The germ of this particular collaborative project (full PDF of the essay here) between Hrag Vartanian and I, began a little under two years ago when someone on flickr called a fake New Yorker article to my attention that had been pasted up on N7th and Bedford in the epicenter of Williamsburg. Entitled “Canal Street Swoons”, the scathing feature was pasted abutting a piece that I had committed to the streets entitled Rachel and the Wolves. While the anonymous author was particularly trenchant in its tone regarding my and Elbowtoe’s work in comparison to Swoon, I was excited that my pieces had engendered such a vehement reaction within somebody that they wrote, designed and pasted their own essay on the street.
Often, artwork in the gallery space is contextualized and its full scope realized by a supplementary text that provides the insightful background material and motivation for the piece. These auxiliary words help to complete the work and neatly establish the piece as apart of a larger narrative. Alternatively, what is so intriguing about street art is that it exists within the space that it occupies more autonomously and mysteriously. There is no description of materials employed or sources referenced; there is rarely even an associated name or moniker present. Such a floating image without any support gives the work an enigmatic character that is intriguing but simultaneously opaque.
This collaboration attempts to bridge that gap between the viewer and the art’s broader situation by producing more points of access into the work. The adjacent text fills in the art historical gaps and suggests at the intention behind the seemingly ambiguous figure. Furthermore, it extends the physical conversation on the street by demonstrating another form of interaction with the environment. Personally, this is an exciting moment because I am hopeful that it will spur more street art criticism that will exist physically alongside its subject.
In central Baltimore on Franklin Street. Once the snow melts the bottom half will emerge. Had to dig at least four feet of snow in front to get it closer to the ground. More Here
In other news, here is a spot on Malcolm X and Dekalb in Bed Stuy that just went up two days ago. It’s always important, especially in New York, to hit cutty spots that extend beyond downtown and williamsburg, where street art becomes intimate, fresh and expands its boundaries. So in that sentiment, Blanco just put up a powerful piece in Harlem.
Gaia and NohJColey just completed this mural for Espeis Outside in New York City. I for one am loving this double-animal thing that Gaia has been doing lately, and although Gaia and NohJ aren’t an obvious duo to collaborate with each other, the result is surely interesting. Here’s a film of them wheatpasting the mural:
The mural was organized by BrooklynStreetArt, and they have a short interview with the duo on their blog.
… and two relatively new elbowtoe pieces. Took Clownsoldier out to this wall. The MBW literally went up the other night cause when I was scoping this spot it wasn’t there. So all of this is totally fresh.
Over the past two nights, M-City and I painted this collaborative mural on Malcolm X Blvd under the auspices of Brooklynite Gallery. It was a pleasure to work with this incredible artist and frankly the painting went swimmingly, without so much as a single conflict in our styles or vision. A big shout out to Mikeion for the fantastic documentation and the wonderful Brooklyn Street Art for the coverage
A Cry For Help runs from January 8 – February 5 at Thinkspace in LA. Not only does it feature a long list of great local and international artists, the show supports animal rights and protection so there will be adoptions throughout the opening weekend and the opportunity to donate food, toys and blankets to local shelters. If you love art and care about animals, this is the show for you! We also previewed it in the January issue of The Art Street Journal.
Above are pieces by Bumblebee (who also did a big install in the gallery window, plus a cool street piece nearby: see below) and Gaia, but as there is a lot of great work to be found in the show, I recommend you go check it all out for yourself here.
While in Miami for Art Basel last month, I went to more than a dozen different fairs or exhibitions of one kind or another. And I barely scratched the surface of what was there. One night, I was out with a big group including people from Babelgum, Arrested Motion and a few other organizations. We were more or less wandering around Wynwood looking for any fairs that were still open. We ended up at Art Whino. I’d heard of Art Whino, but frankly hadn’t planned on going to the show. There was just so much going on that I didn’t think I would be able to find the time. Turns out, it was one of the more interesting exhibitions in Miami. There was artwork from Chris Stain, Billy Mode, PaperMonster and a whole assortment of others.
But for me, one artist stood out. This guy who had a sort of low-brow illustrator style, but not the kind that I normally hate. There was some substance to these paintings. I was absolutely loving all the paintings by this artist. His name was Justin Lovato. I happened to see Gaia nearby, so I rudely interrupted whatever conversation he was having with somebody I didn’t recognize and told them about how I had just found this amazing new artist called Justin Lovato. Turns out, the guy Gaia was talking to was Justin Lovato. Even better, Justin does paint the occasional piece outdoors, so it gave me an excuse to mention him here.
Here’s what Juxtapoz.com has said about Justin:
Here’s what we have to say: his art looks neat. The linework is nothing groundbreaking, reminiscent of a mix of Andrew Schoultz and Ferris Plock, but he has a distinctively rich, earthy palette and subtle use of stenciling incorporated with hand painting that makes us smile.
(oh, and make sure to click on these pics of his indoor work so that you can see them much larger and in the detail that they deserve to be seen in)
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