Smells, Cash4, Don Pablo Pedro and Keely

Last class of the school year yesterday. Now for finals. Can’t wait… Here are some distractions in case you’re in a similar boat:

• NoseGo has some new prints available today with Unit44. These are not giclee prints, but rather archival pigment prints, a significant step up in quality as I understand it.
• The fantastic ceramic street artist Carrie Reichardt is organizing this show in London.
• Great sculptural installation and indoor mural by Pixel Pancho in Mexico City.
• Loving this collaboration between Kofie and El Mac.
• S.butterfly has photos of the Bom.K show in Paris. Wish I could see this one in person.
• And Kaws has a solo show in Tokyo at the moment. It’s Kaws, so feel free to check out the photos, but you pretty much knows what’s coming.
• JR and José Parlá collaborated on a mural on the outside of Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, where they have a two-man show opening next week. Glad to see Parlá working outdoors, but it always strikes me as a bit odd since he tries to distance his work from graffiti. I guess when there’s a show to promote… Although to be fair, the show is about a series of collaborative murals that JR and Parlá made together in Cuba.
• JR’s Inside Out project booth in Times Square is a huge hit. He’s been covering the street with photos of people who stop by his little photobooth, and it looks awesome. The billboards in Times Square were even (briefly) given over to JR for the project. The whole thing is a fight against outdoor ads and for public spaces for the public, but JR manages to make his point without beating people over the head with politics. Instead, JR just shows people a better world and makes them smile. I’m not a JR fanatic, but I absolutely love this project.

Photo by Hrag Vartanian

Galerie Itinerrance in Paris has a solo show of Bom.K‘s work opening tonight. Sorry for the short notice. Bom.K is one of my favorite painters of twisted imagery, and you can’t deny his skill with a spraycan. Of course, he is also a founder of the all-around impressive DMV crew. Vertiges & Somnolence opens tonight (Wednesday) at 6pm and runs through June 1st. It looks like Bom.K has been painting some huge canvases for this show. It should definitely be worth checking out. Here’s a little preview:

Photos courtesy of SUBEN

Bom.K and Liliwenn next to Roa, Malarky, and Lucas. Click to view large.

The spot on Hanbury Street in London previously occupied by Ben Slow’s work (twice) is now home to a collaboration between Bom.K of Da Mental Vaporz and Liliwenn that looks a bit like a wall-sized game of exquisite corpse.

Bom.K and Liliwenn. Click to view large.

Bom.K and Liliwenn. Click to view large.

Photos by Shafiur Rahman

Chase

The Walls Project is a series of legal spots organized by the folks behind Global Street Art. To date, they’ve organized over fifty of spots in London for local and international artists to paint. A lot of the spots they find are the roll-down shutters for shops in East London. It’s great to know that there are a couple of friendly guys in London who are simply interested in helping artists find more spots to paint and making their daily commutes a bit more interesting. You can see more of the walls and a map here.

A side note: Global Street Art are currently working on releasing their first book through Unbound, a sort of Kickstarter for books.

Here are a few of my favorites shutter pieces from The Walls Project:

2Rise and Gris

Ador

Roma

Read the rest of this article »

Click to view large

Liliwenn and Bom.K collaborated on this wall in Brest, France for the Crime of Minds mural series. Such stunning work.

Photos by Kevin Perro

Even though Walls & Frames by Maximiliano Ruiz has been out for a few months now, I have finally gotten around to reading it cover to cover and writing a proper review. With so many street art books (and how expensive the hardcover ones are out there today) we think it is important at Vandalog to try and write honest reviews about what we come across.

I have been really excited about the release Walls & Frames, not just because of the hand painted dust jackets sold during the book launch, but because the topic it covers is one that I have researched and continue to do so in depth. As street art continues to become more and more popular as a mainstream art genre, the transition of street art into a commodity is an interesting aspect of the genre. Each artists that comes from or works in both mediums deals with the transition in their own way, and I finally thought there was a book that was going to ask the tough questions to artists about working indoors. How do you feel about your work as a commodity? Do you have a different process with canvasses versus walls? How do you justify the price tag of your work if it doesn’t take as much time? Do you only paint outdoors to promote the sale of your work? These and more are what I thought was going to be addressed in Walls & Frames, but unfortunately, the book falls short of asking any of these questions and puts forth an array of 101 artists work (some of whom have never even gotten up in the streets). From the title alone, I at least hoped, at the very least, that the Ruiz would juxtapose artists’ outdoor work with their indoor pieces as the images and let the reader assess the differences, but alas, all of the images are of work that has been shown or sold by galleries around the world. Sadly, even just with a quick flip through, one will find Walls & Frames just another well designed coffee table book in which to impress your friends.

Right from the outface, the book is clearly more of a compilation of images rather than a critical perspective on the transition of street art. The only writing from Ruiz is in a two page preface, which states the obvious saying that street art has become a global mainstream phenomenon solidifying itself as a true art form. Using the phrase street art as an umbrella term throughout, there is no distinction about what constitutes street art and who is a street artist. Instantly confusing, the term is used a categorical phrase in order to group the names featured in the book, whether they have painted outdoors or not. The term is molded somewhat through artist quotes within the book, but does not directly address the overarching question that nobody has really answered yet: what can be described as street art in this day and age?

From the preface, the 101 artists are showcased alphabetically with their name, birth place and date as well as a quote about their work. Of course, the ones I find most interesting are those who actually address the topic of their street versus their fine art. Greek based artist Alexandros Vasmoulakis, who has successful created canvasses as amazing as his large scale abstract street art had to say the following:

My paintings are strongly influenced from my initial street artwork. However, when I exhibit my work in the gallery space, I consider myself a painter rather than a street artist. The street art market can be sweet and cozy for every young artist, nevertheless it could be a wolf in disguise. Generally, I do not really pay much attention to the location of my work. My first intention is to make something strong and worthy. This can be enough.

Thankfully, a majority of the quotes from artists are at least related to the transition from the streets to the gallery. Each artist had something different to say about the topic. Some like, Axel Void, don’t make any distinction, but many say the streets inspire their work with styles, materials or the environment. Others, like Bom K, separate the two as completely different creative entities to express themselves. Ben Frost discusses how he is mostly a gallery artist now because it takes so long to create a single piece while someone like Blek Le Rat paints on canvas since it is permanent while his street work is ephemeral lasting only a few days or hours.

While I may wish for longer read on the topic, the book is a starting point for others to continue Ruiz’s work. And besides, who doesn’t like to look at some pretty pictures once in awhile?

All images courtesy of Gelstaten

Inside of DMV's show

Da Mental Vaporz’ (Bom-K, Blo, Brusk, Dran, Gris1, ISO, Jaw, Kan, and Sowat) exhibition at RTIST Gallery in Melbourne in still open for a few more days, but if you can’t make it down, here’s a short video giving an idea of what’s going on (including a mural)…

DMV ~ Le Venin from Rtist Gallery on Vimeo.

Photo by S.Butterfly

Bom.k and Sowat of Da Mental Vaporz

There are so many interesting shows opening in the next week or two that I thought I’d just throw them all together into one post. Here’s what I think looks worth checking out:

• Yesterday, the Museum of Sex in New York opened a show that sounds absolutely awesome called F*ck Art. It’s on through June 10th and features artwork by Aiko, El Celso, Lush, Mode2, Cassius Fouler, Miss Van and many more.
• Love & Hate is a group show opening at StolenSpace this week and runs through March 4th. D*face, Dan Witz, Ronzo, Word to Mother, Jeff Soto, Eine, Charles Krafft and others are included.
• Chris Stain, Veng and Taka Sudo will be showing together at C.A.V.E. Gallery, beginning February 11th. Brooklyn Street Art has a preview of Chris’ work.
• Zes and Retna are together at Known Gallery in LA. LA TACO has the info.
• Nick Mann aka Doodles, Brett Flanigan, Craig Rodgers and Dan Bortz are collaborating with one another in Oakland, CA.
• Another collaborative group show will be in Da Mental Vaporz‘ (Bom.k, Blo, Brusk, Dran, Gris1, ISO, Jaw, Kan, and Sowat) show at Melbourne. That show, Le Venin, will be at RTIST Gallery from February 16th through March 4th.
• All Talk at Pandemic Gallery will include Aakash Nihalani, Cassius Fouler, Gabriel Specter, Jesus Saves, NohJColey and others and runs from February 17th through March 11th.

Photo courtesy of Da Mental Vaporz

Dust jacket by Anthony Lister

To launch his new art book, Maximiliano Ruiz reached out to the artists he wrote about and asked them to customize dust jackets for the book. Over 100 custom dust jackets were made. Walls & Frames was launched last month at Pictures on Walls in London along with dozens of the dust jackets. Walls & Frames looks at 101 artists who have brought their street art indoors and now have a studio practice alongside their street work or whose studio work is closely connected to the street.

Here’s the full list of artists in the book:

Aaron Noble, AJ Fosik, Alexandre Farto aka Vhils, Alexandros Vasmoulakis, Alëxone Dizac, Amose, Andrew McAttee, Anthony Lister, Antony Micallef, Axel Void, Basco-Vazko, Base 23, Ben Frost, Blek le Rat, Bom-K, Boris Hoppek, Boxi, C215, Cekis, Conor Harrington, D*Face, Dan Witz, Daniel Muñoz aka San, Dave Kinsey, Der, Dixon, Docteur Gecko, Doze Green, Dran, Duncan Jago aka Mr. Jago, Eine, Ekundayo, El Mac, Evan Roth, Evol, Faile, Faith 47, Fefe Talavera, Gaia, George Morton-Clark, Herakut, Herbert Baglione, Interesni Kazki, Jaybo, Jeff Soto, Jeremy Fish, Jesse Hazelip, Johnny “KMNDZ” Rodriguez, Joram Roukes, Jorge Rodriguez Gerada, Josh Keyes, JR, Judith Supine, Katrin Fridriks, Kevin Cyr, Kofie, L’Atlas, Lightgraff, Logan Hicks, Ludo, M-City, Mark Jenkins, Mark Whalen aka Kill Pixie, Maya Hayuk, Medo & Demência, Meggs, Miss Bugs, Miss Van, Morten Andersen aka M2theA, Mr. Kern, Mudwig, Nicholas Di Genova, Okuda, Patrick Evoke, Paul Insect, Pedro Matos, Peter Owen, Pose, Pure Evil, Remed, Remi/Roughe, René Almanza, Retna, Ripo, Ródez, Sam3, Sat One, Shepard Fairey, Sixe, Smash 137, Sowat, Sten & Lex, Stephan Doitschinoff, Tec, Tilt, Troy Lovegates aka Other, Turf One, Vitché;, Wendell McShine, Will Barras and Zosen.

The book is available online, as are some of the remaining dust jackets.

Dust jacket by Bom.k

Photos courtesy of Maximiliano Ruiz

Earlier this month the DMV (Da Mental Vaporz) Crew collaborated on this amazing wall for Crimes of Minds in Brest, France. The whole process was caught on camera and Awouell has just published this great ‘making of’ video…