Ktown Lab

I was incredibly fortunate to have the chance to develop a project with Claudio Ethos in Philadelphia during the summer of 2018. With financial support from Mural Arts Philadelphia, we were able to set up a temporary mural laboratory in one of the roughest toughest hoods in the city. It was an honor and a joy to live and work alongside the locals for a time. The project started out being about painting, but it turned into much more than that. In this gallery you can see the work we made (myself, Claudio Ethos, Juanjo Surace from Argentina and Simón Vazquez from Barcelona) but the images hardly capture the intensity of the experience. Hopefully this is just the beginning. For more information on this project or future plans in this arena, please get in touch.

Re'Paredes in Gandia

I just got back from Gandia near Valencia where I had a great time painting with Mugraff, Secle, and Johe. La Cris and her collaborators put together this beautiful project with no motivations to achieve fame, fortune, or likes. IT was a pure example of a neighborhood responding to a spark of creativity and getting organized. While we painted, local musicians played, the local sound and video arts high school took advantage and made a million videos, old and young came together, local business and individuals rallied...it brings a tear to the eye. Clearly the locals were appreciative as the local newspaper demonstrates. Might be an overstatement, but I´ll take it.

Qualitat de l´Aire

This was a cool collab where a clean air activist group got together with Critical Mass, the bike activists who jam city streets with giant bike rallies. Somehow I got into the mix, and made this mural which welcomed riders after a spin around Barcelona. The whole event raised a call for smarter, greener city planning.

BRAZIL!

Had the opportunity to return recently to Brazil after many years. I called on some acquaintences and managed to paint with Plantio crew in Rio, right on the sand at Copacaban beach, and then in Sao Paolo with Ethos and Quinho, two active players in the SP scene. Thanks to their hospitality and generosity. This is what Street Art is all about.

Fachada BOCANORD

I´m very pleased to have been chosen, along with collaborator Mugraff, to paint the enormous facade of the Boca Nord Youth Center in Carmel, in Barcelona. This is the biggest wall I´ve painted yet, clocking in at 35 meters by 7. We made it happen in just under a week. This was a great opportunity and an awesome experience. Thanks, Boca Nord.

Recent Collabs with Mugraff

Backgrounds are always tricky, which is why I like collaborating with Mugraff. His calli-graff based forms make everything look cooler. Here are a few recent projects...

RESPIRA project with Jorge Gerada

I recently had the great priviledge of painting with local legends Roc Blackblok and H101 on a project developed by another legend, Mr. Jorge Rodriguez Gerada. Our task was to jam out on these wooden structures, which create shadows onto the street that spell out the word RESPIRA when seen from the air at just the right time. Truly honored to take part in this awesome one off.

Solo Show of New Paintings at el Anden Gallery in Barcelona

The last few months I´ve been shedding in the studio, getting ready for a show show. Friday April first it went up. We had a great opening with lots of great people stopping by. I really need to thank Chacon from Anden, Pedro Porto, Leon, Lluis Olive Bolbina and Jordi Barceloneta for photos and coverage ... and everyone else for helping me get things off the ground. You can see a few photos from Lluis here ... and here.

Thanks Dirigible

This is another infinity fish. In fact it's (they're) sea bass, which are in danger, like just about everything else, from over-fishing in the Mediterranean. Thanks to Toni Garcia Camps and Digerible for some nice photos and coverage. Check out the link here.


OpenWalls 2015 in Barcelona

Here's a Great recap of the incredible week of painting and talks that was the 2015 OpenWalls conference in Barcelona. What a thrill to hang out with top artists and talk shop. I know I learned a ton. Still processing....

 

 

Painting at La Neomudejar Vanguard Art Museum in Madrid

After the two days and nights of madness outlined in the last post, the painting insanity did not stop. My good friend, frequent collaborator and gypsy interpreter Ze Carrion hooked me up with Fran and Néstor at La Neomudejar who agreed to let me paint some exterior murals, sharing walls with some of Madrid and Europe's best street artists including Por Favor, Chilo, Alice, and many more.

This new museum occupies showcases some interesting artists and occupies the old Locomotive Mechanic Shop next to the famous Atocha train station. The place is a treasure, with pin-up girl posters from the 60s still tacked to the inside of the wooden lockers and a giant off-limits secret room with a massive two story cast iron electric turbine collecting dust where I will definitely film my steam punk sic fi movie some day. Needless to say, it was a fun place to hang out and paint. By the way, Ze has a solo show packed with great paintings coming up at the museum that opens in September. If you're in the area, you should definitely go.

So albeit more slowly, with one flip-flop on and a sunburn, I continued the painting marathon and scratched out these two pieces. Enjoy!


Two days and nights of absolute madness

There used to be a bar called Al'Laboratorio in the Malasaña neighborhood of Madrid. My friends Paola and Carlos had been running the place for 20 years, rocking the leopard print/new wave/post-movida, underground rockstar lifestyle right in the middle of the Spanish night life scene. Anyway, the bar included a creepy yet awesome "cave" below street level where they would host underground DJ sets from time to time. In 2012 it was my pleasure to paint that cave, and I knew exactly what to do: I mashed-up two of my favorite comic artists: the infamous Italian Milo Manara and Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, added a few mad scientist touches (the place is called the Laboratory, after all) and did up the whole place in black and white. Let me tell you, it looked awesome with the black lights. Here's a picture:

About a month ago I heard that the old bar had shut down for good but that Carlos and Paola had just opened up a new bar in the Huertas neighborhood. They had to change the name to Labo Club for some shadowy legal reason. Anyway, the problem now was that the bar was boring-looking, which could not be. So of course they called up my good friend and frequent collaborator Ze Carrion and myself to hook them up.

Needless to say, I heeded the call and bought myself a bus ticket to Madrid and so began the two days and nights of pure painting madness. With no real plan, 48 hours, about 100 euros worth of paint, too little sleep or ventilation, one crazy Dutch guy, sweltering heat, a steady flow of curious friends and lost tourists, lots Red Bull and not much food, this is what happened. I can't say its our best work, but the bar is less boring, that's for sure. In the haste and haze of aerosol, we didn't get many good photos. Those that we have are thanks to the crazy Dutch guy, Robert Beattie. Take a look:

Getting into GIFS

The GIF is an amazing gem of outshined technology that deserves a closer look. There's a surprising amount of depth in 6 looped frames; lots of possibilities... Here are a few early experiments:

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 


the M.U.S.C.R.A.T. bus

This July I was lucky to get chosen by the Somerville, MA arts council to paint their new roving art vehicle, the M.U.S.C.R.A.T. Bus. (Multi Use Somerville Community Roving Art Transport) The folks from the council were great, as were the guys down at the DPW garage in Somerville where I worked on the thing for five days. As an added bonus I got a little bit of publicity out of the deal. There are pictures of the finished bus in the murals section of this website.