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Category Archives: Street & Urban Art

POW! WOW! Taiwan ’14 / Streets: James Jean

Only few months after creating his first ever outdoors mural for their event in Honolulu (covered), James Jean (interviewed) was invited to join the POW! WOW! family at their first edition of POW! WOW! Taiwan. Designated an old rugged wall at the Taipei Zoo, the Taiwanese American visual artist fought the elements and created this impressive mural titled Paradise. Using house paint, lacquer, spray paint, and oil, he painted this fantastic 43′ x 17′ piece showing “Taiwanese macaques tumble in a paradise/prison of man’s making.” Giving a sharp […]

Showing: JR Installation @ Panthéon (Paris)

It looks like the Inside / Out message from JR (interviewed) isn’t stopping anytime soon. We had just finished enjoying the street intervention in Shanghai ourselves (also see Time Square, Japan, Los Angeles & London, just to name of few) and now the French artist is back in his hometown for a massive installation at the Panthéon. Blending contemporary art, in this case JR’s photographs of people all from all over the world, with classical architecture always creates an intriguing combination (i.e.: KAWS at the PAFA & Murakami at Versailles). […]

Streets: World Roundup (May 19 – Jun 1)

It’s time again for another one of our Streets: World Roundup features, a summary of some of the newer street murals that has gone up. Leading things off is this new piece from Aryz that he painted in Lagos, Portugal entitled Tempus Fugit. The mural by the Spanish artist was created for ARTURb ’14. Also make sure to check out more worthy public works below from Augustino Iacurci – Rome, Faith47 – London, Telmo Miel – France, Woozy x Borondo – London, Run – London, Thierry […]

Streets: Vhils (Lisbon)

As a part of preparation for his upcoming museum show in Lisbon (covered), Alexandre Farto aka Vhils recently finished another signature piece on the outskirts of Lisbon. The Lisnave area was once a huge shipyard, building and fixing large boats from around the world, but has now been abandoned for the last 15 to 20 years. In order to get across the devastating consequences that had to the economical situation in the area and people living there, Vhils created this large size portrait. Using paint and heavy tools, the Lisbon-based artist carved this portrait […]

Rewind: May 19 – Jun 1

Another week, another Rewind feature. Leading things off is a nice little video from Jeremy Asher Lynch documenting some murals Herakut painted in Los Angeles (set up by Beau Basse), overlayed with a quote from Pablo Casals. Other worthy videos that can also be seen below come from: SMART CREW transforms SIXTY SoHo. Art collectors starting out younger and younger. Carsten Nicolai creates public art light show in Hong Kong. 3 Letters book preview. New street work by Farewell. Peiqi Su’s wall of penises. Optical illusions […]

Overtime: May 27 – June 1

More stories from the week that ended June 1 (click on bolded words for more information): Jeff Koons’ Split-Rocker to be installed at 30 Rock. RIP: Maya Angelou, who died at the age of 86. RIP: Michael Schmidt, who died at the age of 68, three days after learning he had won Prix Pictet. Gunman opens fire and kills four people during attack at Brussels Jewish Museum. Alexander Selvik Wengshoel eats his own hip as part of art performance. Says it tastes like “wild sheep”. […]

Openings: Shepard Fairey – “Power & Glory” @ The Halsey

After bringing you an early in studio glance at Shepard Fairey’s new body of work, it’s time to look at the opening at The Halsey, where the new pieces were put on display alongside a new show of Jasper John’s work. Power & Glory featured a celebration as well as a political critique of Americana and the decline of the “American Dream,” kind of a duality of where he shows an appreciation for the iconography but also provides satire. Of course, fans of is work will […]

Openings: “Mr Freeze – Nite & Day” (Toulouse)

For the second year running, the association Faute O Graff is curating Mister Freeze, an exhibition featuring small gallery artworks to large scale installations until June 1st. This year, the show is taking place in two abandonned places –  Le Frigo (“The Fridge”) where the first exhibition took place in 2013 with small scale artworks, and large scale installations in a secret place, revealed at the last minute. For this new episode of Mister Freeze – Nite & Day, street and graffiti artists are playing on both […]

Streets: Daan Botlek (Berlin)

Dutch artist Daan Botlek has recently moved to Germany and after a few weeks of life in one of the street art’s capitals, he picked up his tools and went painting in public again. Recently, he was wandering around the abandoned Wuhlheide train station in Berlin, looking for interesting spots to paint. For the ones familiar with his public works, his interventions hugely depend on the environment and the possibilities of the location. He often uses architectural elements in order to create simple illusions, making his super flat and […]

Openings: D*Face – “Honestly Dishonest” @ Above Second

During Basel HK week, another major show we hit was from British artist D*Face (interviewed) at Hong Kong’s Above Second Gallery. Presented by Coates & Scarry, the solo entitled Honestly Dishonest featured 18 fresh works focusing on society’s increasing appetite for information. D put together layers of the commercial output which bombard our minds on a daily basis, creating something new and different in and of itself. The sold out show was filled with Basel week attendees and fans. Next, we’ll bring you some of the outdoor murals he created while he was in town. Discuss D*Face here.