One Brazilian artist I have been following for nearly 6 years now is Calma aka Stephan Doitschinoff. I’ve been lucky to meet him a number of times during his career and helped with his monograph published by Die Gastalten.
So in a new departure for the artist it was great to find out about this animation which features Calma’s art beautifully.
So its been over two years in the making but it’s coming soon… My latest book, Street Sketchbook: Journeys is now appearing for pre-release on Amazon.
I’ll be writing more about it in the coming months, the official release date is 27th September – with a launch party in London lined up for the 1st October.
There are so many fantastic artists and their personal stories in this one but I don’t want to give the game away too soon…
But just today I heard news of a piece two of the artists appearing in the book did together. Saner and Sego were two artists I met on my travels in Mexico last year and this book has a Mexican flavour to it with nearly a third of the artist’s coming from all over Mexico.
Painted at the National Museum of Popular Cultures – its an absolutely stunning piece which gives a flavour of what’s coming in this next book. To read more about the project check Saner’s blog. Also check Sego’s blog for more great work and fantastic photos.
This month Choque Cultural gallery in Sao Paulo present a solo show by Zezao, an artist who continues to impress me through his artwork and actions. I first got to know Zezao researching the Graffiti Brasil book in around 2004.
Having been involved in graffiti painting, train bombing and pichacao tagging for many years – Zezao is a graffiti veteran. By the time I was introduced to him he had evolved his own style of painting his “flops” (throw-ups). These flops are characteristically painted in shades of blue in a free-form style. He has become most famous for painting these flops in the sewers of Sao Paulo, but he also paints them on the streets, particularly where the homeless build makeshift shelters and sleep by the road side.
As he paints the “homes” of the rough sleepers, who sometimes include families – he talks with them, gets to know them and helps them out when he can. By painting where they live, his paintings become a sign of life or a notice of the people living there. It is a simple way of acknowledging people who are often ignored by the thousands of people who drive past them everyday.
So how does Zezao’s art work in a gallery context? Zezao doesn’t claim to be the new Picasso, he is very modest about his own artistic talents. However he is always pushing his art and exploring in directions such as performance, installation and photography to name a few. His abstract forms have an integrity and skill from many years of painting, but he doesn’t rely on simply reproducing what he creates on the street. He draws from his experiences of the city both above ground and subterranean in his creations.
By all accounts this current show is Zezao’s most critically successful to date. In his various works using ripped posters and materials sourced on the street, along side his signature gold and blue palette, as well as beautiful photographs of his underground installations. All images courtesy of Lost Art.
Out of the Sth returns in 2010 – this brilliant street art festival co-curated by Sławek ZBK Czajkowski aka Zbiok is back again in Wroclaw, Poland. I wish I had been able to attend!
International painters creating murals include many artists I’ve have featured in books in the past and with whom I am also very personally fond of…
Mudwig (Bristol), Dem (Milan), Fefe Telavera (San Paulo/Madrid), Vova Vorotniov (Kiev), Escif (Valencia), Erica Il Cane (Bologna), Jiem (Lille), SickBoy (London) and Zosen (Barcelona)
Finished piece by Sickboy and Mudwig
Sickboy
Escif
Ericailcane
All images borrowed from Just Taking Pictures blog which has full coverage and hundreds of photographs and video.
BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico makes me so mad – and of course I’m not the only one raging at the recklessness of BP, by all accounts rushing into risky strategies to suck every last drop of oil from the earth at the cost of the planet. So I was at least heartened to see some artists getting things off their chests and reminding us that this disaster is getting worse and around the world conservation and ecology come a poor second to capitalism.
Greenpeace have set up a flickr site for artists to respond to the laughably “green” logo of BP.
Famously BP’s Chief Executive wanted us all to put this environmental disaster in perspective – “I would like my life back.” he said – we had somehow overlooked the important human cost of chief executives having to work a few extra hours!
The image that finally sticks in my mind is a piece painted recently by Blu with Os Gemeos in Lisbon. The painting features an oil tycoon sucking the life out of the globe – a tragic and spot-on depiction of our times.
Image taken from Unurth website.
Yesterday Blu uploaded a making of movie of this great work with the fantastic Os Gemeos…
I was first properly introduced to Brazilian Graffiti through Ignacio and Louise at Lost Art. In 1999 they sent me copies of Fiz magazine – a magazine designed by Os Gemeos – the magazine completely blew me away! At the time very few gringos were aware of the exciting graffiti scene that was developing especially in Sao Paulo. Twist had spent some time in Sao Paulo in 1993, meeting Os Gemeos which became a two way exchange of ideas. But it wasn’t until Sonik and Raven from 12oz Prophet visited Sao Paulo in 1997, who subsequently did a big feature on the scene, that graffiti writers worldwide become more aware of Brazilian Graffiti.
Sonik aka Caleb Neelon and Lost Art went on to be my partners for the Graffiti Brasil book – so it was great today to hear news via Lost Art’s twitter of a rare film surfacing of the legendary 12oz Prophet visit…
Image above: Sonik, Os Gemeos and Vitche from Caleb’s website.
Abundantly creative is perhaps the best way to describe Vhils, a young Portuguese artist who constantly innovates with new techniques and approaches to his art.
I’ve long been a supporter of his work – and was lucky enough to be able to invite him Cans Festival in 2008. It was also a pleasure to feature his work in depth in my next book which will be published later this year.
For the uninitiated, Vhils’s current work is about revealing images through deconstruction (in the demolition sense – construction in reverse). By stencilling, stripping away billboards and chiselling into walls; Vhils creates new images that reflect the random decay of the streets. At the same time Vhils’s uses portraiture to evoke the lives and ghosts of people who make up the history and life of our cities.
I was very excited to see Vhils new work in Bogota, with thanks to the Memoria Canalla team. It is a city I found fascinating and great to see that Vhils was able to leave his mark there.
Thanks to Terence Jones exhibitions officer at Leeds College of Art for organising a show of Choque Cultural prints at the college. He sent me a few snaps of the prints in situ and they look great…
This post comes a little late - Hugo Kaagman’s book Stencil King was published in November 2009 by Lebowski Publishers. I was honoured to be asked to write the introduction to it. I first got to know Kaagman’s work on an art college trip to Amsterdam in 1986 – I was blown away by what I saw – hundreds of amazing stencils making up a giant mural in Waterlooplein. I guess this is where I first got the bug for Stencil Graffiti. Many years later I was able to invite him to take part in one of the biggest ever stencil art gatherings – Cans Festival underneath Waterloo station. The book is well worth tracking down to see a life in stencils by the stencil kind himself….
