All posts tagged: Kosbe

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.26.23

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.26.23

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week!

How are feeling? Did you have a good Thanksgiving day, and did you see the crowds and balloons and marching bands along the parade route and the still intact orange and yellow leaves on the trees on Central Park West? Did you see Dolly Parton dressed as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader singing at the halftime game, and did you see your girl Ava from up the block with her vintage vest and platform boots when grandma sent you out for a can of whipped cream for the pumpkin pies?

“Have you kept pace with the latest revelation in the art world? A remarkable BBC interview with Banksy, dating back two decades, has recently surfaced, sparking renewed excitement. These are indeed vibrant times for art enthusiasts and creators alike. Take, for instance, the Brooklyn Museum’s current showcase. It features an engaging Spike Lee exhibition alongside the innovative ‘Copy Machine Manifesto.’ This zine exhibition is a deep dive into five or six decades of subcultural and counter-cultural movements. It highlights a diverse range of self-published works, including gossip magazines, graffiti newspapers (a nod to David Schmidlapp and Phase 2), and expressions from queercore to hardcore. The exhibit is an eclectic mix of self-aware conceptual art, original fashion, explorations of sexual desire and confusion, comix, handmade collage, and expressions of nihilism, ennui, satire, humor, and lamentation. It’s a vivid reflection of art and expression – and inspirational to any artist who wants to have a voice.

We’re going back for a second helping.

Here is our weekly interview with the street: this week featuring Stikman, Cosbe, Below Key, No Sleep, Huetek, Optimo NYC, Jay Shells, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, OH!, Muebon, Humble, Jappy Agoncillo, Jeff Roseking, Hu, Manual Alejando, Deter, Jason Shelowitz, and KIR.

Jappy Agoncillo (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Optimo NYC (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman. Detail from the exhibition at Skewville Presents. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Cosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Muebon (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Below Key and Muebon (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Below Key and Muebon (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Below Key and Muebon. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Below Key (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jeff Roseking (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Any job is possible if you have the right kicks. KIR (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Old dogs like those old stogies. Manuel Alejandro (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Humble (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Poems (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Deter (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Huetek (photo © Jaime Rojo)
OH! (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Jason Shelowitz AKA Jay Shells at “Spike Lee: Creative Sources” exhibition currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
A painting of his father, Bill Lee, by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh at “Spike Lee: Creative Sources” exhibition is currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. Detail. At “Spike Lee: Creative Sources” exhibition currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. Street Color on the sidewalks of NYC. Fall 2023. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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Kosbe & the Sticker Social Club Hustle a Booth at Coney Island

Kosbe & the Sticker Social Club Hustle a Booth at Coney Island

You want a booth at Coney so you can play a Carney? Do it yourself!

Shout out to tireless creative New Yorker Kosbe and the Sticker Social Club who quickly set up shop in the Coney Art Walls compound with their carnival style game booth last month and have been entertaining passersby ever since. It wasn’t originally part of the formal Coney Art Walls show but the Street Artist/graff writer/art director/hustler/hard worker/Renaissance man got this sculptural installation up in a matter of days and the booth has been showing original artworks and playing games with curious art fans since then.

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Sticker Social Club. Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“We used found material sourced from the boardwalk and felt this reclaimed material was a good representation of Coney Island,” Kosbe says about the booth that is topped with a “Down the Clown” sign that they found in a refuse pile. Elsewhere in the show is signage that borrows from popular amusement vernacular by Stephen Powers. For Kosbe, its about the process as well. “It created a dialogue between us and several of the residents and employees of Luna Park and the neighborhood who actually contributed to the build out and came back later with a sense of excitement and pride at being a part of the art project.”

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A sword swallower at the Sticker Social Club. Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

With handmade stickers and artworks by many friends and local NYC based artists who regularly get together to make art, the sense of collaboration with Sticker Social Club is always palpable. A tireless advocate for collaboration and participation, Kosbe is the driving force behind many of the clubs activities, meetings, installations.

This booth recalls Coney Island’s magical past, and “We also feel it relates to graffiti’s roots in making something out of whatever you can source on a bare minimum and utilizing materials from the street,” says the affable and energetic Kosbe. On opening day a number of people could be seen tossing beanbags and other projectiles while being goaded on by artists who sometimes gave out stickers or original drawings to winners. Curator of Coney Art Walls Jeffrey Deitch stopped by a few times and talked with the artists, happy to discover this collaborative team was willing to contribute so much to the exhibition.

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Sticker Social Club. Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Always sensitive to his environment, the artist didn’t want to encroach on the wall by artist Sam Vernon, who had placed her new work up as part of the formal show. “We lucked out in finding that ‘Down a Clown’ sign that we feel complimented and didn’t detract from Sam Vernon’s vision or color palette. We like how both pieces evoke imagery and a sense of the Coney boardwalk as if you are visually walking through it.”

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Sticker Social Club. Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sticker Social Club: Sticker Social Club hosts art events and drawing meet-ups as a means for young, upcoming artists to gain exposure as well as meet and learn from other like minded artists. The club regularly hosts events including drink and draws featuring artwork and music from live bands and DJs. Artists include: Cosbe (or Kosbe), Abe Lincoln Jr., Fling, OneTooth, Alone, Royce Bannon, Baser, Buttsup, Chris RWK (Robots Will Kill), Crasty, Dano, Tony DePew, Doper Jones, Jos-L, Froot, Herm, Imamaker, Adam Lawrence, Mister Guh, Sameshit, Tako Venus, Tone Tank, Wish 194 and many more.

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Woodward Gallery Presents: “Detail” A Group Exhibition (Manhattan, NYC)

DETAIL
March 2nd – April 28th 2013
Opening Reception:
Saturday March 2nd 6-8pm

Our society places great emphasis on detail, but the rare individual pauses long enough to appreciate this specialty. If detail refers to the parts which make up the whole, this exhibition relies on the small elements considered for each unique work of art. The group of Artists are: Michael Alan, Susan Breen, Thomas Buildmore, Deborah Claxton, Cassius Fouler, Kosbe, Kiriyo Kuchina, Moody, Margaret Morrison, Kenji Nakayama, Jaggu Prassad, and Cristina Vergano.

http://www.woodwardgallery.net/exhibitions/ex-detail.html

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Kosbe “Borrowed Time” At Woodward Gallery Project Space

The four panels across from Woodward Gallery have provided an ongoing gallery show on the street for a handful of years now, exhibiting the work on a fine line of gallery and urbanity. The exhibit space on the Lower East Side has featured the likes of near legends Stikman and Lady Pink, and also has played host to newer players along the Street Art/ graffiti continuum including Moody, Skewville, Cash4, DarkCloud, and a number of others well known to New York scene watchers. The space itself is a little more polished than it used to be and there are no dumpsters or the rancid stench of urine to accompany your viewing pleasure, but that’s what you have to put up with as Manhattan continues it’s descending transformation into maul of America.

Kosbe “Borrowed Time” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Saturday night during the print show opening at Woodward that features a number of Street Artists, guests were sure to step across Eldridge to check the new installation by the emotional expressionist Kosbe, an artist whose biography and practice encompass graff, stickers, Street Art, fine art, and increasingly, Jackson Pollack. Like we said last year on BSA and Huffington Post, dude is one to watch, and if you were looking for an opportunity to dig through the layers, here’s a chaotic psycho-graphic in 4 parts splashed across the public promenade for you. Free.

Kosbe “Borrowed Time”Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe “Borrowed Time”Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe “Borrowed Time”Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe “Borrowed Time”Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Making Deals Zine and Trumbull Studio Present: RELIEF: Silent Art Auction & Raffle Benefit. (Brooklyn, NYC)

Relief

Making Deals Zine and Trumbull Studio presents:RELIEF: Silent Art Auction & Raffle Benefit to support New York Residents Affected by Tropical Storm SandyFriday, November 9th, 2012

Silent Auction & Raffle begins at 6 pm – Final Drawing at 9:30 pm
@ Trumbull Studio, 143 Roebling St, 3rd Floor, Brooklyn, NYA huge group of established and emerging urban artists will have work for sale, and all proceeds will support LOCAL charities. Our goal is to help our fellow New Yorkers who have been hardest hit from areas like Far Rockaway, Staten Island, Breezy Point, and Red Hook. This is going to be a great event and all proceeds from the sale of your donation will go to our designated charities for the victims of Hurricane Sandy: New York Cares (nycares.org), Red Hook Initiative (rhicenter.org) and the Red Cross (redcross.org).Artists who have generously donating work for sale include (list is not yet final):

Abe Lincoln Jr.
Adam Lawrence
Adam VOID
Aimee Lusty
Alexander Heir
Alexander Richter
Anthony Sneed
Beater
Baser
Borf
ButtsUp
Brandon Haynes
Carnage
Cash For Your Warhol (The Collection of Brooklyn Street Art)
CRASTY
Daniel Feral
DB for Stuck-Up
EKG
Emma D.
Gloomer KTS
Goons
Herm
Howard Shindler
Ian (Pop Mortem) McGillivray
Isabel LaSala
JAMES
James Ivan Bailey
Jason Mamarella
Jon Bocksel
Jon Handel
Jowy Romano (Subway Art Blog)
Julian Gilbert
Kevin Foxworth
KOSBE
Lily Staley
Matt Dobbs
Matthew Hoffman
Martha Cooper
Mike Ion
Miss Night Catcher
MRS
Overunder
Pawn Works
RAE
Ribo 22KIDS
Roycer
RUSK
Scott Meyers

This is Awkward / Russell Lee
Tuse
Vickipages
Wisher914
Zato One
and more…

 

KosbeThere are several ways to donate at the event:
– An art raffle will be held where patrons have a chance to win artwork of their choice for as little as a $5 donation! The drawing is scheduled to be held at 9:30 pm and winners can take home their new artwork the same night.
– Select artwork will be up for silent auction. Bidding is scheduled to end at 9:30 pm.
-Blind monetary donations and credit cards will also be accepted.
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Images of the Week 09.16.12

 

Here is our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Cern, Dain, El Sol 25, ETAM, Hef, Ka TVT, Kosbe, Lae, Lucx, Meks, Never, Nice-One, Phetus, Pilot, Reyes, Rez, RONE, Sebs, Skewville, Such, Vers, Victor Reyes, and Yes One.

Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Reyes. Click here for details on Reyes and Steel current show at Klughaus Gallery.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nice One and Lucx Collaboration in Chicago (photo © Nice One)

HEF. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes One, Hef, Ka TVT, Never, Phetus. Detail.  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yes One, Hef, Ka TVT, Never, Phetus, Vers, Such, Lae, Rez, Cern, Pilot, Such, Meks, Sebs Summer wall collab. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Etam painting in Vienna. (photo © Inoperable Gallery for BSA)

Etam in Vienna. (photo © Inoperable Gallery for BSA)

El Sol 25 new Ransom Letters Series. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 new Ransom Letters Series. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 new Ransom Letters Series. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artists Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE in San Francisco. Click here for details on RONE current show at the White Walls Gallery (photo © White Walls Gallery for BSA)

RONE in San Francisco. (photo © White Walls Gallery for BSA)

RONE in San Francisco. (photo © White Walls Gallery for BSA)

Vintage Skewville in a bit of urban archeology in NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Fun Friday 07.13.12

 

HERE’s  OUR TOP 13 LIST for Friday the 13th!

1. Dscreet is on “The Other Side Show” (London)
2. Neck Face is “Simply The Worst” Tonight in LA
3. Stormie Mills “Dark Lights” Friday (Perth, AU)
4. “Welcome to the Neighborhood” Low Brow Artique Grand Opening Saturday (Bushwick, BK)
5. MEGGS at White Walls (San Francisco)
6. VINZ Solo in 3 Places Saturday (Netherlands)
7. Cassius Fouler Now Open in Brooklyn
8. “Summer Selections” Group Show at Woodward (LES)
9. Morley “I Don’t Make Sense Without You”at Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle, UK
10. David Ellis and Kris Kuksi “Go West” to LA
11. Jeremy Fish at Fifty24SF Gallery in San Francisco
12. BASK One Stand in Detroit (VIDEO)
13. Snyder in Los Angeles (VIDEO)

Dscreet is on “The Other Side Show” (London)

“It will be my first solo show in four years and centers around the theme of duality – light and dark and black and white,” says Dscreet, the London based Street Artist of Burning Candy fame and infamy as he returns to the gallery with a solo show titled “The Other Side Show” at the Roktic Gallery in London. This show is now open.

For further information regarding this show click here.

Neck Face is “Simply The Worst” Tonight in LA

Neck Face returns to New Image Art Gallery in West Hollywood, CA to state why he is “Simply The Worst”. This show opens today and you are encouraged to wear something that it is not you.

Neck Face in Brooklyn, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Stormie Mills “Dark Lights” Friday (Perth, AU)

The Greenhill Galleries in Perth, Australia invite you to attend today’s opening of Stormie Mills’ solo show “Dark Lights”.

Stormie Mills in Queens, NY for Welling Court (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stormie Mills (image © courtesy of the gallery)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“Welcome to the Neighborhood” Low Brow Artique Grand Opening Saturday (Bushwick, BK)

Uh-Oh, there goes the neighborhood. Tomorrow Street Artist Bishop 203 invites you to the grand opening of his gallery and art shop Low Brow Artique in Bushwick.

The opening will be celebrated with a group exhibition of Brooklyn based Street Artists including Cern, Clown Soldier, Elle, ENX, See One, Sheryo, Willow and Yok.  Come wish this impresario good luck. An art supply spot in the front and a gallery in the back, “Low Brow” hopes to raise some eyebrows tomorrow night.

Willow in Bushwick (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

 

MEGGS at White Walls (San Francisco)

“Mythology tells the stories of gods, heroes, humans and supernatural beings as the personification of natural phenomena and more importantly the human condition… ” Saturday Meggs delves deeper into the subject of fantasy in San Francisco for his new solo show “Truth in Myth” opening tomorrow at the White Walls Gallery.

Meggs Red Skull. Detail. (image courtesy of the gallery)

For further information regarding this show click here.

VINZ Solo in 3 Places Saturday (Netherlands)

Spanish Street Artist VINZ has invaded Amsterdam with “Rules of Etiquette” his first solo show in The Netherlands opening tomorrow on three different locations: The Garage, Andenken Gallery and Battalion.

Vinz in Brooklyn, NY. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Cassius Fouler Now Open in Brooklyn

Opened last night at Weldon Arts Gallery, “Four Borough” is a cool collection from Cassius as he continues to merge symbols and irony and inside jokes with a deceptively simple and friendly hand delivery.

Cassius Fouler from his show “Four Borough”.

Click here for more details on this show.

“Summer Selections” Group Show at Woodward (LES)

Woodward Gallery has put together “Summer Selections” an eclectic show of dead and alive artists, with some modern and contemporary masters mixed in with a select group of Street Artists that might or might not be the masters of tomorrow. Come in, cool off and judge for yourself.

Kosbe. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artists included are : Jean Michel Basquiat • Rick Begneaud • Susan Breen • Thomas Buildmore • Alexander Calder • Celso • Deborah Claxton • Darkcloud • Paul Gauguin • Sybil Gibson • Richard Hambleton • Curt Hoppe • Infinity • Jasper Johns • Russell King • Kosbe • LAII • Moody • Margaret Morrison • Mel Ramos • Robert Rauschenberg • Matt Siren • stikman • Jeremy Szopinski • Francesco Tumbiolo • Jo Ellen Van Ouwerkerk • Andy Warhol.

This show is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.

Also happening this weekend:

The Outsiders Gallery in Newcastle, UK new show featuring Morley and entitled “I Don’t Make Sense Without You” is now open to the general public. Click here for more details on this show.

The Joshua Liner Gallery new show in Los Angeles at the Mark Moore Gallery pairs David Ellis and Kris Kuksi for “Go West”. This show is opens tomorrow in Culver City, CA. Click here for more details on this show.

Jeremy Fish is at the Fifty24SF Gallery in San Francisco with the opening tomorrow of his new show “Where Hearts Get Left”. Click here for more details about this show.

BASK One Stand in Detroit (VIDEO)

A quick look at how BASK did his recent piece in Detroit.

 

Snyder in Los Angeles (VIDEO)

For Street Art that verges on handmade crafting and display work, here’s a homey installation from Snyder.

 

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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Woodward Gallery Presents: “Summer Selections” A Group Exhibition (Manhattan, NY)

Summer Selections

Summer Selections
July 12 – August 4, 2012

Featuring an array of legendary artists grouped with new masters

Artists Include:

Jean Michel Basquiat • Rick Begneaud • Susan Breen • Thomas Buildmore • Alexander Calder
Celso • Deborah Claxton • Darkcloud • Paul Gauguin • Sybil Gibson • Richard Hambleton
Curt Hoppe • Infinity • Jasper Johns • Russell King • Kosbe • LAII • Moody
Margaret Morrison • Mel Ramos • Robert Rauschenberg • Matt Siren • stikman
Jeremy Szopinski • Francesco Tumbiolo • Jo Ellen Van Ouwerkerk • Andy Warhol

133 Eldridge St. New York, NY 10003

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Kosbe: Under the Radar and in the Studio

Kosbe: Under the Radar and in the Studio

Why One Brooklyn Stick Up Kid is Worth Watching

Sometimes on the street you get an inkling of the future. It could be an overheard excerpt from a cell-phone conversation about a club show the night before, or the color and texture of woman’s blouse as it flutters around her while she reads on a park bench, or the sight of the 3rd food truck this week selling spicy meatballs. Something tells you that you just got a glimpse of the future. And while it doesn’t completely reveal itself in it’s fullness, you can see a nascent potential, a storyline developing that may go far beyond it’s current self. Sometimes when you see a Kosbe sticker on a paper box, it feels that way too. In fact, each time you see one of his pieces on the street, it grabs you from above the fray. Yet it seems like he’s been under the radar. He may not stay there much longer.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

In the ebb and the flow of the Street Art conversation in New York, you keep seeing Kosbe’s wacky characters popping up in doorways and paper boxes. They aren’t tossed off little marker drawings done while watching TV – they’re intense petite character studies. Packed into one slapped on sticker is a lot of cacophonic kineticism; near crazed city characters with primitive wild eyes staring or blinkered, with tight jaws and teeth squarely gritted. The folk faces and forms are framed by an ardent prose, non-sequitors of angst and inside jokes. “What’s the guy saying?” you could ask. And why is he yelling? “Is he okay, is he mocking me? It’s the bundled rage and cryptic cleverness of the court jester.  Layers of reapplied color and repeated lines trap multiple actions on one non-static figure. This is not simple tagging, it’s a stationary tornado.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street Artist Kosbe has put in two good decades of practice, and has learned some lessons the hard way. He’s been hitting up New York for a half decade but he comes from a long graffiti history as a kid in his native Chicago. Now a practicing artist readying a solo gallery show for fall, he grew up in a very young single-parent home where his mom created a small studio for the boy in the back of their apartment. “My mom was really supportive of me as an artist. When I was a kid she gave me this little back room that she allowed me to use like a painting studio. So I was always grabbing stuff off the street and bringing it in there, painting it. I was very secretive with my stuff. A lot of people would come over and see my stuff and they were like, ‘Dude, I didn’t know that you painted’. I was very protective of it.”

That hasn’t changed. He still likes to use found materials as canvasses, as he shows us around his small studio hidden in a warehouse in New York. “I’m always using things that I find in the streets. Like this is an old grading book from 1919,” he says as he pulls out a tattered tome with pages ripped out.  “It has all these people’s signatures. I found this outside a high school in Brooklyn. It’s really cool. So that’s what I’ve been using for my drawings.”

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tough times at home got him in trouble at school and with the police as a youth. Describing himself as hard headed, he talks about running away as a young teen to San Francisco for a while in the early 90s, where he spent a lot of time on the street admiring a new kind of character-based and tattoo influenced graffiti on the street by people like Twist (Barry McGee), Mike Giant, and Reminisce. “I went out and there were these Reminisce horses everywhere and they were great because you were going down the street and you would see this horse like galloping down the street. This stuff really blew me away. So I think the same time this stuff was going on there, over here in NY you had like Cost and Revs posting bills and doing rollers. And back then there wasn’t the internet.”

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Years later here in this fluorescent lit studio filled with his drawings, paintings, books, ‘zines, assorted ephemera, a desk, and a loveseat, his excited retelling of stories reveals how much those childhood escapades running Chicago streets and exploring San Francisco formed his view of Street Art and prepared him for moving to New York eventually in the 2000s. A self-schooled student of graffiti, fine art, and street art, Kosbe can recount names of writers and crews, timelines, styles; drawing etymologies and stylistic connections and talking about migrations. With much fanfare he’ll also tell you the  stories about the famed Chicago “buff” – a citywide anti graffiti campaign in the mid-late 1990s that he says whitewashed the city’s history.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But now he’s an artist on his own, and his practice is daily. “Now I’ve learned more that the only way, as an artist, that you can kind of grow and come up with new ideas is you gotta keep giving them away. So that’s why street art is kind of funny. I have friends who are painters that have become painters because of me. They are like ‘Dude, I was totally influenced by your drawings’ and stuff like that.” But the practice of Street Artists putting fully formed works out on the street still confuses some of his peers, “They say ‘Dude you give all your art away’ – you know, they don’t understand the concept.”

His new work on the street and in this studio now bends toward abstract expressionism and his years of comic book reading enlivens that rawness with a furtively bombastic character-driven personality. Almost every piece he does has some sort of commentary- a sort of helpful therapeutic narrative to explain what the character is thinking or feeling at the moment. “I like being bad for the sake of being bad”, “Tupac!”, “deathy”, “not good”, “astro zombie”,”power to the people”,“Kosbe don’t cry”.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe also credits the street as his formative and evolutionary art instructor. “When I took an oil painting class, my teacher was like, ‘Dude you already know how to paint. How did you learn this?’ and I was like, ‘graffiti.’ ” Even though graffiti still attracts him and captures his imagination, Street Art and fine art have occupied his efforts lately and the combined synthesis of a lifetime studying art on the street and plenty of experimentation is coming together very strongly aesthetically. Combine that individual vision with the maturity that hits a person in their 30s and you may think that you are seeing a sudden glimpse of the future.

Brooklyn Street Art: I want to talk about you and your art and your influences. What are these characters? Where did they come from?
Kosbe: I don’t know. I’ve been drawing since I was real young.  It’s always something that comes naturally. I don’t do any sketches, I don’t plan anything out. I just – for me it’s more a guttural, more natural thing. It’s good and bad.

Brooklyn Street Art: What’s the bad part?
Kosbe: The bad part is that I don’t focus on it, you know? I just have been doing it so long and I really enjoy it.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Is your experience kind of like a faucet that you turn on and it all comes flowing out and then you decide, “Okay I better turn it off”?
Kosbe: Exactly, right. So the thing with me is, I try to also look for other outlets. So I’m really into other things. Like I like music, photography, writing, all that stuff. But that stuff doesn’t come as naturally to me like this does. But it’s a great outlet for me and I feel really kind of lucky to have something like that – to be able to express myself in that form and manner. It’s helped me out tremendously to kind of learn how to communicate with people. Every year I realize new things – like this is how I communicate with people. Is it bad? Is it bad that I think that this is the only way I think that I can talk to people? Maybe I’ve gotta learn how to become better with talking with people verbally or something.

Brooklyn Street Art: You don’t seem to have great difficulty communicating verbally. But I’m interested in understanding a little more about how you think of this work and this practice as communication.
Kosbe: There is definitely a lot of emotional stuff in my work, you know,

Brooklyn Street Art: There is! Despair, anger …– you use a lot of descriptive words, verbal narratives throughout – whether it’s a sticker or a wheat paste.
Kosbe: Yeah it’s whatever is always popping into my head and so there are a lot of things that are on my mind and hopefully this is a good way to have an outlet for it. I’m trying to not be so negative anymore. And some people are like “Man, it’s so dark”. You know I use a lot of bright colors now, which has been phenomenal. That has really changed my work. Here you can see some of my earlier stuff and it’s really brown, dark. Actually this is beginning where I started experimenting with more color. And then as I got to New York, more and more color started getting into my stuff.

When you do graffiti you learn the fundamentals of color theory, you know. You learn what works.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: You know WK Interact talks about New York being a violent city
Kosbe: I love that guy! You know when I first moved to New York he had that little shop on the Lower East Side and you’d walk in and it was like a locker, a desk, and some Japanese kids standing around. And it would be like, “What is this? Is this a store? Is this a studio?”

Brooklyn Street Art: What made me think of him was I was interested in how you describe the city because WK has said that when he makes work on the street, if it is violent in nature and people walk by it, they sometimes give him the thumbs up! And it runs longer. But if he were to paint a pink bunny it would get crossed out because New Yorkers don’t really respond to positive cheerful stuff.
Kosbe: Oh yeah, and New York has definitely had a profound impression on me in that sense because my work before I got here still had that weird dark edge but it was a little cutesy-er. But like as time has progressed I just think I have kind of matured a bit more, becoming more of an adult and my stuff is getting more serious. But with me everything’s gotta be fun. I think it’s supposed to be fun.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Fun Friday 03.30.12

Fun Friday 03.30.12

1. Wooly Bully! (VIDEO)
2. “International Woman” at The Warrington Museum (UK)
3. “While Supplies Last” at Pawn Works (Chicago)
4. Crossing Borders at MSA Gallery (Paris)
5. Isaac Cordal “Waiting for Climate Change” at Beaufort 04 (Flemish Coast, Belgium)
6. HOW & NOSM show you HOW they made “Reflections” (VIDEO)
7. Kid Zoom Crashes Cars (VIDEO)

WOOLY BULLY! Straight from the Desert Island – Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs!

Let’s see if you can shake it as fast as the back-up dancer lady in this video!

“International Woman” at The Warrington Museum (UK)

“International Woman” the new group show at The Warrington Museum and Gallery in Warrington, UK is open to the general public with a lineup of brilliantly talented women artists from around the world including many Street Artists: Catalina Estrada, Cheryl Dunn, Elizabeth Mcgrath, Faith 47, Hera, Kukula, Mel Kadel, Miss Van, Pam Glew, Sarah Joncas, Stella Im Hultberg, Swoon, Tara Mcpherson and Xue Wang. With so much female talent under one roof this promises to be one hot and interesting show not to miss, Miss!

Faith 47. Detail (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mel Kadel (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

“While Supplies Last” at Pawn Works (Chicago)

The Pawn Works Gallery in Chicago new show “While Supplies Last” opens this Saturday. For this show the space would be transformed into a site specific retail environment where you’d be able to purchase items from books to art from a list of artists that include: Shawnimals, Skewville, Kosbe, 5003, Ader, Amuse 126, Snacki, JC Rivera, Montgomery Perry Smith, Left Handed Wave, Max Kauffman, Nice-One, Swiv, and Jon Burgerman.

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Crossing Borders at MSA Gallery (Paris)

MSA Gallery new group show “Crossing Borders” opens this Saturday in Paris, France and arttists including are: DAL, David Walker, Stinkfish, Faith47, David Shillinglaw, Martin Whatson, Klone, Snik, Otto Schade, Ben Slow, Joseph Loughborough, Inkie and Banksy:

Stinkfish (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Shillinglaw (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Isaac Cordal “Waiting for Climate Change” at Beaufort 04 (Flemish Coast, Belgium)

Sculptor and conceptual artist Isaac Cordal is doing a series of outdoor installations From March 31st to September 30th, 2012 in 30 Locations spread across 9 coastal municipalities throughout the Flemish coast as part of Beaufort 04.

Mr. Cordal’s army of little cement characters are sure to stop you on your heels if you see them that is. His commentary on social issues runs deep and wide always with a humorous touch and an impeccable sense of placement:

For further information regarding this event click here.

HOW & NOSM show you HOW they made “Reflections” (VIDEO)

A custom installation by How & Nosm just finished at the new show opening next week in the Bronx called “This Side of Paradise”. See BSA coverage of the show and more photos of How & Nosm’s installation along with Crash and Daze HERE.>>“Poorhouse for the Rich” Revitalized By The Arts

Kid Zoom Crashes Cars (VIDEO)

The other Australian bad boy Kid Zoom made a video of himself building a house and crashing some cars. We have video to prove it:

 

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Pawn Works Gallery Presents: “While Supplies Last” (Chicago, ILL)

Pawn Works Gallery

Pawn Works Presents: While Supplies Last

While Supplies Last is a concept store providing an alternative retail environment for the discerning customer to browse and purchase exclusive products and unique gifts. With the visual aesthetics of NYC artist 5003 and Agent Gallery, we will be transforming the space into a fully functioning retail shop featuring an array of titles from German based publishing company Gestalten books, apparel from Scumbags & Superstars and The Joneses, and other small edition products created by the participating artists specifically for this project.

Throughout the store’s limited run we will be releasing exclusive items including prints, zines, sticker packs and other multiples from a variety of artists like SHAWNIMALS, SKEWVILLE, KOSBE, 5003, ADER, AMUSE 126, SNACKI, JC RIVERA, MONTGOMERY PERRY SMITH, LEFT HANDED WAVE, MAX KAUFFMAN, NICE-ONE, SWIV and more while featuring a heavy involvement from famed U.K. illustrator JON BURGERMAN.
“Submerged in  a period of kitsch, we persevere, taking part in some of the fun along the way”

Grand Opening
Saturday March 31

12-7pm
While Supplies Last!!
Store Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday 12-7pm
Sunday 12-6pm
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Images of the Week: 02.26.12

Images of the Week: 02.26.12

Our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring AVOID, Boxpark, Dan Witz, Gilf!, Jaye Moon, Kosbe, Love Me, bunny M, Power Revolution, Pure Evil, Rae, and some new stuff in London from guest photographer Geoff Hargadon.

bunny M appears with a parable. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pure Evil making posters last night at Boxpark, a pop up mall made of shipping containers in Shoreditch, London. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Pure Evil installing the posters at Boxpark. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz brings his “Dark Doings” to the streets of downtown Los Angeles for LA Freewalls Project. (photo © Dan Witz)

Artist Unknown (Or is it an unfinished advertisement?) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RAE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

And that’s the last word from the streets of Brick Lane in London. (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

Power Revolution (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaye Moon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Marilyn is always game. Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Love Me (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kosbe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Avoid. Buy More Stuff! I can’t. It’s sold out! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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