As I mentioned earlier this week, Os Gêmeos and Futura were working on a massive wall at PS 11 in NYC. Today, I’ve got a few more photos of the wall in progress to share. The wall was finished on Thursday or Friday and you can check out photos of the finished piece on Unurth, but I’m waiting to see if I can get some more of these really high quality photos of the finished piece, so expect to see some of those on Vandalog in the next few days.
And how did this massive wall come about? It was organized by 12ozProphet and AKANYC, a creative agency that had worked with Deitch Projects (the organizers of the twins’ last mural in New York).
This is about a week old now, but I’ve just seen that the NYTimes has done an article on Jeffrey Deitch and his transition from running his Deitch Projects gallery to now being the director of LA’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Of course, the article is mostly about how Deitch is handling that transition and why his move from running a gallery to running a museum is so unique. Okay. Nothing new here. People have been talking about that transition for months.
There was one particularly interesting sentence though: “And he is working to put together a major exhibition about the influence of street art, a movement that was central to the identity of Deitch Projects in recent years.”
Of course, I’d heard plenty of speculation that something like that would happen, but this is the first time I’ve actually seen it confirmed and stated as fact. Awesome. There probably isn’t anyone in the world better positioned than Jeffrey Deitch to put on a major street art exhibition in a major museum. Sounds like this is still the early days of planning, so maybe the show is a long time away and maybe it won’t end up happening, but at least we now know that it might happen and that Deitch would like it to.
Since the end of May until a few days ago, I’d been more or less cut off from the street art world. I was driving around Europe with my friends. That’s not particularly important, though I would like to thank Logan Hicks, Ripo, Paulo, C215, Nunca and (especially) Angelo for spending time with us.
Here’s some of the things that I missed while I was away…
Some local residents completely misinterpreted the meaning behind some Shepard Fairey murals and painted them over. Actually a really interesting story. I suppose that when it is a reality of everyday life, people don’t like to be reminded that the police will “kick your ass and get away with it.”
Daily Mail reports that Banksy has painted some pub in Primrose Hill. Reality: It’s a PR stunt by the pub’s owner, but at least now they have some artwork on their walls.
Kathy Grayson and Meghan Coleman, former gallery directors at Deitch Projects, have started up their own gallery in NYC called Hole. I’m not exactly sure how much street art or graffiti you’ll be able to find at the Hole when it opens later this month, but they sent me a press release, so presumably they haven’t ditched street art entirely. The Wall Street Journal has more.
Hrag Vartanian has started an interesting discussion on Hyperallergic about a new piece by Mark Jenkins which could easily be mistaken for trash. And by the way, if you don’t already read Hyperallergic, you should start. It’s perhaps my favorite art blog at the moment.
Armsrock has a solo show on right now at Signal Gallery. I’m going to check it out tomorrow, but based on the photos on Arrested Motion, I couldn’t be more excited. Armsrock is massively talented and just keeps getting better.
May 1st was the opening of what may surpass Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop as the street art event of the year so far: Shepard Fairey’s May Day show at Deitch Projects. Because the opening evening was open the public instead of simply a guest-list-only affair, it got a bit mad. I’ve heard that lines were 7 blocks long just to get in. And a friend tells me that the after-party was one of the best parties of the year. It’s taken a few days, but some photos of the artwork have finally come online.
The largest piece in the show (pictured above) is a 4-part series of canvases similar to the mural that Shepard has at Houston and Bowery. No doubt it will end up in a museum. The question is, which one? Perhaps more importantly, should it end up in a museum? It is really Shepard’s strongest work to date, or just his largest?
Capitalizing on the popularity of the Obama HOPE poster, Shepard has almost definitely made more than his usual number of portraits for this May Day, so that’s too bad.
Shepard’s flag is probably the most visually arresting and art historically significant newish image in May Day. Shepard no doubt owes a lot to Jasper Johns, particularly Johns’ use of newspaper and other materials collaged together as a base for his paintings, so it’s interesting to see Shepard’s take on the American flag (I should probably remind people that no, I don’t study art history or whatever, this is just my take on things, so no need to get all pissy – though I wouldn’t mind hearing if I’m totally wrong). Probably my favorite pieces in the show.
Two of my favorite classic Shepard Fairey images in the photo below: The OBEY printing press and Never Trust Your Own Eyes.
And of course, plenty of smaller stencils and rubyliths.
Is there a lot of not-so-amazing stuff in May Day? Of course. Is there some amazing artwork too? Of course. Shepard has always produced so much that it’s all a bit hit or miss, but those hits are more than worth wading through the misses. I wish I could see May Day in person. Looks like the must-see art event in New York right now. May Day runs through May 29th and then Deitch Projects closes down for good as Jeffrey Deitch takes up his new job as director of The MOCALA.
As I write this, the firstimages are starting to appear on Twitter from Shepard Fairey’s May Day show at Deitch. That’s not what this post is about though. More on May Day tomorrow. This is more about two random bits of news that Shepard is involved with.
Animal NY is reporting that Shepard Fairey’s mural at Bowery and Houston might actually be illegal. That would definitely be unexpected, since this is the same wall that Deitch has used three times in the last few years (but this is the first time that they have built a structure onto the wall). I wouldn’t at all be surprised if this was another prank though. This mural has been taking some abuse.
And if you read the latest issue of Time Magazine, you may notice that Shepard has written one of the profiles in their annual Time100 list of 100 influential people. Which profile has Shepard written? Banksy’s. That’s right. Banksy is one of Time’s 100 most influential people this year. You can read what Shepard has to say on Time’s website.
Some fantastic news from the world of Swoon this week.
Today is the release date of Swoon’s first monograph. The book is almost 200 pages long and features photos of Swoon’s work as well as essays by people like Jeffrey Deitch. The book will be published by Abrams and is available on their website for $35.
And the second bit of news from Swoon is her latest undertaking: The Konbit Shelter Project. Swoon has been studying architecture, and in an effort to aid the relief efforts in Haiti, she plans to work with a team of people (including artistic collaborator Ben Wolf) to build superadobe structures in Haiti this summer. These structures are amazing because they are relatively easy and cheap to build but also very strong. To raise awareness for Konbit Shelter, Swoon and her team will be building a prototype of the structures in New York City this weekend. The structure will be unveiled on May 2nd at East River Park in Brooklyn. For more information on the project read this post on Hyperallergic and check out The Konbit Shelter Project’s website.
OBEY Giant has posted this video of Shepard Fairey walking around his studio as he and his team work on preparing his upcoming May Day show at Deitch Projects. May Day opens May 1st and is pretty much guaranteed to New York City’s street art event of the year so far.
Expect the next week or so to be filled with Shepard Fairey related news. He’s in New York for his upcoming May Day solo show at Deitch Projects. Here’s some of what’s happened already:
Shepard Fairey has just about finished a massive mural (photo above) at Bowery and Houston in NYC. The historic wall is also where Keith Haring painted years ago and Os Gemeos painted last summer.
Hrag Vartanian has a must-read post on Hyperallergic this week. It’s titled “The Emergence of Real Pop Art: Jeffrey Deitch & Street Art” and raises some interesting questions about the nature of street art within the “art world” and Deitch’s role in getting street art to where it is today. I certainly don’t agree with everything he has to say (particularly regarding Deitch’s role in the street art world), but it’s one of the most interesting blog posts I’ve read in a while.
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