All posts tagged: Steven P. Harrington

BSA Images Of The Week: 05.22.16

May 22, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

No time to talk, you’ve been running to the streets to see new pieces and peaches like a new D*Face in Soho, Rubin’s solo show in the Bronx, the Brooklyn-themed pop up at Doyle’s Auction house in Manhattan, Swoon and Shep and Swizz at Pearly’s in LA, the Social Sticker club collabo melee with Roycer and Buttsup at a bar in Williamsburg, and the growing collection of rocking new Coney Art Walls. Also, Post-It Wars in corporate agency-land Manhattan.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring 1Penemy, BG 183 Tats Cru, Bio, Bristol, Daze, D*Face, Eric Haze, Goms, Nicer, Nova, Pegasus, POE, Stikki Peaches, Thiago Gomez, and Word to Mother.

Our top image: D*Face for The L.I.S.A. Project in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HAZE completed this fresh tribute wall dedicated to MCA of the Beastie Boys for Coney Art Walls 2016 in Coney Island, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Ain’t seen the light since we started this band
M.C.A. get on the mike, my man!
Born and bred Brooklyn
The U.S.A.
They call me Adam Yauch
But I’m M.C.A.”

No Sleep Till Brooklyn

1PENEMY stenciled of a mock mug shot of famed supermodel Stephanie Seymour. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikki Peaches comes out with a dream posse of rebels; James Dean, Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, and Marlon Brando on the streets of Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DAZE completed this wall for Coney Art Walls 2016. Included in the composition of this mural is the Elephant Hotel, a seven story, 31 room fantasy hotel built in old Coney Island in 1885 shaped like an elephant. Besides the guest rooms the structure also boasted an observatory, a gift shop and a concert hall before it burned down in 1896. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Banksy inspired window piece made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

According to New York Magazine the Post-it “artists” took their craftsmanship to new heights after someone installed a simple “hi” message on the window of one of the two buildings facing each other on Canal Street. After one week the “war” is in full effect with several messages directed at each other offices ranging from “Will you marry me” to songs’ lyrics and other pleasantries and pop references. The two buildings are known for housing several ad agencies, Getty images and New York Magazine.

A Keith Haring-inspired window piece made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unidentified “artist” applies his final touches to the Snoopy inspired window piece made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A close up of two window pieces made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A general view of several windows and pieces made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A “Marry Me?” sign made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. The piece is signed but we don’t recognize the signature. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pegasus’ Trump piece on the streets of Bristol, UK. (photo © Urban Art International)

POE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Word To Mother beautified the AthenB Gallery van in Oakland, California on the occasion of his solo show currently on view. (photo © Brock Brake)

Bio, Nicer and BG 183 of Tats Cru completed their totally fun and vibrantly hued wall for Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thiago Gomez and Emilio Cerezo collaboration wall in Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

NOVA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Berlin. April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Please note: All content including images and text are © BrooklynStreetArt.com, unless otherwise noted. We like sharing BSA content for non-commercial purposes as long as you credit the photographer(s) and BSA, include a link to the original article URL and do not remove the photographer’s name from the .jpg file. Otherwise, please refrain from re-posting. Thanks!

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How & Nosm Strike a “Balancing Act” in Detroit

May 21, 2016 Artists

Yin and Yang.
Good and Evil.
Joy and Pain.
Positive and Negative.
Bitterness and Forgiveness.
These are among the laws of polarity that are at play in our daily lives with us somehow moderating, ameliorating, mollifying, strengthening, accentuating one or the other to achieve a sense of balance.

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How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

Graffiti writers/Street Artists and twin brothers How & Nosm draw our attention to this continuous and natural process in an epic new mural that they just completed in Detroit. They tell us that the framework of “family” was on their minds when conceptualizing the piece, with cogitations on the traditional polarity of matriarchy and patriarchy and the often delicate nature of providing a harmonious structure within that framework. It’s an idyllic concept, and in their press release the brothers acknowledge that is not always the case.

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

Completed in conjunction with their “In Between” show at the Library Street Collective, this balancing act is “We are each pulled in different directions and balancing work, personal life, family and friends and health is increasingly difficult.”

The massive work contains symbols of struggle and throughout the composition looks for optical counterweights to answer overages, completed with patterning, character, and calligraphic linework. As with many of their nested storylines, How & Nosm leave much of the interpretation to the viewer here – a vibrant and organic painting that provides a balance to an equally massive one on this prima facade by Shepard Fairey that was also commissioned by a real estate company.

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

Proudly coming from a background of graffiti and vandalism to completing a paid legal mural itself encompasses a polarity that many fans and critics discuss regularly today, not always producing agreement. We don’t know if the brothers considered this debate specifically when approaching the project,but you know it probably crosses their minds. Maybe that’s why the last statement they make in their description of the new work is “This mural stands as a reminder to strive for that balance.”

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” with Shepard’s Fairey on the right. Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

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Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock – “Joy & Pain” 12″ Extended Version

BSA Film Friday: 05.20.16

May 20, 2016 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :

1. Christian Omodeo Talks About “Street Art – Banksy & Co.”
2. Guido Van Helten on Abandoned Silos in Australia
3. CTVà Street Fest 2016 Recap
4. How & Nosm’s Monumental Mural in Detroit by Dennis Porto
5. Shepard Fairey being Quick on his Feet

BSA Special Feature: Christian Omodeo Talks About “Street Art – Banksy & Co.”

It’s impossible to enter a chatroom or a bar frequented by graffiti/Street Art types today without some mention of this exhibition in Italy. The topic centers around an unresolved, largely heretofore undiscussed question of any removal of illegally placed art from property for any purposes except to destroy it. Here one of the curators of the exhibit, Christian Omodeo takes you on a tour of the complete exhibit discussing tags, photography, collectors habits, the relevance of an object as a conveyor of culture. Finally the interviewer, Good Guy Boris, broaches the subject of works taken from the urban wild. The topic is tackled head-on with Omodeo very clearly laying out a case for …

Guido Van Helten on Abandoned Silos in Australia

A beautifully shot feel-good story of a small town farming community decimated by corporate industrial farming in Brim in the Wimmera region of Victoria, Australia. It is a familiar story about the disappearing family farm and our control of the food supply that has happened across much of the so-called First World but most people still haven’t connected the dots. Here artist Guido Van Helten focuses on the local story, the left-behind individuals affected directly by economic downturn and loss of community – and paints them heroically across an architectural archetype that rises triumphantly above the land, a row of grain silos. Juddy Roller produces, Round 3 Creative directs.

CTVà Street Fest 2016 Recap

Highlights of the CVTA Festival – Street Fest in Civitacampomarano in Campobasso (Italy). A small town of 400 celebrated for 4 days in April with Biancoshock (Italy) , David de la Mano (Uruguay) , Pablo S. Herrero (Spain) , Icks (Italy) , Hitnes (Italy), and ONE (Italy).

How & Nosm’s Monumental Mural in Detroit by Dennis Porto

A huge new piece by How & Nosm captured here helps you appreciated the talents and the scope. More on this project soon here.

Shepard Fairey being Quick on his Feet

Quick! A word choice game that keeps you apprised of your local Street Artist’s preferences. Video by Konbini

Swoon: “Pearly’s Beauty Shop” in LA Helps You Be a Glamorous Philanthropist

May 19, 2016 Artists

SWOON and “Pearly’s Beauty Shop” are back!
Heliotrope Benefit!
Buy your TIX for Saturday 5/21 in Los Angeles HERE!

BSA was an early and fervent supporter of the very first Pearly’s Beauty Shop nearly four years ago in Long Island City, New York: Swoon herself was there painting nails and the brand-new Braddock Tile architectural model was on display amongst all the lace-paper cut constructions, hair dressers, stylists, costumers, swirling lights and DJs.

This Saturday in downtown Los Angeles the 2016 Artist-Run Soiree named “Pearly’s” will dwarf that first one in star power, sponsors, co-hosts, DJs, guest curators, performance artists, hair dioramas, costumes, glitter, and rouge.

Hosted by Superchief Gallery and benefitting Swoon’s Heliotrope Foundation, you are invited to re-imagine fantastically your personal aesthetics with a bevy of talented professionals at the ready to help make dreams come true – and to fund Heliotrope so it can help communities to heal after natural disasters, economic blight, and other urgent social crisis.

Juxtapoz’s Evan Pricco has curated a list of cool artists for an exclusive Pearly’s 2016 print release, Shepard Fairey will be at the wheels of steel, and Brooklyn babe now Hollywood bombshell Marsea Goldberg is curating a special exhibition called “Vanity”. Also, an auction curated by Raina Mehler and Andrew Lockhart.

Also, surprises. That’s all we can say.

West Coast Represent!!

SWOON invites you to Pearly’s Beauty Shop
Saturday, May 21, 2016
7 pm to 1 am
Superchief Gallery
739 Kohler St, Los Angeles, California 90021

TICKETS: Tickets start at $50 and can be purchased at bit.ly/pearlys2016
DRESS CODE: Come as you are

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS BY CLICKING ON THIS LINK: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/pearlys-beauty-shop-tickets-24667609484

HOST COMMITTEE: Swizz Beatz • Jane Golden • Sallyann Kluz • Andrew Lockhart • Karmimadeebora McMillan • Sandra Powell • Zahra Sherzad • Anthony Spiegel • Ryan Nuckel • KT Tierney • Natalie Kates • Bill Dunleavy • Edward Zipco • Marsea Goldberg • Als Kenny • Ryland Behrens • Tamara Goldstein • Lisa Shimamura • Andrew Edward Brown • Liat Cohen • JL Sirisuk • Raina Mehler • Alex Fanning • Afrodet Zuri • Andrea Fiona Pagliai Londoño • Siovan Hope Ross • Adam Lehrer • Kristin Sancken • Charlotte Reed • Kurt McVey

Pearly’s Beauty Shop 2016 thanks Jefferson Projects; Juxtapoz Magazine; Lagunitas Brewing Company; Stolen Rum; Gary Lichtenstein Editions at Mana; Art Report; ArtLeadHER; and Red Flower for their generous support. Pearly’s is pleased to partner with LAMP Community, a Skid Row-based organization seeking to end homelessness and foster self-sufficiency among those living with severe mental illness.

San Salvador, Street Artists, Food Insecurity and “Conect-Arte”

May 18, 2016 Artists, Interview

Six street artists took their social engagement a step further in El Salvador last month and taught youth some serious skillz from the street.

Coming from Brazil, Australia, Ecuador, Mexico, New York, and New Jersey, this international crew took the time to share and teach about painting, art, and how community can be built. The program Conect-Arte is a newly launched initiative by the United Nations World Food Programme, which as the name suggests, also is in the city to address a more core need to battle food insecurity. With Conect-Arte the goal is to also meet youth in some communities and help with positive role models an options with an eye on transforming lives through developing art and related creative skills that can provide income and channel energy in ways productive to community.

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Vexta. Process shot. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

Together the artists worked on projects with 45 teens and younger kids over the course of the a week-long workshop in San Salvador, teaching street art techniques like stencil, lettering, mural painting, sculpture, even hot air balloon making. The goals are huge, like reducing violence, food insecurity, increasing access to economic opportunity. The tools here are art, the creative spirit, and strengthening relationships.

We bring you some images of the works that were made by the visiting artists and some of their observations and experiences during the Conect-Arte program.

Vexta. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

For her large mural project, Street Artist Vexta referenced the national bird, the Talapo, but creating two together in “Todos Estamos Conectados”. She says it is a reflection mural of this now endangered species at the entrance of a nascent community center called Teatro Camara Roque Dalton. During her installation she worked with three students and they experimented with abstract painting techniques, washes, spray paint, stencils and colour theory.

Brooklyn Street Art: How can a project like this help people feel connected to their city and their neighbors?
Vexta: This is a great question. In San Salvador there are very physical divisions that are highly visible – tall concrete fences topped with razor wire and the favela type neighborhoods which are often gang controlled territories. So people are really disconnected.

Conect-Arte enabled two groups of young people to come together from two distinct neighborhood areas – The Historic Centre and San Jacinto. The young people in the workshops got to connect with other young people that they wouldn’t have met otherwise, new friends were made and skills shared. This was super beautiful to see.

Vexta.Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Its really hard for young people in San Salvador who live in poorer neighborhoods to move about the city. The threat of gang and police violence is very real. My group in particular made plans to stay in touch, to make more art together and start break-dancing together.

Whilst I was painting at Roque Dalton I had quite a few local people come to thank me for creating something beautiful in their neighborhood, and especially within the historic centre which is an area that is quite neglected, rundown and old. I think art in the streets can provide people with something they can feel proud of, a focal point or new memory site that is not an advertisement billboard or an architectural symbol – which is how we usually navigate modern cities.

Vexta.Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

This time they can say “I live near the twin birds that were painted for me” instead of “I live by the Mister Donut.” I hope my piece can bring a sense of the joy for life in a place struggling to remember what the value of life is. To me when you are seeing people approach the building to spend time taking photos of themselves and their friends and family, actively engaging with the art, is proof of a very real connection occurring between people and their city.

Vexta.Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Vexta. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY (Lunar New Year) says that he and students created a work based upon a poem by Javier Zamora entitled “Instrucciones Para Mi Entierro” (Instructions For My Funeral)

Brooklyn Street Art: Is it difficult to try to represent poetry visually?
LNY: It could be difficult yes but to me it became a matter of reacting to the poetry as opposed to try to represent it literally – which is the same way that I approach making context-sensitive art or murals. The poem was a starting point for our conversation and it helped inspire ideas, images, a mood and an internal narrative for the mural. We reacted to the poem the way dancing is a reaction to music, but we were not bound by a literal representation of the poem.

LNY. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Brooklyn Street Art: An average person can encounter a mural or a poem and, without context, have an interpretation that is very different from what the author intended. Do you ever feel like you want to leave an explanation near your artwork so a passerby can understand it better?
LNY: Art has the power and range of a self contained language, one that works just like a written one but benefits from not being attached to a particular official language, nation or culture. See, I find myself traveling to lands where I do not speak the local language, be it literally or the proper vernacular, but by making art I get to bridge that gap and communicate regardless – the universal language of art allows me to communicate beyond English or Spanish or what have you.

So that’s one thing, art can fully explain itself as a visual language. Then you have the problem of interpretation which I, as an artist, will never fully control so let’s not go there. Lastly, and what I think becomes really interesting, is the idea of audience as far as an explanation would go.

My answer was to somehow take an interpretation of a poem and turn it into something new and visual that you can now read as a mural, as its own thing, as an experience with its own language – as a new and self contained visual poem.

LNY. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY. Detail. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY. Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Lenny Correa)

In descriptions of the project the subject of safety in San Salvador comes up frequently, with stories of youth and families restricted to safe zones behind walls, fences, barbed wire for fear of violence from gangs and heavy handed authorities. Mexican Street Artist Paola Delfin created her piece entitled Tu eres yo¨/ ¨You are me” in one of these protected neighborhoods.

She says in the group’s press release ” This wall is inspired by many factors, after finding out a bit about the area where the wall is situated – A neighborhood consider safe in San Salvador. El Salvador is a country that a lot of people think of as a really wild place, but you can also find so many pretty things and beautiful people, this wall for example is the facade of ¨La Casa Tomada¨ a really inspiring place where many young people get together to create and learn from each other about art, music, media and many things.”

Paola Delfin. Process shot. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Brooklyn Street Art: Does San Salvador have a particular personality on the street? How does an artist effectively speak to that audience on the street with their work?
Paola Delfin: Unfortunately I didn’t have much time to check out a lot of places around San Salvador, but I felt really related to it. I felt it looks pretty similar to Mexico, and I think the contrasts you can find there are pretty similar as well.

I think not only the Salvadorian audience but a lot of people from nearby countries (even my own) expect to communicate their thoughts and concerns about a lot of situations that are happening. I guess that we as artists have to find the way to share their thoughts and try to focus on the impact that our own thoughts could have on the people who see our work.

Paola Delfin. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Street Artist Mr Toll created a number food related sculptural pieces in reference to the food scarcity issue in his work with the youth. Twisting the name of his project, he literally was making “Street Food” (Comida Callejera). He is quoted in the group’s press release saying,

“One of the major concerns in San Salvador is Food Security. This inspired my workshop and subsequent Street Sculpture collaborations with the students. During the workshops we focused on the healthy everyday foods the youth come in contact with, we discussed different issues while preparing the sculptures and then brought them together on the street as food face collages,” obviously injecting a brand of comedy that the kids could appreciate.

Mr. Toll. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

“The opportunity of working directly on the street as a group gave the youth the freedom to play, experiment and feel safe in a public domain which generally they don’t have access too,” he says. “They face many restrictions due to gang activity and a heavy handed police presence in San Salvador. It was important for me to help to bring a little fun and humor in a creative way to their lives in a city faced with many difficulties.”

Mr. Toll. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

Mr. Toll. Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

Adapted from the original Chinese hot air balloons, artesian balloons have had many cultures artistic influences in the last century. Brazilian Street Artist Claudio Ethos and members of the Sao Paulo based graffiti crew called 14 B.I.S crew (Sao Paulo) had a workshop promoting the art form by teaching how to make them. Called locally by the name of Globos, the project involved elements of mathematics, physics and geometry as well as a very necessary requirement of collaboration.

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Globo Lokos was the project name and working together with the youth was especially rewarding because of the airborne result of their collaborative efforts. “The focus,” says Ethos, “was start to finish object making, where the young people had the opportunity to show their city, where they live, that they can make art and be artists. We helped the youth to make the balloons drawn with art to send their prays and wishes to the sky, Then they launched their works of art into the sky, which is a very powerful action,” according to the press release.

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © WFP USA Charles Fromm)

Group shot at Casa Tomada. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Exhibit at Villa Alliv, Marseille

May 17, 2016 Artists

Three members of the French graffiti crew “Da Mental Vaporz” (DMV) just launched a short exhibit at the Villa Alliv during their residency there and today we have some exclusive images of the experimental works they created for the show.

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Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

With improvisation at its core, the graffiti practice over a decade and a half with their larger crew may have helped prepared Jaw, Kan, and Blo for this joint exhibition featuring a three dimensional sculptural abstraction that fills much of the space.

The jutting, bending planes evoke skate parks, alleys, and underground tunnels with unexpected shapes and intermittent illumination that throw shadows and rays that can be enticing and difficult to discern. Capitalizing on the chaos the trio takes turns laying patterns, gestural lines, fills and textures that chop, sharpen, and blur the dimensions as you walk through.

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

The temporary built and painted environment and the happenstance of late night illicit art-making moves also onto canvasses of what the artists like to refer to as 6-hand paintings. As each joins in a collaborative improvisation, the results can have a kinetic balance nonetheless.

As Blow and Jaw build using gesture and volumetric shape and Kan overlaying diagrammatic dot-and-line symmetries finished with a layered miasma netting of aerosol, the canvasses can appear as like science laboratory slides that have caught a sample of culture (or cultures) to examine.

Alternately, these works are an ode to a psychological and emotionally fluid state, a practice of discovery, abstraction and collaboration that fuses DMV’s collective memories and an attitude of shared creation.

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV). Detail. Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

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Ready2Rumbl Races Down Roadsides in Rotterdam

May 16, 2016 Artists

Beep Beep! The Road Runner is a good analog symbol for the fast paced Monday that many people on the streets are throwing themselves into. No matter how fast you go there is still some guy or kid on a skateboard passing you.

Ready2Rumbl. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. April 2016. (photo © ready2rumbl)

The aerosol mural work of Rotterdam’s Ready2Rumbl may remind you of the Road Runner because they are in motion, fully activated, fully of simple cartoonish splendor from the era of the Pink Panther, Jetsons, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. Ready2Rumbl is an illustrator here in The Netherlands and brings his clean curving sharpness to the streets, skate parks, and secret neglected spots around his hometown regularly. Let’s go!

Ready2Rumbl. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. April 2016. (photo © ready2rumbl)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 05.15.16

May 15, 2016 Artists, BSA Images Of The Week

Coney Art Walls is back for 2016 and the artists have already begun painting, Duke Riley is on week two of performance with pigeons in The Brooklyn Navy Yard , the #notacrimecampaign is happening in Harlem to support a free press in Iran, Newark has started a huge public mural program called “Gateways to Newark: Portraits”, Urban Nation in Berlin promises a huge announcement this week, and Vladimir Putin is in a lip-lock with Donald Trump on the street in Lithuania. There is also a lot of new free-range, unsanctioned art on the streets.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this week featuring bunny M, Cdre, Crash, Dain, Dee Dee, Etnik, finDAC, Futura, Icy & Sot, Mister Cartoon, Myth, Pegasus, and Rone.

Our top image: CRASH and the first wall completed for the 2016 edition of Coney Art Walls, courtesy of Jeffrey Deitch and his amazing crew, especially Ethel Seno. BSA will bring you all the details, works in progress and behind-the-scenes juiciness for the entire duration of the project until all the walls are completed. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

DAIN (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Etnik for fallOutWalls fest in Torino, Italy. (photo © Etnik)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pegasus in London interprets The Beckhams from his series “Gods and Monsters” (photo © Urban Art International)

An unidentified artist creates “Urban Paleontology” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE in East Harlem for #notacrimecampaign (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE. Detail. East Harlem for #notacrimecampaing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CDRE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FUTURA does something new and organic for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FUTURA. Detail. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FinDac in Berlin for Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Mister Cartoon’s is pugilistic for Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We are hoping that one of you dear readers will help us ID this artist, whose signature we can’t figure out. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skount Levitates From Under an Overpass

May 14, 2016 Artists

Introverts of the World Unite!

Brother, its hard out here. Not just the economy and the evaporating social net and the haters.

But for the introverted types, and there are many in society, just having a public face and interacting with lots of people on the street and at your job or in the barber shop is work. You’d really rather be away from all of this socializing.

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Today in Amsterdam the artist Skount shows us his concept of that sort of inner life, which he paints hidden under a bridge by himself away from the world. Many graffiti and Street Artists like these quiet places that the infrastructure of our roads and streets and train lines can afford.

“Inspired by the concept of levitation, this mural represents a state of mind, where our hidden feelings and desires from our inner universe provide an upward force that counteracts the weight of the social role established,” he says, depicting a face as a mask that is discarded and lying in a forest of some kind. Perhaps the wearer tired of it, or no longer needed it here alone in the woods with nature, away from social constructions.

Skount tells us that he was thinking of that middle psychological/social/spiritual realm where many people actually live in their day-to-day interactions with the world, a place where we are “keeping our thoughts in a state between what we are (identity) and the patterns of behavior that society imposes on an individual.”

Ah well, there is always another tunnel or abandoned factory to paint…

BSA Film Friday: 05.13.16

May 13, 2016 Artists

Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.

Now screening :

1. Jorge Rodriguez Gerarda: Changing The Face Of Barcelona
2. Nychos X Udon Lords Crew in Taiwan
3. ERICAILCANE / Mexico City
4. Pref ID

BSA Special Feature: Jorge Rodriguez Gerarda: Changing The Face Of Barcelona

“It’s not necessarily street art and its not necessarily the known directions of contemporary art,” says Jorge Rodriguez Gerarda as he describes his mural paintings of a woman he photographed. His critical eye toward the way images and messages are marketed to us by advertisers is not new, he says, having devised ways to culture-jam and deface ads in the public space in New York in the past. Now he has developed a voice that in praise of the everyday person and is giving it volume on this vast façade in Barcelona.

Nychos X Udon Lords Crew in Taiwan

Building and pumping adrenaline is the cohesive device that ties together these images of people in action and the audio outtakes from adventure films, evangelists, propaganda and advertising slogans. Nychos loves to rip the mortal coil open for you to examine its contents and his metaphor is the innards of animals. This vicious/comedic somewhat exploding dragon is in itself a symbol to generations of people and by juxtaposing it with text based graffiti lettering and these intercut messages you know he is examining the beast from as many angles as possible. Director Cory Ring captures this quote in Taiwan: “But what we know is art is not a crime. The crime is the state of mind” to end the brief but effective visual and aural onslaught.

ERICAILCANE / Mexico City

Rapid drums and bass and reggae keep the painters animated for the creation of “The Rabbit & the Fox”, a new mural by the Italian Street Artist Ericailcane in Mexico City.

Images and editing by Alice Bettolo.

Pref ID

Northwest London’s Pref takes us into his studio and onto walls in a test of how he interprets words thrown to him freestyle. His overlapping word and letter styling is compelling and his point of view is clear. But hang in there for the paper-cut collages!

Strøk Strikes a New Angle on His Stencil Figures In Paris

May 12, 2016 Artists

A newly transformed wall in Rue de la Glacière in the 13th Arr. of Paris today from the Norwegian STRØK represents a genuinely new angle for the artist to approach the figure in space. Using his personal photographs taken from the midst of human activity, the stencil artist commands the open space of a wall with figures caught so realistically that you stop for a moment to register what you are seeing on this huge expanse.

brooklyn-street-art-strok-paris-05-16-web-1

He told us in Brooklyn a few weeks ago about this new piece he was developing for Paris and how it represents a slightly new direction for him, in a matter of degrees. “It looks like the figures are falling but if you tilt your head then it looks like they standing.”

Currently in the capital to prepare for his new solo show opening June 3^rd at Galerie MathGoth, STRØK will undoubtedly be presenting new approaches to his distinct craft as his mind is alive with clever ideas constantly and he’s not afraid of taking chances. Here are some exclusive shots for BSA readers to enjoy.

See our interview with him a few weeks ago:

STRØK Stencils Ernest Zacharevic Playing in a Brooklyn Doorway

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More Than Pigeons “Fly By Night” With Duke Riley in The Navy Yard

May 11, 2016 Artists

Pigeons have been a vital feature of New York’s skyline for decades, even centuries, particularly in neighborhoods like those in Brooklyn where thousands live in coops on the roofs of tall buildings, carefully overseen by their trainers, called pigeon fanciers.

Loosed from their kit to fly as a flock, tracing the sky in manifold circular patterns high above, the birds are graceful, athletic, and organically self organized. Neighborhood onlookers know that these winged performers won’t dance in unison like so many Esther Williams synchronized swimmers, but their rhythms and morphing geometry are mesmerizing, open, even thrilling.

The assembled flock of 500 New Yorkers piled onto stadium bleachers in the Brooklyn Navy Yard will undoubtedly re-think the much maligned city pigeon when they see performance artist Duke Riley and his cast of 2,000 being loosed and directed in this latest production by Creative Time. Confidently striding high atop his floating coop co-op in Wallabout Bay, Riley’s Fly By Night employs Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Williamsburg Bridge as backdrop to these glittering dancers.

You may breed them for beauty or speed, or even personality, as there are discernable differences among these Homers, Rollers, Fantails, and Russian high flyers – just a handful of the 100 or so species that most fanciers work with. Flying up the East Rivers’ great broad way in all their glory, none of these birds needs a boa; they’re simply covered in feathers.

Uncontrived and with a stage craft, set design and costumery bowing to the Navy Yard’s industrial ship-building past, Fly By Night collapses a time continuum. Certain audience members are not quite sure how it will play out as the sun is setting gently behind Manhattan and neighbors slide into their posts, smiling and waving to familiar faces, taking a quick nip from a deftly procured flask, cheeks pink in the spring chill.

As the darkness draws nearer questions remain: Will these chuckling pigeons return once they are released? Will these LED lights attached to their legs actually be visible when they are flying? Will the crowd be easily hushed by the whistles and birdcalls and long poled flags drawing generous arcs in silhouette across the sky?

Yes to all three, and as the birds flood forward into the dusk sky this audience of chatty, catty New Yorkers keep their tongues docked and their murmuring on mute to respect this natural aviary array. Presently cell phones are hoisted aloft.

One tries not to use the word “enchanting” too often, but this performance piece pairing man and nature seamlessly pierces veils between theater, anthropology, history, lore, nature, spectacle and dreamy reverie.

Witnessing this public performance of an age-old choreographed dance in the newly night sky with an international gaggle of sudden pigeon fanciers, you may wonder what else you have overlooked in the mundanity of walking to the subway.

These are the famously dissed New York pigeons of your daily life after all. But here they are center stage and such splendid and appealing dancers. Somewhere in the silently rythmic fluttering, the staccato and swooping baritone bird-calling, and the swimming of orbital troupes through the blueness, these illuminated pigeons transform into multiple schools of fish that you gaze upward to see.

Having made that break with reality the mind can wander to nautical fables and long-distance cables and whirling dervishes and the regal pageantry and circular sweeps of Balanchine, who ironically was working on a ballet called “The Birds of America” at the time of his death.

It is another New York story delivered for free in the public sphere. The movements of the birds in their self-selected formations – many are Rileys’ personally but others are borrowed or purchased from other fanciers – easily command your attention and create a momentary communal appreciation in the stands.

The gentle lapping of water in the bay is punctured by sea-faring whooping and wrastlin’ whistles of the trainer-in-chief, augmented by the low blasting horn of a distant ship in the bay, or your head. This is perfectly public space and Mr. Riley’s deft imaginings and knowledge of maritime traditions guide you calmly to your own grounded reality while launching you gently aflight through space, and time.

Duke Riley’s Fly By Night performance for Creative Time at the Brooklyn Navy Yard takes place on weekends, Friday through Sunday. May 7th through June 12th. Click HERE for full schedule and to get your FREE tickets.

Our very special thanks to RJ Rushmore for his help and expertise.

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This article is also published on The Huffington Post

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Our top image: D*Face for The L.I.S.A. Project in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

HAZE completed this fresh tribute wall dedicated to MCA of the Beastie Boys for Coney Art Walls 2016 in Coney Island, Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Ain’t seen the light since we started this band M.C.A. get on the mike, my man! Born and bred Brooklyn The U.S.A. They call me Adam Yauch But I’m M.C.A.” No Sleep Till Brooklyn

1PENEMY stenciled of a mock mug shot of famed supermodel Stephanie Seymour. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Stikki Peaches comes out with a dream posse of rebels; James Dean, Steve McQueen, Elvis Presley, and Marlon Brando on the streets of Brooklyn. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Banksy inspired window piece made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A Keith Haring-inspired window piece made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An unidentified “artist” applies his final touches to the Snoopy inspired window piece made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A close up of two window pieces made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A general view of several windows and pieces made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

A “Marry Me?” sign made entirely of Post-it notes makes an appearance on the Post-it notes war between two buildings that face each other in Manhattan. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist. The piece is signed but we don’t recognize the signature. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pegasus’ Trump piece on the streets of Bristol, UK. (photo © Urban Art International)

POE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Word To Mother beautified the AthenB Gallery van in Oakland, California on the occasion of his solo show currently on view. (photo © Brock Brake)

Bio, Nicer and BG 183 of Tats Cru completed their totally fun and vibrantly hued wall for Coney Art Walls 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Thiago Gomez and Emilio Cerezo collaboration wall in Barcelona, Spain. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

NOVA (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Untitled. Berlin. April 2016. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

How & Nosm. “Balancing Act” with Shepard’s Fairey on the right. Detroit, USA. May 2016. (photo © How & Nosm)

Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock – “Joy & Pain” 12″ Extended Version

BSA Special Feature: Christian Omodeo Talks About “Street Art – Banksy & Co.”

Guido Van Helten on Abandoned Silos in Australia

CTVà Street Fest 2016 Recap

How & Nosm’s Monumental Mural in Detroit by Dennis Porto

Shepard Fairey being Quick on his Feet

SWOON and “Pearly’s Beauty Shop” are back! Heliotrope Benefit! Buy your TIX for Saturday 5/21 in Los Angeles HERE!

Vexta. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Vexta.Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Vexta. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY. Detail. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

LNY. Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Lenny Correa)

LNY. Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Lenny Correa)

Paola Delfin. Process shot. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Paola Delfin. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

Mr. Toll. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

Mr. Toll. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

Mr. Toll. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

Mr. Toll. Workshop. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Yvette Vexta)

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © WFP USA Charles Fromm)

ETHOS. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © WFP USA Charles Fromm)

Group shot at Casa Tomada. Conect-Arte. San Salvador. April 2016. (photo © Jamie Toll)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV) Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Da Mental Vaporz (DMV). Detail. Villa Alliv. Marseille, France. April 2016 (photo © courtesy Villa Alliv)

Ready2Rumbl. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. April 2016. (photo © ready2rumbl)

Ready2Rumbl. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. April 2016. (photo © ready2rumbl)

Ready2Rumbl. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. April 2016. (photo © ready2rumbl)

Ready2Rumbl. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. April 2016. (photo © ready2rumbl)

Ready2Rumbl. Rotterdam, The Netherlands. April 2016. (photo © ready2rumbl)

DAIN (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Etnik for fallOutWalls fest in Torino, Italy. (photo © Etnik)

Icy & Sot (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pegasus in London interprets The Beckhams from his series “Gods and Monsters” (photo © Urban Art International)

An unidentified artist creates “Urban Paleontology” (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE in East Harlem for #notacrimecampaign (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RONE. Detail. East Harlem for #notacrimecampaing (photo © Jaime Rojo)

CDRE (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dee Dee (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FUTURA does something new and organic for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

FUTURA. Detail. The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Ain’t seen the light since we started this band
M.C.A. get on the mike, my man!
Born and bred Brooklyn
The U.S.A.
They call me Adam Yauch
But I’m M.C.A.”

No Sleep Till Brooklyn

SWOON and “Pearly’s Beauty Shop” are back!
Heliotrope Benefit!
Buy your TIX for Saturday 5/21 in Los Angeles HERE!