Doyle Done

Just in case anyone is looking for the brilliant piece by Nspyr and Brain along the Red/Brown/Purple Lines (immediately previous post), I am sorry to report that yesterday I noticed it has been buffed out.  It’s now another brown stain on my commute rather than a blast of color. (N0) Thanks Graffiti Blasters and Mayor Daley!

Doyle Rules

This is hands down the best piece I have seen in Chicago over the last year and a half at least.  I think that the debate about whether or not graffiti is art is pretty much over after seeing something like this.  I’m not really going to say where it is, since it maybe replaced by a brown smudge thanks to Mayor Daley graffiti removal team.  It’s unarguable that there’s a difference between a gangs throw-up and something like this.  In England they are training graffiti removal crews to recognize Banksy’s pieces around the country.  What’s the good in spraying an ugly brown smudge over a colorful burner like this?  For instance, at the juncture of the Red and Brown Lines, in the heart of Wrigleyville just North of Belmont, there’s an apartment on the North side and an apartment on the South side of the street.  On the North apartment, there’s a two-story wall painting for a certain casino in Milwaukee and on the South apartment there’s a wall that has been bombed almost weekly.  It’s the perfect instance of some graffiti writers thought and basis for writing: is it more offensive to be constantly advertised at, in this case promoting a vice even, and does that allow, or even require, taking back space for non-corporate thought.

Thanks Brain and Nspyr for this splash of color in our community!

Hip Hop exhibit arrives at Smithsonian 1,022 Years Early

“I can see what rap can be: glorious
Put in the Smithsonian on podiums for holy hymns”

–Deltron, 3030

And in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery this exhibit of hip hop inspired visual artwork has arrived 1,022 years early of Deltron’s (aka Del, aka Del the Funky Homosapien) prediction of the year 3030.

I wish I could make it out to D.C. for this show, the installation shots look pretty good at least from the pictures online. Finally someone is presenting graffiti straight on the wall. I think the style and genre can lose a lot of power when it gets put into a different medium. Click the image to go to the site.

The Neo Art Nouveau Movement

I have been thinking about this topic for a long time, but watching the Olympics last night finally convinced me to write on a trend that has been on the rise for several years now, the resurgence of the style of Art Nouveau, or what I call Neo Art Nouveau (hey its catchy right?).

Maybe this trend is powered by the new scientific possibilities of stem cell technology or cloning. The multiplication of organic life and cells certainly lends itself well to the art nouveau style. Like the promise of alchemy long ago, our new biological technology promise to create whole new organs and limbs out of baser tissue. The Neo Art Nouveau movement has perhaps responded to this through the stylized organic forms and swirls typical of the original, fin de siecle artistic movement, bursting across all sorts of images and media here in the 21st century.

I think that I first started noticing this trend in the design-based work of Ryan McGuiness (seen below)

Left: Ryan McGuiness. Untitled (Black Hole, Black), 2008. Acrylic on canvas, 72 in. dia. Right: Detail

His curving arabesques and love of decoration and design have frequently reminded me of the historical art noveau style. As does the way that McGuiness eschews traditional media boundaries and hierarchies, another similarity to the historical art noveau style.

Although I can’t find a good photo of the Olympic pool which had the curving lines typical of the the Neo Nouveau movement, the Chinese Olympic teams all have uniforms that indicate the influence of the art nouveau style. From the official Chinese news site here are publicity photos (these are the uniforms for the basketball team):

Again there are the curving, swirling lines and patterns typical of the original art nouveau style. A 19th century art review described these lines (originally describing the curving lines in a wall-hanging of a flower) as “sudden violent curves generated by the crack of a whip,” over time these lines were referred to as “whiplash” and became a staple of the art nouveau movement. They are also a staple of the revival movement, sometimes the only connecting motif.

The neo art nouveau movement is by no means limited in its influences to only historical art nouveau. While I have posited that art nouveau is an overarching genre, there are also elements of the baroque and rococo in some works. This is entirely appropriate considering the “neo-rococo” movement that is being written about in relation to artists like Jeff Koons in the pages of ArtForum. If anything the neo art nouveau is characterized by a variety of influences which all seem to be more or less subserviant to the organic, flowing, curvilinear motifs typical of the historical art nouveau. This 21st century movement adds influences like design (as I cited for Ryan McGuiness), especially graphic design, street art and graffiti. Typical of the original movement, neo art nouveau embraces bright colors and eschews traditional barriers between media. The below advertisement for a popular shoe brand demonstrates all these aspects working in tandem:

So keep your eyes open for the Neo Art Nouveau, once you start to notice it, you’ll see it everywhere.

–Abraham Ritchie

Happy Earth Day People!

I’m not one for made up holidays, I am still wondering where “Sweetest Day” came from, but Earth Day at least has its heart in the right place. So in celebration of Earth Day I am passing on an environmentally friendly art exhibit. This exhibit is in Milwaukee, but if anyone has an environmentally related exhibit here in Chicago feel free to add it.

Seeing Green is an exhibit that is curated by Nicolas Lampert and includes 40 artists. Based at the Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee, the exhibit also goes beyond the confines of the gallery. There will be upcoming lectures and also includes “public interventions,” a term Lampert likes to use to describe politically charged art that enters the public sphere. I appreciate the term because it reminds me of how one might stage an intervention for an addict, and even President Bush admits we are addicted to oil (I think we’re just addicted to consumption in general).

Take Jesse Graves’ Mud Stencils (above) made from mud applied through stencil to a building, the same way some graffiti is, these stencils are street art that neither damage the environment (through releasing toxic fumes as an aerosol can might) nor private property. This image reminds the viewer that the only thing a biker, or walker for that matter, needs for fuel is water, safe and non-polluting.

From their website:

“Seeing Green encourages artists to leave the confines of the studio and take an active role with the community, to collaborate and address issues of the environment, and to open a dialog with the public. Guest curator Nicolas Lampert invited over 40 local artists to work on a project for the duration of eight months. During the month of April, 2008 the show will be exhibited at Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where the gallery will serve as a hub space, informing the viewer and the public of the many environmental projects taking place throughout the city, exhibiting visual work and books, screening films and holding discussions and events based around the exhibition.”

Seen Around Chicago

Me riding on Mark di Suvero’s Shang in Millenium Park.

The scariest clown image I have ever seen. Hanging in the window of a frame shop in the Niles Shopping Center, this is the stuff nightmares are made of. Why is it that frame shops have stuff like this?

CTA graffiti is occasionally interesting, when it’s not gang-related.

On the same seat back, in the corner.