All posts tagged: News

Freewill Gallery in New Yorks Military Bunker on the Beach

October 22, 2014 Artists

Exploring Fort Tilden

National monuments are typically solemn places for reflection and remembrance. In the case of many decommissioned military installations across the world, the hidden parts of forts and bunkers are also serpentine galleries of freewill art shows. You may call it graffiti or you may call it a colossal explosion of creativity and unscripted free speech, but in all likelihood you will be moved by the clandestine display it in one way or another.

The entrance… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The site of New York’s abandoned WWI era military base (and site of the first Trans-Atlantic flight departure), Fort Tilden, also conveniently is a beach for many of its creative types and related mis-matched fun loving miscreants. While there are snide asides about this being a hipster spot, it is much more than a place for one-dimensional posers – if only because it is sort of hard to get to.

But it is also a little utopia for the grimy self-powered soot-covered bicycling city-set who gravitate to the margins and outskirts for a day at the beach; There are art shows and ad hoc performances, long days of reading and snacking, splashing, Backgammon, and nudity. Sometimes all at once.

Additionally the entire site can be a hidden, yet open, art gallery.

Artist Unknown. Also, Mika loves Mea. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Perched atop the bunker you can have a 360 degree view of the ocean and most of New York City, including the cluster of skyscrapers in yonder Manhattan. Inside it’s labyrinthine spaces below with a flashlight you will discover a 360 degree view of most all of the graffiti and Street Art techniques that are freely experimented with in these mid twenty teens.

On a recent overcast/sunny day at the end of the summer season we took a tour of the darkened spaces that are open to the public to find what kind of art gallery is on display and to discover hidden gems, furtive artists, discarded liquor bottles and the occasional condom. Are these the aesthetic meanderings of mad minds, the seeds of tomorrow’s art stars, or simply the unfiltered mark-making of youth on a summer day’s spraycation?

Cake (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DAN (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NAD (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elvis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A monument to Walt Whitman by artist Patty Smith is one of many placed here during this summers “Rockaway!” art show here, organized by PS1’s Klaus Biesenbach. Whitman’s masterpiece “Leaves Of Grass” begins with the words carved on the stone above. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“I Celebrate Myself. And what I assume you shall assume. For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you”

~ Walt Whitman. July 4th 1855

KUMA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You Go Girl . Mistakoy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

You Go Girl (photo © Jaime Rojo)

$howta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Newserf. Collab between News & Serf. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Never (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“United States of pills and corn syrup”, says ARC as he washes down an Oxycontin with Coke. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Armer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The New York Skyline from the top of the bunkers. (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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This article is also published on The Huffington Post.

Mexican Street Artists Bring Kids Up the Ladder

May 18, 2013 Artists

Street Art as an Educational Instrument for Community

This spring a handful of some of Mexico’s top Street Art talent gave local youth a chance to envision themselves as artists. SEGO, SIAMÉS, 704, MINOS and NEWS gave their time and talent to conduct workshops and show how to create paintings and wall murals for roughly 300 kids who took part in the project headed by Roberto Shimizu K of the Antique Toy Museum Mexico (MUJAM).

Minos work in progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

“The main purpose of this community work is to encourage young talent and to give them tools for success,” says Shimizu of the joint program with Oroboro and Fundación Isitia, a foundation that works with families in need and youth at risk. “Hopefully we can nurture and inspire them to see different possibilities to being successful in their lives,” he says, “When they get to work with other talented Mexican artists they can envision their own path to the future as something positive.”

Minos work in progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

The Mitikah project included five big walls and a lot of paint and preparation. By working alongside the artists the kids began to understand some of the challenges and difficulties that an artist faces, as well as what it takes to have commitment to a project. In the daily exchanges and sharing of responsibilities and learning the craft, Shimizu says they hope to engender a proactive and positive mentality for participants to take to their families and the greater community.

BSA is very happy to be able to share these images of the project with our readers.

Minos. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

Siamés. Work in Progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

Siamés at work. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

Siamés. Work in progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

Siamés. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

Sego. Work in progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

News. Work in progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

News. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

704. Work in progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

704. Detail. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

704. Work in progress. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

704. Mitikah Project with The Museum of Antique Toy of Mexico City (MUJAM). Mexico City. (photo © MUJAM)

A Roof With a View : Looking at Art Up Above

July 25, 2012 Artists, On the Street

Climbing up on a roof during the sultry city summer can be liberating, and it turns out to be a prime place for painting too. Away from the cacophony of the sweaty streets, the breeze up here is a little cooler and stronger and aside from the occasional potted tomato plant or sun-tanning waitress, you are on your own. You may not own any personal real estate, but right now this is all yours, this sweeping urban vista of grand, glassy, grimy, gawdy, and gutted.

For years graffiti writers and Street Artists have sought these undiscovered spots as a kind of refuge, an urban backyard for hanging out and going big, often collaboratively. You could say that rooftop spots even have a certain lore, a place to tell stories about and revel in. In a hard-knock nasty city that sometimes seems to swallow people whole, on this rooftop with a view you can do a huge piece and feel like you are holding it all down. Not to mention the bragging rights you can claim for hitting a high profile location that grabs eyeballs and raises the stakes. As for the city dweller, the work, as ever, is subjectively reviled, ignored, or celebrated. No one can truthfully deny its affect on the character of the cityscape.

Here are some choice roof shots by photographer Jaime Rojo across New York, LA, Chicago, and Boston to give you a birds eye view of some art from on high.

Rime, Dceve, and Toper in Chinatown, Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA on the water tower and Chris Stain and Billy Mode on the wall. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

News in DUMBO, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR in Hunts Point, The Bronx as part of Inside Out – A Global Art Project. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bare, Hert, Gable, Deth Kult, TVEE in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rodeo, ILS, Bare, Hert, Gable, Deth Kult, TVEE in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Anti-Putin Street Art in Moscow

April 14, 2012 Artists

Norman Hermant, reporter for Australian news program Lateline did a story airing a couple of days ago profiling a new interest in Street Art in Moscow. According to the story the uptick in interest is spurred by the dissatisfaction many have with Russia’s political leadership and a general increased interest worldwide in Street Art. “Fans of the medium say the reason for its popularity is simple – street art can speak directly to the people,” reports Hermant.

Also fun to note: Despite decades of global graffiti culture, skater culture, hip hop culture, punk and anarchist subculture, political postering, and people’s movements to change predominant political paradigms through art, the newsreader here introducing the story attributes the Russian youth’s interest in Street Art to Banksy.

Still from video of news report on “Lateline” copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

A detail from a piece by Russian Street Artist Pavel 183 in this still from video of news report on “Lateline” copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Very possibly his name is inspired by Taki 183.

Still from video of news report on “Lateline” copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

See the full report “Russian Protesters Turn to Street Art” HERE

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