street art
Posted inArt

Wynwood’s Other Walls

by Hrag Vartanian

Walking or driving around Miami’s Wynwood neighborhood, you’re immediately struck by the great volume of art all around, most noticeably on the wall. Some of the work is illegal but others are sanctioned through the efforts of Primary Flight, an organization which descibes itself as “Miami’s original open air museum and street level mural installation that takes place annually throughout the Wynwood Arts District and the Miami Design District.”

One gallerist told me that one “host” of a Primary Flight mural from last year loves his so much he was talking about graffiti coating it to ensure it longevity. What was remarkable about these murals, many of which were from last year, is that they look pretty much as good as the first day they were painted. Why?

Posted inNews

Kenny Scharf Blobs Take Over Bowery Wall

by Kyle Chayka

Kenny Scharf, druggy painter of 80s fame, has covered a Bowery wall with his psychedelic blobs. This isn’t just any wall, though. Previously curated by Deitch Gallery, now The Hole NYC, this wall originally played host a Keith Haring mural and has recently been the site of Shepard Fairey, Os Gemeos, and, most recently, Barry McGee projects.

Posted inOpinion

The Underbelly Project Wants to Create an “Underground”

by Kyle Chayka

Unbeknown to the vast majority of New Yorkers, a street art project has quietly been taking place under the streets of our fair city, artist by artist and flashlight by flashlight. The Underbelly Project is a reaction against the overwhelming commercialization of street art. Project organizers Workhorse and PAC called the fad for ripping off street objects “commercialism at its worst.” To rectify this supposed “commercial” situation being faced by street artists, Underbelly “safeguards” street art’s “integrity” by placing it where only the select few can get at it: in an abandoned, unused subway stations somewhere underneath the teeming pavement.

Posted inArt

Taking it into the Third Dimension: New York’s Sculptural Street Art

by Luna Park

In my travels across New York City documenting street art and graffiti, I’m always excited when I stumble across full-blown illicit installations. While stenciling and wheatpasting continue to explode in popularity, it takes another level of commitment, chutzpah if you will, to pull off something more involved. Using salvaged or re-appropriated materials, NYC street artists are both piggybacking their pieces onto existing street furniture and brazenly installing work of their own.

Posted inArt

An Experiment in Street Art Criticism

by Hrag Vartanian

Coming across a work by Gaia on the street is a special experience. His work is intelligent, emotional, well-executed, and informed by the wider world. He looks beyond pop culture, where most street art gets stuck. His linocut prints and drawings, often of animals, are beautifully rendered and react to the intensity of the urbanscape and its manmade fauna.

Posted inArt

Natural Apparition: Gaia’s “St. John” (2010)

by Hrag Vartanian

There is nothing more universal than nature, but the meaning of what constitutes the term may lead to disagreement. That perceptual ambiguity attracts Gaia, who navigates the boundary between nature and artifice carefully and with apparent ease. His latest artistic mash-up in Baltimore’s Reservoir Hill neighborhood, combines the myths of the Christian saint St. John the Baptist, the Babylonian general Holofernes, and a cock.

Posted inUncategorized

New Museum Ethics Quagmire Gets Its Own Unofficial Ad Campaign

by Hrag Vartanian

The unfortunately titled Skin Fruit has already opened on the platinum coast of downtown Manhattan, formerly known as the Bowery. And guess what, not everyone is happy.

Last weekend while avoiding the art fairs, I spotted a fantastic poster in Chelsea that lampooned the New Museum and its new found taste for caviar. I did some sleuthing and tracked down the creative geniuses behind the campaign and found out what they had to say.