All posts tagged: Specter

Fun Friday 12.16.11

 

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)

Read more

“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.

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

Read more

Specter Sidebusts Banksy in Chicago

The city of Chicago is famous for many things, one of them is the city’s zero tolerance for Graffiti and Street Art. Lore has it that if a piece runs for more than one day before “The Buff” hits it with a drab splotch of municipal death, it’s because they thought it was an ad.

One piece that has survived the wrath of The Graffiti Blasters (as they are officially known) is the only known Banksy piece in Chicago. It’s a vintage baby carriage tumbling down the ghosted remnant of a staircase. It brings to mind the movie ‘The Untouchables” with mobsters and police and screeching cars and a panicked baby just for the hell of it. But, really, no one knows why this Banksy baby has survived so long.

The faded Banksy baby carriage and the mysterious woman this summer in Chicago. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Compounding the question this summer was the appearance of a mysterious unfinished non-Banksy body lying further down the staircase. Oddly stiff and praying, nobody knew the cadaverish forms’ origin as we looked through a lense at  the Banksy in all it’s faded glory, looking more poignant and beautifully decayed, tagged but not destroyed. The unfinished form appeared to be levitating above the steps, it’s incompleteness adding an eerie feel to the Banksy carriage. Who painted it? Why was it not finished? Que significa?

Today we can report to you with certainty that the unfinished piece was by that side-busting Specter. And it is unfinished no more.

According to one account, it looks like the Brooklyn Street Artist had gotten in a little deeper than he intended when he began his unwanted collaboration with the biggest name in spraybiz, and he lost his concentration, one could say.

The resulting work, the “restoration” of the original Banksy, will surely infuriate some BSA readers. In the context of Specters other “sidebusts” and his own semi-rigid rulebook, however, it makes it’s own curious sense. And the woman who appears to have inched her way closer to the baby carriage as she become more complete? What of her? Reached for comment, Specter only said that in this unwanted collaboration he “used the Banksy baby carriage to make a reference to the conservative agenda that attempts to control women’s reproductive systems.”

Mystery solved.

Right?

Banksy/Specter (photo © Specter)

Banksy/Specter detail. (photo © Specter)

“In this colab I used the Banksy baby carriage to make a reference to the conservative agenda that attempts to control women’s reproductive systems”. Specter

Banksy/Specter (photo © Specter)

To read our interview with Specter last year as he explains “Unwanted Collaborations / Sidebusts” here >> Specter Spot-Jocks Shepard Fairey in New York City

 

Read more

Art Basel Miami 2011 : BSA Picks

Miami is basically “South Brooklyn” starting right about now, minus the bagels, the B62 bus, and the compulsive habit of cutting you off mid-sentence.  Artists, galleries, fans, party girls and boys, djs, – they all head south the first few days of December for the big fair and all the little ones.

It already seems a little quieter here because Fountain took the weirdos, Wynwood Walls took the Soho softshoes, and The Underbelly collected the hardcore characters just long enough to sign a book and scarf some pizza before looking for a tunnel somewhere. Art Basel is a feast and the draw of Street Art and graffiti continues apace this year, with entrants from all the strata looking for a wall, and maybe a party, and a honey to go skinny dip with.

We picked a few Street Art related gems here that you might want to hit, but even if you show up in Miami this week with no plans, you’ll easily find some trouble to get into, we trust. Do your best.

Underbelly Project

Photo © Ian Cox courtesy of The Underbelly Project

After a full year underground, The Underbelly Project is coming to Miami during Art Basel. A pop up gallery, the show will feature original artwork from many of the 103 international artists who participated in the hidden subway project in New York. The exhibition will feature a video piece of multiple installations happening simultaneously, as well as new pieces by many of the artists. Additionally a book signing of the first volume to come out about the project, published by Rizzoli, will take place on December 2nd. Artists participating in the signing include: Dabs & Myla, Rone, Gaia, Lister, Eric Haze, Joe Iurato, Adam Feibleman, Know Hope, Jeff Stark, Jason Eppink, Jim and Tina Darling, The London Police, Dan Witz, Specter, Surge and other surprise artists.

Included in the show are street, graffiti and fine artists alike. The full line-up includes: Faile, Dabs & Myla, TrustoCorp, Aiko, Rone, Revok, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Mark Jenkins, Anthony Lister, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, M-City, Kid Zoom, Eric Haze, Saber, Meggs, Jim & Tina Darling, The London Police, Sheone, Skewville, Jeff Stark, Jordan Seiler, Jason Eppink and I AM, Dan Witz, Specter, Ripo, MoMo, Remi/Rough, Stormie Mills, Swoon, Know Hope, Skullphone, L’Atlas, Roa, Surge, Gaia, Michael De Feo, Joe Iurato, Love Me, Adam 5100, and Chris Stain.

THE UNDERBELLY SHOW
29 November – Press Preview 5pm/ Private View 7pm
30 November – Collector’s Preview 7pm
1 December – Secret Wars US vs. UK 6pm
2 December – General Opening 5pm and Artist Book Signing 6pm
The show will take place in the heart of Wynwood at 78NW 25th Street

SCOPE


Jonathan Levine Gallery At Scope with WK Interact, Aakash Nihilani, Olek, and Jason DeCaires Taylor

“Placing a focus on public art for this program, the gallery will present a series of works that highlight a diverse range of distinct styles, cultural perspectives and unconventional mediums. Each of the four artists selected represent fresh directions in creating work in public space through their innovative vision and inventive use of materials. Photography documenting their interventional imagery, sculpture, and performances convey the transformative effect their work has on its surrounding

Aakash Nihalani with Jonathan Levine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek with Jonathan Levine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WK Interact with Jonathan Levine (photo © Jaime Rojo)

:SCOPE-Miami, Booth E09
NE 1st Avenue @ NE 30th Street, Miami, FL 33127

November 29—December 4, 2011
Tues 11/29, 4—8pm | Wed 11/30—Sat 12/3, 11am—7pm | Sun 12/4, 11am—6pm

Mallick Williams Gallery at Scope with Skullphone and Curtis Kulig

Skullphone + Curtis Kulig will be showing work from their recent collaborations this fall.

Skullphone with Mallick Williams and New Image Art  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

New Image Art Gallery at Scope

This year New Image Art is proud to present Retna, Cleon Peterson, Paul Wackers, and Maya Hayuk at Scope Miami 2011.

Check out Retna with New Image Art (photo © Jaime Rojo)

White Walls Gallery at Scope

White Walls will be hosting four booths at SCOPE, situated in the center of Miami’s Wynwood Gallery Arts District, featuring a MTN Colors Group show with APEX, Neon, Estria, Vogue, Blek le Rat, HUSH, Kofie and Chor Boogie, a White Walls Group show with Casey Gray, Ben Eine and Greg Gossel, and solo shows for both ABOVE and ROA. APEX, Eine, Kofie, ABOVE, ROA and Chor Boogie will also be painting at the Kohn compound on 24th street.

Ben Eine with White Walls (photo © Jaime Rojo)

ROA with White Walls  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Chor Boogie and Augustine Kofie (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of exhibitors and events click here SCOPE

Wynwood Walls

Wynwood Walls is premiering 7 new Street Art murals and 16 new pieces at Wynwood Doors and walls outside.

Debuting in tandem with the new murals and installations during Art Basel this year on Tuesday, November 29, 2011, the “Shop at the Walls” the first Wynwood Walls Pop Up gallery space that will offer artworks and the new Wynwood Walls book.The book has interview with Street Artists and photography by Martha Cooper.

Artists include Retna, The Date Farmers, How and Nosm, Gaia (USA), Saner and Sego (Mexico), Liqen (Spain), Neuzz (Mexico), Nunca (Brazil), Vhils (Portugal), Interesni Kazki (Ukraine), Faile (USA) and b. (Greece)Kenny Scharf is expected to augment his existing wall, and remaining work from the last two years from Nunca, Shepard Fairey, Aiko, Ryan McGinness, Stelios Faitakis and avaf will be on display.

Walls Outside the Wynwood Walls, encompassing key locations outside of the actual art park itself and in the surrounding neighborhood, will be created by Friends With You (USA), avaf (Brazil and France), Nunca, and Interesni Kazki (Ukraine); joining works previously completed by Swoon and Barry McGee.

Location:
Wynwood Walls and the Pop Up Shop are located at NW Second Avenue – between Joey’s Italian Café on 25th Street and the art-filled Wynwood Kitchen & Bar on 26th Street – and are open to the public free of charge.

HERE COMES THE NEIGHBORHOOD: WYNWOOD (Video)

Fountain Art Fair

“Our preferred punk rock lopsided Anti-Fair.” —Brooklyn Street Art

This year Fountain Miami’s signature on-site street art installation is curated by Samson Contompasis, director of Albany’s The Marketplace, and will feature over 150 feet of work Street Artists including Sharktoof, Chris Stain, Olek, Hugh Leeman, Chor Boogie, OverUnder, White Cocoa, Army of One, Clown Soldier, Joe Iurato, CAKE, Tip-Toe, Elle, Ian Ross, Know Hope, Depoe, and Zero Cents.

Gilf! at Fountain  (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Brooklyn’s own Mighty Tanaka Gallery is showing at Fountain Participating artists include: Adam Void, Alexandra Pacula, Alice Mizrachi, ChrisRWK, Ellen Stagg, Gigi Chen, Hellbent, Hiroshi Kumagai, JMR, John Breiner, Max Greis, Mike Schreiber, Robbie Busch, Skewville, TooFly, URnewyork, VengRWK & Miguel Ovalle

Hellbent with Mighty Tanaka (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skewville with Mighty Tanaka   (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a full listing of events and schedules click here Fountain Art Fair

December 1–4, 2011
2505 North Miami Avenue (at the corner of 25th St) | Miami, FL 33137
General Hours: 12pm–7pm daily
Tickets: $10 daily / $15 weekend pass. All tickets sold at door.

Primary Projects

 

 

A new exhibit debuting during Art Basel Miami Beach 2011

Thursday, December 1
Opening Reception
7:00 to 10:00 p.m.

RETNA, Jessy NITE, Stormie MILLS, Evan ROBARTS, Lena SCHMIDT, Luis PINTO, Andrew SCHOULTZ, Karen STAROSTA-GILINSKI, Kenton PARKER, TM SISTERS, Samantha SALZINGER, Emmette MOORE, Anthony LISTER, Charles KRAFFT, Tatiana SUAREZ, Edouard NARDON, Andrew NIGON, Johnny ROBLES and Lawrence GIPE.

For further information regarding this event click Primary Projects

Primary Projects
4141 NE Second Avenue
Suite 104
Miami, FL 33137

 

 

Living Walls is working with with Primary Flight, one of the original graffiti and Street Art mural projects, to create 3 new murals in the Wynwood District.

Participating Artists:

JAZ (Buenos Aires, Argentina) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Know Hope (Tel Aviv, Israel) (photo © Jaime Rojo)

PULSE Fair

 

Andrew Edlin Gallery at Pulse with Elbow Toe

Brian Adam Douglas AKA Elbow Toe (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Joshua Liner Gallery at Pulse with Stephen Powers

Stephen Powers (photo © Jaime Rojo)

For a complete list of exhibitors and schedules of events click here PULSE

 

Read more

Anthony Lister Talks to BSA : Analysis and Constant Consideration

“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.

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-jaime-rojo-1-web

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.

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-jaime-rojo-5-web

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.

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-jaime-rojo-4-web

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.”

bsa-anthony-lister-copyright-jaime-rojo-street-art-saved-my-life-6

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.

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-jaime-rojo-2-web

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.

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-jaime-rojo-6-web

Anthony Lister in Brooklyn (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-jaime-rojo-3-web

Anthony Lister in Manhattan (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-lister-2-jaime-rojo-12-10

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

Anthony-lister-Brooklyn-Street-Art-Todd-Mazer-08-11-2-web

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

Anthony-lister-Brooklyn-Street-Art-Todd-Mazer-08-11-6-web

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

brooklyn-street-art-lister-los-angeles-08-11-web

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

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-jaime-rojo-street-art-los-angeles-08-11-web

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

brooklyn-street-art-anthony-lister-Luke-McKinnon-Andrius-Lipya-san-francisco-2-web

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

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Screensave-Anthony-Lister-Website-Sept-2011

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

www.anthonylister.com

Read more

New from Specter: “The first piece of street art in Tajikistan”

Dobroye ytro !

Brooklyn based Street Artist and Fine Artist Specter was in Dushanbe, Tajikistan for two weeks where he gave a few lectures and conducted workshops about street art and public art and his experiences as a Street Artist in the last few years.

brooklyn-street-art-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-18-webSpecter. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (photo © Specter)

“While I was there I also had a chance to put up what I would call the first piece of street art in Tajikistan,” says Specter, and we have no reason to doubt it. The hand painted wheat-pasted pieces Specter has been doing featuring sober, no-nonsense portraits swathed in woven fabric that wraps or floats loosely around the head or torso. As is his practice, the neighborhood, history, and people play into his selections of model and materials.

brooklyn-street-art-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-20-web

An assistant stands aside the new Specter piece in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (photo © Specter)

brooklyn-street-art-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-19-web

Okay, everybody look this way. Ready? Smile! A new Specter piece in Dushanbe, Tajikistan (photo © Specter)

brooklyn-street-art-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-11-web

Specter. Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Specter at work with local artists during a week of workshops at the Bactria Cultural Center. (photo © Specter)

brooklyn-street-art-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-12-web

Specter. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (photo © Specter)

brooklyn-street-art-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-17-web

Specter. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (photo © Specter)

Central Asian Graffiti king, Evgenii Makshakov AKA Chervi, also taught workshops and gave lectures for art students at Bactria.

brooklyn-street-art-Chevri-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-15-web

Chervi. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (photo © Specter)

brooklyn-street-art-Chevri-specter-dushambe-Tajikistan-16-web

Chervi. Dushanbe, Tajikistan (photo © Specter)

streetThe Lectures and workshops took place at the Bactria Cultural Center in Dushambe.
This project was made possible by  CEC ArtsLink and The Department of State.
For more images of Chervi’s work visit his Flickr page:
Read more

Specter Memorializes Yusuf Hawkins in Brooklyn

There are 8 million stories in the naked city – that’s what we’ve heard. Street Artist Specter has recently brought back to memory one that many would like to forget, frankly, because it speaks to the undercurrent of racism that persists in our country, the burning embers of ignorance whose flames can be easily stoked given the right circumstances.

brooklyn-street-art-specter-yusuf-hawkins-jaime-rojo-brooklyn-09-11-web-1Specter “Yusuf Hawkins” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

22 years after the racially motivated mob murder of a teenager in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a decaying memorial to Yusuf Hawkins still remains in another Brooklyn neighborhood called Bedford-Stuyvesant. The crime that caused the city to reel in pain was compounded by the fact that the cancer was appearing in such young fresh faced people; Yusef was 16, his assailants only slightly older. As the circumstances of his death revealed the level of polarization in the city, it sparked more unrest, violence, and marches in the streets.

A generation later, the memorial has withstood time, the natural elements, neglect and vandalism. Meanwhile our progress toward an equitable society is still very much in question.

To honor Yusuf, Specter installed a 14 by 14 foot hand-painted portrait adorned with flowers. The placement maintains former additions by other artists and much of the original wall painted by Brooklyn master-muralist, Floyd Sapp. As happens with  many memorial walls, Yusuf’s mural was blanketed with scrawled messages to him and other fallen community members. In this latest piece by Specter, the Street Artist continues that tradition by adding to the historic wall now revitalized by the memory of a young man whose life was cut short.

brooklyn-street-art-specter-yusuf-hawkins-jaime-rojo-brooklyn-09-11-web-2

Specter “Yusuf Hawkins” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

brooklyn-street-art-specter-yusuf-hawkins-jaime-rojo-brooklyn-09-11-web-3

Specter “Yusuf Hawkins” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read more

Gilf! “Back Talk” Conversation

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-BANNER-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-GILF-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

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.

bsa-gilf-copyright-jaime-rojo-street-art-saved-my-life-2

Gilf! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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

Read more

Rene Gagnon “Back Talk” Conversation

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-BANNER-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-RENE-GAGNON-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

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 Rene Gagnon.

The first record or CD you ever bought? The last album you downloaded?
“First has to be RUN DMC – with the Krush Groove jam. Eminem, ‘Relapse & Recovery.’ “

bsa-rene-gagnon-copyright-jaime-rojo-street-art-saved-my-life-1

Rene Gagnon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read “Back Talk: A conversation with Rene Gagnon” on Juxtapoz: http://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/back-talk-a-conversation-with-rene-gagnon

Read more

Mark Carvalho “Back Talk” Conversation

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-BANNER-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-MARK-CARVALHO-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

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 Mark Carvalho.

Something you want the world to know about you:
“I only sing two songs for karaoke; Lionel Richie’s ‘Hello’ and Tupac’s ‘How do you want it’.”

bsa-mark-carvalho-copyright-jaime-rojo-street-art-saved-my-life-1

Mark Carlvalho (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Read “Back Talk: A conversation with Mark Carvalho” on Juxtapoz: http://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/back-talk-a-conversation-with-mark-carvalho

Read more

Indigo “Back Talk” Conversation

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-BANNER-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

Brooklyn-Street-Art-Juxtapoz-INDIGO-Back-Talk-Street-Art-Saved-My-Life

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 Indigo.

Artists you admire:

“I admire everyone who has the courage to spend hours, weeks, months and years turning thoughts and feelings into things, then putting them out into the world for others to respond with love or hate or complete indifference.  I admire anyone who has the integrity to create for themselves, first and foremost.  I admire those who are constantly pushing themselves to try new ideas, use new mediums, reach out to new audiences and immerse themselves in uniquely challenging experiences.  I admire everyone who has taken a leap of faith, fallen into dark and swirling waters and after what often seems like a lifetime of struggle, reached the sunshine on the other side – only to do it all over again.”

brooklyn-street-art-indigo-7-web

Indigo (photo © Victoria Potter)

Read “Back Talk: A conversation with Indigo” on Juxtapoz: http://www.juxtapoz.com/Features/back-talk-a-conversation-with-anthony-lister

Read more

BSA at LA MOCA for “Street Art Stories” Presentation and Panel

HuffPost Arts and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) hosted a presentation and panel discussion presented by Brooklyn Street Art founders Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo this past Saturday at the Ahmanson Auditorium with 150 guests. Five days after the closing of the record breaking “Art in the Streets” show at LA MOCA, which was seen by over 200,000 visitors, BSA charted some new ground going forward in the ever evolving graffiti and street art movement.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3305

Panelists having a lively discussion at “Street Art Stories” hosted by HuffPost Arts and LA MOCA at Ahmanson Auditorium at MOCA Grand in downtown Los Angeles. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

The panelists, who included HuffPost Arts Editor Kimberly Brooks and Street Art phenom Shepard Fairey, watched a presentation by Harrington and Rojo about a new storytelling direction that artists are bringing to the streets of New York and other cities around the world. With examples of relative newcomers not seen by many in the audience, they pointed to precursors from the last 40 years to this storytelling practice and questioned how its sudden growth may be evolving what we have been calling “Street Art” for the last decade.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3232

Steven P. Harrington talks about community murals and memorial walls to illustrate antecedents to the new movement of storytellers who engage passersby on a greater level than in the recent past.  Shown is a community mural by New York’s Tats Cru shot by and © of Martha Cooper.  (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

After a conversation with panelists Brooks, Fairey, Marsea Goldberg, Ken Harman, and Ethel Seno that covered topics like the paucity of females in the street art scene, the influence of the Internet on “getting up”, and the significance of personal engagement in the work of many of today’s new street artists, Harrington and Rojo opened the discussion up the auditorium. Here topics ranged from LA’s evolving approach to Street Art to include public and permanent art, the influence of money on street artists, and how a show like “Art in the Streets” effectively influences the next generations’ perception of street art.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3244

BSA’s Steven P. Harrington gestures toward the screen while panelists look on in the front row. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

The packed event was interesting enough to bring many audience members down to the stage after the show to continue the conversation and meet the panelists and LA MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch, who took great interest in the presentation, talked with a number of people before taking off. Fairey, with his wife Amanda at his side and a healing black eye from his recent trip to Copenhagen (see his account for HuffPost Arts here) gamely took on questions from many and posed for pictures after the event and at the reception which HuffPost hosted afterward.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3238

During the presentation, Brooklyn Street Art talked about the use of Street Art as a way of addressing a variety of social and political issues, including this example of Shepard Fairey and the topic of peace. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3250

BSA co-founder and Director of Photography Jaime Rojo introduces the panelists. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3260

(photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3253

(photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3270

Brooklyn Street Art Co-founders Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington converse with esteemed panelists at “Street Art Stories”, hosted by HuffPost Arts and LA MOCA.

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3284

Contemporary American Painter and the Founding Arts Editor of the Huffington Post, Kimberly Brooks next to street artist Shepard Fairey at “Street Art Stories” Panel at LA MOCA. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3267

(photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3273

Shepard Fairey, Marsea Goldberg, Ken Harman, and Ethel Seno. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3282

Marsea Goldberg, Director of New Image Art Gallery in West Hollywood, who since 1994 has launched or mobilized the careers of artists such as Shepard Fairey, Ed Templeton, Neckface, Faile, the Date Farmers, Judith Supine, and Bäst just to name a few. Next to Ms. Goldberg is Ken Harman, Managing Online Editor at Hi-Fructose Magazine, the owner and curator at Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco, and the creator and editor of the the “Art of Obama” website. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3301

Ethel Seno, Curatorial Coordinator for the MOCA exhibition “Art in the Streets” at the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA and the Editor of the book “Trespass: A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art” published by Taschen. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3294

Shepard Fairey at “Street Art Stories” Panel at LA MOCA. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3310

(photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3292

Street art photographer Jaime Rojo of Brooklyn Street Art. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3319

Edward Goldman, LA art critic, Huffpost blogger, and host of KCRW’s “Art Talk” for 20 years, poses a question on the effect of a big museum show like “Art in the Streets” on the new generation of would be street artists. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3304

Seno and Harman (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3318

The Ahmanson Auditorium for “Street Art Stories” at LA MOCA (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3329

Thank you to Kimberly Brooks and our great panel. (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)

Brooklyn-Street-Art-WEB-MOCA-Panel-Aug132011-copyright-Carlos-Gonzalez-IMG_3338

Director of LA MOCA and co-curator of “Art in the Streets”, Jeffrey Deitch, talks with Shepard Fairey after the presentation and panel (photo © Carlos Gonzalez)


<<<>>><><>>><<<<>>><><>>><<<<>>><><>>><<<<>>><><>>><<<<>>><><>>><

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

MONICA ROACHE, JESSICA YOUN, CHRIS RICHMOND, DAVID BRADSHAW, JEFFREY DEITCH, LYN WINTER, PATRICK IACONIS, TANYA PATSAOURUS, TRAVIS KORTE, MELINDA BROCKA, TINA SOIKKELI, EUTH, ANDREW
HOSNER, CARLOS GONZALEZ, KIMBERLY BROOKS, MARSEA GOLDBERG, KEN HARMAN,SHEPARD FAIREY, ETHEL SENO, THE MOCA MUSEUM STAFF AND SECURITY,

THE HUFFINGTON POST, THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, LOS ANGELES (MOCA), BROOKLYNSTREETART.COM, HI-FRUCTOSE, JUXTAPOZ,

IMAGES IN PRESENTATION BY JAIME ROJO WITH ADDITIONAL PHOTOS BY MARTHA COOPER, REVS PHOTO BY BECKI FULLER, and FAUXREEL PHOTOS BY DAN BERGERON

Read more