I saw this work by Andy Uprock, while trying to search out some more info on EINE. While I really detest this “cuprocking” terminology under which Uprock has framed this style of street art, I thought it would be a good example to note for our fence-text project.
This work is by a New York base artist named Joshua Allen Harris, who creates characters that essentially become alive and animated once they harness unused, unrealized city energy. i.e. Air conditioning units, subway trains, fans etc.
I really like this idea of trapping energy and illustrating/quantifying it and infusing it with an unnatural property to animate it in some way.
Can we give the surplus of superfluous Windsor energy a colour, a materiality or a taste?
A City Renewal Project from Dan Bergeron on Vimeo.
There are a lot more images of this work that better show the enormity of it and help to frame the reading of the description of it, but in some ways this video is a more interesting introduction (as time-lapse always is).
A City Renewal Project is a project by fauxreel and Specter that recreates a neighborhood full of abandoned storefronts inside a 4000 square foot warehouse at 39 Lisgar Avenue in Toronto (which is going to be demolished to put up a new condo). The project focuses on the state of decay within the city, renewing these dilapidated buildings as artistic monuments and documenting their history amidst the gentrified frenzy of urban change. The Mr. Loogie building you see in the above video is the entrance off the street into the warehouse.
The article in the Torontoist spells out some of the specifics of the installation as well as some of the politics surrounding it (the work is sponsored by Gallery 381, which receives financial support from Red Bull). That argument is detailed in an article in NOW.
I enjoy the project as it exists as a partial, imaginary archive of the city, and I enjoy it even more because it’s housed in a warehouse that’s going to be torn down in favour of gentrified architecture and space, but the more I think about it, the less I enjoy the project for those same reasons.
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I saw this on my way home from Lebel today. Earlier in the day, on my way to school, I had seen some bright yellow chunks of asphalt on the south side of Mill Street, where that little cul-de-sac is, right beside Huron Church. I didn’t think much of it, though remained curious about it. There are a few more pieces placed around the area, some purple-coloured sticks, other orange coloured garbage, and some more yellow asphalt. At first I didn’t like the idea of placing more garbage around there, but then caught myself—I hadn’t really noticed there was garbage there before at all.
The more I thought about it and saw the pieces subtly (if bright orange plastic containers can be subtle) spread around, peaking out from the leaves on the ground, the more I liked it. Is this work from Advanced Sculpture?… I know they’ve been working with the idea of interventions.
Anna Garforth is a designer and illustrator by trade, but has been working with environmentally themed public and community artworks as of late. Along with working with moss graffiti inMossenger, Garforth is also engaging in creating planters made by recycling milk containers in a project entitled Head Gardener, and then leading workshops to teach elementary school students how to do the same with Little Gardener.
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Direct Hit is one of the many inflatable streetart works by FilthyLuker. Lots of work dealing with trees with eyes, bananas, and tentacles.
Exactly.
In Melbourne, Australia, there is a “ton of land” sitting vacant, while many young people have no place to live. The Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle decided to comment on the situation by cross-stitching “I wanna live here” on the fence containing the land being hoarded by developers. They also planted some vegetable and flower seeds around the area and spent about 3 hours on this intervention.
Very poignant statement and addressing issues local to them = really, really good. Also, exciting to see a way to tackle the fence that doesn’t have to involve leaving plastic cups (biodegradable or not) or other refuse in a neighbourhood to make a point.
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Edina Tokodi transplants moss and transforms it into animals and various shapes, sometimes covering small wall areas, or entire structures in Brooklyn.
It’s also possible to paint with moss.
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I found a little blurb that the Nashville Tennessee government put on their website about storm drain stencils…