dreXeL's Blog - Author Archives
Thoughts, Musings, Ramblings, Etc...
Newest Mural
Wow, I just realized I never even blogged about this. So I got a cool gig a couple months back. I was asked to paint the entire Bagel Store, on Bedford and N. 1st in Brooklyn. It was at a time that I was looking to paint larger than I ever had, so the timing couldn’t have been better. I still want to do a few more tweaks to it, which I will when it stops raining, snowing, sleeting and hailing outside! But here it is so far…
Right side…
Left side…
Left of door…
When I make any drastic changes or additions to it I’ll let ya know.
Love,
Erica
Back from Art Basel
First of all, I’d like to say I think Miami is the most effed up city on Earth. Fashion-wise it’s ridiculous. Women there dress like really wealthy hookers in outfits so tiny you could swallow them with one sip of water. “Hi, my name is Tisha and this is my cervix.” The best way I can explain it is sparkly on the outside, dark and evil on the inside. It’s clearly a city fueled by cocaine, which explains why it’s slow during the day and amped up from about 11 pm until sunrise. So before I say anything else I’d just like to get the fashion faux pas out of the way so I can move on to the reason I went to Miami in the first place. Here you go…
Ok, so that said, I had an amazing time in Miami and I’m sure I’ll never forget it. I met artists who I’ve wanted to meet for a long time. I saw old friends and made new ones. The art was fantastic. And it was everywhere. Most of the pics I’m going to show you are from the OUTSIDES of buildings, not even the exhibits! It was dizzying. “Fountain” was one of the main satellite shows during Art Basel. It’s the show I exhibited in, and the collection of artists and art on display there was unbelievable. I went there every day and saw new and inspiring things each time. And I got excited to go back there each day, too. Here are a few shots from the week…
This is Nick Kuszyk. I watched him throw this piece up in about 10 minutes. Awesome.
I’m sure this one took considerably longer. I must have looked at this one 30 times. It was my favorite corner of Fountain to hang out in.
This stencil was already on the wall outside Fountain when I got there. For those of you who don’t know, Blek Le Rat is basically the father of street art stencils. I didn’t get to meet him, but it was just nice knowing he was around…somewhere.
This is Le Mac. I kept looking as close up as I could and saying “how the f*ck did he do that???” Amazing artist. Seriously amazing.
So great to finally meet Toofly and even get to see her paint live. Good times.
The gang.
Aight, I’ve got more pics and stories for ya, but it’s past my bedtime. You’ll just have to wait for episode 2.
xo, erica
Rooftop Legends…man I love this city
Here’s one tiny example of what goes on in my city. Thanks to Rocketboom for covering it. And Verseguru for showing me the vid!
The End of an Era
The gallery I had my very first show in Brooklyn in, Gitana Rosa Gallery, is now closed. Vanessa Liberati, who ran the gallery will still be curating, but the physical space, so popular for so long, won’t be at 19 Hope Street anymore. That gallery is extremely special to me, as is its owner. I really feel like Vanessa got me started in the art scene in Brooklyn and I’ll always be grateful to her for that. I look forward to many more years working with Vanessa, and hereby say a bittersweet goodbye to my first gallery in NYC.
Here’s a shot of the closing show, just to show the pure awesome that went on at this gallery. Art, artists, musicians, Pernod. What could be better? And there’s Devendra Banhart, front and center. What a star.
Support 2esae
The artist who did the above graffiti is called 2esae. I just met him a few days ago while shopping at Scrapyard for spray paint and skinny caps. Anyway, this dude has mad skills, really really awesome, as you can see. But that’s not the point of this post.
I just found out today that this artist, known by his mama (and sadly by the police) as Mike Baca, is going to jail on the 24th of this month for writing his name on a wall or something. Occasionally the police put a head on a pike to set an example or whatever and in this case they decided to use 2esae for that purpose. He’s got a trial after that for many many counts of vandalism (graffiti, not like breaking windows or anything…just painting). Apparently it’s possible that he could face 7 years for this.
No matter what you think of the rightness or wrongness of graffitiing public walls, think about this: This is a young artist and designer, 23 years old, who has amazing talent and his artwork has been published in major magazines like Esquire and NY Times, it’s been in films and videos, his clothing is in shops all over NY. He’s known all over the world for his art. And he might be in jail until he’s 30. Yes, a person is responsible for their own condition. Yes, graffiti is against the law. But remember back in the day when people would express themselves by gang wars? Who gets hurt by painting a name on a wall? Is it not more aesthetic than the dirty, crusty, ugly fucking wall that was there before he painted over it? Personally I think something needs to change regarding the laws of graffiti, because there are people committing serious crimes which are harmful to mankind, and this, frankly, is not one of those crimes.
Until that time, which may never come, we can do SOMETHING to show our support for Mike and for the graffiti community in general. Come to the fundraiser for Mike’s legal defense on October 22nd. He will be selling his awesome paintings and clothing he’s designed. There will also be a special guest performance by Large Professor and the debut screening of the newest Styles P video. L.A.S.E.R. Tag after-party.
Deets:
What: Solo Show and Fundraiser for Mike Baca
What Else: Special guest performance by Large Professor, L.A.S.E.R. Tag after-party
When: October 22nd, 2007 6pm – 9pm.
Where: Eyebeam
540 West 21st Street
New York, New York
Come show your support and buy stuff if you can.
Thanks to Graffiti Research Lab for letting me know about this so I can do what I can to help. You can make donations for Mike Baca’s legal defense fund by clicking on the Graffiti Research Lab link above.
XO, Erica
Closing Party this Friday!
This friday, 7pm – 11 pm at Gitana Rosa Gallery, 19 Hope Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211.
For all of you near enough to Brooklyn to come, please do. This is the closing party for “Callejeros”, a live exhibition featuring street artists creating eco-social/political/urban art:
*sic*, cern, ellis g., ben angotti and leif mcilwaine, dreXeL, katherine novick, narendra haynes, tom billings and robyn cleveland, zahra tangorra.
In association with GLOWLAB.
See art, meet people, drink Pernod. Do it.
Love, dreX XO
Dumbo Arts Festival…ness
This weekend is the DUMBO arts festival and I’m actually quite excited about it. I just brought three paintings over to the studio where they’ll be on display. And I FINALLY got to meet Anthony and James Cospito, my total heroes since I’ve lived in Brooklyn. Anthony runs the Brooklyn Art Project website and the two of them together run StrutNYC and they are absolute STARS. It’s so awesome to finally meet people you’ve admired virtually.
Anyway, come to DUMBO this weekend. The streets will be full of people and art and music and love and spray cans and mayhem. No no no. It’s just an art festival. Don’t be afraid… 😉
Click the pic for deets, luv.
XO Erica
Edie
Here’s a new piece I finished 2 days ago. 16″ x 20″ spray paint on canvas. It miiiiight be in the DUMBO Arts Festival this weekend, that remains to be seen. At least 1 piece will be, just not sure which one yet. I’ll go over all those deets with the powers that be today sometime. Speaking of which, if you’re around the Brooklyn area this weekend, come to the DUMBO Arts festival. For those of you who maybe don’t know, DUMBO stands for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”. So you know where the festival is. The brooklyn side of the Manhattan bridge. You can’t miss it. It’s on the water, it’s cobblestone and it’s beautiful. There will be a TON of musicians, djs and artists displaying their work and doing their thing. It’s definitely the thing to be doing this weekend. And although I’m just one tiny artist with one tiny painting in a giant festival, I’m very proud to have been asked to be part of it. It’s a big deal to me. Oh, if you ARE coming, take the F train to York Street. Then follow the crowds of people. You can’t miss it.
Erica XO
“Layers of History” strikes again
I know I’m always going on about how awesome layers are and how much I love Brooklyn because of this…layers of paint on walls, graffiti done and redone and redone again, etc. An old poster on top of a new one. But this particular layer I just saw a few minutes ago made me throw up in my mouth a little.
Some of my favorite graffiti in all of New York just happens to be on the outside of the building I live in…it starts at the Roebling Tea Room and goes around Metropolitan to the Roebling side. Many different artists contributed to making that corner completely amazing and famous. It’s now been covered up with beige on one side and mauve on the other. The manager at the restaurant on the corner of Hope and Roebling seems to think that they’ll make more money if they remove the graffiti from their building. But what they don’t seem to realize is that their joint is empty because it has lousy food and worse decor. Now they don’t even have a cool exterior.
This building is FAMOUS for its graffiti. In fact it was a main reason I wanted to live in that building. I just can’t believe it. And I had to vent. So uh…thanks for listening. And here are a couple pics of art that you will never see there again…
First NYC Group Show
My first group show since I moved here last spring was Friday at Gitana Rosa Gallery, 19 Hope Street in Brooklyn. It was a live exhibition featuring street artists creating eco-social/political/urban art. Some of these artists in the show are people whose work I’ve followed since moving here like Cern and Ellis G. It was amazing getting to meet them, work with them, etc.
The artists in the show were *sic*, Cern, Ellis G., Ben Angotti, Leif McIlwaine, Katherine Novick, Narendra Haynes, Tom Billings, Robin Cleveland, Zahra Tangorra and me. Zahra and I have plans to collaborate on some paintings soon, as well.
Here are a couple pics, before, during and after the show.
Me, working on my mural.
The completed BummerArmy.com anti-Hummer mural, 9′ x 12′
opening day.
Ellis G’s contribution to the street out front of the gallery. He had lots more amazing shadow drawings inside too.
the after party…Williamsburg represent…
In Honour of Carlucci
I just wanted to make sure and send proper condolences to the parents, friends and family of Carlucci Bencivenga, aka Elf One MPC. He was a famous and wonderful artist from the Bronx, his work has inspired more people that we’ll probably ever know, but thousands upon thousands that we DO actually know. He passed away on September 3, 2007. R.I.P.
Elf’s work…
Elf in action!!!
Portrait in honor of Carlucci, at Howl festival yesterday…
Carlucci’s parents. I spoke with them yesterday at the Howl festival. <3
We’ll miss you, Elf.
Upcoming Shows
Just so you know, I have my first two group shows since moving to New York coming up. The first is this Friday night. Local artists and graffiti artists together painting walls and work also on display inside in the Gitana Rosa gallery 19 Hope Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Second show is 28-30 September at the “Art Under the Bridge” festival in Dumbo (Brooklyn). If you can make it, please do.
Here’s my newest painting. It’s called “The Reunion”
More news coming soon….
XO Erica