All posts tagged: RADICAL!

Fun Friday 02.03.12

February 3, 2012 Artists, Events, Gallery, Opening

1. The Skewvilles are turning 80 tonight (Bushwick, BK)
2. “Unpaid Dues” Cassius Fouler at Orchard Windows Tonight (LES, NYC)
3. “Should The Light Not Take Us” – Armsrock at the Galleri Profilen (Aarhus, Denmark)
4. “Street Wall” at Fourth Wall Project Gallery Saturday (Boston)
5. Philip Lumbang solo show “New Arrival”
6. LA Mural Ordinance Community Discussion with Shepard Fairey and Saber
7. New Sten & Lex Low Res VIDEO in Rome
8. MAMBO Goes for a Swim (VIDEO)
9. Creepy Tries to Control the Ocean (VIDEO)

We start Fun Friday this week with thanks to Don Cornelius for making the Soul Train an incredibly important part of the ride for lots of us for four decades.

Much respect to his work and to his family.

Here’s his interview with a new group called Run DMC.

The Skewvilles are turning 80 tonight (Bushwick, BK)

Join the Skewvilles today at Factory Fresh as they celebrate their 80th Birthday with a Retro-Retrospective. See some of the treasures they’ll be lugging out of the basement here in yesterday’s post.

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here

“Unpaid Dues” Cassius Fouler at Orchard Windows Tonight (LES, NYC)

Despite initial apprehension, Orchard Windows Gallery is proud to present Cassius Fouler, who is in about four shows this month. Dang!

For further information regarding this show click here

“Should The Light Not Take Us” – Armsrock at the Galleri Profilen (Aarhus, Denmark)

Armsrock says his new show is an investigation of parapsychology, ideology and crisis, through drawings, objects and texts. His style is getting tighter too.

Armsrock in Brooklyn NYC 2007 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here

“Street Wall” at Fourth Wall Project Gallery Saturday (Boston)

New York is chocolate and Boston is peanut butter so when you mix these artists from both Street Art scenes together in one show you get something grittily sweet that will stick to the roof of your mouth. Want a root beer? Vodka? Featuring LNY, Radical!, Tiptoe, Nanook, The Phantom, Geoff Hargadon, Zatara and Blackmath.

Geoff Hargadon CFYW in Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Check out more about this show here.

Also happening this weekend:

Philip Lumbang solo show “New Arrival” at the Unit 44 Gallery in Newcastle, UK opens today. Click here for more details on this show.

LA Mural Ordinance Community Discussion with Shepard Fairey and Saber at Lab Art Gallery in Los Angeles. Find out how the new mural laws in Los Angeles are affecting the Urban Art and what the answers are to your questions. This event takes place on Saturday. Click here for more details.

New Sten & Lex Low Res VIDEO in Rome

Italian Duo Sten & Lex have a new body of work on the streets of Rome. Here they show us how The Stencil Poster was born.

MAMBO Goes for a Swim (VIDEO)

MAMBO pays tribute to Johnny Weissmuller and the Molitor swimming pool in Paris:

Creepy Tries to Control the Ocean (VIDEO)

Creepy “If We Can’t Control the Boat Let’s Control the Ocean” by K. Hughes-Odgers

Fourth Wall Project Presents: “Street Wall” A Group Show (Boston, MA)

January 16, 2012 Artists, Boston, Gallery, Opening

Street Wall

Opening Reception February 4th, 2012. 7pm-9pm

Street Wall is an exhibition dedicated to artists who work on city walls to create public art. The artists highlighted in the exhibition are creating an installation directly on the gallery walls. Each artist is given a 2 to 4 panel section of wall space on the interior of the gallery for them to wheat paste work in the gallery resulting in pristine versions of their public work as well as initiating a collaboration in close quarters. Curated by William Stitt at Fourth Wall Project in Boston. The show runs from Feb. 4 – Feb. 23

The Artists

LNY, Radical!, Tiptoe, Nanook, The Phantom, Geoff Hargadon, Zatara and Blackmath. LA artist, The Phantom, has been working as a street artist internationally for over twenty years. He has directed videos for Rage Against the Machine and has also done their cover album art for “The Battle of LA.” Local Boston based artists Zatara and Blackmath have been working primarily in the area but have travelled all over to bring their unique work to the streets. Zatara uses collected screen printed images that combines visually overstimulating scenarios of apocalyptic visions of society. Blackmath employs large woodcut prints in his wheat paste work. Intricate and beautiful it plays on emotions that are both whimsical and dark. Geoff Hargadon’s “Cash For Your Warhols” signs can be seen all over cities internationally. His collection of signs are part social experiment, making the viewer question its reality in our capitalist heavy landscape. New Jersey artist LNY’s work is both visually stimulating and carries an energy of offbeat images. New York based artists Tiptoe and Radical! have been populating the streets with their images. Tiptoe uses mythological imagery in his savage and beautiful images that cause the commonplace walls in which they are pasted to become something more ethereal. Radical! Works both on the streets and off employing scenes of darkly comedic characters. Nanook, from Baltimore, uses humans and animals in his animated line work wheat pastes. The style of his works moves perfectly on the walls of abandoned Baltimore buildings as well as in the gallery. Live screen printing by Antidesigns.

Fourth Wall Project

Founded in 2009, by the Bodega Crew with a goal of creating more places for punks to loiter, artists to flourish, and more voices to be heard.

The idea was to turn dormant commercial spaces into pop up gallery spaces reclaiming urban space for public art projects and progressive exhibitions. We keep it independent/free form and curate cultural artifacts for the neighborhood. We settled into our current location at 132 Brookline Ave. Boston MA 02215 a wonderful 3,000 square foot gallery with many possibilities.

Fun Friday 12.16.11

December 16, 2011 Arizona, Artists, Brooklyn, Events, Gallery, Norway, Nuart, NYC, Opening, Phoenix

1. Play a New Holiday Video Game from Chris Uphues – “Holiday Jingle Rocket”
2. “Rezolution”, a group show at Hive Gallery Tonight (Phoenix, AZ)
3. “Paranormal Hallucinations” at Pandemic (Brooklyn, Yo!) (Saturday)
4. David Choe and DVS1 for Nuart 11 (VIDEO)
5. “Images of the Year 2011” From Brooklyn Street Art (Video)
6. VINZ FEEL FREE. Don’t be afraid. Feel Free (VIDEO)

Play a New Holiday Video Game from Chris Uphues – “Holiday Jingle Rocket”

Street Artist Chris Uphues uses his signature characters to create this very entertaining game for you to play with while chugging eggnog and rum today as you drink and drive at your keyboard. Try to keep your sled flying over the houses without being hit by giant blobs of snow! It’s a winter blast!

Make sure to click on the link below to play the game:

http://www.megadoug.com/xmasgame/

“Rezolution”, a group show at Hive Gallery Tonight (Phoenix, AZ)

Chip Thomas AKA Jetsonorama and a number of other artists open today in a group show that is getting a lot of pre-buzz here and on Twitter and FB. It should be a great scene tonight at The Hive.

Chip Thomas and Breeze. (photo © Chip Thomas)

For further information regarding this show click here

“Paranormal Hallucinations” at Pandemic (Brooklyn, Yo!) (Saturday)

Pandemic Gallery has a new show “Paranormal Hallucinations” opening Saturday. including, among others, Deuce 7, Swampy and Egyptian Jason.

Swampy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A very fun group show to end out the season before everybody goes into the holiday haze, featuring some unsung gems in the Street Art and graffiti scene, as well as others, including CHARLIE MARKS R.I.P, LLEW payote, Deuce Seven, Egyptian jason, Matt CRABE, Josh and Amy Shandick, Mikey Big Breakfast, Conrad Carlson, G II, Ryan C. Doyle, Mikey I.T., Tamara Santibanez, Othello Gervacio, Mike. P, and Swampy (above).

For further information regarding this show click here

David Choe and DVS1 for Nuart 11 (VIDEO)

David Choe and DVS1 (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © Mookie Mooks)

“Images of the Year 2011” From Brooklyn Street Art (Video)

It’s been an excellent year for Street Art all over the world and we’ve had the pleasure of seeing a lot of great stuff from big names to the anonymous. Eye popping, brain-teasing, challenging, entertaining, aspirational and inspirational – it’s all happening at once. We’ve been walking the streets, meeting the artists, going to shows, curating shows, speaking to audiences, providing walls, and asking questions. It ebbs and flows but never stays the same. With the rise of the Occupy movement this autumn, we’re already seeing an uptick in the number of people taking their messages to the street with a renewed intensity.

VINZ FEEL FREE. Don’t be afraid. Feel Free (VIDEO)

“Images of the Year 2011” From Brooklyn Street Art (VIDEO)

December 14, 2011 Artists

Left to Right: Shepard Fairey in Manhattan, D*Face in LA, Ludo in Chicago, JR in the Bronx, Barry McGee at LAMoCA, Mosstika in Brooklyn. All photos © Jaime Rojo

Let’s take a look at some of our favorite shots, whether from a rooftop in Bushwick, Brooklyn, a block-long wall in Miami, or the “Art in the Streets” show at LA MoCA. As you sample this eye-candy platter, dig the staccato soundtrack made of sounds culled from Brooklyn’s streets by electro duo Javelin, who spent a day in the Red Hook neighborhood collecting sounds and then mixed them in the back of their car. This is the kind of D.I.Y. ingenuity that is fueling the fire in artists neighborhoods all over the world, with people taking their stories and skills directly to the streets. With Javelin as the perfect auditory partner here’s 90 shots by photographer Jaime Rojo from 2011.

The scenes and scenester included here: 5 Pointz, 907Crew, Sadue, Gen2, Oze108, Droid, Goya, UFO, Aakash Nihalini, No Touching Ground, Aiko, Martha Cooper, Anthony Lister, Boom, INSA, Miami, Primary Flight, LA Freewalls, Los Angeles, Kim West, Kopye, L.E.T., Purth, Lisa Enxing, Baltimore, Banksy, LA MoCA, Barry McGee, Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, Albany Living Walls, Chris Stain, Billy Mode, AD HOC Arts, Chris Uphues, Monster Island, Wynwood Walls, Creepy, Brooklyn Street Art, Jaime Rojo, Steven P. Harrington, Dabs & Myla, How & Nosm, Vhils, Dain, D*Face, ECB, El Sol 25, Elbow Toe, EMA, The London Police, Kid Acne, Will Barras, Enzo & Nio, Faile, Bast, Faith 47, Gaia Clown Soldier, General Howe, Hellbent, Herakut, Invader, JA JA, Jaz, Cern, Joe Iurato, Welling Court, John Baldessari, JR, Kenny Scharf, Knitta Please!, LMA Cru, LUDO, Mosstika, ND’A, IRGH, Labrona, Overunder, Nick Walker, NohjColey, Nomade, Occupy Wall Street, Os Gemeos, Veng, Chris, RWK, QRST, Radical!, Rambo, Retna, Gifted, Demon Slayers, Read, Booker, Read More Books, ROA, Shepard Fairey, Shin Shin, Wing, Skewville, Specter, Swampy, Sweet Toof, Swoon, Toofly, Various & Gould, VHILS, XAM, YOK, Pantheon Projects

Fun Friday 10.21.11

October 21, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, California, Events, Gallery, L.A., Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Mexico, NYC, Opening, Sweden

1. RADICAL! at Munch Gallery Tonight
2. Ryan Ford at Factory Fresh Tonight
3. Get Your Smashing Pumpkins on At Crest Arts Saturday
4. Rob Andrews at English Kills Saturday
5. Skullphone Curates “Pure Logo” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)
6. Homo Riot at Hold Up Gallery (LA) (NSFW)
7. Loving You Was Crazy Shit (VIDEO) by Swedish Street Artist Nils Petter Löfstedt
8. SEGO in Mexico City (VIDEO)

RADICAL! at Munch Gallery Tonight

Albany based Street Artist Radical! has his first solo show, “Upside Down Frowns” opening today at the Munch Gallery in Manhattan.

Radical! in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Summer 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information regarding this show please click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=25600

Keith Schweitzer of MANY filmed and edited this time lapse of Radical! getting up in Coney Island:

Ryan Ford at Factory Fresh Tonight

Ryan Ford’s solo show “Don’t Try To Play Me Like An Indoor Sport” opens today at Factory Fresh in Bushwick, Brooklyn. We are very happy to see this esteemed gallery back after a long Summer hiatus.

From the gallery’s press release: “An artist known for comic symbolic abstraction, Ford delves a bit deeper into his psyche while titillating the mind with streaks of quiet violence and provocative tranquility”

For more information regarding this show click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=25621

Get Your Smashing Pumpkins on At Crest Arts Saturday

This Saturday is for carving pumpkins and the right place to do this venerable Autumn tradition is in the garden patio at Crest Hardware in Williamsburg. Franklin the Pig will be hosting and probably eating pumpkin guts that spill out of your jack-o-lantern. There’s a carving contest too and you’ll have some pre-Halloween fun before going out to get smashed.

Says Joe the Impresario: “Come on by, have a glass of cider (with rum, if you want) check out the creativity and enjoy what fall should be all about”

For more information regarding this event click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=25682

Rob Andrews at English Kills Saturday

Performance and Visual Artist Rob Andrews’ solo show “Door Work” opens on Saturday at English Kills in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Promptly at 8:00 PM Mr. Andrews will begin his performance of Ant-Bird 2.

From the gallery’s press release: “Ant–Bird 2, is a ritual designed to open a spiritual and metaphysical door using the power of blood, sweat, spit, and the vocal power of a human chorus”

For more information regarding this show please click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=25672

Skullphone Curates “Pure Logo” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)

In Los Angeles, New Image Art Gallery group show “Pure Logo” opens on Saturday. This show is curated by Skullphone.

From the gallery’s press release: “PURE LOGO explores the omnipresence, necessity, form and functionality of logos as they metamorphose to communicate within increasingly brief discourses”

For more information regarding this show please click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=25672

Homo Riot at Hold Up Gallery (LA) (NSFW)

El Angeleno Bad Boy Homo Riot solo show “Fist Pump” opens on Saturday at Hold Up Gallery.

Homo Riot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

From the the gallery press release: “Homo Riot’s message started out as a “fuck you” to the supporters of Prop 8, but has morphed into something larger and more profound; seen now as an emblem of pride and strength to the gay community”

Photographer and BSA collaborator Carlos Gonzales visited the artist’s studio while he was prepping for his show and he shares these behind the scenes images with BSA readers: Possibly NSFW.

Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

For more information regarding this show please click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=25660

Loving You Was Crazy Shit (VIDEO) by Swedish Street Artist Nils Petter Löfstedt

SEGO in Mexico City (VIDEO)

A new video from Gonzalo Alvarez at MAMUTT and Filmaciones de la Ciudad

Munch Gallery Presents: Radical! “Upside Down Frowns” (Manhattan, NY)

October 18, 2011 Artists, Events, Gallery, Manhattan, NYC, Opening

Radical!

RADICAL!

Upside Down Frowns

Opening of ‘Upside Down Frowns’ exhibition at Munch Gallery

Works by RADICAL!

October 21 – November 20, 2011

Opening reception friday October 21, 2011, 7-10 pm

New York, NY, October 7, 2011 – Munch Gallery is excited to present ‘Upside Down Frowns’ by RADICAL! The exhibition features all new works, and site-specific paintings and installations. RADICAL! was recently part of the ambitious Living Walls Albany, 2011 and has within the past three years shown in New York, Washington, D.C., Oakland, California, London, Tel Aviv, Moscow, and Basel, Switzerland. His narratives are fragments of a larger urban landscape and never intentionally political, but one cannot escape the underlying social comment that seeps through the works and the characters involved. Needles and pills are some of the reoccurring objects and they act not only as symbols of violence, but also as metaphors for a social alienation, fear and lack of communication. The artists will be present at the opening reception friday October 21, 7-10 pm.

……

The exhibition runs through November 20, 2011

Anthony Lister Talks to BSA : Analysis and Constant Consideration

September 29, 2011 Artists, Brooklyn, California, Features, Florida, Interview, Los Angeles, Manhattan, Miami, NYC, On the Street, San Francisco, Street Talker Interview, Venice Beach

“I’m like a hairdresser I guess.”

Painter Anthony Lister is also a Street Artist. His surreal pop and celebrity culture-infused abstractions are candy encrusted apples which may have something sharp inside. Many are figurative studies and wire frames bending wildly into characters who cavort and mock with blunt swipes of color, overlaid by costumed sexual role play… or is that a personal projection? Did I mention elegance, defiance, wit? Wait, there is so much here! Truth is, his work can be a cock-eyed psychological tempest, jarring to the head, strangely sweet.

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A decade of discovery under his superhero belt, Mr. Lister continues to analyze and build his creative practice and it always includes work inside the gallery and outside on the street. He’s currently preparing for his solo show in Sydney called “Bogan Paradise” at Gallery A.S. At the same time he’s part of a group show with a gaggle of his Aussie expats on view at 941 Geary in San Francisco for “Young and Free”, including Kid Zoom, Dabs & Myla, Dmote, New2, Ben Frost, Meggs, Ha-Ha, Reka, Rone, Sofles and Vexta. Not to mention his participation in our show last month in Los Angeles at C.A.V.E. with Thinkspace, “Street Art Saved My Life : 39 New York Stories“.

The artist took some time recently to talk to Brooklyn Street Art about his practice;

Brooklyn Street Art: How much of one of your painted portraits is autobiographical? In other words, what portion of Mr. Lister is super hero, super model, furtive schoolboy, or Homer Simpson?
Anthony Lister: I don’t really think about myself when I paint. My figurative works are more like reflections of characteristics I absorb from real life day to day.

Brooklyn Street Art: If you were to wear colored glasses, which color do you think you would most likely screen the world through?
Anthony Lister: Pink, like John Lennon.

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: Francis Bacon said, “The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness.” Would you drink that cocktail?
Anthony Lister: Nice words. I agree.

Brooklyn Street Art: What role does analysis play in your creative process when bringing a painting to fruition?
Anthony Lister: Analysis is the outcome of considered processing. Constant consideration is crucial.

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: A big piece you did on Metropolitan in Brooklyn – you reworked that face a couple of times over a period of months, producing what appeared as a slowly morphing image. Were you covering up tags, or were you unhappy with the original, or maybe combating the effects of age with a little nip and tuck?
Anthony Lister: When I re-work street paintings I think of it like I am a hairdresser. When something is in the public it has a different existence to something living privately in a residence. I’m like a hairdresser I guess.

Brooklyn Street Art: You have spoken about your work as reality, or a reaction to realities. What realities are you depicting these days?
Anthony Lister: I just finished a body of work for a solo show in Sydney. This next body of work is about contemporary Australian culture. The exhibition is titled “Bogan Paradise.”

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: When you consider the Street Art scene that evolved around Melbourne, how would you characterize its nature in a way that differentiates it from the work in other cities around the world?
Anthony Lister: No different. This whole street art thing has sprung up post the turn of the digital revolution so it is on the Internet quick and the artists who inspire others and the ones who are easily inspired are constantly swimming in the same aesthetic pools of consciousness. Not to mention that most of the prominent artists travel lots so it is easy to see work of the same artist in multiple cities around the world at the same time.

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn Street Art: The titles you give your gallery pieces are entertaining, instructive, illustrative. Do you ever want to place a placard near a piece you’ve done on the street – just to make sure the message gets across?
Anthony Lister: No. My street practice is less thoughtful and therefore needs less commentary.

Brooklyn Street Art: When is a painting complete?
Anthony Lister: When it tells me so.

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Manhattan (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Miami for Primary Flight. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. LA FreeWalls (photo © Todd Mazer)

Anthony Lister in Los Angeles LA FreeWalls (photo © Todd Mazer)

Cry me a rainbow, Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. LA FreeWalls (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Venice Beach CA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in San Francisco for Young and Free at 941 Geary (photo © Andrius Lypia)

Want to see more work? Just “Lister” it.

www.anthonylister.com

Living Walls : Albany Roundup

September 19, 2011 Albany, Artists, new york, On the Street

RECAP – BSA and Living Walls : Albany

This weekend in Albany very important Street Art presentations were made at the New York State Museum during “Living Walls: Albany”, including one from Street Art duo Broken Crow, pictured here in custom made aluminum foil head gear that reflected light rays all around the Clark Auditorium.

Mike has the remote for the Powerpoint show in his right antenna. Broken Crow at the New York State Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

There were so many moving parts in this large and easy going cultural festival this weekend, and we were really happy to meet so many people in the street, at the Marketplace encampment, in St. Joseph’s Church, at the tile factory, and during our keynote lecture at the New York State Museum Saturday. Thanks to Samson Contompasis for asking BSA to partner with him for LWAlbany and a quick shout out to other local partners James Shultis at Grand Street Community Arts, Sivan Shimoni, the staff at NYS Museum, and local blogger KC Orcutt at KeepAlbanyBoring.com along with photographers Andrew Franciosa, Bob Anderson, MC3, Frank Whitney, and Ken Jacobie. Also big ups to Monica Compana, who c0-spearheaded Living Walls Atlanta, which we covered a lot when it began last year. For all the locals mentioned, they are just the tip of the iceberg of a large committed creative and professional community in the Upstate New York region who helped to pull this thing off with almost zero dollars and tons of planning and hustling. For the first year, it is/was a major achievement.

Broken Crow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Of course our main focus is always the Street Artists and the creative spirit that is alive and well on the streets so it was a total honor to see the artists and see brand new stuff going up, like the last one before catching a train last night – Broken Crow’s ram under a bridge. There are still some pieces being finished by NohJColey, Clown Soldier, Doodles, and one we missed from Michael DeFeo. Also coming up should be Hellbent and possibly some other artists this fall, so we’ll get back to you on that. Not all these pics are from Living Walls : Albany by the way — when you are combing the streets you find all kinds of stuff you didn’t expect.

Check out all BSA coverage on the archive page here.

Broken Crow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

White Cocoa (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Doodles at work on his wall. He explained to BSA that it will eventually contain 5 frames of a figure gradually being crushed under a backpack, which he will shake himself from and run into the wild. It’s meant to symbolize the fears and problems that can accumulate in life and our need to shake the “baggage” if possible. — and some more esoteric descriptors that we can tell you about if you want to know. Stay tuned for the finished piece. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Doodles at work on his wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Doodles wall in progress (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohJColey at work on his wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake, Infinity (photo © Jaime Rojo)

(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder next to an old Radical! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clown Soldier (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michael DeFeo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Take your own tour this fall with the Living Walls : Albany MAP

Images of the Week 09.18.11, during Living Walls : Albany

September 18, 2011 Albany, Artists, Events, new york, On the Street

For the last 10 months this initiative to bring Street Art and public art to the forefront of the conversation in New York’s capital has been a boon to discourse, unusual during a period of retrenchment and an ongoing financial crises that is rocking every segment of society in the US. After years of incremental cuts to arts programming in public schools and cultural institutions at every level, it is a perfect opportunity for artists to re-assert their voices as this Street Art movement continues to evolve and develop in an organic way. Ironically this scene with roots in graffiti has shape-shifted and its emergence looks like a democratic movement, messily yet constructively filling a creative void for this new generation while the budgetary axes continue to fall around them.

As Street Artists have been installing their new works on walls around Albany these past 10 days or so, the common story one witnesses is the level of engagement of adults and kids stopping on the sidewalk, in their cars, watching the process, photographing and discussing the art, and exploring the creative process. Some folks have even become assistants to the artists, creating a sense of ownership, and yes, community. There is obviously more to this evolving story, and we’ll continue to track it.

Below are photos from photographer Jaime Rojo to give you an idea of the wealth of creativity that is alive in Albany at the moment. And we commence with our weekly interview with the street this week featuring Broken Crow, Chris Stain, Gaia, How and Nosm, Joe Iurato, LNY, Nanook, ND’A, NohJColey, OverUnder, Radical! ROA, Shin Shin, and Wing. First, we go to church with Joe Iurato.

NohJColey made one of his most expansive and eclectic sculptural installations yet inside St. Joseph’s church. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Broken Crow is literally stopping traffic on Second Avenue with this powerful stencilled piece. People are jumping out to take pictures of this and question what it might symbolize. The puncturing of the foreground plain with the spilling of “blood” from the carcass is a temporary and powerful effect that will last only until winter. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This new large scale mural created by Street Artist Chris Stain is at the entrance of the New York State Museum, where many presentations and symposia have been taking place since Friday under the “Living Walls : Albany” auspices. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fun Friday 09.16.11

September 16, 2011 Artists

FIRST, THE WEATHER FOR TODAY

Wooooo Hoooooooo! It’s Friday in Brooklyn! Great news in the mailbox from the postman this morning about a big Keith Haring exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum this April “Keith Haring: 1978-1982”. Guess it was meant to coincide with the big “Art in the Streets” exhibit that was moving from LA MOCA to Brooklyn in 2012 but was cancelled recently. That’s okay, we still get Keith, a patron saint of Street Art. And we are completely convinced that “Art in the Streets” will be coming to New York, so don’t be surprised.

Living Walls : Albany This Friday Saturday Sunday in New York’s Capital City

BSA has been partnering with Living Walls : Albany to bring you the new Street Art and other stuff and today is the official kick off day, coinciding with a big Fall festival Albany has every year. Props go to Samson Contompasis for his unwavering commitment to artists and the creative spirit.

Yo, check the archive to see all the BSA coverage http://mim.io/5e3391 . Also follow the Twitter Feed at @LivingWallsALB . The list of participating Street Artists includes How & Nosm , Chris Stain ,Gaia, Cake ,Michael DeFeo, Broken Crow, Over/Under, Nanook, Jon Burgerman ,Veng, Depoe, Radical!, White Cocoa ,Evereman Scott, Michael Ackerman, Uneek, Clown Soldier, Marcus Anderson, Joe Iurato ,Papertwins, Jacqueline Brickman ,VRNO , Hellbent, ROA ,Gregory Maxwell, Dunn II, YARK, Army of One, Deacon Czar

Saturday, September 17th
Located in the Clark Auditorium of the New York State Museum

3:30-4:45PM
KEYNOTE LECTURE
“Street Art Stories: A New Direction on the Street”
Presented by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, founders of Brooklyn Street Art

In Street Arts’ latest chapter, the storytellers are hitting up walls with all manner of influences and methods. More than ever before, formally trained and self taught fine artists are skipping the gallery route and taking their work directly to the public, creating cultural mash-ups and highly personal stories of their own, altering the character of this scene once again. Eclectic, individual, and as D.I.Y. as you can imagine, these Street Artists may have knowledge of who came before them or not, but they are determined to be a part of one art scene that is perceived as authentic, relevant, and alive.

Join Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo, authors (“Brooklyn Street Art”, and “Street Art New York”, published by Prestel/Random House) and founders of Brooklyn Street Art (BrooklynStreetArt.com) and contributing Street Art writers for The Huffington Post ARTS, as they show and compare examples of work from New York’s streets today. Then join a lively discussion in a Q&A session to help explore this storytelling practice and discuss how it may be evolving what we have been calling “Street Art” for the last decade.

Hosted by “Living Walls : Albany”, Samson Contompasis, Director, and Grand Street Community Arts, James Shultis, Executive Director.

Mexican Street Artist KRAKEN at Hold Up Gallery (LA)

KRAKEN’s solo show “Fantasmas” this on Saturday:

For more information regarding this show please click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=24457

NECKFACE at New Image Art (LA)

Isn’t that nice? Neckface and his fine feathered friend “Fuck Life” have a dainty little show at New Image Art this weekend in West Hollywood. Bring your Barbies!

For more information regarding this show click on the link below:

http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=23978

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Thanks to JUXTAPOZ for showing us the Tom Hanks Weather report GIF. See more of their GIF collection HERE.

“Living Walls: Albany” Begins! Gaia, Nanook and a Rockefeller

September 5, 2011 Artists

Over the next few weeks, New York State’s capital city, Albany, will be the site of a large scale Street Art show with many artists whom you are familiar with and a number of new ones on walls in desolate areas, historic districts, and even a church.

When local artist and visionary Samson Contompasis asked BSA to be partners with Living Walls last winter, we already knew about his reputation as a stalwart proponent of the creative spirit who opens doors for artists of many stripes. If Samson is in love with something, it’s going to happen.

Now “Living Walls: Albany” has grown to encompass not only multiple walls for Street Artists from around the world but the involvement of civic leaders, building owners, arts institutions, historical ombudspeople, electronic and print media, artists, musicians, galleries, a museum, and arts programming for kids and families. That was one sentence.

For our involvement BSA will help keep you up on all the walls with people we’ve worked with before and new ones too, bringing you regular updates from now until the big weekend of the 16-18th, which will have live art, music, symposia, and a keynote by your buddies here. Today we’d like to introduce two talents on the Albany scene who will be leading the way in our coverage, writer KC Orcutt, and photographer Andrew Franciosa as they were on the scene when Gaia and Nanook first started their new piece.

Gaia and Nanook in Albany

Words by KC Orcutt, Images by Andrew Franciosa

A new livelihood is radiating around the colossal work of Gaia and Nanook, which debuted the Living Walls: Albany last week. Their vibrant piece adorns the side of a vacant, unroofed building currently aging on N. Pearl and Livingston.

Ten minutes into my third visit, a handful of neighborhood children flocked in front of the massive brick before me to point out what they liked about the Street Art as two passer-bys curiously paused. The figure of a man pushing a contemporary piece of art (currently housed in the Rockefeller Empire Plaza Concourse) towards the face of Nelson Rockefeller is inexplicably alluring. The collective work is as perplexing as it is simple.

The merging of Albany landmarks in a notion of “pushing forward” is an attentively constructed kick off to the project this fall. One of the energetic neighborhood children, unaware of his metaphorical wisdom, looked at me and said, “I guess it’s a new day.”

Living Walls : Albany

Participating artists include: Army of One , Broken Crow ,Cake ,Chris Stain ,Clown Soldier ,Deacon Czar , Depoe , Dwell & One Unit , Evereman , Gaia , Gregory Maxwell Dunn II , Hellbent , Jacqueline Brickman , Joe Iurato , Jon Burgerman , Marcus Anderson , Michael DeFeo , Nanook , Over/Under , Papertwins , Radical! , ROA , Scott Michael Ackerman , Skewville , Uneek , Veng , VRNO , White Cocoa , YARK

Gilf! “Back Talk” Conversation

September 2, 2011 Artists

To introduce readers to some of the Street Artists in the show “Street Art Saved My Life: 39 New York Stories”, BSA asked a number of the artists to take part in “Back Talk” with one of our most trusted and underground and sweet sources for modern art, Juxtapoz.

Today we hear from Gilf!

One reason you make art: I make art to change people’s perspectives, and to bring awareness to major issues that face our whole planet. I also do it to make people smile. Street art is an amazing tool that allows me to speak to people with whom I wouldn’t get the chance in real life.

Read “Back Talk: A conversation with Gilf!” on Juxtapoz: http://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/back-talk-a-conversation-with-gilf

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The Skewvilles are turning 80 tonight (Bushwick, BK)

Skewville (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Unpaid Dues” Cassius Fouler at Orchard Windows Tonight (LES, NYC)

“Should The Light Not Take Us” – Armsrock at the Galleri Profilen (Aarhus, Denmark)

Armsrock in Brooklyn NYC 2007 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Street Wall” at Fourth Wall Project Gallery Saturday (Boston)

Geoff Hargadon CFYW in Los Angeles. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Also happening this weekend:

New Sten & Lex Low Res VIDEO in Rome

MAMBO Goes for a Swim (VIDEO)

Creepy Tries to Control the Ocean (VIDEO)

Opening Reception February 4th, 2012. 7pm-9pm

The Artists

Fourth Wall Project

Play a New Holiday Video Game from Chris Uphues – “Holiday Jingle Rocket”

Make sure to click on the link below to play the game:

“Rezolution”, a group show at Hive Gallery Tonight (Phoenix, AZ)

Chip Thomas and Breeze. (photo © Chip Thomas)

“Paranormal Hallucinations” at Pandemic (Brooklyn, Yo!) (Saturday)

Swampy. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David Choe and DVS1 for Nuart 11 (VIDEO)

David Choe and DVS1 (Photo Courtesy of Nuart11 © Mookie Mooks)

“Images of the Year 2011” From Brooklyn Street Art (Video)

VINZ FEEL FREE. Don’t be afraid. Feel Free (VIDEO)

Left to Right: Shepard Fairey in Manhattan, D*Face in LA, Ludo in Chicago, JR in the Bronx, Barry McGee at LAMoCA, Mosstika in Brooklyn. All photos © Jaime Rojo

RADICAL! at Munch Gallery Tonight

Radical! in Coney Island, Brooklyn. Summer 2011 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ryan Ford at Factory Fresh Tonight

From the gallery’s press release: “An artist known for comic symbolic abstraction, Ford delves a bit deeper into his psyche while titillating the mind with streaks of quiet violence and provocative tranquility”

Get Your Smashing Pumpkins on At Crest Arts Saturday

Says Joe the Impresario: “Come on by, have a glass of cider (with rum, if you want) check out the creativity and enjoy what fall should be all about”

Rob Andrews at English Kills Saturday

From the gallery’s press release: “Ant–Bird 2, is a ritual designed to open a spiritual and metaphysical door using the power of blood, sweat, spit, and the vocal power of a human chorus”

Skullphone Curates “Pure Logo” at New Image Art Saturday (LA)

From the gallery’s press release: “PURE LOGO explores the omnipresence, necessity, form and functionality of logos as they metamorphose to communicate within increasingly brief discourses”

Homo Riot at Hold Up Gallery (LA) (NSFW)

Homo Riot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Loving You Was Crazy Shit (VIDEO) by Swedish Street Artist Nils Petter Löfstedt

SEGO in Mexico City (VIDEO)

“I’m like a hairdresser I guess.”

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Manhattan (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Miami for Primary Flight. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. LA FreeWalls (photo © Todd Mazer)

Anthony Lister in Los Angeles LA FreeWalls (photo © Todd Mazer)

Cry me a rainbow, Anthony Lister in Los Angeles. LA FreeWalls (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in Venice Beach CA. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister in San Francisco for Young and Free at 941 Geary (photo © Andrius Lypia)

RECAP – BSA and Living Walls : Albany

Mike has the remote for the Powerpoint show in his right antenna. Broken Crow at the New York State Museum. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Broken Crow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Broken Crow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Broken Crow (photo © Jaime Rojo)

White Cocoa (photo © Jaime Rojo)

White Cocoa (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Artist Unknown (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Doodles at work on his wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Doodles wall in progress (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohJColey at work on his wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohJColey at work on his wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

NohJColey at work on his wall (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cake, Infinity (photo © Jaime Rojo)

(photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder next to an old Radical! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overunder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Veng RWK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Clown Soldier (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Michael DeFeo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Radical (photo © Jaime Rojo)

N’DA (photo © Jaime Rojo)