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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Is Shepard Fairey a Plagiarizing Half-Wit?

UPDATE – 11:48pm February 4th: The Huffington Post has an article which says the AP is accusing Shepard Fairey of stealing one of their photographs for his Obama posters. Shepard Fairey admits he used their image and is claiming fair use. Even though I may wish Shepard Fairey would properly credit sources, I’m also a big fan of fair use. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Shepard Fairey Obama poster fame is a plagiarist and unimaginative artist. At least that’s what Dan Wasserman of The Boston Globe considers and artist Mark Vallen seems to believe.

From the Boston Globe:

Vallen makes a strong case that Fairey appropriates, without attribution, the images and designs of other artists. He posts multiple examples, including art from the Czechoslvakian Prague Spring, art from the Industrial Workers of the World, Cuban poster art of the 60s and this example (left) directly copying the art nouveau drawing of Koloman Moser (1868-1918) (right).

Fairey Moser from Boston Globe

Fairey seems at ease with his borrowing. In the 450-page catalog for the ICA show, he responds: “This guy Mark Vallen found every reference in every poster and every t-shirt that I’ve ever used. Out of hundreds of images, there’s a dozen or so that were based on things from historical posters. First of all, I’m always assuming that these posters are known by people, so my referencing is not a big secret. These aren’t obscure images… Usually I’m using an image as an intentional reference.” But his art itself makes no mention of its sources or derivative nature, and, contrary to Fairley’s assertions, much of the art he copies (like Moser’s) is not famous enough to be well-known to most of his audience.

Continue reading “Is Shepard Fairey a Plagiarizing Half-Wit?”

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Brad Downey: An Honest Thief @ StolenSpace

On Sunday Graffoto posted their review of Brad Downey‘s current solo show at StolenSpace Gallery entitled “An Honest Thief”. Although I usually love and agree with NoLionsInEngland’s reviews, I have to go a slightly different direction this time.

Here’s an excerpt from thier review:

Ever been jealous of someone’s lateral vision, been envious of the gift of conceiving and executing simple, subverted variations to the street scenery around us? If you’re an ordinary guy and have come across Brad Downey’s street art – then the answer is probably yes and yes again.

However, have you ever been let down by your heroes or disappointed by the mediocre achievement of a show hyped up by your own expectation that the street work is somehow going to transpose to a white box gallery space? If you go to Brad Downey’s first solo UK show in Stolen Space, London, then again you may find yourself ticking yes several times.

I went into the show with absolutely no expectations. I had no idea what I was going to see. Of course Downey’s street work would be very hard to move into a gallery space, but I had seen him speak this summer at the Tate Modern, and he had shown some videos there which I’d liked.

Brad Downey The B in the Brad

When I arrived, the first thing that struck me was the large sculpture “The B in the Brad” which looks like a giant jack made of street signs. This piece is the centerpiece of the show, and although I could never imagine it in a house, it is an interesting project and a bit of a twist on Downey’s usual street sign work.

There were a few photographic prints of Downey’s outdoor work which show the before and after scenes. Most of these can also be found on his website, but it was nice to provide a context for the work. After all, Downey is best on the street, so why not show some of that.

Night Dicks

There were a few pieces of more gallery-suitable work as well.

The “Night Dick in Love” and “Night Dick on Limp” pieces are well crafted and made it smile. These sculptures also come with a dvd of a police violence.

Animals that Crossed

“Animals That Crossed” were probably my favorite physical works in the show. Normally I’m not a fan of fur, but I’ll make an exception here.

The real reason to visit “An Honest Thief” though are the videos. There are 4 videos of Downey’s work playing in the gallery, and these are what, in Vandalog’s Great in ’08 series, Asbestos said were so fantastic. My personal favorite has to be the video of Downey cutting out a giant heart shape from a red screen covering a building under construction. Brad ended up getting arrested and fined for that, but I suppose that’s part of street art.

Go down to StolenSpace Gallery before this show closes on the 8th, because while much of Brad’s work is online, who knows when you’ll be able to see his videos again. Plus, it’s always better to see work in person.

Keep an eye out on Vandalog later this week for my profile/interview with Brad Downey (right now I’ve got a physics exam to study for).

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Thoughts on Bonhams February Auction

Spent some time today checking out the catolog for the February 24th urban art auction at Bonhams in London. A few people have noted the extremely high number of Banksy lots (22 of 78) and dismissed this auction, but I’ve found a few potential deals to be had. If you’ve got the money to spend and you can weed through the crap, people are looking to sell some really nice work. Here’s what I’ve found:

1. Banksy – Kate Moss (series of 6)
Estimate: £100,000 – 150,000

Banksy Kate Moss

There was a time when just one of these 6 could go for £100,000. Perhaps Banksy’s most sought after print. The winner of this auction will be a very lucky man/woman in a decade. Continue reading “Thoughts on Bonhams February Auction”

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Bortusk Leer & Five Four London Show

Bortusk Brick Lane
By Bortusk Leer

From The Brick Lane Gallery:

CHEER UP YOU ROTTERS
5th – 16th February 2009
Private View Thursday 5th February, 6-9pm

Artists BORTUSK LEER and FIVE FOUR are united for the first time by Brick Lane Gallery to fill the space with the cheeky day-glo madness of their street-art inspired works and chaotic colourful lifestyles for what promises to be a lively antidote to a particularly monotonous gloomy February.

The fruit of forbidden love between a Lion Tamer and a Candy floss seller BORTUSK LEER was forced to find his own way in the Socialist Republic of Slovenia. Though his early years are shrouded in mystery (some say circus some say tractor barn) by his teens, Leer could be found joyfully daubing the walls of his homeland with fantastical-childlike characters, psychedelic
vermin and inhuman collage… Art comedy was born and Leer never looked back, particularly when being chased by the secret police with big-headed pictures of Lenin streaming out behind him …always sporting the trademark Top Hat and Cane he had won wrestling a Turk on the quay of Messina.

By Five Four
By Five Four

More here

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Posterboy Arrest: Photographer Jim Kiernan’s Account

Photo by Jim Kiernan
Work by Posterboy, Ellis G., and Aakash Nihalani. Photo by Jim Kiernan

Yesterday The Gothamist reported that Posterboy was arrested on Friday night. Jim Kiernan, who was supposed to be photographing Posterboy on Friday, has been kind enough to give us his take on what happened.

The back story is that I started as a writer way back in the day.  I dropped that a long time ago but never lost interest in all things street-related.  I’m fully digging the Street Art movement that’s popped up in earnest over the last few years.  I have many favorite artists but Poster Boy just really struck a chord with me.  In my opinion he’s the latest branch of the family tree that begat Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat.  For real, I think he’s that talented.

Anyway I’m always documenting the underground.  For many years I videotaped bands (mainly Punk Rock stuff but other genres as well).  Mayor Guilani effectively snuffed out many of the venues that I used to shoot in and the NYC real estate market killed most of the rest.  So what to do?  Well, I picked up a still camera and have made that my thing for the last several years.  Of course I’m still all about the underground, the offbeat, the artistic.  So I decided to start shooting street art.  Not all that original but fun and visual and very satisfying.  I started seeing Poster Boy’s stuff underground and didn’t know who he was.  After researching a bit I figured out who he was and started following him.

Long story short I contacted him and asked him if he was down for me to tag along and shoot while he did his thing.  I sent him a few shots from a session I did with Chico L.E.S., an old school Lower East Side NYC graf muralist.  He dug my stuff and we were supposed to hook up some time in February.  Yesterday afternoon at around 3:30 my phone rings.  I usually always screen everybody but I manage a literary fiction author on the side named Mike Guinzburg and I thought the number was Mike’s.  He goes “you know who this is, right?” and I said yeah,  Mike.  “Nope, it’s Poster Boy man.  I’m doing a collaboration with Ellis G., (the chalk artist) and Aakash for a ‘friendswelove.com‘ benefit.  Can you grab your cameras and get down here in about an hour?”

Well, the bad news was that I was at work and my cameras were at home.  I told him I’m try to borrow a camera and get down there.  He gave me the cross streets and told me to call him when I was in the area.  I couldn’t get my hands on a decent camera so I said fuck, bailed from work, bolted home and grabbed my gear.  By the time I got downtown it was about 6:30 give or take.  I tried calling him but got voice mail.  Left a message, said fuck it and started walking around shooting street art (I was one block from where Banksy just put up on of his three big NYC full building pieces and there’s a ton of good spots that get hit).  I walked around shooting for about an hour, called him again, left another message and then kept on shooting on the streets.

About half an hour later, I was freezing my ass off and my cell phone battery was about to die.  I ducked into an ATM on the corner to get warm and to call him one last time.  Again, voice mail.  I told him I was going to bail and that we’d have to hook up next time.  BUT, when I walked outside and there were a bunch of Ellis G. pieces on the sidewalk, including the exact address of the event (which I hadn’t known).  While I was on the phone leaving Poster Boy a message telling him I was bailing, Ellis G. was hitting the sidewalk.  If that’s not a sign I don’t know what is.  Streets are talking, indeed.

So I went to this loft space on the 5th floor.  There were collaborations and other pieces on the walls and a DJ spinning.  I grabbed a drink and started shooting.  Ellis G. came up to me to ask me who I was shooting for and I told him I was supposed to meet up with Poster Boy, etc.  That’s when I found out he got popped.  The cops had been trying to track him down for a while I guess and his name was on the benefit flyer and said he would be in attendance.  They had a plainclothes cop on the street and that’s who nabbed him.  Talk about bullshit.  We’ve got major shit going down on the streets in NYC every day and THIS is what the cops are spending their time on?  Unreal.  It was definitely a bummer but Ellis and Aakash got right to work throwing up a tribute collabo for Poster Boy.

I was talking with PB’s cousin for much of the night and there was no update on his case or his bail or anything.  I offered to personally post bail on him but we couldn’t get any info.  I still don’t know what’s going on but I’m sure that all of this is just a speed bump.  No way are the cops going to keep Poster Boy down.  He’s got all of the right ideas and some of the purest artistic intentions I’ve seen so I’m sure we’ll be hearing from him again soon.

Thanks to Jim Kiernan for his help and for the photo at the top of this post. Hopefully Posterboy will be back out on the streets soon.

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Breaking: Posterboy Arrested by Undercover Cop

Photo by Posterboy NYC
Photo by Posterboy

From The Gothamist:

Last night before a benefit he was scheduled to participate in at a loft in Soho, the street artist known as Poster Boy was arrested by an undercover cop. Poster Boy was listed on a flyer for the event, a festival put on for Friends We Love, a series of videos documenting the process of a dozen different artists, including Poster Boy, who talked with us just last week.

Photographer Jim Kiernan tipped us off to the arrest. He arrived at event at Broadway and Howard Street to meet up with Poster Boy around 7 p.m., but police had already arrived after spotting the Poster Boy’s name on the flyer. Kiernan says, “There was an undercover cop on the block and they came and picked him up. As far as I know, he’s still in Central Booking right now and waiting to get in front of a judge…It’s the second time they’ve gotten him.”

Read the rest at The Gothamist

Photo from Posterboy

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Shepard Fairey in Boston

Looks like Shepard Fairey is getting ready for his big show at ICA Boston February 6th. Arrested Motion has images of Fairey’s new street work in Boston, as well as preview images for the exhibition.

Shepard Fairey at ICA Boston. Photo by Arrested Motion
Shepard Fairey at ICA Boston. Photo courtesy of the ICA Boston.
Photo from Arrested Motion
Photo by Hargo

Also, USA Network has given Shepard Fairey some sort of award for being a cool guy. Along with that, they’ve done a great video interview with him. Check it out below:

Via Arrested Motion (twice) and Towleroad

Photos originally posted at Arrested Motion, by Hargo, and courtesy of the ICA Boston

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New Mike Marcus Photo

Exciting news from Mike Marcus. I think the progression of moving more of his photography to the street is a real positive.

tMike Marcus Exogamy 2

Street artist and photographer Mike Marcus will release the first print from his new ‘Exogamy #2’ series on February the 12th 2009.

The image features a triptych of intersexual hybrid figures, each a digital “genetic” synthesis of the artist’s own self-portrait with that of a woman who he encountered in his daily life. In this case, he met each of the donor females via a different Internet social network.

There will be an accompanying release of 33 unique large format public works; one placed in each of the London boroughs. This is indicative of a new creative direction for Marcus, marrying his ‘street art’ and ‘fine art photography’ careers into one unified practice.

The edition consists of 85 20×16 inch silver gelatin photographs on 300gsm fiber based semigloss paper, individually hand printed by the artist in the darkroom from a digital internegative. Each print is hand finished to archival standards, signed and numbered verso and expected to last for over 150 years.