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Category Archives: Features

Streets: Swoon @ Nuart Aberdeen

Nuart returns to Aberdeen this weekend with a full program of murals, conference talks and screenings and this provides a good opportunity to look back at the undoubted highlight of last year’s event: Swoon‘s return to the streets for the first time since 2017. Following her retrospective at CIC Cincinnati, the Brooklyn-based artist, also known as Caledonia Curry, decided to shift focus to work on other pieces of her artistic puzzle, most notably the stop-motion animation Sibylant Sisters which is currently in production. But the […]

Streets: Banksy (North London)

Banksy is back, with a new, large-scale street piece appearing overnight on a residential building on Hornsey Road, midway between the Archway and Finsbury Park areas of North London. AM was prompted out of hermit mode, jumped on a bus, and went to have look, before the artwork could be dogged by the petty-minded/envious, sidebusted by coattail-riders, or covered in perspex.  The whimsical mural interacts with a tree in the foreground — a rather sad-looking, currently leafless specimen that was aggressively lopped and topped by local authorities. Having taken matters […]

Preview/Art Focus: Futura – ‘Breaking Out’ @ University of Buffalo

Retrospectives are rarely as overdue as the one opening on Saturday at the University of Buffalo Art Galleries. Breaking Out spans both of the university’s locations – UB Center for the Arts and the UB Anderson Gallery – and provides a comprehensive survey of the five decade-long career of Futura. So, it seems like a timely opportunity for us to take a look back at the life and works of one of the most innovative and influential artists of our time.  Leonard Hilton McGurr was […]

Releases: Top 10 Books of 2022

Despite the indisputable importance of digital media in the art world, the appetite for physical books remains undimmed and this year has seen the release of some beautifully crafted works. So, in no particular order, here are our favorite books published in 2022. ‘4000’ by INVADER The Parisian-artist’s global invasion is undoubtedly one of the largest and most ambitious art projects that has ever been undertaken. In addition to photos of all the 4000 pieces which he has created in 80 cities worldwide over the […]

Streets: Pejac – “WELCOME” (Nuart Aberdeen 2022)

Recently in Aberdeen, Scotland, Pejac completed his latest outdoor project which he entitled WELCOME. The whimsical and detailed work features his version of a classic doormat with a resulting piece that is more than the sum of its parts. The street intervention was placed in front of a building that the Spanish artist chose because it has hosted many charities as well as is a home for vulnerable residents facing social exclusion. Created for Nuart Aberdeen 2022, Pejac hopes the piece presents a “message of dignity, […]

Studio Visits: Carl Krull – Protagonist @ Formation Gallery

Today in Copenhagen, a new exhibition from Carl Krull (featured) will mark the grand opening of Formation Gallery, a new space in the heart of Vesterbro. Known for his Seismic series of black & white works, the Danish artist is venturing into new territory with color and a more sculptural aesthetic. “There was a time when my studio consisted of a pair of virtual reality glasses. VR showed me that my drawn line was thriving detached from the surface of the paper and was sculptural […]

Studio Visits: Sickboy – “Dreamworlds POV” @ Mirus Gallery (SF)

Returning to San Fransisco next Friday for his second exhibition with Mirus Gallery, Sickboy (interviewed) will be presenting a new series of paintings and sculpture entitled Dreamworlds POV. Arrested Motion paid a visit to the Bristol-based artist’s studio, which is housed in a former Victorian church, to see what he has in store. Sickboy’s installation at the Vanguard museum show (covered) takes viewers from a 2D painting, through a 3D sculpture and onwards to an ethereal 4D otherworld. This new body of work builds on that […]

Streets: Banksy (Bristol)

Delivering an early Christmas present to the people of Bristol, Banksy has painted a new work depicting a sneezing pensioner in the neighborhood of Totterdown. The area acquired its name because the steepness of the hills make it appear that the terrace houses are tottering, or tumbling, down the precipitous slope towards the River Avon below. The piece itself is located on Vale Street which at 22° is the steepest residential street in the UK and the native West Country artist has played with these angles […]

Streets: Banksy (Nottingham)

Making good use of a prop, Banksy has struck again with some covert art-making in the city of Nottingham in the UK. Stenciled in behind a dilapidated bike with a missing wheel, a girl can be seen using the said tire sans spokes as a hula hoop. Painted on the wall of a salon on Rothesay Avenue, the whimsical piece has already attracted local vandals to spray over it despite being protected by perspex and being cleaned multiple times. Photo credit: @mikespencer58, @mary_christina90, @rossswift, and […]

Streets: Shepard Fairey – “Voting Rights Are Human Rights” (Milwaukee)

Shepard Fairey (interviewed) recently completed a new mural in Milwaukee entitled Voting Rights Are Human Rights. Created in collaboration with local artists Tyanna Buie, Niki Johnson, Tom Jones, Claudio Martinez, and Dyani Whitehawk, the wall brings attention to voter suppression, something especially prevalent in Wisconsin which often targets communities of color. Painted on the side of the Colby Abbot Building in downtown, the piece’s central figure is based on a mid-60’s civil rights march photo by Steve Shapiro. Learn more about the project here. Photo credit: @jonathanfurlong & @nikijohnsonstudio. Discuss Shepard […]