Happy blizzard weekend New York! Who knew it would be so much fun to run free literally in the streets thanks to a travel ban on all non-emergency cars. It’s a bit of genius really, because if you DO get hit by a car, its probably an ambulance.
Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Anser, AX, Blek le Rat, BK Foxx, Cern, Domenico Romeo, Horace Panter, Key Detail, LMNOPI, Marthalicia, READ, Sean9Lugo, Solo Selci, This Is Awkward, and WERC.
1. Freedia Video Exhortation
2. Guy Denning at Brooklynite Gallery Pop Up
3. LUDO in a Solo Show tonight “Metamorphosis” at High Roller Society (London)
4. YOUNITY is YOU! See the Goddesses Saturday in Yonkers (NYC)
5. Pandemic Says Goodbye to Summer with “Heat Beaten” Group Show
6. Australian Street Artists in San Francisco’s 941 Geary
7. “His Wife & Her Lover” at Primary Projects (Miami)
Okay everybody GET UP! Before we get cookin’ on too many projects today let’s everybody get up and do a dance to Friday and to life and the creative spirit that’s running through every person right now! This ain’t no rehearsal peepul. Miss Freedia gonna show us how to work it.
Guy Denning at Brooklynite Gallery Pop Up
Opening last night in a smoke filled ripped up storefront below Canal and above City Hall was this shrine filled show of meditations on 9/11, and the places we go amidst the memories and the rubble. Rae from Brooklynite spoke about the balance you try to strike when presenting a show like this, and they have probably hit it. Mixing headlines, languages, and the metaphor of purgatory with the anguish, longing, celebration and poetry that somehow coexist, Denning does a tender justice to us all.
For more information regarding this show click on the link below:
YOUNITY is YOU! See the Goddesses Saturday in Yonkers (NYC)
The YOUNITY Art Collective group show “Goddess Hood” opens on Saturday at the Yonkers Public Libray and boasts a really impressive line up of contemporary female artists working today in NYC. Some say that the female energy is what is going to lead us through the times ahead, and if so, these artists with rock solid connection to the street have lanterns in hand: Lichiban, Swoon, Sofia Maldonado, Krista Franklin, Marthalicia, Diana McClure, Faith 47, lmnop, Lady Alezia, and Alice Mizrachi
Australian Street Artists in San Francisco’s 941 Geary
In San Francisco the Australians have staged an ART invasion both on the streets and with a show at the 941 Geary Gallery. If you were wondering why the Australians are at the forefront of Street Art please turn your electronic gadgets off and get up and go see some hot art with: Anthony Lister, Kid Zoom, Dabs & Myla, DMote, New2, Ben Frost, Meggs, Ha Ha, Reka, Rone, Sofles and Vexta.
“His Wife & Her Lover” at Primary Projects (Miami)
In Miami things get heated at Primary Projects group show : “His Wife & Her Lover”. To find what happens to either the wife, the lover or the husband put your high heeled boots on, comb your hair, spray some cologne on and wish for the best.
Female Urban Art Collective YOUNITY Presents Exhibition Exploring the Themes
Mother Earth, The Hood, and Sustainable Agriculture in conjunction with
The Yonkers Riverfront Public Library and Sarah Lawrence College
All female urban art collective, YOUNITY, presents GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel, an art exhibition that will feature 10 artists in conversation with the themes mother earth, the hood and sustainable farming. Opening on Saturday, September 10, from 2pm – 5pm at the Yonkers Riverfront Public Library, during the annual Yonkers Riverfest event, the project utilizes urban art as a platform for visual discourse on sustainable agriculture, food systems, food justice, and mother earth, and closes on Sunday, December 4th, 2011. Additional programming in the City of Yonkers and at Sarah Lawrence College will take place throughout fall 2011, including youth workshops and a panel discussion.
All of the artists in the exhibition, Lichiban, Swoon, Sofia Maldonado, Krista Franklin, Marthalicia, Diana McClure, Faith 47, lmnop, Lady Alezia, and Alice Mizrachi, engage with the theme mother earth or nature, and related concepts, both directly and indirectly in their individual artistic practices. In the context of this exhibition the artists were asked to utilize the idea of the hood as a metaphor for not only local neighborhoods and urban culture, but also land, nature and the natural environment at large. And, finally, the genesis and inspiration for the exhibition stems from the curators’ discovery of La Via Campesina (The International Peasant Movement) and an intense global movement for land and agricultural rights taking place below the radar.
In the YOUNITY tradition, GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel will include painting, murals, photography, and stencils, as well as video and sculptural objects. The exhibition picks up where YOUNITY’s last exhibition FRESHER!, which addressed consumerism, environmentalism, health, and renewable energy, left off in the fall of 2009. Co-curator Diana McClure says, “With the GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel exhibition we wanted to use the YOUNITY platform as a tool for social change and disseminator of information by bringing visibility to a battle being fought by peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world.A battle that seems to get lost in mainstream media’s disregard for the economic politics of green living.” With the success of YOUNITY’s premiere exhibit in 2007, The C R O S S O V E R, the second annual Heart and Soul show and book publication in 2008, and FRESHER! in 2009, YOUNITY has become one of the most sought after all-female collectives to date. Co-curator and YOUNITY co-founder Alice Mizrachi says, “After 3 years of annual exhibitions, wall productions, youth workshops, etc. The core YOUNITY production team decided to take a year off in 2010 to explore new ideas and individual creative pursuits.During that time we’ve all developed and hope to use our growing cultural capital to continue to support female urban artists and address social issues as individuals and a collective.”
For more information on public programming in conjunction with the GODDESShood: Our land is our jewel exhibition, including youth workshops led by Co-Curator/Arts Educator Alice Mizrachi for Yonkers youth, and a panel discussion moderated by Co-Curator Diana McClure at Sarah Lawrence College, visit www.theyounity.com.
About YOUNITY: artists Alice Mizrachi and TOOFLY founded YOUNITY in New York City in 2007.After spending many years involved in the art world, it became evident that urban contemporary women artists did not have a properly organized forum through which to disseminate ideas and showcase work to their contemporaries and the public at large.The confines of galleries were too rigid and staid and the ‘white cube’ did not lend much room for personal expression and individual style.So, Alice and TOOFLY decided to: 1) create a place where females could tell their stories in more universal, down-to-earth voices; 2) build a stable community in which they could teach the next generation of women the process of curating exhibitions and successfully spreading artistic ideas; and, 3) allow members to explore their own flavor while retaining their identity within the context of a collective body. YOUNITY is also committed to the documentation and archiving of itself as a community of unique, autonomous participants through exhibitions, new media and publishing.
They say that people shouldn’t put up walls. We disagree.
Lab 24/7, Coup D’etat BK and Street Level Initiative Present…
POPUP STUDIO: THE DAWN OF CELLOGRAFF
Witness the latest innovation in graff, popup events and all things DIY as four artists paint live on temporary shrinkwrapped, cellophane walls. CelloGraff’s a game changer, providing endless possibilities for expression as new walls can be thrown up, on a whim, almost anywhere. But if you don’t give a shit about the art, there’ll be potent bevvies, two of our favorite DJ’s, and some of the bestest people in Brooklyn.
– Artists: SEEONE, RIMX, MARTHALICIA & GIA GUTIERRREZ
– Vibes By: DJ P.U.D.G.E and Daniela
– $3/$4 Drinks
– Come early for lite grub
ABOUT CELLOGRAFF
Cellograff challenges the notion that graff needs an existing wall to paint on, and chooses instead to put up their own walls, using industrial shrinkwrap. Check out videos of the original CelloGraff crew here: http://www.cellograff.com/home.html
The pressure of “live” performance sometimes can stress a girl out (Marthalicia and helper) (photo Anthony J. Causi)
What makes you “street”? What makes you “hard”?
A lot of street art and graff culture glorifies a kind of toughness that is born of the streets; Yeah Brooklyn We Go Hard! That’s right, we’re down with that. From Rock to Rap to Tech to Funk to hoods to spikes to cans to fire-tags, the right to be rebellious and wreck sh*t feels like a birthright in Brooklyn.
We’re also down with giving back, giving support, sharing your talent. We met a cool street artist/artist named Marthalicia Matarrita recently and she reminded us that these gifts can be shared in a positive way too. She’s a street artist, a graff artist, a fine artist. From her blog you’ll find out she is also “mother, sister, daughter, entrepreneur, community advocate, and former National Guard”. She grew up in Harlem and went to La Guardia High School of Music and Arts in lower Manhattan.
She also spent time homeless and living in shelters. Okay, how “street” do you want it?
These days Marthalicia is doing a lot of live painting with Art Battles, a New York based creation of artist/event thrower/entrepreneur Sean Bono, who produces live art events and competitions to expose emerging artists to the masses. Marthalicia is also performing live art painting tonight in Brooklyn – at Cafe Europa as a celebration of independent women, something she teaches you about in the most gentle way.
Brooklyn Street Art:What kind of art you do?
Marthalicia Matarrita:I paint on canvas with acrylics. I unify the concept of traditional figurative subject matter and those of the comic book/urban graff illustrations (graffiti) to create a conversation about contemporary issues that affect all of us; environmentalism, homelessness, the military, etc.
Brooklyn Street Art: Have you done work on the street? Marthalicia Matarrita: I used to create images on the street on the Upper West Side and I have a piece currently that I did this spring on the rooftop for a fundraiser at The New School of Design in the Lower East Side. It was such a thrill to know that I was part of something so cool and now I’m a “Rooftop Legend”. So many great artists had the opportunity to BLESS those walls with so much creativity and it humbled me to look at their art.
Marthalicia’s piece on the roof of The New School of Design at Parsons (photo courtesy the artist)
Brooklyn Street Art:What has it been like working the Art Battles events and doing live painting with them?
Marthalicia Matarrita: I have been painting live since the spring of 2006. And since then my art has developed well into the theme of live audience and painting in an allotted time. I have been painting at different art functions, shows and events all over New York City and its’ 5 boroughs.
Since early 2008 I have been invited to participate with Art Battles at many art programs. It’s been an incredible experience working with Art Battles and its team. and what I have learned about painting “live” is that time and environment (the audience and music) has made me a more concentrated artist and more focused as an artist. Art Battles also recognizes the struggles of the artist and reimburses and also purchased materials.
See Marthalicia in this Art Battles video from this spring (click the little PLAY button in the lower left of navigation bar):
Brooklyn Street Art: “Do you think you have to be “hard” to be “street”?
Marthalicia Matarrita: The street conditions you, even if you do have a soft heart or one hard like a stone.
Brooklyn Street Art:Some street artists feel like they have to destroy to get respect or credibility. Marthalicia Matarrita: Some people say that “most street artist have no siblings so they feel like they need to break stuff to get attention”. Others don’t have the means of an art education such as studio art. Street artists feel the need to express art just as strongly as a studio artist, but they do it without an easel and canvas. For them it’s much better to create images of thought or reflections of life in a cheaper way with cans and use THE WALLS as a canvas.
“I unify the concept of traditional figurative subject matter and those of the comic book/urban graff illustrations (graffiti) to create a conversation about contemporary issues that effect all of us; environmentalism, homelessness, the military, etc.” Atomic, by Marthalicia (image courtesy the artist)
Brooklyn Street Art:Can you speak about the July 10th event and what it means to you. Marthalicia Matarrita:The whole event is a fundraiser and the proceeds go to help a young child named Chanty, who lives in Cambodia. Felecia Cruz is the organizer of the program at her bar, Club Europa. I was called one day by Felecia to ask me to participate in her upcoming show July 10th as a live painter. She described this little girl Chanty, who she met in Cambodia during a recent trip, and she explained how she was determined to help her and her family to send Chanty to school to improve her future. That touched me to know that a stranger from another country was willing to invest her time and energy to genuinely help a young child in great need of education. It convinced me to join in her program and her mission because I wanted to be a part of something good, something that in the end would show a child hope and help her progress. I was given a similar opportunity when I was a young teenager, and I know how important it was to me.
Proceeds from tonight’s benefit will go to Chanty, who appears in the video below :
Brooklyn Street Art: This show is more than just about Chanty, it is about Women’s empowerment. Can you talk about the importance of having strong women today?
Marthalicia Matarrita: As you see, without strong women, you have disrespectful children, who walk around with their pants half off their ass and girls that think more about sex and sneakers then their future. In history woman struggled to have their voices heard.
It’s very important to have events like these to display not only that we are capable of making great achievements as our male counterparts, but also as individuals.
“Frida of Brooklyn” Marthalicia shot by Alex Bershaw (courtesy the artist)
Brooklyn Street Art: The Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo, used her personal experiences, including some that were very painful, in her work. Has she affected you as an artist, and how?
Marthalicia Matarrita: Tremendously. I learned painting with oils and acrylic in high school. Most of my paintings were self-portraits. College was the time where I was exposed to her and her works and how amazed I was when I learned about her history. I felt somewhat connected to her because of her personal struggles; I too had some of my very own. The more I learned from her the more I saw my art footsteps evolving, not to copy her style or her intensions but her communication of her life with her art. I do the same with my art.
My life wasn’t a great one. I struggled here and there with poverty, being in the shelter, both parents were alcoholics, and my mom suffered a lot and she became schizophrenic.
My art saved me from dwelling on the negative activities in my environment.
Frida learned in her art to communicate her personal life story with Diego (Rivera) and about WAR. I painted with political themes when I was in the Army National Guard. I was called twice to Iraq and I painted how I felt about being toyed around with…fighting a cause that’s not our own.
Frida showed me that whatever kind of personality you have, art is a tool to show others how similar we all are and how we can help and teach one another.
That’s one of the things I wanted to do with my art in the long run.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
