All posts tagged: Living Walls

Living Walls Atlanta 2012 Begins, 26 Artists Converge!

 It’s Time for the Women to Represent as LW ATL Breaks New Ground Again

Sarah Emerson at work (photo © Dustin Chambers)

For the last two years at Living Walls Atlanta it’s been like graffiti summer camp; bodies and pillows and aerosol cans intermingled and stacked indiscriminately across the living room floors of friends apartments.  Sketchbooks. Pizza boxes. Condoms. Campfire songs.

The third installment of the conference for Living Walls, The City Speaks, starting today and running through the 19th, will build on the comaraderie established since then and on the lessons learned by those organizers who dared to mount this huge Street Art event on a shoe string budget and a dream. The number one change this year is that there is a bit of funding. Thanks to diligent fundraising and the donations of generous people like BSA readers who clicked a banner and gave, the Street Artists and other participants this year are actually staying in hotel rooms and everyone has a bed.

“All of the out of town artists are here, Hyuro just got in last night,” excitedly reports Living Walls organizer and BSA contributor Alexandra Parrish. So everybody is rested and ready to go.

The second important change this year is that it is all about the women.

In a completely unheard of and shocking move, the organizers/curators have invited only female Street Artists to participate this time, making this the World’s First All Female Paint Fest!  It’s a remarkable achievement in a scene that has been dominated by the male of the species, almost by definition, since the graffiti scene began in US cities about a half century ago. In most people’s opinion, it’s about time too. Speculation abounds about how the atmosphere and the output will be affected. For one thing, there will probably be fewer toilet seats thoughtlessly left up.  Also, better hair care products (no offense Gaia).

Sheryo at work (photo © Dustin Chambers)

“Over the past two years, 50 artists have participated – only two were female, and neither of them had a chance to paint a wall,” remarks Parrish as she illustrates the imbalance.

Of course there are already new pieces up to greet the participants that were done since March leading up to today’s opening that were not done expressly by females. Readers of BSA have seen an array of international artists from all over the world that came to paint big murals every month since including Gaia, Nanook, La Pandilla, Trek Matthews, Interesni Kazki, Evereman and Neuzz.

BSA has brought you full detail coverage of all those walls going up and now we’re gonna shout it from the roof tops as all this female power is loosed on the streets of Atlanta. And what an amazing lineup it is! The list includes: Indigo (Canada), Fefe (Brazil), TIKA (Switzerland), EME (Spain), Hyuro (Argentina), Martina Merlini (Italy), Miso (Australia), Cake (New York), Swoon (New York), Martha Cooper (New York), Sheryo (New York), White Cocoa (New York), Jessie Unterhalter and Katie Truhn (Baltimore), Molly Rose Freeman (Memphis), Teen Witch (San Francisco), olive47 (Atlanta), Paper Twins (Atlanta), Sarah Emerson (Atlanta), Sheila Pree Bright (Atlanta), Marcy Starz (Atlanta), Sten and Lex (Italy), Karen Tauches (Atlanta), Knitterati (Atlanta), Plastic Aztecs (Atlanta), Nikita Gale (Atlanta), Patricia Lacrete (Atlanta), Mon Ellis (Atlanta), and Andrzej Blazej Urbanski (Poland).

Here’s a Teaser for DAY 1

 

For a full list of events, schedules maps and other details click here:

TONIGHT:

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15TH
Vandalog Movie Night
Wren’s Nest in West End
9:00pm-11:00pm
RJ Rushmore from Vandalog will present a series of street art and graffiti short movies.

See the BSA posts this year for all of the installations leading up to this day:

“The Sunrise of Edgewood”, GAIA & Nanook open Living Walls Atlanta 2012

La Pandilla and Trek Matthews in Cabbagetown for Living Walls Atlanta

Interesni Kazki at Living Walls Atlanta

Priceless Culture: Mexican Artist Neuzz in Atlanta For Living Walls 2012

 

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Living Walls Albany: The City Speaks (Albany, NY)

Living Walls Albany
brooklyn-street-art-living-walls-albany-09-11

About

*For the most up to date information follow us Mural by Mural on-
http://livingwallsalbany.tumblr.com/
and also

About

Living Walls: Albany is a project designed to raise awareness about the use of public space. It is about exploring options that a smaller city like ours has and giving the people here a chance to interact with public space as they never have before. Through a series of lectures, performances, and the involvement of some of the world’s great mural artists, we are looking to provide and education into public art. The Living Walls project is intent on creating an open dialogue between the people and city.

The Living Walls conference was started in Atlanta GA. Along with changing the urban landscape, the Living Walls conference set out to highlight a number of problems facing the city. Living Walls did not just showcase art, but also built a platform for much-needed dialogue in the city. The success of the event was so great that Living Walls is returning this year to take place in Atlanta, Ga and Albany, NY.

Dates For 2011

September 16th – 18th

Venues for Living Walls: Albany

St. Joe’s– 38 Ten Broeck
The Marketplace Gallery
– 40 Broadway
Grand Street Community Arts
– 68 Grand St
“Arrival and Departure” Performance Art venue-99 Pine St.

Contact

For more information please feel free to contact us by email: livingwallsalbany@gmail.com

or visit our site at:

http://livingwallsalbany.com/

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Happy New Year! BSA Highlights of 2010

Year-in-review-2010-header

As we start a new year, we say thank you for the last one.

And Thank You to the artists who shared their 11 Wishes for 2011 with Brooklyn Street Art; Conor Harrington, Eli Cook, Indigo, Gilf, Todd Mazer, Vasco Mucci, Kimberly Brooks, Rusty Rehl, Tip Toe, Samson, and Ludo. You each contributed a very cool gift to the BSA family, and we’re grateful.

We looked over the last year to take in all the great projects we were in and fascinating people we had the pleasure to work with. It was a helluva year, and please take a look at the highlights to get an idea what a rich cultural explosion we are all a part of at this moment.

The new year already has some amazing new opportunities to celebrate Street Art and artists. We are looking forward to meeting you and playing with you and working with you in 2011.

Specter does “Gentrification Series” © Jaime Rojo
NohJ Coley and Gaia © Jaime Rojo
Jef Aerosol’s tribute to Basquiat © Jaime Rojo
***

January

Imminent Disaster © Steven P. Harrington
Fauxreel (photo courtesy the artist)
Chris Stain at Brooklyn Bowl © Jaime Rojo

February

Various & Gould © Jaime Rojo
Anthony Lister on the street © Jaime Rojo
Trusto Corp was lovin it.

March

Martha Cooper, Shepard Fairey © Jaime Rojo
BSA’s Auction for Free Arts NYC
Crotched objects began appearing on the street this year. © Jaime Rojo

April

BSA gets some walls for ROA © Jaime Rojo
Dolk at Brooklynite © Steven P. Harrington
BSA gets Ludo some action “Pretty Malevolence” © Jaime Rojo

May

The Crest Hardware Art Show © Jaime Rojo
NohJ Coley © Jaime Rojo
The Phun Phactory Reboot in Williamsburg © Steven P. Harrington

June

Sarah Palin by Billi Kid
Nick Walker with BSA in Brooklyn © Jaime Rojo
Judith Supine at “Shred” © Jaime Rojo

July

Interview with legend Futura © Jaime Rojo
Os Gemeos and Martha Cooper © Jaime Rojo
Skewville at Electric Windows © Jaime Rojo

August

Specter Spot-Jocks Shepard Fairey © Jaime Rojo
“Bienvenidos” campaign
Faile studio visit © Jaime Rojo

September

BSA participates and sponsors New York’s first “Nuit Blanche” © Jaime Rojo
JC2 © Jaime Rojo
How, Nosm, R. Robots © Jaime Rojo

October

Faile “Bedtime Stories” © Jaime Rojo
Judith Supine © Jaime Rojo
Photo © Roswitha Guillemin courtesy Galerie Itinerrance

November

H. Veng Smith © Jaime Rojo
Sure. Photo courtesy Faust
Kid Zoom © Jaime Rojo

December

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Natural Devolution in the “Swampy” Southland

Brooklyn Street Artist Swampy Pounds a Path in Atlanta Wilderness

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Living-Walls-Update2by Jayne McGinn
images by Jenna Duffy

Swampy’s signature characters form a narrative, a new dimension slowly being built inside our own. The skull and tusks are representative of a feral human; a person who, after being released into the wild, changes like an emancipated domestic pig transforms back into a boar by growing tusks and long hair.

Swampy (© Jaime Rojo)

Swampy (© Jenna Duffy)

The trademark crystals in Swampy’s paintings function on different levels. Not only are the crystals aesthetically pleasing, but also representative of the untainted minerals that make up animals forming into a shapes so beautiful, it’s astonishing that they could occur naturally in this world.

Swampy (© Jenna Duffy)

Swampy (© Jenna Duffy)

In person, Swampy seems less like someone who paints characters representing purity and extraordinary beauty and more like one of these characters, someone whose exceptional integrity is so remarkable that a natural existence is almost unfathomable.

Almost.

Swampy (© Jenna Duffy)

Swampy (© Jenna Duffy)

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Kofke: “Everything Will Be Okay”. That’s a Relief!

“I don’t know how I ended up a street artist,” says Kofke. “I really don’t.”

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Living-Walls-Update2by Jayne McGinn
images by Jenna Duffy

Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)
Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)

Jason Kofke started bringing his weird brand of optimism to the streets by writing “Everything Will Be Ok” on condom machines and toilets before it adorned depictions of tragedies such as plane crashes. The phrase is polarizing, igniting anger or catharsis in most of its viewers, both of which Kofke sees as a misinterpretation.

“I see it more of a question. Will everything be ok?”

Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)
Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)

Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)
Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)

Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)
Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)

Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)
Kokfe (© Jenna Duffy)

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Sweet Sueño and a Photographic Memory-Merging in Black and White

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Living-Walls-Update2by Jayne McGinn
images by Jenna Duffy

One of the More Stirring examples of Street Art during the “Living Walls” Event

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Sueno-WEB-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_0118-bw

© Jenna Duffy

“It’s like the jungle,” was the first thing that Marco Sueno said to me as we walked through the thick, hot Atlanta air.  Marco is from the jungle. His sense of humor and passion transcend the language barriers the Peruvian artist and I endured as I struggled to remember the Spanish classes I took (and failed) in college and he polished his English. Most of the time I spent with Marco was fun, including watching a game of “Marco Sueno”, as apposed to Marco Polo, in the pool with the other artists and teasing him that he looked like a sniper lying in the grass to take pictures of the people congregating outside Eyedrum, but Marco is serious about his artwork.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Sueno-WEB-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_1484-3
© Jenna Duffy

Marco evolved from a photographer to a Street Artist two years ago, yet his murals carry the weight of a seasoned veteran. As he put up his wheat paste on the entrance to the Krog Tunnel, a graffiti filled landmark in Atlanta, traffic slowed, and dog walkers and joggers came to a standstill.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-Sueno-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_1524

© Jenna Duffy

Marco combines anthropological studies, photography and street art to force social and political discussion. Seeing his photography and street art as equals, Sueno makes it his job to tell the history of his people, express their culture, and elevate them while in a state of emergency. His enormous murals reflect and reinforce his people’s way of life while they endure displacement and culture clash.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-Sueno-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_1499

© Jenna Duffy
Brooklyn-Street-Art-Sueno-WEB-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_0673
© Jenna Duffy
Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-Sueno-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_1925© Jenna Duffy
Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-Sueno-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_1490-2-2
© Jenna Duffy
Brooklyn-Street-Art-Sueno-WEB-copyright-Jenna-Duffy_MG_1522
© Jenna DuffyBrooklyn-Street-Art-Sueno-WEB-copyright-Jenna-Duffy__MG_0001
© Jenna Duffy

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Living Walls are Alive! : BSA Update from Atlanta

Living Walls are Alive! : BSA Update from Atlanta

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Living-Walls-Update
Living Walls
Jenna Duffy and Jayne McGinn have been chasing Street Art in Atlanta and taking in the whole carnival of art that is The Living Walls Conference.  Jenna is an experienced fashion photographer and she has been capturing the amazing vibe with her camera while Jayne tell us in her own words what’s the mood for Saturday nights’ Eyedrum Opening. Here is their first dispatch exclusively for BSA:

Currently, Eyedrum, home of the Living Wall’s Gallery Show, and the adjacent loft where the artists are staying, has transformed into what one artist called “a summer camp meets a wedding, meets a reality show”. Street artists from around the world blew up air mattresses and slept slumber party style, painting, working, and hanging out into dawn with a collective of volunteers.

 

Eyedrum Hallway (© Jenna Duffy)

Eyedrum Hallway (© Jenna Duffy)

The long white hallway in Eyedrum became the artists’ free-for-all, each given pick and creative freedom to stake claim on any spot not taken. The enormity of Living Walls is evident here; once an eyesore, it is now almost completely covered with pieces large and small. Gaia, Greg Mike, Chris Bakay, Marcos Sueno, Never, Nasdaq, Hugh Leeman and other artists have thrown up murals and wheat pastes. The ultimate goal to cover the hallway is awe-inducing, but when executed the collage of local and international street artists will be an ocular feast.

Gaia in Action (© Jenna Duffy)

Gaia in Action (© Jenna Duffy)

Eyedrum Hallway (© Jenna Duffy)

Eyedrum Hallway (© Jenna Duffy)

A BP Reference (© Jaime Rojo)

Fresh+I+Am takes a smack at environmental polluters at the head of the hallway (© Jenna Duffy)

Gaia (© Jenna Duffy)

Gaia (© Jenna Duffy)

To see more of Jenna Duffy’s work go HERE:

The Living Walls Blog

To learn more about Living Walls go HERE:

 

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Fun Friday the 13th! 08.13.10

Fun-Friday

Fun Friday 08.13.10

Atlanta Goes to HellBent

The long awaited Living Walls event in Atlanta officially begins today, even though 30 street artists have arrived over the last week and begun work in earnest. We’ve been hearing some amazing stories – and of course they’re ALL TRUE. Stay toooooned for special reporting from peeps on the ground and on the walls.  Check out the Hellbent below from somebody’s blurry Iphone.  HELL YEAH! Not a bad pic actually.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Hellbent-Atlanta-Aug10

Excellent article on Monica and Blacky – the two person charming MACHINE behind this event – in one of their local papers.

Artists included in Living Walls:

Swampy
Miso
Chris Stain
The $tatus Faction
Know Hope
Gaia
Faber
Feral Child
The DotMasters
OX
Xomatok
Indigo
Drone
Ever
Nadie
Sakristan
Olivia
Dr. Case
Jerm IX
The Paper Twins
Doodles
Tereza De Quinta
Urka
Loaf
yoyoBruno
Shaun Thurston
Jason Kofke
Flix
Weak Hand
Michi Meko
Clown Soldier
Mad One
Yema
cin4ski
FKDL

EINE: Hoodlum to Heralded

It can be a harrowing and a strange trip that some graff/street artists take, and here’s a new video that gives an intimate inside look at some of Eine’s journey from tagging trains to making what might be described as fine art.  Just last month a piece by the British Street Artist was given to President Obama by the Prime Minister on a visit to Washington. “So it’s been a weird day today,” says a July 20th posting on Ben Eine’s website. “David Cameron has given one of my paintings to President Obama.”

In The Guardian article by Jon Henley, Eine was quoted last month reflecting on the two heads of state, Cameron seems quite a positive kind of guy and Obama’s a dude”. Wonder if it’s in the Oval Office?


Not Safe For Work! Naked White Man Can Jump!

A stop motion video comprised of 2,600 photos of 20 year old Morgan Tespsic doing public performance art that otherwise may be called exhibitionism, if the locations weren’t so bucolic and unpopulated.


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Living Walls The City Speaks Atlanta

Living Walls Atlanta

A GRASS ROOTS COLLOQUIUM

An exhibition and conference focused on street art and its role in engaging public space.

We are bringing in the works of an international selection of artists who typically make use of the streets to showcase their work. We have also sought artists that re-appropriate the public realm, attempting to take charge of their media space.

Artists will be asked, along with submitting artwork, to present some form of documentation of their other works as well as their process in order to illustrate via pictures, video, sketches, words, etc, the scale and context in which the artist typically works in public space.

LW4x6_Front

This is a Detail of Chris Stain Piece in Beacon. He'll be In Atlanta for Living Walls. (© Jaime Rojo)
This is a Detail of Chris Stain Piece in Beacon. He’ll be In Atlanta for Living Walls. (© Jaime Rojo)

LW4x6_Back

Swampy
Miso
Chris Stain
The $tatus Faction
Know Hope
Gaia
Faber
Feral Child
The DotMasters
OX
Xomatok
Indigo
Drone
Ever
Nadie
Sakristan
Olivia
Dr. Case
Jerm IX
The Paper Twins
Doodles
Tereza De Quinta
Urka
Loaf
yoyoBruno
Shaun Thurston
Jason Kofke
Flix
Weak Hand
Michi Meko
Clown Soldier
Mad One
Yema
cin4ski
FKDL

Hellbent Will Also be In Atlanta (© Jaime Rojo)
Hellbent Will Also be In Atlanta (© Jaime Rojo)

http://livingwallsconference.com

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“Doodles” does 1st Wall for “Living Walls” Conference in Atlanta, GA

First Mural for the Living Walls Conference

Oil tragedy continues to seep into street art. Street Artist Doodler completes first piece for Living Walls while contemplating dying ocean.

By Jayne McGinn

After leaving the sight of the first mural for the Living Walls Conference I found bugs pressed in between the pages of my notebook; these bugs came in addition to bugs in my ears, up and down my legs and arms and threatening to fly in my mouth while visiting the wall. The almost 100 foot long and 35 foot tall wall painted by Doodles backs up to a wooded area on the BeltLine lovingly called “the jungle” by the people who assisted him and came to watch as he crawled on top of a three level scaffolding to paint, sometimes sporting a respirator.

This “jungle” is a wooded area with vines dangling from the treetops and creates a nice seclusion from the cold buildings and shopping center that surrounds the wall, making it nearly forgettable that it is yards away from a barbwire fence and the intersection of Ralph David Abernathy and White Street in the West End.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Doodles-Living-Walls-outline

The contradictory locations that sit on either side of the first wall is fitting for a mural which functions with so many ideas that are both in contrast to each other but also in close proximity. Doodles developed his theme over time, letting the idea grow as he worked. The direction of the wall changed while the artist was on a short break from painting. Flooded with constant news of the BP oil spill he decided that it was an issue he wanted to cover in his piece for Living Walls. Doodles abandoned the idea of painting a man shooting an arrow at the moon and developed the idea of a beautiful man with sinister intentions. The man, nicknamed “Poseidon”, wraps around the large warehouse holding a large trident with a snake weaving through the middle spoke, creating the illusion of a money sign. The black trident penetrates the man’s abdomen, which resembles the ocean; in this way, the trident mimics the oil leak.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Doodles-Living-Walls-ArtistThrough out the work folk art style designs are infused with signs that represent the Poseidon figure’s power; Doodles said the single eye represents a God-like power. These signs of power coexist with symbols of the oil spill, like a wail’s tail that resembles an oil well.

Despite the heavy subject mater, there is simplicity to the wall. Not to distract from the message of the oil spill, Doodles left it up to the logos and symbols to speak for the art without distraction of a multitude of colors. In this way, it is the logos and the imagery that stands out in the piece, most importantly the BP flower on the Poseidon figure’s face.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Doodles-Living-Walls-complete

Doodles said that he liked the idea of using the universal language of logos and symbols to convey his message.

Doodles is a 22 year old who smiles often, and has a sweet easygoing nature. Originally from an island off the cost of Washington state. He went to art school for a short time before hoping trains and hitchhiking. He has been working on his art for four years now. Doodles’ piece is on the corner of Ralph David Abernathy and White Street adjacent to BeltLine. The BeltLine is a 22-mile path incorporating railway, trails and paths that once functioned in the mid-twentieth century and has since been reworked to feature public and interactive art.

Doodles work is the first Living Walls mural for the BeltLine Project.

Here’s a Video from Atlanta: Another Street Artist Opinion on BP

And Finally, this New Sticker on the Streets in NYC

Thanks to Justin for sending this in…

Brooklyn-Street-Art-BP-Sticker-JMikal-Davis-June2010

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For more information on the Beltline Project go HERE

To learn about the Living Walls Conference go HERE

To support the Kickstarter Campaign for Living Walls go HERE


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Don’t Miss the BP Logo Competition:

Helping BP Re-Brand: Artists Offer New “Creative”

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