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Choque Cultural expõe em Nova York

Choque Cultural expõe em Nova YorkA partir do dia 15 de fevereiro, a arte de rua de São Paulo estará em exposição na Jonathan Levine Gallery, em Nova York. Inaugurando um novo espaço da galeria nova-iorquina, a mostra será concebida em parceria com a Choque Cultural, de São Paulo.

Exporão 8 artistas da galeria paulistana: Boleto, Fefe, Highraff, Kboco, Onesto, Speto, Titi Freak e Zero. A idéia é levar para Nova York o grafite e o crescente mundo da arte de rua de São Paulo.

A exposição ficará aberta até 17 de março. Alguns vídeos e fotos das obras podem ser vistos aqui. A Choque Cultural também criou um blog para documentar toda a viagem. E no lifeblog do Flávio Samelo (que está acompanhando a galera da Choque) também tem vários vídeos da viagem.

www.choquecultural.com.br

This Week In New York

RUAS DE SÃO PAULO:
A SURVEY OF BRAZILIAN STREET ART
Jonathan LeVine Gallery
529 West 20th St., ninth floor
Closed Sunday & Monday
Through March 17
Admission: free
212-243-3822
http://www.jonathanlevinegallery.com

 
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Fefê poses in front of her letter monster

Presented in collaboration with Brazil’s Choque Cultural Gallery, "Ruas de São Paulo" features the innovative work of eight Brazilian street artists, all of whom were brought to New York, many for the first time, where they not only participated in the installation but also created new pieces, some painted directly on the wall — temporary murals that will be painted over at the end of the exhibition. While several recent gallery and museum shows focusing on graffiti and street art have met with varying degrees of success — this kind of art is best seen, of course, outside, within the community that helped shape it — Boleta, Fefê, Highraff, Kboco, Onesto, Speto, Titi Freak, and Zezão have managed to re-create much of that ever-changing environment without compromising their vision. Kboco’s Por*Arriba series consists of altered advertising images framed and hung side by side, while a fanciful chair juts out of a wall. Speto’s large spray-painted portraits practically come alive. Yo-yo expert Titi Freak incorporates his Japanese heritage into stunning mixed-media works, some made on pieces of wood he found in New York City and elsewhere; the elegant "Drink," the complex "Gold, and the hard-edged "Black Man" are drawn on parts of a sake bottle box.
 
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Titi Freak’s Brazilian street art takes over Chelsea walls

Boleta’s fantastical pieces are more psychedelic, with a Gothic feel; his brand-new, wild, multicolored mural dominates one room in the gallery, nearby his "Ironing Board," "Snake Sword," and "White Skull." Onesto, who studied with the great Os Gemeos, paints a stable of odd, cartoonish characters, both on canvas and climbing the walls of the gallery, like Charles Addams on shrooms. Highraff includes colorful shrooms in his Lewis Carroll-like fairy-tale wonderland that includes three-dimensional sculptures. A DVD shows Zezão at work beneath the streets of São Paulo, working on his abstract forms that sometimes recall fractals or micro-organisms and his unique iconographic alphabet. Finally, the sole woman in the show, Fefê, contributes her Paul Klee-like mixed-media works on scratchboard, a menagerie of cool animals such as a cow, a unicorn, a rabbit, and various "monsters." She has also installed a huge, site-specific letter monster whose tail wraps around the back hallway.

Bronx Mural Project

Bronx Mural Project

February 16th, 2007

On a  blistery Friday morning, our brave group of Brazilians bundled up and traveled north to the South Bronx, despite the freezing temperatures, to participate in a mural project at Holcome Rucker School.  The seven Choque Cultural artists took to the outside walls of the school, braving the elements, and in collaboration with the students, created some spectacular murals to brighten up the school and its surrounding community. 

 

Fefe’s glue was not cooperating in the freezing cold, so she was given an inside hallway to work on instead.  She stayed the warmest, lucky girl!

 

Boleta did a collaborative piece on the handball court wall with Kboco and a local graffiti writer named Nelson.

 

Kboco used the back of the handball court wall to display his pixacao, continuing to spray all the way down to the snowy ground.  He also chose a few other walls of the school to work on, one of which included his trademark "macaco" figure.

 

Onesto chose a long stretch of wall to work on, painting several figures in a bold orange color, all lined up and created in a larger-than-life-size scale.

 

Highraff worked in his traditionally vibrant palette of colors, the organic shapes creating a beautiful and cheerful contrast to the snowy urban landscape.

 

Titi Freak carefully planned out his piece, leaving his mark on the school by spelling a variation on his name.  He also placed a couple of  "shadow" dogs (similar to one in his gallery installation) in different spots to compliment the work of his fellow artists.

 

Zezao found a manhole cover to paint around, which perfectly ties to his passion for creating artwork in Sao Paulo’s sewer system.  His typical blue linework wrapped around the manhole, extending all the way up tfrom the ground onto one of the school walls.

 

Eduardo showed a few students the popular tradtion of wheat pasting posters on to a wall.  This repetition of images creates a strong pattern, a sort of urban wallpaper for the streets.

 

Baixo and Mariana were interviewed by some members of the press.

 

A few of the artists took a break to play futbol!

 

The kids enjoyed their workshop, experimenting and learning about graffiti from the pros.

 

Ruas de São Paulo: Launch Party Recap

After many hard hours of painting and installing, theartists were unleashed on New York for the launch of Ruas de São Paulo.  Brazilian Beat Brooklyn provided great music as background for Zezao, Onesto and Titi Freak’s live painting performances and Beleza Pura and Sambazon hosted an open bar from 8-9pm.  The party was a great opportunity for the artists and Choque Cultural owners to relax, meet new friends, and celebrate the exhibition.

Hiro Ballroom provided a the perfect setting for our launch.  The upstairs lounge was a great place to hang out and watch the great dancing on the floor below. 

The artists took the stage at 9pm and gave onlookers a firsthand view of their creative processes. 

From Left: Zezao, Onesto, Titi Freak 

 

 

Titi Freak takes a break from all that hard work to entertain the crowd with some yo-yo skills.  When he’s not painting the streets of São Paulo, Titi Freak is a champion yo yo-er and member of the Duncan Crew World-Wide!

 After the artists completed their pieces, all attention was turned to the dance floor

 

 

Eduardo of Choque Cultural Gallery with his girlfriend, Renata

The party continued in Hiro’s sublevel green room

Jonathan Weiner and Jonathan LeVine with Zezao and Talita

 

 

Ruas de Sao Paulo Fundraiser Recap

We had a number a friends brave the cold to come support our benefit for Ruas de Sao Paulo, an upcoming survey of Brazilian street art.   The event, presented in association with BrazilFoundation, included a silent auction and raffle of works donated by many of our represented artists and friends. 

Malena Seldin sets up with Debra Anderson

Stephanie Lasure enjoys a Caipirinha cocktail with Jonathan LeVine

Debra Anderson and Cardon Webb: the raffle resources.

Eric Foss and Tara McPherson working it for the camera

All eyes on Jonathan LeVine!

Jonathan LeVine with Baz Hatfield

Megan Newcombe with Sam Margolius

Gallery friends and patrons in the Newspace on West 21st Street

Ashley Strout weighs her drink options

Jonathan calls out the winning number with Megan McCarthy

Brandi Pomfret shows off her raffle win

 

Auction Today to Support Brazilian Street Art

January 31, 2007
Auction Today to Support Brazilian Street Art

 
Brazilian art is scorching hot this winter. Hopefully you made it to the Tropicalia exhibit at the Bronx Museum before it closed this past weekend. Next stop: Ruas de São Paulo, an exhibition on Brazilian street art that begins next month at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. But, before that gets underway, there’s going to be a must-attend benefit art auction today, January 31, at 7-10 PM, at The Newspace (530 West 21st St., Chelsea) to raise money for Brazilian street artists.
Showing their support for the Brazilian arts community the artists at Jonathan LeVine Gallery have donated some of the most mind-bending surrealist art on the market. You

can view the artists’ works online. Our picks for top bid are Ray Caesar, for his cute-but-dark portraits of half-human creatures; Todd Shorr, for his Nightmare-Before-Christmas-inspired jack-o-lantern monsters; and Tara McPherson, because we love her work for Punk Planet and Shonen Knife.
For a chance to include these works in your art collection, email your maximum bids to sales@jonathanlevinegallery.com by 4 PM or attend the silent auction in person at Newspace by 10 PM. Admission to the live auction is a mandatory $30 in cash at the door (proceeds go toward the BrazilFoundation). There, you’ll have a chance to win prints, books, and original pieces from the gallery artists in the “equal opportunity” art raffle. Admission also grants you a few other things, including access to the open bar with beer and mixed drinks!
The money raised from the sale of the artwork will go toward creating a cross-cultural experience in which Brazilian street artists visit New York and give us a chance to learn more about their culture. The press release for the auction further explains:
The benefit is organized to raise funds for eight Brazilian street artists from São Paulo and Choque Cultural Gallery representatives to participate in a multi-tiered cultural immersion in New York City. Artists will raise awareness of Brazilian art and culture through community outreach and educational events. Projects include a public mural project, live painting demonstration and art exhibition, and Brazilian-themed celebrations. Proceeds from the event will go to BrazilFoundation and to support travel and lodging for the group of visiting Brazilian artists.
The Brazilian street artists involved are Boleto, Fefe, Highraff, Kboco, Onesto, Speto, Titi Freak, and Zezão. You’ll get to see their work when it comes to the newly expanded Jonathan LeVine Gallery (529 West 20th Street, 9E; Chelsea), February 17 – March 17, for Ruas de São Paulo: A Survey of Brazilian Street Art.

Ruas de São Paulo: Online Art Auction

RUAS DE SÃO PAULO: Online Art Auction

A few years ago, Sara and I fell in love with a series of wooden lion sculptures made by the extremely talented AJ Fosik. We were excited to see that one of AJ’s lions (the one above) is included in a terrific online art auction that includes work from a whole host of amazing artists including Tim Biskup, Ray Caesar, Dalek, Ron English, Shepard Fairey, Camille Rose Garcia, Doze Green, Jim Houser, Mark Ryden, Jeff Soto, Jonathan Weiner and many others.

The RUAS DE SÃO PAULO: Online Art Auction started yesterday and can be seen here.
The auction, organized by the Jonathan Levine Gallery and Brazil Foundation is to raise funds for a series of cultural events in New York that an amazing group of Brazilian artists will participate in. Projects include a public murals, live painting demonstrations and an art exhibition, as well as other Brazilian-themed celebrations.
If you are in New York tomorrow night, the 31st for 7pm –10pm come to the The Newspace, located at 530 West 21st Street in Chelsea.

Ruas de Sao Paulo: A Benefit Art Auction

Music Provided by DJ Sean Marquand of Brazilian Beat Brooklyn

YOU ARE INVITED TO

Ruas de Sao Paulo: A Benefit Art Auction
Hosted by BrazilFoundation and Jonathan LeVine Gallery

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31st 2007

7-10pm

THE NEWSPACE
530 West 21st St.
(between 10th & 11th Ave)

FEATURING A SILENT AUCTION AND RAFFLE OF ORIGINAL WORKS AND PRINTS BY JONATHAN LEVINE GALLERY ARTISTS.

ALL DOOR PROCEEDES TO BENEFIT THE BRAZILFOUNDATION:

ADMISSION IS $30* (minimum donation) AND INCLUDES A PERSONALIZED “BRAZILFOUNDATION FRIEND CARD.” Besides contributing towards a better Brazil, Friends benefit from special rewards offered by the Friend of BrazilFoundation Campaign Partners, including restaurants and business in New York City and others across the country.

CAPACITY FOR THIS EVENT IS LIMITED AND PRE-REGISTRATION VIA CREDIT CARD ONLINE IS STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO GUARANTEE ADMITTANCE.  ADMISSION AT THE DOOR IS CASH ONLY AND WILL BE ON A SPACE-AVAILABLE BASIS.

PRE-REGISTER VIA THE FRIEND OF BRAZIL LINK ON:

 http://brazilfoundation.org

OPEN BAR WITH BEER AND MIXED DRINKS FROM SAMBAZON AND BELEZA PURA

SILENT AUCTION CAN BE VIEWED A WEEK BEFORE THE EXHIBITION
AT
WWW.JONATHANLEVINEGALLERY.COM/FUNDRAISER

*BRAZILFoundation is a charitable 501(C)(3) organization

Logos: BF, ALARM, SAMBAZON, BELEZA PURA

https://jonathanlevineprojects.com    http://ruasdesaopaulo.imeem.com

Participating Artists

Gary Baseman
Tim Biskup
Andrew Brandou
Ray Caesar
Dave Cooper
Dalek
Daniel Martin Diaz
Ron English
Shepard Fairey
AJ Fosik
Camille Rose Garcia
Doze Green
Alex Gross
Matt Haber
Jim Houser
Andy Kehoe
Chris Mars
Liz McGrath
Tara McPherson
Nouar
Daniel Peacock
Plankton Art Co.
Isabel Samaras
Souther Salazar
Todd Schorr
Shag
Jeff Soto
Gary Taxali
Mark Dean Veca
Adam Wallacavage
Jonathan Weiner
Eric White