Recently there has been a slew of fire extinguisher tags New York. Reader is back in the city so he has definitely made his mark as of late with this scourge of graffiti.
Some oldies but still worthy of mention
Fire Extinguishers in New York
Installation at Critica Urbana
I was a little late to do some work for the exhibit, but I got to paint a room at the wonderful Critica Urbana festival when I returned from Madrid. The building that the exhibit is currently being held is a remarkably inspiring squat that has been functioning as a cultural center, bar, workshop and living space. The curators and organizers of the show had one room that had no installations so I decided that I would try to do something in the small bathroom.
Since I had a flight in the morning the next day I started painting at around 10pm and was able to finish at around 7am in time to take a shower and meet up with my dad to visit the Prada museum before going to the airport. The installation that I painted decided itself as the work proceeded in an improvisational fashion since I really didn’t know what I was going to do with the space.
The piece ended up being a warped version of the bear image that I have been working with as of late. It wrapped around three walls, the ceiling and the floor and emanated from a small seat in the opposite corner of the room facing the viewer. The image was abstracted until one sat in the corner and received the proper perspective. A drawing above the sink with the knife and pencil inside its basin, provided a reference of the image when entering the room.
the room prior to the installation
The final product from the seat in the corner of the room.
Thank you to the wonderfully kind and generous people at Critica Urbana. I’m so appreciative of their being down for the last minute arrangements. It was pretty down and dirty
– Gaia
You Are Beautiful
You know you’ve seen it around, I mean the message is practically ubiquitous in the most quiet way possible. But apparently this is an anonymous group that has been disseminating this simple message. You Are Beautiful has released a website with an overview of murals and work dedicated to those three words. Thanks to Porous Walker for the tip.
Also, I’ve crossed over to the dark side so check out my blog on Juxtapoz
Progress Shots of the Mural on North Avenue
For the past two nights I have been working on a mural adjacent to a day care center for children in East Baltimore on North Avenue and Broadway. Since the primary audience will be the children and their parents, and since our small budget is being covered, I thought it would be a good chance to use a wild palette that I generally shy away from.
Here are some photos from last night’s progress. My portion of the painting will be completed tonight! A big, grateful shout out to John Aquila for organizing the session, Karl Miller for the photos and Carey for helping paint the image
Simply four colors of enamel paint, a ladder, brushes and a projector. For more photos check out my flickr. I’ll be sure to post documentation of the final results
Cahbasmn
Ur New York Making it Happen
50 cent’s new video just dropped, but guess who hooked it up? Destroy/Rebuild blessed the production with their classic light graff and matrix like camera work. Props to 2esae on catching work during the filming
Check the results here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TcXaLS-NJ4
Progress on the India Street Mural
Open Space Alliance and North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition have organized a massive mural project on India Street in Greenpoint Brooklyn and the progress that the artists have been making on their pieces has been more than impressive. Here are a couple photos from Atomische and of course, the omnipresent Luna Park.
One of my personal favorites. All of the Bricks are handpainted
More photos as the project continues!
Best
Booker/Read More Books/Reader/Boans/Oye Crushing New Orleans
For the past couple of weeks, the writer Read More Books has been absolutely crushing New Orleans. Here are a couple photos from Anthonyturducken and Skeletonkrewe who are both based down in Louisiana. Booker’s energy and pace is absolutely astounding and he consistently delivers a crisp style that is always recognizable despite his various monikers. Whichever city he visits, he always makes quite an impression. Now that it seems he’s been in one place for a while, the amount of work he’s been putting out there is just exhausting to watch.
Very Best
Gaia
Exquisite Attention to Detail – Specter
Specter has been recently putting up some incredible hand painted posters out on the streets of New York. His mastery of paint and courage to put such remarkably well rendered pieces on the street is overwhelming. Its been a pleasure to have him contributing to New York’s scene as of late. 
He also has some great prints that have been designed to reflect the work on the street at the Show and Tell Gallery and the Brooklynite Gallery
Props to Jake Dobkin for the photos
Best, Gaia
