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Category Archives: Street & Urban Art

Releases: SHOK-1 // “X-Fly” Prints

British artist SHOK-1 recently released a series of X-Fly prints with Fruit, Bluebottle, and Fire variations. Mimicking his characteristic freehand x-ray spray technique from the streets, each of them are sized at 66 x 44 cm, limited to an edition of 50, and cost £140.00 with a discount if you buy all three as a set. The British artist further explains – “Like graffiti, flies are often perceived in a negative way but they can be very beautiful.” Discuss SHOK-1 here.

Streets: D*Face – “Catrina” (Mexico City)

Last month in Mexico City, D*Face (interviewed) painted a mural for All City Canvas entitled Catrina, of course inspired by the “Day of the Dead” celebration. The piece located at Av. Cuauhtémoc 273 in the Roma neighborhood is the last mural of the year for the CC Global Series, made in collaboration with British Council Mexico as part of the Dual Year UKMX 2015. Take a look at more photos below… Photo credit: Francisco Betanzos. Discuss D*Face here.

Previews: Thomas Canto – “Still lifes of space time” @ Wunderkammern

Later this month (November 21st), Wunderkammern in Rome will be presenting new works from Thomas Canto, his first solo in Italy. Not one to be constricted by the confines of the traditional canvas, the French artist’s abstract but precise works often feature nylon strings or wall painting that extend past the frame extending the geometries of his artistic vision. For this exhibition, Canto will be also be creating an site-specific installation inside the gallery space with an interactive video mapping projection. Photo credit: Blind Eye Factory. […]

Openings: Tristan Eaton – “Legacy” @ Subliminal Projects

Over the weekend, Subliminal Projects in Los Angeles held the opening reception for Tristan Eaton’s new show (presented by Library Street Collective). Legacy is the locally-based artist’s first solo exhibition in the area in almost a decade, a fact not lost on the crowds that lined up to check out the new work and to show their support. The new paintings feature Eaton’s characteristic patchwork style with this subject matter quite personal this time around. as they were inspired by audio interviews conducted by him of nearly a dozen people who played a pivotal […]

Introducing: solidARTy.org

The refugee crisis in Europe is getting bigger by the day and the unsettling images of people walking across the continent in hopes of a new life are putting our humanity to the test. While some artists are producing engaging work commenting on the poor handling of the situation by institutions and certain governments, there are different kind of charities and fundraising projects trying to help the situation. One of the most recent one is solidARTy.org, an online art auction website where street and urban art lovers can […]

Openings: Barry McGee – “China Boo” @ Ratio 3

After an interval of seven years, Barry McGee is back at Ratio 3 in San Francisco and this time he brought along 50 of his friends to join him. This particular show had a few surprises and whole lot of what we love about the Bay Area legend such as painted signs, geometric paintings, customized surfboards, painted bottles, sketches, and photography. The main gallery hosted the man known as Twist’s work with the vacant store next door converted to the L. Quan – Check Cashing & Healing Arts Centre for all […]

Overtime: Nov 2 – Nov 8

More stories from the week that ended Nov 8 (click on bolded words for more information): Christopher Y. Lew’s essay on Jared Madere, who currently has an exhibition at the Whitney. Tao Hongjing revealed to actually be French man named Alexandre Ouairy, who pretended to be Chinese. Bosch Research and Conservation Project determines two Bosch works may have been painted by imitators. Arts education in Los Angeles public schools severely lacking. Michael Werner accuses Germany of using controversial legislation to generate revenue from cultural industry. Sokari Douglas Camp sculpture […]

Showing: Usugrow – “Organic Contrast” @ Diesel Art Gallery

Showing for one more week through November 13th is Usugrow’s show at Diesel Art Gallery in Shibuya. Entitled Organic Contrast, the exhibition features the Japanese artist’s distinctive mix of calligraphy and Los Angeles “cholo” culture. The exhibition is the locally-based artist’s first solo in Japan in the last 10 years and includes nearly 40 artworks, some of which show a new direction. Photo credit: Miki Matsushima. Discuss Usugrow here.

Streets / POW! WOW! Japan 2015: Recap

Last month, the POW! WOW! crew completed the first leg of their Asia tour by hitting up Tokyo with live art, installations, and musical performances. The inaugural edition of POW! WOW! Japan featured work from Mark Dean Veca, Case, Colasa, Cook One (seen above), Kamea Hadar, Frankie Cihi, Jay Shogo, Hitotzuki (Kami & Sasu), Luise Ono, Dave Kinsey, Fafi, Ben Horton, Usugrow, Yoshiyasu Tamura, BAKIBAKI, Takizo, and Shizentomotel. As we speak, a new set of artists have moved on to the second part the event – […]

Art Focus: Parasite

Parasite’s series of Black Things paintings utilize found & existing paintings and prints as a canvas where traditional works are over-painted with brutal new geometries. The original context of the source paintings are changed and subverted with distorted volumes and masses of ‘anti-image’ to create a new vocabulary. Portions of the original image are retained by the Poland-based artist as he plays with our sense of perception – depth and dimension present a renewed allegory that emphasizes unfamiliar details within the framing of the existing image. Equally, his outdoor […]