This mural by Gaia, Dusk of H Street, was recently commissioned by Smith Commons. The piece is a rehashing of one of Gaia’s early oil paintings. Gaia says “The interior of the chest is an Albert Bierstadt landscape painting of Yosemite referencing American manifest destiny and western expansion. The virgin terrain is contrasted with an old vacant building on H street which is a historically divested neighborhood currently undergoing a massive transition.”
Photos by Gaia
Earlier today — on this Memorial Day weekend — some of our favorite artists were busy over on East 4th Street off the Bowery. Tara Murray, a former student — who has become as addicted to street art as I am — caught up with them as they were finishing. Here are a few images from this latest MaNY Project with FABnyc under the direction of the indefatigable Keith Schweitzer:
Photos by Tara Murray
Lots of news to share this week and I’m late with this post, so let’s get on with it…
Photo by Don’t Fret
From April 29th to May 6th, Mexico’s capital city was hit with some paint, color and talent. The good news is that Mexico’s All City Canvas had a fantastic line up, who appear to have done fantastic work. Artists participating included Roa, Escif, Herakut, Sego, Interesni Kazki, Vhils, Saner and El Mac. The bad news is that unless you were one of the lucky few who were able to see it in person, the rest of us had to bare with the insta-nostalgia, lo-fi photo processing of Instagram since this was primarily how images of the murals were being released online. Interestingly enough, Gonzalo Alvarez, one of the project’s creators, acknowledged that “many artists in Mexico have no money to travel to other countries, and many of their influences come from the pictures they see on the Internet.” All City Canvas’ PR people could be commended for adhering to Alvarez’s philosophy and releasing the images where the masses seem to be (namely Instagram). But to broadcast art to its global audience through heavy photo filters is kind of like putting ketchup on a steak. Perhaps this argument is irrelevant if the intended audience was the Mexican youth who were able to witness street art in person instead of online. That was the philosophy, right? Quality photos had eventually been released. I suppose I am a bit apprehensive to see Instagram used as a marketing device for art or as my only means of seeing a piece. But that is a total digression from what this post should be focused on.
All City Canvas was awesome. Take a look at these almost completely unedited photos. Or go to Mexico City.
In conjunction with the festical, gallery Fifty24MX in Mexico City is exhibiting a number of the artists participating in All City Canvas in a show entitled “Piezas“. The show opened on May 10th and will be running until May 27th, featuring work by Aryz, El Mac, Interesni Kazki, Roa, Saner and Sego. Check out photos of the exhibition here.
Photos courtesy of All City Canvas and Brooklyn Street Art
Like Roja Roma, the latest artist that I’ve come across and am loving this week is someone I found through Street Art News (they may post 1000000 things a day, but there are some gems in there that you might otherwise miss). Awer is an Italian artist based sort-of near the location of FAME Festival and with a style a bit like Never2501. Here are a few of his more recent pieces:
Photos by Awer
While walking down Suffolk Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side yesterday, I chanced upon two spaces brimming with vibrant, playful, infectious images. Exuding a raw, yet almost mystical charm, these collaborative improvisations – I soon discovered — are the work of a group of artists whose works I’ve seen and loved in a variety of other settings. Opening this evening, Saturday May 26, from 6-10pm at 154 Suffolk Street, Improvise Combustion, organized by Chris Mendoza, features collaborations and new work by Michael Miyahira aka Mike Ming, Kenji Hirata, Pablo Power and Naomi Kazama, members of the collective Con Artist. Pablo tells me that the group will be working on an outdoor mural this week. I’m certainly looking forward to that!
Photos by Lois Stavsky
While Caroline and I visited Baltimore with the goal of seeing Open Walls Baltimore, but we also got a bit of a taste for the larger street art and graffiti scene there, including a lot of work that has been done without permission. We even went out with a few local writers (Avoid, Fisho and Mountain) to watch them paint. Here are some of my favorite pieces that we came across in Baltimore that are not murals, including a few of photos have been posted on Vandalog previously.
More after the jump… Continue reading “Baltimore besides Open Walls Baltimore”
I almost wrote “this new wall by Escif is his best so far this year.” Then I went back to check and was reminded that Escif has been doing consistently great walls all year, so it would be unwise to say that this is his best. But still, it’s at least another interesting mural by Escif. This one is in Melilla, Spain/Morocco.
Photos by Escif
London’s ATG crew is headed to New York City for a show this week at Klughaus Gallery. Silverlink brings together 4 members of ATG, including Vandalog-favorite Jack Murray aka Panik and photographer Will Robson-Scott, and should be an interesting test to see if ATG’s success in London will carry over to the NYC without as strong of a reputation locally. The show opens on Friday and runs through June 17th.
Saner and Aryz painted this really beautiful wall together in Mexico City. While Aryz was in town for the All City Canvas festival, this wall was organized separately from the festival.
Photo by _JSRF
