Futura Laboratories is releasing some very cool clothing this season. Here are a few bits:
This jacket is a collaboration with Descente:
And this belt is part of Futura’s honeycomb graphics series of products:
Via Glltn and StreetLevel.com
New print from Rene Gagnon
The latest print from Rene Gagnon is an interesting one. That image might look familiar. You might know it from this piece by Banksy that appeared in Utah earlier this year. But of course, Gagnon was the first to use the image all the way back in 2008. The original photo that the stencils were based on can be found by a simple Google search, so maybe it’s coincidence, but I’d say probably not. I’d like to think that this whole series of events is a little nod to Rene by Banksy after Banksy essentially created Mr. Brainwash, the artist who subsequently ripped off Rene’s best known image: Campbell’s graffiti soup cans. And now, Rene can bring back his praying boy image and make a few bucks off of it. Good God the art world is complicated sometimes.
By the way, Rene’s print costs just $125 and is an edition of 50. Imagine how much prints would go for if Banksy turned his version into a print.
Via Feed Your Wall
Shepard Fairey’s May Day
News is starting to surface about Shepard Fairey’s solo show at Deitch Projects in New York City. Most importantly, the show is called May Day and runs from May 1st through the 29th. This flag piece looks amazing, which is particularly good news since a few other pictures from the show have been surfacing lately, and the portraits that Shepard is painting look to me like he’s just phoning it in.
Here’s the press release:
Deitch Projects is pleased to present May Day, an exhibition of new work by Shepard Fairey, as its final project. Titled not only in reference to the day of the exhibition’s opening, the multiple meanings of May Day resonate throughout the artist’s new body of work. Originally a celebration of spring and the rebirth it represents, May Day is also observed in many countries as International Worker’s Day or Labor Day, a day of political demonstrations and celebrations coordinated by unions and socialist groups. “Mayday” is also the distress signal used by pilots, police and firefighters in times of emergency.
With energy and urgency befitting the title May Day, Fairey captures the radical spirit of each of his subjects, using portraiture to celebrate some of the artists, musicians and political activists he most admires. Says Fairey, “These people I’m portraying were all revolutionary, in one sense or another. They started out on the margins of culture and ended up changing the mainstream. When we celebrate big steps that were made in the past, it reminds us that big steps can be made in the future.”
Many of the steps Fairey refers to involve the advocacy of the working class, put forth in the songs of Joe Strummer and Woody Guthrie and the writings of Cornel West, and among the works of other heroes portrayed in May Day. International Worker’s Day celebrated in nearly 100 countries throughout the world, commemorates the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago when a peaceful rally supporting workers on strike was disrupted by a bomb, and then a barrage of police gunfire. Because of negative sentiment surrounding the incident, U.S. President Grover Cleveland decided it was best to avoid celebrating the day, but it is precisely such sentiment that Fairey believes must be voiced: “It’s a day to express frustration with the powers that be, but also a day for activists to pursue ideals.” In May Day, he does both, with images supporting free speech and bemoaning the U.S. two party political system, pushing for renewable energy and critiquing corporate propaganda.
In Fairey’s mind, the persistence of difficulties across all of these arenas—political, environmental, economic, cultural—points to that third meaning of May Day: a distress signal. “By now we thought we would be in post-Bush utopia, but we’re still having to call attention to these problems,” he remarks. Like any mayday call, however, the sounding of the alarm also brings hope for help on the way. “If we stay silent, there’s no hope,” Fairey muses. “But if we make noise, if we put our ideas out there, then maybe we can make a change like the people in the portraits have done.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND INQUIRIES ABOUT PURCHASING ARTWORK PLEASE CONTACT
DEITCH PROJECTS
p: 212.343.7300
e: info@deitch.com
www.DEITCHPROJECTS.com
Exit Through The Gift Shop headed to the USA
My best friends are in town for a few days from New York, so I thought I’d take them to see Exit Through The Gift Shop last night. Turns out, we went to High Roller Society for James Jessop’s show there (very cool by the way) and missed the evening screening of the film in Soho. Of course, my friends are I were now worried that they wouldn’t be able to see the film until a potential DVD release. But I’ve just heard some great news: Exit Through The Gift Shop will be opening in select cities in the USA from April 16th. The first three cities are New York City, LA and San Fransisco. The film will start showing in more cities across the country in the following four weeks.
Roa at Pure Evil Gallery
Roa‘s got a solo show opening at Pure Evil Gallery next month. Should be quite something. Roa’s recent solo show in Paris was practically sold out in less than 48 hours and looked awesome. Oh, and I hear that Roa will be in town for the show, so that pretty much guarantees lots of new street pieces. The guy is super prolific.
Solo Exhibition at Pure Evil Gallery 8th APRIL – 2nd MAY 2010
ROA’s eagerly anticipated UK solo debut opens in London this spring to exhibit his unique portrayal of large scale urban wildlife, disquietly cohabiting city streets, hand painted in his distinctive black and white style.
ROA started painting abandoned buildings and warehouses in the isolated industrial outskirts of his hometown – Ghent, Belgium. Fixating on the animals he found there; the wildlife became the central subject matter of his work, inspired by their clever ability to adapt into scavengers in order to survive. He used the dilapidated, coarse interiors and exteriors of the unyielding landscape as a canvas to portray his large-scale creatures.
Roa filled a vast abandoned warehouse complex of different chambers and exteriors with a menagerie of large-scale animals, creating an impressive spray painted zoo of city scavengers.
His obsession went global when he took to the streets of New York, London, Berlin, Warsaw and Paris, prolifically painting his trademark cross sectioned animals wherever he went, locating them where they naturally invade the main city streets with their quiet yet powerful presence.
Pure Evil Gallery is proud and extremely excited to present a new body of original artwork by ROA this spring, complete with street works in the local area. Look out for a new ROA city fox appearing on a street near you.
While I was in Zambia…
…the world didn’t stop turning. I’ll have more to say about the trip in the coming days and some videos will go online in the next few weeks, but for now I’ll just say that I went to Zambia to work at a school with Swoon (artist from NYC), Matt Small (artist from London) and Mike Snelle (runs Black Rat Projects in London) and we had what I have found to be life-changing experiences.
I was more or less without internet access while in Zambia, but are some of the things I probably would have mentioned on Vandalog if I had been within reach of a laptop:
- A great example of urban knitting (something I usually dislike)
- Faile finally has their long-rumored and long-awaited project in Lisbon off the ground and confirmed for later this year
- Nick Walker was very controversial in Paris with his new work
- The London Police hit up Miami
- Fauxreel painted some cool faces
- The Barnstromers show at Joshua Liner Gallery looks awesome x10
- Even if you like Ron English you probably won’t like this new McSuperSized toy in a weird purple and green colorway, but I thought I’d mention in anyway in case I’m wrong.
- Anthony Lister is awesome as usual at his solo show in NYC
- Sort of confusing news from Deitch about how he will continue selling art once working at MOCA
- Prints from the Beautiful Losers crew in Paris
- Which reminds me… the film Beautiful Losers can now be seen on YouTube
- Apparently you can sue a graffiti crew for trademark infringement…
- Banksy did well at auction, again
- I didn’t want to mention this until it was official, but now it is: Green Day is being sued for copyright infringement by a street artist. Although it sucks what has happened to this artist who seems like a cool guy, I would like to note that Green Day has been supportive of street art and even gave Sixten credit for inspiring their album art on their latest album when they probably didn’t need to legally (though it would have looked bad if they didn’t).
- Pixadores attacked a mural in Brazil by Os G, Nunca, Nina, Finok and Zefix
More on Os Gêmeos’ latest mural…
I recently posted an image of osgêmeos working on their new mural outside the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, or MAM. Just wanted to share another progress pic of their work, one that really shows things coming together (sorry, but I don’t know who to credit for it!) The twins have a lot of great things coming up this year, so stay tuned!
– Elisa
Know Hope: The Use of Empty Spaces in Copenhagen
Know Hope just got back to Tel Aviv after an intense lithography workshop at Edition Copenhagen. I’ll put up an image of the print he finished there as soon as I have one.
He also put up some great street pieces during his stay, such as this one marking the entrance to the tunnel below Dr. Louise’s Bridge. Seems like this is a regular spot for artists there to hit.
– Elisa
Living Walls
An exhibition and conference focused on street art and its role in engaging public space.
The artwork of 18 infuential street artists from around the world will food the streets of Atlanta as part of a coordinated effort to engage the public via street art. Living Walls, The City Speaks, a conference set to take place on the weekend of August 13, 2010 at Atlanta’s Eyedrum Gallery, has put out an international call for artists to submit posters to three locations on three continents. These posters will ultimately be sent to Atlanta to be wheat-pasted on public walls and at Eyedrum. With many more artists expected to take part in this event worldwide, come August, Atlanta’s urban landscape will have a more vibrant, international feel. Along with changing the urban landscape by fooding the streets with art, the Living Walls conference has set out to highlight a number of problems facing the city. Living Walls is not just a showcase of art, but also an attempt to provoke much-needed dialogue. The organizers of Living Walls have also put out a call for speakers, attempting to provide a platform for local people to speak out about their neighborhoods and the use of public space. The conference will also bring in provocative keynote speakers, like Jordan Seiler of the Public Ad Campaign, famously known for committing the largest single act of anti-advertising to date. Atlanta’s Beltline has drawn the attention of developers and new urbanists nationwide. So much so, in fact, that the largest annual conference on urbanism, the CNU18, is scheduled to happen here in Atlanta in May. Living Walls seeks to provide a counterpoint to the CNU, whose expensive entry fee insures a limited audience of developers and academics. Living Walls is addressed to the public. It is completely free of charge, open to participation, and destined to be a thought-provoking event. In the truest sense, Living Walls is a grassroots colloquium recognizing that local people’s perspectives need to be heard on these issues and not just that of developers. Our intentions are simply to broadcast to the attendees a wide spectrum of ideas about public space. We hope that everyone leaves the event looking at the city, its walls, and how we interact with space differently. Furthermore, we hope to make Atlantans aware that they share challenges with urban dwellers across the globe. More information, along with a list of artists and speakers confrmed for the event can be found on: http://livingwallsconference.com
Check out their Facebook page, Twitter, and website. Should be an amazing event, can’t wait!
Escif at POW
Escif has a solo show at Pictures on Walls coming up on April 16th. I’ve been looking forward to this for a while and as Escif has promised an installation composed of hundreds of little drawings (including the ones above and below), there will be something for everyone to take home!
Hopefully, he’ll also paint some murals during his stay in London – his outdoors pieces keep getting better, both in technique and originality.
– Elisa
Thanks to Escif for the images.
PS Read Sebastian from Unurth’s first interview with Escif here. Part 2 of their conversation is in the March issue of The Art Street Journal.