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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An Assortment of Links

I’ve been away from my computer for a few days, and though I’m still on vacation, I’m trying to get caught up on the news of the street art world. Here are a few of the things I’ve been looking at:

  • The Carmichael Gallery has some cool exhibitions on right now and the work is now online:
    – Boxi, one of stencil art’s greatest talents, has a solo show titled “Grey Area”
    – Zeus and the Neo-Cons (PosterBoy, Aakash Nihilani, and Ellis G.) in their surprise show “Hollowood.” Yes, PosterBoy is selling prints here, but they are unsigned. I’m really liking Aakash’s prints, Zeus’ installation, the PosterBoy prints if you’re not in it for investment (good for you), and the Ellis G. work on linen.
  • “Justice” is in Bristol with C215, Bruno Leyval, Dan23, Least Wanted, and MC1984. Great use of an old police station. Arrested Motion has images.
  • David Choe’s work is looking great in Beijing. As always, Arrested Motion has images.
  • Aiko has a show, Love Monster, opening next Saturday at Joshua Liner Gallery. I’ll be there.
  • ABOVE‘s latest street piece is the “Easter AIG Hunt.” Keep an eye out for his upcoming print release which looks like his best in a while.
  • Five Pointz, the graffiti mecca in New York City, has been temporarily closed after a stairway collapsed. A woman was on the staircase at the time. She fell 100 feet and survived, but was injured.
  • Delete08’s show at Shunt has been painted and it looks great. He’s got some really cool artists working down there.
  • ESPO has answered 20 questions for Juxtapoz
  • Street Art Dealer is a new concept meant to avoid the gallery system. Participating artists (such as Dotmasters and Graffiti Research Labs) tag their street work with a QR code, and by photographing the code, people can buy a piece they see on the street. So is this an innovation that will take galleries out of the art selling equation, or the logical conclusion of street art becoming nothing more than advertising for print releases?
  • The Chinese contemporary art market bubble seems to have burst. Luckily it wasn’t this bad in the world of street art. Maybe it is time for street art to move in to fill the hole in the market that may be left by the Chinese market (though hopefully we won’t create the same bubble). Phillips de Pury is selling a good number of street art works in their April Saturday sale in New York City by artists such as Keith Haring, Barry McGee, KAWS, and Date Farmers.

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Off To My Vacation in Cairo

Photo by mediageek
Photo by mediageek

I am headed to Cairo in a couple of hours for a family vacation and then to the states to visit a few universities, so I expect have only limited internet access for the next week and a half or so. I’ll get in a couple of updates in that time (including 2-3 interviews), but they will probably come in spurts and I definitely won’t be posting daily.

One place I’ll be headed is New York City. I’m going to be looking for things to see there (art and otherwise), so if you have any suggestions please email me – rj(at)vandalog(dot)com.

In the mean time, here’s a few things I’ve been meaning to post:

  • Boxi’s show at The Carmichael Gallery is going to have a cool print release to go along with it, and part of the edition will go onto eBay as soon as the show opens. ‘Sell Out Is The New Buy In’ is a print about the state of the current art market, so why not put it on eBay?
  • Not Banksy has been putting out some interesting work.
  • So have the guys in Tel Aviv.
  • And Gaia’s latest stuff is pretty cool (though I can’t get this video of his to play all the way through).
  • Urban Angel’s show 2000 and Down opened today.
  • Finally, these are two shows I will definitely be stopping by when I am in New York: Phil Forst and PosterBoy.

Photo by mediageek

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Faith47 and Keeping Graffiti in Cape Town

Faith47 has been getting the word out recently about a potential change in anti-graffiti laws in Cape Town. The new law would prohibit property owners from even giving permission for graffiti on their buildings. Here are Faith47’s two main concerns with the proposed law:

1. The definition of ‘graffiti’ under the by-law is too broad. It classifies ‘graffiti’ as any inscription, word, figure, letter, sign, symbol, sketch, picture or drawing. There should be a clear differentiation between ‘graffiti vandalism’ [e.g. gang tags, scratchings] and public art that is done with permission from the owner [murals, colourful characters and positive, inspiring messages].
2. The by- law removes the legal right of the private property owner to paint anything other than a house number on his/her wall. We strongly believe that the private property owner should maintain the right to determine what to paint on to his/her property without permission from the City.

Read the rest of her email here.

Public Ad Campaign has a short interview up with Faith47 about how her work might be effected by the proposed law, which you can read here.

Finally, there is a petition that anybody can sign to show their opposition to this proposed law. I signed, and you can too. Just go here.

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Matt Small Solo @ BRP

Finally made my way down to Black Rat Press today for Matt Small’s show “Youngstarrs”. Really fantastic stuff. Here’s photos of some of my favorite pieces thanks to WallKandy (more from this show on flickr):

Matt Small

Car Hoods

Sculpture

I really loved this show, and everybody who can should try to see it. In a few years time, when Matt Small is a huge name in art, you will be kicking yourself if you miss this show. It has a variety of work which showcase Matt’s different styles, but it still feels like one body of work with a unified message.

Photos by Ian Cox/WallKandy

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Swoon on “The Swimming Cities of Serenissima”

Arrested Motion has an interview with Swoon about her latest boat project, “The Swimming Cities of Serenissima”, which will launch this May. Swoon and her team will launch their homemade crafts from Slovenia and travel all the way to Venice just in time for The Venice Biennale. With any luck, I’ll be in Venice for their arrival, so I’ll be blogging and twitter that, but in the mean time, Arrested Motion is where it is at. Here’s a short excerpt from their interview with Swoon:

AM: Are there any particular themes or issues that you’re looking to explore with this journey?

Swoon: There are many, but just to pull out a thread, I have always felt that these boats are an expression of joy and wonder, while at the same time being a map of anxiety.

We are making a cabinet of wonders by collecting things we find along the way: seeds, bones, flowers, stories – all manner of things. This impulse is about observing, collecting and sharing beautiful things in the world around us, but there is also an element of the impulse to preserve these things and to pack your whole life onto a couple of hand-made rafts and set sail, which is about the feeling that the way we are living is coming apart at the seams, is destroying the world around us and will not last. These boats are not to be taken as a literal solution, but in the way that art distills a language from our imaginations and creates images that speak to us above and below the level of our spoken language, we are addressing these issues in our form.

Read the rest at Arrested Motion.

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2000 and Down at The Art Lounge

Urban Angel/The Art Lounge have their latest show opening this Saturday, and the concept might seem a bit counter intuative to most art gallery visitors and owners. This show, 2000 and Down, only has work for sale at £2000 or less.

2000 and Down

Some of my favorite up and coming artists are in this show including Klone and Best Ever. With those two especially, I’ve seen some great street work, but I’ve never seen a canvas in person from either of them, so I’m looking forward to it.

In addition, there will be a few print releases, including Sanguine 1 and Sanguine 2 by Part2ism (from his last show at the gallery). Those will be editions of 15 at £150 each (including the Artillery for Pleasure book).

Sanguine1 by Part2ism
Sanguine 1 by Part2ism

Hopefully I’ll see you there on Saturday.