It seems that there is more to say about Banksy‘s recent piece, This Looks A Bit Like An Elephant, which was removed and is now for sale. Until as recently as September of 2010, a man had been living inside the water tank that Banksy painted. Tachowa Covington aka Rollerball has lived inside the tank for about seven years. In fact, it’s probably a good guess, although I can’t say for sure, that Tachowa was still living in the tank when Banksy painted it, given that he shows up in the video that Banksyelephant.com (the folks trying to sell the tank) have posted on their homepage and says that he saw Banksy paint the tank.
There have been a couple of short films made about Tachowa:
Melrose and Fairfax wonder if maybe Banksy was unaware of Tachowa’s story or that maybe he was aware of Tachowa but was doing a favor for a friend who wanted the tank removed (local residents had been trying to get the tank removed because it disrupts their view of the landscape, and if it weren’t a home, I’d probably agree with them). They also point out that whatever Banksy’s intent, the consequences seem to have left Tachowa homeless.
I’m not so sure about that(edit) that Banksy was unaware of Tachowa though. Given that Banksy has dealt with the issue of homelessness before (including tangentially during the same trip to LA when This Looks A Bit Like An Elephant was painted), it seems possible that this piece was about homelessness (the elephant in the room) and that Banksy was aware that the tank was Tachowa’s home. If that’s true, the meaning of the piece becomes mutli-layered and more than a quick joke about the shape of the tank.
Either way, the questions are now: Where is Tachowa now, how is Tachowa doing, will Banksy help him out and has Banksy done so already?
Melrose and Fairfax, and LA-based street art blog, has been following the Banksy drama in LA very closely (checkouttheseposts – although that last one is basically a forum user pulling claims out of thin air which may or may not be trueM&F points out that The LA Weekly has backed up some of the claims in that last post, which seems a lot more reliable to me), so of course, they were the first to discover that the above Banksy, recently painted on an old water tank as part of Banksy’s pre-Oscars campaign in LA, is for sale. Banksyelephant.com is attempting to sell the tank. While the site claims that the owners “personally acquired ownership to preserve and protect the work of Banksy in hopes that it will end up exhibited in a respected museum where his work will live on without harm,” I think it’s safe to say that money was a bit of a motivator too. Of course, Elephant will never get Pest Control certification (they do not certify street pieces) and without that, the value of a work by Banksy drops dramatically.
Historically, the water tank has been a bit of an eyesore that residents have tried to get rid of, but the owner would not remove. Melrose and Fairfax wonders if maybe Banksy was aware of that history and painted it knowing that the owner would finally remove the tank in order to try to sell or protect it.
Roger, UnderWaterPirates and Ghoest. Photo by RJ Rushmore
Following up on last week’s post about the sticker art in Philadelphia, here’s part two of Vandalog’s series on some of the top sticker artists in Philadelphia. Thanks again to El Toro for his input in developing this list. Here are the artists (in no particular order):
In the 70’s, only a few artists were using the streets as way to reach out to people, communicate and ultimately make art. Accompanied by Don Leicht, his long time collaborator, John Fekner brought art and help to areas in New York that were in need at the time. “Decay/Abandoned” , “Wheels Over Indian Trails”,”Post no bills, Post no dreams”, etc were only some of the hundreds of messages John spray painted all over New York. What some might have called vandalism, some others saw as a welcoming statement, and some others saw as a sign that things needed to get fixed in the city.
I have to say, having the chance to interview John Fekner was truly an honor. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did. This interview an excerpt from the exhibition catalog of the upcoming exhibition, PANTHEON: A history of art from the streets from New York City. Please support their Kickstarter, they only have a few days left to reach their goal.
To find out more about John Fekner, please visit his website (lots of cool stuff in there).
Fekner 1979-1990
I know you have lived in New York your whole life, and started to do public art back in 1968. What drove you to make art in public areas?
I was a city kid, as soon as I stepped outside it was hard: concrete, asphalt, jackhammers, traffic lights. Long Island City factories were a few blocks away. Summer was handball, winter was roller hockey, and so on. Always in the street-Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights. The first outdoor text was in the Heights, where I hung out as a teenager in 60s. At seventeen, with few friends I hung over the roof of the park house and on the front we painted the phrase Itchycoo Park in two-foot letters.
What about living in New York influenced your work?
The soot belching out of apartment rooftops, chimneys, diesel engines and the smell of jet fuel near La Guardia—a love/hate with industry and technology.
You and Don Leicht have been collaborating for years. How and When did you and Don meet?
We met in graduate school in the Bronx in 1973. The first crit class we had we both showed up with invisible work-mine were portraits and his were abstract narratives. Everyone in the class was stunned- they couldn’t see anything…so we really hit it off…fellow Libras-born in October.
When did you both decide to start collaborating in art?
When we shared a studio at P.S. 1. In 76. We were both placing hidden artwork and drawing on the walls in and around the building.
What is it about collaborative work that you enjoy the most?
Collaboration is the closest I get to working in a band setting. With Don, ideas are exchanged, the visual journey take twists and turns and ultimately you make a combined image that works. Sometimes he plays lead, sometimes I take over at some point. The finish painting is a blend of both of us…it isn’t about he painted this and I said that. Sometimes it completely opposite from what it appears to be. It’s like a lyricist and a piano player. Sometimes the words comes first, sometimes the music or vice-versa. You play off each other’s input.
South Bronx- Fekner 1980
The Warning Signs project brought attention to areas and communities in need of help at the time. Could you tell me a little about this project and how it helped you develop into the artist that you are now?
I was paying a lot of attention to my immediate environment and questioning why something was broken and not being repaired. I tried to emphasis the problem that other people blocked out of their vision-I made it more visible. Issues pertaining to the human condition and the environmental are still as important to address and are in newer works, whether it’s a video or a series of paintings.
South Bronx-Fekner 1980
When researching about your work I found out that you studied poetry as a teenager. How does poetry influence your work?
Poetry is like life- you are in moment and then it’s gone. A brief reflection on life-one instantaneous boom-and you move on..a few seconds of a lifetime captured in a few words.
What inspires John Fekner?
Discovering or unearthing something that strikes an immediate chord and compels me enough to immediately react and create something new in the appropriate media.
Your favorite place in NYC?
Listening for that eternal echo under the Sunnyside viaduct: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41101207@N00/2195426639 And any street in NY that still has cobblestones; reminds me of family and friends who are no longer here. And walk those streets on a holiday morning very early when no one is around…it feels like Edward Hopper will walk right by you..
You usually work with stencils and metal, why stencils? And why metal?
Stencils have that official proclamation thing going on… Don’t Touch – Don’t Enter built into it. Metal has an industrial aura and is a reflection of our environmental destruction filled with the other culprits: plastic and rubber. It’s so unnatural but is natural to us city dwellers.
“ Our children are fighting a terrible war. Whole families are being sent to the battlescreen” -Fekner/Leicht 1982
And then there is music and multimedia.How did you ended up working with computer generated work and video?
The idea of using new tools such as audio and video began in the mid-70s with the advent of the Sony portapac camera which was not that portable! DIY was a big thing so having audio/film camera equipment to document the stencils was natural. In 1981, NYU invited Crash, Keith Haring, Warhol and myself to experiment with a new computer and that’s where I created Toxic Wastes From A to Z (coming after you and me).
Hip Hop seemed to be a big influence in your life and art. Would you tell me the role music plays in your life? any last recordings, and your feelings about music back then and now?
Artists like Laurie Anderson, Alan Suicide were all doing art/music at the same time in the 70s. I began recording in my friend’s basement in the late 70s and had audio components as part of my indoor installations. By the winter of 1979 I was spending a lot of time up at Fashion Moda and just picked up on the beats/raps and then made a few records with Bear 167 from the South Bronx. Still like to add musical components on the video pieces. Recently I’ve been listening to some different things like Lower Dens, Animal Collective, Panda Bear, Woodsman, anything that sounds incomplete, like a backing track-I dig that!
How do you feel about the street art scene in New York nowadays?
Street art is the fastest visual conductor out there beating out advertising, guerilla marketing and social media. There is always something different to see somewhere around the world. It’s always the young that bring sometime new to the street, but unfortunately, they don’t stay young for very long. Careerism, branding, promotion-driven projects get in the way of who you really are. Then the next trap, like striving to become part of a gallery’s stable of artists; what am I…a horse? But that’s how the gallery system treats and controls you.
Welling Court mural project – Fekner/Leicht 2010
Favorite street artists?
There’s a young kid around the block who works with colored chalk. She absolutely never does the same thing twice. I don’t dare talk to her. I can’t wait for warmer weather to see what she’s up to next. That is the essence of a great street artist. There’s consistency, she will be at the same spot. I’m not a wall-trippin’ round the world guy. Offhand, Stephen Powers Love Letters was very cool. Great connection to the community.
Any new projects coming up?
New paintings with Don Leicht in the studio and there’s my STREAMDROPSTRASSE text work in photo streams http://blkriver.at/ and the ongoing Stanley Cup project plus some hidden projects around as well.
Since I couldn’t be in town last week for the New York art fair extravaganza, Edible Genius (recently interviewed on Brooklyn Street Art) took some photos for Vandalog. Here are just a few of the highlights from the fairs. For more in-depth coverage, I would suggest Arrested Motion and Hyperallergic.
Rebaroque Artist Series Sound Wall at ScopeKawsFaro at FountainR. Robot at FountainTodd James at The Armory ShowHow and Nosm at Contra Project's booth at SCOPE
Although I’ve been living outside of Philadelphia for about 6 months, it’s only recently that I’ve begun to get a handle on the street art in Philadelphia. The overwhelming trend here is stickering, particularly by artists who draw logos instead of names. Given that my favorite art book of last year was probably a book about stickers, this is a coincidence that I’m loving. I wanted to do a post or two about some of Philadelphia’s best sticker artists, but realized that I am definitely not an expert on the local scene. Luckily, El Toro was happy to help me out in compiling the majority of this list. Also, a big thanks to Damon Landry aka damonabnormal for being such a dedicated photographer of these stickers and allowing Vandalog to rely heavily on his photos for this series. So here’s the first of two posts on some of Philadelphia’s best sticker artists (in no particular order)…
Next week, Know Hope will be launching his latest book in Tel Aviv. Bound By The Ties is a 160-page full-color book from one of my favorite young street artists. Know Hope’s work really tugs at the heart strings, and I think that the impact of his art is strongest when seen en-masse, so a book like this seems like a perfect way to view his art.
Know Hope describes the book as “a collection of drawings, writings, photographs and other side-seen moments, some from the recent past, and some from very close to the present” and “a folk tale of some sort, collective memories compiled like a time-capsule, or fireworks in a jar.”
For those in Tel Aviv next Thursday, there will be a launch event where you can be among the first to see the book. You can find more info on Know Hope’s flickr. That launch will include a display of all of the original drawings and texts used in the book.
Bound By The Ties is printed in an edition of 1000. There is also a special edition of 75 which each have unique handmade covers.
The latest exhibit at Show & Tell Gallery is Good Folk, a group show celebrating the gallery’s 2nd anniversary. Here’s the line up: Swoon, Monica Canilao, Jeremiah Maddock, Derek Mehaffey aka Troy Lovegates aka Other, Labrona and Troy Dugas. It’s an impressive line up of folk-art influenced art. Good Folks opened this week and runs through March 27th. Here’s a sample of what is in the show:
Monica CanilaoWhat looks to be a new image from Swoon (someone please correct me if I'm wrong)
, this is a coincidence that I’m loving. I wanted to do a post or two about some of Philadelphia’s best sticker artists, but realized that I am definitely not an expert on the local scene. Luckily, 
