Street & Urban Art « Arrested Motion

Category Archives: Street & Urban Art

Upcoming: Revok @ Library Street Collective (Los Angeles)

Posted by sleepboy, February 24, 2015

Coming up on April 10th, Revok will be making a triumphant return to Los Angeles after a self-imposed exile for his first solo in the city he used to call his home. One of the most notorious graffiti artist of his generation but also one of the L.A. Sheriff Department’s most wanted vandals, he moved to Detroit to shield himself from the constant harassment from the police and legal ramifications of his residence there. While in Motown, he has further developed his fine art skills, […]

POW! WOW! ’15 / Streets: HotTea

Posted by SAL, February 23, 2015

Probably most original and unique artist of this year’s POW! WOW! Hawaii (more coverage here) was the Minneapolis-based HotTea. Known for his yarn installations on fences, he found a very original and harmless way of expressing himself on the streets. He created this technique after getting in trouble for doing graffiti but still wanting to be able to continue bombing, but not get in trouble. Thinking of his grandma’s knitting skills, he found a way to incorporate this unusual medium in creating public works. His unique style and […]

Showing: Borondo – “Animal” @ Rex Romae

Posted by SAL, February 22, 2015

Gonzalo Borondo’s Animal recently opened on the 5th of February at London’s Newcastle Project Space in Shoreditch, and is now in its final week. Closing on the 26th of February, this elaborate show presented by Rex Romae is a worthy visit for all the street and urban art fans. For this well formulated and executed show, the Spanish artist created eight thematic spaces which work great individually, as well as a whole. These included a cluster of small pieces on glass, large paintings, a haystack installation, glass works with […]

Overtime: Feb 16 – Feb 22

Posted by Khoi, February 22, 2015

More stories from the week that ended Feb 21 (click on bolded words for more information): Landon Metz show opens at James Fuentes. Metz discusses the show with Interview Magazine. RIP: Sheila Caro, artist and wife of Anthony Caro. Michael Asher’s only permanent outdoor work destroyed by man welding a sledgehammer. UN Security Council bans all trade in artifacts from Syria, accusing IS militants of looting to raise funds. Dispute over Cornelius Gurlitt’s will delaying efforts to research works and process restitution cases. Prosecutor in […]

Viewpoints / Openings: Dran — ‘Public Execution’ pop-up show in Soho, London

Posted by Patrick Nguyen, February 21, 2015

It’s been some time since Pictures On Walls has organised an art exhibition. The previous one was in December 2013 with the Shok-1 solo show, X-Rainbow. Last year, POW gave up its premises on Commercial Street in East London. With a permanent show space no longer retained, the number of print releases in 2014 restricted to a small handful (by Paul Insect, Maya Hayuk and Invader), and plenty of competitors arriving on the street art scene eager to fill the void, many wondered what the […]

POW! WOW! ’15 / Streets: Sever

Posted by sleepboy, February 20, 2015

One of that artists this year for POW! WOW! Hawaii (more coverage here) that painted in a location off the beaten path was the MSK-affiliated Sever. The graffiti writer who made his name in Atlanta and has been known in the past to use his skills in a satirical way (see Street Art Is Dead mural) once again came up with some clever imagery for this wall in Kaka’ako. Take a look some more detailed photos below… Discuss Sever here.

Upcoming: Mehdi Ghadyanloo – “Perception” @ Howard Griffin Gallery

Posted by sleepboy, February 20, 2015

On February 26th, Howard Griffin Gallery will be opening another worthy show in London featuring the art of Mehdi Ghadyanloo. Entitled Perception, the exhibition will explore the darker side of the Iranian artist’s work, when compared to the public murals he has been known for which are sponsored by Tehran’s Beautification Bureau. The new paintings will also feature the optical illusions and geometrical forms which are present in the 100 murals that he has been responsible for which have become part of the visual landscape of contemporary Tehran. Rounding out […]

Openings: Optimist – ‘Packrat’s Paradise’ @ LeQuiVive

Posted by sven, February 20, 2015

LeQuiVive has been hosting some exciting exhibitions over recent months. Currently showing is Packrat’s Paradise by Optimist aka Tim the Optimist. The exhibition is as much an autobiography as it is an art show, with a large scale installation consisting of a variety of paintings on different mediums intertwined with ephemera and memorabilia of his life and the graffiti crew culture he has been immersed within for the last decade. The exhibition is seemingly well titled by the look of the sheer amount of ‘stuff’ crammed into […]

POW! WOW! ’15 / Streets: Case Maclaim x Smithe

Posted by SAL, February 20, 2015

Mixing their two different but very compatible styles, Case Maclaim from Germany and Smithe from Mexico created one of the most interesting pieces on this year’s POW! WOW! Hawaii (more coverage here). The imagery they chose was a commentary about the preservation of coral life and the effect of human activity on its future. Smithe painted a detailed illustrative part showing a human head with coral for brains, surrounded with different organic & surrealistic elements and creatures. Case wrapped this image with a series of his recognizable […]

Preview: Poesia & Geso ‘Un-Formal’ @ 886 Geary Gallery

Posted by sven, February 19, 2015

886 Geary Gallery continues the charge with it’s second exhibition Un-Formal, a two [erson exhibition with Geso and Poesia opening this Saturday, February 21st. Geso and Poesia have both been in the game for years, and those in the Bay Area will be familiar with their abstract influenced stylings out in the wild. Whilst Poesia is regarded for his angular compositions, now commonly defined under his creation of the Graffuturism banner, Geso is known for his stylised freights and heavily tagged walls where his moniker is repeated over […]