February 2006

Thoroughfare show in Brooklyn

Posted February 28, 2006 by in Events

Come check out THOROUGHFARE, an installation by: Andrew Poneros, Leon Reid (Darius Jones), and Alex Holden.

Upon entering the Riviera Gallery, the viewer will be brought into a completely different environment that combines natural and manmade elements.

The walls of the gallery are covered by one mural, depicting a vast wooded landscape. Interspersed on these walls are various two dimensional works by Andrew Poneros and Alex Holden. Throughout the gallery are a variety of street sign oriented sculptures by Leon Reid. Metal trees are placed throughout the gallery. The floor of the gallery is completely covered in synthetic grass. Audible is a discreet mix of bird calls and car horns.

In addition to these sculptures and trees, there are several signposts, featuring street sign oriented work by all three artists.

Their intention is to explore the relationship between urban and natural space and structure.

Then you should go out and discover their pieces on the street!

Opening: Thursday March 2, 7 - 10 pm

Exhibition dates: Thursday March 2 - March 19th, 2006

Riviera Gallery

103 Metropolitian Ave.

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Paint Jam with the Endless Love Crew

Posted February 28, 2006 by in Events

Our buds the Endless Love Crew invite y'all to come on down to a paint session this weekend! It's open up to anyone who wants to come by and there will be enough supplies so no one has to bring any. Fun fun fun!

March 4th and 25th

1-6pm

Chashama Center Gallery

112 W. 44th Street

btw. Broadway & 6th Ave.

Times Square, NYC

Eliot adds: For those who don't know, the Endless Love Crew is a great street art group made up of some of New York's most prolific artists, including GoreB, Infinity, Abe Lincoln Jr., Celso, and a whole bunch more. Very cool group -- should be a lot of fun!

More from Graffiti Research Labs

Posted February 24, 2006 by in Street Art & Graffiti

From Q-Branch comes word of another geek graffiti project from the Graffiti Research Labs --- Electro-Graf:

An electro-graf is a graffiti piece or throw-up that uses conductive and magnetic paint to embed LED display electronics. An indoor and an outdoor electro-graf are currently being shown at Eyebeam.

As with the LED Throwies (see below), the potential applications of this technique are dizzying. The step-by-step guide to making your own is available at Instructables. You can also watch the video documentation on the Graffiti Research Labs site, and see a few examples in action at the GRL flickr pool.

Get 'em While They're Young!

Posted February 16, 2006 by in Street Art & Graffiti

Michael De Feo aka the flower guy is teaching a class called "the tools of street art" for kids age 7-10 at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Kids will learn learn stencil making and wheatpasting techniques.

Class is on Tuesday, February 21 until Friday, February 24 from 9 to 11 am each day. You can call the museum's education department for sign up details: 203-438-4519 --- $60 members; $75 non-members

The geek shall inherit the earth

Posted February 16, 2006 by in Street Art & Graffiti

Artist, graffiti analyst and bad ass mother fucker fi5e sends word of a new geek graffiti project developed deep in an underground laboratory on 21st St:

LED Throwies are an inexpensive way to add color to any ferromagnetic surface in your neighborhood. A Throwie consists of a lithium battery, a 10mm diffused LED and a rare-earth magnet taped together. Throw it up high and in quantity to impress your friends and city officials.

Check the video for footage of a few dozen people plastering a Chelsea building with hundreds of electric lights, then head over to Instructables for a complete step-by-step guide to making your own, for under $1.00 apiece. Looks like a hell of a lot of fun, and the potential further uses is pretty remarkable. Check it out at Graffiti Research Lab.

Grassroots Media Conference this Saturday

Posted February 9, 2006 by in Events

This weekend: the second annual Grassroots Media Conference hits New York. Featuring a damn-near-comprehensive list of media activists and radical projects, the conference is a great opportunity to learn, spread the word about your project, or meet with like-minded folks.

VR members will lead a hands-on guide to silkscreening for beginners at 11:30, and collaborate with Josh MacPhee on a workshop about street art and public space at 2:30, so come by and say hello. Details:

Saturday, February 11th, 2006 10am --- 6pm

New School University

65 Fifth Avenue at 13th street, New York, NY

More details here.

You can check out the full conference schedule here. Registration is $20 in advance or $30 at the door, so sign up before Friday night!

Artists Call, Participate in a Traveling Exhibition on the Housing Crisis in LA

Posted February 8, 2006 by in Events

The Southern California Library (SCL) is seeking artists including performers, musicians, spoken word, and multimedia artists to participate in a traveling exhibition. If you have work or if you are interested in creating work related to the "housing crisis" in Los Angeles, they are looking for you!

The mural pictured here was painted by Eva Cockcroft and hangs on the inside wall of SCL, beside the "Wall of Honor." The "Wall of Honor" commemorates family, heroes, and friends.

DEADLINE IS MARCH 1!

Submission content should relate to these themes:

- Housing: history, memory, oral history, mapping, activism

- Land: public place, (re) development, urban planning

- Homelessness

- Gentrification/ Relocation/ Displacement

- Concepts of sustainability

- Environmental & social justice, past/ present local political movements

- Zapatista/ Indigenous Movements: Global comparisons of land, space, housing, urban planning

Artists who have an interest in creative political education, including graffiti and conceptual artists, that will help tell the story of the "housing crisis" in L.A. are encouraged to apply. For more information and application, please contact Joy at (323) 687-6743 or lunakul@yahoo.com

Ghost Bikes for Argentina's Disappeared

Posted February 7, 2006 by

In Argentina, ghost bike installations have a purpose other than honoring the memories of fallen bikers. The 380 stencils of bicycles painted throughout the city of Rosario represent the 380 people disappeared by the dictatorship following the coup in 1976. The image of the bicycle is a haunting and powerful reminder that the military often nabbed youths in the street, leaving their rider-less bicycles behind.

The military government detained, tortured, disappeared and killed anyone who was suspected of being subversive, including student leaders, critical journalists, and union leaders. Squads made of members of the armed forces and local police departments kidnapped suspected "subversives" from their homes, workplaces and even the streets. There were 14,000 political prisoners. Another 30,000 people were kidnapped by government agents. Because their bodies were never located and the military and police would deny that these people were in their custody, these 30,000 are considered "disappeared." Over 500 children were taken from detained parents and raised by families of members of the military. Many activists chose to flee the country. Thus, among other things, the government effectively eliminated a generation of leftist leaders.

Argentina is building a collective memory of atrocities committed by the dictatorship through public demonstrations on the anniversary of the military coup and works of public art. The spraypainted message, "Pocho Vive" in the photo above honors Pocho LePratti, a community activist who grew up in a middle class family in Uruguay but chose to work with children in a shantytown in Rosario called Ludueña. During the Argentinean economic crisis and mass protests of December 2001, he was fatally shot and killed by police officers as he climbed the stairs to the roof of the school where he was preparing food for the children. The resistance of Pocho and other activists are spraypainted around the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires as well represented by crawling ants.

Cut & Paint: free stencil designs

Posted February 6, 2006 by in Books & Zines

Josh MacPhee's excellent stencil template zine Cut & Paint has finally gone digital, thanks to John Emerson of Social Design Notes. Click over to CutAndPaint.org and you'll find over 40 different free stencil templates with great imagery and radical politics.

Contributors include many of the unsung heroes of street art. Often working anonymously and undocumented, eople like Roger Peet, Shaun Slifer, Erok A., Colin Matthes, Erik Ruin, Andalusia, Ally Reeves, Claude Moller, Etta Cetera, Brandon Bauer, and the rest are creating some of the best work out there and reinventing the tropes and techniques of radical art.

Check it all out here. Download the templates, print, cut, and spray. Borrow images and alter them for your needs, location, and message. Thanks to Josh and John for making this great work available.

Ghost bikes go worldwide

Posted February 5, 2006 by

In the past few weeks, ghost bikes have appeared in at least three new cities across the world.

Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago Ghost Bike project created a memorial at the end of the January 27 Critical Mass ride for Isai Medina, whose home-made 'freak bikes' were a fixture in the local bike scene. A chopper bike painted all white was locked to a bike rack on the corner of Cortez and Western where Isai was killed by a drunk driver on January 4th.

Over 400 people attended the memorial ride, and police made four arrests as people gathered for the stationary memorial. The ride and ghost bike received lots of press attention: you can read the press release here, in addtion to coverage from Chicago Indymedia, La Raza, the Chicago Journal, and NBC5. See also Don Sorsa's photo gallery and the video of the NBC5 story (slow-loading MP4 file).

Tallahassee, Florida

Critical Mass riders in Tallahassee placed two ghost bikes for Dale Burton, who died October 30, 2005 after a driver hit him from behind, and Maxwell Veira, killed November 15, 2005 when an SUV cut him off as he was riding downhill. In addition to the standard plaque and white bike, the Tallahassee memorials included a beautiful stencil of a ghost biker ascending heavenward. According to TallyCat.org, one of the memorials has already been removed. The memorials garnered a positive article in the Tallahassee Democrat, and support from members of the victims' families.

Prague, Czech Republic

Bike activists created a large memorial for Jan Bouchal, coordinator of Auto*Mat, an advocacy group for Prague cyclists and pedestrians, and a contributing group to our Critical Mass Art project. Steven Loga, a co-editor for Car Busters magazine, wrote in the Prague Post:

On Jan. 6, Jan Bouchal, coordinator of the Auto*Mat project and chairman of Oživení, both of which promote cycling, was cycling home from his work in Malá Strana. A car struck him at the intersection of nábřeží kapitána Jaroše and Dukelských hrdinů in Prague 7. Six days after the accident, the 30-year-old died. . . .

The outline of Jan Bouchal's body is no longer there, wiped away by snow and the heavy traffic that edges along this Prague embankment. Instead, at the site of the accident there is a monument — a small, white bike, a ghost bike, placed there after the monthly Critical Mass bike ride Jan. 19, part of the memorial evening. Almost 100 cyclists met at Jiřího z Poděbrad on the cold evening, only a few days after a snowstorm, and slowly rode through the city to the accident site, where another 50 people were waiting, crowded onto the traffic island. The ghost bike sits on that island, chained to a pole and surrounded by candles and flowers, with a sign that reads: "Zde srazilo auto cyklistu" — a car struck a cyclist here.

Chicago, Tallahassee, and Prague now join at least seven other cities with known ghost bike projects: London, Pittsburgh, Portland OR, Seattle, Highlands Ranch CO, San Francisco, and New York City.

We're currently working on a zine about our ghost bike project and would like to hear from people involved in similar projects in other cities --- the zine will be printed in time for Bike Month in NYC and distributed to artists and bike activist groups around the country. Let us know if you're interested in receiving copies or contributing. Thanks!

Artist Profile: Justin Tolentino

Posted February 3, 2006 by in Art & Politics

Justin Tolentino started writing graff sometime around middle school. In his own words, he says that he went from “just scrawling on the walls all the way to clean lines, pop art, faces, and other iconography.” Graffiti style is ever present in Justin’s work and its always there as an influence. Now as a curator for Lemp Art Stables, Justin is helping shape and define the local art scene in St. Louis, getting people to talk about graffiti in more positive and constructive ways. A good example, for the 2002 St. Louis Art Fair he helped work on a community art piece that captured peoples responses to and about 9/11. He asked people to write down their emotions, thoughts, and ideas, which he then translated into graphic images. The images and words were then layered to create a collective collage that communicated through the elements and style of graffiti. More recently, he was part of large exhibition that transformed an abandoned downtown mall into a vibrant art space. He contacted us a little while back and we took the opportunity to ask him some questions...

You recently worked collaboratively with Peat Wollaeger on an installation for an art exhibit sponsored by artdimensions. Can you tell us a bit about the site, the installation and working with Peat?

the site of the installation is the st. louis centre an old mall in downtown that has fallen to the waste side over the years of downtown st. louis losing and now regaining a positive vibe... artdimensions has a large formal gallery space for proper showing and during this event there were several other space artists revamped to their taste to sell and show off their work...working with peat is great... peat is my partner in crime in st. louis as far as street art and shows we take part in all over the world...

What is going on in the St. Louis scene art scene? How did you get involved with Lemp Art Stables and how do they fit into the art community there?

well its on its way, thanks to artdimesnions and some other galleries that showcase younger more hip art... the lemp art stables was just another space that artdimesions revitalized and turned to a young art mecca but as you know when someone finds out that you have a good thing going people wanna take it way from you... so artdimensions in the face of adversity has taken on new and stronger galleries in more up and coming areas in st. louis...

What is the general attitude towards graffiti/street art in St.

crackdown on graffiti, is St. Louis experiencing the same?

its frowned upon... we held the largest graffiti competition wall in the nation and when the city got bombed up they started cracking down... but that was back in 96-98 the city has a small amount of graff heads but the diversity of work is lacking... but i think if would be great if there were more bill-post, stencil, and taggers out there... it would make my day doing any type of traveling...shit, i get geeked seeing big ass super-soaker tags...

How have you developed your style over the years? Who/what

inspired you to go out onto the streets?

every day life, people i meet... situations in my life that i have a hard time explaining in words... over the years i feel i just have been developing line and shape using only two colors... this graff artist stun from Minneapolis inspired me at a young age and made me wanna go out there and get up... and seeing twist, Chicago's graff, and, mike giant made me realize how diverse this all could be and that it could be about more that just writing my name...

Do you find yourself trying to "say more" with your work when it is in a gallery?

no i think that im trying to express the same type of message on the streets as in my gallery work...

The Woostercollective recently had tremendous feedback when they posted stories about the Playstation street art campaign. What was your reaction to the ads? Did any show up in St. Louis?

i understand doing corporate work, if you love your art and you love making it, thats all you wanna do, and if you can make money doing it more power to you...just make sure you dont have any issues with the company your working for...and i didn't see any in st. louis...

What do you have lined up for this year?

trying to develop further as an artist and make lots of work... i have like 50 new ways of doing paintings in my head and i have to let them come out one by one... the only problem is i cant paint as fast as i come up with them...im working on a new show at www.chestersblacksmith.com in park city utah... and im going to horn island again do a show in memphis with Jonathan lee and several other amazing artists... oh yeah and if you can get it check out my spread in the mag outta sydney without-reason ilovewr.com

Whose work should we be looking out for?

chris burch at giantkillerz.com another st. louisan

john lee at brokinengrish.com boy from the old schooll

Thanks go out to Justin for answering our questions!

Be sure to check out his site--www.studiotolentino.com

and click here to find out more about Art Dimensions.

Here is a link to Lo-Fi St. Louis, which has a great video that documents Justin and Peat's collaborative show.

Vallone Subway Ads

Posted February 2, 2006 by

Don't know how we missed this one, but NY1 had a funny story about some parody subway ads that take a shot at Peter Vallone:

They look like the real thing, but these aren't subway service advisories, they're fakes. They’re a sort of prank, in this case, at the expense of City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr., whose reputation as an anti-graffiti crusader has made him unpopular among graffiti aficionados, some of whom are apparently now trying to get under his skin by mocking him in phony subway notices that look surprisingly real.

Link. Related: Peter Vallone's Vendetta / Fuck Vallone.