Zoer CSX is difficult to describe because the only way I can find to describe the work is that it is beautiful graffiti. I’d like to say that it’s graffiti that the everyday person would walk by without fainting in disgust (or whatever happens when people see standard tags and pieces these days), but I usually hate that sort of work. Usually, it seems that even the cleanest graffiti or pieces at halls of fame can still easily look like “bad graffiti” to the everyday viewer (take Amuse as an example), while graffiti that’s completely boring-person-friendly comes across as lame (for a street art example of this, read Caroline’s recent article on yarn bombing). And suggesting that boring-person-friendly graffiti is superior to traditional and in-your-face straight-up-vandalism graffiti is something I don’t agree with and hate to do. But Zoer seems paint work that is generally completely unobjectionable and might not come across as “graffiti” to the uneducated viewer, but is still about lettering and still very interesting. It’s friendly graffiti without the lameness. Maybe it’s the muted colors and the way the work doesn’t shout “HELLO LOOK AT ME MY NAME IS ZOER!” but rather suggest “Hey, thanks for checking me out. Maybe stop and stare a moment. Whatever you do, Zoer wishes you a nice day.” I don’t know. But I like Zoer’s work and calmly beautiful seems like the only fair way to describe it.
Update: Creative Loafing has done a more extensive article on what’s gone on and is going on with the mural as more facts have become more clear. This one is probably the article to read.
Two things that I see as problematic interesting here:
The mural was painted legally and buffed illegally. I think that sort of speaks for itself.
The mural was buffed by some percentage of the local residents, and while other local residents support the mural, at least some of the signatures on the petition to save the mural are from people who don’t live nearby or even in the City of Atlanta. What right do we or Living Walls or GDOT have to say “We’re putting this mural here and you’d better like it.”? I think just going ahead and doing it is generally a much better way of putting up murals than months of community meetings. Once the mural is up though and if the community hates it, what should be done? I think it’s ridiculous to have a blank beige or grey wall in that spot rather than Roti’s beautiful figures, but I have never in my life had to drive by that wall on my way to work. Maybe that’s what people in the area want. That said, just because a few residents decided that they disliked the mural enough to go and paint over it does not mean that all the nearby residents or the residents of Atlanta hated the mural. And I haven’t heard any real reason why just going out and vandalising the mural was the step that had to be taken rather than holding some community forums to see what the general consensus was. I’m not saying that this mural should have been buffed (I signed the petition to save it) or that the angry activists who buffed the wall went about things the right way, but I think it’s worth thinking about, particularly, in this era of new muralism coming out of street art, how we can best balance the interests of the arts community and the local community. Thoughts?
This weekend Bring Back The Boadwalks is holding a benefit art auction to raise money to help rebuild the Rockaways and Coney Island, two communities were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. The silent auction will have work from some major names including Futura, Swoon, Phil Frost, Faile, David Ellis, Shepard Fairey, and Dennis McNett, and 100% of the proceeds from the auction will go to recovery efforts.
The auction will take place this Saturday, November 17th, at Trais Gallery at 76 Wooster Street (between Broome and Spring) in Manhattan.
For those who have seen Cash4’s work on the streets, his solo show opening tomorrow presents a rare opportunity into the mind of the man behind the tags. The word play and puns seen in his stickers (Crash Floor, Cash IV, and so on) take a predominate role in his pop-inspired florescent paintings. These words of wisdom are paired with equally as humorous characters, some missing teeth while others roll their eyes at the nonsense they are surrounded by. If you were not fortunate enough to see his solo show earlier this year at Weldon Arts, this is an opportunity to not only see some astounding work, but to do so while hearing the premium tunes of Rap Gang, of which Cash4 is a member.
The press release:
On Thursday November 15, 2012 please join The Superior Bugout as it hosts the opening night of Cash4’s new body of artwork entitled CASH FOR…. Accompanying the artwork will be new sounds from the Cash4’s Brooklyn based hip-hop group Rap Gang.
The show will be on display at the Tender Trap through December 6, 2012 during hours of operation (4pm-4am).
Cash4 is a painter, illustrator, and architect based in New York City. Cash4’s fine art documents the American urban experience using simple iconography and colloquialisms (those often based on the New York Metropolitan area). Cash4 likes to see his work as bridging the gap between the naive disenfranchised hooligan street kid and the pretentious overzealous contemporary gallery artist.
The Superior Bugout (a Brooklyn based party aesthetic) has been curating art for Tender Trap since the Fall of 2012. The Superior Bugout seeks to bring a synergy of sight and sound, combining elements of the streets with contemporary sound visionaries.
Sy, A City of Children, Ricks, Nose and others in Chinatown. Photo by Sabeth718.
Cash4 show opening tomorrow called “Cash For” from 6pm-10pm at Tender Trap (245 South 1st St., Brooklyn, New York 11211).
Hard TImes by Ripo in Barcelona.Wolftits, Droid, Cash4, Trap, Hert, Dart, Cast, Fib Inkhead and Elik in New York. Photo by JakeDobkin.Opium in Toulouse. Photo by Zeus40 and Wildboys.“Buffed” by Dezio in Shanghai. Photo by DezioOne.Shock and sneck in Brazil. Photo by Shock O MaravilhaStaino and Rambo in Chinatown. Photo by LunaPark.Cranio in LondonEd Mun in Brazil
Anthony Lister has a show opening this week with Lazarides / The Outsiders spanning both of The Outsiders’ locations (London and Newcastle). While in the UK for the show, titled Unslung Heroes, he’s stayed busy by painting a bunch of walls. They can all be seen, along with a few older Lister pieces, on Ian Cox’s fickr. Unslung Heroes opens on Thursday in both London and Newcastle.
Conrad Benner of Streets Dept. noted that yarn bombing is probably one of the most verbally attacked forms of street art and in my experience, he’s right. Actually, most of the hate I hear comes from other street artists. Why? As Jason Eppink putsit, “Yarn bombing exemplifies the ‘do it for the photo’ method of street art. There’s a disingenuousness. … It’s bright and colorful for a day, then it looks gross and someone else has to clean it up.” And it’s no beautiful decay, like the withering of wheatpastes or chipping paint. Personally, I always feel a bit uncomfortable with the awareness that someone put in a disproportionate amount of hours to make such a short-lived mess. Yarn bombers, why not document your pieces a week after you put them up (or the places where they had formerly been) and tell us if this was made for the audience that would see it physically?
There is a family-friendly quality to yarn bombing that allows these crafters to feel comfortable putting up work in middle of the day in front of observers. It is relatively low-risk. I assume that the association of this with “street art” and “graffiti” has to be frustrating for painters, writers, wheatpasters and sticker artists who wait until the wee hours of the morning to put up work because they risk being charged witha felony. Let’s repeat that: felony. There is a hierarchy of risk in the world of vandalism and street art is already understood as less risky then straight graffiti. Below both of these would be stickering which despite being regarded as toothless in some circles, can still have you arrested in certain cities. Yarn bombing would probably rank so low in terms of risk that it would fall on a separate page. Illegality does not make a work better or worse (though admittedly the risk factor definitely adds interest), but if the playing fields are not equal for yarn bombers and street artists why should they be classified as one and the same?
Here’s the contradiction: I’ve seen yarn used as a street art medium in ways that I thought were extremely imaginative and visually interesting. Works by Moneyless, Spidertag, and HotTea aren’t any less temporary, any less susceptible to decay (perhaps even more so), or any less legally benign than typical yarn bombing. What makes them different for me? The fact that these artists’ works could be identified in a lineup. Part of what has street artists and street art appreciators writing off the genre completely, as Conrad initially asked, is not the medium but the lack of creativity. A plethora of yarn bombers would like their work to be seen as unique or distinct, as any artist would, but are they putting in the effort in to earn that? Let’s look at a few examples of what most people envision when they envision yarn bombing
Photos by Alona Arobas (top), jimmyhere (middle), Robert Couse-Baker (left), amy_b (right)
And here are the yarn-wielding street artists previously named.
Hot Tea (top), Moneyless (middle), and Spidertag (bottom)
Point made or need we look further?
Olek had always been one of these artists whom I’d come across frequently but always skimmed over with a sort of neutral reaction, like “That might be cool if yarn bombing were something that was cool.” Then the other day Jonathan LeVine Gallery sent me this video compilation of Olek’s work over the past year. Through the entire video, I was trying to reconcile why I still hate yarn bombing but why Olek was starting to feel like an exception. The reason is that she has moved beyond many of the drawbacks of typical yarn bombing. She has a relatively large body of work and it is not built solely on sweatering trees in different cities. The sheer size of some of her pieces are enough to make even biased observers do a double-take. Olek’s work does not last longer or decay prettier, but like Hot Tea, Moneyless and Spidertag, her personal style is identifiable. Unlike usual yarn bombs which don’t seem to be communicating anything specific, Olek’s work is often blatantly addressingthe greaterart community. Naturally, I don’t like everything but the versatility in Olek’s work proves that there is colossal room for creativity in this genre.
Yarn bombers, I encourage you to point out any shortcomings in this post, but more importantly I challenge you to be more creative.
Two deftly rendered, evocative pieces by the noted Australian artist James Reka aka Reka One have recently surfaced at Bushwick Five Points. Inspired by hurricane Sandy, they exude a mournful beauty.
Spanish artist eme just wrapped up a mural in Torino, facilitated by local arts non-profit Bunker.
eme‘s ability to capture universal emotions and fleeting thoughts is shown once more through this mural installation. “BUTTERFLIES” consists of 400 hand-crafted paper butterflies, disguising LIES.
