Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1. “While They Seek Solutions” by Vegan Flava
2. The Brooklyn Burrow: Episode 1. Iena Cruz
3. MOMO: A (brief) tour of the nomadic artist’s New Orleans Studio
4. 167 Art Project – Lecce, Italy.
BSA Special Feature: “While They Seek Solutions” by Vegan Flava
“The speed of ruin is just something else,” says Street Artist Vegan Flava, and it’s an exasperating realization. Extrapolated to thinking about the enormous war industry, and there is such a thing, you realize that pouring money year after year into ever more sophisticated and destructive weaponry only results in broken bridges, buildings, water systems, vital infrastructure, lives.
Construction, on the other hand, can be arduous and time consuming, takes vision, planning, collaboration, and fortitude. Like great societies.
How quickly they can be eroded, destroyed.
But since Vegan Flava is creating during this destructive enterprise, you get a glimpse into his creativity, and sense of humor. Similarly the psychographics of this story and how it is told reveal insights into the artist and larger themes.
“A drawing, an idea on a piece of paper, can swiftly grow into something larger, thoughts and actions leading to the next. But creating something is never as fast as to tear it to pieces. The speed of ruin is just something else,” he says.
The Brooklyn Burrow: Episode 1. Iena Cruz
“I don’t have a limitation on techniques,” says Iena Cruz in this new video of a series documenting the current Brooklyn scene. We’ve seen the artist changing his style gradually in shows and on the street for about five years now, and his curiosity for discovery is part of what defines his style- along with his color palette perhaps. Here director Brad Ford and Owly team document the creation and on-street reactions to Cruz’ 3-D version of the Stay Puft man from Ghostbusters.
MOMO: A (brief) tour of the nomadic artist’s New Orleans Studio
“I arrive with my best possible idea,” says MOMO, “and I hope people like it”. First seen here in Brooklyn and Manhattan a decade ago, the bright fire of MOMO’s mind continues to burn through technical and abstract experimentation on the street. Here he lends his talent to a brand for a commercial gig in a nicely filmed brief interview.
167 Art Project – Lecce, Italy.
Scenes from an Italian neighborhood here as the community mural project 167 Art brings Artez, Mantra, Bifido&Julieta XLF, and Chekos’art to create high quality compositions to a curious and appreciative audience. The technical skill, pacing, music, and video flourishes compliment the story – which necessarily is the people of the neighborhood and the artists laboring talents.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1.Vegan Flava. Throwing Leaves Against Machines.
2. Andrew Hem “Misty Blue”
3. Laura Llaneli: 12 + 1 in Barcelona 4. Misha Most. Evolution -2. The largest mural in the world. Vyksa, Russia
5. Agnès Varda JR’s Faces Places (Visages, Villages). Trailer.
BSA Special Feature: Vegan Flava. Throwing Leaves Against Machines.
“We are exploring crossroads where different creative paths such as painting, video-making, dancing and music meet,” Vegan Flava tells us about this new collaborative performance he has just completed with his friend Mario Perez Amigo.
They call it “Throwing Leaves Against Machines” and it is the third video chapter of a series named Northern Street Sketches. This painting and dance performance took play at Subtopia in the Botkyrka municipality of Stockholm – the city where both artists hail from.
Taking place the same night that Donald Trump pulled the US out of the Paris agreement on climate change, Vegan Flava tells us that the video is “a climate action performance addressing the costs consumerism today imposes on future generations, and time is limited.”
Andrew Hem “Misty Blue”
Street culture and impressionism filter into the singular form compositions of Los Angeleno Andrew Ham. In this hand painted mural with The Avenue Concept in Providence, he tells the story of a child he met. The artist shoes how he mixes paint and speaks of his practice of going far from the wall to make sure the mural “reads” well from a distance.
Laura Llaneli: 12 + 1 in Barcelona
Back in June we showed you process photos of this wall in Barcelona in a posting entitled Laura Llaneli “OUR ACTIONS BECOMING THE POLICY”. It is an interesting concept of translating a short speech, a tirade actually, of a singer upbraiding audience members for not fitting his image of them -as if his self-image was derived from the audience. True, mom always said, “Show me your friends and I can tell you what kind of person you are.”
Misha Most. Evolution -2. The largest mural in the world. Vyksa, Russia
Periodically you hear a claim of a mural being the largest. This one by Misha Most with the folks from Artmossphere looks pretty close!
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1. Vegan Flava – Trapped Peace
2. Rime “UP ON THROUGH” 3. Street Art City 4. 12 + 1 Roc Blackblock. Barcelona
BSA Special Feature: Vegan Flava – “Trapped Peace”
The urban artist Vegan Flava typically is seen in abandoned buildings and ex-factories. Here’s a quick look at his studio practice, giving you an insight into the transition that many artist make from one venue to another, one set of materials exchange for a different set.
Rime “UP ON THROUGH”
“If I’m gonna play, I’m gonna play with some new math,” says graffiti/street/fine artist RIME on the attitude of risk-taking and experimentation that artists must continue to embrace to grow. In his case, his inspirations come from many sources and he shows you how he is digging deep in this promo for his current show at Wall Works gallery through May.
Street Art City
A Street Art outdoor museum called “Street Art City”, with an admission fee and selected artists re-facing buildings in a compound. For how many years have you said that the Street Artists are creating a museum? Here in LURCY-LÉVIS, France, one actually is opening on April 28th.
An additional project includes a 128 room former hotel with each room a separate installation by an artist. The idea has been successful elsewhere, including The Haus in Berlin that opens April 1, so it appears that the model of haunted house/ theme park is gaining interest – perhaps it will merge with art/music/performance festivals in cities around the world. Actually, bet on it.
12 + 1 Roc Blackblock. Barcelona
Roc Blackblock does his stencil mural for the 12+1 project in Barcelona and the video gives you a better idea how detailed and careful the work must be, particularly to create the birdcage that the protagonist finds themself withing.
Curator Carlo McCormick quotes Novalis by way of describing this new exhibit of an eclectic blend of terrific troublemakers, pop-culture hijackers, and show-stopping crowd pleasers drawn from cities all around the Street Art/ graffiti /urban art scene today – and forty years ago. This is a welcoming walk of unexpected intersections that only McCormick and co-curator Ethel Seno could imagine – and pull together as a panoply of street wizardry that acknowledges activism, artistry, anarchy, and aesthetics with a sincere respect for all. It will be interesting to see how this show is viewed by people who follow the chaotic street scene today in the context of its evolution and how they read the street signs in this city.
McCormick, in his customary self-effacing humor, expects there to be some shit flying – as anyone who is involved in this scene expects from the hard-scrabble rebellious margins and subcultures that this art-making interventionist practice rises from. There also are a growing and coalescing mini-legion of scholars and academics who are currently grappling with the nature and characteristics of this self-directed art-making practice rooted often in discontent – now organized inside an exhibition that is ticketed and sold as a family friendly show.
In his descriptions of the public sphere, the writer, historian, author, and cultural critic McCormick often refers to graffiti and street artists messing with “contested space”. It’s an apt description whether we are talking about the public space in high-density gleaming metropolises or the bombed-out grid-less and polluted quagmires of human fallibility and urban un-planning that dot our globe; all public space its nature is contested.
Here is a place used by many artists to protest, agitate, advocate, or deliver critique – and many of the artists in this exhibition have done exactly this in their street practice, often pushing limits and defining new ones. Dig a little into many of the individual story lines at play here and you’ll see that the vibrant roots of social revolution are pushing up from the streets through the clouds of propaganda and advertising, often mocking them and revealing them in the process.
Ultimately, this Magic City experience is an elixir for contemplating the lifelong romance we have with our cities and with these artists who cavort with us within them. “Our Magic City is a place and a non-place,” McCormick says in a position statement on the exhibit. “It is not the physical city of brick and mortar but rather the urban space of internalized meanings. It is the city as subject and canvas, neither theme park nor stage set, but an exhibition showcasing some of the most original and celebrated artists working on and in the city today.”
BSA curated the film program for Magic City with a dynamic array of some of the best Street Art related films today presented together in a relaxed environment. In this video hosted by Andreas Schanzenbach you get a taste of the works that are showing that we draw from our weekly surveys on BSA Film Friday. Over the last few years we have had the honor of presenting live in-person to students and scholars and fans an ever-evolving collection of videos that speak to the spirit experimentation, discovery and culture-jamming outrageousness of urban interventions, graffiti and Street Art. The BSA Film Program at Magic City presents a survey of some of the very best that we have seen recently.
Magic City artists include: Akrylonumerik, Andy K, Asbestos, Ben Heine, Benuz, Biancoshock, Bordalo II, Brad, Downey, Dan Witz, Daze, Ernest Zacharevic, Ganzeer, Henry Chalfant, HERAKUT, Icy & Sot, Isaac Cordal, Jaime Rojo, Jens Besser, Juandres Vera, Lady Aiko, Leon Keer, Loomit, MAD C, Mark Bode, Martha Cooper, Oakoak, Odeith, Olek, Ori Carin / Benjamin Armas, Qi Xinghua, Replete, ROA, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Skewville, SpY, Tristan Eaton, Truly, WENU Crew, Yok & Sheryo
The BSA Film Program for Magic City includes the following artists: Borondo, Brad Downey & Akay, Ella + Pitr, Faile, Farewell, Maxwell Rushton, Narcelio Grud, Plotbot Ken, Sofles, Vegan Flava, Vermibus
Some behind the scenes shots days before the Premiere
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1. Kerava Art Museum: Our Pink House by OLEK
2. Vegan Flava: “A Walk On Weak Ice”
3. Narcelio Grud. MASK
4. T̶̶O̶̶Y̶ CREW – Wir häng im Bahnhof ab
5. Avalanches: Walk On the Subway
BSA Special Feature: Kerava Art Museum: Our Pink House by OLEK
Olek has covered a house in pink crochet with the help of volunteers for the Kerava Art Museum in Finland. A meditation on the life of a refugee, Olek says we all could stand to be more aware of it, and take more positive actions to help those in need. With projects like this she hopes to build a sense of community through art. Psychologically this pink skin is a protector against danger, a healer of wounds.
“Originally, this building, built in the early 1900s, was the home of Karl Jacob Svensk (1883-1968). During the Winter War 1939-1940, the family fled to evade bombs falling into the yard, but they didn’t have to move out permanently. In 2015, more than 21 million people were forced to leave their homes in order to flee from conflicts. The pink house, our pink house is a symbol of a bright future filled with hope; is a symbol us coming together as a community.”
Vegan Flava: “A Walk On Weak Ice”
This kind of public art-making is a first for us.
If you have ever been on thin ice before or heard the stories of those who didn’t survive it, this new piece by Vegan Flava filmed on Lake Mälaren during a cold Swedish winter day earlier this year – is chilling.
Narcelio Grud. MASK
Street Artist and Do-It-Yourself art maker, sociologist, interactive designer – all of these titles apply to Narcelio Grud.
In his latest video Mr. Grud creates masks with unused fabrics collected from textile factories and he customizes traffic lights in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil.
T̶̶O̶̶Y̶ CREW – Wir häng im Bahnhof ab
The U-Bahn train system’s Rosenthaler Platz station in Berlin has some new art thanks to graffiti crew called T̶̶O̶̶Y̶.
It’s not what your thinking.
Breaking rules, creating new aesthetics, redefining artistic codes. It’s all there.
T̶̶O̶̶Y̶ will be exhibiting for the first time in Berlin at Zwei Drei Raum this weekend and the opening is Saturday night, September 10th in Kreuzberg. Bringing the aesthetics of graffiti inside to canvases, videos, and installations will be Berlin based writers ROZER, IGIT, SPIRIT, LOFK, Viktor Treshkow and Max Grambow.
Avalanches: Walk On the Subway
For those of you who have not been on the New York City subway, this is exactly what it is like.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1. Vermibus: Unveiling Beauty: New York . Milan . London . Paris
2. Earth Crisis by Shepard Fairey
3. Vegan Flava: Abandoned Stories and Blank Spaces
4. Boijeot, Renauld, Martin: Hotel Empire. October 2015, 732 hours, New York City, United States.
BSA Special Feature: Vermibus: Unveiling Beauty: New York, Milan, London, Paris
“Unveiling Beauty, as the name suggests, reveals the beauty that lies hidden behind the make-up and the photographic retouching that are used both within the fashion industry and in the way it publically stages itself via advertising.
In September 2015, Vermibus has followed the route of the most in uential Fashion Weeks, travelling to New York, London, Milan and Paris. And he analysed and revealed the true beauty that was hidden behind the various campaigns that are imposed on the public spaces of these cities.”
Earth Crisis by Shepard Fairey
“I’m hoping to reach the average person, the average citizen,” says Shepard Fairey about this new project meant to correspond with the Cop21 climate change talks.
Vegan Flava: Abandoned Stories and Blank Spaces
“In one year I did five trips to an abandoned paper factory in Vargön, Sweden.”
Boijeot, Renauld, Martin: Hotel Empire. Octobre 2015, 732 hours, New York City, United States.
Did you miss the trip from 125th Street to the Bowery this October? Just watch this compilation of about 8,500 shots that tell the story. Warning to people who have trouble with strobe lights – this is a visual assault, albeit very educational and even entertaining. Just pause it anywhere and there is a story unfolding.
Our weekly focus on the moving image and art in the streets. And other oddities.
Now screening :
1. 3 Minutes in Brooklyn
2. NUART at 15 on 2015
3. Vegan Flava: Arms Factory in Lisbon
4. FAILE: “Wishing On You” Times Square 2015 NYC
5. Sandra Chevrier. The Aftenblad Wall
6. Winter is Coming, All My Single Ladies
BSA Special Feature: 3 Minutes in Brooklyn
Bruno Maltor at Votre Tour Du Monde recently came to Brooklyn and made a short video of his experiences here. It’s a huge borough (2.6 million inhabitants) and he got just a little taste but he did manage to hit DUMBO, Bushwick, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, downtown, the Botanical Gardens, the Brooklyn Museum, caught some performers on the subway, and Damien Mitchell painting a mural. Ah Brooklyn, you heart breaker, you love maker, you land of a million dreams and possibilities.
NUART at 15 on 2015
A splendid melange of words and images from this years Nuart festival in Norway, its 15th.
Vegan Flava: Arms Factory in Lisbon
“The roof and walls of every factory will molder away by rain and wind.” Vegan Flava discovers a former arms factory in Lisbon and does a tribute to pain and suffering of the people who were killed by its’ industry.
FAILE: “Wishing On You” Times Square 2015 NYC
We debuted this video by Priest Fontaine live for the Brooklyn Museum audience with Faile and actual chills went up people’s spines. No lie. Now you can see it too here online Capturing the current Times Square as county fair with mountains of screens flashing images around the Selfie Stick Forest, all corporate creepy and still sleezey – Fontaine evokes the magic that Faile is, as well as the pure industry that it takes to make their art work. Also good to remember that it was a hot and humid overnight installation that started at 8pm and ended around 10 the following morning.
BROOKLYN STREET ART LOVES YOU MORE EVERY DAY
