For the fourth consecutive year Ad Hoc Art has brought dozens of artists to the Welling Court community in Astoria, Queens, transforming it into a first-rate open air museum. Here’s a small sampling of what could be seen this weekend:
If you are anywhere near NYC, a visit to Welling Court is a must! The diversity of the works and the responses of the local residents to them are astounding. And if you’d like to help fund this project, check this out.
Photos by Lois Stavsky and Tara Murray
Latin America seems like a treasure trove of street art and graffiti. I could spend hours on end looking through these works through groups on Flickr. But for people like me who can’t see it in person, that seems to be the only way to tap into that vibrant and energetic scene. In the last 2 years, I’ve come to know and love a few Argentinian street artists (a few of whom will be featured in this show) but I’m aware that there are so many others who I have yet to come across!
The Talking Walls of Buenos Aires is a group show curated by Graffitimundo, which is based around just that – bringing works by a few of Argentina’s leading street artists to a gallery in Washington DC. Opening July 13th at 6pm at The Fridge gallery, you can catch the work of Buenos Aires Stencil, Cabaio Stencil, Chu, Defi, Ever, Fede Minuchin, Gualicho, Jaz, Malatesta, Mart, Pastel, Pedro Perelman, Poeta, Prensa La Libertad, Pum Pum, Roma, Stencil Land, Sonni, Tec and Tester.
Photos courtesy of Graffitimundo
One of the most pivotal aspects of street art is the democratization of public space. Whether people choose to engage or not, graffiti and street art are a way of reminding the everyday pedestrian that they have the power to manipulate their environment (sometimes at a price). Many residents of Balitmore have had to accept dilapidated neighborhoods as their everyday quality of life. The structures around them are literally falling apart due to neglect from city government property owners and has resulted in a massive property-vacancy problem. If Broken Window Theory has anything to do with it, that “If the city doesn’t care, why should I?” mentality has fostered one of the highest crime rates for any city in the country.
What does street art have to do with Baltimore’s structural issues and decline in living standards? Over a dozen street artists have taken on the task of bringing attention to these issues in a grassroots effort, through installing large pieces on some of the city’s dilapidated, vacant houses. Nether, Gaia, LNY, Noh J Coely, Mata Ruda, Nanook, Harlequinade and others have joined their forces as a non-profit organization called Wall Hunters have teamed up with Baltimore Slumlord Watch to put up large-scale murals on these eye-sore structures with QR codes alongside which informs viewers of who owns the vacant property. Simultaneously, they are creating a documentary with Nether and Carol Ott at the forefront, showing this massive issue corroding Baltimore and their relatively small effort to combat it. They’ve received a bit of funding to make their project possible but not enough, so they’ve created this Indiegogo campaign to bring it to fruition.
Specter is a rare and fascinating thing; his acrylic, hand-painted wheatpastes are detailed enough to emulate the real thing, and subtle enough for passersby to not even notice them. Really, it’s quite a gift and a curse. In the last year, he’s worked on projects around the world and is finally back to his hometown of Brooklyn to share some of his latest installations.
While in Vladivostok, Russia he put up his “Chromatin Structure” in the Sister City Park. In Tokyo, Specter put up his piece “Bodega Window” in the Harijuku fashion district. Before leaving for this trip, he also installed his “Brooklyn Windows” at King and Grove in Williamsburg. “Brooklyn Windows is a documentation of Brooklyn’s changing life examined through windows. Each painted window is a representation of actual windows from various long-standing buildings in the Williamsburg area. The placement and concept of this work comment on the abundance of windows surrounding the space that reflect on each other and on the painting.This reflection of the painted windows is a reflection of the past in the current where each old window represents a new replacement,” says Specter.
Photos courtesy of Specter
For the last few days, the first MURAL Festival edition has taken over more than 20 walls in Montreal, Canada, located around the oldest boulevard of the city called “the main”, namely Boulevard Saint-Laurent. Running from June 13 to 16, MURAL offers to the public the opportunity to see some of the big masters of street art at work. Street artists, graffiti artists and muralists have been bringing all their energy and their incredible talent to refresh the streets. Among amazing international artists are the best Canadian ones. The list is long, but impressive: Pixel Pancho, ROA, Phlegm, Escif, Reka One, Gaia, LNY, Ricardo Cavolo, FinDAC & Angelina Christina, Labrona, Troy Lovegates (aka Other), Omen, Jason Botkin, Chris Dyer, EnMasse, Stare, Squid called Sebastian, Le Bonnard, Paria Crew, A’shop, Wzrds gng.
Continue reading “MURAL Festival in Montreal, Canada: Work in progress”
Upon entering the studio of illustrator Jon Burgerman, you are transported to a space entirely devoted to a world of extreme sights and sounds that connate the artist’s work. Contrasted by the days of rain surrounding New York, the shuffles of crowds and warm hues shone through the bleak emptiness outside. Holding cups of English Breakfast tea, coming from his native country, we spent a few drenched mornings discussing the observations that have led to this body of pieces, produced for Hot Girls and Hot Dogs, opening tonight at 17 Frost Street.
From the warmth of the tea to the sound of the weather outside, the layered lines seen in his more complicated pieces are echoed in the sensorial experience that was visiting his space. As he opened up an oversized canvas in his studio, the end hitting the ground, and Jon a hapless face reminiscent of a befuddled cartoon character. He eventually gives up, retreating to a larger space to properly lay down the monochromatic painting before placing it back against the wall. While his pieces contain a frenetic, hectic energy, his studio remains dutifully organized, as various types of paint and mediums of art are placed in sperate bins.
A series of onomatopoeias emerge from Jon as his internal monologue is enacted for props he produces from past shows. Cardboard cartoons, two-page illustrations, and Vine provide movement to how he invisions characters prior to putting pen to paper. As the pages flipped in the sketchbook, an illustration of a dog bites into a cupcake, Jon mimicking the exaggerated effect heard on Nickelodeon. The bustling imagery that populates the artist’s larger paintings is reproduced on a smaller scale through the immediacy of these works. A tertiary focus, these simple ten second animations represent the individual parts that make up his more complex compositions.
The central focus of his exhibition, and this visit, was a new series of mixed-media pieces being produced for Hot Girls and Hot Dogs. Ranging from simple 8 1/2″ by 11″ studies to canvas spanning several feet, Jon draws viewers in with what he believes to be the two subjects most enticing, attractive women accompanied by man’s best friend. Being from England, and thus an outsider, the artist draws combinations of girls and dogs from a removed perspective. Termed his “pastoral pictorials,” each piece is an expression of how he interprets American culture during his time in New York. Having previously tackled the true New York experience, pizza, with an exhibition in New Jersey last year, the subject has since shifted to the city’s quintessential obsession with pooches.
Illustrating a variety of real-world scenes, the artist shows owners who dutifully clean up after their pets, while others not so much. Alongside the swooping abstracted curves of hot women walking their hot dogs, the artist created a series of quick, messy portraits, which focus solely on women in movement. At first these illustrations convey a haphazard sense of color and movement of line; backgrounds are sketched in to suggest a bobbed haircut, sunset hues move through the arms of several figures, undefined by outlines. By giving defining some aspects of each figure with a watery fluidity and others with hard, contrasting colors, Jon draws viewers to these intimate pieces with through these small contradictions. One final layer is added to the portraits as Haring t-shirts, patterns, and miniature tattoos are dotted throughout. By forcing viewers to closely examine the details of these sketches, the artist gives viewers insight into the processes behind his more elaborate canvases.
The individual animals, patterns, and women from his studies congest in these larger pieces in the same way that sidewalk traffic stops to a halt around New York’s tourist destinations. The viewer can almost feel the internal tension of being surrounded by crowds of unmoving people in the summer heat. Each of these more complex compositions was given ample room at the 17 Frost space to breathe and allow visitors to stand and examine the different kinds of hot subjects permeating the works. After spending some time attempting to see the individual parts of the paintings rather than the sum of the parts, I began to experience what I can only describe as the How and Nosm effect. When visiting the duo’s solo show in New York several months ago, RJ expressed his fatigue over trying to examine the pieces to the point of his brain shutting down. With the work of How and Nosm, the paired down color palette and crisp lines aid in the processing of imagery for some viewers, in contrast to Jon’s unlimited realm of colors and movement. I simply could not imagine viewers could disassemble and process these overlapping compositions, let alone what mind could create such complexities.
By placing sketches alongside mixed media paintings that spanned several feet, viewers can comprehend the gradual that led to the ability to illustrate dozens of figures in scenes that span several feet. When asking Jon about these steps, he echoed the sentiments of spoken word poets saying, “these are a monologue. You just get up there and give it a shot.” In describing his body of work with this terminology, a theme was illuminated that transcended Hot Girls and Hot Dogs and transcended to describe Jon as a person. Throughout the two-day interview with the artist, I was transported into his realm of imagination. From the moment I stepped across the threshold of his building Krink markers began to make fart noises as the artist described the first layer of his paintings beginning with a simple line. Jalapeños with sombreros and cupcake eating dogs echoed the same strange sounds. In bringing his illustrations to life before my eyes, Jon was openly and honestly himself, a trait that is a rare occurrence in New York’s world of facades. His approach to art making, of giving it your best one shot, applied to my interactions with Jon as he crossed his eyes for pictures, added audio to his illustrations, and made me laugh.
Hot Girls and Hot Dogs opens tonight at 17 Frost Street, Williamsburg, NY from 7pm-10pm.
The artist has crafted an area for your dogs adorned with banners made by Skewville for your VIP (very important pooches). Please be sure to come along and bring your pet dog because the artist will be drawing small portraits to remind you just how important your pooch is.
Photos by Rhiannon Platt
Some things need to be seen in person. In terms of massive murals, a picture may be able to transmit small details of a piece and/or the overall wall, but not both at the same time. Hyuro‘s new wall is no exception, so while I am providing several detail shots, it is probably impossibly difficult to get a decent picture of Hyuro’s 271 meter (889 foot) long mural in Copenhagen as a whole.
Hyuro recently had a solo show in Copenhagen. What dazzles me about Hyuro is this cross between slides of an animation and public murals. Despite the fact that she must have painted dozens of deer, the pieces translates as one deer running through a forest. Hyruro has done several murals that seem like stagnant frames of an animation or motion picture, and frankly it’s incredibly that movement translates so well through a mural. While I have not been fortunate enough to see her work in person, I can only imagine what it would be like to walk down this street in Copenhagen and see this mural animate itself.
Photos by Henrik Haven
Drawing for the Masses is a group show of about a dozen international street showing, not just any drawings, but personal drawings and prepatory sketches that would be the blueprints for eventual murals. While a rough sketch of an existing mural may not seem that exiting, 999 Gallery assures you that these works are sometimes more precious to the artist than the public work since these were not intended for others to see. So, stop by to see see the personal work of 108, AndrecoBorondo, Gaia, 2501, Guy Denning, Hitnes, Lucamaleonte, Martina Merlini, Moneyless, Ozmo and Tellas.
The show opened last night in Rome’s 999 Gallery.
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Aline Mairet, a street art blogger and photographer based on in Montréal. Check out her blog here.
Here’s an idea of what you could found when you walk on the streets and alleyways of Montréal. When street art wakes up after a long, cold, snowy winter, the artists bring colour and beauty to the streets. Here is the work of Anser, Labrona, Gawd, Produkt, Chris Dyer, Qbnyc, 500M, Waxhead, Omen, 52Hz, Stikki Peaches, Listen, Wzrds gang and Stela.
And this last piece, a splendid door by Labrona. A commission for En Masse.
Photos by Aline Mairet
I’m super excited today to talk about this print that NoseGo is doing with 1xRun. The good folks at 1xRun asked me for a few ideas of who I thought would be a good fit for them, and NoseGo immediately came to mind. And then, I saw this painting (Tall Tales) posted on NoseGo’s Instagram and thought “God, I hope whatever he does for 1xRun is as good as this.” I don’t usually love NoseGo’s pieces that include dinosaurs, but I do love Tall Tales (okay, I guess the Loch Ness Monster isn’t a dinosaur but you get my point). I especially like the little TV character. Tall Tales is an all-around strong image from a young artist whose work I’ve really fallen in love with over the last year or so. NoseGo says the painting “is based on ideas of folklore and story telling between generations.”
The print version of Tall Tales will be available starting today at 1xRun for $50. The print is an edition of 50 and measures 14 x 18 inches.
