His two-man show at Los Angeles Prism Gallery closed less than two months ago, but Phil Frost already has a solo show opening next week at Known Gallery in LA. Phil is a legend and basically in a league of his own. I go through phases of loving or not caring at all for Phil’s artwork. Right now I’m loving it. His paintings (most notably using correction fluid) are entrancing and the obsessiveness with which he has gone about painting them for almost as long as I have been alive only makes them more interesting to me. If you’re in LA next week, don’t miss this show.
It’s not often that I get to blog about street art from Hungary. As usual, I’ve discovered a talented new street artist via Unurth. Slow paints simple and beautiful birds around Budapest. And it doesn’t hurt that he seems to pick the best spots to paint and takes stunning photographs. You can find more from Slow on Unurth or on Slow’s website.
JetSet Graffiti has this video of the artwork being removed:
JetSet Graffiti have also been able to determine that the artwork was removed by Ace Gallery. I don’t know much about Ace Gallery, but what I have heard hasn’t been positive. As JetSet notes, “Famous for treating his bills as if they didn’t exist; Since 1976, [Ace Gallery owner Doug Christmas] has been sued 55 times by artists, other dealers and art collectors, according to a profile in 2009 in the LA Weekly.” Another interesting tidbit is that if you call the phone number listed on the side of the building for those interested in renting or buying the space, it connects you to Ace Gallery. So I wonder what’s up with that?
My take? Don’t be that guy who buys a street piece. If you’re one of the collectors considering buying this artwork, just consider what you’re supporting. And besides, the artwork was never confirmed as a Banksy. It’s not like Banksy’s style can’t be replicated. It would’ve been easy enough for Ace Gallery to fake the whole thing (except that the art world is a small place). And the third (and kind of disappointing) possibility: Banksy’s no idiot. In fact I’d say he’s pretty damn smart, and his people are too. If he did paint that spot, did everyone in his employ really miss that the building Banksy was painting on is connected with Ace Gallery? I hope so.
I think this is one of those art mysteries that we’ll never fully know the answer to.
Two things by Banksy, separated by thousands of miles, have disappeared in the last 24 hours.
First, Los Angeles is abuzz with the news that Banksy’s stencil of a guard and Jeff Koons-style dog has been removed from its location on an empty building:
When this stencil first appeared, it wasn’t clear if the dog was meant to be an actual balloon animal or a reference to the Jeff Koons artwork (or both). Given a comment Tim McCool made on Hyperallergic though, it is clear that this piece is referencing Koons. According to McCool, “There’s a Koons quote: ‘Abstraction and luxury are the guard dogs of the upper class.’ So Banksy is accusing Koons’ work of being in the same category of unintelligible, abstract, and ludicrously expensive art.” Given that, I’ve totally changed my opinion of this piece. At first I found it kind of boring, but this 2nd meaning, I’d say this piece was much more interesting. It’s great when Banksy comes up with pieces that have 2 or even three completely meanings depending on how you look at the piece. In this case, he’s combined an okay joke for the masses with witty commentary for the art-world elite (to be clear, I certainly am not including myself in the art-world elite. I never would have caught that 2nd meaning).
Shame that this piece had been removed. Hopefully it was taken down for the piece’s own protection and we’ll see it in a museum next week, but I’ve got a feeling that this was more about a property owner’s potential profits.
Photo by Jordan Seiler
And all the way back in New York City, Jordan Seiler of Public Ad Campaign has gone out and covered up those fly-posted adverts for Exit Through The Gift Shop with some of his artwork. I suppose that’s the scary power of the internet that one person can state an opinion and somebody else can take political action as a result. I’m not usually a big fan of abstract pieces, but I’d much rather see something like what Jordan has done here rather than some flyposted advertisements any day of the week (could that be part of what Jordan is trying to say with this series that he’s been putting up on billboards lately? I’m not sure).
An interesting day for Banksy artworks all around.
Banksy once said “‘Every time one of my friends borrows my ideas, mounts a huge art show and becomes a millionaire celebrity,’ a little bit of me wants him dead.” I’ll amend that to “Every time a street artist turns their back on theirvalues, mounts a hugeflypostingcampaign and becomes what is essentially an advertising executive, a little bit of me wants to write over their work.”
Black Rat Press have just sent me a few images as a preview to their upcoming group show Now’s The Time. The line-up is pretty sick. Black Rat have really found some fantastic paintings from some of the world’s top street artists (past and present) including Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Barry McGee, Keith Haring, Swoon, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Os Gêmeos. The show opens Thursday April 22nd, and I expect the gallery is going to be packed. Here’s what I can reveal so far:
Shepard Fairey
That’s got to be the best Angela Davis (edit: okay apparently this isn’t of Angela Davis, but it still looks amazing) I’ve seen from Shepard Fairey.
Swoon
Swoon keeps getting better and better and better. Definitely my favorite living artist.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
While it’s only a drawing, how often do you get a see a Basquiat in person? This is something special for sure.
As predicted yesterday, Banksy wasn’t going to stop at painting one spot in LA. Here’s what appears to be LA Banksy #2. I wasn’t blown away by yesterday’s stencil, but I love this. It’s another one of Banksy’s artworks about kids playing despite interference from the adult world, a series he’s been working on for years (perhaps most notably with his recent No Ball Games print and street piece in London).
Two weeks ago I saw a painting by Banksy and jumped up and down with excitement. I think that I may once again jump up and down with excitement this Friday at the opening of Escif‘s first London solo show. Pictures on Walls is putting on Escif’s show, so you know it’s going to be something special. Last month, Elisa Carmichael wrote that this show would include a hundreds of small drawings. I’ve also heard a rumor that it will be more “conceptual” than people might expect from an artist mostly known for his painting and drawing skills.
Basically: Don’t miss this show. Last week was all about Roa, this week is all about Escif. But keep in mind, Friday is the opening night. Not London’s traditional Thursday. So don’t show up on Thursday. That won’t be as much fun as Friday.
Anyway, Escif has come Spain to London to work on the show as well as paint a few outdoor spots in the city. Here’s a mural that he painted over the weekend at Truman Brewery:
In case you hadn’t already heard, one of this years most spectacular urban art events is already under way this month in Berlin. The event entitled Art Monument will see four famous street artists repaint a 46 meters high tower called Bierpinsel which stands tall in the center of Berlin. It promises to be one of the most spectacular open-air galleries in all of Europe. The aim is to create the ultimate piece of contemporary art and judging from what has already gone down over there these guys are not far off . The artists involved are Honet, Flying Förtress, Craig KR Costello and Sozyone – who can all be heard in the video below talking about their concepts and plans to combine their different styles. Other street art names such as Nils Kasiske, Form 76, Keramik, Mr. Nonski, Dave Decat, Dave the Chimp, Poch and Stak will also be presenting their artworks inside the prominent buildings.
Hrag Vartanian has a must-read post on Hyperallergic this week. It’s titled “The Emergence of Real Pop Art: Jeffrey Deitch & Street Art” and raises some interesting questions about the nature of street art within the “art world” and Deitch’s role in getting street art to where it is today. I certainly don’t agree with everything he has to say (particularly regarding Deitch’s role in the street art world), but it’s one of the most interesting blog posts I’ve read in a while.
