Money Train 1995 part-1
In 1995 I joined Erni to bomb the set on a feature film named ‘Money Train’ it starred Jennifer Lopez, Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. We hit up about 1 mile long tunnel set built in on the downtown Los Angeles rails. We both hit up as many old school writers as possible on both sides of the’ layup’. Not much of it made it to the final cut but I came off a few times. Get the DVD.
Alan Ket panel discussion (tomorrow)
Tomorrow I will be participating in a panel discussion and presentation at Pratt University in Brooklyn. I am honored to be on a panel with such distinguished artists and activists. If you are free come out and check out the event.
Urban Artists and the Politics of Visibility: A Conversation with Angela Davis
April 23 12:30 to 2:30 Memorial Hall
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn (G train to Clinton/Washington)
Community Participation Welcome! Event Free
Contact the Initiative for Art, Community and Social Change at: InitiativeACSC@gmail.com
Panelists:
Angela Davis, Hank Willis Thomas, Dread Scott, Amy Sananman, Alan Ket
One of the unequalled powers of art has always been its ability to speak the unspoken and make visible the invisible– and nowhere is this more true than in New York City. On April 23rd, 2008, Pratt will host a conversation between Angela Davis and a range of New York-based artists exploring their shared passion for the “politics of visibility.” Like Davis, these artists defy the separations and silences imposed by institutions like prison, the police, and the military; by categories like race, gender, and class; and by the increasing division between public and private urban space. They work across genres including film and photography, graffitti and mural painting, theater and spoken word. And whether through creative content or social context, their work transcends the confines and conventions of the established art world, politicizing the collective act of seeing and making art, and making visible and audible issues and communities long marginalized in the contemporary city. The event will include short presentations by the artists, an open discussion with Angela Davis, and Q&A from the audience.
DREAD SCOTT makes revolutionary art to propel history forward. He first received national attention in 1989 when his art became the center of controversy over its use of the American flag. He works in a range of media, including installation, photograph, screen printing, video and performance.
AMY SANANMAN is Groundswell Community Mural Project’s founder and Executive Director. Sananman conceived of Groundswell in 1996 with themission to bring together professional artists, grassroots organizations and communities to create high quality murals in underrepresented neighborhoods.
ALAN KET is a Brooklyn native who became an artist while painting subway trains. He is an active aerosol artist traveling extensively to document the street art movement as well as to share his work. Most recently he faced a year long criminal case against the city and lost. He is now a convicted felon.
HANK WILLIS THOMAS creates works that reflect on the symbols of commodity culture and the impact of violence in African American communities. He is interested in the subject of perception of reality as it is manipulated in photography and media.
Ghost at BLVD Gallery Recap
Earlier this month saw the opening of famed graffiti writer Ghost as he displayed his works at the BLVD Gallery in Seattle. A strong crowd was on hand opening night as they witnessed the colorful works that have made Ghost such a respected and popular artist amongst his peers. The exhibition will close out on May 3rd.
BLVD Gallery
2316 2nd Ave.
(Belltown Neighborhood)
Seatttle Wa, 98121
tel: 206.448.8767
April 11th - May 3rd
ART TALK! - Barry McGee on VBSTV
ART TALK! - Barry McGee - Part 1 of 2
Alleged’s Aaron Rose in robotic conversation with one of the West Coast’s greatest living artists.
http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1509866020
ART TALK! - Barry McGee - Part 2 of 2
Barry delivers a polite warning to the gallery-art world.
URBAN SCRAWL IS SPREADING IN CITY
By CHUCK BENNET
April 21, 2008 — Graffiti arrests and complaints are skyrocketing as so called “taggers” treat city walls as their personal canvases, new police statistics reveal.
The NYPD recorded and unprecedented 81.5 percent surge in graffiti-related complaints from 2006 to 2007.
During the same period, graffiti arrests spiked nearly 28 percent.
“We did an excellent job turning the tide against graffiti in the ’90s and the beginning part of this century,” said Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens), the chair of the council’s Public Safety Committee who has turned the war on graffiti into a personal crusade.
“Unfortunately, because of the lack of police officers, the fact that they have to do double duty and combat serious threats like terrorism, minor crime, including graffiti, are on the rise,” he added.
Vallone also blamed a pop culture that portrays graffiti as a cool, legitimate form of art.
Graffiti complaints in the Manhattan North police precinct jumped 94 percent, from 442 to 858, in the one-year period, and arrests climbed 19 percent, from 218 to 267.
“This was clean since 2004 and this is the first graffiti of 2008,” lamented Kevin Ferguson, 36, at the tags on the aluminum gate of his cousin’s coffee shop, Cup of Harlem, at 67 St. Nicholas Ave.
“It’s not art - it’s just scribble,” he said.
In fact, graffiti complaints in the 28th Precinct, which includes Ferguson’s eatery, shot up from 10 to 44 - an astounding 440 percent - between 2006 and 2007.
Manhattan South had a more modest increase of 52 percent more complaints - from 426 to 647 - and 8 percent more arrests, for a total of 383 last year.
Brooklyn North saw complaints more than double, from 489 to 1,084 - 122 percent - while arrests were up 69 percent to 488.
Brooklyn South had an 81 percent increase to 1,421 complaints, and arrests climbed 16 percent, to 680.
Queens North had an 84 percent spike, from 904 complaints to 1,662, and arrests went up 11 percent, from 615 to 680.
In Queens South, complaints climbed 80 percent, to 864, and arrests were up 17 percent, to 259.
Bronx graffiti complaints increased 59 percent, to 1,416, and arrests rose 61 percent, to 780.
Staten Island saw a staggering 95 percent surge in complaints, from 468 to 914, and arrests were up 37 percent, to 198.
The NYPD say it’s too soon to conclude whether the numbers indicate an actual rise in graffiti or just an indication of better reporting and police work.
“That arrests have been astronomical has nothing to with the fact that it’s worse and everything to do with the focused attention on the local level,” said Chief Edwin Young, the NYPD’s citywide graffiti coordinator.
“In the past, if a citizen called 911 and said, ‘There’s somebody out here graffiting and the cops got there and looked around and didn’t see anything, there’d be no need to follow up,” he said.
Beginning in 2007, he said, police began logging all 311 and 911 graffiti complaints in a “graffitistat” database. At the same time, Young said, officers began documenting the identities of known taggers and their work so police can now bust the vandals long after their paint has dried.
Until more data is collected, he added, “I don’t think we can make any judgment whether conditions are better or worse.”
Additional reporting by Erin Calabrese
cbennett@nypost.com
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04212008/news/regionalnews/urban_scrawl_is_spreading_in_city_107387.htm
Ghost at BLVD Gallery
BLVD Gallery is proud to present new works from NYC Graffiti Legend GHOST a/k/a Cousin Frank, a pioneering influence for many graffiti artists around the world. Having started writing in the golden age of the late 1970’s, Ghost has first hand knowledge of the many adventures and accomplishments of the NYC subway graffiti movement. The original style, vibrant color combinations, and strong sense of satire of his graffiti has managed to ease the transition naturally to his more gallery oriented pursuits.
Ghost has spent many years dedicated to the formation ( or deformation ) of the standard English alphabet creating limitless possibilities for him to subvert the language in his unique style. He has managed to create work that bears the unmistakable mark of an accomplished draughtsman without it being either overbearing or overwrought. The humor that permeates Ghosts’ work comes from the underground comics tradition from his youth, more Zapp! Comix than Marvel. Ghosts’ improvisational approach to graffiti, he never planned ahead what his work would be like, gives his current series of paintings a lightness and spontaneity that has the feeling of an inside joke between old friends.
Ghost has shown his work in galleries across the globe and has become a major part of the visual aesthetic of companies like respected streetwear brand Stussy. There is also a documentary in production chronicling the many contributions Ghost has made to the global graffiti movement. This show will be the second time that BLVD Gallery has been privileged to work with Ghost whose amazing mural in the “Claimin’ Space” exhibition was a highlight for many at the 2007 Bumbershoot arts festival.
more here :http://blvdart.smugmug.com/gallery/4698981_S9dDU#277974290_MoAoh
