art gallery

NYC-based Australian-American multidisciplinary artist and muralist Charlie Hudson has been exploring the city by foot over this past year. Inspired by these walks, he has crafted an extraordinary range of geometric artworks on wood. With their seductive colors, alluring patterns and tantalizing textures, they are at once gritty and elegant. Several works captured on our recent visit to Charlie’s solo exhibition, Points of Distraction, at Ki Smith Gallery follow:

Elevated Trains, 2021, Acrylic and oil on wood, 38 x 6 x 4 in.

Subway Over Bridge, 2021, Acrylic and oil on wood, 19 x 51 x 3.5 in.

Vanishing Point, 2021, Acrylic and oil on wood, 22 x 15 x 3 in.

Orange Mist, 2021, Acrylic and oil on wood, 14 x 14 x 3 in.

Sun Spot, 2021, Acrylic and oil on wood, 52 x 27 x 3 in.

Small segment of installation of sculptural paintings

Located at 197 E 4th Street, Ki Smith Gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday, 12:30 – 6:30 p.m.  You can also book an appointment for a private viewing here.  Points of Distraction continues through May 9.

Photo credits: 1, 2, 4-6 Lois Stavsky; 3 & 7 Sara C Mozeson

Note: The first image features the artist standing outside Ki Smith Gallery .

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Home to dozens of outstanding artists who are active on both the streets and in their studios, Bogota is a thriving oasis of strikingly impressive urban art. Yet — like so many South American cities — it has been largely overlooked by the dominant street art scene. In his efforts to bring his city’s extraordinary art to a wider audience, Bogota native Lorenzo Masnah launched Street Lynx Bta, a cheerful, welcoming urban art gallery in Bogota’s historic downtown district in 2018. Currently on view is an exhibit featuring artwork by several first-rate artists concurrently participating in  Street ArtBo, an art fair curated and coordinated by Street Lynx BtaWhat follows are several of the artworks on exhibit in the gallery space:

The prolific Bogota-based Ledania who is increasingly making her mark throughout the globe

The hugely influential Bogota-based SakoAsko

Bogota-based Beek, renowned for his masterly wild-style graffiti

The esteemed Bogota-based stencil artist DjLu

LA -based, Colombian graphic designer El Care Barbie

Note: In addition to the Colombian artists participating in Street ArtBo — that continues through Sunday, the 22nd — are several international ones, as well.

Photos courtesy Street Lynx Bta

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Currently on view at GR Gallery, one of our favorite Downtown art galleries, is Geometric Heat, a tantalizing exhibition showcasing the works of four international artists who share an inventive approach to geometric abstraction. The painting featured above, From the Top on Down, was fashioned by NYC-based Adam Lucas, known to many of us street art aficionados as Hanksy. Several more images we captured on our recent visit to Geometric Heat follow:

Italian artist Marco Casentini, On the Streets, Acrylic and glaze on canvas

Berlin-based Daniel Rich, Palestine Meredian Hotel, Baghdad, Acrylic on Aluminum Dibond

Czech artist Jan KalábDark Purple Ameba, Acrylic on canvas

Wide view with  Marco Casentini (side) and Adam Lucas (back wall)

Located at 255 Bowery, GR Gallery is open Wednesday – Sunday | 12 to 7pm. Geometric Heat remains on view through August 18.

Photo credits: 1-4 Lois Stavsky; 5 Ana Candelaria

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Back in NYC, in the place he calls “home,” Bisco Smith — the first artist in residency at Okay Space — has been busy!  At work during one of the most tumultuous weeks in the history of our country, the artist proposed that creating his newest body of work, MANIFEST, helped “center” him, as he strives to find “the goodness amidst the chaos.”  This past Friday, MANIFEST was unveiled at Okay Space at 281 North 7th Street.  Here are several images captured shortly before it officially opened to the public:

Bisco Smith adding info to Methods, serigraph on paper, edition of 111

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 Manifest Moments #9, acrylic & spray paint on canvas

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Manifest Moments, the series — each, 18 x 18 — acrylic & spray paint on canvas

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Gratitude for all things past, service for all things present, responsibility for all things future

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 And as seen at night from the outside, shortly before it opened

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Okay Space is open Monday through Friday, 11-6, and on Saturday 12-5.  For further info, you can contact the space at 929-250-2388.

Photos by Lois Stavsky

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Featuring stencil art by some of our favorite artists, STENCILED opens this Thursday evening, April 28, at Montreal’s Station 16 Gallery. Here is a small sampling of what will be on exhibit through May 21:

Also by Joe Iurato

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Logan Hicks

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Lady Aiko

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Icy and Sot

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Also featured in STENCILED is UK-based Snik

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 All photos courtesy Station 16

Note: Hailed in a range of media from the Huffington Post to the New York Times, our Street Art NYC App is now available for Android devices here.

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From the plaintive to the playful, the artworks on exhibit in From the West Coast at 212 Arts intrigue. While visiting last week, I had the opportunity to speak to gallerist Mark Leader, who curated the exhibit:

Many of these artists are new to me. Just what is going on here?

This exhibit is a survey of various West Coast artists — largely from LA, San Francisco, Santa Monica and New Mexico.

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There is certainly quite a diverse range of styles represented here. What spurred you to bring these artists to NYC?

It was an opportunity to introduce a brand new visual language to others. My sense is that the West Coast sensibility is quite different from ours.

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How did you first discover these artists?

Largely through Instagram. And I had worked with some of them before.

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Were there any particular challenges in making this happen?

Just the logistics of transporting the art from the West Coast to here in the East Village.

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How have folks responded to the exhibit?

They’ve responded positively with lots of curiosity!

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How can folks see the exhibit?

As there has been a pique of interest in the exhibit since these works were initially showcased, there will be a second launch this Thursday, April 21, beginning at 6 pm.

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And what’s next for 212 Arts?

Opening May 6 is Round Trip, Emilio Ramos‘s first solo exhibit.

Interview and photos 1, 2, 4-6 Lois Stavsky

Images:

1. Free Humanity

2. Eddie Colla

3. Mike Giant

4. Sket One — on platform designed by Tracy 168, with Marc Leader on right

5. Max Neutra

6. Bisco Smith

Note: Hailed in a range of media from the Huffington Post to the New York Times, our Street Art NYC App is now available here for Android devices.

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AEON

I caught up with Bogota native Lorenzo Masnah — aka AEON and Third World Pirate — last week in his Bushwick studio as he was readying to head to Chicago’s Galerie F to join Stinkfish, Zas and Buytronick in preparation for APC’s first exhibit in the U.S.

You are leaving in a few hours for Chicago. What’s happening there?

I will be working with Stinkfish, Zas and Buytronick to produce a series of collaborative works. Each of us has a distinct graphic language and they all will come together on an array of surfaces – from found objects to huge outdoor murals — for this exhibit at Galerie F.  Drawings, paintings, zines, shirts and all kinds of APC paraphernalia will be on sale at the gallery. The exhibit opens to the public on Friday, January 30.

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Can you tell us something about APC? What does it mean? When did you guys all meet?

The crew originated almost ten years ago back in Bogota with a few artists who participated together in festivals.  These days we have over 50 members representing APC throughout the entire world. The acronym has many different meanings. Its principal one is Animal Power Cult, as animals play an essential role in our individual and common aesthetic.

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What about you? You seem to have three distinct identities. I primarily associate you with Third World Pirate as I remember watching you paint your iconic pirate almost ten years ago in Bogota. But there everyone seems to refer to you as AEON. And, here in NYC, I’ve come to think of you as Lorenzo Masnah.

I’ve been obsessed with pirates and drawing them in endless variations since I was a child growing up in Bogota. That explains Third World Pirate!  He is the one character who always travels with me. AEON is my acronym for Al Estilo Orto Nombre (Another Name for Style) – as I began getting up back in 2002 in Bogota with distinct one-line drawings. And I adopted the name Lorenzo Masnah when I had my solo show at Fuse Gallery in 2013.

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Among the highlights of your solo show at Fuse Gallery were your refashioned images of beautiful Mexican women. That is another theme that resurfaces in your work. Can you tell us something about that? You seem to be quite obsessed with Mexican ladies!

Yes, for years I’ve been collecting Mexican erotic magazines dated from the early 1950s. This past year, in fact, while visiting Mexico, I discovered in a used book store in Puebla a huge stack of 45 records with covers fashioned from these vintage magazine pictures. I bought them all! And I am now working with them, recreating them with images that transcend that specific era.

Why do you suppose these images so engage you?

I love their pure innocence, their nostalgic beauty! And they represent so much of what we are missing in our era of Internet dating, where romance has lost its essence.  And I’ve also always loved working with recycled materials. It is my way of preserving the past, as I create a visual encyclopedia of aesthetics and issues that speak to me – and, hopefully, to others.

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What’s ahead?

After Chicago, we plan to travel out West and then return to NYC for APC’s first East Coast exhibit.

It all sounds great! We look forward to seeing you guys in NYC.

Note: Animal Tricks opens this Friday, January 30, at 6 pm at Galerie F. Located at 2381 N Milwaukee Ave  in Chicago IL. The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 AM to 6 PM.

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Interview by Lois Stavsky. Photos: 1. AEON paints in Chicago, courtesy Galerie F; 2. flyer for exhibit, collaborative by featured APC artists; 3. APC in NYC with AEON, Zas, Rimx  and Arepa photographed by Tara Murray; 4. AEON on canvas photographed by Lois Stavsky; 5 – 7.  APC in Chicago courtesy Galerie F.  

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