The streets of Toronto are singing with a range of street art from mesmerizing murals to first-rate graffiti. Here are a few images recently shared with me:
Identifying info provided when known.
Photos by MKP
I met Kenji Nakayama a number of years back in Boston when his stencils began surfacing on the streets of Cambridge and in local galleries and motley spaces. I loved Kenji’s technique, style and passion. His formal education as a mechanical engineer back in Japan clearly impacted his work. I’m thrilled now that Kenji’s first solo exhibition — featuring an incredible range of photorealistic, hand-cut stencil, spray enamel, acrylic and mixed-media paintings — is in Woodward Gallery, one of my favorite NYC spaces. The exhibit continues through July 7th at 133 Eldridge Street. It is quite a visual treat. Here are some more images:
And here’s a view of the installation:
Photos courtesy Woodward Gallery
About four years ago, I began noticing Cake’s women wheatpasted onto the walls of Williamsburg and Chelsea. Their poignant elegance transfixed me. Even in various stages of decay, they never lost their heart-rending beauty. Thanks to Keith Schweitzer and MaNY, in collaboration with FabNYC, three of Cake’s women have now found a home off the Bowery in Lower Manhattan. Here are some scenes from today’s installation:
And a wonderful full view of the installation can be seen on Cake’s page.
Photos by Lenny Collado and Lois Stavsky
A lover of street art, outsider art and folk art – and especially anything fashioned from found objects – I look forward to every new Rae piece to surface on the streets. I especially got a bang out of his two recent ones reflecting Rae’s great wit, as well as his skills.
Photos by Lenny Collado and courtesy of the artist
I discovered Evol‘s wondrous stencil work in an outdoor passageway two years ago in Washington D.C. and became an instant fan of the hugely talented Berlin-based artist. I finally made it over this past Friday to Jonathan Levine Gallery to check out his current work on exhibit. If you are anywhere near NYC’s Chelsea gallery district, the show is certainly worth a visit before it closes this Saturday. Here are some images:
Photos by Dani Mozeson
One of our favorite walls in Williamsburg is the one fashioned by Tristan Eaton on Fillmore Street off Roebling. For the past few days, he’s been back on Roebling bringing his stylish visual rhythms once more to NYC before leaving for the West Coast. Lenny Collado – my fellow street art and graffiti aficionado – has been busily documenting the work in progress:
And here’s a close-up of Eaton’s riveting rendition of Mickey Mouse spray-painted onto a board that will surface soon in Brooklyn:
Photos by Lenny Collado
I discovered the East Village’s Dorian Grey Gallery last spring when it exhibited a wonderfully diverse selection of LA 11’s artwork. LA 11 is just one of many artists in Dorian Grey’s current exhibit, GroupeGRAFF, featuring work by an eclectic array of artists who have impacted — or certainly reflect — much of what has been happening on the streets during the past 30 years. Here are a few images from the exhibit:
Included too are works by: Aiko, ERO, Keith Haring, Jeff Henriquez, Mau Mau and others. Distinct pieces by Banksy and Swoon are also featured. A particular favorite — as it’s literally a piece of graffiti history — is a segment of a door from the legendary Mudd Club tagged by the likes of Keith Haring & Fab 5 Freddy:
An opening reception will be held tomorrow evening, April 28th, 5-8 pm. The exhibit continues through May 16th at 437 East 9th Street near Avenue A in Manhattan’s East Village.
Photos by Lois Stavsky
Last weekend, as I was walking down Eldridge Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, I was lured into GHOST, a café/bar that recently surfaced on the block. It wasn’t the food and drink — though certainly enticing — that lured me in, but the art that I glimpsed from outside. Among the works on display are a series of signs designed by Matt Siren — all featuring his signature ghost — in collaboration with some of NYC’s most prolific street artists including Dark Clouds, Celso and Royce Bannon. Particular standouts include huge pieces by Richard Hambleton and by Japanese-born Boston-based Kenji Nakayama. It soon became apparent that GHOST is an extension of one of my favorite galleries, Woodward Gallery, that will be presenting Kenji’s first NYC exhibition. (More on that in a later post!) Meanwhile, if you are anywhere in the vicinity of of 132A Eldridge Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, GHOST is certainly worth a visit.
Images courtesy Woodward Gallery
A huge fan of Veng’s larger-than-life signature character that surfaces frequently throughout NYC and beyond, I was delighted to discover another side of his talents in his small, delicately-rendered birds — largely fashioned with watercolor and ink on paper — at Mighty Tanaka. Here are a few more images:
The exhibit, The Birds and the Bees, also featuring work by Gigi Chen, continues through May 4th at 111 Front Street in Brooklyn’s DUMBO district.
Photos by Tara Murray & Lois Stavsky
The grandson of a self-taught painter, Gregg Bruno aka Col — from an early age — loved modern art, particularly abstract expressionism. Twenty years ago, he began hitting the streets of NYC and beyond as a graffiti writer. His current work – a mix of 3-D styles on paper and found objects – is currently on view at Orchard Windows Gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Here are some images:
The exhibit continues through Sunday @ 37 Orchard Street in NYC.
Photos by Lenny Collado
