated Center For Contemporary Art in Rouen, France. While we think of his work in New York in the 2000s, we see the steady progression here – his cloud washes, raking patterns, his experimental, experiential zeal. This is the spirit of DIY that we first fell in love with, the lust for uncovering and desire for making marks unlike others across the cityscape, quizzically folding and unfolding, pulling the string, drawing the line.

In this svelte purple rose volume, his work is captured. More importantly, we can see a sliver of the joy that he applies his entire being to the art of discovery with.

Edited by Christian Omodeo, “Parting Line” contains texts by Tilt, El Tono, Vittorio Parisi, and an interview with and by Swoon.

MOMO “Parting Line”. Hangar 107. Edited by Christian Omodeo – Le Grand Ju. Published by Hangar 107. Rouen, France. 2020.

Sasha Korban Creates a “Little Magic” Under a Bridge in Ukraine

April 14, 2021 Artists

It is a tenous connection that an adult may have with the fantasies of their own childhood and concepts developed through playtime and free-wheeling imagination.

When we are older we may realize that we have all but abandoned that part of ourselves. There is a s system of discouragement arrayed against our confidence as a kid, one that severs our relationship with the creativity that once burst freely from our little minds and hearts and hands.

Sasha Korban. *“Little Magic”* Kyiv, Ukraine. (photo courtesy of Yulia Ostrovska)

In her book The Artist’s Way, author Julia Cameron helps many people every year to rekindle that connection and celebrate it, nourish it.

Remember, your artist is a child. Find and protect that child. Learning to let yourself create is like learning to walk.”
Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way

And we just have to take that first step. Followed by one more.

A native of Kirovske in the of Donetsk Region, Ukraine, muralist Sasha Korban says this new work under a bridge in Kyiv is called “Little Magic.”

“I believe that only a little magic can help us with our pathway,” he says.

California’s Augustine Kofie is in a New York “State of Mind” at Hashimoto

April 13, 2021 Artists

It really is primarily about your State of Mind, says LA-based painter Augustine Kofie about his battle with art and quarantine during this last year.

Augustine Kofie. “Disbelief System”. Hashimoto Contemporary. (photo courtesy of the gallery)

“The pandemic was a stop, an interruption, a loss of control,” he says – and points to the incomplete cycle symbols that appear throughout his new collection of paintings. Normal life, in its circular wending, was interrupted time and again, along with all our typical expectations.

His warm abstractions on canvas and upon large walls have always been human – with deep roots in graffiti and hand rendering – ‘overspray, tape blocking, detailed handwork, deconstruction, and draftsmanship drawn from architecture,’ says the PR statement from Hashimoto Gallery in New York where this new exhibition will open.

“My feelings are in the brushstrokes,” he says, “the movements, the process of repeatedly adding and taking away, the layers of time it took to complete these paintings.”

Augustine Kofie. “Enlighten Moment”. Hashimoto Contemporary. (photo courtesy of the gallery)

Augustine Kofie. “*Pyle Driver”*. Hashimoto Contemporary. (photo courtesy of the gallery)

Augustine Kofie process shot while painting “Weight”. Hashimoto Contemporary. (photo courtesy of the gallery)

Augustine Kofie. “Weight”. Hashimoto Contemporary. (photo courtesy of the gallery)

The gallery will be open by appointment only. In order to ensure the health and safety of visitors and staff, please note that masks are legally required for entry.
The exhibition will be on view from Saturday, April 17th to Saturday, May 8th.

For further information about the exhibition, to view the whole collection of works and for prices click HERE

To schedule an appointment, please click HERE.

Gonzalo Borondo: “Hereditas” Installation in His Childhood Segovia

April 12, 2021 Artists

A site-specific immersive exhibition by the artist at Museum of Contemporary Art Esteban Vicente From April 8 to September 26, 2021

Style and genre, and era have never been particularly magnetic topics for Borondo; his heart is too poetic for such limitation. Instead, he continues to bring an ambiance, a sense of place – after he has studied it.

Gonzalo Borondo. *“Hereditas”*. Museum of Contemporary Art Esteban Vicente. Segovia, Spain. (process shot © Laura Aruallan)

The former graffiti writer may have been political after leaving his childhood town of Segovia, Spain. Still, his senses and sensibilities were fed by this World Heritage Site’s atmosphere and its historical arches, turrets, towers, churches, cathedrals, monasteries, and convents – and possibly the enormous Roman aqueduct.

Now returning here to mount his own exhibition in Esteban Vicente Museum of Contemporary Art, his aesthetics and reverence for holy places are also tempered with his age, this age – a fusion now tempered by maturity, but only just so. Creating most of his work on-site, the searching is the story, and the journey is as important as the destination.

Consulting, convening, channeling his formal studies, his street practice, wanderlust, and an ever-present rebellious streak, Borondo still knows how to alchemize the environment. And this place has hosted many; a former city palace of King Enrique IV of Castile, a home of nobles, then a hospice, a school of arts, and a museum. In what time are we living right now? Borondo will not trouble us with such matters.

Gonzalo Borondo. *“Hereditas”*. Museum of Contemporary Art Esteban Vicente. Segovia, Spain. (photo ©Roberto Conte)

Gonzalo Borondo. “Hereditas”. Museum of Contemporary Art Esteban Vicente. Segovia, Spain. From April 8 to September 26, 2021. Curated by José María Parreño

BSA Images Of The Week: 04.11.21

April 11, 2021 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

This week we received a note from a friend in the graff/street art community urging us to encourage street and graffiti artists to create artwork on the streets that beseeches GenZ to get the Covid-19 vaccine.

They needn’t worry.

Graffiti and street artists have continued to respond to the COVID mask and vaccine issues as much as they did with the rejection of Trump and everything that came with him. During the last few years, they also have strongly responded to the BLM movement, to the topic of police brutality, to structural inequality in our economy, to last fall’s election, to indigenous people’s rights, to Asian hate, LGBTQ rights, to drug use, to anxiety, to depression, to love, to hope, to our effect on the Earth’s environment, and many social/political issues. Not always high-minded, Street artists also like pop culture icons, cute animals, and emulating successful artists who came before them and whom they admire.

It’s all part of the gig.

When we hit the streets in the pursuit of arts, we never know what we’ll find and where we’ll find it. This week we were surprised by a certain uptick in the number of sculptures on the streets. The artists used different materials, from ceramic to resin, metal, cement, and techniques associated with papier-mâché. The sculptures were mostly affixed to traffic signposts but sometimes were placed on street construction barriers. We are always happy to see sculptures on the streets as they bring back the days when sanctioned murals were definitely not the norm, and illegal street art ruled the streets in myriad small formats.

So here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring: A Cool 55, AJ Maldo, Billy Barnacles, Chris Protas, City Kitty, CRKSHNK, JJ Veronis, Mataruda, Miyok Madness, Mint & Serf, Mort Art, Mr. Triple Double, Patrick Picou Harrington, Phetus, Raddington Falls, Sibot, Spy33, Turtle Caps, Winston Tseng.

Oh Sailor boy! Seibot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JJ Veronis. Mr. Triple Double (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A portrait of Mr. Beyonce AKA Jay-Z by an unidentified artist. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty and Turtle Caps (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Miyok Madness. Rose time is almost here peeps!! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mataruda in Kingston, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Hey baby give me a kiss” JJ Veronis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Patrick Picou in Albany, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NY. April 2021. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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