Author: RJ Rushmore

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.
Posted on

Banksy artwork removed in Detroit

Photo by bealebo

Marc Schiller from Wooster Collective said something interesting on Twitter the other day. He said, “Fascinating how each city on Banksy’s road trip (LA, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, NYC, San Fran) reacted completely differently to the art.” He then clarified by tweeting “LA: Indifference San Fran: Appreciation Chicago: Unaware Detroit: Biz Opportunity Toronto: Validation Boston: Confusion NY: Jealousy”

What did he mean by “Biz Opportunity” in Detroit? Well at least two of the pieces that Banksy painted in Detroit were removed by people from the spots where they were painted.

Here’s what happened to Diamond Girl according to The Process Theory:

this is truth, I’ve been holding out on posting this, but i think its time. Famed Banksy artist took aim at Detroit, and like many people who knew it would be short lived, a cohort and i began removing the piece. In the wee hours of the morning. We worked diligently till about six am. Carving out the bricks ever so carefully. I promise, you have never seen a sledge hammer flow ever so softly into brick. as if the girl herself was trapped. When staring a modern legend, and if not the greatest street artist of the last 15 years.  a chance to feel, touch, see, and own a legend. for money? for preservation? who knows. some gallery would have beat us to it. i know they would, the other piece was already being removed by some gallery who we know is going to make the quick buck.  This was a guerrilla movement. an attempt in the night. much in an adverse way of Banksy hitting the wall himself. My accomplice hands bloodied and blistered. let it be known, to who ever took that piece… you didn’t deserve it. you didn’t work for it. but it should be documented. We are not an entity, we are not a gallery. We were two fans, trying to do the right thing before the hounds of a desolate city, hurting for money. Take what you will, i know we will catch a lot of heat for it. Rebels? Saviors? assholes? Dedicated fans? it depends on how you view it….

And you can see pictures of that piece on The Process Theory’s website. For now though, nobody really knows what’s happened to Diamond Girl.

On the other hand, the case of where I Remember (photo above) has gone is very public. On May 11th, Detroitfunk reported that the artwork had been removed by 555 Nonprofit Gallery and Studios. As expected when a Banksy is removed or defaced, there was a strong reaction from the public. Some people thought that 555 Arts were preserving the artwork, others that 555 Arts had essentially “stolen” Banksy’s art from the public trust, potentially in order to tell it for a massive profit. With no word from 555 Arts about the situation, the public was left waiting to hear what would happen. Finally, on May 15th, the Detroit Free Press picked up the story and fill in the missing details. It turns out that the folks from 555 Arts intend to not sell the work and to keep it on public display.

While I’m not sure that 555 Arts did the right thing by removing that wall, I think that in the long run future generations are going to be glad they did it. I’m not saying that every Banksy should be removed or protected, and I’m sure that most of the time these pieces are removed and protected purely so that the owners can profit from the artwork, but in the long run, it might be worth preserving a few of these outdoor pieces by Banksy.

Photo by bealebo

Posted on

Photos of Os Gêmeos’ show in Lisbon

This week marks the opening of Os Gêmeos‘ latest museum show, Pra quem mora lá, o céu é lá at Museu Berardo in Lisbon. Lucky for all of us not in Lisbon, Target was there to take plenty of photos.

While I was still very happy to see the work they had at their recent show in Milan, a lot of people I spoke with subsequently said they were disappointed with the work there. Now I see why. Pra quem mora lá, o céu é lá is really what a proper Os Gêmeos show looks like. In short, it looks amazing. It’s not at huge as Vertigem, but it’s the next best thing. I already know people planning holidays around this show after seeing these photos. I wish I could do that too. If you’re in Lisbon between now and September, this is something that cannot be missed.

Don’t ask me why Os Gêmeos’ artwork is so good, I don’t know. Just have a look and hopefully agree.

All photos by Target, who has plenty more images from the show on his blog

Posted on

The return of Bortusk Leer

It’s been quite a while since I last saw a new artwork from Bortusk Leer (last February maybe?), so I’m pleased to say that HowAboutNo! has been photographing a bunch of new monsters from Bortusk Leer that have been popping up around London.

Photos by HowAboutNo!

Posted on

Charming Baker has arrived

It looks like Charming Baker’s current solo show Stupid Has A New Hero at NY Studio Gallery has put Baker at the forefront of the New York art scene. The Telegraph reports that there were about 1000 people at last week’s opening, the show sold out almost instantly and buyers included art-world heavyweights like Alberto Mugrabi (a mega-collector and son of mega-collector Jose Mugrabi) and Damien Hirst. Well, whatever. The important thing for those of us without the £16,000 to buy an original is that the paintings look great as usual and the show is on through May 29th.

Joe Russo took some photos for Arrested Motion. Check out the rest on Arrested Motion.

Posted on

Kaws for Interview Magazine

Been looking forward to this for the last week. Interview Magazine has posted an interview with KAWS, conducted by Tobey Maguire. While not exactly earth-shattering like Shepard Fairey’s comments in Interview Magazine about the AP case, it’s a good read.

There was one particularly interesting bit for KAWS collectors. This is going to get into a bit of art-world-collecting-and-commercialization-bullshit, so if you don’t like that sort of thing (and I know a lot of people don’t), I guess just skip the rest of this post. Maguire asks Kaws about his Kimpsons, Kurfs and Spongebob paintings. About the Kimpson series, KAWS says that he used The Simpsons’ characters because they are instantly recognizable around the world. Makes sense. Seems like some thought went into that. If you want to insert your brand into pop culture, take a brand that you and the rest of the world loves and identifies with and use that. But then about the Spongebob series of paintings, KAWS says:

I started doing SpongeBob paintings for Pharrell. Then I started doing smaller paintings, which got much more abstract. And SpongeBob was something I wanted to do because graphically I love the shapes. But honestly, when I’m painting SpongeBob, I’m not thinking, Oh, I loved this episode. Honestly, I’ve never even watched it.

My immediate reaction to that comment is that the Spongebob paintings are basically KAWS just phoning it in concept-wise. Does it mean that his Spongebob paintings are essentially just him doing things because people like them and nothing more? Maybe that means the Kimpson and Kurf paintings are the more “significant” works by KAWS.

On the other hand, maybe that’s just a natural progression for KAWS. I’d guess that most KAWS collectors haven’t seen many episodes of Spongebob, but they don’t have to. They’re familiar with the character. He’s that much of a pop-culture icon. In which case, maybe these Spongebob paintings are even more meaningful and significant that Kurfs, which are based on a show that KAWS and his collectors probably did grow up watching.

Anyways, that comment just threw me for a bit of a loop and I’m curious to hear what other have to think about it.

Posted on

Roa does it again: the Factory Fresh show

Photo by C-Monster

It looks like Roa’s first solo show in America, at Factory Fresh in NYC, is going to be as successful has his recent shows in London and Paris. The show opened on Friday night, and the people I’ve spoken to have loved it. This is definitely an event to check out if you haven’t seen Roa’s artwork in person before.

Photo by Jacob Heftmann
Photo by C-Monster

In addition to works similar to what Roa has been producing for his other shows this year, he made one piece in a crazy new style: A lenticular. Roa first made a lenticular painting on Curtain Road in London last year, and it’s probably been one of his most popular pieces to date, but this is (to my knowledge) the first time he’s made a similar painting indoors.

Photo by C-Monster
Photo by Jacob Heftmann

Photos by Jacob Heftman (via Unurth) and C-Monster

Posted on

The “Free Poster Boy” group on Facebook

Poster Boy, more accurately Henry Matyjewicz who is one of the artists involved with the Poster Boy movement, was recently sentenced to 11-months in prison for a just few hundred dollars worth of “damages” (depending on your point of view) to ads on the New York subway system. Mark Batty Publisher, the publisher of Poster Boy’s upcoming book (can’t wait to get this in my hands), has started a Facebook group in support of Poster Boy. There are just a few hundred members of the group so far, but I’ve joined and I hope you will too.

This whole thing is absurd. Henry should not be in prison for making the world a less ad-filled cesspool, and even if he did damage a few ads and the advertisers think he needs to pay for that, 11-months is a vindictive and cruel sentence.

What really upsets me is that Poster Boy has clearly been targeted and is being made an example of solely because he modifies advertising. Poster Boy has done a great job of trying to stay anonymous, but the police crashed an art opening last year just to find him. And yet, much more public street artists like Mr. Brainwash and Swoon seem to avoid arrest without much difficulty. I’m not saying that they should be arrested, just that it’s clear that police specifically targeted Poster Boy. Maybe this is a stupid argument to be making. I dunno. At the very least, I think it’s fair to say that disbanding NYPD’s Vandal Squad and reassigning those police to investigating drug dealers would be a better use of taxpayer dollars. Anyway, that’s my rant about a crappy justice system.

Here’s a good quote from Poster Boy’s flickr:

“I don’t care if I fall as long as someone else picks up my gun and keeps on shooting.”
-Che Guevara

Free Henry!
-Poster Boy

Once again, please join this Facebook group in support of Poster Boy and Henry.