All posts tagged: Montreal

Isaac Cordal: “Ego Monuments” Mock in Montreal Gallery Show

Isaac Cordal: “Ego Monuments” Mock in Montreal Gallery Show

The evolution of an artist’s practice is something we feel very privileged to observe over time and we revel in the successful steps forward that any artist takes, preferring to see it as an act of courage. Street Artist Isaac Cordal is currently taking a big jump forward, consolidating his strengths and doubling down on his convictions in ever more powerful ways for his new exhibition entitled “Ego Monuments”, now showing at Galerie C.O.A. in Montreal, Canada.

Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

His vocabulary intact and increasingly sophisticated, something tells you that it is all synthesizing and gathering with the momentum of a storm. Here he is mocking the clique mentality of the politburo, presenting his company men as a block of distracted dullards, each separately miserable and indistinguishable in their groupthink.

The image of one of his hapless figures as a crucified businessman with slightly ghoulish smirk taps into the themes of self-important sacrifice and holy reverence of so-many corporate heroes, frankly flagellating the idea of either. Elsewhere soaring pedestals lift the individual so high that coming down would likely result in death.

Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

As a disarming collection of installations in the gallery you may revel at the methods Cordal devises to communicate the collective blindness pushing us further toward oblivion, his blunt critique of consumer culture and mindless navel-gazing is a reassuring mediocrity that warms you gradually– as the water rolls toward a boil.

Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

“We are the new version of colonialism,” Cordal says his new press release, “we are waiting for climate change by sunbathing on the beach. We live permanently exposed, controlled, leaning out to the public balcony of the social networks and Big Brother has become our flat-mate.”

As we examine our public statues and the messages of our massive free-standing art in parks, Cordal suggests that size matters in this age of the SELF. “Monuments to the ego would be so big that it was necessary to change the scale of these works to place them into the gallery.”

Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Elsewhere he comments on the sorrowful narcissism that permeates the culture, as expressed by his figures here: “Almost all the sculptures that are part of the exhibition have their eyes closed, immersed in their smartphones or virtual reality headsets. Blind to their own reality, they don’t want to see beyond their own perimeter. ”

Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)
Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” Galerie C.O.A. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Isaac Cordal)

Isaac Cordal, “Ego Monuments” at Galerie C.O.A. in Montreal, Canada is open to the general public until October 12th.

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Spidertag Creates ” Interactive Neon Mural #4″ in Montreal

Spidertag Creates ” Interactive Neon Mural #4″ in Montreal

Spidertag started in the early 2010s as a string artist an we used to bring you his installations in abandoned places in Spain. He then moved to experimentations with neon electric wire in unusual public activations in city margins, a sudden maze of intertwined light strings transforming in three dimensions. Today we see the latest experiments of Spidertag at the commercial/community Mural Festival in downtown Montreal.

Spidertag. Mural Festival. Montreal, Canada. June 2019. (photo © Spidertag)
Spidertag. Mural Festival. Montreal, Canada. June 2019. (photo © Spidertag)
Spidertag. Mural Festival. Montreal, Canada. June 2019. (photo © Spidertag)
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BSA Film Friday: 12.07.18

BSA Film Friday: 12.07.18

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

Now screening :
1. JonOne “Illuminier le Future” in Rabat with Montresso Art Foundation
2. ASU / Contorno Urbano / 12 + 1 Projects
3. COLOUR: Rolland Berry. Film by Aether Films
4. GDS from São Paulo crew Os Cururus in Montreal
5. Leonard Cohen, “You Want It Darker”

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BSA Special Feature: JonOne “Illuminier le Future” in Rabat with Montresso Art Foundation

“I wanted people to feel what I feel: The joy of life,” says JonOne in this self narrated video that keeps the focus on the creative spirit and his new show “Illuminating the Future” in Rabat, Morocco’s capital, which rests along the shores of the Bouregreg River and the Atlantic Ocean. The kinetic action of his strokes and splashes are gestural bolts of energy at the top of this tower to be seen on all sides, an abstract beacon from this New York graffiti writer who metamorphosed into a Parisian fine artist.

ASU / Contorno Urbano / 12 + 1 Projects

“Leave the rationality of your brain and listen to your heart, what you feel, what vibrates,” recommends ASU the muralist painting the Contorno Urbano wall in Barcelona – as we wrote in September. Now comes the newly release video to give more context to his techniques as a calligraffitist.

COLOUR: Rolland Berry. Film by Aether Films

“America is dying because they forgot the instruction of how to live on Earth,” says the wise voice weaving across this minimalist tableau in monochrome and quietly thundering beats. Succinct, brief, hard hitting, well paced and scored – ultimately a missive of power and stark symbology from Aether Films.

GDS from São Paulo crew Os Cururus in Montreal

A uniquely spare documentation of the meditated, deliberate, and dangerous application of straight down pixação, São Paulo style, on the side of this Montreal building. How it is received in this northern part of the the Northern Hemisphere is not told, but as the drone camera rises to catch the cityscape, a mural by Kevin Ledo of Leonard Cohen in his old  neighborhood of Saint-Laurent takes the stage and you may wonder how that man of letters would see these new symbols, now two years after his passing.

“There’s a lover in the story
But the story’s still the same
There’s a lullaby for suffering
And a paradox to blame
But it’s written in the scriptures
And it’s not some idle claim
You want it darker
We kill the flame”

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.07.16

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.07.16

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Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring ABOVE, City Kitty, Corn79, Crisp, D7606, Damien Mitchell, Dee Dee, EC13, Gregos, Hiss, Homo Riot, Imamaker, Invader, Mark Jenkins, MOMO, Olek, OneArt, Savior El Mundo, Stik, Wing, and Zimad.

Our top image: Stik for The L.I.S.A. Project. July 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Olek new installation in Avesta, Sweden. August 2016. (photo © OLEK)

We first called her the Christo of Street Art a number of years ago, and this latest project seems to finally confirm it. Olek created a two part installation for the Verket Museum in Avesta – in short it is about destruction and rebuilding. Above is the latest picture of the house she mounted the installation within – wrapped in meters and meters of pink crochet.

“Our pink house is about the journey, not just about the artwork itself.  It’s about us coming together as a community.  It’s about helping each other.  In the small Swedish community of Avesta we proved that we are stronger together, that we can make anything happen together.  People from all walks of life came together to make this project possible.  Someone donated the house, another one fixed the electricity and Red Heart Yarns donated the materials.  The of course, most importantly, many women joined us in the effort to make my dream a reality.

After I exploded the house I wanted to create a positive ending for them as a symbol of a brighter future for all people, especially the ones who have been displaced against their own wills.  Women have the ability to recreate themselves.  No matter how low life might bring us, we can get back on our feet and start anew.

We can show everybody that women can build houses, women can make homes. “

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Gregos (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Mark Jenkins in Montreal. July 2016. (photo © Andre Pace)

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Mark Jenkins in Montreal. July 2016. (photo © Andre Pace)

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MOMO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Tavar Zawacki AKA ABOVE (Invader on top) for The L.I.S.A. Project in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Corn79 in Mantova, Italy for Without Frontiers. July 2016. (photo © Corny79)

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OneArt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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HISS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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HISS (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Zimad in collaboration with Damien Mitchell. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Wing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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City Kitty in collaboration with D7606. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Homo Riot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Savior El Mundo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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EC13 in Granda, Spain. August 2016. (photo © EC13)

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Unidentified Artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Imamaker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Crisp (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Speaking of the Constitution. Wall Street. NYC. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

 

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A Selection of Murals from “MURAL” in Montreal 2016

A Selection of Murals from “MURAL” in Montreal 2016

Have a look at some of the murals from this months MURAL festival in Montreal, which began in 2013.

There is no discernible theme among the collection here aside from many of them being technically outstanding. MURAL itself has become a very commercial gathering of food and lifestyle vendors, VIP events, a small art fair, hella-brands and djs and, you know, beards.

Klone Yourself and Phillipe Pantone are a couple of the artists pushing boundaries here, with the latter skillfully reproducing a 90’s computer art that is nostalgic and smartly updated in its 3-D rendering.

Our great thanks to photographer Daniel Esteban Rojas who did an outstanding job capturing these to share with BSA readers.

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Meggs for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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D*Face for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Fonki for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Natalia Rak for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Mateo for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Buff Monster for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Jonathan Bergeron for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Jonathan Bergeron for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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HSix for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Five Eight for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Acidum for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Klone Yourself for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Felipe Pantone for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Roadsworth for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Roadsworth for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Miss Teri for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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XRay for Mural Festival 2016. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

 

With our out most gratitude to Daniel Esteban Rojas for his exclusive documentation of the completed murals in Montreal.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 12.13.15

BSA Images Of The Week: 12.13.15

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As the snow birds flew back to NYC this week from their Miami art debauchery with dark circles under their eyes and paint under their nails we tossed them right back in the roiling red & white mash of SantaCon in the streets, 2 more politicians going to jail, and the alleged hunk-hiring Bronx priest resigning from his parish. You can really feel the spirit of Christmas and Hannukah all around.

BSA was proud to co-sponsor the talk with DAZE, LEE Quinones, and Jane Dickson for the special reception at DAZE’s “The City is My Muse” show currently on exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, hosted by Sean Corcoran. The three are vital to the historical thread that reaches back to NY’s earliest graff days and it was evident from seeing their newest works as they each presented them on screen that they refuse to be nostalgic about the city – but prefer to be on top of it. Case in point was Lee’s opening the following night that showcased his new mural on the ceiling at the Indigo Hotel – his Sistine Chapel if you will.

P.S. We’ll be at MCNY with DAZE March 2 – mark your calendar.

Invader finished his 42 piece wave of tile installations in New York, according to reports, Banksy struck out with political pieces addressing immigration and xenophobia (videos at end of this posting), and Gilf! wrapped the façade of a Williamsburg bar with “gentrification in progress” tape to mark its death by market forces. As artists continue to grapple with socio/political events, the art of the street keeps mutating forward.

Side note: “Images of the Week” takes a hiatus for the next few weeks thanks to special Holiday programming. It returns in 2016.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Banksy, Bunny M, City Kitty, Cost, Daze, Dee Dee, Gilf!, Invader, Jaye Moon, Jordan Seiler, KET, Labrona, Lee Quinones, Lex56, Mint&Serf, Never, Pet Bird, Read, Sipros, Specter, Wing, and WK Interact.

Top Image: Sipros and a father of surrealism for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Specter in Paris. (photo © Specter)

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Specter in Paris. (photo © Specter)

Specter was in France last month with FKDL and Upian, among others. Here are some examples of paintings and ad takeovers in Paris as well as an abandoned factory called La Rodia in Besancon. The Brooklyn based artist tells us that “It was a trying time to be there but supporting my friends and creating some colorful distractions was more important.”

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Specter in Besancon. (photo © Specter)

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Read More (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Invader (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Inva…sions are Cost…ly (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Lex56. Noted. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Jordan Seiler (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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WK Interact (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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For Dotty & Pearl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Wing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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The company you keep… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Labrona and Ket in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona and Ket in Montreal. Detail. (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona in Montreal. (photo © Labrona)

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Mint & Serf (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Detail of Lee Quinones’ inventive ode to New York at a newly opened hotel in the LES. The artist, who grew up in the hood was commissioned to paint on the ceiling of the hotel’s reception room a map of the neighborhood to which he attached painted “poloroid” portraits (sourced from previously existing photographs) who lived and played on those streets “Between Two Bridges”. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Daze standing in front of a portrait of him taken decades ago. This piece is currently being exhibited at Chris “Daze” Ellis: The City is My Muse at the Museum Of The City of New York. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Tom Warren with Christopher “Daze” Ellis
Portrait of Daze with Tags, 1983, Acrylic on Gelatin silver print

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Jaye Moon has a sense of “awe” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Never created this memorial to Peter Caroll AKA Pet Bird, who passed away suddenly in September. We love you Peter…and you too Never. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Untitled. Balloons. Manhattan, NYC. November 2015. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

From The Guardian:
“Street artist Banksy has painted a depiction of Apple founder Steve Jobs on a wall in a migrant and refugee camp in France known as the Calais ‘Jungle’. The artist, who has never revealed his identity, released a rare public statement challenging the perception that migrants and refugees from Syria are a drain on Western economies, UK media reported”

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Labrona and Troy Lovegates Holding Up the Toronto Overpass

Labrona and Troy Lovegates Holding Up the Toronto Overpass

You ever wonder what’s going on under the overpass? People are holding it up, brother. That’s called people-powered infrastructure.

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

“I did the bottoms and painted on all four sides,” says Labrona of the pillars full of people who are holding the structure up with their arms extended overhead. It’s a huge project he and Troy Lovegates (aka Other). spearheaded in Toronto this summer with 20+ artists with a fusion of funding from the city.

His figures may bring to mind the Greco-Roman’s of pillars in your past, but these figures are decidedly warm and decidedly Labrona. Other’s figures are more accurately described as flying overhead of Labrona’s a swarming mass of figures interlocked and bending as if swept along by a river or hurricane. If water ever actually rose to that level most like Torotonians would be comported similarly.

Also in this collection of Summer ’15 works are images of collaborations Labrona did with Gawd at the Upfest in Sudbury, Ontario.

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

 

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona . Other. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Labrona)

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Labrona . Gawd. Sudbury, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Montreal)

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Labrona . Gawd. Toronto, Ontario. 2015 (photo © Montreal)

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BSA’s Piece on “Submerged Motherlands” Acclaimed for Year

BSA’s Piece on “Submerged Motherlands” Acclaimed for Year

BSA with Swoon at Brooklyn Museum Sited by Huff Post Editors as Proud Moment of 2014

We’re very pleased and thankful to be included in this short list chosen by the editors of Huffington Post Arts & Culture as a story they are most proud of publishing last year.

In her introduction to the list, editor Katherine Brooks writes:

“It turns out, 365 days is hard to summarize in anything but a laundry list of seemingly disparate phenomena, filled with the good — woman-centric street art, rising Detroit art scenes, spotlights on unseen American art– and the bad less than good — holiday butt plugs, punching bags by Monet, Koonsmania. But, as a New Year dawns, we found ourselves just wanting to focus on the things that made us beam with pride in 2014. So we made a list of those things, a list of the pieces we’re proud of.”

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Describing why we thought this was an important story for us we wrote:

“We loved a lot of stories this year, but this hometown Brooklyn one about a street artist with humanity mounting her first solo major museum exhibition was a special turning point — and an astounding success. For us street art is a conversation, a continuum of expression, and Swoon is always a part of it. From following her street career to her transition to international fame to witnessing this exhibition coming to fruition in person in the months leading up to the Brooklyn Museum show, it is easy to understand why Swoon still remains a crucial part of the amazing street art scene and continues to set a standard.”

-Jaime Rojo & Steven Harrington, HuffPost Arts&Culture bloggers and co-founders of Brooklyn Street Art

In fact, we wrote 48 articles that were published on the Huffington Post in 2014, and as a collection we hope they further elucidate the vast and meaningful impact that the Street Art / graffiti / urban art movement continues to have on our culture, our public space, and our arts institutions.

Together that collection of articles published by BSA on Huffpost in ’14 spanned the globe including stories from Malaysia, Poland, Spain, France, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, New York, Arizona, The Navajo Nation, Philadelphia, Sweden, Istanbul, New Jersey, Lisbon, The Gambia, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Rome, India, Italy, Delhi (India), Montreal, San Francisco, London, Coachella, Chicago, Kabul (Afghanistan), and Kiev (Ukraine).

Here on BSA we published another 320 postings (more or less).

We thank you for allowing us to share these inspirational and educational stories with you and we are honored to be able to continue the conversation with artists, art fans, collectors, curators, academics, gallerists, museums, and arts institutions. Our passion for Street Art and related movements is only superceded by our love for the creative spirit, and we are happy whenever we encounter it.

Our published articles on HuffPost in 2014, beginning with the most recent:

 

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“Decolonizing Street Art” Gives Voice to More than the Usual

“Decolonizing Street Art” Gives Voice to More than the Usual

Politically themed Street Art or murals have a long tradition – as long as people have had something to advocate for or against. The modern Street Art movement may trace its roots to political postering that came with the printing press or 20th century Mexican muralism or the 1968 student demonstrations around the world, especially in Paris – but artists have used and been used to communicate ideas and opinions in the public sphere much longer than this.

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Decolonize History.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Zola)

Today, whether it is the Arab Spring or the Occupy movement or simply a personal campaign to combat harassment by cat-callers or the economic violence of local gentrification, politically charged speech of one sort or another takes place on the street when artists give it voice.

“Decolonizing Street Art”, a festival an project that took place in August in Canada, convened with the idea that carrying issues directly to the public can affect opinions and possibly produce positive change for people whom the organizers would like to give voice to.

Since the high profile and increasingly moneyed version of the current Street Art festival scene is populated worldwide primarily by men with characteristics of the dominant culture, the organizers and participants of “Decolonizing Street Art” may also be commenting on that backdrop as well. Whatever the motivation, these are voices that not many hear or see.

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Decolonize History.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ ThiênViệt)

Hosted in and programmed “on unceded territory, in so-called Montreal”, this handful of artists speak of the indigenous people of the planet and the history of colonialism, the Arab/Israeli conflict, the poisoning of the environment and its effect on humans and animals, and the rights of many marginalized categories of people.

With a concentrated effort this first entry into a still-forming circuit of Street Art festivals and programs worldwide, Decolonizing Street Art makes a formal statement about making space for more radical views comparatively than one typically sees. Whether it is native communities or disenfranchised poor or disappeared women, this effort aims to bring more voices to the street to speak their truth.

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Zola.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Zola)

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LMNOPI.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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LMNOPI.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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LMNOPI.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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LMNOPI . Red Bandit . Swarm.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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Red Bandit.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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Swarm. Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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Swarm. Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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Pyramid Oracle. Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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Jessica Sabogal.  Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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David Rotten. Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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Chris Bose. Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Võ Thiên Việt)

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Chris Bose. Decolonizing Street Art festival. Montreal, Canada. August 2014. (photo © Zola)

To learn more about Decolonizing Street Art click HERE.

See videos from five of the participating artists on BSA Film Friday 10.10.14.

 

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“MURAL” Roundup, Montreal Arts Festival Keeps The Quality for Year 2

“MURAL” Roundup, Montreal Arts Festival Keeps The Quality for Year 2

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Montreal has shown up again on our radar this summer because of the second annual MURAL festival, a large gathering of art fans, performances and live painting. The quality of the work is high and appropriately placed center stage, and the caliber of the event draws a good cross section of modern public art fans who are there to see the art and meet the artists rather than rush past it on the way to the next music performance, beer tent, or drug deal.

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Kashink. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

A majority of the 20+ artists made their mark initially by doing graffiti/street art, about a third of them are Canadian, and all of them were stunted by heavy rains the first two days of the four-day event. By the weekend the sun had cleared the way for block parties, DJs, live painting, tours, and commercial vending along the Saint-Laurent and the golden age of murals was in full effect once again.

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Bryan Beyung. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

Impossible to place into one stylistic category, many of the massive pieces this year are singular portraits, or at least figurative, appealing on the whole, and with a handful of abstract and surreal tableaus. Transgressive themes, as in many street festivals around the world, are almost disappeared or nearly imperceptible — an irony of sorts considering the rebellious street culture that many of these artists evolved from. Ultimately, it is the quality of the endowment that gives it staying power and many of these new pieces will endure into the future in Montreal.

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Seth. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

Artists for the MURAL festival include:

123 Klan, Bezt from the Etam Cru, Zilon, Alex Scaner, Inti, Vilx, Cyrcle, Zema, Alex Diaz, Seth, Fred Caron, 2501, Zoltan, Kashink, Kevin Ledo, Bryan Beyung, Miss Me, Stikki Peaches, Mathieu Connery, Alex Produkt, and Le Diamantaire.

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Rone. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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RR & DB. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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INTI. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Cyrcle. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Zoltan. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

 

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Bizt/Etam Cru. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Vilx. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Fred Caron. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Zilon. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Zema. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Kevin Ledo. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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2501. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

 

MURAL Montreal Festival: Day 1 and 2

Mural Montreal Festival: Day 3

 

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Mural Montreal Festival: Day 4

Mural Montreal Festival: Day 4

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Our final posting from Montreal’s MURAL festival gives you a sense of the the size, variety, and quality of the expanse of works on display over four days. With any luck, most of these will be up much longer.

If you are ever planning one of these ginormous parties of painting here’s a little advice: don’t plan to shoot photos of all of them during the actual festival because little things like rainstorms, supply shortages, surprising technical challenges, and artists fatigue will undoubtedly slow the progress.

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Kevin Ledo. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

Also raging parties and sudden love interests pull many a wayward heart away from the work to be done, and sometimes a parade of looky-loo new fans will ask 1,001 questions while craning their eyes up to you on the scissor lift. One or more of these eventualities always happens, nothing to be done about it.

“Some walls aren’t finished so I’ll try and get them tomorrow,” says photographer Daniel Esteban Rojas, who has been sharing these great images with BSA readers. Don’t sweat it Daniel, we understand, and these images are worth the wait!

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Kevin Ledo’s mural reflection on sunglasses. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Zema. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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2501. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Alex Scaner. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Opire. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Cyrcle. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Inti. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Alexis Diaz. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Zoitan. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Kashink. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Wzrds. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

 

MURAL Montreal Festival: Day 1 and 2

Mural Montreal Festival: Day 3

 

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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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Mural Montreal Festival: Day 3

Mural Montreal Festival: Day 3

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Montreals’ MURAL festival wound up with a great weekend of public murals, music, food, and culture after a slow start this year. Over the next couple of days we will bring you exclusive images of the murals completed in this well organized and executed showcase for outside are. Here are some detail shots, progress shots and action shots specially made for BSA readers.

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Rone. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Fred Caron. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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RR & DB. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Bizt/Etam Cru. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Vilx. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Cyrcle. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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2501. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Alex Scanner. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Seth. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Miss Me. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Matheiu Connery. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Laurence Valliers. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

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Kashink. Mural Festival 2014. Montreal, Canada. (photo © Daniel Esteban Rojas)

MURAL Montreal Festival: Day 1 and 2

 

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