Gallery Celal in Paris recently showcased artist Smash 137 for a solo show titled “Grow Up”. Smash 137 who recently we had a conversation with in a here, has been able to successfully move from the streets into the Gallery seamlessly. This recent solo exhibition is a testament to his emerging role as a painter.
When we look at the work of Smash there is so much to appreciate, color, flow, letter structure. These adjectives might be words you would normally associate with a graffiti piece. The difference is they are describing his paintings, and the importance is they are paintings that are able to capture the spirit of graffiti. Abstract in nature yet fundamentally sound, when you look at them from a graffiti perspective.
One of the major qualms I have with the art world is its lack of understanding for our art form, or its broad definition of the term graffiti. Most galleries will use artists or the catch phrase graffiti art to hit whatever niche they think is hot. What they rarely do is take the time to understand the true essence of the artform. The small nuances and complexity of our culture is something that I would hope in the future more art historians and critics would take time to understand. They can start with the work of Smash.
When I look over the work of Smash 137 in this exhibit, it is an example of graffiti art done correctly on canvas. In a art world where artists paint about graffiti through photo-realist versions of what they think graffiti looks like. It is great to see an artist paint about graffiti using the nuances of graffiti as a starting point. Not only has he painted some amazing pieces, he has also captured the essence of what we do. The control of a fatcap, the fluid motion of a one time line. Clean and crisp. In the same manner a master establishes a pure brushstroke that captures the artists imperfect hand. The work of Smash 137 you are allowed to see our version of for example a bamboo brush and you are able to correlate this to his strokes with a spray can. The essence of the stroke is a key underlying principle not only in say Japanese ink drawings, but also in our culture as well with say a fatcap. Great work and a very solid show. Respect.
Posted by Admin at Dec 31, 2011 in Other Tag Cheztwo0
FAB Family and Wadezig did it again, this time they gone out to the Karawang city companied by MBC crew to paint on a freight train. click read more for more pics
All pics are grabbed from Wadezig website, check em out to see more pics
Ok, where do I start? First we’ll start by saying thank you to each and every one that supported or contributed to us this year, It’s been one to remember for sure. Trying to make sense of it all could take more than one post but we’ll do our best.
We featured the work of almost 60 new artists and covered countless walls and shows. We successfully engaged the community and initiated a dialogue about Graffiti and Art in our series “The Evolution of Graffiti” Part 1 and Part 2. We showcased talent from some of our featured artists in the group show “Rudimentary Perfection” in Glasgow. We interviewed some of the worlds top contemporary artists. We successfully curated and held our first Group Mural Installations at Art Basel Miami with “In situ“. What is most important is that we couldn’t have done all this if the support and response wasn’t positive from everyone in the community.
Graffuturism has been read and visited from 150 Countries this year, USA to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, wherever that may be. We thank you. Not that the numbers mean anything to us. What is more important is that we have accomplished goals that what we set out to do. Not only did we accomplish some of these goals but have far exceeded anything we could imagine. For us to be able to touch and reach this many people by doing something we love means a lot. I wont get too sentimental but 2011 was an enormous year for us as a whole. Each and every one of these countries means the world to us. Our goal is to try to feature artists from as many countries as we can in 2012.
I can go in depth about more what this year has meant to us, instead I look towards the current state of our community blogs, galleries, curators, artists, writers, supporters etc, etc. One of the major if not the main reason we started this site was to fill a gap or void we felt was missing from the community. With so much emphasis put on other art forms, Graffiti seemed to be lost or grouped in to so many other genres. Now as I look around it seems that things are slowly changing, and for the better. More artists are being blogged about, published, or showing in a galleries. This might seem like a victory but it’s only a beginning. We have known the importance of all of you artists for some time and the struggle to continue to push forward. We salute each and every one of you. Its great to see so many of you artists gain recognition and the respect you have always deserved. We know in 2012 we will continue to see the rise of artists and our supporters.
Instead of a list or a best of, we decided to make a request. We ask and look forward to watching this dialogue and evolution of graffiti continue. We hope that all the blogs out there, the publishers, the writers, the poets whatever it is you do – pay attention. Help us create a written record/response to our visual art. Without proper commentary and discourse we cannot continue to grow. Quick write ups and beautiful pictures are great but we need more. What is taking place deserves not only the documentation by photography, its needs proper written accompaniment. We’re not asking or saying to not have a subjective response to the artwork. We only ask for you to, if you don’t understand, take time to learn. Ask questions and help us build. What would you have asked Rammellzee if he were still alive? What would you have asked Dondi? Why are these people important to our culture? We must realize that if we don’t understand we need to push forward towards a common understanding. What words of wisdom would our modern masters say. What do they have to teach us. We live and are witnessing a graffiti renaissance, take the time -as we will- in 2012 to listen and learn. Lets build together.
Posted by Admin at Dec 27, 2011 in Letter Tag Tutu0
Painting with Abang8 again. We hit another spot and commit to finish it with limitation. We pick the cans randomly, so we actually don't know what color that goes up for the wall. As you can see, there are not so many white there, because we just brought one can and it's half empty. This time we split letter. Abang take "MASE" and me write "CREW". Have a chill time together and we shared lots aspect of making a good graff production. That's what we did in our crew: Making Chemistry
Posted by Admin at Dec 25, 2011 in News Tag Respecta0
IDEGARINK MENGGELAR SUKURAN :
“DI JUAL GAK LAKU DI BUANG SAYANG”
tema “DI JUAL NGGA LAKU, DI BUANG SAYANG†yaa mungkin tema yang tepat mewakili karya karya seniman labil ini. Berusaha membuat karya dengan sepenuh hati tetapi “NGGA LAKU DI JUAL†dan akhirnya “SAYANG UNTUK DI BUANG”
#ACARA GRATIS ALIAS GRETONG TETAPI SEBAGAI PENGGANTI TIKET MASUK, DIWAJIBKAN MEMBAWA BUKU BACAAN BEKAS UNTUK DIKUMPULKAN DAN DI SUMBANGKAN KEPADA PANTI ASUHAN YANG MEMBUTUHKAN
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