Today‘s Banksy for Better Out Than In was a pretty impressive production, a roving truck featuring what appear to be a combination of animatronic and human-controlled animal puppets. Good stuff.
And for our + 5, there’s work by Buildmore, Nether, edit: London Kaye (thanks to Daniel in the comments) and three two unknown artists:
Photos by Damon Landry, duncan c, The Integer Club and allan molho
Today‘s Banksy for Better Out Than In is nice and all, but the most interesting thing about it is these guys who covered the artwork with a piece of cardboard and charged for photos. Also, note, this piece is a beaver, not a rat:
For today’s + 5, we have work by Invader, Dain, Dee Dee, Mr. Toll and a few unknown artists (as always, let us know if you know the artists that we don’t):
Photos by carnagenyc, Jamie, Chris Christian, Adrien Fauth and Seth Anderson.
Earlier this week, Tristan Eaton completed this mural, titled Liberty, in Little Italy in New York City. Liberty is just across the street from Ron English’s Temper Tot mural from last October. I helped a little bit with organizing Tristan’s mural as part of my work with Wayne Rada at The L.I.S.A. Project NYC, but this mural had been in the works since before I got involved or The L.I.S.A. Project even existed, and it was the planning of this mural that resulted in the creation of The L.I.S.A. Project. I am so happy to finally see Liberty up on the wall, visible from Mulberry Street and Canal Street, adding something really special to the area. From the moment I saw Tristan’s first mock-up, I thought, “This is going to be iconic,” but Tristan has really outdone himself. Liberty is beautiful and iconic, but it really is Tristan’s interpretation of the Statue of Liberty and American ideals, rather than just a straightforward depiction of an already-iconic image.
If you want to check out the mural in person, I suggest coming down to Little Italy on Saturday afternoon when we’ll have five hours of events planned around Liberty and the other murals on Mulberry Street, including the live painting of a new piece as part of a Secret Walls competition. Bishop203, Epic, SeeOne and Meres will be competing against Greg Mishka, L’Amour Supreme, Buff Monster and Jon Burgerman, with Jay Edlin aka Terro161 aka J.SON (author of the book Graffiti 365) and Tristan Eaton as judges. More info on the Facebook event page.
Lastly, I want to thank Wix.com and all the individual supporters who have sponsored the mural. Hopefully, this is just part one of two, with Tristan adding Justice to Mulberry Street soon.
Photos courtesy of The L.I.S.A. Project NYC
First of all, I’ll quickly note that Banksy did an interview with The Village Voice and Banksy made two covers for the issue, both collaborations with Os Gêmeos.
On Wednesday, Banksy unveiled this installation on the Lower East Side, the latest from his Better Out Than In show/series. According to Hyperallergic, the area had been covered with a tarp recently, hiding any potential work Banksy was doing. It’s not Banksy’s best work from a technical standpoint, but hey, it’s a complicated piece that was presumably executed illegally. One thing that became very clear during our Illegal August experiment (in case it wasn’t clear before) is the pretty obvious point that a mural an artist can spend a week on is usually going to look more visually stunning and well-executed than something done illegally in the dark. Even with the tarp, this installation was risky. So I certainly can’t fault Banksy for the execution.
The piece reminds me of something like Goya’s The Disasters of War series, although maybe that’s just because horses make me think of classical painting… Anyway…
What really strikes me about this piece is the “audio description” component of this installation. Instead of the funny museum-style audio descriptions that have accompanied about half the works in Better Out Than In, today’s was just a snippet of the audio from the Collateral Murder video that was leaked by Chelsea Manning through Wikileaks in 2010. The video shows US Army airstrike that kill Reuters journalist Namir Noor-Eldeen, his driver Saeed Chmagh and at least others (the airstrike also wounded two children). Here is the full Collateral Murder video (warning: this video is quite graphic and potentially disturbing):
A few days ago, I raised some questions about Banksy appropriating audio of an by Syrian rebels that brought down a Syrian military helicopter in his video where rebels shoot down Dumbo the elephant. I’m still not sure what to think of that appropriation, but I think here Banksy did a great job. He isn’t using death to make a joke (even if that joke has a serious point). This installation is a sort of anti-war memorial, and the Collateral Murder audio makes the piece even more powerful.For today’s + 5, we have work by stikman (whose show I just organized at the Mural Arts Program in Philadelphia), Jace, Saki and Bitches and two artists that I’m not sure about:
Photos by carnagenyc, Michel Alessandrini, Chris Beckett, Philippe Vieux-Jeanton, Chris Christian and Damon Landry
Today we have a guest post from William Parry about How&Nosm’s recent trip to Palestine to work with the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians. Parry is the communications officer at Medical Aid for Palestinians and it’s certainly a bit atypical for a communications officer to write a guest post for Vandalog about a project they are in charge of, but Parry is also the author of Against the Wall: the art of resistance in Palestine (2010), which was reviewed on Vandalog a while back, so he’s also uniquely qualified to write about graffiti writers and street artists working with Palestinians and painting on or near the separation wall. I also had to privilege of seeing Parry speak at Haverford College last year, and it’s clear that improving the lives of Palestinians is his passion as well as his job. Also, if you want to read more about How&Nosm’s time in Palestine, Brooklyn Street Art also have a great post about the experience. – RJ
Sometimes you take a chance and it pays sweetly. Bringing How&Nosm to Palestine over the past two weeks was one of them, and I believe they feel the same, as they also didn’t know exactly what they were setting themselves up for.
Almost a year ago, I first met the Perré twins, Raoul and Davide, while doing an article about Prague’s ‘Stuck on the City’ street art exhibition. We got talking about politics and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and I eventually asked whether they would ever consider collaborating with the UK-based charity I had just begun working for, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), doing art workshops with MAP’s local partners in Palestine. “Sure,” they said. It would give them a chance to also do their own artwork on walls around Palestine.
A year on and countless emails later, I was anxiously waiting for them at the airport in Tel Aviv, wondering if the Immigration officials had caught wind of the project and would send them back to NYC. The heavily tattooed, stencil-and-cap-carrying twins said they were here for a 10-day organized tour. Nosm appeared after some time and said his brother had got stopped. “They didn’t believe we were here for the tour and asked us who else was on it,” he said. “How should I know, I told them, maybe just us for all I know! What could he do?” Another 10 minutes went by before How walked through the sliding doors, straight-faced, then he cracked a smile. “They went through my photos on my camera, asked why I was here of all places. I said: ‘I’ve been to 60 countries but not here yet. I want to tick Israel off the list.’”
Within minutes we were in the car for central Tel Aviv to get them a pre-order of cans in their signature colours. Three young guys running the shop were clearly honoured to have How&Nosm on their turf and volunteered to guide them to the best places to bomb. “What have you got planned?” one asked. “We’re here for some work,” said Nosm, keeping schtum. They clearly wanted to paint with them but Nosm took their numbers and said they’d be in touch. We filled the trunk with boxes of spray cans and headed for occupied Palestine.
Their natural environment is the street so I shouldn’t have been surprised that How&Nosm were keen to check into their East Jerusalem hotel, grab a quick shower and then head immediately to Bethlehem to sort out more paint, rollers, ladders and walls to paint – despite having travelled for about 20 hours by this time. We met a Palestinian street artist who goes by the name ‘Trash’ – he worked with Banksy to sort out his 2007 Santa’s Ghetto project in Bethlehem, and has also helped JR with several local projects. As dusk fell, Trash gave them a quick tour of ideal spots to do murals and arranged to meet the twins the following morning.
Over the next two days they produced three murals around Bethlehem – the largest ‘Lost Conversation’, as well as ‘In Mother’s Hands’ and ‘While Drinking Tea’ – and one in East Jerusalem, ‘Split Identities’. Locals would stop and talk to them, as usual, asking where they’re from, why they’re here, what the intricate images mean. But with four murals done, it was down to other serious business.
What How&Nosm witnessed for themselves as we drove through the occupied West Bank – scores of illegal Israeli outposts and settlements built on Palestinian land, the scandalous route of Israel’s illegal separation wall, seeing the freedoms that Israelis enjoy at the expense of Palestinians’ human rights, and hearing of Palestinian homes being demolished or taken over by Israeli settlers, shocked them deeply. They spent one day with a former Israeli military commander, Yehuda Shaul, who co-founded an Israeli human rights organization called ‘Breaking the Silence’. He drove them to the southern point of the West Bank and, throughout the journey, gave them a clear understanding of the layers of Israeli occupation and their intended impact on Palestinian communities – ethnic cleansing. I spent many days in the car with How&Nosm, talking about the situation among other things, and you could see their frustration and outrage growing with every mile covered as the occupation unfolded before their eyes.
Continue reading “How and Nosm’s visit to Palestine”
Kinda a funny one from Banksy today. As Hrag notes though, even though the intent is different, it’s definitely going to remind people of Elbowtoe‘s street poetry. Still, not a bad piece.
For today’s + 5, we have work by Ever, Never, Clet Abraham and two unknown artists edit: Earth Crusher and Yarbs (thanks to everyone who let me know about Earth Crusher and Yarbs):
Photos by Ever, This is Awkward, Larry Carr, Andre Vandal, Seth Anderson from Banksyny.com
Today for Better Out Than In, Banksy revealed the above balloon piece in Brooklyn. The photos on his site look a bit better, but I have used the above image of my friend Saki Waki because I want to show how this piece is really about audience interaction. On the first day of the show, I wondered if Banksy was maybe using the individual works in this show as props to make a larger point. If we look at the works so far, with this one and the box truck being prime examples, Better Out Than In seems to be at least in part about the spectacle and the crowds that Banksy’s work attracts. The box truck was meant to be a display of calmness, but this is what it looked like once people found out where the piece was parked. Today’s piece is of course reminiscent of Banksy’s classic Balloon Girl image, but now the girl is missing and the audience has to participate to complete the work (the balloon reference also lends credence to Hrag Vartanian’s idea that the show might be Banksy’s version of a retrospective). Other works in Better Out Than In point to the show being about crowds in less obvious ways. With the Random graffiti given a Broadway makeover series, Banksy drew out massive crowds to look at what was essentially the crappiest graffiti in New York City. So, that’s my current theory: The show is about the spectacle that Banksy can create and the crowds (including bloggers like me) that he can manipulate.
For today’s + 5, we have work by ASVP and some unknown artists:
Photos by Bernard Oh, KylaBorg, Hrag Vartanian and courtesy of The L.I.S.A. Project
UPDATE: Well, while the audio description for this piece says that Banksy (called “Bambi” in the description) “is delivering calm,” the scene on St. Mark’s between 2nd and 3rd Ave is anything but calm, with a hoard of photographers desperate to snap pictures of the piece. So, maybe this truck was a bit more clever than I initially anticipated. So much for calm, the people want spectacle!
Despite the late-in-the-day post, today’s Banksy hasn’t been tracked down yet, although with the sun going down, I suspect we are only a short time away from the piece being found. For Better Out Than In piece, Banksy has installed a fake garden scene in the back of a box truck. Starting this evening, the truck will be traveling around the city “every evening from dusk.” According to the Better Out Than In site, the truck will be in the East Village tonight. I couldn’t help think of Marcel Duchamp’s Étant donnés when I first saw this piece, but Banksy’s piece doesn’t seem to have the same sinister twist. It’s just a bit of greenery (although perhaps fake greenery) in the city. So, get ready to chase down this truck. Or, try visiting a park or (if you have access to a car) going camping this weekend. Either way. Still, I like the idea of this lush little world contained in a tagged-up box truck.
Before getting to today’s + 5, I want to bring up this Buzzfeed article. First of all, the idea is pretty similar to Banksy + 5, which was adapted from an idea by Jonathan Lynn of Anewspace. That could be a coincidence of course, but Buzzfeed has a history of swiping content and ideas from others. Also, the headline, “F#©K Banksy, What About NYC’s Real Graffiti Artists?”, is ridiculous because they they go on the write about 3 street artists, and the only graffiti in the post is what is shown in the background in two of the photos. How about real writers like KATSU, ADEK, KUMA…?
But screw writing about art and graffiti. If Banksy’s audio descriptions are saying anything, they are saying, “YOU ARE OVERTHINKING THIS! LOOK AT THE ART AND ENJOY!” So here are some photos… Today’s + 5 are by Petro, El Bocho, JohnXC and two unknown artists:
Photos by KylaBorg, Olivier Bruchez, svennevenn, Daniel Hadley, Fabian Mohr and from banksyny.com
Today’s new Banksy pieces are my favorite so far of Better Out Than In, his month-long series of works in NYC. Today three new pieces appeared on the project site in a series described on the website as “Random graffiti given a Broadway makeover (an ongoing series).” Banksy has shown time and time again that he is great at placing his works in interesting locations and playing with the existing environment. These are the first pieces of Better Out Than In that have shown that off. These Broadway pieces were located on the Lower East Side and in Williamsburg, but one has already been buffed.
AnimalNY reports that at least one of the pieces may have been painted 3 days ago and has locations for all of the pieces. If we trust the metadata in Banksy’s photos (which can be tweaked), the photos were taken yesterday (can’t say exactly when because it’s unclear what time zone the camera’s internal clock is set for), so Banksy would have painted the pieces and then waited more than a day to photograph them (or at least one of them). But we are relying on two assumptions here: 1. AnimalNY’s source is accurate, and 2. The metadata in the photos is accurate. Sidenote: Other random metadata includes that Banksy or his photographer generally use a Nikon D60 and edit photos on a Mac using Photoshop CS4.
Check out the other two Broadway stencils at the end of this post. First, today’s + 5. This afternoon we have work by DOT DOT DOT (another great example of placement), Peter Fuss, Ludo, SP-38 and Francisco de Pajaro aka Art Is Trash (whose piece is actually somewhat similar to today’s Banksy pieces):
And now those other two great Banksy pieces:
Photos by All Rights Destoryed, Peter Fuss, Ludo, aesthetics of crisis and Dave “NoLions” Stuart and taken from banksyny.com
With so much quality street art and graffiti concentrated within the same neighborhoods — generally those edgier ones or on the edge of gentrification — I am delighted that Zed1 and Phlegm have brought their visions to Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. A rather staid middle-class neighborhood, Sheepshead Bay now boasts two of the finest pieces in town.
In from Italy, Zed1 has been getting up these past few weeks in Brooklyn and Queens. More images to come soon, but these two are the ones that found a home in Sheepshead Bay:
And a few weeks back, UK-based Phlegm painted right nearby. While I had assumed his signature characters were burying themselves in books, the word on the blogosphere is that they’re deep into their tablets!
Sheepshead Bay native Joe Bouganim, the owner of Bottleneck Gallery, organized these walls.
Photos by Tara Murray
