RJ Rushmore has been involved in contemporary art as a writer, curator, photographer, arts administrator, and fan since 2008. With a focus on street art, graffiti, and public art, RJ facilitates and promotes catalytic and ambitious art outdoors, in galleries, and online. He founded the street art blog Vandalog and has worked at The L.I.S.A. Project NYC, Mural Arts Philadelphia, and Creative Time. Currently, RJ is Co-Curator of Art in Ad Places.
There are two new Kickstarter projects that look very worthwhile for the graffiti and street art worlds. Kickstarter is the website where people can crowdsource funding for their ideas. Both of these projects are looking for about $30,000.
Shepard Fairey's first billboard takeover, done in 1990. Photo by el-pablo
The second film is a new one, but it also tells a true story from before I was born: Julian Marshall is a filmmaker currently attending RISD, the college that Shepard Fairey attended. He would like to tell the story of Shepard Fairey’s early career. Julian’s film will focus on Shepard’s first billboard takeover, pictured above, the idea for which came from a class assignment at RISD. It’s kinda like The Social Network for Shepard Fairey (so less coding and more bombing). Here’s what Julian has to say about his film:
Each of these films only have about 3 more weeks to reach their funding goals on Kickstarter. Any contributions or help spreading the word could make the difference that these ideas need to see the light of day. To support the Style Wars outtakes project, go here. To support the authorized OBEY origin story film, go here.
We’ve been posting images here and there from the Bien Urbain mural festival that took place in Besançon, France, but now photos of all the works are on flickr. These are a few of my favorite images (from Sam3, Hyuro, Moneyless, TBLR-ONE, Escif, Quillograma, Nelio, ), but definitely take the time to check out this Bien Urbain flickr set to see everything from the festival.
Hyuro. Photo by E. Murcia ArtengoHyuro (detail). Photo by E. Murcia ArtengoMoneyless. Photo by D. DemougeotOX. Photo by OXTBLR-ONE. Photo by E. Murcia ArtengoEscif. Photo by E. Murcia ArtengoQuillograma and Nelio. Photo by Nelio
Photos by Nelio, E. Murcia Artengo, OX and D. Demougeot via Bien Urbain
Marco Sueño recently traveled to the mining city of Cerro de Pasco, Peru, where he put up some really beautiful work. It’s so nice, I’m posting the photo twice. The piece is called “Ukukos Desconcertados”.
Outpost is a massive street art festival on now at Cockatoo Island in Sydney, Australia. For better or worse, it’s sponsored by the Australian government and from what I’ve seen they are showing a fairly bubblegum pop version of street art so the scope of the show is quite limited, but there are some great artists involved and the festival had over 12,000 visitors in its first week. Kid Zoom‘s stunning installation might be an exception to that bubblegum vision, although it’s certainly more conceptual and institutionally traditional than a lot of street art. He recreated his childhood home from memory and life sized, painted it with a skull and then wrecked and blew up three cars next to the house (which is documented in a film at the festival). Not sure what the cars are about, but the idea of wrecking the cars that the Australian Government probably paid for seems like, at the very least, a good excuse to do something crazy and fun. Here are some photos from the installation and video stills. Outpost has free entry and runs through December 11th.
It’s 11/11/11, so I guess that’s a big deal to some people. That seems so arbitrary to me, since our calendar is pretty arbitrary to begin with. Besides, it’s really 11/11/2011. A few years ago, 11/02/2011 was much cooler. In my social sphere though, 11/11/11 seems like an excuse to throw parties, so maybe I shouldn’t complain. While I was thinking about the ridiculousness of this date, here’s what almost passed me by this week in art:
Echo and The Bunnymen are a brilliant band and Will Sergeant is a fantastically talented member of that group. Unfortunately the same things cannot be said about his attempt at street art.
Last month, Ola Bad’s first solo show took place in Atlanta. It does not look like it’s his first show. It looks much better than any artist’s first solo show should look. There are a number of photos from the show here.
A tribute to Robbo has been painted on the wall where he and Banksy feuded. It looks like it’s by Banksy, but there’s been no word from his camp or any other artists claiming responsibility. Last we heard, Robbo was still in intensive care at a hospital due to the injuries he sustained back in April.
Faile shocked their fans and detractors alike last week when they unveiled their newest body of work at Lazarides’ Gallery’s Rathbone Place location in London. The show, Fragments of Faile, features two distinct series. One is pretty much what you might expect from Faile: Familiar trademark imagery, styles and themes, mixed with some small steps forward. As usual, it was the introduction of new ideas into the Faile repertoire alongside the classics. If you’re a fan of Faile, you’ll like those pieces, and if you’re not, well the new twists probably won’t convince you. Most people I’ve spoken with say these are their favorite pieces in the show, and I have to agree. But those pieces are also getting very little attention compared to the completely new body of work that Faile introduced at the show: 100% painted (no screenprinting) portraits of women made up of abstract fabric patterns and bits of Faile iconography on top of very calm and un-Faile-like backgrounds. While there are a large number of people speaking out and saying how much they enjoy this new twist from Faile, among the people whose views I respect, the majority would not hang these paintings on their walls (although some would). Nuart’sreviews seem to best exemplify the reaction that I’m getting most often from those that I respect. Among that group, the new style has been met with general disappointment and confusion, with some people comparing it to a less gritty Bast or derivative of Miss Bugs (of course, Bast and Faile have collaborated numerous times in the past, and Miss Bugs has in the past been thought of as derivative of Faile). Nonetheless, nearly everyone I’ve heard from has also expressed great excitement that Faile have tried something so unexpected. My thoughts and some perspective from Faile themselves after the jump… Continue reading “Split opinions: Fragments of Faile at Lazarides”
The Tubú community is an indigenous group of families now living in the city of Bogotá, Columbia. Tubu Community is a project to help raise money to build a new home in Bogotá for a Tubú family. To learn more about the Tubú people, you can watch this video or read this info.
A new print from Stinkfish
At their webstore, Tubu Community has begun to sell prints and original art by South American and European artists to help with the effort. 100% of the proceeds from these sales go to the Tubú people. Blu, Bastardilla, Buytronick and Stinkfish have contributed original art and Eine and Stinfish have contributed prints, including a new 7-color screenprint by Stinkfish. Expect more products to be added to the webstore in the future.
This is a show that I’ll probably make the bus ride from Philadelphia to NYC just to see: OverUnder, Labrona and ND’A are showing together in Paperboys at Pandemic Gallery. These three guys make great images and do it with a smile and a drive for adventure (well, actually I can’t speak for ND’A, but I assume he smiles and searches for adventure too). It opens on November 19th and runs through December 11th and is practically guaranteed to be a fun show.
OverUnder and ND'A at workOne of OverUnder's artworks for Paperboys
I’ve got to give a big thanks to Unurth for once again finding a talented artist whose work I would have probably never otherwise seen. Evgeniy Dikson is an artist based in Russia who paints street art and post-graffiti. Here are a few of my favorite pieces by him:
"City""Dolphin""Say""Break""Degradation or progress?"
Surge, Gaia, Stormie, Remi/Rough and in The Underbelly Project
UPDATE – LOCATION CHANGE: The Underbelly Show has moved to 78 NW 25th Street in Wynwood, Miami to accommodate the large scale of the artwork in this show.
The Underbelly Project is back. Last year, I posteda lotabout the project where 103 artists from around the world secretly painted an abandoned/half-completed New York City subway station. After that initial burst of press here and around the web, The Underbelly Project organizers stayed silent. With only occasional vague tweets from a mysterious twitter account and the appearance on Amazon of an upcoming book about the project. Yesterday though, The Underbelly Project announced that they will be participating in this year’s Basel Miami Week madness with a pop-up gallery in South BeachWynwood.
The organizers of The Underbelly Project and The Underbelly Show, Workhorse and PAC, have this to say about the show:
Workhorse: The New York Underbelly was an important chapter for us, but the story hadn’t been comprehensively told. The Underbelly Miami show gives us a chance to present the broad scope of documentation – Videos, photos, time-lapses and first hand accounts. The project is about more than just artwork. This show gives us a chance to show the people and the environment behind the artwork.
PAC: While the experience each artist had in their expedition underground can never be captured, it is my hope that this show will highlight some of the trials and tribulations associated with urban art taking place in the remote corners of our cities. Too often the practice of making art in unconventional venues remains shrouded in mystery and I hope this exhibition will shine a faint light on those artists who risk their safety to find alternative ways to create and be a part of the cities they live in.
35 of the 103 artists from The Underbelly Project will be exhibiting art in The Underbelly Show, plus video and still footage of the artists at work in the tunnel. Here’s the full line-up: Faile, Dabs & Myla, TrustoCorp, Aiko, Rone, Revok, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Mark Jenkins, Anthony Lister, Logan Hicks, Lucy McLauchlan, M-City, Kid Zoom, Haze, Saber, Meggs, Jim & Tina Darling, The London Police, Sheone, Skewville, Jeff Stark, Jordan Seiler, Jason Eppink and I AM, Dan Witz, Specter, Ripo, MoMo, Remi/Rough, Stormie Mills, Swoon, Know Hope, Skullphone, L’Atlas, Roa, Surge, Gaia, Michael De Feo, Joe Iurato, Love Me, Adam 5100, and Chris Stain.
For this show, the space will be transformed into an environment imitating the tunnel where The Underbelly Project took place, right down to playing sounds recorded in the station while The Underbelly Project was happening.
If you absolutely cannot wait until February to get We Own The Night, the book documenting The Underbelly Project, a limited number will be available at The Underbelly Show in a box set with 9 photographic prints and the book all contained in a handcrafted oak box. Additionally, you will be able to your book signed by the artists participating in The Underbelly Show.
The Underbelly Show will take place at 2200 Collins Avenue, South Beach, Miami78 NW 25th Street, Wynwood, Miami. There will be a private opening on November 30th, and the space will be open to the general public December 2nd-5th, with a general opening on the 2nd from 8-10pm.
