This is post #3 and in our series about The Painted Desert Project. You can see posts 1 and 2 here andhere. The first round of The Painted Desert Project took place last month in the Navajo Nation and was an effort by Jetsonorama and Yote to use art to help improve the local economy. Gaia, Overunder, Doodles, Labrona, Jetsonorama, Tom Greyeyes and Breeze put up art as part of this round of the project, and there will be at least one more group of artists visiting in the future. After the jump, we have photos of work by Jetsonorama, Breeze, Gaia, Labrona and Doodles, as well as a couple of shots of Jetsonorama of the artists at work and play… Continue reading “The Painted Desert Project – round 1, post 3”
Here’s how Overunder describes the impetus for the project:
The Painted Desert Project began as Jetsonorama, aka Chip Thomas pasted one of his photographs on an abandoned roadside stand only to return months down the road and see the very same stand now open for business. Amazed, he pulled over and chatted with the folks only to learn that their impetus to re-open was based on seeing tourists stop to take photos of the art work. They figured it was the best captive audience they’d seen in years and the only thing to make it better was if there was another one for traffic going the opposite direction. Unabashadly Chip let them know about his altar ego Jetsonorama and the cogs started turning.
Before the paste could dry Chip and fellow street artist Yote had a plan to bring some of their favorite artist to the Painted Desert to paint run-down stands in an attempt to rejuvenate the life of those in need of business and as Chip states, “explore how this might build community.”
Overunder has more about his part in the project on his blog.
We hoped to connect artists with vendors working along the roadside in homemade structures where food and jewelery are sold. We attempted to familiarize artists with the culture before they started painting. Because of the location of this project where large walls are few, the emphasis was on establishing a connection with the community. Both Tom Greyeyes and Breeze are Native American and came to the project already sensitized. We’d hoped to get more local youth involved in working with the artists but will have to pursue this with future iterations of the project.
As much as I enjoy the mural projects going on around the world right now, things like The Painted Desert Project are fantastic low-key but potentially impactful counterpoints to the hype and huge walls that seem to accompany more urban festivals.
Some of the crew
Jetsonorama is a talented photographer who took some spectacular photos of the artists at work and of the finished walls and signs, so it’s going to take more than one post to show everything. After the jump, we’ll start with work by Labrona, Breeze and Overunder… Continue reading “The Painted Desert Project – round 1, post 1”
We don’t visit Bedford-Stuyvesant as often as we should, as its walls are among the most interesting – and least documented – around town. But we did get over there earlier this week, where we discovered new work by RAE and Gaia and found a huge mural — overlooking a community garden — by Lelo, a street artist from Rio de Janeiro.
Close-up of huge mural by RAEWe love the way RAE has integrated the tree into his most recent public pieceHuge Gaia paste-upGaia goes greenLeloLelo close-up
As Caroline mentioned earlier this month, the group Young New York is having a charity art auction this Tuesday at White Box Gallery in New York to raise money for their restorative justice art workshops with teenagers who have been put into the adult court system in New York.
Here are just a few of the dozens of artists with work in the auction: Steve Powers, NohjColey, Joe Iurato, Cake, Overunder, Gaia, Rudie Diaz, LNY, Blackmath, Mare139, Doodles, ND’A, Radical!, C215, Clown Soldier, Jill Cohen, Labrona and Luna Park. And here are a few of pieces that will be on offer:
This mural by Gaia, Dusk of H Street, was recently commissioned by Smith Commons. The piece is a rehashing of one of Gaia’s early oil paintings. Gaia says “The interior of the chest is an Albert Bierstadt landscape painting of Yosemite referencing American manifest destiny and western expansion. The virgin terrain is contrasted with an old vacant building on H street which is a historically divested neighborhood currently undergoing a massive transition.”
This is the first post in a two-part series based on the visit to Baltimore that Caroline Caldwell and I made last week. We made the trip to see Open Walls Baltimore, but ended up getting a taste of the larger street art and graffiti scenes in Baltimore too. This post is about the work we saw at Open Walls Baltimore. Thanks so much to Gaia, Killian, Martha Cooper, Nanook and AVOID for showing us around the city.
As previouslycovered, Open Walls Baltimore is Gaia‘s stab a street art/mural art festival. Taking inspirations from festivals like Wynwood Walls and Living Walls, Open Walls Baltimore has been bringing some of the world’s most talented street artists to Baltimore to paint murals. With the help of friends like Martha Cooper and Nanook, Gaia has managed to pull of quite a festival. This video gives a pretty good idea of what’s been going on from Freddy Sam’s perspective:
Like so many mural festivals, Open Walls Baltimore manages to do a lot with a small budget (at least compared to budgets like the budget of the Mural Arts Program). Caroline and I slept in Gaia’s studio next to Ever, which was also being used as Jaz‘ studio so that he could finish the work for his show in Barcelona, the studio for many of Gaia’s friends and the meeting place for most of the Open Walls Baltimore artists. When we arrived in town, Ever was stuck a couple of stories up in the air because his lift had nearly run out of gas. Despite minor snags like that, Open Walls Baltimore’s outward appearance is as a great success. Most, but not all, of the walls look good and have had a positive reception from the community.
Unlike a lot of other mural festivals, Open Walls Baltimore have been pretty honest about the criticism they have received and the double-edged sword that is muralism. This interview with Gaia really highlights just how complicated a mural festival can be for those directly involved and the communities receiving murals.
There are still a few pieces left to be finished, but the festival is winding down. Check out some of what Caroline and I saw on our visit after the jump… Continue reading “A visit in Baltimore: Legal art”
Other and Labrona at Haverford College. Photo by RJ Rushmore
Earlier this month, Labrona and Troy Lovegates aka Other came down from Canada for a few days. Their first stop was Haverford, the small Philadelphia suburb where I go to college. At Haverford College, they painted a mural on the same building that Gaia painted last year. Then, they spent less than 24 hours in Baltimore, but took advantage of every second for painting and getting up. In Baltimore, Martha Cooper invited them to paint in SoWeBo, a part of town where she has been photographing the residents.
Other and Labrona in Baltimore. Photo by Martha Cooper
Young New York: A Silent Art Auction & Fundraiser is an fundraising initiative for the Young New Yorkers (YNY) program, which aids and raises awareness for teens who have been legally classified “adults” and thrown into New York State’s adult criminal justice system.
The silent action will be happening Tuesday May 29th from 6pm-10pm at WhiteBoxes projects, and feature works by Steve “ESPO” Powers, LNY, Steven Holl, Gaia, Labrona, NohjColey, the YOK, ASVP, Doodles, Radical!, Feral Child, Cake, Ian Kuali’i and many others. All proceeds will go toward enabling workshops with successful artists, designers, teachers and social workers who will use creative theraputic methods to reach out to these teens in New York State’s criminal justice system.
You can purchase tickets to attend the auction here. For more information check out the YNY website or Facebook.
OverKill Studio’s Paint It Now has finally come to Philadelphia. The traveling series of Paint It Now exhibitions have been in Boston and Brooklyn, and the latest iteration of Paint It Now is due to open this Friday at Space 1026. The idea behind this series of exhibitions is that a group of artists have to work somewhat together as they all paint a series of white walls with only black paint. This time around, some of the artists include Gaia, el Celso, Stickman, Nose Go, Harlequinade and Buildmore.
Paint It Now opens on Friday the 4th from 7-10pm and runs through May 25th.
I stopped by yesterday to see how the show was coming together. From what I saw, the show is going to be close to that perfect mix of familiar faces and fresh talent that so many group shows strive for but few achieve. Check out our exclusive preview after the jump… Continue reading “Preview: Paint It Now at Space 1026”
