Nunca was recently in Milan for a project that he’s doing with Nike. Some sports jerseys for a football team I believe. While he was there, Nike made this video. It’s pretty sick for an advert. In it, Nunca talks about why he thinks graffiti is an important part of any city.
This piece by Gold Peg can be seen from the tube as you pass by Royal Oak tube station in London. A great spot, and a well-executed piece.
Photo by nolionsinengland
I thought that I’d kind of covered Steve Powers’ A Love Letter For You project, but it seems like I’m the only street art or graffiti blog that hasn’t posted this video of Steve talking about the project. So it’s about time I did. It’s cool.
A Love Letter For You from Megawords Magazine on Vimeo.
Via Chrome Bricks
Peace of Wall looks it could be one of those great unappreciated art books, as important for his documentation of art as for its documentation of a critical time in East Timor’s history. Chris Parkinson spent four year photographing in East Timor, and this book is the result of all that work. It’s definitely not your typical graffiti art book.
Chris has kindly allowed me to print his introduction to the book and as well as a few photos:
East Timor is a tapestry of splintered histories and realities. Destruction litters the country like a prodding finger at your chest while renewed urban planning and development creates a sheen of progress amid its historical dilapidation. Dili, the country’s capital, symbolises the past and present; distraught, yet determined and proud in its ambition.
In a country where turf, tenure and territory are keenly contested, the streets belong to everyone. They balance a sense of place, community and security with a barely concealed antagonism where the fundamental frustrations of subsistence living rest, or expose themselves in passionate insurrection. In 2006, when divisions in East Timor’s armed forces inflamed a larger social rift that was beamed across the world, these streets were both refuge and tormentor. Survival was life. Life was survival. It still is. The surface calm today belies a tension so complicated that it’s barely understood beyond its gravity. And its graffiti.
Boldly proclaimed assertions towards political allegiance are offset with colours moulded into messages of development and of harmony. Ghosts, graphic and historical, reveal the past and revel in the present. Peaceful optimism is secreted through shades of hope and reconciliation.
Through a mutual appreciation for its graffiti, the architects of East Timor’s future, the youth, share common identity and ideals despite their differences. The street art is the powerful annunciation of emotion in what common space exists for a population restricted by physical and emotional borders. It is the work of a youth – in turns peaceful and hopeful, and fiercely territorial and frustrated – splashing proud markings of existence over the country’s landscape, hoping their words, murals and thoughts may incite a permanence of recognition and truth over a nation that has struggled with the complexities of colonialism and conflict. It is the media of the marginalised and its messages restructure the past, the mundane, the forgotten and the present.
Photographing East Timor’s graffiti was the documentation of a movement that was wildly contradictory, highly emotional, instantly engaging and consistently dramatic. What I found through four years behind a camera focusing on walls was life, and the art that informs and sustains it.
From peaceful and intriguing beginnings in 2004, through a dramatic conflict in 2006 and then the two years of recovery before my departure in 2008, the walls became a fascinating gauge of public opinion. They were a narrative in real time and offered more than the political posturing of the country’s leadership and the analysis of the foreign agencies struggling to find rationality in East Timor’s growing nationhood.
Through 2006 and 2007, both the United Nations and the International Non-Government Organisation’s security staff coordinated what was known as a security tree; telephone text messages that branched out through varied networks, alerting people to problems or areas of conflict. I have used some of them here to provide the atmosphere of the conflict, which I still believe is, or hopefully was, too layered and parochial for foreigners to fully grasp. The analysis can be left to the walls.
This book represents what I believe to be an altogether different insight into notions of place, history and identity in East Timor. Enclosed are the direct expressions of its people told in their own way, commenting on and celebrating their own experiences. And for me, that’s the fundamental value of graffiti. Its pedagogical imprint is a celebration for both audience and author.
My hope was that I could be a conduit for the voices of ordinary Timorese to be heard outside of their country. I hope that while we peer through the lens of history, more will shift than just the eye. That which confronts and confounds us may nurture our compassion, understanding and empathy.
Beautiful. Tragic. Hopeful. Resourceful. Ingenious. Nascent. Complex. Post. Peaceful. Present.
Welcome.
East Timor.Chris Parkinson
Peace of Wall will be released in Australia at the end of April. You can learn more about the book on Chris’ blog.
Subliminal Projects‘ upcoming group show, SUBject/subJECT, is an all-female artist show and will benefit LA Downtown Women’s Shelter. Out of the 13 artists involved in this show, Swoon is definitely the best-known, but I’m also very much looking forward to seeing what Monica Canilao will be showing.
Press release:
Subliminal Projects is pleased to present SUBject/subJECT, a group exhibition opening April 10, featuring works from over a dozen female artists handpicked by the gallery and co-curator Deedee Cheriel.
SUBject/subJECT examines women’s use of public platforms in mass media, inviting both artists and viewers into a dialogue about role models, self-image and the messages women project in both the mainstream and alternative media. Says Cheriel, “Now that women have ‘equal rights,’ what are we trying to say? What’s our subject? Since female artists remain underrepresented in galleries and museums, we created this show as a platform for emerging women artists to represent!”
Among the show’s artists are Swoon, whose gritty yet delicate paper cutout portraits and large-scale flotillas of otherworldly art boats have landed her on the cover of this month’s ARTnews; Elizabeth McGrath, who breathes beauty and life into the macabre through her creature sculptures and theater-of-the-mind dioramas; and Jen Stark, whose colorful paper sculptures, drawings and animations have been described by Wired as “coldly mathematical yet exuberantly organic.” Other artists include Cheriel, Monica Canilao, Kime Buzzelli, Mona Superhero, Meryl Smith, Mel Kadel, Jessica Hess, Marissa Textor, Jesse Spears and Nikki McClure.
Ten percent of proceeds from all SUBject/subJECT art sales will go to the Los Angeles Downtown Women’s Center, dedicated to providing permanent, supportive housing and a safe and healthy community for homeless women.
And speaking of Swoon on the cover of ARTnews, that article can be read online. It’s a very complimentary article, and it’s nice to see Swoon being compared to serious n0n-street artists. At once point in the article, Swoon is called a “young artist.” Sometimes I forget that Callie is still so early in her career. No doubt she’ll continue to innovate and mature artistically for many more years.
Finally someone has smashed the Domino Factory. Adek and Nekst obviously killing shit, props to Luna Park on the photo
While Blu and David Ellis may be the reigning kings of street art turned into animations, they’ve got some serious competition from Israel’ Broken Fingaz crew. Tant and Unga painted this video animation over three days. Some crazy stuff. Very similar to Muto and Combo and maybe not as innovative or artistically awesome, these guys have definitely put in some serious work and their technical skills are up there. Check it out:
Broken Fingaz -Graffiti Stop Motion from Broken Fingaz on Vimeo.
Via Animal New York
Dale Grimshaw’s latest solo show at Signal Gallery, Arcana, opens on Thursday. Should be interesting to see what Dale’s new work looks like. The painting in the show’s flier looks pretty intense and is a departure from the things that I have seen from Dale in the past. I just wish he’d do some prints of his lino-blocks. Those always look nice and Dale knows the importance of placement.
Press release:
Dale Grimshaw’s third solo show at Signal Gallery promises to be his most powerful yet. Since bursting onto the urban art scene two years ago with his stunning first solo show at Signal, ‘Echoes and Exorcisms’, Dale’s career has gone from strength to strength. His works have been much sought after by international collectors and he shown in a number of prestigious group shows as far afield as Philadelphia, Berlin, Paris and Bristol.
Dale’s new solo show, ‘Arcana’, will be something of a new departure for him. Dale found his expressive style through the exploration of strong emotions; some of these relating to his own troubled childhood and teenage years. This exploration took visual form in a large number of highly stylized self-portraits and portraits. His very well-received self-portraits, ‘Exorcism’ and ‘Heart In Darkness’ show an artist brave enough to expose his inner demons in a startling and disturbing way.
In ‘Arcana’ Grimshaw is using the imagery of the Tarot to inspire a series of works with a similarly raw demonstrative edge. Moving away from self-discovery the artist is using this ancient and mysterious imagery to present universal states of mind. Taking a number of cards from the pack, he has created a modern, very personal interpretation of their symbolism. Each card has a very distinct atmosphere and many demonstrate more complex compositions than we have seen recently from the artist. Nevertheless, they still retain that same emotional candour that made Grimshaw’s work stand out from the crowd and communicate so strongly to a wide audience. “Arcana’ will be proof enough to convict this artist of the crime of being one of the most promising painters of his generation.
Sticker Phiends III is the 3rd annual sticker show in Phoenix, Arizona and it opens on Friday. Two reasons that this is particularly exciting: 1. Robots Will Kill and Obey are sending some stickers and 2. it’s street art in the USA but not in LA, SF or NYC.
I’ve started putting pictures online of my recent trip to Zambia with Mike Snelle, Swoon and Matt Small. There are a few on Drago’s website, along with a description of what exactly we were doing there (mostly, helping this school). You can read that post on Drago’s blog.
Also, that image is of some papercuts that Swoon put up in the school’s dining hall right before we left.
