Stinkfish in London

Is it time for another link-o-rama already? The week has flown by. Except for when I had to read the multiple formal press releases I received this week which promoted artists’ gallery shows by talking about a recent campaign of wheatpasting that they were doing solely for the purpose of promoting their shows. Bleh. By contrast, Stinkfish has been in London for a bit and just seems to be getting up with posters, spraypaint and other materials because it’s fun. Here’s some of the things I’m not going to be kinda bitter about this week…

• Anthony Lister has been getting up in LA. Okay, to be honest, one of those annoying press releases was promoting a new Lister show. That opens tonight in LA and runs through August 29th. I’m looking forward to seeing some pics. To be fair, the posters that Lister put up to promote the show were on advertising space (albeit probably illegal street level billboards) and he probably paid for them, so at least he’s not putting up ads over street art but rather over other ads, but the press release and hype around some ads was kind of unnecessary. And now to not be bitter!
• Speaking of advertising, Jordan Seiler/PublicAdCampaign has been testing a new iPhone app that replaces real-world ads with art by people like Ron English and John Fekner when you view them through your phone. A fun little experiment for sure.
• Aryz gets up huge in Italy.
• It looks like New York City’s Parks Department doesn’t find Leon Reid IV’s latest idea too funny.
• Arrested Motion is teasing some new work from Kaws.
• Evol’s latest project is a must-see.
• Vhils has hit FAME Festival.

Photo by HowAboutNo!

The latest issue of Very Nearly Almost, issue 15, went on sale last month. As a fan and occasional contributor to VNA, it’s a magazine that I always pick up. This issue is particularly cool though because it might have the more interviews with artists that I’ve written a lot about on Vandalog than any other issue of VNA. This is a coincidence, but certainly a happy one for me. Besides the interview that I did with Jordan Seiler, there is of course a detailed cover article where VNA speaks to Shepard Fairey, some very insightful words from Logan Hicks, a crazy series of conversations with members of Burning Candy (the VNA team might have been the only people to ever get the full nine current and former members of BC in one room at the same time) and interviews with Ripo and Nychos (who I haven’t written about too much, but now I want to) as well. As always, the guys at Very Nearly Almost have put together a quality zine and I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Here are a few teasers from this issue:

Photos courtesy of Very Nearly Almost

Bast

You know what’s weird? Hanging out with all your friends from high school and then actually seeing current high school students from your school. Those kids are so young! While I was freaking out about no longer being a teenager and enjoying the beautiful London weather (I’m serious about this one), here’s what I almost missed this week:

• Ok let’s start with something self-promotional – I was interviewed and photographed by my friends at The Ripe Apples. Definitely the most relaxing and fun situation to have ever involved my face in front of a camera.
• The full Da Mental Vaporz crew (Dran, Bom.K, Sowat, Brusk, Lime, Kan, Iso, Blo and Jaw) put together a show in Toulouse. The crowds look massive and the art looks great. S.Butterfly has all the photos you need here and here.
• Neckface used his installation in Art in the Streets to film a movie trailer.
• Jordan Seiler at PublicAdCampaign took Neko around NYC and the result was a series of beautiful ad disruptions.
• Sometimes Every time I think about it, I get annoyed by the close relationship of Juxtapoz and Upper Playground (Matt Revelli is editor-in-chief at Juxtapoz and founder/creative director at Upper Playground). Not so much because of any “journalistic integrity issues,” but because Juxtapoz gets lots of great exclusive Upper Playground related content. This time, they have photographs from a trip on freight trains with Swampy, and they’ve interviewed Swampy for the July issue of Juxtapoz. Definitely check those out. Swampy of course has a show opening next week in San Fransisco at Upper Playground’s Fifty24SF.
• Myne has a nice new print out.
• This piece by Simple is crisp.
• One of my favorite painters in New York, Don Pablo Pedro, is in a group show opening today in Brooklyn.
• If you’ve spent time in Williamsburg, you’ve seen that pink cloud and lightening bolt logo around and probably wondered about it. Well, it’s by Abel Macias, and he’s got some really nice Pink Cloud shirts available.
• Anthony Lister is going to do a 6-day painting marathon in Berlin starting June 9th. And you’ll be able to monitor his progress online.

Photo by Luna Park

Jordan Seiler. Translation - Make love to your city, caress and hold her tightly.

On March 30th, Jordan Seiler and some Madrid-based helpers disrupted bus-shelter advertisements throughout Madrid for PublicAdCampaign‘s latest takeover, MaSAT (Madrid Street Advertising Takeover). Over 100 artists and everyday people from around the world contributed to MaSAT by supplying text which was then printed on the posters that Jordan and his crew installed. Here are a few of my favorites:

TrustoCorp

Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere. Translation - advertisement for a bad movie

Joe Iurato

Logan Hicks

And the MaSAT project is particularly interesting to me because Jordan is participating in the Street Communications panel that I am moderating this weekend at Haverford College and because both the Schillers and I (Marc and Sara will also be on the panel) participated in MaSAT by sending some text:

Marc and Sara Schiller of Wooster Collective

RJ (me). Translation - Hi Carmen. I hope you’ll smile today!

Photos courtesy of PublicAdCampaign

Next Saturday (April 9th), I’ll be hosting an event at my school, Haverford College, which I hope you will be able to attend. I’ll be moderating Street Discussions, a panel with Gaia, Jordan Seiler, Marc Schiller and Sara Schiller. We’ll be looking at what roles and responsibilities there are on the street for both artists and advertisers. Gaia is a street artist and blogger for Vandalog. Jordan is the artist/activist behind PublicAdCampaign. Marc and Sara started Wooster Collective and their book Trespass was published last year. The event is open to the public, and, contingent on me getting organized, there might be a video uploaded afterward for anyone who can’t make it.

For those in Philadelphia, Haverford College is really easy to get to via SEPTA.

Random side-note: This is one reason why I love Haverford College. Two groups on campus (The Collection Fund and the Humanities Center’s Student Arts Fund) have come together to sponsor this event. They are fantastic.

The Living Walls Conference took place last August in Atlanta and included some Vandalog favorites like Chris Stain, Gaia, Jordan Seiler and Swampy. In fact, Monica Campana, a recent addition to the Vandalog bloggers, organized Living Walls (and that plays into the series of coincidences of how we met, but that’s a story for another day). Christine Sylvain just posted this short video from the conference:

CONCRETE VOICES from Birds of Prey Productions on Vimeo.

I’m also pleased to say that Living Walls will be taking place again this summer, and in two locations. There will be a conference in Atalanta again in August, plus another one in Albany, NY from the 16th-18th of September. For more info or if you think you would like to help make this year’s Living Walls conferences a success, email livingwallsconference@gmail.com for Altanta or livingwallsalbany@gmail.com for Albany.

Sticker by Hieronymus

Wow. It’s actually Friday night already? This week went by really fast. I think I’ve been sleeping too much. Well, while I was sleeping, these things nearly slipped me by:

• A film is being made about The Underbelly Project, and they are looking for reactions from the public. This Sunday, New Yorkers get have their reactions (positive or negative) on film. More info on the film’s website. I’ve been interviewed for this a couple of times, and I can’t wait to see the finished film.
• Shepard Fairey is guest-editing the latest issue of PAPER Magazine. Great price for an art/culture magazine by the way: I just realized that a two-year subscription to PAPER Magazine is $15! Juxtapoz costs more than that per year just for a digital subscription (more issues per year though)!
• Graffoto are raving about Mantis‘ solo show in Hackney Wick. Honestly, I saw a few photos in the preview and thought something along the lines of “What? These are paintings and they aren’t funny or clever and they aren’t amazing. This isn’t what I love about Mantis at all!” Well I stand corrected. While I still think a lot of the paintings are pretty unappealing, there are some great drawings and even a nice painting or two. The man can draw!
• Jordan Seiler is playing a game with outdoor advertising companies in NYC and Philadelphia.
• Kid Acne has a solo show in London open now.
• A Basquiat was defaced in Paris. Kyle Chayka asks if it really even matters?
• Political graffiti in Afghanistan is pretty interesting.
• People have been tagging up Barry McGee’s wall of tags in New York. Not writers, but just regular people. As beautiful as that wall was when it was first painted, I love that more people are writing on it. I guess the existence of the tags and a while background is sort of inviting average people to interact.
• I really enjoyed this interview with Phlegm.
• Arrested Motion has photos from Best Ever’s London solo show.
• Swoon is building at musical house in New Orleans.
• This street art/graffiti film festival event in Spain looks pretty interesting.
• There’s a new interview with me online at $200 Art Collecting, a blog with one of the best concepts I’ve heard in a long time: buy great art for $200 or less.

The week’s not up yet though, and I’ve committed to doing at least one useful thing before it is: Tomorrow I’m going to try using my kitchen for the first time since going to university. Wish me luck…

Photo by LoisInWonderland

Last week, Jordan Seiler from PublicAdCampaign was here in Philadelphia for Taking From The Tip Jar, his solo show at Vincent Michael Gallery. While in town, Jordan didn’t just hang his show. He also put up a few pieces outdoors. The piece below is, I think, Jordan first street piece that isn’t over advertising.

Outdoors, Jordan brought his usual energy and made the streets of Philadelphia a brighter place. I think his art going over advertisements is one of the most important things that street art can do. Often, people (including myself) have said that good street art is something that brings a smile to your face or makes you think because something has been added to your environment, but Jordan’s art can have just as powerful an effect (but not an impact) by removing branding from the environment. An example: Advertising can make people feel like crap about themselves and convince them to buy crap they don’t need to feel better about themselves. By removing that advertisement, somebody might not feel better about themselves, but don’t feel worse. They have a better day without even realizing it.

Indoors at Taking From The Tip Jar, the artwork was extremely conceptual, which was not immediately apparent. At first, the glance, it’s a drawing of a girl in high heel or underwear, so of course I’m drawn in to look at that. Clearly, Jordan has thought about advertising long enough to know that sex sells. Or he’s been listening to Bill Hicks. Realistically though, the drawings are average. Would they make good street art? Yes. Are they an improvement over the advertisements in phone booths? Hell yes. But the drawings just don’t have that much to offer if you intend to look at them for more than a moment or two. But the drawings aren’t what Jordan’s show is about. It’s about the frames. My favorite work in the show may have actually been an empty frame on the wall.

Everything in Taking From The Tip Jar is framed the same way: in stolen phone booth advertisement frames. Even with his indoor art, Jordan has been able to continue his mission of disrupting public advertising. Once you’re aware of the frames, the entire show is changed. Now it’s about how the frames should be used both indoors and outdoors, if at all. For this reason, Taking From The Tip Jar is one of the stronger shows I’ve seen this year. It actually got me thinking.

The show runs through December 3rd at Vincent Michael Gallery in Philadelphia.

Photos courtesy of Jordan Seiler and Vincent Michael Gallery

Unknown artist

Just got back from Jordan Seiler’s show at Vincent Michael Gallery. I’ll have more on that in the next few days, but I found an awesome store in the same area as the gallery: Jinxed. It sells cool toys and the like. Here’s what I didn’t write about this week while I was busy procrastinating and thinking about The Underbelly Project.

• Os Gêmeos and other artists are selling posters for a penny each (plus shipping)! I bought some.
• HowAboutNo! and Nolionsinengland found a bunch of new pieces by Burning Candy in London.
• Romanywg has compiled a book for photographs of abandoned buildings.
• Jace paints some nice walls.
• Askew’s essay on the economics of graffiti and graffiti removal needs to be read. I think it’s exaggerated some of his estimates, but his point remains valid.
• Michael Aaron Williams understands placement.
• Best Ever have a solo show opening next week in London.
• JR’s artwork in Shanghai might be some of his best yet.
• Apparently Banksy went to Mexico a decade ago and pictures are just coming to light now.
• Ron English and Chris Brown? Umm…
• Elisa and maybe other Vandalog writers are going to disagree with me on this, but I’m not really digging Aakash Nihalani’s new work at his solo show in New York. I guess I just prefer Aakash outdoors.
• Okay, this is just annoying. When you give people freedom to say anything, of course some asshole is going to be racist once in a while, but that doesn’t mean free speech should stop. These are college students, they should be able to think this through beyond the immediate things going on around them. Or just paint the damn tunnel in murals of people of all races and creeds holding hands?
• Hrag on Hyperallergic points out that in Vegas there are miles of storm tunnels where people live, and parts of the tunnels are covered in really nice graffiti. That’s awesome! He goes on to say that this is much more interesting than The Underbelly Project. I would disagree. Those tunnels are important and interesting, but they aren’t as unique as The Underbelly Project. New York’s own Freedom Tunnel was once a very similar space until it was reopened for trains and I’m guessing that there are similar sites in other cities around the world.

Photo by nolionsinengland

Jordan Seiler is one of the artists that I’ve been most interested in recently. Through a great coincidence, his upcoming solo show at the Vincent Michael Gallery is the first gallery opening that I’ll be going to in Philadelphia. Taking From The Tip Jar opens on November 5th (also Guy Fawkes Night, which is sort of fitting I guess since Jordan is trying to change the world, but not by blowing things up) and you can be sure that I’ll be there.

For this show, Jordan has made art and framed it in phone booth advertising cases that have been removed from the street. This way, even in his gallery work Jordan is working to eliminate public advertising on some level.

Everything that I know about Jordan tells me that he is one street artist who is really at it for the “street art” and activism, not just to get his name in the press and get his art in galleries. And he’s not the type to take the transition indoors lightly. Although he’s produced work for group shows, this is Jordan’s first solo show in over 5 years. I can’t wait to see it in person.

Photos courtesy of Vincent Michael Gallery