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Clownsoldier heads to Pawn Works in Chicago

Clownsoldier is the next artist who will be showing at the Pawn Works gallery in Chicago. His solo show, The Human Cannon Ball will open in just under two weeks on Friday, June 24th. The press release describes Clownsoldier as “an explosion of absurdity wheatpasted onto a wall near you,” and I think that’s pretty accurate, but his gallery work isn’t half bad either! For this show, Clownsoldier has made collages on book covers and original paintings. In case you missed it, check out this studio visit I did with him last month. Clownsoldier’s best collages have a sense of wonder and playfulness. The combination of his fine arts background and seeming relative naiveté about street art culture combine to offer something a bit different from what street art fans have come to expect and yet make him the perfect fit for Pawn Works (whose previous shows have been with Specter and Gaia).

Check out The Human Cannon Ball at Pawn Works in Chicago, opening on June 24th from 7-11pm.

Photo courtesy of Pawn Works

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Weekend link-o-rama

"Circus" ad disruption in Philadelphia by Sorry

Wow, last week went by quickly. And Steph moved in with me today, temporarily. Should be a crazy few weeks. Here’s what I’ve been meaning to write about:

Photo by Carolinecaldwell

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Billy and Malarky at High Roller Society

Billy and Malarky, whose collaborations have recently been ending up on roll-down gates around London and Barcelona, have a two-man show opening on Friday June 10th at High Roller Society in London. Summer Breeze is sure to be a fun show, so stop by the opening from 7-10pm on Friday or check it out by July 3rd.

Photo courtesy of High Roller Society

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Fafi Pop Up Show in Paris

 

From June 14th – June 22, for one week only, Galerie LJ in Paris will be hosting a pop up solo show featuring works by Fafi. Not only as in iconic street artist in her own right, Fafi has patented her art and her name to become an incredibly popular international brand. I haven’t seen new work from her in awhile, so this show is an exciting for treat for fans of her brightly coloured empowered female illustrations. The pop-up is mainly to promote the sale of a 10 separate print releases (at 350 Euros each) and an array of collaborations for cheaper goods like shoes and mugs with companies like Vans and Married to the MOB.

To see the invite and a sneak peak at some new prints check out the event on facebook.

 

Photo courtesy of Galerie LJ

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Another Side of Logan Hicks

I’d always identified Logan Hicks with meticulously stenciled urban landscapes.   I was awed by his pieces that I saw at London’s Cans Festival in 2008 and at Brooklyn’s Willoughby Windows in 2009.  It was only earlier today at Opera Gallery in SoHo that I discovered his stunningly-crafted portraits, including of the lovely Monica LoCascio.

@ Cans Festival, London, 2008
@ Willoughby Windows, Brooklyn, 2009
@ Opera Gallery, NYC, 2011

Photos by Lois Stavsky

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Tox gets convicted in London, Revok is free in LA

Is this Tox09 tag by Daniel Halpin or an imitator?

While Revok has left prison in LA this week a free man (but with thousands of dollars in legal debts, which you can help out with by buying a t-shirt), two English graffiti writers have been convicted for committing criminal damage. Daniel Halpin claims that he gave up writing graffiti years ago and imitators have since picked up his Tox tag, but the jury felt otherwise. Even Ben Eine came to Halpin’s defense as an expert on graffiti, claiming that the  Tox tag is extremely easy to imitate. Halpin has already spent 150 days in custody for this latest arrest, and it sounds like he’ll be sentenced to even more time when the sentencing portion of the trial occurs. Daniel Fenlon was also convicted in the same set of trials for writing CK1. The Guardian has more on Halpin and Fenlon.

I’ll just say this: I don’t think that graffiti writers or street artists should get prison sentences for their non-violent actions. I’m a fan of restorative justice. Get these guys painting murals or buffing graffiti or doing community service of some sort. It would mean less money is spent on graffiti removal and less people would be in expensive-to-run prisons.

Photo by meophamman

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More from Street aka Museum in Portsmouth, NH

Case aka Andreas von Chrzanowski

On now around Portsmouth, New Hampshire and at the Portsmouth Museum of Art is Street aka Museum, a show of indoor and outdoor work by street artists curated by Beau Basse from LeBasse Projects. The line up is Bumblebee, Herakut, Shark Toof, Alexandros Vasmoulakis and Case aka Andreas von Chrzanowski. The show is open now through September 11th. I recently posted a link to some of the murals that are part of this show, but here’s some work the indoor and outdoor work that wasn’t included in that last post…

Akut
Bumblebee
Herakut
Shark Toof. I'm not normally Shark Toof fan, but I do like this

Photos courtesy of the Portsmouth Museum of Art

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NUEVO MUNDO surveys Latin American street art

Generally when a new street art/graffiti book surfaces, I buy it, skim it and put it into my “to read” pile. Not the case with Maximiliano Ruiz’s NUEVO MUNDO: Latin American Street Art (Gestalten, 2011). A survey of Latin American street art has been long overdue, and I find myself savoring it — reading and rereading it. Here’s a brief preview of the book:

By Bastardilla from Nuevo Mundo, Copyright Gestalten, 2011
By Onesto from Nuevo Mundo, Copyright Gestalten, 2011
By Danata from Nuevo Mundo, Copyright Gestalten 2011
Nuevo Mundo, Copyright Gestalten 2011

More about some of the other artists in upcoming posts–