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The Hole heads to LA – Facemaker

Ben Jones

Get ready for some irony: Jeffrey Deitch closes Deitch Projects and leaves to be director at MOCA in LA, Kathy Grayson aka Deitch’s right hand woman at Deitch Projects opens The Hole in NYC to fill the hole left by Deitch’s departure and now The Hole has a show opening in LA this Wednesday night to coincide with MOCA’s Art in the Streets show.

The Hole are putting on a show, Facemaker, at Royal/T in Culver City. Basically, Facemaker is a portraits show. Despite one of the silliest press releases I’ve read this month (“The show will explore interpretations of the most universal element of human perception: the face.”), the show looks to be something worth seeing. The line-up is beyond impressive. Here it is:

Ben Jones, Barry McGee, Kenny Scharf, Joe Grillo, assume vivid astro focus, Tomoo Gokita, Eric Yahnker, Jane Moseley, Olaf Breuning, KAWS, Ted Mineo, David Shrigley, Shepard Fairey, Eddie Martinez, Taylor McKimens, Francine, Speigel, Avery Newman, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Robert Lazzarini, Aurel Schmidt, Kembra Pfahler, Rivas & Tullie, Aaron Johnson, Brian Belott, Matt Leines, Swoon, Allison Schulnik, Clare Rojas, Jules de Balincourt, Michael Williams, Takeshi Murata, Anders Oinonen, Justin Samson, Misaki Kawai, Andrew Jeffrey Wright, Dennis Tyfus, Katherine Bernhardt, Todd James, Matt Greene, Stefan Bondell, Spencer Sweeney, Nate Lowman, Mat Brinkman, Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, Billy Grant, Adam Tullie and FriendsWithYou

So regardless of a crazy press release, this is still something to get excited about. I’ll be there Wednesday at the opening (8pm-midnight) and the show runs through June 30th.

Image courtesy of The Hole

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Katsu puts a massive tag on MOCA (for real this time)

Update: Here’s a photo of the piece being buffed in the middle of the night.

Katsu might be New York City’ smartest writer. He used a fire extinguisher to tag a massive wall on the outside of MOCA in LA, right by the entrance to their Art in the Streets show. Of course we can never be 100% sure what goes on behind closed doors, but from all I’ve heard, this was a legitimately illegal hit. He’s faked this sort of thing before with some clever video editing, but apparently this one is real. While I haven’t seen any photos of the piece taken by random passersby or reputable graffiti photographers, I’ve heard from folks in LA that this is real.

Here’s the video of him painting the piece in broad daylight:

So now the question is: What happens next? This may sound crazy, but I’d be more upset about this piece being buffed than Blu’s mural on MOCA, precisely because illegal pieces like this are what cannot be brought into a museum context except through bold actions like Katsu actually going up and hitting the building like graffiti writers are supposed to do. In fact, I’m surprised it took this long. I’ve been saying since December how the MOCA building is a perfect target for a writer with a fire extinguisher.

And, as I’m writing this, someone has posted a comment on the YouTube video saying that the wall has already been buffed… If that’s true, damn. Well, it’s MOCA’s right as property owner to do what they want and that can’t be denied (just as it would be fair for Katsu to hit the spot again), but still definitely sucks. I would’ve loved for that to be the first thing people saw as they entered the museum for Art in the Streets. I just hope they find a good artist willing to paint that spot instead (and one that Katsu won’t immediately tag over).

Even in the off chance that the video is a fake, well, he’s still got his name out there in the digital world, hence, successfully achieving fame almost as if it were real.

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Pantheon now open in NYC

Pantheon: A history of art in the streets of NYC, opened recently across the street from MoCA in NYC and runs through the end of this week. It looks like a fantastic underground alternative to MOCA’s Art in the Streets show opening this week in LA. I’ve got a lot of respect for show who puts a group like John Fekner, Richard Hambleton, Don Leicht, Freedom, Stikman, UFO and John Ahearn all together. Check it out at 20 West 53rd Street, b/w 5th & 6th Avenue in NYC this week.

Photos by Luna Park

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Elik returning to NYC via Brooklynite Gallery

Other than seeing some rollers around NYC and a vague recollection of a collaboration with Faile and Bast that made its way to auction at some point, I would not have been able to say much at all about Elik a week ago. Very quickly though, I’m realizing that this was due more to a lack of knowledge on my part than on a lack of skill from Elik. I just came too late into street art and Elik hasn’t been getting up for a while. Back in 2003 though, it looks like Elik was the man in NYC, with a wide range techniques for getting up. After a break since 2005, Elik is returning with a show at Brooklynite Gallery next month (and hopefully some street work too). Snake Bite, which unfortunately does sound like it will be relying on the the much overused idea of a shanty-town installation in the gallery, opens May 7th and runs through June 4th. I’m a bit wary mostly because this sort of return could go very wrong, but I’m hopeful that it will go very right, as Elik seems like a talented artist.

Photo courtesy of Brooklynite Gallery

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Kosbe on the Streets of NYC and the Walls of the Carmichael Gallery

I’ve always loved Kosbe’s zany characters and somewhat esoteric messages. Mostly on stickers, they occasionally make their way onto wheatpastes, as this recent addition to NYC’s East Village.

Photo by Lois Stavsky

Yesterday, Kosbe shared with me — via his iPhone — a photo of his piece currently on exhibit in Martha Cooper’s “Remix” at the Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, CA. A recreation of Cooper’s iconic 1980 photo of Dondi sketching in his room with friends in East New York, Brooklyn, it uncovers another side of Kosbe’s flair.

Photo courtesy of Kosbe

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i art Woodstock

It’s always nice when artists can paint in a place where a community is improved by the art and where the community appreciates the work. I think that should be ideal for almost all street art, but unfortunately is rarely the case. That’s why I was so glad to see this video, i art Woodstock (part of i art SA, curated by A Word of Art), where over a dozen artists got together to paint in suburban Cape Town:

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Pixelpancho at Galo Art Gallery

Pixelpancho has a sort of low-brow style that I don’t usually go for. While I liked his murals, I didn’t think I’d dig his work as much indoors. Nonetheless, after seeing this piece last December (looks better in the flesh), I’ve definitely become a fan. So I’m happy to say that Pixelpancho is showing at one of Italy’s most fun art galleries: Galo Art Gallery in Torino. The show opened on Friday, but runs through May 7th. Here’s a wall Pixelpancho painted inside the gallery:

Photos courtesy of Galo Art Gallery

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Weekend link-o-rama

ECB at work on a mural in NYC with Robots Will Kill and OverUnder

Steph is here in Philly now and tomorrow Jordan Seiler, Gaia, and Marc and Sara Schiller will be here too. Pretty good week. Plus, Art in the Streets is almost here and I’ll be in LA for that. Hopefully see some of you there. Here’s some (Philadelphia-centric) news to enjoy over the weekend:

Photo by Becki Fuller

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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