For his series entitled “Vacancy”, Guido van Helton paints portraits of actual public sculptures, keeping the classical antiquity of these statues in public spaces through a new medium.”They attempt to highlight the contrast between the permanence of sculpture vs the ephemeral nature of street art,” says the artist.
These pieces were done in his home country, Australia, but Guido is making his way to London soon and is eager for more walls.
Photos by Guido van Helton
Merry Christmas from myself and also Veng, who made this Christmas version of his Piper character.
Photo by Veng
Exquisite placement of these pieces by Hyuro in Valencia. Though it is up to interpretation, to me these murals represent women attempting to break free from their roles as “homemaker”, “cook”, “laundry-doer”, etc. The content is great. This is probably one of the last groups I would imagine getting represented on the street.
Photos by Hyuro
Based these days for most of the year in her native town of Quito, Ecuador, Maria Castillo aka Toofly recently hit NYC and Miami. Here are some images:
Photos courtesy of Toofly
Momo‘s peice for Wywood Walls 2012 looks fantastic. Those curved lines look like they required the utmost precision.
Photos courtesy of Momo
So much news this week, but first and foremost is the untimely death of NEKST, a globally respected writer.
Photo by C-Monster.net
Earlier this year, Roa visited Eric Firestone, Carlo McCormick, and Medvin Sobio’s Boneyard Project in Arizona. The result is one of my favorite pieces from the project yet. Roa painted on a a plane that had been used by the US Navy during the Korean War.
Photos courtesy of Roa
Both Swoon and Nosego are involved in active Kickstarter projects that are fundraising right now.
Swoon is headed back to Haiti for the latest iteration of the Konbit Shelter Project. That Kickstarter is looking to raise $30,000 to build their third building in a small town in Haiti. The money will primarily go to purchasing building materials and paying community members to help the Konbit Shelter team with construction. This time around, the hope is that the team will be able to use building techniques that are more affordable and sustainable than ever before. After the third building is finished, a book will be published explaining the techniques that Konbit Shelter has been honing for the past three years so that they can be used by others. You can contribute to that project here. Rewards include lots of beautiful artwork. And here’s a video about the project:
Nosego’s project is a sort of followup to the highly addictive iPhone game Catball Eats It All, a game which extensively features artwork by Nosego. The new game being developed is Rusty the Rainbow Whale. Again, all the graphics will be based on paintings by Nosego, and the plot of the game sounds a lot like him too: Rusty the Rainbow Whale can make a giant rainbow by eating tasty hamburgers, and he waits to make a rainbow so large that it makes everyone in the world smile simultaneously, so he has to eat a lot of hamburgers. The project needs $5,000 to help fund the game’s development. You can help fund the game and learn more by going here. Rewards include lots of Rusty-related products and artwork, or even your very own Nosego mural.
Photos by RJ Rushmore
During the Renaissance, a cabinet of curiosities collected works of art, historical relics, and other artifacts in a room, or cabinet, for display. Through not only his style, but in the way that he inhabits his space, Beau Stanton harkens upon these old world ideas. Inspired by objects he finds exploring abandoned buildings, the shelves of his studio embody this Renaissance display technique. Photographs, bottles, and broken mechanisms touch upon Stanton’s affinity for craftsmanship of days gone by.
Deeply rooted in art historical tradition, the artist’s inspiration board gives direct insight into types of craft work that are replicated within his paintings. In addition to his collection of antiquities, stained glass windows from the same era act as additional visual inspiration. The stained glass forms that are displayed in the vaulted windows of Renaissance churches can be seen strategically flanking, or more often than not covering, the bodies of the women the artist chooses to portray. However, Stanton is well versed in the use of patterns throughout art history, not limiting his influences to a specific time or movement. The work of turn of the century artists such as Gustav Klimt and art deco furnishings can also be seen as driving forces behind his pieces.
It is not only the decorative flourishes of 19th century furnishings, but also the craftsmanship behind each piece that speaks to his aesthetics. With the smallest of brushes, Stanton replicates the minute details of the masters of carpentry and glass that he so admires. It is not only by drawing upon these visual elements that Beau Stanton stand apart from other contemporary artists, but also through the emulation of a work ethic that is sadly waning in our current mass production culture.
Photos by Rhiannon Platt
This past Saturday, I was in New York’s Little Italy helping to facilitate some more walls there. Thanks to Little Italy, Sambuca’s Cafe, Umberto’s Clam House, The Low Brow Artique and Montana Cans, we brought Chris and Veng of Robots Will Kill and Nosego to Little Italy for two new pieces of Christmas-themed art. It was a great day, and everyone had a lot of fun painting and chatting with all the people who stopped by to see what was going on.
Chris and Veng painted a spot just next to Umberto’s Clam House on Mulberry Street between Grand and Hester. I love the detail on Chris’ character’s sweater of a Robots Will Kill logo made partially from candy canes.
Unfortunately, this photo is about all that’s left of Nosego’s piece, painted on Mulberry Street between Hester and Canal. A vigilante Grinch must have not wanted us to be spreading Christmas cheer, because the piece was painted over in a really poor buff job on Monday night. Such a shame, given how many people seemed to be loving the piece on Saturday evening. Nosego, Little Italy, and Vandalog wanted to get people smiling and excited for Christmas, but somebody wasn’t smiling. But hey, art outdoors is always temporary. Sometimes this sort of thing happens. Of course, we didn’t plan for the piece to be up forever anyway. Christmas in July is for retailers, not murals. I just feel bad that I dragged Nosego up from Philly for the day, and that so many people are going to miss out on a seeing a great mural.
Photos by RJ Rushmore, Wayne Rada and Ruddy Was Here
