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.
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Aakash Nihalani at Carmichael Gallery

Aakash Nihalani’s solo show, On & Off (Often On), is opening in a few weeks at the Carmichael Gallery in LA. I’m a fan of his public work and indoor installations, and I’m really curious what sort of pieces could be for sale and what the metal sculptural pieces will be like.

In January 2010, Carmichael Gallery presents On & Off (Often On), the first West Coast solo exhibition of Aakash Nihalani. In addition to a characteristically arresting site-specific installation comprised of brightly colored tape, Nihalani introduces a new artistic direction by using metal and plastic to create sculptural objects.

There will be an opening reception for On & Off (Often On) on Thursday, January 21 with Nihalani in attendance. The exhibition will run through February 18, 2010.

Aakash Nihalani is fast becoming recognized as one of the US’s most striking emerging installation artists. Celebrated for his ephemeral modifications of the urban landscape, the young Brooklyn-based tape specialist wields an abstract narrative of isometric shapes and flamboyant hues grounded in quiet irony and idiosyncratic precision. The fluidity of his simple, colorful style, which employs familiar shapes to produce unexpected visuals, initiates an inviting, living dialogue that traverses the chaos of city streets, the white walls of the gallery and the constancy of home.

Nihalani has built a global fan base by selectively placing his artwork on sidewalks and public spaces around New York. His squares, rectangles and cubes, which are constructed from strips of instantly identifiable fluorescent tape, give three-dimensional qualities and a new, often humorous, perspective to the windows, doorways, cement pavement, floor tiles, chain-link fences, bricks, building contours and

subway spaces within which they are embedded. Nihalani completes all public art pieces on site with little to no advanced planning. His style readily adapts to the interior gallery space and into individual works of art, thereby escaping its customarily fleeting existence while continuing to fuse his aesthetic and conceptual objectives.

Nihalani has fashioned a visual language all his own. The neon in his work highlights details that might otherwise go unnoticed, while his minimalist patterns form self-contained pockets which encourage examination both within the isolated space and of the world at large. His work often engages the public by creating three-dimensional environments that can be physically entered, transforming passersby or gallery visitors into participants and offering them a momentary escape from daily life.

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Art Monument 2010 with KR and more

What to do with an abandoned old tower built in the middle of Berlin… I know! Paint it! Flying Fortress, Craig “KR” Costello, Honet and Sozyone are doing just that in a few months. From April 1st to May 15th, those four artists will be painting The Bierpinsel tower in Berlin, which stands 46 meters (151 feet) high. I don’t know much about the project, but I’ve got a feeling that it could be something really special. This could become an iconic part of Berlin, or at least, something really cool for the locals. And Just will be there to take photos, so you know that the entire process will be well documented. Check out more on the event’s website.

Here’s a video about the event:

Turmkunst 2010 from webaffairs on Vimeo.

Via Urban Artcore

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The latest from Blu

This is looking like a pretty good week. First Os Gêmeos announce a solo show, and now Blu has painted a new wall. Maybe tomorrow Barry McGee will release a new line of t-shirts or something. These pictures come from Blu’s blog of a new wall in Buenos Aires. This looks like it’s just a single wall, but he’s also been working on what looks like a Muto 2.0 sort of animation down there.

The great thing about Blu is that from far away you get an image, but if you look close, there are 1000 more images to discover, and every detail is unique and carefully considered.

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How I met Justin Lovato

While in Miami for Art Basel last month, I went to more than a dozen different fairs or exhibitions of one kind or another. And I barely scratched the surface of what was there. One night, I was out with a big group including people from Babelgum, Arrested Motion and a few other organizations. We were more or less wandering around Wynwood looking for any fairs that were still open. We ended up at Art Whino. I’d heard of Art Whino, but frankly hadn’t planned on going to the show. There was just so much going on that I didn’t think I would be able to find the time. Turns out, it was one of the more interesting exhibitions in Miami. There was artwork from Chris Stain, Billy Mode, PaperMonster and a whole assortment of others.

But for me, one artist stood out. This guy who had a sort of low-brow illustrator style, but not the kind that I normally hate. There was some substance to these paintings. I was absolutely loving all the paintings by this artist. His name was Justin Lovato. I happened to see Gaia nearby, so I rudely interrupted whatever conversation he was having with somebody I didn’t recognize and told them about how I had just found this amazing new artist called Justin Lovato. Turns out, the guy Gaia was talking to was Justin Lovato. Even better, Justin does paint the occasional piece outdoors, so it gave me an excuse to mention him here.

Here’s what Juxtapoz.com has said about Justin:

Here’s what we have to say: his art looks neat. The linework is nothing groundbreaking, reminiscent of a mix of Andrew Schoultz and Ferris Plock, but he has a distinctively rich, earthy palette and subtle use of stenciling incorporated with hand painting that makes us smile.

(oh, and make sure to click on these pics of his indoor work so that you can see them much larger and in the detail that they deserve to be seen in)

More after the jump… Continue reading “How I met Justin Lovato”

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Yote in DC

Yote hit up Washington, D.C. recently, and while he put up a number of wheatpastes, I just want to focus on one particular block that he put in a few places. To me at least, Yote’s Corn image, unlike his animal pieces, doesn’t really tell a story or allow for much interaction with its environment or the public beyond an aesthetic presence. Instead, it feels more like a tag.

I’m a big fan of people like Mighty Mo, Sweet Toof and Bloke who essentailly use characters as their names, and tag with those, I don’t think I’ve ever come across a (character/image-based) wheatpaste before though that gave me the impression of being a tag. Just think it’s something interesting.