We like the way NYC’s Opera Gallery  integrated some of the more established street artists with the likes of Chagall, Picasso and Matisse in their current exhibit featuring a remarkably diverse range of portraits. The exhibit continues through February 19 at 115 Spring Street.  Here are a few faces we captured when we stopped by this past week:

Aiko

Ron English

Faile

Logan Hicks

Judith Supine

The London Police

Photos by Lois Stavsky & Tara Murray

Phil Lumbang is the first American to have a show at Newcastle’s Unit 44 gallery. Lumbang is known for his cartoon characters like his trademark bear, his work with The Hundreds and for being an assistant to Shepard Fairey. Even people (and I sometimes include myself in this category) who usually get sick and tired of the artists who build their brands based on repetitive logos might enjoy Lumbang. Unlike Shepard Fairey or D*face for example, Lumbang’s characters may be repetitive but they are also fun and a bit heartwarming. Who could say “no” to a mural that just tries to make people smile? I’m excited to see how he is received in the UK. New Arrival opens on February 3rd at Unit 44.

PS, the guys at Very Nearly Almost have a little teaser of the show.

As expected, Skewville‘s latest show looks like it kicks ass. Playground Tactics is on now through February 4th at White Walls Gallery in San Fransisco and the Skewville twins have once again put together a perfect combination of smaller drawings, paintings, sculptures and large installation work. It’s playful, but what better way to do art about a playground? Curbs and Stoops have pics of the installation, and here are some of the paintings, drawings and smaller sculptures…

Also, Factory Fresh in Bushwick is hosting a retrospective of Skewville’s work next month. Skewville’s 80th Birthday: A Retro Retrospective opens on February 3rd and runs through March 11th.

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Hush created the pieces for his new installation in a mere two weeks. The work, which will be shown until March, is in San Francisco at 941 Geary (White Walls‘ sister gallery). This definitely looks worth checking out in person.

Photos courtesy of Hush

Fourthwall Project in Boston has put together a show with LNY, Radical!, Tiptoe, Nanook, The Phantom, Geoff Hargadon, Zatara and Blackmath. Each artist in Street Wall will wheatpaste their work onto the gallery walls. Although the artist line up is great, the concept is the sort of thing that could really go either way and it’s impossible to say for certain. Hopefully it works out.

Photo by Radical and flyer courtesy of Fourth Wall Project

We love Imminent Disaster’s beautifully crafted images that have been surfacing on NYC streets for the past few years.  Her first NYC solo exhibit presents not only wondrous portraits crafted on an array of surfaces in her signature style, but also a series of wet-plate photographs of people she encountered in her travels through the heartland of the United States in 2011. Here are a few images we captured of Imminent Disaster’s work on exhibit at KESTING/RAY:

The exhibit continues through February 5^th at 30 Grand Street in NYC’s SoHo district.

photos by Lois Stavsky

Laurence Billiet sent over this photo of a piece she spotted in Paris, referencing Damien Hirst’s spot paintings. Hirst’s spot paintings have currently taken over all 11 Gagosian galleries in 8 countries. While some people may think that Hirst may be a lazy artist making art for lazy people, so far three people (including Tanley Wong of Arrested Motion) have completed the “spot challenge” and visited all 11 exhibits, so at least some of Hirst’s fans are pretty driven.

On a similar note, Kaws released a new toy this week.

Photo by Laurence Billiet

We made it over to Brooklyn’s Mighty Tanaka last week to check out its first exhibit of the new year: Lost & Found.  Featuring the artwork of Adam Void, Curtis Readel, Alice Mizrachi, ELLE and John Breiner, the exhibit features an intriguing array of work in diverse media created largely from found objects. Here are a few images:

Adam Void, Baltimore Sunset, found objects on wood panel

Curtis Readel, Towering Stud, shredded US currency collage

Alice Mizrachi, close-up of Luna, huge installation of acrylic on found wood & metal panels

ELLE, Raven Got Your Tongue, acrylic w/oil paint & wheat paste on found table

John Breiner, Brubreck vs Brubeck, acrylic ink and etching on found book cover

The exhibit continues through February 5 at Mighty Tanaka’s new space @ 111 Front Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO district.

Photos by Tara Murray & Lois Stavsky

With Ludo’s first solo show in Rome opening today at Wunderkammern, it’s no surprise that he has been getting a bit in Rome while he’s there.

Photos courtesy of Wunderkammern

Bananananas by Dal

Well, the internet went a bit crazy this week, but it looks like we’re winning. Thank you to anyone who noticed that Vandalog was offline on Wednesday in protest of SOPA and PIPA and took the time to contact their representatives to voice objections to the bills. But enough about politics. This is an art blog.

• This Mark Jenkins exhibition in Berlin looks awesome. The show has new sculptures, but it is also the launch of his monograph with Gestalten.
• In a subway station a bit like the site of The Underbelly Project, a number of Russian street artists painted this installation.
• Here’s a beautiful new piece from Phlegm.
• Above has a bunch of new photos on his website.
• The Toasters’ film launches in London on Tuesday.
• Barry McGee will have a show this year at UC Berkeley’s art museum. The show is made possible by a $100,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation.
• Leon Reid IV‘s latest project is pretty different from what we’ve come to expect from Reid. It’s a series of posters depicting recent world events. Hrag Vartanian spoke with Reid about the series.
• Looking for something great to do on Saturday night in LA? Try this – New Image Art and The Hole have teamed up for a party with some DJs and musicians plus installations by Retna, Anthony Lister and Drugs Crew.

Photo by Dal