BRONX REUNION WALL 2012 Featuring GOLDIE

Mexico City : A New Surrealist Face for Street Art

…loves you more every day.

Comic, surrealist, role-playing psychological explorations, with a tip of the hat to Breton, Carrington, and Lucha Libre, among others.

Pixel Pancho (photo © XAM)

Mexico City culture can be as varied and diverse as it is homogeneous, with a respect for tradition and, when it comes to artistic expression, a catalyst for exploration. André Breton is reported to have described Mexico as “the most surrealist country in the world,” where painters like Leonora Carrington and Frida Kahlo unhinged their imaginations from the limitations of the material world. As these new images on the streets of Mexico City taken by Brooklyn architectural street artist XAM show, the love for a psychic automatism continues into the public sphere.

Of course the Mexicans are not strangers to art on the streets; “great Latin American muralists” is a phrase almost synonymous with Mexico and names like Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros coming to mind. Political advocacy and populist criticism of social policy on the walls here is similarly a tradition respected by the culture. Now a century after the revolution and birth of the modern Mexico, the experience of Los Capitalinos, as the residents of Mexico City are called, is affected daily by surrealism, pop culture and global capitalism swimming alongside folk and historical symbology, and a bit of anarchy. It’s all part of one fabric, a rich and varied textile that we export to you here.

Ben Eine (photo © XAM)

Says XAM of his experience, “Barcelona, NYC, Amsterdam, and Paris are all similar in a way when it comes to street art – you can walk around and come across work on the streets fairly easily, but traversing the barrios of Mexico city is much different. I guess in some way you can compare it to San Francisco, Chicago or Los Angeles – there is quality work to be found. The city differs from all mentioned in that it appears to be young when it comes to street art by having a small group of participants.”

“I was hosted by both MUMUTT Arte and Museo del Juguete Antiguo Mexico, who are both responsible for providing concrete canvases in Mexico City for artist such as ROA, M-City, Pixel Pancho, and fresh stuff from the locals like Saner, Sego and the MOZ crew. Mexico City DF has the most museums in the world and MUMUTT and Museo del Juguete are largely responsible for adding street art to the vast archive of amazing work. They escorted me around to locations they provided for the above artists – It is evident that everyone brought their A-game. The weathered concrete walls made wonderful surfaces for imagery such as Dronz & Koko’s character, offering hallucinatory candy at the toy museum to Ben Eine’s work that speaks about class issues on a worksite for a future mall.”

Ben Eine (photo © XAM)

Pixel Pancho (photo © XAM)

Pixel Pancho (photo © XAM)

Liqen (photo © XAM)

Jaz (photo © XAM)

Saner (photo © XAM)

Saner (photo © XAM)

Saner in collaboration with Bastardilla (photo © XAM)

Samurai . Ceci (photo © XAM)

Roman (photo © XAM)

Roman . Acute (photo © XAM)

ROA (photo © XAM)

Meah (photo © XAM)

Broken Crow (photo © XAM)

MCity (photo © XAM)

MCity (photo © XAM)

Moz Crew (photo © XAM)

Moz Crew (photo © XAM)

Moz Crew (photo © XAM)

Kokor . Dronz (photo © XAM)

Bimek . Done (photo © XAM)

Bue (photo © XAM)

Ever (photo © XAM)

SBTG. The artist worked on this piece on commission to promote an event sponsored by a shoe company. We like the placement. (photo © XAM)

Click on the links below to read our previous stories of MAMUTT Arte and MUJAM and to learn more about their work in Mexico City:

Many Thanks to Fountain Art Fair from Marianne Nems Gallery

Fountain Art Fair was a success!!! Thank you to all staff members. At Marianne Nems Gallery we're proud to have been part of this unique venue.

Armory Week BSA Picks - Fountain Art Fair - XAMBOT @ Marianne Nems Gallery

Posted on March 9, 2012

Hells yes, it’s the invasion of the art fairs in New York – and all the associated events around them, including Bushwicks Beat Night and Williamsburg’s Arts Not Fair in the People’s Republic of Brooklyn and many galleries have special programming planned for the weekend around the city. The big fish is the Armory, which is apparently taming itself down a bit if last nights opening was any indication, and their door is a hefty $30 – boutique indeed.  But the hardy street art fan never pays anyway, from what we’ve seen.

Also this weekend are Fountain, PooL Art, Scope New York, Volta , Art Now, and Theorize which are more affordable or free and can be a lot more interesting frankly. Or, just hang out on the street with your bagged container and check out the street art on selected streets and abandoned lots in neighborhoods like the L.E.S, Bowery, Chelsea, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick, Red Hook, Long Island City, Dumbo. It’s cheap and you might get invited inside for a party if you bring a couple cans of beer. As you know, it doesn’t cost money to access the creative spirit.

Fountain

(Images © Steven P. Harrington)

This year Fountain has provided a 200 foot long wall for a slew of Street Artists, including Chris Stain, Know Hope, GILF, Imminent Disaster, Joe Iurato, LMNOP, Elle, ShinShin, LNY, Cake, En Masse, Sophia Maldonado, Hellbent, Radical! and Wing.

Joe Iurato at Fountain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

LNY will be at Fountain (photo © Jaime Rojo)

Fountain include a great line up of galleries that promote, support and represent Street Artists including:  Kestin/Ray Gallery, Mighty Tanaka Gallery, The Market Place Gallery and Marianne Nems Gallery.

XAM will be exhibiting at Fountain with Marianne Nems Gallery. (photo © Jaime Rojo)

The Brooklyn gallery Mighty Tanaka will be having a greatest hits collection of work by almost everyone in their stable of untamed horses. One of the best walls is the dual red white and blue side by side 3-D sculptural wall installations by Skewville and Miguel Ovalle – including swords on the bottom of the Ovalle piece for the kids.

Featured at Might Tanaka are Abe Lincoln Jr. Adam Leech, Adam Void, Alexandra Pacula, Alice Mizrachi, Andrew H. Shirley, Burn 353, Cake, CAM, Celso, ChrisRWK, Conrad Carlson, Criminy Johnson, Curtis Readel, Don Pablo Pedro, Drew Tyndell, ELLE, Ellen Stagg, EVOKER, Flying Fortress, Gigi Bio, Gigi Chen, Greg Henderson, Hellbent, Hiroshi Kumagai, infinity, JMR, Joe Iurato, John Breiner, Katie Deker, Lamour Supreme, Masahiro Ito, Matt Siren, Max Greis, Mike Schreiber, Nathan Pickett, Nathan Vincent, NEVER, Peat Wollaeger, Robbie Bush, See One, Sofia Maldonado, TooFly, UFO, Vahge, VengRWK, VIK with exclusive murals by Miguel Ovalle & Skewville.

For further information regarding Fountain Art Fair click here

Marianne Nems Gallery @ Fountain Art Fair NY 2012

Fountain Art Fair NY 2012, panoramic view of the 69th regiment armory - Benoit Debbane

Artist LA2 at work at Marianne Nems Gallery

Marianne Nems

left: Dream-catcher & Anasazis by Ugly-Kid GUMO - Right: works by LA2 @ Marianne Nems Gallery

Marianne Nems & LA2

 

LA2 Sharing same passion with younger artists at Marianne Nems Gallery

Art Fairs '12: Fountain

The Fountain Art Fair debuted at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lex and 25th, moving from the tugboat off 12th Ave of previous years. More than most of the other fairs, Fountain has an edge, a vivaciousness of art-making that some of the others lack. Here you'll see artists working at their booth, several street artists working on a giant piece, and live music. There are established galleries as well as individual artists doing the DIY thang, and what lacks in skill is usually made up with enthusiasm. Evo Love returned with a large, well designed booth featuring her outsider-ish assemblages. Some have a theme, like tributes to fallen hip hop stars, and others seem like simply a mash-up of materials. The thematic pieces work better, giving some more flesh to the pieces than just visual fun.
Several galleries from Korea were present, with a wide array of work from traditional still life to anime (which has a growing presence throughout all the fairs). Inyoung Seoung had intricate pen on canvas drawings of delicate anemone-like shapes. Across from them was 5Pointz Art Space with several pencil drawings by Soojin Kim that from a distance looked like abstract shapes. Closer inspection netted a fun surprise as these were actually whole and broken Oreo cookies, tightly rendered and well-executed.
In an earlier post I wrote about Dacia Gallery, a new space in the LES. There was work by Leah Yerpe who usually does large (as in room length) realistic drawings of people floating, tumbling together in pencil and/or charcoal on white paper. Think Robert Longo on steroids. In their booth they had one of these pieces, appr 7-9' in length and pictured here. Just the execution of something that size, in charcoal, on white paper, in realism - quite a feat in itself, and these transcend mere deft handling of a material.

Munch Gallery, one of a number in a growing gallery presence in the LES (245 Broome St) had a group exhibit including these two, "If You Check Me, I Check You, Boy" and "If You Check Me, I Check You, Girl."
Both are 51x47" in acrylic, by Finnish artist Rauha Makila. They have the appearance of an ad, separating the two figures and deleting all info except most of each figure with thick strokes of white. The thick white, almost like house paint, is an interesting contrast to her washy rendering of the figures.

The Mighty Tanaka Gallery from Brooklyn was in full effect with a large 2-3 booth group show, a long way from when we first met in a small hotel room art fair (Red Dot?) years ago. Featuring over 3 dozen artists, their exhibit was a solid array of street, graffiti, pop surreal, and work inspired by those styles. "Baltimore Sunset" by Adam Void was created as a result of his doing graffiti in an over-pass or industrial space that was inhabited by bats overhead, and upon looking down he found a rubber bat toy and that synchronicity resulted in this piece. Too often found object work is cluttered or slapped together, but there's a strong graphic simplicity here that is very appealing.
This is a good example of the best reasons to go to art fairs, which is the ability to chat with the artist or the folks who curate. We've all gone to galleries, seen work and thought, "WTF?? Why are they showing this?!" A painter friend, Jim Kendall, gave me this advice many years ago which has proved fruitful time and again. In that situation, simply ask, "What is it about this artist's work that excited you and made you want to exhibit it?" More often than not, I walked away enlightened (not necessarily excited, but enlightened) and with an improved appreciation of a style or genre of art, an understanding of the work or an interesting story.

In the tradition of a gallery owner helping support a young artist they believe in, Marianne Nems (Gallery) has done this with street artist Ugly Kid Gumo. She showed me several of his graffiti based works and looking at them chronologically, one can see a progression in his skill and composition. Too often street artists tend to over-do an image that is their calling card, sometimes sticking it in a piece simply to have it there rather than it having any relevance. It's a way of establishing their individuality on the street, but it's not necessary in gallery work as much and hopefully with time and guidance they become more judicious with it. Gumo mixes pop culture images like Batman with rendering of people, shapes and color quite successfully.

Kudos to Johnny Leo and the entire Fountain crew on a great debut at the new location!
(click on art to view a larger image of it)

Fountain Art Fair Steps Up Its Game This Year

This article was posted by Daniel Feral

Fountain Art Fair overview shot from the second floor balcony by Rachel Esterday

The Fountain Art Fair really upped the ante in 2012 by obtaining the impressive 69th Regiment Armory venue, and attracting about sixty galleries, as well as individual artists to do installations and performances. During the opening night party on Friday March 9th, Fab 5 Freddy was featured on the turntables, and the line to get in wrapped around the block.

Fab 5 Freddy DJing at the Fountain opening. Photo by Morgan Reede.

The venue this year was the historic 69th Regiment Armory, a building the size of a full city block, sitting between 25th and 26th streets, and Lexington and Park avenues. The main hall housing the gallery booths, which is still used for drill practice by the National Guard’s “Fighting Sixth-Ninth” is nearly 130 feet in height or about ten stories. The vaulted ceiling soared above attendees with beautiful iron ribbing and crisscrossed supports. A second-story balcony circles the entire hall and has auditorium seating at one end. At the other end, a Thanksgiving Day parade style pink bunny balloon by Ryan Cronin was perched overseeing the crowds. The balcony also served as a launching platform for a performance by Seanna Sharpe and her team of aerialists. Ms. Sharpe was arrested recently for her exploits high up on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Seanna Sharpe and her team of aerialists. Photo by Morgan Reede.

Daniel Aycock, a founding Fountain participant and director of the Front Room Gallery, said “We were proud to participate in Fountain’s grandest show to date — at the Historic 69th Regiment Armory Building. It’s an honor to exhibit in the place that first introduced most Americans to European artists such as Picasso and Cezanne for the first time. The lines around the block for opening night were a testament to the enthusiasm for this latest incarnation of Fountain.” Mr. Aycock was referring to the legendary 1913 exhibition officially titled the “International Exhibition of Modern Art,” but became popularly known as the “Armory Show.” It was the first exhibition organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, and featured over 1,300 Impressionist, Fauvist and Cubist works that were panned harshly in the press but ended up having a lasting influence on American artists.
Photos and text about the Mighty Tanaka gallery, UFO, Dizmology, Skewville and more on Page 2…This article was posted by Daniel Feral 17 hours, 34 minutes ago.

Robert Molla at Kesting Ray.

The Kesting Ray Gallery had a space showcasing a few artists, most notably a few very large pieces by Swoon and some very small pieces by Roberto Molla. Swoon’s wood block prints were about six feet high on thick brownish paper, ripped and ragged, mounted to hidden frames so that the edges of the paper curled up continuing her exploration of a hippie punk aesthetic. Roberto Molla was showing a few precious pencil and ink geometric abstractions that really stood out for their precise compositions and poetic titles.

Swoon at Kesting Ray.

Labrona at Station 16.

Station 16 was another stand out booth for street artists, because they were exhibiting two prints by Labrona the freight painter. Also of note to street artists was the Marianne Nems Gallery booth which had a wide selection of new works by LA2, whose work is more detailed and stronger than ever. LA2 was one of the first collaborators with Keith Haring and definitely the youngest at just sixteen years old.

LA2 at Marianne Nems.

Text and Photo: Daniel Feral, unless otherwise noted.

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© Daniel Feral & 12ozProphet - Tuesday March 13, 2012 at 03:08 PM