Following in the tradition of street artists like Other, Labrona and Margaret Kilgallen, Know Hope recently drew on a few freight trains in Croatia. The above drawing is my favorite.
And Know Hope has also just released a new lithograph. “Humbled Memory Mumbles Melody” (image below) was produced at Edition Copenhagen, the same place that Barry McGee and Todd James recently produced some prints. Know Hope’s lithograph measures 56 x 76 cm, is an edition of 100 and is available for $280. To purchase “Humbled Memory Mumbles Melody,” just email raz.thisislimbo@gmail.com.
Manhattan’s Leo Kesting Gallery has a group show opening next week with some of my favorite emerging artists. Dead Letter Playground: A Collection of Contemporary Street Art opens June 24th (from 7pm-10pm) and has artwork from Carolyn A’Hearn, Chris Stain, Clown Soldier, Dain, DickChicken, Doze Green, Elbowtoe, Elle, Ellis G, Faro, Gaia, Head Hoods, Imminent Disaster, Jen.Lu, Jordan Seiler, Know Hope, Laura Meyers, Lee Trice, Love Me, Matt Siren, Mister Never, Nicola Verlato, Peru Ana Ana Peru, Phil Lumbang, Shark Toof, Anthony Michael Sneed and Sweet Toof. Of course, the show also includes one of my least favorite artists, DickChicken, but nobody’s perfect (ps, because I know that somebody is going to give me shit for that comment, I’d like to clarify: I actually don’t mind DickChicken’s tag or find it offensive or anything. I just don’t think he makes anything remotely interesting indoors). The show runs through July 18th.
Here’s some of the work that will be at Dead Letter Playground:
This painting by Know Hope, titled both containers and contained, is one of my favorites ever by him:
It reminds me of this story, but I’m a bit more negative of a person than Know Hope and I’m thinking that my interpretation of the painting is not at all as Know Hope intended. Maybe it’s actually a very hopeful painting and the characters aren’t about to drown.
But that isn’t all that Know Hope has been up to lately. Here a few more things that he’s been working on:
Most of the artists are from, Tel Aviv (‘the bubble’). Know Hope calls the city the “most secular, dynamic and fast-paced city in Israel”. Broken Fingaz are from Haifa, in the north, which also has a surfing community for what it’s worth.
Tel Aviv is a great graffiti destination. Not without police, but just far more laid back than most other big cities. You can read more about the Tel Aviv street art scene in an article I wrote for the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz last year.
Take a look at Zero Cents blog (maybe NSFW)- I was moved by the post, ‘R.I.P. Whoresy’.
Broken Fingaz
Broken Fingaz
Photos courtesy of Inoperable Gallery and Broken Fingaz
A charity street art auction at the Factory Fresh gallery will see the largest array of street artists together anywhere so far this year in tandem with the book launch for Street Art New York.
The book by Steven P. Harrington and Jaime Rojo (brooklynstreetart.com), with a foreword by Carolina A. Miranda (c-monster.net), is published by Prestel – who have upped the ante with regards the front cover design. Instead of using a free download, ‘graffiti’ font, they have chosen one that doesn’t scream urban cool, tastefully adjacent to an image by Judith Supine. I’ve read that Harrington is a book designer by trade, so it makes sense. I guess the less said about the cover for the pair’s 2008 release, Brooklyn Street Art the better.
The art auction will raise money for the kids charity, Free Arts NYC, who aid children and families with educational art and mentoring programmes.
The list of participating artists thus far includes: Bishop 203, Billi Kid, Bortusk Leer, Broken Crow, C Damage, C215, Cake, Celso, Chris RWK , Chris Stain, Creepy, DAIN, Damon Ginandes, Dan Witz, Dark Clouds, Elbow Toe, Gaia, FKDL, General Howe, GoreB, Hellbent, Imminent Disaster, Jim Avignon, Jef Aerosol, JMR, Jon Burgerman, Keely, Know Hope, Logan Hicks, Mark Carvalho, Matt Siren, Mint and Serf, Miss Bugs, NohJColey, Peru Ana Ana Peru, PMP, Poster Boy, Rene Gagnon, ROA, Pufferella, Royce Bannon, Skewville, Specter, Stikman, The Dude Company, Tristan Eaton, Veng RWK.
The auction and launch will take place at the Factory Fresh gallery, Bushwick, Brooklyn, April 24, from 7-11pm.
I don’t know much about this JaffaCakesTLV show, but Know Hope is involved, so I’ll be checking it out.
Here’s the press release:
Very little of the groundbreaking art created in Israel in the last decade responded directly to [the political unrest], either because artists felt powerless to change a harsh reality, or because they chose to adopt a universalist stance in an attempt to rise above the purely local.” (Amitai Mendelsohn, Real Time: Art in Israel: 1998-2008, 2008).
The first ever exhibition in the UK devoted to contemporary art from Tel Aviv will open on April 16 as a pop-up exhibition in Kenny Schachter’s Rove Gallery. 33-34 Hoxton Square. Examining one of the most interesting, yet unexplored, groups of practicing artists today, JaffaCakes TLV will showcase works by seven artists who are inspired by the diversity and vibrancy of modern-day Tel Aviv. Although artists from Tel Aviv have started to gain attention in the United States and Europe, they have not been shown as a group in the UK until now.
Entitling the show after the well-loved biscuits is a play on words. Its familiarity provides the perfect combination of mundane and mischievous, yet it references a geographical location. Jaffa, one of the oldest ports in the world has become the centre of Israel’s fringe culture; it is youthful, daring and avant-garde. Like Tel Aviv-Jaffa, a city of contradictions, the works in JaffaCakes TLV are beguiling; a multitude of layers slowly reveals an underlying sense of mystery and fantasy.
The exhibition is inspired by renowned short story writer and Camera D’Or winner Etgar Keret. His stories “fuse the banal with the surreal, shot through with a dark, tragicomic sensibility and casual, comic-strip violence.” (The Observer, 13 February 2005). Within the recognisable streets and neighborhoods of Tel Aviv, Keret depicts conventional modern life with injections of irregularity that lead its viewers to question their preconceived notions of reality.The catalogue will feature a short story by Etgar Keret while the artists on show explore and reflect this notion of the uncanny in their work.
Know Hope just got back to Tel Aviv after an intense lithography workshop at Edition Copenhagen. I’ll put up an image of the print he finished there as soon as I have one.
He also put up some great street pieces during his stay, such as this one marking the entrance to the tunnel below Dr. Louise’s Bridge. Seems like this is a regular spot for artists there to hit.
Know Hope is one of my favorite artists, so it’s always a treat to see his latest work.
This is a piece in Tel Aviv:
And these are some pictures of the piece that Know Hope created for the Brooklynite Gallery‘s “Go Get Your Shinebox” show (awesome video of all the pieces in that show here):
Aakash Nihalani and Know Hope just got back from the Blk River Festival in Vienna. Here’s a cool time lapse of one of their collabs. More work from Aakash below, including a playful addition to a classic Banksy image (photo by Yvonne Kaufman), plus a close up of the piece you see in the video.
Get new posts by Email