Translation: LOVE; U.B.W. Spotlight on Lady Aiko

   AIKO was born in Tokyo, Japan and  has lived and worked in New York City since the mid 90’s. She received a BFA at Tokyo Zokei University in the field of graphic design and filmmaking, before taking her MFA at The New School, NY graduating with honors in Media Studies. Her work in film has been highly influential on Urban Pop; she directed the seminal digital biography on Takashi Murakami, Super Flat [1998] and ran his studio in Brooklyn long before he was internationally known. In 2005 she collaborated with Banksy, posing as a Japanese tourist and taking the now famous pictures of him doing unauthorized installations at MoMA , Brooklyn Museum, Natural History Museum and The Met which catapulted that artist to fame and was later used in his Academy Award winning documentary “Exit Through The Giftshop”.
    After her apprenticeship and work at Murakami’s studio, AIKO teamed up with two young American artists known as FAILE, collectively creating work for the outdoors, galleries and print editions. After 5 years of collaborating in the US and international streets and museums, she departed the group to develop her individual artist career as AIKO. Her paintings utilize mixed media including spray paint, acrylics, latex enamels, oil bars, coffee stains, rhinestones, glitter and pigments. Her images often come from her daily documentation and photography, and she applies such techniques as collaging, stenciling, silk screening and hand painting to create a dense, layered image full of life and positive energy, as her name AIKO [Translation: LOVE] would suggest. After years of living in the US ,  AIKO has fluidly hybrid the essence of American contemporary art movements such as Abstractionism , POP Art , Graffiti and Street Art with the Japanese traditional aesthetic in which she was originally trained. Her paintings and murals tell a story, playfully portraying femininity, sexuality and the beauty of human life and her historical important is that she has the inside track to be the artist who unites Western and Eastern culture with her work.
    AIKO is recognized in the contemporary art world as among the most important artists to emerge in the new millennium. She is also well respected with the graffiti and street art scene. Her large scale works indoors and outdoors are installed in many cities, including the Wynwood Wall Project, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, in Miami, commissioned pieces for the Standard Hotel on both coasts and the 2012 commission to re-paint the historic ‘Keith Haring Wall’ on Bowery and Houston, the urban center  of downtown chic .  For the season of spring and summer in 2013,  Louis Vuitton released an AIKO silk scarf  as a collaborative accessory line of FOULARDS D’ARTISTES. The Japan Society majorly featured her work in a landmark exhibition in March 2013 “Edo Pop: The Graphic Impact of Japanese Prints”Her work has been exhibited at the MACRO Future Rome Italy, Shanghai MOCA China, Brooklyn Museum NY and PS1/MOMA as well as other major museums and galleries globally.

Text by Michael McKenzie, American Image Art
http://www.ladyaiko.com/introduction/

Street Art Vocabulary Throwdown

Dedicating a big portion of my life to graffiti and street art, I appreciate the fact that it has come to popularity enough that the Oxygen Channel chose to pitch it to mass audiences worldwide.  Unfortunately, tuning in to see the dilution of street art by corporations, to convert it for soccer mom entertainment is kind of a let-down. They really made very little attempt to stay true to the graffiti culture and that’s what brings us here today!

In a recent Street Art Throwdown episode titled “Going All-City”, the term “Bombing” was used by Bua and the definition: “Bombing: Painting over someone else’s piece with your own piece” flashed in the lower left corner. Maybe when Bua was working the streets that was a correct usage of the term, but today it has a much different definition. To do our part to help out the crew over at Oxygen, we will have a little vocabulary refresher.

To “bomb” means to hit up your piece all over an area. To keep things quick, a bomb is usually either a tag or a throw-up (or throwie). Picture the most prolific west coast (LA) writer: Chaka. California authorities accused Daniel Ramos of between ten and fifty thousand unique incidents of him tagging the word CHAKA. That’s BOMBING!

In the show, the term Bombing was introduced to during the challenge, to get the contestants to paint over each other’s work. For most of the artists this was considered “illegal” in the graffiti world or “the ultimate sign of disrespect”. There were a couple graffers who did take the bait and went up on top of their co-competitors artwork.

For the record: The correct terminology for this is “Going Over”. To go over a piece of graffiti simply means to paint on top of it. While most writers respect one another's artwork, to intentionally and disrespectfully paint on top of another's work is akin to a graffiti declaration of war. However (due partially to the limited amount of desirable wall-space) most graffiti writers maintain a hierarchy of sorts;

A tag can legitimately be covered by a throw-up, and a throw-up by a piece, and this is commonly done without incident. If a piece has previously been slashed (or "dissed"), it is also acceptable for another writer to go over it. To violate these guidelines, or to simply paint lower-quality graffiti on top of a higher-quality artist's work will quickly characterize a writer as an annoyance, or "toy."

Surprise! You cannot believe everything you hear on TV...

For more Street Art terms check out our Blog article titled: Street Art: From Tags to Riches

Street Art: From Tags to Riches

To mainstream America (as well as other places), graffiti is the catch-all phrase to describe vandalism, or “the action of deliberate destruction or damage to property”. There is no distinction for the various approach used by these artists to express themselves. Our desire for this article is that we can briefly spotlight several of these different styles and techniques. As a matter of distinction and universal appreciation for all the Urban Bomb Workers.

Tags / Burners: Tagging is the simplest type of graffiti, usually consisting of the writer’s street name in one color. Tags are basically the graffiti writer’s signature; if they’re associated with a crew, they might also contain the crew’s name or initials. The goal; to have the coolest looking tag and be prolific in its distribution. Tags can be seen on any surface and can be done in spray paint, markers or glass tools.

Throw-up / Throwies: A throw-up is a little more complicated than a tag, usually having two or three colors, but not nearly as elaborate as a piece. A throw-up is something that can be done quickly and repeatedly, while still identifying the writer. They’re usually done in block or bubble letters, often in one color with a differently-colored outline.

Sticker Bombs / Slaps: Stickers are a quick and easy way to throw up a tag quickly. Graffiti writers used to use the “Hi, My Name Is” name tag stickers, but now it’s also common to see them on the free address labels you can get from the Post Office. It’s just as likely to see elaborate, professional-looking printed stickers with a message or image plastered all over. Graffiti artists like stickers because they can take their time on the art in private, then quickly slap them up wherever.

Wheatpaste / Paste-Up: Used in a similar distribution style to stickers, but in poster size or larger format. Wheatpaste is an adhesive that can be cheaply made by the bucket and then used for several dozen hangings. The paste is brushed on the wall and back of poster and then the piece is applied like wallpaper. Then as a protectant from weather / Public Works, another coat of the clear paste is applied over the top. Other products including spray adhesive are routinely used for the process

 

 

Wildstyle: Wildstyle is a particular style of writing that was developed and popularized by graffiti artists like Tracy 168, Stay High 149 and Zephyr in New York City. It’s a complicated and extremely stylized form of writing that, to the untrained eye, is not easy to read. Wildstyle writing features arrows, spikes, curves and other elements that non-graffiti artists may have a hard time understanding. Wildstyle pieces are often 3D and considered to be one of the most complicated forms of graffiti.

Stencils: Using stencils is a quick and effective way to put up somewhat-complicated pieces very quickly. By holding the stencil against the wall and spraying, you can get a much more detailed picture than you would be able to with just a spray can. Even if you use two or three layers to make a more colorful and intricate picture, stencil graffiti can be thrown up in a matter of minutes.

 

Piece / Mural: A piece (short for masterpiece) is a graffiti painting, much more complex than a tag and usually having at least three colors. Pieces are hard to do illegally because of the time involved, so a good piece will gain a lot of respect for that particular graffiti artist. As graffiti has gotten more respect as a legitimate art form, a lot of pieces have been commissioned – or permission granted to the artists to put them up.

To say surrealism is more artistic than impressionism would be considered absurd. The attempt to categorize some styles as graffiti and others as street art can be counter-productive. We all have our preferred styles, but as street art lovers let’s respect every bomb someone took the time to hit up and the effort it took to get there.

The Animal Within

     As one of the most posted “Urban Bomb Workers” on social media, Belgian street artist Roa creates the most fantastic animal murals around the world. Equally impressive is the level of shocking anatomy he can capture on his smaller scale indoor masterpieces. The true genius in this artist’s creative process is the selection of a native species for each location he paints, and  documenting human’s interaction for each animal.

      Growing up in the 1980’s in Ghent, Belgium, Roa was submerged in American music, movies and skateboarding (Like 1983 hip-hop film Wild Style). Roa’s start in graffiti came modestly beginning with doing some throw ups under bridges and on walls, which grew to every day graffing. But Roa was already developing his passion for drawing animals. The two genres came together in abandoned buildings and his trademark realism style born.

     Now Roa travels the world, painting large scale anatomical murals, stopping occasionally for his wildly popular gallery expositions.  His intellectual approach to subject selection is powerful. Roa paints “ordinary animals” that are/were native to the location he is painting. Sometimes, he will inject elements that point to Human’s usually negative interaction with the animal.

     Roa’s view on graffiti is that “you don't do it for money nor for an institution, it's free expression”. He has spent years developing his extraordinary level of work and has blessed the world by gifting it to all of us.

     So Roa, if you’re looking for your next place to paint, the Urban Bomb Works NYC office has large open walls waiting for you! May we suggest the animal de jour can be a rat, as they seem to be VERY native to the place!

Spraying Fine Art with C215

UBW would like to take this opportunity to spotlight a Street Art legend, French artist, C215. This is the working moniker of Christian Guémy, whose work draws from his skillset of a classically trained artist combined with a well-developed modern street art flair.

C215 is known for his fine art portraits done on walls, as well as gallery offerings on wood and canvas. His unmatched works are created using a trademark combination of hand-cut stencils and freehand spray work. He likes to portray “things and people that society aims at keeping hidden”, like homeless people, street kids, smokers and lovers.

Guémy’s undeniable talent gained him immediate respect of fellow artists and success throughout the art world. Shepard Fairey (of Obey) gave the following quote:  

"C215's art captures a light, depth, and humanity that is difficult, and rare using stencils, his chosen medium. Stencils tend to flatten images and make them static, but C215 has

developed a style of illustrating and stenciling that yields an impressionistic illumination of his subject's character. Even though his technique is meticulously refined, C215's work transcends the formal and seems to get to the core of compassion and belief in the human spirit. Encountering C215's pieces on the street is always makes me happy"

Check out a short video on this amazing artist: 5 MINUTES WITH C215 by Estelle Beauvais at:   https://vimeo.com/71808026

 

Sunday with Plastic Jesus

With the 87th Academy Awards ceremony taking place today (February 22, 2015) in Hollywood, Urban Bomb Works Friend (and previous guest of our weekly Twitter series “Sunday with Jesus”) PLASTIC JESUS dropped another viral Street Art installation to celebrate (Hollywood Style).

For those of you not familiar with this artist the press has titled the “Banksy of LA”, we are sharing the biography posted on his website . The site features lots of photos of his hilarious, yet thought provoking works.

Plastic Jesus is a Los Angeles based street artist that specializes in bold stencil and installation work, inspired by world news events, society, the urban environment, culture and politics. His work combines humor, irony, criticism and unique opinion to create art that engages on many levels.

The Huffington Post listed two works by Plastic Jesus in the end of year round up of “The Best of Los Angeles Street art 2012”.

In early 2013, his pieces “No more heroes” featuring disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong connected to an IV drip caught the world’s attention and was featured by many media organizations including CNN, the BBC, The Daily Mail, Huffington post and LA Weekly. Many other pieces have gone viral on the internet and news media including his August 2013 “Best Buys Useless Plastic Box 1.2″.

 His 2014 piece “Hollywood’s best kept secret” showing a 6 foot gold Oscars statue injecting with heroin brought controversy and focus to the hidden use of hard drugs in Hollywood and was featured on TMZ, Entertainment Tonight and ABC News.

Influential street art blog “Melrose & Fairfax” described Plastic Jesus as “The Banksy of LA”.

 Plastic Jesus is not about revolution, he is not a complete anarchist but would like to see some changes around the place. His work is more about shining a small light into some of those dark corners of society then standing back and watching reactions and opinions.

Plastic Jesus tries to work as ethically as possible and minimize harm to the environment.


Source: http://www.plasticjesus.net/about/

The New Urban Bomb Works Blog

Welcome to the new Urban Bomb Works Street Art blog! We will be frequently posting articles on street art, topics and the UBW #ShoutOut to talented artists. Walls, canvas, illustrations, box trucks, sticker bombers, wildstyle, graff writers... We have love for all the Urban Bomb Workers!
We figured we'll start out the first article with an introduction to the who, what where and why of what we're doing here.

Urban Bomb Works is a collective of Artists, Collectors and Dealers, all with a passion for street art.  Starting over 20 years ago with spray cans in hand, the crew has progressed into a team of proficient art promoters who conduct expositions, social media marketing and represent several types of artists and buyers.

While we have a great collection of both originals and limited edition prints by artists including: Banksy, Ben Eine, Icy & Sot, IHeArt, Jerkface, Keith Haring, Penny, Pez (France) and adding more daily. We are also seeking new artists looking to be promoted into new sale opportunities.

We are primarily based in the United States, with Urban Bomb Workers in NYC and Southern California. We also work closely with artists and dealers throughout the US, Canada, Europe and recently Cuba.

We do it because we love street art! With roots in the "outside" wall working world, we feel the act of throwing up a piece as a gift to every person blessed enough to appreciate it and the purest form of art. In the past few years, works previously considered "vandalism" are now being sold for thousands at contemporary art auctions. Unfortunately, they are  being painted over by Public Works at a much faster rate.

The enhanced appreciation by popular culture has driven "inside" works to the next level. Canvas, screen and digital prints have all given everyone the opportunity to own and save a piece of this art forever. We look forward to supporting the street art culture and to continue connecting artists and collectors for at least another 20 years!