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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Wall\Therapy, the finished products

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Smith

This year’s Wall\Therapy festival is winding down in Rochester, NY, so let’s have a look at the finished work (although a few were already covered by Daniel’s posts). There are a few really killer pieces, including this piece by Ever that I haven’t seen professional photos of yet, and some legal work along abandoned train tracks which is really interesting, but I’m not sure about this spot that looks like a little hall-of-fame setup. Those are valuable to have, but I personally wouldn’t put one in a mural festival these days. Still, plenty of good work all around, and I love that there are way more old-school writers at Wall\Therapy than just about any other mural festival I’ve ever seen besides perhaps a Meeting of Styles event. Conor Harrington knocked it out of the park, and Jessie and Katey did a simple but really effective piece.

Conor Harrington
Conor Harrington
Wise2
Wise2
Jessie & Katie
Jessie & Katey

Continue reading “Wall\Therapy, the finished products”

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King Brown issue 9 launch party

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NYC is having a good couple of weeks for magazine launch parties. Today was the Very Nearly Almost issue with Faile on the cover, and August 10th is the launch of King Brown issue 9. This issue comes in a bag with designs by Unga of Broken Fingaz and Ed Templeton and the magazine includes features on Ed Templeton, Unga, Nychos, Huskmitnavn, Dabs Myla, Ghostpatrol and others. Issue 9 will be launched at Schoolhouse Gallery (330 Ellery St Brooklyn – Flushing Ave stop off the JMZ) on August 10th from 6-10pm. The launch party will include music by Fake Hooker and live painting by The Yok, Sheryo and Nychos. All good things. Except that I won’t be there, so please have fun for me.

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Photos courtesy of King Brown

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Some “Fresh Flâneurs” add to Bari

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108. Photo by Beppe Gernone.

The “Fresh Flâneurs” show in Bari, Italy recently added new murals to the city by half a dozen talented artists, but the walls are at risk of being buffed by the city because they have begun to cause some controversy. Although some informal polling by the local newspaper shows that citizens of Bari are overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the work, there is still some resistance. Essentially, it seems to come down to regulations about changing building facades for the sake of historical preservation, which some people are saying apply even if the building is not historic.

I’m really excited that Vittorio Parisi of Bari’s Doppelgaenger Gallery saw what was happening nearby at FAME Festival and brought it some of it to Bari. The murals by Sten&Lex, El Tono and others are all really strong pieces, and it would be a shame to seem them go. If you’re in Bari, you can still check out these works in person for the time being, but here they are for the rest of us (hopefully this isn’t how the citizens of Bari will have to be looking at the works soon):

Hellomonsters
Hell’O Monsters. Photo Beppe Gernone.
Hell'O Monsters
Hell’O Monsters. Photo Beppe Gernone.
Ozmo
Ozmo. Photo by Beppe Gernone.
Ozmo
Ozmo. Photo by Beppe Gernone.
Sam3
Sam3. Photo by Beppe Bernone.
Sam3
Sam3. Photo by Beppe Gernone.
Sten&Lex
Sten&Lex. Photo by Sten&Lex.
Sten&Lex
Sten&Lex. Photo by Sten&Lex.
El Tono. Photo by El Tono.
El Tono. Photo by El Tono.
El Tono. Photo by El Tono.
El Tono. Photo by El Tono.

Photos by Beppe Gernone, El Tono and Sten&Lex

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Sunday link-o-rama

Jaz, drawing entirely with charcoal.
Jaz, drawing entirely with charcoal in Buenos Aires.

Had a quick holiday in New York City combined with a nasty cold to delay posting this link-o-rama, but I’m back so here we go…

  • Dave aka nolionsinengland has been a friend and also one of my favorite street art/graffiti photographers for many years now. I’m very excited to see that he’s now offering street art tours of London in addition to his street art photography workshops. There aren’t too many people who can take me on a graffiti or street art tour of London, but Dave has shown me around before and he still schools me every time we meet up. This guy knows his stuff, and regular reads of this site have seen his photos on here for years. I haven’t taken this tour of course, but from every experience I’ve had with Dave over the past 5 or so years, I cannot recommend him highly enough.
  • Another longtime friend whose work I’ve admired is Know Hope, so I’m overjoyed to see him getting some serious recognition in the UK with a solo show coming up at Lazarides Gallery’s Rathbone Place location. Like Os Gemeos, Know Hope make work that grabs me and sucks me in to his world, and that’s a rare and beautiful experience. The show opens August 2nd.
  • Banksy’s No Ball Games street piece in London has been removed from the wall and is due to be sold next year. The profits from the sale will be going to charity, but I’m curious if that means the profits for person who owns the wall, or if the group organizing the removal and sale are also forgoing any profits. The company that removed this wall is the same one that managed the sale of Banksy’s Slave Labour street piece earlier this year.
  • Very nice NSA-theme ad takeover.
  • Gold Peg and Malarky are showing together in Stoke on Trent in the UK on August 3rd. It’s not often that Gold Peg shows her work indoors, so this is a really special treat.
  • Faile are on the cover of the latest issue of Very Nearly Almost, so there will be launch events in both NYC and London. The NYC launch is July 31st at Reed Projects and the London launch will be 8th August at Lazarides.
  • This year’s Living Walls conference/festival line up has been announced. The festival (my personal favorite in the USA) will be August 14th-18th in Atlanta. Caroline and I will be there, as well Steve and Jaime of Brooklyn Street Art. I highly encourage you to make the trip out if at all possible. Artist painting this year include Jaz, Inti, Know Hope, Freddy Sam, Trek Matthews and many more. More info about the conference (including all the things planned besides the murals) here. Also, you can donate to the conference here.
  • Remi/Rough recently put together a book of sketches that you can read online. Most artists who have met me know that I’m always carrying around a blackbook, and that I love to collect sketches, so this project of Remi’s was a real joy for me. It’s really fascinating to see what’s going on behind the scenes with this work.
  • Caroline and I went to this show in Brooklyn on Saturday night. I was really impressed with EKG’s drawings. A few of them definitely reminded me of Rammellzee. Col’s screenprints on wood were also interesting as a change of pace for someone who I’ve always known as a master with spray can.
  • Have I missed something? These new Titifreak works for his upcoming show at Black Book Gallery look very different from the Titifreak I remember. Still great though. I hope I get a chance to see this show while I’m in Denver next month.
  • Surreal awesomeness from Dome.

Photo by Jaz

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Art Buff – Looking at Living Walls’ two most controversial murals

Hyuro wall buff
Hyuro’s wall in the midst of being buffed

I recently came across this video that does a really nice job of touching on a major issue being faced by a lot of mural festivals and mural programs: The potential that murals are rejected by the communities where the festivals take place. In the last year, two murals organized by Living Walls in Atlanta were removed after they proved controversial. While Living Walls‘ mural removals got a lot of press, this is an issue faced by all mural festivals, and definitely one worth thinking some more about. Is it better to go in and paint whatever and see what works and what doesn’t, or should artists work for the communities and paint murals largely based on the desires expressed by the people who will walk by the wall every day?

Photo by Dustin Chambers via Creative Loafing Atlanta

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Sam3’s “Sailing the constellations”

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Sam3 doesn’t say on his website exactly where this wall is, but hints, “This wall is facing the sea, where it is imagined that one day was Ulysses.” I’m not so well versed in Greek mythology, so I’m just gonna go with the wall being somewhere in Greece…? UPDATE: The wall is in Italy.

Wherever it is, I’m a fan. Sam3 is really a master of playing with space, both the space of the wall itself and the positive and negative spaces he creates in black and white.

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Photos by Sam3

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And now I am convinced of Saner’s awesomeness

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I’ve followed Saner’s work a bit for years, and posted about him on Vandalog from time to time, but I’ve never been a super huge fan of his work. A fan, sure, but he’s never been in my top-10 list of favorite artists. But this video by Colin M Day for MOCAtv has really convinced me that Saner is more than just another competent muralist. I especially love the animated work that he’s done. I had no idea about that. Definitely watch this video:

Photo by nid2graff.fr