All posts tagged: NYC

Crest Arts Presents: Crest Fest 2013 (Brooklyn, NYC)

June 5, 2013 , ,


Join us Saturday, June 8th for a day of art, music, food, drinks, dancing, vendor market, free kids crafts and face painting and much much more!

Enter at 558 Metropolitan Ave. or 536 Metropolitan Ave. Williamsburg, Brooklyn 11211

Live Music Performances by
Pitchblak Brass Band
Aabaraki
Cold Fronts
Osekre & The Lucky Bastards
See Through

With DJs
Petey Complex, Krunk Poney, Rok One, Mama Dom, Lucas Walters, Peter Hale, Gerald Hammill & Chuck Buckett.

 

https://www.facebook.com/events/587503974603795/

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QRST on the Streets; Flotsam, Jetsam, and the Goat Man Cometh

June 5, 2013

Street Artist QRST is back on Brooklyn streets with more modernly magnetic and captivatingly surreal work than before, and just as mired in the muck of human dynamics as ever. 

Emblematic of the new street art storytelling practice we have been highlighting for a few years now, these uniquely old-fangled pieces are one-off bits of mastery that can take days, sometimes weeks, to sketch, draw, and paint before they are wheat-pasted onto street walls for a certainly uncertain future. In fact, when reached for comment on these new street pieces, the artist tells us that we missed one entirely because it was torn down the very night that it went up. Thankfully, the artist could provide a couple of studio images of the short-fated painting.

Aside from compelling imagery, saturated hues and a greater modeling of dimension, texture, and material in the new work, the near crushing weight of these paper-thin pieces comes from the personal stories that motivate them. Unsurprisingly, much of the work of an artist is autobiographical – in fact one could argue that all art is, whether it is fiction writing, stand up comedy, painting, or architecture.

QRST “Flotsam and Jetsam A” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We spoke with QRST about the works and find that some of the personalities and issues he is addressing are so contemporary and specific that they amount to a call-out of a few people publicly. While the artist can be sharply descriptive of the individuals and relationships at play at the center of these stories, he’s trying to take a more universalist approach to the themes, for now.  And you wouldn’t want to pry, would you?

“I wasn’t really planning on divulging exactly why they are what they are, as the ideas in the paintings aren’t really flattering,” says the artist, as he recounts relationships falling apart, friendships going up in smoke, and people “standing in piles of wreckage, surrounded by and covered in symbols for the less laudable traits that people tend to present in these sorts of situations.”

QRST “Flotsam and Jetsam A”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As diplomatic as he aims for in his recounting of their creation, these symbols wield their own power, and his work continues to reference the historical, modern, and personal interpretation of their meanings for his integrative interactions of peculiarity.  “The crocodiles are there for their tears,” he explains as the litany begins it’s roll, “They’re also monsters climbing through wreckage – they live in the murk and strike when you aren’t ready,” he continues, “they’re cold blooded and concerned only with their own affairs (which seem to be eating and lurking in the mire).”

QRST “Flotsam and Jetsam A”. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

As he describes the work you can feel the turbulent emotions washing over the newly dried paintings, now carefully cut out and wheat-pasted on public walls for the average passerby to gaze upon. “Similarly the praying mantis is a dangerous eating machine that even kills and eats its mate.  Both are cold, unfeeling, and impossible to reason with. They take. The buffalo are stubborn – in many situations a water buffalo is a symbol of loyalty, which sickens into stubbornness, stubbornness beyond reason,” he says as he winds out the list of animal players, “The buffalo is accompanied by the birds; one cawing, nagging, incessant, the other aloof.”

While you may know your local Street Artist, the majority prefer to stay anonymous and the nature of the act of hitting and running means that you won’t get an explanatory placard nearby and the meaning of the work is not always evident on its face, even when it is in yours.  While some of the new crop is moving to refract their work through a cubist prism today on the street, another few are becoming more hand hewn and focused, precise in their sentiment and personal.

As graffiti and public murals and advertising and Street Art have continued their dance together over the last few decades, the street has been a stage for public airing of the political and the personal. Where a relatively new artist like QRST is concerned, his intentions will always be up to your interpretation and can be as general as you like, even while he is feeling fairly specific. “The meaning I’m hanging on them is esoteric and personal to me in such a way that others are going to take what they need from it. This might be something completely different, which I like quite a bit.”

The companion piece of the piece above was taken down from the street, still wet and under the cover of the night before we got to it. The artist sent us two detailed images of it, shown below while still in production at his studio.

QRST “Flotsam and Jetsam B” Detail. (photo © QRST)

QRST “Flotsam and Jetsam B” (photo © QRST)

The Goat Man Cometh

A third piece from QRST arrived recently as well, an image of a ram and man merged, sitting in a yoga stance upon the opened blossom of what may be a large lotus flower. He says it’s difficult to talk about mainly because,  “I don’t think I’ve totally figured out what it’s about.” The comment reveals another part of the QRST process, which he sometimes has described as being subconscious, the discovery of its meaning coming after its completion. But this much he knows, “It comes partly from an urban legend from around where I grew up, that probably exists in a number of places, about a Goat Man that haunts a giant train bridge,” he says as he recalls the story. “In the mis-spent portion of my youth a few of my friends and I spent a fair amount of time thinking about the Goat Man. We left him cigarettes under his bridge,” he says with a sort of revelatory glee.

QRST. Untitled. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

He muses about the possible meanings – an imperfect patron, a flawed protector, even a deity. “I’m starting to feel like I’m talking about God here, but I assure you I’m not.” Finally, he settles on his own interpretation of the figure and lets you figure of the rest of the symbols. “The Goat Man was our patron of ‘getting away with shit we shouldn’t have been doing’.”  The glass case of cardinals, the lantern, the three arms, or why he is riding a lotus? It’s up to you.

“I think there’s also a joke in there someplace, but it’s probably only funny to me.”

QRST. Untitled. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

QRST. Untitled. Detail. (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 Huffington Post Arts & Culture

 

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Culture Fix Presents: Bortusk Leer “Monsters in New York” (Manhattan, NYC)

June 3, 2013 ,

Bortusk burst onto the street art scene in 2007 with naively spray painted and marker penned psychedelic monsters and characters. These characters have become a common sight on the streets of London, Amsterdam, Barcelona and countless other European cities. They have made their way around the globe by air, sea and land to far flung places such as India, Australia, Cambodia, New Zealand and of course the good old USA, (where they have popped up in New York, Seattle and Alaska to name but a few.)

http://monstersnyc.com/show/

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Images Of The Week: 06.02.13

June 2, 2013

Stoop sales, hula hoops, fire hydrants, ladders and paint. Get me one of those ices from that guy with the cart on the corner, will ya?

Here’s our weekly interview of the street, this week featuring A1one, Chris Stain, Creepy, Elbow Toe, Essen, Foxx Face, Icy & Sot, LMNOP, Maya Hayuk, Mr. Toll, Rubin, Sexer, Werds, You Are Beautiful, and Zimad.

Top image > Sexer and Zimad at work on the brand new mural for Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Elbow Toe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Foxx Face (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn’s Maya Hayuk just completed this new work in Cologne, Germany (photo © Maya Hayuk)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot. What could they have been playing with? (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Creepy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Stain completed his second mural at Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A1one at work on his new mural on Essen, Germany. (photo © A1one)

A writer who has used Arabic lettering since 2003, A1one just completed this new piece and translates it for us. “The word is Love (Ishq). In all the Middle East they can understand the meaning of this word… It refers to the divine or clean kind of love,” says A1one.

A1one  (photo © A1one)

You Are Beautiful  abbreviates the sentiment this time. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOP (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin at work on his wall for Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mr. Toll (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Werds (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, NYC (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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Bushwick Is Hot Now. Hurry!

May 29, 2013

Bushwick Open Studios is Paved With Street Art

Brooklyn’s already percolating artists neighborhood called Bushwick continues to thrive despite the circling of real estate agents, lifestyle brands and celebrity chefs. Born in the mid-late 2000s as it’s older sister Williamsburg to the West began to professionalize, this noisily industrial and dirty artists haven got a reprieve from gentrifying forces when the deep recession slowed the rise of rents for artist spaces, which remained still relatively cheap by Manhattan’s standards. Today the area boasts a diverse influx of artists, students, cultural workers, and entrepreneurs who are experimenting and collaborating on projects and shows.

Spagnola (photo © Jaime Rojo)

That radical economic downturn probably also nurtured the nascent Street Art scene here, which was one of the early outliers of a cultural influx as artists and explorers began to skateboard to the local delis and stare at laptops for hours in the one or two cafes that offered  Wi-Fi. Outcroppings of this new art movement combined with old-school graffiti to pop up on selected concrete and corrugated walls, signposts, and deteriorated blocks where the authorities were disinterested and the neighbors only partially curious in their activities.

It’s an age-old New York story by now; a neglected or winding down post industrial neighborhood reacts to the incoming and odd-looking artists with a sort of bemused affection, happy that at least the block is getting some attention for a change. Puzzlement eventually leads to familiarity and then buying you a sandwich – and then asking you to paint a mural inside his foyer. While national and international Street Artists were already making Bushwick a stopping point thanks to some of the earliest galleries like Ad Hoc and Factory Fresh, the scene recently got newly shot in the arm by a local resident who is facilitating much desired legal wall space to a crowd of artists who otherwise would be hunting and hitting up less-than-legal spots.  Not to worry, there are plenty of aerosol renegades and ruffians scaling walls at night too; this is New York after all, yo.

Zimad (photo © Jaime Rojo)

But for now the Bushwick Collective, as it is newly christened by wall-man Joe Ficalora, has infused an adrenaline rush of creativity inside and outside the area that is roughly bordered by Flushing Avenue, Starr Street, Knickerbocker Avenue and Cypress Avenue.  The Collective has guidelines on content (nudity, politics, profanity) so the works are not completely unfettered in the true spirit of Street Art/graffiti, but most artists are happy for the luxury of time to complete their work and not look over their shoulder. With a selection of murals that are densely gathered and easy to walk through, the new collection has attracted attention from media folks (and tour guides) on the main island brave enough to venture into the gritty wilds of Brooklyn for a Street Art safari.

As Bushwick hosts its 7th annual open studios cultural event this weekend, intrepid pedestrians who march through opening parties, rooftop DJ jams, dance performances, live bands, transcendent costumery, sidewalk barbecues, open fire hydrants and more than 600 open artist studios will also be buffeted by a visual feast on the streets themselves. As long as the L Train is running (fingers crossed) you can just get off at the Morgan stop. From there it should be pretty easy for any curious art-in-the-street fan to be regaled with big and small works of graffiti, Street Art, tags, wheat-pastes, stencils, rollers, murals, and ad hoc installations all day and night.

Trek Matthews (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A shout out to Arts In Bushwick, an all volunteer organization that has steadily grown and fostered an open sense of community inclusiveness each year for Bushwick Open Studios and to the many volunteers who have contributed greatly to the success of many of the cultural workers here.  Without an open studios event many of these shy and quirky artists and performers would simply have stayed unknown and unknowable.

So far Bushwick still has the unbridled imperfect D.I.Y. enthusiasm of an experiment where anything can happen, but grey ladies with kooky bright colored spectacles have already begun to flip it over to inspect it with one hand while pinching their nose with the other, so savor this authentic moment.  Ethereal by nature, you know the Street Art scene is never guaranteed to you tomorrow – neither is the mythical artists bohemian hamlet of New York’s yesteryear.  For now we’re hopping on our bikes to catch a golden age of Bushwick before it’s repackaged and sold back to us at a price we can’t afford.

The first series of images are walls from the Bushwick Collective, followed by a series of walls that you may also see in the neighborhood.

MOMO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Solus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alice Pasquini (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Toofly and Col Wallnuts (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stik (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Billy Mode and Chris Stain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nard (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder and LNY (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brett Flanigan and Cannon Dill (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gats (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sheryo and The Yok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Here are a series of walls not related to Bushwick Collective.

ECB (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A portion of a wall by the 907 Crew, Sadue. Don Pablo Pedro, Smells, Cash4, and Keely (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Phetus (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Peeta (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BR1 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Apolo Torres (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris, Veng, RWK and ECB (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cruz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

KUMA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Free Humanity (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Keely and Deeker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kremen (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full list of activities, studios, schedules and directions for Bushwick Open Studios 2013 click HERE.

 

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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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Royce Bannon, Alice Mizrachi, and Bluster One on Piano in NYC Streets

May 28, 2013

Street Artists Among those Painting Pianos for “Sing for Hope” this Year

Out in New York streets and parks and public places will be 88 pianos for you to play starting on Saturday, so it is time for you to practice your stunning rendition of “Chopsticks”, that Stevie Wonder jam in your head, or that sweeping sonata that your Aunt Winifred is so fond of.  Sing for Hope is an artists’ “peace corps” project started by two Julliard sopranos Camille Zamora and Monica Yunus in 2006 and every year since has brought pianos out so the all of the public can plunk their keys for two weeks in June and have a truly interactive experience.

That Royce is such a playa, right? Royce Bannon (photo © Royce Bannon)

This year among the visual artists invited to custom design a piano are some street artists among the mix and they went on display at a private event last week before they make their debut throughout the 5 boroughs on June 1. Here we show you newly designed pianos by 3 of the grand participants and names you might recognize, Royce Bannon, Alice Mizrachi, and Bluster One. Together with the 85 other artists, they are part of a program that hopes to be a “nation-wide movement that activates artists as agents of transformation in under-served areas and promotes the ideal of art for all.”

Royce Bannon. Detail. (photo © Royce Bannon)

See some of those pearly whites got some gold caps!. Fresh. Royce Bannon (photo © Royce Bannon)

Bluster One. Detail. (photo © Bluster One)

A helpful bit of directions from Bluster One. Detail. (photo © Bluster One)

Bluster One. Detail. (photo © Bluster One)

Bluster One. Detail. (photo © Bluster One)

Alice Mizrachi (photo © Laurie Markiewicz)

“I have been working with Sing for Hope for the past 2 years as both an artist and teaching artist,” says Alice Mizrachi, who worked on sculptures for the gala and participated in the project in 2011 also. As a teaching artist Mizrachi aims to bring arts and activism to classrooms, which have included NYC neighborhoods in Harlem and Bushwick.

Of her baby grand this year, Alice says she wanted it to reflect the struggles of rebuilding after the hurricane over the last half year and to reflect stories she heard from many of the students whose families have been facing adversity since Sandy.

“Since my year was focused on community building through my arts education residencies, I wanted my piano to depict a teacher and student in their NYC environment,” Alice explains, “Building community by empowering people to express through an arts practice is one of my life long missions.”

Alice Mizrachi (photo © Laurie Markiewicz)

For a full list of participating artists and locations map click HERE

 

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Images of the Week: 05.26.13

May 26, 2013

Here’s our weekly interview of the street, this week featuring Beau Stanton, Brett Flanigan, Cannon Dil, Cosbe, Creepy, Deeker, Facter, Gats, Icy & Sot, Invurt, Jaz, Keely, Nunca, Rubin, Sexer, Solus, Sonni, Zimad.

Top image > Brett Flanigan and Cannon Dill at Bushwick Collective. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The paint is still wet on this one by Brett Flanigan and Cannon Dill in Brooklyn. They are on a cross-country tour put these two on BSA earlier in the week when they hit Chicago. To follow them as they rampage with cans in hand, check out #lqvmuraltour2013 on Twitter (photo © Jaime Rojo)

GATS has a fresh water tower at Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Rubin (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A new one from NUNCA  in Chichester, UK (photo © NUNCA)

Zimad at Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zimad at Bushwick Collective. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaz at work on is new wall in Vienna. (photo © Inoperable Gallery)

JAZ in Vienna (photo © Inoperable Gallery)

Sexer at Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cosbe at 121 Knickerbocker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sonni at Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sonni at Bushwick Collective. This portion of the wall is part of the above piece but cars parked in front of it. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Solus at Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Deeker and Keely really hit it with this collaboration. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Beau Stanton at Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Facter at Bushwick Collective (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Creepy is in town at Bushwick Collective. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Brooklyn, May 2013. (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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Ad Hoc Arts Presents: 4th Annual Welling Court Mural Project. (Queens, NYC)

May 20, 2013 ,

4th Annuak Welling Court Mural Project

70+ artists from around the world painting 100+ spots!

Now it is 4th year, the Welling Court Mural Project began when the community of Welling Court in Queens, New York asked Ad Hoc Art to help them spruce up their neighborhood in 2009. Ad Hoc Art enthusiastically rose to the occasion in May 2010 organizing a project fitting for the diverse and energetic inhabitants. Each year after, Ad Hoc assembled a spectacular crew of legendary and groundbreaking artists spanning more than 50 years of activity to transform the neighborhood into a 24/7 street-level gallery and public art experience.

Renowned artists with deep roots in the movements have created site-specific works for this project. This new array of visual experiences provides fresh contexts for how people working, visiting, and living in this diverse cultural gem of Queens think about and interact with their environment. Bringing art from around the world directly to the heart of this community and NYC, the project has received remarkable support and interest as it grows more vibrant with each wall, artist, and enthusiast that comes on board.

Click on the link below to find out how you can help. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!!!

4th Annual Welling Court Mural Project

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Bushwick Print Lab Presents: “New Print” Group Exhibition. (Brooklyn, NYC)

May 20, 2013 ,

Bushwick Print Lab
Exhibition on View: May 31-June 29, 2013
Opening Reception: June 1, 2013

In conjunction with Bushwick Open Studios, Bushwick Print Lab presents “New Print”, an annual group exhibition celebrating the art of the print.
This group exhibition will include silk screen, etching, monotype, lithography and various other forms of printmaking from over twenty artists across the NY area.

Free snacks and drinks will be served during the opening reception, which will take place on Saturday, June 1st from 7PM-10PM.

https://www.facebook.com/events/252444141567280/

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WagMag Benefit Gala at English Kills Gallery (Brooklyn, NYC)

May 20, 2013

WAGMAG Benefit Gala
WAGMAG, BROOKLYN ART GUIDE BENEFIT 2013:

BENEFIT EVENING: Tuesday May 21st from 7-9pm
English Kills Gallery, 114 Forrest Street, Bushwick, Brooklyn

TICKETS ARE NOW AVAILABLE HERE OR ON WAGMAG.ORG:

Admission is $20 (for non-ticket holders)
Tickets for artwork drawing: $200 until May 12th, after which they will be $250.

Preview Tickets for Advanced Viewing are available for $350
(includes an artwork raffle ticket)

Help Support WAGMAG!

WAGMAG Benefit Gala

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