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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More images from Herakut’s “No Placebos”

Earlier today, I posted about Herakut‘s surprise show, “No Placebos,” that opens tomorrow in New York at RedFlagg. Well here’s the poster and a couple of exclusive teaser images I can share:

Herakut Flyer

Herakut Teaser

Herakut Teaser

Here’s a reminder of the vital info for this show:

“No Placebos”

Opening: 21st May 2009, 6 – 8 pm.

May 21st – June 3rd 2009

Red Flagg

638 West 28th Street

New York, New York 10001

And if you haven’t already, check out their new book. Herakut: The Perfect Merge can be purchased on Amazon.

Photos from Frankie/Campbarbossa

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The Keith Haring Museum

Not that anybody needs another reason to visit Japan, but here’s perhaps the best street art related reason: They have a Keith Haring museum!

The Nakamura Keith Haring Collection is the only collection of Keith Haring’s work currently being displayed for the public in this sort of space and on this scale, and it looks spectacular.

Keith Haring Museum

Keith Haring Museum

Via wejetset

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Herakut Suprise Show

SlamXHype has the scoop on Herakut’s surprise show in New York City. It opens tomorrow at RegFlagg.

Herakut Teaser

From SlamXHype:

“NO PLACEBOS”

Opening: 21st May 2009, 6 – 8 pm.

May 21st – June 3rd 2009

Red Flagg

638 West 28th Street

New York, New York 10001

Here is the press release:

RedFlagg is pleased to present the New York debut exhibition of Herakut, the highly-acclaimed German collective comprised of Hera and Akut. The exhibition, entitled No Placebos, will open with a reception on Thursday, May 21st from 6-8pm and continue through July 3rd, 2009. This show will feature several paintings on a variety of media, all combining the two artist’s starkly different techniques. Hera’s emotional figures and silhouettes are extemporaneously created using spray cans, brushes, her hands, etc., while Akut’s hyper-realistic paintings of animals, flesh and facial features are rendered using only a spray can. This exhibition follows successful solo shows at Campbarbossa, London, The Leonard Street Gallery, London, and the Carmichael Gallery, Los Angeles. Copies of the recently published Herakut monograph The Perfect Merge will be available at RedFlagg.

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Rowdy Solo Show

Rowdy

Rowdy has a solo show coming up at Sartorial Contemporary Art on June 4th. I’m curious, but aprehensive. I’ve enjoyed his canvases and his street work, which are completely different, but I’m not sure what I’ve seen could fill a solo show.

Here’s the press release:

In his first major London solo show the King of Crocs showcases his diverse talent at Sartorial Contemporary Art. Expect to see Rowdy’s unique take on urban living and landscape in the form of his legendary boulders, abstract cityscapes and of course the ubiquitous crocs.

Bricks and mortar may mean money and mortgages to some but Rowdy prefers his building blocks in their raw state. ‘The local quarry provides the bedrock for our roads and cities’ says the artist. ‘I hit the rocks before they reach their destiny of becoming our new urban spaces’. Simultaneously caveman-esque and contemporary, the cartoon monoliths have been described as ‘Ren & Stimpy meets Goldsworthy’. Their arrival in the urban landscape provides jarring juxtaposition.

His Cityscape paintings show Skyscrapers constructed out of the tiniest marks a spray can can make, reminiscent of T.S Lowry’s ‘matchstick men’, combined with 1980’s graffiti fades. Some are hectic, others more meditative. Highly sought after, this accomplished series offers nuances and subtleties both in style and substance, often somewhat lacking in today’s saturated street art market.

Continuing the narrative of City versus The Ancient; Rowdy’s trademark crocodiles are often huge in scale and are indicative of the playful nature of the imagery in his work, and long may we continue to see these King-sized crocs attacking our walls and lurking in the concrete swamps. The last few years have seen him collaborate with cohorts Cyclops & Sweet Toof resulting in one of the most widespread bombing campaigns seen in the UK’s capital in the last decade.

‘Don’t be taken in by his welcome grin, he’s imagining how well you’d fit within his skin…’

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Nick Walker book launch @ BRP

Sequence of Events Cover

“A Sequence of Events” is Nick Walker’s new book, due to be released this spring, and in conjunction with the book, Walker has a solo show at Black Rat Press.

The show, also called “A Sequence of Events” opens May 28th, and there will be 2 screenprints released on that night.

They’ll kill me for saying this, but start lining up outside of BRP soon, and bring tents. Camping out overnight may be the only way to guarantee your chance at one of Walker’s highly-in-demand screenprints.

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New Lazarides Rathbone Place Gallery

Lazarides

It’s finally open. The new space for The Lazarides Gallery at Rathbone Place in London opened last Thursday for their latest group show called “Grow Up.” I went to, and tweeted, the opening, but I’ve waited to do a proper post on the show because it took until today for me to get back when it wasn’t so crowded.

As usual, Lazarides puts on a good show. Even though they seem to have lost their #1 star, Lazarides reminds us that it wasn’t just The Banksy Show over in SoHo. Vhils, JR, Faile, and many others are doing great work there too.

Two giant pieces by Vhils are impressive and I definitely enjoyed them, but almost too big to fully appreciate. You get close enough admire the craftsmanship, and you lose the image, you get far enough away, and the image is clear but simplistic. Hopefully his upcoming solo show (July I think?) will have a range of sizes.

Vhils

As always, the work from JR was absolutely gorgeous. I can’t say enough good things about the best photographer street artist. There was even one piece from his recent trip to Africa where he pasted his work into trains.

JR

This piece is probably old, but it’s a nice Faile and a bit different:

Faile

Of course, there was plenty more interesting work from artists like Invader and David Choe (among others), but one worth mentioning in particular is Charlie Isoe. Isoe is the newest artist as Lazarides. All I know is that he’s from Australia and paints very well. This portrait of Marilyn was my favorite. Yes, his work is a bit like a combination of Anthony Lister and Antony Micallef, but umm… okay let’s just ignore that bit for now.

Charlie Isoe

While I enjoyed “Grow Up,” I’m just glad to see Lazarides finally in a space fitting of the gallery’s importance, and I look forward to the solo shows they have lined up for later in the year.

Photos by WallKandy/Ian Cox

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Playing catch up with a few links

Here’s a few things that I could/should have done full posts about, but I’d just like to quickly cover before they become too old and get lost in my inbox.

  • Until May 30th you can get a special “early bird” rate on tickets to OFFSET2009, a 3 day conference taking place in Dublin this November. A number of street/urban/low-brow artists will be there including D*Face, Asbestos, and Brad Downey.
  • Faile put up another prayer wheel in New York. Unfortunately, @newyourpulse has just tweeted that the piece is gone. A picture below (and more here):
    Faile
  • Jeff Soto has been in London. I’ve never been a fan of his work (admitted, I have only seen jpegs), which is why I didn’t cover his current show at StolenSpace Gallery, but he’s also done a couple street pieces which I like much more than his gallery work, so below is one of those. Also, here’s a recent interview with Soto for Civil Clothing.
    Jeff Soto
  • Public Ad Campaign‘s recent New York Billboard Takeover was even larger than I could have imagined. They’ve just released a Google map detailing all the work that was done. Great job guys. Looks like you took over the city (if only for a day or two).
  • And lastly, the Brooklynite Gallery‘s latest show has brought a bit of London to New York, with Sweet Toof and Cept getting up in across the pond.
    Cept Sweet Toof

Jeff Soto photo by Sabeth718, other photos by SMKjr

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Scrathing the Surface video by Vhils

Vhils is a street artist really taking it to the next level. His portraits and city-scapes actually involve taking a jackhammer to the wall. He’s just put online this beautiful video called “Scratching the Surface.” It shows how he creates his work, and is well worth watching.

For more work from Vhils, check his website. Also, he has work in the current show at Lazarides Gallery (and a solo show coming up there later this year), and he’ll be at the Fame Festival in Italy.