All posts tagged: NYC

New Wheat-Pasted Letter Forms from El Sol 25

February 19, 2013

New text based stuff has been popping up that may remind you of ransom letters or a D*Face logo but it actually turns out to be Street Artist and former graff writer El Sol 25, who we are accustomed to seeing figurative painting mashups from. If you apply the same technique he favors of recombining heads, torsos, and limbs from various sources to create a new franken-form, it makes sense that this is how text would come out too. As with the other work, this appears to be entirely hand painted also. So, to review, these are hand-painted letter forms that are then wheat-pasted – is it a new category? Not exactly a piece is it? – and definitely not a tag.

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Images of the Week: 02.17.13

February 17, 2013

Guess it shouldn’t surprise us when we find out that the sticker, wheat-paste, or mural we published of “Street Art” or graffiti actually turns out to be a logo or promotion for someone who is selling sneakers, t-shirts, lip-gloss, tampons, or toe fungus spray. That’s how people pay the rent, yo!

After all, we get press releases all the time from “Street Artists” who purport to get up all over the place in their home city of New Jesusville – but nobody we talk to has heard of them. Eventually word gets around and its not our business to trash people. And we all know at least one or two fine artists who have used the strategy of putting their stuff on the street to add some sort of “cred” to their “brand”. Fine. And look at the countless corporate names that have been inserting (or “integrating”) themselves into all manner of social/electronic media and “stories” in the last couple of years – just to leach off grassroots D.I.Y. culture and make the money and get the clicks but not actually support the art community that birthed it. It’s a complex story.

But it’s hard not to feel a little bit like you just got punked when you walk into a store and find the stuff you shot in a putrid garbage strewn alley is now silk-screened across a cheap flask or frisbee or truckers cap, giving it about as much meaning as a Kardashian wedding ring.

What are we going to do? Oh probably nothing – there is no purity test or reliable scale for measuring when someone has “sold out” and we don’t like pompous peeps who pretend otherwise. We’re just keeping an eye out, sister, and trying not to get fooled again.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Alinic, ASK, BAMN, Chris & Veng RWK, Gilf!, Icy & Sot, Lambros, Meer Sau, Mosstika, MUDA, Pixote, Tripel, and WD.

Top image > ASK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lambros (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tripel (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Meer Sau “I Love Porno” in Salzburg, Austria. (photo © Meer Sau)

Meer Sau “Art is not a Crime” in Salzburg, Autria. (photo © Meer Sau)

MUDA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Gilf! Her tribute to Malala Yousafzai (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris, Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bishop 203 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BAMN does a memoriam for Aaron Swartz. Pixote on top. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mosstika (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Alinic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WD in Athens, Greece. (photo © Philipp Gor)

Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. Februray 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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BAST Collection for FALL 2013 Hits The Streets

February 16, 2013

Fashion Week in New York means more models than usual on the subway and on the sidewalk. Poor us.

Impossibly thin tall pretty and hunky people with beautiful skin and far-away eyes parading up and down the street in their free designer clothes and accessories, peering into their phones at MTA maps and fashion blogs to see if they have shown up somewhere… it’s one of the more glamorous part of the conversation on the street.

Just like most art on the street, these scenes are ethereal. Brooklyn Street Artist BAST takes a turn at the runway this week by installing a new series of saucy models for the street too, and here are a couple of shots from the collection.

Bast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Favorite song from a fashion show this week – “Girls” by Beastie Boys, which accompanied the 80s/90s inspired Fall 2013 show by Jeremy Scott, who studied fashion design at Brooklyn’s Pratt.

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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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Woodward Gallery Presents: “Detail” A Group Exhibition (Manhattan, NYC)

February 14, 2013

DETAIL
March 2nd – April 28th 2013
Opening Reception:
Saturday March 2nd 6-8pm

Our society places great emphasis on detail, but the rare individual pauses long enough to appreciate this specialty. If detail refers to the parts which make up the whole, this exhibition relies on the small elements considered for each unique work of art. The group of Artists are: Michael Alan, Susan Breen, Thomas Buildmore, Deborah Claxton, Cassius Fouler, Kosbe, Kiriyo Kuchina, Moody, Margaret Morrison, Kenji Nakayama, Jaggu Prassad, and Cristina Vergano.

http://www.woodwardgallery.net/exhibitions/ex-detail.html

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Jonathan LeVine Gallery Presents: OLEK “The End is Far” (Manhattan, NYC)

February 11, 2013

Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to present The End Is Far,  a series of new works, a site-specific installation and live performance by Polish-born, New York-based artist Olek, in what will be her second solo exhibition at the gallery. Known for her bold work and vivacious persona, Olek’s ever-expanding interventions involve covering a multitude of people and objects in camouflage-patterned crochet including: bicycles, cars, shopping carts, construction vehicles and prominent public art sculptures such as Wall Street’s Charging Bull; Alamo (Astor Place cube) and Gato de Botero in Barcelona.

This exhibition follows what proved to be a very eventful year for Olek. In 2011, she was placed on house arrest after a dispute with an aggressive male patron escalated at a London bar. Subsequently, despite creatively and financially stifling circumstances, Olek found herself motivated by the experience, determined to cover legal expenses and fight for her freedom. Granted permission to leave the UK between court appearances, 2012 became the most prolific year of the artist’s career to date, as she took on numerous international projects, public installations and commissions. She was part of the 40 Under 40: Craft Futures exhibition at the Smithsonian, for which her entire crocheted studio apartment was exhibited. During the rest of her travels, Olek collaborated with women around the world, in Brazil, Hong Kong and Poland, learning new techniques and experimenting with different materials.

The End is Far features new multi-layered crocheted sculptures and panels inspired by the events that transpired last year. With the addition of finely crocheted lace doilies, metallic gold ribbon and a new approach to typography, themes of freedom, justice, feminine power and strength are conveyed through subject matter such as boxing gloves, skulls, skeletons, sickles and horseshoes. An installation room containing a dining table set with china, overflowing fruit bowls, wine bottles and goblets will serve as an isolated environment for Olek’s crochet-covered female performers during the opening reception.

Olek – opening reception

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Mighty Tanaka Gallery Presents: Nathan Vincent “DON’T MAKE ME count to three!” (Brooklyn, NYC)

February 11, 2013
Opening on Friday, February 15th is a show that will blow you away! Crochet artist Nathan Vincent is wiring the gallery with fiber “explosives”, transforming Mighty Tanaka into a virtual tinder box. DON’T MAKE ME count to three! explores the roles that we play in society and our necessity to break through the barriers placed in front of us. You won’t want to miss this immersive experience into the mind of Nathan Vincent!

Mighty Tanaka presents: DON’T MAKE ME count to three!

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Images of the Week: 02.10.13

February 10, 2013

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Allen Ruppersberg, CB23, CYFI, Danielle Mastrion, Elle, False, KO, Left Handed Wave, Matt Siren, Spud, Stikman, and Tomek.

Top image > Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Allen Ruppersberg “You & Me” at The High Line Park, Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CB23 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Matt Siren . Elle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Blood Money (Artist Unknown) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Left Handed Wave (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Spud at 5Pointz, Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Danielle Mastrion at 5Pointz, Queens with a portrait of Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CYFI.KO at 5Pointz, Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Tomek and False in the snow. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A tribute to the recently passed. RIP Nekst (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Wings of Desire (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Manhattan, February 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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Remixing The Face in a Stinky Underground Subway Hallway

February 7, 2013

A walk through the neglected and crumbling grime-caked subway stations of New York City, with their epically peeling paint and the smell of smeared human feces rushing you through hallways to your next train, can be a nauseating and dispiriting.  Mayors come and go, but rats and garbage remain, helping New York to “keep it real”.

Poster Boy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thankfully, despite continually rising Metrocard rates you are now treated to ever more advertisements on ever more walls, and the occasional ad-remixing prankster appears to keep things in focus, or disarray.  You may not have money for the admission to museums, but here you can take in this publicly curated interactive aspect of the expanding commercial gallery, and even affect the conversation.

In the connecting walkway between 6th and 7th Avenue on 14th Street you can usually hear some good music because of the enclosed reverberating tunnel effect that is free of of train disruption. Right now on display are a series of promotional posters for another TV program involving attractive people judging  others on their attractiveness.

In this locally targeted remix of the campaign, a blade-wielding passerby has given them a facelift. It’s a simple matter of switching selected portions of sticky vinyl, a technique that was popularized by a Street Artist/collective named Posterboy a couple of years ago. Sometimes it is effective. Other times, it fails. Either way, it catches your eye as you hold your nose.

Poster Boy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Poster Boy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Poster Boy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Poster Boy (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Poster Boy (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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Laura Shechter, Painter of Graffiti

February 4, 2013

“I particularly feel graffiti beautifies blighted areas, and gives them style and dignity.” ~ Laura Schecter

Brooklyn born contemporary realist painter Laura Schecter takes cityscapes and graffiti into consideration as a formalist and you may even say with an element of romanticism. With abstract painter and “father of minimalism” Ad Rhinehardt as a teacher at Brooklyn College in the 1960s, Schecter says she evolved a philosophy of aesthetics.

In these paintings of building facades that are covered with graffiti in an urban environment, Schecter gives realist attention to the detail so accurate that at first glance most viewers will believe they are looking at the work of a graffiti or Street Art photographer who jumps fences, climbs rooftops, and follows train tracks to capture a shot. In fact, she can be equally enthusiastic about her regard for some of her finds. “I particularly feel graffiti beautifies blighted areas, and gives them style and dignity,” she says.

Laura Shechter “D’Art” (photo © Laura Shechter)

“Within contemporary realism, I consider myself a “perceptualist”, which I define as being more concerned with usual vision,” explains Schecter as she describes these paintings and her approach to the aerosol tattooed surfaces of the city. As most painters will tell you, it is about capturing the right moment when the sun and the ambient influences in the environment reveal character or a certain spirit.

“My cityscape paintings, which are photo-based, describe one moment of light. I have always been interested in decorative patterns and high key color.  So doing cityscapes with graffiti was a natural direction for my work to take. I render each graffiti artists’ work with the same care as I would a piece of satin or a handed painted 19th century porcelain piece.”

Laura Shechter “New Utretch Station” (photo © Laura Shechter)

Schecter says her work evolved during the feminist art movement and she incorporated some of its ideas, but is also influenced by northern Renaissance art, Indian Miniatures, and interacting with other contemporary realists.  “I traveled around the world in the late 1960s and 70s and the experience added complexity to my art work which seems so rooted in western painting tradition, but also includes the aesthetics of the east, notably, India.”

Laura Shechter “View from the 7 train” (photo © Laura Shechter)

Laura Shechter “5Pointz” (photo © Laura Shechter)

Laura Shechter “The Green Dumpster” (photo © Laura Shechter)

Laura Shechter “View from 9th Street” (photo © Laura Shechter)

Laura Shechter “Noel in Bushwick” (photo © Laura Shechter)

Laura Shechter “After the Rain” (photo © Laura Shechter)

Click here to see more of Ms. Shechter’s artwork.

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“The Organization of Celestial Coincidences:The Art of Jason Mamarella” New Paintings and Book Launch (Brooklyn, NY)

February 3, 2013

Dint Wooer Krsna

“The Organization of Celestial Coincidences. the Art of Jason Mamarella.” New paintings and book launch “develop your natural psychic abilities. express empathy for all individuals, all species.”  at 17Frost Gallery. March 9, 2013, 7pm. 17 Frost Street, Brooklyn, NY. vegan treats, and live performance by The Phonometricians on Cosmic Fire.

 

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Images of the Week: 02.03.13

February 3, 2013

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring Astrodub, Bast, Cash4, Droid, Edapt, Enzo & Nio, Hot Tea, Icy & Sot, Kram, Kremen, Pablo Mustafa, Spur, Stikman, and UFO 907.

Top image > Icy and Sot go Commando (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kremen. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kremen big Cat. With other cats on the roof top Cash4 and Droid. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

UFO 907 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikman camouflages against the city predators. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kram at 5Pointz Queens. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pablo Mustafa at 5PTZ has a bone to pick with PS1. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Spud (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Hot Tea re-did his tag on this fence before he left for warmer climates. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Enzo & Nio drive home a point. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bast goes over himself again. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Astrodub (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Edapt (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Park Slope 2012 (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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Sneak Peek: How & Nosm “Late Confessions”

January 31, 2013

Twin Street Artists How and Nosms’ new solo show titled “Late Confessions” with the Jonathan Levine Gallery opens tomorrow at a pop-up show in Manhattan. This exhibition, painstakingly executed in their now iconic style is a watershed moment in their transformation into contemporary artists with stellar street DNA.

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The temporary Chelsea venue was under five feet of water in November because of Hurricane Sandy, and it is a fitting metaphor as the murky storm waters had to be laboriously pumped out and damaged walls replaced before the brothers could reveal this confessional journey through interconnecting storylines of personal history, subconscious, and memory.

A visitor is free to travel through four unique installations; A white chapel with shelved books and three dimensional walls, a red memorabilia room that includes framed stencils used on myriad walls, a spare dark alley with a glowing light box at the end, and an expansive room showcasing a glistening contemporary rococo sculpture lacquered in black paint. Compartmentalized and open, the show invites you to be intimate and stand back with graphically sharp, cheerful and dark, canvases and objects of varying size and complexity.

Self-constrained by a palette of red, white and black, the brothers show their athleticism and abundant confidence here, pushing themselves and their fans to expand and explore together. Give them space and they know how to go big across a wall or a gallery; give them a quiet minute and they’ll tell you a couple of secrets you would not have guessed.

See our studio interview as they prepared for this show “How & Nosm Studio Confessions”

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Click here to read our studio visit for more confessions.

How & Nosm’s pop-up exhibition “Late Confessions” with the Jonathan Levine Gallery opens on February 1st.  at 557 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011. Click here for more details.

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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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