On Monday, The Underbelly Project announced two big things: 1. They did a Paris version of The Underbelly Project, which we’ll have more about soon, but The Huffington Post has info on for now; and 2. They’ve changed the location of The Underbelly Show opening this week in Miami to 78 NW 25th Street in Wynwood. That, and an exclusive preview of that show, will be the focus of today’s Underbelly post.

The Underbelly Show may be the new kid on the block during Miami Art Basel, but it has arrived as a force to be reckoned with. It will featuring brand new work from over 30 artists who participated in the New York and Paris Underbelly Projects, as well as a host of other installations and events. This is not just another gallery show during a busy week. It’s an experience. Starting with the RSVP-only opening party on Tuesday, Thursday will see a Secret Wars battle, Friday the space opens to the general public and includes the launch of a limited edition version of The Underbelly Project’s book We Own the Night, which won’t be on sale in stores until next year. And that’s just the stuff I can tell you about. I can’t even guess at what else the Underbelly crew have got planned, but this is definitely the one must-see thing in Miami this week.

While setting up the show at the original location on Collins Avenue this week, the team realized the amount of art and their vision was too big for that space, so they moved to a warehouse in Wynwood at 78 NW 25th Street.

In a rare statement, the usually silent Workhorse told Vandalog:

The scope of the Underbelly Miami show grew larger than we had expected. Originally our idea for the location in South Beach was to showcase selected works in a high traffic area so as many people could see it as possible. As the works started to come in, we realized that we were going to run out of wall space. One of the Swoon pieces is 21 feet wide by 13 feet tall. The L’atlas piece is nearly 12 feet tall. We have over 70 pieces of work and most all of them are 4×6 feet and larger. The work is massive. So we began to look for additional space and realized it was best to move the show to Wynwood so that we could feature the works without being crowded and crammed onto the walls.

Photos courtesy of The Underbelly Project

Category: Art Fairs, Featured Posts, Festivals, Gallery/Museum Shows | Tags: l'atlas, ron english, skewville, underbelly miami, underbelly project, workhorse

UPDATE – LOCATION CHANGE: The Underbelly Show has moved to 78 NW 25th Street in Wynwood, Miami to accommodate the large scale of the artwork in this show.

The Underbelly Project is back. Last year, I posted a lot about the project where 103 artists from around the world secretly painted an abandoned/half-completed New York City subway station. After that initial burst of press here and around the web, The Underbelly Project organizers stayed silent. With only occasional vague tweets from a mysterious twitter account and the appearance on Amazon of an upcoming book about the project. Yesterday though, The Underbelly Project announced that they will be participating in this year’s Basel Miami Week madness with a pop-up gallery in South Beach Wynwood.

The organizers of The Underbelly Project and The Underbelly Show, Workhorse and PAC, have this to say about the show:

Workhorse: The New York Underbelly was an important chapter for us, but the story hadn’t been comprehensively told. The Underbelly Miami show gives us a chance to present the broad scope of documentation – Videos, photos, time-lapses and first hand accounts. The project is about more than just artwork. This show gives us a chance to show the people and the environment behind the artwork.

PAC: While the experience each artist had in their expedition underground can never be captured, it is my hope that this show will highlight some of the trials and tribulations associated with urban art taking place in the remote corners of our cities. Too often the practice of making art in unconventional venues remains shrouded in mystery and I hope this exhibition will shine a faint light on those artists who risk their safety to find alternative ways to create and be a part of the cities they live in.

35 of the 103 artists from The Underbelly Project will be exhibiting art in The Underbelly Show, plus video and still footage of the artists at work in the tunnel. Here’s the full line-up: Faile, Dabs & Myla, TrustoCorp, Aiko, Rone, Revok, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Mark Jenkins, Anthony Lister, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, M-City, Kid Zoom, Haze, Saber, Meggs, Jim & Tina Darling, The London Police, Sheone, Skewville, Jeff Stark, Jordan Seiler, Jason Eppink and I AM, Dan Witz, Specter, Ripo, MoMo, Remi/Rough, Stormie Mills, Swoon, Know Hope, Skullphone, L’Atlas, Roa, Surge, Gaia, Michael De Feo, Joe Iurato, Love Me, Adam 5100, and Chris Stain.

For this show, the space will be transformed into an environment imitating the tunnel where The Underbelly Project took place, right down to playing sounds recorded in the station while The Underbelly Project was happening.

If you absolutely cannot wait until February to get We Own The Night, the book documenting The Underbelly Project, a limited number will be available at The Underbelly Show in a box set with 9 photographic prints and the book all contained in a handcrafted oak box. Additionally, you will be able to your book signed by the artists participating in The Underbelly Show.

The Underbelly Show will take place at 2200 Collins Avenue, South Beach, Miami 78 NW 25th Street, Wynwood, Miami. There will be a private opening on November 30th, and the space will be open to the general public December 2nd-5th, with a general opening on the 2nd from 8-10pm.

Photo by RJ Rushmore

Category: Featured Posts, Gallery/Museum Shows | Tags: adam 5100, aiko, anthony lister, chris stain, Dabs Myla, dan witz, faile, gaia, haze, i am, jason eppink, jeff soto, jeff stark, jim darling, joe iurato, jordan seiler, kid zoom, know hope, l'atlas, logan hicks, love me, lucy mclauchlan, m-city, mark jenkins, Meggs, michael de feo, momo, pac, remi/rough, revok, ripo, roa, ron english, rone, saber, sheone, skewville, skullphone, specter, stormie mills, surge, swoon, the london police, tina darling, trustocorp, underbelly project, workhorse

This is an old video, but definitely a must-see. Ron English is one of the most intelligent and politically aware artists I can think of, and this video explains his billboard takeover activities perfectly. Thanks to Bomit for the reminder that this was out there.

Photo courtesy of Ron English

Category: Featured Posts, Videos | Tags: ron english

Ron English has been busy with projects in LA recently. Here’s some of what he’s been up to:

• His English 101 show opened at Post No Bills. Arrested Motion has photos and the Post No Bills webstore has plenty of work from the show available for sale (including posters for just $20).
• Ron did a pretty substantial wheat paste on LA’s famous Barracuda shop facade.
• A shop in Venice has been loaded up with some of Ron’s parody cereal boxes.
• Over in New York, Ron will be at a signing on October 14th at the New York Comic Con. He’ll be at the Dynomighty Booth (booth 778 in the Cultyard Section) from noon to 1pm.

Photo by Carlos Gonzalez for Arrested Motion

Category: Gallery/Museum Shows, Photos, Random | Tags: post no bills, ron english

On Every Street is a show opening this Thursday at Samuel Owen Gallery in Greenwich, CT. Curated by Michael de Feo, it features the work of dozens of street artists. On Every Street includes a diverse of street artists both in style and (from Hargo to Tony Curanaj) and when they were active outdoors (from Richard Hambleton to Gaia).

Here’s the full line up: Above, Aiko, Michael Anderson, Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, C215, Tony Curanaj, Michael De Feo, D*Face, Ellis Gallagher, Keith Haring, Ron English, Blek le rat, Faile, Shepard Fairey, John Fekner, JMR, Gaia, Richard Hambleton, Hargo, Maya Hayuk, Don Leicht, Tom Otterness, Lady Pink, Lister, Ripo, Mike Sajnoski, Jeff Soto, Chris Stain, Swoon, Thundercut, Dan Witz.

Images courtesy of Michael de Feo

Category: Gallery/Museum Shows | Tags: above, aiko, anthony lister, banksy, blek le rat, c215, chris stain, dan witz, dface, don leicht, ellis g, gaia, hargo, jean-michel basquiat, jeff soto, jmr, john fekner, keith haring, Lady Pink, maya hayuk, michael de feo, richard hambleton, ripo, ron english, shepard fairey, swoon, thundercut, tony curanaj

Opening in a few days at Post No Bills in LA, English 101 is a solo show of prints and other limited edition artwork by Ron English. Interestingly, Ron recently had a solo show of original works at Lazarides in London (Steve Lazarides is a co-owner of Post No Bills), he’ll have this show of limited edition works at Post No Bills and then he has a solo show of original works next month at LA’s Corey Helford Gallery.

Category: Gallery/Museum Shows | Tags: lazarides, post no bills, ron english

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:

Category: Gallery/Museum Shows | Tags: "Abstractions", david ellis, exhibit, futura, opera gallery, ron english, saber, sixeart

Anonymous Gallery, the mostly New York-based pop up gallery, has put together a show that will open later this week at the Wooster Street Social Club, aka the site of the show NY Ink. Flash includes original artwork as well as designs by those same artists that people can get put on them by the tattoo artists at Wooster Street Social Club. Flash opens on September 17th, runs through October 29th,  and includes Anthony Lister, Curtis Kulig (aka Love Me), Dan Witz, Eric White, Greg Lamarche, Kenji Hirata, Kenzo Minami, James Jean, Logan Hicks, Nick Walker, Ron English, Shelter Serra and Tristan Eaton.

Photo by RJ Rushmore

Category: Gallery/Museum Shows | Tags: anonymous gallery, anthony lister, Curtis Kulig, dan witz, greg lamarche, logan hicks, love me, nick walker, ron english, tristan eaton, wooster street social club

An interview with Ron English has revealed a number of new twists in the stories of Banksy/Shepard Fairey/Mr. Brainwash/Exit Through the Gift Shop, as well as confirmed some major long-time rumors. Read Ron’s words in full over here, but here’s a summary:

• Thierry Guetta/Mr. Brainwash is a real guy and he’s really like how Exit portrays him. He’s not some actor hired by Banksy or whatever else people have claimed.
• Even before becoming Mr. Brainwash, Thierry was pretty wealthy and he owned a bunch of property in LA. That was his big “in” to connect with street artists: He could offer them the best walls to paint legally.
• Exit Through the Gift Shop came out of Banksy’s intervention in a lawsuit between Shepard and Thierry over Thierry essentially holding hostage all these tapes that Shepard and Banksy wanted access to.
• Banksy is a smart dude, and also cynical.

But make sure to check out the full story on herald-review.com.

Photo by Brandon Shigeta

Via Inside The Rock Poster Frame

Category: Art News, Featured Posts | Tags: banksy, exit through the gift shop, mr. brainwash, ron english, shepard fairey

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!

Category: Art News, Gallery/Museum Shows, Photos, Random | Tags: anthony lister, aryz, evol, john fekner, jordan seiler, kaws, leon reid iv, public ad campaign, ron english, stinkfish, vhils