Bushwick awakens after the storm

Bushwick the night of the hurricane

While Bushwick did not take the bulk of the damage in Hurricane Sandy, the area’s reliance on underground subways into parts of the city that are now without electricity left many artists trapped in Brooklyn. National and international flights, trains and busses were all canceled for days, leaving artists Pixel Pancho and 2501 with some time on their hands.

Pixel Pancho
Pixel Pancho

By way of Martha Cooper’s hospitality and driving skills, the pair made their way through the borough’s paint stores searching for the right colors before landing at Bushwick 5 Points. Enduring the smells emanating from the live poultry establishment on the corner, Pixel Pancho incorporated his style of rusted robots into the building’s gritty razor-wire and concrete exterior.

2501
2501

Meanwhile, 2501 added his geometric forms to the area of Bushwick 5 Points that is slowly housing the abstract work of fellow artists such as See One and Hellbent. Leaving town the following day, the artist put time to the test when creating his latest optical illusion.

2501
See One and Hellbent in Progress

As 2501 wrapped up his wall, See One and Hellbent continued working across the street on their massive collaborative wall. Through slowly building up layers weekend after weekend, the pair near the completion of their largest wall date. With jobs and trains canceled into next week, weeks of bending color and form could come to a close soon.

Photos by Rhiannon Platt

BSA and Hellbent Bring You “Geometricks”

(Detail) Olek

In the first of hopefully a prolific series of exhibitions, Brooklyn Street Art presents Geometricks, curated by street artist and art historian Hellbent. Rather than simply pairing random street artists together, as many exhibitions do, Geometricks attempts to delineate a movement that is currently at play within the scene. Artists scattered around the world have started creating pieces whose focus is abstract geometry. Featuring the work of Augustine Kofie, Chor Boogie, Drew Tyndell, Feral Child, Hellbent, Jaye Moon, Maya Hayuk, MOMO, OLEK, OverUnder, and See One, the show reaches to several cities to gather artists from different ends of the geometric(k) spectrum.

(Detail) Overunder
(Detail) Maya Hayuk

The different ends of this spectrum include artists who both directly and indirectly create work from rigid forms. With the paintings of featured artists Maya Hayuk and Augustine Kofie, the thematic connection to their imagery is blatant, though stunning nonetheless. It was, however, the installation pieces of Olek and Jaye Moon that I found to be most engaging in the space. The dimensionality inherent in the way that they create their pieces added a layer to their importance in a show centered on shape.

Jaye Moon
(Detail) Augustine Kofie
Jaye Moon

It is important to note that in addition to the work seen above, Hellbent has featured a wall specifically for a student’s budget. Many artists, such as Jaye Moon (featured above), See One, and Feral Child, have created smaller interpretations of their larger gallery pieces and have been priced at under $200.

Geometricks will have a public opening tonight from 6pm to 8pm at Gallery Brooklyn and will run from September 22 to October 28. Free shuttle service will be provided from the Carroll Street F/G station to the gallery as well as from the after party back to the station.

All photos by Rhiannon Platt

Hellbent and BSA bring you GEOMETRICKS and inexpensive art for students

Feral Child

Brooklyn Street Art are going to be organizing a series of shows at Brooklyn’s new gallery, Gallery Brooklyn. Vandal or Visionary Series has kind of a cool concept, where BSA will pick a different artist to curate each show in the series. The first show in the series is GEOMETRICKS, curated by Hellbent. The artists in the show are Augustine Kofie, Chor Boogie, Drew Tyndell, Feral Child, Hellbent, Jaye Moon, Maya Hayuk, MOMO, OLEK, Overunder and See One, so between that line up and the name of the show, it’s probably pretty clear that GEOMETRICKS is about work by people in the street art community who are leaving lettering and pop art behind and including somewhat abstract shapes and patterns in their work, kind of like a street-art friendly version of graffuturism.

Augustine Kofie

In addition to a great line up of artists, the thing I’m most excited about with this show is that their will be one wall of the show devoted to inexpensive and discounted works for students only. The Young Collectors Wall will only have work by the GEOMETRICKS artists priced under $200, and you’ll have to show a valid student ID to purchase any of the pieces. I have to applaud BSA for this idea. It’s rare that a gallery will have quality artwork or art products available at prices that are reasonable for students. So students, get to the show early, because I’m betting that these works will be gone quickly. You might get a real steal and suddenly have the best-decorated room in your dorm.

Here’s a little invite from BSA:

You are cordially invited to have a blast in Red Hook Brooklyn with BSA Saturday Sept 22nd, where we’ll present amazing new gallery works from 11 of the best Street Artists doing abstract GEOMETRICKS on the street right now, musical jams from John Breiner, and a special Young Collectors Wall where a limited number of works by the artists in the show will be on sale under $200 for students with a current valid school ID. After GEOMETRICKS walk a few blocks to party with us at Brooklyn Crab and take the free shuttle bus back to the subway when it’s all over. It’s a cool September night in Red Hook that you don’t want to miss!

The show opens September 22nd from 6-9pm and runs through October 28th at Gallery Brooklyn (351 Van Brunt St, Red Hook, Brooklyn, NY).

Check out BSA for more info.

Photos courtesy of Brooklyn Street Art

Bushwick’s Low Brow Artique Opens with “Welcome to the Neighborhood”

Bushwick’s new Low Brow Boutique is a street artist’s and street art lover’s dream. Offering a first-rate selection of aerosol art supplies, it also houses a gallery and store that features a range of artwork in different media by artists whose primary canvas is the streets.  The brainchild of Bishop 203 – who’s left his mark for years on everything from freight trains to stickers – Low Brow Boutique officially opens tomorrow Saturday evening at 7 pm at 143 Central Avenue in Bushwick.  When we stopped by this afternoon, the Yok, Sheryo and See One were busy gracing its exterior and Rhiannon Platt, who curated the opening exhibit “Welcome to the Neighborhood.” shared some of the artwork with us. Here are a few images:

The Yok and Sheryo at work
See One at work
A small sampling of supplies
Willow artwork on exhibit
Cern artwork on exhibit
Elle artwork on exhibit

Other artists in Low Brow Artique’s opening exhibit include: Clown Soldier, Enx, Sheryo, the Yok and See One. Welcome to the neighborhood!

Photos by Tara Murray and Lois Stavsky

East Village’s Dorian Grey Gallery Presents Groupe GRAFF

LA 11

I discovered the East Village’s Dorian Grey Gallery last spring when it exhibited a wonderfully diverse selection of LA 11’s artwork. LA 11 is just one of many artists in Dorian Grey’s current exhibit, GroupeGRAFF, featuring work by an eclectic array of artists who have impacted — or certainly reflect — much of what has been happening on the streets during the past 30 years.  Here are a few images from the exhibit:

Grafter
Richard Hambleton
Crash
Dolk
See One

Included too are works by: Aiko, ERO, Keith Haring, Jeff Henriquez, Mau Mau and others. Distinct pieces by Banksy and Swoon are also featured. A particular favorite — as it’s literally a piece of graffiti history — is a segment of a door from the legendary Mudd Club tagged by the likes of Keith Haring & Fab 5 Freddy:

Tagged fragment of door at the legendary Mudd Club

An opening reception will be held tomorrow evening, April 28th, 5-8 pm.  The exhibit continues through May 16th at 437 East 9th Street near Avenue A in Manhattan’s East Village.

Photos by Lois Stavsky

JMR & See One Bring Color & Motion to Brooklyn’s DUMBO

See One

There hasn’t been much new on the streets of Brooklyn’s DUMBO for awhile now. I’m not quite sure why, and I miss the art that used to surface regularly on DUMBO’s public spaces. But Mighty Tanaka’s current exhibit “Color & Motion” featuring the energetic, brightly hued works of New York City artists JMR and See One was worth our visit to this Brooklyn district.

See One
See One
JMR
JMR

The exhibit continues through next Friday, April 6th @ 111 Front Street.

Photos by Lois Stavsky