1. Urban Legends Auction (LA)
2. “Ordinary People” in Brooklyn
3. Group GRAFF at Dorian Gray (NY)
4. Katowice Street Art Festival (VIDEO)
5. “HYPNOGOGIA” – ROA (VIDEO)
6.”Obey The Giant” Movie Kickstarter
Urban Legends Auction (LA)
Friday night >> URBAN LEGENDS: Celebrating 45 Years of Public Art Around the World is an art exhibition and an auction taking place at the LA Mart and Design Center. Works consist of large scale murals; collages; rare, limited edition photographs; and more.
Artists include ABCNT, Chor Boogie, Codak, Cryptik, Kofie, Mear One, Pablo Cristi, Shark Toof, TEWSR, Warren Heard, BAM, Brett Cook, Can Love, Cern, Ckaweeks, Doves, Erin Yoshi, Estria, Jher Judy Baca, Katch, Kent Twitchell, Level, Mare 139, Martha Cooper, Meres, Sand, Vogue, Vyal, Woier, Alexander DC Smith & Hans Haveron, Aly Kouroma, EKLA, Evan Mendleson, Freddy Sam, Graffiti of War Project, Herakut, FOODONE, John Park & Christina Angelina, KIDGHE, LIBRE, Max Neutra, SANER, Yusef Davis, Van Saro, Estevan Oriol, Eriberto Oriol, Chaz Bojorquez, RETNA, Andrew Hem
For further information regarding this event click here.
“Ordinary People” in Brooklyn
“Ordinary People” is a group show opening Saturday at the Trumbull Studios in Brooklyn with Doug Aldrich, Shane Donahue, Austin Ansbro, and Zach Meyer.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Group GRAFF at Dorian Gray (NY)
Stop by the Dorian Gray Gallery in Manhattan for a reception for their group exhibition of artists spanning 30 years of art in public spaces. Featured works include such iconic New York names as Keith Haring, LA 2, Futura, Richard Hambleton, COPE 2, & CRASH. International artists such as Bansky and DOLK are paired with some newer names XAM, SeeOne, Penn & AVone.
For further information regarding this show click here.
See a preview of an upcoming Street Art video and XAM’s recent visit to Mexico City.
Katowice Street Art Festival (VIDEO)
A fun video about the 2012 festival in Katowice, Poland:
For more information regarding this festival click here.
“HYPNOGOGIA” – ROA (VIDEO)
ROA’s new show “Hypnagogia” is currently on view at the StolenSpace Gallery in London.
Below is a video that shows the artist at work:
“Obey The Giant” Movie Kickstarter
“Obey The Giant” coming soon to a theater near you?…Yes if you help the auteurs, by donating to their kickstarter campaign. But before you go and donate take a moment to see the trailer for the yet to be completed film.
From the creators Julian Marshall and Alex Jablonski:
“Based on the true story of Shepard Fairey’s first act of street art, OBEY THE GIANT tells the story of a young skate punk challenging a big-city mayor and the powers-that-be at art school. Frustrated by his inability to gain respect within the confines of art school Shepard sets out to gain notoriety and acclaim by targeting the most powerful man in Providence, former Mayor Buddy Cianci. Risking expulsion and jail time Shepard plasters Andre the Giant’s face over the image of Cianci on a campaign billboard. As word of Shepard’s prank gets out, Shepard learns that art is a weapon and attention is both a blessing and a curse”.
Click here to donate on their Kickstarter and to see the trailer for the movie.
1. ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)
2. Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)
3. LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)
4. Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)
5. Marsea Gives You the “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)
6. Erica Il Cane “Una Vita Violenta” at Fifty24MX Gallery (Mexico City)
7. Brett Amory “Waiting 101” at Outsiders Gallery (Newcastle, UK)
8. OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)
9. C215 “About Copyrights” (VIDEO)
10. The Bushwick Trailer (VIDEO)
ROA at StolenSpace “Hypnagogia” (London)
With his current show, now on view at the StolenSpace Gallery in London, ROA will demonstrate how you can be asleep and awake at the same time. His solo show “Hypnagogia” opens today to the general public and offers a dissected view of ROA’s fantastic world of animals and beasts. ROA’s hand crafted book “An Introduction To Animal Representation” by Mammal Press is on sale at The Old Truman Brewery on 91 Brick Lane. Hurry there are only only 125 tomes being offered.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Katowice Street Art Festival 4/20-29 (Poland)
Katowice, a Silesian city in Southern Poland celebrates Street Art with their own Street Art Festival, now on its second year, from April 20 through April 29. The gray, concrete architecture that dominates this town will be imbued with color, shapes and fantasy with the help of this city most prominent daughter, OLEK aided by an illustrious list of first rate of fine and Street Artists including Mark Kenkins, Escif, Boogie, Moneyless, Ganzeer, Ludo, Mona Tusz, Swanski, 0700 Team, Tellas, Dan Witz, Hyuro, M City, ROA, Goro, Kilo, Nespoon, Aryz, 108, Wers, Ciah-Ciah, Etam Crew, Otecki, Razpajzan, Sepe, Chazme, CFNTX Crew, Onte, Jezmirski, Terry Grand, Dast, Impact, Malik, Turbos and Mentalgassi.
For further information regarding this festival click here.
LALA Gallery Inauguration Saturday (Los Angeles)
The West Coast continues to assert itself as a power house in the art world and as a Street Art mecca with the inaugural show of LALA Gallery. A brand new gallery conceived by Daniel Lahoda, the mind and soul and legs of LA Freewalls Project.
LALA’s line up of artists for this first show augurs an auspicious beginning and a successful life which we hope last for a long, long time. “LA Freewalls Inside” is the title of this show and artists included are: Anthony Lister, Askew One, Becca, Cern, Chris Brand, Cryptik, Cyrcle, Dale VN Marshall, Dan Witz, Daze, Dee Dee Cheriel, Evan Skrederstu, How & Nosm, Insa, Jaybo, Kim West, Kofie, Lady Aiko, Ludo, Mear, The Perv Brothers, Poesia, Push, Pyro, Ripo, Risk, Ron English, Saber, Shepard Fairey, Swoon and Zes.
For further details regarding this show click here.
Herakut “Loving the Exiled” at 941 Geary (San Francisco)
Herakut, the indefatigable German collective are a busy duo with an impressive craft and a mastery of the can and paint brushes. Never compromising their artistic output regardless of their environment or medium they set their collaborative standards high with an output rich in earthy colors. Their palette of ores, reds, grays, oranges, blues, browns and yellows give birth to a universe of characters that are fantastic and mysterious and in pursuit of you, the spectator. In San Francisco at 941 Geary Gallery Saturday the reception will be open for the artists and you at “Loving the Exiled”.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Group Show “High Five!” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)
HIGH FIVE! the new group show at New Image Art Gallery in Los Angeles opens tomorrow and the artists include Alia Penner, Ashely Macomber, Curtis Kulig, Deanna Templeton, Maya Hayuk and Vanessa Prager.
For further information regarding this show click here.
Also happening this weekend:
Tomorrow, Saturday April 22 will be the last day to see Erica Il Cane show “Una Vita Violenta” at the Fifty24MX Gallery in Mexico City. The gallery will also participate with Erica Il Cane at the Zona Maco Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair in Mexico City. April 18 – April 22. For further details about “Una Vita Violenta” click here. For more details about Zona Maco, Mexico Arte Contemporaneo Art Fair click here.
Brett Amory solo show “Waiting 101” At the Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle, UK opens today to the general public. Click here for more details about this show.
OLEK in Barcelona with Botero (VIDEO)
Still working on that scarf you’ve been knitting for OLEK’s birthday? You missed it.
We are incredibly proud to announce the opening of LALA Gallery on Saturday, April 21, 2012 where we will be presenting LA Freewalls Inside.
LA Freewalls Inside is a group show featuring over 40 artists who have helped make Downtown Los Angeles one of the biggest and most recognizable public art spaces in the world, including Shepard Fairey, SWOON, HOW and NOSM. Keep a lookout as we unveil the final line-up over the next two weeks.
So spread the word, bring a friend and help us break-in the space for the first of what will be many, many, more events.
There is an uneasy reluctance among some artists in the graffiti and the Street Art community to let themselves be seen hanging with art collectors or even entering galleries sometimes because they might lose credibility among peers for not being ‘street’ enough. Seeing well manicured men in pinstripes and shrieking birdberry women with tinted/straightened/plumped everything looking at your shit hanging on a wall and asking vaguely patronizing questions about it like you are an exquisite curiosity could make you go out and slice their tires after downing a few white wines. Not surprisingly, “keeping it real” sometimes translates to keeping it out of private collections.
Even as there is an every-growing recognition of art and artists who work sometimes illegally in the street, it’s a sort of high-wire act for anyone associating with art born in margins, mainly because it forces one to face the fact that we marginalize.
Sociological considerations aside, over the last decade there is a less traditional definition of Street Artist entering the fray. The graffiti scene originally boasted a sort of grassroots uprising by the voiceless and economically disempowered, with a couple of art school kids and the occasional high-minded conceptualist to mix things up. It’s all changed of course – for myriad reasons – and art in the streets takes every form, medium, and background. Now we see fully formed artists with dazzling gallery careers bombing right next to first time Krinks writers, graffiti writers changing gears and doing carefully rendered figurative work, corporations trying their hand at culture jamming (which isn’t a stretch), and all manner of Street Art referred to as an “installation”.
A new book by Maximiliano Ruiz called “Walls & Frames”, just released last month by Gestalten, presents a large collection of artists who have traversed the now permeable definitions of “street”, gallery, collector and museum. Admittedly, this may be a brief period of popularity for Street Art, if the 1980s romance with graffiti is any indication, but there is evidence that it will endure in some form. This time one defining difference is that many artists have already developed skill, technique, and a fan base. Clearly the street has become a venue, a laboratory for testing and working out new ideas and techniques by fine artists, and even a valued platform for marketing oneself to a wider audience.
A spread of work by Conor Harrington in “Walls and Frames”.
The resulting work, whether hanging on a nail inside or painted on a street wall, challenges our previously defined boundaries. The current crop of street art stars and debutantes, many of the strongest whom are collected here by Ruiz, continue to stay connected with the energy of the street regardless of their trajectory elsewhere. Some are relatively new, while others have been evolving their practice since the 70s, with all the players sliding in and off the street over time. The rich and varied international collection is remarkable and leaves you wanting to see more work by many of the artists. All considered, “Wall and Frames” is a gorgeously produced book giving ample evidence that many of today’s artists in the streets are tomorrow’s masters, wherever they practice.
Artists included are Aaron Noble, AJ Fosik, Alexandre Farto aka Vhils, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Alëxone Dizac, Amose, Andrew McAttee, Anthony Lister, Antony Micallef, Axel Void, Basco-Vazko, Base 23, Ben Frost, Blek le Rat, Bom-K, Boris Hoppek, Boxi, C215, Cekis, Conor Harrington, D*Face, Dan Witz, Daniel Muñoz aka San, Dave Kinsey, Der, Dixon, Docteur Gecko, Doze Green, Dran, Duncan Jago aka Mr. Jago, Eine, Ekundayo, El Mac, Evan Roth, Evol, Faile, Faith 47, Fefe Talavera, Gaia, George Morton-Clark, Herakut, Herbert Baglione, Interesni Kazki, Jaybo, Jeff Soto, Jeremy Fish, Jesse Hazelip, Johnny “KMNDZ” Rodriguez, Joram Roukes, Jorge Rodriguez Gerada, Josh Keyes, JR, Judith Supine, Katrin Fridriks, Kevin Cyr, Kofie, L’Atlas, Lightgraff, Logan Hicks, Ludo, M-City, Mark Jenkins, Mark Whalen aka Kill Pixie, Maya Hayuk, Medo & Demência, Meggs, Miss Bugs, Miss Van, Morten Andersen aka M2theA, Mr. Kern, Mudwig, Nicholas Di Genova, Okuda, Patrick Evoke, Paul Insect, Pedro Matos, Peter Owen, Pose, Pure Evil, Remed, Remi/Roughe, René Almanza, Retna, Ripo, Ródez, Sam3, Sat One, Shepard Fairey, Sixe, Smash 137, Sowat, Sten & Lex, Stephan Doitschinoff, Tec, Tilt, Troy Lovegates aka Other, Turf One, Vitché;, Wendell McShine, Will Barras, and Zosen.
The launch; “Walls & Frames” will be presented at Gestalten Space Berlin on December 15th.
Miami is basically “South Brooklyn” starting right about now, minus the bagels, the B62 bus, and the compulsive habit of cutting you off mid-sentence. Artists, galleries, fans, party girls and boys, djs, – they all head south the first few days of December for the big fair and all the little ones.
It already seems a little quieter here because Fountain took the weirdos, Wynwood Walls took the Soho softshoes, and The Underbelly collected the hardcore characters just long enough to sign a book and scarf some pizza before looking for a tunnel somewhere. Art Basel is a feast and the draw of Street Art and graffiti continues apace this year, with entrants from all the strata looking for a wall, and maybe a party, and a honey to go skinny dip with.
We picked a few Street Art related gems here that you might want to hit, but even if you show up in Miami this week with no plans, you’ll easily find some trouble to get into, we trust. Do your best.
After a full year underground, The Underbelly Project is coming to Miami during Art Basel. A pop up gallery, the show will feature original artwork from many of the 103 international artists who participated in the hidden subway project in New York. The exhibition will feature a video piece of multiple installations happening simultaneously, as well as new pieces by many of the artists. Additionally a book signing of the first volume to come out about the project, published by Rizzoli, will take place on December 2nd. Artists participating in the signing include: Dabs & Myla, Rone, Gaia, Lister, Eric Haze, Joe Iurato, Adam Feibleman, Know Hope, Jeff Stark, Jason Eppink, Jim and Tina Darling, The London Police, Dan Witz, Specter, Surge and other surprise artists.
Included in the show are street, graffiti and fine artists alike. The full line-up includes: Faile, Dabs & Myla, TrustoCorp, Aiko, Rone, Revok, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Mark Jenkins, Anthony Lister, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, M-City, Kid Zoom, Eric Haze, Saber, Meggs, Jim & Tina Darling, The London Police, Sheone, Skewville, Jeff Stark, Jordan Seiler, Jason Eppink and I AM, Dan Witz, Specter, Ripo, MoMo, Remi/Rough, Stormie Mills, Swoon, Know Hope, Skullphone, L’Atlas, Roa, Surge, Gaia, Michael De Feo, Joe Iurato, Love Me, Adam 5100, and Chris Stain.
THE UNDERBELLY SHOW 29 November – Press Preview 5pm/ Private View 7pm 30 November – Collector’s Preview 7pm 1 December – Secret Wars US vs. UK 6pm 2 December – General Opening 5pm and Artist Book Signing 6pm
The show will take place in the heart of Wynwood at 78NW 25th Street
SCOPE
Jonathan Levine Gallery At Scope with WK Interact, Aakash Nihilani, Olek, and Jason DeCaires Taylor
“Placing a focus on public art for this program, the gallery will present a series of works that highlight a diverse range of distinct styles, cultural perspectives and unconventional mediums. Each of the four artists selected represent fresh directions in creating work in public space through their innovative vision and inventive use of materials. Photography documenting their interventional imagery, sculpture, and performances convey the transformative effect their work has on its surrounding
White Walls will be hosting four booths at SCOPE, situated in the center of Miami’s Wynwood Gallery Arts District, featuring a MTN Colors Group show with APEX, Neon, Estria, Vogue, Blek le Rat, HUSH, Kofie and Chor Boogie, a White Walls Group show with Casey Gray, Ben Eine and Greg Gossel, and solo shows for both ABOVE and ROA. APEX, Eine, Kofie, ABOVE, ROA and Chor Boogie will also be painting at the Kohn compound on 24th street.
For a full listing of exhibitors and events click here SCOPE
Wynwood Walls
Wynwood Walls is premiering 7 new Street Art murals and 16 new pieces at Wynwood Doors and walls outside.
Debuting in tandem with the new murals and installations during Art Basel this year on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, the “Shop at the Walls” the first Wynwood Walls Pop Up gallery space that will offer artworks and the new Wynwood Walls book.The book has interview with Street Artists and photography by Martha Cooper.
Artists include Retna, The Date Farmers, How and Nosm, Gaia (USA), Saner and Sego (Mexico), Liqen (Spain), Neuzz (Mexico), Nunca (Brazil), Vhils (Portugal), Interesni Kazki (Ukraine), Faile (USA) and b. (Greece). Kenny Scharf is expected to augment his existing wall, and remaining work from the last two years from Nunca, Shepard Fairey, Aiko, Ryan McGinness, Stelios Faitakis and avaf will be on display.
Walls Outside the Wynwood Walls, encompassing key locations outside of the actual art park itself and in the surrounding neighborhood, will be created by Friends With You (USA), avaf (Brazil and France), Nunca, and Interesni Kazki (Ukraine); joining works previously completed by Swoon and Barry McGee.
Location:
Wynwood Walls and the Pop Up Shop are located at NW Second Avenue – between Joey’s Italian Café on 25th Street and the art-filled Wynwood Kitchen & Bar on 26th Street – and are open to the public free of charge.
HERE COMES THE NEIGHBORHOOD: WYNWOOD (Video)
Fountain Art Fair
“Our preferred punk rock lopsided Anti-Fair.” —Brooklyn Street Art
This year Fountain Miami’s signature on-site street art installation is curated by Samson Contompasis, director of Albany’s The Marketplace, and will feature over 150 feet of work Street Artists including Sharktoof, Chris Stain, Olek, Hugh Leeman, Chor Boogie, OverUnder, White Cocoa, Army of One, Clown Soldier, Joe Iurato, CAKE, Tip-Toe, Elle, Ian Ross, Know Hope, Depoe, and Zero Cents.
Brooklyn’s own Mighty Tanaka Gallery is showing at Fountain Participating artists include: Adam Void, Alexandra Pacula, Alice Mizrachi, ChrisRWK, Ellen Stagg, Gigi Chen, Hellbent, Hiroshi Kumagai, JMR, John Breiner, Max Greis, Mike Schreiber, Robbie Busch, Skewville, TooFly, URnewyork, VengRWK & Miguel Ovalle
December 1–4, 2011 2505 North Miami Avenue (at the corner of 25th St) | Miami, FL 33137 General Hours: 12pm–7pm daily Tickets: $10 daily / $15 weekend pass. All tickets sold at door.
Primary Projects
A new exhibit debuting during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011
Thursday, December 1
Opening Reception
7:00 to 10:00 p.m.
RETNA, Jessy NITE, Stormie MILLS, Evan ROBARTS, Lena SCHMIDT, Luis PINTO, Andrew SCHOULTZ, Karen STAROSTA-GILINSKI, Kenton PARKER, TM SISTERS, Samantha SALZINGER, Emmette MOORE, Anthony LISTER, Charles KRAFFT, Tatiana SUAREZ, Edouard NARDON, Andrew NIGON, Johnny ROBLES and Lawrence GIPE.
Primary Projects
4141 NE Second Avenue
Suite 104
Miami, FL 33137
Living Walls is working with with Primary Flight, one of the original graffiti and Street Art mural projects, to create 3 new murals in the Wynwood District.
Graffiti writer and fine artist. Old Skool Bomber. Wildstyle. Mid-Century Abstractionism. American Modernism. Choose One and Stick with it, right?
You find the evolution of artists of the streets can go in many different directions with time. As the current generation of wild teens and art school grads claim a hip-hop birthright to get up on public walls across cities everywhere, we are reminded of 1970s New York train-writing graff artists like Lee Quinones and Futura who eventually evolved their skills into galleries, private collections, museums. And they are only two. It has happened enough times now for it to be identified as a natural progression for some artists ‘of the street’, and in many cases, to incredible effect. It is a worthwhile point to consider if not labor over; the street has proven a valuable training ground for an increasing number of our great artists; With or without, and sometimes in spite of, our participation.
Augustine Kofie began as a writer in Los Angeles in the 1990s and has always had a deep love for illustration and linework. Today he has a studio doing markedly different work from what he developed on the streets – and it is a direct result of his evolution as an artist and as a person.
Todd Mazer recently visited the studio of Kofie and talks here about what he saw:
“Tucked away in the sleeping hills of Filipino town in Los Angeles, just a stones throw away from an Emergency Room entrance where Bob Dylan’s immortal words “He not busy being born is busy dying” are literal, you’ll find Augustine Kofie. This meeting of degradation and downfall with birth and uprising seem to be principle themes that play out in this ongoing story. It’s a story that eloquently eludes those who question the direction, proximity and order of the beginning to the end.
Kofie will be the first one to tell you that we are a product of our environment. Upon entering his work/living space it becomes nearly impossible to find the separation point between his environment and his work. A quick scan across the dimly lit room offers the realization that these aged manuals, endless sketchbooks and found artifacts are like records to a beat-maker and that Kofie is creating his own version of soul music on canvas”
Kofie talked with Brooklyn Street Art about his work and his inspirations;
Brooklyn Street Art: The clean architectural lines and shapes in your work fit together as if they were a floor plan. Have you had experience designing buildings?
Augustine Kofie: None at all. I’m inspired by preliminary design, drafting, architectural renderings and pre production concepts revolving around visual futurist design. I wouldn’t be opposed to an actual build out based on my work at some point but it’s not where my heads at right now… sticking to what I know.
Brooklyn Street Art: Why is it important to incorporate found items into your work, when you obviously could create them yourself.
Augustine Kofie: I’m taken by their texture, color and age, plus I enjoy the archeologist/ ‘digging in the crates’ aspect of collecting. Sampling is the best way to put it.. It is like finding a strange soundscape from a record or film, then twisting, manipulating and layering it with other found bits to create a new component, both audio and visual. They possess lost histories and past stories all their own so it feels appropriate and truthful to use such ephemera instead of recently produced papers. The up cycling and reinterpretations are endless.
Brooklyn Street Art: What kind of object catches your eye and forces you to bring it back to the studio?
Augustine Kofie: Usually outdated garage and office items from estate sales make me geek out. Anything that ‘contains’. Old wooden boxes, metal file boxes and hand made cabinets from an old mans garage workshop. Drafting based items. Paper wise, the more fatigued and yellowed the better but not to the point of crumbling. Engineering and accounting paperwork is nice as well. Yardsticks definitely get scooped.
Brooklyn Street Art Your work is vintage and futuristic – vintage in that jazz modernist warm way, and futuristic in its 1960s complex precision. Do you feel some nostalgia for that period and what does it represent for you?
Augustine Kofie: When I was a kid my parents played old jazz and soul records. This became the soundtrack to my life and I created my own perspective of a time-period that I only experienced as a child. That combined with the Futurist viewpoint of Syd Mead as well as the Futurist Movement set the foundation for what I do today and who I will become in the future.
Brooklyn Street Art Your studio working environment really parallels the clean lines and warm tones of your work. Could you create this same work in a different place (like a chaotic and messy one for example), or is it not important at all?
Augustine Kofie: To me my studio is a place of comfort, meditation and inspiration. I prefer a ‘workshop’ environment over a living room setting. I have been working on my aesthetic for long enough that as long as I’m given paint and a surface then I could create a style that is mine, anywhere. The energy and execution of the art is always influenced by my surroundings, though.
Brooklyn Street Art: Your earlier graffiti contained foreshadowing of the abstract approach you are using now. At what point do your pieces stop being called graffiti and start being Street Art? Or does it matter at all to use terms like this?
Augustine Kofie: This is a strange place for me, this sort of limbo between titles. I just want to contribute my work as a man and as a whole, regardless of its contemporary title or standing. Confusing or not it is what it is.
My work and I are in constant progression. Evolution is mandatory. There is no seam that defines a beginning or ending to who I am and what I wish to produce. I do both the Graffiti and ‘art on the street’ depending on the moment and situation and especially moods. I’m a moody cat and I tend to gravitate to what I want to do to ease my restlessness. A different attention and energy is given to each form of expression here. Sometimes I want to blast on a crew production with classic characters/ letters & background scenarios. Other times I want to take a 20 year old can of outdated American spray-paint to a refused and abandoned surface and paint triangles, circles and lines without lettering, just getting loose on the foundations of line-work. I feel like Graff gave me a voice and I’ve contributed to this art form, now I have to contribute further and test my styles as well as change my own mindset and preconceived ideas of what this art form is as much as where its going.
On Saturday March 5th Augustine Kofie will be part of a group show curated by Indigo at the Becker Galleries in Vancouver, Canada. To learn more details about this show click on the link below:
In May 2011, BritWeek, in collaboration with the L.A. ART MACHINE (LAAM), will produce a landmark, large-scale, museum-quality art installation by world-renown artists MEAR ONE (USA) and D*FACE (UK). This exhibition will be the centerpiece of the entire BritWeek Contemporary Art Program and will run approximately two weeks at L.A. MART second floor exhibition hall.
Utilizing approximately 25,000 square-feet, BritWeek & LAAM will encourage the artists to entertain an entire range of expression, employing any media that fits the artists’ concept (i.e. sculpture,digital media, paintings, prints, performance, etc.) The overarchingtheme, which may be interpreted loosely, is the U.S.-British experience and whatever that may mean to the artists.
In addition, D*FACE and MEAER ONE will commandeer chair sculpture in the parking lot of the L.A. MART as a special project piece for the artists to embellish, paint, and post. This outdoor sculpture may remain in perpetuity as a gift from BritWeek to Los Angeles and an internationally-recognized symbol of the L.A. MART.
Time/Date:
Friday, May 6, 2011 at 7:00pm – Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 7:30am
Location:
LA MART (entire 2nd floor)
1933 S. BROADWAY
Los Angeles, CA
Now that the thumping headache from too many orange sodas on New Year’s Eve is gone, it’s time to regale little Baby 2011 with some eyeball pleasing baubles from sunny Miami. In early December many Street Artists converged upon this city to add to the sparkling traffic of Art Basel and to crush some major wallage.
Of course, not everybody finished their piece in time because there were parties to attend, booties to shake, and pretty things to watch workin’ it on the street. Dust settled and work completed, last week we climbed walls, squeezed through fences, and raced up railroad tracks to catch all the finished pieces for you. In the process we met some barking bulldogs and charming new friends, because Miami is mad friendly yo, and we even got some inside tips on hidden treasure.
Opening Saturday October 16 from 18H Addict Galerie
Exposition Collective du 16 Octobre au 4 Décembre Mardi Samedi 11 :00 – 19 :00
Group Show from October 16th to December 4th Tuesday Saturday 11 :00 – 19 :00
La rue, laboratoire dun nouveau mode dexpression
Un art est né dans la rue parce que ses auteurs ne se définissaient pas comme des artistes. Cétait là, la révolution. Des jeunes aux doigts errants, voulaient simplement rappeler leur existence en prenant à partie un paysage urbain, prison de briques et de pierres, souvent délabrée, qui servait de décor à leur vie. Depuis maintenant plus dun demi-siècle, lesthétique des cités sen est trouvée modifiée.
On a souvent dénoncé le spontanéisme immature de ces peintres clandestins qui nobéissaient en réalité quà un besoin instinctif dexpression visant à déconstruire un certain académisme des formes. Dabord terrain dexpérimentation de jeunes amateurs, la rue est devenue le lieu dexposition dartistes issus des meilleures écoles allant à la rencontre dun public, souvent absent des musées.
A rebours de lindividualisme traditionnel du créateur, ces artistes ont su développer générosité et sens du partage pour élaborer des projets collectifs. Ils ont également renouvelé les outils traditionnels de la peinture en explorant toutes les techniques et tous les types de supports. Certains dentre eux en revisitent laspect figuratif avec lironie dun langage métaphorique. Dautres sapproprient aussi le multimédia pour nous sensibiliser aux dangers du monde virtuel.
Lart urbain est désormais un art de vivre pour beaucoup de ses adeptes, artistes authentiques à linspiration variée qui entendent créer en toute légalité, sur des supports autorisés.
Surgit alors un paradoxe : comment ces innovateurs nomades, ayant élu la rue comme terrain dexpérimentation, habitués à y exposer des travaux destinés à disparaître, comment ces acteurs du provisoire peuvent-ils se laisser enfermer dans un musée ou une galerie ?
Une chose est sûre : en investissant « lintérieur », en renonçant à leur clandestinité, ces artistes ne perdent rien de leur authenticité. Ils revendiquent simplement une inspiration différente mais fidèle à leur démarche créatrice. Tous se promettent également de retourner sexprimer dans la rue. Cette tendance nest pas nouvelle. Le passage du mur et du wagon au support léger, mobile et collectionnable se produit déjà à New York dès la fin des années 70, avec Crash, Lady Pink !
Face à ces tentatives qui se mondialisent que pense le citadin de ces « uvres » quon lui met sous le nez ? Il demeure sceptique, parfois choqué, souvent dérouté. Institutions et critiques en ont tiré prétexte pour tenir à lécart ces fabricants de signes indéchiffrables, ravalés au rang de propagateurs dune sous culture de ghetto aux slogans parfois subversifs.
La presse, de son côté, a fait preuve dune étonnante absence de curiosité à légard de ce mouvement quand elle ne la pas fustigé allant jusquà le traiter « dart dégénéré ».
Les musées lont largement ignoré. Les collectionneurs, mal informés, ne pouvaient que se montrer frileux à son endroit.
Un tel contexte assigne à lart urbain une place singulière dans lhistoire et ne facilite pas sa reconnaissance comme mouvement artistique à part entière. Même si la situation évolue lentement, à ce jour en France, très peu dexpositions lui ont été consacrées. Elles ont notamment peu pris en compte la variété des techniques quil met en uvre, ni la richesse de son inspiration, passant même à côté de certains de ses grands acteurs.
Il nétait que temps de témoigner de limportance dun des élans créatifs les plus révolutionnaires du Vingtième siècle car inscrit dans une époque condamnée à lentassement humain dont il réinvente les formes dart pictural.
Pour rendre compte de son ampleur, Addict Galerie lui consacre deux expositions, la première débutera le 16 Octobre 2010. Ce panorama voudrait témoigner du foisonnement des talents qui lirradie. Seront entre autres rassemblées les uvres de plus de quarante artistes internationaux, des pionniers tels Gérard Zlotykamien, John Crash Matos, Doze Green, Lady Pink, John Fekner et Don Leicht, Jean Faucheur, Toxic jusquaux jeunes talents tels Imminent Disaster, Jazi, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, 36RECYCLAB, Mambo Partageront aussi ses murs Jaybo, Marco Pho Grassi, Victor Ash, Herakut, Andrew Mc Attee, Nick Walker, Kofie, Boris Hoppek, Thomas Fiebig, LATLAS, Mist, TRYONE, Smash 137, Eelus, Dtagno, 108
Ce projet unique en son genre suppose une subjectivité dans les choix dont Addict Galerie a conscience et quelle assume librement. Il sagit pour nous de révéler, loin des sentiers battus, la cohérence dun mode dexpression qui, à travers sa multiplicité, saffirme comme imaginatif, inspirant et novateur.
La scénographie proposée scande en deux temps le parcours de ce panorama sans en briser lunité même si la première étape comporte une dominante plus abstraite et la seconde plus figurative. Cette approche conforte au contraire une vision globale qui voudrait souligner la réussite du passage de cet art en galerie.
Par cette initiative hors norme, Addict Galerie souhaite rendre justice à lart urbain et laider à asseoir sa légitimité artistique.
Laetitia Hecht et René Bonnell
Pour toutes demandes Contactez la galerie : +33 (0)1 48 87 05 04 / info@addictgalerie.com
Information available upon request Contact the gallery: +33(0)1 48 87 05 04 / info@addictgalerie.com
ADDICT GALERIE
Laetitia Hecht
14/16 rue de Thorigny
75003 Paris – France.
T: +33(0)1 48 87 05 04
info@addictgalerie.com
Amsterdam – Willem Kerseboom Gallery, in collaboration with the L.A. ART MACHINE, is proud to announce the opening of OP STRAAT, an exhibition of original artwork by legendary Los Angeles street artists, MEAR ONE, RETNA, and KOFIE.
This landmark exhibition marks the first time that these celebrated contemporary artists have exhibited together in Holland, bringing the unique and diverse visual language of California street art to Northern Europe.
Since the rise of urban art in the U.S. in the 1970’s, California artists have been at the vanguard of a new visual language that both defines and describes the contemporary urban experience and the environs of the West Coast metropolis.
All self-taught, these three artists elevate the subversive arts from the streets to established fine art venues, further challenging gallery and museum paradigms and establishing a new artistic vocabulary that is fresh, compelling, and unpredictable.
Op Straat, opens at Willem Kerseboom Gallery on October 16, 2010 and runs through November 13, 2010. Please join us for this exciting moment in contemporary art history.
Includes a special viewing of the monumental murals created during the Vox Humana live art installation at VOLTA 6 in Basel 2010, as featured on the Huffington Post, Juxtapoz, and Arrested Motion.
Opening: October 16, 2010 4-6 PM.
Location:
Willem Kerseboom Gallery
Leidsegracht 38-40 1016 CM
Amsterdam, Netherlands
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
