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Category Archives: Features

Streets: JR (Rio de Janeiro) – Part II

After sharing a first look at the public art created in Rio de Janeiro by JR (interviewed) for the Olympics, we now have photos from the rest of the project. Like the first piece featuring a Sudanese athlete high jumping over a building, the other two installations also feature athletes that didn’t make it to this year’s Olympics – French triathlete Léonie Periault swimming and a Brazilian diver. He chose to photograph young athletes who may one day make it, people who are still “working hard for the passion of sport.” […]

Overtime: Aug 8 – Aug 14

More stories from the week that ended Aug 14 (click on bolded words for more information): Nicolas Party’s Pathway comes to Dallas Museum of Art. RIP: Betsy Davis, who passed away at the age of 41 via doctor-assisted suicide after hosting two-day party. RIP: Ernst Neizvestny, who passed away at the age of 91. RIP: The Duke of Westminster, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, who passed away at the age of 64. Museum visitor interaction with works and subsequent vandalistic acts a rising concern. The Guardian also writes about vandalism fears. […]

Streets: Bezt // Etam Cru – “Europe” (Germany)

Recently in Mannheim, Germany, Bezt from the Etam Cru painted a eye-catching new mural for the Stadt.Wand.Kunst open urban art gallery project. The somber multi-story high piece is simply entitled Europe and features a glimpse at a funeral procession. We can think of several ways this new wall can be interpreted, but whatever your own thoughts about it, we can all agree the Polish street artist got his message across in a striking and beautiful way. Discuss Etam Cru here.

Streets: Blu (Porto Torres, Sardinia)

Several weeks ago, Blu was invited to Porto Torres, Sardinia, by the C.S.O.A. Pangea Posthudorra collective. During his visit, the Italian artist painted another impressive piece in the Villaggio Satellite residential part of town. The finished mural depicts a large head whose face is formed with a human puzzle, sending a message of unity. Done using a signature illustrative style with a lot of small detail that creates the story, the piece is painted on a colorful gradient background which accents the main image. The idea of the organizers and the artist […]

Streets: Miss Van (Toulouse)

Fresh from her recent museum exhibition opening at the CAC Malaga (covered), Miss Van is back to Toulouse, the city where she started to paint, with a new mural for the Rose Beton Festival (covered). La symphonie des songes features her signature sensual female character in a dreamlike landscape playing with colourful folklore masks from various continents, transporting us from China to Latin America. Photo credit: Butterfly, Benjamin BigAddict Roudet and @juliemorize    Discuss Miss Van here.

Streets: Leon Keer (Dresden)

Street painting expert Leon Keer recently created a new piece in Dresden, Germany for the upcoming Magic City street exhibition. The Dutch artist is known for his anamorphic paintings on the ground that deceive the eye, with this latest piece being no different. Entitled Across the Border and painted in front of Scheune Dresden, it tells a story of hope and tolerance and is inspired by the famous Dresden Meissen porcelain figures. Discuss Leon Keer here.

Streets: INO // Art United Us (Kiev)

The large ongoing program Art United Us keeps producing new large murals around the Ukranian capital of Kiev in an effort to raise public awareness and attention to the problem of war, aggression and violence. Curated by Iryna Kanishcheva and Geo Leros, the project recently revealed the latest finished piece by INO titled Instability. This is the Greek artist’s largest mural to date measuring 48 meters in height and done using his signature sketch-like style with gray scale tones and subtle use of color. Mixing photorealism and abstraction, the […]

Overtime: Aug 1 – Aug 7

More stories from the week that ended Aug 7 (click on bolded words for more information): Artnet shares some art-filled day trips from NYC. Ben Medansky’s studio and everything in it lost to fire in Downtown Los Angeles. LA Times writes about the gentrification resistance in Boyle Heights centered around art galleries. Will Zika concerns be a major issue during the Miami art fairs in December? Justin Giarla leaves San Francisco as artists, collectors, and others discuss financial disputes with the dealer. Lenora Claire fighting to change archaic […]

Streets: El Mac – “Spark of Divinity” (Sedona)

Recently in Sedona, Arizona, El Mac finished painting a mural that was commissioned by a local Whole Foods store. Near and dear to his heart, the piece featured a portrait of his mother-in-law and her granddaughter juxtaposed against a background inspired by the famous Beethoven Frieze by Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt. His work was inspired by a “Beethoven symphony from 1824, which was inspired a poem, Ode To Joy, by Friedrich Schiller from 1785 which begins with the line – “Joy, beautiful spark of divinity…” – giving this mural its title. […]