Category: Gallery/Museum Shows

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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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Shepard Fairey Joins Forces with NYC Teens

When Shepard Fairey was in New York City last spring for his solo exhibit at Deitch Projects, he collaborated with Manhattan teens on a huge mural. Panels from this mural are currently on exhibit at Chelsea’s Icosahedron Gallery at 606 W. 26th Street. An April 28th auction is planned with all proceeds going to the non-profit youth organization, CityKids Foundation. I stopped by earlier this week and liked what I saw, as the works exude an arresting raw energy and spirit.

Photos by Lois Stavsky

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Art in the Streets Book

Since we haven’t posted about Art in the Streets in a few days, we thought now would be the best time to release some photos of the accompanying exhibit book for the show. Put together by the curators of the show, Roger Gastman, Aaron Rose and of course, Jeffrey Deitch, the book acts as an international retrospective of art, or as much as can be packed into the pages.

Also, here are some more names featured in the show (and book) as well. These could have been guessed, but now they are confirmed: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Stelios Faitakis, Futura, Phil Frost, Os Gemeos, Keith Haring, Todd James, Margaret Kilgallen, Lady Pink, Barry McGee, Steve “ESPO” Powers, Lee Quinones, Retna, Kenny Scharf, Swoon, Ed Templeton

Again, some were known, but now we are starting to get more of an idea what the show is shaping up to be. I’m still surprised what a well-kept secret it is thus far.

 

All photos via FreshlySerious

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Buff Monster in London

God help us all. On April 28, Stolenspace Gallery in London will play host to one of Los Angeles’ most hyped up street artists: Buff Monster. The show is entitled The Reign of Pink. I cannot wait to put on my Harajuko outfit and show up to the opening smiling and all the cutesy and colorful crap that Buff has to offer. If he paints a wall or wheatpastes in London, well I doubt the paint would be dry before someone rips it down/covers it up/throws up on it.

I don’t normally copy and past press releases, but this one is now a personal favorite of mine to describe this upcoming bastardization of urban art:

Buff Monster lives in Hollywood and cites heavy metal music ice cream and Japanese culture as major influences. The colour pink, a symbol of confidence, individuality and happiness is present in everything he creates. Buff Monster’s creative endeavors began by putting up thousands of hand-silkscreened posters across Los Angeles and in far-away places. His frequent poster missions developed into a productive street art career and he now works on fine art paintings, collectible toys and select design projects. He paints on wood, taking great care to create his images as flat as possible, and his work has been shown in galleries worldwide, often accompanied by large installations. Buff Monster works tirelessly day and night to spread happiness, joy and a love of pink.

I was going to try and retype a press release that would be even more affable than the actual one, but I just couldn’t think of anything funnier than the aforementioned. Ok, I will try to be nice here and give Buff credit where credit is due. He is standing up for all of the real men who wear pink, like Hello Kitty and wish anime characters were real women. Those are causes that definitely need to be artistically expressed. Spread the pink!

Eh, at least he makes decent toys.

Photo courtesy of Stolenspace

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Flogging a Dead Horse: The Aftermath

"F-U" and "The White Album"

I tried to ignore Steal From Work‘s recent Flogging a Dead Horse Show in Bristol last month for awhile, but I just can’t anymore. Originally, I found the concept to be really clever. The marketing and hype by curators who wouldn’t release the name of the artists titillated an audience who know most show schedules months in advance. Not until after the show’s opening did I realize the entire point of the exhibit was to poke fun at successful street artists by recreating their works in a “humorous” manner. Some pictures made me laugh (I admit I did not attend the exhibition), like the Banksy balloon girl spread over five canvasses, but the overall effort was quite poor.

In December, we posted about artist Lush, who put on a similar concept show making fun of street artists, except his art was so much stronger. It felt like/was a real show driven by witty sarcasm, not bitterness and jealousy of more successful artists.  Actually, come to think of it, the Flogging show is a lot like a certain street art blog a lot of us are familiar with, also driven by a nihilistic view of street art today.

Failed "Lost Promise"

Don’t get me wrong. I still love the concept of the show. I just think the execution was an overall sad effort. I feel that this would have been much better played as a pop-up show where the “art” could be sold as commercially viable items, i.e. t-shirts, mugs, etc. since that what artists like Invader, Mr. Brainwash and Nick Walker have become. It could also have worked as a purely outdoor show, with these work put up illegally in a city to get their point across. That would have been a more clever joke and one that a lot more people would have enjoyed.

The Banksy Color Range

A later addition that I discovered the other day is a link to an E-bay listing of the Obey/Ebay for a print edition. Since the work at this show was sold and is now being flipped, it seems there was no true subversive statement being made at all. Just maybe, the curators were trying to make a quick buck over the controversy over the commercialization of street art. If you want to purchase the print, don’t worry, you won’t be paying big bucks for it. There are no bids thus far and it is only 99 p. Plus you get three Banksy color strips thrown in! What a deal.

For the entire photoset of the show visit Laptop Lunch Box’s Flickr

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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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Resplendent Semblance Part 2: Maxwell Colette and Pawn Works Openings

After a solid two weeks of getting up in Chicago, a slew of commissioned projects and a wonderful preview at Pawn Works gallery in Ukraine Village, Resplendent Semblance was finally concluded at Maxwell Colette to a tremendous turnout. Here are some pieces from the show and photos from opening night.

Continue reading “Resplendent Semblance Part 2: Maxwell Colette and Pawn Works Openings”

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Installation Underway for PANTHEON: A history of art from the streets of NYC

As I passed by the former Donnell Library at 20 W. 53rd Street earlier today, the installation for tomorrow’s 5pm opening of PANTHEON: A history of art from the streets of NYC was underway. Huge pieces by Royce Bannon and Celso were beginning to capture the attention of the crowds across the street lined up for MoMA’s free Fridays. Joyce Manalo who curated the exhibit with Daniel Feral shared images of other featured artwork. Among these are the following pieces by Faro and Cake, photographed by Kat Amchentseva. This 24/7 windows exhibition of New York City street art — past and present — will continue through April 17.

Photo by Lois Stavsky
Faro, close up, photo by Kat Amchentseva
Cake, close-up, photo by Kat Amchentseva