Blurring the Lines, the current show at Corey Helford Gallery in LA curated by Roger Gastman, features graffiti legends Freedom, Risk and Crash. Nothing against Risk and Crash, but Freedom, maybe best known for his work in NYC’s Freedom Tunnel, is by far my favorite of those three. Here’s some of Freedom’s contributions to the show. Thanks for Hi-Fructose for the images. Check out more of the show on their blog.
Photos courtesy of Hi-Fructose
Jaz sent over these photos from Fuera de la linea, a show at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Rosario in Argentina. Some great South American street artists have installations and canvases in this show. All the info can be found here. Here’s some photos of the show from Jaz:
Photos by Jaz
When I last visited the Dorian Grey Gallery, a relatively new space in NYC’s East Village that has already featured solo shows by such artists as Crash and LA II, I was drawn to a few images — almost hidden from view — lying on a desk. I discovered that they are the work of the Parisian street artist, Ugly Kid-Gumo. Working in a New York studio with chips of concrete from the walls of Paris, Gumo has been fashioning some riveting portraits. They will be featured, along with other recent work, in the upcoming Kid-Gumo solo exhibit, “Oz, Nothing Makes Sense.” Curated by Marianne Nems, it is scheduled to open on June 23 at the Dorian Grey Gallery, 437 East 9th Street.
Last Friday I got to check out the opening of Sweet Toof’s new show, Dark Horse, at Factory Fresh in Bushwick. (Unfortunately, I didn’t arrive early enough to get one of the paper Sweet Toof smiles mounted on popsicle-sticks, which were given to the first visitors.) The gallery was transformed, inside and out, by large and small oil paintings, hanging woodcuts, and painted walls in the gallery’s courtyard.
Sweet Toof’s oil paintings were dramatic in a different way than his walls, like some strange version of the Old Masters, with bony horses and dogs and nobly-dressed skeletons all outfitted in his pearly whites. Some of his large rectangular canvases dominated the interior, but he also had smaller circular canvases grouped in series throughout the space. Skeletons did battle with paint rollers, in groups and one-on-one, sometimes in front of rural backgrounds, other times in some type of apocalyptic-type cityscape.
He played with using pseudo-gilded frames and sparkly paint backgrounds for smaller works, and I have to say, he may be the only artist I know of that can use glitter and horses in the same piece and still have it look amazing. More than that, though, his paintings were the type of thing you can look at for awhile and continue to see more in—aesthetically and art historically speaking, definitely, but also in the sense of morbid, symbolic hilarity.
Factory Fresh even got its own tube of Toofpaste—(artists typically use up most of the wall space in the gallery’s courtyard, but it was the first time I had ever seen anyone incorporate the vent into a piece.) All in all, a great show, and one of my favorites that I’ve seen at the gallery. Dark Horse stays up until May 22nd, and is Sweet Toof’s first solo show stateside, so be sure to check it out.
Photos by Frances Corry
I always love a good Martha Cooper interview, and all the better that this one was done by Very Nearly Almost:
VNA x Martha Cooper at MOCA from Charlie Inman on Vimeo.
Kenny Scharf will be at MOCA this weekend as part of the Levi’s Film Workshop video series at Art in the Streets for a Q&A about Kenny Scharf: More, Newer, Better, Nower, Funner, a short film that Malia Scharf and Nathan Meier have made a short film about Kenny. The film will also be premiering at the event, before being available online. The Q&A/screening will be at 3pm on Sunday. RSVP for free online.
Photo courtesy of the Levi’s
Although 5Pointz officially launches its 2011 season today, writers from abroad — as well as local ones — have been busy this past month. The pieces don’t often last long, and we’ve been trying to document this Long Island City graffiti mecca weekly. Here are three (of many) faves that have recently surfaced:
While I should probably be studying for final exams right now, I’m spending just as much time getting ready for Up Close and Personal, which opens next week in NYC. Check out a preview on Brooklyn Street Art. Here’s some stuff I would have liked to have covered this week:
Photo by TresOhUno
Retna has begun his mural at the Pasadena Museum of California Art for their Street Cred show that I posted about earlier. It’s looking good so far…
Photos courtesy of the Pasadena Museum of California Art
Factory Fresh and Trust Art are putting together a mini Bushwick Art Park this Saturday as part of the Festival of Ideas for the New City‘s StreetFest. Leon Reid IV, Specter, Skewville and Olek will be showing installations. You can check out the mini Bushwick Art Park on Saturday from 11am-7pm just outside of the New Museum at 235 Bowery in New York. Here’s a little teaser of what you might find at the art park:
Photos courtesy of Factory Fresh and by Leon Reid IV
