Somehow I’ve only just come across Espir QFK, an awesomely fun and exciting artist out of California doing work which is a sort of back-to-the-basics street art/graffiti combo along the lines of guys like Swampy, Neckface, ORFN, You Go Girl and Ludvig. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t know much about graff, but I know what I like: Espir. Here’s an interview with him. Check out a bunch more of Espir’s work after the jump… Continue reading “So much love for Espir”
As Lois mentioned, “My Turn” (curated by L.A.-based Bumblebee) opened at the Carmichael Gallery recently, showcasing global artists deserving of wider audiences. Although the show’s title and theme failed to carry through to the works on display, it’s worth noting that Bumblebee showed admirable range in selecting fellow artists from the UK, Colombia, Argentina, Italy, and the Ukraine.
Interesni Kazki stood out as capably transitioning indoors without losing the magic that makes their large-scale work so spectacular. Building on their solo opening at Mid-City last year, the duo contributed separate pieces this time (each attributed to either WAONE or AEC), employing acrylics, rather than aerosol, in all but one piece.
Moneyless also showed strongly, with geographical works that utilized similar techniques to his yarn sculptures. (In fact, I’d be very interested to see what Moneyless could do if given free range in an entire gallery.) Though I love the idea behind Jaz’s animal transformations, they weren’t nearly as impressive on a smaller scale. However, what was impressive about the show was the diversity of work on offer–from Hyuro’s detailed pen work to Klone’s watercolors–bringing a solid perspective on where street art is going, and how it might continue to transition into gallery spaces.
“Play Me” runs through April 7 at the Carmichael Gallery, 5795 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA 90232.
Photos by Ryan Gattis. More photos available here
Marco Sueño made this wall, which he calls The Street is the Sky and includes text written with Nate Nattan Tavel, for the Lima Photography Biennial.
Photos by Marco Sueño
Some of our favorite NYC artists have been busy. We came upon these cool new walls in Bushwick yesterday.
Continue reading “New in Bushwick: ND’A, QRST, Veng, Bishop 203 & Never”
Okay, so you’ve seen Exit Through the Gift Shop, right? You probably laughed at those IDIOTS paying boatloads for Mr. Brainwash pieces, the ridiculousness of MBW’s operation, and the complete sheep that art-lovers can be. Because YOU ARE SMART. You don’t like MBW. And you’d never fall for something like that. Exit was safe, and that made it entertaining.
But the real world is not safe, and as it turns out, you probably aren’t safe either. How to Sell a Banksy is the unofficial Banksy movie. The film tells the relatively honest (as far as I can tell) story of Christopher Thompson’s efforts to try to sell one of Banksy’s street pieces that he ripped down off a wall in London back in 2007. The piece at the center of the film are some very poorly salvaged scraps of paper that were once a poster of Banksy’s smiling cop in Shoreditch. Thompson starts out with a pretty limited knowledge of both Banksy and the art world, but since he hope to sell his scraps of paper for tens of thousands of pounds, he sets out to learn. Continue reading “[Spoiler alert] Film Review: How to Sell a Banksy”
Zéh Palito has been working to brighten up two favelas in Recife, Brazil for his BAKUM(favela) project. These are a few of my favorite pieces from the series, but there are many more on his flickr.
Photos by Zéh Palito
The BMD collective has been painting some great walls in New Zealand. Very cool.
Photos by Blake Dunlop
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
So I’ve been working a lot lately on Re:Humanities, a symposium of undergraduate work in the digital humanities. It’s taking place next week at Swarthmore College, just outside of Philadelphia. I hope you’ll come check it out if you’re nearby. I’ll be speaking about how the internet has changed street art, and there are a bunch of other great topics up for discussion for anyone interested in the digital humanities. Okay, that’s my personal announcement for the week, now onto the news:
Photo by Jade
Ian Strange aka Kid Zoom‘s installation, Home, at last year’s Outpost Festival in Sydney was, from what I heard, the highlight of the festival. We covered Home last year, but now the video aspect of that installation is available online. It boils down to 5 minutes of explosions and destruction of property, which is always fun to watch. Strange explains the installation as “a work reflecting on my origins in the Australian suburbs I felt that I needed to escape when I was younger,” so I’m thinking of the video as a high-definition expression of teen angst and the dream of running completely wild in the boring suburbs. Anyone have other thoughts? Here’s the video:
‘HOME’ an exhibition by Ian ‘Kid Zoom’ Strange from KID ZOOM [Ian Strange] on Vimeo.
