The thing about getting lost in Wynwood, Miami’s street art hub, no matter how far you stray off the path if you pay attention to the markers, a Ron English mural here, a TMNK tag there, you’ll always find your way home. But why would you want to leave?
Mark Lyken‘s recent solo show The Loneliness Machines was conceived & created at Recoat Gallery in Glasgow, Scotland in a frenzy of 16 hour days, 7 days a week, over a month long period. The artist and music producer was a notable pioneer and among the first to write Graffiti in Scotland in the 80′s and among the first to transition to gallery work.
It’s been a year since Randy Conner’s first solo exhibition. With no definite plans for a new exhibition, he’s still creating daily. So much his friends tell him he has mental problems. His approach could be called “anything goes,” whether he’s achieving realism or using his “anything goes” approach, Randy does whatever he wants to do. “I think everyone should just do whatever they want to do. Saying, ‘It’s supposed to be done this way or that way’, that’s just dumb. It’s so limiting, and it makes art boring,” Randy explains.
In this entry of our Poptimism series, self-taught artist Randy Conner tells a story about his current life to his five-years-ago self.
Another day, another “real” artist bites the dust. I loved Santigold’s first album. I stood by her while the rest of the music industry collectively wrote her off as a bootleg version of M.I.A. But, in the almost four years that she went without releasing new material, I forgot why I fell in love with her music. So, it pains me to write that Santigold, again playing second fiddle to M.I.A., has become the Jesus Christ of Indie music, bearing the cross of obscurity, smug “authenticity” and a seriously warped view of popular music that can only be compared to “rockstar envy.”
Get Angry is a collaboration between DJ Rich Medina and painter Tatyana Fazlalizadeh. Inspired by the fervor of protest that amounted in 2011, Tatyana created a series of paintings to illustrate the various movements–from Tahrir Sq to Wall St, from London to Troy Davis, from Slutwalk to the demand for gay marriage rights–while Rich Medina created a mix of songs that represent the spirit and energy of revolution. Included in the mix download is each painting along with a description of the movement it represents, and a powerful yet jammin’ mixtape including songs by Bilal, Gil Scott Heron, J Dilla, and more.
Good music whispered echoes a hundred miles. Take for instance singer/songwriter Graham Knoxx. I’ve seen Graham out and about at a couple of events in Atlanta. Making her way through a sea of hipsters and posers she greets me with a smile as sweet and earnest as her voice. Her natural style, poise and statuesque beauty gave her a glow that was hard not to notice, even without the brief introduction from promoter Wil May.
This Friday, February 24, The Active Space in Brooklyn, NYC will open their latest exhibition “Dreaming Without Sleeping” featuring the work of Criminy Johnson. The show allows viewers to glimpse the artist’s view of our waking world: a bent, slightly pessimistic and occasionally hostile place populated by animals and people who are often reluctant to be interrupted by the viewer.
I am infatuated with the 80′s. The culture, the music, the art, everything seemed well, better. But the 90′s had a lot of awesomeness that I forget to give it credit for. Take for instance The Cranberries. Fader Lima, a self professed 90′s lover, looks forward while looking back and covers The Cranberries’ track “Zombie.”
Russian artist Rinat Shingareev‘s Facebook page proudly proclaims he’s the “best artist alive.” I know, I know, you’ve heard that before. Rinat may or may not be the best, especially when legends like Ron English, Banksy and Kehinde Wiley are still well, alive and very productive. But the 25-year old artist, is on to something very extraordinary.
Slang words come and go like pop songs. Because the minute something becomes a meme for the sake of hits, it’s a wrap for it’s “authenticity” factor. For every enduring term like “cool” or “dope” there’s an embarrassing “bling, bling” or “bootylicious” to remind of us how stupid we can be. Now I don’t Belieb everything I read, but when Justin Bieber is at the forefront of anything, let alone a term popularized by our Hip-Hop Leviathans, I think it’s time for something else.
Explore visual relations. Make whole that which lies in-between eyes. Shoot, shoot and re-shoot until it’s right. This is the city of San Francisco remixed. On a Mission, in the district, photographer Germán Walteros captures the hustle of the city that knows how.
