This is the eleventh in a series of occasional posts featuring the diverse range of trucks and vans that strike our streets.
Wane in Manhattan
Cone in the Bronx
Magda Love in Bushwick for JMZ Walls
Crane in Washington Heights/Inwood
Sienide in the Bronx
Photo credits: 1. Dani Reyes Mozeson; 2-4 and 6. Lois Stavsky; 5. Tara Murray
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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A range of comic characters — from Calvin and Hobbes to Snow White to Batman — have made their way onto NYC walls. Here are a few:
John Matos aka Crash in the South Bronx for the Tag Public Arts Project
Ozmo in Little Italy for the LISA Project
Jerkface in Bushwick
Mr OneTeas at the Bushwick Collective
See One at the Bushwick Collective
Photos 1, 4 – 6 by Lois Stavsky; 2 by Tara Murray & 3 by Dani Reyes Mozeson
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Few NYC graffiti walls change as frequently as those in Upper Manhattan’s open-air gallery. Curated by South Bronx native, Crane, the walls off the 1 train on 207th Street and 210th Street serve as revolving canvases to several veteran NYC writers and their occasional guests. Here’s a sampling of what has surfaced in the past several months:
Uptown stylemaster Cone
Veteran graffiti writer Kool Kito
Local artist Panic Rodriguez
LA-based graffiti writer Jero ICR
Legendary UK graffiti writer Pulse
Veteran graffiti writer Ree
Photos 1, 2, 5 and 6 by Lois Stavsky; 3 and 4 by City-as-School intern Travis Hicks
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The walls in the vicinity of McGuinness Boulevard and Clay Street in Greenpoint continue to showcase a diverse range of vibrant graffiti. Here are a few captured this past week:
Wolf 1 AOK
Photos by Lois Stavsky
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The following guest post is by Houda Lazrak, a graduate student in Museum Studies at New York University.
Presenting a distinctive global perspective on art, music, fashion and culture, Modern Hieroglyphics — readying now for the release of its second issue — premiered this past summer. Co-founded by adventurous designer Jack McKain and West Coast-based artist Chor Boogie, the 156-page publication features fascinating interviews with ten talented artists, along with dozens of photos.
Tapping into graffiti history, the term Modern Hieroglyphics was first coined by San Diego-based Blame One. The term was then popularized by Chor Boogie to define his personal style. Finally, it was re-adapted to serve as the title and theme for this magazine’s spirit – a belief in the inherent power of visual communication through pictures and pictographs.
The interviews, conducted by McKain, are first rate. Meres One, for example, recounts his experience as curator of Long Island City’s 5 Pointz, along with his tenuous fight against gentrification and the whitewash of the iconic legal graffiti space. In another interview, Noah Scalin describes his Skull-A-Day project. To challenge his creative capacity and test his commitment abilities, the artist embarked on a one-year venture to fashion a skull image from different materials every day. Scalin describes how he garnered an online following and transformed what was a personal project into a public one – a creative commitment that, he confesses, became addictive.
All of the interviews are accompanied with strikingly beautiful images and end with links to relevant social media. To promote the role of photographers in the creation process of Modern Hieroglyphics, the publication also includes clear photo credits and devotes the final page to photographers’ contact information.
Certain to appeal to us street art and graffiti aficionados, Modern Hieroglyphics is a widely creative platform that exposes the talents of international artists through captivating imagery and engaging text.
Note: In addition to its website and Facebook page, you can also follow Modern Hieroglyphics on Instagram as it readies for the release of its second issue.
Photos: 1. cover and 3. Shaka (close-up) courtesy of the publisher; 2. Meres One by Dani Reyes Mozeson as featured in Modern Hieroglyphics
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We’ve been noticing more and more subway trains on walls down in Brooklyn and up in the Bronx. Here’s a sampling:
Damien Mitchell for the Bushwick Collective
Downer Jones in Bushwick
Bella Amaral in Bushwick for JMZ Walls
Danielle Mastrion in Bushwick for the Dodworth Street Mural art project
Dek 2DX in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx
Shiro in Bushwick for JMZ Walls
Cern in Williamsburg
Photos: 1, 2, 4 and 6 by Lois Stavsky; 3 by Tara Murray; 5 by City-as-School intern Zachariah Messaoud and 7 by Dani Reyes Mozeson
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While visiting the Free Radicals graffiti exhibit at ALL CITY this past Friday, I had the opportunity to speak to noted Martinez Gallery director Hugo Martinez who — together with Dr. Juan Tapia — envisioned and helped realize this wonderful space that serves as a graffiti art gallery, arts center and pediatric clinic.
What an amazing venture this is! A pediatric clinic, a dynamic art gallery and lounge all sharing the same space. Whose concept was this?
It was Einstein’s. “After a certain high level of technical skill is achieved, science and art tend to coalesce in esthetics, plasticity and form,” he once stated. There is a natural synthesis between art and medicine, and a health clinic is an ideal setting to realize it.
What made this extraordinary space possible?
2.5 million dollars and seven years.
Who were the main forces behind it?
I work with Dr. Juan Tapia, a pediatrician and former graffiti artist known as C.A.T. 87. We were inspired to observe and measure evidence-based results of fusing two seemingly antithetical concepts.
How did you two come to collaborate?
I met Juan over 40 years ago when I was a student at City College and he was a Warlord for the neighborhood division of the Young Savage Nomads gang. In 1972, we co-founded the United Graffiti Artists (UGA) as an alternative community to the established art world. Juan then went on to earn his GED and attend college and medical school. We have since collaborated on many community-based art and health projects. And in 2008, we established the ALL CITY Foundation.
Can you tell us something about the ALL CITY Foundation?
It is a community-based health and arts collaborative that has brought together a network of medical practitioners, artists and designers to create and run coordinated health and art programs for youth in New York City.
Your current exhibit, Free Radicals, is a remarkable representation of various works in different media by a range of prolific artists.
Yes. All of the artists in this exhibit have established all-city reputations, most in NYC and a few in other large cities.
Why did you choose this particular space on the corner of 135th Street and Broadway? It is quite impressive.
It is close to City College, where UGA was first established. And the lay-out of the building, the former Claremont Theater – a 22,500-square-foot landmark that was the first theater to show photoplays — is perfectly designed for our purposes.
What’s ahead?
A range of programs, activities and revolving art exhibits.
Note: Free Radicals continues through March 31 at 3332 Broadway at 135th Street in Harlem. All artworks are for sale. You can follow the Martinez Gallery online at martinezgallery.com and on Instagram at instagram.com/martinezgallery. You can also visit the space with NY1 and check out this recent story in the New York Times.
Photos
2. Noxer
4. Navy8
5. Soviet, close-up
6. Various artists, as seen from the outside looking inside
Interview and photos by Lois Stavsky
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This is the eighth post in an occasional series featuring artwork on NYC shutters:
Sweet Toof on the Bowery for the LISA Project
With Darkclouds
Ben Eine in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx
Ramiro Davaro in the Bronx for the Tag Public Arts Project
Kashink in Bushwick
The Drif on the Lower East Side for the LISA Project
Buff Monster on the Bowery
Photos 1, 2, and 7 by Tara Murray; 3 and 4 by Lois Stavsky; 5 and 6 by Dani Reyes Mozeson
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Nic 707‘s InstaFame Phantom Art continues to share a range of art — from tags by legendary writers to works by global artists — with NYC subway riders. Here are some images captured on a recent ride from East Tremont in the Bronx to Brighton Beach in Brooklyn.
Veteran UK graffiti writer, Pulse
Bogota native Praxis
The legendary TAKI 183
Graffiti pioneer Skeme of Style Wars fame
Mulit-media artist Michael Cuomo
Photos by Lois Stavsky
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