All posts tagged: Robin Grearson

Fun Friday 06.01.12

June 1, 2012

1.    Bushwick Open Studios Starts Party >> Live Street Artists Doing Live Street Art! (Brooklyn)
2.    El Celso and La Luz (Brooklyn)
3.    Don Pablo Pedro at English Kills (Brooklyn)
4.    Street Art Pop Up Store (Brooklyn)
5.    Bishop 203 “Happy Torments” (Brooklyn)
6.    Dennis McNett Invites You to the Wolfbat Studios (Brooklyn)
7.    Pink Cloud (Brooklyn)
8.    Olek at Flanders Gallery (Raleigh, NC)
9.    Darkclouds does the Same Old Same Old in Boston
10.    Jef Aerosol at 30 (France)
11.    “Pandamonium” at Signal Gallery in London
12.    Herakut’s “After The Laughter” at London’s Shea & Ziegler Gallery
13.    Jon Burgerman’s “I Want To Eat Myself” (Jersey)
14.    Black Book Gallery hosts Eelus “Curious” tonight in Denver, CO.
15.    L.I.C.K. Gallery “4 of a Kind” w/ REGA, EVOKER, MikeDie and Chris RWK (Queens)
16.    Andreco and Ericailcane in Morocco (VIDEO)
17.    Pixel Pancho in Mexico City with MAMUTT Arte by Filmaciones de la Ciudad (VIDEO)

In NYC there are certain rites of Summer that mark the onset of the new season. The beaches get cleaned of condoms and medical waste every year just in time for Memorial Day Weekend for example. Children playing in spraying fire hydrants on hot days – always splendid.

Water related activities remind us of another favorite Summer rite of hormones; Wet T-shirt contests! Also, saucy libertinas with short, fresh sun dresses going up or coming down the subways’ stairs on a windy platform without knickers, that’s always a pruient plus. And shirtless boys showing off by doing tricks on bikes, skateboards, or anything really – generally making fools of themselves- another Summer tradition.

And of course Bushwick Open Studios.  This is the 6th Edition and we have loved every one.

Someone told us there are 500 open studios this year;
a. Bushwick has arrived, but you knew that
b. Artists can’t do math so don’t trust any numbers you hear for the next two days. Or is that three days?

Naturally, there will be plenty of Street Art as the scene continues to flourish and here are our recommendations …

Bushwick Open Studios Starts Party >> Live Street Artists Doing Live Street Art! (Brooklyn)

Street Artist Gilf! curates the BOS official opening reception with fellow Street Artists Bishop 203, QRST, Sheryo, The Yok, Willow, ND’A, Hellbent and Gilf! getting up live on the street. Dancing shoes are recommended. Also, clif bars.

Gilf! on the streets of Bushwick. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For more information regarding the Official Opening Party click here.

El Celso and La Luz

El Celso invites you to his studio to give you a personal demonstration of his project La Luz.

El Celso on the streets of Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information on El Celso’s studio click here.

Don Pablo Pedro at English Kills

Loveably stylish and morally degenerate Don Pablo Pedro will be showing at English Kills Art Gallery at the Annex.

Don Pablo Pedro on the streets of Bushwick. Detail. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Street Art Pop Up Store

Robin Grearson presents a Street Art Pop Art Store with artists including ASVP, Bethany Allard, Chris Stain, Criminy Johnson, Daniel Feral, Elle, Enzo & Nio, Gilf!, Hellbent, Jon Burgerman, LNY, Moustache Man, Nathan Pickett, ND’A, QRST, Quel Beast, Royce B.

Enzo & Nio on the streets of Bushwick. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding Street Art Pop Up Store click here.

Bishop 203 “Happy Torments”

Sharp, bold, independent Bishop 203 is one of Brooklyn’s Angels.

Bishop 203 on the streets of Bushwick. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information on Bishop 203 show click here.

Dennis McNett Invites You to the Wolfbat Studios

Dennis McNett, the master printer, puppet maker, pied piper, and maker of magic has scared many with his Street Art creatures popping out as you turn a corner. Now you are invited into the magical kingdom of Dennis McNett Wolfbat Studios. You won’t be disappointed.

Dennis McNett on the streets of Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information on Dennis McNett’s Wolfbat Studio click here.

Pink Cloud

Visit Pink Cloud, Abel Macias’ studio and you might end up with free art. Who knows?

Pink Cloud on the streets of Williamsburg. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information on Pink Cloud’s studio click here.

BOS has so much more than we can list here; Performances, music, fashion and a plethora of studios to visit. For a complete listing of events, calendar, schedules and BOS Directory click here.

Olek at Flanders Gallery (Raleigh, NC)

Well-behaved women rarely make history and Street Artist Olek is a prime example of that axiom.  She’s part of a group exhibition aptly entitled “Make Ends Meet” at Flanders Gallery in North Carolina. Show opens today.

Olek (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Darkclouds does the Same Old Same Old in Boston

The New York Street Artist Darkclouds travels to Beantown to open a new show at the Lot Gallery. Check it. “Same Old, Same Old”.

Darkclouds (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Jef Aerosol at 30 (France)

Street Art Icon and Master, Jef Aerosol celebrates 30 years of stencils at Collégiale Saint-Pierre-Le-Puellier at Mairie d’Orléans, France.

Jef Aerosol on the streets of Bushwick. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For further information regarding this show click here.

Also happening this weekend:

“Pandamonium” A Group Exhibition at Signal Gallery in London is now open to the public. Click here for more details on this show.

Herakut‘s new solo show “After The Laughter” at London’s Shea & Ziegler Gallery is now open to the public. Click here for more details on this show.

Jon Burgerman‘s new show “I Want To Eat Myself” opening tonight at Carmine’s Pizza Factory in Jersey City, NJ. Click here for more details on this show.

Black Book Gallery hosts Eelus with a solo show titled “Curious” opening tonight in Denver, CO. Click here for more details on this show.

The new group show at L.I.C.K. Gallery in Long Island City, Queens titled “4 of a Kind” includes REGA, EVOKER, MikeDie and Chris RWK and it opens tomorrow. Click here for more details on this show.

Andreco and Ericailcane in Morocco (VIDEO)

 

Pixel Pancho in Mexico City with MAMUTT Arte by Filmaciones de la Ciudad (.

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Robin Grearson Presents: “Street Art Pop Up Store” During BOS 2012 (Brooklyn, NY)

May 21, 2012 , , , , ,

 

Bushwick Open Studios’ Street Art Pop-Up Store: A curated selection of affordable art by street artists & local favorites, June 1-3, 2012.
Brooklyn, NY May 14, 2011—Catch a curated collection of super-affordable artwork and artist-designed merchandise by well-established and emerging Brooklyn artists at Bushwick Open Studios June 1-3. Robin Grearson transforms her writing studio into a pop-up store with prices starting at free; nothing in the store will cost over $300. The artist roster promises to make the Street Art Pop-Up Store Bushwick’s must-see open studio for street-art fans looking to collect original drawings and paintings, prints, ‘zines, posters, and more. Many pieces from more than 18 artists will be exclusive to the store. Check out work from ASVP, Bethany Allard, Chris Stain, Criminy Johnson | QRST, Daniel Feral, Elle, Enzo & Nio, General Howe, Gilf!, Hellbent, Jon Burgerman, LNY, Moustache Man, Nathan Pickett, ND’A, Never, Quel Beast and Royce B.
For more info:
Arts in Bushwick, artsinbushwick.org.
Dates/times:
Open to the public during Bushwick Open Studios, June 1-3, 2012
Friday, June 1: 2-7 PM
Saturday, June 2: 12-6 PM
Sunday, June 3: 12-7 PM
Location:
174 Bogart Street, #210
Brooklyn, NY 11206
L train, Montrose or Morgan stops
Selected exclusives:     
The return/debut of Moustache Man: Get your very own moustache! The Street Art Pop-Up Store is the first venue anywhere to carry (legal) work by the one and only “Moustache Man,” Patrick Waldo.
The debut of Enzo & Nio: The Street Art Pop-Up Store is the first venue to offer prints for sale by Brooklyn’s mash-up darlings, Enzo & Nio.
New Quel Beast series & ‘zine:  Quel Beast returns to Bushwick Open Studios with several new paintings from his “Selfish Portraits” series. Priced at $300 during BOS only. Also look for the premiere of his first-ever ‘zine.
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Quel Beast: Street Art, Hip Hop, and Cross-Undressing

Quel Beast: Street Art, Hip Hop, and Cross-Undressing

October 15, 2010 , , , , , ,

Quel Beast. Chicky in Chelsea (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Feeling cocky in Chelsea. Quel Beast (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

BSA guest writer Robin Grearson talks about herself, the Street Artist Quel Beast, and the unknowable beast within.
 

I headed to Bushwick’s Wreck Room last week to talk to Quel Beast about art and see how he’s doing.  He’s pasting up some work indoors this week, at Kings County, and a new street piece was almost ready for Chelsea.  The Wreck Room is an unpretentious spot where secrets flow easily, and so, over beer and fried pickles, Quel Beast confided to me his frustrations, some obsessions, and what he would do if he couldn’t make art. But he remained quiet about the street piece, which made me nervous.

 

Quel Beast. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Quel Beast. Detail (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Until today, I hadn’t seen it. It’s a woman; full length, but cocky. She taunts passers-by to check her out once, maybe twice.  She’s not wearing much. That much I remembered. She’s like his Chelsea kiss, or, postcard: Dear Art Crawlers. With love from Brooklyn, Quel Beast.

He shows me on his iPhone some of the portraits for the show, called “Back That A$$ Up,” after the Juvenile/L’il Wayne song and video. It’s hours, many beers, two more locations and some wine later, before I ask about the Chelsea girl. Quel Beast answers offhandedly that she’s…weird. I’m sure he knows a better word because he says it like it’s a question. He’s into the piece, and says it exemplifies the direction he sees his style heading. But his question mark says, maybe I’ll hate it, a possibility I hadn’t considered.

I posed for the photo he’s working from to create her. So she’s me, and she’s not. I start wondering if, while painting testosterone-soaked me, her sneer has maybe gotten to him. But then, art is supposed make you feel something, which is the conversation we’ve been having. And I wonder what I will feel when I see her.

Quel Beast (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

Quel Beast (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Quel Beast compares art to music, harshly. Placed side by side, art gets its ass kicked. “Art isn’t good enough,” he says, with reverence for music’s power to evoke feeling, stir memory and stir senses. People quickly filter out tags and stickers as visual noise, he points out, adding, “You don’t have a personal experience with someone’s name, the way you can with music.”

“I hate art. Art sucks,” Quel Beast declares, and we laugh. He’s describing his exasperation with the impossibility of art to realize his ideal of it.

But even as he’s describing most art as dismissible in contrast to music, he is a little distracted, scanning stickers and tags on the tables and walls, naming the artists. “Why can’t art do what music can do?,” Quel Beast wonders, and lays down a gauntlet.  “An artist has a responsibility to reach out and grab someone the same way a ridiculously awesome song does.”

So it’s natural that Quel Beast’s portraits would have music in their souls; for him, “Back That A$$ Up” is the track that conjures the flow and energy of shared experience that he aspires to render in his paintings. But the series is no fan letter: Quel Beast is looking through the video’s lens at his own agenda. He’s retrofitted his painted subjects as though they were plucked from frames of the video, undressed them, and reversed the gender roles.

Quel Beast (© Jaime Rojo_

Quel Beast (Photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

He designed the portrait series as his inquiry into the source of our judgments. Where do conclusions come from, for instance, about a two-dimensional woman who may be posturing instead of pouting but in other ways remains unknowable? “Why is it that just because you put your body into certain positions, people will assume anything about you, your identity or your sexuality?,” Quel Beast asks, without knowing the answer.

Juvenile and L’il Wayne provide Quel Beast with audio inspiration for his paintings, but their lyrics tow the misogyny-and-hetero line. Quel Beast reveals only a cool nonchalance about this apparent collision of cultures. By co-opting the rappers’ revelers in an effort to unlock an insight or two on identity politics, won’t Quel Beast ostensibly alienate those fans who would be drawn to a show inspired by hip hop? The more secrets he tells me, the more a picture emerges of someone who doesn’t mind making people uncomfortable.

Early this morning, Quel Beast showed me the Chelsea girl. She has my straight, boyish hips, and a casual, male confidence that is impervious to judgment. Within that masculinity, though, something remains defiantly feminine. He looked at me and said with a shrug,  “If there’s one thing I learned from rap, it’s how to deal with haters.” —Robin Grearson

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Quel Beast, “Back That A$$ Up”, October 16, 10 PM, Kings County, 286 Siegel Street, Brooklyn, NY 11206.

Robin Grearson is an independent writer and essayist living in New York. She has written for The New York Times.

Robin Grearson: www.robingrearson.com

Quel Beast: www.quelbeast.com, facebook.com/quelbeastart

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