The return of Art in the Streets....moving images

This weekend photographer Anita Rosenberg published her 20-minute video of never-before-seen footage from the historic and controversial, "Art in the Streets," show held in Los Angeles in 2011.

Anita Rosenberg at the "Art in the Streets" photoshoot, 2nd row, far right.  (Patti Astor hidden.) In the foreground is Martha Cooper taking the picture. 

It was worth the wait. See works from contemporary artists like Banksy, Mister Cartoon, Mode 2, Retna, Risk and Shepard Fairey. But, more importantly, take a history lesson on hip hop culture - graffiti, subway art photography and sculpture by checking out Futura, Henry Chalfont and Martha Cooper and Rammellzee, respectively.

Watching this video you'll witness a once in a lifetime recreation of Patii Astor's Fun Gallery (including a painstakingly handpainted gallery sign!) Inside the gallery, classic works by Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf and Fred Braithwaite was installed. As you approached the gallery from the museum entrance you saw the original Jean Michel Basquiat painting that was displayed in the window in 1981 during the inagural show!



Here's Lee Quinones quote from the video:

"The thing about Patti and the Fun Gallery and Bill Stelling was that they are...in the same shoes as Jeffrey [Deitch] is  now...where they were so excited about something that was so new and  needed at that time. That whole thing needed time to marinade and galvanize itself into art history. Jeffrey's at the forefront of an international, global version of that. So, of course, the old meets the new and then you have the splitting of atoms. And, you have a major explosion of greatness!" LEE, Geffen Contemporary at MoCA, 2011.

Going back into time  I went back to the 80s during my interview to celebrate the "Art in the Streets" opening with Patti Astor and Fred Braithwaite. Read it here. This was one of a series of four articles I wrote. Another insightful discussion was with Futura in which he provided his views on the street art scene and his place in it.

Giftin' #4: Obey x Haring clothing collection 2012

I'm a sucker for dope old skool reduxes. For my #4 Christmas shopping list post here's my latest obsession. Keith Haring resurrected by Obey. Now it's really, an old addiction renewed as I first discovered Haring when I was a teen in Bristol in the '80s. My fandom reached its height when I got to first visit the Pop Shop in New York's Soho just before he passed away.

I still have a couple of Haring Swatches in my collection and a dope, but bright aqua-colored jacket with a Haring snake embroidered on the back. For Christmas 2012 I have a couple of these Obey pieces on my list. A great, retrospective interpretation of Keith Haring's art.

Here's a selection of items available at Obey Clothing.

Happy 54th birthday Keith Haring!

Google search bar on Keith Haring's birthday

Happy birthday Keith (#Haring)

Today is Keith Haring's birthday. The Keith Haring Foundation sent me an invite to save 10% by going shopping :)

Little tidbit, Haring set up his foundation after he was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS to promote awareness of the disease and create programs for kids.

Art in the Streets When I was interviewing Futura for UNleashed Magazine special on MOCA's major street art exhibition he told me how Keith Haring put his artwork into his Foundation as gifts for the kids of his New York City artist friends! This never made it into the final article, but you can read the rest of the interview here.

Tipster Chronicles...going back to '79-'82 New York #graffiti #ArtInTheStreets

Anita Rosenberg's "Tipster Chronicles"

When you think of hip hop graffiti documentarians props are rightly paid to the early photographers like Martha Cooper and Henry Chalfont. Their images of graffiti in public spaces and on trains eventually led them to the graffiti artists themselves who embraced these white, middle-class photographers from Manhattan into their clandestine world. And history was made with books like Subway Art, Style Wars, Spraycan Art and Hip Hop Files.

"Subway Art" 25th anniversary edition (credit: Arrested Motion)

Back in those days, Anita Rosenberg was also on the scene for a few years between 1979-82 photographing the emerging downtown art scene as it welcomed the renegade graffiti artform into their galleries and establishments. Rosenberg's approach was different to Cooper or Chalfont's. She was the first graffiti society photographer following the parties and gallery openings of her small group of very influential friends in the East Village.

Stevio and Anita at Fun Gallery event in 2009, Meltdown Comics, LA

Who's Who To this day, her circle of friends remain a Who's Who of urban culture due to their pioneering work in the late 70s and early 80s: Patti Astor, Fab 5 Freddy, Kenny Scharf, Charlie Ahearn, Futura and Zephyr; and legends who passed too young Dondi and Keith Haring.

Rosenberg's book, "Tipster Chronicles," was given that name by her then boyfriend, Zephyr (although it was just a scrapbook back in the 80s.) And if you know you hip hop trivia, you'll know it was Zephyr, along with Dr. Revolt and Sharp, who painted the legendary "Wild Style" mural for Charlie Ahearn's film of the same name. And you'll also know that Wild Style is hip hop 1.01 for generations of youth!

"The players on the scene always get the spotlight, but it's the folks in the wings who make the show roll. In the wild early 80s our East Village art scene was like a new born baby...She [Anita] saw us as important in our own right, long before the media did, and she shot these extraordinarily candid phots of the artists from the FUN. Later many became legend. Many died. But Anita got the intimate shots when we were young and pretty." Zephyr

You can read an interview with Anita Rosenberg on Miss Rosen's wonderful blog. It touches on some of the "Tipster Chronicles" stories that will transport you back to the days when New York was a melting pot of border-crossing cultural entrepreneurs.

Limited Edition The small book is self-published and limited to only 140 copies ($32) so cop yourself one at either the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA store (signed by Anita) or directly at her website.

Want a peek at #Pharrell Williams' yard?

My friend Kiki tweeted about The Selby's inside look at Pharrell's home. And not a Christmas tree in sight! But it does look like a white Christmas! :)

Pharrell's Miami home (credit: The Selby)

Pharrell's restrained Miami house is no super-producer Scott Storch mansion and it comes off a little cold and empty. I was never a big fan of Kaws and seeing his work here doesn't change that opinion. Sorry! But I did go see his show in L.A. a while back. Check the video here.

The Murakami installation looks amazing and those L.V. luggage items are classics. I am surprised not to see something ultra exclusive here. Like a hand-painted mural from Kaws or Murakami. I'm impressed Pharrell has gone old skool and got a mono Keith Haring. Kudos.

Murakami installation (credit: The Selby)



Murakami Louis Vuitton luggage (credit: The Selby)



Keith Haring (credit: The Selby)

Still down with hip hop! Malcolm McLaren RIP

News of Malcolm McLaren's passing came over the internet. And now photos of his funeral have appeared on Facebook.

These are sad, but historic moments, but what made the funeral notable to old skool hip hop heads like me was McLaren's family choosing to adorn his coffin with graffiti as a tribute to the "Duck Rock" boom box featured on the album cover designed by graff legend, Dondi, and long-time McLaren collaborator, Nick Egan. (Psst. Let's not forget about the Keith Haring illustration.)

 

"I was kindly asked by Malcolm Mclaren's family to paint his coffin for his funeral. The boombox was an homage to the Duck Rock album cover painted by Dondi produced by Malcom Mclaren. Too fast to live and too young to die was a slogan used in the first boutique with Vivienne Westwood, at age 67 it pretty much says it all. What an honour. Rest in peace Malcolm." Tizer

I'd say this has lifted Tizer One from relative obscurity to a notch above that...I've just subscribed to his Flickr photostream ;)

Last words? "Too Fast to Live, Too Young to Die" may have been resurrected, but I prefer the words in the floral tribute, "Cash from Chaos" which some would say was a better fit for McLaren!

Fun Gallery resurrected for '09

Galo hit me up about the Fun Gallery show in Los Angeles to celebrate what that space did to bring together the best of the 80's New York graffiti to the downtown art gallery scene.

Little did I know there were gonna be old skool hip hop luminaries there. Patti Astor aka "Virginia" the reporter in Wild Style, "Queen of the East Village" and co-founder of the Fun Gallery. I also got the chance to meet with Anita the photographer behind some amazing and never-seen-before pics of Dondi, Keith Haring, Futura and Kenny Scharf's work exhibited at the Fun Gallery.

Learn, yo! If you want to know what it was like, here's an article from Charlie Ahearn published in Artforum 10 years ago in 1999.

Patti Astor as Virginia in 'Wild Style'

Keith Haring's 50th birthday

If Keith Haring was still alive he'd be 50 years old today!

His work is a reminder of how something as simple and fragile as a chalk doodle could manifest into an art organization for learning and understanding. For me, as Haring was in New York and his art was in public places it immediately grabbed me.



Pop Shop Haring's images had street cred, yet were critically-acclaimed by the establishment too as his work was collected by galleries and museums. And there's no doubt Haring inspired others to experiment with the high and "low" culture of art - the art of selling a commission for millions or a selling millions of t-shirts for $30. Just look how Haring pre-dates the likes of Murakami's and his KaiKai Kiki studio by at least a decade.

Thanks Keith for inspiring my interest in the Pop Art scene and collecting stuff. Peace.

Graffiti classics uncovered in New York

I used to wish I could travel back to New York in the 80s so I pick up all those old break beat albums, hang out with the legends and may be even get myself a role in the film, Wild Style! Okay, the last two wishes are only since I've moved to LA trying to make a name for myself! Hah!

SoHo in the 70s So, why mention this now? Well, I got to thinking after reading a recent Newsday report that a Futura (2000) tag was uncovered in a 10-storey limestone building dated ~1973! Damn! I'm out by a decade! :)

Along with the Futura tag was work by SAMO (aka Basquiat) and Fab 5 Freddy. How could this be? What *is* this building. Well, it seems that the 8th floor loft was lived in by art critic, Edit deAk, until 1984. During those years he had cool uptown kids visit his loft and let them loose on his walls and stairwell.

The artwork isn't high-end gallery fare. It's simple, raw and archaic! It really captures the early formative days of graffiti art. Before it hit canvas and US$ '000s dollar price tags. The picture above shows various images and tags in spray paint, grease pencil, magic marker in a limited range of colors - silver, gold, pink and red (unlike the rainbow-colored subway cars they later painted). Newsday added,"There are cartoon-like pictures of a bomber airplane, images of a heart and a cake, and several references to Quaaludes, a popular 1970s party drug".

"It's a great discovery," says Alberto Mugrabi, a major Basquiat and Andy Warhol collector. "It's the beginning of graffiti (as art)."

"Obviously, it's a critical piece of history, SoHo history," says Lisa Dennison, the former director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

The building was bought by developers in 2004 who wondered about the rumors about some hidden art within the walls. It's reported that Rite-Art magazine editor, deAk, even bragged: "There is a Basquiat, and it's somewhere where you won't think it is."

Art over commerce? The construction development has stopped now the art scrawls have been authenticated by Guggenheim chief conservator Paul Schwartzbaum and other experts. But, I can't help but feel if this discovery didn't have any (social) currency* value it wouldn't be high on anyone's 2008 list. In place of demolition, the developers decided to create an exhibition, investing "six figures" on the mural, hiring art conservator Harriet Irgang and California landscape photographer Bob Weingarten to document the process and produce a catalog for the exhibit.

"Irgang has stabilized the two walls by applying an adhesive to flaking paint and glitter. Next, she will cover the mural with tissue paper, cheesecloth and a stiff fabric to enable the graffiti to be 'peeled' off _ a process that involves using spatulas and chisels to separate the plaster from the coarse brown mortar behind it. Once freed, the graffiti will be mounted on a lightweight panel so it can be moved".

The Wild Style Exhibit The mural will be publicly unveiled on 29th November 2007 and called "The Wild Style Exhibit" after the classic hip hop film directed by Charlie Ahearn. The retrospective exhibit will feature the graffiti art movement between 1980-1985. The show has Keith Haring, Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, Ero and Fab 5 Freddy with many pieces coming from from private collections that have never been seen before.

The show runs until February 15th 2008 in the SoHo building's Gallery 151. Funnily, someone I know in NYC has a friend who works there who said the opening party was "off the hook!" I hope to make a trip to see the show before it ends so watch out for my blog in a few weeks (Farecast says prices are over $300 now, but due to fall) - I don't care what Gawker says. Or may be I do!

* not just money, but socialite value. Here's a thought: does art attract money, or money attract art? Is graffiti art? I've always thought that the joke was on the buyers of graffiti, especially in the case of "Banksy fever".

Keith Haring...still #1

I noticed that the Keith Haring store on Lafayette had closed when I was in New York in June 2007. It was a real landmark for me as it's always there, from my first visit to NYC in 1988 till my previous visit, may be in 2004.

Videos
Here are a couple of videos I hadn't seen before as a tribute to Haring.



I drove down to Long Beach to buy these adicolor Keith Haring/Jeremy Scott sneakers. There was a jacket too covered in Haring characters. Too loud to wear, but when did that ever stop me buying stuff?! ;-)