Mexican city giant mural by artists’ collective known as the German Crew
We are always happy to see people dedicated to bringing art into communities that typically remain miles away from it for various reasons, such as poverty.
So when we heard about this project, called “Pachuca Paints Itself”, in central Mexico by an artists’ collective known as the German Crew, we had to feature it on Art-Pie.
Click on the pictures to enlarge
Hundreds of houses painted
The collective spent 14 months turning the steep hillside area of Las Palmitas into something a colossal and very much alive mural. It was an incredible effort to change people’s perception of a neighbourhood previously seen as rather gloomy and rough – art at its best, art to its best use.
“We have painted 209 houses. Every color represents the soul of the neighborhood. It has been a community effort as each household has participated in some way,” said project director Enrique Gomez, who goes by MYBE.
MYBE is a reformed and tattooed gang member who is now focusing all his attention on graffiti art and muralism.
The project in numbers –
– 209 house painted
– 5,000 gallons (20,000 litres) of paint used
– More than 16,000 square feet (1,500 square meters) of murals covered
Even better, we hear that thanks to the huge success of this project, another impoverished area called Cubitos, is next to be painted happy.
Still Here – a decade at Lazarides
London Art Fair – artists we enjoyed, Paul Wright
We strolled through the London Art Fair for the fourth consecutive year and as always stumbled upon remarkable artworks from ever so talented artists.
In this series, we will tell you why we liked a particular piece from these artists as well as posting more works. We hope you will also enjoy it as we did.
Feel free to comment too at the end of this article. Let’s get started….
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Paul Wright
We stumbled upon the piece called “Wild Fire” – oil on linen, 43” x 39′, and once again admired the technique and palette of colours used. We always look forward to pass the Thompson’s booth art the London Art fair to find out about Paul Wright’s works.
We know how hard it portraiture is in general which makes us appreciate even more this artist’s work. His portraits are always impeccably proportioned and transpire always strong emotions boosted by the often vibrant choice of colours.
About the artist
After his beginnings as an artist working in Illustration, Paul Wright has spent the last decade developing a language of painting through which he seeks to capture a vitality beyond the establishment of a mere ‘likeness’ to the subject. As an artist, Paul Wright appreciates the importance of the individual being recognisable, the subjects are glimpsed in the painting rather than exposed, their inner selves hinted at but ultimately inscrutable.
Though Paul Wright often works on a large, potentially imposing scale, his paintings remain approachable through fluency of brush mark and a rich palette. In Paul Wright`s paintings, the spaces the subjects inhabit are often indeterminate, providing an atmosphere that allows for ambiguity of psychological state. Paul Wright`s subjects retain their integrity and yet through the artist`s painting method a sense of intimacy is evoked.
Other works from this artist
Click to enlarge
ROA at Black Rat Press
On my way to BRP (Black Rat Press), I knew I was up for a treat. I knew I would hang out for a while and enjoy ROA’s installation.
What makes ROA so popular is definitely his unique style – (very often) large black and white scale wildlife animals made of spray paint but also his ability in putting together quite clever installation integrating his wildlife characters. Flip out/ flip in some wood panels or just walk round and get a new angle on the installation and you can now see something completely different, the inside of the animals or the outside in this case.
We appreciated also ROA’s effort to push its creativity further by integrating x-rays light effect in one of his work. Close the flap and you see the fur of the animal, open it and the inside of the animal is revealed with an X-ray effect (see below)
ROA’s wildlife is powerful and definitely worth seeing with your own eyes. More pictures of the installation below.
The show is now over.
Turning dirty trucks into canvas with amazing art
we’ve all seen dirty trucks or cars, I mean covered with muds or dust and we probably did not think more of it.
Nikita Golubev, a Russian, sees these trucks and cars as a canvas and, with a set of brushes, will turn dirtiness into awesomeness.
We included a few of his masterpieces
Meet Plastic Jesus, street artist from Los Angeles
We only recently heard from Plastic Jesus, a Los Angeles based artist, and while his motivation are clearly political and on that basis can be compared to other street artists such as Banksy, although Plastic Jesus seems to vary a little more his mediums and art forms by often making bold installations which he will spread around the city of LA.
We have included below some of his works.
Reading a bit more about the artist, I quickly realised that we are looking at a “modern” street artist –
1. Mass audience attention thanks to The Huffington Post in particular which listed two works by Plastic Jesus in the end of year round up of “The Best of Los Angeles Street art 2012”, one of them was “No more heroes” featuring disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong connected to an IV drip
2.Concerns about his work ethic and try to harm as little the environment. The artist will even send someone to remove his work should you not like it
3. Does art galleries show, sell prints of his street artworks and he is represented in the UK by Walton Fine Arts located in Knightsbridge
The last point will make cringe the purists street art heads out there.
I have no particular issue with the points above and like the messages Plastic Jesus tries to get accross, what do you reckon?
Thanksgiving and street art
Thanksgiving is one week away and we again browsed the web in search of street art related to the American public holiday. We included some of our findings below
Happy Thanksgiving!
1. New Haven (USA)
This piece is located in New Haven and on Water street (USA), well it was back in 2009 so we are guessing it must be gone. Great piece though. We like the way the lettering works has become dishes like details of the artwork
About Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a public holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November in the United States. It originated as a harvest festival. Thanksgiving has been celebrated nationally on and off since 1789, after a proclamation by George Washington.
It has been celebrated as a federal holiday every year since 1863, when, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.
Together with Christmas and the New Year, Thanksgiving is a part of the broader holiday season.
Otto Schade at Frameless gallery
It was lunch time and I was again walking towards the place that would put an end to the hunger I had been victim off all morning.
I then once again walked past the Frameless gallery in Farringdon which I had never bothered to visit until today.
I certainly knew about it but either the thought of a mighty sandwich (I work really nearby) or a recurrent weak interest in what I could glance at, had always been dragging me away from it. Not today. Otto Schade’s show – Street art Olympics, was on.
It really adds a dimension to any show when the artist paints something onto the front of the building where his/her show is held at and Otto Schade just did that.
The one who knows Otto Schade’s works will recognise this familiar face – see picture. (more pictures after the fold)
There is a clear Olympics theme for the pieces on canvases that can be seen in the first part of the show (upstairs that is – it is worth to point out that I was not aware of the downstairs bit of the gallery which adds so much to the whole space and make it one of the best venues I have been in recent months).
Next to those, sit a series of more traditional prints.
The earthy colors scheme used for the Olympics themed pieces which are all on a black background gives them a very warm feel whilst the black – red – white scheme used for the prints does the opposite and seems to freeze the image.
Head downstairs and find a variety of other pieces from Otto Schade from portraits of the Queen Elizabeth to the representation of a panda which seems to have found a ball to play with. It was hard to find an obvious link with the Olympics here – let me point out that the show is called “Street art Olympics”.
And there I saw it, I saw the piece I want to own: a make over of the Queen of Diamonds playing card by Otto Schade. The colors work so well, the intensity of this piece obtained by hiding the face of the character is intense and seductive.
Would you agree?
“Street art Olympics” by Otto Schade rund until the 12th August
Frameless gallery | 20 Clerkenwell green | EC1R ODP | London
Opening Hours: 11am – 7pm Monday to Saturday
The Brick Thief – a short film by LEGO
Lego, lego and lego. We like it very much here at ART-PIE and were very excited to learn about the release of their latest short film – The Brick Thief.
To make it even better, the whole thing is in stop-motion.
A definite must-see and feel good factor effect. Continue reading The Brick Thief – a short film by LEGO