Adding sixteen new murals to Downtown Cincinnati, BLINK, the nation’s largest light and art festival, took place last month for the first time since 2019. The cleverly captivating artwork featured above was painted by Atlanta-based Greg Mike. Several more murals — all captured by by travel and street photographer Karin du Maire aka Street Art Nomad — follow:
Chicago-based Max Sansing portrays two figures “in meditation with their thoughts while looking up to the sky symbolizing the future and limitless possibilities.”
Amsterdam-based Mr. June presents “an alternative experience of the environment, which has been optically manipulated by form, colors and perspectives.”
Athens native Insane 51 portrays Euthenia, the ancient Greek female spirit of prosperity
Denver-based duo Lindz and Lamb at work on “Who Dey!” referencing the chant that breaks out after the Bengals score touchdowns at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium
I recently had the opportunity to speak to BedStuy Walls Mural Festival founder and chief curator Miki Mu about the hugely successful community arts festival held earlier this month on Lexington Avenue and Do the Right Thing Way in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
This is all so wonderful. What was your initial inspiration for this project?
This is my neighborhood. I’ve lived in Bed-Stuy for over ten years. I was interested in celebrating and beautifying my neighborhood. And I know the huge power of art to uplift a community! I also wanted to create a space where people and businesses in my neighborhood could interact. My vision for this particular project began about a year ago.
How did you secure these walls? They are in such a prime spot, and these murals have totally transformed the entire block.
My neighbor introduced me to the owner of one of the the businesses on the block. But there were many challenges to actually securing these walls. It was not an easy task!
What were some of these challenges that you encountered in seeing this project through?
After I did secure the walls, I had to get a permit to close the block for the day of the festival. The walls and sidewalk had to be primed in advance. I had to purchase supplies. The entire project was quite expensive. I set up a Go Fund Me, but I did have to cover most of the expenses myself.
You have here such a wonderful range of artists here — from legendary graffiti writers to noted contemporary urban artists to newer emerging ones. How did you get the word out to the artists?
We started an Instagram account, and the word quickly spread. So many artists expressed interest in participating — far more than I could have imagined. I still get requests!
How did the community respond to the event?
The response was tremendous! The community loved it! Families came out, and there were so many kids…jumping rope, dancing to the hip-hop music, making art and simply having fun! It was wonderful — actually better than I had anticipated! But I never could have done this alone; there were many folks whose generosity made this possible. Among them are: Chateau Brooklyn for serving as our mothership, headquarters and base; Badman Bus aka Cookie Monster Bus for providing music and a sound system; all of the DJ’s for volunteering their talents; Cheryl Foy, a retired teacher and resident of the block, for helping us secure the block permit and Joe Cirano from Rogers & Sons, the owner of the walls; the Blue Bus Project for providing activities for the kids; Radial Park for lending us ladders; Project Barkada, also, for lending us a ladder and scaffolding; Solidarity Movers for helping us move all the equipment from one location to another and for providing, as well, a fun activity for kids; Black Men Build, Black Chef Movement and Josiane Lysius for providing free food; Loop Colors for adding extra cans to our order; Frankie Velez, my co-curator, for assisting and supporting my efforts in every aspect of this project, and, of course, all of the artists for generously sharing their skills and visions with us.
Tracing the emergence of graffiti from an underground subculture into a legitimate profession, Duality: A Graffiti Story — directed by Ryan Dowling — focuses on the struggles and successes of five noted graffiti artists. In the Buffalo 8 documentary feature film, legendary writersMeres One, Dual, Sloke, Jaber and Never1959 share their challenges and ventures as they reflect on their personal journeys in this ever-evolving culture.
Many graffiti writers — who were initially deemed as vandals for their tagging and illegal interventions — now earn wide recognition and respect for their stirring murals that grace cities across the globe. Their aesthetics have made their way inside and outside a range of upscale properties from luxury hotels to major corporations — who court them to enhance the “coolness” of their brands.
Once working mainly clandestinely, these artists now foster community, as they share their talents openly with others — who are eager to learn from their skills or simply observe and photograph them as they paint. And as their artwork begins to blur the lines between graffiti, urban art and fine art, it also increasingly finds a home in galleries.
Among the film’s recurrent themes is the artists’ addiction to getting up and their deep love for graffiti. “I’ll probably never ever not want to write my name on something. It’s an addiction for sure,” states Dual. “It’s amazing that there’s that opportunity to bridge the gap from doing illegal graffiti to doing commercial work with big companies.”
Several screenshots from the riveting documentary follow:
NYC-based Meres One, founder and curator of the iconic graffiti mecca 5Pointz — whose talents continue to make their way onto walls, huge canvases, lightbulbs and varied corporate settings.
Houston, Texas-based Dual, best known for his wheat pastes — whose body of artwork includes everything from meticulously-made tape collages to sign painting to huge commissioned murals that beautify cities
Austin, Texas native Sloke — who, in addition to painting, curating and mentoring youth — has produced murals for a range of companies including Apple, Facebook, Nike, Google, Red Bull and Time Warner
West Coast-based Jaber (ala El Ninja Blanco) — who has been making his mark on the streets since the early 9o’s and now does — among other things — design for major fashion companies and film sets
Los Angeles-based Never1959 — who is best-known for his large scale murals on buildings around Los Angeles
Never‘s 50-foot high mural that parodies the 1958 Orson Welles film noir “Touch of Evil”
The premiere of this splendid homage to graffiti will take place tomorrow, October 19th, in Austin, Texas. And beginning Oct. 21, it will be available on Amazon Prime, AppleTV/iTunes, Google Play, Vudu, and YouTube movies.
From September 15 – 18, an all-female team of urban artists — local, national and global — brought their skills and visions to 49 Wyckoff Avenue in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The stunning image featured above was fashioned collaboratively by project curator Herakut (pictured) and Miami-based Didi Contreras. Several select images — all captured by by travel and street photographer Karin du Maire aka Street Art Nomad — follow:
Brooklyn-based Lexi Bella, who assisted the project’s curation (top), and local, mixed-media artist Isabelle Ewing
New York-based interdisciplinary artist and educator Alice Mizrachi
The legendary Ecuadorian-American graffiti artist and muralist Lady Pink
While street art is too often used as an avenue to gentrify neighborhoods, it can also serve – as depicted in Spencer Wilkinson’s award-winning documentary film ALICE STREET– as a tool to empower, energize and unite members of diverse communities in their struggle against gentrification.
In 2013, Chilean studio painter Pancho Peskador joined forced with Chicago-born aerosol artist Desi Mundo to create a four-story mural at 14th Street and Alice Street in downtown Oakland. Painted directly across from Hotel Oakland Village, a facility that provides affordable housing and services to hundreds of Chinese seniors, and the noted Malonga Center, a venue for African drumming, culture and dance performances, the mural — designed with direct input from the folks served by the neighboring sites — represented downtown Oakland’s diverse cultures.
But by then gentrification had aggressively reared its ugly head. Local folks were concerned about being economically and culturally displaced as rents feverishly increased, along with condominiums to house the wealthy. And soon after the hugely impressive mural was completed, the news came that another development would be under way that would block the its view.
ALICE STREET brilliantly documents the people’s fervent and largely successful struggle against unbridled corporate greed, as they fight to preserve their culture and their neighborhood. It is an ode to the power of public art to not only enhance but to transform our lives.
For several weeks beginning in late May, Will Power brought his massive love of hip-hop and splendid skills to the 150-foot tunnel along New York and Ravine Avenues in Jersey Heights. Working in collaboration with noted hip-hop documentarians Ernie Paniccioli, T. Eric Monroe and David Corio, Will painted a momentous mural paying homage to 45 hip-hop icons and to the photographers who so brilliantly documented them.
Captured above at the entry to the Hip-Hop Tunnel is the late legendary Tupac Shakur — based on a photo by T. Eric Monroe. Several close-ups from inside the tunnel follow:
Sponsored by the Jersey City Mural Arts Program, the hugely impressive mural — seen by thousands daily as they travel in and out of Jersey Heights — is a spectacular tribute to hip-hop culture.
Since 2014, Waterford Walls, Ireland’s largest street art festival, has been transforming and regenerating urban spaces in Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city, while inspiring and connecting communities. Earlier this month, Waterford Walls held its eighth street art festival with over 28 national and international artists creating huge murals across Waterford City and the surrounding areas.
The enchanting mural featured above was painted by the London-based French street artist Zabou with the Dublin-based French illustrator and muralist Juliette Viode. They are both captured here — posing with the local boy depicted in the mural — by travel and street photographer Karin du Maire aka Street Art Nomad. Several more images from the recent Waterford Walls follow:
Currently on view at Underhill Walls in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn is a delightfully nostalgic trip down TV’s memory lane. In the murals featured above, accolades are given to The Sopranos by Paolo Tolentino, while Subway Doodle honors Battlestar Galactica. Several more images from Underhill Walls‘ current iteration follow:
Multi-media artist Sage Gallon pays homage to “The Sonny and Cher Show” for its “talent and variety”
Painter and muralist Jessie Novik celebrates “I Love Lucy”
Artist and arts educator Carnivorous Flora recreates “The Partridge Family” as “little people with a bus rolling out the red carpet to Ukrainian refugees and welcoming them to NYC!”
Tattoo artist and designer DozenFingers Graphics celebrates the animated television series “Sonic the Hedgehog”
Muralist and illustrator Miki Mu adds the final touches to her playful ode to “Sesame Street”
Visual artist and poet Android Oi — in collaboration with painter and illustrator Melissa Schainker — celebrates “Mork & Mindy,” (with project coordinator Jeff Beler standing to his right).
Founded and curated by Jeff Beler, Underhill Walls is a non-profit public art installation located at the corner of St. Johns Place and Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn,
Earlier this summer, several members of the OTM Graff Crew brought their spectacular skills to Bushwick, where they fashioned their distinctly impressive rendition of Jurassic World Dominion. Featured above are the talents of Cortes and Scope against a background created by Cortes, Meres, Albertus Joseph and Topaz. Several more images captured from the huge production follow:
Cortes against collaborative background, closer-up
Meres, 5Pointz founder, who spearheaded this production
With support from lead sponsors NAMI NYC and the Howard Hughes Corporation, seven new alluringly fashioned You Are Not Alone Murals have made their way onto the South Street Seaport in honor of the 2022 BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month. Pictured above are the works of the prolific Brooklyn-based artist Jason Naylor and, to his right, designer and illustrator Kasi Turpin. Several more photos of YANA murals — painted during two of this month’s hottest days and captured at dusk — follow:
Brooklyn-based multimedia artist Subway Doodle in collaboration with Iranian-American muralist Will Pay and NYC-based multimedia designer Zipeng Zhu to their mural’s right
Brooklyn-based visual artist Efdot in collaboration with textile artist and educator Jessie Mordine
Founded and organized by Dirty Bandits and Samantha Schutz, You Are Not Alone Murals is a pubic art project that inspires hope and connection though creativity. If you are feeling down, the number to text or call is 988.
