And while we’re on the topic of Know Hope, any readers in Toronto and in a fortunate position: Know Hope has a solo show coming up next month at Show & Tell Gallery. No doubt this show, There Is Nothing Dear (Nothing Is Too Much Dear), will be something special. I’ve been looking forward to it for a while.
One of the things that I find most interesting in street art and graffiti is that grey area between the two art forms. Ripo has put himself right in the middle of that grey area. Some days, his work appears on Hurt You Bad, the graffiti blog claiming to have coined the term “art fag” in referring to street artists, but he’s also done interviews for the Fecal Face blog while described as a street artist at the same time he has a solo show in a gallery. There’s not doubt that Ripo cares about lettering and his style is something any writer would respect, but he’s taken that graffiti background and flipped it on its head in order to also make things that the general public wants to look at and can connect with, as opposed to just painting a name.
But Ripo isn’t just a talented artist and designer. He lives the life of a true artist. I think I’ve said it on Vandalog before that Ripo could probably move back to NYC (where he grew up) and quickly become a big name in scene there. He’s already a big name in street art, but he would undoubtedly be even better known if he lived in New York. Except Ripo lives and works in Barcelona because that’s what makes him happy right now, and I have a lot of respect for Ripo for just doing what makes him happy instead of playing art-world games. There are so many “street artists” out there moving to Williamsburg, putting up a few posters and “playing the game,” but Ripo embodies everything good about street art.
How did you first get in to doing graffiti?
I grew up in NYC in the 80’s and 90’s, on top of that I was was always interested in making art and skateboarding. How could I not get into graffiti?
You constantly appear to be experimenting with all kinds of elaborate styles and exciting fonts in your work. When did you first take a serious interest and approach to typography?
I grew up drawing comics so combining words and images was always a big part of making the art that I loved. Especially on the covers of comic books the font is so central and important to the whole experience of it. As I grew up and continued to get interested in graffiti and graphic design, font and lettering remained an important part of making images for me even when I was doing more figurative or other types of work.
In some cases rather than putting up your name you’ve instead taken to painting small messages and slogans around the place. There’s certainly something a lot more verbal about this approach. What was your reason for doing this?
After awhile traditional graffiti started to bore me. It’s hard for someone who’s not interested in graffiti to get a lot out of just reading someone’s name over and over again. Although I have returned to painting my name a lot, and just exploring styles of lettering, some of the most fulfilling pieces are the ones I’ve done that say something more to people who come across them. Communicating to the public via an image or message on a wall is a really powerful medium. If it wasn’t I doubt that the major corporations, city campaigns, political candidates and so on would put so much effort and money into taking over our visual outdoor space. Why shouldn’t we have a say in that and actually say something?
The work you’ve created for your Reflect On and Your Name series all come across as being very thought provoking pieces of art work. How are you influenced to come up with such ideas?
Those were just a natural selection of many more ideas that are still brewing and yet to come. Sometimes you’ll come up with something by accident, like the Reflect On project. I found a broken mirror once and painted on it, and naturally decided to stick it up in the street. The effect of photographing it and seeing the image change, interact with the space, and take on new meaning depending on what’s being reflected just sparked something and I had to push it further.
Collaboration with Swanski
Photography also appears to be something that you’ve decided to dedicate your time toward doing. Is this something you’ve always had an interest in or did you just pick it up by accident?
Photography just comes naturally now that most of us have digital cameras. Traveling, and photographing the works and experiences I’ve had is almost a natural instinct. Certain things catch your eye and if you’ve got a camera you just want to shoot it and capture that moment. I can’t remember who first said this quote but I love it: “The best camera in the world is the one that’s with you.”
You’ve traveled near and far with your art, from Berlin to Brazil. Where else in the world you would like to be able to paint?
I’ve painted in places I never dreamed of, Albania for example. So I can dream of places I’d like to go, but maybe the ones I can’t imagine could be the best. That being said Africa really intrigues me.
Are there any graffiti stories from the road that you would care to tell us?
There are plenty. There are the near-death ones that are probably entertaining (easy to laugh about them later), like the time I fell about 10m down the side of a cliff next to a highway in Chile trying to paint some ridiculous spot, or the 11 story rooftop I painted in Bucharest with all but a meter of floor to stand on between me and a big spill. Or the time my friends got robbed at gunpoint watching out for me and a friend while we were painting a rooftop up above. We had to just watch it happen from 3 stories up, nothing to do. Luckily no one got hurt.
Then there’s the other side of things, like when I was painting in Colombia and torrential rain began dumping down on me. I had a huge ladder plus buckets of paint, rollers, and I myself was a complete mess. The woman from the little restaurant next door motioned me to come inside and have something to drink, but not wanting to leave my stuff in the street to be taken I thankfully declined. She ended up bringing me out something in the rain, and then let me drag the whole ladder and the rest of the mess into the middle of the restaurant and cooked me a hot meal even though the kitchen was closed. I happened to be painting Okupame (Squat Me) in huge letters on the facade of the abandoned building next to her restaurant, she didn’t seem to mind one bit. Being out and about you get the good and the bad.
You’ve made your mark on some of the biggest man made canvases imaginable. Inevitably the bigger the mission, the bigger the pay off. Do you still get a buzz from doing your more gigantic pieces, regardless of the danger factor?
Bigger doesn’t always mean more dangerous. But going on missions to paint, or really doing anything I’m told I shouldn’t do, and not knowing what might happen as a result is still exciting and motivating to me.
And finally, what does the future hold for RIPO? In regards to your work, new projects and any other personal aspirations you have in life. Is there anyone you’d like to give a shout out to?
I’ve been in the studio a lot recently and pushing some things I’ve never done before with canvas works. I’m also excited for the release of Tristan Manco’s new book, Street Sketchbook Journeys, which I just did the cover for. I also did another book cover for Penguin that should be out by next year as well. In November I’m in a group show here in Barcelona, organized by my friend Andrea from Btoy. I’ll also have a solo show in Barcelona in January. Besides that I have a big trip I’ve been planning for a few years now but had to put on the side. Maybe next year. Maybe later. Maybe never, but hopefully sooner. That and always keep in the streets.
Be sure to check out more from RIPO by visiting his official website here
One of Jenny Holzer's Inflammatory Essays. She had better be in this show if it's to be any good
A few months ago, this was mentioned briefly in an NYTimes article, but now the first real information is starting to come out about Jeffrey Deitch’s upcoming street art show at MOCA in LA. Culture Monster has a post all about the show, Art in the Streets. I’ve been hearing a lot of great things about this event for a while, but it’s all been rumors, so it’s nice to finally get some facts to write about.
Deitch says that Art in the Streets aims to be a broad look at street art, but will also dig deep into the history of outdoor art. That sounds like music to my ears, but it also sounds like a nearly insurmountable challenge. For example, the show will certainly involve graffiti, but so much graffiti had localized differences that now influence modern street artists and writers. So where do you draw the line at what to include? And what about the Philadelphia Mural Arts program, created to eradicate graffiti? It’s not street art, but it might deserve a place in a show titled Art in the Streets… Anyway, I’m sure we’ll know more in a few weeks when a formalized press release is sent out.
In the mean time, here’s what else is known…
Art in the Streets opens April 2011 at MOCA’s Geffen Contemporary
The show will include work from the last few years as well as art from as long ago as the 1970’s, which seems about right.
There will be around 25 artists doing installations/murals.
Banksy will be involved, so yeah. That’s interesting I guess… I’m not his biggest fan lately, so it’s hard for me to get excited about that.
Over 100 artists will be represented in the show.
Aaron Rose (from Alleged Gallery/the Beautiful Losers film) and all-around graffiti and street art expert Roger Gastman are helping to curate the show.
This show could be the best thing to happen to street art since… ever. But even if it’s not perfect, it’s still going to be pretty damn good. Deitch isn’t going to screw this up. He, Rose and Gastman all know their shit.
Stavanger’s Nuart festival is well under way right now with some huge walls finished or in progress. This year’s Nuart is called The “Landmark” Series, and artists are not taking the challenge lightly. While in Stavanger last year, I thought that the city had been pretty transformed by street art, but now things are getting bigger than ever. A few weeks ago, Elisa posted here about Dotmasters’ Toy piece, but that’s just the start of what’s been going on.
Vhils in progressEVOL didn't actually go huge, but he made a bunch of these (check out the Know Hope tag that was already on the box)Alexandros Vasmoulakis
And I mentioned this piece by Blu and Ericailcane a while back, but didn’t actually post photos, so here are some photos of it:
Back in July (and actually again in August), I had the pleasure of visiting the studio that John Fekner and Don Leicht share. John and Don are two artists from one of the earliest generations of street art. John made his first piece of street art in the late 1960’s, and really got involved in the late 1970’s as one of the pioneers of text art and stencil art. Don is probably best-known as the original space invader. In the early 1980’s, Don was spray painting stenciled space invader characters around New York City and making space invader sculptures.
Detailed view
For me, the best part of visiting the studio is that Don and John still own what is perhaps their most important and powerful indoor work. Your Space Has Been Invaded. Our Children are Fighting a Terrible War. Whole Families are being led to the Battlescreen was made in 1982, and it takes pride of place in the studio. With this artwork, the duo actually predicted something that has since become very true: Soldiers are being trained by video games (although the effectiveness of that training may be in doubt).
I feel like an idiot for not getting a detailed shot of the wooden and metal space invaders on this wall. Don’s invader sculptures have some beautiful details.
Canvases by Don
Many of their paintings are on a pretty large scale; there are probably a few stacks of these canvases (mostly by Don, a few collaborations) 10 deep around the studio.
John told a funny story about the above piece. At one point, he was putting up stencils that said things like NY+DK or DK, so when DKNY was launched, friends called to ask if John had started a fashion line!
These little Pac Man ghosts were some of my favorite pieces in the studio. At first they look like cute little characters, but then you realize that the word “WAR” is written on them all, and the reality of the art sinks in.
The painting on the left says "The Loss of Life is Meaning Less"Techno Plaques by John
The Techno Plaques are collages made of CDs.
Detail of a Techno Plaque
The studio visit was a really amazing experience, but John’s place in art history comes from his street art. At some point, I’m sure I’ll do a post here with a “best-of” selection from John’s amazing career, but for now, you can check out his website. After seeing the studio, John actually took me to see some of his street art. Throughout his art career, John has been painting at a park in New York that he has nicknamed Itchycoo Park. It was the site of his earliest street art and he curated an outdoor show there in 1978 with artist like Gordon Matta-Clark. I wanted to see one of the birthplaces of street art, so I was excited to visit the park, but John surprised me when we arrived by showing me some of his more recent stencils at the site!
Back in 1983, John painted the word “Memory” on a handball court at the same site, now he’s come back to reflect.
I cannot thank Don Leicht and John Fekner enough for the opportunity to see their studio. They are two of the original street artists, and with street art reaching such popularity these days, it’s important to not forget where it started.
This year’s BLK River Festival has officially begun with this crazy new wall from the master of huge walls, Blu. Of course, Blu isn’t the only artist who will be beautifying Vienna over the next few weeks. Other artists involved in the festival this year include John Fekner, DTAGNO, Know Hope, Ox, Sam3 and Brad Downey. I don’t know if I could put together a much better and more eclectic street art festival.
That’s right. Steve Powers’ latest project is a continuation of his A Love Letter For You project. This time, he’s painting in Syracuse. It looks like A Love Letter to Syracuse has just begun in the few days, and Steve’s crew will be painting a total of three train bridges with messages similar to those in A Love Letter For You. Unurth has more info and more photos of the bridges so far.
UPDATE: TheArtCollectors was there when the wall was being painted, so they’ve got the full story of all the crazy things that went down.
Twist aka Barry Mcgee has just completed this crazy wall of tags at the Bowery and Houston spot in NY previously painted by Shepard Fairey, Os Gêmeos and Keith Haring. It’s looking pretty awesome right now, but McGee tried this back in San Diego and the wall had to be buffed after residents complained! This is a legal spot, but still, expect complaints.
If you look closely, you’ll see a huge variety of tags including classics like Twister, Iz the Wiz, Amaze (McGee’s longtime assistant) and Revok as well as shout outs to McGee’s friends (Todd) and other McGee pseudonyms (R. Fong, DFW).
Meeting of Styles London (organized once again by End of The Line and Probs) 2010 just took place. While there were plenty of amazing walls painted, the most impressive is definitely this one by Da Mental Vaporz (Bom.k, Jaw, Sowat, Brusk, Blo, Dran and Kan). Not much to say here besides “Damn that’s good!”
Photo by RomanyWGPhoto by RomanyWGPhoto by RomanyWG
Jordan Seiler, organizer of the infamous NYSAT and bane to the advertising world, has just released the site to TOSAT, the Toronto Street Advertising Takeover Project. Attacking both street level back lit sites and elevated billboards, the project included more than 60 international artists whose work replaced over 90 ads. As always, these projects that Jordan has conducted are an important marriage between formal aspects of street art and activism. To learn more check out the website: http://www.publicadcampaign.com/tosat/
The Project description is as follows “With over half the worlds population now living in cities, our public spaces are playing an ever important role in the construction of our collective social identity. Outdoor advertising, with an interest in widely disseminating commercial ideals is finding its way deeper and deeper into these environments. While it is understood that commercial messages do not share our collective interests, we still do not question its use of our shared environments. In an effort to invigorate debate about how commercial interests are using public space and raise questions about how our communities desire to use those same spaces, non-violent civil disobedience projects like TOSAT engage the public in a dialogue of participation.”
“The TOSAT project is the most recent street advertising takeover project executed by PublicAdCampaign in Toronto. With over 60 artists and an international roster of contributors, this project provides a model for continued takeovers around the world. With each new city, a new set of on the ground collaborators will be necessary and many thanks must go out to PosterChild, Sean Martindale, and the DuSpa collective in Toronto for their unwavering support. As well these projects could not take place without the continued support of all the artists involved and we extend our deepest gratitude to all of those participants.”
