Safewalls | Aida, The Printmaker
Safewalls profiles UK based printmaker Aida. She discusses her relationship with the London’s street art scene as well as how she avoids becoming too commercial. I haven’t seen too many video profiles dealing with the art of screen printing. As a former screen printer myself I can really appreciate the craft.
Enjoy
TrVZ
*as of yet, untitled. | Kickstarter Video
In this day of Social Media overload where almost everything interesting is documented and posted online virtually before it happens (pun intended), there is a new project by William Etundi (founder of The Danger), where artists can express themselves in a non blogging, non tweeting, non shooting environment. The Social Media phenomenon has so shaped our collective conversation that I am intrigued as to how the dialogue will change in the absence of it. As Will describes this event…
“You are invited to be involved in the creation of something simple, gorgeous and potentially profound.”
I describe it as TED meets Eyes Wide Shut. This event *as of yet, untitled will take place in a large but unfinished raw space in DUMBO and they need additional funding to build out the space. I was asked to shoot the video posted below to help raise money for this project. Log onto the Kickstarter page to contribute.
TrVZ
TrVZ
Safewalls | Freinds With You
This Interview courtesy of SafeWalls features FriendsWithYou founders, Arturo Sandval and Sam Borkson. They discuss their recent Art Basel 2010 exhibition titled Building Blocks and Rainbow City. I dig their concepts and the video lighting on Arturo.
Enjoy
TrVZ
Wayback Thursday – Fanny Pack Crew
This week on Wayback Thursday, we rewind to sometime around February of 2007 and an event called Back 2 Basics. This event really epitomizes what was happening at the dawn of the social media revolution in Brooklyn and the LES. Myspace was the dominating social networking site in 2007, and both artist and promoters relied heavily on it as a medium of expression and promotion. It was generally understood that if your event was not documented that it did not happen. A point of view that is even more prevalent today. As a result the Photo/video artists became the vanguards of online documentation and The New Pop found it’s legs.
This particular event took place at Fat Baby’s in the Lower East Side. Looking at it now brings back some great memories for sure. This DIY event was organized by a couple of cuties and dear old friends Jen Pop and Ladi Dotie AKA The Fanny Pack Crew. The only sponsor was another old friend photographer Jason Lewis and his Tinpod Ipod case. Jason’s a great guy and those cases were great art (I still have 2 of mine), but you had to keep opening the damn things to access your Ipod. And then there are the artist interviews which apparently are strikingly similar in content to the ones I do now. Until I watched this I forgot that this recent Anthony Michael Sneed profile I did was not the first piece on 8 Bit art. Mikel featured in this video was doing it in 2007. Also forgot that Kanye was not the first guy to play the MPC drum machine on stage. Also seeing DJ Yamez, Holy Smokes, Cicely, 2 Hungry Bros and of course Jen and Ladi who were all (and probably still are (lol)) myspace friends is priceless.
Enjoy
TrVZ
Wayback Trivia: When Tone and I first started shooting events in 2006 we would say to each other (with great childlike enthusiasm I might add) how great it would be if we could gain free admission and get free drinks at events in exchange for documenting them! Oh how times have changed.
Safewalls | Madrid 2011 | Artists Profile
SAFEWALLS is an art project curated by Cirque du Soleil that brings the time-honoured practice of circus poster art into the 21st century! This video sponsored in part by RVCA profiles Miss Van, Nuria Mora and Ricardo Cavolo. The trio of Spanish artists were selected to create original and alternative poster designs for the Cirque de Soleil show Corteo. Log onto safewalls.org for more info on this pretty cool project.
Enjoy
TrVZ
Walking On The Wall At The Barbican
This is pretty cool, showing at the Barbican Gallery in London. I hope it finds it’s way to the states.
Artists Wanted | Scope NY 2011 – “The Night Event”
As a part of Armory Arts Week Artists Wanted recently held an opening night party for Scope NY 2011. The event was held at the Angel Orensanz building on the Lower East Side, a Gothic-revival synagogue built in 1849. I only recently discovered Artists Wanted while doing one of my recent blog postings. Upon my discovery I loved their mission so much that I had to reach out to them. When they in turn reached out to me to document this event I was pretty excited to be involved. As I mentioned when I posted the photos, there was an eclectic mix of artists and celebs alike including Chloe Sevigny, Nick Zinner, & AndrewAndrew, and performances by Le Reitman, and Gang Gang Dance. Everyone had big fun. Thanks to Will and Suzie for putting me on, and to Rachel Hornaday for video assisting!
Enjoy the show
TrVZ
Handmade Portraits | Nanopod
The video portrait continues to evolve on platforms like etsy.com. This portrait by Pascal Perich described as a ‘Journey through the dark dreams and inner turmoil of Tosca Hidalgo y Teran‘ continues to blur the boundaries between documentary and vignette.
Enjoy
TrVZ
Tænker 001 : A limited edition publication by Aesir
This video by Wallpaper gives us a behind the scenes look at the creative process of Tænker 001. Described as a beautiful design manifesto that hails artists and architects who value community and cooperation while resisting quick and easy solutions. Created by the Danish design firm Æsir and printed from a 150 million year old stone, it is a concrete testament to the values stated in this manifesto.
Enjoy
TrVZ
Artists Wanted | The Night Event – Photos
Thursday night Artists Wanted held their opening night event for the Scope Art Show/Armory Week. The event was held at the Angel Orensanz building on the Lower East Side. It is a gothic-revival synagogue built in 1849, which makes it one of the oldest synagogues in the United States. For those of you who care about this stuff, Sarah Jessica Parker & Matthew Broderick were married there.
Thursday night there were performances by Le Reitman, and Gang Gang Dance who blew me away! As expected the venue was filled with an eclectic mix of artists, musicians, and celebrities alike including Chloe Sevigny, Nick Zinner, & AndrewAndrew. The Artists Wanted video I shot will be released shortly, in the meantime enjoy these photos.
TreVZ
This Must Be The Place – BYUN
This video from Lost & Found films profiles Chon Gon Byun and his eclectic home in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. It is a joy to see the intimate relationship Byun has with all of the assorted items found in his travels. Byun describes his penchant for collecting like this,
“In New York, there is a lot that is thrown away and a lot that is sold. You can create a lot of stories by putting these pieces together.”
This video is also a great example of the subtle and often undervalued power of sound editing. Listen to the sounds of the space, the dead air, the small engines at work, how Byun’s voice fills this space. Listen to how the soundtrack builds as the story builds. Lost & Found films are on top of their game.
Enjoy
TreVZ
Artist Wanted | In Focus – Surabhi Saraf (Lo-Speed)
Here is another video from Christian Schneider and the folks at ArtistsWanted. It documents Surabhi Saraf who is an audio/video artist working out of San Francisco California. Her work combines complexly layered sound and video expositions that play out on a grand scale.
Enjoy
TreVZ
Cargoh Artist Profile – Indigo
Cargoh recently did a profile on a Vancouver based artist Indigo. She currently works in many mediums including stencils, posters, acrylics, oils, photography, printmaking and more. Her artwork is an exploration of human emotion, personal story and the weight of memory. After you check out her profile you might want to check out the Cargoh site. It is a community based website for artist.
Enjoy
TreVZ
Street Art and Reality on Hanbury Street London
The main difference between Graffiti and Street Art is that while the former often rebels, degrades, and lashes out against it’s environment the latter almost always merges, comments and even contributes to it. The following video by Shafiur Rahman is one of the better examples of this. This video documents the making of a piece done by Joseph Loughborough and Ben Slow on Hanbury Street in London. The piece called “Ma o Shishu” was found in a book about photography. Ironically the video also uncovers a hidden story of squatters living behind this work of art. This is why street art is my favorite genre of art. It isn’t about hanging art on walls as an excuse for exclusive audiences to drink wine and socialize, the purpose of art is to comment on the world we live in, and to beautify it. As the artist stated “Their piece changed the street. Everyone who passed – young and old, local or tourist – responded very warmly to it.”
Enjoy
TreVZ
Artist Wanted: “In Focus” – Pete Eckert
Here is a cool piece from Christian Schneider for the folks at Artists Wanted. This video profiles Pete Eckert who is blind but refuses to allow his handicap to prevent him from doing what he loves. When asked about his process Pete says that “sounds gives an image just like light gives an image, sound wraps around images… my artwork is a byproduct of my perceptions,” Truly inspiring.
Enjoy
TreVZ
Inside the Studio of Cindy Sherman
Here is a profile of photographer and film director, Cindy Sherman best known for her conceptual portraits, courtesy of the folks at Wallpaper Magazine.
Enjoy
Trev
Anthony Michael Sneed – “Hell for Hire”
Anthony Michael Sneed is a multi-platform visual artist who lives and works in Brooklyn. Often incorporating early 80s 8-bit video game aesthetics, the resulting imagery can seem anachronistic or frozen in a particular time, juxtaposing the contemporary topical content with a conscious approach.
Thenewpop sat down with Anthony during his pop up art exhibit titled “Hell For Hire” where he revealed the methodology behind his sometimes controversial approach. You can learn more about Anthony’s work at anthonysneed.com
Enjoy
TreVZ
Exit Through The Gift Shop – Free on Hulu
If you haven’t seen Exit Through the Gift Shop yet it is now playing on Hulu for free. In exchange you get to sit through a few corporate pitches. A small price indeed. Check it out here.
Enjoy
TreVZ
IHMDJ! – The Brooklyn Artist Project
Best known for his Polaroid’s documenting anyone who was anyone in the New York downtown Art & Music scene, Antoine of “I Hate My Day Job!” fame has been laying low for the past few years. Recently he announced his return to the scene with an art show titled “The Brooklyn Artist Project” at Rouge 58. We were there to talk to “Mr Day Job” himself about his return and his latest project.
Enjoy
TreVZ
Teaser – Ai Weiwei “Never Sorry”
This is a teaser for what looks like an amazing documentary titled ”Never Sorry” by Alison Klayman about the Chinese artist, curator, architectural designer, social commentator, and activist Ai Weiwei. They call him the Beijing Andy Warhol. I am not sure if Warhol would have risked his life in the name of free expression. Ai refers to himself as “A brand for liberal thinking and individualism.” I can’t wait to see this film, in the meantime enjoy the trailer.
TreVZ
Nam June Paik Retrospective
Nam June Paik is known to as the godfather of video art. Here is a video from the folks at that Wallpaper Magazine that gives a brief introduction into this Patron Saint of New Media.
Enjoy
TreVZ
The Making of “Null”
Here is a cool time-lapse video of some artist at work. According to their vimeo page…
“NULL is a shared dream scape that
was created by three creative entities.
The entire structure was built by only
using the geometry of a triangle.
The triangle symbolizes the three
entities working together to realize
one objective.”
Enjoy
TreVz
New Pop Vintage 2008 – Writers Block
In 2008 the artist RIP MC approached me to document a spoken word event produced by a collective of artist called Writers Block. This event held at The Bowery Poets club was all the buzz on the scene, I was excited to see what all the fuss was about. From the moment I entered the establishment you could feel the energy in the air. It reminded me of the late 90′s Poetry Slam scene at The Nuyorican Poets Cafe. On this particular night Theophilus London was the featured artist. We had featured Theophilus on a few of our webisodes and I had listened to his much hyped mixtape Jam, but I didn’t know what to expect from his live act. That night he gave an energized performance that blew everyone away. To this date this is one of the most spiritual and energized events I have ever documented.
Enjoy
TrevZ