SABO

Logan Hicks

Lauren — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:46:03 +0000

I have recently discovered NY stencil artist Logan Hicks, whose works consistently portray urban landscapes, conveying their muted tones, pollution-filled environment, and decrepit appearances, but also their magnificent architecture and transportation, expansive population, and collective human sentiments. To Hicks, a city is “alive.” It is “a breathing creature where the ebb and flow of people washing over its sidewalks act as cells circulating through its veins,” and the end result (though dull in color and decayed in appearance) is nothing less than inspiring. Somehow, the oneness of the human species in sensed, our surroundings a simple background to that which is moving, breathing, living, and thriving. As Hicks says best, “the dirty and gritty nature of the spraypaint thoroughly depict the decay of the city while the muted shine of metallic paint mirror the faint glimmer of hope and life within it.”

Visit his website here.

D*Face

Lauren — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 22:07:52 +0000

Almost as prolific as street artist Banksy, D*Face is a London-based stencil artist worth mentioning. He was initially introduced to the graffiti art scene through NY Spraycan and Subway Art, and later through skateboarding, punk music, and Thrasher Magazine, until he finally picked up his markers and began to use his hometown as his canvas.

“I wanted to encourage people to not just ‘see’, but to look at what surrounds them and their lives, reflecting our increasingly bizarre popular culture, re-thinking and reworking cultural figures,” D*Face has said, reworking figures such as Marilyn Monroe and the Queen of England (see images below). He describes his work as “a welcome jolt of subversion in today’s media-saturated environment,” and a sort of “Pandora’s box of bittersweet delights – sweet and sugary on the surface, but with an unfamiliar, uncomfortable, taste beneath.”

D*Face’s works are politically charged in an entertaining, comical, shock-factor sense. They are terrifyingly explicit messages forced into cartoon figures, producing a kind of nightmarish carnival effect, perhaps likened to a haunted Disney. They are a hybrid of Pop Art and DIY Street Art that tries to ‘stick it to the man.’

Since his first solo exhibition (“Death & Glory”) at the Stolenspace gallery in London of October 2006, D*Face has exhibited around the world and now owns Stolen Space Gallery. And as he says, “This isn’t the beginning, it’s not the end… it’s happy never ending.”

D*Face. 2009. Multiple Pop Tarts. “All Your Dreams Belong to Us,” J.Levine Gallery. NYC.

D*Face. Riot… My Way. NYC.

D*Face. 2006. Shady Lady. “Glory” Solo Show. London.

All images courtesy of D*Face’s official website.

Andrea of BTOY

Lauren — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:02:48 +0000

Barcelona native Andrea Michaelsson (half of Catalan street art duo BTOY) has long since been a favorite of mine for her beautiful portrayal of 1920s/1930s feminine glamour mixed with a more raw, urban vibe. Her pieces, created with acrylic, watercolor, ink and spray paint, seem to translate well to both the canvas and the streets, the latter of which creates an amazing juxtaposition of sentiments. Pieces by BTOY and Andrea can be seen throughout the city, whose landscape often provides further contrasting context. Michaelsson also often produces watercolor sketches of animals and human figures that to me have a very Japanese feel to them (see bottom two images).

Photos courtesy of the artist(s)’ flickr.

Know Hope Update

Lauren — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:47:47 +0000

Wanted to post updates of Know Hope’s beautiful new works.

Several images (including some from Klone) from “Kindred Times and Future Goodbyes” in an abandoned building in Tel Aviv:

A piece from the “no soul for sale” exhibition at X-initiative in NYC:

Street work in NYC and Los Angeles:

And a great piece that I personally want in my house:

Also, make sure to check out his interview with Arrested Motion: http://arrestedmotion.com/2009/08/interview-know-hope/#more-29121.

(All images courtesy of Know Hope’s flickr.)

os gêmeos

Lauren — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:15:26 +0000

Often painting folkloric-looking murals of red and yellow characters, the twin brother pair Otávio and Gustavo Pandolfo have an iconic style within graffiti art, and have been extremely significant in creating a Brazilian graffiti art visual language. Known as Os Gêmeos (literally translating from Portuguese to “The Twins”), the two first began painting graffiti art after an introduction to hip hop culture, breakdancing, and the NY tagging scene, and began to receive global attention after a chance meeting and subsequent collaboration with Barry McGee (who was on a painting fellowship in Brazil). Often depicting these eccentric characters in colorful, dream-like, almost surrealist sceneries and what looks like family portraits in their murals, Os Gêmeos’ exhibitions are fantastical universes known to supplement their characters with things like firecrackers, string lighting, music, sculptures, hand-crafted dolls, and various found objects. They are also often very interactive, with play-it-yourself organs or installations you can climb into. Their work often reflects the social and political climates of Brazil, its rich atmosphere and folklore, and its colorful landscape, ultimately creating a dreamlike world (something a New York Times article described as “Dr. Seuss on acid”) that the twins speak of as a place they now exist in together.

Check out some photos below from their very first exhibit at the Luggage Factory in SF (2003), from their Vertigem Exhibition, and from their street work.

PosterBoy

Lauren — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:13:33 +0000

PosterBoy (in contrast to PosterChild, see 2 posts below) is a New York City based street artist (specifically Brooklyn) known for his street art created with only a razor. Often modifying advertisements in NY subways, his work is often a humorous yet political play on the original image, often including verbal wordplay. Over 200 of his creative manipulations can be found in the NY area currently.

Easily categorized as an anti-consumerist guerilla artist, PosterBoy also claims to be “anti-media, anti–established art world,” with work reading “IRAN = NAM” and “Obama Drama.”

Check out more of his work below, & visit his Flickr here. (Note: all works with colorful geometric shapes are collaborative projects with Aakash Nihalani.)

October in the Carmichael Gallery

Lauren — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:47:35 +0000

Now through October 29 we have works by Simon Birch in the front gallery and new works by German artist Case in the back! I have to say Birch’s triptych above (entitled Meteor) is even more magnificent in person. More info on our November 5 Dan Witz Opening coming soon!

(Official Simon Birch Press Release from the Carmichael Gallery, including images:)

Simon Birch’s dramatic large-scale portraits are breathtaking in their scale and sophistication. With a refined treatment of tone color and astute awareness of textural rhythms, the award-winning Hong Kong based painter and multimedia artist’s new oils on canvas dazzle and excite in their glorious portrayal of fluid human motion and fragmented emotional states.

Born in Brighton in 1969, Simon’s entry into the formal art world is singular. With no conventional training, he was encouraged by his parents to develop his early promise and, upon moving to Hong Kong in the mid-nineties, made his living as a construction worker until he had secured the means to fully pursue his artistic goals and even finance his first exhibitions.

Over time, Simon has created a deeply personal style which fuses striking figuration with abstract deconstruction. His ability to identify, shape, amplify and reduce raw physical and internal passion stems from an early interest in the works of Caravaggio, Rothko and Basquiat, but with a bold, distinctive approach that signals his importance as one of the most important emerging painters of his generation. Mesmerizing in their complexity, Simon’s works envelop the viewer and invite them to participate and interpret for themselves what lies within the rich layers of pigmentation and explosive subject matter.

From his early self-produced productions to the gallery shows that have followed, Simon has garnered enormous attention in regional and international media and cultivated a solid extended network of collectors and enthusiasts. His first showcase of works in Los Angeles will be on display at Carmichael Gallery from October 8th through October 29th.

(Official LA Case Press Release from the Carmichael Gallery, including images:)

Carmichael Gallery is pleased to announce The L.A. case, an exhibition of new works on canvas by German artistcase. This is case’s first US solo exhibition and the second time he has exhibited at Carmichael Gallery.

case’s new body of work references imagery from elaborate, self-staged photo shoots using spray paint on canvas. Combining exacting technical expertise with an innovative hint of liberation and irony, he investigates the parallels that exist between the conflicting states of convention and controversy, manipulating beauty in a dark, thrilling and provocative manner.

case is widely recognized as one of the best photorealistic spray paint artists in the world. His groundbreaking technique, detailed in the book Ma’Claim: Photorealistic Graffiti, Falk Lehmann and Steffen Petermann, Publikat Verlags und Handels GmbH and Co. KG, Germany, 2006, has set new standards and established a strong international collector base and fan network.

Born in Erfurt, Germany, in 1979, case has exhibited his fine art in galleries in the UK, Germany and US. He achieved his Diploma in Art Restoration and Conservation from Erfurt University Of Applied Sciences. case is also a founding member of graffiti crewMa’Claim, a group of artists renowned throughout the world for their striking photorealistic murals. He currently lives and works in Frankfurt.

Watch case create one of the pieces for the show in a great video here. And watch a slide show of behind the scenes at a photo shoot here.

Posterchild’s “Alberta”

Lauren — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:25:00 +0000

Nevermind the fact that it’s mid-October, Posterchild is already in the holiday mood, creating art from “unwanted things,” which in this case involves old newspaper and flyer boxes. As announced by PosterChild in his blog Blade Diary, “I have planted an Alberta Dwarf Pine- Hopefully it will do well in the cold weather coming. I have named her “Alberta”, and I hope someone will decorate her if she makes it ’till Christmas!”

The idea behind this specific work is to take these old, abandoned “space fillers” and give them a better use, effectively modifying the city when all is said and done. This newspaper box originally belonged to “The National,” which opening in January of 1990 and closed a short 18 months later. Somehow, its newspaper box has managed to exist untouched since then, and with PosterChild’s assistance now sprouts a pine sapling from its worn, rusty interior. It’s a great juxtaposition of color.

In general, PosterChild tends to create public works that are satirical, environmental, and political, taking particles from discarded urban environments, modifying them, and returning them to the city. “Exploiting these discarded objects arose as a natural result of maintaining a prolific art practice on a shoestring budget, but it has become intrinsic to my work and it is an important reflection of my purpose and attitude.”

Check out more of his work below.

More Burning Candy

Lauren — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:23:23 +0000

Clearly a favorite here at SABO, I’ve discovered a few more great Burning Candy collaborative pieces. To me their work has a very Mexican feel, a kind of cartoonish, brightly colored Día de Los Muertos iconography. Described by Sweet Toof as “beautiful monstrosities,” BC pieces are found mostly in Bristol and London, and have also been featured in a 2008 solo exhibition in London’s Sartorial Gallery.

The trio’s individual contributions are often easily identified- Those bright pink gums are the trademark of Sweet Toof (see image above), who is characteristically the most “active” BC member, also known for including bodily guts of all shapes and sizes; Tek33 (from Sweden, who also goes by his actual name, James Jessop) manages to sneak in his 3-pointed pitchfork-like image into various aspects of BC murals (see the large white image in the lower left-hand corner of Photo 2 and the skull’s red “sunglasses” in Photo 8); and Cyclops is best known for incorporating bulging eye(s), and for extensive use of Charlie Brown (Photo #8) and Marcie cartoon figures and wordy slogans.

In more recent BC works (see pictures below), the BC three have collaborated with Rowdy (always integrating the toothy, snarling Alligator image, Photo 6), Sickboy (with his mushroom-shaped building/cap, Photo 9), Goldpeg (with his clothespin image, Photo 10), and Mighty Mo (with his extremely prolific monkey figure, Photo 7).

Finally, take a look at the last image by Tek33- seems I’m not the only one always paying homage to Basquiat. (This is an appropriation of Basquiat’s own work “The Artist in His Studio.”)

FAME Follow-Up

Lauren — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:22:53 +0000

A few additions to the earlier post on FAME Festival 2009- Looks like the Festival (though not without its legal battles) brought some great pieces.

An animation collaboration by Blu and David Ellis:

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

And pieces below by: Slinkachu (tiny models featured in Photos 1, 2, and 3), DEM (Photo 4), Erica Il Cane (Photo 5), Judith Supine (Photos 6, 7, 8, 9), Word to Mother (Photo 10), Conor Harrington (Photo 11), David Ellis (Photo 12), Sam3 (Photos 13 and 14), and Vhils (Photo at Top and Photo 15).