Author Archives: Luna Park

KLUB7 Is Up To Something

Klub7 at Pandemic Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

KLUB7 – a 10 year old, Berlin-based, art collective focused on collaborative mural and illustration making – has been in New York for less than two weeks, but already their marks can be found in a number of Brooklyn neighborhoods. The group (represented by four of the collective’s six members on this outing) regularly creates intricate chalk installations on sidewalks in public spaces, drawing on their common vocabulary of hand-painted symbols, characters, and lettering. The pier at Coney Island and the Williamsburg Bridge bike path are but two of the locations the collective has hit. You can follow their New York adventures in real time here.

Klub7 at Coney Island (photo by Luna Park)

Of course, their aesthetic is also readily applied to walls, as is the case with this mural, painted on the side of a Williamsburg bakery.

Klub7 in Williamsburg (photo by Luna Park)

Klub7 in Williamsburg (photo by Luna Park)

Klub7 in Williamsburg (photo by Luna Park)

Come see what else KLUB7 have been up to at Pandemic Gallery this Saturday from 7-11pm. The show will feature a signature mural on one of the gallery walls as well as a selection of screen prints and other small works.

Klub7 @ Pandemic Gallery

La Luz: Let There Be Golden Light


Back in 2005, as I was just delving into the world of NYC street art, the artist Celso and his partner-in-crime C-Monster invited me for a studio vist to their Manhattan loft. Even though we had never met before, their warm and welcoming manner endeared them to me immediately and we have been friends ever since. Over the years, our paths have crossed at countless art openings and happenings. I have enjoyed Celso’s evolution as an artist – both on and off the streets – and have gained a great appreciation for his willingness to experiment with new materials to push himself forward. Armed with a quick wit, an appreciation for the absurd, and an irreverent intelligence, the inimitable C-Monster has conquered a corner of the art blogosphere and made herself indispensable. All this is to say I’m very happy to support Celso and C-Monster’s next big, collaborative adventure: a public art installation for the Museo Convento de Santo Domingo y Qorikancha in Peru. Please consider joining me in making a donation via their project’s Kickstarter.

Bäst 2012

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Although he’s never really gone for long, it’s been great to see Bäst hit New York City streets with renewed vigor recently. I’ve really been enjoying his latest work, especially these stencils.

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

His recent stencil work has also included a couple legal murals in Brooklyn, including one in Bushwick together with Aiko.

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst x Aiko (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst x Aiko (Photo by Luna Park)

But what’s got me most excited, is this new crop of classic Bäst collages, wheatpasted to doors and walls in lower Manhattan…

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

Bäst (Photo by Luna Park)

For more classic Bäst, check out my set on Flickr.

Comical Stikmen

Stikman (photo by Luna Park)

Walking around the vicinity of Williamsburg’s Pandemic Gallery, where Stikman recently had a show, I recently discovered a couple of new and amusing wheatpastes. This one reads:

Her: She wants that pile of sticks instead of you…?
Him: I told her to choose… him… or me.

Stikman (photo by Luna Park)

And then there’s He’s Looking for People Who Like to Draw

Stikman (photo by Luna Park)

Gigi Chen & H. Veng Smith @ Mighty Tanaka

Gigi Chen & H. Veng Smith (all photos by Luna Park)

With Gigi Chen and H. Veng Smith‘s The Birds & The Bees, Mighty Tanaka continues with their series of expertly paired 2-person shows. Spring is definitely in the air.

H. Veng Smith

Gigi Chen

H. Veng Smith

Gigi Chen

The Birds and The Bees
Featuring the artwork of Gigi Chen & H. Veng Smith

April 13-May 4, 2012

OPENING RECEPTION:
Friday, April 13th, 2012
6:00PM – 9:00PM

Mighty Tanaka
111 Front Street
Suite 224
Brooklyn, NY 11201
Train: F Train to York St

OBLVN at Klughaus Gallery

OBLVN outside the Klughaus Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

Chinatown’s tiny Klughaus Gallery, which opened last December, is NYC’s latest gallery to work “primarily with artists that have roots in graffiti and street culture”. For their fourth show, Klughaus is exhibiting Portland, Oregon-based artist and cartoonist Aaron OBLVN in his East Coast debut. The talented illustrator has created 100 Paintings that cleverly riff on classic cartoon characters. Photos do not do his exquisite line-work justice – these pieces beg to be seen in person. The gallery is open Thursdays through Sundays, so this weekend and next are your last opportunities to catch the show before it closes on April 1st. Do not miss!

OBLVN at Klughaus Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

OBLVN at Klughaus Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

OBLVN: 100 Paintings
On view through April 1, 2012
Klughaus Gallery
47 Monroe Street
New York, NY 10002
F train to East Broadway

Gallery hours:
Thursdays and Fridays from 1-7pm
Saturdays and Sundays from 12-6pm

Stikman Show at Pandemic Gallery

Stikman at Pandemic Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

I couldn’t be happier that Stikman, one of my favorite street artists, will be opening a show of all-new work at Brooklyn’s Pandemic Gallery tomorrow night. Titled “20″, the show marks an astonishing twenty year career of installing his now iconic stikmen characters on the streets. His ability to reinvent the stikman figure in new mediums and willingness to experiment with different configurations is seemingly boundless. Because the pieces are never the same, they are a challenge to find – but fans of his work no doubt agree there is a special thrill to recognizing one of his pieces.

Of the show, Stikman writes, “To celebrate twenty years of playing in the street with sticks I have created a special battalion of twenty figures to send out into the world with the hope that the friends of stikman will take him along on new journeys to places he has not yet been. I have also created twenty works on paper to commemorate the paper element associated with stikman. Ten of these are PAINTBLAST, which is a form of automatic painting that occurs when I paint the wood figures.”

Stikman at Pandemic Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

Stikman at Pandemic Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

Stikman at Pandemic Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

Stikman at Pandemic Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

Stikman at Pandemic Gallery (photo by Luna Park)

Stikman “20″
March 16-April 6, 2012
Opening: Friday, March 16, 7-11pm
Pandemic Gallery
37 Broadway btwn Kent and Wythe
Brooklyn, NY 11211
L train to Bedford ave, J train to Marcy ave, or Q59 bus to Broadway/Wythe

Chris Stain Book Launch

Chris Stain (photo by Luna Park)

Artist, teacher, father and all-around nice guy Chris Stain debuts his new book, Long Story Short: A Collection of Inspiration, published by Drago, this Wednesday at the Wooster St. Social Club. Aside from the book launch, the evening will also feature an exhibition of Stain’s work, live music, printmaking, and a slideshow talk by artist, activist and Justseeds founder Josh Macphee on the history of art on the streets. Details can be found on the flyer below.

Chris Stain (photo by Luna Park)

Chris Stain (photo by Luna Park)

Houston at Bowery: 5 Years

The last five years have seen enormous changes to the face of New York City. It’s been especially noticeable on the once illegal wall on Houston at the Bowery – now home to commissioned public art works by international stars of the graffiti and street art scene (on an increasingly pricey piece of real estate).

Retna/March 2012 (photo by Luna Park)

Faile/October 2011 (photo by Luna Park)

JR/June 2011 (photo by Luna Park)

Kenny Scharf/December 2010 (photo by Luna Park)

Sace RIP/November 2010 (photo by Luna Park)

Barry McGee/August 2010 (photo by Luna Park)

Shepard Fairey/May 2010 (photo by Luna Park)

Os Gemeos/July 2009 (photo by Luna Park) - Last masterpiece to be painted on the actual wall before it was covered in wooden scaffolding!

Keith Haring recreation/April 2008 (photo by Luna Park)

Omni/September 2007 (photo by Luna Park)

Update: The links below offer further insight into the history of this wall.

On the occasion of Os Gemeos painting the wall, Martha Cooper shares photos of past artists at the wall from her archive (including Keith Haring). [12ozProphet]

Jeremiah Moss makes the argument that the Houston mural wall is part of the larger gentrification process of “turning the Bowery into a luxury lifestyle destination”. [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

Brian Rose examines the wall’s humble origins as a handball court. [Journal/Brian Rose]

Hurray for Rae

Rae (photo by Luna Park)

Rae’s three-dimensional, found-object, sculptural installations are really starting to grow on me. In an era of cookie-cutter stencils and yet-another-precious-silkscreen wheatpastes, it takes some oddball, one-of-a-kind street art to capture my attention. Keep ‘em coming, Rae.

Rae (photo by Luna Park)


Rae (photo by Luna Park)


Rae (photo by Luna Park)


Rae (photo by Luna Park)


You can read an interview with Rae on the new Street Art NYC blog.