Year: 2013

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Video – Sofles – Limitless

If you haven’t already seen this then make sure you spend 5 minutes and watch one of the best graff videos you will see in a long time.

RJ posted “The Ultimate Timelapse with Sofles” a few months back; and if you thought that was amazing, and it was, this will blow your mind.

Sofles teams up again with Selina Miles (and Ironlak) to create something truly special.

Sofles goes all out for this one. I love the throwies that angle for the camera and the upside down piece, and the awesome surprise at the end. The video also features the work of Fintan Magee, Treas and Quench. The video has already gone viral with pretty much everyone in Australia I know that likes graffiti sharing it on Facebook and has already reached 1.6M views on YouTube in 2 days.

Video by Selina Miles.

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Bonom in Brussels, a master of the rooftops

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I first discovered the work of Bonom a year ago, during my first trip to Brussels, Belgium. His massive pieces are impressive  by virtue of their location, the fact that each is a real physical work, and by their subjects. Back in Brussels last week, I was excited to admire his most recent pieces, done less than one year ago, even though he did declare that he would never do illegal art again after he was caught by the police in 2010. The French artist made Brussels his home and his canvas, with his crazy bestiary, and different homages to the best french old masters, like this sensual reclining woman above, a direct reference to “l’origine du monde” by Courbet. Here are a few pieces you might have seen while hanging out in the streets of the European Capital.

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And for my own pleasure, here is the only piece Bonom did in my favorite city, my home, Montreal (2009).

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Photos by Aline Mairet

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5Pointz buffed, it’s over

5Pointz on November 19th
5Pointz on November 19th

The bulk of the historical legal graffiti spot 5Pointz was unexpectedly buffed an ugly white yesterday. A sad day, for sure. Merez and Marie, who ran the space for years, put up a hell of a fight to save the space, but this was a long time coming. At the end of the day, the property owners want to knock down the building to replace it with luxury apartments, and it’s their property. Were their cultural and historical justifications for saving 5Pointz? Certainly. But the legal arguments were never very strong so far as I could tell. I’ll be forever grateful to Merez and Marie for fighting long enough for me to see 5Pointz, but now I guess it’s time for the next step.

For more on this news, Hyperallergic and The New York Times have articles on the buffing and and Gothamist has a piece on Jay Edlin aka Terror161’s opinion that the end of 5Pointz is not the end of the world.

Photo by WarmSleepy

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Parsing out the urban art grab bag

C215. Photo by Feral78.
C215. Photo by Feral78.

Note from RJ: A version of this essay by Christian Guémy aka C215 was recently published in French with Rue89, but we both felt it was important to publish a version in English as well. – RJ

For some time, and especially since the English artist Banksy has enjoyed worldwide success, hardly a week goes by without the media reporting an event involving the urban arts, whether it’s a gallery showing “street art,” or auctions of “graffiti,” or the setting up of an “open air museum,” or pure and simple repression of vandalism.

It’s clear that recognition by the public and the media of urban arts has arrived at its apogee, and achieved the summits of popularity. Even so, I am astonished by the absence of distinction among the various practices that make up urban art. Their reclassification into a gigantic ragbag conveniently called “street art” obscures more than it clarifies.

I’m 40 and I’ve been closely involved with urban art since 1984, which is when Sydney presented in France his cult television show “H.I.P. H.O.P.” I tried my hand at graffiti in 1989 and since then I have closely followed the progress of this kind of art. It seems that several “generations” have gone by since, each having very different ambitions and practices that deserve distinction.

Continue reading “Parsing out the urban art grab bag”

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Tim Hans Shoots… Jordan Seiler

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Note from RJ: It’s been a little while since we posted any of Tim Hans‘ photos, but his series of artist portraits is still ongoing. Today we have our latest photo from Tim, one he took of Jordan Seiler at the site of one of Jordan’s ad takeovers. Rhiannon Platt asked Jordan a few questions. – RJ

Under the moniker of PublicAdCampaign, artist and activist Jordan Seiler aims to help the public regain control of their visual atmosphere. His latest project, Public Access, aims to give artists the power to change their visual landscape. The artist has reproduced keys for bus shelters and phone booths for several countries, beginning first in New York and recently expanding to Brussels for an exhibition with Harlan B. Levy Projects. Today is also the launch of the app Re+Public, an augmented reality app for iPhone and Android created by Jordan and The Heavy Projects.

Rhiannon Platt: When did you first start combating commercialism with takeovers?

Jordan Seiler: I began ad takeovers in December of 2000 with an entire station takeover at the 18th street 1/9 stop. It took about 32 posters to cover both platforms. At that point, and somewhat still to this day, it isn’t about combating commercialism but rather deciding for ourselves what our collective visual landscape looks like.

Rhiannon: What made you want to start Public Ad Campaign? Was there a specific instance that you can point to?

Jordan: My first takeover was motivated purely by aesthetics. I thought the station would feel quite different with a new set of images. It was only once that feeling manifested, and I began to worry about being caught by the cops, that I began to see the differences between commercial and public media production.

Rhiannon: How does your passion for ad-busting manifest itself in your other work?

Jordan: I know this sounds trite but I prefer the word ad-takeover to ad-bust. An ad-bust suggests a play on meaning, a decrypting of the encoded media message to reveal its weaknesses or faults. My feeling is that we are already very good at reading between the lines and seeing most commercial messages for what they are. Despite this critical insight we sill cannot seem to resist their allure. Ad-takeovers on the other hand obliterate the initial media message and in doing so demand the space be used for other conversations. I think this is a very important distinction because if we are going to wrestle with the impact of media messages on our society, we need a critical distance from which to start. Ad takeovers demand an ad free public space and by extension ask the question of what we might fill that space with. I think with most of my other projects that aren’t directly ad-takeovers, I try to ask the question of how we might collectively take up the responsibility of public media production by encouraging other people’s participation, and exploring new tools for public media production.

Rhiannon: Are you currently working on any projects?

Jordan: I am currently working on a project called Public Access where I make tools that can be used to open advertising locations around the world so that people can engage their public media space directly. This is an ongoing project and I hope to continue to add more tools and more accessible cities in the coming years. I am also about to launch the Re+Public AR mobile app with my partner from The Heavy Projects. Our newest collaboration with MOMO was a wonderful experience and we are excited to finally make the app widely available through iOS and Android platforms.

Photo by Tim Hans

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ALL YOUR WALLS :: Hosier Lane :: Melbourne

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F1 & ID – ALL YOUR WALLS. Photo by David Russell.

Ok, so I am pretty damn excited to share this event with you.

For the last 6 months or so Dean Sunshine from Land of Sunshine, Fletcher Anderson (aka Facter) from Invurt (who I also write for), Toby from Just Another and I ( Chairperson of Hosier Inc) have been working together on this exciting project. ALL YOUR WALLS is a satellite event for the National Gallery of Victoria‘s Melbourne Now event, a 3 month programme of work celebrating Melbourne art. It is the gallery’s largest ever exhibition, so the association with the event is very special indeed. The NGV have always been big supporters of street art and graffiti as I’ve mentioned in the past.

The project commenced many months ago when Dean was approached by the NGV and told about the upcoming Melbourne Now exhibition and asked how best to represent this fundamental part of art in Melbourne. Dean then approached us and we all came up with ALL YOUR WALLS. Thanks to Dean for the opportunity to be involved in this amazing project.

So what’s the project all about?

Over 6 days in November more than 100 of Melbourne’s best artists and writers (incl. 11 crews) will repaint (sculpt/paste/stencil/etc) the entire Hosier and Rutledge lane precinct. Artists are painting high and low, so we’ll be covering parts of walls that have never before seen paint. The project’s intention is to celebrate the significant role that street art and graffiti continues to play in the cultural life of Melbourne. ALL YOUR WALLS is a great representation of the diverse range of artists and styles on the streets of our city.

The event is being held over 2 sessions. The 1st session (last weekend) was for the high walls, and the 2nd (27-29 November) for the ground level walls. We will then launch the event with an opening party on the 29th from 6-9pm.

The project has been made possible by the generous support of sponsor Ironlak. Also with support from NGV, Melbourne City Council and Hosier Inc.

Hosier Inc is a not for profit, community based association made up of residents, business owners, artists and anyone that loves Hosier and Rutledge lanes. Street art and graffiti are obviously topics of interest but the Inc also focuses on issues such as public safety and upkeep of the lanes amongst other things. Hosier Inc has been undoubtedly been instrumental in the concept behind the project; access to untouched walls is a result of the relationship we have forged with residents and users of the space.

I recently described the lanes in detail after Rutledge lane was painted blue; for anyone that didn’t read that – in summary Hosier lane (and the lesser known Rutledge lane) is Melbourne’s most iconic street art and graffiti location, without a doubt. (Whether or not it was the best spot is debatable, it is certainly the most well known). Continue reading “ALL YOUR WALLS :: Hosier Lane :: Melbourne”

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HOTTEA makes a brief stop in Little Italy

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HOTTEA stopped by Little Italy last week for a last-minute piece with The L.I.S.A. Project NYC. His piece is right at the heart of our little street art murals, on Mulberry between Canal and Hester streets, near work by Ron English, Tristan Eaton, Bishop203 & Pebbles and a large collaborative mural done through Secret Walls. Since he works with yarn, HOTTEA was able to hit up a fence where I guess we otherwise couldn’t really install any art. Here are some shots of the piece coming together:

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Photos by Rey Rosa for The L.I.S.A. Project NYC

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ABCDEF: the gorgonzola cheese of street art

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ABCDEF‘s work seems no more difficult to produce than your standard shitty throw up, and yet it seems gallery-worthy. It’s stroke-your-chin-and-ponder worthy. It’s simple and exciting. There’s this great video where a disembodied John Baldessari tells Jason Schwartzman that fine art is like Gorgonzola cheese; if you give it to a child they will spit it right out. So you start giving them Velveeta cheese, and eventually they acquire a taste for Gorgonzola as they mature. ABCDEF is the Gorgonzola of street art.

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From a series done in Istanbul
From his P.B.R. series
From his P.B.R. series
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From his “art is no control” series

 

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Photos by ABCDEF