Kawai!
So much could be said about the insidious way mainstream media has re-appropriated graffiti. Many still question the credibility of street artists who choose a gallery or any other “conventional commercial outlets” over the street to display their work; but still, graffiti remains one of the most intricate and creative art form!
Over the last few years Fafi has imposed herself as one the leading female graffiti artists (alongside Claw Money, Indie , Miss Van…) and this is just the beginning, the fafinettes are here to stay!
After the bags, the shoes and the make-up she’s now invading your desk with these ultra-girlie sets of “sticky-notes”, notebooks and vinyl-shaped notepads, courtesy of Japanese brand Mark’s.
Check them out here.
Estelle
Late in 2007, British soul singer Estelle’s plea — well, demand really — to be taken cross-country by some Yankee dude could be heard across the U.S, and the people loved it. That first single, “American Boy”, featuring Kanye West, became a multi-platinum hit stateside for the half Senegalese-half Grenadian singer who signed to long-time collaborator John Legend’s Homeschool Records last year.
Estelle, 28, has her own brand of soul, mixing electronic, hip hop and reggae-dub stylings on her upcoming album Shine, which will be released in the U.S. tomorrow, April 29.
Until then, Estelle will be bringing her Brit groove across the pond to New York’s Highline Ballroom tonight as part of her Shine tour. The girl’s got presence and a strong voice that is sure to please as much as her hit single.
For more info on Estelle, click here and for tix, click here.
Estelle
Highline Ballroom
431 W 16th St
Between 9th and 10th Ave
Missill Attacks
Watch out! Once you’ve heard her terribly catchy and sexy sound you’ll be caught. But who exactly is DJ Missill? DJ, VJ, producer, graphic designer?
As a “self-made woman”, Missill has built her own private Idaho that she is willing to share with dance clubbers. Her universe is composed of hip hop and electro bits mixed with animé characters.
Nicknamed the “Urban punk” by British media, she hit definitely her target earlier this year with well-named album “Targets,” adding to her usual signature a dose of ragga breakbeat and stings of rock. Her ultimate mission: to win over your hearts…
A New Dawn
Following the mutually agreed-upon departure of Marina at the end of last year, Gorky and Pedro came up with the genius but slightly random idea of auditioning for Bonde de Role’s new band member through what seems to be the usual reality TV route of searching for one on air.
With the help of MTV Brazil, screening over 100 Bonde wannabes and an extensive schedule of karaoke comps and mud wrestling, the victorious new members are Ana Bernardino and Laura Taylor.
You heard right; they decided not on one but two new female vocalists!! The new quartet have announced plans for a North American tour kicking off in late April in which the band will hit Miami, cross coasts to the Coachella Festival and then work back east from there.
Bonde Do Role will be performing on Saturday, April 26th along with Prince, M.I.A, Hot Chip, Marc Ronson and many more at Coachella, running from today through Sunday at the Polo Fields in Indio, California. Other exciting performances across the weekend include; Black Kids, The Raconteurs, Santogold and Spank Rock.
It’s going to be hot…literally!!
Check out Coachella’s full listing here and Bonde de Role’s schedule here.
Cool Kids
Camp-outs and concerts in tandem automatically conjure images of mud-covered revelers at Woodstock swaying to the beat of somebody’s guitar and professing everything is love under a certain herbal haze.
Don’t expect flower power when Cool Kids step on the stage at Coachella Music Festival this weekend. Chuck 23 and Mikey Rocks, the Cool Kids, are better known for the kind of heavy, spare beats and verbal acrobatics that are more likely to knock the petals off said flowers.
The duo got together a few years ago after Chuck 23 heard one of Mikey Rocks’ beats online and reached out to him. It was kismet: they decided to collaborate and good thing for us, it worked out. Over the past two years, the duo rose from the Chicago underground on the strength of their beats and rhymes on a string of indie rap hits that include “Gold and a Pager” and “Black Mags” the latter a shout-out to BMX bikes.
Not content to let the sleeping dog lie, they’re set to release “The Bake Sale” EP on May 20 and an as-yet-untitled full length album later this year on their label, C.A.K.E. Recordings.
For a taste of what they have in store at Coachella, check them out here and here.
Much More to See
On today’s market, he’s one of the funkiest graphic designers who everybody is — or will be — fighting for. Jelsen Jargon has already proven his off-the-wall style working with Pepsi, Vitamin Water, Brown Girls Burlesque and Dunkin Donuts. Let’s slow down and chat with the inspired and inspiring Jelsen Jargon.
TRACE: What inspires you?
Jelsen: Hmm. Everything inspires me. “Input Dictates Output” is my saying. In general I just try to keep my eyes and ears open; try to take in as much as possible.
Traveling’s a big deal. I wish I could travel three months out of every year — at least. The more perspectives in my back pocket when approaching a specific problem the better I can solve it.
I’m also a fan of riding the subways of any city. It’s such a great rotation of interesting content; the sounds, the colors, the languages, the pace…the way people interact with with each other — gotta love it.
T: What would be the ultimate client you would like to work with?
J: I’d love to collaborate with oodles of folks, but if I had to pick one industry to work in for the remainder of my career it would have to be a community and grassroots organization — ideally in an African (diaspora worldwide) community. The opportunity to contribute to the further advancement of my people via graphic design is just about the coolest win-win scenario imaginable. I couldnt possibly think of anything better than that.
Taguer n’st pas Jouer
Sometimes it takes little more than being in the right place at the right time to document history. So it was for photographer Martha Cooper in the early 70s, when she began taking pictures of the graffiti on New York’s subway cars and taglines on the walls.
Almost 40 years later, graffiti has more or less morphed from a pastime of ‘degenerate’ youth to a veritable art form, its influence seen throughout the art, fashion and design worlds. Starting this week at Gallerie Bailly in Paris, curator Hélène Bailly showcases a selection of Cooper’s photographs alongside thirteen, primarily French, artists who have either photographed graffiti, tagged something or have been influenced by it.
Other artists on display include L’Atlas, who has taken graffiti to express ideas both political and indelible, questioning culture in contemporary France and, Darco, one of Europe’s first great graffiti artists. A nice counterpoint to the New York-based images of the art form, “Taguer n’est pas Jouer” shows how graffiti inspires and is reinterpreted globally in addition to offering a slice of other street cultures.
Through May 24, Check it out.
Taguer n’est pas Jouer
Galerie Bailly
25 Quai Voltaire
Paris 75007
For more information on the show, click here.
Digital Ash, Beautiful Urn
On April 24th the Somerset House will open Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture as the inaugural exhibition of its riverside Embankment Galleries. Organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (LA MoCA) this sublimely transcontinental exhibition showcases the similarities present in architecture and fashion during the past two decades.
Perhaps it was the 80’s mix of cocaine, Prince, and an encroaching millennium that brought the towering cinematic works of Yohji Yamamoto, Vivienne Westwood, Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, and Shigeru Ban to shadow over the terrestrial in flesh, steel, and paper.
Whatever the reason, the world has seen beautiful tectonic design in the spheres of fashion and architecture since that time. And this exhibition captures the sharpness, shock, and amazement that met its forward-thinking designers during the height of urban innovation. “Forty-five of today’s most brilliant and creative fashion designers and architects are represented by a wide range of more than 300 objects: from stunning one-of-a-kind haute couture gowns to intricate architectural models and special full-scale installations,” LA MoCA promises.
During a season where retrospective runway collections and cut-and-paste condominiums run rampantly, an exhibition comparing cross-disciplinary design principles through a poetic matrix (“Wrapping,” “Folding,” “Draping,” “Pleating,” “Printing,” “Suspension,” “Canteliever”) sounds like the kind of thing to shake design to its very bones.
Cinematic Jazz Infusion
The British music scene has always been known for being at the forefront of experimentation, defining new directions and trends on the global musical scene. One of the most innovative jazz-cum-electronica acts coming out of England in the last decade is The Cinematic Orchestra (TCO), whose musical repertoire, evocative of dreamy images of cinema noir sets, made the band an instant classic worldwide. TCO’s soul-quenching power that draws on their ability to translate raw emotions into fluid soundscapes is comparable to the dark and melancholy lyricism of their compatriots, Bristol-based Portishead.
The Cinematic Orchestra was founded by Jay Swinscoe who used to work at South London-based record label, Ninja Tune back in 1999. Their debut album, Motion, received critical acclaims, and was voted Album of the Year by the listeners of Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide radio show. The success of the album landed them a performance at the Director’s Guild Awards ceremony for the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement Award to film director Stanley Kubrick. Six albums later, The Cinematic Orchestra remains a force to be reckoned with, continuing to play a major role in shaping the future of nu-jazz.
In the last three years, TCO have been spreading their wings across the globe packing venues from intimate jazz cafes to massive outdoor festivals, including the highlight of their US tour playing as the supporting band for legendary jazz-fusion guitarist John McLaughlin in Central Park, NYC. As a culmination of their 2007 tour repping their latest album “Ma Fleur”, bandleader Jason Swinscoe brought an enhanced line-up of the Cinematic Orchestra incorporating the 24-piece Heritage Orchestra to the stage of legendary venue, The Royal Albert Hall, and played a show to a sold-out crowd of more than 4,000 people.
This month welcomes the release of two live recordings, the Barbican Live DVD and their epic Royal Albert Hall Live CD. You’ll have a chance to catch them performing live this week on
April 23rd, - Williamsburg Music Hall (Brooklyn, NY, USA)
April 26h, - Coachella Music Festival (Coachella, CA, USA)
April 28th, TBC, (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
Check here for more info.
Art’s Lineage
I was disappointed to find out that Philadelpia’s Lineage Gallery has recently closed its doors, since it was one of few galleries that represented the next wave of underground art in the U.S. A heavy-hitter line-up including A.J. Fosik, Blaine Fontana, James Naccarato, Robert Hardgrave, Ron English, Sam Flores, Shawn Barber and Tim Biskup were among Lineage’s regular exhibitors, and collectors could find cutting edge artwork at an affordable price.
Lucky for us living in New York City, Lineage co-founder Joshua Liner decided to transport his expertise to Chelsea’s fast-growing art colony. His new project, the Joshua Liner Gallery, opened this month with an Inaugural Group Exhibition featuring art from Shawn Barber, Crash One, Mike Davis, Ron English, Jeremy Fish, Blaine Fontana, Futura, Robert Hardgrave, Naoto Hattori, Kenji Hirata, Zach Johnsen, Jessica Joslin, Josh Keyes, Koralie, Kris Kuksi, David Choong Lee, Travis Louie, Tomokazu Matsuyama, Chris Mendoza, Aiko Nakagawa, Pat Rocha, Greg Simkins, Damon Soule, Stash, Heidi Taillefer, Ben Tour, Mark Dean Veca and Oliver Vernon.
I checked out the opening reception and I was blown away by the stellar collection of works representing some of the bests of the U.S. outsider art scene. Robert Hardgrave’s beautiful collage piece, entitled ‘Powerhouse’ and Ron English’s ‘Superpop Cowgirl Guernica’, a neo-pop reinterpretation of Picasso’s masterpiece, ‘Guernica’, were among the best. Those present had a chance to mingle with many of the artists, including NYC legend, Futura.
You can go and get your aesthetic fix until May 10th. For more info, check here.
Keep your eyes peeled for future shows showcasing work from Koralie + Robert Hardgrave (5/17 –6/14), Jeremy Fish + Josh Keyes (6/21 — 7/26), Greg Simkins (9/6 — 10/4), Blaine Fontana + Damon Soule (10/11 — 11/15) and Kris Kuksi + Pat Rocha (11/22 — 12/20).