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

Bust in Amsterdam

Happy almost Halloween. It’s been a week of wasted energy, or so it seems. A potential legal wall that I was organizing has fallen through for the time being, but hopefully things are just delayed rather than cancelled. Here’s some of what I should have posted about this week:

• Reported, this sculpture at Occupy London was made and left there by Banksy, but that claim is unconfirmed by Banksy so far. Nonetheless, Zeus added this modification to the piece. And Above has also made some work in solidarity with the Occupy movement. Similarly to K-Guy’s work at Occupy London, I’m conflicted here. On the one hand, it’s great when artists who know how to get headlines do so in solidarity with a political movement of sorts, but on the other hand these artists are of course latching on to the movement and associating themselves with it in a way that they know will get headlines and potentially help them sell some paintings. Of course the same could be said of many of the celebrity speakers who have been generally well-received at Occupy events. So there’s that dilemma to think about.
• Faile are the latest artists to hit the wall at Bowery and Houston.
• Last time I was in NYC, I saw this billboard for Hennessy cognac with designs by Kaws. Just interesting to see the flip from a decade ago when Kaws would have modified that billboard illegal to insert his work onto it in an effort to associate with the Hennessy brand, and now Hennessy pays Kaws to associate with their brand. Also, this new Kaws/Snoopy toy goes on sale today on Kaws’ website. Okay, one last bit of Kaws news: I love this new painting by him.
• This is a nice video of ECB painting a wall in London.
• The Citrus Report interviewed Feral Child.
• John Baldessari’s views on street art.
• The Nuart festival book is available for pre-order.
• TrustoCorp’s show at Opera Gallery in NYC looks like a lot of fun.
• Here are two articles about street art and graffiti in Libya and other countries being impacted by the Arab Spring.

Photo by Bust

Some recent mock magazine covers from TrustoCorp

TrustoCorp‘s latest show, Life Cycle, will be opening next week at Opera Gallery‘s New York location on Spring Street. Ambitious as ever, Life Cycle will be based around 4 installations examining the stages of the life of an American, including over 50 artworks. Here’s one, called Botched Operation:

Life Cycle opens on October 21st and runs through November 11th and should be a must-see show (particularly the opening night if past TrustoCorp shows are anything to go by).

We visited Opera Gallery earlier today just a few hours before the official opening of “Abstractions,” a retrospective of the abstract movement that features artists who’ve used the streets as their canvas, alongside such “fine” artists as Miro and Matta. Here are a few images:

David Ellis

Ron English

Futura

Saber

Sixeart, close-up

Logan Hicks’ show on now at Opera Gallery in NYC has some new work from him on anodized aluminum. Those pieces are of greyscale figures or scenes on what looks like a solid piece of black aluminum. In reality, the aluminum has been anodized/dyed black. In this new video, Logan explains the process of how his artworks on anodized aluminum are made:

Logan Hicks – anodized aluminum from Logan Hicks on Vimeo.

"Circus" ad disruption in Philadelphia by Sorry

Wow, last week went by quickly. And Steph moved in with me today, temporarily. Should be a crazy few weeks. Here’s what I’ve been meaning to write about:

• JR’s show at Centre Pompidou is open.
• Ludo’s got a new sculpture for sale.
• Faile’s new print with Paper Monster could have been great, but I think they picked such a weak image to work with. Oh well. I’m sure there will be more and better Faile prints in the future.
• The remnants of a historic Cost/Revs piece can now be seen up close from a newly opened section of the Highline in NYC.
• Banksy is sponsoring Art in the Streets at MOCA in LA so that visits are free every Monday from 11-5 through the rest of the show’s run.
• A large Kaws sculpture moved from the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum to The Standard Hotel in NYC. And there’s this new video interview with Kaws too.
• New from Phlegm.
• Lois posted some photos, but here’s even more from Logan Hicks’ show at Opera Gallery.
• I’ve never heard of Anton Steenbock, but I want to see more like this.
• Glen E. Friedman has won his lawsuit against Mr. Brainwash for using Friedman’s iconic photograph of Run DMC. I still say I’d rather have seen MBW win this case. Not because I think MBW’s work based on that photo looked good, but because I’d rather see more room for artists to re-appropriate content and less restrictions on copyrighted material. What MBW did to Friedman’s photograph was transformative. The original photo is a great photo and an iconic one. What MBW did was make it look totally silly. And that should be covered by fair use, for the benefit of better artists.

Photo by Carolinecaldwell

I’d always identified Logan Hicks with meticulously stenciled urban landscapes.   I was awed by his pieces that I saw at London’s Cans Festival in 2008 and at Brooklyn’s Willoughby Windows in 2009.  It was only earlier today at Opera Gallery in SoHo that I discovered his stunningly-crafted portraits, including of the lovely Monica LoCascio.

@ Cans Festival, London, 2008

@ Willoughby Windows, Brooklyn, 2009

@ Opera Gallery, NYC, 2011

Photos by Lois Stavsky

Logan Hicks’ much anticipated solo show at Opera Gallery in NYC opens on Thursday. I saw some of the work for Pretty Ugly while I was in New York recently, and, as always, Logan is a master of technique. You don’t want to miss this show. Here’s a little preview of what to expect…

Untitled from Logan Hicks on Vimeo.

And don’t forget that Logan was interviewed for the latest issue of Very Nearly Almost.

Photos courtesy of Logan Hicks

Tristan Eaton‘s new book, The 3D Art Book, is being launched this week with a show at Opera Gallery‘s NYC location. Andrew Bell, Stephen Bliss, Kevin Bourgeois, Ron English, Mat Eaton, Tristan Eaton, Filth, Haze, Travis Louie, Tara McPherson, Kenzo Minami, Mint, Serf, Dr. Revolt & Tom Thewes will be in the show, and the book includes over 100 artists. I haven’t seen this book in person yet, but I’m looking forward to checking it out.

As mentioned last week, Wednesday is the opening of a show at Opera Gallery in New York with Logan Hicks and Anthony Lister. Logan has made this video teaser for the show: