Year: 2012

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Deciduous Lampposts by luzinterruptus

luzinterruptus‘ latest action, Deciduous Lampposts, has brought autumn to Madrid. Here’s what luzinterruptus have to say about it…

As every year, we wanted to pay our personal tribute to the autumn that has gone by, because we love this season, which fills the streets with dry leaves covering the cold asphalt in wonderful orange tones.

But there are streets in Madrid to which, unfortunately, autumn never arrives, they are deprived, with only perrenial leaves, which makes strolling in them like entering into an area with no climatic or seasonal references.

In these harsh gray streets  we wanted to carry out our installation Deciduous Lampposts.

For this reason we went to the Parque del Oeste, where we collected 5 sacks full of beautiful dry leaves, which we transported to the city center, specifically to Calle Flor Alta, recently renovated and in which there remains no sign of trees and other adjacent streets, where nature is represented by a few tiny, unidentied trees.

There we put the leaves under the streetlamps, as if they were resistant trunks, tall and erect, under which there is never shade, nor can the green freshness of vegetation on hot days be enjoyed.

It was a joy to see that, despite the late hours and autumn cold, some of the people who had stopped to observe the spectacle of leaves under the lampposts, decided to stay a while, to enjoy the curious scene.

 

Photos by Gustavo Sanabria

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Weekend link-o-rama

Bananananas by Dal

Well, the internet went a bit crazy this week, but it looks like we’re winning. Thank you to anyone who noticed that Vandalog was offline on Wednesday in protest of SOPA and PIPA and took the time to contact their representatives to voice objections to the bills. But enough about politics. This is an art blog.

Photo by Dal

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Dal in the streets of Chelsea & at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery

We first noticed Dal’s distinct — almost-spiritual — aesthetic a number of months back when we came upon a stunning mural that he had done in collaboration with Faith47 in Chelsea.  We were thrilled to discover that he is one of the artists participating in Hybrid Thinking curated by Wooster Collective at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery.  Here’s a glimpse of his amazing work fashioned from his intricate play with lines that we captured on the street and on canvas at Jonathan LeVine.

Dal to the left of Faith47
Dal on canvas @ Jonathan LeVine

If you are anywhere in the NYC vicinity, Hybrid Thinking is certainly worth checking out, as it also presents work by several other first-rate emerging street artists from around the globe including: Herakut, Roa, Sit, Vinz and Hyuro.  The exhibit continues through February 11th at 529 W. 20th  Street.

 

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Martha Cooper interview

Various artists. Photo by Paris sous les sticks

It almost goes without saying that Martha Cooper has been one of the most important documentarians of graffiti culture for the last few decades. Her urban and hip hop culture photography is iconic. More recently, Martha Cooper has expanded her graffiti documentation to the photography and collection of stickers. Her two latest books, Going Postal and Name Tagging, spotlight sticker art made with postal labels and Hello My Name Is stickers.

On Saturday from 1-3pm, Martha will join sticker fanatic and author of one of my favorite books, DB Burkeman, for a book signing at a sticker exhibition curated by DB. The show, STUCK-UP: A Selected History of Alternative & Pop Culture Told Through Stickers, is at Chicago’s Maxwell Colette Gallery and features stickers from a top-notch roster of artists.

I would gladly hop on the next plane and see this exhibit in person, but that was not an option so instead I asked Martha Cooper a few questions.

Caroline: In your book Name Tagging, you explain how you began appreciating stickers after you bought your first digital camera. What was it about the digital medium that initiated this interest in stickers?

Martha Cooper: Pre-digital, I rarely took my heavy, bulky Nikon out unless I was headed for something specific to shoot.  It cost about 50 cents for film and processing every time I clicked the shutter. So although I had noticed stickers for years, I hadn’t looked at them closely and hadn’t bothered to shoot many.

My first digital camera was a little Olympus that I could easily carry around with me all the time.  It had a very good close-up lens and performed well under low light. Once I had the camera, it didn’t cost any more to keep shooting so I was free to take as many photos as I wanted. Transitioning from analog to digital was a challenge. Shooting stickers was an unstressful way to practice new technology with interesting subject matter.

C: What led to you removing and collecting stickers off the street, rather than just photographing them?

MC: I’ve always been a collector. I like to look at different examples of things. At first after shooting a nice sticker, I printed it and saved it in an album. That began to feel unsatisfactory–I wanted the original. I only shoot and collect hand drawn stickers and this is pretty much the only form of graffiti and street art that can actually be removed from the street. Of course writers have criticized me for this and I know this is a dubious defense, but someday I hope to have a museum sticker exhibit.

Various artists. Photos by Lois Stavsky

Continue reading “Martha Cooper interview”

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Interview with DB Burkeman

Shepard Fairey. Photo by RJ Rushmore

In 2010, Rizzoli published the definitive book on stickers and sticker art. That book is Stickers: Stuck-Up Piece of Crap: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art by DB Burkeman and Monica LoCascio. DB seems to be the ultimate sticker fanatic, and his book tells the history of stickers in a way that only someone completely obsessed could possibly pull off. If you don’t know anything about stickers, you can skim through and get an introduction. If you’re already interested, Stuck-Up Piece of Crap gives a behind-the-scenes look at everything from early graffiti stickers to stickers in the music world to the homes and minds of sticker collectors. Of course, DB has quite a sticker collection himself. A small chunk of DB’s collection will be on display starting tomorrow at Maxwell Colette Gallery in Chicago, alongside a few other sticker-related events (and he and Martha Cooper will be signing books at the gallery on Saturday from 1-3pm). I spoke with DB last week…

RJ: Why do you think you are drawn to stickers?

DB Burkeman: It’s changed over the years for me, but now the simple answer is they are simply tiny portable works of art. That may have a different answer for each person.

RJ: In your collecting habits, do you differentiate between “art stickers” or “graffiti stickers” and stickers intended as advertisements?

DB: Never really thought about that, but I’m less drawn to stickers that are obviously advertisements. I’ve also become more picky since overdoing on the damn things : )

Poke and Gee. Photo by RJ Rushmore

RJ: How many stickers do you have in your collection?

DB: Somewhere between 4000-6000 & growing, much to my family & friends annoyance. It can take a long time to get down the street with me, I keep stopping to check out lampposts etc. Continue reading “Interview with DB Burkeman”

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John Fekner for MLK Day

The Living Walls team installed the above stencil, designed by stenciling legend John Fekner, in Atlanta last week as part of a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I Still Have A Dream is Fekner’s first work in Atlanta. It can be found at Pal’s Lounge at 254 Auburn Ave NE on the corner of Auburn Ave and Bell Street, and was installed just in time to be seen by participants in Altanta’s 2012 MLK Day Parade. More photos are over on Streetela.

Photo by Streetela