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.
I’ve been bargain hunting. With the economy in the toilet, those £1800 Faile prints are probably out of most people’s budgets. I’ve found 9 great prints that are available for £90 or less.
M-City have just recently released this amazing print. Anybody who has seen their work at Cans or elsewhere knows how great it is. I think this print is a chance to get something really special.
Over the past year or so, Mike Marcus has been pasting up countless copies of one image. His gas mask wearing mannequin can be found across London. Sometimes, she is hidden and just a few inches tall, other times, she is larger-than-life and in your face.
This Thursday marks the opening of Isolitude at Jealous Gallery, Marcus’ joint installation with sound artist Amie Slavin, which centers on his photograph. I spoke with Marcus recently about photography, street art, and Isolitude.
Marcus was born in London, and moved he to Tel Aviv as an adult. He’s worked in photography for over a decade making both the fine art and commercial work.
Though he still does some work in film, he is done with advertising. “If you work in the advertising world, it’s just f***ing s***ty,” Marcus said.
Originally, Marcus kept his fine art photography and his street work separate, but recently they have been merging closer together. Isolitude is the first show where Marcus is exhibiting his work for the street in a gallery setting. The installation will be full of larger-than-life cutouts of his gasmask mannequin. Continue reading “Mike Marcus’ Isolitude”
Looks like Faile is in London for their show this week. They’ve been pasting around the East End, but according to Romanywg, a lot of the pieces have already been stolen by fans.
This summer, I took at trip to Brooklyn. Most of the trip was for visiting universities, so the best part was the break I took to check out Ad Hoc Art and wander around that part of Brooklyn to look at street art. I saw work from Swoon, Broken Crow, Gaia, Chris Stain, and many others, but the highlight was finding something new. That something was Robots Will Kill. RWK is a group of artists from New York, most commonly consisting of Veng, Col, and Chris, but also including ECB.
ECB, Veng, and Chris from Robots Will Kill. Photo from veng_rwk
Last night was the launch of street art magazine Very Nearly Almost’s 7th issue, and it very, nearly, almost went off without a hitch. By the time I arrived, there was a power outage in Shoreditch and I had to purchase my copy of VNA in a room lit by a single disposable lighter. Nevertheless, I did get a copy, and I’m glad to say it was £3.50 very well spent.
For those not already aware, Very Nearly Almost is a magazine that has been around since 2006. It mostly consists of photos of London street art, but also includes interviews with artists and other bits and bobs.
The highlights of VNA are the interviews with C215 and Cept, followed by a few pages of photos for each of them. I’ve been a fan of Cept’s work for a while, but I wasn’t aware of how long he’s been involved in the graffiti scene (since 1986).
The selection of photos is well done as well. I’m not usually one for stickers, but VNA includes about 20 photos of stickers that are of real quality. The same goes for the “tags” section. Walking around London, I mostly ignore tags, but VNA has found a couple of great ones (such as a KGS fire extinguisher tag). A few of their Cans2 photos are too dark to really see the pieces properly, but that’s more a fault of Leake Street’s poor lighting than their photography.
VNA has one of the most diverse collections of street art and graffiti photos that I’ve seen in a while, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading (twice already).
Make sure to pick up a copy of VNA issue 7 at verynearlyalmost.com
Dan Witz, probably best known for his Birds of Manhattan and Birds 2000 projects, has got some great new pieces up on his website. Thanks to Beautiful Crime for the heads up.
Witz’s new project, Kilroy Variations, is a series of painted stickers which started in 2006 as a nod to the “Kilroy was here” image, but has now taken on a life of its own as faces and hands peaking through grates. Some of these must be pretty freaky to come across if you’re not aware what they are. Imagine seeing one just out of the corner of your eye while walking to Tesco.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn 2008. Mixed media on condo wall. Photo from danwitzart.comWilliamsburg, Brooklyn 2008. Mixed media on condo wall. Photo from danwitzstreetart.com
One of my favorite artists, Know Hope, made it on Wooster Collective today for his video interview with Zach Nielson. Check out the video below. The audio quality isn’t great at parts, but the video is worth watching for the images alone, and what can be heard properly is just a bonus insight into Know Hope’s work. For more on Know Hope, check out the interview I recently did with him.
Yesterday, I had a chance to chat with artist Damon Ginandes. He has a few works for sale at Presciption Art’s Outside In show, which opens tonight in Shoreditch at the Truman Brewery. I’ve made comments in the past questioning why Ginandes is associated with street art, but I really love his work. It’s got a refined quality that’s lacking in a lot of street art, and the wire relief creates an awesome effect.
Degraw Street Mural. Photo from damonginandes.com
Although Ginandes did some graffiti in his teens, he first got involved in street art in 2007 when he painted a mural in Brooklyn. Wooster Collective posted photos of the mural, and since then, he’s been associated with street art. Ginandes doesn’t necessarily see himself as a street artist. “Street art is a good jumping off point, but it boxes people in,” Ginandes said.
Waiting Guard by Damon Ginandes. Photo from damonginandes.com
As for the work itself, Ginandes uses paints and wire to draw what he describes as “portraits of souls.” The paintings are part of his process of getting to know the souls. “[Outer] identity is defined by factors like music and clothes, not the core of the person,” Ginandes said. In his paintings, Ginandes tries to strip away those factors. Often times, the people are squished together or merged (one man’s head turning into another’s body) like pieces of a puzzle.
Loggerhead by Damon Ginandes. Photo from damonginandes.com
Although the watercolors are interesting, Ginandes’ best work is his sculpture and wire relief pieces. Loggerhead (above), a piece from his recent solo show “Dimentionals” at The Artbreak Gallery, is a great example of his sculpting. Some artists, such as Banksy, have taken great paintings of their’s and made terrible sculptures out of them. Ginandes doesn’t fall into that catagory.
Ginandes has been making his wire relief pieces for about a year and half, and they are one of the reasons I think his work is so great. The wire relief is hard to appreciate online because from photos shot straight on, you don’t realize how much of the piece encorporates wire, but his website has some videos that show what they are really like.
Ginandes has big plans for the coming year. Besides the Outside In show, he’ll have his work in shows in the USA, and he plans on doing more work on the street. Hopefully, we’ll be seeing a lot more of his murals.
