Filed under: ARCHITECTURE, ART, CULTURE, GRAFITTI, PHOTOGRAPHY, STREET, STREET ART, URBAN EXPLORATION, URBEX | Tags: art, banksy, blu, california, culute, faile, grafitti, obey, photography, san diego, shepard fairey, street art, urban, urbansetting
LOCATION: Downtown; San Diego, CA
A street art enthusiasts dream has been on display in downtown San Diego…welcome to part one of my two part review.
An exhibit titled VIVA LA REVOLUCION: A Dialogue with the Urban Landscape has been on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The exhibit boasts such big names as Banksy, Os Gemeos, Shepard Fairey and Invader. Those artists alone would draw me to pay the affordable $10 entry fee (free if your under 25 and discount tickets for students). Altogether, the exhibit brings together 20 artists from 10 countries. All of them are connected in their way of addressing urban issues. A full artist list is below.
Akay (Sweden) http://www.akayism.org
Banksy (UK) http://www.banksy.co.uk
Blu (Italy) http://www.blublu.org
Mark Bradford (US)
William Cordova (US)
Date Farmers (US) http://www.thedatefarmers.com
Stephen Doitschinoff aka CALMA (Brazil) http://www.stephendoit.com.br
Dr Lakra (Mexico)
Dzine (Puerto Rico) http://www.dzinestudio.com
David Ellis (US) http://www.davidellis.org
FAILE (Canada) http://www.faile.net
Shepard Fairey (US) http://www.obeygiant.com
Invader (France) http://www.space-invaders.com
JR (France) http://www.jr-art.net
Barry Mcgee (US)
Ryan McGinness (US) http://www.ryanmcginness.com
Moris (Mexico)
Os Gemeos (Brazil) http://www.osgemeos.com.br/
Swoon (US)
Vhils (Portugal) http://www.alexandrefarto.com
When I lived in on the east coast, specifically New York, I was excited to hear that Banksy had a new piece somewhere hidden in the city. I would spend a day searching for a single piece of work, which was hopefully still untouched. Most of the time I was unsuccessful. I either could not find his work or the piece was destroyed. I was excited when Shepard Fairey had his exhibit in NY, and then I was unable to get to the show due to popularity. I at least was able to see his work on Houstown and Bowery. Oddly living in NY left my glimpses of famous street artists work were rare. So my excitement to hear such large names were on exhibit in my new town was incredible exciting.
I recently visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in La Jolla and was disappointed in the work on display. The artists’ vision was in the right place, it just did not excite me. I decided to keep my expectations at a minimum for Viva La Revolucion. In a way I am glad I did because it made the realization of the scale of work that MCASD displayed was incredibly immense. I entered the gallery and was greeted by Shepard Faireys portraits of Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring.
It was fitting to have these two pieces be the first that I saw. I thought of it as incredibly humble of Shepard Fairey to not put an original work within the gallery, but have the portraits of two individuals who played a role in initiating the street art movement. It gave the rest of the exhibit a timeline of progress.
The room also featured a beautifully raw piece from DATE FARMERS, as well a sculpture from Mark Bradford which depicts changing demographics in southern California.
Located in the main room was a simple flat screen television playing looped videos made by Invader and Blu.
Invader used the streets of downtown San Diego as a grid with the help of a GPS tracking system he outlines the shape of an alien. Instead of using ceramic tiles, Invader uses city blocks to create his work. This is Invaders largest creation to date. The link below is a trailer to his video as well a link to an interview with Invader. Following the links a map depicting the outline of the space invader. Each red invader signifies a ceramic tile invader hidden around downtown San Diego. I have only found one so far…Ill keep looking.
LINK: Space Invader Walk Trailer
LINK: Interview with INVADER
The video by Invader was then followed by a piece created by Blu. The artist creates murals that are critical of industry and mass consumption. Blu commonly uses stop motion technology to bring his murals to life to span great distances. Blu incorporates architecture, trash, natural elements as well as paint in his work. In the piece “Big Bang Big Boom” he depicts the evolution of the universe and mankind, which eventually ends in our destruction. The piece seems to be never ending and Blu continually out does himself over and over again in this single video. It is best if you view the work your self. The link below will take you to the same video being shown in the exhibit
LINK: BLU – Big Bang Big Boom
My favorite part of the exhibit was the room almost completely dedicated to Banksy. There has been times when I lived in NYC were I would search for his work with no luck. One day in particular were I ended the day soaking wet. I was surprised to walk into one of the side rooms and be greeted by a wall of prints solely by him.
This exhibit wasn’t just limited to what was shown in the museum. As I left I was told about the walking tour around downtown San Diego. Several of the artists created murals and pieces through out the city of San Diego. I was handed a map of all the locations. I’ll be going more in depth in part two of this review.
The exhibit ends January 2nd. So I suggest you get to the museum as soon as possible. If you don’t live in the San Diego area then take a look at the official site.
http://www.mcasd.org/vivalarevolucion/
Til next time….keep a look out for part two of this review….and thanks again for reading!
Filed under: ARCHITECTURE, ART, CLOTHING, CULTURE, STREET ART | Tags: 5th ave, cool hunting, gap, new york, nyc, pop up
LOCATION: 53rd & 5th; NYC
Set in Gap’s project space on 5th ave is the first ever pop up shop for Cool Hunting. All the products featured are from independent companies located in the NY region. The store will be open til January 2nd.
Cool Hunting is a group of global editors working to bring people the latest innovations in design, technology, art and culture.
sidenote: this is the first post shot, written and published from my cell. Isn’t technology amazing?
Filed under: ART, CLOTHING, CULTURE, GRAFITTI, PHOTOGRAPHY, STREET, STREET ART | Tags: art, clothing, los angeles, manhattan, new york, ny, nyc, soho, street clothing, the hundreds, urban
LOCATION: Soho; New York City
Besides the surf, beautiful weather, the girls and lifestyle my favorite thing to come out of California is THE HUNDREDS….an amazing clothing line coming out of Los Angeles.
“THE HUNDREDS is a 2-part lifestyle project that houses both a clothing line and online-magazine. Co-founded by Ben and Bobby Hundreds in 2003, both ends of The Hundreds incorporate our trademark attitude and personal perspective on street subculture.” – thehundreds.com
THE HUNDREDS just recently made it to the east coast and opened a new store in Manhattan, NY in Soho. Ironically…I spent three-ish years of my life in NY, before I moved to San Diego. Shortly after the move I discovered THE HUNDREDS. Then I discovered they decided to open a store in NYC. Well…I’m back in NY for the holidays and THE HUNDREDS was first on my list.
Check it out at 96 Grand St btw Mercer and Greene.
Filed under: ART, PHOTOGRAPHY | Tags: crazy, drunk, holiday, nyc, photo, santa, santacon
LOCATION: New York City
Once again thousands of santas, reindeer, elves, mrs claus’s, snowman, trees….um the kid from the christmas story…I think I saw a gargoyle….hmmm….gumby and pokey….candy canes….and any other christmas related costume you can think of took to the streets of New York City.
The day started with Santa’s meeting at several starting points all across the NY Area. From their everyone was directed through twitter on when and where to move too. The two landmark areas this year were Bethesda Fountain in Central Park and Christopher & W4th st in Greenwich Village. The time between the time to meet at these locations were filled with the usual bar hopping and running through the streets to spread the christmas spirit.
This year seemed to not have as many landmark locations, which was disappointing, but was still crazy. There are rumors about a possible Santacon taking place in July, but this is only hinted at on their twitter account.
Its not officially the holiday season til victoria secret has their fashion show…and Santas run rampant in the streets of New York City! Til next year Santacon, thanks for the great times!
Filed under: ART, GRAFITTI, PHOTOGRAPHY, STREET ART | Tags: chaos, christmas, nyc, santa, santacon
In honor of the Christmas spirit…I present to you the new song book for SANTACON NYC. WARNING!!!! THIS BOOK IS NOT SAFE FOR CHILDREN!!! STRICTLY FOR MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY.
This years carols can be found at this link (http://nycsantacon.com/santacon2010_carol_book.pdf)
“Santacon is a non-denominational, non-commercial, non-political and non-sensical Santa Claus convention that occurs once a year for absolutely no reaso n.” nycsantacon.com
Its basically thousands of Santas, elves, reindeers and Mrs. Claus’s running through the streets of NY. It will be held in NY and several other cities across the US, maybe even the world…I dont know…not to sure.
Ill be at the NYC Santacon this year on saturday for the second time. It will be and always has been insane. Expect a full article on the event in the near future. Merry Christmas!!!! Enjoy the adult themed carols!
If your in the NY area and want to attend Santacon…you can find details about the event on the links below.
Filed under: ARCHITECTURE, ART, GRAFITTI, PHOTOGRAPHY, STREET ART, URBAN EXPLORATION, URBEX | Tags: 710, foxy shazam, live music, music, pacific beach, pb, photography, rock, san diego, urban setting
In the not to distant past….
….FOXY SHAZAM played at the 710 Club in Pacific Beach San Diego.
…and completely killed it!
Filed under: ARCHITECTURE, ART, GRAFITTI, PHOTOGRAPHY, STREET ART, URBAN EXPLORATION, URBEX | Tags: art, california, damian fulton, gallery, photo, san diego, surfindian, surfing
On December 4th Surfindian held their Christmas party with the opening reception for Damian Fulton….Damian Fulton’s beautifully vivid work gave a disturbing look into the not so serene side of surfing.
Damian Fulton grew up in the suburbs of the OC and had to travel 10 miles on a his Schwinn Stingray to even see surf. Damian’s travels through the urban landscape was far from the paradise one may think of when the surfing lifestyle comes to mind. His work depicts the struggles of battling the urban landscape, pollution, the fight against conformity, the fight for originality and the fight for freedom to enjoy a simple connection with nature through surfing.
These battles of Damian’s life to enjoy the freedom of surfing are clearly evident in a piece titled “Persecution”. The piece shows a female surfer running from objects in suits, expensive cars, police, pollution and computer chords. As the objects in chase are depicted in an almost a monotone shade of blue the woman is in vivid color, separating her from the conformity of everything trying to bring her down. The piece is shown below along with another piece titled “Revenge”.
Damian was also in attendance at the opening performing some live art in the form of a mural. Through out the show he continued to paint a portrait of a female indian on the exterior of the building. A rendition of the mural has also been made into a special edition t-shirt for sale at Surfindian.
Damian Fulton’s work was so incredibly complex, bright and intense that it can be enjoyed on so many levels. One can easily enjoy his work on the surrounding environments within his work. Although, I kept finding myself surprised to see a hidden piece made from everything taking place within his work. I noticed this most when I was reviewing my photos from the night, specifically his designs on a surfboard.
As a small photograph one can easily tell that it’s an image of Frankenstein composed of other images. While viewing this in person I was absorbed in each creature and object drawn onto the board that I lost the big picture. I was pleasantly surprised to come home and enjoy Damian’s work all over again through discovering something new.
Viewing Damian’s work was intense and I enjoyed becoming immersed in each of his pieces on display. I most likely spent over an hour going from each piece and closely examining all of his work. Every piece seems to come to life and portray a story , and I enjoyed discovering each story Damain Fulton had to tell. The link below will take you to Damian Fultons personal website.
The party then continued outside the gallery. Surfindian had several hotrods on display including a beautiful Blown 29’ Roadster designed by Luis Loyola.
There was also music and custom made jewelry by Kustom Kulture Kouture on display in Surfindians shop located two doors down.
http://www.kustomkulturekouture.com
http://www.skinnydogdesign.com
The entire event was catered by Dirty Birdz which is located between Surfindians gallery and shop.
The entire event was too much fun and was put on perfectly by Surfindian. If you live in the San Diego area I suggest you stop by Surfindian to see Damian Fultons work. At least make sure to get to their next opening, this was my second and its only getting better.
Exhibition Dates: December 4th – February 5th
Til next time…thanks for reading!
URBAN SETTING 