Category: Featured Posts

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Exclusive: Art in the Streets – The COMPLETE artist list

JR for Art in the Streets

Last night, the LA Weekly revealed the list of almost all the artists in MOCA’s Art in the Streets show, opening next week. Here it is:

Alexis Ross, Andre, A-One,Barry McGee, Bear 167, Bill Daniel, Bill Ray, Blade, Charlie Ahearn, Chaz Bojorquez, Coco144, Cost, Craig Costello, Craig R. Stecyk III, Crash, Dan Murphy, Dash Snow, Daze, Delta, Devin Flynn, Don Leicht, Dondi, Drugs, Ed Templeton, Eine, Erik Brunetti, Estevan Oriol, Fab 5 Freddy, Freedom, Futura, Gordon Matta-Clark, Gusmano Cesaretti, Haze, Henry Chalfant, Howard Gribble, Hugh Holland, Invader, Irak, Iz the Wiz, Jamie Reid, James Prigoff, Jane Dickson, Jean-Michel Basquiat, John Ahearn, John Fekner, Jon Naar, Josh Lazcano, JR, Kaws, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Kiely Jenkins, Koor, Lady Pink, Larry Clark, Lee Quinones, Loomit, Malcolm McLaren, Mare 139, Margaret Kilgallen, Mark Gonzales, Martha Cooper, Miss Van, Mister Cartoon, Mode 2, Neckface, Noc, Os Gêmeos, Patti Astor, Phase 2, Rammellzee, Retna, Revok, Revolt, Revs, Risk, Roa, Robbie Conal, Ron English, Saber, Sharp, Shepard Fairey, SJK161, Snake 1, Spike Jonze, Stelios Faitakis, Stephen Powers, Steve Grody, Swoon, Taki 183, Teen Witch, Terry Richardson, Todd James, Toxic, Tracy 168, Zephyr.

The LA Weekly also reports that there is one more “extra bonus artist.” We here at Vandalog can exclusively complete the line up for Art in the Streets and say that the one extra bonus secret artist is…. Banksy!

I’m being sarcastic. The final artist is Banksy, but that isn’t news. Banksy’s involvement in the show was confirmed by Deitch MONTHS ago in the LA Times.

So yeah, that’s the full line up for Art in the Streets. Not the exactly list that I or anyone would’ve come up with, but I think it’s an overall solid show. A bit heavy on the LA writers and there are some big gaps, but I’m still thinking this will be an interesting show. One important thing has been pointed out to me though: This show could very well define all future street art and graffiti museum shows. Any gaps in Art in the Streets could easily carry on for a long time to come. Should Jeffrey Deitch be the definer of street art? I can’t think of many people better suited for the task, but I’m not sure any single person should have that responsibility to begin with… So I think it’s important to keep in mind that this list, and this show, is not the end-all-be-all of street art history. To many people, what I’m saying is obvious, but I think it’s still worth a mention.

Photo by Brandon Shigeta

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Legal mural by Revok, Os G, Retna and others partially buffed in LA

This is the start of a story about what happens when the buff men starts acting like graffiti writers and painting anywhere they wish…

LA TACO and Revok have the full story on their blogs (at least, what is known and has happened so far), but here’s the short version of this sad and seriously screwed up story: This legal mural in LA, painted last summer by Retna, Rime, Revok, Norm, Os Gêmeos and Saber, was partially buffed by a private graffiti removal company without the property owner’s permission or knowledge and entering the property required that the graffiti removal company break a fence on the property. This sucks and just shows, if this was done legally, how screwed up the legal system is when it comes to murals. I know there are some cities (such as, I think, NYC) where the city can buff pretty much whatever they want regardless of what the property owner would like to do. Of course, I’m not sure what’s more ironic: that the graffiti removal company basically graffiti-ed this mural themselves by buffing it without permission, or that people throughout the blogosphere (including me) are complaining about it. After all, the mural was painted by a bunch of writers… But I’m pretty sure that what the buff squad did is more ironic and screwed up. Luckily, the property owner was alerted to the damage and was able to stop the buff squad before the entire mural was lost.

Expect more on this in the next few days.

Photo by LA TACO

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PublicAdCampaign’s Madrid takeover

Jordan Seiler. Translation - Make love to your city, caress and hold her tightly.

On March 30th, Jordan Seiler and some Madrid-based helpers disrupted bus-shelter advertisements throughout Madrid for PublicAdCampaign‘s latest takeover, MaSAT (Madrid Street Advertising Takeover). Over 100 artists and everyday people from around the world contributed to MaSAT by supplying text which was then printed on the posters that Jordan and his crew installed. Here are a few of my favorites:

TrustoCorp
Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere. Translation - advertisement for a bad movie
Joe Iurato
Logan Hicks

And the MaSAT project is particularly interesting to me because Jordan is participating in the Street Communications panel that I am moderating this weekend at Haverford College and because both the Schillers and I (Marc and Sara will also be on the panel) participated in MaSAT by sending some text:

Marc and Sara Schiller of Wooster Collective
RJ (me). Translation - Hi Carmen. I hope you’ll smile today!

Photos courtesy of PublicAdCampaign

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Judith Supine solo at New Image Art this month

Judith Supine is one of my all-time favorite street artists, both for his indoor and outdoor work, which is why I am overjoyed to write this post. Supine has a solo show opening next week at New Image Art in LA. I’ve never been to a Supine solo show before, but by all accounts they have been something very unique. I expect this to be the case once again. Ladyboy opens on April 13th and runs for a month. While most people will say that the highlight of art in April will be MOCA’s street art show, I think Ladyboy may turn out to be almost equally unmissable.

Last time I was in NYC, I had the chance to speak with Supine, and he’s definitely got a few things up his sleeve for this event… One thing I saw when I met with him was an unfinished work that had me simultaneously laughing my ass off and absolutely disgusted, but in a good way. Arrested Motion has a preview of Ladyboy which I highly suggest checking out in full, but I’ve taken one image from their post because it is the completed version of the image that I found so interesting. It’s called “Cream Pie in the Sky”…

Photo coutesy of Arrested Motion

Photo courtesy of Arrested Motion

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Indelibly Ephemeral: Ellis Gallagher in Miami

Have you seen this great short film of Ellis Gallagher doing his 120 Seconds for Friends We Love? If not, it’s definitely worth a watch, as are all of the docs in FWL’s multi-series web tv station (Doze Green, Aakash Nihalani, Kenny Scharf, Poster Boy and Jeff Soto are just some of the artists they have profiled to date who may be of interest to you.)  Whilst the Friends We Love team and I are stuck in LA, however, Ellis is flying down to Miami in a couple days to begin prep for his upcoming solo show, Indelibly Ephemeral, at Adjust Gallery. The April 9th opening is conveniently timed to coincide with the Wynwood Second Saturdays Art Walk.

The show will remain up through April 23rd, but I recommend stopping in at the opening if you can; in addition to the works, which span a broad range of media, that will be on display, Ellis will be there in person creating installations throughout the night. I’m not sure if he’s planning to fire tag, but I hope he does – it’s cool to watch.

On a more personal note: Ellis will probably ask me to take this down when he reads this, but recently we were having a drink near the back of a bar somewhere in Bushwick and he suddenly jumped up and started setting the wall on fire. It looked really good, too (until someone came toward us on their way to the restroom and he had to blow it out.) Seriously, though, it’s moments like this that underline the spontaneity I love about his process and the fact that it can manifest itself in so many different forms. Here’s a more classic piece below.

Show Info:

Saturday, April 9 | 5:00pm – 11:00pm

Adjust Gallery

150 NW 24th St
Miami, FL

– Elisa

Fire photo by me, chalk photo by Ellis.

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And it begins: Art In The Streets

Patti Astor at Keith Haring's Fun Gallery show, 1983, Photo by Eric Kroll

If you’re the Jeffrey Deitch or museum-hating type, the next few weeks are not going to be your favorite weeks, at least not when it comes to Vandalog posts. I’m gonna be talking a lot about this topic. I could hardly be more excited for MOCA‘s upcoming Art In The Streets show, and some substantive information about the show is finally starting to come out:

  • First of all, what lots of people have been asking for: a solid and confirmed opening date. Art In The Streets opens on April 17th.
  • There will be 50 artist installations including Futura, Margaret Kilgallen, Swoon, Shepard Fairey and Os Gêmeos. Arrested Motion has some photos of Shepard’s installation process.
  • The MOCA iteration includes a lot of West Coast stuff like Cholo graffiti and writers like Revok and Saber.
  • Oh, clarification on the last point: The show movies to The Brooklyn Museum next March. Presumably the show will be refocused a bit NYC graffiti for that iteration.
  • The show will include some mini-shows within it including a space dedicated to The Fun Gallery, a RAMELLZEE installation and Todd James, Barry McGee, and Steve Powers’ new iteration of their legendary Street Market show.
  • Because MOCA is looking at skateboarding as art on the streets too, there will be a custom skate ramp in the museum and Nike’s skateboarding team will be skating there throughout the run of the show.
  • There will be a film festival component to the show.

So yeah. Sounds good. Can’t wait for the opening. If this show succeeds, it could be the American equivalent of Banksy Versus The Bristol Museum in terms of impact.

Here’s some more preview images:

Chaz Bojorquez, Señor Suerte tag with ‘veterano/veterana’ roll calls, Arroyo Seco River, Los Angeles, 1975, photo by Blades Bojorquez
RAMMELLZEE, Battle Station, New York City, 2005, photo by Charlie Ahearn

Photos courtesy of MOCA

 

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LA II: On the Streets of NYC’s Lower East Side and at the Dorian Grey Gallery

In late winter a number of Keith Haring-like images began to surface on the streets of the Lower East Side. I should have immediately recognized them as the work of Angel Ortiz (Little Angel aka LA ll), the main inspiration behind much of Keith Haring’s art. But I didn’t. Whereas Keith Haring is regarded as one of the key artists of the 20th century, LA ll is just now on his way to attaining the respect and recognition he deserves. Deemed as Keith Haring’s “silent partner,” LA ll collaborated with and traveled alongside him for about 10 years, profoundly impacting Haring’s style and sensibility. A solo exhibition of LA ll’s recent paintings is at the Dorian Grey Gallery at 437 E. 9th Street through April 17. It’s worth a visit.

photo by Tara Murray
photo by Lois Stavsky

Photos by Lois Stavsky and Tara Murray

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The Phantom Street Artist t-shirt giveaway

Last year we mentioned a print available by The Phantom Street Artist, an artist probably best known for his art on the cover of Rage Against The Machine’s album The Battle of Los Angeles. Now, a variation on that image has been put on a t-shirt through Morelworks. I’m a big fan of artists doing t-shirts (wearing my Barry McGee shirt right now), so this news was really exciting to me. The Phantom’s Art Saves Lives t-shirt is available online for $25, but Morelworks also have one shirt to give away to a lucky Vandalog reader.

HOW TO ENTER THE GIVEAWAY: Just comment on this post (make sure to include your email address so you can be reached if you win), tweet a link to this post on Twitter or share a link to this post on Facebook. Do one of those things before midnight on Friday (eastern daylight time aka the time in NYC), and you will be entered in the random draw to win an Art Saves Lives shirt (in the size of your choice).

And of course, even if you don’t win, you can buy the shirt online.

Photos courtesy of Morelworks

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Remix: Martha Cooper and friends at Carmichael Gallery

Martha Cooper is one of graffiti’s most influential photographers, particularly for being half of the duo (the other half being Henry Chalfant) who photographed and wrote Subway Art back in the 1980’s. For many street artists and graffiti writers, Martha is a large part of how they got started not just painting outside, but with art in general. Martha Cooper: Remix is the next show at Carmichael Gallery, and I just love the idea – Some of street art and graffiti’s greats from the 1980’s through today have reinterpreted Martha’s photographs in their own style and Remix will show the original photos alongside these reinterpretations. Remix opens April 9th and runs through May 7th, so it is timed to coincide with MOCA’s Art in the Streets show, which Martha Cooper is also included in.

Artists in Remix include Aeon, John Ahearn, Aiko, Bio, Nicer & B-Gee, Blade, Blanco, Mark Bode, Burning Candy, Victor Castillo, Cey, Cekis, Claw, Cosbe, Crash, Dabs & Myla, Anton van Dalen, Daze, Dearraindrop, Jane Dickson, Dr. Revolt, Shepard Fairey, Faust, Flying Fortress, Freedom, Fumakaka, Futura, Gaia, Grotesk, Logan Hicks, How & Nosm, LA II, Lady Pink, Anthony Lister, The London Police, Mare 139, Barry McGee, Nazza Stencil, Nunca, José Parlá, Quik, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Sharp, Skewville, Chris Stain, Subway Art History, Swoon, T-Kid, and Terror161. So yeah, this should be interesting.

With most other photographers, I might quickly right this idea off as gimmicky and I think artists might half-ass it, but there is so much respect for Martha Cooper, the line up is so strong (and varied) and the photos are so interesting that I think this has to be a success.

All the LA galleries are really pulling out all the stops for this April and Carmichael Gallery is no exception.

Photo courtesy of Carmichael Gallery

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Printing Banksy – two short films about his 2006 LA print series

Printing Banksy: Modern Multiples Creates the LA Prints is a short film/interview with Richard Duardo about the prints that he made for Banksy at Modern Multiples back in 2006 for Banksy’s Barely Legal show in LA. The interview was done soon after the prints were made, but the film was just put online last month. It’s just about the closest thing to a behind-the-scene looks as anyone has ever gotten when it comes to Banksy.

As for that whole story in the video about Richard Duardo destroying the screens and test prints and whatnot, there’s more documentation of that on another little-seen YouTube video (and you can spot Mr. Brainwash filming there too).

Printing Banksy via Melrose&Fairfax