Tag: Meres

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See you at Living Walls 2014

Troy Lovegates at work in Atlanta
Troy Lovegates at work in Atlanta

This week the annual Living Walls Conference is taking place it Atlanta. This is the 5th year of the conference. Artists for the mural-making portion of the conference include Troy Lovegates, Moneyless, HENSE, Bayete Ross Smith, Borondo and Vandalog contributing writer Caroline Caldwell. This year’s supplementary events include an outdoor screening of Brad Downey‘s Public Discourse, the annual bicycle mural tour, a series of talks with people like Meres from 5Pointz, the opening party at The Goat Farm, and a panel discussion with me and my friends Monica Campana (Executive Director of Living Walls) and Austin McManus (Photography Director for Juxtapoz).

If you’re in Atlanta, I hope you’ll come out and support, not just because I would love to see a packed house for the panel that I’m on (although that would be nice), but because I love Living Walls and Living Walls has made me love Atlanta. This is going to be a great conference.

Photo courtesy of Living Walls

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Live painting, new murals and music in Little Italy this Saturday

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As I mentioned yesterday, this Saturday we’re holding a party outdoors in Little Italy. Presented by Wix.com, the party is to celebrate all the murals that myself and others in The L.I.S.A. Project NYC have been organizing in Little Italy, particularly Tristan Eaton’s brand new Liberty mural. The party is also a chance to watch a brand new mural painted live as part of a Secret Walls competition.

I’m especially pumped for Secret Walls. Tristan Eaton and Jay Edlin aka J.SON/TERROR161 will be judging as Bishop203, Epic, SeeOne and Meres face off against Greg Mishka, L’Amour Supreme, Buff Monster and Jon Burgerman in an 90-minute live painting session just below Ron English’s Temper Tot mural.

So, come by Mulberry Street this Saturday afternoon for some art, drinks and music.

More info about the party here.

Flyer courtesy of The L.I.S.A. Project NYC

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Tristan Eaton’s “Liberty” mural in Little Italy

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Earlier this week, Tristan Eaton completed this mural, titled Liberty, in Little Italy in New York City. Liberty is just across the street from Ron English’s Temper Tot mural from last October. I helped a little bit with organizing Tristan’s mural as part of my work with Wayne Rada at The L.I.S.A. Project NYC, but this mural had been in the works since before I got involved or The L.I.S.A. Project even existed, and it was the planning of this mural that resulted in the creation of The L.I.S.A. Project. I am so happy to finally see Liberty up on the wall, visible from Mulberry Street and Canal Street, adding something really special to the area. From the moment I saw Tristan’s first mock-up, I thought, “This is going to be iconic,” but Tristan has really outdone himself. Liberty is beautiful and iconic, but it really is Tristan’s interpretation of the Statue of Liberty and American ideals, rather than just a straightforward depiction of an already-iconic image.

If you want to check out the mural in person, I suggest coming down to Little Italy on Saturday afternoon when we’ll have five hours of events planned around Liberty and the other murals on Mulberry Street, including the live painting of a new piece as part of a Secret Walls competition. Bishop203, Epic, SeeOne and Meres will be competing against Greg Mishka, L’Amour Supreme, Buff Monster and Jon Burgerman, with Jay Edlin aka Terro161 aka J.SON (author of the book Graffiti 365) and Tristan Eaton as judges. More info on the Facebook event page.

Lastly, I want to thank Wix.com and all the individual supporters who have sponsored the mural. Hopefully, this is just part one of two, with Tristan adding Justice to Mulberry Street soon.

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Photos courtesy of The L.I.S.A. Project NYC

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Meres and Spudbomb collaborate in Little Italy

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Last week Meres of 5Pointz and Spudbomb from Toronto collaborated on this piece in Little Italy, on one of The L.I.S.A. Project NYC‘s rotating walls. This was one of co-curator Wayne Rada’s ideas and I really wasn’t sure how this wall was gonna go, but I trust Meres and like that Spud took on Toronto’s mayor as a subject in his work, so I was curious. Seeing the finished product, I think the guys did a really great job. It’s a solid piece with each artist bringing their trademark characters to Little Italy and giving them a slight Italian twist. For me, what’s so fun about working on The L.I.S.A. Project is helping bring pieces like these to life. The work fits in with Little Italy, but it’s still not exactly the kind of mural you would expect to see there.

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Photos courtesy of The L.I.S.A. Project NYC

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Weekend link-o-rama

R.Satz in London
R.Satz in London

Sorry for all the downtime on Vandalog this week. I dunno what’s up with Vandalog’s web host. If you have suggestions of a good web host that I could move to (even though I just switched to Gandi), let me know. Anyway, here’s what I’ve been reading:

Photo by RJ Rushmore

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Toofly and Meres at 5Pointz

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Recently, Toofly and Meres collaborated on this piece at the Queens graffiti mecca 5Pointz. These New York City natives were introduced to graffiti at young ages from growing up around it, and both gained experience transitioning their graffiti work to gallery pieces after attending two of New York’s prestigious art schools (Toofly attended SVA and Meres attended FIT). Both have since gone on to have successful art careers which incorporate their love of graffiti; Meres is the curator of all the murals at 5Pointz and Toofly has been involved in projects such as starting her own fashion collection.

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Toofly X Meres 5Pointz 2013

Photos courtesy of Toofly

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5Pointz: Paradise “Not Quite” Lost

Long Island City’s renowned graffiti mecca 5Pointz is one-of-a-kind, as its devotees span cultural backgrounds, nationalities, social classes and ages with their love of expressive aerosol art. Visiting today, we would never know that the threat of closure looms. Writers from Australia, Poland, and Spain, as well as locals, were at work on new walls, and tourists and sightseers were everywhere.  It is difficult to imagine this city without 5Pointz. Instead of becoming the site of an apartment complex as its developer is planning, it could ideally evolve into a museum that would provide an outlet and a showcase for the talent and creative energy that continues to find its way there. And as it has in the past, it should continue to serve as a valuable resource for educators and students. When we asked Meres, the tireless force behind 5Pointz’ success, what we can do to help preserve 5Pointz, he urged us to sign the petition http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/support5pointz/. A sampling of what we saw today follows:

Ego Crew, Madrid; photo by Lenny Collado
Meres, Cortes, Zeso; NYC & Paris; photo by Lois Stavsky
Samp, NYC: photo by Lenny Collado
Monstrinho & FlyPelicanFly of the Get Vicious Collective; NYC, photo by Lois Stavsky

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It’s Been Busy @ 5Pointz

Although 5Pointz officially launches its 2011 season today, writers from abroad — as well as local ones — have been busy this past month.  The pieces don’t often last long, and we’ve been trying to document this Long Island City graffiti mecca weekly.  Here are three (of many) faves that have recently surfaced:

The Yok and Creepy from Australia, photo by Lois Stavsky
Never @ Work, photo by Yasmin Jones
Meres, et al, photo by Lois Stavsky