UrbanOmnibus recently has done a small interview with Swoon that is worth checking out. Also, for those unfamiliar with the website, it is a great resource for contemporary issues regarding the urban environment and more specifically New York.
Photo by Hooked
Right now, Londoners are fortunate enough to have both new work on the street by Swoon and her first London solo show, which is open at Black Rat Projects. Hooked have photos of most of her street work. Here are a few photos of her show, Murmuration. Hooked has plenty more photos of the show on flickr that are well worth checking out, as this post only provides a taste of what Swoon has done. While Murmuration is in a much smaller space than Swoon’s historic solo shows at Deitch Projects, it’s still installation-based and looks like a hit.
More after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »
Keely
This week the Occupy Wall Street live streams have been very effective at distracting me from Vandalog, which I’m not too upset about. The violent and suppressive eviction of Occupy Wall Street is certainly more important that the latest swindle that some art gallery is trying to pull. Nonetheless, I have been paying attention even if I haven’t been writing, so here’s what’s been going on in the street art world this week:
Photo by Damonabnormal
Anonymous Gallery is launching their permanent space in Mexico City with Fresh Kills, a group show opening this weekend. The artists in this show are purported to, in an effort for renewal, reuse materials that most would consider trash, so the name Fresh Kills comes from Freshkills Park, an upcoming park project in New York to redevelop a site that used to be a landfill. As usual, Anonymous Gallery have put together an impressive group of artists for this show: Aaron Young, Agathe Snow, Barry McGee, David Ellis, Greg Lamarche, Hanna Liden, Richard Prince, Swoon and Tom Sachs. Fresh Kills opens on the 17th, this Thursday and runs through January 15th.
Surge, Gaia, Stormie, Remi/Rough and in The Underbelly Project
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
Jaz and Laguna in Madrid (click to view large)
This week just keeps getting better. Looks like we’ve got a bit of NYC coming to Philadelphia with a show curated by Matt Siren. Here’s what I meant to blog about this week:
Photo by Jaz
Dan Witz
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
Olek
Swoon and Olek were interviewed by PBS for the video found below. It’s quick, but good and covers the most recent major projects from each artist. Olek’s interview definitely gave me a lot more faith in her work. There have been jokes made about how perhaps Olek’s success relies on her good looks (yes, I realize that’s not the most politically correct joke to make, but it’s a joke that gets made), but I agree wholeheartedly with Olek’s thoughts about how good art is both conceptual and graphically interesting. This isn’t to say that I’m suddenly a fan of that show where she redid a bunch of famous street art in crochet form, but my opinion of Olek has definitely improved after this video.
As for PBS, their tips are the end are a bit flawed:
Photo by See-ming Lee
A freight train in Atlanta
This week has been a lot of trying to get ahead on my work, because on Saturday evening I’m headed to New York City for the night. I’ll be checking out Flash at the Wooster Street Social Club. Here’s some stuff I missed covering over the last few days:
Photo by RJ Rushmore
An old piece by Swoon, not in i
Despite getting off to an undoubtedly rocky start, London’s Pertwee Anderson & Gold gallery has put on some great shows this year. Starting today, the gallery has four shows on at once. Of particular note are Biliteral by Mat Chivers and i, a group show of portraiture with Che Lovelace, Clarisse d’Arcimoles, Steve Goddard and Swoon. And speaking of Swoon, she’s hard at work on her installation for the Boston ICA.
Photo by RJ Rushmore
