All posts tagged: Peat Wolleager

From White Box to Tool Box: CrestFest 2010 and Crest Art Festival

From White Box to Tool Box: CrestFest 2010 and Crest Art Festival

Local Family Business Showcases Artists Of All Stripes

You won’t find a more excited community-minded, artist-loving dude than Joe Franquinha, who is the second generation owner of a hardware store in Williamsburg/Bushwick, Brooklyn. Crest Hardware, founded in 1962 on this same block by Joe’s dad and uncle, is the hardware store for the multitude of artists who have moved into the neighborhood over the past decade or so.

A new art piece in the store for the Crest Hardware Art Show (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

A new art piece in the store for the Crest Hardware Art Show by Mike Graves (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nine years ago they had the first Crest art show in the store itself using hardware materials to make and inspire the art. The eclectic and frequently humorous show drew attention to the bursting artist community and grew larger each year.  In 2008 ago Joe expanded the show to include musicians and DJs from the neighborhood and started calling it “Crest Fest.”

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Crest-Fest_2010-CF-POSTER

This year the festival has 140 artists, 15 DJ’s and 8 bands. Joe says, “There is an abundance of musical talent in this area as well as art and I wanted to take the opportunity to showcase them too. It’s been getting progressively bigger, and it’s always free to attend. That’s the main thing. We want people to be able to enjoy it, come on in, have fun and take a day off and absorb culture in so many of it’s facets.”

Crest Art Festival

Crest Hardware Art Show, Mike Graves (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joe took a few minutes from installing art to talk about the show that left the white box for the tool box:

BSA: I see a lot of hardware of course, but do you also sell art supplies?
Joe Franquinha
: Spray paint is definitely an option I’ve been weighing recently. I think probably in the next year or so our spray paint section will probably expand, including companies like Montana, maybe something like IronClad 1. But Montana seems to be what is on most people’s radar. Then it’s a matter of them figuring out which one they want, the Spanish one or the German one.

Matt Caputo "Everybody's Got Pipes"

Matt Caputo “Everybody’s Got Pipes” (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Do you have any people who do street art in this show?
Joe Franquinha: Yeah there are a couple of people – there is Peat Wolleager from St. Louis, he goes by Stensoul.  General Howe has a piece in the show and I’m excited for people to see the piece he made just for Crest Hardware. He’s doing some really cool work so I’m proud to have him on board. We still have a couple of days for people to be doing installing up to Saturday. (editors note: while the complete artist list was not available at press time, there are a number of street artists in the show including Royce Bannon, Celso, among others)

General Howe

General Howe piece closed (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

General Howe Open

General Howe Opened (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

BSA: Why do think it is important to show the work of local artists?
Joe Franquinha:One hand really has to wash the other as far as supporting your local artist goes. Artists shop at my store to get their materials and if I have the ability to help promote their art and their passion side by side with mine, I’m gonna do it.

Crest Hardware Art Show (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

For the trendier upscale home improvements, a Louis Vuiton hammer by Eric Parnes (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

But it is fun and artists are here every day in the store and in the neighborhood. They eat at these restaurants, they shop in these stores, they frequent these bars… so to be able to give them a chance outside a gallery show to showcase their work, not only to their fellow artists but maybe someone who has no idea about their work …. It brings your work to a whole different demographic. If they are a street artist, maybe someone has only seen their work out on the street. To be able to show people that the artist is capable of also putting their fine art work into a show – it can bring it to a whole other level for them and opens up people’s minds to different experiences.

Street artist Duece Seven entered this door in last year's art show (photo courtesy Crest)

Street artist Duece Seven entered this door in last year’s art show (photo courtesy Crest)

BSA: Do you have any favorite street artists off the top of your head?
Joe Franquinha:Off the top of my head, I really love ROA’s work. I think it’s nice clean work – it feels like pictures ripped out of animal anatomy books. Like old books made of pulp paper that feel like they could crumble. But the animals he does are redrawn at this incredibly magnified size so I really dig his work a lot.

C215 is another artist who I really admire. I also really admire his world traveling capabilities and he just gets up everywhere he possibly can. I was in Morocco, a small town called Esoria right on the water and I was in this square and about 50 yards across from me I could see this stencil on the wall. It was kind of blurry from where I was and I was curious to see whose it was and sure enough it was his work. So it is pretty cool to see his work everywhere I go.

Crest Hardware Art Show (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Happy Plunging!  Mike Graves (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

A very entertaining stop animation film made for this years art show in the store. Joe would like to thank Anthony Ferrara, James Peach, Gustavo Roman & Buck Merritt for their creativity, energy and support. You’ll also notice some street art by Chris Stain, Skewville…. who else?

Crest Hardware Art Show (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

The bed-head look is so popular that it’s spread to chandeliers. By Mike Marra (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

BSA: Is there is a piece in the show this year that you are very excited about, either due to it’s complexity, or a new technique that was used?
Joe:
Yeah every medium is different, and it’s not that I love one more than I love the other but I also have my personal preferences. In a show like this, it’s not just about hardware because it is in a store that has been here nearly 50 years, a lot of the people who are in the show aren’t just making their work for a hardware store, they’re making it for us, the Crest people. So one piece in particular that I’m excited to showcase is by Chris Collicot – when you look up close at this piece it’s just a bunch of washers and screws and you step back about 20-30 feet, and because it’s a perspective piece, it’s a picture of my father. To know that my dad struck a chord with this artist when he moved here from LA and he came into the shop looking for some help and he found something more than that. He found a place that he can rely on. So that is one of the more special pieces for me.

Chris Collicot (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chris Collicot (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Street artists Peru Ana Ana Peru (image courtesy Crest)

Street artists Peru Ana Ana Peru also participated in last years show (image courtesy Crest)

SPECIAL SILENT AUCTION at Crest Art Show (In Store)
NOMADE Piece to Benefit Free Arts NYC

Street Artist Nomade has donated this piece to be silent auctioned during the Crest Art Show. 100% of the proceeds go to the arts and mentorship programs of Free Arts NYC, which serves NYC kids from disadvantaged backgrounds with arts and mentorship programs. Drop by the store to place a bid before July 31, 2010.

Street Artist Nomade has donated this piece to be silent auctioned during the Crest Art Show. 100% of the proceeds go to the programs of Free Arts NYC, which serves NYC kids from disadvantaged backgrounds with arts and mentorship programs. Drop by the store to place a bid before July 31, 2010. Auction is in conjunction with BrooklynStreetArt.com

For general information regarding Crest Hardware Art Show and/or Crest Fest please contact Info@CrestHardwareArtShow.com

or go to http://cresthardwareartshow.com/wordpress/

Crest Hardware
588 Metropolitan Ave
Brooklyn, New York 11211
(718) 388-9521


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Headbanger Logan Hicks Brings His Posse to Celebrate a brand New Green Day

Headbanger Logan Hicks Brings His Posse to Celebrate a brand New Green Day

With Punk Rock Chords banging in his ears, the “workhorse” slams together two of his favorite things – Rock and Street Art – with a careful eye.

Logan's portrait's of Green Day; Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dimt, and Tre Cool (courtesy the artist)

Headbanger Hicks created portraits for the happy lads of Green Day; Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dimt, and Tre Cool (images courtesy Logan Hicks

He likes the dirt and the grit and diversity of New York, where he’s based today, as well as the thoughtfully applied paint of a well-placed stencil.  You’ll see it in his work, painstakingly detailed and applied to faces, sidewalks, subways, tunnels, building facades, and the mighty canyons of Manhattan. Logan Hicks captures the haunted cityscape with his mammoth and marble-heavy photorealism, shocked with stinging hot colors, glowing in the sky like Armageddon looming.

That’s why he’s the perfect force to shepherd street artists to make custom pieces for “21st Century Breakdown”, the new Green Day album. The 90’s punk band’s 9th album has inspired a roving art gallery to be shown off as they roll their tour around the world, and they asked Hicks to assemble an impressive list including Ron English, Chris Stain, The London Police, C215, and Broken Crow.

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong says, “Punk Rock is ground zero for us. It’s been my education”. His schooling continues in the visual world with help from Hick’s curatorial skills. “Seeing the pieces that our new album has inspired is very exciting. Many of the artists Logan has chosen show their work on the street, and we feel a strong connection to that type of creative expression, ” says Armstrong.

Just back from installing a 6,300 foot mural on the street course of the ESPN X-Games in LA with his crew of Jeremiah Garcia (n10z), Surge MDR, and Meow MDR, you would think Hicks is a little winded. Nahhh, the burly family man isn’t called ‘workhorse’ for nothing.

Getting his X-game on performing live stencil before a crowd

Getting his X-game on with live stencilling before a crowd in L.A..

Logan also

In addition to painting the street course, Hicks painted a mural celebrating the 15th anniversary of the X-Games, featuring an LA skyline and portraits of winners over the last decade and a half (photo courtesy the artist)

We asked Mr. Hicks if he could take a break and talk about the traveling show he curated,

Logan Hicks latest stencil on view at Jonathan Levine Gallery until August 22.

Logan Hicks latest stencil is on view at Jonathan Levine Gallery until August 22nd.

and after he submitted his newest stencil to the “Beach Blanket Bingo” show at Jonathan Levine Gallery, he crowd-surfed over for an inteview…

Brooklyn Street Art: What moved you to take on this responsibility; to curate a roster of this caliber street artists to interpret the entire new album by Green Day?
Logan Hicks: The manager for Green Day is also my manager. We were talking one day and I had told him that Art is the new Rock and Roll. Back when I was in high school, I was always on the look out for the new band, or song that paralleled my own feelings or ideas. Once I found it, I would play that sh*t every day. Back then it was punk rock, so I was on a Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Agent Orange, or MDC kick.

Ron English

Ron English

Adam 5100

Adam 5100

Now I find kids rocking Shepard Fairey stickers the same way I would play music. It is an expression that shows others what you are into. The conversation morphed into the idea of literally drawing a line between the music and the art as a form of expression. From there, I went through tons of artists and worked with Billie Joe Armstrong to pick the ones that we thought would work best for this project. From there the project was born.

Jeremiah Garcia

Jeremiah Garcia

Brooklyn Street Art: Are these one-of-a-kind originals? And are they for sale or is it more of a traveling gallery?
Logan Hicks: They are one of-a-kinds. The execution of the show is still in talks, so we may do prints, or a catalog, but at this point the only concrete plan is that we will travel the show to as many stops as we can, and display the originals in a gallery like setting. I’d like to see this travel, and be as approachable to as many people as possible.

C215

C215

Meggs

Meggs


Eelus

Eelus

Brooklyn Street Art: Each of these pieces is responsive to a specific track on their new release. Did you give the artists any other guidelines for their work, like turn the volume up to 10 and bang your head on a cinder block?
Logan Hicks:
Actually the only guideline that I gave them was that I requested they make their piece without listening to the music. I wanted the piece to be a response to the lyrics, not the music. So the majority of the artists got the lyrics before the album was even released. That way they only had the words to go on. I just feel that sometimes the music can skew the perception of the song. Especially with Green Day, their lyrics can be a bit acidic but the melodies are a bit poppy. I wanted them to focus on the content, not the presentation so it was a truer interpretation of the song.

Sixten

Sixten

Component

Component

Sadhuy

Sadhuy

Brooklyn Street Art: Surprisingly to some youth, before there were the 90’s there were the 80’s and 70’s punk rock scenes. What bands were you slam dancing to for inspiration at that time?
Logan Hicks:
Tons. A very brief list would be: Minor Threat, Cro-mags, Bad Brains, Butthole Surfers, The Pixies, Rudimentary Peni, 9353, Agent Orange, Circle Jerks, Descendants, Government Issue, TSOL, Joy Division, X, Crass, Exploited, Fear, Agnostic Front, The Cure, SNFU, The Addicts, Unsane, Dead Kennedys, GBH, UK Subs, DI, Sex Pistols, Cock Sparrer, Motorhead, 7 Seconds, Reagan Youth, and Black Flag. There were literally hundreds of bands that I would play on a weekly basis. I was a huge punk rock kid.

Broken Crow

Broken Crow

Chris Stain

Chris Stain

Peat Wollaeger

Peat Wollaeger

Brooklyn Street Art: A lot of the street-artists on this project work with themes of social injustice. Was that why you thought they would be able to interpret Green Day?
Logan Hicks:
Yes, partially. Artists like Chris Stain are perfect for a band like green day because both are talking about the inequality, or finding your place in the world. Others like Ron English point out the absurdity and injustice in the world. Other artists were chosen because I thought their style was raw, or particularly suited for the project.

Lucamonte

Lucamonte

Myla/Adam 5100

Myla/Adam 5100

“Well maybe I’m the faggot America, I’m not a part of the red-neck agenda..”

Brooklyn Street Art: American Idiot” was a blunt instrument that smacked some sleepy heads. Do you like art that attempts to wake people up?
Logan Hicks:
I crave diversity, so yes, I like blunt work, but I also think that work like Lucamaleonte is great too. His work is subtle, and a bit somber. I have never been the kind of guy who is into just one kind of style. I like the full array of style. Back when I was listening to punk rock, I would also put on Run DMC or Public Enemy. Even Bob Willis and the Texas Playboys would find their way into my play list. I just like art that is well thought out, purposeful, and well executed.

M City

M City

Will Barras

Will Barras

Pisa 73

Pisa 73

Brooklyn Street Art: Among the international group of fine artists you called upon to submit work, who handed their work in on time, who was late, and who told you the dog ate it?
Logan Hicks:
Ha-ha. Most were good. When you deal with a large group of artists, you have to expect that some will drag their feet. I did have one rather well known stencil artist who waited 3 months to read the contract, then one week before things were due told me ‘ this is not a good project for me’. That was rather disappointing. Rather than say who was bad, I will say who was good. Ron English was extremely prompt and had his shit in more than month ahead of schedule. Total pro, and great guy to work with. There is no one in the group that I wouldn’t work with again though.

Brooklyn Street Art: Bonus Question: Which one is your favorite? Why?
Logan Hicks:
Mine. Why? Cause I totally rock.

Logan Hicks’ Website

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