Wheat Paste Diary

Art on the street all the time. Blogging one can at a time.
@openzine
Magazine Posts Table of Contents

OWS Sculpture: Dissing Jay-Z?

Posted 2011-11-23 06:59:56 | Views: 16,330

Daniel Edwards: Jay-Z as Scrooge 

 

Last week, it was reported that Jay-z made OWS supporters real mad after refusing to share profits from Rocawear’s ‘Occupy All Streets’ tees with the actual Occupy Wall Street movement.  An angry sculptor who was livid that Jay, who earned $63 million last year, would profit from people who were being arrested for what  they believe to be one of the most important social justice movements of our generation, created a piece which he describes as a Scrooge Totem pole.

 

The sculpture, created by artist Daniel Edwards, features Jay-Z wearing chains with a big dollar sign on his chest at the base and animated characters that have played the money-hungry Scrooge character on television stacked on top of him. Above Jay is Mr. Burns from ‘The Simpsons,’ ‘Scrooge McDuck’ from Disney’s ‘Christmas Carol,’ and Richie Rich.

 

    

Daniel recently discussed why he chose to make the sculpture of Jay-z:


“I think Jay-Z has made himself a face of [the] Wall Street that Occupiers are protesting against. Maybe Jay-Z is strivingto be in the one percent? Which is why I chose the composition of a totem pole because I thought it would resemble the number one. Rap stars who turn ‘Scrooge’ have to suffer some damage to their street credibility.”

 


Russell Simmons recently spoke out defending his friend’s choice to sell ‘Occupy All Streets’ tees, saying that the movement isn’t being against business or branding, it’s just against those businesses controlling our government.

“What’s wrong with selling goodness? There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s not the most preferred. In yogi scripture, at least, the highest form of giving is giving without expectation. Selfless. But a lot of people need incentive.

 

You should sell things you’re happy about. You should sell products that you’re inspired by, that promote lasting and stable well-being. Give the world something or sell the world something that you’re proud of. Jay-Z didn’t make a T-shirt [that said] “F— the Bums on the Street.” He wrote a T-shirt “Occupy All Streets” – I’m happy, it furthers the movement, it inspires the movement.

 

Listen, I’m going to get every corporation that wants to support us to get branding as part of the process. No one’s against business. We’re against business having too much control over our government.”

Ruben Ubiera: Bricks

Posted 2011-11-02 13:07:23 | Views: 19,587

Ruben Ubiera: Hitting the bricks

Ubiera says The Community, his series of installations, has been approved by the city’s Arts and Culture Advisory Board but that he’s still awaiting word on locations. “It’s up to the city to decide,” the Miami artist says. “It is my first public project and I want to move it to the city of Miami, Boca, anyplace that wants it. After all, it’s regular red clay bricks, made to build. Legos for adults, I call it.”

 

Because the installations will be site-specific, sizes will vary. “All four sides have faces,” he notes. “But I try to keep a contrast: Old man on one side, kid on opposite, cop, young black American …”

Asked how he came up with the idea, Ubiera explained: “When I moved to New York City —The Bronx — I was touched by the brick buildings. As I looked to found objects to find my latest directions, I saw a red brick, held it in my hand and realized it looked like a miniature building. The concept grew from there.”

 

“I believe The Community touches part of my past and part of everyone’s future,” he concludes. “A building cannot be raised without a strong foundation, neither can a community. Brick by brick, everyone equally important. Stroke by stroke. Let me shape my surroundings instead of my surroundings shaping me. “ - Keep Reading

 

    

 

 

 

Banksy: Occupy London Monopoly Sculpture

Posted 2011-10-26 11:14:35 | Views: 24,216

Though we hadn’t heard from elusive street artist Banksy in a little while, it should come as no surprise that his latest piece would be for the “Occupy” movement. Popping up at St. Paul’s Cathedral for Occupy London, this brand new sculpture features a panhandling Rich “Uncle” Pennybags on a make-believe Monopoly board.

Banksy: 

occupy london 

Monopoly Piece 

Mark Jenkins: Prank Art

Posted 2011-08-17 10:57:11 | Views: 13,873

Mark jenkins: Prankster High Art

The world hasn't seen anything quite like the work of Mark Jenkins. His work is in the streets as well as in the gallery. I have selected some of his works for your enjoyment. There's just so much great stuff by this guy that I couldn't put it all. So, make sure to visit his site below. You won't regret it

Jenkins' practice of street art is to use the "street as a stage" where passersby become actors. Many of his installations have resulted in intervention by the authorities whom he also regards as actors. Most of his early outdoor works were non-commissioned.

 

Jenkins said the following about the illegal aspects of street art during an interview with art critic Brian Sherwin, "There is opposition, and risk, but I think that just shows that street art is the sort of frontier where the leading edge really does have to chew through the ice.

And it's good for people to remember public space is a battleground, with the government, advertisers and artists all mixing and mashing, and even now the strange cross-pollination taking place as street artists sometimes become brands, and brands camouflaging as street art creating complex hybrids or impersonators. I think it's understanding the strangeness of the playing field where you'll realize that painting street artists, writers, as the bad guys is a shallow view. As for the old bronzes, I really don't see them as part of what's going on in the dialogue unless addressed by a new intervention

Shepard Fairey Assaulted in Copenhagen

Posted 2011-08-17 10:21:23 | Views: 15,213

Shepard Fairey: Beaten up in Copenhagen?

Shepard Fairey, the Los Angeles street artist who won international acclaim for creating the popular "Hope" poster that became the image of President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign was reportedly assaulted last weekend at the opening of his exhibition at a gallery in Copenhagen.

 

Fairey, The Guardian reported, was punched and kicked by two men who called Fairey "Obama illuminati" and told him to "go back to America." Fairey was with his colleague Romeo Trinidad outside the Kodboderne 18 nightclub early in the morning of Aug. 6.

 

"I have a black eye and a bruised rib," Fairey told the paper, going on to say that he believed the attack was prompted by a mural he painted commemorating the demolition of the legendary "Ungdomshuset" (youth house) that has sparked controversy in recently.

 

Fairey's mural, painted on a building adjacent to the vacant site, has a dove flying above the word "peace" and the number "69," the building's address. But the artwork didn't go over well with all of Copenhagen, the Guardian said, as it appeared to tear open old wounds; critics accused Fairey of peddling government-funded propaganda.

 

"The city council is using the painting -- directly or indirectly -- to decorate the crater-like lot at Jagtvej 69," said local activist Eskil Andreas Halberg in a letter to Modkraft, a leftwing news Web site. "The art is being used politically to end the conflict in a certain way: 'We're all friends now, right?'"

 

Within days of the mural's completion, vandals defaced it. "No peace" and "go home, Yankee hipster" were written across the wall. And while Fairey has reworked the vandalized half -- the new version now contains images of riot police and explosions with a new slogan that: "Nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven" -- he told the paper that the piece was never intended to be considered propaganda.

 

"It looked to the people at 69 like I was cooperating with the authorities, making a propaganda piece to smooth over the wound," Fairey said.

 

Fairey did not file a police report about the alleged attack. Instead, he briefly wrote on in a Thursday blog post on his Web site that "Copenhagen was a very, intense trip."

 

"Not everyone in Copenhagen was hospitable, but that deserves a longer and more thorough explanation and analysis that I will get to in the next couple days," he wrote.

Did Fairey intentionally make a leftiest propaganda mural that resulted in a black eye and bruised rib?

"Not everyone in Copenhagen was hospitable, but that deserves a longer and more thorough explanation and analysis that I will get to in the next couple days,"

Jose Parla: Character Gestures

Posted 2011-08-17 10:00:15 | Views: 13,411

Character Gestures is a solo reveal of José Parlá’s latest body of work. Comprised of paintings, mono-transfers and installations, this exhibition builds on the artist’s earlier work that dealt with the concept of psychogeography and depicted distressed architectural surfaces layered with calligraphic text. While he continues to broach the idea of how we experience urban landscapes and the visual language of mark making, the shift within Character Gestures stems from a deeper engagement with process and abstraction.

 

The notion of “character” is as much about text, integrity, and specific traits, as it is a literal nod to Parlá’s performance, wherein he assumes the role of hypothetical pedestrians who interact with marred city walls, as he creates the work. “Gesture,” encompasses the ideas of movement, communication, and demonstration, and is mutually respectful of the artist’s accidental and calculated actions when applying medium to surface.

 

With Parlá’s new paintings, as seen in No Return, Here Again, 2011, marks mix with textures, bright colors, and media, yet the process is as involved and significant as the visual outcome. Additionally, a large-scale installation fills the central gallery space – the freestanding sculptural translation of classroom memories opens a conversation with the surrounding paintings.  In a collection of work on paper, which Parlá refers to as “mono-transfers,” he experiments with a form of frottage, documenting his new paintings via the impressions they leave on paper.

 

Character Gestures exemplifies Parlá’s deftness at technical execution; the complexity of layering, combined with erasure, still manages a translucent effect. His fluency in visual communication is mindful of the fact that any emotion or memory that attempts physicality can only serve, in reality, as an abbreviation of its original essence. He mitigates this condition through his poetic and individualized form of aesthetic dialogue, while navigating the art historic doctrine of Abstraction.

Jose parla

Character Gestures

September 9 - October 22, 2011

937 N. La Cienega / Los Angeles / CA / 90069

Opening Reception: Fri, September 9, 6 – 9 PM

For more info visit: Oh W.O.W.

Street Art: Bear holding a machine gun

Posted 2011-08-09 17:32:54 | Views: 15,307

phag:

Machine Gunnin' Bear

  

Really funny street art peice by PHAG done in LA. Giant bear holding a machine gun in the urban jungle. Do you know where you are? Your in the jungle baby, your going to die!

Gediminas Siaulys

Posted 2011-08-08 16:16:58 | Views: 14,200

Gediminas siaulys: works and statement

My art is something, that comes out of the deep within. I believe, that it springs from hidden tunnels of my emotional experience, where all things ever felt starting with my childhood reside. When I think about new piece everything I want to express
is the sense that visits me. This sense comes with particular character, mood, color and texture. Entirely new worlds start to appear with it’s fauna and flora. My aim is to catch and fulfil them.

 

Recently I’m obsessed with bees, liquids, woods and masks. My main inspiration is nature, fairytales and Lithuanian culture heritage.

The Surface Merchants: Miami Heads

Posted 2011-07-12 13:20:43 | Views: 15,114

The Surface

Merchants:

heads

Just came across this and had to post it. Newly formed collective group are branching out.

Liu Bolin and Kenny Scharf. NYC

Posted 2011-06-27 12:35:35 | Views: 14,493

Liu Bolin

 Kenny Scharf

On The Streets Of New York

On June 20th, 2010, world-renowned Chinese contemporary artist Liu Bolin camouflaged himself into a popular Kenny Scharf mural for his first live painting/ performance piece in the United States.

The performance was conceived by the New York based curatorial group Wooster Collective and Eli Klein Fine Arts with support by Goldman Properties, the owner of the property and longtime supporters of public art throughout SoHo.

Royal/T - Party Animals Exhibit.

Posted 2011-06-27 09:03:11 | Views: 13,778

ROYAL/T: “PARTY ANIMALS,” A NEW EXHIBIT



The forthcoming show—curated by Lindsay Scoggins—features works that reanimate creatures from childhood curiosities, set against the backdrop of Culver City’s whimsical art space

(CULVER CITY, CA; June 2011) – On Thursday, July 7, 2011,  http://www.royal-t.org/" Royal/T—Culver City’s playful 10,000-square-foot Japanese pop art-inspired space goes “into the wild” with the summer debut of “Party Animals”—a new show curated by electronic media artist Lindsay Scoggins. On display through Saturday, September 24, 2011, the group exhibits whimsical connotation alludes to the common human experience of reinterpreting everyday surroundings by animating childhood experiences and curiosities. Glitter! Confetti! Radiant Tableaux! Featured works include an eclectic mix of beastly beings depicted as party-goers and captivating creatures as formidable adversaries that transform the space into an indulgently imaginative environment, with works by Scoggins, Takashi Murakami, Jeff Koons, KAWS, and Yoshimoto Nara among many others.


A Florida native, Scoggins studied electronic media and fine arts at the University of South Florida before her  "Wonderland Mafia” video was selected as one of 25 winning entries in the 2010 Guggenheim’s YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video competition—in which her work was exhibited at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, in addition to Guggenheim museums in Venice, Italy; Bilbao, Spain; and Berlin, Germany. “I enjoy abducting viewers from the safety and protection of their own reality,” says Scoggins. “With ‘Party Animals’ at Royal/T, we want to encourage people to re-think the way we see the world of animals and art by redefining the typical emotions connected to them.” 


Featuring works by today’s contemporary artists including Andre Ethier, Christen Bach, David Ellis, David Shrigley, David Tamargo, Jeff Koons, Jillian Mayer, KAWS, Ken Kagami, Ken Tanaka, Mike Reynolds, Misaki Kawai, TM Sisters, Takashi Murakami, Yoko Ono, Yoshimoto Nara and others. The show will challenge the audience’s perception of familiar creatures from childhood experiences by constructing a visual environment that combines opposing forces such as domesticity and wilderness. With differences in influences ranging from Hello Kitty and children’s television, to the artists’ contemporaries, each piece reinforces Royal/T’s embodiment of a welcoming environment for both children and adults to explore. Scoggins’ video, “Wouldn’t Change for the World,” celebrates the primal nature embedded within Royal/T’s treasured objects, documenting Chiyo the Maid as the art’s creatures explode to life when infused with the power of her magical Japanese tea kettle—transporting them to a world where anything is possible and where chaos runs wild.

DEBUTING THURSDAY, JULY 7

     




About Curator Lindsay Scoggins:   
Lindsay Scoggins cultivated her love for electronic media as a fine arts student at the University of South Florida. At the age of 15, she began learning non-linear video editing and electronic music composition and during college, began working with video installation and using YouTube as an online gallery. As one of 25 selected artists featured in the 2010 Guggenheim’s YouTube Play: A Biennial of Creative Video, Scoggins’ work was displayed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy; Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain; and Deutsche Guggenheim in Berlin, Germany. For more information, please visit  http://www.LindsayScoggins.com
 
About Royal/T:   
Located in Culver City, Royal/T is a playful blending of café, concept shop, and art exhibition space. The 10,000-square-foot space reflects the interior realm of fantasy that strongly influences the artists included in Owner Susan Hancock’s art collection. The art space showcases curated exhibitions with a focus on Japanese contemporary art. “Party Animals” will be on display at Royal/T from Thursday, July 7, 2011, through Saturday, September 24, 2011. The exhibit is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily, with extended hours on Wednesdays from 10 a.m. – 10 p.m. For additional information, guests can call Royal/T at 310.559.6300 and visit http://www.royal-t.org

“What really drew us to partnering with Lindsay Scoggins for ‘Party Animals’ is her incredible video art talent, which is becoming an increasingly mainstream and relatable medium for today’s young artists who grew up on Nintendo and other video games,” says Royal/T Owner Susan Hancock. “The focal piece of ‘Party Animals’ centers around Lindsay’s video on one of our magical maids, Chiyo, who brings the art pieces to life through an animated tea party. We make it our mission to encourage each guest to have a little party of their own every time they visit us, and with this new show, our goal is to help everyone—both adults and children alike—to find their inner ’party animal’ once they step through the doors at Royal/T.”

Check out this show if you find yourself in Cali...

YouTube Promo for the exhibit.

Music by Otto Von Schirach

 

 

 

 

 

Superman and Friends Graffiti over Soviet Statue

Posted 2011-06-20 09:28:04 | Views: 16,167

superman and friends:

over soviet statue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twenty years ago you would have been shot for stepping too close to this monument in Sofia in Bulgaria.


But after the smashing of the Berlin Wall, statues celebrating communist rule appear to be fair game to the graffiti artists of the former Soviet block in Eastern Europe.


An anonymous artist transformed Russian Red Army soldiers from a monument in the city of Sofia, in Bulgaria, into popular superheroes and cartoon characters

 

Taking centre stage is Superman with his distinctive red cape and blue suit. To the left is Santa Claus and to the right Ronald McDonald, the mascot of the fast-food giant McDonalds, and the Joker also makes an appearance.


Below the graffiti artist has sprayed "Moving with the times" in Bulgarian black paint. The "artistic vandalism" appeared this morning - but it is still not clear who is behind the colourful display.


The giant monument was built to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Russian 'liberation' of Bulgaria in 1944.


It is regarded as the prime example of the forceful socialist-realism of the period.


The place of honour goes to a Red Army soldier atop a column, surrounded by animated cast-iron sculptural groups depicting determined, gun-waving soldiers and members of the proletariat.

Figures of Soviet soldiers at the base of the Soviet Army monument, and below a member of the Bulgarian Socialist Party cleaning the statue in Feb 2010

Jose Pineda Installations

Posted 2011-06-15 17:01:56 | Views: 15,832

Jorge pineda:

CHILDHOOD

Jorge Pineda (b. Dominican Republic 1961)

Artist Statement:

Childhood is the time when we start to build up our personality, and it is supposed to be the happiest time of our lives, but social violence makes it difficult to adjust. In order to be strong, children make masks where they can hide fear, so they can play with the negative idea they have of themselves. These masks shield the feelings reflected in society as I show in Mambrú, with its child soldiers who have been taken away and used as instruments of destruction.

   

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

Reinier Gamboa: New Surrealism

Posted 2011-06-13 20:36:50 | Views: 15,593

reinier gamboa:

surreal

illustrations

Gamboa is a highly skilled draftsman that combines a surrealist element and tribal motifs that dabbles the line between fine art and new age illustration. His paintings create a dream world of interchanging figures and landscapes. They melt together and encompass nightmares of harmony that are very beautiful.

More works by

Reinier Gamboa

  

  

  

Kaws Giant Sculpture at The Standard Hotel NYC

Posted 2011-06-09 07:56:04 | Views: 13,490

KAWS: PASSING

THROUGH 

COMPANION

Yesterday, AM was on hand to catch the arrival of the mother of all Kaws Companions (so far). This Passing Through Companion was hauled over from the backyard of the Aldrich Contemporary Museum, where it was last exhibited and dropped off in the front yard of The Standard Hotel in New York. When we stopped by, the crew was busy creating the platform for the figure, while tourists of the trendy Meatpacking district kept stopping to take pictures of the imposing sculpture. We even tried to play hide-and-go-seek with the companion by hiding out on the overlooking Highline, but by the time we left, it was still counting…