My highlight of Art Basel was almost definitely Primary Flight, the huge mural project in the Wynwood district. They had over 100 artists painting murals, from big names like Shepard Fairey and Nick Walker to local graffiti writers. Here’s some of what they did.
Joe and I made a video about the project:
Many many more photos on Jeremiah Garcia’s flickr
This past week has been pretty crazy. I’ve been running around NYC seeing friends and art, and now I’m in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Unfortunately, the art world does not hit pause just because I’m taking a holiday. Here are some of the things I would have loved to cover on Vandalog if I’d had the time. And keep an eye on Vandalog tomorrow because I’ll be doing a big wrap up of Primary Flight.
Looks like I’m not the only one who liked the sound sculpture by David Ellis at Anonymous Gallery‘s SCOPE Miami booth. After collectors saw his piece at SCOPE (a video of which was previously posted on Vandalog), 3 sound sculptures were commissioned. And one of those pieces was commissioned by Charles Saatchi! Congrats to David for his success and to Mr. Saatchi on such a great purchase.
Some really cool installations here at SCOPE! Here are a few:
Judith Supine. While the 3D effect doesn’t really carry through in this photo, this piece is really eye-catching (as all his work is) in person.
Aakash Nihalani. Aakash isn’t quite finished yet, so I’ll post another photo when he is. It’s so much fun to watch him work!
Elisa x
As you may have noticed, Seth and I have been spending most of our free time away from SCOPE (not that we’ve had a whole lot so far – see what we (Carmichael) and the other galleries were busy with yesterday) down the street at Deitch’s Wynwood Walls, where many of our friends are hard at work on their murals for Thursday’s opening (Nina, osgemeos and Finok haven’t stopped since they arrived). Here are some pictures of what Nunca, Aiko and Clare Rojas’ walls were looking like last time we checked.
We also paid a quick visit to Al from O.H.W.O.W. the other night. This is a cool space. Here are some set up shots.
First, a peek at It Ain’t Fair, large group show. The Parla is beautiful.
This girl gave me one of her lollypop rings.
Here are a few of the pieces in Dark Night of The Soul.
And here’s where I wrote this post from, in case you were wondering. It’s super busy in here (it’s the SCOPE preview day) so I better get back to work!
Logan Hicks sent out this email last night:
Primary Flight begins!
It’s the eve of the official Primary Flight event and two seasoned veterans of street art took to the streets early. Around midnight Shepard Fairey and Ron English started making their mark on the neighborhood of Wynwood for the Primary Flight event.
Shepard Fairey will be doing his largest mural to date this year for Primary Flight. With a wall that is nearly 20 ft tall, and 200 ft wide, this monster wall will be finished over the next few days. During this night session he was visited by KAWS and Jose Parla who got a sneak peek of what was to come over the next few nights.
Ron English worked into the morning hours doing the prep work on his mural which will be approximately 30ft wide by 15ft tall.
These are only 2 of the nearly 80 artists that will be participating in Primary Flight.
For info visit: www.primaryflight.com
We gallerists have all been extremely busy here at SCOPE today. Take a look below at some of the work we’ll be showing at the preview tomorrow! I’ve tried to stick to mainly images of urban-related art (and there’s a lot to be found here!) Allow my buddy Ellis G (below), one of the fair’s featured artists, to guide you.
Maya Hayuk at Anonymous Gallery.
Judith Supine at New Image Art.
Evol at Wilde Gallery
AJ Fosik at Jonathan Levine Gallery (not street but a very cool piece). That’s a chunk of a very long James Jean in the background.
Calma at Jonathan Levine Gallery.
Sixeart, Nunca, Mark Jenkins at our booth (Carmichael Gallery)
Hush (also at our booth)
Dave Kinsey, Tomokatsu Matsuyama, Cleon Peterson at Joshua Liner Gallery
Another piece by Tomokatsu Matsuyama at Joshua Liner (not a very nice photo, but this piece is beautiful in person)
Ok, that’s it for now!
Seth and I haven’t even been in Miami twenty-four hours yet, but I wanted to quickly share a few of the things we’ve seen so far. There’s still time to buy a plane ticket if you haven’t already – this year is going to be one of the best yet and you don’t want to miss it. The piece above is by Nina, one of the artists participating in Deitch’s Wynwood Walls. osgemeos are beginning their work alongside her below (that’s Otavio in the pic).
A block away is the Barry McGee building.
Then Shepard’s wall, the first of several he’ll be working on in Miami.
Then there’s the main complex; when we were there last night, Nunca, Aiko and Clare Rojas were hard at work.
Then there’s SCOPE, not too far down the street. This is the Vandalog fair! Gaia’s piece is looking amazing outside.
And here’s a peek at our booth, #127. Just waiting for Nunca’s piece to come back from the framers, then we’re ready to hang!
VNA strikes that great balance between fan zine and magazine, and with this issue they have upped their game. 200 issues are available with a screenprinted D*face design on the cover. 100 of those are available at the launch party at stolenspace on December 3rd, along with stickers, markers and a tote bag.
Bodega looks cool. I might have to get one of the McGee or Rostarr pieces for my room. Prices are pretty good, but the fact that the pieces can’t be reapplied is a bit annoying.
The press release:
We are proud to announce the launch of Bodega™ Wall Vinyl.
Bodega™ is a curated collection of large scale, eco-friendly, temporary indoor art. The concept is to make the art of emerging and established artists alike, affordable and available to the public. Each piece is delivered as a complete package for the consumer and includes a ready-to-apply art piece and tools for installation. Obsessed with process, Bodega creates high quality, layered die-cut vinyl art editions; representing some of the most captivating artists of our generation.
We use eco-friendly inks and vinyl to create layered die-cut, gallery quality vinyl that can be applied to any flat surface. The vinyl is low-tack and can be removed without damaging the wall; however, the art work cannot be reapplied to a surface after removal. Bodega’s intrinsic characteristic is to retain the divide between the original art and our editions, encouraging consumers to continue exploring their living environment by embracing new art in everyday life. Our packaging is made from 70-100% post-consumer recycled paper. Our vinyl, with an indoor life expectancy of at least 5 years, is low-impact on the environment through strategic engineering design to maximize energy efficiency and eliminate harmful emissions through recycling and reuse.
Bodega™ is available online at Arkitip.com and worldwide at select accounts including Colette Paris (www.colette.fr)
Bodega™ will also be available at the Scope Art Fair “Covet Garden” during Art Basel Miami Dec 2-6, 2009. (www.scope-art.com)
Artists in Bodega™ include:
Barry Mcgee, Clare Rojas, Cleon Peterson, Cody Hudson, Darcel, Delta, Harsh Patel, Hisham Bharoocha, Kevin Lyons, Kenzo Minami, Maya Hayuk, Michael Leon, Mike Giant, Rostarr, Steven Harrington, Surface to Air, Wood Wood, and more.
Bodega™ will release a new artist periodically every month and Arkitip.com will release new offerings in conjunction with Bodega™.
