Pantheon: A history of art in the streets of NYC, opened recently across the street from MoCA in NYC and runs through the end of this week. It looks like a fantastic underground alternative to MOCA’s Art in the Streets show opening this week in LA. I’ve got a lot of respect for show who puts a group like John Fekner, Richard Hambleton, Don Leicht, Freedom, Stikman, UFO and John Ahearn all together. Check it out at 20 West 53rd Street, b/w 5th & 6th Avenue in NYC this week.
Photos by Luna Park
Other than seeing some rollers around NYC and a vague recollection of a collaboration with Faile and Bast that made its way to auction at some point, I would not have been able to say much at all about Elik a week ago. Very quickly though, I’m realizing that this was due more to a lack of knowledge on my part than on a lack of skill from Elik. I just came too late into street art and Elik hasn’t been getting up for a while. Back in 2003 though, it looks like Elik was the man in NYC, with a wide range techniques for getting up. After a break since 2005, Elik is returning with a show at Brooklynite Gallery next month (and hopefully some street work too). Snake Bite, which unfortunately does sound like it will be relying on the the much overused idea of a shanty-town installation in the gallery, opens May 7th and runs through June 4th. I’m a bit wary mostly because this sort of return could go very wrong, but I’m hopeful that it will go very right, as Elik seems like a talented artist.
Photo courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery
It’s always nice when artists can paint in a place where a community is improved by the art and where the community appreciates the work. I think that should be ideal for almost all street art, but unfortunately is rarely the case. That’s why I was so glad to see this video, i art Woodstock (part of i art SA, curated by A Word of Art), where over a dozen artists got together to paint in suburban Cape Town:
Pixelpancho has a sort of low-brow style that I don’t usually go for. While I liked his murals, I didn’t think I’d dig his work as much indoors. Nonetheless, after seeing this piece last December (looks better in the flesh), I’ve definitely become a fan. So I’m happy to say that Pixelpancho is showing at one of Italy’s most fun art galleries: Galo Art Gallery in Torino. The show opened on Friday, but runs through May 7th. Here’s a wall Pixelpancho painted inside the gallery:
Photos courtesy of Galo Art Gallery
Steph is here in Philly now and tomorrow Jordan Seiler, Gaia, and Marc and Sara Schiller will be here too. Pretty good week. Plus, Art in the Streets is almost here and I’ll be in LA for that. Hopefully see some of you there. Here’s some (Philadelphia-centric) news to enjoy over the weekend:
Photo by Becki Fuller
Last night, the LA Weekly revealed the list of almost all the artists in MOCA’s Art in the Streets show, opening next week. Here it is:
Alexis Ross, Andre, A-One,Barry McGee, Bear 167, Bill Daniel, Bill Ray, Blade, Charlie Ahearn, Chaz Bojorquez, Coco144, Cost, Craig Costello, Craig R. Stecyk III, Crash, Dan Murphy, Dash Snow, Daze, Delta, Devin Flynn, Don Leicht, Dondi, Drugs, Ed Templeton, Eine, Erik Brunetti, Estevan Oriol, Fab 5 Freddy, Freedom, Futura, Gordon Matta-Clark, Gusmano Cesaretti, Haze, Henry Chalfant, Howard Gribble, Hugh Holland, Invader, Irak, Iz the Wiz, Jamie Reid, James Prigoff, Jane Dickson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Ahearn, John Fekner, Jon Naar, Josh Lazcano, JR, Kaws, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Kiely Jenkins, Koor, Lady Pink, Larry Clark, Lee Quinones, Loomit, Malcolm McLaren, Mare 139, Margaret Kilgallen, Mark Gonzales, Martha Cooper, Miss Van, Mister Cartoon, Mode 2, Neckface, Noc, Os Gêmeos, Patti Astor, Phase 2, Rammellzee, Retna, Revok, Revolt, Revs, Risk, Roa, Robbie Conal, Ron English, Saber, Sharp, Shepard Fairey, SJK161, Snake 1, Spike Jonze, Stelios Faitakis, Stephen Powers, Steve Grody, Swoon, Taki 183, Teen Witch, Terry Richardson, Todd James, Toxic, Tracy 168, Zephyr.
The LA Weekly also reports that there is one more “extra bonus artist.” We here at Vandalog can exclusively complete the line up for Art in the Streets and say that the one extra bonus secret artist is…. Banksy!
I’m being sarcastic. The final artist is Banksy, but that isn’t news. Banksy’s involvement in the show was confirmed by Deitch MONTHS ago in the LA Times.
So yeah, that’s the full line up for Art in the Streets. Not the exactly list that I or anyone would’ve come up with, but I think it’s an overall solid show. A bit heavy on the LA writers and there are some big gaps, but I’m still thinking this will be an interesting show. One important thing has been pointed out to me though: This show could very well define all future street art and graffiti museum shows. Any gaps in Art in the Streets could easily carry on for a long time to come. Should Jeffrey Deitch be the definer of street art? I can’t think of many people better suited for the task, but I’m not sure any single person should have that responsibility to begin with… So I think it’s important to keep in mind that this list, and this show, is not the end-all-be-all of street art history. To many people, what I’m saying is obvious, but I think it’s still worth a mention.
Photo by Brandon Shigeta
Sometimes I see something and all I can really say is “Yes.” This is one of those times, and I’m not even 100% sure what I’m seeing. It’s call The Boneyard Project. It’s coming this summer. Here’s the trailer:
THE BONEYARD PROJECT from viejas del mercado on Vimeo.
This is the start of a story about what happens when the buff men starts acting like graffiti writers and painting anywhere they wish…
LA TACO and Revok have the full story on their blogs (at least, what is known and has happened so far), but here’s the short version of this sad and seriously screwed up story: This legal mural in LA, painted last summer by Retna, Rime, Revok, Norm, Os Gêmeos and Saber, was partially buffed by a private graffiti removal company without the property owner’s permission or knowledge and entering the property required that the graffiti removal company break a fence on the property. This sucks and just shows, if this was done legally, how screwed up the legal system is when it comes to murals. I know there are some cities (such as, I think, NYC) where the city can buff pretty much whatever they want regardless of what the property owner would like to do. Of course, I’m not sure what’s more ironic: that the graffiti removal company basically graffiti-ed this mural themselves by buffing it without permission, or that people throughout the blogosphere (including me) are complaining about it. After all, the mural was painted by a bunch of writers… But I’m pretty sure that what the buff squad did is more ironic and screwed up. Luckily, the property owner was alerted to the damage and was able to stop the buff squad before the entire mural was lost.
Expect more on this in the next few days.
Photo by LA TACO
They’re not usually my favorite brand, but 55DSL have done a series of t-shirts collaborating with the photographer Alex Fakso as part of his latest photo project called FastOrDie, and they look pretty cool. A show of the 60 photos in FastOrDie is traveling around the world right now and you can check out the tour dates here. Here are some more of the t-shirts:
Photos courtesy of 55DSL
