Unit 44 in Newcastle opened last week for their first show, a two-man show with collaborations between the UK’s Remi/Rough and Australia’s Stormie Mills. Unfortunately I haven’t made it over to Newcastle myself, but word is that Selected Moments is a big hit. Looks pretty cool. Here’s a portion of the show:
And their mural outside of Unit44:
Photos courtesy of Unit 44
Here are some behind the scenes photos that Butterfly took in France this week of the Da Mental Vaporz crew transforming the GHP Gallery that Vandalog covered earlier this week. I really can’t wait for pictures from the show to surface. It comes as no surprise that we are fans of DMV at Vandalog and is not confirmed whether or not I am a bit of a fangirl when it comes to dran‘s work.
From June 9th-14, the guys at Circleculture Gallery will put on a traveling exhibit starting in Hamburg entitled The Urban Artist. Featuring works by American and European artists, the show will highlight the stylings of contemporary urban artists bringing their art indoors today. The line-up includes: Jaybo Monk, Aaron Rose, Christian Awe, Anton Unai, XOOOOX, Stefan Strumbel, Kelsey Brookes, Marco “pho” Grassi, Marcel Walldorf, Various & Gould, Hellie Mardhal, Jonathan Yeo, Kevin Earl Taylor and Katrin Fridriks. A good mix of street and fine artists, the show puts together names that haven’t really been shown together before, which is an interesting twist.
Because Gaia’s works are so elegantly powerful on the streets — especially in semi-desolate, often bleak settings — I was somewhat leery of seeing his work in a gallery setting. But his current exhibit Succession, his first solo exhibit at Jonathan LeVine’s gallery, works, as Gaia has succeeded in transforming the gallery’s project room into an authentic urban environment. The installation continues through June 25 @ 529 West 20th Street. 9th floor.
Thomas Buildmore and Scott Chasse have once again brought together some of my favorite urban artists from NYC, Boston and Philly. This time their canvas is the Fowler Arts Collective at 67 West Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Collaborating with Scott and Thomas in creating a huge playful, somewhat irreverent, black and white mural are: Morgan Thomas Anderson, Royce Bannon, Cense, Darkclouds, Robert daVies, El Celso, Martin Esteves, Veronica Hanssens, Jessica Hess, Keely, Kenji Nakayama, Nineta, Nose Go, Cense, Damion Silver, Matt Siren, John Skibo, Ben Woodward and Wrona. In addition to the mural, a number of individual works are also on exhibit. The exhibit continues through July 6 with a special Northside Open Studios Artists’ Reception on June 17, 8-11pm.
Photos by Lois Stavsky
Were you at the launch of Very Nearly Almost on Thursday? Well we probably didn’t see each other, since I was out of there by 8pm! Damn jet lag. Dunno how it lasted so long. Anyway, I’m in London for the summer now. I missed a link-o-rama post last week, so here’s some stuff you should check out but haven’t seen on Vandalog over the last few weeks.
Photo by Ludo
An avid fan of both stickers and urban art, I love what Pawn Works has been up to: the design and installation of vending machines that makes the best of urban art available in sticker format. I recently had a chance to speak with one of its two founders, Seth Mooney, currently living in NYC. His partner, Nick Marzullo, is based in Chicago.
I love the concept of a vending machine that dispenses stickers featuring urban art. How did you guys come up with the idea? We thought it would be a great way to showcase contemporary artists and designers and make their work easily affordable and accessible to collectors.
You guys have an amazing roster of artists, and the stickers look fabulous. Not only have you featured some of my favorites – folks like C215, Dain and Gaia – but you’ve introduced me to artists whose work is new to me. How do you engage artists in your project? We’ve approached some artists and some are referred to us. Others contact us directly. The artists have complete control over their image. 10% of the stickers we print go directly to the artist. A small portion of the stickers printed are pooled and distributed in sticker packs among the sticker club’s members, as one of our goals is to connect artists from around the globe.
Where can we find these vending machines? We plan to place them in a variety of venues, including, of course, galleries and cafes. The first NYC gallery to have our sticker machine is Brooklynite in Bed-Stuy.
Do you collect stickers yourself? I’ve been collecting them for over 20 years, since I was 9 years old. I love stickers. They are the most portable genre of tangible art!
Do you design your own? I’ve done some but I’m far more focused on other people.
I see that your partner in Pawn Works, Nick Marzullo, is running a gallery in Chicago. How did you guys get into that? About 5-6 years ago, Nick started doing shows in friends’ apartments and representing their work at art fairs. In time, it led to the establishment of a gallery that features work by emerging contemporary artists. The current exhibit REPEAT OFFENDER features work by Gabriel Specter.
Have you a formal art background? I studied photography at Columbia College in Chicago and I also work as a photographer. But I consider myself primarily a “facilitator of the arts.”
Sounds good! I love what you’re doing and I look forward to seeing and collecting more of Pawn Work’s stickers.
Images courtesy Seth Mooney
Opening tonight is Selected Moments at Unit 44 in Newcastle. The show features the individual and collaborative works by Remi/Rough and Stormie Mills. I am really sad I cannot be at the show because these artists combined aesthetics are incredible when put together and is going to be one hell of an exhibit. So head over tonight and check it out. In the meanwhile, check out these photos sent to Vandalog of the pair working behind the scenes as well as one of their finished pieces.
All photos by David Bilbrough
I normally am not this much of an ass, but this was too good to pass up and not post. I have heard about this show at Opera Gallery for awhile now, as I am sure most of you have as well. I may have been able to overlook the ridiculous name of the show, The Street Art Show, because of the incredible line-up: Keith Haring, Jean-Michael Basquiat, Banksy, Blek Le Rat, Seen, Ron English, Logan Hicks, Crash, The London Police, Nick Walker, How & Nosm, Saber, ROA, D*Face, Sweet Toof, Mr. Jago, b., Swoon, Kid Zoom, ALEXONE, Anthony Lister, Alexandrous Vasmoulakis and Rich Simmons, but then I remembered that this is still a show put on by Opera Gallery, the home of the beloved Mr. Brainwash. They do put on good show as well as some really shit ones, and I really do want this to be good, but that association still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Plus I cannot help, but feel a bit suspicious since the show is launching on the heels of Art in the Streets.
The Street Art Show seems to be more for the collectors’ benefit who are still salivating over the interest in the LAMOCA show and want to buy more/start buying some pieces for their own collections. Well, at least Mr. Brainwash isn’t an option this time around, although i am sure he will be again soon enough.
The show opens June 17th at Opera Gallery in London.
Photo courtesy of Opera Gallery
