graffiti

At Philly’s New Magical Sharktown Walls With: Alloyius Mcilwaine, Sean Lugo, Greta Maletsky, Seven, Leon Rainbow, Naythan Anthony, CAV, Seip, Kyle Boich, Busta, Seper and John Zerbe

December 4, 2020

When visiting North Philly’s graffiti mecca over at 5th and Cecil B Moore last month, its curator, Tameartz, suggested that I continue walking along Cecil B. Moore Avenue until I reach Hancock Street. And I’m so glad that I did, as near completion was a treasure trove of adjoining magical murals. Featured above is multimedia artist, designer and Sharktown Walls curator Alloyius Mcilwaine. at work. Several more images captured that evening follow:

Sean Lugo in collaboration with Alloyius Mcilwaine

Greta Maletsky, “Mahākāla,” to the left of Seven aka The Love Renegade, “Love Yourself”

Leon Rainbow of Trenton’s Jersey Fresh Jam fame

Large segment of huge collaborative wall fashioned by Naythan Anthony, CAV aka Raw Sol, Seip, & Kyle Boich

Collaborative mural painted by Busta, Seper and John Zerbe

Sharktown Walls was produced in partnership with Prism Studio and Colorspace Labs.

Photos by Lois Stavsky

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Netherlands-Based Karski and Tia Maria Collaborate to Launch CONTRAST with: Karski and Beyond, Sipros, Daze, SatOne & More

November 20, 2020

When the talented Netherlands-based artist Karski teamed up with the brand Tia Maria, not only was a splendid abstract design – with one-of-a-kind colors – launched for a new drink, but an elegant book, CONTRAST, was produced, as well. With its splendid selection of images by first-rate international artists and its informative, engaging text, CONTRAST — by Karski and friends — is a cause for celebration.

A small sampling of images from CONTRAST follows:

 Karski, Untitled, Mixed media, Amsterdam, 2019

Karski and Netherlands-based Beyond — who have been working as a duo since 2012 — Untitled, PowWow Festival, Rotterdam, 2019

Karski and Beyond, Untitled, Bjelovar, Croatia, 2017

Karski and Beyond. The Holy Stork, The Hauge, 2019

Brazilian artist Sipros — whom Karski first met in 2013 when he had traveled to São Paulo to paint at the MuBE, the Brazilian Museum of Sculpture and Ecology — Four faces, Big ears, Wynwood Arts District, Miami, 2019

The legendary NYC-based Chris “Daze” Ellis — one of Karski’s early inspirations — Untitled, NYC, 2016

Venezuela-born, Munich-based SatOne, Counterbalance, Frankston, Australia, 2019

In addition to the captivating artworks, among the many items of interest in CONTRAST is the fascinating chronology of Karski’s life as an artist — from the moment he picked up a spray can at age 10 to his recent experimentation with abstract work. And wonderfully intriguing, too, are the artists’ intimate impressions of one another.

Also featured in CONTRAST are: the Netherlands-based duo TelmoMeil; Amsterdam-born, Buenos Aires-based Nasepop; Rotterdam-based duo Bier En Brood; Amsterdam-based Stefan Nikolai Ormeling; Colombian native Zurikt; the late Spanish artist Treze and London-based Bonzai.

A paean to contemporary street art and to the notion of bringing together opposites in a world of contrasts, the limited-edition CONTRAST delights!

Images courtesy Karski and Tia Maria

Photo 6 of Sipros: Karin du Maire

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Rocking It in Ridgewood: Greg Lamarche, Bisuno, Diego, Bro000ski, Strider, Gorey, Arbor, Dmote, Spar, Hence & More

September 27, 2020

Curated earlier this month by the infinitely creative Chip Love, the walls on Troutman and Seneca — on the Queens side of the Ridgewood-Bushwick border — seethe with style and swirl with rhythm. The image featured above was fashioned by the legendary Greg Lamarche. Several more recent walls designed for this project, labeled #troutmanrock, follow:

Veteran writer Bisuno

Queens-based Diego

Bro000ski does Snoopy vs the Red Baron

Veteran style writer Strider

The distinctly-talented Paris-born, NYC-based Seb Gorey

Graff masters Arbor and Dmote aka Shank

Veteran writer and graffiti historian Spar One 

Hence’s homage to Ridgewood

Photo credits: 1-3; 5, 6, 8 & 9 Lois Stavsky; 4 & 7 courtesy #troutmanrock curator Chip Love

Note: Chip Love is now at work curating a series of walls in Jamaica, Queens. ‘looking forward to seeing those!

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Soho’s Open-Air Museum, Part VII: Sule, The Creator, Amir Diop, Eyes That Love Art, DVNNY, Ridikkuluz, LEXXX, Isabelle & Irena Kenny

July 23, 2020

While many of the original artworks that had surfaced on the boarded-up stores in Soho are no longer on view, others continue to emerge. Featured above are works by NYC-based politically-conscious artist Sule and Brooklyn-based artist Manuel Alejandro Pulla. What follows are several more artworks I came upon earlier this week, along with a few captured within the past month.

Also by Sule, “My Color Is Not a Crime”

Artist/activist Amir Diop in collaboration with Eyes That Love Art, “Take Me to a Place Where I Won’t Be Judged by My Weight, I Won’t Be Labeled as a Nerd– Where Black Lives Matter”

NYC-based multidisciplinary artist DVNNY,  “Let Us Live,” — a plea from the transgender community

Jordanian-American multidisciplinary artist Ridikkuluz pays homage to the 30–year-old Egyptian LGBTQ activist Sarah Hegazi — arrested and tortured in Cairo for raising the LGBT flag at a concert — who died last month by suicide while living in exile in Canada — to the left of LEXXX‘s plea to “Free the Ninos”

Isabelle with Vincent Van Gogh quote: “Art is to Console Those Who Are Broken by Life”

Brooklyn-based Czech artist Irena Kenny, “We are the change that we seek.”

To be continued next week!

Photo credits: 1, 3 – 7 Lois Stavsky; 2 Sara Ching Mozeson

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Soho’s Open-Air Museum, Part VI: Calicho Arevalo, Jeff Rose, Alice Mackay, Marco Villard, Duel RIS, Alberto Barreto, AV, Si Golraine, Konstance Patton, Amir Diop, Brendan T Mcnally and Light Noise

July 16, 2020

When I returned to Soho earlier this week, I was thrilled to discover several pieces — including a few collaborations — new to me. The image featured above, “Our Nation’s Claim to Justice,” was fashioned by Colombian artist Calicho Arevalo and Queens-native Jeff Rose. Several more artworks that have recently surfaced on Soho’s boarded-up stores follow:

Multidisciplinary artists Alice Mackay (center) and Marco Villard 

The legendary NYC writer/artist Duel RIS 

Venezuelan artist Alberto Barreto and multimedia artist AV

Ukrainian-born, NYC-based multidisciplinary artist Si Golraine at work

Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist Konstance Patton

Amir Diop, Brendan T Mcnally and Light Noise collaborate on mural in memory of graffiti writer Michael Stewart who died at the hands of the NYPD in  1983

To be continued next week!

Photo credits: 1, 2, 4 – 7 Lois Stavsky; 3 Sara Ching Mozeson

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Soho’s Open-Air Museum, Part IV: Gerry Vewer, Maeve Cahill, Middlemen Doc, Rochelle Leanne, Loren Crea Abbate, Beatriz Ramos, KOFFEE, Android Oi, MaryKathryn Medlock & UNLOK

July 2, 2020

Although dozens of boards that have served as canvases for a diverse range of artworks are no longer part of Soho’s visual landscape, the neighborhood remains my current favorite destination for street art. The image featured above was created by the talented, NYC-based writer and painter Gerry Vewer. Several more images — some discovered earlier this week and others captured within the last month — follow:

West Chester, PA-born, NYC-based Maeve Cahill’s homage to Black inventors, who’ve been largely “written out of history”

Documentarian Middlemen Doc and NY-based filmmaker and multidisciplinary artist Rochelle Leanne to the left of the widely-posted “Black Lives Matter” image

Artist and self-described cosmic anthropologist Loren Crea Abbate to the left of multidisciplinary artist Beatriz Ramos

Multidisciplinary artist and designer K O FF EE

Visual artist and poet Android Oi in collaboration with Brooklyn-based MaryKathryn Medlock — to the right of  NYC-based UNLOK

To be continued next week!

Photos by Lois Stavsky

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Soho’s Open-Air Museum, Part III: Tyler Ives, Calicho Arevalo, Loren Crea Abbate, Acool55, Erin Ko, Savior Elmundo, Lady JDay, Mike Rimbaud, Jeff Rose King, Vault49, Max Gibbons & More

June 25, 2020

A diverse range of artists — from self-taught to those with advanced degrees in Fine Art — have been busy these past few weeks in Soho, transforming the Lower Manhattan neighborhood into an open-air museum.  Although dozens of artworks on boards have already vanished as stores begin to open, others continue to surface. The works above were fashioned by — from left to right — Tyler Ives, Calicho Arevalo, and Loren Crea Abbate. Several more images in this ongoing series follow:

Multimedia artist and environmentalist Luca Babini aka Acool55 to the left of Erin Ko‘s portrait of  the late noted African-American writer James Baldwin

Savior Elmundo, “Enough Is Enough,” to the left of Lady JDay’s portrait of Breonna Taylor

Lower East Side-based multidisciplinary artist Michael Rimbaud does the late noted poet Gil Scott-Heron with a play on his famed poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

Queens-native Jeff Rose King in collaboration with Colombian artist Calicho Arevalo

Lower Manhattan-based creative agency Vault49

Brooklyn-based artist/calligrapher Max Gibbons

To be continued next week!

Photos: Lois Stavsky

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Back to Soho’s Open-Air Museum: Maeve Cahill, A V, Nick C. Kirk, Urban Russian Doll, Hektad, Lydia Venieri, Tiger Mackie, Beelzebaby & Goomba

June 18, 2020

From the playful to the political, the artworks surfacing daily on Soho’s boarded-up doors and windows delight and provoke. Featured above — in the second of our series documenting Soho’s open-air museum — is Maeve Cahill‘s tribute to the late African-American journalist Ida B. Wells, alongside alluring images by an artist identified as A V.  Several more artworks captured earlier this week follow:

NYC-based Nick C. Kirk, stencil of civil rights activist and football quarterback, Colin Kaepernick 

NYC-based Urban Russian Doll, Portrait of Breonna Taylor, the black emergency medical technician who had been shot to death in her Louisville, Kentucky home

 NYC-based Hektad

 Athens, Greece-born, NYC-based Lydia Venieri, “Say Their Names,” Portraits of African-Americans murdered by the police

NYC-based artists Tiger Mackie (L.) and Beelzebaby (R.)

Newark, NJ-based Goomba at work

Photo credits: 1-6 Lois Stavsky and 7 Ana Candelaria 

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Artists Transform Soho’s Boarded-Up Windows and Doors into an Open-Air Museum: Dena Paige-Fischer, SacSix, Jo Shane, Kamila Zmrzla-Otcasek, Sara Lynne Leo, Denis Ouch, Optimo NYC & More

June 11, 2020

Soho’s boarded-up windows and doors now host a wide range of varied artworks. While combing the streets this past Monday, I came upon works by several artists new to me, as well as by those familiar to all of us street art aficionados. The image featured above is the work of Brooklyn-based Dena Paige-Fischer. A small sampling of more images that have transformed the blocks in the vicinity of Grand and Mercer Streets into an open-air museum follow:

Miami-native, NYC-based SacSix

NYC-based multidisciplinary artist Jo Shane at work posting political texts

Some musings from an anonymous source

Brooklyn-based Kamila Zmrzla-Otcasek, to the left of Mia and Adrien Otcasek

NYC-based artist and animator  Sara Lynne Leo

 Brooklyn-based Denis Ouch

The prolific Optimo NYC

Photos by Lois Stavsky

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R.I.P. Nic 707, Style Master and Mastermind of the Ingenious “InstaFame Phantom Art” NYC Subway Intervention

April 20, 2020

With his extraordinary passion for art and his penchant for sharing it with others, Nic 707 touched so many of us. Beginning in 2013, I accompanied Nic several times a year — often along with other artists and photographers — on his subway train interventions, as he transformed dull, ad-saturated subway cars into vibrant moving canvases. Nic 707 was as eager to showcase other artists’ work — from old school writers to contemporary creatives — as he was to share his own, and he always had a “new” artist to introduce me to.

Each trip with Nic was a distinct adventure. And I was waiting for the current crisis to end, so that we could hit the trains — where I would, once again, serve in my dual role as look-out and documentarian. Sadly, that won’t happen, as Nic passed away last Sunday, April 12 — a victim of the cruel Coronavirus.

The image pictured above features Nic 707 and the legendary Taki 183 — whose tag Nic brought back to the trains — outside Taki 183′s Yonkers workplace. What follows are several photos of Nic 707 and his artworks riding the trains:

Nic 707 eagerly waits for the train to arrive

Nic 707′s iconic character, Kilroy

Kilroy in love

Kilroy as spaceman

Nic 707 schooling a subway rider on the history of subway graffiti

Two Upper East Side ladies on the 6 train discussing Nic 707‘s abstract art with him

Keep posted to the StreetArtNYC Instagram feed for images of works by other artists who participated in Nic‘s InstaFame Phantom Art project.  You can check out the interview I conducted with Nic 707 back in 2013 here.  And you can read David Gonzalez‘s obituary of Nic (Fernando Miteff ) in The New York Times here.

R.I.P. Nic 707. We will miss you.

Photos of images by Lois Stavsky

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