ArrestedMotion logo
Category Archives: Street & Urban Art

Streets: José Parlá x JR @ Bryce Wolkowitz

In preparation for their joint show opening on May 7th at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, JR and José Parlá worked on a mural together in Chelsea over the weekend. The piece is a followup to the epic series of walls they collaborated on in Cuba last year (covered) and will be the subject of their exhibition –  The Wrinkles of the City, Havana, Cuba. Check out more of the action in our photos below… Discuss this show here. Discuss JR here. Discuss José Parlá here.

Streets: World Roundup (April 22 – April 28)

This weekend sees the return of our Streets: World Roundup feature detailing street murals from around the globe. First on the list is a new mural from Wes21 in Biel, Switzerland (source) with a pretty sweet placement. Other notable walls come from Remi Rough x Shok-1 – UK, Waone (Interesni Kazki) x Kislow – France, Faile – Ireland (source), Escif x Hyuro – Spain, Escif x M-City – Spain, RIME x Toper – New York, INSA – Australia (source), Conor Harrington x Maser – London (source), Interesni […]

Openings: “Paris Match” Group Show @ Opera Gallery (Paris)

Celebrating the 64th anniversary of French magazine Paris Match, in partnership with Opera Gallery in Paris, 19 artists paid tribute by revisiting some of their iconic covers in paintings, sculptures, photos and other mixed media. Participating artists included Speedy Graphito, C215, Blek Le Rat, The London Police, Kan, Dest, Paul Alexis, G.J. Plisson & Brusk, Andre Monet, Gully, Gris1, Brusk, Tilt, Hisham Echafaki, Ron Agam and Zeus. View the catalogue here. Pics by Butterfly and Opera Gallery.

Overtime: April 22 – April 28

More stories from the week ended April 28: Financial Times interviews and profiles George Condo. RIP: former L.A. Times art critic William Wilson dies at 78. He suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. Heirs of Baron Mor Lipot Herzog can now sue Hungary over Herzog’s art collection looted during WWII. Michael Little arrested for allegedly selling counterfeit Chihuly art. Francois Pinault will donate two looted bronze relics from his collection to the Chinese government. Cleaning lady pleads guilty in $3M theft of Benjamin Franklin Houdon bust made […]

Previews: “Wider than a postcard” @ Breeze Block Gallery

On the back of his Space//Form group exhibition last year (covered), Arrested Motion’s Sven Davis is working with Breeze Block Gallery in Portland again on another huge group event entitled Wider than a postcard. With over 200 artists and 400 individual works, this exhibition looks to be both bigger than the previous event and also smaller at the same time as all of the artworks are postcard sized at 6×4 inches. Each artist is either making work on a found / owned postcard and adapting / adding […]

Streets: Miss Van (Brazil) – Part II

Recently, French street painter Miss Van has been spending quite a bit of time in Brazil. While there for four months, she mostly stayed in the hotbed of street activity and home to many artists seen here AM – Sao Paulo. She was able to get up solo on multiple walls, but much of the time was also spent painting with friends like Zezao, CiroSchu, and Titifreak. We already shared some of these murals in Part I of our coverage, but now enjoy some more photos as well […]

Preview: Pedro Matos – “Building Castles Made of Sand” @ Martha Otero

Coming up next month (May 17th), the Martha Otero Gallery will be presenting London-based Pedro Matos’ first solo show in Los Angeles entitled Building Castles Made of Sand. The exhibition from Matos, who is originally from Lisbon, will consist of a new series of oil paintings on canvas and azulejo panels – a traditional Portuguese medium of hand-painted, tin-glazed, ceramic tile work. From what we have seen, the new pieces continue to convey an aesthetic of decay and ephemerality in subject matter as well as the patterns and tears that […]

Openings: Skewville – “Amusement” @ White Walls

A couple weeks ago, White Walls in San Francisco opened a new show from the Brooklyn-based twin brother duo, Skewville (featured). Amusement features about 30 different pieces painted on a mix of wood canvases and found materials as well as sculptural works – all created in their trademark “urban playground” style. Some standouts include wooden boomboxes and a merry-go-round built from retro Apollo bikes. Take a look at all the photos below… Photo credit: Joe Russo Discuss Skewville here.

Preview: Aakash Nihalani – “ISLANDS” @ Signal

After a recent solo at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery (covered), New York will be getting another dose of Aakash Nihalani’s work this weekend at Signal. On Friday night (April 26th), the Brooklyn space will play host to ISLANDS, an exhibition of new site-specific geometric installations from Nihalani. It has been interesting to see the NY-based street artist make a transition to indoor work and this newest project will be no different with him employing techniques of contrast and forced perspective to convey virtual depth or movement. Discuss Aakash Nihalani here.

Openings: Keith Haring Retrospective – “The Political Line” @ MAM Paris

Last weekend, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (MAM) opened a new retrospective of the late Keith Haring’s work entitled The Political Line. On display were a staggering number of pieces, over 250 paintings and sculptural works with a focus on the importance of Haring’s art as visual activism, highlighting the diversity of his socio-political views. The exhibition will be on view through August 18th in Paris and is made possible with the support of Citizens of Humanity. Discuss Keith Haring here.