All posts tagged: The Yok

The Yok & Sheryo: “Yeahnahnesia” A Mystical Land and Guide

The Yok & Sheryo: “Yeahnahnesia” A Mystical Land and Guide

In the realm where imagination dances with audacity, Yok & Sheryo, the dynamic duo hailing from the crossroads of New York, Australia, and Asia, have conjured up a whimsical masterpiece, aptly titled “Yeahnahnesia.” Published in collaboration with the Art Gallery Western Australia, this book is a memoir and fantasy of creativity and storytelling that makes a reader question the boundaries of reality and fiction.

The Yok & Sheryo: Yeahnahnesia A Mystical Land Somewhere In The Indian Ocean. Vol 1. Published by Yok & Sheryo and The Art Gallery of Western Australia. 2566 AP / 2023.

Picture a tropical paradise, a place Google Maps forgot, where mythology, deities, philosophies, and unusual creatures roam freely. Yeahnahnesia, the brainchild of these intrepid artists, is a fictional island brimming with tales so rich that your skateboarding dreams will tip their hats in admiration. The burning questions of its existence and location will keep you up at night until you surrender to the allure of this enigmatic and chill place.

As you delve into the book’s 120 pages, you’ll be transported into an alternate dimension where art intertwines with narrative, and history plays a sly game of make-believe. The “Temple of Frivolous Wishes” at AGWA, Art Gallery Western Australia, Perth, is a mere glimpse of their artistic prowess. Bound in fabric with gold foil accents, this bound edition of 800 is a treasure.

They talk about creating and inventing belief systems based in fictional folklore, complete with talismans and totems, and temples. “It was just so fun.” Yok describes the show and the book preparations, “We’re creating these temples out of mostly plaster so people with have this feeling of a lost artifact created out of sandstone, which was inspired from our travels,” he says in a video about the project. “The color scheme for the show, Yeahnahnesia was based on the folklore that we’d written for the island, which is rich in iron ore. So that brings the red out. But there’s also a story based on the 12 dragons….”

Yok & Sheryo’s escapades have led them from the crazed and colorful streets of New York to the hidden gems of Yeahnahnesia. They’ve absorbed cultures, painted murals, and surfed waves, all culminating in their artistic vision of this exotic island. They’ve unearthed cultural artifacts, shared stories, and created a simultaneously fantastic and familiar world.

“Yeahnahnesia is a tropical island with the best lifestyle you could ever want or wish for,” explains Sheryo. “We spent three months in Australia working on the show, and we took over a warehouse. Yeah, it was the first time we got to make a lot of 3-D sculptures. You just get in a meditative mode, especially when I roll sausage rolls, and then you just wanna roll as many as possible in the shortest time possible.”

Their playful, freewheeling work has earned them a unique spot in the art world, where walls, galleries, and corporate giants have all been inspired by their creativity and its eclectic route to truth. “Yeahnahnesia” is more than just a book; it’s a portal to a place that blurs the lines between reality and imagination, a testament to the audacious spirit of Yok & Sheryo. A guidebook to the journey, you can let your mind wander through the lush landscapes and vibrant cultures of Yeahnahnesia, where the surf is perfect, the beers are cold, and peace, love, and relaxation are the day’s mantras.

The Yok & Sheryo: Yeahnahnesia A Mystical Land Somewhere In The Indian Ocean. Vol 1. Published by Yok & Sheryo and The Art Gallery of Western Australia. 2566 AP / 2023.

Also included in this book are photos from their recent show featuring the “Temple of Frivolous Wishes”  at AGWA, Art Gallery Western Australia, Perth.

  • Edition of 800, 17cm x 24.5cm, 120 pages
  • 120gsm paper, fabric bound book with gold foil
  • Co-published with Art Gallery Western Australia and supported by Dept. of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries Australia
  • Designed by Michael Norman, edited by Isobel Wise

See our article about the exhibition here: “Yeahnahnesia,” “The Temple of Frivolous Wishes,” and Yok & Sheryo in Perth

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Yok & Sheryo: “GM Paradise” in Penang

Yok & Sheryo: “GM Paradise” in Penang

From the wilds of Penang, where the psychotropic art duo Yok & Sheryo are living, comes this new print – which was also released as an animated NFT. “An ode to the beautiful tropical paradise lifestyle that The Yok and I have been living for the past 2 years,” says Sheryo, and you can see the relaxed mirth and trouble-making that normally accompanies their characters. “Sooooo here it is,” says The Yok, “our ‘gм ραяα∂ιѕє’”.

Yok & Sheryo. “GM Paradise”. Archival Pigment Print, Hand Deckled Edges on 310gsm, 100% Cotton a-cellulose Hahnemühle German Etching Paper. 2021. Released by Cultprint Co.

Done in collaboration with @cultprint, each is signed, and the APs are hand-embellished with gold leaf.

Yok & Sheryo. “GM Paradise”. Archival Pigment Print, Hand Deckled Edges on 310gsm, 100% Cotton a-cellulose Hahnemühle German Etching Paper. 2021. Released by Cultprint Co.
Yok & Sheryo. “GM Paradise”. Archival Pigment Print, Hand Deckled Edges on 310gsm, 100% Cotton a-cellulose Hahnemühle German Etching Paper. 2021. Released by Cultprint Co.
Yok & Sheryo. “GM Paradise”. Archival Pigment Print, Hand Deckled Edges on 310gsm, 100% Cotton a-cellulose Hahnemühle German Etching Paper. 2021. Released by Cultprint Co.
Sheryo at work (© Yok and Sheryo)

CLICK HERE TO GO TO CULTPRINT.CO

“GM Paradise”

Archival pigment print, Hand Deckled Edges on 310gsm, 100% cotton, a-Cellulose Hahnemühle German etching paper, 50 x 70 cm, edition of 80, signed, numbered, and includes a certificate of authenticity.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 10.20.19

BSA Images Of The Week: 10.20.19

Welcome to BSA Images of the Week, where we are dedicated to showing the news kids on the block in addition to the more established names. It’s a simple inclusive philosophy that in some way is ensuring a more level playing field for the voices on the street, and so far you tell us that is exactly what you like. Street Art isn’t about legal murals, its about people taking their voice and their talent to the streets, sometimes by any means possible.

If you were to look at the works on the street in New York you could get a good representation of the sentiment of its people; worried, confused, proud, playful, defiant, angry, comedic. Shout out to this years’ Art in Odd Places, a reliably eclectic program of artists and performers who take to the streets to engage with the public – and if you think that is easy, I’ve got a Bridge in Brooklyn I’d like to sell you.

Here’s our weekly interview with the street, this time featuring Angela Muriel, Anthony Lister, Appleton Pictures, Billy X Curmano, Carmen Rodriquez, Coco Cobre, Connie Perry, El Sol 25, Knozko, Lik, Lister, Lunge Box, Matthew Burcow, Paul Richard, Sheryo and The Yok, Stikman, Texas & Gane.

Top banner Gane and Texas (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Anthony Lister (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Sheryo & The Yok (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lik (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Gane . Texas (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Matthew Burcow & Carmen Rodriguez for Art In Odd Places 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman’s installation calling out climate change. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Stikman (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Konozko (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Coco Cobre for The Bushwick Collective. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Billy X Curmano for Art in Odd Places 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Lunge Box (photo © Jaime Rojo)
El Sol 25 (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Connie Perry for Art in Odd Places 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Paul Richard (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Appleton Pictures (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Angela Muriel for Art in Odd Places 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Untitled. The Last Picture. Manhattan, NY. October 2019. (photo © Jaime Rojo)
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New Works St+ART Lodhi 2019 – Courtesy Martha Cooper

New Works St+ART Lodhi 2019 – Courtesy Martha Cooper

St+Art Delhi continues apace with an ever-expanding roster of artists and financial/commercial/municipal partners five years after we first began writing about it, and photographer Martha Cooper brings us today some of the newest installations and shots that she recently discovered while there.

A mural program at heart, many of the artists invited here bring a decorative character to the districts of Shahpurjat, Khirki Village and Hauz Khas Village also have roots in illegal graffiti and Street Art back home, and during their youth.

Yip Yew Chong. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Over the years that list has included an international and local array of artists invited to paint at Lohdi Colony from all the continents – well maybe not Antarctica. Names have included ECB, Lady Aiko, local students Avinash and Kamesh, Suiko of Japan, Reko Rennie from Australia, Lek & Sowat from France, Kureshi from India, Inkbrushnme from India, Dutch artist Niels Shoe Meulman, Swiss duo Never Crew, Tofu from Germany, Mattia from Italy, Artez from Serbia, M-City from Poland, Ano from Taiwan…

Yip Yew Chong. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)

Notable here is the architectural framing convention for most of these murals- the distinctive facades of Lodhi Colony architecture that features a central archway and four windows divided by it on a semi-ornate face forward. Some of the arches begin on the ground while others have been bricked into windows. Each provides a view inside the entry or courtyard, while others are bursting out with limbs and trees that protrude through them to the street.

Originally designed by the British-born architect William Henry Medd in the late 1930s and early 1940s as part of a program to house certain populations, this unifying pattern sets the quiet neighborhood apart from others in the city.

Yip Yew Chong. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)

As Chief Architect to the Government of India during that period, Mr. Medd oversaw much of the design of the relatively new city as well as buildings like the Cathedral Church of the Redemption and Sacred Heart Cathedral, both of which reflect his affinity for the high arches that distinguish the period.

“It’s interesting to see how the very different artists have incorporated the arch into their murals,” says photographer Cooper. “The uniform size and shape of the walls unify the disparate collection and the arches give the whole area an exotic touch.”

Aravani Art Project. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)

As is her practice many of these images also skillfully incorporate the foot traffic and community who live here and who are beginning to associate these figurative, abstract and folk-inspired murals into their daily lives. Asking people to pose in front of the new paintings gives them context, somehow also bringing them alive in certain cases. At other times, her timing and eagle eye capture the passerby who unknowingly creates a serendipitous counterpoint to the new work.

“It’s a quiet neighborhood compared to the rest of Delhi,” Martha says, “making it a very pleasant place for an afternoon walking tour.”

Aravani Art Project. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Adele Renault. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Sameer Kulavoor. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Sameer Kulavoor. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Tellas. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Avinash Kamesh. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Avinash Kamesh. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Sajid Wajid. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Sajid Wajid. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
NeSpoon. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
NeSpoon. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Aaron Glasson. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Aaron Glasson. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Dwa Zeta. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Sheryo & The Yok. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Daan Botlek. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Daan Botlek. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Andreco. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Georgia Hill & Hanif Kureshi. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
David Leitner. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
David Leitner. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Samantha Lo. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
Bond. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
H11235. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
H11235. St+ART Lodhi. Delhi, India. March 2019. (photo © Martha Cooper)
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BSA Film Friday: 01.04.19

BSA Film Friday: 01.04.19

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. The Yok & Sheryo in Sri Lanka
2. “Perpetual Flow” by Jorge Gerada in Morocco
3. Etnik in Barcelona with Contorno Urbano Foundation
4. Haroshi at his studio in Tokyo

bsa-film-friday-special-feature

BSA Special Feature: The Yok & Sheryo in Sri Lanka

Always a feeling of non-linear tropical adventure awaiting when you pop open a new spraycation video from the Street Art duo Yok & Sheryo, who would be just as happy to learn a local craft in your town as to paint a wall. Here they are painting and riding tuk tuks and running with a pack of wild dogs, as you do.

“Perpetual Flow” by Jorge Gerada in Morocco

Land artist Jorge Gerada mounts a large project in Ouarzazate, Morocco that extends over 37,500 meters in this commissioned job for a coffee brand calendar. Using rakes, stones, dark gravel, and vegetable oil, a scene of two hands under running water is created.

Etnik in Barcelona with Contorno Urbano Foundation

“Born in Stockholm and living in Torino, Etnik feels right at home on the street of many cities and the dense, designed, deliberate defining of the man-made environment,” we write in yesterdays posting on BSA. “What is new here is the inclusion of a leaf motif, imperfectly biomorphic, a visual paean to the natural world that precedes us and will outlast every cityscape we devise.”

Haroshi at his studio in Tokyo

“Calling Haroshi a sculptor seems too simple, because he is a collector, architect, painter and industrial designer, as well,” says Evan Pricco in the intro and interview he does on Juxtapoz with the Tokyo based artist. “What he has done throughout his career is take recycled skateboard decks, transforming and crafting them into sculptures that range from classic graphics, pop iconography, installations, and the present, where he currently recreates Japanese toys, including those from childhood.” See the new video by Chop Em Down and read the full piece here.

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BSA Images Of The Week: 08.05.18

BSA Images Of The Week: 08.05.18

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring AJ LaVilla, Boy Kong, BunnyM, ColpOne, Cycle, Haculla, Jappy Lemon, JR, Lungebox, Raddington Falls, RX Skulls, SacSix, SAMO, Sheryo, The Yok and Winstont Seng.

Our top image: The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cycle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cycle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Cycle (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Winstont Seng (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SAMO©4 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This is the same newsstand…not sure about the artist… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This is the same newsstand…not sure about the artist…but it looks like RX Skulls… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

but no one was interested in the facts. They preferred the invention because this invention expressed and corroborated their hates and fears so perfectly.” ~ James Baldwin, from Notes of a Native Son.

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

RX Skulls (photo © Jaime Rojo)

An old Haculla gate… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jappy Lemon (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Boy Kong (photo © Jaime Rojo)

bunny M (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Lungebox (photo © Jaime Rojo)

“Street Terror”, ColpOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Pussy Power Chocho with ColpOne (photo © Jaime Rojo)

AJ LaVilla (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist’s hand drawing. Original. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

We’ll go with just RAD this time… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix takes on a classic (photo © Jaime Rojo)

SacSix takes on a master… (photo © Jaime Rojo)

JR (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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BSA Images Of The Week: 07.29.18

BSA Images Of The Week: 07.29.18

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring 1UP Crew, Amanda Browder, Antennae, City Kitty, Dirt Worship, Dragon76, Jason Naylor, LMNOPI, London Kaye, Makatron, Sheyro, The Yok, and Trap.

Amanda Browder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Amanda Browder (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jason Naylor (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dragon76 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

1UP Crew (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Antennae (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Trap (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

London Kaye (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentied artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Makatron for JMZ Walls. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok & Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dirt Worship (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LMNOPI (photo © Jaime Rojo)

 

Untitled. Brooklyn, NY. July 2018 (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Postcards from The Yok & Sheryo in India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia…

Postcards from The Yok & Sheryo in India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia…

A unique duo of autonomous Street Artists from different backgrounds and paths somehow have melded themselves into a traveling tornado of tags, throw ups, and theatrics in a style that is theirs alone. The Yok and Sheryo (Perth and Singapore) continue to compliment, push, and pull against and with each other stylistically with a healthy dose of competiveness, inquisition, mutual respect and love for the fantastic and funny. If you take yourself too seriously with this pair, you lose baby, and no fools are suffered. This is badass, serious fun and when combined with lust and wanderlust, it takes you around the world.

Busting a trick in front of mural by Yok & Sheryo. Sri Lanka. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

We didn’t invent the word “spraycation” (we think) but we first started using it in earnest years ago when showing their videos to audiences in auditoriums and theaters because adventure, graffiti, work, painting, surfing, and motor biking were always competing with each other – along with monsters, devils, pizza, and sexy ladies. Now back in the US after a 10 month tour, lets see some of the new installations and walls that Sheryo and Yok made in their travels around Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, China, Berlin, and Indonesia.

Varuna’s vessel (India)

We worked with some rad Bollywood set builders and a local fisherman who donated his boat for the installation. We created the installation based off a local folklore story called “Varuna & Makara” about a Sea God riding a sea creature.

The Yok & Sheryo. Varuna’s Vessel. India. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

CAMBODIA for “Paint Phnom Penh”

We spent about 20 days hanging out with an amazing group of friends painting laughing and riding motorbikes in Cambodia for @paintphnompenh, says Sheryo. “After the after after party we managed to get this wall painted – Cambodian Paradise.”

The Yok & Sheryo. Cambodia. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo. Cambodia. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo. Cambodia. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

SRI LANKA

A long, multi-character monocromatic wall really shows off the energy and regenerative imagination that Y&S can pull off on a mural for friends with a surf/yoga camp. “Loved spending a month cruising around Sri Lanka in a tuk tuk looking for waves,” says The Yok, ” and finding elephants, monkeys, turtles, lizards, dodging manic bus drivers, paying off cops. Amazing people, delicious food and a secret pirate village.”

The Yok & Sheryo. Sri Lanka. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo. Sri Lanka. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo. Sri Lanka. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo. Sri Lanka. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

SINGAPORE at the Art Science Museum

“After some Piña coladas and falling into waves kook-slams stylez, we went onwards to the big/small smoke of Singapore to paint a wall for the Art Science Museum about a post-apocalyptic material world,” says Sheyro. The full artist list also included artist like Remi Rough, M-City, Eko Nugroho, Tarek Benaoum, Zevs, Speak Cryptic, and YZ.

The Yok & Sheryo. Singapore. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo. Singapore. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

Australian Silos

“A 35 metre seadragon mural has been completed on the side of huge grain silos at Albany’s historic waterfront,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald, of the project featuring PhlegmHENSE, and Amok Island creating new works along a trail near the coast. To be clear, it is a “ruby sea dragon”.

The Yok & Sheryo. Australia. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo. Australia. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

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The Yok & Sheryo: Wishes And Hopes For 2018

The Yok & Sheryo: Wishes And Hopes For 2018

As we draw closer to the new year we’ve asked a very special guest every day to take a moment to reflect on 2017 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for them. It’s an assortment of treats to surprise you with every day – to enjoy and contemplate as we all reflect on the year that has passed and conjure our hopes and wishes for 2018. This is our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and of saying ‘Thank You’ to each of you for inspiring us throughout the year.

*******

The on-the-road nature of this graffiti-illustration-Street Art couple is becoming legend, with the Australian Yok and Singaporean Sheryo professionally spray-cationing across the world regularly, monthly, annually with their own particular hybrid of skater-tattoo-cartoon-rebel-traditional-culture reinventing itself in the moment, in the space. Officially Brooklyn citizens, the two wield aerosol cans as much to entertain themselves as to confound you, with their two aesthetic styles now seamlessly becoming one. Not content to present a pretty world, Yok and Sheryo investigate and analyze darker human impulses and psychological eccentricities with their characters and the trouble they can get into with monsters and pizza. Today Y&S tell us about an improvised piece they did this year in Bombay just for good luck.


THE YOK & SHERYO

We chose this photo because it is a glimpse of us on the road, this was an extra piece we painted while at a festival. A wall opportunity fell through so we made this piece instead.

These spontaneous paintings are what we enjoy most about traveling and we wish for more of these adventures in 2018.

The text translates to “Good Luck Cobra”

We like to leave little good luck charms in places we visit.

The Yok & Sheryo. Bombay, India. November 24, 2017. (photo © The Yok & Sheryo)

The Yok & Sheryo

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BSA Images Of The Week: 11.05.17

BSA Images Of The Week: 11.05.17

BSA-Images-Week-Jan2015

Welcome!

Here’s our weekly interview with the streets, this week featuring BK Foxx, City Kitty, Dain, Jucer, Nick Walker, Praxis REVOK, Sam Himer, Sheryo, Skount, Smells, The Yok, Turtle Caps, UFO 907, WRDSMTH.

Top image: Praxis (photo © Jaime Rojo)

BK Foxx creates this new mural on gun violence in our country, which glamorizes guns and violence in its movies, TV programs, games, and music videos. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Unidentified artist (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Nick Walker (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Revok (photo © Jaime Rojo)

UFO907 . Smells (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Yok . Sheryo (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Dain. This one is an ad…but it makes for a nice picture…so we made an exception. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Graffiti…RULES!! (photo © Jaime Rojo)

WRDSMT (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Turtle Caps . City Kitty (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Jucer (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Sam Heimer phone booth at takeover for Art In Ad Places. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Skount in Amsterdam for Urban Art Festival. (photo © Skount)

Entitled “Home of the emotional flow”
~from the artist

“This mural depicts the search for a state of emotional flow. The background of our emotional life runs in a way, even to the flow of our thoughts. At the bottom of our consciousness there is always some state of mind although, generally, we do not realize the subtle moods that flow and reflux as we carry out our daily routine.

To achieve the Emotional Flow State, the development of qualities and abilities of emotional intelligence is required. These are; self-knowledge, empathy in order to understand the reactions of others, sympathy, balance, optimism and self-control. The state of flow, is a state in which alone, the person manages to surpass himself in situations that generate internal conflict, and this allows him to develop more activity, thus boosting enthusiasm.

In short, to find a state of emotional flow it is necessary first to delve into the deepest of our inner self, strive to understand the situations and states that generate internal conflicts, in order to achieve a state of harmony with ourselves and our environment.”

Untitled. Sunset over the East River. NYC. November 2017. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Urban Nation Museum. Art Mile: Installations In Progress. Dispatch 5

Urban Nation Museum. Art Mile: Installations In Progress. Dispatch 5

Today some progress shots – these projects were not completed while we were shooting so you’ll want to go to the Museum Mile today along Bülowstraße (Berlin U-Bahn). The Urban Nation Art Mile (Artmeile) is in full effect this weekend day and night and it will be difficult to pass up on this funhouse performance-packed interactive exhibition that includes single installations in pop-up spaces along the street and in one large car-free area beneath the trains, which roar appropriately over your head.

Icy & Sot at work at their installation for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Also overhead for those who are observant, Isaac Cordal’s small concrete businessmen watch over the proceedings below with guilt, ennui and existential worries . You have to check out Faith XLVII’s multi-disciplinary piece in a pop-up space with powerful video imagery of the sexy uniformity of marching soldiers and the panicked distraught migratory movements of people created in its wake – with fierce and expressive dance performer Manthe Ribane and sound/set direction by Inka Kendzia with Faith. Migration, or immigration, is also directly addressed by an unbending and heavy steel sculpture of a family who are just like yours, and different from yours, facing a wall topped by razorwire.

Sheryo at work at her installation for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evan Pricco and Juxtapoz bring the famous newsstand that has been displayed in 6 locations, including Times Square, now moving into the UN collection. Make sure to look at the independent zines and tags from its many travels. HOTTEA has a splendidly sharp and effervescent takeover of a corner first floor space that illuminates the white box, here comprised of hundreds of hanging yarns in a multiverse of color.

Sheryo. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

This series of outdoor components feels more like a fair than a museum show, a cross section of works that you may associate with post-graffiti/graffiti/Street Art or any number of related influences without a timeline – cobbling together a hodgepodge illustration of the wide range of influences at play on the street today – attempting to channel the asymmetric energy that it generates.

It is possible that this collection represents a catalyzing of interest in sculpture, as a number of interpreters including Cranio, Ben Frost, and Anthony Lister, are blurring lines with these 3 dimensional expressions of work they’ve done in 2D. How will a general community audience interactive with these – the possibilities seem limitless. Considering the sheer number of authors and performers and documentors and artists and academics and critics on the street right now, you are garunteed to find some intellectual and/or visual stimulation.

Isaac Cordal at work at his installation for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Isaac Cordal. Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Olek. Getting ready for her Art Mile performance on Sunday. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Herakut moment of levity and humor while at work on their installation for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bordalo II work in progress for his installation at the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Evan Pricco fastidiously arranges the magazines at the Juxtapoz Newsstand for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Juxtapoz Newsstand for the Art Mile is almost completed. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Seth Globetrotter work in progress for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Zezao work in progress for the Art Mile. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Women Power: A group of strong individuals who capture, enable dialogue and work, some daily, on the street art/graffiti scenes. From left to right. Nika Kramer, Karolina Pajak, Olek, Martha Cooper and Selina Miles. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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Lister Off His Plane, Fairey on a Train: Berlin Readies for Urban Nation (UN) Opening this Weekend : BSA Dispatch 2

Lister Off His Plane, Fairey on a Train: Berlin Readies for Urban Nation (UN) Opening this Weekend : BSA Dispatch 2

Lister’s plane is on the tarmac and Olek is dragging a shopping cart full of art materials past the Vietnamese restaurant on Zietanstrasse and a block away two ladies in very high heeled boots and short shorts are meandering back and forth under the elevated train line. It’s a sunny fall day in this still skanky sometimes lustrous neighborhood of Berlin – a bit of gravel and leather mixed in with your Marilyn Minter sweet cocktail.

Shepard Fairey Subway Train in Berlin for Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Berlin-Schöneberg neighborhood is fresh off the International leather and fetish weekend & street fair at Fuggerstraße and you may still see the occasional mustachioed man wearing a dog collar and leash, or perhaps a leather mask that simply looks like a dog head – walking up the street on his way to brunch, perhaps.

Ah well, this is what gives birth to Urban Nation: the marginalized, the rebels, the counter cultural innovators, the forward thinkers and outright kinkers. Just made that word up.

Brazils’ Zezao courtesy Instagrafite’s Marcello and Marina at work on a new collage of mostly found objects and materials. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Today we got a look at Bordalo’s giant garbage sculptures of Berlin bears being prepared in a rented studio space south of the Ringbahn and in a warehouse standing in the middle of on a parking lot full of Mercedes Benz’s. For people like us, that parking lot was like stumbling into a field of diamond’s, all class.

For Germans a Mercedes is as common as a slab of fried schnitzel or a bubble tag by 1Up so Bjorn was bombing through the lot in his little car expertly until we reached the roll-up gate on the garage. Also inside is Yok & Sheryo’s special interactive walk-in installation that will go on the “Museum Miele/Museum Mile” with about 25 other brand new sculptures and installations this weekend.

Cryptk. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Overhead on the elevated bright yellow rumbling trains you can see whole cars with new skins by Shepard Fairey, How Nosm, and Faust announcing “Unstoppable”, the name of the opening exhibition at Urban Nation that we’ve curated with a team.

Riding the U1 train over to Prinzenstraße we caught the new murals by Ron English, Cryptic and an ONUR/Wes 21 collabo. Heading over to Urban Spree to talk to printer/publisher/curator/gallerist Pascal Feucher in the tattered reverie and aerosol compound we also spoke with Street Artist Tavar Zawacki. The California born Berlin-based artist tells us he has undergone a “Metamorphosis” creatively and has large canvasses in the gallery to prove it.

Ron English. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Deconstructing his arrow shape, he is now free to experiment with overlapping any number of geometric shapes; deconstructing and manipulating his own self-imposed roolz. On our way out of the compound we ran into Louis Masai up a ladder creating one of his signature quilted endangered species. We were sort of running by so all we can say is it looked like a fish of some sort.

Lunch with Christian Omodeo at an Italian restaurant means the food will be good, because he is an actual Italian and won’t brook any suggestions of inauthenticity. That is one charming quality of the academic/curator/writer, in addition to his astute and acute knowledge of rare graffiti/Street Art books that qualifies him to be assisting the museum to organize and conceptualize future plans for the Martha Cooper Library.

Wes21 . Onur. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Just a portion of the collection of ephemera will be on display for the Saturday’s opening night in the not-yet-completed library space, but you’ll be impressed by the promise of what is to come.

Zines, posters, even framed T-shirts from the collection of the famed photographer will cover the walls in addition to a portion of the thousands of books that constitute the beginning of an important collection which, when finished, will be unrivaled and provide invaluable opportunities to research by scholars of all levels.

Yok . Sheryo. Process shot. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Yok . Sheryo. Process shot. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Bordalo II. Process shot. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

David De La Mano. Process shot. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Process shot. Urban Nation Museum For Urban Contemporary Art. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

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