All posts tagged: XAV

BSA Film Friday: 07.05.19

BSA Film Friday: 07.05.19

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

Now screening :
1. VHILS “Debris” Sets Macau in Golden Nostalgia
2. OKUDA: The International Church Of Cannabis
3. Mr. Sis. and #SoloUnBeso
4. Parees International Mural Festival. Oviedo, Spain. Edition 2018.

BSA Special Feature: VHILS “Debris” Sets Macau in Golden Nostalgia

Is anybody listening?

Last year Vhils published this film about communication – personal, intimate, and global. We waited a year to see if it felt equally timeless as the first time we viewed it and indeed it is. Some stories like these have an additional element that secures their status. Surrounding the portraits created by the Portuguese Street Artist in Macau, this collage of images, interactions, flashes of expression and sequences of behavior is accompanied by a linear/circular narration that attempts to reconnect to a personal history while chiding the narrators own behavior.

It’s a winsome recounting of memories that are shared globally; a communal and personal experience at once told with clarity and emotional nostalgia, written and directed by José Pando Lucas.

OKUDA: The International Church Of Cannabis

One would hope that the International Church of Cannibis would look like this! Owing perhaps to psychedelic art of 1960s counterculture, liquid light art, concert posters, murals, underground newspapers, and of course kaleidoscoping the world with new eyes, the Spanish Street Artists Okuda San Miguel transformed this internal architecture into a truly holy space. Denver is one of those American cities that still has a good economy thanks to Colorado’s low taxes, growing marijuana industry and soaring real estate market. It seems like the whole city has invited many Street Artists to transform street space over the last decade and with a good collector’s base, the art galleries are busy and special projects are popping up everywhere to show off the skillz.

With a new church that uses pot as a sacrament, this project is spearheaded by Steve Berke, who’s Wikipedia posting lists him as “two-time candidate for mayor of Miami Beach, cannabis activist, rapper, YouTuber, entrepreneur, and former All-American tennis player.” Dude, just gaze at the ceilings here and you realize that the possibilities are awesome.

Mr. Sis. and #SoloUnBeso

“Artist Mr. Sis is in Barcelona painting this pair of full figured females going in for the kiss on this billboard for Contorno Urbano,” we wrote a few weeks ago in a posting about this wall. Today we have the finished video.

See more here: “Mr. Sis Paints #SoloUnBeso in Barcelona”

Parees International Mural Festival. Oviedo, Spain. Edition 2018.

A new mini-doc from the Parees Festival in Oviedo, Spain has just been released about the 2018 edition. It features on-screen interviews with many of the artists who were involved, including Colectivo Licuado, Roc BlackBlock, Taquen, Xav, Andrea Ravo Mattoni, Kruella d’Enfer, Alfalfa y Twee Muizen.

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New Images from the Parees Festival in Oviedo, Spain 2018

New Images from the Parees Festival in Oviedo, Spain 2018

A continuation of our Film Friday coverage from yesterday, today we bring you still photos of the murals created during this years Parees Festival in its 2nd edition.

Rock Blackblock. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

With a focus on quality over quantity, fair fees for artists and participants, and a wholistic approach to contextual creation, the festival is entirely subsidized by the Municipal Culture Foundation of the City of Oviedo – free from possible conflicts with galleries or commercial brands.

Reputation is built on behavior and results and this model for community-conscious mural making is one that organizers can be proud of.

Rock Blackblock. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Alfalfa. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Alfalfa. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Andrea Ravo. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Andrea Ravo. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Colectivo Liquado. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Colectivo Liquado. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

XAV. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

XAV. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Kruella. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Kruella. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Taquen. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Taquen. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)

Taquen. Parees Festival 2018. Oviedo, Spain. September 2018. (photo © Fer Alcalá & MiraHaciaAtrás)


https://www.instagram.com/pareesfest/

http://paredesfest.net/en/the-festival/

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BSA Film Friday: 11.23.18

BSA Film Friday: 11.23.18

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

Now screening :
1. Colectivo Licuado and ‘Pandereteras’ at at Parees Fest 2018
2. XAV. Parees Fest 2018
3. Rock Blackblock. Parees Fest 2018
4. Andrea Ravo Matoni. Parees Fest 2018

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BSA Special Feature: Colectivo Licuado and ‘Pandereteras’ at at Parees Fest 2018

Four videos in a row this week from one international mural festival – PAREES.


The Uruguayan Street Artists/muralist Florencia Durán and Camilo Nuñez are “Colectivo Licuado” and here in the middle of Oviedo in Northern Spain to create a new mural for the Parees fest this September. As is their practice they study the culture that they are visiting and create an allegory that is familiar to the community, if still rather mystical.

In this case they visit Colectivo Licuado & Nun Tamos Toes for a visit of great cultural exchange – sharing sketches, songs, and learning the history of women’s roles in traditional Asturian culture. The resulting mural project is collaborative in nature and powerful in person.

XAV. Parees Fest 2018

Spanish graffiti writer, mualist and tattoo artist XAV produces an idealized portrait of one of the most popular (and lavishly attired) pop singers during the 1980s, Tino Casal. Created during the Paree Festival in Spain this September.

Rock Blackblock. Parees Fest 2018

Andrea Ravo Matoni. Parees Fest 2018

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BSA Film Friday: 05.18.18

BSA Film Friday: 05.18.18

bsa-film-friday-JAN-2015

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

Now screening :
1. ETHEREA: Edoardo Tresoldi
2. Berlin Mural Fest 2018 Begins Now!
3. XAV -Library Rats in Barcelona
4. Blek Le Rat Solo in San Francisco.
5. TAYONE Leaves “Wet Paint” in Barcelona

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BSA Special Feature: ETHEREA: Edoardo Tresoldi

Neoclassical. Baroque. Chicken wire.

Italian public artist Edoardo Tresoldi brought 3 sizes of his full-scale wire mesh sculptures to Indio, California for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival this year, and thousands of people got their first opportunity to see his work rise above them, catching the light, evoking old cities and classical architecture. Counter-culture? Nah.

Berlin Mural Fest 2018 Begins Now!

Die Dixons actually know what they are talking about! This is the 1st Berlin Mural Fest and BSA is happy to support.  Shout out to Don Stone for keeping us in the loop.

 

XAV -Library Rats in Barcelona

We showed you the process photos of this wall a few weeks ago in 3 Library Rats from XAV for Contorno Urbano 12 + 1.

Today we have the video for you.

 

Blek Le Rat Solo in San Francisco.

Long after the days when gallerists were rude to him and wouldn’t even take a look at his work in New York, Street Art originator Blek Le Rat is having a solo show at Weinstein Gallery in San Francisco. Something must have changed.

Film by Birdman

TAYONE Leaves “Wet Paint” in Barcelona

Following up on our posting” “Wet Paint” : TayOne for Contorno Urbano 12 + 1 says “Acabat de pintar”

Today we have the video showing TayOne’s full install for Contorno Urbano Foundation’ 2 + 1 Project in Barcelona.

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3 Library Rats from XAV for Contorno Urbano 12 + 1

3 Library Rats from XAV for Contorno Urbano 12 + 1

“I was a library rat. Libraries are the mainstays of democracy. The first thing dictators do when taking over a country is close all the libraries, because libraries are full of ideas and differences of opinion, all the things we say we want in a free and open society.”

– novelist David Baldacci


XAV. “The 3 Rodents” Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

Spanish graffiti writer and tattoo artist Xav gives his own literal interpretation of the saying ‘library rat’ here in his new mural for Project 12+1 in Barcelona. Beginning with graffiti as a teen in Asturias (northern Spain) in the mid 2000s Xav has since honed a photorealist style on walls that has given him many commercial opportunities and taken him to participate in Street Art and graffiti festivals.

XAV. “The 3 Rodents” Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

But that doesn’t mean Xav doesn’t appreciate the folks who hang out in libraries and the value they have to everyone – he actually studied and taught himself most of what he knows about his craft. He also gives respect to the graffiti tradition and to his peers; if you look closely you may see the name of the recently passed graffiti writer Treze hidden in the mural, along with a shout out to his hometown of Asturias.

XAV. “The 3 Rodents” Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

XAV. “The 3 Rodents” Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

XAV. “The 3 Rodents” Contorno Urbano Foundation. 12 + 1 Project. L’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona. (photo © Clara Antón)

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The 2018 Roster for Contorno Urbano 12 + 1 at L’ Hospitalet De Llobregat

The 2018 Roster for Contorno Urbano 12 + 1 at L’ Hospitalet De Llobregat

The tenacious and hard working Esteban Marin and the whole team at Contorno Urbano in Barcelona have announced their line up for the third edition of their project 12 + 1.

With artists drawn from a variety of public practices like graffiti (Zurik), abstract (Joan Cabrer), design (Etnik), realism (Lily Brik), and representative (Sepe), the collection is a broad swath of current and time-honored techniques for expression.

BSA continues to support projects like these which engage community, foster artists growth, and recognize quality work – and we again will be bringing you these new murals as they are completed. Our congratulations to the winners!

Winners of this years 12+1 walls are Zurik, Joan Cabrer, Udane, Alva Moca, Sue 975, Etnik, Perrine Honoré, XAV, Dan Ferrer, Lily Brik, Sepe, and Medianeras Murales. 


Contorno Urbano:

Contorno Urbano is the first Foundation in Spain to be fully dedicated to street art and graffiti with 10 years’ experience in murals and urban art dissemination.

http://www.contornourbano.com/

IG: @contorno_urbano
Twitter: @contorno_urbano
Facebook: @contornourbano
Vimeo: Contorno Urbano

 

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Xav Paints New Mural In Kiev and Meets Racist Resistance

Xav Paints New Mural In Kiev and Meets Racist Resistance

Spanish tattoo artist and muralist Javier Robledo aka Xav brought an enormous joyful boy to Kiev in Ukraine this summer, his largest mural ever at 70 meters high by 15 meters wide. He was pleased by his feat and gratified with the opportunity and result, as was Iryna Kanishcheva, co-founder of Art United Us who organized the wall. The beaming and bright boy looks like he is having a true belly laugh, elated by something, caught mid-adventure during his play day. Often a scene like this is considered the least likely to offend, a safe bet for a public mural.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

What Xav didn’t expect was a bubbling racism directed toward his mural by some locals as he unveiled it across the wall; a virulent mini-chorus so suddenly loud that the project was halted for a few days when he was only about 40% finished. “Most of the neighbors liked it, but some people protested because the boy was black,” says the artist, “I was very surprised, because I had not foreseen a possible racist reaction to my work.”

Acrimonious conversations turned to near-threats from a vocal minority and more conversations and sheer determination were needed to push the project forward. Somehow the painting re-started and continued through the rain and winds and the other typical obstacles a public mural initiative normally encounters. Xav eventually completed the mural successfully, but that’s not to say that the negativity hasn’t taken a toll on some who were involved, even if they were pleased with the mural itself.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

According to Kanishcheva, some of those neighbors who delayed the project included a former deputy head of police who lived in the area and who used blatantly racist terms to describe dark skinned people in his complaints, saying that he simply didn’t want to see this kind of image in his city.

Often one expects some complaints for any creative public art project; it is something any organizer will tell you they deal with. There simply isn’t unanimity of opinions on such matters. Kanishcheva laments that there also isn’t really an  accepted formula for selecting artists and art that everyone will be pleased with when putting together mural programs, and she reflects on some of the factors that help in the decision-making process.

“You can make a decision yourself and take all the responsibility along with the artist,” she tells us, “or you could create a curatorial team, as many would suggest. But the team must be not be made simply of those with art-related diplomas, but also those who have done a few mural projects and have a name in the Street Art world. Finally, to judge and to suggest to an artist what to paint, you have to pay him accordingly,” she says, announcing the kicker, “None of the artists who paint in Ukraine are paid.” You have to agree here that with a lack of financial renumeration for an artist, one should at least give him or her some personal latitude to create work that is satisfying to them as well. To us, that is a given.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Iryna Kanishcheva)

Art United Us has conceived of, funded, and produced about 50 new public murals in this city over the past five or so years, and along with some other mural initiatives, the total of new murals may total three times that. In her thoughts about the sheer number of new walls in such a relatively short time, Iryna says the city may need to take a break. Additionally, public projects like hers are not funded by the government and there are limited resources to execute the programs like these, compounding the difficulty of making them happen. Not that she isn’t committed to the positive results of public art programs.

When talking about this new mural, both artist and organizers still stand by it and are glad they persevered to complete it, even if it took a month instead of two weeks as planned. In Kanischeva’s view, the success of the program hinges on pushing questions about racism and other social issues like these to the fore, where they can be openly discussed.

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Dronarium)

“Ukrainian population is totally white, except the guests of the city and some students from overseas. That’s why they simply couldn’t understand and said things like ‘why do we need this black boy here’.  Similar questions arose when Nunca created his mural for a city art project a while ago.”

“I wouldn’t call it racism,” she says, “it is rather a lack of understanding. Many Ukrainians are open minded and culturally developed, but there are still enough of those who spit, throw cigarette butts on the ground and Christmas Trees out of the window into the yard. It is not their fault that they are not properly educated and have these attitudes; it is a more general problem caused by anger, economic instability, dissatisfaction with the Government, unemployment, and hunger. Some of these folks were ready to protest and even cut the high voltage wires of the swing stage – putting an artist and themselves into a danger. To me it just looks like despair.”

Javier Robledo AKA Xav for Art United Us 2017. Kiev, Ukraine. (photo © Dronarium)

And maybe that proves the success of the program.

“It’s like a cultural injection with an unpredictable reaction – but it is good to see people react and think, because it makes you human,” she says. “For any country, regardless of the economic conditions, arts and education programs must exist. People learn and express their feelings through art and learn to start a dialogue. Art United Us brought a lot of artistic diversity in Kiev, but I feel like people may need some time to digest this.”


This article is also published on The Huffington Post
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Los ALCÁZARES in Murcia, Spain – Murals by the Mediterranean

Los ALCÁZARES in Murcia, Spain – Murals by the Mediterranean

“Los Alcazares has a population of about 16,000 inhabitants, next to the Mediterranean Sea -in fact it is on the edge of an inland sea called Mar Menor,” says photographer Luis Olive Bulbena of this recent trip he took to Murcia to see the ALCÁZARES festival of mural art by primarily urban artists.

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Pichi & Avo. Detail. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

Begun only a couple of short years ago by a consortium of about 70 artists, friends, and local business people, the festival is transforming the small town with murals, and according to most people it is pretty popular.

With community involvement, music, and other programming, the central tenets stem from one cultural association called “The Company of Mario”.

You can learn more about them from their Facebook page here.

Read an interview in Spanish with Carmen Minuca, the Vice President of LACDM, about the genesis of the organization and festival here.

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Pichi & Avo. Detail. (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Pichi & Avo (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Jorge Pina Abiétar (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Willy Arenas (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Willy Arenas & Goyo203 (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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XAV (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Dan Ferrer (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Sabotaje Al Montaje (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Pachucho (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Dulk (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Gripe & D Juez (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Wesr (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Hamgeo (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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Jorge Pina (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

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El Niño De Las Pinturas (photo © Lluis Olive Bulbena)

 

Our sincere thanks to BSA contributor Lluis Olive Bulbena for sharing his photos exclusively for us.

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