In a range of media and styles, stikman has recently invaded Manhattan. It’s wonderful to have him back in town!

Photos by Lenny Collado and Lois Stavsky

Jade

It’s the weekend…

• This is not your average train-bombing video.
• Lois Stavsky interviews Stikman.
• Dennis McNett has an open studio this weekend, with some prints available at 25% off.
• Troy Lovegates has a new limited edition book available.
• Aiko, Ron English, Swoon, How & Nosm, Logan Hicks, Kenny Scharf, and Futura are showing work indoors at Wynwood Walls this week in Miami.
• Speaking of Miami, Brooklyn Street Art have a round up of great things to do and see in Miami this week.
• This work from Aakash Nihalani was done during Nuart earlier this fall, and I love it. It’s simple and site specific. Remember, always practice good placement. If you do that, you don’t have to paint 7 stories tall just to catch people’s attention.
• What Are You Doing To Participate looks like a great show of zines opening this week in LA with work from Mel Kadel, Matt Leines, Pez, and many more.
• Sickboy and Word To Mother have a show together in London next Thursday for one-night only.
• In Syria, street art and graffiti can get you killed.

Photo by Jade

Partial view of Stikman installation at Stupid Easy, photo by Dan King

I discovered Stikman one fall afternoon back in 2007 while walking down Rivington Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. It was love at first sight. And from that day on, I began to notice him – sometimes alone and other times in the company of his fellow stikmen — in just about every neighborhood I frequented in NYC.  He also surfaced – to my surprise and delight – on my visits to Washington DC, Boston and Philly. In fact, he seemed to be just about everywhere in Philly. Sometimes he appeared on a sticker pasted onto a newspaper box or traffic sign; other times he was stenciled onto the pavement or simply hanging in one of his many fabrications, and often he was just lurking around a doorway or alley. But he always charmed me. This past week, I went down to Philly to check out Stikman 20.1 Celebrating 20 Years Hanging Around Philly at the Stupid Easy Gallery.

A Mondrian-inspired Stikman on a painted stenciled background at Stupid Easy, photo by Lois Stavsky

The show, a treasure for any Stikman fan – as well as for anyone who appreciates urban interventions — attests to the extraordinary skills and passion of Stikman’s creator.  From paper collages with 20 stenciled overlapping stickmen to ingenious installations in a range of media, the elusive artist has fashioned an extraordinary tribute to his and our beloved Stikman.  Here are a few more images:

Stikman framed at Stupid Easy, photo by Lois Stavsky

Stikman on record album cover, photo by Lois Stavsy

Another view of installation, photo by Dan King

The exhibit will continue for at least another few weeks – according to the folks at Stupid Easy. If you are anywhere in the vicinity, enjoy!

Photos by Dan King and Lois Stavsky

Stikman, a fan favorite street artist along the East Coast, has a solo show opening on Friday at Philadelphia’s Stupid Easy Gallery. Stikman 20.1 Celebrating 20 Years Hanging Around Philly is the Philly version of his 20th anniversary show that was on at Pandemic Gallery back in the springtime. If Amtrak doesn’t get running again by Friday for me to get up to NYC for the shows that Ron English, Hanksy and Gilf! have on Thursday and The Art of Comedy art crawl/mural unveiling on Saturday, I’ll be spending my Friday at Stupid Easy checking out Stikman’s show. This will definitely be the opening to be at in Philly this week.

Stupid Easy Gallery is at 307 Market Street, between 3rd and 4th streets, and the opening runs from 6-9pm on November 2nd.

Photo courtesy of Stupid Easy Gallery

Gaia. Click to view large.

Damon Landry and I recently took a trip to Haverford College so that he could photograph some of the street art and murals there. Here are some of my favorite photos that Damon took during our visit.

Labrona and Troy Lovegates aka Other. Click to view large.

Stikman

A black squirrel wheatpaste

More after the jump… Read the rest of this article »

Stikman seems to be out and about town here, especially in Cambridge.  On the pavement, on stickers and as 3-D installations, he’s great company. Here are a few more images:

Photos by Lois Stavsky

Alexander Calder and LAll, Pyramids and Oval

I made it over to Woodward Gallery last week to check out its current exhibit, Summer Selections. Described as “a selection of work by legendary and new contemporary masters,” it features some of my favorite street artists, along with such masters as Jasper Johns, Paul Gauguin and Robert Rauschenberg.  And what a treat to discover an original vintage Alexander Calder lithograph with drawings by LA ll!  Here are some more favorites from the exhibit that continues through this Saturday, August 4th at 133 Eldridge Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side:

Stikman, Dora Maar, Pablo Picasso

El Celso, La Luz

Kosbe, AH

Darkcloud, Vermillion Army

Thomas Buildmore, Spirit Animal

Photos of Calder & LAll, Kosbe, Darkcloud and Buildmore, courtesy Woodward Gallery; Celso photo, Tara Murray & Stikman, Lois Stavsky

OverKill Studio’s Paint It Now has finally come to Philadelphia. The traveling series of Paint It Now exhibitions have been in Boston and Brooklyn, and the latest iteration of Paint It Now is due to open this Friday at Space 1026. The idea behind this series of exhibitions is that a group of artists have to work somewhat together as they all paint a series of white walls with only black paint. This time around, some of the artists include Gaia, el Celso, Stickman, Nose Go, Harlequinade and Buildmore.

Paint It Now opens on Friday the 4th from 7-10pm and runs through May 25th.

I stopped by yesterday to see how the show was coming together. From what I saw, the show is going to be close to that perfect mix of familiar faces and fresh talent that so many group shows strive for but few achieve. Check out our exclusive preview after the jump… Read the rest of this article »

A huge fan of Sti(c)kman, I made it over to Williamsburg’s Pandemic Gallery yesterday to check out “20: CELEBRATING 20 YEARS OF PLAYING WITH STICKS IN THE STREETS.” The exhibit – comprised of endless variations of my beloved character in different media – is the perfect celebration.  Here are a few images:

The exhibit continues through April 6 at 37 Broadway in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and is definitely worth checking out if you’re anywhere in the vicinity.

Photos by Lois Stavsky

Photo by Laura Padgett

Many people may not realize it, but Stikman has been putting up his street art for nearly 20 years. He started out in the NYC’s East Village during the summer of 1992. In celebration of this major milestone, Pandemic Gallery will be hosting a Stikman solo show called 20. The show opens on March 16th and runs through April 6th.

Besides his general coolness, I do have one story to tell about Stikman: Last year I hosted some people at Haverford College to talk about street art. It was a fun event. The immediate and obvious physical results of this event were Jordan Seiler work with Haverford students and Gaia’s mural. A day or two later, I noticed stickers by some Philly sticker artists, but that was somewhat expected. I had seen those guys in the audience at the discussion. The real surprise came much later, when I discovered that Stikman had put up at least two pieces at Haverford. Both artworks are still there to this day, almost a year later. Since I didn’t spot either piece until after the talk, my guess is that Stikman’s contributions to the Haverford campus arrived when he visited for that discussion, but I can’t be sure. However they arrived, Stikman’s pieces are always a bright spot on my day, whether I’m headed to another lunch at the cafeteria or off to work.

Stikman at Haverford College. Photo by RJ Rushmore

PS, if anyone from Haverford College’s communications department is reading this because it has come up on your Google Alerts: That story was a fiction and the above photo is a faked. You will not find a blue Stikman sculpture outside of the Dining Center. Even if it is there, it must have been there for many years and has nothing to do with any event on campus that I had anything to do with. Sorry for confusing you.

PS, if you do not work at Haverford College, please disregard the above paragraph.

Photos by Laura Padgett and RJ Rushmore