Guest Posts – Page 13 – Vandalog

July 8, 2009July 27, 2009

Os Gemeos Mural To Hit New York

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Os Gemeos recently, for various reasons, and was planning to write a general post about them. Rumors then began to surface that they would soon be painting the wall at the corner of Bowery and Houston Street in SoHo that was formerly home to a Keith Haring tribute mural. This rumor was confirmed as the twins were spotted beginning their work today.

For those who don’t know, the Haring mural, a recreation of one of the artist’s 1982 pieces in the same spot, was commissioned by the Keith Haring Foundation, Deitch Projects, and Goldman Properties, the wall’s owner, in honor of what would have been Haring’s 50th birthday.

Although the Haring mural was really nice, it’s going to be great to see what the twins get up there. In anticipation of it (but really because it was an excuse to sift through lots of pictures), I thought it would be nice to take a look at some of the great street pieces they have painted over the past ten years.

This first mural is from 1999, when people outside Brazil were really just starting to get to know who Os Gemeos were. You can definitely see the evidence of their hip hop/b-boy/graffiti roots in their use of shape and color. The piece is a collaboration with Vitche (most of whose work is actually captured in a second photo – it is a very long wall!) I’m not sure who took the picture, but it is featured on Art Crimes.

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This wall was painted in Porto Alegre in 2000. I really like the flow from figurative to wild style here. I connect with the character in the same way I connect with the characters in the work of Barry McGee, a great friend of the artists since 1993. Again, the photo is from Art Crimes.

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I recently visited Cuba, and although I saw very little Cuban street art there, I saw work by Os Gemeos and Nina everywhere I looked (a lot more than I saw in Sao Paulo, strangely enough). This fantastic photo, taken by Robin Thom in 2005, really illustrates how the artists can transform an entire environment with even the tiniest piece.

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This piece was painted in Shibuya, Japan in 2007. It’s a great example of the magical world Os Gemeos invite us to enter and indulge in. Photo by ae7c.

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Also from 2007, but painted in Sao Paulo, this depiction of pixacao writers offers a perspective on life in the twins’ native city. Nearly all Os Gemeos pieces contain an element of social commentary, which is heightened by their use of cultural emblems and fine attention to human behavior. Photo by ndrc.

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This is one of Os Gemeos’ most famous murals as it was painted on the Tate Modern back in May last year. Simple but very powerful, it is quite representative of their current style. Photo credit to Lois Stavsky.

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Now, after looking through at least two hundred amazing photos, I’m more excited than ever to see their new piece!

Elisa x

July 7, 2009

Aakash Nihalani at Arario Gallery, New York

While my personal taste in art is very much rooted in the figurative, the work of Aakash Nihalani is exciting me more than most these days. His street and gallery installations are not only aesthetically and conceptually powerful – their sophistication is growing at an almost startlingly rapid pace.

It is evident that Aakash has the ability to develop and adapt his work into countless creative avenues. For now, however, his work can be viewed in a three person group show at Arario Gallery, New York. What he has produced for this show is really quite fantastic. Here are some images of the installation.

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Aakash Nihalani

It is interesting to read some of Aakash’s thoughts behind the work.

“Since the show was titled Paraphrase, I took the opportunity to get into some text, tapeography. I did ubiquitous words that we all encounter in our daily travels, especially as a New Yorker, but I wanted my paraphrase of the words to be aesthetically ‘better’ than their original. So the words pull, push, and exit are all written out in tape, as well as simultaneously being shown ‘acted’ out, or about to be (as in the exit piece). They were all a little bigger than human scale so as to more objectify their viewer rather than the usual other way around. I think these installations were particularly successful because they stayed true to the site specific nature of the work that got me the show in the first place (i.e. using the gallery’s door hinge to complete some of my lines), but also took on new levels of content in the figuration of the letters, and new concepts/processes of using the tape to express qualities like peeling and falling.”

These photos came from Aakash.

Elisa x

July 7, 2009

Born Under Punches – Case in Stuttgart

Case is currently showing in a three person exhibition called Born Under Punches at Galerie ABTart in Stuttgart. The work he has produced looks very strong and I really wish I could see it in person. Like so many artists whose pieces are charged with depth and texture, he is drastically diminished in jpegs.

Also wish I could see the work in color as Case’s masterful use of it is one of his greatest strengths as an artist. If I find any, I’ll add them to this post.

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This is just so cool. It is a collab between Case and Smash137.

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These images come via the Born Under Punches website.

Elisa x

July 6, 2009July 6, 2009

Ur New York Making it Happen

50 cent’s new video just dropped, but guess who hooked it up? Destroy/Rebuild blessed the production with their classic light graff and matrix like camera work. Props to 2esae on catching work during the filming

Check the results here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TcXaLS-NJ4

July 6, 2009

Eine in Los Angeles

Eine has been out and about in LA over the past few nights painting his classic letters on store shutters around West Hollywood. Here are some examples of his work on La Brea and Melrose Avenues. It’s been great to see the response of people unfamiliar with what he does – it has all been overwhelmingly positive so far.

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Eine’s show opens on Thursday evening, July 9th. Here’s a peek at what he’s been working on in the gallery, just the beginning of what is going to be quite an elaborate installation.

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July 5, 2009July 14, 2009

Progress on the India Street Mural

Open Space Alliance and North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition have organized a massive mural project on India Street in Greenpoint Brooklyn and the progress that the artists have been making on their pieces has been more than impressive. Here are a couple photos from Atomische and of course, the omnipresent Luna Park.

Chris Stain and Skewville — Chris Stain, Skewville and Logan Hicks

One of my personal favorites. All of the Bricks are handpainted

More photos as the project continues!

Best

Gaia

July 3, 2009

Know Hope in New York

With the team at Carmichael Gallery sadly tearing down his installation today, I decided I’d give you all a little update on what Know Hope got up to next.

DSC_0011_web — Know Hope "the times won't save you (this rain smells of memory)"

After finishing his work in LA, Know Hope flew to New York to represent Israel at “No Soul For Sale – A Festival of Independents” at X Initiative. Of course I’m biased, but I thought what he did there was, as always, very moving. I’m really enjoying the delicate thematic progression in his work these days.

Thanks for the photos, Luna Park!

Know Hope also found the time to get outside and do some painting in Chelsea before heading home.

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These photos were taken by Chris Stain. I found them on Brooklyn Street Art.

Speaking of Chris, can it please hurry up and be August so we can find out what he and Armsrock have in store for us at their Ad Hoc show? All I know is that it is going to be nothing short of amazing.

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Although I only planned to write about one, somehow I’ve managed to fit three of my favorite artists into this post!

Elisa x

July 2, 2009

Emerging talent in Los Angeles

This is a guest post by sebastian from unurth

The street art I most enjoy posting on unurth is by those artists that haven’t broken into the mainstream yet, so when RJ asked me to do a guest post on Vandalog, I thought I’d post about some great emerging artists from here in LA. No Brainwash or Fairey here, but some great, fresh stuff.

Bumblebee, who is probably best known for these hives in abandoned phone boxes

Phil Lumbang, who works for Shepard Fairey’s design firm during the day, does wonderful ‘polite bears’
(photo by Orrin Anderson)

K74 plays with a bunch of styles, but this is one of my favourites –
‘Moses bringin’ the noise’

Zoso (aka Zoso1) usually creates wonderful characters that are not of this world

ABCNT works with the Restitution Press crew, usually pasting his signature masked man

Shark Toof is pasting bigger and bigger sharks, often on complex, textured backgrounds

These are just a selection of the current scene in LA… sorry to those artists I didn’t include! You can keep up with these artists and others on unurth.

Thanks to RJ for letting me do a guest post on the great Vandalog; he’s going to do a guest post on unurth soon.

photos by the artists, or unurth

July 2, 2009

Zezao and Picasso Light Graffiti

Hey guys, it’s Elisa. I just wanted to share these beautiful images Zezao recently posted of his “light graffiti” in the sewers of Sao Paulo. Shot in a classic Zezao environment, these photos capture the ephemeral nature of the light and really illuminate the art on the walls. For me, the light feels almost like an extension of the painting, creating an interesting three-dimensional quality to the work.

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Parallels can be drawn between Zezao’s work and the light graffiti of Picasso, as evidenced in these photographs shot by Gjon Mili for LIFE magazine in 1949. As with Zezao, elements of Picasso’s fine art can be perceived within the movements of the light.

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Zezao is currently preparing for shows at Galerie LJ Beaubourg and Choque Cultural, both opening Saturday, July 4.

July 1, 2009October 1, 2012

Invader & WK Interact @ Jonathan Levine

This is a guest post by Tanley Wong. Tanley is the Co-Founder of Arrested Motion.

Hey guys, my name is Tan and this is my first post on Vandalog. It’s an honor to be invited to back-up RJ, as we’ve long been a fan of his street art coverage “across the pond”.

On Saturday, Invader and WK Interact drew a big crowd trying to catch a glimpse of the two hard-working artists from Europe’s Street Art scene. It was a treat to see both artists create large sized works to fill the walls of Jonathan Levine’s multi-room gallery. The works from WK conveyed much raw energy and emotion as hinted in our preview. The door installations were astonishing as each one was adorned with endless details that had to be seen to be enjoyed.

Invader was equally entertaining, as his works tested your vision. Each piece required multiple looks as we deciphered the pixelated colors of each image. It was fun to see his classic “street invader” pieces remixed with the Macintosh colorways. Both artists were on hand to sign their books for their adoring fans. WK’s energy mimicked his pieces as he bounced around the gallery greeting his fans. Invader was a little more playful with his pixel shoes with rubber soles that doubled as a stamp to do a quick tag for anyone who asked nicely. He as mysterious as his reputation, but we caught a got a few shots of Invader “unmasked!” Check out the pics after the jump.
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