Tony Goldman, founder of Wynwood Walls, dead of heart failure at age 68

Tony Goldman was a developer and preservationist acclaimed for revitalizing neighborhoods in Miami and New York. Long after South Beach was considered past its prime, Goldman Properties turned the sleepy, moth-ridden strip into one of the most glamorous destinations in the United States. He has also been accredited with endeavors to salvage Center City Philadelphia and SOHO in New York. But what does the death and life of a great American businessman have anything to do with street art? Because Goldman’s interest in street art and graffiti late in his illustrative career has spawned some of the most prestigious and contentious mural projects in the world. One of Tony’s more recent rejuvenation projects is the Wynwood Walls compound: a museum of murals flanked by two upscale restaurants, cordoned off from the street and protected by security. This lush oasis or mausoleum, depending on your perspective, has been the beachhead for Wynwood’s transformation into an arts district fueled by the feverish energy of Art Basel Miami. In an interview with the New York Times, Tony explained that he felt Wynwood had “an urban grit that was ready to be discovered and articulated.”

This quote is perfectly representative of Street Art’s slow growth into a movement that manages to simultaneously encompass the smallest illegal act to the colossal legal wall. While the story of the avant-garde getting over and becoming the establishment is an old cycle that is endlessly vilified and reenacted, Wynwood Walls, the infamous Houston Street Wall and Goldman Properties’ recent collaboration with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program are distinctly American approaches to mural making and Street Art. Tony Goldman not only recognized the potential in neighborhoods otherwise disregarded as blighted, but realized the exciting promise that sanctioned walls had for his properties.

Via the Miami New Times

Photo by Wallyg

Open Walls Baltimore Kicks Off

Open Walls Baltimore is a project that I have been personally coordinating with the not for profit Station North and is supported by the PNC foundation and a generous Our Town grant from the NEA. The intention is of course to produce great art on the streets and put on for my city that I love so much. Yet, of course, as every public art project must be, the OWB initiative will hopefully produce more than just spectacular murals. This is about an investment in a neighborhood that is burdened by 150 vacant homes and bridging the gaps between the artist community that calls Station North home and the residents of Greenmount West. Inspired by my experience with both Wynwood Walls in Miami and Living Walls in Atlanta, this initial and very exciting start will hopefully result in a continued support for public art and experimental intervention that can become more holistic as time moves forward. The current line up is as follows: Interesni Kazki, Maya Hayuk, Swoon, Specter, Doodles, Jaz, Ever, Freddy Sam, Mata Ruda, Nanook, MOMO, Vhils, Sten and Lex, Chris Stain, Jetsonorama, Overunder, and others. The website is now live. More to come!!!

Photos by Martha Cooper

New Work from Zeh Palito in South Korea

From Zeh Palito: The theme of this wall is 생활(Life). I just try to share by the drawing and colors, how life 생활 (Life) can be beautiful. Because here South Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and pressure has been growing for the government to do more to stop the problem. And South Korea gonverment is also suporting famillies to have more then one child, because here society is getting old and few korean population and during this days people dont want to have more then one child.

Photos courtesy of Zeh Palito

Droid 907 T shirts

“Delicious Droid 907” T shirts available at www.articlemethod.com.the shirt will might not make it there by christmas, but its worth a try…. and they are going fast.

And there are still some copies of the WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE , the zine that documents a west coast train hopping adventure at www.undergroundeditions.com. Not quite gifts you would pick up for the parents but its probably right up your brother’s alley so what’re you waiting for.

Reverend x Droid Killing Shit

“ran into reverend in highland park, detroit at a punk show in an abandonded warehouse that one very curagious man is squatting in with help of a homemade wood burning stove. reverend scrounged up a few buckets and poles and he and i crawled up onto a nearby rooftop, on a very busy street corner. it was barley 20 degrees, and the traffic flowed steady from a 24 hour coney island and gas station both kiddie cornering the spot we worked on. a couple cars honked, but the rest drove by without noticing us, as did the only two cops that passed by in the few hours we worked. we heard at least three sets of gun shots go off throughout the session. while reverend finished his drop shadows, i borrowed a portable sawzall and cut down most of the popcorn trees (aka ghetto palms) that grew along side the building. funny the shit you can get away with in the D at 2:30 in the morning.”

Words and photo by Droid

New Work in France and Norway

Many thanks to C215 for all the walls in Vitry and John Cunningham at the Sunnhordland Folkehogskule for the hospitality in Norway

The golden geese of StatOil. Petroleum has completely changed Norway since its discovery and development in the North Sea since the early 1970’s. Now the country has the second highest GDP per capita in the world.

Chinese finger trap at the Sunnhordland Folkehogskule
Gestures in Vitry
L'Esprit Nouveau

In 1918, painter Amédée Ozenfant and Le Corbusier established the journal L’Esprit Nouveau, a publication advocating  pure, geometric form in art and architecture. Their conceptual legacy has been felt tremendously in our approach to pre-fabricated housing throughout the world and was a small seed for defining the modern aesthetic. The material for the image is derived from a pamphlet for Corbusier’s lecture series in 1920.

Let Us State the Problem
La Sorie et L'Euro

Montry is a small town outside of Paris. Their refusal to sell land to Disneyland Paris set Montry apart from its neighbors who ceded public land to new development. Many thanks to Galerie Itinerrance.

Carrier pigeon. Photo by Aaron Wojack

Photos by Gaia and Aaron Wojack

Gaia in Europe Pt 1: Newcastle and Amsterdam

Click image to view large
Click image to view large

Title: “Byker Wall” by Gaia : Edition: 33 , 2aps – 760mm x 540mm
Medium: Screen printed with 2 colours and hand painted on 300gsm somerset velvet
Paper: Somerset White Velvet 300gsm. Signed, Dated & Numbered by the Artist. £275.00 inc vat to purchase please visit OneThirty3’s online shop

Thomas Daniel Smith (11 May 1915 – 27 July 1993) was a British politician who was Leader of Newcastle upon Tyne City Council from 1960 to 1965. A visionary of his time, Smith wanted Newcastle to become “the Brasilia of theNorth” through the implementation of massive redevelopment projects and slum clearence programs. His legacy included the Swan House in the center of the city which replaced the original Medieval streets with a large motorway and roundabout. Smith`s political career would eventually be destroyed by offering lucrative building contracts to local architects, the result of which were housing estates such as the infamous Cruddas Park project. Props to GMC crew for the wall and all of the help! Of course a big shout to Onethirty3 for flying me out and organizing the installation.

Portrait of Mayor Gijs van Hall and Corbusier interpolated by the phrase "What is the scale of a Human?" in dutch on an abandoned slab housing project in Bijlmermeer.

Bijlmer was designed by the department of City Development according to the strict tenets of CIAM. Constructed throughout the 60’s in striking resemblance to Le Corbusier’s Radiant City plan, by the time the massive towers were constructed, high modernism was already under vitriolic scrutiny by the architectural community. Intended to alleviate Amsterdam’s housing shortage, middle class never moved to the housing project in the wake of burgeoning suburbanization and a plummeting population in the center city.

Bijlmer became the dumping ground for unwanted immigrant communities and the city’s excessive drug problems. Only until recently, has the massive housing project been redeveloped into more mixed income housing with a diversity of uses and styles. Many of the block slabs have been leveled due to poor construction and maintenance but the remaining towers have been renovated into exceptional apartments. This piece was created on one of the last remaining vacant houses.

Photos by Gaia