April 2010: Useless Idea in Genoa

Spray paint isn't for everyone; sometimes, it pays to play around with other styles. Italian artist Useless Idea started out spray painting but ending up working with brushes. Today, he explains how his style developed and shares where he's going next. He writes:

”I started painting in the street in 1993 when I was 15. At first, I was influenced by the culture of writing. I tried to spray letters at first, but I didn’t like it so I started drawing with permanent markers. The subjects were strange shapes with strange perspectives, hybrid figuratives and abstract subjects. Then I started painting characters on walls with a brush. After several experiences, I went back to painting letters.”
”I am in Genoa, Italy, but I’ve painted in other places like Barcelona, Berlin, Bilbao, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Milan. Next year, I will travel to several European cities looking for a place to live that reflects my character. I do not like Italy; it’s too superficial and religious.”
”Recently, I’ve returned to painting alone. Street art has many disadvantages: it is illegal, the work is not sustainable, and trends tend to ruin the intimacy and originality of things. Many people speculate on the concept of street art because it’s something that can sell in galleries. I’m pretty demanding when people hang out, so I don’t compromise my style with that of another person until I respect his style of painting.”
“I've always drawn with the aim of evolving constantly without copying other people. I want to maintain my visual character but increase my maturity. I've always been interested in geometry but also in figurative works. I have never put too many constraints on myself, even when other people did not like what I drew. The goal was and has always been to do my style and paint for myself without compromise. Combining different disciplines and experimenting has always been one of my main goals. Because I get bored a lot, I need to grow continually. I have a hobby of exploring abandoned places almost every weekend. It’s a very solitary activity. I do not have a favorite place, but abandoned places are filled with emotion."
“Besides painting, I make IDM music. I'm working on a urban project for audio sonorization. The sound is an aspect that I’ve used for years in my work. I perceive the sound as an element of my setting; it can stimulate the imagination. Recently I made my record label. I want to do more and more, reaching technical skills on paper and spontaneity on the wall. The projects are many but I'd rather talk them in the moment.”

Grazie, Useless Idea! For more photos of his projects, check out his Flickr.

March 2010: Triángulo Dorado in Buenos Aires

Whenever I'm tossing around a new idea, I always share it with friends. My crew always contributes a new angle and helps push each concept further. Triángulo Dorado's got the same idea; this Argentine crew of three works and plays together to create new pieces. They write:

"We started doing street art in 2004 on the walls that were abandoned on the sides of railroad tracks. We did not need permission and it works really great for practicing and basic training."
"We were born and live in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Most of our work is in the city or the surrounding area. In 2009, we were presented with the opportunity to travel to Villazon, Bolivia, where we painted a large mural commemorating the centenary of the city."
"The Triángulo Dorado group formed in 2007 and consists of Santiago Panichelli (Nemer), Francisco Ferreyra (Lema) and Pedro Panichelli (Pedrone). The three have worked together ever since."
"The group draws inspiration from urban art, graffiti and mural painting as well as classic expressionist movements, symbolism and the various art forms ranging from antiquity to the latest trends. The final product is the result of different forms and styles that each member brings to each mural. We are known for making work together and achieving an unique image."
"We love painting in any big place where many people can see it. A building would be great. Now we are working on some murals that we've planned for some time as well as paintings and drawings for two neighbor exhibitions."

Thanks, guys! Look at more of their photos on their Flickr.

February 2010: Pum Pum in Buenos Aires

I know it's St. Patrick's Day, but we're taking a trip away from the Emerald Isle down south to Argentina. Down in the Southern Hemisphere, Pum Pum's whimsical characters grace the streets of Buenos Aires. Today, she stops by to share a little bit of her story. She writes:

"I started painting on the street about six or seven years ago...just experimenting. It was more like a game, not a decision."
"I love popular sites like Saavedra, a wall of Palermo, but any place is good. I enjoy working alone, but I love sharing a wall with friends!"
"I love drawing a lot, visually feeding on things that I like. I like drawing in my house, listening to music."
"Right now, I'm painting many canvases at my house. I have many things planned for this Year of the Tiger!"
Gracias, Pum Pum! For more fantastic photos, visit her Flickr.

October 2009: Damon Ginandes in NYC

Damon Ginandes paints faces that linger in your mind long after the painting is gone. With their sullen eyes and gaunt cheeks, they haunt the streets they decorate. Today, Ginandes gives us a peek into the past and a hint about what lies ahead. He writes:

"I became interested in graffiti as a teenager in the early/mid '90's, and learned how to paint with a spray can doing pieces and characters now and then. But graffiti started to seem more and more stagnant and repetitive to me, so my interest waned. It wasn't until about five years ago, when there seemed to be a burst of new 'street art', that I really started paying attention again. At that time, I was primarily focused on my studio work. In 2007, however, I took on a commission to paint a 60 foot long mural on Degraw Street in Brooklyn – that project really rekindled my interest in large scale street work."
"I've been painting characters similar to the ones in my current work for quite a while, since my early teens. Of course my style has changed and developed since then, but that seemed to be a very formative period for me artistically. I had an art teacher at that time, a Holocaust survivor, who would incessantly paint glaring faces staring outwards and I must have absorbed part of her vernacular. Also, at that age I discovered such artists as Alberto Giacometti and Egon Schiele, and their influence is still apparent in my work. I am attracted to the distorted human figure -- faces and bodies elongated and interwoven with abstraction. Lately, my style has become a bit more angular, almost 'cubist'."
"I generally work by myself, though I'd love to collaborate more often. I don't have a favorite place to paint, but I prefer hard surfaces."
"A few years back, I was painting an abandoned factory alongside railroad tracks in Massachusetts in the dead of winter. There was probably a foot snow covering the ground so it was impossible to know what exactly was underneath your feet. At some point, I stepped back to take a look at my piece, and as my boot pressed down through the snow, I felt a shooting pain in my foot. I pulled it up and found a huge rusty spike sticking out of a piece of wood that had gone through my boot and right into the bottom of my foot. I was able to pull the spike out, but I could feel my boot fill up with blood. Luckily, I was painting with two friends who were able to get me to a hospital quickly. Tetnis shots ensued."
"I generally retreat to my studio when the weather gets colder, so I'll be generating a new body of studio work in the coming months. Check out my website and join my mailing list for updates on upcoming exhibitions and projects!"

Thanks, Damon! Stay warm indoors and we'll look forward to a new outdoor project in the spring.

Friday ProFile: Sofia Maldonado

In the documentary Bomb It!, there’s a great interview scene featuring Brazilian street artist Niña. When a man on the street asks her why she paints, she replies, “Look at those two girls. They are like prostitutes. How is my work more aggressive than that? In Brazil, children are not included in anything that is happening. Schools don’t take kids to art galleries to see an exhibition, to the theatre, or to music shows. I decided to do it for them, to take it from them and give it back to them.”

Sofia Maldonado’s Frog Hollow piece exemplifies this community spirit. Last summer, she and a few local interns spent six weeks transforming the side of Park Street ’s Pelican Tattoo parlor into a vibrant mural. “I was invited by Real Art Ways for their Real Public summer project,” she explains. “Director Kristina Newman-Scott and coordinator Erin Roos spoke to me and we discussed giving some workshops. However, the timing of the project was no good. The kids were in summer camp and the logistics got complicated.”
In addition to the timing, zoning regulations got in the way. “The day I arrived in Connecticut , I got the news that the building was an historic site and could not be painted,” she recalls. “I started brainstorming different ideas and came up with the wood panels. This medium gave the mural a circus kind of look.”
The moveable wooden cutouts generated attention in the neighborhood. “The wooden cut-out female characters all have long nails,” she says, “so I took them to the nail salon before the installation. This was a fun part of the project. The ladies decorated my Latina characters with long fancy nails, tattoos, and rhinestones. It was a beautiful community collaboration because I got to incorporate the nail art culture into my mural. I love recognizing the local art of the communities I work in.”
The ladies weren’t the only people who liked the mural. “The whole community was really impressed with it,” she smiles, “and when I put the Puerto Rican flag in the hands of one character, they were even more proud!” Part of Maldonado’s connection with Hartford stems from the parallels between Park Street and home. “ Park Street reminds me of Puerto Rico !” she exclaims. “It’s a hardcore neighborhood with a lot to give. There are strong female conflicts and, in a way, my mural captures that attitude. I’m working forward to returning and becoming more active in the community.”
Frog Hollow residents may be surprised that a Puerto Rican woman artist painted the mural, but Maldonado has been in the game for a long time. “I’ve been painting murals since my high school years,” she insists. In fact, I used to paint with my graffiti brothers back in Puerto Rico almost every weekend. Now in PR, there is much more tagging but not too many big productions. I just feel like the new generation doesn’t understand what it takes to get up. You got to sweat it, not just tag a few times around the city when you’re drunk! I hope my work inspires the younger ladies. If you love it and take it seriously, you will see a personal evolution.”

Thanks, Sofia! For more info, check out her blog. I'm off to the last cross country meet of the year and then it's GREs tomorrow. Blargh. Send me cool pictures to look at? Thanks.

October 2009: New Britain Mural Slam

I never thought I’d be so grateful for rain (especially after this summer). Since the skies opened on Saturday, my meet was cancelled and I could attend the second annual New Britain Mural Slam. Organized by CCSU professor Mike Alewitz and his mural painting class, the event featured a wide range of talent and mediums. Each artist got their own chunk of wall on the Welte parking garage’s 5^th floor and was left to do their thing for eight hours. The intermittent rain washed some murals away, but I tried to capture all of them on my camera. Here are some highlights.

Eyesore came out in full force, spraying giant bright pieces flanked with creepy gumdrop monsters. Always a crowd favorite, he signed black books and chatted with everyone.
You can’t tell from this photo, but Mike Goldschneider had one hell of a time getting this stencil to stick. Battling wet walls, dripping paint, and the impending doom of more rain, he managed to slap five layers up before the downpour started. Applause!
Esper and Speak spent a whole day tweaking their pieces. The pair commented other people’s wild style and encouraged others to critique their work. Speak got all cerebral with it, talking about "light sources and shit." I really liked these guys and hope I catch up with them again sometime.
Aside from the brilliance of this hypothetical death match, the guys that worked on this piece made my day when they sprayed a little penguin on the nearby cinderblock. Octopus vs. stegosaurus: who would win?

For some reason, I really enjoyed this mural. Throughout the day, I stopped by this piece again and again intending to ask the artist why the noses were bleeding. I never asked. Any insight here?

I’m sending Alewitz all my photos, so see if he posts them here.

September 2009: New Britain Mural Slam

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of catching up with Mike Alewitz and his mural-painting class down in New Britain. We wandered the New Britain Museum of American Art and critiqued the work. Then, we sat down to chat about the Mural Slam. I couldn't be more excited, since I'm always looking for CT events that rock my socks. Here's the deal, courtesy of the event's Wordpress:

"The First Annual Mural Slam was held April 2008. It hosted dozens of artists, from experienced crews to young undergrads. Highlights included performance art, free food, awards, and watching CCSU Professor Mike Alewitz get a bucket of garbage dumped on him."
"The Mural Slam is part of a growing international movement which recognizes public art in every form–graffiti, tags, murals, etc.–deserves to be celebrated. In 2008, the Slam started with a mass of artists throwing their tags, stencils, and murals onto the walls of CCSU’s Welte Garage in an all day event. Artists of every type were given eight hours to paint in their section of wall without fear of prosecution or arrest–just friends, food, music, and art."
"This year, the tradition will continue–and everyone is invited. Ten bucks gets you a 4′x12′ slice of wall and 9hrs to do what you want. Any imagery is allowed, but use your judgment–we want to keep this going every year, so don’t paint something that will get us kicked off of campus. And remember: BYOP–bring your own paint."

"To register, e-mail the following to marissablaszko@gmail.com

. name of artist (tag okay)

. working with a crew?

. phone number where we can contact you

. best e-mail to use for contacting you

. age of artist (16+ only!)

. medium you’ll be working with (ie: spray paint, acrylic, etc.)

. whether or not you participated last year (and, if you did, what you painted)

A $10 sign-up fee per space is required to cover basic expenses of the Mural Slam."
Thanks a million, guys! I know I'm definitely going to snap some shots in the afternoon. Word has it that another guy I know might participate (go get it, Ben!). For more shots from last year, check the group's blog (and disregard the September 26 date).

June 2009: Basik in Rimini

I love asking little kids questions about street art. This summer, I struck up conversations with school children as Os Gêmeos painted in NYC. I was never a 'draw on the walls' kind of kid, but every youngster I talked to loved the fact that two guys were painting the whole side of a building. I hope Italian artist Basik asks the same questions. The first image appears on the outside of a kindergarten. What a great place to take your kids! Today, we hear about how

"It was a hot summer in 1977 and while both disco music and punk ruled the world, I started my own life's journey. Since childhood, I've spent much more time drawing on paper than playing soccer with most of the other Italian kids. This could be weird in some ways (for any Italian signor Rossi), but who cares? Creating images just fascinated me."
"When I was 12, I saw for the first time some paintings on a wall of my city: I got in touch with graffiti writing, one of the most important things I've dealt with in my whole life. Being a writer has been massively important to me for about ten years now. It's been the reason I spend hours sketching and many cold nights outside on a mission."

"2001: time to push things forward. I felt limited by letters and spraycans and I decided to put my whole attention to characters, evolving that figures I often painted next to my pieces. So, I began to research lines, shapes and solid aspects of the colours, using human bodies as a message of my concepts. Now I can focus on playing with paint's matter which is powered by the inifinite kind of signs I can create as I put a different touch and sensibility on works. Human lines become idealized, renewed and unreal; strokes become like bones of the figure; matter turns into flesh."

"I love to put my works on useless and broken items, to give to these decayed canvases a new dimension and a new dignity. The work itself gets stronger by the eroded support."
Grazie, Basik! I love the idea of 'eroded support' from 'decayed canvases.' Way to turn something broken into something beautiful! If you want to see more Basik info, visit his MySpace or website.

Friday ProFile: Mare139

I spent yesterday afternoon on a bus from New York City to Washington, D.C. Normally, I’d cringe at spending 4.5 hours on a bus. Thanks to the brilliance of Bolt bus (free wi-fi AND plugs?), the experience was better than most domestic flights. Also, I finally had time to listen to the Tate Modern podcasts patiently waiting in my iTunes. My favorite is “Street Art Now: A World View,” which features a presentation by Marc and Sara Schiller of Wooster Collective. In their discussion, they mentioned where they thought street art would go in the next 10-20. Sara mentioned a possible revival of interest in graffiti. She thought perhaps galleries would do retrospective exhibits celebrating graffiti from a historical perspective.

Her comments prompted today’s Friday ProFile on graffiti legend Mare139. A self described “New Yorican,” Mare139 was raised on a steady diet of Krylon and wild style. Using the 1, 2, 4, and 5 trains as his canvases, he plastered his tags everywhere. “My name was shortened from Night Mare 139 to Mare139 so I can focus on style writing,” he adds.
Growing up in NYC, life was a battle for graffiti artists. Mare139 faced heartbreak, fights, theft, risk, danger, pain, and punishment for his work. “It’s never a safe prospect,” he explains, “but that’s what makes it fun. I’ve been too slippery, so the law never gave me metal bracelets.” Like most NYC youth, he got his start with the old crews bombing train yards.“I learned from the old masters,” he recalls. “I studied their work, asked for outlines, and painted with them. The relationship was a mentorship of sorts. I also had my brother Kell who was my partner and a good style writer. I’m cut from the cloth of traditional style writing, so I inherited a great bounty of knowledge that keeps me at the apex of this genre of art.”
For the past 33 years, Mare139 has bombed the hell out of New York’s streets. During this time, he’s held membership in crews like ROC (Roc On City), CIA (Crazy Inside Artists), and RTW (Roc The World). While each crew pushed the envelope and produced amazing pieces, jealousy between the crews created friction. Today, he pulls from architecture and early 20^th century artists for inspiration.“There isn’t anyone specifically influencing me right now,” he says. “I have enough history in my own work to draw from. My work evolves quickly upon itself, often unfolding its narrative faster then I can create it. Obviously, I have influences from my early years but I have surpassed what my generation initially proposed with the painted trains and walls.”
After a long period of spray painting, Mare139 began experimenting with sculpture. “These projects evolved from my disdain of graffiti pop during the early 80s,” he explains. “I hated painting on canvas and felt graffiti didn’t translate well on it. In a response to my peers, I started sculpting the form of traditional wild style out of metal, in relief form, and finally in 3-D. I felt this was a better evolution. It was purely descendant from the art and culture I came from.” These sculptures caught the attention of local curators. His latest show, "B-Line: The Art of the B-Boy Dance and Sculptures," brought his new sculptures to Jersey City's 58 Gallery.

Through graffiti, Mare139 had the opportunity to travel the world. At the Outsides Project in Wuppertal, Germany, he collaborated with a new generation of ‘writers.’ “Many young street artists like Blue, JR, ZVES, Akim, and others came together secretly to create illegal installations all over this small, sleepy village,” he recalls. “It was an extraordinary time and event that has a place in history.” This experience doesn’t even come close to his most unusual tagging location. “Inside a volcano in Hawaii,” he laughs. From trains to tectonic plates, no surface is too dangerous.

In the future, Mare139 hopes to paint and sculpt on a larger scale. While he doesn’t aim to engage the public, he adds, “I like to think of my sculptures as an intellectual observation object. It’s something which speaks to the relationships the forms have with themselves and with the space they occupy.” When he’s not on the street, he’s enjoying life with his five year-old son, Leo. Just because he’s a father, don’t expect him quietly retire from the scene any time soon. “The world is my canvas and my gallery,” he insists. “If you don’t participate and share your work or theories, you only fulfill half of your obligation as an artist. As a child, I put my life at constant risk to be an artist because I believed in it so much. As an adult, I am no different.”

All images courtesy of Mare139. For more info, check out his website.

May 2009: Denver with Signtologist

Street artists may dabble in gallery shows, but Dunn, a.k.a Signtologist, takes actual pieces of the street indoors. Instead of canvas or paper, Signtologist paints hip-hop, sports, and other well-known icons on real street signs. How he gets his hands on said signs remains a mystery, but he draws inspiration from Denver, the Queen City of the Plains. Dunn writes:

“Dunn, a.k.a  The Signtologist, is an artist from the mile-high city of Denver. The name was coined by the famous MC Black Thought of the legendary hip hop group, The Roots.” 
“For the past four years, this ‘treetsignartist’ has blessed 120 artists, musicans, comedians, and athlethes with his unique paintings on street signs. Underground graffiti culture has reached a new elegance.” 
“Inspired by other artists like Justin Bua, Dunn, who also has a background in graphic design and animation, has given away 100 plus paintings on street signs, (stop signs, no parking, etc.) to people he most admires and respects in the art, music, athletic and entertainment communities.” 
“Some of his favorite paintings included his favorite local stars that represent Mile High City. These people include the Denver Nuggets' own Carmelo Anthony and several other local hip hop artists and groups. Not only does The Signtologist have artwork in three different countries, but he has also gone national with gifts to other entertainers like Dave Chappelle, Kanye West, John Legend, Blackalicious, and Slick Rick.” 
For updates on Dunn’s current projects and showings, there are many ways to contact him. Hit up his website, MySpace him, check his Flickr for photos, and get up to the minute news on his Twitter. Thanks so much, Dunn!