In addition to its dozens of outstanding murals, Montreal teems with intriguing graffiti and street art — fashioned by both local and visiting artists. Pictured above is Enzo Sarto. Here are a few more we captured last week:
And beginning today Montreal’s annual Under Pressure Graffiti Festival continues the transformation of the city into a visual wonderland.
Photo credits: 1 Lois Stavsky; 2-7 Tara Murray
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Pictured above is Argentine artist Felipe Pantone, painted for this year’s Mural Festival. Here are several more murals we captured on our visit to Montreal last week:
UK-based D*Face, 2016
Montreal-based Xavier Raymond aka X-Ray, 2016
Australian artist Reka, 2013
Toronto native Troy Lovegates aka Other, 2013
Tel Aviv-based Klone, 2016
Belgian artist Roa, 2013
Note: LOST PARADISE, a solo exhibit featuring the work of Xavier Raymond aka X-Ray will be on display at Montreal’s Station 16 Gallery from August 18th to September 10th.
Photo credits: 1, 6 & 7 Tara Murray; 2-5 Lois Stavsky
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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Since 2013, Montreal has been hosting MURAL, an annual public art festival featuring a wonderful array of murals by both local and international artists. Here is a small sampling of what we saw while wandering on and off Boulevard Saint-Laurent this past week:
Montreal-based Five Eight, 2016
Melbourne-based Meggs, 2016
NYC-based Buff Monster, 2016
Brazilian collective Acidum Project, close-up, 2016
Chilean artist Inti, 2014
France native Mateo, 2016
Photo credits: 1-3, Lois Stavsky; 4, 5 & 7 Tara Murray and 6 Sara C Mozeson
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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All-City Express, a hugely impressive interactive art exhibition, made its world premiere last weekend at Randall’s Island’s Panorama. Under the curatorial direction of 5Pointz Creates leaders Meres One and Marie Flageul, Lady Pink, Tkid 170, Toofly, Meres One, Jerms, Topaz, and See tf painted live, covering digital subway cars with original artwork. Fusing graffiti’s underground roots with innovative video technology, the project was developed by Brooklyn-based AST Studios with Tangible Interaction. Here are a few images captured in the course of this three-day cutting-edge homage to traditional graffiti art.
Five of the 5Pointz Creates crew with Marie Flageul in foreground — on green screen
Lady Pink and Toofly at work on green screen
And with completed piece as viewed on virtual subway train
See tf and Python with completed piece on green screen
Jerms and Topaz as a mix of technologies brings them at work onto a NYC train in real time
T-Kid with completed piece on green screen
And as viewed on virtual train
Meres One at work on green screen
And the trains roll by throughout NYC with AST Studios‘ life-like visual effects and editorial content by Possible Productions
Photo credits: 1, 3-10 Nic Lyte and 2 Rachel Fawn; videos produced by AST Studios
Note: This blog will be on vacation through Sunday, August 7. You can follow us on Facebook and on Instagram.
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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Coinciding with the Democratic National Convention, the non-profit Rock The Vote launched its Truth to Power campaign in Philadelphia earlier this week. Among its events was a three-day pop-up art exhibit featuring a varied range of socially and politically engaged works in different media. Among the artists who participated are many whose works have also surfaced in public spaces. Pictured above is Keith Haring with the City Kids Foundation. Here are several more:
Mear One, False Profits
Beau Stanton, Elemental Crisis
Lmnopi, Tehrir
Mata Ruda, How Can I Write My Own Future with My Hands Bound?
Photo credits: 1-3, 5 & 6 Lois Stavsky; 4 Sara Ching Mozeson
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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While visiting the incredible Living Museum housed at the Creedmoor Psychiatric Center in Queens Village earlier this week, I unexpectedly came upon a graffiti artist at work. He introduced himself as James Kusel, and when I shared my passion for graffiti with him, he spoke about his experiences back in the day and his current mission to give back.
When did you first get up?
It was during my sophomore year of high school. I was 16 years old.
What inspired you back then?
I was working in a luncheonette in Woodhaven, and I saw the black books of the kids who were also working there. It was love at first sight! And getting up was a great outlet for me. I was a troubled kid – almost always alone – and graffiti gave me something to live for at the time…and a sense of belonging. I was passionate about it.
What were your main spots?
I started hitting the trains immediately. Among the lines that I hit were: the M, J, 7, the E and F and the 2 line. My favorites were the BMT flats. I bombed the outsides of the trains with Krylon and Rust-Oleum, and the insides with Pilots, Unis and Flow Markers. I also hit yards and rooftops. I wrote Aero.
What is the riskiest thing you ever did back then?
Everything I did was risky. Here I was a white kid – piecing at 3 in the morning in the M and J yards while ducking from the cops. It’s not where I should have been. But the riskiest thing I ever did was bombing while I was high on angel dust.
How did your family feel about what you were doing back?
My mother hated it. When she couldn’t take any more of me, she shipped me away to High Point Hospital. I spent 2 ½ years there, and since 1988, I’ve been coming here. I’ve been sober now – free of drugs and alcohol – for 28 years. If I hadn’t been locked up during the height of the crack epidemic, I’d be dead now – like so many of my friends from back in the day.
Have you ever shown your work in galleries or museums – besides the Living Museum?
Yes. I painted a gigantic mural at the Queens Museum in 2002 for its exhibit In the Flow: Artists From the Living Museum. By then I had changed my name to Insane. And I’ve painted and shown murals in alternative spaces when I worked as a DJ.
Have you ever studied art in a formal setting?
No. Why should I? I like to do things my way. I’m too cool for art school!
Did any particular cultures influence you?
Black culture. Most of my friends have been Black. I’ve been raised by that culture.
What’s your favorite place to create art these days?
Right here! I love the Living Museum. The people are wonderful, and I feel as though I am a part of a community of artists. There’s a great sense of camaraderie.
Have you any other particular interests and passions?
Yes! I love music, all music. And I am also a culinary artist and ex-surfer.
Are there any graffiti artists whose works have inspired you?
Yes! Among the artists who’ve inspired me are: Dondi, Zephyr, Duster and Lee.
Any shout-outs?
T-Kid! I identify with him and all that he’s overcome.
What do you see as the role of the artist in society?
To keep his talent, the artist must give it away. That is his role. To share it with others.
What’s ahead for you?
I’d like to create more art expressing positive messages and I want to interact more with members of the community.
Interview conducted by Lois Stavsky with Bonnie Astor and edited by Lois Stavsky; photos 1 & 2 Lois Stavsky
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Earlier this year we met up with the wonderfully talented and intrepid Apostrophe founders and curators — Sei and Ki Smith. Since, they’ve successfully hosted guerrilla pop-ups at The Whitney Museum of American Art — from which they’ve been banned for life — and at MoMA PS1. This past Friday we attended Apostrophe‘s Base 12 Subway Show, a pop-up exhibit at the Kosciuszko Street stop on the J Line featuring works from Apostrophe‘s 12 artists. And what fun it was!
Sei Smith, curator and recently featured, along with his brother, in Time Out New York’s 10 NYC artists 35 and under you should know
Morell Cutler and artwork by James Rubio on right
And healthy non-alcoholic beverage — provided by Costa Brava — served at artists’ reception on subway platform!
Apostrophe‘s Base 12 Project will continue throughout the year with three pop-ups in city parks, three in European galleries, one more museum pop up and then finally a project retrospective at Mana Contemporary that will exhibit all 144 paintings from the 12 pop-ups.
Photo credits: 1-7 Lois Stavsky; 8 & 9 Tara Murray; additional photos on the Street Art NYC Instagram
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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The newly released LET HER BE FREE documents Iranian brothers Icy and Sot‘s foray from skateboarding teens in Iran to politically-conscious, internationally acclaimed artists. To celebrate the launch of their book, the artists invite you to a pop-up exhibition of small and mid-scale stencil artworks that have been created exclusively for this book launch. Opening tomorrow evening. July 23 at 51 Orchard Street with a book signing, the exhibit continues through July 30.
Unity, spray paint on canvas
Justice, spray paint on cut-out wood
In Long Island City
And book cover
Published by Lebowsi Publishers with an introduction by filmmaker and poet Jess X Chen and an afterword by Brooklyn Street Art‘s Jaime Rojo and Steven P. Harrington, the artists’ first collection of works features over 200 full color photos.
All images courtesy Icy and Sot
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Celebrating the history of today’s spray paint culture, Bristol-based HANGFIRE has teamed up with U.S.- based spray brand collectors Cap Matches Color to present HomeStyle. On display and for purchase will be a strong collection of spray paint memorabilia from the archives of Cap Matches Color and U.K. based collector, Ticks. Also on exhibit will be limited edition photographic prints from worldwide traveller and photographer Mr. Yoshi and original artwork and limited prints from Cheo.
Copies of Two Decades of Digging will be available for purchase, along with limited edition silkscreened skate decks featuring vintage spray paint graphics of Marabu Buntlack, Krylon and Rust-Oleum by HANGFIRE.
The exhibit opens at tomorrow — Friday evening — at 49 North Street, BS3 1EN Bristol, UK on the eve of Bristol’s famed Upfest Festival and continues through August 5th.
Images for this post courtesy HANGFIRE and Cap Matches Color; photo of Cap Matches Color by Lois Stavsky
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We’ve been huge fans of Stik and his distinctively singular — now iconic — character since he first visited NYC several years ago. We are delighted that his first book that was released in the UK last year is now available here throughout the US.
Featured in STIK are dozens of artworks ranging from unsanctioned pieces on the streets of East London — painted when the artist was homeless — to huge international murals across the globe. All are fashioned from six lines and two dots, the style Stik began when he had to paint quickly to evade the authorities.
Described by the artist as “a journal of the progression of the Stik Project,” STIK is a fascinating journey into the artist’s consciousness and aesthetic. Stik’s strong social mindfulness and acute political awareness are evident in this first collection of his works, as he increasingly devotes his talents and energies to a range of causes, often working in collaboration with children and members of vulnerable communities.
With over 200 heavy gloss pages and an exclusive, limited edition print, the book — published by Penguin — has now made its way into bookstores across the globe.
You can meet Stik and purchase a signed copy of his book with an orange or teal print — exclusive to the first US edition of the book — tomorrow, Thursday evening from 6-8pm at Strand Books, 828 Broadway on the corner of 12th Street.
Anyone who buys a copy of STIK or brings in a pre-purchased copy of the book for Stik to sign at Strand Books is eligible to enter a lottery to win a pair of artist’s unfolded, card stock Stik posters, signed by Stik himself. The posters, one orange and one blue, are number one of only five artist’s proofs and depict the same image seen on the book’s cover.
All photos courtesy Stik and Penguin Press
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