Meant to post these when Escif sent them over yesterday but didn’t get a chance. I’ve been a fan of his work for a few years now and it’s been great to watch the evolution. I particularly like these pieces. His work at Observatori 2009 in Valencia back in June was also very good.
Our friend Sebastian at Unurth has done a nice interview with Escif; read it here.
Ericailcane has been working really hard on the streets of Grottaglie this month (see another great wall here). He has also been making lots of great art for the FAME Fest show, such as hand-touched prints, little ceramic monkeys and a big bear sculpture. See more in-progress shots of the latter two below as he finishes things up and heads out of town.
Most cities, when they have a graffiti “problem,” they bring out the buff squad and say “Go crazy. If it’s graffiti, buff it ASAP.” The most obvious problem with that strategy is that legal graffiti and street art gets buffed, as well as graffiti and street art that people like.
Although it’s been an informal policy in Bristol and parts of London for a while now, Bristol is officially modifying their graffiti buffing policy to accommodate art that people want to keep up. Soon, the council website will have a voting area where photos of graffiti and street art art published and the public will be able to vote for which pieces they like and which should be removed. That’s a lot of respect from the council for something that is still technically illegal.
From The Guardian:
For some it is simply an eyesore, but for others graffiti has as much worth as an old master. In Bristol, reputed home of Banksy, the street artist who has done more than any other to elevate graffiti off concrete walls and into galleries, the question is to be settled by the public.
Bristol city council is planning to let the public vote before murals on buildings, walls and fences are scrubbed clean or painted over. If citizens decide they like it, the work will remain.
The move comes as the “Banksy v Bristol Museum” exhibition in the city closedtoday having attracted more than 300,000 visitors since June. Queues for admission were up to six hours long over the Bank Holiday weekend.
As part of its formal street-art policy “to seek to define and support the display of public art”, the council is pledging “where people tell us that murals or artworks make a positive contribution to the local environment, and where the property owner has raised no objection” the graffiti will not be removed.
Photographs will be posted on the council’s website and the public asked to voice their opinions.
The policy was created after a Banksy work, showing a naked man hanging out of a window while his lover’s partner looks for him, appeared on a council-owned building in 2005, sparking debate over whether it should be removed.
The council set up an online poll, with 93% of those voting saying they wanted to keep it.
Here’s part one of a 5 part talk by Leon Reid IV (aka Darius aka Verbs) from Nuart‘s education program. Chris Stain, Brad Downey and Logan Hicks will be doing talks as well.
Can’t believe I was lucky enough to randomly check out the Swimming Cities website tonight. On Sunday they announced that there is a new Swimming Cities project planned for March of 2010. The Swimming Cities of the Ocean of Blood will be a trip down the Ganges river. Here’s what is known so far:
The SWIMMING CITIES collective is planing a new project for mid march 2010 on the Ganges river in India to coincide with the Kumbh Mela festival, the largest human gathering on the planet. We plan to construct a large fleet of small sculptural rafts and travel from the Himalayan foothills city of Haridwar to the holy city of Varanasi. our journey will culminate with a performance on a floating island theater comprised of the interlocking rafts.
These rafts will be designed and built by a number of the members of the Serenissima crew as well as members from past and future projects; this is not a ‘Swoon’ project, though she may be involved in some small way, or at least in spirit.
For more information, you can go to weareswimmingcities.org.
Kind of interesting that Swoon isn’t involved so much in this iteration of the Swimming Cities. As much as I love her art and the Swimming Cities project, I think that even in Venice this summer the Swimming Cities were much more of a team effort with Swoon’s artwork included than a Swoon project. This new direction might allow the idea to grow in new ways that weren’t possible when it was more focused on one person.
More photos are popping up of Steve Powers’ recent project A Love Letter For You (as previously mentioned). Found these photos on Hurt You Bad (I love it how the graffiti blog that coined the term “art fags” is promoting people like Steve Powers just because they have a graffiti background. Imagine what they would say if Powers had a street art background and painted these same things…).
And if you want to learn more about Powers and this project, his recent interview at Art Observed is a great read.
So this is a bit of an odd post. Personally, I’m not a fan of CZK‘s sculptures. I think that if they weren’t on the street, nobody would take notice. But what do I know? I’m just one guy. Almost every time I take people out on a street art tour of East London, people point out CZK’s work and love it.
Why is there this difference of opinion? My first thought is that maybe I’ve become too accustomed with what street art is supposed to look like, and CZK’s work is very different, or maybe it’s just an issue of taste. What do you think of CZK’s art? Here are some recent examples…
Cool video of Neckface from back in 2007.
And remember that October 31st is the opening of Neckface’s solo show Devil’s Disciple at O.H.W.O.W. in Miami.
Via Hurt You Bad
Rik Reinking’s latest curatorial project looks to be his biggest yet. He is going the FAME Festival route and just about taking over a city. Leuphana, Germany will be the site of the ARTotale – Urban Art Project from October 5th to 9th.
Here’s the press release:
More than 35 internationally renowned streetartists have been invited to install their work at various locations throughout the city centre and university campus. They are encountering broad support among the city‘s population. Numerous house owners have agreed to their buildings‘ walls being used for graffitis and other artworks. As part of Leuphana’s 2009 Welcome Week, the Urban Art Project will be recorded by 1.200 first-year students who will document the event by shooting videoclips that will be presented through an online media platform. The renowned urban art curator from Hamburg, Rik Reinking, will be leading the creative direction of the event. Expanding the potential spectatorship of this event well beyond the city‘s physical boundaries, public television stations will also document the interaction between artists, students and the population of Lueneburg during this rare presentation of contemporary art within the context of the city‘s medieval centre.
The artists invited to participate on this project come from a diverse mixture of nationalities and contemporary art backgrounds. They will reshape the appearance of Lueneburg’s historic township using: murals, classic graffiti writing, cut-outs, sculptures, installation art and performance art. The incorporation of this wide selection of urban art forms as well as their unique technical and contextual application in the historical center of Lueneburg have already begun to make it clear that this project will be a landmark event in the development and presentation of contemporary urban art. The artists participating in this event are leaders of their genre, a new generation of emerging creative producers. Their highly refined and precisely contextualized work is an indication of the future aesthetics of contemporary public art. Without loosing their deep connection to urban culture and the public sphere, these artists have already begun to assume representation in leading museums and galleries worldwide.
And who are the artists involved? Well it’s a long list:
Adam & Akay, Akim, Alex Diamond, Almut Linde, Ash, Ben Eine, Brad Downey, Boris Hoppek, Boxi, Bronco, Daniel Man, Dave the Chimp, D*face, DTAGNO, Faith47, Flying Förtress, Herakut, Herbert Baglione, Jay-One, Loomit, Mirko Reisser (DAIM), Moki & 1010, Mode2, Pius Portmann, SKKI, Swoon, Tilt, Trica, Tryone, Vitché & Jana, Word2mother, Zevs, Zezao, 56K
Highlights from that list for me are Brad Downey, Herakut, D*face, Faith47, Zezao, Swoon and Vitche. I might just have to try and visit the festival myself for the chance to see Zezao’s work in person. If only I weren’t already going to both Nuart and FAME (not that those won’t be awesome as well).
Dalek & Delta is the latest show at Elms Lesters in London, and of course it is a two person show with James Marshall aka Dalek and Boris Tellegen aka Delta. It’s open now and a great show for lovers of geometry.
Photos by s.butterfly
