The Barry McGee retrospective in Berkeley, CA

© Gareth Gooch 2012

Barry McGee’s retrospective at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive opened a couple of days ago, and damn am I jealous of pretty much anyone on the west coast right now. The show is open now through December 9th. Thanks so much to Gareth Gooch for all these photos of the show, which I’m just going to post without much further commentary, because they really seem to be enough. You either get it or not.

© Gareth Gooch 2012
© Gareth Gooch 2012
© Gareth Gooch 2012
© Gareth Gooch 2012
© Gareth Gooch 2012

More after the jump… Continue reading “The Barry McGee retrospective in Berkeley, CA”

Weekend link-o-rama

FIGHT by Rub Kandy

I’m off for a few days of traveling. Expect lots of pictures. Here’s what we missed on Vandalog this week:

Photo by Rub Kandy

Weekend link-o-rama

LNY in Baltimore

Caroline and I were in Baltimore this week checking out Open Walls Baltimore. If you have the chance, definitely make a trip over there. Full posts about Baltimore coming soon. Point is, between Baltimore and moving this weekend, I’ve been lax this week. Things should return to normal on Wednesday or Thursday, but in the mean time, here’s what I’ve been meaning to post about:

Photo by RJ Rushmore

Sever on street art?

What is Sever trying to say with this piece? Honestly, I am confused. That Twist head in particular looks really well painted, but the actual meaning of the piece is unclear. Is he taking a shot at street art in general? If so, Vandalog readers know that I would be ready to listen and probably even laugh. But I’m just not sure what the joke is, or if Sever is making a joke at all. Maybe I’m an idiot and the meaning of this piece is apparent to everyone but me (maybe even because it’s aimed at bloggers like me), but I have some questions…

Did Sever intend this as a diss to all street art or just contemporary street art, and what does he think of the artists whose logos he included? Does he like them and just dislike the latest street art? Does he dislike all street art? Is this piece is street art itself? Does Sever do street art now too? If so, what does that mean? Is this not a diss about street art at all but rather just a bunch of iconic images mashed up together because such a piece would obviously go viral? Is street art dead?

I’m curious to hear what, if anything, Sever will say about this piece. He is a member of MSK. Some members of MSK have transitioned over the last few years into doing art that looks more and more like street art on an aesthetic level while still retaining their roots in graffiti. Sever has done some of that as well, not just with this piece, but also with these two and probably others. What differentiates members of MSK who are embracing the aesthetics of street art from the Johnny-Come-Lately street artists whom Sever seems to be bemoaning with this piece? Is it that the members of MSK have years of experience with illegal graffiti (they definitely have that experience)? Is it that the members of MSK are more skilled than other artists (they definitely are skilled)?

Pretty much all that I can say for sure is that Sever knows how to paint and knows some icons of street art/character-based graffiti. The rest of what I’ve got right now are questions. Does anyone out there have answers? If so, please leave a comment.

And if you’re looking for some art where street art is the butt of the joke and the joke is a bit more clear, try Lush, mobstr or Katsu.

Photo by Jsinghur

Weekend link-o-rama

Elfo and BR1 (BR1 won the game)

Late link-o-rama this week. Troy Lovegates and Labrona are visiting to paint a mural at Haverford College, and it’s the week of all my final exams. Here’s what I’ve been reading to distract myself:

Photo by Elfo

Retna at the historical Bowery/Houston wall

Photo by i_follow

Keith Haring. Daze. Os Gemeos. Barry McGee. All of these artists have painted murals at the same spot at Bowery and Houston in New York City. The Street Spot has a history of the spot over the last five years, but it’s been being painted since at least the 1980’s. This week, Retna became the most recent great artist to paint at Bowery and Houston. Unfortunately, I’m not on the east coast right now because I would have loved to have seen this mural being painted, but plenty of New York photographers have been over to document the new mural both in progress on Monday and Tuesday and as a completed piece. Check out some of my favorite shots by Matthew Kraus after the jump… Continue reading “Retna at the historical Bowery/Houston wall”

Weekend link-o-rama

Bananananas by Dal

Well, the internet went a bit crazy this week, but it looks like we’re winning. Thank you to anyone who noticed that Vandalog was offline on Wednesday in protest of SOPA and PIPA and took the time to contact their representatives to voice objections to the bills. But enough about politics. This is an art blog.

Photo by Dal

So many stickers at Maxwell Colette Gallery

Sticker wall organized by DB Burkeman for Wynwood Walls 2010

Chicago’s Maxwell Colette Gallery is kicking off the new year with STUCK UP: A Selected History of Alternative & Pop Culture Told Through Stickers, January 20th from 6-10pm. The show is curated by DB Burkeman, author of the ultimate book on stickers, and is a chance to see some of the best stickers from DB’s collection, including stickers by Barry McGee, Jenny Holzer, Banksy and Kaws. On January 21st from 1-3pm, the gallery will host a book signing with DB and seminal graffiti photographer Martha Cooper, who has had two books of her photos of stickers published.

In addition to Stuck Up, there will be work at the gallery by Chris Mendoza and a version of the Slap Happy charity project that DB and Paul Weston curated for SCOPE Miami last year.

Photo by Lulu Vision

While I was under a rock link-o-rama

Unknown artist

Well, while I had myself more or less locked in a library underground for the better part of last week, the art world did not stand still. And so we have this special Tuesday edition of the typically friday event – the link-o-rama:

  • Olek is facing charges in London (not related to her street art), and needs your help. Hyperallergic has more info.
  • Banksy has loaned a sculpture to a museum in Liverpool. Meh. Another artwork that just as easily could have been seen at any urban art group show, but it’s by Banksy so the BBC and the rest of us should apparently care. What is this? It’s not just with Banksy. Bloggers in particular, we seem to have this urge to always be the first to say “Yeah, I saw that girl’s work first and said she was cool” and a fear of being caught in a situation where everyone except us thinks that some artist or artwork is great. And now I’m rambling…
  • Blu just painted two walls in Buenos Aires. Here’s the first and here’s the second.
  • I’m loving this new sculpture from Leon Reid IV about the financial crisis.
  • Todd James also has a new sculpture in both bronze and porcelain. It’s for sale at Toykyo.
  • Mode2’s new work (NSFW) might be the best I’ve ever seen from him. Amazing stuff.
  • KAWS has a show on now at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
  • Knock Knock is a new online magazine with a lot about street art and graffiti in Australia.
  • Kunle Martins aka Earsnot aka the founder of the infamous IRAK crew participated in Wynwood Walls this year alongside Jesse Geller aka Nemel. Martha Cooper has shots of what they got up to and then the Wynwood Walls video series has a great episode on them. For some people, it may be hard to avoid comparisons to this wall by Barry McGee. 12ozProphet says “The building painted by IRAK for Wynwood Walls is inspired by Barry McGee’s tag-filled murals… Earsnot and Nemel build on Barry McGee’s tag wall concept by filling the wall with a variety of monochromatic shades of overlapping tags creating the illusion of depth.”

Photo by Damonabnormal

Anonymous Gallery opens in Mexico City

Anonymous Gallery is launching their permanent space in Mexico City with Fresh Kills, a group show opening this weekend. The artists in this show are purported to, in an effort for renewal, reuse materials that most would consider trash, so the name Fresh Kills comes from Freshkills Park, an upcoming park project in New York to redevelop a site that used to be a landfill. As usual, Anonymous Gallery have put together an impressive group of artists for this show: Aaron Young, Agathe Snow, Barry McGee, David Ellis, Greg Lamarche, Hanna Liden, Richard Prince, Swoon and Tom Sachs. Fresh Kills opens on the 17th, this Thursday and runs through January 15th.