All posts tagged: Sego

All City Canvas: Festival de Arte Urbano in Mexico City (Mexico City)

All City Canvas

 

ALL CITY CANVAS es un festival de arte urbano, a nivel internacional, que busca unir esfuerzos del movimiento alrededor del mundo, en un solo lugar durante una semana.

La ciudad sede, en este caso, la Ciudad de México, ofrecerá sus mejores espacios para que nueve de los artistas más reconocidos del movimiento de arte urbano intervengan espacios únicos e históricos de la ciudad.

Además, durante la semana del festival, se llevará a cabo una serie de conferencias impartidas por expertos en el tema, que ayudarán a contextualizar el trabajo que se realiza en las calles.

Finalmente, una reconocida galería de la ciudad expondrá obras de los artistas invitados y algunos otros talentos locales.

ARTISTS:

En esta primera edición de ALL CITY CANVAS, México fue seleccionado como sede del festival por ser, históricamente, un referente artístico y cultural. Este contexto histórico convierte a México en un importante punto de interés para la nueva generación de artistas que llevan años tomando las calles y los muros de las principales capitales del mundo para plasmar sus obras.

A finales de abril, los ojos del mundo estarán puestos en el corazón de la ciudad más grande del mundo y México se convertirá en uno de los focos principales de la escena del arte urbano.

El festival ALLC ITY CANVAS presentará del 30 de abril al 5 de mayo a 9 de los mejores artistas internacionales y nacionales, con amplias muestras de arte urbano, usando como lienzos algunos edificios icónicos de la Ciudad de México, creando una sinergia entre nuestras tradiciones y una nueva visión global. Es un festival inclusivo, que busca llevar el arte a superficies emblemáticas para crear murales de gran escala dentro del espacio urbano único que ofrece una de las ciudades más grandes del mundo. Así, la ciudad participará activamente, dejando un gran antecedente en la calle de lo que es el Arte Urbano en la actualidad.

Este proyecto ha sido la visión y trabajo de jóvenes mexicanos que asumieron la misión de voltear los ojos del mundo hacia México, insertándose en la historia, en un momento en el que es esencial mostrar de manera creativa y comunitaria la vitalidad, energía, magia, mezcla de razas y amor por la identidad mexicana en el espacio público. La Ciudad de México ofrece el escenario perfecto de una urbe con raíces históricas, arquitectura de gran visibilidad, ciudadanos abiertos a experiencias estéticas y una tradición artística de gran influencia.

ALL CITY CANVAS es un festival que desde su concepción ha sido inclusivo, trabajando con la autoridad, la iniciativa privada, la comunidad, con los estudiantes y los medios. Ha buscado impulsarse mostrando una cara positiva, apostando en el talento y energía del país. Es una apuesta por el arte en el espacio público, lo cual es y ha sido un concepto muy presente en la historiografía del arte en este país; en principio con tono revolucionario pero desde diferentes movimientos y con variantes en la manera de abordarlo, ha sido siempre una constante. Desde los muralistas, se tenía clara esta postura frente al arte; José Clemente Orozco se refirió así del muralismo: “La forma más desinteresada, ya que no puede ser escondida para beneficio de unos cuantos privilegiados. Es para la gente. Es para todos”.

Después del muralismo, el movimiento estudiantil de los años 60’s, en el que se manifestaba el descontento político, recurriendo a imágenes que se plasmaban en carteles, grafiti y fotografía llena de simbolismo. Movimientos artísticos conocidos como el Grupo, que a principios de los 70’s diseñaban pancartas y murales con variaciones de iconografía militante clásica para transmitir mensajes de disidencia o el No Grupo, que con imágenes populares y juegos de lenguaje criticaban el elitismo de las instituciones de arte, entre otras cosas. En el mundo, durante estos años, se gestionaba el manifesto de los Situacionistas, que se basaba en crear acontecimientos con significado que revirtiera el pre establecido por el sistema capitalista y de gobierno. En México surgió la neográfica y diversas técnicas de reproducción y transferencia de imágenes. Se organizaban happenings y trabajos muralísticos en comunidades campesinas e indígenas por el Taller de Investigación Plástica; se hacían exposiciones callejeras por parte de fotógrafos independientes como las del grupo Peyote y el de Narrativa Visual, del cual se desprendería el grupo Março con Alejandro Olmedo, Mauricio Guerrero y Sebastián, originadores de un manifesto Marxista inspirado en el Dadaísta. Todos coincidían en una postura clara ante el espacio público, ubicándolo como símbolo de democracia que planteaba cambiar el entorno diario a través del arte para poder dar un mensaje.

En los años 80’s crece el grafiti junto con algunas acciones de intervención que funcionaban como testimonios de eventualidades e inconformidades, como por ejemplo la toma del Balmori en la colonia Roma, en dónde, ante una campaña de demolición posterior al terremoto del 85, el edificio fue “tomado” al ser pintados los cristales y así evitando que fuera demolido. Esta acción marcó un momento muy importante en la regeneración urbana.

La postura del reclamo y la apropiación del espacio público con un mensaje, es algo que ha estado muy presente en la historia de la ciudad y sigue siendo actual. El festival apuesta y celebra el actuar en espacios estratégicos para establecer un diálogo entre la arquitectura, la imagen, el espacio y el observador, para así transmitir un mensaje que lleve a algún tipo de reflexión.

Con disciplina de trabajo, experimentación de técnicas y herramientas innovadoras, los artistas y sus murales nos harán dialogar y revalorar el espacio, nos mostrarán cómo un edificio se activa y transforma. Nos presentarán ideas de temas actuales a partir de lo que la ciudad les provoque e inspire, a través de su talentoso lenguaje plástico para experimentar con la estética que llevan años trabajando y  perfeccionando.

Esta experiencia la podremos tener in situ, al pie de los edificios intervenidos o a través del otro espacio público que ofrece Internet, ya que se podrá interactuar durante los días del festival a través de diversas redes sociales, con el contenido que se generará durante esa semana.

ALL CITY CANVAS creará una comunidad sólida en un espacio público: físico cerca de las PAREDES intervenidas por los artistas y virtual en el mundo online. Se presentará en espacio de galería PIEZAS, de la obra a pequeña escala que estos artistas producen, disponible para venta. Y se hablará al respecto en PALABRAS, desde el punto de vista de expertos que han dedicado su vida a registrar, teorizar, publicar y/o experimentar este arte espectacular.

Se presentará a la Ciudad de México como un museo al aire libre, con arte monumental y público, que de manera visual e interactiva, será un Festival para todos.

Click HERE to learn more about ALL City Canvas

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M-City Meets the Commercial Buff in Mexico City

Nobody expects to “run” forever. That’s the nature of Street Art and everything else. If your work is not gone over by another artist or buffed by a private or municipal roller, the rain and wind and sun will eventually erode your enthusiasm. That’s the nature of this ephemeral art.

Graffiti writers and Street Art makers are sometimes lulled into thinking their principle audiences are each other, but there is always the arm of the law and property owners, and more often than ever it is the arm of commerce that swings through and bats everyone aside with a message brought to you by a manly deodorant.

Last week Polish Street Artist M-City got his work buffed by sneakers.

He’d put it up last summer in the Gustavo A. Madero district in Mexico City completely legally as part of a cultural project. The trucks and scenes of industry he stenciled excited the local kids and paid tribute to the monsters that roar through the modest neighborhood.  Using multiple layers of stencils, as he has done in cities like  Warsaw, Jakaarta, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and Stavanger (Norway) in the last few years, M-City created his boldly dense geometry of the symbols of production on a red brick home in Colonia 7 de Noviembre.

The original state of the building in was not remarkable. (image courtesy M-City, Mamutt Arte, and Cauce Ciudano)

The organizers of the program which brought him there, Gonzalo Alvarez of Mamutt Arte and Carlos Cruz of Cauce Ciudano in Mexico City, have hosted Street Artists like ROA, Broken Crow, JAZ, EVER, Sego, Saner, XAM, Liquen and Dhear over the last two years to create cultural programs for at-risk youth and burgeoning young artists.

The M-City piece paid tribute to the businesses in the area. (image courtesy M-City, Mamutt Arte, and Cauce Ciudano)

“Obviously I was super angry at the house owners, but I understood that a little extra help in these tough times is always good,” explains Alvarez as he describes his initial reaction to seeing M-City’s work replaced by a flat one color illustration of a sneaker.  It raised his ire at the company that showed no sensitivity to the efforts of the neighbors, but he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do about it. “It took me and the Cauce people like three days to kind of understand if the brand was wrong or we were wrong.” Ultimately they decided to write a two-page letter to Converse to raise awareness there about the impact it’s had.

The M-City work going up last August. (image courtesy M-City, Mamutt Arte, and Cauce Ciudano)

In their letter they explain that their joint project has worked closely with local community, civic, and international organizations to create their program, “painting in areas with problems of violence and delinquency (painting on peoples houses and businesses) … a space where gangs can coexist without violence, helping to build peace, we show that this expression can become a job and a piece of art.”

Local youth participated in the mural’s creation and passed it daily. (image courtesy M-City, Mamutt Arte, and Cauce Ciudano)

Since sending the letter to Converse Mexico offices and to media in the Street Art community, Alvarez and Cruz have received a lot of feedback. “All of the opinions we have received via different ways (Twitter, Facebook, blogs, phone calls, etc) are sympathetic to our point of view and understand exactly where we are coming from, even if they are not even interested in art.”

The stencil artist draws upon a collection of approximately one hundred hand cut stencils. (image courtesy M-City, Mamutt Arte, and Cauce Ciudano)

You can’t characterize art on the street as anything less than an ongoing conversation; which includes all the subtleties and ramifications the metaphor implies. In this case, it looks like there will be more to say.

The new facade. (image courtesy M-City, Mamutt Arte, and Cauce Ciudano)

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Images of the Week 01.02.12: Miami Special Part I

Ding Ding Ding! The New Year has been rung in and your head has stopped ringing, so it’s back to work – and back to Images of the Week, our weekly interview with the street. This week we’re bringing you incredible new work from Miami. In fact there is so much there since Art Basel hit a month ago that we’re gonna split it over 2 (or 3!) episodes of Images of the Weeks. With all this art on the streets surrounding you, it feels like a prosperous way to start 2012.

So here’s our first part interview with the Streets of Miami, today featuring 2501, Above, Adjust, Aiko, Anthony Lister, B., Ben Eine, CFYW, Chu, Cope, Dabs & Myla, Dan Witz, Date Farmers, Faile, Fila, Hargo, How & Nosm, Interesni Kazki, Jaz, Jeff Soto, JR, Kenny Sharf, Kenton Parker, Know Hope, La Pandilla, Liqen, Logan Hicks, LRG, MDR, MPR, Pez, Pixel Pancho, Retna, REVOK, ROA, Robots, Rone, Saner, Sego, Shark Toof, Shepard Fairey, Spencer Keeton, Tati, and Vhils.

With special thanks to all the people who helped us out, showed us around and provided insight and background, especially the folks from Primary Projects and Wynwood Walls.

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dan Witz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HARGO (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shepard Fairey (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Above (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Eine and Spencer Keeton (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Eine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Ben Eine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fila (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Roa and Kenton Parker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Aiko (photo © Jaime Rojo)

2501 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pixel Pancho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jaz (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Shark Toof (photo © Jaime Rojo)

GAIA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

GAIA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

TATI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

REVOK (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister and Ben Eiene (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Free Humanity, Anthony Lister, Pez, Wealthy, Cope, Chu, Adjust and Revok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pez, MPR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Retna, Robots, MDR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Retna (photo © Jaime Rojo)

La Pandilla (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sego and Saner (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sego and Saner (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sego and Saner (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vhils (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Vhils (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dabs & Myla, LRG (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenny Scharff (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenny Scharff (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenny Scharf did an installation for Wynwood Doors/Walls similar to his installation earlier in the year at LA MOCA.  Trailer Interior (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenny Scharf’s trailer interior (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Kenny Scharf’s trailer interior (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Logan Hicks (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile. Bast (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Faile, and a little bit of Kenny Scharf. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Date Farmers (photo © Jaime Rojo)

b. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jeff Soto (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Interesni Kazki (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Miami Sunday Update : Street Art In Process

Still burping from those last hors d’oeuvres that you dumped in your backpack at the chic opening we went to at the regular Art Basel last night? God, what was that? Anchovy paste or snot on a cracker? Pass me that pizza box please, I think I left a crust in there. Come on, let’s get outside to the street and find some coffee and we’ve got to see who’s putting new stuff up this afternoon.

Photographers Mike Pearce and Kendra Heisler are on the ground in Miami documenting the happenings and sending updates.

Jaz working on his mural for Atlanta Living Walls. (photo © Mike Pearce)

Trek6 working on his mural. (photo © Mike Pearce)

Gaia and C215 collaboration. (photo © Mike Pearce)

RETNA for Primary Flight. (photo © Mike Pearce)

The Street Artist “Above” did this large piece for Primary Flight. (photo © Mike Pearce)

Saner and Sego for Wynwood Walls. (photo © Mike Pearce)

A surreally commanding piece by La Pandilla (photo © Mike Pearce)

You can’t really avoid the gossip at these sort of affairs. Here Shark Toof whispers something into the ear of Anthony Lister. (photo © Mike Pearce)

Frank Kuop from last year and ROA floating near for Primary Flight this year. (photo © Mike Pearce)

Logan Hicks explodes in a new direction. (photo © Mike Pearce)

En Masse Sky2 for Fountain on their backyard wall (photo © Kendra Heisler)

Overunder and White Cocoa collaboration for Fountain (photo © Kendra Heisler)

Hargo. Cash For Your Warhol (photo © Geoff Hargadon)

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SEGO in Mexico City (VIDEO Premiere)

Street Artist Talks About the Mexican Mural Tradition and “Simbionte”

Mexico City is plastered with plazas, throbbing with thoroughfares, and well stocked with statues of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It also has an active decentralized street art scene that is informed by it’s muralist history of the last century as well as the emerging international style.

SEGO in video still from “Simbionte”

And while the greater area of the city in the valley holds about 21 million people, you can spend and afternoon unperturbed in a downtown commercial square next to the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC Chapultepec), and wreck a wall with a few cans and a blackbook sketch.

SEGO in Mexico City in video still from “Simbionte”

Street Artist SEGO, an easy going and determined Street Artist, hops up and down the ladder, jogging back a few meters to check his progress and zooms back to the wall to build his image.  As is common in work on the street, people stop by to comment, ask questions, and in one case, to sing a tribute to the art and the artist.

An impromptu musical tribute to SEGO in video still from “Simbionte”

In cooperation with Gonzalo Alvarez at MAMUTT and Filmaciones de la Ciudad, SEGO debuts his new piece here on BSA just for you.

SEGO IN MEXICO Part II from Filmaciones de la Ciudad on Vimeo.

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Fun Friday 10.21.11

Fun-Friday

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.

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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.brooklyn-street-art-WEB-ryan-ford-factory-fresh-gallery

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.

brooklyn-street-art-crest-arts-pumpkin-carving-web

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.

brooklyn-street-art-WEB-rob-andrews-english-kills-gallery

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.

brooklyn-street-art-skullphone-new-image-art-gallery

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.

brooklyn-street-art-WEB-homo-riot-jaime-rojo-hold-up-art-gallery-5-web

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.

brooklyn-street-art-homo-riot-carlos-gonzalez-hold-up-art-gallery-2-web

Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

brooklyn-street-art-homo-riot-carlos-gonzalez-hold-up-art-gallery-1-web

Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

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Homo Riot (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

brooklyn-street-art-homo-riot-carlos-gonzalez-hold-up-art-gallery-5-web

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

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Jetsonorama on the Rez, ROA in Mexico (Video)

On the Navajo Reservation the built environment tends more toward the horizontal than say, Manhattan.  The similarity is that the man made structures for both are constructed on soil first belonging to the proud tribes of people we now call “Native Americans”.

brooklyn-street-art-jetsonorama-navajo-reservation-2 Mary Reese, by Jetsonorama (photo © courtesy of the artist)

Arizona based Street Artist Jetsonorama calls the Navajo Rez home and it is here where he plans most of his installations of wheat-pastes.  The flat lands and sun parched structures, sometimes crumbling back into the dust, provide a suitable open-air gallery for his photos.  The images are not somber, rather they are pulsing with life and possessing some urgency as if to remind you that these places are very alive and life stories are unfolding here.

These recent pieces are at the Cow Springs Trading Post. Judging from the scene, not much trading takes place there nowadays but Jetsonorama enlists its walls one more time to display the inhabitants of the area.

brooklyn-street-art-jetsonorama-navajo-reservation-1

“Deshaun”, Jetsonorama.  (photo © courtesy of the artist). “While installing at cow springs, we met a local youth named Deshaun.  His skateboard broke while he was showing us a trick.  We’re going to get him another one but he doesn’t know that yet.  Thanks for the love Deshaun” Jetsonorama

Brooklyn-Street-Art-740-Jetsonorama-bryson-with-owen

Bryson with his nephew Owen. Jetsonorama (photo © courtesy of the artist)

ROA EN MEXICO : Un Video Nuevo

Belgian Street Artist ROA visited Mexico in January (see “ROA’s Magic Naturalism”) and now we have a video of his large installation in Mexico City. Whether in the detritus of the big metropolis or the bucolic country landscape, his unique and now iconic images of dead and alive animals rendered in perfect monochrome palette are never out of tune with their surroundings. Perhaps one key element in achieving this sense of context is ROA’s insistence on using as subjects the animals native to the land where he is painting.

ROA was invited by the art promoter MAMUTT ARTE in collaboration with the Antique Toy Museum Mexico (MUJAM). In the country for 3 weeks, ROA left  about 15 murals in various locations like Mexico City, Guanajuato and Puebla and also collaborated with Mexican artists Saner & Sego.

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