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Art

Sunlight Casts Shadows of Phrases Exploring Theories of Time in a Street Art Installation by DAKU

Pseudonymous Indian street artist DAKU recently installed an immersive text-based work in Panjim, Goa. Placed along 31st January Road, a fishnet structure suspends letters above pedestrians. The region’s abundant sunlight pours through to cast shadows on the street, spelling out tropes about the passage of time. Some of the phrases include, “Time works wonders. Time moves. Time flies over us, but leaves its shadow behind. Time fades. Time is an illusion.” The temporary installation, titled Theory of Time, was supported by the public art nonprofit St+art India, as part of the Start Goa festival.  DAKU often integrates language into his urban interventions. You can see more from the artist on Instagram.

Art

Quirky Interventions by Octavi Serra Question the Rules of Public Spaces

Octavi Serra uses the structures and symbolism of public spaces to question the systems we live with and find humor in their details. The Barcelona-based artist often engages with signage to subvert its original meaning, like forming a massive arrow pointing left with safety stickers that all individually indicate to exit to the right, or adding opposite directives to a signpost for routes to “hope” and “doom”. Serra also questions strictures of space, like adding “the road is lava” to a painted crosswalk, referencing the universal childhood game, or replacing parallel parking space lines with nonsensical squiggles. You can see more of Serra’s quirky interventions on Instagram. (via Lustik)

Art

A Mural of Brightly Colored Shapes and Clusters of Spots Gives a Striking Update to a School Courtyard in Sicily

“Ragusa Sun (Courtyard Painting)” (2018), Acrylic paint on asphalt, 45 x 147 feet, created for the Liceo Scientifico E. Fermi in Ragusa, Sicily, commissioned and organized by Festiwall and Liceo Scientifico, all photography by Piero Sabatino

Atlanta-based artist Alex Brewer, a.k.a. Hense, paints overlapping shapes and patterns on canvases, outdoor murals, and even billboards. His brightly colored abstract work appears around the world, from the US and Germany to Taiwan and Australia. Most recently Brewer created an acrylic paint mural on the asphalt courtyard of the Liceo Scientifico E. Fermi high school in Ragusa, Sicily.

For the piece, titled “Ragusa Sun,” Brewer wanted to add an element of inspiration and curiosity for the students at the school. “We used colors that contrasted starkly with the existing architecture and we were very conscience of the space and scale we worked in,” he tells to Colossal. “The forms, lines, and colors are intended to be purely compositional, but I enjoy the idea of viewers having different interpretations of the work.”

Brewer’s show INTERPLAY is on view through January 26, 2019, at Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta, Georgia. You can follow his indoor and outdoor creations on the artist’s website and Instagram. (via designboom)

Art

A Multi-Color Water Slide by Blu Serves as a Harsh Critique of Capitalism in Rome

Last year may not have been the most prolific for Italian street art legend Blu (previously), who besides releasing Minima Muralia, a 288-page collection of 15 years of murals, completed only two officially announced murals. His latest piece titled Capita, was recently shared on the elusive artist’s only official communication channel Blublu.org. The mural was painted in Rome’s Rebibbia neighborhood, and was realized in collaboration with Comitato Mammut, a self-managed civic organization. Painted using artist’s intricate illustrative style, the image depicts an imaginary amusement park water slide attraction as a sharp critique of the social injustices of capitalism.

The slide offers participants several colorful entry points on top with all but one ending in the same swamp-like cesspool of trash. The only slide that keeps its original color and shape, gold, is the one used by politicians, businesspersons, and religious representatives. Ending with a crystal clear pool with and cocktail table set on a lush green field, it’s a direct commentary on subdued class division present in modern societies throughout the Western world. The piece further comments on the dramatic shift in the political climate of his Italian homeland, especially in terms of immigration and the ongoing refugee crisis. Painted on an 8-story building, the work’s oceanic backdrop depicts small boats filled with people on one side with luxurious yachts floating on the other.

Earlier this year, Blu spent several days in Valencia, Spain, taking part in Sensemurs project, the first meeting of muralists whose goal is to raise awareness of the repeated abuses by the local port authority toward people living in the La Huerta (Orchard) area. For this mural he depicted port authority personnel as Egyptian pharaohs using the local community as a source of free slave labor. A few months later he began work on another large piece in Rome, painting revisited versions of the Greek Venus de Milo next to a similarly redone David by Michelangelo, as a commentary on the modern values of consumerist society. The piece is yet to be finished.

Blu remains completely focused on working with non-government organizations and groups, creating works as a gift and source of empowerment for local communities, all while trying to retain is anonymity. Exposing everyone from corrupt politicians to violent police or greedy real-estate moguls, the artist is continuously producing work that supports common people and their fight against an increasingly imbalanced economic and political system. (via Juxtapoz)

Art

A Nostalgic Winter Scene Takes a Sinister Turn in a New Welsh Work by Banksy

Yesterday, Banksy (previously) left his mark in the South Wales town of Port Talbot, his first in the UK nation. The area drew attention earlier this year when a World Health Organization report named it the most polluted community in the UK (the designation was later revoked). The street artist seemed to be referencing this undesirable ranking in his piece, which is placed on two adjacent sides of a cement brick garage. A young boy clad in winter gear and with a small sled appears with arms outstretched, his pink tongue catching what appears to be snowflakes. But the nostalgic scene takes on a different meaning when both walls are viewed together, as the “snow” is revealed to be flakes of ash from a dumpster fire. Banksy has declared the work to be his in a video posted earlier today on Instagram, where you can join 5 million others in keeping up with his latest hijinks. (via Juxtapoz)

 

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A post shared by Banksy (@banksy) on Dec 19, 2018 at 6:53am PST

Art

New Paintings and Sculptures by Seth Globepainter Explore the Psychological Depths of Childhood

“Scientia Potestas Est,” Painted resin and a collection of books, installation in situ at DCG London

French street artist Julien Malland, known as Seth Globepainter (previously), currently has two solo exhibitions collectively titled Chambrum Rangeam, or “clean up your room,” at Dorothy Circus Gallery’s locations in London and Rome through December 24, 2018. The title references the common phrase uttered by ones’ parents in childhood in order to present a space of youthful freedom in the two concurrent shows. The exhibitions include new sculptures, like Malland’s piece “Scientia Potestas Est” (above) which presents a young boy on a stack of used books.

Malland also recently released a lithograph print that fuses the precision of printing with the often messy medium of spray paint. The piece, titled “The Ladder,” features a boy sitting on top of a singular cloud looking off into the distance. Propped against his resting place is a multi-colored ladder, produced by the artist in dripping lines of spray paint. For the limited edition, which was released on December 7th and has already sold out, Malland collaborated with the Parisian printing house Idem Paris. Although the base of each work will be uniform, his added hand-painted gestures make each completely unique.

You can see more documentation of his new works included in the exhibition on the gallery’s website, and follow Malland on Instagram.

“E Fructu Arbor Cognoscitur,” Acrylic, spray paint, and rags on canvas, 114 x146 cm

“Aut Viam Inveniam Aut Faciam,” Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 114 x 146 cm

“Temet Nosce,” Acrylic and spray paint on canvas, 97 x 130 cm

Art

Expressive Text Loops, Folds, and Ties Itself in Knots in New Murals by Pref

British graffiti artist Pref (previously) transforms words and sayings into visual interpretations of their meanings or messages—forming the word “undo” into a knot, or layering the phrase “all over the place” on top of itself to take up as much surface area as possible. With added shading and perspective the words appear as if they are 3D, like his piece “It Is,” which forms a a narrow grey cube when the letters are stacked. Some of his monochromatic works on paper (which you can see below) will be included in the upcoming group exhibition Control and Disorder with Gary Stranger, Elliott Routledge (Funskull), Georgia Hill, and William LaChance at Galerie 42b in Paris. The exhibition opens this Friday, December 14, and runs through January 19, 2019. You can see more of Pref’s recent work on his Instagram, and buy prints through his Big Cartel.