Celebrating the release of Christian P. Acker’s Flip the Script, an elegant analysis of the best graffiti hand styles across the U.S., Reed Space on Manhattan’s Lower East Side is hosting a one-night art show tonight showcasing an amazing array of works by those artists featured in the book. Here’s a brief preview:
Photos by Lois Stavsky
KATSU, one of my favorite writers of all time, has had quite a week. I was just going to throw these things in the weekend link-o-rama because other blogs have covered the events so well, but then stories about KATSU just kept piling up. So, here they are:
Photo by Dani Mozeson
Last year while Above was in Cape Town, South Africa, he completed a project that he has titled Ubuntu, after the South African philosophy that says that to be human is to be part of a community. With this project, Above reminds us that even relatively simple interventions in public space can be extremely powerful if done right. Okay, this one did require that Above get up on a lift for the installation, but the piece was made by local children out of old car tires. The tires went from trash to community artwork. Now, every child who helped Above has a stake in that sculpture, which serves as a physical reminder of the stake they each have in their community. Plus, it got a lot of kids painting, which is always good.
Here’s a video of the project:
You may notice that the video does not include a shot of the finished piece, but it kind of doesn’t matter what the piece looks like. What matters is that it was built by a community.
Photo courtesy of Above
For two years the wall shown above remained a fixture at 5 Pointz in Long Island City. Few artists see that amount of exposure on the building’s rotating facades. At the time that they were visiting, few walls were adorned with their signature characters, and even fewer pieces could be seen at this scale in New York. The combination of Creepy’s cute winged man combined with the Yok’s pensive owl made for a moving aesthetic combination that moved viewers to visit the work multiple times during its life.
Since this piece came into realization, we have seen the Yok and Sheryo become regular painting partners as well as (semi)regular residents of New York City. It seemed only fitting that the long running Creepy and the Yok wall should come to an end in order to usher in Spring and with it the Yok and Sheryo’s return to New York.
A constant fixture of last year’s warm weather, the return of the Yok and Sheryo signals the shape of things to come: warmer days, and of course more walls. That being said, a downpour postponed finishing the last fourth of the wall for a later day. It seems that the warm weather is just a “Pipe Dream,” like their wall. But it’s technically spring, right?
Photos by Rhiannon Platt and courtesy of The Yok
Graffiti legends Revok and Ces are the stars in Diego Bergia‘s latest animated short for his ongoing arcade game project featuring his character Lepos. Okay, I know this is just a quick little animation and all of Bergia’s other arcade game pieces are just animations too, but I wish this could be developed into a fully functioning game. Marina Galperina over at AnimalNY agrees with me, and so she asked Bergia about that possibility. His response: “Fuck yeah. As long as I can pay the rent, I’m doing it.”
TrustoCorp have a show opening this month at LeBasse Projects in Los Angeles. The Future is Blight opens April 13th from 6-9pm and runs through May 11th. The show will tackle issues of income inequality in LA. TrustoCorp say, “Underneath the glossy veneer of tabloid magazines and Hollywood movies, the former middle class is struggling, families are facing poverty and America is slowly becoming a third world country. In the absence of any real help or solid solutions, there is hypocrisy, greed and hopelessness. Through our work, we hope to call attention to this reality, crack a few smiles and hopefully make some people think along the way. After all, when the mistakes of the past are repeated, the future is blight.”
Photo courtesy of LeBasse Projects
At the heart of graffiti is the old adage “if there’s a will there’s a way;” this idea manifests itself through the practical application of fire extinguishers, home made etch, and other DIY solutions. Opening this week, Vagrants will focus on the work of what DIY curation Vagrant Space defines as “social outsiders.” On view will be the work of Adam Void, Peter Dear, George Charles Bates, Andrew H. Shirley, Jefferson Mayday Mayday, Chelsea Ragan, Craig Mammano, Jeffrey Vincent, Dylan Thadani, Edwards Harper, Margaret Rogers, Emily Campbell, Misha Capecchi, and Safwat Riad. A combination in the curation efforts of Andrew H. Shirley and Vagrant Space, this show is one not to miss for those who love the grime and DIY ethos behind graffiti.
For a more in depth look at the ideologies behind this project, the following press release offers a key to understanding the work of artists who position themselves outside of traditional contact and society.
From the press release:
Vagrant Space is an ongoing curation for a new generation of Outsider Artists. This new school no longer fits the caricatured confines of the self-taught, emotionally troubled, and uneducated recluse promoted by the Folk Art gallery world. Coming of age during the transformative years of globalization, internet proliferation, and social media, these artists share the affects traditionally ascribed to social outsiders: many of them don’t utilize contemporary social media skills, eschew the responsibilities of ‘maturity,’ and most importantly, genuinely reflect the homelessness that is hallmark to this era of twenty and thirty-year-olds.
The fourteen artists featured in the first round of Vagrant Space hail from Asheville, Seattle, Baltimore, Brooklyn, Portland, San Francisco, and Sydney. They all represent this new generation of outsider artist. Many of these artists are travelers, recluses, graffiti artists, and social outcasts. Vagrant Space seeks to share their work with the public at large through a series of pop-up shows, print publications, and an online gallery.
Vagrants, the first group show from this collective, will take place Thursday, April 4th from 6-10pm at Tender Trap (254 South 1st St. Brooklyn, NY).
Photos courtesy of Vagrant Space
Ben Eine is a busy man these days with lots of shows, walls, and a move to San Fransisco. Tim Hans met up with Eine in Shoreditch while he was painting for the latest in our continuing series of photo-portraits of artists by Tim Hans.
RJ: How did changing the Pro/Anti walls in Shoreditch to the Extortionist/Protagonist walls come about?
Eine: Basically I have just moved my studio from Hastings, the courier company wouldn’t allow me to ship the spray paint, I had a few thousand cans. so I thought I would use as much of it as I could. LondoNewcastle who own the building with anti anti anti on it had contacted me around the time of Shepard paintings down the road to see if I was up for repainting it. Yes was the answer, I then spoke with Mother who own the propropro wall, they were up for it as well but no one had any budget for paint or anything, wankers. The old paintings had been there for nearly 3 years and were looking shabby, plus I never liked the way antiantianti photographed, the contours of the wall made it look weird, the challenge there was to paint something that photographed better than the old anti.
RJ: Why the move to SF? What’s that been like?
Eine: I fell in love with San Francisco and a lady called Carrie, plus London is easy for me. I wanted to paint somewhere where walls are harder to get and not everyone is on your side. The move has been fucking slow and expensive, my new studio is 4 times as expensive as my old one in Hastings.
RJ: How do you think the recent harsh prison sentences for graffiti in London have affected the work that is going up or not?
Eine: It’s bollocks, Oker had almost stopped, he has kids and a job, nothing violent in what he does, I don’t think he was that much of a menace that he needed to be sent to prison especially for 2 years, we just did an art auction for his wife at pure evil gallery, so at least she doesn’t have to worry about loosing the house while her man is inside. I’m not sure if these crazy jail sentences really stop people from painting trains and bombing. Getting caught is part of being a vandal.
RJ: What’s a dream location for you to paint?
Eine: More cities in America, big walls in New York, SF, LA and some other cities I can’t think of.
RJ: What upcoming projects can we expect to see from you?
Eine: I got a show in Paris, Galerie LE FEUVRE (164, Faubourg St. Honoré 75008 Paris) which closes April 21st. It’s a group show with Sickboy, and Shoe from Amsterdam. Then a solo show with Corey Helford opens June 15th, and then a few big walls around.
Photos by Tim Hans
Last summer, Aryz painted a few works on wood panels in Næstved, Denmark while he was in town to paint a mural. The wood panel pieces are now on display for the first time. They can be seen in the waiting room at the Næstved bus station. Why can’t American bus stops be this cool? Henrik Haven sent over these photos of the work.
Photos by Henrik Haven
Vandalog is proud to announce the latest product in The Vandalog Shop and our second product in the shop by a Vandalog contributing writer. Tag Happy, Rx Uppers is an edition of sculptures by Caroline Caldwell. These relabeled spray cans include veiled references to key people and places in the history of graffiti. How many can you spot?
Tag Happy, Rx Uppers comes in black or pink versions, each an edition of 10 which are signed and numbered on the underside of the sculpture. When shipped within the continental United States, Tag Happy, Rx Uppers will arrive as a full can of real spray paint. For all other orders, the cans will be emptied and a small hole will be put in the bottom of the piece. Tag Happy, Rx Uppers are available now at $22 for one black or pink sculpture, or $40 for a matching set of black and pink pieces. Each sculpture also comes with a set of handwritten instructions.
I’ve had an early version of the Tag Happy, Rx Uppers sitting on my shelf for the last year alongside sculptures by artists including Faile, Sweet Toof, and Skewville, and it more than holds its own against those classics. Caroline’s sense of style is perfectly encapsulated in these pieces, and they’re a friendly reminder for the vandal in all of us.
Starting today, you can find Tag Happy, Rx Uppers in The Vandalog Shop.
Photos by Caroline Caldwell
