Video: MOCA TV – Art in The Streets “Building Detroit Part’s 1 & 2”

The excellent Art in The Streets series from MOCAtv returned today with two new documentaries that were shot & directed by Colin M. Day on the current artistic scene taking place in Detroit. Many onomatopoeia favorites are featured in the two shorts, which you can read about in much more detail below…

Like New York City in the 1970s, modern day Detroit is a paradise for street art. The miles of unused facades and ample loads of refuse in this "bombed-out, dilapidated urban landscape" are grist for graffiti artists and writers from the United States and beyond. In this short film, Los Angeles artist REVOK discusses the creative community that has coalesced in Detroit, highlighting the fantastic assemblages he creates from abandoned houses and buildings, and collaborates with POSE to mount a tribute mural to local icon Sean Griffin, better known as NEKST, on the western facade and southern wall of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Without local authorities policing or buffing their work, the city itself becomes an enormous canvas. 

Featuring work by Nekst, Revok, Pose, Askew, Risk, Rime, Flying Fortress, Nychos, Decolonize.

In Detroit, Michigan, where economic demise has forced the city to shrink and turn its back on empty homes and properties, a community of artists thrives by continuing its rich tradition of building. Under the auspice of Power House Productions, a local nonprofit which supports neighborhood revitalization, Oakland artist Monica Canilao (you need to see her website) transforms a dilapidated Victorian into an aesthetic object straddling the worlds of street art and architecture. On the land surrounding his African Bead Museum, DABLS incorporates discarded construction material into his network of sculptures and installations. And in his backyard, a former General Motors employee named Dmytro Szylak continues to build and tinker with a massive visionary environment which evokes both the auto plant and his own Ukrainian heritage. The factories are closed, but the desire to work remains.

 

Artists:

Powerhouse Project: Monica Canilao, Richard Coleman, Swoon, Saelee Oh, Retna,

Ben Wolf.

African Bead Museum: DABLS

Hamtramck Disneyland: Dmytro Szylak

N'Kisi Concorde Filmmakers: Nikki Sass & Brittin Richter

Go Buy These: Swoon Prints

The first lady of street art, Swoon, has launched a new website where she is selling a number of editioned prints. These aren’t your average prints by any means, they lie someplace in-between an editioned print and an original, many of them on unique canvas’ with hand done flourishes. Check em’ out HERE.

Video: "Outside In: The Story Of Art In The Streets”

The Art in the Streets exhibition has long come to a close but a new documentary has popped up by Alex Stapleton entitled Outside In: The Story Of Art In The Streets.  The 30 minute short features interviews with a huge portion of the artists who took part in the show including Mode 2, Risk, Revok, Ben Eine, Swoon, Shepard Fairey, Futura, Ed Templeton, Espo, Invader, Neck Face, Saber, Martha Cooper, RETNA and more. There are a lot of choice quotes buried throughout so if you are a fan of any of the above-mentioned names this is pretty much the definitive video I’ve seen on the show, and I’ve seen a whole lot of them.

OUTSIDE IN: The Story of Art in the Streets from Patrick Simpson on Vimeo.

Video: Swoon and Olek for PBS

Swoon and Olek were recently interviewed by PBS for the video below. The footage Covers the most recent major projects from each artist and gets into their thought process and inspirations, good stuff from the ladies.

Joshua Liner Gallery MS fundraiser and silent auction

Here is a good cause to spend some money on....

Thursday, July 28th, Joshua Liner Gallery will be hosting a fundraiser for assistant gallery director Tim Strazza. Tim was recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He is an integral part of this gallery and we want to support him in any way we can. To help with his medical bills and expenses, many gallery artists, several collectors and friends of the gallery have graciously donated works from their personal collections. The event will take place at the gallery from 7 to 10pm and will include music, drinks and a silent auction. Artists who have donated original works and prints include:

Chris Mendoza, Damon Soule, Dave Kinsey, David Ellis, Dennis McNett, El Mac, Evan Hecox, Greg Lamarche, Ian Francis, Jeremy Fish, Kenji Hirata, Mark Dean Veca, Mars-1, Oliver Vernon, Pema Rinzin, Robert Hardgrave, Ron English, Ryan McLennan, Shawn Barber, Shepard Fairey, SWOON, Sylvia Ji, Tat Ito, Tiffany Bozic, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Tony Curanaj.

For more information on the event including absentee bidding, please contact the gallery. You can also make a donation by following this link:

http://strazzafamily.blogspot.com/

  

Please follow this link for a preview of works available during the silent auction: 

http://timartauction.tumblr.com (I have met Tim several times, he's a good guy so while sharing preview links is frowned upon this is an important cause so rules be dammed.)

Swoon - Musical Architecture for New Orleans(Kickstarter)

Artist Swoon needs your help to build to build “Dithyrambalina,”  a permanent interactive structure in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans. With the appearance of an “ordinary” house the structure will function like a musical instrument with a group of local and national sound artists working towards interactive instruments that can be built into its walls and floorboards so that guests can bring the house to life through their touch. The long term goal is to invite musicians to play the house, performing orchestrated works at block parties for their friends and neighbors. This project is for the love of New Orleans – its architecture, music, culture and its people.” If you are interested in supporting this endeavor watch the video and go here (there are incentives).



The Dithyrambalina, quarter-scale model of the musical house.